Grrl Power VII: Let Me Explain For The Next Thirty Comics!

[lord_khaine]

Richard does seem like just about the best teamup partner for Death Tolls.
Telekinesis opens up so many options for re-directing attacks or attackers into Death Toll.

edit.
I were about to claim Richard was unusually careless in not assuming the two archon agents he caught had backup right around the corner.
But then it hit me, if he has his own portal maker. And if the only actually valuable thing at the base was the captives.
Then possibly Max might be to late.

[The Glyphstone]

That is a uncomfortably elaborate heroine-in-peril scenario for Dave to have come up with on the spot...

[lord_khaine]

Eh.. its honestly fairly tame.
Should not have taken much more than 15-25 min to brew up.

[Traab]

Ive done that myself, its honestly fun, you think of something basic, then think of another thing to add to it, then another, then another. It all comes out piece by piece and you then assemble it all into a single bit of entertaining nonsense.

[lord_khaine]

Can hardly blame Death Tolls here.
This little science experiment does suddenly sound a lot more interesting than minor details like detaining invaders. Or Max busting the base up.

Also shocked by Supermassives attitude.
The Ascenders should at this point have a vague idea about the magnitude of Max's power.
So i wonder what his plan for surviving particle beams are. Black hole?
Might work. But sounds unhealthy for anyone around.

[Kantaki]

Can hardly blame Death Tolls here.
This little science experiment does suddenly sound a lot more interesting than minor details like detaining invaders. Or Max busting the base up.

Well, sure. But did he have to make it sound like a bad pick-up line?

[Radar]

Can hardly blame Death Tolls here.
This little science experiment does suddenly sound a lot more interesting than minor details like detaining invaders. Or Max busting the base up.

Also shocked by Supermassives attitude.
The Ascenders should at this point have a vague idea about the magnitude of Max's power.
So i wonder what his plan for surviving particle beams are. Black hole?
Might work. But sounds unhealthy for anyone around.

I assume he will not be fighting her alone. Per his words: I am in the welcoming committee. This implies more people supposed to respond.

[lord_khaine]

Well, sure. But did he have to make it sound like a bad pick-up line?

Dont ask silly questions when you already know the answer :P
Look at his name!

Also i contest the claim that it was bad. Especially if it turns out here thursday it worked.

I assume he will not be fighting her alone. Per his words: I am in the welcoming committee. This implies more people supposed to respond.

Hmm good point. I guess the plan is a lot less insane if he is just part of a tailored Anti-Max team.

[Kantaki]

Dont ask silly questions when you already know the answer :P
Look at his name!

Also i contest the claim that it was bad. Especially if it turns out here thursday it worked.

If it works I'm going to fall back on the good old Seventy Maxims.
#43 specifically.

[lord_khaine]

If it work you cant fall back on #43 either!
As just possibly it looks like Death Toll will get his dream engagement.

Possibly Varia will end up with a solid power boost as well from this.

[Shining Wrath]

Plausibly, Varia absorbs Nemesis, and then Nemesis counters Nemesis in FWTDT, resulting in Varia being all-powerful and FWTDT being a loser.

[TeChameleon]

Why are you putting Dingaling being a loser in the future tense?

We'll see how much of a threat these guys are... Max has, in the course of this comic, been challenged by precisely two people (with Dabbler being an off-panel third), one of whom fed off violence and even he needed a heavy feeding before he could even begin to slow her down, and the other was a country-level threat sandstorm type. It remains to be seen how much even a team can do against her, although admittedly a gravity manipulator is a solid start.

And I sort of suspect that the Dingaling/Varia crossover will be either an anticlimax or straight-up weird.

[lord_khaine]

Why are you putting Dingaling being a loser in the future tense?

Well it can hardly be put in the past tense if you mean Death Tolls.
Seeing as he has yet again beaten up a Archon member in a couple seconds.

We'll see how much of a threat these guys are... Max has, in the course of this comic, been challenged by precisely two people (with Dabbler being an off-panel third)

Your forgetting the alien mercenary team that would have kidnapped her if her team had not been there.

And the blood golem thingy that Hiro saved her from.

Your also forgetting HenchWench. But thats understandable. As i also wish i could do so.
Actually sorry for reminding people of her and her dumb immersion breaking power.

Eh. All this i guess depends on how pedantic you are with "people" xD

[tyckspoon]

Why are you putting Dingaling being a loser in the future tense?

We'll see how much of a threat these guys are... Max has, in the course of this comic, been challenged by precisely two people (with Dabbler being an off-panel third), one of whom fed off violence and even he needed a heavy feeding before he could even begin to slow her down, and the other was a country-level threat sandstorm type. It remains to be seen how much even a team can do against her, although admittedly a gravity manipulator is a solid start.

And I sort of suspect that the Dingaling/Varia crossover will be either an anticlimax or straight-up weird.

She was also meaningfully delayed by an alien stasis-gun. There definitely are things that can relevantly engage her even if they have no real chance of pulling an overall win. Fortunately for the Ascenders, they don't need to win this. They just have to slow her. The base is already fatally compromised - too many outside forces know where it is - so the Ascender's plan at this point has to be damage control. They want to evacuate or destroy anything they don't want ARCHON to get ahold of, they want to interfere with Archon's response so the teams responsible for evacuation and/or evidence destruction have sufficient time to work, and ideally they want to extract/escape with the assets that were used to try to slow down ARC-SWAT, because Supermassive and Portal Lady qualify as part of the things you don't want ARCHON to be investigating.

They are mostly aided in this by Maxima being unable to just blaze the whole thing into dust - she's limited in how much direct force she can apply by needing to care about collateral damage, lest she harm unknown prisoners, non-supervillian occupants of the building, and members of her own team that were last known to be in the base and have not been able to report that they're clear.

[lord_khaine]

Oh well. It did in fact not work.
I am disappointed though. I was curious.

[Traab]

I actually felt a little bad for death toll there. He seemed genuinely hurt and saddened by varias words. Not that they werent deserved but still. And she amply demonstrates how easy he is to deal with once you know his ability. Indirect capture.

[Shining Wrath]

And now we see a hole in FWTDT's armor: if you attack his surroundings, it doesn't seem to trigger Nemesis. So Max can blast holes under his feet, Halo can use the tentacle to drop things on his head, and so on. And taking FWTDT out of the battle ought to matter; either the "Welcoming Committee" is insanely powerful, or they could benefit from an omni-counter super.

[Dragonus45]

And now we see a hole in FWTDT's armor: if you attack his surroundings, it doesn't seem to trigger Nemesis. So Max can blast holes under his feet, Halo can use the tentacle to drop things on his head, and so on. And taking FWTDT out of the battle ought to matter; either the "Welcoming Committee" is insanely powerful, or they could benefit from an omni-counter super.

What scares me really is that they didn't take FWTBT with them, but clearly do have a plane. If they said to themselves they won't need him I'm inclined to hope they were right.

[Traab]

And now we see a hole in FWTDT's armor: if you attack his surroundings, it doesn't seem to trigger Nemesis. So Max can blast holes under his feet, Halo can use the tentacle to drop things on his head, and so on. And taking FWTDT out of the battle ought to matter; either the "Welcoming Committee" is insanely powerful, or they could benefit from an omni-counter super.

Dropping stuff on his head might not work. As a directly offensive action it may trigger his powers. Containment is key. Also, the welcoming crew may also not care because they are literally a portal away from getting him back if they need him. On top of that, I dont think they abandoned him there. They probably figured he could handle varia considering she has a knocked out team mate to drag her down.

[Shining Wrath]

Well, that's the thing about FWTDT. If he says "Stop or I'll X", X is probably not very scary to most supers. He almost can't hurt you if you just smile at him and walk by.

And it would be hilarious if he tried to punch someone and discovered they know enough martial arts to use his attack against him. If he gets judo-flipped, does Nemesis trigger?

[lord_khaine]

And she amply demonstrates how easy he is to deal with once you know his ability. Indirect capture.

I do in fact not think this is the case. The stuff Varia did was very slow. She spoke about what 10 sentences before she had the cage in place.
That is plenty of time to act. Or if need be even knock Varia out. Death Tolls has proven himself a fit if showy melee combatant.

So more plausible he didnt bother to resist. Due to not caring about stuff after the rejection.
Apparently the expressed interest was genuine enough. As seen by the sad slide in the final panel.

[TeChameleon]

I found it rather interesting that Dingaling (I refuse to call him by even the abbreviation of that stupid name) still has enough of a conscience to be bothered by Varia's words, despite having chosen a pretty clearly-intended-to-be-villainous motif. Wonder how many of the super-types think of what they do as a sort of grand game?

[Shining Wrath]

Oh, Dave. I like the "Maxima emphasis dial", but seriously - stronger boob muscles?

[Keltest]

Oh, Dave. I like the "Maxima emphasis dial", but seriously - stronger boob muscles?

I assumed it was her flight negating gravity.

[TeChameleon]

I assumed it was her flight negating gravity.

Could also be her armour power shrugging off the effects of gravity-guys' powers? Both flight and invulnerability go into the purple range on that dial.

[lord_khaine]

still has enough of a conscience to be bothered by Varia's words

Dont need to directly be conscience. Can just be the rejection of someone he felt a genuine kinship with.

stronger boob muscles?

Not stronger boob muscles. Looking at the power dials you can see Max actually dials her strength down.
She becomes weaker. She just powers her flight up. And so dodges the previous gravity tug.

edit.
Well thinking about it, armor making her entire body harder likely also help to negate some of the previous gravity deformation of her chest.

[Radar]

Dont need to directly be conscience. Can just be the rejection of someone he felt a genuine kinship with.



Not stronger boob muscles. Looking at the power dials you can see Max actually dials her strength down.
She becomes weaker. She just powers her flight up. And so dodges the previous gravity tug.

edit.
Well thinking about it, armor making her entire body harder likely also help to negate some of the previous gravity deformation of her chest.

Also look at her hair: they start waving again instead of being pulled straight down.

[Shining Wrath]

I suspect Gravity Guy approves because getting Maxima to respond to his power was part of the committee's plan, and now the next super strikes her when she's somewhat more vulnerable.

[Traab]

Its possible, even probable that you are right, this entire confrontation isnt meant to be a fight. They have a quick escape method in hand so they are testing her to see what they can do and how it works. Like, now they know his gravity does take her effort to counter, even if its not really maximum effort. I mean, she just demonstrated she can adjust her powers to negate their effect on her appearance, which is obviously going to be lower priority if the gravity was enough to be a threat. Being able to say "Not only can I counter it, I can negate it utterly with a moments thought" was a good flex. I bet if he was 5-10x stronger she would be reduced to her initial appearance and be slowed down significantly by fighting off the gravity effects.

If they have other obscure powers they may try them. I am reading a story where the main character actually gets badly hurt by a bone growth ability that literally make spikes of your own skeleton grow out of your body. It bypassed all her natural defenses. Same for later on with blood control and related stuff. It doesnt matter how hard your skin is, if your blood can be boiled in their veins.

[Shining Wrath]

Its possible, even probable that you are right, this entire confrontation isnt meant to be a fight. They have a quick escape method in hand so they are testing her to see what they can do and how it works. Like, now they know his gravity does take her effort to counter, even if its not really maximum effort. I mean, she just demonstrated she can adjust her powers to negate their effect on her appearance, which is obviously going to be lower priority if the gravity was enough to be a threat. Being able to say "Not only can I counter it, I can negate it utterly with a moments thought" was a good flex. I bet if he was 5-10x stronger she would be reduced to her initial appearance and be slowed down significantly by fighting off the gravity effects.

If they have other obscure powers they may try them. I am reading a story where the main character actually gets badly hurt by a bone growth ability that literally make spikes of your own skeleton grow out of your body. It bypassed all her natural defenses. Same for later on with blood control and related stuff. It doesnt matter how hard your skin is, if your blood can be boiled in their veins.

I remember a line from The Tombs of Atuan:

I have set molten silver to run in their bones, they will die of it

.

Max is indeed powerful, but I suspect there's magic attacks that can take her out. We really don't know how magic works in GP-verse, but what if someone could turn Maxima into a newt? Or turn her into a snail, pick her up, and stick her in an aquarium? Or attack her willpower and turn her into Obedient Max Who Kills on Command?