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

[Sean Mirrsen]

I mean, you could semi-reasonably handwave it as, to borrow a term from Worm, tinker-tech. Archon has at least one other tinkerer/inventor besides Dabbler, and the exact composition of the cocktail could be otherwise unattainable by normal chemistry, created through some uncanny/supernatural means. Like it could have chemical compounds that react to the body's metabolic state in ways regular chemicals can't, thus preventing overdosage.

[Shining Wrath]

If supers have unique biochemistry, some drugs could be triggered by that, so if a person has lots of the marker for big muscles, the drug reacts more strongly.

[lord_khaine]

Now, we've just established that ArcSwat, which knows a lot about supers, thinks that hypodermic needles are effective - and in fact Harem managed to take down several Ascenders using one. The author discussion broaches the idea that maybe a sedative hypo wouldn't work on all supers, but it works on most of them.

Yes. This is because a lot of supers dont have invulnerability at a point where they shrug off bullets.
So for the ones without dense skin or the like injections is a quick way to take them out without harm.

That is, GP supers are usually resistant to bludgeoning damage, but not necessarily to piercing damage and sedatives.

This isnt really supported anywhere in the comic. If it was the case Archon could be replaced by guys with guns.
Guns being a lot, lot, lot better at piercing things than needles. Or teeth.

Which leads me back to Charmyriad enveloping SuperMassive. Assuming that SuperMassive's skin can be penetrated by needles (he may be immune, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Dave made his special golden princess Maxima immune to needles), Charmyriad turning into something with lots of mouths, each equipped with needle-sharp teeth, and biting SM all over his body would not only do damage with the bites, but would also do damage if he ripped the needle teeth out. OTOH, maybe his flesh is so tough that the teeth would be ripped out of Charmyriad (3200 simultaneous tooth extractions). I'm going to leave that as unknown and we'll probably never find out, but I want to repeat: do not underestimate Full Lovecraftian Horror.

And i want to repeat. At this tier full lovecraftian horror wont do a thing.
In what way would it even be more dangerous than a guy with a combat knife? A metal blade stabs deeper, is more likely to inflict fatal damage, than a tooth.
The actually most likely thing to happen, would be about the same as if you tried to take a bite out of a oak table or a frozen steak.

(*I'm not guaranteeing Dave couldn't give him a power stunt to sense projectiles/attacks via gravitational disturbances or something, but we havent seen it and if he could do that Stalwart wouldnt have gotten his sneak attack in.)

Or he could just ignore the bullet?
Supermassive has shown he is physically equal to Stalvart. Why would he need to care about bullets?

[Forum Explorer]

I mean, you could semi-reasonably handwave it as, to borrow a term from Worm, tinker-tech. Archon has at least one other tinkerer/inventor besides Dabbler, and the exact composition of the cocktail could be otherwise unattainable by normal chemistry, created through some uncanny/supernatural means. Like it could have chemical compounds that react to the body's metabolic state in ways regular chemicals can't, thus preventing overdosage.

As I said 'sci-fi drug thing'. Like something casually going FTL speeds violates science as we know it, but we ignore it anyways for the sake of the story. It doesn't mean we aren't ignoring it.

[Shining Wrath]

OK, one-eye with college level vocabulary switched sides and injected SM right in the back of the neck.

Or is that a disguised Harem? It looks like her injector, but Harem's eyes are usually set up for binocular vision.

[TeChameleon]

Pretty sure that's Chimyriad(sp?) showing her hand at last, and while it may not be full Lovecraft, I'd argue that partial Minion is still plenty creepy...

[lord_khaine]

Urg fair. Seems i was wrong, and Supermassive's skin wasnt quite dense enough to resist whatever future needle Archon employ.
With the forces involved in the brawl, he should have had a body density closer to steel than flesh.

[Shining Wrath]

Urg fair. Seems i was wrong, and Supermassive's skin wasnt quite dense enough to resist whatever future needle Archon employ.
With the forces involved in the brawl, he should have had a body density closer to steel than flesh.

This is what I said earlier about resistant to bludgeoning but not piercing. SM and probably some of the other Ascenders can take a tremendous punch (Maxima was trying to hit him with a 30' tall tree earlier, and if she had hit him, he'd have survived), but they are vulnerable to needles, or so it seems.

Good thought about Charmyriad, but so far as I know she can't teleport, unless Halo dropped her off and then *bamf* right out again before SM could notice? Ah, yes, we don't actually see the teleporter arrive, we just notice her when she starts speaking.

The "cast of characters" at the top of the author comments lists Maxima, Hiro, Stalwart, and Supermassive. The Ascender teleporter is "Void", but she's not listed; neither is Charmyriad.

EDIT:

Even without the drug injection, I very much doubt SM could take all of ArcSwat. Him against Maxima is interesting; him against the whole team is not going to work out like he hopes.

[JeenLeen]

Even without the drug injection, I very much doubt SM could take all of ArcSwat. Him against Maxima is interesting; him against the whole team is not going to work out like he hopes.

Depending on his area of effect and power level, he could potentially create a massive gravity "bomb" that would kill almost all of Arc-Swat. I could see him making a suicidal "crush everything field" that would kill everyone via a massive and sudden gravity crush.
Presumably Maxima (tough enough it seems or she'd already be out), Stalwart (manipulates density), and most of Harem (only one of her dies) would survive.

[Shining Wrath]

Depending on his area of effect and power level, he could potentially create a massive gravity "bomb" that would kill almost all of Arc-Swat. I could see him making a suicidal "crush everything field" that would kill everyone via a massive and sudden gravity crush.
Presumably Maxima (tough enough it seems or she'd already be out), Stalwart (manipulates density), and most of Harem (only one of her dies) would survive.

Demonstrating the ability to crush most of ArcSwat while bringing a building down around you is the sort of thing that means most of the world now intends to kill you. Or recruit you, but if you aren't working for them, you are too dangerous to be running around. And since you can't work for USA, China, Russia, GB, France, Japan, Deus, and so on all at the same time (or at least, not for more than a few days until they figure out you're a triple-triple agent), people are going to be willing to go to great lengths to put you down. Maybe not nukes, but artillery and poison gas and drones firing missiles and poison in your food and drink and you've got to sleep sometime ....

[InvisibleBison]

most of Harem (only one of her dies) would survive.

We don't actually know this. So far, Harem's never had one of her bodies die, so it's entirely possible that one of her dying would kill all of her.

[Spamotron]

In the comments on the Comic itself someone pointed out that Dave is overthinking the drug cocktail. Archon has actual wizards on the payroll in ArcDark just make it a magical sleep potion that they tell people not cleared to know about the existence of magic is a drug.

[Sean Mirrsen]

In the comments on the Comic itself someone pointed out that Dave is overthinking the drug cocktail. Archon has actual wizards on the payroll in ArcDark just make it a magical sleep potion that they tell people not cleared to know about the existence of magic is a drug.

Actual wizards, actual aliens, actual demons, other fantasy/fiction representatives, plus superpowered inventors.

In fact it might be that the "cocktail" part isn't so much about a mix of drugs, but about a mix of different knockout methods - chemical, magical, hyper/nanotech, etc,- that are combined so that the final product works on as many different types of targets as possible, without the field agents having to guess which formula works or carry around an arsenal of different flasks that 90% of the time might go unused.

[Shining Wrath]

Actual wizards, actual aliens, actual demons, other fantasy/fiction representatives, plus superpowered inventors.

In fact it might be that the "cocktail" part isn't so much about a mix of drugs, but about a mix of different knockout methods - chemical, magical, hyper/nanotech, etc,- that are combined so that the final product works on as many different types of targets as possible, without the field agents having to guess which formula works or carry around an arsenal of different flasks that 90% of the time might go unused.

And the injector itself is equipped with a spell that's the equivalent of D&D Passwall. Oh, Concertia thinks being made of concrete means she can't be injected with knockout drugs? That's so cute!

Actually, Concertia being a spirit inhabiting a concrete form while her body is elsewhere might be immune to any normal drug, but a magic drug might still work because magic thinks your rules are silly.

Anyway, once you say the injector is adamantine plus Passwall plus nanotechnology to make the tip only 3 angstroms across plus an adaptation of Mantis Shrimp arms so that the tip of the needle is accelerated at .25C when pressed against a target, then yes, you can inject SuperMassive, or Vehemence after he's been fighting Superman and Thor for 12 hours straight, or whatever your "Yeah their skin should be impenetrable" case is. Except Maxima, because she's special.

[Traab]

And the injector itself is equipped with a spell that's the equivalent of D&D Passwall. Oh, Concertia thinks being made of concrete means she can't be injected with knockout drugs? That's so cute!

Actually, Concertia being a spirit inhabiting a concrete form while her body is elsewhere might be immune to any normal drug, but a magic drug might still work because magic thinks your rules are silly.

Anyway, once you say the injector is adamantine plus Passwall plus nanotechnology to make the tip only 3 angstroms across plus an adaptation of Mantis Shrimp arms so that the tip of the needle is accelerated at .25C when pressed against a target, then yes, you can inject SuperMassive, or Vehemence after he's been fighting Superman and Thor for 12 hours straight, or whatever your "Yeah their skin should be impenetrable" case is. Except Maxima, because she's special.

Common in magic is the rule of contagion or laws of sympathetic magic. Its basically how voodoo works. What happens to one part of you magically, happens to another. So yeah, id totally see a magic sleepy potion spell thing transferring over to her real body via her spirit. But yes, "Its magic" is fine as an explanation. Even if it isnt. Otherwise we go into a six year old level of argument where each side goes "Nuh UHHHH! My side does THIS and that means yours doesnt work!" "Nuh UHHHHH! My side could do this to counter that!" As everyone counters each others idea because this is literally sci fi AND fantasy mixed together with the "real world" and so yes, there will always be a justification for whatever stance you want to choose if you want to argue realism.

[Shining Wrath]

Common in magic is the rule of contagion or laws of sympathetic magic. Its basically how voodoo works. What happens to one part of you magically, happens to another. So yeah, id totally see a magic sleepy potion spell thing transferring over to her real body via her spirit. But yes, "Its magic" is fine as an explanation. Even if it isnt. Otherwise we go into a six year old level of argument where each side goes "Nuh UHHHH! My side does THIS and that means yours doesnt work!" "Nuh UHHHHH! My side could do this to counter that!" As everyone counters each others idea because this is literally sci fi AND fantasy mixed together with the "real world" and so yes, there will always be a justification for whatever stance you want to choose if you want to argue realism.

If you want realism, this strip "jumped the shark" during the initial bank scene when Sydney judo-flipped a large man using his tongue as a lever after stunning him with her toxic breath. 5' 0" women do not throw 180 pound men around by their tongues no matter how angry they are.

So given that all combat scenes are resolved according to the rules of Calvinball, our arguments of "who can take who under what circumstances" are somewhat silly. But still fun.

[The Glyphstone]

Are we sure Mr Amorphous wasn't taking a dive there? A 5'0" girl can't throw a 180lb man, but a 180lb man with the superpower of stretching and compressing his body at will could 'go with the flow' so to speak in the interests of the publicity stunt.

[Shining Wrath]

Are we sure Mr Amorphous wasn't taking a dive there? A 5'0" girl can't throw a 180lb man, but a 180lb man with the superpower of stretching and compressing his body at will could 'go with the flow' so to speak in the interests of the publicity stunt.

At least the "gag me with a pepper" reaction seems to be real. He could have let her throw him, but the impact of his face on the floor is hard enough to make Maxima flinch.

EDIT: is this Charmyriad's true form, or just the one she uses for work? Anyway, the ability to take the form of a mook, take out the mook, and work your way up the chain of command can be very handy. Supermassive told us there are multiple Ascender bases, with luck they can find one, send in Charmyriad, and she comes out as Chief of Information Security with a few thumb drives full of information.

[The Glyphstone]

Impossible to know, really. She must have a 'default' shape unless she can hold a form while unconscious, and her normal pre-powers appearance is probably the best for keeping a sense of self when she's off duty. But is this her actual off duty face, or is it just the one she shows other members of ARC as a second layer of security? ARC-DARK, as Dave points out, is very dependent on its obscurity for efficiency.

[Traab]

At least the "gag me with a pepper" reaction seems to be real. He could have let her throw him, but the impact of his face on the floor is hard enough to make Maxima flinch.

EDIT: is this Charmyriad's true form, or just the one she uses for work? Anyway, the ability to take the form of a mook, take out the mook, and work your way up the chain of command can be very handy. Supermassive told us there are multiple Ascender bases, with luck they can find one, send in Charmyriad, and she comes out as Chief of Information Security with a few thumb drives full of information.

Agreed, we have shape shifters, people who can go invisible and undetectable except to horny senses, and probably a whole mess of other sorts that make most security seem like empty theater if only you knew what they were capable of. I actually read a harry potter fanfic where tonks did exactly that. She made herself invisible, scouted out a guard with access, waited till he was alone and captured him, read his mind for relevant info so she could take his form, then proceeded to walk in as a fellow employee, shoot the breeze with his coworkers, and worked her way to the records department where she got all SORTS of fun information. The full details were pretty heavy mission impossible type stuff where she showed how she could counter all sorts of security both magical and mundane.

[Shining Wrath]

I'm trying to remember who Seneca is, but she was avenged rather gruesomely. And yes, Maxima, you let Goose bring the Auger, some people are going to die pretty horribly. Especially because even a mid-level super is going to have a time lugging that ~100 pound monstrosity and a backup weapon.

[Dragonus45]

I'm trying to remember who Seneca is, but she was avenged rather gruesomely. And yes, Maxima, you let Goose bring the Auger, some people are going to die pretty horribly. Especially because even a mid-level super is going to have a time lugging that ~100 pound monstrosity and a backup weapon.

Well, they are a military operation and the ROE was pretty clear about lethal force so if anything I am startled that was apparently the only fatality.

[Traab]

I'm trying to remember who Seneca is, but she was avenged rather gruesomely. And yes, Maxima, you let Goose bring the Auger, some people are going to die pretty horribly. Especially because even a mid-level super is going to have a time lugging that ~100 pound monstrosity and a backup weapon.

Seneca is one of the no power squad like peggy. Back during the parking lot super brawl she knocked out the eggheads when vehemence's aura made them violent iirc. I get the feeling she is basically security for them in the field normally. So while the brain squad is busy hacking into servers and downloading all they can get their grubby mitts on, she is making sure they dont get coshed by random mooks.

[Shining Wrath]

Is "Mama likes her gear unexploded" a thread title?

It's odd to see the Goon Squad members argue. Don't they have a hive mind of some sort?

[InvisibleBison]

It's odd to see the Goon Squad members argue. Don't they have a hive mind of some sort?

Judging from today's commentary, I'd say not.

[DataNinja]

Is "Mama likes her gear unexploded" a thread title?

It's odd to see the Goon Squad members argue. Don't they have a hive mind of some sort?

They very explicitly don't, otherwise this strip wouldn't work at all.

So what we know about Goon Squad, AKA Ted, so far. He seems to know what happened to his clones at least after they die, but they don’t seem to have any telepathic link between them. The “dress up in the enemy’s armor ploy” certainly wouldn’t have worked if they did.

[Traab]

Im thinking they are like shadow clones mostly. They seem to divide his intellect rather than his mana or anything else but its hard to say otherwise since for all we know he is the true boss behind all this and is as strong as a fully amped vehemence and smarter than dabbler and xanatos combined when its just him. The way they act now is what happens when he divides by too much making it easier for him to pass himself off as nothing but a goon. Its not acting, he really is this dumb when he is like this so no trickery is suspected. But like shadow clones he doesnt control them as a hive mind, and when they disperse he gets the memories back (which further supports him actually being a big brain type if he can handle that sort of thing)

[Shining Wrath]

Proposed thread title: "The voice mail is 27 minutes long".

[The Glyphstone]

What does Sydney need cleaning supplies for? Its been so long since she was on-screen I forgot.

[Shining Wrath]

She and Anvil and Dabbler were helping a local team of supers fight a local team of super baddies; but Halo was actually put in a closet so that a shapeshifter could take her place and trap the baddies.