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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kato
I always enjoy a break from Mookie :smalltongue:
Also: headache? Bill is human, right? Last time I checked humans died when their head got smashed. Or is he really suggesting Grex is just gently tapping his head in revenge?
That is pretty easy to explain; her gun was set to stun. Here it is explained that red beams are for killing, so it follows that blue beams are for stun. Against Bill she used red beams again, but then sets them on stun again on the page preceding this one.
And because of science that affects the blunt trauma, too. Maybe in the future they design their weapons so well that little damping fields reduce the trauma? With several thousand years of war/product development that surely has come up as required feature from marketing.
Or you could argue that Grex had overcome her murderous revenge because of her comrade's reminder that protecting her friends is more important than killing the enemy. So with the somewhat consistent side-plot that we didn't get explictily told by talking heads we should be happy with what we get.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Thwock, Thwock, Thwock
Ha ha, this Grex, with her angry retaliation.
Thwock, Thud, Thud, THUD
Ah, Grex? I think you can stop now
Thud, Thud, SMASH
Grex? For the love of God somebody stop her!
SMASH, Splat, swish, swish
If anyone asks, non of us saw ANYTHING...
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
random11
Thwock, Thwock, Thwock
Ha ha, this Grex, with her angry retaliation.
Thwock, Thud, Thud, THUD
Ah, Grex? I think you can stop now
Thud, Thud, SMASH
Grex? For the love of God somebody stop her!
SMASH, Splat, swish, swish
If anyone asks, non of us saw ANYTHING...
That last line reminds me of Siegfried and Karnak, actually :smallbiggrin:
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Apparently we have to wait for the three week break for the plot to advance.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kornaki
Apparently we have to wait for the three week break for the plot to advance.
Plot is all sewn up really. Only bit of leftover nonsense is what happened to roarboar. Danica is star powered again, bill done been skull bashed by grex, so she has closure and he is (hopefully) captured without a super advanced ai ship to save him this time. Its possible for him to get away if roarboar and a few more mooks show up and make it happen, but as of right now, things are mostly settled. Though I admit is really odd to end it here instead of them being back on the ship and getting the flock out of there.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kornaki
Apparently we have to wait for the three week break for the plot to advance.
Well, we've already waited 6 weeks for the plot to advance -- what's 3 weeks more? :smalltongue:
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
I think people are confused by my comment.
Quote:
Instead of being a place to showcase some galactic lore or advertise new projects we’re working on, we’re going to use them as part of the story’s narrative. How will it work? You’ll have to wait and see.
Now that we've slogged through the chapter, we can actually move the plot along with the three week break narrative.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kornaki
Now that we've slogged through the chapter, we can actually move the plot along with the three week break narrative.
I'll believe it when I see it :smalltongue:
I fully expect this to be a three week story about the Jeranian Spy planted on S^6 and his growing relationship with a Flortin labber. Can he keep true to his roots while cultivating his green-thumbed paramour?
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Wait . . . Shouldn't that have exploded the exact moment that Danica backhanded it?
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Shogo
Wait . . . Shouldn't that have exploded the exact moment that Danica backhanded it?
According to wiki, "The RPG-7 can fire a variety of warheads for anti-armor (HEAT, PG-Protivotankovaya Granata) or anti-personnel (HE, OG-Oskolochnaya Granata) purposes, usually fitting with an impact (PIBD) and a 4.5 second fuze."
And it looks like in the panel she hit it on its underside, so she would have missed the trigger, sending the grenade back in time for its fuze to time out and set it off.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Naturally, her devotion to astronomy has made her a munitions expert as well.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Shogo
Wait . . . Shouldn't that have exploded the exact moment that Danica backhanded it?
Like I said, Bill should have set his grenade to "Impact" instead of "Friendly Fire" :smalltongue:
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mewtarthio
Naturally, her devotion to astronomy has made her a munitions expert as well.
Or she just got lucky as heck with that deflection. Either way she would have been fine. Its hardly the first explosion she has tanked. But back to luck, have you ever seen an actual rpg get fired? The timing required to hit one like she did is probably measured in single digit milliseconds. I wouldnt be surprised if a single millisecond difference in timing would have caused her to punch its impact trigger, slap it on the side, or miss it entirely and take a grenade to the face.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Didn't really think it would hurt her even if it did detonate, but really more thinking it would have been amusing if she tried to save the others by smacking the shell away only for it to explode and for them to still find themselves caught up in the explosion.
Also . . . That isn't an RPG. Not least of which because that isn't a rocket. Or a rocket launcher.
It actually looks more or less like a standard 40mm cartridge like you'd see with a grenade launcher today. Which is a grenade designed to explode on impact unless you set it for a timed delay.
Yeah . . . I know . . . Silly sci-fi so it isn't really a modern 40mm grenade . . . But it should have exploded in Danica's face and potentially injured the others regardless. It was going straight at them. If Bill did set it to go off after a set time . . . Well . . . Danica didn't actually need to intervene. It would have sailed past them and detonated harmlessly, seeing as there was enough time for it to come back at Bill and still explode behind him.
I'm going to assume a timer though, because it exploded in the air.
I kind of want to think of it as Bill proving ever more incompetent. Because holy hell has Mookie done a terrible job of making Bill come close to being a legitimate threat.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Update
So there was backup just a few minutes away??!?
This makes the entire story completely pointless!
The small team of galactic defense just had to wait a few minutes before charging in like idiots to an unknown threat, and all of this could have been avoided.
This also further proves how dumb Bore-Boar's plan was.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
I'm guessing that the Supernova Dragon Lords are some sort of semi-religious organization. That's why they believe they can take GD despite being so outgunned (I sincerely doubt that a weapons cache underneath a crummy bar in the middle of nowhere would equal the number of spare guns a single GD ship has). They've got it in their heads that they have some sort of Mandate of God that will cause their enemies to simply be swept away by their divine awesomeness. The last SNDL #1 was a reformer, who realized that they were at best a third-tier goon squad who knew how to find weapons, so he made them into weapons smugglers with some mercenary tendencies to avoid having GD drop the hammer on them.
Porkchop is going to find out the hard way that his divine mission is doomed to failure, probably by challenging one of those cap ships on his dinky little flying motor scooter and getting stun blasted, because he's not even worth vapourizing.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Let's take a look at our Rogues Gallery to date:
- Lady Snaketongue: Heir to ancient Space Magic... that was all blown up or confiscated when Galactic Defense hauled her away.
- Black Hole Bill: A mercenary who blew up the unique ship that allowed him to gain his reputation as "successful" and has just lost his main supplier of exotic firearms.
- Roar Boar: Said purveyor of exotic firearms who decided to blow up a backwater bar to show them, show them all! If not captured by Galactic Defense, he will have already lost his mercenary cultists who immediately surrendered when given the chance.
- Void Angels: Last seen blasting off again. The fact that they're even on this list shows the paucity of villains in 10(!) Issues of this comic.
What unique characters and/or villains will Mookie come up with after an extra-long three week break?!
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
random11
Update
So there was backup just a few minutes away??!?
This makes the entire story completely pointless!
The small team of galactic defense just had to wait a few minutes before charging in like idiots to an unknown threat, and all of this could have been avoided.
This also further proves how dumb Bore-Boar's plan was.
Nah, the people in the bar likely would have died before galactic defense could show up. There was a LOT of fighting taking place between grex and crew showing up, danica showing up, the constant switching of targets, etc etc etc.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Traab
Nah, the people in the bar likely would have died before galactic defense could show up. There was a LOT of fighting taking place between grex and crew showing up, danica showing up, the constant switching of targets, etc etc etc.
Yes, but only because everyone was rushing in to try and start a fight ASAP. If only those first 3 troopers had held back, tried to open negotiations over the hostages, taken some time to properly scan the area and get information (I mean, even with today's tech, RBR and gang would be easily spotted), and then finally going in after backup arrived, then none of this "drama" would have been necessary.
Of course, that would have made for a boring story, but that's why you should play up how remote this area is, have the troopers talk about how they have to go in because backup is hours/days away (or too busy or corrupt or whatever) so they're all there is, show how they scan but RBR&co have some kind of radar jammer or whatever to keep their numbers and position hidden, and how these brave troopers are going in despite all these things that make it dangerous, because they're heroes, rather than because they're dumb and didn't do their job properly.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Yeah that would have helped flesh things out more, but keep in mind this is a thrice weekly updating webcomic with issues of a set size. So there is time constraints to work with. Im not saying its a good excuse, because these "issues" seem to constrain way more than a webcomic should be, but thats just the way it is. And yes, in a perfect world all of that would have been done, but thats something that has to be accepted in every medium. The first time a person dies in a horror film, they dont leave/call cops/stay together why? Because it would be a lame ass story that way. Why didnt the "who's on first?" story end with, "No, the guy on first base is named Who for some odd reason, his buddy goes by the name of What and I Dont Know is the name the third baseman answers to"? Because that would have ruined the joke.
The most you can do is try to create a fridge logic scenario. For example, how many robbers tend to hang out in an effort to ambush the cops when they could have easily left with zero problems? Would you expect the cops being called into a potential hostage situation to do a sweep of everything within a block radius of the actual location before trying to check on the hostages? No, so it does make some sense. Yes scanning and all that other stuff would have been helpful, but it also would have required the dragon lords to be equipped with superior tech to the galactic defense to block their scanners in such a way that it doesnt set off alarms. It would have just added extra unneeded steps to arrive at the exact same point in three times as long of a story.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Traab
Yeah that would have helped flesh things out more, but keep in mind this is a thrice weekly updating webcomic with issues of a set size. So there is time constraints to work with. Im not saying its a good excuse, because these "issues" seem to constrain way more than a webcomic should be, but thats just the way it is. And yes, in a perfect world all of that would have been done, but thats something that has to be accepted in every medium. The first time a person dies in a horror film, they dont leave/call cops/stay together why? Because it would be a lame ass story that way. Why didnt the "who's on first?" story end with, "No, the guy on first base is named Who for some odd reason, his buddy goes by the name of What and I Dont Know is the name the third baseman answers to"? Because that would have ruined the joke.
The most you can do is try to create a fridge logic scenario. For example, how many robbers tend to hang out in an effort to ambush the cops when they could have easily left with zero problems? Would you expect the cops being called into a potential hostage situation to do a sweep of everything within a block radius of the actual location before trying to check on the hostages? No, so it does make some sense. Yes scanning and all that other stuff would have been helpful, but it also would have required the dragon lords to be equipped with superior tech to the galactic defense to block their scanners in such a way that it doesnt set off alarms. It would have just added extra unneeded steps to arrive at the exact same point in three times as long of a story.
Well yes, but contrived stories are still contrived. Really this is an easy fix; just don't have back up show up. This story could have simply ended with Danica and Co just jumping into the GD ship and escaping. We didn't really need the back up to arrive and round of the SDL. Not to mention that it would leave the SDL hanging around to cause trouble later in future stories
Also the problem about those 3 cops going in like they did without scanning and without back up is because of how obviously stupid they were to do such a thing. I mean they KNEW that both the SDL and an infamous merc was in the area; do they really think 3 cops would be enough? I don't care how undermannned this sector is, they should have called in back up from another sector before going into a situation where they would have to know they would be both outgunned and outmatched. They won't do the hostages any good if they are dead. Not to mention the fact that the SDL were hiding in the building across the street; really they had to be complete idiots to miss that. One possible fix here would be if they didn't know about SDL and Bill; they got a distress signal from a bar, assumed that it was just a bunch of drunks causing trouble, and then wound up in the middle of a war. That would excuse them going in so undermanned and careless...
And y'know, it would both make sense AND be better for the story if the SDL did have some superior tech. First, we know that the SDL traffic weapons that are fairly unique and we know the void angels had tech that the GD did not; it would not at all be unbelievable that the SDL had some weapons and tech that GD did not. Second, they are supposed to be our principle villians for the arc; having better tech than the heroes would only make them look even more threatening. Really at this point it seems like for all their talk of "Awakening the galaxy and starting a war" they were in truth, nothing more than a minor nuisance; a big fish in a small pond that decided to take a swim in the ocean
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Well, that was a thrilling conclusion to a tense battle scene. The masterful writing was really easy to understand, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! I'm glad to see our heroes coming up with interesting solutions to their problems.
Do you think Mookie just forgot that Danica's powers are supposed to be on a timer? I was expecting him to pull at least one "shocking twist" with them threatening to blink out at the wrong time, but it looks like he just forgot. (I guess he could have decided that turning her powers off here wouldn't have given him a clean way of turning them back on, and rather than actually forcing his characters to deal with with a complication, he decided to just not put the complication in the strip in the first place.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Oracle_Hunter
Let's take a look at our Rogues Gallery to date:
- Lady Snaketongue: Heir to ancient Space Magic... that was all blown up or confiscated when Galactic Defense hauled her away.
- Black Hole Bill: A mercenary who blew up the unique ship that allowed him to gain his reputation as "successful" and has just lost his main supplier of exotic firearms.
- Roar Boar: Said purveyor of exotic firearms who decided to blow up a backwater bar to show them, show them all! If not captured by Galactic Defense, he will have already lost his mercenary cultists who immediately surrendered when given the chance.
- Void Angels: Last seen blasting off again. The fact that they're even on this list shows the paucity of villains in 10(!) Issues of this comic.
What unique characters and/or villains will Mookie come up with after an extra-long
three week break?!
The obvious answer is the "other SPS" plot thread that got left dangling a while ago. So in other words, Space Celesto.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
AgentPaper
Yes, but only because everyone was rushing in to try and start a fight ASAP. If only those first 3 troopers had held back, tried to open negotiations over the hostages, taken some time to properly scan the area and get information (I mean, even with today's tech, RBR and gang would be easily spotted), and then finally going in after backup arrived, then none of this "drama" would have been necessary.
Of course, that would have made for a boring story, but that's why you should play up how remote this area is, have the troopers talk about how they have to go in because backup is hours/days away (or too busy or corrupt or whatever) so they're all there is, show how they scan but RBR&co have some kind of radar jammer or whatever to keep their numbers and position hidden, and how these brave troopers are going in despite all these things that make it dangerous, because they're heroes, rather than because they're dumb and didn't do their job properly.
There are two easy ways to fix the problem:
1) make the reinforcement come 2-3 DAYS after everything is over, and wrap the story with all the dragon lords kept in a cell under guard and transported to the ships.
2) Make a reason why the three soldiers had to go now. A bomb, a threat on the hostages lives, either stop them now of they will get away with a dangerous weapon etc.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Oracle_Hunter
Let's take a look at our Rogues Gallery to date:
- Lady Snaketongue: Heir to ancient Space Magic... that was all blown up or confiscated when Galactic Defense hauled her away.
- Black Hole Bill: A mercenary who blew up the unique ship that allowed him to gain his reputation as "successful" and has just lost his main supplier of exotic firearms.
- Roar Boar: Said purveyor of exotic firearms who decided to blow up a backwater bar to show them, show them all! If not captured by Galactic Defense, he will have already lost his mercenary cultists who immediately surrendered when given the chance.
- Void Angels: Last seen blasting off again. The fact that they're even on this list shows the paucity of villains in 10(!) Issues of this comic.
What unique characters and/or villains will Mookie come up with after an extra-long
three week break?!
I honestly can't tell if Mookie's intentionally making his villains non-threatening or what.. :smallfrown:
Ah well, all's gonna be okay when the other living Star powered sentinel turns out to be Celesto Morgan.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Neoriceisgood
I honestly can't tell if Mookie's intentionally making his villains non-threatening or what.. :smallfrown:
I don't know if it's "intentionally" or "compulsively". Dominic Deegan villains sometimes managed to be threatening in their first arc before being having all sense of tension ruined later (Jacob, Celesto, Karnak, Squiggly...did Demon Siggy have more than one appearance or did he just get dropped? I don't remember), but this particular hit parade has all been amazingly toothless in spite of characters trying to talk them up.
I think it comes down to the fact that he's writing a lighthearted Silver Age Comics homage and we keep forgetting that. Possibly because of all the violence and attempted-but-never-successful cold-blooded murder.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Demon siggy had a couple main appearances I think. The one where he kept breaking into peoples minds, even dominics, and the one where he overthrew karnak, was overthrown himself, and ate his dad I think. So one that had something to do with the main story and one that was sorta b plotish in hell.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nerd-o-rama
I don't know if it's "intentionally" or "compulsively". Dominic Deegan villains sometimes managed to be threatening in their first arc before being having all sense of tension ruined later (Jacob, Celesto, Karnak, Squiggly...did Demon Siggy have more than one appearance or did he just get dropped? I don't remember), but this particular hit parade has all been amazingly toothless in spite of characters trying to talk them up.
I think it comes down to the fact that he's writing a lighthearted Silver Age Comics homage and we keep forgetting that. Possibly because of all the violence and attempted-but-never-successful cold-blooded murder.
A big issue imo is that when a villain's motives comes down to "kill the starpower and her friends" and little to nothing else in a comic where most named heroes aren't allowed to die ... there's little to no room to make villains seem threatening or competent.
Next to that .. isn't it common for sci-fi settings to rely on some sort of evil galactic empire or similar power to pose a constant threat? I was half expecting the comic to turn Galactic Defence in a twist villain to give us that .. but so far it mostly seems to be "look how evil BHB is~".
Fairly boring in my mind.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nerd-o-rama
I think it comes down to the fact that he's writing a lighthearted Silver Age Comics homage and we keep forgetting that. Possibly because of all the violence and attempted-but-never-successful cold-blooded murder.
I feel like Silver Age Villains were still more threatening than this. These guys make The Flash's Rogues Gallery look like Batman's. And that includes Captain Boomerang.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Oracle_Hunter
I feel like Silver Age Villains were still more threatening than this. These guys make The Flash's Rogues Gallery look like Batman's. And that includes
Captain Boomerang.
I haven't actually watched it, but based on what I've heard I bet the CW series somehow made that guy awesome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Neoriceisgood
A big issue imo is that when a villain's motives comes down to "kill the starpower and her friends" and little to nothing else in a comic where most named heroes aren't allowed to die ... there's little to no room to make villains seem threatening or competent.
But...yeah, this is it. Even Superman can be interesting when his enemies have goals other than killing him. Superman cannot be killed except by Kryptonite or some other exotic method, but he can hypothetically fail to foil a bank robbery or a terrorist attack or President Lex Luthor's Executive Orders, or - better yet - might have to compromise his morality for the sake of foiling one of these things, so it's still possible for there to be tension in his stories. Even if there usually isn't.
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Re: Star Power IV: Boldly Bolding Where No Man Has Bolded Before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nerd-o-rama
I haven't actually watched it, but based on what I've heard I bet the CW series somehow made that guy awesome.
Oh sure, they *can* be made awesome, but I'm talking about Silver Age Flash's Rogues Gallery here. They're exceptionally pathetic!
Relatedly, it's incredibly easy to reboot & upgrade Star Power's Rogues Gallery. Keep Lady Snaketongue on-the-loose via Space Magic, don't destroy BHB's Magic Ship, make Roar-Boar a guerrilla fighter and don't make the Void Angels comic relief. As usual, Mookie has the trappings of Unique Heroes & Memorable Villains in his work but fails utterly at making them more than poorly-crafted marionettes.