Grrl Power

[Discus-Spinner]

But that just makes the "heavy hitters" ... not very heavy hitters. The first wave included some people with powers that made them fairly dangerous to the schlub in the street; they were just too dim or disorganised to use them very effectively. The "heavy hitters" don't seem very different yet. Though Pinball Wizard, or whatever he turns out to be called, is at least trying tactical thinking.

[BannedInSchool]

And so either Maxima isn't that invulnerable, or our villains aren't quite all third-stringers. (with today's page)

[Metahuman1]

The woman's named after a nuclear weapon. I'd be willing to bet that was a rather serious shot Maxima just tanked. Like, anyone else except a prepared Halo at tired it it would have been fatal type serious.


Also, no, not seeing Halo as a Mary Sue since Math walked all over her and she was utterly terrified once she saw him get going at the prospect that she picked a fight with THAT!.

She's also taken way to many hits for a Mary Sue with defensive powers.

[PsyBomb]

Sydney is very powerful as Halo and shows a lot of earmarks of Mary-Sue... but for a few things.

First, the way the storyline is going, it's going to end up in an "Earth's Mightiest Mortal" scenario where she will NEED to have that kind of power to barely edge out a victory when the big one is on the line. Granted, at the story pace, it'll be in the year 2020 or so, but still.

Second, a major vulnerability was pointed out in the author's note today. She is highly genre-savvy and ADHD, both of which can cause her to badly mis-estimate opponents who do not act as expected. Already showed up against Mathias, and to a small degree against Dabbler during the interview.

Third, despite her power, the personality is just too lovable (then again, this is coming from someone with ADD who loves spicy food and could answer her geek-cred questions, so there may be bias). I'd peg her more of a Westley than a Wesley.

The way it's going, I think the author just knows his audience. Sydney is a very good audience avatar for the scenario as well.

[Avilan the Grey]

The woman's named after a nuclear weapon. I'd be willing to bet that was a rather serious shot Maxima just tanked. Like, anyone else except a prepared Halo at tired it it would have been fatal type serious.

...Or our favorite invulnerable guy, of course.
And she actually got hurt. I haven't paid much attention to power descriptions... But Maxima has a (non adjustable) forcefield AND invulnerability? "Outer field".

And da-ym that belly. Sorry, somebody had to say it.

[Metahuman1]

Oh yes, she's got a great set of abs. Pity I'm not into the metal skin look, I'd be getting my cheese cake form this scene otherwise.

And as for getting hurt, well, here's the thing, it's the sort of hurt you have when you've done years and years and years of martial arts, and you get hit across the arm the first time for the day by your partner, doing your daily impact conditioning. It's not a big deal to her right now but if she keeps getting hit or if they can hit bigger, that could easily change.

And yes, fair point, Achilles probably could have also Tanked it like Maxima or Halo did. Though my point stands that I'm fairly sure most if not all the others would be if not dead in VERY bad shape after that hit.

[Avilan the Grey]

Oh yes, she's got a great set of abs. Pity I'm not into the metal skin look, I'd be getting my cheese cake form this scene otherwise.

And as for getting hurt, well, here's the thing, it's the sort of hurt you have when you've done years and years and years of martial arts, and you get hit across the arm the first time for the day by your partner, doing your daily impact conditioning. It's not a big deal to her right now but if she keeps getting hit or if they can hit bigger, that could easily change.

And yes, fair point, Achilles probably could have also Tanked it like Maxima or Halo did. Though my point stands that I'm fairly sure most if not all the others would be if not dead in VERY bad shape after that hit.

Well I don't mind metal skin at all. Fur? Not my thing at all unless it's really really short (Tigra or Cheetah). Metal skin for me is a non-issue.
Hmm I might have to give my female well-muscled sim in Sims 4 purple hair... And sunglasses.

Re: Damage? To me it sounds like she has a forcefield.

[Metahuman1]

She said it actually made it through the force field with enough power left over to pop her back and wreck her outfit.

[Avilan the Grey]

Anyway, a no sell is a no sell, even if she's faking it.
This is my second favorite panel with her after the "blowing a hole in the wall before learning my powers" panel.

[lord_khaine]

And yes, fair point, Achilles probably could have also Tanked it like Maxima or Halo did. Though my point stands that I'm fairly sure most if not all the others would be if not dead in VERY bad shape after that hit.

Could probably..? Achilles is even thougher than Max, he is the only super with a 6 dot atribute, and that attack would just have left him naked but unharmed.

[BannedInSchool]

Heh, so just read Achilles' bio for the first time. "He has shrugged off attacks that would destroy matter on the subatomic level."

The explosion being described as a shaped charge that would have cut a tank in half doesn't really narrow down its effectiveness and Max's imperviousness that much, IMO. Shrug.

[Calemyr]

But Maxima has a (non adjustable) forcefield AND invulnerability? "Outer field".

I think that's another attempt to reverse engineer super powers, in this strips more pragmatic setting. It's like saying that super strength is frequently paired with "zero point telekinesis", which is what allows the super to pick up a car without the part they're holding shearing off the vehicle instead.

So you can take a nuke to the face? Beautiful. Can your clothes? No? Well, if you don't want compromising photos of you circulating the internet you'd better have a way to stay dressed and do your job at the same time. A forcefield will do that just fine for the most part. You end up with two layers of invulnerability, the secondary one that protects yourself and your apparel, and a natural, primary one that allows your body to resist damage. Achilles has some secondary invulnerability (his clothes wouldn't have survived that demonstration at all without it), but it's horribly dwarfed by his natural invulnerability.

But the big thing here is that Bombshell was a legitimate threat. She actually could have done real (probably lethal) damage to Maxima (or charged her a Chiropractor's fee, almost as damaging but to the wallet) if she wasn't removed from the fight (and if Max hadn't successfully bluffed the no-sell). At this point only Dabbler (and possibly Halo) have been considered potential threats to her. That's quite an impressive feat for a "first real fight of the series" thing.

[Avilan the Grey]

@Calemyr: You are probably correct on all accounts.

So... For Whom The Bell Tolls definitely doesn't come across as the next Victor Van Doom...

[Calemyr]

@Calemyr: You are probably correct on all accounts.

So... For Whom The Bell Tolls definitely doesn't come across as the next Victor Van Doom...

That would be a better name, at least.

[Metahuman1]

Also, apparently Anvil can take it too.

And yeah, Bell has all of Victor's Arrogance, but apparently none of his ability to back it up.

[Douglas]

Also, apparently Anvil can take it too.

But only direct hits, where it's still a packet of energy when it touches her rather than an explosion. See commentary for details.

[BannedInSchool]

Yeah, as much as I appreciate trying to limit Anvil's power of absorption, temperature is molecular motion, and an explosion isn't just EM radiation. It gets a little weird to say she can absorb the motion of objects composed of many molecules but not individual molecules hitting her. I'm not sure any attempt at referencing real world physics is a good idea.

[The Mormegil]

Yeah, as much as I appreciate trying to limit Anvil's power of absorption, temperature is molecular motion, and an explosion isn't just EM radiation. It gets a little weird to say she can absorb the motion of objects composed of many molecules but not individual molecules hitting her. I'm not sure any attempt at referencing real world physics is a good idea.

The deeper you delve into real world physics the more you realize nothing fantastical is actually possible. No dragons, no metamorphosis, no spontaneous energy creation, no space bending without causing massive side effects, no super strength or super resistance without messing up your biology, no telekinesis without new particles (*cough*midiclorians*cough*) etc. etc.

But you also can't go the opposite direction because then people will just throw bananas at you.

Magic bananas.

[Avilan the Grey]

HUh, he might be worth noticing after all.

[Metahuman1]

So it would appear.

[Calemyr]

I would assume he's actually that partner the heroes have (the one that Harem secretly reports to). He hasn't taken any lethal action thus far (one shot to Anvil was not lethal, apparently) and hasn't taken any aggressive action beyond "looking imperious" without first being attacked.

Personally, I expected him to be a powerful one. He's silly. Beware the silly ones.

[PsyBomb]

New comic up!

...holy crap, FWTBT is already up on the rest of his team combined for actual effect on ARC's team. Looks like something along the lines of a Bishop power, but he has also shown the ability to absorb kinetics as well. Going to be rough to take down, maybe the Lighthook can help restrain him.

[BannedInSchool]

Odd that both his skin and costume changed color/texture except for his mask.

Also, prepare to eat Sydney's Sueper powers!

Actually, while Sydney's positioned to be a Mary Sue, I don't think she actually qualifies exactly in the "Ensign Mary Sue, who's perfect in every way and everybody loves her, saves the Enterprise!" way.

[Discus-Spinner]

The comic is far too realistic about Sydney's foibles for her to be a Mary Sue. She's the heroine, and her genre savviness may well help here, but, well, remember "I tell people I'm good at multitasking, but actually I'm just bad at concentrating"? Not a Mary Sue line.

[Lamech]

So yeah, I guess that guy has the power to back up his arrogance. It would be good to know if that's all attacks or just super powers. He also seems to have some sort of lighting bug hero zapper. I wonder if he picked that up from Jiggawat?

Also, apparently Anvil can take it too.

And yeah, Bell has all of Victor's Arrogance, but apparently none of his ability to back it up.

Seems to be doing pretty well actually.

Also Sydney a Mary Sue? Yeah no. She's done minimal stuff this fight. I think she tentacled a few people. And she talked to a guy. She's done vastly less than other characters. Her flaws occasionally bite her. Seems pretty reasonable really.

[Hiro Protagonest]

She knows the proper thinking angle! She must be a Mary Sue in order to look like she's thinking perfectly!

In all seriousness, what Halo says is less important than what she does, but she hasn't actually done that much yet so we can't judge her by that either. If it turns out that the orbs are artifacts of an alien race or rogue faction that tried to stop other aliens from manipulating Earth, and Sydney really is the most powerful person there is because of that, I'm fine with that as long as we see her ADHD sometimes take effect (and not only where it's harmless), and the orbs don't turn her into a supermodel or something. It's even been made explicit that the orbs will get more powerful.

[Metahuman1]

Crud. I go to the site and I see the authors whole thing about the comic, but it doesn't show the actual comic! Anyone else having that problem?

[Steckie]

No, not having that problem.

And is this the proper thinking angle? She might also be seeing something Head-Tiltingly Kinky.

[John Campbell]

Crud. I go to the site and I see the authors whole thing about the comic, but it doesn't show the actual comic! Anyone else having that problem?

I did earlier, but it's working now.

[Discus-Spinner]

Yeah, simply being powerful and on the side of the good guys doesn't make someone a Mary Sue. Being annoyingly perfect and infallible and beloved by all the other characters is what sets off the warning bells.

Sydney is cute and bright, and seems to be potentially quite powerful; she's a sympathetic protagonist (except that she hasn't protagged much yet). But she also has her share of flaws and failings, and other characters are free to find her annoying. She gets into some situations she can't handle, and she doesn't go round solving everyone else's problems. Not a Mary Sue.