Strong Female Protagonist (webcomic)

[Dodom]

She could be planning on taking Furnace to the dam, trick him into going nova, and hope that being associated with the destruction would make the public reject what he stands for as well.

[Mando Knight]

Who, Mary? She's not that subtle. She's probably looking to straight-up assassinate someone there. Her MO is to kill and then leak the victim's past to defame the dead.

[TechnoWarforged]

She could be planning on taking Furnace to the dam, trick him into going nova, and hope that being associated with the destruction would make the public reject what he stands for as well.

http://strongfemaleprotagonist.com/issue-5/page-129/

Congratz Dodom, please click to claim your prize.

[LadyEowyn]

I don't think this is her powers - note panels 4 & 5 of that comic, this seems to be some technological device. Which is troubling on its own, because unless she has more technological acumen than we've seen (which isn't saying much, given how little we've seen) it means she's got a backer and\or allies who do.

Referring back to page 127. Good catch! I absolutely hadn't noticed that, and I don't think anyone in the comic's comment section had either. It makes more sense that Mary gaining the ability to create an illusion that moves around even when she's halfway across the country and not paying attention to it.

[danelsan]

Referring back to page 127. Good catch! I absolutely hadn't noticed that, and I don't think anyone in the comic's comment section had either. It makes more sense that Mary gaining the ability to create an illusion that moves around even when she's halfway across the country and not paying attention to it.

I got the impression that was a surveillance camera (especially since Allison comments on how "you guys have probably already clocked me on the surveillance" on page 129). If it is a projector of some kind, I find it weird that it projects the image of Moonshadowin over the couch, where it is pointed at through the window, but also somehow the illusion over the door in another area that seems to be outside the "line of sight" of that device.

[theangelJean]

She could be planning on taking Furnace to the dam, trick him into going nova, and hope that being associated with the destruction would make the public reject what he stands for as well.

http://strongfemaleprotagonist.com/issue-5/page-129/

Congratz Dodom, please click to claim your prize.

<image snipped>

Nice coupon TechnoWarforged, but I don't think Dodom's prediction is being played out in that comic. The headlines might seem like it at first glance - 1) Furnace absent and 2) Furnace referred to in an article with rescue parties and dead people. But there's a date discrepancy: Furnace absent is 2 hours ago. The second one is "April 16, 2009" and search results like that usually display the date when it wasn't today (or even yesterday usually). I'm guessing the second one is referring to the hostage situation we just saw Furnace come out of (a few days ago probably) and the truncated word in the headline is probably "Botched" since he messed it up so badly.

But Dodom might be right about Mary taking Furnace to the dam.

[Deliverance]

Referring back to page 127. Good catch! I absolutely hadn't noticed that, and I don't think anyone in the comic's comment section had either. It makes more sense that Mary gaining the ability to create an illusion that moves around even when she's halfway across the country and not paying attention to it.

Looks like a standard surveillance device to me, and I just don't see how a convincing argument can be made for it being a technological device for creating illusions where it is pointing.

• It looks like a surveillance device. :p (Okay, so this is weak, but indicative.)
• The story is generally about people and superpowers, not about technology, and the technology we do see in the comic is with a few exceptions entirely within reach of today's technological knowhow. (A clear exception would be the tiny airplane for Pintsize. :p)
• Alison observes two illusions in the apartment; Mary on the couch and the illusion of shelves and clothes within a cupboard she opens.
• If it was a device for casting illusions, how did it manage to cover both those locations from its position?
• If it was a device for casting illusions, how did it manage to cast illusions through Alison's body and into the cupboard?
• When phoning her doctor, Alison points out that they've probably already clocked her (Alison) up on the surveillance (of where she is, i.e. at Moonshadow's). While it is certainly possible that this is some other sort of surveillance we have not been shown in the comic, Occam's Razor suggests we stick with the idea of the thing that looked like a surveillance camera being the survelliance in question.

So here's what the story reads like to me:

Alison enters. Discovers that the Moonshadow on the couch is an illusion. Notices that there's a surveillance camera monitoring the room (and hence Moonshadow). Examines the rest of the apartment, concludes there is a missing area. Discovers entry to missing area through another illusion inside a cupboard (the cupboard is not an illusion - she opens it). Discovers Mary's secrets. Phones doc, telling her that they've probably already noticed her on the surveillance, and that she's got some bad news about trusting visual alibis.

[Dodom]

[one internet]

I am honored, I promise I will use it wisely!

[Kantaki]

New comic.

Really Mary? You drug Furnance and tie a bomb to him? I'm really curious what your goal is. Are you planning to inerrogate him or do you want to use him to blow up the dam?
I think both of the above is the most likely answer. I really hope she doesn't want to destroy the dam but it seems likely. If the bomb works like it seems and is triggered by Furnance actions or reactions she could even tell herself that it is his fault the dam blew up and not hers. It seems like a argument a crazy killer would make.
Let's hope that Alison arrives it time to prevent te worst.

[Dodom]

I'm not sure giving someone a downer right before trying to wake them up is the most efficient way to go...
Next up: the plan is ruined by Furnace sleeping like a baby!

[The Glyphstone]

As echoed by the first poster on the comments over at the comic itself:

“Something Vimes had learned as a young guard drifted up from memory. If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you're going to die. So they'll talk. They'll gloat.

They'll watch you squirm. They'll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar.

So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word.”

[TechnoWarforged]

My prediction to how it'll turn out (not for the faint of heart):

Spoiler

Show

Megagirl Flies to the dam and found Mary

Allison: Mary what are you doing?

Chris Aka Furance: Megagirl save me!

Mary: All men are rapist.

Allison: Oh yeah, my doctor said something about that. Sorry Chris.

Furance: Why??????

Allison: Remember all those times you were being a Jerk? That's you raping me. Now die.

(((((((KABOOM))))))))

The end.

------------------------------------------

Alternatively:

Chris: Thanks for saving me Megagirl.

Allison: Don't get it wrong. Let me Manplain it to you: I'm saving you, a white privilage male, to demonstrate how weak you are and by doing so I'm taking down the Patriarchy.

[Lethologica]

I have no problem betting real money against both of those predictions, if you'd like. (I guess it's a bit of a sucker's bet in the latter case, since Alison mansplaining is an internally incoherent concept.)

For my part...

Spoiler: Predictions

Show

1. 95% confidence that Mary will interrogate Furnace about past behavior around women.
2. Conditional on (1), 60% confidence that Furnace hasn't been clearly abusive, but with some gray area.
3. Conditional on (2), 90% confidence that Mary keeps digging until she finds enough things that she can twist to fit her narrative to justify executing Furnace.
4. 70% confidence that Furnace ends up dead one way or another.
5. 90% confidence that Alison confronts Mary here.
6. Conditional on (5), 100% confidence that Alison opposes Mary.
7. Conditional on (6), 70% confidence that Mary has a tactic for injuring Alison.
8. Conditional on (6), 80% confident that Alison bests Mary.
9. Conditional on (8), 60% confident Mary blows up the dam as a distraction.

[Deliverance]

New comic.

Really Mary? You drug Furnance and tie a bomb to him? I'm really curious what your goal is. Are you planning to inerrogate him or do you want to use him to blow up the dam?
I think both of the above is the most likely answer. I really hope she doesn't want to destroy the dam but it seems likely. If the bomb works like it seems and is triggered by Furnance actions or reactions she could even tell herself that it is his fault the dam blew up and not hers. It seems like a argument a crazy killer would make.
Let's hope that Alison arrives it time to prevent te worst.

Well, she's got a camera mounted in her headband, so I'd expect her plan is to interrogate Furnace in a way that makes him implicate himself for open camera in mistreatment of women.

In this scenario the bomb and the dam are for the obvious reason that Furnace considers himself a superhero and does have superpowers, and is predicated on the explosives being strong enough to credibly threaten the dam.

She can't threaten him with a gun, as he's used to melt bullets, and let's just say that coming at him with a knife or other slow methods would be a good way to end up an ash heap, so if she wants a credible threat explosives is probably the only thing she can get her hands on.

Merely threatening his own life, however, is not guaranteed to make him cooperate with interrogation. Since he considers himself a superhero, acts heroic, and is not above putting himself in danger, she has to consider the likelihood that an attempt at controlling him with a bomb vest may make him attempt a heroic escape or even outright attack, as he might consider the noble sacrifice of his own life an acceptable trade in the circumstances if he can kill the supervillain who has captured him.

But the same thing that makes him so hard to control physically, namely that he considers himself a superhero fighting for justice, also makes him vulnerable to threats to the innocent; if he is told that using his powers will make the explosives go off, blast the damn, and kill however many people, then odds are that he'll cooperate.

So that's what I guess Mary's plan is and why she is doing it the way she is.

[TheEmerged]

Well, guess this makes it official that illusions are a power of Mary's (so I was wrong about the tech). Apparently she can leave them running, so to speak, which can be very VERY dangerous - our SFP cannot trust anything she sees, as Mary has clearly had time to prepare.

[Kantaki]

Alison, things like that are the reason "Brute"-type supers are seen as dumb. You know Mary can project illusions, she even confirmed that it is the case, and you still walked right into this trap? That is a bit disappointing.

On the other hand if you are dealing with someone who has "Stranger"-type powers you can't waste to much time with thinking about strategy.

The fake stairs where still obvious.

[TechnoWarforged]

Issue 5: Page 136:

Spoiler: Oh Yeah!

Show

Spoiler: Oh No!

Show

Seriously I'm liking Mary more and more. Her superpowers aren't as powerful as Alison, but she compensate with her ability to think instead of just brute-forcing everything.

she's the heroine this comic deserves, but not the one it needs. :(


Also Theorycraft time:

I think the unconscious Furnace is actually Mary in disguise.


EDIT:

http://strongfemaleprotagonist.com/issue-5/page-137/

OMG I predicted it! Mary called Furnace a F**king Rapist!

[Kantaki]

Just walk away Alison. Walk away and ignore the crazy serial killer.

@TechoWarforged: I don't think Mary is less powerful than Alison. Sure her powers require a bit more cleverness and strategy but if they are used right optical illusions are far more dangerous than superstrenght and invulnerabilty.

[Lethologica]

The interaction between this whole "fix the barrel by throwing out the bad apples" line Mary's taking and her earlier starfish "it matters to this one" approach is interesting.

Also Theorycraft time:

I think the unconscious Furnace is actually Mary in disguise.


EDIT:

http://strongfemaleprotagonist.com/issue-5/page-137/

OMG I predicted it! Mary called Furnace a F**king Rapist!

The juxtaposition of these two comments...

(Not to mention, that was a pretty small part of your earlier prediction.)

[Kantaki]

That's a great way to defend yourself against a invisible foe. Making sure that they they leave a trace you can spot.

Is Mary really trying the "You and I aren't that different" routine? The only person she can convince with that is Mary herself. I can't recall Alison doing anything close to two years of killing people and changing the method so it gets noticed. Sure, both want to change the world, but the roads they travel are very different.

[Connington]

So I think I might be going crazy. Could have sworn I saw an alternate version of today's comic in my RSS feed a couple of days ago. Same art, different dialogue. Specifically, Marry's argument for targeting Furnace was a lot weaker (roughly "Do you really think a guy like that is innocent?"), Allison rebutted that Mary was going to wind up killing an innocent with that style of vigilantism, and then Mary explained that she had killed hundreds of people over the last few years before deciding to stop covering her tracks. And she had definitely killed a few innocent people somewhere in all that, but she didn't care.

It was definitely already down yesterday, so I figure sending it out was probably a technical error. Anyways, I like this version of the script better.

[BRC]

Checking on monday they said they had accidentally put an early version of the script up on the site.

[Dragonus45]

Checking on monday they said they had accidentally put an early version of the script up on the site.

I liked the old one better.

[Kantaki]

New comic.

Saving Mary, saving everyone? How does Alison plan to do that? I mean sure, if she is worried about the impact Mary's actions have on the way the public sees supers or that it might inspire others stoping her might help. But unless she has a way to fundamentaly change Mary's mind - and I don't see how Alison can do this - saving her is not really a option.

[Lethologica]

I get the feeling the statement is there more to provoke Mary into ranting about how she doesn't need saving now like she did when Alison was Megagirl, more than because it's something Alison would actually say. But hey, who knows.

[Kantaki]

I don't know, despite throwing away her mask Alison still has a strong hero-instinct. Especially when a situation has ties to her time as MegaGirl. Trying to save a old ally and/or friend (from herself) fits her behaviour so far. As does wanting to protect others from said ally's behavior.

It's clear that Mary will reject that - after all she sees her self as the one who is right - but that is her problem. And yes, I'm pretty sure she will deliver a rant about her motivation. There can never be enough of those.

[Kantaki]

New comic.

I think if Mary would actually explain her point of view to Alison it would help the latter to understand her.
But as Alison said they were trained to solve problems with violence. And unlike Alison Mary still thinks that she can solve them that way.
And she seems to have a „with me or against me”-world view - Alison stops her from killing Chris, therefore she's against her and with him.

[Lethologica]

I think Mary's explained her POV just fine. It's just a terribly flawed POV.

I don't think Alison's choosing the most effective rhetoric to get through to Mary, but then, it's a fair question whether anything would get through to Mary. And Alison isn't expected to be perfect, after all.

[Kantaki]

She did explain her world-view?
Oh, right. All those headache inducing statements.

Well, I think that Mary is wrong when she says that „Mega Girl” - it seems significant that she addresses Al this way, since it reduces her to her old mask, to her powers - doesnt understand her. Alison just doesn't agree with her.
Of course Mary might think „If she understood she would agree”, that would fit the other things she said.

Regarding Alison’s approach to helping Mary: She is trying to prevent a friend from making a mistake right now. It's just that Mary doesn't see her as a friend (anymore?) but as a enemy or obstacle in her war.

I really doubt Mary can be stopped peacefully at this point. At least not by Alison, their philosophies are completely different.
Al realized that she has to change the world peacefully, that by using violence to solve things she only creates more problems.
Mary on the other hand sees violence as the only way to solve problems, as the only option to change things.

Another problem with Alison trying to talk Mary down is that she represents a lot of things Mary hates.
For Mary Mega Girl is an embodiment of those in power of the status quo.
That Alison „sides” with Furnace makes it only worse. For her it confirms that Mega Girl is part of the problem, the enemy.

[Dragonus45]

I can't help but be bothered by them whitewashing away the original script of that comic a few strips back. It felt like a much more realistic and honest portrayal of Mary's world view. Instead of making it clear that she was "sure" of every last person she brutally murdered outside of the law.