GrrlPower III: Crisis Of Infinite Filler Comics

[tomandtish]

For me, it's not that they have a pool on the top of the building. That can (and has) been done.

It's that they have a pool they train powers in, and apparently test unexplored and unknown powers in, on top of the building.

Regardless of the amount of reinforcement, does this seem like a bad idea to anyone else? Or is it just me?

A bomb range seems like a better place for that type of pool.

[lord_khaine]

That is a really good point. Power testing should honestly be done somewhere out in the desert.
I mean, assume as a minimum that the unknown orb can be as destructive as the Beam Orb. Thats going to slice a large hole in the pool, and flood the entire building.

[John Campbell]

Momentarily my ass, she has been down there for a while in a very relaxed situation. Doing that in combat would be one thing but this is something totally beyond.

Yes, momentarily. For the moment between, "I guess I'll try the green one," and, "Whoops! I let go of the wrong one!", Sydney forgot to keep track of which of the identical except for a slight color difference balls that she doesn't always use in the same hand she had in which hand, or which ball she needed to keep and which one it was okay to let go (note also that she's spent a lot of time lately drilling do not let go of the fly ball into her head), and automatically reached for the green ball with the wrong hand.

And while Dave has a bad habit of wasting entire pages on setup for weak jokes, or on the characters just screwing around (often when they really, really shouldn't be), or blatant excuses for cheese/beefcake, this isn't that. They're actually pursuing something plot-related, trying to figure out what the two unknown orbs do. Sydney isn't being wacky for the sake of wackiness. She just honestly screwed up.

What does get me about this page is that Sydney and Maxima went to great lengths to set it up so that Sydney can experiment with the unknown balls "in the water" without actually being in the water in any meaningful way. With the shield around her, she might as well be standing next to the pool, for all the difference it makes. I suspect that the situation was contrived so that Sydney can be trapped in deep water without her breathing apparatus so she can discover that the ball she was reaching for is a life support ball, but since that clearly wasn't the plan from the characters' perspective, I can't think of any reason why they would be doing it like this.

(And, yeah, testing unknown powers in the pool on top of the building with others (most of whom do not have any special durability powers) sunning themselves right next to the pool, instead of somewhere less likely to produce casualties if things go wrong, as they always do with Sydney involved.)

[Traab]

Even ignoring the whole bomb range idea (which is a good one) just an actual LAB would be a good idea. Want to submerge her in water? Give her the breathing apparatus and dunk her in a tank and let her fiddle with it. She doesnt need to be in a swimming pool, no matter how reinforced it may be.

[lord_khaine]

I guess the idea is that a lab contains even more expensive and easily broken stuff than a swimming pool.
Certainly, i would myself not do such tests in a place where there were anything nearby that i cared about losing.

And on second though, that does make it a lot smarter that Max is taking time out of her busy scedule to watch Sydney fiddle with her balls. She is best suited to handle a sudden accident.

[Rogar Demonblud]

If you remember the plan, they're testing the orbs in a variety of environments. Mixing Shield+Fly+water for aquatic insertions probably being one bullet point on the list, and as long as the shield is up, you do that section.

And I'm guessing the tanning crew already left. Varia and Jiggawatt were the only ones complaining about Sydney's reverse cannonball, and they likely took that as a clue to get out of Dodge.

[Sean Mirrsen]

New comic.

Spoiler

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Well now. The orbs are starting to look like some kind of personal spaceship. Perhaps for someone with seven arms. Or eight, to keep one extra arm free.

So far we have Weapons, Shields, Propulsion, Sensors/Comms/Transporter, Tractor beam/manipulator, and now Life Support/maybe Environmental. This would make the last orb Engineering, perhaps Maintenance/Power.

Interesting.

[Yuki Akuma]

Spoiler: Reaction to new comic

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I like how the orb apparently reacted to the lack of air all by itself - even seeming to fly into Halo's hand without her calling it. Do these things have some sort of rudimentary AI or something?

Also, I wonder if it's a coincidence that the bubble is sized to comfortably fit Maxima and Sydney, or if it automatically tries to accommodate anyone nearby?

[Eldan]

New comic.

Spoiler

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Well now. The orbs are starting to look like some kind of personal spaceship. Perhaps for someone with seven arms. Or eight, to keep one extra arm free.

So far we have Weapons, Shields, Propulsion, Sensors/Comms/Transporter, Tractor beam/manipulator, and now Life Support/maybe Environmental. This would make the last orb Engineering, perhaps Maintenance/Power.

Interesting.

Spoiler

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Makes me wonder what someone of Dabbler's species could do with that.

[tomandtish]

New comic.

Spoiler

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Well now. The orbs are starting to look like some kind of personal spaceship. Perhaps for someone with seven arms. Or eight, to keep one extra arm free.

So far we have Weapons, Shields, Propulsion, Sensors/Comms/Transporter, Tractor beam/manipulator, and now Life Support/maybe Environmental. This would make the last orb Engineering, perhaps Maintenance/Power.

Interesting.

Actually, I'm still leaning ...

Spoiler

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towards healing, given that the bruise she had in 295 is never shown again, even though we're still only 8-9 days (at most) after the fight even now.

Also, I wonder if the one big fat stand-alone slot that each orb has is what allows it to move into the hand on it's own like that. Note that the flight ball hasn't done that when Sydney drops it. She had to grab it again. This orb did, and it's the only one that has that stand-alone filled.

[Eldan]

Hmm. That reminds me. Has anyone except Sydney ever tried using the orbs? Or even touching them?

[The Glyphstone]

Wouldn't the lack of a bruise be explained by the presence of the superpowered Doctor they have on staff?

[tomandtish]

Wouldn't the lack of a bruise be explained by the presence of the superpowered Doctor they have on staff?

It would, except it is gone before she even gets to Arc headquarters. She stops off at the comic store first that morning and it's already gone.

(Maybe Dave just drew it to show it and then stopped drawing it).

[Ibrinar]

New comic.

Spoiler

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Well now. The orbs are starting to look like some kind of personal spaceship. Perhaps for someone with seven arms. Or eight, to keep one extra arm free.

So far we have Weapons, Shields, Propulsion, Sensors/Comms/Transporter, Tractor beam/manipulator, and now Life Support/maybe Environmental. This would make the last orb Engineering, perhaps Maintenance/Power.

Interesting.

True even with just three arms it do well enough for that since you need to always grab shield, want to grab flight most of the time probably, but can switch between the others.

So next experiment starve her for a few days and see if the last one solves the problem, because she can't travel far without food. Though I guess the real problem is keeping them active while sleeping.

[Rogar Demonblud]

It would, except it is gone before she even gets to Arc headquarters. She stops off at the comic store first that morning and it's already gone.

(Maybe Dave just drew it to show it and then stopped drawing it).

We're given a good look at her bathroom counter, which includes several items of makeup. She put on a concealing layer of foundation after her shower.

[Traab]

Heh, either we all guessed the story path or dave felt like bringing it up himself after the comment section. But yep, sydney made the space ship connection herself. Also, different art style on this one. Its kinda nice. Feels a bit more... I dunno, realistic?

*EDIT* That being said, it means we have one more orb to discover, so what is missing from this power set going the one man spaceship dynamic? One possibility is power source. This is her warp engine that makes it possible to use all those other aspects. Another possibility might be its a respec ball. Basically, this is her computer core where she can alter her setup as needed. Shuffle the points around if, for example, there is a mission where they absolutely HAVE to go to... I dunno, mars. Its not a combat mission but they have to get there quick, so sydney removes points from her blaster orb to further boost her speed, her life support for other people she may have as passengers, and maybe her shield to make it bigger/stronger/more protective from all the crap thats outside our atmosphere. Sort of like a more unwieldy version of what max can do with her powers. That would also keep the maxima lite feel that I have always felt about sydneys character. She is always going to be behind maxima in every super stat, but unlike everyone else she HAS all those stats. Plus a few extra of course but yeah, minimax.

[Sean Mirrsen]

The big missing piece so far is Engineering - i.e. power and maintenance, or sustenance and healing, in living organism terms. It could be folded into the new life support orb, like a general thing that helps you not die.

A different possibility, that Sydney may be extremely happy with if it turns out to be the case, is...

...cargo hold.

Spaceships carry things. Like hammers. In space.

[BannedInSchool]

It's the Alien MRE orb. Yum!

[halfeye]

It's the Alien MRE orb. Yum!

You are halfway there, it's an organic waste recycling plant.

[Traab]

The big missing piece so far is Engineering - i.e. power and maintenance, or sustenance and healing, in living organism terms. It could be folded into the new life support orb, like a general thing that helps you not die.

A different possibility, that Sydney may be extremely happy with if it turns out to be the case, is...

...cargo hold.

Spaceships carry things. Like hammers. In space.

Cargo hold is possible. That would be interesting if she is say, holding onto a sandwich and testing the last orb, she needs her other hand free, is thinking she needs to get rid of it and boom, it vanishes. I think the sustenance and healing would be covered by her life support orb though. It would fit as a second tree in the pile. The further you fill it out, the more it does to keep you alive. That being said, imagine if it works as a mechanical repair orb? Think about it. Why would you normally be out in space in the first place? Your ship is damaged and needs to be fixed. Touch the damaged portion with the orb and it works like a harry potter reparo spell. Once again, thats something that would be easy to accidentally discover. They go to a wrecked area just to be safe and start trying all sorts of random things to trigger its effect. Sydney leans against a busted jeep to relax for a second and suddenly the frame straightens out and pulls back together.

[lord_khaine]

If nothing else this would most likely help them a lot in eventually guessing the use of the last orb.

[Traab]

At the very least it gives them a much shorter list to start with. Its not certain it will be connected to being a "spaceship" but the odds are good that it will all fit together. Theorycrafting time! Right now, speed aside, sydney cant really do much in the way of space travel. She needs her shield, her flight, and her life support and she can only take them two at a time. However, could she use her life support orb to fill her shield with fresh air while taking her hand off the flight orb briefly? That would make transport in atmosphere, while a bit of a bumpy ride with the brief freefall every few minutes, viable for long term travel. And of course in space there is no free fall so stopping her acceleration for a few seconds wouldnt be a notable issue at all.

[halfeye]

At the very least it gives them a much shorter list to start with. Its not certain it will be connected to being a "spaceship" but the odds are good that it will all fit together. Theorycrafting time! Right now, speed aside, sydney cant really do much in the way of space travel. She needs her shield, her flight, and her life support and she can only take them two at a time. However, could she use her life support orb to fill her shield with fresh air while taking her hand off the flight orb briefly? That would make transport in atmosphere, while a bit of a bumpy ride with the brief freefall every few minutes, viable for long term travel. And of course in space there is no free fall so stopping her acceleration for a few seconds wouldnt be a notable issue at all.

The spheres are obviously designed for cephalopods.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Providing the green orb is true life support (i.e., includes nutrition), the only major stop left is medical. We just need to find a volunteer to hurt Sidney so we can test the hypothesis.

[Traab]

Providing the green orb is true life support (i.e., includes nutrition), the only major stop left is medical. We just need to find a volunteer to hurt Sidney so we can test the hypothesis.

Arianna: "I VOLUNTEER!!!!" Considering the headaches she has given the poor pr lady over the weeks... yeah im still going with maxima lite as sydneys unofficial nickname. Sydney just SAYS things that arent very appropriate for public speaking, maxima DOES things like nuke a tank to show how strong she is.

[Sean Mirrsen]

We know Varia doesn't have to touch hands with the person she's drawing her gestalt power from - from her experiments with Jiggawatt and "magnetoing" we saw she just has to have physical contact and her hands can stay free.

And from her contact with Sydney we know that at least theoretically, her gestalt power will allow her to also control the orbs.

So in theory, should the team need a spaceship to go fight aliens on the ISS or something, Sydney and Varia together could hold the Flight, Shield, and Life Support orbs at the same time.

[Rogar Demonblud]

And a fourth one, if Varia and Halo link arms so the skin contact is at the elbows.

[Traab]

NEW THEORY! I HAVE A NEW THEORY!

Maximas power source is the same as sydneys. Only in her case, the geode was an encrusted org that was damaged. When she cracked it open, she drank the power source of the orbs, they integrated with her system, granting her a long list of powers that match or exceed what sydney can do. Its not a perfect match, but she has flight, her durability is easily a shield analog, her blaster abilities could easily be the ppo, the lighthook may have become her strength, and her ability to adjust her powers on the fly may be the mysterious orb ability sydney has yet to figure out. A way to shuffle the points around as needed for specific tasks. Because they are totally integrated with her, she isnt limited to only using a couple of abilities at once. She can tank a nuke while flying with an elephant on her back, and shooting down an enemy helicarrier. Thats also why they are stronger than sydneys abilities. They count as fully unlocked so she has all the upgrades available. The only one missing is the comm orb. Thats probably the biggest hole in the theory, but has she ever TRIED? In fact, is there any reason to think she doesnt have a form of super vision she could use? It having to bond to her body could explain the various differences in power expression as well.

[Traab]

Todays update.... wow. I really hope that last orb does healing because im pretty sure she burst a blood vessel in her brain. She is bleeding heavily out the nose, one of her pupils is pinned while the other is massively dilated. Thats not much of a joke if its meant as a gag and not a serious injury. Im hoping next comic is maxima slapping sydneys hand on the mystery orb and hoping it does some good before flying her to the doc at her best speed.

[The Glyphstone]

Pretty sure it's just the anime-esque art being used for a joke, as it sometimes does.