Grrl Power #1236 – Bespoke accommodations
Happy leap comic! If today wasn’t a leap year, it would make zero difference in when you received this page, so… there’s that?
Don’t feel too bad, Sydney. Don’t know you that you’re judged by your enemies’ regard for you? Also your sensibly cautious allies. This containment solution would also work pretty well against mages. At least the ones that need to wiggle their fingers to cast spells. The fact that the chair is obviously designed for someone who is exactly 5 feet tall? You know, mages are from the olden times when people didn’t have as much food and were usually shorter… no, this room was designed for you.
BTW, I know a taser doesn’t really knock people out, at least not for an extended period of time, but when Harem needs someone knocked out immediately, she goes for the taser-sedative combo. Also she just wanted to taze Sydney.
BTW, it’s obnoxious that Noun Taser is spelled with an “s” but Verb Taze is spelled with a “z.” Like, was there a word “tase” that the committee in charge of such things were worried people were going to confuse it with? I know “taser” is actually an acronym for “Tom A. Swift Electric Rifle” but the guy could have done us all a favor and changed his last name to Zwift, so both the noun and verb have a “z” in them. Also there’s a million dudes named “Swift” but probably a lot fewer named “Zwift.” You have to have a unique name if you want to be famous. Imagine if Einstein’s last name was Jones or Smith. Or if Ernst Mach’s last name was something boring like Johnson? Or if it didn’t happen to be cool, and instead was something like Longbottom? The movie Firefox would have been a lot different if Clint Eastwood was like “Let’s push it to Longbottom 4.”
My point is, have a cool name if you’re going to invent or name something.
The new vote incentive is up! This is a bit of a weird one as it’s a character that hasn’t appeared in the comic.
It’s my Ifrit Pathfinder 1e monk, Fray! Ifrits don’t really make great monks in Pathfinder, as player characters they get a +2 to Dex and Cha, but -2 to Wis. For monks, Dex is good, Cha is largely irrelevant, but Wis is important as it can add to your AC and also has something to do with Ki points I think. But I didn’t care. I wanted a character with dark blue/gray skin and glowing orange hair, so that’s what I picked. (I don’t think Ifrit even really have dark skin, so maybe she’s 1/4 Drow? Don’t care. I think she looks cool.) Will she show up in the comic? I mean… maybe? Probably in a Dabbler flashback, but who knows?
As usual, Patreon has her in delicto flagrante.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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Batman Contingencies. Although wouldn’t be surprised if only the gloves are to stop her powers, everything else is to stop her from hurting herself.
When asked if she has any weaknesses, Sidney specifically stated mittens because she has to hold the orbs in her hands to use them. She also mentioned that, like Dracula, she will die if stabbed in the heart with a wooden stake.
Yes this is very true. Plus for some reason she’s Tethered to her orbs from a certain distance and now we know that just taking her body or her blood won’t allow someone to control her orbs.
Plan B probably involves a hot guy with abs. Plan C might be riddled with bullets.
“Wooden stakes, your guaranteed murder weapon since 50,000 BC!”
I hate to say it but that does seem legit. Sydney is the kind of person that thinks so outside the box the only way to keep her trapped in the Box is to have her in a circle
Imagine if Ernst Mach’s name had been John B. Goodenough.
Imagine if his surname was Phart.
Chuck Yeager becomes the first man to exceed the sound barrier as he flies past Phart 1!
General our new cruise missile can evade the enemies defenses as it flies in at Phart Three point Five!
I’m surprised that Lapha is still attached to Sydney. I figured that either Dabbler would have some sort of psychic crowbar to pry her loose, or Archon would just call in the girl who can edit reality. Either way Sydney is free and Lapha is stuck inside a mason jar.
We don’t know how much time it’s been and Dabbler is currently ill.
Probably safer not to edit reality when you can avoid it
I’m sure that, once she was neutralized, Max would want her awake and consenting before ripping things from her mind, even a squatter.
Is the Maxima box empty? I bet the Maxima box is empty.
I think the Maxima box would be some kind of knock out gas. As far as we know, she still has to breathe. Of course, with her speed, getting the gas into her system is still a tough problem.
From previous pages and the general requirements, the “Maxima neutralization” measures have to be something that even Maxima doesn’t know about.
It’s also why there should be at least one other super team that isn’t publicly acknowledged, possibly two (who don’t know about each other).
Hold on, if Lapha could move the body while Sydney was asleep, then that raises a couple questions. Question one is a bit pedantic, but how come Sydney looks all dopey in the first two panels. And two, after an extended period of time sharing a body, would the body burn out like, physically?
If the body shuts down, Lapha can’t move it. It looks like she was unconscious as well, since nerve endings were overloaded
Can’t run a machine of the signals and the wiring is all wonky. And more then likely, Harem just picked her up and teleported to the room.
I think Sydney would exceed the weight limit that Harem can carry. Unless Harem is able to carry more if she combines her different forms into one.
It was mentioned that Harem cannot transport living things.
It seems she can move the body Panels 7 & 8 look to be Sydney trying to break the straps and Lapha says that she’s tried that already.
1. Lapha probably didn’t bother to hold her neck up or her mouth closed.
2. Probably not. There’s nothing suggesting it, and the meatsuit bodies seem to be fine for long-term use.
Good friends help you move the body. Will you be my friend?
…. or provide your alibi, not all of us “good friends” are physically capable of the body moving
I hope that suit has an attached catheter. If not, they probably expect a swift resolution.
Assless prison chaps
Nowadays, catheters are not used for incontinence. Different gadget entirely, noninvasive.
https://www.purewickathome.com/clinician-information.html
Well ain’t THAT link going to generate some interesting google recommendations :(
Sydney is in official trouble. They removed her collar.
Probably removed any and all technology from her to make sure Lapha can’t have access to the wireless transmission network.
We can’t see if she still has her choker as her new collar is covering where it would be
No, Lapha is officially in trouble. Sydney is just forced along the ride.
I hope that when Lapha is removed Syndey pulls a “Batman” and releases herself from the prison to the tune of everyone watching saying “Oh crap”. I mean, they pulled a “Batman contingency” putting her in there. Shouldn’t everyone get a chance to be Batman?
I think I know the batman move for this one. She has some level of mental control over the orbs.
How fast do you think she can make them move? I am thinking either high-speed vibration or having each one spin really fast, heating up the container with friction and/or shattering it.
Moving that fast while in the same room would just kill Sydney.
Sorry I haven’t read all the comments, but too many and I’m too tired at this time.
If anyone doesn’t know, Tom Swift is a fictional character that was first published way back in 1910…
I think it ended in the latter 1920s.
Yes, Sci-Fi really is that old even if you’re someone that skips the Victorian stuff (H.G. Wells and his contemporaries)
You’d be amazed how many popular things people think are of modern design are pre 1920s.
(Heck, even the lightsaber is around a century or so old, though it had different names back then.)
No, they kept going. After the first Tom Swift become implausibly old, they started a new series with Tom Swift Jr. I read some of those books as a kid.
There’s been several series and reboots etc. There’s been a number of different authors under a common pen name.
cut to TENRI’s dorm room:
Door opens. Near naked MYSTERIOUS LIZARD FEMALE (MyLF) with very large tail strolls in.
GARRAM is instantly surprised/drooling/mesmerized. MyLF shoots him with a dart.
GARRAM collapses. MyLF disguise dissolves, revealing DABBLER.
PARFAIT strolls in, along with ZEPHAN ZOENG.
Insert humorous discussion.
PARFAIT collects body of TENRI. DABBLER picks up GARRAM. ZEPHAN collects TENRI’s prison lamp.
All Exit.
Don’t you mean Parfait collects *Lapha’s body?
I do love the idea of this scene playing out.
One thing I do wonder, it is implied Lapha was awake before Sydney … did Lapha have control over the orbs while Sydney slept? Basically wondering if the orbs are tethered to Sydney s a psyche, or is it that she just has superior control over them due to experience.
I think Archon had similar questions and decided that they are not going to give Lapha the chance to find out, hence the tasing and this swanky prison cell.
Yeah, I am just wondering if they got their answer, did Lapha move the orbs (futily) while Sydney was out, or did they go still etc.
So I get that it’s an artistic way to show “Sydney waking up”, but I assume Lapha would have been using her eyes while she was out if she had control of the body. Sydney wouldn’t need to open her eyes. It would make even more sense given that Lapha wanted her awake, and the light stimulation might have triggered her to wake up sooner.
Isn’t this somewhat similar to the scenario she was afraid of back before ARC contacted her? I’d be both pissed and start planning some scenarios myself if this occurred, no matter how well-intentioned it is.
That’s the immediate thing I was thinking. I’d imagine the fact that she knows who did this and why is easing her considerably right now. This is nearly the scenario she imagined back in… um, actually I can’t find it right now.
But padded room, straight-jacket(ish), orbs kept as far as possible in a separate container… yeah this checks several boxes of her “going crazy” daydream
I imagine you’re thinking of panel 3 on page 752.
Everyone keep talking about how this is for Sydney but that is a mistake. This is for Lapha.
Sydney might not be the ideal candidate, but as far as the government is concerned, Sydney is a loyal and (reasonably) competent girl on the payroll who can be trusted as much as anyone in Archon can be trusted. Sydney is not against the man, she is on the man’s woman with a fat payroll.
No, this is security theater for Lapha. The extremes that they put Sydney through? This is to signal to her that Archon are not going to allow the slighest slip in making sure that Lapha will never get a chance at those orbs ever again, even if it comes at the discomfort of one of their own. Sure, the orbs seemed to have a contingency against body-snatchers but Archon do not, cannot, know how extensive they are or whether there are loopholes that Lapha could exploit. This little jailcell is there to tell her, she is not going to get a chance to find out.
Also, Daphe overheard that Lapha is holding on to Sydney’s body as negotiating leverage. So Archon knows it as well. So the jailcell is also theater to convince her that said leverage is not as big as she thinks it is precisely because they are willing to be rough with Sydney. It may be a deception on Archon’s part, but it is better to ask forgiveness from Sydney later than to give an inch to Lapha now. Lapha may not be the worst person in the comic, but she is obviously in a desperate situation and Archon has no reason to give her any leniency whatsoever (especially after she just blurted out a national secret that is certainly going to cause trouble for Earth and everyone on it).
I love this idea! I was thinking that this seems like such overkill for Sydney when they could just put her in a regular cell (and perma-gloves) with her orbs locked in an adjoining room so she has freedom like a regular prisoner.
But this all being for Lapha’s sake, so that they can get her out, makes SO MUCH more sense. Really smart take on this.
You’d think they could at least have given her a neck pillow. She’s gonna have such a crick in her neck!
Physical restraint is bad for someone as hyperactive as Sydney. Even worse, though, is the lack of mental stimulation by putting her in a cell with padded walls.
It pretty much is torture for Sydney. If Lapha weren’t there to argue with, Sydney would need a *lot* of therapy to get past this, if she’s left alone in there for long.
I do not think this is a serious long-term plan for Sydney, this is a hold area until the figure out what to do with Lapha/ wait until they get the appropriate stuff to get her out of Sydney. They have been probably monitoring her every since they put her inside and throughout the time she woke up. They just want them to think they are alone and thus talk more honestly/earnestly.