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Grrl Power #1138 - Sure-re-re-re-render
🕑 Added 2023-03-23 10:00:04 +0000 UTCThank you for the support! You guys are awesome!
Goon Squad literally has no skin in this game. Well... he's flesh and blood until the dupe dies, then it turns into weird chalky stuff that eventually disintegrates into powder. And even though his dupes loses IQ points for every few copies he makes, he's still smart enough to recognize that everyone who signs paychecks is already in custody. That puts him ahead of most thugs, honestly.
It's got to be annoying, because like a teleporter, he's kind of impossible to arrest without taking some kind of extreme measures. At best, you could knock his dupes out and keep them in a coma, since he can de-duplicate at will. Really, all you'd be doing at that point is making sure that any other dupes he makes start off a few IQ points down. It's not nothing, but keeping people in medically induced comas isn't exactly cheap.
Weirdly, he could take Harem on five separate dates at the same time. She only has one mind, so hopefully he'd take her on five different dates. Like if he took her to 5 different restaurants, it's possible she'd get confused which one of her had already ordered when they waiter came by. Plus she'd have to deal with tasting lobster with one mouth and pizza with another and Korean BBQ with another and so on. Best for one of her to go to a restaurant, one to go to something like a Dave and Busters, one go to a fair, etc. We don't know how Goon Squad's mind works exactly, but we can guess that he doesn't doesn't have the same distributed consciousness like Harem. He seems to know when his dupes get taken out, but as to whether or not he absorbs their experience is up in the air.
Comments
JonPR
If it's like a Naruto clone, the memories and experiences are received by the original when a clone dies or is dismissed.
Woodrobin
In Marvel comics, Jamie Maddox (aka the Multiple Man) has the ability to duplicate (originally it was uncontrolled, triggered by any impact over a certain threshold (he duplicated when the doctor slapped him on the rear to stimulate his breathing when he was born)). The duplicates have the same memories and sense of identity as the original (although lately they've begun to emphasize aspects of his personality more strongly than the original, so he'd have a morose duplicate, a horny duplicate, etc). When he reabsorbs them, the reunified person has the collective memories of all the duplicates. So they continue, in a sense, as part of the whole. He's sent out duplicates to explore different skills, areas of education, and careers and gathered a large communal skill set as a result. There's two downsides to his power -- the first inconvenient, the second horrific: first, if the duplicate drifts far enough from the original in terms of perspective, it may not want to rejoin, which leads to a sort of existential identity crisis. The second came up when one of his duplicates had a child with Siryn (another mutant): his mutation (unusually for a Marvel mutant) was active at birth. His child inherited the mutation. The first time he held his child, his power treated it as a duplicate (like the father) and absorbed it into himself, which he of course had no idea would happen. He still has scars on his chest from her trying to literally claw her baby back out of him. So, y'know, there's worse ways for duplicating powers to work.
AlpineBob
I'm assuming not, or the heroes would <i>not</i> be considering using them for target practice. And why I assumed killing them on a movie set would be fine too. Killing the original, on the other hand...would be (murder). Unless he has some dupes out, and the last dupe standing becomes a new "original". I doubt he wants to test that scenario, as more than likely it wouldn't work that way. But that brings up a <i>different</i> interesting scenario: if the original was offed, would the outstanding goons know? If they did, he'd be one of few who could avenge "himself" after death.
akrasia
Would killing one of the goon squad even be considered murder?
AlpineBob
Actually, there is no real reason he couldn't have a similar multi-processor consciousness to Harem. Except...they don't act like it. "Shut up, Ted" indicates that what one body is thinking/saying isn't shared. OK, so no quantum gestalt. And without the original, no way to tell if he remembers what the copies do, or have done. But I'm inclined to say yes - otherwise, how would he know whether or not Harem agreed to a date after all his copies are toasted! What I don't get is what the copies get out of it - the original is slacking at home. Why go off to be a mercenary for your original, when you know you're just gonna die? Why not go to art school and do some life drawing, or surfing, or whatever? Or, since you are OK with dying... be a stuntman! The only stunt double that it is OK to kill! "Now in this shot, Ted, you are gonna get smashed by a freight train. You ready? Action!" "In the next scene, you fall off a 10 story building, and the camera follows you to impact."
LaughyTraffy
Are you still 19 if you've been living as 5 separate consciousnesses for the better part of 10 years? She certainly acts like a 19 year old but she's probably had at least 50+ years of sensory experience and cognitive processing. If she is, for all intents and purposes, 19 would that be considered a limitation of her superpower that she can't processes her life as efficiently as multiple separate people? Or is it just a biological limitation? I feel like this is a philosophical can of worms I'm not qualified to open.
