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Grrl Power #944 - Something about interrupting a Colonel
🕑 Added 2021-05-13 10:00:46 +0000 UTCThanks so much for your support! Like, seriously, you guys.
To view the full-size version... left-click, right-click, new tab. Or left click then use the scroll wheel to zoom in and click and drag the image. I just figured that one out myself.
FYI: People had been correctly pointing out that the "hyperdrive" branch of the skill tree needed an orb in the first spot, so I've added that now. Not retroactively yet, but at any rate, the OCD amongst you can unclench slightly. Also, the center ring wasn't notated correctly. The "pizza slices" in the absolute middle light up as points are spent in the surrounding ring, and I had forgotten that when she bought the points there when she was on the Alari homeworld. So panel 1 is a fully accurate shot of the skilltree at this point in the comic. Until Sydney spends her new point, anyway.
Maxima is ridiculously (unrealistically) easy going most of the time when it comes to saluting and... I don't know what it's called. Military... affectations? All the snapping to attention, needing to ask permission to speak candidly, all that stuff. I'm sure there's a term for it. She's so lax that I'm sure some people forget Archon is actually military most of the time, and I have to imagine some readers who were in the military just politely nod and think "Military. Sure." But I think we can all accept that Sydney, and actually a lot of the team simply wouldn't thrive in a proper military environment.
I've actually considered a scenario where Sydney gets seconded to a proper military unit, like some naval unit needs her for some deep-sea reconnaissance or something. I just don't think I know enough about military life to make that remotely satisfying to read, and also I don't think it'd be very funny, because Sydney would probably get in trouble almost immediately and be in tears by the end of the third page.
Presumably, Sydney is actually learning all that saluting, standing at attention, and marching up and down the square. Just, off camera. I'm not sure that stuff would make for the most entertaining pages.
ANYWAY. Every once in a while, Maxima feels the need to remind everyone she is their boss and not to interrupt her the moment she enters a room then burst into laughter.
Twenty laps for Sydney is not the same punishment as twenty laps for Dabbler. Even if Dabbler wasn't topped with tantric energy, she's a fit adventurer who has been in her share of running gun battles and "must reach the dark tower before the demon god awakens" situations, etc. Honestly, even 40 laps would barely tax her. Max would need to consider something absurdly boring to actually punish Dabbler.
(Dabbler has summoned a little magical fan to blow cool air on her in that last panel, in case you were wondering what that blue thing was.)
Comments
zerotraveler
It's a bit late, but when Sydney was fighting the gargantuan tentacle aliens, she a was making a big deal about how they were picking up that every time she went to attack her flight pattern got predictable. Probably because she was going into a dive of some sort, switching off to the PPO to let off an attack, then recovering with the Fly ball afterwards. (Because, you know, deathgrip on the Shield Orb) We can see here, and I believe before as well, that the Fly Orb and the PPO are already "linked" with the upgrade node between them. If the link upgrade allowed the Firepower and Flight modes to be used at the same time, that's definitely something that would have been noticed, especially in a high-stress situation where exactly that kind of panic thinking would come about.
Stan
Just noticed Dabbler's looking a little "snotty" today.
Jeff Oberg
She already took her shot at it on the Alari homeworld. How many of those space kraken things did she kill?
Jordan Brennan
I have a theory about the orbs: Orbs respond to mental commands, even subconscious ones as we saw in the pool scene. The skill tree shows each of the orbs with it's own skill tree, plus being connected to each other in around the edge and the star pattern. You then have the 2 inner circles. So in conclusion: Once Sydney has connected ALL the orbs together, She will only need to be touching 1 to be able to use all the powers, possibly the one left we don't know what it's power is, to be able to use ALL the abilities.
Joe Koenen
The term used for "military affectations" during my brief tenure was "Soldierization" The first 2-3 weeks of basic is just soldierization and PT. Once they've thinned the herd a bit, then they let you blow stuff up.
akrasia
Ayup, you can get away with a lot if you're always right. Or, at least, never wrong (not the same thing at all).
Mike
And Sydney's boy had just soaked her at the pool while she was dealing with a security breach. She wasn't in the mood to let things slide :D
William Elliott
from most of the veterans I have talked to that were in combat arms or direct support, their best commanders were like that. Relatively easy going till you did something dumb, especially when others above them in the chain of command or outside the chain of command were present.
Eric Loken
We had a teacher like that in high school. Pretty easy going and lax about teacher - student interaction... up until you pissed him off, then he'd remind you rather firmly of what the actual pecking order was.
Eric Loken
Don't think Krona is ArcSWAT is she? I thought she was Council, just working with ArcSWAT.
Ray
Decorum? Discipline? Protocol? Courtesy? Probably Courtesy.
Evil Midnight Lurker
Are they going to get Krona in to have a better look?
Evgeny Sandu
The one between the center and the orange (unknown) orb is not supposed to be occupied... no? https://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-672-engage-your-advanced-math-skills/
Evgeny Sandu
that's the one I was looking for!
Tom wilson
Yes. A lap around a standard track you'll see circling a football field is 1/4 mile (or 400 meters.)
cittran genericlastname
Do you have a rough idea (measured in years, probably) of how long it's going to take Sydney to figure out how to speedrun getting more pips? She's a gamer, a geek, *and* a nerd, and she has ADHD -- and if there's one combination of things that basically guarantees attempts at speedrunning something mentally engaging, it's having the knowledge to test stuff and the lack of patience to try it. Not like I'm speaking directly from many cases of experience or anything. >_> No, not at all.
Cha11engerD
If I recall correctly, one of the first pages had Max refer to Sydney as Corporal.
Isaac Nagel
Another thought: Sydney never really had any kind of Basic Training to instill any kind of military bearing or customs and courtesies reactions (I've been out 2 years and my hand still twitches when I walk past an officer, and sometimes I panic because I don't have my hat.) She's just a Recruit. I don't know what her rank will end up, because it may be based on powers and demonstrated skillset, but I don't see her rising to officer status. There's too much politicking and crap that goes with the shiny rank... That being said, I have worked with a couple of Warrant Officers that behaved very similarly to Sydney.
Isaac Nagel
I know what you mean. Certain jobs attract or sort-of-create a certain kind of person and there were a few that were very ADHD-friendly(?) in MI. By the end of my career I could tell you what your MOS was (if MI) by talking to you for 3 minutes about just about any subject.
Isaac Nagel
Actually, you hit the "Oh yeah, I'm in such a lax military unit I forgot I was IN the military at the wrong moment." PERFECTLY. I was in Military Intelligence for all 20 years I served, and I had one or two (or twelve) moments that were pretty much exactly like this. Luckily they were mostly before the Army stopped allowing for physical-training-as-punishment and started doing up counseling statements for every little thing... Actually, I just thought of something. I know while I was in I had to do monthly counseling statements that acted as sort-of evaluations. I'd love to see one of Sydney's.
Town Crier
I think that the dot that connects the Life Support Orb to the Shield Orb would be the ideal pick. It tries something new, thus potentially learning more about the skill tree, plus a good chance that the orbs somehow combine powers in a manner that negates Sydney's need to swap orbs.
Town Crier
Military discipline has been somewhat lax...
Town Crier
Dabbler could do with some Bart Simpson/ Chalkboard time. Tedious and very time consuming.
Aclys
Technically Dabbler is a consultant, while there's Might be clauses in there about having to respect the people in the team (and commanding it) and generally obey Maxima during missions, we've seen Dabbler literally grab dat ass and not really come off any worse for it in terms of being put on punitive duties. So I think its fairly safe to say whatever contract she has does Not allow Maxima to assign those kind of things to her or otherwise administer punishments beyond personal actions like the punches she threw. Might be that Dabbler takes a hit to her consultation fee instead or some suchlike though?
Michael Obert
Max sure can suck the fun out of a room; just like Dabbler sure can suck the . . . uh, nevermind :)
Daniel Schinhofen
Thank you for the marching up and down the square.
Immortal_Knight
Nice reference to monty pythons the meaning of life! great fucking movie
Zulu November
Customs and courtesies would also be acceptable
Aaron Mauthe
20 laps on a standard track is 5 miles, right?
Justaguy
20 laps for Sydney. 20hrs celibate for Dabbler?
Marc Vun Kannon
Nice to see Sydney and Dabbler having a fun bonding moment. Maybe Max just felt left out. Good to see that it takes 20 laps to tax Sydney now. It used to be 3. It's odd that Max would let the skill tree stay up so long, considering that Sydney is powerless until it's closed.
FeyOne
Also, I knew several people in the military with ADHD at least as bad as Sydney has it. There are plenty of specialties in the military where she would thrive. That all said, the military also understands the concept of specialist units. The best examples of this are doctors, lawyers, and other such professionals. Sure, they have to learn all the basic military stuff, but their day to day experience of the military is radically different than that of someone in the infantry, or cavalry, etc... So, really, don't stress on it. Realistically, every single one of them is going to have some specialized skill/power acknowledging officer or officer equivalent rank, (an individual capable of destroying entire buildings themselves with no supporting equipment is not, and will never be, enlisted). So it isn't like Sydney is a private or anything.
Stickman
https://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-659-the-greatest-challenge-upgrading/ Looks like the rapid-fire on the pew pew orb is missing, too.
Stan
Military Protocol is what I think you're looking for or Military Bearing...
