49 replies to this topic

[Hans]

I don't see any teleporting here.
But she can clearly use fast telekinesis in the tube without opening it. To fast for Maxima to react unprepared.

[Ronald David Morris]

A couple of comments on the subject of Harem. She obviously has the ability to teleport objects with her...either that or her clothes are illusions.

All of her forms are really part of her prime consciousness as evidenced by going to sleep in all of them at the same time. If, for example, she banged her head on a metal wall like the inside of an ambulance and it knocked her unconscious would all of her forms just fall over? Would they all go ouch at the same time? Or is it impossible to knock her out unless you get all or most of her at the same time?

And about the teleport thing, does she teleport without being able to destroy her original form? Is there one body which is never destroyed? Or can she blip any of them at any time? If one body is killed do they all die? Or can she just create a new copy of the dead body? Would a dead body just disappear without harming the others?

[Ronald David Morris]

Reading more through the thread, about lasers and phasers.

Military grade lasers explode, they do not cut. They act by very quickly superheating the surface of what they hit. This causes rapid expansion with effects equivalent to an explosion. Powerful enough lasers will flash materials all the way into a plasma state. Cutting lasers are used for civilian construction/demolition purposes on slow moving targets. A stomach hit by a high powered hand laser does not make a neat cauterized hole. It creates a steam explosion that evacuates the body cavity. Instant death with stir fried intestines over a large area..

The original version of the Star Trek phaser was a two part weapon. When the weapon was fired a weak laser beam ionised the air between the weapon and target creating a line of highly conductive gas. The weapon immediately followed by discharging a powerful electric bolt. In effect the weapon was a wireless taser that used an antimatter power source. I believe this was originally published, with specs and technical drawings, in Scotty's Technical Journal late 70s early 80s.

I think that has probably established my nerd credentials lol

[DStaal]

A couple of comments on the subject of Harem. She obviously has the ability to teleport objects with her...either that or her clothes are illusions.

All of her forms are really part of her prime consciousness as evidenced by going to sleep in all of them at the same time. If, for example, she banged her head on a metal wall like the inside of an ambulance and it knocked her unconscious would all of her forms just fall over? Would they all go ouch at the same time? Or is it impossible to knock her out unless you get all or most of her at the same time?

And about the teleport thing, does she teleport without being able to destroy her original form? Is there one body which is never destroyed? Or can she blip any of them at any time? If one body is killed do they all die? Or can she just create a new copy of the dead body? Would a dead body just disappear without harming the others?

Some of this has been answered in comments on the comic by the author. From what I remember:

She can teleport small amounts of non-living matter with her. Living matter is another story.

It's been stated that she'll have one form sleeping while others work on occasion, so I'd go with impossible to knock out unless you get all of her.

She can teleport any of her forms without destroying them, up to the max limit of her forms. She can't just create a new copy of a dead form: It would come out 'unmodified'. (Which answers if one body is killed.)

From the above, I'd take it as that there is no real 'real body'; all her bodies are considered equal, and she can lose/replace any of them at any time. (So, to kill her you'd need to take out all of her simultaneously.) However, I do remember there being a discussion on healing, in terms of her. It's possible she wouldn't just be able to regenerate a dead form immediately, but that it'll take some time for her to 'recharge' or whatever.

[Celtic Minstrel]

Hm... this makes the Harem clones sound rather similar to Iris's clones...

[Delmorian]

Regarding the two "Unidentified" orbs, I suspect one will transformer her, physically, but I don't think she has considered "I really need to be a Kaiju right now" while holding the orb. That is probably the green one. Not sure of the brown one yet.

[Aleric]

Ah, I love some powers speculation....

Maxima -- Obviously the Superman of the Grrl Power Universe. And just as many possbilities to kick ass. Not much to speculate about her except....
She has at least one power that is really never considered, despite it's multitude of uses. The ability to speed up or slow her perceptions. It's an ability every speedster has, otherwise they wouldn't be able to actually control their speed... Or they would go nuts from seeing and hearing everything in sloooow mooootiooon all the time. It's illustrated here and the follow up. I think she could effectively stop time for herself. Or, on the opposite end, she could enter a form of stasis seeing everything around her fast forward in time. I also like the supercharging. She could probably do the Superman thing and make diamonds to pay the bills if she had to. By taking power away from her energy beams, she could use them as welding or cutting tools. With her power set there are way too many possibilites.

Except that Dabbler has her beat, hands down -- Magic, psionics, mutant powers, martial arts, and technology (cybernetic arm with a teleporter! A TELEPORTER!!) Even if she only has a working knowledge of all these fields, my mind explodes every time I try to think of all the things she can do. It's hard to know where to start, but my first thought: did she make Sydney's orbs? She can probably do that. Clone herself and install her own memories? That too. Duplicate every power in Archon? Yep, I don't see a problem. She is, by far, the most powerful by what it says on the cast page. Now, her ADHD seems to hold her back, but I can see her taking the short cut of copying someone's skills and experience into her own brain. No fuss, no muss, now she's a master. For those of you who say a master will have his guard up: she is a succubus, a doppleganger, and psionic. I don't think she'll have a problem lowering anybody's guard. I know it was a joke, but what she did to Dave to get in his head.

Ah Anvil -- My second favorite power after Harem's. Kinetic energy absorption. Simple... Until you read the the Wikipedia page on kinetic energy. Now, you have to make at least two assumptions about her power: bodily contact is needed and she can turn it on and off as an automatic response. She doesn't seem to have the perception to stop a bullet if it's not automatic. And if she could do it from a distance she'd be a god (almost literally). She could stop the world from spinning. So contact and a switch. Can she localize it, say, to a foot or finger, for example? She's the sneakiest, being able to absorb all the kinetic energy of her footsteps, breathing, etc. No sound comes from her. Immune to sonic attacks as well (Air movement). Can supercharge in a storm. Catches falling comrades without hurting them. Deep sea diving with only a rebreather (James Cameron eat your frickin heart out). And, as I mentioned in the comments, orbital bombarbment! The real mystery is the option(s) she has to use this energy. She can enhance her super strength. Hulk smash and all that. Or she can release it in a "devastating attack." That intrigues me. What sort of attack? Can she modulate it enough to be a sonic attack of some kind? A directional blast of force (cyclops)? Shockwaves or earthquakes? Can she focus it enough to hammer a nail in a wall from 50'? Or perhaps just a bomb going off in all directions.

Harem -- Teleportation and body making. She can only support five bodies out at one time, but when she "unsummons" one they go in to an "astral closet" outside of time and space. When she does this it adds to her strength. What happens if she tries to make that sixth body? My guess is that her mind just can't take being split over six or more bodies resulting in either an automatic unsummon or a body without her mind being in it (effectively comatose). Still, that makes for excellent possiblities. She could have bodies of varying ages in the "closet". Dave mentioned that she wouldn't want to have less than her max out for the experience junkie thing. That doesn't prevent her from sending one in the closet and making a completely new one. They don't have individual personalities, after all. This way she can have an infinite number of physical personas. Not just the five we see currently. From child to grandmother (once she ages at least one of her bodies that far). With a little help from Zeph, Gwen, or Dabbler, she could have them all right now. The ultimate master of disguise. Just unsummon the punk and resummon the kid body... or the 40 year old body... or the 80 year old body. Whatever the situation calls for. She could also bodybuild until she has one with as much muscle as Anvil and then put it in storage for a rainy day. And Teleportation... My all-time favorite power. So many factors involved in instantly moving yourself from one place to another. Vector, velocity, momentum, inertia.... And the all important factor: WTF happens if I teleport into a solid object? It all depends on the method of teleportation. She seems to be a materializer not a mover. She rebuilds herself at her new location, like the transporters in Star Trek. I hypothesized earlier (in the comments) that she might be able to change herself while this process was happening, but was shot down by Dave. So no shapeshifting. Dangit. But, at least she'll never appear as a blob of goo if she messes up (bonus!). Can she control the factors above when she teleports? Let's say she's flying in an airplane and suddenly want to teleport to the ground. Does she stay the same speed, etc. relative to earth? Would she appear on the ground going Mach 1 and kill that particular body? Hopefully, she can control all of those aspects. But if she can, it leads to kickassery.

I'll do Sydney and Brook later. Kind of tired...

[Berpol]

Harem -- [snip]

Her teleportation seems to include some safeties.
- she teleported inside the ambulace. While she knew it's exact position and perhaps the layout she had no knowledge about Maxima's position.
- she teleported inside the conference room. Again she knew it's exact position (being there before) but she had no knowledge about the position of the people inside.
So it looks like while she has to have general knowledge about the space she teleports into she does not need exact knowledge of persons (perhaps furniture too) inside.
It is possible that living things (perhas unliving too) are instinctively read by her during teleport and avoided.

Can she control the factors above when she teleports? Let's say she's flying in an airplane and suddenly want to teleport to the ground. Does she stay the same speed, etc. relative to earth? Would she appear on the ground going Mach 1 and kill that particular body? Hopefully, she can control all of those aspects. But if she can, it leads to kickassery.

Given that teleporting 100 m up or down would be deadly to you if you retianed your kinetic energy it looks like she bleeds the energy safely away. I remember a novel where a character could store and redirect kinetic energy, he could blast a hole into a building (or opponent) with that energy.

[Maglad]

I'm Surprised Maxima doesn't have Martial Arts Training

How do you teach martial arts to someone with that much strength? who would spar with her?

[jmucchiello]

How do you teach martial arts to someone with that much strength? who would spar with her?

A master of Judo/Juijitsu who would throw her around the mat like a rag doll if she had no other martial training.