Empowered/Headscratchers

• At the end of Vol. 5, Spooky was literally just a few seconds too late to save Mind████. Had Emp gone through the portal immediately, rather than waste time by having to be forced through, she would have been able to alert the others sooner, giving Spooky the few extra seconds she needed. By trying to be noble, Emp actually ended up ruining Mind████'s chance at rescue.
  • Did she have any way of knowing that Spooky would be right there when she arrived, though? I figured that was just lucky (or almost lucky) coincidence.
    • Seriously. The only one with an ability to see the future is Sistah Spooky, and even she couldn't get anything more than "three seconds too late." Not to mention that Mind████ was already ready to die. Cut Emp some slack, will you?
    • Let's also not forget that if Sistah Spooky had let the whole 'Flaxen-haired Aryan Conspiracy' go, and been a good teammate and positive force of support for Emp, then Emp would have believed in herself much more and Mind████ would have jumped through the portal, no arguments made.
• Was it Emp's mind or the suit that gave Mind████ the impression that it was false confidence about surviving the destruction of the space station. I reread it a lot I wonder about that.
  • It was the suit, unquestionably, absolutely without a doubt. The Caged Demonwolf lampshaded it earlier on with a heavy dose of Foreshadowing ("And given the happenstance dire due to transpire in the future very near she would be especially interested to learn about your more exotic secrets, such as your hidden ability to mimic a human mind's so-called "thoughtstream"). It knew full-well, even if Emp didn't, that it DIDN'T have enough power for her to survive re-entry, so it mimicked Emp's brainwave pattern to fool Mind████. Read Mind████'s description of Emp's "thoughtstream" just before she forces Emp through the portal ("No, I can't! I'd be commiting suicide! Please, save me!") That doesn't sound like Emp at ALL. Emp was frightened but she believed there was at least a chance she'd survive re-entry so, being a hero, she was willing to take that chance rather than force Mind████ to sacrifice herself. The suit had to save her from her own heroism.
• What would happen with the suit ...if you tore it apart and threw away the bits? This definitely happened once, when that girl future-Ocelotina stripped Emp. The suit regrows, we know that, but what happens with the other bits? Do they "die"? Do they grow into another full suit? Or does it only regrow if it contains the mask?
  • They probably act like normal pieces of plastic or whatever the suit's made of. And since volume 3 shows the suit acting autonomously of Emp's involvement, it probably regrows based on where the suit intends.
    • Most likely, the suit regenerates from the portions remaining on Emp herself.
• Why doesn't Thugboy just teach her how to snipe? The girl's got a variety of super-vision powers, strength enough to use guns much larger than he can, no real code against killing, and access to SuperHomey resources (which probably includes some really good gunsmiths). Combined with the fact that her suit apparently doesn't lose its abilities notably when she's just wearing bandolier-sized straps over it (like the gear that she caught the Caged Demonwolf in), and she'd seem to be a natural at it, and being effective in any way at all would do wonders for her confidence. Though as Ninjette can attest, girl does still need to work on her aim.
  • My guess is that she wouldn't feel comfortable. The suit is, for Emp, her source of super-powers, but a sniper rifle would be, for Emp, the thing she's supposed to use for killing people, and ONLY for killing people. She'd be nervous around it. Still, Thugboy ought to TRY to convince her at least.
  • Besides, the SuperHomies are probably really tight-fisted - her associate membership just gets you medical, training facilities and (limited) use of the portal network. If she has to have a day job to pay the bills, her heroing salary's probably minuscule. Guns and ammo aren't cheap.
  • All that aside, there's probably some Unwritten Rule about Superheroes using real firearms - laser-eye-beams and lever-action plasma guns, sure (and the guy with an artillery piece for a head), but using a mundane slug-thrower would be out of the question. This could be for some practical or legal reason (A laser could hypothetically have a non-lethal setting, but a .50 cal doesn't, and since Heroes and Villains generally don't actually kill one another...), or just be because the classic concept of Superheroes doesn't include mundane modern firearms.
  • Given she used Phallik's spear to try to kill Deathmonger (er, again) in a surprise attack, then left him to die in a nuclear explosion, I'd say her code against killing has been amended to 'only in the case of Complete Monsters'. She could keep the spear.
    • None of which answersthe question of why Thugboy, who's a crack-shot verging on the superhuman, doesn't give Emp some lessons in markmanship. Combine literal point-and-shoot non-ballistic attacks with enhanced vision, and if she ever thinks to ask for it, probably a targeting reticule, and she'll finally be hitting her targets reliably. This would be very good for her self-esteem.
    • I have a really good grasp (I think) on why she doesn't: Remember MacGyver? WHAT'S THE ONE THING HE WON'T USE? Guns. EVER. The only time he does is to... Shoot. Down. A. DOOR. I would swear to God that's the same reason. She's noble, honest and uncorruptably pure. She's a Friend to everything determinator who will take NO CRAP from anything even remotely hostile.
      • There's a couple reasons, better than just a no-gun policy. Becoming an expert sniper would both take a lot of time and practice, and she wouldn't be able to use any of her other powers when doing so. She *has* saved the day and taken out plenty of tough foes with her super strength, and sniping puts her out of range to use any of that. Also it's not very on-the-fly, it requires retreating to a sniper's perch, not so go when needing to rescue someone inside the villain's lair or otherwise do door-busting action, which is likely common. Sure, it's a useful skill to have but it requires carrying around a rifle and is situational. For close in work she'd require pistols, which is quite a bit more training. Also she'd probably lose all benefit of villains or thugs not trying to kill her. Emp doesn't have a no-kill policy, but she limits her kills to those who do likewise, all those thugs and such she takes out en mass end up with plasma burns and a trip to the prison hospital. So, lots of training requires to get good at it, losing options, doesn't complement her existing abilities, and sets a take-no-prisoners situation for both sides.
  • In other words, sniping is not only hard to learn but extremely situational. Is not an all-killing-technique that many fanboys proclaim it is, since, by its definition, is an ambush weapon and is completely useless in close combat. Not to mention that it would be useless against many superheroes, supervillains and Ninjas (remember that Thugboy and his group used not only snipers but extremely heavy weaponry and even he accepted that they never went against an above C-class) and would make the act of heroing completely useless. While Emp is not above killing when is necessary, sniping is about only killing unless you are extraordinarily good. Just compare how many Dictators (Hitler, Staling, Castro, Mussolini, Mao), criminals and enemies where put against professional snipers and came without so much a disheveled hair for example.
    • All of this is true, but none of it answers the question of why Thugboy doesn't try tho give her marksmanship lessons. Not sniping, marksmanship. There is a great deal of difference.
• What about Emp's wings? It is strange... they look like the "bones" of bat wings, but there's obviously nothing in between. How could she fly with that? And can her supersuit get hard and stable enough, so they could be used for that purpose in the first way?
  • My theory is that they're a kind of gravity-nullifier, rather than wings per se.
• Emp's suit rips very easily, as we know. How does that work when she walks over a somewhat coarse ground, like, you know, an ordinary tarred street, or stony ground? She doesn't (and can't) wear footwear over it, and it's never stated that the soles are more solid than the rest of the suit.
  • The suit protects her physically even when damaged. It was already torn up when the shark bit her, and when she got stomped into the ground by the huge robot thing in an early issue. The suit was trashed, but she didn't squish. And it was mostly shredded when she went out into space carrying Mind████. It only seems to work against gross physical damage; she can be safely bitten by a shark, but gets ropeburn from nylon rope. I'd say it's probably mundane power utility (can't remember the trope name exactly. :P ), because if just standing up robs you of your superpowers, what's the point?
  • In addition, the suit would only tear if rubbed against the abrasive area, and maybe not even that. Merely stepping on rough surfaces does not provide sufficiently high pressure to pierce the suit, fragile though it may be.
    • But running (or maybe even walking) would. Think about the kind of wear and tear an average pair of running shoes go through from constant use and abuse. Now imagine if those running shoes had the consistency of soap-bubble-latex.
    • Aha ha, but what about the constant suggestion that Emp's suit and its powers are based on her self-esteem and what she's thinking about at the time? She doesn't even consider that the suit might tear at the bottom and her feet wouldn't be protected, so it doesn't, everything else, the blasting powers, sticking to things, showing every inch of skin it can, she worries and obsesses over, so it feeds off that.
    • Maybe, but that assumes the self-esteem hypothesis is actually true. At the moment, we have no idea if it is. All we know is the suit tears at the slightest provocation, yet for some inexplicable reason this does not apply to her feet. And even if the self-esteem hypothesis were true, why would her feet be exempt? Why would she be concerned about showing skin everywhere except her feet? We've seen the suit get ripped up on her calves, her forearms, her hands, and her fingers. If the suit gets ripped up in places where she is most self-conscious about, wouldn't that imply that she's self-conscious about her goddamn fingers? Why on Earth would that be?
• Okay, so the Witless Minions tried to do their usual scam by pretending to be Willy Pete's minons, and it didn't work out so well. But here's my question; why did Willy even need minions? From what we've seen of him, he doesn't really do any "super crime," he just rapes people to death and eats them. He's more a super powered serial killer than a regular super villain. So what did he need a gang for?
  • He probably just contacted them so he can screw with them... literally.
  • I thought they contacted him as part of their scam. Perhaps he initially thought minions would help him capture heroes for death raping.
  • For that matter, in the off-chance that he didn't intend to skullfuck them to death once they'd outlived their usefulness, how did he intent to pay them? He obviously can't handle money without incinerating it. Not saying that he ever intended to keep his end of the deal, but the fact that he literally couldn't if he wanted to should have been a big red flag for them when they took the job.
    • Actually, the fact that he can't handle anything without incinerating it is the perfect reason to hire minions, if you think about it. Someone has to physically manipulate things for him.
    • In the flashback Willy Pete does say he was using them for Superhero bait.
• So...yeah, Capitan Rivet. What is he exactly? A robot? A living suit of armor like that kid from Fullmetal Alchemist? Some kind of golem? Also, why Capitan Rivet? Is he latino?
  • I can't say anything about the name, but he is a kind of robotty thing, he was transformed by a swarm of nanomachines he contracted from sex with another robot superhero, additionally at one point he was ripped in half, but was fine later, so presumably he repaired himself, which wouldn't be possible if he was just a guy in a suit.
    • That wasn't the Capitan in the superhero STD group, it was a totally different robot-like hero. Reread the "Love Changes Everything" chapter, the guy doesn't look ANYTHING like Rivet.
• Adam Warren's pop-culture sensibilities are very firmly set in the mid-90s. Reading his dialogue is about as jarring as a comic set in 1990 that constantly used disco slang would be.
  • I do believe that is the point. Rule of Funny applies.
• This may be a personal thing, but Emp considers Ninjette's butt to be better than hers, since it's more muscular and toned. But it's also smaller and less soft than hers, so how is that better?
  • She's a woman with body image issues. It doesn't have to make sense.
• Anglerfish claims that his son never did any "serious crimes." Apparently he doesn't think rape is a serious crime. (Even if Anglerfish himself has a skewed perspective about lurelight-based consent, Emp doesn't call him on it.)
  • Mind, it's quite possible the threshold of consent gets quite screwed around here. The Lurelight hallucinations are definitely sketchy, but it's shown that they're not a total hypnosis, just something that people project their innermost desires onto. Quite possible that Anglerfish Jr. didn't bother with the whole tie-up/kidnapping deal and simply used his lurelight to give the girls what they wanted to see, or otherwise simply misrepresented himself to get them to give it up willingly. Low and unethical, but avoiding the line of rape under most law.
    • If such a thing existed, it would be rape under the current law. Consent given under mind-altering effects isn't valid.
      • Not necessarily. In most jurisdictions, at least in the United States, there would be a serious question of how mind-altering the effect was. For example, someone who is completely drunk is usually considered legally unable to consent, but a person who has had a glass of wine, which would be a mind-altering effect, is able. Moreover, plenty of people engage in very drunken sex with no rape charges ever being filed or even contemplated; this happens all the time, in fact. For that matter, a jury is free to say, yes, the two of you clearly had sex, and you were clearly drunk, but we are not going to convict the defendant of rape because of whatever circumstances we think are relevant. If Anglerfish's powers are just to create illusions, a jury might conclude that a person who had sex with whom was tricked into doing so, but that that does not amount to rape.
  • It's possible that Kid Anglerfish was perfectly upfront with women about his power, and they agreed to have sex with him because it would appear to be someone else, most likely someone they fantasise about but couldn't actually sleep with. Black capes with Foe Yay towards white capes, for example.
• At one point Thugboy tells Emp that most capes aren't like the Superhomeys, and act more like cops than anything else. It's also pretty clear they're pretty commonplace in this world (amongst other things, Emp did her major in superhuman studies) and mostly likely every major city has at least a few. Point being, there are a lot more capes out there she could work with and probably several superteams she could join. Maybe the Superhomeys are the big leagues, but if there are other options for Emp to still be a superhero, why is she sticking with a bunch of media-obsessed asshats who mostly hate her guts?
  • I got the impression that Emp's reputation is so damaged by her constant humiliations that she couldn't get in with any other group. The Superhomeys, to an extent, act like they are stuck with her.
• Why doesn't Emp wear a bodysuit under her costume? I know she's said she can't wear anything under the suit, but since she did wear panties in one of the earliest strips, it's because any clothing would show and not because it would stop the supersuit working. With a full bodysuit underneath, though, only the seams would be visible and it would probably just look like costume detailing like many post-reboot DC superheroes have on theirs. It would (a) give the poor girl some more modesty when the supersuit inevitably tears, (b) provide a little figure shaping, (c) stop the suit from fritzing out so much since its powers are supposedly linked to her self-esteem due to the first two points, (d) avoid the 'wire-wool' problem and (e) possibly provide some extra protection depending on its material when the supersuit fails.
  • She can probably wear SMALL amounts of clothing under the suit (i.e enough for a pantyline gag) but if she tried to wear a full bodysuit she'd definitely short the suit out. It's a living biosuit which enhances her physical abilities, it DEFINITELY requires body contact to work for her.
  • Also, keep in mind the pantyline gag was the very first chapter of the very first book. It's likely Warren didn't have the specifics worked out yet.
    • Or that Emp hadn't worked out the specifics yet, since it was also early in her career with the Superhomies. Perhaps at some point she decided to go with the embarassment visible underwear instead of the em-bare-ass-ment of being naked when her suit gets ripped up, only to find out the hard way that her suit powers isn't compatible with underwear.
• If Thugboy hates superheroes so much, why does he go by a superhero-style name?
• Was Emp's Capey really a fake humiliation thing, or was Spooky ████ing with her again?
  • It sure appeared to be a set-up. dWarf/Fleshmaster says it was when she confronts him backstage, and seeing as he was part of the "in" crowd then, he probably overheard.