What are the chances he underestimates her and tries to just mindwipe her? What are the chances this will backfire at least as bad as when the Emerald ones tried to pull a fast one on her?
No… he’s not too bright, but he’s not stupid. If it didn’t work, nothing he could offer her would stop e from ding exactly what she threatened. If it did work, the odds of another von Fogg noticing and tracing it back are too high (and getting dead is the least of the likely consequences). I fact, any attempts to harm her, successful or otherwise, are way too risky.
He’ll fold…
There both intelligent enough that it is assumed she has set up a dead-mans drop. So if she does not check back in by a certain time all the information will be automatically forwarded to whoever would cause Praetorain Academy the most harm.
The only real way to stop her would be to force her to cancel the dead-mans drop, give up all copies of the data, then make her disappear.
He probably has a telepath that could do it — but she will already have countermeasures in place (since she knows about his whole academy). Yeah– she’s too smart to confront a supervillian like this unless she is holding all the cards.
I think that Alex has a chance of mellowing into an antihero or grey hero as she matures. Her brother, on the other hand, is going to be a villain forever. At present, however, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near her without some sort of superpower.
The greater question is will she be able to keep herself intact or in a good position after this. Remember while this may work on a hero it doesn’t work to well against villains. They don’t mind shooting people and this group doesn’t mind doing a LOT of illegal activities.
And she’s exactly smart enough to do just that – in a manner of speaking. As mentioned elsewhere, a “dead man’s drop” would be easy for her to set up – if she doesn’t take specific action to avert it, the information will get where it needs to be on its own.
Now, she IS proud enough that she might not have thought she’d be directly challenged, but odds are good she’s taken at least SOME precautions.
Deadman’s drop won’t help if she’s been monitored. Hard to say how intelligent Mr Durvin is, but I would have her monitored 24/7 (without her knowledge) because she is just that dangerous.
Which in turn presumes that she never, ever slips her tail. Given that the Von Foggs in general are VERY much accustomed to slipping under surveillance, that’s a dangerous assumption to make. It’s possible that the Headmaster was aware of exactly where she was and what she was up to at all times, but I wouldn’t lay good odds on it.
A partnership with a pupil?
He won’t be having that. She will have parent based security measures as well as science toys / weapons on herself.
His only option is to agree now and choose later if he wishes to turn on her.
My opinion: He’s an organized, quiet-type supervillain running a school as a information gathering / training / recruitment / control camp. He has to have dealt with such an attempt before. And, as another user noted, LAVF doesn’t have practical experience in ultimatums. She probably won’t get squashed like a bug but she won’t get most of what she wants either. Whether he does the put-down immediately or not is unclear.
Evil does not equal stupid. Evil does not equal failing to learn from mistakes.
Having said that, having what you think is a winning hand does not mean you win at poker.
LAVF is about to learn the corollary to Spiderman’s:
With great responsibility, comes great power.
No one who runs a school full of metachildren, particularly a school which appears to be designed to train those metachildren into a powerful force, would be stupid enough not to have adequate measures to ensure compliance.
All this is true, but it’s possible that LAVF’s picked up an unexpected wildcard somewhere in her wealth of information. Enough to make some concessions worth making, rather than having to deal with the whole mess if ALL of that information makes itself suddenly and awkwardly public.
Why hasn’t anyone mentioned the most important revelation in this comic? Namely, that the Headmaster is really Senator Walter Durvin, aka PS238’s biggest enemy in the Senate, and a major political opponent of former President Alfred Cranston? This is a spoiler that I’ve been sitting on for years, and no one wants to discuss it? Or are all you guys going “Walter who?”?
Pretty much this. It’s been a long time, in webcomic terms, since he came up. A reader actually going through it in physical form, or someone speed-reading the archives as of today, would be more likely to catch it.
I didn’t read the tropes page on PS238, but it is a bit cliche to have the “human” opposition to supers be run by or just be a super (villain or misguided hero). Anyone know if that is an official (named) trope?
I’m sure she’d prefer it that way, and it’s best to assume she’d be angling to be in control no matter what the pretty words say, but she may be able to bend on that point – at least at first. (As I said, she would be trying to take control. But supervillains that aren’t completely braindead would assume that of one another.) Insisting on her full name and title is just establishing a condition – one by which, in addition to maybe vanity, she removes herself in thought from the subservient position that his address implied (that he, as Headmaster, is already in charge of Praetorian Academy students).
overplayed your hand
I would preferred a talking fluffy white cat.
Just be patient. It will be coming. Now, where is the transmorgifier?
Oh my. Can you imagine a child like Calvin actually getting superpowers?
What are the chances he underestimates her and tries to just mindwipe her? What are the chances this will backfire at least as bad as when the Emerald ones tried to pull a fast one on her?
Answer unclear, try again later.
Or put another way, not answered before publication ceased. Maybe if Aaron releases another volume…
Speaking of which, anybody know what’s going to happen when we reach the end of the published series? Is Aaron going to put up his scripts, or…?
No… he’s not too bright, but he’s not stupid. If it didn’t work, nothing he could offer her would stop e from ding exactly what she threatened. If it did work, the odds of another von Fogg noticing and tracing it back are too high (and getting dead is the least of the likely consequences). I fact, any attempts to harm her, successful or otherwise, are way too risky.
He’ll fold…
There both intelligent enough that it is assumed she has set up a dead-mans drop. So if she does not check back in by a certain time all the information will be automatically forwarded to whoever would cause Praetorain Academy the most harm.
The only real way to stop her would be to force her to cancel the dead-mans drop, give up all copies of the data, then make her disappear.
He probably has a telepath that could do it — but she will already have countermeasures in place (since she knows about his whole academy). Yeah– she’s too smart to confront a supervillian like this unless she is holding all the cards.
And this is why Alex is one of my favorite characters, even if I wouldn’t want to be in the same room as her.
I would… but she’d have to be older. Evil is sexy. Intelligent evil is super-sexy.
I think that Alex has a chance of mellowing into an antihero or grey hero as she matures. Her brother, on the other hand, is going to be a villain forever. At present, however, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near her without some sort of superpower.
Well, this is the last page of what I own, so from now on everything will be new to me! I can’t wait to see it!
Are there more pages, or is the end? Like you, I don’t have any later issues.
I am torn between cringing at the prospect of and looking forward to this blowing up in her face.
We have already seen that she tends to overestimate herself due to a youth-related lack of practical experience.
Well, that and her inherited arrogance.
The greater question is will she be able to keep herself intact or in a good position after this. Remember while this may work on a hero it doesn’t work to well against villains. They don’t mind shooting people and this group doesn’t mind doing a LOT of illegal activities.
Sure, but if something happens to her and her parents find out…
Her father is a pretty big maroon, from what we’ve seen of him.
I doubt the Headmaster would care overly much about what the elder Von Fogg could do…
Unless she’s sitting on a deadman’s switch, revealing her hand like that was the dumbest thing she could have done.
And she’s exactly smart enough to do just that – in a manner of speaking. As mentioned elsewhere, a “dead man’s drop” would be easy for her to set up – if she doesn’t take specific action to avert it, the information will get where it needs to be on its own.
Now, she IS proud enough that she might not have thought she’d be directly challenged, but odds are good she’s taken at least SOME precautions.
Deadman’s drop won’t help if she’s been monitored. Hard to say how intelligent Mr Durvin is, but I would have her monitored 24/7 (without her knowledge) because she is just that dangerous.
Which in turn presumes that she never, ever slips her tail. Given that the Von Foggs in general are VERY much accustomed to slipping under surveillance, that’s a dangerous assumption to make. It’s possible that the Headmaster was aware of exactly where she was and what she was up to at all times, but I wouldn’t lay good odds on it.
A partnership with a pupil?
He won’t be having that. She will have parent based security measures as well as science toys / weapons on herself.
His only option is to agree now and choose later if he wishes to turn on her.
Given her last line, she doesn’t want a partnership. She wants to rule. In that way, she has made herself very clear.
My opinion: He’s an organized, quiet-type supervillain running a school as a information gathering / training / recruitment / control camp. He has to have dealt with such an attempt before. And, as another user noted, LAVF doesn’t have practical experience in ultimatums. She probably won’t get squashed like a bug but she won’t get most of what she wants either. Whether he does the put-down immediately or not is unclear.
Evil does not equal stupid. Evil does not equal failing to learn from mistakes.
Having said that, having what you think is a winning hand does not mean you win at poker.
LAVF is about to learn the corollary to Spiderman’s:
With great responsibility, comes great power.
No one who runs a school full of metachildren, particularly a school which appears to be designed to train those metachildren into a powerful force, would be stupid enough not to have adequate measures to ensure compliance.
All this is true, but it’s possible that LAVF’s picked up an unexpected wildcard somewhere in her wealth of information. Enough to make some concessions worth making, rather than having to deal with the whole mess if ALL of that information makes itself suddenly and awkwardly public.
… huh. So Principal Cranston was entirely justified in his dislike of Senator Durvin O.o
Who knew?
And Doctor Doom-esque ranting coming from a (surprisingly adorable) little girl is utterly hilarious.
Why hasn’t anyone mentioned the most important revelation in this comic? Namely, that the Headmaster is really Senator Walter Durvin, aka PS238’s biggest enemy in the Senate, and a major political opponent of former President Alfred Cranston? This is a spoiler that I’ve been sitting on for years, and no one wants to discuss it? Or are all you guys going “Walter who?”?
It’s a spoiler mentioned on TvTropes, so not much of one. 🙂
Pretty much. The reveal is dropped without any nearby foreshadowing, so a “…who?” is entirely justified.
Pretty much this. It’s been a long time, in webcomic terms, since he came up. A reader actually going through it in physical form, or someone speed-reading the archives as of today, would be more likely to catch it.
I didn’t read the tropes page on PS238, but it is a bit cliche to have the “human” opposition to supers be run by or just be a super (villain or misguided hero). Anyone know if that is an official (named) trope?
I’m sure she’d prefer it that way, and it’s best to assume she’d be angling to be in control no matter what the pretty words say, but she may be able to bend on that point – at least at first. (As I said, she would be trying to take control. But supervillains that aren’t completely braindead would assume that of one another.) Insisting on her full name and title is just establishing a condition – one by which, in addition to maybe vanity, she removes herself in thought from the subservient position that his address implied (that he, as Headmaster, is already in charge of Praetorian Academy students).