2016-12-27
Posted on 2016-12-28 by Aaron

42 thoughts on “2016-12-27”

  1. Ken

    It just occurred to me that The Flea + shrink ray + bugs = interesting possibilities. Though I don’t think action-figure size is small enough for The Flea to fly on a fly (through a flaw in a flue) or anything like that.

  2. Tom Gwynn

    “and two, this one is named Jolene and she’s a friend of mine.”

    The Flea rocks. I think he’s my favorite character after Tyler himself. 🙂

    1. Rock

      Tyler, Julie, then Flea. 🙂 For me, anyway.

      1. MrBookBoy

        I personally have Tyler, Ron, Julie, Flea, Zodon and Victor (equal) and finally Cecil. I personally don’t really like Cecil, but other people have other opinions.

        1. Thisfox

          Zodon and the Flea are both amazingly awesome. But I’m enjoying the concepts in the entire universe, to be fair.

    2. ljhbkjh

      flea and revenant

  3. Wanderer

    “I would’ve gotten in eventually.”

    “And I would’ve pretended to be impressed. Want some pizza?”

    Somewhere, Peter Parker just gave this kid a thumbs-up. 😉

    1. Rock

      Pete should hope to get Flea to give him a thumbs-up. ^_^
      I mean, I like Spiderman a lot, but the Flea has serious chill.

  4. Stephen R. Bierce

    Okay, this strip WAS worth waiting 18 days for.

  5. Nobody

    Something that occurred to me, the computer knows Tyler and the others at the party by name. So who does it think that wristband is?

    1. dana

      Maybe they’re more like an IFF transponder than a personal identifier.

  6. Sabreur

    This one made me chuckle! These two work well together.

    1. Rock

      The Flea could probably use a sidekick with opposable thumbs….

  7. Kaian

    Flea = awesome squared.
    I have never seen a scene with him in it that was not great.

    1. Simreeve

      Oh, yes…

      “Moose!”

      ^_^

  8. russellmz

    why do the climate controls have the biggest security obstacles?

    1. Pastangum

      Two words: Taco night.

      Yes, >:), that was a reply to russellmz.

    2. dana

      Maybe they don’t like people constantly turning the A/C up and down.

    3. Nightmask

      Because they’re a great weapon to use against people in a sealed system like a moon base or spaceship? Look how often bad guys went after the environmental controls on the various Enterprises, they were a great way to deliver toxins for example or suffocate the crew into submission, freeze them out, roast them, etc. So you encrypt the environmental controls as heavily as you can get away with.

      1. Pagrek

        don’t overthink it, they’re just used to people trying to climb in through the air ducts

        1. David Nuttall

          We know how well that works.
          From the Mythbusters episode, “Crimes and Mythdemeanors” (Look for “Jamie’s Duct Climber on YouTube)

          “Why, Thor, the god of thunder, is trying to enter my building!” – Adam Savage
          “Somebody needs to check that air conditioner!” – Tory Belleci
          “Here’s some key phrases from the surreptitious entry heist manual: Be the breeze [clang] As light as a feather [clang] The foot fall of a kitten. [clang]” – Rob Lee, sound effects provided by Jamie Hyneman
          More like “Be the gale, as light as an anvil, the foot fall of a Transformer.”

          “Is this a practical way to enter a building?” – Tory Belleci
          “Nope.” – Jamie Hyneman

          “Surreptitious? I don’t think so.” – James Franklin Hyneman

      2. Prairie Son

        Let’s also not forget this is a supers world, so there are people who can turn into a gas and float through the air ducts.

      3. whheydt

        It’s a VERY old trick to attack through the environment controls. E. E. “Doc” Smith did in the _Lensman_ stories (once by the good guy and once by the bad guys that I can think of off hand) in the 1930s.

      4. WJS

        That presumes that you’re stupid enough to make your environment systems capable of incapacitating people. All most HVAC systems could do is make a place uncomfortably cold or warm. Annoying people is not generally that big of a security risk.

        1. Nightmask

          There’s nothing stupid about it. It’s not a house it’s a moon base, a completely sealed environment that requires WAY more than just making sure things are the right temperature (which sometimes even planetary hero bases are like that). The climate systems in such a base have to regulate every detail including the proper mixture of gases circulating through the structure so that people don’t suffocate from too much CO2 or suffer from too much O2 and so on. Oftentimes such set-ups have to also be able to adjust for a wide variety of environments to deal with individuals who have environmental requirements different from a baseline human (just look at Babylon 5, the station had separate sections that humans required environmental suits to enter because they had to be isolated to maintain conditions those aliens considered normal).

        2. Nobody

          They re obviously not actually on the moon base, as shown by all the green growing things, that “outside” is considered “fresh Air” for taco Night, and that Cecil walked there.

        3. Ed Rhodes

          Agreed. I have NEVER understood WHY they gave GLADOS access to neuro-toxins in the first place!

    4. Hidden Windshield

      Ask yourself, how often does someone try to break in to the home of a superpowered family? Aside from the occasional supervillan, never. Now ask yourself, how often does someone set the air conditioner to the “wrong” temperature? All the time. Add in the fact that the squeaky wheel gets the grease…

  9. Sfi

    Glad to see that Bernard is not the only lethal one with taco-night XD

  10. Void

    I just caught up to the comic. Is this kind of interval normal?

    1. HEB807

      It’s normally between 1 & 1/2 and 2 weeks to get a new page. (Unless I’ve counted wrong, in which case somebody correct me.)
      This particular page took longer than normal in part because of the holiday, but also due to Aaron’s son getting an infection.

    2. dana

      Aaron alternates between PS238 and Use Sword on Monster about every week give or take with a few Full Frontal Nerditys thrown in.

      Of course real life has a way of getting in the way of schedules.

  11. Mauman

    And a 2nd dig at pineapple.

    I approve.

  12. Nightmask

    I’m surprised he doesn’t have a ‘Initiate Taco Night Protocol’ command rather than learning things to that level of detail.

    1. Faroloz

      that would have opened all windows and turned all exhaust fans to 1000%

  13. Segev

    Honestly, regarding the climate controls’ security? It’s probably more a pointer to the control-freakishness of some of the supers (and I won’t mention Tyler’s parents’ names). The politics, chicanery, and outright warfare that can erupt over control of the thermostat in an office building that’s shared amongst many people can get insane. The one with access to it and the one with authority to authorize official changes are both highly sought-after positions by…certain types of people, and the de facto vs. de jure power is oft in direct conflict.

    Elevate that to a super-team full of people who can personally alter environmental conditions and a number of super-scientists who can invent better climate controls and/or hack existing ones to give themselves “exclusive” back doors, arbitrary overrides, and other electronic “trump cards” in the eternal war over the temperature at which all must live, and it becomes a one-line joke (which I’ve just ruined by explaining) about the severity of this particular form of office politics and the rule about petty power and how fanatical people can get about wielding it.

    1. Nightmask

      A good point, since the strip is one that covers things from a more ground-level, day-to-day kind of format (basically ‘a day in the life of a child super’) with all these human personalities and behaviors a super-group like we see here probably is much like an office environment where routine bickering over things like how the environmental controls are set would occur but be amplified by the nature of the people involved. We don’t see this kind of thing in the big two (especially since the 90s) since they’re all about the mega-angst, if you ever see anything like this from Marvel or DC it’s most likely somebody’s Start Of Darkness as he snaps, shoots up the office, or sabotages something that results in him becoming a super-villain rather than simple office issues up to eleven due to the types of people involved.

      1. Segev

        Indeed. Though now that you mention it, I could see this arising as a throw-away joke or two in the Marvel cineverse. For instance, Tony getting irritated that he needs to put better security on the Avengers Tower’s muzak players than he has on its defense systems because Peter Parker keeps changing the station.

        Or SHIELD needing to do this with climate controls because Daisy and Gemma keep warring over them, and Phil just wants to be able to either leave his sweater on or take it off in a nice, stable temperature.

  14. Christyflare

    What is wrong with pineapple on pizza?!? Has nobody ever eaten a Hawaiian slice? It’s awesome and my favourite kind of pizza besides some brands’ veggie pizzas!

  15. mrttao

    Pretty accurate portrayal of hacking

  16. gyrre

    Okay seriously, pizza was invented as a way to eat leftovers. Why all the hate for Hawaiian pizza?

    All you have to do is add habaneros and/or jalapeños to tie the whole thing together flavor wise.

    1. Chris PV

      Way too many places have done Hawaiiaan slice wrong, that’s why. And by “wrong”, I mean “GTFOofmywayneedbathroomNOWNOWNOW” wrong. It only takes one experience like that to ruin it permanently for someone.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*