Depends on where you are. We used to have two. They’ll be tearing down one this summer. About the only thing keeping the other one in business is the multiplex and a sporting goods megamart.
They don’t know each other well enough to know each other’s backstories – this group of $15/hour mall cops is a broad enough circle a redhaired interloper could plausibly get herself signed up to chaperone duty on false pretenses. Heck, they let ex-cons on parole watch their kids, apparently.
Thinking about the idea of redheaded woman seen before by Cecil = Sarah Bartlett/Dynamode.
1. That means Sarah Bartlett still has her powers?
1.1 If yes, why be part of power-loss therapy?
1.2 If yes, why see Power & Glory?
1.3 If yes, why even be there to begin with?
1.4 If no, how is she there in a different shape?
1.4.1 Temporary access to older powers granted by P&G? Doesn’t seem so based on her last interaction with them (she simply received instructions to pay them; no re-empowerment, however temporary, was indicated).
1.4.2 Hologram or similar external disguise?
1.4.3 (Insert other possibility here.)
2. Remember that Tyler ran into Sarah Bartlett in the tower? (2016-10-28) She made peace with them then, telling them they could get powers too. Why would she be blocking Tyler’s movements now?
2.1 Or is it because Cecil’s with him and Cecil’s not part of her conspiracy?
Also, another thought on the topic… It’s crazy theory time.
What if Sarah’s story of her loss of her powers is true but incomplete? What if the redheaded woman IS her/Dynamode? Psywarp’s commands could have also been:
“Re-form your body into two, with you in charge of a body without powers, and your original body under my control. Oh, and think that I only had you shapechange into a body without powers. Forget that your powered body exists under my control. And should you see her, you shall act as if she wasn’t there at all.”
That said, that’s definitely wonky and convoluted and not in a good Silver Age manner. From another writing perspective, it requires a lot of hidden details whose revelation would seem to come from nowhere; it’d be cheating the reader. In-universe, where Dynamode rearranged her own molecules into new forms, it would require splitting her mass into two bodies, meaning the still-shapechanging Dynamode would be thinner/lighter/smaller than her original whole. And note the additional commands I mentioned to deal with the fact that Sarah Bartlett could run into her still-powered body at the party.
Also: motive. Why would Psywarp do that? This at least can be explained: to gain access to the EDL tower in Wonderburg.
Note that a similar plot (that was handled really well) appeared in the Batman Animated Series story “Growing Pains”.
Here’s my take, if the redheaded heroine is indeed Dynamode:
– Dynamode defeated Psywarp and brought him to justice.
– Sarah is NOT Dynamode, but an unpowered human girl brainwashed by Psywarp into believing she’s Dynamode.
Given how Sarah is willing to make Faustian bargains with sinister entities to get her powers “back”, she would not take the revelation that she is not actually Dynamode well.
As such, Psywarp can get revenge by proxy against Dynamode if Sarah succeeds in getting powers, if she doesn’t succeed Psywarp at least gets away with ruining the life of an innocent.
What about the possibility that Sarah is Dynamode though Sarah is aware of the split personality and while being Sarah is powerless. Dynamode doesn’t know of Sarah though Sarah still needs to swap deliberately to get Dynamode to the right time and place for her shift to start, Sarah giving up time in control. Power and Glory needed a kid to perform the payment task and this temporary issue is their doing, possibly item related, to enable her to compulete payment for the other power set on sale.
Not sure about the How but could the time Dynamode is in control be temporal related as to how she may have powers and be unaware?
Oh, Psywarp explains everything. She may have won though doesn’t mean she wasn’t effected.
-Psy- effect on the brain and -Warp- the warp may fluctuate causing the switching.
This is all in her mind. Split personality it is. In kid form a mental block stops her use of powers until she switches to Dynamode. Switching can’t be deliberate as Dynamode the adult is who went to P&G and adult and kid version is aware. That means the switching is at set times only hence the time check and bathroom visit.
The problem there is that such doesn’t match Sarah’s actions. She’d technically still have her powers even if they’re locked away with a different persona. She wouldn’t say in therapy that she lost her powers; she’d say she has psychically-induced Dissociative Identity Disorder that placed her powers in the hands of a different personality. At which point, that’s a case for therapy, not P&G. Or, alternatively, I’m sure there are other super-related cures, like a heroic mentalist undoing the split personality or at least giving her real persona access to them.
Thinking about it… There’s a certain assumption that P&G are somehow evil. How do we know that? We don’t know what price they set to bestow power on people. We don’t know who their past clientele are- they could be real heroes who’ve done a lot of good with what they got from P&G. They could just be part of whatever phenomenon* enables superpowers in a world. We don’t really know who they are. Mystery =/= sinister.
* – “Heroic Age” as per Vashti Imperia, destiny-based choice Tyler Marlocke and Tom Davidson.
That said, my personal fun-based guess of who they are: disguised versions of Malphast’s parents. Wilson Power is a neat-nick (which fits Malphast’s dad being an archangel of Order) and Angelica Glory is a smooth talker and negotiator (sounds like his mom). I wouldn’t be surprised if giving people more powers (especially when it’s now not going to stop) would further the cause of both Order and Chaos.
Dynamode has not used powers yet. The clues on her being Sarah are mostly Sarah having to run for the ‘bathroom’ at a certain time. The question is why.
Rereading this I can’t help but note he’s quite right, when I did work testing components for vehicles prior to them being cleared for such use I discovered that the coating for the wiring on one device was extremely sensitive to cold, started getting fragile and broke easily at temperatures it shouldn’t have. I imagine the cold generated by a super would be even worse and just the cosmetic portions of the car alone (like paneling) being destroyed would be extremely expensive, probably qualify as totalling out the vehicle due to the cost to replace it all.
He may feel old but he doesn’t look it. He must be well..preserved.
You know, cool guys never look old. When they get anything white, it will be “venerable” white hair.
It took me longer than it should have to get that pun.
Brillant it took me a few reads to figure that out. So focused on the speech balloons didn’t notice the others.
Mr. Freezy must not date Pistonic. Or probably anyone else who has valuable stuff.
Malls are totally still a thing…
Depends on where you are. We used to have two. They’ll be tearing down one this summer. About the only thing keeping the other one in business is the multiplex and a sporting goods megamart.
Okay, so how are they going to steer that balloon from the cup?
Cecil’s cloak of course, he’ll invisibly fly and push it while shrunken.
Tyler’s grapple gun!
Wouldn’t the grapple gun be with all the rest of his Moon Shadow equipment, which they’re on their way to get?
Let’s hope the Revanent doesn’t call and ask any awkward questions at an inconvenient time about why Cecil is using the shrink ray.
Ah, Tyler. This is why despite the lack of powers you are worthy of being this universe’s (junior) Batman. 🙂
I love it when he does something clever like this.
That said, he’d probably make one heckuva D&D/paper RPG player.
They don’t know each other well enough to know each other’s backstories – this group of $15/hour mall cops is a broad enough circle a redhaired interloper could plausibly get herself signed up to chaperone duty on false pretenses. Heck, they let ex-cons on parole watch their kids, apparently.
Thinking about the idea of redheaded woman seen before by Cecil = Sarah Bartlett/Dynamode.
1. That means Sarah Bartlett still has her powers?
1.1 If yes, why be part of power-loss therapy?
1.2 If yes, why see Power & Glory?
1.3 If yes, why even be there to begin with?
1.4 If no, how is she there in a different shape?
1.4.1 Temporary access to older powers granted by P&G? Doesn’t seem so based on her last interaction with them (she simply received instructions to pay them; no re-empowerment, however temporary, was indicated).
1.4.2 Hologram or similar external disguise?
1.4.3 (Insert other possibility here.)
2. Remember that Tyler ran into Sarah Bartlett in the tower? (2016-10-28) She made peace with them then, telling them they could get powers too. Why would she be blocking Tyler’s movements now?
2.1 Or is it because Cecil’s with him and Cecil’s not part of her conspiracy?
Also, another thought on the topic… It’s crazy theory time.
What if Sarah’s story of her loss of her powers is true but incomplete? What if the redheaded woman IS her/Dynamode? Psywarp’s commands could have also been:
“Re-form your body into two, with you in charge of a body without powers, and your original body under my control. Oh, and think that I only had you shapechange into a body without powers. Forget that your powered body exists under my control. And should you see her, you shall act as if she wasn’t there at all.”
That said, that’s definitely wonky and convoluted and not in a good Silver Age manner. From another writing perspective, it requires a lot of hidden details whose revelation would seem to come from nowhere; it’d be cheating the reader. In-universe, where Dynamode rearranged her own molecules into new forms, it would require splitting her mass into two bodies, meaning the still-shapechanging Dynamode would be thinner/lighter/smaller than her original whole. And note the additional commands I mentioned to deal with the fact that Sarah Bartlett could run into her still-powered body at the party.
Also: motive. Why would Psywarp do that? This at least can be explained: to gain access to the EDL tower in Wonderburg.
Note that a similar plot (that was handled really well) appeared in the Batman Animated Series story “Growing Pains”.
Here’s my take, if the redheaded heroine is indeed Dynamode:
– Dynamode defeated Psywarp and brought him to justice.
– Sarah is NOT Dynamode, but an unpowered human girl brainwashed by Psywarp into believing she’s Dynamode.
Given how Sarah is willing to make Faustian bargains with sinister entities to get her powers “back”, she would not take the revelation that she is not actually Dynamode well.
As such, Psywarp can get revenge by proxy against Dynamode if Sarah succeeds in getting powers, if she doesn’t succeed Psywarp at least gets away with ruining the life of an innocent.
What about the possibility that Sarah is Dynamode though Sarah is aware of the split personality and while being Sarah is powerless. Dynamode doesn’t know of Sarah though Sarah still needs to swap deliberately to get Dynamode to the right time and place for her shift to start, Sarah giving up time in control. Power and Glory needed a kid to perform the payment task and this temporary issue is their doing, possibly item related, to enable her to compulete payment for the other power set on sale.
Not sure about the How but could the time Dynamode is in control be temporal related as to how she may have powers and be unaware?
Oh, Psywarp explains everything. She may have won though doesn’t mean she wasn’t effected.
-Psy- effect on the brain and -Warp- the warp may fluctuate causing the switching.
This is all in her mind. Split personality it is. In kid form a mental block stops her use of powers until she switches to Dynamode. Switching can’t be deliberate as Dynamode the adult is who went to P&G and adult and kid version is aware. That means the switching is at set times only hence the time check and bathroom visit.
The problem there is that such doesn’t match Sarah’s actions. She’d technically still have her powers even if they’re locked away with a different persona. She wouldn’t say in therapy that she lost her powers; she’d say she has psychically-induced Dissociative Identity Disorder that placed her powers in the hands of a different personality. At which point, that’s a case for therapy, not P&G. Or, alternatively, I’m sure there are other super-related cures, like a heroic mentalist undoing the split personality or at least giving her real persona access to them.
Thinking about it… There’s a certain assumption that P&G are somehow evil. How do we know that? We don’t know what price they set to bestow power on people. We don’t know who their past clientele are- they could be real heroes who’ve done a lot of good with what they got from P&G. They could just be part of whatever phenomenon* enables superpowers in a world. We don’t really know who they are. Mystery =/= sinister.
* – “Heroic Age” as per Vashti Imperia, destiny-based choice Tyler Marlocke and Tom Davidson.
That said, my personal fun-based guess of who they are: disguised versions of Malphast’s parents. Wilson Power is a neat-nick (which fits Malphast’s dad being an archangel of Order) and Angelica Glory is a smooth talker and negotiator (sounds like his mom). I wouldn’t be surprised if giving people more powers (especially when it’s now not going to stop) would further the cause of both Order and Chaos.
Dynamode has not used powers yet. The clues on her being Sarah are mostly Sarah having to run for the ‘bathroom’ at a certain time. The question is why.
Because she had to go at a certain time, it is probably to meet someone.
Rereading this I can’t help but note he’s quite right, when I did work testing components for vehicles prior to them being cleared for such use I discovered that the coating for the wiring on one device was extremely sensitive to cold, started getting fragile and broke easily at temperatures it shouldn’t have. I imagine the cold generated by a super would be even worse and just the cosmetic portions of the car alone (like paneling) being destroyed would be extremely expensive, probably qualify as totalling out the vehicle due to the cost to replace it all.