Seriously? Engaging in full scale combat in the middle of a protest? Best case scenario is the civilians run and only a few of them get hurt or killed in the stampede. Most likely scenario is a significant number of protesters riot and attack the Aegis team to protect the Cuckoos, resulting in a) Aegis team members killing protesters accidentally or in self-defense, b) rioters keeping the Aegis team occupied enough to allow the Cuckoos to deal major damage, or c) both.
And that’s not even considering the massive PR disaster this will produce. Remember that the Cuckoos’ strategy has always been to pose as heros and win public support until its too late. Combined with the Korea scandal, a deadly attack on non-violent protesters could easily be enough to get Aegis shut down.
Aaron: while that’s theoretically true, depending on what evidence Aegis can pull together of the Cuckoos’ nefarious intent (besides “the guys from the future said so” and “Hilda had a vision about it”), I always thought the earlier strips about PR problems for Aegis range hollow because Aegis has saved the entire world multiple times over and the last occasion was both extremely public and very recent. They should have an awful lot of goodwill and benefit-of-the-doubt for anything they do, except in the eyes of cranks.
First rule of super-powered combat: Take it outside the city. That minimizes collateral damage, hostage situations and Civil War-type scenarios
Second rule of super-powered combat: Never obliterate your villains like that. You need to go toe to toe. You need banter and acrobatics. Let them show off their big guns and that way you get to show off yours. If you completely trample your enemies like that, then they’re no longer a real menace and thus become glorified mooks. That’s never good. That forces villains to upgrade/call for backup, or to go on a self-destructive last rampage, or to be replaced by a tougher villain.
Third rule of super-powered combat: If you are going to take out a villain, make that permanent. I’m not advocating grim n’ gritty Punisher wannabes here, but we all know prisons for super-criminals are like celebrity rehab centers. Okay, I’ll admit the Unconscious Collective actually have a low escape rate, but Shanna proved it’s far from flawless. Better have some sort of Phantom Zone thing.
1) …kinda looks like they’re going Punisher here. I’m sure they won’t be killing them, but… looks a bit early to say they’re going easy on them. Especially looking at Bellhop there.
2) Shanna is more badass than any of these guys can ever hope to be. That’s how she got out.
Hilda’s just off, you know, ruthlessly killing Feddyg in an act of vigilante justice that undermines everything AEGIS stands for, thus giving the Hand even more fuel to use to turn the people against them. Sure, Feddyg was evil, but once a group of government-endorsed, mostly-superpowered individuals begin acting as judge, jury, and executioner, are YOU safe, America? *cue paranoia*
And even if that doesn’t happen, this will NOT turn out well for AEGIS regardless. Has Will ever heard of the term “PR Shitstorm?” He’s about to know it very, VERY well.
“At this point Iād guess Will is more concerned with the fate of humanity than with his public image. At least I know I would be.”
True… but still, all they have to go on is the word of some time travelers.
“Maybe this is the mistake they make in this engagement. Disproportionate force turns public opinion.”
And that is some wildly, incredibly, ridiculously disproportionate force.
After today’s show of insanely disproportionate violence, I’m definitely wondering if the betrayer(s) is/are their children? ie. Dotty (Tim), Joseph (Rikk, Rumy, Alli), and the General (Jesse). Still of the mind that this whole time travel thing could be a set-up to CAUSE something to happen, rather than prevent it.
I would like to think that, while the chicklets have already said(?) that they cannot interfere directly, they are off-panel carefully teleporting protesters out of harms way to reduce collateral damage.
Oops, pardon me, I seem to have some sort of rose colored tint on my glasses. *scrub scrub*
Okay, where was I? Oh, yeah. Tiki Wiki looks like he’s about to flash Wheaties. And Rumy’s absence is a bit alarming here.
It’s always interesting how the ever-artistic, sensitive and liberty loving left-leaners are always the first to put undying faith in an unaccountable government agency to administer justice— and portray individualists with fear, venom and loathing.
But hey, so long as it’s the right people wearing the jackboots… right?
Ummmmmm…… You DO realize this is just a comic strip, right? It isn’t real. Right?
Also, I would have thought you right wing types would be A-OK with the government using “excessive force” on illegal immigrants who come to our country to commit crimes.
Locke: As Feddyg was alive in that future, it’s unlikely that the scenario you described was what the time travelers were talking about.
Bunny Suction: It helps that AEGIS can demonstrate that they really ARE time travelers: Dottie’s genetically identical to someone who’s currently a toddler, and Joseph is the child of two people who would have to have conceived him before they even met if he _weren’t_ from the future. Presumably, Tiki-wiki has a younger self somewhere too.
RealityCheck: Interesting that a right-winger would sympathize with a group of “Individualists” whose goal is to subjugate and eventually force into extinction everyone else on the planet.
Mike Crichton: Oh yeah, they’re totally legit time travellers. No doubt about that in my mind. But that doesn’t mean they’re agenda is what they say it is. Who knows what happened in their timeline that may have turned them against AEGIS/their parents.
uhmm… when Dotty and the futurians came, and she implied a relationship between Shanna and Marc, the affair was mostly private, was it not? but now it`s almost public that something was going on.
Is there something they have said that reveals truly insider info?
Guth works are probably in the future cloudbrary, and… come on, Di “must” have had a favorite movie.
So maybe they come from the timestream, but Hilda probably has them in the crosshairs and is only waiting to call the sniper shots. Let`s see what comes.
Bunny suction: I meant that, should AEGIS really decide that public opinion is that important, they can have the time travelers go on TV and release their DNA test results as proof of their identities. In this setting, it would be at least as convincing as any “War on Terror” press conference in the real world.
Drakkin the Alien: I think it’s become public knowledge that in the kid’s future, Marc and Shanna got together after Will’s death, but their “current” involvement is unconfirmed.
And I just had a thought: Now that everyone at Aegis knows the consequences of betraying the team to the Cuckoos, it’s entirely possible they’ve thought better of it. The betrayal might not ever happen, and we might never know who the traitor would have been.
Oh hey, I’ve got it. Gabriel and Dr. McNinja are the betrayers.
To right. Marigold would never turn traitor on us.
So…HOW many webcomics make cameos here? I want to say four?
4? I only see three.
Also, the question, as ever, is- where is Hilda?
Seriously? Engaging in full scale combat in the middle of a protest? Best case scenario is the civilians run and only a few of them get hurt or killed in the stampede. Most likely scenario is a significant number of protesters riot and attack the Aegis team to protect the Cuckoos, resulting in a) Aegis team members killing protesters accidentally or in self-defense, b) rioters keeping the Aegis team occupied enough to allow the Cuckoos to deal major damage, or c) both.
And that’s not even considering the massive PR disaster this will produce. Remember that the Cuckoos’ strategy has always been to pose as heros and win public support until its too late. Combined with the Korea scandal, a deadly attack on non-violent protesters could easily be enough to get Aegis shut down.
Marigold must of borrowed Dora’s Anti-burglar broadsword. š
Hanners must have the Battle spatula lol.
So, I must have missed the strip where they recruited Gabe and Dr. McNinja.
Aaron: while that’s theoretically true, depending on what evidence Aegis can pull together of the Cuckoos’ nefarious intent (besides “the guys from the future said so” and “Hilda had a vision about it”), I always thought the earlier strips about PR problems for Aegis range hollow because Aegis has saved the entire world multiple times over and the last occasion was both extremely public and very recent. They should have an awful lot of goodwill and benefit-of-the-doubt for anything they do, except in the eyes of cranks.
AEGIS, WTF?.
First rule of super-powered combat: Take it outside the city. That minimizes collateral damage, hostage situations and Civil War-type scenarios
Second rule of super-powered combat: Never obliterate your villains like that. You need to go toe to toe. You need banter and acrobatics. Let them show off their big guns and that way you get to show off yours. If you completely trample your enemies like that, then they’re no longer a real menace and thus become glorified mooks. That’s never good. That forces villains to upgrade/call for backup, or to go on a self-destructive last rampage, or to be replaced by a tougher villain.
Third rule of super-powered combat: If you are going to take out a villain, make that permanent. I’m not advocating grim n’ gritty Punisher wannabes here, but we all know prisons for super-criminals are like celebrity rehab centers. Okay, I’ll admit the Unconscious Collective actually have a low escape rate, but Shanna proved it’s far from flawless. Better have some sort of Phantom Zone thing.
Couple things about your last bit there, moeb…
1) …kinda looks like they’re going Punisher here. I’m sure they won’t be killing them, but… looks a bit early to say they’re going easy on them. Especially looking at Bellhop there.
2) Shanna is more badass than any of these guys can ever hope to be. That’s how she got out.
Hilda’s just off, you know, ruthlessly killing Feddyg in an act of vigilante justice that undermines everything AEGIS stands for, thus giving the Hand even more fuel to use to turn the people against them. Sure, Feddyg was evil, but once a group of government-endorsed, mostly-superpowered individuals begin acting as judge, jury, and executioner, are YOU safe, America? *cue paranoia*
And even if that doesn’t happen, this will NOT turn out well for AEGIS regardless. Has Will ever heard of the term “PR Shitstorm?” He’s about to know it very, VERY well.
At this point I’d guess Will is more concerned with the fate of humanity than with his public image.
At least I know I would be.
Besides, MechTech was five seconds from starting a riot anyway.
first true rule of combat…. if your enemy has any reasonable chance of victory, you’re doing it wrong…
second true rule of combat… if the battle lasts longer than the few opening shots, you’re doing it wrong…
corollary true rule of combat… any tactic that leaves friendlies standing and hostiles otherwise is a good one…
At least *one* of these aliens had better be properly killable.
Maybe this is the mistake they make in this engagement. Disproportionate force turns public opinion.
“At this point Iād guess Will is more concerned with the fate of humanity than with his public image. At least I know I would be.”
True… but still, all they have to go on is the word of some time travelers.
“Maybe this is the mistake they make in this engagement. Disproportionate force turns public opinion.”
And that is some wildly, incredibly, ridiculously disproportionate force.
I think Di is talking too much.
Nuke harder. Talk later.
After today’s show of insanely disproportionate violence, I’m definitely wondering if the betrayer(s) is/are their children? ie. Dotty (Tim), Joseph (Rikk, Rumy, Alli), and the General (Jesse). Still of the mind that this whole time travel thing could be a set-up to CAUSE something to happen, rather than prevent it.
I would like to think that, while the chicklets have already said(?) that they cannot interfere directly, they are off-panel carefully teleporting protesters out of harms way to reduce collateral damage.
Oops, pardon me, I seem to have some sort of rose colored tint on my glasses. *scrub scrub*
Okay, where was I? Oh, yeah. Tiki Wiki looks like he’s about to flash Wheaties. And Rumy’s absence is a bit alarming here.
Tiki Wiki: “Hold on whilst I whip this out!”
@Jason
Tiki Wiki’s true power: Super streaking.
It’s always interesting how the ever-artistic, sensitive and liberty loving left-leaners are always the first to put undying faith in an unaccountable government agency to administer justice— and portray individualists with fear, venom and loathing.
But hey, so long as it’s the right people wearing the jackboots… right?
@RealityCheck
Ummmmmm…… You DO realize this is just a comic strip, right? It isn’t real. Right?
Also, I would have thought you right wing types would be A-OK with the government using “excessive force” on illegal immigrants who come to our country to commit crimes.
Locke: As Feddyg was alive in that future, it’s unlikely that the scenario you described was what the time travelers were talking about.
Bunny Suction: It helps that AEGIS can demonstrate that they really ARE time travelers: Dottie’s genetically identical to someone who’s currently a toddler, and Joseph is the child of two people who would have to have conceived him before they even met if he _weren’t_ from the future. Presumably, Tiki-wiki has a younger self somewhere too.
RealityCheck: Interesting that a right-winger would sympathize with a group of “Individualists” whose goal is to subjugate and eventually force into extinction everyone else on the planet.
Animal’s power is healing, isn’t it? Maybe he’s recovered from the taser and is even now accosting Hilda/Rumy/someone important
Mike Crichton: Oh yeah, they’re totally legit time travellers. No doubt about that in my mind. But that doesn’t mean they’re agenda is what they say it is. Who knows what happened in their timeline that may have turned them against AEGIS/their parents.
uhmm… when Dotty and the futurians came, and she implied a relationship between Shanna and Marc, the affair was mostly private, was it not? but now it`s almost public that something was going on.
Is there something they have said that reveals truly insider info?
Guth works are probably in the future cloudbrary, and… come on, Di “must” have had a favorite movie.
So maybe they come from the timestream, but Hilda probably has them in the crosshairs and is only waiting to call the sniper shots. Let`s see what comes.
Bunny suction: I meant that, should AEGIS really decide that public opinion is that important, they can have the time travelers go on TV and release their DNA test results as proof of their identities. In this setting, it would be at least as convincing as any “War on Terror” press conference in the real world.
Drakkin the Alien: I think it’s become public knowledge that in the kid’s future, Marc and Shanna got together after Will’s death, but their “current” involvement is unconfirmed.
And I just had a thought: Now that everyone at Aegis knows the consequences of betraying the team to the Cuckoos, it’s entirely possible they’ve thought better of it. The betrayal might not ever happen, and we might never know who the traitor would have been.