Wapsi Square Power Levels

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pwbritt
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Wapsi Square Power Levels

Post by pwbritt »

Hello Everyone, but particularly Paul himself. I just finished re-reading the entire archive for about the fourth time over the last decade or so. I am really hoping that Paul would produce a list of the various Power-Levels of the Wapsi Square characters. I cannot actually figure where Bia, Phix, Monica, Castela the Fae and all of the others fit in the Power Hierarchy. Is there any possibility that the Master could fill us in a bit?? If I have missed a discussion thread about this, could someone please fill me in?

Thank you,

Paul Britt
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Atomic
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Re: Wapsi Square Power Levels

Post by Atomic »

Interesting question!

Bud herself (and the other GGs) could destroy the planet. Collectively, but for Monica's existence, they would by default.

Monica, as a newly formed Sub-Titan, wields enormous potential power, but it is focused on mind/body projection and abilities to communicate with the dead. She can crush any within her realm when projecting.

Castella, the blackthorn experiment, has huge physical strength with shape shifting (and the potential for much more), as well as endurance from a variety of attacks. Overall power remains to be seen.

One of the new High School girls (sorry I forget the name) is essentially a mind flayer, and disrupted (destroyed?) a multi-block area during a off day. Her skills obviate any physical attack, assuming she sees it coming.

So when you ask for a power ranking, you have to consider which aspect of 'power' your refer to.
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Dave
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Re: Wapsi Square Power Levels

Post by Dave »

Hi, Paul! That's an interesting question, and I don't think there's been either a specific discussion thread, or anything definitive by Paul ever posted about it.

My first (very subjective, and by no means "official") thought is that it's too simple a question... or, rather, that it assumes too simple a sort of answer. The key word here is "levels", which sorta implies "more" or "less" of just one sort of "power".

From what I think we've seen, the answer in Wapsiverse is more complicated than that. There's power of quite a few types, and influence / clout, and knowledge (which is, of course, power of a sort), and wisdom. The various characters you've mentioned (and the others) each have their own interesting "mix" of these things, and I don't think we can always rank one as "more powerful" than another in a clear way. There's probably not just a single-axis "hierarchy", but a complex web of power-relationships of many sorts. Think of it as a cat's cradle of strings, in at least 15 dimensions, and probably fractal as well... that's the sort of picture I see when I look at the Wapsiverse.

The traditional gods and titans are very powerful in their own way, and immortal or nearly so... but they're not without their limitations. The Vimana shield set up by the Golem Girls has been able prevent even the gods from traveling freely to Earth, and Bia (a titan, and the very personification of Force itself) could be derp-punched right through a solid stone wall by low-sphinx-on-the-totem-pole Phix, when Phix was in the Library. Bia is clearly very powerful on a physical level, apparently has had a neurotic obsession with Fixing Things for many thousands of years, was very much a manipulative sociopath, and seems to have become a lot gentler and saner since her father turned her back into a child.

Monica is a "sub-Titan" (so, presumably not as much raw power as Bia and the other Titans), and her powers are somewhat specialized (poiting and Lanthian glyph-reading command powers over the Golems, regenerative immortality, the ability to see a person's deepest fear, and the ability to walk to the land of the dead and to interact with demons). We haven't seen her spit fire or make the planet turn backwards (although she does poot in rainbow colors, I believe).

Shelly... the immortality and strength of a sphinx, the wisdom of extreme age, and the power of her Titan ancestry... but she's still scared to death of spiders. Lately she seems to have settled into a somewhat traditional role of "protector sphinx" and doesn't seem to be ambitious beyond that... but Bia believes that Shelly has a Destiny. Probably still a lot to be learned about Shelly, I'd guess.

If Shelly and Monica should fight... I'm not sure that Monica could kill Shelly, and while Shelly could very probably kill Monica any number of times Monica wouldn't stay dead. So, which of the two is more powerful? Beats me. Not an easy question.

The Golem Girls... from what Shelly has said they're probably among the most powerful of human-descended paranormals, and any of them would be quite capable of turning our planet into a charred pile of rubble... but Monica can (probably) lock them down and put them to sleep with a few words, and they can be manipulated by others (the Nu Gui took control of Brandi, and tricked Acacia into suspension).

Atsali... Siren/Incubus, she has the compulsion-power of her heritage, and she packs quite a combat-punch as well (surprising even herself). It's TBD what more she has lurking "in the wings" as she grows into adulthood.

The Fae... apparently both powerful and dangerous by para standards, quite amoral, but they do have their own specific constraints (honoring the Blackthorn so much they can't even defend themselves against a direct attack by one) and they're definitely not immortal.

Pickle... she's a partially-matured bio-engineered weapon, certainly with a lot of power available to her now (enough to kill Fae and many other paranormals) and maybe more to come... we don't know. I'm sure Paul will spring this on us in his usual inimitable bootlegger-turn fashion one of these days :-)

Then, there are the manipulations of the demons, the sphinxes, the immortal Lanthian politicians... a mix of "power" and "influence" and "clout".

So - what you ask is not easily answered, I think.

(Except, of course, for the lingerie ninjas. There's no doubt they're the Secret Masters of the Wapsiverse. Sorry to give away your secrets, Paul! :D )

And even they take orders from Conscience.
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Re: Wapsi Square Power Levels

Post by GlytchMeister »

Paul Taylor no longer visits this forum (except in very special cases) for a variety of reasons. However, you can connect with him, with a much higher chance for reply, via either:

The comic's Facebook page...

Or his Facebook page.
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Re: Wapsi Square Power Levels

Post by jwhouk »

Devyn is who you were thinking of. And she's likely a... demigod? Is that what you'd call an offspring of an Olympian?
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Re: Wapsi Square Power Levels

Post by TazManiac »

GlytchMeister wrote:Paul Taylor no longer visits this forum (except in very special cases) for a variety of reasons. However, you can connect with him, with a much higher chance for reply, via either:

The comic's Facebook page...

Or his Facebook page.
So, I hardly ever go onto Facebook, but according to one of the ads, my next girlfriend is somewhere waiting for me...

And she seems to almost match a Monica profile, physically...

Image

Image

(I have no idea how long those links-2-pix will last, but it seems serendipitous to say the least...
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Re: Wapsi Square Power Levels

Post by Catawampus »

An argument can be plausibly made that one of the most powerful beings is Tina.

Bud, Brandi, and Jin (at least pre-humanification Jin) are each individually three of the most potentially destructive people around, with strength of practically unlimited amount, plasma blasts, precise teleportation of any object, and so on. Combined into the chimera, they're even more powerful. But Monica can give them orders that they have to obey, so Monica has her own power plus the powers of the chimera. However, we've seen that Tina has an ability to influence minds; it's not clear just how strong her powers of compulsion are, but they definitely can have an effect on others and their actions. It's been implied or shown that she can influence Monica, Atsali, and Shelly at least. Atsali has powers of compulsion, too, but they so far seem to be more limited to attractive charm.

Of course, Tina still seems to be as physically vulnerable as any human, though she heals quickly.
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