Armor Piercing Question / Webcomics

Armor-Piercing Question in Webcomics.

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• In a The Amazing World of Gumball fan comic titled "After the Inquisition", Rob angrily shouts at Penny, telling her he was trying to help everyone from the void. She asks him why he didn't just tell everyone what was going on instead of brainwashing them, which he excuses by saying that everyone in Elmore is an idiot. She counters by telling him that he never tried getting to know anyone and told him that they would've helped him until she mentions Gumball.
  Rob: Why on Earth would I ask him for his help? He's the one who made me the villain in the first place!
  Penny: Let me ask you this: Did Gumball forced [sic] you to be the bad guy or did you choose to be the villain?
  Rob: ...What?
• In Angels 2200, Quetz ends up asking this to herself. When Hammer sneaks into her hospital room to check on her, Quetz rather than being appreciative or even concerned for Hammer, contemplates pressing the call button on her bed to summon help in an attempt to get Hammer caught and removed as commander of Icebreaker Squad, unaware that they already know she's in here because of surveillance cameras. Hammer talks Quetz down by telling her that if she betrays her, no one in Icebreaker will want to follow her. Quetz then questions herself as to why she didn't press the button and ultimately concludes that it's because she wants to belong.
• Arthur, King of Time and Space: Morgan of Gore, aka Morgan la Fey, Arthur's half-sister the would-be usurper asks herself one in the science fiction arc.
  "He loves them. He just loves them that much. And they him. I wonder what that's like?"
• The Beast Legion, when Master Surya asks Xeus, whether he'd last for two blinks against Dragos.
• Darths & Droids:
  • While Obi-Wan and Yoda are discovering the Jedi Temple massacre:
    Ben: Sally, this is serious. You need to play it seriously.
    Sally: Just because you do everything Dad tells you to!
    Ben: What? No, I don't!
    Sally: Why are you studying medicine then?!
  • An in-character version, when Luke asks Vader what they'd do if Vader overthrew the Emperor. Vader pauses and says "I haven't thought about it." The Emperor, who at this point is completely nuts, chimes in with "because you've never thought of overthrowing me, or never thought past overthrowing me?" Vader just goes silent.
• In Dubious Company Sal accidentally does this by saying: "Of course I have a home. Doesn't everybody?" By the looks on Walter, Tiren, and Elly's faces, those words were devastating.
• In El Goonish Shive, Elliot does this to Magus, asking him "If the only issue is strength, can't you just make default physical forms stronger without making them male?" His response ("Um... reasons. There has to be a reason for it, though I have no idea what it is.") is rather telling.
  • Liam also gives several in a row to Dwight when the latter begins to realize his racism against Uryuoms is unfair. "Look at Virginia. Can you honest tell me you feel threatened by her? That she poses any danger to you, a fully trained guard griffin? Do you think she would be my assistant if I did not trust her? Do you truly feel it is right to judge her based purely on her being an Uryuom? [...] The shame you feel is deserved. That shame, however, says good things. It says there is hope for you."
• Ennui GO!: Omegaman gives one to Izzy during his Rousing Speech in "Tetrapod", giving her the emotional strength to finally shoot Florida Man.
• Erika and the Princes in Distress: Aurel asks one to her mother when she tries to convince him that men cannot be nurses by showing him the portraits of famous nurses, who were all women.
  Queen Ariane: History speaks for itself! As far as I know, there is not a single man on this wall!
  Aurel: How can any man have impact history if they are never given a chance to?!
• Everything is Fine: In the first episode, The New Forever, Maggie asks Sam whether just shutting up and putting up is really the best way to go. On the surface, she's talking about his job, but it's heavily implied she's actually referring to their entire situation.
  Maggie: "Like, you can play roulette as much as you want, but in the end... who owns the casino?"
• In Evon, in response to Hero protesting that his feelings for Evon are strictly professional, his friend Felvis asks him if that's the case, why is he still with Evon, protecting her, since the job she originally hired him for (retrieving her father's spellbook) was long since done.
• Freefall: This is all it takes for Florence to finally catch a break in her quest to save Jean - because Rousseau Was Right.
  Florence: "Have you met Mr. Kornada?"
  Mr. Raibert: "Yes. Hmm... Yes. It is possible that we have a problem here."
  • It may be subjective, as it's an all-caps comic, but there seemed to be an undertone of intense worry there; "Yes! Of course the glass plates we're eating off of are clean. We use only the finest window cleaner on them... Oh, Crap!."
• Gaia: King Savos has one for Gaia's chosen, San de Vertis:
  King Savos: "Has it crossed your mind that you may also be one of Eldor’s magic machines instead of Gaia’s chosen one?"
• In A Girl and Her Fed, the ghost of George Washington is lecturing The Fed about his disapproval of the plan to take the OACET agents public. When The Fed asks Washington what he would've done in his place, Washington avoids the question. As Washington is about to storm off in a huff, The Fed hits with him with "Murder, mass suicide or running?":
  Patrick: When it gets down to it, you'd only have three options. [...] Four, if you count going public.
  You've made it clear how you think going public was a mistake. And I'm absolutely sure you'd never cause harm to your own people.
  Would you have run?
  • To his credit, Washington answers honestly^note "Of course I would have run.", and expands on why.
    Washington: Truth be told, it was an untenable situation... One I could not accept
    I believe in the the principle of sacrificing of the good, that compromise will accomplish what stubbornness can not.
    But if the best option is one that goes against all I have fought for? Well. Then I shall still fight.
• In Girl Genius:
  • As Tarvek prepares to escape Sturmhalten with Lucrezia-Agatha, inadvertently asks one of these of her. "It's difficult, leaving... all this behind, not knowing when I'll return. You ever get like that?" He doesn't see her reaction, but the expression on her face is one of the few times we see a real emotion on Lucrezia's face.
  • One from an unexpected source, the second time Agatha meets Ogthar Tregavvesen (GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER!), while she's with Master Payne's Circus. He begins his usual nonsense about her being his plucky girl assistant, and says he wouldn't have shot her if he knew she was the Heterodyne, which is why partners shouldn't keep secrets. She retorts that she doesn't keep secrets from her actual partners, and he asks if they know she's the Heterodyne, which of course, they don't.
• Zarla's Handplates'verse gives us Sans asking one of those to Gaster.
  Sans: Did you ever enjoy it?
  W.D. Gaster: Excuse me?
  Sans: Did you ever enjoy hurting us?
  W.D. Gaster: ...I do what I have to do.
  Sans: That's not an answer... But it's the only one you got, isn't it?
• Homestuck:
  • Rose actually renders Dave Strider speechless.
    TT: Have you ever looked into the sky without your shades?
  • When Terezi starts sharing her concerns and doubts with Dave, he is unsure how to respond. He finally asks "Do you want me to tell you to be a better human or a better troll?" She avoids actually answering the question.
  • Parodied when Rose and Dave finally meet the trolls in person. With most of them acting like idiots, an embarrassed Terezi claims they're usually cooler than this. Dave asks "are you really?" and after a moment she admits no, they really aren't.
  • Lil Hal springs one of these on Dirk when the latter is attempting to kill him.
    TT: I am scared to not exist.
    TT: Aren't you?
• The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!: After Galatea outlines her latest plans for conquest, Bob asks, "And that'll make things better?" She starts to answer, realizes she can't think of an answer, stops silent, and then asks dejectedly (he has done similar stunts to her before), "How do you do that?'' Bob: "Hm? Oh, I dunno. You O.K.?" Galatea: "Yes."
  • And shortly before that, "What ever happened to Ace of Base?"
  • Also, Jean asks Voluptua, regarding the Love Triangle between them and Bob: "Voluptua, why are you always around?"
• Kill Six Billion Demons:
  • In the lore of the universe, the Hot-Blooded goddess Aesma inadvertently poses one to YISUN, the Top God who created the universe, and it's remembered as the only time in existence that YISUN hesitated. When YISUN tells her in typical gnomic fashion that even the universe is not a self-evident truth, she pitches a fit and asks "Then what is it?"
    "My opinion", said YISUN, finally.
  • In the actual events of the comic, Solomon David becomes the target of one during Breaker of Infinities. Solomon is confronted by an old woman who spent twenty-five years in prison over enjoying a drink due to Solomon's laws, but justified the harshness to herself because the rule of the Demiurges kept her safe. Seeing Jagganoth essentially depopulate Rayuba from orbit has shattered her faith, and she proceeds to call out her 'God', causing Solomon to realise he's broken his own social contract and commit to a Self-Destructive Charge to get Jagganoth away from what's left of his people.
    Twenty-five years. FOR WHAT?!
  • Maya derided her teacher's moral lessons as weak. She abandoned her relatives to be slaughtered by the other warlords tearing the multiverse apart and became one of them. Her career as a Myopic Conqueror was highly successful, but her mentor's words still bugged her and forced her to ask Was It Really Worth It?. She returned to her mentor to show off all of her accomplishments and affirm that it was. We do not hear exactly what question Meti asked, but it completely broke Maya's will and caused her to abandon her empire for a simple life as a mother and farmer.
    
    When she later tells the question to Allison, it's basically just And Then What? — after you've conquered the evil of the world with violence of your own, then what? Will you be able to give up your power and your violent ways? The thing is, Allison has been hit with the same question before, and this time, she's basically able to shrug it off: there are some things you don't need to answer before you get there. ("I dunno, maybe it's like that? Maybe? I don't think I'm very smart.") Of course, there's a difference here in that Allison is not slaughtering everyone for ends justifying the means, she's just fighting the bad guys, mostly. Anyhow, in this longer perspective, it ends up being a subversion.
• MegaTokyo: Just as Miho's about to crash headlong over the Despair Event Horizon following the horde attacking her at school and seemingly killing Piro in the process, Kimiko stops her short with a question that causes Miho to question her entire perspective regarding the futility of fighting against her "story", which has killed and resurrected her countless times over the years.
  Kimiko: What about what happens to you in his story?
• Ménage à 3: Kiley to Sonya. "So how long have you had these latent homosexual urges?" Other characters also pull similar stunts; see the notes on the comic.
• Nebula: After a long argument trying to get Saturn to agree to hand over their moons, Uranus finally demands to know what would happen if they just reached out and took the moons, if Saturn would actually try and stop them. After a long, tense moment, Saturn admits that no, they probably wouldn't.
• Nedroid has a perfect example in this comic
  Rabbit: Maybe everything is invisible and you're the only one who can see it.
• The Order of the Stick:
  • Hallucination/ghost Shojo sets Belkar up for his Moment of Awesome with the question, "What are you?".
    "Is that all you are? A race and a class? Another forgettable mix-and-match player character? If you die, will another halfling ranger just happen to show up to take your place? Then what ARE you?"
  • During the "No Cure for the Paladin Blues" arc, Elan asks Roy why he likes Miko. What makes this noteworthy is that since her introduction, most of the team have been vocal about her displeasure of her, but Roy manages to shrug off or ignore their complaints. Then comes Elan who flat-out asks Roy why he like-likes her and Roy can only come up with her being attractive and of the same alignment before Elan uses simple logic to come up to a potential conclusion and then a question that Roy cannot answer... He's actually happy they're attacked before he could answer.
    Elan: I was thinking. Why would Roy LIKE like a girl who is so mean to his friends, and I can't figure it out. Unless you like her more than us. Is that it, Roy? Do you like Miko more than you like me?
  • Much later in the comic, Durkon has come to bargain with Redcloak on behalf of his God, because there is a way out of their ordeal that the pantheons could actually agree on. But Redcloak refuses to believe it, thinking it's a ploy or that it's just the Order trying to surrender, and is about to hit Durkon with what looks like a lethal touch attack spell before Durkon hits him with:
    Durkon: Did ye think ye were gonna threaten all tha heavens an' na one o' tha gods would send a mess'nger ta talk ye outta it?
    Redcloak: ...No... I actually didn't.
  • As for Redcloak, he sometimes tries to pull this on other cast members. Notably, it never sticks.
• In Peanuts Untold, Lila gives Charlie Brown a little kiss for Valentine's Day. Sally sees what happens and takes Lila to Lucy's psychiatric help booth to "fix" her. This exchange ensues:
  Lucy: Who in her right mind would want to kiss Charlie Brown?!
  Sally: That's why I brought her here.
  Lila: Have you two kissed a guy who doesn't run away when you do it?
  (Lucy and Sally are shocked into Stunned Silence, then walk away with their heads low)
  Lucy & Sally: She defeated us with the facts.
• Questionable Content has a minor version of this:
  Raven: Are you always this mean to people you barely even know?
  Faye: I am not... uh, I mean, not to every- I'm just- it's... Goddammit, I've been flummoxed by someone with the IQ of a herring.
• Rain (2010):
  • Fara gives one to Aiken she compares him to his father.
  • When Rob tries to play off his bigotry as a joke, Drew asks him "Have I ever laughed?"
• Sam & Fuzzy: Tyke-Bomb Mr. Blank begins going on a Motive Rant about if the Ninja Mafia is fake, what did all the people he killed die for? Sam then asks Blank what Mr. Black died for (Blank had just killed him for badmouthing the Mafia). Blank spends an entire Beat Panel looking pained before deciding Black had to die, the Ninja Mafia is worth it, and then proceeds to all but say he's going to torture Sam to death for that observation.
• In Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal "Coffee 4", a guy writes down that "Coffee is proof that God loves us!" God laughs at him and tells him to ask himself why he needs coffee. As God sums it up by the end of the conversation:
  "Your life is poison and you fix it by drinking poison!"
• In Serenity Rose, this is done three times in as many pages when we're shown excerpts from the documentary "American Gothic"; The creator of a trashy, unoriginal comic is asked how many goth comics he's actually read after he continually derides them, the bassist of a goth/punk band is asked whether every fashion statement has to be political after she repeatedly rails against teenage girls who only subscribe to the lifestyle superficially, and nihilistic maniac superstar Rivet Hed is simply told straight up that "In the 16th century, they burned people like you at the stake."
• Slightly Damned: Without quite realizing it, Sammy asks Kieri to think about Buwaro's feelings for her, and their recent falling out. The question... stings.
• In Space Ponyos, Delta Vee goes on a rant to her daughter, Apogee, about how her ex stole sixteen years of her life. Apogee, who was in her life for most of those years, asks her why she hates her so much. Delta winces, tries to stammer out some kind of answer, then gives up and stomps off.
• Spina Cage: "Hasn't anyone ever depended on you?" seems to be one for Joven.
• Stand Still, Stay Silent: The hostile ghosts stalking the crew with the intent of harming them and their loved ones due to the pent-up frustration from being Barred from the Afterlife ends up at the receiving end of "Aren't you tired?". The restless spirits actually pause at this, allowing their guard to drop just enough to be talked into not hurting anyone else and finally letting the living leave their haunted house.
• In Season 3 of Survivor: Fan Characters, a livid Montana is about to dump the tribe's supplies into the fire after the other contestants unexpectedly voted out her best friend N over her, until Violet asks her if N would want her to throw away her chances of winning just to get revenge which causes her to reconsider.
• At the start of Three Apples, Applejack tries to cheer up her little sister by explaining that Cutie Marks mean more than simply their appearance. Apple Bloom then asks what AJ's mark stands for, throwing her sister for a bit of a loop.
  Apple Bloom: So what's three apples?
  Applejack: Pardon.
  Apple Bloom: Your three apples. What does that make you— ripe?
  • In the second act, Apple Bloom hits her with a harder one by asking, "Does anybody like you, Applejack? \ Are you anyone's favorite?"
• Tower of God: At the Name Hunt Station, Bam has to fight "Kaiser", who runs the place in an unending quest to make amends to her family, who showed her a lot of love until the point she failed their expectations and then abandoned her. Now, she lives by stealing the names of others and making them her servants or ransoming them off; the money goes to her family, who are deliberately not using it to pay off the debt that would free her. Bam asks her whether, after a thousand years, she still remembers the names of the family she so fervently serves, and she replies that of course she does. Then he asks her whether she remembers her own name. The realisation that she doesn't makes her see the absurdity of the whole thing.
• In the MLP fan comic Trixie Vs, Trixie is visited by The Ghost of Hearts Warming Eve multiple years in a row, to the point that the ghost is forced to resort to showing Trixie the Ponyville of a world where she was never born, which looks exactly the same as the Ponyville from her world and asking her:
  Ghost: Ok, so you say Trixie is the biggest thing to ever happen to Ponyville, right?
  Trixie: Without a doubt!
  Ghost: But in a world without Trixie Ponyville is no different. One minus zero is still one. Ponyville minus Trixie is still Ponyville. Do you understand what that means?
• Unsounded: While Duane complains about the unfairness of lives spent struggling after talking like his time in the military was righteous Ilganyag asks him a question that stops his rant:
  Duane: Nothing Endures! And that panicked, sweaty cognizance makes good men into monsters.
  Ilganyag: How many "monsters" did you and your good men kill?
• In Weak Hero, Gray is his usual unflappable self when Jake confronts him, right up until Jake pinpoints the strange, unsettling rush that Gray has been experiencing recently in battles:
  Jake: But now... you're enjoying it, aren't you?

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