Grrl Power #62 – A memorable start to her interviewing career
So a little wall or text-y unfortunately. I didn’t see a good way to break this one in to two pages and have enough content for a full second page, but the advantage of a cramped page this week means the next page will be Maxima’s interview, which means I can upgrade her who’s who badge to something other than “Mysterious Golden Woman.” It also means I need to finally name the team. Unfortunately I’m stuck at FSWAT (Federal Super Weapons and Tactics) which is serviceable but not quite as catchy as I’d like. Really I’d prefer something unique and googleable, so stuff like “Spartans” or “Phalanx” or other cool sounding words are out, leaving me mostly with (hopefully cool sounding) acronyms. Since the team is a new branch of the military, acronyms containing “Squad” doesn’t quite make sense, since I’m looking for a name for the whole division, not just one team. Acronyms containing Corps of Force would work I suppose.
I had played with something like Arc Corps, or Arch Corps, since the team is comprised of the super elite. That doesn’t make for a cool acronym but it’s fairly unique as far as I’m aware, plus I could call team members Arc Troops or Arc Knights or something. I like FEAR, from the video game, that sounds cool but isn’t unique obviously. For anyone not aware, FEAR stands for First Encounter Assault Recon, but my team is neither First Encounter nor Recon. They’re the ones that people call when they realize they can’t handle whatever super powered menace is confronting them. They’re more like Last Encounter if anything. Assault suits them, but they’re more than just a fighting force. While they aren’t engineers, you can imagine what super strong flyers could to in terms of building or repairing bridges, so an all encompassing acronym or name for the team continues to elude me. Suggestions are welcome. If someone comes up with something that’s a clear winner, maybe I’ll do a commission for them or gift them a shirt or something.
By the way I have a terrible (at the moment) looking store here with Sydney’s “Always. Expect. Ninjas.” in shirt form. I’ll add to the store with a shirt of the Grrl Power logo and some other ideas as I come up with them (and have time to draw them.) Also someone asked for a mug so I’ll set that up this week as well.
I didn’t mean to hit the meme well twice in a row, I won’t make a habit of it. I think memes are one of the best thing about the internet, the crowd-sourced iteration of humor, but I don’t feel like I’m writing my own jokes when I rely on them too heavily. Obviously Sydney is more than familiar with them though so it’s only natural that she’d bust ’em out every once in a while.
how about:
SPEAR– Superhuman Protection, Espionage, And Reconnaissance
DAMAGE– Department of Advanced Metahuman Affairs and General Equivalents
Hero– Heroic Egalitarian Rescue Organization
SHEPaRD– Special Headquarters for Exotic Personnel and Research Divisions
by the way, i didn’t come up with these, i just googled superhero acroynm and found ones i liked. but then, dont the best artists steal anyway? :P
also, absolutley loving the comic so far, i havent laughed so hard in ages! (although that could just be because of the mold growing on that old plate of curry giving of noxious fumes. meh, i’m a student, i can handle it!)
Glad you’re enjoying it so far!
Other names that take the mythological female angle could be MINERVA or ATHENA. Athena was the Greek god of, among other things, wisdom, warfare, justice, and skill – sounds appropriate. I had thought Minerva was her fairly direct Roman equivalent, but Wikipedia only gives her things like poetry, wisdom, crafts, and music (yet still shows depictions in Athena-style warrior garb). Can we just assume the Bosses didn’t check?
As for the acronyms to go with them, how about Metahuman Intelligence Network and Emergency Response Vectoring Agency? (Sounds more like the backroom ‘office officers’ than the front-line team; also not sure to what extent a four-armed purple succubus/alien crossbreed counts as ‘metahuman’.) ATHENA’s a bit harder to get. Push it a bit, ignore acquired Powers, and go for All-service Tactical Hothouse of Extraordinary Natural Ability?
The government has always gone two ways about naming groups and agencies, its just named them and out of that three or four letter acronyms have popped up, or its chosen a name for something (think SEALs) etc and gone to insane lengths to find words that’ll make the acronym work. Some of the more recent acronyms are just stupid.
Add fictitious government and you get things like SHIELD.
Division of Covert Ultra-Powered Security :D
Deviants Department.
Homeland Operations and Tactics
BITCHES?
Hah hah I may steal one of those for a gag idea I have. :)
I appreciate you taking to time to cnotirubte That’s very helpful.
DAM. Mothers Against Dyslexia.
hmm, why would they and snappy accrom anyways. lets be honest, sometimes an Accrom detracts from membership,
Case in point, While Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is a great organization. it’s accrom does not instantly make one think of the organization without a little preamble.
of course others do work, an example is NYPD. which for those that don’t watch CSI:New york, or are simply oblivious. it stands for New York Police Department.
so the Accrom does not have to flow off the tounge as one word.
ignore the case in point bit, sort of a brain fart.
aw, you nypd my snarky comment in the bud… nott lol.
Ah, Sydney cracks me up. :)
And let’s throw in an acronym just for fun – Augmented Tactical Holistic Engagement/Neutralization Agency.
Super Tactical Assault Brigade. Or STAB for short. :D
It would help if we had an idea of where the supers tactical unit fits in to the command hierarchy.
could always call the unit m-force and individuals M-forcers….
M Force Assemble! Sounds nice if a bit cartoonlike.
I’m thinking something like GOAL or SCORE…
but my brain is frying already and isn’t wanting to come up with sensible meanings to actually sensibly make sense -_-
SLAP… Super Ladies Against…Pain, um…Pricks? Xs i dunno, sorry… ^^; that’s not much help, especially since i got to this late :/ new laptop, didn’t have this bookmarked >.< gurgh
by the way, love the "historically impossible" comment from Sydney XD hey, at least she's being honest! lol XD and if it's not QUITE 100% what she said…i DID mention my brain melting, right?
Okay, this one literally made me laugh so hard I started crying. You’re doing a great job so far, keep up the good work! ;)
Thanks!
Third time reading archives still made me lol till i couldn’t breath. Dialed that shit in indeed.
Sigh. If only there really were girls like Sydney. Rarer than superpowers, I’ll say that.
Agreed, Sydney would be a rarity. I’ve got one character sort of like Sydney. At least one that is 14, a girl an independent and lives in the 1830’s British Isles.
:)
LIKE A BOSSSS!!!!!!
I love the “Historically…” remark in panel one. That is just so Sydney.
After reading 3+ pages of comments, I may have acronym poisoning.
It has probably been decided long ago, but I want my chance to poison fellow readers, too!
How about STEM? What does STEM stand for? Nothing. Let the opposition drive themselves crazy trying to get a clue as to what STEM stands for. “Might? Magic? It probably is not margarine.”
GRRL with no meaning assigned.
If you want meta-humour, try TWAIN which is a real computer industry acronym. It stands for “Technology Without An Interesting Name”. Change Technology to Team, and there you go.
I liked the suggestion of the name constantly being changed, too.
Haha, this scene cracks me up every time I read it.
LEEF-Last Encounter/Everything Fubar
I love Sydney so much!
I was re-reading the comics when I came across a different name you had for Suzie Wen https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/311
Her name is Wen, but she said Suzie News there. Whether this was conscious branding on her part or a nervous slip up is for you to decide.
Re-reading this, I laughed at “it’s like she’s trying to get Youtube hits”
…And just like every Marvel Movie, Stan Lee get’s a hidden cameo. ^_^