Grrl Power #596 – Big brother is watching and making snide remarks
That’s not ARC-Light’s HQ so much as it is Zephan’s office. I really would have had some extra time so I could have added some knick-knacks around the place, like a terracotta warrior in the corner, a collection of ceremonial daggers. Some… shiny rocks? You know the sort of thing.
The red long johns with the butt flap, or “drop seat” are formally called a Union Suit. I didn’t have Sydney refer to it as such because I had to look that up myself and I didn’t think most people would know that either. They also don’t have to be red, but they usually are in cartoons to my recollection. It’s also possible Cooter was able to find a pair of overalls with one of the shoulder straps broken, or just some Daisy Dukes.
I almost had Sydney call Zephan on being a bit of a wealth snob, with his “Such as they are.” comment, as up until quite recently, she was herself limping along with a few hundred in her bank account and a pile of credit card and comic shop related debt. But as usual, it was a tangent I didn’t have room to develop. At least on this page. It’s a topic I’d like to revisit with her as she’s in that limbo of “poor person who became a rich person who hasn’t come to terms with being a rich person and is still living like a poor person.” Well, not poor-poor. Like, upper lower class, or lower middle class tops. Not the sort of person who would spontaneously buy themselves a giant new TV or a trip to Europe on a whim.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like!
A mental image I can’t get rid of so I want to share the pain:
Cooter actually running at 100 kph… with the associated flopping flab and flopping… floppy.
Tracking him is as easy as tracking the sudden upsurge in hysterical blindness.
Now I can’t help but imagine a human figure (relatively in shape) running down the road in a red union suit, drop seat flapping merrily behind them.
He can only keep that up for so long.
wow that’s a terrible image to put in someones head
No, the guy running at 100 km/h in the red suit I get thinking of is Steve Austin. Cooter doesn’t look like him that much.
But the other guy can get all the way round the world in a single night.
For Cupcake’s sake…
Those two need to just get married and have kids already.
Yea, the sexual tension is palpable in panel 1. If it were not for Zephan keeping it up, that desk would fall!
I was talking Maxima & Dabbler… but to be fair, Zepher’s outfit does looks suspiciously like a lounging robe.
Plot twist: Maxi and Dabbles are married, they just have an open marriage
That would be an awesome plot twist. I kept waiting for them to do that with the scientist duo in Agents of SHIELD but they went with the lame old “nerdy guy has a thing for female colleague who doesn’t share his feelings” cliche instead.
Story-writers have yet to, as a profession, realize that nerdy scientists have awesome sex lives. Unlike their more mundane counterparts, most scientists experiment in the bedroom… like literally, keep trying different things, track how good they do, and get better each time they have sex, until they’re effective sex-gods compared to the average frat boy.
This is my new head canon, thankyou.
I so want to see the scene where you only see someones feet in the air and a pair of panties flying away.
Actually, now that I think about it.
I would be absolutely shocked if Dabbler does not have a spell to do this already. If not it might be something for her to work on after she finishes that Tickle Laser.
I look forward to the scene where Dabbler casts a spell “Mass Panties knock-off” and Maxima is standing unaffected and the general is looking embarrassed.
You implying that Maxi is Commando? o_O
A combination of strong will and strategic clasping of material with buttocks.
Meh, not as fun imaginings :P
here i was thinking that boyshorts/boxers/boxerbriefs were immune to the spell… Max’s buns of steel are a very reasonable cause as well.
Those were my thoughts.
You can do that if you have a Finite Improbability Machine. It’s been frequently used at some of the more wild parties.
She could enroll in the school of ecchi anime magic/science and learn fun things like
the Anti-clothes acid *it only melts clothing and doesn’t do any harm to people* a favorite of the alien-demons of (Loveru)
and the ever popular *clothes cutter* weapons that someone only slice up your clothes into rags without leaving any scratches on the body.
I have to translate panel 1 into American to read it properly. It is very different in English! Each time my first read is:
Sydney expecting this room to have all the artefacts.
Maxima replying: “That is upstairs. Only an uncouth person would expect to have museum pieces in an operations room!”
Yeah, can see that now
Still, why did Maxi allow Sydney to tag along anyway? Can’t she have told her firmly to “STAY!”? o_O
I’m sure that’s exactly what Maxima did, which is why Sydney is tagging along with her.
You mean, Maxi should have told Sydney to “Heel”? o_O
“Hey, do I smell some especially spicy curry from the cafeteria?”
(for a moment , a Sydney-shaped puff of smoke stands next to Max, then blows away in the direction of the cafeteria.)
I think Maxima is falling into the side-kick trap. Where the hero doesn’t want a side-kick, doesn’t need a side-kick, and may even (and this case is) part of a team with lots of recruits, but there is that one new recruit, or someone they basically hand picked to be a recruit, who they just by various circumstances and gets along with tagging along who becomes their “unofficial” side-kick.
Well being the sidekick of the most powerful super in the world is an important role, in its own right. I am sure Maxima will transition gracefully into her new position, as Halo becomes more experienced and unlocks her power tree.
3 points!
The problem with clear boards/white boards/chalkboards is that you can’t tape any pictures to the back because instead of hiding them, it just draws attention to them. Also, no pictures/art on the wall behind the board and harder to read (reduced contrast). Seems … impractical to me.
Concealment can still be used when taping some pictures behind them though. For instance a diamond in water.
I hope I have not reduced the clarity too much, so that you can see I am providing a contrasting point of view.
While in the NAvy working in a ships combat we used clear boards all the time. MOstly because to write on them we needed to be behind them to write on making us have to learn to read and write backwards. This was so the person writing the info was not in fact standing in the way for others to read it. The way we got around the contrast issue was the frame was lit. anything written on the board basically glowed on the board. it was a terribly clever low tech way of doing things. Aside from burned out light bulbs or running out of grease pencils it worked great.
Nice. Easier to implement, less likely to go wrong and simple to fix, when compared to my Iron Man solution, in another thread.
Almost like the navy know what they are doing! ;-)
I am still wondering what famous thing Sydney will say. Was it controversial, but she is standing by her guns? Or is she just quoting someone else? But, even if so, what prompted her to wear the slogan on that day?
Is it connected to her being considered the ‘big guns’. Bearing in mind that Maxima is next to her, so making that even more significant a greeting!
It could just be a reference to the old “That’s what she said.” Joke. With Sydney implying that she is the “she” in the joke.
That image of Dabbler and Maxima standing face to face makes me think: we need to see a profile shot of all the girls in line, biggest to smallest. I knew Max was big, but wow.
Obviously the line up would start with Max and end with Sydney. I just want to see where everyone else falls in line.
*applies paw print of approval*
This would make an excellent vote incentive! There are a few shots of various characters assembled on DaveB‘s Deviant Art gallery. But nothing that covers even the Arc-SWAT team. Let alone the extended Archon crew.
Mind you the cast is big enough that they would need to be on separate pages, if we wanted to see them all without a magnifying glass. So could provide incentives for most of the year!
Pixel would need to appear twice mind.
Vance too.
Although that would be problematic, as his smaller versions, in the line-up, would put him close to Sydney. So there may be a gap in the line – or she may appear out of sequence beyond Anvil.
But Pixel has THREE forms, each different-enough that she deserves 3 places…?
*gasp*
True. How could I have forgotten that lovely pink pussy‽
Psst. Anvil is taller than Maxima.
We would need to insist that Mr Amorphous remain flaccid … eer… unembiggened.
You mean at ease, rather than at attention or ‘saluting the flag’ :P
Oh, believe the proper term may actually be “as you were”
“as you were… before puberty.”
I wasn’t talking about height when was talking about biggest to smallest. I was referring to, ya know… the chesticles.
*covers eyes with paws*
*blushes*
Not seconded!
*runs into kennel, and slams door*
And just the women. No need for images of anyone ‘saluting the flag,’ thank you.
It’s possible Max is just floating, though..
She clearly had inhaled deeply, sure.
Looks like the gauntlet has been thrown down, on how to portray a roleplaying session, within a comic featuring a non-RPG ongoing story!
Somebody, quick, get word to MrsDaveB to stop him from reading Flaky Pastry, until past the next role playing session we see in GrrlPower! He would work himself to death trying to replicate that, on top of his current workload!
We know he reads it, as it is right there ….
*points paw near to the top of the recommended reading lists*
Oh, Tou-ché!
And are you one of those canines that relentlessly chase pussies?
I do. I even have a certificate to prove it!
I am not sure how … useful … that might be, should I have to enter the rat race. I shall have to use it very tactically!
“Death by snoo-snoo is no fun if you’re just a bystander vaporized in the impact shockwave.”
Yepp. ^_^
Oops!
That was supposed to be a response to lil Joshu‘s post (12 Jan 2018).
Small details check.
Zephan seems to have an alcohol dependency problem (panel 1). Mind you it would explain why he is still in his dressing gown, despite being at work!
he is kind of a mage. maybe that is just the way he dresses?
I think he was stated to be Chinese/Taiwanese, but if he is Japanese it could be a kimono. I don’t know if the Chinese have something similar.
Dave mentions Zephan’s origins on the previous page of these comments:
Giant New TV ~$700 Trip to Europe ~$3000
It is the purchasing of an expensive item on a whim that is the key part, not the relative value of either. The next time Sydney is watching Top Gear (or the Grand Tour) she is not likely to reach for her credit card if she sees a car she wants. And that is worth even more than either of the other examples.
Now a nice pony, that is a different matter…
Sydney, brace yourself for the Truth!
Probably already commented but…
Clear chalkboards do have 2 situations where they can really shine:
1: when you need multiple layers for your hand drawn stuff. (since you can layer the boards)
2: when you need to use both sides of the board. (or when you need to work on something, save it on the other side, then erase the first one and work on the next bit without worrying about erasing the work you already did.)
Nope, you are the first to raise those.
Although other points have been raised, such as its usefulness in battle command applications. No risk of a power cut, and the people updating the board do not block the view of those needing to read them.
A library with big glass cases huh? Couldn’t possibly mean like the one from The Librarian could you?
Possibly Dave may have been visualising that.
However the description is true of the majority of museums. It is vital to protect any delicate items (for instance finds recovered from an ancient site). Likewise to stop the light-fingered from wandering off with any of the smaller displays, which could be slipped into a pocket. Especially so for the more obviously valuable items, such as gold coins.
Finally it also keeps grubby fingers from messing up displays. It is easier to wipe ice cream off a glass case, than to replace a site map that has been ruined by that being smudged over it, or from inept attempts to clean it off.
I want to see Xuri watch Good Will Hunting. She’ll probably spread it around the galaxy as a pithy lesson about humans: They WANT to be that stupidand unremarkable because having any special talents means their leaders are going to make them kill their friends.