Grrl Power #1269 – Your money or your fluids
Official cause of death: Inability to recognize when someone is antagonizing a room into providing an exemplar sacrifice. That or “Ego exceeds survival instinct/common sense.”
I waffled over the extortion amount. Our vampy tentaclized lense flarey cape guy here isn’t looking to bankrupt them or force them into desperate action against him. He just wants some steady income. Obviously, they’re not going to take too kindly to extortion, as gangsters are famously unamused by karmic irony. I googled “how much money do Triads make in America” and it turns out there’s some big legitimate company called Triad that muddles search results, but it seemed like the gangster Triads clear a few billion a year, mostly in the drug trade. Honestly I don’t know if they even bother with protection rackets. Skimming a few thousand off a bunch of restaurants seems like more work than it’s worth, honestly. As far as I know, protection rackets are just a thing that happens in TV shows because today’s TV writers learned about it from yesterday’s TV writers even though crime syndicates have all abandoned the nickel and dime stuff in favor of drugs and cybercrime and playing the stock market. Of course, it doesn’t matter what these guys are into, as long as they have warehouses full of pallet-jacks of cash.
I’m glad to be done with this sequence. I had some stuff written that could have extended it for a day or two, but it’s all story that can be put off till later and I’m eager to get back to superheroine antics.
The new vote incentive is up!
Oh no! Superheroines in a deathtrap! Well… a tickle trap. Okay, not trapped, trapped, but… look, three of the girls are getting tickled. Actually, in a way, seven girls are getting tickled since the other four Harems will feel this as well, but technically it’s only the three shown in the picture since Harem insists there’s only one of her – it’s just confusing since she can be in 5 places at once.
As you can probably imagine, Patreon shows what happens if they laugh, and also has a comic revealing who is behind this nefarious situation.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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So that’s where Sciona’s über-blood-tentacle-golem went.
It’s certainly grown more articulate.
That’s what I was wondering, if this is the tentacle golem all growed up. Good to see it found a paying job!
I guessed it back on 1264.
But given those “clothes” are the pipes, it is likely all 4 are him or his spawns.
I called him “Nod Nor” – NOt Dumb, NOt Robot
I’ll offer an alternative theory. TentacleG is finding teammates who are either ideologically aligned with it (revenge on Sciona?) and/or suitably motivated by the eventual payoff, AND who perhaps offer access to useful super powers through blood donations. TentacleG does not appear to still have access to Pixel’s laser claws, but perhaps simply chose not to use them here.
The others are likely human, given the ‘gee, I wonder which one of us is not human’ comment on 1265.
It did say to Sydney that it was not a dumb robot, so it might have been a tentacle monster like the one that the Bubba/Wyrm hybred let in to “stop” Max from catching them. Sciona might have bound it in some way to obey her, which it’s was why it struggled so much in order to speak to Sydney. It’s free of that control, and is using the powers Sciona gave him to improve itself even farther.
HEY DAVE!
You have a minor typo in the last box.
I expect you meant to say, “Failure to comply will result in the violent murder ‘OF’ your extended family.”
At least, if you want to give the impression of good diction. If you wanted him to get the grammar wrong on purpose, carry on.
It can copy ability’s by analysing samples of creatures. It potentially has a lot of growth already done and still to do.
I feel like this the appropriate moment for the savvy of the bosses to go “So the price for you leaving us alone is 30 grand? How much extra do you want for keeping this deal exclusive to us and just murdering our competitors?”
Thief’s honor might exist, but you don’t become a successful businessman by putting honor too high above numbers, so it’s fairly reasonably to expect them to just agree to those terms because hiring anyone with superpowers cant possibly be as cheap as he’s asking of them, ntm the actual risks involved in having supers duke it out within nuke-range of your business assets / your physical body.
A really savvy boss would ask what they’d get out of the relationship, besides not dying at their new “protector’s” tentacles.
They wouldn’t be asking for too much, just possibly some consultation if a superhero starts interfering with business, paid for of course, and a line of communication if another tries to extract protection from then.
Then later use the line of communication to offer a substantial monthly amount to make it exclusive.
A truly savvy boss though, probably would behave and wait for their “protector” to make the offer of exclusivity.
And that is why mixing alien tech with magic can become rather messy… Especially if it keeps records of what plans were successful and what plans were failures for it to copy.
Start small, collect reasonable amount of protection fees from groups nobody would care to go messing. Offer your allies low risk with high rewards. Then continue with your main plan in the background.
Considering the possible golem is also following Deus and how he is making his plans… Those notes may be rather detailed.
A truly savvy boss wouldn’t wait for the possibility of an offer of exclusivity to one of their competitors.
Since Savvy Boss is already in on the plan, I wonder what arrangements he’s made.
Attempting to negotiate with someone who just rather horrifically murdered someone just to emphasize the point that this is not a negotiation does not sound particularly savvy. Read the room.
Honestly, a really savvy boss would’ve seen this(or other situations involving supers/aliens) coming and already had a super at the meeting. These guys(inc the “smart” one) don’t seem to be actually savvy.
They get not dead out of the relationship. Tentacles doesn’t really seem to be in a bargaining mood.
I think that’s already happened. The smart boss was expecting something. Mr. Tentacles knew about the meeting and the locations of important-but-not-too-important drug places.
Problem with that is there is nothing stopping them from asking an ever increasing amount. Or dispatching you for whatever reason. A savvy boss might try to take advantage of the situation, but the kind of boss that’s good at staying the boss will find a way to get rid of the threat.
“Bribes are dangerous; they have a way of growing larger and larger.”
“They grow,” he said, “but the slow way is the safe way.”
(Lady Jessica and Stilgar, Dune, Frank Herbert)
“Ego exceeds survival instinct”? That sounds like the primary criteria for a Darwin Award winner there.
Puts me in mind of all the times I’ve seen people who thought that just because they were angry that they’d win a fight. Even though the other person just smacked them aside, had a moment before had them by the throat in the air and warned them to back off, and were clearly the better fighter, stronger, or more armed. So many people knocked down but their ego… especially if their “friends” were there egging them to charge the three times their size guy who just told them to back off like someone adrenaline and ego is going to turn them into Jackie Chan.
it has gained full consciences and its pulling out spread sheets, i have a feeling i could actually get along with it. well if not for the whole willingness to murder.
I am guessing he not only absorbs powers via blood, but also some memories.
At least if he drains enough blood/kills someone via drain.
This might be how he managed to create 4 independant personalities as well.
Protection exists because street drug dealers need a place to deal. If they don’t buy it from org A then org B will move in.
Of course, maybe dealers now run things via cellphone, so they don’t have territories as such. Which just means they need mobile protection, as otherwise someone would have the bright idea of holding up the dealer for his drugs.
Drug houses and speakeasies (yes they still exist, for after hours drinking etc.) would need something.
It does seem difficult to distinguish a business that pays protection vs. one that takes out a loan from a loan shark, at least from the police perspective.
Sure, but “protection” is a function of urban gangs now, not the Mafia. And the urban gangs are protecting the drug dealers, not the pizza parlors. The drug dealers have money, and can’t appeal to the police for protection, so they’re a good market.
The pizza parlors have less money, especially in the areas with urban gangs, and do at least have some access to police.
This is why protection tends to happen in ethnic enclaves.
Lots of new immigrants, who don’t know the language or customs well, and where they came from the police also extort them so it’s “the usual thing”.
It does shade into loan sharking though. Lots of pizza parlors run into financial trouble, and banks tend not to lend you money if you need it for current expenses.
Don’t forget about money laundering.
It’s less obvious if you spread it about multiple small businesses.
Speakeasies are indeed a thing. I lived in, what was up until about a decade ago, a “dry” county in Texas. Beer was available but couldn’t be sold on Sundays. Just over the county line on every highway in the county was a liquor store and adjacent counties had popular bars but there were also suspiciously popular houses or if you were white and had money you could join the local country club. At the time most of the criminal types were too busy running meth to bother much with protection schemes.
There were actually “private clubs” you could join for a dollar to take care of that little dry/wet thing.
Protection? We still do that?
-everyone nods-
Ah, traditions.
Protection rackets establish control, and controlled businesses can be folded into the overall money laundering operation. On paper, the businesses in the neighborhood are doing fantastic, but in practice most of that money comes from and goes back to the syndicate, now with a fresh scent of legitimacy. The businesses don’t get to keep any of the money they launder, and still have to pay a cut of the legitimate money they make, mainly they just get to stay alive–and if their business struggles, then they “go into debt” with the gang, and might have to clear that debt with favors or selling (or “selling”) their business to the gang outright.
Of course the scam is that the bosses were just fed the idea of retaining superpowered help…
And when that help arrives, the über-blood-tentacle-golem will feed off of that blood and add new powers to its own arsenal.
Not too shabby…
Wait… Is this the Blood sucking Golem/Manaquin Sciona created? “Not Robot, Not Dumb”
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-516-between-the-anvil-and-the-roof/
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-520-from-distress-to-datstress/
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-528-sneak-escape/
HMMM … if it is … that is a very interesting call back … and one that I have been wondering about for some time.
Many have guessed this in the last few days, and Dave all-but-confirmed it in the comments a few panels back. It isn’t 100%, but yeah, pretty sure Sciona’s friend is all grown up.
Also the font is exactly the same as the way the tentacles look.
I just realized what I wrote sounded stupid.
What I mean to say is the font is exactly the same as the Mannekiller font was, and also the Mannekiller’s tentacle-like limbs are also the same as the his are.
That’s my thought, Sciona bound it in some way to obey her, and she changed it so it could add her enemies power to itself, making it stronger. That and the ability to “teleport” using it’s tentacle “magic” (just as likely something it borrowed from another super) has made it an even greater threat to Max and the others even more. Or a new member, with tentacle jokes becoming the norm at Archon…
30000 and they killed so many people?
this is chump change.
It does also make the choice very easy since it’s chump change to them.
30K/month from EACH boss is enough cash flow to maintain a base through local earth funds.
I am making the assumption have some external backing that wants to remain undiscovered, but using gangs that can’t go public is a great cover source and good misdirection.
Yeah, that works out to $1,080,000 per year, which would be great for an individual. If Tentacle Rex here only has the three employees we’ve seen so far (it’s possible they used different groups for each location they hit), an even split would be $270,000 per person per year, appropriate for a rather well-paying job. If Tentacle Rex takes half of the pot and splits the rest evenly amongst the three employees, that’s $540,000 for him/it, $180,000 each for the others, the latter of which is still appropriate for a well-paying job.
Of course, there is the issue that at least one of the employees isn’t in it for the money. It will be interesting to see how she responds to this deal… or if TR is actually screwing over the others and just used them to threaten the Triads into capitulating.
Whatever their name turns out to be, I’m now going to be disappointed that it isn’t “Tentacle Rex”.
But there’s no way you can build a penis-rocket with only $1mil/year plus the take from the earlier robberies. This is just a dominance play, or possibly a ploy to get them to bring more supers for him to fight/scan/copy (assuming it’s Sciona’s blood-golem thing).
The plan is apparently to insult them enough that they hire supers.
Of course it’s possible that the supers they hire will be the other three members of the group.
Further, when that happens, the people she dislikes will end up dead.
The bleeding is just starting.
We knew you would come back to your superheroine for another fix. Nobody give that up without therapy.
I think I like this guy just a little bit.
Sounds a bit like a Sith who can restrain themselves rather than just cut loose.
He even have a sense of humor so he may be a fan of Sidious.
Party on, Dwayne. Party on, Darth.
Darth Sidious?
More like Laugh Sidious, amirite?
(Admittedly this works better spoken aloud than written down)
That wasn’t even worth a single ninja attacker. Go stand in the corner and think about what you did.
At least I saved you some money.
… Dearth Sidious was right there. Also Hideous Sidious, Sydneous, Darth Weaksauce, and of course, Sid Deus Machina.
None of those have *anything* to do with having a sense of humour.
Ah, now I see. You are deficient. What you need is MORE PUNS.
pallets of cash. the jacks are used to move them around. and any self respecting money mover would be able to afford a forklift. for speed of the moving.
$30K a month is an amount Dr. Evil would try and extort.
30k$ a month is an amount Dr Evil would think too high
And 30k is what Nr.2 would put up as legally required tax deductable expenses and with some small paper moving will file it under “employee education services” – e.g. if it’s not paid, then some employees will learn very quick why it’s not wise to do so.
In that regard, i guess that Xanathos, Nr.2 and Deus could be business acquaintances and have something like a monthly “tea, toast & talk” for mutual beneficial buisiness agreements.
And Dr. Evil still have fun as the face of the company.
The joke was that $30k in the original time period for Dr. Evil and Austin Powers would buy you a nice house. Moving forward to the present (of the movie) makes $30k something that buys you an average car (or less).
You don’t notice inflation until it smacks you in the face like that.
Can we all talk for a moment about how MannekillerTentacleBro pulled an easel with pie charts and graphs out of nowhere? :)
Probably learned that magic from Tedd’s dad I’d assume.
But are they also an ENDLESS BARREL of exposition?
I was not expecting to see an EGS reference in this comment section – a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Also I’m a bit over 99% certain Edward initially learned that spell from one of Elliot’s parents (they likely used it to make the diagram for his mission to SWEDEKEA), so whichever one it was probably would have been a better source for Tentacle Rex to vamp the ability from. Also, Edward would have totally used that spell to make some handy graphs detailing why it should renounce its villainous ways.
Sounds like something Tom would do.
That’s my favorite part of this whole page, by far. I like to think it was already there and he’s just repurposing it with a stiffened tentacle serving as a handy pointer.
A minute ago its hand turned into a sea anemone and swallowed a smart phone. Maybe that’s where all its props are stored.
A phone is far smaller than an easel with full-sized charts. :)
Are you suggesting that an antagonist capable of insinuating itself into a secured space would have a problem accessing hammerspace?
1) No, that is not what I’m suggesting. I’m just pointing out something particularly humorous in the comic.
2) I have doubts, however, that it’s hammerspace, since there was nothing in the comic that remotely shows it accessing hammerspace. I also have doubts that it was in it like the phone was, since that’s quite a bit bigger than the phone to come out of its hand (although I suppose it could have just been in its chest instead, as the Supermannekiller is broad-chested and you can see that tentacles make up its chest as well). You are making an unfounded assumption about hammerspace though, as the method Supermannekiller has shown is opening a portal sort of thing instead from the floor. It could be the easel and chart came out of the floor but from what we’ve seen so far, that power is for himself, not other items.
3) More likely, I’m actually assuming it was just placed in there for the ‘rule of funny’ rather than because of some logical realistic reason. :)
Protection money is small by national gangster standards, but operation organized crime is a multi-level marketing scheme gone cancerous, and the soldiers need something for their slow nephews to work while they’re toughening up and growing out of the twentysomething stupids. Goomba training wheels.
(And yes, a lot of it is going to be protection racketing against illegal street vendors like drug dealers et al. IIRC, a big part of traditional protection racketeering is driving out the unhoused entrepreneurs providing unsanctioned competition to the guys with mortgages and protection.)
{I’m eager to get back to superheroine antics.}
Yes… We want to see Maxima’s post-date interrogation by her friends.
With the next date being #3, isn’t there a tradition involving an overnight bag?
She may have issues with the ‘tactile’ aspect of her powers.
She asked Dabbler to fix the tactile aspects of the Party Favor after date 1, so there’s decent chance it won’t come up unless she fully undresses for the occasion.
Forget tactile, her muscles could turn his salami into a Slim Jim (and then eat it)
“Snap into a Slim Jim” takes on a horrifying new meaning.
It’s not her muscles that give Maxima her strength so much as it’s her zero range telekinesis from what was said in Dabbler’s Science Corner #1. That, combined with her ability to shift her power levels, I would expect, makes it highly unlikely that she would ever accidentally hurt someone – even during sex (similar to Kon-El’s Tactile Telekinesis or Supergirl/Superman/Powergirl’s Kryptonian Biomatrix). Plus she can give additional stability to the things she’s ‘touching’ with her zero range TK.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-dabblers-science-corner-1/ (panel #7 and panel #10)
What I meant was….
In the sequence where Dabbler was punched into/through a wall for squeezing Maxima’s boobs…
Was she able to or were they too firm for her fingers to deform?
The discussion on Marble Maiden’s costume strongly implies that this won’t be one of the challenges that Max faces – https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-369-cant-knock-the-rock . Also, given Max’s confidence about the situation, and her dating-related conversations with Anvil, I am going to guess that Max isn’t a virgin and therefore has prior experience with how to manage a romantic evening with her Beau.
So, you saying her boobs are firmer than her butt?
Depends upon how cold it is outside.
You can still find SOME protection type stuff going on, but it’s often in a very similar vein to what tentacle guy is doing himself: establishing dominance.
That $500 bucks from the pizza joint isn’t really moving the bottom line or anything, but the fact that they CAN make them pay establishes pecking order so Pizza Manager doesn’t try calling the cops when they see the drug deal going down.
Ironically, this kind of thing is also fairly common with cops. They show up and expect free crap for being such “heroes”, but if you DON’T give it to them they can start getting tetchy and saying stuff like “maybe next time I get a call in this area I’ll respond a little slower.” And this is, again, to also instill that if you see a cop doing something messed up you keep your mouth shut
The biggest protection racket is the government
Alright, I’m definitely convinced now that this is Sciona’s tentacle golem Amazo robot.
I would note: the “protection racket” stuff started because the street gangs provided actual protection to minority communities. The police couldn’t be relied on, so the criminal underclasses stepped up – be it Yakuza in impoverished Japanese towns, or Mafiosa in Italy (as well as Italian-American communities, back when Italians were the awful filthy immigrants showing up to steal everyone’s jobs). Depending on the outfit in question, they STILL provide interesting levels of protection to the people under their umbrella.
“Even so, I expect you will attempt to hire super powered protection”… frankly, I find the idea that they wouldn’t already have done so, if not prior to ARC’s announcement, in the months following(or rather *immediately* after)… baffling.
Especially if they’re moving billions. Especially ‘the smart one” (not that the others could afford to be dumb, in their positions of power). Especially since they’d likely suspect each other of hiring supers.
Super-powered cops and vigilantes means they’d want a superpowered response(or something that can handle supers, and they’d know guns aren’t enough), and they have the money to keep some on their payrolls both for warehouse protection and self-protection.
These guys don’t really seem to be triad-head material.(kinda hoping they’re fake-out leaders or something, cause they’re kinda disappointing)
Two of them appear to have superhero protection in the room with them.
I… don’t think so? Not sure where you’re drawing that from.
All of the visible attacks were made with guns. We didn’t see what the guy in red of the lady with the sword and gun did, but if they used superpowers, we didn’t see them. They also don’t seem to match up with Dave’s “idealised human” thing that supers are supposed to get.
The guy in red and the lady did not appear to do anything. The guy might be there to determine what the other bosses are thinking, or he might be some sort of shield The lady might be tasked with close-in protection of her boss.
The key words being “might” and “appear”. For all we know the girl did draw her gun and we couldn’t see it by virtue of being off screen, and the guy’s a martial artist(or dave didn’t draw him drawing a weapon because it let the other guy look cool, or lack of space, or he was slow, etc, etc).
But also, that still doesn’t cover the “natural supers meet certain stereotypes” rule DaveB implemented from the start that I already mentioned.
It’s hard to tell, because of the wild(/slightly off?) perspectives, but the lady appears to be the shortest in the room and there’s the “Supers, inc women, tend to be really tall” bit. Keeping in mind that these people are supposedly Chinese– doesn’t mean they have to match the “short” stereotype, but all of them dwarfing it? –that should be notable. The shortest Supers on Max’s team– with noted heights –are Heatwave who is exceptional for being “small”(5’4″) when not using her powers and Harem(5’8”) who has five bodies, but every other super woman(and guy) on the team is above that. From what we’ve seen of the female Super villains, they meet that as well.
In the guy’s case there’s the issue of the “supers tend to be chiseled/handsome(/have )” bit.
There’s also the issue that their attacker straight up called that they aren’t Supers(and if this is who the audience says it is, then there’re probably reasons to say that boldly), and that’d be weird to do if not certain.(We’ll likely know for sure once the Thursday comic is up, but if we do, it’s probably because they’ll be out of the equation on the same page)
Now whether they are instead *supernatural*, I’d say is still in question, but they certainly seem to be breaking the lore defined Super rules, unless they (or someone else– which’d be odd, in that two people managed to find someone to do that) have powers that let them hid that they might have powers.
Apparently bits got cut from my comment. The 4th paragraph should read something like:
In the guy’s case there’s the issue of the “Supers tend to be chiseled/handsome(/generally have some form of “show” muscles/broadness)” bit.(also possibly the height thing again, though un-slouching might have a decent impact on that one)
Going with the assumption this is Sciona’s self-aware blood golem / “Not…Robot…Not… Dumb”, Tentacle Rex has obviously been busy since scurrying off into the bushes after losing the original fight (teleportation, instant visual-aid creation, etc.).
My guess is that it is hoping they bring Supers into play so it can scan new powers. There’s no way any reasonably successful crime organization doesn’t already have Super employees; dinner-jacket definitely has one or a few.
That said, I’m also getting the impression that these aren’t global players. Maybe they’ve split the Asian crime sector of a large city or part of a state, and this is just T-R’s first stop.
Sucky Sucky? Free for you – just holler!.
You want sucky sucky? Just decline to pay thirty thousand dollar.
Oh. *Ohhhhhhhh*.
Wait, is that $30k per organization, or per individual in the organization? Could I get something in writing for my lawyer to look over? (My super protection is a lawyer with super legal powers. Tremble before me.)
Probably per organization. Realistically, the income of a gang/criminal enterprise is pretty much the same as a similarly sized McDonald’s franchise. If it gets big enough then the people on top make it big, but the guys on the bottom still make minimum wage.
Or at least that’s how it was a decade ago according to freakanomics.
Hmm? :)
…well dang that golem went up in the world
Different nationalities and languages normally spoken to them, but they all understand the language of Threat
In cyber protection racketeering is actually fairly common and pretty legal.
Virus scanners promise security for money(and are often associated with ransomware gangs)
Security researchers report vulnerabilities via bug hunting programs(not always for money, sometimes it’s just for the promise of not being sued and other times it’s for credits).
Large tech companies take your control of your devices for “security”.
Basically only the criminals don’t do it, because zoning doesn’t work in the cyber criminal circuit.
I’m gonna be “that guy” again: the filename of the image is 2024-07-24-GP1269.jpg but it is still June.
I think the cause of death is more along the lines of: “Implying that someone wouldn’t dare to do something with a pile of evidence at their feet that shows they have no problems daring.” But your way is much catchier.
30,000 a month isn’t much… unless you are hitting the underworld bosses for every major city… Then it can easily rack up.
3 bosses is only 90k/m… 30 bosses is 900k/m
Who knows how much he could be pulling in passive income.
Only 30k a month….for now. As I understand it, a lot of schemes/scams deliberately start low and then hike up.
That guy DID suck, btw. His role in the room was to be muscle, and his function did not change with the presence of an interloper. That he allowed himself to be goaded into such an outburst speaks to how ill-suited he was for that role, and reflects badly upon the Dragon Head who chose to include him in the meeting.
I don’t disagree that he might be Sciona’s golem all grown up…but the way he’s talking reminds me more than a little of Deus. Given his plans, getting a foot in the door of organized crime to get things under his influence there would definitely make sense.
Wow, Talking about “Sucking you DRY!” in more ways than one.
Protection rackets might not happen in the U.S. (or not happen anymore), but they’re a thing in more lawless places. Rio de Janeiro practically ran on protection rackets for years and probably still does, which was a big chunk of why for several years, Brazil had more murders annually (total, bot per capita) than all of North America and Europe combined. Basically, the city was run by gangs, and you either paid a gang for protection from the other gangs, or you just joined one. Or you died, of course.
Is it just me or is that Elon Musk
Protection rackets might or might not happen in the U.S. (or not happen anymore), but they’re a thing in more lawless places. Rio de Janeiro practically ran on protection rackets for years and probably still does, which was a big chunk of why for several years, Brazil had more murders annually (total, bot per capita) than all of North America and Europe combined. Basically, the city was run by gangs, and you either paid a gang for protection from the other gangs, or you just joined one. Or you died, of course.
Not really seeing these new villains as… well, villains. Preying upon villains might not make them heroes exactly, but I’m not feeling any sympathy for the mobsters.