Grrl Power #281 – The power of the grrls
I think some of you had guessed this… I also think those who did were mostly kidding. :) I’m not going to lie to you, this is one of my favorite pages so far. :) It took a lot research online to get certain… aspects correct. It was brutal, but those are the lengths I’m willing to go to for you guys. BTW Dabbler’s not slipping nip there on the page, at least not technically. That’s another stripe peaking over the top of her corset. A corset which is clearly magical.
For the record, Sydney should be standing well out of arm’s reach from Vehemence. If nothing else, lightning strong enough to pin Maxima would turn Sydney into an ashen statue of herself like in the Terminator 2 dream if one of those arcs strayed her way, but I needed to draw them close enough so their expressions were visible.
I’ve got two pieces of fan art for you, one is a cute and quirky Sydney which sort of reminds me of Rugrats, or Ed, Edd and Eddy. The other is of everyone’s favorite arch-villain, by AegisKHAOS.
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
“I am conflicted.”
Best LOL moment so far in a strip that has had many of them…!
I’m not gonna lie, this is a really funny page.
Maxima’s face in that panel is gold! XD
Maxima’s face is always gold. XD
+1
“It was brutal, but those are the lengths I’m willing to go to for you guys.”
RIP Dave, nice knowing ya.
She needs to use the end of the Henticle to do a 3 Stooges group face slap to wake them up.
…But carefully !
Sydney’s hentacle is strong enough to lift & throw a car, so she’d have to be careful to not injure some of her more “squishy” teammates.
I definitely had a LOL moment but…
This is the second guy losing to boob power, although they are a kryptonite of sorts for me too (DAMN YOU C CUPS) I have to admit I was looking for something a bit … I don’t know, more.
Since this is a comic named Grrl power, sexual puns are fine but shouldn’t be a major theme.
Strong women have been using sex from as long as there is history but I would like to believe that intelligent, imaginative, super females had more in their bag of tricks that their physicality.
And since V already knew that Dabbler is a Succubus, with is obvious knowledge of magic is kind of stupid that he didn’t prevent such an…attack (?) for lack of a better word…
I agree that I’d expect more for the climax of the fight, though I’m definitely willing to give DaveB the benefit of the doubt for a couple of pages, as really all that’s happened here is a distraction. We certainly haven’t seen V beaten yet. Even if the entire team were to pile on to V at this point I doubt it would do much to him, so something suitably intelligent, imaginative and super will still have to happen, presumably.
Besides, as expected of the villain when he has the upper hand, he makes the classic mistake of thinking “nothing can stop me now!”, so he falls for the obvious play. I agree this isn’t the endgame for this, but it is the distraction needed to help Maxima get out of the choke hold. After that, I am sure Dave will resume normally (for him).
I just get a kick of going to tvtropes.com and coming back here and trying to compare how many tropes he is throwing into this one fight. It is…a larger number than I thought. :)
I get an even bigger chuckle at how fast trope references to each page comes up. Such as here:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Webcomic/GrrlPower
where they show this very page as a reference (whited out by default) to “Distracted By The Sexy”.
Although personally, I think it should be changed to something like “Razzle-Dabbled” (as stated further down by Scotto the Unwise) or perhaps “Razzle-Dabblered”, since it is more specifically “a VILLAIN being distracted as they have the upper hand over the hero and are thrown off enough to allow the hero to escape (or start to escape)”. I have no idea if there is such a trope existing, as it seems obvious, but I haven’t found it yet. :)
At least Dave didn’t resort to the (very) tired old trope of the villain getting the hero into a death trap then walking away to get further along in their plans for world domination…
seems like… everything is a trope
Everything is a trope is just another trope.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/NotATrope
:)
And now a word from our special guess commenter Admiral Ackbar:
“It’s a Trope!” (which is actually a meme.)
Lets see… Counting troupes…
Most common superpower.
Gynaxing.
Distracted by the sexy.
Gone horribly right.(Presuming she wanted the rest of the team to do something, but they got distracted by the sexy too..)
Seems like there should be more… Lets see what you guys think.
BOOBIES!
I doubt this will be Dave going “magic boob powers win the day.” More like “Dabbler is a succubus and uses this to distract V long enough for Halo to finish him off”
I think your missing part of the point, she isn’t just using boob power, she is also using Succubus powers on her boobs as she bounces which creates an extreme hypnotic state.
Actually, her boobs are “naturally hypnotic.” I’d say one can’t dismiss any of dabbler’s powers as succubus powers unless she says they are, since she is probably one of the more unique beings in the galaxy. The naturally hypnotic boobs may simply be a result of being part succubus, part doppelganger, and part unidentified alien, so it should be noted that the gyno-hypnotics display here may not have occurred to V as being something to watch out for to begin with.
I am curious as to what Sydney was expecting to happen when she yelled “NOW”. Was she expecting the team to burst into some uncoordinated action or dabbler to crank up the lust-aura? In either case, I am not sure how they’d be effective with her shield still up.
I am 99.99999% sure that the “NOW” was ment for Maxima to take advantage of V being distracted and escape, but looking at that last panel, Max got caught in the hypnosis too.
to borrow from homer “Stupid Sexy Xuriel”
I think what happened was… Sydney dropped her shield, then raised it again a moment later, but in a larger size that encompassed Dabbler (look carefully at the shield outline on the ground between panels 13 and 17). But I’m not sure what else she was expecting – maybe for another team member to sneak in closer?
I think she was calling for the rest of the heros to take on V, but they too got snared by the allure of Dabbler’s “Bouncing Bosoms”.
I believe the proper term is Dabbler’s “Booby Trap”
The other heroes were supposed to have read Sydney’s Plan (that she typed out on her pipboy earlier), but they’ve apparently gotten sidetracked…
It strikes me that very few of the team members have the Leela arm band computers.
Most have use of tactical reticle glasses. which are easier to arrange in bulk for those without optometric adustment.
Especially on short notice she’s litarally been on the team less than.a day in story. So far the most tech could scrape together that fast are the pipboy and a Q&D custom ROM for her phone. In real time any and all smartphones have upgraded tremendously compared to what they were at the time they gave her the pipboy and the Apple Watch was announced.
Which Maxima noted were almost universally the first things to get broken or lost in the ensuing fracas/melee/brouhaha/ruckus/dustup/altercation/scrum/donnybrook/skirmish/brawl/tumult/kerfuffle.
You ever wonder why English has so many ways to describe violence? Maybe Vehemence is onto something.
Sometimes I think about how much ontological space this culture gives to death and violence, and ideas like an afterlife and so on to round out the picture of a death cult, and I get discouraged. But then, you have to consider that we have a lot of ways to talk about sex and happiness too, so it’s not quite entirely bleak.
I’ve got to agree with Maxima on this page. I am Conflicted. As “It is I” put it, puns are fine, but using it as a major theme like this is kind of… Meh. This instance is rather forgiveable, considering you already established Dabbler as having actual hypnotic powers, but it still makes the comic less… presentable.
I’m not sure what the final three panels are supposed to be, but if they’re displaying the plan B failing, strike everything I just said. If the page was just a consequence-free pun, I have no objections.
Presentable ? Seriously. Nearly. five .years.
As for what should have happened when she yelled “Now!”, she was probably looking for some concerted movement to the sides away from Dabbler so that the rest of the group could rush V when he wasn’t prepared. Sydney realizes that like any eater of meals, V has o be prepared to swallow or else he will choke… IE blindside him when he isn’t prepped could take him down. But everyone in sight is Razzle-Dabbled and unable to move. Sydney is only partially affected as she has had to focus on the MolestOrb to keep the rope effect going –she was prepared to drop the shield as everyone rushed in.
The final three panels are exactly plan B failing… as a result of the jump rope hypnoboobs plan working too well in that its drawn EVERYONE’s attention. I don’t see a problem with using Dabbler’s natural appeal in this instance because I don’t believe for an instant that this is what stops Vehemence. Its only the set up to a better end game, one which we’ll eventually see when Sydney figures out how to get past this little stumbling block in her overall plan.
Remember that she wanted the lighthook to appear inside the shield? what was her original plan? why not drop the shield now that the aura is gone and do whatever she wanted in the first place?
edit: also, what does she mean with “now!” she still has her shield up, they can’t do anything… maybe
I think she was looking for a nip slip
I think Sydney is far too complex in her chaotic thought processes to predict what she may have been looking for or expecting.
I think people are giving Sydney too much credit in having plans within plans, given her ADD. :)
Her primary plan failed because she didnt realize she couldnt form the lighthook within the shield – maybe to use the lighthook as a distraction like she did when Maxima blew V’s arm off?
Her secondary plan, apparently a distraction as well, seems to have a fatal flaw as well, being that Dabbler’s boobs are mesmerizing EVERYONE (maybe not Maxima since it seems to just annoy her when Dabbler does stuff like that, but everyone else definitely). Except Math, who I don’t think is ever snapping out of it.
So Sydney will probably have to make up a tertiary plan, or figure a way to get everyone (except V) to snap out of their boob-vision and get back to the plan. Whatever that plan is.
I’d be surprised and impressed if Sydney remembers what her original plan was by the third plan. I’m just happy SOMETHING is working against V, even if it’s something silly, because I like funny stuff in this webcomic.
Oh, and Math’s wide-eyed reaction is priceless. Violence might be better than smelling salts but boobs are better than violence.
Pretty straightforward to me. Step 1 of the plan was distract Vehemence. She was going to do that directly with the lighthook, but she couldn’t get the lighthook inside the shield. So she carried out step 1 with an assist from Dabbler’s hypnoboobs. It’s still the same step 1, just implemented in a different way.
Step 2 involved something that was supposed to happen with other people’s help when she yelled now, but the people who were supposed to help got distracted, so now she has to find another way to carry out step 2.
Actually step 1 was cut off V’s power.
And that succeeded wonderfully .
Now separate 2 was distract V.
Second try worked.
So now we are trying to determine what step 3 is going to do.
And we only have to wait 3:24 hours to do so.
If she’s really good, this is the original plan, and that was a decoy to keep V from figuring out what she was doing.
(But then I thought she was using the com-ball to hide behind V (while still being inside the shield) in the last page, so who knows how good I am.)
I sincerely doubt this was her original plan. I’d be impressed if Sydney still remembers what her original plan is.
In non-boob-related comments, I have noticed that the marking on V’s arm have gone to red. He has gone all the way across the spectrum from the initial blue to red during his power-up. However, red is on the low energy end of the spectrum and blue is on the high end. My thought is that this color change would have been better reversed. In the end, it is all up to the artist’s choice. And, hey look, Boobs!
This color scheme reminds me of how ‘Red Bull’ was described in an old Foxtrot comic.
https://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot/2004/09/19
Red would obviously be the color that best represents vehemic energy, being the color of blood- each stage of his advancement has brought him towards ‘warmer’ colors typically associated with passion and violence- blue. for example, is known to actually reduce violent impulses in people, while red is known to incite anger, excitement and hunger.
Granted it is only an opinion but having an inverted energy spectrum for villains actually makes quite a lot of artistic sense. In this format when the villains reach their ultimate energy levels their markings take on a red-ish or even black-ish appearance thus increasing their villainous appearance. And helps the reader correctly associate them with their villainous brethren.
White hats vs. Black hats in the old cowboy movies. Yup, yup.
More funny than a webcomic fight scene should ever have! Maxima’s “I’m conflicted” thought definitely belongs on the “Funny” page of Grrl Power’s listing at TV tropes. Best one-liner EVER!
This makes THE MOST SENSE for a distraction! It’s already been established earlier that Vehemence’s power source is the opposite of Dabblers, and thus using lust to dull his violent urges is sheer brilliant! Can’t wait to see what the climactic showdown entails now~
Wait, what went wrong? Why is Syndey saying that in the last panel?
Sydney expected the other heroes to carry out her Plan to free Max & take down Vehemence…the plan she typed out on her pipboy earlier. However, since her original idea to distract V failed, Sydney had to recruit Dabbler for Plan B (for Boobies)…Even though it’s working to distract Vehemence, it’s also distracting everyone else from reading their messages & doing whatever Sydney had planned.
There is now way that corset of Dabbler’s isn’t magical, doing all this fighting and jumping and not a single nip slip to be had!
Wardrobe gluepots don’t rely on magic. Just sayin’…
;)
What we can’t figure out is what exactly was she expecting to happen on “now”?
I call again that max was supposed to make a move (but V is still pushing her to hard)
About the no risk of running out of oxygen, there’s also a logical hole.
The shield can be embiggened without causing a drop in air pressure (no woosh when cancelled) – consequently, it has to let air in or make it on the spot. Since the shield is airtight by word of Dave, it has to be able to make air on demand, QED.
But hey, you can end up with all sorts of strangeness when you take media consequences too far, like giant StarCraft marines.
Only if it enlarges by expanding without other changes, which we don’t know for sure. It could simply be reforming at the new size instantaneously, which would include new air in an atmosphere. (In fact it’d be a good way to refresh your oxygen – enlarge the shield slightly, wait a bit for the air to mix, shrink back. Repeat as needed.)
I think she dropped the shield momentarily, then a moment later raised it at a bigger size – letting in fresh air and sneakily encompassing Dabbler. I can’t figure out yet what else she had in mind, other than giving Dab a chance to use her lust aura on V?
nope, she doesn’t know how to use the light hook in the shield. its there so the shield isn’t bigger.
SHE SAYS she didn’t know… to the villain.
Remember the Velma moment? Sydney no limit to Boy Scout truthful saying is.
I have to say, I’ve only been just somewhat amused by Dabbler’s antics up until this point (the minimum security pants reference earlier is still her funniest), and I don’t find her especially attractive… I did enjoy watching her reaction start at surprise (as the lighthook moved under her) to confusion (trying to figure out the plan) to amusement (realization) to just sheer joy (of being who she is).
“Hee hee! Whee!” indeed, Dabbler.
This reminds me of the Guardians of the Galaxy Dance off. It makes sense when you think about it but when you see it, no sense is made.
This is Sidney we are talking about here. It is the same if a comic nerd was dragged into the universe.
Dabbler is Dabbler and I am glad she is who she is, with Halo those two are the most unpredictable pair.
Yes I did guess something along these lines, no, I wasn’t kidding…
Always expect ninjas. Especially well endowed ninjas.
My prediction – Sidney says something that’s apparently misogynistic about Dabbler, infuriating Maxima and breaking the hypnosis…
Assuming that Maxima is hypnotized in the first place. She seemed to be the only one who wasnt, because of how Dabbler’s …. dabbler-ness tends to infuriate her (and now is just having her conflicted since it IS causing V to be distracted and weakening his grip on her).
Interesting. I had asumed thier hypnotic effect was part of Dabblers katric sucubus powers.
And since the shield was blocking the vehemic aggro aura, I asumed they would also block this too.
But it looks like in this case´magic booby style backfired a bit.
Chances are that the hypnotic effect of the boobies are not so much magical and maybe more psionic. Dabbler isn’t just a succubus, she’s also an alien and a cyborg. There’s so much about her we don’t know.
I volunteer to do all the research.
I think for that you have to get in line. Zephan Zeong already volunteered for that way back in the “Ball Room” scene.
I do believe that the more people “studying” Dabbler , the better she will like it.
Woo! Updately goodness soon! xD gimegimmegimmegimmegimmegimme
Ok – Prediction!
Because both of Sidney’s hands are full and she can’t drop either one. (shield is “block aura” and lighthook is “distraction”) The next move has to be Maxima. But… Maxima got sucked in by the distraction too. So I predict Sidney will use her control of the other balls to block Maxima’s eyes and break HER hypnosis without drawing V’s attention.
If the “block aura” effect really is blocking any Lust Aura from Dabbler then Sidney can’t afford to be too obvious in getting Maxima back on track. V is merely distracted/confused not hypnotized or stunned. (As evidenced by the fact he is maintaining the lightning and choke hold)
Sidney might slam her orbs into V’s face…
Hm, I’m curious… how would Dabbler’s powers affect an asexual? Honestly, I can’t imagine it being any different.
If they are from a genuine non-sexual species, I suspect there would be zero effect. Especially the further they depart from a humanoid form. For a human who claims to be asexual, they will be having a revelation (or revolution) in their shorts in seconds.
You’re presuming that all of Dabbler’s appeal is sexual. I’m guessing a succubus’s powers of fascination extend to all levels, and while an asexual being might not be able to explain why it can’t stop staring at her breasts, he’ll still be fascinated –not aroused– by that bounce and jiggle effect.
She’s a succubus. It’s all about sex.
I mean… that’s the DEFINITION of a succubus. Female demon who entraps others using sex.
So…. if there’s something which has no concept of sex, and is truly asexual, it’s probably logical to assume it would not be affected.
Though unless ArcSwat is fighting sentient amoeba I don’t see that being relevant any time soon.
Then again, Marvel does have sentient bacteria like Arkea as villains so who knows.
However, I would conjecture that a colony-minded virus that infects some being of a sexual species, the I suppose there might be some effect from a Lust Aura that could break the viris’ mind-control over their host.
I see your conjecture, sir, and raise you the supposition that the bacteria might be able to shut down the host’s ability to process sexual sensations.
But seriously, yeah probably could go either way :)
Maxima’s non-reaction to Dabbler may be just because she’s one of the relatively rare Kinsey Zeros who are completely unaffected by same-sex deliciousness. This goes way beyond just being heterosexual. For purposes of attraction to another woman, Maxima may actually *BE* asexual.
And yes, they exist. I know it seems weird, but Kinsey Zeros are a real thing.
*raises hand slowly*
I literally cannot think of same-sex individuals as sexually interesting or even attractive.
Yup. Same thing for me. Which, among other things, means there’s no emotional reaction at all to the sexuality of folk of my own gender- not even the what most straights experience as disgust or discomfort or ANYTHING. And I’ve sort of slowly become aware of how weird that is, mostly because of all the perfectly normal stuff other people do which I thought was weird.
OTOH, most of my partners have a Kinsey number somewhere between e and pi. :-/
Kinsey zero, Bear, would be completely hetero. I’m not sure if you had meant that completely heterosexual individuals are Kinsey zero, or that asexuals are Kinsey zero.
Asexuals are recognized on the Kinsey scale as a little black “X” in the bottom-right corner of the scale ;-)
Nope, I’m talking about completely hetero. It’s actually only a little bit more common than completely asexual. Both things happen, but they’re not how human brains are normally constructed.
I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I don’t mean “asexual” as a biological definition, I mean it as a sexual orientation.
Since Dabbler seems to affect people, regardless of their sexual orientations, it would lead me to conclude that an asexual would be affected same as anyone else.
Dabbler’s like a White Court vampire’s lust aura (read your Dresden Files); she’s an acid test for sexuality.
Women have to be absolute Kinsey Zeroes to avoid being impacted. Gay men have to be absolute Kinsey sixes to avoid being impacted. If you’re even a LITTLE in the middle, her psychological influence will find that attraction and MAKE YOU feel it.
Which presents an issue for Ace people, because if you identify as Ace because you don’t feel sexual attraction in 99 percent of cases, that means there’s still one percent where you DO, and the mental influence will seize on that exception even though it’s not your rule the same way it would seize on a Kinsey One woman to make her attracted to Dabbler.
Is it possible for an Ace person to be unaffected? Yes… but they’d have to be ABSOLUTELY without exception.
Just thought of this, so unsure if someone else might’ve mentioned it already…
The PPO probably wouldn’t be able to be shot at a target inside of the shield. It might be able to if the shield were big enough, or had an option to create a second shield only around sydney.
“I’ve got two pieces of fan art for you, one is a cute and quirky Sydney which sort of reminds me of Rugrats, or Ed, Edd and Eddy.”
Took me a minute to figure out why that description didn’t quite sit right for me, but then it all clicked: the art style feels much more like Hey Arnold!.
Hey Dave,
Not sure where else to submit this (couldn’t find a private email to send you).
Doing an approximate $600 purchase on Amazon today and wanted to make sure you are getting your share from the link.
Let me know :)
Maybe they should call Sydney’s orbs the “Wings”. She’s “Halo”, they can let her fly and can be protective…gives a sort of angelic theme for her naming. (Plus helps her cope with Halo also being a video game. (And hey! I like it too, so that’s kinda rude, Scoville! (Like she cares about being rude to strangers…heh.)))
Found this comic a few days ago thru a comic I found a few days prior (wereworld (nsfw)), and it’s really good so far keep up the good work
Hey man, can I give you a little bitof criticism?
While you (can) draw characters very detailed and beautifully, I often feel that the comic looks very static, especially in panels where people are moving.
Movement sometimes seems not to be properly conveyed. You see, in the first panel, you even made the movement indicating squiggly line, but anything like that is completely missing when dabbler is jumping. (true the boobs convey it there, but I talk about panels 13 and 18)
just my thoughts though.
Dabbler’s hair is a pretty decent movement indicator in those panels
LOL look at Math!
It may take weeks for his eyes to get back to normal. Of course, Dabbler in a mumu would have the same effect on him.
Poor Leon, scrambling to record this and of the two best views: Maxima has lost her glasses and Sydney’s pip boy cam is washed out by the light from her orbs….
So, as I have to do whenever any comic/TV show/movie makes a reference to something that happened in the past, I went back through all the issues to see if indeed the flashback was accurate to it’s original, or if even mentioned at all.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1231 – DaveB got a score of 97 with it…he would have gotten 100 if he had also included Sydney’s speech bubble.
You don’t say?
I do. You’d be surprised at how many times entertainment media tries to flashback to something that was never shown to the viewer and make it seem like they foreshadowed this big event all along…or they will have shown something similar to what they flashbacked to in a previous issue/episode, but change the wording so it fits into the scene better. It really gets me in movies where they will flashback to scenes that happened less than an 2-3 hours ago in the story of the movie, and they still change it drastically.
I’m much more impressed when the forethought and foresight went into planning something so when it arrives those past foreshadowing moments don’t need to be altered at all.
Lasers and Boobs, both pass through transparent force fields. LOS is fun.
I thought is said unbowg the first time I read it
The shield does look like it extended out further to include Dabbler. If you look at the shadow of Max’s hair on the ground between panels 13 and 17, you can see the shield is further away from the shadow in panel 17. So unless Dave made a slight perspective mistake, the shield is bigger.
I don’t think that is her hair shadow. Plus the tenticle orb can’t manifest inside the shield so I doubt dabbler is now inside.
Shield is down
dabbler needs more boobs, like that girl from total recall
…. on Dabbler’s jump you can start to see a bit of green and “they’re going to pop out”…. it rather begs the question just for curiosity’s sake if nothing else, what color are Dabbler’s nipples?
That I am conflicted panel needs it’s own thing. Bigger blowup, Meme material.
Masers (microwave so basically radio) and X-Ray Lasers do exist.
Those partially visible stripes may NOT technically be a nip slip… but your audience couldn’t quite be sure off that, and squinted all the closer just to try and figure that out.
Likewise, on the inside of the 4th wall, Vehemence probably isn’t 100% sure of that either… which means he’s going to be watching even CLOSER just to try and resolve that puzzle… also just in case Dabbler turned out to be correct that they were “going to fall out!” Can’t risk glancing away and missing THAT!
Curiosity will always bridge the gap between teenage-level hormones and adult-level maturity if needed. ;)
When i read this i totaly have the song “I’m a distraction” from “To boldy flee” playing in my head…
Aaaaand I’m back.
Woohoo! This is so funny! I mean, really, bouncing boobies are the last thing I expected and they are hilarious as hell, especially due to skipping rope. Kudos to Sydney for remembering their mesmerizing powers!
This is a very distracting page to hang out in. You can get hypnotised into watching it…
endlessly.