Grrl Power #336 – Mouth feel my wrath
Ok, now, before anyone wants to give Sydney a lecture on the minute difference between the term “texture” and “mouth feel” just be aware, she does not care and will hit you. Apologies to any foodies out there but to anyone who isn’t that into food, it’s kind of an obnoxious term. Obviously Sydney feels more strongly about it than most.
This page took far longer to write that you might guess, but it was because for a long time, there was a section of dialog with Sydney asking what meal this was, and Peggy explaining that Supers eat more than regular people, and also suggesting that since the amount of extra food they eat doesn’t come anywhere near explaining where they get the energy to fuel their powers, she thinks they just eat a lot cause they don’t have to worry about getting fat. I liked the exchange, but it didn’t really move the page along to where I wanted it, so eventually I cut it.
#makecomics: I don’t know why I like drawing them eating. For one thing, I find drawing people sitting is weirdly difficult, for some reason it makes me mess up the length of the torso, especially if there’s a table bisecting the view, but the worst part is all the junk on the table. Think about what’s on a table at an average restaurant. Usually multiple plates per person, silverware (forks are especially difficult to draw in perspective with the curvy neck and the flared bit before the prongs) cups or glasses, salt and pepper, sometimes other condiments. If drawing a cup or a plate doesn’t sound like a big deal, well, it really isn’t, until you have to do it in perspective, then the difficulty goes up a notch. Then there’s all the stuff on the plates. A fully stocked dinner table is actually one of the most fiddly sorts of things to draw short of something very precise and technical like a car with the hood up showing the engine and all the hoses and stuff. Drawing something like a warp engine might be challenging, but you can just make up what it looks like and no one can say you’re wrong. At least until the second time you have to draw it and then it has to match the first drawing, but everyone knows what a dinner table should look like.
By the way if you’re not following me on twitter you’re missing out on gems like this:
I wanted to see the length of my hand in relation to my forearm so I measured my hand – with my other hand. Apparently my hand is hand sized
— Dave Barrack (@grrlpowercomic) July 16, 2015
So the hosting move. I apologize that so many people had trouble getting to the site, for those of you who care here’s a quick explanation. To move a site you have to update the DNS servers, which give human friendly names to internet sites, so people can type “grrlpowercomic.com” instead of 132.161.55.71 or whatever the actual IP address is. Normally before you switch a site, you have it up and running using that raw IP address which you can use to get to a site regarless of what the DNS servers are doing, only the IP we got from the new host wasn’t working for some reason. Instead we tried switching the DNS server, then attempted to quickly upload a mirror of the site to it, a process that normally doesn’t take very long. Something we didn’t count on was the size of the files involved. Grrl Power has gotten over 130K comments because you guys are awesome, but that makes for a larger than average database, and the upload kept crapping out. So we switched the DNS back to the old hosting until we could get someone in tech support at the new hosting to help us out. The problem that occurred for some people was one of Godaddy’s DNS servers didn’t catch the switch back, and was pointing at the unformatted site with only a maintenance message on it. Eventually that got sorted out so hopefully no on is having any issues now.
We made a second attempt while on the horn with a level 2 tech support person, and that went so smoothly that I didn’t get a chance to use the moving graphic I drew, which is a shame cause it’s one of the cuter picture I’ve ever done of Sydney so I’ll just post it here. Hopefully I won’t actually have any cause to use it for a while, things seem to be running pretty smoothly here at the moment.
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.
OK…Dave, you’re a damn genius! :) Normally when I read GP I’m good for a chuckle, maybe a genuine, Out Loud Laugh. But when I read the last panel of this comic I started laughing so hard that I almost hurt myself! By the end I was sounding like Muttley, because I couldn’t breathe!
Gold, dude! Comedy gold!!
Oh, God. I haven’t thought of Snidely Whiplash in years.
OK, a bit of linking is coming your way…
Snidely was from a different animation studio, & his sidekick was named “Homer”:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snidely_Whiplash]
Muttley’s boss was Dick Dastardly:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Dastardly]
Thanks! I got a good chuckle out of it myself. :)
This… might just be my favorite page to date.
Grammar/Spelling Nazism for the win.
Hilarious!
“You Portlandia level hipster dipshit” is quite possibly my favorite phrase ever. I laughed. I cried. I found god. This webcomic never disappoints.
This may be my favorite comment of all time. :-)
+1
+5 Comment of Epicness.
One thing I can say about the Anvil vote incentive. She sure knows how to keep it up!
Over half way through the month and that girder is still held confidently up, with no flagging.
She’d be really popular with construction workers…There’s really nothing they hate more than having flaccid girders.
This comment has made me think a bit. Anvil’s power is absorbing kinetic energy, such as a moving or falling object. If she is holding an object up, which is continually falling towards the earth, would she have a steady stream of energy to absorb? Would absorbing that energy actually in effect neutralize the weight of an object and/or alternatively provide her with the power to hold it indefinitely in a power balanced situation? Or is she unable to absorb the energy of an object which she has stopped the movement of even if it wishes to continue to move?
Gah, so many thoughts. I’m sitting here now thinking she could power up before a fight with a juggling act using dumbells.
Need sleep
So what you are suggesting, is that if an extinction level asteroid is heading towards the Earth, Anvil need merely position herself at an appropriate point on the planet, and absorb the kinetic energy, of the Earth itself, to stop it travelling through space? Thus ensuring that the asteroid will safely miss.
We know that things having their kinetic energy absorbed, by Anvil, do not suffer harmful deceleration effects. So there would be no tsunamis or the like. Anvil can then restore the energy to the Earth (preferably in a controlled fashion, rather than nose boop style), so that the orbit of the moon, and other solar system interactions, are not too badly disrupted.
Good idea.
Heh, I’m imagining her standing at the point of impact.
Asteroid hurtling down…*dink*
Ooh, no. She has no heat resistance, you see. Crispy fried Anvil, if she tried that one. Unless it was cool enough to handle safely on impact.
Not to mention that some explode before even hitting the ground, simply due to atmospheric resistance, angle of entry and other factors. Not sure if an extinction-level one is likely to do that. But who knows what such might be made of?
For instance the dinosaurs lucked out because of unusual minerals at the point of impact, which worsened the killing power. Whereas this one might either be volatile itself, or through interaction with the oxygen in our atmosphere. Many of the naturally occurring flammable and explosive substances, that we use, would be inert without it. But add oxygen and they become ert. Add a heat source and BOOM!
Of course mundane non-explody ones are more likely. But hoping to avoid the outside chance only works so many times. As the dinosaurs found out. Far safer to simply dodge it, than take the risk!
But heat IS kinetic energy. Higher heat means molecules vibrating faster and faster.
You are only describing thermally conducted heat, which we do not know that Anvil can absorb. But, your argument is not unreasonable, so let us give it the benefit of the doubt. However it categorically does not include radiant heat. If you look up at that big yellow orb in the sky, the heat from it has reached you across the vacuum of space. It did not need to be conducted via a kinetic medium.
There would be more than enough radiant heat, from a meteor, of that size, entering the atmosphere, to turn Anvil into charcoal. The energy involved in an extinction-level meteor is something like hundreds or thousands of times more than that from the Hiroshima or Nagasaki nuclear explosions.
Although the most impressive effects occur when it either impacts (or possibly does an areal explosion), all that energy is doing work as it passes through the atmosphere. Catastrophically.
I am still very much in favour of dodging. :-)
If the object is being held still, it has zero kinetic energy, only a lot of potential energy.
Sydney really puts the spice in these comics, Oh… no pun intended…
Funny – pretty much the only time I hear the word “mouth feel” it’s in relation to fake meat, and it refers to the grease, not the texture.
“Mouth feel” refers to every sensation that the mouth actually feels when eating said food ( texture, consistency, pleasure/pain etc)
I haven’t laughed this hard at GP since Sydney threw up at the bank and when she used “THE” hot sauce.
Had to comment about todays comic. Frankly, I love the fact that Achilles is so absolutely laid back about everything and has such a positive attitude. I had read once that that was the sort of attitude that might could be expected of Superman….that the inability to be physically harmed could intrinsically lead to a calmer acceptance of what went on around one.
Until Something comes by and creams him with a huge walloping roundhouse, or maybe a magical blade cuts him…then watch the emotions hit!
In a regular army, when they got outside it would be either “All of you, Drop and give me 50!”, or “50 laps around the block, soldiers! NOW!” but what do you in a SUPER army, since only one of them would even feel 50 push ups?
Perhaps it would be more effective if they denied them something rather than forcing them to do some exercise or chore.
“Alright, Sydney, until you learn to control that temper, you aren’t going to be allowed to go to the Archon prom!” ;-)
Sydney has just, on the previous page, been told that she will be denied her usual food. No wonder the poor girl snapped. Such cruel and unusual punishment!
Latrine duty.
Ewww.
I can just see Sydney standing outside the latrine, holding her nose with one hand and the molestorb . . .er, the lighthook in the other, using it to do all the dirty work for her. Peggy would be standing behind her with her arms crossed and a disapproving scowl on her face.
“No, Sydney! You’re going to have to do it the old fashioned, non-superhero way.”
But do appreciate that she will be holding Sydney’s toothbrush out to her, whilst saying this.
Boy, talk about your bad Mouth Feels . . .
I’m very sorry, everyone. That was a pretty nasty thing to think, much less actually say out loud. I am profoundly and deeply ashamed of myself and am heading off now to go stand in the corner.
Heh, heh . . .
:-D
50 press ups is an odd punishment anyway, because how bad it is varies massively with health, fitness and current level of fatigue. And when you’re at a level where you can do 200 or more, it’s a “so what” punishment unless you’re already exhausted.
re: Moving graphic.
I luuurve the pirate orb. That is all.
moving graphic? pirate orb? wut?
Down towards the bottom of Dave’s comments under the cartoon, you’ll find a link to it and an explanation for why he made it.
Sydney looks a lot more adorable in the artwork than she did in this comic, let me tell you.
Agreed. That picture is a worthy wallpaper, and I would be very happy getting such as vote incentives. Rude, aggressive, Sydney is just a turn off.
New to this comic, just read five years of comics in one day because I couldn’t stop myself.
I think that says something, either about the comic or maybe (what are the odds) about me…
Anyway I laughed a lot but the pasta/ anti-pasta joke on this page had me holding my sides. Sydney has to be one of the cutest superheroes.
Welcome to the community.
I think Halo is awesome too. When she is not being obnoxious. Fortunately she is indeed cute a lot more than not.
Now comes the fun part and finding out that the comic is stuffed full of hidden detail. In the art, the dialogue, the plot and more.
Soon you too will be examining the rafters, to see if you can spot any ninjas!
you did not take your time to appreciate the jokes.
that’s what it tells me.
i joined around the beginning of the bar fight and it took me about a week. i wasn’t sitting on it nonstop but still, i don’t see it possible to take it in 100% in such a short amount of time.
so no go back and read it all again. properly.
also, when you are done and comeback to comments… if you are making a reference to a specific page, pls link it (copy/pasting the address should be enough), it makes things much easier but not many seem to do that.
Wow… you’re like this (acting like the Simpsons Comic Book Guy with a total lack of a sense of humor to all posts) to everyone, not just me.
All he said was he read 5 years of comics in one day on a webcomic binge and was complimenting the comic. Pretty sure he didnt say it so he can be chastised by your REALLY weird nerd rage outburst about how he’s not ‘reading it properly.’ Maybe he was able to take it in 100 percent in one day whereas you couldnt because he’s just smarter than you. :)
Calisto, totally agree – Sydney is one of the cutest of all superheroes :)
Yorp – nice Commissioned Comic reference :)
Aww, don’t chase away Calisto‘s nice avatar so quickly! Reading that fast just shows enthusiasm to follow the story. Plenty of time for re-reads, at leisure. Especially on those days in between updates, when the shakes start to kick in, and you need your fix.
And reading every page of the comments could take years! Especially with the number of wikipedia, news, science, YouTube and tvtropes links we embed.
well, i didn’t really meant the comments…
that might take like a year… or 2.
*sets up a memorial garden, in anticipation of many faeries dying, in the forthcoming asteroid apocalypse debate*
I better call up the worldwide emergency pantomime organisation and see if I can’t get many local plays put on quickly. We are going to need a lot of clapping to avert a calamity here!
Panel 2 Achilles: Hm, I seem to be moving sideways all of a sudden.
Feel the POWah!
This strip needs to be listed as one of the BEST Sidney strips, just for that line.
He he. I like how the community is split between:
• Too rude to be funny.
• So rude it is hilarious.
I hereby declare this to be the Marmite/Vegemite effect. Something so foul that it leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth, for the rest of the day. But which other folks find most palatable.
“having manners” is a social construct anyway, so why should anyone care about them?
instead of worrying about such meaningless abstracts, lets have a laugh.
I’ve thought of a way for Achilles to earn Sydney’s undying respect: Hot-Pepper eat-off. If there’s one white person person on the planet who can out-do Sydney’s Hot Pepper-Fu skillz it would have to be Achilles eating peppers hot enough to qualify as “weapons-grade.”
It would win her respect, sure enough. But not because he would win. Having the balls to do it, in the first place would earn points. If he can persist, through the pain, without abandoning the attempt, he will have shown his worth.
Not a cat in Hell’s chance he could beat her though!
Depends on the nature and extent of his invulnerability< i would say.
Though someone who chose to eat a vial of Super Ebola – and survived it – probably knows no fear of after-effects, at least.
You make a very valid point. Similarly to how Achilles can exceed normal physical strength limits, because he need not fear injuring himself by over-exertion. The guy will never get a hernia.
But fear and pain are two very different things. Sometimes they go and in hand, creating a worsening spiral. Other times one can be present without the other.
You are right that it should be factored in though. It would make the outcome less black and white.
But I do not think fearlessness, in itself, would automatically allow him to overcome pain. And his very lack of normally feeling pain would work against him in this regard. Everybody gets to practice this capability through the knocks and scrapes of life. Except Achilles.
He’s not overcoming pain because he’s fearless. He’s fearless because he never has to worry about being in any pain or hurting himself in any way at all.
Speaking of which…
Never understood how Daredevil has super-acrobatics just because he’s ‘without fear’ and has ‘radar senses.’ I just don’t see how having radar sense, either makes you a super-acrobat and fighter OR removes all fear. In fact, if the reason for him being ‘witihout fear’ is not seeing the danger, then since he can SEE with radar, why would that work anyway? And if it has nothing to do with his blindness, how the heck does he suddenly become ‘the man without fear’ after his blindness accident. Dr. Mid-Nite is blind, and has goggles that give him radar sense enough that he can practice intricate surgery still…. but he didnt become a super-acrobat or become utterly fearless. He was already a surgeon BEFORE being blind :) I swear, I’ll never get Daredevil.
Rant on unrelated topic over :)
I think you got he and she mixed up there, Achilles is completely immune to everything besides being burried in stuff, we have clear evidence he dont feel any pain whatsoever.
A better question though, is why he should bother working on winning her respect?
He is an experienced hero, she is at the moment just a star rookie, if anything she should be working on winning his.
Nope.
Nope. Damage only. There is no mention that he is immune to pain. Under typical circumstances, we only normally feel pain when there is damage, so most of the time he will not suffer, as he has not been harmed.
However the pain we feel from spicy food has nothing to do with harm. It bypasses that mechanism and does not even use the same receptors in the body, as detect injury. It plays on the taste receptors. And this very page shows that Achilles has fully functional taste. It is only his vocabulary which is dysfunctional.
I totally agree, and on may levels.
Respect is a two-way street. Being older (and hopefully wiser), hopefully he will realise this. Having mutual respect as to the capabilities and talents of your team mates is vital to having a successful team.
Achilles (and Mr Amorphous and Heatwave) are all individuals who must care passionately about bringing villains to justice, given that, before Archon recruited them, they were willing to go vigilante, to try and do that.
Where Achilles falls short is that he is all defence and little else (50% stronger than a normal person makes him a profound danger to mundane humans, but is trivial against capable super humans). Whereas Sydney is a powerful all-rounder.
How this affects Achilles is down to his personality though, in addition to his aims. If he is (as appearances may suggest) totally self-obsessed, then his vigilantism was just a way to get him kicks and make himself look better. In which case Sydney might not even feature on his radar. Or, worse, he might be jealous of her, for her capability to steal his limelight.
Alternatively, if he is deeper than the impression he gives off, and really does care about getting villains off the streets, for its own sake, rather than as an ego trip, then he will want the team to work well, and (if sensible) will aim to bond with Sydney.
Even if Achilles does not realise that though, Peggy will know how important it is. If the pair of them do not find a way to work out their lack of chemistry, I imagine she will come up with something which will… inspire them.
I specified “weapons-grade” hot peppers because I figured that would be strong enough to trigger his invulnerability and side-stepping the rest of the questions. As to whether Achilles can feel *physical* pain I’m inclined to say no– if Daredevil is the man without fear, Achilles is the man with no nociception. We’ve got some evidence that supports a hypothesis of Achilles’ invulnerability blocking pain–during the battle we saw him stop a knife with his eyeball, on purpose. The first part of feeling pain is transduction in response to the trauma or stimulus. As of yet, I do not think we’ve ever seen him react to a negative stimuli in any fashion except the facial response that I think the technical term for is “Smug Macgyver.”
He did flinch, when Maxima flicked his nose (when he was in disguise) in the ambulance. An argument could be made that he was staying in character, but reflex responses are hard to mimic.
Note that we are in agreement that Achiles will not feel pain from physical causes, such as being hit by a sword. He takes no damage hence feels no pain.
For poking him in the eye, with a sword, he did brace himself for that, and resisted the urge to blink. Which does show remarkable will power. And it does give plausibility to your argument. And we will only know for sure as or when Achilles tries something like this. Although I am still happy that my interpretation is the more likely one.
Further, with a name like Achilles, you would expect there to be some kind of weak spot in his invulnerability.
;-)
For information, do note that various specialist restaurants (which really do require a waiver to eat at), serve some spicy food that has a higher scoville rating than pepper spray. Which is, in itself, quite literally and legally, weapons grade pepper.
It is not intrinsically harmful to the individual (although there is risk of death from adverse reactions), other than inducing the urge to commit suicide to make the pain stop. Achilles would be totally immune to harmful side effects.
But he would still be able to taste it, just the same as anyone else can. And the flavour that his tongue would detect is PAIN.
I can see it now: Achilles, Mr A, and Sydney step outside. Someone says something that exposes their role in the bank robbery. Sydney blows a gasket.
Possibly. Slip ups do occur. The risk is reduced if the operation was suitably compartmentalised, and kept on a need to know basis. Given that it was of highly dubious legality, and was being organised under the auspices of a lawyer, I suspect that they would have done that. Whereas failing to do that would show worrying laxness.
To support the likelihood of that happening, do note that (for example) Maxima’s capabilities are not known to the recruits (and possibly others). Likewise Dabbler was meant to be kept in the dark as to the existence of her handler “X”.
Several individuals were clearly in the loop, but they did need to know. Harem is a rapid responder, so must be kept up to date (making her an incredible security risk, with her indiscretion, so is the most likely suspect for what you propose). And Anvil is a senior officer, so was on standby if the situation escalated from being an authorised test of the bank’s security, to being a police or military matter.
Finally a competent unit will only assign covert duties to individuals who know how to be discreet. If they are lax they can die. Well Achilles can’t but his friends would.
So I would find it alarming if the information did come out that way. It would be a sign of disturbing incompetence. And it would also have deeper implications, as to Sydney’s loyalty to the team. If it gets revealed to her, by bringing Sydney into the loop, I suspect she will take it in good faith. However if she only found out about it by accident (or a villain revealing it), then it might shake her faith in Archon!
However it would be funny. :-D
Its cool and diffrent. Its not often you see supers eat in any comic, sure i seen spider-man, suöerman eaven batman eat a hotdog in cartoon and comic. But its newer the whole team of supers taking a lunch break.
On the other hand i newer seen any super go to the toilet. Wonder if superman shit diamonds after holding it so many years.
Well, then this is the comic for you! We’ve seen Dabbler & Sydney in the queue for the bathroom, and Harem (& Sandy) … doing the deed.
Is it my imagination or is Peggy angry, or at least really annoyed? As David Banner used to say, like always, “Don’t make me angry, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry…” My question is if Peggy is much the same as David Banner who “Hulked out” when he got angry and turned into a brutish green monster. Although that could be a fun type character to make, a female who when she gets emotional she turns into a raving monster….
You are not imagining things, Peggy is most displeased at this rudeness. The scene is undignified, is taking place in a restaurant (check Peggy’s dialogue to confirm that it is not in the military mess) and, as such is casting Achon into disrepute.
This has nothing to do with super powers though, nor is it anything to do with an emotional outburst (on Peggy’s behalf).
She is the senior officer present. Their actions reflect badly on her, as well as the unit. They are being disrespectful of both (and each other) in the process. Any officer, regardless of gender, should not take such behaviour lightly!
So is texture/mouth feel kinda like the whole clip/magazine thing with gun nuts where the difference doesn’t really matter, but people who are into the given subject will still completely derail an entire conversation just so they can rant about the difference if you dare to use one term where the other was /technically/ more appropriate?
No.
Out of curiosity, what would happen if someone tried to suck the life force out of Achilles? As in a Lich’s Energy Drain that is, which for those not in the know means he is literally sucking his youth out of him to the point where overdoing it will reduce the victim to a pile of dust in short order
Last night I was at a pretentious event and I randomly thought of this page and had to desperately keep myself from laughing about “mouth feel” during someone’s speech.
I think I need help now. I can’t breathe. XD
The scary part is I can relate to everything Achilles says in the first panel. I mean, I’ve never put chips on a burger, or even thought about it, but everything he says about the experience of it versus lettuce, versus French fries, and versus kettle-cooked chips rings true in my mind, when I try to imagine it. Though, if I actually tried it, I might prefer French fries over chips. When I’m eating something soft, I like everything else in it to be soft.
Yes to lettuce. No to crisps.
I’m with Sydney on this one: just say “texture”!
I have to agree. That description does make my mouth feel horrible.
Uuuuugh… I said it… typed… it… uh.. either way!
I need to go clean my mouth out with sugary goods.
Congratulations Sydney, “Mouthfeel” has been officially banned. https://www.snopes.com/ap/2020/01/01/banned-words-2020-lake-superior/
“Obviously Sydney feels more strongly about it than most.”
I think one of the miscellaneous powers Sydney has might be “feels strongly about *everything*”
Maybe that’s from one of the mystery orbs?