Grrl Power #430 – Sweet dreams are made of deez orbs
There’s only so much they’re going to figure out by studying Sydney’s skill tree like this, as it’s basically all speculation. Plus I’d rather show Sydney discovering stuff on her own in the field than on a whiteboard. Also, believe it or not I’d like to move forward with the plot eventually so we won’t linger here. This scene was mostly to show that they are making some attempt at better understanding the orbs, and also to introduce Pixel and Specs.
A link for anyone unfamiliar with Sydney’s reference in the last panel. That phrase that has for some reason stuck with me ever since I saw it. Yes the 80’s were occasionally terrifying.
Since I didn’t have room on this page to zoom in on it, here’s a link back to the original shot of it.
Specs took off between pages. She doesn’t have any particular experience with magic, she was just there to see what she could see. Now she’s off to see why kids love the taste of cinnamon toast crunch. That was a weird ad campaign really. They have cinnamon sugar on them, it’s a pretty easy solve. Trying to understand a culture by viewing its ads would at the same time be entirely misleading and hugely illuminating I think. I’ve avoided Dabbler doing the typical misunderstanding of idioms or taking metaphor literally and stuff like that, because she’s visited dozens of cultures and she’s smart enough to take them for what they are. Eventually though she’ll probably comment on a meta-analysis of human culture here and there.
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In re: “C’mon Dabbler, put that thing away”, Since Dab’s a Succubus she goes after men. Does she also make love to women? It seems she’s always being suggestive to both sexes equally, so maybe what she likes is a lot of sex from whomever. I know it ‘recharges her batteries’ and that could be a motivator as well. Or maybe it’s instinctive and she really has no control over it.
It is instinctive. She can control it, but only up to a point. If she went too long with no tantric energy, she could die. Succubi are pan-sexual. Neither species nor gender are an issue for them.
Based on various comments that Dabbler has made.
Dabbler could well be said to be yes-sexual. “Sex?” “Yes!”
FORM:
Sex: ………………. Reply: Frequently
FORM V2:
Sex (M/F): ………. Reply: M – never F – frequently
FORM V3:
Birthgender:………………..Reply: Female
Dabbler: “Well played”
Well she wore out the alien waitress the night before. So… Yeah. Dabbs is decidedly whatever-sexual. Male, female, hermaphrodite, cthulu-esque elder tentacle beast. As long as its sentient and willing.
Something tells me “willing” is a personal preference, not a requirement…
Maybe, but I don’t think so. She hasn’t gone all rapey on anyone so far as we know. The two that we know of (The Barberian and Greenie) seemed to want and enjoy the experience.
Not saying Dabbs didn’t do a little heavy convincing. But seduction is just part of the game, right?
I mean, if Dabbs offered me a taste of “Dat ass” I’d be quite literally all over it.
I don’t think gender matters when you’re a literal sex demon drawing energy from lust
I’m wondering if Dabbler will ever gently remind Sydney that constantly telling her to stop flaunting her goods is kind of on the same level as asking Sydney to stop making geek and nerd references. Not only not going to happen, but a little offensive, since it’s kind of their nature. On the other hand, Dabbler loves to mess with prudish people, as seen by her behavior with Max. So she may just let it go for the fun.
Watched the video, and had something that was still bothering me. Is it really supposed to be “beddy bye boze” or is boze a misspelling of booze?
It is probably a contraction of “Bonzo”, per brionl‘s remark, on the previous page of comments.
It’s Boze, a non-copyright of Bedtime For Bonzo.
I’d forgotten “Bedtime for Bonzo” and was assuming it was a mere typo.
I was sure the Spitting Image Ronald Reagan said “booze”, but it’s so easy to hear what one is expecting.
I’d love to see Dabbler’s drawing in enlarged and in full detail.
Patrons get to see all pages in double size detail. Or you could click on the link in Dave’s blog above, to see what Dabbler is trying to remember. She has not gotten it all right.
And to see Dazzler herself, likewise?
^_^
I made this quite some time back it’s just the image Dave linked to above but simplified.
Ok, weird theory time:
I don’t think the orbs are artifacts/ devices
I think they may be projections, from Sydney’s own power.
1- no one can see or detect anything from them
2- when varia touches Sydney, the orbs start orbiting her as well; note there is a biological component to varia’s powers, meaning what Sydney’s connection is a biological one that can be copied
3- the orbs come with a game system, complete with power tree- almost as if it came out of Sydney’s own unconscious mind
4- the empty lines go off, to where new orbs may someday form
that’s a lot of coincidences, all with an easier explanation- Syd herself is a super, and just doesn’t know it
Not so weird. Highly plausible.
I can even add a psychological explanation for why Sydney might have manifested the orbs. She is insecure about her looks, so does not see herself as being a heroic ideal. Thus rather than view herself as a super-hero, she envisaged herself finding something which gave her the powers.
This working on the assumption you expressed in point 3, namely that the power stems from the unconscious mind.
Of course Sydney need not be the only one. We know that all the ‘regular’ heroes have idealised looks. But where do those stem from? The subconscious mind. It is just that those heroes were more self-confident and could picture themselves as being super-heroic, in their own right, rather than with devices. Further, their various powers could be drawn from some aspect of their psyche.
Interesting Theory. Just the idea that that the orbs have a skill tree are confusing but this theory makes sense. Sydney loves video games so why not make your own video game out of it. The orb skill tree makes her feel like she is in a video game which is the dream of most gamers.
Also, to answer why I think a skill tree does not make sense to me is because why would anyone that made the orbs want a skill tree system that would force the user to unlock the full potential of the orbs. This probably means the orbs are not weapons but are used to teach the user how to grow. Another theory is the orbs are teaching her and possibly changing her into….something. Maybe the orbs will make Sydney a powerful mage, or go even further and she transforms into a god.
Pretty much there already, as far as I am concerned.
The hearth goddess of creative swearing, ultra-spicy foods, and cuteness.
Sydney would make a great Goddess of spicy foods.
All hail the Capsaicin Queen!
When Sydney saw her first paycheck, she already became the Queen of Salt. She’s leveling up.
:)
If I were to create a super powered artifact or set of artifacts with an array of abilities, but intended for them to be used by a noob with no instruction manual, I might place limiters on the system. Let the user get used to the equivalent 9mm power and scale them up to the tac-nuc blast instead of handing them all the levels at the same time and hoping the figure out how to very the power output before vaporizing a city.
Imagine if Sydneys first experiment with the blaster orb was with it accidentally set at max power. Opse, there goes Florida. At that point her introduction to a super powered police officer of some kind, or Max would be much different. I use the blaster orb in the example as it would have the greatest potential (so far) of a disastrous (and very noticeable) oopsie.
If I had built those orbs, yes I would have built in some kind of limiters and lockouts on some of their features and power levels with some method for the user to unlock things as their proficiency with the them improved. Then again, I’d probably also include a user’s manual to go with them as well, and in the case of the skill tree mechanism, I would have labeled it.
In fiction there are a number of magical artifacts which grow with the user over time. True, most don’t come with any visible noticeable element to such growth like a skill tree. Another explanation is that the growth feature is tailored to the person the orbs are bonded to. In this case, a super gamer nut, so the growth element is presented to her in a way she can understand, a skill tree. After all, they are connected to her on a mental level, so its possible their initial settings were determined by her own mental being and subconscious favoring on the safe side of things.
+1
Which means it’s her own sub-conscious that is preventing her from accessing the User Manual or even to bring up the Skill-Tree manually? o_O
More likely she is just too tired. With the packed schedule she has, Halo will only have had the opportunity to try obvious things (like thinking “open skill tree” or “open Sesame”, when being more frivolous). If she is given the luxury of thinking and experimenting time, I am sure she will be able to try more options.
That said though, your counter does have merit. The sub conscious mind does block scary things from the active mind, at times. And Sydney is all too aware of the significance of such powers in her hands.
Maybe there [i]are[/i] labels on the tree, but they’re in a part of the spectrum that Earth-humans (and presumably Dabbler) can’t see?
Well Sydney can see (and push) icons/glyphs on the orbs which Dabbler (and presumably the others present) could not. When studying the orbs, in the interview room, Dabbler declared that there were no such things visible. Yet we see Halo finding and activating a particular one, which she associated with the embigener.
Sydney needs to hire that symbologist, from the Da Vinci Code, who could figure out what icons mean.
The key is written on the orbs, in icon form. The pattern they are arranged in will probably match the configuration of the skill tree. Do a Rosetta stone type analysis of the known icons, and any similarities to other icons, whilst noting their positions, as associated with the tree, to extrapolate what the others may mean.
Here is a problem with doing a “Rosetta stone type analysis”. It worked on the Rosetta Stone because 2 of the 3 languages on the stone were still known and showed the the third was the same text. Without at least a second known language set other translation means are necessary.
There is also a huge leap when trying to go from a phonographic writing system like we use to an ideographic writing system like the glyphs on the orbs represent. Even Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs was phonographic. Things like Chinese and Kanji might be the closest thing to the glyphs on Halo’s orbs, and even the Japanese break less often used Kanji down to Kana.
Old Ben Kenobi (a.k.a. O.B. Juan) has already provided a cunning way to find if the runes are from, or related to, a known galactic language. If it is from a culture advanced enough to make the orbs, their iconographic language may be totally self-explanatory and need no further steps (assuming Dabbler does indeed recognise and understand it). For instance the embiggener might translate as “enlarge”. One on the PPO might read “cone”.
Or it may turn out to be drawn from commonly used galactic symbols, which are independent of an individual language. Like “this way up”, “electrical hazzard”, and “corrosive substance” are widely used on Earth.
Failing that, it is reasonable to assume that the icons will have been chosen from a source that will convey general meaning in such a concise form. So even if it is not possible to simply read it, knowing the typical meaning of a symbol can allow an informed guess to be made as to its usage on an orb.
Say an icon which had ancient roots as “run” appears on the FlyBall, a good symbologist may be able to infer that such means “fly faster”, in that context.
But, even lacking any results from Old Ben’s technique, Sydney can directly provide meaning to some symbols (such as “embiggen”). From which said symbologist may make informed associations (as I pointed out) to say things like “this class of symbols appear to be verbs, whereas ones with these types of swirls are nouns”. Thus at least providing some clue as to what the key means.
The translation on the orb symbols will probably turn out to be “If found, please return to P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney.” That is why the orbs bonded to her. She matched the ‘Sydney’ part of the return request.
:-D
The runes are almost certainly not in any known galactic tongue, if they are even there (they probably are). Since at least one member of ARCHON is known to be an experienced galactic traveler/adventurer, it should be assumed that, if she has never heard of or seen anything like the orbs, they were made by a society that is quite a bit more advanced than any known galactic civilization. If this were not the case, the orbs would show signs or energy signatures that Dabbler could detect, and start to analyze, and they do not.
Given their apparent greater-than-apparent depth when examined with Specs’s spectacle things, it is entirely possible the orbs are nothing more than dimensional projections of devices and/or systems that actually exist in some other reality entirely. If so, that would explain why nobody can detect anything about them–they don’t really exist nearby, as such, and can only be detected by the conventional Mark I eyeball. This, in turn, suggests that they might be simple illusions, or it might suggest that the ordinary eyeball is a much more sophisticated sensory device than even Dabbler can create/use.
As for why Sydney can’t pull the level-up chart? Probably because she hasn’t found the “options” menu of the orbs. If I were making a system, that’s where I’d hide it.
Actually only the bottom of the three inscriptions was in a known script of a known language, Greek, the other two were both in Egyptian the fairly complete middle one was written in Demotic and the badly damaged top one was in Hieroglyphics.
👍
I need to go back and find my post from years ago suggesting exactly this, heh.
Huh. Sydney is The Gamer?
…I really don’t know of anyone who has enough balls to play Sydneys game…
No, as in the manwha character.
it doesn’t have to be sidney providing the power. Its definitely her personality providing the format, in much the same way as the other superhumans like harem and maxima have powersets that reflect them closely. But really, its implicit that SOMEONE is mucking around deliberately creating superhumans, so its not that much of a stretch for power sets to be tailored to the chosen welder. I believe that sidney didn’t get these orbs by chance; if she’d somehow missed them diving in the Keys, I think they’d have been on the beach when she got out of the water. Or waiting in the car seat. Or falling out the sky and whacking her on the head. The skill tree, to me, clearly implies the orbs were intended for her.
or they go off to another person’s skill tree like Final Fantasy x
Varia might explain one of the links, in which case.
I would bet money that this is the case–either the dotted lines go off to another skill tree, or they mark connections to another sphere grid. Perhaps there is more than one of these sets of items a person can use at a time?
Or there are other sets of orbs, and they can potentially interact with each other. Various paths might include: Inter-orb communication or detection, combined powers that draw on both sets, or maybe orb/ orb wielder command.
#DramaticUnswivel
I’m old enough to remember that song playing on MTV. *tear of nostalgia*
Though for my money, the Dschinghis Khan reference was far scarier! ;-)
I’m surprised there’s no link for that one.
Yeah, that was back when MTV was still new & actually played music videos. Evidently, they don’t do that anymore, so why they still call it the “Music channel,” I’ll never know.
The videos have mostly been moved to MTV’s sister channels. MTV Hits, mtvU, MTV Live, VH1 Classic, etc. MTV, MTV2, and VH1 show almost no videos any more; either as continuity between other shows (that is to say, to fill in the gap between the end of one show and the beginning of the next) or in small blocks of 2 or 3 hours (often pre-empted by other shows).
Wouldn’t it be easy for her to beat the system with a friend like Maxima? Just let her blast at te shield untill “enough xp gained”, seemed to work last time…
But the shield might turn out to have limited ‘charges’, and get overloaded …
:(
I suspect Maxima has other demands on her time. Plus, Sydney seems to level up either by way of life-threatening circumstances (in which case she is due to level up soon), or through sheer repetition.
Wait, does this page mean that Sydney just ‘sat and rotated’? o_O
Yes. She really did “sit on this” (a chair) “and spin”.
As a kid, older brother taught me a variation on “The Finger” (or “Flipping The Bird” as the North American’s called it): you would extend the middle finger as per usual, but you would then ‘twist’ your hand side to side and say “Sit and rotate”
Speaking of which,maybe the next time Sydney and Harem are in the office of Dr.Chevy and she gets angry with them,the two of them ought to give her the “high sign”….!
Check these out…
https://giphy.com/gifs/talking-monkey-xlIe5UgC0cMus
https://giphy.com/gifs/monkey-fuck-you-middle-finger-qMSHtQS7vlYSk
I’m not sure how Dr.Chevy would react to something like that…!
That would be highly disrespectful and land them both in serious disciplinary hot water (you do not go into someone elses office, cause a ruckus, and then flip them off when they get, understandably, upset)
Maybe they ought to give the finger when their back is turned????
That is normally the doctor’s job. But only with guys.
Right. “Sit on this and spin” is pretty much a lazy version of “sit and rotate” (because no ‘twisting’ of the hand is required).
https://www.hasbro.com/en-us/product/playskool-play-favorites-sit-n-spin-toy:E66ED7D3-5056-900B-103D-73B1F689942E
‘Nuf said.
It seems that your sex toy link is not working anymore.
To me, that gag is old (it’s older than I am), so I substitute something else: Extend your open hand out, fingers extended, as if you were reaching out to offer a handshake…But hold your hand at the same height as their head, but with at least a few inches in front of their nose. Wave your hand back & forth (left & right) & say, “Stick your face in there.”
I’d like to point out a weird, and that is, Dabbler is drawing the diagram from the view we, the readers, got of the skill tree back from 181, not the side of the tree she was on.
Yep. Zyndar noticed it too, and commented about it on page 1 of the comments.
And someone (can’t remember who) posted a theory that would explain it…
It’s magic and looks the same from both sides…
So I jsut recalled something, Sydnely upgraded her commball with her “level-up” so could it be that she was able to see Vehemence’ aura because of that upgrade?
Maybe.
On the other paw though, do consider that “detect magic” and/or “identify spell” are things that you cannot do unless you have actually encountered such. So it is possible that the orbs had that capability already, but Sydney would not have been able to use it, until she was in the presence of a spell or intangible super-power.
It would be nice to think though, that she had not wasted the choice by accidentally allocating it. And your suggestion is sound, so that is possible.
Who are we to disagree?
She travels the world with the seven sphe’es
Everybody’s looking for something…
That… sounds familiar somehow
There is a reason for that.
Knew it, thank you *fresh plate of Yorpie-snacks
Someone who was talented in this sort of thing, could easily adapt that song to Sydney and her Orbs
Ooh, I missed these, for so long!
*snarf, snarf, munch, munch* BUUUURRP
One thing I noticed, and I have no idea if it has come up before, is sidneys shield is an oval that gets to the floor and just stops there. this raises a few questions in my mind. First, is the shield cutting all the way through the ground to form a bubble totally surrounding her? because that raises all sorts of problems with floors collapsing and not being able to move without plowing the ground around her if it is.
On the other hand, if the shield is dynamically altering to the current floor level, that leaves a big weakspot around her feet. it also implies it “knows” where the floor is, and can alter its shape to fit. So the the shield has to be both smart enough and aware enough to recognize a non-harmful surface and able to change shape to fit it.
this seems kinda obvious although it doesn’t seem to come up in the comic, other than shady guy rising out the floor by her feet in the big fight. I assume its come up in the comments, can someone point me at it?
Yeah, that’s something DaveB needs to cone forward and answer: if the shield forms a perfect sphere (and the fact it is air-tight implies that it is) and cuts into the ground, it would mean that Sydney is basically ‘anchored’ in place and leaves slight indents or outright holes where ever she deploys it (indent when on ‘solid’ ground and the material ‘settles’ when the shield goes away, or a hole in something that has a hollow space below) or it somehow detects solid surface she is standing on and becomes intangible at the surface connection (but that would imply that something or someone could still burrow in from that direction)
But we have seen it cut the corner of a table off when deployed too close, haven’t we? But at the same time, we have seen it get embiggenated without pushing the ground material outwards
It has come up in comments before, true enough. The shield is extremely adaptable. In high-speed flight it has an aerodynamic oval shape. In a confined space it will form in a smaller size. Although we should potentially allow for artistic licence on both of the above. But I see no harm in interpreting it as we see it.
On the ground it forms a hemisphere. You are correct to preclude it slicing through things though. There has never been any example of it cutting anything or causing structural damage. This could be an open hemisphere (like an inverted bowl); a closed one (like an inverted Tupperware bowl with a lid on); or possibly the shield phases through the ground.
I no longer subscribe to the latter though, as when Halo flew up, at the tank blasting demonstration, the shield was half full with sand. We can see when the embiggener is activated that the shield raises and lowers by sections forming. Creating an effect similar to a sliding door opening and closing (albeit spherically, rather than along a flat plane) until it is completely raised, or lowered.
I have come to the conclusion that if Sydney is just using the Force Field Orb, it attempts to form a sphere, and will push through loose matter, like sand. But stops if it hits solid matter, like the car park. Thus forming an open hemisphere (note that Sydney’s feet are being dragged on the asphalt)*. If there is an obstacle in the way, such as table, it will deform (or form in a smaller size), to accommodate the blockage.**
However if Halo is using the Forb in conjunction with the Fly Ball then it always forms a sphere, even if standing on the ground. This is how Sydney was able to scoop up Harem outside of her shop. The shield behaved just the same as if trying to push through sand, by going underneath her shoes.
As for intelligence, that is not necessary, given that such functions could be programmed in with simple rules. But intelligence, instinctive reactions and other options are all still on the cards for the orbs.
* It is possible to rationalise this as being a closed hemisphere, with a layer of gravel trapped inside the shield. And I have attempted such in the past. But Shadow Boxer was able to rise up out of the ground. If the shield forms a closed hemisphere, in such circumstances, then he was phasing right through that, in addition to the ground itself. It may well be that his phasing power can do this.
However, on reflection, the open hemisphere seems more likely. The scene where Halo is being dragged across the car park should have the dust rising from the shield, if it was that being dragged. It does not though, the dust comes from Halo’s feet.
** I think there is an example where we see this, albeit that Guesticus seems to remember it differently. But I reached my searching tolerance limit looking for this one.
Fairly sure, the reason the bubble was half full of sand, was because Sydney formed it in the middle of a Sydney-induced Sand Storm
Also, Sydney was being dragged by her tether, not the oddly shaped sphere (and hadn’t Shadow Boxer already started to rise when Sydney formed her Bubble? thus he would have been already inside the protective dome)
And quite possibly remembering things, just vaguely recall seeing a table getting sliced in half when the Dome formed too close
*remembering things wrong*
You is right, about the sand.
*sigh*
As for the remainder, mmm…
*tilts head to one side, for a good think*
This, to me, is what is so great about this comment system (other comment systems may vary): we help each other remember things in a polite fashion :D
You are correct Shadow Boxer had already emerged from the floor before the bubble went up. You can clearly see both of Sydney’s hands are empty when he first strikes.
I had something intelligent and witty to say, but then I accidentally caught site of Dab’s Derriere, and now all I can think of is the full moon….@.@
So,will A LOT happen while Sydney is asleep?!?!?
The first paragraph of the author’s blog, above, gives you your best information about that. Sydney’s nap is to spare us from a speculation session (cause we do enough of that ourselves anyhow) thus allowing us to, later, see her trying things out, hands on instead.
I’m left with a question about what causes upgrades. Is is strictly orb usage or an physical and/or mental training also affect it’s growth?
We have little to go on at the moment other than speculation and anything directly stated. We saw her total a tank but that “kill” did not unlock the level. If I’m wrong I hope someone says something but here I go. When she realized that the PPO has a safety (“hard to use” -> cue lightning strike) she earned her upgrade. So at least understanding the orbs gives more points to spend. In that case use and familiarity gives her more opportunities to understand them and make them better or become more skilled in their use. Still, two orbs have unknown uses and they might respond to her doing push-ups for all we know.
We also have to keep in mind why they are not already at full power. What rationale, other than story, would there be for a gun than can shoot many types of energy to just start off with one type available. They might be damaged, perhaps they are in a ‘storage’ mode and are trying to wake up, she might not be fully attuned yet, or maybe the orbs are a puzzle box. Unless we know what they are we cannot be sure why they work the way they do. I’m looking forward to reading more.
You have hit upon the most satisfying explanation to date. Although I would take it deeper than just realising that the PPO had a safety. It was a transcendental experience for Sydney. A turning point in her life and her appreciation of what it is to be a super-hero.
Although her enlightenment happened when Sydney fired the PPO, that alone was not sufficient for Halo to level up. Despite Maxima literally suggesting that! What was holding her back?
At the bottom of the sepia page, linked above, we may have an explanation. Sydney was conflicted.
The sheer destructive power, at her disposal frightened her. But subsequently realising that she has an even greater power to protect, would have allowed Halo to ease her qualms enough, to properly appreciate the transcendental experience.
Sydney’s spiritual journey allowed her to level up.
Dabbler’s Ass = WMD (Weapon of Mass Distraction)
No, it’s a WAD: Weapon of Ass Distraction :D
It’s both technically.
No shooting the WAD Guesticus .
Not even with a spitwad? o_O :(
Halo might be able to get some tentacle tips from this expert. Reading the article had me laughing, whilst remembering Sydney lifting up Gwen, Peggy and Harem, in the restaurant.
Okay, reading the DMFA webic, and have to ask this: is Sydney based on Amber the Author? Or at least her bangs?
This has been said before, and commented in this thread before, but;
Hnnnnghhhh, dat ass.
The TWC vote link isn’t working, it seems they’ve change their system today. Remove “default.aspx” to make it work.
On the subject of lust for Dabbler, panel 1 didn’t do it for me. Panel 3 totally did, though <3
Yeah, noticed that with a couple of other sites
They have changed the look of their site. Currently it is directing me to the voting list, rather than the GrrlPower vote page. I hope that is not intentional, and they will fix it shortly.
In the meanwhile, here is a clean link, direct to our voting page, for readers’ convenience:
https://topwebcomics.com/vote/11940
At least GrrlPower is at the top of the list
the OTHER theory of mine that’s sort of plausible was it’s not a ‘green lantern ring’ at all
It’s a crashed federation starship circa the 29th century (when they had tardis level shit)
what powers does it have?
shields.
a photon torpedo/ phaser
sensors
a tractor beam
impulse engines
ergo the final two will be:
warp drive
transporter/ replicator
and why the skill tree?
fed ships are designed to be flown even by civilians in emergencies, with limits on functions to prevent non trained personal from accidentally blowing up small planets ;)
Sydney just needs to figure out how to turn on the computer, that’s all
That holds together well. The time-travel is fine, although it works just as well proposing it as an alien space ship.
This.
Alternate theory for how to interpret panel 1. The model posing* for Dabbler has very recently gotten engaged, so keeps flashing her showy ring off. Sydney’s model** however is a true professional, so is holding up her hand, to block our view of it. But is very cleverly staying in character, so it looks like Sydney is just objecting to the butt wiggling in her face.
* Yup, I know Dave does most of his research online, like Math. But well… it is possible!
** Who I hope is single, likes an English accent and is o.k. with dating a guy… ahem… slightly…. older than herself.
Went and googled moskau. Do not… understand.
It’s a dated song, what more is there to understand? o_O
In her daydream, Sydney is being controlled by Gwen. Being reduced to no more than a puppeteer’s doll, dream-Sydney is being forced to do the pseudo-Cossack dancing from this pop song.
Reminder that I made a cleaned up version of the skilltree.
You can see it here
Thank you!
As somebody who suffers from ADHD, I should point out a fairly serious error here, based on my own experiences. Namely, Sydney is reacting like a normal person in this strip, and not like most ADHD people I’ve met.
First off, ADHD, among other truly irritating things, brings with it elements of insomnia–it is very rare for me to get a good night’s sleep unless I am seriously exhausted, or unless I am very, very rigid in my sleeping schedule…and if it’s the latter, any variation is enough to keep me up at night, sometimes for all night. Which, among other things, means that I am very used to operating on almost no sleep. Do I like a good night’s sleep? Absolutely. Do I need it to operate at full capacity? Probably, yes. Do I need it to operate at, say, more than 80-90% capacity? Probably not, although I can’t maintain that pace for very long. The medication Sydney takes for her ADHD will make this worse, unless her primary medication is a non-stimulant (in which case she would also need to avoid caffeine) such as wellbutrin, or something similar. This has its own effects on somebody with ADHD, however, and I have seen no signs of those effects, which is an important detail, meaning that she almost certainly takes something like Adderall, ritalin, or something similar (note that there are apparently two new types of medications available, that I need to check out–I take enough adderall that it almost certainly is impacting my long-term health, even while it is completely necessary to function). In all probability, however, she takes a stimulant of some description, which means that she will have even more problems sleeping, and have even more practice at operating on little to no sleep.
Second problem: If Sydney takes stimulant medication for her ADHD, which she almost certainly does, THERE IS NO UPPER LIMIT TO HOW MUCH CAFFEINE SHE WOULD BE WILLING TO DRINK. I cannot repeat this enough–if Sydney is taking stimulants, than she would almost certainly have developed a serious caffeine habit, because it is one of only two field-expedient solutions I have found to your meds not taking full effect (the other, in case you were wondering, is to smoke two or three cigarettes, as that is pretty much the only other source of commercially available stimulants in existence. As a side note, the cigarettes are much less efficient as a stimulant source, even though nicotine is a significantly more powerful stimulant). If she takes enough medication that she feels there is an upper limit to how much caffeine she can ingest, that would almost certainly have to mean that she takes enough medication that, when it wears off, she starts going really and truly batshit crazy, or worse. I know this, because that is the level of medication I take, and that is exactly what happens–when I’m on my meds, I am sane and stable, and when I’m off my meds, I quite literally go nuts, and start exhibiting symptoms of a huge variety of mental illnesses ranging from schizophrenia to depression, and covering pretty much everything in between. Sydney is almost certainly not taking that level of medication, because psychiatrists who are willing to write a prescription for that high a dose are much less common than you would think–I have literally (for real literally, too) had multiple psychiatrists refuse to write my prescriptions, because they couldn’t deal with the moral ramifications. I’m serious. That is actually what one of them told me, point-blank, to my face. He was convinced that he was killing me, and when we attempted to lower the medication dosage, he told me that it became absolutely clear that lowering the dosage even a little meant that I become non-functional, and little more than an over-energetic vegetable.
Part of what these two facts mean is that, no matter how dog-tired Sydney gets, she will not go to sleep until the meds wear off. She may start drifting, but she won’t go to sleep, not if she has serious enough ADHD that caffeine intake becomes a concern. I realize that it seems like she should, especially after the day and the night and the day she’s had leading up to this, but she actually won’t…although, I can tell you from my own experience, she is probably truly sorry about that fact, and is likely to be promising God all kinds of things, even up to and including no longer swearing, if he will just let her go to sleep right the fuck now.
I’m an idiot and forgot to comment: I’m surprised she’s concerned about more caffeine. I thought she had the stuff pumping through her body instead of blood?
Fantastic suggestions ! Speaking of which if others need a DA 2142 , my family filled out a blank version here
https://goo.gl/VEIWFKAfter reading all the comments I still don’t get it. What thing is Syndey asking Debbler to put away? I don’t see her doing anything overtly sensual or exposing body parts. What exactly is she being asked to put away? Her everything?
Panel 1 shows Dabbler with her bum stuck in the air, with one of her hands posed on it. Combined with skin-tight trousers and a heck of a lot of exposed flesh on the top, the entirety is more reminiscent of a strip club or porn video pose. So not entirely appropriate for either a briefing or a scientific analysis session.
So basically Sydney is asking Dabbler to stop poking her bum right in the middle of her line of sight.
How the eff did I miss the references to “land of confusion” and that “moscow” song the first time?