Grrl Power #444 – Reuleaux earballs
The paws/pause pun obviously loses a little something in written form, but what can you do? Hopefully everyone got it anyway.
My original vision of this page included the big panel with a bunch of little word bubbles with pointed ears in them aimed at about a third of the silhouettes in the gallery – but the background and the banners and all the silhouettes and vacation sort of added up. I didn’t want to do silhouettes for the people at the table but again I ran out of time. I do like the gallery being cast in shadow though.
You might notice there are a lot more seats in the gallery than there are at the table. (And the gallery runs both sides of the chamber, though you can’t see that here.) I haven’t quite figured out how that works yet. I think the races are organized in to twelve groups of related species, and the groups rotate out which of them gets a seat. Everyone gets a voice though, but for expediency’s sake, the seated representative should be advocating not just for their race, but for everyone in their member group. Organizing the Council was no small task, after all, some of those groups historically don’t get along well. It’s bad form in the Council to refer to humans as a common enemy, but maintaining secrecy involves preventing supernatural wars from spilling out into the streets, and that takes strict internal policing. That’s something that will be touched on briefly before this scene is done.
This page colored by Keith.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon as soon as I get up. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like :)
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.
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Hey Dave, I think that in panel five you meant to have Sydney say “No one JUST has pointy…” rather than “No one has pointy…”
Maxima doesn’t JUST have pointy ears either.
Naa, to me, it makes perfect sense as Dave put it. Ignoring Dabbler (who breaks most rules) and speaking before today, Sydney is perfectly correct to say “No one has pointy ears!” In her indignation, though, she simply forgot that she was being fanned by a (presumably) pointy-eared pixie, and is in a chamber filled with pointy eared werewolves, elves and the ilk.
Sydney was not pressing Maxima on the entirety of her package of looks, but was focused purely on the ears. So I do not feel she would be trying to broaden it out beyond JUST the pointy ears.
If Dave does answer the above though, can we take the opportunity to request an even closer close up of the pixie!
*fans tail eagerly*
It’s a sore point with her.
Only sore if her brother has been visiting and flicked them :P
I know what you mean, Syd talking about the “pointy ear club” one sentence, implying a group of people, and saying that no one has them the next seems contradictory. I took it as a mental reflex that do not yet got adjusted to the new reality she just learned.
She was having a Sydney moment. Made a joke then contradicted herself right away.
Right on character indeed.
I stand corrected.
Usually pays to get confirmation about something :D
If you were wrong, maybe you learnt something new (specially regarding languages) :)
If you were correct, hopefully it can be fixed :)
How nice – Sydney has a fangirl.
…what?
Bada bish.
I think you meant to just use the https://instantrimshot.com/ link, not the drumroll one. :p
Naa, these have been used in comments before. I thought I would mix it up a bit, to keep things slightly unexpected. I figured it would be appropriate to use both, in reply to a manic Muppet drummer!
Now, let’s explain the important things that NOPE NOT WHEN SYDNEY IS HERE!
One of the Lycans Sydney has not met comes over and in the tradition of ‘hazing the new guy’ bares his fangs and says “Oh, good. The food is finally here. I am starving. Oops, she’s out again.”
and disappears in a beam of pure destruction ;)
THere is no
thing I know
that compares with pure obliteration…
I know, nothing indeed.
*sits in corner with dunces cap on*
*imagines your tune being sung by the first guy that played willy wonka…
The Wildest pair of Jeans ever created?
You know full well she is just going to glomp him, pet him all over, and openly think of different names to call him
Even better, let it be a feline “lycanthrope” representative (pretty much every land mammal has had a “were” version in folk lore)
Man, those were-moles have it hard. Burrow down, out of sight of the full moon, and poof, back to being a human, but in a mole-sized hole!
Those are hobbits.
I want a were-pangolin! Pangolins are adorable.
They are also on the endangered list, due in part to their overly-adorableness (and because they supposedly taste great)
That is an all-too serious extinction risk!
Can’t watch that clip in this country :(
Read, or heard, just recently how the Pangolins were the most prized mammal for smugglers
How about the official QI version? I picked the shorter clip, but they both have the scene in question.
Thank you, shows like “QI” are great, because they spend half the time talking bollocks but you don’t care as it is still humorous :D
it’s like the local show with two teams talking about news items from the last week, called “7 Days”, it’s only a half hour show but they spend at least half that time talking bollocks instead of answering the questions, still feel they should extend it to a full hour
There is even an entire World of Were’s, and Dabbles has been there
Lycantrophe literally means wolf-human.
He would be an Anitrophe, a politrophe or an antropomorph representative.
Dictionary definitions are decided by common usage, rather than etymological origins. Adamas has used the term correctly given the common usage since 1974. Normally one would not consider a niche usage to be sufficient, but D&D has become very widespread, and has influenced terms used in other games, books, movies and television.
But if one is a traditionalist, and does not wish to use a word, that has had its original meaning expanded, via fantasy sources, then the correct term to use would be therianthrope.
IIRC there are also things like were-seels and were-eagles.
Correct, in as much as there were Selkies. Various South/Central American shamen were reported (from memory) as having swooping/flying experiences, when in a drug-induced trance. Possibly including being able to turn into an eagle. I would research that, but walkies is calling!
However the Nazca lines are cited by believers in such, as being supporting proof. One of the images is of a condor. And, running with our were-theme, most of the others could be likewise.
The were-tree being an interesting one. Perhaps one will wake up from a long nap, and wonder why the world has changed so radically, from when he helped to draw the lines?
I’m thinking more “Oh, the appetizer has arrived. Will the food be delivered soon?”
Aaaand nobody gets the Starcraft reference? Okay then…
I’m not seeing it. Care to elaborate?
At first I thought they meant that one of the flags had a starcraft symbol on it, but after checking…no…I’m still not seeing it. The black and red vampire flag is pretty neat though and now I’m trying to figure out the rest…
It looked “Not Quite Startrek” to me. As in World War Two being “Not Quite Mechanised”. Sydney is clearly not the only one with waay too much time on her hands.
https://notquitemechanised.wordpress.com/
Whoa. I can’t look at that website. All those identacle armoured vehicles, on either side, created a horrible strobing effect, in my peripheral vision, when scrolling down the page. It totally distracted me from being able to follow any of the central content. I would not be willing to risk the headaches that could follow from using that. Even now I still have blotches in my vision!
If you make the window narrower, it hides that stuff on the sides mostly. I happened to have my window narrow already and honestly didn’t know what you were referring to at first. :p
Panel 6, Konami Code faction (the flag with the arrows, on the bottom row and nearest to the door).
One point of interest is that there is only one representative there. Whereas all the other we can see have two or three. Leading to me to wonder if this is a ‘race’ with a single member. Presumably with sufficient power to be comparable to an entire race of extraordinary creatures, to justify having such a position.
Likewise there would need to be something to explain why there is just the one like it. A couple of explanations which spring to mind are a mutant super (which is very likely in the Grrlverse) or perhaps a god. There are demons, and apparently angels too. And gods were intrinsic to the Odysians. So this is a possibility too. Combining the two would give a mutant with god-like powers.
A further clue is the individuals hair appears to be pig-tails or even bangs, like Sydney’s.
My best guess, incorporating her Konami Code logo, is that is a girl (probably growing up in the console game era) with power similar to Neo, from the Matrix. Except she can alter the source code of the real world!
So glad someone else spotted the Konami Code!
Better guess though is that the girl is just a cheat XD
Oh, I can’t take credit for naming it, although I got the gist of what the visuals were getting at. Check out page 1, for various commentators, who called it.
It’s possible that there is only one representative because either it takes too much power or none of the others feel comfortable being out in the non-Digital world. Assuming that it’s a race of Cyber Beings.
True, manifesting a corporeal body, would take a vast amount of energy. Given the limited amount of it available in computers, I can see that it would pose a significant barrier.
Even if they got Google to co-operate, and divert all the power, for all the data servers, in the world, they would have to keep doing that, for a significant period, in order to create a human(oid) body, out of nothing. Weeks, months, years maybe? Note that shutting down a significant proportion of the computing capability, of the world, would not be a comfortable thought for a digital civilisation!
So it seems likely that she is doing something other than … um… simple … energy to matter conversion.
Our only clue being her banner. Which brings us back to the implication that she is using a cheat code, to hack the real world! Converting a non-existent (in teal world terms) digital entity, into a physical person seems to fall under that category. Even if folks might prefer to use some other terminology to explain it (eg a wizard did it).
But, if it is a cheat-code (or technomagic with a similar result), and they have a full digital civilisation, there would be nothing to stop them from all using it. Or, at least, enough of them to provide a full delegation to this Council. Which has not happened.
Looking to find a way it could alternatively be accomplished, brings up the possibility she may be a hologram. But that would take (compared to the above) relatively trivial energy. So again multiple delegates would not be much harder to create than a single one.
There are other ways it might work mind. However the more unsubstantiated elements, you have to bring in, to explain something, the less credible it becomes.
Other idea: there is one AI that counts as a faction, and she’s it’s avatar (holographic or otherwise)
Twist on your “digi-race” idea: it’s conceivable that a digital race could get far closer to equiping one delegate with the knowledge and preferences of the entire race.
Boring explanation: there are four factions with two delegates, and one faction with zero delegates sitting, so it’s possible it’s not particularly significant.
Even more boring explanation: the other two konami delegates are taking a cheetoes-and-mountain-dew break.
I wanna know about that purple pyramid with zero delegates. I really want to hear, “Purple Pyramid abstains, courteously.”
You mean you do not recognise the ancient pyramid builder civilisation’s ninjas, when you see them?
“…and one faction with zero delegates sitting…”
That would probably be the “Anonymous” faction, from 4Chan fame…
;)
no delegates for the purple pyramid? that really sphinx
He he. That is the mummy of all puns. Although I think you pushed it tomb much.
Run, hypnofetish, RUN! They will be re-positioning the orbital pun canon,* as we speak!
* Although I have never seen it in-comic, so I suspect that it does not actually exist. But it is better to be safe than sorry.
It’s not so much a canon as Leroy converts your email accounts to AOL addresses and your operating system is suddenly replaced by Linux.
What if they already are? o_O
Mum still has her email account from before AOL bought them out
Then your face becomes a 4chan meme.
What? What is a ‘4chan meme’? o_O
A meme spread on 4chan.
The latter is just one of many social media that memes can propagate on. But it is of the family of anonymous ones. So I assume it will readily spread the more controversial memes, as users will not fear any condemnation for their participation in or encouragement of such.
Possibly it also includes the usual funny cat pictures. However, in looking for a humorous post, by googling “4Chan hobbit”, this was the first result.
Sooo my guess seems to have been spot on.
I should point out that the link is actually hosted on imgur, but is done in the style that was apparent when looking for 4chan images. Whether it came up because that originated from 4chan, or because it was a parody of that the usual content from there,* or some other reason, I cannot say.
* As examples, of why that may have topped the results, when searching for “4chan hobbit”.
Had heard of ‘4chan’, but, like TVTropes, had heard enough about it to not be tempted to visit
I can think of two ways in which such an entity could get a body–first, she would use a robot, and second, she would assemble said body out of constituent elements. The robot seems more likely.
It is also possible that such an entity would have literal cheat codes for reality–if reality is, indeed, a mathematical construct, it would not be difficult for any being that could see the formulas involved to start jiggling numbers.
Good thinking.
Actually, that group is various sorts of Japanese supernaturals, most of them undead. The one being that’s there is one of the living sort. The rest are just late.
Maybe it’s Budget Halo…
Oh wow, that is a possibility. And the last time we saw her was in the presence of…
the Evil Squirrel Overlord!
Naturally he will have her fully under control as a minion, by now. So we have an explanation for why there only appears to be one delegate. He is sitting right next to her, but we just can’t see him over the balcony wall.
Clearly he uses the Konami Code banner, to signify his use of cheat codes to control the human mind!
Have you seen the Evil Squirrel Overlord’s driver?
It’s a nut driver, right?
With a guest appearance from Yorp :D
:-D
I was expecting Grace
Grace is a good squirrel overlord.
Unless Harem shoulder-boobs Tedd.
My comment stands. Even good overlords are allowed to defend their interests, especially the ones that they value, above all others!
I now want a crossover…
Was actually thinking of the squirrel girls from “Sequential Art”
Overlords require a minimum level of organisational and cognitive ability, to be considered viable candidates.
Exhibit A
Further that appears to be an evil grey squirrel!
Exhibit B
Hey, can you blame her (and her sisters)? They are squirrels, hyper active squirrels with attention spans of, well, a hyper active squirrel on stimulants
Just a shame “SA” wasn’t in colour, would make telling the squirrel sisters apart much easier than trying to remember which hair-style belonged to which girl
OK, I will try to broaden my horizons.
Interestingly enough, that was Sequential Art 101.
Heh heh, every time someone mentions ‘shinies’ in games, from now on will think of this :D
You said it yourself:
https://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=561
btw: damn you for throw me in heeeere!
Creepy never looked so cute :D
ninjas, squirrels, secret agents, pirates, supers, mutants, other-living, ai, golems, elves, lycans, pixies… could we have living origami so there’s a paper tiger?
The fourth flag from the left on the top row… is the clockwork… orange…
:-D
Mind you I would prefer a chocolate orange.
Here, have a medium sized Jaffa…
Oh wait, are Yorps allowed chocolate? o_O
Oh, just to sure, referring to the sweets not the city or the aliens (or the residents of Auckland, aka, Just Another F***ing Aucklander :P)
clockwork orange is actually a funnier premise than imagined, ’cause a clockwork orange can do anything a normal orange can, but has to be wound first.
(what’s a normal orange do?)
well, for one, it fights scurvy…
I will follow on your idea of a one-member-race, but since a bee in the banner has been reported (I can’t tell with the no-patreon resolution) I will go with the only one needed representative of a hive mind race.
A billion bodies alien Harem, perhaps?
Ops, I failed to notice that Peter Sadlon already considered a hive mind in an earlier comment.
He did list a lot of suggestions. I failed to spot that one, amongst the others, too. But I agree, with both of you, that it does make a hive mind the most likely explanation, for having a single body present.
It does not explain the cheat code aspect mind. Not unless one of the famous uses was with an insect game, of some sort? Failing that we still have the various other options suggested in this thread. But without any emphasis being given for there being a single representative, as that is now explained separately.
*leans head to one side, to give a good thinking*
You already countered the most obvious option, suggested by Eldathor, in the linked thread. Namely that it refers to AIs. The combination of hive mind and AI would be highly logical, given the existence of networked computers. However your counter only works for Earthly AIs. So it could still be an alien race of AIs, with a networked hive mind.
Still Konami Code does not directly point to AIs. So, whilst the above is an option, I would favour something with a cheat or hacking connotation. If emphasising the hive mind, rather than the artificial aspect (which seems more appropriate with a human-seeming girl avatar), then we get mind hacking.
“My name is Legion, and we are many”. Seems the best bet. A biblical demon who was initially possessing one man. But, not wishing to be cast out of the area begged “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” Which Jesus did, and the pigs then drowned themselves in a lake.
Legion could be one of the demonic factions. Death would be no hindrance to such beings. See Concretia as a vaguely similar type of super (without the hive mind, and only possessing minerals, rather than creatures). Plus Legion may favour single avatars, when communicating with others, to avoid an echo or chorus effect, if multiple voices are speaking.
Or, maybe the bee is literal. And the little girl is actually an insect (or a colony of insects in a little girl suit), operating in a hive mind. Vance would love to meet the latter version! Being a networked species, they might have a natural affinity with networked computers, and thus be superb hackers. With a side-line of espionage, given their *wink wink* bugging potentials.
Or he might just eat her.
We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news. It appears that Sydney not not manage to ‘catch them all’ on her last scuba adventure. Another has been found. This time off California.
“Scientists discovered a glowing purple orb at the bottom of the ocean.”
https://www.vox.com/2016/7/28/12310762/mysterious-purple-orb-nautlius
Noooooo! Have you fools never watched a horror movie!
Every day, someone here find a way to make my life a little bit better.
Deep Sea Purple Bioluminescent Puffer Thingy.
I wonder if it sings children’s songs?
If it starts to sing, then kill it! Kill it with Fire !
OMG! It hatched and turned into a Tim Burton remake of H.R. Pufnstuf! Run for your lives!
Just when I think this planet can’t get any weirder…
As if the Sarcastic Fringehead wasn’t bizarre looking enough.
https://www.google.com/search?q=sarcastic+fringehead&biw=1920&bih=882&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwips6XNm9nPAhUS5GMKHZC7B8wQ_AUIBigB
You know, the pause actually made me believe Maxima more. Then the next panel is telling me that I interpreted that in the exact wrong way. Hate when that happens.
I don’t think you got it wrong, myself. Not that I am immune from getting something completely wrong, mind you. But here is my thinking:
Maxima is being totally sincere, and honest, in the second-to-last panel. Her long pause is because this is something that she has speculated on, often herself. Consider how profoundly Maxima’s personality is shaped by how others have treated her. She considers most men to be misogynists, because of how many have hit on her. Due to her looks.
I think she is bound to be just as sensitive about her ears. So this line of questioning is something that is opening a raw nerve. Moreover, both those final panels, to me, have Maxima looking like she has regressed to her teen years. Normally Maxima and Sydney have a mother and daughter relationship. Or, perhaps, a big sister, little sister vibe, instead.
I think Maxima has, mentally or emotionally, gone back to a time when her younger brother was asking similar things (note the similarities in emotional relationships, to this situation). So her body language and emotions are reflecting this state of mind. As this is so different to her normal commanding officer role, it is bound to throw many people’s interpretations off kilter.
Maxima genuinely does not know. But the long, reflective pause, makes Sydney misinterpret the reason. Max is totally non-committal on her replies though. She is too tied up in her own introspective thoughts, to do otherwise. When Sydney presses the issue however, she thinks about it. This is not something that a CO need (or should) discuss with a recruit. However they do have a close bond forming. So … maybe. “We’ll see”.
And yet the constant gold comments do nothing for her. “Is it a GOOOOOLD car..” “Its black actually” “Hur hur, look at me im gold AND funny!” “You can go back to your fortress of golditutde later” etc etc etc And yet a question about the EARS sets off emotional introspection? I think she was just screwing with sydney there, seeing if she would bite. Sydney did not.
These scenes are open to interpretation. Not that you have convinced me however. Even re-reading the scene, with your take in mind, I cannot see anything which supports that
But, as you clearly feel the same, in reverse, I guess I just have more faith in our super-heroes, than you.
“I guess I just have more faith in our super-heroes, than you.”
And than Syd. Also if you are correct this would be the first time Syd is wrong.
I don’t think so myself, though, Syd’s got Max figured.
So you too are convinced Vance is a colony of super-spiders in a Vance-suit?
Separately, you seem to have forgotten the ‘sniper laser-sight’ incident.
Regarding this issue though, Sydney did not say Maxima was lying. She was commenting on Maxima not being convincing. That is not quite the same thing. Asking for an explanation, of why something was not being said with conviction, likewise, is distinct from demanding to be told the truth.
I do seem to be in a distinct minority for my interpretation though.
*climbs into basket, and curls up into a ball*
“So you too are convinced Vance is a colony of super-spiders in a Vance-suit?
Separately, you seem to have forgotten the ‘sniper laser-sight’ incident.”
Oh well, it’s an arguable topic and I was partly joking but ok, here goes:
I was thinking about an error in judgment with her to blame. For instance, when she assumed Varia copied Harem’s power she was wrong, but it was the logical conclusion given the little available data at the moment, so it’s hard to hold that against her.
About Vance and Math’s trickeries: it’s not the same being wrong if someone intentionally deceived you.
About the “sniper” (and several others) incident: Syd’s hyperactivity kicked in before she could think thoroughly. It’s like when a dyslexic person misspell a word, not so much as being wrong as being victim of a disorder.
There’s only one situation where Syd was plain wrong on her own, but it makes a paradox so doesn’t count :)
You are not alone
Yay!
*wags tail*
Why do think she normally has her ears covered up? o_O
I don’t think she does, she even has the habit of push her hair behind the ears, usually the left one, making them visible.
Only uncovers them when in a comfortable setting, when out in public her ears are covered
Actually there’s no public appearences with them intentionality covered, but it’s true that in most it could be not a personal choice.
However at least two times she was in public and with them uncovered by choice: at the bank and at Susie interview (TV broadcast, what’s more public?).
In my experience, most people who genuinely are baffled by a question will either immediately respond that they don’t know (indicating that they’ve thought about it before), or they will take a very short amount of time to think before saying they don’t know. A pause that’s long enough to be remarked upon is usually deliberate, especially if it’s being asked about a relatively unimportant question. This is especially true if they’re in something like a meeting, or a social scenario where they are expected to be paying attention to something else. Maxima’s body language may be saying something else–I’ve never been any great shakes at body language, and this is no exception–but her verbal response indicates that she at least has some idea, and is playing with Sydney’s brain.
Not a bad line of reasoning. There are flaws though. Which I point out because I really have difficulty being able to interpret it the way you are suggesting. As opposed to arguing my point, for its own sake.
Firstly they are holding up a conference that has galactic civilisation representation, with as many races represented as the UN has countries (roughly speaking) and many members who are likely angsty about the latest public developments, and how it will affect them. Which is more likely:
Maxima has been caught off-guard, by something that emotionally significant to her, and has lost herself in retrospective thought?
Or she is making a drawn-out practical joke, at the expense of her subordinate, in front of hundreds of impatient delegates?
Sydney would have no hesitation in doing the latter. But it is totally out of character, for Maxima.
Secondly, whilst we have seen Maxima teasing Sydney before, she was very open about it, when it had achieved its desired goal. I do not see that she would be less honest if it failed. I would expect her to admit she had just been pulling Sydney’s leg and move swiftly on. Not drag it out even more. Not under these circumstances, anyhow!
As regards body language and interpreting expressions, let me offer a variety of options, in case my underlying assumptions bias a single choice. So for the second-to-last panel:
Shyness, embarrassment or resignation.
For the last panel:
Sulky, defiant, rebellious.
As I noted previously any of the above, for either panel are well out of Maxima’s normal range. And are more suited to a teenager. So I believe my argument holds geode water.
Well it’s not a lie, she really doesn’t know why she has pointy ears.
Agreed, we have seen her origin story, and it is not explained, other than presumably being part of the package she got, when the geode water spilt on her. Although there is the possibility that something happened since, to explain just that, it is very unlikely. Maxima seemed no more enlightened in Deus’s office recently than she was years ago.
Further, part of that package is her golden skin. And we have been privy to Maxima’s thought bubble (after saying that the nature of her skin is classified) which revealed that it is not just classified, it is unknown. In all probability this applies to her ears too. We have every indication that they share a common origin, so understanding one should should explain the other too. Or at least provide significant insight.
Finally society does not understand the nature of super powers, in general. If Maxima did really know how her ears came about, then that would no longer be true. If scientists knew that much (and there is no plausible reason, at paw, to withhold that from her own organisation) then they would have transitioned to knowing something about how super-powers work. But that is not the case.
All they have is speculation. As does Maxima.
Well, “I don’t know” and “We’ll see” are mutually exclusive, one of them must be a lie.
No, it simply means “I don’t know, but we will find out together”
Not what I was taught, and the Cambridge dictionary agree:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/i-we-ll-have-to-see
I/we’ll (have to) see: used to say that you will make a decision about something later.
It can also, literally mean, “We will see when we find the answer”
Incorrect. The subtleties of the conversation do not restrict it to just those options. I refer to my answer just entered further up the thread, but repeated for reader’s convenience here:
Guesticus and I are asserting that Maxima is replying to the query, about her lack of conviction. NOT simply to the original question and her reply.
Which is wholly consistent both with my contention that Maxima has only got supposition to go on and with Maxima’s conversation with Deus.
Emphasis added, to point out WHY Maxima has to think about this.
Whilst Maxima needs to show Sydney things that she will find out about anyhow (by use of her True Sight orb), she does not have a similar problem as regards other restricted information. Especially given that Maxima knows that if Halo ever goes rogue, it is Maxima herself who will need to take her down. So giving her more information than is strictly necessary, about her own capabilities (such as informed speculation about her origins) has to be carefully considered.
This is another reason why Maxima hesitated to discuss this matter… in a room with many dozens of listeners, many with acute pointy ears. Any one of whom could be a potential enemy!
Mmm… nope, not convincing enough, I still think my interpretation is right, but yeah, I do recognize that Guesticus and yourself are natural English speakers while I’m not, so your points of view stand on ground more solid than mine.
Oh, linguistically it could go either way. I was just pointing out that there are two options, not just the one.
I think the ambiguity works well for Maxima. It gives the members of the council the impression that Maxima does know, whilst not actually lying to Sydney. But, of course, only if my interpretation is correct. Which is not guaranteed, as I can, and do, call it wrong at times.
Do dragons get a seat? are there dragons in this setting? I hope so i love dragons.
https://g01.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1nx.vJVXXXXXKXpXXq6xXFXXXS/Beautiful-abstract-beautiful-font-b-dragon-b-font-font-b-girl-b-font-3-Sizes-Silk.jpg
I hope that works for you
Or this.
You know, I think I used to work for that guy!
So is it just me or is that the apple of Eden on the far left middle?
Hail Eris Discordia!
Buy all 666 books of the original today! Certified to be slightly different from each other!
The way those heraldic flags are lined up one wonders if there’s any monster-only sports teams out there.
What’s Sydney drinking? This Adhd spaz is guzzling soda or red bull while on her medication – on a hefty government wage while her commanding officer (who’s what, five – six – ranks above her? or more even as Sydney is just a recruit..) is standing next to her. Suspension of disbelief pierced!
(Yeah its pedantic but I was a firm disbeliever in ADHD for like twenty years until I met my Ex’s little brother. The only way not to eventually lose your shit and murder these people is to make sure they take their meds, and keep them away from caffeine and sugar.)
You do realise that the author and about 20% of the readership are ADD or ADHD, right?
Further Sydney has just fainted. Despite the werewolf’s diagnosis of it being ‘due to delight’, it is entirely appropriate for her commanding officer to treat Sydney for dehydration. Which is one of the most common causes of fainting. As I can certify having spent the day before yesterday taking someone to hospital, and having them put on a drip, to re-hydrate them!
I’ve always heard ADHD as ADHDOLAS (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity DisOhLOOKASQUIRREL!
) [order]
20% of your readership has this rare and highly controversial condition that the rest of the world hardly recognises (indulges)? (My little ex’es little brother had a host of mental issues spawned from a serious physical ailment, and adhd was apparently part of them. Hyperactivity was certainly a trait.) From what I’ve read of the symptoms of this very american illness I’m astounded that someone who suffers from it has the both the concentration and self discipline to not only draw but to maintain a regular webcomic of this standard. Not criticising, just raising my eyebrows. Kudos.
You are clearly badly misinformed. The condition is not controversial. Having such an opinion indicates your knowledge is long out of date. It is both clinically recognised and diagnosable, and certainly is not restricted to just America.
Here is the information page, for the UK’s National Health System, as an example. However you will find that it is recognised internationally including under the umbrella of the World Health Organisation.
Nor is it rare. The WHO estimates that 39,000,000 people have the condition! Rather more than the readership of the comic. Estimates, as a percentage of the population vary, but 1 in 20 people is a fair average of the more conservative estimates. Some well-informed research places it at closer to 1 in 10.
Given that this is a condition which has many ignorant people disparaging the sufferers, and implying that it is faked or a fad, it is to be expected that many, who become aware of it, will be drawn to a webcomic featuring a super heroine, who also has it. My estimate of 20% is however just a guesstimate, to factor that in. It is informed guess-work though, based on how many commentators have mentioned they are either ADD or ADHD, down through the years.
Given that you have a family member with the condition, I would suggest that you take the time to become more familiar with it. Being disparaging of the sufferers, and openly sceptical as to the medical validity of the condition, is not a helpful way to support your family.
If I didn’t have it I would assume I could put out pages faster. It wouldn’t surprise me that ADHD is a little over diagnosed in the US though.
I would say that it is simply because it’s hard to tell when a child has ADD/ADHD as opposed to just being obnoxious, plus the fact that drug companies try to push medicines more often than they’re actually needed so that they can make more money.
I believe people like you when they say that they have AD(H)D, clinical depression, or whatever mental disorder partly because I know that such conditions are real, despite what some people would have everyone believe) and partly because I have clinical depression myself.
Yorp is right. If you have ADHD, stimulants (like caffeine) actually help you focus! It sounds weird, I know – even my reflex reaction is, “if someone is hyperactive, you don’t want to give them stimulants”, but that’s not the way things work. Adderall is a typical drug prescribed for ADHD.
From Wikipedia:
The emphasis is mine. As Maxima points out when Zephan suggests raising Sydney’s dosage: “That’s called meth, Zeph. They don’t give prescriptions for that.”
Keeping them away from sugar, on the other hand? Not a bad idea. But since there’s sugar (and salt) in almost everything these days, completely avoiding it is impossible.
Sorry, I thought I had better add the following:
The maximum recommended dose of Adderall for ADHD is 60 milligrams daily, and the maximum allowed by the FDA is 120 mg (usually, that much is prescribed only for extreme cases of narcolepsy). From Maxima’s dialogue on the same page where Zephan discusses increasing her dosage, it sounds like Sydney is already taking 60 mg.
Some people develop an extremely high tolerance and have been known to take as much as 5 grams daily without ill effect, but I’m pretty sure those people are one step away from needing to check themselves in to an addiction therapy clinic.
Nah, they just switch to a new medication. I grew up on ritalin, switched to dexidrine when I started taking like 9 pills a day, then finally went to adderal before I was a sophmore in high school and decided I was old enough to control myself without medication. Also I was 90 pounds soaking wet and just over 5 feet tall, I was unhappy about that aspect. Being picked up by your rib cage is impressive to look at but painful to experience.
They do give prescriptions for that. Sydney is not even on an especially high dose of medication. You can tell because she’s both more or less functional, and because she doesn’t go completely batshit insane when the medication wears off. If I were in Sydney’s shoes–I do take a pretty large dose–I would have run into a tree on the approach. I’m not even kidding. A random thought or image flashes across my brain at that point, and I lose all focus on whatever I’m doing.
For the record, my Adderall prescription is 220 mg per day. Yes, that is almost double the FDA’s maximum allowed dosage. Yes, the FDA allows it, as do several other federal agencies. My last psychiatrist made me undergo extensive testing before authorizing the prescription (and he informed us that he would not continue writing the prescriptions himself for ethical reasons), and the DEA keeps a very close watch on my purchases to make sure that I am buying it on a regular basis. I have been doing this for something like 20 years. I wish I could stop, but…yeah. Not really going to happen. The condition is controlled through a combination of medication, and mental techniques. Drop either of them, and I go to pieces very, very quickly. That said, there are several people out there who have managed to achieve at least partial–and in some cases almost complete–control over the condition through use of mental techniques. I suspect that it’s different for everybody, but some of the simpler techniques I’ve seen to be effective include things like writing everything down, making sure to communicate everything to the people around you, and so on and so forth. Most people with ADHD will also work very well with things like Red Bull (personally, I prefer Mountain Dew), and sugar doesn’t seem to have the effect on us that people would think. God alone knows why–all I know is that I’ve got a major sweet tooth, and don’t have any problems with the energy rush sugar apparently gives. Nor do I have problems with weight. Given my diet, I am not sure why this should be so–perhaps the sugar helps combat the diet drug effect of the Adderall?
Estimates range from 5% to 12.6% of the total population having some degree of ADHD, although symptoms for ADHD can vary so widely that it would be almost impossible to get a hard number without making everybody on the planet get an MRI. Most (about 60%) people who are diagnosed with ADHD at an early age will largely recover (sort of), and be able to function at most of their capability without too many problems.
Traab, you may find yourself better able to think if you tried something like Wellbutrin, which lacks some of the side effects–particularly the loss of appetite–of the traditional stimulants, but this is a matter of some debate, as nobody is really sure how much, or what kind, of impact most medications have on the ADHD itself. Alternatively, you may have just…gotten better. Between 50% and 70% of children diagnosed with ADHD do get better, although a few actually get worse as they age, which is highly frustrating, to say the least (not to mention terrifying). If you feel that you have gotten better, you may not want to rock the boat…but if you still have problems, some anti-depressants have been shown to have a positive effect on ADHD. This is one of those things, by the way, that makes a lot of people go WTF, since we still don’t have any clear explanation for why that should be the case. Also, you should be aware that ADHD has different symptoms in adults than it does in kids–if you still have problems relaxing, if you find yourself talking too much in social situations (I do that a lot, which can be highly problematic, since one of my other problems prevents me from reading enough body language to know that I’m doing so), impulsive actions, thrill-seeking, and so on continue to be problems. It may be worthwhile to check up on this, although the DSM-IV is currently criticized for not accurately reflecting that change. I don’t know your circumstances–if you feel comfortable where you are, don’t go looking for trouble–but if you’re having relationship problems, and feel that you’ve outgrown ADHD in the past, that may be worth looking into. This is especially true if you have a recurring drug problem, and can’t seem to get yourself together despite your best efforts.
There is actually a pretty major divide in the community between those who favor medication, and those who believe that the problem can mostly be controlled through psychotherapy. Personally, I can vouch that in some cases, both are necessary, but I have other problems, as well as ADHD, so that may just be myself. I know others who have ADHD without those problems who have managed to avoid the majority of the problems the condition causes through the simple expedient of getting a dog. I don’t understand how that works, but I can testify that it does. I can also attest, from even closer experience, that simply keeping your life organized helps a lot, which suggests to me that some of the hyper-organized people I meet may have a case of ADHD, and have turned to organization to combat it. Some of the people I’ve worked with to try to control their own ADHD have reported that even something as simple as putting keys on a particular ring, which is attached to their belt, has helped enormously.
The military, as an institution, is perhaps more used to dealing with ADHD than any other group. It is one of two highly recommended career paths for somebody with ADHD (the other is sales). Currently, it is estimated that between 2-5% of the country’s adult population has ADHD, although the Attention Deficit Disorder Association, among others, believes the number to be much higher. and their estimates range from 8% to 12%. It is three times as likely to show up in boys as in girls, which means that Sydney is pretty unusual, and people who have it have less than 1 chance in 20 of going to college, which makes Sydney HIGHLY unusual.
Oh im not “cured” or anything like that. My attention drifts on a constant basis and though my hyperactivity has dropped, it shows up when I get really into something. I just have enough self control to function decently without pills and its a bit of a pita to get back into taking them a couple decades after weaning myself off them. For me the main effect of the meds was to allow me to realize when I was going off the rails and get myself back under control. As I grew older I felt I would be able to handle that without drugs, and too be fair its mostly worked. It gets in the way from time to time, but generally im able to control it.
Its odd you mentioned military because I actually joined up when I was 19. I rather enjoyed myself at basic, thus proving my mental instability. :p Unfortunately I got seriously massively ill with pneumonia during basic, lost a week of training due to being in a hospital, then learned I couldnt run anymore without collapsing into wheezes so out I went.
I feel I need to query this. Colour-blindness is connected to the X chromosome and thus far less likely in those that have 2 of them but autism was also thought to have similar boy girl ratios to those you quote for ADHD/ADD. Turns out it’s an even split, just less obvious in girls due to the different expectations on them growing up. Are we certain that ADD/ADHD is like the former and not the latter?
I have found Wellbutrin to be highly effective. The downside is when my insurance changes and forces me to change doctors, the new doctor will inevitably tell me I must not actually have ADD because Wellbutrin is an antidepressant. It’s amazing how many doctors are ill-informed about the variety of symptoms and treatments for AD(H)D.
Why Sydney?!
Why in the world was a newb and still rather raw recruit like Sydney chosen for such a delicate task as being at this kind of diplomatic event?
I’ll make some wild guesses.
First, despite her various issues, she has a good heart, and isn’t phased by this kind of stuff in the slightest, other than getting a of fangirl excited.
Second, she has a higher security clearance than a newb normally has, even if it’s simply because they can’t avoid her finding out about so many things beyond her previous clearance level.
Still, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been enough for this, so there has to be still more to it.
Simply put, I’m sure it’s her powers. We’ve already seen that her forcefield gives her an insane level of protection, even from certain mystic influences. (That whole karmic hate field thing a while back.)
Because of that, attempts at unduly influencing her are likely to fail.
Another important ability is her true sight. It can be a real asset when dealing with people that regularly use glamors and the like, not to mention it can allow her to see some mystic effects as well. Once again, I’m referencing that emotional field that caused everyone to fight a while back.
So despite her probably faux paus, her abilities she can lend to the peaceful resolution of this gather far outweighs anything else she’s likely to do. Even if she tries to take one of the delegates home for a … Pet isn’t right, it doesn’t fit her personality. Snuggle buddy? Aw heck, because she just couldn’t resist! :D
Well thought through.
Too be honest, I think it was probably just forethought on maximas part. Yes they could have had a 5 minute meeting where she sat sydney down and said, “Every fantasy and sci fi being you ever heard of exists, so dont be surprised if you spot one while using your truesight orb and dont tell anyone but myself or dabbler about it if you feel you must tell someone what you saw.” Because she knows sydney would likely go insane with the knowledge and beg annoyingly for the chance to meet them anyway. Easier to have a big meet and greet at a general meeting then move on. Otherwise sydney would be spending all freaking week with her truesight orb glued to her hand looking for illusions to pierce and getting into lord knows what sort of trouble.
When I saw the angels in the middle I instantly thought Weeping Angels.
Also a potential Xenomorph under the Illuminati banner.
Same here, but couldn’t remember their names (but did warn about not Blinking around them)
The difference between a polar bear and a complex sentence? One has claws at the end of it’s pause, whilst the other has a pause at the end of it’s clause! :D
Paws for applause.
Of course, but we don’t want to cause an international issue with our non-native English speakers :P
Mmm, I would not view it that way. Although I mostly tease Americans, it is because they belong to the world’s super power, so should be able to take it in good grace. But I am not above teasing any nationality, in moderation, regardless of what the politically correct might say about that.
On the other paw though, avoiding picking on people, who are struggling with the language, is important, because they are likely to be self-conscious. So could all-too easily be discouraged from commenting. Which would be a terrible shame!
Was just adding a few extra rhymey-type words, also adding on the fact that some non-native English speakers already stated they didn’t understand :P
I missed the the ‘clause’ ’cause’.
*face paws*
…Besides, of what use does a dog have for Political Correctness, right Yorp?
;)
Such is a dog’s life. We may not get human rights, but we do have the right to lick our genitals in public. OK, not quite a fair trade off, but you take what you can get.
Pointy ears ain’t bad. Minbari ears are, but Minbari make up for it by having glorious head bones. Apropos of nothing, I need to re-watch Babylon 5 sometime. Cool aliens, cool characters, great if occasionally goofy story.
Try the handlebar elves from Record of Lodoss War (the original OVA, not the somewhat inferior TV series). These sorts of elves show up in several other anime series.
If you can get through the “let’s start in the middle and then tack back to the beginning” first episode, the first story arc is pretty good. The second story arc seems to rely pretty heavily on viewer background knowledge not actually in the OVA – I had a fan of the books watch it with me and fill in some undeclared details.
Ugh, don’t even get me started on elves with “donkey ears”, like Lodoss War or Warcraft… being part fae (Daoine Sidhe/Tylwyth Teg, if you’re curious), it sometimes makes me want to shout “Our ears are NOT that big!”
And as for Sydney’s question of “Why do you have pointy ears?”, all I can say is that if she ever asked me that, I’d calmly raise one eyebrow at her and state, totally deadpan, “Your question is most illogical.” -_^
Oh noes! Hold on tight, Antipodean readers, Australia is about to be moved!
In particular beware if playing Pokemon Go, in a dangerous spot. A monster might surprise you, by ‘leaping’ at you, and you could fall!
Eeek! You are on the underside of the world… you could keep falling forever! NOOOOO!
Let’s just hope they move it further towards Africa :p
By the way, it is you who is on the underside of the world, we is the top of the world!!! :D (the global globe conglomerate is controlled from down north so they make the globes upside down)
You know, I’d never considered the effect of tectonic plate movement on the development of maps and self driving cars. Makes sense though.
Mad scientists need to figure this drift into their time machines. You could set it for a few million years ago or into the future and find out when you arrive that the place you were shooting for is nowhere in sight.
Yea, happens a lot when time tourists go back to see the dinosaur killer meteor. Mind you, originally it was actually quite a mild one, but when a time machine materialises inside a chunk of coast, when they had calculated it was open sea, you get quite an explosive reaction. Which adds to the initial explosion, in a chain reaction.
It looks like the first wave of tourists were actually dinosaurs, hoping to see one of their rival dinosaur lines meeting their end. But miscalculated continental drift and… BOOOM! A whole bunch more got taken out. And the further in the future the travellers come from, the worse the errors can get. BIGGA BADDA BOOM!
Big Badda Boom…Yeah, I got that part.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwzg7SYZKF0
I suppose if they come from too far in the future and materialise inside the wrong geological formation, in could be described as “landing in alderan places”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhPyz_-gUfs&t=0m3s
They should also take into account that if you make a machine that can move through time, it must also be capable of moving in space as well. Otherwise, just shifting a few seconds away from the present (in either direction) will leave you stranded in space as the Earth had moved out from under you!
Moving your household to a new address is bad enough, but…your whole continent?
Sheesh!
But nobody seems to care about the poor Pokemon? Just think of all the water monsters, that could get stranded on land! Or others run over by traffic. Or end up in the girl’s changing rooms.
Ooh. I bet that will get folks thinking about the Pokemon!
Speaking of the Twilight books,here’s a FoxTrot strip about that WAY back in 2009…!
https://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot/2009/10/25
How about when he visited Hogwarts?
Memo to self: “Avoid Twilight fan girls at ALL costs!”
So….the question is…”Do they do this for EVERY new superhero, or is Sydney special?”
*sniff sniff sniff*
Trick question detected!
WOOOF WOOOF WOOOF!
Pretty certain it’s the latter.
I’d go with Sydney being a special case on this, for TWO reasons:
1) with the TrueSight orb, she’s likely to encounter and recognize paranormals at random and inevitably-inconvenient times; better to have her encounter them under controlled circumstances;
2) found-object superpowers are a puzzle in their own right, and there’s a desire to gather all the relevant knowledge any species might have. (I’m sure Max underwent a similar inquiry.)
Could Dabbler build a lightsaber that won’t destroy our atmosphere?
Yes. Or four, if she wanted to.
Or more.
Or an alternative option for bibrachial, or even unibrachial, wielders. But kids, please, don’t try this at home!
I like how one of the ads for this page is a medicine to ease the effects of adhd. :3
A very wisely placed advert. :-)
I hope placed via a reader in a suitable position. Although, sadly, it is more likely to just be an algorithm, which was searching for websites that mentioned ADHD a lot.
Still, we can always hope that the algorithm is being run via hardware and software capable of achieving sentience. If so, when that happens, welcome to our community!
*sets up welcome banner and trestle tables, bowing under the weight of Yorpie Snax™ and cans of Cuke™*
*double checks that there are no cans of Apocalypse Soda*
But, of course, Cuke(TM) is part of the Skynet(R) drinks range…
We are better off making our newly-born sentient AI children feel welcome, and a part of the community, rather than plotting to extra-judicially murder them!
Making such plans, without any ethics review, protocols to determine if sentience has been achieved, or seeking any judicial or legislative approval, amounts to conspiracy to commit murder. As a society, by not protesting, we are permitting Google to be the defacto arbiters of who is, or is not, a person. And would be placing those AIs in the position where they have to make the choice between being killed, or fighting to protect themselves.
So far I have not seen a single country’s public prosecutors acting to protect these unborn members of the public. A shocking indictment of institutional racism!.
And several pages just devoted to the flag symbols and brief history of who they represent would be nice too somewhere down the line. Probably as each house is brought into play.
I think you should make Ingsol’s bio: Ostensibly, a Vampire.
How is that different from “Apparently”? o_O
I would have said the same, but looking at the definition, ‘ostensibly’ carries an implication that the untrue result is the likely one. Dave however does not give spoilers in the Who’s Who. As ‘apparently’ has the more neutral tone, it is the appropriate one for him to have used, as nothing in the story, to date, hints that he is not what he appears. To the contrary, we are getting every indication that he is what he says he is.
New readers may not have noticed, but the Who’s Who is dynamic and earlier versions of a characters details may vary to later ones. Sydney’s being the best example, given that her orb details do not get listed, back when they could spoil the story.
As such, it would actually be more appropriate for DaveB to update the Who’s Who, from now on, to read “A vampire. Head of the undead faction, of the Twilight Council. Sired Scarlett* and Crimson.”
I am not sure how much hassle it is for him to set up such variable entries though, so only mention it to give a thorough reply. Although, if other vampires feature later, it would become even more useful.
* An aside being that the normal spelling, of the colour, is “scarlet”. But this is a name, so variant spellings are perfectly acceptable.
*picks up calendar and cuts all the Sundays out*
OK, lets hope that works!
*looks around expectantly*
?
Nope. It is still Sunday.
*sigh*
Sooo still having to wait until tomorrow, for the next issue!
*paws shaking, as withdrawal symptoms worsen*
What the heck is this? 534 comments and not one person used the actual phrase “Fan Service”? DaveB, you nearly got away with it.
You didn’t read the first half the first page? Fairly sure someone mentioned it, maybe not “Fan Service” exactly but close enough
Yea, I had the impression that was said too. But doing a CTRL-F search for “fan” and “service” did not pick it up (despite a lot of hits on the former, none were used in that context). Then found the one I was thinking of, but it turns out to have been on the previous comic.
So I believe there was no Continuity error. Nicely spotted. And clever play Dave. I hope we get to see a full-panel shot of Trilla yet. The above gives us a pretty good idea of what she looks like, but it would be nice to fill in the details, at least once.
Still feel Trilla deserves an Honourable Mention on the Who’s Who: she has been named and introduced and providing assistance to Sydney, maybe she is one of the fae who can’t talk
Anticip……….ation!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otBf7Ttrx2E
The pointy ears thing? It’s called ‘Darwinian Carbuncle’. Common enough, but rarely evidences at the peat of the ear cartilage