Grrl Power #490 – Team Lilliput
Dabbler is setting up her hotbar if you couldn’t tell. Her life is like one of those games where you wind up with waaaay too much inventory and you have to keep going back to your stash to swap your “Carpet Bomb” rocket launcher for the Lightning Orb wand with 15% chance to stun, cause the launcher is great against mobs, but you need something that’s going to slow down the elites. Such a hassle.
So The Council has a bunch of priorities all of a sudden. Protect the remaining Sigils being number one, but once they’re secured, figure out who’s attacking them and put a stop to it. Archon is there and willing to help, given the ramifications of what would happen if the Veil fell. Maxima is just having some understandable and reasonable separation anxiety. But Ingsol is right, bunching up your big hitters is tactically not the best strategy, especially since time seems to be a factor. Obviously however Max feels that Pixel can look after Sydney.
Archon’s chain of command is probably pretty odd, given that it is like a little slice of the SEALs, the FBI and probably the NSA, CIA, DARPA, and the BPRD all bundled together into a single agency. Under normal circumstances, each branch has its own discrete hierarchy, but agents get shared around all the time. Dabbler consults with Arc-LIGHT when she’s not tinkering with the Arc-SPARQ guys. Of course the SPARQs appreciate anyone with super strength helping them carry around engine blocks, or even whole vehicles.
Zephan, who is the head of Arc-LIGHT is there at the Council meeting, I just haven’t drawn him since basically the first page. Presumably he’s in the back consulting with Gault or rallying other LIGHTs, and gave his blessing seconding Pixel to Maxima for now.
Check out Wearing the Cape: Team-Ups & Crossovers. Sydney’s first Crossover! I’ve made a dedicated blog post for it, please comment there.
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If that was a factory that made food products and they had a dirt path leading up to the main door I would like to retroactively file a complaint with the local health department.
Looks kinda like it’s been left alone for a while. What’s the word, abbadon? Either way, places like that can be fun…till something comes crashing down on you :(. Took a while to get out… :(
abandon, you may be confusing it with Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here, a quote associated with the gates of Hades, Hell, Hel, Abaddon, Sheol, the underworld, the place where the unvalorous/sinful/unsaved/naughty ppl go when they die, Abaddon the Destroyer is the name of an angel in Hebrew lore and Abaddon is also a place where naughty Jews go, kinda like Hel is both the name of the ancient Norse goddess of the unvalourous dead’s final destination and also the name of the destination itself, it led to the phrase “go to Hel” meaning go to the goddess and also her realm
Yes, the goddess Hel is ruler of the place Hel.
So, is the goddess Hecate the ruler of [i]Heck[/i] ?
^_^
No, that’s Phil, Prince of Insufficient Light.
i wasn’t joking, Hel does rule Hel, kinda like Hades rules Hades, and no Hecate is the goddess of magic not a realm, magic is too transient to reasonably be considered a realm (assuming all of this exists and isn’t just leftovers from the Iron Age) and if you were joking sorry i’m tired and when i’m tired my sense of humor tends to malfunction
In my case I was giving the Dilbert universe answer.
Abandon hope all ye who enter here is also how I greet my fellow retail workers in December It’s a scary time *shiver*
That could have simply been a warehouse, not a manufacturing plant
Or it avoid the need to comply with any food-safety regulations, due to being an armaments manufacturer, by the name of “Wars”.
Either way, it could still be a warehouse
Well, you called it right.
*wags tail happily, in a confirmatory manner*
Look Max is now a twilight vampire.
What, Max is a TWILIGHT Vampire now? I think we may have to use special……methods…to deal with that…
I mean, Twilight? Erase it’s existence…
GLAMOUR BOMB!
I love that Dabbler has a tools wheel. XD
We represent the Lilliput Guild,
The Lilliput Guild,
The Lilliput Guild
And in the name of the Lilliput Guild,
We wish to welcome you to Muchkinland.
We welcome you to Munchkinland, Tra la la la la la la
EH? Is this a Human thing? I heard Daniel the Human chuckling…
Lollipop Guild.
Lilliput, as in the tiny Lilliputians from Gulliver’s tale, kinda works as a double reference.
To be fair they do look a bit like lolis. Some more than others.
If we lick them, do they pop? >_>
“Mr. Turtle, how many licks does it take… “
Is that Soldier 76’s Heavy Pulse Rifle in Dabbler’s inventory? I’ve taken to looking for Easter Eggs whenever you show weapons on screen
I think I can see Han Solo’s Blaster in the bottom-right there too.
Don’t forget the phaser just above solo’s blaster. Dang Dabbler is a crossover multi dimensional thief stealing from everywhere. I’ll bet most of her weapons are an egg from somewhere
Pretty sure that’s Deckerd’s pistol from Blade Runner next to her lower right elbow.
I think all but the ‘staff’ that goes behind the word bubble I have personally seen before. The only ones I know specifically are the same ones already listed; Star Trek: TOS phaser pistol, solo’s blaster pistol, 76’s Pulse Rifle.
That’s the Staff of Magnus from Skyrim.
pretty sure I can see the doom slayer’s/marine’s plasma rifle, well half of it, on the left side of the panel.
Half-life gravity gun/physics gun in the top left.
Its not the Doom Marines plasma Rifle behind the speech bubble. Its a long rifle as its muzzle peeks out to the right of the bubble. It could be Widowmakers rifle from Overwatch. It does look familiar, though but not from Overwatch……
The big gun at the top is either an Impaler from StarCraft or Soldier 76’s pulse rifle.
Gun next to dabblers arm is Deckards gun from Blade Runner.
The two guns next to that are Han’s blaster pistol and either the Cricket from Men in Black or a Phaser from Star Trek.
More specifically, it is a ‘phaser type-2’ from the first Trek series. It combines the smaller less powerful type-1 with a bigger battery and better aiming mechanism.
https://fsd.trekships.org/operations/images/phaser_type2-1.gif
Well you missed the one in the first panel. Hang on, no, that is a chocolate bar, not an Easter Egg.
I just wonder if anyone was brave (dumb) enough to snap a picture of shiny, glamorous, eye shadow wearing Max?
I’m sure Dabbler’s cybernetic eye has that angle covered ;P
Covered from many angles I think.
A) Shiny Maxima
B) Dirty Maxima
C) Vanilla Maxima
VOTE NOW…
Sailor Moon style transformation spin with all three?
Note: I have not watched Sailor Moon, just seen the transformation thing a few times.
Sailor Gold. She is fighting evil with Arc-LIGHT..
I vote sailor-moon maxima too.
D) Scary Maxima
B) and D). Scary dirty Maxima.
Z) All of the above.
DD) Pinup Maxima
DD?
Hmmm…Yeah, I think that sounds like Max’s cup size…
*ducks under the thrown Mack Truck that was suddenly thrown*
What tha-*gets hit by the flying semi*
And then Yorp begins licking up the puddle that used to be Adamas.
*runs away laughing*
I wonder why Maxima doesn’t ask the mages to give her human makeup to make her look more human like when she tried when she was younger? Granted Dabbler’s spell my make her look like a trollop but the other ARC-light people should probably be able to do the same spell.
We’ve only seen one other ARC-Light person capable of any actual spells, and she’s fairly basic level.
Maybe Krona can do it. It’s probably an easy set of variables.
Yes, but Krona has a “sense of humor”…
Assuming that this spell’s makeup effects last longer than the mere minutes of normal makeup.
She doesn’t need makeup, unless you mean blush and eye-liner and -shadow, remember: her lips and (un)naturally that colour
Arc-Dark were the ones to provide the disguises for the bank robbery P.R. stunt. It was a one-use patch that was applied to the skin. No data was provided on if it had a limited time span or lasted until removed.
This may be modified to work with Max, but my guess is that DaveB would make up something about her skin being incompatible so that 1) her character would still have to deal with disadvantages to balance out her powers, and 2) he would not have to learn to draw her in multiple ways.
I think Max has far outgrown those past insecurities and at this point would rather not hide who she is. At least, not for simple vanity, if she needed to go undercover or something, then sure. Though there are other members far better suited for that.
Especially given the stunt she pulled at the press conference with the big baboom, She has set herself up as the equivalent of the Nuclear Deterrent for supers. It would kind of undermine the whole point of that if she then vanished. She needs to be seen to be effective, to be a constant presence in peoples minds. Personally I think its why she puts up with Arianna, As the face of ARC she has made herself the Big Stick in the minds of everyone. If she vanished that might undermine her as having vanished or fled.
In panel 5 shouldn’t it be Pixel you’re with Sidney?
No. Sydney takes orders from Maxima, and “Sydney, you’re” means that it is Sydney to whom Maxima is giving an order. Pixel is not directly under Maxima’s command, so while Maxima can order Sydney to do something with or to Pixel, Maxima can not order Pixel to do something with or to Sydney.
(Now imagine Dabbler giving the above answer, and how she would pronounce and emote “with or to”.)
But first and last panel indicate that she was not there.
How so? She’s asking “don’t we need a warrant?” and instead of something like “who put you in charge?”
panel 1 and the last are “current time” (yeah, yeah, i KNOW this whole comic is a flashback… you get what i mean…) whereas panel’s 2 thru 6 are actually Pixel’s flashback a while earlier to when Maxima gave Sydney the order to go with Pixel, and Sydney is just off-camera… so you are correct that in panels 1 and 7, Maxima is NOT there at the location where Sydney asks Pixel about the warrant.
+1
(*Bleep*ing lack of “edit” function!!)
This/That was supposed to be a response to Todd Knight
(January 5, 2017 at 2:42 pm)
Dabbler’s back/shoulders looked weird at first but I was happy you had a front pic of her as well so I could double check if it looked right. It did. I never thought of how odd but right it would look. I thank you for that perspective.
Panel two gave me an earworm
Is it jus me, or did he sound like Tim Curry? o_O (and yes, know exactly who Clements is, that concorde flying, shadow doing, idiot)
Not nearly deep enough for Tim Curry.
True, but to me, there was still a similarity, was actually expecting him to go all “Nigel Thornberry” halfway through
come on everyone,vote grrl power,make it number 1.
YES! More Krona screen-time. Eeexxxcellent. Love me a good reality bender.
Is Pixel a him or her? I can’t tell.
Page #429 says her
Pixelicious is all her
I, for one, am very disappointed for no Dabbler/Halo teamup.
Because their last teamup went SO well. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/626
Slightly more recent… https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1579
I’m sure with this lot o’ commenters, it’s been said already (and honestly I don’t care) but…
That place is obviously not abandoned, or hasn’t been for all that long, the grass hasn’t even grown back over the wheel ruts (let alone inside them).
Appearance is important, and the little things can be faked magically. If there isn’t a reason to look closely, most people won’t, and partial construction provides an excuse for any fresh tracks…
Maxima cleans up as nicely as she dirties up.
Now it is time for Sydney to start using her telepresence orb in an actual mission. It still does have to mirror her actions, but she can do the following:
1) stand a few dozen feet off to the side of the building (or a few hundred if it has the range)
2) Send out the mini-orb to materialize her double next to the building
3) Walk forward to send her double through the wall to get a peek of what is inside
4) If she needs to see upstairs, engage the flight orb to send her up through the floor
Since she can float through objects at will, I am naming this maneuver ‘Ghost Recon’.
As far as I can tell, generating a doppelganger is optional….
Figured that was standard when using the Farsight: the only times we have seen it in action, she has produced her double
Actually, three times that I can think of.
“you can see through virtually no disguises” (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/671)
“Some kind of aggro aura” (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1564)
“like batman’s detective mode” (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2294)
The handheld abilities include seeing through illusions, seeing invisible objects, and detecting magic.
The telepresence function seems to need the existence of the secondary body to relay the sensory information back to the original. Sight:Yes. Hearing:Yes. Touch:No. Smell: (unknown)
It is basically the inverse of VR. It is a virtual person in actual reality.
No, those are not the use of the Farsight (or telepresence as O.B. Juan corrected)
Badgers and Enter the Kevin
And people got irate over the Patriot Act. Archon and The Council are acting with carte blanche. A warrant sounds pretty freakin’ important here.
Pixelicious never said they didn’t, and there are times when they don’t need a warrant, specially if this is Council property ie: they have the permission of the owner to be there
Not to mention we have no ideas what senses Pixel has, nor what the law is on looking through walls with X ray vision falls in regards to rulings on ‘in plain sight’.
unless the x-ray vision is the person’s natural default vision, it wouldn’t count as ‘plain sight’
I know there was a big debate a while back over whether IR in public areas counted as “in plain sight” but I can’t remember the conclusion(s) they came to (if any).
Warrants are unnecessary if a case can be made for probable cause.
And for that, they need to quietly poke around, anything found before the warrant is inadmissible (but that’s possibly why Bodie is there, kinda like when Abby was in Sydney’s store relaying information back and forth, but in this case, one of her will be standing near a Judges bed waiting for the time to be correct, and once she wakes the Judge up {and calms them down} and has the signed warrant she can *VORP* directly to herself on site)
Wow; clear out the sparkles (I feel like Ingsol missed an opportunity for a fun joke) and you drew Max gorgeously in panel 2.
As the Archon members were dressed in civilian clothes, under the pretext of going to the restaurant, it is OK that Pixel was wearing flip-flops/sandals.* I hope though that she has replaced them with something more practical, for this mission. Trouble is, I cannot make out what footwear, if any, she has above.
Bare feet would be preferable to either variety mind, if needing to run. Whilst flip-flops can be kicked off, in an unexpected emergency,** it is better to have sturdy footwear, if anticipating mud, sharp stones, or the hazards posed in an abandoned factory, or even a battlefield environment.
All that said though, given that I habitually wear those (of the medically safer variety), I do otherwise thoroughly approve of Pixel’s lifestyle choice. Plus if her feet are toughened from being barefoot, most of the time, then several of the issues become less of a problem.
* Mind you I would advise her to change to the type without the strap going down between the toes. That variety poses both a risk of malformation of the foot, if worn for prolonged periods, and can harbour disease. I recall medical advice, specifically on that issue, being issued based on both those grounds.
** As I can testify from a few years back, when a 200-300 lb hairy boar-like pig, which turned out to be behind a bush, that my Jack Russell was investigating. Given that I know that pigs like that can be used in dog-fighting locally (one-on-one easily killing the dogs), I gave Buffy the command to flee, had the flip-flops off and we both pelted out of the area! Fortunately the pig having to round the bush gave us the necessary moments to get a head start. But I could have done without the delay of needing to remove the paw-wear.
Depends on if she needs footwear of any kind
*it depends on the users personal hygiene regimen and duration of usage; remember, orange Fanta (can anyone else remember the days when ‘Fanta’ simply meant ‘orange-ade’ as opposed to ‘cola’ or ‘lemonade’?) can cause your skin to turn orange… if you drink nothing but Fanta for two or three years!
carrots can also turn you orange, and with far less time.
also, if you have a budgie/canary, you can change it’s colour by feeding it different foods (purple grapes, blueberries, strawberries, lemons, limes) your pet bird could become your favourite colour, up to a point
You can thank the Dutch for the carrots (and looking like an Oompa-Trumpa :P)
And if you eat too much beetroot it colours your urine red…
Do we really want to know what “ASHUYAEH” means, in English?
Yes. Yes we do. :D
You mention a minigame at the bottom, where is it, I want the mini game!!!!!
It is in Dabbler. To access it, you have to unlock the following achievements:
Toy Boy
Mostly Harmless
Button Pusher
Somehow I missed this page, so the next page felt a little abrupt… Glad I went back. XD
…I’m not the only one who wants to see the “diversified guidance” of Dabbler with Sydney, right? >.>
Just realised something: was Inggie attempting to poach Sydney for Team Council?
Possibly. Ingsol could have been politically active when Machiavelli was around. But, even if not, he has been around long enough to make a ploy which keeps his options open. Pooling of resources today, and a bit of subtle grooming tomorrow. Which Maxima may have seen through.
Although, of course, any deep politics can be read in an innocent way. That is part of the art of diplomacy.
I don’t think it was an outright grab for her though.