Grrl Power #577 – The other side of the one-way glass
Max probably could have forbidden Dabbler from being part of this questionable interrogation, but I guess she’s playing nice with either The Council or some sort of succubus etiquette. Like, when there’s some distasteful sexual task and there’s more than one succubus vying for the job, because let’s face it, “distasteful” is an entirely subjective value. Anyway, succubi have a number of methods for sorting out disagreements like that. Most of them are “distasteful.” The succubi version of Rock, Paper, Scissors (Lizard, Spock) is not played with just the hands. If you get my meaning.
Succubi Eeny Meeny Miny Moe would get you arrested in most places outside of Amsterdam or Mos Eisley, and Duck Duck Goose, well, that’s about like you might imagine. But in this case, Max put her foot down on that at least and insisted on a coin toss.
(Of course the real reason Dabbler’s doing it is because Decolette doesn’t have the dichromatic tell, which I wanted to include on the previous page. Everything else is me just trying to rationalize that decision within the canon.)
BTW, they are still in the vault. The peculiarity of having an interrogation style room in there will be addressed.
Edit: Added Decolette’s glasses and a missing earring.
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Puddles can be deceptive however.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-5Av7SFHQQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqqYbWuoVXI
That second video always makes me laugh.
The first one wasn’t ‘camouflaged’ , most of the people ‘caught’ simply weren’t paying attention
The second one was fake: the guy jumping knew it was deep because he clutched his pants, people jumping into a ‘normal’ shallow puddle tend to keep their arms up, people jumping into a hole or a deep pool of water tend to have their arms tucked close to their body
Would you kindly explain why does it make the video fake?
Umm, because they make it seem like he thought it was a normal shallow puddle, not a water-filled hole, either that or the cameraman is an easily-amused idiot
Love the Admiral Ackbar Honey T-shirt that is both mocking and a play on his accusation earlier…
I lost it. Congrats. The scientist asking if the man with a C+ in P.E. made me laugh myself to tears. The face-palm from Maxima was just sprinkles on the sundae. Oh man.
Part of my sentence went poof. “The scientist asking – – – C+ in P.E. if HE’S the scientist – – -” Sorry about that.
Lesson from Maxima: “Never degrade yourself for a man.”
Lesson from Dabbler: “Men are gullible if you degrade yourself enough.”
Combat from Maxima: “I will pound you into a pulp.”
Combat from Dabbler: “I will talk you into pounding yourself into a pulp.”
Maxima with unwitting involved civilian who knows too much: “We should handle this in a politically responsible manner, bring him up to speed where neccesarry, and respect his rights while ensuring his safety. Likely we’ll have him sign an NDA.”
Dabbler with unwitting involved civilian who knows too much: “I’m gonna wiggle my butt in his face, act like a ditz, and use him as a living energy slurpee.”
Maxima’s Player at Character Generation: “I will make a Paragon Hero who will literally be a shining example of Justice with high military rank with a strong moral compass.”
Dabbler’s Player at Character Generation: “A half-succubus; half-human; half-alien with FOUR arms that can do magic AND tech, is an 11 out of 10, and woos all the boys into giving her what she wants.”
Maxima at the D&D table, “I’m going to play a Lawful Good Paladin of Palor.”
Dabbler at the D&D table, “I’m going to play a Chaotic Neutral rogue/bard who allies with Loki but only until she can get the upper hand.”
The hate between these two is strong at all levels, and it’s glorious.
This is actually:
Dabbler with unwitting involved civilian who knows too much: “Fortunately, I have a Mallet of Amnesia (pat pending).”
The fact is, it is now canon that she will use both methods (likely she mixes it up so she doesn’t get bored of one in particular.)
Dabbler is the classic stereotypical BARD that can do everything but is master of none EXCEPT putting that crazy high charisma to use. I am thinking that if she had a dump stat that it was Wisdom, how else would you explain the need to prosthetics in the first place?
absent-minded professor, lots of intelligence, low wisdom; she does have the wisdom to have implanted auto-teleport gadgets into her alien-tech gadgets tho
At first I thought, “Why have a popcorn machine in/at the vault?” Then I realized, because they have an interrogation room there.
It does bother me how shallow and stereotypical Maxima’s feminism is. As if she can’t fathom turning a dickhead’s predjudices against him. Like the Black Widow cracking Loki on the Avengers. (+10 points to Loki for using “quim” to get past the censors.)
Well, just as with some men, some women are just that shallow too. Just because she’s a ‘strong woman’ doesn’t mean that her beliefs and opinions have depth. In fact, based on what we’ve seen of her so far, much of her so called feminism seems to be of the ‘all men are walking bags of dicks, and all my reactions to them/*literally ANYTHING sexualized* is to act 180 degrees the opposite of how a *stereotypical* ‘Man’ would react’.
That’s pretty much the definition of ‘shallow and stereotypical feminism’. It’s fairly typical of how feminism is treated in most media (and, sadly, by many people, of *both* genders IRL), and, when you consider some of the other webcomics Dave likes (I could write whole research papers on the ridiculousness that is Gyno-Star…and dont get me started on the fan base) it’s not entirely surprising.
Dont get me wrong, I LOVE Max, and other parts of her character are awesome. But that particular aspect has always grated, specifically because of how on the nose it is.
To be fair, Maxima is the one leaning more in the direction of treating Coot like he has more depth to him and not thinking the idea was a good one.
How would you suggest writing a character similar to Maxima? Or what advice do you have for budding authors?
To be fair, I think Maxima has a few issues of her own. Not just knee-jerk feminism but possibly body-issues and an attitude. Consider that per standard superheroine package, she got an amazing muscle-to-fat-except-in-specific-regions ratio. That likely elicited a certain kind of attention, especially among male-majority military.
I actually like that she has such a flaw from a character perspective, It’s pretty consistent, it has a logical genesis. and is quite important to keep an incredibly overpowered character from becoming a “Mary Sue” type. I also think that the entirety of sexual/relationship interactions on this Webcomic are turned up into the ridiculous, so she fits right in.
Also, the comic so far has been pretty neutral on her views. It’s all very “this is how she is” rather than “this is how it should be” or “this is the right way”.
In fact, I see potential in this: how about her confronting a villain whose entire shtick is anti-sexual? A Borg-like, relentless cyborg group who’s all “the human body is obscene. Sexual reproduction is obscene. Both must be replaced with machines”?
It’s not that she can’t fathom, it’s just that to her it seems so overdone he HAS to catch on. Definitely seems like that to me. Also, to her this probably is bringing up flashbacks of the worst examples of women-written-by-men in media, and those are not happy memories. Just because it’s a woman doing it this time for her own purposes doesn’t mean she doesn’t still have the involuntary-by-this-point reaction of being grossed out.
I love that Coot is staring right at the tip-off that this is a “honey trap” and just doesn’t see it.
Also, are the succubus choosing games “distasteful” or just tasteless? Because, y’know, distasteful means people don’t want to do them; tasteless means they do, but won’t admit it.
You’d need to be familiar enough with the internet to know the significance of Admiral Ackbar to get the symbolism, and Coot doesn’t strike me as the type.
It *is* a bit reckless of her to put a big clue where she expects him to be looking, but I guess it’s a calculated risk because he’s not interested in her shirt so much as what’s underneath it.
So, when Maxima does a face-palm should it go “whap” or “clank’?
She has complete control over her personal shields and the gold is colouring and not actual metal.
I like the way you drew Maxima’s face in this strip. Maybe it’s not as chiselled as it used to be, but it looks less rounded and softened than it was a few weeks back.
I’ve been playing with new ways of coloring, and the hard reflection on her cheekbone didn’t always read like a reflection I think. It probably looked like she had a razor sharp cheekbone to some. I like this look better, but I think she’s lost some of her shininess.
About that shininess,will she ever be able to doc manhattan it or has she never even thought to try?
Nothin’ like a good, old-fashioned stereotype as long as you hang a lantern on it, huh?
Max is SO disgusted in Panel 6… that she can’t look away.
Also, it seems like ‘Taunt the Prude’ is a universal succubus game.
Yeah, they can smell them from the next county, like a unicorn can sniff out a virgin :D
More the complete lack of smell..
When everything around you is has mountains of delicious savour adn sweets smells, when you come across water it stabds out for not smelling.. :p
Guesticus, i can assure you that King Richard is not a virgin. He has had many and lots of lovers! Just ask Tad Cooper!
Who? o_O
I take it you have not seen Galavant
Actually, I think it makes perfect sense to have an interrogation facility in the vault. After all, the vault is (supposed to be) secure, right? So why not kill two birds with one stone and have another secure facility in a place where the security measures for the vault can provide protection for the interrogation facility as well instead of having to secure two separate locations?
Of course, now that the vault has turned out to be less secure than first thought, it might mean some re-thinking of the merits of having the interrogation facility there as well.
And I agree with what some others have said – while Max may recognise that Dabbler’s technique is certainly and effective one, that doesn’t mean that she has to like it.
I’m assuming that not all of the traps in the vault are instantly fatal and it’s handy to have somewhere to interrogate would-be thieves that doesn’t involve transporting them to some arbitrarily distant locale and have them either escape or die before being questioned about their motives and methods.
They definitely do not have a problem with seeping death-energy into the vicinity, nope.
There is that, but I suspect that might have been handled off-screen (or off-panel). Also, I’d say that the interrogation facility isn’t in the actual vault itself but somewhere in the same facility.
Alternatively, since this is a place to store dangerous artifacts that the owners consider too dangerous for even themselves to own and that must never see the light of day, it stands to reason that they have prison facilities that in the same manner hold individuals that are too dangerous and must never be found again while there still is matter in the multiverse…and Guatanamo is not secret enough.
So I assume she doesn’t say “thientitht” for the sake of legibility? Because it totally should be “thientitht”.
Yup.
Well, there goes my head-canon that she was just struggling to stay in character because it was so hard for her to keep from bursting out laughing.
Well I just heard Daffy Duck…Thienititht. Drowning in all the spittle
You know, honestly I think this might be Dabblers most efficient way of torturing Maxima
Well.. to all the people commenting on how strange it is that Coot cant spot a clue when he stare it right in the face, then i would like to mention a few important details.
A) If he has not seen the original Star Wars trillogy then he is unlikely to recognise Admiral Akbars face.
B) Unless he is a part of internet culture then he wont know that Admiral Akbar is part of a trap meme.
In conclusion, he likely dont have the knowdlede to connect Admiral Hunny with anything of importance. He might think its a science fiction Winnie the Pooh, or something like that.
OR, he could just be so enamored with the “impressive visage” in front of him that all of the (minimal) blood that would normally be in his head allowing him to…….”think”…… (for lack of a better word) happens to be elsewhere, at the time.
Also he seems to be a moron to the enth degree which one could say makes him to dumb to think of it as a a clue or just intelligent enough that he thinks that would be to easy.
In reply to panel four :D
This would be less believable if I hadn’t recently come across the story of Jeannie Rousseau, a WWII spy whose most notable accomplishment was finding out the location of the German V2 factory by getting German officers to brag about their mighty superweapon. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/world/europe/jeannie-rousseau-de-clarens-dead-french-spy-in-world-war-ii.html
“‘I teased them, taunted them, looked at them wide-eyed, insisted that they must be mad when they spoke of the astounding new weapon that flew over vast distances, much faster than any airplane,’ she told The Washington Post in 1998. ‘I kept saying, ‘What you are telling me cannot be true!’ I must have said that 100 times.’
One officer, eager to convince her, let her look at drawings of the rockets.”
Ahhh poor Maxima, the succubus has her number all right. The facepalm says it all. Really enjoying the humor on this page, the scientist bit was the best joke of all though!
This leads me to wonder if Succubi can find “Taste” variance among their “Donators” for lack of a better word. Because I’m sort of reacting like Sydney here. Blaaaaargh!
Dabbler will definitely want to wash out her, uh, mouth, after this. Possibly with a freshly oiled Luchador, or maybe a black, white and purple spit roast.
It does seem to infere that succubi can discern the personal tastes of their chosen victims/playmates.
Dabbler certainly can. We saw her recreating one of General Faulk’s fantasies about a green-skinned alien girl. Which his reaction spoke volumes about being spot on.
So, taking bets… will Coot becoming a re-occurring character after this arc?
100 quatloos that Coot ends up a super dead victim of either Wyrmil or a member of the Council (possibly Gunnie) by the end of this story arc (which may be years, with DaveB’s pacing :P :D)
Although he is an amusing personality, he seems specifically designed to be killed without regret. More to the point, he seems specifically designed to be annoying with overexposure.
Narratively, the Council cannot let him go blab to any other monster hunters and they need a very thorough understanding of how a normal human survived their traps (while still somehow painting the inside of the vault). From their perspective, they absolutely should hang onto him until they have all of his information, and then feed what’s left to whatever will eat it.
Whether ARCHON will look the other way on this is an interesting question. It is their onus to protect normal humans from the Council. Yet, this man was found robbing a secure Council facility, and is clearly within their jurisdiction. Which set of laws/ethics will win out?
Obviously, Maxima has the *power* to take Coot if she wants. But would it be worth it to “save” him (no doubt to have his mind wiped or sit in a cell forever) at the cost of Council good will?
Poor ole Coot put into a standard US commercially run prison would stand out like a lump of shale in a gravel pit. He would be just another delusional lifer taking up space and babbling on about monsters aliens and conspiracies. Better yet, put him in some northern facility with a majority of urban thugs and he would be avoided like sushi at a GWBjr BBQ..
On Maxima’s feminism:
It is extreme, not entirely rational, and sexist. These are all good things: I like her being a flawed character.
I was saying the same thing above, It has a logical beginning even if the logic could be said to be flawed as well, her reactions are pretty consistently the same and she calls out both genders for their ‘actions’ as she sees it. It makes for an incredibly interesting character
Fan Theory: Dabbler feeds off Maxima’s irritation.
I’ve wondered the same thing – indeed, as we see Decolette feeding that irritation as well, I’d expand the theory to state that ALL succubi gain something from irritating prudes. Perhaps it produces some sort of tantric after-effect. Not so much nutritious, as a ‘flavor’ that succubi enjoy.
In effect, feasting on Coot is like eating unflavored soy paste – nutritious, perhaps, but bland, and vaguely unsatisfying. Whereas Maxima’s irritation is like a ball of wasabi – no nutritional value, but a ZING of spicy flavor.
Succubi feed off of sexual energy. it is not impossible (in fact rather likely) that many forms of prudery in fact are related to sexual energy- being the inverse. Sex could be like the spicy meatball, and prudery is a lovely dollop of sour cream.
When a demon tells you that you are biased, you know that it is time to tweak your mindset.
I am back on my annual travels again, plus am busy trying to do my bit towards getting us a few steps closer to world peace. So I will not be able to do much more than pop my head in here, once in a while.
Please keep up the good work. Loving the art – that lighting is creating a great effect. In particular Decollete is looking the best I have seen her.
I will not be able to check all the comments, so may be duplicating someone else’s, but there is an interesting point about the observation window. Namely that on the interrogation room side it looks like a window to the outside. Given that (on the previous page) we can see the Sun in the sky and waves moving (when comparing the relevant panels).
This could be done with mundane technology (for instance broad stripes of TV pixels, with narrow glass gaps between). Which is a variant on a common mirror on one side window from the other technique I am very familiar with. It gives excellent visibility even with just narrow gaps.
Or, of course, magic could do it. Although illusionists are meant to be rare, so perhaps it is another kind of enchantment creating that effect (picture something like stage scenery made to look like moving waves for instance)?
No, that’s simply the non-static reflection in a mirror: the ‘sun’ is actually the light in the room, and what appears to be moving waves is simply the changing of the camera angle
“Men are always willing to believe two things about a woman: one, that she is weak, and two, that she finds him attractive.”
Meh, that is not what a great man thinks, when he looks behind him.
Have to say, having just recently seen What We Do In The Shadows,I’m loving Crimson’s shirt
I also like the parallel between Ingsol and Max here – they seem very much on the same wavelength. And yes, Dabbler could have interrogated him other ways. This is a two-fer to nuke Max too. You didn’t add the ‘boing’ effect, but I can just see her doing the little jump & jiggle move on that last panel as she says her line. :D
I’m glad that I had a look this morning on my computer. When I read this page on my phone it looked like “C+ in Pie” and I was wondering what that meant.
It is a way to travel faster than the speed of light, but only if you are going in a circle.
Dave, i think you have gone way overboard with your middle-class bias, and leftist virtue signaling.
Be careful. It killed countless Marvell comics. It will kill your comic too.
What the Hael are you talking about? o_O
I think that he’s referring to the fact that the one that they’re interrogating is pretty stereotypical.
It’s hard to say that he is based on one character.
Have you not noticed that one of the strongest characters is a hard-core capitalist, willing to kill a head of state to strengthen his power base? And he is portrayed sympathetically enough that he is well liked by the readership.
Maxima is the one with the leftist agenda. Yet it is over-strong and thereby portrayed as a character flaw.
Yes, Dave does have his political leanings. But he is doing a good job of keeping the comic varied.
I may be a little oblivious here, but I feel like I’m missing context. I know Halo is a little bit of a prude, but is there a specific reason she appears ready to hurl in the first panel? Is it the vampire lady’s comment, or is it at Dabbler’s behaviour?
You are not the only one wondering that
I suspect that it’s Crimson’s comment.
Definitely. Sydney will be someone who takes “literally” err literally. And it is an assessment being given by vampire, making it all too credible that she is not joking.
On top of which we must recall Sydney’s ADHD and vivid imagination. When Crimson described how she can ‘see his blood’ you can make a sure bet that Sydney was picturing that first hand. Making it unfortunate how the sentence ended. Firstly because it will brought up Sydney’s memory of having seen Cooter naked. And secondly because of therefore being able to even more vividly depict how he would die!
That, and aslo, Halo does have some hangups on body image and the idea of Dabbler, who is highly intelligent, has the skills to own several cross-discipline PhD’s in diverse fields of engineering AND radiates hawtness across more than twelve spatial and at least 8 mystical dimensions, getting physical with that vacuous slime of no social, intellectual nor aesthetical value is revolting.
And in this scene, I am Maxima
Also, Decolette is fantastic. I love the detail that she -lost- the coin toss.
When (i.e. in which comic specifically) was Decolette introduced? I can’t remember and can’t find it; and she’s not on the “cast” page (yet).
She was one of the council members that Sydney was introduced to in the chamber. She gave Sydney the magical headband.
Wait, Dabbler’s heterochromic?
I mean, um, of course I’ve been paying attention to her eyes. I know what color they usually are. They are. . .Nehuhurhuhum! *runs away*
Lol!
Wouw best contents, thank you admin.
ahahaha I can feel my IQ dropping watching this, send help