Grrl Power #619 – Numbers. Or, weird symbols mostly
Sydney looks really weird in panel 3 to me. Well, she looks like Xanax Sydney to me, or her own polar opposite sister, like Pinkie Pie and Maud. The expression I was going for was a semi-annoyed “why am I the one telling you to math?” But it looks a little more I caught her 1/4 into a blink or something. Sure, let’s go with that.
So I’m trying something a little different with the vote incentive this month. I want to get better at painting, and that includes composition, so I thought I would try my hand at a cover for a novel. This is for another Michael-Scott Earle (The Star Justice author) novel called Tamer: King of Dinosaurs. It’s basically the novelization of the game Ark: Survival Evolved, in that a guy gets snatched by aliens and put on a world full of dinos and other (alien) survivors, and is left to fend for himself. All the survivors have special abilities, and spoiler, the main character’s ability is to tame dinosaurs. Which in a world full of dinosaurs, is not too shabby. And being a Michael-Scott Earle book, wouldn’t you know it, he stumbles across a group of ladies who are barely scraping by on their own and teams up with them. Harem-larity ensues. It’s a surprisingly fun read, especially if you enjoy long sections of the novel detailing survival stuff like procuring clean water and how to build a fort without any metal tools. You may think I’m taking the piss out of the book, but I found it really entertaining.
ANYWAY. This week’s vote incentive is a cover for a not yet existent book 5 featuring one of the ladies from the book who sort of looks like a silver Maxima. She has low level super strength, so I thought I’d draw her cracking a dino on the head with something big. I should say this isn’t an official cover or anything, I’m just trying to get better at painting and composition. This is version 1, and the plan is that I’ll iterate it each week and improve it until it actually approaches being professional. I may not get there with this project, but each step should help me improve I hope.
Speaking of books, Wearing the Cape Book 7 is available for preorder! If you haven’t heard me go on about it before, Wearing the Cape is my favorite superhero novel series I’ve found, and that was even before Sydney and Co. made a guest appearance in Book 6.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like!
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
A missed opportunity in panel six: Dabbles could have added, in a soft voice, “Unless it’s in liquid form, 75 proof minimum” :D
Maybe, but does it beat nuking the forest from orbit? (I’ve heard that’s a sure thing.)
Sydney has plenty of experience doing that from a lot more close up.
This forest has a substantial dollar value attached to it.
Don’t forget the kittens and bunnies in it either!
And I think they built an orphanage there too. Not sure if that raises or lowers the overall dollar value though.
Nah, they can recoup any losses by opening up an all you can eat bbq.
(Evil Twin Pander has been shoved back into her universe)
Ignore that post.
Mmm, korean bbq.
Depends a lot on the orphanage and the inhabitants, I suppose. Scraps of Hope Bunny Rehab is probably my favorite name for an orphanage, but my favorite orphanage inhabitants are blind orphans. Who survive the attack on their home and go on to sing and dance, mostly in unison but not quite as well as Annie if I’m being honest.
Are they orphaned bunnies and kittens? And what about the baby chicks people got for Easter?
*licks lips*
Lucky people!
Fun or not, that’s not how you do things… you might hit civilians.
And we all know hit civilians end up making your points score go into the negative.
Dude you are playing the wrong games!
Grand Theft Auto: Deutschland. Tanks at 96.6 Kph.
Had a random thought before drifting off to sleep last night. Halo really aught to be fastracked to a commissioned rank. Assuming she has four years of college, this sort of thing happens within the military. Granted, most officers are the product of either a civilian college ROTC program or one of the military academies, but a decent number are “90 day wonders.” They go through a basic training program, then go through a 90 day officers course sometimes called “knife and fork school” where they learn the finer points of command, then are paired with an experienced NCO to guide them. The reason I say this is Sydney has shown the ability to think on her feet and come up with solutions to problems under stress no one else thinks of. She effectively took command in the final stages of the restaurant brawl with Vehemence and implemented a coordinated plan to defeat him, as well as figuring out how to take down for Whom the Death Tolls and a whole list of moments that her intervention saved the day. The girl has a gift for thinking on the fly and maintaining composure under stress. A least most of the time.
Yup.
Awesome hat you have there by the way.
I totally agree on all the tactical and command capabilities that Sydney has. Sadly though she has already severely handicapped any chances she has of getting command. Were it not for her super powers they would be blown out of the water. With them though she still has hope.
The problem being her wacky behaviour. Had she confined it purely to ‘behind closed doors’ then she would not be so badly off. Her peers can see that she was willing to risk dying to save them against Vehemence. Yet correctly judged that they had enough of a rapport for him not to kill her. So the more analytical ones will realise she has potential.
Now whether that would be enough, combined with her personable attitude and cuteness aura, to overcome the odd quirks she has is another matter. But one she could potentially pull off.
Her biggest problem though is that her antics have been captured on TV. Starting with the bank. Then her oddball performance at the press conference. Including having to be put into a ‘naughty box’ in the sand.
If she did earn a commission, those scenes would be played back endlessly and Maxima’s own fitness to command would be called into question. OK if it pans out and Sydney carried on leading winning battles, and showing that her quirkiness did not impact on her performance, then she may be forgiven.
So it all remains possible, if a heck of an uphill struggle. One that is only likely to get worse every time she behaves oddly. Thus requiring her to moderate her behaviour severely, so that it becomes suitable for that of an officer.
Which leads to the biggest problem, which I have long held with Sydney. In that she would hate having to behave in a prim and proper fashion. There is a lot more to being an officer than just having good tactics and delegation skills. Sydney struggles to even behave in a generally militarily acceptable fashion. Let alone the far tougher expectations placed on officers.
I think she would be a lot happier remaining amongst the lower ranks. Corporal is just high enough to ensure that she can command a squad, or give orders to rank and file police and troops in joint operations. Yet it is not so high as to dominate her life.
She would not like having to do the shouty thing to recruits (note how Anvil had to light a fire under Sydney herself to get her going earlier). Nor would she like having to behave herself at formal social functions, full of politicians and other boring folks.
The hat is nice, though she some times gets a bit claw happy when she sees a bird or something. Distracting when you’re doing something that requires concentration, such as stalking dinner. And often she’ll make those little chirping noises at the same time. Irritating, but cute.
I certainly see your point where Sydney’s bizzare behavior is concerned, but one thing going for her is that she’s in an unconventional unit. Special Forces types tend to be eccentric and command puts up with it because they are good at what they do. And you don’t get more eccentric than a military branch whose deployable troops are super powered individuals. And flamboyant officers who are good at their jobs are all over history. Bernard Montgomery, George Patton, Armstrong Custer (well, until that one time he wasn’t), just to name a few.
And it will depend on the rank structure and whether ARC has the “up or out” policy of other military branches. As an enlisted or commissioned officer, you have a certain amount of time to make the next paygrade or your out. There are no career privates or corporals in the modern military. Even if she stays enlisted, given enough time, Sydney will make Sargeant.
the “up and out” policy is mainly there to clear the path for promotion and ensure new blood.
ARC is right now waaaaaaaaay to small to require that soooo I’m thinking its probably waived in general for now.
And Monty being “good at his job” is debatable in my opinion….but I’ll let that one slide.
Custer never was a good officer…..he just was a good horse cavalry man, “Charge, charge again….and then if you have any men left charge some more.” It worked well for him during the civil war….when he was facing fixed armies (and arguably had better weapons for it). Less well when he was facing in essence nothing but cav.
Hey he kicked Rommel’s butt. Repeatedly. Turning the tide of the war. If he was not good at his job he would not have been able to do that.
Sure you can just make sure you have enough weight of metal and you too can beat an undersupplied force. Seriously though….its more like he won the Second Battle of El Alamein by weight of metal and then mopped up the little that was left. Which is worthy and why I was willing to let it slide. But yes I will grant you he was a very careful general.Except with Market Garden…course…that didn’t pan out too well.
The point was that he had that weight of metal because of that caution. He was under intense pressure to counter-attack immediately on repulsing the Germans at the First Battle of El Alamein. Had he have done so he would not have had sufficient men, resources and organisation in place to follow it through.
A desert is not a good environment for an offensive to stall. Rommel was a seasoned veteran in that setting and would have taken ruthless advantage of that!
Monty knew that supply was everything in desert war and he determinedly held his ground not just against Rommel’s attack but against pressure to rush things.
As for Market Garden that was indeed Monty’s baby. But his boss was Eisenhower. Monty had requested priority for the breakthrough operation. However Eisenhower only consented to giving it ‘limited priority’.
Plus luck does play a part in any operation. Having two SS panzer divisions purely co-incidentally move to the location, as a safe place to rest and recuperate, was by far the biggest factor in tipping the balance to the Nazis!
But, yea, Monty did make some mistakes in specific choices. But even doing that does not make someone bad at their job. Nobody can be right all the time.
Battle of Alam el Halfa …not First Battle of El Alamein. Auchinleck was in command at the First and was replaced before Alam el Halfa (very shortly before….as it happened only 2 weeks beforehand) which makes it kinda a wash since Monty didn’t have time to do much before it…I don’t hold his failure to counterattack against him there. And his offensive DID stall…several times…..Rommel just didn’t have the forces to do much about it. If he pulled forces from one section he was left too light in another section. Still as I said that was a worthy choice. His plan for Sicily was laughable though. He failed to take Caen when he said he would (All part of his plan he swearsies!), Operation GoodWood (It was totally just a diversionary operation and not a breakout attempt….thats why they planned it to go at the same exact day as Cobra stupid rains).Failed to close the Pocket. Refused to take Antwerp…cause Arnhem. No I’m sorry he was not good at being a General.
So beating Rommel was just a fluke then? And the rest of your complaints again centre around him playing it safe and steady. Given that we actually won Sicily (not to mention the war) that seems to have been the wiser course.
Whereas if Rommel had taken all of North Africa, and secured the oil that Germany needed, all the other points you raised would have been moot. Germany may well have retained the advantage and altered the outcome of the war.
All the other actions were part of joint operations, so we could argue the toss on who was to blame for any specific shortcomings. North Africa though was Monty’s gig, and he won a decisive victory. Had he not been a capable commander he would have lost to Rommel. As others had done.
OK…no beating Rommel was not a fluke….just not an example of his ability really. He made sure he had enough forces that losing would have taking more effort than winning really. Which I’m not really criticizing….just saying it makes it difficult to judge his skill. Just cause I can hit the target with a minigun doesn’t necessarily make me a marksman….it just makes it easier to hit the target.
Tunisia was more of a gauge but still not a great one because while they had more defensives …they were still suffering from resupply issues. They had more but the allies were still stopping a lot. Plus Torch had launched at that point so the Axis had a very long defense line. Which for the most part was able to hold Monty for a while because they were largely ignoring the Americans initially….(Kasserine…ouch). Eventually though units started breaking through….but it was really a slugging match.
Sicily….Patton ignored the plan. Tough to give it to Monty.
He was the one who claimed he could take Caen in the time he stated. Then he didn’t.
I’ll give you some leave room on Goodwood …even though running your “diversionary operation” at the same time as your breakout operation is supposed to go is…..is very questionable (that being said he did managed to get his foot in the door….and it did ultimately serve very well as a “diversion”)
Market Garden….Nuff said.
When I said “He failed to take Antwerp….cause Arnhem.” It was not a Market Garden reference. After MG he was refusing to secure the port of Antwerp (vital for resupply). He was basically withholding supplies from the Canadians tasked with “taking” it while he concentrated on trying to take Arnhem for his push into the Ruhr. General Simonds (Seriously I wonder how well he could have done without Simonds and II Canadians) took it as a challenge….but still it was tough hoeing. And it wasn’t until he was directly ordered to put a priority on it that the city was opened that the route from Antwerp was cleared.
Fair point on Custer, especially considering he left his Hotchkiss Guns and Gatlings behind because they were slowing him down. He was afraid of Sitting Bull getting away, you see. Market Garden is a fair point as well, though even the best officers have bad days and overestimate their capabilities.
Yeah Custer acted more like a Captain then a General or a Colonel(lt or otherwise.)
Quite often he was caught overextending his command as it were. Even during the Civil War where he did his best work….he almost got caught and killed (lost his personal baggage) because he thought “thinking with his horse” was a recommendation and not a warning. Though …heh I think almost every cav man fell prey to that at one time or another.
As to Monty…apparently I’m having a good discussion with Yorp about that feel free to join in! 8-P.
He may have had a point there–the Sioux, like many tribes, were known to disappear that way. A logical move, considering the U.S. Cavalry could be seen coming from miles away, and there’s no sense in directly engaging an enemy with superior firepower.
‘Course, when you catch up and pit your relatively small unit against most of the Sioux nation and associated Cheyenne and Arapaho allies…maybe catching up wasn’t the smartest move.
He should have waited until gunships got rolled out to the 7th cavalry.
I take it back…his horse was smarter.
Yeah his heavier guns would have been near useless. In the case of his weapons though the Springfield rifle was a weapon they had recently switched to. With little training time on the weapon. With it not being a repeater like the Spencer they had previously. Custer was charging into battle with no reasonable expectation of what his capabilities actually were as opposed to what they had been. But charging had always worked for him before…why not now.
I bet you are a fan of General Goldilocks. She doesn’t charge too hastily or spend too long preparing. Rather she always gets it just right.
Nope she didn’t account for the possible return of enemy forces and failed to properly set pickets after bedding down.
:-D
“Special Forces types tend to be eccentric” ; Oh, GOD yes.
Gotta make her an officer. Got. To.
Can you picture Command Sergeant Major Scoville? Wait… I can! She has exactly the mouth on her that the best top enlisted all exhibit! She’d make the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket blush!
Sydney: “DONE DRILL SERGEANT!”
Drill Sergeant: “WHY DID YOU PUT THAT WEAPON TOGETHER SO QUICKLY, SCOVILLE?!”
Sydney: “You told me to?”
Drill Sergeant: “JESUS H. CHRIST! THIS IS A NEW COMPANY RECORD. IF IT WOULDNT BE A WASTE OF SUCH A DAMN FIND ENLISTED SUPER, I’D RECOMMEND YOU FOR OCS PRIVATE SCOVILLE! YOU… ARE GONNA BE A GENERAL SOME DAY SCOVILLE! NOW DISASSEMBLE YOUR WEAPON AND CONTINUE!”
Blulk starts talking to Sydney about different types of shrimp dishes that can be served at some restaurant he wants to open.
I respect you
I respect you as well.
Liked your legal analysis over the past few threads. Good reference.
Thanks :)
Personally, I’m looking forward to the eventual time travel story where MAJ Sydney Scolville is XO to Anvil.
And, yes, that makes sense: so far they’re the only powered individuals, below command level, that have shown they’re there to “do the right thing.” Most of the others seem to be more interested in money, action, or lulz, if they’ve shown that much character.
Hiro seems to be into it because it’s the right thing to do also, to be honest. He doesn’t really seem to be doing it for the action (Heatwave/Amorphous/Achilles, and Math, arguably even Maxima – at least as a reason to show off), money (Stalwart maybe?, possibly Harem too), or lulz (Harem almost definitely, possibly Dabbler)
I had exactly the same thought, last night. But note that Bigfoot* covered that with:
Which covers Genral Faulk, Maxima and Super Hiro (being Max’s second in command).
* Is he the one who owes you $3.50?
Yorp got it. Though Faulk was filtered on 2 counts: I’m convinced the commander of ARCSwat will always have powers, because they’re a super team. This blocks those like Peggy and Shawn, whom are selected for being the best, but are otherwise normal.
Mmm, interesting thought.
Politically unwise though. Just the other day I mentioned the principle that the POTUS is a civilian precisely to demonstrate that the military is answerable to civilian authority. On the same principle, especially at the outset of the organisation, when suspicion will be high for a unit (comprised of mostly supers, which has been given extraordinary legal powers (waiving the comatose possum) and a broad mandate.
Especially when the commander of the most high profile arm (Arc-SWAT) is not just a super but apparently the most powerful in the world.
That really should be balanced by having a human commander of the overall organisation. To give the general public confidence that this is not a way of handing over control of the country to super overlords!
A good, but not unanticipated, reply.
Gen. Faulk is normal, the ARC commander, and a public face (being present at the news conference). This does not limit that position to normals, though. What is most likely to, is the fact that ARC is now considered a separate branch, as opposed to a joint command. Each military branch is overseen by a civilian appointee, a politician titled Secretary of the (Army, Navy, etc.), with a military Chief of Staff under them. This is done precisely for the reason you gave, but also to ensure that the application of the civilian decisions is handled by experienced commanders.
I fully expect the Secretary of the ARC to be a very public person, probably someone angling for a presidential ticket. He’ll probably be so afraid of political blowback, all the fights will end up coming to ARCSwat.
Ahh, thinking on it I had heard the titles in various Hollywood documentaries, but had not considered the significance, nor that there was one for each of the branches. You have illuminated me.
I think your point is very good.
Still there is something to be said for applying both principles. Namely having one person be a civilian (the secretary of Archon) whilst another (the general) be a human. These two issues are not synonymous (I only raised it myself as an analogy for a key principle).
I say this because if they were to mandate that the latter be a non-super it would be a form of discrimination (albeit one with a reasonable justification at a sensitive time of transition).
So balancing that with a senior role which could be purposely made available to the best candidate, be that human or super human,* would help to quell any complaints from civil liberties groups and the super community.
* A practical compromise. They are so short on supers that they cannot necessarily spare key ones for a specific role that could be served by someone without a scarce and precious power. Likewise it is entirely possible that there simply would not be a suitably skilled and experienced individual within such a limited pool.
I warily make the following point, as it does mention modern politics, but the position is a highly political one, so it would be hard to cite an example without doing that. And my knowledge of US politics is fairly rudimentary, so does not include any historical alternatives.
Donald Trump showed the difficulty inherent in appointing people to senior political positions, who have not had extensive political experience, nor demonstrably shown supreme expertise in the given field.
Remember this is not a personal dig at him, or his politics. There is something to be said for shaking things up by bringing in relative outsiders, with hopefully other expertise that may apply to a role. Likewise there is credit for firing those who do not work out.
None the less he tried to appoint a judge who had little legal practice beyond his passing of the bar. Spectacularly showing a lack of basic knowledge one would expect in the role he was being appointed to. So whilst he may have had political capability, to have ‘talked the talk’ this was not balanced by essential experience of the field that he would be working in.
In due course there will be plenty of retired Archon personnel, who would have relevant experience to add to the role. But until they have caught up, experience wise, with senior (and politically experienced) civil servants presently working in the DOD, politicians with experience or retired senior personnel from the various existing branches (again with the necessary political experience),* it would be better not to limit the pool of available candidates.
* Noting that super numbers are limited enough that, even if there are supers presently amongst those ranks, there will be precious little choice. So it may be a matter of picking the least bad candidate, if not following this principle.
Under controlled circumstances namely that it’s closed off. so nobody’s in danger. I wouldn’t mind firing something randomly into the woods.
*covers dryad’s ears*
Don’t listen to their screams, it will haunt your nightmares for centuries if you do!
Plus, worst of all, you would risk the wrath of the Evil Squirrel Overlord!
Yes, yes, that is him! The very same one seen later conspiring with Vehemence to get revenge against Sydney!
We now know that it is Sydney herself who created the origin of her arch-nemesis!
I had forgotten that Sydney attacked first, but now that you point it out I totally recognize him! I don’t actually see Overlord Flufftail surveilling with Vehemence, but clearly he was just in a different tree.
if you shoot enough bunnies in Shadow Warrior and the reboots a Bunny Lord pops out, the sorta critter the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch was created for
Considering how we have the occasional recurring squirrel show up in scenes it WOULD be pretty funny to have one show up that’s actually a super-powered foe, which we can tell because he (or she) is a super-fit squirrel clearly a cut above the rest.
Does Syd carry pom-poms with her for such occasions? They could probably compress fairly well for her utility belt.
She has done since the bank scene (if you remember her cheering on Tubey, from underneath the ambulance).
is it me or does dabbler look like she is dine with Sidney. her facial expressions have been very tight as of late. not even a smile.
Final panel: smile.
Dine. Typo or hip new youngling word?
i think mavin meant “done” as in fed up
I’m not going to lie, dabbler is on to something, sounds like fun.
In the last panel, does it look like the dimples in Dabbler’s spaulder is a face making an “oooooh” expression over the fun of shooting a minigun into a forest?
Hard for me to analyse that, with my mouth drooling. It looks way too much like Dabbler is wearing cheese on her shoulders!
not cheese, gold-plated croissants with holes poked in em
Huh. Dinosaur survival/harem novel? I might have to check that out. How’s the quality of the writing, I wonder? Dime-store or buy-it-again-when-it’s-worn-out?
You know, I like Dabbs in a more armoured getup. I’d love to see her embrace the “battle” part of battlemage a little more- I’m not sure anyone could ever convince her to go without the boob or belly window, but a few more plates here and there could look nice.
Hey, just visualise her the way you want, and when you meet her, she will ensure that you get your ideal Dabbler.
Mine has the cheeky appearance, when she was getting her points on “Make Maxima say”. But Dabbler pretty good, if stern, in the pom pom cheerleeding panel.
I’ve listened to the books (audio book) and I didn’t immediately delete them so fairly decent writing style.
Love Dabbler’s expression in panel five! :-)
I noticed Sydney/Halo is looking rather…attractive (Panel 3) Maybe the other Ladies have been giving her pointers on looking stylish, and who knows, maybe next time they’re on leave she might pick out a “Little Black Dress” and impress everyone. ;)
Hey you can go elsewhen to look for your next assistant! The tentacle guy could do with a lift home. Give him a trial run as your flunky.
At supersonic speeds, a “few” miles could be quite a stretch, Sydney!
But certainly worth an attempt…
Ever fancied slapping a piece of molten metal, with your bare hand? How about doing it sexily?
I think we have a candidate for Arc Sparq!
… just… I don’t… okay I’ll grant him ‘flair’, of a sort, but how does dropping your hammer after every use or doing everything with an awkward side-arm, Captain Morgan pose help with the blacksmithing process…?
Granted if Dabbler was doing the exact same thing in her workshop, she could probably pull it off and it might even be imbuing the piece with tantric powers somehow. But seeing this guy, or really any man posing in the same ‘sexy’ poses as women from magazine covers (or wherever) just highlights how ridiculous, artificial, and sexist most media is, especially when it comes to advertising.*
*As an aside, I like to play “narrate the subcontext” with smarmy ads, especially ones that heavily imply their product will somehow make you smarter, more successful, sexier, or a better parent. It’s eye opening, funny, and will seriously cut back** your urge to buy crap you don’t need or want to support. Mute your TV sometime and try it by providing your own dialog: “Look how happy these well-groomed kids are in this immaculate designer house with our frozen microwave snacks! Buying our crap so you can skip meal prep and ignore your kids in the other room will make you a good parent, trick visitors into thinking you are richer, and make your children love you!” Yes, I’m a cynic, but I’m a pretty responsible consumer. :)
** I have boycotted Carl’s Junior on principle ever since doing this with one of their ridiculous ‘sexy’ ads almost 10 years ago, and every one of their ads I’ve seen since has reinforced that decision. What on earth does hiring swimsuit models to eat messily on slow-motion TV clips have to do with making your overpriced fast food taste good at my local franchise?! Aside from artificially driving up the price through higher perceived value (and actual expenses), that is.
Ahh, you are taking it seriously, and thereby missing the point. It is satirical. The team love joking around and pranking each other. That guy often being the brunt of pranks, which he takes in good humour. But equally he has shown himself to have a wicked sense of humour.
For instance he loves playing up his Russian accent. Likewise, when forging items with a Russian connection, he will ham up a stereotypical Russian, doing an excellent parody of how the West see such. With the odd touch of the authentic (such as slipping fully into Russian or praising favourite Russian foods).
Interestingly watching that series will make you smarter. Or at least a lot better informed. The guy did not start out as a blacksmith, weaponsmith, armourer or engraver (all of which he has since mastered), rather he was a philosophy graduate! And he loves studying and passing on the philosophies associated with his craft. For instance really getting into that side of things, when replicating ancient samurai sword forging.
Ilya (the Russian guy) donning appropriate garbs, forging period appropriate tools and getting into the mindset by staring into the forge, to become one with it. In that case quite seriously trying to get into the mindset of a Japanese master swordsmith. Something that I, as a lifelong roleplayer, thoroughly enjoyed watching!
On top of which they all are good at detailing not just what they are doing, but the metallurgy and other reasons for why they do it. Telling you how the properties of metals change at particular temperatures, and how that affects the process. Not to mention exploring the alternatives. Sometimes just telling you ‘that would be bad’. Other times showing you the alternate processes, even if now outdated, purely for the interest.
And they pair up with cosplay organisations, to show off the anime and games weapons being wielded by an appropriate character. Plus get quite into that (the other host featured having proposed to his cosplaying fiance in one episode!), as well as more heavily into the reenactment scene.
Here, as you picked up on, he is taking on the role of a sexy female model, asked to pose as a weaponsmith. But purely to parody that. I think any market that would actually find a Russian guy doing that to be sexy enough to make a good advert would be far too niche to work.
I was really, really hoping that was a parody video, but didn’t dare check the rest of the channel on my work internet. :) It clearly had too high a production value to just be some random dude in his back yard.
Thank you for reminding me what a jackass misogynist John Ringo is. His novels belong on the same shelf with John Norman’s.
*Firing blindly in to the forest with a minigun.
*Adds to bucket list.
Sydney….carries pom-poms? Why is that in her kit? What strategic/tactical value are pom-poms in super-powered conflict situations? Discuss.
For emergency morale boosts…?
Clearly these are not (modern) Batman approved. They do not even have a bat motif! Ergo they cannot be in Halo’s utility belt. There was only the one pouch for arts and crafts (which we saw the contents of and there were no pom poms) and the rest were ‘Batman approved’.
They were just one of Sydney’s super powers in action.
Not all Batman things have the bat motif on them. Clearly these are STEALTH Bat-pompoms, which therefore do not have the bat motiff on them unless you look at them with ultraviolet light.
Cmon Yorp, that’s Batman 101.
Heh, you got me there. Allow me to rephrase it.
Does this (final panel) look like the face of someone who would approve of pom poms? ;-)
I think – and apologies if someone else made the same observation – in panel 3 her eyes are slanted a bit too much so it appears that you went halfway between roundie and epicanthic fold. Interpretation/translation: I feel it looks like you tried to draw her as both Asian(Japanese or Chinese) and White and ended up with something that wasn’t quite any of the three.
Interesting, and I agree. Even more interesting is that the community is split into two camps one (including the author and myself) who feel that Sydney looks “really weird” in that panel. Whilst the other (notably larger) just loves the look!
OK Sydney now do Marmite! Go on make it sexy. Ooze Vegemite, for our Hobbit readers!
That sulfurous look on Sidney’s face in panel 3 is unsettling…that’s too much sexy for spaz Sidney,
Ooh ooh! We have a winner. Somebody who both finds that image creepy and sexy!
I think this needs to be put forwards to the kind of researchers who like investigating why a dress looks like a different colour to half the population.
Their grant proposal would have to coin some new words like ‘creepxy’.
I’m sure Math would happily volunteer to assist with some of the research, assuming he’s finished his previous homework assignment.
Never thought i would see ole dabs look so nonplussed
Ahh, I had wondered what that ‘+’ symbol, with the four dots around it, signified.
Is this like imaginary negative numbers?
Fun you say? Lets test it. I tape your fists so you cant grab your orbs and give you 5 minute advance before I start shooting.
Just remember that she gets to shoot back, with the PPO, and having the shield raised. Once she has torn off the tape. Five minutes is ample time for Sydney to do that.
Suggestion:
When a strong superhuman swings a weapon try to still keep some amount of physics in mind. That giant molar made out of a petrified tree (best I can do with the image…) is completely unsuited for use as a club. Even by someone with whatever “low level super strength” might mean. Shape it more like a baseball bat or a 2×4 and you’ll be poking fun at physics a lot less, which physics will appreciate greatly.
I know that fantasy settings often take huge liberties with realism, but that doesn’t mean that you have to follow suit in order to paint a good picture. Medieval warhammers didn’t have a 10lb head at the end of a stick. That’s just way too much weight and far too unbalanced to make for a suitable weapon. Try a 2-3lb head instead. The length of the stick gives you all the leverage you need to make the impact great enough to fold plate armor around that 2-3lb head, and that’s the sole goal of the weapon. Take a look at a sledgehammer. That is a practical tool that you can see up close and personal at any Lowe’s or Home Depot, so you won’t have to visit a museum to look at the weaponized versions. The weaponized versions are just someone realizing that the tools might make for a good murder weapon. They really don’t stray very far from that form at all. Maybe a strip of metal along two sides of the stick to make it harder to chip, splinter, and otherwise break during combat. Maybe a knob at the front edge of the hammer to focus the impact into a smaller area, since you’re not looking to drive spikes with the thing. Otherwise the look of the tool is going to match the look of the weapons, because the tool has already been optimized for long hours of comfortable use.
It could be interesting to see the entire team going on field manueveres, probably after they’re out of basic. With and without international allies.
So… Does Sydney keep pom poms in her utility belt?
You’re going to start that debate all over again? :-)
apparently sydney still have the undocumented power of summoning pom poms for comedic effect