Grrl Power #677 – Xeno economics
Sydney has a long road to travel before she starts acting like a wealthy person. Not that any amount of paper money from a world without an intergalactic trade agreement would be worth anything there, but with what Archon pays her, she should probably keep at least a grand on her in cash.
I imagine everyone on the team might have a card linked to a team account. Obviously all the expenses on it would need to be accounted for, but, you know, maybe Achilles’s car breaks down on the way to a supervillain attack and he needs a taxi or whatever. Since they’re domestically based, miscellaneous expenses might come up. The spending limit is probably tied to rank in that case.
Achilles especially probably doesn’t want to carry a bunch of his own personal stuff into a fight, since he generally runs at the most dangerous thing in any battle. I’ve drawn his clothes getting blown off or messed up several times already, but come to think of it, he probably would have his badge and the aforementioned card and a few other essentials strapped to one leg inside a wallet made out of the stuff they make black boxes out of. So the next time he gets all his clothes incinerated, don’t be surprised if he’s left wearing just a garter belt. Or I guess just a regular belt makes more sense. Just a really tough one, with a built in fanny pack.
The shot of the alien street scene isn’t nearly what I wanted it to be, but backgrounds have never been my thing, and what I pictured in my head would probably have taken several weeks to draw just by itself. So as with the shot of Fracture Station itself, try and imagine the street level scenes with about 10x the detail if you would. :)
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.
Is that three kerbels I see going for a strolls? Also a soldier(kinda looks like Doom Guy) next to that arachnid?
Looks like kerbals to me. And ya. starship trooper bug. neat.
I see them, but I took them for Mars Attacks martians.
I don’;t know what a Kerbal is. They look like Bert from The Muppets to me.
Bottom right side in the 3rd panel: One of the aliens in the 1940s era of The Fifth Element.
It was the spring of 1914, just before World War I broke out. That’s why the Mondoshawans were worried about war harming the stones. There was a major campaign in the Sinai and Nile Valley during WWI, but during WWII the Axis never got closer to the Nile Delta than El Alamein, so the Valley of the Kings was never in danger.
The law of minimal secondary characters states that at this point, Sydney runs into the green alien chick from the club, who’s done finding herself on Earth.
If so, we can finally get a number on how long has passed! I’m feeling a year or two.
A few years of the comic was only one day, then looks like a few weeks.
So, like a month or two in-universe has gone by, not counting whatever timey whimey stuff happened with the blood gate, but given we are still in a flash back it has been less than six months.
Less than three months
Which now brings up the questions of how much time has gone by since she left earth. How much of her ADD meds does she have left or is she now out of meds?
Yeah, I was thinking about that too.
Several weeks back DaveB mentioned that only about a week has passed since Sydney and Max first met in the bank. Since arriving on the Alari homeworld Sydney has neither eaten, had any fluids, or slept. I suspect that for Sydney it is no more than 8 hours since she was stranded.
Crazy random fan theory time.
What if the reason the orbs can’t be scanned.
and
The reason the mecha octopus freaked out the moment it scanned Sydney wasn’t because the orbs are some known green lantern-esque super item, but that its scan of Sydney revealed her life sign, life force, multi-dimensional imprint signature, aura (what ever) to be that of a Celestial being.
What if Sydney is the reincarnation and/or avatar of a Celestial being playing in the cycle of reincarnation (like born human, no memories or access to higher powers), and the reason she found the orbs, they can’t be scanned really, and they are using a skill tree (something someone like Sydney would be most familiar with and convienent for pacing her power development), is all because “she” set this all up ahead of time and the orbs are either just conduits or manifestations of her true self’s powers limited for the game of her life.
Also why Varia couldn’t access any gestalt from her, non-human spirit. Not something Dabbler or any Earth magic would be familiar with so no scans would pick up, but the space squids had encountered her (or another like her) before, so knew to appropriately freak out and send in reinforcements set to overkill.
Except… Varia did manifest an effect. The orbs began to orbit both their heads, and as long as they continued physical contact, I suspect they could have handled four orbs simultaneously. (That could have been awkward.) But imagine Sydney with Varia piggyback (both wearing belly shirts, I suppose… maybe not… they’d have figured something out) flying, shielding, shooting and teleporting all around the Calamarians.
I already figured that out.
Doesn’t totally discredit the out there theory, just the idea Varia couldn’t do something with out there powers.
Congratulations on page 3,000!
Archive page numbering, rather than comic page numbers. I wonder if all the pages in between are the drafts that the cast reject?
“No, no, no! My bum looks big in that one. Daaave, I have been dieting, why you draw me with big bum? Do it again but smaller, look, like this!”
The Who’s Who page needs some love now. Quite a few of the supers don’t have an entry there yet.
I suspect that the mismatch between page numbers and the numbers the web platform (WordPress maybe?) generates comes down to the platform using an autoincrementing key in the backend database everything gets stored in. Each page requires a guaranteed unique identifier. An autoincrementinng field in the database is a remarkably reliable way to accomplish this. However you can get gaps in the numbers if you start drafts of pages, only to abandon them. Since the identifiers only need to be unique, there is no issue with these gaps.
I think the number may be tied to the day the comic was posted, in the number of days since the web app was launched – e.g. 3000 days ago was August 7, 2010. I have checked a few comics in the past and it seems to basically line up, though not perfectly.
Note to self, utility belt needs plate of gold pressed latinum.
Pack light for her utility belt. A bar of gold pressed latinum would be dead weight. Worked into the pistol grips or molded into some other tool, would let the gold serve more use than ‘ballast, and just in case I get stuck in some random corner of the universe and need to phone home’.
For someone having issues with recoil, a heavier weapon is recommended (Increase mass, reduce force of recoil), so i’m A little partial to pistol grips, but there may be other ways for Sydney to secret some gold/universal currency into her belt.
Gold-pressed Latinum is not solid gold. Latinum is a liquid, known for being hard to make with a replicator. The gold is only there to contain the Latinum. Value of a bar is debatable, but 1000 USD has been suggested. Problem is, you cannot get Latinum on Earth. It’s a Ferengi currency, but used by several races. (Like USD). A bar is not very heavy. By the looks of it, no more than a bar of chocolate at the same size. On the other hand, chocolate might be very valuable out in space. Or a forbidden drug.
Her seventeen dollars might be more valuable than she thinks, not for the face value of it, but the material it’s made of.
Would you like to know more?
The persons in the street, with one exception, seem to be wearing helmets and survival suits.
Does the management supply an inert atmosphere and recommend visitors supply their own
oxygen or methane or whatever is appropriate for them?
Once inside she should put on her rebreather before deactivating her shield.
(“Is there air? You don’t know!”)
Hopefully there are areas suitable for oxygen breathers.
Also…
Her AirBall might be very dangerous to persons not accustomed to oxygen.
Her airball might be explosive to places not used to oxygen.
Oxygen promotes oxidation, it does not explode.
Oxygen in a methane atmosphere can’t be good.
Oxygen causes other things to explode by way of rapid oxidation. Wikipedia explains: “The most common artificial explosives are chemical explosives, usually involving a rapid and violent oxidation reaction that produces large amounts of hot gas.“
I guess with all that Alien Sex Tourism going on on earth, she can propably hitch a ride back home?
Sydney needs to land and think lusty thoughs to attract the local succubi. These have crazy amounts of contacts (not to mention are likely to have language skills or translators). With that with someone that knows a guy that may give Sydney a free ride to Earth can be found!! As for payment, maybe a succubi will accept a meeting with Math…
…but of course Sydney is thinking nerdly thoughts instead. Is there a demon type that feeds on nerdity???
P.S.: Cue Luke Starwalker, Laureline and Valerian in a bar at the same table… and Sydney doesn’t notice, LOL
That would be a Maxwell’s Demon.
Wow,,
I’d stepped away from the comic for a little bit.. OK, two years. So, to remain “current” when I came back, I went back to page One and re-read all of it. Looking at the Sydney artwork from the start, to the art work now, it is AMAZING how far your skills have progressed.
It is always interesting, to me, to see the progression of any comic, even by an experienced artist, go from “crude” beginnings to a polished mature work. This has been an amazing ride, and I am so glad I came back to the comic.
Seconded!
IN A BAR:
Someguy: Is it true what they say about Earth females?
Sydney: I’m sure it’s exaggerated. It’s unlikely I’ll kill you.
Someguy: Wait. What?
+1
I will freely admit that I have not read this entire thread, but I’m a bit disappointed and shocked that nobody on the first page mentioned that Sydney could use her powers to pay for passage anywhere she wanted to go. He shield orb alone would make any ship she’s on very safe. her Atmosphere orb would make life support energy costs negligible. and worst comes to worst, he lighthook would make her an excellent longshoreman or woman. and the info orb…it’s uses boggle the mind.
Lighthook: Nightclub bouncer.
Is that a Vorlon and a Shadow on the walkway?
not to mention one of those guys from the fifth element on the right.
Vorlon yes, but the bug is from Starship Troopers.
Shadows have more of a ‘taur shape to then.
So space tourism kiosk points Syd in the direction at a ‘bank’ and a equivalent of an ATM. Syd gets a bit lost in the back hall and see a PIllar which appears to have a sphere sized indent in it.
A sphere jumps into her hand just as it gets close and turns. With a low rumbling, monitors light up all around her and Syd starts up the Space station.
Would love to see this (and other non-canon short stories) as vote incentives or Patreon posts.
I just realized that Sydney needs the Ultra-Tech fully-engineered version of iGlasses. The HUD glasses didn’t last more than 30 seconds in the restaurant fight, but Sydney doesn’t DO full-contact combat.
The eGlasses need to be linked to a large-capacity PDA, and the throat mike in her collar. So her phone can be safely tucked away while she makes log entries and takes pictures. (or video)
Speaking of Sydney’s phone… How long has it been since she charged it?
Since she has been off earth at the most a day or two and she hasn’t been using it I think she’s good.
…Unless it’s been on roaming all this time…
What if there were a type of FTL that only worked if the operator did not appreciate how impossible it was? That would require Engineers who were stupid and or ignorant of the principles involved.
Earth has plenty of stupid people.
Dang!
This was supposed to go under “What does Earth have plenty of?”
So, the exact opposite of the Infinite Improbability Drive? Earth probably has more than enough resources to power a Stupidity Drive.
I can’t remember the name of it, but there was a Furry Hentai published about 15 years ago that had an FTL drive that worked exactly like this. The ships had nothing other than onboard special effects that would simulate faster than light travel. Since nobody on board the ships had any idea how it worked, it would work because they believed it worked. In one story the main characters’ ship stopped working because their Captain and the chief engineer discovered that there was no such thing as a real FTL drive, and this stranded them where they were. They only managed to get back home by having the crew fly the ship back while the Captain and chief engineer were drunk on their asses, and therefore “forgot” that the FTL drive didn’t actually work.
Orks in Warhammer 40K could pull off much the same thing.
Their tech works because they THINK it works, not because there’s any relationship to actual physics. Their red vehicles really do go faster.
Since Stephanie is not around this might be a good opportunity to find out what is Rare in the rest of the galaxy that earth might have a lot of.
Earth, has a large amount of Thorium.
Also water, is valuable to life.
You can find more water, and purer, on a floating comet
True. Earth’s water should be more accurately classified as “recycled beer”
Auto correct thinks Dabbler sounds like Stephanie
Earth being such a popular destination, presumably Earth currencies have value, and it doesn’t seem unlikely they’d have the capacity to access checking accounts (for an exorbitant fee…)
Well I suppose she could always steal money from who ever tries to mug her if she can find the bad side of town.
That and hopefully someone there can speak english. Although Halo might have better luck looking for a map.
Counter-mugging works well in many rpgs, so I can see it being an obvious option for her, yes.
Also known as “random encounter + loot the corpses”
There are still more Sci-Fi references: The multi-colored ships entering the gate at the middle frame are from the game Star Control. https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/super-melee2.jpg Add also the graffiti is there too.
PLACE YOUR BETS!!!
Does Sydney knock on the front door, introduce herself to the authorities as a stranded Earthican and collect the visitors’ gift pack.
*OR*
Bypass security and keep a low profile as much as possible.
*OR*
They say “We don’t care who you are or where you come from. Keep out of trouble or else.”
Can I bet on all three? This is the Mighty Halo after all.
So I see an arachnid (Starship Troopers), maybe a Vorlon (Babylon 5) and a Mondoshawan (5th Element). Possibly Kerbals from the game? Not sure… The Vorlon might not be, not sure about the other armored folks…
Think the green one is an Ice Warrior from Doctor Who.
Has anyone thought about the fact, with Earth being popular, there might be a currency exchange on the Fracture?
We’re about to find out one of Sydney’s orbs is a universal translator, aren’t we?
Bahahahaha! I was just about to make the same comment. That’s my bet, too.
were there not supposed to be a update today or have i missed something?
ignore my stupidity please
Two years later I found this from two and a half years ago:
https://youtu.be/ulCdoCfw-bY
Now I’m picturing the accountants trying to calculate the expense of reimbursing any no-notice travel expenses Achilles submits over time against giving him some sort of titanium wallet for his car keys etc.