Grrl Power #1025 – Military industrial simple
Maxima obviously did some googling before her visit. Certainly hit up the wikipedia page for Mozambique at the very least.
Deus feels that the major problems with your typical supervillain plan are threefold. One, the plans are of such scale that they force an immediate response, i.e., holding a city hostage with a nuke. Two, the plans are public. He attributes this to 95% of supervillains having deep seated narcissistic personality disorder. That is, they care more about notoriety than results. The authorities can’t exactly ignore the Joker when he’s taking over the airwaves. Three, they unleash 98% of their plans in New York/Metropolis or whatever Gotham is the analog of. Chicago? I assume Star City is Detroit for some reason. Again, people are going to take note.
But if you get the ball rolling in BFE*, or better yet, 2,500 miles south of E, then there’s literally no one of sufficient authority/military/political strength who can do anything about it. Even if he came out of the chute with the city hostage plan, the average American, European or Pacific Rim politician will probably hear about it in a briefing, but it doesn’t exactly jump to the top of the actionable items queue. Well, okay, if he does it with a rogue nuke, he’ll pull lots of attention, but a swift and conventional military coup seems like de rigueur for that part of the world.
An army that includes Supers, Aliens, and now Demons… well… That’s really pushing the cusp of attention garnering. It’s a fair bet every intelligence agency in the world has their eye on Galytn right now. The thing is, if he spends the next five years building roads and hospitals and schools and laying power cables and internet, a lot of people will probably unclench. The next time he makes a push, then it becomes a pattern, and he’ll probably need to start answering some hard questions.
* I keep forgetting that I have readers abroad and/or ESL readers, so I’ll try and explain colloquialisms when I think about it. BFE stands for “Butt-Fucking Egypt” which basically just means “the middle of nowhere” which is a pretty American, isolationist sort of expression. Egypt being the cradle of civilization, more or less excludes it from being “nowhere.” But it sounds funny, and almost any American knows what it means AFAIK.
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Can we just move on to something less annoying?
What has Scipina been up to? That’s Sci-fright in Scorpina’s body for those who have forgotten
Nobody has any patience any more. I mean this web comic has been hitting its schedule reliably for years now.
I am sure it will cover what you want eventually
“Nobody has any patience any more” ? We been waiting over 1020 chapters to see her in 3 months flashback to go from a recruit to a CORPORAL! Its bounce from one random story to another, always leaving bits and pieces loose.
Example. Randomly shoving a teenage succubus in with random kidnapping/attempted murder to yet again spend pages and pages on how succubus’s and dabbler work/history. May as well just make this a comic about her. Too many changes or stale filler details on random extra cast members. Regular readers get annoyed.
I do not and I have read this from the beginning.
I’m a regular reader and have been one for a decade now. I am not annoyed, and I enjoy the world building – please don’t bundle me with you.
If anything, I just want more issues per week, but I can see how that would be a herculean task for a single person.
I was part of the push to get DaveB to adopt Patreon back in the day. I am quite content with how this comic is going. The whole point is that it’s about slice of life of Sydney. What an alien is doing somewhere in Latin America is far secondary to what Sydney is experiencing in Galytn.
I am a regular reader, have been from the beginning, and I can categorically tell you that you are wrong.
I for one am not annoyed and I do not appreciate your statements and assumptions about my mental state.
If you’re not happy go read Marmaduke.
Quite an assumption on your part, that you’re of the majority of readers.
People who get annoyed with the pacing almost certainly tend to leave.
Another long-time reader here and I can count the strips I think of as unhelpful filler on the fingers of one hand – tastes vary but audiences are self-selecting so feel free to find a new comic that suits your tastes better, or else read this one every quarter when it’s likely more things will be resolved in one session for you – there are other comics I read that way
I have been a regular reader for years and I’m not at all annoyed. I think Dave is doing fine.
I am a regular reader, I don’t comment very often but I have been reading since the beginning.
I am not at all annoyed at Dave’s pacing, and I think this comic is great. I am a little annoyed at you making up weird names for the characters, but that’s fine. I can ignore you.
Hey the teenage succubus was one of my favorite arcs! If you dont like the wandering style of the comic you dont have to read it :)
This is my personal favorite comic of all time. Ive read through the whole thing 7 times now because its *just* *that* *good*
I’ve read this comic every Monday and Thursday without fail for years. The pacing on this comic is fine. Think of it as a comic book that you’re only getting a couple pages a week from and it works a lot better.
I’ve been reading this for the better part of a decade. I’m far from annoyed. Although by the timeline….to quote Robin WIlliams: “WHAT YEAR IS IT?”
I’ve been enjoying this comic for many a year and this is my first comment, because I had to. You are not to speak for me, or anyone else for that matter. If you’re annoyed with the direction Dave wants HIS comic to go, toddle off elsewhere, only do not be presumptuous to assume you speak for all readers.
Dave has been consistently providing pages over the years, and, as he shares his FREE work, he gets to pick the direction in which his story flows. I’m good with what he’s doing, as I’m sure, many others are.
Keep on keepin’ on, Dave. Also, thanks for remembering that we non-Americans sometimes need a bit of explanation. I now have a new phrase in my arsenal, BFE! Much appreciated!
Sooooo, how’s the comment section workin’ out for ya?
I’ve been reading since . . . gosh . . . I think year two. There are a couple of times I let it lapse from a daily read, but those were both because of massive life issues that sucked the joy out of everything. Right now, I come into work, turn on my computer, and check out Girl Genius, Grrl Power, and Freefall to get me in a pleasant mood to handle work. It’s a Monday routine better than coffee. (Wait, I don’t like coffee, so that’s a bad analogy. Um. Almost as good as pizza? Pizza is awesome.)
Yeah, the comic is slow. Years ago DaveB was talking about his pacing issues and he’s managed to fix a bunch of that by remembering to focus on Syd’s experience of events, rather than just have her be along for other things. Right now, events are weighted toward the latter, but it’s also an exploration of the effect that supers — including Syd — are having on the world. In this world, Reed Richards is not useless. (Look up the phrase if you don’t know it.) That’s part of the draw of the comic. It’s not all superpowered fights; it’s society and consequences and personal lives. I’d personally prefer less infodumping (not necessarily *fewer* infodumps), but DaveB’s gotten much better about making those interesting and believable, and is starting to become one of the few authors who can manage a Weber infodump style.
@NovelNinja. Its as expected, anyone who dares say anything against the almighty creator of comic is always in the wrong. Will let you all go back to sucking senpai’s toes in hopes he will notice you. As for me, going back to lurking until I am annoyed again. So…probably next week.
It’s not that you’re saying something against the author, it’s that you’re trying to speak for others. If you want to say “Too many changes or stale filler details on random extra cast members. I get annoyed” then most people aren’t going to object. Try to claim that the rest of us have your issues and we speak up.
In the meantime, please lose the persecution complex.
Regular reader here, for a couple few years now. I assure I am not annoyed. I’m quite enjoying this comic.
Regular Lurker here. If your mind reading powers were any good, you would be rich. You don’t speak for me, nor, clearly, for quite a few others. Are you sending DaveB money? No? Learn your place. You (and I) are freeloaders. As at least one other has suggested, if you don’t like this one, there are a thousand other comics to read.
Well, I came here to tell Dave that not all Americans knew what BFE stood for. Also, I doubt that everyone in America who uses it has the same meaning for the E. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard three different variants so far. Of course, they’re all extremely offensive, as they all refer to some country name that starts with an E. And, yes, one of them was the obvious one, which makes little sense considering it’s considered one of the wealthier nations.
However, you insisted on me dogpiling on you. No, most regular readers aren’t annoyed with the pacing or the fact that the jokes on the first few pages potentially present a death immunity to some of the characters because we know that Sydney, Joel, Olivia, Tony, Stalwart, Max, and Anvil live to see Sydney play a game of Champions after Sydney is promoted to Corporal. I mean, if you accept protagonist immortality, it’s not like those characters are ever really shown to be at serious risk of death. What does it matter that we “know” that they all live to see that mythical time?
I’m reminded of my uncle’s assertion that he stayed in the military after his first term, because he felt it would be just a few short months before he was promoted to major. And it was. At least, if you allow for “a few” to mean 6 and by “short months” you mean Februaries that aren’t in leap years.
BFE is something that is mostly that is said in the south or rural enviroments. Also referred to as the sticks. Usually towns that have a less than 10,000 population.
The phrase grew in popularity during the mid to late 90’s.
1) I’m annoyed that I can’t read the next ten years of the comic today, but that has nothing to do with the content. It’s called “impatience”.
2) I’d rather have six or eight pages in Galytn with some character development and punch lines than sixty pages of battle sequences.
3) The threads of side plots that get dropped may or may not be picked up later. World building is an inexact science. Later, when something important happens, all this world building will keep it from seeming an ass pull.
I got to agree with Guesticant if we’re not making detours to hear about Dabblers physiology or the history and life of succubus, were doing it for ether an unfunny joke or to watch Deus being a total Gary Stu. It gets annoying when you can’t even focus on your own story or could just go to one of the many loose plot threads instead of droning on and on.
Regular reader here, not annoyed at DaveB’s method of story-telling.
What I am annoyed at is you, Guesticus, Guesticules, Guesticant, Guestingwhatyoullchangetonext, whatever you want to call yourself. You seem to forget this comic is for US, the audience, not a personal thing only for you.
You’ve tried to bully other comic authors with your hissy-fit bullshit because they weren’t doing what YOU (singular) wanted them to do with THEIR creations. To such a point that they’ve banned you from the comment sections, something I remember you BRAGGING about.
Shut up, sit back and enjoy the ride with everyone else before the ushers toss you out yet another place.
Do not lump me with that fake ‘Cant, have no problems with the pacing of the comic, and have not bullied anyone
Just don’t like SmugD
Have only been banned from two webics, and one of them was after defending a character others wanted killed
You made these bullshit claims about me years ago, and never backed them then either
Go ask Rich of YAFGC about your behaviour. You were a bully to him and members of chat, as the story wasn’t going the way YOU wanted it to.
I don’t know what the other comic you were banned from and you did brag about it in YAFGC’s comments.
You also know how much your renaming of characters pisses people off, but you continue doing it.
As for lumping you in with the “Fake” ‘Cant, You’ve done the argument with another person thing as an alt before. In YAFGC.
You don’t seem to realise that the comic revolves SYDNEY, not Scorpina/Sciona who is a secondary antagonist AT BEST. This is SYDNEY’s story. Not Maxima’s. Not Sciona’s. Not Deus’. SYDNEY’S.
Let DaveB tell her story how he wants, unlike what you did with Rich.
Didn’t bully anyone, certainly not Rich, or are you referring to the times he would edit the posts to make me look a bigger idiot?
YOU claimed had been banned from other comics, without naming any, so, went to apologize to the other authors… and not one had a problem with me, in fact many had the opposite opinion (the only problems were a few trolls who tried to start up shit)
The only people who have had a problem with the nicknames, have been people on YAFGC
People have renamed characters in here without any problems (Syddles for example)
Have never felt the need to use an alt, changed the name (added ‘le’ to how it should have been from the beginning), but what alt are you claiming was me?
DaveB has diverted to showing what Sci has been up to (with no way for Sydney to have known about it) before, and it would be interesting to see how she reacted to Alari being openly welcomed
By the way, learn the difference between bragging and correcting lies (or maybe just stop spreading lies in the first place)
I don’t know anything about this, other than I remember it being brought up before, but if they’re lies, you might want to work on making them less believable.
I mean, when you describe your own situation as “Have only been banned from two webics”… Most people haven’t been banned from any. You aren’t making yourself look good.
I am a regular reader and a Patron, and I really do not get annoyed at this pace. Do not try to empower your own annoyance by bringing the rest of us into it. Just say that you get bored/annoyed.
Regular reader here. Not annoyed. Quite enjoying the exploration of the world.
Same here, just don’t like SmugD
And @Guesticant. Of course youse are not the same person. I figured that out all by myself :)
Ah comeoooon cobber, fair suck o’ the sauce bottle now. Didn’t ya read the “About” page?
“Yeah but what’s it about?
”
“The extraordinary person in the ordinary circumstance.
“. . .
”
If Wolverine fights Sabertooth for the 47th time, who really cares? But if the artist draws him drinking a Strawberry Yoohoo afterwards, that’s the sort of thing that people remember.
”
“I wanted a comic that focuses mostly on those interstitial scenes I enjoy so much. So the comic is largely “day in the life” It is still a superhero comic though, and there will be some fighting of course but I suspect that any fighting Sydney gets involved in will be a little more slapstick than you’d normally get.”
I’m not the only one who likes what DaveB is putting out. TBH, I’d love to see Xuriel get a few more kicks up the arse than presently, but that’s up to DaveB. It’s his comic.
Oh gods. The ‘sauce bottle’ suckage. Or ‘how to say you’re Aussie without saying you’re Aussie. Unless you reeeaally follow Aussie political blunders. /shudder/
Weeell lookit the greenayed monstah heear. Ah do declair! Haow tuh saay “Ah aint got no brains o’mah owun. Ah haf tuh drag thayat boay daown wit’ me!”
Did it not occur to one as bright as you evidently are that your comment contributed nothing to the forum? Not “nothing of value”, just “Nothing”.
DId your teachers at school — you *did* go to school , it’s nigh on impossible these days to avoid it — ever get ’round to teaching things like, oh, reading the full post before responding to it? Or were you with the other losers hiding behind the door?
I love these posts so much.
Ah look who joined. Pander by name, Pander by nature.
Well I do. I love the Ozzie- speak.
Long story short, I’m getting a Starwars Ep 1 vibe…
Got Ham is New York, Metropolis is either Chicago or DC (depending on who you ask), Star City… someone where on the West Coast maybe?
The main city on the West Coast/Southern California in the DC universe is Hal Jordan’s hometown of (the extremely unimaginatively named) ‘Coast City’. Star City is an analog of… Cincinnati I think.
Both of those cities are in California, north of San Fransisco.
https://ifanboy.com/articles/the-secret-geography-of-the-dc-universe-a-really-big-map/
According to that, Metropolis is in Delaware and Gotham City is in New Jersey.
Metropolis was suggested to be the equivalent of L.A. back in the 1980s, but transplanted up around Portland, Oregon, so it’d have seasons.
Metropolis was an amalgam of Chicago and New York, but located in Illinois. Smallville is in Kansas. Gotham is, and always has been, according to DC, located in New Jersey.
Oh and Jump City is located next to San Francisco.
I can provide citations if needed?
Yes, please. Apparently Metropolis has been retconned to Delaware, according to the map linked by Teksura.
This is DC-approved btw. DC has said ‘Metropolis is located in Illinois’ regardless of fan theories. :)
https://www.wired.com/story/superman-celebration-metropolis-illinois/
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/jun/12/metropolis-illinois-superman-official-hometown-dc-comics
Here’s how it goes btw.
In 1939, Metropolis was supposed to be in New York state. This was also mentioned in the early 1940s Superman cartoons. The skyline was first supposedly based on Toronto, Canada actually, where original Superman artist Joe Schuster was born and lived as a child.
However, Joe Schuster later said that Metropolis is actually a mixture of New York City and Chicago, mostly influenced by Chicago, but not either city. It was said BY Joe Schuster, who created Superman with Jerry Siegel, to be located in Illinois in:
Fleisher, Michael and Lincoln, Janet E. The Great Superman Book (Grand Central Publishing, 1978), pp. 223–225.
Bridwell, E. Nelson. “Metropolis Mailbag,” Superman #306 (Dec. 1976).
But I know where you’re getting the Delware thing from. That’s from a three issue ‘World’s Finest Comics’ series in the 1990s, where Dave Gibbons, Steve Rude, and Karl Kesel said Gotham AND Metropolis are located on opposite sides of the Delaware Bay, with Metropolis being in Delaware and Gotham being in New Jersey.
Despite the fact that in many comics and cartoons, Gotham and Metropolis are nowhere near each other, and are in fact hundreds of miles away from each other. Which most likely means Gibbons, Rude, and Kesel had no idea what they were talking about despite writing that mini-series.
Montgomery, Paul (May 18, 2011). “The Secret Geography of the DC Universe: A Really Big Map”
The big problem is that a lot of DC writers keep saying completely contradictory things.
But since Siegal and Schuster said Metropolis is in Illinois, and they CREATED Superman, I generally just go with that. Especially since DC set up the Superman museum in Illinois and let the city be named Metropolis. :)
As for Gotham, almost EVERY reference says its in New Jersey unless you again go back to the late 1930s where they were being very timey wimey about things like… strict geographic locations.
Posted a link to one of the early Fleisher cartoons, and it wasn’t even called Metropolis
Also, it turns out Kryponite was a result of the radio shows (they wanted to give a actor a bit of a break) and the flying was either because the artists got tired of the leaping tall buildings or they made an error with the degree of leapage (better explanations in the comment section of the cartoon linked near the bottom of page two)
It depends on where you look. Some places I’ve looked have Metropolis as a Chicago analogue, sometimes it’s Wichita. One show (I forget which one, Smallville maybe?) claimed it was in Kansas in an early season but then in a later season it had docks that were processing cargo ships, so who knows where the heck it was.
No it wasn’t, Metropolis has never been on the West Coast
Originally, it didn’t even have a name, it was simply a ‘Major metropolitan city’ (look it up, there are still some early Fleisher cartoons on youtube)
Chicago has access to cargo ships due to the Great Lakes, but personally always felt it was DC (made more sense that they would substitute DC for Metro seeing how New York {not New Jersey} was the Got Ham insert)
It depends on what cannon you look at. Most of the comics put Gotham in New Jersey, with Metropolis is across the bay in Delaware. Some cannons such as the Smallville TV series put Metropolis as a midwest city in the same state as Smallville, basically making it “the nearest big city”. And that, uhh, actually puts it in Kansas? It’s also been in Illinois at one point. Although the Silver Age of comics firmly established that it’s a costal city on the east coast. Some recent Comics are now putting Metropolis in the state of New York, likely do to the existing misconception that it IS New York City (It’s not, New York city is still its own thing in the DC universe).
But to quote Frank Miller: “Metropolis is New York in the daytime; Gotham City is New York at night.”
So it’s basically wherever the hell the writers want it to be.
I was literally going to make this comment and was scanning through to see if it would be redundant. Thank you for doing the work for me.
I thought both Gotham and Metropolis were initially NYC. But they moved Gotham to NJ when they wanted them to be on the same world?
So I always thought Gotham had replaced Salem NJ.
Gotham was in New Jersey.
Metropolis was in Illinois, but was an amalgam of New York City and Chicago (Lex Luthor did not build New York City).
NYC actually is one of the few RL american cities ever mentioned in DC comics, along with Hollywood and Washington DC and a few others. So it would make no sense for Metropolis to be actually nyc.
Gotham is next to Springfield
I’m pretty sure Star City is based on Seattle, Metropolis is based largely on the Big City Ideal (the big city everyone wants to move to), which draws largely on New York City, and Gotham was based on the Big City Corruption (the big city everyone is stuck with), which draws largely on New York City and Chicago (in-universe Hub City is referenced as being the one place somehow MORE corrupt than Gotham, so if Gotham is mostly NYC, ten Hub City would be Chicago).
Of course, none of that really has anything to do with in universe geography, a fictional city can be based loosely or largely on a real one and be located on the opposite side of the world. Heck, an hypothetical author could base a city located in Africa, China, on the moon, etc on NYC, it doesn’t need to be IN NYC to be based on it, and saying that X city in the DCU is located in Y state so therefore it CAN’T be based on NYC or Chicago or wherever is totally missing the point.
Naturally different writers and artists have used inspiration from different cities over the years when covering the same city, especially Metropolis and Gotham, hence why I reference their inspirations as based on archetypal perceptions of big cities rather than any given singular city, as those two have been “based on” soooooo many different real world cities over the years that you can find quotes and evidence to support several contradictory inspirations (as evidenced by this very comment section). I usually generalize both of them to NYC, since AFAIK that was the original inspiration for both, and that is the most commonly understood analogue for both (again, AFAIK).
I’ll admit I stared at that logo for too long thinking he had China financing him before I realised it was Machina.
/facepalm/!
I thought it was ‘Vachina’. Didn’t make sense. /shrug/ /sigh/
With how big the building is, that’s a lotta Vachina
Ooh yeah, baby!
If it’s any comfort, I too thought it was ‘Vachina’. I was very confused.
You’re not alone. Thanks for the hint.
Yeah, I saw China for more than a couple seconds. Then it was Ma China . . . who’s Ma China? Ooooohh, right.
I think the closest parallel to “BFE” I know is Timbuktu, which is in Mali, borders the Sahara, and is probably the closest to somewhere that’s in the middle of nowhere I know of.
Ironically, Timbuktu was once a major center of learning in North Africa, a sort of Mecca-like destination for scholars of the medieval era, the starry-eyed dream of “one day I’ll be able to go there and will be able to study anything!” (Presuming you spoke Arabic, etc.) It wasn’t a library like Alexandria was famous for, but more of a university town. Except, of course, it really is a long ways inland and required traveling to “the middle of nowhere” aka an oasis region in the depths of the western Sahara.
Ah yes, the balance of “Somewhere reputed to be in the middle of nowhere” and “Somewhere of sufficient repute that people will actually recognise the name”. Plus being a not-too-long name easily pronounceable in more widely-spread languages.
I’m familiar with the saying as “Butt-Fuck(ing) Nowhere”. Same sentiment, less bashing of the cradle of civilisation.
IFAIK the term BFE originated with Victorian British troops that were assigned to patrol the edges of Egypt. BFE referred to being on the edge of nowhere (like the Sahara). While Timbuktu, a French outpost, was thought to be in the middle of nowhere. Both terms came to the US and entered popular writing.
I’ve never heard “BFE”, as an American. “East Bumfuck” though, yes.
First heard BFE as Bum Fuck Egypt as a young Airman First, circa 1980. BFE stood in for places like Minot, ND, or Thule Greenland (REALLY BFE).
On the flightline was the first time I heard, then used FUBAR to describe an aircraft component that was really broken/fried and had to be removed and replaced. Taken to the Component Repair shop, you would check in with “This UHF is FUBAR! You can smell the melting circuit boards.”
VAchina Industries?
YOU CAD!
I believe it’s “Machina”, but I first read it as “China”.
It is indeed a complex logo.
Initial ‘M’ is stylised so the center part becomes a flame on the furnace* represented as the ‘I’ of Industries.
This one should go in DaveB’s hi-res stash — DeviantArt, isn’t it? — so we can gaze upon it in all its glory.
* Old style, as in farrier’s or sword-smith’s bellows furnace powered by a young apprentice getting his cardio for the day.
Small typo there in the second panel: ‘our of their legion’ should be ‘out of their legion’ I suspect?
It’s IBM’s fault for putting the R and T next to each other :D
QWERTY goes back *way* longer than IBM.
‘Tis true. But only IBM had the clout to change the layout. Now, of course, it would have to be… Well bugger me! It’s fixed in stone! Noone can do it!
Qwerty goes back to the 1870s, and only narrowly beat out Etaoin shrdlu for precedence. Only personal machines (typewriters and PCs) allowed it to win out over the industrial standard in the end.
I always heard it as Bum-Fckked Egypt, and thus always believed it was more British in origins than American.
Basically it means the parts of Egypt AWAY from the Nile and/or any other greenbelt, lake, marsh, delta, lagoon, or oasis-like location. Which Egypt has a LOT of, and if you find yourself stranded in the midst of the Egyptian desert, basically fate has just bum-frikked you and you are liable to die.
(Also, watch out for any cloudy nights, as you might be eaten by a grue. Or a sandstorm. Either way, you’re screwed sans lube, and god help you if that screw is rusty, too!)
I’ve actually never heard it prior to today, and I am an American. However, I don’t think I run in circles where that would likely often be relevant, much less a common term. If someone wanted to say “the middle of nowhere,” they’d either say that or “out in West Virginia or something.” (With the understanding that West Virginia is probably as empty as their travel ads claim.)
I’ve heard stuff like BFE, but not as an abbreviation and usually places in the US which are famous for having low population density, like Alabama (which not that I am checking, is pretty close to average for the US.
I think the lowest population density for a state is Alaska, but that’s cheating since most of Alaska isn’t Alaska. Most of it is federal land contained within the borders of Alaska. The state with the lowest population density is, I believe, Wyoming. I looked this stuff up years ago, but memory is not always completely accurate, so don’t cite me for any papers.
Never heard it either. Where I’m from we’d say “the New Mexico desert”.
I’m from the New Mexico desert, though my particular part of it is more well-known because the secret town there became spectacularly public in 1945.
I’m pretty sure that I first head “BFE” when I was in college back in the 80’s. I doubt it was any earlier than that as Dirt Road, Oklahoma was not a very cosmopolitan place.
What Regiment did *your* Da serve in? I’ve heard better language from kids in the old Birminghan slums!
I’ve always heard it as butt f*ck Idaho/Ohio. Never heard the Egypt version. Also heard of Jerkwater, USA as another colorful expression for an insignificant far away place. In Aus we use the expression, “woop woop”, as some far flung place. “Where’s he live, Bazza?” “Out woop woop, mate”. Those banana benders up north also use the term, “boonies”.
Yep, came here to say the same thing. “Bumfuck Idaho” is a common expression for me. Never heard “BFE” before.
Same for both, though I’d forgotten the Idaho version until I read it here. Funny, since my father’s from basically the middle of nowhere, Idaho.
On this side of the ditch, it was ‘out in the wop-wops’
Of course we now have it on excellent authority (of Luke Skywalker no less) that it is Jakku that is ‘pretty much nowhere’
It’s also a desert, though admittedly it does not fit the earth theme as well.
Of course, the funniest description of middle of nowhere I have heard was (and I will have to paraphrase)
“I will find you a post so remote, to find it you need a seeing dog. And an oija board”
American here. Never heard the Egypt version. For me it was the more direct “bum-f**k nowhere”
So … It’s a Big Fucking Empty?
Where I live the phrase is usually OBF, Outer Butt Fuck. It’s a place in the middle of nowhere
Maxima and Deus’s displays of historical ignorance in panels 4 and 5 really are quite breathtaking. It has been done before. It was actually quite profitable for a few decades. It just didn’t end terribly well.
And while I’m sure that Deus doesn’t want to think of himself as Cecil Rhodes, and would be actively offended to be compared to Leopold II, there are people for whom those are obvious references here. and those are not good people to be compared to.
Also, he seems to be installing Alari as middle management, which, from what we’ve seen of their culture, seems likely to lead to trouble sooner or later.
My understanding is this in part how the British Empire started, but I’m not a historian. And depending on what you mean by “it didn’t end terribly well” probably depends a lot on what you mean by that. Keep in mind many of the places, especially in Africa, were prefeudal ~2-300 years ago.
I look at Deus as pretty much any other gunboat entrepreneur, like the guys who went to Japan and said “I have bigger enough ships than you. Now how about we get around to permitting trade”. In that case, they went from being an un-industrialized country to having (roughly) the 3rd most powerful navy in the world in under 100 years.
What Deus is pulling is closest to what the British East India Company pulled in India; exploiting a technological advantage to perform a fairly surgical decapitation strike on a target government. India then became the place where younger sons of the British upper classes went to make fortunes, by snagging jobs in the administration and squeezing the place for every penny going spare. That lasted until the locals got sufficiently angry, then the Indian Mutiny ensued, and the Company had to be replaced by the Empire, which was a bit less corrupt. Neither was that great at modernising the place, though India wasn’t that backward by the standards of the time.
Of course, the decapitation strategy goes back at least to the Conquistadors. Who did a fine job of squeezing Mexico and Peru for every ounce of gold they could get. You will notice that those places aren’t exactly major powers today.
Knocking over a government and replacing it is sometimes possible, if you have that technological advantage. The person pulling it may even believe that they’re ethical and well-intentioned. (If not, well, look up the Belgian Congo. There’s a reason why Leopold II makes the list of top ten or so worst monsters of history, and why colonialism got such a bad name.) The problem is that jobs in your administration will mostly appeal to people who want to take as much short-term profit as they can screw out of the place. And if you can avoid that, you don’t make a short-term profit. Development economics is hard.
Somebody suggested that Deus may be immortal, or have a handle on how to get there. That sounds logical to me. If he isn’t planning in terms of lifetimes, this plan of his is going to be a cash sink. Heck, the British Empire may have been running at a loss for most of its history.
There is a small typo in panel 2
“Kicked out [our] of their legion”, you mean?
Oh, pssst, panel 2, typo, “…kicked you ouR of the legion.” Probably should be “out” instead of “our”…
This is not a case of ragging on DaveB, so much as “It just got posted, maybe if you’re quick with the edit features…?” Seriously, even the most carefully & heavily edited 100,000-word novels, as in multiple copy editors, managing editors, proofreaders, the author’s editor, the printing folks, it will be literally close to a dozen people looking over those things… Even with all that care, most books will still have 6-12 errors in them, and Dave’s got…um…himself, and his colorist, and…maybe like 2-3 other people looking at it, maaaaaybe?
If it doesn’t get fixed, though, no problems whatsoever! I am genuinely grateful to get this comic 2x a week, and the story is so good, the punctuation & spelling are secondary concerns. Also also, I’m not asking for spoilers, but I am betting heavily on Deus being a super, too!
I, an American Sociology student had never heard BFE before and was slightly confused, but figured it might be like BFN that I have heard, which your explanation confirmed. BFN meaning Bum-fucking Nowhere. Hmm, looks like BFE has a lot more upvotes on Urban Dictionary that BFN does.
I’m born and bred in the USA, and I never heard of BFE or BFN myself, but then I’m in my 50’s, so I’m not hip to the new lingo, or the older lingo, or for that matter I was never all that hip. ;) I was still trying to figure out what 3rd world nation that abbreviation could’ve been by the time I got to his footnote.
Almost 50 here, and I learned BFE in rural Michigan elementary school.
Ah, yes. The infernal euphamism for “the middle of nowere”, complete with obligatory ethnic stereo types. Learned it (and it’s many variations) in my teens, and yes, I am over 50. Then again most of the adults I’d heard it from had some prior military (WW II era for some of them) and had postings in BFE (literally speaking too). The BF pretty much categorizes the level of ammenities available, just substitute the location you wish to denigrate. Most of the time it was used to recount (un)fond memories of a specific incident.
We have it on excellent authority (of Luke Skywalker no less), that in fact it is Jaku that is pretty much nowhere.
Also a desert, but not as applicable to earth of course…
To be entirely fair, while Egypt is the cradle of civilization, there’s also quite a lot of desert containing nothing but sand and sun. So if you’re in the part of Egypt it’s basically nowhere.
Politicians might care the next time Deus pushes outward, but will the public? He expands, then spends 5 years making the new territories an objectively better place, repeat. Will people even object to such a pattern?
until he comes and expropriates something that affects them directly… no they won’t care. from the US point of view as long as he doesn’t affect the oil sales he can play in his jungle for quite a while. they may eventually take his citizenship away in abstentia, but I think he’s participating (bribing) in US politics enough to prevent it. Europe might care a bit sooner, but if dues starts fighting some of the more odious groups and shutting down the more disgusting activities Europe has an amazing ability to ignore things.
“… as long as he doesn’t affect the oil sales …”
But wait until his factories spew out those medium-range electric vehicles! While his research teams develop Thorium/U238 reactors for baseload power plants!
If Deus brings safe, scalable thorium reactors to the world, I will join Pander as one of his clergy.
Or any other safe and sustainable variant of nuclear power. Plutonium and uranium are just so much more potent than anything else, it seems like magic. But thorium is just better for lots of reasons, including that it’s far more plentiful and essentially just a waste product at present.
I give my inevitable welcome to the club
Dues could bring thorium reactors. I think some people have been developing them previously. ‘insert Deity here’ could bring a safe scalable fission tech already done, even a portable working model and it wouldn’t sell in the US. Florida (Disney) has to flood first. that’s the only way fission will sell in the US. too many people have made fission too scary. I would not be surprised if Fusion will turn out the same way. I would add that flooding the valley of Gehenna would also not work, though I hope we can make jokes about it if it does.
given that despite Tesla having the kind of quality problems the big 5 had from the 60’s to the 90’s or so, and Texas outlawing Tesla’s sales model (Hypocrisy much?), Tesla is still selling well I doubt the US would care much. Nuclear energy is too scary to sell in the US. (Grumble grumble grumble). if Dues tries to unseat the US as the worlds arms merchant, then things might shift a lot. (yes I’m amending my previous post)
Seeding the thorium fuel with U238 would require that the molten salt fuel be sparged* periodically to remove the plutonium-239 that will result when the U238 soaks up a neutron. Failure to do so will most likely result in what could be called ‘a bad thing’. In theory, a MSR thorium reactor won’t go into thermal runaway, but they do need something like U235 or U233 to provide enough neutrons to get the thorium to fission. (*Sparge, obscure technical term for bubbling a gas such as uranium hexafluoride through the molten salt to remove undesired materials from the fuel)
Why bum fuck Egypt? Why not just “bum fuck nowhere”?
I can totally hear someone saying something was in the “middle of nowhere”, and another replying “Shit, Dude. That’s BFE!” It’s more colorful, and worse than nowhere. :)
* I keep forgetting that I have readers abroad
I’m Canadian and don’t understand any language unless it’s literally covered in maple syrup, and with random “U”s thrown in for good measure. Thankfully my wife is American and helps with the single syllable words.
Multilingual household, speaks both Canadian and American. Well, that and Shreddies-box-French.
Ah yes, Shreddies box French, I did forget about that, mostly because I like Fruit Loops. Totally different language.
Ouch, you’re sleeping on the couch tonight
I’m going to keep qualifying this, as it is not my story, so whatever happens happens.
However, in the real world, which GP makes regular nods to with superhero physics, etc, Deus would be in China’s cross hairs as they have been trying to monopolize Coltan production and he is dangerously close to threatening their interests.
As a result the US would be involved, and once the infernals came out the GOP base would be screaming for war, and frankly the rest of the US wouldn’t be far behind.
And then Russia gets involved b/c they hate feeling left out.
The region is just too volatile and the modern information economy depends too much on the raw materials being extracted for developed nations to let Deus do anything remotely close to this.
So far, Galytin is a very, very tiny part of a huge continent, had no significant resources and was also land locked. Even Mozambique, big as it is, isn’t really that important in the grand scheme of things or in the machinations of china, and Russia really has other things to worry about, mostly of an inner politic nature.
As long as those resources you mention keep flowing, which Deus can ensure through brue force, if necessary? Nothing is going to happen.
> Even Mozambique, big as it is, isn’t really that important in the grand scheme of things or in the machinations of china,
Not by itself, no. But a guy with a literally supernatural army obviously trying to spread his take over of the region is vastly more so.
Deus isn’t some native power trying their hand at conquest, the context of where he comes from and the resources he has makes this a much more precarious situation.
“a guy with a literally supernatural army obviously trying to spread his take over of the region is vastly more [important in the grand scheme of things].” – Duffenblaster
True, but so far Deus has tried and evidently managed to steer a middle course of sorts. What expansions we’ve seen him make have either been clearly limited and clearly for direct need, and/or through voluntary accession of border regions. The latter of those can probably be argued in the UN under a ‘self-determination’ clause, at least for long enough that outside interests find something more interesting and useful to do with their time. And there are more than a few established and even powerful countries who may not want to question ‘the right of ocean access from one’s own territory’, given how their present borders were drawn up. In fact, there’s at least one that would probably support Galytn’s case, seeing in it a precedent for restoring its own ocean access.
What direct need? He took the land because he wanted it.
And he wanted it in order to ensure that Galytn’s access to ocean shipping was no longer dependent on Mozambique’s goodwill and infrastructure. That’s no idle concern: in the exact same part of our world, landlocked Malawi is currently held back by what shipping Mozambique will allow to it up the Zambezi.
There may have been other reasons for wanting to expand, but ocean access is the one that can and will be cited as justification. And as noted earlier, he would have plenty of precedent to point to. Ocean access, either through their own territory or through comprehensive transit agreements with its neighbours, is seen as part of a state’s default rights due to the sheer volume of trade that relies on ocean shipping. There are many other cases where borders were deliberately modified in order to give an otherwise-landlocked state its own ocean access, either during the break-up of an Empire or as a later change.
One of the good bits of the forum is that it is a forum. So we regularly wander out of the woods of Virtu into sterile Verite to see what might match up. And we can talk about, and maybe learn from, the history of Verite. And wait for Donnerj\\\\\\DaveB to offer us his latest page.
The Four Stage Strategy isn’t just the standard response of the British foreign office. It’s human nature.
People wait until it’s too late to do anything about a problem, because they hope it will just go away on its own, or that someone else will handle it.
I love how Deus just rolls with and one-ups Sydney’s random sparks of ADHD. Almost as if he’s as genre-savvy as her.
He’s just plain savvy. Savoir faire translates directly as [to] “know how to”.
I am very sure DaveB has admitted he has/had some ADHD and is familiar with it. Cannot remember the page but. It is an early page.
I’d never heard either BFE or BFN before, comes from being English I suppose. In British English Timbuktu would fit the bill, for a younger audience Whereveristan ?
It may be a common term in Dave’s age bracket and/or social circle, but I assure you that most Americans would have to have it explained to them. The more common term would be “BFistan”, but maybe I’m just identifying MY cohort there.
I’ve know about BFE for a long time. raised in northwest Ohio. Like Michigan but with better drivers :)
Former Michiganian here; I wasn’t much impressed with my fellow Michigan drivers until I hit the South; The drivers down here just lose it when there’s the tiniest bit of ice on the road.
Haha! In January 1985 there was a big storm in Texas. The factory where my dad worked (in Michigan) was on the verge of closing because so guys off the floor took off to go drive taxis in Texas. Apparently there was a lot of demand, and they made a killing, because the locals didn’t know how to drive in the snow and ice.
You should have been here last February. People driving giant 4wd trucks at 70 mph on ice. Good time to stay off the roads and hide under your bed.
When I was living in Atlanta. I saw that the university of Michigan had a satellite campus in Atlanta. this explains much of Atlanta traffic.
I still wonder if he has a super power.
my only thought to a super power is HAREM POWER.
each woman he sleeps with gives him access to a miniscule amount of their power.
(nothing grand with normal humans) but hey, supers and eldritch beings. Dude will get up there.
aaand if he actually managed to bed the Max…
So, the tantric equivalent of Hench Wench… scary. He’s already sleeping with Harem, and Dabbler is moving in his circles.
Someone call Dr. Doom and tell him he’s an out-of-touch boomer!
*puts on duct tape mask*
DOOOM is not amused at your insolence.
I know linkara does it better.
Who can truly figure out what’s going on inside Deus’s head at this moment…!
Operation: Cha-Ching!
is this where we lean that Dues makes dollars but not cents?
No I mean its an actual plan he had already mentioned.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-840-loopholio/
$300 billion via contracts with the USA.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-841-the-ultimate-shopping-list/
Deus ALWAYS makes sense.
I’ll take two ganji, Pander :)
I again have no idea what you’re saying in that second sentence but I don’t care because it just reads cool, so I like it. :)
My bad, that should read “ginja”, first introduced in https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1012-between-0-and-6-harems-walk-into-a-bar/comment-page-1/#comments
I was working up a pun on your puninjas… and became intoxicated.
Ohhh okay.
Two ninja incoming. Mild beating only. They’ll speak in Australian euphemisms while they do so.
Go to Egypt, Arkansas, and you might think that’s what inspired the phrase BFE.
Now if hench wench hooked up with Deus… She would be a incredible aasset to loan out under contract basis.
Next plan: play by the rules, until you don’t have to
Heh, BFE is more of a Collonialism, more than a Colloquialism, being that comes out of Colonial sense of being the center of the world for you yanks…
I first encountered BFE in the early 70’s and assumed it was military slang. Haven’t heard it in a long time but recognized it immediately. It was always “Bum-Fuck”, though.
I grew up saying BFN instead of BFE, although I was taught it stood for Bum Fuck Nowhere. I think part of that is that I have missionary cousins, and they had lived in Egypt for a time, including Cairo, so we “knew” that Egypt wasn’t as remote and isolated as most Americans believe. I also had a boss that would say ‘the ass end of beyond’ when referring to great distances.
Cairo may not be as remote and isolated, but Cairo is just one city in a big empty sandy country (a country so sandy, cities have literally been swallowed by the sand)
did sidney in panel 2 say “Kicked you [Our] of their legion”??
Typo?
Doctor MechaNIcal from “The Villains Code” would approve this plan. Seriously he would laugh from his Volcano base and then seek a partnership through his legitimate corporation.
What… Nobody’s commented on how Deus named his company Machina Industries? As In Deus Ex Machina Industries?
Been that way for years, mate. Old hat to us.
BFE means Bum Fuck Egypt down my way (East Coast USA).
Excuse me, but it’s not BFE or “Butt-Fucking Egypt” anymore. The correct phrasing is “Bum-Fuck Nowhere” we have to be P.C. ya know. I’m kidding but honestly I’ve only ever heard people from my dad’s generation use BFE.
Am I the only one that has never heard of BFE that is born and raised in the US? For me the expression for “middle of nowhere” was always “BumbleF–k” or “[Compass direction] Bumblef–k”
Nah, seems to be a regionalism. Most folks who recognize it are saying they’re from the Midwest. If you grow up with those things (and everybody does) it’s easy to think they’re more widespread.
*slow side smirk *pushes button *confused pikachu face
Vale: “Sir, that only works inside.”
Vale: “After the problem last time, we never bothered installing it in this building.”
My bet is oil or purified wafer. Why else a direct route to the sea? Rail cars first, then direct pipelines to ships.
Also known as Butt Fuck Egypt. Butt Fucking Idaho. Butt Fuck Idaho. And replacing Butt with Bum.
BFE?
It meant small out of the way rural place back in the 70’s. variation – BumFuck East Texas.
why?
Egypt, Texas was founded before any other settlement in Wharton County and was a part of Colorado County during the Republic of Texas period.
I always cringe when I hear political correctness around here, it’s like people can’t remember that political correctness was invented to survive the purges in the Soviet Union.
There’s also a location in Montgomery County, TX called Egypt. It’s at the junction of Fm 1488 and FM 2978. It’s not incorporated or anything of the sort; just one of those areas that’s been given a name. A lot of development going on around there over the past 20 years so maybe it will actually become a town at some point.
And… 1025 pages for the Arc Big Bad to announce his nefarious plans. (Can’t call them diabolical without evidence of a pre-existing relationship with Thothogoth). And they appear unstoppable.
Well, so long as Deus doesn’t install himself as an actual, life long dictator or institute a monarchy with his family, his government might last a moderately long amount of time.