Grrl Power #103 – I think Dabbler’s about to detect the People’s Elbow
A few people predicted something like this would happen, I’m sure there will be plenty of predictions as to what comes next, though at this point given what we know about the players involved, there are a diminishing set of possibilities. Hopefully I’ll have a few surprises for you though. The weakness of the once a week format. I was hoping this page would take a little less time to draw since there’s fewer panels but the larger I draw the more time I spend on it generally.
So now that Dabbler’s met Sydney for real (or is about to), I’ll point out that you can see more of her in the webcomic Wereworld (NSFW). I’ve mentioned it before in the comments but most people probably haven’t seen the link yet. It’s drawn by Rann, another old Fred Perry Fan Club alumni. (The FPFC is a defunct IRC chat room that a few dozen fans used to frequent over a decade ago). Wereworld is sort of on hiatus at the moment, and even when it’s not it updates slower than mine, but it’s been running since 2002 so its got a decent sized archive. Bookmark it for a lazy Saturday morning. Dabbler appears in it simply because Rann liked her design and asked to borrow her, and I was all for it.
BTW given some of the discussions about breast… buoyancy, I considered drawing Dabbler’s second set of arms doing a cup and lift action, but I thought that might distract from the main point of the page.
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The man in the back sorta looks like the Blood Claw from the comic Wereworld, were Dabbler made an apperance. Just have to wait to find out.
So either that one grants true sight or its her dispel glamour orb?
My guess is True sight since no other in the background seem to have reacted to it. Even if they know dabbler true appearance, they would be surprised/annoyed by her removing her disguise.
There’s also a possibility they’d be extremely shocked that some guy in blue with a mask is standing near the window.
Or the illusion ball negates illusions when the little ball stays inside the bigger ball!
Oh yes Dabbler is about to get a first time introduction to the People’s Elbow!!!
I can see Harem recognising the signs and instinctively ducking, cue reactions from the other versions of Harem still present (aka the one on the toilet!), question is will she hit Dabbler first or the unveiled ninja?
I was wondering about the title to this episode and now i remember when Harem got introduced to the People’s Elbow!
Buoyancy reason? She needs one? She’s part Succubus and part Alien. For all we know, they could be her lungs, or reservoir sacks for helium for some random alien biological process. Or, it could just be passed off as “Succubus” and left alone :P
Hydrogen, which is chemically active (very active) is used much more biologically than helium, which I can’t think of as used by any living organism. One of the theories one how huge dragons could fly would be separating hydrogen in food and then storing it in gas bladders near the lungs. This also gives a fuel source for the fire-breathing.
I’m reminded of R.A.Heinlein’s “Glory Road”, wherein Dragons are basically just non-extinct Dinosaurs who have evolved the charming ability to store, ignite, & “burp”-up their own flaming “sewer-gasses”. Haven’t read that in years!
Even then, Heinlein placed them in an “Alternate Universe”, rather than trying to plausibly fit them into ours, & unlike the reptiles in Anne McCaffrey’s “Pern”-series, he never tried to get them to fly, that I recall.
Considering the Dragons of Pern were extremely large (A Gold/Queen dragon was the approximate length of a 747 with a wingspan to match.) Imagine strapping yourself something that size… I miss Mrs. McCaffrey. :(
I certainly enjoyed her “spin” on the mythology of Dragons far more than the “Wish-Dragon” in the film: “Neverending Story” – by a long shot!
I miss her too.
Maby in a few years her son’s wrighting will improve enough so that we can enjoy the Pern series again.
Haven’t read her son’s solo work yet. (Haven’t had the spare cash) but the ones that he co-authored were pretty good.
They were also on another planet – local gravity could be less. And they were genetically engineered, by people who managed to build AIs that can last for thousands of years with no maintenance. And designing them to fly at that size was a top priority. So they may use some very unlikely biological processes.
I always felt bad for the first couple generations. The Fire Lizards were I think about the size of a housecat, but within like 3-4 generations they were able to grow to the size of a small horse when they were adults..I’d guess the first eggs were quite unpleasant to lay for the little ones.
Anne McCaffrey’s dragons also used Kensis to aid in their flight, in The Sky’s of Pern you learn of their ablity.
And the fire-breathing in the dragons of P.E.R.N. (Short story: Pern is an acronym for ‘Parallel Earth, Reasources Negligible’) is from eating Phosphine-bearing rock into a second stomach and burping up the Phosphor. They also had to puke up what was left afterwards.
Close.P.E.R.N. was “Planet Earth-like Resources Negligible” But considering the Survey crew was basicly making acronyms for the charts on the fly it could’ve easily been either.
Flight of dragons had something similar to that premise at least the movie version i watched did.
Huh, I think there was a show about that on discovery chanel. It was a good one.
Oh yeah! The one where they used CG to basicly “design” mythical beasts with plausible biology.
Too bad that a very large dragon (by D&D standard) would need hydrogen gas bladders close to half the size of the Hindenburg; I worked it out after watching the aforementioned show on Discovery.
hence “biologically possible”. There’s a, alt-history series of books that has most of the military on earth with a dragon Air Corp during the Napoleonic War. The end of the first couple books has entries about dragon physiology, as written by a naturalist of that time. It’s a pretty good read.
The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson. The Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Flight of Dragons used the novel’s plot for the story while the title came from a book of same name that did what the Discovery Channel show did later.
For all we know succubi and inccubi are aliens.
Demons are from another plane of existence. Which means they are essincialy aliens.
anything (none native) is “alien”.
Hence “invasive alien species” when regarding invasive organisms that have been introduced into new ecosystems that they over-run.
and of course illegal aliens crossing the boarders. Its all depends on the frame of reference and how far out you mean (native to this environment, native to this culture, country, hemisphere, planet, solar system, dimension, ect…).
Lots of changes going on, the arrival of the mystery guy, Dabbler returning to her true form and Zeph’ suit pattern seem to have got brighter.
I can see what people mean about eye changes, Dabs blue eye now looks less normal (larger), whereas the blue one looks more normal (smaller, more human like), the opposite was true in 598 (bottom panel). Guess she’s in flux, being a shapeshifter and all that.
Also
HA!
(Relates to previous comics comment)
You may be right about Zephan’s robe. I had been wondering whether there were any more ‘illusions’ being dispelled apart from the obvious two.
The pattern on Zeph’s coat is brighter around Dabbler because I do her stripes on an overlay layer set to 100%, whereas I usually use a ~70% overlay layer on Zeph’s coat. If they’re both on the same page it saves me a layer. I try and compensate by choosing a darker color for Zeph’s coat but it doesn’t quite work out that way. So it’s just an art thing, not a coat that glows in the presence of assassins or anything.
I was thinking an illusion to hide protective runes sewn into the robe myself. But that works too :)
Exactly – Sydney’s “Clear Seeing” has revealed (to her alone) the power that he’s concealed in his clothing!
(…but not what that power is used for…)
the rare and highly sought after anti-moth sigil pattern. LoL
I was thinking he was using a glamor to make his coat he threw on more appropriate for the environment. Kind of like the lazy wizard approach where they just magically change clothes or alter their apperance instead of putting on a different outfit.
I see that approach (don’t change clothes, just change their appearance) could get very stinky, very fast.
What had been a lavish palace became naught but an old weather worn cabin in the woods,
the fine delicious wine in a golden cup, nothing but rain water in a leaf.
the richest foods laid before me, were really worms, berries, and rotten meat,
the gold only stones,
the woman of high class I had been having this dinner with, now before my eyes nothing more than an old grey fox.
Ah, yes – the old “Morning After” paradigm…
:)
“…she looked so much different last night, with her face on…”
Anyone notice last strip, the window cracked, and curtains flopped juuust where maskedman is now?
Actually it was the other window between her and the general. The masked man is between the General and the good Doctor Zeong.
I had noticed that too, and it would explain how only one pane of glass broke and no one’s eardrums did. Tough I guess Antonious has a valid point.
Yes at first we all thought it was the sound waves coming from Maxima hitting Sydney’s shield. Now we know it was the intruder knocked back by the force of the wave fronts.
I think that’s the Blast-O-Matic orb… which means The People’s Grand Cannon might be about to unload.
Correction. She’s definitely seeing through glamors/illusions. True Sight… sweet!
No no that is her ‘telepresence” orb apparently it also dispels illusions or Dabbler dropped the veil. The other guy though…. Could that be ‘Black Ops” that was mentioned eariler?
Aye. Telepresence is not just the ability to project an illusion of her presence, but also to receive sensory information through the orb.
So, apparently (1) that counters illusions and concealment powers (at least) and (2) it works even when not projecting.
i doubt the mask guy is an intruder. the only reason for him to be standing there would be to assassinate faulk or zephan. if he’s just spying standing there would only increase the risk of detection unnecessarily. when zephan stands up the chair should bump right into him.
i guess he’s either added security, maybe added after they realized the orbs are that powerful, or some high ranking archon guy who wants to stay hidden
Or he’s currently wetting himself with the realisation of who else is in that room…
Of course once he realises Sydney can see him or rather when Dabbler is thrown or blasted at him (or he’s blasted after she dodges…) it will also be quite a painful realisation as well!
My guess is (as some people have noted) that Sydney has one of the “mystery” orbs in her off hand that’s allowing her to see through the illusion. After all, if I knew someone was trying to read the orbs, I’d grab one I knew and one I didn’t. That way, there’d be a chance of the reading revealing something about the unknown orb, but still have a known orb to test the accuracy of the reading.
As for our mystery guest… the Shadow knows…
i just realized that there are only 5 orbs orbiting sydney. so with the telepresence orb in her right hand the she should be holding the green one with the now not so unknown ability in her left hand
If you assume the other six orbs are in a hexagonal pattern, one of them would be off-panel.
maybe my perspective perception is off but i think they are more floating in a pentagon pattern.
on another note it would make somewhat sense that the orb that can create an illusion can also detect/dispell illusions. so maybe i am wrong.
SO another orb’s power is revealed, as well as a very ominous Mystery Person behind the table. Hmmm, curiouser and curiouser!
Woops!
Go cyberpunk-like ninja on another note i suspect either a super punch coming from sydney or her pulling out a small stick and proceding to repedly poking and prodding dabbler in confusion and curiosity
for some reason i kinda expect sydney to spontaniosly know Krav Maga temporaraly
I think Sydney has shown that she has developed her own martial arts style that seams to function well during random fit’s of rage or panic. Karate Do be damned, that girl knows Ca-Razy Do! But yeah I get what ya mean, I can totaly see another panic-induced mauling in the future.
Sidney. It’s not just a name. It’s a way of life.
AHAHAHAHA CATHACKLES
Replay of when she thought of people doing HORRIBLE EXPERIMENTS to her!!! (Like poking her with the back of an ink pen)
There’s room for a 6th orb to still be orbiting her head beyond the edge of the panel. She says activate “one” orb, so it’s conceivable she only pulled down one. So maybe she only has one in her hand. If so…
The yellow one we already know can create an illusion at a predetermined distance (as determined by the little bubble going off to wherever), but if it can create illusions, who’s to say it cannot see through them as well? But if it can, why didn’t she see Mr. Robot-Mask before now, when she was casting her illusions and seeing through them?
Either Mr. Robot-Mask is a recent arrival in the ballroom, or Sydney was so focused on what she was doing that she never looked toward the other end of the table. Both explanations, alas, are equally probable, because we never saw that end of the table in the panel where she was demonstrating the yellow orb, and we know how focused Sydney gets. On the other hand, if Dabbler weren’t there, she’d definitely be all “ooh shiny!” over Robot-Mask, which could have distracted her from her demonstrations. Six to one, half a dozen to the other.
If she is holding another of the orbs in her hand, I’d bet it’s not the green one, simply because green tends to be traditionally viewed as a color associated with healing. So it’d have to be the brown one.
…But I think it’s a side-skill of the yellow orb, since this is all about illusions.
since we can see the other 6 orbs in the picture she can either hold the green one in her left hand or it is orbiting slightly out of sight.
on the third picture we can see sydney call down the telepresence orb and that orb only which points towards sydney only holding one orb
If Mask-Guy was always between the 2 guys, then Sydney never pointed the “flashlight beam” of her “true seeing” in his direction before now. Arianna was always on the opposite side of the General.
She’s just holding the yellow orb, the one you can’t see is just off panel.
anyone else notice xuriel has her eyes switched back to her normal color set
The two Sydney didn’t know were the dark green and dark bronze ones. Dark green is not orbiting her head, so it must be in her left hand. When she gets this figured out, she will only have to discover dark bronze.
Plot twist! Spooky invisible man in the background :O
Methinks we have just been introduced to ARC’s covert element (probably the head of that dep’t.), probably using a suit with an advanced form of nanotech/light modification camoflage.
Aha! It says in the *spoilers* …”clarisense”… which would indicate that it can sense as well as project! Mystery solved. Yellow takes the cake, and the cake is not a lie. In fact, it is covered with fudge frosting. *nodnod*
…No, Sydney, you may not drizzle it in hotsauce, too.
nice catch. so the green orb is orbiting and currently off screen to the left.
btw. nice pic of anvil in her description page ;-)
That is such an old picture of her. And vaguely NSFW. I really need to get to that cast page redesign.
OK, Good Sir, but please don’t lose the picture…
…some of us ENJOY our glimpse into the world of “NSFW”, you see…
:)
The picture of Dabbler is even less accurate, due to her 4 boobs.
We already knew that — she can see through it. It’s possible her vision through it is modified, though.
EEP!!! Lol
Panel#3: “Maybe if one of them is active…”
—– so the other 6 must be in the air.
Although it does seem to me as though the formation might be a PENTAGON, it could also be a trick of perspective, with the 6th corner of the HEXAGON lost off-camera.
…& speaking of perspective, perhaps this “true seeing” is not spherical, but instead a cone, like a flashlight beam? This would explain both the lingering traces of Dabbler’s illusion & the Mask-Guy’s partial reveal, which makes him appear as though he’s fading-in from the curtains.
Or it could just be a lingering effect that grows out, like watching paper burn from the center out leaving a completely unobstructed view.
so every super has the first letter of their name as symbol on their collar. except for for dabbler. what the reason behind that?
did she go with XXX and then added another X because she thinks herself more extreme =P
Dabbler’s real name is Xuriel.
so she takes the letter from her real name instead of her nickname. interesting. but why 4 X?
I imagine it is as you said, 3 X’s just weren’t enough.
That was pretty much what Dave said about Dabbler. That and that’s her “personal” choker, not an ARC choker.
I’m guessing the whole part succubus thing.
Well each one also has a design or has the letters designed to give a hint as to what their powers are. Dabbler just has sooo many powers and origins for those powers…thats what the X’s are for.
Another possibility is that XXXX is how her real name is spelled – in her native language
Sydney: Arrgghhh! Purple People Eater!! Mr. Mask: Ooof!!
Sigh…That was supposed to be:
Sydney: Arrgghhh! Purple People Eater!! [Clobber Sound FX] Mr. Mask: Ooof!!
Dabbler: Oof! [ She flies through the air with the greatest of ease … ]
Dabbler: [ Lands near the windows, mildly confused, looking under herself ] What did I land on? [ Casts Scan object ] Ok, who are you and what do want to do with me?
Anybody hear the “Medal Gear” alert sound when seeing the ! over Halo?
Vreent!
More like a sharp bing! (Specifically the ‘bing’ noise that starts a round in boxing.)
I’ve seen it in a number of different games, was going to point out the exclimation point, somehow missed your comment till just now.
Everyone else is so focused on the faceless spook in the background or counting the orbs they seem to have missed the video game alert overhead exclimation point.
I don’t know if anyone else has suggested this, but could the masked man possibly be Dabbler’s cybernetic “arm”? Up until this point it has not been strictly defined and could be just about anything. The word “arm” can be used as a term referring to a servant that acts in your name or at your direction. The mech-man in the back could be Dabbler’s “Arm” or assistant that pings back and forth when she needs something from her lab (with an internal teleporter, as mentioned in her character profile).
Just a thought.
No, she has an actual cybernetic arm (In Wereworld it’s the Lower left).
Aside from Dabbler getting decked, Sidney’s reaction could be interesting as it looks like she is currently holding the telepresence orb. Too bad she can’t touch anyone/anything with her duplicates.
I did not notice the cloaked guy the first time I read this page.
I bet that Sydney will freak out more over Mr/Mz invisible.
Assuming she sees him/her/it behind the huge purple thing that just loomed in front of her eyes. :D
took me awhile to realize who dabbler’s costume was making me think of… there was a female angel from an old comic called edge the devil hunter (or edgenight) with a somewhat similar look… was wondering if it was a reference, either way it was a fairly awesome look.
Hmm, not familiar with that one. I just designed her outfit as I drew it, which is probably a poor design practice, but who knows what influenced me. I guess I was thinking battle lingerie meets the Matrix.
So is Dabbler…”THE ONE” :P
There was a comment a few pages back theorizing that this new “non-illusory” orb projects its effect in a sphere. If it does that, then to reach the robot guy, we’d see Dabbler without her illusion completely. Thus it must project in a cone or a cylinder from the user’s POV.
SILLY ME, I didn’t see the older-new comment halfway up the page! I stand by my theory however.
So… anyone else think its safe to assume that Dabbler will soon be suffering the same fate as Harem did when she scared the heck outta Sydney?
Dabbler has four arms to catch a punch and each arm looks much stronger than Sydney’s. Also would Dabbler’s ADD also give a surprise negation?
Sydney: Yikes! [ Throws punch at Dabbler ]
Dabbler: [ Unaware her cover is blown. Grabs Sydney’s punch with one of her upper hands. ] What was that for?
Sydney: [ Yelling ] You suddenly go from looking all blonde and hot to, well, [ wind coming out of Sydney’s sails ] purple and weird. What did you think I was going to do? [ Mostly calm again ]
Harem: Punch first and think later [ under her breath ] ( if at all ).
Max: You can see through her illusion when you grab that orb?
Sydney: Uh, yeah, I guess. Oh and the guy over by the window just suddenly appeared to me.
Max: I can’t see him. Where is he? [ Starts moving super-fast ]
Sydney: Behind the general. Now he’s moving to my left. [ Grabs shield orb ] Turn right. Left. Down. Turn around. He’s moving around your right side.
Max: Got it! [ Slam ]
Man behind the Mask: Uhh…
You know we have to get to that plot point.
Oh yes and I’m seriously hoping for Dabbler to become an improvised weapon that Sydney uses on the “ninja”!
Actually, it very clearly IS some sort of limited cone of true sight. After all, if you look at the lower legs of Dabbler, her apparently illusionary costume is still partialy there.
And now, new character enter!
Oh, who is they?!
I hope they don’t smell what Sydney is cookin’, didn’t Amporphus (sp?) get a whiff and nearly go blind? Although watching Sydney try to flip Dabbler by her tounge could be worth a page or twelve.
Little-to-no danger of that, because after puking in the bank, she’s had nothing else to eat except a meager snack of (barely) spicy CHEETOS. Such weak, “amateur-level” spicy-heat would be all-but-useless if a surprise-attack was called for.
Also, why grab a tongue, when those horns are such easy-to-grab handles?
i have an idea for reaction,,, sidney somehow manage to pull out a double flying kick,,, then jump on dabbler’s back summoning her tentacle orb and use the tentacle to tie dabbler up like a rodeo cowboy tie up a calf,, then turn and point the PPO orb at masked guy telling him not to move
Which because of their positioning, would be seen as a direct threat against the general, which is usually considered a bad idea. Mind you it would still be an indirect threat against the general, and so still a bad idea.
General: [ Standing up ] What the HELL do you think you are doing?
Sydney: Duck! [ Opens fire as the general dives under the table, grabbing Z on the way down ]
General: I’m getting too old for this crap.
[ Now we wait for the dust to settle ]
Arianna: [ Highly distressed ] My … Our ballroom!
Wall? What wall? Oh, the one behind the table. Okay, the one that used to be behind the table.
Why am I hearing one of the theme tunes from Generator Rex whilst reading this?
Not sure. Schizophrenia? Auditory hallucinations are a common symptom of the problem.
I personally see the scene folding out more like. Sydney sees a giant four-armed Alien creature, pulls out her Makeshift Alien-blasting orb on instinct, -P.P.O-. And then, due to collateral damage, strikes the poor masked Assassin whom had the bad luck of being in her line of fire. As you can see, I expect Dumb Luck over quick-thinking.
On another note, that masked Ne’erdowell looks quite chill being in a building filled with Super-powered characters, one of which has unknown capabilities and is currently in the room with Him/Her.
As for those whom might think he has always been there, note the slight fading effect on the left of his face, our right. Compare it to Dabbler’s illusion fading away, and you’ve got yourself one Invisible ‘Villain?’
I think Sidney will go after mister Ninja in the background. After all, she is always expecting ninjas.
I love the very simple fact that there is more than just Dabbler’s real form that becomes revealed.
The guy looks like a cross between Cobra Commander and a 30’s hard-boiled detective. I can’t wait to see more.
BTW, he and the folks he is standing behind are not featured in the who’s who.
The “Who’s Who” is generally reserved for those with speaking roles.
Yeah, after I posted that I thought “who cares” but I can’t go back and edit my comment. At the time I was just thinking I’d like to see Mr. Cobra-Marlowe in the who’s who just as an utterly blank entry. On one hand, kinda funny because it’s so pointless, on the other hand I suspect that a blank info box is totally in line with his character.
None of them have speaking roles in this page.
I saw Chris’ comment 1 second after I hit submit.