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.
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.
Hmm – ya know, since General Faulk is a non-super in charge of a bunch of supers he might have bodyguards. After all, he’d be a prime suspect for hostage-taking and having invisible protection doesn’t seem to far-fetched.
“prime suspect”?
:P
Do you perhaps mean “prime target”?
Maybe I’m off-base here, but to me, “suspect” implies the possibility of guilt.
Ok, now the 70’s radical in me wants to say “he’s a general, he must be guilty of <i.something. ;)
I’m split. half of me agrees with you, he must be guilty of something, the other half wants to yell, “COBRA!”
COBRAAAAAAA~!
Or COBRA-LALALALALA-LA!! (Yes I remember that storyline)
then why didnt sydney see the invisible guy when she first demonstrated that orb?
Yeah, I meant target but my brain was failing me.
Also, depending on the situation he may have been keeping back. Only when Max started throwing punches at Dabbler did he move in. (Again, assuming he’s on Archon’s team.)
Ohh, another though – maybe the orb only pierces illusions when both pieces are together. Last time, she immediately sent the holo-orb out so it didn’t have time to perform that function.
Dave B has barely posted any replies to these comments. He must be going out of his mind with all the stuff he wants to say but would be a spoiler.
So when are we gonna find out who the guy in the mask is
I’m guessing no sooner than next Monday…
…”No Spoilers Allowed”, you see.
DaveB adheres to a VERY strict policy in this regard!
:)
Hum…
Based on stritcly by appearance, i would say that the masked man is the Rorschach/Batman of the group.
I also find interesting the logo Department of Defense on the table. I know their group is government-funded and controlled, but i still think this logo is very important for the future.
Regarding the new power of the Orb, i’ll say that Dabbler nailed it when she spoke about psychic light: the orb enable Sydney to see ONLY the illusion she project, that is only the psychic light that is the orb power fundation.
One way to make the illusion (without creating any light for Dabbler to detect) might be to directly access the part of the brain that processes visual input (or else the optic nerves). Instead of being stealthy, this may just be the simplest way to communicate with the widest possible variety of different species. The resulting lack of perceived output might be merely an unintended by-product of some alien explorer’s communications-tool, to bypass any language-barriers.
or the frequency is completely beyond anyone here to perceive.
Megas XLR main weapon the space battleship Yamato wave motion gun about to be unveiled and fired… well I can dream can’t I?!!!
https://images.wikia.com/marveldatabase/images/5/5c/Lenore_Fenzl.jpg I did check and it it her I think?
Two bellybuttons?
Well, we know what a navel represents in HUMAN anatomy, but there’s no reason to assume that a non-Terran species would use the same reproductive mechanics. This physical feature might resemble a human navel purely by coincidence, & have no bearing on breeding at all…?
The omphalum or navel represents the umbilical scar. So if Dabbler has a reproduction architecture analogous to us (placental) she could have one or two. Two if she has double a circulatory system. (See Gene Roddenberry‘s first pilot “Genesis II” and one of the human mutant subspecies that came about had two circulatory systems and two navels as well. )
and to further complicate naval presence, we have Dragon Half where the half-dragon girl was born from an egg yet still had a belly button (this was pointed out in show with out explination as she had no idea why); best guess from fan base was genes from her human father caused a false umbilical cord to form and fall off shortly after hatching resulting in a belly button being present.
Shame that series got cancelled after a few episodes.
It was only ever a two part OVA, those are more limited than tv series. A tv series in Japan buys a time slot (unlike American shows where the duration depends on ratings so they never know until its usually too late if they are getting cancelled). That is why Japanese tv shows are more prone to have a full story worked out in one or two seasons if they know ahead of time how much time they are going to buy.
OVA’s are straight to video, so they fall into the sales can determine if making more is proffitable. Unless its out of your own pocket this can stop some that thought they would sell better than they did. Elf Princess Rane for example, they thought it would do better, in fact the end of the very last episode has a preview for the next episode which never came out.
This OVA issue is also why you will see so many anime that are more like pilots like Tatoon Master, and Dragoon.
the only reason we ever see those really long anime is because Shonen Jump has deep pockets, and Nintendo does too for Pokemon.
It’s probably part of the four arms thing, but I wouldn’t expect her to have two belly buttons. Structures like that aren’t linked to number of arms, etc. It would make most sense for her to have just one, at least going by alien succubus standards! :D
It could just be that Dave made a mistake when drawing Dabbler’s abs.
I did not. :)
So she does have twin navels..[Spock} Fascinating [/Spock]
Especially since some of the women I knew, the navel was an (admittedly surprising) erogenous zone.
That’s not a navel, you need to check out a few fitness mags
Yes it is; Dave has decreed it so.
Now, tell me honestly, is that harder to believe than 4 arms?
I see Dabbler having washboard abs. The slight depression just about her shorts could be her navel. The slight depression above that would just be an artifact of her abdominal development. This lady must do lots of crunches!
Went back to check. Whew; Lucky for Dabbler, that’s the Badgers! orb, not the PPO.
I just realized..
4 PAGES WORTH OF COMMENTS – WOOT!!!
Not the 1st time (see Pgs.62, 79, 85, 87, 88), but still – Kudos, Good Sir, on producing a page that has spawned a VERY lively discussion indeed! Considering it’s only Tuesday, we may still break the all-time record of 6, which (so far) has only happened once before (=Page#86).
It paginates at 40 top level comments, so when there are a lot of one off “Who’s that guy in the background?” questions and not 8 or 9 deep replies, the pages roll over fairly quickly. I am pumped I have so many people engaged in the comic though, that’s pretty awesome.
Just found this. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FlyingBrick Anyone else think Maxima fits?
Max is at the top end of Flying Brick. I think Sydney may either fit Attention Deficit … Ooh Shiny or CloudCooCooLander, maybe both. Dabbler will probably turn out to be both as well. Who wants to see what tropes fit each character?
actually she’s a bit more of Squirrel Girl + The Badger (see the indie comic by that name) + Ms Marvel in a Bottle/Rogue (of Xmen) in bottle (bottle = orbs) — why Rogue added? thinking that one of the two unnamed orbs can steal/copy a power or a Mind (in its entirety powers included).
The other orb? It stores the LAST save of the wielder in case wielder is destroyed- it’s a medic orb of sorts- KO/Splashed Sydney? (sad) then other orb shines light on her and rebuilds her. (Gah I’m gonna be stuck in this teenage body forever! #%#!#&(!$!!#@! (nuns several states away blush and a sailor passes out in shock- this one a Master Chief !) So if she changes from norm, last save (handled orb) (ie working out, being fed super hero foods/alien protein and body building stuff) and she finally notices she’s nearing a “B” cup and suddenly misses a block- splat! Orb resets her to her angst and anger! (another reason they are on the list)
Hmm, Its been a while since I’ve commented, people usually get in ahead of me, but I am a little curious about something. As she’s activated the telepresense orb, its brought up a few odd points.
1) Dabblers illusions
Has the orb broken through her ability, or does the fact sydney can see from an angle the illusion isn’t being cast at allowing her a loophole? The illusion isn’t an actual person after all.
2) Is the orb actually active?
Though we see her fiddling with the orb in panel 3, and it seems to be eminating the activation light, Dabblers comment next panel suggests she is still waiting for it. This would mean that the telepresense orb itself might not be whats allowing her to see through illusions.
This gives us two options :
Another orb is activated, allowing her clearvision, either hidden in her other hand (Possibly one of the unknown orbs), or possibly an orb that doesn’t require direct contact to be active, aka a scanning orb. It acts to detect possible threats to sydney and is a passive power.
The second theory is that its not sydney at all, and the man behind the table is the cause, perhaps trying to get a reaction as to how sydney would react, or show her the *true * face of this organisation, either to try turn her by saying *I’m the only one willing to show you everything*, or testing her commitment to wanting to join. As its another’s ability, it could only work on the one the owner wants it cast on.
3) If however, sydney did activate the telepresense orb, Which sydney is in panel 4? Is this the real one or the illusion sydney?
I apologise for the long post, but I think these points need addressing.
I can answer Query#3 at least:
Based on Page#89_Panel#2-&-#3, the image of Sydney is not projected “blindly”. Instead, the inner-orb must first be positioned in the location where you want the projected image to appear. Therefore, today’s final panel is showing the real Sydney, & not a projection, because the inner-orb is still clearly visible inside the Orb, in Sydney’s grip.
So the orb has not been activated? Interesting.
What options does this leave us? :)
It’s an automatic secondary effect of the orb. Rather than pushing her senses away from her body so that she can see something from a place where she isn’t, it seems to be allowing her senses to ignore, or block out, “fake” data, effectively ignoring the illusion COMPLETELY without breaking it. Thus why no one else it freaking out just yet.
Either that or perhaps Dabbler is letting the illusion slide for effect…
Wouldn’t explain the masked guy fading into visibility.
Nooooo you cant do this. Need more comics Cliff hanger!!!
The formally invisible masked and armored man most reminds me of the Forever Knights from their earliest appearance in Ben 10. Trench coats and fedoras but they had human face shaped masks.
just to point this out, but the faceless man wearing the hat and long coat is not likely based on any specific character we’ve all seen *and I feel a bit odd being the only one reminded of Q from Street Fighter III*
because this a trope, or rather a cliche. The mysterious invisible strangers, those mystery faceless men in the hats and coats, predates the Men in Black…mostly because this is how Government Spooks (FBI and CIA) used to dress when in civilian guise (not the best disguise as it became famous), they’d come to your door and ask questions, or leave threats. and often people would have a hard time describing their faces and only how they were dressed (apparently between the clothes and the situation they distracted away from their faces)
But also it goes back older to robed figures wearing masks from very olden times in different cultures, but the fedora and coat wearing version is distinctly of American origin.
I will say this about the trenchcoat and fedroa look. It was popular for most of the twentith century. Before WWI men were wearing that kind of outfit, and up untill the earily to mid eighties people were still wearing it. It’s still prevelent in many countries because it is a very functional and stylish outfit to wear.
Hell, it probably kept in style for as long as it has because it was assosiated with spies and FBI agents, it gave you a air of mystery when you wore it.
I wear a longcoat because I like it. And I actually have my grandfather’s old Fedora somewhere. I use it during the winter because it’s easier to lug around than an umbrella.
I just realized – the “scan interface” holo-graphics that pop up when Dabbler is scanning something aren’t showing up inside the de-illusion orb’s range of effect.
I have heard it explained before that those air born sigils/interfaces are just psychic manifestations of magic givng both the viewer and caster a more tangible frame of reference and focus to what they are doing while the actual act is multi-dimensional and beyond the realm of human perception.
Basically like what Marvel says when ever we “see” an Abstract, its an incomprehensible force representing its self in a way we can understand.
It’s also possible that Dabbler dropped the spell, so there wasn’t any “flare-up” when Sydney activated an orb. She might be planning to cast it again once she’s activated the orb.
Of course, it’s also possible that the orb only let’s Sydney see things that are physically present, so none of the magic effects show up.
A thought just occurred to me;
What happens if she looks at Harem while using it? Does she see the original “unmodified” version, or no difference?
They arn’t illusion they’re solid, and I think the modification was done physically originally. Like changing hairstyles and clothes and teleporting takes those with them and stores them like that. So if that’s the case she’s see them the way everyone else does.
Diet and exersise had a lot to do with it. She’s the type who wants to experience everything at once, and lucky for her she can.
DaveB said she grew up on a farm and started cloning herself around eight years old, so she’s had around eleven years for her bodies to difirentiate from each other.
Oh, and I can’t wait to see who in the heck the guy in the phantom mask is, he’s definitely accomplished the creepy look.
Awesome, so I’m assuming that orb allows her to see through illusion?
Hence Dabbler and the now visible masked person?
That would be my call.
That seems to be the most logical conclusion. And considering how he(?) is dressed they wish to remain anonymous in visible form. So the person looks strange with the trench coat and hat. But that must be for the minimal coverage when not in camo form.
Obviously that orb cuts through any style of energetic based camouflage. Excellent as long as you don’t accidentally turn it on your own people.
She’s a magical alien/demonic Succubus hybrid with the techno know-how of the love child of bill gates, HAL, and GEAR from static shock. For all we know she could have made a spell or gadget that makes them bouncy like that just so she could look good all the time.
And did anyopne else notice that the Professor is STARING DIRECTLY AT DABBLERS ASS? |D
It has been mentioned, yes.
Wouldn’t you?
POINT
Remember that Dabbler still looks like the extremely hot girl for the professor.
Sidney is the only one seeing the real her right now (or that’s my gues)
Dabbler seems to be missing a pair of breasts. They are slightly noticable on the profile page picture, and that Wereworld link has her with four. Which way is she supposed to be?
On further review, she’s not had them the entire time. I suppose I’ll retract my statement for now.
i saw that picture several time when i was comparin powers and capabilities because of other comics but never noticed that until you mentioned it and caused me to look closer at profille
She had 4 until I added her to this comic. The problem was that it was hard to design shirts for her that didn’t make her look weirdly top heavy or fat, and prior to the comic, not all of my pictures of her involved… what’s the word… Clothing. Hardly any in fact.
Sooooo…. where can we… find copies of these pictures?
….
To study character art evolution over time, of course.
Hah, I’m not sure where I would post stuff like that anymore.
Leave that to us, we will find a nice place for them! *creepy stalker-ish face*
Deviant Art page DaveB with appropriate tags
im guessing that the orb she is holding which i think is one of the ones she doesnt know what does, lets her see the truth of things, like looking through Dabblers glamour
hah i called it, COOKIE for me [|:-D->
im wondering if she uses the shield and flying orb at the same time could she be used as a bullet (or course this depends on her max velocity when flying) :D
Have Max in full “Strength mode” throw her, use the flight orb for control of flight vector and the shield to protect her from those nasty full-body wind-burns caused by going 500MPH.
That.. guy. In the background. He makes me want to punch something.
I’m curious about one niggly little detail: what’s the impact of having an illusory fifth digit?
Dabbler’s real form has four digits per hand (three fingers and a thumb). Her illusory form has five (four plus one). Which one is an illusion? Does she a sense of ‘touch’ for that digit? Does she project a force field or some form of tele-/psychokinesis so that the digit can interact with the world (leave an impression on clay, type on a keyboard the way they try to teach in school, &c.)? Does she project some heat so there’s not a ‘cold finger’ if she touches someone with it?
The fifth digit is to help her look human. Since the spell projects what people want to see, most humans want to see another human with all their extremeties. Missing a digit on each hand could have the opposite effect.
That is a logical explanation for the appearance, but I was more interested in the physical interaction with other people and/or items.
Logically, she should be trying to look fairly human, but what happens (like I said above) when she tries to type or touches someone?
In the last page, when Dabbler started scanning, she seems to only use 4 fingers per hand
I noticed there’s a sort of fade affect on that masked guy in the background, just like the fade on the bottom of Dabblers pants from her lust spell/illusion thing. So if Sydney’s orb there really does dispell (sp?) illusions then maybe he was under some kind of invisibility spell/affect. Could explain why no one else in the room seems to notice anything.
Also. +1 PEOPLES ELBOOOOOOW
Well, it’s the yellow orb, so it’s the “clairsentience” orb that sends out a remote viewing image. Seems it might have other powers. And it’s limited, as Dabbler’s feet and the bottom of her cape aren’t “Nullified”. Seems another power use has surfaced.
And the invisible guy is….a Mystery!
It appears to be the roughly cone-shaped FOV (Field of view) of the human eye that’s being effected. Which would explain why Dabbler’s legs haven’t been revealed, and why “trenchcoat” seems to be fading back, he could be at the edge of vision.
the strange masked dude reminds me of “old Snake” from that one episode of Transformers where the autobots get stuck in human android bodies…”old snake” basicly being CObra Commander in his senior years ^_^
and i wonder if now we’ll get to see the “zappy beams” in effect after all? it would certianly be an appropriate reaction for the character ^_^
I believe that our good demonologist is focusing his mind to penetrate Dabbler’s glamour. The intense stare is a dead give-away. The fact that he is staring at Dabbler’s butt is just added incentive for him to stay focused and to penetrate the illusion, otherwise he’s just looking at a coat, which would be boring compared to looking at Dabbler’s butt in those tight shorts.
Not a peoples elbow…A Sydney’s patented tongue grab jutsu.
Does anyone else just scroll through the comments until they find something Dave posted?
Yes.
guess that solve s the mystery of One of her unknown orbs
My prediction for Sydney’s reaction. There are six spheres not in Sydney’s hand and Sydney can control them all. Dabbler is well within orbit range. Dabbler has four hands (and maybe a tail) to catch or bat them out of the way. That leaves two or three that will get through. Not that this will hurt Dabbler much, but it will be amusing. On the other four hands, can anyone else touch or control the spheres?
somehow i feel that Sydney still hasnt fully mastered dem balls yet mostly coz she hasnt tested them out on supers coz it feels like that yellow thingy thats suppose to make duplicates of sydney can disrupt illusion magic
Gah. I’m going to need to mark up an “orb index” to keep track of which ball has which power…
Was that robot faced guy always there?
Whoa. That took me three views to determine that Sydney was seeing through Dabbler’s illusion – not Dabbler dropping it. It took me two views + a read back through to determine that the blue guy was new. No wonder she’s freaking out.
Sidney: Holy Crap, you’re like playing Shiva on Mortal Kombat, while tripping on ergot!
wow a demon!…the next creature…a cat girl! please! introduce a anime style catgirl!
wow un demonio…la proxima criatura…una chica gato! porfavor! presenta una chica gato estilo anime!
One- I think Sidney’s orbs cancel illusions of all types, especialy when things come into contact with them.
Two- the robot guy is either the best ninja ever, the general’s bodyguard, another super, or an intruder.
Head is spinning- someone make sense of this!!!