Grrl Power #1050 – The one with the list
Deus: We’re the two most attractive people in any room.
Max: You wildly overestimate yourself.
Deus: I notice you didn’t disagree about your comeliness.
Max: I know what I look like.
Deus: Pamela Anderson crossed with Xena.
Max: … }sigh{ Right. Besides, it’s hardly a reason for us to date.
Deus: Between your physical might, military position, and fame, and my own economic, political and technological resources, we would redefine the term “power couple.”
Max: Again, hardly a reason to date.
Deus: It would make couples comprised of actors and/or musicians feel downright silly by comparison.
Max: Hmm. I suppose that would be amusing.
Deus: I challenge you.
Max: You aggravate me. Did you know your new buddy enslaved Dabbler’s sister?
Deus: That was a tad petty, but for demons, I think it’s roughly equivalent to pulling on a succubus’s pigtails. Regardless, Parfait is going to get quite an education, tagging along from world to world with Thoth. I would expect the move was designed to make Dabbler envious of her sister’s incipient adventuring career, but I don’t know what Thoth and Dabbler’s early years were like.
Max: I can’t help but picture them sharing an efficiency with furniture found on the sidewalk just before trash day.
Dues: Hah hah hah hah! I was just about to say the same thing! With a bunch of pizza boxes stacked up on the wobbly kitchen table, Thoth running a kickstarter to get his “sweep the chaos from your world” business going.
Max: And Dabbler trying to save enough to get her “Adventurer’s First Kit” with the fifty feet of rope and the ten foot pole.
Deus: I never understood that. How do you maneuver a ten foot pole through a dungeon?
Max: Maybe it was collapsible?
Deus: Maybe.
Max: I’m still not dating you.
Deus: I have a really nice caaaaar.
Max: Hah hah hah! That wouldn’t have worked on me even if I was still in high school!
Deus: “Makes Maxima laugh.” Check.
Max: Are you seriously putting this on the whiteboard?
Deus: We’re making Pro/Con lists.
Max: }sigh{ Oh my god. Add “You exhaust me.” to the Cons.
The May Vote Incentive is up! This month it’s Warsyl, from Tamer: Enhancer 2! I’d say “spoilers,” but the book has been available for 5 months now. Anyway, this pic doesn’t have a zillion outfit variations, partially because her armor took longer to draw than I thought it would, but mostly because she just has an armored form, and an unarmored form. The latter being available over at Patreon.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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The discussion in the commentary is canon, and you can’t convince me otherwise.
Why would anyone? It’s canon.
it’s so much canon it’s 3 shots short of a Privateer’s complement.
It’s already been established they banter like this and have for years. Also, in his own way Deus is also running a “Max Bingo” card for himself (really ought to get his staff involved imho). I am looking forward to someone get a spot on their card soon.
You missed it. Deus got a spot on his card in this very commentary.
‘Deus: “Make Max laugh.” Check.’
My headcanon says he actually got the card out and checked it off in front of her, because SmugD. Having completed said move, he put the card back in his pocket and turned to the whiteboard which descended from the ceiling while he was distracted with the bingo card. No obvious control was engaged to lower the whiteboard, but it’s clear there was one.
The whiteboard already had “Should Max date me” underlined at the top, with a “Pros” list on the left and “Cons” list on the right. He only had a few things to add, all to the “Pros” list. Only with her insistence did he write “I exhaust her” again, this time on the right side.
Hard agree. It is entirely canon, DaveB just didn’t have space for it in the comic.
I’m guessing those are ‘before’ and ‘after’ political maps of southeastern Africa on the wall in panel 6. We can’t really see the ‘before’ map because of Deus’ speech bubble.
Looks more like a map of northeastern America behind the word bubble to me. A little bit of Canada, a smaller (but proportionately larger land-area-wise) bit of the US…
The one on the right looks like a map of Mozambique to me, divided by province. Left is also Mozambique but I’m not sure what the difference between them is supposed to be.
I love everything about that Max/Deus flirting comment.
I keep wondering about the inconsistencies on the webpage. The top banner with all the fun, silly faces is gone, the about and cast pages need major update, for the longest time pages lacked the “Who’s who?” section (I’m happy it seems to be back!). I’m now wishing there was a page that collects all past vote incentives into a gallery.
Seeing how wishing magic may work, it feels like Parfait and Krona would have a wonderful time together, and a lot of potentially apocalyptic mayhem from their combined powers at work ;D
I totally agree about the past vote incentives being put into a gallery.
Oh Deus, it’s not the length of your list that matters, you should know that, even if it is impressively long.
per my ex wife, it’s the Girth that matters…
These two play off each other so well, they could easily be a couple. Max can evade all she likes, he DOES challenge her and she enjoys that bit greatly. The conflict of interest is the real issue here.
Max: You got an EGO the size of Cincinatti:
Deus: I got an ego the size of the north american continent!
Deus: It’s not ego if I can back it up.
Which is something Max should know, since she also has a big ego with the power to back it up.
She has an ego BECAUSE she knows she has the power to back it up, so she can be that way if she wants. Honestly, Max’s ego isn’t really all that inflated. She has her moments, but they’re usually justified.
It is still ego if you can back it up. All “being able to back up your ego means” is that you’re less likely to throw yourself in dangerous situations. If it’s big it’s still annoying, if it’s small it’s still sad, if it’s wide it’s still more stable and inflation still heightens the risk of collapse.
The ego, outside of the psychological definition, is “a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance.”
If Deus did NOT have an ego, I’d question his sense of reality since with his life and position, he SHOULD have high self-esteem and recognize his own importance. Deus’s ego is at least very well deserved (as is Maxima’s). He produces real, tangible goods and services that have a massive effect on the planet, and he creates a massive net good for all of humanity. He’s got a little black book that is the stuff of legends. He has hundreds of people who are all very loyal to him, both powered and unpowered, an an entire ship of advanced aliens who likewise seem to admire him or at the very least, recognize his importance and greatness. He can make deals with demons with no downside, and he’s able to be several dozen steps ahead of EVERYONE else with seeming ease. He’s a genius, his sexual prowess and sexual ability is incredible, he has an astoundingly good body and hair, he holds himself with supreme confidence for justifiable reasons, and has great taste in collectibles which are…. replicas. Yeaaaaaah…. sure…. replicas. If that’s not reason to have a healthy ego, I don’t know what is.
I bet he knows how to spell Cincinnati, too.
Truth, I don’t, but whether an ego is merited or not has little to do with how abrasive people find it. If, for example, someone went around and claimed that he could buy the “large geographical area within which I reside”, I would consider him a stuck up arse, regardless of the truth of his claims.
Doubly so for someone who goes out in public and points out frequently that s/he *has* bought the large geographical area within which s/he resides, especially if they continue on with asserting that everybody should be grateful the rent is so low or even free.
I mean, sure, if someone basically bought the city I live in and provided free housing, food, and health care to everyone including the unemployed and then let us live our lives without perpetrating evil against us or others, I would be very appreciative and think highly of them. But them using that to get away with anything would very quickly rub the wrong way, even if all they were trying to get away with was saying, “I own this place, you can only live here because I’m *so* nice.” every other minute.
Of course, a large part of that is because I understand that it almost certainly wouldn’t be just that, and such statements would likely be made with coercive intent, even if I wasn’t the intended target of the coercion.
I think they would make an interesting couple… *if* we can trust Deus. That’s the hard part.
I think Deus actually fits the “you can’t trust him, but you can count on him”.
Uno, Deus, Tries, Quattro. yep, we can count on him.
Thank you for quantifying that for us, if Pander catches you though your days are numbered.
everyone’s days are numbered. even Pander. its just in some oversight we usually are not given the total.
I suppose its also true since every day is several numbers.
I could just see it now, due to some fluke of history (the company Fluke could be involved too) historians use the Excel numbering system to date the age we are living in.
You two are both incorrigible. Ninjas for both of you. Zombie ninjas even.
*uses calf brains to lure zombies into Pander’s law office*
I wouldn’t even ask why you would have access to calf brains because I’m sure it’s the setup for another pun.
You can trust anyone you want to. It’s just that it’s really not a good idea when someone comes across even 5% as smarmy as SmugD.
There is, of course, the old saying about distances. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer – and those you’re still unsure of closest still?
That would give justification for Deus’ little black encyclopedia collection. You can’t get closer than inside someone.
Really Deus, “Mine is bigger than yours?” is your argument?
Heh… Somehow an endless string of verbal-sparring non-dates between Deus and Maxima seems somehow more healthy for the future of the planet than anything else. They keep each other in check.
And thanks for the follow-up post saving us 3 weeks of delay in the story.. ;)
I’m liking him more and more all the time. I can’t tell if he’s going to be an overall villain or more of a Grand Admiral Thrawn type villain. Bad yes,but there is just so many more than are even worse.
To paraphrase: he’s bad. But he’s so good at it.
it’s so much canon it’s 3 shots short of a Privateer’s complement.
That is the cheesiest grin in panel 6. Ever.
“I intend to psychologically manipulate you” doesn’t make for a very equal relationship, however.
All social interaction is psychological manipulation. If I give someone baklava, I do that using my knowledge of their psyche, i.e. that baklava makes them happy, to manipulate them into being happier.
I would somewhat reverse what you’ve said and say that equality is what makes psychological manipulation in a relationship romantic.
I feel that equality isn’t required for a healthy romantic relationship. What’s needed is all parties to have genuine concern for the well-being of all the other parties and a lack of interest in exploiting them. Even if all parties in a relationship have equality, if one or more of them regularly exploit the other(s), that’s not going to be healthy.
It’s difficult to determine if SmugD has some genuine concern for Max, but it’s pretty clear he intends to exploit her and everybody else he can to make his plan works, and it’s his intention to do that regardless of whether she decides to share a bed with him at any point. So, although I have a minor quibble with your premise, I agree with your conclusion.
The people don’t have to be equal in every way, but their needs, feelings, goals, etc. need to be treated as equally important.
“Unwitting accomplice” just doesn’t say equal consideration to me.
The day that Lex Luthor asked Superman out.
Plus this whole thing makes Deus remarkably scary. “Utopia justifies the means” (look up on TV Tropes, if you dare) is often the epitome of “the path to hell is paved with good intentions”.
Especially since the need to keep others as unwitting accomplices implies that they wouldn’t agree with Deus’ plan if they knew what it was. After all, as Maxima said, Deus is pro greed and his end goal is not the betterment of mankind bit to line his own pockets. If he ever came to believe that he could better achieve that goal through torturing small children, he would in a heartbeat
No, no, no! Deus is an advocate of “Ethical egoism”, a fairly esoteric moral theory, that I spent philosophy class in college defending on a lark. (And as a favor to the prof, since nobody else cared to.) Think Ayn Rand.
Deus is greedy, to be sure. But look at his interaction with that kid who gave him the bit of pottery in thanks for his killing the dictator: It’s one of his most treasured possessions, as he says, some things lose their value if you have to pay for them. Deus likes people being well off, having happy lives, so benefiting the people around him IS profit so far as he’s concerned. It’s a form of profit he’s greedily pursuing.
If you think a comparison to Ayn Rand is somehow something that would excuse Deus’ behavior, you are mistaken.
Think Ayn Rand? Ewww, gag
And dude, I checked, ethical egotism is the “only self interest matters”, and while conceivable you might include possibility of repercussion in the tally, historically it has just been used to justify doing what they already wanted to do in the first place. Archtypical corporate bosses thinking whether or not to pollute low income neighborhoods for profit, deciding that only their self interest matters, they don’t live in the neighborhood and don’t have to suffer the consequences, then doing it and patting themselves on the back because Ayn Rand said it was all completely justified.
And that is what I was pointing out in the first place, that if Deus was presented with a choice of getting money or general wealth for doing morally reprehensible actions, he would, he has, and we’ve seen it. He sells evil artifacts, regardless of the fallout, just because it gets him money.
I’m told Ayn Rand had an affair with a married man, while married, and justified it with essentially “we both really want to” (and therefore fuck the spouses). That’s not how marriage is supposed to work, dear.
I was even less inclined to read her books after that. But I can see the appeal to people worried about “ethics” but unwilling to follow through on their morals: Now they have someone who uses far too many words to dress up “do whatever you like” as if that was “ethical” in and of itself.
Compare Ducky’s “The ethical man knows it is wrong to cheat on his wife, whereas the moral man actually wouldn’t.”
Well, Ayn Rand won’t even admit it’s wrong to cheat when it’s her that’s cheating.
What’s the point of being rich in a poverty-ridden slum? If wealth is relative (and it really is) then if you’re truly greedy and seek pleasure while avoiding pain, it’s SO much nicer to be the richest man in a rich society, than to be the richest man in a poverty ridden slum.
Thus, the psychology of the Gated Community and why the richest Angelinos can live within a mile of a homeless encampment, bark and plead for the downtrodden, and not spend a fucking dime of their own money or minute of their own time addressing it directly, instead trying to force the vanishing middle-class to do their charity works (and pay for them) themselves.
Deus doesn’t want to live in a slum, he doesn’t want it outside his window, he doesn’t want to dodge it on the way to Chez Snobby down-town, so he’s DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT himself (and surprise! he can make a profit doing that!!)
Reagan ALMOST had it right-a rising tide DOES lift all the boats, but you can’t sit back and rely on someone else to lift the tide-and Deus appears to understand this. Just as he understands that living in a corrupt, impoverished hellpit still sucks if you’re in the only palace on the island.
His Greed is doing more for the common people (and the poor) than all the altruism in Washington D.C. and San Francisco.
… Dude, ‘wealth is relative’ is the line of thinking that if everyone else gets as well off as you, then you are less wealthy. It is the 1984 logic of turning the world into a perpetual on fire dumpster pile just so you can maintain the position at the top even if the position at the top is way worse off even at the very top at the actively on fire dumpster pile than the lowest of the normal world.
Also, Reagan’s policies on economic are historically bad ideas, so not sure why you are referencing him
First, were those REAGAN’s policies, or Tip O’Neal’s? remember who holds the purse strings, writes the budget, and has to pass it before it ever reaches the POTUS.
If Congress (at the time, pretty much entirely the party opposed to Reagan) didn’t want to spend it, they didn’t have to. Line-item VETO didn’t exist, the President can request, and the President can refuse (Veto), but Congress has power of the purse, and you can trace all those ‘bad economic decisions’ to congress, because they’re the ones who made those decisions.
The counter-example exists: Clinton post 1994 is STILL respected (even with the circus of Whitewater) more than his successors or many of his contemporary predecessors back to the Johnson era, for being the first in generations to actually get any traction on reducing the debt. He didn’t do that himself, he had a Congress willing to do that after 1994 and up until GW bush fucked it up by winning the 2000 election.
Okay, rant over. back to your response.
If you measure it by pursuit of power, you’re correct-being the wealthiest poor person in a slum is higher relative wealth, but it’s not higher relative to the wider environment. (Big Fish, Small Pond versus wanting to be a Whale in the Ocean). Deus has a broader perspective than most earthbound rich people-he’s not comparing himself to some terrestrial millionaire here, he’s looking at the wider galaxy and saying, “Damn, I need get bigger, but if earth’s a slum, I CAN’T!”
It’s who you compete against. If you only look downward for your goal, you’re right, but Deus is looking outward and realizing that to be a player, he’s gotta improve his groundwork and base or it falls apart.
Dude, Reagan’s economic deals include *high treason*, and his more general and disastrous policies of cutting taxes were what he ran on. Im not crucifying him for some budget item outside of his control, I’m judging him based on the economic policies that he ran on and the actions he took personally
As towards the relative wealth again, you are ignoring that I’m criticizing the logic itself and not just the circumstances that someone might apply it. Or you are ignoring that nuiking the universe other than earth would also accomplish ‘relative wealth’
These alignments he speaks of are already happening. Go look at a map of the MidEast pre British “let’s mess with it” and now.
It’s worth noting that he’s basically doing the same thing the British did. Fixing the world through empire is not something with a history of working well.
Close, but not quite. “The White Man’s Burden” was what the British public *thought* was happening, but the truth was simple economic extraction and exploitation. The colonies were rarely given substantial industrial investment, so they could remain a market for British manufactured goods. And when they left, they wanted to keep a government in place that focussed on resource extraction and supply, to keep them dependant on foreign goods.
What Deus is doing is more akin to what happened with Japan in the wake of the Meiji restoration: Apply the lessons learned from centuries of industrial development to take the shortest route.
Of course, he also has the problem of a very large and powerful army that needs to justify its own existence, and a lot of weak rivals that they likely have had historic grudges against…
Colonel, remember that there are fights that should not be fought.
He practically said so and has proven that he has a super intellect. You win only the word fights he lets you win.
Oh I bet your pro list is longer~ anyways I really like how smart he going about this I kinda hope he wins kinda don’t know his whole view
I mean, if a dude looking like that offered me the literal world I’d be game. Just saying.
Yeah, Deus! Quantity of entries doesn’t make up for the lack of quality.
Actually, I just had a thought… Deus is thinking too far ahead, compared to what’s feasible reasoning for ordinary human intellect. Is anyone else starting to think he’s a time traveler/regressor, and just going by apredetermined list of steps to tilt history in a certain direction?
Was it ever established if he’s a super? He certainly has the right build for it.
Either way, it might just be that some form of hyper-intelligence (to the point of simulating large-scale history in his head for quasi-precognition) might be among his powers.
While not explicitly stated, the conversation on pages 1038-1040 HEAVILY hinted he has super intelligence.
Don’t Forget the Lightning Button. how many people have on of those?
OK. An HPMOR sort of dictatorship – only I can stop the coming apocalypse, so I will sweep all those opposed out of the way.
I was thinking Xena crossed with Gold, of the Metal Men.
“Deus: I never understood that. How do you maneuver a ten foot pole through a dungeon?
Max: Maybe it was collapsible?”
Since you bring it up, the only time I remember a group actually using one, it was a fancy custom job made by some blacksmith that folded into uneven 6′ and 4′ sections with a hinge that you could lock in position, shod with steel caps and came with a few of attachments including one- and three-pronged hooks, a scoop, and a long spikey bit. Think the party’s ranger carried it around like a clumsy staff, although he didn’t fight with it. It didn’t actually get much use before it got turned to stone along with the ranger when they were surprised by a basilisk.
Most parties just resorted to prodding and tapping things with a spear or staff, often ones looted from the corpses of people they’d killed.
My ten foot pole is a grower not a shower.
How does a 10 foot pole turn to stone? It doesn’t have eyes to see.
Fun fact, and probably a huge blow to Deus’ ego; There is no such thing as greed, greed is just an excessive and unhealthy amount of want.
“Max: }sigh{ Oh my god. Add “You exhaust me.” to the Cons.”
Deus: No, that’s on the “Pro” list, but we haven’t reached that point in our relationship yet.
Throws win free internet coupon up.
+1 Internet. Perfect “last word”.
Well done sir. Well done.
*squiiints at what he presumes are before and after maps of Africa’s east coast on the wall*
I’d very much like to see those maps as separate images.
Deus be like “I can create Utopia and still end up as the person who owns the most, either in property or respect.
I don’t think Deus is evil. Just egotistical. But he has no use for all the money in the world if the world is a burned out husk.
He might resort to acts that are considered evil, but they are a means to an end
Fun fact:
Utopia is a dystopian book in, which Utopia is the dystopian location.
If David Xanatos and Ozymandias had a child, he’d be the one envious of Deus in school.
Boojum FTW!
To be clear, are we talking about Ozymandias the 18th Century fictional character, or the 21st Century silver fox cartoon character? Because I can’t see the second Ozy as envious of anybody but Mrs. Mudd.
Ozymandias from the Watchmen.
Deus: “We have to date. Your hair color coordinates with my outfit.”
I am starting to suspect that his facial scar was the result of his previous attempt to date a super ending in a breakup that went REALLY badly.
In the 6th panel, it seems Deus has gone to the Tony Robbins School of Smiling! lol
Some commenter was upset that Dave never drew the teeth in when Deus smiled. This is the result of that.
Pressuring someone to date you is never a good idea least of all Max but hey I’ve started the timer so we’ll see how long before she storms out…
Legally she can’t date him he’s her assignment to find out wth he’s up too. And find out where all these supers are coming from.
It’s nice that he chose to be the grinning kind of supervillain instead of the scowling kind.
And the David Xanatos kind instead of the Lex Luthor kind.
In the right circumstances, “Exhausts me.” can be a positive.
Ironically this is part of the reason why Deus may not go full super villain.
Why waste the chance of dating someone he is interested in by being a two bit villain? Better to achieve the rank of Xanatos villain so that while they know you are evil or dubious it will not matter! The Xanatos gambit is the ultimate scheme for any villain to achieve!
Not gonna lie: I ship it
Deus’ face in panel six could be a Slack icon for :exasperatingly-smug:
I don’t think Deus IS evil. Or greedy. He is trying to save and improve the world, with the least upheaval and destruction he can manage, and acts whatever role will help him achieve that. He certainly has no reason to be greedy for money – with his super intellect, he can obtain any amount of money up to and including *ALL OF IT* any time he wants. *I* can think of half a dozen ways to do so, and I am not hyperintelligent (yet). And I have actually done what he is doing in one RPG I used to play. Never got far enough to have to deal with the other player characters, but I was well on my way the last time we played that one. (I started with Croatia back when Serbia was trying to “ethnically cleanse” it.)
I don’t think he’s the “MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Mine, all MINE!!!” kind of evil, but I certainly don’t believe he’s good for a second. I think he’s more the “I have my plans, and at best, I want you to work with me to achieve them. If you don’t, I’ll find a way to go around you to get to the end I want, or at worst, THROUGH you.” kind.
I bet my con list is longer than my pro list.
I bet some of his pro items fall into her con list.
Google says piri-piri is a pepper (explains the list of stuff it appears in), and is available in several different breeds. One of the hottest clocks in at 175,000 Scoville.
…I’ll avoid the Sydney joke.
Deus is not evil because he already proved it, yep simple as that. He got a portal to a high tech space station and did not bother to buy any of the tech that would have wiped Earth in some fashion (bio plague,economic, irradiated,etc).
Any decent SFF gamer would see the possibilities in that one trip alone.
I have the strong suspicion(and hope) that “planet destroying tech” is not sold by your average sleazy seller and not sold to anyone without the proper credentials.
If I’m right that would imply though that Cora passed a background check and maybe even an psychological check, since she is the captain of a ship with anti-matter cannons, which makes my story a little less believable.
My counter to this would be that she probably didn’t have a dirty background before applying, since she at first didn’t have the tools to do serious damage(remember she started out without limbs and poor)
Transcription text headcanon accepted!
(“Legally” we have to go with what happens WITHIN the comics pages as the only true canon, unless DaveB specifically states it really did happn…but I could totally see it actually happening “off camera” as it were…)