Grrl Power #1136 – Doppelprankster
Introducing Chimyriad, at least formally. Do recall she’s a Patreon cameo, but she fills an important slot in Archon’s intelligence branch. It’s more of a twig, really, since Archon itself is really small, so they need everyone they can get.
Arc-Dark is like Archon’s Section 31. They don’t go out of their way to deliver extra-judicial… well, justice, but it does happen sometimes. Mostly they’re pure intelligence gathering, and they get a lot of mileage out of no one knowing they exist. Invisibility and shapeshifting are pretty useful in a fight, but they’re way more useful for gathering evidence, especially if no one knows there might be invisible and/or shapeshifted people about.
It’s like being an illusionist. Potentially incredibly useful, but as soon as someone knows their opponent is an illusionist, most of their arsenal evaporates. That’s why every illusionist should still know a telekinesis spell, and also maybe fireball, so when their opponents go, “Don’t worry, it’s not really a dragon!” you can keep ’em guessing. I’d also get a lot of mileage out of “Summon Tiger Trap,” and then cover it with ground textures that aren’t conspicuously offset by a few pixels. If people think their next step could be their last, you can really slow them down.
The February Vote Incentive is up! Yes, I know it’s late and I still owe you guys one for March. I already have the pencils mostly done, so hopefully you guys won’t be waiting for it all month?
Kat, you remember, the newly minted were-hare? Well, someone forgot to give her a copy of “Are You There God? It’s Me, Were-Margaret.” She has questions is what I’m saying.
Variant outfits and lack thereof 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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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.
Re: the line at the end, I already have boobs but if I were a shapeshifter I’d still probably mostly do things involving them. Don’t worry it’s normal. We can call it the Sciona complex.
You may mean cosmetic changes for comfort, clothing, or seduction, but my brain goes to… I can’t share the image here, but it comes up if you google ‘calm your tits no’
I kinda want to give them brains and have a cool talk with the Character Twins (I call them that because I want to experience character growth, badum pshhhh)
But failing that, yes, what you said. It’s hilarious tbh
Eris/Discord is a chaos godess in the Greek roman panthion (im actually fuzzy on if they are diffrent godesses or 2 names for the same one
When I studied Classical Greek I was taught to pronounce it “Ah-tay.” Turning an “a” from an “ah” or “aaa” into an “ey” is a distinctive weirdness of English . . .
It’s not just “a” that puts the weight in our gait when we create that plate.
The great vowel shift strikes again.
entry shot: (my brain): whoa, cool, Dave brought in Syndrome?
As a trans person, my preferred power would of course be shapeshifting. My second would be pyrokinesis, but that’s for purely political reasons.
Pyrokinesis is very handy when you find yourself in a flame war.
id take portals. need something burned? open a portal from the target to the sun.
If you scale any power hard enough, you can do anything. If you can freely open portals between any two points in space, why can’t you instantly stretch small clusters of your molecules to any location and transform them into active nuclear explosions? Then shapeshift yourself so fast you essentially teleport?
My power? I can summon plastic bags! *proceeds to wipe the floor with the opposition*
onlooker: but…all they can do is…how are they WINning?
Onlooker obviously has not read Worm.
That fantastic piece of writing was an eyeopener for creative uses of “worthless” powes, it has really ruined most common “supers comics” because they have so uninteresting power sets.
WARNING: This bag is not a toy. To avoind danger of suffication, keep this plastic bag away from babies, children, and the alt-right.
Summon plastic bags inside someone’s lungs, their brain, a really well compressed little one inside their heart and kidneys, the massive tangle of plastic bags that every person ever has squirreled away in their house somewhere inside their stomach… Just every conceivable place inside a person summon a plastic bag in there.
There are many many scientific reasons NOT to portal the sun to the Earth if the portals allow the passage of pressure differences, which would be required for that power stunt to work…
Earth’s atmosphere is so much lower pressure than anything you could be portaling from the sun that you’d effectively open a siphon and you’d be destroying a LOT more than just the target. You’d be destroying yourself and probably the entire planet far faster than you could respond.
As a trans person with political inclinations and goals for the future, “paradox-free limited omnipotence” sounds about right for my preferred power. If I can’t get it, sure, sign me up for shapeshifting, but better make it potent, fast, and adaptable. I want to be able to set up a specific form as my default, be safe from my own shapeshifting and not suffer from critical survivability failure as a result of it, I don’t want to wait for an hour for any change, and you better fucking believe I want to be able to sprout wings or flightsuit membranes.
I mean, potent shapeshifting essentially grants you many Naruto powers. Kimimaro, that bone-wielding dude? Good shapeshifters can do this. I’m fine with that. But if I’m adaptable, I should be able to cure most injuries or illnesses. That’s a good thing to do.
Are you perchance the Lysbeth from the Marked for Death thread? If so, small internet! *waves hello*
Very ready to discuss gender as it relates to loki and how ya boy loki is significantly less boyish than pop culture makes them out to be.
That dude’s got major genderfuckery going on and is the mother of several other significant figures in the mythos.
Hey, one of the most fun Loki stories is the time he got Thor to dress in drag and impersonate Sif to flirt with a giant.
Loki is the GOAT.
It’s even funnier if you keep in mind that Thor had to dress as a woman, and take on the second most feminine role in western civilization (bride, after mother)….because he’d “lost his hammer.”
And It’s even funnier when you remember that what you guys talk is nothing else but wild schoolgirl fantasy of some american who has never studied mythical history of scandinavia
…what in the actual fuck are you on about, mate?
This is the Þrymskviða we’re discussing.
How do you make those characters?
Magick
Ooooooooooooooh.
Also Unicode, you can paste in a pretty large subset that the comments engine is ok with. Haven’t experimented for a while with exactly which ranges are permitted though, but it’s pretty forgiving about skipping disallowed characters and keeping the rest of the comment.
I’m sorry but that sounds pretty far fetched and confusing. Magick sounds more believable and understandable to me.
A traditional answer. Succinct, but all-encompassing.
Yeah I don’t know what that guy’s going on about. I instantly knew the part of the eddas being talked about. Thor wasn’t just crossdressing, he was impersonating his mother. There’s a famous sketch of his drag being prepared by Freya’s handmaidens, and her cats watching on in interest. Thor’s fist is clenched in defiance of the situation while Loki peeks in from around the corner laughing his ass off.
And the giant was all like “I heard you were hot, Freya, but I had no idea just how hot you are. All that muscle, and the beard. It really turns me on.”
What’s worse is that it WORKED.
Thor, a huge hairy man with a thick fucking beard… Managed to successfully disguise himself as Freyja. A warrior goddess of love and sex.
As I recall, the story involved a singularly impressive veil, and Loki giving a masterclass in misdirection & manipulation. X’D
It probably helped that cosmetics and the concept of facial hair removal left MUCH to be desired in those oldy times.
Thor being a muscular bride could be attributed to a hardy living as a war Godess.
All in all the giant figured he lucked out… right up to the moment Thor got his hammer back.
From what I remember, due to a really bad lice problem, the Norse were incredibly well-groomed.
I’m sure nobody wanted to be the one to point it out because it was just so pathetic.
Well, Loki did get to do the Mother thing themselves, with Sleipnir’s being the child of the Stallion (male adult horse) Svaðilfari and Loki, who seduced Svaðilfari on Odin’s orders. So the two main characters in that story have, according to you, each fulfilled one of the two most feminine roles in Western Civilization.
Another example of why the fragile, hyper-masculine nonsense coming off so many self-proclaimed Asatruan cryptofascist/openly fascist knuckleheads is just pure rubbish.
Western civ has lots of rigidly define gender nonsense, yes, but it _also_ has a metric fucktonne of violations of same. X’D
Can you imagine some jackbooted cosplayer angrily proclaiming, “HANDS OFF OUR GENDER NONCONFORMISTS, THEY ARE AN INTEGRAL PART OF OUR SUPERIOR WESTERN IDENTITY!” X’D
Its odd and disturbing how much beastiality and incest there is in those old religions.
They didnt have video games and the internet for entertainment yet.
I may need to recheck my reading of the Edda, but I believe that Odin only commanded Loki to distract the stallion. It was Loki’s idea to apparently seduce said horse and get a child out of the experience (Loki would likely need to have remained a Mare through the entire gestation of the offspring to bring it to term).
It’s been thirty years, but my reading implied that Loki basically led the stallion off with the best lure he could think of, and then was “mysteriously absent” for a long while, returning – looking embarrassed – with the colt Sleipnir in tow.
Basically, what should have been a one-night-stand turned into a several month commitment. Probably because he was form locked whilst pregnant. And what was he going to do afterwards? Abandon his son? Even Loki was never that wretched.
Of course, all of Asgard watched his return, so that was one hell of a walk of shame. X’D
#LokiDidNothingWrong
hmmm? so far only mentioned Loki becoming a mare and begetting Sleipnir. iirc, he also begot Jörmungand, the serpent that surrounds the world; and Fenrir (Fenrisúlfr), the wolf………and, normally enough, Hel (regardless of Marvel’s retcon)
In the case of Loki’s three other famous offspring, it’s not mentioned specifically if they were in a female form when they engaged in their procreation, so my guess is that it’s assumed they were male for the process, as opposed to the origins of Sleipnir where it is explicitly implied Loki was on the receiving end. Though it would be interesting to know which ones call Loki dad/mom.
Loki is also the god of everything wrong with humanity. Loki has stories depicting cowardice, spite, betrayal, rampant lying, broken promises, creating discord through manipulation, and general destruction. Loki’s gender fuckery was also a strong moral negative, and the products of it became the giant monsters that contributed to Ragnarok and the downfall of the gods and an age of catastrophe for humanity.
You’re buying into Snorri’s Christianization of everything.
The only thing Loki did wrong was get caught.
Much of that is later inventions and interpretations … Loki was a much more complex entity before the christians got their pants in a twist.
Not to mention Marvels character assassination and general fuck over when picking cool names and never bothering to actually read the source material.
I mean loki could and did change genders fairly often.
this
The incredulous part is that Maxima doesn’t seem to know that, given her interests. She knows who the Greek goddess of mischief is, but not that Loki was gender-fluid, not male? Also if she was gonna use a Greek myth, why not Eris?
Like me, Maxima might have gotten most of her Norse mythology from the Marvel comics and movies. :)
It may largely have to do with how much actual interest she had in college, or, even more to the point, what the interests of her professors were in college.
To hold a Commission in the military generally requires a college degree-whether that’s from a service academy or civilian university, it’s one of those requirements that only get waived under extreme conditions. Generally if you’re not a humanities major you’re probably NOT going to know more than what’s needed to pass your mandatory humanities classes-if Max’s prof preferred Greco-Roman to Norse myths, that’s what she’s going to have in-depth knowledge of, since the rest of her degrees are probably aimed at her profession, not at any sort of deep idle interest.
Aka she might know the Greek gods backwards-and-forwards, but she may well hve only a “Marvel Cinematic Universe” level of understanding of the Norse pantheon or the Eddas.
AKA she’s a highly educated person, but that doesn’t mean she knows how many times Loki swapped genders or what trickster-shit Odin really was.
Seems kind of early for an after-action report. They took care of everyone who attacked, but there might still be time to go after those who decided to flee instead.
what Chimyriad was doing, lurking about, taking out hostiles, sneaking up on people to dope them. Shapeshifters get the stealth missions. Of course how many are waiting for pick up vs how many are painted on the walls is a question.
Yeah, they haven’t even secured the facility yet…
And they just revealed their second greatest hidden asset to anyone or anything watching (and yes, including that Smug Bastard)
Dude, I’d bet a paycheck Big D knew about me before Archon did.
Certainly!
Agreed, they just seconds ago downed the last active combatant in the atrium. Right now they should be scrambling to scour the rest of the facility and catch every single cult member, staff, civilian, or what-have-you on the premises.
Yes, Archon has more personnel working on that, inside and outside, seen and unseen, but the A team is standing there like the battle is over because they won the most visible encounter. If Sydney were here, she’d be screaming at them to scour the dungeon for more encounters and loot, er, evidence.
Bu…bu I did it gud…
Dun yoo beleeb me?
*sad chibi noises*
You did good, it’s the rest who should be ashamed of themselves
Chimmy you rocked it, fantastic spy mission with great initiative and execution. But surely you didn’t run every nook and cranny of the entire base in the last 5 minutes since the assault/battle began, because that would’ve a) required super speed, and b) been a far from optimal strategy for both you and the rest of the team.
Even with the last big bad down, there’s still a lot of work to be done to ensure the whole facility is secure, like deactivating self destruct macguffins, and arresting secretaries or janitors with boring-yet-valuable intel about daily operations. Followed by lots and lots of processing and paperwork.
D’awwww, she’s so dang cute! We really only need one or two to interrogate, make sure the rest are cleaned up for her dinner. She’ll need at least a dozen bottles of wine. I think she said Italian DOCG reds are the best for pairing with human? Amarone is a classic. And dessert! Get 3 dozen of those chocolate cheesecakes from the Belgian Pâtisserie downtown, you know the one next to the theater? Move quick now, we don’t want to keep her waiting …
Hmph!
You’re making me sound like a glutton.
Just what exactly do you expect me to do with all that extra mass?
Apologies – I shouldn’t have assumed.
Although, an interesting thought occurs. Could you clone yourself with the extra mass, so that you had a hive-mind swarm of bodies?
Chimyriad said, right before the last active combatant got sleepytimed, that all the staff got ninjaed
They are still in an enemy stronghold, and Suck Hole just said there were more of them, how do they know they managed to get all cameras and the other Descended Bunkers aren’t watching a livestream right this minute?
Well, I won’t speak for The Author, but it seems like it would be good tradecraft in a situation like this for the one doing all that ninja-ing to have specifically opened the system up to Leon, whilst snoopin’ & poopin’.
The immediate report, while action is still likely, is call a Hot-Take. A pre-AAR so to speak.
AAR includes analysis of actions, and blame game to try to make next one better.
As much as a mythology nerd as I am I am having trouble remembering anything this goddess did. Also given the tendencies of the Greek pantheon a trickster feels redundant. After all between Aphrodite, Hermes, Pan, Dionysus, Eris, Eros, Zeus, and several more, with their antics a trickster feels unnecessary. Heck we also had Daemons, Nymphs, and a slew of minor gods of the local areas known for the same antics (not much different than fae stories at that level)
I didn’t even know she existed, and I thought I was quite well-read on the subject. Guess not.
Just looked it up and she’s either the firstborn of Zeus or one of the many children of Eris. The latter is especially galling since I was a Discordianist for quite a while.
Might be a minor local deity. Unfortunately the earliest post Mycenaean literature we have to go on wasn’t written by the mystery cults or religious institutions but by Homer and Hesiod. Who we have reason to believe smudged stories and connections in order to make them fit their personal views or Hesiod would find relations based on some thematic or one time encounter story. The problems with stories like these is what is canon didn’t matter to the believers and the most devout believers didn’t share stories too openly. Granted it’s not as bad as with Norse as we do have plenty of art and temple ruins to tell what was what with and others following up the stories.
One thing about a mystery cult is, they do not make their teachings public. So when all members of a mystery cult die, all their stories myths and tales are lost.
Whenever someone mentions Homer and his writings i see Homer Simpson in a toga spouting garbage and the people eating it up and interpreting it until it BECOMES something profound.
I KNOW thats not how it is but i would watch that episode of Simpsons all the same.
Not that far off really
Is there any Greek deity that isn’t a trickster? Regardless, I don’t think that obviates the need for a dedicated trickster god. Someone’s got to provide some perspective! I suppose the alternative would be a dedicated anti-trickster deity, however that would work. Deity of truth and clarity?
I’m not very well-versed in Greek mythology, but I don’t remember Hades doing much tricking.
I believe Hades did the seeds of a pomegranate thing to keep his abducted bride for part of the winter…..because Demeter grieves
No, that was a mistake on her part: she was told to not eat anything in the Underworld if she wanted to return, but, well, she naturally got hungry and thought a couple seeds would be okay, fortunately she didn’t eat more
It’s because he only ate six that there is only six months of winter (which is false anyway)
It isn’t “six months of winter.”
It’s “six months in the Underworld.
Autumn is the result of Demeter being distraught at Persephone’s eminent departure, and Spring is her joy and anticipation of her daughter’s return.
Thank you, had always been told it was six months of winter to go with the six months she spent in the Underworld, and it just never sounded right (just as well she hadn’t eaten 15 seeds… )
There are four known versions of this story.
One where Hades tricks her into eating the seeds
One where she eats the seeds knowing they will bind her to the underworld
One where there are no seeds
And
One where there is no Hades and Persephone rules the underworld
-note this is the older Mycenaean version and the underworld god might have been Poseidon who was also her father in this pantheon, but it’s not clear. Mystery cults stuff and some evidence (nothing concrete) that Hades was a carved off deity from Poseidon at some point during the Greek dark ages and this story changed to accommodate him. Also Persephone was Dispoina …also
POSEIDON, Demeter, and Dispoina all took the forms of horses rather frequently. They were also kind of a Trinity the king and the two queens.
Sounds like maybe a variation on the third one: she knowingly ate the seeds, but only because she was very hungry, not because it would bind her (because if she knew it would bind her, why stop? she’s bound after the first one)
And even back then, winter didn’t last half the year (not in the Med anyway)
Your standard of ‘winter’ is actually pretty relative. as a Kid, I remember doing trick-or-treat in knee deep snow where I grew up, and now I live somewhere where a couple november snows can paralyze half the state.
Myths are HEAVILY influenced by their geography, just like what constitutes ‘winter’ versus ‘fall’ or ‘summer’.
Tricking women into the sack so they could breed protagonists is what Zeus did most of the time.
Frequently, not all that much deception involved.
It was just, “Zeus is a rapist, actually.” *facepalm*
It all started with his own sister, Hera.
Also what SmugD is doing, but he’s allowed to because they are not being ‘forced’
I really think they should rename Arc-Dark. I mean just HOW did they miss “D-Arc”
Take my imaginary upvote!
and mine. and someone’s axe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwoWo4ChYuQ
Denied.
There is no image more amusing than an easily entertained chibi Chimyriad stomp-waddle-dancing like a 3 year old giggling “ARCDARK ARCDARK ARCDARK” several times over.
It’s the very awkward clunk of it that makes it fun! X’D
…Though there is a webcomic called “Puck” that does a gender flip on the eponymous protagonist.
Not that this undercut’s Max’s point. Just thought I’d mention it.
I find it amusing how people are debating the gender of loki and other gods when most normal people would go with the gender they are in popular media. Seems to be something you see in comments sections often. People have the mistaken impression that everyone shares their knowledge on something.
People who know arcane stuff like to talk about it with other people who know arcane stuff.
I began reading about Norse mythology years before Lee and Kirby made Thor into a superhero, or introduced his wicked brother Loki. Of course the version I read wasn’t explicit about Loki being Sleipnir’s mom. But it did have the story of Loki getting Thor to cross-dress. So the popular media version isn’t my reference point.
You’ve never actually seen a supercluster legit nerding out before, have you?
Is that what a group of nerds is called? A supercluster of nerds? :)
According the leading authority in the field nerdology, Doctor Professor Zach Weinersmith, yes.
Ah the SMBC scholar. :)
Ah yes, SMBC – come for the deeply nerdy jokes wrapped in base, lowbrow humor; stay for the surprisingly deep commentary* on world sociopolitical issues.
* e.g. his books Soonish and Polystate. But also some of the daily strips just absolutely nail it.
Would people debate those things if they assumed everyone shared their knowledge? I think it’s rather the reverse.
See Bharda’s supercluster comment above. Often, the more specialized the knowledge, the more intense the debate.
Loki is literally mother to a 6 legged horse.
and a wolf, and a snake,, and a super zombie.
Parent. There’s no stories as to whether he’s the father or mother of them. It’s actually assumed he was the father.
Sleipner, however, he definitely IS the mother.
8 legged
Seven, he is a stallion after all ;)
I don’t understand your comment… If people believed everyone else shares their knowledge on a subject, they would also believe there is no reason to debate it, nor even bring it up. We don’t debate the sky being blue and we only mention it as being blue to point out that some things don’t need debate or proof.
A true shape-shifter would be a lot of fun to be if you think about it. If I could be anything I wanted to, I’d mess with people as well >:-). Just enough to get the “GAH! Stop that!” lol. Imagine you work in an office, walk up to the printer, open the lid and insert the paper you wanted to copy, push the button and they printer starts to moan like a woman in “heat” there’s be a “GAH! WTF” moment there heheh. Then I’d morph back into the 63 year old grey-haired man that I am and hand you back the paper. “It’s over there” pointing while laughing. Or someone trying to pick a fight, I’d roar and morph into the Hulk! Such a long list….
Chimyriad also changes wardrobe when changing appearance, I’ve noticed. But it did get me to thinking…Does that mean her power also extends to a layer or two of clothing (like Max’s force field does) so that her clothes also change with her or does she change shape to include only the appearance of clothing?
Inquiring minds want to know…
I had the same thought, that she’s actually naked and “grows” her clothes as needed. Might be cold in the winter though. There are ways around that, including “growing” a thick layer of fat.
I never heard of Ate the goddess of mischief, but is her role similar to Eris, the goddess of discord? She’s a way more popular goddess, there’s a dwarf planet named after her and she was a recurring character on Billy and Mandy
Thats CV :D
Hi im Eris goddess of discord, cause of drama the Illiad. I have planet named after me, but most importantly im actor. I star in Dreamworks movie Sinbad and also have role in Billy and Mandy.
Chimi is completely unharmed as well, so looks like all that torture just did nothing, which I’d expect with someone who has THAT much control over their anatomy. I’d dare say that unless someone kills Chimi outright she can likely recover from just about anything. Her mass changes and adjusts with her power, so wouldn’t surprise me if her head could be cut off and her power could completely grow her a new body in moments.
Still, I wonder if there’s limits to her body growth and reduction. I mean, can she shrink down to doll size or grow to godzilla size or is it more between midget and hulk?
Honestly, I love that she’s not the basic appearance shifter, look-a-like but a full body horror level, shape shifter queen
Healing takes energy and resources from a normal human, and since both are limited at any given time, healing is a slow process. A shapeshifter of Chimy’s level doesn’t have that limitation so “healing” is just a matter of expending a bit more energy to make it happen. I’m sure if enough is done over a period of time she’d get tired and need to rest. Or like in the case of “The Thing” (1987) where the ONLY way to “kill” it is to damage EVERY cell at once. Clearly cold didn’t do that. Chimy isn’t a “mimic” level shapeshifter, but close. I’m sure she could look like something close to her mass, but would still feel blood warm to the touch.
Those are some interesting assumptions you’re making. <.<
How would Chimyriad look as..Selena Gomez?!?!?
Exactly like Selena Gomez, presumably. What is the actual question you’re asking?
Thank you. That was really making me insane. ^_^’
I would argue that Loki is more of a genderfluid individual.
100% that, and add pansexual to the description. Loki presents as a man a fair chunk of the time, but he also gave birth to Odin’s horse while posing as a mare. That goes well beyond dedication to a prank or a weird (sort of) father’s day gift.
And where the hell is Anansi the Spider on that list?
as much as i love Anansi, he’s also a little bit more niche compared to the others. Loki got big thanks to Marvel, Shakespear made Puck known in every high school ever, Hermes exists in pretty much every aspect of life, Coyotes have basically become the animal stand-in for trickery, and Goku has kept the Monkey King in pop culture since the 90s. Anansi jsut doesn’t have that sort of connection yet.
blame DC, they have their own version of Anansi as a superhero, but almost never use them. I think the last biggest use I saw of them outside of comics was an episode of Static Shock.
Yep, I have decent nerd cred and hadn’t heard of Anansi until I picked up a copy of American Gods.
You guys didn’t get to hear about Anansi in school?
I recall being first exposed to Anansi in Elementary school, back in the 80’s.
I heard of Anansi in Disney’s Gargoyles and World of Darkness rp books.
In rural Oklahoma? The only reason I knew about a lot of stuff was because I was an avid reader and found it on my own.
My school, only ever brought up Anansi during “black history month” AKA the half-assed attempt to be inclusive of anything Non-European in the lesson plans regarding folklore, culture, history, etc…
‘They’re like Archon’s section 31’ is…not a comforting phrase, considering Section 31 is a genocidal terrorist cell.
February 20 was my birthday. It was also the day you recommended the Vixen War Bride Series. I bought all five books, and passed the recommendation along on Jennifer Crusie’s blog. Who is Jennifer Crusie?
Today is another “Good Book Thursday” on Argh Ink. The series is being talked up by various other posters. They’re thanking me, so I’m thanking you. :)
As I have a number of my own shapeshifters that mimic clothing on their bodies I just assume she is also mimicking clothing. Most shapeshifters do In these kinds of stories
Ideally there should be *no blame* in an AAR. Only a review of what worked and what didn’t. When you bring blame into it, people clam up on both issues and solutions leaving you open to repeating or even worsening the problems the next time. I agree, this is not the place to talk like a pirate. They need to finish securing the crime scene and dealing with the results of the experimental prisoners. The AAR is for after you are back at Archon
AARs are one of the most important facets of trained personnel and very often get overlooked by everyone else. (Debriefings likewise) They are not ‘supposed’ to be punishment but many take them that way and some supervisors revel in using them as punishments. They are not fun most of the time. They are not exciting most of the time. They are often embarrassing or just plain boring. My company has them in the case of ‘incidents’. (Company speak for damages done to utility lines that we are responsible for) I have been involved in one and it was exceeding unpleasant, but I learned a lot. I will never make those mistakes again if I can help it. (Luckily, no one was hurt when the people who lied to me about where they were digging cut a gas line!)
AARs are not punishments although they can feel like it. They are supposed to be learning experiences and nothing in my experience teaches quite so well.
Até it’s more lunacy than mischief , at Maxima place I’ll put her mother Éris (Discordia) but for the trickster in Greek myth almost all the pantheon could be found guilty -apart Arès du to the lack of grey matter -.
Okay so she can change the appearance of her clothes too? Does that mean she’s not really wearing clothes and that’s he skin?
Okay, I like Chimy already. Also, learned about a new goddess today. So, bonus.
Been a while since Maxima showed us her dumb, at the grass roots and over-offended version of feminism. Can’t say I missed it.
So, there’s been so much positive feedback and enthusiasm for my character – and that is extremely lovely of you all, truly – including more than a few vocal calls for me to be a Regular.
Again, that is genuine lovely, and extremely heartwarming.
However…I feel compelled to emphasize a point: I am a guest. This is Dave’s house, and while I have explicitly given him my expressed, specific, fully unreserved and, again, explicit, release to use this character however he wishes, he is ultimately the only one with the right to decide if, how, when, why, and where Chimyriad could, would, or should appear.
I cannot emphasize that enough.
Also, there’s been an enormous amount of speculation and assumption and genuine nerd-work about my character’s abilities, appearance, etc. I am fantastically amused by it all, and would love nothing better than to do a big ol’ lore dump on you all. Chimyriad originated in a M&M game 20 years ago, any I’ve loved refining her over the years. However, again, while I have supplied all the relevant info to Dave, this is his comic, and his world, and he will be the ultimate arbiter of all that. I say this, because I want to make very clear the following point: I have complete, implicit trust in him and his ability to do my character full justice.
So! Be patient, and respectful, and continue to give your support to our fearless leader! I’m looking forward to all the coming year with you all. ^_^
Oh yeah, most of us who know you are real know that, but we would be saying this about an Original Character (and we have) as well :)
Any time a new character pops up, specially one that seems fun, gets calls to be made into a recurring character: wherever, and however, DaveB deems suitable
It’s very plausible that Chimy gets pushed back to the background (like she has been in the past two hundred pages) and never heard of again while DaveB moves on to something completely different (and Sydney pouts for five pages because she never got to meet Chimy, until she hears “Good evening Sydney” (in Sir Anthony Hopkins’ voice) from behind and turns to see herself with Chimy’s patented Creepo-grin)
Actually, she’d be more likely to see Anthony Hopkins, because I would totally do that. But it would be William Parrish, rather than Dr. Lector.
Moving into background works well though, for reasons you’ll hopefully get to see soonish. ^_^
Wolverine would be a better choice, since Sydney had him and her “shipped” (silly way to say relationship) in the early days of the comic. (insert high-pitched squeeeee here)
And it wasn’t even “Good evening” in that creepy voice, it was actually “Well hello Clarice”
A ‘ship’ is a fan-based non-canon relationship, usually between two people who have either nothing in common or never even met
hmmm…any chance that goofy cyclops is what Chimi really looks like? Arguments against would be serious depth perception development deficiency
I may have missed the comment, but isn’t it advisable to be sure the action is over before starting the after-action report, as in ‘full search of the facilities, be sure all prisoners have been rescued, recover the poor guy locked behind bars’? Oh, and get out of Dodge before the hydrogen bomb in the basement, the one with the dead man switch, goes ker-blammo?
Nah, the author would never do anything tricky like that.
I think you ran a D&D game for me once. O.O’
To be fair, Loki and Sun are both shapeshifters of an extreme power. Gender, race, biology itself stops mattering so much when you can turn into a horse, and get pregnant with another horse’s child.
The Greek mythos is a bit more complicated by the fact some entities have become so absorbed into popular culture that we may no longer recognize them as the names they originally meant. Nike is likely known better as a shoe brand than the Hoddess of Victory. And many people might be embarrassed to realize they didn’t know the Goddess of Revenge is simple Nemesis.
Well, very few moderns are aware of Nyx’s children in general, not just Nemesis.
A few know Oneiros, Thanatos, and Hypnos. But what Moros? Hemera? Aether?
They know of The Sisters, but not really their lineage.
To be fair even in ancient Greece few of them even had temples as there was a belief that the primordial gods were so far beyond humanity that there was no point in praying to them as they wouldn’t care. They were like the gods of the gods.
Quite right.
To paraphrase a half remembered line from…i don’t recall, “It makes about as much sense as praying to Gravity for special dispensation.”
Still, there were a few shrines.
“Pick up what you are laying down”? I suspect a passing familiarity with a certain “Fat Electrician”’s channel on YouTube.
It’s a common phrase.
I don’t think random youtubers own common expressions.
Try telling them that!
And while you are at it, try telling them there was a time before youtube and the internet!!
…I like her!
Hope this won’t be the last time we see her.
*happy chibi noises!*
I dunno why, but I like this new girl with the shifting and the funny sense of humor. :P
She’s not new, she’s been around for awhile
I feel dumb dumb for not noticing sooner then. T.T
Knowing that you are facing an illusionist still doesn’t tell you where, or even if, there is an anti-cavalry trench covered by an illusion of level ground.
Heck, the ‘fleet in being’ effect from your foe knowing an illusionist is involved may itself be more impactful that the illusions themselves.
Yeah, they will be constantly distracted by trying to figure out if that bird over there is an illusion covering reinforcements, or that tree that looks ‘different’, or dozens of other things
Meanwhile, the illusionist is sleeping in after creating an illusion of themselves so the enemy can see them doing weird shit :)
Can’t remember the name, but believe the African Trickster was a rabbit (can remember at least one story involving the rabbit where he stuck horns on his head with honey to sneak into an antelope-only party)
Anansi the Spider was the Wise One
Found the name of the tricksy wabbit: Adanko
Shapshifter party games:
Trolling for signs. – see how many people you can get to run into signs. pick anatomical part as a catagory. higher score for ‘unusual commentar and whiplash effect.
lower scores trolling construction sites :)
party games 2
Deja-mew: ala the matrix. can combine with whack a pole/wall for illusionists
for! hose sensory illusionists – webs, webs …. BEE! silly dance moves!
Chimyriad is GORGEOUS.
Chimyriad is pretty funny but I like her. her appearance is so attractive
Personally, I think that the female shapeshifter is being improperly introduced.
Consider the average woman and furniture.
After a time she dislikes something about it and rearranges it.
She can change her clothes and her jewelry.
But she can’t do anything about the face in the mirror.
Unless she can do magic like Dabbler or is a shapeshifter.
Dabbler is on record as never looking like less than a 10. But we can assume her love of sex has something to do with it.
A shapeshifter might be happy with a different number, but probably does a fair amount of variation around it.
I don’t know that she would ever do a creepy face.
The second rule of ARC-Dark is that if you say ARC-Dark repeatedly, it starts sounding really silly.
Which is the real reason for rule #1. Nobody takes you seriously if you have a silly sounding name.