Grrl Power #114 – Merchandising gives her the vapors
So the mosque affair shall remain as a noodle incident for now. Maybe I can save that for bonus material for the book. It seems like something that might run during the end credits of a movie.
Arianna’s obviously quite pleased with the Sydney development, but I think the marketer in her is making the PR Lady in her forget the hurdles of getting Syd to behave during a simple interview, and she may be overestimating her ability to temper Sydney’s behavior.
I almost have the Dabbler/Zintiel piece finished. The background isn’t coming out quite like I imagined it so it’s taking longer than I had hoped. Stone dungeon interiors isn’t a skill I’ve cultivated quite yet. But I do have something new for November in any case.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, Dabbler made a small cameo in Times Like This last week. I’m told she’s slated for another cameo in another comic in a week or so. Arianna obviously has been working overtime getting her guest spots. I’ll link it when it goes up.
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.
Woot new stuf
OMG Dave, you should totaly sell those collectables. Not at 20 bucks/orb ofcourse, but still
Arianna is EVIL.
But BRILLIANT.
But EVIL.
Makes me realize what a blight on humanity Pokemon actually is.
You just now realized that?
Look at Transformers, there has to be a dozen or more types of the same dammed charictor.
Megatron: Started out as a colt 45 with a lot of add ons, last tome I looked was a mack truck.
It was a Walther P-38, genius. Made famous by James Bond.
and learn to spell “character”
You missed his miss-typing of time, genius. Please try to be less condescending especially to those who have been here longer than you. We like a good discussion but draw the line at name calling.
Besides, no one here really cares about the make or model of a firearm. A gun is a gun.
Thor, don’t flamebait the Americans.
‘murica! chick-chick (sound of shotgun racking)
You can laugh if you want but the last time someone mentioned guns here we filled 5 pages of comments; https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/671
Gun fans are everywhere. Though there are a few more gun Nuts in America.
Hey! I resent that remark!
I’m Canadian!
So am I.
Aww :( One of the finer pleasures of life is good-natured teasing of U.S.A.ians (to avoid further agitating the Canadian readership). Guess I shall just have to settle for a good drink and some fine cheese, until the next issue. ;)
I thought cheese was bad for dogs? :)
Nope, you are probably thinking of chocolate, which is poisonous to dogs (and humans, for that matter, just needing much more to overcome their super-canine immunities). My constant companion, currently lying asleep by my side, is a Jack Russell Terrier, and she loves cheese! In fact, I recall that the American breeder’s association actually recommends it as a training tool or to put inside toys to keep bored pets entertained.
Explains my shep-mix always happy when the pizza guy came to the dog everyone else got barked at. (He always got at least a slice. And he LOVED peanut-butter during a downturn we both live on pb sandwiches for a week (well he had some food but the sandwiches helped stretch it out).
Onions are also poisonous to dogs and can lead to kidney failure.
my dog loved it, especially the hard cheese (it’s something he could “get his teeth into”)
The stereotypical Bond Gun is a Walther PPK, not a P-38.
And oddly, Bond himself didn’t like it at first…he was using a Beretta M9 at the start of Doctor No.
If memory serves, M had to physically confiscate Bond’s Beretta and send him to the Armourer for a Walther in order to stop him using a “lady’s handbag gun”. Which is as far as I’m going to take this particular topic, to avoid setting off another comment explosion.
The type of gun Megatron turned into was actually a specific model used on the show Man from U.N.C.L.E., just for the record. So Napoleon Solo rather than James Bond, but the original poster was close!
the current version of megatron is a spacecraft and the original sculpt now goes for over 60 bucks cause guys like me had moms who wouldn’t let them get him BECAUSE he turns into a gun
Also, the rules on ‘fake guns’ have tightened, meaning that the original version of him would no longer be legal to sell as a new toy, so there haven’t been any re-releases, which there have been for most of the others.
Ever since the live-action movie, Megatron has been various weird types of helicopter. Before that, Megatron was a gun, cannon or tank. In his original incarnation, Megatron transformed into a Walther pistol. I don’t think Megatron ever transformed into a truck.
Optimus Prime has always been the truck, although there were other trucks in the series like Ultra Magnus and Motormaster. Optimus was originally modelled on a Kenworth, but he/it was portrayed by a Peterbuilt in the movies.
Hmmmmm.
So Megatron = Evil = “foreign” gun, and Optimus Prime = Good = US-made working vehicle.
Interesting.
The original distinction made was: Autobots – Civilian machines, Decepticons – Military machines.
Not really, Soundwave is a boom box, with several underlings as cassette tapes. The constructicons are civilian construction equipment, Astrotrain is both a space shuttle and a civilian train.
Omega Supreme (autobot) was a military fortress and an ICBM.
Things really started getting hairy when Devastator lost the monopoly on the “merge into a giant” mode.
Don’t even get me started on when entire freaking cities started transforming.
Soundwave was a micro-casette recorder Blaster was the Boombox
Plus, Megatron had the evil machine voice, where as Prime always reminds me of Jhon Wayne
I take it that’s John Wayne’s lesser known sibling
Pretty much.
But it’s all for a good cause, trust her.
Oy! I have played every generation of pokemon game starting with pokemon red. I can’t help it. It is so addicting catching and evolving them. I’d stop playing my pokemon games, but then I’d probably start doing crack instead. Every time I hear people talking bout pet battles in World of Warcraft I feel this urge to start playing again. Just so you know, I can stop playing pokemon games whenever I want to. I just don’t want to right now.
It would probably be cheaper if you did just start taking Crack, marginally, at least.
Trust me, my friend…the pet battles are but a pale shadow of pokemon, but can be entertaining the first three fights
What I don’t get is that Arianna seems to think there will be a profit to her for this. Doesn’t she know that, as Archon is a government agency, any extra money made will go back into the budget?
This will be explained eventually.
Maybe she just likes to know the public is dancing at her fingertips…
Subcontractor deal?
It’s a black-ops-type organisation, at least officially. She probably made sure in negotiating her contract that she gets a bonus for reducing expenditure, to reduce the fallout if the media find out the government’s spending money on [redacted], plus a share of any profits. How that arrangement would work post-unveiling is less clear, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see something similar continue.
Like Scott’s Folly stated, it’s a black-ops organization and they usually have some sort of off-the-books methods of extra funding. Just ask the CIA of the ’60s and ’70s about SE Asian and NW S.American operations. Budget?!? We don’t need no stinkin’ budget.!.!.!
Lawrence Block had a series of books that sort of explained that in a very funny way. The Tanner series, the main charictor lost the ability to sleep. Realy great series.
I *TOTALLY* want to hear the team rocket song equivalent if Adrianna makes it a saturday morning cartoon thingy… something so catchy the real Sydney will someday sign it in the shower or after catching some baddies, for the LOLZ.
The name of the song could be themed after ferret orbs, “the universal measure of surprise”…
*Drool* gotta find that last one…stupid ultra rare (Pokemon/orb) WHY did they make so few of you!!!, lol great post.
Ha, I just realized one little but really beneficial boon from Sydney working for the government:
The pay for her AHDH meds.
That’s one financial burden she won’t have to worry about, given how poorly her shop has been doing.
I’m surprised they didn’t discuss the little detail that she’s a certified SCUBA diver. That’s going to be really handy when it comes to superheroic adventure.
Heck with that, can you imagine her insurance premiums? Especially now?
I would think that business at the shop will pick up once it’s known a real live superhero works there.
“Spend $100 and Sydney will sign your receipt.”
To be fair, I don’t think they know she’s certified for SCUBA – I think that was a personal flashback, rather than telling a story to someone at the ARC.
Re-read this; https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/554
I stand corrected. For some reason, it was just the fourth panel which stuck in the memory. Can’t think why.
Also her knowledge of fictional superheroes and villians may be useful in dealing with actual ones.
Her Bio section does mention that she’s surprisingly good at coming up with power stunts, often better than the people who actually have the powers. To me that just REEKS of comic geekery and knowing people’s powers really well.
That’s why I think Syd would be a good team Tactician since she could quickly see innovative ways for the team to use their powers during a fight.
The only problem might be, if she was officially given such a position, getting her to stick with simple-but-effective methods if a shiny new stunt presents itself. Sydney has at times given the impression that a suitably impressive means could be allowed to justify even a fairly mediocre end, like going for a triple-banked trick shot rather than the straight pot.
Well we already know that Sydney does join, since this is a flash back, but I get the feeling that they are going to need a good pitch inorder to get her to join. I can not wait and see how the Higher Up’s convince her to join, and allow them to run there battery of test on her or the orbs.
It should also be fun to see how you train a hyper super powered AHDH person that does need anger management course. Thou I think she might have already done one, and got kicked out of it, hence the list that she keep’s, and why everything is on it.
I don’t think it would be THAT hard to get her to join.
Maxima: Hey, want to join a superhero team? You’d have to go through some training, but we think you would fit right in.
Sydney: Shure! What’s it pay?
Totally. Just try to get rid of her. Even if, for some unguessable reason, ARC decided they DIDN’T want Sydney.
Considering her reaction to the guys two pages back, no way is she turning down an offer to join.
image of Sydney using her orbs to spy on the mens locker room
Finally a good use for the telepresence orb
Hmm, steam rising everywhere in the men’s locker room; the mist covers all the good parts. The inner part of the Telepresence orb drifts into frame. Math notices the ball and does a flying high kick and knocks it back out the door to the change room. It bounces off the no-line-of-sight bends by the door like a pinball. Sydney and Harem (Thing 1) are seen standing outside the opened door as the ball goes whizzing by.
Harem: What was that about?
Halo: RUN! giggle
Please! Math would do a “Full Monty”-style dance routine if he knew a woman was on the other end of the “bee”
That does raise an interesting point, though: if the light bee, and therefore presumably the tele-Sydney, gets sent flying, what effect does that have on the ‘real’ Sydney? Given the previously-demonstrated ability to put a hand through a head, I doubt she’d feel the impact. But the sudden (and probably chaotic) change in viewpoint can’t be good for the balance.
Of course, Math wouldn’t need to ‘notice‘ the light bee. Sydney would give its position away: she wouldn’t be able to resist doing the Jaws theme.
You’re assuming the inner orb can be physically hit at all. I wouldn’t make that assumption at this time.
I think it would be more like this:
Maxima: Hey, want to join a superhero team? You’d have to go through some training, but we think you would fit right in.
Sydney: You had me at hey!
I agree with pickle3719. She’s a comic book nerd who specifically’s into superheroes. She’d JUMP at the chance. And as hyper as Syd is, she’s probably smart enough to note the other benefits of joining.
Panel 7 & 8
Umm, who are the good guys again? :D
Define “Good” ??
She works for them to promote them in a positive light to the public.
How she go’s about doing it on the other hand?
Have any of you seen how most corporations do things?
She’s just swimming with the rest of the fishes. Those fishes just happen to be sharks.
The other fish may be sharks, but I get the feeling she is a dolphin, and most sharks stay clear of dolphins.
Archon isn’t a corporation. She is working for a branch of the US military.
Nowadays those two arn’t mutualy exclusive as you might think.
Join the US superpowered secret branch! No misfit turned down (look we even have Sydney for God’s sake, she beats the pants off miss Mosque burner!)
Health insurance and also insurance against having to wreck entire towns! Premiums that takes weeks of superpower usage to pay up!
The few, the ridiculously proud, join .. *sigh*
Please change the name. It sounds like a dog parking…
Sounded almost like a Phules Company recruiting add.
Arianna is both a lawyer AND a PR flack. If she also ran a talent agency, that would be the Perfect Trifecta Of Ultimate Evil.
Come to think of it, that last has much in common with what she does at ARC anyhow.
Imagine if Archon found her just before she was to become a talent scout and they were trying to redirect her ‘evil’ tendencies to something more productive than becoming another villian they would have to deal with. Sure as eggs are eggs she would gravitate to some group of supers, didn’t matter which to her.
Yay, an update right before I leave for work. Now I can go to work with a smile on my face. :)
Also, I worked in a toy department for several years when Pokemon was at its peak. I heard the conversation in panel 7 way too many times.
Yeah yeah, nerf power balls may be great for the pigtails & braces set, but the boys are going to want to play Sydney as a video game character. Do you think a video game called “Halo” will ever sell? ;)
Whups! Copyright Battle!
Round One! FIGHT!
Halo uses ‘Spaz-attack! It’s Super Effective! Critical Hit! Master Chief has fainted!
And of course patches will be made almost before it releases to change content.
There is a extremely good (damned near to commercial movie quality) live action version of Halo on YouTube. Sadly not the Sydney Halo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfJVgXBfSH8&feature=list_other&playnext=1&list=SPAE1F854F00D8E6AC
The fifth part just went live this Friday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gULQ5GFIkcA
Should our beloved Halo get the live action treatment, or make it to the big screen, I reserve the right to be first to propose to the (necessarily gifted) actress who gets to play Sydney! :)
extra double bonus points for the veiled Calvin and Hobbes reference. : D
Good page. The chaning perspectives keep you interested in looking at the panels instead of just reading the text. Although: The portraits are really well drawn, kudos.
I like how Arianna is fanning herself in the last panel. Apparently the capitalist possibilities are getting her overheated.
That’s just not right.
Gave herself palpitations. XD
Oh dear! She’s given herself a case of the Vapors!
maybe she just painted her nails
Money lust in it’s purest form!
I’d like to see Arianna pitted against a Ferengi.
Arianna would make Grand Nagus before…
Ferengi would be appalled “You let you women wear CLOTHES!!???”
And then Arianna would explain the seasonal fashion schedule, and the Ferengi would be in awe.
That actualy might just change a Faringi’s mind about clothes for females.
if i remember the current Grand Nagus is rom (quark’s brother), Mugi (his mum) is his adviser. one of the first things he changed was the rule about females wearing clothes (of course the formula females+fashion=profits might of had something to do with it).
Actually, most of those reforms were instituted by Mugi’s new husband Zekk, former Grand Nagus (played by Wallace Shawn), before he retired and handed the reigns of power to Rom, whose son was also the first Ferengi to join Starfleet, Rom was formerly an Engineer under Chief O’Brien as a member of the Bajoran military, and spied for Starfleet during the Dominion’s occupation of the station.
I never gave her a voice internally… PLEASE tell me Arianna has a thick southern accent
I cant see her as a Scarlett O’Hara type character, over seeing the slaves on the plantation maybe, but not Scarlett O’Hara
Off topic, can anyone tell me I can’t post to the forum? Isn’t getting new people to talk the POINT of a forum? I registered so I can look, but not touch. Or am I missing something..again…
Back to the comic if Max is regularly walking around without a top…BDU she may want to have on some type of unit shirt. IE my AMU ( that’s Aircraft Maintenance Unit…hell just think platoon) had T-shirts made we could wear in office. Still needed a top when going out but when doing office forms or actual work the First Shirt wouldn’t hassle you about you shirt if you had the T-shirt.
All that to bring about Col. Leander printed in small letters on Max’s boob shirt, thus giving everybody a “reason” to stare at her chest. Causing predictable and repeatable results.
I need to try and get with the forum admins about the slow approval turnaround, but I haven’t seen them online for over a week.
Big Hank has a very good point. I’m Aussie Navy, and part of our normal Working Dress is a grey T-shirt; worn under the DPNU jacket.Every single ship and shore establishment tends to order in a supply of these T-shirts with their unit patch, often the ship’s motto and, when they’ve actually achieved something unusual, maybe references to some special accomplishment or service provided.
Within the Amphib Group’s small Landing Craft, for example, Tarakan used to have Oscar the Grouch as our unit mascot, so we had this hairy little green troll on our T-shirts. Labuan had the Bananas in Pyjamas, and did likewise.
I would, thus, expect to see both official and highly unofficial (and possibly inappropriate) designs in use by members of an organisation such as this.
From a fellow Aussie, sounds like marketing possibilities for Dave right there.
An assortment of t-shirt insignia for ARC’s various subunits (and maybe even individuals, in rare cases). They would evolve somewhat over time as well – with changes in membership, as specific missions and events become famous, and so on.
Thinking on it, specific vehicles and equipment might possibly display these insignia as well. Like the “nose art” sported by some military aircraft in combat zones. Often quite against regulations, but they do crop up.
Arc-Dark could be a black patch with 2 white eyes searching.
Maxima’s shirt will have on the front in really tiny lettering “if you can read this, you’ve just provoked an attack of opportunity”
LOL. When you said Dabbler/Zintel piece, I thought you said Dabbler/Zephan.
Considering he wanted to “explore” her “powers” and the background is stone dungeon, I totally got the wrong idea.
He’s talking about the Vote Incentive.
I think the REAL question here is: when do we, as readers, get our own opportunity to collect them all? I mean, I get why Grrl Power action figures might take a bit of time to produce, but the orbs? You should have a shop set up for those already! What about Syndy t-shirts with the faux Wonder Woman logo? Maxima chokers? Good grief, man, where is The Product?!? It’s like you’re more interested in storytelling or something!
Heh, yeah I’ve been so busy making the comic I haven’t found the time to merchandise it at all.
Why don’t you have another week with guest comics and spend the time researching and setting up aome $$$ making ideas for this comic?
Or maby do the reshearch first then have a guest comic week while you set up the marketing and merchandising.
That way you can have your full attention on one thing at a time, and get it done right.
Hey guys, Why don’t some of you come up with a list of things DaveB could market that would be easy and cheap for him to get started on.
1. ALWAYS EXPECT NINJAS T-shirts
2. THE LIST notebooks
3.Posters of the Physics? Bitch, I’m a Superhero!
4. Big posters of Maxima in all her glory
Actualy Maby the Bitch I’m a superhero would look great on a T-shirt.
no. 1 done
https://www.cafepress.com/grrlpowercomic.582766898
DOH! as homer would say just got down to the bottom of the page as DaveB has already mentioned it
I was suggesting that you might want to come up with merchendise ideas for DaveB.
It’s great that he has a ALWAYS EXPECT NINJAS T-shirt out there, but think of some new stuff he could market, like a T-shirt with Toung-Fu on it with Sydney pulling that guys toung while judo throwing him.
T Shirt, with the front:
Sydney filling in “The List”
Caption: “YOU’RE ON MY LIST!”
On the back:
Sydney performing Tongue-Fu
don’t forget the best scam ever: Batteries Not Included.
That’s only a good scam if you’re a stockholder in a battery company.
I’m sure the battery companies give them SOME kickback otherwise why 6 or 8 small batteries where 1 or 2 will do?
Voltage issues. Six AAs may give the same power output as a couple of Cs*, but they’ll output it as n milliAmps @ 9 Volts rather than 3n milliAmps @ 3 Volts (power = current x voltage). Some types of circuit need the high voltages to work properly, others need lower voltages but high current. It’s a lot harder to transform DC to the correct voltage electronically than it is to specify the correct input voltage to begin with.
[*This probably isn’t an actual power equivalence: I only know the nominal output voltages, not the associated currents or powers. But it serves to illustrate the electronics.]
It has more to do with storage capacity of a battery. Batteries are rated at amp (or milliamp) hours. It’s also a matter of how many volts the device needs. Each battery (AAA, AA, C, and D) are rated at 1.5V per cell.
That being said, Voltages are additive in series, and current is additive in parallel. Since most electronics work off of a nominal 5V (slowly moving to 3.3V), most electronic toys would need at least 4 cells to provide enough voltage to power it, i.e. 1.5 x 4 = 6V, but as the cell drains, the voltage drops, so you have approximately 1V of leeway before the device starts to malfunction due to power loss. Granted, if it’s entirely electronic and no moving parts, the power requirements will allow a sag below 5V, but not to any predictable degree, but with motors involved, you would need multiples of 4 cells to provide ample Amps to power it for any length of time.
As a final random bit of info, if you cut open those 6V lantern batteries, you’ll find out that most of them are just a group of AA batteries stacked in series and parallel to provide that 6V power.
Should have said *is rated, not are rated… was rushing this comment before going to the midnight launch of Assassin’s Creed 3….
open up a 9v battery sometime.
[sigh]
again?
https://www.snopes.com/photos/humor/batteryhack.asp
I can’t resist it!
https://xkcd.com/250/
Check this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr5ZB1eFhwc&list=PLE2B022EF144BEBCE&index=120&feature=plcp
Gotta catch ’em all!
Ooh, a book? I’d buy that.
I know you’re talking about a book of the comics, but Arianna’s totally coming out with The Official Sidney Scoville “The List” book. It’s just a notebook, but it’ll cost $5 without having Rhodia or Clairefontaine paper in it.
Merchandising opportunity #238: “ARC Light, now with only half the calories of regular ARC.”
As for running the mosque incident at the end of the movie, nothing gives audiences a warm and fuzzy take-home feeling like destroying a house of worship. As part of the blooper reel you could show the hilarious footage of that time when the bus full of nuns crashed into an orphanage.
Something along the lines of “…bus full of nuns traveling long the road, swerves to avoid the cute fluffy bunny in the middle of the road, rear tie blows, bus smash’s through the safety barrier, rolls down the hill, smash’s through a mosque and ends up upside down in an orphanage…”
Actually ArcLight was the code name for the B-52 bombing runs during the Viet Nam war,
I really like the subtle acknowledgement Max made about Sydney’s PR value. Having someone on the team who looks more like the general population verses an team of athletic Victoria’s Secret models is going to be a big plus for quelling the public ire. As strident a feminist as Max is, she’s aware that the public may see them as a government sponsored Playboy mansion or worse, the Nazi’s ideal super race personified.
I wonder if Max’s talk of “tempering her behaviour” might be just a tad over-optimistic ….
…. Or, at the very least, is carefully ignoring the extremely long and amazingly twisted route such an endeavour will surely take.
So did anyone else notice the way General Faulk was staring at Maxima’s chest in panel 4
He’s just picturing her in a slave girl outfit.
With Green skin.
Honestly, wouldn’t you do the same?
He is lucky she didn’t notice
If Sydney does not show up in the next page, I recommend adding one of those cutesy after-the-page items, brick-joking from the bank parking lot.
Halo: [angrily, to Max] Hey, that’s 3 pages I have not appeared in! What is going on here?
Max: Now calm down. We’re …
Panel 2:
Halo: [ looks like she is about to cry ] Am I being written out of the series? No! Don’t do it. I have so much more I can do.
Panel 3:
Halo bursts out crying. Max looks on, with an annoyed look on her face.
Max: Get ahold of yourself, you Aspberger’s idiot. We are going to back to your action soon.
Asperger’s and ADHD are completely different mental disorders, although they have many similar symptoms they are not the same, asperger’s is a part of the autistic spectrum and not at all related to ADHD, the fact that one can be diagnosed for both while really only having autism means nothing
since I have asperger’s I find it insulting that you would lump the two together and felt the need to explain. And before a bunch of you go thinking I’m a mental disorder snob, I find insulting when anyone lumps two mental disorders together… except maybe schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder but only because most people with multiple personality disorder have it because they have schizophrenia.
Mental disorder snob. That’s not a phrase I’ve ever heard before.
“Excuse me, I’m not bi-polar, I have JekyllandHydeism. You can tell because of the physical transformations and the stabbings, geeze.”
Sticking a specific disorder into a character railroads your future possibilities with that characters (even if just a little) so I wouldn’t recommend it. Having a comment Sydney had her meds changed without specifying the change or the diagnosis is fair game and leaves all possibilities opened, tho.
I have Aspberger’s Syndrome, but was not diagnosed until the 2000’s. In the 1980’s, my diagnosis from the school board psychologist was ADHD. The symptoms have so much overlap that a layperson, like Max, may ignorantly treat them interchangeably. From my experience, even experts get it wrong. What Sydney’s specific issues are have yet to be defined, so Aspberger’s is still on the table as a possibility. Of course it might be something else that fits her set of symptoms a little better.
As a person with Aspberger’s, it was the first thing that popped in my head when I was trying to come up with something for Max to yell at Sydney that would fit her behaviour. I think this is like when one of my friends refers to himself as a black man (which is true) or other terms more derogatory, but I just think of him as a man; he just has more melanin in his skin than I do.
I do know a couple of people with schizophrenia and another woman with multiple personality disorder. The person with MPD does not show the symptoms of hallucinations that I see with the schizophrenics. She appears normal under most circumstances, but when put under certain types of stressful situations, her protector personality is more likely to take over. Talk about a woman changing her mind! But I never seen her having the misperceptions of the schizophrenics.
Schizophrenics have trouble concentrating the opposite of those with pronounced Autism tend to concentrate on one thing to the exclusion of all else. Asperger’s tends to be less in its symptoms though even with good vocabularies they can still have trouble communicating with normal people. There are Schizotypals like myself. Similar generally to Asperger’s but not like at all. Our ability to use the other 95% of non-verbal communication is a great handicap. We tend to be looked upon as “odd” or “creepy” only the ones with high intelligence and creative can get anywhere in life. They run the risk of full blown schizophrenia but it isn’t usual. Schizotypals tend to live alone. They can’t form bonds with people very easily. In fact most people will turn away from them, even bullies.
As an aside, what I consider to be the biggest irony of the internet:
Alan Turing, widely held as the father of the modern computer (not to mention one hell of a cryptologist whose work saved thousands of lives in WW2), probably had Asperger’s and was certainly homosexual. Both categories are now among the most widely-used perjoratives on the internet.
They may not be able to use asperger’s anymore, on a theoretical basis, because who ever controls the naming of mental disorders may or may not get rid of all the silly names associated with the autistic spectrum, if they do there is no meaning behind the insult, not even an insinuation of your mental capabilities… though it may be considered a compliment if they are from my old school, the one kid with asperger’s in the grade (me) was often called a genius, I argued against the point but the reversal of connotations is still valid
Three things a) I apologize for any trouble I may have caused you
B) we know that she is thought to have ADHD from the comic as that was in her medical file
C) I find it insulting when any two people with mental disorders are lumped together, even if they have the same one, one of my friend got the exact same diagnosis as me but even though we have simmilar symptoms we are completely different people, our symptoms don’t even show up in the same situations. We both fit in rather well in modern society because we learned when we were young how to act like a neurotypical person, but for different reasons he wanted to fit in, I never wanted to fit in I wanted to be left alone and for people to stop bullying me. Now the only time you can tell that either of us isn’t neurotypical is when we are blowing off steam with friends or when our cognitive ability is severely impaired, such as when we are sleep deprived or sick
FYI, it’s “Asperger syndrome“, not “Aspberger’s Syndrome” (no “b” and the “‘s” isn’t necessary).
I like how they are all talking about Sydney like she already agreed to join when they havent actualt asked her yet.
A super hero comic feak, who owns and works a comic shop saying no to being on mission with real super heros?
Plus this whole storyline is a flashback from when she leaves a games session to go to work as a superhero…
Oh, that should go over well, can ya say freakazoid….. I can just see her. Spastically calling her family and friends “I’m a super Hero!” Then, the real work starts and she’s all bummed out with all the training.
“Collect them all.”
Isn’t that the line that follows the words “Silicone. Harem. Lovedolls.” ????
Could do. But little kids tend to have more pester power over their parents’ spending than … whoever your target audience would be. Plus advertising to kids can go out more often and on more widely-watched channels, getting the older generations more familiar with the presence of the ARC at the same time as
brainwashing the kidsencouraging the children to engage with their friendly neighbourhood superheroes.Arianna has risen in my favorite character rankings. She was already up there, but can’t hurt to secure one’s lead.
but “no refunds” is 2 words :P
mmmm chewy caramel center * stomach growl* dammit now i am hungry
New “three sweetest words in the english language” – Halloween. Candy. Holdback.
Not how Ariana says it.
NO Re-Funds!!
Is Faulk checking out Maxima’s chest? I thought she had him well trained?
Even the most well trained dog will run to the end of it’s leash and bark at the squirrels. And really, can ya blame him?
Great use of the phrase, “Noodle incident”. I love Calvin and Hobbes. I wonder if many people get that reference.
“Noodle Incident” is a recognized trope by now.
(Wait, did I just point someone new to TVtropes? Careful with that link, or you’ll lose your whole day.)
Yep. Noodle Incident
Trainees?
Does this mean we are about to be introduced to another 20 characters, or is everyone who is not Maxima a “trainee”?
I hope this group are more like Magellan trainees than DynaGirl trainees. I guess that trainees could refer to the less experienced members of the team, like Harem, Heatwave, Mr. Amorphous, maybe Anvil. I guess some of the guys from the beefcake image a couple of weeks ago could be trainees as well. Oh, how shall Sydney react to being told she will be partnered with the willowy blonde guy.
Ooh, I can hardly wait (but I will have to, I guess) for the second meeting between Mr. Amorphous and Sydney. Prepare to duck.
This comment + Maxima’s observation about Sydney’s surprising but poorly targeted reflexes really makes me want to see how Math will cope with a dose of tongue-fu.
It’d be funny if Syd actually has some Martial Arts training, she just forgets it when someone hit’s that little red button labeled “DO NOT TOUCH!
Not 20, no but one or two we haven’t seen yet, plus… uh, 2 we have I think?
This just gave me an epic idea for a costume for next year (since I don’t have the time to do it this year)
Not to mention a collection I want for myself. :3
Tall chesty golden amazon? A Pokemon covered in Poke-balls? A Poke-ball covered in Pokemon?
A couple of thoughts:
1. Personally, I see little wrong with Sydney’s personality. We are way too quick to label people that are just plain different. She is creative, observant, smart, energetic, silly, and probably a heck lot of fun to hang around with. (That’s right. I dangled that participle.) Except for specific occasions, like classroom work, or quiet studying, she probably doesn’t need any “assistance” from the pill bin. What she needs is training in discipline and forethought. I work with a lot of similar personalities in the entertainment industry, and, once one knows how to deal with them, they are usually good folk to have around, especially with all of that energy and enthusiasm.
2. Does Arc have no concept of government security or protocols when dealing with information dissemination? Arianna is just too far out there. What I am seeing is a civilian who is willing to throw all of Arc’s information out to the public just to make a buck. Unless Arc is specifically being used as a distraction from the real military-spec super heroes, then it should be following standard government procedures regarding the release of sensitive intel, such as specific super powers that aren’t immediately obvious (like those in the majority of Sydney’s orbs). Basically, Arianna should probably be calmed down a bit.
They can market it with different powers than the orbs truly have, LOL. It’s been done so many times before, you got that kickass gargoyle from some show but it doesn’t look aggressive enough as a figurine so they add a sword out of the blue… been there seen it got it on a T-shirt. I am surprised it didn’t go viral as ‘han solo shot first’ or something, memes can be mysterious at times.
You’re right, at the moment it may seem that she’s wanting to share a little too much but while they’ll reveal that the red one makes hurt beams and the blue one lets her fly, many of the specifics of those abilities will remain classified.
Bear in mind that they’re still very much in closed session here. It’s one thing to say in such a situation what one’s ideal level of disclosure would be; it’s quite another to ignore a subsequent decision of the group to stop short of that level.
“Unless Arc is specifically being used as a distraction from the real military-spec super heroes”
I like that. Too bad it’s not appropriate for Dave’s comic, because we would all die of old age before that would get revealed in the course of story telling. ;-)
So they’re going to adjust Sydney’s meds? That seems wise… (I don’t believe there are other ways to temper her much that don’t involve invasive superpowers)
What exactly is a “strident” feminist? And why is being a “tomboy” more likely to make one one? Dave, if you’re think feminism is in any way about acting more “boy-like”, you’ve something of a confused notion about it.
Have to say that repeated use of the word “strident” in this context has VERY negative connotations for me. Especially when one looks up the dictionary defitinition of the word.
Suggests a mindset that is not just committed but is solidly in the realm of “fanatical”, “won;t shut up about it” and “wiill club anybody over the head with it anywhere anytime on any provocation real or otherwise”. Haven’t seen any of these traits in Max (thank ghod), so maybe a different descriptive word should be sought.
Suprised to hear Max herself use the word. It does have neg connotations for a lot of people, unlike ,say, “ardent”.
“That word you keep using. I don’t think it means what you think it means…”
Inconceivable!
(damn it, all I wanted to do was get down to the bottom of the page, and y’all keep dangling irresistible comments ;) )
What?
R.O.U.S.’s? I don’t think they exist.
Max’s comment comes from the fact that Sydney was insisting that whoever she marries will be taking her last name. Also Max saying ‘strident feminist’ isn’t quite the same as saying ‘radical feminist.’ Strident implies they’re vocal or insistent about it most of the time, radical means they’re going on about patriarchy, male privilege, the man-ocracy, thinks anything longer than it is wide is phallic, and insist on using words like ‘herstory’. At least that’s how I interpret those phrases, so I guess by extension so does Max. She wasn’t dinging Sydney for it, she was listing it as a positive trait.
Strident Feminist: Can take a joke, but insists that there be respect under for her underlining your overall behavior.
Radical Feminist: Can’t take a joke, and insists that everyone with a penis is against her because of her obvious superoity because she is a woman. IE Femanazi.
Yeah it’s down to semantics really.
are you sure that is isn’t “seHERtics”?
Histerics to Her-sterics you mean?
In my college newspaper, there was a comic that suggested that such language games were sexist in and of themselves, so why not just replace anything smacking of male-centeredness with the word “penis”… the results were infantile, but hilarious
“The mailman is here with your history manual” ==> “the penispenis is here with your penistory penisual”
Yes, it really is down to semantics: the meaning of words. If you want to be understood use words the way other people use them.
stri·dent
/ˈstrīdnt/
Adjective
1) Loud and harsh; grating.
2) Presenting a point of view, esp. a controversial one, in an excessively and unpleasantly forceful way.
Synonyms
sharp – grating
FOUND AT: define:strident at Google
I put Max in the same category as my mom who I lost a few years back. She was the first woman to graduate from the Navy apprenticeship program as a Pattern-maker in the 60’s despite heavy resistance. She became the head of her Union raised 5 kids 3 of which earned college degrees. She was one of the smartest people I ever met (not just my opinion ). She was a fervent believer in the Equal Rights Amendment but also thought women should serve in the Armed Forces as well as men to earn those rights. And while she was never a big fan of comic books I know she’d like Max if she met her.
I am clueless about Adriana’s gesture in the last panel — and remember Sydney doing something similar at one point. Air wang I believe it’s called? I couldn’t remember at all what it meant.
I’m just notifying the author this gesture isn’t internationally recognized like much every other gesture in the comic is.
She is just fanning herself with her hand.
Either fanning herself with her hand, or the air wang, both are empty of meaning there. My friends couldn’t figure out what air wang means either.
If it was the “air wang”, there should have been a thumb seen and more of a fist being made, rather than just the fingers waving in a flat motion.
I am assuming however, that your “air wang” is what is known as “The Wanker”
https://www.intac.net/11-hand-gestures-youd-better-get-right/
It’s a southern thing. Women who were thinking of something that made them excited would fan themselves because it would make them have hot flashes.
It being hot in the south, you needed to keep your body temp down or suffer from heat stroke.
She’s fanning herself, not making the wanker.
Hi. I am a long term fan, ever silent in the comments, but raving about the incredible comic to all my friends in person. And have been more than happy doing my bit to help push Grrl Power up the TWC list.
Love the comic so much that I have re-read the archives several times and, unusually for me, keep getting sucked into the comments. Always something there that I have missed in person. Darn them for being more of a time sink than being sucked in by Wiki!
So thought I would try getting myself a gravatar and posting the odd comment myself. No idea if I have done it right, so guess I should hit the button and see!
Whee! I actually managed it. Next I will have advanced to the stage of being able to program a video recorder!
I had a look to see if there was any way to send a PM, email or the like, but as I lack a Facebook account and don’t Twitter, this looked to be the only way for me to initiate contact. I primarily want to check that it is ok to use the picture shown, as my gravitar, before ahem, actually using it.
You will probably recognise it as a modified version of the hero-in-disguise making a cameo appearance in #16. I have no artistic skills myself, so hope this will be ok? No problems if it is not. I can dig out my camera and take a photo of my own resident four legged super-hero and see if I can figure out how to download that onto the PC, to replace it.
I love the expressiveness of the characters, the story and the comedy. Plus am a role-playing geek myself. As you can tell, from the final panel, Yorp was rather confused that the comic-shop owner did not introduce herself, after her initial marketing pitch. Lets hope he is local and they get to bump into each other again ;)
Welcome aboard, matrey
Thanks milord :)
Thanks a lot and good to have you! You guys are always welcome to use art from the comic as gravatars and what not.
The comments can be a deep well sometimes, it’s one of the reasons I don’t have a direct email account listed. Between them and keeping up with FB and Twitter (and drawing the comic) most of my time is spoken for.
Awesome, thank you very much! No problems with there being limited options to contact, I can well understand the situation. You obviously devote most of your spare time to this project, between the art and all the ancillary stuff involved. I just felt uncomfortable about using the image, before getting permission, by virtue of it being the gravatar used to ask permission :D
I have also made up a wallpaper montage of some of Sydney’s nicest expressions. Montages being a way for me to express my artistic desires, without having skills such as yours to create the initial pictures! I am quite proud of the result, amateurish though my arrangement is. Albeit that one image had to be scaled up, degrading its quality, to fit the central part I wanted for it. (Being #61 panel 7 “Always. Expect. Ninjas.”, on the off-chance that you have a higher-resolution version around?)
I was going to email it to my friends, to further tempt them to start reading Grrl Power too, after checking it was ok with you. Which you already seem to have covered, so thank you very much again!
Although, I would suggest that you put in some disclaimer on your statement (eg “for private, non-commercial use only”), it being rather open at the moment. I know it is a work of passion for you at the moment, but you may wish to commercialise later, and I would hate to see you loose revenue to someone marketing your images on the back of a generously intended offer!
For example, I would consider the panel I mentioned above to be quality t-shirt material. Appropriately modified of course (such as having just Sydney in her Kung Fu pose, with the caption). It would have broad appeal, even to folks unfamiliar with the comic. Whereas #86, Sydney doing her big reveal, would be of great appeal to the readership. Or #54, last panel (filling in “The List”), has some general potential, with significant meaning to readers in particular.
I actually made the “Always Expect Ninjas” shirt, but it’s the only thing in the store so I haven’t bothered to link it on the page. It’s print on demand so they’re not the cheapest shirts unfortunately.
https://www.cafepress.com/grrlpowercomic
Sweet! Although, presently, being poor enough that church mice give me charity, I won’t be getting any clothing, expensive or discount alike, for some time. However it is nice to know that it is out there, for whenever my boat comes in. And love that you made it your number one choice!
I like how you did it in silhouette. Giving the image a ninja feel to suit the caption. Plays nicely for broad appeal. Although, personally, I particularly enjoyed the geeky look you gave Sydney, in the original. Hence, in my mind’s eye I had a bigger (and perhaps geekier, given the greater scope for detail in a larger work) version of that.
It encapsulates Sydney’s wonderful physical humour. Combined with your superb capture of facial expressions, you make her comedic side akin to Charlie Chaplin or Mr Bean. Just a lot less… silent.
Anyhow, nice to finally be able to join in the chats. *eyes up resurging gun thread, and tries to resist urge to tell a gun related anecdote* But I should avoid further deepening the well of comments, and chewing up even more of your spare time!
I hope in the future they will have it in a color other than black. I’m from Houston and it’s a little to hot to be wearing a black T-shirt outside.
Check out the store site. The shirts are available in a variaty of colors.
I wonder what happens if harem gets pregnant (possibly in multiple sub-harems). And decides to give birth as a merged harem (or vice versa, clone pregnancy in all 5).
There is going to be a field day making a paternity test for this, given the ‘low security’ status of her pants LOL
Dabbler’s the Low security pants. Right now Harem’s are Classified. (because we don’t know who’s been in them) ;)
only Dave knows… but it would be “interesting” to find out!… what if there was a hormonal “off-switch” to her ability to teleport/ dissolve one of her component parts if that part was pregnant? and that until she either gave birth, or otherwise, that one unit would NOT be able to do anything other than take the stairs, elevators, and walking about… but the other 4 units could do everything they can do right now… at least until the birth, then all of them will disappear in a flash as the shared pain causes her to voluntarily reduce down to just the one unit in order to not share five times the sympathetic pain!!
X5 the pregnant woman weird gravings and emo, bouncing around like an echo.
The father should RUN! If anyone knows who the father is… since it’s likely all 5 harems sleep around her facebook page must be full of “it’s complicated”!
remember it is NOVEMBER! Time to vote vote vote! Let’s keep Grrl Power in the top five!
also who thinks that Sydney is gonna get irked when a badguy calls her “Orbs”, “Pokeyballs” and laughs at her. Think she’ll do the eight ball in corner pocket trick she’s been saving for Math or any other “Handy” super? Her answer? puntastically likely? Sure– how about , “Poke yer balls? Don’t mind if I do!” Wham bonk! (remember she figured out she could cheat with them in the arcade, we just don’t know how far away she can mentally send them flying or how hard! — Just hope that the target (deserving or not) is a super or at least partially armored or the Supervillain might end up becoming a Villainess and that would be a twist!!
it is 6 AM in Utah, and I go to sleep with that comment in my head!!!!!
I blame DaveB for the nightmares I am about to have!!! I need you to send Dabbler over to my house today.
Whee, jointly with another voter pushed Grrl Power from tied first place to top of the list on Top Web Comics Keep it up there! :)
Since I first saw them I have imagined that the primary weapon Halo uses won’t be any of the powers but just using the orbs as projectile weapons. I have (in my head) created a totally different bank scene where maxima just stands and watches as Halo uses the plastic tube to beat the hell out of the robbers.
. . .
Hey do we know if Sydney ever dropped of the money in the bank? I know she dropped the check on the floor but did she ever pick it up and deposit it in the comic books stores account?
I’m back. =) The story is coming along nicely, and it’s only just begun. I’ll be back… ;)