Grrl Power #1225 – Anthropomorphic Bodybuilding Cuttlefish from SPACE!
Quite a few people mentioned in the comments on the prior page that OG Doctor Who had a budget of about £17 per episode, and the sweaters that I identified as UNIT specific costuming was probably just a standard British Army “jumper.” I put jumper in quotes, because while I know that’s what the Brits call sweaters, to this particular American, the term “jumper” makes me think of the onsie you put on a toddler. Since wearing the kit of foreign militaries, no matter how long we’ve been allies, is probably frowned upon, I experimentally tried changing the color of Maxima’s top to Archon’s purple so I could call it a domestic piece of gear, but I couldn’t get it to look quite right. The next time it shows up I might give it another crack at it, then retcolor (a portmanteau of retcon and color that’s probably more confusing than helpful) the prior page to match.
Maxima doesn’t really like going down to the comic shop for the reason she mentioned on the prior page, and as she’s doing a chili run, why not send her teleporter for a spot check?
Sydney has been excluded from the veil since her first encounter with the Twilight Council, so a physical disguise would be needed to fool her. Of course, a non-Veil dependent illusory or glamor based disguise would still work – unless she Crazy Ivan’d with the Comm Orb. That said, the cap and nose/glasses disguise was absolutely not enough to hide the fact that Kraken is like 9 feet tall and also a swole Cthulhu. She’s just funnin’.
There’s not a lot going on in this page, and I’ll tell you why. (Buckle up because this is barely going to make sense.) Most people who do digital color work intended for the web or print work at 300 DPI as far as I’m aware. It looks good scaled down, and it’s high res enough for printing, at least on a comic book sized page. Maybe for a cover piece or something intended for a poster you’d want to work a little higher res. I work at 600 DPI, because why not? My computer has 64GB of ram (which is honestly probably excessive) and my CPU/GPU can easily handle it, even with a file with 27 layers. Except, I kind of don’t really work at 600 dpi? Sure, the page is 6300 x 4050 pixels at 600 dpi, but given that my average page is divided up into 9 panels, I’m really working on 9 little pages, each at like 67 DPI? Okay, that math is a little suspect, but when I have to draw a little figure, like Harem leaning in the door in panel 3, it feels like trying to draw with one of those horse-leg-sized kindergartens crayons gripped in my fist, and I can’t get any detail in the picture. Yes, I know it’s going to be shrunk down to be 25 pixels high on the web-resolution comic page and being able to draw individual eyelashes on a figure that small would be a colossal waste of time, but my point is that I want to draw larger panels now and again with lots of detail, and a huge guy getting his flex on seems like a good candidate for an occasional large panel.
The new vote incentive is up! Crimson and Scarlett have a present for Ingsol!
It’s them, they’re the present. They’ve decided that “Sire-versaries” are a thing and Ingsol has to be convinced this is a good idea each time. Everyone thinks his pair of names-that-are-synonyms-with-red sirelings who are both women and who were both turned in that age range that ensure peak hotness means he’s a dirty old man, but he actually isn’t. It just worked out that way. And don’t forget that while it looks like there’s a 25 year age gap between the girls and him, it’s actually much worse, as he is 700 years old, while Scarlett is something like 180 and Crimson is only 40. But at the same time it’s meaningless as they were both fully adults when they got turned, so it’s all copacetic.
As usual, Patreon has the pair of them in various states of undress.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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.
Maxima: Corpral, go check if this is worth my time.
Ok, I’ll be honest, I had assumed Swolethulu was actually plant based, like Man-Thing or Swamp Thing.
Chthwoleu :D
Groothulhu
But wouldn’t Maxima wear her proper gear if she were going to a possible hostile encounter of the demonic kind? And have you thought of making GrrlPower an actual comic book? Like so many webcomic authors do?
If he does, he should find a better printer than Gold Digger did. I’ve got his “Gold Bricks”, and they’re just falling apart.
I wouldn’t worry too much about Max’s uniform. The insignia will be more important than the base pattern.
That same British military sweater was adopted by the US Navy & Marines in the 1980’s. In Blue for the Navy and in Olive Drab & Desert Tan for the Marines. The USN version has a velcro rectangle on the left chest for a leather patch that includes Name, USN, and Rank/Rate.
We called them wooly pullys.
Same in the Aussie Navy (RAN). RAAF and Army make fun of them whenever it’s heard. ;) Go RAAF!
How did Parfait get inside the shield bubble? Did Sydney drop it long enough for her to hop in?
This feels like an important detail.
Also, Sydney can make Mr. Bubble not spherical? Has she always been able to do that?
Always no, she didn’t start the comic with enough experience using the orbs due to fear of “government vivisectionists” so had trouble adjusting even just the size of the shield. Quote “Where’s the embiggener?” during the show for the press. The shield seems to default to a sphere, but as the comic has gone on Sydney has managed various other egg shapes.
The first time we see her use the shield, it actively forms around her as she moves — look at the shape difference between panels 9 & 10. We also see it as an ellipsoid when Dabbler hides behind it 15 pages later.
It seems if the shield is set too small to be a sphere, it’ll “stretch” around Sydney and whoever else is with her to keep them protected. This tracks with the orbs’ usual awareness/user-friendliness.
Exactly, Parfait got into the shield with Sydney! To quote my granddaughter: Wha Hapaned? [she is two]
What Chad said…
It’s a minor thing, Parfait no doubt ran over to Sydney when Brelx announced they were going to fight and Sydney let her in. A fast open/close action off camera.
How dare you propose something reasonable for the question that will be asked over and over and over (add nauseating)
And Brelx (who was standing right in front of Sydney when we last saw him) et al. just let that happen?
That’s not a safisfying explanation.
Aww, we missed the page where Sydney punched Brelx in the granch, giving Parf enough time to jump into her arms :(
She’s not in her arms, that’s a cap being held in the last panel. Check the large panel next to it.
Parf isn’t off the ground, but she is still in her arms (or Sydney is in hers… )
Swolthulhu, Nyarlathorep, Gaintanothoa..
:D
The U.S. military does have wool pullover sweaters as a part of their official uniforms. The Army’s is a black v-neck, Marine Corp’s is an olive green crew neck, Navy’s is a black or navy blue v-neck, and Air Force has a dark blue v-neck. So, no reason Archon/Arc-SWAT couldn’t have one as a part of their official uniform. The one you have Max wearing looks close to the USMC version. That was actually my first thought vs it being a UNIT sweater. I think Archon Purple would look pretty good.
I just thought she picked up Central Officer Chadford’s Sweater of Power around the same time he was shopping for XCOM apparel.
If Sydney presses the red button in the middle of his trousers, do they fall down causing utter defeat?
He’s there to try to claim his succubus friend/classmate. I don’t think he’ll consider it a defeat. More like… an invitation.
Sydney: “Woah now! I didn’t mean it like that!”
Swolethulhu: “Then why strip me?”
Maxima: “i just arrived aaaaaand why is that guy’s pants down?”
Swolethulhu: “She wanted to take fight to next level?”
It will just add more tentacles.
Second stage of the boss fight.
Shiny red gem like accents ALWAYS mean weak points in video games. The wheels are probably already turning in Sidney’s head, much to her likely later regret.
@DaveB; so what you’re saying is that Maxima shops at army surplus stores and one time she was in one that had those British Military “Sweaters” that were the same type as those she’d seen in the 80’s SAS movie (Who Dares Wins, 1982) and a few other films of that era.
As such she’s got green, navy blue, black ones, etc.
we know she’s got some nerd, she’s also traveled internationally most likely. I could see her wanting a British sweater shirt just to be different. now if the nametag was Benton….
also, the surplus stores are where they sell stuff to the lowly pheasants. she shops at the actual stores (on base) where the prices are higher.
Here are pictures of the US Navy woolly-pully, taken directly from the Navy Exchange website:
Front View
Back View
These pictures appear blue-grayish but that’s not accurate. I still have mine and it is definitely dark Navy Blue.
And here’s the USMC version. US Marine Sweater
Combo of trucker hat/groucho nose and glasses is pan dimensional disguise with nothing else needed.
I want to steal the Swolethulu idea here, but he just doesn’t fit into any of my stories. :(
Also, is anyone else having to manually refresh the page with F5 to get the new comic to load? I’ve been having to do that a lot lately.
And the gravatar fields don’t have an URL section anymore, did someone put a bad URL in and ruin it for the rest of us?
I have to do “previous”, then “last page” to reach the new comic. About half the time, anyway.
I think it depends on whether the last page is cached.
Can people say which browser they are useing if having tech issues like this? I had something similar but it was just due to the difference between the main page and main page with comments (which is the archived version).
I am using Chrome
Yeah, I’ve had to refresh the page to get the latest one to load lately. Having the issue on both Edge (PC) and Chrome (iPhone).
Parfeit? Welcome to Sidney’s confusing view of the world.
the ball-cap…. when a pair of glasses isn’t QUITE going to do the trick….
1. No, he ist not. There is a pair of wings missing.
2. Even if he was, if ramming him with a mere ship can take him down, what are his odds against something that can one-shot a fel-carrier?
To quote from “Bureau 13” Highly Targetable.
@DaveB
It’s an alternative universe. The Brit’s woolly jumper is lime green (cause they’re limeys)
(Return the scone of stone and I’ll forget the limey reference)
Somebody stole your bagel? Or is this some off-label use of the phrase “scone of stone?”
Scones are triangular or English-muffin-shaped baked goods, not bagels. The Stone of Scone (NOT Scone of Stone!) is a fancy rock named after where it was found.
Scones are typically square or rectangular (depending on how big they are cut), made from a larger piece of… whatever the fuck they are made from
Which makes them similar to US ‘biscuits’
By the way, ‘Stone of Scone’ rhymes whereas the scone you have with tea (a nice dollop of whipped cream, fresh not canned, and jam) sounds like ‘on’
Who can speculate the aftermath of the events here…?! I’ll do some:
1.Arianna fires Core for allowing this to happen
2.Sydney gets a very stern lecture about what transpired
3.The comic shop still gets to keep their insurance premium…!
Why would Arianna fire Core? I’d think ARC is more of a silent partner in Sidney’s comic shop. Joel and Sidney make those decisions. Also, Core is kind of working for Deus, isn’t he? At least on a contractual basis?
Core was/is a mercenary, so it’s hard to say, he might be doing the security job to lay low, or he’s a plant by Deus to keep an eye on Sydney. Either way, he’s as much of a victim of off-world “needs” and he might get chewed out for giving in, but I doubt it. Anyone who knows of the Succubi would ignore it beyond that.
I’m just curious as to how much Arianna is involved with Sydney’s new comic shop from hiring/firing employees to picking out the security staff.
In french Cal of The Call of Cthulhu could be the target of many puns using wordplays:
A particularly good one here , a good grasp of french is mandatory :
https://bouletcorp.com/notes/2016/01/03
A.P.L: Aides Personnelles au Logement -> Personal Housing Assistance , state sponsored program to help people to py rent
C.H.U: centre hospitalier universitaire -> Hospital
P.E.L : Plan épargne logement ->Savings housing plan -> The purpose of this account is to grant preferential loans to people who use their savings to finance housing intended for their main residence.
OPEL -> German car brand
You’re saying you can’t see the point of tiny details in wide-screen level frames, but you seem to have got Joel’s bald spot well enough… or is it rapidly increasing in size?
it feels rude to point out his sydney pattern baldness. the man has enough to stress about without adding his rapidly receding hairline…..
Nice What We Do In The Shadows reference.
I feel like I’m missing something on the art math up there. DPI should be the same across the entire image. If you cut it into quarters, each quarter should still be the same DPI, just with half the side length.
His math is wrong (he did 600/9, which doesn’t make sense).
But I believe he means that when he’s drawing he digitally enlarges the image to make it easier to work with. If you take a 600x600dpi image and blow it up 10x, you’re now working with a 60×60 dpi image. The individual pixels are 10x the original size, but the inch on the screen is still the same.
It’s coarser on his screen when he blows it up to deal with just part of the full image.
Wearing the kit of foreign militaries is not great, but does happen. During World War 2, there was a “Boots for Food” racket going on between American and British forces.
In WWI Brodie (UK) and Adrian (France) helmets where issused to U.S troops.
In Afghanistan an RCIR – Ration de combat individuelle réchauffable a French MRE -was a good bargaining chip with US troops.
To be fair, US military MRE’s have featured dishes like Beef Frankfurter or the “Vomlet”. So nearly anything is a good trade item in comparison.
When I was serving (pre MRE) the beanie weenies were just the single serving Van Camps with OD labels on them and were sought after because they were as good as the civilian version. But as I pointed out that was latter mid part of the previous century, YMMV.
My friend, when he was deployed to Afghanistan, said that the French rations were the best, and were very highly sought after.
Who are the other 2 on team demon? The 2 smallest members were never introduced yet.
Those are Glibph and Tenri, they were introduced in #1214.
I think it’s really cute how Parfait is side-hugging Sidney here and that Sidney doesn’t seem to mind (that her right arm is engulfed by boobs).
Honestly twas a good disguise.
Made him look much more human like and “normal”, adjusted for the fact, that he was obviously a demon.
I think that after what they did together , Sidney is not as straight as a dry noodle anymore , it got wet
“Release the Kraken!” would have been a nice title for this episode, too…
Maxima’s uniform from yesterday made me think of Star Trek – The Movie. Gawain is right.
I can’t help but wonder about Sydney’s resistance to Parfait being slowly eroded. She is in full classic hero and damsel position here with Parfait squeezed against her side hugging her while one arm is holding parfait low across her back. I will also note a certain hand seems to have wandered back around the hip to other pastures in the final panel. I’m wondering if Sydney is going to have a sudden, and given it is Sydney, violent realization she has gone fully bi for her succubus friends succubus sister….who is also a friend. Probably listed somewhere as a common side-effect of ongoing close proximity to succubi.
I mean they did make out x
lol , Sydney is no longer straight I believe
To add a little more to the comments about US military use of what back in MY day were called “woolie pullies,” a couple of uniform regulation references:
[US Marine Corps Uniform Regulations](https://www.marines.mil/portals/1/Publications/MCO%201020.34H%20v2.pdf?ver=2018-06-26-094038-137) See pages 1-232 for male and 1-233 for female visual references of the “Green Crew-neck Service Sweater with Epaulettes;” the Marine woolie pullie differs from Maxima’s in having no “smooth section” on the sleeves and in having epaulettes.
[US Air Force Uniform Regulations](https://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/af_a1/publication/dafi36-2903/dafi36-2903.pdf) See page 58 for unisex visual reference of the “50/50 Acrylic Wool Pullover Sweater,” which differs from Maxima’s in being dark blue, v-necked, unribbed, and epauletted (and yes, I DID just verb that word!).
Oh, and if Archon ever decides to authorize a band, the Marine manual includes images of of the Marine Band and Drum and Bugle Corps uniforms, too; talk about dressing to impress!
Anyone else remember the sitcom “Major Dad?” If I don’t misremember, the woolie-pullie was a pretty common wardrobe item for that show.
Parfait can’t tell if Sydney suddenly got a little ‘aroused’ or not ? she must still be overloaded from the tickle spell ;)
Unless I’m mistaken, it’s more Parfait can’t tell if Sydney is being serious about not seeing through the glasses/hat “disguise”. As DaveB says in the commentary, she’s not serious – “She’s just funnin'”.
How did you get (little) ‘aroused’ from ‘kidding’?
Genuinely curious.
The baseball cap always felt like the random question between him wearing an illusion to make him seem big and intimidating when he is in fact small… And him wearing one and acting normal to not draw attention to himself creating the Clark Kent effect.
Fun fact. When shooting the original Super Man movie people could tell the actor was playing Superman when he went to a nearby restaurant to pick up food for the actors… And then as a joke they had him come back to that same place as Clark Kent and nobody could tell he was the superman actor.
Anthropomorphic bodybuilding cuttlefish disguised easily. Freaky!
Gee, heavily intelligent jest! Keep laughing, man.
Anyone notice that Sydney is supposed to have this super-awesome, f’you, no-sell shield – and Parfait just teleported right inside it, which basically makes it a ‘teleport a bomb in here’ trap shield? It’s no-sell’d magic before – a lot – so I imagine this was just another case of forgetfulness, vs an unknown vulnerability.
Maybe anyone she considers friendly can ignore it?
Harem can’t teleport through it, so no. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-205-hyperactivity-bonus-vs-backstab/
We don’t know how Parfait got in the shield, there’s certainly no evidence that she just teleported in without any assistance from Sydney
Harem teleporting in has been misinterpreted as Parfait teleporting.
No, somehow between the previous page when Sydney deployed Bubble-magic and this page, Parf suddenly appeared on her arm
Yes, but clearly there’s been time passing since the last page and movement.
The likely explanation is that Sydney moved to Parfait and rapidly dropped and raised the shield rather than jumping to the conclusion that Parfait teleported in
Lighthook. Grab each leg and make him do the splits
Lighthook is definitely the best second orb for this.
I find the way Parfait is clinging to Sydney incredibly cute. It’s like she’s not afraid, she just wants to give her friend a hug and a little cuddle when she has an excuse. And the fact that Sydney didn’t even think to make the bubble larger when she easily could is also interesting.
Are we just going to gloss over the fact that Parfait teleported into Sydney’s shield when even Harem couldnt do that?
I think Harem is teleporting in and Parfait got in off camera. We know time has passed since the guy Sydney is facing has changed.
Oh come on Sydney! Even I noticed the “nose” glasses and the ball cap was hiding NOTHING! Just let him hurt his “hands” bashing on Mr. Bubble while you plan on ending this… I’m sure Max will show up and “change” their minds quickly, if Sydney doesn’t first…
They weren’t visible previously. They were clearly hiding themselves. Perfect for smuggling glasses and hats. Perhaps there is a planet where they are tightly regulated.
it would be the planet of hats….
and the poor men there would be Men Without Hats.