Grrl Power #1285 – Getting to not know you
Alari, have a superiority complex concerning basically every other race. Most sapient species are probably going to have some degree of that. It’s hard to say since humans living all alone on our spinning hunk of dirt don’t have any other races to poll against, but it’s not hard to imagine. In fact, I think it’d be weird if a race didn’t have some slightly irrational self-aggrandizement going on. Although, I can see certain scenarios where, for instance, goblins hate elves because the elves are so much better than them at everything. That depends on the setting, obviously. WoW gobbos are different than D&D gobbos are different than Tolkien goboos. So, I guess it’s better to say that most sapient species would probably have some degree of superiority complex over other races, deserved or not, and some races might have fairly significant inferiority complexes. It’s probably a more of an observer dependant hierarchical org chart…
But I digress. I mention it because Sciona has a superiority complex over most other Alari, and consequently thinks that much less of humans. But there is one thing she does like about humans. We invented air quotes. They’re just so… smarmy. Like, generally you can tell where the quotes would be when someone is being sarcastic, but air quotes are like providing someone with hard-coded subtitles because you don’t trust them to be smart enough to pick up what you’re laying down.
If Sciona was planning on exsanguinating this guy for a blood ritual, it’s a curious tactic to pick him up from a public place and right in front of his friends, especially considering she does have some identifiable characteristics, seeing as her hair hasn’t grown out long enough to cover her skull tattoo. It’s possible she’s just on the horn, as the cool (probably mostly British) kids say.
It’s weird, but it’s kind of difficult for me to imagine a supervillainess who isn’t sexually aggressive. Like, it’s hard to picture Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Hel, Volcana, Titania, Mystique, or Dark Phoenix sitting around whining that it’s so hard to meet nice guys, or seeing them out somewhere at a concert or bar and a guy comes up to them and gives them a cheesy pickup line and offers to buy them a drink, and they’re all, “Tee hee, you’re making me blush!”
I think that’s partially because there have been very few female supervillain lead comics. Sure, there’s Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy and a few others, but without a book that gives you more of a look at a character other than them just showing up to battle the Avengers or whoever, we never really get a glimpse into their personal lives, and you never see them on the dating scene.
Sure, Dark Phoenix is about as likely to set up a Tinder profile as is Galactus, but a comic about a middle upper class villainess like Volcana or Titania could be amusing, IMO. Of course, this assumes their villainy mostly revolves around knocking over the occasional bank, throwing down with the local super team, and keeping a low profile when off the clock. Someone like Mystique is probably too politically engaged to really do a comic about her going to the grocery store and making eyes at the cute guy in produce. But I never read the Mystique comic book run, so what do I know?
The new vote incentive is up!
It’s Escorpia/Sciona, fresh off her successful… extortion campaign? I’m not sure if extortion is the right word. Addicting someone to superpowered narcotics then withholding to compel directed behavior? Kind of a ransom/extortion/generally being a butt kind of thing. There’s probably a better word for that. Anyway, check out Sciona’s business casual getup at TWC, and Patreon has a bunch of… let’s call them increasingly casual variants.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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As a Welsh brit I can tell you I’ve never heard it described as being “on the horn”, though tbf, it’s been more than a few years since I’ve frequented England so who knows. Maybe that is slang the cool kids say nowadays
xD
On the horn meaning being horny? No. On the horn meaning on the phone? Yes. But us cool young englanders do say hornt up
Southern Englishman here: back in my day, to hit the bars/clubs in search of flirty>>kissy>>sexy times was to go out on the razzle, or on the pull.
But my day was the turn-of-the-millennium window after mobile phones stopped being massive bricks, but before they became all-knowing supercomputers, so who the hell knows nowadays?
Always knew ‘on the phone’ was ‘on the blower’
Older Australian here. As Tijay says – on the horn = on the telephone whether it be wired or wireless.
Likewise in US parlance. I’ve never heard it used in any other way than some sort of phone or phone-like communication device. If anything, it has a kind of navy/maritime-slang ring to it, like the captain of the ship contacting someone on the lower decks via whatever-they-call-their-ship-wide-communication-thingy.
I’m not young but I’m unfamiliar with the term and British.
All statements regarding “Get someone on the horn.” are in regards to communication. Pre-dates radio. Sounding a loud enough horn in a specific pattern was enough to alert the next station to repeat it.
Think the beacons are lit. Gondor calls for aid.
The beacons are, like, totally lit, dude. Gondor calls for Ale.
Don’t forget the snacks, dude, Gondor has totally got the munchies
It was a common expression in my youth in America in the ’60’s through the ’80’s. Haven’t heard it much lately.
Dude, listen to your friend and RUN.
No no! Don’t run, running just attracts the attention of other predators. Walk, quickly but calmly, towards the nearest shelter. Though actually in this case, don’t do that either, stay in the presence of friends/witnesses.
The other predators have already retreated to the underbrush; they can sense an apex killer on the prowl.
“I never thought I would die like this but I always really hoped.” – Phillip J. Fry (Futurama s3e01)
Yes she is a new Cheryl Bradshaw , Escorpia/Sciona has a body count higher than Rodney Alcala.
Rodney Alcala was the Dating Game Killer because of his 1978 appearance on the television show The Dating Game in the midst of his murder spree.
Alcala won the competition and a date with the episode’s bachelorette, Cheryl Bradshaw, who subsequently refused to go out with him because she found him “creepy.”
She was a good judge of character, then.
“It’s hard to say since humans living all alone on our spinning hunk of dirt don’t have any other races to poll against”
Depending on which archaeologists you believe, humans either killed the other hominids on Earth (back when there were any), or mated with them. Or both.
So “superiority complex?” Probably yeah.
We’ve managed to develop superiority complexes regarding the country we live in, the colour of our skin, our choice of video game console and how many people haven’t heard of the thing we like. I think you’re right that we will find a way to feel superior to the technologically advanced people living in a near utopia once we happen upon them.
Aliens? Pah! They’re not even from *round here*!
I have nothing against strangers. Some of my best friends are strangers. But these strangers are not from here.
In all seriousness, yes. Look up the Fremen Mirage series at the ACOUP blog. We would likely consider them soft, and us hardy and strong for dealing with adversity.
Yeah, it’s extremely common for humans to consider their own in-group to be superior to all the out-groups, and any possible evidence to the contrary is either something their in-group more than makes up for (“Yeah, they’re better at X, but we’re better at Y and Z, which are a lot more important”) or it’s because the out-group is cheating (“They’re better off now because their ancestors robbed our ancestors of everything, and now the game is rigged” or even “They’re using evil magic” or similar). The in-groups and out-groups can be based on skin color, culture, location, beliefs, or whatever. It would be unsurprising if the discovery of alien life leads a lot of humans to automatically consider humanity superior (“Sure, they have better technology, but they had an earlier start and also have been interacting with other species for a long time; give humans a few generations and we’ll be the ones in charge”). And if aliens have similar psychology to ours (which seems to largely be the case for the aliens in the Grrl-verse), they’ll likely behave similarly.
> or it’s because the out-group is cheating (“They’re better off now because their ancestors robbed our ancestors of everything, and now the game is rigged”)
Sometimes that’s true.
They basically outbred them, as they were more adaptable to changing conditions. They also successfully mated with them, as well all have Neandertal and Denisovian genes in our genome.
According to available evidence, in all likelihood it was a patchwork pattern. Early modern humans sometimes outfought archaic hominids, sometimes mated with them, and generally outcompeted and outbred them to extinction all over the place. Populaton numbers were so low back then that the genetic legacy of the interbreeding became a persistent feature of humanity at large.
Yeah Sciona is one of those times where being open minded is VERY likely to result in a hole in your skull. Or some other fatal or incredibly crippling location.
Unless of course you are powerful enough either directly or by proxy to prevent her from doing so.
Deus fits the bill in this regard, but then again he wrote a whole bookshelf about dating exotic and often dangerous partners. I bet Sciona was far from his most daring hookup.
Deus made sure to have his super powerful eldritch abomination bodyguard oversee the whole procedure:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-607-a-magnificent-proposal/
Well, he knew Sciona is temperamental and prone to be petty in a fit. But the bodyguard likes to watch, and Sciona is far from shy about fulfilling her sexual needs as we just witnessed, so it was a win-win for all parties involved.
The fact that Sciona was scoffing at the offer *while* stripping down is… revealing. Girl’s libido is stronger than her malice.
Still… dude, step back from the volcano.
“Still… dude, step back from the volcano.”
But only _after_ throwing the cock ring into the volcano….
Oh it’s likely he’ll still be alive. Technically. His body at least. Quite possibly piloted by an Alari soul or whatever Sciona put in those other bodies. Maybe his chance of still piloting his body tomorrow depend on his talent in bed.
Quite true, but it also depends a lot on whether she still has Alari souls hanging around and in need of a new body, or she got all of them housed already. IIRC those souls were about 80, and in all likelihood she spent at least few months since she got to Earth, so it could have gone either way. Ofc, there is also the chance transferring a soul from one body to another might be somehow convenient for her goals.
Considering how many came with her through the Portal, high odds that she still needs a city (or at least a smallish town) to repopulate
Well, I’d like to have some reliable info on how many those Alari souls were, since it is relevant for Sciona’s supervillain activities and long-term plot. I seem to remember reading somewhere they were about 80, but it might my memory playing me tricks. Admittedly, they seemed a lot when they swarmed Sciona’s body and crossed the portal, but it depends on how tightly they were packed in the swarm and how quickly they traveled. My best guess is from a few tens to a few hundreds.
She knows what she wants, she knows the best way to get it is to be very BLUNT to ensure no misunderstanding.
She also knows that in this instance the state for risks is rather low (guy might be in trouble, but she won’t be) and lets be honest… While her new super power is useful… She wants stress relief on her own terms.
Especially since lets face it… The Frankenstein body probably didn’t give her a lot of action in the bedroom, she is working to stay hidden on earth knowing she can’t easily conquer it with an army she doesn’t have anymore… Oh and how her new super power works is probably unpleasant for her so the need for stress relief in a body that can actually feel it is probably a bit higher now.
It is exceedingly likely she got no action at all in all the time she spent trapped in that (male IIRC) orc Frankeinstein body, if what Deus implied is true. He did not need much effort to talk her into transactional sex, and she proved an enthusiastic participant, so in all likelihood she was sexually starved for Dave knows how long and had an healthy libido from the beginning.
Being in a super body almost surely does nothing to tone it down, quite the contrary. Everything we saw about supers in this setting indicates they have a rather high average libido as a group. This is no surprise, given they have youthful and ideal bodies, they are optimally fit, are often physically active, and often have high-stress lifestyles. Cfr. the comparison with professional athletes.
So Sciorpia being genuinely interested in a casual hookup to R&R from all the supervillain and infiltration work and sratch the itch is entirely plausible, esp. since we saw acting dominatrix with her addicted minions is part of the job for her, and gives her no thrill.
Even more so since the one time she accidentally met Deus again, she had to protect her cover and there were not the right circumstances to stage a hookup, even if I bet she would have loved to. And he probably would have agreed in the right circumstances, given the deal he has with Harem.
But even if she’s genuinely out for a hookup, and nothing more, you’ve got to expect that body’s super power to kick in at some point, and the guy ends up a hopeless addict. If not ODing, under the circumstances.
Maybe, maybe not, if it’s just a single hookup. We know from #1180 she learnt to control her power since she got in her body: she shaked hands with Deus w/o issue. She might be able to keep doing so in the throes of passion up to climax, or she might lose control past a point.
Genre precedents for supers suggest it might easily go either way. We have (wo)man of steel, (wo)man of kleenex; we have supers picking Muggles as lovers w/o any trouble; and we Destructo Nookie. Tropes in this regard are all the way. So we need Dave’s guidance about this specific case. Hopefully we’ll know in a few updates at most.
Admittedly, if Sciorpia finds this guy good enough to keep as a long-term sexual ‘pet’, as she said she’d do with Deus, it is exceedingly likely she would purposefully get him addicted as an easy way to keep him under her thumb.
Regarding Supervillain Dating, the Webcomic “Evil, Inc” has a few superhero/supervillain couples and Supervillain/Villain couples. Might be worth a read.
The words “might be” can definitely be removed from that sentence!
Someone feel free to correct me, but didn’t Waller get a solo run at one point?
Call me insane, but if The Wall isn’t a villainess, the term has absolutely no value.
Amanda’s from the government. She’s here to help you. By strapping a murdercollar around your throat as an encouragement towards becoming your best self.
It’s actualizing!
Waller is more of an antihero at least half the time if you watch what gappens in JLU season 4 (especislly towards the end) and Batman Beyond epilogue.
The other half she is an antivillain instead :)
You raise an interesting point.
Anti villains don’t get nearly enough credit.
– Most sapient species are probably going to have some degree of that. It’s hard to say since humans living all alone
I think we demonstrate that rather clearly, personally. See our opinion about every other species on this planet.
– It’s weird, but it’s kind of difficult for me to imagine a supervillainess who isn’t sexually aggressive.
Taylor Hebert.
Meh, I think she gets a bad rap as being just “oh so evil,” to the point I’d say she (and the rest of her crew) were hardly “villains” as we think of them anyway.
Not that I think she deserves medals of heroism from her homeworld, but intent does matter.
I kinda think Khepri knocks it out of the park it for the “utterly evil for the best of reasons” thing. We see it from her perspective, but think what happened there from anyone else’s.
As Dave said, seeing a supervillainess active on the hookup scene (and he is right, being sexually aggressive psychologically fits the role a lot) is an interesting and novel take. We don’t see much of it in the genre, apart from the villainess trying to seduce the hero or using her femme fatale skills to get an advantage. Personally I fancy this scene a lot, for the reason above, b/c I like my superhero stories even more when sprinkled with some erotica, and I am avid for more info about Sciorpia’s new life on Earth, her master plan, and hopefully the next arc starring her and her golem ‘child’.
Sciona has got much better than in her previous life at disguising her huge superiority complex about humans and Muggles, and interacting them for casual dating purposes, even she uses the blunt tactic and dismisses all the ‘getting to know you’ phase. I assume it is a benefit of all the time and experience she has spent living in a super body and infiltrating the US government.
What is funny in this scene is that headband woman is simultaneously right and wrong. Right that they are dealing with a top-class serial killer, although of a kind she does not expect. Wrong that Sciorpia is likely genuine in her proffered offer of a casual hookup, no strings attached. Well, unless the guy proves exceptionally good; in that case, she would likely keep him around as a sexual ‘pet’. Quality minions do not grow on trees.
If she had meant to kidnap the guy for harvesting his blood or body parts, she would not have approached him in such a public way. Ofc, this does not rule out the very possible case she is killing two birds with one stone, get some serious fun with a hunky guy, then use him as a meat puppet for an Alari soul when she tires of him, assuming she still has a few ghosts hanging around her. His demise would not be noticeable if his body still goes around, only with a new tenant.
Mystique back stories are often about her, her wife (Destiny), and their often messed up relationships with their kids (Rogue and Nightcrawler).
They can be romantic, sweet, or funny at times, especially with how much Destiny hates her son in law (Gambit.)
One thing the guy is right is it is going a wild ride, no matter his ultimate fate. First (few) round(s) of getting a sexually starved Sciona to bed was enough to get Deus in need of a pause and energy drinks, even if he quickly recovered for another go.
Imagine Sciona’s protection failing and her becoming pregnant as a result of this union. Then becoming hyper irritated discovering the bizarre maternally soft emotions she can’t control as she progresses throught her nine months. She thinks she’s immune to such weakness, only to learn she has a soft side. Maybe Alari gestation is 20 months!
Some degree of maternal instincts is a survival trait for any humanoid or mammal-like species, but we got hints from that commercial about how Alari treat their children, so don’t get your hopes up. Sciona’s concept of good motherhood she inherited from her culture almost surely is about raising another crop of power-hungry sociopaths and future villains by strict education and abusive guidance.
Why do you think how Alari treat their children means they have no maternal instincts? Sure they have, and their instinct are making them raising their children as though as they need to be. Alari LOVES their children, even if the way they are showing it looks weird to humans.
I agree with your point. I meant the fact Alari have parental instincts does not make them any less of the jerk
civilization they are. Hence Sciorpia accidentally getting pregnant and deciding to have the child would not become any less of the villainess she is. She would just add ‘raise them to be Mommy’s little supervillain’ to her master plan.
Or, she could go all “Despicable Me”
Theoretically possible but quite unlikely IMO. It is entirely possible, but far from certain, that her current version might accept or even welcome an accidental pregnancy in the light of the sobering lesson of the fall of her civilization. Population disasters tend to heighten the breeding urge and she might be no exception. Her post-epimorph, pre-fall version in all likelihood would have sought an abortion if say Deus had knocked her upand she had been able to keep her Alari body. By her crappy pre-fall standards, she made an impressive degree of personal growth, but it basically meant her becoming a lot more pragmatic and able to restrain her flaws and worst impulses. Her value system seems to have changed little or not at all.
Therefore, I expect Sciorpia might learn to become a decent mother by Alari standards, but almost surely she would raise their children to be supervillains and (honorary) Alari warlords, and her attitude towards the rest of the world would change little or not at all.
All but surely, she would educate any children of hers to be supervillains and (honorary) Alari warlords, train them to be mages, and use blood magic to make them artificial supers if they don’t inherit superpowers spontaneously. It is interesting to speculate if she would be content to educate them to be honorary Alari in mind and spirit, given her current circumstances, or she would use magic to make them Alari-super hybrids like she is, or even more so.
I tend to assume the latter would be the most likely case in the light of her Alari supremacism, even if she likely became a lot more respectful of supers and appreciative of being part one since her reincarnation. I bet she currently regards being a mix of Alari mage and super the best of both worlds, and she would seek the same deal for any children of hers.
By the way, Dave left the issue open so far, but with the strong grounding of the link to the Superion field in genetic factors, chances are superpowers in the Grrl-verse are highly inheritable to begin with. Even so, I bet Mommy Sciorpia would use blood magic to force the issue in favor of her children if fate and genetic chance do not comply.
Not all hyu-mons develop the maternal instinct, ever
And it doesn’t matter how long an Alari gestation is, Escopia’s body is hyu-mon
Right. And Alari culture long ago shaped their parental instincts into raising another generation of power-hungry sociopaths, if that commercial about skintight force fields as a discipline tool for unruly children is any guide.
“considering she does have some identifiable characteristics, seeing as her hair hasn’t grown out long enough to cover her skull tattoo.”
I understand it’s been at least several months since Sciona took over Escorpia’s body. Right after the portal to her home planet where Sydney was trapped. It took a few months (earth time) just for Sydney to get back, and we’ve had several arcs since then, including multiple times Frixx left earth and came back. So unless the dead/undead body has excessively slow hair growth, or she’s been cutting it short herself, she should have several inches of hair. More than enough to cover those skull tattoos.
And speaking of identifying characteristics, did the holes in her chest fully heal, or does she still have a patch there? I’m guessing we’ll find out when the new toy does.
Given the bullet holes were in her upper chest, and she fancies deep cleavage (the best to show off those boobies she is so proud of), we already know they have fully healed.
You are right about the time span. I suppose she cuts and styles her hair that way because she grew to like those tattoos. They fit her style w/o compromising her cover too much.
Seems like this belongs here. “Glitter paint”, uploaded for 6 months.
https://ibb.co/kyDhpsL
(Honestly, how many of these do I have to upload just to get someone to notice?)
How does an Alari know about kitty claws?
She spent a considerable time on Earth, and humanity’s relationship with cats and dogs is easy to notice. She is also familiar with Earthly supernaturals, and werecats are a thing.
Heck, she had a close encounter with Pixel in werecat form, all the way to getting wounded by her claws, defeating her, and hanging her to drain her blood.
Well, yeah but… Krona “un-happened” that moment.
Still, good point. Even before her head transplant, she’d been villaining on the third rock who knows how long.
Raven-haired girl absolutely *nailed* that vibe check, picking up on the sociopathic killer energy that the sociopathic killer was giving off.
She is entirely right about her general nature, and hilariously wrong about her current intentions, since the sociopathic killer atm is genuinely interested in a different kind of body count. I’d recruit the girl to guess the general character of a person, but not their current intent.
Like spots like: Raven is as much a psycho as Sci is a socio
Why you guys are assuming raven-haired girl is evil? Wild guess or something else? I am genuinely curious, since I picked no such vibes from her.
Until shown otherwise I’m assuming these three are the yakuza raiders and the R/L thing was one of them making fun of the girl for putting on a terrible accent to hide her real voice.
On the female villain side, there’s always Worm. And A Practical Guide to Evil, though that one’s less superhero-y.
Worm has at least two really good examples of not-sexually-agressive villainesses:
One is functionally asexual, and the other is adorkable.
Purity always struck me as rediculously vanilla, and Night…
It makes sense to imagine super villainesses as sexually aggressive. They’re naturally aggressive. These are women who are in the top .1% of aggression and are also super powered. Most women are not career criminals. These ones have a lot of dark triad pathology, it makes sense they’d be dominant, controlling, and aggressive. It’s kinda just the whole package. It’s like the line from Jurassaic world that I’m going to butcher, “you cannot have predatory body features without the corresponding behavior traits”.
I suppose trying to subvert the line might lead to some pretty comical ideas though.
* heads off to start drawing “The Nurturing T-Rex” *
Will Sciorpia/Sciona be a modern day John Wayne Gacy?!?
Her body count in all likelihood exceeds the most successful and bloodthirsty human serial killers, but she does not seem one to kill her sexual partners for thrills. We have seen acting dominatrix with her minions bores her, so for all her sociopathy she probably is not a sexual sadist. From what we have seen, chances are vanilla passionate casual sex is her kink. If she is going to be a black widow to her partners, it is because she got bored of them or they displeased her in some way.
there’s also a bunch of supervillains who are insecure though like Madam Masque or Babydoll
And though the comics run She-Hulk is rather self-secure, the show She-Hulk had that initial ‘uncomfortable being dominant’ thing going on.
Is Raven warning Blondie about Sci… or herself?
Why do you assume she is dangerous? I am curious, since two of you made the assumption and I picked no such vibes from her.
I could definitely see SOME female villains having less ferocious dating habits.
Someone like Madame Masque, high class woman who might have some lingering insecurity issues involving her appearance. Diamondback had her whole heel face turn come out of her relationship with Steve Rogers. The MCU version of Nebula would probably have some rough edges if someone were to actually court her, but think once she understood the situation would enjoy the prospect.
I’m just less familiar with DC, but sure they have examples along the same lines.
This feels like a ‘do you choose the bear in the woods?’ situation and he should’ve picked the bear.
Who wants to bet the Deuce ruined her for all other men?
Possibile but not so likely since Harem is a casual lover of his but she still enjoys being with other men (and women). No doubt she would love getting another session or three with him and in all likelihood would welcome having the same relationship with him Harem has, if with a lot more supervillain banter and belligerent sexual tension
We have plenty evidence of humans thinking they’re superior, but some races think they’re superior to other humans. There’s plenty of historical evidence supporting this because humans can really suck.
“It’s weird, but it’s kind of difficult for me to imagine a supervillainess who isn’t sexually aggressive.”
Well, considering a supervillain of *either* sex would probably be far less likely to worry/care about: social taboos, abandoning an accidental child, the long-term effects of STDs, the long-term effects of continual casual hookups on their own psyche (or others’,) the short-term feelings of a partner, or just any sort of guilt in general… I’d say it should probably be MORE of an expected trait than we tend to find in traditional comics.
In fact, while I can *picture* a supervillainess being profoundly chaste, I’d have a hard time coming up with a realistic reason for it beyond either “I hate men” or “I’m just soooooo busy building this world-destroying machine, I don’t have time for that nonsense.”
How about “I’m picky and have unreasonable standards no mere mortal can fulfill’ as a reason?
I’d imagine titania mostly spends her date nights with her husband Carl “the Crusher” Creel aka the absorbing man. From what i understand they have a very loyal monogamous and happy relationship built on mutual respect and crime.
Don’t do it man. Seriously, DON’T DO IT!
Even if this wasn’t a comic about superpowered people; I’d peg her as a STD carrier who’s looking to pass it on out of some need for revenge.
Well, not all STD are the same level of bad and there is always protection. I’d not dismiss the chance to be with someone as hot as Escorpia so casually.
Condoms, condoms, condoms. This is the modern age and he’d have to be a real blonde not to be carrying some on his person.
What the black haired woman is saying about corpses is ridiculous. Sciona doesnt have corpses under her porch. She uses them as bodies for experimentation and body snatching. Sheesh :)
Professional supervillains have some standards.
And she’s smart—what doesn’t work for hosts/experimentation likely gets composted or Soylented.
That raised an interesting question. Being a bloodmage, does Sciona have a lab/lair stashed somewhre around Washington? She could go completeely underground in her curent identity and it probably takes up a lot of her time but she could also have a warehouse somewhere in an industrial park. It worked well enough before.
It is almost sure she is going to rebuild a lab/lair or three for herself somewhere in the DC area, probably a (few) warehouse(s) in industrial parks. This solution served her well in the past, no need to change course now. I have great expectations for her to be a much more effective supervillainess this round.
This version of her seems to have toned down her self-defeating flaws, including pettiness, impulsiveness, inability to work constructively with allies and non-robotic minions, and a crippling level of Alari supremacism. This probably because the sobering lesson of Alari Prime’s downfall sunk in, but also b/c despite the need to rebuild her power base from scratch, she faces much less troublesome practical and personal circumstances.
I also expect a serious power boost from gainful synergy between her blood mage and artificer skills and her newfound super abilities. To quote but an example, she was already able to give herself a nifty generalist suite of superpowers (albeit temporarily and/or with side effects) by blood magic means and excellent power copying abilities to an elite golem by similar means. Now that she is a genuine super herself, her being able to upgrade herself into the equivalent of a MCU Super-Skrull permanently by similar means seems far from outlandish.
Do women use the term “body count”?
Depends on context
If alien bias works like human bias, then there’s plenty of room to feel safer around people you recognize as part of your family or community. The unfamiliar kicks off the uncanny valley principle: the closer something comes to matching what you know from previous experience, the more unsettling the differences become. Take Sandman villain The Corinthian: he’s a normally menacing human right up until he takes off his sunglasses and shows two rows of perfect teeth in each empty eye socket.
So for populations before the invention of travel that didn’t take months and cost your life savings, the average shmo wouldn’t see much race representation outside of melting pots like New York. Or if they did, the segregation would keep the others firmly in the uncanny valley, and that tension would tilt minds toward the arguments for segregation and racial purity.
This happens in everyone, but it doesn’t mean everyone takes it to the same level as the Alari. Far better to put in the work to update your expectations to include more of the actual world around you instead of stubbornly sticking to the false narrative that hasn’t killed you so far.
Humans have an us vs them instinct that seems to drive a superiority complex as an excuse. Humans will believe themselves superior to other humans on things as arbitrary as phenotype, personal interests, location of birth/habitation, or develop an association with a particular sporting team, celebrity, ideology (theological, political, social, etc…), and even sub variation these and insist and believe so strongly this makes them better than others that they will post one sentence responses whole heartedly believing these alone shut down and demoralize anyone who has an opposing or even slightly different stance.
Likewise I have seen humans who believe all other life on Earth was created to serve and be used by humans. There are also humans who believe the same of anyone not in their faith or social groups. And any challenge to these outlooks can cause a psychotic defense reaction, a violent response to destroy any opposition to their stance as a display of superiority, as there can be no challenge to this mental view if it’s gone. A very animalistic response regarding these differences as rival predators in a sense.
The problem with projecting this to aliens is our sample size of one, but how humans would view aliens would be tricky. We of course will have the outliars who will believe it’s all a hoax and governments in conspiracy and that nothing exists beyond Earth because that’s what the authority of their personal social groups said when they were little and was programmed into them as a result, and enforced by their recognized.by them peers. Similarly those that will think them demons, angels, ancient gods, etc…based on the same variables with their different social programming.
However even those that recognize the aliens as aliens it is hard to say as the only data we have comes from fiction. Fiction made by humans for humans to fulfill fantasies and be sold to a general audience. So it centralizes humans, humans are the special ones who can figure out how to overcome ancient galactic empires, unite warring alien factions, defeat the undefeated space monsters, and will be envied by even the most advanced aliens. Regardless of if it’s defeating alien invaders or being explorers in space.
Even when it’s not being done for money this humans are awesome and will beat anything is popular. See the popularity of humans are space orcs, over settings where humans are just one of many getting by,, or needing help from those that came before, and humans as alien pets is only popular when the humans rise up and defeat those aliens or is a sexual fantasy situation.. I’m sure the dog jumping your leg feels the same but it’s not reciprocated (is a hard comedic set up to find for human as alien pets and equally hard to write). But yeah
Human centrism is very hard to not find in some form in sci Fi with aliens but also makes sense given the audience and all the above examples of how this home team ingrained superiority complex crops up to envelope various self and group identities.one just hopes if humans do meet real aliens they don’t believe God sent them for humans to take their stuff and rule over them. Or that any aliens also have this manifest destiny view of other life.
God. Can you imagine what Alari dating apps must be like?
Okay everybody, all together:
“DON’T STICK IT IN THE CRAZY!!”
Happily its happening. the birth rate is going down, and the average age for first child is going up. wait, you mean those are bad things? too bad.
There are millions of other species right here on Earth. And we consider ourselves superior to every one of them.
“You know, I have really had it with this superiority complex of yours.”
“It’s not a complex, dear; it’s a fact.”
– B’Elanna Torres and Female Q
ok, can we conclude that black haired lady has designs on both men. I’ve heard rumors of this, that women like to keep a backup guy in orbit.
look, blond man, I have a suggestion. unless black haired lady is a sister or other close relation…. its an oldie but goody..
you’ve got to run run run till she takes the T-bird away and
and when that happens….
keep running now that she’s taken the t-bird away.
both of the women.
personally- sex toys are a lot less work, and cheaper.
It’s possible Scona has resting alien blood mage senal killer face.
But it’s Escorpia’s face
It’s possible Escorpia has resting alien blood mage serial killer face as well.
Quite possibly. She was involved with the cartels and stole enough money from them to get herself killed.
Humans have a superiority complex over themselves. I can only imagine what absolute psychological mess they would make of other aliens.
Closest approximation. Up through the 1600s, and in places well into the 1700s and 1800s, there were laws about people fornicating with supernatural beings, treated as devil worship, or on the legal books bestiality was the official crime. So having sex with a forest spirit…or dreaming you did, telling someone, was enough to get dragged before a court in Sweden, accused of bedding a non human and thus bestiality and sentenced to death.
And it is weird that still today we see discussions about alien sex and people sincerely claim it would be bestiality because they aren’t human despite being sapient life forms.
The technical legal definition for bestiality is sex with an animal but the LEGAL definition for animal is ‘any nonhuman primate or other living creature.’
So by that definition it would have included aliens. :)
But not Cora.
Just one of the many laws that would have to be changed with the discovery or reveal of non human sapient species. One because if intimacy is possible it would be considered prejudice to be defined that way, and the other it’s also insulting as the common use refers to non sapient or lesser creatures.
As well as the fact the cases I mentioned were rather theocratically declared (seriously saying you think you were visited in the night by a supernatural being could get you burned at the stake…some of the examples I use to denounce wanting any religion to dictate law or that law has any inherit sense of justice or humanity to it without constant oversight.
Unless there’s a surprise or two out there, e.g. “Humans were kidnapped in past times and have been out there for centuries”, or “We all came from the stars in the first place”, then I really doubt intimacy is possible.
Humans would have likely have less in common biologically with aliens than with lobsters.
Science fiction movies and TV have been limited by the need to make up/costume a human to look like whatever alien is called for in the script in limited time. More than about 4 hours becomes prohibitive, and that’s for a lead. For a walk-on it’s a lot less.
The actor then has to be able to move and speak. This has led to Star Trek’s “human with latex on forehead” alien of the week phenomenon.
Occasionally you’ll get something like the Horta in the original series, but that was basically a guy crawling on the floor under a latex rug.
Aliens may be bipedal with four limbs (it’s pretty useful for tool using), but that still covers a lot of ground.
Oh, no doubt interspecies fertility is gonna be a chimera and a headache, unless genetic engineering comes to aid. But chances are, when we have a first contact, one side or the other shall have mastered it.
But intimacy? People can be helluva creative when something as pleasurable as sex is at stake. Humans have been using a lot of their body parts for different, sexual uses than what evolution intended for millennia. I am confident we shall find a way to screw anything that registers humanlike enough to be attractive.
And we shall make damn sure everything we engineer into being our peers, be them android, bioroids, or uplifted animals, shall be sexually compatible with us. If not the first, then the second truly humanlike robot shall be a sexbot. Rule 34. Sex is a huge drive of progress.
History of the creation and evolution of succubi in the Grrlverse is spot on in this regard. One of the most successful species in the universe began as sex golems for proud, lonely, and competitive wizards.
Irioh got it, why I said intimacy and not reproduction.
Even with convergent evolution as a factor, after all similar environments will develop similar structures, that said that is like comparing an earthworm and a king cobra for convergent body designs. Alien doesn’t mean it has to be completely unrecognizable, but again having a crab-starfish-turtle propositioning you for sex might give one a moment to pause. Or more on topic of convergent, the four limbs, tube shaped body, swivel necked alien may end up falling into the uncanny valley if its too similar but just off. Other factors will be at play.
first to get it out of the way, the Harkness test: is the lifeform (or comparable intelligence) sapient and capable of giving consent. Also is it considered both biologically AND mentally and legally mature for its species/kind.
So that out of the way we have to consider not just shape.
but also
1: Attraction: Sexual attraction, or even just emotional attraction, can occur between different species. We have seen this on Earth regularly, ask any farmer, zoo keeper, or anyone else that has to deal with animals regularly. Especially happens more frequently in mixed species habitations. While sexual selection is one of the factors that determines a species in nature and prevents interbreeding in some cases, this is not a universal constant. Especially for species for whom sex is a pleasurable not just an instinctive experience. The emotional attraction may lead to physical intimacy later but is not required for two individuals of different, especially sapient species to consider each other their partner.
-also between the internet, folklore, and so many NSFW stories its pretty clear humans can be very wide open to different body types under the above conditions. Its not unreasonable they may find other aliens that feel the same way. So starfish-crab-turtle and bipedal soft tube with four stiff jointed flabby tube limbs and head on a slight swivel have developed some mutual emotional and physical attractions potentially, even if its like a weird fantasy come to life.
but that’s where the logistics come in.
2: Physical compatibility: structurally most animals, plants, fungi, everything is very not compatible in the genitalia, even those fairly closely related, sizes, structures, internal components. Its not about reproduction but comfort and safety of one or both parties. They don’t need to be able to reproduce just be able to pleasure one another without causing intense physical pain or harm to one or both parties. But this where creativity comes into play, using non-genital body parts to compensate that can make up the difference…or do an even more pleasurable job in some cases, as well as creating new sex toys, like sexual adaptors.
reminded of Babylon 5 with the Pakmara porn scene “isn’t science great” after pointing out they and humans aren’t compatible.
back to the legal stuff a moment, honestly the wording just needs to be, any non-human non-sapient animate entity incapable of giving consent or recognized as able to give consent within their own kind. Are legally off limits.
Full agreement here. I may only point that in this very webcomic we recently saw an excellent example of interspecies lovers using science (or magic, which like superpowers in the Grrlverse is the same thing but using a different set of physical laws) to overcome physical barriers to intimacy.
Cfr. the ‘elasticity’ potion Xuriel gifted to Syd. No doubt Sydney is going to make regular use of it every time Frix visits just like another woman in less exotic circumstances would do with contraceptives. Where there is a will, there is a way.
I’m with his friend. It’s not worth it.
Who knows, if he’s really good, in addition to hooking up with a hot super he could get a job as henchman and toy boy for an up-and-coming supervillainess. We know Sciorpia is open-minded to hiring if the Congressman’s daughter is anything to go by. I concede that getting addicted on her cocaine sweat is a major job hazard. Avoidance of becoming a body donor for an Alari soul is in all likelihood dependent on his performance and potential value as a human minion.
Call me cynical, but I really don’t want to see Sciorpia clam jammed here, for kink as well as plot-related reasons. So I am rooting for Blondie thinking with his other head.
Eh, even apart from the fact this man is going to end up a slave at best and a corpse at worst, maybe a bodyjacked puppet at absolute worst, I’m not interested in another round of softcore porn. Hell, I would find it funnier if he did turn her down and she’s like, “What? HOW can you turn me down!” And then the three of them say something to the effect of, “Don’t put your dick in crazy.”
Well, YMMV ofc. Personally, as superhero slice-of-life goes, I find this glimpse in Sciona’s lifestyle much more interesting than another ho-hum round of Math using Cora’s crew as punching bags.
As far as I am concerned, sex, violence, and wonder are three great tastes that taste great together, so I love getting my superhero (or fantasy) action-adventure mixed with (softcore) porn and vice versa.
As far as I know, ‘don’t stick it in crazy’ is a tenet often talked about, but rarely honored, and Max scored a date despite being as hostile as they go, so I see no good narrative reason why Sciorpia should be clam jammed here, esp. not for the sake of a cheap joke based on it.
As it concerns the ultimate fate of the blond guy, sure he’s walking on thin ice and in the maw of the lion here, but with some serious luck and skill, he might just end up being an henchman and boy toy for an up-and-coming supervillainess.
BTW, the corpse and bodyjacked puppet outcomes are functionally indistinguishable from my PoV. Once my consciousness is gone, I care little about what happens to my dead body.
Irioh got it, there is a reason I said intimacy and not reproduction. Emotional connections and find a way to physically pleasure each other.
this posted in the wrong place, was on my phone, guess tapped the wrong response part of the screen.
For sexual aggression out of a supervillainess, no comic has ever topped Bomb Queen. She even dated… briefly.