Grrl Power #153 – Xuriel Tantalis, friend to conspiracy theorists
Had I planned ahead better I would have introduced the clicker earlier as there’s once or twice Arianna probably would have already used it. I’m sure it will show up sporadically. I’m also sure Arianna often wishes it was a tazer.
Dabbler’s name can be correctly spelled as Xuriel or Zuriel, since her native language (Infernal) have some phonemes that English doesn’t. Really, the best way to spell it would be Zhuriel, or maybe even “Juriel” where the J sounds the same as the J in Jacques or Taj Mahal. It’s actually quite a common sound in English; “ge” in beige, the “s” in version or the “X” in luxurious. Heck, if you’re Sean Connery, you can’t make it through a day without using it. Speaking of English’s shortcomings, I think G should always be hard and J should always be soft, and while we’re at it, let’s just switch to Unifon. So I guess you could write her name Zuriel. If you guys have ever read some of the Dirty Pair comics that Adam Warren did, you can see examples of Unifon in use. When I do a “What was Dabbler doing before she joined Archon” flashback, I’m sure I’ll slip some in, so get your decoder rings ready. :)
I seem to have been upgraded from special guest to semi-regular on the The Trade Podcast. I make another appearance so listen in if that’s your bag.
And speaking of podcasts, I did one a while ago over at TGT, and they’re running a tournament where they pit guests against each other, so you can go over there and give that a listen and throw down a vote if you’re so inclined. Hopefully their page doesn’t take a dump. It was acting squirrelly Sunday night.
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i love arriana`s little device to try and make dabbler behave, keyword being TRY lol.
btw
first ^_^
How did Dabbler get Arianna’s censor remote control? Telekinesis (whether magical or psionic)?
Really, Arianna, for a PR person and lawyer, why you have to include Dabbler in the presscon? Doing something like this was practically given for her.
I’m guessing Arianna just threw it at her. It’s not like it was actually of any use by that stage.
I think you’re right about her throwing the control at Dabbler, but I just now realized it may be because Dabbler was about to expose herself as an alien.
Or Demon. Or Mutant.
Yeah, propably thrown to shut her up, because the other use did not work. But I think that is just dabbler teasing Arianna, like she does with everyone else to uptight for her. So basically everyone who isn’t a Succubus.
Sydney is cool enough for her I think. 8-)
Or cyborg.
Is there a reason why that would be a bad thing? I’d think she’d be happier if she didn’t have to hide herself from the people she’s intending to protect. Also she’s pretty cute in her natural form aside from the odd ear/antennae things.
I think the clue might be in Dabbler’s own line “I can summon weapons to my hand”. Whatever technique(s) she uses seems to be adaptable to non-weapon gadgets. Perhaps she jammed or diverted the electronic transmission sent by the clicker to Anvil (note that she does not act a second time), with the results shown in panels 8 and 9. But was still getting annoyed by the clicking noise itself, so activated her power to summon it.
Or it could just be a frustrated Arianna throwing it at her, as the clicking was not provoking the response she desired.
I don’t think it was clicking. The name on it is Fid-O B-Have. That makes me suspect it’s an ultrasonic device meant to make Dogs behave. If Dabbler’s hearing goes into the ultra-sonic range, the Arianna could be using it as a reminder only Dabbler can hear. She certainly isn’t showing the discomfort a Dog would when Arianna uses it. Anvil was something separate and the cameraman might just be picking up the ultrasound on his equipment. My guess anyway.
Dog clickers are usually just audible clicking devices, which do not extend into the ultra sonic range. They are used as negative reinforcement, but only because dogs have difficulty in understanding English. The phrase “Bad dog” sounds very different to dogs if you say it loudly, softly, angrily, ironically or when said by people with different accents. To the extent that they may not understand it as being the same phrase, even though it would be clear to us in each circumstance.
Conversely no clicker is needed for “Good dog” as peoples voices tend to be steadier when happy with a dog, as opposed to stressed out, angry or panicking in an emergency, so the phrase will typically be easier to understand.
Hence using the clicker, which always sounds the same. It is then just a matter of making sure that the dog associates its use as being a message that it is doing something wrong. Which is done the same way as teaching it any other command.
Having a small device that fits comfortably in hand is best as you must get the message across whilst it is still performing the action. Leave it a moment and you may confuse the dog into thinking that you are telling it off for either stopping doing what it was, or for what it is doing now. If a dog does not come to you when you call it, for example, never hit it when it finally does come to you. You will be giving it the opposite message to the one you intend.
I would very much disapprove of a clicker which created a deliberately unpleasant or painful sonic noise to punish dogs. On top of everything else, it would be punishing every dog in the area, not just the one intended.
It’s not a clicker.
https://www.amazon.com/Super-Dogchaser-Ultrasonic-Dog-Repeller/dp/B004DEYFGO
“Click-click
Click-click”
Also, if you notice panel nine, the cameraman hears the clicking and thinks it’s static on his audio.
I thought it’d be more obvious, but Arianna just threw the thing at her. I can see why with the “summon X to my hand” you could think Dabbler jedied it away from her though.
I got the “Thrown at Her” bit. So it’s just some people over-analyzing.
I think that if you had the “clicker” come into the panel in a straight line verses a small arc the image that it had been thrown may have come across better.
Just my opinion.
yes, a straighter arc of travel… and have Dabbler’s hand open as though she had to catch/block the thing thrown at her head with some force, like catching a punch. Having it neatly float down into her two fingers looks like it’s being pulled there rather than caught.
Why so can I, or so can any man. But do they appear when you do summon them?
+1. A vasty deep comment. =]
Also loving how Anvil is the straight-laced let’s-not-get-into-trouble type.
Love the “Gibbs” she does too XD
Does the clicker work like a censor for sound, or is it supposed to be directly linked to Dabbler?
And go Dabbler :D
I think the camera man was hearing a weird clicking sound coming through the microphone, and thought it might be a technical problem.
My interpretation is that it sends a signal to Anvil’s earpiece. Albeit that the image and noise are clearly meant to invoke a dog-training clicker. What a lovely image. Nicely parodying her attempt to keep Dabbler on a leash.
Perhaps her name could better represented in cyrillic? Журиел
Yea, that would be closer phonetically than the two closest English spellings that DaveB gave.
More like Журиэль, methinks
On unrelated note, this is another proof that people too sinful for Hell ends up in Russia, the Tenth Circle.
I only know the Bulgarian usage but, in that, having anything after the “л” would be superfluous.
It seems my original riposte was eaten by a grue.
Well then.
Letter after the “л” softens the sound. In russian it is as far from superfluous, as it can be. You can use something akin Mirriam-Webster or Google talker to hear difference.
Besides, correct translation would be “Журиэль” or “Журиил”, with latter bearing strong consonance of masculinity.
“Журиел” sounds like someone was eating jury.
Heh. I was not intending to question the Russian. I do get to see a lot of foreign names translated into Bulgarian though. And they universally are as sparse as possible. Using as few characters as needed to form the sound. It was a fun way of helping to learn Cyrillic initially, just reading actors names and film titles on DVDs. It is quite satisfying when you look at one, piece it together and can go “ooh ooh, I know him!”
In fact one of the earliest instances was the best. I was around my girlfriend’s house and she was teaching me some basic grammar. I had already memorised the alphabet but was not yet adept at reading it faster than letter-by-letter. Whilst she was out of the room helping her mum with something, I decided to practice on one of the books on her shelf. And almost fell off my chair when I finished and realised it said “Isac Asimov”. Not what I was expecting in a rural setting where you see more horse and carts than cars!
What does Dabblers accent approximately sound like?
Maybe like a French guy, pretending to be a Scot, pretending to be an American.
It’s just one of those sexy, hard to ping down accents, like until recently she’s been speaking Castillian Spanish, Japanese and Russian, but has lived in Venice Beach for the last 5 years.
I now hear her talking like Christopher Lambert in “Highlander”
“Where ya form, Nash?” “Lots of different places.”
Maybe I was being too obscure. That was in fact what I was referencing. I’m glad at least someone else had the same thought :)
Here I was just thinking she sounded like Claudia Black. Ever since she did voice work for Morrigan and then Lust in DIII, it’s hard to imagine someone else with a better “seducing voice”.
Yeah that voice could have me fighting archdemons.
Lol. I am a film buff (in a casual way), and Highlander is the film that first got me into it. And I missed the reference. Appropriate though it is.
Damnit, is that the quote? I’ll have to go change her word bubble. That was supposed to be a reference. :)
Mind you, other than the Highlander accent, the strongest vibe I got was Bladerunner. The moving death speech given by Rutger Hauer. Not a quote or a reference. Just a suggestion from Dabbler’s comment in the final panel and the build up to that.
Bladerunner death scene “tears in the rain”
The quote is “That’s an interesting accent you have there. Where are you from Nash?” “Lot’s of different places.” Should have gone closer to that for a full Highlander reference.
Hmm, can you imagine the tour guides she could write about where she’s been? I just wrote that question and suddenly I could.
South African Dutch – like Rika, the love interest in Lethal Weapon 2
Afrikaans is a lovely accent. Which I gradually slip back into, if only slightly, if talking to someone with it (it is my native accent even though I have no trace of it otherwise). But, trying to take my bias out of it, you can give somebody a recipe to read out in Afrikaans and it can sound like the harshest series of guttural curses to a foreigner. Whereas give that same recipe to a French speaker, for example, and it can sound like they are trying to get your underwear to slide off your body of it’s own accord.
Mind you, my comments above do apply more to the language being spoken than the accent itself. It is not the same if speaking English with those accents. However, one of the sexiest voices I have ever heard was a German girl, who worked for Vogue, in Italy, singing “Voulez vous coucher avec moi” to me. Likewise even when she spoke less evocative French.
By the way, one of the villains in that movie had the worst fake Afrikaans accents I have ever heard. It is truly cringe-worthy.
Agreed.
What I was actually thinking of was listening to Charlize Theron showing off her accent to some random reporter.
Of course I could happily sit and listen to many variants of accented English, including Gaelic, American Deep South, New Zealander, Brazilian Portugese…
Of course, if you added Dabbler’s pheromonal impact, and I would probably think Moscovian Russian or Iraqi Arabic sounded luscious too…
Just remember, Kiwi is as different to Oz as Scouse is to Cockney :P
Mum is Rhodesian (she left before independance) and sometimes the accent slips back in
Heh. So is my older brother. And likewise does not accept the alternative.
Such a crying shame what has happened to such a beautiful country. One of the richest in the world, in terms of natural resources. The most likely historical location of King Solomon’s mines, amongst other things. And now so poor that it only has the one hospital in the entire country. And that cannot afford to buy medicines or to pay it’s staff.
Not a shining example of the merits of electing a terrorist to head a nation. Personally I would rather have Dr Doom. At least he seems competent. Barring missing that one clause in his contract which says “must get ass whupped by Fantastic Four whenever they meet”.
I don’t know about accents, but you’re certainly slipping into whenwe-ism. Maybe if your ilk hadn’t stripped it bare when you left, things wouldn’t be quite so bad. You didn’t belong there in the first place, especially not as rulers. Suck it up, stop whining, and stop blaming everything on the Africans.
By the way I would never mix up a flightless bird with a fictional land. The only way those two could come together is if a tornado picked up the kiwi and dropped it on the yellow brick road in Oz.
If only it was a fictional land, if only :(
And here I’d just figured it was a remote that made Anvil hit her. “Code word: Dirtbag”.
*Boo Beep* *Hits Grif*
Oh my eyes are still watering. Nice one.
Hmmm, yep. Dabbler still ruins every page she’s on. I’m not sure if she was supposed to be a parody of horribly shitty Mary Sues, but she certainly fits the bill straight faced.
Well, no idea where you are coming on that. But have lost all interest in the term “Mary Sue”, so really do not care. But I love this page and feel it nicely fleshes out the relationships between Arianna, Anvil and Dabbler. In addition to being hilarious.
Since “Mary Sue” is a YMMV term, it’s hard to say whether Dabbler is supposed to be a parody of one. She is over the top, taking it to eleven when she can. She is the import from another author work. But I don’t see her as being central to, nor overshadowing the other characters in, the story. Yes, she has a massive… skill set *cough*cough* but other than in exposition, we haven’t really seen it in use successfully that much. (Other than desire induction, she’s done… umm… magical scanning that showed up nothing about Sydney’s orbs. And an illusion that wasn’t fool-proof. Discovering X? She noted that it was a sound occlusion effect and she does have big ears.) If there’s going to be a “Canon Sue” variant, she’ll be it, unless Sydney becomes hypercompetent rather quickly.
The Mary Sue seems to have evolved from “laughably hyper-capable female character author insert” to “competent and/or confident female character” or “female character I don’t like” in some cases. Now it’s fine if Z2 isn’t amused by Dabbler, but I think s/he’s stretching the original intent of the term.
The interesting thing about the term is that it’s nearly always sexist. My favorite example is this one:
Textbook case of a Mary Sue right? Except that’s a description of Batman. I took that description from this blog which goes into more detail about the sexism stuff.
It’s a term that’s easy to stretch, as it has no set definition. That’s why I called it a YMMV term. It boils down to “we know it when we see it.” That’s one reason why it’s become a sexist term. But to go back to it’s roots, back to where it all began, Mary Sue is a fan fiction term. She was a character written into the Star Trek universe (TOS, I believe) by a fan fiction author, as a parody of the author self insert trend of the time.
As I noted above, there is a term “Canon Sue” which is when the character is part of the Canon story (as Dabbler would be, since you’re the author). But again, I don’t think Dabbler qualifies, as she’s neither the central character nor overshadows the central character, and she certainly isn’t adored by all of the characters (lust aura aside).
I think “Mary Sue” made more sense as a term when it was “self-insert in a Star Trek fic who is then adored by Kirk’s crew.” The way it’s used now (thanks in part to TV Tropes making the looser usage and its variants seem standard), it would apply to most of the “iconic” superheroes, certainly the “perfected human” type such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Mr Terrific, and so forth. If you don’t like that kind of thing, fine, but don’t stretch the word so far.
As for Dabbler, no, she’s not at all a Mary Sue. She’s the quirky, spooky, other-dimensional, high-powered comic relief.
it’s not sexist per se… the male version is Marty Stu, as I recall.
I would also argue against it being a sexist term. Back when it was coined, most fan fiction writers were female and they put themselves in their stories to have sex with Kirk or Spock. And still the majority of fanfic writers are female. There are males writing bad fan fiction yes but they are still in the minority.
To say Mary Sue is a sexist term is like saying that a bra is sexist by itself. (Yes, I know there are women that think they are. Let’s not open that hornet’s nest.) There are men who wear bras, but the fact that the majority of bra wearers are women does not make a bra sexist by itself.
I think those are called Bro’s. Or Brozziers.
Some just want to feel sexy too. :D
Ok, spock I can get, Bones or Sulu wouldn’t be bad either, but KIRK?
Why not Kirk? He’s had every green chick in his universe. There’s girls that want to be green chicks that get in his pants too.
Yes, but I just can’t picture him on his knees for me.
What has made it sexist is that it gets used to ridicule female characters who exhibit traits that are considered to be fine for male characters. While it started out as a term for female characters written into stories as author insert avatars that suddenly take over as the main character, can do no wrong, and everyone swoons over (among other things), it’s currently being used to put down female characters that are strong, desirable, independent, competent, heroic, sexual, confident, etc. Hermione Granger’s been accused of being a Mary Sue. Same for Katniss Everdeen. So was Merida in Brave. The list goes on.
Let’s be fair here, any traits are used to mock female characters. Mary Sue is an easy term to use but if you take it away, then those same characters will be mocked for the same reasons. Male characters that cry, show any weakness, sometimes even cook or ask for help get mocked because they fly in the face of gender roles.
It’s going to take more than a blog to convince me that a weak term with no real body anymore is sexist by nature. You want sexist, Women in Refrigerators. That’s a sexist concept.
Now, see, I know what you’re referring to there, but honestly, Women In Refrigerators sounds like a fetish site for ladies with kitchen appliances. Much like that scene from the Crystal Skull thing with Harrison Ford. Am I the only one that makes that connection?
You’re right, Mary Sue is not sexist by nature. The point is that it’s being used beyond its original nature as sexist rhetoric. Its meaning has been stretched to embrace and reinforce sexist ideas. One of the complaints about the portrayal of Arwen in the Lord of the Rings movies is that Peter Jackson “Mary Sue”d her, as she was a more minor character in the books. Now, the term doesn’t fit by its nature, but it was used to put down her strengths in the movie.
Note, I’m not saying you or anyone else here has been using it that way. But in the larger community, it has become such a term.
I seriously have to figure out a way to subvert that trope without making it feel shoehorned.
Subvert which trope? The mary sue trope?
Dabbler is not a Mary Sue- for one, she’s not the main character, for two, she’s got weaknesses (as discovered by her inability to see through invisibility, her illusions can be bypassed by Sydney’s orbs, and various other examples provided in your comic already.)
Also, the most important part about Mary Sues that Dabbler does not exhibit is the unerring tendency to become the center of the story.
Sure, she’s powerful- but so is Maxim and Sydney. Dabbler’s just a different kind of powerful. She does not fall into the Mary Sue trope, and as such there is no trope that needs to be subverted.
(Also, pretty sure she’s not an author’s self-insert into the story, either. Another key part of the Mary Sue formula.)
No no, the Woman in the Refrigerator trope.
Sydney feinting sleeping + telepresence orb + break room fridge = hilarity
Ah. Well, in that case, I don’t really have any suggestions.
Okay, I lied- Perhaps having Maxim flash back to an event in her past where a guy made a wrong move, and she ended up shoving him into a fridge to ‘cool off’ would be a sufficient subversion of the trope? Definitely would be in character for her, too.
How about this?
As a thought, you could add a character, actually named “Mary Sue,” that everybody on the team actively dislikes, and harbors delusions (that she is the center of the universe, everybody loves her, is incredibly capable, etc); but in the “real world” is constantly stumbling over herself, getting in peoples way, and is generally a nuisance… Perhaps filling a role as one of Arianna’s aforementioned vigilantes?
Mary Sue these days boils down to a female in an important role that she shouldn’t be in. So sexist. It seems to apply to any woman with a strong character who is not specifically the lead. Basically stating that women should only be support and redshirts.
Sexism is wrong, and especially wrong when it is being used to beat down peoples right to be creative.
I do have a problem with the case study claiming that a depiction of Batman, with female pro-nouns, is derided simply because it is sexism, “It was OK for Batman to be all these good things, why not a woman”.
I refute it perfectly and simply.
When the MALE character Sentry (who is in many ways more Batman than Batman) was introduced to the same Universe Batman lives in, he was derided. Was that sexism?.
If originally Batman had of been Batwoman, everything else perfectly the same, someone 40 years later introducing a MALE character with the same similarities, would have been derided. It wouldn’t have been sexism, it would have been derision based on the impulse “What, there already is a Batwoman!, why is a man pretending to be Batwoman?”
The Mary Sue isn’t terribly uncommon, and it doesn’t necessarily make the story a poor one. Do you care for Weber’s Honor Harrington stories? She is a textbook Mary Sue, and yet the books are best sellers and the series is something like 20 books strong.
Honor, despite being born to yoeman parents, is now a high ranking noble of no less than two different star kingdoms;
Both her strategic and tactical skills are things out of legend, she constantly outmaneuvers her opponents no matter what their numerical superiority;
She has risen to high rank within two different navies;
She is a highly successful businessperson and a social innovator;
Just about every person in the books who can be described as good and honorable, even if they are her enemy, likes and respects her;
Just about every person in the books who can be described as bad and dishonorable, even if they are members of her own government or navy/ies, dislikes and disrespects her;
She is described as being plain featured, and yet has an ‘inner beauty’ or a beauty that flows from strong character which makes strong men fall for her;
She has suffered permanent injury and yet this has never slowed her down;
In fact, she has a prosthetic arm with an undetectable energy gun!
Even without her prosthetics, and with very little time to train, she has beaten both a skilled swordsman and a professional pistol dualist;
This list could go on an on. And yet the books are good, because regardless of how over the top she is as a character, Weber is a good author who breaths humanity into his characters.
I think Honor Harrington is another good argument for the idea that the whole concept of “Mary Sue” is sexist. Honor never struck me as being “over the top”, and I suspect if the same character had been male, few other people would have thought so.
See, this is where the term Mary Sue is subjective. I would look at a male character like that and say pass. Even with a strong recommendation I still want to pass. Why? Because it’s too easy for such a character to succeed. The whole thing sounds boring to me.
I don’t read Batman comics for Batman, I read it for the Joker, Riddler, Mr Freeze, Harley. The villains. I don’t read Superman for the alien, I read it for Lex Luthor. Give me a character that in either gender, and I yawn and want someone more realistic and enjoyable.
I think the ultimate argument that people wouldn’t get angry at a mary sue if she was male comes down to Wesley Crusher. This is a canon sue if there ever was one. He was the author avatar of Gene Wesley Rodenbery, he was almost constantly shown in the right, even when he was wrong, and many characters mentioned him even when he wasn’t even involved. Later on, he even became a more powerful being with actual powers.
Now that blog would say because he was male he wouldn’t be viewed harshly, yet he was, oh yes very much was he hated and despised. Wil Wheaton grew to hate the little worm. When the actor grows to despise the character, you know he’s hated.
Men are supposed to be strong, brave, manly. The writer of that Blog that Dave brought up seem to forget, people allow the Batman all of that because that’s what Bruce is supposed to be according to society. Men are supposed to be strong at all times with no signs of weakness. To bend away from that, the same people that scream that the Mary Sue is poorly written would sign away that man’s right to life. It completely sucks, but I still say Mary Sue is not sexist, because that presumes that one gender is held to a higher standard which is simply not the case. Society holds both genders in contempt in different, but equal ways.
Personally I hated him because he was a smarmy git and I objected to artificially young characters being inserted inappropriately into an adult cast simply to appeal to the younger demographic. Both of which remain true in other story settings independently. Even to the extent that I dislike young characters in settings where they logically would exist, and they have an uphill struggle to convince me of their worth in the story. But I have been pleasantly surprised on occasion when the young character carried the story well and made it enjoyable.
I wholeheartedly agree with arguments which say that an individual character is too powerful for the storyline or opponents. Likewise if a character breezes through challenges for no logical reason other than always knowing the right thing to do even when there is no possible way they could. The archetypal irritation being any scientist drafted into a story to explain what is happening. It seriously irritates me when they definitively state an answer, to something that is blatantly outside of the norm for known science. Especially as they almost inevitably not only get it right, but sooner or later also provide the weakness that the critter or effect has and the way to restore the world to its usual cheerful self.
It is similarly, if somewhat less, irritating when a specialist for just the weird event that is happening, is on hand for any other subject. Such as an occultism for a magical event. And, no, the hero does not pick any one of the 1,000’s of blatant frauds out there. The first one he stumbles on is the guy who knows just the right secret knowledge.
You will note that none of this has anything to do with Mary Sue. Because that is a stupid term that has no useful function. It is worth discussing the merits and flaws of a character and their interaction with the story. It is not useful to try and match them up to an ill-defined ever changing load of bollox like that.
I think we shouldn’t be asking if so and so is a Mary Sue. As we’ve seen in several posts, the only thing everyone agrees on is that there is no specific definition of mary sue, just that it’s not a good character but a term that’s been bashed out of relevance.
So without relevance, Mary Sue is pointless to define? Is Dabbler a Mary Sue? It doesn’t matter. What does matter is the question, is Dabbler good for the story? This is a question that can have a concrete designation. Does she disrupt the story? Not likely so far. So far she’s been a minor character at best. Yes, she does star in this strip, but it’s about her. We do need to get to know her, so strips starring her is very appropriate. Will her shenanigans disrupt the story in the future? We don’t know yet, but we will.
So, is Dabbler a bad character? No. Not right now she’s not. All her personality traits and powers make full sense given what she is. She’s an interesting character as well. So for now she is a decent character.
Fun fact! In early drafts of the Next Generation pilot, Wesley Crusher was actually Leslie Crusher, and was quite female. Somewhere along the line, they decided a gender flip was in order. I wonder why….
so we missed out on lesbian love storys due to a gender switch ?
lots of potential star trek material is wasted due to old moral values.
Really? Because I find the list to be just as convincing of a ‘Marty Stu’ as of a Mary Sue. Male or female, that list of accomplishments is way, way over the top.
Take a look at L.E. Modesitt as a comparison. His Recluse novels are a fantasy series in which the forces of Law and Chaos are real, and some people can wield them as magic powers. He is fairly formulaic, usually taking a protagonist from early adulthood into the blossoming of their powers. But what never changes is that the exercise of their powers is exhausting, often leading to unconsciousness, blindness (temporary or permanent), and other disabling effects. They are not the swashbuckling sword and sorcery hero, wading through enemies with ease. No Mary/Marty Sue’s amongst his works, even if they are powerful wizard-analogues within the magic system he has devized.
Wait. Batman isn’t a Mary Sue? HISHE Super Hero Cafe calls it, “because I’m Batman!” :P
The crux of a Mary Sue is as a wish fulfillment author avatar. Which is different then a wish fulfillment character for the audience *cough* Bella *cough* Juan Cabrillo *cough*. Dabbler hardly fills that role…. Unless DaveB sees himself as a four armed purple alien succubus with a smorgasbord board of powers. You don’t self-identify as a four armed purple alien succubus do you DaveB? -_-; . Which could also describe Sydney minus the purple, extra arms, and sexual teasing.
Calling Mary Sue outside of very hit you over the head fan-fiction is actually rather tough. The best place to see Mary Sue’s in full effect (and often NOT female) is in roleplaying games with a bad Game Masters. DM NPC may as well be synonymous with Mary Sue. It all comes down to person telling the story inserting a never-fail character that they over identify with AND who takes center stage above all else. I’ve also seen players try to make Mary Sue’s packing a Kitchen Sink. They get real mad when you tell them they can’t :P.
It’s also worth mentioning that Jacks/Jills tend to get labelled as Stus/Sues more easily than most other character archetypes, primarily because a good Jack will be able to contribute to most (if not all) situations in a meaningful way. Also, in the absence of a specialist on a given subject, the Jack will be the de facto person to look towards, and given that it’s pretty impossible to have a character covering EVERY subject in a story (or at least highly unlikely), the Jack will generally get more screentime than most of the other members of their group, giving them a sense of overimportance to the average reader.
And woe betide you if you decide that the Jack is also The Hero. Then it’s almost a binary response generally, where you can either Succeed Greatly or Fail Terribly.
I was reading that, and I immediately picked up it was Batman. I was thinking, “Geeze, ANOTHER Batman!”
Also, I HATE Batman for exactly that. I’m know I’m the only guy who hates Batman, too.
He used to be the world’s greatest detective, but he’s devolved into this walking deus ex machina. He’s worse than Dr. Who in those regards. That’s not character, that’s being a plot device. Thats being a tool. Batman’s a tool.
I’m A Gray Phantom, and I have opinions on the internet.
If I had a choice I’d rather be Batman than Superman. Batman is attainable, Superman isn’t. A self made Batman. Sure he had advantages but he still took himself in ways he didn’t have to.
Batman, and all the Marvel characters I’ve had the displeasure of knowing, are Mary and Gary Sues. Using a gender-bent Gary Sue to support an argument against the use of the term Mary Sue for a particular character is sub-par performance. It’s also an asshole move.
Some of that may be due to her actually being a deliberate attention-seeker ‘in-character’ as it were, rather than just by being a Mary-Sue.
As to the rest of the stereotype, we’ll have to see how that plays out: She is meant to be one of the most powerful, and the most versatile character in the cast, but unless every situation devolves into a “holding action until Dabbler saves the day”, its not necessarily a Mary-Sue.
Whether she “gets away with” bad behaviour like a Mary-Sue would might depend a little on her exact relationship with Archon: she isn’t military so they can’t discipline her via usual channels. She probably has a specific contract, which as a part-demon, she may feel the need to push the limits of as far as possible without breaking. Pretty much everything she has said so far could be justified as in Archon’s benefit if you were so inclined.
I think she will be able to get away with just about anything. Unless Humanity wants to offend Hell itself. Or Earth wants to risk an interstellar incident, and possible war, with a couple of alien races. At least one of which has advanced technology and either of which might be powerful galactic empires. The fact that she is willing to make the pretence of Arianna having any say in the matter at all shows that she allows a sense of humour to control her actions more than haughty arrogance, for example.
She may be able to get away with things because how do you punish her? Any kind of corporal punishment is foreplay. Lock her up? Need something that negates her magic, psionics, and the abilities of her cybernetic arm. Plus the cell has to be resistant to her using it or its parts to engineer an escape method.
Her attitude, to me, is one of “Yeah, yeah. I’ll play as nice as I want, because what can you do about it?” She has no boundaries and they’re all prudes to her.
Dabbler isn’t really one of the most powerful (check the yellow dot skill ranks on the cast page), it’s just that she has so *many* abilities. Her bio states ‘However she also has the attention span of a sugared up child, so she is rarely able to master much of anything.’
Technically, Dabbler would qualify as a ‘Jill-Of-All-Trades’, and not a Mary Sue. Sydney seems more closely related to a Mary Sue, although, not quite falling into that category. (and, as Dabbler’s a succubus, the phrase ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ will possibly have to be rewritten a little, to be ‘jill of all trades, mistress to many’)
Never cared for the term Mary Sue myself, I find people use it to describe any character they don’t care for in many cases, and in cases that it makes sense to think it, I still never change the term based on gender :p Marty Stu? Pffft. Mary Sue whether it’s male or female imo.
Could have the same problem I have with Dabbler. Or am I the only one who thinks “That’s not what a succubus has ever looked like when I’ve seen them in fiction, even when adding extra arms.” (Note: I love her look. That isn’t a knock on her look).
Personally, I take it that Maxima and Dabbler are basically Superman level heroes. Maxima is basically superman then given a “But wait, you know, she’s not at that level because she has to move a stat” :p And I’m sure we’ve all heard people complaining about Superman on the net. :p
Hmmm…thinking on that, maybe dave is going for DC level instead of Marvel level of powers?
We’ll eventually meet other succubi (will probably be a little while) but by then it’ll be apparent that Dabbler is unusually exotic for the species.
Though I will say I have a thing for odd coloration on women, be it large tattoos or just blue/green/purple chicks. Not sure why that is really.
When I say Maxima is my Superman, I just mean that she’s top tier, power wise, but you could argue that Thor is top tier in the Marvel-verse, and he can’t move planets or punch as hard as a black hole moving at the speed of light. Each ‘verse has it’s own power levels, which are gleefully discarded when there’s a crossover event. It could be argued that DC’s power levels top out at 100 or 1000 times that of Marvel’s, but rest assured, no one will be casually blowing up the moon DBZ style in my comic.
Oh! I think every superhero comic universe needs their Superman, their top tier. What that top tier ends up at will vary (even Superman varies within his own universe).
As to Dabbler’s appearance, I always took it as part of her alien and mutant side of things, which just leaves me thinking “Not exactly 4 arm succubus looking” :p But then Dabbler could be lying, as well, she’s a succubus, kinda what they do!
Hulk is the strongest there is! Hulk Smash!
“Puny god” *smash smash smash*
***SIGH***
I really really wish I was getting a dollar for every time someone here (mis)uses the term “Mary Sue“.
You’d still be flat broke. There’s no real meaning to the term anymore, so everyone is using it correctly.
Panel One:
“DABBBLER”
The extra B is for “Boner-Inducing”
The extra B is for BOING!!!
The extra B is for the extra “BANG” I bring to the team
The extra B isn’t important, I know you’re thinking about where you can put the D.
it’s not actually a “B” – it’s really a stacked, double-D…
The extra B is for BYOBB (that extra B is a type-o).
The extra B is for BooBies.
I’d like to know what Dave thinks the extra “B” stands for…
It stands for “Dave’s a Bonehead who can’t spell even with an inline spell checker” apparently. It’s fixed now.
really she didn’t just draaaaaw it out for effect like I did with draw in this response? that’s how I took it. it seems to fit with what I see in her character here as well.
“her native language (Infernal) have some phenomes that English doesn’t.”
I think you meant “has some phonemes”.
And Pheromones.
Lol. Great minds think alike.
The Succubus dialect of Infernal uses a lot of pheromones too.
You could say that language is alive as it’s constantly evolving. In the case of Infernal language, that might actually be the case, and therefore phenome becomes just as valid as phoneme, which could lead to much more interesting scenarios.
Ah. Hah hah, yes I should fix that.
Harem looks so cute in panel 5.
Dabbler’s collar is rated quadruple X. For when triple X just isn’t sexy enough.
I’m sure hoping that that her ‘glamour’ form is an actual visible projection, not just a mental image induced in the minds of persons nearby. Otherwise the people watching at home are getting a WHOLE different view of the proceedings. And now that she has shown this one to the media, she is pretty much stuck using this form in public from now on.
Yeah the glamour includes both an illusion and a hologram that masks her in most of the EM Spectrum, certainly UV and IR, which is one reason Dabbler was surprised at how easily Sydney’s orb saw through it. Succubi glamours are very sophisticated, having evolved over a thousand years or more to include means of fooling any method of detection. There’s a telekenetic field that makes their clothes solid and makes it so they appear the same in visible light as they do if someone is examining them with sonar, or just their hand.
If her constructs can copy voice patterns, retinal scans, and fingerprints of real persons this could gain her access into some very interesting places (Or if Sydney gets involved, lead to some epic practical jokes.)
There are probably succubi that can do that, but as Dabbler is a Jill of all Trades, Mistress of None, she’s limited to disguising herself as non-specific suspiciously hot women.
Dabbler did a fine example of implants in women’s breasts as am illusion. Just look at them perfect spheres and that bend against the chest. Classic full of silicone. She has quite the eye for detail.
All she has to do is state that illusion or physical alterations are part of her power suite. Since.. they are. Wouldn’t have any problems explaining any form she takes really, she just admitted to looking like a four armed purple succubus sometimes, so shifting her appearance between human faces is hardly unbelievable or inexplicable.
Her illusion powers might be classified for the same reason Sydney’s telepresence was: you just don’t publicly announce the super-spy powers.
Illusions always work better when people don’t suspect you can do them. So you tell people you can transform into a distinctive “battle form”, not that you can disguise yourself as anyone and infiltrate their organisation.
Well said.
Show them a 2 meter tall beast-man and they don’t notice the mouse headed for the air ducts.
Loved the synchronized crossing of the legs and good to see that technology can’t overcome magic… Also nice touch with the Camera person hearing the clicking through the microphone.
As for the TGT Tournament, it seems to be working just fine now. Bracket 24 is where Grrl Power is situated, so by all means, please go ahead and vote through all of the brackets and listen to their interviews through iTunes as well.
Keep up the great work Dave :D
Aww. I was all hopeful when I saw that there was a vote anonymously option that could be used by entering just an email address. Was looking forward to casting a vote for Grrl Power. Sadly it appears to still require having a social network account. Which I do not possess. On principle.
You can do what I do to get free things off Facebook or whatnot – make an account, in no way, shape or form actually connected to you in name or likeness, and just plug that in anytime a site asks. I get around the revulsion of using such sites by rationalizing that I’m literally using them, in the manner of an Archvillainess manipulating her lower ranked henchmen pawns. Makes the situation much more acceptable.
I’m with Yorp. I refer to facebook as facevirus for instance. I’ll have to have one shortly due to the business I’m opening up, but that’s a necessary evil. But I will never have one for my personal self. There’s nothing I have to say that requires the social engineering sites like that that needs yours or anyone’s “likes”. And I usually don’t have anything of interest I just have to type. I do not do this “We went to ChuckaRama, here’s pictures of what I ate!” So aside from business reasons, I have no interest in social engineering.
We now have extra reason for smugness in our attitude. Life and well-being has now been shown to be better for those of us who renounce Facebook.
Was wondering why Anvil Gibbs-ed Dabbles :D
Would have been nice to have had a female drooling in the 2nd panel, it doesn’t really take much to make males drool
I’d assume that the woman behind the man on the right is doing so. She’s certainly has the same look as the men sitting in front of her. Drool is blocked by the people before her.
And going by the colour of the outfits, looks like her legs were one of the set in the 3rd panel doing the syncrossing :D
*nods* Now that you mention it, I would agree based on the color and the shape of the outfit.
Have always pronounced ‘Majere’ ‘May-zhere’ (doesn’t stop the doctor been going to for the last 20 years from calling me ‘May-gerry’ ;(), and yes, that is the same name as Raistlin and Caramon :p
all the dudes drooled and crossed their legs. i’d say she got their attention(AGH GOD I MADE A PUN)T_T
Just as well she is only ranked as a civilian specialist. Otherwise she might abuse the privates on parade.
Please refrain from letting her demonstrate how she can summon “weapons” to her hand.
Agreed. That would make my eyes water again. Only this time not in a good way.
Sydney is going to upstage them all at this point and close this part of meeting by doing so. It’s a Really good thing Maxima left already.
So, in Latvian it would be Žuriel (yes, we do have a letter for this sound :) )
Isn’t Dabbler’s past covered in Wereworld comic?
Partially. She’s been around for a while though so it was just a chapter in her life.
I wouldn’t mind betting someone tried to coach Dabbler before this, in a vain attempt to make sure she stayed on-track and didn’t mess with anyone… lol
BTW, Dave, the next time you want to explain the sound of Dabbbler’s name, the shorter road would be to say “It’s pronounced like ‘Azure-E-L’ without the initial ‘A’ sound.”
That one works too. I just kept finding good examples to explain the sound.
Bit of an odd focus coming from a straight chick, but Dabbler’s breasts are a bit distracting, and not in a sexy way. I generally love the hell out of your art, but that is really, really not how boobs are meant to look (esp. panel 7).
mm… I have to agree on this one. They look like two soccer balls attached to her chest… not two inviting pillows to die on or make motorboat noises with.
Remember her appearance is pulled from the fantasies of a comics-fan not entirely fully connected to reality.
Dabbler’s actual chest looks more realistic (well, for an alien succubus in a cheesecake-inspired superhero webcomic level of ‘realistic’.)
Her current illusionary appearance is meant to look over-the-top and unrealistic.
The ‘fantasy girl’ image misses the mark for me completely. Overly large assets do not appeal to me. Fortunately I am not so shallow that I let such appearances be the decider in who I date, but they certainly do influence me. And artificially enhanced breasts are a complete turn off. Clearly Dabbler aims for a more mainstream audience than me. Or she would create an image more like Sydney’s.
Have seen enough large busticles to believe Dabbles’ are that shape because of her top (the ultimate ‘push-up bra’), remove the top (please, remove the top ;)) and they will be fall down to at least halfway to her navel (if not the full way)
Since she created an image from Sydney’s mind, in a sense she did create something more like Sydney.
Where do you get overly large from? Are all the women around you asian……..and 9?
No, but I am outside of the breast enhancement capitol of the world. Thankfully not everywhere feels that surgery is necessary to feel good about one’s body. Nor do I feel it helps to make women with bra sizes smaller than Pamela Anderson’s feel that they are no more attractive than a nine year old girl.
I go more for the redhaired wrench wench type. A little grease mark on her face, some dirt under the fingernails, coveralls with nothing on underneath to entice. Yeah, my fantasy lady is pretty much the opposite of what Dabbler is using right now.
You’re right, I’m pushing the curves too hard. They’re much more attractive when they look real. I shall endeavor to improve!
I agree with the breast comments. They are a little too extreme, and appear really fake :/ Gentler curves the the gentler gender please! (Like they’re gentle, they’re superbeings -.-)
*for the
Being born the son of a 6′ amazon warrior woman, I learned very quickly that women are not any more gentle than men. They just want you to think they are while they sneak around, putting a death laser in the statue of liberty, targeting all men within reach.
Of course they are fake, they are illusional gleaned from a males fantasy
when did syd become a guy?
Guesticus is referring to the fact that Dabbler is known to draw on male fantasies to optimise her illusions. For example when she demonstrated that by becoming a green Star Trek woman.
In this case it is likely to be one that has been perfected by peeking at the fantasies of many men (and probably women too) over some time. As it is her default human form. Probably not including Sydney’s fantasies though, as she is only a recent arrival, and is straight. As best she can when Dabbler’s dial is set above ten anyhow.
If she had incorporated Sydney’s dreams, then Dabbler’s illusions would have huge claws poking out of her hands. I suspect that she decided the sideburns would not match her golden hair well.
I have to disagree with you on one thing. I don’t think this is her “default” form. As a few people, myself included, have commented, this form doesn’t do much for us. Sure, in real life, she’d probably be hot but in that so hot you know you couldn’t woo her anyway so you move on sort of way. This is not profitable for the succubus that wants to take advantage of men and women. So instead, she would probably set up a field where everyone sees what they personally want to see. In my case, a red haired mechanic chick or an Elvira clone.
Of course Dave can’t change the picture for every single IP address, so instead he just uses a default picture to stand for her while everyone else sees what they think is most hot and attainable, but at least a 10. This would also help for covert missions. “That chick with the purple hair and all the piercings!” “No man, she was a blonde bombshell in a tankini!” “No no no you idiots! She was Abby from NCIS!” If no one can agree on her appearance that sows confusion and fear into the ranks.
I can see this happening.
“How do you spell your name? Is it Xuriel with an ‘X’ or a ‘Z’ for Zuriel?”
Dabbler – “How ever you feel most comfortable wrapping your tongue around that.”
hahahah, panel 5. Dabble gettin’ “Gibbs smacked” by Anvil.
also, I’m dying of suspense with how Sidney’s introduction is gonna go down.
I fully expect her to laugh like a villain and proclaim something like “”Eat drink and be merry, bitches, cause Halo’s gonna kick your ass!
Ah, so she pronounces it as the french “J” then.
Figures that she’d get the french language in there somewhere ;)
…
That device is useless. It’s like trying to contain a force of nature.
taking supers in to account, I doubt that phrase holds much weight to Ari.
My studies of the English language has revealed that “X” actually has no sound of its own, and is used to represent other sounds, usually foreign, that have no true sound in English.
For example, many Chinese names are spelled with an X. (ie Xiang River)
With that in mind, the best spelling for Dabbler’s real name would be best with an X.
I agree, the English “x” does a variety of sounds ranging from /s/ to /ks/ to /ʃ/ (sh) to /ʒ/ (the voiced form /ʃ/, go on and try it yourself). The very last sound I listed is what Dave was referring to for Dabbler’s name, and spelling it either Xuriel or Zhuriel is fine.
So, is “interacts poorly with authorities” a standard trait of superhumans in this universe? It’s a quite common superhero feature, but it’s not always clear which tropes you’re maintaining and which you’re discarding.
Machiavelli pointed out that in order to rule you must either be loved or feared. Authority Figures commonly depend on fear. People are respectful to and obey authorities because they fear being punished. Problems arise when someone lacks that fear. This is not a “trope”, it is being realistic.
Respect is also built from a sense of equality with someone. It’s hard to respect someone that isn’t at your level. This sounds like ego, but it’s not. That’s why they have Maxima. She’s higher in power than them, but she’s still a super like them. This brings out a sense of respect because she’s equal to them in many ways. Add in that she’s a natural leader and bingo bango you get them at least acting nominally respectful, even if this batch just lives to give her an incredibly hard time which in a way is also a level of respect.
And Dave commented that Maxima is his Superman. I see her more as his Captain America. The leader, the most straight forward of the group, and the one most able to use their own strengths and weaknesses against them to get them to fall in line.
I thought Dabler was interesting now I realize she is exciting.
She knows what buttons to push and when, somehow I think her and Sidney will become fast and weird friends.
Agreed. And we have already had the first indications of just that. I just hope that there is a distinction in sexual behaviour and attitudes between them. We have already seen, from last week, that Harem might be similar to Dabbler in hers. Although that may just be mis-interpreting her humour with her attitudes. And may be racially stereotyping Dabbler for that matter. Obviously Sydney has her trademark foul mouth. But her inexperience and odd quirks otherwise offset that. Personally I hope her friendship with Dabbler does not blur the distinctions in the future.
Well, Succubi are lust incarnate (they’re not really, but they have good PR) so a little racial stereotyping would not be out of order, since we’re talking about an actual race and not some minor differences in skin and hair color here.
Heh. You are preaching to the choir. One of my characters in City of Heroes was a succubus. And I roleplayed her accordingly. For a demon she was actually quite nice, also being a hero. But she was sex on a stick. With that kind of character, to do anything less is not to do justice to the concept. Not that I spent all my time roleplaying, as we were not on a dedicated RP server, but it was fun to have licence to be as unrepressed as a succubus when roleplaying was called for.
I was merely hoping that there would not be any bleed through between Dabbler and Sydney in those regards. Not that there has been any indications along those lines. To the contrary, her geekyness in that aspect, such as the Wolverine wedding plans, has been charming. It is just that attitudes can realistically- become shared amongst friends, so that would be a possible direction that things might head in. But it would be a shame if their distinctions did erode.
That said, she will have her own life experiences and character development to go through. Which I look forward to seeing as and when they occur. And I am sure that it will be interesting and suitably complicated by her new peer group!
Have a slight feeling that Ari will at least attempt to pull the plug early before Sydney has a chance to destroy any good will this press conference was designed to instill (maybe Maxi will be back by then)
enjoying the page. however just because shes part succubus does not mean shes associated with hell. demons are not the same as devils.
In some mythologies. In others they’re synonymous. In others, there’s one Devil and the underlings are demons. And so on.
personally, i believe people have misspelled ‘demon’, and it should be ‘dimen’, as in one who lives or comes from another dimension. however, if you allow for the word to come from ‘dementia’, (or vice-versa), it does make more sense with the ‘e’.
Prefer Daemon myself.
I prefer angels myself. But the harp music does get a bit boring after a while.
AH!, a Myth fan…
We don’t know what succubi actually are in this world. Are they real devils/demons in a D&D or religion-inspired hierarchical hell, or just a race with some supernatural powers that evolved symbiotically/parasitically with humans?
Combine that with the rest of Dabbler’s ancestry, and trying to find the right pigeonhole is going to be pretty difficult.
Maybe it will turn out that there are two distinct succubi races. A demonic one and an alien race. By pure chance they both turn out to be sex mad, purple, have four arms, masters of illusion and have been playing with humanity since the middle ages. One just happens to use magic and the other high technology, for the same result. Dabbler being descended from both varieties, of course.
Check out the mini comic.
We can call her “Dabbbler”?
*looks at the unifon chart* WHY is there the underscored-U character? It could just be written (Y)(O with vertical line through) or (Y)(U with top bar)…
Otherwise, while not purely phonetic, it’s a pretty solid system.
I assume Machina Industries is the provider or all these handy little 1-button clickers.
I also assume if Sydney ever finds out about them, she’ll always have several on her at any given moment.
Good job.
I love the look on Harem’s face in panel 5 :D
Dave, What happened to the “Smack” that Anvil gave Dabbler?
It’s now a “Gibbs” what the heck is a “Gibbs”
I’m likewise completely confused by what’s happening in panel five. The angle of Anvil’s hand, the movement of Dabbler’s hair, and whatever the hell “gibbs” means… all seem to contradict each other.
Obviously you are seeing something different to me, text wise. Which is handy as “Gibbs” means nothing to me either. On my screen it is showing as “WHAP”, which makes sense. Anvil, either responding to a cue from Arianna or on her own initiative, is giving her a cuff round the ear to stop her spilling classified information for a laugh.
Presumably there has been an amendment to the text and we should clear our browser cashes to find out which is the latest one.
I changed it last night when I fixed “Dabbbler” Maybe it’s a little too on the nose but I think it’s amusing. Clear your cache and reload the page if you’re still not seeing it.
The angle is spot on: the Gibbs-slap is really more of a Gibbs-flick (he doesn’t hit Di’Noso with the flat of his hand, like jerks do to pretty women’s butt-cheeks, but more of a flick/sweep as demon-strated by the lovely Anvil. Maybe if Dabbles is willing, Anvil can demon-strate as many times as needed :P)
“Gibbs” is a reference to Leroy Jethro Gibbs, main character of NCIS and the fact that he has a tendency to smack his team members in the back of the head when they do something stupid. This has become generally known as a Gibb’s Slap.
Go watch NCIS, coming up on 11 seasons and still one of the best shows on television.
Don’t look now, but he’s sitting 5 boxes above you in the comments.
Wait! I said don’t look now. (casually glances around) OK, it’s safe. You can look.
I had noticed the name, and wondered if there was a connection. I have seen quite a few episodes of CSI (various flavours). But I have a cat in hell’s chance of remembering a mundane character name*. I cannot even remember the goth girl’s name. Despite having downloaded a wallpaper featuring her, from DA. Although I do recall the characteristic slap, not being a follower of tropes, there was no particular reason to make the link to that particular program.
* If it had been a “Xena” slap or a “Spock” pinch, that would be a different matter. I would just be wondering if there was anything special about Xena’s slapping, never having watched more than a couple of minutes of one episode. Although I have seen a fair bit of Xena cosplay and roleplaying so get the gyst of her character despite my lack.
you don’t know ABBY she is only on of the best prototypes for syd I could think of since the discussion of actually doing grrlpower live shows all hyper and zany not quit in touch with the normal realty of those around her, even got the cute is a weakness bit going. dave can we pllllllllleeeaase have her do halo when we get the show going plllllleeeaaasse.
Not to mention, she doesn’t just play a forensic scientist, she actually is one in real life
I know Gibbs and NCIS, I know he slaps the back of their heads… but never would I name something a Gibbs-slap if my mom and dad regularly did it to me before NCIS was ever thought up…
Knowing the connection now, makes it funnier, but to be honest: the “Smack” or “Whap” made me actually grin and chuckle, which only a few webcomics manage to do.
So all in all I’m not really criticizing, still love your work and generally have a better feeling getting up on Mondays, knowing a new Grrl Power page is coming in the afternoon :)
Well then, maybe changing that final “WHAP” to “CATCH” would make the last panel clearer.
Im a little confused here. Is Anvil a 1st LT or enlisted? She’s wearing what I thought of as the enlisted uniform, vs the dress blues of the other officers. Her bio page says 1st LT though, and going for the whap on “Civilian Consultant” Dabbler seems something of a reach for enlisted…
Yeah I totally goofed on that one. Anvil is listed as a 1st Lt on the cast page, but I’m not sure if that quite fits her personality/backstory. In any case she should be in her dress uniform for consistency’s sake.
So the field uniforms for officers and enlisted are indistinct at this time. Both Harem and Anvil are modelling the field uniform, while General Faulk, Max and Hiro are in dress uniform. Max will be coming back in her field uniform shortly to perform the demonstration.
For a look at Max in field uniform, take a look at the bank robbery, but the insignia will change to reflect her status as a lieutenant colonel, not a full colonel, as she appeared to be during the bank robbery.
BTW, speaking of girls and power, the first two episodes of RWBY are out;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sGiE10zNQM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLv6FfHlxmI
The girl is overly cute. But I got over that and stuck with it. Glad I did. The first episode was very enjoyable. Loved the bit where the villains are turning round and wondering what is causing the ruckus. The second being rather mundane by comparison, but not bad.
And now episode 3 is out. Errr, rather than posting the link (which would trigger the moderator-bot) you can follow those first two links to their source and find it yourselves. Considering there’s been three releases in two weeks I’d check often for updates.
Thanks. The moderator bot only wakes up if you post more than one link in a single post, for info.
Good to know, thanks.
Episode 4 is ready;
https://roosterteeth.com/archive/?sid=rwby&v=more
The fact they somehow managed to make 11 seasons of RvB is terrifying