Grrl Power #156 – Guerrilla plug
Going by the old Marvel RPG system, they could also be Remarka-balls or Incredi-balls.
Sydney may be a nut but she’s not stupid. “Don’t mind me, just casually demonstrating my powers over here… Bam! Plug!”
So Grrl Power is officially 3 this week. Well, late last week. The first comic went up on August 23, 2010. I almost hesitate to mention it just because it sort of highlights how little has happened so far. I mean… a lot has happened, but not in terms of story progression. It has made me start to replan some future scenes. Try to find ways to streamline them without losing anything. Cut down on the proliferation of character introductions, stuff like that.
I suppose I should celebrate the 3 year anniversary by starting to get serious about merch and stuff like that. As such I’ll try and get that seal shirt done. Hopefully I’ll have it up sometime this week, I just have to figure out Zazzle, since that seems to be a better deal than CafePress.
Oh yeah, and the TGT Tournament is still going on. Down to the semi-finals! As always your vote is appreciated!
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Happy third Dave, keep it up,
Happy third birthday Grrl Power.
congrats on 3 years
I think she should keep it simple and just call them ‘Shards’
But there spherical orbs and aren’t pointy at all. Nothing Shard like about em.
Spheres? Super-spheres? Spetacu-spheres? I like spheres. It’s a good word.
the actual source of each individual orb could be tiny, with the outer appearance simply being the closest physical representation our reality can manifest. What if each ‘sphere’ is only the most limited expression of its ‘true’ extra-dimensional nature?
I see that your thoughts parallel those of Zephan Zoeng’s regarding the true hidden nature of the orbs. Or Cthulhu’s eyes, as he thinks of them.
Heh.. warped.. er um.. brilliant minds think alike?
curse you!!! I have officially caught up! You need less of a life and more drawing! I am loving this comic btw. ALOT!!!!
Welcome to the fan club.
your piicture ii2 2o amaziing
Thanks. Assuming that you are referring to my avatar image, as opposed to Dave’s artwork in general. Even if it is the former though, all credit still goes to DaveB, as he not only made the original art, but also inspired the name in the same panel.
I agree. :)
wait i know the dragon b..no wait um how helements of har…no thats taken too. okay what about the Spheres of Scoville or just ScovilleSpheres
Too many sylabobbles. SydSpheres. Sypheres (suh-pheres). Going longer, ScovilleOrbs. Scovilleeres! One for all and all for one! Halorbs. Or, my preference, just “orbs”. or “my orbs” or whatnot. The meaning will be clear from context.
I mean, if you’re carrying a slingshot, does it need a specific name to distinguish it from other slingshots, even if it’s custom-made with therefore-custom abilities? Sure, swords, and to a lesser extent, guns, but those are archaisms, almost.
Does Earthworm Jim’s supersuit need a name, other than “the supersuit”? Sure, Thor and his pet hammer, Arthur and the scimitar from the moistened bint…
Oh, OK, say they need names: name them after the disney dwarves. Or maybe after the reindeer (leaving out one). Hm. Dasher, Dancer / Prancer, Vixen / Comet, Cupid / Donner, Blitzen. (note that, interestingly enough, the parse into pairs of increasing size and strength, peaking either with Donner,Blitzen or Comet,Cupid, depending; just like a real team of draft animals)
Hmm, Donner and Blitzen are “Thunder and Lightning”, so Blitzen would be the name of the PPO, of course. Given how her sheild reacts to Maxima’s attacks, it could be Donner. Dancer is the flight orb. Pseudopod, Cupid. Telepresense, Comet. Prancer and Vixen are the mystery orbs. Dasher is is the leftover, being too similar to Dancer imo.
So there you go. They got names just like Mjolnir and Excalibur. Happy now?
Of course… might name the PPO “Mjolnir”, since it either means “Crusher” or “Lightning”, depending on which cunning linguists you listen to. Or listen to both sets, and it’s “Crushed by Lightning”. And then, name the other orbs after other weapons of the Aesir. Then, naming the mystery orbs would be more problematical, but oh well.
Then they could be the Aespheres. Aesir, aesir, one tube full sir.
Oh, and by the way, since she’s already naming them “Pew-pew orb” and “molestorb” and so on, seems like some orb-based name for them as a group is apropos. Amazorbs, perhaps.
Oh, and if somebody names them, or some other set or sets of orbs, “incredi-balls”, Syd must instantly shake her finger and shout “you’re not affiliated with me!”.
“Et ton costume est complètement ridicule!” — Bomb Voyage
Nice choice of quote. Particularly since he was called Bomb Perignon until a certain French company made Pixar change it…
When, when, When, is Pixar going to make another Incredibles. Everyone involved says Brad Bird is the only holdup, because he says he hasn’t gotten the perfect story, even Samuel Jackson says he wants to make another Incredibles.
Such a great movie all around, from the “real world” touches like slipping and damaging the car, to Elasti-Girl’s accurate radio language, the interplay of the characters, and the concept of raising superpowered children, great characters.
Personally I like the idea of calling them “ORBitals”
For orbiting her head and her calling them the orb names.
That does have a nice simplicity to it.
“Pseudopod, Cupid”
I think we’ve seen enough hentai to know how you made THAT connection…
“depending on which cunning linguists you listen to.”
I’m not even going to TOUCH that one, because it would be a tongue-twister.
And we already know that Sydney is adept at twisting your tongue (or at least, Mr Amorpheus’ tongue)
First two read-throughs, I missed Arianna’s action in p6. Longer motion lines, maybe?
And “yes, please” re: Zazzle. My MOM is a better choice than CafePress.
Yeah, I’ll attest to that. Not that I’ve ever had any dealings with CafePress, mind you……
I’m thinking that armband that Maxima put on her will make it so she can keep track of Sydney, communicate, maybe give her a scrolling text to read instead of ad-lib to the press, or maybe keep her in line – ZAP! hahahah
Can’t wait to see what’s next! And the Scoville Spheres is nice. Orbs of destiny? Amaze-balls? Oh wait… hahaha
Keeping track of her should be easy. Just wait for a disaster to occur and head in that direction.
Which would be one of the many reasons you want to track Sydney. To prevent those troublesome disasters from occurring.
But then you’d always be one step behind Syd- by the time you get to the first bombsite, she’d cause something else mwahaha
I was immediately thinking retractable gloves to keep her under control, she does have a secret weakness after all…
I’m surprised that no one came up with the idea that the armband is a monitoring (medical/ mystical/ techno) device. Communication and locator, to my understanding, is handled by the collars. Since no one could get “a reading” off the orbs, they would use that device to observe how the orbs interact with her physiology/ aura. It’s kinda like a heart rate monitors worn by joggers, but with a few more bells and whistles.
if so I give it five minutes for her to change the electronic bell signal tone to zoidberg and shift the whistle so high pitched only xurial can hear it.
One thing has been bugging me fo a while now:
You DO know what the last two Ioun Stones are, don´t you, Dave?
Just curious, yes or no would suffice.
Yup. :)
If you are still looking for suggestions, there is a certain scene in the Woody Allen movie ‘Sleeper’ you might be interested in.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8264/8660847041_26b3df05e3_z.jpg
Sorry, I posted the still, not the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAKWKfVcd04
Ion Stones …… these rocks really rock. ^_^
So the last two would be called Cat and Ann?
Happy three years! I ran across it in 2011. Been reading it ever since. Not bored yet.
” It has made me start to replan some future scenes. Try to find ways to streamline them without losing anything. Cut down on the proliferation of character introductions, stuff like that.”
Or… y’know… and I’m just throwing this out there… you could have… wait for it… TWO comics a week!
It’s wreck your loyal readers’ minds, but I think we’d keep it together :P
Much as we would love it, full-time job and two updates a week do not mix.
Well, at least at the quality of art we have gotten used to. If you are willing for the art to look like something from XKCD, I am sure the update frequency could increase, but I would be disappointed.
The comparison falls a bit flat when you recall that XKCD is a full-time job. But I agree with your sentiments. It is worth the wait for the combined package of art, story and humour. Plus it makes Mondays special.
Every comic producer has to make the choice at some point whether he’s willing to live off of his art or not. You look at the transitions that people have made from supporting themselves through a job and supporting themselves through their website, and you find that the comic almost universally improves. Gunnerkrigg Court, Order of the Stick, Goblins, Girl Genius (sort of), MSPA, and many, many others all really hit their stride, and enabled the author to support himself off the comic.
It takes faith, and a lot of devotion to the work, but people have done it and will continue to. I can definitely tell you that absolutely nothing a webcomic artist can do to maintain a following is as important as updating as frequently as possible. A once weekly comic might be totally awesome, but there’s a significant upper limit to how many people will be able to stay interested enough to remember to check back. More importantly, when you update once a week, people tend to only check in once a week, at most. If you update frequently enough, people will start checking back all the time looking for an update, and that is huge for being able to make a living.
Anyway, my point is that if you have a story you want to tell and have demonstrated the ability to both tell that story and the work ethic to keep telling it even when you don’t feel like it, then you can live off of your work as a webcomic artist if you want to. At some point, another job just gets in the way.
Personally check in every day (or every other day) for the comments
And to vote. Not forgetting that there is a new incentive up.
… and this is the arc science happy time companion bracelet. to help provide gentle guidance, and encouragment to arc centre guests.
What the hell did Maxima just put on her?
Good question, I guess we’ll just have to wait to find out.
Sydney could reveal Dabbler’s disguise a little because of potentially touching Dabbler’s ears and getting a reaction from either, so stopping that gesture is a wise move.
This is where Maxima prevents this from happening — also change the subject to something less Sydney antics like for the press conference.
Wise call. Smart method. You’ll be Sydney’s mom substitute in no time if this keeps up!
She is Sydney superior officer so she is already mom like in her responsibilities to her.
missile homing device
Iron Rogue, check out strip #3 – look like a communications device.
So, Halo has been “volunteered” for Maxima’s live-fire exercise? I can’t wait!
Did she just get a pip-boy slapped onto her wrist?
“REJECTED”? Did Sydney just missed an opportunity to yell “OBJECTION!”?
Maybe she does not watch that many courtroom dramas, like Law and Order, or comedies, like Night Court.
OBJECTION!
Or she is trying to avoid having to deal with lawyers for using someone else’s catch phrase?
Should she be advertising to the world what her orbs can do? I mean, there goes the advantage of surprise. And happy three years!
Part of getting the public invested in the heroes is showing off some of their powers. As Max and Arianna said earlier though, they’re not giving away specifics quite yet (and not sharing everything) Plus obvious powers like flying or… energy tentacles are given away the first time you use them.
something you could do is take character intros out of the actual comic and put them below or off to the side the week before the comic they would have been introduced comes in.
we don’t know what specific place they will have in the comic, but outside of particularly important or comical intros we won’t lose a week just meeting people.
How about the Bifröst Spheres, since Bifröst was a rainbow bridge and the spheres have a rainbow color scheme?
Also, congratulation for three years of comics, but would it in any way be possible to start posting two updates a week?
Dang, now that is clever. For alliteration, tweak to Bifröst Balls. All the best ones are made of crystal, so would keep the refractive spectrum properties.
I’d stick with Bifröst Spheres. Not everything needs alliteration and, frankly, “balls” just leaves too many opportunities for worthless jokes.
Sounds fair, the only balls Sydney should be playing with anyhow are [censored]
Ooh ooh, combining your suggestion with a comment from cthulhuearring on page 3, we get an awesome marketing name: Biofrost marbles. With built in product potential to bring back possibly the earliest gaming craze. Updated with pokemon promotion techniques. Which includes giving each an individual name and identity. In this case, themed with the Old Norse goddesses:
Fly Ball – Hófvarpnir – The flying horse ridden by the goddess Gná.
PPO – Baduhenna – Goddess of war.
Pseudopod Tentacle Orb – Syn – A goddess who guards the doors of the hall and shuts them against those who are not to enter.
Comm-Ball – Sága – The seeress goddess. Interestingly who’s name means “sunken treasure”.
Forcefield Orb – Hilin – The goddess who’s function is to protect people in danger.
Unknown, green – Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr – A goddess. Sister of Irpa.
Unknown, brown – Irpa – A goddess. Little known other than her name derives from “brown”.
And, of course, the product range is expandable to include other Norse themed marbles. Then on to other pantheons, if the craze continues.
Not bad actually. Hmm.
is that a “hmm, good idea (even though I’m going to stick to what I’m already gonna call them)” or a “hmm, i have no clue what to call them yet, so I’m taking a poll of ideas from the peanut gallery, and this one struck my fancy” kind of a Hmm….?
either way, i think the public, both us the readers, AND the Comic public, are still gonna call them “balls” or “orbs” of some kind, no matter what makes sense, not with what they are “officially” called though…
not being up on todays TV pop culture (most of todays shows seem to have to play to an increasingly stupid mentality for my tastes, and of the ones i do like, i wait for them to come out on dvd/bd before getting them (without commercials, too)) so i ultimately had to google the “amaze-balls” thing myself, and i must say that i am DEFINITELY on Arianna’s side of that argument… Dave, PLEASE DON’T call them that in-comic… for me personally, it would grate horribly upon my reading comprehension center of my brain every time I’d have to read it in the comic…. thus lessening the large amount of enjoyment i currently receive from reading (and RE-reading) this comic.
I shall be sure to avoid looking up the reference myself then. Ignorance can be bliss in circumstances like this.
But, at least it explains why Sydney looks so sickeningly cutiefied in panel 5. I had been mildly concerned that she was coming down with terminalicuscutiness, but am relieved that it is just to emphasise a pop-culture gag and I can sleep easy again.
three years WOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
I think Yob-stoppers could work. Well, once Sydney stops some yobs.
While it is most likely that they already have a name ready for them, I would still point out some possible choices – Halo Spheres (sounds clean enough, but also in the right mindset, would appeal to Sydney… and dabbler…. and math…), or Celestial Spheres ( if you wanted a more serious name since those are an actual thing in some religions – provide knowledge or power to people n’ stuff)
They call Sydney “Mommy”.
Bah just go with the Icewind Dale Seven Eyes spell:
This spell conjures forth seven magical orbs that float in a ring above the caster’s head. Each eye has a defensive and offensive ability, though once either one is used the eye will lose its power. Any subsequent castings of Seven Eyes will fail if cast before the expiration time, whether or not any eyes remain. The powers of each eye are described below.
Eye of the Mind – This orb protects the caster against mental attacks, such as charm, emotion, and fear. The eye may be expended as the 1st level wizard spell Charm Person.
Eye of the Sword – This eye deflects the first physical damaging attack that strikes the caster. The eye may be expended as the 1st level wizard spell Magic Missile (5 missiles).
Eye of the Mage – This eye absorbs one manifestation of fire, electrical, cold, or acid damage. The eye can also be expended as the 3rd level wizard spell Lightning Bolt (4d8 damage).
Eye of Venom – This eye halts any one attack or effect that could poison the caster. The eye can also be used to poison one creature, dealing 30 points of damage over a period of 30 seconds. Eye of the Spirit – This eye blocks one instant-death magic attack (Finger of Death, Power Word: Kill, Slay Living, Destruction). The wizard may instead choose to expend the eye’s power similar to a Ray of Enfeeblement, dropping a target’s strength by -10, reducing its chance to hit, and the damage it deals.
Eye of Fortitude – This eye blocks one stunning, deafness, blindness, or silence effect. It may alternatively be expended as the 4th level wizard spell, Shout.
Eye of Stone – This eye shields the caster from a single petrification attack. It can also be used as the spell, Hold Person.
Any subsequent castings of Seven Eyes will fail if cast before the original spell expires, whether or not any eyes remain.
tldr: https://www.planetbaldursgate.com/iwd2/character/spells/cleric/helm/seveneyes.shtml
is the seventh eye the Eye of Thundera? …
re-reading it it looks like you forgot to start a new line for the Eye of the Spirit, thus making it look like you only showed six of them, and i was like “huh? it says seven, why only six shown…” so i had to come up with the name for the seventh one… oh, well…
If that is less than an Epic spell, it looks like one of the most unbalanced I have seen. The one shot nature of each ‘eye’ somewhat mitigates the power. But many spells can only use the one effect, and then stop. Whereas that one can then go on to do six other uses. So it does not do much to redress the imbalance.
It’s in game that limits the types of magic you can cast from each school. (Dnd 3rd edition) Abjuration is its locale, only a self cast and the opposite of abjutration are both illusion and transmutation, sealing off a Lot of other cool spells.
That’s a pretty cool spell. Hadn’t heard of that one.
Also rejected: Holy Klono’s Titanium Testes!
Woah EML I remember you from the Sluggy forums! wow blast from the past
I would like to formally second the name “Amaze-balls.”
Ah, so you did register event horizon comics dot com! If you made a real fake comic store, would people buy from it?
Probably but they would pay with real monopoly money and fake credit card numbers.
Actually, it seems to me that Sydney shows an incredible amount of control by making that plug. Most people would have problems moving each of the five fingers on one hand independently of each other, and now imagine controlling that entire pseudopod thingy through all those nooks and crannies.
That is the difference between advanced technomagic and the caveman-like level that we use. Sydney just has to think her intent to the orbs and they handle the details. Rather like the incredibly complex series of actions that follow when we are playing a sport, say tennis. We do not consciously think of each step that must be made (literally) and sit down with a pen and paper to work out the ballistic trajectory the ball is following and mark an intercept point. Then try to enact it. We just think “hit the ball” and the rest works like magic.
well your brain handles that and you do have to do a lot of earning before it’s ok, or did you spring forth from your mother walking and talking, assuming you didn’t the simple act of walking took you a while to manage as did running etc, so it stills says a lot about the orbs, they learn fast… either that or Sydney does.
Just wait until they hatch!
I’m not crazy, right? That “m” in comics has an extra “leg”?
You are absolutely right, except *blushes* that is not a leg.
When I learned cursive, n’s and m’s have an extra “hump” or leg to help distinguish them from r’s.
https://www.enchantedlearning.com/letters/cursivemn.shtml
Although I will admit, coming off the ‘o’, I may have draw it wrong. Oh well, I blame Sydney.
yeah, an extra hump at the beginning of the letter (the transition) but not an extra leg.
Orbs Revolving Behaving Strangely
Oooo and it’s a recursive acronym too.
The TTO Orbs
Well, since a halo is an optical phenomenon…
Why not Glories? After the glory, another optical phenomenon, which forms around a solid object.
Halorbs
Here’s my two cents:
Scoville Orbs ie: “Scorbs”
…hey, what did you expect for two cents?
Some change?
Happy 3’d bday! This comic is very funny (and I mean that); That is 86% of its appeal. I second your thoughts that the story should skip “introductions” and move to plot (or even start forshadowing things) ASAP, however, I would still recommend the comic as-is as a “superhero comedy”.
Damni-balls.
um seeing as they orbit her maybe satellites? lol.
Marbles of Mayhem.
congratulations !
i have only been a reader for months and this is entertaining.
just one question… do you plan on an other power orbs entering the story ?
My recommendation… “The mystical orbs of fun and pleasure”… Wait why is everyone looking at me? O.o
Because “tmoofap” sounds vaguely kinky?
Putting myself in her shoes I think that there’s no doubt that I would instinctively call them Ioun Stones. Although Sydney may not use that exact term I would be very surprised if the thought didn’t cross her mind and at least somewhat affect her decision.
I would think she’d take the root if that and personalize it, preferably in a way that that has a double meaning of some sort.
That in mind, I’d put money down that she would end up calling them…
**drumroll**
Sydney Stones!! Sydney + Ioun Stones + Kidney Stones. Probably thinking of it after someone jabs her in the side to shut her up. “I think I’ll call them Ioun sto-” *jabs in side*. “Owwww that WAS my kidney you ***%+#ing mother *^%- WAIT! That’s it!! Sydney Stones!!”
Actually, Ioun stones have already been pointed out by Maxima
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/479
How about Orbitals?