Grrl Power #186 – Fingers to maximum steepleage!
So remember this page is coming off of the previous one where Arianna was about to suggest somewhat more adverse effects of Maxima’s challenge. Had I planned the page slightly better I would have grouped them differently and had those yellow narration blocks with Arianna saying stuff like “There will be those taking your challenge… as a challenge / looking for revenge / weaving you into their plans.” Or something like that, but coming off the previous page I think it makes sense without that narrative nudge. If today is the first time you’ve seen the comic and you’re starting with this page, then it may be a little confusing.
If you happen to be able to read Arabic, I’m sure you’ll get a good laugh out of whatever Google translate spit out, compounded by me trying to hand transcribe it. It probably reads like the Arabic onomatopoeia for static now.
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out of curiosity what is the Arabic supposed to say?
“I am an alien from the planet papyrus, pleased to meet you. Hope you don’t mind hugs, I’m a hugger.”
Actually it’s been solved on page 1 of the comments: “I’m dead, aren’t I. So much the better.”
“I’m dead, am I? So much the better.”
Actually, Legion Author has it correctly, although either version will work in a pinch.
Vale, in the last panel, thinking to herself “Sometimes I really regret not accepting that offer of an exiting career in the fast food industry. At least there, if your boss is a dork, you can resign without him calling out ‘unleash the Dobermans!'”
Deus would more shout “RELEASE THE CHIHUAHUAS!”
The genetically enhanced piranha-toothed chihuahuas.
with frickin lasers attached to there heads (puts pinky to mouth) how can they be properly evil without lasers people
Or better yet: Doberhuahuas!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zl0zw1YVZd4
Bwahahaha!
My dog has a disturbing resemblance to the Doberhuahuah. He’s of course the correct proportions, and he has a white patch on his muzzle. But the resemblance is still uncanny.
I Want One!!! lol
Chihuahuas ARE land-pirhana! A group (school?) can strip an old lady carcass in less than 10 minutes! (If not distracted by other yummy treats!) Just sayin’! Telephone line repair techs in central Florida used to have regular land pirhana reports over their dispatching system in the late eighties/early nineties! (True story!)
As a phone lineman, I have been chased by a few packs of these beast.
See! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!
Yes we knew that when Maxima threw down the gauntlet, others would pick it up and burn it. Now things will really get interesting. Just as the curse states. (No evidence the Chinese said it though.)
This is just Ari being, well, Ari-noid
The Arabic made me want to comment on this for the first time in years. As far literal translation it says: I am the dead one I am? That is much better.
Damn, you beat me :) I just found it by trial and error in Google.
So, translated for style, something like, “So I’m dead, am I? This is better than I thought…”
I think Panel #5 could be a Harem instance that is pure nut job. The others might not even know about her as they assume they all share feelings equally. The mask shows 5 signs across the top, 3 in the light side (good) and 2 in the dark (bad). We’ve seen the white haired one being a spy (bad). The heart one which shows mostly dark and also a little on the light could be the pink haired one on the team –she is willing to play nice but could be pretty viscous herself. And then there is the shark on the bottom circling …
She is a unique 6th form that cannot express herself enough to _have_ feelings, so she is manipulating her other selves into situations to express –and so pass along– strong feelings of their own.
Of course the only missing trope is the child villain who just ‘wants to play’.
An interesting idea.
A multiple body multiple personality person? Wow :)
(by the way: you mean panel #6)
Eh, programmer… We often count from 0
Now there is your mistake zero made the last comment on page 1. This is page 2. So if you were counting from zero you should have added one.
But, on the other paw, zero thinks that 90% of this is imaginary. So perhaps you should have counted from 0.1?
No, they mean the first image (the one with Wart’s brother) is #0, which makes Deus #6 & #7 (instead of the more correct/usual #7 & #8)
Hahaha :) Nice :)
Interesting idea, but seeing as all versions have Harem share the same brain, not likely
not if she has multiple personality disorder. as most people with it do not share info between personalities. with Harem have a body with a separate personality is possible
Thing is, Disassociative Identity Disorder usually has a whole bunch of other hallmarks that go with it, particularly patterns where a person just… disassociates and has trouble remembering who they are. It’s an episodic experience, having the disassociative identity push forward. With one mind, you’d be more likely to see the disassociative identities pushing for the control of all the bodies periodically, not one body permanently.
Between the other views from this page and the last page, are these things that are actually happening or just Maxima and Arianna fantasizing?
Both, at the same time, I think. Some of which Arianna must just be making sweeping statements, but by co-incidence really are actually happening. Or, perhaps she is a super, with the power of prophecy.
Or she might be an Einstein-like intellect, capable of extrapolating truth when only seeing a fraction of the picture. Explaining her prediction that Maxima’s enemy (panel 4) is still alive. Perhaps Dabbler made a glib comment once about an old enemy (panel 3) and Arianna felt that such an overt display of power would not have gone un-noticed by a demon lord. And so on.
What? You’re asking for spoilers?
Only DaveB knows for sure, and (I hope) he’s not telling…
in this case, maybe just hoping that a very small one will slip..
like “at least one of them is real”
One of them is really real in the real world?!
For real?
Is it just me or is that a shout out to “Scar” from Full Metal Alchemist?
That mask is awesome!!!
That last one made me laugh loud.
I’m staring at him and thinking, wait, isn’t that… Oh.
Am I the only one wondering why panel 6 guy has hearts, stars, and a bunny on his mask? Not very villain-y. Seems like he’s just one step removed from a dark side version of the Lucky Charms leprechaun.
The first victim falls to the mask of confusion. Shame that Innocent Bystander was too busy fixating on the stickers and had not noticed the wearer was staring through the fourth wall! I bet he was even wearing a red jumper. Probably the last day before he retired too!
Well, the Arabic text in this context has me quite worried about something. Remember when Max mentioned the “most powerful supers” and that one of them was dead, and that she almost accidentally blew up a mosque? Pretty sure this means the one that was supposedly dead is now wrapped in many bandages, glad that he is thought to be dead. Add in a fulfilled prophecy for that demon… YEAH, PROBLEMS!
To add a layer of doublethink: this guy now believes that Maxima believes he is dead…but Maxima herself has the private caveat, “…as far as we know…” (page 150). She’s not counting him out, but he doesn’t know that.
HAHA panel #2 a bible thumping end of days turd hahaha I can see it now “Repent, for thou shalt burn in the rivers of HELL!!” BOOM “Oops I think I killed a psychotic priest” hero one say, “No worries, their a dime a dozen” hero two states.
As a supervillain I’d have one reply to that bible-thumping nutcase:
“You first.” *boom*
Or, according to the teachings of the ‘Guide for Evil Overlords’:
*boom* “You first.”
you realize offing that guy would make you a superHERO right?
So, it’s a perfect thing to do for my plan to pretend to be a hero, get trust of other heroes and then betray them? Win-win!
A vilain offing a villain does not make them a hero (in the same way a hero offing another hero {it happens} makes them a villain)
Hey. he gets rid of the Fundies who think they should send me to hell since I’m “going there anyway”. He’ll be my bloody hero!
Was meaning the act in and of itself, how people view the act is different
Uh…that’s what he wants. To go up in a earth-shattering kaboom
I see a Hellsing reference coming with that guy.
I think y’all are overlooking that Lady 6 (nomenclature to be altered when more data is at hand) has silver hair and dark blue skin, somewhat like the Anti-Halo…
+1 (especially on the y’all front)
But what everybody is overlooking is that she is the most likely looking contender to err be female. And in a universe where power seems to be concentrated in X chromosomes, that makes her the most potentially dangerous villain there. Ok the demon in panel 2 may be female, but Dabbler managed to whup his/her anatomical analogue of a butt solo.
The only other serious contender is panel 5. Not the speaker, as he appears to be a guy. But is speaking in the plural, so there could be a large number of females lurking with him.
*sigh* Correction: “demon in panel 3“.
where do you get blue skin? I’m a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy so I’m not up on clothing fashion terms… but it doesn’t look like she has blue SKIN… i see her as wearing a mask with a neck-covering turtle-neck shirt-thing, or pullover headgear like firefighters and race-car drivers wear. (or Rorschach).. would you say that Batman has black skin just because he wears that armor that covers his neck and if that was all we could see? ( I’m ignoring the skin shown around his mouth/nose, because of how these two masks are of different construction.)
I was going to say something similar. Then I compared that panel with panel 4 (double checks, yup, got the right one this time), and saw that the tones were very similar to the flesh ones, but in blue. So it could go either way.
Mommy is either wearing a blue leotard or has to look forward to that talk someday when she has to explain why everyone else comes in shades of pink, yellow and brown, except for that naughty demon police woman (assuming that little secret will only remain secret for so long).
I am pretty sure EVERYONE saw this coming.
The more they beat the more who will come to beat them. That’s one hell of a learning curve for new recruits.
This will gather all the villains up in one efficient spot/target. Then they unleash the TKO: To get to Maxima they must defeat Sydney in either a swear-off competition or spicy food escalation.
Let us just hope that it does not result in a TPK.
…which is usually preceded by clumping too close together – an unfortunate lapse in good strategy referred to as a “Charlie Foxtrot”.
(I assume this euphemism is preferred to the coarser original term of the same initials)
Oh man, does this mean we’re gonna meet some badass villains soon?
I do not think Deus has evil plans regarding Max, as a provider he is just glad foreseeing the most likely reason for Archon’s equipment replacement.
Depends on if you consider a raving loon pawing all over you ‘evil’ or just ‘creepy as snot-goblins on overdrive’
I am glad there was nothing in my mouth when I read “snot goblins”.
That’snot funny.
Do you think he want’s to boogie down with Max
Now that is phlegming obvious.
but does he nose he has no chance
*Giant hammers,boots and creme pies rain down on YORP! and DR.REVENGE*
remains are ashed by binary plasma napalm
Ah, yes – Lasers From Orbit: “The Only Safe Way To Be Sure”.
Yeah, well if I used it on every bad pun I’d heard lately…well we wouldn’t have the Population density we have.
Not to mention, are you sure you have all the bugs out of it? And by ‘bugs’, mean these guys /holds up a snarling-yapping-mouthfoaming mini-chibi* DubDubSee in maintainance overalls
*a mini-chibi is to a regular chibi like that smallest lamb in that episode of The Simpsons, except this breed is completely feral and more insane than a ‘normal’ DubDubSee (they don’t even know what a Greta-CHANNN!! is, how insane is that?)
Well thats another clone gone. Time to decant the next.
Did anyone else notice that panel #7 tied his tie with a Trinity Knot?
There will always be a “prove it” faction. Too bad this group is super.
Are the first 7 supposed to be based on characters in popular media/culture or something? Or just generic evil pricks?
The one in the background of panel 5 kinda looks familiar
panel 3 has a history with Dabbler, odds are panel 4 has a past with Max i.e. the one she “thinks” is dead
Oh yeah, meant the other 5 :P
Okay so I have a weird theory that I am pretty sure is wrong but I thought would be fun for people to think on. What if Deus is not a bad guy but is sampling keeping an eye on Maxima because he cares deeply about her? He may not be evil, just a goofball. Hell if I could, I would have a button that makes lighting happen when I say cool stuff. So when he sees the broadcast his responses is a weird form of “That’s my girl!”. If he had a non-combat power, such as an intelligence based power, it may allow him to work from the shadows to watch archon. He may not want to be part of the government or may believe he needs to be a vanguard against archon if it goes rouge. Also working from the shadows he could combat some threats without being overt, such as controlling the media to keep Maxima in a good light. I also thought that if he had as an intelligence based power, the scar could be from him trying to remove his power. Maybe he could not relate to people because he sees things differently. It could be like a mathematician who is excited about an interesting new development in chaos theory trying to talk about it to a 5 year old. The lack of ability to relate would be infuriating. Now imagine that every interaction was like that. It would not be farfetched to believe someone might try to lobotomize themselves to be normal. Also if he was used to not being able to have “normal interactions” this could be why his “approach” to Maxima is odd.
It seems a reasonable working theory to me.
Just thought of something: anyone else feel the first guy looks like `Warts’ brother?
Soooo….is Panel 6 supposed to be the alternate-timeline supervillainess that Tiny Tiny from Borderlands 2 grows up to be? Because I would dig the HELL out of that story.
I think I have divined a link between the last two panels above, and panel 5 from last week.
Super Construction Guy will join Machina Construction, an arm of Machina Industries. Which has already secured government contracts to rebuild in the event of super hero/villain fights. Dues is drooling over the anticipated profits he sees rolling in from Maxima throwing down the gauntlet. That and he is a perv, obviously.
And yet another correction: Deus
*rubs the prayer wheel for a correction facility becoming available one day*
*swaps the prayer wheel for an 8×10 glossy of Sydney, works just the same, but you get more pleasure from rubbing the glossy /wink
Off topic: The new vote incentive is badass! I like the breakdown of the color scheme and bendy tools used. I’m a dork for behind-the-scenes scenes.
Come on everyone 600 votes and Grrl Power will be rank #1 and 16 or more will make it #2
Aww, I hoped I would be the one to tip it to number 2. Good luck to the next clicker.
I really hope those are all going to end up being villains in the series. Especially the mask one. Oh, and I hope that if the Arabic one is, we get some Arabic superheroes too.
I have to say, I’m with Arianna on this one. It’s childishly simplistic of Maxima to think that such a violent demonstration of power wouldn’t have at least as many negative repercussions as positive.
On the one hand you’ll have the criminal element, and while some of them may indeed be cowed this will, as we see here, inevitably lead to others exercising their ambition, problem-solving abilities, and egos to match such an enormous threat. Escalation will become practically inevitable.
But on the other hand you’ll have the higher-ups scrambling to calm a nervous public, probably by rolling out red tape and assigning largely unnecessary safeguards, overseers, handlers, committees, or things along those lines. And in a less direct sense this would adversely affect the entire “community” of super-beings in general, who will now be looked on by many with a McCarthy-esque stigma.
No, Maxi was just saying that the minor-league Villains would be deterred, she already knows (and is counting on) the Take-Over-Pughkepsie Villains will now divert their attention to her (and the rest of ARCHON)
Also pretty sure that Maxi has more knowledge of the more flashy-upfront/honest villains, whereas Ari is more familiar with the political/backstabbing kind
Also also pretty sure that the ‘higher-ups’ would have already used the red-tape long before they even signed off on the Press Conference
So… Panel 5… Evil Phoenix Wright?
That’s actually terrifying. Considering the girl behind him has the hairstyle of the scariest villain from the AceAttorney series. Dahlia Hawthorne. *Shudders*
Excuse me Dave, I am just curious: at the bottom of the right bar there is a text saying “Grrl Power …in other languages” without links nor anything else. What does it mean, please?
There must be something wrong with your display, because the usual content is appearing for me. Namely Las Chicas son Guerras, a Spanish language translation of Grrl Power. Which I see is keeping pretty much up to date still. And has run a cool fan art competition in the past. If your Spanish is not up to scratch, you can see the winners posted at DeviantArt on the artist’s gallery, which you can find under: DaveBarrack (intentionally no space).
Where? Can’t see a link to any alternate languages
As Dave correctly points out below, it is not per-se a translation to Spanish. Merely a link to another site which hosts the translated version. But you can find it in the sidebar on the right, which at the very top reads:
And appears in the final section which is headed
Of course I should have concluded my reply with say that you may be suffering from the same problem as NotFred and it might not be displaying. But that is the spot where the link should be appearing.
Yeah, for me, that is cut off/covered by the “Legend” info (can just see the top few mm’s of ‘in other languages’)
Well, in the source code of the page the link you talk about is present. I made a .html with a copy of just the source code of the side bar and it works, ie the link is showed. I will do some research.
Thank you for the tip :)
My pleasure.
DaveB, if at any time you do a site-redesign, I can strongly recommend putting a simple flag system at the top of the webpage somewhere easy to find. Living in a country which does not use English as its primary language (foreigners eh, go figure) but also uses a completely different alphabet, I find it immensely useful for any local website to have a nice easy to find Union Flag for me to click on and turn the page into English. Any webpage which hides the translation link away under a foreign language heading, would probably not get my custom, simply because it would be too hard for me to find it.
Yeah, I would do that if clicking it just flipped the page over to a spanish comic, but it’s a whole different site. I could probably emphasize it better though than just having the link in the webcomic links box.
By the way, actually the name is “Las Chicas son Guerreras”.
Lliteraly that means “The Girls are Warriors”. “Guerrero/a” has a meaning in Spain´s jargon that I do not really understand, I think is something like “naughty”.
Hallo! I am the translator of GRRLPOWER into Spanish :) Indeed, that title I chose was “Las Chicas son Guerreras”.
In a comment I wrote in comic #125, I explained why I chose that title. To sum up — “Las Chicas son Guerreras” happens to be the title of a 1980s song by the Spanish band “Coz” (= “The Kick of a Horse”). The song celebrates the virtues of women who are energetic, self-assured, assertive and strong.
The song can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGEFx3pK1jI
The comment where the lyrics of the song are given and translated is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGEFx3pK1jI
BTW, although “dar guerra” in Spanish can be applied to a person to explain that they are mischievous, naughty, or basically “a handful” (and I think that Sydney, definitely, “da guerra” ;) ), the adjective “guerrera” per se does not generally have those implications… Or didn’t before that song became a hit! XD
So, supervillains know who they’re dealing with.
The weaker/saner/more cautious ones will be scared off. (it would be amusing if they get new recruits, who were originally plotting supervillainy, but decided that being on the opposite side would be far more productive)
The powerful/insane/arrogant ones will probably not be discouraged too much, but they were probably plotting something anyway, so no real loss there.
All in all, I think Maxima had the right idea.
At least one guy, cross scars, have the hots for Maxima. So do I but…she is one explosive tomato.
That guy has already been introduced actually
I was kinda hoping for a “Let the harvest begin…” reference here.
That would turn the comic from a superhero comic with comedy, into a pure horror in a superhero setting. What humour there would be in such a short-lived alternate future would be dark indeed. Quite a different comic, I think.
If it was foreshadowing events to come, anyhow. Which all the other scenes appear to be doing (and as confirmed by one of the author’s replies earlier in the comments).
There’s already been one reference. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/468
Yup, I love it and cite it often. Whilst it remains a one-off wild speculation it falls clearly in comedy. If the things come crawling out of tubey, then the neighbourhood (a.k.a. Earth), goes to Hell. Quite literally.
Bwahahaha I called it right I called it!!!
Also to note imagine what would happen if they all joined up, individually they may not be very powerful but all together they may be able to be a real challange.
As a lot of folks might not notice new comments on old issues, I thought I might bring Louis Liebenberg‘s kind offer to readers’ attention by linking it here:
http://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1171/comment-page-2#comment-55308
He has a very impressive set of endorsements for his book and I am sure it would appeal to a lot of the readership.
Thank you Yorp, I would never have seen it otherwise. I liked his work that I quoted there.
Did anyone else notice Max wasn’t in today’s ‘who’s who’ but was in several frames of today’s comic?
She only appears in replayed news feeds, so doesn’t actually count (for the similar reason only Deus and {not-Vicki} Vale does)
I wouldn’t expect future plot developments to have who’s who listings, but Max?
And TV was an excuse before?
Given that the demon thing may not be referring to Maxima (he could be saying “found that ****** who sealed me” due to dabbler appearing on TV) it’s also possible some of the other supers aren’t referring to her. Maxima’s known to have participated in wars, so perhaps they already knew about her. What they see now is Sydney – a super who might be capable of tipping the scales against Maxima.
Hmm.
Anyone else parsing the Deus’s scar in the last panel as his (rather infatuated) eye?
Maybe it’s just what happens when you chibi him :/
With his eyes it looks like two arrows pointing together.
Maybe that’s his weakspot?
#4 seems to be someone who already knows maxima
Fist to fist
Reports of his death were greatly exaggerated.
Lets not forget the classic finger pyramid of dark contemplation.