Grrl Power #190 – Newhart phonecall
I’ve been told that girls actually do this with last names sometimes. Sydney’s reversing it obviously but you see it in sit-coms all the time where a woman meets an attractive guy and she introduces herself by blurting out her first name followed by his last name. I’m sure most girls have either never or rarely do this, but still, as a guy, learning this was anything more than a sit-com gag this kind of blew me away. As far as I’m aware, guys never meet women and imagine them with their last name until after they’ve been dating them for 3+ years. Still, I thought it would be amusing to see Sydney subvert it a little since she’s asserted that whoever she marries will be taking her last name.
It may be a while within the comic before we actually get to meed Sydney’s folks, so hopefully this page will give you some idea of what they’re like. Guess which one Sydney takes after more. Unrelated, I don’t think I drew Leon tall enough in relation to Sydney. He has bad posture though so I’ll blame it on that.
Spelling tip of the day: while writing this I learned that blond is for men and blonde is for women. Also for some reason Evernote’s dictionary flags blonde as misspelled. It also thinks that “Evernote’s” is misspelled. I don’t understand why spellcheck dictionaries are so flummoxed by apostrophe esses. I assume Evernote shares dictionaries with Chrome or there’s a Windows one they all use. Whatever the case is, it seems curiously deficient with a lot of fairly common words.
I had planned on using the QR Code gag back on this page, (when Leon’s shirt was green, whoops) but it wound up being too small to scan, so I just sat on it for… almost exactly a year. Wow. Apparently I’m patient.
I’ll be doing a live interview this Saturday, Feb 22 at 10 -11am CST on Google Hangouts. I think it will just be me and Kurt Sasso from TGT Media on the video call, but people will be able to live chat with us during the interview and we’ll definitely take questions. I’ll update this space as I get more details. link! UPDATE! I originally posted this as 11am -12 but it’s 10-11 am CST. Stupid timezones.
<– Forgot to add this last post. I really need to add it to the Tip Jar page.
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.
Well now we know a bit more about her dad.
Also possibly FIRST
I’m guessing she got her love of comics from him.
Sydney Scoville, Jr., MIB
(mint, in box)
I bet she’d get a kick out of being a ‘Man’ in Black too though XD
I am not sure about that. I think it may bring back bad associations. Her fear has been an ever-present part of her life for months now. Forcing her to isolate herself from confiding in her friends and family. Always having to carry Tubey, with the heightened risk of exposure that entails. And, comically though DaveB might have portrayed it, in that comic linked, the credible fear of being permanently isolated in a laboratory and experimented on would not weigh lightly.
Men In Black are very much associated with that kind of activity (emphasising the ones proposed by conspiracy theorists and alien abductee believers, over the heroes in the movies).
Sydney strikes me as more the type of geek to pounce on the movie reference than the conspiracy reference right off the bat. That isn’t to say she wouldn’t think of the darker connotations later. Just because she has had worries in that direction doesn’t mean she’d been reading up on conspiracy forums on the net – that sort of thing would make sleeping impossible.
Well argued. Touché.
You do realize that there are multiple rpg source books dealing with MiBs, Illuminate, and conspiracy theory in general
There are rpg’s based on EVERYTHING XD We don’t know which all she actually plays or has run into – all we know is that she plays one of the superhero ones (Mutants & Masterminds maybe?). There’s not even a guarantee that her shop has a wide variety – most comic shops I’ve been to have a dinky little rpg section with books from maybe five different sets.
But, if you do a bit of detective work, you can deduce that their shop has a role-playing room in the back of the shop. To save folks needing to join the dots:
Many role playing focussed shops (the Games Workshop chain being an example I can cite from the UK) have one or more gaming tables available. Sometimes in the body of the shop, other times in an adjoining room, as this appears to be.
The layout of the room, especially the shelves and boxes of stock are very much what you might expect in the back-room of a shop. Granted, an organised gamer may have a similar arrangement, but the feel is far more that of a shop than a home. And it lacks any hint of private living space.
However the clincher is the dialogue “Well guys, good game tonight. I’ve got to get to my other job.” Clearly they are at her place of employment. Which the following scene bears out, when we see her in the body of the shop, with Joel, then going on to Archon.
Such shops will have a lot of role-playing material, otherwise the expense of a gaming room would not be justified.
Of course, in the Grrl Power world, the conspiracy theorists are probably right, Dabbler might conduct the odd bit of anal probing in her spare time, and the MiB could be the ones who recruited her to work at Archon in the first place.
lady XXXX prefers to be the one probed when she has a close encounter if supposed lady exists at all people. (puts on dark shades) now move along people men in suits are no reason to stare. a dragon? nothing to stare at either.
Also what Syd condition was :) https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/755
We don’t know any details though. I’m sure there is more than just ‘I can stay working there’
Agreed.
“I get to spend two half-days a week working at the shop, one evening a week free for role-playing games and half an hour each day petting the pony you will get me.”
“Yes Mom, I’m repeating what you say beacuse it’s lound here, and I want to be sure I heard it correctly.”
Damn you, TvTropes!
Well it’s better than ‘yes, no no yes, yes’
Actually, this phone conversation is pretty good. It mostly sounds like natural responses to questions.
+1
Well, It kinda happens in real life too when someone is trying to be patient or sarcastic, it last one or two sentences though.
well the family sure took it well
i was right she really is like her parents hehe
I knew it!!!! I tried scanning the old QR code a year ago, but couldn’t get it to work. I’ll have to have a go at this new QR code later
I used the Windows Snipping tool on the 3rd panel QR code (best size and quality)
Ran it through this QR Reader in the web:
https://webqr.com/
And got a (expected) link:
https://goo.gl/rIt4m
Wich is resolved to this picture:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/leon.jpg
A very nerdy QR code indeed.
Thank you :)
First to coment , WOHOO! Hi, long time reader, first time commenter. :) I love this webcomic , it’s on of my favorites, if not my favorite. I’m glad we finally get to at least read some dialog from Sydney’s parents, I’ve been waiting for you to bring them in the comic. I have also been waiting to see where Sydney lives, find out where exactly Archon and all of these places are in America, and stuff like that. So, please tell us! :D
Welcome out of the shadows, for the first time. Hope to hear from you often.
holds up hand with giant Hershey’s kiss hesitates brings up other hand holding needler with extended mag, looks at barber’s avatar trying to decide which to offer…… puts both away pulls out table and sets boxes with taged kisses for everyone not given a treat yet. makes memo to offer all new posters a treat in future.
Crud, in the time it took me to log in I became not first. :( Oh well! :)
People still give any craps about being first?
Does it matter if they do?
Curiosity drives me
We try to welcome people of all tastes. Heck, look at all the effort I put in to make our brony community feel welcome!
*replaces the “Glue Factory” sign with “Brony-friendly Stables, All Bronies Welcome!”*
*evil chuckles*
To the Asylum
DAMMIT, now I need a QR scanner.
When you do, post the link?
See Mayhem‘s post for the link, further down.
Lucky Leon, that last crack sure got him off the list at the back of her book.
She blushed when she put him on that back list. I’m pritty sure she already had this thought back than.
Front is for enemys, back is for interesting things (of the list)
She has a very long enemies list.
She has a very short ‘Interesting’ list.
Given her attention span, which list would worry you more?
The ‘interesting’ list, definitely. By the very nature of it those on it hold her attention more. I’m guessing the ‘enemies’ list results in a lot of mid-conversation comments along the lines of ‘oh yeah, I’m supposed to be mad at you…HOW DARE YOU TRICK ME! KUNG FU NINJA BLITZ ATTACK!!!’
+1
Its gonna be funny when the team has a relatively minor villain get away and while the rest of the team starts going about methodical police work to track him down Sydney realizes, “HE STOLE HER LISTS” and begins a madcap manhunt to get him before he can publicize certain elements (which he probably wouldn’t but she thinks its important enough!) or the rest of the team gets him AND the list in their mitts. XD
On another note I wonder if their are multiple editions of the List whose data gets dumped into a batman like mainframe somewhere…
Personally, I’m of the opinion that unless they are important to the story in some way, we don’t really need to meet Sydney’s parents. It is nice to see some mention of the comic shop, it has been so long that you can forget that Sydney even works there.
Also, 3+ years? What the heck are you all doing?! I knew I was going to marry my wife after like 6 months, the only reason it took longer to get married was because we waited until we graduated from college. Not that I ever really did the name try-on thing (as in, thinking of her with my last name), I think that is mostly a woman thing. I mean, not everyone needs to know after 6 months but if you don’t know after 3 years, she’s probably not the one. Either that or you’re not ready for marriage in which case you should let her find someone who is. :-)
I would agree with you, except it hasn’t been 3+ years, it’s been half a day… If a guy was caught doing the same, he’d be (correctly) labeled a creeper
cypherhalo was referring to DaveB‘s comment how it usually takes a guy 3+ years of dating before he starts adding his surname to his girlfriends first
yeah… I caught that after my second pass through the page. Rookie mistake >.<
go figure, one of the few times I go straight to comments without reading the notes, I would do that…
[awaiting judgment and punishment from the grrlpowercomic community]
We heap upon you risible derision.
Why would anyone judge or punish you for something most of us have done at some point withing these very same pages?
Because it is fun.
No offense but 6 months to decide you want to marry someone? no wonder the divorce rate is going up.
Depends how long the engagement is.
Hey, love at first sight exists. So I am told. Apparently it can happen. Maybe. I live in hope, anyhow.
I asked my wife to marry me while a sophomore in High School on the same day as Mr. Reagan was shot.
This was before we ever went on a date, and 2 weeks after we met. She said yes but I would have to wait until she got out of collage. I said ok and we dated for 5 years then married on March 30 1985. Still married even after USN time as a Sub Sailor. No kids, no pets and all the toys are mine. So yes love still can win.
Oh and the first time I ever met her I looked up her dress (Twice) quite unabashedly.
Aww.
Love at first sight never lasts though. It takes some time to figure out if you actually want to spend a life with someone
The initial sensation might not last, but that doesn’t mean the relationship and intensity can’t. My parents are proof of that. It does take work though, and that’s where a lot of modern marriages fail – people seem to think that love is just something that ‘is’, as opposed to being an action.
O it definitly CAN last.
But just because someone his heels over head in love right now, doesn’t mean they still are in a year.
Being in love never lasts. Eventually it either whittles down to nothing, or transitions to a more general love
Despite that being the norm, I have seen couples being interviewed who have remained passionately in love with each other for decades. Describing it as being unbearable to be out of the room from each other.
Besides which, you are speaking to an incurable romantic here. Go peddle your mundane realism somewhere else. ;-)
Never!
And they lived happily ever after.
:-P
Is she learning to pout, or should that be ‘skulking’? :D
Being stoic and angsty in the shadows is a fine tradition for comic book heroes and heroines. Batman, for instance.
If he spent more time skulking and less time sulking he would catch more crooks.
Should be an ADHD batman sometime. Catch people before getting the facts or evidence and needing to release them.
Batman is a vigilante. “We don’t need no stinking evidence!”
And that’s why he would be getting a visit from Maxi, Sydney and Dabbles (just like Catman did)
and that is why his villains keep coming back. you know how hard it is to avoid a mistrial when all the evidence was collected by an unknown guy dressed as a Chiroptera? if not for the fact most of them have SERIOUS mental problems i doubt they’d even end up at arkham..
It is a good thing theyve got Arkham because he really drives folks bats!
To be fair he is at least partially responsible for the mental state of several of the occupants of Arkham
They did that once in Batman Animated. The inmates took over Arkham, actually managed to capture Batman, and put him on trial for driving them all insane (penalty of death). They also captured a DA or something that hated the very idea of Batman and forced her to be his public defender.
Excellent episode. She managed to argue the case so well that the inmates actually agreed they would have all been bad/crazy even without Batman – so they were just going to kill them both anyways.
There is also an Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode that’s done entirely in song – and one song is all the villains singing about how he drives them all bats. Good episode; if you haven’t seen you should hunt for it.
Cut to a future stakeout at night outside a generic warehouse.
Halo: Awww, I wanted to be the one that knocks down the front door this time. Mr PPO wants to play.
Max: It isn’t your turn. And do you remember what happened when you tried to shoot out the tire on that stolen bank truck?
Halo: Hey, they were able to pick up most of the money. Well, the part that wasn’t burnt anyway.
*gigglesnort*
If you are having trouble scanning the QR code I got it to work by zooming in the 3rd panel.
If you don’t have the ability to scan QR codes try this
The 1st panel reminds me that #129 raised some doubts about whether the current origin story is in fact the correct origin story.
Either spoiler tags break links or I did it wrong the 1st time.
So once again, for those who can’t scan QR codes try this
Thanks for linking that. Plus nicely done DaveB.
+1
Why doubts?
She found them while diving
Uncharacteristic hesitancy in her speech patterns, stumbling repetition and general shiftiness. Plus cops are trained to pick up on that stuff, and Maxima’s face is certainly showing her suspicion on that page.
Hesitancy, stumbling, and repetition could simply be the result of being unsure whether she wants to reveal something she’s been trying hard to hide for a long time. Letting such a secret out isn’t easy.
At the time I decided to favor the same, but also concur with Yorp. I am keeping an eye on that.
Agreed, and don’t forget “the look” that Max and Zoeng shared when she was introduced to the rest of the team in panel 2… https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/793 to me, both in the interview, and her introduction the the team, it seems more like she was trying to remember WHICH lie to tell them and to still keep it simple enough for her to be able to remember it down the line for which her ADHD does NOT help.
they ALSO thought there was more to her story than she’s letting on, and I’m sure that somehow they’re going to dig deeper to make sure. whether it’ll be via Arc-Dark/Light or via record checks and such that they were talking about doing for stuff like her leaving the country… Personally, I’m putting my Moxana Points on the truth being either an A)alien abduction, and these are actually a testing rig for them to evaluate Humanity, B)something like how the show “The Greatest American Hero” got started, with Ralph getting that super-suit, and they truly are trying to help us to get past our hangups in order to graduate to a higher level of Galactic Society, or possibly something as unlikely as C)how the Green Lantern gets the ring/lamp set: him Accidentally being in the right place at the right time when the original guy crashed and was dying, so he had to give it to the next bearer… and that bearer is: Sydney!
Any way you look at it, they know she lied about how she got them, as there is/was too much hesitation, stammering and repeating of things SPECIFICALLY about them and not about anything ELSE, like what they can do, or any of her weaknesses while using them, etc… for it to be the truth.
You do have to remember that Joel already confirmed to us readers that she got the orbs at her vacation
Here: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/167
She had the tube since she returned from vacation. As long as she spoke the truth about her locaton of vacation, we can asume the rest is correct aswel
She said “I am going to the Florida Keys” and left his sight for two weeks with, say one or two thousand dollars in her pocket, and a tank full of gas. This is Sydney we are talking about, remember?
If she had her passport in her luggage, she could just as easily ended up in China, mis-understood the fisherman’s jabbering as “That is a good place for you to go diving” when he was actually saying:
“No, do not go there, the ancient dragon laid its eggs near here and the nuclear plant has been leaking radiation into the water, mutating all the fish into weird monsters!”
Exportation of dragon eggs being banned by Chinese law, she is naturally hesitant to reveal precisely where she got them.
Mind you, she could also have been anywhere in the oceans between the Orient and California, and that story would still have made sense. Judging by this article. Although probably less fear of mutated fish popping up on deck for a chat and a game of chess.
I thought it was perfectly in character.
She’s bound to be nervous in that situation, and she’s not exactly used to telling the story
Thanks and it’s a shame the code is missing from the code.
…. This guy!
Once in a while it’s time to say it: Since rather long time (months at least), whenever I see a new page, I think, the artwork is better than last time. I have no idea how this is possible for more than 20 pages minimum in a row but I still have the impression that it is so.
That may not be correct english grammar. But the fact stands.
I’ll say those facts are admissible!
Hah, I wanna know who teaches grimaces, I bet he he goes:
I know your mother said if you makes faces your faces will stay that way, but that’s nonsence.
Me? No, I was born with my face like this.
The 10 minutes it took me to scan that qr code off of my CRT monitor was toally worth it.
Hah, sorry about that. I should have made it just a little bigger to make it easier.
My parents didn’t take it nearly that well when they found out I have superpowers…
One. Being able to lie convincingly to your parents probably doesn’t count as a superpower.
Neither is the ability to freeclimb a stucco or brick wall to/from a second story bedroom.
Two. I wouldn’t be happy learning that either.
Of course this means that here in RL people are going to be wanting a signed Halo action figure… I am NOT one of those people, just for the record.
You’re not? Then that allows me to get an extra one then :P
well, then just for the record, I am one of those people
3D printers for the win? XD
No Leon, it’s her lack of height that’s making her feel short.
It’s the value of her height attribute.
A GROW potion could fix that but could they handle a 6 foot Sydney?
[shudder]
Actually, it might tone her down a little. For me personally, part of the reason I’m so loud and wacky is because, being short and female, if I’m not I tend to be thoroughly ignored – especially in a group of guys (and let’s face it, as a female geek, this whole most-of-the-group-is-female thing has GOT to be a first or nearly so for Sydney.)
No I think the way we are is pretty much set by the time we become adults. If she got bigger it probably wouldn’t change her personality much. Our “nurture” tends to have the biggest effect on us outside of actual genetics. This is why people from different cultures act differently to the same stimuli.
Baseline personality traits – sure. But I think you’re being a bit pessimistic there – it IS possible to change, most people just don’t want to/see a reason to. I know I am far from being the same person I was when I was 20.
I love her dad! Definitely a comic fan!
Now we know where she got her interest in comics &/or superheroes from.
i would not refer to them as such, but I HAVE often upon first meeting a woman thought about what the name would sound like with my last name. Upon first meeting the woman who would become my wife, I did so, and thought, she should hyphenate. She did.
I was perusing the cast page and noticed that X (the mysterious Arclight agent) does not have a mention. is that intentional or just something you are going to get to later?
I guess I should add X. The bio wouldn’t be very long though since little has been revealed.
Actually he’s in Ark Dark. Se page 113.
Leon’s got 2 thumbs and a QR code…
Should totally hope he does, but we see only one on this page
Windows mobile 9 no need for a QR code reader comes built in just open the search tool and tap the eye reads QR codes and bar codes book covers and DVD and CD covers.
Well Sydney is out of the phone booth with the folks now how will she tell her business partner.
Winmobile 8 I meant not 9 8.1 release in a few more months new toys with that to bhahahahahaha.
Sydney thinks they’re going to teach “sulking in the shadows”? While the shadows aren’t a bad place for sulking, I think a superhero training class might more appropriately teach “skulking” in the shadows…
Nah, she’s read TVTropes, it’s sulking.
WHAT IS UP WITH THE LIPSTICK? I’m thinking I know what the new pip did: Instant makeup/remover.
What lipstick? o_O
I’m assuming that was a reference to the first 2 panels, in which the color of the inside of Sydney’s open mouth looks very much like the color of Max’s naturally ruby-red lips. Easy mistake to make.
Yeah, was thinking that as well
Emo Goths sulk in the shadows.
+1
The name thing is supposed to be just done by girls? Uhm… I haven’t done it with girls I only just met, but I have thought about it once or twice with girls I knew longer and was interested in.
Am I the only one thinking that Sydney’s comment about feeling short is very cute and normal sounding for her?
I was surprised it happened at all. Apparently it’s more common than I thought. Being a guy, I always imagined if I was a girl I would never want to change my last name, unless my last name was lame and the guys was something cool like Ventura or Powers or Orgasmo or something. Of course, being a guy, I wasn’t raised with all the conditioning we subject our girls to. Dolls that look like babies, bridal magazines, etc.
I’ve always thought of it as a way of saying ‘this guy is MINE’.
I started rereading this comic from the beginning, and I have a question: Dave, have you mastered Joel’s bald spot yet?
I guess we’ll find out the next time I draw him from behind.
not directly, but he has mastered the art of avoiding it.
Apparently he does.
Sydney looks especially cute in panel 4 (yes, panel 4, not sure how Dave did it with her side-on, but he did)
She does have an adorable street urchin/waif look to her face.
Given her public appearances so far, the smart hackers would be scared to go into her stuff.
Lol if ‘Lady with chopsticks’ catches on as something they sell in their store; thinking one of those stress dolls where the eyes bug out.
Well, someone uses an image of Ari where it looks like someone did that do her :D
You mean from here? One of the funniest face in the comic
Ah, my favorite face.
That has to be made into a stress doll, but only if the entire head does that when squeezed (would buy that at almost any reasonable price, plus the extortionistic delivery bribe)
She should be made into a stress doll in canon too. Along with the other characters. I can just see Arianna and Maxima glaring at each other from across the ball room, each repeatedly squeezing a stressdoll with the other’s face…tensions rising until POP Maxima squeezes too hard and the little Arianna head goes rolling across the floor…
Now, what particular incident would result in this would be interesting to find out, but I’m willing to bet it would involve Sydney. And camera crews.
Leon’s plenty tall enough. I’m a 5’0″ guy with a 6’4″ sparring partner, and I’m just at his mid-shoulder.
Ha! Apparently Sydney’s parents have a very impressive set of powers too. They seem to be able to keep her grounded and centered enough to have a five minute normal, conversation…well, as normal, as you get for Sydney that is. ARC-SWAT needs to hire them as her handlers, or at least free-lance consultants for corralling her.
FYI, the newspaper on the wall is a follow-up to the one we saw before about the start of WWI
See the newspaper photo at https://ww1daily.com/tag/archduke-franz-ferdinand/
The paper’s price in the upper right: one cent.
Ahh, good of you to save NotFred from having to pretend he did not know that one. He probably has not come out to his parents about his super-power yet.
I would say I have not the slightest idea what he’s talking about, and this has nothing to do with my mother googling my nicknames once a week.
I have to wonder now what Leon’s last name is, and how taking in the surname would sound the other way.
Sydney wants to name her child Sydney Scoville the 3th
So she probably wouldn’t even concider it
3rd.
Out of curiosity, is that due to some Germanic influence? I only ask because one of my favourite games insists on using ‘th’ when it should be using ‘rd’.* It has made me wonder for a long time if that was just for ease of programming (there being a lot more ‘th’s than ‘rd’s) or if it was because of the game being made in Germany and that the convention was different there.
* A little voice in my head said “you should apologise for being a grammar nazi”. Then another little voice said “no, you must not mention the war!”. I have since banished both voices to the pit in hell that is reserved for politically correct politicians.
I’ve often wondered at people’s internal responses when I refer to ordinals as the “wonth” “tooth” and “threeth”… as my spouse is a grammar nazi, sometimes I’ll wait for her to correct me, then respond with “you’ll never convince me I’m wrong, because I’m smarter than you’re!” and giggle madly until her rage-filled paroxysms stop long enough for her to breathe again
And when she starts to breath again, you start running? o_O
she gave up on hurting me a long time ago. By the time she calms down, I’ve long since moved on to some other shiny thing, so hitting me will just confuse me, and if she does so in public, people will assume she’s abusing the poor helpless mentally handicapped (which I’ll play up to the maximum advantage, of course ^.^)
Sydney and Leon would make an OK couple.
Also, I like the pensive expression Syd has in panel 6. Nice job.
From their perspective, yes. From the world’s…DOOOOOM. Seriously. Sydney with access and emotional leverage over a genius hacker?
Well, it *would* give her ready access to the best mind for figuring out a gaming skill tree (and how to abuse same).
(The tree, not the mind you pervs.)
Very true. And mentioning that might actually distract her from world domination for five to ten seconds. Then she’d go back to getting Leon to make the whole country’s traffic lights blink in time to the batman theme or something.
…
I was about to object that Sydney & Peggy would make a better couple, but you’ve now convinced me otherwise.
(cue the blinking lights!!)
VICTORY!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA*cough*haha*hackchoke*ha….
There. Needed an excuse for inserting that somewhere. Thank you for providing it *grins evilly while rubbing throat*
Actually, even though Sydney is not inclined that way, I wouldn’t mind if she hooked up with Peggy. Leon looks a bit shifty to me.
*Tries to hide jealous look*
Of course he’s shifty. That’s what makes contemplating the pair so fun!
And Peggy strikes me more as the friend-so-close-they-might-as-well-be-sisters type.
Very true. And I think that is what Maxima had in mind when she got Peggy to take Sydney to the food court. She has known Peggy for a long time and probably expected her to take Sydney under her wing.
But that still leaves us with who do we fix Peggy up with? Daphne might spring to mind. But, think of the heart-wrenching sadness when Peggy has to shoot the traitor before she teleports away? No, not good.
I somehow see her with someone relatively quiet…perhaps the blond Legolas-looking guy? Though we don’t really know what he’s like yet…which argues that he’s less rowdy, actually, or he’d have popped up in more than just the shirt-stealing by now.
Definitely not. Peggy has already made her preferences clear and it is not to the standing-up-whilst-peeing gender. Our lesbian community would be heartbroken. Although they have been very quiet about making suggestions of their own?
Wasn’t she established as bi? Or am I mixing up characters? Making either gender acceptable for plotting.
You are right, but the way she phrased it makes me think males come second (pun do not intended :)
*scanning memory… nope, no fantasies about me, Peggy and Sydney in a threesome.*
Not that I recall. I do know that at least one lady reader would be very disappointed though, which is reason enough on its own.
She did say that “every once in a while my body starts beggin’ for a preggin’ and I go all boy crazy” to Sydney.
Found it. And she was rather taken at the de-shirting incident. Y’all were right.
I propose a compromise, if you fix her up with a guy, you need to also find a separate XX to XX pairing within arc to keep the rest of the readership happy.
*Starts scanning waste bin for deleted fantasies* Nope, no sign, I guess I must have over-written it with something else. *sigh*
Only if those of you going for the single-gender pairings also come up with a hetero one – it goes both ways, you know *grin*
All is fair in love and war. Ok, I think I shall have to second NotFred‘s suggestion of Peggy and Gwen*. Obviously I would hate to take a nice goth girl out of the hetro market, but we must not be greedy.
To balance the world I think we must find some way to stop all talk of Maxima and Arianna getting together. That way lies thermonuclear war. Likewise regarding Dabbler and Max, except it could end in interstellar and/or demonic war.
Super Hiro would seem a match at first, especially if you consider the risk to squishies in a relationship with Max. But they probably have too much in common to be truly compatible, if you follow the axiom of ‘opposites attract’.
Looking for that, the unlikely solution is Maxima and Math. I know, I know, wrong in so many ways! However you cannot get more opposite. The ultra-feminist with the sexual-harasser. But girls always fall for bad guys, for reasons I cannot fathom without telepathy.
* Although he could have been suggesting NotFred and Gwen, in which case: “Go for it mate”.
Thanks :) but I prefer someone who smile.
You have all missed the obvious answer. Sydney, Peggy, and Leon
Hey! Girls do NOT always fall for bad guys! The occasional fantasy, sure, but for actual relationships I prefer someone more on the ‘good’ side.Works out better that way in the long run.
As for why the fantasies…I think it’s the combination of unpredictability and the whole taming/redeeming the jaguar/lostsoul/villain thing.
I shall have to take your word on that. :-)
But what are your counter-suggestions? We cannot have Maxima getting old and going rusty because she cannot find somebody to give her back a rub.
My objection was to the generalization, not the pairing – if anyone can handle a ‘bad guy’, it’s Maxima! But Math might have an interesting time fighting off Dabbler for the job.
And right after I posted that…the thought entered my head…Dabbler and Math. It must happen, if only for a fling. And I can SO see them with a permanent ‘open’ relationship – especially as neither strike me as particularly monogamous.
I could see that, sure. But that will push Maxima back down the path towards lonely spinsterhood…
Only until we learn more about the non-introduced or barely-introduced male characters XD
Here’s a peek in to how my twisted little mind works. I think that secretly there is (or was) some kind relationship between Maxima and Dabbler. Based on Dabbler consistently picking on Maxima the way that she has been as a way of saying “why should we hide our feelings”. Either that or she only has feeling for Maxima since Maxima hardly seems to be affected by her succubus powers.
And as far as Peggy goes, I have an idea of her and JIggawatt making a cute couple for some reason. though that may change as we learn more about both of them.
(English and grammar where always a struggle for me thanks to ADHD & learning disabilities)
Interesting thoughts shadowseaker66. Reflecting on it, I guess I had always assumed that Maxima is affected by the lust aura just as much as every one else. But is both more used to it and seriously irritated by it, so works very hard not to allow any effect to show. Hence her strong averse reaction. But do not take it as anything more than explaining my past reasoning. You have given me food for thought. Enough that I will consider that seriously whenever I next do a re-read of the comic.
And no need to worry about your grammar. You expressed yourself very well, and most users here would not quibble over a typo or poor phraseology, even if you had. Not unless it happened to create an amusing pun or be worthy of comment, for some other reason.
For instance, the spelling error I made the other day, that was pointed out, was done so merely in order that people searching for the word in dictionaries could find it, if it existed. And I view such things as being positive, regardless, as I learnt something new.
Thanks and you’re welcome Yorp. I have re-read this whole series at least 4 by now it seems to get more interesting each time.
I go for Gwen :)
Velma, Daphne would never leave Stupid-guy-with-ascot.
NO!! Hold on to that dream, no jumping ship once you board the SS Pegknee (feel free to petition for a ship name-change)
That…is a truly awful pun of a ship-name….
Hence the last part :(
Alas for poor Wolverine. How quickly will his broken heart heal?
Sticks and stones can’t break his bones but Syd really hurts.
I congratulate you on your fine taste and obvious erudition in comic titles!
yes! to this day, his “Sir Walter Raleigh calls back to England” routine still puts me in stitches!
I must find the invisible “merchandise” button that most likely does not exist in order to locate and purchase THAT shirt.
There is some merchandising. Such as the “Always Expect Ninjas” top. I can see this one being a hit with the fans. Great at conventions if there is a suitable sized picture (on the back, perhaps) that mobile phones can scan. Hopefully a Grrl Power shop is under consideration, as we speak.
Yes…One hopes…*eyes bank account* Though I’d have to be earning more before I could take advantage of such.
Ah, height jokes. I’m 6’2 and my sister is 5’4. I tease her mercilessly about it, because it’s pretty much the only thing I’m better at.
Your name is very fitting. :P
Hmm… Leon might have tricked me, too, but meanwhile, after thinking about it, the correct answer should be:
“Is this a test? I won’t hand out my password to anybody!”
I guess Leon is being polite, I am pretty sure he could even reset her credit card without take it out her pocket if he want.
That is a good point. I will be seriously amused if it turns out he has a crush on her.
Really? Well we now he IS in the (alleged) positive side of HER list :)
He doesn’t know what that means though
Be afraid :)
Well Syd would appear to be more approchable to Leon than the other “ladies” of the team
Good point. Especially as a point has been made that he has…problems…around the more over-the-top women.
Except in this situation they really SHOULD reset her passwords, and it’d be a good idea to have someone on hand to help with the new layers of protection her bank account could use
depends on how hard her current passwords are. She could be using a “First letter” password like:
SWWDTSWHBPWDL
(That’s the first letter of each word in the first line of the song “Another one bites the dust” – easily remembered, and hard to guess unless you know it’s based on a song.)
Even better would be if they* realised that restricting passwords to a short length just makes it easy to decrypt. Allow us to type the whole line of our favourite song. Or a verse of poetry. Perhaps allow a margin of error the longer the password gets, to allow for the odd typo. But then the programs that try every letter combination until they crack the code will have a lot harder time. And those of us that make up our own lyrics or write our own paragraphs will become inwincible!
* Policy making twits who are stuck in an era when you had to economise every bit.
…..you are now officially giving me evil password ideas…
https://xkcd.com/936/
I really should feel guilty for sending you there. Either you’ll be right back…or you’ll be reading the whole webcomic until dawn or later.
XD Don’t feel bad. I was intending to reread and get caught back up on xkcd soon anyway.
The only problem with that idea is typos. And if I had to chose a long password maybe the first stanza of Jabberwocky.
Like I said provision could be made for typos. Giving more leeway the further you go. Word and other programs are getting fairly sophisticated at spotting typos, so those kind of algorithms could be built into the password checking. For instance accepting “teh” as being the same as “the”, which is an extremely common typo.
Likewise typing schools can provide data on how frequently typos occur on average. To allow the programmers to set a realistic number of typos that a user might make in a text of particular length. The ‘set your password’ screen could even allow users to vary from the default ‘average’ setting, if they want to indicate that they are either a poor typist or a professional one. Allowing more errors or less respectively.
By the way, if there are any think-tanks looking for fresh blood out there, feel free to contact me. ;-)
man, using that poem would be just inviting the typo demons over for a feast. I wouldn’t suggest anything that evil unless you are beyond certain you can type the entire thing without looking, or using it on an enemy.
Okay, was Leon ‘stalking’ her, or was there another reason for him to be waiting for her to finish talking? If the risk of her phone getting hacked was so important, why didn’t he talk to her before she made the call? It’s not like he had no idea what she was going to do
He is probably fond of his limbs. He did see what happened to Peggy, even if Sydney might not have in the rush. Plus we should assume he is a gentleman and stopped to render assistance.
Could be that now is the first opportunity that he’s had to work on it, where she was available. Timeline is that he meets her and she leaves, then she joins up with Archon, then the introduction to the team that goes right into getting ready for the press conference. He says he didn’t have time before the press conference to do this. So now it’s post-press conference and she was socializing with her peers (perhaps even he with his). When she leaves to make the call, it reminds him that this is important to do and he heads over to wait until she’s done.