Grrl Power #196 – Girls go to the bathroom in pairs to talk Star Trek and boobs, right?
I could have done a whole page on whether or not having hypno-boobs works against succubi hiding under a glamor, like what’s the difference between actually being hypnotized by boobs and just finding a particular prepossessingly presented pair perhaps perplexing? For the record when Dabbler says “hypnotic” she just means they’re disarming the same way 8 shots of whiskey can be, but in a subtle way that wouldn’t be discovered with a Detect Magic spell.
Actually this page hints at a much larger discussion that will eventually happen about the galaxy and aliens at large, including a few “what Dabbler was up to before she came to Earth” pages, but I want to stay focused (hah!) on the current events in the story for now.
Did you know that some women’s restrooms have couches in them? Sure if you’re a woman you probably know that, but that’s cheating. I didn’t know that until last year. I’m not a germaphobe by any stretch of the imagination, I’ll just say I hope the couches are vynil or some other non-porus material that’s easy to wipe down. I guess they’re there so women have a place to escape male idiocy for a while. God I could do a whole series of comics about that.
Despite listing it second, Dabbler’s real concern with letting her tech out into the wild is that humans are kind of dicks to each other. Living in 1st world countries its easy fall for the ‘ol “People are basically good” nonsense. Certainly from Dabbler’s perspective, she’s looking at humanity as a whole, not cherry picking the best among us. She’s thinking about what the worst of us will do with it. I believe Quark sums it up well here. And Agent K says about the truthiest thing ever said on film here.
It’s weird how looking at a page will make me remember what I was watching out of the corner of my eye while I was working on it. I will forever associate this page with Stripes, watched in honor of Harold Ramis’s passing, and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, which if you haven’t seen it, I’d recommend. It’s not quite Cabin in the Woods, but it definitely has fun with the genre tropes. Plus is stars Wash from Firefly, Cerie from 30 Rock, and Bert from Reaper.
I hope no one is offended by Sydney saying “Seriously, no homo.” Surely if she was saying “no homo” to be exclusionary, then that would probably be more offensive, but in this case she’s just using slang to say that she’s not into girls. That said, it’s probably ok if it comes across a little offensive, as Sydney is a little rough around the edges and not all that worldly. She does have a mouth on her and like me, may not be up on exactly what a particular group finds offensive. Arianna may need to send her to a finishing school crash course eventually. (Sydney, never use the word “homo” unless it’s followed by “Sapien” or “genized.” Also, you eat vichyssoise with the 3rd fork on the left!)
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Hypnotic like this ? [img] https://i.imgur.com/5K49Blk.gif [/img]
Wrong tags, but no, mesmerizing yes, not hypnotic :P
Look up Anton Mesmer and find out why being hypnotized and mesmerized are synonyms for each other.
Technically such creatures as Succubi and Incubi are bi-sexual when it comes to luring prey. I wonder what she eats instead of people? If it is life force how does Dabbler stay alive? Is there a secret DARPA device for taking holding and sending life force?
Yes, but how they are done is what differentiates them
They don’t HAVE to be bonking someone to feed. The can get a little energy from passing by guy in the mall who’s thinking “Yeah, she’s got a NICE a$$”
Actually, if you go back to the mythological creature from the actual myth, succubi and incubi are the same thing, and don’t exactly have an inate sex due to being shapeshifters able to be whatever they want. Finding the right lable for their sexual orientation requires either tieing it to their diet (they eat souls via sexual acts) or how they Actually breed (i have no idea.)…
So… yeah. Trivia.
That actually made my eyes HURT to look at longer then a couple seconds. >.> But she does have a very sexy butt. :)
Actually, that’s a guy’s butt ;)
Sorry for taking this tangent further along but I do have a question: How do you know it is a guy’s butt? Is there some sort of anatomical clue to it, like a ratio or something?
Maybe he’s just being an as…. No, that joke is too obvious.
So if every part of her is ‘literally hypnotic’ (yes I know they’re disarming, but 8 whiskies may as well be hypnotic), how does anyone talk to her? If you weren’t a boob guy, you’d maybe have a chance, since (i’m assuming) you wouldn’t be trying to hold a conversation with her while standing behind her staring at her rear end, but eyes and lips? Just tryin to be polite would lead you to being the stereotyped beguiled male. o.O
You gotta look her right in her cybernetic eye.
Or stare at her feet.
Unless you’re Joss Whedon or Rex Ryan or…
When Dabbler turns on he glamor or enticement field full strength you can’t look away and looking at her feet or bionic eye would do nothing for you. Once you look into the Gorgon’s eyes it is too late for you. They both have similar powers.
Even if you try using mirrors or blindfolds versus a Succubus, she would probably laugh and consider it foreplay.
Given that they almost certainly have pheromones, even being close or downwind would put someone at risk. Plus, given how broad-spectrum the Succubus powers seem to be (albeit focussed towards a very specific goal), I would expect the hypnotic effect is probably is usable by touch. And then, of course, there is the harmonic hypnotic intonation in their voice. And, I would guess, an empathic power as well. Directly affecting the mind, probably in a variety of ways.
Either think of something unsexy, or don’t look at her at all, or just practise thinking while hypnotised by the sexy (It’s worth a shot!)
What is the best use for the mirror in a women’s washroom? To convince someone that she is coming down with a bad case of vampirism!
I would not normally link to Brazilian TV gags, as they invariably have been nicked off some other country’s show. In this case, I know a German company did the gag first. But, except for the absolute worst canned laughter I have heard, they manage to actually improve on the German version.
I’m not sure what “improved on the original German gag” might amount to……
Here is the original German version. You can make up your own mind which plays better.
The Brazilian did it better imo because it didn’t have that working mirror on the back wall, and the twins seemed to be better coordinated
No hetero, but I gotta agree with Sydney about the boobs.
Everyone likes boobs.
That includes straight woman, and gay man
And lesbians… let’s not forget the lesbians… Damn those boobs are gorgeous.
I’m not that fond of them. They always make me think about back problems for some reason. Then again I’ve always been more into eyes and arms anyway.
personally I’m more of a leg man …more than fits in my hand becomes a waist… don’t get me wrong they are lovely and fun but its not what draws me to you.
Really hoping you meant to type ‘waste’ and not ‘waist’ :D
i did autocorrect betrayed me…
Dammit Dave, all of the DnD references in the comic now are just making me want to play and/or run more games.
…Also makes me want to design a base class for pathfinder designed entirely around the use of Ioun Stones to channel supernatural power. Blast it. That would take me at least several hours.
Maybe I should enter into an endorsement deal with Wizards of the Coast or whoever owns it now. :)
Already one out there: Ioun Angel PrC (in Strategists & Tacticians from 4 Winds; check RPGNow or Paizo).
or make it simpler and turn the orbs in as magic items individually but become an artifact when combine that automatically binds to its wielder. create an adventure for your players to find them…its a bit DBZ but still it works.
and according to her chocker they’re also XXXX
:p
“4 X, not just Aussie for ‘Beer’!” :P
I had a my suspicion about those since panel 6 of the previous page…
What’s funny is how she kept getting closer and closer.
Dabbles’ orbs have a gravitation pull of their own :D
typo(i think?) hibition should probably be inhibition.
and imo she doesn’t need the succubi trait to make those hypnotic :P
In the discription under the comic, DaveB explains that it’s not a word. Dabbler isn’t perfect in english yet
She is probably using the logic that if “inhibition” means lack of self-control, then it is an antonym of “hibition” which must mean self-control.
Yeah, but inhibition doesn’t mean “lack of self control.” It means exactly the opposite. To inhibit something is to limit it, and a person’s inhibitions are a person’s moral and ethical limitations.
you realize you’re talking about a language where Flammable and Inflammable mean the same damn thing?
Flammable means it will burn Inflammable means it might explode. Charcoal is flammable gasoline is inflammable. While both will catch on fire one is more dangerous.
But the confusing thing is, if you burn anything fast enough in a confined space, it explodes! Flour, wood, cheese, origami….
No, what causes an explosion is not the speed of the incineration, but the sudden increase in pressure. For most substances (including gunpowder), this requires that the substance be contained before being ignited.
Flammable and inflammable do indeed mean the same thing, but there is actually a good reason for this. If you want to be a real grammar nazi, the word flammable is–technically–incorrect. Inflammable comes from Latin, and originally meant (literally) “on fire”. “Flammable” has come to represent an abbreviation of inflammable, brought on by frequent confusion between the words “inflammable” and “nonflammable”, which are technically opposites. Since it is less confusing, it is replacing the word it originally came from.
Today, inflammable is slowly shifting to mean “easily excited”, in reference to the medical term of inflammation, as opposed to its more traditional meaning. However, despite the experiences of past years, languages typically take years to shift, which means that the transition is not yet complete.
English is a fascinating language, is it not?
Actually, according to linguists, English is more than three languages (not certain exactly how many at this point): British, Australian, & American English being the most well-recognized, as well as International English (a mashup of all 3).
Australian English is a subset of New Zealand English, just so you know ;)
Hey, you forgot the British/American merger + bunch of French and Native American that is Canadian English.
It took Melvyn Bragg, one of the most enthusiastic exponents of the English language, an entire TV series to explain just the broad brush-strokes of this subject. Well worth getting the DVD, for anyone with an interest in the development of the language, as the presenter has a real passion for the subject and he can pass it on to the audience!
Proponents, Yorp. Exponents are math.
Exponent definition.
Proving my statement elsewhere: British English & American English are not the same language.
I stand by my American translation of your intent.
You Kiwis and your grand ideas!
And I did mention more than there.
Australian English is mostly just British English with more swearing.
I stand corrected. Of course, “inhibition” refers to self-control then “hibition” is wild and crazy. Sort of like “visible” and “invisible” are antonyms.
I have seen the word “disinhibition” used instead of “hibition” as meaning those whose brains function with a disinhibition to filtering out stimuli that is normally blocked. Schizotypal personality.
So somebody working on how to alter that, by medical intervention, would be studying antidisinhibition. And yes, I did get a Google hit for it. Of course a really paranoid nymphomaniac would want to prevent that, so would take precautionary measures, which would be antiantidisinhibition.
Sydney should ask Dabbler that thing about the Greys.
They’re nowhere near as smart as they think they are. And they’re jerks who think shoving things up creatures butts is FUNNY.
I wonder if Dabbler is able to use her extra arms when using the glamor. If so, I bet she sometimes accidently grabs something with the wrong pair and freaks people out.
Someone want to link for this? She uses her “invisible” arms to grope Max during Sydney’s job interview.
Guess I’ll try:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/607
Maxi’s face in the last panel needs to be cleaned up (as in, full face, minus the delicious Dabbles) and made into a poster or something (would totally buy that, specially if it’s bigger than life-size)
Maybe make a t-shirt with “What are you looking at?” (or something similar)
Oooo, a demotivational poster would be great :D
This reminds me of the polyform in Episode 1 of Matt Smith’s doctordom, and the way it kept getting the mouths wrong.
I’m a bit confused about Dabbler’s breasts. In panel 1,5, 6, and 7 they actually appear to have a type of cleavage that’s the most natural, breasts kind of pushed together; if you look at most pictures of girls with Dabbler’s size than that’s about right. However in the last three panels her breasts bulge out. The difference about this is that in 1,5,6, and 7 her breasts are being pushed together, in the ending panels they’re pushed up. Just like to point that, sorry to nitpick and it might be all in my head anyway… On another boob related note, is that they’re inconvenient. None of the super heroines should be able to sleep on their stomachs for example. One more thing to note, is that breast that size existing on a frame like Dabbler’s or Harem’s is extremely rare, most of the time the girl will have broad shoulders to fit with a good bit of body fat too, as breasts are just body fat. Actually the more muscle mass a woman builds up her breasts can and most likely will decrease in size, fun fact of the day woman will tone more than they ‘bulk up’ when it comes to muscle. And if the heroines didn’t have super strength they’d have serious back pain. Just to point that out…
I do have to praise Dave B for his presentation of fan service though. It’s there, but not too noticeable and often with a good joke to balance. Plus the guys are nice to look at so it balances…
Heh, I’ve read this comic several times through, I have to say Grrlpower is one of my favorite webcomics! First time commenting though.
Stomach would be better than back for lying on, assuming sufficient pillows to support the neck/head at the new height. On the back, with all that weight on the chest, it’d be rather like that medieval turture where they put more and more weight on your chest until you can’t breathe.
As for body types, true, but it’s already been established that most supers seem to have unnaturally ‘idealized’ bodytypes naturally, somehow. And the ‘women tone instead of bulking up’ is true on AVERAGE, but there are some female body types that due tend to annoyingly wind up building the muscle instead – the stocky type, for example.
GAH definitely too late for me to be typing. That was supposed to be ‘do tend to’.
As many pictures of boobs as there are online, it can be difficult to just the right sized ones on the right sized frame and packaged just right from the right angles. So I do what I can. I think I am getting better with them, trying not to make them look like implants and all that. I think the should have been just barely brimming over the top of the corset in the pan down shots, based on what they look like in the second and third to last panels… but at some point I have to move on from penciling to inking. :/
Have you thought of using Poser or some other 3d modeling software to make standards for the characters? You could then change the angle, size, gravity, lighting or whatever to get a good reference.
Or he could just buy his S.O. a variety of corsets and bathing suits and have her pose to get the perspective right. ;)
I have considered it for creating reference to difficult poses and face angles, but I don’t think that program or Daz3D have nearly the physics required to accurately model breasts that are being affected by gravity and clothing.
The problem with that is, if there aren’t changes from scene to scene, page to page, people would complain about how they are not ‘real’
While 3D comics can be great, the fact that even if they are dangled upside down very little ‘moves’, you just have to accept that there is no set-standard for how bewbs (or bodies in general) look, even between identical twins wearing identical clothes (personally never had a problem with Dabbles’ orbs at any time, even back when people complained they looked obviously fake, because, guess what, they are fake, at least when she is looking ‘human’)
But, surely the point of 3D modelling software is to allow changes to be made? Obviously some might specialise in a static image, but I would be pissed off if one I bought didn’t allow adjustments to the model. Not that I know Poser, but the name rather implies that it caters to the purpose of posing models. Which, linguistically, says to me moving them into different poses.
I’m wondering of Dabbler is using pheromones instead of hypnosis. She could be using both. Case in point, smells can actually bypass the brain’s monitoring systems. You only have to think of memories evoked by a particular smell.
She has a battery of things she can use if she wants to expend the effort. Probably just about anything you can think of really.
That is because, if you trace our ancestor back far enough, you get to a shrew-like mammal. Which had developed an advanced sense of smell. Significantly developing that part of the brain. Only after that did the rest of our brains start to get bigger, capable of processing higher thought, including more complex information from the other senses.
Thus necessitating filtering the input to simplify it for practical use. As such, all the other senses are routed via a common part of the brain, before reaching the decision making area. But the sense of smell is plugged straight into it.
Get a sniff of freshly baked food, and it allows the brain to trace the direct path back to where the memory is stored. Rather than having to reverse-engineer the simplification process and track down the memory the slow way. And, once found, the memory is in it’s raw form, instead of the shorthand we normally deal with.
To take an analogy, normally we use an index card system to locate a book in a library*. And normally the summary on the card is enough for simple purposes such as knowing if it dealt with something dangerous or nice to eat. But, if we catch the distinctive smell of the particular book we are after, we can ignore the index card system, and can go straight to the shelf where the fully-illustrated book is lying.
* Our brains are old-fashioned and have not installed Windows 8 yet.
“That is because, if you trace our ancestor back far enough, you get to a shrew-like mammal.”
Yeah, from what I understand of evolution of life on this planet, I’d have to agree. Particularly when I run across those few individuals who haven’t seemed to evolve past being shrews…
Ok, so I have a question- would a succubi’s aura-of-attraction thing work on someone who is well and truly asexual? Does it only target certain behaviors or does it simply attract attention of any kind?
Actually, that line of thinking opens up more questions- does it work through a TV or computer screen? Would it work on a robot? What about an artificial intelligence? etc etc etc.
Asexuality would probably be a good defense against most of her manipulations. It’d be like fire resistance. If you were 50% asexual it’d be half as effective (since sexuality is a spectrum after all)
Hmm…Would a female target that was exclusively hetero (aka edge of spectrum) get the asexual resistance bonus, or would that just result in a male glamour? In other words, does she treat ‘not attracted sexually period’ and ‘not attracted to females sexually period’ the same?
I suppose the same question applies to 100% gay guys.
I’m pretty sure it was pointed out early on that, so long as you have a sexuality, she can exploit it. Being completely asexual period would probably be the best defense though.
Oh great…The only decent defense against Dazzler’s glamour is to devolve yourself back to being an amoeba…
(starts rummaging in closet for that old de-evolutionary ray, cobbled together during high school science lab classes)
That begs the question: can she produce (emit?) a “male glamer”, or just a universal attraction?
No she can’t do a male glamour. It will be pointed out later than she can look like anything, as long as it’s a beautiful woman. Once you know that it does limit her ability to use her glamour to sneak into a place.
That brings up the question “What would happen if Dabbler ran into an Incubus?”.
Then you get that scene in Firefly:
*Both try their Powers of Attraction*
“Your Good.”
“You’re amazing. Where did you learn?”
Miss you firefly ” i’m a leaf on the wind…”
(at least i have fanfiction and the comics…)
A series that ended well before it’s due time, no argument. That should have had a seven series run, like Buffy.
It would depend on the degree of asuxuality the viewer/target has, most (not all) at least feel a degree of attraction, and as long as that attraction includes the female form, they should be affected to some degree
Speaking from personal point of view, other Ace’s may have differing opinions
…actually…You might wanna eat vichyssoise with a spoon. >.> ….just sayin’.
It was an admittedly obscure reference. (Level 7 to be exact.) There’s a hidden hint in that same paragraph.
He he. I am glad that somebody picked up on the subtlety rating system for hidden content.
I’m just glad he punctuated his subtlety with an exclamation point, not a period. I view the internet on a 3″ screen.
You know, Dave, I look at Dabbler’s truly epic and righteous rack, and suddenly, Monty Python’s “I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts” running through my head…Can I borrow her for a bit of motorboating? Nothing like making everyone insanely jealous…
Not sure about Monty, but the great Danny Kaye had a hit with it in 1949
That unfortunately is WAY before my time. I first heard it in a Monty Python sketch, but alas I can’t remember which one! >.<!
For the even younger, it was also sung in The Lion King.
I can’t help but wonder what my reaction to glamered Dabbler would be. I know from experience that I don’t respond too well to what appears to be visible makeup, tattoos, piercings or for that matter, unnecessary surgery, i.e. prefer a much more natural look (and I don’t mean ‘natural looking but really takes hours every day’ makeup, either)
Can’t help but think that I’d find her unglamered ‘real’ appearance ten times more appealing than the glamered one.
I have to agree with you there, unglamored Dabbler is AMAZING!
As she demonstrated here (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/660), Dabbler pulls the detectable details of her glamour from the primary subject’s mind, so if you were her target, she would appear to be a hyper-idealized form of what you find most attractive (and as an added bonus, everybody else would still be affected by the sexpot-effect, though possibly to a lesser degree)
As long as she was female humanoid
I was mostly talking about her official ‘public appearance’ glamer of course.
So my Dabbler would be 6’7″, kinda plump and muscular, long red hair, emerald green skin, a tattoo right under her left eye, and in a black leather corset, purple leather miniskirt, and thigh high black leather boots.
Dabbler is like an onion, you just keep peeling and peeling and peeling….and that’s before you get to her clothes :P
…Yeah, Dabbler’s certainly fits the joke that goes, “What do you get when you cross a donkey with an onion?”
Unfortunately for me the word xeno has always had a very negative connotation when applied to aliens. personally I blame Warhammer 40K
Well, ‘xeno’ is negative (umm, isn’t it?)
not particularly negative – it simply means outsider/stranger/foreigner/alien…
Right, thank you
It’s just HOW most of the species reacts to “Xenos” that is worrying Dabbler about her tech
Well we as a species is not known for sharing that well. That and we use monster trucks for entertainment, use radiation to prepare food, and every innocuous item as a lethal weapon. We are probably considered as going through our terrible two’s.
or we’re considered the Galactic psychopaths.
Hypno-Boobs!
Best superpower EVER!
“OBEY THE HYPNOBOOBS!!”
I dare say that Dabbler’s Hypnoboobs would get a higher viewer rating on TV than Hypnotoad would…
Heh! I greatly appreciate getting the Sydney’s-POV illustrated in panels 4-7, with only one complaint…I don’t have tunnel-vision & I don’t think Sydney has it either, so those particular panels could have come out better with a wider angle of view…
Hmph. If Dabbler is worried about the fact that humans are xenocidal maniacs, she can always avoid introducing her tech to areas with political instability, oppressive regimes, or belligerent tendencies. You know, the places where whoever has managed to hold power commits the atrocities Dabbler is so concerned about. Tarring *all* of humankind for the Holocaust, or the ethnic cleansing in Darfur, or Africa’s troubles, is a pretty big brush. That being said, it’s makes sense that Dabbler would oversimplify the state of the world. I just don’t agree with her assessment. Out-of-story, I ‘m guessing you wanted a gadget-user without wanting to radically change Earth’s tech level. I just felt the need to point out my problems with Dabbler’s rationale.
Things like the holocost are obvious examples, but how do you define “oppressive regime”? From an outsider’s point of view, consider a country where there’s no such thing as privacy from the government, that jails the highest percentage of its population of any country on the planet, that recently invaded another country on flimsy to fabricated evidence, that uses drones to kill the citizens of other countries, allows 1% of its population to control 80% of the wealth etc etc etc. All of those things sound worse out of context, honestly some of them sound pretty bad no matter how much context you give them. Even if you’re talking about some country that really seems to prioritize education and sustainable energy and doesn’t have an aggressive military track record etc., once the tech is out, it’s out. You couldn’t keep it from proliferating around the world very quickly.
Was about to comment, but you said it better DaveB
And don’t forget the wonderful history that comes with it. Consider the indigenous peoples that existed before the settlers came or the ones they dragged there in chains. Yeah even those we like to think of as “civilized” have some really nasty skeletons in their closet.
It’s pretty much a universal axiom that “civilized behavior” is a process that takes time to achieve. Consider the race of Krell that was introduced in the old sci-fi flick “Forbidden Planet.” Civilization & technology was estimated to be a million years ahead of humanity, but the skeletons in their own history was the cause of their own extinction.
I heard this rumor that in the next few weeks Obama plans to seize the banks and declare marshal law.
It suppoedly came from several sources in a military base in Oklahoma. One of those sources was pretty high up in the military chain of command.
I’d take most of my $$$ out of the banks for a few weeks and keep it in cash if I was you.
I know this sounds a bit crazy, but this is what I have heard, and am just passing it along.
Sounds like the kind of rumour that Putin would be spreading at the moment, actually. It certainly would be approved of by the KGB (whatever their modern day name may be). But, serious gossip-mongering or joke, I do have a significant proportion of what money I do have invested in tinned and long-life packeted goods. Mostly for practical getting through winter reasons.
But also handy in the event of the outbreak of WWIII and/or economic collapse. In either case, paper money might be of more use for loo paper than buying food. But be sure to have as much of the genuine stuff as you can too though. Or some clean bunnies. It is easy to forget, in panic shopping, that what goes in must also come out. And if you have to resort to using leaves, you redefine the boundaries of luxury and necessity.
On the plus side, life will go on even if we do have an economic collapse. We might have to fall back to a barter system or other less sophisticated economy, until we can re-establish some form of improved banking system. And/or train a new generation of students how to replace all the ones we put up against a wall and shoot for mucking the world up a second time. So it is just a matter of riding out the worst of it until your local area manages to establish emergency measures to keep things going.
It is not like it would be the end of the world.
And, God forbid, should WWIII itself kick off, we may find that it is a conventional war. Or at least non-nuclear. We would see plenty of electronic warfare and cyber fighting too. Plus drones, robots, dazzling lasers and other new gadgets. But somehow I doubt the death and destruction would be significantly compensated by seeing new toys in action. Especially if on the receiving end of it.
Right now the USA is the most aggressive regime in the world. We have our claws in 163 countries in one form or another. Special forces troops, bases, auxiliaries, drones or regular soldiers with the plan to be in every one of them. Yes we have the largest empire, as per our bases and influence than any three or four of the last empires combined. We run the risk of becoming an empire——-fully in and out. But that is just my observation.
Mmm, I would doubt the specific claim (although applaud the sentiment). I think that in their day the combined number of military bases and overall influence exerted by, let us say the English Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire would probably be greater than the present-day USA.
In particular in a pre-automotive era you would need more bases to effectively exert influence over a territory than you do nowadays. Ok, one modern base would have vastly more fire-power than, say, a Victorian one. But the claim was not comparing that.
Although admittedly, there would be chunks of Latin America which would be uninfluenced by those three. But I would estimate that far more of the globe would be under the direct and powerful influence of them, than than the present day US does.
Not forgetting that, if you picked your moment in history right, what is now the USA was a part of just one of those Empires (and/or were influenced by it, even if you consider the native American nations to be the pre-cursors, by territory, rather than culture).
Your question about my definition of oppressive regime is fair. When I say “an oppressive regime”, I mean a governing body that has no respect for its citizens’ right to safety, freedom, and choice. I’m thinking of the kind of place that will haul someone off to jail for questioning the government, or a country that allows its people to starve despite having both the resources and distribution ability to feed them. The overall question is, will giving out some of Dabbler’s hyper-advanced tech raise or lower quality of life for planet Earth as a whole? I didn’t consider uneven dissemination of supertech, and that *is* something I’d be partial to avoiding, since it would cause a tremendous imbalance of power between nations that would almost certainly last for generations. Still, Dabbler’s tech is good for more than just shooting supervillains and solving ARC-related problems. Africa’s starvation calamities are linked to an inability to get food to people moreso than a lack of food to give. Couldn’t Dabbler do something to help even if she doesn’t make her tech available to the world? And that’s just one example. Teleportation would be invaluable in helping people evacuate regions that received tsunami or flood warnings.
I’m bringing this whole issue up because Dabbler cited the barbaric parts of humanity’s behavior when she explained why she wouldn’t share her technology. It’s true that humans can be incredibly depraved, but I thought it bore saying that that nature shows itself in specific circumstances. If it didn’t, human civilization wouldn’t exist.
I don’t want to get you caught up in a debate–that would be unfair, and unpleasant for both of us. In the interest of not dragging this out any further this is the last I plan to say on the subject. (If you have a rebuttal I’d be more than happy to read it, but I feel responding–and keeping this argument going–would be rude. Heck, I may have done too much just by writing this post) I deeply apologize if this was an undesired drain on your time and energy. I wanted to get my thoughts heard, and now I’ve said my piece.
Would YOU trust ANY government or military with an anti-matter warhead? An orbital plasma cannon? Hell even Dabbler’s teleportation tech could (And let’s not lie, WOULD) be used to drop an army right into a “Hostile” country’s capital. Sounds like a nice way to suddenly go from “Nation” to an “Empire” to me. And there are alot of Genocidal “EVERYBODY BUT US MUST DIE!!!!!!” lunatics out there.
Heck, wouldn’t even trust the local Scout/Guide Troop
Knowing myself, I wouldn’t even trust myself with anything Dabbler would offer.
really even a night alone?
If you’re *VERY* lucky, they’d send an army, rather than a nuke with a 5-second timer.
or weaponized smallpox or any of a dozen different similar items, but my point has been made.
Smallpox isn’t so bad. If you have had chicken pox or cow pox, your immune system knows what to do to combat smallpox. Ebola on the other hand…
Honestly? I’d be perfectly willing to trust the US government with anti-matter bombs, orbital weapon platforms, or even teleport tech.
They already have thermonuclear weapons.
Does it really make a difference if you vaporize a city using an anti-matter bomb as opposed to a nuke? The city is just as gone either way. The US government has had the power to pretty much make the entire Earth uninhabitable by human beings for decades now. So has Russia. So has China.
It’s kind of silly to believe that were the sinister forces of government to suddenly gain access to a newer and better way to blow people up they would abandon all previous restraint and go crazy.
While I don’t trust the Government to organize an orgy in a brothel. *shrug*
*updates sign by increasing the number by one digit*:
Number of days without committing global thermonuclear war: ….
Would you like to play a game.
No, I wouldn’t…The only way to win is to not play the game.
I noticed on your Patreon that six people are supporting you at the $50 maximum level. Have any of their background characters appeared yet?
Not yet but soon. I’ll point them out when they do.
Hibition isn’t a word. Dabbler’s still new to English. Yet she knows “Xeno”.
Well, why wouldn’t she? As an alien on earth, words like Xenophobia and Xenocidal (assuming the latter is a real word either… could be we just made it one) are relevant to her life here.
“Inhibitions” on the other hand… yeah… that’s something she may never have experienced in any language. ^_^
She parsed “xeno” out of the other words just fine. It was trying to apply the same logic to “exhibition” and “inhibition” that tripped her up. English doesn’t obey the rules…
“English doesn’t borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.” https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13913918460A14795000&page=9
The breasts are so hypnotic she doesn’t notice that her position is swapped with Dabbler
(Dabbler is initially on the right initially but is somehow on the left at the end)
The first part is in the mirror. Check Dab’s arm in #1.
And the Gamesman hits enter first with same thing lol
It’s all in the…. TIMING yeah timing.
Nope. First 3 panels are POV looking past them into mirror. Next 4 are Sydney view panning down, Last set are from the mirror POV. And all things considered I bet Dabbler went to the bathroom to be sure the Cyber eye wasn’t smudged or in “blinking neon” mode.
Oh look, everyone’s so entranced by the hypnoboobies that I get to be the first to say that *apparently*, the couches in womens’ bathrooms are for nursing mothers.
Makes sense.
Nope, you’re not first. I believe there’s a discussion on that topic on the first page.
All sorts of reasons she says…
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Here are some links to read more and help stop it. Sign the petition, and help stop this sneaky SOPA 2014 in disguise. We need all the signatures we can get, and we need a lot more,fast!
https://www.infoworld.com/t/intellectual-property/sopa-backers-seek-restrict-online-rights-again-time-outside-the-law-238424
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Spread the word!!!
“Living in 1st world countries its easy fall for the ‘ol “People are basically good” nonsense.”
Um, no. Not really. Not if you follow the news even the slightest bit outside of the so called ‘reality’ shows and other news only concerning people who either are or desperately want to be celebrities.
Within the past 200 years the 1st world countries have not only fought two world wars and countless other wars mostly on the soil of nations not included in the 1st world, but they have pursued a pogrom of annihilation against any 2nd or 3rd world peoples who had the misfortune to be living on lands which contained resources they wanted.
It’s actually quite easy to not fall for the ‘ol “People are basically good” nonsense. If you read, and know just a tiny bit of history.
When this whole ‘1st, 3rd, 10th World’ stuff started, it originally meant that ‘1st World’ related to the US and it’s allies with ‘2nd World’ being USSR and it’s allies, with ‘3rd World’ being those neutral or unalligned
That may be, but the current usage of “1st world” is to denote the nations with the highest tech base and/or level of development.
I feel that people are basically good, but there’s also the capacity for evil lurking in the shadows of everyone’s ego. Once I realized that “Rats come in all colors,” I stopped being surprised by what people do. Revolted & disgusted at times, for certain, but not surprised.
@DaveB I’m a little disappointed, with all the attention to detail you put in, to see “no homo” in this comic. It is offensive in any context for several reasons, the most simple being it builds the assumption that homosexuality has some not “normal” or even fear inducing quality to it. Also I (being female and having spent some portion of my life in bathrooms with other females) have never heard the words “no homo” said by another female and going from Star Trek to boobs in one bathroom conversation is not really as uncommon as you might think. Please realize this is constructive criticism, I like your comic very much.
Please read the title of this page.
Girls go to the bathroom in pairs to talk of Star Trek and boobs, right?
He is a guy,and dosn’t really know what women talk about in there.
I’d also point out that most people have no idea what you might consider offensive. ‘homo’ is offensive, but ‘bi’ and ‘hetero’ aren’t? Five years ago the terms ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ were offensive, if they still are, then as far as I know there is no PC way to discuss the issue – if you’re hetero anyway. None of my friends who are ….WHATEVER the correct term is have any problem with ANY of those terms, just with words like ‘fag’ or ‘dyke’ that are intended to be offensive. ‘Homo’ is a shortening of ‘homosexual’, which is the scientific term, and rather a mouthful for most people. Nothing intentionally offensive about it. Yes, some people will specifically say it with a derogatory tone, but you can do that with ANY word. Literally. the more words you designate ‘offensive’ the harder it is to have any sort of rational discussion about the issue.
/rant
Sorry, the PC attempt to remove words from the language is a pet peeve of mine. More people need to read classic science fiction.
I will also point out that making something impossible to talk about without offending someone is going to have the opposite effect you’re going for. If you can readily discuss it, it’s normal. If people get mad every time you ask questions because you used the ‘wrong word’ in your innocence, it becomes a big bad dark taboo that you are never to speak of much less contemplate. That’s just the way the mind works.
We are of one mind on the matter. It is better to talk openly about a subject. In this case establishing one’s gender identity/preference in a potentially sexual situation. Just about any turn of phrase you use, barring pure scientific/medical terminology, is likely to cause offence if analysed on a word by word basis. So it is not logical to do that.
You need to look at the context, and see whether the intent is to cause offence or to convey a worthy message. Sydney’ statement was clearly not intended as an insult. Yet she did need to clarify her status.
Mitigating factors being that Sydney is very rough and ready in her speech manners, so it is wholly within character. Plus she was extremely distracted. And finally, do not forget that she appears to be very inexperienced in such matters. So being tongue-tied or using inappropriate language is actually very true to life.
Puck being PC.
Being honest and forthright is a better way.
Once I relegated the concept of “politically correct” to the trashcan labeled “oxymorons go here” (ie: Being politically correct…Isn’t), I found it a lot easier to just say what I’m thinking & being far more capable of discussing any topic in a reasonably civil manner.
+2
+1
Or classic fantesy
And just to further muddy the waters, you have the consider the context and location of where the word is being used.
Granted it’s not used a lot, in this day and age, but having a “gay” or “light hearted and carefree” attitude (https://www.google.com/#q=definition+gay) doesn’t have a lot to do with a person’s sexuality.
And if Google is still to be believed, “fag” is a descriptor of a type of work, used as British slang rather than an insult. I’ll let the Brits confirm/deny this one (https://www.google.com/#q=definition+fag)
Context is King.
It’s usually slang for a cigarette last I heard.
Fag is also defined as being a bundled group of sticks, normally used as kindling for fire.
DaveB talked about this in this comic’s description. To reiterate:
– He said that “no homo” wasn’t being used in an exclusionary sense. Halo was just saying that she wasn’t into girls.
– He said that he knows that “no homo” can be offensive, which fits with Halo being a very non-PC person. There is a difference between saying something offensive and writing a character who says something offensive!
On the other hand:
Since “no homo” is usually used without clarification as to whether it is intended as a simple statement of fact (“I’m no homo”) or a slur (“No homo allowed”), it can be misinterpreted as offensive when it isn’t meant that way. Thus, it is a rather dumb thing to say, and I think that DaveB recognizes this, as he did write “never use the word “homo” unless it’s followed by “Sapien” or “genized.”” in the description.
If you read it in context, only the most narrowminded would miss the fact she was talking about herself, not being derogatory about real homosexuals, just saying that she is not (it is not the first time she has said something similar, remember back when Dabbles first appeared in the Ballroom? Sydney said “Not a Lesbian! Not a Lesbian! Not a Lesbian!”)
She’s also dealing with the hypno-boobies. Coming under the influence of those, they might not just distract, but knock someone’s mind around like a peterbuilt to a honda civic. I would forgive her for bursting out into a verse of john jacob jingleheimerschmit looking at those.
Yeah, she’d have to hypnotize the World to get rid of that problem. Not that she couldn’t but it would be a lot of work.
Why when I read this do I keep getting an image of Sydney crawling into Dabblers’ lap for a snuggle nap? And being welcome? :P
Homo just means of the same type. We are called Homo Sapients Sapients. It has been used as a slur by the misanthropic types. I don’t see it as offensive myself any more than her saying that she “is no hetero” would mean in context if it had been said.
Probably a joke to Dabbler who knows all humans are Homo.
STARES!!!! *_* MMMMMmmmmmmmm…….
Er hm……. Humanity is really a tad(by a tad i mean godzilla size) Xenophobic. we do this to our fellow members of the human race all the time. If we ever officially meet aliens…..
We will band together and fight. Because nothing brings people together like a common enemy.
Then we either get ROFL stomped by the aliens or we become the Terran Empire… because humanity is ruthless compared to any of the ‘civilized’ races of the galaxy.
ok, not sure if it’s been mentioned, but, panel 3, if Sydney is on the left, and the stalls are behind the two of them, then what we are seeing is still the reflection in the mirror. If that’s the case then the side of Dabbler that’s closest to us is her left, the same side as the arm with the arm band.
So… shouldn’t her eye be green, not blue?
I’d also check panel one, but it’s to small for me to tell…
Also, sorry for the nit-picking… this is such a minor detail…
Much like the infamous dollyzoom panel, I suspect this one is partly dramatic effect (Sydney looming threateningly at the insult) & partly comedic (Sydney looming). The focus has moved from the reflection (facing the mirror) to the characters (facing each other), a common practice in film & TV.
+1
I had the image of Sidney getting up and kneeling on the counter, just so she could lean forward imposingly. Seems like something she would do.
Incidently, you can see the edge of the mirror running right behind Sydney’s ponytail. It shows the ceiling, far wall, & stalls; above that, the near wall.
I will reiterate that I believe these 2 are going to become best friends at some point in a future page.
Sidney attacked Dabbler the first time they met. Since neither of them (appears) to be a villain, best friends is a virtually guaranteed outcome.
Probably.
LOL, I have to admit it. Sydney is just….like herself. The funny part is, looking at other womens’ boobs,calling their boobs hypno-boobs besides saying it’s nice? Wow…..
All part of the ADHD package: low impulse control, susceptible to trance states, defective brain-to-mouth filter (did I mention low impulse control?), fixating on insignificant details of a conversation……… Oo, shiny… What, did I miss something?
…I’m not sure, but I think you missed “low impulse control”…
LOL………
Panels 5-7 brings to mind a great line from an early episode of ‘Third Rock From The Sun.’
Basically, the alien in the group posing as a human female is trying to deal with breasts and the display of same. ‘She’ observes – “They seem to have more power when they collide.”
When two large masses get together, indeed much energy is released. Whether it’s friction or some magical stupefying rays of sexy? Or both? It all works out the same way.
*facepalm* Vichyssoise is a SOUP, you eat it with the farthest spoon to the right, the one with the biggest bowl surface!
I thought she could crank her power up or down, from only as attractive as one would expect from a body built for fanservice, all the way up to mindless drooling lust from anyone who catches a glimpse of her. That level of control seems like it would make her better able to hide. Anyway, its hard to really standardize and test for exactly how aroused someone is, especially well enough to notice the change when she is attractive to begin with.
Dabbler can control her dial. But she has a lot of powers relating to sexual attraction. Not all of which are necessarily linked or controllable in the same way. The boobs may well have a standard level of hypnotism, unrelated to the specific sex appeal, pheromones and other tricks she can actively deploy.*
And it is possible that Dabbler is similar to Maximam in having a minimum level, below which she cannot go. Whilst hiding is a useful tactic it is not necessarily central to the succubus philosophy. Nor does Dabbler seem to be the shy or cautious sort to resort to that.
She is definitely a “if you’ve got it, flaunt it” kind of gal.
* Alternatively Dabbler can alter the dial, on her boobs, but felt that this was a good time to let Halo learn from experience. Dabbler will need to use her sex-appeal in various situations. Some of which, such as combat situations, Halo might also be in the area. If Sydney wants to avoid being unduly affected, she needs to know how to resist the effect. Part of which is “don’t stare at the boobies”.