Grrl Power #294 – Sydney’s mighty need
I don’t envy women for having to wear bras (also known as boob jail), or buy them certainly, they can get quite pricey, but getting to take them off at the end of the day, that’s got to be a good feeling. Nearly on par with taking your socks off and slipping them around under the sheets right when you go to bed.
This is actually the last page of book 1. It’s kind of a weird tone with the succubus recharging bit, but really the point of the page was trying to tie back into the flash forward from the first few pages. I will level with you guys, when I started doing the comic five years ago, I really hadn’t thought all the way through to the end of the book. I thought the only good way to do it was to at least partially address the point of contention from the role playing game, namely lasers vs. transparent things. Obviously if Sydney was trying to claim that lasers should go through transparent shields and everyone at the game knew Sydney was a superhero with a shield that blocked lasers (which they did) someone would have pointed that out to her. I maaaaay go back and edit a line in those first few pages to read something like “I didn’t buy that advantage for OmniGal, so KopyKraut* can’t have it either.” so it all ties in better. I don’t think that would change the feel of those early pages.
As far as sticking a succubus sex joke in (really it’s a Sydney gets embarrassed joke) it does bother me a little when people include succubi in stories that never really act a lot like succubi. It’s like writing a story about Vampires that never drink blood. Besides I like the “I’m in the middle of something/something’s in the middle of me” flip, and you guys can have fun speculating on who it is that will be sleeping it off tomorrow cause all his, uh, electrolytes have been drained. Yeah… electrolytes.
In case I don’t say it enough, I really appreciate the support you guys have given me-slash-the comic over the years, and not just financially… though without the success of the Patreon campaign, I’d still be working an 8-5 job and we’d only be halfway though fight right now. Granted I might have edited it down a bit harder but still it’s a depressing thought. I never take it for granted, every day I don’t have to waste an hour and a half being completely unproductive while commuting, or just straight up working at a job that I only care about because it pays the bills I want to jump around and be all “Yeah, take that “the man!”” It’s been quite a journey from thinking “I should make a webcomic” to now, and I’m eager to get to book 2, starting Monday!
*Yay for intercaps!
Sydney does talk like Zim on occasion.
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It is way too small to be the actual lid. Either a replica, or Dabbler has used a shrink-ray on it.
Should it be the genuine article, she would be best not to touch it. She looks neither Jewish, nor like a messenger of God. It does some very nasty things to everyone else.
No idea that the greenish object is, that the unicorn head is facing. At first glance, I took it to be a tree. But someone will recognise the source, I am sure.
Oops. Orphaned reply. Meripihka‘s original comment:
Green thing looks like a Cthulhu idol. As for unicorn head bookend – that’s a hybrid, if I’m not mistaken; only one third of that curious creature is a unicorn.
I’m seeing the Eye of Sauron myself, maybe it’s a tiny Barad-dûr (movie version) model?
Well, I do get a bit of bull, from the image. And there is something going on at the top of the head which I can’t interpret fully, assuming it is a unicorn. But the horn very clearly matches. So hybrid, I could go with. But all I can make out myself is a bull-unicorn (which would also explain the odd features at the top of the head).
Are you picking up something that I am not? Either to identify the other one third, or a different interpretation to the possibility of it being part-bull?
Giraffe.
And leopard is the third.
That is, if I’m not mistook it for just your usual unicorn head bookend.
But, given that thing is in Dabbler’s possession, the probability of me being right is a bit higher than usual.
Mmm, nope, I am still detecting nothing more than bull.* But I do think that you are higher than usual. Can I try some of whatever you are on? It might be interesting to see the world, the way you do.
* No offence intended, albeit wordplay is, for it’s own sake.
None taken, my yorping friend. And, gods witness, world is not ready for me on the heightening substance of any kind, thou mighty longing I have indeed – but not in deed.
As for source of my… well, whatever it is – I will say only one word:
Dynotaku
It must be some kind of a legal high. As you are clearly on ‘tosomething’ ™ Given the top result is a fair likeness and, for circumstantial supporting evidence, even mentioning Fred Perry (perhaps implying a source of inspiration). And that DaveB lists Fred Perry as one of his main influences.
It has feet so its not just a lid. The Egyptians had arcs of a similar nature as well but I think all of theirs were also bigger than that. Still the basic design was out there before the Arc to end all arcs was made. I think there was an a show that said some guys made a small replica of the Hebrew’s Arc and something about the city they were in having a massive blackout right when they were completing/testing it or something like that? Maybe she picked it up before the humans hurt themselves.
Yeah… I did mean “a reproduction of the lid of the Arc from the Indiana Jones film”. I thought that would be obvious.
Yea, it was. But, if you look at O.B. Juan‘s comment, you will see that we do not restrict ourselves to just the obvious here.
We know nothing about Dabbler’s past.* So it is entirely possible that she has been kicking around, since Biblical times. Keeping dangerous artefacts out of hands that might abuse them. And being irreverent enough to treat it like an ornament, just for the laughs.
Not likely, but we can always have fun speculating.
* I ignore whatever she may have gotten up to in the comic she was loaned out to previously. I choose to view her from the viewpoint that she is shown here, namely as seen by Sydney.
Not so much on Dabbler having been around since Biblical times, since word of god puts her age at 187. I can totally see her hanging on to artefacts she finds, though, if for nothing other than shits and giggles.
Good point.
Mmm, lets see half the age and add seven. Nope, that does not work. Divide by seven and add two. Better. Ok, lets go with that one.
But her demonic parent might have been. And as to being a messenger of God all of Lucifer’s followers (and Lucifer himself) used to be angels that fell because they opposed God.
With all the tech in her lab (unknown quantity but seems like lots/very advanced) what makes you think she doesn’t have a time machine or portal?
For a moment I thought it was Vemenence’s hand, but now I see it’s too small.
I always heard it called CamelHump.
Shouldn’t it be spelled ‘InterCaps’ ?
UpperCamelCase. It’s a coding convention when naming things that can’t have spaces in them. The camel part is because the uppercase letters kinda look like humps on a camel?
Camel Toe may lead to Camel Hump…
And Dabbler gets another Bingo match!
I wonder if Dabbler invited Mr. Amorphous over for tea? The possibilities there are limitless for a Succubus. It would be like recharging your batteries off a high tension line and infinitely more fun.
me thinks heatwave would explode if he does… perhaps even literally, considering her powers…
There are plenty of other male fish in the sea, and I would expect Dabbler got a fairly stern lecture about disrupting the team by indiscriminate ‘feeding’ before she was allowed into mixed company.
Scratch ‘male’, as Dabs is equal opportunity.
By sleeping?
it begs for the word “around” but Dabbler didn’t say it. Is she monogamous? *SHOCK*
That definitely WOULD set her apart from most…
If she is, her bae must be a super who’s only power is that of bottomless endurance lol
Achilles?
I’m wondering if Achilles “electrolytes” are as indestructible as the rest of him. It wouldn’t do her any good have that stuff sitting around inside her.
My explanation to Sydney’s question. It is known (or i will pretend it is known and i will even pretend this is true if this is wrong) light has both partickles and energy in it that is why it reflects from some surfaces which reflects the particle of light while it loses some of its energy (burning a paepr with laser light anyone? The light on paper you see is the reflected part while burning happens becuase the energy was absorbed but can’t be contained by paper or that is how I understand it is) so what happens with Sydney’s shield yup it absorbs energy and lets the particle go through that is why ir is transparent but can’t be harmed :P (ok this was mostly made up theory it could be vice verso it could be stopping particle and lets energy through or it could be absorbing only energies at certain levels which makes more sense.)
Gotta watch out for those partickles! To many and you might pee your pants :)
I think that pun just gave me eye cancer.
I think you (and the general public) are a bit confused on the light as a particle/wave thing (called, surprisingly, wave/light duality). Light behaves both as a particle and wave, depending on how it is observed (check out the dual slit experiment for some mind-fuckery, it doesn’t involve light but light works the same way). In this instance it would be best described as a wave. Because we can assume that the shield is very thin, we would experience thin-film interference, which is why you see rainbowy goodness when you have a bit of oil on water. We could possibly also expect to experience refraction which would do absolutely nothing, if this is a normal laser. Refraction bends light as a function of wavelength, shorter wavelengths get refracted more (causes rainbows), but with a laser it is all one wavelength, so it is all refracted the same amount. Depending on the way the shield works (if it works as if it is a bunch of really small holes, to small for anything with mass but not for light) we could get diffraction, as Dabbler said, which would cause a wave interference pattern which would cause hotspots (totally constructive interference) which would likely be harmful. I find it interesting that on the page referenced you can see the path the beam traveled across the shield. Most likely just DaveB’s way of showing that it is moving, but could also indicate that it is heating some part of the shield hot enough to glow.
Sorry, my mind got totally derailed, during your second sentence. The science comments got replaced with imagery of Dabbler’s anatomy. I figured that, if she has double the usual compliment of arms (mishaps with sword’s notwithstanding), why can’t she have other extra parts?
Nope, not going to get that image out of my head. That is one experiment which begs a hands-on demonstration. The theory is insufficient.
Show me one person who doesn’t spend time everyday imagining sexy ladies, and I will show you a liar. It only helps that she swings both ways so even us ladies have something to fantasize about.
:-)
Wow, you sure know how to hit all of the fantasy buttons. Inadvertently or not.
*takes off hat, and bows*
*curtsies*
Every lady fantasizes, some prefer to fantasize about lady love and some about men, but everyone does it. Personally, I find lady love to be infinitely hotter, and I am sure there are many who agree.
A pleasure to make your acquaintance. It is always delightful to meet somebody who has such a shared interest. And you can talk geek too. Rather an impressive resume!
Have I ever mentioned how in touch I am with my feminine side? :-)
And a pleasure to makes yours good sir. I think you will find that many lesbians can be pervy, we are just better at hiding it. I didn’t choose the geek life, the geek life chose me. Also I love all sciences and have a degree in Bio so that was stuff I already knew. That quote rings well with me, considering I said much the same when I was in high school.
That reminds me of this scene.
Thankfully I am very open about it, so that is far less likely to happen to me, that and, you know, the whole women being less violent then men thing means that I don’t have to worry about that too much.
Heh. She could not have been much more open about it. That scene had me in absolute stitches, the way they played it out!
But, yea, openness is the way to go. Although I do appreciate the risks that go with it. Socially and, as you intimate, physically. Fortunately more of society is, gradually, getting to understand, and be comfortable with the issues. Although Russia is a depressing exception.
I think Eddie Izard was one of the pioneers, in the UK, in starting, through his comedy, to educate the public about the distinctions between gender and gender identity. Albeit that he focussed on his own niche, namely transvestitism.
Similarly, in Bulgaria, there is a very colourful character, who appeared on their version of Big Brother. A chunky, blonde bearded, guy. Who, single-handedly, opened up the entire, formerly, taboo subject. Plus, since then, there was the global exposure from the Eurovision Song Contest winner. Censored though it was in Russia.
And I recently saw a very good TED talk, which explains the complexities very well.
Still, there are an awful lot of ignorant and intolerant individuals out there. You have my every respect, and admiration, for the risks you take in speaking so plainly.
Brave and geek translingual. I hope the gals appreciate what a catch you are.
Mind you, I did also find that episode sad too. But the very best comedy can intermix itself with other elements, such as tragedy. Maximising the effects of one, by rebounding off the other.
*sniffle*
Thankfully I live in southern California, I haven’t had any overtly negative reactions, only only positive ones from my family. I try not to think to much about Russia, though it is a sobering thought that most people just think about the most fun places to travel where I have additional safety concerns like being queer illegal.
I am pleasantly surprised to find your knowledge of the subject is more than merely surface deep. You seem like you are aware of the full distinction between transgenderism and transvestitism. Always nice to find people interested in queer culture. I have been meaning to watch that Eurovision clip since I heard about it, but still haven’t gotten around to it. I am pretty sure I have seen that TED Talk before, though I can’t check since I am at work. As for the ladies, I did have one until a month and a half ago, first girlfriend that allowed me to try my hand at poly. Now I just need to find some ladies who are open to the idea, and geeks of course. ;)
Yea, there are whole chunks of Africa where you would be putting your liberty at risk, even setting foot off an aircraft.
I imagine that there will be similar issues, for our heroines, mind. I am sure, in a ‘real world plus superpowers’ setting, that many countries in the world would not be as tolerant, or open, as Dave has been portraying the US.
There are bound to be some which label supers as being of demonic origin (especially if they get a good look at Dabbler), and will enact laws which imprison, or execute, them.
It reminds me of a scene in one of the Dirty Dozen movies. Where there is a last minute change in plan.
“We are flying this captured German plane to a Nazi airfield. Put on these uniforms, and those of us who speak German will bluff us past any guards. We will requisition, or steal, a truck and we will make our way to the target.”
“Are you forgetting something?” Says the black GI.
It was a cleverly filmed scene. Just like the privileged white officers, who did not have to factor in such thoughts, in their day-to-day lives, the penny had not dropped for me. I had been thinking ‘Ooh, clever improvisation’. Until he stepped forwards and said that.
I can just imagine the reactions in Russia, with super powers propaganda laws, to protect the youths of course (like they really need to be protected from gays), Uganda claiming that super powers are a western invention, and blasphemous and should be banned and, if we can get the support, killed.
Privilege is an interesting topic, with how many people don’t realize they benefit from it. From men not being afraid to be out alone at night, or being heralded for being a leader where women are considered bossy and controlling. And the assumption that any person whose gender is not known is automatically male until proven otherwise. It shows up so much on the internet due to the sheer multitude of anonymous posters, to the point where the joke that “there are no women on the internet” is known by pretty much every denizen of the internet. Granted we are fewer due to society pushing us more to non-geeky hobbies but there are still plenty of women on the internet. Hell, reddit is 30% women. Even I find myself making the assumption, it’s terrible.
I do find it strange, that with the anonymity which the web provides, there is not a higher representation. Mind you, I can see that after a few disparaging comments, many women would find remaining fully anonymous and gender-cloaked, to be a relief.
Although Google is trying to force everyone to use their Google account names, as an anti-troll measure, I think it is counter-productive. Personally I used to be a very active voice on YouTube. Quite often getting two to three hundred ‘thumbs up’, for my comments.
But I have not made a single post, since they forced the change from the anonymous YouTube name.
Yeah, being gender cloaked can be nice, I tend to avoid it because then I get mistaken for a man, which (for obvious reasons) I don’t like. A lot of women get the stupidest comments based solely on there gender. when the subreddit /r/twoxchromosomes became one of the defaults, we got a large influx of men who make the stupid sexist jokes and make “not all men” comments. So annoying >.>
“…the whole women being less violent then men thing…”
Even though the comedian Gallagher pointed out that only a very small fraction of violent crimes are committed by women (“C’mon girls, hold up your end of the deal here!”), I don’t think that means women are any less dangerous. Women are more likely to be subtle & low-key, harder to predict what they’re likely to do. One infamous historical example is Lucrecia Borgia & her poisons…
Women are more likely to practice mind-f***ing than men are. Those kinds of scars hurt just as badly but cut more deeply…
But for guys that can be on the alert, it can be just as fun.
O.o
I once tried to get in touch with my feminine side and all I got for it was slapped.
That’s because you missed. That was someone else’s feminine side, Deof.
Reminds me of a Rodney Dangerfield-like joke I thought I had made up:
“I get no respect, no respect at all. Everyone told me to expand my horizons by studying abroad! Go study abroad, they said! So, I studied abroad but only lasted a year. Then she got a restraining order!”
Ashley, you sound like a Hell of a lot of fun!
Why thank you, I am well practiced. Hell you think I am naturally this awesome, Heavens no.
;)
I’m sure she’d laugh and say something like “Just both?” Three axis of movement remember? … How does one sex up the axis of time… I mean besides casting Benedict Cumberbatch in the next Doctor Who special.
True, she is probably pansexual, and moves in a beautiful field of sexual fluidity…getting super slippery……….. I gotta go
Hi there, I’m gay.
:P
Hi there, I’m gay too.
You probably already guessed that though.
Gay or Bi? The distinction is subtle & it just depends how you want to lever it in there.
;)
Reading through this section of the comments has been very distracting.
…I’ll be in my bunk…
I’ll be in Dabbler’s bunk…
We can’t see what size Dabbler’s bed is, but it may get a little crowded there right now…
That Totoro eye in the last couple panels…
Soon….SOON.
I think what I like best about this comic, DaveB, is how far along your art has come! Looking back to the first comic to now there’s a world of difference and for the better I’d say.
Keep up the hard work man, we all love it!
Yeah, to be blunt, Anvil looked freaking disturbing in her initial expose on the comic. Now she looks gorgeous. I always like seeing that happen in comics, as the art evolves and becomes better, more polished, and more accurate, meaning the humans look like humans instead of deformed creatures with terrible proportions.
Thanks! Muscular women are always a tricky balance, I can definitely say I’ve improved on that front.
On that note, remember the old Dabbler pic from before she appeared in the comic? The one people said was too manly? I’ve tried GISing it in the recent past but failed. I miss that pic.
You mean when she was in WereWorld?
No, I do not remember comments to that effect, but suspect that Here Comes Honey Badger is referring to either Dabbler’s cast image or one of the early vote incentives.
Or possibly an image Dave linked us to separately. Which would normally be on his DA gallery. But, if it was on DaveB‘s Deviant Art pages, it is not any more, as I just had a look through. Not even in ‘Scraps’, as that is unpopulated.
I’m sure it was on the cast page. If it is the same one I’m thinking of, it was the version with golden eyes.
Yeah, it was her Cast page image until after she appeared in the comic (when various comic images took over).
And on the front as well.
Honestly Dave, that last panel with dabbler in it, she just looks, I dunno, RIGHT in it. Its so polished of a drawing it shines. you really do deserve to be proud of how far you have come, and I cant wait to see how your artwork will evolve as time marches on.
Yeah, it IS a tricky balance because women don’t normally “bulk up” like men do. It’s not easy to draw a highly-athletic woman without ending up with Arnold Schwarzenegger plus boobs.
That and some honestly feel people, especially women, look best when they look fit, not skinny, not muscular, not plump, fit. I personally prefer a little plump myself but to me that doesn’t necessarily negate fit.
I have to admit, something is right in the middle of me sounds like a mr amorphus talent to me. :p But I doubt it since he seems to be a fairly monogamous guy, and of course heatwave would murder them both so hard they die from it if she ever found out.
Aaaah, now we’re getting back into that good ole slice of life goodness and what a slice it is! Thanks for all the wonderful content DaveB. The comment “debates” alone were tons of fun. Now…
ONWARD. To the future!! (for SCIENCE! X-P )
I tried wearing a bra once. It was super itchy, and I hated it >_<;
But I'm so glad Sydney is realizing, in a very ADHD way (I've had moments like this too), that her shield blocked the lasers. I'm guessing her shield has a "transition" setting, like how some glasses do. It would explain how it blocks out harmful light and sound.
And also, ew. Does anyone actually think Dabbler is attractive? I get we, as audience members, are unaffected by her powers, but damn, she's really not attractive to me :-P
Sydney is way better. But, yea, Dabbler is. Rather over-endowed, for my tastes mind. But she does have a very pretty face. My favourite, of her expressions, is in panel 6 of this comic. Her whole exotic look is a massive bonus for me.
I love women with exotic accents. Only fairly recently did I realise that, in my entire life, I had only dated one with an English accent. All the rest have had a foreign accent, of one sort or another. Be it pronounced or subtle.
All Dabbler’s inhuman features just add to her appeal for me.
Sydney is seriously adokable but I will admit that her “I want her” factor dropped considerably when we found out she snoores like a stooge.
Some couples have 2 beds – they sleep separately, and when they’re sharing a bed they Ain’t Sleeping.
Not having anything to do with going cross-species in real life, it’s still fun to fantasize…
True, but there is more than one way to have an exotic look. Natalie Portman is pretty enough, in her own right. But in her over-the-top make up as Queen Amidala, she gets the bonus for having a unique appearance.
Likewise Keira Knightley as Guinevere. Every previous representation of her pales in comparison. If I were fighting for my kingdom, that is the queen I would want at my side!
There is a difference between pretty and attractive, as well, it’s quite possible you could meet the most beautiful/handsome person ever and not be attracted to them. Every person has their own kinks and preferences. It can be rather mind-blowing sometimes as to just whom one finds attracts them.
heck, when I was younger, I had a crush on Miss Piggy. I didn’t even care that she was made of foam rubber.
I have to admit that Miss Piggy has a “curvy figure,” but most of my fantasizing with her also included a frying pan…
:P
Mouthwatering. It is very hard to get decent bacon here, without paying over-the-odds import prices. Which is not an option for me. You have just kicked in a craving. Which will go unfulfilled, for most of the year. :-(
Still, plenty of other yummies, to eat instead. :-)
*munches away on scooby snax*
What about Knightly as Amidala?
I am sure she would do the role justice.
Personally find panel nine to be cuter :D
I have to admit, I never really found Dabbler attractive… Until I saw today’s panel 7. Now my mind reels with possible uses for those horns.
Yup, I’ve always thought she was attractive, even in Were World days. After panel 7, I think she’s kick the girlfriend out the house beautiful!
But is she “hide your kids, hide your wife” beautiful?
I always found Dabbler attractive. I also enjoy her character a lot. Her personality is really enjoyable which is nice, because if I want eye candy i will buy a sexy statue. A sexy lady who is funny as hell as well as being smart? Freaking sweet!
+1
Okay, maybe I’m crazy, but since she’s a fictional character I feel I can type this out without feeling like an asshole:
Ew. EW EW EW EW EWWWWWW! I think Dabbler is gross.
The world would be a boring place, if we all shared the same tastes. Variety is the spice of life.
I just like my spice hotter than you do.
“Ring of Fire” hot mmmm?
As long as it’s not the same level as the Unmaker, I’m good.
Ok pretty boy.
*Starts chasing you with a Dabbler plushie* She;s gonna getcha! She’s gonna getca!
“Has ninjas ambush Adamas and retrieve the Dabbler plushie”
NOOO My Plushie!! *Starts chasing Dr.R with a Sydney plushie*
“Has the ninjas ambush Adamas and take all the plushies”
I think attractiveness ties into Uncanny-Valley style ideas. I’ve personally realized, recently, that I don’t seem to have the same threshold of ‘inhuman’ as is common, meaning that (and I’m talking in a general sense, not a sexyness sense) I’m not really creeped out by corpses or zombies or humanoid ‘aliens’ or fantasy races- you need to go a little further, to straight up puppetry with clear joints and artificial parts and stuff to start getting into the ‘valley’ for me.
And I think that sort of threshold difference translates into attractiveness as well- I actually find Dabbler incredibly attractive because things like the extra arms, skin coloration and ‘accessories’ like the horns and slitted eyes read as ‘exotic’ to me- dressing on an otherwise attractive humanoid frame with a fun and smart person inside it.
It’s the sort of difference that accounts for the Furry fandom as well, I believe- the threshold is shifted enough that things like ears and fur and tails and odd legs, instead of reading as ‘deformed’ or non-human, are just another accessory on what is otherwise a person.
@Yorp and Avildude:
It’s the hooves. Hooves are where I cross the line. I’m fine with extra arms or crazy skin colors, but hooves… ugh! XP
Personally, I’ve never had a foot fetish, so the hooves don’t really phase me much.
Yea, same for me really. I can’t say they would be much of a bonus point, but they would not freak me out. But everybody is a mix of characteristics and traits. If we fixate too much on any points that we are not keen on, then we miss out on getting to know the person.
As others have said today, Dabbler is more than just her looks and sexuality. She also has an incredibly cute smile, a cheeky sense of humour and can access hammerspace! Ok, the latter is less of a trait and more of a skill, but everybody has talents, and other characteristics, which make them more interesting. If you can get over any negative points, which might otherwise bar you from doing that.
As for the hooves, just think how much time would be saved by not having to go along shoe shopping. And I bet she makes the most awesome flamenco dancer! Multiple arms twirling, hooves stomping out her own percussion and a couple of other points keeping your attention fixated.
No, higher! Her eyes! She has the most gorgeous eyes, and skilled flamenco dancers will keep your attention locked on their penetrating gaze. Plus the danger of those horns, will make the effect even more intense.
Yeah, not fixating on any one thing is a good trait. Some guys are boob-men, some are backside-men, some are leg-men, but I like to think of myself as a “total package man.” As my opinion of Dabbler goes, I’d be willing to toss my total “package” into her.
I’m a bit of a Brain guy myself. I don’t really have any specific things that I find attractive or unattractive, physically, but I know that stupidity or ignorance turn me right off, while a sharp wit and willingness to question things is something of a turn-on.
@Tom, below… I’ve actually considered, and I measure physical attractiveness on something of a coordinate graph system, or maybe a star/spider chart, between Cuteness, Beauty, Elegance, and Hotness- Cuteness is innocence and childlike proportions (which we do actually select for, at least in the face- big eyes, smooth skin, things like that are hallmarks of youth). Beauty is in proportions of the body and face, pure aesthetic, almost artistic appreciation of form. Elegance is based more on composure and style, things like proper use of makeup, hair and fashion, and is, I think, the most lasting of the four. Hotness is those basic lizard-brain drives that focus on things like paired rounded forms, ruddy complexions, and signs of fertility.
Most ladies embody all these to different extents, but usually only ‘excel’ in one or two- those with 3 ‘high’ attributes are the famous beauties like Audrey Hepburn or artificially created Beauties (disney’s practically got a formula). 4 is basically unattainable for mere mortals, somewhere you probably won’t see, ever.
Well, there’s pretty, cute, attractive, beautiful, sexy, etc. Each of these can mean different things, even to the same person. That is, beautiful and attractive do not mean the same thing to me, and I can find someone beautiful and not attractive, or vice versa.
Interestingly, Harem seems to run the gambit for me, with one or more of those characteristics applying to each body, but not all, and definite differences among the bodies.
ugh, hoof-in-mouth disease
on the other hand, I dunno why people with amputated legs don’t toy around with hooves and things for fun. Would help with cosplay.
I am sure they would. It is just a matter of the equations.
Amputee demographics in rich countries —> Low
Cost of custom prosthetics —> High
Plus you need to equate for how devastating the loss is for folks. Many are inclined to hide away their prosthetic. So the numbers have to be reduced to reflect that.
But there have been a lot of casualties from IEDs and a lot of troops can be real extroverts, and we can hope that they are all given plenty of support to overcome the other issues. So I would be surprised if there was not a lot of customisation which went on.
I do recall, from a TED lecture, that there is a company which does specialise in custom legs. Initially aimed at sportsmen. But also extending to create very many which are works of art, as much as anything else.
Hooves though? Maybe not so many. Unless it was purely a cosmetic overlay, they are probably a bit tricky to use.
I always thought uncanny valley was more a reference to human analogs, mannequins, androids, that kind of thing. Went along the lines of an Android looking TOO perfect that it’s creepy. The thought was that a humanoid robot would look better with a couple imperfections because as humans we are used to seeing those imperfections in real people.
With the uncanny valley, it’s not that an android looks too perfect, it’s that it doesn’t look perfect enough. If you could make an android that moves exactly as fluidly and naturally as a human does, there’d be no problem. No matter how physically attractive it is, we’d still accept it because it *behaves* right.
The problem is when the thing doesn’t move or look *quite* good enough. We notice subtle things like stiff movement or strange, stilted facial expressions, and interpret them as “wrong, strange, maybe sick” and it is repulsive. We notice eyes that don’t blink quite like they should, or lips that don’t stretch right, or hands that don’t move often enough.
This is why movies where a being pretends to be human, or has taken over a human, can work so well to freak us out. The “human” doesn’t move quite right, or behave properly. The “human” enters the uncanny valley where we naturally think this thing we’re looking at is human but there’s something really terribly wrong about it.
To get humanoid robots we accept, there’s a great number of things we have to get very right.
It is a bit like, in the days before CGI, a model of a ship, or anything near to waves, needed to be of quite a size, otherwise the waves did not look like waves, they looked like ripples. Which is what they were. Triggering out ‘something does not look right’ senses. Wise film directors avoided angles that showed them. Quite a few did not though, and it always looked wrong.
Nowadays they can superimpose models, and just re-scale them. Or make the whole scene artificial. Or various combinations of those and other effects. But low budget film makers still need to beware of that problem.
It’s also why so many CG characters have been caricatured in some way. An extra-large nose, bigger eyes, obviously wrong proportions. You’d think that it would be better to model them closer to human, like they did in the Final Fantasy movies, but then you run into the problem where light doesn’t scatter quite right off/through their skin, or (and this is actually something that’s on the cutting edge of CG tech) their eyes seem soulless or their hair doesn’t flow how it should, their skin doesn’t bend like it does naturally, and you fall into the valley. Heck, even the way light and airborne dust affects how we see scenes is missing, making things too perfect.
It’s interesting, because in The Incredibles, they actually did fantastically detailed modelling of the way light interacts with human skin, down to figuring out the proper pattern for veins deep beneath the surface and how light shines through the cartilage of the ear, but they still went with cartoony proportions for the characters.
Which works well, because neuroscientists have discovered that our brains shorthand real images to cartoon-like caricatures.* When we eventually meet aliens, unless their brains perform a similar trick (the evolutionary principles could well be common), we may find that they totally do not get cartoons.
The closest approximation to that situation may be to try tests on members of the octopus family. We know that they can pass the mirror test, so have sufficient cognition for this purpose.
Animal instincts have very basic predator/danger-shapes built in, in cartoon form, to make ease of recognition quick and simple. It would be interesting to see if we are the only species in which that mechanism is carried over, into interpreting more complex situations, than simple fight or flight responses.
* A mechanism which does not function properly for some autistic individuals. So they get all the raw input fed through to their higher cognition, without the filtering for ease of use. Which can be detrimental in many circumstances, but advantageous in some others, such as art.
I would be curious to know if autistic children have problems with cartoons, or if they find them as easy (or maybe even easier) to understand than average kids. It would help inform my speculation above.
What is your opinion of her in her Sydney-Vision form? Star Trek TOS green alien form?
Peggy and several Harems work better for me than her standard look, Max and Anvil are definitely up there, of course, all the super women are lovely in their way…
but I’d definitely have to pick Dabbler first just for the novelty/experience.
I mean, I like her look. I liked it when she had four boobs and people said she looked too “manly.” But we’re talking about a woman who can look like your subconscious ideal of beauty and is up to do whatever you want.
The appearance altering thing would be great to add variety to any relationship. But for most of the time, if you actually had Dabbler (or Masque, for that matter) as a girl friend, why would you want them in anything other than their natural forms? They are delectable, as is!
Coherent light is different than regular light. If a shield will accept light from an angle but has a strong aversion for light coming straight at it, that could account for being able to see but not being able to be lased into charcoal.
coherent light. I love the mental image that brings, like, of a flashlight beam wandering in jiggles and spurts, getting lost, wobbling drunk, and incoherent.
The ST bra is adorkable.
I’m unsure whether her grimace in the last panel is embarrassment or annoyance/envy, similar to #138.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/876
re: Dabbler’s attractiveness. When she smiles, she’s kinda attractive. The purple bit doesn’t work for me, tho. And I expect she has significant physical presence (and no that’s not a euphemism for b00bz) in addition to aura powers.
The embarrassment is there. It is scientifically quantifiable. But I agree with you, as regards to the expression and your link. It is very much a mixed emotion.
Flustered is the word I’d use to describe her in that last panel.
That sure is how the scene plays to me, emotionally. It is purely comparing the above expression, with the one linked, that made me agree, on that point.
I think the lighting*, in that final panel, makes her look angrier, by highlighting the drawn-down eyebrows. Slightly tipping the edge from ‘teeth gripped in frustration’ to ‘teeth gripped in anger’. But not so much that it changed my interpretation, in my various read-throughs, up until being referred to that link.
* Which I should say is an absolute masterpiece, by the way. The light and shadows of this, and the previous page, really do set a tone and create powerful images.
Dabbler is probably with Achilles. He hardly exerted himself during the fight, being knocked about and trapped until it was over and he can’t be killed from a succubus feeding.
Why is everyone assuming that succubus feeding has to be deadly, or even dangerous?* We even have an in-universe analogy, which implies that it is not deadly. Vehemic energy is related to her Tantric energy, and Vehemence went out of his way to avoid killing his victims.
* Ignoring any peril to the soul, that is. For those inclined to worry about traditional repercussions of consorting with demons.
Heh – good one!
Also, about
Ignoring any peril to the soul, that is. For those inclined to worry about traditional repercussions of consorting with demons.
According to one of her memories, she seemed to have a fight with a demon in hell, so she will probably not contibute to soul-catching and related things.
With a bit of restraint, one can feed without completely draining the donor. Depending on your belief system, it may even count as a positive to donate some soul-juice to a needy succubus – laying down (a bit of) your life for a (very close) friend.
Heck, if you’re looking through the lense of Buddhism, ‘depositing’ your Masculine Energy into a Female receptacle is actually supposedly hugely beneficial, and I think possibly a tenet of the religion. Not certain of the spiritual details, but suffice it to say that Buddhist Monks aren’t required to be Celibate at all.
That sort-of-religion/life-style becomes more appealing the more I learn about it :)
Oddly enough, followers of the Taoist religion believe the opposite, that (umm) ‘finishing’ drains the masculine energy. No bans from a moral viewpoint, just a physical one.
I think it’s similar/different… Different in that I think the energy drain is desired, similar in that physically ‘finishing’ isn’t good- I might be confused, of course. But I heard that some train themselves to be able to achieve Orgasm without Ejaculation (because, seriously, we’re all adults here).
Not necessarily all. But informed discussion is more likely to educate, rather than harm.
Dabbler’s power has a linguistic link to that. Her Tantric powers. Albeit that Western interpretations of the concept vary from the source.
Nice last page with a good loop to the beginning. Though I’ve got to say I find the last frame to active to be a final frame.
I also have some questions to D’s and V’s powers. Out of consideration to delicate people reading this I’ll ask them in relation to V but they also apply to D.
1. If V abuses himself does he get charged? And if he does and not considering any leakage is the limit the same as if someone lends a hand?
2. Is the power emotion based or action based, meaning if V had an suitably equipped robot (but no emotion on the robot side) to tussle with would he get more power than in the case above?
4. If tools are used to enrich the experience is there more energy? Is it less “clean”?
5. As we know the energy can be absorbed without physical contact, does touching allow for a higher intake of energy on the same activity?
6. Is the power drained of the partner or is it generated without putting additional strain than usual for the activity on the partner?
I don’t expect that these questions will be answered here as it’s always nice to have some wiggle room with superpowers, but maybe some tiny piece of information to start of some speculation.
Self abuse would be at best a station keeping activity. Assuming the process is nearly 100% energy efficient, which it isn’t, it would prevent the drain of power but nothing more. As far as machine involvement goes, it’s probably different for V than D. Two robot tanks fighting is still fantastically violent. A dildo on a piston going into a fleshlight wouldn’t generate a lot of tantric energy, two sentient robots doing it would generae more, but probably not as much as lust driven organic coupling.
I agree that sometimes, just sometimes, technology goes a bit too far…
O.o
Thanks for the info, did not expect robots to generate energy at all.
What about robots that design and build new robots? Wouldn’t that be the equivalent of mechanical sex?
No, because not all sex is for the purposes of procreation. No, the equivalent of mechanical sex would be sex.
Sydney has a good question.
I’ll one-up her.
How could she tell anyone was using lasers? The beams move at the speed of light (being made of same) and the beams give off no light (being lasers, the only things to ‘see’ them are in the lights path. Now, if budget halo shoots lasers through a cloud of dust, perhaps Sydney will see a line of dust illuminated… But if any of that shooting is at her, that line of dust points directly to her. Unless the dust is very close to her, all she would have to see is a bright point, not a line. This makes telling if she was shot at a lot harder than telling if others are shot at.
To her credit, Sydney is not claiming that lasers bounce off her shield. Bullets bounce. Plasma bolts bounce (or probably splash). Lasers reflect.
I maintain that the shield is not a shield, but instead transports her to a secure location and projects the outside world on the sphere’s interior, while also projecting the interior of the shield on its exterior. Being projections only, by simply limiting the ability to project to low power effects, no burny lasers, shock waves, radiation, etc can make it through.
if the laser’s intensity is high enough it will create a beam through the air even without a dust cloud in the way. the laser pointers and security systems are unseen by normal people because they are not designed to do any damage. the higher the intensity of the laser the brighter the beam is. the majority of lighting systems and lasers in use to date don’t show a path because they are designed to “point” at a spot and nothing more. if the beam is designed to cut through solid objects then it will also ignite the air along it’s path. also not all ranged attacks like hex’s are actually lasers but they are called that because of how they look and act.
I still maintain that Hex’s “lasers” are not lasers at all – the way they’re behaving in panels 1/2 here: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1383 says they’re more likely some kind of particle beam.
After all, she’s flying and supporting her entire weight with all six of them in “beam mode” – the energy discharge needed to support a normal sized human (or even a somewhat short one) on six beams of light would ionize the air around it so bad she’s be surrounded by more lightning than a fight between Jiggawatt and Glowbug. Instead it just melts/digs a little hole in the pavement at the end of each beam.
It’s much more likely that the difference between “beam mode” and “thruster mode” is how fine the particle beam spray is focused.
I’m not sure why she’s using the beams like thrusters in the first part of that page, since the rest of the page has her flying without the need to use them like that.
For some reason she just felt like flying in a violent way.
Considering what they’re doing to the pavement she’s hovering above, it’s not so much that she needed to use them like that, as much as she needed to not use them like that when potentially flying over top of her own team-mates, who probably would find it rude if she sliced them in half while passing overhead.
DAVE hey! I happen to know vampire story where vampire doesn’t want to drink blood. He gets by with food. LOTS of food. And pretty girl tells him: “Drink my blood”. Manga: Millennium Snow. I recommend it.
For awhile there in my life I couldn’t call friends without doing this to them or visit them very embarrassing at the time.
I have one nit to pick on this and the previous page. Being a glasses wearer for the last 35 years, I can tell you I don’t care how tired I am, I take my glasses off before I fall asleep. Glasses are expensive and sleeping in them can frack them up like no ones business (and also it is incredibly uncomfortable unless you sleep on your back and don’t move). one of the scariest thing in the world for me is waking up and not being able to find my glasses (that and when my 3 year old identical twin girls get really really quiet). Sydney would have taken her glasses off and put them in their usual spot before passing out. If she was too tired to do that, then she was too tired to drive home (or especially fly, can you imagine what would happen if she nodded off and let go of her flight ball?).
I have done the same as Sydney. Probably at about the same stage in my career.* And paid the price you describe. Doubtless she will learn the tricks you, and I, have developed, to counter that. As such, she is being realistically portrayed, for her age.
* Boy days like that are exhausting!
She’s not That young, though. She’s old enough to be co-owner of a business and live on her own and become part of a paramilitary organization.
It all depends on what age you have to start wearing glasses. In my case I did not need to start wearing them until I was in my teens. In fact I can remember that it caused me a few problems, because I did not even realise I had an issue. School friends would think I had blanked them deliberately, if they passed me some distance away, say on the other side of the street. Whereas I would just not have made out their face clearly enough to recognise them.
It was not until I was at the back of a class, and the teacher insisted on me reading out something on the blackboard, that it became apparent that, whatever it was, everyone else could make it out just fine.
And, even when I got them, I did not need to wear them all the time. So a lot of the disciplines, which have since become second-nature, were not needed for me, until I got older and my eyesight necessitated wearing the glasses habitually.
I was in college before I noticed the issue, under similar circumstances to yours. After having some blackboard issues I finally got glasses. My first comment when I stepped outside? “My god! Trees have leaves!”
And even today I’ve had once or twice where I’ve fallen asleep with them on. Usually it is more gradual (wartching TV and fall asleep). But it can happen.
Being a glasses wearer for the majority of my life (from about 2/3yrs-6 and then from 11yrs on) I can safely say that there are many situations where glasses have been left on overnight.(Bad/good camping habit) I tend to pick frames that are slim-fitting and highly durable to counteract the abuse they go through. If Sydney had lazy eye or any other vision issue that might mess with depth perception it’s possible that her frame choice reflects that there are situations where she’d leave them on. Especially if organized sports were involved.
When the sensation of the nose piece getting jammed into your tear ducts doesn’t wake you up then you’re probably more exhausted than lazy.
I woke up many mornings with my glasses on and a puddle of drool on my textbook.
As I have stated in the previous strip, I have slept with my glasses on, and some of those times just so happens to be the result of driving home from something and the exhaustion comes tumbling down. Next thing you know, I’m on the couch with glasses still on. In spite of the fact that said glaases at times coukd end up in the cushions despite the fact I can actually keep still, they’re still intact after all these years. What happened to Sydney, other than the ‘mimimimimi’, does happen to people.
Dabbler absorbs people’s electrolytes? But… that means she’s a cyborg!
… oh wait, yeah. She is a cyborg. Never mind.
Succubi crave electrolytes…
(C’mon, what’s the reference? I’m timing you 8-)
Idiocracy – a masterful and terrifying film
Damn, I have seen that, and still didn’t get the reference.
I must be getting dumber…
*brains dribbling out of ears*
The latter probably having been the result of watching that movie. I agree that the concept is terrifying but, as for the implementation… meh, not really my cup of tea. I probably spent half the movie trying to psychically fast forward it. The premise was interesting enough, that I wanted to see it through. But movies like that make me cringe too much to enjoy them properly.
*takes off stuffed shirt and adds a bit more starch to it*
Add ‘depressing’ to the list. Despite the happy ending, what lasting difference would come from adding two non-idiots to that society? Collapse delayed, not averted.
I’m now picturing the ARC men competing for “Dabbler Recharge Duty” after fights.
AHAHHAHHAHA! *falls of chair* HAHAHAHAH *ghasping for air* HAHAH… *chocking* *dead*
*sniff, sniff*
How sad.
“Keep it up Eddie! You knockin’ ’em dead! You’re slayin’ ’em!”
~Roger Rabbit
“Loots the body”
OOOOOH! A Legendary!
yup and a nice chunk of change to boot
I’ll give ya an Excalibastard for that Infinity.
Throw in a triple dip chocolate ice cream cone and you have a deal
*hands you the cone and the Excalibastard* Now I can really tell Jack to sit on it and spin! MUAHAHA
Maybe the fact that her shield blocks light of dangerously high intensity is classified, and that is why she claims the shield wouldn’t work in the pre-flashback. That or Hex’s “lasers” weren’t actually lasers.
Consider a two-way mirror. one side reflective, one not, and you can see through one to the opposite side, in fact, with the proper materials, you can even look through one from the wrong direction. I’m not saying the shield works that way, just that it’s a possibility.
I looked it up, and does anyone else find it weird that one-way mirrors and two-way mirrors are just two ways of saying the same thing?
Fun fact about one-way mirrors (or at least some types of them) either side could be the reflecting side. The mirror seems to only allow the stronger side’s light through, but it reflects the light as well. So, if the high energy laser hits one such mirror, it guarentees it’s the highest power thing hitting that spot, making that spot reflective towards it. I’m sure that there are ways (especially with superpowers) to make certain that the light that still passes through is filtered down to a “normal” level. The shield can’t quite work like a one-way mirror though. Sydney would need to be generating as much light as her surroundings to not have the shield look like a mirror, with her standing in a much darker dome. Just look at interrogation room scenes in cop movies. The Castle episode “Poof, You’re Dead” uses this two-way transparency/opacity as a magic trick to help get a confession.(Spoiler for show Castle, not for here)
A more likely scenario would really be a surface that reflects only certain wavelengths/intensities of light or energy. Far more sophisticated, but certainly helpful.
It would be interesting to see if such a laser would also bounce off of the inside of the shield. Given the lack of air flow in or out I’d say it would, and any such experiment would need serious safety precautions, because it’s only the deadly/dangerous levels of light that get reflected. It would be an interesting way to test the dropoff in effectiveness/intensity/strength of various laser-based attacks over distance. Find out if Hexx or someone else could potentially take out a sattelite or distant spaceship by accident.
We are used to ‘dumb’ technology. Where we have to burn chemicals and move several tons of metal, in order to propel ourselves. Or make ridiculous amounts of heat, in order to produce light (up until we got the hang of low-energy light bulb technology, but even then it is still inefficient).
Truly sophisticated technology will be suitably discriminating in only providing its effect, when it is necessary, for it’s purpose. And safety protocols will ensure that harmful, or undesirable, side effects are unobtrusively minimised, or completely negated.
The force field needs to allow light (and sound) to pass, for the user to be able to interact with the environment. Whilst still blocking all attacks. Including light and sound based ones. It probably has multiple features, and redundancies, built in, to achieve these, and other effects.
Just look at how complex modern fly-by-wire aircraft are. I bet even the engineers who work on them only understand half the mechanisms themselves. They each have their own specialities and other people will handle those which they are not familiar with.
Yet they are incredibly dumb tech, in comparison to the Fly Ball. Which skips the whole moving an aeroplane bit, and simply directly controls gravity. Plus provides the necessary protection from air buffeting, hypothermia and basic hazards of flight.
So, even if we stumble upon one of the basic mechanisms that the orbs use, to produce a given effect, they probably have several other technologies (or magics or organs) built in too. In order to provide the ancillary effects, needed for the simple usage that they provide.
Most “one way mirrors” operate on the principle that by illuminating one side sufficiently more than the other, the darker side is drowned out by the lighter side – it’s still there, and if you had a high quality digital camera next to the ‘mirror’ and another looking at the reflection you could digitally subtract one from the other to isolate the ‘weak’ image.
Of course, at a small scale, it is possible to create genuinely one-way glass – it’s called an Optical Isolator. I would suspect that ARC use large scale copies in their questioning rooms – but the mirror is probably just a mirror, and it’s the “solid wall” you should be squinting suspiciously at.
You really need to listen for the sound occlusion caused by Arc-dark’s cloaked recording instruments/agents. Of course now that problem’s been pointed out, other methods of locating such are required.
So Dabbler at the moment has a mighty need for something other than science?
Maybe. Though to be fair, I think we have to admit that she is demonstrating a firm… grasp… of BOTH science and [redacted].
Personally, I find that the scientific method is never incompatible with other activities.
Ahh, so, as an advocate of the science position, you probably scoff at the missionary position?
Well, when exploring new possibilities and indulging in the wonder of the universe, it’s always best to start with what you know and work upward from there. In other words, no; in sexual terms, missionary is like the fundamental constants of physics. It’s always there, always reliable, and you can learn a lot from it if you experiment with different variables.
I’ve had trouble convincing my girlfriends that we needed a control group.
however, by the wording of that, you’ve already suggested you’ve conducted a control group, of sorts.
Just be careful that your Control Group doesn’t get out of control during the experiments.
Hey, did anyone else notice that Sydney’s orbs did not wake up when she did? They are with her on the previous page; https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1628
Yes.
Thanks. Not only am I late to post because I work the graveyard shift but It seems I’m also too tired to see what I just read.
No probs. And you did better than me. I missed that detail completely.
Looking again though, Sydney does appear odd, without them. They really are a part of her image.
The image borked on me right at the bottom. I can read “She only answered the phone because”, and the rest is garbage. Tried loading the image by itself and refreshing, but that didn’t fix it. Can anyone tell me what the rest of the sentence says?
And there better not be a pool running on ‘Get Yorp to Say…”!
Because, no matter what, you are not going to get me to say “Trouser Ferret”!
…
Doh!
*squeak*
Snap! And I refreshed right before posting to avoid that 8-/
She only answered the phone because she’s an inveterate multitasker.
I imagine this; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA4_O3oeJCw playing in the background of Dabbler’s bedroom right now.
Been a while since I heard that song. Good reference!
For those people stressing out over the function of Sydney’s shield, might I remind you that we have people who can defy gravity at will, move instantly through space, create and shoot beams of exploding nuclear plasma, cast actual magic spells, melt metal in their bare hands without ill effect, defy injury at the molecular level, split themselves into multiple copies, and transmute themselves into pure electricity and back. The shield is one of the least of the weird things that the scientists of the GP universe have to try to figure out. At their universities you can probably get your doctorate in superhero physics.
I thought U.S. universities were already offering that, in our world?
not a degree but there are classes for it. Some Universities offer classes like that for there to be some fun high level classes.
You can even get continuing legal education credits for what superheroes and comic books can teach you about the law. https://westlegaledcenter.com/program_guide/course_detail.jsf?courseId=47628776
while all those things are interesting, i’m more interested in how the orbs work. i’m betting that sydney’s shield is actually a power source for all the other orbs. it probably absorbs all the energy from all the attacks that come at it and transfers it to the other orbs. in the laser absorption the shield is absorbing all of the heat energy while redirecting the light energy along it’s surface in order to prevent any damage to anything inside. the rate of absorption is probably limited which is why it couldn’t absorb all of the attack and had to redirect it along the surface. for other attacks that explode on impact the shield absorbs all of energy that would otherwise go inside it and ignores the rest.
Right.
And there are dozens of explanations, ranging from ‘Hex fires beams which are not lasers’ to ‘Halo’s shield only permits E-M energy up to a certain power before activating screening functions’.
Not sure, how much man is enjoying, his hand in the air looks more like a request for mercy, like he tries to grab something to hold xD
Horns. He is just horny.
Well, that’s one way to get someone off the phone.
I can get Sydney’s halo of balls falling dormant while she is sleeping, but why aren’t they encircling her head now that she’s sitting up awake on this page?
Because they sleep harder than she does. Apparently they fall asleep on their own, but have to be “poked” to wake up. Rather like our computers, actually…
Man, I hope she never has to do a reboot. Trying to hold the PPO in one hand, the Fly Ball in another, and then finding a way to also grasp the True Sight Orb, could lead to some embarrassing poses. Especially if it involves the crack of her butt, this time.
Perhaps one of the unknown functions of the comm-ball is to put a call in to Technical Support:
“… and I keep telling you I physically CAN’T DO THAT!”
Hmmm…Could that mean that the creators of those orbs might be octo-limbed? Only 7 orbs so they could still leave one limb/tentacle/psuedopod/whatever free for other tasks?
Possibly.
By the way, Star Trek bra is AWESOME!
but notice in the last two panels you can still see the edge of her shirt under the blanket somehoww sydey while holding the phone in one hand without disturbing her blanket cocoon managed to de-bra herself without losing the shirt one handed.given the bra has shoulder straps I am led to the inevitable conclusion that sydney has some matter of unrealised matter phasing ability she herself is not yet aware of
Nah, just a solid grasp of topology.
“Braoffogy”
Alternatively, she could have simply undone swapped the phone to her other hand while it was off-panel in panel 5.
Put on a T-Shirt, and try the following: pull back of collar over top of head, scrunch bottom-back of T-shirt up toward collar, and then pull the bottom-front out down and forwards with your thumb. Your elbow should slip out of the sleeve! She can then slip her arm out of her bra strap, back into her top, swap the phone over and repeat with the other arm. :D
(Drawings of Sydney demonstrating this without the blanket would be appreciated – I’m sure it’s a still Dabbler would love to learn/practice too! Harem can probably just “unport” her clothes for the night…)
Wait before you hang up! Dabbler, is it possible for you to make a man pass out by making him sniff a large amount of sex pheromones?
(Forgive me if I don’t have my sucubus lore down. Not sure if the give off pheromones…)
She’s a lady, so the answer is “Only when I want to!” *smirk*
So you could have a non lethal, non violent takedown move against male villains? Just stick their face in your armpits (which besides the genitals have the most pheromones) and boom, lights outs? Cool.
Heh! UI couldn’t help myself with this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4XbV3gCm2Y
The most common way of having a shield that stops lasers without stopping other light is to pick out a distinct feature of the laser (such as wavelength, or polarization) and only block light with those properties. If you don’t know the properties of the laser, another option is a material that becomes opaque in proportion to the intensity of light hitting it (real-world materials that do this generally either don’t do it fast enough, or require light intensities so high that you’d get burnt anyway, but Supers).
An interesting question is what would happen if a bunch of beams that were individually too weak to be harmful were all focused to meet on the other side of her shield; recognizing that as a threat is more challenging.
That’s a good point. I’m now imagining a sunny day and a giant magnifying glass with Sydney’s head at the focus.
“My other nemesis: a super with the power to bend sunlight.”
8-)
A force field could also attenuate light in direct proportion to its intensity, with regular light dimmed so little that you can’t tell and other sources interfered with more and more.
A more interesting answer is Sydney’s force-field is actually opaque. Sydney’s orbs have known sight/sound illusion abilities. Suppose her force field plasters illusions on both sides? It would look like ambient light is passing through and damaging light isn’t, but that would not be the actual case.
I like the polarisation explanation best , since all lasers are polarized .
And it hints that sidney could make her shield opaque ( right down to completely dark )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarizing_filter_%28photography%29#mediaviewer/File:Animation_polariseur_2.gif
All lasers are polarized. Not all lasers have the same polarization, and a polarized filter only works if it matches the polarization of the source.
How far forward do those horns alongside Dabbler’s face come? If they come out too far they could be unpleasantly in the way for some things.
Far enough that kissing, whilst drunk, could lead to a visit to the Super Doc.
Still, she has many ways of making good use of them too, I am sure. If you get the point.
Isn’t she also a shapeshifter? Partly anyway? Might be she could change that a bit.
Okay she is part Doppelganger but no shape shifting.
So far we have seen her illusion form, not shape shifting.
In the cast page, Dave flat-out states that Dabbler’s not a shape-shifter. She uses illusion instead.
Yea, you are right. Elsewhere, I threw in a casual reference, today, to her shapeshifting but that was just me concentrating on other things, and mis-remembering her cover story. The public are meant to think she is a shape-shifter, to conceal the fact that she uses illusions.
Even worse, although it was Sydney who gave Shadow Boxer a handful of “crushed nuts,” I cringe at the thought of Dabbler giving me shish-ka-bob…
Actually, changing the first-comics light-vs.-forcefield debate *does* change things. Quite a bit.
Those first comics showcase Sydney’s ability to think laterally, which is her true superpower. She used her ability to great effect by figuring out how to beat both Death Toll and Vehemence.
You can rewrite the lateral thinking moment away from light going through force fields to something else entirely, but it’s our introduction to Sydney and first-impressions are important. :)
Well, while on the phone with Dabbler, Sydney did sort of side-track by saying that such a “threshhold filtering” power on a shield would be pretty expensive with RPG points, it indicates to me that, for the game-session shown at the start of the comic, Sydney’s character didn’t have enough points for that kind of “upgrade.”
When i look at Hiro’s hand not so many pages before, and teh hand sticking out here? is it hiro? he has noone to cheat on as far as i’m aware
*holds up paw, and looks at it*
Damn, not even close. Sod it, I am going for it anyhow.
*holds up paw higher*
“I am Spartacus!”
“Pulls out the hammer and nails”
…I’ve seen far more references to Romans crucifying people than the ancient Greeks…
Then again, old habits die hard, eh Dr?
Yeah but some of the new stuff is fun to.
Vlad was always good for a laugh.
Catapulting plague-ridden corpses at your enemies is good for de-moralizing them too.
I prefer using the catapults to shotgun em with full chamber pots
…The very same chamber pots used by the plague-ridden before they end up as corpses, I presume…
yep
My advance scouts tell me that the enemy has a hard time dodging the “splash damage” from those…
hmmm i would guess it’s stalwart or goose the silent soldier… but that might just be wishful thinking
Sydney would have been more embarrassed if it’d been a video call, and probably died of embarrassment if the video call linked her to Dabbler’s fake eye, letting her see what Dabbler sees.
Dabbler can gain energy from any sexual energy within her radius and she has enough control to not drain most of her partners completely. Even so looking at her can be hypnotic, a kiss gives her control of you and ARC is worried enough to dedicate a watcher to making sure she does not cross the line. I wouldn’t volunteer to be her partner.
Alternatively.
She can probably get ‘minimum sustenance’ from living near the local red-light district… There’s nothing to say that she has to get “personally involved” particularly regularly.
(Not to say that she doesn’t, but it would be more “eating for pleasure”)
Dabbler should plunk down some money and become the owner of a love hotel in Japan. Doubt it would take her long to design a quick way to commute back and forth, and there would usually be several rooms providing energy for her at any given time.