Grrl Power #362 – Equipmental
Sydney is stumbling around verbally cause she keeps almost forgetting that not everyone knows that Dabbler isn’t human. To be honest I kind of keep forgetting it too, and it’s probably only a matter of time before I slip up in the comic. Now me personally, if I’m in a room full of superheroes and one of them says “By the way I’m actually an alien adventurer from a race that inspired your current cultural image of demons.” my reaction would probably be “Neat.” But in reality, that is a rather loaded revelation; extraterrestrial life, sapience, civilization, demons are real – sort of. The general populace would have a much harder time absorbing that, not to mention how crazy it would drive a great deal of the religious populace. Sure most people on the more casual side of the spectrum would shrug and think “Hey, cool, God is everywhere, right? Makes sense.” but of course to anyone fervently under the impression that humans are God’s favorite pet project, it could cause some violent cognitive dissonance. That’s why they haven’t revealed her origin to the general populace yet.
In fact Arianna and those in the know have a directive to never actually refer to Dabbler as a human so they can’t be caught in a lie later when she is revealed. It’s not that hard really. Given that we don’t live in a post-warp drive era society rife with aliens, how often do you have to describe someone as human in casual conversation? Though when dealing with Supers, the question of whether or not they are human will occasionally come up. That’s kind of a difficult question to answer, because first you have to define what a species is. Normally a species is defined as the largest group of individuals that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. (There are some problems with this since some life reproduces asexually but it works pretty well for higher order life) A horse and a donkey can interbreed and produce a mule, but mules are almost always infertile, hence horses and donkeys are different species. (They also have a different number of chromosomes which is pretty telling, but let’s stick with the interbreeding thing.) Supers and humans can easily interbreed and the result will either be a super or a human, (and they have the same number of chromosomes if anyone was wondering) so by that measure they’re the same species. But then things get problematic – Succubi can interbreed with humans and many other species, and the result is always a succubus, but they’re certainly not human. They just have crazy baby factories. (Dabbler will explain this in some detail eventually) Taking that in to account, someone could argue that Supers are a non-human species that happens to be capable of producing fertile offspring with humans. Who knows, maybe every Super has that as a super power?
So… yeah, not everyone knows Dabbler is a space vixen. Kind of digressed there.
For the record I don’t think armored socks of any kind would be remotely practical. Maxima is just saying that they would be physically possible to create, just to mollify Heatwave. Crap I just realized Achilles should be sitting next to her. I guess he dropped his Skittles too.
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Gah, can’t wait for the next super battle!
Thats gonna be a while, I think I remember DaveB saying the next couple of months of her training are going to take a year to make.
It’ll be worth the wait.
Agreed.
Thats ok. While the battles are nice, theyre not the high-point of the comic for me.
I thought the same before the first battle. Now I’m not so sure. This comic is still the reason I enjoy coming to work on Mondays and Thursdays, I know next page will be waiting for me. But there is no suspense. Sometimes I just forget to check for several hours (especially if there are urgent problems waiting for me) – and I don’t mind. Same thing if the page was several hours late – I’d just shrug, it will come eventually. I certainly did mind back when Vehemence was beating the crap ouf of everyone (there WERE several pages posted late back then, I was refreshing every few minutes).
Ditto. I am in no rush. The heroes have established their credentials, big time, and I am enjoying all the behind-the-scenes things that we are now getting to see. There are a huge number of comics which just focus on the action. Those do not appeal to me. I grew bored of them years ago.
Same goes for action movies. The Terminator movie with the terminatrix in it is a firm favourite of mine. But the chase scene, involving the fire engine, goes on so long it makes me nod off. Literally! I find my eyelids drooping, and my head dropping down. Despite the sound of the vehicles in a chase and glass smashing.
Similarly with the freeway chase in one of the Matrix movies. Hollywood is too obsessed with car chases, for my tastes.
That’s odd. I would think that seeing the act of chasing cars would keep your tail wagging. Maybe if it was a mail truck instead of a fire truck.
That’s racist, man! You’re racially profiling! #NotAllDogs
It just isn’t the same if you’re not the one doing it, dog.
If car chase scenes bore you that much, you would’ve hated the Blue Brothers movie. I heard that to film that, over 400 cop cars were wrecked…
Nah. That was brilliant. It wasn’t serious and good fun.
That latest Die Hard movie though :( not only was out long, but it broke my willing suspension of disbelief. I never thought I could be so bored of a car chase in an action movie.
I actually couldn’t watch any more, and then read a review that called it the high point of the movie…
I have seen it, and I can’t remember the car chases particularly bothering me. The director must have kept the pacing right, and had enough dialogue, character interaction and comedy to break up the monotony. I did not hate the chase scenes in those other movies, and parts of it were fun. They just started to get boring when dragged out too long.
Bollywood has a similar, if even more surreal, fixation. Namely deciding to put a song routine in every movie. And both industries can seriously tick me off when they try to shoehorn their obsession into a film inappropriately.
Which means that I rarely watch any Bollywood movie, because song and dance routines in non-musicals are pretty much uncalled for in any film. Barring in logical places, such as if at a nightclub. And even then a full orchestral piece, with a troop of supporting dancers, appearing out of nowhere, just breaks the tone of anything other than a comedy or parody. Barring in actual musicals, but even then I prefer it if things are more organic to the setting.
At least cars are everywhere in the modern world. So Hollywood can often justify a chase. But they will still irritate me, due to the tired frequency it is done. Especially if the pursuer is a cop and does not radio in to get support, just so that the scene can be dragged out for an inordinately long time.
Does this mean Phineas & Ferb was really a Bollywood series designed as a Western cartoon?
I think you may have just stumbled onto the next big thing in movies: musical car chases.
Errr…
…how does one “tune” a car, so that it produces the proper musical note upon impact…?
:P
Is that something that they do in post-production, while mixing the sound-levels…?
Not only that, it was just last night that a LOT of super villains got rounded up & arrested…Plus, when that TV video footage gets aired by the press, many who didn’t participate in that fight are going to think twice (or more) about trying to start something.
S yeah, I’d say that it’s probably going to be quite a while before we see any more super-fights & that’s a good/logical reason why.
Most of them were probably released after being debriefed.
Except Barberaian. He was debriefed and de-everything elsed by Dabbler.
“The muscles”. Still laughing about that one. That superpower will remain secret for awhile.
Hey now, give them a chance. A lot of them probably don’t fall under the villain category, even when not influenced by aggression auras. Were the cast not fairly full already, I would not have been surprised to see several of them showing up shortly as ARC recruits.
After all, its hard to be registered when the registration program was only announced a day or two ago.
I am afraid that you have the memory rather mixed up, the announcement was that there will be no registration. Nobody is required to declare that they have superpowers, nor will supers be treated any differently to any other people.
That point aside, the rest of your comments are well said.
Believe they may be thinking about registering to join ARCHON (there will be no ‘unCivil War’ in the Halo-Verse :P)
I did wonder if that was the intent. I just could not recall any mention of such, hence me replying on the other angle.
Although, if that was the intention, it is fair enough, even without Arianna making an explicit invitation, as it could be inferred that that was an integral purpose of the press conference. Along with the other aspects, of course, such as officially acknowledging the existence of super powers and reassuring the public that Archon will protect them.
@Yorp:
I think that the registration that [Tarne] was talking about was for supers who voluntarily register to join Archon…?
That said, it bears repeating that “Mandatory Conscription” is a plot-element which is *NOT* part of the “GP”-universe!
going into the day to day operation is occasionally a good thing but there is a reason why training montages are the Standard Operating Procedure.
one of those with stops for important bits and we could be at the next ‘mission’ or super fight with all the relevant information in a couple months rather than over a year or more likely closer to a decade at the current pace.
Ahh, I can see that if you were the editor of Apocolypse Now, the film would have been cut down to be shorter than it’s trailer! The journey was the film. Just as the daily life of our heroes, and Sydney in particular, is this comic. Keep your hands off the fast forward button!
A Halo training montage…I’m envisioning a (possibly literally) fire-breathing drill sergeant angrily chasing Sydney through multiple panels, Beatle Baily style. Interspersed, of course with scenes of her meeting her fellow recruits, one of which is a poor schmuck with an obvious crush who gets comically interrupted every time he starts to talk to her.
And a graduation ceremony were everyone is wrapped in bandages or using crutches.
Eh, it’s late. At this hour that’s the best my poor brain can come up.
Big hugs for Brook :(
Poor Brook, really feel bad for her :(
I concur with you & Guesticus both…It’s going to be a looong time before Brooke & Mr. Amorphorous try to enjoy a playful game of Foosties.
I can understand the kevlar socks. She will need several pairs if they are her regular footwear. It can be done. There are motorcycle rider jeans that combine denim, stretch material and kevlar or another aramid material. Leave out the denim and they would be like wool socks.
They exist. A company called “Swiss barefoot” makes them. They’re 70 bucks a pair.
Ahh, I can see the need for them. All those Swiss army knives! Must make a good Christmas gift though, getting a fancy knife in it’s own kevlar stocking.
Heatwave would need them more than most if you consider her fighting style: During most of the battle she was hovering above the fight, feet down. Any armor you wear should face the incoming fire which in her case means the soles of her feet and legs, and crotch.
Yea, and Heatwave is doubly vulnerable, because she is a weak flyer. So does not have the advantages of manoeuvrability or speed to help evade any attacks. In the air she becomes a target, and lacks much in the way of innate defence (although her heat aura will discourage any melee attacks or similar).
She should be advised to make use of cover, rather than take to the air, when ranged attackers are around.
Although, in the circumstances she was in when injured, she had actually made a good call, despite the way it turned out. She would have been in even more danger at ground height, against a super-speeder.
Kevlar socks would be handy for many reasons, but they would probably not have saved Brook’s toe. Kevlar is not a (good, I’m sure it’s better than cotton) protection against knife wounds.
But this stuff is. And that is what Ashley (a.k.a. Iron Cloth) would make for Harem.
Eh, not so much, as Ashley said himself.
Given that Heatwave was stabbed by a super-speeder, and is at most risk from thrown knives (due to being able to fly), I would hardly say that being vulnerable to slow thrusts is an issue!
This is the first page that made me like her.
Love her expression in the last panel.
Always figured glasses in a fight would be pretty useless, stick something holographic with hard to hit miniprojector.
I’m of the same opinion, if possible have the projector somewhere like just below the hairline, where you’re slightly less likely to be hit than elsewhere on your face. (Although that location specifically, would cause other problems when the hair gets in the way, unless your projector used a method that is rather different to what is currently possible with our world’s technology.)
How many scouters do you suppose the Saiyans wrecked over all those years they did planet conquering? I mean they would destroy almost anything for fun I can just see some poor Quartermaster dying a little inside every time he had to give out new stuff.
Is that why he made them explode if they saw anyone with a high enough power level to take the saiyans on?
My avatar here
<——
is wearing tactical goggles. As far as it goes with Dave, he can use the basic design for it if he wants.
:D
Every modern Military equips ballistic eyewear to protect their troopers’ eyes from dust, debris, laser, shrapnel, and sudden changes in light intensity. Ranging from tactical glasses up to goggles. Many (like me) also wear after-market items as long as they meet Authorized Protective Eyewear List (APEL) standards. Most of which can protect your eyes from even a #8 birdshot shotgun blast from certain distances.
If you have to go with something light and all that, in theory contacts would be the best, otherwise you ARE going to want to prioritize durability. And contacts are not exactly easy to put on during battle.
Forget durability, mass production should be one of the criteria (but without losing the quality)
Skittles must be manufactured by Supers or Aliens, who obviously deliberately include powerful social distraction chemicals/enchantments/effects.
…And a slippery surface, since everyone seems to lose their grip on them so much during this scene…
That’s why I eat M&Ms. They’re courteous candies, and always look after their consumers.
M&M’s? But they talk! My TV says so! How can you eat something that talks to you?
*Sits back to wait for the inevitable sex jokes*
You mean like:
“If you mix Skittles and M&Ms, do you get S&Ms?”
…I like the green ones best…
Apparently, General Faulk & I share the same tastes in “favorite color.”
(Bottom half of page https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/660)
YES… Yes, you do… and i know because we do that almost every single year that we throw a room party at Norwescon up here in Seattle. it’s one of our most popular munchies we serve.
Kevlar socks wouldn’t do anything. They’re useless against blades.
Graphene is where it’s at.
I wonder if graphene counts as clothing, and if our super tailor could work with molecule thick material
Erm.. yes it would..? Kevlar gloves are designed specifically for handling knives – both to prevent you cutting yourself, and to protect your hands when you’re taking the weapon from someone who doesn’t want to let you do it.
Stabbing is an entirely different matter, but when it comes to slashing, kevlar does just fine.
I was actually going to see if anyone else pointed it out. Kevlar isn’t even completely bulletproof, it merely makes use of the fact that the metal bullets are made of deforms on impact.
That’s why the 5.7mm caliber is considered a counter bulletproof vest bullet. The tip doesn’t deform and penetrates the kevlar. What really has stopping power in vests are the ceramic plates they put inside that caused so many useless deaths in the last 25 years in the US military, because the weight made them cumbersome (but very protective).
Blades, on the other hand, are designed to pierce, no matter what, and kevlar is just a synthetic cloth, but cloth in the end, and cloth plus blades equals cut/pierce/stab.
As RobK pointed out, graphene coated cloth or something of the like could be much more protective. Hits would still be painful, but they wouldn’t pierce the skin.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4x8AJYDrFlU Knives vs kevlar.
I am more impressed with tests/demonstrations which use things like ballistics gel, pig corpse or something which is closer to a human body than a phone book. But, despite that, the video was making a good point.
Mind you, what I think folks are missing is a very key point. Maxima is not talking off-the shelf kevlar. She referred to Ashley making it up. Ie they would be enhanced with his super power, so would offer more protection than anything we can test in the real world!
If you are trying to bullet-resistify your feet, kevlar shoes would be a much better idea than socks.
…Mainly because areas of the kevlar shoes can also include metal/ceramic inserts for more hardened protection. Try doing THAT with kevlar socks…
Then just make them out of metal ceramics
Hence Maxima’s comment about them not being particularly comfortable. But kevlar clothing is available, in the real world, without such inserts. Including kevlar socks. It just reduces the protection, rather than making it useless.
Just remember your GURPS rules for chainmail and kevlar, that is not worn with accompanying hard armour. The damage resistance and passive defence is significantly reduced, but is not eliminated.
Fairly sure that Hyoo-mons and Soo-purrs are the same species, just Soo-purrs have special abilities and slash or powers
You could describe Dabbles as having super-human abilities while not being human, because her abilities are ‘super-human’ (as in, beyond normal human capabilities)
What about Soo-woofs?
*stands ready to chase any Soo-purrs up a tree*
/ooc Dammit, I realize you are not really a dog but every time I read your posts I imagine a German Shepard siting a a keyboard typing….
/inc Good boy! Get the nasty Soo-purr! Get ’em!!
Really!? I just thought he was related to Ralph Von Wau Wau (a patron of my favorite Saloon).
You might be https://www.azhumane.org/wp-content/uploads/dog-keyboard.png. And they do say that the camera does not lie!
Not entirely beyond the realms of possibility.
Dog using keyboard for communication
Soo-woofs having special abilities is a given, some even have the ability to communicate using hyu-mon words and use keyboards :D
gotta be careful though, you may bring the wrath of the squirrel’s>/a> down upon yourself when they team up with those same Soo-purrs…
argh!…i want an edit function!…
The soo-squirl is waiting for you Yorp.
An ambush?
*runs away, fast*
Halo! Heeeeeeelp! I am comic support, not frontline big-gun. Sydney, I have an arch-villain on my tail, save meeeeeee!
So, just to be clear, I should not advertise to my fellow humans that I, too, am a human being born on this planet? Because to do otherwise might make them suspect that I may possibly be a non-human born on another planet?
Because, uh, I would hate to give that impression. That false impression.
*adds to copious notes on human behavior*
Don’t forget your multipass.
I ensure that I have my pet-passport with me at all times, when outside of the house. Mind you the owner is fictitious.* I do not have an owner. **
* This is actually the literal truth.
** So is this.
To obtain a Multipass, I postulate that motorfirebox must be a type water-like liquid being that holds human shape by using the properties of surface tension. Water is, in the cosmology of the ancient Chinese culture , The Fifth Element…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing
“You lied to us! She isn’t even human!”
“Actually, we never said that she’s human. We just didn’t mention that she isn’t.”
(Presumably, this would be followed by “Oh, okay, then you are still totally honest and trustworthy.” In someone’s hallucinations, that is.)
That’s called “lying by omission”. The fae in the Mercy Thompson novels are like that. They literally cannot lie… but they can do some funky things with the truth.
Maxima is a very generous teacher, to allow everyone muching on Skittles like that
Since they seem to be dropping them so much, it just now occurs to me that the candy company gave them the exactly correct name…It’s how well they “skittle” across the floor.
;)
Perhaps he’s just gone to the snack bar for another pack, to replace the skittles previously dropped?
I don’t think Maxima would let anyone leave the room once the briefing session started…They ARE under military orders to be there, ya’ know.
However, Mr. Amorphorous just might be able to stretch an arm far enough to the vending machine out in the hallway & get another package by long distance…
Harem only has one body here. Others are probably on skittles runs. Plus some might be on hands and knees, out of sight, on skittles clean-up KP duty!
If there is a TV/movie adaptation of this, I really hope they reproduce these panels completely, missing people and all, and actually have the meeting just be a whole procession of people dropping Skittles and everyone else politely ignoring this.
It’s a new villain, “Fruit-Fumble” – first he makes you drop your skittles then he makes you step on them and slip/trip!
Also works with bananas.
I do NOT agree with Jiggawatt there. Dabbler may have cast the spell that took out Vehemence, but it was Sydney’s plan that did him in. Sydney should be getting credit for that. Everyone else was assist
I would agree that it was Sydney’s plan and that just about everyone had to help actually carry it out, but it should be remembered that it was Dabbler who put him to sleep in the aftermath of the fight so they could tie him up and ship him off. A better phrase might have been “knocked him out.”
which, if you don’t remember, could not work unless he was willing to let it.
at that point, he was already defeated.
and of course the reason he was willing to be put to sleep was because the alternative was having maxima take his head off then and there, and none of it would ultimately have been feasible, plan or not, without everyone pitching in so, honestly, it was all a huge group effort, of which you could argue that sydney, maxima and Dabbler where key elements. Dabbler did provide bouncing distractions as well, which was part of what let maxima get free in the first place. So yeah, group effort.
Yeah, Vehemence’s choice was to either go to sleep or be put to sleep (my apologies to Yorp for that particular turn of phrase). It did take a massive group effort, coordinating together to pull it off…And it’s the TEAM effort is what Maxima is pointing out, right here in this debriefing.
No probs bud.
*looks around warily, in case any dogcatchers are around*
nah, he’s too busy trying to catch Sean.
Heh. Thanks for linking the trailer. I had not seen seen it before or even been aware that the movie had been made. I will keep a look out for it in the TV schedules, this Christmas.
Not sure about going to see it at the theatre, but would consider getting the DVD (the TV series was quite good fun :D)
Hah, Dave, why not make “I will update the cast page” a Patreon stretch goal? xD
+1
Wise, as well as a pretty avatar.
Alice Nakiri is the best!
Thank you for, indirectly, spurring me on to check the series out. I had heard it mentioned, in favourable terms before, but had not gotten around to seeing it.
Very enjoyable. Even if it did involve me munching every gourmet scooby snack I could get my paws on!
May you find your own Ryō Kurokiba to serve you.
It’s kind of in a painfully bad arc at the moment, though. Cliché, poorly planned shounen villainy.
“May you find your own Ryō Kurokiba to serve you.”
Oh goodness is that a huge compliment.
Oh, I was only able to get my paws on the first season. So only saw up to the first half of the autumn election. Shame to leave that half-way through the competition though, so I shall keep an eye out, if I get the chance to see the rest of that someday.
I would not say it was a compliment, per se. More like deserving cosmic karma, for a valued member of the comic community.
Hah hah, yeah, that’s been languishing a bit hasn’t it?
I think the comic is starting to reach a page quantity and cast size where some readers are going to go “wait, who’s that again?” when someone reappears after being gone for a while, so it would be nice.
Totally minor characters that pretty much never speak(like the “goons” in the big fight) hardly need more than maybe a portrait, name, and perhaps a brief mention of their ability, though.
Am I the only one that think Heatwave in panel 3 looks like Lauren Faust?
Have no idea who that is, so probably
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Faust
Thank you
She doesn’t seem old enough to have created the original (and, POO, best) “My Little Pony“
obviously she didn’t, she created the 4th generation, which is much better the generation 3.5,
she was just a kid when My Little Pony ‘n Friends was on tv, not a bad cartoon for the 80’s.
now the second first generation show generation ‘My Little Pony Tales’ was very much like most other cartoons in the early 90’s, and them being ponies was not even a point in that show.
Much prefer the original ‘MLP’ (have three or four DVD’s of the show)
Now, if they would just release ‘The Glo Friends’… :D
But… like Dabbler is sitting there all purple and horny (no pun intended, but whatever). How can they possibly not know she is not human? Also extra arms.
Because there are all sorts of supers? It might be something that was stange (remember the Maxima always had a “gold” skin etc).
that’s on a different lvl.
a “gold skin” can be achieved be just a little light manipulation. just energy.
second pair of arms, hoofs and horns, and prettymuch EVERYTHING about her, is biological.
And the guy who can stretch and deform his body like it was made of rubber (lucky heatwave indeed) is not? They are superhuman beings, some of whom can generate ludicrous levels of energy in the form of heat, particle emissions, deform their shape, resist Any level of energy up to, including and surpassing that of every single nuke on the planet going off simultaneously in his face.
Quite frankly, Dabbler’s anatomy as part of her “superpower” is not that outrageous in comparison. More visually obvious, obviously. But much like Beast’s fur-coat being some kind of freakish deformity… it’s really only treated that way because the writers on the x-men apparently had a thing about bodyhair and the colour blue. And here in Grrlpower it is not for exactly the same reason :)
Pointy ears then.
nope, to some of the “body-modder” personality types, pointy ears is pretty vanilla, and boring.
I see your one body-modder, and raise you 50 weird and wacky tattoos. Including a unicorn that pees a rainbow!
Pee a rainbow… because pooping a rainbow is so mundane. (There’s a dog that lives in our neighborhood that did that, after eating an entire box of Crayola crayons.)
Well, during yesterday’s press conference, Dabbler was disguised under her glamour…AND she also told the press that she has another “battle-form.”
This was my question, wouldn’t they wonder why she always walks around base in “battle mode?”
Doing do could easily be excusable as “being prepared”.
Okay, should be “Doing so…”
Stupid non-editable comments.
well, seems like its either that, or you would have to register to make a comment in the first place.
In order to make a comment we have to enter our email addresses, which are not visible to others. So the system could easily verify the identity using that. Whether or not anybody has made a plug-in which does that though is another matter.
Easily answerd I think:
“Why does she spend so much time in battle form?”
“It has four arms, and hooves, and horns, and a tail, all that would throw you off ballance in a fight if you aren’t used to it, so she spends a lot of time in her battle form so that it’s shape and features will feel natural to her when she has to fight.”
After ten seconds with her, it’s “You do it so the sex is better, don’t you?”
It’s her NATURAL form. Expecting a four-armed alien to spend long periods of time pretending to have only two arms is probably a major step down, at the very least.
Rather like a piano player being required to NOT use his / her thumbs and/or little fingers when playing specific pieces Sure, it can probabl;y be done, but it would be neither comfortable or convenient.
I know it’s her natural form. I was sugesting an explanation that could be given to those not in the know about her not being human.
The explanation was for the civilians not her team mates.
Yea, but it is correct that the one given at the press conference might still leave some of her team mates wondering why Dabbler is like this now. Not necessarily suspiciously, but at least one of them is bound to ask, if only out of curiosity. So the Florida Wolf has prepared a sound reason, which would remain consistent with her public cover story.
Little bit of a pseudo-psychology lesson: humans are highly adaptive, this includes to what we can grow accustomed to and accept as “normal.” Doesn’t hurt Dabbler talks like any ole human, is easy on the eyes, friendly, and has fought by their sides now, which forms some of the stranger bonds in this world. But before all that, we are conditioned deep down to at least “try to trust” authority figures, so when new recruits are told Dabbler is “just one of us,” and they see everyone else treating her LIKE “one of us”… *hand waves* The brain does strange things, particularly if no one questions their perception of her “as human” because they have no reason to think “oh hey, another alien from outer space.” lol. Sydney, IMO, is in the minority of those of us that see the world more as it is and less as we just want to see it. Well and she is the MC, lol
And she has truesight.
Annnnd that, lol.
In the end I don’t think it will matter as Vehemence knows about demons and doesn’t seem inclined to be quiet.
He was open about it with Archon. But he is shrewd. He is unlikely to waste precious leverage by blurting it out, to the general public, for the sake of it. He is going to be in prison a long time, and can use that information to make his life a bit easier, by negotiating a deal, with the authorities, to keep quiet.
In comic books, it’s the very rare villain that reveals a super hero’s secret ID to the general public. Some examples include: Batman has quite a few foes that know he’s Bruce Wayne; Green Goblin (both Harry Osborns) know that Spider-Man is Peter Parker.
In these cases, the villain can keep a psychological edge over their foe for a long time, by merely holding the threat of revealing the secret ID…Plus, the hero also has to be forever on-guard against an attack, even while living their lives in the guise of their mild-mannered alter egos. A public reveal of the hero’s secret ID is bound to cause a lot of trouble for the hero, for sure, but having that edge hanging over them for a long period of time can wear them down too.
And spider’s have an increased dread of the other shoe dropping :D
Fortunately that does not seem to bother Dabbler.
Interesting now that you bring attention to it mind. She is the only one with a secret identity. But, of course, like Super Man, her super form is her real identity and it is the public identity which is the false persona.
Mmm. I wonder if an existing member of the team only agreed to sign up if they were given a cover identity. Rather like entering the witness protection program, but doing so pro-actively. It might explain why Mr Amorphous and Achilles had ready access to the disguise spell that was used in the bank robbery. It could be in daily use for someone already.
Just keep an eye open for anyone who avoids hanging around Sydney. Like Abbey… who is a minor spell-caster, in her own right. I hope not mind. I rather like her looks, and would be disappointed if Halo’s orb revealed that to be faked.
Abbey? Isn’t Abbey the white-haired Harem with the glasses? Gwen is the minor spell-caster (unless there is another ‘Abbey’ floating around)
Duly noted, ta.
Being in custody and likely heading for a long jail term while they try to remember all his crimes, he is unlikely to still remember that particular point as being important when he is next in front of a camera or microphone. If there was ever a chance of noting he had prior military service (where else would someone who feeds on violence find work? Sports is one but too far apart for meals) then they find a loophole to reactivate him, switch to military tribunal and feed him into a Leavenworth style prison.
I’d think after the remark in #342, panel 8, that her secret is, if not totally blown, at least very Swiss cheezed.
Harem is an officer and we can assume, from that scene, one who is already in on the secret.
The only ones we know who are not are the recruits. Possibly they are the only ones, and are kept out of the loop due to the risk of one of them ‘washing out’. Such is always a possibility with any intake. And it is wise to minimise any collateral damage, if they are sore about it, and want to get their own back.
Oops corporal. But an established NCO none-the-less. And one who’s power has made her privy to various things above her pay-grade, in any event.
perhaps she IS in he disguise, and the comic just has a filter that lets us see her in her normal form. Personally I hope she sticks to her true-form, her human form always looked a bit creepy to me.
Naa, the conventions have been well established for the comic. We see the scenes the same way that Sydney does. If she has her True-sight orb in hand, the true nature of things is revealed. If not, we see whatever normal people do. Halo is not using that, so Dabbler is in her natural form.
I do prefer her exotic form, myself.
It’s possible that Dabbler’s glamour can be made selective. Thus some people see only the glamour, while others see what the glamour is hiding.
A fair argument.
A bit like, in Dungeons and Dragons that, once you have resisted, or otherwise detected, an illusion you can see the real scene. Albeit that the latter hypothesis would have inconsistencies, as we (seeing the world from Halo’s point of view) should never see Dabbler as anything but her demon self. Unless, of course, if Sydney is required to make fresh saving throws when the illusion is recast.
Nice to see Sydney passionately defending Dabbler. That is a good sign for her team-spirit. And liked that she remained focussed enough to ensure they did not interrupt Maxima, despite wanting to carry on standing up for her.
I actually think she realized she had no good excuse ready, so used Maxima as an excuse to stop talking
Agreed.
Yea, I must admit I got that impression too. But just took it as being killing two birds with one stone.
Mind you my take is slightly different, which is that she did have a valid justification. But Halo realised she would be abusing her security privileges if she mentioned that Dabbler’s combat experience is probably all off-world and with aliens, and/or super-aliens, rather than super-humans.
Is “the grays and greens” a shout-out to the book by Timothy Zahn or some older pop-culture reference? Sorry if I’m missing something obvious, but (a) I’m not American and (b) I don’t watch too many movies/play videogames…
i think its mmo(massivly multiplayer online game) speak
gray = filler minion(minion intended to be taken out in one hit or with minimal effort)
green = normal minion (minion intended to be taken out with some effort on the players part)
Basic rpg or mmorpg terms. Grey= low level chaff which gives no exp and trash loot. Green= barely your level mobs easily dispatched which yield some basic loot and a little exp. Greens are what you kill for you first upgrades at low levels.
In other words, Maxima is STILL a Nerd…… probably.
A relapsed nerd, one who’s nerdage has been re-awoken by the presence of Sydney
Mmm, using those kind of terms in a military briefing, and not having those present query it. I wonder if they have organised gaming in the unit? Either table-top or as teams in MMOLGs. Such that even those who do not actively participate would be familiar with the basics just by association. I do know that a lot of military personnel do, and have major leagues as well. Which hold championships at GenCon (or did, back in the day, anyhow).
Bear in mind that for many generations of military, table-top war-games were a staple of strategy-training for generals, because it didn’t kill any flesh-&-blood foot-soldiers in the process. It was from these games that fantasy-scenarios evolved. At first: “What if Robert E. Lee did *This* instead of *That*?”, or: “What if Napoleon had taken this embankment sooner?”. More extravagant elements like Trolls, Orcs, Dragons, & Elves came later.
These games were the inspiration for a pair of amateur spelunkers who were also fans of “TLotR”, & they created “Adventure”, AKA: “Colossal Caves” – a “Text-Only” computer game so primitive that only mainframe computers existed at the time.
I’m thinking that this exchange is just a call-back to a kind of gaming that soldiers have been playing long before we civilians got in on the fun.
When Maxima gets around to discussing the fight with Vehemence in more detail, she’ll probably refer to him as a Red-level threat.
Which is just the way DaveB said Vehemence was designed to be. Encountering Vehemence would be something like encountering a pissed-off Hulk; first reaction would be “Oh, $#|+” & the next instinct would be to run for the hills.
I’m sorry, but the term, “Pissed-Off Hulk” strikes me as incredibly redundant. Anything that you’d refer to as a NON-“Pissed-Off Hulk” is nothing more than “Dr.Bruce Banner”. A calm Hulk is just an oxymoron.
Now, just like our NORAD-scale of threat-assessment, one could refer to different levels of just *HOW* pissed-off the Hulk may be…
(…as I understand it, he gets bigger-&-stronger as he gets angrier…)
…but in my opinion, anything that’s bad enough to produce a Hulk is already a “FrenziedRunningAwayInPanicWhileScreamingLikeALittleGirl”-level of threat, & needs no further hair-splitting.
Hulk can be reasonably calm & collected for some time BEFORE changing back to Bruce Banner; his overall metabolic rate takes time to calm down to the “threshold” to change back. Even if Hulk is just moderately “annoyed” but not actually angry is still enough to keep him in his Hulk-state for quite a while.
And it doesn’t specifically take anger to make Banner turn into Hulk either…He can change when frightened or feeling panic, pretty much any intense emotional state that jacks up body metabolism can trigger the change.
Therefore, “pissed-off Hulk” is not as redundant as it sounds…
I concede the point, Sir.
:)
Don’t forget Joe Fix-it
The relationship with Joe & Bruce was a daytime/nighttime thing. At night he was Joe, but during the day he was Bruce. Joe was smart enough to take a bunch of tranquilizers just before dawn so that Bruce would be out cold all day.
Joe was an extraordinary sunnuva be-yotch to Bruce…
She looked like that during the fight. If they didn’t doubt it then, why would they now?
for the “obvious” reason that now it’s the next day, they are in their SECURE HQ, and the minor little fact that the BATTLE IS OVER. why the heck are you STILL in your “battle-form”?? it’s like if you were a fireman, and you wear your fire-fighters suit and mask and air-tank, and all the other stuff you use on the job… BUT!, you do it at home, on your day off… wouldn’t people think that a bit weird, and maybe start to think about WHY you don’t get out of that suit?
which then leads to the question: “hmm, maybe that ISN’T an alternate form… MAYBE that’s what she REALLY LOOKS LIKE!!”
Shh! Dabbler looks prettier in her natural form. We must turn a blind eye to such logical arguments, if we are to see her in her full glory!
Besides which it is still a hell of a lot easier to come up with justifications for her doing that, than to explain how a pair of glasses makes a disguise capable of concealing a secret identity for years!
WEaring full firefighting gear is probably awkward and uncomfortable. Dabbler being in her ‘battleform’ wouldn’t be.
Were it not her natural form there would also be advantages to using it outside combat so that she would be more adept at using it to full potential, having four arms etc… would take some getting used to and far better to acclimatise in a safe situation. I’d also imagine that once used to this alternate form one would start to find aspect of the human form to be awkward.
If I had a magical form where I had 2 extra arms (and were capable of using them perfectly), I’d probably be in that form the majority off the time.
Even if it isn’t my original form
As for the under-the-comic joke Dave wrote, I say that dragon scale jockstraps might be a good thing to have; Stalwart would have probably appreciated one of those back on panel 7 here: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1562
Soooo, how many hours have passed since Sydney got to the bank?
As in, “got to the bank” yesterday before getting caught up in a bank robbery, or “got to the bank” today to retrieve her car?
:P
I’d say over 24 at this point. But less than 48.
After yet another archive binge, I’m sure that it is still daylight of the second day.
Was still daylight when they visited the comic store, (not sure what opening hours are normal in America), I’m guessing that was less than an hour ago.
Left Event Horizon just after 12, =>bank =>drive to ARCON => crash meeting=> clothes => getting chewed out by A => (clothes ready after an hour)=> recruit training => food => laps => showers => money(and spazzing) => flying => back to shop => conference
Earliest it could possibly be is 3:30pm, but more likely its around 5pm, 6:30 at latest. (I think Dave is deliberately avoiding definite time markers to prevent people picking at them, which is fair enough. ^_^)
… (Or maybe it’s the anxiety of comic strip pacing, and people wanting MOAR STORY! which is even more understandable. To be clear, Dave, I mean no criticism at all! I’m just enjoying analyzing the event pacing of Sydney’s life.)
I know it’s to avoid her looking like Ororo Munroe, but Azarin looked so much better (in a meta sense) with the silver/grey/white hair.
The gold just looks terrible. It doesn’t contrast enough with her skin tone, and both end up looking duller and rubbish because of it.
Agreed.
Just as well her secondary super power is changing the colour of her hair (and lips to match) :D
Believe DaveB may have mentioned something along the lines of her changing her hair colour on a new (semi-)regular basis
Like Mrs. Slocombe? It’s been quite a while since I thought about her and her pussy.
Or Ramona Flowers.
I always wondered: did she ever dye her Pussy to match? I’m not sure if we ever saw her Pussy on the show.
I think it appeared a few times in the sequel series, “Grace and Favor,” but I can’t recall seeing it in “Are You Being Served?” either.
Here’s how stupid I can be. When I saw how actress Mollie Sugden’s hair changed to a different color every show, I marveled at how she had the patience to dye her hair so often. In my head, I could hardly believe that the people who made the show were making her do it. It seemed so mean and I wondered that she still had any of her hair left! I was then stunned to discover that it had all been Mollie’s idea! She came up with the wacky hair thing herself and talked the show into letting her do it! What?!
Then I found out she was wearing wigs . . .
Not stupid, you were trying to figure things out
Loved that series :D
The fact that non-humans are capable of sapience is enough to set some religious people off, let alone true non-human People with culture and society.
I am far more in favor of sharing her background though, mostly because I think hiding the truth to let a group of people maintain their belief in something you know to be utterly wrong seems counterproductive long term. The information WILL get out eventually, it always does.
It will, but when it does people wont be blaming it all on Archon for breaking their personal understanding of the universe. (small-minded as it is).
I don’t think Archon intend to withhold it indefinitely. But dropping too much on the general public, all at one time is probably not the best course of action. Let them come to terms with the things which are intruding on their lives presently, before plunging religions, world-wide, into turmoil with the extra revelations.
But, equally, they would be wise not to try and postpone doing so too long. Far better to control the release of information, than to be subject to an exposé, and have to fire-fight the accusations of cover-ups, without having any moral high ground to do so.
In the real world the “information” has been out for a hundred years yet it hasn’t stopped people from maintaining their belief in something we know to be utterly wrong. There is something called the backfire effect that explains it; https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Backfire_effect
not trying to be snarky, just curious as to what you meant… but WHAT “information” has been out for a hundred years that is wrong?
I’d have to say that it probably isn’t just religious people. I know some pretty agnostic/atheist people that I suspect it would freak out.
Kevlar socks are actually a thing. I know at least some of them are sold for hockey, to help protect against blade injuries and such.
Little detail bugging me. Is it intentional that Heatwave is wearing the same outfit as the recruits? Is that standard uniform and I’m just missing some kind of rank insignia? Also, as for goggles, what about something like Night Owl 2 from Watchmen? I saw someone somewhere broke them down and he had his peripheral vision because of how they ngeled back around his head? Almost like wrap around sunglasses.
The uniforms won’t change because of rank (and they’re going to have several styles depending on the activity they’re performing).
Dave does need to figure out everyone’s rank and where they go on the uniform (usually collar, epilats, OR shoulder, depending on if they’re enlisted or officer).
Also not sure of Ren’s rank. Is he officer candidate? (Gold circle on collar?) to head off questions, yes – officers can go through basic, or a variation of it. Especially with an organization this small.
If you look closely on the previous couple pages, 1st Lt Peggy and Major Hiro are also wearing that uniform (although Hiro isn’t wearing the jacket)
The normal progression for a commissioned Officer rank starts in the normal boot camp for raw recruits. THEN comes “officer’s boot camp,” in the Cadet Academy. If they’re going to specialize after getting through the Academy, then they have even more schooling & training.
For the non-commissioned (NCO) ranks, the service contract that a recruit signs can be 4 or 6 years, depending mostly on whether the recruit is just going for a general, all-purpose position (& work up from there), or a technical position (which requires at least an A School after boot camp).
This is why a commissioned officer has to sign a 10-year service contract before getting started…Because it takes so long just to get to the point where they can start using all of that training.
It is now Arc-SWAT’s official uniform. But it was only being rolled-out after the press-conference.
Referring to the last panel of that page, I’d suggest combining a chemical filter/recycle unit with the oxygen tank, to maximize the benefits of each.
Yup, that is what I would go for. Subject to weight and circumstances. I suspect that a combo one would likely be to heavy for every day casual use. Especially given that Sydney is physically fairly weak. If it is heavy enough, or too bulky, it might make moving around, without the flyball’s assistance, too inconvenient.
But, maybe a small backpack-sized one that compromises between duration and inconvenience could be feasible.
If not then a small single-type unit,* for day-to-day use, and a big combo one, for missions, is the way to go.
* No bigger than Tubey, so that a single container, with two tubes attached together could be made. We know that Sydney will be able to carry that. And it would make it impossible for her to forget it. Either simple oxygen or re-breather would be fine for that purpose. They both have advantages. But the re-breather would be the harder one to miniaturise to that degree. If being realistic.
If she can’t win or escape from a fight she encounters while wearing a ‘casual use’ small air tank, she’s in a lot more trouble than having a rebreather would help her with. If she needs more, the smart plan is to disengage, retreat, rearm, and come back with reinforcements. If she can’t do that, it means they can outspeed her fly orb, and tank a hit from her PPO. That’s Maxima-level power.
Not all situations she encounters will just be about fighting. She could be trapped in a burning building. Finding a route out, or clearing one with the tentacle, could take time. Especially if rescuing other survivors too. And the more people sharing the air, the less time they have to do survive.
At which point she can call Harem, and have her send backup and a replacement air canister, or similar.
I’ll admit that not all encounters will be about fighting, but she’s part of a team with various supers. The situations where she A: Needs to hold her shield up for extended periods, and B: can’t contact the rest of her team for help basically devolve to ‘in a fight with someone who’s blocking communication.’
Either way I think my analysis stands – If she can’t disengage, retreat, or call for backup within 10-20 minutes (estimated time for a small tank plus the original air in the shield bubble), she’s in more trouble than being able to last the extra time a small rebreather would solve.
I very much agree with all that.
My response to this is:
Have ARC-Sparq &/or Dabbler design a REPLACEMENT for “Tubey”! My initial thought is for a flat, “3 Cylinders In A Row”-design that could hold, from left-to-right:
– re-breather system, with easily swapped-out chemical filters.
– 7 Orbs.
– Oxygen tank, with sensors to auto-dispense as needed when O2-levels drop to unsafe levels, & alarms to announce when it’s too depleted.
Given Dabbler’s level of tech-savvy, the air-tank might even be able to re-pressure itself from ambient oxygen, when it detects a return to a safe situation.
In panel one, I see Math’s shoulder behind Dabbler. Wasn’t he supposed to go and do something? Didn’t he get a direct order? To go and look at boobs? And yet he’s still sitting there? Defying a direct order? To do something he really wants to do anyway? O.o
Or maybe he’s just waiting until he’s dismissed at the end of the meeting.
Since he is under orders to continuously look at boobs, shouldn’t he have the authority to demand that all female ARC members need to go topless while he is on base?
but you are forgetting the part of the order that stated “get on the internet”… therefore he is implicitly NOT authorized to do that, as asking/ordering a female to do that would be a direct violation of the order itself… let alone a sexual harassment case in and of itself…
YES, YES. i know that the order that Max gave (in a more PC comic) would have HER up on charges as well, but still, it’s a COMIC people… chill.
Fairly sure he has to wait until this meeting is finished and Maxi dismisses him, and then he will be out of there shouting “Andale Andale, Arriba Arriba!!” Or maybe just simply “Meep! Meep!” :D
I was thinking more along the lines of a motorboat sound….
Like in panel #5 here?
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/625
Was hoping people would recognize those iconic sounds :(
Was meaning, that as soon as he has been officially dismissed, he will disappear so fast leaving a dust cloud in his shape and those sounds echoing down the hallways
Speedy Gonzales and the Road Runner!
Oh, no! Is Chuck Jones forgotten?
Would truly be a sad depressing day if that ever happened :(
The whole species question would raise red flags for Succubi in any case, since they seem to be a parasite race (that is to say, they need other races to survive). Unless they’re more akin to Asari, and they can reproduce with other Succubi, they just prefer outside races. Hmmm, questions questions…
Loving the Q&A, will we find out what happened to the other team, both the confuses, the arrested, and of course… the Barberarian?!
Also, could publishing the comic as a book be a patron goal, or perhaps kickstarter?
Umm, if you want to get messy, but you could also classify hyu-mons as being a ‘parasitic race’ seeing how they need cows and chickens and salmon and countless other species to survive (isn’t it interesting how humans can be a ‘race’ and a ‘species’, but everything else are simply ‘species’? o_O)
And we already saw Barberian when Sydney arrived at lunchtime (he was sitting on the couch after being de-briefed, literally, by Dabbles)
Everything that lives would be classified as a “parasite” to some species or another; one of the primary qualities of any lifeform we’ve ever encountered is that it can only survive by consuming other life (or at least, the organics that derive from the once-living).
Yes, even plants feed off of death…Where do you think the nutrients in soil come from anyway? They come from the death & decay of previous life.
;)
Well, not entirely.
Photosynthetic organisms like plants and cyanobacteria are largely “producer” organisms. They produce a lot of their biomass from unliving minerals like water and carbon dioxide. Animals are “consumer” organisms that require the consumption of biomass. There are also “decomposer” organisms that decay organic material back into things lie dust and carbon dioxide.
That’s still an oversimplification, of course.
Kickstarter is by far the better option to use for book publishing, and is used by most of the big players in our online-comic pond.
In particular it reaches out to those individuals who want to buy a tangible product. This is a different (and larger) pool of people than those willing, or able, to become patrons of the arts. But it in no way causes a conflict where Patreon is already being used. The two organisations are aimed at different goals, which can be complimentary to each other.
To me, Patreonage is like a salary for the creator, and KickStarter is the alternative to getting a loan, plus, it shows if there really is a market for the product (because the one’s contributing are actually, in a way, pre-ordering it) where as before they had to find the money themselves up front and hope it will sell enough units to at least recover those costs
its not actually that hard to answer.
supers are just humans that have been altered altered (or sometimes even non humans.)
in that way, you could call them “mutants”, although, i don’t think its that kind of alteration.
as for succubi, its their special “racial(?)” trait.
most likely supposed to let them blend into whatever society they live in to continue successful feeding.
now if you are concerned about Achilles, what about Peggy’s wonderful hair?
What about her hair? It’s stated in the cast page that she dyes it pink (her natural colour is Lieutenant Brown :p)
what about them you ask?
we dont see them at the very bottom of the last panel, that’s what.
She’s helping Achilles pick up his Skittles.
You are forgetting that Peggy is petite, you can’t see her in that panel because she is below the ‘camera’ angle
from what I’ve seen here, it seems like she should be visible.
Hopefully the media prep course won’t be like this???
Probably not…this seems to be the standard “Debriefing Session” that military units would attend after each mission. Local police departments also do the same thing, after every potential criminal encounter; at the beginning of a cop’s on-duty shift, they attend a Briefing – After any significant incident, there’s a “Debriefing.” It’s just the basic, all-purpose “after-the-fact analysis.”
And usually informal (but still respecting rank and protocol and such)
I was wondering where the “arc sparq” naming comes from. I mean, we all know mister Q from the Bond movies, but what about the “spark” origin? Is there some popculture reference I am missing?
The only related use of the term that I know of would be in the GirlGenius (.com) series where it is a polite term for “mad scientist”, needed mostly because all the political leaders are such.
That is what i thought the reference was.
I just realized that the comment notification is kind of point less, since it contains neither the comment text nor a link with #anchor to the comment… I now have 11 emails within a few minutes all saying
———————
There’s a new comment on Grrl Power #362 – Equipmental.
Check it: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1876
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Maybe Dave just wanted something that rhymes with arc? Or it’s spark as in “spark of genious”? (Pretty sure that’s where the Girl Genius title comes from as well).
Yea, all the Archon departments are plays on the Arc theme. We already know some, such as Arc-Dark and Arc-Light. You will get to hear others, in due course, and can find some mention of them in comments, if you hunt back far enough. My favourite (be it canon or not) is Arc-Bark, the canine unit. For reasons.
I am fairly sure that Arc-Sparq is indeed a reference to the ubiquitous sparks in Girl Genius. And agree that the ‘spark of genius’ is the obvious root for both. Although I think “Q” and the “Q department” in James Bond is also part of the inspiration. And certainly ties in heavily with the role.
Pretty sure that “Q” in the “Bond”-universe refers to “Quartermaster”, & herein may-or-may-not be conflated into the (otherwise separate) role of -inventing- the supplies that they provide-&-keep-track-of for the troops.
Yup, that is the etymology of it. So is common to any supply role, especially a military one. But the gadget making side is clearly inspired by the real life invention organisation that was formed during World War II, the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
They made all sorts of weird and wonderful devices. Such as mines that looked (and smelt) like camel dung. Along with a bunch of dedicated spy (and commando) paraphernalia, such as silencers for guns. Although they also made a lot of military hardware for troops. Including miniature submarines and the famous Sten gun.
The “spark” part might just be a reference to electricity as in “the spark arced across the contacts”.
Admiring Hiro Boobs…
Not often, but it happend: “There are two persons living in my flat, a human one and a cat one.”
A “cat person” usually refers to a human though. In your example I would use “being” instead.
My cat has too much of a personality to not be referred to as a person ;-)
I understand that a human can have a cat personality to some extend, but then you have a human being with a cat personality and a cat being with a cat personality…
Of course, it’s sometimes difficult to describe such an arrangement; For example, in My Life With Fel, two persons would be “one human & one human/cat?”; Anthropomorphic feline?; Genetically engineered hybrid?
;)
just be careful when you cat starts getting credit card offers in his/her own name!
You should also be concerned when your household pet winds up on voter registration lists too…
Yes, it happens.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/01/dog-registered-to-vote-thomas-tolbert_n_1314963.html
https://theweek.com/articles/477605/dog-whos-registered-vote-democrat
These are just two links about the same dog, but it’s just to get differing “slants” from different news publishers. There are a lot more examples available to find…
While Kevlar socks are indeed possible, they are hardly practical. Not only would they be extremely uncomfortable, as Kevlar doesn’t handle being in a confined space, like a shoe, well it’s also very difficult to clean and maintain properly. The wrong type of detergent and it falls apart, which is an expensive proposition.
https://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/kevlar-socks
Also, do a quick search on Amazon, there’s several brands some as affordable as $14 US. It doesn’t seem like they’re all that much a problem.
Did she.. did she just refer to villain classes using MMO item quality classifications? I’d hate to see what qualifies as a blue, purple or orange villain!
I’m guessing V would be a purple.
No! V would be orange (they’re typically modable).
One thing that bothers me about the art evolution: Dabbler’s mouth is shrinking and it makes me sad.
Yeah, I agree.
She didn’t always have display all her teeth, only when she wanted to
Yea, and likewise. It is loosing some of her alien flavour. Plus I like girls with pretty smiles, and a bigger mouth can accentuate that.
Her style has gone too far to human norms. Her old style had slanted wider spaced eyes, a wedge shaped nose, pointed chin, and a wider mouth with thinner lips and more prominent teeth. I think the last time we saw it was during her romp with the Barberian. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1630
Now she has human eyes, nose, mouth and chin, making her look more like a cos-player than an alien.
Compare her current style to ‘classic’ Dabbler: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/641
I also think everybody’s chin is bigger on this page. Hiro’s is kind of ridiculous.
Is it just me or do the guys not wear chokers? All the women have one on, but the only one i see of the guys is Hiro and he only has what looks to be a half choker.
That’s because their necks are much thicker than the women (except for Math :P)
Both Ren and Math are wearing chokers above. The thick-necked guys look odd in them though, so they are allowed to wear manly torques instead. Perfect for Celtic-themed parties too.
If you can’t see either on some of the guys, it is because they probably slipped off, whilst trying to pick up skittles on the floor.
…Those damn skittles…
Yes, they could have done better, but so could the bad guys. Vehemence must have intentionally disrupted their ability to plan, because if they had started the battle with a surprise attack by Atomic Bombshell at least half the team would have been wiped out before the battle even started. Even the ghost guy (the first one Halo took out) could have taken out a bunch of the team by quietly slipping a satchel charge under the table. Now that would have put Max in a killing mood, but organized bad guys would be prepared for that (she does have a weakness to electricity – right).
Mind you, that’s always been true in comics. The bad guys never seem to have a plan, they just attack.
Just remember, nose boop guy jumped in before they were ready
Which could have been at Vehemence’s instigation – he couldn’t put up the full aggro aura at that point, but aggroing one person could have been within his power.
There is this unspoken rule that some modern web comics make a bigger deal of (Dave really hasn’t had opportunity to establish this, since Arc *blank* is new in this setting) there are unspoken rules against intentionally trying to murder each other. Worm for instance got into how when someone does murder a rival, both sides tend to hunt that individual down with extreme bias. I’ve actually employed that in some superhero gaming settings through the years. Or as one character once said, “beat the hell out of each other all day long. Accidental deaths, wanton destruction, so be it, risks of the trade. But willfully trying to premediatively(sp?) murder… That we take exception to.”
In [MineCraft] this is personified by the A.I. employed by the “Zombie PigMan”-character…
…”aggro” one of them, & ALL respond!
Vehemence wanted violence, not death, so it would make sense for him to have done something to prevent any more radical plans. Any of those suggestions would likely have resulted in high causalities, but with the fight being over before he could absorb enough power to take on Maxima.
Maxima: Well, Heatwave, uniform standards exist for a reason. When the standard says “steel toed boots” that’s what it means. ARC can hardly be responsible when your piggies go to pain town because you failed to follow instructions.
That being said, they all weren’t really in uniform, but meeting for an after duty dinner and were all caught wearing civvie attire… Still, nothing drives a point home like a knife to the foot. *Still trying to wrap my head around the kinetic force needed for that blade to cut through her boot like butter… The trajectory, speed, angle of the blade as it hit the boot had to be just perfect to do what it did…
I agree though… Poor Brook… :(
Which has Heatwave actually bringing up a good point: Should they be in uniforms at all times? Or should Arc-spark start working on armored ‘casual’ wear? Or something else? A police officer can generally know they aren’t going to run into a situation where they’ll need their uniform’s gear once they head home, and armed forces personnel generally go in uniform at all times while deployed or on-base, with civies being restricted to leave when you’re off base and know you aren’t going to be in combat.
But Archon has just demonstrated that they can never be sure they are ‘off duty’ – so when are they free to get out of uniform? (Or are they going to have to pull a Clark Kent and wear their uniform under their other clothes?)
“…so when are they free to get out of uniform?” In their bedroom or the shower ;)
Would they really want steel toed boots? Like, steel toed boots are great until they meet a force that can bend them. Then steel toed boots turn impacts that would crush your foot but leave it intact, into ones that cut your toes off.
Are you saying they should go for the Adamantium upgrade?
The Mythbusters did a show on steel toe boots that showed them to be pretty good at protecting your feet. I was a bit worried though by the tests where the weighted blade they were using skipped off the steel and cut the shoe in half!
I don’t know about any of you, but I have to wear the things at work and they aren’t especially comfortable either. I buy the things one size too big, or I end up with a blister on the side of my big toe.
oh, I didn’t realize I was mistaken about that. Alright.
The big problem is that any force powerful enough to bend the steel toe enough to sever your toes or mostly sever your toes would also be powerful enough to cause severe enough damage that you would likely lose your toes anyways. Remember the steel doesn’t actually sit on top of your foot. A slight bend isn’t actually going to hurt you(might make them hard to get off/on). I had pair that had a dent in the steel(don’t remember how it got there). But I could still wear them easily enough cause the shoe was thicker than my foot by a significant amount. I did feel the dent while wearing though. It was annoying.
Meanwhile outside of the very unlikely scenario of them being bent enough to trap(and cut off circulation)/sever your toes they offer significant protection verse other damage. Seriously. Bruised toes suck. I work in a factory and steel toes aren’t required. I wear my Vibrams and I once had a load spilled on my feet. Boy did I wish my Five Fingers were steel toed. Didn’t break anything but I limped for a week or two.
1) Looks like Brook is Maxima’s go-to person the next time anyone complains about having to wear protective gear.
2) Must feel odd for Sydney to be the person to tell someone else to pay attention.
Coding error in the explanatory text – curly quotes instead of straight maybe?
Anyone else think Hiro’s chin (and body in general) looks a little inhuman there?
Whoops I forgot to jump into text edit mode to add that code.
Art critique time: Does that picture of Maxima look weird to anyone? I tweaked it and tweaked it and it still looks off to me for some reason. Looking at it now I think maybe her neck it too thick, but I think there’s something else going on and I can’t put my finger on it.
It’s the lower lip, in my opinion. It is over-sized compared to normal.
Not that it was enough to make it look weird, by any means. You can set your mind at ease on that. I did have a slight niggle that something was off. But not enough to feel that, whatever it was, went beyond normal variability or was worthy of comment. However, now that you drew attention to it, and comparing her mouth to those on the last dozen pages, the difference is noticeable.
Despite my comment above (regarding Dabbler) that I prefer girls with larger mouths, I do not find that such suits Maxima.
Yeah, it’s the lower lip – and agreed re: Dabbler’s mouth getting smaller. And Sydney should be pointing out to Jiggawatt that maybe Dabbler’s adventurous self is used to taking down a LOT of targets, but because she’s all geared up for killing head-shots, she’s feeling a little slow and clumsy because she doesn’t have her stuff geared up for stunner tag on hard targets – she’s used to through-and-throughing them like the railgun and the tank.
Oh and BTW I know Hiro’s face is out of whack. It’s like 40% jaw, so I should probably fix that.
Is it just me, or does he kind of look like a muscle bound Jay Leno?
I thought that maybe you were working in some influence from that big jawed guy you were talking about on Twitter. The one that had died.
In the immediately prior illustrations, Maxima’s cheekbone definition has more curvature. In today’s picture, there is a definite sharp angle, and it gives the appearance of more flat planes in her facial structure.
Other than that, perhaps the tone blending is a bit too sharp.
(Note: I am not an artist, but an engineer, so my terminology may be completely alien)
SHHHH! Don’t tell people you are an alien. Some of the readers don’t know.
i agree, its not even a curve, its just an angle.
also, … wlu below already mentioned the forehead. there is that too.
The reflection on her forehead seems unusually…angley, perhaps the color gradation is more distinct than usual. And the head itself seems a bit disproportionately large.
Could be that you drew her head too big in comparison to her body.
She looks ‘Angelina Jolie-ish’