Grrl Power #371 – Dabbler is like a hammer; she’s out to nail everyone
Yeah that Harem’s a real party girl, or so she would have you believe! She actually has done far more than her fair share of it, as she has done far more than her fair share of most things as one might expect from someone who can do 5 things at once. At the very least, one of her is actually at the club now, one is talking with the brass, and another one is helping a 4th get ready. What, like only one of her is going to the club? None of that means she never embellishes any of her stories though.
Sydney’s question in the mini comic is legit, and really the only way to find out is to find out.
Dabbler takes sex pretty seriously, no surprise there, but not so seriously that she’d be offended by a shirt which suggested that “all I got was ████ by Dabbler” like that’s some sort of consolation prize instead of the reason the whole fight went down in the first place. Neither Arianna nor Maxima are have seen that shirt by the way.
And a random artist thought for you; Drawing someone sitting in someone else’s lap is surprisingly difficult. Getting all the parts in the right place is trickier than you’d think.
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love some finally making hareim blush
A related question…If one of Harem blushes, would they all blush? Since blushing is an autonomous, non-voluntary response triggered by the brain, which is triggered by an emotional state of her singular shared-mind.
Quickly, DaveB, where are the other Harems? Are they blushing too?
:D
as the blush is an involuntary response to the acquisition of information and other such info dumps have resulted in laughter i would conclude yes
That’s one of those Maybe-maybe not situations. This isn’t like the Pain-chain incident after all.
i dont thinks so its like the chain of comady in https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/572 only its blush worthy insted of lafter indusing
pain has a phisical component were the reaction to puer information does not
Surprise is probably a huge part of what decides if the effects carry over between bodies. The super wedgie was a total surprise and Harem had no way to prepare herself for it. The blushing here probably isn’t quite as sudden and she might be able to contain it to the one body.
In a comment on this page somewhere there was a question about what an orgasm would do for the bodies not involved in the act. My guess is that they might get a bit distracted for a short while, but as an orgasm doesn’t really creep up on you unnoticed they will all be prepared for it and there should be no dramatic involuntary reactions.
Probably the ones not present blush 2/3 as hard, but it depends on the situation.
got to love it when a supreme authority says that i got the basic theory right just need to tweak the variables
note that’s tweak a variable not twerk. i’m not sure how one would go about twerking a veriuble but i’m sure miley cyrus should try
So would Dabbler.
i dont know dabbs seems to have more class
Agreed.
Although the physical circumstances of individual bodies might override that. For example if one is swimming in cold water. But I think the body would still be attempting to blush, even if it was having difficulty in doing so.
I’m undecided. As each Harem has her own ‘personality’, the information that makes one Harem blush might not trigger the same response in another?
no its just one mind so one personality exprest 5 different ways
Pretense aside she only has one mind, spread across five interlocked brains. Ergo there’s only one personality. You are not going to get one body to Feel or think differently about anything from the others as there’s only one mind doing the thinking. Which is why you have her problems processing certain stimuli. (Recall her talking about tasting 5 types of food at the same time if they all chow at once and possible horrid combos that can result).
Her enjoyment of wearing different outfits, different hairstyles, tattoos etc seem to be more something she does for the same reason most people make styling choices like that. She just has the ability to try multiple “looks” at the same time.
I mostly agree with l0wten and Aclys points above, regarding personality. But there is one aspect which strongly supports Tarne‘s question to the contrary. Namely that each body does have localised sensory information processing (keeping the sensory information separate, so that each can be kept on it’s own mental body map, that lets Harem know what position it is in, where it is, what its surroundings are).
I feel it more likely that such part of the information is actually being handled in non-quantumly linked parts of the brain. Rather than all five brains partitioning off five identical sections of the brain to handle the same task. The myth that we only use ten percent of our brain is not true. So she would not be able to waste processing power needlessly. Not when she actually needs five times the capability that the rest of us do (loosely speaking)!
Likewise as regards the motor control aspects of the brain.
So, if I am correct in that, the question then becomes “what parts of the brain does the body draw upon when triggering blushing?”
as true as what you said is its the information that triggers the body in this case and the information is shared instantly across the multi brain
Not necessarily in the way you think. Autonomous mechanisms deal with the brain-body interface. Some of which bypass the higher processing parts of the brain.
If you doubt that, please bear in mind that the latter evolved later, in our evolutionary history.
As an example, the sense of smell is routed through a more primitive part of the brain than the other senses are processed in. Hence why a smell can bring back intense, vivid, memories of something, lost to the rest of the conscious mind. It bypasses that completely.
Of particular significance is the fact that brain damage can affect these processes separately. So neurosurgeons and neurologists have supported the findings of evolutionary biologists, by such means. What applies to the sense of smell might well apply to blushes too.
So, if the key blushing information is passing directly between parts of the brain only present in each body (using my theory outlined above) then it would not even go into the quantumly linked higher parts of the brain.
One point to consider is that taste and smell are closely intertwined. And we know that Harem can experience merged tastes. But is this happening in the primitive part of the mind? Or only when she is savouring the flavour, or otherwise considering it, with her higher mind?
can we go back to quantum interlocking i got a more firm knowledge base on that. i can’t tell if what you just said is wrong, right, genus or bio babble without a major study section
Heh. It is all based on various different research findings. For instance human (and canine) brains having evolved to optimise the sense of smell first. Only then growing larger and developing more complex higher functions.
Subsequent research has corroborated this. Going further and even identifying a common shrew-like ancestor. We are cousins!
*throws paws wide, for a mass-interspecies hug*
If it’s “human (and canine) brains” then there’s a pretty good chance that it is actually, at least, “mammal brains”.
When I originally saw thispage and this page, I just assumed that she could shift her emotional reactions from one body to another. For instance, I imagined the Harem in the briefing room with Sydney to have nothing more than a smile on her face because she’d sent the laughter elsewhere. If she could do that with belly laughs, then she could surely do it with a little blush.
That’s my guess anyway and one based on absolutely no evidence. :)
WOG says no but that’s an interesting idea and a neat way of keeping a poker face.
I know when I’m reading something funny in public and I try to not smile I find it harder to keep from laughing so if she used one of her other bodies as a release it’d be easier to keep that body from reacting.
Pff… I wanna see what makes Dabbler blush!
What colour are you anticipating? For instance, we blush pink, because we have red blood. Maxima has blue blood. But I can’t imagine her blushing blue. I don’t recall seeing any clues for Dabbler.
Although I suspect that it would be a conscious thing for Dabbler, if she is still capable of blushing. I doubt a 187 year old succubus would actually be embarrassed by anything. But might choose to affect it, to capitalise on the cuteness factor.
Well, we have seen her blood. It definitely looks red here, so her blushes would be: whatever red blood looks like through purple skin.
But that’s assuming she blushes like a human. Perhaps it manifests differently, like her stripes changing colour, for example.
Luminous mauve blushes? I feel compelled to find out, in person.
For Science!
Dabbler is furry, therefore her blushes would not be visible, unless some inexplicable fluke of evolution has led to blood vessels in her fur.
Good point. Not being a furry myself (despite any inference to the contrary),* I had not considered that. But you are perfectly correct, if she is. Any particular reason for stating that though? Looking at the above art, for example, her ears do convey the feeling of being furry.
Whilst the rest of Dabbler could certainly have very fine fur, it looks a bit more like smooth skin to me. For instance, in panel 6, we can see the light being reflected off her leg. Whilst that is possible for fur, it tends to soften such effects, more than we see here.
* Not that such would turn me off Dabbler, in the least. Smooth fur is lovely to stroke, be that on a cat or a short-furred dog. Plus bonus points for exotic. But fur is not something which I would seek out, in itself. Anthro comics do not do anything more (or less) for me than their other elements might merit.
Well, blushing is an emotional subversion of a behavior designed to cool the skin. Furry creatures can’t use that mechanism, they usually have alternate mechanisms. Like panting, for dogs.
Maybe Dabbler’s species pant when they’re embarassed?
Ibizan Hounds and Pharaoh Hounds can both blush. But it is only visible in the non-furred parts.
I, of course, being unique, do blush. It is just hidden underneath my fur.
Bad DR.REVENGE, put those clippers down!
I come down on the “not furry” side. Although I’ve nothing against the idea, I’m not aware of any pages that show any fur. This example (and it’s probably the closest view of her hands to date) even shows reflections from the felt-tip pen.
Conversely, as Yorp says, her ears do appear furry.
max blushes green
More information is always better :)
Seriously? o_O
hell yes even if you dont like the info better to act appropriately with all the facts than risk inappropriately without them
Oh right, good point
Sooo…What particular action does that set of information lead you to doing?…
Your statement does raise this question (& maybe something else too, presumably).
that would depend entirely upon your definition of whether a given behavior was appropriate in this case i feel more experimentation is needed before i can say i have all the information i would require to make a judgment
yes, for science.
I heartily approve of SCIENCE!!
… We’re using the Imgur definition of “science” here, aren’t we?
i will use any definition that allows me to do further research on this subject
I asked that particular question because you still seem to be in the “Formulate a Theory” phase of the Scientific Method of Inquiry. The question itself is to ask what form of “Experimentation to Test the Theory” you might be considering.
Of course, this is all in the pursuit of SCIENCE! Don’t forget to document the data you obtain for peer review!
Agreed.
With one caveat though. There is such a thing as information overload. Mechanisms to cope with excess information are vital, but not everyone has them. For instance autistic individuals can lack the sensory information handling capabilities, which the rest of us enjoy. Making it hard to pick out the useful data from the rest.
Likewise email overload is considered to be a major contributor to lost productivity, in the modern workplace. Some companies have even gone to the lengths of banning it outright. Whereas others put strict limits on its usage. Both of which have been shown to improve both quality of life and productivity.
though one can argue that the only way to get better at dealing with information overload is to experience it. and this may actually be one of the better opportunities life presents as it is a situation where the info is not of immediate vital importance
There’s a major difference between too information overload from sex and information overload from spam mail. :)
Ahh, context, context, context. Gotcha. In which case, yea, bring it on. The more blushes from Sydney the merrier. :-D
Ok, I want to know the whole slogan on that T-shirt. What I’m getting is
“I fought Arc-swat
all I got was
and (blank)
nd my (blank)
y dabbler.”
There was a clear shot of the slogan in the last comic, but it’s too low res to read.
It’s not entirely consistent with today’s page. The last one had two blanks on the fourth line, while today’s page has one. The fifth line was partly obscured on the last page as well, so I think the only parts that you could have gotten out of a higher resolution would be the parts that are obvious anyway. That is, the first word on the second line is “and,” and my bet is that the “y” is “by.” So…
I fought Arc-Swat
and all I got was
(blank) and (blank)
and my (blank)
(obscured) by Dabbler.
My bet is that the obscured part is just another blank, so that’s all we’re going to get. :)
The words that go into the blanks all come from the Dabbler bingo sheet https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1358
I fought Arc-Swat
and all I got was
Turgid and Shorn
and my Rhubarb
Oscillated by Dabbler.
;)
I’d guess
‘beaten’
‘screwed’
‘memory’
‘erased’
The panels could be made with a wipe-clean surface that allows writing (a flexible whiteboard). Dabbler, or the lucky recipient of the shirt, could use a suitable marker pen to comment on the experience.
Or the back of the shirt might have a bunch of velcro words, which could be picked, and stuck on, as desired:
• Callipygian • Discombobulated • Ecdysiast • Fartlek • Filibuster • Flibbertigibbet • Formication • Fornication • Furbelow • Furphy • Gastromancy • Gobemouche • Godwottery • Gongoozle • Hemidemisemiquaver • Logorrhea • Mumpsimus • Pandiculation • Panjandrum • Pettifogger • Ranivorous • Smellfungus • Snollygoster • Unremacadamized • Wabbit
I would guess teh last sentence means “my (blank) (blanked out) by dabbler”.
So something around “brain fucked out by dabbler”?
‘this t-shirt’ should be in there somewhere.
imean on the shirt not that specific sentance
Also, this shirt needs to be a real thing
Was that a dig at male ‘hairdressers’ in panel six? :D
more a dig at steriotypes
Well, apparently about 70% of male hairdressers, give or take, are homosexual. Though I guess it could depend on the country. My own favorite hairdresser is also homosexual.(and damn good at hairdressing)
it also depends if you include a barber as a hairdresser
Typically ‘barbers’ cut men’s hair, and ‘hairdressers’ cut women and children’s hair
I grew up with a Barber who did every-bodies so *shrug*
i tend to think of it as a skill level barbers are cheap and simple and are fine for the less complicated styles (normally preferred by men) and hairdressers as higher skilled and better for the more complicated stiles
eh, different skill set really. Hairdressers (generally speaking) are not licensed to use straight blades on customers, and a barber is also going to know how to do beard styling, which is generally not part of the hairdresser’s skill set.
But they’re generally not going to be trained in hair cutting techniques for really long hair, which a hair dresser needs to know how to work with.
Yeah, that’s why said ‘typically’
Some may camp it up to put clients at ease as they are not seen as a threat.
Not even to a male customer? Some might feel more uncomfortable rather than more at ease.
When I was younger, better looking, footloose, and single I often had my hair cut by shops with hairdressers who were mostly gay men. I found that it was fairly easy to pick up the women employees, for whatever reasons that might be. I have no insecurities about my sexuality, so I could care less if the person cutting my hair or giving me a massage or waiting on my table or anything else at all is a gay man.
Sounds like a successful tactic then. Conversely a guy working in an environment which has got a less-tolerant customer base would tend to tone-down any campness, rather than play it up.
Sensible employees do pay attention to their customers reactions and aim to put them at their ease. If they want repeat business.
A guy who knows he comes off as slightly camp, unintentionally, might adjust his behaviour regularly. Camping it up to relax new female customers but toning it down for the male ones. But just being himself, once they have gotten to know him better. A win-win situation for all parties.
Whilst another guy, who chooses to remain the same, all the time, has to offset the potential loss of repeat business versus the improved quality of life. But, sadly, the demographics of the customer base has the greater say in whether that would provide a sustainable career.
Remember the movie Shampoo with Warren Beatty? Nothing gay about hairdressers in that one.
Specifically concerning male hairdressers :P
in all fairned i made a joke that we were missing a stereotype on the last page
i dont think dabbs will get max to let up on the moratorium on team mate max is going to be to worried that just when they need a teammate the are to drained from an extensive dabbler feeding
No doubt that will be a reason, because that same ‘problem’ could happen with them partying and drinking too much
but they also need time to blow off steam but that is a problem the military is used to and understands
But woe becomes to those who report for duty with a hangover…
depends how good they are at hiding it
I suspect only Halo has to seriously worry about a hangover.
Well, Halo and any of the other baseline human ARC-SWAT members who might join them, like Peggy, Math, Goose, etc.
I think Harem would regenerate sufficiently fast enough though. It’s only been what, a day since the brawl and her wrist is already fine? I think a good Zoinking, then throwing her duplicate in whatever phantom zone it exists in when it’s not around while she sleeps would be enough time to recover.
you need to remember she still one body down waiting for the archon healer to have a rest
That won’t work: time doesn’t pass for the one in ‘storage’, meaning she will be just as ‘drained’ when she came out of ‘storage’ (and as I0wten said, Bodie there wasn’t the one with the broken wrist)
Depends on if Dabbler knows Harem is playing double agent. If she does then the ‘We’ll see about that.” may refer to the teammates part and not the moratorium.
interesting point it could be read that dabbler see’s a time in the near future were harim won’t be on the team
That’s an interesting observation… she certainly has the tools and intelligence to figure Harem out, plus since archon is keeping tabs on Dabbler, seems only fair for the lone alien on a foreign planet to keep tabs on those around her.
Of course if that is the case what might she do with said information… Stay neutral/uninvolved? Tattle to someone, Let Harem know more up front that she knows and that if Dabbler can figure it out… so can those actually in charge?
I just realized, her clothes go with her when she teleports so any bugs planted on the 5 Harem bodies would also stay put.
So Harem bugging out would not prevent bugging? That’s a bugger. Well, not for the buggers obviously.
She might be able to note the mass of the included bug. After all she usually is porting right on the edge of her ability. One wonders though if one of the bodies gained sufficient weight (say 200 labs) would they average out and increase capability of the others while the one could not port without assist? (derez at one spot, rez at another Harem location)
i HIGHLY doubt that she would be able to detect that TINY of a mass, would YOU be able to tell if you had something SMALLER than a GRAIN of RICE, stuck to the bottom of your shoe when you walked anywhere?, and that’s just using known CIVILIAN applications of the spy technology… what the Military and other Government Alphabet Agencies have is even better I’m sure… THEN you have to add in the fact that Dabbler is from an extremely advanced society in both terms of Tech (Hello. Star traveler here!) AND (probably) of Magic as well… yeah, i give Harem basically zero chance of noticing a bug placed by Dabbler using her own tech… and if she’s using Magic, she may not even NEED to put a PHYSICAL “bug” on Harem at all! though we don’t know the capabilities of Zoeng and his detection capability either, she may not risk him discovering it… then again, IF he detects it, would he get rid of it? or maybe LEAVE it in place and use its capabilities to track Harem as well?
I feel compelled to point out that Dabbler may not do any star traveling at all. Given the settings we’ve seen her in outside of Earth, her travel might be inter-dimensional in nature.
We have had a couple of references that implied the alien civilisations are from our galaxy. One by Maxima (who will doubtless know something of Dabbler’s background, to have trusted her enough to join the unit) and another by Dabbler. Nothing definitive though and inter-dimensional certainly is just as plausible.
But, either way, she would still be a star-traveller. Even if she is from an almost-identacle Earth, with a twin for Sol, it would still not be our Earth and our Sun.
Not unless she comes from somewhere without a sun. That is heavy on fiery pits, brimstone and pitchforks, perhaps?
Were-world is canon
Yup, but the above speculation is restricted to what we can infer from this comic, without referencing that. Personally I have avoided reading Were-world, so that I can continue to see events from Sydney’s perspective.
We know that Dabbler does have a past, but are happy to wait until she (or events outside of her control) give us glimpses of that.
Just as well super-physique is a free perk, in the GrrlPowerVerse. Otherwise Harem could develop an eating disorder, to try and avoid that.
The idea of Dabbler essentially creating a “call list” of supers for her to recharge on amuses me greatly.
Best little black book ever.
Wait… are you saying, Dabbler needs…
A LIST?
She can bang anyone, but supers outside the team are probably harder to come by.
“…supers outside the team are probably harder to come by.”
If that particular double-entendre was intentional, I salute you.
I think that covers all the remaining combinations, except for a one-armed-person and a starfish…
one-armed-person and a starfish
sounds like a porn title
Probably a sub-genre of tentacle porn…
An Elder Thing and Its Shoggoth: A forbidden romance.
well that’s one type of love-craft
+5
Or ‘+Pentagram’, if you fail your sanity check
i never pass a sanity check. i guess that’s what i get for being chaotic neutral
What is this “sanity” you speak of ?
its the thing peaple use to stop being fun
Sanity is for the week; hide under your bed with cheetos and a lava lamp on Saturdays, and make people genuinely believe they are hallucinating by Sunday night.
Yet the real worries occur on Monday morning, when you recall that you never had a lava lamp.
Sanity is for one week, just as a vacation.
Of course, Oberon is correct. Without the occasional moment of lucidity to act as a comparison, one cannot know that they are insane during other times.
and this is why I warn people I will present a plea of temporary sanity at the murder trial humanity drives me to need.
Possibly with overlap in amputation fetish
The obvious and most realistic 6 arm combination is the one where each participant has the standard 2 arms.
Seriously guys, am I the only one here who’s had a threesome?
The 6 arm combo she’s referring to is her 4 + the 2 of her typical partner, assuming the majority of humanoids she encounters possess only 2.
Yes I know what Dabbler meant – I was just continuing Electronbod’s line of thinking.
Well done Electronbod. I see that you realise that weak and strong forces are not as good as solidarity.
Thanks. Hopefully peoples’ expressions of solidarity can reduce the desire for vengeance, if nothing else.
I wonder if all the Harems would climax at the same time? if she doesn’t have them all in one place that could get very….interesting to see the results, on a pair with the atomic wedgie
only sudden things seem to cross over if she knows something is coming she can sort out what body is meant to react
An atomic wedgie from Maxima to one Harem caused every Harem to react. I think it’s safe to say that an orgasm from Dabbler would likewise cause a reaction in all of them . . . all of her . . . whatever.
Yeah, but there are no surprise orgasms.. there are surprise wedgies.
But there can be a SUPER ORGASM, which (Dabbler being a succubus & a superhero) would overwhelm Harem’s conscience control of her multiple bodies. Evidently, Dabbler IS that good…
there is a thought you couldn’t hit him with the forget hamer she has backups of her memory
Well, she’d probably need to hit Harem several times, once for each body. Or all of them at once, perhaps–that way, you’d prevent cross-contamination.
This assumes that Harem’s memory is, like the rest of us, stored in her meat-brains. It’s possible the ‘single mind’ aspect could mean that her memory and other mental functions are somehow disembodied and just linked to the various meat-puppets.
So a more serious form of the question would be–if one of the Harems suffers a serious head-injury, does she suffer from the associated brain-damage? And if so, does it just affect the injured Harem, or all of them? Or is it like alcohol–she suffers some impairment, but not what a non-multi would suffer?
Larry Niven’s Known Space series had a wonderful little toy where you could, from a short distance, directly stimulate someone’s pleasure center in the brain. It was very quickly banned on every world containing humans – at least publicly.
Odds that Dabbler either has or could very easily replicate this? Surprise orgasms would be a wonderful prank from her view…
She was working on a ‘Tickle Gun’ earlier… sounds pretty darn close…
The device was a Tasp, and it did trigger the pleasure centers, although not specifically sexual pleasure centers. It was the portable version of the Droud, in which people would have a socket put in their head so they could run the current directly themselves. It was HIGHLY addictive.
I would postulate that Dabbler would have to use the Memory-Ban Hammer on all of Harem’s meat bodies, regardless of how many or few of Harem actually participated.
Harem can have up to 5 physical brains, which are all accessed by 1 mind; since it’s 1 mind linked to all 5 sets of memories being stored in 5 brains, each time Harem remembers any one experience, it will be stored in all 5 brains at the same time.
If Dabbler only hammered out memories from only 1 brain, the other 4 brains still carry the same set of memories…Which would then be instantly refreshed in the 1 brain that got “hammered.” To affect ALL of Harem’s memory-sets, Dabbler would have to hammer all 5 brains simultaneously.
Actually memories only get refreshed when you access them. Things which you think of often remain fresh in your mind. Others, that you do not think of at all, can fade away, in time.
Note that dreaming can and does serve to do both too. Failing to sleep can hinder laying down memories. Also, of course, you have short term and long term memories, and the above activities are part of the process involved in transferring events from one part to the other.
So if Harem was trying to remember something specific and kept replaying it in her mind, then the memories would be laid down continuously.
But there is a lot more in her memory than she can be thinking about at any one time.
Dabbler would probably want more than one of them in the room anyway.
are you saying dabbs whould want daphne to be her one woman harem?
Considering Dabbler will probably make use of all of them, it will probably redefine “multiple orgasm” to include parallel instead of just serial…
Well, she does have 4 hands, but even then i imagine it would look like the weirdest, sweatiest twister game i ever did see.
…I’d want to get that on film…
…To study…
For SCIENCE!
Can we get a decent look at Dabblers FB’s t-shirt ?
I’d like to second this inquiry.
There is another look coming up, on the next page.
does this mean we’re going to see Barberian again? as a recurring character? :D
if he is i will probably be more as a running joke. probably involving him leaving archon at odd times
Even this I could live with.
At this point I think he ought at least been added to the Who’s who having appeared in multiple comics and been given dialog. Like is he a prospective recruit now? Cause otherwise I would be wondering about him just being allowed to hang around like this.
Also occurs to me that it might be looking into the fact that despite being invited over by Vehemence, he was probably the least aggressive of that lot from the get go.
He doesn’t actually have a name though.
That’s the second condition to get a Who’s Who. The character has to have been named in comic (or by DaveB in the little blog, if he feels like it)
Didn’t Sydney call him the Barberian? Or do people have to give out their own names to get on Who’s Who?
I think it is a fan-created name, which Dave has adopted, in comments. But which I do not recall having been used in-comic.
However I have serious problems with names. So I do not trust my own brain on this. :-(
It was used once at the very least. Sydney was probably just calling him that as a nickname, though. I don’t think it’s something he picked out for his super villain name, I mean, when Vehemence got him to be one.
Ahh, I sit corrected. Thanks.
*shifts tail to a more comfortable position.
Oh shoot, I added him to the widget but I forgot to upload his badge. Let me do that now.
I think he’s unlikely to be an ARCSWAT recruit since what we’ve seen of him suggests he doesn’t like fighting or violence much (“I’m only here because of my friends” and how easily he seemed to shrug off V’s agro aura to surrender peacefully) but I’d certainly be happy to see him hanging around ARCHON HQ now and then as say, their resident hair stylist working alongside the fashion ninjas or something.
From an in universe standpoint it makes sense in a few ways, they can keep an eye on him for one, but also I think it’s worth considering the effect it might have on the thinking of others.
Say you’re a super who’s got mixed up in something shady and are having second thoughts, the Barbarian being ‘forgiven’ and getting a job, and it being known, could have a significant effect on what you do. ARCHON would prefer to avoid fights where possible, every shady super who cleans up their act voluntarily is one less they have to potentially fight or take down.
Being able to say “Mixed up in something you regret? Come talk to us, we’re reasonable, as proof look at this guy, he fought against us and now we pay him to cut our hair!” could be the difference between someone thinking “If I back out now they’ll kill me or threaten my family and I’ll go to jail anyway. I have no choice I have to go through with it.” to “They let that guy off and gave him a job, if I come clean and tell them about Doctor Squid’s plans to fill the pens of school kids with mind controlling ink they’ll stop him and protect me/my family from revenge attacks, I might even stay out of jail… I’m going to call them”.
Solid social thinking. As we would expect from a cunning pack member.
*engages in social tail sniffing*
If folks are basically good, we should exercise tolerance. And offering extra support, when they are at a tipping point, or involved in a crisis, is especially important, as you say.
That, or he’s about to get another wallop from Dabbler’s amnesia hammer and sent home.
I have to wonder if repeated . . . dates with our succubus friend could cause permanent damage or shorten his life or something.
I think it’s simply just that sex with Dabbler is all night long and exhausting
I don’t think Succubi in this universe actually drain life force. Dabbler drew a direct parallel between Tantric and Vehemic energies, and Vehemence didn’t drain anything from anyone. He just got power from energy that hangs around after a fight. So Dabbler probably just gets power from the latent energies floating around after a good bout of sex
One universe I read explained it as human sex generates the energy and normally it just dissipates (just like the heat and sound generated) but succubuses can suck it up like Dabbler’s squeaky toy did to the gamma radiation.
hey, at least everybody feels great afterwards… it beats having your civilization powered by
STUPIDITY…
I like that he’s obviously comfortable with being in a non exclusive ‘friends with benefits’ arrangement with Dabbler.
And his being at ease, and the ARC team being at ease around him, speaks well for his personality.
He’s pretty cool. Of course, don’t deduct the gigantic ego boost he probably got from all that
The fact that he was able to push off the vehemence aura mid battle speaks well for his natural peacefulness.
And a supreme sense of self preservation, which helped overwrite the aura (while it managed to get other supers to attack Maxima)
It’s fairly common in the superhero comic world for enemies to become friends and vice versa. Plus, I don’t think he even threw a punch in the fight. Without doing any archive diving I’m pretty sure the first time we heard from him was him offering to surrender.
So I’m not sure if it’s been asked before, but is Barberian going to be a reoccurring character? If so, what’s his real name?
Not given yet. He looks like a Henry to me. Hank to his buddies and Monsieur Henrié to the snootier customers.
I wonder what kind of clienté he has
Would Dabbler’s take-out be called a Happy Meal?
well her meals seem to have a happy ending
I’d be afraid to ask what the “free toy inside” might entail…
With the kind of workshop Dabbler can use, the mind shudders to contemplate what kind of “toys” she can make…
The “free toy” might be a succubaby.
But I would assume Dabbler knows how to avoid that – until she actually intends for it to happen.
Well, considering that the “toy” she used to eat gamma radiation also happens to have tentacles, think about what kind of “toys” she might have for…other…more specialized…purposes.
All of Dabbler’s meals are happy.
new words added to my vocabulary:
Moratorium- a time where a particular activity is not allowed
Coiffure- a style or manner of arranging the hair.
Zonk- a new word for ████
zonk ashely means tiered as in “i had a hard days work and i am zonked” at least in the part of the world i am from.
Yeah, not so much a new word for sex, just a degree of it. Sort of a “rocked rubbery” kind of thing…
Makes all that Scooby Doo dialog look completely different, doesn’t it?
Shaggy says “Zoink” not “Zonk” .
Jenkies!
Ra-ro.
Always thought Velma said “Jinkies!” (personally speaking, always found her more attractive and appealing than Daphne)
Didn’t he say “Zoiks!” (no ‘n’)
From a Saturday Night Live sketch: “Zoinks you, man! Zoinks you in the ass!”
Not to be confused with Zork. Apparently Jiggawatt does that with street lamps.
What I want to know is how many of those shirts Dabbler has had printed. Bulk orders are more economical, after all.
Also, does she just hand them out afterward? Is it part of a gift basket, along with breath mints, a protein shake, and fuzzy handcuffs?
I’d almost be more surprised if that DIDN’T happen than if it did…
my guess is she fabricates the shirts herself i mean she has a lab that can make high tension ribbons
She may even be able to solve the “Man of Steel, Condoms of Tissue Paper” problem.
The mind boggles…
na the ribbons didn’t hold up well to fiction https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1380
Pretty sure dabbler herself would not hold up to That level of friction… Ow..
So not as much of an issue. But more than likely she made the shirt (not likely she’ll get Archon to sign off on having them printed) but its just a regular shirt that has no abnormal qualities or traits from any other shirt made on earth so that her embargo on sharing tech is maintained.
I think it’s becoming a running gag.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1881
but his is not going to mention dabs
I could see Harem or someone else making them to give to Dabbler’s partners.
This comic is the epitome of what guys think women talk about when they get together in private. Y’know, between the random sex orgies, pillow fights, and marathon sessions of RomComs/Chick Flicks and ice cream and other sweets.
Meanwhile, when guys get together, everyone knows the only conversations that happen are guttural grunts about sports and women as we feast upon bacon and beer while watching things explode and people get injured.
Don’t forget pride in upright urination and farts bottled for biological warfare.
There is now bacon jerky. Its like two of our favorite food groups.. combined!
Ogre Toes: sausage stuffed with bacon and then wrapped in bacon.
Bacon bits on a salad, I refer to as Ogre Warts.
Well I think when there’s a succubus in the room who’s about to go clubbing and is sitting in her lover’s lap sex is going to come up in conversation.
But…but…Dabbler doesn’t go clubbing. She goes hammering.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1694
really “when all you have is a summon succubi spell every challenge requires seduction” to quote the famous 5th circle of hell saying.
Hey, Waldo. So you tell me you never did exactly that?
Because watching action films with beer and cheap food while grunting about sports and women is awesome.
Aaand I’m pretty certain female BFFs gossip about their sex life (Heck, even I gossip about that). So kinda realistic comic?
Replace bear with whiskey, sports with manly anime (Fist of the North Star, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, etc) and yes I’ve done that.
It was more putting the entire idea of the conversation into base language because it had a bit of a male fantasy tone to it. Even if it’s true that some groups do this. The wording on it just had a low brow feeling to it. But that’s my opinion. I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing though.
One thing, to factor in, is that one of the key participants is actually an alien.* And aliens do not think like us. Dave has a very good excuse for just how human Dabbler’s behaviour is however, namely that succubi will be masters at blending into alien cultures. It is clearly intrinsic to their species and, presumably, their evolution.
However, the underlying differences will remain. In humans, there are various social and evolutionary explanations for both why men tend to be more vocal about sexual matters and more (openly) promiscuous, than women. However that clearly would not be the case for succubi. Not least because they do not have a male gender.
Dabbler is behaving perfectly reasonably, for her gender, given her species.
* It is nice how those four arms and purple skin vanish from our considerations, so unconsciously, when not focussing on differences.
Dabbler can probably create or merely print on T-Shirts using techno magic.
Not bending the laws of physics that much.
high speed color printer.. we can do that ourselves… all she’d need to do is get a few shirts to put in the thing, and with that being such a simple basic black like that, heck the Quartermaster probably ISSUED THEM to her as part of her “NON-Battle-Form” Uniform… just because she’s a “civilian consultant” she’ll still GET one issued to her… it’s kinda like how the actors/actresses/celebrities get issued the SAME uniforms as the troops are wearing when they go out to places like Iraq/Kuwait for U.S.O. Tours… it helps them MINIMIZE their chances of being a target simply because they DON’T dress the same as the rest of the grunts… whether or not she actually WEARS that uniform, or one of her OWN design, may or may not matter in the long run, but I’ll bet that’s where at least this one shirt came from.
I think you managed to slip in an extra word there, DaveB. :)
Not having any artistic talent whatsoever, I’ll have to take your word for that. On the other hand, as I know full well, it can also be a little tricky getting all the parts in the right place when someone is sitting on my lap. Tricky, but very rewarding . . . :D
At least DaveB didn’t have to draw Dabbler & Barberian getting all the parts into the right places last night…That would’ve changed the whole SFW rating on the comic, fer sher.
Idea for vote incentive? ;)
Of course.
What other reason could I possibly have to mention this at all?
This coiffure artiste must be a really laid back guy. I mean, even V’s aggro arua(TM) was rather ineffective in his case. I like him already.
In that line of work, as a straight guy: lots of jokes and occasional bashing attempts would force the patience of a saint. Of course it would be fun to find he also has a mental power — just didn’t get to use it in the fight.
Pretty strong in the willpower department is my guess. Or V didn’t actually zap him, just his friends, he mentioned coming along to keep them out of trouble.
First appearance: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1393 not putting up much of a fight.
Surrenders: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1420
There is a slight inconsistency there. Given that doing something which your mates talked you into* is normally considered to be a sign of weak will. If it is something ill-advised, that common sense would otherwise tell you not to do, that is.
However I do agree that he has strong resistance to supernatural** influence.
* This is ignoring Vehemence and his aggro aura, and just talking generally.
** for lack of a better word.
Or low self esteem…
I hope he becomes a reoccurring character. Think about it please Dave.
This made me wonder if there is a trope for it. You know you throw in a onetime NPC/Sidecharacter and BOOM the community is already attached. I know this can happen in roleplaying games when the players just fixate on some random add and must investigate all info about this unimportant character.
That aside I’m with you and would also like future appearances.
i still think the best thing to do with him is have him appear randomly doing the figurative walk of shame
It’s ascended extra.
There is a sub-type of that trope that seems to fit here: the “Mauve Shirt”
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MauveShirt
Excerpt:
“The Mauve Shirt is a former Red Shirt who has managed to get enough screen time and lines to make him stand out from the rank and file, but not enough to be part of the main cast. It can also be accomplished by showing pictures of a spouse or baby (Be careful with that, as it’s Tempting Fate all by itself), personal quirks, or just plain old giving them a name (whole or in part).”
What worries me is not that Dave could be adding characters, it is that eventually existing characters will age and eventually reach “One Day From Retirement”. In this situation they better call the geomancer and ask him to put the short-timer in his vault for the next 24 hours or that guy is a gonner for sure.
Of course, characters like Chief Engineer Scott have always been higher level than Red Shirt or even Mauve Shirt. He was a main part of the cast right from the very start.
A salute to Scotty for being the only Red Shirt is Star Trek who they couldn’t kill off…Not permanently anyway. There was the occasional occurrence when Scotty actually died, but he always got better before the end of the episode. He even appeared in ST;TNG after having survived for several years in a transporter buffer! He even outlived the Original Series!
One quirk about filming James Doohan in a Trek scene was dealing with his right hand. He lost a finger during WWII. Producers were very creative in hiding or obscuring his hand in about every scene he was in. (Just watch old episodes and you can notice he was always holding something in that hand, or it was behind a panel, or by his side.) The one scene when they had to get tricky was a trial scene where he had to swear in on a book using his right hand. They filmed it with his left hand and then flipped the image in the final cut.
https://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/41/37/5a/41375acb0c6111a4ae1d9c2901c4135a.jpg
That must have made it awkward for Leonard Nimoy, and anyone else playing a Vulcan. Let alone the inevitable faux pas by fans, at conventions.
Although that photo would show that he takes it in good spirit, I can still see folks getting embarrassed, out of empathy.
“Radar” from MASH (Gary Burghoff), had a similar issue. He has a deformity of three fingers on the left hand. Something I only read about – watching almost all of the MASh episodes, I never realised it.
That is sort of like what happened with the Joker. He was meant to be a one-time throw-away character (as in throw him in jail and forget about him), but the fan response was so strong that the Joker had to keep figuring new ways to get out of nut house to challenge Batman again.
Science… yes. Lol
From DaveB‘s blog: “Sydney’s question in the mini comic is legit, and really the only way to find out is to find out.”
Dabbler’s “battle cry” should actually be: “For Science!”
With the current comic as a basis that battle cry has me thinking of baseball.
Of course Dabbler is working her way around the “rule” about teammates. Against a magic user like V she would have needed a precharge to fight on his terms. She has to experiment to find out which team members (or fembers she don’t mind) can charge her quickest. Harem jumps right to the top of the list in that — or Harem + Varian. Sydney is “safe” as she is just a mcnugget until they find the powers come from her and the orbs are just visual/textural manifestations. Take one for the team!
I doubt Dabbler is a fan of fast food though
Aaand suddenly Harem became adorable.
Like she hasn’t been already? ;P
What do you mean ‘suddenly’? o_O
Heh. Not that I didn’t like her before, she was more just “funny”. But panel 4 is just great.
Baberian needs a Who’s Who entry. Especially since he is willing to go for a rematch with Dabbler. That is super-heroic.
Not all heroism has to be about self sacrifice. Sometimes it is actually very pleasing
Sydney then realizes that she has to attend a media prep course and so declines to join the others…
Dabbler soliciting Harem –
“I’ll be in mah bunk.”
I seriously love the hell out of panel 6. Dabbler looks sooo damn lovely in that sweater dress lounging on Barbarians lap, not to mention that lucky zebra mowhawk bastard getting Dabbler cuddles and leg touching privileges.
Also gotta love how harem teleports just to the other side of her seat to focus conversation with Barbarian. I am starting to wonder if the woman ever actually uses her legs for walking.
On the subject of Harem’s teleportation, I just realized she teleported from one spot in a sitting position to elsewhere in a standing position.
I only have this to say about this page:
via GIPHY
As the Heterodynes say – “For SCIENCE!”
+1
Sexy science is the very BEST kind of science!!!
what about weird science??
But the purpose of the weird science was for sexy!
the results of weird science were sexy but the weird science itself was not so sexy
I don’t pretend to understand weird science, I just reap the sexy results.
But the actual ingredients to that weird science included a barbie doll & Playboy magazines…
Panel four shows that, for all of Harem’s ‘extra’ experiences, she is still only 19
Regarding drawing someone sitting (or even lounging) in someone else’s lap…you did an outstandingly good job of it. It looks quite realistic!
really the 4 armed people part alien looks realistic? i know you mean the poses look good but couldn’t let that slide
I’m reminded of Babylon 5 right now. “We have six well we have six. “Centauri
“Did you think these were just decoration?” (regarding statue of fertility god-goddess)
“Coiffure Artiste-ian”
Just doesn’t have the same ring to it…
Author comment: “Getting all the parts in the right place is trickier than you’d think”
Obligatory response: “That’s what she said”
obligatory response to your response: “That’s what he said… to your brother.”
“That’s what your mom said____ about you.
Is it just me, or does the shirt in this page worn by the Barb-erian not match the one on the previous page. On the previous page it looks like there are two words censored in the second to last line right next to each other, but in the easier to read one there is only one word.
I wasn’t sure Harem could blush. She’s so adorable!
my guess, based on how she perceives pain above a certain amount but doesn’t share injury across bodies: if she drank enough beer to be tipsy or drunk, all the Harem bodies would seem intoxicated, despite having zero blood alcohol level. likewise if Dabbler had marathon sex with just one Harem body, all the Harem bodies would feel the yummy orgasms, but wouldn’t be tired. unless Dabbler’s succubus feeding caused mental fatigue and not just physical fatigue. would Dabbler’s hammer-of-forget work on Harem?
see i doubt it as dunkers is ethanol in the brain my bet is they would be fine but distracted by the drunken sensations the one body is feeling
Alcohol messes up both the higher mental functions and the physical operations such as maintaining balance. If Harem(1) has been consuming mass quantities of alcohol, Harem(2) should be physically unimpaired – but it’s not obvious what the effect on mental functions would be.
And since the hangover is biochemical, only Harem(1) would have one. (Actually, since a hangover is mostly dehydration, it’s optional for most people who [i]don’t[/i] have spare bodies.)
i think it might be an effect similar to what happens the the group-mind of the Psi-Smith in the Foglio’s comic Buck Godot: PSmith. only one of them actually imbibed the alcohol, but due to his group mind, the closer any of the OTHER units came to that units physical body, the MORE they showed the effects of being totally blotto (the unit involved literally drank one of EVERY type of drink on the bar’s menu… within about an hour IIRC, IE: very blitzed)… maybe something similar could happen here… right up to the point that Harem stores the one that actually drank… but then she’ll have to deal with a VERY delayed hangover…
“Don’t worry, he’s straight. I checked. A lot.” Favorite Dabbler quote.
And has interesting sub-text beneath the obvious. Her species probably does have gaydar and/or technomagic to emulate the same. And we have seen Dabbler tapping into sexual fantasies, with her green woman incident. So there would be a lot more checking going on than the purely hands-on aspects.
No reason to think Dabbler’s always female, either. She eats lust and shifts shapes, it would be weird if she couldn’t transform into a dude.
That would match many folklore expectations for a succubus. Albeit that not all assume such.
The key thing though would be to match her body to her prospective partner’s desires. There would be no point becoming a green man, for General Faulk, if he is into green women.
no when halo arrived at base this day by her point of viwe she had a convo with dabbler who said succubi are always female
In which case gaydar would be even more important for succubi, if they want to avoid going hungry. To avoid gay guys, but pick up on gay girls.
i think its more of a kink scanner with a gaydar app
quote syd “porno-sense? bet its the best when it tingles”
My favorite Dabbler quote is the one that roughly goes “Let me rephrase, something is right in the middle of me.” Comedic win!
It was about that time that Dabbler had conclusively proved that Barberian is indeed very straight.
Ah yes, I recognize that behaviour. Sydney is appalled, because she’s a nerd. NEEEERRRRD. So while in actuality she’s almost certainly considerably more deviant than anyone else in the room (Except Dabbler), she’s lived a life of having to hide even her moderate hobbies or at least make an effort to appear normal, so she’s reacting by proxy because that’s how she’s learned how to react, to this sort of behaviour. It’s embarrassing, sure, it’s ‘too much information’ but I doubt it actually weirds her out when you get down to it. She’s probably actually quite interested- just, well, self confidence issues and societal expectations.
It’ll be interesting as she gains more self-confidence and grows into her role on the team, particularly given that the team seems to be pretty accepting of more deviant levels of interaction.
Remember back at the beginning when Sydney went off about tentacle hentai- she’s not some pure and innocent maiden who’s never seen the outside world. Of course this isn’t a porno, so I doubt it’ll go very far for the plot tangent, but at the very least Sydney will probably become more accepting of Dabbler’s comments over time, especially when she realizes that Dabbler is doing it largely just to fuck with her. And/or if she actually gets laid at some point.
Just wanted to add two cents. He could be bi, you know. :P
he could be a lot of things including brainwashed at this point
Nope. He’s straight. Dabbler checked. A lot.
Unless Dabbles invited another male to join in on her ‘recharging’, then that does not rule out Barberian from being bi (or pan, or Omni)
Or vegan.
Wait a mo, I thought Succubi only drained sexual energies from males, yet Dabbler’s inviting Harem to come and play with her (or should that be play and come), so does that make our horny beauty an equal opportunity sexer? We must find this out … for Science!
She is basicly “anything that moves”.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1694
Considering that, as far as we know, rishathra is her only available option on this planet for that particular nutrient…
+1 for Ringworld reference.
Dabbler’s working her way through the animal kingdom. In alphabetical order.
“Hrm, what’s next after ‘Barberian’? Hrm. ‘Bass’? Ooh, sounds wriggly…”
Fish Bass? Or Lance Bass? o_O
Both? At the same time?
After all, Dabbler’s pants are Minimum Security…
What? Those are her own words, ya’ know.