Grrl Power #410 – Maximized marketing
Arianna and her team are probably already fielding several dozen offers from all sorts of companies for each and every member of the team. Deus has slightly more access than a Hasbro exec, but only just – you can be sure there will be action figures of the team. Maxima especially will have tons of offers, and in addition to easing her into the idea, Deus is also kind of calling dibs on her endorsement time by putting the offer out there so early.
For the snooty alcoholics in the crowd, that’s a bottle of 40 year old Glenfiddich on the table, which goes for just shy of $4,000 per bottle. I’m not sure if Deus is trying to impress Maxima, (ok he definitely is) or if he or even Max is a just booze snob. I assume 40 year old scotch is pretty good relative to other scotch. I don’t drink a lot, and when I do it’s basically liquid candy, like Mudslides or Alien Secretions so I wouldn’t know expensive scotch if you threw it in my face. In fact the only scotch I know I like is butterscotch schnapps mixed with root beer. It’s… very sweet.
In my mind Maxima is channeling Peter Dinklage there in panel 3.
I haven’t recommended any webcomics lately, but I found one that compelled me to read all the archives in a single go. It’s called the Pigeon Gazette, and it’s a… I guess semi-autobio comic about a gal who really reminds me of Sydney quite a bit at times, albeit with slightly more crippling social anxiety issues from time to time – but you know, in a funny way. Here’s a link straight to the archives cause it’s posted on Tumblr, so there’s no other way to read from the beginning. Not that there’s really an ongoing story. Anyway, check it out, and support her Patreon if you’re so inclined. Her comic is hilarious and she should have all the monies.
Patreon supporters can view this page at twice the size! (as soon as I wake up and post it then immediately go back to sleep since Patreon doesn’t have a way to schedule posts yet.) $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like :)
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
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SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
‘Boots’ – don’t give her any ideas.
Somehow this song immediately came to mind (and THIS version) :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyAZQ45uww
More like These Boots are made for Stompin…and Kickin, and Crushin….
Well, considering that those boots were made in consideration of (literal) super-soldiers, yeah, I’d have to agree with that.
I was more thinking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZHsjHr_hk8
It that was Maxima, the Boot would have put them in the hospital.
that song… different version though i like their “bombs mix” as well
Pretty Max sighted in panel five! :D
And then Deus ruins it.
No, Maxi ruined it herself by presuming Deus has a death fetish
Well, the way he goes around treating Archon, he might have a death wish. x)
Treating Archon how? As a company he supplies with tech? o_O
To me, it seems that he treats them more like means to an end, at least, judging from the few strips that we had that showed him to be spying on Archon – and expecting Harem to be crossing him in that aspect, which suggests he is more into manipulating the situation in his advantage than just supplying Archon.
‘Spying’ on them shows that he is smart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meQUdezfMhk
Indeed. That is the cutest, most cheerful, least scowling I’ve ever seen of Maxma.
It’s a sign, one of the horsemen has road forth…. The end is nigh……
Seriously, that is the polar opposite reaction from max than what I expected… Maybe Max still has a thing for Dues??
That’s ’cause Maxima fits the anime trope of,
(Tomboy toughest female fighter, secretly wants to be a prettyprettyprincess)
cf: Fairy Tale, Erza
Should be interesting when the inevitable “reveal your hidden desire” villain rears his head.
Sydney’s version of that should be interesting. Hmm, I see her having a clear mind that does not think of everything at once in a supremely distracting way. Her physical stature would 6 feet tall, muscular, but not muscle bound, with good eye-sight (not needing the glasses). Imagine Max with normal skin tone and Sydney’s face. She still handles hot foods at a ultra level.
Yup. That’s not a look of disinterest there, if you ask me.
To me, panel 5 looks more like she’s surprised than flattered. She knows that Arianna is the one in charge of the marketing aspects of Archon & she knows that Deus should be fielding such offers through Ari instead of with Max directly…and Max definitely prefers it that way.
Agree, that was my thought on panel 5. That is the cutest and softest she has looked yet.
I had no idea Maxima could look that cute.
Maxima is very beautiful.
I’m more surprised that she doesn’t look angry at the proposition (at least in panel 5)–more surprised/curious
That’s because, deep down, she has always wanted to be a model, but then panel 6 shows her fear of being exploited
I think one of Maxima’s “suggestions” might be where Deus can cram those boots!
Boots, eh? That’s a pretty perfect fit.
And she’s already been wearing a pair, so she knows how they feel
Wonder if they have a vomit-proof finish?
I somehow doubt that Max will be asking about making an adjustment in manufacturing of that nature. After all, it’s not likely to be an instance that occurs often enough to warrant the cost of development & production.
actually, i could see her pushing to have “truly water proof” or even “hydrophobic coating” added to the specs.. (in my experience ‘water proof boots’ aren’t really waterproof.. just highly resistant to their fabric getting wet. the water seems to seep in to mess up your feet anyway)
being properly waterproof would be a big advantage in a lot of situations.
though hopefully Deus will be smart enough to realize that if he’s going to have Maxima selling boots, they should be hiking boots, work boots, and similar styles.. trying to get her to sell the styles focused more on appearance than performance would be an uphill battle.
Given that Maxima is far more indestructible then her clothing…. any footwear is chosen purely for ascetics. Ballet flats would be the most practical choice for her given her power set. Any footwear with an rigid sole/sides would be the worst choice. Boots are as impractical as heels for her. Simply breaking into a run without carefully protecting her shoes will rip up a boot OR a high heel because of the inflexible foot-beds.
Remember those boots Deus gave her on their not-date? Deus already knows what boots suit Maxi
The problem with real waterproof footwear is that your feet can’t “breathe” on their own…Sweat builds up & you’d be more likely to develop “trenchfoot.” In certain situations, you would need real waterproofing (such as slogging through a toxic waste pool, for example), but only when you’d be expecting a short term need & would have opportunity to take them off after no more than a few hours.
Standard-issue waterproof footwear intended for everyday, all day use would actually be a liability rather than an asset.
However, since Sydney is such a new addition to the team, they might want to consider the development of vomit-proof PT gear…
Sounds to me, Deus knows Maxi and his market
This is probably why he gave her those boots back when they weren’t dating: let her try them out without any obligations
Max seems to like boots..
Yup, and Deus likes living :P
15 year old Glenfiddich is amazing. I can’t image what their 40 year old stuff would taste like.
I currently have a 12 year old bottle. Is there a big difference?
Yes there is, though the 18 is my current favorite, I couldn’t imagine getting my hands on a 40 year old. My wife would probably divorce me.
Because you wouldn’t share? o_O
Glenfiddich has a 50 year old whiskey (take that Deus!). In Australia, it’ll set you back $30,000 for 700 ml. I honestly don’t know if ANY drink is worth that price (but I do know if I had a bottle NO ONE is mixing it with cola or soda!). Personally I’ve never tried anything past the 18 year version (which was heaven in a glass, and would smite you from upon high the next morning if you didn’t respect it) but I’m of the opinion that you’d reach a point where the cleanness and subtlety of the taste would become less of a point that the pure financial display of being able offer it to guests like an off the shelf mixed brand.
No drink is worth more than ten bucks. Course, I don’t drink alcohol.
Let me translate what you just said a little, just to show how wrong it is:
“No car needs to go faster than 10 mph. Course, I don’t drive.”
Or even more clearly:
“No shoes are worth more than ten bucks. Course, I don’t wear clothes.”
Now, it’s not fully fair. Because beer can be very good and is below the ten bucks benchmark clearly. As soon as you get to a bottle of wine however, you’re quickly over ten bucks in production cost alone. Same goes for mead. And obviously for booze of any kind as well. In short: The ten bucks benchmark is complete bullshit.
When people are buying $30,000 wine they are not paying that much for the wine – they are paying for the $30,000 price tag that they can show off and the sense of superiority over others it brings them.
It can be about the price tag. I’ve heard the legend that Johnnie Walker wasn’t selling as much of their Blue Label as they liked. So they upped the price and sold more bottles as a result.
Sure, but we’re not talking 30’000 for a bottle of wine here. We’re talking 80 bucks (for example) for a bottle of whiskey and why that’s not too much.
My personal favorite wine only sets me back 12.50 for 1500 ml, of course I’ve never had truly aged wine as i can’t afford any of it, but madria sangria is delicious, works great for cooking, and works amazingly when used as the base for homemade sangria(of course it takes twice as much to get the fruit as the wine)
I do not have one favourite wine, since there is way too much of a difference between different wines and it really depends on the occasion and my mood (not to mention that I like mead and beer a lot too). But the ones I usually go for are between 20 to 80 Franken per 750ml. The most expensive one of them being an ice wine. All of them being regional product (there’s a sensational red from Zweigelt grapes produced less than ten kilometres from my home that goes for around 40-50 Franken the bottle).
So I’m not advocating that anything of low price must be rubbish. I never was. But some products, as the ice wine I mentioned, you won’t get good quality below a certain pricetag. Simply because of the production cost involved.
And those are not necessarily a question of being a better quality. But different products that can’t be fully compared on a 1 to 1 base.
I won’t pay more than ten bucks for a 0,5l bottle of beer in a store. Because with the production cost of beer it just wouldn’t make sense (some kind of special recipe where it would notwithstanding). Now sixty bucks for the same amount of 18 year old whiskey? That makes a whole lot of sense in comparison.
That and that one should not try to offer something as absolute fact when having no clue at all (and even admitting it) is all I’m saying.
I may have replied to the wrong comment, i was merely trying to say my personal favorite, and that there are some delicious cheaper wines if it’s all you can afford. I wasn’t trying to say anything against expensive ones.
I was wrong about the Zweigelt by the way. That’s restaurant price. The wine farm itself sells it for 14 Franken the bottle (750ml). That’s real good value, gonna pay them a visit soon!
I can assure you, some alcohol *is* worth $10.00. That is, if you like alcohol.
All value is a subjective attribution projected onto the object from a given person. However, I have had very expensive wine and spirits for which I did not care and would never drink again without some degree of financial incentive (translation – I’m not paying for it but I’ll give it a go if someone else pays). Glenfiddich has never let me down – even their least aged scotch is wonderful. I’ve had the next step up from 18 years (want to say 25 years but don’t quote me), and there was a noticable improvement in the flavor.
As a rule of thumb, the cheapest price is usually the least flavorful alcohol. When sampling a given brand for the first time, buy the smallest version so your sample doesn’t go to waste.
That said, I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by inexpensive wine from time to time. So there’s that…
As someone who actually makes alcohol for a living, $30,000 is a bit much. What it comes down to is production costs, labor costs, and taxes. My company has to pay taxes all the time in order to store alcohol, to much of that could inflate the bottom line.
Also, since this is a commodity rather than a necessity, the price for good stuff can only go up.
You will never be a successful entrepreneur with a math like that!
Price is determined by one and one thing only – what the people are willing to pay!
Not quite Sinsl.
The price of an item is determined by what the buyer and seller agree upon. I might be willing to pay $10,000 for a Porsche; however, Porsche is unwilling to sell it to me at that price.
Alcohol IS a commodity, rather than a necessity, and the price of the good stuff is driven up by all sorts of factors… witness what hip-hop culture and music did to the price of Hennessy.
Take alcohol, pour into expensive crystal bottle, add gold plated cork…$$$
That being said, I love a summertime Lambrusco… If you can’t enjoy an inexpensive bottle of wine, you’re taking life too seriously!
@ Mike Z: It’s more ‘the general buyers market’ If noone’s willing to spend more than 10k on a Porsche, there’s not much Porsche’s demands are going to do
Screwed up the code sorry:
If you’re going by that maxim as an entrepreneur, you’ll be bankrupt within a few months or faster.
Before anything else, price will be determined by production cost, plus what it takes for you to get the product out to customers. Depending on circumstances and what people are willing to pay, you can go from there. But it will always be the base that you start from.
Don’t forget storage fees for 40 years, including insurance in case the building burns down or something. And the loss of money you could have made, investing the profit of selling the alcohol 40 years ago.
Also, if you’re buying a 10 dollar drink, in the US, quite a bit of that is going to taxes.
I hate to be the one that points out that whisky from Scotland has no ‘e’.
Its kind of the same rules that stops sparkling wine made outside a certain area being called Campaign or cactus juice being called Tequila.
True. Screwed that up myself up there. Interestingly enough, the Irish make use of the ‘e’. (That’s probably why the Americans do as well, considering the huge Irish influence on the culture.)
Here’s an alternative…Buy a new bottle & save it for an anniversary about a decade from now. By including your wife in the purchase & aging time, she also has a stake in seeing it through for the long-haul.
;)
Doesn’t work. The aging only counts if it is aged in the cask. Letting it get older in the bottle does nothing but gather dust.
Not entirely true. It depends on what you’re aging.
Whisky and anything destilled, yes. Wine however, it would make a difference. Whether it’s to the better or worse depends on storage circumstances, timeframe, grape sort and product quality. And if it’s a corked bottle on the quality of the cork. Very much so on the quality of the cork!
As others have noted, yes (though the flavour doesn’t improve as much as the price goes up!).
I like single malt Scotches, but I also like aged Rum and 12-15 year old El Dorado tastes completely different from your basic-level Captain Morgan (as in, you can sit and sip it straight, enjoying the flavour). Same deal with aged Tequila, though a lot of that is due to the age of the agave before it is harvested; try a Don Julio 70, neat, and skip the salt and lemon. You don’t need that to enjoy the wealth of flavours it will impart. Armagnac, same deal; cheap stuff is nothing special, but start getting into the VSOP, XO and special batches, and you can find amazing things (just got back from Montréal with an XO and it blows my normal VSOP out of the water…so to speak).
In short, as one travels further along the timeline of aging, things can get really good.
Does alcohol universally taste better as it gets older? Like, if we were to travel 300 years into the future and open a sealed bottle of something fancy, would it taste like liquid crack or something to that effect?
That depends on a lot of factors, but very generally speaking, the longer it’s aged, the smoother and more nuanced the flavor is.
If you went 300 years into the future and opened a 300 year old bottle of 12 year old single malt… it should taste like a bottle of 12 year old single malt. Once it’s sealed in a bottle, alcohol no longer ages, so as long as it has been properly stored it should taste great.
On the other hand, what a 300 year old oak cask of whisky would taste like, I don’t know, but I suspect the alcohol would have evaporated.
The 12 and 18 year old single malts I’ve had were universally wonderful. I’ve read, but don’t know from personal experience, that beyond 18 years you are in the realm of “snob appeal” and not any great difference in taste. However, if someone wants to share their bottle of 40 year old, I’m available for tasting!
That’s the reason aged liquor is more expensive. The stuff slowly evaporates as it ages, so you get more out of a younger cask (and thus, it’s cheaper)
That plus storage cost, yes.
(And yes, an extra amount that people will simply be willing to pay for surely goes into final pricing as well. But it’s not just that.)
300 year old booze?
Tis called vinegar.
this is actually true. a group that dug up an old Roman cargo ship actually found a sealed amphora of wine. literally 2500+ year old Red Wine Vinegar.
Depends. High quality wine will improve with age. however, scotch will stop aging once out of the barrel. For blended scotch like Johnnie Walker, the age statement is for the youngest scotch in the blend (ie you can have 18, 12 & 8 yr old scotch in the blend, but it will only be listed as an 8 yr old scotch). No matter how well sealed the bottle is, over time the alcohol will evaporate, eventually ruining it.
It actually depends on the wine. Some should be drunk rather young, at 3 to 7 years of age, because that’s when they are best and they start slowly deteriorating from there. And that’s not because of quality, but simply slight differences in production and grape sort. And even the best and longest-living wine will start to go bad (or at least worse than before) at some point.
That being said: We’re easily talking decades and more here. Wine is something to generally survive long periods when stored accordingly.
You can grab an amphora of wine from an ancient Greek shipwreck. Price being inversely proportional to the chance the stopper held and the contents is still drinkable.
My experience is that the higher the alcohol content, the greater effect seasononing / aging has, as a general rule. Most ales & lagers, for example, don’t seem to benefit a whole bunch from addidtional aging. Both wines & spirits seem to
I like cheese.
Welp, wonder if Maxima’s actually gonna do it. I mean, boots sound fine and all, but still. Maxima.
Course she is going to do it, look at her face in panel five
I get the feeling Max has spent a lot of her life feeling “different” and knowing that with great power comes great distance from what society considers “normal beauty”. Being offered a position as spokesmodel is pretty much the dream of a isolated teenager, it seems that the chance is still enough to temporarily lower Max’s personal psychological armour. Of course she’s back to her normal guared self in the last panel (considering she’s dealing with Deus, that’s the only sane option), but just for a second we saw the teen Max being told she was as pretty as any model.
Maybe I’m reading to much into one panel (probably), but that’s what I saw. Damn you DaveB with your subtlety and great artwork!
For what it’s worth, I pretty much agree with this. Either that or she’s putting on an act
Alternatively, she’s amused he’d be so blatant in his pitch. Either way he got under her defences. The lesson to be taken away is “Deus is dangerous”.
That said. I’m still sticking by the first theory (call me a romantic).
I don’t know… She already has way more positive affirmation of her beauty than she likes having to deal with, to the point that she feels people don’t give her credit for the hard work she puts in and the things she accomplishes. I have a hard time seeing her wanting to be associated with something so sexually pandering as being a “spokesmodel”
Granted: Modeling boots is not necessarily falling into sexually pandering territory, depending on the campaign.
Well, if all she is wearing is the boots… Mind you, Max does not strike me as a nudist.
I hope she does. I don’t know if her motive would be a “see what you’re missing” thing, an “I do what I want” thing, or whatever. Do it for the good of all mankind, Max. And some womankind, of course.
That looks seems to me more like surprise, amusement at the sheer blatantness, and the slightest bit of being flattered. It’s more a good-natured “what the hell” than a sign of being interested in doing it.
I kinda hope she doesn’t, to be honest. It would seem to be against a lot of what she espouses, and there is only so much the entire strip can warp around Deus before it gets annoying.
Can’t say that I’ve ever been enthused by Scotch or Whiskey. More than a mite bit too sweet for my tastes. Apparently it’s largely demanded by others though. I do have to take issue with him not using whiskey stones for that though. Considering he’s worth more than a small country, the price tag on the bottle is pocket change by comparison. Have you seen some of the stuff millionaires spring for just on a whim? 4k for a bottle is nothing. I’m betting he has a secret bar with bottles that are closer to 50k.
Yea, you could probably compare this to a student serving his guests beer
Our local LCBO store had an elite section topped by a bottle of $2,000 cognac – $100 an ounce. I used to go in there and admire it. One day I came in and it was gone. Manager told me a woman came in and bought all 12 they had in stock…..
I’d love to know who that was. O.o That’s quite the pretty penny so buy up 12 of those.
I don’t know about whiskey stones. A lot of the good whiskeys (most to all actually, as far as I can tell) should not be drunk cold but a little warm actually. Since that makes the full flavour come out. Cooling those down does not exactly ruin them, but it lessens the taste and thus the experience.
And yes, Glenfiddich falls into that group of stuff that should not be drunk cold.
Fun fact: A small drop of water will help release flavour for some wiskeys
OOh! So that’s why some people drink it with water!
Oh yes! I was quite astonished when I tried that first in the Glen Ord distillery. But it’s true.
Only a tiny bit of water, though. Drop in. Roll the glass a bit to stir it a little. Enjoy.
Huh, I had to look up what whiskey stones were. Told you I don’t drink a lot. But then I saw one shaped like a D20 and now I want one.
A study showed the ones made out of actual stone do little to nothing to cool the drink due to stone’s poor heat capacity. The most effective ones tested were made of metal (preferably something inert like stainless steel). So just find some (clean) ball bearings and keep them in your freezer.
Note: Sodium has a higher heat capacity than steel, but I would discourage you from dropping a piece of Sodium metal into water.
*FWOOMPH!”
They only cool your drink in the sense of making it look cooler, so to speak. ;)
I would be terrified of using whiskey stones over ice … simply because I’m an ice chomper … I could see me now. …
“How did you crack all you back teeth???”
“Bit a rock ….”
“Why are you chewing on rocks???”
“ummm …. well you see ….”
Oh, another thing. Is the comic updating an hour earlier now or what? I expected it not to be here for another 40 mins.
Yup, Daylight Drivinguscrazy
You think that’s weird? I’m reading it in my hotel room in Japan Thursday night at 7:45 PM! (and no, I don’t know your lottery numbers, past people!)
You are living four hours in the past :P
international date line, it’s tomorrow there ;p ;p
“Ooh, nice shoes! Do they come in women’s sizes?” -Amy Wong last words. Also I would give much for that scotch. Scotch is the only liquer I really get into but gets expensive fast at it ages.
Buy it cheap, let it steep
Exactly. Start young.
wait; what are we talking about again? For some reason, I suddenly feel uncomfortable… ^.^
I like my whiskey like I like my women: twelve years old and mixed up in coke.
buy it IN THE BARREL, the caramelized wood adds flavor as it ages.
once bottled, it no longer ages
Well, I suppose it’s a good attempt on his part, getting the small hooks in first, trying to slowly bring her in. Sad for him (and good for us), Max is likely not going to be eager to work with someone she flat out KNOWS is a sociopath, is a manipulative bastard, and arrogant as sin.
As an aside, they do know they have his pet telekinetic on ice, right? Or did his lawyers are ready free him?
You also described Maxi :P
Vector? Still absolutely zero proof Deus had anything to do with the Restaurant Rumble. Just because he had worked for Deus in the past is no reason to presume he still is (that Galytn job could have been a one-off)
Ah, but that’s what lawyers are for, right? Arianna will be brought into this.
Electronics THEN Textiles?
That sounds like running then walking.
Wouldn’t the textile factories have a shorter startup cycle?
Maybe I’m exaggerating the difficulties of chip fabrication and device assembly in
comparison to textile and garment manufacture.
Maybe they need the electronics to make the microchips and tracking wires they insert into every boot and underwire bra
Oh, so that’s why bras have underwires. To use as antennas for the GPS tracker. I suppose you could add some piezoelectric circuits to generate electricity from the movement. The amount of current would depend on the amount of mass being moved around.
Later in the Machina secret tracking facility. “Sir. We have been able to get a position lock on all the female members of Archon except for the one called HALO. The tracker sent out an initial message of ‘low voltage error’ and then quit broadcasting.”
I’m rather sure they’d also fail to get a signal from Dabbler. ;)
The signal for hers would never leave the quartermaster’s stockroom.
Do you think the textilekinetic tailor makes special order unmentionables for the girls? Some of them would have a hard time finding bras that would fit their frames comfortably. Not to mention the stresses to the fabric caused by fighting.
So, the next step up from a Sports Bra: the Combat Bra, made from Spectra fabric, lined with Kevlar and cotton, capable of handling a most dynamic of loads under the harshest of conditions..
If I were a woman in that line of work, I’d definitely invest in such a clothing line.
already developed for the jaguar girl of wapsi square and in stock with archon (the developer did say she had a contract for them)
Electronics have a Higher start up cost and required some specialist staff. however modern electronics is remarkable easy to assemble once the auto fabricated circuit cards are produced, they require less skill.
Textiles on the the other hand require someone to have skill with sewing; it could be Dues already has electronics market share(supplying supers with their comms and respirators) but he doesn’t have a textiles market….Yet….
As far as I can tell, the manufacturing hasn’t actually started yet. They’re just finishing getting the infrastructure into place. I interpreted that as “Most of the stuff we;re just finishing putting together is intended to make electronics (when it starts working), but we’re ready to run textiles right now”
Yeah, that was my take on on too.
It sounds like there is a marketing aspect too?
Like Dues’ company was already into electronics to a degree and thus had a consumer base.
Meanwhile with textiles he wants to take on one of the biggest brands in the world, which involves opening up a new market and would take a lot in terms of quality control and start up resources.
Maybe he needed the electronics up first (which Merf is pointing out is relatively simple to ensure quality? I dont have much production experience) to ensure trained managerial staff there, a good level of infrastructure, and that the size of his company’s resources can handle start-up costs?
Also in terms of tech Dues is a genius right?
Maybe he had some electronic designs no one else could compete with, thus ensuring success and the initial finance going into the country. Textiles are harder to upgrade, so it would be more a marketing and quality fight than an innovation one.
He’s not a tech genius specifically. He’s one of those guys who understands big picture relationships between complex systems, history, sociology, economics, etc. But more detail to come eventually.
In short, Deus doesn’t have to be any kind of expert in any specific category, as long as he’s shrewd with knowing how to use it.
And who to hire to work on the details.
Perhaps we might describe Deus as a “Synthesist”…
…one who is unusually adept at seeing non-intuitive connections between things that you’d normally never consider as connect-able. Imagine a sort of broad-spectrum “MacGyver”, if you will.
The odd thing about all of this- besides non-scary Max in panel 5- is that they’re talking so genially and so civilly. No, scratch the adverb “civilly”- the friendliness and casualness of their interaction seems genuine and sincere.
Sez DaveB:
I was very happy for a minute there until I realized that the action figures would be in Sydney’s world, not ours.
I’d back a kickstarter for Grrl Power action figures. In a heartbeat.
Awesome idea. New kind of Barbie doll, coming through!
I thought that was what the 3D printers were for.
I can’t imagine toy companies getting the scales right.
They’d need to make 5 inch (Halo) 6 inch (Heatwave) and 7 inch (Anvil) figures.
It’s not as if they could have one figure and recolor it for each character.
There would be a mass recall. Dabbler’s outfit would keep falling off.
That’s why Dabbler’s figure (in Glamor) would sell for a premium in Japan.
That particular ouftit could literally be painted on…
Whoop! Whoop! Alarms blaring! Major misspelling alert!
*outfit
I was wondering what the ouf version of one of those was . . .
One so large you go “ouf” when it lands on you.
That’s when a “healthy set of lungs” actually manages to knock the wind out of you.
You know that Dabbler would be upset if it was painted on and didn’t disappear when exposed to heat. She might even do a little corporate espionage to make sure it happened.
I’ve heard of people taking existing action figures and modifying them into the heroes of their choice.
That’s especially wide-spread in the “LEGO MiniFig”-community.
If somebody did make an action figure of The Mighty Halo, do you suppose it would just be a Sydney doll?
I mean, I can’t think of any way they could do the orbs floating around her head unless they were on a little clear plastic disk or something that it could wear like a hat, but that would just look awful when it was on. Having the orbs loose and able to snap into her hand like other action figures hold onto guns would be a little better, but they would get lost pretty easy and probably end up being swallowed by kids and pets.
Oh, well. If parents and collectors keep having to buy endless orb replacements, it could only help Archon’s bottom line.
“…probably end up being swallowed…”
which would mean that the originals would literally be going down the toilet…
i can think of one way, magic. or magnets if you prefer to be boring. an array of them in the model’s head and have another array in a linked ring of orbs. it would however be very very fiddly. I’m pretty good at physics but trying to do the math on this one is troublesome.
the guys n’ gals over at Polymagnet would be a logical company to turn to for this application…
Helium filled on clear strings, maybe? Or have her have her shield up and glue the other orbs on the inside. Maybe even have her hover inside the shield (easier than hovering the orbs) with the fly-orb in the other hand. Of course you could do such tricks with the other orbs, too, but the shield seems the most elegant one.
Isnt there an app where you point a smartphone at something and you see something different on the screen?
The Halo Action Figure shows animated orbs and the force bubble (Which is actually invisible… McDonald’s had a happy meal toy of Violet of The Incredibles. A spinning illuminated hoop was her forcefield.)
I really like Maxima’s face in the fifth panel. I’m not sure if it’s meant to be incredulity or surprise mixed with something else, but I just really like her expression there.
Truly. Give us another round of whatever Max that was, bartender. Delicious!
Like genuine curiosity. It’s a nice change from angry or stern.
He wants Max as a model? I’d check for cameras in the changing room.
Not model, Celebrity Endorsement, and for boots
Completely oblivious to what she’s saying, you’d think he’d at least REGISTER what she says before the very end.
What, about the sports bras? He registered. That’s why he said ‘open to suggestions’
I wonder if Maxima will accept or just grab Sydney and get out of there???
Tune in on monday to find out! Same Grrl time! Same Grrl channel!
(Sorry, I’ve been watching the Adam West Batman series a bit, and the vibe tends to stick a bit :-) )
Woo! Boots! He definitely knows her well enough to suggest something she might actually wear first instead of something ridiculous.
The 12 yr Glenfiddich is quite good. I thought the Johnny Walk Blue Label was good when I tried it but not $200 good. So, I’m a little leery of older scotches. Not that they are bad. I just don’t think they are worth that much.
From my experience, they are usually worth the money to the 16 years point for sure. 18 to 20 years I do taste the increase in quality, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the (considerable) amount of extra money. For me as a buyer that is. It definitely makes sense in cost for the producing company.
Generally speaking: If you’ve easily got the money, go for it. If you do have to watch your budget a little bit, 14 to 16 years is old enough.
Never got to try something older than 21 years, so I can’t comment on that.
So, Deus wants to take on Nike. Not sure how I feel about that one.
With the right marketing team and enough money behind it, anyone can take on anyone. A marketing team isn’t hard to find, especially if you keep them fresh and give them time to think about the full scale of everything (I personally come up with commercial ideas constantly that range from possibly iconic to just silly, but they fit the product well). The money is always the hardest part for any business. Nike has not only become a household name, but also has the money to basically do as much as they want with any ad campaign. I’ve seen ad campaigns that cost 40 million dollars by the time they were done. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. But Nike can throw 40 million into a campaign and even if it doesn’t work like they want, they still have money to burn.
If by “marketing team” you include shoe designers, then yes. Shoe design is a critical part of the process and very few people have the combination of skills necessary – it’s an add combination/mix of engineering, drafting, marketing, design, and art. A lot more designs are proposed than are actually made. Designers who have created well-known shoes, e.g. Nike Air, are expensive and hard to find/hire away.
Throw enough money at the problem and an answer will pop up
It’s the battle of the gods!
For some reason, I see Max being in a commercial similar to the Playstation commercials they ran with the action going on all over the place. Just her walking through carnage and chaos in stylish boots, maybe with a few well-placed parries of fireballs or missiles with her hand. Have her walking at normal speed while everything else is going in slow motion. Finish with a close-up of the the boots, cut to her face looking intense, cut black, gold lettering fades in “Deus: Maxima Boots. Now at JCPenny.”
Or Something similar to Maxima at the press conference. Huge explosion destroying all in it’s wake. Max stands with her back to the mayhem smiling as the explosion boils and burns around her. Camera pans down down to reveal her clothing burned and tattered (to a less than PG rating naturally), and stops on her pristine undamaged boots. Cue Nancy Sinatra saying “Are you ready boots? Start Walking!” and fade out on the ending riff of that song. Damn, *I’D* buy those boots, and I know it’s a manipulative brand recognition :-)
As much as I’d like Nancy Sinatra’s version to do it, modern times usually call for modern versions, so instead I’d get an unpaid intern to say that line, then the outro fade would be a electronica style, but easily recognizable, version of the song. Gotta appeal to those super young people.
Just did an archive crawl and noticed a mistake. Today’s wristcom is a bracer covering most of the forearm, “a few months from now” (page #3) it looks like a smartphone with straps.
Considering it took over 5 years to get from one to the other, it’s understandable you forgot that minor detail
I’m sure the design will change as Sydney gives input on it. The current design probably makes for a sweaty arm.
It’s not a mistake, page #3 is set in the ‘now’, page #410 is set in the ‘past’
For Maxima, the scowl is part of the endorsement.
For a variation of the Alien Secretion, try Antifreeze. I can’t find the website I got the recipe from a few years back, but it just uses a citrus vodka instead of the pineapple juice. ^_^
found a site with 4 different ‘antifreeze’ recipes, the one with citrus vodka didn’t have the rum, the one with rum didn’t have citrus vodka.
https://intoxicologist.net/2012/03/antifreeze/
Jeez, you two. Just make out already!
I feel like they should be having this conversation while ripping each other’s clothes off and having no violent hate sex.
Violent*
“Coming Soon: Tankkickers”
Need to capitalise the second K in that (first K in the second word). CamelCaseWorksGreat. (I may or may not have been introduced to this wonderful concept during Programming class in middle school)
I hope they’re steeltoe’d, or they’d be a lawsuit waiting to happen. “It said they were good for kicking a tank, I broke my toe!!!”
A supervillain wants to take on Nike with Max as a boots spokesmodel? Just do it!
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I’ll see myself out.
Supervillain? Where? Don’t see a Supervillain, anyone see where the Supervillain went? o_O
So the thing about Scotch is the older it is the stronger it tastes. Most people I know prefer Glenfiddich 12 to 15,18, and 21. 12 tastes like yummy Scotch, 21 tastes like you are bathing in an old Scotch barrel with Scotch spices. At 40 years I can’t even speculate.
Scotch is a great drink though. Glen fiddich 12 is a good one to break yourself in on, just pour two finger widths into a glass and sip it at room temp. It has its own flavors, you don’t need to mix it with anything. Please don’t mix it with anything, and if you do don’t tell Scotch drinkers about it; it’s like saying you wet the bed.
Wet the bed, squeezed the sheets, and drank the resulting liquid. O.o
But we’re not judging…
To quote an NCIS episode, “You don’t order… You eat what you’re served.”
Does anyone else hear Clancy Brown when Deus speaks? Just me?
Deus – “There can be only one!”
Maxima – “Huh?”
Deus – “. . . spokesmodel for my new boots.”
I think it’s the DCAU Lex Luthor vibe Deus gives off.
I hear James Garner. He voice acted for Lyle Rourke, the villain of Disney’s Atlantis movie. The two of them have substantial slyness in common simultaneously with a certain commanding presence.
Glenfiddich is a very smokey, peat-y Scotch. It’s a big name brand, but if you don’t like the smokey taste, it doesn’t matter how long it was aged.
I personally prefer Caol Ila if I’m going smoky. Very different flavour, and I normally don’t like smoky/peaty scotch. I tend to prefer special cask stuff, like Aran Port Barrel.
But if one is going full-on smoke/peat, Laphroig or Lagavulin are good choices…Bowmore another.
As Alpharaposa said, though, if you don’t like the smoke-peat taste, the above are poor choices (well, not the Aran!).
Is anyone else seeing body parts in the table? Female(?) calf and foot in panel 1. Torso on hands and knees (or possibly, big leg bent at knee) in panel 6. Dave sneaking in a little H.R. Giger on us? Nice…
It does have a bit of that ‘limb joint’ look to it, doesn’t it? O_o
Well, for those drinks that aren’t high in sugar (and cause monster hangovers), you *can* go with Scotch, which has many subtleties and nuances, from the woody taste of the oak barrel it’s aged in, to the earthy/smoky flavor of the peat that they use to roast the grains before the mash, with just a hint of sweetness from the grains themselves. Me? I prefer a good Irish Whiskey, which has many of the subtleties and nuances as Scotch, but, and this is important, none of the smoky undertones that *can* be off putting in Scotch, as they don’t roast the grains first, giving it a more sweet and nutty flavor. It’s what I’d recommend to someone who wants to impress their friends, but is somewhat new to the drinking game.
Dad got me into Irish Whiskeys a few years before he died. Mom disapproved of drinking so Dad never drank anything but beer for years (somehow beer didn’t count). After he retired, he got off that leash and drank less but over a broader range. Someplace there’s a checklist of the labels we shared in the last five years of his life.
Y’know what? I totally ‘ship them.
She deserves far better.
I am surprised that none of our grumpy grammarians has mentioned that the first line of panel 4 really should read ‘into’ instead of ‘in to’.
And Dave, to paraphrase a line from the Graduate: If Deus is getting into clothing for a world with supers in it I just want to say one thing to you. Just one thing. “Unstable Molecules”.
This supposed villain is being unreasonably reasonable.
Then again, the benefits of having a government model is that it implies some form of government support, IE “what he/she does does not represent us bla bla”.
Still. He plays it well. I like him. :3
He’s NOT a ‘villain’, he’s an amoral sociopath (with issues).
I’m sure he sees himself as a hero.
The only ‘evil’ we’ve SEEN him do is to massacre a (potentially evil) dictator and his bodyguards in order to set-up a puppet government to “improve” the lives of the common people. The US government has done worse (actual war) for less.
From dictionary.com
villain
1.
a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.
2.
a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.
While everything you’ve said is correct, the shoe fits Deus pretty well from a narrative point of view, if one assumes definition #2 – if one defines “evil” (wickedness) as the accumulation of personal power at the expense of others or without regard to their welfare, definition #1 works as well, although not nearly so well. The words “malicious” and “cruel” are the sticking points – and you are right to continue pointing out that, so far, that has not been frequently in evidence. Dave is doing a good job of keeping an amoral sociopath as someone to whom we can relate.
I’m waiting for the day Deus crosses the line – because sociopaths always do.
He didn’t touch his bodyguards
Seeing Deus with his drink in panel two makes me wonder if he’s going to replace Jonathan Goldsmith as The Most Interesting Man in the World. I’m sure Deus himself thinks he should have that title . . .
“Stay thirsty, my friends.”
I’m envisioning that, and Max has no one to blame but herself.
(Well, and Dave I guess.)
Way to sneak that picture in panel #1 Dave, I almost missed it :D
I needed to put something in the frame.
And of course I had to check the 2x resolution picture on Patreon to realize what you were talking about.
I want Maxima to smile and direct him to Hiro. He’d be a GREAT supermodel for sport gear of any types. Also, it wouldn’t hurt for Deus to see his competition.
Why not both?
Wait Dues have them both as a spokesmodel or Max have both of them ;)
An excellent idea.
Precisely why I believe he’s playing a long game with Maxima.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
That’s a big ol’ slippery slope.
Maxima industries is openly involved with a third world government’s politics. If Max’s super-hero contract does not preclude getting involved with such, then U.S. military policy will will definitely do so. By doing as it has done, in regards to Galytin’s government, Maxima Industries has severely limited it’s opportunities with many of the other major governments, especially the U.S.
In Max’s case, there is a moral, ethical, professional, and national conflict of interest with doing any business with Deus at all. At this point in time, dating Deus would also have the same ramifications.
It depends. Deus might have repaired relations with the world’s nations. In fact, considering it’s an up and coming nation experiencing true growth, it’s reasonable to presume the first world nations embraced Galytin with open arms. Since Deus’ mission has been business, he wouldn’t express any sentiments that would be construed as against other nations, mission statement aside. And I know I am not the only one that now wants to get business cards with that statement.
Now if Galytin kept the same warlike attitude and spirit, then yes, working alongside Deus would be ethically wrong and illegal. But I strongly doubt it’s kept the same attitude that kept it in the mire.
Machina Industries already has ties to ARCHON
Thanks for the spelling correction. Machina does have connections with Archon, via the U.S. Gov’t. France has eals with the U.S., but I wouldn’t want to be a spokesperson for France. Machina has strongly allied itself with a foreign government. It should be treated as part of that government, friendly or hostile. Being a spokesperson for Machina Industries is as good as being a spokesperson for Galytin, at the moment. So, what if it comes out that Machina Industries had Galytin’s ruler murdered via super power, and is now controlling the current government through threat of similar violence? Well, congratulations! As spokesperson, you get to be included as part of that heap of feces in the public eye. Then the U.S. Government takes a dim view of such, and they put the screws to you, as well. Bad things will happen.
Right now, it looks to me like Deus holds power in Galytn because of the people being able to feed themselves without threat of death for walking out. It may have started with murder for gits and shiggles and further threats but it has been ten years. If Deus is anyone to listen to, and given that he was able to go onto a TV interview without being instantly arrested he is at least trustworthy enough to believe in the immediate sense that Galytn has been at least somewhat redeemed.
What does it matter that they are openly involved in politics? Isn’t corporations meddling in politics basically how the US government runs?
Of course it is, and now you know too much.