Grrl Power #426 – It was inevitable that ship would sail
Another one of Sydney’s official unofficial powers. It’s a pretty useful ability, especially when combined with flying.
Sydney could fly around in a sandwich board saying that Max and Hiro are dating in front of News Street – a street I made up that’s like Wall Street but it’s a street with all the big newspapers and news stations – anyway, Sydney could do that and you still couldn’t blame her for for all the fictional pairings people would come up with. There’s people shipping Max and Anvil, Max and Dabbler, Dabbler and everyone else on the team (at the same time), Max and themselves, Sydney and themselves, Hiro and Stalwart, all 5 Harems with each other and then the cast of the Expendables, whatever. That’s why Arianna’s not really all that concerned about who done it – just the potential for an actual scandal.
This sort of thing will happen more and more now that they’re out. I haven’t really done much media stuff with them since the press conference. Just Max’s photo shoot and smattering in a few press types in the background when they go out and do stuff. I guess there were a few panels of people taking shots of them at the club too, but eventually there will be talk show and news interviews and the like.
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She had nothing to do with it.
Halo never actually said that they were dating, just that Maxima (and her) spent all day surrounded by men at-or-beyond peak physical perfection – so nerd-boy needed to get into a shape other than ’round’ if he wanted to not get shut down like Math’s brain in a strip-club
‘Round’ is a shape…. Ok, I get what you mean… Also, his cringing attitude didn’t help.
I may not have a 6 pack, but a keg lasts longer.
Yeah, a keg usually lasts for the rest of your life.
I can personally attest to that, as a man in my age group, I’m definitely on the losing end of the Battle of the Bulge…
He he. Oddly enough I had the opposite problem, towards the end of last year. Bulgaria is the poorest country in Europe. I live in a rural village, so jobs are a lot harder to come by than in the cities. Gypsies are heavily discriminated against, thus end up as being the poorest of the poor. A significant proportion of the village are gypsies. Many often go hungry and are malnourished.*
When numerous gypsy neighbours started to ask if I was sick, because I was looking so thin, it was a serious wake-up call that I had been neglecting my health too much, and needed drastic remedial action!
Fortunately I have managed to regain enough, of my former cuddly looks, that friends and neighbours are no longer concerned about my health.
* Albeit not to the degree that they are at risk of starving, lest I give the wrong impression.
Maybe you should have been tapping into a few more kegs than you were at the time, hmmmm?
;)
I was drinking twelve litres of fluid a day, at the time! Non-alcoholic, I should mention. But the trouble was keeping it down. I am not like typical humans, thanks to my particular medical circumstances.
Any less fluid than that and I would dehydrate. Fast. Going through airports, especially when not able to afford the extortionate prices charged for water air-side, was extremely problematic.
Fortunately it is easy enough for a surgeon to tweak. Which I got as a Christmas present. Mind you I have been trained in how to do so myself, in an emergency. But I do not like the idea of having to poke metal into my chest. Get it wrong and I could puncture my heart or lungs!
still great story but i STILL can’t get the shiver going looking at Arianna between the make up, outfit and hairdo. she has everything of the unwanted daughter of a witch and a zombie to me.
other than that, god I LOVE SYDNEY and her attitude hehe.
I had been thinking something was off, but couldn’t put my finger on it – Arianna does look a bit… grey
Maybe it’s just me, but her hair looks almost like she’s wearing a turban as well (especially the first frame).
Agreed, she looks different. And that jacket – ugh.
Less jacket and more ‘Test Pattern’, methinks.
I think I can pinpoint why it seems odd. The pattern has a 2D effect to it. As opposed to conforming to the contours of her body and going around it. I note that there are shadows and creases in the jacket, plus the cut is very stylish. But, even despite that, the pattern creates the effect that I described. Regardless of whether it is actually wrapping around properly.
It’s just lazy coloring.
In panel 1 the pattern was overlaid onto the jacket with a pure 2D fill. Look at her left sleeve – no one would make a jacket with the pattern being diagonal like that, and it’s different from the pattern on the other sleeve.
The shading on Sydney’s chest in panel 6 looks weird, too.
I admit the houndstooth might have been a little ambitious. Arianna probably won’t wear that jacket again, but for what it’s worth, I redid it in photoshop and squished it around a little with the liquify filter, so hopefully it looks a bit more 3D now.
I don’t see any difference on the jacket, but it does feel better now
But it does suit your looks so much RobK. Give us a twirl!
Aaaw, you’re to kind
So it’s not a portal into the houndstooth dimension, a counterpart to Stan the Salesman’s infamous plaid? I’m almost disappointed.
Now that’s craftsmanship!
One thing to keep in mind with patterns like this is that the pattern on the lapels and collar will not be in alignment with the body of the germent. For example
https://intheircloset.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/bb-dakota-the-cibbs-houndstooth-winter-coat-alexander-mcqueen-knockoff.jpg
That’s not any less eye-ache inducing in real life at least.
The liquefy did make a distinct improvement over the original flat feel, but to really really make it work would take a huge amount of work I fear. I do admire your ambition in the attempt. Your continual growth as a artist is to be commended.
Yeah, I’ve seen graph paper that’s easier on the eyes than that jacket. I wouldn’t be surprised if that outfit gets Arianna on the “10 Worst Dressed of the Year” list.
She very much looks like the lead from the izombie series to me
Did you expect anything else from her?
Whoops, that’s supposed to be in response to Robk’s “Very subtle Sydney” below.
I did not
I’ve seen better fashion sense in the webcomic, “Zombie Roommate,” TBH. And that’s almost all casual clothing.
:P
Very subtle Sydney
Alas, poor max. The amount of shipping she will be put through will be rough. She might need to give up parts of the Internet for a while.
As a side note, dabbler could fuel all the shipping rumors herself via shapeshifting while feeding while a camera is around. Or would spending energy while charging up be counter productive?
This is something that comes up for a lot of people who are in the public eye. If you are not firmly attached to a significant other, you are assumed to be in the market to become firmly attached. Worse, if you ARE firmly attached, many would-be suitors will take this as a challenge, and will push all the harder to convince you to sleep around, particularly with them, or with somebody they know. Some people do this for purposes of blackmail, some do it in hopes that you really will become attached to them, and some do it simply because they want to pass their genes along with the best possible mate.
On a related note: Jiggs’s marriage? Unless she’s married to a saint, it’s likely to start having real problems, and to do so sooner, rather than later. Marriage to any kind of celebrity or high-profile individual is highly stressful, especially if the spouse cannot effectively share or provide extensive support for their beloved’s career. As I mentioned above, there is a significant number of people who will try to lure the high-profile individual away from their spouse, sometimes for no other reason than to see if they can…and as Jiggs’s husband picks up on this, it’s going to leave him feeling more and more insecure. Knowing his wife loves him may be enough…but if she’s being surrounded by people built like Hiro–and she will be–who are expressing definite interest in her, it’s going to put a LOT of stress on him, as a person. How this will work out, I don’t know…but it’s going to be an interesting monkey wrench, particularly if he tries to hide it from her to avoid causing her additional stress (which a lot of spouses do, apparently).
Meanwhile, people like nerd-boy, above, are going to speculate endlessly on who Max is with, who Anvil is with, how many Dabbler and Harem are with, and so forth and so on. There will even be a great deal of speculation about Sydney, sooner or later–she may not be as buxom as the rest, but the way you’ve drawn most of the people in this comic, she’s got the stick-thin figure that seems so popular with fashion models, so she’s likely not unattractive herself. Which will likely come as a serious shock to Sydney.
On a related note, I suddenly have this hilarious mental image of Sydney telling her villainous significant other that no, he can’t rob a bank today, their wedding is in two days, and she’s not moving it to the prison!
Don’t forget that Mr Amorphous has anatomical advantages that no normal human can match. And very few super-humans for that matter. So he has little to worry about on that front.
But your comments about celebrity marriages are true enough. Broadly speaking. Celebrity can be as much of a curse as it appears to be a blessing.
It is why I am doing my best to keep my major achievements under my hat and try to have them all released to the world posthumously. Y’all can enjoy the benefits of living amongst the clouds, in a more harmonious world.
Kind of a nice way to have a bunch of statues of me put up, but without having to deal with paparazzi rummaging through my trash or the usual assortment of stalkers and other nutters impinging an enjoyable private life.
He he.
You make it sound like having pretty young things throwing themselves at you is a bad thing.
It can be, Mr President.
….. Especially if your wife finds out.
Or the press, or your opponents.
Everyone is forgetting that Clinton’s popularity went up during the Lewinski scandal. It didn’t hurt him in the way that Trump is also teflon when it comes to his own many, many scandals. And yes, Trump has been involved in a large number of scandals during his campaign. Usually there is at least one in any speech or rally he gives. The press has simply chosen to ignore them, or at most give them only trivial coverage.
Probably because saying bizarrely crazy things and being a scandal nexus are justifiably regarded by the media as normal behaviour for Mr Trump.
One of Australia’s most popular Prime Ministers (Bob Hawke) once tearfully confessed on national TV to having cheated on his wife. Other than his then-flagging popularity rating improving, the matter barely raised a ripple here. No calls for impeachment or resignation, or “experts” picking his personal life apart on TV, or anything like that. People simply accepted that he was human. Contrast with how the US behaves about such things.
I’m happy to grant people the “hey, you’re human” card, even if they are an elected official. I find it a lot harder to do when that same card is being used to describe your racist opinions against Mexicans, followers of Islam, women, and whatever might be your hot button of the week.
Jiggs wasn’t the one getting married. It was a relative of hers.
Yeah, was wondering what that was about (thought she was just at a family get-together slash weekly sit-down meal, like some families do)
Others noted that Jiggs herself isn’t married, yet.
As for other monogamous LTRs that might arise….
Let’s go with your erroneous example for an easy discussion. Dabbler and Harem may get a pass on casual sexual harassment right now, largely because they’re usually either harassing ‘up’ (ie, Dabbler being inappropriate towards Max) or are doing so with people who are okay with it (the shirt-swiping incident); if Arianna or Max ever caught wind of one of the team seriously attempting to break up an established relationship, that person would likely find themselves stationed on prison-guard duty in the containment facility, far away from anyone else. And doing most of the team’s paperwork, to boot.
Max would shut down hard any conduct which was seen as a threat to group unity, is my point.
This isn’t to say an affair can’t/won’t happen, just that it’s more likely to be the result of problems already existing in the relationship leading to a bad decision, rather than a concerted effort by a teammate at seduction.
I’ll be honest, though–one weird thing about this arc is that they’re putting so much effort on getting Sydney in line, but haven’t yet (publicly) addressed Harem and Dabbler’s conduct. Sooner or later, that sort of thing WILL cross someone’s comfort zone; if the senior staff hasn’t been making it clear that there’s a line, then they’re the ones who will ultimately be held responsible, especially in a high-profile job like this.
Harem has received several verbal warnings plus has also been required to ‘audit’ (retake, loosely speaking) one or more courses. Namely the firearms course and we also saw her in the public relations 101. Which is part of her punishment. The other part was ad-hoc corporal punishment (a.k.a. the “super-wedgie”).
It may not be the way that other branches of the military handle discipline, but Harem is being punished for her transgressions. The Archon rule-book simply allows the C.O. far broader discretion than traditional armed forces. Necessarily, given the unique capabilities and problems posed by a super team.
Dabbler is descended from multiple alien races as well as demons. Who, between them, have magic and super-science far beyond anything we can achieve on Earth. Whilst the government wants her co-operation, and wishes to avoid reprisals from those races, they cannot punish her in any way that she disagrees with. Dabbler can get away with practically anything, and knows it.
It is the same problem that we face with any individual who has diplomatic immunity. Although, in her case, it is probably informal and unspoken. But all you can do is cover up their indiscretions, where such is possible. Or, as a last resort, kick them out, if they go too far.
This is another reason why Maxima has clearly been allowed broad discretionary powers, So that she can come up with uniquely tailored means of keeping each individual under control,
“Dabbler is descended from multiple alien races as well as demons. Who, between them, have magic and super-science far beyond anything we can achieve on Earth. Whilst the government wants her co-operation, and wishes to avoid reprisals from those races, they cannot punish her in any way that she disagrees with. Dabbler can get away with practically anything, and knows it.”
Except Dabbler isn’t a diplomat, and the fact that aliens and magic exists was known by humans well before she was born.
Dabbler is an immigrant. Who in fact do have to follow the law.
True.
But the issue was about Dabbler’s conduct as an employee. She has clearly agreed to abide to certain terms and conditions, which she is flouting. Albeit not breaking them completely. I was merely discussing the difficulties that Archon has in enforcing those agreements, given her unique circumstances.
Although Dabbler is not a formal representative of alien governments, there is still the potential that they might take offense at mistreatment of her. This is exactly the same as with any person in a foreign country, on Earth. Their behaviour both reflects on their country of origin, on one paw, whilst their mistreatment could lead to a diplomatic incident, on the other.
And, not knowing the tolerance, or aggressiveness, of the respective races and/or governments that she may be associated with, it is plausible that imprisoning, or otherwise badly mistreating Dabbler, may give them casus belli (an excuse to go to war)!
“…dabbler could fuel all the shipping rumors herself via shapeshifting…”
Very true. However, that also runs Dabbler into the risk of being a civilian indicted for “Acting as as Imposter of a Federal Officer.” Dabbler likes to have her fun, sure, but I think she’s too smart to risk something like that.
Dabbler is smart but she is still a succubus. She can’t help messing with Maxima even though it get’s her into trouble. And if she isn’t afraid of Max I doubt much else can stop her.
At least Dabbler is smart enough that she doesn’t get into serious trouble. Yeah, she does like to play her little tricks, but she seems to be annoying Max so that nothing official or legal will backfire onto herself.
You could probably make an optical illusion out of that vest on Arianna
Or go the other way: Make it a moving panel so that her vest moves, but don’t tell anyone
She could have said LITERALLY NOTHING and all suspicion would have been averted. Though, I guess Max and Adrianna might just be thinking that Sydney is just being Sydney.
Also, I live in the city Sydney, so it’s a little weird to be talking about the character like this.
Also, who is that guy in panel 2 and why Is Sydney giving him exercise tips?
The comic book guy who was in the store earlier. Brad, I think?
Brad
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1861
And here’s what happened:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1864
Ah, I was wondering if panel 2 was her imagination or her memory. With those links we can say this was her memory. You have to be careful, Sydney; it does not take much to get a rumour going, especially among the weak minds who will believe pretty much anything.
It doesn’t take anything to get rumour’s going, and usually the ‘saying or doing nothing’ is exactly what gets it going
With celebrities (real and the Kardashian kind), they can never win; if they don’t say anything then the rumours are true, if they do say anything then they are lying and hiding the truth
INTERVIEWER: Are you the Sydney, who lives at Sydney House, Sydney Road, Sydney?
SYDNEY: Yes, but are you sure it is me you need to talk to? You may actually want my older brother, Sydney? Or possibly even my younger sister, Sydney?
Interviewer: No, I wasn’t here to interview you. I am looking for a good dentist for my kid Darla. I heard there was one who lives around here.
Sydney: Oh yes. Dr. Sherman. He lives three blocks south of here on Wallaby Way.
Klassic
Arianna x Maxima?
No doubt yes.
Even better: Arianna x Dabbler
Nooo! Arianna better not be two-timing Suzy News! Say it isn’t true!!!
*tearful eyes, the size of dinner plates*
After trading Klingon kisses with one another? not likely Yorp don’t fret!
Never fret good puppy, that ship is safe for all time :D
Unless Suzie starts cheating with Pinkie…
I feel like Suzie would get a fan obsession for Sydney though
The real scandal is Arianna’s outfit.
According to gossip magazines I don’t read, of course.
I figure that the NSFW image of that Dave linked to on Monday, could well be used in the comic as an example of stuff that appears from the entertainment hungry public now.
And once again I screwed up the link. Sorry about that.
And we have fanfiction of it!
https://akazilliadenaro.deviantart.com/art/A-Grrl-Power-Photoshoot-Dabbled-611150228
Is the art style or color a little different in today’s strip or is it just that they’re not running around and breaking things today?
As explained by the blog under the comic, this was coloured by Keith
I’m starting to think that people should have a book teaching how to interpretate Sid. It would take less effort than teaching Sid to behave like a “normal” human. Specially now with the orbs.
Trouble is, a Syd-tionary would probably be massive. She’s a complicated girl, after all.
There is an app for that, or will soon be. Just need enough processing power and memory. They already have one for “normal” dialects.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/meet-the-pilot-smart-earpiece-language-translator–2#/
In fairness, “Dabbler with everyone else on the team simultaneously” is highly plausible.
On her side, yes. Some of them may be prude about it.
I don’t quite get the under-page stinger. Do I need to have seen “Scandal?” Or is it just a not-quite-joke?
More specifically, how is “he’s my subordinate” a deflection of needing a scandal playbook, and how is repeating and re-emphasizing SCANDAL a trump to that deflection?
Max is emphasizing that she’s a professional who wouldn’t break the rules like that and date a subordinate. Arianna doesn’t believe her, and a superior dating someone lower ranked would be a scandal.
A playbook is a US imitation-rugby (aka “American football”) term for a book that contains descriptions of the different offensive and defensive plays that are used by a team. Presumably a “scandal playbook” indicates the illicit relationships taking place in an organisation. Possibly with complicated diagrams if multiple two-timing, and more complex, relationships are occurring.
Other than that, it is as Palazzaursine says. If Maxima was involved, with Hiro, then an update would need to be made to the hypothetical scandal playbook. Maxima pointing out that a superior would not date a subordinate ended the matter, as far as she was concerned. But Arianna’s retort was that breaking such rules would be what qualified the relationship to be entered in the scandal playbook,
Yorp’s first sentence is correct. In politics, a playbook is a collection of tactics used for a certain situation. The scandal playbook contains methods of covering up a scandal, or making use of the scandal in a positive way.
Thus, “do I need the book with plans in case of various scandals?”
“It would be improper.”
“Hence why it would be the book in case of SCANDALS.”
Dude. American Football is not “imitation rugby” — it’s its own thing. Just to quibble.
Seriously, don’t diss sportball. Sportball is sportful.
I am bad.
*hangs head in shame*
But I have spent months stuck in this little village, in the most remote corner of Europe, for months, without internet access. No internet means no Americans to tease. It has been Hell!
Ummm… American football was derived from Association Football (Soccer) and Rugby Union Football…
So, Imitation rugby is a fair description…
And they barely even touch the ball with their feet!!!
Wait how did US football evolve from real football? It doesn’t even look remotely similar
The same way Ruby Union evolved from Soccer: some idiot who didn’t know how to use his feet and picked up the ball and ran with it, so in a way, US Football is more of a variation on Rugby Union (which was a variation on Football)
Answered multiple times, but here is my own addition…. a simplified version:
Ariana: Did you break the rules?
Maxima: Breaking the rules would be wrong.
Ariana: That wasn’t a no. Let me ask the question again.
“That wasn’t a no. Let me ask the question again.”
“I notice you didn’t actually answer the question.”
“And yet, that answer doesn’t make me feel better. Try again.”
I always preferred “LOOK! A DISTRACTION!” and then run off.
I just used that in real live
I’ve used it many times. It’s really funny when you can actually run and hide before they turn around. Did that once and watched the people walk by my hiding spot not realizing I was there at all. Successful ninja is successful.
Well Waldo, sometimes you are a hard person to find…
;)
More-so that even I like to admit.
Or, as my friends like to do when stealing food off my plate: Point and shout “Look, Elvis!” ;)
!! It must be a DC thing, if your name is a hint as to your location. Elvis is always just leaving the building when my food is somehow also leaving my plate.
I really want to use that one someday
YES! Yes! Yes? Yes!? Yes?! Yes?? Yes. yes. Yeeesss…. Oh, Yes!
I will have whatever she is having.
I concur. But since I’m a male, I might want whatever she’s having in a different way than she might be having it…
*Winces*
What the hell did I just watch?
a scene from the movie “Evolution”, Mulder (the actor, i can’t remember his in-movie name) is a high-school science teacher, and Jones is friend (? it’s been a while) who were investigating the life forms that were RAPIDLY evolving from the microbes that landed on Earth from a meteorite strike out in the local desert, and one of the bugs burrowed into his environmental suit and started digging into his leg and moving up towards his groin, at which point he was trying to get the doctors to amputate his leg because he didn’t want it to get to his “dangly bits” but then it changed direction and went to the back-side where they could get it out via the rectum and a pair of forceps… THUSLY there is the lube joke…
it was a hilarious movie though, you really should see it…
David Duchovney, and yes the movie is hilarious.
DEFINITELY NOT that way…
O.O
Who do YOU ship?
Anvil/Peggy!
myself with dabbler.
<========
Not that you would remember it.
I would not remember everything. But enough
The Barberian remembers enough to know that it was very good, and he is getting seconds next week.
And presumably he’ll be on the weekly schedule
Me with Sydney. But, if I fail to penetrate the 4th wall:
• Arianna/Suzy News
• Sydney/A yet to be introduced super villain *
• General Faulk/DJ Pon-3
* (it is more romantic and tragic than an office romance)
One of these things is not like the other.
What?
*innocent look*
:-D
But…but…You already have penetrated the 4th wall. You came straight from the comic pages, right into the comments section!
Good point. But I need to be up there…
*points paw at comic*
… and in non-furry biped form!
Don’t let that stop you…Ralph von Wau Wau (from Spider Robinson’s Calahan’s Saloon series) didn’t let his 4-legged difference to human women stop HIM!
Hehe, he said penetrate
Thank you Sydney for adding crenelations to my vocabulary, and the ability to use in an insult
Well,now that the media prepping is finished,what’s next for Sydney? KP duty? Latrine duty? The tasks are endless!!! :O
Odds are she is going to have to do a lot of training. Between arms training, physical fitness training, tactics training, more media training (she is not prepared yet), and training for general military protocols and procedures (I know they aren’t actual military, but the same rules apply), she isn’t going to have time for KP duty. Plus, usually in private military groups, punishment is garnishment of wages rather than grunt work.
Actually they are. Archon is simply a new arm of the military. Specifically are members of the United States armed forces. As opposed to being a private military force, as you imply. They are gendarmes, not mercenaries.
Other than that, I agree with the gist of your comment
When I read “arms training”, I was thinking you meant pumping up her arms and shoulders, not firearms safety and use. Sydney still needs a lot of training to be ready for public interaction (“BUY COMICS!” comes to mind), but is there training the public can take to get ready for Sydney?
Admits all that OTHER training,I’m sure they can squeeze in some kitchen duty for Sydney…!
And who here wants a mental image of Sydney wearing an apron over her uniform peeling potatoes?!?!?
No way! Do not let her get anywhere near the kitchen. Think of the health code violations, or at least imagine what will happen if she gets her hands on the ingredients.
Chef: You, dishwasher, Let me know when the stew starts to steam. [ Leaves ]
Sydney: [ Tastes the stew ] Hmm, a little bland. I wonder if there is anything to add flavour? [ Rummages around in the fridge ] Ahh, this aught to do it. Let’s see; that’s a pretty big pot, so let’s use 5. [ Dices up some scotch bonnet peppers and adds them to the stew. ] Now to stir it in, and let the flavours meld.
Sydney goes back to washing the next batch of dishes. She heads back to the stove and tastes the stew.
Sydney: Yup, now it works. Oh, its starting to steam; I better let the chef know.
Ships ahoy!
I’m going with the Harem/Me ship, the Max/Dabbler/Hiro ship, and the Anvil/Heatwave ship.
Oh, and before you say I’m not in this comic, I am. In fact, I’ve been in every single page that features the inside of Arc-(insert all divisions here). I’m just well hidden, and I keep it that way because I wouldn’t be doing my job as secret information recon and delivery if I didn’t stay hidden.
Heatwave is dating Mr. Amorphous. Notice that the beginning of Amorphous is Amor (French for love). I hope he is fireproof.
That’s the thing with ships…they don’t need to point where the cannon is firing.
But if they do engage in battle, and the cannon strikes true, then the ship(s) could end up sinking!
Poor Suzie News and Arianna need to kiss, and make up, after their fight!
when did they fight all I saw was the exchange of klingon kisses?
They have been fighting the archaic legacy of a society which oppresses such and considers it “forbidden love”! Not just in society, at large, but in their own minds. The conflict was written large on their faces, in the aftermath of the Battle at the Steakhouse Car Park™. They need to stop repressing their feelings for each other.
Actually “amor” is Spanish for love. French for love is “amour”.
i support the Dabbler/everybody ship, although probably not all at once. does it count as a ship if it’s just sexual and not romantic in nature?
Absolutely. You can ship people romantically, sexually or platonically. For example, when I watched Teen Titans, I shipped Robin and Raven as friends, since I liked their dynamic and the respect they held for each other, but I was not actually interested in watching them be romantic or sexual with eachother.
You may want to check out the new DC animated movie “Justice League Vs. Teen Titans” then- along with a very misleading name, it includes an amazing amount of high-quality Robin/Raven interaction (though it’s the Damien Wayne Robin, not Dick).
Damien doesn’t count.
I’d ship Yorp getting pettins from every girl on the team
: )
Yay! Doggy Heaven.
*wags tail angelically*
So…he’s her “sub” eh? <.< *flees the angry Maxima!*
What a crazy fan! If I were to get into Sydney’s presence, I would not be chatting to her about the potential of dating Maxima. I would be asking Sydney herself out.
I know, right?
Also, good to have you back, Yorp!
Thank you kindly.
You have been in Sydney’s presence at least once. Does YORP!? mean “Hello crazy girl, will you go out with me?”
YORP!
I like the Max/Dabbler ship they have cute chemistry.
“I find strong women arousing”
“You find stairs arousing”
I don’t find stairs to be arousing, but rather uplifting…
I wonder how extreme Sydney’s reaction will be when she stumbles across herself being shipped with different people? I suppose it depends on the person. Hopefully she never stumbles across the fan fiction.
She’s from the internet. The moment she has a free day, she’ll stumble upon her own Rule 34 stuff
I like Sarah Michelle Geller’s attitude, as expressed, in an interview. She enjoys looking up images of herself on the ‘net and seeing how folks have photo-shopped her face onto porn images. She was laughing about it and complimenting how well done some of them were.
Quite a healthy approach to what would otherwise be a highly intrusive, if unavoidable, aspect of public celebrity. Well for someone with her level of looks, anyhow.
Should be a very good way to avoid going insane too
Totally.
Noting too, she knows about Hentai, and has promised to send Arianna (who doesn’t) some introductory stuff. Considering Sydney’s tastes and proclivities in other subjects …. Man, I’d LOVE to see Arianna’s reaction to that.
I could imagine Arianna pointing out some of the hentai to an actual alien, and it saying something like ‘yeah, but only on camera’, or ‘but that artist told me those nudes would be classy!’
“That’s not me! I don’t have shpilniks on my disfong, and my cloaca isn’t splurb! This is species profiling!”
“…. I was immature. I was drunk. I needed the money…”:
https://i.imgur.com/9FS4jjt.jpg
Thank you. After that, I might never close my eyes again.
Maybe I’m just putting myself in her place but I wouldn’t want to see p0rn of myself! She knows it is out there, that doesn’t mean she has to look for it.
Tho, I could see Dabbler dredging up some stuff to tease her with.
Indeed, nor would most people. Myself included. The thought is most unpleasant. So it shows a real strength of character that SMG is able to shrug that off and even turn it around, to have a laugh.
Mind you many actresses are probably extroverted by nature. Those who felt driven to join the profession and be in the spotlight anyhow. So may be psychologically better equipped to pull that trick off than more introverted folks.
Do recall the nasty side of celebrity though. An example being when the hacking scandal emerged some while ago, that numerous public figures had their email accounts hacked and private nude photos and videos stolen and posted online. I am thankful that the culprit has been brought to justice since. But it shows that not all such images are fakes.
Whilst a rich celebrity can employ minions to trawl the internet and identify illicit material (be it regular copyright violations or seedy things of this nature), at the end of the day the only person who can say for certain if an image is a very good fake, or the real deal, is the person in question.
So it may not be possible to avoid looking at such images. Unless taking the route of avoiding the issue completely. Which seems to be a more normal preference, than SMG’s option, from the (admittedly small sample size) of celebrity interviews I have seen.
Ari isn’t superhot, but she’s plenty hot for me (in a repressed librarian kind of way). How does she not have her own fanboy stalkers?
She does.
By the way didn’t you notice Ren checking her out above?
Arianna is looking good today. I like her jacket, and her expressions in panels 5 and 8 are amazing.
Why is it, that I think that Sydney’s parents were exceptionally good at drawing the truth from her, as a child. Just that looooong stare with the, ever so slightly, raised right eyebrow.
+1
Now I’m wondering how Tabloids factor in this world of heroes. And how does Arianna use them to her advantage.
Ever seen the series of Documentaries, “Men In Black”? o_O
*nods*
The tin-foil-hat nutters are the ones who are not fooled by alien and demon infiltration. So the tabloids, who are willing to report their accusations, even without other evidence, are the best source of such information from the public.
If you are able to filter out reports from those who are just plain crazy, that is.
I must lack imagination; I haven’t been shipping Max with anybody. I wouldn’t ship Max/Dabbler, and I think Max is too professional to even consider anything with Hiro (same chain of command). Obviously Deus ships himself and Max…
If I did ship myself with anybody on Grrl Power it would probably be Dr. Chevy (whom I picture played by Reshma Shetty).
Oh yes, she is attractive :D
Dave, I have to say that, on these past few pages, you have succeeded admirably in making Arianna look older and more mature that the rest of the fresh faced Grrls of Power. #Bravo
I don’t ship Max/Dabbler, but it does occur to me that Dabbler technically isn’t a subordinate and probably has a combination of powers, gadgets and spells that would enable her to survive an encounter (since we have established that Max does sometimes forget she lives in a World of Cardboard). Also, if Dabbler didn’t act like a horn dog, Max might be willing to, er, dabble in a same sex relationship. But alas, I think Max is holding out for someone who doesn’t see her as a sex *object* at all.
Good luck with that Max.
I think Max is looking for someone that is isn’t particularly attracted to her looks and powers, is intellectually her equal, is superhumanly tough, isn’t in the US Armed Forces, is willing to spar with Max socially and is something of a closet geek. Plus I suspect that Max is mostly straight.
Max/Data (Star Trek)?
Max/Duncan MacLeod (Highlander)?
Max/Wolverine (Marvel)?
For your last suggestion, have you forgotten that Sydney intends to marry Wolverine? She has even picked out that she wants him to wear a bow-tie at the ceremony!
I am sure that Sydney does not ship Max/Wolverine… But does Max?
Maxima clearly views Sydney as a surrogate daughter. And has seen the illustrated wedding, portrayed in The List. I cannot see Maxima betraying her daughter, especially not with Sydney’s intended fiancée!
Plus I think Maxima has a better grasp, than Sydney, that Wolverine is fictional.
i can honestly not hear this song whilst reading these comments today.
And soon you wont be able to forget it either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2gAgR316QU
“I ship it” (By Not literally productions)
Whelp, that backfired.
Is shipping supposed to automatically exclude ships that the author has suggested?
Because it is clearly Syd/Leon. With any of the superpowered guys, her body image would always get in the way. Plus, only Leon is geeky enough for sexual cosplay. And you know Syd is into sexual cosplay.
Good point on the superpowered guy physique. I think you are right. My shipping Sydney with a yet-to-be-introduced supervillain needs to be modified. It will need to be some kind of gadgeteer, or device-using villain, like Halo herself. Otherwise she would be too intimidated to even contemplate the relationship.
Vehemence would be the classic example of something that would not work, despite their chemistry. Oh and the whole attempted murder thing would definitely put a crimp on any relationship with a cop.
Oe oeoe ooooohhh
Kevin and Max
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/1/10256/282166-74872-kevin.jpg
Kevin and Max?
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1881 This Kevin
Nope, ships that the author has suggested are said to have canons for shooting at other ships.(Misspelled intentionally for the pun)
Well played.
*slow clap*
Your point is well-taken:
https://www.lfg.co/tda/strip/6/
Isn’t that Fleet Street?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Street that is.
You know with her Orbs now not packed away all the time Sydney is glad she can literally fly away after moments like that.
Hey Dave, what are the plans for a meetup at Project A-Kon Next week?
Finished my Fanfiction for this, last night.
https://akazilliadenaro.deviantart.com/art/A-Grrl-Power-Photoshoot-Dabbled-611150228
To be fair though…
“Dabbler and everyone else on the team (at the same time)”
Is absolutely something she’d do.
Now, a slightly random question.
If Dabbles “fed” on… lets say… Blondie…. would all five of them feel weakened, because connected, or only the one body … entertained… in that way?
Is it a mental effect, and touches all of them, or purely physical?
I feel like it’s a Metaphysical thing as well as physical, and so, since she’s a single gestalt entity, it would drain her whole spirit equally- physically, it would only drain Blondie- so the rest of them would be lethargically happy, but still capable, while Blondie would be in the snu-snu coma.
Mentally, I imagine they’d all be rather distracted during the act, and so if Daph’s not going for a Menage-e-six she might actually want to de-port the rest of herselves.
IIRC Dabbler implied that she wants to find out, for ‘science’.
I keep wanting to see Sydney team up with a super from another organization who is ALSO called Halo. In fact, I’ve already made said character for my Supers RPG ^_^
If only you could get them both in the same room!
Amusingly, a number of famous people have also failed to impersonate themselves. The most well-known is Charlie Chaplin, but there are others.
Dolly Parton ended up losing to a drag queen, because the judges thought she was too short to make a convincing Dolly Parton.
Hugh Jackman dressed up as Wolverine for Comic-con, and got the attention of exactly two people, one of whom said he was “too tall” (which he is… Wolverine is 5’3″, Jackman is 6’2″… they have to use camera tricks to make him look shorter, because he towers over most of the rest of the cast.) I have a feeling that if the crowd had more fan-girls instead of fan-boys, he probably would’ve gotten a bigger reaction.
After “Firestarter” was released, Keith Flint (lead singer of The Prodigy) has actually gotten grief from people accusing him of trying to look like Keith Flint…
Ernie Hudson (“Winston” in Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2) got turned down for the role of Winston in the animated series, because he didn’t sound enough like… Ernie Hudson. (The guy interviewing him stopped him mid-reading and said, “No, no, no, that’s all wrong! When Ernie Hudson did it in the movie–” … I’m surprised Ernie was able to resist slapping the guy right then and there.)
Wrestler CM Punk was literally blocked from entering Madison Square Garden (for an event he was starring in) by a bouncer who apparently couldn’t pick him out of a line-up, despite having seen all the posters and having dozens of people with CM’s face plastered on their T-shirts.
Joe McCarthy… yes, that Joe McCarthy, of the commie scare of the 60s… during test screenings of the film Good Night and Good Luck, test audiences repeatedly complained that the actor playing McCarthy was unconvincing. They said that he was too over-the-top, too oafish, and that no one would believe anyone could be that much of an idiot. Except… it was archival footage of the real Joe McCarthy, not an actor.
There’s plenty of other examples, too.
You’ve made my day :)
Really like the subtle art tricks on this page.
a) the image of Sydney in the upper right corner of panel 2 is kind of amazing. The highlights from her orbs on her hair (now there’s a sentence I never anticipated ever saying…) are even nicer than usual, and for those of you who’ve seen Ranma 1/2, that’s probably the best Tendou Nabiki face I’ve seen in a webcomic. Please, someone use a crop of that panel as their avatar, soon (got one I like very much for myself already, unfortunately).
b) I also liked the update to the jacket that Ariana is wearing – still has a bit of “Unmoving Plaid” going on, but for my eye it’s much better than previous iterations of the jacket.
c) ApersonAml has my agreement – Ariana’s looking fine facially today. Almost got a little early Meg Ryan/Melanie Griffith hybrid thing going on – very eighties. Don’t know if that was intentional but if it was, well done.
d) Panel 7 looks like it came right off the packaging from Sydney’s first action figure. Much cool. Again, avatar this, someone.
e) I love grey clothing on women, more so when it’s pajama/t-shirt material. Maxima is seriously doing it for me in panel 1 in that grey tank-top.
I get the feeling you put just a little bit of love into this one, DaveB, and it shows.
a) That is certainly a very drole, deadpan, look. One which I too like. Oddly I was not as keen on the highlight, as you are, due to it appearing more like hair-dye to me, than illumination. Although there is no mistake that it is intended as the latter, coming from the green orb.
I think that stems from that bang being in shadow, like the rest of Sydney’s face. The shadow contributes nicely to both the appeal of Sydney’s image and to conveying the no-nonsense expression she has. But it counteracts the fact that said green glow is being provided by a self-illuminating object.
Mind you, I appreciate that it would have been hard to balance the conflicting interests for those two aspects.
One alternative approach would have been to tone down the green colour. Given that the ambient light is casting such a dark shadow over Sydney’s face, it is fairly natural that the relatively weak illumination of the orbs would not stand out so much.
Another approach would have been to reduce the shadows, in that area more. Similarly to what was done on the other bang. However that could compromise the, otherwise powerful, effect that is created in that single frame. So the quibble I felt might be the lesser of two weevils.
As for looking like Nabiki Tendo, I can see what you mean. But Nabiki is evil! Or at least self-centred to an objectionable degree. Was Sydney channelling the dark side?
It occurs to me that Tendo Nabiki isn’t evil so much as she is Ferengi – very focused on “winning” every deal and making a financial profit whenever possible – while possibly evil behavior, she lacks actual malice and a desire to harm others (now embarrassing or humiliating someone, sure, but harm isn’t profitable). :D
Both Ranma 1/2 and ST:TNG both started in September of 1987. Coincidence? I think not!
“e) I love grey clothing on women”
I found an interesting trick with resizing today’s picture. If you hit the zoom out aka shrink button a time or three the black and white pattern on her jacket will merge into a solid grey but the rest of the image looks the same. (FYI Dave: nice retcon on the jacket shading after the initial posting)
Also, Sydney must be escaping at near relativistic speed. The orbs over her head are leaving straight trails instead of spirals.
I too must commend DaveB on the improvements to the jacket, having hit CTRL-F5, to reveal them.
*wistful sigh*
If only we could have a CTRL-F key to hit, which would reveal images without steamy clouds, or soapy bubbles, covering the most interesting parts.
were i proficient in photoshop, i could tell you what button(s) that was. alas, i am not. besides, “decensoring” is just another name for redrawn. rare is it, the work that does not suffer under such a cruel blade.