Grrl Power #466 – Vampal indulgences
This is Sydney’s last interruption, promise!
In that first panel Maxima’s totally giving Sydney the “We are here as representatives of blah blah” and “I will turn this car around.” and probably something about a million extra laps. It obviously doesn’t stick, which may be the biggest challenge with training Sydney. Some stuff she takes to right away, and other stuff she slips back into her old habits in the span of a sentence.
A legitimate issue with this scene is Maxima really should have stuck Sydney’s nose in the corner before now. Even if she’s not as on board with the proceedings as she appears to be, having her recruit run her usual agent of chaos act reflects poorly on her. Ingsol may only be indulging her because he believes Archon really can help them, and he also might be a tiny bit afraid of Maxima. A 700 year old vampire is pretty high up the food chain, but not liquefy a tank high. The average vampire is stronger and faster than the average human. A well trained human can probably deal with an untrained average vampire. Give a vamp a few centuries and they’re probably on par with a moderately powerful super, but in cases like that, it really comes down to training and chance and strategy. Mr. Amorphous could probably take a 2-5 century old vamp. A vamp vs. Heatwave could swing wildly in one direction or the other.
Edit: Whoops! I totally forgot Ingsol’s “accent” on this page. I’ve edited it back in, which makes his pronunciation of “Vi’s” problematic, as you can see in non-all caps comic font, it’s Vi, pronounced “Vee” which Ingy should really pronounce “Wee,” and I really wish I’d have remembered that cause it could have made for some amusing confusion on the next page but what can you do?
I found another entertaining webcomic some of you might like. It’s not really a funny one so much, but it got me to read the first chapter at least. It’s a romance comic (between two girls, but it’s not salacious or anything) and it’s got really nice art (and unfortunately an auto playing music track, but it’s low key ambient stuff you can turn off.) It’s called Always Human. So named because it’s set in a future where everyone can look however they want with simple mods, except one of the girls who can’t use them so she’s stuck looking how she looks. I’d say spoiler, but that’s set up on the first page. Here’s a link to their Patreon if you’re so inclined, since it’s kind of hard to find on their comic page.
Has anyone seen Star vs. the Forces of Evil? I haven’t heard anyone talking about it on Twitter and where ever, but it’s quite amusing. It’s like… if Sydney was a 14 year old Disney Princess / Magic Girl, with lots of humor and fighting. Lots of recognizable voice talent too, if that’s your thing. It’s a Disney cartoon so that’s not surprising really. It’s on Hulu and possibly other places. Anyway I recommend it.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. (As soon as I get up. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like :)
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Yeah,what?
Don’t you mean: “Vhat?” :P
Ingsol, it’s Sydney, you haven’t gotten used to her “particular” brand of chaos by now?
Especially in panel 6, I’m thinking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aebyzyrfxK0
Just a head’s up: That link to Always Human is broken.
Try This one?
Thanks! It’s fixed.
“Visually Incognito”? (i.e. not needing the veil to hide their supernatural nature)
visibly indistinct?
vocally indiscriminate?
…
Veil independent?
I’m guessing you’re right with “Veil Independent.” In other words, people like Clover, her dad, Barkly, and Dabbler who can look like us mere mortals even without the Veil.
Vampire Investigators?
Doubt it. W as part of a word sounds very different then saying the actual letter (doubleU. Which is silly, but there it is).
The W sound isn’t part of the pronunciation of the letter W, so he should be able to say that word just fine.
I likewise doubt it. Criminals who commit crimes will be of any ilk, not just vampires. Ingsol was just highlighting an example problem that Achon will face with the supernatural. Werewolves might have their own issues, such as being prone to violence, if around a female in heat. Other races might just think so differently to humans that they cannot be integrated into any Earth society.
“I don’t understand, I know they eat animals?”
“Yes, however that was a pet cat! Sorry but we are going to have to move you further away from population centres. And stop looking at the crib. That’s not an animal, it’s a baby!”
Whereas it can’t be referring to the investigators, as we see Clover, as an example, and she is a werewolf, not a vampire.
Just ignore the preceding post please folks. Any overly political comments, like this, regardless of party, will be bound to be deleted, when moderated. So any replies would be a waste of time, as they will be left replying to a blank space.
Please feel free to either delete my own post, or leave it, as you prefer DaveB. It may be useful to have a general reminder, this close to the election. I am easy either way though.
I’m going to reply to it anyway.
CMT, let me make one thing perfectly clear to you: WE DON’T CARE.
Take your political posts to a political forum where they belong, please. NOT HERE.
Veil Investigators?
Veil Investigators sounds most likely to me. Definitely Something Investigator, I think, based on the emphasis being put on credentials with government agencies.
It is actually “Vi” not “V.I.”. See the author’s remark about that elsewhere in these comments. If not for that though, it would have been a good suggestion.
Given that it’s Ingsol saying it, clearly the acronym must mean
“Working Investigators”
I’m starting to really like Ingsol. His patience is .. inhuman.
It’s wearing a bit thin now, though. His outburst on the last page is evidence of that, as is that throbbing vein in his temple in panels five and six.
You know, it’s kind of interesting to realize that the undead can have throbbing veins. They’ve still got blood pumping through them?
Panel six even has _two_ throbbing veins. One at the temple and one over his left eye.
And one on the neck. Really getting to him.
I’d actually almost assume its something other than blood running through him
Of course he has blood pumping through him. No idea whose it is though :)
+1
Well, he’s had a lot of time to practice. :)
The closest that Ingsol came to losing his patience was when Sydney seemed to be mocking the sense of urgency concerning “The Thirst.” Then again, considering what happens to a vamp under the influence of it, patience tends to run thin pretty quickly anyway.
Instead of running a million laps,maybe Maxima should’ve threatened Sydney with KP duty…
(Image of Sydney peeling a HUGE mountain of potatoes….!)
That was already suggested, but, for someone with AD(H)D, that may not be as much of a deterrent as one may think: get them to focus (which… may be the tough side of it) and you may have trouble getting them to stop
Can easily vouch for that. Started a “personal experience” essay for a class once. Requirement was 4-5 pages. Got 2/3 through the story I was trying to tell and realized that 1) I was on page eight and 2) about five hours had passed.
After finishing the first draft, numerous edit passes got it trimmed to six full pages. Fortunately, it was good enough that the instructor didn’t deduct points for it being too long (which was a thing that could happen in this class).
Hey that’s just how I write this comic, minus the editing portion in most cases. :)
Trying to not slim down the archive, eh?
Gives us more Scoville antics to watch. Not a problem, in the slightest. ;)
Hey, if you’ve got the patience to write & draw it, I’ve got the patience to read it!
Our side of that particular activity is far quicker & easier anyway.
:D
The exact quote eludes me, but someone once said something to the effect that writing something x-number of pages long takes y amount of time, but writing something x/2 pages long takes 2y amount of time.
As someone who actually did get given a pile of potatos to peel who has ADhD (yes, that’s the way it’s really typed) I was stopped after the fourth bag of french fries as mashed potatos was the target for the meal.
“ADhD (yes, that’s the way it’s really typed)”
You sure? I wasn’t able to find a source for that.
BTW, thanks to your post I just learned that the actual name is “attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder” :)
Actually sometimes AD/HD (with a slash) is used as initialism, it seems that for distinguish it form the outdated meaning of “ADHD” (without a slash).
The reason for the (brackets) around the (H) is to show that you can have ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
It seems that there’s a range of initialisms in use, and I failed in found a source giving rules about that.
Going by Google, the “AD/HD” appear to be the more technical and is common in specialized articles, at least of USA origin. “ADHD” is common in all kind of articles, and by far the more used in media worldwide. “AD(H)D” is used but interestingly most hits were from European articles, where the term “Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder” is sometimes also used.
While the American Psychological Association officialy uses the name I gave above, it do not seems like there’s a particular initialism officialy stated.
(Image of Sydney discovering that [i]that[/i] is what one of the ‘unknown’ orbs does…)
^_^
She has a Veg-o-Matic Orb? Slices, dices, and makes thousands and thousands of Julien fries?
Or… all the spicy food she eats is what powers the orb?
Then imagine her look, when she is told that KP is a punishment and she is not allowed to use her new toy!
:-D
I wonder what rating it would have? Could it peel a tank?
Plus that is a power which could be horrifically abused.
Was expecting sectumsempra but Buffy is good too.
Sydney: “Say, I’ll bet this would go a zillion times faster if I did it with my PPO!”
The potatoes would need to be peeled…Not baked.
;)
And not blown to kingdom come, eh? :)
…or sliced “like buttah.”
As a form of punishment in modern militaries, I am pretty dang sure that spud-peeling would be up there with mucking out stables, checking cannonball sizes, or shovelling coal in the ship’s boilers.
As in, who the frick would even DO that anymore?
Well – considering that the British army, supposedly has twice as many horses as tanks…
.
I had a link in that? Oh well:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-army-still-twice-many-5394670
Maybe HALF of ARC will be a bit sympathetic towards Sydney and her ADHD?
There is a good reason for that. The ceremonial horses make money for the country. Whereas tanks cost money. Trooping the Colour and other ceremonial functions, like it, are good for drawing in tourists. You can be pretty sure that the tax revenue, from tourism, attributed to that, will easily outweigh the costs of keeping them. Hence accounting for why so few could be dispensed with, in cost-cutting exercises.
Plus the same people who ride the horses also serve in those tanks.
So they could maximise revenues and minimise the horse to tank ratio, if they disbanded any armoured regiments without any revenue-generating ceremonial roles. In conjunction with replacing all multi-crewed tanks with one-man tanks.
That would get it down to one ceremonial horse, for each tank in the army.
OK, maybe not what the generals had in mind. But the accountants would be ecstatic. And statistics-driven news reporters would have a headline about halving the ratio.
Fine. Name for me, if you kindly would, just one other modern military service that has large numbers of horses, and/or for whom cannonball sizing and/or coal-fired boilers remain definite things.
The point being that, in the vast majority of cases, the organizations in question have gone W-A-Y beyond the point where any of these would be considered a chore – or where anyone would even have the hardware necessitating such activities.
Same with spud-peeling. Military units are NOT going to hop down to the local greengrocer for a ton of fresh fruit and veg twice a week – said goods will be provided for them via specific channels, and most of it would certainly be in some kind of processed state to ensure longevity in storage (thus reducing costs). For spuds, that would probably mean being frozen, freeze-dried, dehydrated or otherwise transformed so that peeling is pointless.
You’re right. Spud-peeling pretty much no longer exists as a punishment in modern militaries (at least the U.S. military), but fear not… there are some types of punishments that drill instructors are not allowed to mete out, but they get very creative with the punishments that they are allowed to hand out.
For example, “sweep all the sunshine off the sidewalks.” (It takes all day to do that one.)
”Do you see that two acre lawn? Here is a pair of tweezers, a magnifying glass, and a color swatch. Now, remove all of the blades of grass that do not meet regulation.”
The sarge would also have to give a measuring ruler & specify just what the “regulation” actually is…
Well, maybe the second time around.
And again, with someone with ADhD, that would sound like a blast once they’re focused. You’d end up with a creepily unicolor lawn. Or at least a large swatch of it like that.
I would probably do something to make more trouble, like a giant portrait of Beetle Bailey’s ‘Sarge’.
Or a pinup girl.
Like Ms. Buxley! Who is also from Beetle Bailey.
No they do things like have you do calisthenics for hours while carrying a rifle that has had 10 pounds of lead added to it.
Especially given that a large portion of the food services are no longer handled by servicepersons, and are instead handled by contractors. I’m certain that throwing a recalcitrant private in amongst them to peel spuds or perform other menial tasks would only serve to disrupt their job performance and make them less efficient, which for contractors can be a very important metric.
To say nothing of royally pi$$ing off the relevant union. Unpaid, unskilled labour taking over something previously done (undoubtedly under very specific conditions) by their membership. Yeah, THAT would go down well..
…and Sydney would have to be very clever to find a way that one of her orbs could make that task any easier or quicker. After all, the Hentorb (excuse me, Lighthook) doesn’t seems to be all that dexterous on the scale of “fine manipulation” between potatoes & peelers.
‘Visually Identifiable’?
Or did he mean those that don’t look inhuman?
Hmm, is Inggie saying “Vie” or “Vee Eye”? o_O
‘Vampiric Investigators’?
this one looked more like a werewolf than a vampire, with sniffing on top.
i think its “veil independent”.
That is Mr Fluffikins’ daughter, Clover (why she not in the “Who’s Who”?)
For the same reason Dabbler isn’t, I guess.
As an imagined scene (they are both in this room, at present) that is fair enough.
Nice way of showing that by the way DaveB. It fitted in organically, whilst immediately conveying the imagined nature, even without my above deduction. Looks cool too.
Maybe it was Roman numerals? He and Sydney could be saying six! ☺
Well, some of the Council members ARE old enough to remember Roman numerals. :)
Some of them are old enough to remember Roman Generals! :P
A Roman walks into a bar, holds up two fingers, and says, “Five beers, please.”
:-D
Verifiable Ignoramuses..nah, probably not that.
Have heard of “Star vs. The Forces of Evil”, but only on Hentai Foundry >_>
It’s actually a pretty cool cartoon. Disney XD been doing a lot of stuff in the last couple of years. You might also want to check out “Gravity Falls”.
Yeah, that’s another that features on “HF”
I know! :)
I can heartily reccomend both Gravity Falls and Star vs. as excellent shows. Both have a sort of cheerful atmosphere with dark undertones, making for an interesting mix of humor. Gravity Falls is a bit more serious, and Star vs. a bit more whacky (which can be good or bad depending on your taste).
If gravity falls, does stuff fly? If someone jumps up in the air, for instance, do they just keep going?
Without spoiling much: yes.
The funny answer? Everybody and everything will be floating around like in a Space Station with most people silly giggling. Public transport will stop being necessary.
The unfunny answer? Everybody and everything, air and oceans included, will be expelled from Earth surface into space vacuum (even without jumping) shortly followed by Earth itself when it ends breaking apart.
Oh noes! There is only one thing for it, I shall have to stop gravity from falling!
That’s unfortunate considering the characters are 14. Unless they’re explicitly up-aged in the pictures. Still it’s a little weird.
Yeah, in most cases, canonly underage characters are aged up
You know, I always wondered why there’s not the same expectation about underage characters involved in murderous activities. I mean for real. One fictional work depicts a 14yo girl attemping to touch a 12yo child and people freak out. Ok, understandable. But another one depicts a 14yo girl attempting to kill a 12yo child, and the same people adore it? Like, seriously? o_O
And lets not to talk about maim, torture, shame, hurt, orphan, dismember, etc, etc.
Just have to look at mainstream TV: violence and mayhem is fine for a PG rating, but show a little skin (a shower scene for example) and suddenly it becomes R rated, even though you can’t see anything that you wouldn’t normally see at a regular beach or a fashion show
Trust me, you see A LOT on beaches.
Seems to me to be on the very edge of acceptable, but even then only when paired with characters of similar age. After all, that’s around the time those instincts start kicking in…
But thankfully, the pervs that watch Star vs. are relatively few in number. The vast majority of fan content is actually made by the shippers. In fact, the shipping community is so prolific, the creators actually put some references in the show itself, and blatently teased them with the promotional material.
I’d put some links here, but I don’t know what your policy on those is, Dave.
I don’t recall DavB stating any particular policy, but I’ve gotten away with links to NSFW sites…Especially since I also make sure to mention if it is NSFW.
Oh, I didn’t mean links to the NSFW stuff, I meant links to the shipping stuff! xD
– weird
adjective (informal) – very strange; bizarre.
– bizarre
adjective – very strange or unusual, especially so as to cause interest or amusement.
– amusement
noun – something that causes laughter or provides entertainment.
Dave, well… o_O
I would endorse Dave’s use of the word. When words have multiple meanings, you read them in context. The default use for ‘weird’ is ‘very strange’ and it carries with it negative connotations. So if wishing to express it in a positive way instead the sentence, tone, or circumstances would need to emphasise such.
So, without context, saying ‘she is weird’ is a negative assessment of someone, serving as a warning or condemnation, rather than a compliment.
Hence why Dave used the adjective ‘little’ to tone it down. Thus it would not be read as condemning it, but indicating wariness over the concept. Which I second.
Killjoy :P <— this emotion is literal, I'm actually sticking out my tongue at you :P <— this one OTOH is figurative :P
You replied to me in a thread below, I think that the topic of your post belongs more to this thread so I’m replying to it here. I will do complete quotes in benefit of casual readers.
If something is being said deadpan, I default to taking it straight. Going the other way, and laughing at something, which is said in earnest, can give offence. Whether that is from the person being replied to, or a third party.
Fair enoug. See below.
Not likely in this case mind. But in a thread talking about pedophilia, I would not want to risk it. Plus other folks have said the same thing, as you brought up in this thread, several times. I doubt they are all joking, and I had a new angle to counter it with.
I guess you are talking about my other comment expressing surprise that erotism among underage is rejected but violence no. If so, let me clarify that it was not intended to criticize the posture against the former but the indiference toward the latter.
BTW, I have the opinon that “pedophilia” is too much a broad term that indiscriminately used only serve to stigmatize. I think that a much more fair term for the topic Dave was concerned about is “child pornography”.
Switching back to the other thread, I also wished to support the morality issue of ‘comics should think of their rolemodel effect on their readers’.
I agree.
However I accept the charge of killjoy, such responses very much do fall into that category. If attempting to lighten the tone of something, it is worth being a bit more open about it, rather than opting for the deadpan route. I would have gone for a winking emoticon, for instance, rather than the bulging eyeball one. Because the latter can convey surprise, rather than indicating something to be said with humorous intent. Albeit that it does look funny. :-)
Actually I think that this kind of joke (intentional misinterpretation) need to be done deadpan or as surprised in order to be funny. I relied on the the ridiculousness of the line of thought to show it was a joke, but it seems I was overconfident :)
About the killjoy charge, it was done in a pretty light mode, as the playful sentence intended to show, and the main reason was that I was still convinced that my post being a joke was obvious :) The other (below) occurrence of it was just a silly intent to loop the joke. Please, do not take offense from either.
Once in a while I think someone is being funny, and am tempted to go along with it. But change my mind and play it safe. Only to find that the person was being earnest and sometimes it turns out that it was emotionally significant to them, despite not conveying that, in their comment. At which times I am very grateful that I played it safe, and helped someone.
The warm and fuzzy feelings, from that, sustain me through times I fear I am being too serious.
I’m in fact pretty impulsive and if in this forum I happen to do some rethinking in ocassions is only due the grammar checking re-read :) I have not ran into any serious situation so far, but your attitud do is reasonable.
*curls over and sticks head between legs, to give genitals a seriously good cleaning, with tongue*
*looks away with mixed feelings of envy*
:-D
No offence taken. Certainly not for something intended as a joke. All I was doing was explaining my flaw, in defaulting to playing it straight, unless I am confident it is a joke. And agreed that, at times, it is best to use deadpan delivery. I do myself. Sometimes it is misinterpreted but…
*shrugs*
Vhat happened to Ingsol’s wery unique accent?
Been explained many many countless times: rule of funny, mostly
Ah! Geeze I totally forgot it on this page!
Easy work-around: as old as he is, he’s probably capable of speaking in many accents in several languages, and was just having the newbie on.
‘Always Human’ is one of my favourite things. ^_^
Just finished reading it
Whaddayaknow, cool things can come from the West Islands :P
Thank you Sydney for asking the question I was going to ask! ^_^
God, does Sydney look adorable in that last panel! 😍
How can you stay mad at a face like that?
Weirded out sure, but mad? Never!
I like her feet action in the first panel. Cuuuuute :)
Agreed. The Grinch face makes me laugh.
VI = Vampire Investigator probably….
Except that it’s Cover and Dabbler in the “Imagine Spot” and neither of them are vampires. One’s a werewolf and the other is a succubus . . .
But on the other hand, that the imagine spot is probably in Sydney’s head and, since she doesn’t know what VI means, just about anything could have popped in there, but that doesn’t mean she’s right.
They investigate vampires.
The ‘he ate a pastrami sandwich’ would point away from this. Not to mention the fact that it turns out not to be ‘V.I.’ but ‘Vi’, per Dave.
Yup, I know, note my earlier post about that below :) just joking … killjoy :P <— here we go again…
If something is being said deadpan, I default to taking it straight. Going the other way, and laughing at something, which is said in earnest, can give offence. Whether that is from the person being replied to, or a third party.
Not likely in this case mind. But in a thread talking about pedophilia, I would not want to risk it. Plus other folks have said the same thing, as you brought up in this thread, several times. I doubt they are all joking, and I had a new angle to counter it with.
Switching back to the other thread, I also wished to support the morality issue of ‘comics should think of their rolemodel effect on their readers’.
However I accept the charge of killjoy, such responses very much do fall into that category. If attempting to lighten the tone of something, it is worth being a bit more open about it, rather than opting for the deadpan route. I would have gone for a winking emoticon, for instance, rather than the bulging eyeball one. Because the latter can convey surprise, rather than indicating something to be said with humorous intent. Albeit that it does look funny. :-)
Once in a while I think someone is being funny, and am tempted to go along with it. But change my mind and play it safe. Only to find that the person was being earnest and sometimes it turns out that it was emotionally significant to them, despite not conveying that, in their comment. At which times I am very grateful that I played it safe, and helped someone.
The warm and fuzzy feelings, from that, sustain me through times I fear I am being too serious.
*curls over and sticks head between legs, to give genitals a seriously good cleaning, with tongue*
I replied to this in the above thread following my “weird” joke :)
Carry on being weird, you’ve come to the fight place.
:-)
Nope, no fighting allowed, you want the club down the street, the one no one talks about
Oops. One of those significant typos. Darn these clumsy paws!
The sniffing and pastrami identifying go more with a werewolf than a vampire, imo, as a reference to canine olfactory abilities. I’m going to guess something like ‘visually incognito,’ and that any of the Council who can assume a human appearance can be a member of this sub-group.
Although that doesn’t explain the tail spotted by the waitress in a prior comic. Since werewolves can assume a human form I’m left wondering why one would be sitting on a bar stool, dressed in human clothing, and still have the tail. The Veil makes clothing illusions? The Veil makes paws able to handle a pint glass?
Because it is funny. :-)
Besides which, if you have illusion clothes, and stay warm from your own fur, why bother putting on any clothing?
So you girlfriend can slip her hand under your clothing to ‘cop a feel’? That is why Dette (an ursamorph) in “Wapsi Square” started wearing actual clothing rather than ‘manifesting’ it as part of her ‘human guise’
Unless your friend is a police officer, in which case you feel a cop.
We don’t know if werewolves in this setting can selectively shift individual body parts or not. In Werewolf: the Forsaken, any werewolf can, if they have the Partial Change Gift. Though that would still beg the question of why he would grow just the tail, other than Rule of Funny.
Thank you Sydney. Yet again you ask the question I wanted to know the answer to.
And good girl for making such a sweet apology!
:-)
Yup, one thing Sydney has not appeared to be so far, is insincere
And one should always be sincere… even if one has to fake it.
Was that a reference to the Johnny Bravo ‘schoolhouse rock’-esque pickup lines song?
No, I think I got it from Crazy English by Richard Lederer on his chapter about Irish bulls.
So this means we’re going to have one or more of the supernaturals as regular characters from now on? I’m betting one of them will be Clover! Not because of her appearance in the Imagine Spot on today’s page, but because she seemed so aloof and distant in all of her previous appearances and I think it would be fun to watch Sydney go to work on her.
She was also an adorably cute puppy!
So.. is that Vi or VI as in 6?
Yeah, hard to tell in standard uppercase comic font, isn’t it? It’s “Vi” Just pronounced “Vee”
But…..wouldn’t that be pronounced ‘Wee’ ? :)
Oh! Oh! I know! The council is getting into the video game business!
Oh, hadn’t considered that pronounciation
Vice
Victors
Vigilant
Virgins
Virtuous
Viscous
Visibiles
Visionaries
Vizards
Vixens
Starting ‘Ingsol WORD BINGO’ now!
Actually “i” happen to be one letter (maybe the one letter) in the font that do have lower and uppercases looking different :) See Syd’s bubble in second panel: “I‘m sorry for being…”
That’s a common script function for being clear in comics and similar media. Unfortunately, it’s not very common in the usual typed media. The best summary (I can come up with) for how this works is:
For clarity in standalone letters, the capital I should be used with serifs. However, inside of words the context should make it clear whether you want a capital I or a lowercase L. In this case, using serifs for the capital I will only take up extra space without adding clarity (and frankly, it just looks weird).
For another example of the same style in a different font, look at the last panel on this page.
Oh, I see, thank you for clarify :)
Wait… but then words like “If” should be always sans serifs, and it is that way in your example, but here it appears with serifs when at the start of a phrase. For instance, the fifth panel in this page, and it also happens in earlier pages. How come?
The rule was “inside of words”, just to explain that aspect. What you have picked up is another rule. As the beginning of a sentence it should be capitalised. Contrast the one you are referring to, in panel 5 to the “MISS SCOVILLE, IT’S…” in panel 3, where you will see it sans serif.
That’s exaclty what I wanted to point out. Let me clarify.
An all-caps font (Dave said he is using one) have capital (uppercase) letters similar to lowercase ones. So letters at the middle of a sentence and at the start (capital) will look similar. That’s what seems to happen here and in EGS.
However particulary when the letter “i” is used as first person of singular (“I am”) it looks different (with serif) in both comics. Lucario’ said that
“[it’s] a common script function for being clear in comics [….] in standalone letters, the capital [i] should be used with serif.” (emphasis mine)
That fits, but then “i”s on others words should look the same no matter what, and that’s what actually happens in EGS:
the “immediate” at the second panel second bubble here: https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=518
Those are capital and lowercase non standalone “i”s and they look alike, neither have serif. That’s coherent with all-caps and Lucario’s rule.
But here not only when standalone the “i” have serif, but also when at the start of a phrase no matter the word:
Your examples and the “incidents” at fifth panel in page #460: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2265
Those are capital and lowercase non standalone “i”s and they look different (as opposite to EGS).
I’m guessing that in EGS an all-caps font is used, with the “standalone letter” rule in play, but here only explanation I can think about is my original idea: GrrlP’s font have at least the letter “i” different when capital, so the “I am” case is not due to Lucario’s “standalone” rule but just for being capital.
According to WhatTheFont site there are several fonts like that, for instance “Dave Gibbons”: https://www.identifont.com/samples/comicraft/DaveGibbons.gif
So, I will stand by my original idea :)
Nobody has disputed that they look different. All that has been done is saying how the script function displays them. I.e. to indicate it is at the program’s whim rather than being under the user’s control. Not that it really matters, as people are still going to read it as “VI” rather than “Vi”. It is an inherent problem with all-cap fonts.
So the only solution, which I could see, would be to change the font, each time that abbreviated word is used. Which is probably far more trouble than it is worth! Not to mention looking weird, due to having a single letter in lower case.
“All that has been done is saying how the script function displays them. I.e. to indicate it is at the program’s whim rather than being under the user’s control”
Yup, I know, and I’m saying that here in GrrlP there’s not a script function at work, and it do is under the user’s control :)
But yeah, not that it really matters, you are right :)
I have to admit that I always sort of imagined that Clover was a teenager . . . or at least the dire werewolf version of one. Seeing her here apparently being imagined as an FBI agent clearly means I was wrong. Now I’m picturing her as being in her early twenties.
Perhaps she initially joined up with J.E.Hoover? Back in the era when she would have been expected to wear a dress, even though she hated it.
Fortunately they had a good solution for their mutual preferences, when not in the public eye.
Great. Now I’m thinking about Zero Escape. Damn you. I can’t afford Zero Time Dilemma.
Is it just me, or does Sydney look a lot like the Grinch after his heart grew three sizes in that last frame?
I was wondering where I remembered that smile from… and that is almost certainly it.
Every Sco down in Scoville liked Sydney a lot…
But the Vamp who lived just north of Scoville, Did Not!
It could be his fangs weren’t screwed in just right.
It could be, perhaps, that his cape was too tight.
Let’s just hope no one Seuss you for copyright infringement.
And now we imagine poor Ingsol in flight
dressed up as masked Darkwing
the terror that flaps in the night
I was going to go with “Veil Independent”, but the obvious answer is “Veil Investigators”, i.e. people tasked with investigating proposed breaches and abuses of the Veil. That would be much easier to do with a badge or id card to flash at people when they start asking questions like “Who are you and why are you in the school gymnasium at 2 AM?”.
I mean, who else are hey going to send to assist Arc in this crisis?
i love Star vs The Forces of Evil! rainbows on fire and puppies with laser eyes… it does seem very Sydney.
i have been wondering why Sydney was given free reign to interrupt stuff once the meeting actually got underway. but assumed it was a minor logical leap given that she helps exposition, and is the main character.
It took me a couple of episodes to start liking Star vs etc. The first ones were just random nonsense, but it got better. I’ve been considering running an “Escape from St. Olga’s (reform school for wayward princesses)” scenario using Fate Accelerated at DunDraCon next year.
Another thing that might be in Max’s conversation to Sydney would include references to so many push-ups that your arms and shoulders will look like Anvil’s, or at least mine.
Sydney: Ooh, so shiny and gold? (Immediately realizes her mistake) Sorry about that.
Max: Now go over to him and apologize.
You know a lot of this situation is Max’s fault. She knows how Sydney is.
Bringing Sydney here without briefing her is like expecting a 10 year old Frozen fan to be calm at Disney World.
I’ve been tacitly assuming that this was an “okay, get it *all* out of your system” kind of visit. Max would certainly have *preferred* that Sydney behaved less like an atomic doofus, I imagine. But as there’s no way to keep this stuff classified from Sydney’s truesight, I think she thought it best to get all the questions answered and all the bouncy geekiness dealt with where it was comparatively safe and private, rather than worrying that she’d accidentally spot Chorius having a quiet drink at a bar and flip out.
Okay, The Atomic Doofus must now somehow be incorporated into this comic as a Hero or Villain! That is one of the best and most hilarious Code Names I have ever heard!!
*Joe wins +1 Internets* :D
That’s assuming Maxima had enough time to debrief her.
Isn’t ‘debriefing’ part of Dabbles’ and Hiro’s jobs? o_O
Only if he uses pantomime.
Oh, come on! “Who or what are VI’s?” is a reasonable question, given the circumstances. The cute look on her face helps too. He is clearly referring to a selection of programs whose behaviour is based on the “vi” text editor.
“vi” is a visual text editor available on Unix and Unix-derived operating systems, like Linux and Mac. The key sequences can take a bit of time to learn, but once you understand the logic of the layout, it can be a very powerful little editor and much more compact than the Emacs editor. (I sure hope that does not start an Emacs vs. vi debate here. There have been enough of those over the last 30 years.) There are a few versions of vi developed over the years, primarily to extend the feature set. One of the most popular versions today is “vim” – vi Improved.
I love vi! Curse you for beating me to it though.
I never really understood the vi vs emacs wars. I learned vi first, and went on to learn a lot of really fantastic things it can do that aren’t just simple text editing. I of course tried emacs, but after a few weeks decided that it would take me a while to get the same functionality out of it that I got out of vi, and so went back.
But it’s a preference, not a freaking religion. I don’t care if everyone around me is using emacs, it doesn’t impact me in any way, not even if I need to open something they’ve written in emacs in vi.
No, it’s a religion. At least to some people. And from my point of view it’s those dirty emacs users that treat it like a religion, because otherwise they would be using the clearly better vi(m) editor.
A conspiracy to reveal a conspiracy? How ironic!
I love Always Human!
I love Always Human!
What a horrid curse. to always be human.
LOL
Don’t blame us for something that’s genetic.
Don’t worry, there may yet be a cure!
*offers hug*
What a terrible night to have a curse.
:D *insert Captain America “I got that reference” meme*
Probably a good thing Ingsol stopped her or her apology might have taken up the rest of the meeting.
One of the abilities of vampires is to stare into people’s eyes and make them quiet and compliant to their wishes. Either Ingsol needs practice, or Sydney is immune.
Or it could be the whole “Maxima is standing RIGHT THERE” that Sydney is totally abusing…
Of course Sydney is immune! That particular ability relies on quieting the targets mind and putting them in a receptive state to hear and obey. Syd’s head is full of chaotic and wildly twisted thoughs almost all the time, even on her meds.
I imagine that any Telepath trying to read her thoughts would have an experience akin to shoving their brain into a Technocolour Tilt-a-Whirl set to tornado speed! *lol*
Try this again. This immediately sprang to mind.
That’s odd, I was going to say the same thing about Lieutenant Colonels and Privates. :-P
Seriously, if this weren’t a comic military organization Maxima wouldn’t need to say a thing to Sydney other than “You’re here to listen and not speak. You may respond if asked a direct question, and be careful about how you do that.” And that order would have been given before they even arrived. Perhaps about the time Sydney smashed her face into a tree. If Maxima had forgotten to issue said orders that would have been her reminder. And Maxima might not even be the one issuing that order. Some noncom in charge of Sydney would have told her “You’re going on a trip with the Colonel. Shut up and listen. If I hear otherwise, you’ll regret it.”
And yeah, I “get it” that Sydney is a one person army and needs to be treated with more care and respect than any merely human recruit would be, if they want her to remain in the organization. But that understanding doesn’t make this comic military any less farcical.
Cool. Comedy comic objective achieved.
DING!
Ooh, I really hope that a level-up screen appeared in front of Dave just then! Go for Duplication Dave, so that you can have your cake and eat it!
You do understand that there is a large difference between ‘funny’ and ‘farcical,’ don’t you?
It is the adjective form of ‘farce‘.
1. A style of humor marked by broad improbabilities with little regard to regularity or method
2. A motion picture or play featuring this style of humor.
3. A situation abounding with ludicrous incidents.
4. A ridiculous or empty show.
The comic is first and foremost a comedy. It heightens the comedy by having the basic setting feel realistic, so that, when the comedy comes, the impact is greater. Yet it does go into farce territory, at times, in order to achieve that. As per definition 1. above you need to expect it to break rational behaviour when that happens. This is how that type of comedy gets its laughs. In other words, doing something that you could not get away with in real life.
Secondly the comic is of the super hero genre. Which tends to be significantly divorced from reality in most settings. Where there is conflict between keeping things realistic and having interesting powers, situations, or stories, which are true to the genre, the super aspect wins.
Plus, although you are not comfortable with it, the presence of super powers does serve to change the normal dynamics of situations which we would otherwise find in real life. If I had gained god-like powers, and the military wished to employ me, they had better not treat me like a raw recruit and expect me to do push ups at their whim.
I would help them the way I wanted to, and if they pissed me off too much, I would tell them to f**k off, and would find somewhere else, more appreciative, to use my powers. In a world where everybody is roughly equal, they can just go out and hire somebody else, off the street, to replace me.
Whereas in a world of scant powers, they would not have anyone to replace me. So would find themselves vulnerable when opposing someone of my kind of power (possibly me if they pissed me off really badly).
Finally Dave set up Archon as a military organisation, because of the dynamics in the setting he created, and how our societies actually work, would lead to that as being a realistic way that governments might actually respond. It is far more realistic than permitting individual vigilantes to police the streets or relying on non-government super groups to protect the nation.
However Dave is not of a military background, so he does not pretend to get the feel of that right. He does though give it a reasonable shot, when you take into account the above mitigators. Maxima cannot behave like a typical military commander. Whilst it is fair to say that a writer with military experience would handle it differently, and could improve on the realism, even with the above constraints, Dave does not have that background.
But having Maxima being in touch with her inner nerd, and using that angle to connect with Sydney is a clever work-around. Given that the military aspect is only of tertiary importance to the comic (behind both comedy and the super genre), it is not something we need to be too concerned with.
Dave does not have the life-experiences to write M*A*S*H*. But Sergeant Bilko still managed to be funny, despite lacking realism, and was accepted as such, because it was farcical in nature.
Dave is trying to keep it closer to the former, than the latter, but we should not knock him too much. If he gets it too close to the real military, the comedy (and story) would suffer. Sydney would have just been put in one of the seats at the back and told to stay silent the whole evening. Which would be boring.
Well typed
MASH was also almost entirely farcical in its treatment of the military. Pierce and Honeycut were treated as the equivalent of supers in this comic: Given a military rank so they’d have the respect (or at least enough rank that they received the illusion of respect) of the other officers and non-coms, but able to break the rules and military protocols at the drop of a hat because they were needed so badly that breaking them or sending them home would cause more harm than overlooking their antics would.
Nowhere but a TV show would an enemy pilot be allowed, and cheered, to engage in a daily bombing run, despite that enemy pilot demonstrating an utter incompetence. That incompetence would result in an easier kill for some AA gunner.
I could provide other examples, but the point is made well enough I believe. Now, since it ran so long, there were episodes where military matters were treated seriously and well, so I’m not painting in only broad strokes.
You make your points well.
I cannot remember much of M*A*S*H* now, but your concluding paragraph does indicate the key part. Enough of the series (and aspects in each episode) were reality based (such as the core role of dealing with horrifically injured people) that it created the feeling of reality. Being a comedy, clearly it had to depart from that, at some points, but it kept the realism as long as possible.
Further both it and Sgt Bilko were enhanced by the fact that farcical things do happen in the military. Mine is a military family, so I have heard many such events relayed over the years. And have heard more than a few in these comments pages. So even when M*A*S*H* does enter into farce territory itself, it is not that hard to retain your suspension of disbelief.
For example, if you are just a potential victim, as opposed to someone tasked with manning the anti-aircraft defences, would it not boost your morale to cheer an enemy’s incompetence? I would be very surprised if that had not happened, and perhaps many times, over the years. OK the ‘daily bombing run’ does push it beyond the credible. But it is a comedy, so we would expect things to be over-exaggerated for effect.
Finally, it actually sounds less implausible than putting down weapons, walking out into the middle of no-mans land, between the trenches, fraternising with the enemy and playing a game of football.
I’ve got a copy of a book which has the real-life stories that M*A*S*H is based on. The daily bombing run one is true.
You should read the books, they are far funnier than the series.
May the farce be with you.
If I was fed the “You’re here to listen, not speak.” line before a mystery meeting I’d probably go home. No reason would have been given for me to stay and plenty was for me not to in that line alone.
I really was wondering why Maxima let Sydney run so rampant throughout this whole sequence. Well, wondering why she brought her along in the first place but once there wondering why she would risk ARC’s reputation to these folks being represented by Sydney. I suppose it was a good way to test the waters and see what the supernatural enclave would tolerate.
It’s also kind of a ‘two birds, one stone’ thing, since Sydney’s Truesight can pierce the Veil, and there are going to be Veil Dependent entities working with Archon. She needs to be briefed on who these people are, why they’re present, and why it’s not something she’s supposed to talk about it… and it’s safer to have her make any scene she’s going to make here, rather than somewhere civilians could see.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to brief her at HQ where she might not run the risk of offending the parties involved and straining relations though? Yes, it makes for a less visually stimulating and interactive lesson but I genuinely don’t get why Maxima would bring Sydney along without briefing her and without putting some kind of behavioral constraint on her.
Unless the purpose of the exercise was to see just how far the supernatural council can be pushed and how much tolerance they will extend.
Maxima probably realized that she couldn’t list every possible way that Halo could offend the council and that, even if she could, the briefing would still be going on long after the meeting ended.
“1,00,437rh way you might offend the council: offering a werewolf a Scooby Snack. 1,000,438th way you might offend the council….”
Yeah, because they vastly prefer “Yorpie Snacks”, any other Snacks is an offense to the tastebuds :P
Most of us know of at least one regular here that would agree with that…Four dewclaws up.
;)
*nods head, and wags tail rapidly*
With four dewclaws up and a wagging tail you are prone to belly-rubs, whether you want them or not.
Yay!
They’re not like carrots or apples, mind you, but they are good.
::moves his mouth and crunchy noises issue forth::
I like the crunchy ones better than the chewy ones, though.
My guess is Maxima doesn’t *care* how far they can be pushed. I think Sydney is her `subtle’ way of saying, “This is the way it works now. You either join the future or become part of the distant past.” I think Max gets that human technology is advancing too fast for `old magics’ to keep up; eventually the Veil will be pierced and the only way to get ahead of it is the bring it down beforehand. IF the supernaturals get their minds around the idea that it’s *going* to happen regardless, they have a decent chance of spinning their reveal…and Sydney is a great example of what they’ll face IF they do it right.
Otherwise, it’ll be mobs and pitchforks, chaos and eventual genocide. If Sydney and her obviously innocent and (fairly) well-meaning outbursts are considered offensive, Max wants to know because it heightens the probability everyone in the room is going on her…and Arc-Swat’s…hit list.
Remember back to Max’s `challenge’? (paraphrasing) “If you think your powers give you the right to prey on innocents, we *will* stop you.”
Sounds like she could be taking to the Council, eh?
Outstanding points, all. Well said, sir!
+1
I suspect that she “cares” but she also knows how far things can be pushed. Regarding your “hit list” comment, Arc-Swat could do that…..at the risk of the supernatural community parking a tactical nuke at the base of the Arc-Light building. (Even if you just go with classic movie monsters, you have shapeshifting, invisibility, and various forms of teleportation. If you bring in allies whose civilization is FTL-capable or shapeshifters who may be at high levels of various governments…game over)
M.A.D. is a no-win game for both sides and I’m sure both Max and Ingsol know it. As such, Ingsol is constrained to play nice with the ADHD recruit while Max knows that, when Sydney starts making jokes that are on par with making fun of physical disabilities, it’s time to reel her back in before things get truly out-of-hand.
“Well, wondering why she brought her along in the first place”
I thought she was there to see if anyone on the council knew anything about her orbs.
Seems like they got sidetracked by bigger issues though.
I was already reading Always Human, and I would like to add my endorsement to the recommendation. It’s a sweet, well-told story.
” It’s a romance comic (between two girls, but it’s not salacious or anything)”
…when are we going to live in a world where there is no particular need to call out a lesbian romance as not being porny? >.<#
Maybe in a world that doesn’t still condemn them (or worse)
Maybe in a world which actually knows the definition of ‘salacious.’
Here are a couple examples which might help:
Non-salacious: “The two men sat in the corner booth, holding hands, both obviously completely absorbed with the other.”
Salacious: Portions of the NYC Pride Parade.
Now, calling something “a romance comic” to me means by definition that it isn’t salacious. But making sure that people understand the content you are directing them to view is a very fair step to take.
Shouldn’t it be “gowernment”? And “Scowille” for that matter?
Mr DaveB sir? You are really going to have to put a disclaimer above every page Inggie speaks in because people still don’t get it!!! No matter how many times it is explained in the comments or you explain in your WOGblurb, people still come in and believe they are the first to catch the ‘slip’
I look on this with a positive light. The more duplicate comments we get, the bigger the audience must be getting. It is something which could go in Ingsol’s Who’s Who entry though. It is rather sparse, at the moment, and could have something like:
“The Twilight Council’s speaker for the undead. Who’s accent fades, when clarity is needed.”
Cousin to a certain huntah of wascwy wabbits.
At least she didn’t ask if she go to the little girl’s room.
:-)
I don’t usually comment, but I do watch Star vs The Forces of Evil. I enjoy it, it’s got some good non sequitur humor.
I have seen it, and the part I like about it is the characters are allowed to learn and advance from events in one episode to do better in a later episode. This goes against the current desire of a lot of companies to make every episode stand-alone so that it can be broken up and shown at random in syndication.
The animators even let them wear different clothes in different episodes! Sacrilege!
Welcome out of the shadows, and thanks for the input.
*puts out a bowl of Yorpie Snax™*
Please feel free to hang around more.
It was mentioned that there might be a 1600 yr old vampire. If they did exist, I’m curious how strong they would be compared to Max.
I think it would depend on the powers that the particular type of vampire had. There is a lot of variety in the Grrl Power Verse.
We have seen that Maxima was vulnerable to Vehemence’s aggro aura. So a vampire with mental attack powers, such as the classic hypnotism, would easily be able to overwhelm her. Whereas one which just gets stronger, faster and bigger claws, with age, would have his butt handed to him on a plate, in a fight with Maxima.
As with many good super stories it is a matter of playing rock paper scissors lizard Spock, to ensure that you set the right hero to deal with a particular menace. Sydney’s shield would work wonders against the former foe But her lack of experience could be deadly against such an aged and experienced foe. Whereas Dabbler has a bunch of psionic and magical powers, and the age and experience to use them effectively. When facing such a challenging foe, she is more likely to avoid showboating.
No who’s who for Dabs and Argh_I-Can’t-Remember-Her-Name-At-The-Moment?
Clover. They are only imagined, in that scene, so it may be intentional.
#self-inflicted facepalm Looks like somebody (and I won’t mention any names, especially my own) failed to notice the obvious clues (such as how did a living room suddenly appear in the council chambers?) and thought the perp they were referring to was the person (or other entity) that damaged the veil.
Maxima has been with Sidney a couple of days. Long enough to know that this really IS Sidney’s best behavior. Also long enough to know that Sidney is surprisingly good at keeping a secret. Well, if she knows there is a secret to be kept anyway. Most of the “confidentiality training” is probably gonna be on the order of what is safe to say or not.
This meeting serves two purposes. One is to introduce Sidney to the Council. The other is to introduce the Council to SIDNEY. Superstar or not, even the basic “anti-magic/anti-cloaking” abilities with potentially more to be unlocked means she will probably be instrumental in investigations.
Sydney is genre savvy enough to be able to eventually think of a(nother) way to thwart a potential magical attack from happening. If someone in a graveyard were to claim they are about to raise an army of the dead to do his bidding using the Mystic Medallion of McGuffin all Sydney needs to do is get someone to fly her to the nefarious ne’er-do-well and put up her shield. This blocks the item from functioning and her companion keeps Sydney from retaliation until additional help arrives.
Then again, if she were to raise it while standing next to one of the Sigils, an entire city could see a large number of their citizens suddenly appear very different to their neighbors.
He he.
Darn it, that chuckle was for O.B. Juan‘s
Be thankful that this segment of strips does NOT take place with Maxima and company paddling canoes down a river and Maxi is sharing a canoe with Sydney. She turns around and to her surprise,Maxima sees Sydney smiling with a good portion of her teeth blacked out and she’s plucking a banjo!
Sydney:You shore got shiny skin there Goldie!!
Maxima:SCOVILLE! KNOCK IT OFF BEFORE I CAPSIZE US!!!
In the next canoe,Dabbler is laughing her head off while Gwen and Pixel continue paddling…!