Grrl Power #467 – Pitch(ed out) meeting
Wait! Argus could be the Epimeliad’s apple tree! And another intelligence person could be this Disney princess type who can talk to birds and squirrels. But she always sings everything and pulls everyone into her songs and everyone hates her, but she’s so sweet she gives everyone diabetes. And the QM is a… dwarf? Gnome. No, a gremlin! He makes great stuff but it’s all buggy and unpredictable. And the team has a human on it – nobody trusts him but he’s ex-Mossad so he understands persecution, but he’s a stone killer who knows everything about taking down supernatural threats so nobody wants to get in his face.
^^^ Probably all stuff Sydney rambled on about while being relocated. And we have yet another comic I could do one day.
It appears Sydney has finally discovered the threshold. Looking back over this arc, Maxima really should have been more proactive about reining her in.
I’ll admit I borrowed the “When did this happen!?” gag from Slayers. I don’t remember what episode, but Lina’s wannabe protege gets tied up while delivering a rousing monologue about justice or something.
I’m not aware that Epimeliads are green, I just needed the visual continuity between Sydney’s pitch and the one in the mini-comic. BTW, I had never heard of Epimeliads until I saw them in a smutty comic. Some guy wandering through the woods, is confronted by a trio, correctly guesses what kind of forest fey they are, and is rewarded for his efforts, and then the trio is rewarded by his efforts… you know. The point is, sometimes smut is educational.
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 :)
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Season 2. Episode 1. Amelia vs Zel.
I like you. Slayers is one of my favourites. I got volume 1-8 of the novel in my bookshelf.
After this arc is finished,maybe Sydney and Maxima will talk about the former’s ADHD and how her impulsive actions will be bad for her ARCSwat career?
If she didn’t get that message when she barged in on a meeting with the President of the USA and several other world leaders, then getting a lecture here probably won’t take either.
Plus that it’s a medical issue. She can put effort forward to rein herself in, but she can’t make it go away and even trying hard not to let something happen you can’t catch yourself 100% of the time. Not even close.
Is Sydney forgetting something, or am I wrong again.
Didn’t DaveB already establish that only mammals can become weres? That would rule out a were-octopus girl. Perhaps it was said in the comments rather than in the comic itself and so Sydney might not yet know that fact?
Or I could just be wrong, of course. That’s been known to happen . . .
No, you are right. But Sydney is so hyper she is probably only seconds from seeing Muppets, without the aid of illusions!
Actually it was Dave in the blog who said something like everybody believe it’s only mammals (intra-Class) because has never been seen anything else. IIRC Syd was told by Katrinna was it? that “normally” it was intra-Genus (a wolf is a Canis lupus) so even worst.
Wait, sorry, I’m mixing two things there. What Katrina told Syd was about the drift (you can became a different were than who infected you) which do not preclude a were-octopus only limits who can spawn it.
So no, Syd was not told that lycanthropes are believed to be only mammals, at least not “on camera”.
more accurately she said it was “usually” intra-genus drift as far as Varients go, but exceptions are possible(the example was a Were Big Cat pack with a Lone Were-gazelle working a BBQ if i recall right)
You are right, Dave stated a range of decreasing probabilities of drifting at each level of Species, Genus, Family, Order and Class, being the latter (Mammalia) the upper known limit, (ie, all seen lycans so far are mammals).
(Yorp’s face is different, that’s odd)
Sure, they did say something along the lines of ‘only mammals can become weres’ but… did they say that the were-species had to also be mammal? :D
(What, do I have some food on my face? *licks face clean* Is that better?)
Ahh, cunning. So an octopus could become a were-human. Sold!
Dave said that it could be nomammal-human hybrids but then they would not be lycans. Or something like that.
True. But it would have a person capable of transforming from one sapient species into another.
Running with the ‘hybrid forms are more powerful than either on their own’ just think about the combined cognative enhancement. Maybe she could think eight times as fast, handle eight different problems simultaneously and…. who eight my Yorpie Snax‽™
Straight from the (were?)horse’s mouth:
BTW, I’m preferential to “Haloverse” myself.
It does have a better ring. Down sides are excluding the rest of the heroes and potential confusion with some other Halo.
‘ARCverse’ ?
I remember a very old issue of Dragon magazine (it was of course the April edition) which described the dreaded disease Ms.Paul’s-anthropy. It turns you into a box of were-fish sticks.
So at least we don’t have to worry about that.
This page made me laugh out loud!
Talk about getting carried away.
Honestly, I was under the impression that Vlad was putting up with Sydney because he found her entertaining… at first… She clearly started getting on his nerves, though. Was this already covered? Just got up, too scattered. Need caffeine.
I think our Dave is ready to join Dave Willis and start making smut over at Slipshine.
Oh, thank Jeebus Max FINALLY intervened!
2016: That time Sydney was used to turn an intriguing 30 minute meeting into the Bataan Death March of slow exposition and terminally repetitive one-note joke by re-enacting the same ‘hilarious’ ADHD joke that she’s already done every third comic panel this year. As someone with ADHD, the joke was only moderately amusing the first billion times. We get it. Even particularly slow paste-eating five year old kids who have to have mittens pinned to their jackets all year long GET IT: Sydney has ADHD!
Perhaps ARC-Light can swoop in and retcon a wiki covering the two sentences/week of mildly relevant exposition inserted between the exact same really truly not funny anymore ‘Sydney has ADHD’ joke?
Glad you are only typing for yourself and not us who enjoy Syndeyisms
As often as I’ve defended Sydney’s behavior, it may come as a surprise that I kind of agree with you. Almost nothing in the last 30 pages or so has been worth more than a chuckle. I won’t deny that I have a dry sense of humor; I don’t always laugh at things other people find hilariously funny, but DAMN. Even for me, 30 pages without a single genuine laugh is one heck of a dry spell.
The exposition has been at least somewhat relevant, but Sydney’s constant interruptions have gone from humorous to boring. Sorry, DaveB, but someone had to say it.
That locked door does not matter sense she can just send an illusionary her through and still interrupt the plot.
True, but it doesn’t change the fact that I finally realized, I’m barely skimming the comic to get to the comments, which I have found far more entertaining.
With that I will agree, at least regarding the last dozen comics. Worth to notice this is the best comment section that I had ever seen.
Eh, I dunno. There was some cool expansion on the lore introduced which is I think why I tolerated it. I didn’t mind the ADHDness of her…I do, btw, also have ADHD, and I am not as bad a case as her (partly because I’m quite shy in person and more likely to just be spacey), however, she is obviously a severe case (and probably Predominantly Hyperactive subtype, at that), and there really are people like that in real life…like that and WORSE, I’ve met them so I would know.
I do agree on one thing though: it was high time to move on and get to actual plot. I’m okay with a slow pace, but it was about to get glacial. :P
I think you hit the nail on the head. I do not agree with Candide Scaramouche (@Scaramouchetoo)‘s assessment that this was an ADHD joke primarily. Sydney has an acute version of ADHD, as you expressed. Or, to put it in other terms, several of Dave’s characters are personifications of some trait or personality. Dabbler is sexuality, Maxima champions feminism (to a flaw), Math is martial skill incarnate, for Arianna it is capitalism, whereas for Sydney it is ADHD.
Obviously Dave;s writing has enough depth that there is a lot more to each of them, than just that. But, like the Olympian and Norse gods, their key characteristic is overwhelmingly powerful and dominates much of their personality and their interactions with others. For Loki it is trickery, Aphrodite it is love and beauty, and so on.
Therefore Dave’s writing uses these traits as a vehicle, on which to carry aspects of the story. This being a comedy webcomic, very often that will be the comedy. And as the protagonist Sydney will feature the most. Especially as she is also the comic relief.
So I feel it unfair to characterise this as ‘an ADHD joke’, rather this has been about how she and others handle this severe problem Sydney has. The last comic we saw her sincerely apologising. Yet, with the mitigating circumstances,* Sydney has almost immediately come off the rails again.
Clearly this irritates a lot of people, probably for different reasons. For many it is her rudeness, lack of consideration to the others in the meeting, her indiscipline and the like. Whereas, for those who also have ADHD, there is the impatience at showing something that they are intimately familiar with. Which is understandable, as you factor this into your daily life and move on.
But, as a personification of ADHD Sydney’s condition manifests itself far more strongly than an average person’s. For me, although I laughed at her predicament above, when I look at it deeper, I feel moved by how deeply this affects her. It is not a matter of being weak-willed or indisciplined or uncaring. Her mind betrayed her sincere intentions to control herself.
I feel sorry for her, over this, as I have felt the same myself. One example being how my brain swaps over names, at random. These are things neither she nor I can control.
So, underneath the jokes and the exposition, I think this is actually deep writing. Dave is not shying away from showing how heavily Sydney’s ADHD weighs on her, under the wrong conditions. Further it is brave, to persist with this, despite folk’s irritation. Peggy has one leg. Sydney has ADHD. Neither is going to get better. Both just do what they can to mitigate the problems, whenever it is possible.
* Severe sleep deprivation, pushing her medications beyond their limits (& apparent Muppet hallucinations) along with the severe culture shock.
Examine any comic character long enough and they look a lot more worse for wear, funny ones especially. Or just comedians. The funnier people tend to be some of the darkest between mental issues and really messed-up lives, and that humor is a way to cope. In a less-dark way, Sydney made it clear earlier that all this whackiness is helping her cope. She went from someone working in a comic book store to insta-celebrity, making huge money, fighting supervillains, becoming partial to government secrets, hanging out with some of the most powerful people on Earth, finding out aliens are on earth, and finding out that pretty much the entirety of collective mythological monsters (and other she never even heard of) are real. It’s been, what, three days for her?
I hereby +1 your comment.
Two pages and I’m surprised no one has speculated as to whether or not a were-octopus squirts….ink.
Why do you think the vampire is dressed in black?
Ahh, but even more interestingly, given that werewolves, in their hybrid bipedal form, are a lot more powerful than either a wolf or a human, would the same apply to the octopus-were-human? In which case, might her ink have properties that no normal octopus ink would have?
• Could she spray it into the air, in mist form, to provide a ‘smoke’ screen?
• Might it have special properties, like inducing specific emotions (such as fear) or induce hallucinations?
• Perhaps, deployed a different way, it grants water-breathing and/or amphibious traits (such as webbed feet, pressure resistance and the ability to see in deep dark water)?
She should be able to walk on walls, etc, while maintaining an internal skeleton hybrid form thus making her the octopus version of Spiderman with ink squiring instead of webs (no extreme swinging from building to building unless they were close enough for her octoarms to reach).
Should be able to do partial transformations so that her humanish form becomes pliable enough to fit into really tight and oddly shaped spaces.
Should be able to manifest one Hell of a crushing/piercing beak.
Should be able to breath under water and dive to extreme depths. (they can pretty much go all the way down over time right?)
Can probably have a limb severed and keep going as well as have the limb keep acting on its own but that’s just creepy in a humanoid…
Wikipedia says: “The second response to a predator is to release pseudomorphs (“false bodies”); smaller clouds of ink with a greater mucus content, which allows them to hold their shape for longer. These are expelled slightly away from the cephalopod in question, which will often release several pseudomorphs and change colour (blanch) in conjunction with these releases. The pseudomorphs are roughly the same volume and look similar to the cephalopod that released them, and many predators have been observed attacking them mistakenly, allowing the cephalopod to escape (this behaviour is often referred to as the “blanch-ink-jet manoeuvre”).”
So maybe the upgraded version of ink use you are looking for is a sort of illusory ink shadow clone?
Combined with octopus abilities such as camouflage and mimicry (brought up to “super” levels for the comic of course) she could be a pretty interesting agent!
She would also die shortly after childbirth, so the “apple pie” episode might set the stage for a tragic season finale.
Aww, that is so sad. I was not aware of that tragic fact.
*sniffles, and blows into a hankie*
Following that line then either she would be pregnant for years with the kid coming out able to walk and everything or she would stay alive until the baby grew to that point.
“Two pages and I’m surprised no one has speculated as to whether or not a were-octopus squirts….ink.”
I think the more relevant question would be “Is the were-octopus…. a doctor?”. And if so, do her first and last name start with the same letter?
Simone Smith? o_O
No no. I am sure that this has a super connection.
Doctor Doom
Victor Von doom
Oops, I missed one thing.
Don’t over-think it. I was going for Doc Oc. Maybe Odette Octavius.
*attempts to keep face straight*
You looked stoned o_O
Good one :)
sold, write it up
Next time that Sydney should step out of line due to her ADHD,Maxima should consider having her confined to the stockade(unless Archon has no stockade?!?)
They have the place Vehemence is cooling his heels in, if nothing else. Although I would be surprised if that was close to their main building. So it is likely that they have holding cells there. It is a police station, after all.
Sydney’s pelimanary hearing….
Maxima : Scoville,I can’t understand how an imcompetant misfit like you got into this outfit in the first place….
General Faulk: Didn’t you recruit her yourself Colonel Leander????
Maxima slinks down her chair in embarrassment…..!
How should the rest hearing go?
So, the eternally vigilant? Who watches the watchmen?
Arc-LIGHT
Who watches Arc-LIGHT?
Arc-DARK.
Who watches Arc-DARK?
Arc-SWAT
Who watches Arc-SWAT?
Sydney.
Who watches Sydney?
Everybody!!
But then who watches everybody? =OP
The NSA.
Who watches the NSA?
The Watchmen.
Who watches the Watchmen?
Benedict Cumberbatch.
Who watches Benedict Cumberbatch?
Una Stubbs.
Who watches Una Stubbs?
Smurfs. Lots of Smurfs.
And everyone knows that smurfs LOVE TO WATCH.
+1
I wonder if the council would benefit from producing a project like this. They could have some deniability (we were just filming a TV show, that’s why there was a 9 foot tall werewolf). Plus, if exposure proves inevitable, they might have some positive preconceptions.
Folks will be disappointed to find that their favourite heroine, the were-octopus, is fictional though. :-(
Apart from the Dryad fans, of course.
I’m just trying to NOT imagine why Syndey imagined the were-octopus to begin with. I’m even more trying to not use one of her original ball-names (Hentorb, Molestorb) in conjunction.
its because she has seen enough hentai to know where she is going..
Dryad fanfics don’t really have much of a calling, what with the splinters and all. You don’t want to end up like Milo of Croton.
I cut some chatter about how they back media projects that cast the supernatural in positive light. There’s a lot of old money pooled from various sources in the Council’s slush fund. Unfortunately they’ve found that movies/TV with good vampires and werewolves is better when there’s bad ones for them to fight, and the contributors to the fund like a return on their investments. As the Council doesn’t plan on coming out any time soon, they still fund the odd project, but not necessarily with focus on promoting positive supernatural role models.
So does that mean Supernatural is a different show in that world? Or maybe it was cancelled early?
In this world, they don’t use CGI :D
But in Supernatural all the monsters are basically bad guys and even when they try to be good guys it all goes wrong. Can’t see a werewolf volunteering to portray weres as evil. Hell even the angels in that show are destroyers more than protectors. Seriously the writers must all suffer from depression and try to medicate with vast quantities of alcohol. It is a extremely DARK world they live in.
It’s just a job, like all the straight girls playing lesbians
DaveB did say that they have found that they are better if there are bad one’s to fight, Supernatural is just one such show (you also have shows like “Grimm” that does have good were’s, even if he is reluctant to do so :P)
The point being, they would be able to save money on the CGI ‘monsters’ or even heavy makeup, just save that for the beheadings and similar
So they’re to blame for Twilight and by extension fifty shades of gray existing…. Hrmm so they are a force for evil then.
Thank you, Maxima. Sydney’s antics in this section have been annoying me for a while.
Just wanted to say “vigilantes” should be with an “e,” with an “i” it’s either genetive singular or accusative plural which wouldn’t make sense, as the straight name would be nominative. Love the comic, can’t wait to see what’s next, though I feel like a were-shrimp would be badass, imagine a mantis shrimp punch at human size, that’d be crazy haha
It is spelt correctly. You have the wrong word. Right root mind, but this one means the vigilant or the watchers. As opposed to ‘the criminals who must be incarcerated, interred or …’ stop interjecting Sydney!
The were-mantis shrimp would be above Maxima in power! Assuming that its powers scaled proportionate to its size. Nice call.
spelt?? wouldn’t that be spelled?
https://grammarist.com/spelling/spelled-spelt/
Not being American, the bulk of that link is irrelevant to me. Barring the bit at the end.
I however do. I choose to avoid “spelled” to avoid potential confusion with “enspelled”. Given the nature of this comments board, that can sometimes occur.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelt :)
Spelt.
(Just wanted to say “vigilantes” should be with an “e,”)
This could be right. Sydney is a vegetarian, so she would be a ‘vege-lante’.
Hmm, was sure had replied to you typing ‘spelt’, did you say it elsewhere? o_O
Oops! Had replied to it, further up the page :(
First time I glanced this post I thought it was about the English word, but now I realized what you was talking about :)
You are right about “vigilantis” being a genetive which is not right. But the accusative plural is actually “vigilantes”, same spelling than the nominative.
Anyway, this kind of expressions do not use the nominative but the adjective form, which is “vigilans”.
Well spotted anyway, I think you can claim “first” :)
Ukube nje wafunda Latin!
Same to you!
To cement their fame, have them be the replacements to clean up one of the messes on Supernatural.
All the people who complain about the – lets call it exposition – of the council, or the earlier ones, remember that these details NEED to be explained for parts of the story that haven’t happened yet. Yes, they could get ignored, or skipped over, or even explained in just a page of writing. Then it would not be a comic that could, eventually, be put in book form. Anyone who has read comics or manga knows that “exposition” chapters happen, and its always so that the author does not have to explain it later, or multiple times.
Sydney being brand new to Arc-SWAT plus the powerful abilities she has that let her skip normal security means LOTS of information must get shoved at her pretty early in her super hero career, plus gets all the basic training info as well. This setup lets the author explain multiple details of the world he built without it ever seeming out of place or unnecessary. (author gets a cookie for giving the world depth, cant always be in fights & keep people interested)
Can’t please everyone. Best to just let the ones whining about lack of constant DBZ “plot” sink and be forgotten. The rest of us are just fine with Sydney and exposition. Came here to enjoy a story with visual components, not to see a foot up someone’s ass every page.
Personally I am also in the ‘fine as it is’ camp. And it is heartening for Dave to hear such support. But there have been a lot of folks expressing discontent, so there is a division amongst the readership. Fortunately, for them, Dave does keep up with the comments, and had been feeling that it was dragging out overlong himself previously. And has reviewed it now, as mentioned in his blog.
Although I am OK with the exposition, I am also a fan of the minimalist alternative. Where the readers/viewers have to fill in all the pieces, often by sheer guesswork, simply by picking up on what the protagonist and other characters are saying and doing. With zero concessions to help. Any such just feels fake to me.
What we have seen so far does not mind. Because it is showing it as it happens to Sydney. But if we skip forwards to another scene, any author would be tempted to explain it, such as by putting in a line of dialogue. Sadly this can feel awfully faked, or contrived, unless it is something intrinsic to the situation at paw. Therefore I much prefer stories which just let it play out as if the previous hours, days or weeks had been followed.
It would mean a lot of folks getting confused initially mind. We see that even with obvious time-skipping montage scenes, let alone a sudden jump (sudden because of the detailed scenes up until now). However I feel that a lot more fans would appreciate that. And we can help out those who get lost, in the comments.
All this only said because Dave has expressed an interest in trying this style out. So we may well be seeing that imminently.
I have become a bit annoyed about the pace, but DaveB have said that the pace will speed up in a few pages. But I’m so pleased with the story and graphics that this just become my fist patreon.
That is awesome! I am poorer than the proverbial church mouse, so that is something I am unable to do. Therefore it is wonderful when somebody supports the comic, in a way I am unable to do myself. It is lovely having such nice people in our community!
*swishes tail joyously*
Agrecian, not quite as poor as that, but unable to work and have far too many deserving webics enjoy reading that can’t support all of them financially
My philosophical roots to go back to ancient Greece. Not the rest of me though. Not as far as I know.
*examines roots of fur*
Eeeek, a grey one!
*tugs it out with teeth*
In the next storyline, I think I’m going to try interweaving the exposition throughout instead of front loading it like I have been. It might be challenging but interesting to try.
Have some with Syd recounting things to Joel kinda after-the-bank style! All hypernthusiactic and non-stopping, the panels showing the actual events and she making the exposition remarks. I would enjoy something like that :)
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/293
what if you turned the margins into text? (sorry, my brain is warped)
That then takes you into the marginalia of medieval monks. Who were clearly on LSD!
I think rather show it then have it explained instead of explain it before you show it?
Hey DaveB, Exposition is one thing my creative writing couch links directly to disinterest. I personally think your best work was how you handled Vehemence sp.? As they dealt with him they figured him out.
I think this part of the story would benefit a ton from showing us whats wrong with the Sigils or showing us what the Vi’s are doing at this gathering. Ingsol can still talk over a few panels showing A Vi going over documents with missing baby chimeras.
You’d need far less text that way. Just a suggestion adding to your musings. I read a few disgruntled comments thought it might be a direction you could afford exploring.
Yeah I’m going to experiment with that a little going forward. I do like my exposition but obviously there are other ways to lay out a story.
Now I don’t know if you’ve already answered this question, but I’m going to ask just in case. Dabbler has cybernetic limbs, so why hasn’t she built a prosthetic leg for Peggy? I mean Dabbler can build one out of lightweight metal that is non magnetic and it could have all kinds of gadgets like maybe a built in small firearm and extra ammo like Robocop! Hell, something that couldn give Peggy the ability Fly Like a Bird or slow her descent with a gravitational field or hell even stealth camo or something that muffles her footsteps and knowing Dabbler, she could put apps in or games like minesweeper; hell the foot could have an actual minesweeper or seismic detector built into it. Or release knockout gas and flash bangs and have a built in knife or claws like X-23! Anywho, great comic and keep up the great work!
Dabbler doesn’t shares her toys, I mean, she follows the Prime Directive.
Because Dabbler does not share her technology. She has mentioned this to Sydney several times.
Plus who says Peggy wants it? She has earnt her place on the team by hard work and skill. Despite having the prosthetic, she is able to hold her place on the super battlefield. Peggy is the one who took out Concretia, after all. A ‘villain’ who was otherwise, for most intents and purposes, unstoppable.
Incidentally she managed that due to luring Concretia away from the main battlefield (and unbeknownst to Peggy, out of Vehemence’s aggro aura), using sniper tactics of ‘fire and displace’. Not to mention combining it with a claymore booby trap. So Peggy could have kept Contretia tied up a long time, even if she had not lucked out by Concretia coming to her senses, once no longer ‘under the influence’ of the aggro field.
Finally you may recall, when Peggy first met Sydney, she was quite off-hand and bordering on contemptuous of how supers “can’t resist telling you all about their powers” (to paraphrase)? That does not sound like someone geeking out, to gain powers of her own.
All that said though, it is a nice thought, so keep up the clever ideas. Who knows, despite my scepticism, Peggy might well appreciate some of those ideas? She would though have to utilise normal human technology (or captured technomagic which could be repurposed).
Oops, I should have refreshed the screen. I had two open, and did not realise that this one must have been like that for hours, in order for Duende Sociopata‘s comment not to have been visible. Otherwise I would have avoided duplicating his comment, in mine.
I would watch the crap out of that show!
It is spelt ‘sap’.
No. “It” is spelled “i”… “t”. =OP
Just noticed: you spell ‘spelt’ “ess-pee-ee-elle-tee” (lot of ‘ee’s in that word)
Here is the first of a special treat: the Yorpie Pie (pronounced “Your Pie”, typically don’t say the second ‘pie’, like you never, or shouldn’t, say ‘avocado pear’, it’s like “Mount Fujiyama”) :D
“…or heck, just the pollen…”
I’m seeing tinges of The Pollinic Girls Attack. Anyone else?
Only when I google the term and hit ‘images’. Which is to be avoided for anybody at work! NSFW.
You… have giving me something to do when bored now, here, a fresh double portion of Yorpie Snacks
I think I shall have to share this.
*gobble munch om nom nom*
Anthropomorphic erotic… pollen? O_O Rule 34 rules.
Thanks for sharing! :)
If I didn’t know that DaveB has these planned out quite a bit in advance I might be tempted to think the aphrodisiac apple pie was subconsciously inspired by my American Pie reference two strips back.
DaveB definitely has a minor thing for tentacle hentai or at least tentacle hentai references. Been about six strips since the last one. But its cool to see a rare female one this time. (Sara Waite relative?)
Anybody remember the tree of human faced fruits? I would think the Dryad of THAT tree would kick some serious ass! Assuming said ass was in range of her tree. They can’t get too far from their tree in most versions I think? But what if the tree was on a magically floating island and like that island had a castle with some über mage guy and his enemies attacked breaking the island into floating chunks and the Dryad was adrift for centuries exploring and learning like no other dryad before her (also feeding bad [or super annoying] folk to the tree) until she learned to turn the floating chunk into a FLYING SHIP! Yeah, and then like a few more centuries of adventure in disguise (puts on a fake beard and such cause if folk figure out she is a dryad then they will know exactly how to attack her) as the pirate Treebeard building the kind of contacts (easier to build contacts when you can now go back to the same place on purpose!) that combined with her ageless knowledge make her an excellent intelligence agent. This stuff writes itself!
Are you a writer, too? If not, you should be. Also, nice Inu Yasha reference.
I just got in touch with my inner Sydney for a second. (I have no idea how one would actually flesh out such characters in a way that felt real and made people care about them. Ideas are cheap. I could do that part all day. Writing is HARD! [also English, which is sad being as its my only language. {sorry Spanish, I’ve forgotten you almost entirely…}])
I know, right? Two years of Spanish in high school, and I can barely remember the alphabet, the numbers from 1 to 20, and how to ask where the bathroom is. Now, if I lived in south Texas, I’m sure I would remember more of it because I would actually have to use it.
(I have a friend who lives in the Houston area; she has been turned down for jobs because she doesn’t speak Spanish, and has been turned down for scholarships because she “isn’t Hispanic enough”.)
My recently deceased wife spoke almost entirely Spanish as do most of my in-laws. In fact, I’m fairly certain she was in the U.S. “illegally” before I made an honest woman out of her, so I’m waiting the big reveal to find out whether she was a murderer or a rapist since that’s all Mexico sends us according to certain people (note: since some people have trouble detecting the use of sarcasm on the internet, the previous sentence was supposed to be a prime example of it). Anyway, I had to converse with her and them as well as many of my co-workers over the years almost entirely in Spanish, which is why I’ve retained a good grasp of it.
“My recently deceased wife…”
Algo siempre triste de vivir, mis sinceras condolencias.
A veces estoy triste, pero estoy demasiado bendito para estar triste todo el tiempo.
+1
That is very sad. My sincere condolences on your loss. And on the insult to your family.
Thank you for your condolences for my wife. As far as insults go, though, I learned long ago that they tend to say more about the person who said them than the person who they were said about.
Yeah, language is definitely strongly in the use it or loose it category. Whilst I think a nation works better if everybody has a “common tongue” for business, emergencies, etc… it would have been cool to have had someone around to help me fully realize that language. (and then of course we could talk about nearby folk without them realizing which is the entire point of second languages right? heh)
Ndibene nentombi owathi, xa wadibana nomhlobo wakhe Dutch, ukuba bathethe ngam, ngesiFrentshi. ngoko kwafuneka afunde ngokwaneleyo nje isiFrentshi ningabaleli ukwenza ukuba, angohlwaywa mna!
Here is what that looked like before going into google translate: “I had a girlfriend who, when she met up with her Dutch friend, would talk about me, in French. I then had to learn just enough French to stop them doing that, with impunity!”
And after being translated into Xhosa (which I used to speak fluently), and back into English (again by google translate): “I had a daughter who, when he met his Dutch friend, to talk to me, in French. so he had to learn enough French to forbid them to do that, not punished me!”
:D
Google Translate is far, far from perfect. You should check out some of the videos on YouTube, such as this one… https://youtu.be/LMkJuDVJdTw
They passed the lyrics through every language in Google Translate (64 different languages at the time), and then back to English, and that’s what came out the other end of the process.
That video has been used in French and Spanish classes to show students why you should not use Google Translate to do your homework. xD
I thought you said
Fans need to avoid going near that one!
I was completely unaware that had a plural…
Human faeces fruits?
Only a mad geneticist could think of such a crappy idea.
“When did this happen!?”
I loled. A lot. Like, too much. Chortling might have been involved. Don’t judge me!
+1
Said it before, and obviously needs say it again: people whined prior to the Parking Lot Rumble about how it’s boring about learning all about Sydney’s abilities and what her balls do and what everyone else does etc and “GET TO THE ACTION!!!!!!!”, and then during the “PLR” you had people whining about how the fight is taking too long and it’s boring and “GET TO THE EXPOSITIONS!!!!!!!”
And the same damn thing is happening all over again!!!!!!!!!
DaveB explained early on that this is not an Action based Superhero story, but the fairly dull and ordinary day-to-day slice-of-life Superhero story, what they get up when not battling the Bad Guys, and, right now, it’s focussed on Sydney because she is new to this whole thing, she is asking ‘annoying’ questions because she has a lot of questions to ask
Frank Quitely, doubt any of you noggs complaining would just sit there calmly and quietly thinking “Yeah, but what does ‘Vee’ stand for and mean? How does this ‘Veil’ work? Why is this chair wobbly? Did I remember to lock my car? What sort of individual is that over there, and why are they staring at me so intensely?”
Things are about to start happening imminently, in any event. So it is all a moo point.
Or maybe a cow ate the prickles, off the pineapples, so we can eat the fruit of Dave’s labour?
And we will have people complaining about how “the action is boring, when are we going to get back to Sydney’s shenanigans again?”
I like it all (except for the excessive sex bits [those are for Yorp. And seeing him happy almost makes it worth putting up with]) but I admit I hunger for powers discovery and in this setting powers testing (surprised they let her go anywhere before they’ve tested her five ways to Sunday since she’s been announced on TV/internet as officially one of them and any “whoopsies” at this point will reflect badly on them). A battle at least makes her use her powers so some of the above happens by accident… but powers testing in a controlled environment makes more sense and matches the type of comic DaveB said he was doing.
But I still like what I’ve been getting. (people have been bitching? guess I need to go back and read the comments that dropped while I was away.)
Just have to read some of the comments for this page to see some of the complaints
Believe one of the reasons they didn’t go straight to a lab with Sydney’s balls (Sydney being there is only because they can’t separate them) is because one of the first things Sydney told Maxi was her fear of white coats and being poked and prodded in all the not fun ways, plus, so much has happened in just the last few days
There are also a ton of basic tests they haven’t done that could be done at a place like the range or in a super gym type atmosphere. (they’ve basically done like two and half actual tests and the rest were just sort of discoveries on the go?)
She could have a bunch of secondary/related powers like the truesight side of the telepresence orb lurking as well as two completely unknown orbs. Its pretty risky having her walk around civilians or touchy supernatural high mucky muck sensitive political types until they have run her through a variety of situations, stimuli, and simulations with their own people standing in for all the folks she is gonna have to be around. Even if they can’t cover everything at least then they would have reports showing that the damn well tried when something went down.
I think if Maxima held her hand for the first so many tests she could probably build a resistance to whatever mad scientist type was running the tests. (be awesome if he looks like that guy in her imagery!)
True, but again, this is, what? Day three? They haven’t had the time, yet
Yeah, cause they keep having her do things she shouldn’t be allowed to do until they have done a lot more testing and prodding of her powers/orbs. (should have been 1. Sign up 2. Testing to establish a reasonable level of safety. 3. Sleep 4. More testing! 5. Psychoanalysis [ongoing] 6. Public relations training. 7. NOW allowed out into the public and such again. But Arianna somehow manipulated things which led to things which Maxima decided to allow and so on… [Arianna is a real risk taker and they let her strongly influence {I’m assuming the Bank thing was her acting by way of the General overriding Maxima?} a lot of command decisions despite not being in the chain of command… at all……. ])
And ignoring the reality of the dangers of that makes for a fun story to a certain extent but its really starting to edge past the line into hard to ignore now. They have time. The time they chose to send a dangerously untested raw recruit into a potential supernatural political powder keg.
And none of that is a deal breaker or anything. I’m just noting it in case da boss wants to know how some of us might feel about it. (admittedly I often seem to be in the minority of opinions. At lease among those who speak up. Oh well)
Yes, totally, how dare Kevin decide to trick others into attacking them while they were having dinner!
How dare Maxi take Sydney to The Council to prepare her for the Supernatural before she accidentally reveals them in public!! And to see if any of the assembled could identify her balls!!
How dare whomeveritwas for weakening The Veil!!!
How dare Sydney for ever touching strange glowing balls!!!!
*drinks a bottle of bioluminescence inducer and waits half an hour*
Go on Sydney, you know you want to.
As a secondary effect, this will allow the sun to shine out of my arse!
Who says you can’t put a shine on a turd! XD
:-D
Ha ha. (@ How dare’s.)
1st one: Could have simply sent her away to the sidelines where she could have been directed where to go next.
2nd one: Not really worth the risk. They could have just told her, “Hey, there’s more aliens and stuff. If you see something check it with Maxima, Dabbler, or somebody ‘in the know’ before letting on that you saw.” With all the testing and training she should be doing she should be in that much contact with the public anyway. Since she worked it into her contract the comic shop is the greatest risk till they spend a few days doing some basic testing. (wow, I’m just talking about a few days to get started with safety testing and such. Dave can speed through it in a montage if you all really want to get right to world spanning issues so bad. Just so we can check mark the box I guess. )
3rd one: Not really sure why she has to be there for the announcement leading up to the veil reveal. None of the other recruits are and again, if they really need her unique power set for something once the investigation gets rocking (which it hasn’t yet) they can go get her then.
4rth one: You’re a big silly! :-P lol
Shouldn’t be in that much contact-
A) She was directed to stay inside and keep her Bubble up, unfortunately Shadow McCrushed-Nuts snuck inside before she could put it up, and then someone destroyed the entire building. Also, if she had stayed on the sidelines, it’s a good chance there would have been at least one fatality, one either side
C) She was there because of point B)
D) You just figuring that out? o_O
A) And when that clearly wasn’t working she could have been directed to get leave the field entirely and be directed back to headquarters. Its nice that she helped but making a decision based on that is assuming psychic powers which I guess could happen in this comic. Like we find out later one of the civilian “consultants” for ARC is a fortune teller of sorts and advised Maxima to keep Sydney close for the first few days after meeting her. (Keep close the Lady of the Orbs. )
C) There is no point labeled B? (the Cake is a Lie??)
D) Its hard to tell sometimes as folk here are never more serious than when they’re joking!
At first I was feeling alike but if you think about it Syd and Archon have had their hands FULL.
Archon literally hanged the sign (also an idiom for “opening the store” around here :) ) three days ago, then big press conference, big press demonstration, big super battle (out of schedule), aftermath management, comic shop madness, Presidents meeting, Sys gearing up, Syd joining training, club affairs, construction affairs, Deus affairs, diverse meetings along the way, Arc-LIGTH dinner, The Veil damaged crisis and The Council meeting. In. Three. Days. (and I could be missing things).
However, they still managed to test Syd’s field on day one, Syd’s flight on day two, and Syd’s cargo on day three. Neither of which could ever have be done inside a lab. Just testing Syd fight make them to travel one thousand miles. Not to say that the field test was done in a hurry due Arianna wanting to have Syd at the demonstration, something Max actually called her out about.
They will need to do more comprensive and organized tests, granted, but all things considered I think it has been a pretty good job so far.
Even more they have at least four other recruits whose powers have to be tested as well.
And they are at it, since Varia said that they have her testing all persons in the building making a catalog of the powers. That looks like a very time-consuming test.
Another detail is that Jiggawatt was not aware of the dangers of her “dark-ning” and Dabbler, the tinkerer civilian consultant of Archon, didn’t even know about it. So yeah, Azarin is waiting on the test-to-be-done line too, like likely all the others are.
Archon is kinda juggling one handed there.
Testing in the field (away from civilians) with Maxima the strongest of them near to hand is fine. Never said they had to be in a lab and I actually mentioned the range which is outside. She just shouldn’t be near civilians, giving press conferences or going to potentially sensitive supernatural government meetings until they have made a reasonable attempt to check her out and give a wide range of stimuli etc… for safety and control.
Yes ARCHON maybe not being ready as a whole and other individuals not being ready to be out and about (Jiggawatt as a recruit not knowing the safety of a power she actually knew she had is really just adding to my point) is also bad but we are to assume the time table was pushed for some reason or another by the higher ups (+ Arianna)
They’ve pretty much admitted that Maxima could have taken on everybody in the brawl leading up to V by herself (and while she couldn’t know it the act of doing so quickly might have kept V from powering up very well or much at all depending on how quick she was) but was team building and letting them look better as a team for the press (or something like that). So she could have sent the recruits away safely. (as far as she knew)
Aaand I enjoyed the way the story went despite all that anyway. It was fun. But I was really hoping that things would get back to what makes sense now that we all had our fun and DaveB got to show us where this story can go in the future. (also for me, and I assume a lot of others, the testing would BE FUN. ) At least for a stretch anyway.
Oh, I wasn’t actually going against your point, just saying that they couldn’t do it much different of how they did, and that it wasn’t all about Syd only.
Wait, you are under the assumption that any of this makes sense? o_O
Ahhh, there in lies the rub (not a word Dabbles! or any other sort of gesture!!)
At least for a stretch anyway.
And, as has been exampled on this very page, how long into the Testing would it be before the repetitive (and annoying) cries of “This is boring!! When are we going to get some action? Or Sydney being Sydney? Or *insert something here* doing *insert something else here*?”?
LOL, montage a chunk of it then. At least prove to me that its getting done. The comic jumps ahead a few days and that’s cool anyway so it doesn’t feel like everything is happening one right after the next.
As much as I’d like to see a lot of it, seeing some of it and just knowing the rest happened is “good enough”.
In this matter, DaveB would be wise to remember the ancient wisdom passed on to us by the venerable philosopher John Fogerty: “you can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself”.
Zack Tilly!
Not to say people can’t make comments about what they like and don’t like (have done that personally as well), just don’t expect things to change simply to please the non-specific you
Vampires as hive creatures as in “The Strain” with a single leader and several lieutenants, the rest are this swarm. And the strange idea that if you kill the Swarm Leader, all the minions turn to ash of carbon.
Within the context of the Strain, the hive mind is something unique to the Master. The other Ancients actually don’t have it… which may explain why they’re not so keen on reproduction as he is. To them, it’s counter to their survival strategy.
AACCKK!!!… Spoilers! Spoilers… thou shalt not divulge Spoilerific material unto mine ears and eyes!!! :D :D
literally, last Monday my boss at work brought in a thumb drive with the entire season one on it and during our lunch breaks we’ve seen the first three episodes so far… I’m actually enjoying it so far, and I’ve passed it up in the video aisles in stores because I’m not really “into” horror, and that’s what it mostly seemed to be to me, but so far it seems pretty good, and more like “The X-Files meets CSI” rather than Freddy Kreuger type of horror… and it’s got enough other stuff going on that i went out and got the Dvd’s for myself… now to find the time to actually watch them in addition to my MANY others that are on the “to watch… someday… REAL SOON, as soon as i get the time to do so…” list.
P.S. I’m just joking, I’m actually OK with spoilers…
It’s not a huge spoiler… more like an interesting setting quirk.
Episode. 10: “Dryads give you wood.”
. . . I’m reminded of a scene from galaxy quest.
The wereoctopussy does elicit that comparison.
I think I’ve found the perfect song for the last panel.
If only that door was a Green Door :P
“That song is not available”. I am however able to access the music from Always Human now. I figured out how to get to it, without lowering my browser settings. Took a bit of work though, as I ended up having to go via the author’s information to get to it.
Really enjoying the comic. No salaciousness necessary. I am rationing myself to a few pages at a time, so that the archive trawl lasts longer.
*wags tail romantically*
I see that the were-octoupus has been aiding Britain since WWII!
So they’re just now kraken the case?
I just realized that I misread Ingsol’s first panel dialog.
The latin “vigilantis” is a genitive (possesive), the adjective is “vigilans”. Is like the well known “semper fidelis”, that translate as “allways faithful”. Both “fidelis” and “faithful” are adjectives.
BW, “semper” is more like “at every moment” than “never ending”, although both “feelings” are present.
The Latin expression should be “semper vigilans“, and the more precise translation would be “always vigilant”.
Examples I just found:
– USA Civil Air Patrol motto: https://capnhq.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/415/~/cap-vision,-mission-and-motto
– The flag of San Diego: https://www.visualphotos.com/photo/2×18798875/flag-of-san-diego-california-usa.jpg
My shotgun approach worked, loosely speaking.
*wags tail smugly*
I was even going to suggest that it would probably be a fancy archaic term, but decided to go with just the raw list. Albeit that I had something Greek in mind.
Weren’t those English words? “Vigilant” was already a winner, is what Dave is currently using, and is the right term.
That is why I said it worked. Although Dave is using the Latin version of it, it does, as you pointed out, initially translate to my prediction. Well, that pellet of it, anyhow. :-)
Not sure if anybody noted this yet but apparently the Ancient Greek word for “Apple” was the same as their word for “sheep”
And the epimeliads had white hair “like apple blossoms or undyed wool” according to Wikipedia
And they were guardians of the Golden Fleece (also wikipedia)
So now I’m trying to take every mention of an apple I can remember in Greek mythology and replace it with a sheep instead
And I’ve got golden sheep and trees that grow sheep and why limit ourselves to Greek mythology because the fruit Adam and Eve ate is commonly portrayed as
an applea sheep just TAKE A BITE OUT OF A SHEEP JUST DO IT…like Sydney, I am off my meds.
“And they were guardians of the Golden Fleece (also wikipedia)”
Don’t remember that. The Golden Fleece was guarded by a dragon, and while some variants said the fleece was put on an apple tree, I don’t recall that an Epimeliad was involved.
The only other thing I can think about is the tree of the golden apples. It was guarded by a dragon as well, and also by a group of Nymphs, but those were called Hesperides, and I do not think they were even Dryads.
Dude, I did not realise you were that old! Did you get to taste the apples? I bet they were Golden Delicious.
Jeez, no. They are trouble. The last time someone got one Troy was destroyed :(
Red Delicious is much better :p
They were not seeking the Red Fleece though.
Good, they can’t have it anyway!!
Smut taught me about Moh’s scale of mineral hardness
“You know, talc rock hard is not that impressive.”
DaveB, just wanted to say I got a chortle out of the Vampire having boxers with little hearts on them. Was this planned?
Butt, where did the boxer’s come from? His jeans are still up, unless she is just that damn good! (she would give Dabbles a run for her knickers… if she ever wore any ;) )
She is an octopus. Getting things into and out of confined spaces is a racial ability. Her super power just allows her to ignore topological limitations too.
Here is a test, to see how good you would be in Sydney’s shoes. Would you be able to spot the holdout attempt that this shoplifter made?
Someone would almost have to be… blind? not to see that.
{sarcasm} Oh, that’s not obvious at all. {/sarcasm}
Shoplifting is the reason one of our local department stores has gotten rid of its electronics (televisions, DVD players, etc) department entirely, and replaced that section with furniture.
Part of the problem is competition from other outlets like Best Buy and Wal-Mart. The other part of the problem is that they’re chronically understaffed, especially near closing time. In one case, two thieves just waited until the clerk had to take a restroom break, then walked right out the door with a 54-inch LCD television set.
At least it’s a lot harder to get a couch out the door than it is a television set.
Is the vampire, in panel 3, called “Edge, the Nightwalker”?
Panel 4? Unless of course you mean that the swordvamp in panel 4 IS Ingsol in his younger days before he accidentally ended up traveling back in time several centuries and had to live (unlive?) his way back to the present.
Live. They are called “undead because” they came out of a tomb like Lazarus. Was Jesus a vampire? Maybe. But vampires are alive even if hosts for the vampire organism that uses it. Vampires didn’t die from stakes or sunlight. That was added later. In stories and movies in more recent times.
There are many types of vampire. Some or more like werewolves or even ghouls (misnamed zombies) or all three. Some are sorcerers who can shape-shift. I would recommend Jonathan Mayberry.
His very informative book “Vampire Universe” can straighten out all the folderal accumulated over the past two centuries for the real low down on the blood sucking Host.
Yea, I should have referred to panel 4. I had a puppy fight on my lap at the time, so was a bit distracted.
As for the vampire theory, if you look at history the facts suggest an alternative explanation. And if you doubt it, he will be back.
If you think this cut a bit close to the knuckle, you are going in the wrong direction. Archaeology shows that crucifixions were carried out through the wrist, rather than the palm. Certainly not the knuckle!
Also, correct records state that he was crucified on a stake (further evidence he was an early wampire) and, at that time, the Romans used an ‘X’ not a ‘t’
That is certainly the Jehovah’s Witness orthodoxy. Not that I would bother trying to debunk it. I learnt, after the first half-dozen attempts, that my relevant debating partner had well-sourced all her claims. So it is easy for me to accept that, on faith. :-)
This… this show actually sounds kinda okay. Maybe. I mean, most TV is utter crap, so any creativity in this show would die before it hits the screen, but it’d be good fun for the first season.
Can I have dibs on playing the edgy vampire with a checkered past? When and where do auditions begin? (I’m actually really considering donating enough that some of these characters make a cameo later, and since nobody has seen loner vampire guy’s face yet then I totally have a shot at playing him!)
“most TV is utter crap”
True, but this show clearly isn’t going to be a Hallmark movie, true crime show, talk show, reality show, children’s show, or news channel “opinion” show. The only problem is that it’s yet another CSI/NCIS/Criminal Minds/Bones type of deal explicitly as pitched, and it’s pretty old. There have even been somewhat similar shows before, between X-Files, Warehouse 13, Lost Girl, Fringe, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Torchwood, and probably plenty others I’m forgetting. Even Being Human isn’t that far off from it.
The demand for complete originality is almost nigh impossible to meet. Practically anything one can think of will resemble something else already produced in at least some ways
Re your latter, you are probably best off contacting DaveB through the Patreon system (or twitter/ email). He is probably doing some finishing touches on the next comic about now (or, hopefully, sleeping), so may not pick up on this comment, at this time. Plus such conversations are usually best conducted behind closed doors, to avoid possibilities of spoilers, for the comic itself. Although I would love to see you in that role. :-)
Finally it is worth mentioning that I was seriously worried that my terse (and at times rude) replies and our sometimes heated debates might have risked alienating you. Which certainly would not be my intent. You make an interesting and passionate debating opponent. I am pleased that you are both the better man, in rising above it, and also in considering supporting the comic this way.
*swishes tail enthusiastically*
Since Sydney is so wired up at this point, I don’t think this is the last we have heard from her. My personal mental image is that after a few minutes of quiet Maxima hears sounds coming from the other side of the door. She opens it and sees Sydney dancing in the hallway while her phone is playing ‘Monster Mash’.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bobby_Pickett_-_Monster_Mash.ogg
Of course it won’t be the last, she is still the central focus of this Flashback (which a lot of people seem to forget)
A number of you have suggested that Sydney might now make a grab for her Truesight orb and send the holo-Halo into the meeting room, but why? She evidently hasn’t even thought of playing with her balls since she was introduced to this roomful of monsters. Maybe instead she would try to call Maxima on her cell phone?
Maxima might be making an impassioned and eloquent speech about how we all need to work together and just get along, she pauses to take a breath and then everyone hears a certain song start to play . . .
That’d try their patience a bit, and I’m not sure how testy Sydney wants to be. It’d take testicular fortitude to try, though. They might bounce her, or maybe jiggle her a little, just for playing with her balls. It’s not really a conscious thing for most people, though. Sometimes, your balls need a bit of adjusting to be comfortable, especially with how hers hang there. Hopefully it won’t taint the proceedings and lead to a conflict where people get hurt and they have to take her balls; we’ve all seen too many body bags and ball sacks, I’m sure.
Now that we have determined that Dryads exist, maybe someday we could see one run for the Grand Master of the Council. She could use the campaign slogan ‘Make America Groot Again’.
Something ___ something ___ something.
Dryads in Xena’s time were skeletal flying dealers of death who would repose in the grave yards waiting for prey to come to see their loved ones now departed. Their bones can kill Bacchus, a darker version of Pan who has as much connexion to wine as to blood. His followers are all female and all blood suckers and he is of a darker red approaching Merlot and black hair and fur.
Which is actually mostly true to the mythology… except the mythology didn’t call them Dryads. In the mythology, they were Maenads.
Further elaborating… In Greek mythology, Maenads were the wild madwomen who followed the god Bacchus/Dionysus, the god of (basically) sex, drugs, and rock and roll. He was a figure of ecstatic madness ad absolute loss of control, and women would come to him and become intoxicated with his presence. In this state, they became wild and dangerous, willing and able to literally rip a person apart with their bare hands, do horrific things to their own children, and experienced visions that could give insight into the future. Afterwards they would return to their normal lives like nothing happened, until Bacchus sent the call out again.
Then Xena got a hold of the mythology and re-purposed them to play on the ‘vampire’s daughters’ trope, presenting Bacchus as less ‘godly party dude’ than ‘dracula’…. but that was entirely for the show. Maenads in the root mythology had no associations with death aside from being dangerous. Rather, they were noted as being dangerous for being so intensely ALIVE that they would overwhelm the unwary or unwanted.
Interesting.
I was just thinking that if the veil can be used to shift perceptions of a persons true nature then it can also be used as a ‘universal’ translator to shift perception of a spoken language.
Very clever.
So what you are saying is that when humanity became organised enough to start construction of a space elevator, at Babylon, the Galactic Organisation Delegates became alarmed, at the prospect of the unruly humanity expanding into space. Thereby making the Veil, as a counter to that, in order to distort the common world language spoken, at that time, into many fragmented languages.
With all fellow workers talking in an undecipherable babble, the construction project failed, and humanity split up into various factions, which migrated to found separate countries.
Makes sense.
Not really. I think that was just an excuse used by the upper management who signed off on the work orders when in reality they only did it to get the engineers to stop talking. They didn’t really care how it all worked, and trying to understand gave them a headache, so they said ‘yes’ just to stop them babbling.
Yoda in a blonde wig is disturbingly sexy. (we’re probably the first people to know this since Skywalker came back early from a training quest one day… [When 900 years old you reach, look this hot you will not, hmm?])