Grrl Power #473 – Exiguous couture
Icon is a suit of sentient armor “cursed to wander the Earth, forever in search of a hero” Or something like that. It’s not literally a curse, he just outlives his “pilots,” or at least outlasts his partners’ useful adventuring career.
Though he (I say he for simplicity even though Icon is obviously genderless) can benefit from The Veil and walk about in the mortal world (as long as he stays away from MRI machines) he’s fairly content to just stand around like an empty suit of armor when nothing is going on. Having no biological processes or urges, he is largely indifferent to the passage of time. Obviously the days of walking around in full plate and taking on the world is long past, so lately he busies himself with affairs of The Council and advocates for the interest of other Sapient Animates. Although he does occasionally resume adventuring with the Semper Vigilantis when the case is suitable.
I’ll make another mention of Wearing the Cape: Team-Ups & Crossovers. Sydney’s first Crossover! (It’s just one section of the book, but this is a canon story for Sydney and co., set just in the future of the events of the comic. If you haven’t read the Wearing the Cape, <- there’s a link to the first book. It’s one of my favorites. (Along with Confessions of a D-List Supervillain, the Renegade-X series, Kid Sensation, and others.)
I’ve made a dedicated blog post for the book, so enjoy! :)
This page colored by Keith.
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.
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Yay!
Seriously though, a good take on that DnD trope of Inverse Armour – the skimpier the better (hot chicks only)
If she hadn’t made the change, Dabbler would have looked like a child wearing her parents oversized clothes. On her, less is always better. AKA she does look hot in her version of Icon armor.
But yeah, then there is the trope of a woman’s armor being so skimpy as to be impossibly useful, yet somehow always protect her better than her male counterpart in full armor.
I’m sure that Icon, still being all there even if not seen as such, really does protect Dabbler from head to cloven hoof.
rule of thumb: if the armor has to be magic, just to stay in place without exposing the more delicate parts, it probably has enough magic to protect the wearer
One of the early Forgotten Realms novels–Azure Bonds–featured the protagonist wearing a chain hauberk with a huge, cleavage-exposing gap in the front. It was deliberate subterfuge–the armor’s enchantment was focused in the gap, making it by far the best-protected area. Sort of like Batman having a strike plate behind the emblem on his chest. Give enemies an obvious target and harden that point.
And Alias kept that armour because she enjoyed the attention
That is, without a doubt, one of my all time favorite trope busting moments. When I read that part I literally cheered out loud.
Have you never seen the gear Conan used to end up wearing? Usually less than Sonja wore, and no-one called him out on it!!!!
…A lot of bar wenches called him out on it…
;)
He wasn’t fighting in those moments though
Depends on the bar wench. And remember the witch in the first Conan movie?
I do not. The only antagonist I recall is the high priest played by James Earl Jones. Which witch is that which you refer to?
I think he is talking about the one Conan kills by “pushing”.
The witch was in the first movie, Conan the Barbarian; James Earl Jones as the High Priest of Set was in the second movie, Conan the Destroyer. Apparently, you missed the first movie.
;)
Nuhu, James Earl Jones was indeed in The Barbarian.
I assume you are referring to the “witch” that Conan has sex with in a brief scene until she kind of transforms and he responds by rolling to the side and pushing her into the fireplace.
Second movie, The Destroyer, had the main villain being Taramis, and some sleeping God named Dagoth or something
A glamour overlaid on a full suit of armour is the the only in-world explanation for people appearing to wear a chainmail bikini that makes any sense – I’m just surprised I haven’t come across it before!
GURPS magic items, the Chainmail Bikini.
A full suit of chain mail enchanted to appear as said bikini, but providing all the protection of the full suit.
There is/was a teaser note at the end regarding legends of a true Chainmail Bikini.
You’re back! Yay!
GURPS Martial Arts, had the advantage Bullet Proof Nudity.
The less clothing you were wearing the higher your Passive Defense was.
Women with an appearance of good looking or better had a +1 modifier.
That’s very much in the realm of “Cinematic Rules,” so don’t bother trying it if you’re running in “Realistic Rules.”
;)
There is of course also the classic from Macho Women with Guns, named simply “Look good in armor”, which is an ability anyone may have … well, any player character, at least. ^_^
It essentially removes penalties from wearing armor.
My DM actually created a enchantment in D&D for that. It was “originally” intended to protect members of an assassin guild in places where armor would be too inconspicious (Bath houses and such). A Target managed to kill such an armored assassin, discovered the armor, reverse engineered the enchantment and began selling his own version.
I think you mean “conspicuous” there. The assassins are presumably trying to be inconspicuous.
I’d just woke up, sue me. =P
I can’t, for the life of me, find it anymore, but I remember reading a passage of a random dwarf drinking his woes away in a tavern, bemoaning his poor judgment in picking a fight with somebody whose armor was so skimpy as to be practically non-existent, forgetting that people that could afford such customizations (all in the name of vanity) could also afford the enchantments to make said armor impenetrable…
Unless you are literally a being whose main power massively utilizes APPEARANCE. Now who do we know who might be like that?
+1
She who is a mistress of boners.
Surprise Voltron!
Define “weird.”
Adjective UK /wɪəd/ US /wɪrd/
very strange and unusual, unexpected, or not natural
Weird is relative. I want to know what a animated suit of armor who just threw itself on to a succubus to protect her from murderous mannequins thinks is “weird.”
Having sex with her.
Being a succubus, Dabbler loves it when the guys are all over her.
:P
Not just guys.
I male being filled by a female. I am of course assuming the spirit that inhabits the armor was once a male corporeal being.
It may have manifested its own spirit, much as a mountain or a stream might, in various Eastern philosophies/religions.
I have a somewhat similar character who was originally male, before being transformed into shapeshifting armor, but I agree that there’s no reason to assume that Icon ever was. (And centuries of shapeshifting have somewhat eroded my character’s sense of gender identity, anyway.)
Apparently the spirit that empowers the comic-book heroine ‘Witchblade’ is both male and kinky: That’s why the transformation into her fighting form rips the heroine’s clothes and leaves her in skimpy ‘armour’…
Now you have me asking if the armor has a gender.
For a sentient suit of armor, this IS having sex with her. You can’t get much more intimate.
He is only on her.
Yeah, but she’s IN him.
They have that the wrong way round. I think they might need a talk about how the birds and the bees do it. With the aid of a stork and a cabbage patch, if I have it right.
You may think you’re joking but, given the entities we’ve seen in that room, there may be more truth in your “stork and cabbage patch” idea than you think
Plus, so early in their relationship, and she’s already dressing him. Dabbler moves fast.
given her needs.. I’d be shocked if she didn’t move fast
And as the old joke goes, “to defend her honor, he was on ‘er & off ‘er all night long…”
She offered her honor;
He honored her offer;
Then all night long
it was on her and off her.
Ugh, I know I am just resurrecting a perv zombie that should just stay in its grave, but as one who can sympathize with a piece of armor, I must defend its integrity. It is asexual, lacking all the biology necessary for such (hence the moniker, CONSTRUCT) but as a suite of armor, it does have a need to be worn, to protect, and be wielded in battle. I would equate it with a human’s need to socialize. People need to talk, it needs to be worn. It probably has gone some time without a partner for much the same reason why people don’t like talking with jerkasses.
There is no greater calling than fulfilling one’s avocation.
Which is redundant – I know.
If your hobby is being redundant that is not really a great calling. But it is a relaxing way of life, if you can still put bread on the table.
But, yea, it is a true statement. Which I am more familiar with in the form:
It is a happy person who can make a living at their hobby.
I’m loving how one of the genders on her coat of arms is a question mark.
Would you know what the bottom left one is, the one with the dot? I have never seen that one before.
At a guess I’d say male, female, neuter (dot) and gender-fluid (?, Thanks EGS!).
The big pink symbol (that the others link with) is female. Top right (blue arrow) is male. Going clockwise, the next one (combination male and female symbols) is intersex or transexual. Then (dot) I agree gender-neutral or neuter. Finally (question mark) other.
All being my guesses, based on gender identity. Not to be confused with sexual orientation. The lack of such on Dabbler’s coat of arms is probably indicative of her lack of any preference, in that regard.
The author missed out on the opportunity to include the Prince ‘symbol-name,’ which was a mixture of the male and female symbols.
Perhaps all the others are ‘real,’ (I freely admit to being clueless apart from the male and female symbols) but still I’d have gone with it.
In the resource book, GURPS Aliens, there’s the Pachikki: an entire race of beings that can switch genders according to complex environmental signals. True Transgenders.
You mean gobies, moray eels, wrasses and clownfish (just to name a few species) are actually GURPS aliens?
Hmm. That sounds a little ‘fishy’ to me.
But just how do you tell the difference?
You want complex gender systems? Ursula K. LeGuin’s [i]Left Hand of Darkness[/i].
I had forgotten about that one. I was going to mention Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover books.
Intersex, possibly?
Interesting that Icon’s… icon (heraldry/whatever) changes to match the wearer. Guess we can also include ferrosexual in Dabbler’s list of tastes…
Ferrosexual, that’s a good one :-)
+1
It takes a Man of Steel to keep up with Dabbler, doesn’t it?
:D
Man… or woman, of steel.
Or, you know, whatever of steel.
In this case, hardened stainless.
It’s Dabbler, we’re talking about…. if it’s male, it will definately be “hardened”. <.<
I love how Icon’s sigil changed to one befitting a Succubus. Unless that’s actually Dabbler’s sigil? She is an adventurer. Wouldn’t be that outlandish to have a sigil.
Well, the sigil on Dabbler’s choker collar is ‘XXXX’ as befitting someone who’s just a bit beyond XXX.
:)
I meant the coat of arms.
Dabbler is not wearing a coat, her arms are bare.
But a coat of “arms” would be so useful.
Think of all the stuff that it would allow you to carry.
Only if the hands were still attached (and functioning).
Well she has two more arms than normal so any coat she wears is a coat of (many) Arms.
…which could work quite well with a Robe of Many Items.
They would get in each other’s way.
Oh I think it would be ‘armless.
… What’s with the coat of arms changing and such? That’s a pretty strange change over. O.o
Obviously a suit of armour would bear the coat of arms of it’s wearer.
To be fair it’s usually the SHIELD that bears the crest, not the breastplate.
Or the belt buckle.
Actually, they would. Although the shield was, of course, the primary place you would expect to see the crest. However it would also appear on banners, pennants and every bit of kit they could afford to have it depicted on.
Okay, I now need to add Belt Buckle to the Jewelry section of magic Items in my game – those are seriously cool.
The armour’s name is “Icon”. We can deduce that the property you describe is reflected by his name. It is his signature magical power, that makes him at least one step better than your average animate armour. Aside from being intelligent, of course.
Lowers sunglasses “…. when the case is suit-able” yeeeeeeeahhh!
That was the tamest magical girl sequence I’ve ever seen. :P
Maybe the ‘full’ transformation can be made as an Invotive, or at least show up on Deviant Arts
Yeah, probably because Dabbler isn’t a teen. She’s too old for most magical girl mangakas.
Agreed. And they are in the middle of a deadly fight!
Speech might be a free action. But spend a minute doing a magic-girl sequence and you will find that time does not stop. So you will end up with many punctures, though your internal organs, whilst slowly twirling round.
Nah, Icon’s initial ‘suiting up’ would have taken longer
Oh wait, panels two and three is what people are talking about, not panel five?
The whole lot is the transformation sequence.
But it’s two separate events
It is many separate events, with one particularly long pause. Such is not unprecedented in manga transformations. Be it for dialogue (as above) or some ancillary scene (such as seeing the reactions of others to the ongoing transformation). However the magic-girl transformation was not complete, until the second-to-last panel.
She did a Dragon Ball power up. She went from Succubi to Super-Succubi. (Without all the clenching and yelling. Those actions are more suited to OTHER succubus activities.)
That’s one thing I never understood: if speech is a free action, why not recite the Gettysburg Address while, for example, your cleric heals your party or you cross that chasm that separates you from the enemy?
Because all other action stops. Otherwise you could not make your dying last words, you would simply die.
The trope is also useful for heroic (or villainous) soliloquies, and for the DM to throw some exposition into the game for the players consumption. I was in a D&D game once where the DM attempted to do so, but didn’t have a very firm control over the players, so as his villain attempted to provide some needed exposition one of the players just killed him. It was anti-climactic and lame.
A few years back, someone at Project A-Kon made a video of every unique transformation scene from Sailor Moon involving all the heroes (None of the villains of the week).
I gave up at 35 minutes…
I expect that Dabbler’s magical girl transformations would more closely resemble these. (NSFW, but fairly tame)
Ayup. In the mid-parts, anyhow. :-)
Devilhunter Yohko? Nah, for her, I’m thinking more akin to Cutey Honey’s “Honey Flash”, if only for the sake of her getting to say she’ll “flash” people…
Oh, wow. Haven’t heard of that anime in ages. A tape of it was my first introduction to anime.
I am thinking it looks more like a Transformers sequence.
Autobots, transform and roll out!
… aaaannnnnd another person who does not understand the concept of PLATE ARMOR… though I suppose if its just a glamor, then the armor is still there, just… technically invisible?
Style beats stats. Always.
Or, in a more recent variation:
“Fashion Souls for life!”
Exactly, it’s still plate armor but cloaked in the illusion of fantasy bikini armor.
Which, when you think about it, might make it more efficient than normal plate armor. Can’t aim for the weak points if you can’t see them. And you keep all the distraction power of a succubus!
Unfortunately succubie distraction abilities do not function very well, if at all against animatons.
Although they might work exceptionally well against Animaniacs.
HellllooooooOOOoooo Nurse!
I bet Dabbler would even get Dot in on that.
… aaaannnnnd another person who didn’t bother to read before opening their big fingers
ewww
To be fair, Dabbler loves expressive fingers…
Anyone else think she looks sorta like “Sidney cosplaying Dabbler cosplaying a knight” before she applies the glamour?
Heh. I had not, but now you mention it, I can see your point and it is well made.
He he he. Love it. So that is how the chainmail bikini and suchlike actually provide protection… and distraction.
Alias (the protagonist in the “Azure Bonds” series) has a magical chainmail armour “split open at the middle, baring the flesh between her breasts and offering any sword an easy target” yet enchanted to protect her better than solid steel would have done. (believe it gave the equivalent of +2 armour protection)
Similar idea with the bright yellow logo on Batman’s chest – it’s the most heavily armored spot on his body, because that’s where everybody shoots.
Meh, would personally aim for the chin
Foot first. Those boots are (Usually) obviously NOT armored. Even if they were Kevlar the bullet’s impact would break the bones.
Yeah, the join between the foot and the leg would be secondary target (if you are lucky, you could blow the entire foot off)
Was mainly thinking it’s very hard to stand/run/jump/kick with shattered metatarsals
Another point of distraction I’ve noticed is that Dabbler doesn’t appear to be wearing anything under that semi-translucent breech-cloth…
O.o
Yea, I was wondering when that would be commented upon. :-D
So are you saying Dabbler is a “commando”?
There’s probably very little Dabbler can do by way of distraction to a bloody faced automaton.
True, but we saw that the cross-visor helmeted guy does not have the same internal structure, as the others. Plus they may be being observed by other foes, who have yet to reveal themselves.
If they are organic, Dabbler will be able to detect them.
Only if they are capable of being aroused.
True. But if Dabbler pushes her dial to 20, I am sure even an amoeba would be aroused. :-D
That sounds like it should be an actual Class of Automata.
“Bloody-faced Automaton: Imbued with life through a handprint of blood on the face, these beings, no matter their size or material, are dedicated to combat and bloodshed”
Where the imbuement process, rather than being the scribing of runes or insertion of a special scroll into the mouth, is to ritually handprint specially prepared blood onto the face- as the name.
There have been a lot of folks arguing just that. They may be right. Possibly in the world with no shrimp.
I’ve not seen it before either. Neutral/Genderless, perhaps. Or some alien third gender (not every sapient species has two!).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_symbol lists the ⚥ symbol for hermaphrodites, but no circle-with-a-dot symbol.
Considering her alien nature, it’s possible she invented her own.
Nice how the arm plates are distributed amoung her four arms.
I like how Icon adapted his two-armed armour for Dabbler’s four-armed anatomy. He could not magically create extra parts, but he did what he could with the existing ones.
My comic sense is tingling!
But that floating face could easily be mistaken for a familiar to the untrained eye.
Is the face the sentinent piece of armour, and psycicly
Fairly sure that is just for our ease, if you look closely, the faceplate is on Dabbles’ head, think of it as she had had to leave the visor raised as her head-horns would have gotten in the way
Yes, I can see that Icon’s floating “face” even has eyebrows that show expressions. Look closely enough & you can see how they change along with his vocal expressions.
;)
My only qualm is that more than half the time, when I look at his ‘face’ I just see a big nose. So his ‘expressions’, at those times, are just his nostrils flaring! The rest of the time I see it as intended though, and agree that it is a nice feature.
That’s so Dabbles! :D
If Icon is still interested in getting out into the world and doing a little knight work, someone should see if he’s interested in partnering up with Heatwave. She’s got a great weapons package but very little for defenses; eventually, bad guys are just gonna start using her for skeet practice.
Of course, the fact that the “empty head” jokes just write themselves is a bonus.
Good suggestion. Heatwave’s heat aura does not seem to harm normal clothing, nor her kevlar+ armour. So Icon should be safe too.
The added bonus is that anything which is heat-immune would still have to face his sword.
Iirc Heatwave’s heat aura can protect her when she pushes it. And I’m not sure Icon could stand her heat, even with magical protection. Wearing armor might also hamper her flight. But it’s worth a try.
The flight issue would be a serious concern, granted, as Heatwave is a very poor flyer (by super hero standards).
Depending on how it works, it might not keep her safe. Sure she’s immune to heat dependant weapons (lasers, ect.) and grappling her would be painful, but getting hit by a blob of molten copper and lead at 2600fps rather than an actual bullet is still gonna hurt. Plus, consider that even a reasonably powerful brick could probably huck a cinder block at mach 1+ without much effort. Kevlar isn’t going to stop that.
Or, you know, she might take a knife to the toe.
I wonder if Heatwave’s flight power might allow her to wear heavier body armour anyway than the standard issue Kevlar 2.0? However, in addition to protection, he could also help with Heatwave’s tactical judgement. Also, if he was recruited, he could sometimes swap out to help the following squishier members:
– Varia
– Ren
– One of Harem’s doubles, if he counts as equipment for portalling (though obviously he’d take up a lot of the weight allowance)
– Any of the badass norms
– Anybody injured
– Any support personel they may need to bring on a dangerous mission for specialised skills (e.g. Noah)
That assumes Icon is as heavy as he looks, which would depend on the metal(s) used in his construction and any enchantments placed on him
This is off topic, but mentioning Varia brought up a question. Her scenes precede the introduction of the Council. We need to find out if her power-up ability would work with weres to give her animal abilities or if used with magical creatures it would change her powers from super to super-natural.
Good points. From what we learn’t of Varia, her powers work with anyone, whether they have powers, or not (barring Maxima, for reasons we can infer easily). As such I think they will work, for most supernaturals. Although maybe not animate beings or some other special ones like incorporeal entities, as Varia cannot touch the latter.
But what gestalt would form is indeed the question. We know that at least two (Harem’s & Halo’s) are linked to their super powers, so your theories may well pan out.
Her ‘gehstahlt powahs’ don’t work like that: they don’t always give an indicator of what the ‘host’s’ powers are, believe when she touched Jiggie she turned into Colossus (or Captain Steel from “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”)
You are right for the majority of cases. However Variah can piggy-back on Harem’s teleport. So that is one example of the gestalt making use of an existing power, rather than creating a wholly new one. Likewise the same is likely to happen with Halo’s orbs, given the clues we saw.
Given that we have no known examples of supernatural creatures, of any sort, forming a gestalt with Varia we cannot say for sure what will happen. Possibly the result will be the same as with the majority of other examples, i.e. a new power, of a seemingly random sort, will become available.
Or maybe none will yield any results, unless the faction member is human or similar to human. This logic being because the only examples we have seen of successful gestalts have been with humans.
But it is not unreasonable that the piggy backing demonstrated with Harem and Halo would also apply to various of the supernatural factions. Perhaps all lycanthropes would yield a gestalt that allowed Varia to become a rare relative were-species? Maybe even an extinct one? Such a theme would be interesting, and therefore have story merit. Yet without breaking any existing canon.
She did mention however that Maxima was the only one she couldn’t form a gestalt with, which would suggest she succeeded in forming one with Dabbler even if off screen.
True, well considered. So ‘no result’ is off the cards for succubi. But we do not know the nature of their gestalt, therefore the other options are still possible.
Of course, Icon could always take up a part-time job as a security guard on the knight shift…
… at an armoury, with no fear of the witching hour.
“Don’t make this wierd”.
Oh Icon. Back during the dinner Max said “[Dabbler] finds stairs arrousing.” That was not hyperbole.
And Armor > Stairs. And even better if they are Sentient (so they produce tantric energy).
Interesting “Crest” by the way. I asume it adapt to the wearer. That one propably means:
“Xuriel is Female. And she does just about anything that is sentient.”
I do wonder if Icon would produce tantric energy. There’s no biological processes, and arousal is a biological thing. I think.
Yea, I doubt he would. Not unless she can arouse him intellectually, as he does lack the biological and, presumably, emotional drives. Although it may be possible to have the emotions and get some degree of stimulation. We would have to quiz neuters on that matter.
“An empty suit of armor yearns to be filled” brings up the question of just how much enjoyment he gets out of being filled, exactly.
I’d wager quite a bit.
That’s a very interesting coat-of-arms design. I recognize the male and female gender symbols, but what do those other symbols mean?
Speaking of gender symbols, Does Icon have a masculine or feminine personality or is it neither one?
If he is a magical suit of armour used by knights, it’s possible that his personality is also build around knights. In that case, it’d be masculine.
Knot all knights were male
The vast majority was.
“Vast majority” still doesn’t mean “all”
Your point?
Joan de Arc.
St. Joan was almost certainly not a knight–that would’ve required an extensive amount of training. She was more of a standard-bearer and strategist/tactician, and most likely didn’t actually fight in (most) battles.
You underplay Joan’s role. Once she had won their confidence, Joan led whole armies (as in stood at the front and said “follow me”, in addition to actually dictating the strategies to be used) and had many knights under her command. When Joan d’Arc won the siege at Orleans:
When she lead the army along the Loire towards Reims:
After a series of victories, led by her:
To say that ‘she did not actually fight’ is misleading, despite your other comments being fair. Joan d’Arc led from the front, despite her lack of martial training. Holding that banner made Joan the prime target, and her life was constantly at risk! Having her there, right amongst the troops, was what made the French fight like an army with God on their side!
Joan’s conduct was befitting of that of a knight, in every engagement. Resulting in Joan being ennobled:
The lowest title she would have been bestowed, by the king, is that of baron. Which is actually higher ranked than a mere knight!
Yes, she was at the front, I don’t argue that.
“Knight,” however, had a pretty specific meaning. A knight was a heavy cavalryman, a highly trained soldier. St. Joan was not.
My understanding is that Joan never took up a lance or mace. She may have carried a sword, but probably never fought with it (swords take years of training to master). She carried the standard at the head of her armies and gave them commands and direction, but she was probably not stabbing people with pointy objects from the back of a horse.
That wasn’t mean her role wasn’t important. The fact that we’re talking about her almost 600 years later is enough evidence of that. But her role was different from the knights she commanded.
She may, however, have had a titular knighthood due to her family’s ennoblement. I’m not sure how that worked in France.
Of course, I’m not a historian, and my information could be wrong. But that’s my current understanding based on the infoirmation I have.
Don’t forget how things worked in feudal Europe. There was a strict hierarchy, with peasants at the bottom, knights and lesser nobility in the middle (the ‘lords of the manor’ and the like) then the higher nobility (barons and above) and royalty at the top. With the final caveat being that God was above all.
For knights to accept her leadership, despite being the lowest-of-the-low (a peasant and a girl at that) Joan d’Arc was being accepted as being, at a minimum, a de facto knight commander in status. I.e. the equivalent of the top-tier of a knightly order. In her case clearly ‘divinely ordained’, given that a peasant girl ‘clearly could not win victory leading a battle, without divine intervention’.
The world-view of the era was that authority to be a knight is because it is ‘ordained by God’. Kings ruled ‘by divine right’ and they (or other higher nobility) appointed the knights to serve under them. The French army were acknowledging Joan d’Arc as being greater than a mere knight because she was directly appointed, by God!
Training as a knight was totally irrelevant in such circumstances. And that sword you mentioned is a vital symbol of the knight. A mere peasant would not be allowed to bear it in battle. It matters not whether she needed to use it in anger. Being allowed to draw it, in battle was a clear sign that they acknowledged her rights, as a knight.
Finally it clearly was not an honorary position, where she was a mere figurehead to rally around. When she said ‘we attack now’ they attacked, and promptly, at that! The dynamism of her leadership was what carried them to victory, time and time again.
Thought that was already established, Icon could have been modelled after Joan, or any number of female knights
Joan de Arc being a particularly good example, from both of you, given that she was accused of cross-dressing at her trial. So, if making armour inspired by her, there would be no incentive to make it look ‘all girly’.
Her own armour would have originally been designed for men and just adapted for her to use. Hence having a basically male-looking armour, but with a female personality, would be highly appropriate, as an homage to Joan de Arc.
Actually plate armour wasn’t that different between male and female. At best there was some extra room on the front. But it would still be rounded.
But what you see Icon looking in panel 4, before the remodel, that’s how it would have looked for both male and female armour.
Boob points are just a weakspot. And if you were to fall on them, they’d drive the lower point (in the middle) into your sternum and potentially kill you that way.
Looking at later depictions of Joan, she is shown in full armour. But if you look at a contemporary sketch of her, made in her presence, you can see she was (at that moment) only wearing chainmail.
Although, to my (non-expert) eyes it does look like they have given her a dress-like extension. Hence my comment about adapting it, to look more feminine. Albeit also making it wholly impractical to put rigid leggings over the top. Mind you, given that Joan had recently been injured, in the leg, that extension might have been a wholly practical modification, to improve protection on that vulnerable spot.
Given the rest of her outfit is clearly including battle trappings (her banner and sword), this may actually be what she fought in too. Although the sketch was done on the protocol of the parliament of Paris, so that assumption could well be flawed.
However as she was a peasant-girl, untrained in martial arts, it would make sense that she could not handle the heavy armour of the day. Which takes training to move effectively in, and practice, to build up the muscles.
Since he’s immortal, he probably lived through ALL the middle ages, and had lots of wearers. Most of those are going to have been male.
True. Further the thread is interesting in its own right. However it is moot, given the canonical:
Dave’s blog indicates that he is genderless. The male pronoun is for convenience only.
Technically genderless. It’s still possible that his personality is more comparable with a specific gender than the other.
Or, if you want to get naughty …. it “yearns to be filled” …. do that sound “male” to you? ^_^
(Yes, I am deliberately teasing, joking with gender expectations, but I do it for a reason … )
Depends on the male I suppose. I know guys of various orientations that enjoy being “filled,” so to speak.
So, you are saying that Icon is a gay suit of armour? o_O
That was not implied in the comment. To the contrary, it stipulated “guys of various orientations”. The “filling” need not be made by a male, nor with anything phallic, for that matter. Although practical matters do limit the variability of alternatives. Pineapples are not advised, for example.
The way to a Man’s heart is through his stomach
Dabbler’s Armour Glamour of Amour
(I just like naming spells. *shrugs*)
That’s a very effective magical reshaping of the armour, to fit a torso with 4 arms.
When we see the backplate in panel 2, it’s still only shaped for 2 arms.
Maybe not. Plate armor are iintended to be worn with several other layer of armor underneath, and Icon was probably intended for someone with arms thickers than Dabbler’s.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a magical armour that can adopt a wearer has the ability to magically fit perfectly.
That is the usual convention (in D&D and other games). Plus the shifting coat-of-arms would strongly support such an assumption.
Yeah it’s how a dwarf can strip the armor off an armored Giant and wear it.
Or a giant wear dorfic armour, after prying the dorf out of his shell
I always figured they just hammered it on a rock to make a codpiece =P
(Yes I mean the “dumb” one like Hill Giants.)
Is anybody else finding that their ‘unread comments marker’ is not actually flagging up any comments as unread at the moment?
Mine is just perpetually saying “No unread comments on this page.”
Ahh, in case anybody else was having the same problem, with the plug-in, hitting the “Mark Comments Read” button fixed it. Although this is not usually necessary.
I really hope we end up seeing her in this armour more often. :D
Wanna bet he’s going to be sporting a codpiece by the time she takes him off?
It wouldn’t do any good…He may indeed have a codpiece even now, but Dabbler’s glamour wouldn’t allow it to be seen anyway.
Maxima pops in frm the side of the panel and says: “Enough with the fashion show,we have living dummies to stop!”
‘Dejah Thoris chic’. I am s-o-o-o in favour of that style.
“Sets up a Barsoomian clothing store.”
For a suit of sentient armour, Icon sure can move fast when he want’s to
Subtract the 200lb ape from the inside and full plate is surprisingly light. The lighter varieties were only about 60lbs while the heaviest would be slightly over 100lbs.
Also, most humans during that period were way smaller than ‘modern’ man (have personally been in an old castle, and it was freaking small)
:-O That is especially convincing, coming from a hobbit!
Yeah, that was kind of a shock to me as well as to how light plate armor (including plate-and-mail) was. I had an opportunity to wear a suit of plate armor (everything but the sollerets) many years ago, and it was surprisingly light once correctly adjusted, if somewhat difficult to move around in (I imagine practice makes a huge difference).
Granted, it wasn’t period-accurate – the steel was, according to the armorer, a little on the thin side (thicker than roofing metal, thinner than a brass doorplate). Nevertheless, for not being made for me personally, it was pretty interesting – and more than enough experience to make me never want to do it again.
No one has yet to comment on just how cute Dabbles is in all panels on this page?
No one has commented that the sky is blue, and fire burns, either.
DaveB certainly has been knocking it out of the proverbial park with Dabbler recently, hasn’t he?
I agree she is awesomely portrayed.
I think thats a really, really cool power Icon got there, and it does leave me wondering just how stronger this fusion (for lack of better words) leave Dabbler?
I mean, im certain we can all agree on that Icon being magical, is more durable than regular steel? But how much more?
And he can move around on his own, would this not mean he can add his strenght to the blows of his wielder?
Well normal armour would not earn any stars on the super hero defence rating. Given that Icon decided he had to intervene, to protect Dabbler, I think we can take that as confirmation that her shield was penetrated on the last page (despite my initial assumption that it had not). Plus Icon’s armour was sufficient to protect her against the same attack.
Working on the above assumption, then we can take it that his armour is better than two star protection. So his durability is probably two or three orders of magnitude greater than steel. Given that each star represents a capability that cannot be countered by an opposing force one star below that in power.
She’s also now Dual Weilding her sword, and Icon’s LONGER greatsword. Probably ups her strength rating by one, maybe two.
Just remember, Dabbles has two arms on each side, so she could be holding Icon’s ‘sword’ with two hands
And Dabbler’s Soul-Reaver in it’s “complete” form is a greatsword as well.
Leave it to Dabbler to FIND a way to screw (with) a sentient suit of armor……..
I love his reaction, “What did you do to me! :-D
You know Syd saw that and is terribly interested in the mechanics of things now and what else and all this weird plotting that she’ll forget about 3 seconds later. But someday will remember in a moment of emergency where they need to wrap a glamor around a surprise airship
Well also when it was full plate mail she was really cute looking.
Looking impressed and giving standing ovation*
Icon? Dabbler? AWESOME WORK!!
I’m assuming that Archon will be thanking him with a big tub of metal polish and by buffing out that scratch on his back. In the meantime, since Sydney is presumably too busy with whatever she’s doing to offer one, let me present your gold star! Boop!
Hmm, would their fused-status name be DabCon? Or IDabble? We already know she dabbles, but actually doubly announcing it in her name would be redundant, wouldn’t it?
I-able or eye-able, in full.
Or, InAbler
Thinking back to what I remember reading in the stories with John Carter and Deja Thoris, that glamoured armor would be about right. XD Dabbler probably got a kick out of reading those stories.
Thinking back to what I remember reading in the stories with John Carter and Deja Thoris, that glamoured armor would be about right. XD Dabbler probably got a kick out of reading those stories.
Knew that Dabbles shield wasn’t able to withstand the SWATbotaton’s thrust
But it didn’t go through.
How did you know it didn’t? She may have dropped it as soon as the Transformer, um, transformation sequence began.
Because if it had held, Icon wouldn’t have needed to step in and protect her?
But did he know she had a shield? Or did he start to react as soon as he saw the attack.
So, I’m guessing that Icon’s faceplate isn’t really floating along beside Dabbler since it looks like it might be up on top of her head now. Presumably that’s just there so we the fans will know who she’s talking too, right?
In any case, it’s interesting that this metal face plate can show emotions. Notice how it changed when Dabbler turned on her glamour and seemingly transformed him into a chainmail bikini! The eyes got almost as big as mine!
Icon is magical, so I am just taking it as seen. I.e. hovering in mid-air, next to her.
Yup, mentioned about how the ‘floating’ faceplate would be for our benefit in a reply somewhere above
No, the “face” that we see is actually on the top of her head, but the angle is so shear that you can’t really make out the expression of the armours face. So DaveB added in the image to help us angle challenged readers out ^_^
Though, I really don’t mind an angled top down view in front of Dabbler ;-p
It’s more so Icon’s speech bubble doesn’t point at Dabbler’s head, which would give you the impression she was talking. This just makes it obvious who’s actually speaking.
Good points y’all. Duly conceded.
In the spirit of keeping you abreast of the end result for relationships with inanimate objects:
Have your hankies handy.
Well, if anyone actually needed any proof, we now know for sure that Dabbler doesn’t really mind guys who are grabby.
Food for thought… Xuriel extended her glamour into Sydney’s subconscious fantasies… is she doing the same with someone here to base the glamor on?
To clarify, her normal ‘walking around’ public persona glamour is based on what she got when she read Sydney’s surface thoughts in their first meeting.
Dabbler did base the green alien girl on General Faulk’s fantasies. However I did not personally interpret Dabbler’s all-purpose human illusion as having been drawn from Sydney’s subconsciousness. Rather I take it as having been one that Dabbler would have carefully crafted to meet ‘average’ expectations of a really hot girl.
The logic behind this being that Dabbler was not attempting to seduce Sydney. In fact she is specifically prohibited from liaising with any team members. And we have seen her avert Sydney’s gaze, when she was captivated by Dabbler’s hypnoboobs. However Dabbler does want to hump everyone else, so would want it to have as broad appeal as possible.
For the same reason I think Dabbler would be doing the same here. Perhaps drawing on her own memories of what humans and other races find desirable in armour. Or, as you imply, she could be drawing on the entire room (or whichever one(s) are paying attention to her at the moment).
Icon being one that we can exempt I think, given both his surprise and finding it weird. Not to mention being genderless and likely asexual.
Not Sydney’s fantasies, but she did use Sydney’s mind (for lack of better word :P) to produce her disguise prior to the Press Conference
But agree that she is using her own memories or ideas on what would appeal to others
No, she can control her own illusions, she only used Sydney (and General Faulke earlier) to help with public appearances
Well, for the first moment, I read her reply in the second(-ish) panel as “I’m a succubus icon.” Which, I guess she kinda is?