Grrl Power #490 – Team Lilliput
Dabbler is setting up her hotbar if you couldn’t tell. Her life is like one of those games where you wind up with waaaay too much inventory and you have to keep going back to your stash to swap your “Carpet Bomb” rocket launcher for the Lightning Orb wand with 15% chance to stun, cause the launcher is great against mobs, but you need something that’s going to slow down the elites. Such a hassle.
So The Council has a bunch of priorities all of a sudden. Protect the remaining Sigils being number one, but once they’re secured, figure out who’s attacking them and put a stop to it. Archon is there and willing to help, given the ramifications of what would happen if the Veil fell. Maxima is just having some understandable and reasonable separation anxiety. But Ingsol is right, bunching up your big hitters is tactically not the best strategy, especially since time seems to be a factor. Obviously however Max feels that Pixel can look after Sydney.
Archon’s chain of command is probably pretty odd, given that it is like a little slice of the SEALs, the FBI and probably the NSA, CIA, DARPA, and the BPRD all bundled together into a single agency. Under normal circumstances, each branch has its own discrete hierarchy, but agents get shared around all the time. Dabbler consults with Arc-LIGHT when she’s not tinkering with the Arc-SPARQ guys. Of course the SPARQs appreciate anyone with super strength helping them carry around engine blocks, or even whole vehicles.
Zephan, who is the head of Arc-LIGHT is there at the Council meeting, I just haven’t drawn him since basically the first page. Presumably he’s in the back consulting with Gault or rallying other LIGHTs, and gave his blessing seconding Pixel to Maxima for now.
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couple of questions.
1. which of dabblers arms is cybernetic?
2. When are we getting a new vote incentive?
3. why is maxima sparkling? (it shouldnt be that bright in there)
1.) Her lower left arm is the cyber one.
3.)Due to Dabbler’s cleaning spell.
3)
My sympathies for Maxima are pretty limited in this case. She was surrounded by magic users and had a reality hacker on hand … yet chose, willingly and as a first resort, Dabbler as her go-to for the request.
Nope. No sympathy whatsoever.
On a sort-of critical note, Dave, you did miss at least two opportunities here. Panel #4, there should be the word “*twitch*” very small & subtle near the corner of Max’s mouth. And the following panel #5 could have used one well-placed sparkle on Max’s fingernail polish … strategically located so as to be easily mistaken for vorpal fingernails of evisceration by even the perpetrator of a full manicure.
Just a style note. ;-) No offense intended.
No, the other magic users (and Krona) are “people we liaise with” to Maxima, not “people I would trust to cast a magic spell directly at me” (look at how fast Dabbler was to check out Sydney’s headband, and apply that to the magic users and Krona).
I think Dabbler has earned “irritating but mostly trustworthy ally” status with Maxima.
Zephan may have been a consideration, but (1) I don’t think he’s as likely to have a “clean me up” spell (clean up the evidence, perhaps?), and (2) I don’t read Maxima’s character as completely comfortable asking a man to cast a “clean me up” spell on her.
Dabbler was Maxima’s only real choice, apart from staying dirty or taking time off to clean up.
Yeah, not entirely sure I’d trust a reality hacker to give me a bath, either. Esp one with Krona’s pervy tendencies. She might decide to ‘edit’ how and where Max’s shirt was torn.
She’s not pervy, just imaginative….
Well… That might just be spank worthy…
I guess it all depends on just how hard a spank she would enjoy. All in all I bet pranking Dabbler would be safer and more likely to bring the desired punishment, including kinky twists she didn’t even think possible.
Now we don’t know more about Kona than that she can enjoy a good spanking. We have not, unless I forget something, learned about her sexual orientation. She could be 100% cis, lesbian or anything in between or sideways. So it’s possible that neither Max nor Xuriel (Gasp!) floats her boat.
Or was that Pixel?
Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it.
Pixel likes being spanked. Krona likes giving wedgies to blonde Nordic lady vampires who carry swords. Just in case.
Both a little kinky, but one is a rather rare link.
s/link/kink/
Need an edit option.
“She’ll mess with me, but she won’t *mess* with me.”
I still think there might be something between the two. Maxima’s gonna hook up with Dabbler at some point, even if it’s just a one-night stand, for some reason. She won’t regret it, but she won’t repeat it, either. Maybe for a tactical reason, maybe a tactical reason that could’ve been handled a different way.
But I think the possibility is there. And I think part of it is that Dabbler’s unabashed, unfettered attraction is something that Maxima rarely ever gets, and has little experience with since the transformation happened in her teens.
Wait, what? Maxima was transformed in her teens into a paragon of female beauty, topped off with the exotic attraction of her golden skin. There’s literally almost zero chance that she hasn’t had plenty of, or even far more than enough, “unabashed, unfettered attraction” directed her way since that time. From both men and women.
And she chose a military career, chock full of men who are also largely at the peak of human fitness and who are not typically shy about expressing their desires.
She loses control of her powers when startled. Imagine what might happen during orgasm.
To be fair she seems to consider any sort of male affectionate attention as hostile. So she hasn’t really received any if she rebuffs it constantly. I don’t see her hooking up with Dabbler, but if I was going to ship her with anyone it would be Dabbler simply because Dabbler’s views on sexual confidence and self-empowerment, as well as equal strength among the sexes, would do Max’s narrow viewpoint a world of good.
Also they’d be a cute romcom act.
I believe the vernacular is “Impress me with your silence”.
Though if I were to speculate, I imagine there was proooobably one awkward, unsatisfying, hormone-driven encounter with a boastful young man who fell apart when he realized he didn’t actually know what to do with a woman who couldn’t casually break the sound barrier, let alone Max.
To hell with getting with a woman who can casually break the sound barrier…The problem is that, if you really get her going, she could just as “casually” break your SPINE! In some species, the best part of sex for the male is to continue living!
Ever hear of the trope, “Man of Steel, Woman of Tissue Paper?” Would you want to be playing the part of the tissue paper with Max?
That would be a massive violation of the chain of command. A superior officer should never get romantically involved with someone under their command. Doing so could get Max booted out of the military with a Bad Conduct Discharge a.k.a. Big Chicken Dinner. Getting a B.C.D. is like being convicted of a felony in civilian life. Loss of the right to vote, the right to own firearms, and very few companies will hire you.
Dan’s is a civilian contractor. Those rule don’t really apply. As is Math. If I understand the system right Max is only in the chain of command for the supers, Peggy and “the space marines”, not Arc-[light|sparq|dark]
Honestly, given the situation, *glare* might work a bit better than *twitch* ;)
Or *glint* as she’s so shiny
Max is sparkling because, as it says in the panel, Dabbler’s Mrs. Clean spell worked a little too well, and left her “sparklingly clean”.
I saw that, but still the place is lit by CANDLES! I don’t think that should be enough light to make her shine.
No, that’s part of Dabbles’ spell, same with the ‘makeup aura’
Bear in mind that both magic and gold skin are involved. Pure gold shines wonderfully in firelight.
That kind of leads to an idea, Max (and Sydney) could probably use a “matte effect” corresponding to the “gloss effect” of the clean-up spell, since random reflections wouldn’t be a good idea if you’re sneaking up on someone/thing.
Well –
ever heard the expression ” gets your clothes whiter than white”? It’s because of chemicals in the soap (Phosphors?) that absorb UV spectrum, but emit in the visible bands. It makes things literally glow in the sun. And, it’s generally what makes some clothes glow under a UV lamp, while others appear grayish and dull.
BEARING THIS IN MIND –
Of *course* Dabbler’s cleaning spell applied something of the sort to Max, so that she’s glistening in the starlight/candlelight.
Physics.
Anyone who sees Max now should really see (& hear) this.
Sydney had better pray that the more…specular…effects of that clean-up spell wears off before the sunlight gets to Maxagain.
I know the vote incentive has been stale for a while. These pages are taking longer to draw lately, partially because I’m using a new coloring technique which takes a little longer to set up but looks pretty good IMO so I think it’s worth it. Also I think my body is getting used to my ADD meds or something, so it’s been taking longer to pencil stuff. I will get it updated first chance I get.
Not a huge rush. Comic definitely comes first and we don’t want you to feel like this comics is a stress :)
It sucks when your body starts getting used to your meds, or you just start needing to do more stuff and your dosage just isn’t cutting it.
It does indeed: I’ve had that with antidepressants (long story…).
Dave, I send sympathy.
Health is most important of course. Take your time with both the vote incentive and the comic. Its worth waiting for.
So, they’very finally worked out a way to get makeup (or camo-paint) on Maxima then, eh?
Does Dabbler have a ‘less specularity’ spell for the next photoshoot?
Heehee… Max now has that ‘freshly oiled’ look that Dabs always has…
More like buffed out like a custom car at a car show. She puts chrome to shame….
Dabbler waxing and buffing Maxima. Now there is a pleasant thing to imagine.
“Daniel-san. Wax on. Wax off.”
Dabbler forgot to turn the wax off, apparently.
Don’t say “wax off” in front of Dabbler.
There’s a LOT of things you shouldn’t say in front of Dabbler, up to and including roughly a dozen Marvel and DC superhero names, several furniture designs made by IKEA, an unusually-significant number of Asian noodle dishes, the names of no less than seven classical composers, 35 European car brands not including the Mini Cooper, and approcimately 23% of anything spoken in Quebecois French.
You forgot a half dozen architectural staples. Like “stairs”.
Ooh Material Comppnent for the Mrs Clean spell- thousands of luminous spheres. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaPucUtaFQQ
Wonder if the effect on the cleaning spell included ‘Scrubbing Bubbles’ ?
It’s an option, mostly for flair according to Dabbler, but Maxima vetoed it because Dabbler.
Nah – hundreds of tiny cat tongues.
OH GOD WHY!
Also,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzZNWqUJuA4
Relevant excerpt from the Worm Fanfic Amelia.
=============
“Are… are you okay? Did something happen?”
“I… why didn’t anyone warn me about the shower in the lab?” Vicky whimpered. Oh. Oh god.
“You used the lab!?” Zach exclaimed. “Why!”
“Because I remembered Riley mentioning it having a shower, and I didn’t know where anything else was!” Vicky cried.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” Clarice asked happily. “It’s like being massaged by thousands of adorable kitty tongues.”
“That’s because it is being massaged by thousands of kitty tongues!” Vicky exclaimed.
“They’re not really,” Clarice argued. “They’re imitations made from Yggdrasil. I did my best to get everything exactly right, but there’s all kinds of flaws. They don’t have proper body temperature distribution, for one.”
“I couldn’t tell the difference,” Victoria informed us. “I have superhuman senses, and I couldn’t tell the difference between that so-called shower, and being covered in thousands of moving, disembodied, kitten tongues.”
“Thank you!” Clarice replied. “I worked really really hard on that.”
“She did, too,” Zach informed us. “You have to admit she did an incredible job on that thing.”
“I have never felt more clean in my life,” Victoria whimpered.
So, Pixel, Kroma, Halo and Peggy… Is this the A-Team gathered at last?
I do think that is a Harem and not Peggy.
Peggy has pink hair, if I recall. That might be Max, looking at the height and the shade of purple. The length of her hair might be inside the collar of the jacket in an over-all attempt to be somewhat biker-casual. I don’t recall Harem having purple hair, although that could certainly change at a moment’s notice with her. I also note the combat boots … which could point toward Max.
Punk-Harem has purple hair with a pink streak, and goth-Harem has black hair with purple bangs. At a guess, I’d say this is punk-Harem, as the skin is too pale to be Max.
No, that is Bodie (named after Boadicea)
Have a full list of the Harem names if you are interested
I only know them as:
Strawberry Harem (redhead, original look)
Vogue (blonde, once described as the clothes horse of the Harems by DaveB)
Goth (the first Harem we meet, black hair with purple bangs)
Punk (the Harem seen in uniform more often than not, purple hair with pink streak)
Co-ed (white-haired with glasses, scooped up by Sydney’s bubble the day after the fight)
I’d love a list of their given names.
Harem has only one mind and one base personality, so I don’t think each body has a separate name, that I remember seeing.
Harem’s real name is Daphne Deshantis.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1688
Yup, each Harem is Daphne, but came up with (slightly better) names for them
Pink = Berry
Blonde = Blondini
Goth = Gothamer
Punk = Bodie
White = Abbey or Abby
Heh, forgot we saw Gothamer before the rest, was thinking of Sydney’s first introduction to her
I do remember Dave calling Blondini Vogue the first time we met her in the ambulance; I might flip between those two names from now on :-)
And yes, Bodie was the one I meant with punk-Harem.
The names you posted are all official DaveB names (and ones Daphne herself uses), those others were simply for me as have a weird problem with using names (have trouble even calling mum ‘mum’, let alone her actual name), and to have them sound a more ‘natural’ and closer to being ‘real names’ instead of simply being descriptive
The given names are fan-created names to keep the Harems apart during our discussions :-)
She really does need to print out that card. Her power is amazing but very difficult for non-Daphne Deshantis people to understand fully.
Odd, I was thinking it was too overly well lit to be anyone but max.
If that were Max, there would be no reason for Sydney to be “with” Pixel.
Harem is not here; Peggy is. Peggy, Dabbler, Pixie and Sydney came in Sydney’s “bubble-bus”. Maxima flew along side and Zephan made his way to New York independently.
You forget that all Harem needs is the co-ordinates and possibly a live-stream of the location (remember when she showed up inside the ecnalubma?), also, Peggy doesn’t have purple spikey hair like that
That would have worked better if you had mirrored the letters too.
Thanks. I was trying to figure out what romance language used that for ambulance. I didn’t even think to reverse the spelling.
Do you prefer ɒmdulɒnɔɘ or ɘɔnɒludmɒ?
It certainly looks like punk-Harem, but I can think of three possible reasons it wouldn’t be
1. If they were calling in reinforcements, the issue of Sydney’s supervision becomes moot as Harem could’ve brought Peggy or Hiro or any of the other responsible adults.
2. Max warned Harem about ‘porting into closed door meetings and the possibility she might witness something way above her paygrade. I’d imagine the Twilight Council counts.
3. I think even looking through a video feed, New York is probably outside Harem’s range. as described in “Harem’s Science Corner #2”
“Dabbler’s Science Corner #2″*
The only person that Harem can “bring” is Varia
It’s Harem. Obviously the odd man out on Team Lilliput.
Oh, yes. I was afraid I’d have to wait a lot longer to see her in action.
I just hope we get to see her “kicking ass in all her finery” at some point. Hopefully we didn’t miss out on our only chance to see it with the goth and vogue dresses she had during the last incident.
Well she is the shortest of the supers.
Actually that’s Pixel. Pixel is among the pink haired crew and Maxima just teamed Sydney up with her. Also note the same outfit and relative positions before and after the flashback.
Also it was Gwen that came via bubble bus not Peggy or Harem.
I think the 4th is Izangi aka touch the sharp side of the shard while wearing a trenchcoat dude.
So for team Pixel, we have a reality hacker, a talented normal, a multi pool flying brick/energy blaster/melee/recon person and one total unknown in a trenchcoat. Sounds like an interesting group of player characters.
Nope that’s the Were-Badger, purple hair. I forgot her name.
Clover, the Dire Werehoneybadger.
Clover doesn’t have purple hair
Its a team up!
Mission:
Find out Where and How the Suspect did what they did.
Stay alive long enough for the Cavalry to Arrive.
Dont make your Organization look bad.
the Archon duo sends an Investigator (trusted with Authority to call in the BFG’s that are on standby specifically for her) and a barely tested FinalFantasy Utility Support Hero (can do a little bit of everything; eventually a whole lot of everything)
The Council sends a Tank (Were Dire Badger) and a barely tested? Reality Hacker
One can tell alot about their organizations from these choices.
Archon may look like its fucking around by sending in the two least imposing figures. But we know better.
The Council seems to send in two expendable members specifically designed to counter the Archon members (if necessary)
Or im completely wrong about this train of thought.
Because its an archon response team with one Council member to keep an eye on things.
That is a Were Dire Honey Badge. You can tell by all the f*cks she gave when she dismantled the manikin in a single strike.
0?
Max is looking good, Xuriel is looking irritated, and Kroma is looking through a building. Did she turn the wall invisible? Seems like that would be all too noticeable.
No, that corner tower hasn’t been completed yet
Is the broken logo just a pun or a hint that finally gods enter the story?
Nah, it just means that this is a disused chocolate factory.
Naw, this is the place where the Martians have established a tele-portal receiver to establish an entry-point for their ground troops, even as their space fleet approaches.
The clue is how the sign over the door broke. The ‘M’ not quite falling off, but pivoting to turn into a ‘W’ instead; Mars…Wars. Get it?
;)
They have also hired John Williams to write the score to play from their ships during their invasion. (in a Ride of the Valkyries kind of style)
ell then they win just on style points alone
The most appropriate of his many pieces that I can think of for this would be “The Imperial March” (aka: Darth-Vader’s theme).
Especially from Ep.3(“Revenge of the Sith“):
https://youtu.be/jluVg-MI3C8
The attack on the Jedi Temple is the only version I’ve found with marching footsteps.
Actually, if you want “music to march to,” then John Philip Sousa had it mastered.
BTW, here’s one famous example of his music…
I’d play that minigame, it looks like a fun puzzle. kinda wonder if Xuriel has been stashing her stuff in between the pages of Elspeth’s book, now, tho
Soldier 76’s rifle, Noisy Cricket, Han’s blaster, and the Blade Runner revolver… Can anyone identify the other weapons?
Pretty sure that’s a ST:TOS phaser and not the Noisy Cricket
Yup, the Noisy Cricket has a trigger ‘loop’ for your finger (and is smaller than the Phaser)
Portal Gun behind the speech bubble.
Thought it looked familiar
I was thinking the stock between the bubble and her head, looked kinda like one of the custom grips of one of the Fallout 4 laser rifles…
I believe there is a BFG in there too.
Bottom right looks like one of the recent starwars NERF guns.
DL-44 Blaster Pistol, with rear-mounted macroscope; with a modified receptacle to accept rifle power packs
Still have one of those, just have to see if can still get the appropriate power-pack for it
The curved blade at the bottom looks like a khopesh.
A rather particular one too, with the barbed spine, though I can’t recall where I’ve seen it before.
The one directly above her head looks like the anti-replicator disruptor from Stargate.
This is the real reason Xuriel hangs out with humans. (aside from food)
They have so many wonderful ideas primarily because they have no idea if they should be possible.
Xuriel the engineer cherry picks the cool ones and tries to make them work.
I’m a little lost on Pixel’s line in the first panel. Aside from not pairing her with Dabbler, what’s the main reason Sydney is with Pixel?
Read Pixelicious’ Who’s Who: she is an Arc-LIGHT special field agent, apart from Maxi, probably the most experienced without taking the time to wake someone up, even then she may still be the most experienced field agent
Max has the choice of keeping Sydney with her (proper choice based on Syd’s experience, but bad because it puts too much power in her squad), putting her with Dabbler, (again, a lot of power… plus Dabbler’s not exactly field commander material and.. well it’s DABBLER.) or with Pixel and Krona (which is probably a good match, as Syd is best suited as a shielder/tank right now)
Also, most suitable for a GTH plan. Sydney plus PPO means nothing survives.
Probably.
In a half-mile straight line.
one other reason as well. Sydney doesn’t like Pixel. They’re both part of a military unit and expected to work together and trust each other. Maxima is giving them forced face time.
For anyone who’s played CoD: IW, Captain Reyes did the same thing to E3n and Staff Sergeant Omar. You still might end up not liking each other, but you’ll at least learn to trust each other.
Course… it’s also entirely possible Maxima suspects Pixel of something and is counting on Sydney’s genre-savvyness to notice it as well for confirmation.
I feel her thought was interrupted by the flashback. Next page we’ll learn why the warrant doesn’t matter for her.
“Don’t we need a warrant for this?”
“There’s a reason Maxima put you with me, several reasons.”
I suspect her position in ARC-Light grants some/lots of leeway during investigations (do you need a warrant to scan someone’s magical aura? Is that an improper search? Before they became public, how do you get a warrant for magic stuff?).
…OTP!
Which, Sydney and Pixel or Maxima and Dabbler?
Yes
Has Maxi actually seen how squeaky clean she is now? Including the ‘makeup aura’? Or has she just seen her arms, and people shading their eyes when looking directly at her? :D
Loving Dabbles’ face in panel Indignant Pout (aka panel five) :D
Maxima really doesn’t have room to complain. We have no reason to suspect that Dabbler spun up that spell just for Maxima, and her own words that she may have had something, indicating she couldn’t just casually cook something up for the occasion.
That spell may have been Dabbler’s own makeup spell, that just did odd things to Maxima with regards to her being squeaky clean translating to polished clean.
The spell might also have been Dabbler’s car wash spell, for all we know, however I’m guessing her “instant shower before a night on the town” spell.
Yea, put her with the one that will gets people to touch a blood drinking sword. What could go wrong?
She needed to test her hypothesis before giving advice to end the ongoing raid, which might have lead to greater injuries.
It only took a second or two and she put an end to the blood-drinking part by cutting the stream.
A little pragmatically cold-hearted and focussed on the results not the people, but no worse than some managers (well, apart from the actual blood, and that I think comes with the supernatural workplace).
It sounds like that Maxima doesn’t trust Dabbler with Sydney…?
I wouldn’t trust Dabbler with anyone. Neither would Maxima it seems since she had that invisible guy spying on Xuriel.
I doubt it was Maxima that ordered X around. That came from way higher up.
Where was X during the big fight with V and was he affected by his anger aura?
Having X follow Dabbler around was useless by then, because he(she/it?) has been exposed way earlier.
Dabbler figured out that she was being followed due to X leaving a “void” that Dabbler could detect. Probably not going to be shadowing Dabbler again until they get that “oversight” problem fixed (at least, that’s what X said at the time).
It wasnt a void. She was able to pick up on X’s horniness when she was using her glamour. Also she was roughly able to hear X as well.
well, un-hear him. She noticed him by the “hole” in the room’s ambient noise.
Besides Dabbler being…well, Dabbler…She also happens to be a civilian too. Not a good person to put in command of an ARCSWAT mission-objectives type of situation.
While, so far, Dabbler has seemed more responsible when dealing with Sydney, that’s purely relative and you just know she’d want to have fun if sent on an unsupervised mission with an untrained recruit.
From what we’ve seen, I’d trust her to be a positive influence on Sydney solely in off-duty situations.
Yeah, a positive influence like Spooky the guardian angel in Too Much Information.
(NSFW…)
“… But Ingsol is right, bunching up your big hitters is tactically not the best strategy, especially since time seems to be a factor.”
I am quite alongside the need here to move quickly and cover all bases with very limited resources.
However ….
…. There is an even better case to be made, tactically speaking, for keeping your big hitters at least close enough to provide some level of mutual support. Failing to do so often leads to this thing called ‘Defeat In Detail’ ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defeat_in_detail ).
While your concern has validity, concentrating ones forces permits the opponent to execute a flanking maneuver around your position and avoid it entirely… rendering all that power moot.
Tactics are a delicate balance. In this case, I think the right call was made. Sydney has a broad array of powers, but is tactically… er…. hasty. Pairing her up with an experienced agent like Pixel is a good call.
Worst case, Sydney can shield the whole squad and call in reinforcements if it appears that they are subject to potential defeat. And considering how fast Max or Dabbler can get there, distance is a relative term.
In this case, the threat of defeat in detail is fairly minimal.
SOME concentration of force is always necessary if it is to be used effectively and, if your data-gathering / intel / recon assets are up to scratch, being outflanked should not be a big worry.
Noting too. That last line comes awfully close to ‘famous last words’. Guess we’ll see.
Archon is new, and they are still developing. Ultimately teams of six to eight with a balance of skills and capabilities is the way to go. They really need to get their recruits up to speed so they don’t have too many green troops on one team…
Did Dabbler give Max a car wax threatment? That would sound interesting if it wasn’t done magicaly.
At least sparkling Maxima fit in better with the vampires now.
These vampires do not sparkle!
Strictly speaking, Twilight “vampires” only really felt misnamed to me. They were more akin to some sort of undead golem, given their many stone-like traits.
Ingsol: Dis is NOT “Twilight!”
“Ve are more Anne Rice vampires. If you vant sparkly, try the fae!”
Bansidhe- EXCUSE ME?! I do NOT sparkle!
Sydney: “Sunshine sunshine ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little-”
Ingsol: “What the fahk!”
Don’t say “wax off” in front of Dabbler.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V11h1iYX0qM
Go ahead, imagine Sydney doing this in front of Ingsol.
Dabbler always strikes me as that hero who is absolute hell to fight if she is prepared…but fairly weak in scenarios where she is caught off guard. Really want to see her cut loose in the former situation cause all we have seen is the latter
Remember even Maxi can be defeated if caught off guard
Hey! Max (mostly) dodged Sydney’s (unintended) attack that first time!
Was also thinking how she almost got caught off guard even when given the heads-up from Sydney at the start of the Council Catastrophe
I’d speculate (pun intended!) that Max’s ‘sleight’ was designed to give Dabbler the motivation to fight with more focus, & less “showing-off (I.E.: “screwing-around during combat”), as mentioned here:
Pg.221:
[https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1368]
So, the the secret headquarters of the baddies is labeled ‘Mars’. I knew it was those darn Martians! Quick, somebody start playing Slim Whitman records over loudspeakers!
(Also be on the lookout for a short person in a crested helmet carrying a Q-36 explosive space modulator)
Hey let’s not point fingers at innocent Martians. Besides subtle is not a Martian trait. If we want to attack you you’ll know right away. Besides you forgot about the tripods.
And you forgot about the common cold! :-P
Leave it to an advanced technology using alien species to fail to make sealed tripods. Or at least put in some decent filters.
Maybe we’d think you people were more innocent if you didn’t keep trying to blow up the Earth for a better view!
they already did that to the planet between them and Jupiter >.<
Yeah, and instead of a single large object that only aligned orbits closely enough to block their view, they got a whole flippin’ asteroid belt spread out around the whole orbital path now! Lack of subtlety & unintended consequences only made the original problem worse.
Quickly! Search Gamesman for any Illudium! It’s a key componant for the Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator! If he (or she) doesn’t have any Illudium we might still be safe.
Nope, no iridium but he should really clear his browser history. I didn’t know Martian’s could do….THAT!
I don’t think it’s the secret headquarters. More than likely it’s a sigil location…..
Hmm, wonder which group has been assigned Sigil Sentry duty for this Sigil
I wuv pretty Maxima! <3
That is all.
Trying to think of a cool name instead of calling it the “makeup aura”, but the only artist name can think of is Liefield, but we can’t see her feet :P
Oooo, just thought of the perfect name for it: The Vallejo
Buffed, polished, and detailed….
In reference to Boris, no doubt…
;)
Naturally :D
Love Maxima’s skeptical look.
The raised eyebrow and Vulcan ear go well together.
The shiny, sparkly Max…
I love everything about Maxima’s look this page. Especially the hair.
I’d like to note that all the people who went with Sydney are short.
They’re like a Chibi Squad.
I approve.
Did you notice the title underneath the comic? “Team Lilliput” :)
…welp, missed that. I’m kinda wired in such a way that I don’t notice titles in rants under the comic, only alt-texts and footnotes.
In a crossover team-up with the “A Team,” apparently. If Peggy were there, it could be official.
I love that you can see the golden glow from Maxima on Ingol’s face. She is literally shining.
Too bad she didn’t go to the nightclub with the rest of the group. Dabbler could have used her as a disco ball.
I suspect the ‘Ms. Clean’ spell also adds a ‘boudoir glow’.
Thanks. I was trying to figure out what romance language used that for ambulance. I didn’t even think to reverse the spelling.
Forgot to okay scripts before posting. I’ll repost upthread.
The skin tone and shading effects of Pixel’s face always make her look like a vinyl figurine… is it just me?
Hmmm…Pixel is Archon’s field expert with magical artifacts. Mayhap she is a magical artifact?
You just might be onto something there…
O.o
I’m thinking three tailed Kitsune…
+1
^_^
Author’s note:
It took a second reading to figure out that the middle section was a flashback between the first and last panels. I suggest possibly putting in a stylistic change to those panels to set them off as happening in the past. Funk Winkerbean uses photo album corner tabs in his panels. El Goonish Shive uses rounded corners to set his off.
Plus, the whole comic is still technically in a flashback. Putting flashbacks within flashbacks can set up bad side effects. Just ask Leonardo DiCaprio.
…It may even trigger a seizure in some people already prone to seizures…
Max is obviously using a small team approach this time.
They have a lot of territory to cover….
/me keeps a list here as well.
Just saying.
Heh, I notice pixel didnt answer sydneys question, but if I had to guess it would be something like, “We are working outside the jurisdiction of US law as this deals with the supernatural. We cant bring say, a group of angry gargoyles into court, so we are working under council rules atm.” However, its good sydney keeps asking these questions because im sure this overlap with the supernatural would give a lawyer an aneurysm trying to figure out what applies and what doesnt and sydney isnt even sure of what applies for regular crime yet. Also, I cant help but be amused that sydney just keeps getting dragged into these situations, while maxima is acknowledging that she is almost hopelessly under trained for this, despite her good instinctive grasp for fighting with her powers.
Ingsol look a bit like Robbie Rotten from Lazy Town.
“Hey Max, did you do something with your hair?”
Xuriel Sempai, notice me TT_TT
DaveB…. I actually really really love how you drew Maxima in this strip. Dabbler’s spell is awesome, and your artwork is incredible.
Pixie Squad Go!
Can we please get a full size drawing of sparkly Max?
Please?
And the list gets longer…
OK, it’s now Dabs, Sydney, Pixel and Max in a shower. Sydney is spanking Pixel with the lighthook and Dabs has just finished the polish cycle on Max. Some how Krona is involved. Maybe holding Pixel over her knee?
If this list gets any longer it’s going to start being a rule 34 fanfic, just to describe it.
We’ve been at rule 34 for awhile….
The crowd here has been running on Rule 34 even before DaveB did the first shower scene at Archon HQ…
“All that glitters is not gold.” – but sometimes it is.
Sometimes it’s something far better.
M: DABBLER! WHAT DID YOU DO??
X: Do? I cleaned you up, as you requested! My spell leaves you perfectly cleaned and colored and oiled (and lubed) for whatever activities you may engage in, from erotic demon slaying to erotic construction work to erotic jello wrestling!
M: rrr… I MEANT with my CLOTHES!
X: ? My spell doesn’t affect clothes… Although, if you want to take those torn-up things off, I have several outfits in storage that would look absolutely ADORABLE on you…
M: Then WHY ARE THEY SHRINKING??
*Krona walks away, whistling tunelessly*
*Giggles*
“erotic construction work” only gives me the mental image of a jackhammer being used in ways never intended by manufacturers and only survivable by She-Hulk, Maxima, and Power Girl…
To which I could only reply:
“Jackhammer Jill”.
‘Team Lilliput’ – so would one of those ‘several reasons’ be to create uniform heights within teams? 3 out of 4 is getting there, at least.
I like the A-team
Except that Harem being there breaks that label in a hurry.
Doesn’t really break “Team Lilliput” given that Harem is the shortest of the supers.
I guess you could say that they aren’t short on short people. Yeah I made another bad joke. List me if you dare.
/me adds ro jaws tongue list, with the blue pentagram. Makes note to tell the dishwasher.
s/tongue/to the/
Freaking auto correct and no edit mode.
Perhaps it would be more correct to call it auto INcorrect.
Or “auto-co-wreck.”
Wow, I LOVE that building in the first panel! That whole background, really, it has some aesthetic appeal that I really like.
Did you get that brick textures from somewhere or did you make it yourself?
The feature I want is swappable hotbars. Not individual items, that’s a given. I’m talking about swapping entire pre-organized hotbars so you can have them set up for missions or tasks.
The closest I’ve come so far is a portable game called “The Blockheads” which allows characters to expand their inventory using baskets. The baskets can be moved around and even stored recursively, so I set one up for each tool or activity.
That’s also a feature in the MMORPG “Runescape”, but you’re only allowed 3 hot-bar sets, one each for:
– Melee combat (swords, clubs, etc.)
– Ranged combat (arrows, crossbows, etc.)
– Magic combat (Spells, curses, etc.)
Each combat-style is designed to be strong against one style, & also weak against one style, in the manner of the “Rock-Paper-Scissors” game.
You’re also allowed to set-up 2 complete sets of clothing/armor, which makes far less sense to me, because each combat-style has its own separate set of advantageous armor. I’d rather they have 4 sets of wear-able swaps (3 for combat, one for ‘non-combat’), but that’s just me.
You can have four 10-slot bars in EQ2
Query:
Is each bar devoted to [weapons &/or spells] only, or can you use them to swiftly equip yourself with combat-specific types of armor as well?
Spells, abilities and emotes and Macros (which may or may not also include a mix of all three), not sure about a macro for equipping and dequipping gear, but seeing how they have an Appearance tab, there is no reason why one can’t go into combat against a dragon looking like one just got out of bed (can vaguely recall mention of that, just not sure what the slash-code was or if it’s still doable)
Macros?!?
HMMM-m-m-m …Interesting…
Can Macros be nested?
& if so, is there a limit to the number of levels that you can nest Macros within Macros?
Beyond a certain point, you can only read them with a Macroscope.
The ‘Piers Antony’ reference is appreciated!
…even if it fails to answer the question.
Oh hey, I just realized you are almost at 500 pages!
At the current schedule he will hit 500 on February 11th.
Maybe another ‘Something Happens’ event?
And we’re a whole four days into the story….
So the bad guys are hiding out in an abandoned MARS chocolate factory?
It’s a bit cliché, but it works. It reminds of an old Scooby-doo episode.
Also, I like the recent tire tracks marks and working electricity, it gives the subtle effect that someone is there.
Plus, When Pixel said “several reasons”, is she talking about the orbs Sydney above her head? because at the last panel, pixel is looking directly at them.
Oh, God, PLEASE promise me there won’t be a “sexy wrestling” scene in a vat of chocolate!
It’s such a VERY tired, old cliché…
It is Mars. The naked wrestling will be in a vat of sticky toffee. That stuff does not wash off, it has to be licked.
^_^
=￣ω￣=
￣﹏￣
﹋︶﹋
￣︶￣
To [Yorp]:
Point-of-order, Good Sir – given very warm water, toffee will (rather slowly) dissolve. You are right, though, in that a tongue-bath is MUCH faster, as saliva speeds the process.
Sounds like it would be a job for the kitty tongue shower that AkazilliaDeNaro mentioned in an earlier post.
…& if you ask nicely, perhaps Yorp might volunteer for tongue-duty…?
As a loyal fan, I would do my duty.
And while regular chocolate barely sticks, Hershey’s is apparently very difficult to remove.
it must be aliens
Yea. In addition to avoiding her getting corrupted by Dabbler, not putting all of Archon’s heavy-hitters in one basket and trying to form a manga girl band.