Grrl Power #493 – MisidentifiCATion
Guys. The hoops I had to jump through so Sydney could drop some hot Arnold quotes… It’s literally the only reason they’re at a Mars chocolate warehouse. Pretty sure I deserve an Eisner or the key to a city or something. By the way, Hot Arnold sounds like a disgusting sex move, probably involving Icy Hot sports rub in place of lube.
Say what you will about Sydney, but she recovers quickly from surprise, shock, sqee’s, glomp… glomp is an emotion, right?
You do have to suspend disbelief a little to accept that Harem would mistake Pixel for a puma (slash cougar slash mountain lion). They don’t have spots. It’s especially weird considering she grew up on a farm. Not that that would necessarily confer knowledge about great cats, but you’d expect her to have slightly better animal literacy. We can just chock it up to a brain fart. I just really needed someone to say “puma” to set Sydney up, and Krona already knew Pixel was a were-jaguar. Sydney mistaking her for a leopard is more forgivable. Leopard spots look closer to jaguar rosettes that any other cat, especially from the front, where they’re basically just spots.
I know it’s tiny on the page, but Sydney is looking up “cat spots” on her wrist thing in the second to last panel.
Rereading the page now, I should probably change Harem’s last word bubble to read “My second guess would have been panther.” She’s obviously making a Pink Panther joke, but since she already said Puma, it’s a little confusing.
Of course, jaguars are panthers. Specifically black jaguars. Actually, according to wikipedia, nearly any large cat except a lion or a tiger can be called a jaguar. I was surprised to learn (actually only a few years ago) that there’s no discrete species of cat called a panther. It’s just a thing people call other kinds of large cats. I don’t know why. Panther only sounds marginally cooler than Puma or Cougar, and slightly less cool than Jaguar. These rankings are objectively true based on my opinion.
None of this answers how becoming a giant pink hybrid form jaguar aids in stealthily reconning the place.
Edit: It seems quite a few people aren’t as familiar with some of Arnold’s catalog as I had taken for granted, so here are references. As to why any single line from a movie becomes a meme, that’s simply up to the fickle will of the masses. It’s not a tumah! and Get your ass to mars. (which gets looped in the movie after the console gets smashed)
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like :) Seriously. I dare you.
Check out Wearing the Cape: Team-Ups & Crossovers. Sydney’s first Crossover! I’ve made a dedicated blog post for it, please comment there.
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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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.
Ooo! More scenes like Panel Six, please…
That panel’s a big hero….
ISWYDT.
Sydney, in all panels, but panel “freak out Pixel Panther” is the best :D
Got to agree about Sydney in all the panels.
I read Sydney in the last panel like this: Oh my…
My guess is that Dabbler set up Sydney’s wrist-com. :)
Oh my… oh my … OH MY!” (Audio NSFW).
Hey, I’ve wondered where you were.
Held up, for a considerable time, from getting home, by snow banks, across the road, deeper than the car I was travelling in. One of those situations where you just have to chill until the snow plows can do their job.
Lovely to know I was missed though!
*wags tail warmly*
Off Topic Topic of the Day:
Are Dabbler and Math good friends? We haven’t seen them interact that much yet in the comic, but it seems like they would get along well, much like Leon and Sydney.
With both their high-libidinous personalities, you think they’d be BFFs.
Daniel here. Maybe, but I do see problems with that friendship. If Math is so easily distracted by a pair of boobs that he lets himself get kneed in the face mid-Super-battle, how easily do you think Dabbler would make him freeze up with all her innuendo? Even if he didn’t know she was a Succubus, she’d have no problem teasing him till started having this as his theme-song…
I just realized, if Screwball became a super-martial artist, he’d be a Cybertronian Mathius…
If Math would have that little control around Dabbler, I wonder if his over-the-top lust/perviness would be a form of food for her?
Maybe it’d be like a glass of water to her. No nutritional content, but enough to sate her hunger temporarily.
I’m sure Math would be more than happy to be used like that.
Daniel again. Yeah, but Dabbler’s been told hands off the team. Math might be like the forbidden fruit to her, “delicious” & so fulfilling, but wearing him out will REALLY piss Max off…
…Or he’s all talk, & despite being a really powerful martial artist, Vs Dabbler his endurance is non-existent… :P
I’m sorry, but that mental image of Math just isn’t going away… :P
Math’s fascination has always come off to me as that of someone speaking from a perspective of intent ignorance. Like one of his martial arts masters forbade him from sullying his body with sensual distractions, so he developed this abstract obsession with what he had to deny himself.
I think you are so brave, able to discuss such personal issues so calmly. Yet the fact you cannot have the pleasure of an Irish Coffee must be driving you crazy, all the while. Patches are just not the same.
*wipes a tear from eye*
You seem to have mistaken me for someone obsessed with coffee. It’s actually the other way around.
I am the delusions that the caffeine brings.
The people are just temporary conveniences.
Yes I figure he was raised in some MA temple where everyone was a master and no girls even spoken of – except in whispers….
Both Dabbler and Math would be fine with it. Archon though have set Dabbler strict boundaries that she is not allowed to have such relations with team-mates.
Firstly any workplace relations can severely disrupt team harmony. And the deep impact of succubus intercourse could make this aspect even worse than normal human relationships.
Secondly there is a national and planetary security issue. If Dabbler ever goes rogue, or the US/Earth find themselves at war with the interstellar demonic races (and if Dabbler sides with them), it would be her team mates who would have to oppose her. This would be hard enough with a friend and former colleague. But would be far worse if she were a lover.
Thirdly Succubus sex is physically, mentally and emotionally draining. Just see how long it took Barbarian (the hair dresser) to recover. Despite having the super-vitality associated with being a physically enhanced super! Arc-SWAT are too short handed to spare individuals routinely being unavailable due to a ‘sex hangover’.
On the other paw, Dabbler does view rules as being ‘vague guidelines’. But she has been complying… for now.
How long until Sydney gives someone an aneurysm via stress because of her antics? I’m guessing 4 months max.
Comic time months, or us time months?
Because only a few days have passed in comic time yet.
Remember, this is a couple months in the past
And at best a couple hours after the golem explosion. We are looking at side effects of ADD medication in full swing here folks.
Right now I would say we are looking at the side effects of ADD medication wearing off. She was on the cheap stuff this evening and she did say it didn’t last as long.
Okay, guess that proves Pixelicious is not wearing a bra
Shoulda used her headshot from panel “angry no pet” :P
Umm, do we want to know what Sydney is viewing on her pipboy in the last panel? o_O
Will we find out what Sydney was going to say? “Wait, if you’re a were-Leopard… “
She is looking up “cat spots” on a search engine. This would likely show images of house cats making messes on the carpet.
Perhaps she typed in a cute euphemism for “cats”……..
Magic invisible bra perhaps? I don’t see how she keeps things in place otherwise.
Maybe she wears a spots-bra?
groooan,…
It’s a bit of a reach, but Sydney may have gone looking for images/art with regards jaguars, and ended up as I did (eventually) on “artofjaguar.com”. NSFW.
Thank you
“We can just chock it up to a brain fart.”… Chalk. We can just CHALK it up to… *cough*
Given Harem, it’s probably a brain(s) fart, too. The plural should usually apply.
That’s what’s known as an “eggcorn,” and it bugged me a little too!
In some parts of Latin America, just as pumas are referred to as “lions”, jaguars have been referred to as “tigers”.
And bears? Oh my!
+1
So George Takei is a were-bear?
Searched cat spots myself, nothing safe-search worthy but this pic shows the differences. Going off that pic, I can see how it’d be easy to mistake her Were-form as a leopard…
Yup, cheetah have solid spots, leopards have broken spots, Pixelicious clearly has the spots-inside-spots of a jaguar
Seriously? How can you mistake a striped cat with a spotted cat? o_O
But then again, they call themselves ‘Latin Americans’ and have nothing to do with Italy :rolleyes:
Spanish and Portuguese are dialects of Vulgar Latin just as much as Italian is.
Vulgar Latin do you know what a pain in the back side it is to conjugate swear words? Studied it for two years in high school only bits I remember is Semper ubi sub ubi. I can sight read some of it still but I I really want to translate it I use a book to help. Oh enjoy the pun.
Actually Italian and Portuguese are the 2 modern languages closer to Latin. And, yes I’m a philologist.
Last I heard, the people who study such things couldn’t agree whether Northern & Southern Portuguese are two dialects of one language with Galician being another language, or Northern Portuguese and Galician are two dialects of one language with Southern Portuguese being another language.
But then, those lines can be rather arbitrary.
Odd, I spoke to my mate Phil, over Christmas, specifically mentioning Grrlpower, at one point, and he never mentioned that you were studying him.
*gives Yorp hard stare*
No, Southern and Northern Portuguese are the same language, just with different accents. The only Portuguese dialect is the Mirandese, spoken in a small region at the Northeast of Portugal.
Galician, however comes from Medieval Castilian and Portuguese comes from that.
And Yorp, never change.
I first read that as “The only Portuguese dialect is the Mandarin…”
and my brain tried to put Earth thru polydimensional physics to put those two parts of the surface close together. It didn’t work very well.
Well, believe it or not, Macau, located southwest of China, was until 1999, a Portuguese colony.
and eastern Asia and the Iberian peninsula both have blue-winged magpies, rather than the black-winged ones that occur across the intervening lands…
“How can you mistake a striped cat with a spotted cat? o_O”
We didn’t. We called them Yaguará and others names depending on the language, and we didn’t know about such thing as a “Tiger”. But invaders would not use a barbaric language, would them? So they renamed it “Tigre Americano” (American tiger) and made us to use it.
Or do you really think that North American native people called it “Mountain Lion“?
That’s how we got modern English, because they kept getting invaded, and later started invading other people. Of course with American English, everybody keeps moving here, and we take their useful words, file off the serial numbers, and use them ourselves…
Keep going long enough, down that path, and English will have every useful word, in the world, and thereby become the de facto world language!
We can, of course, allow local regions to keep their prefix, to indicate they have not quire mastered correct spelling and pronunciation yet.
Mu hu ha
And then I go use the quote tag, rather than the hide one.
*sigh*
What, world, did I do something wrong?
*looks up at sky appealingly*
*drops Yorpie Snack from hang-glider*
Ooh, yum yum!
I think Krona is finally realizing that Sidney is like this all the time. Also, that “Total Recall” joke appears to have scored a critical hit.
How did I not see Pink Panther coming? Brain! You Have FAILED My For The Last Time!
Me… not My…. goddammit Brain….
“A walrus.”
“Didn’t I just tell you to stop making up animals!?”
That scene (along with the scene in RWBY that referenced it) was pretty much the first thing I thought of, too.
could you elaborate?
Here: https://roosterteeth.com/episode/red-vs-blue-season-1-episode-2 starting at around 1 min in.
And then it’s referenced here: https://roosterteeth.com/episode/rwby-season-2-rwby-volume-2-chapter-1 at around 11min 30 (but watch that whole episode for the “food fight”, if you like Grrl Power you’ll like that scene at least).
Stop making up mythical creatures!
It is clearly a bigfoot.
Chupa thingy
Cup-a-soup? o_O
Oh wait, no, you mean a Chupa Chup
Thank You!!! That was definitely most entertaining. (I liked the first link best out of the 2)
Dave, you don’t consider panthers to be discreet?
Panthers, yes. Giant PINK panthers, less so.
For one, they make theme song noise whenever they walk.
Case in point, and plenty of other examples for evidence…
;)
As opposed to continuous?
Math high five.
Continuous is the opposite of discrete, not of discreet.
Panther is just a holding name for “large cat that isn’t a lion or tiger”. Has little meaning beyond that.
And actually, lions and tigers are also part of genus panthera. Along with jaguars and leopards (including snow leopards, excluding ghost leopards), but not pumas or cheetahs or any of the smaller cats.
It’s suspected that snow leopards are ancestral to the other panthera species. They have one of the two morphological differences that allow other panthera to roar, while genus felinae have neither.
Stop making up mythological creatures!
Besides which, clearly if they did exist, there would be a distinct evolutionary advantage in not giving their location away, by roaring. Otherwise Yeti would easily find and kill them. So they would have devolved that morphological feature. If they were real. :-P
how do you know that roaring isn’t how they lure their prey? we hominids have been the dinner for big cats far more than they have been dinner for us.
Because Yeti have much more superior concealment techniques. Contrast how many photographs get taken of humans, each year, to their inept bigfoot cousins, and then to the yeti themselves. Qed.
Spotted puma of South America. Related to North American cougar (“puma”), but is a spotted tree-climber. I remember hearing an old Central American legend about it in school (“properly” sanitized beyond recognition, of course). I’m hoping one of the other folks knows the legend, because it’s been so long, I don’t think I can recall much more than I’ve already related.
Also, “melanistic” is the term…
Careful girls, that ‘alarm’ business is starting to fall by the wayside :P
That alarm was just Sydney squeeel
Yep, ultrasonic Sydney-squeeee….
Why on earth is Pixel working for Archon when she could be making a massive fortune advertising British sport cars?
Because the Veil would stop her from showing the carmaker what would make her a good spokesperson/model.
Also, she probably prefers more to be doing this.
Why can’t she do both? I know nothing about the business of making commercials, but I can’t imagine it takes the actors more than a day per commercial. The production crew maybe a couple more days? So doing a Jaguar commercial every once in a while should be perfectly trivial to fit into her schedule.
Except: The Veil!
Her employment offer might depend on if she calls herself a jag-wahr or a jag-you-ar.
Honestly, I’m more at odds with Pixel’s shirt. Keep in mind she was originally about the size of Sydney and she wasn’t exactly drowning in excess fabric. Now her chest alone is almost the size of three of Sydney…. How the hell is that shirt not torn to shreds just from the size shift. Not with all the elastic possible in the cloth could you pull that off and still have something not strangling her.
I guess Ashley made a special stretchy fabric for her?
That fabric would have to be magical….
KFox, stop justifying things that need to be unjustified and corrected immediately!
I’m with Cortanis, that shirt should be torn to shreds and lying on the ground. Pronto! Get back to work, webcomic man! :-P
But that way lies madness! Do we really want to see Hulk’s “equipment” swinging in the wind? Now a couple of nipple bumps I could see. A) the cloth is thin B) it’s probably a little brisk on that rooftop and C) she’s a tad excited
The Hulk is not in this comic. And despite that there was a “Hulking up” indecent which left the Hulker pants-less and swinging in the wind. Until he used some inexplicable magic, that is.
Why, Indeed does the Hulk IS in this comic.
Not the Dr. Banner Hulk, tho.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1737
Couple? She is a cat. Shouldn’t she have 6?
She’s a were, Red Bird, not a cat. Be they weres or anthromorphs they share the most general traits of human form as well as select traits of the animal form. They’re animal-like humans, not human-like animals.
Four, not six. She is not a cat but a jaguar. Tigers have four teats and I assume that goes for their close relations. Cats (Felis catus) have six.
There exists a fanfic to answer that. Apparently, after the large green equipment gained its own twitter following, Tony Stark rushed to create a fabric sufficiently stretchy.
No, it was Reed Richards who designed the stretchy fabric, all Stark did was request it to be in purple
Jaguars are a species of panther. The jaguar’s binomeal name is Panthera Onca.
Pixel is literally a pink panther, no matter how much she wants to escape it.
There’s no panther species, the genus called panthera includes lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars as well as some dead species. People called black variations of jaguars and leopards black panthers most likely because they didn’t realise they are regular leopards and jaguars with different colour.
Given how leopards and jaguars don’t live in the same continents, there’s no particular reason to think people would easily notice that there’s two kinds of black panthers.
Makes me wonder what type of species the Pink Panther was.
Panthera pixilious.
That sounds like Pixel’s full name.
That must’ve been a mind-blower, suddenly realising that these melanistic cats had the same spot/stripe patterns as their lighter counterparts.
Just like when they realised that all cats have patterned fur, and that the patterns are formed on their skin.
And to confuse the issue a bit more Mountain Lions (aka Puma) are also called, by some, panthers. In fact on sub species of them is called “Florida Panther”.
There’s no Panther species but out of the many large cats that are given that nickname she is definitely one of the two species popularly called that when they are a melanistic mutation. She has a right to be annoyed by it if she wants [like this girl I knew once named Brandy that hated the song “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” cause apparently one too many people had brought it up in a bad way or at a bad time to sour her on it] but its gonna keep happening and most folk think its a cool, or at least not unpleasant, connection to make.
There are worse pieces of media people could be associating her with… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax3Mmur8ECE (mildly NSFW?)
Not understanding what’s going on in panels 4 and 5.
WHY can’t Sydney pet the giant cat woman?
WHY is cat Pixel Scared then angered?
Would it start something the situation would not allow to finish?
1. Can’t say I blame Sydney. I’d want to pet a cat that big too.
2. Pixel probably likes her personal space like everyone else.
3. It would probably let the cat out of the bag that she has the same weakness to scratches and belly rubs that most other cats I’ve owned have… and yes, pun intended. :P
… what happens if you expose her to catnip?
I wonder if Sydney’s Pip Boy has a laser pointer attachment.
1) Because the giant cat woman doesn’t want to be pet.
2) I’d say more like startled than scared. It looks like Sydney jumped like 2 meters forward between panel 3 and 4 to get that close to her that sudden. Not to mention the huge eyes… I’d be startled too when that suddenly came up to me. After that she is just frustrated and annoyed at the antics.
3) … maybe
Instead, she wants to be spanked.
First the spanking, THEN the petting!
OK, back to MK V “vote incentive” Rule 34 fanfic.
In the shower we have Dabbler , Max and one or more Harems. Dabs and a couple of Harems are finishing up the “buff to a high shine” part of the clean spell, which requires more contact than a spell would normally need, but it’s a Dabbler spell, so there is that.
Out in the locker room, Pixel is laying on a bench, while Sydney has wrapped her (lightly) with the light hook to the bench. The loose end of the light hook is giving Pixel a spanking (of what ever level of strength Pixel likes, while at the other end, so to speak, Pixel has her head laying in Krona’s lap. Krona and one or more of the Harems are giving Pixels pettings and/or ear scritches.
It’s also worth noting that “the giant cat woman” isn’t normally a giant woman. In my experience, people below 5 foot tall tend to have a major dislike of being treated like a child or pet that they will make known to you even if you never show any indication of doing anything of the sort.
+1
Plus do not forget that Sydney declared “I don’t like her” on meeting Pixel, and has not done anything to amend that stance, since. So this sudden change would come across as really weird, from Pixel’s point of view.
Not to mention that Pixel obviously likes the big, ferocious were form, from the way she was showing it off. Being treated like a cute pet is not the reaction she wanted and she certainly would not want to encourage it.
Finally they are in a military organisation and Sydney is her subordinate, at the moment. So it would be highly inappropriate.
No, not that kind of inappropriate. Plus neither Sydney nor Pixel have shown any sexual attraction to each other.
She did indeed amend her prior stance, with a giant SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fast forward to pages to find her really amending her stance.
Wouldn’t you be scared if a were-AyeAye want to ‘pet’ you? o_O
If one of MY forms was also an Aye Aye of the same basic type then I’d probably at most be annoyed at the crossing of personal boundaries. One of her forms is preeetty much Sydney’ish in basic species, gender, shape and size with mostly some color difference and a lack of cursed/blessed empowered hair bangs. (“When the stars are right” THEY WILL RISE NEVER TO BE SHACKLED AGAIN!!)
The very though of a were Ayeaye is creepy enough.
Eh, I know someone who’d fit the part quite pleasantly and happily.
Also, many big cats fall into the Panthera genus. Not sure how that affects non-Latin naming conventions, but it probably does, right? Right? And African leopards also have rosettes, so there’s that…
Either way, I feel like a statue of Pixel would make a decent alternative for a Jaguar hood ornament, and an excuse to get pink upholstery standard…
My cousin has rosettes too! Lots and lots of them. From horse and hounds competitions and those ones where the dog goes through a complex course, whilst the human walks next to them, with the only task being to say “good girl”.
*rolls eyes doggyheavenward*
She did good though.
*wags tail proudly*
Somehow Krona’s response to that joke is the best of the lot, IMO. It seems so in character for her.
OMG Sydney, I think your puppy eyes have upgraded to Lvl. 2!
On the other hand, Pixel apparently rolled better than Maxima.
So what did Sydney see in that last panel? I can’t imagine anything explicit showing up searching “cat spots”.
Nothing explicit does show up and I highly recommend you searching that too. It’s adorable.
Right until you find a creepypasta somewhere among the pictures. Whyyyy?
If you have a cat and a carpet “cat spots” take on a whole new meaning.
I suspect she did some kind of image search based on the picture she just took of her back. Now THAT I could see needing the safe-search filter activated.
She might have tried a different search between panels and picked up on some… wait, no. I think it was implied she has furry porn back home, so she’d know about that already.
Yeah, I’m lost.
Don’t forget that Sydney’s mind goes all over the place. Doubtless faster than she can type. The one that sprang to mind, when I first read that panel was:
“Cat girl markings”
Found Pixelicious theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUOIU8xeQfM >_>
Don’t forget about cheetahs and ocelots. Just to throw spotted cats in to the mix.
And I think we all know how Sydney found out that her Safe Search wasn’t activated…
Don’t forget Cheetah have distinctive ‘tears’ (really angrifies me when people forget that, looking at you DC Comics!)
But, don’t be confused with the cheetah that was a chimp :P
Cheetahs and ocelots are felinae, not panthera.
Sorry, but I know nothing of animal biology.
Cheetahs are their own thing: genus Acinonyx. One thing that makes them different from other cats is that their claws aren’t fully retractable.
Their ‘roar’ is also different
You mean that they are Felinae, not Pantherinae. Those two are the correlative subfamilies, Panthera is a genus, one step below.
The problem with the system is that it pre-existed genetics, and a lot of it is “this looks kind of like that”…
It still has its uses, as incorrectly classified critters can be moved into the correct category, once their genome has been properly assessed. Likewise for those creatures who’s genome we do not have access to, such as things we only know from fossils. Which does still require that ‘this looks kind of like that’ as its methodology. Although being able to fill in some gaps, by extrapolating from apparently closely related species, which we do have genetic material for, does help to cut down on the guess work.
Anyone else starting to believe Pixelicious was put in charge of Sydney as some sort of punishment for some past misdeed? o_O
Not really, no. Going back to Max placing Syd under Pixel’s command, it’s really more of Dabbler being the… irresponsible and unreliable (for lack of better terms) kind of leader/mentor for her.
Also, I suspect it’s more about Pixel’s expertise. Dabbler is an alien and succubus but I’ve a feeling her knowledge when it comes to the supernatural (particularly Earth’s supernatural) is more general, while Pixel’s is deeper and more specific.
Yeah, but Maxi has to have known how Sydney would react to Pixel Panther
I think it’s time for the were-jaguar to do her thing…!
Eat Sydney? o_O
depends on your definition of that particular 3-letter word
NO! No eat Sydney! Besides hyperactive comic book nerdettes would give Pixel a sour stomach!
Well, hows about using her kitty tongue to ‘lick’ Sydney wet? O_o
The Florida Panther is a subspecies of cougar, is not black, and is IIRC the only cat officially called a “panther.”
Jaguarundi can be black (or brown or gray or kind of orange) and are not that uncommon in the USA south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi. NOTE: The DNR for every one of those states except Texas and Louisiana will deny their existence, and Louisiana calls them doubtful, despite them being a common sighting everywhere from Alabama to northwest Kentucky – I’ve seen several myself and know a number of people who’ve seen them. This is due to budgets, if they admit the existence of a new animal they have to decide if it needs to be controlled, is it threatened, will there be a hunting season – etc. They look nothing at all like a bobcat.
I wonder if she gets more date requests in her jaguar form?
She should get more than enough dates in her human form.
Pixel got transferred from my “suitable” list, with the note “but dislike, as Sydney does not like her” to “no thanks”, on seeing her alternate form. Overly muscular women are not attractive to me and her breasts go to the extreme that I would only normally associate with artificial enhancement.
Whilst I can overcome my preference for smaller breasts, if getting along with a nice woman, those choosing such an extreme surgical option just puts me right off. And there is a reasonable chance that Pixel has control over how her form manifests. So it kicks off the same kind of reaction in my mind.
Perhaps unjustifiably, if the were form is a package that (other than hair/fur appearance) is beyond her control. But I still would not fancy the risk of being knocked out, if she turns around suddenly!
She’s not that big
And of course her new bewbs are od the ‘artificial enhancement’ kind, pretty much every part of Pixel Panther is (including the tail)
Each breast is bigger than Sydney’s head. That is big, in my books!
Sydney is just petite, butt, not going to get (further) into an argument about personal preferences :P
Oh that is all it is indeed. And I am in a minority
Actually one of the reasons why I am vocal in admiration of the more petite lbuilds is because I get fed up with manga shows that feel obliged to tease any flat or small chested female characters. Or play op how attractive the big boobed ones are and that the others do not stand a chance.
Whilst I love other things they habitually do, such as having an episode in a series where everyone goes to a traditional festival (enough that it has tempted me to put that on my list of ‘things to do before I die’), their body shaming is not something that I like, in the least.
Hence why I feel sad for women who feel pressured into going down the surgical enlargement route. Plus, of course, as you say, because it goes against my personal tastes. But the world is a richer place for people having divergent tastes, so all is good, despite my grumbling.
Yorp, Guesticus. I think you’re going into boob size just a bit too much. :|
My poor judgement alone though.
Panthers are considered as such due to most big cats being in the pantherus? (spelling?) genus this is why most big cats can cross breed. Funny exception is the cheetah which exists in its own genus and is the last remaining example of it species.
The moral being that cheaters may come first, but they can’t win?
“the cheetah which exists in its own genus and is the last remaining example of it species.”
Which just goes to show that cheetahs never prosper.
Ouch. That pun deserves the no-prize.
And sadly, is dwindling rapidly and probably won’t be around much longer. Cheetahs put so much energy into taking down game and then they are small enough to be chased away from their hard-won kill by scavengers and any larger predator. And that’s in addition to all of the man-made reasons for their decline.
I want to see the look on Pixel’s face in panel three.
Probably major eye-roll action…
As Arnold himself proclaimed:
No joke: Page 108 of https://tinyurl.com/gvn4355
No no no no… Bullshit! I refuse to believe this exists, could exist, or even has the possibility to exits. >.> /cringe
The movie does not exist, because Arnold was just joking when he made that announcement. But he did say that, I’ve seen it on video.
Merely poking the bear. Most modern reporters really aren’t very bright, and entertainment reporters are at the low end of the spectrum…
That is both disturbing and amusing at the same time. O.o
DaveB, I know you wanted to hold back Pixel’s power reveal to surprise us readers, but looking back it raises the question of why she didn’t go were-jaguar during the attack of the husks. Not that Pixel wasn’t a help with them (she identified how they worked), but it’s sort of strange that she didn’t pitch in more physically given the danger they presented.
Or perhaps holding back until more info is at hand is her preferred way of doing things?
They already had enough people successfully fighting them, so she probably felt getting intel would be a better idea. Plus that also means she doesn’t get in the way. I’ve been told I get in the way at times, & not just by Daniel The Human…
could be she sucks at fighting and knows it… ? :D
Pixel is in a military organisation and her role is intelligence gathering. She was doing her job.
I had a cousin in an analogous situation, he was a national martial arts champion, and entered the army. When they discovered his capability, they put him on the regimental boxing team. He protested that he had joined the army to serve in a combat role, not to carry on his civilian role (which he had tired of, hence why he joined the army).
They ignored his protests, so he left the army at the first opportunity permitted. The military wasted having a highly talented person, by not putting them in the optimal military role.
Likewise, whilst Pixel may be a good fighter, she clearly is a very good intelligence analyst. The chamber was full of combat oriented indivividuals, but they needed someone to tell them how to win the fight.
Been there. It was damned tough convincing the army that somebody with an electronics engineering/computer science degree really wanted to be an infantry officer. Only thing that saved me was I graduated from Texas A&M, which at the time was damned near a military academy….
The CIB is definitely a career booster, far more so than being a good technician in Signal/Communications or MI.
With all the noise they are making, stealth is probably already out of the question. Seriously unprofessional, but not unexpected.
I’m sure its all a clever strategy Pixel has to lure the enemy into a false sense of superiority so that they will leave their lair, with its many layers of traps, and attack them in the open while they hold the high ground. (instead of just shooting them in the head from a window while they stand around in a tight group, in the open, silhouetted against the sky… cause supernatural types are often long lived traditionalists who take a few hundred more years than normal to change tactics??)
Halo, new power entry:
• Capable of terrifying werecreatures, with cuteness.
I think that is a subset of her already shown power to be unfazed by the supernatural. Remember her meeting with Ingsol and
BarklyGregor?I think he was actually basing the right to call this an official new power off the fact that she had used it before.
I’d only say it’s a valid power if it also worked on Clover.
There are always exceptions or those who’s power lets them resists. And Honey Badgers are the exception to a lot of stuff cause they just don’t, well, you know the rest…. (You could say their main power is that and the rest are required secondary powers… )
On the plus side Sydney likes Pixel now.
When she’s like this anyway.
Sort of how The Pervy Sage likes his favorite student’s one particular form the most…
Villain 1: “How’d you have time to get away?”
Villain 2: “The heroes had a loud argument across the street before coming in.”
Villain 1: “With who?”
Villain 2: “Well, Halo…”
Villain 1 (interrupts): “Got it.”
LOL Yep, sounding pretty spot-on there… :P
+1
If I was the big bad, I’d set a trap. They are likely getting pissed about the “Sydney effect” screwing up their planning. Or as noted in the last episodes comments “collateral Sydney”…
Since Panthers in America are black Jaguars, isn’t a Pink Panther technically a Pink Jaguar and as such she _is_ a Pink Panther ?
This has been a point discussed since the reveal yes. Some people feel that cause its a vague term that doesn’t actually apply to any particular species it does actually apply in any real sense. Others feel that for the same reasons it can if you want it to.
Clearly its something DaveB had in mind at some point in the character creation process as he referenced it himself.
Last page he specifically stated her not being a panther in the author’s notes. Her being arguably a panther was never intended but her being very close to one was.
Perhaps he meant cause she’s not black? Cause in the author’s commentary under the comic he goes on to say, “Of course, jaguars are panthers. Specifically black jaguars.”
But since we are specifically talking about Pink Panthers here he’s pretty much saying she could be called that. (if you were far enough away she couldn’t hear you with her special ears)
“I was surprised to learn (actually only a few years ago) that there’s no discreet species of cat called a panther.”
So he’s known this for some time before the release of this character and the official cementing of her design. (baring the occasional emergency hair color change to avoid Y-Men confusion)
Guess even the author is kinda wishy washy on the subject. (maybe he should have said, “Inspector Clouseau can’t be far behind. She’s not a diamond, but he’s incompetent.” Though others have argued against Inspector Clouseau being incompetent as well… )
Huh… just occurred to me… what’s Pixel’s height in this form? Seems like she gives Anvil a run for her money on that front. Could we get a solid size comparison for the Archon members for a vote incentive please?
Naked of course so no one cheats!
+♥
So, why exactly is she a PINK were-jaguar?
Rule of funny.
So Dave could make a Pink Panther joke.
Apparently her natural hair color is pink…that, or Weres take on the hair dye their human form used on their head all over.
Or her form comes from an artifact/spell and is follows even odder rules than “magical” genetics…
I honestly wanna pet the were-jaguar too.
What benefit exactly does this page provide?
…Other then showing that they’re way to easily distracted/rather bad at their job(s).
Humour.
If this was set seriously, Sydney would have been sent back to base for more training so the others can get on with their jobs on a professional matter.
Except with had plenty of humour(both actual and not), so…why this?
Try that line with a stand-up comic, half way through their routine. Just be sure not to cry on camera, if their put-down cuts to the bone.
“benefit”? Its a slice of life comic. Not really sure that most panels in such a genre are even supposed to “benefit” anything but our enjoyment…
That said. Yes, they do a lot of dumb things though I’ve seen a lot worse. At least you can tell Dave is trying to think about these things and doing his best for them when they don’t interfere with the rule of funny. (or his paying patrons love of flesh and very overt sexualization of characters [he at least leaves Sydney mostly alone {and some of the office ladies as of yet} and for that my undeserving self is eternally grateful!]) *shrugs*
But I like this kind of dumb or am at least entertained by it. (its the ka-pants kind of dumb I will eternally hate [but even with that I’m still here])
Except we’re treading water at this point. Were-something, Sydney geeks out, bad jokes are made, all while they’re supposedly doing their job, in a rather bad manner.
To quote Dave:
And if we see Wolverine drink a Strawberry Yoohoo after a fight for the 47th time, who really cares?
Ah, but what if it’s an albino strawberry yoohoo?
We’ve seen Sydney geek out over weres a good few times now but never pink weres.
And, to be fair, it’s the new transformation of a character that’s holding us up, more than the comedy. If they were doing their jobs properly, Pixel wouldn’t be showing off and we’d’ve seen some actual reconnaisance from the rest of the team, who thus far look to have more appropriate powers anyway.
(TLDR edition at the end… ^_^’)
Sounds like perhaps part of your reaction may be due to the Character Introduction burn-out people started mentioning experiencing a few comics back? Daveb mentioned he noticed he may be doing this too much too close together but I assume he’s a bit locked in for the next so many comics. Especially for ARC characters important to the storyline.
As for the rest of what you are saying…
“Treading water” hmmm? I think this means something like: I like more movement and or action/fights.
“Except with had plenty of humour”, “bad jokes” Some people are entirely here for these bad jokes…
A DaveB quote which you then subverted to smack down the original core concept for what was supposed to be the bulk of the comic – slice of life moments. Nicely done in and of itself.
So when I put all this together what I mostly seem to get is that you have a certain balance of humor/action/slice-of-life-moments you like and the current scene in the comic (or maybe the whole thing as we haven’t discussed that far. *shrugs*) has failed to maintain that proper balance?
People come to this comic for a lot of reasons and while at first Dave was mostly about his own dream fulfillment for what would be a unique and fun superhero comic when he made it his primary source of income I think he had to start taking into account how to balance things to appeal to the largest groups of us. (many of which overlap) More importantly the largest groups of us willing and able to pay in some way.
So while the exact balance of super comic elements you seem to desire wasn’t originally what this was meant to be, who knows, maybe Dave has found some way to crunch the numbers ( I doubt it unless he is releasing polls to his patreon users that nobody is mentioning here) or make a guess based on the comments (dangerous since we don’t all represent paying customers… ) and is now actively working to shift the comic more towards what he thinks his fans, hopefully paying fans, want and MAYBE that will be more towards your liking. (when he figures out how to get there from here)
The reveal got a ton of response from the fans down here and most of it was positive or contented nerds arguing all the little details which is fun for them/us. The closest thing to negative comments seemed to be your basic, “I’m not sure this worlds magic should work that way.” posts. So overall Dave should think he did well there and once that reveal happened THIS page was simply GOING TO HAPPEN cause that’s the kind of comic this is and Sydney was specifically engineered to make sure these scenes would always be possible as long as she was within range. And there is SOMETHING(s?) different about Pixel Dave wants to have us know.
But even if there weren’t, I doubt he spent a couple years refining the idea of a six and a half (7?) foot tall pink not-panther detective walking movie reference just so his very jokey/talky characters could NOT talk about it when its suddenly thrown in their faces for the first time…
Anyway, for a lot of this we are just talking about opinions here. I’m doing my best not to say that yours are wrong cause stuff like “bad jokes” is all very subjective and if you say they are then for you that’s absolutely true. If you say the slice of life has become too repetitive for you then that is absolutely true for you.
The only thing I can say is “wrong” or “right” is the “they’re way to easily distracted/rather bad at their job(s).” part and I and your other reply Foz both agreed that they are doing their jobs in a rather silly way. Similar issues have been noticed since near the start of the comic. Though of course Sydney has been set up to be naturally very easily distracted and untrained at this point the others could have compensated more, or at least Pixel since Harem has shown some discipline issues (above and beyond the rest of a crew of misfits with mild to strong discipline issues) of her own and Krona is an unknown.
Immediately after we agreed to that and then offered you the answers as to what a lot of us are getting as a “benefit” for viewing this scene you basically just said that you were not able to enjoy those benefits and that is absolutely true for you.
WTLDR: Yes, they are not great at their jobs(hopefully the future will justify a “yet” there) though Sydney has an excuse. DaveB designed this scene to be slice of lifey, sexy, and funny to sugar coat the info dump on yet ANOTHER characters powers/background/etc… Other audience members are actually enjoying this to one extent or another. I am sorry you are not finding anything worthwhile about this scene but that is your opinion so its not like either of us is ever gonna be “right” or “wrong” in this regard except by popular vote.(no I’m not calling for a vote [so don’t ya’ll start])
STLDR: Um… Agree, loud, inefficient operatives. Not fav part of comic but still me likey. Most people seem likey. Sorry u no do?
+1
Whilst we do know that Dave does alter the pacing of the story, at times, I hope that he does not concern himself too much with ‘trying to please the readership’. We got hooked on the story because it was interesting. Dave’s view on the world he has created is what makes that so. Trying to please the masses would impact on the most unique elements of his style.
Personally I have long since lost interest in average homogenized stories. I found the vast majority of sci fi and fantasy authors were writing to a dull formula they had clearly learnt in one institution or another. My brother had a keen enough eye, and knowledge of the big players, that he could even identify which one, much of the time.
By far the most important person for a writer to entertain is themselves. It is easy to detect when a writer has lost the passion for their own setting/character/work in general. The story looses its flair and becomes a mechanical process, writing to keep the pay cheque coming in.
Whilst I appreciate that DaveB continually strives to improve both his art and his writing, I hope that he never lets criticism sway him too far from his passionate approach. Whilst Dave is having fun, it shows in the comic and we all get to benefit from his unique style.
On reflection, I feel that I should point out that my comment is purely restricted to the ‘trying to please the readership’ point. It should not be taken as knocking the original comment. Constructive criticism should always be aired. Where it has merit, it may help Dave, in his efforts to improve.
I just do not think that his writing should be aimed at ‘making everybody happy’. That is an impossibility. Even attempting to get near to it would be an exercise in frustration and futility.
Treading water actually means: we’re been fairly stuck around too long, probably should have moved on.
And I’m not saying bad jokes can’t be funny, but combined with everything else…
And the quote wasn’t to “smack-down” the slice-of-life parts, but to indicate that if you keep on doing the same thing, without a proper break, it gets repetitive and dull. Like, if it’s something occasionally referenced and shown? It’s kept special and fun.
On the whole “balance” thing, while I do appreciate that, I don’t particularly need there to be less comedy/slice-of-life and more actions, I think there needs to be a better balance inside those parts. I’m not sure how to properly explain it, but I feel it’s swung too much to “Sydney glitches out” and “not acting professional” parts.
Fair comment.
One thing you may wish to consider though is the different narrative style Dave employs.
Normal style:
Important scene —> fast forward to next pivotal point —> repeat until end
Dave style:
Live life from Sydney’s point of view (for the most part)
The former has a lot of —> past the daily things. In a world as rich and deep as his, with numerous alien races, just as many hidden ones on Earth, plus many characters, with a host of interesting abilities amongst them, this means skipping past a host of things that we would not find in our every day lives.
This makes them worthy of inclusion in the comic. A pink jaguar certainly fits that bill. Likewise seeing how people (lest we forget Harem has an integral role in the scene) react when first confronted by such new things.
In living life through Sydney though, Dave is showing us all of these wonders, be they large or small. At the pace that she comes across them. This is the meat of the Grrlpower story. From a regular story angle this is a huge amount of exposition. Far more than normal storytelling can accommodate, with the traditional methods.
Not wanting to throw in the usual mindless fighting, chase scenes and the like, that other stories use to change the pace, is why Dave intersperses so much humour. Much of which will be channeled through Sydney, as she is the person who, by necessity, is always present. This also eases the need to use the rest of the cast in comedy roles. Their humour, if expressed, tends to be more low-key or appropriate to their particular personality.
Not to mention, of course, that Sydney does not have a false persona, that she hides behind. She simply is like this all the time. She is not alone amongst extroverts (albeit each have their own quirks and mannerisms). For instance I have heard it said that both Robbin Williams and Will Smith was/is much the same whether in front of the screen or behind it. It is not something that they turn off.
However, my main issue is that this has all been compressed, with stuff that doesn’t need to be added all at once being done so.
For example, instead of a big council meeting, Sydney could have met with a few, gotten an info dump, and most of the council stuff saved for a later date, split into chunks. Or Pixel revealing her alternate form way later, and Sydneys reaction being a callback.
Oops, accidentally hit submit.
In short, it’s all clumped together, when it doesn’t need to be, and it decreases the “specialness” to me.
“Gotten an info dump” breaks the golden rule of ‘show don’t tell’. Having several pages that amount to walls of text would likely end up with half the audience skipping past them (or even worse loosing interest in the comic).
The other extreme is your option of “splitting it into chunks”, where you meet different races as you go along. This would have two problems, in your proposed alternative narrative. The first being that none would be new, or surprising, as the briefing will have already ruined any reveal.
Secondly it does not match the setting that Dave has conceived. It is a world where the government has concentrated all the supers into one cohesive organisation. And, as we now know, that was likely inspired by the fact that they knew of the similar organisation of supernaturals, under the Twilight Council banner.
Given that they are allied with Archon, it is logical for Sydney to be introduced to them as a whole. Especially as she is both potentially the most powerful super on the planet (once trained and fully developed) and also has the ability to see through the veil.
In the mundane world, if two organisations are planning to conduct joint operations, the key players get together to meet each other and find out more about their opposite numbers. Be that general to general, politician to politician or corporate executive to overpaid porcine. Initially in a high-status venue, then going on to either show off the shop floor or latest products being tested, or being entertained at bars and strip clubs.
Dave has simply taken that real world formula and extrapolated how it would be handled when super powers and supernaturals are involved. You do not have your key players given hard-to-digest dull briefings, then just meet key players, when there is a crisis to resolve.
Dave is structuring his story how this would be likely to play out in a realistic manner, rather than getting out a standard storyboard and inserting his elements in the blanks provided.
“potentially the most powerful super on the planet”
It has only been a few days inside the comic, but I can’t help but think that more than a few would-be villains who saw the press conference had a common thought on seeing Sydney’s demonstration. “Those orb things make her hugely powerful. I must find a way to steal them for myself, and use them to Take Over The World! Mwah ha ha ha!”
I personally think that Sydney should have made a comment to the audience during her speech to address this potential situation. Even if it is not true, she should have said something like “And for any of you who think you could just break into the vault where these are kept and use them to become the next Dr. Doom, well forget it. They are keyed to my DNA so they wouldn’t even work for you.” This both misdirects people about the orbs’ location, and lessens the apparent usefulness of the orbs to anyone who may have designs on them.
(Of course, if anyone has designs FOR them please step forward. We could use the owner’s manual.)
Misdirection can be seen through. This is the reason why most organisations choose to go the route of ‘no comment on security matters’. If you want to plant false information, you need to do so in a carefully thought out manner, which will not arouse the suspicions of the target audience. Whilst Sydney is clever, she is an amateur at real-world espionage and counter-intelligence. Far safer to leave that to the professionals.
As Yorp says, Sydney is capable intellectually but utterly, utterly terrible at deciet. Couple that with the fact that this press conference was pushed on her with only the absolute minimum preperation time and we can see exactly why she didn’t say anything of the sort.
Having a cohesive world is special to me. Plus it avoids the feeling that the entire setting only exists to give the protagonist interesting things to do at set beats. Which you certainly do get for a lot of modern stories.
As an example, I finally got to see Batman vs Superman, over Christmas. The end of which (without detailing it, to avoid spoilers) only happened to provide a climactic battle. There was no logical reason for the antagonist to behave the way he did. He only stood to gain an uncontrollable, much more powerful, enemy, where he previously had one who’s buttons he could push.
The story only made sense when looked at from the point of view that the hero(es) needed an end-of-movie boss fight. It made no sense for their opponent, who stood to make huge easy gains by taking a different route, but had no path to any meaningful benefit by taking the option he did.
Yes it may have given some fans a special feeling, for seeing a tough challenge, for a hero who lacks them. But the entire movie was emotionally dead for me. It took a storyboard template and plugged in elements in a way that made no sense from the outset (namely Batman’s motivations). Bleh.
One thing needs to be pointed out: to us it seems like it’s taking a long time, but to them it’s probably only been a few minutes at most
As I’ve pointed out before, reading through the archive, things move right along. It’s the two episodes a week that drags. Poor Dave is a one man operation, if he had the resources of Marvel, or DC, things would be different, but likely not nearly as good. This is an “artisanal” comic, quirks and all…
Which is also an issue, but I’ve found well-done webcomics to not suffer this issue, even if they update on a slower schedule.
…I just realized that can be interpreted far more harsh then I intended. :/
I didn’t mind the first ka-pants. I minded, a lot, when it was repeated. As a one-off throw away it was funny. As a recurring theme it completely sucks balls.
The same goes for em-whatever. Sydney first used the term when searching for the larger size on her force field. And as another one-off for someone’s growth/transformation it remained funny. But when it’s applied over and over and over again it becomes just as trite and unfunny as ka-whatever.