Grrl Power #495 – Any stealth employed at this point is just for practice
Pixel is extremely unusual in having disparate power sets. Not necessarily unique, but it’s hard to get scientists who can study her without being read in on the whole lycanthopy thing. Of course there are some who know the whole shebang, but even so it a complicated field even more complicated. There’s so many variables they need extra alphabets to notate them all.
As a recon mission goes, this has long been a disaster, but they’re just doing due diligence as far as Arc-SWAT and The Council are concerned. Standing on the roof opposite your target and lighting yourself up against the horizon, obviously not ideal, but in Sydney’s defense, she only just started actually shouting on this page. Ok, the thing about the hacking of the bladder was kind of loud too. Pixel’s not too worried though. Even if there are husks there, she’s confident she can at least avoid them, and the rest of them will be safe under Sydney’d shield if it comes down to it. Still, Sam Fisher would be disappointed. As would Corvo, Garrett, and “Marked Ninja” who is the main character from “Mark of the Ninja.”
Speaking of which, anyone named Mark should automatically have the middle name “Ofthe” Sure, Mark Ofthe Jones doesn’t sound quite as cool, which is why under my rules, only people with cool last names would be named Mark. Hunter, Drake, King, Magnum, Voldemort, you get the idea.
BTW that stamp on the first panel says “T&A POSE” and has one of four X’s filled in. I know it looks like “tea pose” but that’s just the particular font’s ampersand.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like :)
This page colored by Keith.
Check out Wearing the Cape: Team-Ups & Crossovers. Sydney’s first Crossover! I’ve made a dedicated blog post for it, please comment there.
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…..was that a save point?
Save Scumming! CHEATER!
Totally a save point!
Good bloody lord, you had to remind me about Mardi Gras, didn’t you? I work security, and carnival season brings out the real migraines. Can we skip Mardi Gras this year?
Also, I vote save point.
Krona’s gonna haul off and smack Sydney soon.
A thong wedgie is also a possibility… :-)
That would combine quite nicely with the Midol dosage Sydney had most recently taken…
Heeheehee, jaguar-form Pixel is delightfully chubby in comparison to most jaguars.
Granted, she doesn’t have to hunt for her food and possibly go days without eating like most jaguars…
Clearly jaguars are at their most attractive that way.
I’d love it if Dave actually looked into various animals’ sexual preferences for this.
Her jaguar form is also like twice the size of a regular jaguar.
I’ll be honest, panel one is one of the most awkward looking boobs and butt poses I’ve seen. Her leg looks too small and she looks like she’s leaning forward. At least you can get away with “cat torsos can bend like that,” since she’s not really human.
Well she is taking off her pants while standing up, that’s liable to lead to any number of awkward poses.
Oh, is that what’s going on in panel one? I thought she was just looking behind her to talk to people.
She is doing both, and, it is perfectly possible to pose like that, without having to be a rubber Super
It’s a classic Escher Girls pose, always a spine-breaker.
I dislike the Escher Girls pose argument. After the first time I heard “those poses are anatomically impossible. You’d break your spine!” I tried out the poses in a mirror and was able to get fairly close aproximations. While I am admittedly more flexible than most of my friends, I am still an overweight man. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that a physically fit *super heroine* would be flexible enough to do those poses as well.
In this particular case, it looks like her leg is on the ledge and she’s turning her torso halfway around to tell the peanut gallery that it’s Go Time.
I’m not all that flexible myself and I think I just made a fair approximation of the pose, and I’ve done worse while dealing with rambling co-workers.
That’s actually the ‘trick’ to the pose: you (and them) slightly bend your knees, it allows you to twist your upper body more easily
Fairly fit looking (little bit ‘pudgy’ but not fat) but able to do that pose everyday refilling the kettle: fill the kettle at the sink, then turn around (leaving legs facing forward) and place the kettle on its stand behind me
No idea why people claim that turn sideways would break your back, seeing how it’s more of a ‘twist’ than a ‘bend’ anyway
Note, Dabbler DID only give it one ‘X’. There are WAAAY sexier T&A poses.
Yeah, she is overdressed for most of them :D
Sydney needs some more training with Peggy.
Sydney needs more training with everybody. Not gonna happen…
Specially more training with Dabbles :wink:
In the words of Zoidberg, “I’ll take eight.”
It’s almost comical how not up-to-date this is.
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Yeah, I should really do some page maintenance. After I get a new vote incentive done though.
I have been making a suggested Vote Incentive fan-fic/suggestion for awhile. Most based on what people have asked for as an incentive.
Just in case you need ideas.
It seems fairly current to me. Except the part about Anvil being one of the 3 main characters. Halo and Harem get a lot more time than Anvil. So instead of “Maxima, Dabbler and Anvil” as the Kirk, Spock and McCoy it should be “Halo, Maxima, and” ?? Maybe Dabbler, maybe Harem. Maybe both.
“Maybe Dabbler, maybe Harem. Maybe both.”
If you’re including Harem, wouldn’t that make it more than “the 3 main characters?”
I feel the Halo is more like Q than any of the regular crew of the enterprise.
So….
Do all lycanthropes have the ability to turn into a full animal form?
Or is that just part of Pixel’s powers?
It’s already been established that they have human, animal and hybrid forms, with control over the appearance of the hybrid form available as a skill. This is just the first time we’ve actually /witnessed/ the full animal form.
I wonder if Krona can “hack” things through Sydney’s shield?
Since it blocks teleporting (Harem) and auras (Vehemence) it probably blocks other things as well!
We know it blocks some form of magic (Vehemence’s aura). We also know that Krona’s hacking is a form of magic.
So… probably?
We do not know if it is magic. Several members of the council aren’t magic, they just fall far outside of human norms…
I think it’s a track and trace, because if Pixel gets in trouble, it would be good to know where she is and how bad it is…
DaveB told us Krona’s powers are a form of magic.
But a unique form that noone else can do.
I wonder if Krona can hack Sydney’s shield?
Shield Permeability: 100%;
If Krona did a Save Game spell, I am officially out of here, because after that power gets introduced anything else is essentially meaningless
Well, it depends on how things are handled. If she basically rewinds time and nobody but her is the wiser, then yes, haxx.
If everybody is aware of what she did when she save scums, then I’d stick around for her swift (by necessity) death.
I doubt DaveB is going to introduce full on time travel.
If it is a quicksave, it’ll probably just be a teleport back
Its probably some sort of recall spell thing that will teleport her out in a pinch.
All we now need is a volunteer to pinch Pixel to test this theory.
Rather than “Save Game”, perhaps this is a “Record Game” type of spell-hack…?
It would enable her to deliver an unbiased, fully-detailed report to the Council.
All that’s loading for me is the ‘about’ Harem/Daphne image. Anyone else with the same issue?
…now THIS is an “I got this”!
Yep, she’s got it all right…And not too hung up on flaunting it either.
I think what krona’s actually doing is more akin to creating a full backup of her brain.
Okay, Pixel better not have any more superpowers or she’ll be at risk of exploding.
In case Dave is going to add Pixel to the cast page, “pink were-jaguar with laser claws and can turn invisible” is too much of a cool description…
“Light-bending were-jaguar.” would probably do.
This brings up a philosophical point. Can something be both pink and invisible at the same time?
Also, if a were-jaguar takes off her clothes in a forest and there is no one there to see it, is it still fan service?
I’d have to say “no” for your first question. For any object to express a pink color (or any color, for that matter) it would have to reflect a specific frequency of lightwave, to be visible to any visual senses. Invisibility is the functional equal to being the same transparency level as the air itself (ie: this is why glass & clear plastics seem to disappear when immersed in water; they are the same level of transparency as the water itself). If there isn’t any light reflecting from the object, then it can’t express any specific color of light frequency.
To answer you’re second question, that would have to be “no.” It’s not a service to fans if there’s no fans to be serviced. It’s like that proverbial tree falling in the forest…It would still make a sound even if there’s just no one to hear it.
Not to be nit-pickey, but a tree would make a sound. That is because it would cause waves in the air. The philosophicial question is actually “Would it make a NOISE.” Very different question, as a noise is a sound that can be heard.
I would argue that “sound” is the word used to indicate “physical vibrations as interpreted by functioning ears or parallel structures.”
If there is no one around to hear it, it would still create a physical shockwave, but not, technically, “sound.”
Technically? Yes, something CAN be both invisible and pink (Like, say, a Unicorn for example). You’ve just got to have a little faith, is all. “We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can’t see them”.
All these people talking about save scumming…
She was just breaking the 4th wall to hide Pixel’s Pretty Pink Panthera Parts from us.
And damn you, DaveB, for making me realize I was a furry with Pixel. Damn you!
Being attracted to Furries makes you a Furry about as much as being attracted to women makes you a woman.
Depending on context, the term “furry” as a noun can refer to either “character who is an anthropomorphic animal” or “member of a furry fandom (sometimes with implied sexual interest)”. Slang terms can be weird like that; like how something can be at once both “hot” and “cool”.
Speaking as a furry, I wouldn’t worry about it. Enjoying a bit of pink leopard nekkidness is perfectly fine and normal. You aren’t a furry until you’re going out of your way to *find* said pink leopard nekkidness.
Welp.
Doesn’t do anything for me.
Now if she did that before transforming, that is a different matter. Not that the fur bothers me, in any event.
It is like any RPG adventuring group. They stop in the middle of the enemy’s keep, in the worst place possible, and alert the neighborhood to their presence by having a loud and extensive argument about splitting up loot that they haven’t even found, yet.
Every friggin’ time. Drives this ex-specops nuts.
That only happens with a GM that doesn’t use Wandering Monster Encounter charts…
You were a space cop? Did you ever serve with either Sean Connery or Harrison Ford?
Meanwhile somewhere else Dabblers porno sense is tingling.
That brings up an interesting question. What range is that porno sense?
If it covers multiple miles…
Crap. Just thought of Leykka from Lexx. She traveled the universe by using thoughts to guide her to living things (so she could eat them), so it makes sense that Dabbler could use her porno sense to seek out inhabited planets. What is her sense like if it covers all of Earth!?!
Of course this is what I saw when the page refreshed after posting that.
https://orig03.deviantart.net/9079/f/2017/024/0/e/just_luck_by_viirin-dawjzdg.png
Wait.
She took of her clothing to go invisible, right? Which implies her invisibility only works for her own body. Reasonable so far.
But isn’t she still wearing that collar thing? Which would remain visible?
Because magic.
She took off her clothes to go from anthro-jaguar to standard jaguar modes because she can turn invisible as in jaguar mode but not anthro-jaguar mode.
She might still be wearing the collar because that is where her communicator is. But, at this point she can probably only say ‘meow’ (or the jaguar equivalent).
It’s still “meow”, but deeper.
*deep underground*
Meow.
Ooh, nice reverb and echo on that. Odd, not how I imagined jaguars would sound.
She didn’t take off her clothes to go invisible. She took them off to go quadruped. Even with stretchy fabric, that stuff ain’t gonna fit well.
Just a thought- maybe a reference to the invisibility used in Mystery Men? “I can turn invisible, but only when no one is looking at me.”
Yeah, kinda referenced that on the first page, but messed it up by saying ‘invisibility only works while invisible’, but the Invisible Man was also naked when he took of his bandages, hat, glasses and trench coat
It’s better when you think about Susan Storm.
Pssst!
Hey kid!
You wanna see Susan Storm wearing a see-through swimsuit?
Got both those comics back when they first came out (interesting about that image: Reed and Ben are fighting off that horny beastie, but Johnny is no where to be seen! he’s probably the one who took the photo :P)
The scene, in the first (modern) Fantastic Four movie, where Susan Storm goes invisible to ‘get past the cops blocking access to the bridge’, really winds me up for being so pointlessly gratuitous. I have no objection to nudity, where it serves a purpose, or fits in context. But Mr Fantastic and the Torch just walked past, so the entire scene was there for nothing other than titillation purposes. And, even then was just creepy, as it was in front of her brother. On top of being pointless!
Grrr!
Makes me wonder what her powers are in human form.
None. Krona explained she only has powers in her Animal and Hybrid forms.
That’s either a save point, or it’s a mute bubble because she anticipated Sydney being loud
I vote self destruct. Or an instant-fire bladder eruptor on anyone who tries to bare a weapon against her.
In Hollywood news, it was announced this last weekend that the movie Rouge One just passed the billion dollar mark in receipts. Considering they never pass up an opportunity to cash in on a success, we can be expecting a sequel some time in the future. “Rouge One: The Next Death Star. Many Bothans Died’.
No, it’ll be called Rouge Two
They painted it Red? o_O
GRRRR. Stoopid spell checker.
Just remember that no program on a computer is any smarter than the programmer…The spell-checker’s programmer is stupid.
:-D
Back when I was at school in the ’70s, there was a boy in my class who was absolutely brilliant at Mathematics.When the O-level exams came along, we confidently expected him to get an ‘A’ grade… if the questions were really tricky or he was a bit ill, then maybe just a ‘B’… and maybes just a 1-in-a-million chance of a ‘C’.
The results came back: ‘F’ ( = “Failed)
His parents came into the school to see the headmaster: “We don’t believe this, we want the paper re-checked”.
The head consulted the Maths department: “The school doesn’t believe this either, and will pay for the re-check”.
The result came back: ‘A’.
You know what had happened?
The exam consisted of several papers that each provided portions of the final mark.
This was the first year in which a computer had been used by that Exam Board to add the [weighted] results for the separate papers and produce the resultant grades.
The programme created for this purpose had only been set to read two figures in front of the decimal point…
And he had actually achieved a result of 100%, which the computer had therefore read as just “00”% !
lol
Bloody typical!
No worries, it’s a common error, just look at how many times that Southern X-women ends up red :P
Great page. We definitely need some(or a lot) NSFW pics of Pixel now.
We should have good enough imagination to do well without that.
But pictures are a time saver…
…for everybody except the artist…
When I was in art school, we were trained to draw our characters naked first, so that if they had changes of clothes or anything, we would be able to add clothes onto them instead of having to re-research their body and how clothes would fit on them to begin with. So, I figure Dave already has the artwork.
A lot of artists work that way, while they may not actually draw them naked (some do, makes certain Hentai easier), they at least pencil the body so they can get the clothes properly
What, so Krona didn’t set up a stationary image over the rooftop as her first move? That’s what I would do… “see these photons right here? OK, copy those… now for the next half hour or so, just take all the photons that try to escape from this area, and rearrange them to match.”
Krona, like Sydney, lacks tactical training, but unlike Sydney, isn’t as crazy as a bag full of ferrets on meth….
Ummm…Low Grade meth. Sydney’s current meds are nearly meth as it is already. But it could be that her latest dosage could be wearing off by this time of night.
She took a generic at the restaurant, so no telling it’s effects or effectiveness…
Cool, Pixel’s a hybrid class. Like a druid in WoW. (back when being a hybrid really meant something) Just an example, obviously her powers are not much like a druid’s other than having a cat form that can stealth. (sorry if someone already did this. Didn’t have time to read them all before work this time. )
How about a guy named “Mark Ed Fordeth”? Has negative aspects but could also be sort of like a type of chosen one as Harry Potter was despite having basically the mark of an attempted past, and soon to be future, attempts to kill him.
Why go nude if she doesn’t take off her necklace? a floating necklace might be a giveaway.
In her animal form, clothes wouldn’t fit and be a great hindrance. The collar is one size fits all…
she probably doesnt’ wanna lose her gps/communicator/emergency stuff
Hah. at first I thought that Krona hacked and made her naked for her vision for a second.
Yay for save points! Also, Pixel and Krona are SO OP.
My bet is that Krona was making a backup copy of Sydney, in case she dies. Or worse. Very tactful of her not to mention that. Of course I am very late to the party, so doubtless that will have been commented on a bunch of times already.
Very tactful of Krona not to mention it though.
And it will be very hard for Sydney to resist any Cheshire cat quips, in Pixel’s company. Maybe suggesting Pixel learn a power stunt that lets her smile be the last part of her to turn invisible?
Possible spoiler, if your mind has not already gone this way.
I think it would be cool if the next scene is in the debriefing room, with Sydney going “What, how did I get back here? Did I miss something?” And Maxima replying, “Yes Sydney, no time to break it to you gently. I am afraid you died, and Krona restored your backup. It would be nice to give you time to absorb that, but this meeting is to let your teammates report on what went wrong. I gather it started with a lack of stealth…”
I’ll take eight.
Eight lives remaining, from the traditional nine lives of a cat?
*narrows eyes suspiciously, examining Viirin for any cat features*
Zoidberg reference.
I haz missed too many episodes, by not watching TV. I am culturally depraved!
A “Save Point” spell/reality hack might not be broken if it simply functions as an anchor for her “predictive text” ability. No time travel, just visions of a possible future, kind of like the movie “Next” and not functionally any different from (Dungeons and Dragons reference) casting Augury or a similar spell.
Another way it could work might be a “teleport and heal Contingency” type effect.
As (sort of) spells, any such effect would be limited by her skill and possibly the availability of mana (a big enough hack might “grey out” her ability to hack for a while, or bigger hacks might complete with a “…loading…” type effect.
I somethings think the Mardi Gras parade would be a master thief compared to Sydney.
Sydney, I love you. XD
Hmmmm…… seeing the differant applications of laser lights kinda brought me back to sydney’s unknown orbs – what if they had their effects, but because sydney was in then / in private, didn’t have any way to tell what they did? (yes, she tried turning them on in the showroom, but it depends on the powers) What if one of her orbs puts her in an ignore this space bubble? – with people already looking, or her not realizing she has it on, she wouldn’t ever notice its working. i thought of a couple others, but it seems churlish to steal the chance oof exposition from others ideas, so I will stick to the one.
As for krona, i think the back up is for pixel, that is who she was actually addrressing with the “wait a minute, there you go” sentence
Welp that is going to be on my mind for a while, yep my brain fell into the gutter and gotten dirty. I like it! XD
I prefer to leave my mind on the curb, instead of letting it fall into the gutter. That way, I’m still close enough proximity to get the occasionally entertaining splash of sewage, but still retain enough clear-headed thinking to avoid the worst of the sewage stains…
I feel the need to point out one of the inherent problems with invisibility. If light is now passing directly through her without interacting with anything this would also include the retinas in her eyes. She is now completely blind.
Assuming it’s invisibility, not simply very good camouflage.
It might also simply be a perception filter.
Sight isn’t a cat’s primary sense. Not sure about jaguars. Between scent and sound, Pixel might get around perfectly well even if she can’t see while invisible.
Only if it is messing with the incoming light. if however it is altering the light as it leaves her (replicating what it would look like if she were not there) then there is no such issue.
If that was a save point, I expect SEVERE chronal backlash if it has to get used.
This whole comic after the intro is supposedly a ‘flashback’. Maybe what happened was that Sydney got killed shortly after the timeline in page 4 and page 5 was her resetting to her prior save point.
Just look out for Sydney switching her pip-boy over from the full metal cuff to the ‘modern’ tablet version, because we know she is about to kick the bucket.
Yeah, the rule is “Thou shall not screw with causality”…
It has occurred to me…
Krona could mute Sydney for the stealth missions.
Or, for any time she’s in company :P
Wait a blimmin’ minute. Krona is the name of another androgynous, perpetually tired-looking, shorty with brightly coloured hair and mysterious and phenomenal power. Sure Dave has already said “She” in the introductory dowatsit but the similarities remain. Also a long skirt on a stealth mission? No pockets, less mobility, excepting reality edits, and I swear to crap if a subspace pocket is included in that package then I must be lime flavoured cos I’M JELLY AS F***!
I prefer pineapple.
Passionfruit for me
If they it was readily available I’d eat it.
The fruit itself or the jelly?
Probably both. Dangit now I’m craving mangoes.
Soo I am still waiting to see where the Eldritch horrors fit into all of this considering they apparently exist if the imagination of a certain demonologist are to be believed…
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