Grrl Power #505 – Team sweep
So this page took a bit longer than usual to draw as you might guess. In fact it’s the reason I wasn’t able to get a piece finished for the Valentine’s Day Sex Drive thing – the yearly nudie pinup I do. Don’t worry I’ll still try and get that done at some point this year before the next one rolls around. You guys aren’t going to get shorted.
I thought this would be a record breaking Who’s Who, but it’s mostly Harem talking in the later panels. By the usual rules, only speaking parts get tagged to keep it from blowing up. Now, if this is your first visit to Grrl Power, you’re probably left wondering who a lot of these people are. Actually even if you’re a regular reader there might be one or two appearances you might not recall but that’s only because they weren’t heavily featured. Actually second to last panel has the Epimeliad from a mini comic under a regular page, and the witch just had part of her head poking over the bottom of a panel in one of the Council chamber scenes.
The bottom panel shows Iza busting out the moves he never got a chance to deploy during the Council Chamber fight. In case you can’t tell since they’re a little small, (twice as big over at Patreon :) he’s a card mage. I don’t know if there’s a proper name for that, but basically, you know, Magic the Gathering meets Yu-Gi-Oh! meets Card Captor Sakura, etc, etc. Right now he’s summoned a baby aquatic Purple Worm modified with a Gnomish rider (that gives it a bonus against mechanical enemies, duh) plus bonus acid damage on bite attacks and some other stuff.
I find it amusing that Dabble has struggled in combat the few times we’ve seen it, but the first off screen action she gets, she cleans up like an OCD maid. We will eventually get to see her do well on camera, that’s not going to be a running gag.
That third to last panel with Chorius and Kat, I think I probably should have drawn them in their Veiled appearance, and put their real forms in the bubbles, but the thought of drawing Chorius in the tophat distracted me. Normally it would be easy enough for Kat to just switch back to her human form, except she’s been a were for like 3 weeks and it’s difficult for her to rapidly pop back and forth.
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Veil, I get it.
I see Kat is making a rather Icon-ic appearance.
I wonder if the trim on Icon’s armor is 24 ‘carrot’ gold?
Do you think she refers to herself as a knight or as a hop-lite?
The latter, definitely the latter.
Maybe a Ronin?
No, there would be forty seven, not one or twenty four.
Usagi Yojimbo?
Yup.
Why not Usagi Tsukino? :P
I guess the “magical full plate armor doesn’t slow down kickboxing/capoeira moves” rule is in full effect.
actually, apparently full plate armor doesn’t slow much at all.
have a vid
granted, icon seems a bit thicker than a normal armour, but is also currently worn by a were dire rabit.
Looks more like bounded mail, to me.
AS i already said, while icon seems heavier than the armor on the video, he is also currently worn by a were dire rabbit, which is presumably somewhat stronger than a normal person.
ALSO, if the armor can move on its own, there is absolutely no reason why it wouldn’t be able to support.
its not “just because” magic. is a /specific/ magic. tropes not need apply at that particular instance.
You certainly did hop to that answer. Having powerful magical armour is bound to help the newbie bunny, if she leaps before she looks.
When you cite that amount of detail to support your claim you eventually reach the level of just splitting hares.
And Kat doesn’t want that to happen, a second time, which is why she slipt on Icon
Actually, from what we have seen, *ahem*
In Soviet Russia, Icon slip on you!
Somewhere, Yakov Smirnov is shedding a tiny tear of joy.
In Soviet Russia, tears of joy shed a tiny you :P
Medieval Playbunnys play rough.
Waaaait. Is Izanagi using Pokemon / Magic cards for.. . Magic?
Yup. And those are MTG cards, not Pokemon. I think I even recognize a few of them.
HOW? They are like 3 pixels wide!
Pixel isn’t *that* tiny…
Certainly not in her hybrid form
Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic Cards, actually, I recognize Leyline of Sanctity and City of Traitors from MTG and Power Bond and Shadow Spell from Yu-Gi-Oh! among the card arts (which are really really REALLY tiny great work on making them recognizable for someone who play those games :D) also that big worm that is nomming one of the Mannekins looks like a recolored Dungeon Worm from Yu-Gi-Oh!
Not to mention what appears to be two Islands and a Plains card in the circle itself.
It’s also good that they appear to be from vintage sets instead of modern.
the white card in the circle is Leyline of Sanctity, looks like it could be a Plains card, but it’s actually an Enchantment
Top left is a Tropical Island.
I thought they’d played the seal of orichalcos over the curse of dark cross star.
>also that big worm that is nomming one of the Mannekins looks like a recolored Dungeon Worm from Yu-Gi-Oh!
It’s a purple worm from d&d (yes it’s not a great name).
I hope not, Doesn’t the Purple Worm secrete acid from it’s skin?
Nope – purple worm had a revoltingly high-damage acidic bite (2d12 bite plus 2d10 acid damage) and a poisonous tail stinger (2d4 damage plus poisons ST or die)*.
Polar worms (or rhemorhaz) can radiate heat-deamage from their… wing-like-structure thingies… with even more revolting damage (10d10 – why did GG get high before creating monsters?) and the bite (4d6/5d6/6d6, depending on size).
*all damage is 2nd ed damage – given the usual penchant in 3rd ed, increase all damage by 50% at least and raise the ST modifier upwards by 50% at least. Don’t feel like breaking out my 3.5 ed MM.
Huh, could’ve sworn they had acidic slime on their skin, must have been thinking of a different “Worm”-type critter.
Given the nature of D&D monsters to cram themselves into every available ecological niche at the behest of their various writers, I’m certain there is one (if not, I smell opportunity!).
That is probably the neo otyugh you are smelling. “Where there’s muck there’s brass.”
Worms smell of spice, which is more like cinnamon than opportunity.
This is going to require expounding upon from Dave…
Reminds me of the real-life Mugging the Monster incident, “I’ll see your six inches and raise you 35.” See the TvTropes article or the song written about the incident.
I could just see wanna-be mugger attacking Kat wearing Icon. It would not end well for the mugger; it would end quickly, but not well.
I can’t remember what trenchcoat guy’s name was, but I guess he has gambit powers?
Nah, Izanagi uses Magic: The Gathering cards to cast actual spells. Gambit energized his cards or other objects and turned them into contact-detonation explosives.
Halo’s right.
Time critical Intel should have priority.
What? She can’t text that in during traffic and weather?
The other teams are taking down Mannekillers. Sciona may be a suspect and happily skewering anyone who enters her domain, but as far as they know she isn’t related to the attacks.
Umm, Inggie specifically mentioned a certain Blood Mage as being possibly one of the only ones possible in creating the Maniekini’s, just because he ended that with “she lost her head, mostly” doesn’t change the fact they found her
in fact no, they do have time, the loop has given them all contact info without making actual contact (Heisenberg’s beaten on this one), and even with teleport the to-be-intevention team has to assemble, evaluate and disarm the defenses of the Mars hideaout to have a chance against the Villain.
That has to take time, so a few mins for a regular report is no problem.
If Sciona was included in said loop, well, he logically is gone now, or will not be in an hour either, so again time can be taken to plan
Ignoring the fact, they can’t be making any plans if they don’t know they should be making plans!!!!!!!
Except we AREN’T sure Sciona was included in the loop. Or if it even was a loop. Unhappening everything in certain localized area sounds to me even more absurd than whole-universe-rollback. Last page shows Krona doesn’t really know how that power works, I still think it’s something closer to Startrek transporters – restore a person in same state it was saved and unmaterialize the original, but nothing more. And Sciona is a She. Or at least the most important part that gives order is.
Since she didn’t know the checkpoint was local-space only, what’s the odds ‘local-space’ covers the point Sydney got grabbed? She was zipping around a lot, it’s not impossible she got outside the reset zone. If so, is there a Sydney-bloodbag out there now?
Not to forget: Pixelicious is still strung up and being drained like a juicebox
So let’s hope the local area covers a few hundred meters. Mind you, that still leaves some other people in need of rescue, just not Pixel and Sydney.
Zack Tilly
Yes. Also also, depending on what Sciona has done it may be possible to patch them back up. I’m not sure the world is ready for two Pixels. I *know* Max isn’t ready for two Sydneys….
I don’t think Sydney is, either.
That’s included in the “unmaterialize the original” part. Regardless of distance of course.
Saving the best for last makes for good story telling.
Background of panel three makes me think Max blew up Alpha-One and Two
Could that be street lights on roads radiating out from the town centres?
That’s how I took it.. but yeah, it does look a bit anime-after-the-attack-on-the-complex status, now that Aussie mentions it.
Given that she ran into nothing, pretty city lights is more reasonable.
Gorgeous couple of panels, though – I’d take those as background if the word texts were gone.
I almost mentioned that in my comment. It’s supposed to look like she’s flying above a city at night, but it does kind of look like an explosion and shattered crust.
At that height she is a hazard to commercial aviation. I hope she has her transponder turned on.
::struggles valiant to avoid mentioning headlights and collapses in defeat::
Max and Dabbler seem to be looking hotter than usual. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. : )
Nice Duel Disk. But, does he have to draw from a shuffled deck & wait his turn?
The heart of the cards is always in his favour, so it’s fine.
Lost Kingdoms, as one of very few real time TCG videogames, is probably the best point of referrence. Shuffling at all is a weird choice though.
I am in love with Gregor in sherlock outfit
Forget Mr Barkley, what about the dapper dude in the top hat? Can’t remember his name but he sounded like Beast (ie, very erudite and educated)
Chorius. There’s a bit of text about him in the text under the comic.
Missed that paragraph (swear it wasn’t there before >_>)
Were-lock Holmes? At least he wouldn’t need Toby to do his sniffing for him.
I would have gone for Sherlock Wolves, but i think yours is better.
What are you talking about? That’s Barkly, because Sydney said so!
His daughter Clover once confronted Barkley
“I believe you have another daughter, who you have been concealing from me. Because you are ashamed of her! I deduce that it may be because she is not a were-dire-wolf, either? What is her name, and why such shame?”
“Yes, that is Elementary, my deer daughter”.
I absolutely LOVE the panel with Maxima! Dave, could you give us a wallpaper-style version of that one?
Also I love the hare apparent joke. You tell ’em, Kat!
Agreed on the picture with Maxima… I don’t know what it is – perhaps her hair or the lighting… or that she isn’t angry, but she looks positively as well as deliciously feminine.
Dave – encore for the Maxima blow up – it would be nice for a phone wallpaper ^_^
Not just Maxi, but Dabbles as well
I think that’s Dabbler’s spell still hotting her up, but the lighting is really terrific.
Ditto. Over in City of heroes I had a character that looked like that named Lepus Knight
Not “Knight of the Lepus?” :)
Thanks! I thought it turned out pretty good too.
Here you go: https://davebarrack.deviantart.com/art/Maxima-Flying-from-page-505-666122487
Don’t forget Dabbles, or she will sexy pout again :D
Thank you!!!! Will you sell it as a print sometime?
Oddly, thanks to the veil, the ‘Hare Apparent’ isn’t.
Sydney is really having a day.
She needs to find a restroom, hyped out twice, got killed once, still hasn’t really caught up with reality and now needs to show both patience and restaint. I almost feel sorry for her.
Considering that report, I am not too sure about having “Priority Information” anyways, even if the priority target “should will have been” at their location.
I also am quite not sure if Sciona still is there / will have been there, since Kronas powers still elude me.
We know that:
1. Time in general, as in the other teams, appear uneffected.
2. The other Harems therefore are uneffected too.
3. It effects the mind since the one who triggered it usually is the only one to remember.
4. It effects reality, since otherwise there would be no localized effects.
The remark on the “Rubber Banding” had me thinking, and there is one approach that could explain it all:
1. The safepoint is alike a locaized time-bubble, which moved from the past into the present while linking with the mind of the triggered subject at that point. Harem knows what happend because her copies share her mind, and now allow her to remember.
2. It was not a time bubble but the people linked only, thus meaning that Pixel and Syndey disappeared right under Sciona’s nose – which would not be good.
You make me consider an option I hadn’t thought of yet. What if they were supposed to have been reset to the past, and that this always happened when Krona tested it by herself, but because of Harem’s unique predicament she is anchored in time (at least when only part of her is reset) and it caused them to snap forward to current time.
So for anyone viewing them from outside the checkpoint they would see Krona setting it up and they then blink out of existence, coming back just as they were when time has caught up.
Good idea. It did seem odd that Krona never noticed this before.
…this is an interesting thought. +1!
You hate time travel! You hate time travel! You hate time travel!
https://cdn.mspaintadventures.com/storyfiles/hs2/01251.gif
Indeed. +1 – this never entered my mind and it might well fit the facts.
Solution to gun control vs. 2nd amendment: swap all projectile weapons to blade weapons for free, let the problem henceforth solve itself.
Go back to muskets and ensure they are not carried around loaded.
By the time you load one of them up, you’ll have given up on the argument. Or your target will be beyond reasonable aiming range.
Or, the other person has smacked you in the face with their musket, like a sensible person would
Or the other person (who is a criminal) doesn’t care about the law limiting to muskets. So they shoot you multiple times.
*Point to the pile of equipment for homemade flash-bang landmines in my garage* They’d have a time getting to my door, much less into my house, I can tell ya that much.
Actually… just get a fire alarm, a super-bright flashlight, a hobby remote and wire them together. Reusable flash-bangs!
But then what would I do with all my magnesium fire starters?
Buggerit. Miss out one little slash and it all goes to pot.
Wait, wasn’t one of their goals to find the one responsible for the Manniekini’s?
Or was that the primary goal? Either way, Bodie should have passed on that info to the other Harem’s at least
Maybe Sydney should point out in what state she found Ms Wait-our-turn
I don’t get Harem’s joke in panel 5, must be a movie I haven’t seen. Can someone clue me in? Also, the tagline, I guess is referencing spooky places to check? I know Crystal Lake is from Friday the 13th, don’t recognize the others.
They are all horror movie locations
Most of the others refer to stories by the Horror author Steven King, except Haddonfield and Hobbs End, which are settings created by director John Carpenter.
Surprised he didn’t mention Derry, there’s almost as many of his books based there or mentioning it as Castle Rock these days.
I live in Castle Rock, Colorado. This mention made me happy even before I realized it was a reference.
You are happy that you are living in a horror movie? OMG, just don’t leave the house alone! Or stay in it on your own. Best clue though is to listen for sinister music. When you hear it just shoot the next thing that pops up beside you!
But only if it’s something that isn’t sinister. If it’s a friend, stuffed animal, or a balloon, fire at will. If blood explodes out of the balloon when you pop it, then be on the lookout for clown-shaped spiders oozing light.
Another tip: When taking a shower always listen for screeching violins, and when swimming always check for cello music.
Only Star Wars force-sensitive characters can hear the music. And sometimes alter it.
The Overlook Hotel is from The Shining.
https://nightflight.com/wp-content/uploads/GRAND-OVERLOOK-HOTEL-1.jpg
The movie Harem asks after is probably The Abs of Sparta, which for some reason was re-titled 300 for theatrical release.
There’s a Haddonfield in New Jersey. It’s eldritch.
Thanks folks. Never saw 300 and never could get into King.
Watch the original, room is a mess and can’t find the DVD right now, but it was from around the 50’s or 60’s in black and white (predating the ‘graphic novel’ by a couple decades)
Wait, that’s Blondini in the last panel? Almost didn’t recognize her with her hair tied back like that
So that means that’s Berry in the sunglasses and baseball cap?
Apparently so; which means that aside from Maxima and Dabbler, each team has their very own Harem….
Having an communication system that can not be jammed or intercepted is a major tactical advantage in an op that is spread out over several locations.
Knew I should have ended that comment with “Giggity!”
Quite!
Also, they know when the other self is done talking. Least clashy conference call ever.
Niels.
Makes you wonder why they need to report in turn though. Couldn’t one of the harems just report all situations in a single go?
Would also eliminate risk of talking through each other, and Harem could realize that Sydney’s team does indeed have priority information and report on that first.
Or at least report on five of them
So Iza is basically James from Death Vigil?
You, sir, are awesome. :-)
Too bad that comic didn’t get the success it deserved. :-(
Seems Clover really got stuck in, and now has her claws truly stuck in :P
… +1…
Using a RPG inside is Not A Good Idea. They have a major back blast for another 30 meters, which can be lethal.
It’s not like a MMORPG would be that much safer.
As seen in “True Lies” when the bad guys fired at a Harrier, and then wondered where their friend went (out the front window and under the wheels)
… might be a CS version of the SMAW or LRAC 89 ( the backblast is dampened / suppressed by a mass of water or plastic flakes out the back so it can be safely fired in a confined space )…
Military grade water gun ;)
https://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/hybenamon/LAND/INFANTRY/B300%20and%20SMAW/Smaw076.jpg https://www.military-today.com/firearms/lrac_f1.jpg
I am thinking that looks more like a recoil-less rifle and round, as opposed to a rocket-propelled grenade system. I would still recommend not standing behind the thing; that is almost as dangerous as standing in front of it.
Yup, looks like Bazooka/Carl Gustav knock-off, which both are classified as recoilless rifles in Wikipedia. Somebody skipped anti-material rifle and grenade launcher and went straight for the overkill.
there is no kill like overkill
The word you’re looking for is cartomancer, card magician
This, Mr. DaveB. “Cartomancer” is the first term that came to mind for me (Madame Xanadu from DC comics, as in the Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman), although I think of it more as referring to fortunetellers and the like.
Iza is either using cards as spell components or channeling magic through them as foci. I wonder if he specifically prepares spells and they become cards (Fia Arcana/Folli from the anime Shadow Skill), he has spells in himself but needs cards somehow depicting them to cast them, or he has the magical ability to “animate” cards (that’s the only ability he has) and by carrying specific Magic cards he can vary the effect (sort of like Tarot from Marvel comics).
Yes, cartomancy is traditionally associated with fortune-telling, but then “-mancy” is a suffix supposed to imply divination in general.
Have you ever seen a necromancer that ONLY does divination through its interaction with the dead? Same logic/linguistic drift can be applied here.
The hero I made for my own comic uses an even more meta power, but based on the same thing. It’s revealed in one of the early chapters, but he can use ANY power from any book/TV show/movie/etc or quasi-power derived from Movie Scene Replication (someone says ‘Rats of unusual size? I don’t believe they exist.’ so you know what happens. That’s not a POWER power, just a Scene Replication power).
Is it possible this mage does something similar? As long as you understand how a magic works, then you make it true, even if it was fantasy. Real magic scrolls and viral Youtube videos are equally valid spells.
That is a useful scene if you have some marshmallows
ROUS’s are easy to deal with, once you know the trick. Then it is just a matter of using sticks to roast your marshmallows.
Actually yes. Mediums are Necromancers. They divine things through the dead. If you are a worker of magic you are a thaumaturge in general regardless of method of magic usage.
Come to think of it….the old cliche of the shaman throwing bones would be pure necromancy as well.
had an FRPG character many years ago that did similar. And the game Hand of Fate is based on something similar.
Then there is the Huckster character class from Deadlands.
What Pixel is telling Sydney is that they should keep Maxima in the dark about what happened at their end??
No, she thinks they are out of immediate danger (which puts way too much faith in the idea that the time loop, which was supposed to work universally, did in fact work perfectly on the local scale and included everyone/thing in a certain range.) and therefore should not play havoc with the reporting/communications procedures by talking out of turn which would not only make it hard to hear everybody speaking at the same time but might delay the leaders figuring out that somebody failed to report in by a decent chunk of time.
No, just that there’s a protocol to be followed, and for good, practical reason. When teams check in, they do so in alphabetical order. If they all checked in at once, they’d all be interrupting each other, talking while others are talking, etc.
It’d be like several people saying something to you at the same time. They’d drown each other out, be loud, it’d be hard to focus or make out what one person is saying, you’d miss what the others were saying, etc.
Would is going to bite them in their arse because they found the one they were looking for!!!!
You know, the one powerful enough to be controlling the Manniekini’s?
But not, by all means, proceed with your delays relaying how you just found the puppets and not the, you know, puppet mistress pulling the damn strings!
That’s great, except they have a Harem on every single comm except Maxima and Dabbler, who seem to be alone.
So a single Harem could just report for everyone. And all those Harems that are reporting in turn should realize that there is priority information.
I know it was drawn that way… but its like Maxima and Daddler don’t talk until they’ve taken an awesome pose…. is it another one of those Rules for Supers that apply in this Universe… like how they are all super sexy by default?
Every time you put one of your characters in a black jacket they end up looking great.
TBF that’s true in real life too. A well tailored black jacket makes everyone look better.
FORGET HACKING REALITY!!!!
I want Izanagi’s power to use Freakin Magic: The Gathering cards in real life!
I’d cast the Channel + Fireball combo any day!
Also, It would be better if Izanagi had cast ‘Swords to plowshares’ instead.
Or better yet cast ‘Wrath of God’ then cast ‘Time warp’ then cast Lhurgoyf.
Or to just to keep it simple, Use the Savannah Lions + Giant Growth combo.
I’d be too tempted to cast Jokulhaups.
Casting ‘Balance’ is a lot better though.
It’s a lot cheaper and can quickly turn the tide on the caster’s favor, without the Mutually Assured Destruction.
But it’s the MAD aspect of Jokulhaups that draws me to it so! Fine, I’ll just summon some Crypt Rats….
Truthfully I’d take the Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. Nothing would scare people like a 5 story tall three-headed silver dragon glaring at you.
A 5 story tall three-headed silver dragon, again? Meh.
*shrugs* More people would recognize the Blue-eyes Ultimate than they would the Black Skull Dragon.
But Dragonstorm. Why spend time drawing and summoning a three-headed silver dragon when you can summon all 3 straight from your deck? Obviously mixing TCGs is the way to go.
I really don’t know MTG, but I’m sure you can think of something that would combine well with Polymerization and Metal Armored Bug (The heart of the cards is real, and that card, no matter how big my deck is, or who shuffles it, always comes up within 15 cards).
With the real mystery being that you never put it in your deck!
Goblin Warrens, Mishras Altar, Diamond Valley then just start calling out standards, drums, bobsledders, grenades etc etc
I would have suggested a Leviathan, soul exchange, and Thrull badness but there is only so much room in an alleyway
I don’t have Magic the Gathering. I got into Spellfire because it was a lot cheaper and less hassle without all the hype and keeping up with the Jones’s, in order to have a viable tournament deck.
Mind you, I would just use a regular card deck, and cast ‘Queen of Hearts’ on Sydney.
Um, SK, you DO realize that Channel is, like, DRAINING YOUR LIFE FORCE??
Sure, you defeat your enemy, but you wind up spending three days in the hospital afterwards, coping with multiple life-threatening issues stemming from severe anemia?
Doesn’t sound like a combo I’d want to use except in EXTREME emergency.
Also, in case you haven’t been reading, the council takes a rather harsh stance against blood mages. Might want to watch that.
given that these things explode violently when magic is used directly on them, I don’t think fireball or some of these others would be good plans. Summoning a critter and letting it eat the thing bypasses that defense
Hmm, depends on if the fireball still counts as magic damage once it hits you, or is regular fire and it’s only the creation or summoning that counts as magic
Even so if you are in the same room (going by our previous example) you will get drained when casting. Mind you the cartomancer above has not been drained, despite being pretty close to the one the worm is eating. And he certainly is doing his version of casting.
Maybe not all have mana-draining mammary traps? Or his version is simply different enough that it does not trigger the effect? Or he had pre-summoned an earlier critter, which got drained, expending the power, and leaving him free to carry on casting, risk-free?
Or more likely your initial draw will be all lands and no monsters or the other way around. The you’ll spend several rounds drawing nothing but support cards. When you finally manages to line up some nice combo the fight has already been resolved and either you are staring at the stumps where your hands should be or your team mates tells you to pack it up it’s time to move…
With Spellfire (the competing card game that I preferred) I favoured lands which had integral monsters, support cards which could substitute for monsters, monsters which could act as support cards and any kinds of cards which could accelerate the rate that cards are drawn. Such as by taking an extra turn or gaining extra cards per draw. Or doing the reverse to opponents.
All of which were aimed at reducing the problem you pointed out, in addition to actually fulfilling their primary role well.
Whilst I had several themed decks, that I liked to play, which used different tactics, that one remained my primary deck, because of its extreme resilience in tournament play. It could often get a significant early lead, before opposing decks, with more complex strategies, could get their powerful combinations into play.
Isn’t “gyp” generally considered bad form these days, since it derives from the slur for the Roma?
It actually comes from the idea that the Romani (ie, gypsies) have a practice known as Bujo, which is the practice of commiting fraud and cheating on non romani. So Gyp means cheat or unfair or fraud or any other situation which puts a person at an unfair disadvantage through trickery
I think it also deals with the idea that if someone steals from you successfully, you deserve to have bern robbed. At least i think bujo covers that as well as an extension of fraud.
It is not derived from a slur; rather it has been used as a slur due to similarity of sound. It is just Olde English for “a small pain”. As in, “My gout is giving me gyp,” and “That deal was a gyp.” Nothing at all to do with claiming Roma come from Egypt, except as a pun. However, some people do feel quite sensitive about that.
It’s about equivalent to using “Jew” to refer to miserly behavior or sharp bordering on shady business practices
Incorrect. The word has more than one meaning and each derived from a different source. Essentially they are different words, that just happen to be spelt and pronounced the same. Provided it is being used in the context of ‘this is a pan in the neck’ then it has no reference to or connection with gypsies.
Contrast this to the example you cite which is taking a stereotype of the Jews and misusing their name to perpetuate that. Only if ‘gyp’ had been used in a similar manner would the accusation have any bearing.
Given the context ‘a pain in the neck’ is the obvious intention of the character. Whereas to meet the definition described by Pander
Would require the presence and intervention of people. Which there were none. So that context clearly is not being used. Therefore there is slur other than that created by the overly politically correct making such an association.
If we were to stop using words that had alternate uses which were derogatory then we could not describe a picture using ‘black’ or ‘white’ or ‘yellow’ or ‘gay’. And, yes, over political correctness has driven the last almost out of common usage. Despite it historically being a very positive word to describe ‘happy’ or ‘brightly coloured’.
You are thinking of “Gyppo”
Wasn’t that one of the Marx brothers?
Along with Beano, Zippo, Lego, and Rolo.
Or their Scottish step sisters ….. ^_-
I preferred 2000AD myself.
Also, a lot of the guys on the council are centuries old – I’d expect a few anachronisms to pop up in their language.
“… a card mage. I don’t know if there’s a proper name for that, …”
Well, there’s cartomancer, although technically that is someone who performs divination with tarot cards rather than summoning or conjuring.
Is… is that guy Yu-Gi-Oh?
Is that guy using Magic:The Gathering cards as a spell focus?
I would guess he is Yugi-Oh-Ing that game. Propably one of those wild, hand to explain magical abilities like Krona.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if Team Sydney who the location of the baddie, shouldn’t they report it immediately? If she’s a powerful blood mage, maybe she can detect Krona’s checkpoint somehow? It’s probably unlikely, but better not taking any chances.
*know
Panel 1 disagrees, apparently. If it is not a emergency, you have to follow communication protocoll.
Among other things, Max would know wich team to send for reinforcement this way.
No, this is just Pixeldoofus being an idiot!!
Oh yeah, send the reinforcements to the last team to check in, right before they check out
Can not believe there would not be protocol in a case like this, and Pixeldoofus is ignoring it!!
Actually, I think it’s hysterical that Dabbler only does awesome stuff off screen. It makes her the team’s Squirrel Girl. I’d vote to keep it that way. Except for ‘power of friendship’ substitute ‘power of cheesecake’.
I second this. It also feeds into the idea that she uses “naughtier but more effective means that Maxima would not approve of” while she is off-panel.
It’s being cheeky to the readers without actual fourth wall breaking, too. I too think it works.
I don’t read comics on dead trees, but I sorta know who Squirrel Girls is. Having Dabbler only do her really awesome stuff off screen would be, well, awesome.
I dunno… we might start clamoring for a Dabbler spinoff, just to see what she actually did.
Then again, I can already name a scene or two I’d like to witness uncensored…
I’ll be in my bunk.
Is it really that wrong for Sydney to say: “Max, we have found the Blood Mage! Send help!!”
Fairly sure that that would stop the rest of the chatter toot sweet
It’s frustrating, but not as frustrating as the fact that Sydney should have everyone bubbled up already just in case. She knows that Doublemint can move stealthily and incapacitate quickly; if the save point didn’t work they way they think (and it apparently didn’t), they could potentially get taken out before they have a chance to report (since we have seen that incapacitating pain can surprise and potentially KO multiple Harem bodies simultaneously).
Not that this is her fault exactly; she’s the rawest of recruits.
Screw Starfleet protocols! Never lower your shields (except to refill on oxygen)!
They are using the NATO alphabet as their team names. Just out of curiosity, is Lima pronounced lye-ma or lee-ma? Please tell me Ingsol is on team Victor and reports in as team ‘Wictor’.
P.S. My name is actually on the list, but I can’t tell you which one. (I have to maintain my secret identity in case any super-villains read this comic).
It’s pronounced “Lee-ma”.
And I’m betting you’re a Charlie. Victor is too obvious as is Mike. Maybe an Oscar. Probably a Charlie.
You are thinking of my brother Charlie who runs a Hotel in Quebec with his wife Juliet. My Papa, a retired pilot from Delta named Oscar also lives there where he plays Golf and gives Tango and Foxtrot lessons. After November when the Yankee tourists are gone he hangs out at the bar in his old Uniform with his buddy Victor where they drink Whisky and Sierra mist. Victor is from India and drives an Alpha Romeo. Sometimes they talk with the bartender Mike from Lima Peru who drives a Toyota Echo.
*groans*
Epic win.
Nope, just a win. For an epic win he’d need to do them in alphabetical order.
And use Zulu
+1 (One) . _ _ _ _
Bravo, sir!
::looks at O.B. Juan in a nonplussed fashion::
That was a set up line so you could say that, wasn’t it?
Well played…
Yeah, lye-ma is a bean :P
I like to think that Dabbler doesn’t do well when with the team for the following reasons:
1. Being with the team makes her relax as she is trusting and confident in the team’s extra abilities. Especially if Max is there.
2. If Max IS there, she’s constantly distracted by the weird sexual tension she has with her and her desire to chafe Max’s prude sensibilities.
3. Part of her success as a solo adventurer was in developing skills, equipment, and magic which would simply obliterate everything around her. When with a team she has to get creative and restrain her best abilities. See statement in panel.
So, Icon only picks hot females to protect huh? I repeat my jealousy of an animated suit of armor comment!
No, he choses those most in need, and remember, Kat has only just recovered from being poisoned!
That and “An empty Armour yearns to be filled”
+14
The ‘only one report at a time’ thing bugs me, because an organization like ARCHON should have more than one frequency in use. Why isn’t ARCHON using a central dispatcher able to listen to all channels at once?
Or, simply, having protocol in place for priority calls, such as when they find the one responsible? The one believed to be dead (or mostly dead)
They have Harem on all team’s comms. A single Harem should be able to do all the reporting to Maxima.
And now to forcibly insert something squicky between your ears: is that gnome pants-less? o_O
No, but it seems to have only 1 leg.
nope, you can (barely) see his boot behind him, his leg is likely just hidden behind his body
“Mannekillers”, damnit I keep thinking of the Finnish slur for Roma people (“Manne”), to make it even better/worse the stereotypical Roma man carries a knife for the almost express purpose of using it as a weapon despite carrying a knife in public is illegal…
Which goes well with the above discussion on “gyp.”
…is Delta One a Veil thingie? Did Dabbler just damage a Veil thingie?
Or at least is reporting that she got there too late and the mannekillers got it.
The comment section seems to have missed that bit, and I was counting on some of the more observant people here to fill me in.
That depends on what ‘Delta One’ was. Note that Pixel’s team were checking out an abandoned building. With no mention of any Veil sigil being inside, that I can recall.* Mind you I don’t remember why they were there, other than check it out.
Maybe they were just hoping to find a box of Mars bars?
That would be x-ray one. Their subsequent locations, which they have been too tardy to check out, would be x-ray two, three and so on.
Not all teams might have the same missions. Some may have been deployed defensively, to protect sigils. Others may be looking for manekiller factories. Dabbler’s tone did not convey ‘oh dear I have just destroyed the Veil’, so I am guessing she was looking for baddies. In an area with no civilians or sigils.
* Going back the the first appearance was just after Maxima and Ingsol discussing who were the individuals who could potentially make the manekillers. So the implication is that they are scouting ‘last known locations’ and ‘places associated with’ such suspects.
THE AGONY OF THE WAIT. ALWAYS WORTH IT.
So…apparently the reason Jason kills everyone that comes to Crystal Lake is because he is guarding one of the Wards. Sounds legit!
I hope I’m not the only one who looked at Max’s panel and thought: “No contact? It looks like there’s a crater forming in the background.”
That’s probably a city seen from far away.