Grrl Power #526 – Therapee
It would be more accurate to describe Sydney as just Manic as opposed to Manic Depressive, but she does have moments of… self awareness? They never last though. One of the advantages of a short attention span.
Maxima is not a good agony arm. It’s not that she doesn’t empathize with people have been through some lingering trauma. Her transition from slightly gawky teenage cross country runner to slightly gawky gold plated teenager (before she became a robustly full figured gold plated superheroine) was… bumpy at times. But Max toughened up during those awkward years and now her attitude to anything short of getting your leg blown off is “Walk it off!”
No wait, come to think of it, that’s exactly what she told Peggy.
(Sorry about the delay in posting. Not sure what happened there. WordPress just said “Missed schedule” I guess the host had a hiccup at 5:00 am or something.)
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Going back to what she was freaking out about if a lab got a hold of her versus This explains the reaction nicely.
I like the withering stare Maxima gives Krona.
Maxi uses WITHERING STARE
It was not effective :P
yeh i have a feeling vampires are much better at it, with centuries of practice behind it, and that whole contempt for mortals thing; Krona prolly has thick skin against it now from being on the Council
Heh, good point.
Whereas Sydney manages to overcome by their stares, through being overwhelmed by her nerdyness.
Panel 5: Is that Niagara Falls in the background?
Ha! I totally missed that. How?
I missed it, too!
Tsunami…
Just a random waterfall I drew while playing with some new brushes. But basically yeah.
I figured it was a dam breaking. :D
At least you gave Sydney the foresight to have the necessary “supplies” in her utility belt. That’s at least one load off of Sydney’s…mind.
:)
When Sidney said emergency TP, my first thought took me back to my City of Heroes days and she was using her emergency teleport… Until I read your comment, I was wondering if she had let the cat out of the bag about her new power.
reminds me a Calvin & Hobbes episode where (after lights out) Hobbes just tslks about waterfalls, flowing water, etc, to get Calvin to go to the bathroom, so Hobbes can steal the warm spot in bed.
You know you’re in trouble when you can be outsmarted by your imaginary friend.
oh, I’m not crazy. but my imaginary friend has multiple personalities.
Weirdly, mine thinks I am not real!
My last girlfriend left me for my imaginary friend.
Even worse when she is imaginary too!
Well hell, they were made for each other. I feel better now.
That’s the attitude. And to cheer you up even more, I can be your friend. Not that I can prove I am real mind.
On the intertubes, no-one knows if you’re a dog :)
but is Hobbes imaginary? Watterson was always careful to leave that question open, and frankly assuming he was means you are making an ass of u and me
So, Hobbes was a shapeshifting demon? There have been enough pages showing him in his stuffed-toy persona
tbh i prefer to just leave it be, i prefer Calvin’s worldview for the most part and i just think of Hobbes as a sentient anthropomorphic tiger
No problem, i always see my followed webcartoons after work.
Panel 4 is gorgeous. The orbs’ light playing on Maxima’s skin and her and Sydney’s hair looks incredible.
All of that in conjunction with Max’s expression really emphasizes the fact that Max isn’t always that angular-featured hardass. She too can soften herself when the situation calls for it.
a good commander knows when to give their troops support
Ahh, I sense a face in boobs reference.
I must be hanging around Dabbler too much. I am developing porno sense!
you are developing sense-innuendo-when-none-was-intended >.> i just meant moral/emotional, not boobage
tbh i prefer not to sexualize Max for fear she becomes real and has a few choice words for me
:-D
It’s also a good thing that Max has a good support system for her support system; Please see the vote incentive for reference.
Love the picture of Niagra Falls there. Makes it really simple to understand and empathize with that moment.
Or confusing at first: how did they get from an area with trees in the background, to a waterfall? o_O
That’s Sydney’s mental picture of the snooze (That Krona gave her) ending.
Very nice waterfall, by the way, DaveB
Yes, that’s why it’s confusing at first
Ahhh. I misread. I finished the last panel at two am my time this morning/last night. *facepalms*
(Hooray for not thinking straight.)
You mean you actually think straight!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I think more in a twisting nonlinear swirl that swings around in concentric circles and begins with an earthquake spike line,,,
My thinking pattern is a multidimensional, transeuclidian, hyper optimized zeitgeist of an infinite personality matrix .
[tries to follow the thought process]
*head gets swirly*
*falls over*
I prefer to think of my thought process as a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff. The added benefit being the interesting places that it sometimes stops.
my thought process…. umm… which voice do you want to know about?
No worries :D
Every time I hear about Max’s awkward teenage years turning into a superhero, it makes me really want to see a miniseries based around that part of her life.
GOD, you and me both, the few glimpses of her teen years and the stories about her military service before joining Arc sound and look awesome.
Especially since he wouldn’t start it till near the end of this comic at which point his skills would have ascended to rarefied air levels. ;D (also he may literally be drawing it from Heaven where he will be able to find some amazing people to do his coloring and whatnot to speed things up. Something to make all those years saying your prayers and eating your vegetables worth it!)
I really like how sisterly Sid and Max’s relationship is. Especially compared to how stern and serious she is with almost anyone else.
Oh, Max can get serious & stern with Sydney…It’s just a bit harder on Max’s resolve as a good military leader.
:)
Dabbler and Math must both be sensing a disturbance in the (what is it when something could be totally viewed sexually but probably isn’t but everyone will tease you about it.)
Sidney’s buried face in Max’s girls would have to set off those alarms.
Probably why they aren’t there otherwise Max would loose that motherly look and I assume feeling she is having for Sidney in panel 4 (Great capture of that look)
Math would be soooo envious of Sydney at that moment…
:P
So would DABBLER!… and Harem, and…, and, come to think on it… Pretty much EVERYBODY that’s into females would be envious of Sydney right about now…
Not quite. If looking at it from a snuggling point of view, would be envious of Maxima.
Don’t forget people who love GOLD!
So Dwarves and Scrooge McDuck. (Scrooge is an expert at diving into mountains of gold after all.)
(slips p-chan mask on observer) bad observer no hot water
“As if a thousand voices cried out …and then were satisfied.”
More unsatisfied because it wasn’t them…
Anyone else have the words Therapeutic Cleavage in their head?
I was wondering myself if she was motorboating her in scene two and three.
I suspect its a case that if it was almost anyone else, Max would presume they’re in for a therapeutic cleavage session. But as this is Sydney, she can easily ration it out as Sydney’s usual zoned-out, low awareness action mode and if the cleavage face burial was brought to her attention she’d be as mortified as Max would be angry if this was Dabbler.
Not sure about two and three, but there is definitely movement-lines in panel four :D
Yeah, Sydney’s head is moving there, but it’s due to sobbing…Which is motion that’s NOT being transferred to Max’s boobs.
:)
Yeah, a lot of people would do something very very bad to have that view and feels Syd has in p3. Dabbler would probably even be able to top it and Archilles would most likely be the only one capable of surviving the MAX reaction.
Achilles might survive… but he’d likely wish he hadn’t… it’s a long, cold, lonely, boring journey through space to the edge of the solar system and beyond…
Do the orbs look smaller……….
…………….not those orbs, Sydney’s power orbs.
Yeah, it almost looks like they are shrinking each time we see them on this page.
You’re right, but I hadn’t even noticed until now.
Dave, I think what you’re describing with Sydney is ‘monopolar mania’. I’ve got a friend who got misdiagnosed with bipolar manic depression, which is characterized by rapid mood swings from one pole to the other. It took therapists a while to realize that what he ACTUALLY had was monopolar depression (where his spectrum runs from ‘kinda depressed’ to ‘oh god kill me I’m depressed’), but never goes manic. Maybe the fact that his drugs were MAKING him manic could’ve been a clue that he was on the wrong one, back in the day. He describes the whole experience as being ‘chemically byronesque’. He’s doing fine these days with therapy and maybe some meds, though.
Monopolar Mania would be the other side of that, where a person’s spectrum runs from ‘kinda manic’ to ‘absolute mania’.
I have adhd, and my behavior can be a bit like sydney’s at times. The ups & downs of normal emotions can appear like this, though Sydney’s is exaggerated a bit for comedic effect.
Make no mistake, it’s pretty well established that Sydney has ADHD. So does my friend with monopolar depression. I’m not proposing monopolar mania as an alternative to ADHD, but rather as a potential co-occurring factor.
There’s a thing called hypomania, it’s a mild form of mania, generally an all around elated and manic person. They have the down sides too, but not nearly as bad, and very manageable, so it’s more of a personality quirk than a mental disorder.
Then there is hydrophobia, the fear of water. Very useful to employ those in magical hovercraft. They have a great incentive to keep the vehicle off the water.
More weird than that this term was historically used for rabies. As a fear of water is one of the symptoms.
Why would a virus be afraid of you getting wet?
I see that Discworld reference, sir!
but fear in discworld was still an attractive/drawing force so they needed people who actually were repelled by water.
Yep! They loathed water. :D
Dabbler is going to be so jealous. Sydney had her face in Max’s…. erm…. Golden Globes.
you deserve an oscar for that one
Mind you if Dabbler ever tried that she would only earn herself a Darwin Award!
Same as if someone called them the Grammys.
ship
So wait… what happens if you hit the bladder snooze again?
It explodes, killing everyone within fifty meters
I am guessing there would be diminishing returns. The time gained would be reduced and the after effects would be much worse. Probably feeling the same as Guesticus described above. And, at the likely level of urgency, potentially being irresistible.
The fluid is being sent away (into temporal storage, like luggage in a left luggage department) but the ticket only allows her to keep it there for so long. Trouble is more fluid is being built up in the meanwhile. And ultimately a bladder can only hold so much. So do it once too often and there will be more coming back than can stay in.
Remember that episode of The Simpsons? When Grandpa’s kidneys literally exploded because Homer wouldn’t stop
Still have trouble believing, even with Sydney, that she wouldn’t have taken the time to relieve the pressure when the urgency was ‘put-on-hold’
Yes the bladder will get you up early. American Indians would fill up on water to get an early start the next day.
And then there is the drug Lasix which is used in High Blood Pressure treatment. It makes you lose water rapidly. As in a full bladder every hour.
I really like the rainbow-trail Sydney’s orbs leave behind when she dashes off to pee. A really nice touch.
+1
Yes, and she will be leaving the Potty of gold behind her when she is done.
“Retreats to the Citadel of Aloneness”
*builds the Gatehouse of Companionship, in the distance*
Just pop on over, if you feel like some company.
I usually frequent the Lurker’s Pub and Grill but I’ll be sure to visit
“Aren’t you a little tall to be a leprechaun?”
~Almost, but not quite, a quote from Star Wars
i hear in the original legends leprechauns were huge, like 7 ft tall
They had decent sized pots of gold. These modern leprechauns though – hardly worth getting to the end of the rainbow, for a tiny pot of gold!
yeh, plus i personally hate Lucky Charms, the marshmallows taste like chalk, but then maybe it’s cuz my mom didn’t raise me on sugary cereals and i didn’t encounter it till i was an adult, they say adults have less tastebuds than kids
That, and the marshmallows have had periods of time when they were seriously foul. Currently, they are merely objectionable (Alpha-Bits has disappeared from shelves where I live; Lucky Charms is relatively close enough for those few occasions where I strongly desire crap-food from my youth).
You need to follow Achilles’s culinary advice, and roast your marshmallows. Just don’t use his foodie dictionary.
That tastes like papier mache.
I don’t know about less tastebuds, but they certainly have a more refined palate. In most cases, since of course no broad statement can possibly apply to everyone.
But most kids seem to prefer blander foods. Hot dogs, mac and cheese from a box, bland white bread you can squeeze water out of, etc. I do know adults who will only eat hot dogs, passing up on steaks served at the same meal, and cannot abide by any vegetables at all. That’s a child-like palate!
But most people seem to grow away from those child-like preferences, and that includes sugary cereals and candy in general. I know that I have hardly any sweet tooth at all, and on the rare occasions when I do have a craving for something sweet I’ll open a can of fruit in syrup before I’ll eat candy, not that there’s any candy in the house anyway.
Some huggy panels with Maxima’s caring expression in the one: nice panels for Mother’s Day. :)
OK, after all this I REALLY want Krona to join the regular cast. She’s like Sydney’s calmer cousin or something.
+1
I like her.
+1
I like her. Too.
So, as someone who’s relatively experienced in this, I expect Sydney to be complaining about her nose soon.
{
Glasses+Boobs=Uncomfortable++;
}
Seriously, though, it’s not comfy for anyone involved, and I’ve never smushed my face into a pair of Boobs of Steel (TvTropes link omitted for sanity purposes.) If it ever happens again, Sydney should know to take those things off.
Grrl Power #494 – Phenomenal cosmic power! Itty bitty… well, she’s short anyway
January 19th, 2017 – Krona Hits Snooze
Real time, January 19 to May 11. That’s some snooze!
Comic time seems a longish snooze as well. Pixy changes… ignore time elapsed in the “loop”… they kill time until able to report in order whereupon they fight the “not a robot” until help arrives and drops an Anvil on its head, Max beats on it, Hiro yanks its flux capacitor (which blows in some directions, primarily up), everyone observes The Elephant In The Room and Max’s assets until Anvil forces them to face the issues. Max comforts Syd while others Deal With Shit. Then, and only then, does the snooze wear off.
That is seriously impressive.
You’re not taking the wee, are you‽
So how does her armor ability work with all of this. Did she lower it like her strength so as to be more “hug-able” for Sydney’s sake and if she suddenly increased it would Sydney’s face get stuck in a tight mold of itself that she was no longer strong enough to alter? Would somebodies eyes get poked out? Dabbler corner time? (if she would show up to explain anything in her chibi-scientist mode surely it would be Invinciboob Physics! [now I desperately want a hero/heroine called Invinciboob!])
Somewhere in the comments relating to this page, someone mentions that Maxima’s skin gets more angular and shiny when under stress.* Apparently per a comment of Dave’s, although I cannot recall it myself. But it certainly matches up with observed phenomena, and would answer your question.
Mind you Sydney is distressed enough that I doubt she would notice even if Maxima was hard and cold. Physically that is, rather than emotionally. The latter she very much needs, at the moment.
* My deliberately vague paraphrasing.
Hey Dave? I think it broke again.. Might wanna have someone takes a look at that.
Dave’s not here man.
Lol. +1
but does he have the stuff…?
Apparently, WordPress is at it again – or not, I guess.
Upside is: The arc of suspense keeps growing.
Especially nice for I have no idea what comes next, since most topics have been addressed and Maxima already got briefed – somewhat.
And I am a firm believer that DaveB will NOT get into details about the “Emergency T.P.” but come up with something fresh and surprisingly humorous instead. ;-)
Maybee Dabbler comes sniffing around since a Golem-Borg should be right up her research alley, even if in bits and pieces, and gets pissed about having missed some certain “fun” that was even more so ?
For those too impatient to wait, here’s today’s comic.
Which is prove that DaveB had it ready and it indead was WordPress again.
Also: Nifty, Maggie. Good one. ;-)
Yeah, I wonder what the hell is going on with WordPress.
Thanks! Saved the day there.
Thank you kindly.
Hopefully DaveB is getting a good night’s sleep. So it will likely be a while before he spots this, unless he was feeling paranoid that it might not work.
Nice incentive to encourage folks into the comments community though.
*wags tail companionably*
*rolls over and dies*
[autopsy report: cause of death: strong willpower. subject clearly was resisting commenting, on the new page, but the strain proved to be too much]
I wonder how one can detect “too strong willpower” during an autopsy.
Finding the suppressed comments burned into the retina ?
Or maybe the permanent facial expression of someone munching a citrone chili mix to compensate for not having hit the bathroom for 4 weeks ?
I know Sydney is traumatized and all, but she’s totally motorboating Maxima.
Told ya… XD
Snooze button has ended!
And luckily she didn’t water any villains.