Grrl Power #543 – Elimination speculation
That’s Harem’s butt in the last panel in case you forgot she was wearing the ‘ol glory bikini.
It seems from last page’s comments, you guys beat Max and Sydney to this discussion, and came up with a lot of similar ideas. This still assumes they’re even right about the orb, though it does seem to line up so far.
Over these last few pages I’ve gotten a bit better at drawing bare feet, but I’m a long way from foot fetish levels of competence, which is of course the goal of all art. Maxima on the other hand looks kind of mannequinish to me. I’ve been having trouble with her eyes lately, I think I’m getting in my own head over them. And for some reason it’s been taking me longer and longer to do the penciling overall. I don’t know if I need to take to take a few days off of drawing, which I basically haven’t done since I started the comic, or if I need to get ahead on the comic a little so I can spend a day or two just doing art basics and experimenting with stuff. Honestly I probably would benefit from doing both, but it’s not going to happen if it’s taking me 4 days to pencil 2 pages. I could definitely save some time if I did a page or two of everyone standing in front of the same background that I can draw once then paste paste paste.
Speaking of backgrounds, the blue bit behind them on the couch isn’t sky, it’s, the nearly mirrored surface of the Archon building reflecting the sky. I have to imagine the pool was built on a side of the building that never receives direct sunlight. Otherwise, you’d might get a tan twice as fast, but also the pool would evaporate and you’d need new retinas.
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In the sun, sun, sun.
Speaking of Red Dwarf, the gang should definitely cosplay as the crew of the Red Dwarf sometimes. Maxima would make a good Rimmer.
With Dabbler and Sydney each dressed as scutters? Cause they are cool.
Possibly with Icon as Kryten, Pixel as Cat and Varia as Lister, if they went outside of ArcSWAT staff members. (Even if truly referencing a genderbent Red Dwarf team should have a Dog instead of a Cat).
I thought Harem would make a great Cat…
But there are lots of her. Would that not qualify her better as Kryten? One body would have the full cos-play outfit, with his standard head, whilst the rest would wear black Kabukioutfits (a.k.a. ninja outfits) for their bodies, but wear each of his alternate heads.
Or, with the judicious use of costuming and rule 63, Harem could be Cat, Lister, Rimmer, Kryten, AND Holly.
That got my vote. Math look kind of insane sometimes so I think he should cosplay insane Rimmer in a gingham dress, bonnet, mr Flibble puppet, and pigtails.
Arianna looks kind of like Hilly. Little Halo would make a good Mr Flibble or Talkie Toaster. Dabbler is definitely Cat.
Hiro is Ace Rimmer.
He could pull it off, I am sure.
I think Iron Cloth should come as himself. Both Cat and Ace would need the services of a top tailor.
The ninja assistants though, nobody would expect them to come as shapshifting mutant monsters. They could reenact some of the classics. Like ‘boy meets girl, who turns out to be a mutant shapeshifting monster’.
Warms your heart!
So who do we have left? Krona or some of the other nerds could cos Duane Dibbley.
No no! Krona is way too cool to Dibbley!
As the hacker of reality, might I suggest Holly? Krona could pull off an especially good trick mind, and upgrade herself to actually have an IQ of 6,000. So would not have to be a dumb Holly.
The down side would then being having to share a planet with a bunch of retards with mere treble digit IQs and below.
Unless she either gets hit on the head by Dabbler’s hammer, to forget her experience, or upgrades others to keep her company, I suspect she would have a miserable existence.
Although, with that IQ she may be able to spot another solution. Maybe achieving enlightenment and transubstantiating to a higher plane of existenz?
Yes, but Dumb Holly was the Fun Holly
How about Stalwart as Holly and Arianna as Hilly?
Workable.
Here is a hidden message for you.
Incidentally it is also proof that Swedish is actually just English spoken backwards.
No it is proof that Swedes are the vanguard of a invasion force from a alternate reality. Soon we will ambush you from a nearby IKEA box.
Noo, I have too many things like that!
*looks around in a panic*
I know, they are everywhere. Quite a clever Trojan Horse if I may say so myself.
Okay so both us fans and Sydney & Maxima have noted all possibilities of the Last Orb’s function based on the Space Ship Theory. But what still bugs me is: Why does it have a cloud thinie at its centre?
it doesn’t, the Last Orb, as you say, is the brown-ish one that has a lighter plain circle in the center, it almost looks like the Telepresense Orb. the Air-Orb is the one that has the gas-cloud at the center and is the light green one.
Certainly looks ‘cloudy’ to me, rather than a solid ‘plain circle’
Agreed. The only one with anything resembling a plain circle in its centre is the green Telepresence/Truesight Orb.
The other centres are definitely not circular.
And by green, I obviously mean yellow.
Yup. That is actually the lightbee, when it is in its nest.
“hive”.
Ahh, of course. the Arc-Hive.
Guh-roan.
Good one, sir. Here, get a Yorpie Snax™…
*wags tail appreciatively, whilst munching away*
Actually three orbs have a cloud-like effect in the middle: the Shield Orb, the Brown Mystery orb and the Green Air-Orb.
Clearly it works well for the Air Orb. I have never been able to figure out why the Shield Orb has such myself. A small version of the shield would make more sense thematically, as we see the crackiing lightning-like energy in the PPO and a small tentacle in the Hentai Orb.
Therefore it may be representative of ‘things of a nebulous nature’. Air matches that, in its own right, but even more so, if it can create a variety of things. The shield can appear in a number of different forms, such as a hemisphere, sphere or torpedo shape. And may have other more diverse options too.
The theory breaks down a bit when looking at the PPO though, as that likewise can operate in diverse manners, such as cutting beam or a cluster of small fireballs. However it is energy, rather than matter, so that does give a fair reason why it may appear differently.
Maxima encountered something hard, when she hit the shield, so it is fair to consider that closer to a physical object, than a form of energy.
Therefore, if the ‘variable’ hypothesis is correct, the Brown Mystery orb might create a variety of interesting effects that have some kind of physical manifestation.
An orb of chair, table and chopstick creation, probably. See the brown theme even matches!
*wags tail smartly*
Actually, looking at the Shield Orb closely, it does appear to have a mini-shield inside it. It’s just so large it looks like it’s melding with the outside of the Orb.
You need to see it closer. The green orb has a yellow cloud in it. Whereas the shield orb and brown orb each have white clouds in them.
Possibly panel 3, linked, is tainted by the white speech bubble. In which case we could look at the final panel, which is a bit more pink than white. But is smaller so that may just be an artifact of loss of detail from that. The latter effect gets worse the smaller the orbs appear.
Either way though the cloud-like appearance of any of those stands out whenever you see them closely enough.
You’re correct, but the Shield Orb also contains the shield, when not in use. Look at the lighter blue highlights. Those are the shield. They disappear when the shield is active. This is the same as the Lightbee or the Lighthook.
Well from a spaceship POV the Brownish orb could have an obvious, if glamorous, use.
If this new orb makes a breathable atmosphere (and possibly other needed substances like water or food), then the Brownish orb would likely be waste disposal (CO2, other bodily waste, etc.).
Very sound solution.
Of course if they ever have to fight a fan monster, Sydney had better ensure she raises shields, before using the Poo Poo Orb’s attack!
Hahaha. No doubt.
Then there’s the question of what the upgrades could do. Could the Life support orb blow with force or produce specific gasses? Could a stream of drinking water be upgraded to a fire hose type deluge to help put out fires.
If the Brown Bomber orb handles dangerous or unwanted waste, could it upgrade to allow Sydney hoover up toxic spills or poisonous gasses, or even dangerous radiation. Converting some that matter into energy would be plenty of power to run all the orbs.
Anyway the next time Krona’s pause on the pee break runs out might be a time to test it out.
I hope one of the upgrades is to a hammer-space hydroponics unit. Well a full-blown Eden Project style biosphere. All the food, water, light, air, gravity and calm for R&R, when on a long mission.
Maybe with its own canteen and shop. Sydney could stock it up with a suitable range of reading material.
Maybe representative of the portal theory? One of the other things that seems to possibly be missing on the possibilities level is Terra forming. What good is an away kit if you can’t stay away for a serious amount of time? It would also explain why it seemingly does nothing too. If you’re already in your ideal habitat, what would be the observable change when using it?
Don’t you mean Venusforming? Let us hope that it does not instantly complete its job. I think my water bowl might not like it under Venus-like conditions. Might taste a bit icky.
While we’re speculating, does anyone have access to the tech tree? It seems reasonable that better guesswork may be built on which two other orbs are adjacent to this one (and would have potentially linked functions).
The Skill Tree has links between any pair of orbs, but both times it’s been up Orange has been between Life Support and Force Field
Which leads back to med bay speculation, as another “defensive/protective” function. Or engineering, potentially – these seem to be things of tech, so the ability to interface with other tech night be useful.
Sydney needs to try a combo move using the new orb. Tentacle + Air = Giant Balloon Animals!
He he.
https://grrl-power.wikia.com/wiki/Skill_Tree
Thank you!
Slightly clearer version (ie, what’s his name is out the shot).
https://davebarrack.deviantart.com/art/Halo-s-Skilltree-Wallpaper-01-428873707
Do we know where her two upgrades are plugged in?
Well, if it was a cargo hold and/or brig, perhaps it stores things in the the Cloud?
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
*badabish*
Maxima- its the colours- she doesnt look gold or sparkly in this. At all. Its just… flat. Sydney too in the first panel and to a lesser degree in the second. You’ve forgotten something or changed something. Its not good.
I wouldn’t mind if things went back a little to a more simpler, cartoon-y, coloring style like in the older pages.
Though I agree on Maxima, she looks more yellow skinned than gold/metal in this page.
Indeed. If I didn’t know better I’d swear Max had a really bad sunburn.
I’m going to blame it on that they’re under at least a semi shaded awning and give it a slight pass based on that.
DaveB felt his artistic freedoms were constrained by so many months of drawing the characters underground, so he is flexing his artistic wings, now that they are on the surface again.
His pool-side and underwater effects were all very well received. Here though, under cover, as you say, he has turned to a more pastel-like technique. Although we have had at least one* person who loved the result (on Sydney), overall I would say the effect has not been well received, for the characters.
I find Sydney to have lost her tom-boy like feel, although the introduction of more shading, on this page, as tempered that somewhat. But Max really has lost her shine. We would not expect glittering, being out of direct sunlight, but they still do have a lot of ambient daylight on them, from those panoramic window, so personally speakin I think the subdued tones are rather overdone for the ambient light conditions.
* I have not had a chance to read all the comments recently, so this is limited to those I have spotted.
You’ve been guessing with the other two orbs up till now Max. It’s only NOW that you think, “let’s test it at the firing range”?
In all fairness to Sydney, there are worse places you could unleash an aliens serial killer than a building full of superheroes. Max probably just does not want to wreck the building in the ensuring fight.
The portal test would require Sydney to hold the truesight orb while doing it in order to see if anything invisible DID try to get out.
The fight would be interesting. Sydney would just stand there in her shield saying “It’s behind you! No, over to your left. Now up. More left! Behind you at 12 o’clock high! Wait, do you use military time? Would that be zero hundred hours?”
Ah… 12 o’clock high is directly in front and up. Not behind.
Apparently my attempt to depict confusing instructions was confusing. Sydney has said in the past she ‘doesn’t know how to military’. Or was that ‘how to army’? I seem to have confused myself. :(
And the power of the last is demonstrated on Juan
Wouldn’t that depend on which way you are facing? And if you are in the Northern or Eastern Hemisphere? In Winter or Spring?
Old pond
frog leaps in
water’s sound
Funny to think of the final Orb as the equivalent of a Phantom Zone projector. Though it could be for collecting specimens, which could be even more dangerous if those Orbs have been used on many other planets.
Creatures from other planets are likely to be dangerous as they are to die shrieking in pain from our hellishly too hot/cold, poisonous air, crushing gravity, etc. Our they might be as dangerous to us as a basket of baby rabbits.
Australia wants you to know, that’s still fairly dangerous.
Yep, we nearly had our entire ecosystem wiped out by toads
Then they started electing them to Parliament and training them in sports >_>
Now Australia’s evolving and we now have spiders that eat them…
This evolution and counterevolution will eventualy wipe out all human life. At least the sentient superpowered toads that will inherit our Earth will have a nice accent.
Albeit being kept as livestock for the spider overlords, and their king Vance.
Who in turn bow down to the Squirrel Overmind.
Maybe some young hero will rise up, to oppose him‽
You all might be nuts….
@Sel: Only ‘might be’? Pretty sure we’re just plain nuts. And I am okay with this.
@Nixeu
I will have you know I AM NOT “plain nuts.”
I am extra fancy, special nuts.
Fights against invisble enemies are perfect to save drawing time. And pose a problem to Sydney. She needs vison, shield and lighthook/energy blast. Maxima does not have an extended range of vision. The ARCLight lady might coordinate such a fight. I guess Dabbler has some sort of highly advanced paintball gun to mark the target.
Conveying a convincing fight against invisible opponents is actually very hard. The thought time alone, to ensure that the effect is conveyed well and interestingly will be high. Not to mention figuring out composition problems, the lack of a focal point and other such issues.
Plus the fact that the same amount of area needs to be drawn and Dave will still want the scene to be interesting. So would probably end up spending just as much time on the background and the still visible protragonists.
Just a piece of advice about fighting invisible opponents: draw sketchy visible ones in some way you can remove them after. It does not completely negates the thought time necessary (since you have to imagine how their opponents try to fight them), but, at least, you won’t ignore spatial issues and can identify and add details such as footprints, raised dust or displaced smoke, etc. more easily.
Cunning advice.
I am reminded of the issue of the Alpha Flight comic that consisted of a fight between a hero and a villain both wearing all white in a snowstorm.
Lots of word balloons, thought balloons and sound effects. It was pretty awesome.
As the orbs were found unaccompanied, certain possibilities arise
1) there is something about Earth’s conditions that destroyed the original ship and/or its pilot. Unlikely, since they seem well adapted to Earth conditions.. unless it was a pilot/navigation/computer error, or structural fault in the ship, resulting in destruction during re-entry or landing
2) the original pilot discarded them, and is still somewhere about. This can only be because he/she/it doesn’t wish to be found…
3) The original holder died of other causes (already dead before crashing or shortly thereafter, ala Abin Sur). The orbs were just waiting until somebody worthy came along, but they linked with Sydney instead.
4. They were transported in to where Sydney found them seconds before Sydney’s arrival, as a reaction by the alien device scanning for a compatible mind to control them.
5. Cthulhu dropped his “swiss army knife”. See theory of multi-tentacled creator species.
6.They are eggs of a species that consists of energy-beings of great and innately diverse abilities and properties, and Sydney is their caretaker / “dogwalker” unknowingly tasked with using their abilities to develop/train the embryos prior to hatching. Their apparent spaceship component resemblance is just coincidental.
I could do this all day.
7. It is not from space and has always been on Earth. Or from another reality.
The former owner was so busy investigating something that it didn’t notice the approaching shark. The shark ate the head (or equivalent) and the spheres in one bite, and swam off. The former owner’s crewmates couldn’t track the shark and determine where the (indigestible) spheres were dropped, or perhaps didn’t try because the things are so commonplace as to not be worth the bother.
The orbs do also have a non-detection aspect, which would make tracking them down very hard (without some kind of override capability).
Maybe the orb-ship is designed for stealth missions? Such missions may not have a follow-up, if they go wrong, for fear of compounding any problems (such as also loosing the backup team).
with the stealth idea, maybe last orb is a disguise maker
Yup. And the higher grades might be for shapechanging. So really effective disguises.
And no disguise will work if behaviours do not match appearances. Therefore it could include things like instant linguistic and cultural skill acquisition.
That’s confused me so far (I know they are only about 4 days in, real-time wise) but why haven’t they planned a trip back to where Sydney found the orbs?
Maybe ARCLight are already doing that, but it seems like something along those lines would be a fairly high-priority venture?
Maybe ARClight is indeed doing so, but with all the events (it’s the 2nd day after the Vehemence fun, isn’t it?) the journey was a bit postponed and they’ll come to Sydney about this just this afternoon :^)
Then again… I’d consider it more important than the meeting with the counsil…
Well, after the meeting with the council, if anyone has debriefed Krona over what she saw behind the scenes of Sydney’s orbs, I would think that finding anything more about the orbs would be top priority.
The orbs are the interface elements for a multidimensional construct programmed into the base code of the universe. The sentients who made this are scary and I can’t imagine it was one of them that was the former owner and died; perhaps the former owner was some alien who found the orbs t discarded when the original owners outgrew it and transcended our universe? Or maybe they were a toy for one of their children? Or a tool given to a less advanced race?
Either way, not knowing the details of the skill tree, we must assume that there are no reasonable limits on these orbs. Sydney could eventually work her way up the skill tree into being the most powerful being on the planet.
Nobody debriefs Krona. She is the top of the pyramid.*. Besides which she has absolute power over underwear, it is she who debriefs everyone else!
* Krona heads up her own faction (by deduction, although never stipulated in the comic) so is like the president of a country, if you consider the Twilight Council to be the United Nations of the unseen world.
Well argued on all points (barring the bit about removing panties, but nice thought).
Also you are assuming that Krona can describe what she saw in the orbs, it could be beyond human vocabular to understand, or even remember beyond vague impressions
Actually if you discount the briefing, as I did, then the remainder is not dependent on Krona being able to convey what she saw. Sydney will still work her way up to being, if not the most powerful, then one of the most powerful supers on the planet. Whether she knows the coding or not.
Krona would, of course, be the prime contender to stand along side her. Even if she is unable to impart the true significance of what she sees, Krona has a better chance to understand it than most, as her own programming language is related enough for her to at least have recognised what she was seeing.
Your assumption mind is that Krona can understand it. If humans cannot comprehend the code, then that may discount Krona too. This being provided that she is ‘human with the ability to hack reality.’
If she is a god though, then that is another matter. And there are other shades in between those extremes too. So your assumption may actually be pitched right.
Kronachrome doesn’t have to be able to explain it, as long as Sydney trusts her when she says “That would not be a good idea to do that!”, like she did when Maxi warned her about it possibly being a Space Brig
And now bits of ‘Kodachrome’ by Paul Simon are playing in my brain. Thanks for that.
Whered’ya think the name came from? :D
3) The orbs sought out Sydney from offworld, just as an unclaimed lantern ring seeks out a suitable wielder in DC. Although which of her characteristics made her eligible would be questionable. Being quick-thinking, tactically minded, superpower-savvy?
4) Something Else killed off the original user, possibly some kind of traditional enemy of orb users, or a rival, higher level orb user.
5) The orbs are actually a manifestation of powers intrinsic to Sydney herself [unlikely].
I’m sure there are many more…
3) The previous orb user attempted to ‘escape’ a perilous situation and is now stuck in the ‘brig’ orb.
The Florida Keys are part of the Bermuda Triangle…
I’ll go with ‘died of mysterious causes’. Especially if they themselves picked up the Orbs without knowing what they did. Just because they had powers from the Orbs, doesn’t mean they had the sense to come in out of the rain.
Besides what Syd and Max have listed, what are other possible ship components or systems the last orb could be?
Ships Computer? A massive library of all the planets that the astronaut (if that’s the correct term) had visited before its untimely demise?
Orb: “New user detected, do you wish to run tutorial mode?”
Sydney: “…”
Med bay? Sleeping quarters? Mess hall? Anti-matter reactor?
Other than those mentioned in comic and above? Black box, escape pod, cloaking device, it could even be one that sustains another orb allowing both to be released (auto-pilot/machine spirit).
Self destruct mechanism?
Or nothing at all, just a Mcguffin to support a possible use of the Corbomite manuever?
And as previously mentioned in-comic, a power source for all other orbs. Without it, the orbs would have to generate their own power.
I don’t find that particularly hard to believe. I would assume that, if one had access to the base-code of the universe, near-infinite (or even infinite) power supplies would not be a huge challenge.
True dat. The mysterious nature of the orbs and the power they’ve displayed makes it more believable/possible/plausible than less.
Perhaps it’s function is maintenance and it has manufacturing/engineering/repair functions, like putting something in drydock ? Or it builds useful things like helper bots/drones useful for mining or terraforming? Maybe it’s an ambulance and she has autodoc/stretcher/hibernation pods? Or biological assay/secondary terraforming so she can scan, sample, and clone lifeforms for copying ecosystems from one planet to another.
I must admin, I really like the idea of a hold and/or brig, but I am wondering how many functions of the orbs are accessible via whatever gets to the skill tree. Is there a way to get to the ships computer, navigation, configuration functions without an orb? What if you can access the inside of the construct, getting to the hold or brig or other rooms, like a Tardis, without an orb, but just by some mental process.
So the brown orb is infinitely big, on the inside, stocked with everything a well equipped super-star destroyer should have, plus an endless supply of jelly babies?
I commend the idea, to the community.
Dave. If you need to take a break once in a while to sort something out, we’ll understand. I mean, besides the technical mishap a few weeks ago, when was the last time you missed a day?
Do like how much younger/relaxed Max is looking while doing the brainstorming here. Its nice to see she isnt doing her drill sargent rutine all the time.
Well these shenanigans look like they’re gonna be an absolute gas….
Is that just normal air, or methain?
ammonium sulfide?
Sulfur dioxide?
I think nitrous oxide would get more laughs.
Perhaps a nice helium/nitrogen mix.
Okay so… I can see why Sydney wouldn’t think of this because she and Maxima floated in the bubble a moment ago. But she had the flying orb on-hand, while Maxima just can fly. Causing a giant mass of bubbles to come up under someone without flight powers though may lead to them falling straight through the bubbles because they are less dense than water. Good thing she’s doing it to someone who can teleport. xD
Harem is also resting with her arms on the poolside. It’s going to look like she just had a ginormous fart. (even better if Syd managed to add in some trace noxious fumes to the bubble)
Oh darn it, you both pointed out what I was going to. Well, at least I didn’t look like a copycat by repeating this.
Harem is about to have a sinking feeling, as the density of her medium goes down. This kind of effect has brought down many ships, when a big ball of subterranean methane gets released under a ship.
Appropriately – depending on the Orb and Sydney’s mastery of it – that there just might BE a big ball of methane…
TBH, the art seems to me, to have strayed into “Drawn Together” territory. Sydney seems to be a completely different species from Maxima in particular.
It’s hard to tell from the panel in comic #94, but it looks like the Flyball was partially encased in the coral reef. So, either they’ve been there for a while, or there might have been a warp-in error where they arrived inside solid rock possibly?
Which also makes the option for Orange to be a phase cloak/dimensional shifter. They aren’t alien as in extraterrestrial, but alien as in not from this universe…
Sydney: “This thing has Hammerspace, a cloaking field, phasing options… I’m not a spaceship, I’m a TARDIS on steroids apparently. Who the hell would make something so ridiculously overpowered?”
(orbs move into skill tree formation, but projects this instead)
Individual Multi UniVersal ExploRation System
“I Movers?”
A FamTech Product – BBFO, LLC
603 – 555 – 8755
BR 549
serendiptous tumbleweed bounces by
Well, apparently I’m old.
OmniVersal would give you I Movers; UniVersal would give you I Muvers.
So that’s Harem in the pool,how’ll she react to being encased in the green orb’s bubble?
The bubble is just an air-pocket, so, she would just breathe? After comically panicking and flailing before *VORP*ing back to her home farm (or into the boardroom where Ari is holding an important High Brass Conference :D )
While something does feel off about their skin, I do really love how that couch looks waterproof.
Yeah I like that Dave put some effort into details like that.
Just to add to the discussion, maybe the Orbs functions vary depending on the environment they are in?
Just something extra to think about.
Interesting thought. So the green orb could be a cheezeburger creator, in air, and a sausage maker in fire. Whilst the truesight orb might grant sonar underwater and x-ray vision below ground. The PPO, of course would normally be useless underwater (assuming that the water would negate the fiery attack), so maybe it summons torpedoes there, and in space, instead?
The Flyball might be a tunneling orb underground and grant protection from heat and fire, whilst in such an environment. Maybe the tentacle becomes shovel-shaped, underground? We have seen that it remains tentacle-like in water mind. But obviously it would be a burger-flipper in fire.
Dont forget, differant physics can apply – for the PPO for example, just be cause we saw a laser like line doesn’t mean it actually was… For all we know it was just a place holder line so you can see what your subatomically cutting at the point of contact
True.
I see Sydney is up on her Bermuda Triangle lore. Rising gas (methane if I recall correctly) has been identified as a genuine way to sink ships. Obviously it takes a massive release of gas, but there are vast pockets of such, as we know from mining such using rigs.
And the Bermuda Triangle does have such pockets, so if they are prone to rupture could well explain a number of the cases of ships being sunk, even in good weather and with no other factors involved.
What works for a ship will work for a swimming heroine.
Or make her look like she has done a massive fart.
Yeah, was thinking it would cause Blondini to fall through the air pocket into deeper water, unless she can manage to cling to the edge or *VORP* to safety, depends on how good her reflexes are to sudden Sydney
Despite the lore, the Bermuda Triangle does not have any more lost ships than any other area so heavily trafficked.
I never claimed it did. But it does have a number of unexplained losses, such as the circumstances I described. Assuming that there is a reasonable distribution of gas pockets in oceans around the world the frequency of such losses would match the patterns in the Burmuda triangle.
However if correlating such unexplained losses with areas that have larger than average concentrations of rupture-prone gas pockets I bet that there would be a higher correlation than with the areas which do not.
In other words parts of the Bermuda triangle might be more dangerous than the rest of it, and likewise in the rest of the world. So both our comments can be valid, at the same time.
Methyl Hydrates, warmed by climate change, can theoretically be released in nearly volcanic levels of violence. There are apparently vast field of the stuff in many places.
Unpleasant way to go. Drowning after sinking in a massive cold fart.
I guess that it is the dinosaurs having the last laugh, after all.
But this does bust the saying ‘he who smelt it, dealt it’.
Incidentally, here is a picture of the known fields. Including one smack in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle.
Psst. I don’t care if those are not believed to be formed by dinosaurs. They were kicking around on this planet, and dominant, for a lot longer than us. They managed to figure out how to counter climate change, so probably mastered sequestering. Even if they were less skilled at countering planet-killer asteroids.
Or just very bad at steering them, when bringing them to Earth for mining.
those orbs could be left behind by dinosaur scientists you know… orbs flying to hands could seriously help the T-rex for example
*nods*
And eggs are symbolically very important for dinosaurs too.
I wonder which one will hatch first? I bet it is the brown pants orb!
Interesting that the air is coming out of the orb and going up, instead of surrounding Sydney like last time. More evidence of a mental control factor, the way I’m assuming the lighthook works.
Also, I’m laughing a lot harder than I probably should over a fart joke.
I’m eagerly awaiting seeing the bouncy bubbles bouncing a bikini top right off of a torso or two.
Love your comic :)
For the art issue what if you asked for enough fan art in time for the next ‘chapter end’ to give yourself a couple weeks off of posting? Take a week off and a week to do fundamentals and then your back to the grind? Just make sure you give yourself that little push of ‘extra work’ right before the break so you aren’t swamped with anything when you get back.
Here here,
I’m sure everyone here would forgive you a week off. Other webcomic artists do it all the time!
Stripey bottom… that was Harem. Blowing bubbles up a teleporter.
*jumps into T-16 Skyhopper and starts to target a bullseye on the womp-rat*
Hey, you are a womp-rat, right? Is an Ugwump just a big version? Looks like you have a gun, so this should be a fair duel!
*commences strafing run*
Take this vermin!
“Fires 3m hellebore orbital bombardment cannon at wompratt.”
Steef. https://oddworld.wikia.com/wiki/Steef
In action: https://youtu.be/pm_ITtdZ4oo?t=8m13s
*veers off strafing run, to watch video*
Say, interesting. And not vermin. Need to work on that right mouse move though.
Universal translator!!!! If you’re traveling the Galaxy/universe and you encounter another being, you’d want to try to communicate a bit.
Damn Harem… that’s one HUGE fart you let out in the pool!
SNERK!!
Since that IS Harem’s butt, shouldn’t she be listed on the Who’s Who?
Not unless it’s speaking.
That will be next update.
New character “Harem’s Butt”
Plural
I dunno, I am pretty sure that bikini is talking to ME, at least. +1 vote to have it listed on Who’s Who.
I feel I should erect some kind of response, to that vision.
I would have thought that the Lightbee orb is more analogous to the transporter, with its new beam me up function.
It’s literally one Node. That’s the extent to which the Comm Ball is devoted to teleportation. It’s pretty obviously more scanners/sensors than teleported.
I feel I should erect some kind of response, to that vision.
*teleports my prior reply to the correct thread, above*
Hey Dave, I think the problem is Maxima looks too relaxed. If you look back even just to the cannonball scene, her face is very expressive. In fact I think if you look all the way back you’ll find that Max has always had quite a stern expression as her default.
If it helps your head canon, just imagine that Dabbler is somewhere out of frame and Max is mildly irritated by whatever she’s doing. :)
Sydney’s hair is slowly drying out and is trying to reassert its independence. Release the Bangs!
DaveB, maybe be a little more expressive with the eyebrows?
DaveB, how about just doing XKCD or OofS style stick figures for a fortnight, just for a laugh, and to give you the time out you need? It could be rationalised by Sydney experimenting with the Truesight orb and getting stuck in a weird vision mode, for a while.
*holds a stick in mouth, and wags tail keenly*
Even if this is too tongue-in-cheek a solution, I would suggest exploring options, such as posting fan-art for a couple of weeks. You have kept to a gruelingly strict routine for years now, and need a change of pace. Both to have the freedom to experiment and simply to avoid burn-out.
A very real problem if there is the risk of the joy of experimentation being replaced with the grind of producing material to meet readers’ expectations.
Take time to chill and give in to the urge to experiment with your artistic passion.
Sydney is poking around in Dabbler’s lab and accidentally gets transported to Bizzaro world. There she meets nega-Sydney, a dour and overly proper university professor of the classics who looks down on all fantasy literature and is surrounded by seven floating cubes.
Two weeks of daily early sketches if you still have them.
Theory: the last orb makes food or fills the user with energy equivalent to eating a meal, i.e., the equivalent of the “create food and water” spell from D&D.
Yup, Star Trek replicators have been suggested. It is a good idea.
Can I haz cheezeburger?
*wags tail, uncertainly*
“Sets out triple decker thick cut BLT with condiment bar”
And beverages”
No, for Sydney it would be an entire bowl of Carolina Reapers.
*talking with mouth full*
Nopbh frr Sydnyy. Shhhys welcumph ‘crse. Ymmmffy
As I said, one more possibility is that it is meant for espionage a la “The Soft Weapon”/”The Slaver Weapon”. The logic that Niven presented, that a hand-portable multi-function tool or set of tools that can serve as transportation doesn’t make sense for fighting (or solo exploration) but would be invaluable for a spy, works just as well here as it did in that story.
And as in that story, the possibility of a hidden self-destruct mechanism is significant. This could be a Problem.
I mean “fighting on a battlefield”, sorry. I keep dropping words and phrases like that. It is suited for one on one fighting, but in mass combat you can’t stand around trying to decide which tool or weapon you want to use; foot soldiers have to react quickly, and often reflexively, and need to know their weapons inside and out, so a complex multi-function weapon or suite of weapons would only get in the way, hence the use of a limited repertoire of single-function weapons, with more specialized weapons being used by soldiers trained to use them and only them (and a basic weapon all are expected to be able to use).
But have you considered small teams? Provide capability by each member of the team having a specialty or two, and redundancy by each member having basic proficiency with, and access to, all the tools.
The catch is, to test this theory properly we’d need two sets of orbs. Then see if Person2 can be inside Syd’s shield and use their lighthook (and then other orbs as appropriate) outside it.
Varia could try, but it wouldn’t be quite the same.
I can understand why it might not be so good for battlefield combat, but why not solo exploration? Seems like a pretty good toolkit for that, from where I sit.
I wonder if the brown orb summons a red shirt?
Bring me my brown pants!
No sick bay ball? Hmmm…
Maybe the brown orb is a vomitorium?
“vomitorium” just means “exit,” not “room for puking”
Ahh, clearly you did not read my link to the Wikipedia article, on the subject, if you had that misapprehension. It is right there, at the end of my comment.
I was countering the medical bay suggestion with one which might invoke visions of a cultural star ship. One where the crew relieve the monotony of long voyages with musical and theatrical performances. The vomitorium would just be a means of accessing the hammerspace auditorium.
Hopefully without too many monsters currently rehearsing in it.
Fun Fact: possibly by coincidence, “exit” is also latin. it means “he leaves”.
Hey Dave, I have noticed Maxima’s “thinking/normal speaking” face seems to get recycled a bit over the last few pages/days. I mean, other than the wildly different faces she has when Halo splashes her or Dabbler…Dabblers. Honestly, it just means you’re becoming accomplished as an artist! Just look at Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure by Hirokhi Araki! The characters in earlier arcs of the story have a much wider range of visible emotions than what he tends to draw nowadays.
In all seriousness, have you ever seen any of the “how to draw for animation” stuff Disney has produced over the years? I worked at a video game studio that made games for Disney (no, not Disney Studios or any of the other names its had). They sent a whole load of reference material explaining how the “Disney style” is created for our art team. I’m not an artist myself (not a visual one at least) but I found it super interesting. The same tricks can be applied to 3D animation, hand-drawn cell animation, “static” art and even live-action acting if you’re good enough with your face. I daresay Ryan Gosling (WHO I LOVE DON’T GET ME WRONG) could learn a thing or two about it.
Anyway, I’ve loved the Orb experiment sub-plot, it’s been really fun! I don’t normally scan comments so the “Maybe this is a spaceship” idea hadn’t hit me until Maxima mentioned it. At the very least, if it was made for aliens, it seems like the aliens probably only have two hands like Halo (Maxima’s line of “I KNOW HOW MANY HANDS A HUMAN HAS” made me think this).
Seems out of character for Harem not to be wearing a thong.
The question is not will there be a reaction. The question is how much of a chain reaction as all of Harem responds to the sudden blowing. Lets leave it at that…
Are you thinking something like this? Oh, wait, you wanted it left to the imagination. OK scrub that mental image from your mind. No exposed female flesh. Expunge the thought of any nubile bodies reacting to such a strange sensation over her body.
I guess you forgot:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/389
I remember all too well when something random happened to Harem.
Naa, no forgetting. I just felt like being naughty. Harem is not the only one to get such urges. :-)
Just realized that it’s apparent that Sydney can mentally control where the ‘atmosphere’ from the green Orb goes to. It doesn’t have to be around her, she can send it to someone else.
Slightly better than the shield which she hasn’t found a way to project outward to protect others without her needing to be inside it.
I looks like Sydney is an air bender, but only when not actually in air. Which kind of limits the practicality.
Is she controlling it though? It may just be ‘retain unnatural bubble shape’ or ‘behave like normal air’?
This is not to say that she is not … ahem… controlling the air, but I think I will reserve judgement until we have seen a bit more versatility. But the early signs are promising, I will grant that. Halo has more control than just a default setting.
Sydney only has two point on the skill-tree for fart-orb
PPO works on whatever it’s pointed at. Hentai orb is the same. Nether have a bit in the center of the orb. Flight acts on the user but not centred/targeted on her like the shield or teleport.
The rest have a thing in the center even when the orb is not in use.
The last orb has a center bit therefore acts on the user.
Storage is out. General hollodeck is out unless it’s more specific to her.
Actually both do. The tentacle orb has a tentacle and the PPO has crackling red lightning.
Notably when in use both those effects disappear from in the orb, and they become plain (like the fly ball always is, but retaining their respective basic colour).
Five bucks says it’s a universal translator.
but what language does it say that in?
Interpretive dance.
Modern or Contemporary? o_O
Definitely non-historical, probably present-day , maybe in the moment?
Pseudo-Russian kick dancing, accompanied bydeath metal yodelling fusion.
Go ahead, look it up on youtube. It’s a thing.
PS: and everything is lost in translation.