Grrl Power #546 – Meet the new grrl, same as the old grrl
Ah! Wall of text! My eyes!
Maxima’s dialog was supposed to be all background text, like with the foreground stuff overlapping it, but I figured out how to make it all fit, and turned out to be kind of relevant.
For those of you unfamiliar with Jabberwokky, here is her first appearance.
And here’s the free show she references and the kiss.
BTW Jabber’s real name is Jazmine, she goes by Jazza cause it’s hard to have street cred when you’re rocking a Disney Princess name. Also Jazza sounds cool. Her last name is Ng, pronounced “ing” and she’s half Taiwanese. I know she doesn’t look particularly Asian, but while Lucy Liu is half Chinese and looks Asian as… uh a very Asian looking person… Chloe Bennet, who plays Skye/Daisy/Quake on Agents of SHIELD is also half Chinese, and I was blown away when I learned that, because she does not look Asian to me AT ALL. Apparently she’s a fairly successful pop star over there. So weirdly, Agents of SHIELD is the only show I’m aware of with two Asian leads in it. So my point is, Jazza is half Taiwanese and I can draw her however I like. Thanks Chloe!
Edit: Whoops, apparently Lucy Liu is full Chinese. I don’t know why I thought she was mixed. That should teach me to check my assumptions but it probably won’t.
Also I’m aware I now have a character named Dabbler and one whose nickname will probably be Jabber on occasion. So no chance that will confuse anyone. Also between her and Jiggawatt I have two “JW’s” which is why Jabberwokky doesn’t have a choker yet. I didn’t have time to design hers. Though Jiggawatt’s choker is just a “J” so it shouldn’t to hard to make them look different.
Also also I kind of didn’t plan that last panel well with the order of the word bubbles and the placement of the characters. The person speaking first should be on the left so their bubble will be above them, but if I had reversed the camera angle to accommodate that, then Max and Arianna wouldn’t in the shot. Oh well, Portals to the rescue.
Two links for those of you who like clicking on things. I was on a webcomic podcast and talked about webcomics mostly.
Also I found a kickstarter for a comic that looks decent. A gal bonds with a goddess and gets all fit and super powered. Really nice art too. Ignore the fact that the title “Patriotika” makes it sound like either a ‘What-If distaff counterpart Captain America but in Russia’ comics, (that should actually be called “Kommissarina Kremlin”) or one of those Poser rendered ‘superheroine loses her powers and gets damsel in distressed’ comics. I know you guys know what I’m talking about. Anyway check it out if you like.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
why do I have a feeling Dabbler might have just gotten an unwanted girlfriend?
If it might reduce her chances to ‘play the field’, then yea. If Jabberwokky is as jealous as she has appeared previously (being willing to attack, when fully under Dabbler’s influence) then that could be a serious problem for her.
Even funnier if she does need to get Maxima’s help.
*waggles tail in ecstatic irony*
Dabbler’s problem being that she may have triggered very real emotions in Jabberwokky, that are independent of her powers.
However this pans out, it will be very interesting. Even more so if Dabbler decides it it not ‘unwanted’ and then (if J.W. is the jealous sort, or even just traditional-minded), having to deal with the bizarre (to succubi) concept of monogamy.
Given that, like most succubi, Dabbler feeds on sex, I’m not sure if a monogamous relationship would actually be healthy for Jabberwokky. It’s possible that they might be forced to have an open relationship for health reasons.
For a normal human, yea. For a super, with powers that can include stamina? Maybe not.
Although the upper echelons of Archon may not be happy with her having to take time off to recover, in line with Dabbler’s feeding needs. But if that is the way their relationship goes, then Archon will just have to make do with her services when she is available. Much the same as with Halo and her comic shop rider.
The law of supply and demand dictates that Archon’s demands will be the lesser consideration to Dabbler’s, if Jabberwokky wants to go steady.
Dabbler did a fairly big job of wrecking the giant fellow who looked like he probably had stam powers.
Fairly GOOD job… Big job? how did I even…?
Dr. Freud, call your office. You have a new patient.
Stamina powers would make wrecking them a big job relative to the level of the power so the initial statement works just fine jetstream
We’ve seen Dabs leaving a couple of supers (who weren’t Archon at the time) drained after spending the night.
I suspect most supers could spend half an hour of (ahem) quality private time with her, and be fine. But all night – apparently not. And Jabs is now a member of the team, so there’s the matter of regulations and orders…
Dabbler has been given rules against feeding off of teammates, indeed. However if they do fall in love, and choose not to be kept apart, then all those rules will do is either force them to have a clandestine relationship* or to leave Archon. As Dabbler is a civilian specialist, and not even a US citizen or even human, that will be easy for her to do.
Harder for JW, but if she has criminal convictions she may well ignore any rules and just desert with Dabbler. Who is not into rules herself.
So Archon do need to take their potential relationship seriously and treat it differently to their rules geared towards casual sex.
* Leaving them exposed to both performance issues on the job, for Jabbers, and blackmail.
If she’s unwanted, she’s not a girlfriend. She’s a stalker, possibly a sexual harasser. But who says she’s unwanted? Maybe Dabbler is just surprised by the ninja attack and needs a moment to regroup. ;)
The exact legal aspect of this might be a little unusual because technically it was dabbler who started the original encounter and might be why Max isn’t stepping in.
Plus, this is Dabs we’re talking about. is it sexual harassment if someone is aggressively pushing you to eat some of your favorite food?
In a word: Yes.
Let me put it this way: If you keep asking when a prostitute tells you you haven’t got enough scratch to pay for her, that’s sexual harassment even though she is literally out there looking for people to ask her to have sex.
Yeah, this.
Kinda gives me the impression that Arianna and Maxima can hear Dabbler’s words better than Jazza’s.
Not the intention, of the portals rearranging the speech bubbles, as per Dave’s blog above. But I can see where you are coming from.
Not that it would hurt the scene, as it is reasonable that Jabberwokky may be speaking in a more quiet intimate voice, whereas Dabbler’s protests would likely be louder.
Those portals though… Heugh.
Thanks!
One little thing. Would it be possible for you to put a link to “reference pages” in the comments? Jabberwocky showed up like 3 years ago and we have not seen her in over two, so it’d be nice to have an easy way to refresh our memories (I had to rummage through the archive).
Thanks again!
Yeah I ought to do that.
For info:
First appearance here most recent here.
Actually, first appearance is at https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1333
Bwahahahaha. Max is loving the Karma Hammer dropping on Dabbler.
Side note: Anyone else anticipating the fact that Sydney is totally not paying attention to Maxima on that particular topic coming back to bite everyone on the butt XD
Side Side Note: You may have been able to better fit the speech bubbles in if you had separated the last panel into 2. One with the interaction between Jabberwocky and Dabbler, and the other with Maxima and Arianna. Or just used the chibi heads under the main comic for their one liners ;)
I suspect she’s paying enough attention. I think you give Sydney too little credit as a character. Just because she’s ADHD doesn’t mean she’s inattentive. The problem will be if reporters try and back her into a corner, to which she has an answer that many don’t. Halo can simply fly away, on the Z axis.
True.
I think Arianna and Maxima need to remember Sydney’s mysterious behaviour when the discussion of a potential relationship between Max and Hiro was brought up. Halo probably needs to have Maxima’s point about “no matter how well crafted you think your answer is” hammered home, by repetition.
Learn by failure is probably the best method for her. Just let her talk with Ariana about the topic and have everything she says picked apart and misinterpreted. Not to mention the sensitive nature of the information for defence.
Oh my goodness! YES! This is exactly what I wanted back when Jabberwocky first appeared! Dave, you just made me your happiest reader yet!
Wouldn’t it have been easier to just flip Dabbler and Jabberwokky? Putting Dabbler in the bottom right corner of the panel, and all that.
(Also I almost typoed ‘Jabblerwokky’.)
Jabblerwokky sounds like a great ship name. :)
I was gonna go with DabbaJabba
Dabblerwokky.
Dabblewokky.
Bob
Ahh, yes, Kate.
Mmm. No, it would break continuity and also the expected positioning, for a scene to flow naturally. Jabberwokky was being introduced from the front of the room, whilst Dabbler was in the back. So Dave could not just physically swap their positions.
Whereas Dave discussed the possibility of doing that, the other way, by flipping the camera angle. Which would not work out because of where Arianna and Maxima are positioned.
Bear in mind that Dave does the picture first, then adds the bubbles. Whilst he does plan these things out, in advance, too it is not always possible to anticipate every problem. Especially if the dynamics changed between Dave’s initial sketching out of the lay-out and how the details evolved, as he fleshed out the scene.
Always bearing in mind the time constraints. At a certain point it is not possible to rearange things (other than when a simple mirroring of a frame can be pulled off). Hence why a fix on the run would have been needed, in order to keep to the update schedule.
A very clever solution, to the problem. Somewhat confusing, but mightily rewarding once it is figured out.
Obviously anyone who has not played Portal would be at a disadvantage. But if so, that is something they should remedy. It is a good game. And probably dirt-cheap, as they were giving it out free as an incentive to join Steam, back in the day. So even someoneone on as poor a budget as me should be able to afford it.
I love the voice bubble portals. Even if unintended, it kinda enforces how outa the blue this is to Dabbler. And JW’s actions should be viewed the same way as an injury received in combat (even though she was on the wrong side), just that it’s an injury to her mind that (probably) only Dabbler can fix.
This is literally wrong and backwards, if you look at the previous panels. Jazza is on the left side of panel 5.
Anyway, a simpler solution would be to put Jazza’s first bubble at middle top, and then have each of Xuriel’s bubbles dropped enough to fall to a lower line than the preceding Jazza bubble. No redrawing of the figures necessary.
But I thought the portals were funny. No, not necessary, but funny, so I say let it stand.
Room continuity I am right.
However I did overstate it by then adding “…and also the expected positioning”, for the reason you say. I should have double checked, rather than just going by memory. It flowed well, so I made an assumption that Dave had used conventional angles, in the build up to the problematic end panel.*
So I was wrong on that detail, but my points otherwise stand.
Yours, regarding the alternate bubble lay out, seem to make sense.
* Still it worked, even if it does defy conventions. Presumably Dave had mentally laid out where he wanted everyone to be, and then chose interesting angles. Whilst preserving the continuity of who is where.
Actually if Maxima and Arianna reactions had just been split off into either the Chibi Head bar at the bottom or a separate panel, there would have been plenty of room for the speech bubbles without the need to “teleport” Dabbler’s dialogue or change their positioning.
The chibi heads, I am not sure about. The problem lies with Dabbler and JW, not Arianna and Maxima.
Although I do appreciate that their presence is helping to push Dabbler’s speech bubble into too small an area for it to go, so maybe.
The split panel though I disagree with. The dramatic conclusion to the scene deserves the visual impact that the final big panel gives. Splitting that would weaken the dynamism of the page. Dabbler and JW need to be the primary feature of the final panel. With the other conversation as an aside.
Whilst that could have gone underneath the comic, as Dave has done in the past, I like the composition of the final panel.
Plus those portals are funny. Which works because of the space problems. Some people love it, whereas others hate it. I am very much in the ‘love it’ camp.
It’s posts like this, Yorp, that make me think you’re Dave’s alter-ego.
Actually I am your alter ego. Have you never noticed how I only post when you are not looking at the screen?
Eeeeerie….
Hey Dave,
Maxima’s eyelashes in panel 2 are practically non-existent, in panel 3 they look normal. Hope this helps.
Yeah, she’s looking down slightly at the front row, so her eyelashes are pointing more or less at the camera. It’s not perfect, drawing people looking down is curiously challenging.
anybody else feel like they have missed a page (jump cut feels jarring)
Slice of Life can sometimes be like a Slapchop. The blades come down where you least expect them.
+1
Plus the recovery from that scene would be both grueling and require sensitive handling. Neither of which would lend the clean-up scene(s) to comedy. Personally I am happy to move on. I do a lot of picking-up-of-the-pieces, in real life. Whilst it is something that has to be done, the rewards come in the results, not the process.
I am quite happy for escapism entertainment not to dwell on that overly.
So seeing Sydney here and having gotten through the trauma, is a fine resolution. Whilst there are still loose ends, those can be addressed, in future, within the group dynamics, under the appropriate circumstances.
It’s jumps like this though that’s always make me glad for “yellow text boxes” with something like “The next day” or “a few hours later” or “Next week…”
Good point.
*pats self on back*
I only just thought of this why jabberwoky why noy mantacore or chimera as her code name being or even shēngxiào wich isthe name of the chinese zodiac aall of wich have martial arts styles based on their resprctive animal
Maybe she’s simply a fan of Lewis Carroll, not all callsigns have to be connected to their powers
Or she might have chosen it deliberately because it doesn’t tell anyone anything about her power set.
As Captain Brian Arsala of the Washington DC Special Crimes Unit once said, “If I had the power to walk through walls I’d call myself Concrete Man.”
… it’s been so very long and I still miss that run of Hawk and Dove.
She thought it sounded cool?
The big question is “does she know the poem?” and if not “how puzzled is she going to be by Sydney’s references to it.”
Would Sydney know it as it does seem outside her fandom of comics over classic lit?
I figure there’s a good chance of Sydney knowing it, both from its source in early fantasy literature and possibly as a result of it being the source of a number of creature names.
Remember that one route to winning geek/nerd fights is to be able to ‘well actually’ all the way back to the original sources. (As in “well actually, the monster is named Frankenstein: The monster is Victor, not Adam. The book is about what a horrible father he is to his creation.”)
Correct. Not sure how Frankenstein knew the Moon landings were fake? Maybe the fact that they brought back regolith rather than Wenslydale?
If only there were a bag of original samples, that were not under the control of the government, we could prove it!
*gets the cream crackers ready*
Only an idiot advertises to their enemies what powers they have and only anime idiots explain how those powers work to the person theyre fighting X3.If anything Jazza picking a literary name shows shes either actually smart or has good taste in literature ^^
Oh, so it’s fine for Dabbles to get sexually harassed, but tease Halo at even a high school level and that’s out of line. Hypocrite much, Max?
This is kinda her own fault.
She is pretty negative on sex stuff at work in general, but she also realizes the differences in her subordinates and how they can handle themselves with the same.
Still sounds like different rules for different people, which is the definition of hypocrisy. If she’s going to be hard on people (Harem) teasing Sydney, she’s gotta be hard on someone actually assaulting Dabbler, no matter how much Dabbles gets under her skin.
Yes, Max is being a hypocrite here. This is not out of character for her. Max is an interestingly flawed character.
It helps keep her from becoming an obnoxiously preachy character.
Perfect people are boring.
Yes, Maxi is flawed, and that makes her a normal person
…Um. Assaulted? For Dabbler, wouldn’t this be like a food fight? Frankly, imposing our social concepts on an alien species who feeds, thinks, and works differently is likely more than a bit stupid. Dabbler already proved that she can more than ‘ahem’, handle, Jabber’s attempts to assault her. ie- she’s a big, grown-up alien sex monster, I’m not sure it is possible to sexually assault her.
I think this is more akin to me watching a pizza advert than what we’d call ‘sexual assault’. Perhaps a little too rough and ready, but, hey, pizza is pizza.
+1
There is no hypocrisy going on. The purpose of sexual harassment procedures is to protect the individual concerned from harm. Sydney was at severe risk so needed urgent attention. Whereas Dabbler is a demon who literally feeds on sex. She is both emotionally resilient and has hundreds of years of experience.
Maxima is applying the same rules. If it is important, deal with it urgently. If it is not, relax and have a laugh.
What you are getting your knickers in a twist about is one of the flaws of political correctness, and that is people who try to apply rules blindly. Just because it superficially looks like sexual harassment does not mean that it actually is. Maxima is laughing because she knows Dabbler well enough to tell the difference and, having decided that there is no sexual harassment going on, she is not concerned.
Of course if anyone else appears to be concerned (and I am sure Maxima will keep a close eye on Sydney) then she can speak to them, to clarify the situation. Providing Max and the other senior staff stay on top of any such, they can prevent team members from feeling that they are working in an oppressive sexual environment.
Again, note, Sydney needs this extra attention, whilst Dabbler does not. And if Maxima has misread that (for some unknown probably alien reason – literally), then all Dabbler needs to do is speak to her. And we know that Dabbler is not shy, so Maxima is right not to be bothered.
I agree with you mate, but… Sydney was in severe risk? Really? Unless you mean to tell me the anime nosebleed gags actually happen within cannon and aren’t just there for giggles, hence representing an actual risk to Halo’s blood levels. Because that kind of stretches my suspension of disbelief past breaking point.
Mayhaps it would be more truthful to acknowledge that Maxima is acting motherly/big-sisterly towards Sydney, especially when contrasted to how she acts towards the others.
I’m pretty sure Sydney’s nosebleed was canon. Anime nosebleeds happen when someone’s turned on. Actual nosebleeds happen with people with a weak nasal membrane with -any- ‘hot’ emotion (anger, embarrassment, and yes, lust) that increases blood pressure. Sydney was hit by embarrassment, not lust (as she has repeated, ‘not a lesbian’). However, they’re not generally fatal, but a severe one (like Sydney’s) can lead to lightheadedness, and potentially fainting (and done near a pool, fainting -can- be fatal).
Maxima was right to be concerned for Sydney.
Note the fact that Sydney has wadding stuffed in her nose at the moment. It was not just a throw-away gag. Yes it did reference the anime convention, however anxiety triggered nosebleeds are a genuine medical condition. Plus, even though it was playing off the anime gag, the surrounding characters were taking her reaction very seriously.
Sydney was profoundly traumatised. Obviously I would agree with my alter ego, but lil Joshu is right.
Hey, to be fair, it’s completely legitimate for alter egos to disagree with each other. There have been hollywood movies and everything!
Very cleverly put.
Psst! What am I doing saying it is ‘legitimate for alter egos to disagree with each other’? If they catch me arguing with myself they will lock me up!
Nothing wrong with arguing with yourself it’s when you get answers you don’t expect or can’t understand they worry. That’s why I don’t tell them about the voice that answers everything with”there all just prey to you”
Kind of like the only people who get to make fat jokes, are people who are “fat”… Even then it has to be done — in the “right” way. Humor often targets somebody – I often stick with targeting myself. Oh and in case you are wondering, I weigh north of 150 Kg… I suppose I shouldn’t equate sexual harassment with weight issues, but hurting people is hurting people.
I disagree. No subject should be taboo simply because you’re not in the target group. Going down that road quickly veers straight into mass censorship town. Sure, it’s easier to not come off as a dick if you can somehow work in that you’re also self-depreciating on some level, but it shouldn’t be required.
The ‘right’ way – the finesse of crafting a joke and delivering it is a skill, but one mostly unrelated to being in the target group. Perhaps empathy and an innate understanding of the audience have more to do with it. And suicidal tendencies, apparently.
It’s more like you’re equating being harassed for something to being harassed for some other reason. Not the same, but both can be really shit experiences – as someone who had both happen to him, I can assure you, you did nothing wrong.
I will translate Jabba’s words to Dabbler into Dabbler’s perception/culture/language/species imperatives, then back to some vaguely English metaphor:
JW: What did you do to me? I can’t stop baking pastries for you! have a cupcake! I hate you, but definitely have this pineapple upside down cake!
Don’t see nothing here but “peer pressure”, no harrassment.
Delicious delicious pineapple upside down cake!
No… Different rules for people other than yourself is the definition of hypocrisy. Different rules for different people needn’t be if you’re applying some kind of consistent metric.
Which, admittedly, might not be what’s happening here. Unless the metric is “you deal with the fallout of using mindwarping powers on people yourself.”
Same rules. Different people. Those who need help get help. Those who do not either need or want help, do not get it.
Dabbler has clearly been briefed on how human society’s conventions. In the process of teaching her that, I am sure that whoever was involved (presumably within Archon) will have learnt corresponding facts about succubus etiquette.
I bet pretty much at the top of the list is ‘do not interfere with a feeding succubus’.
Dabbler is not just a different person, she is a different species, from a totally alien culture. Her traditions need to be respected.
Or laughed at, if you appreciate the irony of her predicament.
In many stories that has someone use a form of Mind Control (Like Dabbler’s hypnokiss) someone the person Controlled usually comes back with Righteous Anger and Furious Vengeance. I see this as a comedic version of it.
Max likes Halo(somehow) and only tolerates Dabbler because she has to ^^
I believe Maxima likes Dabbler. She just does not like her sexual attitudes. As their respective stances, on the matter, are poles apart they do clash a lot, over that. Plus Dabbler does like to exploit Maxima’s anger control issues, to push her buttons.
But we see the same behaviour in siblings, even though they love each other. Ahem, not that I am anticipating any purple on gold loving. Rather Dabbler can get away with regularly behaving in such a way, because they are good friends.
Take for example their choosing to socialise together, in the restaurant scene. Notably the very first out-of-hours activity we saw (albeit on a team social event). If Maxima only tolerated Dabbler, or even disliked her but put up with her because it was necessary, I doubt she would be so relaxed, and clearly having a good time, in her presence. There were plenty of other teammates she could have spent more time with instead.
So, yes, Maxima does have to tolerate Dabbler’s behaviour. Partly due to the fact that Archon need her, doubtless. But mostly because they are friends and enjoy messing around with each other. As we see above. Albeit that Maxima did not have to do anything above, Dabbler got herself into that situation.
All this time, three years now, I have thought Jabberwokky was dead. Being slammed between two slabs of torn pavement looked fatal to me. I think for a non-powered martial artist (like Math) it would have been fatal, so I guess her powers kept the damage from being serious.
I’m not sure how you get slammed like that and only get knocked out but I guess that’s what happened.
A) She was in Crusader Style at the time
B) The after-action injury report from Harem to Maxima indicated that there were no deaths, and the worst injuries were to the guy who “[ate] street!”
A) “The Crusader’s shield is impervious”
B) We already knew that she survived
Right and here’s the mention of null (0) body count: <a href="https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1608" title=
The restaurant fight “the other night” that ended about 2.5 years ago ;)
I have decided to start aging according to the former time scale. It is a good counter to my doggy-years problem.
I hope we do not do any big flash forwards, in future!
I’m glad that you have decided to age like a human pretending to be a dog! Here is a Papadum and hamburger flavoured Yorpie Snax!
*looks confused*
*eats snax*
To be fair, he could age like an immortal. That’s a legitimate option now with anti-aging research and advanced medical technologies like cryogenic freezing.
*wags tail languidly*
I am kind of surprised that Max’s shiny skin has enough traction to allow her to snap her fingers. I guess she still has fingerprints. If she ever wanted to really get people’s attention she could probably put enough effort into it to make it as loud as a gunshot. The jury is still out on whether she could do a ‘Hulk Clap’ loud enough to break windows.
Really she could just move her finger fast enough to make a sonic boom.
Do we know for sure that Max has fingerprints? When your skin turns into a metallic super surface, I’d think surface skin wrinkles would disappear along with all the other human-y skin properties.
She can hit Halo’s shield hard enough to shatter windows in Arriaenna’s favorite conference room.
(bad spelling on the name, I know, but just pick out the letters you want to keep)
Arr.
Be it talk like a pirate day?
Shiver me kennel!
Wow though, when looking back at those linked pages the development in the art is suddenly very noticeable.
And here lies the problem. They know they were all effected by the influence of Vehemence, so they let SOME go, but blackmail others into doing what they want and compulsory joining of ARC is exactly that.
You didn’t read anything but what your tinfoil hat would let through, did you?
The ones who were let go had no priors, and were actually offered a chance to join (but the private sector was more attractive to them), the ones like Jabbers do have priors, and, as Maxi said, it was this or jail
Yes, she had priors, I read that. However, by letting the others go with the thought of “Well, Vehemence was at fault.” Then they should have let ALL of them go.
It’s either Vehemence who was at fault, or Vehemence and EVERYONE who was under his control also at fault.
The fact that some had priors didn’t make a difference on if they were under his control or not.
Or, mayhap, Jabbers is being detained because of her priors, maybe there are outstanding warrants for her arrest, but they couldn’t find her until now
If there is a riot at some Bieber concert, and a wanted felon was spotted in the crowd of onlookers but was not part of the actual riot, do they let them go simply because they weren’t involved?
The ones without priors could be proven to not be operating in their normal mind, but the existence of previous crimes open the debate of if she was willing without influence.
requiring we know her record which we don’t so if she is a serial shoplifter more fault falls on Kevin while battery charges leave more on her. This arrangement archon can use to teach self discipline to someone with the power of a special forces team or squad and use to say it was situation that drove the prior crimes not the person being inherently bad, ska rehabilitation over retribution.
I’m going to assume that the priors (at least in her case) are open warrants, because if you’re a normal cop/jail, how the **** would you keep someone with her powers detained? She was shown ignoring bullet like pebbles and I doubt she’d willingly stay in jail judging by her personality.
Now that there are cops capable of arresting her and a jail capable of holding her, she gets the choice of serving “community service” or hard jail time (Assuming she did get the choice).
It’s Obvious why V didn’t get this option, I assume Opal (Portal Girl) is to big of a flight risk (or did Deus bail her out?).
Scar put in a good word and tried to get her released to his custody but if she was released has yet to be clarified.
Clarify I respond on the opal part of the post not the JW part
Opal and Victor are heavily implicated as being ringleaders. As organisational abilities are not induced by rage it is fair to argue that such activities were being conduced under their own volition. And certainly if it can be shown that Vehemence was not present, as we can determine that his power does not operate beyond a certain distance, and does not persist over time.
As such they are very likely to be found guilty of assault, incitement to riot, conspiracy to commit homicide and innumerable other offences. There is not a cat-in-Hell’s chance that either of them would be considered as suitable material to serve as police officers. It would totally destroy any public confidence in Archon.
For the same reasons I suspect bail might not be forthcoming. But I do find myself being surprised by bail granted, in America, for some very serious offences. So clearly I do not familiar enough, for the reasons behind that, for my judgement to be sound.
“that Vehemence was not present” = “if Vehemence was not present”
Jabberwokky is actually getting leniency here, as opposed to being oppressed. Whilst her case will not have been heard in court yet, Maxima’s comment above strongly implies that Jabberwokky was on remand, and may be facing some serous jail time, if a case against her can be proved. Which it may not.
However, if you are in prison, awaiting trial, and your lawyer is not confident that you will be found ‘not guilty’, then being given an opportunity to get out of jail, subject to instead serving a stint in the military is actually highly beneficial.
It would have required getting the district attorney to make a formal offer to do this, and suspend any court proceedings until it is deemed that Jabberwokky has ‘worked off her debt to society’.
In fact it is actually Archon who are the ones who are taking the greatest risk. Normally you would not want to have any police officers (or people directly assisting the police in the field) who have prior convictions.
I think JW’s lawyer will have given her advice to keep her nose clean. As we can see above Archon are having to do a lot of PR work, and if JW does anything to undermine public confidence in them, they will find many calls for her to be prosecuted. And any agreement will doubtless retain that contingency, for just such reasons.
Essentially JW would be on something very similar to probation. Time spent serving in Archon would count as time spent in jail, for any subsequent prosecution, if it came to that though. So even if it does come to a trial, this is easier time than jail time.
Plus if it does not, she is getting paid Queen of Salt type salary, so I doubt she is feeling hard done by.
And she gets to spend more time with darling Dabbler. ;-)
Personally, I would think there may be better places to work off her ‘debt to society’. Is it really in the best interest of the US government to put a (possibly unstable) person with a criminal record in a high security facility with classified materials and access to military-grade weapons? It would be like sending someone convicted of counterfeiting to work in the U.S mint.
surrounding the untrusted super with trusted supers who clearly have the ability to take her out sounds like a good way to keep track of her while she does “community service”.
And recall that being released before trial is not purely a “right”, it is a compromise with the needs of justice that is justified to a judge, and conditions are ALWAYS optional to the accused – JW could have chosen to stay incarcerated. She’s here because SHE felt it was in her best interest.
Alternatively, this is a potentially interesting PR move.
We don’t know how strict criminal law is with Supers just yet, but someone with superpowers who attacks another person is likely getting something close to “assault with a deadly weapon” even if they are someone like Achilles who is mainly just hard to hurt. And the laws could potentially be even stricter, which could lead to the possibility that Supers who are forced into conflicts or caught up in an escalating situation might feel they are looking at “escape or face serious jail time without parole”
Jabberwocky somewhat counters this, she is a super with a criminal record, but the extenuating circumstances of her situation led to a much lighter sentence, community service essentially. Harsh community service, so it isn’t like a bunch of people are going to be lining up to work under the military, but still something better than 10 years in prison. It gives a sense of fairness and hope that might prevent someone from escalating a situation.
Also, this works towards the public. Very early in the comic Halo said superhero stories haven’t much changed in the Grrlverse, so that means the term supervillian still evokes people like Thanos, Lex Luthor, Venom, ect. The civilian population hears about supervillains and they are already thinking in literary terms, not in terms of people. Jabberwocky can help push on that. If she becomes a well-respected member of the team, maybe even liked by a section of the populace, then they could see a much milder reaction to “supervillains” from the population at large.
Finally, she’s powerful enough to be worth having around, but not powerful enough to pose a threat to the team directly. Keeping her away from most sensitive information shouldn’t be too difficult for this group, so her threat level is decently handled to make this a worthwhile risk.
Well thought through.
As regards criminal law that is unchanged (barring the bit about only working for Archon if wanting to fight super villains). This specific point has been debated before and I found a precedent, in a US court, which indicated that an expert martial artist was considered to be a ‘lethal weapon’ even when he was unarmed.
Whilst that was just in one state (and each has its own laws), I stopped looking at that point, as it was sufficient to prove my point, when coupled with law firms, in other states, giving advice to that effect too.
As such if a normal (but expertly trained) person can be considered to be a ‘lethal weapon’ then so too can any super with an appropriate power.
Especially true for those supers using external devices – like Halo’s orbs. She would be a slam dunk for a prosecutor if she used her powers in any un-law enforcement way – more so than any US cop, that’s fer sher.
I think this line of argument rather depends on what her priors are for (and we don’t know that).
For example, it’d be pretty easy for someone with superstrength to venture into felony vandalism territory, but that wouldn’t mean she was untrustworthy per se.
Indeed. Plus it is reasonable to assume that Archon will have vetted her very carefully, in this regard.
Do not forget that they offered an amnesty to the vigilante trio (Mr Amorphous, Heatwave and Achilles). The driving reason behind these sub-optimal choices is that Archon’s need for supers is greater than the available supply.
If they were building a team using standard protocols none of the above, nor Sydney herself, would be in Arc-SWAT. But Maxima would have been killed by Vehemence, and the diminished, and weaker team would be his bitches.
Archon know they need the numbers. So have to do whatever is necessary to compensate for any known issues the supers have.
Also the fact that she is apparently still partially tied to Dabbler somehow. Arianna certainly wouldn’t want someone with that much passion to go on the news talking about how the love of her life is a horrible bitch who destroyed her, but she needs her number.
Soooo many news programs about mind control and government science experiments would occur…..
+1
When it comes to superpowers i dont think suboptimal really exists.If archon only hired supers with blatant nuking citys potential the team would be crippled through overspecialisation and thats before the possibility that certain powers can be hard counters to others-crazy unlikely example: Insert villain who has a corrossive aura that can eat through anything-suddenly even maxima is limited in her options while Achillies can literally just walk up to the guy and headbutt him while hes looking on in horror.
Maxima seems to operate with some interesting situational ethics.
Harem basically dares Sidney to show her boobs to 4 women she already shares a public shower with daily, and that’s “Sexual Blackmail!”
Jazza practically attempts to rape Dabbler in the middle of a full staff meeting, and her response is “We absolutely should not stop this.”
Now granted, on the flip side of the argument…
1. Is this current situation a problem of Dabbler’s own making, and her own responsibility to resolve, to at least some degree? Sure.
2. Is Dabbler in danger of serious harm, physical or psychological? Not really (but another sort of person might be).
3. Would Dabbler suffer mortifying, socially damaging humiliation at being forced into a sexual encounter in front of a crowd of 30 or so of her peers and coworkers? Honestly she might be more likely to enjoy it as cheap thrills… but making that assumption (however likely) and using it as an excuse NOT to stop the person assaulting her is too big an ethical leap. “I enjoy rough sex with dominant partners” does not equate to “feel free to rape me whenever the whim takes you”.
4. Is Dabbler in fact one of the best qualified people in this room to de-escalate this altercation? Actually, she probably is (whether she will choose to de-escalate or escalate is more of a coin toss, though.)
I don’t get any sense that many of these arguments are part of Maxima’s thought process though. More of “Sidney is a fellow feminist who is as uncomfortable as I am with sexual innuendo, so I’ll leap to her defense” and “Dabbler is a dirty slut who is WAY too comfortable with things that make me uncomfortable, so that bitch deserves whatever she gets!”
I imagine the phrasing is sugarcoated a lot more in Maxima’s own head, but that’s my take on her lately.
People like you piss the ever-hating shit out of me
What Harem attempted with Sydney was not a ‘dare’, it was sexual blackmail: “I will forgive you for accidentally exposing my bewbs, which you immediately apologised for and felt bad about, if you flash your bewbs to everyone in the building!”
Your first sentence makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
What Harem did was a high school-ish dare/challenge. Dave stated explicitly that “everyone” was at that time Max, Harem, Anvil, and Sydney. Nowhere was it ever said or implied that it was “everyone in the building”, that’s just what you want to hear.
Now stop being a Dick, Guesticus, you’re usually better than this.
Damn, still no edit button…
And for the record, Hinoron is 100% correct, Max is, as is becoming for too SOP, being two-faced when it comes to Sydney v. Dabbler. Or anyone v. Dabbler, for that matter.
This is the same Dabbler that was literally grabbing Maxima’s ass a few (in universe) weeks ago in front of no fewer than 5 other people. One of which was Maxima’s superior officer.
And from The extreme nature of Maxima’s response and General Faulk’s comments about their “grudge match”, it’s clear that that wasn’t the first time. Dabbler and Maxima obviously have a history of antagonistic relations. And from pretty much everything we’ve seen it almost exclusively due to Dabbler’s actions/commentary towards Maxima.
Yes, we knew how many ‘everyone’ meant, but Sydney wouldn’t, and that was what caused her breakdown
Sidney has functional eyes, that can see who is and is not present.
I think it was more the general concept of the action that sparked the comical overreaction.
If that was the case, why then did DaveB feel the need to point out to everyone else (ie, the readers) that ‘everyone’ only counted as four people? o_O
That is the case, and he did so to let US know that is the case; that there are not another dozen people present just outside the frame.
Sydney also has an over-clocked imagination
1) Halo accidentally causes a situation for which she immediately apologises, and Harem plays on her guilt by attempting to make her expose herself against her will.
2) Dabbler deliberately mindfucks someone and then basically shrugs it off. She now faces the consequences of that action.
Because I can totally see how those situations are completely identical </sarcasm>
I’m pretty sure the next page will have Max breaking it up and pointing out that Dabbler overdid it, especially due to the sort of criticism that it would open ARC up to. Even HR lawyer extraordinaire Arianna is saying “Should we stop this?” not “We should stop this.”
Uh… no one was saying these two situations were identical at all. Specifically they’re near-opposite scenarios. Not sure where you were going with that.
“Against her will” is not a description applicable to convincing someone to do something on their own. It’s very much about redirecting the will. See also: “sales”. :P
“Plays” on the other hand, is a very appropriate term in the context of what Harem was doing there.
Dabbler hypnotized a hostile and violent enemy during a free-for-all battle where the enemy group had initiated an unprovoked attack, and were (attempting to) kill all of Dabbler’s friends/teammates/coworkers. Of course that was deliberate. Cutting her head off with a sword would also have been deliberate, and not really out of line in that situation (if not the preferred result.)
More on-point, we also had a page where Dabbler explains to Sidney how the effects of her Charm spell (though I forget now if she actually called it that) fade gently away over time, with memories blurring, which has the effect of lessening any mental distress over being affected by said spell.
That being the established case, Dabbler is understandably rather surprised Jabberwocky is still unsettled on this page.
My original point, was how Maxima seemed to severely overreact to Harem’s tease, while she is shockingly underreacting to Jabberwocky’s actual sexual assault. This inconsistency marks a massive double-standard that is, at the very least, unprofessional in both directions.
Agreed. But only if you forget that Harem is still being punished for attempting to frame her commanding officer for sexually assaulting a prisoner. Something which was caught on camera and will potentially continue to have an effect on Maxima’s reputation. TV companies do not forget things like that.
This is why Harem is having to resit her basic training courses with Halo and the other recruits.
Yet here she is now perpetrating something similar on Arcnon’s newest and most vulnerable recruit. Harem is incredibly lucky that she is in as relaxed a military unit as Arc-SWAT. Getting a severe chewing out would only be the start of the process and could extend to a court martial.
In short, Maxima is not just reacting to this offence. She is dealing with an ongoing pattern of indiscipline, centered around sexual harassment.
For a human, and one saying “No get away”, yes. For a demon in the middle of her second century of life, who has layer upon layer of super powers, spells and mind control abilities, most of which are focused on sexual manipulation and control, no.
Dabbler has vastly more experience than Maxima at handling things going wrong under these circumstances. Especially if there is something wonky with one of Dabbler’s powers. The person that Maxima would get advice from, on how to fix a broken sexual attraction spell is Dabbler.
Do bear in mind that we have seen Jabberwokky willing to kill someone due to the effects of the power. So having a non-expert interfere ill-advisedly could trigger a jealous rage, or some equally dangerous result.
This is Dabbler’s problem to fix. And Maxima is loving it.
I think that Maxima’s main reasoning is that she sees Sydney as something of a vulnerable younger sibling that she wants to protect. She’s also aware that Sydney is extremely self-conscious about the fact that she lacks the same figure that the rest of the women on the team have and therefore Max would step in to stop even relatively light teasing on that subject.
With Dabbler, I think she’s just enjoying watching someone annoy her for a change.
Doesn’t make it right, especially when Max is the ranking officer. By setting the bar so low for Halo, she has to hold to the same standards of conduct for every other member of the team, male or female, Terran or alien. You cannot have different standards for different team members within the same organization. It’s called favoritism, and it’s illegal.
Technically speaking, favoritism is not illegal actually.
Favoritism in small/measured doses can be a good thing, and in certain cases can and does help the greater whole to achieve it’s goals. For example, a ramp to allow people with ambulatory disabilities inside the office where they work is clearly favoritism, but it also serves the greater whole as a society by allowing someone that couldn’t enter a workplace to do so and thus contribute to society while maintaining their dignity.
Other less extreme examples include more leniency when you know your underling just had the flu yesterday, and he’s a bit late due to not being 100% yet; or even something so banal as to seek the advice of an employee over another, because you know the one you’re asking is rather bright and could help with whatever it is you’re doing, while the other wouldn’t be useful in that situation.
Quite frankly, favoritism is crucial to how we interact with everyone around us. It’s usually more subtle then what Max is doing now though, and there in lies the issue. Professionalism is another side of the equation, but as I’ve stated numerous times in these comment sections – I don’t perceive Max as a particularly professional individual, at least when left to her own devices and not in front of her superiors. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be under certain situations, and this, many seem to feel is one such situation (not me though, given Dabbler’s personality).
Perhaps, the issue is rooted in Max’s relationship with Dabbler – they seem to be what might be described as frenemies. This decreases Max’s ability to be impartial and professional with Dabbler. It’s a two way street though and if Dabbler hated it, she wouldn’t play – but she does.
Max’s standard for how Halo is treated: “is this likely to cause her emotional distress or physical harm?”
Max’s standard for how Dabbler is treated: “is this likely to cause her emotional distress or physical harm?”
The same treatment – tested against the same standard – could, and very often would, have different answers in the two cases.
Also, Max has known Dabs for quite a while (as compared to how long she’s known Halo), so better understands just where the boundaries lie. She has to give Halo a wider safe zone than she knows is necessary, because she’s less certain.
+1
Agreed, Hinoron. However, I find it only human to act in such a manner. People you dislike won’t get the benefit of your timely and passionate protection, and in some cases any at all if you can help it. It’s one of the reasons why historically people try to get in good with their boss. Now, this is unprofessional, yes – but it is understandable.
Alternatively, it could simply be a cheap gag without much thought of the larger implications and reflections on Max’s character – it wouldn’t be the first time either (then again, those might also be Max showing her personal flaws… it’s really hard to tell sometimes).
One. Exactly ONE comic in between bawling out Harem for a joke and actually telling her PR/Legal specialist/civilian head to not interfere in an actual clearly undesired sexual assault.
Correction.
Self created sexual consequence of Dabbler using her sexual powers as a weapon.
Dabbler personally created the situation.
Or did you mean the correct response – Dabbler should be punished?
It looks to most of us like Dabbler is getting punished.
Dabbler’s sexual powers are part of her nature – they enable her to consume what she needs to survive – tantric energy. That she can use those powers as a weapon is akin to lions using their teeth to kill as well as to eat. Jabberwocky’s actions are alin to PTSD, and are an injury received in combat with Dabbler. Dabbler was just caught off guard by getting the backlash in a calm, quiet context. note that Dabbler’s ears kinda drop when she exchanges the “!” “?” with JW – Dabs is hit with an unexpected blast of desire, followed by JW’s physical pounce.
I would say that Jazza has a lingering mind control or pheromone effect.
PTSD is unprocessed memories and the kiss was a short term event that could have been processed already in the course of three days.
I didn’t say IS PTSD, I said it is akin to, which means “of similar kind” – a linger injury to mind or emotion, as opposed to a physical injury (which includes things like bullet holes and broken bones).
Like any battle injury, prognosis for recovery can’t be done accurately during the battle, which is probably why Dabbler’s expectation of it wearing off is wrong. Time required to recover, I’m guessing here, is probably affected by the animosity of person fighting Dabbler – pure blinding hatred, along with conflicting gender preference, etc probably would reduce recovery time.
But JW apparently isn’t a hater, and her gender preference isn’t very conflicted where Dabs is concerned.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1432
We have evidence JW is adaptable so it is a possible interaction of the power and the spell to have shifted what was her normal state when JW tried to revert from battle mode while under the influence? Can we get a ruling on this Dave?
It is possible. But I doubt it will be forthcoming, as it seems likely that is something that will be revealed in the coming story, one way or another. As such Dave probably would not want to give any spoilers.
Plus he is likely finishing off tomorrow’s comic at the moment, so probably will not get to read your comment until after that has come out. Which may answer your question, by itself. If only by implication (if we learn that it is for some other reason, for example).
Rape? I don’t see rape in this scene. Dabbler’s mind-whammy on Jazza during the fight could be called mind rape, but that’s as close to rape as there’s been between these two.
Part of the dynamic is that Harem is someone Maxima has to ride herd on professionally, whereas Dabbler is closer to being administratively on par with Maxima, arguably even to the point of being an equal on paper.
So, snapping your fingers to summon a subordinate is no longer considered rude or demeaning?
Considering this is the military, I would hope it never was. Or at the very least that there’s more thick skin involved in being a part of such an organization.
Or is Maxima establishing her authority as ‘Prison Governor Maxima’, to the new inmate? We have not seen Jabberwokky’s rap sheet, whereas Maxima has. You will recall that Maxima does very much tailor her leadership style to the needs of the individual, and how they respond to authority.
Max may have decided (or have been advised) that JW will respond better to firm treatment. Of course JW is actually a new recruit so will, in practice, get the same salary and training as everyone else. But Max may be very sensible in setting a non-nonsense relationship with her, from the outset.
The team does have extremely relaxed protocols, so Max will need to be vigilant in case JW consciously or unconsciously takes advantage of that, and falls back into old habits.
Maxima must have zero tolerance, for impersonation of nuns.
I’m not sure I get the nun gag at the end. But it’s kind of hot regardless.
FYI, a nun’s outfit is called a ‘habit’.
could you imagine a Hobbit in a habit?
Well now, you learn something new every day.
I distinctly remember in a tabletop game of Vampire: The Masquerade being attacked by a werewolf dressed as a nun.
I guess you could say she was a nun with bad habits? *rimshot*
Enjoy your bad habit.
I think whatever’s going on with Jabberwonky (Am I right?) is a good test for Sydney and Probably-A-Room-Orb. Hopefully she can use it to cast my favorite spell from any game:
Dragon Warrior (before they changed the name to Dragon Quest) 3: “Heal Us All”. Cure all ailments for all allies and also full health and full everything else too. Except mana.
Oh and I meant to say this earlier- what if the previous user is in the Room Orb’s cryogenic suspension? Well, stasis-suspension, and when they wake up, Sydney loses control of the orbs as they revert to previous owner?
Interesting thought. Entirely possible. Kind of like letting the genie out of the bottle, but finding that the terms require that you take their place.
Lots and lots of interesting scenarios that could come about from that base premise. Varying depending on how good a person the previous owner is, whether or not the process is reversible, and so on.
Having someone with Halo’s power set, and possibly the entire skill tree unlocked, suddenly appear, would dramatically change the story dynamics. Especially if they are of a villainous nature. Although even the good version would have the same effect.
As for how Jabberwokky is behaving, there several possibilities and not enough clues. Not all of which would be curable. Even the orbs probably do not have the power to cure love (lust maybe, but we shall have to wait and see what is actually happening).
Plus insert my usual comments about healing not being likely, as we have never seen Halo using such, despite having been hurt and been i the presence of very servery injured individuals (including Jabberwokky, at one point).
I have a question, did you mean to spell “Jasmine” with a “z” rather than a “s”. Because if you did the disney princess thing doesn’t make sense because disney spelt that name right. Can you tell that people being given misspelled names is a pet peeve of mine?
I think only Krona would be bothered, as the names would sound the same to everyone. Only her predictive text ability would make the difference stand out.
As I say it’s a pet peeve, “Jasmine” is a flower “Jazmine” is just bad spelling.
Only if people are getting the person’s name wrong. If it is what her parents put on the birth certificate, then that is how it is spelt. Whilst some may just be bad at spelling, usually this is something that has a lot of thought put into it. I know a few people with variant spellings, which were purposely done. And was consulted on one myself.
I think you misunderstand the pet peve is people giving their kids a misspelled name. “Jasmine” is a flower and the name comes from that “Jazmine” is just spelling the name wrong. Names have meaning and history and it annoys me when I see that disregarded.
A name’s coorect spelling is what the parents decided when they named their child. No other rules apply.
for example, in the US, Steven and Stephen are both fairly common. no one would suggest to a Steven he must spell his name Stephen, or vice versa.
Before you say “but those are both correct spellings”, keep in mind that at one time, they weren’t. Someone got creative and it stuck. That still goes on today.
Related: Guy goes into his favorite Chinese diner, like he’s done many times. but this time, he finally has to ask the cook about his name. The cook is definitely Asian in appearance, speaks with an Asian accent, speak a form of Chinese with his family, who are also Asian and work there with him. The guy asks him, “How can your name possibly be Seamus O’Doherty? That’s Irish, and you’re obviously Asian.”
Seamus explains “When I arrived in USA, there was a big crowd at immigration, and the workers there were struggling just to get a handle on all the people arriving. there was an Irish family in line right in front of me, and when the immigration worker asked me my name, I told him ‘Sam Ting’. “
epsilon246, do yourself a favor: don’t assume that just because you think a name is spelled wrong, that it is spelled wrong. Let me give you some examples:
Micheal … Irish name, pronounced Mee-hawl.
Danyal… Turkish spelling of “Daniel”.
Tiina … Finnish spelling of “Tina”.
Having said that, I myself wonder what parents are thinking when they name their child Alivia (Olivia), Elyviya (also Olivia), Alyzzabeth (Elizabeth), Klowee (Chloe), Soosin (Susan), Sharn (Shawn), Karman (Carmen), Thailer (Taylor), Kiraren (Keiran), Essiya (Asia)… In some cases they want their children to have a name that’s “different”, but obviously can’t see that they’re cursing them to have to spell out their names to all and sundry for their entire lives.
In other cases they must’ve flunked English (or are not a native English speaker) and are just spelling it phonetically. For example, I know a woman who named her son Sebasjun. She was only spelling it the way she heard it… she was embarrassed when someone pointed out that what she heard was most probably a mispronunciation of “Sebastian”.
Achilles – sometimes pronounced Aw-scheel, tho usually in US it’s Awk ill ees.
Sean, Shawn, Shaun, Shayne, Seann…
You hit the nail on the head with that second point. I am well aware alternate spellings do exist that’s part of the history of names after all. But it’s when people give misspelled names that shouldn’t exist I get annoyed. Jazmine is a relatively common one it seems, if you are going to name someone after something you should at least spell it right.
Who says they are naming their child after a flower? They probably wouldn’t even recognize the smell or the look of jasmine if you sprayed with it and then slapped them in the face with a bouquet
Indeed. They probably just like the name because it sounds pretty, and then spelling it the way it’s pronounced… with a Z.
Here’s the difference, epsilon246:
Let’s say someone names their daughter Jazmine. She’s not going to have to spell it out to everyone; she can just say “Jasmine, with a Z” and most people will understand that she means “Jazmine”.
On the other hand, if someone names their daughter Elyviya, she’s going to have to say “Elyviya. That’s E, L, Y, V, I, Y, A.” And everyone will be wondering what the hell her parents were smoking.
For me, the distinction is whether or not I can make the connection between how it’s spelled and how it’s pronounced. To provide a recent example, “Sade” (the singer), is pronounced Shah-day. I just couldn’t make the connection… exactly how does Sade become Shah-day? I thought it was just a weird spelling / pronunciation of Sadie. That blew my mind, until I found out that was only part of her middle name. (Her full name is Helen Folusade Adu.)
No, for me, the real headscratchers (and facepalms) come from people who name their kids after a company. Like the Egyptian guy who named his son Facebook. Makes me wish I could open a portal through time, reach through the portal, and Gibbs-slap him on the back of the head.
Edit: I realize that Jazmine’s parents would not have used this spelling because they’re not Hungarian…
But in Hungary, Jázmin is among the top 10 names given to girls.
Again, just because you think it’s spelled wrong, doesn’t mean that it IS wrong.
That’s still a different name. I do get what you are saying, that what appears to be a misspelled name might actually be a different name. That doesn’t bother me, it’s when someone changes the spelling I get ticked. As I say it’s a pet peeve and I’ll admit it’s a touch irrational but we all have our foibles don’t we?
You remind me of an episode of One Foot in the Grave. Plus there is a bit of graffiti, next to a bus stop, which is misspelt and makes me think of it each time I pass it.
“F**ck of”
What, don’t leave us hanging, how did you intend to finish that? “F**ck of the century?”
Anyhow, in the episode Victor Meldrew (grumpy old git) sees some yobs spraying foul graffiti, so shouts out “Bugger off!” and chases them away. Grumbling about ‘the youth of today’ he notices that they have misspelt the graffiti. So he picks up the painting tool, strikes out the superfluous letter and adds the correct ending.
Only to turn around, with guilty device still in hand, and see a couple of very disapproving looking policemen standing behind him!
*opens up a complimentary wormhole*
Be my guest.
Sticks tip of tail through portal near ankle with note ” check you target but nice try”
I recall meeting a girl whose name was Name (pronounced Nah-mee by her) because [as she stated] her parents had filled out the form that way {that one line that says ‘print name here’}
I expect it would be more typical for American Born Chinese to use the standard English spelling, I suspect that DaveB just misspelled the word.
That said, lots of names have different local variations, including for dialectal reasons or just to better represent the pronunciation in someone’s mind. The English names Stephen and Philip are often spelled Steven and Phillip because the phonics of those spellings better represent the conventional pronunciations. Jazmine for Jasmine makes sense in the same way.
Epsilon, allow me to introduce my friends Sythe and Raine.
I remember that one, I had thought it was just a fantasy name up to that point.
Love that little jealous lean Varia is doing in panel 5 when Jabberwocky calls out math.
Oh? What that what it was? I really didn’t get the whole Varia bit here – thanks for clarifying.
Perhaps the magic DID wear off days ago.
Sooner or later, I’m expecting the penny to drop on Sydney. There’s two things that she is aware of, but apparently hasn’t put together yet:
1) she’s a celebrity now,
2) rule 34 is a constant in every universe.
So, given how she freaked out in the last page over the possibility of personal nudity, how is she going to behave once she adds those two factors together?
Sarah Michelle Geller solved that by having a laugh at photoshoped ‘nude’ images of herself, on the internet.
We know that Sydney is well-informed about internet porn, given her teaching Arianna about hentai. Hopefully she will be able to disassociate herself, from that, in the same kind of positive way that SMG did.
It may well actually boost her confidence. Her fear is that others do not find her sexually attractive. Realising that they do should go to countering that.
It may be replaced by a fear of creepy stalkers mind, but that is something that the orbs can help her deal with. Although it may be interesting to compare an older Halo with the present-day Maxima, if you follow through where that way of coping leads.
Love the portaled speech bubbles.
creative way to keep a less cluttered layout with limited space.
Appiture approved I’m sure.
Definitely feeling the whiplash. It was all of ONE comic between Maxima going ballistic over Harem’s supposed ‘sexual blackmail’ of Halo and actively discouraging her legal team from interfering in what is much more clearly sexual assault. Unless, of course, that’s ok because Dabbler’s not human and doesn’t get sentient rights? Or because she’s got a sex history? Can you not sexually assault or harass a half-succubus? Was she maybe “dressed like she wanted it”?
Are sex jokes only funny when Max is amused by them?
Seriously, man, whiplash, total whiplash, you get to go all extreme overreaction on Harem and then ONE single comic in between before you’re all “ha-ha, sex assault between coworkers is ok, as long as it’s amusing to the people watching” even when one party couldn’t be more ‘DO NOT WANT’ if she was wearing a cat-meme t-shirt. If you want to dabble in social policing you really ought to try to be a teensy-tiny bit more consistent.
I think you are correct, but I think Maxima is letting Dabbler have a taste of her own medicine. I believe that Max would intervene for anyone else but Dabbler has pushed he buttons in a similar way that Maxima may have a blind spot when dealing with Dabbler. It might take someone like Anvil or Sydney saying something to bring Max into focus.
The whiplash is real, but I’m guessing it’s…. intended? Or maybe not and it’s just bad pacing/writing, as I’ve seen here more then one example of this exact same problem – but all of them with Max, so it might yet be intentional.
That said, I doubt the previous one was meant to be actually chewing-out for real, and more playful (put a “Grr.” at the end of the exchange and it’s about the vibe I got from it). Plus, Max treats Sydney with a degree of motherly protection and tends to overreact when trying to protect her – could be that as well.
Dave does like to explore issues to do with sex, sexual relations and the assorted moral and ethical issues surrounding such. So it may well not have been accidental. Placing the two pages side by side makes people think about the morality and ethics. This is a good thing.
A couple of hints. Maxima is one of the good guys, and she is very cued up on such issues. So if you think she is doing something wrong, then you may want to keep looking.
The other is that sexual harassment laws exist to protect people from harm. Not only that but they are very intelligently framed to do that well.
If you are a cop trying to solve a robbery, you follow the money.
If you are trying to solve an apparent sexual harassment conundrum, you do so by seeing if anyone is likely to be harmed. If there is no harm likely then there is no sexual harassment occurring. Even if it appears otherwise, to an uninformed observer.
“Maxima is one of the good guys, and she is very cued up on such issues. So if you think she is doing something wrong, then you may want to keep looking.” This presupposes I agree with her particular brand of ethics and definitions of right and wrong – this isn’t a supposition you should make given the current zeitgeist. Even then she has been shown to be unprofessional several times (from my and several other’s points of view that is), yet such things aren’t necessarily a bad thing (familiarity/bonding with team mates is a good thing as far as I’m concerned), but I’m not buying the ‘she’s highly trained, hence infallible’ line you seem to be inferring. She seems like a highly flawed character to me, I’m just not sure how much of that is intended within the story and how much is due to… *sigh* I do hate criticizing Dave, yet I do it because I care… sub-par writing. Only time and the development of other characters will tell.
In the US sexual harassment laws have been shown to be too easily taken advantage of and seem to put people on a hair-trigger. This isn’t what I’d call intelligently crafted.
I do fully agree on your last point. Given you included that in a response to me, I think you mistook my position on the matter, as I have no problem with Max not intervening for Dabbs here.
Yeah, I’d go so far as to say it was very poorly thought out. To me, it’s that if you want to explore those kinds of issues in your comic, that’s fine. That’s ok. I’ll keep reading. But doing that and then *immediately* making a cheap joke doing far worse suggests he doesn’t really *get* why all this sex harassment stuff is supposed to be bad, or what makes it bad.
1. Your co-worker at the work-related swimming pool accidentally pants-es you doing a stupid horseplay move. You respond by teasing them that you’ll forgive them if they expose themselves an identical amount as you. Your incredibly powered powerful boss responds by publicly kicking your ass and screaming that you’re doing sexual harassment and it is completely and totally unacceptable. The original horseplay is also totally forgotten.
2. Superboss turns around and gets a good chuckle, standing by and not intervening while a convicted work-release felon sexually assaults one her new co-workers. Not only does the boss watch the whole thing go down but she actually tells her legal/pr/civilian head to NOT interfere to stop the unwanted sex assault by a convicted work-release prisoner who was granted work-release despite the violent nature of her past ‘crimes’. Also, this is perpetrated by someone who openly might be The Most Powerful Person in The World saying and acting like the rules don’t apply to HER. Congratulations, that’s literally Presidential level political machination!
These offenses are orders of magnitude apart. Yeah, there’s mitigating circumstances and it ‘sounds bad on paper’ when you write down what actually happened. You just can’t have it both ways if you want to be a socially progressive super comic.
You lay out good arguments. But they are based on superficial appearances, as opposed to the substantive situation, so are flawed. Apologies for the lengthy post. However your arguments are well framed, so I need to deal with them step by step.
Dabbler is not being harassed, so it is fine to laugh.
You are painting this as being a physical attack which it certainly was not. But I will take it as a metaphor, and move on. The ‘publicly’ bit though is important, as it is necessary for a vulnerable member of staff to know that management will not tolerate them being sexually harassed.
The screaming is yet another over exaggeration. When Maxima was the other side of the pool she did call out “Absolutely not” loudly, as can be ascertained by the spiky addition to the speech bubble. However, as soon as she moved up close, that effect is lost, so we know that she is not screaming.
Importantly please note that Harem is currently still receiving punishment details (having to retake basic courses with the rookies) for having attempted to sexually frame her unit’s commanding officer, in public! I think we can expect Maxima to be using a pretty brusque tone (as implied by the way her face is drawn). Justifiably though!
The page starts off with Sydney apologising for that. It is appropriate for management to stand back whilst an employee is doing the right thing. And if the staff can amicably sort things out between themselves, then it lessens the need for a rebuke. Or reduces the potential punishment required.
However what you do not do is prioritise such when a member of staff appears to be on the verge of a breakdown. Some time has passed since then, so the issue has probably been discussed. We may find Sydney having to do a punishment montage, for her various recent lapses, in due course.
Dabbler is probably just surprised to have someone coming on to her, this strongly, without being under the direct influence of her powers. She is over one hundred years old and change. Plus has more sexual experience than everybody in the room combined. Dabbler can handle the situation herself. And if it is her power still lingering she is literally the only one who can.
Plus Dabbler and Maxima’s whole relationship is about Dabbler trying to get Maxima to allow her more sexual freedom. She categorically would not want to have someone interfering with this.
Nope. Maxima has assessed the situation, and has applied the rules. Further, if Dabbler changes her mind and does request help, she would be there, in an instant. That will not happen though. And Maxima knows that., which is why she is laughing.
Dabbler got herself into this situation, and, due to her own codes, will have to get herself out of it. This is a ‘poetic just deserts’ situation, which does justify the humour.
Yup. Arianna is an expert at human laws and interactions. Whereas Dabbler is an alien. Which is Maxima’s area of expertise, more than it is Arianna’s. Plus Dabbler is a member of Maxima’s team. Legally she is Maxima’s responsibility, very clearly laid out in military protocols.
Plus it is not unwanted, despite your misinterpreting the situation. Dabbler’s “Hey get off” is just an expression of her surprise. Maxima knows her well enough not to be concerned by that.
I will argue the get off comment was about the grabbing of hair and clothes over surprise or in combination with but not actually a rejection of the advances
That is indeed a red line. It is also what triggered Arianna to query about intervening. Maxima is making a judgement call though. She knows Dabbler well enough to judge that she does not want others interfering.
If Dabbler was so emotionally weak that she had to get a human to help prevent ‘sexual harassment’ she would be the laughing stock of every succubus in the galaxy. Not to mention the other demons.
And we have seen Dabbler remembering at least one who is an enemy.
Showing Dabbler to be weak could encourage others to attack her. Failing to respect Dabbler’s wishes, that she be allowed maximum sexual freedom, could put her life in danger!
Just because Dabbler lives amongst humans does not stop her being an alien. Arianna is deferring to Maxima’s judgement because Maxima is familiar with Dabbler. So has the necessary knowledge to make this judgement call.
Yup. But not in the direction which you took them.
Dave is doing a superb job, at just that, by getting us to analyse two sexual harassment situations, side-by-side. Further, by making them superficially unjust, in comparison, but having long established the key characters involved (Sydney and Dabbler), he invites us to explore the fundamental issues in depth.
That is staggeringly good social use of a webcomic. It is vital for members of the public, and thereby potential jurors, to be aware that it is not the superficial appearances that matter.
Likewise in conducting our lives, where such issues come into play. Being able to correctly distinguish between ‘sexual harassment’ and ‘not sexual harassment’ could save readers from loosing their job and/or serving jail time!
Oh Maxima has her flaws, her temper being a particularly noticeable one, and she certainly is not infallible. It took Halo to spot what For-Whom-The-Death-Toll’s power was, for example.
I was restricting my comment to the issue at hand. Maxima is especially well versed in matters relating to sexual harassment, given her championing of feminism and combating the mistreatment of women.
Possibly US sexual harassment laws are not fit for purpose (although such will vary from state to state, so it is rarely wise to be too sweeping in such statements). I am not familiar enough with them to speak with certainty. I was making my comments based on UK laws.
However this is a topic which has cropped up more than once in debates here, and nobody has yet pointed out any material difference between the legal systems, which would account for the US being worse.
Usually, when I follow stories on sexual harassment cases it appears to be laws failing to be enforced that is the problem. As opposed to them being inadequate.
I am always happy to have my ignorance dispelled though, if there are specific failings in the system, which render them inadequate.
(1) Dabbler is always “dressed like she wanted it”, because she does. Tantric energy is a necessity for her. Remember what she was wearing at the pool?
(2) Dabbler bought this on herself by using that spell on Jabberwocky at the steakhouse battle.
(3) Dabbler is constantly provoking Maxima because Dabbler thinks she’s a prude.
So, from Maxima’s point of view, this is self-instigated payback… meaning that Dabbler bought this on herself and the reason Maxima doesn’t stop it is because Dabbler “had it coming” for all the times she’s provoked Maxima. At least, that’s how I read it.
Pretty much this.
The point was that Dabbler’s (un)dress, whether she counts as a human, or past actions are not *supposed* to be important in whether or not it is OK to stand there having a good chuckle–and preventing others from intervening–as your co-worker is sexually assaulted by the new work-release prisoner who states she is literally obsessed with her and can’t stop thinking about her. Right before she attacks her.
They punched the hell out of Jabberwocky in that fight, is she justified in beating up the whole team? They brought it on themselves by physically attacking her after all. Even more so, they brought it on themselves by taking her in for her prison work-release program.
Dabbler’s power is *supposed* to have worn off. She says as much. Presumably her teammates, like Max, who know about her powers also know it should have worn off.
It’s just poorly thought out and written. The author does not deserve a free pass on this. It is far far worse than Harem’s supposed ‘sexual blackmail.’ Max *has* to be better than this for all the many many many reasons that Superman has produced over the years about why he has to follow the laws as much as possible, and about how Batman and everyone else is scared of Superman because he’s so powerful that laws only apply to the extent he lets them apply.
As I said elsewhere dabs regularly partakes of this behavior so is expected to be able to take it in return but Syd has expressed discomfort at such behaviour before being guilt pushed over unintentional involvement to do what she finds to be to far.
Other people have already pointed out that in order for something to qualify as sexual assault, actual harm has to be done. Do you honestly think that a kiss is going to harm Dabbler?
In the State of Texas (where Arc-Swat HQ is), sexual assault is specifically limited to vaginal, anal, or oral contact with the genitals. It doesn’t include mouth-to-mouth contact. At worst, Jazza is conducting assault, but not sexual assault. And even then, because of the spell, the defense would argue for a reduced sentence or dismissal on the grounds of coercion. Of course, that’s if Arc-SWAT was a state (and not federal) organization. I’m just stating what the Texas law is, because I live in Texas, so I’m familiar with state law.
No, Max does not know everything about Dabbler’s powers. Max is not a wizard. She knows what Dabbler has said: It should have worn off by now. That’s all she knows. If Zephan had been present, or one of the mages from the council, they might have some insight into how long the spell is supposed to last.
The spell should’ve worn off; maybe it didn’t. Or maybe it did wear off, and Jazza just has an obsessive personality. Or maybe Jazza is just trying to get back at her. Or maybe Max put her up to it (I doubt it, but we’ll see.) The only facts at this point: Dabbler cast a spell on Jazza; Jazza claims she can’t stop thinking about her; and Jazza wants (or is pretending to want) Dabbler to kiss her. Anything beyond that is speculation, and would not be admitted in court. So I suggest you stop casting aspersions about “poorly thought out and written” until you have seen the next page or two. You don’t know what DaveB’s plans for this situation actually are.
+1
Hm. I wonder how much money I could make in 3D-rendered comics of Patriotic Muscovite superheroines in distress. Yes, I said heroines, plural. Makes sense that she’d have a sidekick, and a sister, and some kind of rival.
Lots of immobilisation rays, costumes that suddenly constrain motion a bit too much, yes, I think this could work. XD
Have the Heterodynes expanded their Jager Monster operations, into other worlds?
That guy doesn’t have enough teeth to be a jager monster.
And no mention of hats
“Should we stop this?” “Absolutely not”
I love me some Maxima.
Where was Dabbler during the whole pool test? She came out in her suit but that was the last we saw of her.
All of her team mates are on the ‘forbidden snax’ list, due to her terms of employment. But if anybody else saw her, like that, such as one of these two guys, then I think she would have been having a midday snack.
two guys? You mean Shrapnell and Arianna?
And I think that kind of meandering troll would be viewed the same way as grazing at the salad bar in a restaraunt.
Shrapnell and the poor uncredited janitor.
Dude deserves a promotion, mopping the ceiling. Most would not even look up, unless dusting cobwebs away.
Yup, he’d even havta clean up after Brooke explodes sodas, too.
Clearly she would have had to head back, into the building, to change. And may have decided not to waste the opportunity, by changing in the pool facilities, but may have headed back to her quarters. Via as many areas likely to hold witnesses as she could get away with, whilst on duty.
I found the portal very confusing partially because I didn’t even notice the blue one until reading your wall of text. When in doubt, maybe put the first bubble on top of all others like so:
JW
D JW
D JW
D A
M
So spaces get deleted. It looked a lot smarter hen Iwrote it than when I read it.
Extra ones do, yea. And periods parse differently too.
I think I will try underscores the next time I have a need to line things up vertically. It probably will not work accurately, but it will be better than the alternatives. Other than figuring a way that does not require columns.
You’re typing something that is almost, but not quite, HTML. Any number of spaces and tabs get reduced to one space. Any number of spaces, tabs, and linefeeds get reduced to one linefeed.
(If you were actually typing HTML, any number of spaces, tabs, and linefeeds get reduced to one space. Guess what I’ve been typing a lot of lately.)
However, let me try a couple things – wish we had a preview or edit…
This should be widely spaced.
If that works…
the trick is that looks (in the result) like a space but isn’t. (Stands for Non-Breaking SPace.) And to get to show up, I typed &nbsp;.
Cunning. And it is even on my list:
https://www.ascii.cl/htmlcodes.htm
Hooorah!
*awards a non-breaking shiny gold star*
It also smartly (and nerdily) communicates the DEGREE to which Jabs is getting in Dabs’ face; Jabs’ words are literally crowding Dabbler out of being able to speak or get a word in edgewise.
As both Red Dwarf and Star Wars have come up in comments recently, I thought y’all might be interested in seeing Lord Holly and Bobba Toaster.
I thought Ng was Vietnamese, not Chinese, and particularly not Taiwanese (ethnicity/family name as opposed to born and raised in Taiwan but not ethnicallyTaiwanese)..
Generalities do not take into account the fact that people can move around. A family that was Vietnamese a generation or more ago could be Taiwanese today. My parents are British, I was born African and I may someday have Bulgarian children.
Names follow social traditions, not genes. Likewise nationality depends on where you were born (although hereditary can affect that too, dependant on national laws, as I am also British and have the option of becoming Bulgarian).
Ah, but Taiwanese is properly designated to the ethnic Taiwanese and or their culture, at least if you say someone is Taiwanese. It can be used loosely to mean ROC, but generally it’s not, or if it is, that can be considered insensitive to the original in inhabitants before a lot other Chinese peoples came from the mainland. Different situation than referring to someone as British (and, honestly, if you’re aware that they named the native people of the island foreigner (which is the original of Welsh in the Angle tongue), I wouldn’t care so much if it was insensitive to the Anglo-Saxons. :/
“Wales” does indeed derive from “foreigner”. Although the term was actually applied to everyone of Celtic origin. Which happens to include myself. So you need not be offended on our behalf. We Cornish are very proud to be foreigners and distinct from the English! As are our Welsh cousins.
My folks are too elderly to travel far. So I warned them to be very careful, when they crossed the Tamar, to have a holiday on the other side of the river. I gave them coaching on the local dialect, of course, and warned them that Devon fudge does not taste as good as the fine Cornish fudge.
And to add to that: “Barbarian” use to literally mean “Someone not from Rome” (or something like that)
Oh, I was wondering about that too.
Wikipedia tells me that Ng is a Shanghainese, Hakka, or Cantonese form of names pronounced Huang in Mandarin. Not Taiwanese, but maybe her family used a Shanghainese form for some reason?
One week later…
*knock knock*
Ariana: “Come in.”
Dabbler: “um, yeah, uh, this is a little awkward, but I think I’m being sexually harassed.”
Ariana: “I’m not sure that’s possible in you’re case”
Dabbler: “But she keeps following me around and hitting on me. Or trying to fight me. I’m not even sure anymore. I’m so confused!
Ariana: “Certainly sounds like a hostile work environment. I’ll see what I can do.”
Dabbler: “Also, she’s been interrupting my meals! I’m getting very hungry”
Ariana: “That’s definitely not good..”
**Jabbers barges through the door** “There you are!”
Dabbler: “Help me!”
Ariana: (thinking) Definitely a hostile workplace. But a funny one.
:-)
Yea, it may well go that way.
I was kind of expecting it to be Sydney following her around, pestering Dabbler about cybernetic boob enhancement. Keeping on showing her boobs, to make her points. Yet Dabbler not being allowed to touch them.
Now that Dabbler would find to be sexual harassment!
Funny funny. Though I don’t think Sydney could show them more than once–Math would pop up out of nowhere to “follow Max’s orders”, thus freaking Sydney out and causing her to glue her top down, so that it can never, ever happen again. Which Dabbler might *also* consider some form of harassment.
Really, working HR with a succubus on staff would be a massive headache from pretty much every possible angle. One wonders if Ariana possesses bureaucratic superpowers.
I kinda thought the portals thing was funny. never seen someone do speech bubbles like that before XD
Demons can not only do Blackspeech, but Blue and Orange as well….
A̡̫̥̱̟̪̬̿ͯ͋̄̀s̰̳̬͆͊ͮ̌h͍̦̩̑́͑ͭ̍̂͢͜ ̶͙̯̯̝̬͓̩ͨ̏ͭ̓ͨ̊ͭ̃n̢̜̖̞͙̈͊͛̎ͪ̐ͯ͡͡ä̛̫̪́̿ͨͮ́z̸̧̤̭ͯ͊͒̏̇̀g̴̟͕̖̳̀͞ ̧̙͔͖̹͔̳̄͊̋͊ͮ̂̔d͎͎̩̭̣͋͐̽̌̓ͮ̈͛̀͢u̖̍̓̀̈̅r̵̵̢͔͎͔͖̪͗̈͐b̨̺̟̱̂ͦ͗ͅa̠̙̟͕ͨ́t̷̖̟͙̘̭͈̺̓̈́̄̆̋̋ͮ͌ͅu̬̣̹͔̗͙ͦ̎̋̋̒͊̽̋̀͠l̰͕͈̝̠͕͇͙ͤṳ̡̟̘͇̪̯͈̂ͥ̏̔̄͡k̝͙̺͍̩ͦ̈́͛̄͒,̶̙̅ͣ̐̍ͮ͒͂ͣ ̴̸͎̹̙̮̟͚͍͙ͫͥ̾̀a̝͋̌̒ͬ͒̅ͮ͟s̨̙͓͍̹͕ͬͩ͋ͭͥͫ̀̚h̗͍̹̻̤ͧ͐̈́̓͋ ͎̘̭͙̮͉̩̀̑͂̀͆̀͢͞nͪ͑̽̍̋҉͙̺̺̩a̟̙͊̋ͭͧz̧ͣ̏̊ͦ͆͏̠̱ġ̖͖͙̲͈̳̪̟ͧ̑̐̑ͫͮ́͘ ͩ̏̌̈́̽̀҉̴̙̟͚̳̖̣̘̱͝g̵̨͈̺͉̐ͪ͆̒̾͋́í̪̥͒ͤ̄̎m̶͉͙̦̩͙͌̉̇ͭb̷̩̯ͦ͋̂̌́͂̅̚͜͞ą͎͉̞͕͒ͣ̎̆̀͋̇̃͂t̷̀͋̇̔̋ͨ̀̔͏̳̣̘͖͞u̼͈͖̻̞̒̕l̴̰͔̱͌ͧ,̵̴̯͙̥̽͊ͤ̉͘ ͔̻̘͖̰̩̟̯̆̍͘a͖͉̣̫͑̈́̃́s̢̳̻̖̭̠̱͎͔̈́̓͐͆͗̓͒̈h̶̲͓̗̩͕̺̤͔̍̅̒̍̎ͮͩͭ͟ ̨͉̪͓̝̖͕͊̈͂͑̏̃͞n̛̼̠̩ͯå̶̖̪͈͉͍͉̀z̯̃̍̕g̠̎̄̅̇͒ͧ̇̀̎́̀ ̴̡̗̟̪̝̄͌͆͝t̬̤̩̱̘̦͓͙̝ͨ̽̂̓̏ͪ̈́͘h̠͈̥̭ͯ̅͒ͯ̚͞r̙͈͇̮͔ͨͨ͛̎̈́̍͢a̅͂͑ͤ͏̛̙̦̖ͅk̪̟̮̳̯̿ͯ̊̊a̧̭̙̣̹̟̓̒͆ͦͤ͜ť̨̹͍̝̲͙͊̀̀̀uͯͭ͒̄̍ͫ̒͏̷̭̥͇̘ͅl̟͖͛û̧̬̱̰̻̺̹̩̎̑̾̅̏́k̼̫̱̝͙͙̽̂͐̓ ͍ͧ͡ą̶̱̞̰̩̈ͬ̃͆ͧͪ̓g̖̬̙ͨ̋h̃̊ͩ̿̃҉̱̳͖̗̙͉͈ ̢̱̬̿͐̉̋̀ͪ̈̀b̡̢̹̜̯̲͛͌͑̒ͭ̉ͩuͨ͒ͭͫͨ̆҉̙̦̤̫͍r̴̰̻̺̩̥̥̀͋̇ͭ̊̔̒ͩ͒͟͠z̴͕͖͔̦̪͔͉̲͆̔͐͘u͙͇̰̽ͬ͒ͪ̕m̸̨̗̰̖̠̯ͫͬ̄͌ͫ͒ͪ͛͟-̞̬͎͖̘̌͐̂͆i̸̭̻͇̻͓͆̓͛̊̓ͩͪ̒̚s̈҉̶̸̘̼̦̝͍͖̫̲ḫ̡̧̫̿̽͛̎̔̚i̧ͨ́̇͋̉̂ͪͣ͐͟͏̳̪̘̦͇̲ ͈͖̂ͩͨk̶̙̙̲͔̝̜͍̺ͯr͙͙̻̥ͬ̓͌̄͋̊̔͐̅͢͠ͅḯ̿ͩ́͝҉̣̥̥̺̖̰͇ͅm̵̡̘̞̬̹̩̥̹͈̒̔̊̊̎̐ͤ̚p̵̟͔͓̺̥͔̙͚ͧͧ͌ͭ́ã̶̯̤̬͕̩ͭͥt̢̖͚͔̹̬̩̟̮̆͛̈̈̀́ͅū̘͕͇ͨ̽ͣ̓̒̇̚ͅl̶̤͙ͧͭ
A̓̓̍̆̍͆̓̔ͨͥ̀̽͒̋́͜͢҉̙̹̲̰̳̯̩̯̰̫̩͙̩̩̯s̴͇̣̼̥̖̺̠͉͈̪̪̙̮̬͊ͤͫ͂̾ͫ̌̆̅͆ͣ̈̒͗̀͟͢ḫ̛͖͓̝̮̞̺͇̄͂̋ͬ̓̾ͯ́̈́̀̌̉̾̋̐̑ ̧̂̋̆̈̊ͧͥ͌͊ͪ͏̷͏͕̥̥͎͚͍̮̞̜̕ǹ͛̉͗ͦ͆̂̎̔ͪ̄̄͂͗̽͂ͯ͏̭̬̤̞̜̗͙̼̱̦̠a̧̡̛̲̖̻̩̘̺͍̤͙̹͖̳̖̪̥͎̺̼̾̅ͯ̾̔̎ͩ̒̽ͧͦͥ̈́̊̄̒́͑̔͟͟z̷̨̜̦͉̤̫̥̙͈͌̐̇͋͠g̢͑̔ͯ̓͗͋̑͑ͣ͜͞͞͏̰̼̹͇͙̠̣͇͉̜ ̴̧͕̙̤͈̬͈̘͈͔̗͓̊ͨ̉ͭ̿ͨͫ̋ͭ̒̈̌ͥ͆ͫ̚̚͠ḋ̡̝̺̯̜͎̥̌̂ͭ̒̄̋̒͛̌͐ͯ͗̅̀ͨ̚u̧̥̖̺͎͕̮̹͓̠̯̰̙͚͉͎ͭͯ̈̇͑ͫͫ̆́ͥͬ͆͗͊̚̚͟r̶̅̌̍͛̌ͣ͗͑̈́̓̋ͬ̍͐̉̀҉̢̳̩̙͖͈̪̝̦̱̼͈͔͎͉͕̮̤̟͟ͅb̶͇̩̱̹̞̜̗̙̬̪͇̳̳̮͉͍ͮ̽̍ͯ̌̀ͥͧ͊̀̀̕͜ͅa̲̲̠̝͚̦͔̦͇̖̟̻͂ͫͥ̆͊ͬ͐͊̽͗̕͟ẗ́̅̋̑̌̄͛̇̊ͨ̈́̊ͮ̓ͪ̓́̉̀͏̛̦͔͕͖̬u̖͔̟̹̜̲̤̯̘͍̹͚͖͓̣͙̤̼͆ͣͫͧ͜͜͝͝l̸̶̶̈ͧ̑͒̆̈́̏ͦ̈́̀͊͊̐̀҉̣̤̩̻ư̶͉͙͈̞̂̎̎̈́ͫ͒̃ͬͩͬ͞k̶̸͕̺͚̻͖͍̺̗̳̲̬͓̰͚̝ͣͣ̈̽͒̀̔̾ͩ̏ͣ̋̚͞,̡͔̮͙̫̞̭̺͍̘̫̩̄͋ͥͣ́̈̅̈̾̓͒̿̀͠͝ ̴̛͕̳͈̺̬͖͇̺̲̦̬͖̖̝̮̪͎͛̏̏ͦ̐͒̃̇̅̈́̆ͭͣͨ̓å̷̢̧̖̭̘̘̅̄̈́̓̊͋͒̑ͩ̀̈́̌̋ͨ̂̀̕ͅs̶̛̘̣̪̝ͥ͐̊ͭ̀͜͝h̨̼̝̟̮̆ͭ̉̈́̋ͦ̉ͪ̐̈́̍ͮ͆̎ͪ̃͒͢͞ͅ ̶̧͐̔̉̀͒͗̄̋͂̏̾҉̴͉̝̳͖͈̝̫̰̲̘̣̪̹͎̬̰̱̀ͅn̸̯̘̟̼̝̮̫̥̱̱͓̗̬͉̬̲̺͖̐̉̒̊ͮ̄̀̽̽̊ͦͥ͋ͧ͒̉̀̀͢ͅǎ́̀̔̋ͨ̐͒̓̋̑̈͏̷̦̥̜̖̗͈͢͜ͅͅz̼̜̲̪̯̙̝̾ͨ̎̌̌̇̍͐ͪͬ͆ͬͯ́͘͟ͅg̷̴̢̻̫̩̙̠͓̪̱̘̤̥͖̱̏ͯ̈́̋͆̊ͯ ̶͔̝̜̼͉͔̭̅ͮ̏̍̏̋̄̿͛͆ͣ̅ͨ͋̑̽̓̕͡͝g̴̴̬̮̖̱̪̹͍͎̳̭̻̣̩̙̉ͯ͋ͭͨ̄̾̅̾ͪͫͦ̾̈́̀̀͡iͪ̉̅̅͠҉̯̺̭͚͈͎̮̠̼̱̪͢͞m͔̹̺͍̣͎̠͚͔͔̰̟̹͔̝̘͆͗̈́̈́ͯ̓̒̄ͩ̃̀̒ͫͪ̂̓̇̀̕͟ͅb̢̢̛̙͕̱̗ͧ͂́̉͊̃ͮ̒à̶̴̵͇̮̣̗̜̳̣͎̗̮̫̿ͭͪ̽ͬͥ̋̾̉͋̊̐̍̽͡t̸̸̳̺̰̦̦̥̣̤̰̞̪͑ͯͤ̈̌ͭ͋͊͘͜ũ̵͇̬̤̱͚̗̯͖̠̎͒ͧ̎̃ͫ̒̈́͗ͦ͒̑̂̾͞l̶͔͕͎͙̜̔͋̌ͣ͛̅ͥͥ̎ͫ̐͢͝,̷̗͇͚͖̤̝̟͖̓̋ͯ̄͆͌ͫ̾͂̓̏ͥ̋̚͘͘͢͡ ̮̝̯͉̐ͬ̋̉ͦ̀̒́ͧ͑̿̈́̽̋̎̉ͧ͊ͧ͢͠a̛̻̬̘͕͓̗̜͙̥̮̱͙ͩ̄̆̓̊̾̐͗̌ͬ̎ͨͤ͟͝s̓̄̑̾̎́̿̂ͣͤ͊̓͐̏͒̉̎҉̷̡̺̣̹͓͍̦͎̳̘̩̠͙̬͚͘ͅh̵͙͚͈̫̯̲̼͔̘̭̙̝͚̯͎̀́̀͑̏̿ͫ͊ͧ̏̒ͥ̽͐̌́̚ ̊̋̆̒ͭ͝҉̤̜̫̤̲̫͇̞͇̯̲͍̫̀͝n̴̡̩̪͔͍͐͌͊ͯ͠ą̶̤͚̩͍̰̒ͦ̋ͨ͛͊ͮ́̅̍̂̓͊͐͂ͤ͂͝͞z̡̢̥̹̝̠͖̜͚̱̫̘̽͊̊̚͟͞ͅg̵̡̟̬̜̥̠͐͋̋͋͂ͭ́͟͜ ̴̴̽͌͗ͭ͂̔͗̃̈́͋͐̎ͮ͊͐҉̵͙̤͖̝̬̰͖̬̺͔̱̮̖̘̣͖̠̤t̜̥̗̳̦͚͇̮͍̦̪̘̜̂͛̇̅̎̐̑̄̉͂́̎ͣ̋͟͠ĥ̵̴̰̠̦̹̰̈̉̽̽ͪ̉̾̏̚͠r̨̗̝̞̙̗̫̭̠͈̩̱̙̻̩̤͕̞ͯͥͤ̾͡͝ͅȃͯ͛ͨ҉̨̝͇̹̬̰̟̟̘͘k̢ͥ̔ͣ͒̓ͨͣͮ̆̑̽͏̣̣̩̺͚̣̙͈̠̰̱̤͞ả̷̛͓̪̦̘̳̞̟̥̭̗͓̘͎̫̤͕͍́ͪͦ͌͊ͥ͐͊̅̉̐͜͠ț̨̢̱̜͙̮̪̘̹̩̲̗̞̺͈̯͓ͧ̊̔ͯ͒̀ͅu̓̾̌͆̂ͥ͒ͧ̎ͯ̚͡҉̶̢̡̯͖͇̩͍͔͙l̷̛̻̖̝̞̥͈͚̻̬̪̞͉̰̖͇͉͋ͣͦ͛̒̓ͣ͋̽̌ͯ̒̋͞͞ͅû̢̪̥͇̥̳͓͙͕̽ͯ̐̅ͤ͐͗̎͊ͣͯͨ̈́ͯͣ͋̚̚͟͝ͅͅķ̸̩͙̗͙̤̳̮̘͖͇̳̬̬͕͒̈́ͣ́ͭ̽̍̇̋ͪͥ̀̃͛̂͋ͧ̋ͅͅͅ ̧̻͚͎̭̬̰͙̳̹̦̝̂ͤ̎ͣ͛̍ͮ̓̅̍̌͐͜͠ͅͅͅả̶̛͎̮̲̺̜͔̰̯ͯ̋͂̅̏̍̄͒ͬ̊̚g̣̗̫͙̺͎͋̍̅͋ͭ̿́͢ͅh̢̛̦̝͙̪͇̰̆͊̅̈́̒ͩ̇ͣ̈̆ͬ́͊̍̈́͘͘ ̵̵̽̈͛͒ͩͬ͒̽ͦ̽͊͌̊ͯ͒̄͑҉̨̣̳͉̪̱͚͎̤̖͓̜̯̙̤̩̕ͅb̢̡̥͍̙͖̮͔̲̄͌͌͐̋̆͊̀͘͟ͅų̶̗̘̩͕̰̰̠̤͖̻̺̇ͮ̅̅͂̒̌ͭͣͭ̌͘͠͡ŗ̴̵͖̪̮̱̦̙̲̖̺̪̐̃̓̔̊̃̚z̩̤̘̰̞̝̮̣͍̜̄̎ͨ̿ͭ͗ͤ̀̆̀͠ͅu̫̦̹̯̝̟̔̆͒͛ͭ̓ͦ̏̇̅̾͜͜m̢̦̹̬̤͎͙͔̹͖͈̞̘̖͍̓͂͐̽͗́́̅ͫ͌ͭͬͨ̽ͮ̈̃͟-̔ͦ̈ͥ̈́̐͛̓̑̂ͮ̇̓̀͢҉͎̖̲̭̼ͅi̛͙̣̲̫̓̂ͯ̄̋͋ͨͮ́ṡ̡̍ͫͨ̀͞҉̦̥͔́h̨̻̞̠̟̙͉̖̙͎̜̫̟͍̱̰̥̬̩ͪͪͥͪ̅̑̌̒ͪ̉ͥ̒ͣ̊͋͗̔ͮ͟i̧̯̤̹̘͖͇̖͉̪̦̝̙͕͎̤͑ͣ̈ͭͤ̎ͬ̓͌̍ͤ̈́ͬ̒ͤ̐́͝ͅ ̡ͯ̿̏͋̑̒̑ͭ̂͋͏̸͖̣̫͓̱̺̜͈k̶̸̶̩̟͈̣͊̎͆̒̔ͫ̑̋̆ͪͪ̆͒́̚͞ͅŗ̶̙̟̖̞̗̯̞̯͉͙͍̳̣̱̱̻ͭ͒͐̾͢͟i̵̩̖͈̰̟̜͔̪̠͎̪ͫ̓̌̽͋ͪ͒ͦ̋ͨͣ̽̅ͭ͢ͅm̵̯̮̤̫̺̳̺̤͉̦̦͕͓̣̌͋̓̽̋͋͑͡͡p̢͍̥̟̩̝͓ͣͫͫ́͌̓̆͞͝a̶̸̧͒̉̅̒ͪ̈ͤ͢͏̲̼̗̦̹͚̬̱͉̗̮͖̲̟̳̤t̵̮͉̭̖̮̝̪̤̬̫͈͙̣͆͊ͨ̀ͥu̷̟͔̗͉̱̱̬͗͗̊̓͑̈́̎̐ͮ͒̃̽ͮ͜l̳̬͙̭̜͚̩̮̥̘͈̲̓̌ͧ̒͂̄̿͋ͭͣ͐̂̎̂̓ͫ̅ͧ̀͘
While “Dabblerwocky” is fun, I think the ship title should be “JabbaDabba.”
Will JabbaDabba do?
I’d like it if the tattoo on Jab’s chest changed to whatever animal style she was using
What a titillating suggestion.
Great Tit Style, should be interesting.
I approve of the concept, and commend it to DaveB, for consideration!
*double checks previous appearances, on Jabberwokky’s chest*
Man, I feel like Math did, having to stare at breasts. But can report that they remain consistently firm, but a bit bouncy… oh and the tattoo does not presently change.
BTW Jabber’s real name is Jazmine, she goes by Jazza cause it’s hard to have street cred when you’re rocking a Disney Princess name. Also Jazza sounds cool. Her last name is Ng, pronounced “ing” and she’s half Taiwanese. I know she doesn’t look particularly Asian, but while Lucy Liu is half Chinese and looks Asian as… uh a very Asian looking person… Chloe Bennet, who plays Skye/Daisy/Quake on Agents of SHIELD is also half Chinese, and I was blown away when I learned that, because she does not look Asian to me AT ALL. Apparently she’s a fairly successful pop star over there. So weirdly, Agents of SHIELD is the only show I’m aware of with two Asian leads in it. So my point is, Jazza is half Taiwanese and I can draw her however I like. Thanks Chloe!
That’s what phygenetic expression can be. Could be one or the other or a blend of partial expressions which is why Chloe Bennett doesn’t look Chinese at all.
Now you’re thinking with portals!
Or authoring. Or text walling. Something.
GLADOS HELO ME OUT HERE
GLADOS is not available could cortanna serve?
Phylogenetic expression. Excuse my error.
That’s alright. Happens to the best of us.
*mops up the phylogenic expression*
*checks ceiling to make sure none splashed up there either*
I had a friend in high school who was half Asian (I forget the specifics, but definitely somewhere East or maybe Southeast Asian), or more specifically one such friend who is relevant right now. After we had known each other for several years, we found out we went to kindergarten together. So I looked him up in my kindergarten yearbook, and even if I had a good memory for faces I never would have recognized him after all this time. These days, you’d never guess to look at him that his ancestry isn’t purely European, but back in kindergarten he didn’t look like he had one drop of European blood in him.
(I’m not surprised that Daisy has some Asian ancestry, although then again I do know from experience that I can’t distinguish someone who looks a little Asian from somebody who looks a little Mexican. Also, if Trump asks, none of my coworkers have any Mexican ancestry.)