Grrl Power #714 – Such navigation. So wow.
Sydney’s about to find out if she’s smorgtose intolerant. Even if she is, she might not know why she starts having ear farts.
Looks like Sydney is about to get some honest to god instruction on using the orbs. Or at least that one function of the one orb anyway. Also, apparently being stabbed in the ear is suppressing her blush response at the moment. Normally being sandwiched in between two smexy alien boys would make her go fuchsia. But she also might be getting used to being around them, which inoculates her against her own responses somewhat.
Page is still coming along. Still need to fix up the navigation and tag all 700+ comics with the list of characters appearing in them, then figure out how to use the new cast page stuff. Well, it’ll get done eventually.
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.
Haha, Altus and Galen are being so adorable!
Oh, and Sydney and Frix are also freaking adorable in panel 1.
Sydney and Frix are so much more adorable with the drinking from the same milkshake :)
But yeah Galen and Altus are cute as they’re looking at the map like a kid looks at a Saturday Morning cartoon.
Say it with me
DAWWWWW <3
You know, one of the things that scare me about Dabbler is that her horns stick out forwards. Close to eye level. And then there’s the part where she makes it where you can’t see them…
Put corks on spiky humanoids like Altus and Dabbler before getting close. Safe sex is important.
That’s why dabs gives out a safe word to most people….and they never use them
Yes, but her safe word is “FLÜGGÅӘNK∂€ČHIŒßØL∫ÊN…”
My safeword is OW!
Yeah, but it’s really hard to remember that when she brings out the floppy 2-foot dildo attached to the nuclear leaf blower.
… and shouts “Let ‘er rip, we’re going fission!”….?
flooogen!
the right safeword is banana
Why I am so iffy to describe succubi and such with the forward horns like Overlord Prier has, I try to picture them in my head and certain positions become awkward *stab your thigh and neck awkward*; and cheek horns make cuddling more hazardous than it needs to be.
Double so if shenanigans are on a water bed
Succubi are shapeshifters why would they be in normal form? Just will them away and it’s no longer an issue.
What?
I mean as a writer, writing erotic scenes using demonic temptresses. What are you talking about?
Also…you can’t will away a succubus…traditionally you can’t even exorcise them; you pretty much have to bore them or distract them…or disgust them.
She casts illusions, she doesn’t shape-shift!
Yeah, I meant to mention that too…even in-universe the comment didn’t make sense, the succubus of this setting is an illusion caster and a flesh and blood race so “willing away” wouldn’t work anymore than willing away a bear from mauling you.
Taxi meant ‘will away the horns’, not the horny suck-a-bus
Can see how that would be confusing
I can see that, the succubus willing away her horns so they are out of the way, not the person willing away the succubus.
She can only hide them, not make them invisible.
Yes, Dabbles can only cast illusions, butt she is a unique creature, and maybe other sucky-busses can shapechange
A race of highly advanced species that can use magic would never just make a way to file down your horns or have a magic remove them for a period of time? Has a child demon never gotten they’re head stuck between some railing and had to have they’re horns removed. Is there a succubus equivalent of getting gum stuck in your hair for succubi? Also what says dabblers racial abilities are EXCLUSIVELY limited to illusions? She might just be more proficient with them. Also I am mostly using folklore / fantasy as a point of reference not that dabbler herself is skilled in changing shape. The phrasing was awkward though I admit I didn’t really proof read that message.
Part of the problem is artists are always envisioning forward cuddle-ruining horns ‘because they look cool’. But nature rarely does them that way. Not to mention where those horns are placed on Atlus are more likely to hurt himself than provide any real defense. I mean, seriously, they’re attached to huge flat areas of skull right over where his brain should be. There’s no structure to support them in the event of a strong impact (and getting hit hard, they would have a strong impact). Elephant tusks brace on the jawline for support and allow cuddling from everything other than straight-forward. Triceratops horns were far enough back to where they wouldn’t be a cuddle-problem unless the Tri-tops was tilting their head down for a charge. A deer’s antlers aren’t problematic until they’re well above the head and outside of cuddle range. The list goes on. From an evolutionary standpoint, antlers/horns/tusks/etc. are almost always cuddle friendly because death via cuddling is an evolutionary dead-end.
I mean, her forehead horns kinda point up more than forward, and she’s quite tall, so those aren’t a threat unless you’re taller than her, in which case you might get poke in the chin. And the lower ones seem to curve in towards her cheeks in close ups, so I think you’d probably be safe if you were shorter too.
… Then again, Dabbler has also expressed her preference for super people, the majority of whom seem to be extra durable in one way or another, so maybe a couple horn pokes would mostly go unnoticed.
Huh. She looks slightly annoyed at Syd now. odd.
The Captain realises that Halo is being a doofus, hence the looking sternly at pupil look.
She’s not looking annoyed nor stern
I think she actually looks expressionless.
You’ve done a really good job of making Sydney the same art style as the rest of the cast without drawing her the same anatomically in this strip. Panels 1 and 5 are especially nice!
Personally, that’s what had previously liked about it: that Sydney was in a different art style to everyone else, having her look the same takes away her uniqueness
People tend to complain when artists draw everyone looking the same, and then when someone special comes along and makes one character different from the rest, they complain again
I like Galen’s reaction in panel 5. You can tell he’s super impressed and his brain is locking up still trying to process what he’s hearing, but he still can’t help being a pedant about the terminology.
Well, that’s one way to remove earwax.
I absoluely busted out laughing at that last line. Oh gawd, so funny.
Wait until the ARC crew finds out she shared classified information with a bunch of aliens :D
No she didn’t.
Remember only the two unknowns, and the comm-ball are classified. (Yes one unknown is now known, but at the time it wasn’t); the flight orb was on the list of letting people know the obvious;
besides they already knew she could open Aetherium Causeways; they saw that, traced the point of departure before it closed, its how they found her at the Fracture.
Besides, Dabbler is a member of ARC-SWAT, and she is the one who “hired” Cora and her crew to retrieve Sydney. It could be argued that they are technically under the employ of ARCHON; at least until Halo is returned to Earth.
Actually, Dabbles isn’t a member of Arc-SWAT, at least, not a full member, she is the equivalent of a ‘Civilian Contractor’, which is why she is under no obligation or commitment to provide ARCHON with anything she doesn’t want them to have
You forget: that that information is Sydney’s to share or not share if the situation requires it
It’s not like she was issued a high-tech water-pistol when she joined the Girls’ Guides
that face – I LOLed
When I saw panel 6, I thought Dave was setting up an Airplane joke.
You’re pictures of serious Sydney are getting better by the day. She looks so cute
Okay, I’ve pretty much scanned the comments here and I’ve got one important question I think everyone is missing…
It appears that Cora knows what the orbs are. Altus and Galen are certainly interested in what the orb is showing, but the first two panels pretty much set the stage…
Sydney: “So Cora, how do I get to be Captain of a starship?
Cora: “Aren’t you already?”
Two possible points here… First that Sydney has discussed the operations of the orbs with Cora, which she’s been reluctant to do with anyone outside of ArcSwat. Secondly, Cora knows what the orbs are, knows their capabilities and perhaps their origin.
Also… Sydney may have scored huge points with what’s her butt the Alari Blood Mage (Ack, can’t remember her name and don’t want to kill this post to go looking)… after acting in the behalf of the Alari on Fracture station… The blood mage thinks her people have been wiped completely out. Knowing that there are other alari who survived and figuring out who saved them, even after she tried to kill them would go a long way to temper her future actions…
Sciona… the Blood Mage Alari….
Probably more like Cora came to a similar conclusion to Sydney once the basic functions of the orbs were out in the open. For Sydney it was the “life support” orb that tipped the scales, but Cora is really REALLY familiar with spaceships, and the fact that the orbs can do just about everything her ship can do (with the exception of the hot Malians) means its not all that big a leap of logic for her.
Daniel here. With the Orb knowledge, Cora and Sydney were talking about them while they were walking to Cora’s ship. They worked out the Orbs MAY belong to a theoretical Race of Higher Existence Beings. I don’t think it was shown, but it’s easily believable that Sydney mentioned how similarly the Orbs function to a spacecraft, especially considering she got to the Fracture under her own power…
The final mystery orb shapeshifts Sydney into a spaceship just like a Cabbit.
Providing visual aid of transformation for those that don’t know the character.
hate can’t edit comment, forgot the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh_XLrsjtNE
Found the pages where Cora & Sydney talk Orbs. Seems Dabbler has filled Cora in on enough of the details to know what to look for to find Sydney, plus what Cora saw herself, she & Dabbler WOULD be the best people to talk about Orb theories & analysis with, Cora’s crew joining that list by association…
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-689-customs-conundrum/
Being a passenger on Spaceship Sydney should be a stressful but interesting and sometimes fun experience. For everyone’s safety never say the words “I bet you can’t do…”. It’s probably best to not discuss fictional spaceships and their capabilities with her either.
“I bet you can’t make the Kessel run in 12 parsecs”
I thought Sydney talked to Cora about the orbs around when they were talking about civilization tech lvls, and then she probably used at least 1 or 2 in the back alley fight. So we can assume Cora knows about at least the force field and flight orbs. Plus the fact that they followed her from 1 planet to another, Cora calling Sydney a space ship is totally reasonable
To be fair Sydney did create her own insterstellar gateway to travel from the dying planet. If she can do that then Cora can assume Sydney either had a space ship in her pocket or a power that functions like a spaceship. She doesn’t have to know what the orbs are or where they come from outside of that.
Yes, that is certainly a “that doesn’t go there” face.
Something tells me that those two will be no help to Sydney whatsoever!
Now this is quite interesting, maybe we can learn more about this.
I love her so happily drinking that milkshake with Frix. <3
Isn’t that a temple horn, not a cheek horn?
She’s being poked by an ouchie thing. It’s more important to get the poking stopped than to brain thing the exact words.
How does Sydney talk while sucking on a straw?
I’m sorry, it is just bugging me.
You stop sucking on the straw long enough to draw a breath and talk during that time. And if you are talking to the other straw recipient, then the talk drink cycle becomes rather publicly intimate. Less so in Sydney’s case.
You’d think that at this point in his life Altus’d know better than to jam the side of his face into someone else’s. I mean surely this would be a mutual problem shared among all members of his own race.
Which just shows how really excited, by what he is seeing, he is.
Look, I am a huge fan of this series, and the artwork is amazing. I am not an artist, and I couldnt possibly do anything near so good… but there is something I have to get off my chest.
The last panel, with Halo’s pupils of different sizes like that, and the general look on her face, she looks like that horn just lobotimized her. I get that she is squinting in one eye, but dont draw her eyes like that, it really disturbing. Could you, in the future at least, refrain from making her iris show up as different sizes like that? They can both be small or really big, not one huge one small.
Personally I believe that drawing Sydney’s eyes mismatched like that very effectively portrays Sydney’s reaction to the sudden unexpected ear piercing she just got there. DaveB made the right artistic choice in my opinion.
The trouble is that although it sits well with you, the image is strange enough that it will trigger an instinctual revulsion response in some people. The degree may vary, so some may describe it as ‘unsettling’ whilst others may call it ‘freaky’ or ‘disturbing’. All the while acknowledging that it may not bother others, like yourself, at all.
I though am in the ‘freaky’ camp myself. Strongly enough that it totally overwhelms the intent that you (and DaveB‘s blog) indicate is the intent.
It’s supposed to look ‘freaky’… and ‘disturbing’, and ‘unsettling’, to make you think what it is doing to Sydney to cause that reaction to suddenly and without warning taking a horn to the ear
Kind of fails though for the folks who find it disturbing enough that they just don’t want to look at it anymore.
Of course some of us fight through that feeling, but I bet a few folks will have just gone “ick” and moved on to something else.
Wasn’t saying, or implying, that people can’t have that reaction to it, butt second-guessing how a large group of individuals with different likes, dislikes and degrees of ‘squeamishness’ will react to every image wouldn’t result in many images at all
Personally find nearly all images of spiders (no matter how ‘cute’ and non life-threatening they are portrayed) to be ‘unsettling’
I vote that Sydney keeps Frix when they get to Earth….
She can hug him and pet him and call him George.
To my eye Cora always seems to look annoyed. I think I’m just misreading it, though.
That said, she could be displeased because Sydney and Frix are being rather lovey-dovey, which isn’t a bad thing per se, but she knows she’s going to be dropping Sydney off on Earth and Frix will be mopey for the next month.
You believe this is the first time one of Cora’s crew has had a hook-up with a passenger? o_O
Oh, I’m sure not!
But there’s a difference between “Casual port hookup” and “being lovey-dovey”. Remember, in spite of her initial reaction to the man-meat, Sydney *wanted to brush Frix’s fur*. She and Frix weren’t just having sex (and we don’t actually know IF they had sex…) they were *intimate*; they’re forming an emotional bond.
I’m sure members of the crew have had their hookups, and I’m sure Cora’s cool with that. Forming attachments, though… I’m sure it has happened, but I’m guessing it leads to days or weeks of mopeyness. Cora sees it coming and is maybe a little annoyed that Frix doesn’t realize he’s setting himself up for heartbreak.
Sharing a malted shake doesn’t always have to lead to mopeyness when the date ends, nor to a lifelong commitment, it’s just two people sharing a drink together
Something to keep in mind is that in the comic artistic style, each panel is more than a single instant of time. There’s often implied motion, and it has to represent at least enough time for all the dialogue to take place.
Frix is a good horndog, he deserves a reward for this… And flirty Sydney is soooo adorable I just wanna pet her! Yes I got that the right way around… I think….
if the law of danger, learning about yourself and your powers comes through, she may be up for another point.
That first panel needs some 50’s style do wop music playing in the background.
That’s IT! The 7th orb is a juke box with all of iTunes on it.
Hey, you mention “jukebox,” and it got me to thinking “radio.”
And now that I think about it, wouldn’t the Comm Orb be able to pick up (& transmit) any kind of communication transmission & play it out (video & audio, as the case may be)? For the time being though, it’s probably a function that’s still locked or available but Sydney hasn’t figured out how to work it yet.
Is the orb showing the current position of the ship while it’s in warp? It looks like that to me.
I am far from an expert but I don’t think that is how one night stands are supposed to go Sydney.
Heeey, a panel with some “Penetration!”
:roll-eyes:
Ugh!!
If we can’t *bleep*ing edit our posts, we should at ^least^ be able to PRE-view them!
(ಥ︵ಥ)
“Normally being sandwiched in between two smexy alien boys would make her go fuchsia. But she also might be getting used to being around them, which inoculates her against her own responses somewhat.”
There’s maybe also the detail that maybe Sydney’s subconscious at least gets that, actually, no, these guys are not ‘out of her league?’ At least, that how it reads and looks; but I’m not the writer or artist.
Maybe we will finally have an explanation on that from the two navigators, but this will bring to question WHO used it last and how it had that one location they met on the listing?
I regret to mention it, but Sydney’s expression in the very last panel reminds me of a certain Kali Belladona
animation. You either know the one I’m talking about, or you don’t.
Does it still count as the cheek is it’s above the eye?
DaveB, I’m seriously missing the lack of “previous comment page / page 1 2 3” at the TOP of the comment threads, not just the bottom. Any chance we’ll get that back soon, pretty please?
Yeah, that was nice. I’ll see about getting that put back in place.
I’m mostly surprised everyone can see it.
No, everyone can see Sydney’s HUD, it just can’t be recorded, which is why Dabbles had had to recreate the ‘Wheel of Doom’ from memory because her cyber-eye couldn’t even see it
“How do I get to be the captain of a starship.”
“Well, you’ve already got the starship part, now you need to get promoted.”
Technically, the owner of a ship is automagically the captain, just in the military, most ‘captains’ aren’t the owner, the government is
Technically, the owner of most non-military ships is a company or corporation, and they hire captains and crews to operate their ships. Owner-Captains are usually people who own “boats,” not ships at all.
On the subject of Sydney being a starship captain, have we discussed the possibility that the last mystery orb could be a cargo bay/the hammerspace Sydney has been wanting all this time?
I and others have mentioned it from time to time. It seems the most logical part of a “ship” that is missing from the toolbox. Personally, I’m expecting the cargo bay to currently be occupied by whatever killed the last owner, and that Sydney will finally figure out how to activate it just in time for the space squid to fall on Math.
However, there’s been a lot of OTHER speculation regarding what it is/does, many times with sensible argument. So the jury is really still out on that.
Crew quarters, mess deck, head, brig, medical,engineroom and cargo bay
I have noticed when I visit this page on my phone there is no comment tab, but it is present on my PC.
Not sure if there is a limitation with the new format when it comes to mobile devices.
Can you see the ‘Comments(123)’ between ‘Prev’ and ‘Next’?
On my PC yes, on my cellphone there isn’t even a space between those for the comment tab to be in. It is simply not there.
Oh, okay, hopefully DaveB will be able to do something to get the page back something close to how it was
Also a problem on my tablet. The only way to access the comments is to click on the strip number/title which goes to the comments page.
them about to answer or how to use it and then BAM under attack and she has to go battle mode. and then every goes HOLY FACK XD
or the orbs are a EVA suit that are limited function and theres a starship some where that need keys. or place them into a formation and one digistructs or what ever or the last orb holds the ship that can be manifested so not have to use bubble mode transport.
Ohh! You’ve redecorated!
I dont like it.
~The Doctor
Yeah, DaveB was attempting to do something with the site, and did something he probably didn’t mean to (or at least something happened he wasn’t expecting or meant to happen)