Grrl Power #756 – Human plus
Needless to say, Cora’s photosynthesis would be more effective if she had more surface area. I guess she could have mechanical arms with solar panels or uh… wait, that wouldn’t help feed her. Uh, panels of translucent gel full of some kind of photosynthetic bacteria… that dumps nutrients out to her bloodstream?
Or she could just eat a hot dog. But a tinkerer like her or Dabbler would spend time trying to invent a cybernetic photosynthetic solution just to see if they could.
I know it’s confusing that Cora says it’s hard to put a number on how human she is, but then says that gen-modding doesn’t alter base DNA. It’s… basically she’s got an alien grandparent, and one of her parents is like 1/16th something else, but mostly human. Also if you took a DNA sample from her while her mods are active, you’d get screwed up results. Don’t worry about the math.
Here’s how a comic artist’s mind works; I realized if I made a joke about chlorophyll, I can draw a red butt sticking out from under the shadow of an awning.
Looking at this page now before posting it, I see a missed opportunity for a cameo there. It’s just some random demoness friend of Dabbler. I assume she’s dating the demon guy in the back playing volleyball. (Or knowing that group, the sleeping arrangements are more accurately described as Round Robin.) But I could have put… I don’t know Sheeva from MK. The 4-armed Goro chick. For some reason she was the first chick to come to mind, but anyone recognizable from the back would work.
BTW, on the double res Patreon version of this page, you can see little peachfuzz hairs on that red butt. Just barely. But they’re there. Yes, I made a peachfuzz brush in Clip Studio Paint just for that.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like!
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There’s a lot of room for upgrades in the stock human.
Evolution’s rule is ‘If it works, ok.’ Awesome is not necessary.
I am curious to know why an advanced alien medical technology that can do all those mods can’t do something to grow missing limbs. I hope Cora’s missing limbs aren’t the result of ill advised prenatal tampering. Never have your child genetically engineered by Dr. Nick Riviera.
If i remember correctly, she was basically the galactic equivalent of “dirt poor” growing up, so she made due with artificial limbs, she’s just gotten used to them now………
If she was the galactic equivalent of dirt poor growing up, and the blue skin is caused by a gene mod she chose for herself, why is her skin blue in the flashbacks of herself growing up?
THE “BLUE SKIN” photosynth may be an inherited MOD that she chose the color for as a child. If you dumped a whole bunch of migrants on a food poor planet (short on edible organics) , the agency might have given all the involuntary colonists the photosynth mod as an inheritable to help them survive.
And if the “agency” was budget constrained , the mod might be licensed for only X generations and then it no longer activates or replicates.
Yes, that ^
the kind of gene mods she got of non stem line meaning they didn’t effect her reproductive system. her ovary and the eggs within did not have their genes effected by the mods and so use the normal human DNA she was born with. so all her children will be normal humans without any of her gene mods
She didn’t say that she picked that, or even when (we didn’t see her before highschool)
From earlier issues, they can but that was too expensive for Cora’s family.
Street Fighter boss spotted
Yeah, you Humans do have plenty of options for modifications. Tried offering a few things to Daniel the Human, but he just pointed out I’m a console repairman & not a geneticist. Details, details…
Eh, WTF? That shouldn’t have been a reply. Might copy & paste, try again…
And Hercules, Marvel comic version, I believe.
Which one? o_O
Gill from Street Fighter III, he’s the half-red/half-blue guy with the long blond hair on the beach volleyball court.
Look for the one behind the all-red guy near the net. He’s in the green trunks.
Wasn’t meaning Herc (can just make out his cap-less helmet thing)
Gill the two-tone angel.
Thank you, stopped playing after SF2
Sandy Redcheeks always did throw the best beach barbeque parties.
I see that Gill back there on the beach.
And y’know, it has probably been said a lot but…damn, Dave. You’re getting really good at anatomy. There’s some serious sculpting going on there.
Yeah, you Humans do have plenty of options for modifications. Tried offering a few things to Daniel the Human, but he just pointed out I’m a console repairman & not a geneticist. Details, details…
Hopefully this will be its own post…
So, she’s something like the baseline Colonial infantry soldier in John Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War”?
All she’s missing is the Empee
Ah, so she’s just an alien with a few human traits spliced in?
No, she’s a hybrid. Most likely Sex Tourism guy, falls in love with Earth gal, Boldly Coming… :P
More likely an ST (as opposed to an ET) girl who wanted to take home a souvenir without having to declare it on the exit visa
Or the result of the popular alien hobby of gene mixing. No doubt a hit at the hybrid exhibitions.
In other words, humans aren’t indigenous to Earth, somehow, or more likely some of us left Earth, or yet more likely were pulled from Earth, before written history.
Actually, come to think of it, that would be a weird twist. We’re so used to these stories – “the form we found was so beautiful we engineered it into your planet in such a way that it would look like you evolved naturally!” Why not, “the form we found on your planet was so beautiful our vainest races, in a society that sees ‘races’ like you see countries, decided to take it on”?
More like “Your form was so adaptable that we stole it and made your race part of ours.”
Sounds good – after all, humans are space orcs.
Or the humans are from Atlantis which in this case didn’t sink, but launched as a colony ship…
‘Atlantis’ is right where it has always been, and still populated (and not underwater either)
If you’ll recall the scale of cultures lecture, https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-690-gotterdammermcguffins/
There’s that “seed galaxy with life so aliens all look similar” stage. There are “humans” all over the galaxy because various flavors of proto-humans were seeded all over the galaxy. Then there’s a mix of oddball intelligent species that appeared naturally.
It’s the usual explanation for “central casting syndrome”.
Just so you know, photosynthesis replaces breathing, not eating.
Photosynthesis turns water, carbon dioxide and sunlight into sugar and oxygen.
I’m guessing that Cora’s not using chlorophyll to do the photosynthesizing, as that would have made her green. There’s probably some other compound that has similar light capturing effects but is blue.
It’d also depend on the light spectrum of the sun in her home system and such as well. Hence the often-theorized “Retinal world” where plant life would photosynthesize via red pigments.
Chlorophyll just happens to be the best for our particular planet
We actually don’t know that it’s the best for our planet; the fact that it doesn’t absorb green wavelengths despite them being relatively abundant in the solar spectrum means that we suspect it isn’t. But we also know that nature hasn’t come across anything better here, or if it has there’s some other pressing reason why it isn’t used (e.g., if it requires a trace element that’s really rare, much more so than the magnesium used in chlorophyll).
Best in terms of “it’s currently in stock, we can build from existing parts, and it’s fit for the purpose”… as opposed to everything else that might potentially work.
So, yes, best.
Nope! It replaces eating, at least the bulk caloric intake part. Plants still gotta breathe (and take up some minerals).
Photosynthesis is used to generate sugars from water and carbon dioxide, also generating excess oxygen. An exotherm, like Cora and all us mammals, would produce more carbon dioxide from normal (idle) metabolic activity than her relatively small surface area could use for photosynthesis. What little sugars and oxygen she generates in her skin would then be carried to the rest of her body via her bloodstream and used right away. She would be generating some extra food, but her digestive tract would still be empty, or at least supplementing her photosynthetic generation.
The eastern emerald elysia is a small (2-6 cm) sea-slug living in the ocean shallows of Nova Scotia (eastern Canada) down to Florida, that actually photosynthesizes. As a juvenile, it will eat algae, and consume it for nutrients, but at the beginning of its adult life, it still eats algae, but does not digest all the chloroplasts in its food, but sequesters some of them in the cells of its gut. The digestive tract of the sea slug spreads through muck of its semi-transparent body, so when loaded with chloroplasts, it will appear green throughout. When it has sufficient chloroplasts, it will spread out like a leaf, and lie in a bright spot in the top metre of the water and soak up the sunlight. When doing so, it does not eat and moves very little. If the sunlight is not sufficient, then it can go back to active eating, but just laying around and soaking up the sun sounds so much easier.
And cue the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIYiGA_rIls
Look up the anime series ‘Knights of Sidonia’. The humans there have incorporated photosynthesis into themselves.
As a result, they only need to eat once a week and spend a few hours each day under special sunlamps.
No!!!!!! Go back and take chemistry.
Photosynthesis would be covered under biology. Sure, there’s chemistry involved in how it works, but what function it fulfills would fall in bio.
In the Orion race in TMI photosynthesis was a supplement for oxygen tanks in their shipsuits, that had the side effect of raising blood sugar in use. As I recall (TMI has a freaking huge archive and a not-very-good search system, I’m not looking for the specific comic) if you find yourself running out of oxygen (and you are not allergic to the drugs that activate the chlorophyll in your skin) you are supposed to make your shipsuit transparent to UV and find a sunny place to survive until rescued. If you are pure Terran stock or a throwback to Terran stock you would be allergic to the “greenies” and would have to depend on not running out of oxygen. “Throwbacks” are Orions who by luck of the genetic draw don’t have functioning chlorophyll and several other adaptations to life in space that most Orions do have in their genetics, but you also lack some things that were lost when the spacer mods were installed.
And just in case you were wondering how TMI meshes with GP, Ace is a male Sydney without the ADHD but still able to make the connections that nobody else can, except his half-Orion half-sister, who is like a Mentat able to connect fragments with large missing chunks to synthesize a coherent whole scenario, like when she told Carly’s mother that she had a brother still alive.
Except it’s unlikely that photosynthesis in humans could produce more than a fraction of the necessary energy because we don’t have anything like the amount of surface area that a plant has. There’s a reason why plants have leaves; it’s to maximize the amount of photosyntesizing surface area. Add to that the fact that we have a far more active life style than plants and it seems probable that photosynthesis would never be more than symbolic for us.
trees get 90% of there mass for the air they take in not the soil they grow in so sorry your wrong.
So many questions……..and the answer didn’t really answer any of them……..
I just realized that the list of usable tags has disappeared. :( I wanted to do a quote.
[Quote=”DaveB”]Don’t worry about the math.[/Quote]
With this lot? Yeah right. I know physics and chemistry, but not enough about genetics to work out Cora’s heritage, but I am sure others here will.
About that math you told Dave not to worry about….
I can’t see how sunlight, even by staying in the sun all day,
could supply the 2000 or so calories a human-ish person would require in a day.
Yeah, photosynthesis would have to be supplemented with extra calories consumed a more conventional way.
It can’t. There’s a reason why trees have “leaves” and stay in one place all day. They have leaves because they need a huge surface area to make photosynthesis work. They stay in one place because moving is energy intensive.
This is only valid for low level, nature made photosynthesis. Maybe they can create such a gene mod that you can absorb the currently know maximum 80% of the star’s energy – even on Earth that would be around 800W/h (direct strong sunlight) that would easily support a grown human, especially if she consume extra calories.
What else will Cora reveal to the world(and it better not be her butt)???
I wonder if Cora has added a simi autonomous tentacle mode to her limbs.
Probably…..
More than likely, given the reactions of Math and Hiro….
Wonder if she’s given them their “prostate exam” results yet?
Probing is a popular hobby among aliens, especially the Grey.
Play Third Strike. It’s a good game.
I don’t think epigenetics would cut it. That allows you to upregulate and downregulate existing genes, not add new ones. She could have some added, like… plasmids or something? But there’s gotta be additional genetic material if you want to add photosynthesis and whatnot.
We humans have the gene to make Vitamin C, but it’s busted, all 4 copies in our genome. An advanced enough genetic engineer (which we are getting close to, but not there yet) could take all 4 copies and compare them to find the functional version of the gene for us, then replace one or more of those defective copies with the functional one and the citrus industry would basically only exist as a source of flavors we have evolved to enjoy.
Us redheads make our own Vitamin D in low-light conditions, so there is precedence of humans having the genes to make their own vitamins.
Last I checked, non-redheads make vitamin D in UV light as well. :) The type of melanin in the skin just makes redheads produce more of it (but suffer the ill-effects of too much UV more as well).
Re: Opus the Pote The easier version of (in terms of genetic manipulation) of what you propose to fix our vitamin C deficiency you talk about would be to take a working vitamin C gene in any other animal species close enough to us (and probably many animal species not close to us, when talking about mammals).
Or we could just modify our gut bacteria to produce vitamin C, the way they currently make B12.
Photosynthesis replaces eating, not breathing. Plants still breathe CO2 to photosynthesize and create glucose, the main nutrient we get from eating, along with other nutrients produced using it. Glucose is then used to make ATP, which is then used as energy. Interestingly, pea aphids use compounds called carotenoids to produce ATP from sunlight using a similar method. The Oriental hornet apparently uses xanthophterin to produce electrical energy. Unlike plants, however, they don’t produce the materials the body actually uses to grow. This is fine for survival, and would essentially only be a problem in the long term due to things like vitamin deficiency. Some sea slugs somehow take chloroplasts from plants they eat and line their digestive tracts with them to photosynthesize. But here’s the thing – photosynthesis produces very little energy, and requires a much larger surface area to volume ratio than a human has. But electricity is a lot more versatile. The arms would just need to power themselves with solar panels, and they’d already be more efficient than photosynthesis. That tail is huge. If it had solar panels producing electricity, or somehow ATP by a process like photosynthesis, except more efficient, then injecting that into her stomach, she could live off of solar energy much more easily. Photosynthesis as a chemical reaction would be fairly easy to copy in a superscience laboratory, and would skip needing the actual plant parts. The main she would need food for would then be getting the other nutrients, which are used not for energy, but for special functions of the body. Essentially, vitamins, which are rare and often require things not often found in plants. Essentially protein and vitamin, which plants don’t need that much of, but is used as material to create new cells. It’s part of the problem with a bad vegetarian diet – most plants don’t have a lot of protein. This is often fixed by eating specific plants, and balancing your diet, such as eating lots of beans. Really though, with superscience the best way to get energy and nutrients, instead of plain photosynthesis, is to have the tail chemically produce some sort of nutrient paste, maybe by growing algae inside her tail or something, though probably using just some sort of chemical synthesizer, powered by solar energy/ electricity of some sort, which would then be pumped into her stomach, and since the stomach doesn’t have taste buds, she wouldn’t taste how bland it might be, and would be full due to having all the food she needs.
2 things:
1) Since photosynthesis converts CO2 into sugar and O2 and human metabolism converts O2 and sugar into CO2 and energy , could Cora hold her breath for a really really long time if she was in sunlight?
2) Since Cora uses artificial limbs, how many calories does she really need? Her energy expenditure would be close to the same for running or sitting.
Depends on how her limbs are powered, she might have a caloric tap to run them off of.
A “caloric tap” is unlikely to be a sensible way to power a hard light apparatus.
I assume you’re referring to the ‘tail’ of Cora’s Lamia form? Unfortunately that isn’t available as working volume, as it’s just one (unusual) optional configuration for her hard-light augments. She might be able to do something in the volume of her legs, but that would limit her options in terms of mobility – no spider-legs configuration for stability and climbing, for instance.
Well one question remains: what are the extra strings of her bikini top connected to ?
Not her nipples like you were thinking
Cora is probably unhappy about that.
They’re attached to the side of the opposite cup of the bikini. They’re cross-bracing to pull the breasts closer together and enhance cleavage. Sort of the suspension bridge version of an underwire bra (except it lifts and gathers together instead of “lifts and separates”).
Yes, that ^
Is Cora hitting on Ari in the last panel? The way she is looking at Ari…
Cora look rather neutral to me. Of course it would be in her style to be flirty on a press conference.
“A few other mods that I think might be inappropriate to mention.”
[Glances across at Arianna to check appropriateness level of this conference]
[Thinks: ‘Please give me a sign that I can go into details!”]
Gold guy on the beach with purple hair. Is that a hint at Maxima’s originsm
Possibly. Albeit more yellow, than gold (as Guesticus points out in a thread below). Maxima’s specularity stands out distinctly in bright light, so that is a discrepancy.
However the individual does have pointy ears. Which adds to the similarities, hence my ‘possibly’. Dave has been known to insert subtle universe hints long before they become pertinent to a plot reveal. And we could call the lack of golden sheen as being within artistic licence, for such a distant background character.
As we can only see a shoulder though, and the face is really small, perhaps that is just an unflattering likeness, and it is actually Maxima? I do not think it likely. However contributing to the slight possibility is that it appears to be on Earth, rather than some other planet. There is enough human paraphernalia there, and a very Earth like panorama, to make that probable.
Except, those near him aren’t wearing sunglasses
And Dirt can’t be the only planet with beaches, blue water, and tropical vegetation
The foreground has a barbeque, spatula and awning all of very contemporary human (Western) design and manufacture. Even barbequing at a beach is a notable Western cultural thing (either lacking or being practiced in distinctively different ways in other cultures and times, barring those which have since been influenced by the West).
I put it that independently developed alien culture would have noticeably different aesthetics or other design elements for these objects, even if it somehow paralleled Western Earth culture.
Then there is the whole beach volleyball thing, again with pretty standard net and ball. Cooking near water is probably reasonably common, even if it would look different in diverse cultures. But playing ball sports is something which can easily be totally lacking and never developed, as it serves no practical purpose other than having fun.
So we do have a lot of indicators that the scene is either on Earth or on a planet which has been very heavily influenced by contemporary Western Earth culture. Which is possible, given aliens’ long presence on Earth, so cultural influence could have occured.
Do note though that the tropical vegetation is green, rather than the more efficient purple, and of forms we are familiar with in the current epoch of plant evolution on Earth. Plus blue skies, of that particular hue, require an atmospheric content very similar to Earths. Not to mention that the clouds are typical of what we would expect (if the temperature or atmospheric content varied too much we would expect different types of clouds to form under the conditions we can see).
Then the light we can see is typical of a G-Type main sequence star, with a yellow/white spectrum, falling on a planet at 1AU from its sun. This is not a very common type of star and that is an unusual orbital distance for a rocky planet with an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere. So possibly not Earth, but there are an awful lot of pointers supporting it and none pointing away from it.
Other than a bunch of demons playing beach volleyball, of course. But we now know that such has been happening on Earth for at least 3,000 years.
As for none of the players wearing sunglasses, there are a couple of good reasons for that. Sunglasses can fall off or be damaged when playing, so many players will opt to remove them prior to a game. If you are of a species which can tan, wearing dark coloured glasses can end up giving you a panda-like effect, at the end of a day’s sunbathing.*
Plus looking at their forms, those demons probably evolved in far harsher places than Earth. If so they would probably have no practical need for sunglasses. And they look cool enough that they really don’t need to rely on them as a fashion accessory.
* This happened to a friend of mine, and I still have a laugh at the memory of him turning all reddish pink, except staying palid pinky white around his eyes. Rather a clown-like look.
Except, you remember what happened when Maxi took her hat off when the sun was shining? That is why that yellow guy next to Gill does not have golden skin like Maxi
Well, that might make for a great tactical advantage in beach volleyball…
1d6 NND flash, 0 end, always on
Champions rules FTW!
The beach party panel seems to contain an incubus, which I thought Dabbler said doesn’t exist in the grrlverse.
(Though it could be the guy from Cora’s crew.)
Could be the same race as the cook
An important distinction needs to be made. There are many different types of demon, in the Grrlverse. An example selection (ignoring cameos) can be found on the page depicting Dabbler’s school days (which is canon, even though appearing to just be Sydney’s imagination).
Succubi are just one of the varied demon races. Of which there are only females, so the species has to mate with other species (not just demons), in order to perpetuate.
Whereas other demons have not been stipulated as having that oddity. Plus Dave’s blog above indicates that he is what he seems to be, namely a male demon (but importantly not an incubus).
Perpetuating the species… That makes me wonder; does a succubus gain/lose biological traits between generations? If any genetics rules can be applied here, you would think that unless there’s one immortal Grand Succubus, every generation of succubi would lose biological heritage. After all, even we humans claim to lose biological heritage if our parents are mixed ethnicity. If a 100% German has a child with a 100% Chinese, then the child will be 50% German and 50% Chinese. Wouldn’t it make sense that if a 100% succubi has a child with a, let’s say, 100% Romulan, wouldn’t that make the child 50% Succubus and 50% Romulan? That’s how it worked for alternate-universe Tasha Yar. Her daughter was 50% Human and 50% Romulan.
We should always be wary about using percentages, as genetics works in a far more complicated way than that. As a result of which your German/Chinese example is misleading. Most of the genes available within the German population are also within the Chinese. Although a few are far more common in one than the other. For instance most Chinese have genes which make them lactose intolerant. Likewise there are differences in distribution between the genes which express folds in the eyelids and skin colour. Along with others.
But some of those genes are also available in the other population. So some Chinese do have lactose tolerant genes, whilst some Germans have genes which make them lactose intolerant. Plus if you were looking at random bits of the genetic code, rather than the few genes where there are often differences, you would find it very hard to distinguish it as belonging to a Chinese person or a German. There is no 100% German nor a 100% Chinese.
But let us say you picked a couple of individuals who had expressed all of the genes which typically prevail in their nation, but are rare or non-existent in the other population. You may still find that one child inherits most (or possibly even all) of the typically Chinese traits, whilst another inherits the German ones. Yet some may have traits not apparent in either parent, or nation, (but which were present in a grandparent or some more distant ancestor, despite not being expressed in the parents).
However most of the children would have a mix of some of each of the distinctive traits.
Succubi are weird though, because Dave has stated that their offspring are always Succubi. On the face of it that makes it seem that sex is unnecessary for their reproductive purposes (but still necessary for their nutrition), and they would be far better off just using parthenogenesis to create identical offspring to themselves!
However we can counter that with the fact that Dabbler is distinctively different to the other succubi we have seen. And those others have fallen within a similar enough range of appearances, to one another, that we can reasonably take it that there is not a vast variation between each member of the species. Rather that Dabbler has inherited and expressed various genes from her non-succubus ancestors.
Assuming that this is typical, then we can hypothesise that Succubi do inherit a number of genes from their non-succubi parent, but that certain of the genes, the ones which are uniquely important to succubi (such as their ability to gain nutrition from tantric energy) are ‘exclusively dominant’. Normally genes are either dominant (likely to be expressed) or recessive (unlikely to be expressed), speaking in very broad terms. However the key Succubi ones sound like they are super dominant and will not allow an alien alternative to be used instead.
Although Succubi reproduction does involve ‘factories and other complicated things’ per one of Dave’s blogs. So it is possible that the effect is implemented artificially through genetic engineering.
Hello All,
I have forgotten…Are those markings on Dabbler tattoos or are they part of her demon-ness?
I believe the are inherent to her, from her crazy genetics. She explains them as tattoos when in human appearance so she does not have to answer so many questions.
So, where can we find that screenshot?
(Also, re Risa: You forgot the Gorn jokes. Zone Chat is a war zone, especially during Lohnaut festival…)
I see in the background a gold-skinned dude with purple hair…
HMMM…! I WONDER!
He is yellow, not golden, or everyone would be wearing sunglasses
I’d think people would be a lot more interested in why there are gene modified humans flying around in apace, who brought them there and why, or if humans exist on a lot of other planets, and then how, than the specificods that male her different from the base model.
As summarised by Suzi News, in panel 2.
“So many questions.”
But whilst an interviewee is spilling a lot of new (and thereby newsworthy) facts, a wise reporter gives them the slack to keep doing that. Especially when the moderator (Arianna) has already indicated that she wishes to terminate the press conference. The next interruption may curtail the flow of information, no matter how pertinent and important the question.
You will note the other journalists biting their tongues too. It will not have escaped their notice that Suzi has a somewhat preferred status, with Arianna. The experienced ones will realise that she has gotten away with her comment not causing the halt, where one of them may not have.
Mind you, by the end of the page, Arianna is clearly looking for a way to distract conservative types from thoughts of porn exports and naughty mods. So that then becomes a good time to float the questions you have insightfully raised.
Awww.. Cora and Dabs are wearing matching bikinis. That’s adorable, and hot.
Similar, not matching (if you look closely you will see they are not the same)
There are more cells in the typical human body that do not have human DNA than those that do. These cells have a significant impact on our hormones, digestive systems, etc., and consequently, our thoughts and emotions. Who we are is as much (if not more) due to environmental factors, inside and out, as it is due to genetics.
Heh. Citing bacteria living inside us is a bit of a cheat, when making that statement, if true. The more interesting one (in the context of this page) is the strands of virus DNA interwoven in all mammalian DNA. Not greater than the proportion inherited through snu snu, but still interesting that ‘human’ DNA can and has originated from distinctly non-humans in the past. Let alone the Neanderthals and other hominids who have contributed their shares.
What with all the Top Gun interest, beach volleyball could have been Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer…
DaveB, there is no doublerez version at Patreon, at this time.
After 5 minutes gawking at the middle panel: “is that Gill from SF3 in the background?!”
Oh, that’s why had no idea who people were talking about: stopped playing after SF2
He certainly matches my googling of images.
Oh, interesting. Dave’s blog is denying that he intended a cameo. I guess the colour scheme, and blond hair, is not so complex as to be more than a co-incidence. There are a lot of different demons in popular culture now, so a simple (if distinctive) image will have a good chance to match one or another out there. Especially if creating several demons on a page.
I suspect Dave was only talking about the red demon lady in the foreground, declaring lunch to be served, and regretting that he didn’t place a more interesting character in that position.
Oh yea.
Dave should have used Esma Vallochar from Lighter Chains.
So, Dave, since you don’t have to keep PG in the comments, maybe at least a few more hints at what other modifications she has? *wink wink, nudge nudge*
Whoa, geeze, man! Flash us a warning the next time you’re gonna show that much cheesecake!
Damn near got whiplash! Almost had a lawsuit on your hands. XD
Okay, it still seems a little unclear.
Are Cora’s human traits natural(as in she was just born with them) or artificially modded in?
Cora probably has two or three pure humans within her parents and/or grandparents. If it was three grandparents then she might approximate 75% human (it does not work like this in actuality as there is a lot of randomisation as to which genes are inherited, and many are either recessive or dominant, which can skew the results and some of her forebears may have the same genes, which would also change the percentages). Plus the alien part must be really unusual (from our perspective, on Earth) to be compatible with a (presumed) different genome/biosphere.
But if we run with 75%, just to give us a starting point, then the various tweaks she has made to her genes would lower the percentage of human DNA kicking around inside her. So approximating it to now be about 66% is not a bad guess, as a layperson*.
TLDR most of Cora is natural human. Only a very small percentage is naturally modded in.
* If she were not, she would not have to guess. Plus we know Cora accepts Dabbler tweaking her prosthetics. So it fits her character that she gets experts to upgrade her, rather than learning how to do that herself. Which is not unusual for humans. Dabbler is smart enough to learn how to do stuff like that, in multiple fields, but most humans are not.
“some of her forebears may have the same genes”
So now she is also part bear?
You have seen her bear arms.
And legs, and other parts
Screenshot may make a good vote incentive.
Uhh, not for me … ahh … Cora is outside my ‘ideal’.
Although she is growing on me.
I wonder if she also has a parasitic mod?
It’s like trying to decide how “human” Samus Aran is in the Metroid series, having been born on an alien planet and “infused with DNA” from Chozo bird-people and soul-sucking Metroid blobs. If only some would-be killer robot with the Three Laws installed could show up and give us a definite answer.
I’m amazed that Dabbler wore such a modest swimsuit. Maybe it turns transparent when it gets wet, or someone stares at it to long…
Or made in a extra frail material.
Perception filter, the viewer sees what they want to see.
There seems to be a dress code for that party but Dabbler is the type to find loopholes around those.
Could be the gap moe of partial cover having a different appeal than little-to-no cover.
Yup to your latter speculations. Plus a striptease is much more effective if it starts out providing reasonable coverage.
Mmm, not sure how this got detached from replying to Wenthral‘s comment. I did not cancel or otherwise tinker with that simple post. And I am pretty sure I did not just hit ‘comment’ instead of ‘reply’.
Hmm. In panel 4, the grey-haired man, pictured behind Cora’s left hip, looks suspiciously familiar…
DaveB, I was wondering if it might be possible to link each page with its Patreon 2x version, which would make it easier for supporters to get to your earlier chapters.
Erk! I have a problem with the photosynthesis thing. I know it’s your universe and they likely have some gene mod for it, but take a look at The SCIENCE! WTF is wrong with Quiet from MGSV by Shoddycast. He explains it better than I can. TL;DR she’d probably still want a steak.
hi i’m from some deserted place. WE NEED MORE DABBLER IN BIKINI. so keep it coming. please.