Grrl Power #768 – Late to the party
I done goofed.
I have to own it. The very first draft of this page had Sydney saying something slightly more innocuous like “When did this happen!?” or whatever. Then at some point while I was drawing it I decided to do the change up gag where someone overreacts to the wrong thing. I don’t know the name of the trope off the top of my head.
Here’s the problem. This whole scene started with Sydney watching the press conference from the firing range. She’s a flake, but that’s just too flaky, even for her. But I just forgot about that page while I was writing/drawing this one.
I realized this sometime Wednesday and I could have fixed it, but I thought just to mix it up, it’d be fun if you guys wanted to pitch some lines for Sydney that hopefully make more sense. I’ll update the comic with the best one.
Whatever else happens with this page, I’m positive I drew either the Interdictor or Archon HQ at the wrong scale. I think the building is way too small. Cora said the ship was 160 meters long, but that seems super small now, even if she meant the body of the ship and not including the gun/gravity sled nacelles at the front.
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Because it must be said:
“They constructed additional Pylons!”
I’d also go with “They played Starcraft without me!?”
Sorta seems like all the races are represented by visuals: invasion ground units look Zergish, supercarrier for the Protoss, Cora’s ship for Terran.
Or, “Starcraft 3 looks really lifelike!”
Pitch for Sydney:
“I almost miss our first alien invasion.”
Some replacement Sydney line pitches:
“HEY!!! THEY ALREADY USED UP ALL THE GOOD TARGETS!!!”
“What did Cora JUST SAY about us not being invaded, you guys!?!”
“HEY!!! LEAVE SOME FOR ME!!!”
“MAXIMA!! CAN I PRACTICE THE .50 CAL ON SOME OF THOSE?!?”
“DID DABBLER’S MILKSHAKES BRING ALIEN BOYS TO THE YARD?”
“HEY! THAT BARELY COUNTS FOR FIGHTING ALIENS! WHAT I TOOK OUT WHEN NO ONE WAS THERE TO SEE WAS WORTH LIKE A HUNDRED OF THOSE THINGS!!!”
To keep it simple, and building on the “I almost missed our first Alien Invasion”
“They had an alien invasion without me?”
That sounds like Sydney
Max got to chop a dropship in half?
“Dangit, I missed Max going all out!”
“OMG! The poor little squirrels! What is wrong with these people?!”
I dislike Sydney’s reaction. As it kinda makes her sound very unlikeable.
Complaining about Archon having a press conference without her makes her sound like an entitled snowflake.
Well, some commenters think it makes her sound flakey.
You think it makes her sound special snowflakey :)
For myself I think it sounded like a familiar running gag.
There are no running gags around here. We make them sprint.
“They got invaded without me!?”
Lewd.
I like how this quote can be taken in so many ways
It’s perfectly in character for Sydney to forget something she was already aware of. Remember when she came back from the club and decided to spend hours talking with Leon instead of trying to get some sleep before PT?
vote ,vote
We call it Comically Missing the Point on TV Tropes.
“They started without me?” (possibly with “the counterattack”)
the best suggestion I have is her complaining she missed the fight
I wonder if the cops show up to make sure we don’t salvage the star drive?
Looking at the leftover starship pieces (and how they don’t add up to as much material as was there in the intact starship) I’m thinking the drive isn’t salvageable.
Maybe something about how if the enemy ship fell on the other side of Cora’s the track would have been destroyed, thus freeing her from running
“That’s bigger than the car!”
“My alien ship was bigger.”
I would like a callback to page 754 an 107 like
“So they were intersted in our water”
or maybe women instead of water but I’m not sure if Peggy’s reaction would still fit.
“Max started a forest fire this time!?”
“They didn’t invite to intergalactic DnD?! … What, that’s clearly a giant space D10.”
did anyone notice that peggys eyes are off in the second panel? Is she “kinda” squinting with one eye? Eyebrows seem normal just that far eye seems waaay too small.
“They had a party and didn’t invite me to dance?!?!? Nofairnofairnof***ingfair!!”
I like it as is!
There is no reason why Sidney cannot remember in the next panel that ‘oh yeah I knew about the press conference so oops’. After all, there is a reason she has meds.
As I did not see it suggested so far (I only skimmed the comments):
“I forgot my marshmallows!” or “I did not bring any marshmallows!” (reference to Archilles and his marshmallows at the demonstration after the first press conference)
“They repelled our first Alian Invasion, in front of the press… WITHOUT ME?”
Or slightly more in keeping with the rest of the dialogue and Peggy’s expression – “I missed Earth’s first alien attack?!”
Huh… Why is she being sarcastic or joking right now? Because she *knew* they were having this press conference as she was making direct responses to statements given at the start of the press conference.
“I could ave been blowing a SPACESHIP in half instead of a lame CAR?!”
! *vote +1*
For: “I could have been blowing up a SPACESHIP instead of a f***ing CAR?!
+1
“They killed the Raid Boss without me!”
Sydney “What questions did the aliens ask Maxima that she done that to them. Ariana is going to be pissed!”
Or better yet..
Sydney “That is going to be a hell of a littering ticket… Cora never showed me THAT outfit!”
“What the?! They KNOW I needed the XP!”
Alternatively: “I bet there’s nothing but grays left.”
capitalize that to “Greys” and it’s perfect.
I like this one
Especially since time had moved faster on Earth than for her… she has some making up to do.
Looks like the right-side vanishing point lines aren’t set up right, so that the Interceptor looks like it’s angled ona separate plane from the ground. That, and making the roof of ARCHON HQ larger comparatively would work better. I think the angle and perspective you were going for was probably 3-point instead of 2-point, but the Interceptor is still in 2-point, as its verticals are still vertical, instead of angled towards the bottom vanishing point like the HQ’s are.
They had the post press conference party without me?
We are up to 4 pages of comments in just a few hours. I think the ‘Make Sydney Say’ game has proved much more successful than the ‘Make Maxima Say’ game.
Oh, frick! Dave, make that happen! Dabbler says something, Sydney replies with “Squirrel trousers”, and then Dabbler checks “Squirrel trousers” off the list.
I think this game would be more challenging than the one with Maxima because Sydney’s more unpredictable.
I interpreted that as Sydney-Speak:
“Press Conference” translates as “Massive Public Destruction”
After all, Sydney’s first two big PR-events ended that way, right? The tank-smashing competition, and then the battle of the Steak-House…
What she was watching on TV was merely a “meet-and-greet”, or a “PR-Event.” It’s not a REAL press conference until the heavy weapons come out.
I like this
“Wow, how good do you have to shoot to get to cut that in half?”
+1 for earlier improvement!
“How come THEY got to attend the press conference?!”
“They made me rush back for this!?”
“my xp!”
“I never get to have fun!”
Boss battle.
“They had a boss battle without me?!”
Honestly any amount of legit complaining that she wasn’t involved in some fashion or another just seems more whiny than Sydney would do at this point, especially considering her bit of growth into a hero over the story so far. I honestly think her just expressing concern in this moment is the best course of action, such as “What happened here!?” is the best. Perhaps her expression and also the facepalming happening behind her should be fixed as well. This didn’t feel like a page that needed to end in a joke, per se.
Priorities. Gotta keep em straight. Sydney does.She was at the range doing the Full-Auto thing. So of course the press conference was just that, a ‘press conference’ not a ‘Press Conference.’
“They better not expect me to clean that up for missing the battle!”
“Y’know, forget cutting a car frame in half. Let’s see what we’ve got that will chop up starship hull!”