Grrl Power #811 – Lightning round penalty box
Sydney’s been building up a bit of a backlog while she had to silently sit out the fight. You know how she is.
So Krona’s chemical isolator is an “active” effect, meaning she needs to keep it going for it to work. That’s why she can toggle it on and off like that. She does have a more… active purge, but there aren’t any drains nearby.
Dabbler was using her tail to arrest her fall. I wasn’t quite sure how to illustrate that on the page so I just drew a picture of her butt. Obviously the most important question Sydney asked was “Has Dabbler always had a tail?” You would think that the answer is no, but it’s a little more complicated than that. I’m sure the answers to some of her questions will come up in the next few pages.
I wrote a book! It has nothing to do with Grrl Power. It’s actually Tamer fanfiction, but like, 120K words of it, and it’s free! It has dinosaurs, action, humor, xenoanthropology, and smexy times. Check it out here!
Edit: There is a revised edition out now with a ton of fixes. I mixed up “farther” and “further” in a few places and left out a ton of hyphens. Apparently if you say twenty four hours instead of twenty-four hours then no one can possibly crack your code. Take that, Enigma machine! Also there were some legit then/they, an/and goofs and assorted word duplications and punctuation errors. If you’ve been holding off on recommending this book to your friend who likes harem sci-fi pulp but is also an English teacher, you should be good to go.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. 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.
I have a condition that causes temporary paralysis. This includes the inability to speak for long periods of time. The second the paralysis attack starts to resolve, all the thoughts I had backlogged over that time period come rushing out in a long stream of thought. I don’t normally speak fast nor say everything I think, but I do right after I was paralyzed.
I think it’s a combo of that + ADHD meds suddenly withdrawing.
Ick. That sounds awful! You have my sympathies. The worst situation I have experienced (more so than broken limbs and various near death experiences) was total amnesia. However I think yours tops those!
Highly pertinent to this situation though, and interesting. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Okay I’m curious now. What’s the condition called? This is genuine curiosity. It’s not making fun or anything like that I promise. Sort of sounds horrific to me.
Not the same thing, but I had a middle-aged friend who experienced global transient amnesia. For about 24 hours he didn’t know his own name, recognize his family or his home, or have any idea what was going on. Then suddenly the next morning, everything was fine and he had no idea that day had happened.
Yea, that pretty much describes what I had, except it was as a child, and I had it twice. In my case it was attributed to being an adverse reaction to a type of anesthetic which is no longer in use.
My dad had something similar when he broke his jaw and couldn’t talk for a month. He wasn’t a chatter box before but after…
Do you have staring seizures? That sounds rather similar…
@daveB krona on panel 9 looks odd, I think she’s triggering the uncanny valley effect and with the lack of differentiation between skin tones it’s throwing me for a loop.
She doesn’t look that young to me. I have two nieces just on either side of 13 and that’s much closer to Tamatha’s look. If you want to nitpick, both Krona and Sydney often look more like they’re 15-ish or otherwise under 17.
And, “lack of differentiation between skin tones” isn’t entirely clear on what you were trying to convey. “Differentiation” between what & what and where & where and who & who?
I do prefer her looks in the previous panels, whilst appreciating her smile in the panel in question. I agree with the differentiation issue * although I think another aspect is a lack of asymmetry in that frame. Any face which is perfectly symmetrical triggers an uncanny valley dislike in people. Even a small blemish or shape variance can mitigate this, but here Krona lacks anything like that.
* “Differentiation” between what & what and where & where and who & who?”
Krona’s skin is pretty monotone, hence there is a lack of differentiation between different parts of her visible skin. Whilst there tends to be less such difference in younger people, I agree that it is overmuch here, giving a result more like a manikin than a person. Dave often reduces the effect by good use of shading, but that is pretty much lacking on Krona (but not Elsbeth), so the problem is accentuated.
Kronachrome is more asymmetrical in that panel than Sydney in the previous (the deep forehead crease, the right mouth tip, the eyes both on her left)
Sydney looks weird in the previous panel too. It is just that it is intentional that she looks weird, so the uncanny valley does not kick in. She looks cartoon like so we mentally dismiss it as such.
If you walked past someone in real life who looked like Sydney did in the penultimate panel you would likely find it very disturbing!
It’s disturbing here.
I forgot my skin tone pass on this page. :/
That’d do it.
Well, you’re just goin’ t’ hell, then.
Apparently the lesson here is never instant heal Sydney because you will regret it
Also, Never, EVER use fast-penta on Sydney.
Yes, that’s definitely the ‘Miles Vorkosigan’ effect.
I thought the issue was that she didn’t specifically remove the paralytic toxin, she just removed ALL toxins – which would include Sydney’s ADHD meds. (obviously those are toxins. listen to all the possible side effects on any prescription drug commercial. lol)
Not removed them (as was pointed out to me on the first page), turned off the effects of every drug in her system which, yes, included her ADHD meds
Well she did try to isolate just the paralyzing agent it’s not her fault that her superpowers are a little tricky.
In the last panel I hope she has her vision back. As I mentioned before, antitoxin is on the same page as antimatter.
Heh.
I must say that Krona is growing on me.
I approve of Sydney adding both of them to the list. Either way up.
Sydney’s going to have so many people on the list soon that she’ll need another book.
Nah, just ask Krona to add some interdimensional pages to the book she currently has. Same volume, more writing space. It may even get her off the list.
It’s OK, Sydney just needed to clear her cache.
* <(Imagine this animated)
“Ahhhhhh! My new friend has been taken by the forces of evil!”
*turns the power switch back on*
“Pochi, You have returned! I must remember to honor the power of the “Off Switch.”
Why are Hiro and Tamatha and Elspeth in the Who’s Who? I thought the rule was “people who spoke.”
Beth did speak, unless in your rush you typed ‘Elspeth’ when you meant ‘Dabbler’ (because a genius like you never makes a mistake)
And it’s not a hard rule, more a guideline, specially when there is a huge group of characters: those who speak get priority
“because a genius like you never makes a mistake)” Not so, said the brown turtle!
You talking about me? o_O
Clearly not, because it has been proven by Oberon the genius to be an idiot (and he doesn’t pass up the opportunity to tell people that in other webics)
The only one who called him a genius were you. They never called himself that or anything else implying superior intellect. The only thing he/she did was make a mistake.
You must be new, Oberon has been claiming ‘more intelligent’ and ‘smarter’ for years
No, really it’s just you who make that claim about me. Often and loudly. And like most of your other idiocy I usually tend to ignore it because I know that the adults in the room, even if they are children, are smart enough to know that anything coming from you is of dubious origin and accuracy.
No, you don’t say/I>, you just act, and attack anyone who disagrees with you
You even go to other webics to attack me
Elspeth did speak. Although I think the rule is ‘people who speak or who are main characters prominent in the scene’ since there have been a few other times a person hasnt spoken, but has been in the Who’s Who.
I think the actual rule is “people that DaveB thinks will talk often enough to be worth knowing, and has made time to write and post a bio for.”
I dunno. Maybe. That’s plausible inconsistent enough to explain the inconsistencies. :)
Although Master Gault was in the Who’s Who once or twice and he gives off a very ‘minor side character’ vibe to me :)
Even though they rarely appear onscreen, I see the supernatural characters who actually hold seats on the council as being important characters. Because they are the powers that be in this world for the supernatural community which they hold in check.
I feel like if Krona has many more unintended side effects from her reality hacking, the others are totally going to ban her from hacking reality at all. xD
She would then simply hack the memories of their decision to ban her from hacking reality.
“We have decided that although her actions were wrong it does not meet the level of removing her from hacking.”
That power could easily be abused. I’m glad we don’t have to worry about it in our reality.
As far as currently observed. She can’t do that kind of complex hacking. That’s like trying to open a locked book by shaking the earth.
At first I thought that Sydney was passing out due to oxygen loss then I looked at the the last frame and had to go back to notice what Krona did.
The only “paralysis” I’ve experienced was having my arm in a splint for 10 days after surgery. As soon as they took it off, I could NOT, COULD not, COULD NOT stop stretching and flexing it around. In spite of the pain of 10 days worth of pins and needles suddenly catching up with me. (Crap, I hope Sydney is immune to pins & needles in her jaw.)
To answer Elsbeth’s question: Yes, Sydney does need to breathe & yes, one of the orbs can help her breathe. Considering how much Sydney may envy her super-enhanced distaff compatriots for the size of their “lungs,” she can still make full use of the breath she has.
About DaveB’s under-the-comic joke: Yes, there would be a large market for that ability among parents of new-born infants…Especially around 3AM every night.
Not… quite, the Green Ball provides breathable air, butt Sydney still has to actively breathe it in
Perhaps continuous talking is the function of the brown orb :) And Sydney just never noticed when testing them because it’s so natural for her to yap :)
I’m suddenly curious to know whether her swearing leveled up a bunch around the time she found the orbs.
I actually think that Sydney’s kinda tapered off significantly on the swearing since joining Archon.
I miss those days. I can still go back to the ‘staged bank robbery’ pages, read Sydney’s string of expletives & giggle.
It would be an obvious upgrade wizards would want, being able to spell cast without stopping the draw breath.
Incantations are for lesser wizards.
Advanced wizardry is indistinguishable from technology.
And vice versa.
Just ask Agatha Heterodyne!
Your drawing is significantly better than it was but the cartoony effects occasionally push the more “realistic” style into uncanny valley. Given that these cartoony effects are frequent… maybe reverse the realism dial a bit?
When you scare Supers and Supernaturals… and you’re just being yourself…
Leave it to a young succubus to grab Dabblers breast rather than her neck to hold onto.
Sort arms, besides Succubi, are bisexual.
Short arms, sorry! I know what that is like I have short arms and legs.
I’m glad to see Tamatha’s safe and Sydney is back to…um…normal!?
What will happen afterwards???
Oh succubi. I just noticed Tamatha took the opportunity to feel Dabbler up.
I just noticed that too….I thought I was just being a dirty old man again :P
And now a ‘behind the scenes’ moment with the making of Grrlpower.
DaveB. Panel 1: “Aranea is in this scene but it would be a pain to have to draw all her arms again. I wonder if I can hide the top half of her body behind something?”
“I’ll just draw the patterns on Dabbler’s corset, by hand, that will be easier.”
I’m looking forward to the aftermath of this girl’s night out…!
Funny you should mention about Dabbler’s tail since the page before you have a shot almost the exact same angle on her butt, though at greater distance, and there is definitely NO sign of tail in sight…
Fairly sure that, after Sydney has had time to calm down, she will realise they were both trying to help and put them both in the back where the Good People go
I love grrlpower…but how you drew the tail is a new pet peeve of mine. Basically it makes no anatomical sense, it is part of the spine not a separate limb. Oddly enough I have no problem with the anatomy of 4 arms. Suspension of disbelief is weird.
Yeah, the anatomical connectivity of the tail of this alien/demon woman in a setting where outright magic, futuristic xeno-tech, and physics-defying superpowers exist makes no sense and ruins the sense of immersion completely.
Yes, it does.
4 arms is anatomically doable, though Dabler’s are a bit close together vertically. The muscles that move your scapula around extend all the way from the base of your skull to mid back; I suppose some overlap would be feasible. But she doesn’t appear to have a second set of clavicles, and that’s an important part of the shoulder joint.
I think we have to assume her lower shoulder is seriously non-standard.
The tail is WAY too skinny for the size of it, and there’s no sign of any musculature to move it around.
For ways to do multiarmed characters, see here. https://www.deviantart.com/azaleacloud Somone I have known for many years, we were fans of The Wotch!
Conjecturing Sydney may have learned enough fighting while paralyzed to get an upgrade as soon as she is coherent…will Krona finally get a good look at the upgrade tree or will something mess that up again?
? All she did was flail blindly with her MolestOrb, not hitting her target even once
She can see and hear with the telepresence orb. She could use it to remote view who/what she is attempting to… give a bottle of Tentacle Grape Soda to. She could have just teleported away. Does the telepresence/teleport use these controls? Or does the Lighthook use controls like the other orbs do (implying finger movement but otherwise can’t move)? The lighthook is essentially a short-range Green Lantern ring imho. Could she use it to re position herself? So many things she could try, or not because we are the readers looking in and may not be aware of her limitations. I can see her not flying because her neck would just rag doll.
Umm, you forget that the telepresence projects an image of her as she is, which means she would have been face down in her own drool
And she had to actually press the button to Holo-port
Yes, so many things she could try, butt she didn’t, so nothing Upgrade-worthy
Ahh. See that’s exactly what I missed. I didn’t know if it was only a copy of what she was doing at the time like a hologram mirror so I figured she’d be able to move it around and look at her surroundings. The button thing I couldn’t remember if she needed it for the teleport or not which is why I mentioned her fingers having possible limited movement. The more you know…
No worries :D
But the target who wasn’t hit once (that we saw) appeared to also be unable to get past Sydney’s lighthook in order to reenter the hole she got knocked through. Sydney did still succeed in preventing Aranea from absconding with Tamatha.
I am getting so sick of people being obsessed with Sydney being handed levelups,Just about the only one Ive not heard yet is someone demanding she gets another level of invincibility added to her for successfully wiping her own butt.
Nice to have “the List” make a return.
Last!
Probably not. ;)
Sure about that? o_O
Just as pointless as calling, “First!”
At one time, but no longer ;)
You haven’t brought up the list in a long time. I’m glad to see it return :D
I think the pillow shading (common mistake), lack of environmental lighting, and glass eyes are the primary contributors to the characters’ uncaniness.
After being dissatisfied with my inability to communicate what is setting off this feeling, I sought out an example to use as a comparison; I picked a marvel comic at random: https://imgur.com/a/eN32iJp . This really helped identify exactly what is going on.
By pillow shading, I mean the characters appear to always be frontally lit by a diffuse source, which is severely unflattering for humans / humanoids. There is no rim lighting nor reflected light apparent, which makes them look flat and artificial. The only time this isn’t completely jarring is when they’re in a brightly lit office environment, and even there it isn’t really believable; even flourescent lights have some directionality.
There are no environmental lighting cues. Consider this page: they are on a rooftop at night, yet they seem to be brightly, directly lit as though they are at a photo shoot. Shouldn’t the main sources of lighting here be from overhead (stars, moon, ambient reflected city light), and possibly below (street lights, car headlights, etc, if these are applicable; we haven’t been shown much of the surrounding area)? The overall effect is to make the characters appear to have been poorly photoshopped in to the scene from an outside source.
The glass eye effect and hideous anime expressions have been covered at length previously and speak for themselves. I won’t belabor those points here.
Consider the example linked above. I included part of a previous panel to help establish context. This woman is in a room chiefly lit by a large number of monitors, and probably some flourescent lighting. We can see this “reflected” in the way these lights play on her features. This helps to ground her in the scene, and allows the viewer to believe that she exists in the world, rather than in a layer over top of it. Obviously, no ray-tracing or other tedious methods are needed. We only need provide enough cues that the viewer’s pattern matching does the rest for us.
I’m not saying the example is how people must be drawn, or even a particularly high quality work; there are innumerable ways to render people in a way that isn’t actively repulsive.
One final note: I just noticed there is almost no linework to speak of, at least in the final product. That’s an excellent method for still lifes, but in comics it just looks strange.