Grrl Power #950 – Gob-blocked
Frix isn’t reminding Prinrin that Sydney is a potential an engine of destruction because he’s afraid of what she might actually do, but because it’s a pretty good way to deflect her interest. I’m sure there’s been more than a few women who have warded off advances by saying “My boyfriend is an ex-Navy SEAL.” whether or not any part of that statement is true. Sure, they could easily say “My boyfriend is a millionaire with a 9″ dick but also he’s addicted to cunnilingus.” and in certain situations that might even work better, but it could also spark a guy’s competitive nature. Is it better to imply her guy knows fifty ways to kill with a shrimp fork? It’s situational. Still, it’s hard to beat “My girlfriend can cut a tank in half.”
“I’m curious about your specific Navier-Lamé elastodynamic ratios” is physicist speak for “Gurl, you tight?” Also, “I want to solve for your Cylindrical Coordinate Displacement Unknowns” means “Let’s get it on.” Hmm. That sounds like a T-shirt Dabbler would wear.
At least, I like to think that science nerds hit on each other in ways that are really specific to their field and inscrutable to anyone else. But given the poor male to female ratio in most STEM fields, there are few salacious equation the ladies haven’t heard before.
They put up with Digit’s crazy inventions because despite her destroying the occasional wall, stuff like her Wall-Bot actually works, and now they can keep just ahead of the usual interior damages to the base. Keep in mind that Digit is hardly the only one in a building full of supers that damages the architecture.
The new vote incentive will be up with Monday’s comic. It’s almost done, just need a little extra time to finish up the detail work. So enjoy Detla for one more weekend.
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Panel six was hilarious, but panel nine topped it.
Yeah it’s one of Dave’s best jokes.
Another awesome page.
Especially panel 4
I’m wondering if Sydney is resisting the urge to have an eye start twitching, crazy-person-trying-not-to-snap style…
Maybe her eye IS twitching but we can’t see it because it’s a still-pic, not a gif?
This page is both rich and dense. I’d have a hard time picking a favorite panel, between “Navier-Lamé elastodynamic ratios” and Wall-bot, but panel 4 is indeed just gold.
If Panel 4 were a page all by itself, the tag line would surely be: “Here’s Sydney!”
I want it for my screensaver.
Well, that was easy. Screensaver accomplished!
I’m making it my mobile desktop.
Classy response from Frix there.
A tech ‘expert’ that’s a hazard to all and sundry is kinda what’s expected for this team at this rate.
The first panel is definitely a good response, but I dont think Sydney would like being used as a threat in panel 2. Makes Sydney sound like she is going to kill Prinrin over this.
Really? Little miss “And you’re right to be terrified” won’t like being presented as a major threat?
It’s hyper-efficiently playing to the audience, and also suppressing any objections from Prinrin that might prolong the negative interaction and cause backlash.
This is ultra-engineer with emotional maturity talk.
You saying she’s not? What gives you that idea?
Let me remind you: last two panels of last page, panel four of this page
Frix’s snout looks more like a sheep or a bedlington terrier than an average hound when viewed from the side
The typical canine snout would make standard speech nearly impossible. Sapient evolution would have to hybridize it into a more… useful structure for that
Do not make Sydney angry. You wouldn’t like her when she’s angry.
Frix looks more like a sheep or bedlington terrier when viewed from the side than a classic hound
You get used to the glitchy posting here. At least I no longer post in triplicate.
Sydney is not one to upset.
And Sydney is not one to forget either. At least not as long as she still has…The List.
So steal the list….
But what if The List is eternal and possible eldritch? It might be like the orbs and just always find its way back to her.
Not sure that’s a good idea. You could end up exchanging 492nd place on the List for first place on… The New List!
egad!! so another would just take it’s place. but it would be a new one. resets the score.
Resets your score, but also resets everyone else’s score. Everyone who’d already worked their way up the hitlist gets a reprieve, which leaves any new offenders horribly exposed in the lead. I’m not sure how Sydney’s rate of working retaliation down the List compares to her rate of adding counts to the List, but I’m not sure that’s a balance you want to be betting on.
Sydney is beginning to see the downside of polyamourous relationships.
challenges?
Nah, Sydney’s partner(s) is (are) beginning to see the downside to being in a relationship with her
Frix clearly understood the situation from square one, and has been handling things like a Sir.
Syd’s still learning, and clearly values her relationship with Frix enough to force herself to acknowledge and confront her own social training, bringing it into conscious awareness, and beating it into submission.
Personal growth is hard, but our girl is an adult, and neither selfish, nor a thoughtless bint.
We’ll see where things go.
“Legally competent adult“! Recognized by the state even!
there are a lot of people considered legally competent adults who could really use a second go round on maturation. preferably in a lower status tier this time.
Sydney needs bit more confidence in her relationship with Frix. Being jelly isn’t always healthy thing.
She’s trying, but she’s been thrown from “monogamy is awesome” to “love-duodecagons for everyone!”
She’s just about handling “Dabbler and Cora have been in casual carnal relations with Frix for years, and might still come aboot knocking for a boot knocking”. Jumping straight into “Hi there, you’re new, wanna screw?” is a bit of an unhealthy stretch for her already-shifting paradigm.
The few poly friends I’ve had wouldn’t react too well to someone coming up to one of them like “You’re new, wanna screw?” either, partly because they would see it as rude.
As someone who has been monogamous for years and only considered a polyamorous relationship a few times, Sydney’s reaction is exactly how I picture myself reacting in my head. It’s not an easy mentality to just turn off.
Wall-Bot vs Kool-Aid in 3, 2, 1 …
Also love Digit in panel 5. Pure joy.
Sorry, panel 6.
Ok, Friday is a genuine Nice Guy™.
Frix, god dammit.
from the depths of the server farms… Autocowreck strikes again! what is the sound of a computer laughing?
but props to Frix’s maturity here.
01001000 01000001, 01001000 01000001, 01001000 01000001
Syd looking through a hole in a broken glass window is more frightening than anticipated… weird.
take away some light and it would be terrifying, especially with this chain.
I don’t know about all people in science… but as a person in a scientific degree, I never heard of anything like that… I don’t believe scientists say those things normally.
Thank goodness this a set of super scientists in a comic. They can say whatever DaveB wants them to say <3
I’ve heard the occasional attempts, but only as an obvious joke or in response to an accidental leading line rather than as a serious pick-up. Nothing that’s worth dignifying by repetition.
And lo why they can so take Sydney in stride.
Which brings me to my next question. How many of these girls and guys do they have here?
as many as they can get. Archon is recruiting. do you have what it takes?
Fritz seems like a understanding boyfriend Sydney got lucky when she hooked up with him
She did! ^_^
Wall-bot is the best.
and i hear its voice if any as loader bots from borderlands series xd
ARC must get a grossly high budget from defense spending in order to pay for and cover all the damages that happen in that building. Not from supers attacking but just from internal shenanigans.
That or they’ve got somebody with a power they’re heavily abusing to make money. Like that guy that pull tons of gold out of the mantle. I imagine there’s a number of other powers that can be easily monetized like that. Hell, have Harem reabsorb her extra bodies and she could haul like half a ton of goods anywhere in the world at the blink of an eye.
Harem can only jump to places she can see or is really familiar with, like the house she grew up in.
Absolutely. If you can’t get rich with superpowers, you’re not trying. Besides, we already know that they’re gearing up for merchandising and endorsement deals, and they’re already getting appearance fees. They’re going to be drowning in cash in no time.
Bah. There were supposed to be [pedantry][/pedantry] tags around the first sentence but I used angle brackets and it ate them instead of sanitizing them.
ARC may get patent rights to anything Digit invents on the job. If her superpower is being a Girl Genius style spark she will invent things the way that most people breath. Well paid to start with and a fully equipped shop with bonuses for particularly profitable inventions. She would be a happy moneymaker and ARC gets to keep most of her mayhem contained in a reinforced bunker.
Plus, it has already been established that a lot of the funding is planned to be raised via merchandising. Which is why Adriana loves Halo’s “Orb Power” (“Collect Them All”)
Not to be all cynical or anything, but to be all cynical, repairing damage simply boosts the budget, giving greater authority to whoever’s in charge. On a less cynical note, a super who breaks things but is massively useful is a net plus, comparable to a super who breaks nothing but is merely useful.
Yeah, my headcanon is cemented now. Digit IS a traveller from the Girl Genius universe. To avoid plot holes her memory got erased/jumbled during the transfer.
I will gladly join you in this headcanon, friend.
Oh yesss! That is exactly what was itching… she is one of THEM!
Pretty sure she can cut most any tank in half, not just Earth ones.
Back on the Alari homeworld, during the invasion, Sydney faced some pretty big “tanks” & cut those into pieces.
Those did take a little more concentration, so they may not fall under the “virtually no effort” umbrella
But that took a little effort.
Yup.. effort, and definitely not casual..
But Frix is simply pointing out that *he* has to deal with the sulking GF.. Delicately….
Personally, I’d be pretty cautious of what Sydney might do in almost ANY situation… she doesn’t have any real control of half her powers, let alone self control or even common sense
Well, let’s not go that far.
If that was true, half of the villains in the first big brawl with Vehemence would have been dead.
Yes, Sidney has proven to be able to keep a cool head under pressure, analyse a situation, come up with a successful plan, has has saved the day a few times with her trope&genre saviness….
If it wasn’t for her turettes, ADHD and general inability to keep a cool head under mundane situations (and during press conferences), her performance in the fight with Vehemence and her solo-action on the Alari homeworld would have fast-tracked her onto the officer’s career path.
An aside to be sure, but how far are we away from the first strip?
I’m not certain, but I think it’s less than a month of Earth time, certainly not more than 2 since Sydney hasn’t noticeably changed fitness levels. For Sydney it’s that amount of time +53 days.
“Let’s solve for your Cylindrical Coordinate Displacement Unknowns” on a shirt?
Frix is very wise yes very wise indeed, he would make a good CO. XD
True science nerds come up with awesome lines! The trick is the way they are used. It’s usually something along the lines of, “… … … … (she walks out) … … … (go home) … … oh, I shoulda said (insert line science nerds come up with)”.
Yeah, we were smooth talkers when it was just us guys. An attractive person appears and it tongue-tied city. Except for that one guy. There is always that one guy who can lay down the lines. I use guy generically as I presume that this also applies to ladies and other genders/preferences.
As someone who is used to writing grant proposals, and occasionally having to give presentations, I am somewhat used to talking people out of stuff. Most of the time it is money but every once in a while it is clothes.
If this were the fifth version of the repair droid it might be named
WALLe.
I’d say she needs to work on her AI but that’s quite literally how most ai’s would act (unless the wall was unbreakable and/or the ai was trained how to get from point a to point b without attempting to go through the wall)
I expect by the third iteration you would have identified navigation as a major factor in its programming. Maybe it is an early prototype although a truly mad inventor would have it repairing the wall as it passed through it just so it could arrive more quickly.
Prinrin: I have elected to not fuck around and find out.
in Picard speak: “I have decided it is not to my convenience to test this assumption.”
Soon to be offered for only 3 easy payments of 24.99 by RONCO! (may not be available in all markets) and yes kids I’m old enough to say that cable will NEVER be as good or fun as UHF channels…the internet is TRYING. But just gets cringy.
Now I’m thinking of that Love, Death and Robots episode in Season 2 with the killer home service bot with the nice friendly voiceover as it politely informs its owner about possible killer tendencies, it’s ability to kill people and that if it decides to hunt you please call customer service.
You would probably appreciate OmegaMart
Digit: “Oh no! That’s the Wall-Breaking Bot, not the Wall-Fixing Bot! Now the only thing that can save us is if the two bots duel to the death!”
Sydney: “Or I could…”
Digit: “The ONLY THING!”
Digit is a SPARK!
Copyright Fairy: No, she’s a SPARQ. Completely different ting dat nobody haz effer thought of before.
*due to a gastronomic misunderstanding, tonight the part of the Copyright Fairy will be played by Dimo of Mechanis….grad. Mekaniksgrad. Yes. Diimou, of Mekaniksgrad.
I have discovered that they actually make a roomba type robot to clean backyard grills. These super science robots don’t impress me anymore.
Bah it will never replace my industrial sandblaster
…does nobody just use bleach and an electrical current anymore?
“I want to solve for your Cylindrical Coordinate Displacement Unknowns”
Oh my various Gods & Demons, I *SO* want you to do a panel with Dabbler wearing that shirt now!
I don’t get that one. Explain for the uninitiated?
Translation-bot: “I want too see how big your (male reproductive organ) is.”
I can’t imagine Dabbler wearing enough cloth for “I want to solve for your Cylindrical Coordinate Displacement Unknowns”
Maybe a tattoo?
She has in the past, specially if it meant pulling off the
shirtgaglongshirt, belt, no bra… ( minimalpantsu..), add text.. Possibly an excuse of the swimming pool ending up all over her…
At what point wouldn’t Dabbler do this?
Look like Wall-bott will need to be upgraded with carpentry options or a new Carpenter-bott will make and appearance until they are joined by Plummer-bott, Electrician-bott and finally Concrete-bott to form some kind of building repair Power Rangers that can combine in a Mega Builder-zord.
And a Foreman-bott named ‘Bob’.
Maybe I should read this comic before my morning coffee has kicked-in but…
Can someone explain Panels 6 & 7? (Feel like I’m the only one here who doesn’t get what it is that they were “not doing”.)
*shouldn’t >.>
Prinrin said ‘my digits’, and raised her hand, Digit reached to give her a high- five while saying ‘my Prinrin’, as she was thinking Prinrin was reaching for her…. it’s pretty self-explanatory, really, you just need a brain that’s a little more warped.
Poor Digit! She was left hanging and now has to hand new drywall. What is a gorgeous scatterbrained disaster supposed to do, and why do they have her in the same room as Sydney? That’s just asking for a disaster!
Oops, hang not hand. My bad!
The drywall really is her fault. Or, WallBot’s fault, which can be directly traced back to her. Now the glass window mess, that was directly her fault, as well. And she’s a gorgeous scatterbrained GENIUS disaster, so she’ll figure something out.
Think of it this way: this sequence has shown conclusively that Sidney is provably not the biggest disaster zone at ARC HQ.
This comic is SOOOO educational it should be required reading.
A few strips ago we learned about feet and stance anatomy: Digitigrade – Plantigrade – Unguligrade (as well as the extremes of some furry lifestylers).
Today we learn about a 17th century Renaissance-man physicist/engineer genius (although not so good at bridge designing). As a physicist myself I was familiar with the Navier-Stokes equations (viscous flow), but had not heard of Navier-Lamé (linear elasticity).
The hours reading comics are completly justifiable!
Elf girl should have just played a card that increased Sydney’s position on the kinsy scale. If Sydney embraced the bi this would be much easier for both of them.
You’re interested in my boyfriend? I’ll allow it if you date me too.
I don’t remember if it ever was established if Sydney is or might be interested in girls too.
Also Goblin.
She definitely has an interest in Dabbler… but then, who doesn’t?
LIST OF DIGIT’S FAILED* INVENTIONS
Wall Bot
Door Bot
Floor Wax Bot
Tonsillectomy Bot
Dog Walker Bot
Nose Hair Clipper Bot
Vacuum Bot**
Baby Feeder Bot***
*’Failed’ meaning other people insisted she shut them down immediately, not that they didn’t do what they were designed to do. They do. There were just… side effects.
** Similar to a Roomba, but it vacuumed under furniture. After it threw them across the room. There were issues, OK?
***For her sister’s kids, OK? Ew. And people complained about the robot having nipples. Form follows function, people!
Omar probably deserves a raise.
vacation. one of those all inclusive resorts where he doesn’t have to ask ‘how much?’ with lots and lots of beautiful scenery. Work phones (also known as office leashes) are strictly forbidden. Large hammers are used in such cases.
In a realistic mind set Frix might be able to have sex with her if he is proportionally built like a human, still need to be careful, otherwise picturing they’d either have to resort to foreplay and toys…unless the goblins have anime hentai levels of elasticity with the *inflated abdomen around giant phallic object without causing internal injury*.
emotionally however he is right, Sydney is new to the whole concept of polygamy…and struggling to the point I wander if this will actually work out if she can’t mentally slot it as friends with benefits.
Pet peeve: Polygamy refers to multiple marriages. Polyamory refers to multiple romantic relationships.
I’m fairly sure Polygamy is even more specific: one male with multiple female partners. One female with multiple males being Polyandry, and much less commonly recognised in the times/places that generally led/lead cultural recognition. There may or may not be an equivalent term for multiple males and multiple females, in sets either fully or only partially overlapping, but if there is I’m not aware of it (although I’m sure the poly community have a modern one).
On second thoughts, I might be mistaken. Polygyny would fit better as the ‘multiple women’ case, leaving Polygamy as an either-way term
There’s also Polyandry, which is one woman with multiple husbands.
Sydney is still getting use to having ‘friends with benefits’ at all (it was implied that Frix was her first, and she immediately followed that up with walking in on Leon and declaring that they are now hooking up… without checking to see if he was even available, let alone interested)
It has been discussed at various times in other pages of the comments but it really is a wonder that Sydney hasn’t had an identity crisis meltdown. This usually focuses on adapting to her powers and dealing with the consequences of combat but in terms of relationships Sydney is implied to be a bit of a late bloomer. While not virginal it is implied that she wasn’t exactly “experienced” when she met Frix. I see Sydney with a late adolescence that stretches on into her mid 20’s. While she would have been reading harem manga from adolescence the reality of dealing with a polyamorous would probably be pretty stressful. Besides, with Frix the new hasn’t even worn off yet. It’s played for comedy but Sydney is growing and it does give her character more depth.