Grrl Power #1404 – And I would walk 63,500 light years…
It’s safe to say this guy’s stride to inseam ratio is an outlier. You need special mathematical notation to indicate how many standards he deviates. Cases like this are why functions like “trimmed mean” are necessary.
So yeah, dude went out for a stroll. From somewhere, probably in or near our galaxy, on a celestial object, presumably orbiting the galactic center in a certain direction at a certain speed, onto a ship that is almost definitely moving in a different direction and at different speed. A FTL speed. It’s safe to say this guy slays at hopscotch.
I’m not really sure what else to say that doesn’t give away who and what this guy is, even though to me, it seems fairly obvious. }cough{
Oh, one other thing. Originally this was a standard sized page, but I’m really getting tired of cramming important moments into panels the size of 1/9th of a page. So I expanded this one, and I will probably do it more in the future. It doesn’t necessarily mean I can make those big panels all crazy high detail or anything. It’s not like I suddenly have a team of background guys that can draw 3-point perspective cityscapes for me while I concentrate on foreground art. I just want to give the important moments a little more weight, and in comic lingo, that usually means more page real estate.
But in expanding the now final panel, I wound up cutting the planned final panel. Originally, he shows up and looms as you see here, then there’s a panel of him leaning over Sydney, looking at the orbs, and that’s when he says Curious, etc. That panel made it clear he’s 1) there to check out the orbs, and 2) no one can see him. I think this version of the page is slightly more ambiguous in those regards, but not so much that I think it’ll throw you guys into a maelstrom of confusion, cats and dogs, etc.
A hint that he can’t be seen is that while he is backlit by the viewscreen and so is Sydney, he’s not casting a shadow on her. Which made me realize that if you could be invisible and somehow still see yourself (you wouldn’t be able to) you’d either be absolutely pitch black, because light would be bending around you and you would therefore not be illuminated, or you would be fully lit, without any shadows or ambient occlusion, because light would be passing through you equally… but there’s no way you’d be able to see yourself like that. Or see at all, really. But still, you’d look like a 3D model that was evenly globally lit.
Yes, yes, a magic spell that made you invisible could include an illusion that only you can see of yourself so that you can still pick locks or whatever non-fumbling-around-blindly activity you need to do. But then that illusion would have to make some decisions about illumination.
There’s also the option of not being invisible and just blocking people’s perception of you. That’s difficult because you have to block perception of footprints, cast shadows, B.O., etc. Not that standard invisibility block odor or anything. And there’s also the complication of perception blocking in a world with electronic cameras. It’s one thing in a fantasy world, but if blocking the perception of digital eyes requires a whole other level of hand-waving.
But then you have a guy who can amble a jillion parsecs like it’s nothing, and you don’t even need to try and justify anything. They’re at the “dude can do some shit.” level, and that’s all the explanation needed.
Ooh, look! A new vote incentive! And it’s updated with color!
Well, in progress, obviously. I have another one that’s actually a bit further along, but everyone was all, “Sydney Kobold vote incentive!” So I switched to this one. Plus the other one was a multi-character picture so it will actually take me longer to finish. I hope to have an update for this one each week, so stay tuned. There is a slightly higher res version on Patreon.
By the way, this gunmetal blue-ish background and teal pencils are how I draw the comic. I set it up this way so I don’t have to spend all day staring into a bright white blank page.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
And I thought it was just a VR display based on sensor readings…
Oh… oooooh… so it was INVERSE of what I predicted would happen. Honestly, this is much more cool!
If the truesight orb whacks itself into her hand (they’ve done that before), could she see this one?
The question is if Sydney would make a random sweep for ninjas any time soon.
I would love that so much…especially if it worked…because I would want to see her freak out reaction and everyone else’s utter confusion.
It surely has been quite some time, the universe is due for a ninja check
It wouldn’t surprise me if it is Q under that mask.
Which one? Or maybe… Tremane? (original, not the dumb reboot: Darby may be an okay comedian and actor, but he’s still an idiot)
Sydney’s nerdiness should come in handy if they meet squire Trelane.
Rare is the time when being a cure for an extremely advanced being’s boredom is considered a good thing.
He got him the 124,470,050,478,705,550-League Boots
They appear to be slippers.
“Huh. One of the little hominids running around the universe managed to integrate with my old toy. How cute / unexpected! Let’s observe for a while, shall we?”
About the invisibility argument, where blah blah bend light blah blah blindness, that whole argument.
Why?
It’s effin magic, why do normal physics have anything to do with it? If I point a finger and shoot something 50 meters away with a lightning bolt, why does nobody complain about the fact that it utterly ignores the laws of physics, but invisibility is perfectly acceptable?
Even in this comic, demons can be summoned from either vast cosmological distances or sideways through the planes using honey, a bit if floor space, and a little mana in a manner that is conceivably instantaneous. We have told the laws of physics to go to its room without its cellphone, but everyone whines about invisibility, arguably a much simpler trick.
I… did not make any arguments about invisibility? o_õ
Did you accidentally hit reply instead of posting a new comment?
Sometimes this forum moves in mysterious way. It’s part of the charm in my humble opinion.
My guess, Tanimaat was thinking about replying to your comment, decided not to, so canceled the comment, then had the moxy to submit a comment with that browser tab without reloading. At least, I think that’s generally the order of things when I have what was meant to be a top level comment accidentally placed as a reply to someone else.
Like finding a hermit crab wearing your old thermos.
Kind of cute but at the same embarrasing as it means you left your trash just lying around.
That being said, does this alien looks like a guy who would do a roadside picnic on Earth?
Hereby dubbing him “Groucho” until proven different. That bent, hands-behind-back stride is a comedy classic. There’s a dozen or more online guides on how to do it right, although none of them allow for apparently not having the physiology to tilt one’s head up separately from your torso so he’s had to adjust it a bit.
As to the last bit. Douglas Adams solved that bit. Just apply bit of the old SEP cloaking and… Oh, haven’t heard of a “Somebody Else’s Problem field”? Well, where have you been.
The SEP is Somebody Else’s Problem, of course they haven’t heard of it!
What I am seeing is a Vorlon in a sombrero. ^_^
I’m remembering Babylon 5, where Sheridan went to talk to Ambassador Kosh, and asked him how his view screen worked. Kosh’s replywas perfect.
“Efficiently.”
Gosh, I sure hope this guy doesn’t wind up being a jerk.
I don’t know about that (too many eyes, no wings) but I am surprised you didn’t mention they are wearing house slippers.
Clearly he chooses comfort over fashion, and I applaud his choice.
And a turtleneck sweater, apparently
I submit the name :”Nailhead”.
He looks like he’s smiling.
I hope that’s a good sign.
Crocodiles smile, and it’s never a good sign when they do
Honestly, I thought that not only was he invisible, but that time was sort of paused or stopped and only he was moving around. But if everyone is still moving I guess its possible Sydney could see him with the Comm ball.
So this guy is Nth tech. Maybe an inventor of the orbs but just as likely another species on the same tech level.
They call it Nth tech, after this display I use another term: “Clarke Tech”
A Youtuber coined that one for technology that looks like magic.
There is manipulating perception, invisibility and being out of phase, a kind of there, but not there. Considering he is walking onto a ship that is currently in hyperspace, I think that’s the better explanation.
Unless a technology or power can do the same he can’t just not be perceived, but also can’t be attacked.
An interesting design, reminds me of the Jülzish from Perry Rhodan, not that many would know them or the series.
P.S. ‘Delightful’? Interesting, very interesting.
The ‘delightful’ is VERY important here. It says to us, yes, the Nth are powerful – step across the universe in an instant powerful, pocket Matroishka brain powerful – but, they still maintain a sense of wonder. Of curiosity. They have not ‘evolved’ into cold, distant, logical beings incapable of emotional connection with ‘lesser beings’. The universe they control so easily still fascinates them, and that’s promising.
It could also mean, “I’ve been on guard duty looking for the orbs for the past 66 million years and I finally found them. I can go home and see my wife again.”
“Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end” -Spock
It also suggests that Ol’ Tablehead isn’t particularly perturbed to find the orbs in Sydney’s possession, reacting to it more like “kitten playing with yarn” than “kitten chewing on live wire”.
Ii know Perry Rhodan, but only through thr limits of the translated version.
My first thought Monday was thr Rigelians grom the Lensman series, thiugh that’s not 100% either.
DaveB, I just want to point out that you’re making a webtoon.You can make one page as many panels as you want.
So he does those Wuxia steps? Where a single step is 432047823048723490832740239473208478320432 kilometers? Will he soon be dragging a weak but spunky MC with a sad backstory who has potential? It is kind of cool to see an effect that makes that look accurate though.
Oh Look! It’s Perfect Tommy.
“No matter where you go, there you are” -BB
So the ‘Nth Alien’ is listening to ‘I’m Gonna Be’ by the Space Proclaimers from their album ‘Sunshine on planet Neith’?
Clearly his ability to appear without notice has nothing to do with invisibility. He’s simply under a Somebody Else’s Problem field. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somebody_else%27s_problem
So it’s a constant of the universe that everyone sees Sydney kind of like a puppy. Hyper, excitable, annoying sometimes, but you can’t stay mad at her because she’s so precious.
Anyonr though of the silence from dr who?
I’m getting more the Grand Inquisitor from Venture Brothers.
“IGNORE ME!”
This guy looks like a villain on german sci-fi series Perry Rhodan.
Assuming this alien is of the species that invented Sydney’s orbs, I think the most important point of discussion is whether the orbs go over or under the “hat” when they use them?
This guy looks far too interested in the orbs to have invented them. As soon as he saw them, he came to her.
Could Dabbler see him? I wonder what her reaction would be?
I think if he was sufficiently bored, seeing a hopelessly primitive life form with ones MacGuffin could produce this level of interest. I recall back in the day seeing a video in which half a dozen researchers dropped everything to watch what the ape they were using as a test subject did with a cell phone it managed to get its hands on.
Admittedly, that wasn’t a very long distraction for them, because it wasn’t apparently able to do anything really interesting with it. Sydney’s had a much better run with these orbs than that.
To be clear, if this being actually had to do something significant to take a 20k parsec step and be unperceptible, I’d agree with you. But apparently it can just do that stuff, per the author.
I’ve read the previous couple of pages as the flight orb “activating” and drawing the attention of this guy. I think Sydney is what fascinates him.
A bit like the other commenter said, a monkey with a phone is somewhat interesting. Especially if the phone is old enough to basically be an historic artifact and the monkey just butt-dialed you.
I’d be interested if a monkey called me from my lost Nokia 3210.
Under the hat, of course, when they are in active use; otherwise they are not in easy reach. Above the hat is fine when in storage/neutral mode.
Maybe they slot into the same ports as the cables in the comic, that way they could use all the orbs at the same time! Maximum Orbing!
Maybe the orbs are now like a child’s toy to the Nth; this guy just stepped across an unknowable distance without seeming to need any such tool.
This isn’t Sydney’s first trip through hyperspace, nor even her first trip through hyperspace on Cora’s ship, so I wonder why this being wouldn’t have detected her before?
It’s possible that using the Wormhole is responsible for that. He’s probably there to make sure no one moves anything important without it being logged.
It’s probably Sydney’s proximity to this particular wormhole. Basically, they’ve gotten close enough to be somewhere he’s looking.
Alternatively, it could be he has detected her before and it was never really interesting enough to get his attention. However, now she’s suddenly an incredible distance from her home planet and going further away, apparently willfully.
Previously, she traveled to somewhere that was a rather large distance from her home, but that wasn’t willfully, and it wasn’t this far away. More recently, she’s confined her travels to back and forth between her home and the nearest intragalactic hub.
All the way out here? And she’s not traveling via orb, but rather some far more primitive technology.
In the movie “Mystery Men,” Invisible Boy was only invisible when a) he was nude, and b) when no one was looking. As it turned out, he WAS invisible, but only to cameras. When he was nude. And no one was looking.
It didnt require him to be naked to attempt, but it did make him intangible, not invisible, so his clothes fell off when it activated.
Knew he had spotted Sydney last page, or at least her balls
Or maybe it was the reason FlyB was extra glowy…
Expanding the size of the pages when it’s necessary is betterer than splitting it into two pages (specially when we only get two pages a week… which isn’t a complaint)
I think it’s very obvious that he’s invisible, because otherwise everyone would be panicking at the sudden appearance of someone on a ship in hyperspace.
Another problem with the light-passing-through-you style of invisibility is that it would render you blind, as the light would also be passing through your retinas without interacting (and even if you made an exception for your retinas, light would be hitting them from all angles so you’d just see a uniform haze).
With Cora’s crew and all those Archon people there, this would not be a good place to suddenly appear. Thankfully, it appears he is staying hidden via warped space-time.
The ComBall should be flickering or flashing or something.
Can it ring?
Sydney’s ComBall and her Alien-tech glasses. She’s going to see….something?
Maybe her Human brain won’t be able to interpret it.
As a comics/sci-fi nerd her closest approximation could be visible matte lines?
A different color palette? A different art style?
This guy sees Sydney and her orbs and his first instinct is to immediately travel to her to check them out?
Has he seen these before or does he not know where they came from?
Are these… limited edition?
Yes, and presumably yes.
So can we assume from that link that this is someone who wants to shower Sydney in gifts and compliments for being curious, unpredicted and delightful?
He can see himself while invisible because he is not “seeing” with vision and light. He has other options
Sydney has a fan!
Given how much remote monitoring tech they clearly have, does that make Sydney a livestreamer?
I’m picturing this Nth tech person as watching her shenanigans and sometimes sending superchats.
Potentially? But right now, she’s not aware of it, so she’s just someone under occasional very heavy surveillance. Just like the rest of us.
okay dude is cool looking, still ominous af though. I have a feeling that what ever it is, their race is behind the orbs.
On the linked page there is:
“how did Terrans get a hold of that” coming from, apparently, no where,
“The Ascendant” and
“are they meaning The Old Ones”.
I am going to bet the “how did Terrans get a hold of that” was spoken by this guy, but no one heard it.
This guy may be “the Ascendant” or one of “The Old Ones” or both.
oh, i knows those nebula pics! one of them is actually my lockscreen
Mister Thumb-Tack Head may or may not be a villain, I guess.
Hmm. I notice this guy has no orbs of his own. I wonder why?
well if look at the galaxies as the what ever it is is walking there is 7 so possibly eather his own set of orbs are Galaxy powered and has full control to not need training wheels of a physical interface thus sydney orbs are kids first car or starship OR exploration rig. so sydney has power of stars fueling her orbs while he possibly has galaxies. OR thos are sydneys orbs powerd by galaxies and its just stepping following the orbs energy
Probably for the same reason I don’t have a sun dial.
The distance travelled might be wrong, but the fit part of fitbit only cares about how much actual cardio he gets in.