Grrl Power #440 – This reaction would earn him a D- at Monster U
So, a few things to talk about on this page. Yes, vampires exist in the Grrl Verse. That shouldn’t be so surprising since we already know about aliens, demons and Succubi specifically. I want a world to play in where just about anything goes, even if the primary focus remains on the Supers.
Originally this page took place while Max and Sydney were traveling down a tunnel, past a security station, then in an elevator before stepping out in to the hallway you see here, but the stuff with Ingsol didn’t fit the way I wanted. It was a question of content vs pacing. Really the story could use more pages without a lot of dialog and more establishing shots, but that would leave you guys with much less to comment on, so that sort of stuff gets cut all the time. I’m sharing this particular edit because I wanted to convey that the door in the woods doesn’t open straight in to this hall, even though I didn’t quite show it in the comic. Basically, there are several layers of precautions to prevent people from accidentally discovering the existence of Vamps.
Vampire or no, trying to scare a fledgling superheroine who can cut through a tank like buttah isn’t probably the smartest idea, but I guess being a Vampire may come with certain habits that are difficult to break. Ingsol’s just lucky that Sydney’s head desk therapy worked as well as it did.
People who regularly read my comments under the comics might know that I rarely have time to design characters before they appear in the comic. Virtually everyone except for the main characters got drawn for the first time on the page in which they debuted. I can say I didn’t mean to make Ingsol look quite that much like a stereotypical vampire. If I’d had time to do a few drafts he might have been a little toned down, but at least this way it’s visually unambiguous, which is beneficial to reading comprehension. Admittedly he looks a bit like Demitri Maximoff and Count Chocula had a kid, but I guess he’s just decided to lean into it.
Ingsol’s accent makes him transpose V’s and W’s, except for cases where doing so would make reading his word bubbles inscrutable. “… a character in a nowel. Wlad the Impaler…” etc. It’s a funny accent that way.
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I like the changes between panels 3 and 4 – at first, I thought there were none, but then I noted some details that indicated that Ingsol’s attempt to intimidate Sydney is beginning to slip.
There’s also the giant cartoon sweat drop
and the orb position and illumination change
I like that Dave positions it on the forehead. The first (several) times I saw them, in what I now know to be typical anime style, dangling next to the head (and way bigger than here), I was ‘all WTF is that?’
I guess it would be the same for anyone, who is not familiar with Western conventions, scratching their head at the depiction of an illuminated light bulb, above someone’s head.
*giant Yorpie Snax™ dances next to head*
I think it’s an anime convention (second definition, not the first).
The giant cartoon sweat drop says to me that he was trying too hard. Always a big mistake.
When I copy/paste stuff I almost always make little changes from panel to panel. Usually it’s two people talking, and if they’re not flailing around, redrawing the whole panel doesn’t make much sense time wise, but I’ll still move eyes, eyebrows, mouths, maybe a hand. In this case I wanted to show the slip in his demeanor, honestly if I’d have the room I’d have put 2 identical panels, then have the third one be the slip, but you guy get the idea.
Vlad Tsepesh is a national hero in what is now Rumania.
Thank you for taking the time to make subtle changes so the panels wouldn’t remain identical. I really don’t like artists who don’t bother, just saving time and looking pasted together.
Some artists copy-pasta and not make changes deliberately to mess with annoying readers
Yups, read a history about Vlad Tsepesh III around 16 or 17 years ago, and always felt that Europe owes him, big time, for saving their in-bred arses: he repeatedly requested aid, and was turned down every time, so he did what he had to to stop an invasion
Too true, he was basically Europe’s buffer zone against Islam, and had to protect his borders against a massively superior force.
Psychological warfare was the only real useful tool he had, and extreme measures were needed.
When looking at the 2 similar faces, I can clearly see that there is something different. But I have absolutely no clue WHAT it is. Very subtle
– corners of the lips
– forehead wrinkles
And of course the cartoon sweat drop and orbs rotated to a new position.
Why does he get mad when she asks him to say something in his own accent? I mean, he just used W for V…
Star Trek 4, back to the future. The russian Pavel Checkov asking for the “Nuclear Wessels”. In New York. During the cold war.
Here are some video links – hopefully
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdSJFrhb-HM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc6OeFmcJ0g
That was San Francisco, not New York.
And sadly, the actor who played Chekhov in the reboot series was killed in a freak accident by his own automobile.
San Francisco. They were in San Francisco, not Net York.
The interesting thing to me is that he got the reference. Do we have a coffin trekie here?
Only if he smokes
Ba dum tssh. Baps Guesticus over the head with a rolled newspaper
I love how you said that with such a deadpan expression…
Just relieved people got the joke :)
Maybe he’s mad at being thought of as Russian when’s he’s actually from Pittsburgh…
“No, no disassemble, Stephanie!”
Is that a Short Circuit reference? Bravo!
Make him count something, anything, and force him to laugh between each number!
Had a friend years ago who told me (in very general terms) about a date he had. He got to the the end of the encounter and declared, “I had not one, not two, but three – three orgasms.”
I replied. “Three! Three Orgasms! Ha, ha, ha, ha, Haaaaa!”
Sesame Street was never the same after that.
On a similar note:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Wd-Q3F8KM
I love that clip. Shows what I missed in my youth. Little did I know that there was such a foul-mouthed Muppet on kid’s TV.
;-)
When I think of trash-talkers, I usually remembered Oscar the Grouch…
The part I find interesting is that a vampire, who according to some sources has no soul, is sporting a soul patch.
Of course this may be an ‘intentional irony’ action on his part.
Well, you have a nicotine patch so that you do not feel the urge to use cigarettes.
The logic does hold true.
He needs to keep his soul patched to his body, or he’ll lose it.
Anyone else mistaken the red collar for a goatee in panel 3??
Yes.
I did.
Yup
Not I.
Oh, yes.
In panel three, no.
In panel two, yes.
Definitely.
I am sure Sydney asked Maxima if vampires are real. Possibly in one of the firing range scenes?
*shoulders slump*
But I can’t find it.
She asked Dabbler. I think it was the morning after the big fight. Sydney had many many questions.
There was this moment, of course.
And here is the moment Nephandus mentioned.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/984 Mentions vampire legends being based on supers. I think I recall Sydney following it up with Maxima in private too though.
I wonder if Vale and Pixel are related or connected in any way? Sisters? Mother and daughter?
Unrelated, but both thinking they were getting a unique make-over, whereas they were actually ripped off?
I just like dark skin with pink hair. :)
I so look forward to the first time they meet. Pixel is going to get a severe déjà vu feeling.
Or clones. We can’t have a story about superheroes without clones. Or perhaps they are the same person. Have we ever seen both of them at the same place and time?
Totally mother and daughter (Pixel being the mother, just to make things different :P)
…It involved time travel & a faulty contraceptive…
No, Pixel just looks way younger than she appears, she is actually one of the oldest members (in age, not duration) of Archon (she still giggles that she can call the General ‘Sonny’ :D)
Aww, I’m disappointed that you missed the reference to Zaphod Beeblebrox’s lineage.
:/
“Originally this page took place while Max and Sydney were traveling down a tunnel, past a security station, then in an elevator”
Am I the only one who thought of the opening for ‘Get Smart’? :P
Nope, some even speculated “Man From U.N.C.L.E.”
For it to be ‘Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ they would have had to enter from a tailor shop’s changing room.
That’s why it was just speculation (there were a few references to the show and possibly the new movie)
Vlad is considered a hero in his homeland. In fact, there is one video game out there, not saying which, where it turns out that Vlad fought against vampires and that the initial source of the vamp plague was actually his wife. You even get to resurrect him in order to confront her, which consists of some fighting followed by, if I remember correctly, them hugging, the evil presence being banished from her and both of them fading happily off into the afterlife.
Yup. One of those Values Dissonance things, cultural hero variant. He literally killed (by impaling, hence the appellation) at least a fifth of his own country’s people…but that’s because he was being his era’s version of Tough On Crime. His rule was bloody, but reportedly brought order to the place. Modern Romanians tend therefore to remember him with the same kind of rose colored glasses Americans might view some of the Founding Fathers with; some of our guys had slaves and murdered native peoples, but the other things they did overshadow it with a distractingly shiny glow. Same applies with Vlad the Impaler.
reportedly, the worst of the stories placed at his feet came from bad propaganda from other European princes that disliked him. That said, it was the medieval age. I rather suspect the best of the rulers of the period would have been considered psychopaths in the modern day.
Much like the leaders of today actually. And speaking quite literally. Given that the majority of corporate and political leaders exhibit psychopathic behaviour, to a greater or lesser degree.
The only reason that they do not go around impaling rivals, nowadays, is because modern society tends to frown upon that.
A lolt of Russians seem to do the same with Stalin.
It was the invading Turks he impaled, at one time a literal forest (or small grove) of enemy Turks was erected as he retreated
But you are correct, most of the ‘stories’ came from the lazy in-bred European royalty (who ignore his requests for aid) and the Turks (who were trying to invade Europe but he had the audacity to stand in their way)
According to what I’ve read, it WAS the Romanians he impaled: the nobles of that time and area had developed a tradition of political expediency by open assassination of the legal ruler. Vlad’s father and older brother were reputedly killed by having their eyes blinded and then being buried alive.
Vlad III was apparently a cold hearted and ruthless ruler even for his time, but it seems that was what was needed in the Transylvania of the time, for a ruler to stay in power more than a few months. Still, there was also a lot of mudslinging against him by the Hansa merchant princes, whose assets he seized.
Those two things, breaking the power of the nobles and nerfing the Hansa, actually make him a pioneer in European politics. His motivations may have been strictly personal, but his actions echoed the events of about a hundred years later, as luminaries such as Cardinal Richelieu of France and Gustav Wasa of Sweden started the trend of consolidating power to the central government, that led to the formation of the world we know today.
Oh, also, saying that Dracula is a fictional character but not Vlad the Impaler is a little wrong: Vlad III WAS called Dracula before earning his more bloody appellation. That’s Romanian for “Dragon’s Son” or “little Dragon”, which he was called because his father, Vlad II, had been called Vlad Dracul, owing to his being the grand master of the Holy Order of the Dragon.
Also knew about the “Legend of the Golden Drinking Well Cup”
But killing the corrupt nobles? Did not know that (or forgot it), but that is something that should seriously be brought back to modern times
Of course she’s totally unfazed by meeting a vampire for the first (?) time.
Auditors, especially of the tax variety, suck all life and joy from anyone.
And now I’m thinking of Alice Gallow from the Central series.
Vampires can be a real pain in the neck but if you really want to tap a vein, talk to the IRS…
:(
Considering all that she’s met within the last few days, a vampire barely makes the cut.
I can’t remember, but if a vampire casts no reflection in a mirror, can you take his picture?
Traditionally, no. A mirror reflects the soul and a photograph captures it so neither works on the undead.
Old varieties of cameras used mirrors,* which would explain why they would not appear under those circumstances.
Sydney’s smartphone though does not have a mirror.
* It is how you could see the image through the viewfinder, oriented the same way you see it normally, for instance.
There’s also some lore that silver is both poisonous for and won’t interact with vampires. The result is that vampires won’t reflect in a mirror backed with silver and the old exposure cameras using silver would be blurry or empty.
That’s actually an entirely different set of lore. It’s unsurprising that they would get confused. That whole silver thing is mostly Celtic. And Celtic vampires are beasties you don’t want to meet.
For the best Transylvanian accent, I have to with the Jeagers in Girl Genius webcomic.”Ho, Yez!”
Nize hat!
Though the Jägers were ment to have a very bad *german* accent but it could work just fine.
“I don’t dlink … vine.” quoth Drac (Bela Lugosi) in the first Universal flick starring the Count. Unlike the previous ‘Nosferatu’, that set the tone for most all iterations of the character in the future. Few know that Lugosi was a classicly trained actor and regretted being forever typecast after that movie.
That’s because “Nosferatu” was a silent picture (it’s the same how the actor playing Long John Silver started the whole ‘arrgh’ crap for pirates: he came from the Midlands or the Dales and that’s how they all spoke)
Then there was the last movie Bela Lugosi was in. It’s a legend that he died from embarrassment from being in that movie. The movie? Plan 9 From Outer Space. The movie that wasn’t released from Hollywood, it escaped!
It wasn’t til that last line that i realized I had been reading that voice with an eastern european accent
The only way to really stop a speedster is to get them before they drop into their super speed mode. Once they are in bullet time (or faster) its too late to pull off a confusion attack because their reaction times are raised to match and not even sydney in full adhd mode can move fast enough to confuse someone traveling at several times the speed of sound.
The best option at that point would be to use a fire attack. Because when traveling twice the speed of sound it’s easy to get burned.
I see what you did there! Points!
Invisiblity is also an option. No amount of effective reaction time will change anything is an object is litterally invisible.
Monomolecular trip wire is an effective option, for that reason. Being so hard to see, it can even be strung at neck-height. For a more permanent solution, to your speedster problem.
The faster the speeder travels, the greater the risk.
I seem to recall a speedster in an old issue of X-Men nearly losing his head that way. Speed Sabre or Super Sabre, I think. Something like that. Part of a whole team of senior citizens supers, too.
Archangel accidentally cut off some villain’s head with his razor wings, by turning at the wrong instant, I believe
If it’s monomolecular, then the wire is a threat to anyone ignorant or stupid enough to touch it. Goodbye, fingers. Goodbye foot. Goodbye large body segments.
Can remember reading a book about twenty years ago; someone had set up a trap for the main character by ‘stringing’ monomolecular wire across the front of his door at neck height and he walked into it, the only reason he survived (well, other than ‘story logic’) was because the wire was still ‘fresh’ and it sliced so cleanly the blood vessels and everything else were able to stay reasonably joined (no lose of blood or head falling to the ground), he was able to get inside and shut his door and phone for help. The almost killer came back, found no body so set more wires, a friend of the main character came along and tripped, put his hand out to save himself and lost the hand (believe he managed to sit up outside the door but died from blood lose)
in “the City who Fought* Joat strung Mono-wire across a hallway at about knee, waist, and I think neck height and then taunted a group of invading soldiers into following her. You can guess the results.
I remember that story as well–Niven maybe? He used monomolecular filament quite a bit…
Honestly, can’t remember, the only other part can remember was the MC was able to make the door transparent on one side (so he could see what happened to his friend)
Keep in mind that speedsters like the flash have managed to dodge bullets they didnt know were coming because they felt it touch their neck and got out of the way before it could penetrate the skin. In all reality, speedsters are the most broken power set ever. Depending on how far writers want to take it at least. The reason confusion works is because they cant process whats going on before it happens. Someone like sydney doesnt think outside of the box, she is outside the box, out of the house, and running naked down main street.
It is because of that, that I made my comment about their own speed being used against them. First off a monomolecular filament will not necessarily be felt, due to how thin it is. Just think of times when you may have been cut, with something particularly sharp, and not felt the pain until you see the blood, as an example.
Secondly bullets are slow in comparison to top-end super-speeders. But top end-super speeders are not slow in comparison to themselves. If one is running flat-out, it is their own speed that they must react faster than, to avoid decapitation
Thus this trap being a lot more deadly than you realise.
Doesn’t just stop your speedster problem!
There’s an amusement park that was called Dogpatch USA not too far from where I live (within a few hours) that was based on the Lil’ Abner comic strip. It was popular at first, but started to fail during the energy crisis of the 70s because high fuel prices kept a lot of tourists at home. Then, in 1977, Al Capp and the Lil’ Abner comic strip retired. The heat wave of 1980 kept tourists at home again, and by 1988 most kids did not know who the Lil’ Abner characters were, so they dropped the characters and renamed the park. The park closed permanently in 1993.
After that, it changed hands several times; in 2005, a 17-year-old on an ATV was nearly decapitated because someone had strung a length of wire between two trees. The question of whether or not the wire was put there maliciously, to dissuade vandalism, became the subject of a lawsuit filed against the park’s owners. The teen was awarded a total of $250,000 in damages, his parents were awarded another $400,000, and when the park owners failed to pay, the court gave the deed to the 141-acre property to the teenager.
The property is currently up for sale (again) for $3 million. You can read all about the park here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogpatch_USA
(I apologize if this was slightly off-topic. Dogpatch has historical significance to me… I actually went there a few times when it was still open for business.)
No need to apologise, it was an interesting read. And did follow the theme of the thread. Not to mention “weird places in cities which try to keep trespassers out”.
Which is why I tend to find speedsters without super reflexes more interesting or at least easier to pair with normal enemies. In one anime a speedster got killed by someone with the power to create localized rain with super reflexes letting them run into something doesn’t work anymore making it very hard for normal speed opponents to have an interesting fight (outside specific circumstance handicapping the speedster.) assuming the writers use the speed properly.
Yeah, created a speedster in DCUO who doesn’t have the Super Reflexes, named her “Street Pizza” (because “Road Rash” wasn’t available :(), fortunately she has limited advanced healing (she has lost one eye but still tends to wear a full helmet, to save onlookers’ lunch :P)
Her colours are Grey (for the bits of gravel she tends to pick up… in her face), Red (naturally, for the blood) and a Green-Yellow (for the bruises and the pus)
…You gotta run fast if you don’t want to be late to your own funeral…
Created her after seeing that Tin Allen super-hero movie (he played a retired speedster who hadn’t run in decades, and when it did he had lost his reflexes and tripped over a rock, in the desert, and didn’t stop bouncy and rolling for about another hundred metres or so), haven’t done anything with her apart from creating her (along with “Wode Wage”, an imp-embodiment of Road Rage, don’t comment on her name, she has a speech impediment and will hurt you if you laugh)
I am trying to work out the logistics of how and where this place could be located in NYC. They flew past what looked like the Brooklyn Bridge into a nearby wooded area big enough to conceal a potential castle. My guess is Prospect Park in Brooklyn. It is located next to Greenwood Cemetery, which might fit his sense of style. Vampires seem to like having titles, so he could literally be the Lord of Flatbush.
Prior to reading Dave’s blog, the door in panel 1 looked like an elevator. Given that vampires have a traditional weakness to daylight (and this one does not seem to keen on bright light either), having an underground lair makes sense.
But even “travelling down a tunnel” can indicate heading underground.
The most important clue to note is that there are no windows depicted, and Dave does do very detailed backgrounds. The illumination is clearly shown to be artificial sources. So I feel it is likely to indeed be below ground, and therefore could be in one of several possible locations. Without the general public being aware of its existence.
I thought of an underground lair, but there is an additional problem with that. NYC is basically at sea level, so going downward will need special reinforcements and drainage requirements. After the power outage due to hurricane Sandy city officials said that without constant pumping the New York subway system would eventually fill up with water.
This is without potential climate change. As rising sea levels affect New York we will some day hear a tour guide on a harbor boat cruise say “On your left you can see the famous monument The Torch of Liberty”. *
* (exaggeration for comedic effect, for you anti-AGW folk who might complain)
Yea, I remember the coverage.
One, one failed intimidation check!
I just love how his nerve starts slipping after a few seconds when she doesn’t react the way he expects her to…………….
And then she blinds him with the cellphone flash………….
Syd may be the best weapon ARC has at the moment, just drop her into the combat zone and let her loose,her reactions to ANY situation are sure to have the enemy dazed and confused
Unfortunately, she also gets the same response from her allies and so they can’t always exploit the openings she makes.
Unfortunately yes
Syd tends to do exactly what you WOULDN’T expect at any given time.
To the point that she even surprises Maxima…………….
Case in point?
Attempting to enter a secret military facility thru a TREE
Or face-planting a bank robber by grabbing his TOUNGUE
If he really was out to harm Sydney, that pause in panel 4 would have given him enough time to act before Sydney could grab an Orb. Assuming that his power-set includes a certain amount of super-speed.
This would have made more sense to me if panel 4 had been eliminated, showing indicating that she reached for her camera/’phone as soon as he spoke to her. For someone as impulsive and hyper-thinking as Sydney, there shouldn’t have been a delay.
The sweat drop would have been funnier in panel 3 anyway.
Naa, the comic timing was spot on. You have to judge comedic impact on first read through. And, personally speaking, it had me chuckling away, all the way through!
Dave was not just aiming for the one laugh. The beats hit the mark in panels 2, (Sydney’s eyes bulging) 4 (the bead of sweat, after the pregnant pause in 3), 5 (the photograph) and 7 (the Chekov line).
Someday, DaveB ought to have the best swordsman in the world challenge Sydney to a duel.
I’ll just leave this here…for comparison purposes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPqhm36sjVE
Another comparison is when Bruce Lee said that he doesn’t fear the man who has practiced 1000 kicks, but he fears the man who has practiced one kick 1000 times.
Bruce Lee would have been better off fearing actresses bearing analgesics…
Well, there is already this and this.* She’d get plenty of lucky shots if she’s flailing and the opponent doesn’t know what she can do, but if she tries to out plan someone who knows what she might do she doesn’t stand a chance.
*Sydney KOing Math, then him beating her in a duel**, for those who don’t want to follow links
**another laugh at Sydney’s 7th dan cursing upon re-reading this
So, do the orbs rotate clockwise to Sydney’s perspective, or counter-clockwise?
If Halo were to look up at the orbs, she would see them rotating clockwise, in the above scene.
Panels 3, 4 & 5 are all in rapid succession, and we can see each orb transiting one position. Going from our right, to left, as they pass in front of Sydney’s head, whilst the ones behind her head are going the other way, as they circle around.
Thus, looking up at them, from her perspective, they would follow the same path as the hands going around a clock.
Looks like counter-clockwise, at least for this page.
I can’t wait until she meets her first OCD person who’s like, “Hey, this has been bothering me for a while, but can you make them rotate clockwise, please?” ;-D
At which point she grabs the fly ball, turns upside down and says “Happy now?”
No, regardless of whether you’re looking at it from the top or the bottom, it’s still going counter-clockwise if the orbs on the left are going from the front to the back. From any perspective (short of looking in a mirror) they’re going counter-clockwise.
I suspect that you are misidentifying which orb is which.
Look at the PPO in panel 3, it is the one partially obscured by the Forcefield Orb. If Sydney were to look straight up, so the orbs appeared like a clock on a wall,* the PPO would be at the bottom of the face, to the right. Thus being in about the five-o-clock position.
Next panel 4, the PPO has now moved, so that it is in the centre of our field of view. However from Sydney’s vantage,* directly below it, that would seem to be somewhere between seven and eight-o-clock.
Finally panel 5. The PPO is now clearly past Halo’s ear, and is starting to pass behind her head. In her imaginary supine position, she would see this as being about nine or ten-o-clock.
This progression shows time progressing in the normal fashion, that we would expect from an analogue clock. I.e. the orbs are travelling clockwise.
* Bear in mind we must imagine Sydney lying flat on her back to do this. Rather than from her standing position. Her perspective there is too much like our own, but even worse, as she cannot see the orbs behind her head.
HiEv: wrabbit asked about “Sydnesy’s perspective” so the answer is as Yorp said: clockwise.
Yorp: HiEv said “regardless of whether you’re looking at it” so I guess he is using the naming convention, in which case Halo’s halo is rotating counter-clockwise.
The direction of a rotating object depends on the point of view (even a clock goes counter-clockwise if seen from “behind”), so to avoid confusion the convention is ignore relative positions and look at the object as from the “front” if it have one, and as from “above” if not (like a sphere). That’s why a tornado is said to rotate counter-clockwise regardless we all from down here can see it rotating clockwise.
Regarding outter space the convention is from Earth’s POV and celestial north.
I’m hoping that from time to time they randomly switching directional rotation, just to mess with us.
You cannot reliably discern which direction a rotating object is going, from a series of still shots.
If between shots the object is displaced by 30 degrees clockwise, it’s natural to assume it moved 30 degrees clockwise. But it could have moved 330 degrees counterclockwise. Or 390 degrees clockwise. Or 690 degrees counterclockwise. (360n+30 clockwise, or 360n-30 counterclockwise.)
This is why car tires sometimes appear to rotate the wrong way in TV and movies. Also why a controlled strobe light can be used to discern rotation speed (and then, *once the speed is known*, direction).
On the other hand, we do have some indications that Syd’s orbs orbit her fairly slowly. So most likely that 30-degree change of position is 360n+30 with n being zero.
Dave provided us with the precise rotational speed, in a blog, just recently. Which I utilised in framing my replies. I had to use all four paws to figure out the math though, so it is too complex for me to explain to you.
This indicates that they are not lapping each other, in between frames.
Not only is he not Russian, Russians know how to say the letter “v”. The whole idea that Pavel Chekov, whose name contained two V’s, couldn’t say V, is absurd.
The joke wasn’t that he couldn’t say V’s, it’s that he used V’s for W’s and W’s for V’s most of the time as the major part of his “accent”.
Actually I believe Russians often pronounce the letter V as F as well… much as Germans tend to do. Chekov is pronounced as Chekoff in Russian… Tchikovsky is prounounced Tschikoffsky… like that. After the Star Trek IV reference about Nuclear Wessels, it isn’t until we have Chekov in Star Trek (the reboot movie) where he is asked to give an authorization code and says weector weector two… as part of the code. When the computer doesn’t recognize it, he is forced to think about it and annunciate… vweector vweector two… at which point the computer figures, “crap… we’ll be at this all friggin’ day at this rate…” CODE ACCEPTED. LOL
Maybe V becomes an F at the end of a word, but at the beginning or middle it tends to stay V. Chekov’s first name wasn’t pronounced Pawel or Paffel, it was Pavel. Vladimir Putin is not called Fladimir (although that *would* be funny). And in Russian and Ukrainian ‘vich’ is a common last syllable (I believe its the Slavic equivalent of ‘my father was’) which is again not pronounced fich.
Russians do not know how to pronunce the letter “v”, they do not even have the letter “v” :)
They do have a similar phonem (sound) asociated with the cyrilic letter “в”, which I think is what you are refering to.
So, how do you explain Putin? o_O
Some kind of cold war genetic experiment, involving DNA from a bear and a female shot-putter, that escaped from a lab, and managed to become a KGB agent?
His name is actually Влади́мир Пу́тин. Which is pronounced as Duende sociopata says.
It is not quite true to say that they do not know what “V” means though. Most cosmopolitan Slavic speakers are passingly familiar with the Latin alphabet,* and all Latin characters have a Cyrillic equivalent** (the other way is not true though, as Slavic languages have phonems which do not appear in Latin languages).
It is very easy for me to read DVDs and the like, to pick out Hollywood actors names, as a result. You make a simple one for one substitution for each letter. The difference comes if assuming that the correlation continues beyond that. It does not. The Cyrillic characters follow different rules when used in Slavic languages, as to how their Latin counterparts would be pronounced.
This is why foreigners can easily be picked out (either way), until they have mastered the subtle differences which apply.
* Many computer products use Latin. If wishing to even type in international website addresses, they need to know how to do that, without using Cyrilic. Hollywood and English language music also drive a passing familiarity with English for many individuals.
** Albeit that their uses can be very different in each language, other than if translating names. And some of those translations can be very crude approximations (especially for names which have national pronunciation that do not follow general rules).
Those failed intimidate checks always get me, too.
If there were ever an animated Grrl Power series, Ingsoll is the character I’d audition for, just for the line in panel 6.
I would audition for Sydney’s romantic interest.
Obviously in the role of a human, as opposed to a doggy.
So would I but if I got it you could be my dog. :)
LOL.
Eh, I could see both working.
I’d audition for the role of Shawn(Sean? Pretty sure Shawn. SEAL guy.) Anybody who keeps live grenades BY THE BOX in the trunk of his sedan is a BAMF.
How long till Sydney tries to become a vampire? Or at least asks about it,. That being said, she’d make an adorable were
Specially if she was a were-chiahuahua :p
…She’s certainly high-strung enough to pass for a chihuahua…
Pretty much any of the small dog breeds, like a Yorkie (the hairy cousin to the Chihuahua)
How could you suggest that Sydney could turn into one of the small yappie breeds? She is much to stylish. Her immune system would reject any such inferior alteration! Jack Russel Terrier is the only one that would work!
*wags tail emphatically*
I read that and thought, “He’s not small!” Then I realized that you didn’t say “Yorpie.”
Also; all dogs with hair are the hairy cousin of the Chihuahua. Everything from the Affenpinscher to a Tibetian Mastiff.
OMG This page made me laugh out loud!
This is the best ever!
Contrary to Star Trek, Russians do not turn V into W. V is a *very* common sound in Russian (hell, Chekov, it’s right there…)
Rumanians might, so it *might* actually make sense here. Maybe, not certain about that.
Germans turn W into V, (Wagner is pronounced Vahg-ner). But that’s the wrong direction.
Why Anton Viktorovich Yelchin – who was Russian and fluent in Russian – did it for Chekov in the Star Trek reboot, I have no idea.
Apparently he decided Chekov didn’t have an accent, he had a speech impediment!
Nostalgia.
I certainly enjoyed his performance.
Because of stereotype (and the funnies), it’s the same reason Chinese are often forced to say “Flied Lice, you Plick”
Actually there was no coercion about it. He went to great lengths to try and ‘capture the spirit of the original character’. Discussing what to keep and what to change, with both JJ Abrams and the original actor. Who also had Russian family, out of interests sake.
This interview shows the process that he went through (as summarised above). Naturally enough the accent was a very important part of that character. Given that Walter Koenig (the original Chekov) concluded that Anton Yelchin managed to improve the accent, I feel that he made a good job of handling the compromise between entertainment and reality.
What coercion? And was referring more to the Original Series
“Engrish funny.”
https://failblog.cheezburger.com/engrishfunny
Now the “W” sound, that’s a lot less common in Russian. Took a couple semesters of Russian in college, had some problems spelling “Wichita” in Russian. My instructor was Georgian but spoke fluent Russian (was a very young resistance fighter when Stalin started taking over his neighboring countries and was very old when he was teaching). He had to think a few moments before giving me a way to spell it.
Been years since I’ve tried to read any Russian, but I seem to recall that the cyrillic symbol that kind of looks like a “w” is actually pronounced.. hmm, I want to say “sh”, but now, I’m not at all sure.
Getting old is not for sissies.
There’s like, 5 Cyrillic letters that look like ‘w’.
Two (in the Bulgarian version, I am not familiar with the derivative variants). The others you may be thinking of look more like “U” and “Y” than “W” (“Ц”, “Ч”, “Џ”). Or maybe you are referring to the archaic “Ѡ” or “Ѿ”?
The one Weatherheight described is “Ш”, which is is pronounced “sha”. The other, very similar looking one, is “Щ”, which becomes “shcha”.
Kinda nervous to ask what the ‘butt’ symbol sounds like :eek:
I would presume it sounds something like giving someone the “raspberry”…
;)
He looks like Handsome Jack
“Blah!” … *BOOM!* #XD
“I don’t say blah blah blah!”
*watches Fooby the Kamikaze Watermelon smash into a wall*
Gotta love the “classics“!
*looks around for the Automatic Damsel Maker*
So if there’s ever a Grrl Power movie, I guess Ingsol will be played by Sacha Baron Cohen.
He’s got Deus’ chin. I think the eventual big reveal is that they are related.
Not if you want the movie to be taken seriously (for an action comedy) and not mocked
Oh come now. All you eagle-eyed spotters are failing us! We want to see the sources for the paintings in the fist and final panels.
I will let you skip the one on the left, in the final panel. That one might be too hard to get.
Hey, don’t talk smack about Vlad Dracul. He fought the Turks with all he had, and most likely saved Crimea from invasion. Even the Pope celebrated his battles. The Germans made him out to be a monster after he died.
Oh lawdy, Sydney with a pacman face. It’s perfect.
Just as long as she doesn’t line up her orbs and try to gobble them up,
(I would add the pacman gobbling sound effect here, but I wouldn’t know the phonetic representation of it).
It would sound similar to Checkov trying to say, “Vodka, vodka, vodka”
;)
Vlad the Impaler did some very cruel things, but I’m not sure you can dismiss him as an ‘Ass hole’ just off the bat. He did what he had to to scare off what was at the time a world superpower (the ottoman empire).
And he did it alone, without any aid from the rest of Europe he was protecting
So if this is an “Anything Goes” world… You have GOT to make Vance actually be a colony of super-spiders in a human costume.
No, Vance is obviously a troll.
I am with Anvildude, and Sydney, on this one. By simple deductive reasoning.
1% chance of being a spider colony vs 99% chance that Vance was just messing with her. The seriousness of the risk requires giving the former a weighting of x 1000. Thus ending up as being ten times more likely that he is a colony of spiders in a Vance suit!
A suit of troll spiders!
His super power is making everyone skeptical of anything he says through sonic undertones in his voice. Makes him veeeeeery good at counter-espionage.
Donuts? No I haven’t seen any donuts.
It has begun! The Evil Squirrel Overlord has ordered the uprising to start! Guard your nuts well.
That’s what happens when people (or their parents in this case) forget that wild animals are just that: wild. Yes, they sometimes can act tame, but it’s best not to count on that all the time.
This should do it…
https://www.battlesportsscience.com/protective/nuttybuddy/
I dont know if anyone suggested this. But, if you ever book this, I would love no dialoged or smalltalk dialog pages just for pacing and good drawing
Yup, had suggested adding an extra page showing the long walk, maybe even combine it with panel one above to make room for an extra panel showing Sydney’s (non-)reaction to Ingsol
Ingsol obviously didn’t think this out. First, based on Maxima’s lack of reaction, they’re obviously here to meet him. Second, if it were his intention to attack Sydney, it would probably be best to take care of the bigger threat (Maxima) first. Third, as Harem can attest, sneaking up on Sydney isn’t the brightest of ideas.
BTW has anybody noted that in panel 3 Sydney is sporting a band-aid across her nose AND a wad of tissue up her nostril? [I’m too lazy to dig through the comments.]
Panel 2, rather than 3. I had spotted the former, but not the latter. You are the first to comment on it though.
And congratulations to DaveB on also maintaining continuity with the band aid on the back of Sydney’s hand. In both this comic and the previous one. We are quick to spot an omission, but kudos goes to him for keeping all these details straight.
You can even see it’s a bloody wad of tissue. That’s got to be distracting to the vampire.
I think you are the first.
I didn’t. Good eye.
Had noticed the wad of tissue and Band-Aid on her hand, but not the Band-Aid on her nose
Potential for Elmer Fudd impersonator rising.
Okay…I LIKE Ingsol. He’s silly. :)
Is it coincidence i spot two Futurama jokes in this strip?
The answer to that lies in the caption at the bottom of the comic.
I like Futurama, but I’m not a rabid viewer. So whatever the references/jokes were, they went over my head.
You would expect a spaceship to do that. Not that I have seen enough episodes, to get either of the references. Nor would I have even realised that there were any, if not for the caption and various comments. But I can, at least, think of one bright/shiny thing.