Grrl Power #448 – Motivated gourmet
Yes, I’m aware I used the sound effect “KA-BUN” on the previous page and not “KA-HARE.” Basically just because KA-BUN was funnier sounding. And Sydney glossed right over it so we should too…
The species drift thing with the lycans seems like something that could make for some interesting drama… if this was a comic about lycanthropes. As it is I’ll leave it for one of the multiple spin off comics I’ll never have time for. Let’s see, so far there’s Arc-LIGHT adventures, as briefly glimpsed on this page (by the way I’m well aware blood banks don’t keep open swirling vats of blood around, panel 3 is just what Sydney is imagining happened.) Basically it’s BPRD meets Fringe. Then there’s Demon High, as briefly glimpsed here. There’s actually probably some others I’m forgetting about.
Anyway, Katrina is slightly off about it being intra-genus drift, or at least she’s simplifying it for brevity’s sake. Basically there’s like a 1 in 10-12 chance of an intra-species drift, so a werewolf might spawn a were-dog, a 1 in 40 chance of an intra-genus drift, so a werewolf might spawn a were-jackal. Roughly 1 in 100 chance of an intra-family drift, so werewolf to were-fox, and about a 1 in 750 chance of an intra-order drift, so werewolf to were-tiger. From there it spikes. ~1 in 10,000 chance of intra-class drift (werewolf to were-rabbit or were-gazelle) and no one knows if there’s a chance of an intra-phylum drift because as far as anyone knows lycantropy is restricted to mammals. No were-fish or were-birds. That isn’t to say the Grrl-verse (I guess that’s really the term I’m using) doesn’t have humans who can turn into bird of fish hybrids, but they’re something other than lycans.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon as soon as I get up. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like :)
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
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Because I had nothing better to do, I give you all Courage the Cowardly Dog and the Were Mole.
Why are they all also were-ginger? I thought that was only scotsmen like me.
Were-ginger? Anywhere but in African populations (excluding recent arrivals). We know that the ginger genes were part of the make-up we inherited from the Neanderthals. And all non-African ethnic groups have Neanderthal genes, to some degree or another.
Whether the ginger genes were amongst those which dispersed widely though, I do not know. But potentially they could be in all those other groups. Whether they express, the way we are used to, in non-Caucasians, is another matter I am ignorant on. I certainly have seen some ginger-looking oriental girls. However I do not know if that was natural, or out of a bottle.
The Ainu appear more European than Asian (with full bushy beards and reddish hair)
Bleached asian hair that was once black tends to go an unusual indeterminable mix of brown and ginger colour-wise but the natural hair colour does exist in the indiginous population of atleast some asian countries. It’s rare but quite documented among some small cultures IIRC.
I thought that the red-head theory was disproved, the mutations that leads to it are different in both species IIRC. We do have more and more support to the interbreeding theory, though. Actually it seems that we didn’t displace nor dinner Neanthertal as was previously theorised. We out-fucked them.
Also evidence says that we the interbreeding happened more than onece along centuries. Heh, I can imagine the dialogues:
“Hi there! Last millenia party was terrific. Wanna repeat?”
“The pals next continent came to visit again. Should we go to say hi?”
“Jeez, those guys are like sex-craze monkeys! … Yeah, count me in.”
Aa the human race wee see some thing diffrent we fuck it or hunt it down. Either way its fucked
I had missed that. Checking into it, it seems to be slightly different to how you expressed it. Namely that the gene has a different mutation in humans, than in Neanderthals. However the articles I found did not attribute when this mutation occurred.
The most convincing way, to refute it, having come from Neanderthals, is to show that a redhead gene was present in a Homo Sapiens population prior to the earliest known date that they interbred with each other. However this has not been done (in any source I could find in my usual brief googling).
Did the gene get passed from Neanderthals then mutate? Or were there two independent copies of the gene, in both lines, which mutated, in different ways (as you indicated)? Sadly the source research is hidden behind a paywall, so I could not take that further.
So it could be either case. But a comment about the relevant researcher indicated that she felt this proved that humans and Neanderthals had not bred. As you say though, we have various other lines of research which do show that humans have inherited genes from Neanderthals. So her conclusion is wrong (when applied to the issue of breeding), which makes me want to know why she made that decision.
Nonetheless you are correct to dispute my comment about redheads. On the balance of probability it is wrong.
However, out of interest, I propose how it may be right. Offspring of hybrids, between such diverse species are usually either completely infertile or have very low fertility. But rarity of any desirable characteristic (such as hair colour) does increase sexual attraction. So, given the latter option, enough attempts can yield further generations.
Note that the Neanderthal variant does not produce as vibrant a red as the modern redheads can express. So, if a mutation occurred,* which gave a brighter red, that would be more sexually attractive. This would result in that propagating more and the other less.
Note that the modern redhead gene is recessive. I presume that the same gene, even in its Neanderthal variant, would likewise be so. As such the previous ‘dull’ redheads would not fare well in the face of their more vibrant competition. So we could see how it might die out before the hybrid infertility issues were bred out of the bloodlines.
Or, it may have even persisted, as a rare variant, even to this day. Because I do note that the researchers indicated that was a possibility. We simply have not sampled enough of humanity’s DNA to say definitively that the Neanderthal variant is not still present.
* I seem to recall that mutation was more likely in hybrid offspring, due to potential incompatibilities between the two genomes. However I can’t be arsed to look that up as well, so please feel free to correct me, if I am mistaken. If it is correct though, then this makes my hypothesis much stronger, as the earlier the mutation occurred, the more likely it would end up with the results we see today.
By example, if it occurred as a result of the first successful mating, then it would not be present at all. Although more recent research indicates that we may have bred with Neanderthals more than just the once. But if the first (or an early) breeding had the mutation, then the later introduction would face stiff competition, against a more widespread gene variant, with the likely results outlined previously.
I don’t recall that many details about the article I read at the time, and sadly it’s one of those topics that any search include a lot of “noise”. Anyway your reasoning looks solid to me.
“indicated that she felt this proved that humans and Neanderthals had not bred. ”
I find that funny. Actually I don’t think we even need that much of a proof.
Wolves mate dogs, lions mate tigers, donkeys mate mares, men mate goats, for pete’s sake! We are up to the neck on religion, laws, morals, and whatnot, and still we go on a vacation trip and we are all “hope I get lucky”.
So, you say back then we met those exotic-looking studs lounging by the lake, I say fucking sure we fucked their Genus out!
What I do recall is that was found that some Neanderthal specimens AND had homo sapiens’ genes on it. I.e., they got our genes likewise we got theirs. I wonder if it has been ruled out that the gene could pass from us to them in the first… ahem… cultural exchange, and for some reason it spread wider in their side, so in the… ahem.. rematch they bounced it back. Too stretched forward?
AND = DNA (yeah, auto cunning or somethng)
OMG, I just re read it and what I wanted to say was “Too far-stretched?”. I can’t believe how my brain failed me.
Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon aren’t that far apart to produce sterile offspring. If anything, the cross is probably why Europeans have survived so many plagues – different immune genes combine to make superior immune systems. But both are subsets of Homo Sapiens (Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis and Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Which mean “Wise Guy found in Neander Valley” and “Wise Wise Guy” respectively.) (I’ve always preferred translating “Homo Sapiens” more colloquially…)
I am surprised you used an actual picture of yourself as a profile picture.
Some of us are daring, like that.
*sets ears to a rakish angle*
Wait, if Dire Wolves are extinct, what about Dire Ferrets?
The Dire-cockroaches are still alive and kicking.
O yea they called politicans now days
Many of them hatch from their larval stage as lawyers.
Barring any much-beloved fellow readers, of course.. Plus any who do a decent proportion of pro-bono, or reasonably low fee, work.
Rich ones can scuttle into their swimming pool of money, if they feel hurt.
With all the due respect to the honest working professionals… LMAO!
I the next comic, Sydney does her best to keep the lycan misunderstanding going.
Sydney walks up to a werewolf. “Hi Gregor, when is meeting going to start?”
Wolf: “Excuse me, I am not Gregor.”
Sydney: “Sorry, you all look alike to me.”
Wolf: “Oh no. You did NOT just go there.”
Or she wanders off and meets a leprechaun. “Don’t worry! I’m not after your Lucky Charms.”
Given the kind of pay she’s getting now, she might not be interested in his Pot Of Gold, either.
Shillelagh?
Just as long as she doesn’t meet a leperchaun :P
That would be unlucky.
Fortunately, the number of tales about them has been falling off…
. . . among other things.
Don’t be silly. They did not fall off. Leprechauns never had tails in the first place!
And thankfully not a L.E.P Recon
I don’t think we have an Artemis Fowl in our ranks.
I’m wondering if this attack on the blood supply happen in early spring, because clearly the Lepus terrorist was insane.
Doubtless in March.
:)
His insanity fully triggered when he tried to buy some chocolate eggs, but the grocery store ran out.
Were-fish and were-birds are a thing in WoD. Rokea, Corax, Werefalcons (destroyed in War of Rage), Wereeagles (destroyed in War of Rage), the fresh water fish shifters (destroyed in War of Rage)
Also…. wouldnt mermaids sorta be were-fish in a way? :)
The latter would not exist in this world. But, as an insightful commentator suggested, were-dolphins could well fulfill that role, in the Grrl-Verse.
John Beluga is on a mission from god
Was John Belushi from the other guy?
Didn’t were spiders have an optional derangement where they thought they were vampires?
Not that I know of, although I think in the cartoon Mighty Max, vampires were insectoids.
Obviously those Wereeagles weren’t related to the Haast’s Eagle :D
I just noticed…. I’m pretty sure that blood banks don’t work by having huge vats of blood open to the air.
I’m assuming this is something Sydney is just probably imagining as what happened, since it seems very much like a Batman v Joker fight that way :)
*laughs* You forgot to read DaveB‘s comments, didn’t you? “I’m well aware blood banks don’t keep open swirling vats of blood around, panel 3 is just what Sydney is imagining happened.”
I wrote this before reading the comments :)
I do the same. I usually want to make an initial comment, on concluding the comic. Which, almost invariably, I will do before reading the blog or any of the other comments. I think everybody has the right to express their first thoughts, whilst they are fresh.
Wait…was it intentional that in the last panel there’s a guy (on the left behind the gazelle guy) that looks like what would result of Johnny Bravo Was a werelion?
Dave has been known to use both real world celebrities and cartoons as reference material, for the purpose of a homage. So you could be right. Most of them go over my head. But General Faulk and Jonathan Creek were a couple of the ones that leapt out at me.
I love Alan Davies, but couldn’t stand the villains in the only episode of Jonathan Creek I ever tried to watch. After a very few minutes, I just hoped they died and switched off. But I stray. Which page had Alan Davies on it? I missed it. :(
He was the first depicted member of Arc Light (excluding the boss).
I recall that a couple of episodes missed the mark, from the antagonist side. But that was actually a reflection of the production team being willing to experiment with a variety of different approaches. So if you watch the lot, the ongoing personal arcs, and change of pace, see you through those episodes, without it being too bad.
As such I would recommend watching more, provided you liked the premise of him being a debunker of faked supernatural events. Obviously, without a dog partner, there is only so much scope for the story. But, allowing for that lack, I enjoyed them.
*adjusts deer-stalker hat, to a jaunty angle, and gives meerschaum pipe a puff or two*
Depending on how much instinct gets transfers with were ism things like lion family relationships could get very very ugly
Imagine some of the animal family structure elevated to human behavior
Yea, I could see that a were-bonobo tea-party could be socially awkward too. Having indiscriminate sex, including with your immediate family, in front of the vicar, would probably be frowned upon.
What about if they included the vicar? Would that be worse or better? o_O
It would depend if the Vicar had taken his Oath of Celibacy or not.
Or just how seriously the Vicar had taken his Oath of Celibacy.
Reminded of something from a novel in my favorite series, The Dresden Files. In the second book they had a “Wolf-were”, though I don’t know if there was a better term for it. She was a Wolf (base) with the power to transform into a human.
So, it’s possible to play around with it going both ways. All sorts of combos.
i heard somewhere were is an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning man, so find the Anglo-Saxon word for wolf and tack it on at the start and then end with woman
actually a quick google showed the Anglo-Saxon word for wolf is wulf, so wulfwoman
Werewolf = male-human wolf
Wolfwere = wolf male-human
Wifwolf = female-human wolf (using Old English, rather than your Middle English)
Wolfwif = wolf female-human
It is a more balanced translation as “were” also means “husband” and “wif” also means “wife”. However it does sound odd, so I am not advocating its use. Plus it was not used historically. Werewolf was used for either gender.
Although there is the alternative “werewoman”, which has seen some use.*
This word though has already swapped the two base words over. So that ploy cannot be used again, as a “womanwere” would still imply a woman shapeshifting. The equivalent therefore would be a “wolfwerewoman”.
* This uses the variant of ‘were’ which means ‘shapeshifter’ rather than the pedantic etymological origin of the individual words.
Before I checked the link, my first thought on the term “werewomen” was from the manga Ranma 1/2. If you are familiar with the manga/anime you will probably know what I mean.
Yea, that is the meaning that folks have been taking “werewoman” to mean, in recent threads.
With a were-panda, for a dad, they could almost fit into the Grrl-verse. But then there is the were-duck, to break the mammals only rule.
And Elliot from EGS is weregirl.
“I’m told your own Arc-light people just tracked him down and stopped him just as he was trying to infect a blood bank.”
The double use of ‘just’ was a little confusing the first time I read that. Maybe change the first bit to “recently tracked him down” if that’s what you meant?
Except, some people do speak like that
I read it as
. The way Dave wrote it though is, as Guesticus said, a more normal way of saying that.
Although I do agree that, in writing, repeating words should be avoided. Which is easy enough to do, if taking a moment to pick synonyms. But verbally, the speaker will often opt for their chosen, familiar, word both times.
My brother often picks me up on speaking like that and, even with him to remind me, it is a hard habit to break!
I wonder if the orbs’ origins will be revealed?!? Maybe learn about the two mystery orbs?
Call it, Syd grabs an unknown orb and everybody gets un-wered… from waist down… permanently.
Well, that is supposedly the reason why Sydney was dragged along, and DaveB knows what the ‘mystery balls’ do, so this would be the prime location to reveal that, but only if people would sit down and let things unfold in the pace that DaveB has plotted!
Don’t make him turn this webic around and go back to the beginning! :P
I DaveB were to turn this comic back to the beginning, then he’d have to “flash forward” past a few months.
O.o
Yes, that means DaveB would have to go Back to the Future…
Sydney does not drive a Delorean.
It is interesting how precisely that dates the initial film. It is almost as if the director said “Pick me a car that will only be in production for a short period of time.” As opposed to what we might, at the time, have thought he said “Find me a really futuristic-looking car. Maybe that one which has fold-up doors?”
Actually, the director did pick the car because of its futuristic look, and the gull-wing doors… it made it look more like a spaceship (remember that Doc modified it to fly.)
Well, to have a machine that can travel through time, it must also be capable of traveling through space. If the machine remains absolutely stationary while traveling in time, it would only shift past a few seconds before getting stranded in outer space…The Earth would move right out from under you, ya’ know.
Look here I am, in the past. Easy!
Time and space are the same thing, just in different directions. Allow me to demonstrate, by going back that way.
*points paw to the past*
In the movie itself, didn’t the Doc say that he picked it because of it’s all stainless steel frame? Plus it had “style!” :)
She could end up with a wild hare up her ….;)
Kat seems to be quite civilized (or would that be “domesticated?”), thank you.
Wait – blood banks keep all the blood in swimming-pool sized vats? My god, everything I have been told by the Red Cross is a lie!
I guess the progenitor’s plan was to breed them like… errr… I’ll just stop now.
It really helps if people at least take the time to read the Author’s Notes, if they don’t have the time (or patience) to read a couple pages of comments (where that was noted several times, and informed of the Author’s Note pointing that it was just Sydney’s crazy imagination!!!)
an awful lot of “herbivores” are pretty much just “terrible-at-catching-meat-ivores”.
and will eat meat given the chance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQOQdBLHrLk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9vxHN8_jSE
Hippos will eat meat too, if they have to. Or if it makes them mad.
And, somehow, dogs are classified as omnivores, which I think has more to do with humans inventing dogfood that doesn’t actually have meat in it, than it does any significant gastrointestinal changes from wolves.
thats more to do with disposing of low quality meat and the fact their intestines aren’t efficient enough to be on a veggie diet that some loonies would try and force on them.
many dogs are quite happy to eat common fruit and vegetables, but at the same time, humans can eat things that outright kill dogs.
like grapes and raisens. humans can almost live on them, dogs would die from poisoning in a few days.
the extreme majority of dog breeds are lactose intolerant to varying degrees and arent able to consume onion in large amounts.
But if looking at the disease side of things, our immune system is much more advanced than humans. If you are ever in a survival situation, and find yourself lacking a first aid kit, to treat your injury, your best bet is to get your dog to lick it! Its saliva will act as a very powerful anti-bacterial agent. Your chances of avoiding infection will be significantly better, than leaving it untreated.
pandas have carnivore teeth and a carnivore digestive tract, and can eat stuff other than bamboo if need be
WIFE: Oh my God, he ate a bird! Did you see that?
HUSBAND: He he he he.
WIFE: He ATE a BIRD.
HUSBAND: He he he he.
Well I go by the set up in The Howling, it is your soul that is the limiter on how bestial you will get in you animal form. For Karen White when her now infected husband bit her before he died. She shape-shifted on air but wasn’t the full on bi-pedal wolf form but much milder, almost dog-like one. Then she was shot in the head with a silver bullet by a friend—-on air! I consider it one of the best depictions of Lycanthropy. To bad there was no sequel worth looking at.
Kat must be some kind of saint then.
What about Howling IV? The ending is pure genius, can’t remember if it was that one where you saw the transformation where the flesh literally melted off into a sludgey-puddle and the new werewolf emerged from the puddle, and there was still a bit of the puddle left behind
Wait, is this “Bring your newbie to the Council” Day? o_O
Probably not. I suspect Sydney’s here because she’s got more balls than most males.
…That is to say, the Mage’s report that they’re waiting for is what they could find/research on Sydney’s Orbs…
Get your mind out of the gutter.
;)
You… do know who you are talking to, don’t you? :D
Well, obviously Sydney is there to have her balls examined without the risk of having them removed (one of her greatest fears), but Kat is also new and ‘fresh’, wonder if Sydney will be introduced to any other new representatives (maybe when she is introduced to some of the other groups)
Ii doubt there will be much turnover in the long-lived races (maybe elves) and immortals (presumably the undead). Except for when they get bored of such roles, or if their politics require periodic rotation of membership.
Although the newbies per session will increase the longer the council goes between meetings. If it is, say, like the Olympics, once every four years, then there could be a lot of new members. Whereas if they meet once a week, then first time attendees will be rare. Although then they may still be considered newbies for quite a while, regardless, until they have learnt the ropes.
Hey! I just found out there’s also an anime called Grrl Power! So… that’s a thing.
There is? Linkage please
The anime predates our comic, so, back when I first started commenting, googling “Grrl Power” used to get the top results. Fortunately the comic now gets all the top hits (most of the first page). And that is not due to it personalising my results, as I have that aspect turned off on Google.* Further the subject matter is completely different, so there is no chance of mistaking the content of one for the other.
* Assuming that they actually use the options you set, and it is not just a placebo check box, to make you feel better.
Judging by the number of Bulgarian-language results that creep into my results, I have my suspicions. Given that I set everything to “UK English” and “Britain”, in each of the innumerable places that such appear in their network of interlinked programs. And likewise force it to use the “.co.uk” version of the Google, rather than the “.bg”.
Yet still they force foreign language content on me. Clearly they feel that they must over-ride the users choices and use the IP address location instead.
My favorite episode was the one where Umi used her magical orbs to outsmart the violence-powered supervillain. Wait…
dont think bloodbanks have “vats” of blood.
guess sydney is just picturing this in her head.
also think how a vampire would look at that vat. O . O
Yes, it’s just Sydney’s vibrant imagination.
Not to sound like a grump, but how many times do we need to remind people to read DaveB’s commentary (right below the current page)? It’s already been mentioned at least five or six times in the comments. Dave says, “I’m well aware blood banks don’t keep open swirling vats of blood around, panel 3 is just what Sydney is imagining happened.”
People, please, remember to read DaveB’s commentary and maybe we won’t have to repeat ourselves as often.
Dave is contemplating changing imagined panels into thought-bubble borders, which will make it a lot easier for folks to realise that such are imagined scenes. Dramatically reducing, albeit doubtless not completely eliminating, such misunderstandings.
Nah, that won’t work: could have them flash in neon colours and people would still not understand
They ‘don’t’ have vats of blood? Does that mean that they don’t have vampires testing the blood samples to see if they are good?
Normally I wouldn’t bother, since lycanthropy is generally accepted as the term referring to were-creatures in general, but after the wolves howling at the moon myth was so vehemently commented upon in a previous strip I feel a need to point this out as well. If you don’t turn into a wolf, it’s not lycanthropy.
Therianthropy: the mythological ability of human beings to metamorphose into other animals
VS
Lycanthropy: the supernatural transformation of a person into a wolf
The word lycanthropy comes from lykos “wolf” and anthropos “man”
Sydney is a gamer and “lycanthropy” has been used since 1974 to refer to any sort of were animal.
Note that the public usage of the term, as a result, has shifted (therianthropy, by comparison, is practically never used, when you check each term’s usage). Except for, apparently, in this comic comments.
*sigh*
The ancient Greek λύκος (lýkos) stems from the proto-European*: “wĺ̥kʷos” (“wolf”)
Which in turn may come from the proto-European: “*wl̥kʷós” (“dangerous”)
Note that, even the Greek, λύκος also retains the meaning “A bloodthirsty and aggressive person”.
άνθρωπος (ánthropos) comes from the Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος, who’s meanings include:
1. human being, person (as opposed to gods); man, woman
2. (philosophical) man, humanity
3. (sometimes in the plural) all human beings, mankind
Which stems from the Mycanaen Greek: (a-to-ro-qo) also meaning person.
So if we want to go to the original definitions, “Lycantrhrope” means “dangerous person”.
See, Sydney is wise!
* This is a reconstructed language, so the words are hypothesised, based on related languages.
There has already been a huge debate over which is the correct term
I wonder if Katrina is any less itchy while she’s spending time in her were-hare form . . .
“KA-BUN” made me laugh again there. The expression that goes with it is priceless. Not to mention those in the subsequent panels too.
The herbivorous predator gag aside, depending on what sort of appetites or impulses you’d get as a carnivore, a strong herbivore- like a.rhinoceros or elephant might actually be better.
On my left we have the were-elephant. On my right the were-mouse.
FIIIIIGHT!
Due to people not bothering to read (either the Author’s Notes or the comments) and the near incessant complaints (about virtually everything to do with the webic, from the art to the colouring to the spelling and grammar and the pace) will no longer even be opening up the comment section
Will continue to read the comic and vote every day though
Aww. :(
I hope you change your mind, in due course.
Will see, but you will be missed the mostest! :D
Will make sure to leave a healthy supply of Yorpie Snax, the container will be specially coded to only open for you :D
That is kind of you. I would much prefer to share them with you though. The community is richer with you. But understand if you want time out.
Heh, you are only about the third individual to ever say that (and one of the others named a character after me), most just want me to stop commenting (and not just the other commentators, was actually ISP-banned because one of the authors found posts from me to be “too depressing to even read”, considering all comments had been directly related to the webic…)
I like your posts, too. And we read a LOT of the same webcomics, I think. Don’t go.
There’s always going to be people who just want to say something. I wish they’d at least read the author’s comments, but honestly, by the time I get to load this comic, there’s usually at least 3 pages of comments. I enjoy reading through some of them, but it’s darn rare that I’ll start on page 1 and read through 587 comments before I post, if I want to post. So when I read THREE PEOPLE in quick succession commenting on the vat of blood, I roll my eyes, too, but just ignore it an roll on.
Yea, and as the readership grows, the duplicate comments will only increase. We just need to have thick skins.
Personally I view that as a really helpful thing. Every ‘vat of blood’ comment is extra ammunition for DaveBshoulderAngel to use, to convince DaveB to change the box shape to a thought bubble!
Likewise for all other duplicate comments, good or bad. It gives us a feel for how popular the comic is, and how contentious (or popular) particular aspects are. Most notably on the various cameos, homages or sly references that Dave slips in.
If he only gets one or two comments, then he knows that he has aimed for a really niche audience. But if there are loads of duplicates, then he can feel satisfied that a significant proportion of the readership got extra value from that.
I’ve updated it. It’s kind of a weird looking bubble, but hopefully it will help people realize it’s a fantasy of Sydney’s.
Oh, awesome!
To be honest, after posting my comment, I decided I should have expressed it as “use a thought bubble, for similar imagined scenes”, as it was not my intention to put you to extra work, on redoing your work. But much appreciated that you did, thanks!
I can see what you mean about its appearance. It is not quite what I envisaged, when imagining it. But there again, the curvy shapes, of normal thought bubbles, would chew up too much panel area and/or not fit well in the usual layout. So I can see the necessity of a different style.
The result though is good though. Distinctly different from the rest of the frames, so it should catch the attention of anyone who thinks “this scene does not seem realistic” and starts to look around for a reason. For the majority of readers, anyhow. We all miss things sometimes.
I wonder what the serial-propagator’s motives were. Was it simply to be a dick and infect other people since he was infected (misery loves company), or was he trying to cause such a massive increase in therianthropy that the greater public became aware it was real?
Judging purely from the way Kat phrased it, I would take it that he was doing it purely for self-gratification. Vandalism is something similar. Getting enjoyment out of destroying other peoples property. Maybe caused by jealousy that others have something nice, that they do not. Or perhaps due to a grudge (against them personally, or society in general).
Here though, he is getting his enjoyment from ruining other people’s lives, rather than their property (although the latter can be devastating to people, especially if it makes them afraid in their own homes, so it is actually very similar). Although the obvious motivation may be that he had suffered from the affliction, and felt others should do likewise, as you mention, that need not be the case.
For instance the dialogue does not say that he was a were himself. He could simply have obtained blood samples, or some such. Or he may have been a were, but enjoyed it.
Some folks are just twisted enough to enjoy inflicting pain on others. Think of a schoolboy ripping wings off bugs, to see what I mean. And if it went public, then they could sit on their couch and watch all the chaos unfold live on their TV screens. Thinking “I did that” and chuckling.
Strength, damage resistance and regeneration with ability to appear human doesn’t really sound like a “ruined life”.
Depends on whether the public start reaching for their pitchforks and flaming torches, when a bunch of folks randomly start turning into were creatures.
If your child’s kindergarten teacher turns into a were, for the first time, whilst in front of her class, she will probably freak out herself. And it would not take much to get all the kids screaming.
Although some of the kiddies might like petting Ms Bunny, I doubt that she will still have her job at the end of the day. And may be hopping over the fence, to try and stay one step ahead of the mob!
How did Rexford put it in ‘Sam and Fuzzy’? “Humans can barely tolerate a 30% variation in skin pigmentation…” Or something to that effect.
Ever increasing number of furries…
I love that one of the Were-Lions is in a Detroit Lions jersey. I live 1/8th of a mile from the Detroit city limits, so they are the local football team.
Who would have thought that Barry Sanders would have a were-impala in his family?
You know…looking back on this page, I can’t help but think the panel with Pixel was foreshadowing to her were-ness
Is that an unwarranted spoiler or just an oddly phrased prediction? I guess I’ll know when I catch up to January 2017.
Re-reading the story, as someone who works in a blood bank (but not at an actual blood supplier), I’m at least *relatively* sure they don’t keep the blood in giant vats..? XD
As someone who works at a plasma bank I can say that there are sometimes vats for processing the stuff.
i love how theres a tiger in the background of the last panel