Episode 286: Busted!
Another redonk guest comic by Dave Barrack for your enjoyment! Gyno-Star finds there’s trade-offs when you trade in on your sexiness.
Don’t forget to read Dave’s webcomic Grrl Power and to show him some love in the comments.
The Adventures of Gyno-Star
Fighting the forces of evil and male chauvinism
Discussion (58) ¬
Can’t…stop…laughing…
Well it certainly explains why so many superheroines don’t bother with very convincing disguises…they don’t need em.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MostCommonSuperPower
Thank you XD
Nice! Good recovery.
Yeah, the involuntary posing was bad but the “K’yaaaah!” really sold how wrong this is. If you can’t be brave when you need to be you’re in bad shape for a mere mortal, nevermind a proper heroine.
Plus as soon as one of those would-be lotharios dropped trow and GS ran for the trees with a maidenly shriek the whole “perks of perkiness” would greatly diminish in contrast to the downsides.
Keep the “strong female characters” with “proper” attitudes, give me a Woman with a hungry look in her eye any day!
Of course GS is also likely to soon discover her fighting form now comes with a lot less boxing and a lot more …uh… “lower torso extension long-kicking,” but every war is won one battle at a time so just keep fighting.
Thank you points for being made.
That’s it, Little Sappho, sometimes words won’t work, but a demonstration always will. Well… usually anyway.
I have to admit, I’m surprised there aren’t any comments complaining about how terribly misandristic it is to claim that all men everywhere in the world ever only care about staring at boobs yet. I wonder if we’ll make it to the next update before that happens?
It’s early still…
I got this.
Heh, that’s beautiful, I may have to thief it.
[img]http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/748/294/a37.png[/img]
http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/748/294/a37.png
Oh for the love of Science.
Really? Can’t post a counter image?
Snarky memes aren’t meant to make it less true. They’re just meant to mock the people who can’t grasp that, when people aren’t saying “all men” do something, they probably don’t mean that “all men” do that thing.
I’m one of those silly people that read and act on what you decided to write instead of guessing what you “might” have meant.
Would this even be a debate if someone said ‘Man, black people really love chicken and watermelon”? Of course not.
Nobody is forcing you to generalize. I know it’s difficult to type four extra letters but adding the word “some” before “men” does wonders for keeping those mean ol’ men from pointing out you’re generalizing since you wouldn’t be any more.
A revolutionary idea, I know.
This would be such an important reply if anyone had made a generalization about men in the first place.
I think I see the problem.
I just re-read this strip, and I see it clearly. Nowhere in the strip does it specify that the six men depicted are only some men – it is entirely possible that they are all the men. Obviously, labels are needed.
Weird, my response disappeared…
It didn’t disappear; I deleted it. I wasn’t in the mood to read a long thread of argument where everyone rehashes what just happened in the argument above and disagrees about who generalized about whom. Suffice it to say, NOBODY MADE A GENERALIZATION ABOUT ALL MEN. It was joked that my comic could be MISINTERPRETED as a generalization about all men. I posted the meme as a hypothetical response to that hypothetical misinterpretation. I hope it’s all clear now, and we can drop the matter.
“Everywhere”? The comics depicts men IN BAR. The most broheim sports bar in freedomland, specifically. That’s hardly “everywhere”.
not all broheimers
Absolutely, it’s obvious from the most cursory viewing that it’s a very specific case, but since when did reality or rationality get in the way of a good anti-feminist argument?
Not all men stare at boobs. Some guys are ass men.
And some guys are simply asses.
yup, but women do like to stare at a good ass as well. Not to mention that most women I know often compare their breasts to others despite being comfortable with their bodies.
“I’m surprised there aren’t any comments complaining about how terribly misandristic it is to claim that all men everywhere in the world ever only care about staring at boobs yet.”
Some stereotypes have a fair basis in fact. That one, well I ain’t gonna argue about. I doubt any red blooded male, on the planet, would be able to keep fixed eye contact, under those circumstances.
Although most will have the decency to look embarrassed, if there is photographic proof of their fixation:
Fancy seeing you here
*wags tail*
You have tampered with time and space Yorp. It’s my job under the UTPA to take you out.
*Takes a sword Forged from a dying star*
It… umm… was like this when I got here… honest.
It just needs… err… to be rebooted!
Athywren, uh, but that’s all we do stare at, at least in public.
Some of us gits are secure enough to not care what anyone thinks “all men” do or do not do.
=3
“No True Scotsman,” and all that.
I can’t wait to find out what else mainstream superheroines are good for!
Also, as a follow-up to my comment on the last strip, NOW these men are being really immature. They just hid it for about six seconds.
I got a hunch it rhymes with hunching 🙂
I would have thought that the fact we read comics rather narrowed down our potential range of maturity. Personally though, I have nothing to hide. I have every intention of keeping my childhood going, right until my second childhood kicks in. Growing up is overrated.
Not that should be confused with being misogynistic or even antagonistic. I consider myself to be a champion of gallantry. Just with a low tolerance for anything overly politically correct. So not your average mindset. 😉
Oh, I meant the men in the comic.
Quick note about “tolerance for anything overly politically correct,” in case you’re not trolling: no one approves of anything overly anything. That’s what “overly” means. Since this site is all about the feminist humor, my personal advice is not to complain if you think it’s Gone Too Far.
Oh, no trolling intended. Nor complaints, I am very much appreciating the humour in the comic. And you cleared up that your own comment was directed at the comic characters, so all is good.
Yeah, cuz God knows no one should EVER dare to critize teh aartisssste!!!!11one!11eleventy. Might hurt her (or more likely YOUR) fragile ego.
Give me a break…this place positively REEKS of fanboi horseshit. The comic has potential, but fanbois like you are the bane of both common sense and good art. The instant someone even hints at something that might breathe the same air as criticism…even if it’s not, ya know, actual criticism…you all come boiling out of the woodwork and cry TROOOOOOOOOL. Pathetic, really.
Sorry you feel that way. What I was actually thinking is that a “champion of gallantry” with a “low tolerance for anything overly politically correct” is likely to disagree with the explicitly feminist message in ways that wouldn’t lead to a productive conversation. Therefore, I would advise a high tolerance for things you perceive as overly politically correct (which, after all, doesn’t hurt anyone) if you want to enjoy a feminist comic.
For the record, I don’t believe any of the other things you’re talking about.
For the record, as I had taken your earlier comment the wrong way, your reply was balanced and fair. I have no complaint, and feel that it is you who is being harshly criticised here.
Purely for information, I made my remark to indicate that I may be politically incorrect at times. For instance posting that YouTube clip above can appear that way. But, if you actually check it out, it is fairly harmless fun, and supportive of the theme of the current strip.
But, because I can sail close to the wind sometimes, I just wanted to make it clear that it would never be my intent to have a go at the writer(s), artist(s) or the community. That would be very rude, and not something I would do intentionally.
Although, if I feel that somebody is being too politically correct, I might tweak their nose. I have a weakenss for that. *hangs head*
Who doesn’t enjoy making fun of the uptight? No worries, bro, have a beer with me and let’s watch some sports on the big screen. For freedom!
It’s a good thing to be the bane of common sense. Common sense is almost always completely wrong.
This is art? :/ I thought it was just good, clean fun.
I know! Mainstream superheroines are good at having solo titles that last less than 12 issues! 🙂
If the The Objectifier made her a Modern Age super heroine,
then the gloves are off.
She could kill him.
Honestly, this doesn’t make any sense. Objectifier changed the way she looked in several ways that should make her secret identity safe even if she was seen without her mask. Granted, I’m making assumptions about the nature of the ideal she’s been changed into, but I’m presuming that she’s been made taller (or shorter, depending on his preferences, but I feel like taller is more likely) in addition to her increased musculature and breasts/buttocks. I’m thinking that it’s probably not a conscious thought for Objectifier, but her skeletal structure has probably been modified in accordance with his ideal, which means that her facial structure was also modified into something he finds more appealing. So in addition to the blonde hair, she should be effectively a different person from her secret identity while under Objectifier’s changes. If anything, she should be trying to turn back to normal because she can’t hope to pass off as her secret identity any more. Big trouble if she has a day job (I have no idea if she does, I only found this comic today).
I’m making a lot of assumptions about the way the Ideal Beam works, so maybe the way the author envisions it to work is pretty different from what would make sense to me. Regardless, I feel like there are still enough differences for Gyno-Star to not worry about her secret identity.
Of course, her reaction is probably the most natural one, but when you think about it, she doesn’t look anything like she normally does. She shouldn’t be worried about her secret identity being revealed in that situation. In fact, the only reasons that she should be readily identifiable as Gyno-Star at present, given the changes made to her, are the company she keeps and the costume keeping the same color scheme and retaining a star. People would be more likely to assume that she was a protege/teammate or just a similarly themed but different hero, rather than make the assumption that she is, in fact, Gyno-Star. Well, I wouldn’t make that assumption at least.
More over, and this is a problem with most superheroes, what good is that mask doing for her secret identity anyway? It doesn’t hide her eye color or hair color or disguise her nose and lower half of her face, all of which could be used to identify her when she’s not wearing it. Her companion doesn’t even wear a mask; do they even have a secret identity?
I understand that it was done for the sake of a joke, but I can’t help but feel like the situation was really forced. I also find it odd that Sappho says “-before the changes become permanent,” when there’s been no indication of any way to reverse the changes so far. The changes appear to be permanent already, and there was no mention of a limiting time factor during which they could be reversed. The only thing I can think of is that Sappho might be referring to the changes in Gyno-Star’s personality, but that’s not made clear at all. And it still doesn’t resolve that there hasn’t been a solution to Gyno-Star’s problem made apparent yet, so I don’t know what she expects to do when they get back. Unless the changes to reality are only maintained through Objectifier’s continued consciousness willing them into being, defeating him wouldn’t reverse the changes. Especially considering that his changes seem to actually alter the physical properties of reality, rather then being a psychic illusion propagated by his mind. He wouldn’t have been able to knock down that muscled guy in the blue trunks otherwise.
I don’t mean my post to seem as if I haven’t enjoyed what I read of the comic so far; I just find the points I raised to be rather troublesome to my mind.
Gyno-star hasn’t yet looked into a mirror, so perhaps she doesn’t realize her face has changed. This might be the reason Little Sappho knew it was safe to take her mask off and Gyno-star didn’t.
You’re right that nothing we’ve seen on-camera explains the “before the changes become permanent” remark. Gyno-star and Sappho must have received some explanation about who The Objectifier was and what he could do before their reappearance in the storyline, possibly from the nerdy girl, but Gyno-star certainly did not know the details of how his powers worked when he changed her.
In any case, we certainly don’t know what they’re talking about, so if this is an important plot point, we ought to get some explanation.
Somebody living with a dual identity for years, taking habitual precautions to protect it, is not going to suddenly loose those instincts overnight. Gyno-star has not had the opportunity for calm, level-headed, analysis of her situation. Especially as she is distracted by the radical changes forced on her. Her face was exposed to public view and she responded in a very natural fashion.
GynoStar already had the Most Common Super Power even before the “change”.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MostCommonSuperPower
She got a “boost” but she didn’t mind it before having the figure of a model.
but hey now it’s POLITICAL. It’s a statement.
Sheesh
I mean, she HAD boobs, but I don’t think they were “Most Common Super Power”
She was changed without her consent, Zap.
Is consent really the point here?
This kinda gets at a problem with the story: the Objectifier is obviously in the wrong because he’s not getting consent before he changes stuff, but feminism also claims that he’s in the wrong because objectification is bad. The former, obviously bad, problem gets in the way of communicating the latter, less obvious problem.
Although, this plot would be a lot more controversial and inspire a lot more of Zap’s sort of indignation if you took away the consent issue and just wrote the story with the Objectifier being less a criminal and more just a twit.
Loving Saphy’s smug smirk in the last panel 😀
Since you disabled Reply:
“It didn’t disappear; I deleted it. I wasn’t in the mood to read a long thread of argument where everyone rehashes what just happened in the argument above and disagrees about who generalized about whom. Suffice it to say, NOBODY MADE A GENERALIZATION ABOUT ALL MEN. It was joked that my comic could be MISINTERPRETED as a generalization about all men. I posted the meme as a hypothetical response to that hypothetical misinterpretation. I hope it’s all clear now, and we can drop the matter. “
ಠ_ಠ Yeah, everything is resolved. Well, resolved in the sense that I’m done here. There’s really no point in posting here when you delete, or worse selectively edit, comments that disagree with you.
I didn’t disable reply — there’s probably just a limit to how many replies are allowed in a thread — and it’s clear that I don’t delete comments that disagree with me. There are plenty of those all over the site.
But this is my site. I run it; I curate the experience for people who visit. If I feel a comment makes the experience worse for visitors, I’ll delete it. That’s my prerogative.
I understand if you or anyone else doesn’t like that policy. Luckily there is a nearly limitless internet where people can post their thoughts. So it’s no big loss for you if you can’t do it here.