It’s called the Uncanny Valley. When something (usually 3D CGI, but in this case a shapeshifter) is so close to looking exactly like a real human that the minor mistakes unnerve you. You’re not thinking “Wow, that imagery/disguise is so close to spot-on”, you’re thinking “My god there’s something wrong with that human”.
You hadn’t picked up on that? Phix is very large in her natural form, when we’ve had a chance to compare her to Monica and her friends. Even manifesting as a human, she’s a sizable woman, and if you scale her next to Nudge over the last few pages, you can see Nudge has got to be larger than your average human, by a sizable margin.
If Nudge is 9 feet tall, how big are the books she’s reading!? They must be huge. Perhaps the books automatically scale to the reader’s size. It would make sense since the library has to serve all creatures and they would come in a large range of sizes. As evidenced by Phix, Nudge, and Monica.
I’m guessing she’s also reading reference books, the sort that your local library usually doesn’t actually let you take out, and are generally pretty frickin’ large.
Not to pick on Artemisia, but the whole “knees bending the wrong way” thing is one of my pet peeves. Every time I see an author talking about werewolves (for example) and using that meme, I end up yelling “They’re ankles!” at the page. 🙂
That’s an interesting way to put it. Especially the prey animals. They would have to be always “on their toes” and ready to flee as a matter of survival.
I think losing the horns will be more of a jolt, long term. Right now she’s used to having to having to keep the space on all sides of her clear to at least an elbow depth, lest when she turn her head she clock someone or something with them. In human form, she doesn’t. Getting used to things in one form, then switching to the other, is going to mess her up…
I also suppose the dehorning REALLY takes pressure off her neck muscles!
Where does all that mass go? The mass of the horns and body when it was 9 feet tall? Must be awkward when walking with so much shorter stides. I suppose it’s better than the other way around wherein you would be walking into things right and left, going from 5-5 to 9 feet. It must be more than an illusion. She must actually, physically transform from 9 feet with horns to the human form. Must feel really strange for a while.
In a comic where four of the characters are invincible and could punch through the earth, people somehow instantaneously teleport themselves, and there is a people who can make a sentient, otherdimensional building, yet store BOOKS in it…
Gadzooks! The other dimension must be a terrible mess. At least temporarily anyway, until the individual recalls all that mass back again to return to their original form.
Don’t lose heart, maybe Nudge won’t be as good at the transformation as Phix and she may, unexpectedly revert at odd times, allowing for that sort of thing. Better yet perhaps only parts may revert. Like one horn, whereupon she “timmmmberrrrrrs!” over sideways, unable to get back up. Then there is the possibibly of fur popping out of her bikini bottoms and underarms at the beach. Poor personal grooming comedy abounds.
Nudge looks more like she could be Shelley’s mom, due to the similarities in their physical attributes (i.e., low BMI, broad shoulders, muscular build).
A pic of Shelly’s mom. A bit expressionistic, I assume from it being one of Shelly’s memories of her. But it does seem to put a more ‘feminine’ cast to mom than Shelly seems to have.
Nudge may be a demon-like thingy, but she IS a thinker.. I do prefer the horned version though. Sortof a scary Draenei. (Not that I play W.O.W., but I like the visuals) and again, with that kryptonite of many:The Pixie-cut..
Reminds me of a high school genetics in-class project where we had to pair off and flip a coin to determine what our child would look like. My partner and I were very puzzled (and amused) that two dark haired, dark eyed, white kids could “birth” a blonde haired, blue eyed, African American baby with freckles.
hm, they could be ‘remnants’.. we’ll have to wait and see when she’s done all the new human beauty stuff…. and as the strip is mainly B & W, you cannot tell whether it’s brown, dark red, whatever…. :\
I don’t think they are freckles. On a couple of post back I commented on this. I think she just has a bad case of acne!
Still waiting to hear back from Paul on this one.
there are plenty of pg-13 movies, (or other similarly rated media) that have topless girls, or even lower genitalia of both men or women. I don’t need to see nudge’s breasts to enjoy this comic, but Monica’s would be nice…
Hmm… Nudge looks more like a combination of all the girls.
Monica’s height.
Brandi’s hairstyle.
Shelly’s biceps.
Bud’s … a… ‘tracks of land’.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she had fangs like Tina.
Though her complexion reminds me of Jacqui Botemps who we haven’t seen in a while.
I get the impression she’s pudgier than the girls. Her waist doesn’t seem to be the Barbie doll thin type they have. So I think the arm size is more a question of body fat than muscle. Further adjustments may be needed.
I had the impression that all 3 chimera girls and tina had Fangs which lead me to the false conclusion that tina could have been the 4rd part of he chimera in the previous storyline.
Our girls actually have quite a range of height going on amongst, so Nudge isn’t going to stand out too much. Shelly, depending on how much of her culture she grew up with, might be the only one to pick out the Trickster with a glance, as Nu-nu-pis can walk among humans, but never seem to get how tall an average person is. Either they over-, or under-shoot the size. And when you’re shorter than Comanches, you will get noticed.
Meanthewhiles…, Nudge has a good starting point to work with.
More? I was thinking less. More like Amanda than Monica. Right now she’s kinda smoking that Shelly vibe, but without the muscles. I go for the lighter-up-top vibe myself having outgrown the >booobs< stage of Tyler from GWS many many moons ago
I really should be less quick about hitting that “Post” button. Anyway, as her natural self Nudge is rocking the “Pert and perky” vibe that I like, but they seem to have not shrunk as drastically as the rest of her when she shape-shifted. I really think that when she changes she should stay closer to her natural proportions, about a cup or so smaller than what she’s rocking in this form. She really looked better above the waist in her natural form. And no I don’t have a “thing” for either Furries or cartoon women, just smoking my esthetic opinions.
Well, I’m a little dissapointed. When the description said ‘and her monster boobs’, I was hoping for a girl with a couple of Fitzgigs, from The Dark Crystal, under her shirt.
Since it’s modifying oneself, which is kind of the opposite of modifying one’s position in space, I half expected the transfiguration sound to be “TIOP”
Hmmm. I like . . .
Hear! Hear! I second that motion…
I third it. Motion carried.
The stockholders approve the deal.
Cute… and, the Dept. of Distraction approves the design as well!
And the birth of a new character is complete.
not so much a new one, as it is a slight change.
Slight change? Just what IS your definition of “slight?”
I think it’s a good start, but there is still work to do…
Skin texture, for one thing.
First stop, Bed, Bath & Beyond…
Bahahaha!!
Do they do complete exfoliations?
Okay, then. First stop Home Depot for a belt sander…
Seems like, if she can get rid of the fur, she could get rid of the bumps too.
Isn’t it de rigueur for shape changers to have at least one tell?
Nudge is strangely cute even with the horns, hooves and tail; this incarnation is strangely disturbing! 🙂
Good. It’s not just me thinking that, then. 🙂
It’s called the Uncanny Valley. When something (usually 3D CGI, but in this case a shapeshifter) is so close to looking exactly like a real human that the minor mistakes unnerve you. You’re not thinking “Wow, that imagery/disguise is so close to spot-on”, you’re thinking “My god there’s something wrong with that human”.
Nudge is 9 feet tall in her natural form? Holy Gucamole! She looks like a child when standing next to Phix. Phix is friggen huge!
You hadn’t picked up on that? Phix is very large in her natural form, when we’ve had a chance to compare her to Monica and her friends. Even manifesting as a human, she’s a sizable woman, and if you scale her next to Nudge over the last few pages, you can see Nudge has got to be larger than your average human, by a sizable margin.
I like the way that Paul uses the neckline of her dress to emphasise her change in size…
She’s lucky the dress didn’t fall right off of her. Oh! Right, luck had nothing to do with it…
She’s lucky.
The rest of us, OTOH …
If Nudge is 9 feet tall, how big are the books she’s reading!? They must be huge. Perhaps the books automatically scale to the reader’s size. It would make sense since the library has to serve all creatures and they would come in a large range of sizes. As evidenced by Phix, Nudge, and Monica.
Huh. Never thought of that. Makes sense.
I’m guessing she’s also reading reference books, the sort that your local library usually doesn’t actually let you take out, and are generally pretty frickin’ large.
must have been unpleasant when the knees switched direction
Those aren’t knees, they’re ankles. Look in frame one, when she’s squatting — she’s got thighs and knees in the right places. 🙂
Not to pick on Artemisia, but the whole “knees bending the wrong way” thing is one of my pet peeves. Every time I see an author talking about werewolves (for example) and using that meme, I end up yelling “They’re ankles!” at the page. 🙂
Does that mean, in her natural form, Nudge has a well turned ankle?
Well, a turned ankle anyway.
Technically, they are hocks. The term for the knee is stifle joint.
Yes.
It’s very much like every animal is standing on the tip-toes of their hind legs.
That’s an interesting way to put it. Especially the prey animals. They would have to be always “on their toes” and ready to flee as a matter of survival.
I think losing the horns will be more of a jolt, long term. Right now she’s used to having to having to keep the space on all sides of her clear to at least an elbow depth, lest when she turn her head she clock someone or something with them. In human form, she doesn’t. Getting used to things in one form, then switching to the other, is going to mess her up…
I also suppose the dehorning REALLY takes pressure off her neck muscles!
Where does all that mass go? The mass of the horns and body when it was 9 feet tall? Must be awkward when walking with so much shorter stides. I suppose it’s better than the other way around wherein you would be walking into things right and left, going from 5-5 to 9 feet. It must be more than an illusion. She must actually, physically transform from 9 feet with horns to the human form. Must feel really strange for a while.
In a comic where four of the characters are invincible and could punch through the earth, people somehow instantaneously teleport themselves, and there is a people who can make a sentient, otherdimensional building, yet store BOOKS in it…
And mass issues are what you are hung up on?
The devil is in the details, and the devil is in me.
That mass just gets lost in the other dimensions.. any student of magic knows that.. 🙂
Gadzooks! The other dimension must be a terrible mess. At least temporarily anyway, until the individual recalls all that mass back again to return to their original form.
um yes, a helL of a Space.. 😛
Yikes, what that must look like a yard sale over at the Frankenstein place…
Now I’m just miffed that Paul hasn’t worked that into a strip yet 😛 I pictured her getting hooked on the curtains. Funny!
Don’t lose heart, maybe Nudge won’t be as good at the transformation as Phix and she may, unexpectedly revert at odd times, allowing for that sort of thing. Better yet perhaps only parts may revert. Like one horn, whereupon she “timmmmberrrrrrs!” over sideways, unable to get back up. Then there is the possibibly of fur popping out of her bikini bottoms and underarms at the beach. Poor personal grooming comedy abounds.
Why can’t I stop thinking about the three stooges now?
And this is Brandi, and her other sister Brandi….
Ah, you picked up on that too?
yep…same thing I thought….
Nudge looks more like she could be Shelley’s mom, due to the similarities in their physical attributes (i.e., low BMI, broad shoulders, muscular build).
I think it’s more the hair, face shape, and idiosyncrasies of Paul’s art style.
But yeah, she looks like Shelly.
A pic of Shelly’s mom. A bit expressionistic, I assume from it being one of Shelly’s memories of her. But it does seem to put a more ‘feminine’ cast to mom than Shelly seems to have.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/08182004/
Kind of Kahlo- or Modigliani-ish.
Nudge to … Nudgete? Trickester to Trixie? Horned one to hornee?
I like Trixie! It fits.
Trixie it is!
Now–we just have to get Paul to agree. Can we get his SO on board to apply undue pressure?
Nudge may be a demon-like thingy, but she IS a thinker.. I do prefer the horned version though. Sortof a scary Draenei. (Not that I play W.O.W., but I like the visuals) and again, with that kryptonite of many:The Pixie-cut..
When you see black hair and freckles, you KNOW it’s a dye-job. At least, I hope they’re freckles. Scales wouldn’t be a good way to blend in.
I like your horse picture.
I dunno, could be those Morgan Freeman, Nona Gaye freckles…
Reminds me of a high school genetics in-class project where we had to pair off and flip a coin to determine what our child would look like. My partner and I were very puzzled (and amused) that two dark haired, dark eyed, white kids could “birth” a blonde haired, blue eyed, African American baby with freckles.
very rare, but it does happen on occasion: http://www.parentdish.com/2010/07/21/black-couple-surprised-when-newborn-daughter-is-white/
and in reverse too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Laing
@ Ponyhome- maybe so but I think freckles are cute, so I don’t mind 🙂
Uh huh. And dad is buying this explanation as to why he has a white child? I think a DNA test is in order. Maury awaits guys.
hm, they could be ‘remnants’.. we’ll have to wait and see when she’s done all the new human beauty stuff…. and as the strip is mainly B & W, you cannot tell whether it’s brown, dark red, whatever…. :\
While my hair may not be as black as it used to be, I can assure you that us dark-heads do get freckles.
Yeah, I know a guy like that. Black hair, blue eyes, can’t tan for nothin, freckles up like crazy.
I don’t think they are freckles. On a couple of post back I commented on this. I think she just has a bad case of acne!
Still waiting to hear back from Paul on this one.
Conveniently placed dressed straps are conveniently placed.
… or inconveniently placed…
I was wondering why Nudge would be wearing a dress.
Careful forethought on Pablo’s part…
Paul will use all sorts of 4-letter words in the strip, show breasts, but he won’t show nipples. Odd.
PG-13
there are plenty of pg-13 movies, (or other similarly rated media) that have topless girls, or even lower genitalia of both men or women. I don’t need to see nudge’s breasts to enjoy this comic, but Monica’s would be nice…
SoWhyMe: as you may have noticed, it’s not PG rating, but ‘staying on topic’… :\
illiad, I’m male. That is the topic.
Fatuncle: .. and I was ONLY talking to SoWhyMe……….
Eat your heart out Barbie!
D’awwww! Nudge is so cute, and she’s really tryin’. Almost got it, too…
… [goes to get a coat for Nudge]
An artifical coat to replace a natural one. She must feel sheared and shaven now.
Say were was that book located exactly and how can i access the library from Germany?
🙂 yes, I wanna exchange this creaky old body for ‘surfer guy’ looks!! 🙂
Hmm… Nudge looks more like a combination of all the girls.
Monica’s height.
Brandi’s hairstyle.
Shelly’s biceps.
Bud’s … a… ‘tracks of land’.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she had fangs like Tina.
Though her complexion reminds me of Jacqui Botemps who we haven’t seen in a while.
I get the impression she’s pudgier than the girls. Her waist doesn’t seem to be the Barbie doll thin type they have. So I think the arm size is more a question of body fat than muscle. Further adjustments may be needed.
That’s “tracts”… 😛
I had the impression that all 3 chimera girls and tina had Fangs which lead me to the false conclusion that tina could have been the 4rd part of he chimera in the previous storyline.
I thought she had fangs already – doesn’t she?
Also – Skin ‘thingies’ = granulocities, small sub-cutaneous bone-like pellets. At least, that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
She was nine feet tall as a demon? Wow…
Especially if you like ’em tall…
Tall is one thing. Towering is quite another.
Anyone for a round of ‘Scale the Tower’?
Our girls actually have quite a range of height going on amongst, so Nudge isn’t going to stand out too much. Shelly, depending on how much of her culture she grew up with, might be the only one to pick out the Trickster with a glance, as Nu-nu-pis can walk among humans, but never seem to get how tall an average person is. Either they over-, or under-shoot the size. And when you’re shorter than Comanches, you will get noticed.
Meanthewhiles…, Nudge has a good starting point to work with.
Maybe that explains Ted Cassidy in ‘Genesis II’…
Back in the day, that was a source of endless amusement among that side of the family. Lurch as a Comanche, that’s still funny.
Will, “Thipping,” come to mean shape-shifting much like, “Poiting,” is to teleport?
It will now.
It depends on how many different people begin to thip, I thuppose.
I’m thipping some hot coffee right now…
Just don’t thip on ice.
Thuth, you guyth! THith ith theriouth!
Now I need a towel. Way to go guyth.
Who’s Who or Whom or are you seeing double!?
Cute, I like the Mediterranean look. She looks like my aunt Chicky did back in 1959. Only with a few more freckles than Aunt Chicky.
I think she could have used more boobage myself.
She’s fine, there’s more than plenty on most all of the others.
I’m a leg man, meself, so I find her interesting in both forms…
More? I was thinking less. More like Amanda than Monica. Right now she’s kinda smoking that Shelly vibe, but without the muscles. I go for the lighter-up-top vibe myself having outgrown the >booobs< stage of Tyler from GWS many many moons ago
I really should be less quick about hitting that “Post” button. Anyway, as her natural self Nudge is rocking the “Pert and perky” vibe that I like, but they seem to have not shrunk as drastically as the rest of her when she shape-shifted. I really think that when she changes she should stay closer to her natural proportions, about a cup or so smaller than what she’s rocking in this form. She really looked better above the waist in her natural form. And no I don’t have a “thing” for either Furries or cartoon women, just smoking my esthetic opinions.
Bucc-i: not here… If you want more, 😉 search for ‘tanktop, texas’..
Eeeeeeeekkk.
More … unsettling … than Bill Ward at his most extreme…
But maybe not by much…
This would seem to be the exception to the rule Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Poo. Forgot the “two URL” rule. Maybe the other sequel to this comment i posted will get here eventually.
No thanks
indeed, it is quite a lot over there. she must have a steel spine to carry those things around.
Well, I’m a little dissapointed. When the description said ‘and her monster boobs’, I was hoping for a girl with a couple of Fitzgigs, from The Dark Crystal, under her shirt.
So is Nudge’s human guise freckled like Jacqueline?
ah, at least wikipedia is working now… 🙂
gotta agree; nudge looks cuter without the hellhorns…
Since it’s modifying oneself, which is kind of the opposite of modifying one’s position in space, I half expected the transfiguration sound to be “TIOP”
5 and a half feet 🤔
That’s how tall I am 😵💫