Tuesday, October 28, 2008

My new favourite webcomic

Thanks to some chatter on a forum I have discovered Shaenon K. Garrity and Jeffrey Channing Wells's Skin Horse.

Its got a sci-fi theme, but is set in the sort-of present, and is about a team working for the government dealing with problems caused by genetically altered sentients.

The main team consist of a sentient swarm of bees, a rehabilitated Victorian criminal robot, an intelligent talking dog, and a zombie with love of large calibre guns and mayhem. But it's Tip, the new member and token human, that sold me on the strip.

Tip is a psychologist and a crossdresser. He's also got bags of confidence and is a hit with the ladies. Which makes a nice change.

Check out this recent strip after he seduces a Black Ops scientist (Click on the strip to embiggen):



I spent last night reading the archives. Its funny, clever, and sympathetic to nearly all the characters (even the opera-loving mutant silverfish in the basement!) Its so nice to see a positive portrayal of a tranny online too. Especially when its not the central theme of the comic, just a character detail.

The archives start here

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Identity crisis

We denizens of the Trannisphere spend a lot of time keeping our public and private personae separate. However I have found a problem with keeping Pandora and "Bob" compartmentalised online - my ego.

I've just written a little solitaire game. The kind that uses dice and tokens. It has a vague tranny connection.

The problem is who do I assign the writing credit to?

Assign it to Pandora

Pros
  • No worries with outing myself
  • Can distribute it via the Trannisphere
Cons
  • Can't discuss the game in the gaming forums as I'm registered as "Bob"
  • Don't get to add it to my portfolio of work

Assign it to "Bob"

Pros
  • Can discuss the game on gaming forums
  • Adds to my portfolio of work

Cons
  • Tranny connection may raise questions
  • Can't put it on this blog

I suppose I could co-credit it, but that may lead to an inadvertent outing. And besides it just seems weird.

Any suggestions?

Saturday, October 04, 2008

"The nuts are complimentary"

Following on from my post on compliments (was it really as long ago as April? Eeek!) I'm going to postulate a theory:

If you want compliments (particularly as a tranny) find a group of really nice people, and get them drunk.

Last night I went out to my local gay-friendly venue for its karaoke night, and got one of the best compliments I have ever received, from a friend who had had quite a bit to drink.

My best friend Chrissy and her mates turned up half way through the evening, and Chrissy said that her brother and his new girlfriend were on their way too. I recently met her brother and we got on really well, so he was looking forward to meeting up again, and was interested to meet me as Pandora. I was also looking forward to meeting his girlfriend who was apparently "loud, American and a cosplayer".

When he finally arrived, Chrissy introduced him to me and all her other friends. Ever the gent, her brother kissed all the ladies present on the cheek and said hi. I was quite flattered that he was "playing along" and included me in with the ladies. Until he came back from the bar, shook my hand and said "We've actually met before haven't we?" :D

Later in the evening his girlfriend (who was exactly as described, but quite lovely) told me that while they were at the bar after doing introductions, he'd said that he was quite disappointed I wasn't there yet, and didn't know any of the girls he'd been introduced to!

Like I said earlier, he was rather tipsy by that point in the evening, but it still made me feel really good about myself.

(The title is from this joke if you were wondering)