Meet Gilbert. Gilbert and Ms. Metrobay go way back. Gilbert likes to make dolls. Gilbert wants to make a very special "Ms Metrobay" doll, but she's not so sure...

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Check back Sunday to read chapter 1 of "Adult Toys", only at HIPcomix!

- Doc

Now exclusively in the members area of HIPcomix.com, it’s “Grime City Stories: Adult Toys” #1 by Finister Foul and Doctor Robo!

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Gilbert Petto is a lonely, lonely man. He has dedicated his career to academic pursuits, spending the prime of his life locked up in his research lab with no social life to speak of. Now retired, Gilbert has opened up a small toy shop on the edge of town, hoping to put his decades of expertise in robotics and engineering to use making ultra-realistic dolls for everyone in Metrobay to enjoy. So what happens when someone like Gilbert makes a VERY special doll to keep him company… especially when that doll happens to look just like a famously gorgeous superheroine? Find out in “Adult Toys”, available now at HIPcomix.com!

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I love the doll! She's simply gorgeous! Looking forward to seeing what else Max has in store for the doll and Ms. Metrobay. Reminds me of the "Merry APWXMass" series...

This has potential for a Halloween and Christmas Sales boost for Max Indeks' company LOL

Imagine getting the Whole Superheroine Squad and FEMCOPS Squad against their will to have their naked bodies scanned.

I suggest of course subduing them all otherwise the machine won't scan from any protesting move.

Now exclusively in the members area of HIPcomix.com, it’s “Grime City Stories: Adult Toysâ€

Love it!

Lots of potential! Really sets up SO much!

My mind is racing with what's going to happen to so many characters!

Same here

The sex scene was very hot and well-done. I can't get over how sexy Metrobay Doll is. I wish Gilbert could build me one of those robobabes!

I'm happy for Gilbert that he had a bit of fun, but its too bad he lost his doll to that old stinker Max.

Brown Sugar might give him a new toy to play with, though.

lf Gilbert has a Greentooth Earpiece, why would he need to make a Sugar Doll (that sounds like a real doll too)? Just hook her up with the earpiece, put her in a nice dress, and dolly her up. Though, for the life of me, I can't even picture Brown Sugar in a dress.

Also, yes, I wonder what kind of "meeting" Ms. Metrobay is going to have with Mayor Turner (hopefully something along the lines of "...That Ms. Metrobay... I should invite her over to..... Ohhh.... Those Tits!")

Yep, lots of potential here. Should be awesome. Just like this chapter was so very awesome.

As the esteemed Mr. Petto probably knows, 'manipulating' an object is not the same as doing something to the real thing. I see him as an inherently good man who wouldn't dream of actually violating Ms. Metrobay or Brown Sugar...but if it's a lifeless doll it's okay. Notice how he becomes more and more uncomfortable the more lifelike MetroDoll's reactions are. In fact I was rather surprised that he succumbed to it's manipulations while Max was watching.


Not to second guess the characters but I would be REALLY careful if I was Mr. Indeks about using the Greentooths too much. Yes, perhaps every woman working in the Mayor's office is hooked into his "network" but the more he uses them and the further he warps their personas, the more likely it is that someone is going to cop on to the fact that something weird is going on (if not the actual method of influence). And even given the genre I'd put it to you that he's far too clever to risk blowing his cover just to have an "Ultra Casual Nudie Friday" (fun as it might be for us readers) or some other overt show of his control.

Besides, if it's anything like MY Bluetooth the damn thing is always out of power when I need it the most.

Excellent comments, everyone. I can't express enough how well Finister did in creating the Ms. Metrobay 'doll'. I mean, Kelly is already kind of a life-sized Barbie to begin with, but Fin just took it a step further and I couldn't have been happier with the results. I am glad to see that you all feel the same way.

As for the greentooth earpieces, I think MacroLass makes a good point and it is something that I have definitely considered. There is a reason why we have been slow to introduce the devices into everyday Metrobay life, and MacroLass kind of touched on that. Max got burned once with a large scale 'invasion' style of evil master plan. Now he wants to try to be more subtle about it. The beauty of the earpiece is that it can always be taken off, and the wearer returns to 'normal' with little memory of what she did while under its control. That is something to keep in mind as we explore the power of these devices in future storylines.

- Doc

If there's one quibble I have about that overall storyline, it's this: by this point in the Metrobay universe, if at some point anyone saw any woman standing stiffly at attention, or marching, with unnaturally straight fingers (outside of situations like a military or police situation where you'd expect to see it), speaking with a monotone, or acting off, they'd be screaming to the authorities (well, we'll assume the law-abiding folks), but especially members of the superheroine community. It's not like the existence of that sort of technology is a secret any more.

The subtle thing is good, but it's still not quite there. The takeover is still pretty blatant, and control still obviously dependent on external devices and once that secret is out, that plan is over.

While you can't make it too effective (otherwise the story is simple Bad Guys Win, Much Screwing, The End), it might be nice to show a scene or two in some story with Max and company working in the background to perfect a process that is subtle, effective, and permanent, so Max gets his superheroine sex toys who want to be that way, in a perfectly natural manner. Lab full of naked subjects strapped to assorted devices, some exposed to mysterious ray-emitting thingies, the report that the research team still hasn't got it quite right yet, but a few more months and another budget increase should do it, that sort of thing.

One way to do that would be to give the victim a personality overlay that mimics their normal actions as a cover for their true mind controlled personality that is revealed in all its zombielike and robotic glory in the privacy of the villian's hideout or when capturing and programming other new victims. The victim might even have imperfections in the personality overaly that allows the zombielike persona to surface in erratic ways or at inopportune times, causing suspicion and the need for recall and further programming.

In a word, the creation of sleeper agents to monitor competing groups such as the metrobay superheroines. For some reason, I've always suspected that a vampiric theme would be good for this...

In any event, I still love this story. Thanks guys.

That's a very good point, and something that I have wrestled with as a writer. In my opinion, part of the eroticism of the mind control story is the visual cue that the subject has been enslaved. That cue can be posture and mannerisms, speech or personality change, clothing, or a technological device of some sort. We definitely recognized the need for the control to be much more subtle, which is why we introduced the greentooth earpiece and even Mesmerella's magic spells. That way the visual control apparatus can still be in play, yet it allows for the plausibility that a character naive to what is going on will not notice what has happened to the 'slave'.

I guess that in these Metrobay stories, perhaps more than any mainstream comic, there is a certain amount of suspension of belief necessary to make the story work. My question is this: Would the enslavement be as much fun to read about if there weren't any visual cues as to what has happened?

- Doc

I say no. Part of what I like IS the visual cues because comics, by their very nature, are visual.

I mean, yeah, some suspension of disbelief is needed, but I've read very recent comics with mind control, such as Ms. Marvel, and that has girls roaming the streets with blank white eyes and nobody seems to notice or mind and they aren't even wearing a diguise or sunglasses.

If nothing else, I'd say you guys are ahead of the game because you actually DO address the whole "they need some sort of disguise" idea, which other comics don't even deal with.

I would have to agree with Akonkid and say 'No' here. While there might be a bit of scoffing and rolling of eyes as I say to myself "Oh come on!" (especially in Hot Summer Night ) there's something about really overt behavior and costuming that just makes the MC that much better. I admit that my favorite was Original Sin though obviously the zombots wouldn't just stroll about in public like that. I guess it's all about setting and how it's applied. Again, as with any literary technique it should be just fine if used with a light touch.

I had mentioned the white eyes business in a thread some time ago. (Ah, Twisted Tales, starting with A Rookie Mistake.) I even mentioned that I was rather fond of the white eye look with just a hint of iris showing at the top. (Ah, the occasional look of Alpha Woman in Carnal Knowledge 25, Ms. Metrobay in Hostile Takeover 82, and some of the Super Freak pages in Superheroine Squad.)

I laughed a little when someone replied to my hint-of-iris post, saying that crossed eyes could be worth a shot.

But then, I really enjoyed the Mesmerella story. No white eyes there, but lots of hypnotized-slave posture.

I guess what I am saying is that I like to see visual cues of the control.

P.S. I hope to see Mesmerella in action again.

I have always been fond of the white eyes look, although glowing eyes is also a favorite. I guess that's why I try to keep it varied as much as possible, so there is always something for eveyone.

We will see Mesmerella in a cameo very soon, and I'm sure she will get her own starring role again down the road. I can almost guarantee it.

- Doc