Discussion for comic for 2013-05-22 (Wednesday) ✣ . (Chronology Entry)
Lost?
Looks like they got thrown to the future... question, how far? --Kuopiofi (talk) 06:37, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
- Not thrown, exactly. I think time has been moving slowly in Mechanicsburg ever since the Baron clicked the device. They got through the portal a half second or something after he clicked it. The different time scales are probably what made the portal go boom on this end. How much time has passed depends on the time ratio between inside and outside Mechanicsburg.
- Although perhaps the sunlight should have blueshifted to x-rays and unbearably brightened from the point of view of people inside Mechanicsburg, but eh, details. Putting that aside, if it's how I'm envisioning it, the volume within the Baron's time field can't be effectively intruded upon from outside because of the slowness inside. If you were outside and leaned on the border's edge for a few months, you might have just a part of your clothing stuck within the slow-time field. You'd have to pull back on it for a few months to free it back to outside the field. This is the inverse of the time field (well, technically an inertia-suppressing field) described in Larry Niven's Gil Hamilton story "ARM". —Undomelin ✉ 09:02, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
- This is, apparently, our long anticipated jump into an unknown bit of the universe. There is still a long list of unanswered questions to be dealt with. -- Billy Catringer (talk) 10:13, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
The Wulfenbach in the comic is probably Gil, because the Baron was inside Mechanicsburg. However, in the time windows Gil is next to Agatha. (Of course, we have a couple of dozen more volumes to learn how that happens.) Argadi (talk) 10:33, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
Klaus has been generally refered to as "The Baron". Gil did not seem to want the title.AndyAB99 (talk) 01:49, May 23, 2013 (UTC)
What do we want to call a group of Smoke Knights? A puff or a poof? -- Billy Catringer (talk) 12:09, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
- A smog? (But seriously, do we need a specific collective noun? Can't we just say "a group of smoke knights" and be clear to everyone, not just those with secret knowledge?) Argadi (talk) 12:19, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
- A whiff. They're subtle. Mskala (talk) 14:29, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
- Right on target, Mskala! A whiff it is. -- Billy Catringer (talk) 19:10, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
Well, Tweedle has gone up in my opinion. I thought he was a back-stabbing sneak. Clearly he stabbed Leopold squarly in the chest. What a relief. But seriously, has he ever seen a problem that he can't solve by throwing a knife at it? Bourgeois rage (talk) 12:34, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
So, there is some kind of time-warp or something that had caused a rift in the space-time continuum. This is the result of the Baron's black-level device, and it made the timestream inside Mechanicsburg flow slower than everywhere else in the world. At least, that's what it seems like. But in this world, little is just what it seems to be; so what are we missing?
On a seperate note, it looks like Agatha might be starting to wake up a little. HeterodyneGirl (talk) 13:21, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
- A little shut-eye, the somehow familiar overdramatic whining, and OMG Mechanicsburg! Though the girl could easilly be referring back to any of the things seen or threatened before Agatha rewoke the Castle. The hospital was destroyed and the Wulfenbach forces were beginning to carpet bomb the city. -- Br'fin (talk) 14:06, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
Blondie sure looks like she may be a relative of Zola's. And here we have a hint - really the first one - that maybe something *has* happened in the nature of separating Mechanicsburg from the rest of the world; so maybe the people jumping to the conclusion that that was the function of the Baron's device will be vindicated. I don't think it's a slam-dunk, however. "We thought you were lost! Like everyone in Mechanicsburg!" could mean as little as "Last we heard, the Baron was planning to destroy Mechanicsburg, and had sent what seemed to be enough firepower to do it!" Remember that things are happening very fast here. Only a few days of story time have elapsed in years of real time. It's entirely plausible that the latest information available to this faction was from when Klaus was planning to level the town. Mskala (talk) 14:25, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
- I concede your point, Mskala. But I don't know, that seems a bit..... unlikely to me. Last we saw, the Baron was in Mechanicsburg, like, 10 seconds ago. But as blondie said, Wulfenbach (which could mean Klaus or Gil) didn't know the Knights or the Order or any of them existed before these last few days. And now he's been hunting them down. "'It was horrible!'" That doesn't doesn't sound like something that could happen in a few hours, or even a few days. So excuse me if I stick to the other theory. HeterodyneGirl (talk) 18:35, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
- I've not been comfortable with "time travel" as it's been discussed (but that's for the authors to choose where their story goes), however Blondies comments are significant. Klaus Wulfenbach was last seen assaulting Mechanicsburg with everything he had. Wulfenbach forces was also fighting uprisings all across the empire. That doesn't sound like Klaus had suffient forces to hunt down the Smoke Knights and Knights of Jove. He was very busy in too many places. Gil, wasped, brain-washed, or whatever, would be extremely vengefull in his pursuit of those who caused him to lose Agatha again.
- I'm inclined to think Klaus' device caused a transfer delay in the portal. They are weeks, maybe months (years?), past the date they entered. Mechanicsburg is cut off from Europa and Gil runs the Empire. AndyAB99 (talk) 10:31, May 23, 2013 (UTC)
- Even if they have jumped forward in time somewhat, it'll be a great reunion scene when Agatha discovers that not everyone in her corner was trapped in Mechanicsburg. Recall that Zeetha and Higgs left town before the Baron's arrival. There's also a good possibility that Gen. Zadipok may resurface. We also have Mr. Wooster and the CIrcus (I really really hope they rejoin the story; I've been waiting to see if Albia is a massive clockwork AI drawn from the milieu of The Difference Engine stories). Jagerdraught Braumeister (talk) 07:18, May 24, 2013 (UTC)
Anyone notice the extra page between Monday and Wednesday? http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130521, very nice Agathahetrodyne (talk) 17:34, May 22, 2013 (UTC)
- It's the second extra in a week, they did an extra page for their Kickstarter last Thursday: 2013-05-16 (Thursday) ✣
- I don't miss any of the extra comics, I follow the RSS feed for the comic (and the RSS feeds for their blog, and the Comic LiveJournal, and the studio LiveJournal, and the Labs LiveJournal). And I usually visit the comic page before I check my RSS feed.
- No, I'm not obsessed. I can stop anytime I'm asleep.
- Sometimes we add Chronology pages for the extra pages. Argadi (talk) 12:43, May 23, 2013 (UTC)