Forums: Index > Page-by-Page > 2017-11-06 (Monday)
Discussion for comic for 2017-11-06 (Monday) ✣ .
Working on your Doctorate in Mad Science? Consider making Girl Genius your dissertation topic.
So the indestructible Mr. O answers to Seffie now? What's Grandmother going to say? -- William Ansley (talk) 06:13, November 6, 2017 (UTC)
- I'm not sure I understand why Grandmother wouldn't be happy about this development. Surely Agatha+Tarvek and Seffie+Gil would be better for the family's plans than Agatha+Gil. Maybe Grandmother is hoping for Agatha+Tweedle, but if so, her intelligence as to the relationship between them is sadly lacking.
- Of course, unlike the rest of y'all, I'm rooting for Seffie's plan too. :-) Bkharvey (talk) 08:03, November 6, 2017 (UTC)
- P.S. What is Tarvek wearing? Is this Seffie's idea of what will make Agatha fall all over Tarvek? Surely it's not his own idea... Bkharvey (talk) 08:09, November 6, 2017 (UTC)
- As Seffie says, I imagine it's more a case of Tarvek not being under her control than objecting to the potential pairing. Alternately, it's entirely possible that Seffie just thinks she's being clever and Grandma knows all about what's going on and approves. As for Tarvek's outfit, even without the shoulder-emblem, it's a sterotypical English-sailor uniform. (Do a Google Image Search for "Jack Tar") --Geoduck42 (talk) 09:34, November 6, 2017 (UTC)
- Okay, but in general Grandma knows that her agents have to go out into the world to do stuff, or they're useless. So if she wants Tarvek restricted to being physically by her side, that requires explanation. I suppose, given that she seems to have thrown her weight behind Tweedle, she might want Tarvek to be useless. But surely that's not a long-term solution.
- ... or, Seffie doesn't have to be telling the entire truth about her motivation; she's learned from Grandma that the best plans are several layers deep. Maybe she needs Tarvek out of the way while Tweedle consolidates his claim to be the Storm King, and sending him with Agatha is a way to make him a willing participant in this plan. Bkharvey (talk) 03:02, November 7, 2017 (UTC)
Another confusing (to me) point is that the Agatha party are leaving for England from Paris, so why couldn't Colette find Tarvek? Bkharvey (talk) 21:14, November 6, 2017 (UTC)
Also, why does Seffie look albino today? Bkharvey (talk) 21:46, November 6, 2017 (UTC)
And Tarvek's attitude and behavior toward Grandma all through the Paris pages don't jibe with Grandma being the woman we see only from behind in v6p61, 20060807. Bkharvey (talk) 13:52, November 7, 2017 (UTC)
- That's not Grandma, it's the Lucrezia-head that Tarvek consructed to install on his sister's clank-body. And from above "under control" doesn't mean "physically chained to her side". --Geoduck42 (talk) 16:38, November 7, 2017 (UTC)
- I just added a note to the relevant page description in the chronology for volume 6 that indicates the likely identity of the "mysterious voice from the chair". -- William Ansley (talk) 19:13, November 7, 2017 (UTC)
- I don't believe it. Lucrezia-in-Agatha wouldn't say "Here's Tarvek, my dear" to a machine that was manufactured by Tarvek. And Tarvek wouldn't say "Hello my lady. It is [not even "it's"!] an honor to meet you" to a machine that he has met long before in the process of its construction and programming. I grant you it's likely to be an Other instance, although I'm not 100% sure even about that. But if so the only thing that makes sense given the language is that it's an instance (a) physically older than Agatha, and (b) maybe even a pre-Lucrezia Other. Bkharvey (talk) 00:40, November 8, 2017 (UTC)
- Sadly, if I'm right, we'll never know for sure. If I'm wrong, ugh, plotwise it's going to be horribly awkward watching the Foglios try to shoe-horn in a conversation with some new person: "Remember back when I was sitting in that chair in Sturmhalten?" Speaking of which, of course Lucrezia would have her robo-head propped up in an elegant highbacked chair, because she's a creature of raw vanity and egotism. And while Tarvek made the head, Lucrezia-in-Agatha was probably the one who actually ran it through the Summoning Engine and installed the new personality. --Geoduck42 (talk) 03:19, November 8, 2017 (UTC)
- Maybe. I don't think there would have to be that awkwardness; if we meet an older Other down the road, and if people talk to her the way Tarvek talked on that page, then those in the know will think, "oh, this must have been the person in the chair!" and those not in the know will just be meeting an entirely new character.
- Also, I point out that it's Tarvek who held the key to that weird thing that held the head before he put it on the body. (By the way, I wish it were that easy to take my head off my body and put it on another body!) It's hard to imagine getting from the page under discussion to Tarvek holding the head and storing it. And the way Tarvek talks to the head on v6 p78-79 ("Lucrezia X 2" in the scene selector) is nothing like the way he talks to the chair. Bkharvey (talk) 04:00, November 8, 2017 (UTC)
Technical Note: A New Volume Begins with Confusion, Complaining, and Comprehension[]
So the new volume really is beginning. I will create a new chronology page as soon as I can, but I will add the pages for volume 18 (aka act 2 volume 5) to the end of this chronology for now, then transfer them to the new one when it's done.
I have to admit that I am more than a little annoyed that not only is this apparent first page numbered 009, but it doesn't appear to be a first page. I don't think the Foglios have ever begun a volume with a "Later—" caption. It seems possible to me right now that this really could be page 009 of volume 5. Or at least it would be possible if the Foglios ever got pages done that far ahead. If it's a mistake, I suppose we'll find out at some point. -- William Ansley (talk) 05:48, November 6, 2017 (UTC)
- OK, now I get it. The last eight pages of volume 17 (act 2, volume 4) have been transplanted onto the beginning of volume 18 (act 2, volume 5). This is similar to what happened at the end of volume 10/beginning of volume 11 in act 1, except that the web comic pages have actually been renumbered this time. I'll have to move those pages into the new Chronology as well. -- William Ansley (talk) 06:01, November 6, 2017 (UTC)
- I quite agree. The "Eventually" is just as out of place now as the "Later—" would have been if page 009 was the first page of volume 5/18. (I wish that the Foglios hadn't decided to start this First Journey/Second Journey gimmick with the volume numbers starting over. It seems unlikely to encourage new readers, which was its putative purpose, and it is so inconvenient that the Foglios are basically ignoring it themselves now.) I think further revisions are likely, at least as far as the captions go. -- William Ansley (talk) 13:25, November 6, 2017 (UTC)
- I think the Journey thing would have made a lot of sense if the first one had ended with Agatha safe at home in an un-frozen Mechanicsburg, rather than freezing (sorry) waiting for the train, with Tweedle's mod to her body still active and the Other still in her head. And then there would have had to be a new problem causing her to take the train to Paris. Bkharvey (talk) 13:52, November 7, 2017 (UTC)
- On the other hand, the page that is currently the last page also has "last page" written all over it, perhaps not writ quite so large as on the original last page of volume 4, but enough so that people commented on it at the time. (In case anyone notices that I changed the heading for this section and wonders why I bothered, I just couldn't resist changing a cheesy two-word alliteration into a cheesy three-word alliteration once it occurred to me.) -- William Ansley (talk) 18:48, November 6, 2017 (UTC)