Girl Genius: VIII Will Show Them All!

[Mauve Shirt]

The chin I guess I can sort of see, but I'm completely thrown off by the nose thing. Higgs' is a lot flatter than Carson's.
Also, I'm pretty sure while Carson's son would be recognized by the castle, Tarvek would have no reason to fear him. Higgs isn't a spark, he's just... something. Not the son of a minion.

[Zazu Yen]

No, wait! I was watching an episode of Through the Wormhole late last night and had an epiphany!

Higgs is an anthropomorphic personification of the Higgs field! Therefore he is ostensibly a neutral character bent on spontaneous symmetry breaking, that is, making sure just one of multiple possible likely results occur by the discriminant adding of mass to particular participants...

...this made more sense late last night.

[memnarch]

Ohhh, it's actually a good idea. Concentrate on fixing the castle and try not to worry about other stuff.


And Agatha is lucky that the castle still works like that.

[Ellen]

Only in Girl Genius do beheaded characters they're good.

Well, maybe OotS.

And a few others, but -

Yes, the Higgs Field! That makes PERFECT sense!

[ChowGuy]

Only in Girl Genius do beheaded characters they're good.

Well, maybe OotS.

And a few others, but -

Well, there's also a certain General in a jar you could probably add to that list.

[guttering flame]

Is Agatha obliquely trying to get Von Pinn dead?? Leaving her in less competent hands (if they show up at all before she's dead) while she takes cares of HER Castle. And who besides her even knows how to do mind transfers? Notes is good but not that good.

[factotum]

Is Agatha obliquely trying to get Von Pinn dead?? Leaving her in less competent hands (if they show up at all before she's dead) while she takes cares of HER Castle. And who besides her even knows how to do mind transfers? Notes is good but not that good.

Why would she do that? And the explanation she gives in the strip for leaving Von Pinn is perfectly reasonable--the castle IS under attack by Baron Wulfenbach, and potentially soon to be under attack by Zola's allies, and the only defence they possibly have is to get the castle's own defences back online. That means "resurrecting" the castle's brain, because it's needed to control everything.

[Stalkingheron]

Is Agatha obliquely trying to get Von Pinn dead?? Leaving her in less competent hands (if they show up at all before she's dead) while she takes cares of HER Castle. And who besides her even knows how to do mind transfers? Notes is good but not that good.

It's commonly known as "delegation." It involves setting priorities, recognizing the talents and skills of your available allies, communicating your needs, and recognizing that since you cannot possibly be everywhere doing everything, it is important for you to do the one thing you are most needed to accomplish.

NO ONE but Agatha has a hope of mastering the Castle and returning it to its full defensive function, which is the only reliable weapon they all have in the face of Zola and Klaus's paired forces. No one. Even with notes.

Theo and the Sparky Trio plus brilliant minions are, indeed, smart. With notes they do have a chance of taking care of Von Pinn. Even if they fail, much as one wants to save Von Pinn, her life is less immediately critical than the recovery of the Castle. If they succeed, Agatha gains all the chips, rather than losing them by misapplying her own talents to the wrong challenge.

She has done brilliantly...far more-so than many fictional "heroes" represented as being The Strategic and Tactical Geniuses of All History And All the Multiverse. What she has done in terms of analyzing the situation, dividing responsibilities, and taking necessary action is good leadership. It still may not work: even geniuses lose to superior forces, pure bad luck, or plot necessities. But her choices were top notch.

[ChowGuy]

It should also be noted that she couldn't transfer Otillia from Von Pinn back to her own body (well, head) until she transfers Der Kestle out of it. Remember, that's why Gil and Tarvek sent the others to fetch the Devil Dog. They consider Von Pinn (ie Otillia) the closest thing they ever knew to a mother, and even they agreed that it had ro be done in that order.

[HandofShadows]

Well, there's also a certain General in a jar you could probably add to that list.

LOL one of the earlier stories had the entire cast except Schlock as heads in jars.

[factotum]

LOL one of the earlier stories had the entire cast except Schlock as heads in jars.

Yeah, but they really weren't doing anything in that story--as I recall, they were all in jars simply because Schlock had eaten their bodies in order to get big enough to fight the aliens. The General appears to be trying to do something despite his headless state, though!

[Suicide Junkie]

The General appears to be trying to do something despite his headless state, though!

He's definitely not headless!
A good fun term is "decorpitation". :)

[eee]

As others have noted, Agatha's actions are coldly logical and intelligent. Von Pinn is stable at the moment; Agatha can't do anything for her until she gets a vessel she can put her mind into; and der Kestel has to be restored to full functioning as soon as possible (they STILL haven't reached the Library, gotten the map, and found and fixed the break in der Kestel that is preventing it from regaining control of its subsystems) to protect them all from Klaus (who Agatha doesn't know, Dr. Sun has put on ice) and Zola. In fact if they can get der Kestel working fast enough it's possible they can catch Zola before she can get out, if she delays making her escape to pilfer items of value she'd be able to locate using Lucrezia's memories. The only objection I can see is, while Agatha knows (from having seen Vrin decapitate the dancing muse and it still being able to talk) that cutting Otilia's head off won't kill or silence der Kestel, it's not clear how long the head can continue to function apart from the body before it runs out of power...

...

Also, Agatha's comment to Tarvek about Zola having Lu's knowledge, and his guarded response, just made me realize: If he listened to all of the Zola / Lu conversation, he knows Lu used the Spark slaver wasp on Klaus, and now Lu, Robo-Lu, and Agatha can control the Baron and his whole Empire. With anyone else that could be bad. With Tarvek, it could be disasterous, especially since HE can control Robo-Lu's body and even under the right circumstances replace her mind with one willing to obey him voluntarily. And Tarvek is such a schemer...

[Scarlet Knight]

Ooooh! A Spark-sickle!

[guttering flame]

The Castle will protect them against Claus and his army?

Well, maybe. If he thinks a Hetrodyne is in the Castle (and he would) he would plan for the worst: That the Hetrodyne can get the Castle working again and ready to defend itself from him better than ever.

He'd have the advantage of strategically placing his own forcing beforehand and instruct them on how to defeat the Castle from his knowledge about it.

So if the Castle suddenly start to work and look dangerous his forces will move in to destroy it with all the advanced new sparkly stuff Claus dreamed up in the 20 years since the Hetrodynes disappeared. If the Castle continues to look like a helpless wreck on the other hand nobody will get scared enough to push the 'red button'

Of course if Agatha was really smart she would have realized that the lack of response to the lamp-men attack means that Claus is not in the picture and therefore not a risk.

As for Zola - the Castle is a worthless and obsolete weapon against her. She has Castle-mind-wiping technology at her fingertips in addition to Lucrezia-derived knowledge on how to handle the Castle. Putting the only remaining copy of Der Castle back online would only mean that in a short time there would be no copy of Der Castle left.

A smarter Agatha would have realized this and worked instead on turning her Ding-Bot army into a DingCastle ala DingCircus take 2. The Castle could have been kept as a, what was it der Castle said she wanted to become, a moving hut?


Now getting the der Castle mind out of Von Pinn's original body is a problem with the shaft destroyed and sending someone out to secure the place does make sense. So the sensible solution would have been to send one or two of them out with der Castle's head and keep the other(s) behind to defend the fort err, lab and keep Von Pinn alive while they find an alternate host for der Castle. And give the dingbots better things to do than busywork.

[Zazu Yen]

Von Pinn is stable and Agatha, while needing her alive, has no great love for her so is going to leave her in the hands of the lesser sparks.

Agatha knows Klause wants to destroy the castle and can be pretty sure he doesn't know the castle is offline, if he did he'd be in there already. So Klause is preparing to battle a fully active castle. He's got the Rumble Toys, the Ninth Aetheric Vapor Squad and the Heilolux Air Fleet in position and on alert, along with the rest of his army, ready to drop a BIG hammer on the castle the second he thinks his son is safe. Or even before that if it looks necessary. If the castle is still offline when this happens there will be nothing but a big crater left; Mechanicsburg will circle a new lake. If the castle is online it'll be a battle, but I'm willing to bet the castle will still loose. Klause knows a lot about it and is going to go for overkill. But if Agatha can get the castle online and hook the Dyne generators back up then I'll bet the castle will have some tricks up it sleeve even Klause wont expect, and he might have to back down or risk failing completely.

Zola might not know where the castle killer is, and it might have burnt out. Also I'm willing to bet that when agatha hooks the Otilia head up (going to the library at long last?) she's going to make sure "The Lions Roar" won't work a second time. You don't want you're enemies knowing how to take out your most powerful weapon, that's not a Sparky survival trait.

[Scarlet Knight]

Sooo. Agatha has forgiven Von Pinn for tearing apart her parents before her eyes because she failed the attempt? Or because she chased away Lucrezia?
Or simply because the plot demands it?

[guttering flame]

Sooo. Agatha has forgiven Von Pinn for tearing apart her parents before her eyes because she failed the attempt? Or because she chased away Lucrezia?
Or simply because the plot demands it?

Or because she managed to hoodwink you into believing she forgave her?

[Oracle_Hunter]

Sooo. Agatha has forgiven Von Pinn for tearing apart her parents before her eyes because she failed the attempt? Or because she chased away Lucrezia?
Or simply because the plot demands it?

Oh, I wouldn't say she's forgiven her. I mean, she has basically left the critically wounded Von Pinn to her backup minions.

For very good reasons, to be sure, but she would be less cool & calculating about it were she talking about the life of someone she cares about

[Coidzor]

Sooo. Agatha has forgiven Von Pinn for tearing apart her parents before her eyes because she failed the attempt? Or because she chased away Lucrezia?
Or simply because the plot demands it?

Or she got successfully convinced to not just let Von Pinn die, but does really have better things to be doing, and now couldn't help her until the people who she's delegating the task to get back anyway.

There's places where one hasn't or won't forgive someone, but still won't actively see to their demise, you know. Similarly, there are places where one might even give some token amount of aid to saving the life of someone like that without having gone over to loving them whole-heartedly.

[Gez]

She dislikes Von Pinn a lot. However, she has since learned that 1. Gil repaired her adoptive parents and 2. both her boyfriends consider Von Pinn as their sort of mother figure. So even though she still doesn't like her, she'd probably feel a bit bad if she didn't at least try to get her mended when she's right in front of Gil and Tarvek.

[eee]

The Castle will protect them against Claus and his army?

Well, maybe. If he thinks a Hetrodyne is in the Castle (and he would) he would plan for the worst: That the Hetrodyne can get the Castle working again and ready to defend itself from him better than ever.

He'd have the advantage of strategically placing his own forcing beforehand and instruct them on how to defeat the Castle from his knowledge about it.

So if the Castle suddenly start to work and look dangerous his forces will move in to destroy it with all the advanced new sparkly stuff Claus dreamed up in the 20 years since the Hetrodynes disappeared. If the Castle continues to look like a helpless wreck on the other hand nobody will get scared enough to push the 'red button'

Of course if Agatha was really smart she would have realized that the lack of response to the lamp-men attack means that Claus is not in the picture and therefore not a risk.

As for Zola - the Castle is a worthless and obsolete weapon against her. She has Castle-mind-wiping technology at her fingertips in addition to Lucrezia-derived knowledge on how to handle the Castle. Putting the only remaining copy of Der Castle back online would only mean that in a short time there would be no copy of Der Castle left.

A smarter Agatha would have realized this and worked instead on turning her Ding-Bot army into a DingCastle ala DingCircus take 2. The Castle could have been kept as a, what was it der Castle said she wanted to become, a moving hut?


Now getting the der Castle mind out of Von Pinn's original body is a problem with the shaft destroyed and sending someone out to secure the place does make sense. So the sensible solution would have been to send one or two of them out with der Castle's head and keep the other(s) behind to defend the fort err, lab and keep Von Pinn alive while they find an alternate host for der Castle. And give the dingbots better things to do than busywork.

Actually, Klaus' fear is of LUCREZIA gaining control of Castle Heterodyne. Agatha, he wouldn't like but he'd probably live with. But the idea of the Other in an almost unassailable defensive position is the stuff of nightmares for him; and since he thinks Agatha IS Lucrezia just playing a role, he will probably eventually - once he can escape from Dr. Sun - decide his love for Gil and plans and hopes for the future can't outweigh the need to stop the Other at all costs, and he'll try to smash der Kestel. All the sooner, if Agatha gets it functional.

But. We haven't really seen what der Kestel is capable of. Even badly damaged and half crazy, it's been very formidable. If Agatha can make it work, even the pretty impressive weapons Klaus has been assembling to take it out might not be enough. Don't forget, der Kestel is the result of hundreds of years of fortification and upgrading by a family of some of Europa's most brilliant and dangerous Sparks. Even a 20 year advance in technology might not be enough to counter that. Not to mention once the Doom Bell rings, every Mechanicsburger and Jager in hearing will immediately rush to defend Castle Heterodyne and Agatha with their lives. To get to der Kestel, Klaus might have to fight his way through and vaporize the city, first.

As for Zola having Castle mind wiping tech: Actually, she doesn't. Agatha confiscated the Lion's Roar and - after she used it - left it in the Power Room. It's big, and heavy, and Zola probably didn't bother with it when she left Lu's lab because she thinks der Kestel is dead. And I doubt she - a non-Spark - knows how to build another. I imagine she's heading as fast as she can for the nearest exit, guided by Lucrezia's memories, with perhaps some stops on the way to grab valuables and any special items or research files Lu might know of. If der Kestel suddenly activates around her before she can get out, given what we've seen of its ability to stop anyone or thing within it (the Devil Dog, Violetta, Merlot), I imagine escape will become impossible, even WITH Lu to guide her.

I wonder what she did with Professor Tik.

And regarding the Dingbots: We don't know what instructions Agatha may have whispered to QueenDingBot as she was building her. I wouldn't be suprised if after they get the Devil Dog working, they swarm all over der Kestle putting it back together so fast - and maybe making improvements - that by the time Agatha connects the copy of der Kestel in Otilia's head with the central core, Castle Heterodyne will be impossible to crack.

And on the matter of Agatha and von Pinn: They don't like each other. Never have. But there are incentives on both sides not to kill the other (even though I suspect Otilia, once she's back in her own body, will be able to, the stricture against killing Agatha being left behind in the von Pinn body), some degree of trust, and a bit of obligation. They might learn to tolerate each other. Which would be good because, unless Agatha intends to be the last Heterodyne, she'll need a nanny, someday...

[factotum]

And I doubt she - a non-Spark - knows how to build another.

Do we actually know for sure she's not a Spark? Until a couple of dozen strips ago everyone thought she was a damsel in distress whose main talents were screaming and fainting, but that's kind of changed, hasn't it?

[guttering flame]

Do we actually know for sure she's not a Spark? Until a couple of dozen strips ago everyone thought she was a damsel in distress whose main talents were screaming and fainting, but that's kind of changed, hasn't it?

She comes from one of the most Sparkly families in Europa, the Mongfishes, she has a captive super-spark mind in her head, and even if she wasn't she'd surely have working knowledge on how to reassemble her primary weapon, just like Moloch had. You don't need to be a spark to rebuild a known weapon, just some tools and technical skills.

[eee]

She comes from one of the most Sparkly families in Europa, the Mongfishes, she has a captive super-spark mind in her head, and even if she wasn't she'd surely have working knowledge on how to reassemble her primary weapon, just like Moloch had. You don't need to be a spark to rebuild a known weapon, just some tools and technical skills.

Zola hasn't shown any signs of technical brilliance, so far. Even in instances in which she stopped playing the ditz and revealed just how cunning and dangerous she was. It'd be a bit hard to understand why she'd reveal so many aspects of her character, but not her Sparkiness. Also, the only Mongfishes we know for sure are Sparks are Lucrezia, her father, and Theo and Agatha as half Mongfishes. All other Mongfishes are question marks at this point. Although I will concede that if the Lucrezia in Zola's head is still a Spark, then - assuming she can force the copy to work for her - Zola would now be a Spark, as well.

Also, tools, skills, AND parts. They couldn't finish the Lion's Roar originally because Cucaracha had swiped some of the parts and was trying to shake down Zola and company. A move that got him kneecapped. If the components needed to make the machine work are so rare they had to be smuggled in from the outside, they couldn't be harvested from der Kestel's inner workings, then it's doubtful Zola would be able to build a new machine just with what's at hand.

[Zazu Yen]

Zola hasn't shown any signs of technical brilliance, so far. Even in instances in which she stopped playing the ditz and revealed just how cunning and dangerous she was. It'd be a bit hard to understand why she'd reveal so many aspects of her character, but not her Sparkiness. Also, the only Mongfishes we know for sure are Sparks are Lucrezia, her father, and Theo and Agatha as half Mongfishes. All other Mongfishes are question marks at this point. Although I will concede that if the Lucrezia in Zola's head is still a Spark, then - assuming she can force the copy to work for her - Zola would now be a Spark, as well.

Also, tools, skills, AND parts. They couldn't finish the Lion's Roar originally because Cucaracha had swiped some of the parts and was trying to shake down Zola and company. A move that got him kneecapped. If the components needed to make the machine work are so rare they had to be smuggled in from the outside, they couldn't be harvested from der Kestel's inner workings, then it's doubtful Zola would be able to build a new machine just with what's at hand.

Also, Agatha knows how it worked and she would be seriously, seriously remis to not protect her revived castle against it.

[chionophile]

Der Schneeky Gate iz oop.

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Jaeger generals, yay!

[Porthos]

Der Schneeky Gate iz oop.

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Jaeger generals, yay!

Just coming here to say the same thing:

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<Kermit Dance>
Yayyy!!!!!!!
</Kermit Dance>

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Since it's been a while, here is when we last saw Boris.

I'm guessing he didn't like the message he received.

[Oracle_Hunter]

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Man, Badass Boris!

Also: I, for one, look forward to some plot.

[FoE]

He tortured the info out of a Jager?

Impressive.