Girl Genius XXVI: Madness is the best possible response

[Agi Hammerthief]

meh,
I‘m getting tired of „oh noes, the whole world is at stake!!1!“

Lu breaking through is quickly heading in that direction.

[Rogar Demonblud]

This is starting to feel like the end of The Hobbit. "Oh, look, another army." Just get on with it.

[diremage]

From some points of view, this is the darkest moment we've seen in all of Girl Genius up to this date.
Lu has gained the upper hand and the possibility of all of the world becoming wasped appears likely. We as readers can doubt that the authors would do this, but the characters don't know that.

Has been mentioned once or twice that pretty much all of Europa is -already- wasped. The only ones who are immune to normal wasping is sparks, and there are factions working on that.

Lucrezia has had the upper hand this whole time, now she's getting ready to turn on cheats and activate god mode.

I'm sure the local deity is going to have something to say about that, but I'd say there's about an equal chance that Agatha winds up with god mode instead or that Agatha loses the ability to achieve god mode.

[Agi Hammerthief]

page is up

[Manga Shoggoth]

Now, that's a smile. And she gets to ride a bear with an eye-patch as well. I wonder if she had that in her dissertation?

[Chalcara]

I feel like pulling out pompoms and yelling „FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT“ at all of them.

The carnage‘s gonna be glorious!

[Stabbey]

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Well, RIP Aardsley, I guess.

[Willie the Duck]

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Well, RIP Aardsley, I guess.

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Quite possibly, but his look right before seemed more confidence than pure patriotism. Until we see some remains (or everyone staring down at remains offscreen declaring him dead), I'll have suspect he was wearing his Zot-proof vest, or in fact an anti-zot device which now ties up her powers ('foolish demi-god, you have fallen into my trap!').

[NobleCuriosity]

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Quite possibly, but his look right before seemed more confidence than pure patriotism. Until we see some remains (or everyone staring down at remains offscreen declaring him dead), I'll have suspect he was wearing his Zot-proof vest, or in fact an anti-zot device which now ties up her powers ('foolish demi-god, you have fallen into my trap!').

I’m not sure. He’s literally sweating. (The comic, for future reference.).

Still, just distracting Lucrezia might be enough, if the Lucrezia-extractor can work through the queen-hood (and if it doesn’t, I’m not sure how Agatha gets out of this intact—barring perhaps further intervention by Albia). Hopefully the reason for Lucrezia’s bout of insecurity here (getting singularly focused on and enraged at a single person’s loyalty to Albia rather than focusing on wiping out everyone as she intended) is that she is in fact insecure—not fully realized as a queen yet.

[Grif]

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RIP Wooster.

I don't see a way out for this, but he at least went out on a high note.

[Vinyadan]

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Farewell, pity that there is another British guy who looks exactly the same and is equally subservient, although he only wears a tank top.

I wish we had such pages more often.

[Chalcara]

Gil‘s gonna be quite vexxed.
And didn‘t Thorpe quite like him, too?

[KatsOfLoathing]

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Huh. I'm surprised how little I feel about this page, considering that I actually liked Wooster quite a bit. The length and repetitiveness of this storyline is probably to blame. And the fact that the cast of this comic has gotten so bloated most of them barely get any panel time these days.

When's the last time we actually had a major character death, anyhow? There's the Master, I guess, but he wasn't exactly a main character. Lars, way back in Sturmhalten, I guess, and that death actually hung over Agatha for quite some time. We'll see how she reacts to another death that she technically was responsible for causing.

[Narkis]

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I predict that Wooster isn't gone forever. Either Albia will resurrect him, or Agatha in the few brief moments of omnipotence after she wrests control of her head from her mom.

[xroads]

I’m not sure. He’s literally sweating. (The comic, for future reference.).

Still, just distracting Lucrezia might be enough, if the Lucrezia-extractor can work through the queen-hood (and if it doesn’t, I’m not sure how Agatha gets out of this intact—barring perhaps further intervention by Albia). Hopefully the reason for Lucrezia’s bout of insecurity here (getting singularly focused on and enraged at a single person’s loyalty to Albia rather than focusing on wiping out everyone as she intended) is that she is in fact insecure—not fully realized as a queen yet.

I suspect Lucrezia is just cocky. As far as she is concerned, she's already won.

And to be fair, things look bleak for the heroes. But this is Agatha's story. After Lu shows off a bit more, I suspect Agatha will wrestle control from her mother at a critical moment.

[geoduck]

I suspect Lucrezia is just cocky. As far as she is concerned, she's already won.

And to be fair, things look bleak for the heroes. But this is Agatha's story. After Lu shows off a bit more, I suspect Agatha will wrestle control from her mother at a critical moment.

Assuming that Lu is the same level as Snackford, she is far from omnipotent. I predict that she'll get worn down by attacks from everybody else and lose enough power that, yes, Agatha will be able to wrestle back control long enough for the helmet to be slapped on and activated.

[Divayth Fyr]

Assuming that Lu is the same level as Snackford, she is far from omnipotent. I predict that she'll get worn down by attacks from everybody else and lose enough power that, yes, Agatha will be able to wrestle back control long enough for the helmet to be slapped on and activated.

She seems to be already falling into the same trap Snackleford did - spending far too much power unnecessarily (a much smaller zap would probably be enough to off Wooster, but her pride made her go all out), with more likely to go on dealing with the loyal troops.

[JavaScribe]

She seems to be already falling into the same trap Snackleford did - spending far too much power unnecessarily (a much smaller zap would probably be enough to off Wooster, but her pride made her go all out), with more likely to go on dealing with the loyal troops.

That still leaves the question of where she got the otherworldly energy from. Snacky was siphoning it from an otherworldly monster, and Lucrezia referenced Albia's "safe" source. As far as we can tell though, Lucrezia did not need any external power source.

Was there leftover energy from the Dyne residing in Agatha's body, or is she somehow siphoning it from the Spark itself?

[Traab]

That still leaves the question of where she got the otherworldly energy from. Snacky was siphoning it from an otherworldly monster, and Lucrezia referenced Albia's "safe" source. As far as we can tell though, Lucrezia did not need any external power source.

Was there leftover energy from the Dyne residing in Agatha's body, or is she somehow siphoning it from the Spark itself?

Im guessing the second breakthrough is like gathering power directly from the source without any buffers. The spark everyone has allows for bending the laws of nature till they squeal, the second breakthrough seems to allow for reality alteration. Its possible albia found a way to gather the power needed to use second level sparky science magic and purify or regulate it to avoid burnout. Remember agatha nearly exploded when she had her second breakthrough. Its like the first spark is a water wheel, the second breakthrough is a damn bursting and all that water/power being funneled directly through channels meant to hold only a tiny fraction of that amount. Albia has built herself a reservoir to contain the flood and can drain it as needed.

[geoduck]

Im guessing the second breakthrough is like gathering power directly from the source without any buffers. The spark everyone has allows for bending the laws of nature till they squeal, the second breakthrough seems to allow for reality alteration. Its possible albia found a way to gather the power needed to use second level sparky science magic and purify or regulate it to avoid burnout. Remember agatha nearly exploded when she had her second breakthrough. Its like the first spark is a water wheel, the second breakthrough is a damn bursting and all that water/power being funneled directly through channels meant to hold only a tiny fraction of that amount. Albia has built herself a reservoir to contain the flood and can drain it as needed.

Or rather than a reservoir.. a "garden" from which she can harvest power as needed..

[JavaScribe]

I'm kinda surprised that a second stage spark still needs glasses. Even if Agatha's used to them, I would think Lucrezia would feel more comfortable without them.

[geoduck]

I'm kinda surprised that a second stage spark still needs glasses. Even if Agatha's used to them, I would think Lucrezia would feel more comfortable without them.

I'd suspect the Foglios haven't even thought about that, but if it was me, I'd say she can fix her eyes now, but hasn't gotten around to it yet.

[diremage]

So thinking about it, it seems there's some pretty obvious hard and soft limits on Queen Mode at play here.

First, there's Albia's comment that she -could- have removed Lu from Agatha's brain, but that she would then take great pleasure in re-wiring her brain atom by atom, which is something neither Agatha nor Albia necessarily wanted. So using Super-Spark powers -also- triggers a Super-Spark-Madness, which is like the regular spark madness apparently but moreso. And Lu is clearly falling victim to it here -- the whole reason why most sparks don't survive their -first- breakthrough is that they go crazy and try to destroy everything, exactly like Lu is doing.

Second, we know that Queens can die. They're not immortal. Lu knows this because she has (or will) apparently killed most of them herself. Direct enough overwhelming force at the Queen, quickly enough, and they go down. Lu has apparently decided for the moment that she is invincible, but she should already know this isn't true and that's probably going to occur to her if she gets a moment to consider.

Third, Queens are not all-powerful. Albia is not already physically present and had to work through an avatar, which means she couldn't teleport there immediately (unless she's decided that it's more important that she finish tending her roses before she tend to the budding problem in her basement, but I don't think that's likely).

Albia's avatar had fairly harsh limits on what sort of power they could project...I mean, basically the avatar threw one punch, tossed some swords down, and then got one-hit TKO as far as I can tell. She didn't even conjure up ropes durable enough to stick around after "her presence weakened".

More tellingly, Albia is -not- forcing Lucrezia to defend against a constant barrage of zots. Instead, Albia is apparently spending the bare minimum effort to keep Lucrezia pinned down, and is then sacrificing platoons of minions apparently in a bid to wear her out.

Albia is playing the long game, here. If Lucrezia were smart, she'd bust open the outer hull and commandeer a spy sub, and then make good her escape while her enemies all drowned (or at least had to spend some plot-tonium cobbling together swimwear.)

Disappointingly, though, the comic kind of feels like it's turning into a formulaic saturday morning cartoon, with a villain of the week who shows up and is handily defeated in thirty minutes or less. Agatha is going to die a virgin despite the harem of boys longing for her heart, none of the main characters seem likely to ever die or even suffer any major, lasting setbacks in the near future, and the villain this week is defeated by the Power of Friendship and the Spark of Heart.

I mean, the villain of the last episode literally vanished into thin air, never to be seen again; and the whole subterranean cult (again? Again) seems to have been padding to draw out the story, rather than anything that actually advanced the main plot. Rather disappointing.

Anyone want to take bets on the jager with sword through his chest actually dying? I'm betting "no", and ditto Wooster and anyone else who isn't a nameless mook. Really this should be, at best, a pyrrhic victory for the good guys, with half the party wiped out, lame or crippled including Agatha. If you want a gripping story, have this arc end with Albia saying, "I'm sorry, Agatha," and ripping the Spark out of her, alongside Lucrezia.

[xroads]

Disappointingly, though, the comic kind of feels like it's turning into a formulaic saturday morning cartoon, with a villain of the week who shows up and is handily defeated in thirty minutes or less. Agatha is going to die a virgin despite the harem of boys longing for her heart, none of the main characters seem likely to ever die or even suffer any major, lasting setbacks in the near future, and the villain this week is defeated by the Power of Friendship and the Spark of Heart
[...]
Really this should be, at best, a pyrrhic victory for the good guys, with half the party wiped out, lame or crippled including Agatha. If you want a gripping story, have this arc end with Albia saying, "I'm sorry, Agatha," and ripping the Spark out of her, alongside Lucrezia.

But this is not really new. Girl Genius has always been fun action adventure series with ample amounts of comedy mixed in. Sure, it has some drama for seasoning from time to time (the temporary death of Agatha's adopted parent's, the death of Lars, the poisoning of Tarvek, and etc.). But by and large, it's an action adventure serial.

For what it's worth, I think Wooster is gone. I think he's probably served his narrative purpose and the Foglio's are planning on using his death to add that touch of drama. But Oggie will probably live. Especially since his Faustian deal with Tweedle provides a nice little plot hook for later.

[DavidSh]

Where is Othar now? Clearly it's his turn to save the day.

[Willie the Duck]

Where is Othar now? Clearly it's his turn to save the day.

I feel like the Foglios have tired of him, or like him but don't know what to do with him, or think he gets enough screen time during the filler vignettes and the like.

[geoduck]

More tellingly, Albia is -not- forcing Lucrezia to defend against a constant barrage of zots. Instead, Albia is apparently spending the bare minimum effort to keep Lucrezia pinned down, and is then sacrificing platoons of minions apparently in a bid to wear her out.

Albia didn't send any of the troops we're seeing. The ninja-types are wasp victims, while the diving-helmet guys are here to take away Lucrezia, whether or not they are revenants.

And there's absolutely no reason plot-wise for Othar to be here right now. I'm sure he'll turn up again eventually.

[Rockphed]

Albia didn't send any of the troops we're seeing. The ninja-types are wasp victims, while the diving-helmet guys are here to take away Lucrezia, whether or not they are revenants.

And there's absolutely no reason plot-wise for Othar to be here right now. I'm sure he'll turn up again eventually.

Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer, laughs at your puny plot! Othar turns up where good deeds need doing, not where your pitiful logic demands!

[SZbNAhL]

We last saw Othar here, I think. As of here, he appears to be hanging around Gil's base helping out.

[Rogar Demonblud]

If Othar shows up Albia will blow the dome. Even Goddess-Queens have their limits.