Girl Genius XXVII: Hoy! Hennybody else not dead?

[Fyraltari]

"Welcome back, brave warriors.


What do you mean they can't hear me from inside a submarine?"

[Manga Shoggoth]

It has only just occured to me, but it's a submarine. And it's yellow. And the Snorkel/Periscope bit is the right sort of shape.

How long have I missed that?

[Willie the Duck]

It has only just occured to me, but it's a submarine. And it's yellow. And the Snorkel/Periscope bit is the right sort of shape.

How long have I missed that?

We were introduced to the subs from the inside, (they went from corridors in the underwater base to corridors in a sub). It'd be pretty easy to not pay much attention to the few outside shots we've thus far had.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Especially since they were mainly close ups of a hatch or the deck.

[HandofShadows]

They put Yellow Submarines all over the place.

[Manga Shoggoth]

We were introduced to the subs from the inside, (they went from corridors in the underwater base to corridors in a sub). It'd be pretty easy to not pay much attention to the few outside shots we've thus far had.

Especially since they were mainly close ups of a hatch or the deck.

They put Yellow Submarines all over the place.

Yeah, I went back through the comic and found 10 pages (in one the subs were very blurry, and two had the wrong colours due to environmental lighting), and HandofShadows picked another I'd missed. They're around, I just missed them.

[halfeye]

It has only just occured to me, but it's a submarine. And it's yellow. And the Snorkel/Periscope bit is the right sort of shape.

How long have I missed that?

I noticed that today.

It's definitely that sort of Yellow Submarine.

[factotum]

They put Yellow Submarines all over the place.

Well, that's only to be expected, we *do* all live in one...

[HandofShadows]

Interesting to see how each of the characters react to Albia's speech.

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Tweedle is puzzled (he's out of his depth. Nothing new there). Gil irritated that someone was messing with people's heads including his own (worried about the abuse of such a power) , Agatha amazed (wonders of something new and interesting), Zeetha NOT amazed or very surprised (how much does she know about the Queens?) and Tarvek trying to figure out how to duplicate it.

[Deliverance]

Zeetha is as always helpful providing Agatha with practical advice. Don't ever stop.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Interesting to see how each of the characters react to Albia's speech.

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Tweedle is puzzled (he's out of his depth. Nothing new there). Gil irritated that someone was messing with people's heads including his own (worried about the abuse of such a power) , Agatha amazed (wonders of something new and interesting), Zeetha NOT amazed or very surprised (how much does she know about the Queens?) and Tarvek trying to figure out how to duplicate it.

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Actually, Tweedle seems more annoyed than puzzled. I think he's OK remembering the upper crust on his side who fell (when he is killing the Storm King's zombies he referes to them by name), but is really irritated at having to remember the peons!

The Jagers seem respectful (it's a little hard to read the expression, but they are at least looking up paying attention), and Violetta is downright moved.

And he is a tail man, it seems.

[Rogar Demonblud]

I see Zeetha's back to giving Agatha advice (cha cha cha).

[wingnutx]

Zeetha is helping!

[The Ari-tificer]

So it's just dawned on me that Wooster really is gone, and he's not coming back.

[Vinyadan]

So it's just dawned on me that Wooster really is gone, and he's not coming back.

Yup, and, unless I missed something, I think that it was a pretty pointless death scene. As a character, by then, he had stopped having a role. Now, if his death had:

• created a huge problem for Agatha, or
• enabled the solution to a huge problem for Agatha or
• the way he died solved a plot concerning his character

then I would say, yes, go for it. But he was just a random casualty in a battle between three alpha sparks and a goddess. Even his last utterance didn't add anything. If he had been under suspicion of disloyalty for some time, and the reader had been forced to wonder about his duplicity? Then dying in the name of fealty would have been a huge deal.

Plus, we now have a backup Englishman who looks more or less the same, although Rakethorn probably has something nasty in store.

[Traab]

Yup, and, unless I missed something, I think that it was a pretty pointless death scene. As a character, by then, he had stopped having a role. Now, if his death had:

• created a huge problem for Agatha, or
• enabled the solution to a huge problem for Agatha or
• the way he died solved a plot concerning his character

then I would say, yes, go for it. But he was just a random casualty in a battle between three alpha sparks and a goddess. Even his last utterance didn't add anything. If he had been under suspicion of disloyalty for some time, and the reader had been forced to wonder about his duplicity? Then dying in the name of fealty would have been a huge deal.

Plus, we now have a backup Englishman who looks more or less the same, although Rakethorn probably has something nasty in store.

Considering his entire purpose in being there is to seduce agatha and get her to want to stay in england... yeah, kinda nasty. He is well aware of why he is there too, it wasnt just the queen trying to setup a meetcute between two people and hoping they hit it off.

[SZbNAhL]

Plus, we now have a backup Englishman who looks more or less the same, although Rakethorn probably has something nasty in store.

That's probably why Wooster had to die. Rakethorn was necessary as an obstacle to generate some future plot and there was no reasonable way for Wooster to fill that role (he is a genuinely nice person!), nor a way for Rakethorn to enter Agatha's entourage while Wooster was still alive. In more general terms, as a high-ranking British Intelligence asset, he was the solution to too many possible problems.

[Willie the Duck]

So it's just dawned on me that Wooster really is gone, and he's not coming back.

That's probably why Wooster had to die. Rakethorn was necessary as an obstacle to generate some future plot and there was no reasonable way for Wooster to fill that role (he is a genuinely nice person!), nor a way for Rakethorn to enter Agatha's entourage while Wooster was still alive. In more general terms, as a high-ranking British Intelligence asset, he was the solution to too many possible problems.

I generally agree that Wooster was kind of stuck as genuinely helpful Agatha ally #8 (and thus redundant), while also being an obstacle to certain plot possibilities. Still, his sendoff was rather low key (in terms of serving a purpose) for killing off a beloved character. Wish he had been conveniently reassigned out of the way instead.

[Manga Shoggoth]

In Wooster's death, remember this 1 2 3 4, and compare it to this.

Yes, the reasons for writing Wooster out are all valid, but from a character point of view, Wooster almost has to go out this way. It shows that he has gone from the British spy who can be terrified into obedience by Gil in Spark mode, to standing up to Lucrecia in full-blown God-Queen mode.

It isn't just fear of Gill/loyalty to Albia/loyalty to Agatha either. Gill overrode his loyalty to Albia without blinking in the sequence quoted above, and he still had vestages of it during the journey to Paris. This is Wooster standing up for what he believes in against the single biggest and most powerful enemy he has ever faced, and doing it without blinking.

[HandofShadows]

Wooster was STILL terrified of Gil. I think the thing that makes Gil so terrifying to Wooster (and in general) is that Gil has the normal spark megalomania under control and even uses it to his advantage. He's a very good exemplifier of the trope Beware The Nice Ones.

[halfeye]

In Wooster's death, remember this 1 2 3 4, and compare it to this.

Yes, the reasons for writing Wooster out are all valid, but from a character point of view, Wooster almost has to go out this way. It shows that he has gone from the British spy who can be terrified into obedience by Gil in Spark mode, to standing up to Lucrecia in full-blown God-Queen mode.

It isn't just fear of Gill/loyalty to Albia/loyalty to Agatha either. Gill overrode his loyalty to Albia without blinking in the sequence quoted above, and he still had vestages of it during the journey to Paris. This is Wooster standing up for what he believes in against the single biggest and most powerful enemy he has ever faced, and doing it without blinking.

His cover was blown and he got out. I'm almost convinced he's going to show up again, probably at the very end of the comic.

[HandofShadows]

His cover was blown and he got out. I'm almost convinced he's going to show up again, probably at the very end of the comic.

When time travel is in the comic, it makes his return a little more possible.

[Rogar Demonblud]

If time travel is in the comic. So far, we've had such scattered hints I'm not sure the Foglios aren't pulling one over on us.

Actually, I don't trust them period. They can tell the truth and still twist it to serve their purposes. "If you go to war, you will destroy a great empire".

[HandofShadows]

If time travel is in the comic. So far, we've had such scattered hints I'm not sure the Foglios aren't pulling one over on us.

Actually, I don't trust them period. They can tell the truth and still twist it to serve their purposes. "If you go to war, you will destroy a great empire".

Wait, what? We KNOW for a fact that the Other is a time traveler. We have seen future versions of Agatha and Gil through a time portal and Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer! had his mind sent from 20 or so years in the future to the present. Time Travel does work in GG.

[Rogar Demonblud]

One of those is a non-canon What If? storyline. Another is time observation, not time travel. And I am not sure we've actually been told a true thing about the Other yet, which would be par for the genre.

[Ibrinar]

One of those is a non-canon What If? storyline. Another is time observation, not time travel. And I am not sure we've actually been told a true thing about the Other yet, which would be par for the genre.

But not one way observation, past people can see and hear them. Even if no physical travel is possible that is enough to change the past. (Outside of settings where everything is a stable time loop so all changes are already built in.)

[Vinyadan]

In Wooster's death, remember this 1 2 3 4, and compare it to this.

Yes, the reasons for writing Wooster out are all valid, but from a character point of view, Wooster almost has to go out this way. It shows that he has gone from the British spy who can be terrified into obedience by Gil in Spark mode, to standing up to Lucrecia in full-blown God-Queen mode.

It isn't just fear of Gill/loyalty to Albia/loyalty to Agatha either. Gill overrode his loyalty to Albia without blinking in the sequence quoted above, and he still had vestages of it during the journey to Paris. This is Wooster standing up for what he believes in against the single biggest and most powerful enemy he has ever faced, and doing it without blinking.

I don't read it that way: with Gil, he was first ordered to do as Albia said, and then, to make him do something different, he was blackmailed with the menace that Albia would be killed and England destroyed if he didn't comply. With Lucrezia, he showed that he was loyal to Albia. The base in both scenes was that he loved Albia.

[geoduck]

One of those is a non-canon What If? storyline. Another is time observation, not time travel. And I am not sure we've actually been told a true thing about the Other yet, which would be par for the genre.

...It would be a lame cheat on the Foglios' part if it turned out Albia was lying about Lucrezia being the one who killed her fellow God-Queens.

[Fyraltari]

One of those is a non-canon What If? storyline. Another is time observation, not time travel. And I am not sure we've actually been told a true thing about the Other yet, which would be par for the genre.

Van Rijn encountered the Muse of time at different points of her timeline. He says sometimes she didn’t remember conversations they had and sometimes she remembered conversations they hadn’t had yet.

[Vinyadan]

A possible explanation would be that the Other has existed for thousands of years, since she can create her own bodies and can be summoned into the living. Van Rijn could have spoken to different bodies that existed at the same time.

I don't think that's the solution, though. There clearly is, at the very least, the ability to see through time while projecting your own image. When Bang sees Gil and Agatha, they most likely were looking at what happened to some of von Zinzer's colleagues. And we have interdimensional travel and the old Baron screwing with time, and the two things are apparently intertwined.

By the way, I have been calling Gil the Baron, but he didn't take the title, did he? http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comi...0#.XqtpvagzaUl Unless he did later. Did anyone notice whether he's been called "Baron"?