Girl Genius XXVII: Hoy! Hennybody else not dead?

[Rogar Demonblud]

I suspect we're at a point of false calm, akin to partway through the Battle of Mechanicsburg. Unfortunately, there aren't enough panels devoted to helping Violetta show off her pretty dress she finally gets to wear.

[Squire Doodad]

I suspect we're at a point of false calm, akin to partway through the Battle of Mechanicsburg. Unfortunately, there aren't enough panels devoted to helping Violetta show off her pretty dress she finally gets to wear.

I thought that was when the monsters were taken down but before NotAnvenka showed up
Or maybe I'm getting worse at reading the flow of the narrative.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Hmm, jagged speech bubble, but still pretty much symmetrical. This isn't the Madness Place, this is "all according to plan".

[theangelJean]

Yep. Looks like she's definitely intending to dance with the Queen (or for the bot to do so). Still not sure how that will go down, though.

[Scarlet Knight]

Her Majesty is a spark; how could she resist a giant robot?

Then we'll see what the distraction is for...

[Rogar Demonblud]

Heck, a giant robot would be a death sentence for the whole dome, as every Spark present charges in to make their own 'small adjustments and refinements'.

[Fyraltari]

Her Majesty is a spark; how could she resist a giant robot?

Then we'll see what the distraction is for...

Her majesty has had a second breakthrough. That robot must look like an unimaginative child's toy to her.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Edit: Also, if there's this well-known convention about Albia on her balcony, why did nobody inform Agatha? (Or did they?)

Because it is a well-known convention, and so everyone expects everyone to already know it? It's the kind of basic knowledge every nobleman is aware of - so obvious, that no-one thinks to point it out (in the same way, for example, that in the United States it is considered extremely rude to remain sitting when the president stands, or so West Wing tells me).

But Agatha has only been a Heterodyne and thus a power player for, what, four weeks I think it was? And has not had a moment's rest in that time? Yes, I'm sure there are hordes of attendants that will happily take her aside and tell her all the customs she's expected to fragrantly violate, so that if she does do a faux pas it is on purpose (she's still a Heterodyne, after all), but the bottom line is that she hasn't had that education yet, because she hasn't had the time.

Her majesty has had a second breakthrough. That robot must look like an unimaginative child's toy to her.

So has Agatha, if only briefly, so maybe it looks like an imaginative children's toy? Or possibly an unimaginative grown-up tool?

Grey Wolf

[theangelJean]

Sorry, but

fragrantly violate,

I just had this image of the attendants powdering and perfuming her at the same time while informing her of the courtesies required.

But really ... She had time to get dressed into the previous monstrosity, with maids, and with Violetta, who is minor nobility. I'm just going to assume that she was told.

[tonberrian]

I dunno, Her Majesty has been around for far longer than Van Rijn, yet he's still held as the spark to beat. Could be some of that is Patriarchy, but the Muses are still fantastically complicated machines. On the other hand that might be like comparing modern rockets to intricate clockwork - it is fundamentally different forces at play and the rocket is unquestionably more advanced, and yet the clockwork is more artistic.

[geoduck]

I dunno, Her Majesty has been around for far longer than Van Rijn, yet he's still held as the spark to beat. Could be some of that is Patriarchy, but the Muses are still fantastically complicated machines. On the other hand that might be like comparing modern rockets to intricate clockwork - it is fundamentally different forces at play and the rocket is unquestionably more advanced, and yet the clockwork is more artistic.

I suspect people on the Continent are also far more familiar with RVR's work than Albia, who presumably never leaves her kingdom these days.

[Mechalich]

It's also possible that Albia's particular interests are less oriented towards the industrial and therefore her impact is less physical and more cultural in nature. Arguably Albia's great creation is the British Empire itself, which appears to be the largest state in Europa to have managed to persist for more than a generation. Her empire at least has contact with the Americas - the princesses mentioned them - and probably other far-flung regions like whatever the equivalents of China and India happen to be (they're importing all that tea from somewhere).

[HandofShadows]

We know that there is contact with China as we have Dr. Sun who runs the Great Hospital in Mechanicsburg. Also Sun mentioned that word of Klaus getting injured was probably already being talked about in the Forbidden City (Though he may have been speaking a bit metaphorically.) I suspect that traveling to North America isn't the real problem. More like some sort of defenses have been set up or some spark really messed up somehow (or both) since the Boys were around (Thundering Engine Woman is a spark from the America's that came from North America.) Or maybe the Boys managed to get past those defenses.

[Radar]

Her Majesty is a spark; how could she resist a giant robot?

Then we'll see what the distraction is for...

Simple fact: everyone digs giant robots.

[FLHerne]

More like some sort of defenses have been set up or some spark really messed up somehow (or both) since the Boys were around ... Or maybe the Boys managed to get past those defenses.

In Turbines of Atlantis, to cross the Atlantic they had to fight a sea monster, reverse the seven turbines to defeat the Spark Emperor of the Deepest Trench and so on. It was a a pain then too.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Albia is a social scientist, so her activities are far less visible than RvR's.

[Shining Wrath]

Most every Spark has their specialty. Albia's seems to be in the organic realm - her garden, her longevity, and her ability to morph her own body. Therefore, she may regard building robots as not child's play, but as somewhat unsophisticated - the way a jazz musician might look at a polka band.

Meaning no offense to fans of polka.

[HandofShadows]

Most good musicians (Those not on an ego trip) will recognize skill in others when they see it no matter the type of music. They may not like it, but they realize the skill was there. I suspect that Albia will be "impressed" not by the clank, but by Agatha creating something to dance with Albia at her giant size.

[sihnfahl]

I suspect that Albia will be "impressed" not by the clank, but by Agatha creating something to dance with Albia at her giant size.

Albia's probably like Klaus - only writ on a longer period. From what she hasn't filed away in the Memory.
She's seen a LOT of sparks and their variations. I suspect she'll be impressed by the clank - any two bit mechanically minded spark can create a clank.

But something delicate? Graceful? Van Rijn?

[Thomas Cardew]

Note: I do not see Higgs in any of the crowd shots since Agatha entered the ballroom. Aside from the mega-sparks, if there is anyone there who is even the slightest threat to Albia, it's Higgs. But the same goes for Martellus; if Agatha wants to take him down a peg, Higgs would probably enjoy it. I suspect that whatever Agatha has planned, it involves General Higgs.

Hmm. I wonder if this really is all there is to the trick. Krosp seems to just have been sent to fetch the Jaegers not anything else from the kitchens. Requesting Higgs specifically might just have been to give him a chance to dance with Zeetha.

[Deliverance]

Ahahaa. I expected a dragon clank dance with Albia, but dragon clank transforms into gentleman clank complete with fireworks and festive English flags to make a better dancing partner. No, I didn't see that coming.

(One of these days the Foglios owe us an explanation for why Albia of England, who has reigned for thousands of years, uses the Union Jack. Even if she does rule over all of Scotland, Ireland, and England, why use a flag based on the counterchanging of three cross-flags for Christian saints? ...Perhaps I'm overthinking it.)

[HandofShadows]

If they didn't use that flag and other standard English things that we know today, it really wouldn't be England. It would be some other county that happened to rule the British Isles and it wouldn't mean very much to the readers. No tropes, no cliches, no puns.

[theangelJean]

I'm guessing the site isn't down for anyone else, then? Just me?

[HandofShadows]

From the Profs Twitter it seems that Australia, New Zealand and even Japan is having problems. So it's not you. They are looking into what's wrong.

[Willie the Duck]

Ahahaa. I expected a dragon clank dance with Albia, but dragon clank transforms into gentleman clank complete with fireworks and festive English flags to make a better dancing partner. No, I didn't see that coming.

(One of these days the Foglios owe us an explanation for why Albia of England, who has reigned for thousands of years, uses the Union Jack. Even if she does rule over all of Scotland, Ireland, and England, why use a flag based on the counterchanging of three cross-flags for Christian saints? ...Perhaps I'm overthinking it.)

There probably are differences, but the parts that the authors are going to bother showing us are the ones that match our own world (so that we'll have a frame of reference and not need everything explained to us). Same reason why Star Trek: the Next Generation kept having Shakespeare references and holodeck adventures to 1920s gangster and age-of-sail Caribbean adventures (and Joe Piscopo as a famous standup), all the while alluding to Tallulian operas and Whubdubian poetry and some 23rd century astrophysics standup comic who the crew partakes on days we don't see.

[Vinyadan]

(One of these days the Foglios owe us an explanation for why Albia of England, who has reigned for thousands of years, uses the Union Jack. Even if she does rule over all of Scotland, Ireland, and England, why use a flag based on the counterchanging of three cross-flags for Christian saints? ...Perhaps I'm overthinking it.)

The question is how much of a goddess she considers herself... we haven't seen her receiving open worship or proskynesis.

Another reason is that historical England got its flag from Genua (not from religious affiliation). I'm not sure of where Scotland's flag comes from, nor about that of British Ireland. Ireland's seems to derive from the crest of a family, and its association with Ireland's Patrick was invented when it was used as a symbol for the Anglo-Irish Order of St Patrick. Scotland's doesn't seem to have a clear-cut origin, and may very well have simply been a very recognizable symbol that was called a certain name in heraldry.

[Shining Wrath]

Agatha succeeded in confusing / shocking Albia.

That may not have happened to her in a few centuries.

And she's delighted.

And Lord Womble getting ready to take Agatha on with his sword is ... quaint?

[Deliverance]

The question is how much of a goddess she considers herself... we haven't seen her receiving open worship or proskynesis.

Good point.

Another reason is that historical England got its flag from Genua (not from religious affiliation). I'm not sure of where Scotland's flag comes from, nor about that of British Ireland. Ireland's seems to derive from the crest of a family, and its association with Ireland's Patrick was invented when it was used as a symbol for the Anglo-Irish Order of St Patrick. Scotland's doesn't seem to have a clear-cut origin, and may very well have simply been a very recognizable symbol that was called a certain name in heraldry.

Genoa's adopted the flag of St. George during the crusades. Later during the 13th century the English crown paid Genoa for the right of English vessels to fly Genoa's flag for convenience (the convenience of not being attacked) and that was the start of that.

So the religious affiliation with St. George was already there when England adopted it from Genoa, so to speak, not a later invention - though the explicit adoption of St. George as patron saint for England came later with the reformation. But yes, the religious affiliation was not the reason for the adoption of the flag in any case except arguably the Irish - and that's a weak argument.

The "X" on a blank field is certainly an old field sign (like many other simple and easily recognizable geometrical shapes) and is the origin of the heraldic saltire as far as I know; the religious association came later.

Anyhow, I'm very unclear on the fate of Ireland and Scotland in the GG-verse, but it just seems a remarkable coincidence () that Albia's England uses a flag that required a rather specific set of circumstances in our history (England adapting flag from Genoa in the 13th century, Scotland getting their flag in the 16th century.. or centuries earlier if you ask some Scots, certainly before the acts of Union with England, and these united with a flag for Ireland that is an 18th century creation to create a common union flag Scotland and England+Ireland ended the personal union and united), despite it being rather unlikely that those circumstances occurred in the GG-verse where English history has been substantially different for thousands of years.

But.. yes, this is probably overthinking it.

[Fyraltari]

And Lord Womble getting ready to take Agatha on with his sword is ... quaint?

Given the kind of comic this is, I wouldn't be surprised if the sword could shoot lasers or something.

[Traab]

Agatha succeeded in confusing / shocking Albia.

That may not have happened to her in a few centuries.

And she's delighted.

And Lord Womble getting ready to take Agatha on with his sword is ... quaint?

Considering how little attention agatha is paying to him, yeah, quaint is about where that ranks.