Girl Genius XXVIII: Dancink! Ve is here for de dancink!

[HandofShadows]

And? Are you suggesting this isn't a Queen's mirror? Because that's like the Queen's mirror.

And is there any evidence that the Mirror on that page was present in the area that would become Mechanicsburg at the time the first Heterodyne? Or that there was a Queen there instead of something else? Also the entity on the last panel certainly does not resemble any Queen we have seen before. Not everything is about Queens you know.

[InvisibleBison]

It's in Mecanicsburg, though.

It's in Mechanicsburg now, but where was it a thousand years ago? We don't know. We do know that it wasn't where it is now, though, because now it's in the Red Cathedral, which was built by one of the Heterodynes and thus didn't exist a thousand years ago. It's entirely possible that some Heterodyne found it somewhere and brought it back to Mechanicsburg.

[Thomas Cardew]

It's in Mechanicsburg now, but where was it a thousand years ago? We don't know. We do know that it wasn't where it is now, though, because now it's in the Red Cathedral, which was built by one of the Heterodynes and thus didn't exist a thousand years ago. It's entirely possible that some Heterodyne found it somewhere and brought it back to Mechanicsburg.

Not entirely. It's entirely possible that the Red Cathederal was built around/above the gate. After all, it's in the Crypts underneath the cathedral which could predate the structure built by one of the Hetrodynes.

EDIT: For the record, I don't think there's enough evidence to draw conclusions either way. I'd also mention that it's possible one of the Hetrodynes built a mirror from scratch.

[Fyraltari]

And is there any evidence that the Mirror on that page was present in the area that would become Mechanicsburg at the time the first Heterodyne?

What kind of evidence would you expect? Albia and possibly the Other are the only characters who were alive back then and they aren't talking.

Or that there was a Queen there instead of something else?

There most definitely wasn't a Queen there. There was just a cult devoted to a "battle goddess" with no understanding of the Dyne and its properties. This is hardly surprising since Lucrezia killed most Queens.

Also the entity on the last panel certainly does not resemble any Queen we have seen before.

Krosp?

Not everything is about Queens you know.

Indeed, however this theory isn't conteadicted by anything in-comic and explains several things (Agatha's first Second Breakthrough, the "magical" properties of the water and the presence of a Mirror in Mechanicsburg).

It's in Mechanicsburg now, but where was it a thousand years ago? We don't know. We do know that it wasn't where it is now, though, because now it's in the Red Cathedral, which was built by one of the Heterodynes and thus didn't exist a thousand years ago. It's entirely possible that some Heterodyne found it somewhere and brought it back to Mechanicsburg.

It's likely than one of the Jägers would have mentionned it by now, if only because the place that they'd have pilfered it from could hold informations about their working.

Technically there's more than just the mirror and the dyne having a battle goddess to base the idea of the goddess being a Queen on.

The Dyne can instigate the transformation of a Spark into a Queen, as was seen when Agatha drank a glass of water from the spring, and confirmed by Albia when saying that she could tell Agatha had gazed into the infinite.

It seems reasonable to assume that if a Queen ascended by use of the properties of the Dyne and then became worshipped as a god that the spring would become associated with the 'divine' nature of the Queen.

Yup and let's not forget that Lucrezia stated that Albia had a "power source", the Dyne could very well have been another Queen's.

[InvisibleBison]

It's likely than one of the Jägers would have mentionned it by now, if only because the place that they'd have pilfered it from could hold informations about their working.

Unless, of course, it was acquired before the Jagers were created.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Or it was an acquisition that wasn't mentioned to them, since they were rather busy with the murder and mayhem right then. As Mr Cardew said, we don't have enough information to say.

[Fyraltari]

Unless, of course, it was acquired before the Jagers were created.

We don't have a clear timeline of course, but the creation of the Jägers is the first thing mentionned after the reing of the original Heterodyne so that's a ratjer narrow margin.

Or it was an acquisition that wasn't mentioned to them, since they were rather busy with the murder and mayhem right then. As Mr Cardew said, we don't have enough information to say.

It's possible but one would think they'd notice it. Higgs especially since he was an important test subject to the one who created the Jägers in the first place (Vlad the Blasphemous) and stayed important throughout up to becoming the Spymaster.

[Traab]

Again, as I pointed out, the existence of a mirror there doesnt prove anything because martellus and his family also had one and nobody suggested they were descended from this group of ancient queens. Its not proof either way because just as it could easily be the site of a former queen, it could just as easily be the spoils of one of the MANY heterodyne conquests over the centuries. Didnt the museum in england have a broken one as well? Can someone skilled at archive trawling find out? I seem to recall it being there and I dont think it was albias old one.

[Mechalich]

Again, as I pointed out, the existence of a mirror there doesnt prove anything because martellus and his family also had one and nobody suggested they were descended from this group of ancient queens. Its not proof either way because just as it could easily be the site of a former queen, it could just as easily be the spoils of one of the MANY heterodyne conquests over the centuries. Didnt the museum in england have a broken one as well? Can someone skilled at archive trawling find out? I seem to recall it being there and I dont think it was albias old one.

The one in the museum was from a icebound temple high in the high alps.

The mirrors are very old, like, geologically old. When Gil and Trelawney go to the Henge, Lady Astarte says the memory is 'Before Britain! Before the Channel!' Assuming a rough confluence of geologic history between our Earth and that of Girl Genius, that means the mirrors existed more than 10,000 years in the past, when the conclusion of the Devensian glaciation formed the most recent iteration of the English Channel.

The conclusion of the most recent glaciation caused a lot of geological changes, and the logical locations for placing a human society changed as a consequence of shifts in the landscape. That means mirrors that were not moved are probably no longer in locations where it makes sense for a civilization center to be. Heck, quite a few of them are probably under water as a consequence of the post-ice age rise in sea level.

[Thomas Cardew]

The mirrors also looked very different. Albia's in the vision, the relocated in Londonium, and the Mechanicsburg one all look visually similarly. They are mostly made of stone with glyphs on the sides. The Martellus one was mostly metal and its control rig had large bulbs etc, making it more likely to have been reversed engineered while the others seem more standardized.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Good point. I'd missed that.

[Rockphed]

So, back to the comic: what is up with the blue child with the flaming headdress?

[theangelJean]

So, back to the comic: what is up with the blue child with the flaming headdress?

Not sure, but the trepidation is back. A couple strips ago I was thinking maybe all the Professora was in for was a night of drunkenness and having to find her own way home. Last comic I was worried that whatever was next, she would not be Heterodyne enough for it. But now ... if this thing doesn't actually know the difference (and it's not the Castle, after all)... I wonder if she might be in real trouble.

[wingnutx]

She is officially biting off more than she can chew.

[Deliverance]

She is officially biting off more than she can chew.

Sure looks like it.

I entertained several wild possibilities after Monday's strip, but I certainly didn't imagine anything remotely like this coming. I have no idea where this will lead us.

Anybody care to venture a guess?

[Fyraltari]

You know I thought it was weird that the Mecanicsburgers didn't warn her about this but it's likely that this hadn't happened before because the Doom Bell hadn't rung.

[HandofShadows]

The mirrors also looked very different. Albia's in the vision, the relocated in Londonium, and the Mechanicsburg one all look visually similarly. They are mostly made of stone with glyphs on the sides. The Martellus one was mostly metal and its control rig had large bulbs etc, making it more likely to have been reversed engineered while the others seem more standardized.

But take a look at the page were Klaus goes through one. It looks mechanical, but very different than the one that Agatha, Tweedle and the rest went through. An a related note the Queens did not make the Mirrors, and are even older than the Queens are. They in fact don't know how they work. There's another shot of Klaus going through a Mirror earlier in the comic I'm going to try and find it.

And the child here is clearly not a Queen. As others have said, the Prof has bitten off much more than she can chew.

[Fyraltari]

And the child here is clearly not a Queen

No one said they were?

[Deliverance]

You know I thought it was weird that the Mecanicsburgers didn't warn her about this but it's likely that this hadn't happened before because the Doom Bell hadn't rung.

Only the young Mechanicsburgers weren't around the last time the Doom Bell rang prior to Agatha's ascension, and the older ones have been around for a lot of celebrations with Doom Bell ringing under previous Heterodynes, so that can't be it.

Whatever is going on is (barring a bizarre coincidence) part of the full experience that the town elders were desperately trying to head off when talking to the castle, though how many of the details they know of is a good guess.

With everybody else apparently gone, is Agatha even in Mechanicsburg as we know it at the moment? Parallel dimension? Weird out-of-the-body New Year celebration mind game machine created by earlier Heterodyne? Something even weirder than that?

[Fyraltari]

Only the young Mechanicsburgers weren't around the last time the Doom Bell rang prior to Agatha's ascension, and the older ones have been around for a lot of celebrations with Doom Bell ringing under previous Heterodynes, so that can't be it.

You misunderstand me. I mean to say that the elders don't warning the professora about this part (and their belief that she only need to pass from a distance) means this had never happened with their previois stand-ins (and that the previous Heterodynes never told them about what happens during thzir walk home, but that we already knew). The apparition mistook the Professora for the genuine article but not Rattlegat. Why? What's different this time? Well this is the first solstice since the Doom Bell Rang which it hadn't for years. Hence for the first time whatever this is expected a genuine, Kestle-certified Heterodyne to lead the revelry.

[Shining Wrath]

What do you think the spirit of atrocities future is for?

To inspire atrocities that even a Heterodyne could not conceive unaided?

She is officially biting off more than she can chew.

That bit about Grandfather Death does not sound safe.

---

Put me down for "That little girl is not a little girl." She looks ... fey? And that the crown must be taken and put on her head with her own hands sounds magical, not steampunk. We may be in for a smidge of genre-bending.

[theangelJean]

Alternative wild mass guessing - best case scenario:

It is the Heterodyne's time to "take the blame" for all that has been done in the name of Mechanicsburg during the festival. The "Well done!" is because the Professora has managed to limit the damage to a Doctor in a fountain and some fire - she managed it without, you know, mass immolations, random deaths, razing of cities etc. on her hands. (Not that she can really take the credit for limiting the damage - it properly belongs to the changed culture of the town since the Boys and Klaus, plus Agatha - but for now, She Is The Heterodyne.)

[PraetorDragoon]

Put me down for "That little girl is not a little girl." She looks ... fey? And that the crown must be taken and put on her head with her own hands sounds magical, not steampunk. We may be in for a smidge of genre-bending.

Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from SCIENCE!

[Traab]

Yeah this sounds a lot like an atonement ritual is about to start. A way to show everything the heterodyne has done, good and bad, and remind them that they are the ones responsible, even if the acts were carried out by their people instead. Even without direct orders because everything the people of mechanicsburg do, is for the heterodyne. "See now the price of your power. See now the cost of your actions. See now what your choices have wrought." It may be a way they keep themselves even slightly grounded because every year they have to face the consequences of their actions good and bad.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Yeah this sounds a lot like an atonement ritual is about to start. A way to show everything the heterodyne has done, good and bad, and remind them that they are the ones responsible, even if the acts were carried out by their people instead. Even without direct orders because everything the people of mechanicsburg do, is for the heterodyne. "See now the price of your power. See now the cost of your actions. See now what your choices have wrought." It may be a way they keep themselves even slightly grounded because every year they have to face the consequences of their actions good and bad.

I see it more as a scapegoat ritual - the blame is explicitly being transferred to the Heterodyne. I don't really see how the Heterodyne (the old ones, at least) would care too much about "See now the price of your power. See now the cost of your actions. See now what your choices have wrought.". Well, apart from as experimental results, perhaps.

But yes, I do see this as being for the sake of the townsfolk rather than being for the Heterodyne.

EDIT: Let's see what the game is. I don't think it will be Candyland...

[tyckspoon]

That bit about Grandfather Death does not sound safe.

Any chance the creepy little girl is actually just talking about Old Man Death, of 'How Maxim Got His Hat'?

[InvisibleBison]

Any chance the creepy little girl is actually just talking about Old Man Death, of 'How Maxim Got His Hat'?

Nope, no chance of that.

[Kantaki]

Maybe a hunt or something like that?
The question is would the Heterodyne be hunter or hunted in this ritual.

In any case I expect it will the kind of game where „All in“ means All in.
I mean, an really old ritual? One the Old Heterodynes followed?
Yeah, kinda thinking along the sacrifice angle here.
Blood, life, endings and beginnings, death and renewal. Wild associations.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Any chance the creepy little girl is actually just talking about Old Man Death, of 'How Maxim Got His Hat'?

Nope - it looks like Grandfather Death is an old name for Death - Ivo uses it as well. Not clear whether it is a common name for Death or just local to Mechanicsburg.

[Rogar Demonblud]

With everybody else apparently gone, is Agatha even in Mechanicsburg as we know it at the moment? Parallel dimension? Weird out-of-the-body New Year celebration mind game machine created by earlier Heterodyne? Something even weirder than that?

She's off doing some random heroing by fighting a monster somewhere.