[400]The West canals

I think the whole deal about robots upsets them. It would seem to hint something sinister to the workings of the court and the robots that patrol its corridors. Take those Tic/Tocs for instance.

I'd wondered if Anya's stammer had something to do with her memories of the Robot-on-the-bridge incident the previous year - an incident that Kat's best friend was known to be involved in. That would give her reason to feel uneasy about Kat suddenly wanting to build a robot.

(Or, then again, she might still have not quite recovered from Kat coming in unexpectedly just when she did - but I think the first theory's more interesting.)

Tom's drawn Annie with the same blank-looking smiley face two pages in a row now. Is that just to save time (and to fit in with the indications that this chapter will be about Kat rather than about Annie), or is there some more ominous significance here? (Say, Annie has been possessed by something. Or maybe it isn't the real Annie, but a decoy of some sort. Perhaps she's already sneaked off to Gillitie Wood with Jones' help between chapters and left a replica of herself behind to keep everyone else from knowing that she's gone.)

Todd, you're amazing. You can find ominous foreshadowing in anything. I think it just means that Tom's changed his style yet again, and this is how he's going to draw Annie for the rest of the comic. To save time. I for one fully support this change.

Silliness aside, you know what scares me? Tom's below-comic commentary has disappeared again. We all remember what went down in the comic last time that happened.

That would make sense if the Court was started centuries ago when water transport/power was cutting edge. In the earlier chapters I looked at the aerial views of horizon-to-horizon buildings and wondered if they all really were the Court or just the Court and whatever buildings it's near. I guess it's the former. They've even got maglevs and people-movers.

Imagine what Europe would look like if wars had never knocked anything down and they'd kept expanding every time they needed something new. Even if ethereal space is unbounded that still might anger the non-human residents. Also over-expansion in the etherium may explain what you said in the location thread; maybe the Court is big enough that it's now adjacent to various places and not just England.

If that's the case, I wonder if you have to do something unusual to get to the Court from the mundane sections of the planet. For example: "From London, take the M11 North to the 25 cloverleaf, ride the ramps widdershins seven times in sequence and the Court will be your next left, whichever exit you take..."

heh. I can't tell if you're kidding or not. But no, Annie's just not the focus of the conversation at the moment. It's not even the first time he's done this (I'm too lazy to look for actual links mind you).

Long time reader, first time poster. I shoulda joined up when the forums started last year, but I so rarely find the time to hang around forums, so apologies if the robot situation at the Court has been expounded upon before.

Ok, there is something up with robots at the Court. They are kept hidden away in rooms labeled with subtle misdirection ("No Spare Robot Parts"), they are studied in secret labs ("Boring Door") and recycled into office supplies when they go bad, their CPUs (S-13's anyway) are specially modified with parts Kat-the-smart-one couldn't identify, and when Annie came across a couple of them in the hall they "scarpered" into hiding. There are robots "all over the place", as Kat said, though we don't see them much, but the S-type seems to be a special protected sub-species. Eggers discouraged Annie from finding out more (after he encouraged her to break rules without getting caught, so who knows where he stands, exactly).

Perhaps the Donlans are afraid their daughter is about to stumble into the deeper secrets of the Court. This is not exactly dis-allowed or Mrs. D wouldn't have given the lab key. But they are concerned about their daughter advancing to this point in her development, and the path she is about to take.

Two possibilities: (1) there is equipment in that lab that will help Kat in the right direction, and Mrs. D is just concerned about the situation in general; or (2) there is some specific secret in the lab that she is worried about Kat coming face-to-face with, but it can't be helped 'cause she's developed this far already, so give her the key and hope for the best. I'm thinking, like, Luke in the Dark Force cave on Dagobah, sort of thing.

Concerning the fist page in this chapter, I think there will be revelations in the lab concerning the Donlans' past (mainly involving robots) which eventually had an impact on Kat's young life and how she was, at first, received by her fellow students.

too much thinking too early in the chapter?

I concur also... some of you guys read way to into it hehe XD

Mr. Donlan looks thoughtfully at his wife for a moment after she stammers "A - a robot?" Does he share her concern about Kat's desire to build a robot (whatever the reason for the concern is), or is he wondering why Anya seems so uneasy?

Due to the glance Anja and Don exchanged in first panel, I'd guess that Anja's nervousness has something to do with robots, and not their previous *ahem* positioning.

Really I just think Annie looks like that to draw attention away from her. She's not the focus right now.

Is it just me, or is Kat completely oblivious to her mom's uncertainty?

I think that it's not just the simpler drawing style that's calling attention to her here, but:

1. She's the only one drawn like that (the Donlans are given their usual detail on these pages).

2. The eyes and mouth are put together in such a way to suggest not an ordinary smile, but the smile of a person who's in some sort of trance or whose thinking has been shut off.

We'll have to wait and see what things are like on the next page tomorrow. If the same thing holds true there (Annie with a vacant smile and everyone else's faces given more detail), then I'd say that something *is* going on here; mere coincidences generally do not come in threes.

I think it's really just that simple: The further in the background a character is, the less detail they will be drawn with.

I'm with cenit on this one. Some sort of "coming of age" thing going on. Maybe she'll find out about her mad magically-enhanced-scientific-knowledge-powers or something.

I also think that this lab and, maybe, this "rite of passage" has something to do with who the Donlans are now (teachers at Gunnerkrigg and maybe something more) and the life Kat had up 'til now (hence the flashback at the start of the chapter).

docpi wrote something in the shoutbox that I think needs to be recorded: