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Post by Per on Apr 22, 2016 13:51:36 GMT
Probably more posturing than legitimate concern, but also probably more visual gag than anything else.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 22, 2016 14:06:53 GMT
Bwahahahahaha. Serious question: do you think this is more Court's paranoia, or Court's security theatre / propaganda? I'll guess one part overabundance of caution, one part a signal that the Court isn't interested in detente with the Wood, four parts rude-gesture-to-Smitface-and-Antimony for trying to dictate Court policy, and two parts pissing in Antimony's porridge in general.
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Post by zaferion on Apr 22, 2016 14:32:42 GMT
This brings to mind way too many pictures of Chernobyl and I don't like it
Make it stop
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Ender
Junior Member
Posts: 89
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Post by Ender on Apr 22, 2016 16:16:01 GMT
I just noticed there's a bunch of people standing off to the side on the left. Who are those people and why are they there?
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Post by ctso74 on Apr 22, 2016 16:32:05 GMT
Bwahahahahaha. Serious question: do you think this is more Court's paranoia, or Court's security theatre / propaganda? The two aren't mutually exclusive (especially in a bureaucracy), and there's the honest problem of Etheric magic. Though my first thought was security theater, for the sake of making the less knowledgeable students feel safer. What at would be the best way to respond to this display of insensitive distrust? That's a really deep question. The "best" way would be to think of the next Forest fairy to cross the bridge and act diplomatically, in spite of their actions. Prove them wrong. But, how many of us do what's "best"?
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Post by aithecomputerguy on Apr 22, 2016 16:35:48 GMT
Maybe the Court is like one big bureaucratic Anthony, trying to do what it thinks is the right thing from its distorted perspective and then bungling it in every way imaginable. That is ignorance in a nutshell. Simply not knowing the truth on is the source of the vast majority of problems in the world.
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Post by l33tninja on Apr 22, 2016 16:42:47 GMT
this is why Coyote is sending [snuffle] . . . he's afraid of vacuum cleaners
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Post by Per on Apr 22, 2016 16:59:50 GMT
I just noticed there's a bunch of people standing off to the side on the left. Who are those people and why are they there? I'm pretty sure they're part of the visual gag.
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Post by dramastix on Apr 22, 2016 18:36:32 GMT
I just noticed there's a bunch of people standing off to the side on the left. Who are those people and why are they there? I'm pretty sure they're part of the visual gag. I don't know, this seems a little more menacing than just a visual gag. And it's not like Annie hasn't returned multiple times covered in all sorts of Forest cooties, so why the big act now, except to intimidate?
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Post by warrl on Apr 22, 2016 19:00:49 GMT
A possibility: this is all show, but for a specific purpose. They HOPE that Annie will insist that this guest be allowed in unmolested, and INTEND to concede the issue specifically due to the personal intervention of the Forest Medium in the individual case. Thus establishing that forest creatures will find visiting the Court - even getting TO the Court - extremely unpleasant unless the Forest Medium is personally involved. Which would have the effect of keeping such visits uncommon, and insuring that the Court officialdom are aware of them.
Think of it this way: there HAVE BEEN active hostilities between Court and Forest, including at least one physical attack on the Court by the Forest. If Forest-folk visiting the Court are common and unmonitored, that's an opportunity to get a substantial force into the Court for another attack. The Court has a legitimate interest in having that not happen.
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Post by Jelly Jellybean on Apr 22, 2016 21:10:59 GMT
A possibility: this is all show, but for a specific purpose. They HOPE that Annie will insist that this guest be allowed in unmolested, and INTEND to concede the issue specifically due to the personal intervention of the Forest Medium in the individual case. Thus establishing that forest creatures will find visiting the Court - even getting TO the Court - extremely unpleasant unless the Forest Medium is personally involved. Which would have the effect of keeping such visits uncommon, and insuring that the Court officialdom are aware of them. Think of it this way: there HAVE BEEN active hostilities between Court and Forest, including at least one physical attack on the Court by the Forest. If Forest-folk visiting the Court are common and unmonitored, that's an opportunity to get a substantial force into the Court for another attack. The Court has a legitimate interest in having that not happen. Now you're thinking like Court folk! I also just noticed the Canvey Island Monster in the first panel (front row of the crowd, second from the left). That guy is everywhere!
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Post by hifranc on Apr 22, 2016 22:08:37 GMT
Having read all the theories in this thread, I remembered some earlier advice. I think they feel that they have to assert dominance (the court that is).
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 22, 2016 22:56:07 GMT
How about, "reassert authority?" I don't think the Court gives a [toot] about [Snuffle] other than not really wanting a random fairy or anyone else from the Wood running around inside. I think this is primarily aimed at the uppity mediumses. [Snuffle] is just getting the decon shower and cavity search because she's unimportant enough to be used to send a message. The power to destroy is the power to control, and the Court is demonstrating its ability to poop on parties. That is, unless the medium(s) can protest enough to get [Snuffle] past the TSA checkpoint.
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Post by Per on Apr 22, 2016 23:42:36 GMT
I also just noticed the Canvey Island Monster in the first panel (front row of the crowd, second from the left). That guy is everywhere! Nice catch; for my own part I spotted Edward the Booble in the back.
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brokshi
Full Member
About as furious as my icon appears ecstatic.
Posts: 108
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Post by brokshi on Apr 22, 2016 23:42:38 GMT
That's a bit of an excessive cleaning crew, the forest can't be THAT dirty. Or do they think etheric stuff is radioactive? I mean this is an obvious intimidation/"we want you to be uncomfortable here" thing but at face value it's very over the top. Maybe Antimony didn't say what sort of creature she was bringing back. Or maybe she did, and they're just used to dealing with the city type of Regional Faeries [born in discarded crisp packets, making metal rusty to create entry points into human homes for rodent friends, scrounging through bins for sustenance, possibly taking dust-baths like birds and alongside birds and getting mites from birds] and they want her steam-cleaned before allowing her entry. If you think bedbugs are hard to get rid of, imagine if they were intelligent, huge, and had magic. There's nothing like a genuine fairy infestation. Counter: bed bugs are hard to get rid of because they're tiny, and come in massive swarms. It's much easier to get rid of smaller amounts of large things, magical or not.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 23, 2016 1:11:33 GMT
Maybe Antimony didn't say what sort of creature she was bringing back. Or maybe she did, and they're just used to dealing with the city type of Regional Faeries [born in discarded crisp packets, making metal rusty to create entry points into human homes for rodent friends, scrounging through bins for sustenance, possibly taking dust-baths like birds and alongside birds and getting mites from birds] and they want her steam-cleaned before allowing her entry. If you think bedbugs are hard to get rid of, imagine if they were intelligent, huge, and had magic. There's nothing like a genuine fairy infestation. Counter: bed bugs are hard to get rid of because they're tiny, and come in massive swarms. It's much easier to get rid of smaller amounts of large things, magical or not. Counter-counter: You have to treat a fairy infestation as an affected area, which is the same way you have to go after bedbugs, since some can turn invisible and you rarely to never know exactly where faeries are... but with the additional problem of intelligence and magic. Magic means you can never have a stable perimeter over the long haul plus you can't use tools they can turn against you or deactivate, or seals they can break. If they see you coming with a grocery-bag full of bug-bombs they're out through the vents and pet doors. They can even lift up the flap on extermination tents and beat a tactical retreat, so they can "reinfect" areas much faster than bedbugs. They fly over persistent agents that act as barriers to other pests. They can even use your 'fridge as an airtight fallout shelter with no fear of getting stuck or suffocating (even if it's all plastic the hinges and latch are bound to be metal). Of methods for getting rid of City Fairies who've taken up residence in your home without paying rent, I prefer the leaving-out-of-saucers-of-milk trick. Over time you start adding irish cream to the milk in small amounts, get them hooked, and then up the potency slowly. Once they start taking to passing out around the (whiskey) saucer, just collect up the lot and toss them through the mail-slot of someone you don't like. It's like the "cricket prank" but on steroids with a hangover/DTs.
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Bill
Junior Member
Posts: 68
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Post by Bill on Apr 23, 2016 2:38:55 GMT
Having read all the theories in this thread, I remembered some earlier advice. I think they feel that they have to assert dominance (the court that is). How ironic that the Court is doing the very thing for which they look down on those of the Forest. If Annie's head is in the game, she has a prime opportunity to scold them for this show of force. Embarrassing the Court is usually a bad idea though. Regardless, this chapter will show us exactly what state of mind Annie is in, to what extent and in what way she has recovered. Who is the new Antimony? For the last seven chapters (okay, six) have changed her.
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Post by stclair on Apr 23, 2016 4:18:32 GMT
Subtle as a 20 kt airburst.
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Post by dramastix on Apr 23, 2016 4:36:53 GMT
New hypothesis. The seeds or whatever they are in the chapter icon belong to [Snuffle] and are about to be confiscated by the men in suits for decontamination - hence appearing on a white background, such as a light table or some such. Still doesn't answer the question of what they are, exactly, but betcha money they are not, in reality, that significant to [Snuffle]. Just an excuse for further cavity search.
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Post by TBeholder on Apr 23, 2016 6:09:58 GMT
I mean this is an obvious intimidation/"we want you to be uncomfortable here" thing but at face value it's very over the top. ...but didn't think it through well enough? Because, unfortunately for whoever will have to talk with Antimony about it, she is no stranger to intimidation, discomfort or over-the-top... and also occasionally can be subtle. That's what happens when people forget to invite good ol' Bob. Or William. These naive people are ill-prepared for this situation. They don't even have a slightest idea of who exactly is the second most terrifying creature after Coyote in their line of sight... yet. Funny, I don't recall trickstergod moonthief and mr treewolf getting the hazmat treatment when they visited the Court in person. Literally picking on the little guy. Apparently no one objected too much when Annie came back in charred clothes and covered in blood (which was not her own), either. Showing cowardice and upsetting Annie: two things which are even less likely to end well when mixed. Maybe the Court is like one big bureaucratic Anthony, trying to do what it thinks is the right thing from its distorted perspective and then bungling it in every way imaginable. Why "maybe"? Any bureaucracy ends up as an implementation of insecure, but self-important and overconfident form of schizophrenia. It's a law of un-nature, or something. EDIT: It would be a twist if they are there to decontaminate Annie, not the fairy. This still would invite her to ask a lot of exceedingly awkward questions, at very least.
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Post by CoyoteReborn on Apr 23, 2016 6:20:28 GMT
this is why Coyote is sending [snuffle] . . . he's afraid of vacuum cleaners no one can know
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 23, 2016 14:36:26 GMT
Maybe the Court is like one big bureaucratic Anthony, trying to do what it thinks is the right thing from its distorted perspective and then bungling it in every way imaginable. Why "maybe"? Any bureaucracy ends up as an implementation of insecure, but self-important and overconfident form of schizophrenia. It's a law of un-nature, or something. Are you referring to the Peter Principle?
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anisky
Junior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by anisky on Apr 23, 2016 20:00:57 GMT
But at least they brought a bouncy castle thing for afterwards!
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Post by Sauzels on Apr 23, 2016 22:03:43 GMT
I just noticed there's a bunch of people standing off to the side on the left. Who are those people and why are they there? I assumed it's the obligatory crowd that's gathered around a scene of morbid interest.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Apr 24, 2016 0:37:23 GMT
I just noticed there's a bunch of people standing off to the side on the left. Who are those people and why are they there? I assumed it's the obligatory crowd that's gathered around a scene of morbid interest. Young female person has been randomly selected for extra screening.
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Post by keef on Apr 24, 2016 13:45:34 GMT
This page makes me feel we are back in the main story, the "Tony arc" maybe not completely over, but we're on track again. I like it. (and it's a beautiful page anyway)
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Post by OGRuddawg on Apr 24, 2016 16:46:04 GMT
I just wanna say, Annie's outfit is very cute in a "I'm going to the woods, but I still want to look nice for medium duties" kind of way. Not sure if I'm describing it correctly...
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Post by turion on Apr 24, 2016 17:44:11 GMT
New hypothesis. The seeds or whatever they are in the chapter icon belong to [Snuffle] and are about to be confiscated by the men in suits for decontamination - hence appearing on a white background, such as a light table or some such. Still doesn't answer the question of what they are, exactly, but betcha money they are not, in reality, that significant to [Snuffle]. Just an excuse for further cavity search. Absolutely. Remember that Coyote and Isengrin tried to smuggle in seeds before. The court will be expecting them to try stuff like that again.
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Post by warrl on Apr 24, 2016 19:10:40 GMT
Nitpick: we do not know for certain that Coyote had a paw in that plan. (The rest of your statement, no argument.)
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