[2869] "What is this?!"

[imaginaryfriend]

I thought Clippy the Translator looked a little surprised/displeased on the last page of last chapter. It seems despite summoning her he wasn't prepared for the advent of the mecha goddess.

[philman]

Oh the use of hypodermic needles as eyes is creeping me out

[jaybird]

Nov 29, 2023 8:11:15 GMT philman said:

Oh the use of hypodermic needles as eyes is creeping me out

They do look a bit like eyes, but is it also Kat trying to probe the ether somehow? The way that they enter the page looks more ... literal than it just being a representation of her eyes.

[bicarbonat]

Doesn't feel good to get Kool-Aid Manned, now does it, Translator? Maybe we've all learned a valuable lesson today.

I kind of want Kat to drink Saslamel or Translator up with her hypodermetheric needles, Daniel Day-Lewis style. It'd be an interesting parallel to what Tony did (and ironic, considering that she despised him for quite some time) with his bones.

I could see the uniting factors being desire (to have vs to know) and getting into the guts of something (etheric matters) before fully understanding it.

[justcurious]

So the Translator and probably the Arbiter do not realize what Kat has become. She doesn't either.
And Coyote does not know what either Kat or Zimmy are. Hence the failure of his plan. He made no allowance for the existence of the New People.
Loup appears to have some idea of what Kat is but probably not what Zimmy is.
Now we have gods running up against the limits of their knowledge for the first time. Interesting to see how this plays out.
Coyote knows that it is necessary for there to be such limits.
Omega is the attempt to remove such limits. It appears to be failing as it has to.
The Dead World part of the title suggests that this chapter will be dealing with the consequences of the attempt to gain complete knowledge.

[basser]

Oh hol up, did Kat's soul get corrupted by being hardwired into the network?

I mean ok wait. So if we think in terms of narrative structure we should expect translate ghost and lawyer wall to be here in association with the magic soul trappin arrow, since that's what they were first introduced to the story to exposit upon. Bringing them back should trigger the reader to remember details of how that worked. And it would then logically follow that Kat used the magic soul arrow to magic her soul.

Biggest and most delighted of yikes if it turns out she wanted Annie to do the microchip surgery not because she trusts the top surgery skills of an untrained teenager but actually because she needed a psychopomp to implant a bit of magic arrow in her so she could tap into that sweet sweet death energy. Hot dang that would be some top spicy drama.

Another fun and horrifying possibility to consider is that Annie could have straight up ferried Kat's soul without realizing, just like she did to her mom. Not into the ether but, uh, into the ether... net? Into the ethernet cable? Because the arrow lets you tether a soul to a river so why not use it to tether a soul to the Court network? I dunno just roll with it.

Anyway so conclusion: Kat's body is just a meat puppet now. She quite literally is the Court. Her soul looks like a wacky hyperdimensional tube lady cause it's been fused with a hyperdimensional server farm slash boarding school.

Aaand then that also possibly counts as a narrative callback to Paz and her mice dilemma? Also might explain why Paz was so upset about the chip thing (and also made zero effort to stop it) if she knew more about what Kat was planning than she told Annie.

[imaginaryfriend]

By The Way I like the contrast between Saslamel, who is probably an old instrumental* deity of some sort, and the new version of divinity.

*Going by appearance I'm guessing Saslamel was a very old subordinate door-keeper god who worked for another god, and since losing all worshippers passed out of memory and found a new place working in the etheric bureaucracy. It's fitting that a literal gate-keeper would usher in this new phase.

Nov 29, 2023 8:14:41 GMT jaybird said:

Nov 29, 2023 8:11:15 GMT philman said:

Oh the use of hypodermic needles as eyes is creeping me out

They do look a bit like eyes, but is it also Kat trying to probe the ether somehow? The way that they enter the page looks more ... literal than it just being a representation of her eyes.

Kat is connected to the ether and also perceives reality through her device(s) and the cables could have been a metaphor, until the ether made it nice and real... except the mecha-goddess Kat started appearing before the connection so the effect preceded the cause, which in the Gunnerverse just means the story is unfolding as it should. As for the hypo-looking tips... Kat's mind is good at separating things into components and understanding how things work. Like the cables represent connection, the hypo-looking things represent... I'll call it invasive (and probably destructive) testing...

Lookin' at you, Zimmy.

[Angry Individual]

Okay sure the hypodermic needles being eyes is a little upsetting...

But what if she looks in two different directions like a slug with them? Imagine....

[arf]

'This' appears to be a lesson in why you should be careful what you wish for.

[csj]

Nov 29, 2023 9:19:58 GMT arf said:

'This' appears to be a lesson in why you should be careful what you wish for.

'Would you like to save it?'

you are now reading this inside a clippit speech bubble

[artemis]

Has anyone hypothesized yet that perhaps this is the original Kat from the start of the time loop? The Kat that couldn’t save her dimension’s Annie and was doomed to a darker future?

“There's a version of me in some other dimension that lost you, Annie. There's a Kat out there, somewhere, that was so sad she had to break time.”
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2315

“She was set to travel a dark road...”
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2426

This could also be the version of Kat that kills Zimmy?
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2731

[AluK]

Nov 29, 2023 9:49:50 GMT artemis said:

Has anyone hypothesized yet that perhaps this is the original Kat from the start of the time loop? The Kat that couldn’t save her dimension’s Annie and was doomed to a darker future?

“There's a version of me in some other dimension that lost you, Annie. There's a Kat out there, somewhere, that was so sad she had to break time.”
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2315

“She was set to travel a dark road...”
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2426

This could also be the version of Kat that kills Zimmy?
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2731

The Kat That Broke Time has a nice ring to it. I like it.

[philman]

Hang on, I only just realised, it is only Saslamel that has been smashed and Kat's robo goddess that has appeared in its place, Kat won't be replacing the psychopomp, she will be replacing Saslamel as the infinite judge?

[imaginaryfriend]

Nov 29, 2023 12:04:15 GMT philman said:

Hang on, I only just realised, it is only Saslamel that has been smashed and Kat's robo goddess that has appeared in its place, Kat won't be replacing the psychopomp, she will be replacing Saslamel as the infinite judge?

She's replacing him here, at least a little. I don't think the etheric bureaucracy is her scene, though.

[stci]

Kat has always smashed through the ether's illusions. Now she's doing it for everyone else too.

[Karretch]

Nov 29, 2023 9:49:50 GMT artemis said:

Has anyone hypothesized yet that perhaps this is the original Kat from the start of the time loop? The Kat that couldn’t save her dimension’s Annie and was doomed to a darker future?

“There's a version of me in some other dimension that lost you, Annie. There's a Kat out there, somewhere, that was so sad she had to break time.”
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2315

“She was set to travel a dark road...”
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2426

This could also be the version of Kat that kills Zimmy?
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2731

I had that thought, too, particularly because of the chapter's title.

[pyradonis]

Clippy seems to be similarly delighted at this turn of events as to how Coyote was.

[manabi]

Nov 29, 2023 8:21:01 GMT bicarbonat said:

Doesn't feel good to get Kool-Aid Manned, now does it, Translator? Maybe we've all learned a valuable lesson today.

To be fair to Translator, it's probably Saslamel that does the whole Kool-Aid-Manning bit, not him.  And Saslamel's too stuck in his ways to change.

[ctso74]

There's an "eye of the needle" joke here somewhere.

[Gemini Jim]

Mecha-Kat hasn't said anything yet. In fact, Kat hasn't done her walkie-talkie helper Chao/ Navi routine since the bridge. So she might not know anything about the Robot attack, or Jeanne, or the death of the NPC.


There's still hope that Kat doesn't see herself as Mecha-Kat. All of this glass breaking by a kaiju-sized Kat could be just how Annie's etheric-trained mind is interpreting Kat's entrance. She's literally breaking the Distortion, or at least breaking through it.

Hopefully, "breaking" the Distortion probably means (hopefully) that the Distortion's effects will disappear, and we'll eventually find out who's a real NPC and who's an illusion or a human "in disguise." Also, it increases the chance that Kat is Kat and not some Annie memory-caused Distortion wackiness.

Still, if Kat's analytical mind is protecting her from seeing her Mecha-Kat form, that still leaves the problem of Annie having to explain what the heck just happened with Jeanne shish-kabobing Saitama.

I predict a lot of "what?" reactions from Kat, one way or another. ("A NPC just died." "What?" "And you have to be a 'pomp." "What??" <- insert Harry/ Hagrid meme here.)

[bicarbonat]

Nov 29, 2023 14:45:21 GMT manabi said:

Nov 29, 2023 8:21:01 GMT bicarbonat said:

Doesn't feel good to get Kool-Aid Manned, now does it, Translator? Maybe we've all learned a valuable lesson today.

To be fair to Translator, it's probably Saslamel that does the whole Kool-Aid-Manning bit, not him.  And Saslamel's too stuck in his ways to change.

Yes, but Translator's also the assistant/lackey/+1 who gives enough attitude for both of them

[Gemminie]

The bronze-colored congeries of wires, tubes, and blades that we've come to call the Machine Angel and other names is in the background, overlaid with sharpened tubes that look like hypodermic needle or lancet tips. It appears to be reaching through the shattered glass. Within the fragments of shattered glass we can see the Interpreter, who looks even less happy than he was on the final page of the previous chapter, and Annie, who is looking with what seems to be alarmed fascination at the mecha-being who has appeared.

Saslamel and the Interpreter called for the keeper of Sam's soul. The fact that the Interpreter is confused by what's happening suggests that this isn't what he expected. So either this isn't the keeper of Sam's soul and the MA is interrupting, or they've never seen a soul keeper (whatever that means) that looks like this before.

We've seen ethereal lancet tips before, in Treatise 8, for example, and I thought they symbolized probing into the ethereal using science. But Kat's also got Diego's Arrow in her chatelaine on that page, and that's the thing. She's been using either the Arrow itself or knowledge gained from studying it, and she knows of Arbiter Saslamel's existence. She may have set up some kind of failsafe in case she accidentally broke a rule, so Saslamel wouldn't be a threat, and this may be the form that it's taking. Current wild speculation is that this is not who Saslamel and the Interpreter meant to summon but a side effect of their interference with the New People. In other words, Kat's intent may be innocent, but she's become like a multi-billionaire: she can accidentally destroy lives by wiggling her little finger. OK, wild spec over.

[Gemminie]

Nov 29, 2023 9:49:50 GMT artemis said:

Has anyone hypothesized yet that perhaps this is the original Kat from the start of the time loop? The Kat that couldn’t save her dimension’s Annie and was doomed to a darker future?

“There's a version of me in some other dimension that lost you, Annie. There's a Kat out there, somewhere, that was so sad she had to break time.”
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2315

“She was set to travel a dark road...”
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2426

This could also be the version of Kat that kills Zimmy?
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2731

Yes, the Dark Kat theory has been one of the wild speculations that's been kicking around the forums, and my brain, for a while. It's not entirely unforeshadowed, but it's also far from proven ... so as with a lot of things, it could be, but I dunno. Maybe we'll find out more in this chapter?

If Kat was set to travel a dark road, then the original timeline's Kat went back in time to save Annie and ended up splitting off a new timeline with a new Kat who didn't have to grow up without Annie, and this could explain why both Saslamel and Brinnie saw Annie as "shifted" even though it wasn't the cause of there being two of her at the time. Our main story timeline isn't the original one, if this speculation is true; it's a changed one in which Annie was "supposed" to die early on and Kat was "supposed" to become a dark amoral techno overlord, but those things were prevented from happening by intervention from the real original timeline.

[Gemminie]

Nov 29, 2023 12:04:15 GMT philman said:

Hang on, I only just realised, it is only Saslamel that has been smashed and Kat's robo goddess that has appeared in its place, Kat won't be replacing the psychopomp, she will be replacing Saslamel as the infinite judge?

I don't know that Saslamel has been smashed; he's certainly been sidelined, though. We can't really take the shattering of the glass frames containing somebody as a sign of their demise, because if that were the case, Annie and the Interpeter would also be dead, and they're not being treated as if they are by the narrative.

Machine Angel [to Saslamel]: You! Corner time! Now!
Saslamel: Awwwww ... (no need to translate)

[blazingstar]

Clippy the Ghost doesn't seem to be surprised nor confused by what Kat looks like; his* coworker Saslamel, after all, is nearly impossible to behold to the human mind, and his true form can hardly be translated to a three-dimensional space. Clippy has met all manner of gods, spirits, and etheric creatures. I'm sure he's seen way weirder, and a thousand metal wires, cords, needles, and tubes all twisted together in a cold, faceless form that vaguely resembles a human is just another day on the job.

No, just as I suspected on the last page, the source of Clippy's shock stems not from Kat's appearance, but more from the fact that she seems to be breaking this plane of reality.The cracks appeared as soon as Clippy and Saslamel appeared, but for some reason no one seemed to notice. But now Kat has punched holes through those cracks, and seems to be trying to come through them. Kat's hypodermic needles are reaching out (clumsily? like she doesn't know where she is?) towards Clippy and Annie. It's notable that Clippy seems to take this as a threat, and bares the danger teeth. Is he afraid for his own safety? Or just enraged that punching a hole between realities is a clear VIOLATION OF THE RULES?

*Clippy's pronouns have never been confirmed, but I'm using "he/him" as a placeholder so as to avoid annoying English-language "singular/plural they" confusion.

[blazingstar]

My first thought upon reading this page was that Kat's breaking through dimensions seems to perfectly match Zimmy's first warning to Annie: "Your friend is starting to break through to the unseen world." An uncanny prediction. And this was right after Kat had transferred the very first New Person, Arthur, into his flesh body.

In the same breath, Zimmy specifically told Annie, "I'm telling ya, you gotta keep an eye on her!" It doesn't seem like Annie listened, did she? Or maybe she just didn't know how exactly she was supposed to "keep an eye" on her best friend who is rapidly becoming a magitek-wielding god.

[novia]

Anyone know what those spicy metal tortilla chips are on Kat's breastplate? They appeared on this page as well

www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1599

[gpvos]

THERE IS NO KAT, ONLY ZUUL.

[drmemory]

What do Annie and the Interpreter have in common?

They don't do their homework!

[novia]

hypodermic needle alert - treatise 8