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Post by mturtle7 on Sept 27, 2022 18:56:39 GMT
Okay, I am confused now... Didn't Annie notice anything when close to the Star Sea? Nothing? She is like half etheric...
Also, did she ever bring Renard close to the sea?
And how the hell can Lindsey swim there, if she was born from the Ether too...? Could it be that human dreams about aliens created their species, but they have become real people now...? How could that happen...? LINDSEY. IS. A. REAL. PERSON. (all caps for emphasis, not because I'm mad) (also, I mean "real" in the context of the comic, not...oh, you know what I mean.)
Bud is also a "real person", as is Shadow, Cvet, Red, Ayilu, and all the other 'etheric beings' we've met. Annie's fire powers are also real! I guess I didn't really touch on this in my last post, but let me be clear now - just because a creature or phenomenon defies the laws of science, and thus was presumably created by the ether, does NOT mean they are simply very convincing ether-dolls that can be easily dispelled by an ether collector! Or, to put it another way, just because they were created by the ether does not they are the ether. Like I was saying in my last post, which drmemory expanded upon, creatures like Coyote are just really attuned to the Ether itself in a special way, which is why Loup alone is feeling like this right now.
Actually, now that I think about it, a lot of this stuff is basically the exact same as certain pieces of exposition that Jones gave in the comic! Hold on...yeah, here we go. Jones said in "The Stone" that if you believe Coyote's Great Secret, then presumably she was also born from the ether, but she also makes it clear on the very next page that she currently has no connection to the ether whatsoever (something we already kinda knew, because Anja had to explain why Jones can't even use a blinker stone). Jones was (if you believe her & Coyote's claims) spat out of the Ether factory, and then cut off all contact and lost the Ether's phone number and address, so to speak. Creatures like, say, Shadow or Cvet are the same way - they were created by the Ether, and might have some freaky physics-defying powers that they were born with, but they haven't touched the Ether itself at all since then. Meanwhile, creatures like Annie or Anja (or Bud and Lindsey, actually) may or may not have some Ether-made stuff they were born with, but they've also learned how to reconnect with the Ether, at least enough so that they can kinda dip their face in, get a good look, and maybe mess around a tiny bit. I might expect them to notice something weird when they try to look into the ether and there's a big ether distortion nearby, but I doubt they'd be very personally affected. Beings like Coyote, Loup, or Zimmy, however, are intimately connected to the Ether, 24/7. Rather than being born with specific powers that then remain fixed throughout their lives, they can actively warp reality to make all-new effects limited only by the potential of human imagination. As Coyote put it, they're swimming in Ether while creatures like Annie just peer into it - so the difference between Annie and Loup right now, I imagine, is like the difference between sitting on the beach with your back facing the water, while a whirlpool churns in the deep ocean behind you, and actually being inside the whirlpool.
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Post by mturtle7 on Sept 26, 2022 17:18:10 GMT
Slightly confused about how Renard and Shadow were able to futz around on robo-boat without issue but aight. Maybe Renard being in a doll stabilizes him somehow and Shadow just isn't powerful enough, I guess. Or Zimmy was screwing up the power suction somehow. Presumably creatures like Annie are fine since they're relatively small amounts of power in a nice human wrapping. Alternatively this could be an amusingly obtuse callback to the whole fairies learning gravity physics thing. If the Star Ocean for some hilarious reason follows standard laws of physics then Loup's high "etheric mass" would lead to him experiencing a proportionally higher attractive force. Honestly that would be pretty great. My vague understanding is that creatures who are merely created by Ether and have natural etheric powers are categorically different from beings like Coyote or Loup, who are so far outside the bounds of reality they're practically immersed in Ether 24/7. As Coyote put it to Annie that one time, "you may only peer into it with your blinker stone, but I swim in the ether!" Going by that swimming analogy, I think that Renard is like someone who can swim a little ways but prefers to just stay on dry land most of the time, and the activated Star Ocean is like the biggest honkin' whirlpool of all time.
Ooh, that's actually also a good theory! I love it when the "laws of magic" borrow from the actual laws of science. I love the language you use for this.
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Post by mturtle7 on Sept 25, 2022 15:04:41 GMT
The rule of thumb(lr) is, “if it’s in tumblr-speak, ask yourself whether you really want to know first”, isn’t it? Tumblr nonsense is inconsequential to me. What I see from laaaa is another in an infinite number of examples of someone with a minority sexual preference (or lack thereof) desperately trying to claim representation where none exists. The more you guys talk about this, the more you're actually pushing me into headcanon-ing that Annie is ace-aro after all. I used to be convinced that she was allo, but I will happily do a turnabout just so that I can side with laaaa here.
Reality is fluid, thanks to the death of the author. Sexuality, romance, and orientation are all fluid, for nobody can truly understand the depth of their conscious and unconscious complexity. Who's to say where Annie lies on the ace/aro spectrum, if she herself is non-committal on that specific matter (or rather, it hasn't really come up yet)? Who can deny the Totally Ace vibes she gives off whenever she shows total indifference and/or obliviousness to matters she's "supposed" to be passionate about?! Annie is an aro/ace ICON and NOBODY CAN GAINSAY ME!
EDIT: Well now I feel incredibly awkward that I posted this right after laaaa requested we drop the topic. maxptc and drmemory have very legit points too, and I'm actually fine with backing off here if this is making people uncomfortable. I just like to headcanon characters as ace/aro as a fun and silly way to celebrate my identity, but once it stops being fun and silly, I have no reason to continue. Sorry about that!
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Post by mturtle7 on Sept 21, 2022 16:48:29 GMT
i get what's going on. i do. the new god formed from two older gods, whos now technically/philosophically about annies age, pulls a renard and takes a human form to get closer to annie. hes a baby basically, hes incredibly possessive and jealous, so it shows up as romantic feelings for annie + jealousy over her mentor/father figure/friend. who knows if either of these feelings are true and not just him trying to rationalize his obsession. lana is kind of just a collateral as well as a foil imo. collateral because shes definitely getting hurt, but her naiveté is the same as loup/jerrek. she doesn't know how love works, she's also new. hence the weird rushed confession. who knows if shes actually feeling romantic love or if shes learned in her darned books that the only way to keep a boy around you when you're a girl is to get together with him romantically. right now i hate the vibes though, im sorry. this is just my opinion here, but jerrek is not nearly charismatic/charming enough to warrant the young boy manipulating a young girl plotline as something cute and endearing or even funny. the tone is all off. the alley scene was a severe tonal shift and made things much more serious ? and the renard jealousy could be cute if we hadnt had our fair share of crude jokes about that back in the day. (im glad tom moved away from that, and made their relationship evolve into something much better, but its kinda hard to forget the jokes between an old god and an 11 year old girl, especially when the text is kinda making a reference to that by making someone misinterpret their relationship entirely.) like... its probably personal sensitivity, but unfortunately right now thinking about the current plotlines just makes me feel a bit of dread. this isnt to say the webcomic is making me miserable or anything, but im mostly writing this to see if im the only one honestly a bit uncomfortable with this whole mess. i feel like it was intended to be more light hearted than it comes out as. Yeah...you're, uh, definitely not alone in those feelings, buddy. I'm not gonna go too much into this, but there's a reason I haven't been posting much lately on the new page threads. ...What I will say, is that I look forward to a day when I can genuinely be excited about checking the new GC update again, rather than checking it out of habit, but inwardly dreading another page which makes me cringe so hard I actually physically rear back from my computer screen. Until then, I'm afraid I'm not going to be a very fun forum participant. So...yeah.
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Post by mturtle7 on Sept 13, 2022 3:46:06 GMT
I actually don't know how I think Loup will handle Lana stalking him and butting into his "date" with Annie. Part of me sees him flipping out or doing something crazy to remove Lana from the situation, because he is crazy and the emotional equivalent of a wounded animal. But he may just straight up not care or think that he can use Lana and her crush to his advantage in regards to Annie and the star ocean, Loup is rather unpredictable. I think it would be much more in keeping with Loup's personality if he just attempted to do/feel all of those things you listed at once!
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Post by mturtle7 on Aug 31, 2022 16:52:43 GMT
I think because he's about to get distracted from his intention to discard Jerrek by Jerrek's crush on Annie. So uhh hey Annie do you have dinner plans? Honestly, I just assumed this was already their first date. I mean, I imagine that Annie may or may not have left some ambiguity about whether it's technically a date date, so as to not put too much pressure on the whole thing and rule out the possibility of them being friends (that seems like an Annie thing to do)...but, c'mon. They're alone together, in what looks like a nice park (based on that one panel from last page), and she's ranting about her personal life in a way that makes it clear she expects sympathy and support from Jerrek. I'm pretty sure this is a date. I'll admit that I don't get it. He hates The Court. The Court wants to leave. So. Just let them? Problem solved. From his dialogue on the page, it sounds like he's only interested in the Court's star ocean right now because he thinks Coyote was interested in it, and he really really wants to fulfill whatever purpose Coyote left behind for him. Poor guy has issues, what can I tell ya.
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Post by mturtle7 on Aug 26, 2022 2:32:29 GMT
Another psychopomp mystery: Why do they feel like they have a claim on specific souls? In the burned boy incident, two different psychopomps both wanted to escort the boy's soul into the ether. Why does it matter who does it? In the dead Mort incident, Anjou says "But... he's mine!" and looks flustered. Why would this matter? Maybe my PSC (Psychopomp Steering Committee) joke isn't as much of a joke as intended. It almost seems like there is a bureaucracy involved here. My theory about this is that taking a soul into the Ether gives that psychopomp some kind of power/energy/strength/mana/etc. It keeps the world spinning for that particular guide. I could sworn it was explained somewhere that the psychopomps generally have claim only over those souls who believe in them or at least belong to the culture which believes in them - hence, different groups of British people who are descended from different subcultures are claimed by Ankou, Mallt-y-nos, the Moddey Dhoo, or any of the many other British psychopomps whose stories are still told. However...I can't actually find where I got this idea! It doesn't seem to be anywhere in the comic, nor in the old Formspring Q&A, nor in the retrospectives...I'll just put it down as my cool wildspec, then.
It would also fit nicely with Gemminie's theory that the psychopomps get a personal Ether boost from escorting each new soul; each new soul they escort puts a little more belief in their own myth into the Ether which (in theory) gives them life and form!
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Post by mturtle7 on Aug 22, 2022 18:40:24 GMT
THIS EXPLAINS SO MUCH THAT I NEVER THOUGHT WOULD BE EXPLAINED
HOLY SHIT
After the disappointment that was the resolution to the whole Twin Annies arc, I feel enormously heartened by this, which just feels like a truly classic Top-Tier Gunnerkrigg Revelation, where Tom takes a whole bunch of the background weirdness we always took for granted and reveals an entire world (no pun intended) of plot-relevant stuff behind it.
And I actually really love how Aata just clearly forgot this was something he even needed to explain to Annie and Kat. What's an earth-shattering revelation to our favorite duo (and us, the audience) has just been common knowledge for Aata and many of his peers like Shell, and they've had quite a lot of other stuff on their minds so I can see why they might forget to tell the kids.
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Post by mturtle7 on Aug 10, 2022 18:16:18 GMT
There are simpler ways to tell Kat doesn't see through all magic at her current state because one she still see's Annie's fire for what it is, the wisp chapter, Rey changing forms etc etc. It's more like she is seeing through global enchantments. And not even high levels of them because the Norns part of existence didn't look like a empty room and someone with 2 mirrors on the side of their face Yeah - like I said, there are many other possible examples. I chose Ankou because that was so close in theme, circumstance, and proximity to an actual instance of Kat's ability. Also:
The exact nature of Kat's ability is not exactly clear, but the common element between both times we see it in play is that it takes effects that are meant to etherically obfuscate the truth of something by making them look big, complex, and dramatic, and instead it makes Kat see them as simple and mundane things which she can (and does) easily handle with mundane skills.
The Norns ain't lying, so Kat can see them just fine.
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Post by mturtle7 on Aug 10, 2022 18:03:14 GMT
A thought: one very natural, very common phenomenon I have observed in GC fandom is that for every Mysterious Thing that's left waiting in the wings, a bunch of readers will assume every single new development is actually connected to that Thing. This is fine, I accept it as an important component of the great Wild Speculation engine that I love. However...
What I hate is that there are two particular Mysterious Things that just keep getting brought up over and over again, and it's always because people are misunderstanding what they mean in the exact same way, and I always feel the inexplicable need to correct them in the exact same way. I am seriously determined now to create two "stock corrections" that I will just copy-paste into a post whenever I feel the need to argue with someone about one of these two things, and be done with it. Here goes:
a) Kat's "logic vision", which we first encountered in "Chapter 46: The Realm of the Dead" and later encountered in "Chapter 60: The Other Shore", does not actually apply to everything magic. I know that when we see this ability in play, it really feels like she's just seeing through all the magic, so this is still a perfectly reasonable mistake to make, but I still think it is a mistake. I say this because Kat can still see, for example, Ankou the Psychopomp as exactly the unnatural etheric creature he is. The same holds true for a variety of other magical beings & effects in the comic. I won't try to name every single one of those, the Ankou thing just makes a good example because he's a spooky guy kind of like the ROTD Recordkeeper guy, but Kat was unafraid of that guy while she was afraid of Ankou. The exact nature of Kat's ability is not exactly clear, but the common element between both times we see it in play is that it takes effects that are meant to etherically obfuscate the truth of something by making them look big, complex, and dramatic, and instead it makes Kat see them as simple and mundane things which she can (and does) easily handle with mundane skills. b) Coyote's Great Secret, which was first revealed by Coyote in "Chapter 39: The Great Secret" and is later expounded upon by Jones in "Chapter 40: The Stone", does not actually mean that you can make anything be real just by getting a large group of people to believe in it, nor does it mean everything etheric in the world of Gunnerkrigg comes precisely from a popular myth or legend. I honestly get why one might think this, since "belief magic" is a pretty popular concept in modern media, and both Coyote and Jones' explanation of it really emphasize how much power humans are supposed to have under this theory (and in particular, how scary that power is). However, there are a lot of problems with taking this at face value, not least of which is the fact that the "Great Secret" is nothing more than wild, evidence-free, speculation by Coyote, who is not the most unbiased or trustworthy source of info. But also, Coyote himself in his point that the Ether always exists unto itself, and the only reason etheric stuff resembles human myths is because human souls are absorbed into the ether only when they die. And furthermore, lots of etheric stuff that goes on in the world of Gunnerkrigg is either wholly an original creation of Tom Siddell's, or an old myth with a very original twist on it. For instance, City Fairies have plenty of qualities that aren't normally attributed to fairies by humans, and Coyote does lots of things in the story that are not featured in classical Native American mythology (e.g. committing suicide by wolf). So it stands to reason that even if one was to deliberately convince a very large group of humans of a specific piece of folklore, and then kill those humans so they're absorbed into the Ether, any etheric creatures that may result will probably not exist or act in precisely the way you intended.
May I link to this post in my signature? These two misconceptions irk me to no end as well. Ha! I thought other people might feel the same way I did, but it didn't occur to me they could just link directly to that post. I'm glad my little frustration outlet could help!
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Post by mturtle7 on Aug 10, 2022 17:42:05 GMT
What the hell does "travel the stars in a semi-metaphorical state" mean? Maybe the sentence is just too ambiguous for a non-native speaker, but all I can think of is that the people who embark on this journey will have to be partially transformed into metaphors. Uh... Yup, pretty sure the answer which you (quite sensibly) think is too ridiculous to be true is exactly what they mean. Alternatively, I think you could also see it as them being partially transformed into "purely etheric beings" - i.e., human concepts made only kinda-sorta-"real" by the ether, such as a certain trickster god we all know and love. It's really interesting (and unexpected, at least for me) to see that the Court and Coyote actually have very similar ideas about what the ether is and how it works!
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Post by mturtle7 on Aug 9, 2022 3:43:40 GMT
Or maybe... only Kat can't see them? If this is some kind of being made entirely of ether, it would make sense for Kat to be unable to perceive them. A thought: one very natural, very common phenomenon I have observed in GC fandom is that for every Mysterious Thing that's left waiting in the wings, a bunch of readers will assume every single new development is actually connected to that Thing. This is fine, I accept it as an important component of the great Wild Speculation engine that I love. However...
What I hate is that there are two particular Mysterious Things that just keep getting brought up over and over again, and it's always because people are misunderstanding what they mean in the exact same way, and I always feel the inexplicable need to correct them in the exact same way. I am seriously determined now to create two "stock corrections" that I will just copy-paste into a post whenever I feel the need to argue with someone about one of these two things, and be done with it. Here goes:
a) Kat's "logic vision", which we first encountered in "Chapter 46: The Realm of the Dead" and later encountered in "Chapter 60: The Other Shore", does not actually apply to everything magic. I know that when we see this ability in play, it really feels like she's just seeing through all the magic, so this is still a perfectly reasonable mistake to make, but I still think it is a mistake. I say this because Kat can still see, for example, Ankou the Psychopomp as exactly the unnatural etheric creature he is. The same holds true for a variety of other magical beings & effects in the comic. I won't try to name every single one of those, the Ankou thing just makes a good example because he's a spooky guy kind of like the ROTD Recordkeeper guy, but Kat was unafraid of that guy while she was afraid of Ankou. The exact nature of Kat's ability is not exactly clear, but the common element between both times we see it in play is that it takes effects that are meant to etherically obfuscate the truth of something by making them look big, complex, and dramatic, and instead it makes Kat see them as simple and mundane things which she can (and does) easily handle with mundane skills. b) Coyote's Great Secret, which was first revealed by Coyote in "Chapter 39: The Great Secret" and is later expounded upon by Jones in "Chapter 40: The Stone", does not actually mean that you can make anything be real just by getting a large group of people to believe in it, nor does it mean everything etheric in the world of Gunnerkrigg comes precisely from a popular myth or legend. I honestly get why one might think this, since "belief magic" is a pretty popular concept in modern media, and both Coyote and Jones' explanation of it really emphasize how much power humans are supposed to have under this theory (and in particular, how scary that power is). However, there are a lot of problems with taking this at face value, not least of which is the fact that the "Great Secret" is nothing more than wild, evidence-free, speculation by Coyote, who is not the most unbiased or trustworthy source of info. But also, Coyote himself mentioned in his arguement that the Ether always exists unto itself, and the only reason etheric stuff resembles human myths is because human souls are absorbed into the ether only when they die. And furthermore, lots of etheric stuff that goes on in the world of Gunnerkrigg is either wholly an original creation of Tom Siddell's, or an old myth with a very original twist on it. For instance, City Fairies have plenty of qualities that aren't normally attributed to fairies by humans, and Coyote does lots of things in the story that are not featured in classical Native American mythology (e.g. committing suicide by wolf). So it stands to reason that even if one was to deliberately convince a very large group of humans of a specific piece of folklore, and then kill those humans so they're absorbed into the Ether, any etheric creatures that may result will probably not exist or act in precisely the way you intended.
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Post by mturtle7 on Aug 9, 2022 2:09:23 GMT
I'm sure the vast majority of you will not think this is as funny as I think it is. View AttachmentAhahahhahahaha oh god
(well, *I* think it's pretty funny, anyway. It's possible I still don't find it as funny as you think it is, but you'd have to think it's pretty damn funny for that to be the case!)
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Post by mturtle7 on Aug 6, 2022 16:01:34 GMT
3. Also, isn't Jones tied to this world? She has no memories before the formation, though the idea of her interminably floating out in space has always amused me. She's stronger than anything on Earth; is she stronger than anything on their woo-woo planet? An interesting thought I had while writing my other post in this thread, but didn't really have the time/energy to include: Earth is the only world where Jones was around to confirm that the stars were always in the sky. Earth is (as far as we know) extremely unique for having her perspective around; I wonder if going to a truly unknown, unexplored planet could have larger implications than the Court realizes, as far as the development of the Ether goes.
Also, todd I can't believe I didn't see this until you (sort of) brought it up, but the exodus of the Court has some interesting parallels with the death of Coyote...
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Post by mturtle7 on Aug 5, 2022 15:36:25 GMT
AUGH OF COURSE
I knew it had to be some weird sci-fi destination, but I can't believe I went with "microscopic world inside a water droplet" rather than the more classic "habitable planet beyond our star". Although, to be fair, interstellar travel via OCEAN is a pretty damn novel premise. I wonder how it works? Some sort of space warp that only works in the open water? We'll see, I guess.
Also, I'm gonna just go ahead and get behind those who are pointing out the Court doesn't necessarily know about the "retroactive causality" thing. I mean, I guess Jones might have told them, but that's only if they asked her directly. Heck, even if they did hear about it, they could easily dismiss it as highly unscientific, unsupported, speculation from a dubious source (and they wouldn't be entirely wrong to do so). They're probably assuming that ether is just a sort of energy, that can (theoretically) be tracked, transferred, and contained just like anything else. So if they go to a world "uncontaminated" by the...let's say, the "etheric ecosystem" of Earth, they should be able to finally have complete control over their own carefully curated supply of pure Ether, so they can make it stay 100% in line with their enlightened society's perfectly logical rules. After all, it's not like their own methods could have any flaws...it's just been those messy superstitious types that keep mucking things up, and now they can finally be free of all that!
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Post by mturtle7 on Aug 3, 2022 16:16:25 GMT
It's not an ocean, just a tiny water droplet in a carefully sealed container, with it's connection to the rest of space-time distorted so that it appears ocean-like from this beach (and ONLY this beach). The smallest "enclosed system" the Court could engineer, all to create the optimal conditions for Omega and worst possible conditions for any potential Etheric contaminants.
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Post by mturtle7 on Jul 22, 2022 17:52:51 GMT
Is anyone else getting vibes here from that one episode in Steven Universe inside Rose's Room?? No? Just me?... Hahah, literally exactly my thought as well. You're out for a walk by the coast, returning home after a whole weird adventure, and see a bunch of familiar faces...but then they all start acting weird and static...
If they get to Kat and she starts blankly reciting a single familiar phrase at Annie over and over, I'll scream.
God that episode was terrifying...
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Post by mturtle7 on Jul 7, 2022 16:31:44 GMT
dunno where to put this but it's like what if old Shadow was a game We have a thread for exactly this sort of thing, actually! It's called Themed Artwork, any stuff you find which strongly reminds you of GC but isn't directly related can go there.
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Post by mturtle7 on Jun 16, 2022 22:32:40 GMT
Apropos of nothing, is it just me, or has Parley actually become EVEN MORE ripped and bulky since we last saw her?
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Post by mturtle7 on Jun 13, 2022 16:46:22 GMT
Annie and Renard speak via their familiar connection; it seems both of them already know who has gotten invitations and who hasn't: namely, the people who aren't Ether-sensitive got them. I'm not sure how they know this, when we didn't see them find out who got them and who didn't; perhaps it's an Ether thing. I was wondering about that too. Looking back at the previous page, though, I'm realizing that the way Annie's positioned in that last panel might have allowed her to read that letter over Kat's shoulder? She seems kind of far away and to the side for that, but it's the only explanation I can see. And I guess Renard must have been close enough to her to also read it, even if he was off-panel.
As a side note, what kind of super-technological school sends their announcements to students using only PAPER LETTERS in this day and age?!? What, were their fax machines all out of order? Did Winsbury have to go to the telegram office to get that message?
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Post by mturtle7 on Jun 2, 2022 1:59:06 GMT
Yeah...honestly, I kind of feels like all of Kat's character development from that chapter in particular is just being erased right now. It's pretty weird.
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Post by mturtle7 on May 30, 2022 18:52:24 GMT
I...ok, I get the gist of what's supposed to be the emotional tone of this scene, but logically speaking I'm rather confused about what "rules and regulations" Kat is talking about. As far as we've seen, the upper echelons of the Court are literally the only people who've ever tried or wanted to impose any rules or regulations on her research...hell even her parents have been aggressively enthusiastic about letting her do science freely and unsupervised! Furthermore, I thought the entire reason the Court was moving away was so they could escape Etheric contamination, and the Ether is pretty much the opposite of "the regular rules and restrictions."
I can see why Kat would feel trapped and restricted lately, but again, there's no damn way that leaving would help with that. As far as we've seen, all her most recent research either involves one of three things: etheric artifacts like the Arrow or Anja's Computer, the New People (ex-robots), or Loup's primordial wood-stone substance. Every single one of those avenues of research requires her to stay right where she is! What's she getting all wistful about, then???
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Post by mturtle7 on May 23, 2022 19:45:49 GMT
I'm surprised so many people think that Annie is oblivious to Jerrek's crush...well, ok, not that surprised. A bit frustrated, though. I kind of feel like a lot of people are assuming that she's "oblivious" as long as she's not loudly rejecting him, asking him out, or making out with him. But there's a difference between being passive and being oblivious! My immediate interpretation of this page was this: Annie's aware that Jerrek's romantically pursuing her, and isn't opposed to that kind of relationship but is happy to just let him take the initiative. If he manages to gather the courage to ask her out, fine, she'll try it, seems like it might be nice. If he doesn't, well, that's ok too, she's happy being single. In the meantime, she'll just accept whatever little romantic things he does - like holding her hand or saying goodbye to her specially - and make it clear that those things make her happy.
I'm not exactly alloromantic myself, so this is more of an outside perspective than an inside one, but like...that IS something allos do, right?! It's like, a relatively normal, even traditional, form of romance?!? Or am I completely trolling here?
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Post by mturtle7 on May 23, 2022 17:07:49 GMT
I'm surprised more aren't focusing on the love triangle! What did Robot say when he was explaining jealousy to Lana? Other than something was wrong with her! Or was that not canon? What happens if someone notices Jerrek watching Annie, or Lana blushing? Best guess: Renard has noticed both, but doesn't feel like he needs to say anything (beyond his earlier comment about Annie having a fan).
Loup/Jerrek is totally self-centered and obsessed with Annie. Won't notice Lana until forced.
Annie has been told that Jerrek likes her, and she has to have noticed how he was when they talked, what with the hand panic and such. She even likes him, at least a bit, as he reminds her of Ysengrin for reasons she can't quite figure out. As for the rest, I doubt if she is paying any attention to Lana other than as a casual acquaintance. Kat isn't really very attentive to relationships, other than her own with Paz. In fact, a case could be made that she doesn't actually pay that much attention to that either. I expect we'll see Paz complaining about being neglected or something along those lines soon. But as for Annie/Jerrek/Lana? Naw, she hasn't noticed.
Lana noticed Jerrek watching Annie and is jealous. But who will she ask for advice? I suspect Robot may not be on top of her list for that, especially after the "something wrong with you" thing!
So... what happens next? I have to think the next move is up to Lana, whatever it is. If she had more self confidence, I'd guess she would approach Annie or Jerrek about it, but as is? Just don't know. I have to think it's more likely that someone else will notice and say something than that she will stand up for herself. On the bright side, none of the main characters has any reason to be mad at or dislike Lana, so she's probably more or less safe from Bad Things happening. *cue ominous music* I suspect one of the keys here is that, as of the latest page (specifically, that last panel), Kat finally HAS noticed about Jerrek at least, and looks like she's about to say something about it to Annie and/or Renard. It's at least a little possible she might vaguely suspect something about Lana's feelings towards Jerrek too, simply because while Lana isn't being too obvious about it, she does seem to be somewhat attached at the hip to Jerrek these days, and Kat probably spends a decent amount of time interacting with the NP (more than Annie, anyway).
I'm not sure where you got the idea that Kat doesn't pay much attention to other people's relationships, to be honest? I've always had the impression that she's quite attentive, in that she cares a lot about other people's love lives and thinks a lot of things are So Very Romantic, but she's just not very wise or good at looking beyond the surface of stuff. Like, off the top of my head, there was that whole thing where she decided Winsbury had a crush on Annie, and immediately threw herself into playing matchmaker? And she was better than Annie at noticing when it was time to leave Parley and Smitty alone together that one time.
Honestly though, I think if Kat does talk to Annie about Jerrek, it's not really going to change all that much? Annie knows full well that Jerrek (or rather "Jerrek") has a crush on her, and is being perfectly sensible and mature about it, IMHO. And if Kat has noticed something about Lana...hm. I'll go ahead and predict that Annie might tentatively mention it to Jerrek next time they talk, and also ask Kat to talk to Lana for her and see if there's any way to avoid a lot of trouble or heartbreak here.
Of course, this is all basically ignoring that fact that Jerrek is actually Loup, and only using this "crush" as an excuse to get closer to his enemies unnoticed (or at least that's what he's telling himself)! No idea how or when that's going to blow up in people's faces, but it IS going to happen, almost definitely.
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Post by mturtle7 on May 20, 2022 16:20:50 GMT
Oh, well that actually does kinda explain why Lana and Jerrek, specifically, were there. Using the earth movers for something complicated like that shelter is a skill, one which only the New People have really practiced! So I presume they asked for a couple of volunteers from among those working on robot recovery, and Lana and Jerrek were the ones who got picked (and/or, you know, it's because Lana and Jerrek are the only ones they're kinda friends with).
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Post by mturtle7 on May 14, 2022 17:17:19 GMT
From your Wikipedia quote: "It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim" This trap was triggered by Kat pushing a button. Kat is not the victim of the trap. As for war crimes: 164 nations have signed on to a treaty banning land mines - but not necessarily all forms of booby trap - in warfare. There are somewhere between 193 and 210 nations depending on how and whom you count, so at least 29 nations have NOT signed that treaty - including China, Russia, and the US. But it is triggered by the presence of Loup, his entering the area is why it was triggered. I'm willing to accept I could be mistaken about that interpretation, maybe it only means the direct actions or presence, and not that the presence or actions caused someone to activate a trap. Even in that case, I'd still say that using this technology to trap Loup is essentially the same thing the Court did, if to a more deserving victim. Of course, i dont think this is really working, I still believe Loup is control of this situation because none of them suspect he is Jerrek. OK, so this is probably (almost certainly) kind of beating a dead horse...but as others have pointed out, by the logic you're using, waiting in ambush for someone with a sniper rifle is a booby trap. Actually, I'm pretty sure you could argue that literally any form of deliberate, pre-meditated violence is a "booby trap" by this definition, since you have to wait for your intended victim to be within range, and therefore it's "triggered" by their presence, or their "action" of moving within range. As you have tentatively acknowledged the possibility of, "triggered" actually implies that it's the direct actions or presence of the victim, not someone's personal motivations that begin with the victim's actions or presence.
Anyway!!! Now that that bit of outraged pedantry is out of my system...HOOOOO BOY THIS DEVELOPEMNT IS EXTREMELY WORRYING ON SO MANY LEVELS. Over and over again, the comic has emphasized that using the arrow as a weapon is Very Bad News, that Kat was only entrusted with it because she would use it for research and not violence...and here she is now, not only using it for violence, but doing so in an upgraded capacity! No longer a single arrow that requires a skilled archer to make it fly true, we now have a manufactured, reproducible, LASER ARROW that can just appear out of nowhere and impale your soul from 50 yards away. I suppose it's possible that the effects of the laser arrows aren't quite as terrifyingly thorough as the original arrow, but that's not saying much - if it's even half as effective as the original, that's still terrifying as hell! And what's worse, as maxptc said, is that this isn't even going to work...best case scenario, they manage to trap a significant portion of Loup, while Jerrek-Loup is still on the outside and fully capable of wreaking havoc. Which might lead Kat to resort to even more desperate measures, later on...
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Post by mturtle7 on May 14, 2022 16:24:12 GMT
Indeed. However, Annie's planning skillz work in mysterious ways. When the gang freed Jeanne and her boyfriend, for example, Renard wasn't with them... Instead there was Red, who did nothing but fool around and be a general millstone round the others' collective neck. While Reynardine's presence still remains a mystery (I assume that Tom just couldn't think of anything to do with him and couldn't figure out an in-story explanation for leaving him out), I assume that Red's presence was necessary to get Ayilu (who had a genuine role) to come. I mean, I don't think there really needs to be a special reason to leave him out? Annie carefully put together a plan, and brought only the people that were necessary for the plan to work - bringing along anyone else to be put in danger would have been irresponsible! They needed Parley and Smitty to teleport them all to exactly the right spot in an instant, Ayilu to keep Jeanne trapped in an illusion, Kat to operate the arrow-finder, Annie to retrieve the arrow, and Robot to help distract Jeanne with swordplay (especially since he can get his body torn apart without dying). And, yes, Red, solely because she's an idiot who insisted on being there for her friend's big moment. Renard could have easily gotten killed if he came along, and his unique skills (body-snatching, shape-shifting, etc.) wouldn't have contributed much to the plan. Narratively, I agree it did feel a bit surprising that he wasn't there, but in-story, yeah I think it made perfect sense to leave him out, and he's wise enough to understand that.
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Post by mturtle7 on May 12, 2022 17:00:15 GMT
Interesting! And now I wonder what exactly she will see; I'm reminded of her experience in the Realm of the Dead. She will see the same as the rest of them... Kat only experiences reality differently when she is in another dimension or similar.
Huh...you know, I always assumed that Kat could just see through illusions & perception-altering tricks (and both the arrow trap and the ROTD were just smoke and mirrors), but now that I think about it, your explanation actually works just as well! I guess we'll see whenever Kat starts seeing different stuff than the others again.
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Post by mturtle7 on May 8, 2022 0:15:20 GMT
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Post by mturtle7 on Apr 16, 2022 23:29:14 GMT
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=543"predetermination towards etheric sciences" PREDETERMINATION. Confirmation I think that Omega was directing the decision, and that is also probably why Surma and Anya were switched into a different house as and when they were. And I'd completely missed until now that Surma refers to Anya as Anny and that therefore Annie's name is probably intended by Surma to be a tribute to her best friend! I'm pretty sure "predetermination towards etheric sciences" is just a fancy euphemism for being born with magic powers...although, if Omega could predict that sort of thing even before the kids themselves know about it, that WOULD shine a lot of light on the Court's peculiar ways of recruiting students. And also why the Court would make such blatant mistake in their housing assignments, if Omega's inaccuracies were already starting then! This all makes me wonder just how far back the Court's Omega Project actually goes...perhaps even back to the advent of the first computers?
Also, I'm afraid while I see your point about the "Anny"/"Annie" similarity, I think it's just a coincidence, since we already learned that Antimony was named after her great-grandmother.
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