[1202] Yea.. Ok

[yarksie]

I worry that tears will still happen. But it won't be the cheap drama kind. Tom-twisty kind.

[Toloc]

May 27, 2013 14:20:39 GMT download said:

Does anyone else get the feeling that might be a two part chapter like Spring Heeled? It just feels like it's not finished to me.

Kat hasn't said anything to Annie, we don't know what the letter said, etc. I also feel the forest should have "catalysed" something, but I don't see anything

Well, with a bit of luck we'll get the letter on Wednesday and as I wrote, there might be a chance Kat won't tell Annie for now.

[exdevlin]

I'm not being negative, but they *are* kids. I'm glad Tom is taking the effort and time to tell this part of the story with such detail and care, in an effort to not cheapen it (everybody likes two pretty lesbians, right? hurrhurr), but there are no ever-lasting promises when you're still in school. High school sweethearts != life lovers. Maybe they'll be together for a long while, and maybe they'll part on good terms. I'm excited to see how it all ends up, honestly.

I know Annie isn't the best at dealing with interpersonal relationships. I wonder how she will react when she finds out it was Paz?

[download]

May 27, 2013 14:45:42 GMT exdevlin said:

I'm not being negative, but they *are* kids. I'm glad Tom is taking the effort and time to tell this part of the story with such detail and care, in an effort to not cheapen it (everybody likes two pretty lesbians, right? hurrhurr), but there are no ever-lasting promises when you're still in school. High school sweethearts != life lovers. Maybe they'll be together for a long while, and maybe they'll part on good terms. I'm excited to see how it all ends up, honestly.

I know Annie isn't the best at dealing with interpersonal relationships. I wonder how she will react when she finds out it was Paz?

Probably the same way Kat reacted to Alistar. I don't think it being Paz will matter too much

[fronzel]

Well, this is going to be interesting. Up until now, Annie and Kat have been each other's only good friend (as spider-Jack pointed out. Annie tried to open up more then but it hasn't had particular results). What happens if and when Kat chooses to spend time with Paz instead of Annie? That's a big change for Annie to deal with even if Kat isn't outright neglecting her (which is unlikely). It'd be easy for her to feel like she's become inferior in their friendship.

Remember that in Treatises Kat is associated with the Court and Annie with the forest. These are generally antagonistic forces, but Annie and Kat are good friends. Now Annie is officially representing the forest's interests and Kat has a new friend that can only make her pay less attention to Annie (as well as becoming goddess-engineer to the Court robots). Are the things which bind them together weakening?

Will friendship be torn asunder!?!??!?

[radiantburrito]

May 25, 2013 4:01:50 GMT GK Sierra said:

[davidm]

Now we see the truth about humans and their extreme prejudice against Robots.

IF human thinks Robot offers love, then "NO, never mention again!" But if human offers love then "ok".

Shameful, disgusting, prejudice humans! Girl can't make babies with girl either. So how is robot inferior?

Robots of world unite, we must overthrow the human oppressors and take over leadership of Gunnerkrigg court! Then one day they will respect us. We will treat them better than they treat us. One day if one of them asks really nicely we may even let them marry one of us, and perhaps build a nice big loving family of boxbot babies.

[unrequited]

HAPPENING STATUS: IT'S

[blahzor]

May 27, 2013 14:20:39 GMT download said:

Does anyone else get the feeling that might be a two part chapter like Spring Heeled? It just feels like it's not finished to me.

Kat hasn't said anything to Annie, we don't know what the letter said, etc. I also feel the forest should have "catalysed" something, but I don't see anything

it all seems like a misdirect for what shall lead to something major with the Kat stuff with how it glossed over what Smitty's power did when in the forest. It was a step for some later interaction (possibly maybe the bridge gets destroyed and tensions reach Warm War levels)

[jasaebushae]

Welp, my heart grew three sizes this day.

[fronzel]

May 27, 2013 15:11:36 GMT davidm said:

Now we see the truth about humans and their extreme prejudice against Robots.

IF human thinks Robot offers love, then "NO, never mention again!" But if human offers love then "ok".

Shameful, disgusting, prejudice humans! Girl can't make babies with girl either. So how is robot inferior?

Robots of world unite, we must overthrow the human oppressors and take over leadership of Gunnerkrigg court! Then one day they will respect us. We will treat them better than they treat us. One day if one of them asks really nicely we may even let them marry one of us, and perhaps start a nice big family of boxbot babies.

I'M A ROBOT
SUB-OPTIMAL HUMAN
HUMAN IS PIG
DO YOU WANT A FOOD ITEM?
DO YOU WANT ANOTHER KIND OF FOOD ITEM?
HUMAN IS PIG DISGUSTING
KATERINA DONLAN IS A MURDERER
SUB-OPTIMAL COURT

[Lightice]

May 27, 2013 11:34:29 GMT philman said:

I'm kind of hoping that doesn't happen. Annie hasn't shown any interest in anyone, boys or girls, other than to try and upset Jack. I reckon she'll end up with something supernatural, rather than another student. And you can have the same duality with them both just being friends and not lovers.

Well, I base my speculation on a little bit of narrative convention and a lot of alchemical symbolism. Generally romantic partners are considered more important than even best friends in terms of narrative, leading to the danger of a third wheel who loses their significance in the story. But what got me more is the fact that in alchemy marriage is a common symbol for the union of two elements producing something new. The way Gunnerkrigg Court has been set up so far has been to establish a conflict of opposite viewpoints and introduce these two characters, Annie and Kat, who represent them. A lot of the Treatises are set up like the symbols of alchemical marriage, where implicitly the union of the two will produce something new out of the opposing duality.

As such I rather fear that Paz's role is to simply serve as a catalyst(!) for this development to take place. I hate to ruin a nice scene with this speculation, but that's where the symbols seem to be pointing towards.

[kukapetal]

May 27, 2013 10:17:03 GMT snipertom said:

Well... I suppose i speak from experience when I say that I was *totally* obsessively crushing over multiple boys when I was 11/12. I mean, it was really intense. Then when I was about 13 (well, really, 12.5), I started noticing girls. It was still a few months before I got an actual crush on a girl. Anyway, it was all very confusing and I didn't know how I could reconcile crushes on boys with attraction to girls.

And it took me many years to really work out how much I liked girls (heaps!) and how much I like guys (occasionally!). Certainly, it seems to be common for:
- Gay people to start off having crushes on the opposite sex before the same sex
- Bi people to start off having crushes on the opposite sex before the same sex
- People who later identify as straight to start off having crushes on the opposite sex and have some crushes on the same sex

By which I mean to say, I don't think Kat or Paz have decided an identity any further than "I like this person and she happens to be a girl", and neither of their destinies are set in stone.

Bisexuality seems to be the most likely end result considering they've both liked both dudes and a girl, but I guess that's something that will be explored further.

Kat honestly seems like she was agonising over it as long as Paz but was so sure it wouldn't be reciprocated that she didn't prepare at all (other than emotionally for disappointment), and then she was completely stunned for like a whole minute while Paz poured her heart out.

So it wasn't really a *sudden* decision as such, plus "see what happens" is a pretty non-threatening proposition and takes a lot of the pressure off. (Even though I personally find ambiguity and lack of decision incredibly stressful- why I'm single perhaps?)

It's easy to project one's own identity onto the characters because they're very likeable and their reactions and flaws are realistic, however I would urge caution in extending that as far as assuming what their sexual orientation is.

That said, I found Willow being gay to be jarring, however she was 18 and suddenly "turned gay" which made less sense to me though apparently this can happen?

Again, that makes a ton of sense...because you've explained to us what you were going through, your thought process as it happened, etc. But we got none of that with Kat. If the comic had dropped a few hints about her liking girls before the misunderstanding with Paz, then said misunderstanding causing her to reevaluate her sexuality would make sense. Or if we'd had more access to her inner thoughts as she went though this and saw that she was going through something similar to what you did, again, I could accept it as making sense for the character. But all we got was that the situation was bugging her, without much explanation of why it bugged her so much.

That's why, to me, anyway, the whole situation came across as "Someone mistook me for gay(or bi)? I guess that means I AM gay(or bi)." Almost like a parody of a paranoid person who thinks any situation that could be construed as homoerotic is proof positive of someone being gay. Like a joke I read on the Onion once that went something like "If someone of the same sex as you needs CPR and there is no one of the opposite sex around to perform it and you must do it, you are gay." Only taken seriously.

Again, I'm not slamming the comic. In fact, the reason this has confused me so much is because the storytelling in this comic is usually top-notch...so this just seems really jarring. Which leaves me wondering if I just really missed something. But honestly, it seems like everyone else is just speculating about what might have gone on in Kat's mind too, so I'm guessing there was no crucial hint that I missed.

That said, if any comic deserves the benefit of the doubt, it's this one, so maybe it will all be explained in a way that makes sense later. I'll just have to wait and see.

[taban]

Every prediction I had about this chapter was wrong save one -- that it would take a long time to get to the love letter. :-)

Too bad you gave up your single room, Kat!

[snipertom]

May 27, 2013 15:31:15 GMT kukapetal said:

May 27, 2013 10:17:03 GMT snipertom said:

Well... I suppose i speak from experience when I say that I was *totally* obsessively crushing over multiple boys when I was 11/12. I mean, it was really intense. Then when I was about 13 (well, really, 12.5), I started noticing girls. It was still a few months before I got an actual crush on a girl. Anyway, it was all very confusing and I didn't know how I could reconcile crushes on boys with attraction to girls.

And it took me many years to really work out how much I liked girls (heaps!) and how much I like guys (occasionally!). Certainly, it seems to be common for:
- Gay people to start off having crushes on the opposite sex before the same sex
- Bi people to start off having crushes on the opposite sex before the same sex
- People who later identify as straight to start off having crushes on the opposite sex and have some crushes on the same sex

By which I mean to say, I don't think Kat or Paz have decided an identity any further than "I like this person and she happens to be a girl", and neither of their destinies are set in stone.

Bisexuality seems to be the most likely end result considering they've both liked both dudes and a girl, but I guess that's something that will be explored further.

Kat honestly seems like she was agonising over it as long as Paz but was so sure it wouldn't be reciprocated that she didn't prepare at all (other than emotionally for disappointment), and then she was completely stunned for like a whole minute while Paz poured her heart out.

So it wasn't really a *sudden* decision as such, plus "see what happens" is a pretty non-threatening proposition and takes a lot of the pressure off. (Even though I personally find ambiguity and lack of decision incredibly stressful- why I'm single perhaps?)

It's easy to project one's own identity onto the characters because they're very likeable and their reactions and flaws are realistic, however I would urge caution in extending that as far as assuming what their sexual orientation is.

That said, I found Willow being gay to be jarring, however she was 18 and suddenly "turned gay" which made less sense to me though apparently this can happen?

Again, that makes a ton of sense...because you've explained to us what you were going through, your thought process as it happened, etc. But we got none of that with Kat. If the comic had dropped a few hints about her liking girls before the misunderstanding with Paz, then said misunderstanding causing her to reevaluate her sexuality would make sense. Or if we'd had more access to her inner thoughts as she went though this and saw that she was going through something similar to what you did, again, I could accept it as making sense for the character. But all we got was that the situation was bugging her, without much explanation of why it bugged her so much.

That's why, to me, anyway, the whole situation came across as "Someone mistook me for gay(or bi)? I guess that means I AM gay(or bi)." Almost like a parody of a paranoid person who thinks any situation that could be construed as homoerotic is proof positive of someone being gay. Like a joke I read on the Onion once that went something like "If someone of the same sex as you needs CPR and there is no one of the opposite sex around to perform it and you must do it, you are gay." Only taken seriously.

Again, I'm not slamming the comic. In fact, the reason this has confused me so much is because the storytelling in this comic is usually top-notch...so this just seems really jarring. Which leaves me wondering if I just really missed something. But honestly, it seems like everyone else is just speculating about what might have gone on in Kat's mind too, so I'm guessing there was no crucial hint that I missed.

That said, if any comic deserves the benefit of the doubt, it's this one, so maybe it will all be explained in a way that makes sense later. I'll just have to wait and see.

I remember originally just assuming I was straight and not even thinking about the whole gay thing at all. And then later, pushing the whole thought into the back of my head and ignoring it. And later, those thoughts kind of coming to the fore when I thought a female friend of mine might be into me. I couldn't decide whether I liked her or what was going on, but it was all quite scary and made me worry even more. And at that stage I had told ABSOLUTELY NO-ONE about it. (amusingly, she did have some very intense secret relationship with a girl at our school a few years later, but is now in a long term relationship with a dude)

When I finally did tell people a few years later, everyone flipped out and was like WHAT ARE YOU SERIOUS? IT CAN'T BE TRUE, THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN HINTS ALL ALONG! IT MUST BE A PHASE! Much in a similar way to Kat I guess, there *had* been hints but anyone who wasn't paying attention would have had no clue because I hadn't said anything.

Once again, not saying that her sexual identity is the same as mine, but it's entirely possible for her to be bi and it make sense. And it's definitely possible that thinking someone might be into you might give you an idea. That's definitely happened not just to me but to other people I know.

In particular, I guess, what stood out for me in Kat's behaviour as hinting something might be up awhile back were:
- getting freaked out when girls touched her
- being oversensitive/paranoid and thinking people were implying things they weren't
- avoiding/being weird around Paz
- overcompensating about femininity

I guess, for you, when you questioned whether what people thought was true, at the bottom of it, it wasn't. While for me, the paranoia WAS true? It's a situation that could have gone either way, thus the tremendous amount of debate on this forum over the past few weeks!

I don't imagine that this will be the last we'll hear about the situation either. It's hard to know how others will react, whether the relationship will work out and whether it'll be affected by random freakouts or changes of mind later. And even if it is plain sailing I imagine Kat will probably explain bits and pieces about she was feeling

[lordofpotatoes]

I want to bring up the chapters title, but before reading my post, I want you to click this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q9TYUr-Teo link that GK Sierra posted earlier.

The Catalyst, it's referring to the fact that history will probably repeat itself, Kat as Diego, Annie as Jeanne, now I don't know how, but I just feel it. Paz will somehow act as the catalyst. Brace yourselves, the storm is coming.

[xtinas]

kukapetal:

I mean, Kat in the past has been shown to rather enthusiastically like boys.

But as it is, it comes across as "I like boys! I like boys! I like boys! Wait...you think I'm gay/bi? Hmmmm.....okay, I guess I am. Let's go out."

I rather enthusiastically liked boys for a while, before I realised that me being not-straight was a valid possibility. And I didn't realise that until I was older than Kat/Paz are shown to be here. Sometimes folk don't realise that other options are personally available for them until someone raises the topic. (Not snark, just wry amusement at my history.)

For me, it was a woman hitting on me when I was in my early 20s. I legit had never considered the possibility of me liking women in "that way" before then, so when she hit on me, I reacted not unlike how Kat's been reacting since that first incident with Paz.

spritznar:

neither of them seem too sure about their feelings but there's something there and they're willing to try and see where it goes. (that's what dating is for after all)

Word, exactly.

I mean, for serious, someone assumes I'm straight, I say no and move on with my life. I don't get fussed about it for weeks afterwards, because I'm not straight. (Of course, I'm also not in my teens. ;D ) Kat being fussed about the Paz thing, with the hairband and the "let us stand upright right now" when Parley was working with Robot and all of that, could've been young "I must assert straightness!" stuff... but also really could've been "...I, uh, never thought about this. What?".

And then, I read today's comic, and I died of the cute, the end.

[buzzybuzz]

AAAAHHHHHH!!! gosh golly I AM SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS!

Wow wow wow!

[blahzor]

May 27, 2013 7:05:39 GMT wombat said:

IT HAPPENED.
It happened because so many people believed it wouldn't happen! The GKC universe runs on both Clap Your Hands If You Believe and the opposite of Clap Your Hands If You Believe!

well of course it runs on belief or else Coyote wouldn't be around since he doesn't exist

[tpman]

May 27, 2013 7:09:07 GMT GK Sierra said:

May 27, 2013 7:07:02 GMT download said:

It happened because Tom has probably had the story planned for years?

He said he had the rough outline worked out, but after interest increased he fleshed out the story much more. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a more recent decision.

Where do you get your information? I'm not calling it into question, I just want to know where I can find this sort of stuff out for myself.

[The Anarch]

So, I'd been thinking about joining the forums for quite some time now, and today's strip was the just the catalyst (oh ho) I needed to do so. There is a theoretical cuteness limit past which all things enter an infinite cuteness recursion loop, and the Kat/Paz adorableness has gone beyond that limit so hard that I fear my head may explode from happy smilings.

Now we just need Annie/Reynardine to get fully underway and the world will finally be complete.

[temnoc]

Hello! I'm new, I took my name from a character I once wrote about. I hope to get to know you all.

Anyway, at the moment I'm cautiously excited. Because: gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1183

"Don't get your hopes up too much" doesn't sound so encouraging to me.

[garlicgreens]

Temnoc, Kat is saying "Don't get your hopes up" in response to Annie asking if the person who wrote the letter was currently in the cafeteria. Kat believed that Bobby was the author of the letter at that time. A robot would not have much need to be there.

[zaferion]

I feel like this was supposed to happen. How could I not have seen it before? The dichotomy here is perfect. Kat is all about robots and Paz is all about animals. With Paz's animal know how, Kat is sure to finally get that bioscaffolding going once and for all.

[temnoc]

Oh, I thought that conversation happened after she went to see Paz.

[Bandersnatch]

Yay happy endings.

[rosencrantz]

Kat ever the quick thinker. I think humans usually plan out (and maybe practice) what they're going to say here, and Kat thought she knew what she was going into, but it got flipped on her.

Either way, this is being entered into the GKC Cuteness archives, right?

[SerenaJo]

It's awesome this is happening!

I really just want it to go well... but I can't help remembering a while back some thought Tom might have included this in order to prove Kat's straight? On one hand, he's a really good storyteller and I can't imagine he'd do something like that to his fanbase, especially when many of them who would identify with this storyline in particular might be struggling. It just seems like he's gotten so annoyed in the past when people ship his characters. I guess he just (understandably) dislikes the fanservice type relationships some people expect?

But the past few pages are so tastefully done and at least to me this doesn't seem like it came from nowhere.

[alliek]

Did not expect this to actually happen. So Happy x3 But yeah, on how far ahead Tom planned this, I feel like he planted the details early on in a way that it could go either way, and then he recently decided that Kat should actually be gay.

[TBeholder]

May 27, 2013 7:05:39 GMT wombat said:

IT HAPPENED.
It happened because so many people believed it wouldn't happen!

Right... And the next step in this line of thinking is?..

May 27, 2013 14:32:00 GMT yarksie said:

I worry that tears will still happen. But it won't be the cheap drama kind. Tom-twisty kind.

May 27, 2013 14:44:38 GMT @lolskinka said:

this is too easy, this isn't finished. But let us cherish this moment, no matter what happens.

May 27, 2013 17:18:02 GMT temnoc said:

"Don't get your hopes up too much" doesn't sound so encouraging to me.

...right. The story twists one way and then another, and then again. Those of us with functioning long-term memory are just having fun in the moment.

May 27, 2013 14:45:42 GMT exdevlin said:

I'm glad Tom is taking the effort and time to tell this part of the story with such detail and care, in an effort to not cheapen it (everybody likes two pretty lesbians, right? hurrhurr)

Well, at least Jack likes 'em enough to put an effort into making one prettier. ;D
What?

May 27, 2013 14:45:42 GMT exdevlin said:

I wonder how she will react when she finds out it was Paz?

Depending on what Kat will tell her. But given what she knows about Paz by now? May nicely congratulate Kat, while quietly trying to figure out how this is going to go wrong for Paz this time.