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Post by fish on Sept 30, 2014 0:00:23 GMT
One of her pastime activities could very well be considered "interfering with the Court's interest". Namely the liberation of Jeanne's ghost. Except the Court doesn't know about it - doesn't even know about Jeanne's ghost or Jeanne at all, thanks to the "Ministry of Truth"-style cover-up carried out by the Founders. That's why I'm saying Annie should be careful, who knows what they might do once they find out about it. |
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Post by bykerhill on Sept 30, 2014 0:29:05 GMT
We're speculating a lot about what 'the Court' would do if they knew and why Annie didn't go to 'the Court', but it's not really clear what 'the Court' is, is it? The modern leadership of the Court has always been one of those things Tom has kept close to his chest, aside from the Headmaster.
For all we know, the Robot King, in his role as leader of the robots, may be a part of the Court's inner circle. The robots are after all a vital part of the court who run just about everything; it would make sense that they would be represented in the decision-making process.
In which case when the rest of the Court finds out, they may be met with a brusque, "An internal robot affair. Miscreant troublemakers. We took care of it; there's no longer a problem." from the Robot King. With which the others would be content.
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Post by sapientcoffee on Sept 30, 2014 2:50:27 GMT
I'll have you know 'The Court' is clearly a single monolithic entity dedicated to evil and blocking our protagonists at every turn. Tom never writes multifaceted or subtle characters.  |
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Post by King Mir on Sept 30, 2014 3:04:47 GMT
Dear Annie,
Your distrust of authority will bite you sometime. Possibly before this chapter's through.
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Post by Ophel on Sept 30, 2014 3:26:04 GMT
From what we've seen so far, the Court doesn't care a whole lot about what either the robots or the students are up to. Well, let's attempt to see the situation from the Court's point of view. When the chapters involving mainly robots happened, the Court would have suspected something going on. And from their point of view, it certainly involved Kat, since they always seem to gather around her. Thing is, I don't know how much of the Kat's and Annie's actions involving this situation is known to the Court. Unlike Annie the Medium, Kat has no reason for the Court to keep tabs on her, assuming the Court only watches people when it is demanded of them. If they are observing all of the students carefully, then they at least know that Kat is building some sort of machine in a very unique way. And if they have been paying close attention, this is what attracts the robots' attention. If I was an ever-watching Court, I would observe Kat, closely and secretly, whether the outcome of her "experiments" prove useful to the Court somehow. But if they are not an ever-watching Court, at least more of "this individual has suddenly captured our interest" kind of way, and if they hardly know about the going-on of the robot society, how would they know about this complex relationship between a student and the two factions of robots? How would they even know that two robot factions existed in the first place? Since the important bits in Kat's workshop is built by her hands, as opposed to asking someone from the Court for such devices, then if the second is true, then they wouldn't even know about what Kat does, which is intrinsic to all this robot faction fiasco and the ship disappearance. If they don't know what Kat does, how could they possibly understand why the robots act the way they do? Edit: Well, I can't say anything for sure, because we're missing a vital point of information, which is the system and protocols the Court uses for observing students. Apart from the food that they eat. Does the Court keep track of everything? Only the student body? Do they only observe interesting individuals? To what degree is their observation? |
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Post by Daedalus on Sept 30, 2014 5:27:45 GMT
I am happy that my pessimistic view of Robot's Cult is currently not true.
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mariposa
Full Member
Hi, I'm Elise!
Posts: 149
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Post by mariposa on Sept 30, 2014 6:07:41 GMT
I find it interesting that Annie trusted neither Anja nor Parley, even if they would have been obvious choices, and as she seemingly wants to work this past the court, it may be she just doesn't trust the court and feared that they are too close to court not to speak to it. I don't see it as a trust issue at all - she's acting as a Medium here. If the problem involved the Forest, I don't think she would have gone to the Court either, but tried to send a message to Coyote or Ysengrin that there was a situation with their own people. I think this is Annie recognizing that the robots are their own People. It's a courtesy, and I think quite insightful, to allow them the opportunity to police their own. I think this is correct, and well-put, though I do think it's also a trust issue to an extent. It seems very accurate to say that Annie is recognizing that the robots are their own People, but it begs the question of whether the Court does as well. The only time I can think of that we learn anything about how the Court views them is the bonus page about deflecting robotic affections, which does not instill confidence. Perhaps Annie is concerned about the Court retaliating against the robots in a way that she feels is inhumane. |
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Post by philman on Sept 30, 2014 7:11:34 GMT
I figured the reason why she doesn'y contact Parley and Smiffy is that it is the school holidays, and they would be away from the Court. It is only Year 9 on this special cruise remember, the rest of the students have probably already left.
Plus both Parley and Smitty could be negated by sticking a couple of bits of paper to them, whereas a robot army would need a bit more of a response.
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Post by sapientcoffee on Sept 30, 2014 7:16:20 GMT
The only time I can think of that we learn anything about how the Court views them is the bonus page about deflecting robotic affections, which does not instill confidence. Perhaps Annie is concerned about the Court retaliating against the robots in a way that she feels is inhumane. ETA: your link has two 'http://' in it (two 'http://'s?), I fixed it for my quote, but letting ya know so you can edit your post. |
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Post by todd on Sept 30, 2014 10:51:15 GMT
Mezzaphor hasn't been here (as far as I can tell) for a long time, and I miss his contributions, but in the early days of the forum, he offered a good take on Annie's distrust of the Court.
He pointed out that Annie had spent the first part of her life at Good Hope, where she and Surma were the only people who could see the Guides (and any other etheric activity going on at the hospital, such as Martin's ghost), and the hospital staff could not. Annie thus, Mezzaphor suggested, came to see adults as clueless about the etheric world and unable to help her with its problems. Her impression was presumably further reinforced by the anonymous teacher in the first chapter who was no help to her in solving Shadow2's problem (and who was never seen again after that chapter, and whom Tom says he wouldn't have used if he could do it over again). It's not just a distrust of the Court - but a distrust of grown-ups and a belief that she can do without them - hence, even after receiving plenty of evidence that Mrs. Donlan, Eglamore, and the rest are well-informed on the etheric world and capable of handling it, she still doesn't see them as her first people to turn to. Instead, she looks for answers from etheric beings - even dubious ones like Coyote. That was Mezzaphor's thesis, and I wonder whether, if he was here, he'd see Annie's sending Reynardine to the robots (who might count as etheric because of their power source, and who certainly aren't human adults) as more of that outlook manifesting itself. And I think he'd have a point.
Some of Annie's distrust of the Court is well-founded, but much of it may have been thanks not only to the bias mentioned above, but also thanks to Coyote's subtle manipulations. In a few cases, she does it an injustice - the murder of Jeanne, for example. The people who carried it out - Diego, Sir Young, and the rest - are all long dead, passed on maybe centuries before Annie came to the Court, and nobody working at the Court today (except Jones, who wasn't at Gunnerkrigg at the time) had been born yet when it happened. They don't even know it took place.
The biggest charge against the Court of today, I would say, is its experiments with the ether that already helped cause much trouble (the Power Station incident), and which could lead to much more, especially in light of Jones' warning over how it might lead to all the horrors and nightmares of human myth and legend taking shape in our world. And to be fair to it, I don't think the Court knows that that could be the result. The people working nn it might see it as just more scientific research, without realizing that they're tampering with something that they should leave alone. (And it does seem to have, also unwittngly, taught the Seraphs by example.)
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Post by Jelly Jellybean on Sept 30, 2014 11:32:54 GMT
I don't see it as a trust issue at all - she's acting as a Medium here. If the problem involved the Forest, I don't think she would have gone to the Court either, but tried to send a message to Coyote or Ysengrin that there was a situation with their own people. I think this is Annie recognizing that the robots are their own People. It's a courtesy, and I think quite insightful, to allow them the opportunity to police their own. I think this is correct, and well-put, though I do think it's also a trust issue to an extent. It seems very accurate to say that Annie is recognizing that the robots are their own People, but it begs the question of whether the Court does as well. The only time I can think of that we learn anything about how the Court views them is the bonus page about deflecting robotic affections, which does not instill confidence. Perhaps Annie is concerned about the Court retaliating against the robots in a way that she feels is inhumane. Given how long the Court has existed and the presence of robots/devices since early in its history, it makes sense that over time other students and Court members have shown an affinity towards the robots. Kat may be the first to reach Diego's level, but it is unlikely that she the only one whose talent for robots is observable. And the Court should be aware of Kat's talent because the Court provides all the equipment for her lab, assuming the robots aren't somehow covertly supplying the warehouse. Conversely, if Kat was uniquely the first student with an observable talent for robotics, the Court would probably be keeping her under constant surveillance. The fully monty, including covert sampling of tissues and bodily fluids. I believe we would see more foreshadowing of that level of effort. I therefore conclude that the level of talent the Court could observe in Kat up until now was not so unique, but interesting enough to justify a really large expense account for equipment. |
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Post by November on Sept 30, 2014 13:55:12 GMT
I think this is correct, and well-put, though I do think it's also a trust issue to an extent. It seems very accurate to say that Annie is recognizing that the robots are their own People, but it begs the question of whether the Court does as well. The only time I can think of that we learn anything about how the Court views them is the bonus page about deflecting robotic affections, which does not instill confidence. Perhaps Annie is concerned about the Court retaliating against the robots in a way that she feels is inhumane. Given how long the Court has existed and the presence of robots/devices since early in its history, it makes sense that over time other students and Court members have shown an affinity towards the robots. Kat may be the first to reach Diego's level, but it is unlikely that she the only one whose talent for robots is observable. And the Court should be aware of Kat's talent because the Court provides all the equipment for her lab, assuming the robots aren't somehow covertly supplying the warehouse. Conversely, if Kat was uniquely the first student with an observable talent for robotics, the Court would probably be keeping her under constant surveillance. The fully monty, including covert sampling of tissues and bodily fluids. I believe we would see more foreshadowing of that level of effort. I therefore conclude that the level of talent the Court could observe in Kat up until now was not so unique, but interesting enough to justify a really large expense account for equipment. It's not just historic, we've seen examples of it in the comic. Jack has also done some complicated technological feats, and he's also been known to have increased affinity with robots (as he got the robotic cows to make a laser grid for him). The fact that Kat hangs out with Robot isn't that special either, as working with robots and having robots as friends isn't that special in the Court. We've seen Paz and Bobby working together, and sapientcoffee also had a good example with the Ether power station workers messing around. Other examples of smart people who know a thing or two about robots include Anja and Donald Donlan, Kats parents who are also currently employed by the Court. In the eyes of the Court, Kat isn't that unique, she just takes after her parents. |
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Post by asyetunnamed on Sept 30, 2014 15:38:29 GMT
I like to think of the Court as being filled with people who act like university researchers*. The incidents such as the power plant are based more on seeing something interesting and saying "what if we...". There isn't any malice there, it is just that the logical progression from messing around with the aether is to create a giant death ray to power more research. The boredom that the headteacher showed at the end of the first year was because he'd rather be messing around with an area of interest but he needed to be there (and the forest holds no interest to him). The freedom that the kids get to create anti-gravity devices or learn witchcraft is partially because marshalling their activities would take too much time and partially because they want to see what happens. Yeah, this is unlikely but it stops me from imagining the Court being ruled by an inner-circle of Illuminati wannabes.
*Okay, researchers who don't need to spend 90 % of their time writing out grant applications, baby sitting undergrad projects and disagreeing with the comments on their peer-reviewed article.
The most anticlimactic way that this could end is for the King to enter the robot admin/research place (chapter 12) and use a kill switch to turn off all the robots. There'd be a little bit of clean up left, but no threats (and Kat wouldn't need to create life). One thing though; I don't think that this decision was done to keep the incident quiet from the Court. With that number of kids involved (several of whom are related to teachers and important people), there is no way that this is going to remain a secret.
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Post by aaroncampbell on Sept 30, 2014 17:47:45 GMT
Annie is not being entirely honest with Rey here in the second panel. "No, we're fine." Really Annie? What, are you just considering physical trauma? That's a crap way to sum it up. You can't use your powers, nor can anyone else. Lots of people are being psychologically traumatized by Zimmingham I'm sure, and frankly you don't KNOW the status of everyone else, so you shouldn't answer for "we" -- not unless you give some sort of qualifier. I know time is pressing and maybe people are going to say she said it so he wouldn't worry. It's still a lousy way to treat both Rey and the rest of her friends, and it doesn't show a great deal of care or respect. Can you imagine how Kat would react if she heard Annie saying this to Rey? "Fine? FINE?! What the hell are you talking about? Paz is in shock, I've got my hands full -- all FOUR of them -- trying to mold fleshgoo onto this whale skull while coping with my involuntary deity, and... You. Say. We're. Fine?!"Before anyone jumps to Annie's defense, I know she doesn't know any of this about Kat. But she does know what she doesn't know, and that's the point. She's a smart girl, that's been made very clear, and she needs to think about how much her words can impact others. I'm sure I'm making a big deal out of something that will likely not even come up later, but if it does then Rey and the others would have right to be upset with her. That's all I'm saying. And I'm glad that Rey is mature enough to recognize the severity of the situation and hightail it to get help. (And I hope that, given the narration-text in panels 3-5 and the way Robot is explaining to the king in the last panel, we're only seeing PART of what was said to Rey. That would make this all much better and depending on the rest of her explanation, perhaps make this whole point of mine moot.  ) |
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Post by davidm on Sept 30, 2014 18:42:00 GMT
Fact: Love causes people to act in strange ways.
Fact: Fact when Parsley was in love she pretended to be opposite.
Fact: Annie when trying to make up with Kat used complex crazy schemes, pretending to be in need of saving.
Clearly Annie is secretly in love with Boxbot, and Annie is recklessly using this emergency as a chance to get closer to him. She knows that the robot King will deploy all available help including Boxbot. She is finally "damsel in distress", so sees chance for her Box in shining armour to come and save her.
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Post by bykerhill on Sept 30, 2014 19:23:00 GMT
Annie is not being entirely honest with Rey here in the second panel. "No, we're fine." Really Annie? What, are you just considering physical trauma? That's a crap way to sum it up. You can't use your powers, nor can anyone else. Lots of people are being psychologically traumatized by Zimmingham I'm sure, and frankly you don't KNOW the status of everyone else, so you shouldn't answer for "we" -- not unless you give some sort of qualifier. I know time is pressing and maybe people are going to say she said it so he wouldn't worry. It's still a lousy way to treat both Rey and the rest of her friends, and it doesn't show a great deal of care or respect. Can you imagine how Kat would react if she heard Annie saying this to Rey? "Fine? FINE?! What the hell are you talking about? Paz is in shock, I've got my hands full -- all FOUR of them -- trying to mold fleshgoo onto this whale skull while coping with my involuntary deity, and... You. Say. We're. Fine?!"Before anyone jumps to Annie's defense, I know she doesn't know any of this about Kat. But she does know what she doesn't know, and that's the point. She's a smart girl, that's been made very clear, and she needs to think about how much her words can impact others. I'm sure I'm making a big deal out of something that will likely not even come up later, but if it does then Rey and the others would have right to be upset with her. That's all I'm saying. And I'm glad that Rey is mature enough to recognize the severity of the situation and hightail it to get help. (And I hope that, given the narration-text in panels 3-5 and the way Robot is explaining to the king in the last panel, we're only seeing PART of what was said to Rey. That would make this all much better and depending on the rest of her explanation, perhaps make this whole point of mine moot. ) I think maybe you're reading a bit too much into 'We're fine'. I personally read it as, "Nobody here with me has been physically injured," not 'Everything is peachy and we are totally all right'. I mean, pretty much the next thing she says is a plea to get help, and to emphasize to that help that Kat is in danger. |
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Post by thedoctor on Sept 30, 2014 20:29:46 GMT
But I think Annie's wise to be going through the robots. First, this way will hopefully deflect some of the fallout on Kat and Robot. 2. The robot rescue party is bound to attract attention - a whole crowd of robots charging off to sea, the Robot King no doubt in the vanguard like Theoden King leading the Ride of the Rohirrim... New favorite mental image for this chapter! But what would he/it be riding on? I like to think of the Court as being filled with people who act like university researchers*. The incidents such as the power plant are based more on seeing something interesting and saying "what if we...". There isn't any malice there, it is just that the logical progression from messing around with the aether is to create a giant death ray to power more research. The boredom that the headteacher showed at the end of the first year was because he'd rather be messing around with an area of interest but he needed to be there (and the forest holds no interest to him). The freedom that the kids get to create anti-gravity devices or learn witchcraft is partially because marshalling their activities would take too much time and partially because they want to see what happens. Yeah, this is unlikely but it stops me from imagining the Court being ruled by an inner-circle of Illuminati wannabes. *Okay, researchers who don't need to spend 90 % of their time writing out grant applications, baby sitting undergrad projects and disagreeing with the comments on their peer-reviewed article. The most anticlimactic way that this could end is for the King to enter the robot admin/research place (chapter 12) and use a kill switch to turn off all the robots. There'd be a little bit of clean up left, but no threats (and Kat wouldn't need to create life). One thing though; I don't think that this decision was done to keep the incident quiet from the Court. With that number of kids involved (several of whom are related to teachers and important people), there is no way that this is going to remain a secret. I really like this view of the court, and it really WOULD explain the headmaster's attitude a little bit better. Annie is not being entirely honest with Rey here in the second panel. "No, we're fine." Really Annie? What, are you just considering physical trauma? That's a crap way to sum it up. You can't use your powers, nor can anyone else. Lots of people are being psychologically traumatized by Zimmingham I'm sure, and frankly you don't KNOW the status of everyone else, so you shouldn't answer for "we" -- not unless you give some sort of qualifier. I know time is pressing and maybe people are going to say she said it so he wouldn't worry. It's still a lousy way to treat both Rey and the rest of her friends, and it doesn't show a great deal of care or respect. Can you imagine how Kat would react if she heard Annie saying this to Rey? "Fine? FINE?! What the hell are you talking about? Paz is in shock, I've got my hands full -- all FOUR of them -- trying to mold fleshgoo onto this whale skull while coping with my involuntary deity, and... You. Say. We're. Fine?!"Before anyone jumps to Annie's defense, I know she doesn't know any of this about Kat. But she does know what she doesn't know, and that's the point. She's a smart girl, that's been made very clear, and she needs to think about how much her words can impact others. I'm sure I'm making a big deal out of something that will likely not even come up later, but if it does then Rey and the others would have right to be upset with her. That's all I'm saying. And I'm glad that Rey is mature enough to recognize the severity of the situation and hightail it to get help. (And I hope that, given the narration-text in panels 3-5 and the way Robot is explaining to the king in the last panel, we're only seeing PART of what was said to Rey. That would make this all much better and depending on the rest of her explanation, perhaps make this whole point of mine moot. ) I think maybe you're reading a bit too much into 'We're fine'. I personally read it as, "Nobody here with me has been physically injured," not 'Everything is peachy and we are totally all right'. I mean, pretty much the next thing she says is a plea to get help, and to emphasize to that help that Kat is in danger. This was how I read it too; Annie has just said "[summary of what just happened]...I have Jack and Jenny and some other students with me right now, and we're trying to find everyone else, including Kat and Paz." Then the "we" just applies to that group. It definitely makes more sense with what she says in the next couple of panels. Also, "hurt," as Rey says it, pretty clearly is talking just about physical injury. It's no question that everyone will have varying degrees of mental trauma, but that can be dealt with later; if someone is bleeding out or something, that's a much more pressing issue, and could influence who Rey should bring along. |
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Post by Daedalus on Sept 30, 2014 21:04:19 GMT
2. The robot rescue party is bound to attract attention - a whole crowd of robots charging off to sea, the Robot King no doubt in the vanguard like Theoden King leading the Ride of the Rohirrim... New favorite mental image for this chapter! But what would he/it be riding on?  |
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Post by sidhekin on Sept 30, 2014 21:06:57 GMT
... you'd not even need the image. "Helloooo! Who do you think he'd be riding?!"
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Post by keef on Sept 30, 2014 21:59:39 GMT
Annie may have chosen the Robot King for a very simple reason; she thinks he can handle the situation best. We don't know that much about the robots, but Annie obviously likes and trusts them. In a way better understands them than Kat. I'd like to know how they'll make the trip. Distance, mode of transport, time, etc. They have a robot cruise ship, so why not robot- helicopters, warships, aircraft, satellites, you name it. We're speculating a lot about what 'the Court' would do if they knew and why Annie didn't go to 'the Court', but it's not really clear what 'the Court' is, is it? The modern leadership of the Court has always been one of those things Tom has kept close to his chest, aside from the Headmaster. There is amazing little information about what the court is in the comic, and if you read trough wild spec amazing little speculation about it.I wouldn't be surprised. I am happy that my pessimistic view of Robot's Cult is currently not true. yeah, recruiting a religious sect to do your dirty work always proofed to be an excellent strategy in our universe..  But I guess the cult is still not really established. For the King "the Angel" is some prophesy coming true, that does not mean he believes everything S13 tells him. |
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Post by todd on Sept 30, 2014 22:21:57 GMT
New favorite mental image for this chapter! But what would he/it be riding on? I shouldn't take all the credit for that one. A while ago (I think it was one of the threads for "Coyote's Secret", I'd compared Annie and Kat to Frodo and Sam respectively (not only that Annie and Frodo are both more attuned to the etheric and Kat and Sam both more down-to-earth and practical, but also the comic's shift in focus from Annie to Kat paralleling how in "The Lord of the Rings", the point of view gradually shifted from Frodo to Sam), and somebody promptly posted a picture of the Robot King quoting Theoden's rallying cry. It wedged itself deep enough in my memory that it came to mind when I was speculating what the "robots to the rescue" would look like. As for what he'd be riding - how about the "Paradise Lost"-reciting robot horse from "Red Returns"? |
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Post by todd on Sept 30, 2014 22:26:21 GMT
The boredom that the headteacher showed at the end of the first year was because he'd rather be messing around with an area of interest but he needed to be there (and the forest holds no interest to him). I've read another theory about his bored response to Coyote - he believes it's the best way of handling a trickster-god who's eager to put on a big, memorable performance. Just act unimpressed with everything he does. |
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Post by Jelly Jellybean on Oct 1, 2014 0:35:19 GMT
They have a robot cruise ship, so why not robot- helicopters, warships, aircraft, satellites, you name it. Not transportation related, but you made me think of A-BombBot the nuclear bomb robot, who really wants to be a Club DJ. "DJ A-BombBot is in the house! Let me hear you say yup yup! Oh yeah, we're blow the roof off this house!!" |
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Post by darklao on Oct 1, 2014 4:22:38 GMT
Panel 3 = Superhero Team spinoff comic plx.
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mariposa
Full Member
Hi, I'm Elise!
Posts: 149
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Post by mariposa on Oct 1, 2014 16:49:06 GMT
Annie may have chosen the Robot King for a very simple reason; she thinks he can handle the situation best. We don't know that much about the robots, but Annie obviously likes and trusts them. In a way better understands them than Kat. I think this is accurate. Regarding this and the several other responses about her "mistrust" (which I'm not going to quote because there are many and it would be a challenge to do so from my phone), I think it's worth noting that Annie; for many reasons that can't really ever be completely proven, but are ultimately irrelevant; is just a very private and independent girl. She is clearly very used to doing things on her own. Speaking as someone who had a very similar personality growing up, going straight to "the authorities" when something comes up is probably legitimately an afterthought for her. Her strategy for dealing with problems is (and has been shown to have been for a long time) to calmly observe the situation, take in all the information she can about it, and then use her past experience to assess how she can improve it. Even when her plans backfire, she doesn't think "oh no, I messed up, what am I going to do!" she thinks, "this is not what I expected to happen." (Perhaps an attitude taught by having a researcher for a father) The only time I can recall when she's willingly reached out to the Court for help was when Jack had trapped Renard and she felt he was in very immediate danger, and the Court officials (or whoever they are) were already there. While the current situation does seem potentially quite dangerous, I'm guessing that Annie would need more evidence to decide that it was really an emergency in the same sense. The Court is pretty strict about not letting aircraft fly over it, though I suppose it's possible they might make an exception for the robots, if it's determined that they don't possess the curiosity to figure out what the Court "really is" from an aerial view. Though they might still be concerned about the wrong people getting their hands on said aircraft. But regardless, yeah, who knows what the little guys have got up their sleeves; I doubt Annie would have been comfortable asking them to help solve this problem if she wasn't confident that they could be effective in some way or another. |
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Post by sapientcoffee on Oct 1, 2014 18:06:56 GMT
I think this is accurate. Regarding this and the several other responses about her "mistrust" (which I'm not going to quote because there are many and it would be a challenge to do so from my phone), I think it's worth noting that Annie; for many reasons that can't really ever be completely proven, but are ultimately irrelevant; is just a very private and independent girl. She is clearly very used to doing things on her own. Speaking as someone who had a very similar personality growing up, going straight to "the authorities" when something comes up is probably legitimately an afterthought for her... I can agree that that's her personality. I think some of the reluctance is how the adults reacted about Reynardine - she doesn't trust them to act in accordance to her wishes. And most of the time, that's fine. But with the stuff that impacts more people (this, Jeanne) I would like her to become aware of how her ignorance and assumptions can bite her in the ass. Not that she has to go to "the authorities" or even get them involved, she respects Jones and the scenes with Mr Donlan showed him to be a patient, intelligent guy and they could be good people to use as sounding boards. (I worry that Jeanne actually DOES protect the court and there aren't scenes were Annie thinks about what should be put into place after they exorcise her, or looking into whether or not there IS a danger to the court.) For this situation, I agree with keef, it makes sense to let the robots police themselves, but with Zimmy and the rest of the kids involved, I think it'd be a good idea to run things past Jones to see if there's anything she's missed/doesn't know about. We've already seen that Jones is willing to see how things play out as long as no one's being harmed (I wonder if Jones is an Asimov fan?), it's highly likely she'd let Annie handle this her own way. |
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Post by todd on Oct 1, 2014 22:16:11 GMT
(I worry that Jeanne actually DOES protect the court and there aren't scenes were Annie thinks about what should be put into place after they exorcise her, or looking into whether or not there IS a danger to the court.) Even if Jeanne *is* vital to the Court's safety, I'd still side with Annie in wanting to release her. For one thing, part of the reason for her being trapped in ghostly form is Diego's revenge, definitely a wrong motive. And there are better ways of protecting the Court, such as working out peace - genuine peace, rather than just an uneasy truce with no actual fighting going on, but distrust on both sides of the river - which would remove the need for a mad undead guardian who indiscriminately attacks everyone who comes near her, even the Guides. We saw in the preceding chapter that Annie's working on that. |
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Post by sapientcoffee on Oct 1, 2014 22:51:58 GMT
Que? I never said they shouldn't release her if she's vital to protect the court. I said it'd be nice to see scenes where A) they find out exactly what Jeanne protects the court from B) if it's from something actually dangerous and not just 'an uneasy truce' C) have them work on something that can take Jeanne's place. Basically, IF Jeanne blocks something dangerous and IF people die because she's not there AND Annie and Friends hadn't done any research to discover this, those deaths would be on the kids' heads. It's less something I actually worry about for the comic and more a thing I've seen enough times in fiction to have an uneasiness about it.
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Post by thedoctor on Oct 2, 2014 2:17:47 GMT
New favorite mental image for this chapter! But what would he/it be riding on? I shouldn't take all the credit for that one. A while ago (I think it was one of the threads for "Coyote's Secret", I'd compared Annie and Kat to Frodo and Sam respectively (not only that Annie and Frodo are both more attuned to the etheric and Kat and Sam both more down-to-earth and practical, but also the comic's shift in focus from Annie to Kat paralleling how in "The Lord of the Rings", the point of view gradually shifted from Frodo to Sam), and somebody promptly posted a picture of the Robot King quoting Theoden's rallying cry. It wedged itself deep enough in my memory that it came to mind when I was speculating what the "robots to the rescue" would look like. As for what he'd be riding - how about the "Paradise Lost"-reciting robot horse from "Red Returns"? That's hilarious! Can you link to that thread/picture? Also, yes to the robot-horse. The boredom that the headteacher showed at the end of the first year was because he'd rather be messing around with an area of interest but he needed to be there (and the forest holds no interest to him). I've read another theory about his bored response to Coyote - he believes it's the best way of handling a trickster-god who's eager to put on a big, memorable performance. Just act unimpressed with everything he does. This...makes a LOT of sense, actually. |
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Post by SilverbackRon on Oct 2, 2014 4:15:40 GMT
I just thought of another reason Annie may have gone for the Robot King. As far as she knows, robots can't be Nobodys. She experienced first hand that if you want a real person to be with you bad enough, they might just show up conveniently. Only later you find out it wasn't really them. Maybe Annie thinks if she asks for Eggers (or Jones or the Donlans or...), the person who shows up wouldn't be real. But robots ... can they be imitated by a Nobody? |
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But I guess the cult is still not really established. For the King "the Angel" is some prophesy coming true, that does not mean he believes everything S13 tells him.