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Post by CoyoteReborn on Apr 10, 2015 14:42:57 GMT
Here's hoping that Kat is coming to save the day. More like shave the day, amiright*!?! *sad trombone*I would like to meet this Anthony! "Doesn't believe in the ether" they say. Bah! Indignation makes me so peckish! *imalwaysright |
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Post by Daedalus on Apr 10, 2015 14:48:59 GMT
I would like to meet this Anthony! "Doesn't believe in the ether" they say. Bah! Indignation makes me so peckish!  to be fair, totally stole idea from here: |
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Post by darlos9d on Apr 10, 2015 14:53:49 GMT
Ok this is getting kind of creepy. I almost feel like Antimony grew up while her dad was away, and now he's trying to reset her back to being a younger kid again. I think you hit the nail on the head in the shortest number of words. |
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Post by fish on Apr 10, 2015 15:11:00 GMT
So I've been thinking about what Kat might do to improve this situation. Calling in her parents or Eglamore probably won't help at all. Anthony is Annie's legal guardian and as such his decision sadly overrides any differing opinions of other adults. The Court authorities would probably be able to rein him in, but we can safely assume they are on his side in this matter. The only thing that could prove fruitful is contacting the forest. Kat wouldn't go by herself, and she never really had any contact with Jones. But she could send Robot or Shadow or both over the bridge as envoys to deliver a message to Ysengrin and Coyote. Surely Coyote would do something once he hears what is happening to his favorite fire head girl and forest medium ...and that's when it hit me.
This has been Coyote's game all along.
If Annie was just the Court medium, Coyote would have no say in this; the Court can appoint and remove a medium however they want. But Annie is the Forest's medium and Coyote is going to exploit this situation to his scheming heart's content. Thinking back on it there has always been a huge questionmark hovering over his decision to make Annie his medium, but I payed little heed to it then because "Hey, Annie get's to mess around in the Forest some more, I'm all for it!" But he's been planning or betting on this from the first moment he met her, hasn't he...
Well, let's see if the issue of "Give us back our medium!" vs. "No." will be considered a direct aggression by the Court towards the forest.
"Coyote is no liar, therein lies the danger."
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Post by ctso74 on Apr 10, 2015 15:25:54 GMT
Thought balloon over Kat's head says "this will not stand" and I agree. The vacant look in Annie's eyes (Tom did a great job there) shows someone totally broken on the inside. Now, I don't want to belittle Antimony's errors -- cheating as she did is a clear sign of a lack of integrity which should be of concern to her friends, her father, and the faculty -- but this is spanking a baby with an axe. We want Annie to get better, not be reduced to an emotionally battered hollow shell. I will now try to work "spanking a baby with an axe" into every conversion I have. |
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Post by guitarminotaur on Apr 10, 2015 15:27:03 GMT
This certainly has the potential to turn out badly for all involved. Kat could try to contact the forest, but she may get more than she bargained for if Coyote decides to act personally.
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Post by ginbucketfish on Apr 10, 2015 15:28:37 GMT
It looks to me that she is wearing the same outfit from this strip: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=306Though, maybe no necklaces this time around. |
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Post by The Anarch on Apr 10, 2015 15:35:23 GMT
So I guess this haircut is an inconvenience for everybody.
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Post by fish on Apr 10, 2015 15:36:28 GMT
It looks to me that she is wearing the same outfit from this strip: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=306Though, maybe no necklaces this time around. I thought so too at first, but the new dress is not completely button-down like the earlier onne, and the buttons are on the wrong side. Actually none of her blue dresses in the hospital scenes were the same, which is really weird. At first I thought it was a hospital thing but now I see it was Anthony's wardrobe decision. But why would you not allow your child even the slightest variety of clothes? This is so strange. So I guess this haircut is an inconvenience for everyone. No no! Her hair before the hair cut has been an inconvenience for everybody, hence the hair cut, you see? |
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Post by attiem on Apr 10, 2015 15:43:45 GMT
She has short hair, of course she does.
If daddy did it is actually sort of creepy. But I am actually leaning more toward she doing it, acting like a little girl may be her way of coping or a way of earning mercy from him.
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Post by AnUpliftedCuttlefish on Apr 10, 2015 15:44:46 GMT
It looks to me that she is wearing the same outfit from this strip: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=306Though, maybe no necklaces this time around. It does look quite similar - though if it's the same outfit it still fits pretty well, considering Antimony's had 2 years of growing since we last saw it. But it could be meant to inspire that connection - since it's looks similar to the dress/nightgown she was wearing when musing on how Gunnerkrigg almost felt like the hospital, her home (in a good way), and now... Plus how similar it makes her look to her childhood self from the hospital... |
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Post by ih8pkmn on Apr 10, 2015 15:44:50 GMT
Am I the only one who's almost willing to give up on the comic at this point? This chapter has been nothing but a trauma conga line, and seeing a character I've been with for six years becoming a chew toy is not the most fun thing in the world.
I get that there needs to be trauma for character growth, but this chapter has been REALLY damn hard to read. I'm thinking of giving up for now, and then coming back when the chapter's done; maybe the fact that it's not stretched out over the course of a month and a half will make it easier to read.
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Post by Chancellor on Apr 10, 2015 15:47:08 GMT
It looks to me that she is wearing the same outfit from this strip: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=306Though, maybe no necklaces this time around. I thought so too at first, but the new dress is not completely button-down like the earlier onne, and the buttons are on the wrong side. Actually none of her blue dresses in the hospital scenes were the same, which is really weird. At first I thought it was a hospital thing but now I see it was Anthony's wardrobe decision. But why would you not allow your child even the slightest variety of clothes? This is so strange. So I guess this haircut is an inconvenience for everyone. No no! Her hair before the hair cut has been an inconvenience for everybody, hence the hair cut, you see? Well I mean, even in the MicroSat flashback, Anthony's shown wearing at least two unique shirts, so it seems that unless someone was forcing him to include variation in the way he dresses, he doesn't appear to be the kind of person to wear literally one style of clothing at all times. Which makes this apparent reversion to hospital-days fashion all the more unsettling. |
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Post by Chancellor on Apr 10, 2015 15:48:56 GMT
Am I the only one who's almost willing to give up on the comic at this point? This chapter has been nothing but a trauma conga line, and seeing a character I've been with for six years becoming a chew toy is not the most fun thing in the world. I get that there needs to be trauma for character growth, but this chapter has been REALLY damn hard to read. I'm thinking of giving up for now, and then coming back when the chapter's done; maybe the fact that it's not stretched out over the course of a month and a half will make it easier to read. Absolutely not. It's painful, but so has been Fire Spike and other sections. I'm not going to give up on something as great as GKC so easily, and neither should you consider it. |
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Post by itrogash on Apr 10, 2015 15:53:08 GMT
She has short hair, of course she does. If daddy did it is actually sort of creepy. But I am actually leaning more toward she doing it, acting like a little girl may be her way of coping or a way of earning mercy from him. And how it is less creepy than the first option? |
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Post by Fishy on Apr 10, 2015 15:57:05 GMT
I've gone back and forth, considering this real or a dream. It's still confusing. I started looking at the last and this page thinking it's gone too far to be just a dream, but now I'm instead thinking that maybe it still is. But maybe it's not Annie's bad dream, maybe it's Kat's. Though that in itself raises its own slew of questions, I'm content to wait and see how this plays out.
That being said, next page better feature a hug.
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Post by guitarminotaur on Apr 10, 2015 15:59:53 GMT
Am I the only one who's almost willing to give up on the comic at this point? This chapter has been nothing but a trauma conga line, and seeing a character I've been with for six years becoming a chew toy is not the most fun thing in the world. I get that there needs to be trauma for character growth, but this chapter has been REALLY damn hard to read. I'm thinking of giving up for now, and then coming back when the chapter's done; maybe the fact that it's not stretched out over the course of a month and a half will make it easier to read. Absolutely not. It's painful, but so has been Fire Spike and other sections. I'm not going to give up on something as great as GKC so easily, and neither should you consider it. I agree with the sentiment, though I'm afraid this will be harder for Annie to recover from than Fire Spike if it is permanently enforced. In Fire Spike, all Annie needed was time and distance and a bit of reconciliation with those involved. Here, she's far more isolated and under the legal thumb of someone who potentially has far more powerful (reliable) allies than her; and one of her greatest allies is now at the mercy of that same man. Furthermore, that same figure has her emotionally at his beck and call; even if she could resist, would she?
We'd better hope against our worst fears regarding Anthony, because otherwise, this is not a mess that will be resolved with a summer in the forest.
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Post by ih8pkmn on Apr 10, 2015 16:00:48 GMT
Am I the only one who's almost willing to give up on the comic at this point? This chapter has been nothing but a trauma conga line, and seeing a character I've been with for six years becoming a chew toy is not the most fun thing in the world. I get that there needs to be trauma for character growth, but this chapter has been REALLY damn hard to read. I'm thinking of giving up for now, and then coming back when the chapter's done; maybe the fact that it's not stretched out over the course of a month and a half will make it easier to read. Absolutely not. It's painful, but so has been Fire Spike and other sections. I'm not going to give up on something as great as GKC so easily, and neither should you consider it. That's a fair point, but at least in Fire Spike, it was kind of Annie's own fault for pushing Reynardine to say those things, and at least there were parts to that chapter other than trauma. Normally, every MWF, I wake up looking forward to the next page of GKC, but with this chapter, I've just been dreading what Anthony is going to do to her next. I probably wouldn't mind it as much if we knew what the hell Dickhead the Dad's motivation was other than "Let's humiliate my daughter, traumatize her, and take away every single thing she loves", but as it stands, this is probably the worst chapter of GKC to date, or at least, the hardest to read. Here's hoping it gets better in Chapter 52. |
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Post by zimmyzims on Apr 10, 2015 16:01:37 GMT
This is really awful. Still a few months ago, I am sure the very first page would have had a post stating merely "Hallelujah", another one with a link to Cohen's song and on the next page at least there would have been a link to Buckley's (better) version of it, possibly someone even linking Wainwright, and whatever it brings in mind. Now, only three have apparently even noticed the whole reference when we have already over 4700 views and 160 replies and filling the 6th page rapidly, and with what: oh woe, oy vey, what a woeful day, and who with me dares to disagree, a vicious troll musteth he be. What else, substantially, has been said over these pages?
And do not think that I claim to break the pattern with this post, oh no, oh woe...
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Post by ctso74 on Apr 10, 2015 16:01:53 GMT
So I've been thinking about what Kat might do to improve this situation. Calling in her parents or Eglamore probably won't help at all. Anthony is Annie's legal guardian and as such his decision sadly overrides any differing opinions of other adults. The Court authorities would probably be able to rein him in, but we can safely assume they are on his side in this matter. The only thing that could prove fruitful is contacting the forest. Kat wouldn't go by herself, and she never really had any contact with Jones. But she could send Robot or Shadow or both over the bridge as envoys to deliver a message to Ysengrin and Coyote. Surely Coyote would do something once he hears what is happening to his favorite fire head girl and forest medium ...and that's when it hit me. This has been Coyote's game all along. If Annie was just the Court medium, Coyote would have no say in this; the Court can appoint and remove a medium however they want. But Annie is the Forest's medium and Coyote is going to exploit this situation to his scheming heart's content. Thinking back on it there has always been a huge questionmark hovering over his decision to make Annie his medium, but I payed little heed to it then because "Hey, Annie get's to mess around in the Forest some more, I'm all for it!" But he's been planning or betting on this from the first moment he met her, hasn't he... There may be nothing to do. It could be part of what Tom's story means. If a friend of ours had gone through something similar in school, what would we have done? Even a best friend. She could try to rally the local "troops" (adults and students alike), but what can they do? I can't imagine this going on for too long, due to its effects on the narrative, but everyone's options are limited. There aren't laws about poor parenting, no matter how stark their consequences are. Even the Forest's option are cut off by the Annan Waters. Of course, Kat could push their group to remove Jeanne without Annie, maybe using the Tooth... That adds an interesting twist on your thoughts about Coyote. I sort of like a question coming from the current story. Everyone's weird dysfunctional families are different. What do you do when a friend's seems well beyond the norm? What do you do, when there's nothing to do? |
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Post by AnUpliftedCuttlefish on Apr 10, 2015 16:05:09 GMT
It looks to me that she is wearing the same outfit from this strip: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=306Though, maybe no necklaces this time around. I thought so too at first, but the new dress is not completely button-down like the earlier onne, and the buttons are on the wrong side. Actually none of her blue dresses in the hospital scenes were the same, which is really weird. At first I thought it was a hospital thing but now I see it was Anthony's wardrobe decision. But why would you not allow your child even the slightest variety of clothes? This is so strange. Yes, I guess with Surma incapacitated Anthony would have been in charge of clothes shopping by default (though he may always have been), and I guess he strikes me as the sort that'd probably go for similar functional, if somewhat dull, outfits. But I wonder if that means he brought Antimony new clothes when he returned? Antimony did have garments that were presumably holdovers from her hospital days, we saw them a few times in the early chapters (like the one in the linked comic). But it seems like a long time since we've seen her wear anything like that, and one would think the old ones wouldn't be the best fit anymore... |
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Post by carasanathema on Apr 10, 2015 16:10:04 GMT
I actually would love thoughts on my post further back on this thread wondering if Anthony actually sees Antimony as a real person, with the right to the spirit that she took from Surma, or as a "thing" that reminds him of his failure and loss, and became a target instead of a daughter. I'm not saying it as clearly here as before.
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Earin
Full Member
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Post by Earin on Apr 10, 2015 16:10:33 GMT
There may be nothing to do. It could be part of what Tom's story means. If a friend of ours had gone through something similar in school, what would we have done? Even a best friend. She could try to rally the local "troops" (adults and students alike), but what can they do? I can't imagine this going on for too long, due to its effects on the narrative, but everyone's options are limited. There aren't laws about poor parenting, no matter how stark their consequences are. "Your lack of empathy and mistreatment of your child demonstrates your insuitability to be a teacher, and your callousness and failure to demonstrate sound research ethics makes you unsuitable to be a researcher. Your classes will be reassigned, your grant funding cancelled, and your equipment and data confiscated. Your personal possessions are in the taxi outside. Good day." |
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Post by crater on Apr 10, 2015 16:16:13 GMT
I've read alot of media... but never, ever has something been even half as arduous to read as his chapter.
Bravo
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Post by AnUpliftedCuttlefish on Apr 10, 2015 16:17:45 GMT
This is really awful. Still a few months ago, I am sure the very first page would have had a post stating merely "Hallelujah", another one with a link to Cohen's song and on the next page at least there would have been a link to Buckley's (better) version of it, possibly someone even linking Wainwright, and whatever it brings in mind. Now, only three have apparently even noticed the whole reference when we have already over 4700 views and 160 replies and filling the 6th page rapidly, and with what: oh woe, oy vey, what a woeful day, and who with me dares to disagree, a vicious troll musteth he be. What else, substantially, has been said over these pages? And do not think that I claim to break the pattern with this post, oh no, oh woe... I wish I'd known that was standard practice, or I would have. It was a nice reference. I'd probably have linked Cohen. While I do think Buckley's version is better, Cohen's was practically a constant during my childhood (my parents had his records going all the time.). But, since you didn't mention her: |
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Post by fwip on Apr 10, 2015 16:21:38 GMT
There may be nothing to do. It could be part of what Tom's story means. If a friend of ours had gone through something similar in school, what would we have done? Even a best friend. She could try to rally the local "troops" (adults and students alike), but what can they do? I can't imagine this going on for too long, due to its effects on the narrative, but everyone's options are limited. There aren't laws about poor parenting, no matter how stark their consequences are. "Your lack of empathy and mistreatment of your child demonstrates your insuitability to be a teacher, and your callousness and failure to demonstrate sound research ethics makes you unsuitable to be a researcher. Your classes will be reassigned, your grant funding cancelled, and your equipment and data confiscated. Your personal possessions are in the taxi outside. Good day." We wish. I actually would love thoughts on my post further back on this thread wondering if Anthony actually sees Antimony as a real person, with the right to the spirit that she took from Surma, or as a "thing" that reminds him of his failure and loss, and became a target instead of a daughter. I'm not saying it as clearly here as before. It's not a huge stretch to see this, given the way he's been treating Antimony. Perhaps he sees her as a compromised version of Surma, and is mistreating the child version of her because the child version of her will be no more if he succeeds. |
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Post by fish on Apr 10, 2015 16:22:23 GMT
So I've been thinking about what Kat might do to improve this situation. Calling in her parents or Eglamore probably won't help at all. Anthony is Annie's legal guardian and as such his decision sadly overrides any differing opinions of other adults. The Court authorities would probably be able to rein him in, but we can safely assume they are on his side in this matter. The only thing that could prove fruitful is contacting the forest. Kat wouldn't go by herself, and she never really had any contact with Jones. But she could send Robot or Shadow or both over the bridge as envoys to deliver a message to Ysengrin and Coyote. Surely Coyote would do something once he hears what is happening to his favorite fire head girl and forest medium ...and that's when it hit me. This has been Coyote's game all along. If Annie was just the Court medium, Coyote would have no say in this; the Court can appoint and remove a medium however they want. But Annie is the Forest's medium and Coyote is going to exploit this situation to his scheming heart's content. Thinking back on it there has always been a huge questionmark hovering over his decision to make Annie his medium, but I payed little heed to it then because "Hey, Annie get's to mess around in the Forest some more, I'm all for it!" But he's been planning or betting on this from the first moment he met her, hasn't he... There may be nothing to do. It could be part of what Tom's story means. If a friend of ours had gone through something similar in school, what would we have done? Even a best friend. She could try to rally the local "troops" (adults and students alike), but what can they do? I can't imagine this going on for too long, due to its effects on the narrative, but everyone's options are limited. There aren't laws about poor parenting, no matter how stark their consequences are. Even the Forest's option are cut off by the Annan Waters. Of course, Kat could push their group to remove Jeanne without Annie, maybe using the Tooth... That adds an interesting twist on your thoughts about Coyote. I sort of like a question coming from the current story. Everyone's weird dysfunctional families are different. What do you do when a friend's seems well beyond the norm? What do you do, when there's nothing to do? I know, there's really nothing Kat can do (Coyote will find out eventually, one way or the other). I think this is part of the reason she is tearing up. She realized there's nothing she can do and no turning back for Annie. This page is soul crushing. I've been mentally prepared for all of Anthony's awfulness towards Annie, but I didn't pay attention to Kat and now I have daggers in my heart. |
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Post by rosencrantz on Apr 10, 2015 16:24:16 GMT
Wow, 6 pages of discussion already. Have people speculated on whether Annie's hair will still flow like crazy in the ether, or whether this part of her identity is removed.
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Post by juxander on Apr 10, 2015 16:37:33 GMT
I'm really wondering if Anthony actually sees Antimony as a real person at all. The look he gave her when she was a child walking in on his and Surma's moment of acceptance that she was going to die, to me it looked like an expression of blame, even hatred. It's possible he only agreed to have a child because Surma wanted one...it doesn't seem like he bonds with people well. And then to lose the one he does love to that child that literally stole his wife's life force. The fact that she was an innocent kid doesn't tend to matter much to people who can dehumanize a perceived enemy, and she's an ideal target for his own sense of failure to cure Surma. If he doesn't believe Antimony has the right to that fire and spirit that was Surma, I could see him feeling justified in crushing every sign of it in her. Hell, he may be getting in some way too steal it back, or just destroy the monster that he perceives his daughter to be. And how hard could a daughter fight all this when she learned that her existence is the reason her mother is dead, that she's not completely human, and the one who should have been there to love her and tell her she's not a monster seems to not be able to stand her? His actions are "proof" that this is all her fault, and there's something inherently bad about her. I don't know if I could fight that. For the record I really hope I'm wrong. I speculated something very similar in a previous strip thread. Anthony does not understand emotions. To him they are unnecessary distractions; at most, variables in an equation that need to be solved. He definitely feels responsibility towards Annie, but I would compare it to the responsibility a homeowner feels towards their house. She is a thing to be managed, and where she does intersect with him as a human being it is only in a negative way - a reminder of someone that he may have actually felt something for and couldn't save. A stain on his reputation of hard work and integrity. |
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Post by attiem on Apr 10, 2015 16:40:37 GMT
She has short hair, of course she does. If daddy did it is actually sort of creepy. But I am actually leaning more toward she doing it, acting like a little girl may be her way of coping or a way of earning mercy from him. And how it is less creepy than the first option? Well is more about self preservation and survival but I suppose it could be called creepy to |
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