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Post by imaginaryfriend on Oct 25, 2021 7:03:30 GMT
I'm assuming that Aata didn't use magic (or what-have-you) in order to fit the Court's norms in the pursuit of their ends, which I assume is giving humans magic powers. Hmm. |
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Post by philman on Oct 25, 2021 7:11:46 GMT
Tried so hard... but in the end... (it doesn't even matter...)
Hmm, did Tom use the Linkin Park quote on the same day as the 21st anniversary of their first album's release on purpose?
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Post by glyphomatrix on Oct 25, 2021 7:14:55 GMT
may I claim the biscuit, or as some say, 'cookie', if it pleases you
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Post by basser on Oct 25, 2021 7:25:26 GMT
Who's up for some absurd over-analysis of Linkin Park lyrics in relation to Aata's character themes and motivations.
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Post by machiavelli33 on Oct 25, 2021 7:43:21 GMT
Poor girl. I know how it feels to feel so passionately for someone else - for someone else's strife, and their goals. To see it everything that person strove for ripped away - and for YOU no less...I can only imagine that its an internally consuming mixture of touching and devastating.
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Post by Igniz on Oct 25, 2021 8:24:01 GMT
"He's not supposed to use m-magic and stuff like that..." ...while a lot of the staff and students are supposed to.  Hmm, did Tom use the Linkin Park quote on the same day as the 21st anniversary of their first album's release on purpose? 21 years (+1 day) since the release of Hybrid Theory! How fast time has flown since then!  |
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Post by shinkaii on Oct 25, 2021 9:40:47 GMT
Now I really want an edgy AMV with Aata and Shell best moments with "In the end" blasting over it.
On the topic of page, I wonder what being "excised from the program" means for Aata. Probably getting kicked out of the Court for good, not just from Shadow men?
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Post by aline on Oct 25, 2021 10:30:41 GMT
I'm completely failing to feel any empathy or compassion for these shadow dudes. It looks like they created their own tragedies by creating and upholding stupid anti-magic rules. Like. It feels like watching a bigot find out that they, too, end up suffering because of the bigotry they've upheld all their life. Am I supposed to be sad? Am I supposed to feel sorry for them? Why? This is a problem they created in the first place, and they never would care about any of it if somebody else than the people they care about was excluded
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Post by phyzome on Oct 25, 2021 11:28:51 GMT
I think this is maybe the second time the word "magic" has ever been used in the comic?
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novia
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Post by novia on Oct 25, 2021 12:06:05 GMT
Annie: So here's the thing Shell, your boy Aata was totes magicking it up mere seconds before he saved your life. Stop stressing.
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Post by crater on Oct 25, 2021 14:14:46 GMT
I like this, please just make the rest of the chapter about Shell bullying
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Post by bedinsis on Oct 25, 2021 15:23:10 GMT
I assume Shell's crush on Aata is meant to humanize an entity which is portrayed as the bad guys. I'm just not feeling it; good for them I suppose, but it's a weary "yeah-yeah-whatever" from me.
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echo
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Currently contemplating if Tom's post counts are a reflection of timeloops, or a CSS trick?
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Post by echo on Oct 25, 2021 16:31:58 GMT
I'm assuming that Aata didn't use magic (or what-have-you) in order to fit the Court's norms in the pursuit of their ends, which I assume is giving humans magic powers. Hmm. Do they call it magic in Gunnerkrigg Court? Perhaps the issue is that Aata used blackbox aether mumbo-jumbo, which the Court probably doesn't like and/or trust because it doesn't understand. |
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Post by ctso74 on Oct 25, 2021 16:37:11 GMT
Not really feeling that bad for Aata. Don't get me wrong, people should have the leeway to change. Maybe a "Program"-removed Aata can be converted to a better functioning person. Maybe someone who can explain seemingly obvious things to the Court, in a way that it will understand.
But, why didn't he do that before. Ego? Envy? There's plenty we don't know about the Court's plans and Aata's nature/past, but he made this bed while smiling smugly. I can't really feel that bad, that he has to lay in it.
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novia
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Post by novia on Oct 25, 2021 17:12:00 GMT
Just noticed, that hairclip in the back is getting out of control.
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Post by mturtle7 on Oct 25, 2021 17:58:43 GMT
I get the impression that Annie REALLY doesn't like Shell or even sympathize with her problems very much, but when anybody's genuinely so upset they break down crying, she feels naturally obligated to help them work through it. She will listen to Shell's problems and, instead of telling her those problems are stupid, avoidable, and harm other people more than her (even if, as I'm guessing, that is in fact true), Annie will make vaguely comforting noises and gently suggest some possible solutions (ones which, unusually for Shell, will NOT involve skullduggery, xenophobia, and/or emotional repression). She's been a Medium for years now, so she knows how to be professionally empathetic!
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Post by blazingstar on Oct 25, 2021 18:25:21 GMT
I get the impression that Annie REALLY doesn't like Shell or even sympathize with her problems very much, but when anybody's genuinely so upset they break down crying, she feels naturally obligated to help them work through it. She will listen to Shell's problems and, instead of telling her those problems are stupid, avoidable, and harm other people more than her (even if, as I'm guessing, that is in fact true), Annie will make vaguely comforting noises and gently suggest some possible solutions (ones which, unusually for Shell, will NOT involve skullduggery, xenophobia, and/or emotional repression). She's been a Medium for years now, so she knows how to be professionally empathetic! I think Annie actually forgot she was a Medium between the Forest AND the Court, and was about to keep unleashing her frustration towards Shell until she saw how upset she was. The Medium is never off-duty. They're always the Medium, even out of uniform, and it's their job to be empathetic - but not just to Forest creatures, which Annie has been called out for favoring before. I think this scene is an important lesson in that. I like the character development that's happening here. |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Oct 25, 2021 18:38:35 GMT
Do they call it magic in Gunnerkrigg Court? Apparently so, at least if you include "and stuff like that" along with "magic." The word magic has appeared nine times on eight pages in the comic according to the index if you include "magician" and "magical" and that's not fully inclusive, so I think we can say it's commonly used. The relationship between magic and etheric sciences isn't fully clear but it looks like "magic that the Court does" is interchangeable with etheric science at least in some context. I'd figure that it'd be more accurate to put magic spells and rituals, alchemy stuff, and etheric tech as separate subcategories under a broad banner of etheric science(s) but just "magic" seems to be something of a catch-all. necrotic thread: define magicPerhaps the issue is that Aata used blackbox aether mumbo-jumbo, which the Court probably doesn't like and/or trust because it doesn't understand. Very possible. It might also be that the Court put some sort of special restriction on Aata (and maybe others) for security reasons (to prevent Coyote or "Loup" from getting a good look via the ether at what they're doing?) or even that Aata is keeping the fact that he can do "magic and stuff like that" secret and some/all of the Court doesn't know he's not entirely human (or whatever). Or some other reason we haven't thought of yet. It seems Aata (and others in the program?) see using "magic and stuff like that" as a failure of some sort, but apparently being forced to use that proves Aata right in some way so perhaps he had disagreements with other people about a complete ban on magic use in The Program? Remains to be seen. |
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Post by ohthatone on Oct 25, 2021 19:13:06 GMT
So does Shell believe in "The Program" because she believes in it or because she believes in aata who believes in it? Too soon to tell of course but I think Shell has the potential to be a very interesting character, moreso than aata.
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Post by drmemory on Oct 25, 2021 22:46:48 GMT
Annie is very compassionate, whether she likes you or not. She is a much better person than I. I'm not so great with liars and rude and dishonest people. That being said, we really haven't seen Shell do anything bad on her own - even throwing the item into Dead Coyote's Head to start the actual power theft operation was just her role in the operation, and the onus for what happened after is on her boss, not on her. Just following orders and all that. Even just standing around looking frustrated isn't actually bad, it's just her reaction to what's going on. I dislike the schemer, not the tools he uses to implement his schemes. Especially if, as I suspect, he's a traitor to his original home, the forest, or at least his cousin, the god Coyote.
Who knows what he's been telling the court, and his Shadow Men, about Coyote and the forest?
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Post by TBeholder on Oct 26, 2021 0:06:48 GMT
Who's up for some absurd over-analysis of Linkin Park lyrics in relation to Aata's character themes and motivations. I pass. Still suspect he is running this side show however he likes it. "He's not supposed to use m-magic and stuff like that..." ...while a lot of the staff and students are supposed to. Which is why my hypothesis #1 is: this limitation is applied far too selectively to be of practical value, and as a way of signaling… well, we all know how plain forbidden fruit works; thus, the real reason is elsewhere. Whatever justification of this ban was, its true purpose is to serve as a cadre policy tool (filter) in an important area (Shadow Men seem to serve as internal security). Like those transporters in Star Trek¹: they are not very practical in far too many situation when a shuttle won’t do, to say the least. But one thing they can do reliably is ensure that only the people with acceptable philosophies will ever try to join the Starleet. Basically, if anyone who thinks about it as "killed and being replaced by a clone" simply won’t go there (or if decides to sacrifice oneself, will have an obvious identity crisis very soon), thus no need to sniff out at least one subset of infiltrating oldthinkers who unbellyfeel. Hypothesis #1A: Aata (or someone like him) installed it just so that he doesn't need to constantly deal with the people who notice his tricks. See good old Warhammer, where wizards are banned from Bretonnia because the local religion is a wizardly sham. Hypothesis #2: Shadow Men are picked from the people with specific subset of powers, which is why there is sort of a practical reason. Which may be as simple as "dangerously unstable when a nearby Ether Station is in a certain phase of its work cycle". Who knows what he's been telling the court, and his Shadow Men, about Coyote and the forest?
Or a big picture: the original purpose of the Court could not be "steal power from Coyote", they cooperated. Even the cause of their initial divide was different. So, at which point did this mega-project appear? And specifically, was this point "Aata joins the Court"? It appears plausible right now (though it’s probably not so simple). ¹: Those people don’t appear to know what they are doing all too often, which is not helped by using weird space elf pidgin or manuals about as trustworthy as Imperial Infantryman’s Uplifting Primer; but for this purpose the popular in-Universe explanation is the only thing that matters. |
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Post by theonethatgotaway on Oct 26, 2021 7:15:41 GMT
..., Annie will make vaguely comforting noises ... Get ready for several pages of Annie going "shush shush shush, /patpatpat/, there there there, huphuphup,..." while making awkward faces and finding always more ridiculous things to do for Cvet who keeps on trying to drop some eaves. |
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Post by Druplesnubb on Oct 26, 2021 8:47:37 GMT
Dammit Tom, I was gonna make that joke!
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Post by saardvark on Oct 26, 2021 12:38:04 GMT
He's tried so hard...
to resist/avoid using magic?
or is Shell thinking more generally - he tried so hard to capture Coyote's essence, and at other nefarious schemes?
Maybe we will learn more as Annie tries to calm her down....
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rabbit
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Post by rabbit on Oct 26, 2021 18:39:18 GMT
I hope we do learn more about Aata soon. I have been ready to despise him, but when I think about other GK characters that seemed unrelatable if not evil at first - Rey, Zimmy, Tony - it may be that there is more to this "beautiful failure" than I first thought. Nice to have some depths to explore! ps - shouldn't the Linkin Park reference have been to Shadow of the Day?  |
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Post by drmemory on Oct 27, 2021 15:15:04 GMT
He's tried so hard... to resist/avoid using magic? or is Shell thinking more generally - he tried so hard to capture Coyote's essence, and at other nefarious schemes? Maybe we will learn more as Annie tries to calm her down.... My guess - tried so hard to pretend to be a human. Either because the court doesn't know what he really is, or because they set rules for him if he wanted to be there. |
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Post by Gemminie on Oct 27, 2021 16:13:25 GMT
OK, it's been a busy couple of days for me, but let me get caught up. The usual rules apply; I haven't read anybody's comments about this topic's page yet.
With Aata and the other Shadow Men gone, Annie continues to press Shell on her relationship with Aata, probably hoping to get a crumb of information out of her. Shell considers what Aata's done to be "throwing it all away," saying that he's "not supposed to" use "magic" and "stuff like that." Once again she goes very anime with her emotions.
Then Annie does an interesting thing and asks Cvet to go round up some strong Forest creatures to help dig upwards. Does she want Cvet to be elsewhere so she won't hear the rest of the conversation? After all, anything Cvet overhears, she'll gossip to others about. I like Cvet, but that's just what will happen.
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