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Post by imaginaryfriend on Sept 26, 2022 7:04:50 GMT
Not sure they wanted Coyote's power as a mere means of escape... if the Star Ocean's already up and running wouldn't they have mojo enough already? Maybe he means they wanted it to take the whole Court with them instead of fleeing in boats? |
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Post by flowsthead on Sept 26, 2022 7:07:07 GMT
How hilariously anticlimactic would it be if this is how Annie "kills" Loup. I know she was supposed to use the tooth sword, but a train to the ether ocean seems just as handy.
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blackouthart
New Member
Avatar drawn by Shelby Cragg!
Posts: 49
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Post by blackouthart on Sept 26, 2022 7:07:32 GMT
Is this where we see how strong Jerrek is now in terms of dominant personality of the body? If Loup gets eaten away by the star ocean for a while, will Jerrek exist fully and entirely?
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Post by bicarbonat on Sept 26, 2022 7:10:49 GMT
Lou-rek: Both of us have to get off this train RIGHT NOW
Lana: What about me?
Lou-rek: You can take notes.
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Post by Gemini Jim on Sept 26, 2022 7:19:44 GMT
How hilariously anticlimactic would it be if this is how Annie "kills" Loup. I know she was supposed to use the tooth sword, but a train to the ether ocean seems just as handy. Anticlimatic, but also awesome if Jerrek-Loup was the ultimate instigator of his own death. I mean, Annie basically did nothing to discourage him, other than a weaksauce "it's too risky." Of course, that still leaves Lana. She might be blissfully unaware. That could get awkward. ("Sorry you had to see that, but you see, your boyfriend was secretly a mad dog god.") Or, who knows? If she knows, she could be deliberately egging him on. |
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Post by maxptc on Sept 26, 2022 7:21:21 GMT
I feel like a lot of people called most of what was revealed here as far as the Court wanting to use Coyete as fuel. Doesn't look like the disguise is broken or that Loup lost control, and he still seems a bit connected to the physical world in real time. Wonder if he is going to reval himself to escape, or at least attempt to escape.
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Post by blahzor on Sept 26, 2022 7:29:37 GMT
In Soviet Gunnerkrigg
Battery goes to you
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Post by blahzor on Sept 26, 2022 7:32:23 GMT
Also I think it's too purposeful to not show what's happening to Lana at the same time. My guess they'll show that Annie is looking at how Lana is taking it not noticing Loup
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Post by basser on Sept 26, 2022 7:34:05 GMT
Slightly confused about how Renard and Shadow were able to futz around on robo-boat without issue but aight. Maybe Renard being in a doll stabilizes him somehow and Shadow just isn't powerful enough, I guess. Or Zimmy was screwing up the power suction somehow. Presumably creatures like Annie are fine since they're relatively small amounts of power in a nice human wrapping. Alternatively this could be an amusingly obtuse callback to the whole fairies learning gravity physics thing. If the Star Ocean for some hilarious reason follows standard laws of physics then Loup's high "etheric mass" would lead to him experiencing a proportionally higher attractive force. Honestly that would be pretty great. Lastly I think it would be fantastic if Annie managed to break the metaphorical space ship by unintentionally yeeting a magic dog into it. For real though what if the Court actually never needed Coyote's power for anything, they were just trying to remove the risk of having this gigantic canine ether bomb sat right in front of their magic dream jet turbine. And then Annie straight annihilates the entire project using her power of making questionable decisions. Amazing. |
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Post by speedwell on Sept 26, 2022 7:42:33 GMT
"Be careful what you ask for - you might get it."
Something else is going on if Loup is feeling strongly discombobulated by proximity to the whatever-it-is and Annie is feeling nothing.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Sept 26, 2022 7:44:30 GMT
Additionally: Panel 2 logue has implications. It confirms that there are (or at least were) other ways into Gunnerkrigg Court than the Star Ocean as there are etheric creatures within it that the Court wouldn't want and who are less powerful than Coyote, as at least some of them weren't born there since we can recognize the myths they came from and from that where they came from. I think we can safely infer from this that the Court preexisted connection with the Star Ocean unless something else pops up. Also, the Court's backers have access to pretty high levels of etheric mojo through their etheric tech, though I guess not god-tier yet. Maybe most importantly, the fact that mundane beings can pass through this Star Ocean where etheric beings of higher abilities would be destroyed is strong evidence for matter/ether duality in the Gunnerverse, or at least that matter is a distinct state of ether that effectively adds up to same.
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Post by madjack on Sept 26, 2022 7:47:42 GMT
I feel like a lot of people called most of what was revealed here as far as the Court wanting to use Coyete as fuel. Doesn't look like the disguise is broken or that Loup lost control, and he still seems a bit connected to the physical world in real time. Wonder if he is going to reval himself to escape, or at least attempt to escape. Could see him faking another "Loup" attack to grab the train and force everyone to run or something. I can also guess the Court's method of powering the star ocean up being opening the floodgates on this effect we're seeing, and it ends up draining half the ether including Annie, Rey etc. Loup might be forced to choose between letting that happen to Annie with potentially fatal results or giving up his own power to fuel it willingly. |
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Post by crater on Sept 26, 2022 8:01:31 GMT
hope this doesn't mean they already got zimmy D:
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Post by zaratustra on Sept 26, 2022 8:20:23 GMT
"Be careful what you ask for - you might get it." Something else is going on if Loup is feeling strongly discombobulated by proximity to the whatever-it-is and Annie is feeling nothing. Does Loup have a Roche limit? |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Sept 26, 2022 9:59:25 GMT
"Be careful what you ask for - you might get it." Something else is going on if Loup is feeling strongly discombobulated by proximity to the whatever-it-is and Annie is feeling nothing. Does Loup have a Roche limit? Already answered: No.  |
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Post by pyradonis on Sept 26, 2022 10:00:57 GMT
That doesn't look too healthy. It confirms that there are (or at least were) other ways into Gunnerkrigg Court than the Star Ocean As far as I understood, the Star Ocean was solely created as a way out, not in.
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Post by Igniz on Sept 26, 2022 10:13:04 GMT
Does Loup have a Roche limit? His etheric level is over 9,000, so he most certainly does. |
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Post by Per on Sept 26, 2022 11:05:03 GMT
Not shown in this page: Lana.
(People have speculated she's a Coyote, but it seems more logical that she'd be another Loup if she's anything but a toaster.)
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Sept 26, 2022 11:22:33 GMT
It confirms that there are (or at least were) other ways into Gunnerkrigg Court than the Star Ocean As far as I understood, the Star Ocean was solely created as a way out, not in. Well, the mysterious backer did say " It is for passage only, to a very real new world" (emphasis theirs) when talking about the Star Ocean. They then went on to say that Ship could go at least a ways into the Star Ocean and come back. As for other ships, unless they just make them in the Court for one-way trips I'd assume they come back to be reused. I think what they're saying is that once the Court has left and the Star Ocean is shut down that's it, there's no way back. Yeah I made a post about that formspring q+a and what we actually knew at that point. There are other possibilities of how a train could enter/exit but I think today's comic firms up my speculation. |
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Post by blahzor on Sept 26, 2022 13:08:05 GMT
As far as I understood, the Star Ocean was solely created as a way out, not in. Well, the mysterious backer did say " It is for passage only, to a very real new world" (emphasis theirs) when talking about the Star Ocean. They then went on to say that Ship could go at least a ways into the Star Ocean and come back. As for other ships, unless they just make them in the Court for one-way trips I'd assume they come back to be reused. I think what they're saying is that once the Court has left and the Star Ocean is shut down that's it, there's no way back. Yeah I made a post about that formspring q+a and what we actually knew at that point. There are other possibilities of how a train could enter/exit but I think today's comic firms up my speculation. seeing as Chang'e visited the Court maybe the star ocean went to the moon first as a test |
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Post by ctso74 on Sept 26, 2022 14:04:12 GMT
Well, the mysterious backer did say " It is for passage only, to a very real new world" (emphasis theirs) when talking about the Star Ocean. They then went on to say that Ship could go at least a ways into the Star Ocean and come back. As for other ships, unless they just make them in the Court for one-way trips I'd assume they come back to be reused. I think what they're saying is that once the Court has left and the Star Ocean is shut down that's it, there's no way back. Yeah I made a post about that formspring q+a and what we actually knew at that point. There are other possibilities of how a train could enter/exit but I think today's comic firms up my speculation. seeing as Chang'e visited the Court maybe the star ocean went to the moon first as a test I'm thinking there are multiple ways into the Court. The Star Ocean is merely another exit, only one-way though. I wonder how this is going to affect Jerreks behavior. Will he merely start acting distracted, or behave like he just dropped some acid? Would NPs upload bugs for recreation, or have they not evolved/degraded to that point? |
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Post by Gemminie on Sept 26, 2022 14:42:16 GMT
Again, not reading anyone's comments before posting my own – my self-imposed rule.
It looked at the end of the previous page as if Jerrek/Loup were being pulled apart, but it seems to have been something more subjective. Now, we see a sweating Jerrek with a haunted expression on his face and a bright light in the distance, toward what is presumably the front of the train. Annie, meanwhile, looks bored and perhaps slightly annoyed. We don't see her thoughts on this page.
The three panels on this page are drawn in parallel, each of them with an increasingly distorting fish-eye lens effect, which is an amazing exercise in perspective. Annie doesn't seem to notice anything, which means the star ocean's Ether-draining effects don't work on Annie – either that, or she doesn't notice them. Perhaps she'd notice them if she tried to project into the Ether while in that area, but so far she hasn't attempted any such thing, dwelling entirely inside her physical body.
Jerrek/Loup, on the other hand, is experiencing more and more distortion, as the light appears to get brighter and he seems to be being stretched toward it. The entire train car seems to be getting pulled like taffy in the direction of the light, but obviously Annie notices nothing, so this is something that's entirely in the Ether or based on Loup's perception of the situation. He believes it's the star ocean, at least, and that would seem consistent – he thinks this answers the question of why the Court tried to steal his power, because they needed it to propel themselves across the star ocean to their new world. Odd, then, that some people are already there. What source of Ether did they use to travel there?
Loup seems in some distress. What will he do? Pull the train's emergency cord and exit, claiming that he and Lana (as New People) would be less likely to be caught if they walked from here (or will Annie do this)? Keep going and suffer some damage and possibly be revealed as either Loup, or at least as not what he appears to be? Will Lana do something instead, and will we learn something new and amazing about her? Will Kat show up with a secret plan she and Annie worked out to get Jerrek to the shore unseen? Or will something else I'm not predicting happen?
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Post by drmemory on Sept 26, 2022 17:06:11 GMT
Interesting that the ocean doesn't affect Annie. Maybe it only pulls out "extra" power, not innate stuff like her fire elemental nature? I mean, we know Annie can go into the ether and do stuff there, but she doesn't seem to be a creature OF the ether like some others in the comic. It didn't really affect Gamma either, nor Renard, just Zimmy. I suggest there is a qualitative difference between people/creatures/entities that are OF the ether and those who can access or use the ether. Heck, maybe it's a question of whether they were created BY the ether, as Coyote suggested when he revealed his big secret!
What really interests me here is a question I asked when the Court tried to steal Coyote's power before - what is left if they take his power? Does it kill him, or what? Can he come back from that? Maybe recharge over time?
Best guess - the ocean will suck out Loup's power but leave a much less powerful Loup, still alive but stuck in the form of Jerrek. If he doesn't panic outwardly they might not even notice.
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Post by mturtle7 on Sept 26, 2022 17:18:10 GMT
Slightly confused about how Renard and Shadow were able to futz around on robo-boat without issue but aight. Maybe Renard being in a doll stabilizes him somehow and Shadow just isn't powerful enough, I guess. Or Zimmy was screwing up the power suction somehow. Presumably creatures like Annie are fine since they're relatively small amounts of power in a nice human wrapping. Alternatively this could be an amusingly obtuse callback to the whole fairies learning gravity physics thing. If the Star Ocean for some hilarious reason follows standard laws of physics then Loup's high "etheric mass" would lead to him experiencing a proportionally higher attractive force. Honestly that would be pretty great. My vague understanding is that creatures who are merely created by Ether and have natural etheric powers are categorically different from beings like Coyote or Loup, who are so far outside the bounds of reality they're practically immersed in Ether 24/7. As Coyote put it to Annie that one time, "you may only peer into it with your blinker stone, but I swim in the ether!" Going by that swimming analogy, I think that Renard is like someone who can swim a little ways but prefers to just stay on dry land most of the time, and the activated Star Ocean is like the biggest honkin' whirlpool of all time.
Ooh, that's actually also a good theory! I love it when the "laws of magic" borrow from the actual laws of science.
I love the language you use for this.
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Post by drmemory on Sept 26, 2022 17:22:29 GMT
By the way, I still think the people (entities?) running the show on the whole new court/star ocean thing are con artists, like the ones that talked Annie's father into cutting off his hand to make a flesh antenna to get Surma back. Maybe even the same ones? Like in that situation, they are probably telling the court what it wants to hear, but leaving out key information. Like what THEY get out of it. If we assume they are up to no good, as I do but you may not, then maybe this is in part a trap to steal Coyote's power, should Loup get close. Or the power of any other etheric entity that draws near. What they plan to DO with this power isn't clear - I'd have to guess that someone wants to become a God or already has and needs more energy to power up.
How do I get all of this out of Loup's reaction to the Star Ocean? Obviously I don't - this has been percolating and being built up for a while, like any good conspiracy theory.  |
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Post by drmemory on Sept 26, 2022 17:31:18 GMT
Slightly confused about how Renard and Shadow were able to futz around on robo-boat without issue but aight. Maybe Renard being in a doll stabilizes him somehow and Shadow just isn't powerful enough, I guess. Or Zimmy was screwing up the power suction somehow. Presumably creatures like Annie are fine since they're relatively small amounts of power in a nice human wrapping. Alternatively this could be an amusingly obtuse callback to the whole fairies learning gravity physics thing. If the Star Ocean for some hilarious reason follows standard laws of physics then Loup's high "etheric mass" would lead to him experiencing a proportionally higher attractive force. Honestly that would be pretty great. My vague understanding is that creatures who are merely created by Ether and have natural etheric powers are categorically different from beings like Coyote or Loup, who are so far outside the bounds of reality they're practically immersed in Ether 24/7. As Coyote put it to Annie that one time, "you may only peer into it with your blinker stone, but I swim in the ether!" Going by that swimming analogy, I think that Renard is like someone who can swim a little ways but prefers to just stay on dry land most of the time, and the activated Star Ocean is like the biggest honkin' whirlpool of all time.
Ooh, that's actually also a good theory! I love it when the "laws of magic" borrow from the actual laws of science.
I love the language you use for this.
As for why Renard and Shadow weren't affected, my theory is that only creatures OF the ether are, not creatures that merely use the ether. Coyote swims in the ether and was probably created by the minds of humanity using the ether. Zimmy isn't as clear but she's clearly very much bound to the ether in some way. Renard seems much more independent and I suspect he isn't personally as powerful. Sneaky and smart, yes, very much so, but not powerful in the same sense as Coyote! Shadow is actually more like a NP - one of the race of humans Coyote attempted to create. The glass-eyed men are similar to the NP, as Loup observed when he first saw them.
However, this theory doesn't feel complete. Evil Buddha hinted that our favorite alien giant mollusks were created by the ether and the desire of humanity for there to be aliens. Lindsey and Bud right? So that would make them creatures of the ether in the same sense of Coyote, yet Lindsey swims in the Star Ocean just fine. So my theory is not without problems.
I do think that Loup is about to have Coyote's power ripped from him and be left trapped as Jerrek, though.
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Post by rylfrazier on Sept 26, 2022 18:07:50 GMT
well the days of Loup being an ineffective but rage-filled nearly all powerful danger ball are certainly coming to a middle
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Post by mordekai on Sept 26, 2022 23:08:33 GMT
Okay, I am confused now... Didn't Annie notice anything when close to the Star Sea? Nothing? She is like half etheric...
Also, did she ever bring Renard close to the sea?
And how the hell can Lindsey swim there, if she was born from the Ether too...? Could it be that human dreams about aliens created their species, but they have become real people now...? How could that happen...?
Also, I will say it again: The Court may have spread knowledge of the Star Sea on purpose as a trap for Loup...
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Post by blahzor on Sept 26, 2022 23:35:05 GMT
seeing as Chang'e visited the Court maybe the star ocean went to the moon first as a test I'm thinking there are multiple ways into the Court. The Star Ocean is merely another exit, only one-way though. I wonder how this is going to affect Jerreks behavior. Will he merely start acting distracted, or behave like he just dropped some acid? Would NPs upload bugs for recreation, or have they not evolved/degraded to that point? yeah but the Court is a group of scientist there's no way they jumpped straight to new planet, they probably tried the Moon first to see if that was enough to be away from the ether and the fingerprint and Chang'e existing would show them otherwise. Also they'd probably later test to see if they can make it one way before finalizing the plan aftre finding this new planet. |
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Post by Bo No Bo on Sept 27, 2022 0:42:43 GMT
Okay, I am confused now... Didn't Annie notice anything when close to the Star Sea? Nothing? She is like half etheric...
Also, did she ever bring Renard close to the sea?
And how the hell can Lindsey swim there, if she was born from the Ether too...? Could it be that human dreams about aliens created their species, but they have become real people now...? How could that happen...?
Also, I will say it again: The Court may have spread knowledge of the Star Sea on purpose as a trap for Loup...
Is it possible that the Star Sea is somehow better at pulling in and absorbing those with the etheric composition of a GOD entity like Loup, and the 'pull' is smaller for those with 'less' etheric makeup, like Annie? But... wait?... Lindsey is FULLY etheric-based of an entity, as you said, birthed from the ether as a human's concept of aliens... ough, my head... Ok. *throws away previous whiteboard for a new one* Maybe it draws in ether from etheric entities, but somehow has been modified to only absorb beings like Loup?? That's what the technical wording on this page suggests, which... I don't understand how and why, but... ok... |
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