[2740] "...those left to Loup's bitter wrath..."

[imaginaryfriend]

He's probably very distracted at this exact moment but sooner or later he will be wrathful. Bitter and wrathful. And other stuff. But mostly bitter and wrathful.

[jda]

Cue the slice of domestic life with Lana, Loup maybe catching a ball thrown, or about to devour a plate prepared by her

[philman]

Is it just me or does the opening of this chapter have a very "the beginning of the end times" feeling to it.

[blahzor]

A angry Loup? I sure hope we can find someone to stop them with a knife

[arf]

Okay, what did the Court do to Lana?
(and how did they leave the remainder to deal with Loup?)

[heranje]

Wonder if Kat's new computer is going to solve whatever was making the Omega device malfunction (as Aata described), enabling the Court to go through with their plans. Or it's another Tic Toc situation, and the computer she's building now is the original Omega device, which was at some point sent back in time.

[yhbc]

Annie hasn't narrated since very early. Who (or what) is suddenly doing the narration now?

[Druplesnubb]

Annie, presumably.

[stef1987]

So Kat's just gonna ignore it and continue building Omega.

[ctso74]

Now I'm curious. What would the Court be packing up first? Test tubes? Children's souls? Snacks?

[yellowb]

Feb 1, 2023 11:07:14 GMT yhbc said:

Annie hasn't narrated since very early. Who (or what) is suddenly doing the narration now?

She narrated later on too, last time in chapter 67, Evac.

Do you seriously think it wasn't obvious who the narrator was two pages ago? On this page:

www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2738

The only time it was even more obvious was on page 1 of the comic. What makes you think the narrator has changed?

[pyradonis]

Feb 1, 2023 8:09:50 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

He's probably very distracted at this exact moment but sooner or later he will be wrathful. Bitter and wrathful. And other stuff. But mostly bitter and wrathful.

"He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged."

Feb 1, 2023 11:07:14 GMT yhbc said:

Annie hasn't narrated since very early. Who (or what) is suddenly doing the narration now?

Actually, the last time Annie narrated was in "Evac".

Feb 1, 2023 8:12:03 GMT jda said:

Cue the slice of domestic life with Lana, Loup maybe catching a ball thrown, or about to devour a plate prepared by her

He'll tear that plate apart and devour it like a hungry wolf!

[Gemminie]

Apparently the scene we just saw involving Kat and Paz is over; Annie's narration continues, telling us that Kat is developing a new computer and continuing her "research into Omega."

The Court is loading up the ol' ocean liner for their trip into space via the etheric ocean. It's probably the same ship from chapter 43.

Annie goes on to mention that the Court's departure would affect those left behind, as they'd be left to face Loup unassisted. There's artwork of an angry-looking Loup, but it's unclear what context this is in; perhaps it's merely notional.

About Kat's Omega research: is she trying to build her own version of Omega, or is she trying to hack into the existing Device? If Omega is a computer, perhaps she could try to replicate the technology, as she's obviously excellent with computers, or perhaps she'll just try to gain root access on it; will she be caught? But if Omega is an entity of some sort that the Device merely communicates with, well, what will Kat do when they demand to know who she is?

[Per]

Annie finally graduates to a character who warns about stuff, and Kat just continues to do crazy genius kids adventure comic type stuff?? Somebody get Red to come and tell her off for 12 pages minimum

Feb 1, 2023 8:12:03 GMT jda said:

Cue the slice of domestic life with Lana, Loup maybe catching a ball thrown, or about to devour a plate prepared by her

"And here's a Spode Patchwork Willow."

*crunch, crunch*

Feb 1, 2023 8:12:21 GMT philman said:

Is it just me or does the opening of this chapter have a very "the beginning of the end times" feeling to it.

"The star ocean was the Court's last, best hope for escape. It failed. But in the year of the Loup War, it became something greater..."

[hannibalbarca]

Feb 1, 2023 10:57:52 GMT heranje said:

Wonder if Kat's new computer is going to solve whatever was making the Omega device malfunction (as Aata described), enabling the Court to go through with their plans. Or it's another Tic Toc situation, and the computer she's building now is the original Omega device, which was at some point sent back in time.

idea : annie is zimmy, zimmy is annie. annie wasn't what making the omega device malfunction, zimmy was : kill zimmy, fix omega, boom, endgame.

[drmemory]

Hmmmm. Does the court know about the robots' evolution into New People, or does it not?

The reason I ask is, the court in the past has considered the robots to be mere tools, that they own, and don't feel bad about abusing. Where I'm going with this is, if the court decides they want to take the robots with them to the new planet, they may well do that, and not feel like they need to tell anyone about it. Especially teenage girls. I'm not sure it would matter to them about the NP, as long as they still can control their property though.

So one follow-on question is, can they still override robots that have new bodies? I don't think we really know how the override was done to start with. Like whether it had to do with the actual chips or with the programming. If chips, then probably not, as they are in new hardware. If programming... uh oh.

Another is, if they were to override Lana and take her with, which they would feel within their rights to do, how would Loup react to this? Not well, I'd wager. Bitterly and with wrath? I'd expect that reaction even if they just override her programming in general, even without an exodus.

An attempt by the court to override all of the robots might also explain the image of a robot rising from the grave. I'm not quite ready to let go of the whole Kat army/M.O.D.O.K. theory though.

[mturtle7]

Feb 1, 2023 18:45:41 GMT drmemory said:

Hmmmm. Does the court know about the robots' evolution into New People, or does it not?

The reason I ask is, the court in the past has considered the robots to be mere tools, that they own, and don't feel bad about abusing. Where I'm going with this is, if the court decides they want to take the robots with them to the new planet, they may well do that, and not feel like they need to tell anyone about it. Especially teenage girls. I'm not sure it would matter to them about the NP, as long as they still can control their property though.

So one follow-on question is, can they still override robots that have new bodies? I don't think we really know how the override was done to start with. Like whether it had to do with the actual chips or with the programming. If chips, then probably not, as they are in new hardware. If programming... uh oh.

Another is, if they were to override Lana and take her with, which they would feel within their rights to do, how would Loup react to this? Not well, I'd wager. Bitterly and with wrath? I'd expect that reaction even if they just override her programming in general, even without an exodus.

An attempt by the court to override all of the robots might also explain the image of a robot rising from the grave. I'm not quite ready to let go of the whole Kat army/M.O.D.O.K. theory though.

Well, when Kat first started reviving robots, most of them were still being actively affected by the override, so the fact that they stopped being affected by it when they got their new bodies rather implies to me that there's no danger from it in the future. It's not explicitly stated in the comic, but I'm guessing that if Kat had just installed, say, Arthur's chip in a normal robot body, he would have just walked right back into his place in the shield.

[mturtle7]

Feb 1, 2023 14:22:16 GMT ctso74 said:

Now I'm curious. What would the Court be packing up first? Test tubes? Children's souls? Snacks?

Why are you listing those like they're 3 separate things?

Feb 1, 2023 16:17:39 GMT Per said:

Annie finally graduates to a character who warns about stuff, and Kat just continues to do crazy genius kids adventure comic type stuff?? Somebody get Red to come and tell her off for 12 pages minimum

Literally Annie right now: "Uh, I don't think that's such a good idea"

(sorry for the double post btw)

[jda]

Feb 1, 2023 15:01:49 GMT pyradonis said:

Feb 1, 2023 8:09:50 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

He's probably very distracted at this exact moment but sooner or later he will be wrathful. Bitter and wrathful. And other stuff. But mostly bitter and wrathful.

"He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged."

Feb 1, 2023 11:07:14 GMT yhbc said:

Annie hasn't narrated since very early. Who (or what) is suddenly doing the narration now?

Actually, the last time Annie narrated was in "Evac".

Feb 1, 2023 8:12:03 GMT jda said:

Cue the slice of domestic life with Lana, Loup maybe catching a ball thrown, or about to devour a plate prepared by her

He'll tear that plate apart and devour it like a hungry wolf!

Exactly!
"No, JerryCutie, you need to wait until I put food on it first!, you silly. But I love you just the way you are" and background music starts

[drmemory]

Feb 1, 2023 19:42:19 GMT mturtle7 said:

Feb 1, 2023 18:45:41 GMT drmemory said:

Hmmmm. Does the court know about the robots' evolution into New People, or does it not?

The reason I ask is, the court in the past has considered the robots to be mere tools, that they own, and don't feel bad about abusing. Where I'm going with this is, if the court decides they want to take the robots with them to the new planet, they may well do that, and not feel like they need to tell anyone about it. Especially teenage girls. I'm not sure it would matter to them about the NP, as long as they still can control their property though.

So one follow-on question is, can they still override robots that have new bodies? I don't think we really know how the override was done to start with. Like whether it had to do with the actual chips or with the programming. If chips, then probably not, as they are in new hardware. If programming... uh oh.

Another is, if they were to override Lana and take her with, which they would feel within their rights to do, how would Loup react to this? Not well, I'd wager. Bitterly and with wrath? I'd expect that reaction even if they just override her programming in general, even without an exodus.

An attempt by the court to override all of the robots might also explain the image of a robot rising from the grave. I'm not quite ready to let go of the whole Kat army/M.O.D.O.K. theory though.

Well, when Kat first started reviving robots, most of them were still being actively affected by the override, so the fact that they stopped being affected by it when they got their new bodies rather implies to me that there's no danger from it in the future. It's not explicitly stated in the comic, but I'm guessing that if Kat had just installed, say, Arthur's chip in a normal robot body, he would have just walked right back into his place in the shield.

Actually, that brings up another point.  Arthur was the first of the robots to receive a new body (other than Robot's prototype forms), and he seems to still have it.  So he may not be quite the same as the later ones.

It did indeed appear that Kat needed the CPUs of robots to be able to give them new bodies.  We saw in Robot's little mindscape, where he appeared to be an angel (more or less), that she was giving them each an ocean - a much larger mind.  But it isn't that clear whether that means they got new CPUs, or what.  If new CPUs, then I agree, they should be safe from being overridden by the court, at least in the same way they did it previously.  Well, depending on how much of the old hardware she kept for the new forms I guess.  There is wiggle room here.

Any robots still buried should still have their CPUs.  We don't know what was done with the CPUs of the ones that received NP forms.  Maybe she put them back in the bodies and stored them somewhere?  Maybe not though - we lack information on this topic.

So it the court takes over all the robots it can still access, how many will it get?  Just the ones that are still buried?  All of them, including the NP?  Or what?

Oh.  Another point - if the court is able to override robots remotely, which appears to be the case, then they will certainly be aware that a lot of them have vanished from their control system.  They may not know about the NP specifically but they certainly know something is going on with the robots!

I'm starting to see how Kat could kill Zimmy by accident.  If the court orders the robots to capture Zimmy, and Kat tries to interfere with that (using capabilities she got via her modified contract), bad things might happen.  Giving Omega conflicting instructions could also lead to bad things happening.  Even if she doesn't "go too far" on purpose, there is a lot of potential here for her actions to lead to bad outcomes!

[maxptc]

Thank goodness Annie ran away from Jack and Jenny without clarifying her intentions and the situation to warn Kat as fast as possible. Really necessary to leave them still suspicious of you.

[blahzor]

Feb 1, 2023 10:57:52 GMT heranje said:

Wonder if Kat's new computer is going to solve whatever was making the Omega device malfunction (as Aata described), enabling the Court to go through with their plans. Or it's another Tic Toc situation, and the computer she's building now is the original Omega device, which was at some point sent back in time.

Infinite processing power as it's using all compute from the moment it existed until present starting from a fixed past

[drmemory]

It took a little research, but I can confirm that when Kat puts a robot in a new body, they no longer have a CPU.  At least not the same kind.

Observe

Quote: "See, his brain is still a CPU, tied into his new body." - Kat

On the same page, it is also stated that they are transferring Arthur's mind into "the brain Juliette designed".

So the court shouldn't be able to override the NP, at least not the same way as before.

Same chapter, robot storage area.  I'd guess that the bodies of the old robots that were recovered are probably stored in much the same way, perhaps even in the same place.  We still don't know where their chips are, so we can't rule out them being overridden and becoming part of the court's zombie robot army. Horde?

[csj]

loup got owned so hard that the entire top right side of his jaw left his body

[rosesonthewall]

Feb 1, 2023 12:54:22 GMT stef1987 said:

So Kat's just gonna ignore it and continue building Omega.

(I am two weeks behind in reading so I guess this comment is for whoever is also catching up!)

It's frustrating, my best-guess analysis of this is that Annie has urgently run off to warn Kat, while also: (1) not trying to quickly settle and clarify things with Jack and Jenny (2) not having a complete understanding of what Zimmy was alluding to.

Both points which can be explained:

(1) As we saw in that last chapter (and echoing some thoughts from others for the previous pages), Annie and Kat have a different set of information from other "cliques" such as Jack and Jenny. It would really help if the different groups corroborate what they know, but they don't. Annie perhaps does not deal well with verbal conflict, but unfortunately avoiding that encounter with Jack and Jenny will just make them more suspicious of her intentions and less willing to share information with her in the future.

(2) Well, no one has a complete understanding, but Jack and Jenny seem to have a different understanding of Omega (if they have one at all, or they don't and were just responding to Zimmy's distress). Instead of trying to understand it more fully, Annie runs off because she thinks Kat may do harm at any moment to Zimmy. Her urgency to help both her friends is typical Annie, but what she loses is that she can't communicate it well, so consequently Kat doesn't understand.

Which is.. all kind of understandable, with that context. No protagonist is perfect. But still very frustrating as we follow along.