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Post by silicondream on Mar 8, 2024 8:19:51 GMT
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wlerin
Junior Member
Posts: 62
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Post by wlerin on Mar 8, 2024 8:23:54 GMT
Dunno if this was suggested before, but I suspect (and have been suspecting since she leapt at Shadow) that black-haired girl is a splinter of Robot's consciousness.
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stci
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by stci on Mar 8, 2024 8:28:14 GMT
Unknown girl has funky shaped speech bubbles, with a kink in the "tail". Don't remember seeing that anywhere else.
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stci
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by stci on Mar 8, 2024 8:44:54 GMT
I mean, she always has them. I don't remember anybody else having them.
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Cori
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Post by Cori on Mar 8, 2024 8:54:01 GMT
Unknown girl has funky shaped speech bubbles, with a kink in the "tail". Don't remember seeing that anywhere else. All of the new people have them. They've had them since they were introduced. People keep trying to find things to pick at about this mystery girl, but she has very deliberately been portrayed as just another run-of-the-mill New Person. Were it not for the fact that Annie, and therefore the readers, are focused on her, she would blend right in. |
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Post by silicondream on Mar 8, 2024 9:16:03 GMT
Dunno if this was suggested before, but I suspect (and have been suspecting since she leapt at Shadow) that black-haired girl is a splinter of Robot's consciousness. Robot or another Seraph are my top guesses. |
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Cori
New Member
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Post by Cori on Mar 8, 2024 9:39:47 GMT
Robot or another Seraph are my top guesses. Why would she be another seraph? We haven't met any other notable seraph characters, and all of the ones we've seen have been transformed into those birdlike monstrosities we first saw in The Torn Sea. It's been established that the seraphs believe they've been cast out by Kat and haven't gotten new bodies, so none of them should be New People. Robot is only different because he's been so significant to the story. |
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Post by guntherkrieg on Mar 8, 2024 10:35:47 GMT
Incredible writing.
A lesser writer would have Annie ask, "who are you?" or "what is your name?" but Siddell is too clever for such a hack storytelling move.
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Post by pylgrimm on Mar 8, 2024 10:54:15 GMT
This might be nothing but last person that was this mysterious while being very knowleadgeable about, well, everything was Jones.
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laaaa
Full Member
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Post by laaaa on Mar 8, 2024 12:29:52 GMT
This might be nothing but last person that was this mysterious while being very knowleadgeable about, well, everything was Jones. Her expression in the fourth panel DID remind me of someone I could not pinpoint until I read your comment!!! Most of the time she makes either a Loup or a Lana expression though. |
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Post by blahzor on Mar 8, 2024 13:01:08 GMT
Dunno if this was suggested before, but I suspect (and have been suspecting since she leapt at Shadow) that black-haired girl is a splinter of Robot's consciousness. so she's the part of Robot that has the new body pieces, and this "true form" is what's left of him and the extra CPU chip? |
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Post by pyradonis on Mar 8, 2024 13:05:28 GMT
Next panel, MNP bwips away to Coyote knows where.
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stci
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by stci on Mar 8, 2024 13:06:32 GMT
Unknown girl has funky shaped speech bubbles, with a kink in the "tail". Don't remember seeing that anywhere else. All of the new people have them. They've had them since they were introduced. So they do - I missed that. The kink is just very pronounced (to my eye, anyway) in panels 4 and 5 today. |
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morrahadesigns
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Skinamarinky dinky-dink. Skinamarinky doo.
Posts: 75
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Post by morrahadesigns on Mar 8, 2024 13:23:11 GMT
New thought (for me anyway, y'all probably already discussed it) I wonder if this new person is Shell (i think that was her name. The one who chose to stay behind with Baldy after he saved her).
In this panel she looked almost guilty when Annie asked who she was, like she knows Annie at least enough to not like lying to her.
Does Shell have that relationship with Annie? Not sure, but that's the thought that comes to mind.
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Post by ctso74 on Mar 8, 2024 14:46:21 GMT
Was Tom's comment referring to the NP or directed at us? This might be nothing but last person that was this mysterious while being very knowleadgeable about, well, everything was Jones. Annie: "Jones... you ARE a robot!" Jones: "Technically, Miss Donlan's alteration would make me-" Annie: "Stop ruining it." |
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Post by TBeholder on Mar 8, 2024 15:57:08 GMT
This might be nothing but last person that was this mysterious while being very knowleadgeable about, well, everything was Jones. Would Jones be changed in a distortion at all, let alone in such an inconspicuous way? Never mind demanding to let go… Jones would react differently. |
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Post by silicondream on Mar 8, 2024 16:43:03 GMT
Why would she be another seraph? We haven't met any other notable seraph characters, and all of the ones we've seen have been transformed into those birdlike monstrosities we first saw in The Torn Sea. I doubt any of those are the real Seraphs; they're just fakes pulled from Annie's memory. Or Kat's memory, or Robot's memory, etc. The Torn Sea was a significant event for lots of people inside the current distortion. Even in The Torn Sea, the transformed Seraphs still acted more like themselves. They weren't capering around and worshipping S13 like a god. Exactly. So if any of the Seraphs got caught in the distortion and clothed in a false New Persona, they'd be delighted to get a reprieve from their exile. They'd be happily mingling with the other NPs and hanging out near the Angel and trying not to give their true identity away, lest they get re-exiled. And they'd be suspicious or hostile towards Shadow, as they always have been. Dunno if this was suggested before, but I suspect (and have been suspecting since she leapt at Shadow) that black-haired girl is a splinter of Robot's consciousness. so she's the part of Robot that has the new body pieces, and this "true form" is what's left of him and the extra CPU chip? I think (correct me if I'm wrong) that wlerin was speaking psychologically. So, for instance, Mystery Girl might represent the part of Robot that wants to become an ordinary New Person among his friends, while the Winged Barnaclexplosion might represent the part that hopes or fears to always be "special," a saint or a sinner. |
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Post by Runningflame on Mar 8, 2024 16:58:40 GMT
I've been holding off on speculating, but this new set of evidence about Mystery New Person is too tantalizing. Good job, Tom, you got me. So, who would know: - Where Robot is in the distortion
- That he didn't get a new body yet
- That the distortion changes objects and not people
But who also: - Wouldn't want to say who they are (looks down--ashamed?)
- Would immediately admit they can't help (but doesn't look ashamed of that--makes direct eye contact)
- Might or might not actually be able to help... but if they can, they either believe they can't or are lying about it
"Can't help" at first seems to rule out both Zimmy and Coyote, but maybe Zimmy believes she can't help, or maybe Coyote doesn't want to help and therefore claims not to be able to. (Or is goose-wifing again and has forgotten that (s)he is the great Coyote.) The other point is this: if we take at face value that the distortion changes objects and not people, a lot of people are ruled out. Kat, Jenny, Shell, etc. are all people and therefore should look like their normal selves. (Usual disclaimers: we don't actually know that to be true, trust nothing, tip your servers, etc.) I agree that it wouldn't be a seraph, since we see them now and they're all bird-creatures again. [ Edit: silicondream makes some very good points about these not necessarily being the real seraphs. I still don't think MNP is a seraph, but I'm less sure than I was.] And I believe all the robots other than Robot and the seraphs are either NPs already or are CPUs in a box waiting to become NPs, so I don't think it's any of them. This leaves three categories: - Someone, other than the robots, who's technically not a person but an "object:" one of the old golem robots, or Jones.
- Someone who was at the center of the distortion and therefore might've been changed despite being a person: Zimmy, Gamma, Coyote, Loup (Jerrek, Ysengrin), Lana. This category includes fusions of the aforementioned.
- Someone whom we haven't met yet: Omega.
I don't think one of the golems, Jones, Gamma, Coyote, or Lana would be ashamed to admit who they are. Zimmy might be; we know she struggles with self-loathing. Loup certainly would be; the last time he saw Annie, she told him not to do something stupid and he went and did it anyway, and now look what's happened. Omega... well, we don't know Omega, but they (safest generic pronoun at the moment) might not want Annie to know who they are, at least. My top two guesses at the moment are: - A fusion of Zimmy, Loup, Coyote, Lana, and possibly Gamma. This would explain all the contradictory evidence: Looks a bit like Zimmy, but also looks like Lana and has some Coyote- and Loup-like facial expressions. Knows a lot about the distortion because they caused it. Is miffed that they didn't see anything when Saslamel showed up, because they're a powerful being who ought to be able to know everything, dang it. Is delighted to realize that they can sneak around among the NP (like Coyote would be), and then is scared when Annie discovers them (like Jerrek would be). "Devil's Due"? Well...
- Omega. Either Omega counts as an object and was changed by the distortion, or this is actually Omega's true form (with all of the interesting implications that brings). Uncanny knowledge? Check. Miffed at finding out they don't know everything? Check. Unable to help? As far as we've heard, Omega just gives information, so explaining what's happened to Robot may be all they can do. Delighted to walk among the new people as one of them? After years of being treated as little more than a prediction machine, being a real person in a community would be wonderful. "Devil's Due"? Omega has been a shadowy, somewhat threatening name for quite a while.
No matter who it is, I still don't understand what they would have against Shadow, though... Dunno if this was suggested before, but I suspect (and have been suspecting since she leapt at Shadow) that black-haired girl is a splinter of Robot's consciousness. Oh. Oh, I like this idea. Put that down as my number 3! |
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Post by rezmason on Mar 9, 2024 0:44:37 GMT
Surely this new face is Omega, or is the basis of Omega. Chapter 78, " Behind It All", is basically a collage of foreshadowing, and a ton of it involves Zimmy and Loup struggling with the fabric of the world, finally sharing the word "Omega", amidst repeated depictions of teeth. And the last time we saw Loup and Zimmy, at the distortion's epicenter, they were colliding, and their teeth combined somehow. The first time we saw the new character, Annie was in a reflection of Zimmy's Birmingham. Arguably she looks the way Zimmy would look if she had an ordinary past, unaffected by ether and unfamiliar with Gamma. (Sidenote: Zimmy's initial 'Z' is the final letter in one alphabet, and Omega is the final letter in a related but different alphabet.) Somehow, she seems to know everything that is happening or ever happened since Annie arrived at the Court. Yet when Annie, Renard and the new people traveling with them reached the Annan Waters from the bridge, Kat's time-cloned bird who ensured Annie's survival, which Omega failed to predict, is entirely omitted. Annie thought she caused Sam's death, but it was this new character who showed remorse, then surprise when Annie saw something she couldn't— Sam's ghost. We never learned what Zimmy did " a long time ago" that made her who she is; we know Zimmy feared the Court would take Gamma from her; we know Omega requires Loup or Zimmy in some capacity; we know Zimmy's effect on the world involves temporal distortion, where events can take place in strange sequences and characters we're familiar with can manifest as twisted alternates. Loup's origin was the end of two characters, Coyote and Ysengrin. I think Loup and Zimmy's end is the origin of someone else. |
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Cori
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Post by Cori on Mar 9, 2024 9:04:52 GMT
Exactly. So if any of the Seraphs got caught in the distortion and clothed in a false New Persona, they'd be delighted to get a reprieve from their exile. They'd be happily mingling with the other NPs and hanging out near the Angel and trying not to give their true identity away, lest they get re-exiled. And they'd be suspicious or hostile towards Shadow, as they always have been. Introducing an important, completely brand-new character into the story *this* late in the comic would be a huge writing gaffe. This is the same problem people had with Baldy/Sam. We don't know this character and we don't really seem fo have enough time left to care. The only new character I'd be satisfied with Mystery Girl being would be Omega (if they are in fact a character), because they've been a hinted-at presence for over half the comic's run. |
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Post by todd on Mar 9, 2024 12:50:40 GMT
Introducing an important, completely brand-new character into the story *this* late in the comic would be a huge writing gaffe. This is the same problem people had with Baldy/Sam. Who is/are Baldy/Sam? |
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Hatredman
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Scarper, Montgomery!
Posts: 151
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Post by Hatredman on Mar 9, 2024 13:45:14 GMT
Unknown girl has funky shaped speech bubbles, with a kink in the "tail". Don't remember seeing that anywhere else. All of the new people have them. They've had them since they were introduced. People keep trying to find things to pick at about this mystery girl, but she has very deliberately been portrayed as just another run-of-the-mill New Person. Were it not for the fact that Annie, and therefore the readers, are focused on her, she would blend right in. Well, it has been stablished that she is not a regular New Person - she is the only one who can BWIP. |
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Hatredman
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Post by Hatredman on Mar 9, 2024 13:48:57 GMT
Hummmm... the New Person that was killed by Jeanne? The one in my profile picture? |
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Hatredman
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Post by Hatredman on Mar 9, 2024 13:58:53 GMT
Exactly. So if any of the Seraphs got caught in the distortion and clothed in a false New Persona, they'd be delighted to get a reprieve from their exile. They'd be happily mingling with the other NPs and hanging out near the Angel and trying not to give their true identity away, lest they get re-exiled. And they'd be suspicious or hostile towards Shadow, as they always have been. Introducing an important, completely brand-new character into the story *this* late in the comic would be a huge writing gaffe. This is the same problem people had with Baldy/Sam. We don't know this character and we don't really seem fo have enough time left to care. The only new character I'd be satisfied with Mystery Girl being would be Omega (if they are in fact a character), because they've been a hinted-at presence for over half the comic's run. I agree with you that a personification of Omega would serve the story best. Any other solution would be less constructive. But I strongly disagree about the gaffe stuff. I don't recall people complaining about Sam. In fact, his brief stint served the story *very well*. And you just can't assume the story is about to wrap up. There are *LOTS* of things that need to be developed or explained, several sub-arcs to be resolved, and almost all of them *outside* the distortion, after it is terminated. And the distortion per se can last for years. |
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Post by silicondream on Mar 9, 2024 21:39:41 GMT
Exactly. So if any of the Seraphs got caught in the distortion and clothed in a false New Persona, they'd be delighted to get a reprieve from their exile. They'd be happily mingling with the other NPs and hanging out near the Angel and trying not to give their true identity away, lest they get re-exiled. And they'd be suspicious or hostile towards Shadow, as they always have been. Introducing an important, completely brand-new character into the story *this* late in the comic would be a huge writing gaffe. If she's a Seraph, she wouldn't be brand new. The Seraphs are a relatively important part of the story, and we know that at least one of them survived Loup's final attack on the Court and is still trying to be helpful. They're also the only surviving robots who haven't joined the New People or been zombified by the Court, so their fate has yet to be resolved. Kat's not a vengeful sort of god, and I doubt she wants the Seraphs exiled or barred from transition forever for their (apparently Court-approved) crime. I would expect some sort of eventual atonement, reconciliation or voluntary schism, and Mystery Girl could be the representative Seraph character for that development. Well, given that his death was mostly used to advance the Angel plotline, that's probably intentional. An quick and upbeat resolution would not have been possible if, say, Arthur had died instead. |
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Post by eyemyself on Mar 11, 2024 1:31:16 GMT
Okay Boxbot. I know you wanted to leave all the negativity of your robotic existence behind, but this is getting old now. It’s time to fess up.
Only half kidding. I’m currently split between thinking she’s Boxbot or Jenny. Though, given Jenny’s first line ever was also “Hellooooo…” perhaps the right answer is Both?
Now THAT would be a twist!
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Post by Gemminie on Mar 11, 2024 14:17:21 GMT
After the mystery New Person tells Annie and Shadow that Robot was changed by the distortion due to still being an object, Shadow asks Annie who the MNP is. Annie's reply is that it's a good question, and she asks the MNP how she knows all this. And MNP doesn't answer; she just looks down. Annie asks if the MNP can do anything to help; her answer is no. Annie stands up and says she'll deal with the MNP later.
They've been crouching behind the parapet, so the Seraphs and presumably Robot can't apparently see them. They haven't been reacting to their presence, so the Seraphs and Robot either can't see them or don't care they're here.
The MNP's reactions are distinctly non-Coyote-like here. Sometimes she acts like some people, sometimes like others. That's why I think she's some kind of hybrid.
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