Girl Genius XIII: "Gott's Leedle Feesh in Trousers!"

[Landis963]

So not only did Gil go straight for the "stab w/ syringe" tactic, he blew it on Franz. Great move, hero boy.

[HandofShadows]

(facepalm) You people seem to have missed something VERY important here. Agatha gave Gil a DIRECT order in the last panel. If he does not follow that order (which I expect him to do in a silly way mind you) it proved that the Baron is the one that whas been wasped, not Gil. And you can be sure Boris is watching this all very closely.

As a note, scales cane be very flexable depending on their arangment.

[Scowling Dragon]

Yeah, but why does a death dragon have a bunch of easily puncturable tiny scales?

[Oracle_Hunter]

(facepalm) You people seem to have missed something VERY important here. Agatha gave Gil a DIRECT order in the last panel. If he does not follow that order (which I expect him to do in a silly way mind you) it proved that the Baron is the one that whas been wasped, not Gil. And you can be sure Boris is watching this all very closely.

There is a good chance this is a simulacra of Gil.

Since The Baron believes (or tells people to believe) that Gil is a Revenant of The Other (therefore Agatha) why would he send Gil to capture the one person who can order him to turn with a word?

Hence Franz saying "something's not right here."

If this is actually Gil then Clankcrezia gave The Baron the worst orders to ensure success

[HandofShadows]

If this is actually Gil then Clankcrezia gave The Baron the worst orders to ensure success

If theories are correct the Baron is doing his best to subvert her orders. Putting Gil right out there is a great way to do that. And Clankcrizia is not around to keep tight control on him to stop it.

[Stabbey]

Yeah, this might actually be a GOOD thing, because now Agatha is in a position to try giving him orders instead of Gil using the syringe on her. Once he realizes that he has no compulsion to obey, he might be more co-operative.

There is a good chance this is a simulacra of Gil.

Since The Baron believes (or tells people to believe) that Gil is a Revenant of The Other (therefore Agatha) why would he send Gil to capture the one person who can order him to turn with a word?

Hence Franz saying "something's not right here."

If this is actually Gil then Clankcrezia gave The Baron the worst orders to ensure success

I don't think Clankrezia is micromanaging every order she gives to the Baron. It'd be too risky, people would get suspicious if she was hovering around. She probably gave him broad directives.

Klaus giving inefficient orders might be his way of rebelling - he's technically following her orders, but purposefully doing so in a terrible way.

[Radar]

Yeah, but why does a death dragon have a bunch of easily puncturable tiny scales?

Not quite like that. If he indeed has scales (as in a scale armor or quite a lot of other dragons in fiction), then it's very easy to slide a syringe between them. If he has a proper reptilian skin, then it's substantially harder. There might be another subtlety here, since Gil has struck him in the hand - a place, which might not be armored well.

[Scowling Dragon]

I get that, but his hand bends like as if it was skin. But whatever. This is a minor complaint.

[GaeasSon]

I'm with Franz and Oracle_Hunter. Something's wronger than what's obvious. Phil and Kaja have a loose relationship with scale and physics, but they have the subtleties of phrasing and body language mastered. When Agatha slips (potentially to her death), his reaction is more annoyance than distress. The Gil I know would have called her name, and been heroing after her while trying to compose a survival plan mid-plummet. Even when he first appeared, it was straight to business. There seemed to be no joy in seeing her in one piece after the bombardment.

If that IS Gil he is under extreme, overwhelming and immediate duress, like Dupree with a sniper rifle trained on both their heads, or an inbound already-launched one-shot city killer.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I like GGs art, but this is getting too much inconsistent.

He PUNCTURED scales. And its not what bugs me (Super needle or super Gil STR). Its that his scales apparently bend like skin.

Not sure what non-fiction source for dragons you are using, but in my recollection, and based on real-life lizard feet, even dragons are likely to have pads on their palms that probably do behave quite like skin, since it is an evolutionary advantage to have padded locomotive extremities.

Grey Wolf

[petersohn]

New comic.

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It seems Agatha has the better sense than to fall into Gil's trap.

Also, it would be a stretch to say after this that Gil is wasped.

[factotum]

Have to say that Gil couldn't have found a better way to drive Agatha in Tarvek's direction had he built a machine to do it...he really doesn't understand her at all, does he?

[Scowling Dragon]

Possibly. He is acting very stupid here.

[Drascin]

Have to say that Gil couldn't have found a better way to drive Agatha in Tarvek's direction had he built a machine to do it...he really doesn't understand her at all, does he?

Or he understands her plenty. As you say, this is basically the best way he could ever have gone about making her NOT come with him. Which given we know that "my father wants to help you" is total bull...

Overall, I'm putting my money in "either that's not Gil, or he's purposefully trying to drive her away".

[datalaughing]

I still think it may not be Gil. Could be a construct of some kind. You gotta figure that the Baron would see the potential in having duplicates for himself and his son, something that could be controlled from a distance to go into the most dangerous situations so it looks like they're right there while they're really safe.

There has to be something physically wrong or different about Gil for Franz to have picked up on it so quickly. "Gil" had hardly said two words before Franz said that there was something wrong with him. So that something can't be that he's being coerced by the Baron or suddenly has a different personality. Franz doesn't know him that well and even if he did, "Gil" hadn't said enough to make it clear. So whatever Franz was sensing, it must be physical. That points squarely at this being something other than the real Gil.

Either way, it's good that Agatha didn't stop to explain her plan. If it's not Gil, he'd try to stop her. If it is Gil, he's smart enough to figure it out from watching, and she doesn't need to explain, and regardless of who this is, time is running out. So you guys think we're about to see Castle Heterodyne really cut loose?

[Traab]

Ugh, I dont like this setup. When someone yells out, THIS the way agatha just did, there are two options. Best case something huge happens, the castle takes in 1.21 gigawatts of energy and starts back up. Or absolutely no effect takes place, at least not right away, ruining the whole dramatic moment. Im really hoping for massive start up, otherwise agatha is done for now.

[factotum]

Im really hoping for massive start up, otherwise agatha is done for now.

Agatha is the primary protagonist of the strip, and it's named after her. Do you seriously think there is any way she could be "done for"? Note that's not the same as saying she must always succeed, just that she'll find some way out of the situation even if the lightning DOESN'T resurrect the Castle as she hopes.

[Scowling Dragon]

Il just be upset that that CASTLE ISN'T STILL OPERATIONAL!

This whole are has taken YEARS just to get the castle fixed. I don't count that little intermission where the castle did a bunch of minor things and then started glitching.

I just want it to TURN ON OR DIE.

[Traab]

Agatha is the primary protagonist of the strip, and it's named after her. Do you seriously think there is any way she could be "done for"? Note that's not the same as saying she must always succeed, just that she'll find some way out of the situation even if the lightning DOESN'T resurrect the Castle as she hopes.

Sorry, bad punctuation gave the wrong impression. Done, for now. Like, the lightning hits der kestle. It doesnt cause instant reboot and she gets taken away. More adventures ensue as the castle finally wakes up and her friends and allies get together to rescue her from the baron. Lots of drama as the baron is both trying to fight clankcrezias influence and trying to figure out if AGATHA is really the other. Gil is running interference, trying to keep her safe as he can, and everything is coming to a head.

[Stabbey]

The interesting thing is that Gil isn't entirely wrong. He doesn't know about Agatha's plan to recharge the castle, but even if it did, and it does work, it still might not be enough to save the town.

The Baron has a lot of forces out there - he's pulled forces in from Turkey, even, which was said to be far away from wherever Mechanicsburg is. Plus, after two decades of neglect and sabotage, there might not be enough defenses intact enough to make a difference, regardless of whether the castle has enough power to operate them or not.

He's also pretty much told her point-blank that if she goes with him, he'll take her back to the Baron, so at least he's being a bit honest.

The only reason that she might voluntarily put herself right into the Baron's power is to save Mechanicsburg, and that may actually happen, regardless of whether this gets the castle back to full power or not.

[Traab]

Quick bets people. Next comic, full page single image of the castle being struck by MASSIVE amounts of power?

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Quick bets people. Next comic, full page single image of the castle being struck by MASSIVE amounts of power?

But that would leave us without a Friday cliffhanger!

[Landis963]

Something I just noticed - she gave him another order: "Yes! Fine! Get yourself down to the town square." Which he refused to do. Of course, the Baron would argue that level 1 spark-voice is insufficient to get the orders to stick, but it's another nail in the coffin for the "Gil is wasped" notion.

[Traab]

But that would leave us without a Friday cliffhanger!

BAH! Then on friday the lightning fades, Gil and Agatha look at each other.
Gil: "Um, was that supposed to do something? Or were you trying to blow up the castle yourself for some reason?"

Agatha: "YES it was supposed to do something! It was supposed to . . . "

/RUUUUUMMMMMBBBLLLEEE!!!!!!!


That last bit is the entire earth shaking. Is the castle waking back up? Have the barons troops reached the castle with something huge? Find out next week on, Girl Genius!

[memnarch]

BAH! Then on friday the lightning fades, Gil and Agatha look at each other.
Gil: "Um, was that supposed to do something? Or were you trying to blow up the castle yourself for some reason?"

Agatha: "YES it was supposed to do something! It was supposed to . . . "

/RUUUUUMMMMMBBBLLLEEE!!!!!!!


That last bit is the entire earth shaking. Is the castle waking back up? Have the barons troops reached the castle with something huge? Find out next week on, Girl Genius!

I'll bet on this guy's ideas!

[Douglas]

Quick bets people. Next comic, full page single image of the castle being struck by MASSIVE amounts of power?

Spoiler

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And we have a winner!

[tyckspoon]

.. that can't be safe to stand next to.

[Grif]

.. that can't be safe to stand next to.

To be fair, I don't think the entirety of Mechanicsburg is safe at this point of time.

[petersohn]

This is the best picture of the Castle so far.

[eee]

Woo-hoo.