Girl Genius XV: The Weasel, the Spark, and the Wardrobe

[Turalisj]

The moral of the story: never, ever talk about politics while shaving.

Isn't he shaving in the wrong direction on his neck?

[BWR]

They can make enormous mechs, time travel, teleportation devices, artificial life, mind control, but not safety razors....

[sihnfahl]

Isn't he shaving in the wrong direction on his neck?

No. He's going top down. Notice the foam under the blade, while above is clear.

[John Campbell]

Honestly, would you be willing to put something with blades made by a Spark near your throat?

[multilis]

how much scarier has Gil gotten since his death that the Knights of Jove think that he, not one of their own family is their best option?

I guess they plan to mind control Gil. He is "wasped" according to their spy reports, and "mind controlled by Klaus".

Klaus' plan according to his storm king story included getting Gil accepted as adviser to the Other. So he may have set up Gil to seem like puppet of Other.

[GaeasSon]

They can make enormous mechs, time travel, teleportation devices, artificial life, mind control, but not safety razors....

NO, NO, NO! This is a world of MAD SCIENCE! MAD! Safety razors are "sensible science" you fool! That's the next reality to the left.

[Radar]

NO, NO, NO! This is a world of MAD SCIENCE! MAD! Safety razors are "sensible science" you fool! That's the next reality to the left.

Barber clank on the other hand...

[Lord Raziere]

Barber clank on the other hand...

are assassins in disguise, one moment they are shaving you, the next they are shaving off your head. you can't trust them, they are especially untrustworthy.

[Radar]

are assassins in disguise, one moment they are shaving you, the next they are shaving off your head. you can't trust them, they are especially untrustworthy.

Ahh... the infameous Sweeney Todd model. Good times, good times.

[BWR]

NO, NO, NO! This is a world of MAD SCIENCE! MAD! Safety razors are "sensible science" you fool! That's the next reality to the left.

Guess I'm channeling von Zinzer.

[HandofShadows]

Hmm. The GG site is down.

[The Glyphstone]

No LJ update either.

[Forrestfire]

They posted on facebook about it. Here's a link to the comic.

[Traab]

See, now THIS comic requires a "DUN DUN DUUUUN!!"

[Giggling Ghast]

Yep, I'm calling it now: whether it was Anevka or Zola, the Other's forces are out of hiding and the empire is in shambles.

[Brance_a_Lot]

Is it just me or is the website not responding? I can't get to any of the comics.

EDIT: Welp that teaches me to wait instead of posting. I think the plot twist broke the website

[Traab]

Yep, I'm calling it now: whether it was Anevka or Zola, the Other's forces are out of hiding and the empire is in shambles.

Or its just that with the baron gone, all his military pulled far far away from everywhere else in the empire, the whole thing just collapsed like a house of cards. I mean, we saw what happened when the baron was just INJURED. Now he has been gone for several years.

[stsasser]

How does Gil get to claim 'Storm King' status?

By marrying little Seffie, of course.

[eee]

Ah, the LiveJournal page has been updated, even if the website has not.

"The jumped up usurper we're trying to usurp!" I like that.

Martellus didn't cut his throat. Deep enough. Oh well...

How does Gil get to claim 'Storm King' status?

By marrying little Seffie, of course.

Maybe. But if Gil knows what Klaus did to Mechanicsburg, and that it will end, he'd wait for Agatha as long as necessary if he could. And I'm not sure Seffie has enough political and social importance to outweigh Agatha. We don't know enough about her. 'Anevka'. SHE might be a big enough power base for a union. If she weren't a clank. And secretly the Other. But Seffie's words hint massive changes have taken place; we'll have to wait and see what they are.

Also, on another subject, if the Other was active and following her old habits I'd think there'd be a greater sense of panic of the part of even the inhabitants of the Refuge. Lu made a point of smashing all opposition 20 years ago; a fortress like the Refuge would be a tempting target, if she knew of it. And even if she didn't, the folks inside wouldn't know that and might be worried enough to embrace a leader like Martellus, suddenly appearing from the past, in the hope he might be able to save them. That doesn't mean 'Anevka', Zola, or who knows what aren't causing trouble; just that it's not the same sort of trouble as in the past.

[slayerx]

Maybe. But if Gil knows what Klaus did to Mechanicsburg, and that it will end, he'd wait for Agatha as long as necessary if he could.

Well don't forget that the baron messed with Gil's head. Supposedly he is being forced to serve the empire)or what's left of it); this could mean subverting a lot of his desires like wanting to stay with agatha for the sake of the empire... if marrying someone else is for the best for the empire, then the brainwashed Gil might just do it

And I'm not sure Seffie has enough political and social importance to outweigh Agatha. We don't know enough about her. 'Anevka'. SHE might be a big enough power base for a union. If she weren't a clank. And secretly the Other. But Seffie's words hint massive changes have taken place; we'll have to wait and see what they are.

Agatha does not have THAT much political influence. She is the ruler of mechanicsburg and has both a heroic and a villainous legacy behind her, but that's it. The only reason she was seen as such an important piece for the knights of jove was because they wanted to win over the people by playing out an old fairy tale. Really, unless paired with a storm king a female heterodyne doesn't have much sway as far as rule over europe goes. Not to mention Seffie and Wulfenbach came to an agreement yesterday before it was known that Agatha had returned and after they determined a fake heterodyne would not work; in short, we know that the new plan does not in anyway involve the heterodynes.



Now on the otherhand, the storm king heirs might be seen as the ruling royals and nobles as the rightful heirs. So long as they recognize that legacy, the storm king's heirs would have HUGE influence over the legitimacy of ruler of the empire. And considering how tweedle and tarvek were the top two candidates for the Storm king's crown, it stands to reason that both Anevka and Seffie would be on fairly equal standings for highest ranking princess. However, that would only leave Seffie since Anevka would be considered "dead" at this point, and the blue bloods of europe would not recognize clank-Anevka as a legitimate heir.

So the idea that the knights of jove might try to raise the storm king back to glory by marrying one of their princesses to Gil, does not seem that farfetched... though it may not be by declaring Gil the new storm king as the poster above claimed; If Gil and Seffie have a son, that child would indeed, be a legit heir to the storm king line, and one that would be in position to rule europe. Heck i dare say Gil might even think its a good plan; the royals and nobles never liked the baron wulfenbach's rule, but Gil could use the storm king's legacy to legitimize the empire (or whatever he is ruling now), and unite the ruling families; only since the heir would be his own son. he could make sure the new king will be raised the wulfenbach way, instead of the knights of jove way


Though really, the waiting till monday is gonna hurt... so itching to find out the new plan and what has become of the empire. Though i also can't help but think we might switch to agatha's group, if only to draw out the suspense...

[Grif]

Aw. I sincerely hope some of the more colourful characters of the Baron's army survives.

(I really wanted to see some of their more... unique armies.)

[Zigg'rrauglurr]

5 Gp that next Monday's page will be Agatha screaming:
"HE WILL WHAT!!!???"
(Or some variant thereof...)

I don't know exactly why, but, the way the (old) Baron putted it, has me convinced that the "Mind Control" method he used on Gil was much more simple than you imagine.
His words: "There are many forms of mind control.
They are... less elegant than Lucrezia's, but they are effective..."

Now, Remember that the Baron retains enough free will (the Storm King story), so Imagine Clankrezia gave him an order akin to "Use some any available type of mind control to ensure your son's cooperation, but don't tell him anything about me. Don't try to leave him "freewilled", my agents will know"...
Now Klaus, could easily use his way of thinking against these "kind" of order...(I'm not running against this specific order, but against whatever made him "Mind control" his son) by simply convincingly believing that this stupid notion of "Love" or "true love" or whatever... are a form of control.
Something really obvious, the fact that blackmailing someone who is in love, you can make them do something else...
His talk to Gil (circa October 2012), looks like he wants to convince himself, that Gil will do anything for her. Therefore "enabling" his trick that blackmailing his son with his love for Agatha counts as "Mind controlling" him, satisfaying his order, leaving Gil with his whole free-will, and giving a good enough act for everyone else, top it with his little speech in March 2013, and you are all set.
Remember this people acts on 256 levels of lies and treacheries,
when you reach a level deeper, the counter goes back to zero...

Klaus is insanely crafty, but from a story point of view, what's more exciting, he simply telling Clankrezia: "Oh, he was in love, that's enough of a mind control" or "Fool, I used my Mind Scrambler 5000 on him, now you can't touch him".

[Radar]

I wouldn't count on Gil being untampered with considering Franz's comment on this page and the uneventful kiss on this page. There is surely something wrong with him, but we don't have any details.

[Mando Knight]

I wouldn't count on Gil being untampered with considering Franz's comment on this page and the uneventful kiss on this page. There is surely something wrong with him, but we don't have any details.

A certain stitched-together overlord hints at how Gil was "tampered with."

[NEO|Phyte]

A certain stitched-together overlord hints at how Gil was "tampered with."

But we have no way of knowing if it's legit or if he's just telling them that so The Other doesn't catch on that he's subverting her control.

[Kurald Galain]

I vote that the next thread be titled "Klaus Falls, Everybody Dies"

Like the new developments. Dislike how most of the last 3-4 years of the comic have been rendered more-or-less irrelevant. We'll see how this plays out.

[Douglas]

Like the new developments. Dislike how most of the last 3-4 years of the comic have been rendered more-or-less irrelevant. We'll see how this plays out.

If the rampant speculation about it being a temporal bomb is correct, those 3-4 years will come back and become highly relevant in a later act of the story.

[factotum]

I vote that the next thread be titled "Klaus Falls, Everybody Dies"

Given the current theory is that everybody ISN'T dead, I definitely wouldn't go with that title...

[Giggling Ghast]

I love the resigned looks on their faces. Naturally, there's a monster loose. Naturally.

Also, is that date wrong? When is there a Sunday update?

[Turalisj]

Maybe they knew they were going to be too busy today to properly make an update?

Also, I get the feeling that they feel like they're just going through the motions now. A sort of "well, might as well" feel.