Girl Genius XVI: The Wrath of Klaus

[BannedInSchool]

That's also my prediction, not having listened to the radio play. But it is telegraphed pretty heavily.

Agatha is also emphasizing they're not giant frogs, and our titles for this episode are "Minor Heroes" or "Small Problems".

[John Campbell]

Eh? That was Clankcrezia looking through a time window from sometime in the future, so unless you're saying that Mechanicsburg is going to be stuck in the time bubble for the rest of eternity, it doesn't prove one way or the other what she's doing right now.

Von Zinzer appears in the time windows, too, and, too lazy to go back and check, but I'm almost positive that he's definitely inside the Mechanicsburg bubble now.

[Porthos]

Von Zinzer appears in the time windows, too, and, too lazy to go back and check, but I'm almost positive that he's definitely inside the Mechanicsburg bubble now.

I believe this is the last time we saw Von Zinzer.

He (as well as Othar) is notably absent in the Cathedral scene with Tweedle. It is possible that he was just outside of the time bubble, since it doesn't quite cover all of the town.

NOTE::: If Othar's Twitter is to be believed, Othar is currently gallivanting across the countryside right now. Means that Von Zinzer might as well.

[Ailurus]

EDIT--
How are you guys playing the actual audio episodes? All I can get are errors saying the files are corrupted.

You using this link? I can download them fine from there.

Alternatively, several of them have live recordings from the cons up on youtube if you want to poke around there. Not sure if Minor Heroes is there, but I know Deathwish Dupree and Revenge of the Weasel Queen are.

[Giggling Ghast]

Oh, I get what's happening now.

Spoiler

Show

Honey, I shrunk Girl Genius.

[HandofShadows]

Spoiler

Show

This sort of tech has been seen before actually. Both in Othar's Twitter and the "Shrinker Mines" deployed against the Baron's forces by Der Kastel. Speaking of Othar. Dosn't he have a Geisterdamen to go ban... er rescue?

[Avaris]

So, over the last few days I have read the first 12 volumes of Girl Genius in dead tree format, which has given me a new appreciation for it. Bits that seemed quite slow when experiencing them online work quite well as story arcs in the finished product, and there are far more 'oh, I remember that from a couple of books ago' moments.

Still, a few questions that were raised...

1) What happened to this clank? I don't believe we see it again after that strip, but it was carrying the original version of Agatha's message.

2) Why on Earth does Agatha like Tarvek? During the arc he was introduced in he never did anything that was likely to endear himself, yet when he returned he was quickly set up as a love rival for Gil? I just can't understand it!

3) This was probably discussed quite recently, but when did Tarvek warn the Vespirary squad about the Baron/Empire? See here. He only knew they were in danger once they'd heard the story about the Storm King, and Klaus was found to be alive very soon after that, at which point Gil and Tarvek were basically running. There is no point Tarvek could have warned them that I can see.

[Morty]

2) Why on Earth does Agatha like Tarvek? During the arc he was introduced in he never did anything that was likely to endear himself, yet when he returned he was quickly set up as a love rival for Gil? I just can't understand it!

Because the authors want a love triangle, I guess. It never made much sense to me either.

[kiapet]

I feel like Tarvek is very likeable in his second appearance, and they just did a rather bad job of introducing him. We were supposed to get "decent but untrustworthy guy with a complexity addiction" but I got "slimeball".

[BannedInSchool]

2) Why on Earth does Agatha like Tarvek? During the arc he was introduced in he never did anything that was likely to endear himself, yet when he returned he was quickly set up as a love rival for Gil? I just can't understand it!

I believe I've heard that in the novelization Tarvek is shown to actually be much more loyal to Agatha and sympathetic to the reader as well. That portrayal was supposedly more in line with what the Foglios intended than came through in the comic with its lack of editing.

[Rodin]

I believe I've heard that in the novelization Tarvek is shown to actually be much more loyal to Agatha and sympathetic to the reader as well. That portrayal was supposedly more in line with what the Foglios intended than came through in the comic with its lack of editing.

Yes, he is. I was quite unsympathetic towards Tarvek until after I read the novel.

The book makes it much clearer that Tarquin is in full survival mode during the whole Sturmhalten arc. He has to suck up to Lucrezia to gain her trust and make her think she's smarter than he is, especially in the areas of personal manipulation. He's also trying to stay one step ahead of his sister, who he knows will fry him if he gets in her way. He's trying to protect Agatha during most of the arc, and really only backstabs her at the one critical moment when the Baron's questor arrives so he can set his own plan to frame the Baron (it was Tarvek who modified the message) into motion. I am admittedly a bit fuzzy on this last - it's been a while since I've read it. The whole thing is one big pileup of different parties working at cross-purposes.

Tarvek still comes off as a bit of a snake, but he's definitely cast in a more positive light. I think the book does specify what happened to that final clank, as well - one of the winged beasties gets it.

I've read both the books and really enjoyed both of them - there's quite a bit of expansion that clears up some of the muddier plot points as well as a bunch of interesting background information. In particular, Punch, Judy, and Krosp get a lot more characterization than they do in-comic, and a lot more time is spent showing Agatha's life at the Heterodyne show.

[Fjolnir]

See I was hoping for "Those aren't Giant FROGS! They're Giant TOADS!" which is also a very bad joke but a man can dream...

[Winterwind]

The book makes it much clearer that Tarquin is in full survival mode during the whole Sturmhalten arc. He has to suck up to Lucrezia to gain her trust and make her think she's smarter than he is, especially in the areas of personal manipulation. He's also trying to stay one step ahead of his sister, who he knows will fry him if he gets in her way. He's trying to protect Agatha during most of the arc, and really only backstabs her at the one critical moment when the Baron's questor arrives so he can set his own plan to frame the Baron (it was Tarvek who modified the message) into motion. I am admittedly a bit fuzzy on this last - it's been a while since I've read it. The whole thing is one big pileup of different parties working at cross-purposes.

I honestly never got any other impression than what you describe here from just reading the comic.

[Morty]

Tarvek has pretty consistently come off as a complexity-addicted git who's convinced he has some sort of right to rule Europe because he's descended from some half-mythical "Storm King", as far as I'm concerned. It's interesting that apparently the book makes him more likeable. Granted, being addicted to over-complicated plans is a very common condition in the GG-verse.

[BannedInSchool]

His plan was so much better too.

[eee]

So, over the last few days I have read the first 12 volumes of Girl Genius in dead tree format, which has given me a new appreciation for it.

Congratulations!

Bits that seemed quite slow when experiencing them online work quite well as story arcs in the finished product, and there are far more 'oh, I remember that from a couple of books ago' moments.

Still, a few questions that were raised...

<snip>

3) This was probably discussed quite recently, but when did Tarvek warn the Vespirary squad about the Baron/Empire? See here. He only knew they were in danger once they'd heard the story about the Storm King, and Klaus was found to be alive very soon after that, at which point Gil and Tarvek were basically running. There is no point Tarvek could have warned them that I can see.

There are two.... well, 2.5... possible answers to that.

A) As noted, after the Professor told Gil and Tarvek the story Klaus had told him, there wasn't time for Tarvek to inform the Squad of anything, as he and Gil were on the run inside Castle Wulfenbach until Gil dropped him, Othar, and Vole off in the second Falling Machine. However, Tarvek had been running the Empire's defenses up until Gil made it back to CW, it is hardly impossible he'd have been able to send a message to them or, more likely Dr. Bren, warning them of the existence of the Spark Wasp and that all sparks INCLUDING Klaus had to be regarded with suspicion.

B) During his time running the Empire, Tarvek compromised communications security and fixed it so he could hack into Klaus' network and talk to any unit he wanted. With that knowledge, he sent a coded message to the Vespiary Squad after he reached Mechanicsburg, not only telling them that Klaus was Wasped, but that they had to grab all their weasels and get OUT of there, NOW. That would explain why he seemed to know who was in the airship that crashed into Mechanicsburg, and was willing to go to any lengths to rescue the surviving Squaders.

B makes even more sense if

.5) The Vespiary Squad is secretly a Knights of Jove unit; or at least loyal to the Storm King, not Klaus. That would explain why they said the units they snuck out during the Empire's general retreat from Mechanicsburg were going to report to Tarvek, not Agatha.

[scienceguy8]

You guys are just founts of Girl Genius knowledge. I could say "show me the work of Doctor Bunsen Honeydew" and you would be able to post a link to the comic page in question within 12 hours.

[memnarch]

You guys are just founts of Girl Genius knowledge. I could say "show me the work of Doctor Bunsen Honeydew" and you would be able to post a link to the comic page in question within 12 hours.

You mean the thing that needs work right? (12 hours? It's day time, so try 12 minutes )

[PePe QuiCoSE]

Huh, the guy has the sweet talk, dances and is a Spark. Does a girl need anything else to fall for him? She liked Gil even still when she though of him as evil as his father. Lars was a nice guy and she never showed anything else than being fond of him (before his passing). Easy peasy, Agatha likes bad boys.

[BannedInSchool]

See I was hoping for "Those aren't Giant FROGS! They're Giant TOADS!" which is also a very bad joke but a man can dream...

And Zeetha already made that joke in dodging her boast of never having met a giant frog she couldn't defeat.

[Liliet]

Well I like Tarvek. His motivations throughout the Sturmhalten arc were complicated to grasp, but once you did sort of understand what was going on, it wasn't "backstab everyone else so I get what I want". It was at worst "backstab everyone else so I survive" which doesn't pack such a punch, and he was trying to help Agatha, too (would be much safer and easier to just betray her to Lucrezia from the start and not even pretend to be on her side). At best he was trying to do what was best for the Empire, which just happened to be cooperating with everyone he met, if only so he has at least some degree of control over the situation.

And once he got to der Kestle, even survival didn't come into it any more. Remember what he did when Agatha met him? Yeah. And the arc about the illness made it pretty clear that he did care about her more than himself - that adorable bit of arguing with Gil, remember? Awww. It was pretty hard to not sympathize with him from that moment. And the hilarious escape from the burning airship, too. Tarvek is very, very likable.


(Gil's likability was established in his very first appearance - remember the poor little fish?)

[Kislath]

So I guess I'm the only one who cheered a little when Tweedle's deadly poisoned dagger sunk into Tarvek's chest?

[Liliet]

So I guess I'm the only one who cheered a little when Tweedle's deadly poisoned dagger sunk into Tarvek's chest?

Maybe not the only one, but I do want to do to you what Elan did to Tarquin for that >< thoughtcrime!!!!1111

seriously, Tarvek's like #1 likable in his family, even if you don't like him, there's nothing good in someone like Tweedle murdering him.

(it's the same way I feel about Nale's murder, actually - he totally deserved a knife between the ribs, but not from Tarquin)

[Morty]

Tweedle killed, or attempted to kill, more members of his family than Tarvek did, to my knowledge. Therefore, he's more sympathetic.

[Liliet]

Tweedle killed, or attempted to kill, more members of his family than Tarvek did, to my knowledge. Therefore, he's more sympathetic.

Um. That's one way of looking at it, but on DnD alignment grade, who would you put higher up the moral scale?

As the other, totally unrelated reason for Tarvek being more sympathetic is he's had more screentime, so we should empathize with him more.

Yes, I'm claiming that people like characters wrong. Also, I'm taking your post seriously.

[Doc Kraken]

I mean, he is making the world a better place...

[Liliet]

I mean, he is making the world a better place...

*still totally serious because it's more fun that way*

Well, Tarvek's helping Agatha come to power. I'd say it's advancing a much bigger force for good. BTW, I bet the alignments of all 3 (Gil, Agatha, Tarvek) are Neutral Good

[Persephone_Kore]

Tweedle's awful, but it is possibly worth noting that most of the relatives he killed seem to have been out to kill him at the time, so his attacks on them were neither gratuitous viciousness nor an altruistic attempt at improving the world. ;)

(Tarvek had actually threatened to, although as Tweedle could have avoided that by not kidnapping Agatha, this doesn't help much.)

[factotum]

So I guess I'm the only one who cheered a little when Tweedle's deadly poisoned dagger sunk into Tarvek's chest?

I certainly didn't--even at the time Tweedle didn't seem like the nicest of people, and he hasn't improved since. Given a choice between the two of them I'd take Tarvek every time (unless I was being asked to find the biggest douchebag for a Douchebag Olympics, in which case it'd be Tweedle ).

[Porthos]

OK, I'll admit it. I laughed at the DOOOMED line.

I realize it's difficult to adapt from one medium to another (pacing at the very least is completely different in audio than it is in a webcomic, for instance), but it does seem to be finding its footing a bit more.

And maybe I'm just getting used to the art style, but I'm not finding it as distracting anymore either. Should be interesting to see where this goes.