Gunnerkrigg Court 5: Bismuth as Usual

[Shadow of the Sun]

So the only reason for the all animals become male is that the Court likes to balance the numbers? The court can be silly.

Already well established.

[Coidzor]

...



Please explain.
MWAHAHAHAHAHA I HAVE FORCED SOMEONE TO EXPLAIN THEIR JOKE! iamsopathetic

She reminds me of one of the chimeras from FMA that had traits of several animals mashed together in a humanoid form. Because she's a snake lady(cobra in particular) with the face of a rodent. I mean, sure, you could also get some kind of mongoose or ferret/tuberat vibe from her face and elongation, too, but the green and the... hood off the back of her headgear?

Snake all over it.

[Mith]

Anyone else find it interesting that the nurse lady doesn't need the protection gear?

[halfeye]

An implication of this strip is that all female students (inlcuding Antimony?) were originally fairies, so there are no animal derived female students (does that imply there are no animal derived female staff, or is there somewhere else that makes people from animals?)

[Marnath]

An implication of this strip is that all female students (inlcuding Antimony?) were originally fairies, so there are no animal derived female students (does that imply there are no animal derived female staff, or is there somewhere else that makes people from animals?)

...What?


Only the students who transfer here from the Forest go through this. All of the others are female or male because they were born that way.

[halfeye]

...What?


Only the students who transfer here from the Forest go through this. All of the others are female or male because they were born that way.

Yeah, I have been following the strip for a year or two, and my memory is bad, sorry about that.

Are non-forest students always human?

[Emperordaniel]

So the only reason for the all animals become male is that the Court likes to balance the numbers? The court can be silly.

It is a silly place.

[Mono Vertigo]

An implication of this strip is that all female students (inlcuding Antimony?) were originally fairies, so there are no animal derived female students (does that imply there are no animal derived female staff, or is there somewhere else that makes people from animals?)

Well, I wonder what happens the times when there are more fairies than animals going to the Court. (The opposite isn't a problem; some animals could turn/stay female.)
Also what happens with odd numbers. (The stupid part of me replies readily "genderqueer is what happens".)
Or maybe the Court waits until they have the right numbers for both before making a batch? Must be fastidious and unreliable, unless they can somehow influence Forest inhabitants to decide to make the switch to the Court or not.


(Yes, those are the questions keeping me up at night, and I don't even like maths.)

[Marnath]

Well, I wonder what happens the times when there are more fairies than animals going to the Court. (The opposite isn't a problem; some animals could turn/stay female.)
Also what happens with odd numbers. (The stupid part of me replies readily "genderqueer is what happens".)
Or maybe the Court waits until they have the right numbers for both before making a batch? Must be fastidious and unreliable, unless they can somehow influence Forest inhabitants to decide to make the switch to the Court or not.


(Yes, those are the questions keeping me up at night, and I don't even like maths.)

I think you meant intersex, not genderqueer.

My guess is that they just wait until the number is even. Or maybe they only take 30 a year and there are usually/always more applicants than that anyway?

[Lethologica]

Yeah, I have been following the strip for a year or two, and my memory is bad, sorry about that.

Are non-forest students always human?

Well, no. Consider the main character, for example.

But there are probably more human students than not among non-forest students, and more non-forest students than transfers.

[Mono Vertigo]

I think you meant intersex, not genderqueer.

I did say it was the stupid part of the brain talking.
(And more seriously I'd kind of forgotten we're talking about sex change and not so much gender change.)

[Coidzor]

Anyone else find it interesting that the nurse lady doesn't need the protection gear?

Have you looked at her? Either the damage has already been done and she's been mutated as far as she'll mutate or she wasn't quite human to begin with.

Or she's been transhumanism'd into being able to comfortably deal with all of the environmental hazards of her work-place environment, hence the obviously gene-spliced appearance.

Well, I wonder what happens the times when there are more fairies than animals going to the Court. (The opposite isn't a problem; some animals could turn/stay female.)
Also what happens with odd numbers. (The stupid part of me replies readily "genderqueer is what happens".)
Or maybe the Court waits until they have the right numbers for both before making a batch? Must be fastidious and unreliable, unless they can somehow influence Forest inhabitants to decide to make the switch to the Court or not.

Caps and Quotas so that those who are fighting an uphill battle to be humans don't outnumber those who are naturally human would make sense.

Besides, there's an element of serendipity and manipulated/engineered serendipity about the whole affair anyway.

[Mono Vertigo]

Caps and Quotas so that those who are fighting an uphill battle to be humans don't outnumber those who are naturally human would make sense.

Besides, there's an element of serendipity and manipulated/engineered serendipity about the whole affair anyway.

Yeah, that makes the most sense. That was a half-unspoken possibility in my hypotheses.
... makes sense, but raises a lot of questions in return if that's what's going on. (But if I wanted a comic answering its own questions in a straightforward and simple way, I wouldn't be reading Gunnerkrigg Court.)

[Kornaki]

I'm hoping antimony and boy whose name I forget because I suck make a stand for humanish rights

[Coidzor]

Yeah, that makes the most sense. That was a half-unspoken possibility in my hypotheses.
... makes sense, but raises a lot of questions in return if that's what's going on. (But if I wanted a comic answering its own questions in a straightforward and simple way, I wouldn't be reading Gunnerkrigg Court.)

It's the court and the forest. You should always distrust everything to do with either faction's true workings. Or at the very least, question everything from them, because they either have a vested interest in lying or at least keeping the whole truth from being known or they're a creature who is basically made of lies and storytelling as a trickster spirit.

Edit: I suspect that we really should be questioning why this was still able to go on so smoothly despite that there have been no mediums overseeing the process for over a decade if I'm remembering when Surma had to stop correctly. Not only the how but why either or both sides were invested in continuing the practice.

And not just because it's a way to get rid of malcontents without the loss of political capital in having them disappeared or killed.

[Rodin]

Edit: I suspect that we really should be questioning why this was still able to go on so smoothly despite that there have been no mediums overseeing the process for over a decade if I'm remembering when Surma had to stop correctly. Not only the how but why either or both sides were invested in continuing the practice.

And not just because it's a way to get rid of malcontents without the loss of political capital in having them disappeared or killed.

Well, Ysengrin has been the medium for the forest side of things. The court doesn't seem to have bothered.

Presumably arrangements were made even if direct contact wasn't. It's very benficial for both sides, really - you get new immigrants who so desperately want to join your community that they're willing to give up literally everything about their old self.

[Giggling Ghast]

Yeah, I have been following the strip for a year or two, and my memory is bad, sorry about that.

Are non-forest students always human?

Human-ish. There's gods and valkyries and whatever Annie's dad was.

Just to be clear, the rabbit knows that it will become a male.

[Coidzor]

Well, Ysengrin has been the medium for the forest side of things. The court doesn't seem to have bothered.

Ah, yes, Ysengrim. Very physically threatening, sure. There's a reason I don't take him seriously as a medium, especially not since we've seen his poor mediumship portrayed in comic.

Presumably arrangements were made even if direct contact wasn't. It's very benficial for both sides, really - you get new immigrants who so desperately want to join your community that they're willing to give up literally everything about their old self.

I suppose if you can get around the difficulties with them on the personal level, the fairies were rather... savants from our glimpse into their education. That alone doesn't really show us why the Court would especially desire them.

And the Forest's desires and true gain are even murkier.

Neither is exactly hurting for population, though, as far as we're aware, and being gungho about joining in the first place doesn't exactly translate into much if Red is any indication, nor does it have any obvious utility, since morale isn't particularly an issue either.

[Kornaki]

Snake lady probably just walked across the bridge to pick up the totems from Ysengrin. That doesn't seem like a big deal, if they were doing it for hundreds of years why would they stop just because they don't have a medium for a couple years? It's probably not the first time that's happened anyway.

[wingnutx]

I just spent two days reading all of Gunnerkrigg Court for the first time. It's wonderful.

[eee]

Snakie is very tall and flexible. I'm starting to wonder if he/she might not have as rigid a skeleton as we mere mortals...

I just spent two days reading all of Gunnerkrigg Court for the first time. It's wonderful.

Congratulations and welcome!

And yes, it is.

[Qwertystop]

So, apparently it's not poisonous air, just hot and humid.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

From... Cardiff.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Maybe she/he/it really is a Fullmetal Alchemist chimera.

[Emperordaniel]

From... Cardiff.

Mystery solved!

[eee]

From... Cardiff.

Obviously a dragon-spawn in humanoid form.

[Giggling Ghast]

Mutated by all the wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey energy, no doubt.

[Emperordaniel]

I've met people from Cardiff. She seems about right.

They're all Voldemort-dragon hybrids?

[Qwertystop]

Hey, not all of the nonhumans are from the Forest. No reason she couldn't be from Cardiff. After all, the ex-Foresters we've seen look human.

[Emperordaniel]

couldn't be from Cardiff. After all, the ex-Foresters we've seen look human.

Aside from their extremely pointed ears and nearly-pupil-less eyes (in the case of the ex-fairies), of course.