Girl Genius XXV: It needs work! BUT THE CONCEPT IS SOUND!

[Rogar Demonblud]

That's one way to prove your identity. And a pretty reliable one.

[Fyraltari]

If Higgs follows the protocol der Kestle has hinted he does, he'll now have to kill Krosp, the bear, and Beast-Bot to keep his secret, secret.

He clearly doesn’t else he would have killed Tarvek.

[Divayth Fyr]

The Kestle in Otilia was going to blab it, too, before Higgs 'suggested' quiet by cutting the robotic body in two

Otilia Kestle would reveal Higgs generalship, but we don't know if it was a secret at the point the identity transfer took place. It just took a while for it to recognize him and try to access the momery.

If Higgs follows the protocol der Kestle has hinted he does, he'll now have to kill Krosp, the bear, and Beast-Bot to keep his secret, secret.

And Tarvek would have never left the sub.

[halfeye]

If Higgs follows the protocol der Kestle has hinted he does, he'll now have to kill Krosp, the bear, and Beast-Bot to keep his secret, secret.

"General" could be (mis)understood as a reference to Krosp.

[eee]

He clearly doesn’t else he would have killed Tarvek.

It was der Kestle's assessment that if it told Zeetha who Higgs was, Higgs would have to kill her to protect his secret. Given how close Higgs knew Zeetha was to Agatha, either Kestle was overstating things or it was that very closeness and the risk Lu might find out that would have been fatal. Higgs has apparently decided the risk of Tarvek passing on his knowledge is low enough to allow him to live. Whether he feels the same about Krosp, bear, and Beast-bot is unknown at this time.

[Brance_a_Lot]

One could say that the cat's out of the bag?

[Scarlet Knight]

I'm not surprised that der Kestle didn't recognize Tarvek...you know how many red-heads he tries to kill in a day?

[Rogar Demonblud]

Obviously not enough, since the Storm King line isn't extinct.

[lord_khaine]

It was der Kestle's assessment that if it told Zeetha who Higgs was, Higgs would have to kill her to protect his secret. Given how close Higgs knew Zeetha was to Agatha, either Kestle was overstating things or it was that very closeness and the risk Lu might find out that would have been fatal. Higgs has apparently decided the risk of Tarvek passing on his knowledge is low enough to allow him to live. Whether he feels the same about Krosp, bear, and Beast-bot is unknown at this time.

The Castle has been wrong on a lot of other things. Its a mad thing, even after being repaired.
Higgs cared a lot about Zeetha. Agatha cares about her a lot. He would kill Zeetha to protect Agatha, but its unlikely less would do.

Obviously not enough, since the Storm King line isn't extinct.

For most people the difference between the Castle trying to kill you, and you dying, is nonexistant.
But it is there for skilled or powerful people, especially those who are not smart enough to step inside the castle.

[SZbNAhL]

For those not following the Facebook page, a mistake in the post timer has given us this single panel teaser for tomorrow's strip:

Spoiler: Panel and speculation below

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A female person who's still in France and another person who's looking for them? I suppose Madwa could have faked her passage to England, but who'd know where she was? Or is it somebody who's recently arrived from England, perhaps Lady Steelgarter?

[tonberrian]

Actually, the shneeky gate is up, so you can read the whole comic if you want.

[slayerx]

Sneaky gate

Spoiler

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Seffie is booking it to england and she doesn't want anyone to know. My guess is that she has heard news of Gil's and Ms.Thorpes "romantic" adventures, and recognizes a plan to steal her man. She's already got a plot to get Agatha out of the way but her entire plan to win Gil relies on her being the logical alternative; her plan goes up in smoke if Gil falls in love for someone else. She's got to get herself to england asap and throw a wrench into the whole plan.

[Ellen]

Well, isn't that interesting. . . .

[PraetorDragoon]

Well well well. I guess somebody has read the papers about Gil and Thorpe.

Also happy to see the pirates again. I like them. (Speaking of Pirates..... how long until Bang crashes into the dome?)

[Ailurus]

Sneaky gate

Spoiler

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Seffie is booking it to england and she doesn't want anyone to know. My guess is that she has heard news of Gil's and Ms.Thorpes "romantic" adventures, and recognizes a plan to steal her man. She's already got a plot to get Agatha out of the way but her entire plan to win Gil relies on her being the logical alternative; her plan goes up in smoke if Gil falls in love for someone else. She's got to get herself to england asap and throw a wrench into the whole plan.

Spoiler

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That makes sense for why she is going. But who are the other two? I could see Martellus wanting to come, to be with Agatha, but I doubt Albia would appreciate the self-proclaimed Storm King sneaking into her country unannounced, and I can't see him coming along to directly help Seffie. So do we just get 2 generic smoke knights? Or are there other potential people I'm forgetting?

[slayerx]

Spoiler

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That makes sense for why she is going. But who are the other two? I could see Martellus wanting to come, to be with Agatha, but I doubt Albia would appreciate the self-proclaimed Storm King sneaking into her country unannounced, and I can't see him coming along to directly help Seffie. So do we just get 2 generic smoke knights? Or are there other potential people I'm forgetting?

I'm currently guessing its a pair of smoke knights (or maybe one smoke knight and mister obsidian). From the context, i think Seffie wants to actually be illegally smuggled in (as opposed to the psuedo-legalized smuggling England seems to have going on); I don't think Martellus would want to risk creating an international incident by trying to sneak into england; if he were going he would probably want it to be a formal arrangement since he's trying to legitimize his crown... and if Martellus was going then Seffie would not need to smuggle herself as she could just travel with him.

Also i suspect Seffie would actually want Agatha to be with Tarvek rather than Martellus. Seffie's plan to win gil relies on him accepting that he lost Agatha to another man. Since Martellus has been trying to FORCE agatha to marry him, that would be a match that Gil would not accept; he would feel the need to RESCUE Agatha from him. Tarvek on the other hand is trying to legitimately win Agatha's love; If Agatha CHOOSES someone else, Gil would accept the loss

[DavidSh]

What I wonder is the timeline of how the Mopey Tortoise got a replacement crew after massacre we saw earlier.

[Doran]

Maybe they have pirate cloning machines?

[Traab]

Hey, you get the queens tattoo or whatever it is, and suddenly everyone wants to be a part of your crew! I bet she managed to recruit them in short order.

[Divayth Fyr]

Spoiler

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That makes sense for why she is going. But who are the other two? I could see Martellus wanting to come, to be with Agatha, but I doubt Albia would appreciate the self-proclaimed Storm King sneaking into her country unannounced, and I can't see him coming along to directly help Seffie. So do we just get 2 generic smoke knights? Or are there other potential people I'm forgetting?

Maybe Grandma wants Zola in England? With Mr. Obsidian as a bodyguard.

[Onyavar]

What I wonder is the timeline of how the Mopey Tortoise got a replacement crew after massacre we saw earlier.

Four survivors despite unbelievable odds. The capt'n got a royal bounty and the queen's tatoo...
The Turtoise was probably swamped with hopeful applicants right away.

[SZbNAhL]

Speaking of Seffie's plans re: Gil and Martellus, wouldn't the new Storm Kingdom be mutually exclusive with the empire? I'm beginning to wonder whether we're going to have an important reminder as to just how big Tarvek's family are on the marriage of backs to knives.

[RedScholarGypsy]

My money for the two passengers are Obsidian and Varpa . Although I would love for it to be Vole, I highly doubt it.

It's hard to think of any other reason for Seffie to sneak into England, but just to throw theory darts, another passenger could be a vesper who needs to tell Tarvek something immediately.

[eee]

One of the passengers might be Prende. I would imagine moving one of the Muses would require either a powerful armed guard or absolute secrecy. To keep the Madboys from trying to take her.

[slayerx]

What I wonder is the timeline of how the Mopey Tortoise got a replacement crew after massacre we saw earlier.

She may not have; her crew may just consist of those that survived the battle. Lilligirl looks like she's one of those survivors. Also i would not be surprised if the captain decided to take a few nights off just to enjoy her tatoo and the royal bounty she got with it as so hasn't gotten around to recruiting a new crew... not to mention it would be a bad idea to bring brand new crew mates on a secret mission; only want the ones you can trust

Speaking of Seffie's plans re: Gil and Martellus, wouldn't the new Storm Kingdom be mutually exclusive with the empire? I'm beginning to wonder whether we're going to have an important reminder as to just how big Tarvek's family are on the marriage of backs to knives.

Well the plan with Gil and Seffie seems pretty straight forward. Seffie is a storm princess so any child she has would have a legitimate claim to the storm crown, so marrying wulfenbach would produce an heir to both the empire and the crown. Though the question is where exactly Martellus fits in the current plan. Its possible that he's not meant to have a direct heir. Martellus's current role in the plan could be that he's supposed to bring back the legitimacy of the storm crown and then pass the crown down to his future nephew... but would Martellus really accept such a plan? With his ego you would think he would want to be the one to start a dynasty. This could be where the backstabbing might come in... Though this could give Seffie yet another reason to keep Agatha away from him

[Manga Shoggoth]

Wow, I really did not expect that.

If Seffie is going in on a Boyfriend Rescue mission this is going to be interesting. I think Albia's plans may have hit a few more rocks than intended.

[RedScholarGypsy]

One of the passengers might be Prende. I would imagine moving one of the Muses would require either a powerful armed guard or absolute secrecy. To keep the Madboys from trying to take her.

I forgot about her. And aren't two of her sisters in England with the circus? Seffie could be smuggling her to Tarvek to strengthen his claim as well; it may have been less than a week since the battle of Paris, but I can only assume Tweedle has been doing his best to make himself the only possible Storm King, as we know he is aware of Tarvek since he sent his Night Master and Spark Hounds to kill him.

Another thought: since Martellus apprenticed to DR. Vapnoople, I wonder if Albia could be swayed to support Tarvek against him.

If these theories have been posted before, my apologies. Haven't posted in years and it feels good to rant about Girl Genius again.

[HandofShadows]

The location of Tinka and Moxana is unknown, but I don't think the Circus has them. They had no way to get them when everything blew up. That means Wolfenbach troops could have found them when they contained the town. There are very few people that could actually repair Tinka fully, but one of them would be Gil and he would give them the respect they deserver. I wonder if we haven't already seen Otilia and just didn't recognize her new body.

[Rogar Demonblud]

It may have been less than a week since the battle of Paris, but I can only assume Tweedle has been doing his best to make himself the only possible Storm King.

Hopefully, this means he's doing his best to bury the rest of the family.

If these theories have been posted before, my apologies. Haven't posted in years and it feels good to rant about Girl Genius again.

Welcome back to the Playground.

[RedScholarGypsy]

The location of Tinka and Moxana is unknown, but I don't think the Circus has them. They had no way to get them when everything blew up. That means Wolfenbach troops could have found them when they contained the town. There are very few people that could actually repair Tinka fully, but one of them would be Gil and he would give them the respect they deserver. I wonder if we haven't already seen Otilia and just didn't recognize her new body.

You're right; I did a deep dive in the archives and they were both in Taverk's castle when everything went south.

Also remembered that the storyteller is Oggie's descendant. I wonder if the Jagers' immunity to wasping can be inherited.