Girl Genius XXVI: Madness is the best possible response

[Rogar Demonblud]

She figured out how to get past it. So, just as I stopped worrying about where the key to the china cabinet with the cookie jar was once I learned how to open the door without it, she doesn't care either.

[Traab]

Or its more that removing it is going to be annoying while stuck in enemy territory so she will wait till she has some spare time to cut it off. That necklace gives agatha an advantage in their fight for control. Clearly not an overwhelming one but its there, lucrezia will want to remove it when she can.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Right, why doesn't Lucrezia care about the locket any more?

She figured out how to get past it. So, just as I stopped worrying about where the key to the china cabinet with the cookie jar was once I learned how to open the door without it, she doesn't care either.

The point is that the locket has been suppressing Agatha's powers. She has become stronger, so the locket is no longer fully dampening her, but she has retained the locket because a side effect of it is that it also damps down Lucrezia as well.

(See 1, 2)

Now that the locket is no longer damping down Lucrezia, there is no benefit to it; however removing it will unleash Agatha's full strength, and I don't think Lucrezia is prepared for that.

I grant that it may unleash Lucrezia's full strength as well, but if Agatha is quick Lucrezia may not react fast enough for it to matter.

[Vinyadan]

Here Agatha says that Lucrezia is fighting back. http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comi...9#.Xax9HmbOOUk No explanation about what is causing this fighting.

Here Lucrezia overtakes Agatha (the current possession). http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comi...9#.Xax6UmbOOUk The explanation is that she is attracted to strong emotions, and going spark is apparently such a strong emotion, which left the door open.

Originally, the locket kept her from sparking, closing one of Lucrezia's conduit. The wiki says that it also dampened all emotions, which probably explains why she physically hurt when she was severely upset by the death of Beetle.

I'd like to say that Agatha being too strong for the locket simply made it useless. But that's the opposite of what happens: as soon as the locket is taken off in Mechanicsburg, Agatha becomes Lucrezia (twice: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comi...8#.Xax7G2bOOUk http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100625).

And yet, we have seen her spark out earlier while making coffee, and Lucrezia didn't take over.

So there must be some variable that I don't remember or wasn't mentioned (or it simply is like Agatha's voice power, that is deactivated when the scene requires it http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20151228 )

Do we even know that the muse of time is Lucrezia? There might be a different reason why Lugatha knew how the machine worked.

About Lucrezia being the Muse of Time: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20190828

[Traab]

The locket hasnt stopped her from using the spark since it got taken from her long enough to break through fully way back in beetleburg. It was like a single stitch holding a seam together. Once it ripped open putting that one stitch back in place didnt seal it back together. As for lucrezia taking over. It primarily happens when agatha is tired or vice versa. If you can distract or disorient her enough, the other persona can take over. Which is probably why it was possible to take over while sparking out this time as she was both desperate to stop this invention and agatha was concentrating on abusing the laws of reality. Similar to agathas desperation over the potential loss of gil back in the castle letting her take back over.

[factotum]

The implication of today's strip is that Lu is doing something she already knows how to do, which implies she was Queen-level power when she was the Other. Going to be interesting to find out how she got defeated, in which case...

[Fyraltari]

The implication of today's strip is that Lu is doing something she already knows how to do, which implies she was Queen-level power when she was the Other. Going to be interesting to find out how she got defeated, in which case...

She outright says she’s never done that before. Accessing the spark is what she’s remembering. Second Breakthrough? That’s Agatha’s ‘muscle’ memory.

But we know that Lu had Queen-level firepower back in the day, since she killed a handful of them.

[JavaScribe]

She didn't even require an external power source, which adds further evidence to the theory that the Spark itself taps into another plane of existence.

The spark is starting to look more like psychic powers than anything else.

[Ailurus]

The thing that interests me the most here is:

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"I could never do it before, but now I see - it takes an ORGANIC mind"

That would do a lot to explain Lu's interest in human/mechanical mind transfers, if she were originally a clank (or some other form of construct) herself.

[HandofShadows]

The thing that interests me the most here is:

Spoiler

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"I could never do it before, but now I see - it takes an ORGANIC mind"

That would do a lot to explain Lu's interest in human/mechanical mind transfers, if she were originally a clank (or some other form of construct) herself.

Lu has a long family history and we know she started off human. She seems to have transferred over a clank body when she got the point that all her cybernetic enhancements could no longer keep her alive.

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Lu also figured out how to do a 2nd breakthrough after she went 100% clank but could not do it herself. It seems that the 2nd breakthrough needs an organic mind. Maybe.

[NobleCuriosity]

Well, there’s the bigger problem I feared Lucrezia was about to cause. Dang it, Zeetha.

I’m starting to wonder how they actually get out of this one. I doubt that Agatha will exit this as a Queen since that invalidates so many supporting characters. So either they somehow take down queen-Lucrezia, or Agatha stops this somehow (I suppose Albia could show up again, but I doubt it). I’m betting on the latter, personally. It’s just hard to see how else they beat queen-Lucrezia here long enough to escape with Agatha intact.

[HandofShadows]

I think Gil is going to be the answer to this problem. He needs to do something spectacular every once in a while and it's been a long time.

[Vinyadan]

"And this isn't even my final form!"

[geoduck]

We've seen FutureAgatha in the Ivo Sharktooth story, and she doesn't come across as particularly Queen-like in that, so yeah, they're probably gonna dial this back somehow.

[NobleCuriosity]

We've seen FutureAgatha in the Ivo Sharktooth story, and she doesn't come across as particularly Queen-like in that, so yeah, they're probably gonna dial this back somehow.

Is that story confirmed canon?

(Does this mean all the weasel-Queen episodes are also canon?!?)

[Rogar Demonblud]

It isn't canon. Like the radio show arcs, it basically falls under the heading of "Stuff we thought was cool".

[xroads]

I suspect they'll dial back the queen level power status at some point. If for no other reason than god like protagonists are difficult to develop good story lines for.

[Rodin]

Wasn't there a story that showed Agatha in the future that WAS canon? I swear I remember seeing something like that. My memory says that it's someone telling a story (which is what most of it is), but there's a brief scene where we see Agatha before the story begins.

[NobleCuriosity]

Thanks, Rogar-Demonblud. Do you know if there’s some citation confirming it’s non-canonness, or is that just a default assumption based off the obvious non-canon status of some of the other short stories?

I suspect they'll dial back the queen level power status at some point. If for no other reason than god like protagonists are difficult to develop good story lines for.

That, or Agatha won’t leave this situation as a queen, and won’t be able to ascend to queenship before the story’s end. Personally I find that scenario more likely, as it also helps explain how they manage to beat Lucrezia here, and doesn’t introduce inconsistency with queens’ previously established incredible powers.

[Narkis]

I bet being a Queen requires both knowledge and capability. Lucrezia has the knowledge. Agatha has the capability. So after they inevitably get Lucrezia out of Agatha's head, Agatha will be unable to go full Queen without five centuries of experience or something like that.

[SZbNAhL]

The radio plays are works of fiction within the comic universe (hence this sort of thing). Ivo Sharktooth had no such framing device, so we have no reason to assume it isn't canon.

[geoduck]

It isn't canon. Like the radio show arcs, it basically falls under the heading of "Stuff we thought was cool".

I disagree. All of the radio shows started with an explicit depiction of the radio-show producers preparing to create said show, and are sprinkled with fourth-wall breaches and characters acting cartoony. Ivo's story just started, and the familiar faces acted like they do in the main strips. If the Foglios go on to retcon the whole thing, I'll be disappointed in them.

[Scarlet Knight]

I suspect they'll dial back the queen level power status at some point. If for no other reason than god like protagonists are difficult to develop good story lines for.

I don't know. I feel like a fan who loves Jean Grey as Marvel Girl, watching her story arc slowly progressing, then BOOM! We get Phoenix and evil Dark Phoenix with UBER POWER.

Next thing you know we got two love interests, an evil twin, having children, with time traveling shenanigans to save her kids ... wait. Should I spoiler this?

[HandofShadows]

You forgot the clones. Can't forget them.

[factotum]

I suspect they'll dial back the queen level power status at some point. If for no other reason than god like protagonists are difficult to develop good story lines for.

I think we already have ample evidence that Queen-like powers have their limits--for instance, Albia wasn't able to keep possession of Trelawney for more than a few minutes, and while you can argue that was because of Trelawney's limitations rather than Albia's, if her power was truly godlike you'd expect her to have a way round that.

[PraetorDragoon]

I don't know. I feel like a fan who loves Jean Grey as Marvel Girl, watching her story arc slowly progressing, then BOOM! We get Phoenix and evil Dark Phoenix with UBER POWER.

Next thing you know we got two love interests, an evil twin, having children, with time traveling shenanigans to save her kids ... wait. Should I spoiler this?

Aside of the evil twin and having kids, you could be talking about Agatha here.

[eee]

Lu COULD have tried this anytime at Strumhalten, or the times she's had control since. That she's only doing it now suggests it's a desperation move, and that there's great risk or a significant downside to her becoming a Queen level being.

I don't know. I feel like a fan who loves Jean Grey as Marvel Girl, watching her story arc slowly progressing, then BOOM! We get Phoenix and evil Dark Phoenix with UBER POWER.

Next thing you know we got two love interests, an evil twin, having children, with time traveling shenanigans to save her kids ... wait. Should I spoiler this?

Marvel's already spoiled it.

[Durkoala]

Lu COULD have tried this anytime at Strumhalten, or the times she's had control since. That she's only doing it now suggests it's a desperation move, and that there's great risk or a significant downside to her becoming a Queen level being.

Lu did imply that being a Queen requires some kind of power source* a few pages ago, so she might have been unable to do it until she got to England and could leech off Albia's.

*and that it's possible a finite source, which might explain why she didn't use it in Castle Heterodyne, when she wasn't at risk of being dragged out of Agatha's head.

[HandofShadows]

I think that Lu never really considered going "Queen" before this. She always had something else on her plate at the time. But once she considered it...

[Vinyadan]

Maybe it needed Agatha to have stared into "infinite" (drinking the Castle water).