Girl Genius XXVI: Madness is the best possible response

[Kantaki]

That smile... So innocent... Like a child seeing the christmas gifts...

[factotum]

I wonder if this is a "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!" situation on behalf of Ms. Thorpe?

[geoduck]

I wonder if this is a "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!" situation on behalf of Ms. Thorpe?

More likely she still wants to copy off/contain Lucrezia instead of just destroying her.

[Rodin]

Gilgamesh had just arrived, right? So he hasn't had a chance to work the machine, and he had improvements suggested by Albia. Hopefully that's all it is.

[JavaScribe]

More likely she still wants to copy off/contain Lucrezia instead of just destroying her.

It's still suspicious that Albia had to tamper with Gil's memories. She wouldn't need to do that if keeping a copy of Lucrezia was all she was after. I'm wondering if there's a second extra "improvement", like say, implanting patriotism towards England and removing any pesky attachments she may have to Mechanicsburg, Gil, and Tarvek.

[HandofShadows]

It's still suspicious that Albia had to tamper with Gil's memories. She wouldn't need to do that if keeping a copy of Lucrezia was all she was after. I'm wondering if there's a second extra "improvement", like say, implanting patriotism towards England and removing any pesky attachments she may have to Mechanicsburg, Gil, and Tarvek.

The Baron overlay would have known if Albia had messed with Gil's mind. Well, he DID know what she had done.

[runeghost]

The Baron overlay would have known if Albia had messed with Gil's mind. Well, he DID know what she had done.

But the Baron overlay would view brainwashing Agatha to stay in England to be a net good.

And said Baron overlay is likely no longer available.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Looks like we just found this arc's installment of "Fust, Play Time!"

[Vinyadan]

They could have made another of Agatha's little sycophants, this time with the Baron's mind.

[Rogar Demonblud]

She was otherwise engaged at the time. And frankly, I'm tired of Klaus and sick of Lucrezia, so them being gone for the next ~500 pages is a delightful concept.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Actually, her expression seems a little ... Klaus-like. Much the same way that Gil looks slightly Klaus-like when the Baron's overlay is ascendant.

Or I'm reading too much into a single panel. It's just that it really doesn't look like Trelawney.

[Jimorian]

It's more that the character art always gets a little weird at full-on side profile. It's practically not even the same character model in most cases.

[Scarlet Knight]

She was otherwise engaged at the time. And frankly, I'm tired of Klaus and sick of Lucrezia, so them being gone for the next ~500 pages is a delightful concept.

Klaus kept getting interupted before he could lobotomize Othar...and it's been 15 years since... soooo, I figure Lucrezia & Agatha will be together for a bit.

[Squire Doodad]

Klaus kept getting interupted before he could lobotomize Othar...and it's been 15 years since... soooo, I figure Lucrezia & Agatha will be together for a bit.

I see Agatha being de-Lucreziasized (or the other way around MUHUHAHAHAHA) by the end of this story arc. Odds are it'll be dealt with by the end of this year at the latest, assuming a standard update schedule.

Honestly, as important and useful as a role Agatha-Lucrezia has played, I'm glad to see her leave. We've had enough instances of her breaking out and doing things that she gets like one more instance of doing so (preferably this one) before we move back to Lucrezia Lucrezia being the main threat. Or perhaps some other person is the antagonist. The point is, Agatha-Lucrezia has had a good run but its time to retire her.

[Jimorian]

I kinda wonder if it's partly that the Foglio's have fell out of love with the plot device of some kind of mental control, particularly when it's affecting the agency of the protagonists. Something that seems like a real threat and danger when its introduced, becomes an uncomfortable overhead item once it's generally solved enough to move forward, particularly if the payoff of it triggering again isn't as dramatic as other threats that are building (while again sidelining at least one of the protagonists in the process).

Klaus' wasping at least has that whole "Lucrezia gains control of the most powerful empire" thing going for it when the Mechanicsburg issue is solved.

[Ellen]

If Albia gets a download of Lucrezia, will she be able to look through it and show us plot pertinent stuff? Meaning, will we finally see what happened to turn Lucrezia into the Other? And maybe learn a bit about time travel while we're at it?

Assuming the download has time traveled and that's not something that she has yet to do. Maybe she's going to steal Agatha's time travel device once she invents it?

Makes me wonder how many problems in Europa's history she's responsible for. . . .

[Ailurus]

If the download is successful I see no reason why Albia wouldn't be able to sift through Lucrezia's mind (at least as much as is in the download) at her leisure. Not only has she essentially done a similar thing with the memory-well of herself, but even Zola was able to pull data out of the Lucrezia-copy that got stuck in her neural trap. The only catch is it becomes a question of how much the copy actually knows.

[Traab]

Im getting nervous. Im starting to think lucrezia is already in charge and she is carefully playing along trying to figure out what to do here. Also that it might cause issues if she starts off being the in charge personality rather than agatha. It doesnt help that she is working on the machine as well.

[Vinyadan]

If the download is successful I see no reason why Albia wouldn't be able to sift through Lucrezia's mind (at least as much as is in the download) at her leisure. Not only has she essentially done a similar thing with the memory-well of herself, but even Zola was able to pull data out of the Lucrezia-copy that got stuck in her neural trap. The only catch is it becomes a question of how much the copy actually knows.

Albia described Lucrezia's mind as fractured. http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comi...6#.XUrSKXvOOUk Mazbe she wants to take a look at it and find out the reason.

[xroads]

It doesnt help that she is working on the machine as well.

I agree. Hopefully at least one of the other sparks in the room is watching Agatha as she makes adjustments. That may be what Trelawney is doing. Or possibly Hadrian, since we haven't seen him in awhile.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Two months, exactly. and we haven't seen the fish guy since the 1st of July.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Im getting nervous. Im starting to think lucrezia is already in charge and she is carefully playing along trying to figure out what to do here. Also that it might cause issues if she starts off being the in charge personality rather than agatha. It doesnt help that she is working on the machine as well.

The thing is, Tarvek is working on it as well. The member of the group who is really, really good at misdirection. And has been known to spot when Lucrezia is gaining influence.

[Scarlet Knight]

Is this where Tarvek double-crosses Agatha for Lucrezia again? Nooo, too early... too many witnesses.

Oh, and besides Rakethorn, where is Trog & the Boilergeist?

[Rogar Demonblud]

We haven't seen Trog since 7-1, and I don't know about the Ghast. He just disappeared once the machines were broken.

[geoduck]

For the record.. Kaja or someone updated the "Jump To A Scene" dropdown menu on the GG website, and one of the entries gives Mr. Purple Extradimensional Visitor a name: Karl Thotep.

[sherlock]

Im getting nervous. Im starting to think lucrezia is already in charge and she is carefully playing along trying to figure out what to do here. Also that it might cause issues if she starts off being the in charge personality rather than agatha. It doesnt help that she is working on the machine as well.

I agree with you. Agatha's expression in last panel in http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php#.XUuyVXtS9hE is suspiciously Lucrezia-style.
I went back a few pages and I suspect the switch happened here: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comi...4#.XUu2cntS9hE

We were led to think that "Argh" was a shout of exasperation about having to work with Martellus ... but now I think it that was the moment the switch happened.
Of course this would give a second and very different meaning to what Agatha/Lu says immediately after.
When she speaks about working with people she'd want dead, she's not talking about Martellus but about Agatha's companions.

Tarvek is the hope. He had two hints.
Taking him by the arm in a "flirting" way with a small note of enthusiasm about the Sturmvoraus family.
Her reaction with Gil, again flirting with a "I want to hear all of it". Agatha probably would have been speechless just like Gil.

If so, maybe he's already warning Gil and working on his next move.

If the machinery has the aim to get rid of the "background" personality leaving only the one currently in charge, Lucrezia wants to go on to finally get rid of Agatha.
Tarvek and Gil might subtly switch things, so that the current "foreground" personality is wiped instead.

[memnarch]

If it was up to me, I'd pull both personalities out into their own containers, then straighten out who is who after that.

[JavaScribe]

If it was up to me, I'd pull both personalities out into their own containers, then straighten out who is who after that.

Agatha's body is a container. Just need to add some restraints.

[memnarch]

Agatha's body is a container. Just need to add some restraints.

Bah! If you get the wrong personality, then you gotta go to the work of putting it back and grabbing the right one! And a separate container from the body would be much more effective set of restraints; definitely less prone to friendly fire too.

[Vinyadan]

If it was up to me, I'd pull both personalities out into their own containers, then straighten out who is who after that.

Right, give the two minds to a couple of mice and place them into a maze with a piece of cheese. The mouse that builds a dead ray is Agatha. The dead mouse is Lucrezia, but she's actually already transferred her mind into the cheese.