Girl Genius XXXII: The scientific method at work!

[TeChameleon]

I'm... not even entirely sure why, but I'm weirdly amused that the Dreen turned back into the form we're used to seeing them in once they left the light of Prende's Lantern.

And bickering precognitives are always funny.

[Traab]

On the one hand we have learned a bit about the dreen, namely that prendes lantern changes how they appear to us meaning their appearance is based on some form of timey whimey strangeness. on the other, I agree, they just instantly went from mysterious super powerful beings to office workers with odd speech styles lounging in the break room. Which kind of sucks. Not everything has to be comedic.

[Shining Wrath]

The appearance changing when in the light of the lantern is interesting.

We're collectively having a "Toto pulls aside the curtain and we see the real Wizard of Oz" moment. Creatures of vast power and unknown nature and intent are now revealed as homely creatures who like shortbread and bicker among themselves. Assuming the Foglios know their business, the payoff in terms of story advancement ought to be immense. These 3 are not just going to hang out in the break room. Something may go wrong with Agatha's efforts to free Mechanicsburg and these 3 will provide the solution - Dreen ex Machina.

[Agi Hammerthief]

Dreen ex Machina.

They have been around so long, it’s more like a Chekhov's Dreen.

[geoduck]

On the one hand we have learned a bit about the dreen, namely that prendes lantern changes how they appear to us meaning their appearance is based on some form of timey whimey strangeness. on the other, I agree, they just instantly went from mysterious super powerful beings to office workers with odd speech styles lounging in the break room. Which kind of sucks. Not everything has to be comedic.

Yeah, disappointing. And I bet something similar happens with the larger Eldritch Abomination as well when the time comes. My prediction: it's actually Vapnoople.

[Epinephrine_Syn]

On the one hand we have learned a bit about the dreen, namely that prendes lantern changes how they appear to us meaning their appearance is based on some form of timey whimey strangeness. on the other, I agree, they just instantly went from mysterious super powerful beings to office workers with odd speech styles lounging in the break room. Which kind of sucks. Not everything has to be comedic.

I'll be honest, when they were revealed I felt a lot of that mystique lost, but the part where they start lounging casually in this comic a good chunk of it I felt they grabbed back. Specifically the fact that they're in the room with some of the most powerful people on the planet and are treating this legitimately as if the main cast were bugs to be ignored. Imagine if aliens just spontaneously walked into the oval office of the USA, confirmed that yes this was the president, no-sold the center of a nuclear detonation, and then sat in the corner talking and referring to business that may-or-may-not involve mortal harm to said president.

[Radar]

I'll be honest, when they were revealed I felt a lot of that mystique lost, but the part where they start lounging casually in this comic a good chunk of it I felt they grabbed back. Specifically the fact that they're in the room with some of the most powerful people on the planet and are treating this legitimately as if the main cast were bugs to be ignored. Imagine if aliens just spontaneously walked into the oval office of the USA, confirmed that yes this was the president, no-sold the center of a nuclear detonation, and then sat in the corner talking and referring to business that may-or-may-not involve mortal harm to said president.

And request a pot of coffee, twelve Jammie Dodgers and a fez.

[Agi Hammerthief]

And request a pot of coffee, twelve Jammie Dodgers and a fez.

and all they get are a few maps.

[Anonymouswizard]

And request a pot of coffee, twelve Jammie Dodgers and a fez.

'We can do some tea, a bag of jelly babies, and a fedora'

[Traab]

'We can do some tea, a bag of jelly babies, and a fedora'

If I offer a scarf can I get some fishfingers and custard?

[Anonymouswizard]

If I offer a scarf can I get some fishfingers and custard?

No, but here's a bowtie.

[Manga Shoggoth]

No, but here's a bowtie.

Does it spin?

[HeeJay]

This discussion is fantastic, absolutely fantastic.

Can't wait for the part where Agatha declares the laws of time are hers, and they will obey her.

[Radar]

This discussion is fantastic, absolutely fantastic.

Can't wait for the part where Agatha declares the laws of time are hers, and they will obey her.

You think she will proclaim herself the Heterodyne Victorious?

[DavidSh]

The Chosen One.

Spoiler: hmm

Show

But wait, that's not her. A bit of a fake-out

.

[Radar]

The Chosen One.

Spoiler: hmm

Show

But wait, that's not her. A bit of a fake-out

.

In this case the phrase is most likely used without any weight behind it: someone has to talk to her and nobody really wants to, so I take any excuse I have to designate you for the job.

I remember how at the first year at my university we picked head of our year (one student to talk with lecturers about test schedules and other organizational issues): during a break one guy stood up and said that we have to appoint someone. The whole year simply started applauding.

[Anonymouswizard]

It's good to see Sparks practicing the fundamentals of science.

[MDR]

Yeah, disappointing. And I bet something similar happens with the larger Eldritch Abomination as well when the time comes. My prediction: it's actually Vapnoople.

I agree, this has been very disappointing. I understand it would be hard to make everybody happy with a big reveal like "what do the Dreen actually look like", but this was just bad, imo. They look goofy, and they talk like office plumbers/mechanics that have worked too much overtime and just want to get their job done and go home (which may be the case, who knows?).

I'm expecting some sort of 'this is how your puny minds perceive us' type explanation to be coming soon.

[Anonymouswizard]

Honestly I'd have preferred if we'd just ended up with goofy extradimensional beekeepers. They're clearly much, much more in-sync with the world than Kjarl was, so I don't get why they're were turned into blue humans. They could easily have been made silly without adding a second look!

Although for all I know it turns out that the Green are actually Jägers from the year 3587, and the ones which caused a previous Heterodyne to have pie were future dingbots.

[TeChameleon]

Huh.

I guess I'm odd, because I don't mind that the mysterious, fearsome Dreen are suddenly just tired tradies, new look or not. I suspect that the new look is mostly because we need some way to differentiate the three Dreen (so there's at least one there that didn't work for Klaus, if the novels are to be believed... or at least haven't been retconned).

And I kind of love that Agatha maintains her scientific curiousity, and is applying the most basic of all scientific tests, the 'does this happen every time?' with the sceptre.

[Ailurus]

Huh.
(so there's at least one there that didn't work for Klaus, if the novels are to be believed... or at least haven't been retconned).

One Dreen not working for Klaus is confirmed in-comic. There was a Dreen released from the vaults in Saint Spazc who later appears to Gil and Bang confirms it's not one that works for Klaus.

There were three Dreen seen in the Robur Heterodyne flashback. Back at the very beginning of the strip, there are two Dreen seen fighting the Wasps on Castle Wulfenbach and when Gil is talking with Thotep he confirms that two Dreen met and worked for his father.

So I think it's safe to say that when Klaus returned from Skifander one Dreen stayed with Robur's device in the Corbettite Vault while the other two met with and worked with Klaus. After the battle at Saint Spazc, the third Dreen met up with Gil and rejoined the other two, and now we have a group of 3 Dreen traveling around.

[Manga Shoggoth]

One Dreen not working for Klaus is confirmed in-comic. There was a Dreen released from the vaults in Saint Spazc who later appears to Gil and Bang confirms it's not one that works for Klaus.

There were three Dreen seen in the Robur Heterodyne flashback. Back at the very beginning of the strip, there are two Dreen seen fighting the Wasps on Castle Wulfenbach and when Gil is talking with Thotep he confirms that two Dreen met and worked for his father.

So I think it's safe to say that when Klaus returned from Skifander one Dreen stayed with Robur's device in the Corbettite Vault while the other two met with and worked with Klaus. After the battle at Saint Spazc, the third Dreen met up with Gil and rejoined the other two, and now we have a group of 3 Dreen traveling around.

There are more Dreen than that - When talking to Kjarl, Gil says "the ones in their crypts" - we only see one (or possibly see two, but falsly assume that they are the same Dreen), so there's at least two with the Corbettites.

[Shining Wrath]

Apropos not much, I think the Corbettites deserve their own side-story. The amount of power required to imprison Dreen is probably not trivial, along with The Beast and all the other things they had in their vaults. It'd be interesting to know what their internal politics look like.

[Radar]

It's good to see Sparks practicing the fundamentals of science.

Yup! Poking things with a stick is how we do it.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Apropos not much, I think the Corbettites deserve their own side-story. The amount of power required to imprison Dreen is probably not trivial, along with The Beast and all the other things they had in their vaults. It'd be interesting to know what their internal politics look like.

Who said they were imprisoned?

The Dreen doesn't look to be imprisoned in its first appearance, and there's no mad panic about an escaped and hostile Dreen there.

It's second appearance (at least, I assume it's the same one...) has the Abbot looking worried, but there's no "My God, It's escaped" scene.

[Divayth Fyr]

Who said they were imprisoned?

The Dreen doesn't look to be imprisoned in its first appearance, and there's no mad panic about an escaped and hostile Dreen there.

It's second appearance (at least, I assume it's the same one...) has the Abbot looking worried, but there's no "My God, It's escaped" scene.

I mean, who wouldn't be worried when a Dreen pops up?

We also have a flashback of the Dreen leaving Mechanicsburg with the Corbetites, don't really look like prisoners there, just following the wagon with whatever was the device Robur built.

[Rodin]

Who said they were imprisoned?

The Dreen doesn't look to be imprisoned in its first appearance, and there's no mad panic about an escaped and hostile Dreen there.

It's second appearance (at least, I assume it's the same one...) has the Abbot looking worried, but there's no "My God, It's escaped" scene.

The implication is certainly that it was imprisoned, even if it's not said outright. Brother Ulm is saying "nothing really deadly seems to have escaped", and the dramatic irony over to the right (so you see it after reading the dialogue) is the Dreen watching them from hiding.

Dreen being Dreen, my thought is that the the Corbetites did imprison it...but it could have escaped any time it wanted to. It knew that eventually the prison would be opened at the exact time it needed to go deliver a prophetic nudge to Gil.

[Mobius Twist]

The pith-helmet analogue makes me think of safari big-game hunters. The thing that Klaus would supposedly do for the Dreen that led to their service sure seems like the "bait your reality with enough tasty things that a giant time beasty comes running" level of favor.

Spoiler: huh, monday comic

Show

I was just spitballing, but I guess it fit well enough. Crazy.

[Kardwill]

There are more Dreen than that - When talking to Kjarl, Gil says "the ones in their crypts" - we only see one (or possibly see two, but falsly assume that they are the same Dreen), so there's at least two with the Corbettites.

It could be the same. I don't think the Corbettite look often at the crazy dangerous stuff locked in their vaults. They could simply have locked the Time Machine's vault with the Dreen standing inside, and assumed that they were still here because they didn't notice/understand how two of them got out 20 years ago.

We see only one dreen following Agatha during the Corbettite sequence.

By the way, do we know what lady Selnikov wanted from the vaults? It's one of the (many) story bits that are unclear to me.
(Of course, the Doylist reason is probably "To put the entire Corbettite story in motion", but did we get a Watsonian explanation yet?)

[Ailurus]

Spoiler: huh, monday comic

Show

I was just spitballing, but I guess it fit well enough. Crazy.

Spoiler: Monday comic

Show

I think you called it. I don't see Space-time cops/repairmen calling "freezing time and summoning a big beasty" a service, and they also need Agatha's help to get to HEBT1 . But, if they are indeed Space-time big game hunters here to bag an HEBT1 then they'd call it a service and it would also be an explanation for the chuckling.