Girl Genius discussion OPEN SPOILERS

[thorny]

Is that an entire spare smaller airship on top of the upgraded one?

And did something go wrong during the transport, or is something going wrong as soon as they get there, or do those expressions just indicate the stress of the whole thing and the Heterodyne's exclamation only indicate startlement?

[thorny]

I guess it was the latter.

Next question: I wonder whether Albia's really that thrilled with Monahan having become a queen, or whether she's vehemently expressing friendship and offering mentorship because she has no strength at the moment if Monahan decided to fight her instead. It might be some of both, I suppose -- a combination of no strength to deal with a fight, and at least hoping that Monahan might be worth making a friend of.

She seemed to be trying, before the need for this expedition came up, to keep Agatha in England, though. I'd think Agatha would make a better sister-queen than Monahan; she's got proven loyalty, while Monahan has rather the reverse -- not that Lucrezia had given her much reason to be loyal, but still. Could Albia have gotten Agatha the rest of the way to being a Queen in England, or would Agatha need to get to her own Dyne to do that?

[Jitter]

There’s been talk of your flame, which makes me think each queen has her own source of power. Which in turn leads me to wonder how permanent Monahan’s transition is. She shared the flame with Lucrezia, and they both drew off it as much as possible. Could it be that Albia is just playing nice to get Monahan to come with her willingly, and when they are in England back to Albia’s flame and equally importantly away from Monahan’s, there will be consequences? I’m not sure how well Monahan understands the forces she’s playing with, based on how she tainted the waters.

Similarly I do think Agatha will need the Dyne, and to find or build a flame there.

[thorny]

I wonder whether that's the eventual end point of the story. It seems to me that it would be a very different comic with Agatha as a Queen. The amount of power discrepancy between her and her friends would become excessive.

At the rate things progress in this story, however, I'm not going to worry about it right now!

[wavewright62]

Maintaining queenship far from a flame also begs the question, does Monahan need to return to this place that no longer exists?  or will she create herself an island sanctuary at that remote spot?

[wavewright62]

The return of Humongulus!  Oh!  One of my favourite blink-'n'-you'll-miss-'em characters!  And I see, I see Humongulus lifting!  Yes, that is superior lifting!  *squeeeee*

[Róisín]

In the case of Agatha as a possible queen, I suspect that her basic nature is such that most of the time it would not be very obvious. Which could be a good thing. Wonder how the Jagers would take that? I would bet on the Dyne being such a wellspring of power. She wouldn’t even have to leave home.

And Humongulus is still a delight.

[thorny]

Hey!

Unsaddle your steed before leaving him for the night!

[Róisín]

I wonder…..could Lumi be Vanamonde von Mekkhan’s sister? Cousin? Wife? And do I correctly remember grandpa von Mekkhan, the old seneschal with the ports in his skull for communicating with the Castle, saying to Agatha, when first telling her his story, that he had intended to spend his retirement playing with his grandchildren - plural? Van was only a baby at the time. Is Lumi older or younger.

Also I am not at all sure that I trust either the cat or the ‘librarian’.

[thorny]

There's also the question about whether the cat and the librarian are, or should be, trusting each other.

I wonder if the cat might be keeping an eye on the librarian, not just assisting her. And I also wonder whether the cat knows that on her previous trips there were no other survivors. I very much doubt that the cat intends to be a red shirt.

I did like the cat deciding to take a nap on the dragon! Dragons are probably nice and warm to sleep on --

[Jitter]

Oh wow, is Humongulus a transformer or is that just him getting out of a cargo compartment significantly smaller than himself?

[thorny]

I couldn't tell either.

But looking it over, I'm inclined to 'transformer'; because I don't see bits of broken railroad car left over. -- was that the car they were all inside earlier? were they all inside Humongulus and didn't know it? That's kind of squunky, if so.


Hey, Franz -- you left both the cat and yourself out of your character list. (Of course, the dragon's usually assumed to be on the other side!)

(did we get the cat's name? I can't remember.)

[wavewright62]

I'm pretty sure Lumi is closely related to Vanamonde - a younger sister or cousin.  Her character design is fascinating - she does not look like the average resident of Mechanicsburg, who all seem to favour long sleeves and coats.  Also tough to tell whether Lumi refers to 'snow' as in her colouring, or short for a steampunk-ish name like Lumina or Illuminatia or something.

Now that we have a bona fide party, we can invoke the dictum, Don't Split the Party?

[Jitter]

I was sort of thinking the freelancer would be The Gentleman Adventurer, but no. Which reminds me that while this side story is ok, I was under the impression it would be a short detour. Doesn’t really look like it.

[thorny]

Yeah, it kind of seems to be a very long detour.

Interesting in its way; but . . .

On the other hand, they almost never miss a page entirely. Something always goes up. I suspect that I shouldn't grumble about what it is.

I just hope the cat eventually takes a bigger part in the story.