Gunnerkrigg Court

[Moo]

A bit disappointed by the fat joke, but I guess sort of saved by the lighthearted reply?

[Zohar]

I didn't read it as fat, but as the word she uses for "big". She is much heavier than before (probably).

[kiniget]

It feels like Annie is still trying to work out just who, and what, she is. Good thing she has people like Ysengrin to help her out.

[Zohar]

That was a surprising episode. Tom is such a (lovable) troll sometimes. Also, City Face in Questionable Content!

[Zohar]

Double post for AHHH IT'S SO ADORBS!!

[ameretrifle]

That reminds me, an interview showed up in my feeds today.

[Grop]

Ah ah today's first comment was an Akira reference.

[kiniget]

so...this is a thing

I can't help but feel that this project of Kat's is going to end up being extremely significant, quite possibly further explaining why the robots call her "Angel"

or perhaps that's just because of the way she looks to Zimmy

in any case, we are meddling with forces we don't understand here, and sooner or later something's gotta give

...forgive me for I am rambling

[kiniget]

Annie is having fun with her friends and things are happy and light and I am dying

I have the feeling that this whole chapter is just a breather episode before shit gets real again

[Zohar]

I just love how Annie, Andrew, and Parley are such good friends. Especially considering how much the court has been screwing with Annie and pitting her against the two of them.

[doogly]

A warrior's drink!

[Zohar]

I lol'd at the last panel

[ameretrifle]

[Good gravy] I love this new page.

Not to just delight in ragging on Carver. I know I've done it before. With some more distance from it and it being clear that other characters see his flaws, it's easier to feel sorry for the guy. His seemingly unerring ability to find the worst possible approach to any problem is definitely tragic, but it's also within his ability to at least attempt to mitigate, and the collateral damage is only piling higher. Anyway, this page is [absolutely delightful] regardless.

[Zohar]

I'm really engaged in what's going on right now. I'm not entirely sure what that is, but it's engaging. Seems like the people at the Gunnerkrigg forums have some ideas, but I haven't read those threads thoroughly enough.

[doogly]

yes this is so great. it is all so great.

[kiniget]

I just got caught up again and holy shit are we in for it now

we're close to resolving one of the biggest long-running mysteries in this comic and I can barely contain my excitement

[raudorn]

I just hope it actually get resolved this time and not reshelved until a later time again. Annie already hit another snag, it seems.

[Zohar]

This whole storyline is very anxiety-inducing. I keep wanting to see the next page while also being worried about what will be there.

[doogly]

This is just so good.

[Zohar]

It's kind of amazing how well they prepared for this. I suppose we'll have to see how it ends before I can say that confidently...

[Mambrino]

At this point I'd like to remind that after Chapter 59 concluded with a thrilling cliff-hanger, we had once again our two-weeks-worth of Awesome Cool Pigeons, and we are now back with Chapter 60. With webcomics and other serial fiction it's always hard to tell, but this might actually be a third act of the whole story, or at last one of the main subplots.

[Zohar]

Well that's quite a revelation...
(chapter 60, p 4)

Spoiler:

Did we know the Aether looks different for different people?

[Katsuray]

yes this is so great. it is all so great.

I agree.

Zohar:

Spoiler:

I'm not certain its been directly mentioned, but there has been a hint.

[PeteP]

Or at least that Kat sees it entirely differently I remember nothing that indicates that it differs for others.

[Yakk]

I wouldn't call that a hint.

Spoiler:

Both Kat's (current) etheric appearance and her unusual perception of the Ether has been shown before.

The etheric appearance in the cruise-boat plot, and her perception of the Ether when they helped Mort leave.

Much of the Ether is a "show", which the Ether makes "real". Kat appears to see through the "show" and gets ridiculously simple analogies of what is going on "under it".

Super-spoiler-riffic:

Spoiler:

There is some evidence that Kat is/was/will be a robot-god, as the Ether does not obey linear time (the footprint created by human belief before humans existed). That robotic monster may reflect that fact.

This relies on the fact that Robots can influence the Ether like humans can; they worship Kat, and hence warp her Etheric reality into a diety.

And into wild speculation:

Spoiler:

The Robots influencing the Ether being part of the Gunnerkigg court experiment of using machines to control the Ether; so they can harness it and make mankind into gods, as Coyote so helpfully explained when Annie asked what Gunnerkigg court is about, then passed it off as a joke.

[Zohar]

Re: today's page (chapter 61)

Spoiler:

Red telling it like it is! Annie not realizing what sort of leverage she was employing on Ayilu is shitty. I can't say that I blame her as much for what happened to Andrew, and the risks everyone else was taking. I think they knew the risks involved, and she didn't make an unfair deal with them as she did with Ayilu. Also Andrew and Parley are arguably working in an official capacity.

I love that Red so quickly shifts from a playful sort of mood to "shit's serious now". It's very much in-character, and it's admirable that she's able to enjoy the moment while keeping sight of the big picture.

[doogly]

layin it on thicker though, I'd give Annie a break here. especially about Smitty - she left him there to talk with the dudes who could 100% save his life, who knows what doctors are up to.

just cause red needs to get out of the kitchen doesn't make it the kitchen's fault.

[Zohar]

Yeah I agree. I wonder what direction the comic will go to now. Looks like there's going to be some Coyote shenanigans, but one of the biggest plot points has been resolved.

[ameretrifle]

Spoiler:

Plus, she's kind of talking about how Annie screwed Ayilu while Ayilu is right there. She's got what she wanted; she could speak for herself now too; but Red is too busy speaking for her. And that's because Ayilu doesn't actually seem to give a fuck. Maybe she will; maybe she should; but she doesn't right now. It just feels kind of patronizing. And of course it's deflection too; Red would rather think about everyone else's fuckups right now than her feelings. And I don't know that just because Annie gave A something that is easy and low-value to her in exchange for something super dangerous from A, means it was a bad or exploitative deal. If this were the only chance A would've had to get a name, then yes! That would be shady as fuck! But as far as we've heard, this was just an early chance, a shortcut. If A values that enough to do something dangerous, doesn't she have that right? She has the right to have her own values and make her own decisions, even if others don't agree with them or with her priorities. Like why I think women should have the right to serve equally in the US military, despite personally thinking that joining the US military is often a dubious decision on several fronts. People should have the right to make decisions for themselves that I disagree with. And yes, when the system is rigged and decisions are constrained, there is broader culpability, and maybe the Court system of rationing out names is like that; it's hard to tell, we don't have any context for what the system is or who created it or why. Still, saying she was just used seems a little infantalizing. I'm just reminded of the whole Manhattan for beads meme, where the popular idea is that natives traded away something huge for something stupid, but the real problem (if I have it right) wasn't that it was inherently a stupid deal on the face of it, but that it was actually a total lie and the Europeans proceeded to swindle and screw them over at every opportunity. I dunno.

Man, reading this comic is kind of stressful sometimes...

[Zohar]

Here's why I think this was problematic:

Spoiler:

Annie didn't realize a name is such a big thing. She didn't try to swindle Ayilu, but she didn't understand her culture well enough, and didn't bother to investigate deeply enough about what it means. Annie knew she was asking Ayilu to do something dangerous, but she didn't know how much her offer skewed her judgement. Of course Ayilu can make that judgement on her own! But Annie didn't realize how much she was pressuring Ayilu into cooperating by offering her a name.

As I said before, I think Annie's understanding of the other people who helped her is greater and she understood more fully why people were cooperating. Like, saving Jeanne has always been a common goal for both Annie and Kat, and talking with the guides to save Andrew made a lot of sense.

[Moo]

Red makes many valid points but one that I don't think is valid (but maybe Red can't know that) is

Spoiler:

that it wouldn't have helped to let Parley teleport Andrew to a doctor; if the spirit guides were there he was already as good as dead... right?

Anyway loving the way Tom suddenly jarred me out of the Annie-as-good-guy-POV with almost as much force as Annie was jarred herself by the outburst. Red's parting comment is of course utterly unfair* but also loved the way she didn't hesitate to call Annie on her shit.

*edit: It seems Tom agrees?

Spoiler:

http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1806

gunnerkrigg fairies jerks.PNG (5.21 KiB) Viewed 6464 times

[The Great Hippo]

Spoiler:

Plus, she's kind of talking about how Annie screwed Ayilu while Ayilu is right there. She's got what she wanted; she could speak for herself now too; but Red is too busy speaking for her. And that's because Ayilu doesn't actually seem to give a fuck. Maybe she will; maybe she should; but she doesn't right now. It just feels kind of patronizing.

Spoiler:

Ayilu's body-language gave me a very strong sense of 'Oh! You're talking to her about that thing we discussed, now? Okay'. IE, to me, this felt very much like a conversation had happened between the two off-screen, and Ayilu was just letting Red deal with her friend. (I know Red said she hasn't told Ayilu that she loves her, but that doesn't mean she hasn't talked to her about "that fucked up thing Ann did")

There's also the fact that Ayilu scarcely knows Ann; she's Red's friend, not Ayilu's -- so that's her business. If my spouse had a good friend I scarcely knew, and my spouse one day told them they couldn't be friends anymore, and they didn't want them to even speak with me -- I would probably be okay with this, even if we hadn't spoken beforehand. I mean, I'm a guy, so different context, maybe... but if I have a strong relationship with you, I can trust you to tend your own relationships -- that includes throwing someone out of your world and mine, presuming I only have a relationship with them through you in the first place. Like, depending on the nature of our relationship, that's a power I can entrust you with; you can cut somebody out of my life if they're only in my life because they're your friend.

If I formed a relationship with them that expanded outside of that secondary relationship, it would be different. Similarly, I'd find it way more messed up if Ayilu and Ann knew each other in a context outside of Ayilu's relationship with Red.

[doogly]

http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1831

That did not occur to me AT ALL shit

[Zohar]

I didn't make the connection they didn't ask her mom for anything, but I did think they might have been manipulating her. I should read the comics from the start again, it's been a really long time and I've forgotten a lot. It seems like we're heading to the end (which is an obvious statement I suppose).

[doogly]

you shut your mouth this will not end

and yeah manipulative as heck

[DFrostedWang]

I didn't make the connection they didn't ask her mom for anything, but I did think they might have been manipulating her. I should read the comics from the start again, it's been a really long time and I've forgotten a lot. It seems like we're heading to the end (which is an obvious statement I suppose).

I just started this comic early Sunday morning and finished it early morning today, so most of this is fresh in my mind. It seems less like they are manipulating her (at least in any sinister way) and more like they want to be her guides or mentors, and have done this to bring her closer to them. In the end I doubt she will be going away to work exclusively for them, but may help out in certain situations.

I'm quite hopeful that we aren't nearing the end, there's so much more to wrap up and I've just fallen in love with this universe.

[Moo]

Oh man, this just breaks my heart
http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1857

"It's cool, Annie, your dad can be really funny and kind and I (who already have two loving parents) get to see it but you don't"
(not implying any animosity or wrong-doing from Kat)

[Zohar]

I'm glad she's bringing Kat's mom into this, I think she can offer a welcome perspective. I was also pretty shocked that Kat felt so comfortable with him...

[doogly]

Kat did also cut her hair recently. Highly suspicious.

[Zohar]

This arc with Surma is really something. Not sure what I think about it, or her. I suppose we don't have a lot of details on Surma's relationships with other people (kept vague for spoilery).