Way to go, Agatha! (Girl Genius)

Cafe Society
1

I’m sure I’m not the only Girl Genius fan around here. And I simply must commend Agatha for her decision in the last panel of today’s strip. Gil always was the better suitor for her, and it’s about time she starts recognizing that, and giving him a proper hero’s sendoff. And is this the first time they’ve actually kissed?

What’s perhaps even more interesting is that that cad Tarvek is actually encouraging her. It just might be possible that he’s genuinely fallen in love with her, and actually wants to see the best for her.

Of course, he’s also about to spend some time with her in the castle, (relatively) alone, which I’m sure he doesn’t regret. Still, he’s going to get that anyway; he didn’t need to nudge Agatha towards Gil, first.

2

Awww.
:frowning:

I thought this was going to be about Super Awesome Sylvia.

3

Yeah, seeing finally her go for Gil like that was satisfying; she’s been in denial about it way too long. When even the psycho Castle AI is in better touch with your romantic feelings than you are it’s perhaps time to loosen up.

4

I almost stood up and applauded when I saw that last panel :slight_smile:

Yeah, it’s about time.

5

Do we finally get a thread now, like those OOTS guys? :smiley:

To recap though - what’s the way out here? Even if they could get the castle working again, what could it do? Sure the castle chased the pink dirigible away, but Wulfenbach is something else.

6

Agatha’s already successfully used the castle defences to drive off Castle Wulfenbach. It’s pretty heavily implied that the only reason Castle Wulfenbach survived was that Agatha specifically ordered Castle Heterodyne not to kill anyone, just to force them out of Mechanicsburg airspace.

7

I distrust the rumors of the Baron’s demise. Off stage? But we do need to get Gil out of the castle and confronting his father’s forces (unless this is a plot by the Baron to get his son out of the danger zone so he can level the Castle once and for all).

Oh, and yes, it is well past time the Agatha admitted that Gil is the right one for her. Tarvek admires her but basically sees marriage to the Heterodyne as a political move, Gil is her soulmate.

8

Oh, no doubt. There’s no way Foglio introduced that whole bit about Klaus being infected by a slaver wasp without having it pay off at some point. Which would be tough to do if the Baron is taking a dirt nap.

Mind, being killed is often only a temporary setback for a spark, so there’s a non-zero chance that the rumors of Klaus’s demise are not exaggerated.

9

Well, the castle expects that she’s going to keep both of them around as consorts/sex slaves, that being apparently more typical of the historical Heterodyne style.

10

Nope. It’s been quite a while, though.

11

Ah, but for Tarvek’s plans to work out completely, Gil has to be successful. So anything that will increase Gil’s likelihood of success is working in Tarvek’s favor. A little encouragement from Agatha isn’t a commitment from Agatha. Possibilities are still open. One step at a time.

The plot keeps getting more involved and I’m still waiting to see when Agatha and Gill go time traveling. Sigh.

12

Wait, what? What plans? I must say I’ve already forgotten some of the scheming (they take really long at scheming!) but all I remember is Tarvek wanting to challenge the Baron. Does he have a plan?

13

There are actually quite a few long-standing unresolved threads. Like, the revivification of Princess Zulenna, who was just starting to be an interesting character at that point. Or where the Heterodyne Boys went, or where Klaus went. Or all the way back to page 3, the scary lady in the weird electromagnetic manifestation (which does resemble the time-traveling manifestations, but I don’t think we’ve seen the lady in question).

Actually, the plot as a whole is kind of stagnating, though the Foglios are good enough storytellers that they’re not really making it noticeable. Book 1, we introduce the main characters, and Agatha’s goal is to pass her classes. Book 2, we go to Castle Wulfenbach, and Agatha’s goal is to fit in on the Castle and to find her parents. Book 3, Agatha realizes she’s a Spark, escapes from Castle Wulfenbach, and “Lilith” tells her to go to Castle Heterodyne in Mechanicsburg. Book 4, Agatha meets up with the circus, and heads with them in the general direction of Mechanicsburg. Book 5, we reach Sturmvoraus territory, Agatha is captured, and the Wulfenbachs find out she’s still alive. Book 6, we have the (temporary) resolution of the situation in Sturmvoraus lands. Book 7, Agatha enters Mechanicsburg, and makes a splash. Book 8, she goes into the castle, and starts repairing it. Book 8, Agatha is repairing the castle, in preparation for everyone attacking. Book 9, Agatha is repairing the castle, in preparation for everyone attacking. Book 10, Agatha is repairing the castle, in preparation for everyone attacking. Book 11, Agatha is repairing the castle, in preparation for everyone attacking. And we’re almost to Book 12.

Up until Der Kestel, we haven’t spent more than a book or two in any single setting, but now we’ve had 4 books, going on 5, all in the same space, with basically the same pressing issue.

14

The scary lady is amazingly similar to the dragon in the storybook. We’ve seen her. A few times. At once.

15

Are you suggesting that the scary lady is

Lucrezia, in the body of the Muse?

If so, very interesting. I’d never considered that one before.

16

The pacing is definitely getting bad. The friend I usually talked to about GG stopped reading for that reason.

I suspect that regaining the castle is just such an important part of the storyline, as it hands Agatha so much in the way of power and resources, that the Foglios want to make the readers feel like she bloody well earned it.

17

There’s some speculation as to that…the Baron had an affair with Lucrezia Mongfish before she married Bill. When things were fading between them and heating up with her and Bill, she drugged Klaus and sent him somewhere very remote.

Some people think that place was Skandifer. Some people think he produced more than just Gil there, too…

18

There are enough copies of her roaming around that I expect half the clanks and 3/4 of the living characters to be her…

19

OMG, I haven’t read Girl Genius in quite a while, I need to go back to where I stopped and get back into the swing.

But nooo, don’t tell me Klaus is supposed to be dead. I know it’s sick of me to have a yen for him, but most of the other guys are way too young.

20

Up until Mechanicsberg, the story only followed Agatha. If a character wasn’t around her, we generally didn’t see much of them, beyond an occasional ~2 page cutaway. Since arriving in Mechanicsberg, we’ve started following Agatha, Gil, and Klaus with more or less equal focus (a bit less Klaus than the other two). That’s done a lot to drag out this portion of the story.

(Although it still feels like it’s moving more quickly than the whole Sturmovorous/Knight of Jove storyline.)