Gunnerkrigg Court

Yeah. He's mispronouncing it a bit, but that's as close as he can probably manage.

Note how the queen of the forest sees the Court as a term that doesn't include her divine self.

"Show us the Galaxy Warp."

To be fair, she does kind of just live there.

Kat and Annie exemplify the best of bith sides of magic and tech but could easily fall to the worst as well.

Seriously though, are the Hazmat guys doing some sort of tribal dance around the fire box? What exactly is going on back there?

It almost looked like they were celebrating...maybe they were really bored.

They didn't have the square speech boxes, so probably not robots. Also, Tony definitely does realize that what he did was shitty. Like, there was an entire chapter about it.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

I'm going to assume the party is also standard decontamination procedure.

Moon◊

Maybe it's Ritualistic, this is stuff from a magic forest so maybe they figure a ritualistic dance will help them.

These petals shall be chemically analyzed by their best men, who have no appreciation for cultural or spiritual factors.

"Show us the Galaxy Warp."

Well Ysengrin did actually, but I suppose it's not much different.

You don't know, it might be a recipe for a really intoxicating fruit drink. The thing with Coyote is that although he's nominally on the side of the Wood he bears little or no dislike for the Court. Actually, the fruit drink would suit Coyote's personality well to my mind.

Also fairy Snuffle is unimpressed by the grand architecture of the court.

edited 27th Apr '16 12:44:56 AM by MattII

I say it can't be good because, while he's not been shown to be totally evil, he's nowhere near benevolent. That falls more to the creatures around him. And if the laws of fiction dictate anything, it's that when you portray a character doing something malevolent there are either two ways to see it. A misunderstanding or that character is not exactly a good guy.

Though I will admit Tom has played with our perceptions, it's kind of hard not to be suspicious of Coyote, especially when a temper tantrum involves destruction of others' property, or his tendency to eat Ysergin's memories.

Though the intoxicating fruit is also entirely likely.

Well, Coyote might be neutral or even positive towards the Court... but what Coyote thinks is best for the Court, what the Court actually wants, and what actually is best for the Court are completely different things in quite a few cases.

Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

Note that the magic hair is shown in front of the far ear (in panel 1) and always behind the near ear. (all panels)

"Show us the Galaxy Warp."

I'd say that Coyote never does anything truly evil. Oh he gets close sometimes (like that bit with his 'big secret', or stealing Ysengrin's memories), but I don't think he's ever caused a death from it.

The thing with Coyote is that he's virtually the deity of Chaotic Neutral.

I consider slowly and methodically destroying someone's mind for shits and giggles pretty evil myself.

I think the thing is that both are gray, the forest is more natural but it's driven entirely by emotion, meanwhile the Court tries to be rational but is ultimately still emotional, and both do cruel things for emotional reasons. The main difference is that Coyote is a free spirit/crazy and the cruelty of the forest in general is just the way of life, while the Court thinks itself rational and above such things. (There might also be a "they do cruel things because they are rational" aspect to it, but I personally reject that notion. It should change how they are cruel, but not why.)

edited 27th Apr '16 9:41:17 PM by Fawriel

I am honestly growing more and more tired of the increasing attempts to paint the Court as pure evil for little reason. Coyote KNOCKED OVER A BUILDING and Annie is fretting about people in Hazmat suits. FFS.

Being annoyed by guys in hazmat suits doesn't scream "These guys are pure evil!" to me. And Coyote knocking over a building wasn't portrayed as a good thing. I think part of the problem is that with the Court so many of their motivations are shrouded in mystery. If we got more information maybe we could see why they decided to kill a woman and her lover/blackmail a girl's father/create this rather shady school in the first place. At least with Coyote his motives seem to be plainly visible. Knocking over the building was wrong, but we understand why. Or say Tony. Most disagree with his method, but we understand his reasoning. With the Court there is nothing like that.

Writer, or something. And... a button? 🖲️

Everyone around Annie is more aware of the good side of the court but Annie is our viewpoint character. Thus she sees the Court as evil.

I don't know; I always thought that the strip was pretty solid at showing that the Gillitie-Gunnerkrigg standoff was a case of Grey Versus Grey Morality. Like, it's pretty obvious that Annie is favoring the Wood over the Court as time goes on, but there's lots of stuff in the background and the like that indicate that the students are the closest we have to good guys in the scenario, and Annie at the very least has always been a bit grey in her morality too.

Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

Neither side is innocent basically, we just don't know a lot about their motives.

edited 28th Apr '16 10:16:29 AM by EchoingSilence

I maintain that the story, perhaps only due to Annie being the viewpoint character (I have to give Tom credit), as by and large presented the Forest as significantly more sympathetic. Aside from Coyote and like, one monster, there's been little to nothing to explore the angle of the Forest dealing with nature's cruelty, savagery and indifference towards civilized life. Hell, remember when Smitty did his thing with helping the various Forest denizens? That was practically out of a Disney flick.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

Haven't there been of the forest who tried to kill Annie? Until she revealed her firey nature?

Much less of the story has taken place in Gillitie; we've had less opportunity to see how things can go badly there. Even with that, we've had Coyote threaten to snap off Annie's hand for shits 'n giggles, two instances of Ysengrin going on a rampage (or about to) due to what amounts to bad timing, and the whole incident that was capped off with the fake Seed Bismuth. And even that is glossing over the "Coyote knocked over a building in a fit of pique because Annie got a haircut and wasn't allowed back into the forest" issue. For as little time comparatively that the Wood has seen focus, there's been a generous amount to show that nature is red in tooth and claw; Annie's just been spared the worst of it.

For that matter, for all the hints otherwise, she's been spared the worst of the Court as well. She's just had more chance to see those who weren't so spared, like Jeanne.

Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.