Girl Genius

@Schefflera

I agree. I'd like Tarvek in a more advisory role, a Lancer to someone else's Hero. And we don't really know Seffie's motivations or loyalties yet. She seems decent, but c'mon! The way her family is, there's gotta be more going on with her, and it could be all kinds of nasty. (Or not. You never know.)

One big clue would be to see her reaction upon learning that Tweedle messed with Agatha's body chemistry like he did. Sadly, it's not clear if he has in fact told her about that yet.

I have to admit, I kinda like the idea of Gil and Agatha having matching redheads. It's very tidy (a little too tidy); everyone can be friends and no one's left a third wheel with hurt feelings.

But at the same time, I would feel kinda bad for Gil... :D If nothing else, realizing he doesn't belong with Agatha seems like it would be a difficult journey.

I like Seffie overall; she's physically very cute, she's smart, she's funny, she's emotionally vulnerable... I don't know if she can be trusted... I don't know what motivates her or what she's capable of, though so far she just seems to be treading a careful line through her world, the way anyone would have to.

On the meta-level, no matter what the prevailing pairings may be, I remain seriously impressed that the Foglios can create so many compelling romantic rivals. Like, I'm almost certain it's Gil and Agatha in the end, and when they're together I am totally rooting for them... But at the same time, I'll be heartbroken for Tarvek, and awwwww Seffie... You actually like Gil...? They aren't just cardboard obstacles keeping boy from girl; they're real people with feelings and hopes. When Gil and Agatha do finally reach each other, it may be terribly bittersweet for them.

Or... Maybe... When all is revealed about the Sturmvarious, it'll be like, woah, we dodged a bullet there... Which is pretty impressive, too, really. I'm always up for a good emotional betrayal. :D

Well I still remit to what Tarvek said: the only way to keep the family in line was to kill them all and then bury them in a line.

I think he was forgetting how many of them are Sparks.

Nah, he's just aware that most of them don't like each other enough to revive.

Also worth speculating about: What is Seffie planning on doing behind her brother's back?

She's pretty clearly working at cross-purposes to Martellus. Outside the Fortress of Storms, it was unclear whether she was trying to insinuate herself with Agatha, as she said, or simply trying to distract Martellus, but functionally she helped Agatha escape everyone. She proposed marriage to Gil saying it would stop her brother. And now she's having her smoke knight interfere with his smoke knight. I don't know what her own game is, but she's definitely not helping him.

eta: Sorry, I kinda lost the plot while I was writing that. I'd say she's going to keep working on Gil while continuing to keep Martellus from seizing the Heterodyne Girl. If she's smart, she'll get in the way of Gil and Agatha just enough.

edited 5th Oct '15 7:31:17 PM by mona.soyun

I don't know, she could be on her brother's side, but kind of the way Tarvek was on Agatha's in Sturmhalten. Which involved a lot of messing around doing stuff Agatha didn't/wouldn't have approved of on the theory that it was the only way to succeed. And you have to admit it is not altogether unreasonable if Seffie expects Tweedle to shoot himself in the foot.

edited 5th Oct '15 7:34:56 PM by Schefflera

In Sturmhalten, we wondered whether Tarvek was a good guy or a bad guy. Now we are trying to figure out a bunch of much more tangled alignments.

Ah, Grandma.

Trying to untangle the schemes of those families is an impossible task. What they seem to have been taught is to position themselves so no matter who comes out ahead, they benefit by being the advisor or power behind the throne or whatever. Martellus isn't very good at that game, is he? He has other strengths.

Trying to make sense of all the tangling made by the Sturmvoraus family is still more sensical than dealing with Moffat's take on Doctor Who.

Besides how much Kudzu Plot will we get to cut with an army of axe clanks?

Schefflera — I could see her "helping" like, in the sense of "You're better off this way"... But I'm not see how her actions actually promote his goals. To me it looks like she's getting in his way as much as she can without looking like she's getting in his way.

Back on the latest comic... I'm really curious about what Grandma says in that second panel: "Maybe she's afraid of what the Heterodyne girl will do when she finds about you and young Wulfenbach. If the young lady is anything like her mother..."

I'm wondering, okay, obviously, (1) what is there to find out...? But mostly (2) as in, Lucrezia...? Is there some story there? Or does she mean the the whole destroying all rivals / enslaving everyone else Other thing...?

Either way, I suppose it would make a lot of sense if Lucrezia was intensely jealous and insecure.

Lu is probably the worst Clingy Jealous Girl while she's currently got a toy partner she's all set on having for however long she is interested in him. And, then there's what she does with her own complicating side-flings like Klaus when they get in the way.

World's biggest hypocrite, thy name is Lucrezia.

edited 5th Oct '15 8:46:30 PM by Euodiachloris

Well, we have to remember that Tarvek's actions in Sturmhalten gave Lucrezia her second body (with superstrength and bonus electrocution abilities!) and the Spark Wasp and quite deliberately thwarted Agatha's efforts to warn Klaus and/or his Questor about what was going on in the town, making her look really bad to Klaus in the process. Taking Agatha's side, in the sense of trying to keep her alive and able to take power in Mechanicsburg, did not exactly mean consistently promoting her goals in general.

Lucrezia might well have taken the perspective that it was fine for her to have all the lovers she wanted but they should be entirely devoted to her. (This is not altogether unlike Mechanicsburg's perspective on the Heterodyne — they're fine with Agatha having a harem, but especially in the novelization Carson seems less than approving of Lucrezia not being "bound by... propriety or cultural mores" and the possibility that if Klaus had still been around the town might have doubted whether Bill actually sired her children.)

I don't know that there needs to be much to find out about Gil and Seffie that we haven't seen. (Well, there is — I'm curious whether she knows about head!Klaus and why the heck Gil's apparently trusting her with important messages — but in this particular context.) Seffie's been proposing marriage to Gil, apparently with some regularity, and she presented the situation to Agatha as Gil basically being dangerously obsessed with Agatha and distinctly did not mention her own pursuit. She and/or Grandma might very well expect a blowup over that.

edited 5th Oct '15 8:47:03 PM by Schefflera

"Having a harem" isn't the same thing as "sleeping with whoever you feel like." (Which is worse probably depends on whether or not the harem-members are there voluntarily.) And Carson personally may not have approved of the old Heterodynes' ways any more than he did of Lucrezia's.

RE seffie's paleness: i noticed that too, and it reminded me of someone....

Nevka was pale like that, because she was metallic.

Schefflera — That's a fair point. I suppose she could be making nice with Gil only until Martellus is in a stronger position.

My gut says she wants this alliance with Gil, and King Martellus is her back up plan. It mostly seems like she's helping him by preventing him from realizing his full, awful, Tweedly potential. Which is impressive, really... Thwarting him and channeling him into less self-destructive avenues at the same time.

Re: Finding out... I don't know how there can be much to find out. Gil and Seffie did seem to have some degree of intimacy — enough to be informal — but Gil's body language was so very standoffish.

I was wondering if the "like her mother" comment was in any way an allusion to the whole download thing, and how much Granny knows about it.

I also think that the 'be cautious of little old men' warning needs an 'and even more so of old women' corollary.

I seriously doubt that Lucrezia being known as the body-stealing continent-wrecking Other is common even among people as powerful and well-informed as Grandma. She (Grandma) probably remembers Lucrezia as jealous amoral violent bed-hopping super-Spark who possibly tried to reform when she married Bill Heterodyne, and then disappeared when the Other attacked.

I doubt many high-ranking Sturmvoraus ignore that Aaronev pledged the Knights of Jove to The Other...

It's because Granny is matriarch of that particular clan, is why I wonder how much she knows about the mind copying, and Agatha's template imprint in particular.

I would love to have Grandmother flash back to a memory of Lu; the cutting commentary alone...

Re Seffie's complexion: There was a period in Europe, especially in France where pale-as-a-vampire makeup was in vogue, late 18th, early 19th IIRC.

It seems to me that Seffie is planning to approach Agatha herself for some reason. It's more or less what I would do if I were her: If everyone is so worried about what the Heterdyne will do when she finds out about me and Gil, then perhaps the best way to handle it is to tell her myself.