Girl Genius Comic for Wednesday, March 21, 2022

The reality is probably just like people have said, that they said 900 kilos when they meant 900 lbs., but I still find it fun to wind up theories.

Bob Grannan

Also I was just thinking about -- since Monahan had enough knowledge of the clank body to install an upgrade, perhaps she also knew enough to kick in just the right spot -- if you look at the "boot" frame, the Lunevka clank almost looks like it's moved into a sitting position. So maybe Monahan's kick doesn't move a 900 kilo clank, but engages a particular gear or motor that causes the clank's own mechanisms to throw it off balance and fall backward, which, where she is standing, just happens to be a particularly hazardous fall.

Bob Grannan

Well, yeah, I don't carry facts about curb weights around in my head, just waiting for an opportunity. XD

Le'letha

...they really don't, cf. Zeetha being able to kick Agatha up and down any stairs you happen to find them near - and enthusiastically doing so back while they were traveling with the circus. Sparks are more likely to happily tell you all about their latest superweapon of staggering genius and power, and if you're patient enough and nod at the right times you can probably get close enough to hit them with a rock. Gil specifically, it's been hinted, has been tampered with. Gkika noted that Klaus had picked up some of the Jägers' secrets and had at least tried to apply some of them to Gil. (Probably more as "anything I can do to keep my son alive" than "An Experiment", if we're being rigorously fair to Klaus.) So when Gil goes berserk like that, he *really* can follow through on it. Monahan might have ginned up her physical stats for cheerleading performance, though, fair point.

Le'letha

I suppose if she had more than two legs she could not be booted into the gunk. I notice that All THE SPARKS HAVE ENHANCED ABILITIES in Agathas world,... strength is almost a given,... (Remembering Gil whooping CASUALLY on an angry Jäger), so I expect a spark who incorporates cheerleading in a martial art, is going to be dangerous. IJS.

Darnel D Cooper

One like just for the '(yes, I just Googled this)'..

Maybe you could ask Othar Triggvassen GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER!

Oof. That would be a battle to behold. Four arms versus.. well, all of Higgs AND him not wanting to have some explaining to do upon meeting his mother-in-law for the first time..

Given everything the Foglios have to think about, I have to think that this was one of those that was just tossed off without thinking too much about it. Yes, 900 kilos is a truly excessive amount, but at the same time, this is a place where entirely mechanical clanks the size of small cabbages have more memory and language processing ability than Siri, so perhaps a bit of willful suspension is in order . . . One simple sparky explanation: when the clank was Anevka, it truly was limited in its mobility and where it could actually go. Obviously it's been heavily modified by Lucrezia not just in appearance but in weaponry capability, built-in mind duplication, etc. A spark of Lucrezia's capability could rough in a buoyancy technology to make the clank at least a bit lighter on its feet. (oh let's call them "plasmic hypermobility sacs" -- bladders of hydrogen excited to plasmic state by continuous energy influx resulting in generalized buoyancy,) This could be only operational when the clank was fully powered up and conscious, hence when it's knocked out in the battle in the laboratory dome, the clank reverts to being 900 kilos and requires a dozen soldiers to carry it out. That said, 900 lbs would make considerably more sense, and has the advantage that if the decision is that dialog needs to be retconned to fit, 400 kilos (which looks a lot like 900) and 900 lbs are roughly equivalent.

Michael Bacon

There is, however, one potential out -- I believe there was at some point, I don't remember when, a joke about "whose" version of a particular unit. I don't remember if it was the kilogram or not. What if Tarvek is referring to some arcane Sturmhaltian version of the kilo? For example, Violetta says she'd weigh 1,000 kilos if she had a belgian chocolate mimmoth for every hour she'd heard Tarvek blather on about the muses, which is obviously a crazy exaggeration. UNLESS, their family has a different definition of the kilo which would explain both. We already know that Sturmhaltians play games with math to gain economic advantage -- what if there was some deal between Sturmhalt and another city-state where they cheated them by redefining the kilo, and the new definition just stuck? Violetta and kilos https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100205#.YjtUZ5rMIqs Sturmhaltian math games https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051014#.YjtVSprMIqs

Bob Grannan

Here I was hoping that the reference was from back when it still included the big vat her bearers had to carry around, so we could explain it away with a change in weight when she dumped the vat. But since it's so much more recent, and Tarvek was so involved in the process, it seems unlikely he'd mistake the pre-vat weight for the post-vat weight. And "almost 900 kilos" is just slightly too specific a number to just be a wild exaggeration. Like, weirdly, if he had said "almost 1000 kilos" you could write it off as a hyperbolic joke.

Bob Grannan

Yeah, the visual I'm thinking of is that time in the first "Iron Man" movie when Tony forgot the Iron Man suit had mass and crashed through his roof (and several stories below). I'm not going looking for an exact time reference because then I'll just watch the whole movie again. So OK, a human-sized all-metal body WOULD be crazy heavy, but Tony dropped the thing from at least a foot up, there was some acceleration involved (and Marvel likes their comedy beats). And right, Lunevka can't be solid metal, because at least some of her has to be innards ("wiring"? I don't know. Corner Tarvek about it if you can, but bring a chair and a drink, he'll probably be able to tell you ALL about it.) 1900lb. is heavier than a Smart car (yes, I just Googled this). So you could pretty much take Lunevka out on the interstate, or into a ground-floor building without a basement, but not really anywhere else that could be considered "an interior". It's an oddly exact number. Uncomfortable.

Le'letha

I agree that the weight given for Lunevka is problematic for the reasons you state, although it seems to be more or less accurate; at least it would be if Lunevka were a solid statue of a 50-50 iron-copper alloy. One has to assume that she has some empty space in her body or she couldn't move at all. Still, it seems likely that she would be quite a bit heavier than a human her size. It does seem like an odd point in the comic for the Foglios to decide to insist on realism, given how many impossible things happen with great frequency in Girl Genius.

William Ansley

While I also am pleased with Monahan's triumph (at least for the moment) over Lucrezia-in-Anevka, Monahan seems to be every bit as conceited as Lucrezia, based on her final remark in panel 2. While she may not be as villainous as Lucrezia, she is villainous enough, given that she was willing to install a miniature summoning engine into the Anevka clank body, knowing full well that almost no one else in the world aside from herself has any defense against having Lucrezia install a copy of her mind in their brain.

William Ansley

Not that my opinion holds any weight here, but I never liked that number and I think it needs to be changed for the print book edition. I would support that change. "Lunevka's" movements are far too delicate for her to be a 900-kilo colossus. Is the idea that all the floors (and tunnels) in this universe are super-extra-quadruple-reinforced? We saw her in the Great Hospital in Mechanicsburg, and if the building was so strong as to hold a pinpoint - she only has two feet - 1900lb weight actively moving around, a missile strike able to destroy it probably would have destroyed everything else for miles. That simply doesn't work for me. Not to misquote Doctor Who here (totally doing that), but if Lunevka's the most powerful creature in the universe, and she's being defeated by flights of stairs...yeah, no. Then we could defeat her by climbing trees and laughing at her, at which point she'd probably explode. Even if we hadn't hauled one of Agatha's favorite death rays up there. Discuss.

Le'letha

According to Tarvek, the Anevka clank body this instance of Lucrezia is inhabiting weighs "almost 900 kilos". https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20191122 I don't think even a two-legged kick from Monahan would budge her, let alone knock her into the effluvia. Even if Monahan has super strength and invulnerable feet, the more likely effect of the kick would have been to cause Monahan to be violently pushed back against Steelgarter, causing them both to fall over backwards. A similar objection applies to the kick to the head that Monahan gave to Lunevka on the previous page.

William Ansley

OK, I am now officially a Monahan fan. About time someone out-thought Lucrezia! And it makes sense that her oldest friend would know her best, and would be willing to support her... but only up to a certain point.

Elka Tovah Davidoff

You know there's going to be a scene with the rats and clanks singing in a choir....

She's shown a profound understanding of when it's time to turn tail and run in the past. Although if she heads back up to the lab right now, well . . . that could be problematic given what Higgs is standing in front of.

Michael Bacon

That was deeply satisfying to read in small-scale on my phone, and even better to read in full-scale here. If Monahan doesn't turn out to be even worse (and really, I think she just wants to be left alone to work on her rats), perhaps we can keep her. At a distance. On another island that doesn't have unearthly sources of incredible power running through it. We certainly need to ask her where to find this Milvistle, who's been mentioned before and seems like she'd be a useful person to talk to.

Le'letha

Depends on whether the rats approve.

Mary Catelli

Well, this is pleasant. As much as I've warmed a little to Monahan and her dedication to her rats, I think she's about to become the undisputed Big Bad in this volume . . . Still far better than Lucrezia getting her way all the time. Although like Vapnoople heading into the dimensional rift, the Anevka bot heading into the goop may have unintended consequences . . .

Michael Bacon

hmmm. . . .

Mary Catelli

O frabjous day! Monahan , you just won all sorts of hearts with this wonderful deed!

Mary Catelli

Yay! After the "Favored child of destiny" speech I was hoping something like this would happen. Though I do expect her to crawl out in the near future.

Paul Lenoue

PS I wonder if we're going to have an enemy-of-my-enemy conversion of Monahan to Team Agatha! (Nah, probably not.)

Brian Harvey

This is the problem with indistinguishable-from-magic-level technology: You never know when the rules are going to change. (As opposed to current-actual-technology-indistinguishable-from-magic-to-old-timers, like Connecticut Yankee. There you never get the ground pulled out from under you.)

Brian Harvey

Hmm so was Steelgarter in on the rebellion, or is she now in deep trouble?

Brian Harvey

I somehow found myself rooting for Monahan for a while now. All the condescension from Lunevka she was forced to swallow.. Meanwhile, this is her island, she had to have something up her sleeve, right? Wasn't expecting this, however.. I really love both the writing and the art of this comic equally!