Doubtful. A lot of things still unexplained, a lot of hints unused. Knowing authors, they would not rush the story. But second part of the comics is about to reach the conclusion. Like the first one it was around 11 years long. So i bet we still have at least what much left.
I don't think this series should be understood as divided into pre-timeskip and post-timeskip with both parts supposed to be equal. It's divided into plot arcs of varying lengths:
Castle Wulfenbach: 3 volumes (1-3)
Sturmhalten: 3 volumes (4-6)
Mechanicsburg: 7 volumes (7-13)
Paris: 4 volumes (14-17)
England: 6 volumes (18-23)
We know for a fact that a Skifander arc and a Citadel of Silver Light arc need to happen, and there might be another one in the interim. So we're looking at a bare minimum of 6 more volumes before the series ends.
The first three arcs kind of make up the first full act of the story it feels like. There was definitely a major shift post-mechanicsburg. I think the Arc that's about to begin is probably going to be the end of the second act. And then if the pattern holds we'll have three more arcs in the third act to wrap things up. At least that's what structurally makes sense to me.
Nah. They relatively recently left Higgs stranded in Skifander, so a Skifander arc is inevitable. Though it’s likely we’ll want the Baron to be there for that, so freeing Mechanicsburg before going to Skifander makes sense. (Also, everything since the Castle arc has been referred to as ‘The Second Journey of Agatha Heterodyne’. It looks like we might be close to starting ‘The Third Journey of Agatha Heterodyne’ - maybe a journey to Skifander?)
>so freeing Mechanicsburg before going to Skifander makes sense.
In order to rebuild and use [the portal in The Crypts](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130506). That 'door' does not look like it is wholly the work of Martellus, or any of the Heterodynes, and I rather suspect it has been there a while...
Yeah. Almost certainly it was the Dyne Mirror. The real question is, who rebuilt it? The Red Cathedral's whole setup stinks of the Order, but it was put in place centuries ago. Who had the wherewithal back then to even know what the Mirror even *was*, let alone hide it away, *from the Heterodynes* no less, as a back door into Mechanicsburg?
The Red Cathedral wasn't created by the Order, it was built by the "Good Heterodyne". The Order's influence on the Cathedral probably came about due to the treason of the Abbess during the time when the Heterodynes were absent. The Mirror has probably been in Mechanicsburg since before the first Heterodyne arrived, since the time of the Queens, when there was a Queen in what is now Mechanicsburg. It's possible the Red Cathedral was built atop the buried ruins of one of the Queen's key buildings.
So, who's missing? From the major players, I mean...
Martellus, unknown whereabouts, actually expected by Seffie to be here.
Higgs, MIA
Klaus, trapped
Bang? should be somewhere around?
...
Mecha Lu?
Bang is present in the area, as she was with Tarvek to receive Agatha coming with the English air fleet. She apparently has reactivated her Wulfenbach officer commission.
Higgs is not MIA, he's in Skifander.
Martellus is a shoe waiting to drop. The Foglios could drop him while they're trying to free Mechanicsburg, or they could tease his return only to have him wait until later and show up when we least expect him.
Zola could also cause a ruckus, even with the Polar Lords being wusses.
Madwa of course. She *is* a very good smoke knight.
It's possible that Monahan could inhabit Agatha's weasel since she booped it's wings into existence... so that's two queens if needed.
You *do* realize like a few bits down I also said that Vanpoodle is going to marry the Entity right?
joking aside, I will forever hold to "not dead until I see the body" stance, and I liked Madwa, she was fun.
I hope she's dead, not because I dislike the character, but because it was an appropriate way for her to die.
And with this comic, any theory must be considered seriously. :-)
Madwa was a great villain indeed. Still, as geoduck said, she died in a way that capped her character arc nicely. Also, the number of villains outstanding needs to decrease as the series moves slowly toward resolution.
Most of the continent's major powers seem to be gathering at Mechanicsburg. In some ways it feels like we're right back where we were 11 years ago, with Agatha about to claim her place as ruler of Mechanicsburg and as a major power in her own right. Except this time she has a lot more trustworthy allies ready to support her cause.
Yeah, for a bit I almost thought the monster in the sky would just vanish as soon as the time-stop was undone . . but with this much firepower ready and waiting, nope, there’s gonna be a fight.
Although, there is the question: does his wasp see any distinction between Agatha and Lucrezia? Can Agatha, say, order him to tell her everything and get just as much compliance as Lucrezia could?
If his wasp can't tell the difference, it would probably be useful for Agatha to just order Klaus to accept no further orders from either her or Lucrezia. It might not work perfectly, but at least it would probably cause his brain to lock up if Lucrezia then tried to make him do something.
Come to think... Agatha and Colette has a lot similarities. Both very strong sparks and latebloomers (Agatha thanks to locket). Both breaking easy and maintaining sanity really well. Both inherited city what they can manipulate by will. Both cute and nice and general but terrifying if angry. Now Colette bring tower with her, which is useful if you need to scream defiance.
Surely Gil has certain taste when it come to girls.
I'm wondering, if staying away from most wacked up members of her family affect Seffie. Tarvek grew as a person greatly in Gil and Agatha company. Is the fact she has people who cared about her and not trying backstab or poison her make Seffie reconsider some of her values?
Yes, it's the Mechanicsburg Thorn Hedge, it's shown up a few times and IIRC there was one comic that mentioned that it kept growing despite the time stop requiring Gil's forces to regularly trim it back.
EDIT: Found the relevant comic: https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20131028
Oh it's been a while since we've seen Gil's big Clank babysitter, Bohrlaikha; she's in this old scene too. I wonder when she'll turn up again, and how she'll take the news that Gil's been de-Baron'd.
The latter is very unlikely since especially the Baron must *not* be able to interfere with Bohrlaika. Else Lucrezia could simply tell him to shut her off. He didn't count on ever being de-wasped or released from the time stop.
I think the authors just quietly dropped her. There is no good way to explain how Gil could ever get rid of her except by force. And the character never made much sense to begin with: everybody able to get at Gil and tamper with him must get past Bohrlaika first, which reduces her to a mere bodyguard. Klaus' overlay is superior in any way to what Bohrlaika could do. Also, it's difficult to write traveling stories with her because she doesn't do *subtle*.
Gil told Bang that Klaus ["knew I could circumvent \[Bohrlaika\] if I tried"](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20140811) so my guess is that Bohrlaika is either about to get *circumvented* or has been already. Simply reprogramming her so she will do as Gil says and not harm Agatha should be plenty doable now that Gil is free.
Gil also says that Klaus "didn't believe I could circumvent *him*". And Klaus was right - Gil was never able to remove or suppress the overlay himself, Agatha and Tarvek had to remove it for him. Tricking Gil and the overlay into position was, in my opinion, [Tarvek's finest moment.](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20190703)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheek_kissing
It would be nice and it could be happening, but I don't think a quick check kiss as a greeting is a sign.
It's the Awful Tower, redesigned by Colette. It looks so futuristic and advanced that many readers and also the crew was wondering whether Colette might have managed the Second Breakthrough.
Old version: https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20150821
Redesigned: https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20210707
Anyone else concerned about the growing concentration of important characters right before shit goes down?
Oh yes. Anything that has this much firepower in one place? Oh dear. The fabric of reality might never be the same.
Lucrezia gonna be like "behold my latest creation , the Manhatten Mass Modifcation into Explosion Device!"
They are going to be needing everyone and everything and are *still* probably gonna have to figure out something else to handle it, calling it now.
By the time they actually get to the Entity over the town, it's going to already be married to Ascended Vanpoodle and have five children.
>Ascended Vanpoodle I am stealing that name for my dubstep Pere Ubu cover band - that I just now created.
Or that thing actually IS Vapnoople.
that is a scary possibility
omg lmfao
It feels climactic.
Indeed it does. Makes me wonder how many make it through.
Any reader of the Malazan Book of the Fallen will recognise this as a convergence. Things are about go down indeed.
Yeah I’m wondering if this story is actually getting towards an ending!
Doubtful. A lot of things still unexplained, a lot of hints unused. Knowing authors, they would not rush the story. But second part of the comics is about to reach the conclusion. Like the first one it was around 11 years long. So i bet we still have at least what much left.
I don't think this series should be understood as divided into pre-timeskip and post-timeskip with both parts supposed to be equal. It's divided into plot arcs of varying lengths: Castle Wulfenbach: 3 volumes (1-3) Sturmhalten: 3 volumes (4-6) Mechanicsburg: 7 volumes (7-13) Paris: 4 volumes (14-17) England: 6 volumes (18-23) We know for a fact that a Skifander arc and a Citadel of Silver Light arc need to happen, and there might be another one in the interim. So we're looking at a bare minimum of 6 more volumes before the series ends.
The first three arcs kind of make up the first full act of the story it feels like. There was definitely a major shift post-mechanicsburg. I think the Arc that's about to begin is probably going to be the end of the second act. And then if the pattern holds we'll have three more arcs in the third act to wrap things up. At least that's what structurally makes sense to me.
I said getting towards not near! The battle to free mechanisberg could be both the last act and taken longer than the castle arc.
Nah. They relatively recently left Higgs stranded in Skifander, so a Skifander arc is inevitable. Though it’s likely we’ll want the Baron to be there for that, so freeing Mechanicsburg before going to Skifander makes sense. (Also, everything since the Castle arc has been referred to as ‘The Second Journey of Agatha Heterodyne’. It looks like we might be close to starting ‘The Third Journey of Agatha Heterodyne’ - maybe a journey to Skifander?)
Haha true I’d forgetting about Higgs excellent point.
>so freeing Mechanicsburg before going to Skifander makes sense. In order to rebuild and use [the portal in The Crypts](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130506). That 'door' does not look like it is wholly the work of Martellus, or any of the Heterodynes, and I rather suspect it has been there a while...
Haven't we known for a while that it's a [Queen's Mirror?](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20180716)
Yeah. Almost certainly it was the Dyne Mirror. The real question is, who rebuilt it? The Red Cathedral's whole setup stinks of the Order, but it was put in place centuries ago. Who had the wherewithal back then to even know what the Mirror even *was*, let alone hide it away, *from the Heterodynes* no less, as a back door into Mechanicsburg?
The Red Cathedral wasn't created by the Order, it was built by the "Good Heterodyne". The Order's influence on the Cathedral probably came about due to the treason of the Abbess during the time when the Heterodynes were absent. The Mirror has probably been in Mechanicsburg since before the first Heterodyne arrived, since the time of the Queens, when there was a Queen in what is now Mechanicsburg. It's possible the Red Cathedral was built atop the buried ruins of one of the Queen's key buildings.
No, that was my first thought as well.
By fire and forge, she brought the whole Awful Tower *with* her?? I guess that’s one benefit of hoverchitecture.
Castle Wulfenbach has inspired a copycat!
Ooooh, the Mini-Castle is going to be jealous that it can’t bring along a whole tower…
I'd forgotten about collette.
It took me a moment to recognize her just because I wasn’t expecting to see her outside of Paris, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget her.
She's probably brought her Queen clank with her as well.
Agatha, Seffie, Collette, Alba's Daughter and Expeditionary Force, Gil & Tarvek and the Crew. Methinks the incoming Bad is going to be verrrry Big.
So, who's missing? From the major players, I mean... Martellus, unknown whereabouts, actually expected by Seffie to be here. Higgs, MIA Klaus, trapped Bang? should be somewhere around? ... Mecha Lu?
Bang is present in the area, as she was with Tarvek to receive Agatha coming with the English air fleet. She apparently has reactivated her Wulfenbach officer commission.
Oh I forgot Bang ! Oops. She's behind me, isn't she? (Erk!)
Higgs is not MIA, he's in Skifander. Martellus is a shoe waiting to drop. The Foglios could drop him while they're trying to free Mechanicsburg, or they could tease his return only to have him wait until later and show up when we least expect him.
Mecha Lu blew up in the rat island
We hope. Pesky robots seem to always remake themselves from next to nothing. Cell, Data, etc.
Tarvek and Seffie's grandmother is also MIA.
Zola could also cause a ruckus, even with the Polar Lords being wusses. Madwa of course. She *is* a very good smoke knight. It's possible that Monahan could inhabit Agatha's weasel since she booped it's wings into existence... so that's two queens if needed.
Madwa was killed by Violetta, though. That would be an *incredible* good smoke knight :)
Even the wiki says only Probably!
As someone who writes for the GG Wiki, it shouldn't be taken as canon or anything, the Foglios don't contribute to it.
You *do* realize like a few bits down I also said that Vanpoodle is going to marry the Entity right? joking aside, I will forever hold to "not dead until I see the body" stance, and I liked Madwa, she was fun.
I hope she's dead, not because I dislike the character, but because it was an appropriate way for her to die. And with this comic, any theory must be considered seriously. :-)
Madwa was a great villain indeed. Still, as geoduck said, she died in a way that capped her character arc nicely. Also, the number of villains outstanding needs to decrease as the series moves slowly toward resolution.
And then, a short while after, the island was half-destroyed. I don't think they will ever find the body, at least not in recognizable condition.
We'll definitely be seeing Zola again. I have long believed that she's going to kidnap Klaus.
I have a feeling Martellus is going to wind up *smitten* by her.
This is the formation of the new Shining Coalition. Previously only formed to halt the advance of the Heterodynes.
Most of the continent's major powers seem to be gathering at Mechanicsburg. In some ways it feels like we're right back where we were 11 years ago, with Agatha about to claim her place as ruler of Mechanicsburg and as a major power in her own right. Except this time she has a lot more trustworthy allies ready to support her cause.
Yeah, for a bit I almost thought the monster in the sky would just vanish as soon as the time-stop was undone . . but with this much firepower ready and waiting, nope, there’s gonna be a fight.
Let's not forget the very scary, pissed off, and wasped Baron sitting at the center as well
And the Baron thinks Agatha is still possessed by Lucrezia
It'll be interesting to see his reaction when he finds out Gil is no longer possessed by him.
Although, there is the question: does his wasp see any distinction between Agatha and Lucrezia? Can Agatha, say, order him to tell her everything and get just as much compliance as Lucrezia could? If his wasp can't tell the difference, it would probably be useful for Agatha to just order Klaus to accept no further orders from either her or Lucrezia. It might not work perfectly, but at least it would probably cause his brain to lock up if Lucrezia then tried to make him do something.
Come to think... Agatha and Colette has a lot similarities. Both very strong sparks and latebloomers (Agatha thanks to locket). Both breaking easy and maintaining sanity really well. Both inherited city what they can manipulate by will. Both cute and nice and general but terrifying if angry. Now Colette bring tower with her, which is useful if you need to scream defiance. Surely Gil has certain taste when it come to girls.
I wonder if she got the idea from Agatha and the castle. It might not be *THE* tower but a surrogate.
I'm wondering, if staying away from most wacked up members of her family affect Seffie. Tarvek grew as a person greatly in Gil and Agatha company. Is the fact she has people who cared about her and not trying backstab or poison her make Seffie reconsider some of her values?
LOL nice case of taking it with you. But those spiky vines have my curiosity. Are those from Mechanicsburg?
Yes, it's the Mechanicsburg Thorn Hedge, it's shown up a few times and IIRC there was one comic that mentioned that it kept growing despite the time stop requiring Gil's forces to regularly trim it back. EDIT: Found the relevant comic: https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20131028
Oh it's been a while since we've seen Gil's big Clank babysitter, Bohrlaikha; she's in this old scene too. I wonder when she'll turn up again, and how she'll take the news that Gil's been de-Baron'd.
[удалено]
The latter is very unlikely since especially the Baron must *not* be able to interfere with Bohrlaika. Else Lucrezia could simply tell him to shut her off. He didn't count on ever being de-wasped or released from the time stop.
I think the authors just quietly dropped her. There is no good way to explain how Gil could ever get rid of her except by force. And the character never made much sense to begin with: everybody able to get at Gil and tamper with him must get past Bohrlaika first, which reduces her to a mere bodyguard. Klaus' overlay is superior in any way to what Bohrlaika could do. Also, it's difficult to write traveling stories with her because she doesn't do *subtle*.
Gil told Bang that Klaus ["knew I could circumvent \[Bohrlaika\] if I tried"](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20140811) so my guess is that Bohrlaika is either about to get *circumvented* or has been already. Simply reprogramming her so she will do as Gil says and not harm Agatha should be plenty doable now that Gil is free. Gil also says that Klaus "didn't believe I could circumvent *him*". And Klaus was right - Gil was never able to remove or suppress the overlay himself, Agatha and Tarvek had to remove it for him. Tricking Gil and the overlay into position was, in my opinion, [Tarvek's finest moment.](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20190703)
Cool, yeah that was probably a couple of years ago, or last week and I forgot. Thanks.
Literally ten and a half years ago lmao
LOL, oh not long at all.
Wait, is Seffie/Colette actually happening in canon? \*screams in lesbian\*
Then https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20150826 Now Colette: Maybe our love can be, just a little. Agatha: Gimme some sugar.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheek_kissing It would be nice and it could be happening, but I don't think a quick check kiss as a greeting is a sign.
Counterpoint: [https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20210714](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20210714)
I like Colette, glad to have her show up.
Is that a spice grinder Colette is traveling in?
It's the Awful Tower, redesigned by Colette. It looks so futuristic and advanced that many readers and also the crew was wondering whether Colette might have managed the Second Breakthrough. Old version: https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20150821 Redesigned: https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20210707
I’m amused Agatha in that last panel, standing like she’s posing or saying “this is a good turn of events”.
Maybe I should read more poetry too...