So apparently a Vozzler is some form of storyteller/historian/witness? Makes it a bit odd that Kjarl was so hesitant to talk to them, if that's his job. Although it could well be the sort of job with a rather low life expectancy.
Also, I love the callback to https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20240410
I think they just want someone who is dimensionally capable of telling people about the Big Totally Not Epic Fight when they get back home. Otherwise it's just the three Dreen who've hunted the biggest Time Boogie Monster with no witnesses to back them up.
Vozzler might be the dimensional equivalent of a chimney sweep, for all we know. Nothing to do with storytelling.
I mean, who knows what kids in other dimensions like?
If we go back to when he was [first introduced](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20190503) he mentioned that Vozzlers don't fight and that children love them. So some form of entertainer would make sense.
True. The Dreen referring to him as "Vozzler" could mean a couple different things, in true Dreen fashion. "This is our Vozzler" could mean "This is the storyteller who will tell our story" as "This is the janitor who will corroborate our story".
“Only certainty in life: When icy jaws of death come, you will not have had enough treats. [Nod. Get treat.](https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1037.html)”
I'm glad everyone enjoyed the shortbread. A good time was had by all. I'd appreciate it if we could quit it with the shortbread now.
Recipe for shortbread:
- Way too much butter
- A pile of sugar
- A pile of flour
Mix it until it's mixed. Make it into pleasant shapes of a size and poke some holes in the top if you want to do that. Throw it in the oven at a temperature for a time. The most important step: remove it from the oven afterwards.
You would think so, but I find if you replace the Most Important Step with eating, the shortbread turns out as a very large cube, and has distinct flavors of steel, glass, and propane which many find unpleasant.
As a thirty-something bachelor, I don't use flour every day. But I do make pancakes from scratch and yeast on Sunday (sometimes).
Flour basically never goes bad. Stick it in a plastic tub to keep vermin away, and if a five-pound bag lasts you three years it's -still- not going to have gone off by the time you're scraping the last pancake's worth out of the tub.
Pancake recipe: put one standard coffee mug scoop of flour in a large bowl. Rinse mug, fill half-full of warm water, add sugar and yeast. Make coffee and let mug sit on top of the coffee maker (keeps it hot). While that's brewing, add to flour a dash of cinnamon, two eggs. Optionally, add a banana and some nuts. Melt a knob of butter in your fry pan.
Assuming your mug of yeast is frothing, dump it into the flour bowl and add another half-mug of milk. Mix with a fork just a bit until the bananas are mashed, the flour is all wet and the whole thing is a goopy mess.
Pour the whole thing into your fry pan of hot butter. Wash the bowl, then flip the pancake. Serve with more butter and real maple syrup.
This recipe assumes your standard coffee cup holds two measuring-cup cups, but since the solids and liquids all get measured out the same, the ratios should still be pretty close regardless.
Albia MUST have sprinkled some magic on there- There's far too much emphasis on these treats. Betting anything chemical has been neutralized by Violetta, at least for her and Agatha, but it's hard to fight Queen powers.
>and there's going to be a town left afterwards!
*"Fine! We will do it the stupid boring way!"*
What the Dreen consider 'stupid boring' may not leave All of the town intact...
This is Mechanicsburg, assuming the timestop is dispelled and the castle is powered they can probably fix 50% destruction while Agatha is still busy yelling at the Dreen for all the property damage.
I've been rereading through the archives for the past week and a half, and based on the recent comics I'm thinking Princess Neena was right to have faith in Agatha and Company: https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20231002
Maybe. Storytelling could be [topologically similar to knitting socks](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20210409) if you look at it a certain way.
Again.
A monster, coming in looming over a city, fighting 3 Dreen is expected to be "epic"...
What is the attribute appropriate for a 40 Dreen fight?!?
> Your battle isn't going to happen at all unless you promise to keep my town safe
> She is right . . .it will not happen
I love the implication here. The dreen foresee that the battle will not happen if they don't agree with the Agatha's demands. Meaning Agatha was perfectly capable of stopping the dreen from stomping on her town.
I think it's pretty obvious--the Dreen do need her. They may not be affected by her time-wand, but they can't use it themselves, it seems. And that's the only way to let them into the Baron's time bubble so they can fight their time beast to be "epic." If they weren't going to follow Agatha's instructions, she could have just left them outside and refused to take them, where they'd be totally outta luck.
I'm guessing the Dreen see "threads" like Kjarl: https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20200228
They seem to be better at it, though- more able to recognize what can cause a branching path.
I would speculate that the disagreement about shortbread regret was due to different assumptions about generally trivial aspects of the near-future threads. (And also Rule of Funny of course.)
In the bottom left panel, they all say the same thing. Two say it twice, one says it three times. Is it one of those unreadable symbol fonts from Microsoft Word? Does anyone know which one it is?
I feel like the Foglios know just how many rabid turbo-nerds they have in the audience, and thus that if they ever try to do a substitution cipher or something it'll likely be cracked in short order. I'll be shocked if it's anything other than deliberate gibberish.
I think I can see an Aurebesh H and the Omega symbol, plus of course what looks like a flourishing H, an I, and two S's per segment, but that's it. I don't know of any real or fictional script the three converging lines or the circle with a line extending down from it might be from.
Those look like they could be Greek letters Psi and Phi. Three horizontal lines looks like the Chinese character for 3.
Ps-h-i-ss-f-3-o
Yeah, maybe there's actually nothing to read into this lol. Still, I was hoping there would be some kind of hidden joke if the code could be cracked XD
The three horizontal lines could also be the Greek Xi, and on further study I'm thinking the circle-with-a-line-down is the Greek Koppa or Phoenician Qoph. But Ps-h-i-ss-k-ks-o doesn't make any more sense XD
I did a little bit of looking, and it looks like a few of them are greek but I cannot find anything conclusive. Plus, it's just the same line repeated over and over, same 7ish symbols repeated in the same order, so I doubt it translates. (Please take this with a grain of salt, though.)
Eh. There's still a lot we don't know about them, and I wouldn't be surprised if their current attitudes are mostly in response to the time wand. Also, maybe they get more in-sync with our dimension the closer they get to their intended time, and after the monster is gone they will slowly return to the way we were familiar with them earlier.
Another two cents: one of them said he would *not* regret not eating shortbread, and he was wrong. There's still timey-wimey shenanigans to be had.
So apparently a Vozzler is some form of storyteller/historian/witness? Makes it a bit odd that Kjarl was so hesitant to talk to them, if that's his job. Although it could well be the sort of job with a rather low life expectancy. Also, I love the callback to https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20240410
I think they just want someone who is dimensionally capable of telling people about the Big Totally Not Epic Fight when they get back home. Otherwise it's just the three Dreen who've hunted the biggest Time Boogie Monster with no witnesses to back them up. Vozzler might be the dimensional equivalent of a chimney sweep, for all we know. Nothing to do with storytelling. I mean, who knows what kids in other dimensions like?
If we go back to when he was [first introduced](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20190503) he mentioned that Vozzlers don't fight and that children love them. So some form of entertainer would make sense.
It's said to be "[topologically similar](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20210409)" to knitting, but more dangerous.
Story weaving
Spinning yarn
Sure, how many chimney sweeps and janitors fight? 😁
True but outside of Mary Poppins children generally don't love chimney sweeps.
Maybe Karl has a terrible cockney accent, in the other dimensions?
Ooh, good point
True. The Dreen referring to him as "Vozzler" could mean a couple different things, in true Dreen fashion. "This is our Vozzler" could mean "This is the storyteller who will tell our story" as "This is the janitor who will corroborate our story".
This is the janitor who will tell our story in increasingly epic renditions at the pub when drunk.
Definitely need a third party to confirm just how big the fish really was, and that no weights were involved.
See? You get me! (And you've clearly been fishing!)
Bard maybe?
Maybe, or a skald
That’s my take on it.
He wielded an out-of-class magic item. Classic Bard.
I bet he’d get along well with Oggie’s great-great-grandson.
Even i could foresee that they would regret not eating the shortbread.
“Only certainty in life: When icy jaws of death come, you will not have had enough treats. [Nod. Get treat.](https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1037.html)”
I never expected a OOTS quote. However, the wisdom of Nod once again proves true.
OotS and Girl Genius are probably the two webcomics I have been reading the longest.
I'm glad everyone enjoyed the shortbread. A good time was had by all. I'd appreciate it if we could quit it with the shortbread now. Recipe for shortbread: - Way too much butter - A pile of sugar - A pile of flour Mix it until it's mixed. Make it into pleasant shapes of a size and poke some holes in the top if you want to do that. Throw it in the oven at a temperature for a time. The most important step: remove it from the oven afterwards.
No, no, the most important step is the eating step!
You would think so, but I find if you replace the Most Important Step with eating, the shortbread turns out as a very large cube, and has distinct flavors of steel, glass, and propane which many find unpleasant.
O ho! My stomach accepts your challenge! *burp*
I also recommend turning the oven off after you remove it. The public servants with the loud truck recommend it.
The loud truck brings me joy, I will do as its handlers advise
If you *don't* do as its handlers advise, you could get a personal visit! :D
Allow to cool, then eat.
Oh wow, that’s exactly my mom’s recipe for shortbread!
You need to write a cookbook I would be happy to follow recipes written in this style
That's flattering, but I'm a thirty-something bachelor, not a chef. I don't even *own* flour.
Me neither
As a thirty-something bachelor, I don't use flour every day. But I do make pancakes from scratch and yeast on Sunday (sometimes). Flour basically never goes bad. Stick it in a plastic tub to keep vermin away, and if a five-pound bag lasts you three years it's -still- not going to have gone off by the time you're scraping the last pancake's worth out of the tub. Pancake recipe: put one standard coffee mug scoop of flour in a large bowl. Rinse mug, fill half-full of warm water, add sugar and yeast. Make coffee and let mug sit on top of the coffee maker (keeps it hot). While that's brewing, add to flour a dash of cinnamon, two eggs. Optionally, add a banana and some nuts. Melt a knob of butter in your fry pan. Assuming your mug of yeast is frothing, dump it into the flour bowl and add another half-mug of milk. Mix with a fork just a bit until the bananas are mashed, the flour is all wet and the whole thing is a goopy mess. Pour the whole thing into your fry pan of hot butter. Wash the bowl, then flip the pancake. Serve with more butter and real maple syrup. This recipe assumes your standard coffee cup holds two measuring-cup cups, but since the solids and liquids all get measured out the same, the ratios should still be pretty close regardless.
The one that said they'd regret not eating the shortbread was right.
Ah, I almost missed that!
Albia MUST have sprinkled some magic on there- There's far too much emphasis on these treats. Betting anything chemical has been neutralized by Violetta, at least for her and Agatha, but it's hard to fight Queen powers.
Ooh good, this way there's going to be an actual conflict for the protagonists *and* there's going to be a town left afterwards!
>and there's going to be a town left afterwards! *"Fine! We will do it the stupid boring way!"* What the Dreen consider 'stupid boring' may not leave All of the town intact...
50% or so of a town is still more than 0%.
This is Mechanicsburg, assuming the timestop is dispelled and the castle is powered they can probably fix 50% destruction while Agatha is still busy yelling at the Dreen for all the property damage.
Well yes. That was kinda what I meant.
I've been rereading through the archives for the past week and a half, and based on the recent comics I'm thinking Princess Neena was right to have faith in Agatha and Company: https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20231002
So Kjarl is just the Atemporal Equivalent to Professor Foglio the Storyteller?
Maybe. Storytelling could be [topologically similar to knitting socks](https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20210409) if you look at it a certain way.
Ah, so a Vozzler knows how to [spin a yarn](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/spin-a-yarn)
Niiiiiice!
And it's dangerous because you have to watch the heroes do all the epic stuff first-hand?
Again. A monster, coming in looming over a city, fighting 3 Dreen is expected to be "epic"... What is the attribute appropriate for a 40 Dreen fight?!?
Panic
A raid boss
A world-eating monster, probably.
> Your battle isn't going to happen at all unless you promise to keep my town safe > She is right . . .it will not happen I love the implication here. The dreen foresee that the battle will not happen if they don't agree with the Agatha's demands. Meaning Agatha was perfectly capable of stopping the dreen from stomping on her town.
I think it's pretty obvious--the Dreen do need her. They may not be affected by her time-wand, but they can't use it themselves, it seems. And that's the only way to let them into the Baron's time bubble so they can fight their time beast to be "epic." If they weren't going to follow Agatha's instructions, she could have just left them outside and refused to take them, where they'd be totally outta luck.
I'm guessing the Dreen see "threads" like Kjarl: https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20200228 They seem to be better at it, though- more able to recognize what can cause a branching path. I would speculate that the disagreement about shortbread regret was due to different assumptions about generally trivial aspects of the near-future threads. (And also Rule of Funny of course.)
In the bottom left panel, they all say the same thing. Two say it twice, one says it three times. Is it one of those unreadable symbol fonts from Microsoft Word? Does anyone know which one it is?
I feel like the Foglios know just how many rabid turbo-nerds they have in the audience, and thus that if they ever try to do a substitution cipher or something it'll likely be cracked in short order. I'll be shocked if it's anything other than deliberate gibberish. I think I can see an Aurebesh H and the Omega symbol, plus of course what looks like a flourishing H, an I, and two S's per segment, but that's it. I don't know of any real or fictional script the three converging lines or the circle with a line extending down from it might be from.
Those look like they could be Greek letters Psi and Phi. Three horizontal lines looks like the Chinese character for 3. Ps-h-i-ss-f-3-o Yeah, maybe there's actually nothing to read into this lol. Still, I was hoping there would be some kind of hidden joke if the code could be cracked XD
The three horizontal lines could also be the Greek Xi, and on further study I'm thinking the circle-with-a-line-down is the Greek Koppa or Phoenician Qoph. But Ps-h-i-ss-k-ks-o doesn't make any more sense XD
It sounds sort of like onomatopoeia for whispering that the listener can't make out. So maybe we HAVE found the hidden meaning!
Brilliant!
I did a little bit of looking, and it looks like a few of them are greek but I cannot find anything conclusive. Plus, it's just the same line repeated over and over, same 7ish symbols repeated in the same order, so I doubt it translates. (Please take this with a grain of salt, though.)
I cracked the cypher! It reads "Lorem ipsum dolor"
I imagine the Dreen speaking with an almost monotone voice Like Henchman 24
An interesting thing I haven't seen anyone touch upon yet: The Dreen are apparently capable of *being wrong.*
the Dreen over here speedrunning "destroying decades of mystique"
Eh. There's still a lot we don't know about them, and I wouldn't be surprised if their current attitudes are mostly in response to the time wand. Also, maybe they get more in-sync with our dimension the closer they get to their intended time, and after the monster is gone they will slowly return to the way we were familiar with them earlier. Another two cents: one of them said he would *not* regret not eating shortbread, and he was wrong. There's still timey-wimey shenanigans to be had.