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Post by Schefflera on Mar 24, 2015 16:15:14 GMT
I personally am inclined to think that the pacing in terms of the volumes, which are of course the units they're trying to sell, would be better if the current battle were completed during Act II Vol. 1. Depending on how close we are to the conclusion, this might not even have required that much condensing in terms of pages -- it could do with some, but we're only 148 pages into Act II as a whole, and we've had four volumes longer than that.
However, the (much-needed, I'm sure) break in 2014 cut down on the potential number of pages II-1 could incorporate before the end of the year, and they might not have wanted to run into January, which might have affected the timeframe in which they could bind and sell the volume, and would definitely have affected their Hugo eligibility. (On the other hand, I'd be more inclined to give a Hugo vote to a volume that struck me more as a complete unit. Oh well.)
I do hope Agatha keeps/rebuilds the train, though. It's a jerk, but it's so much fun. Although separating it forcibly from its body -- if that's what just happened -- instead of successfully talking it around while intact completely slews away from the issues I was imagining it would introduce. The Beast, intact, would have been incredibly useful as long as it was cooperative, potentially to the point of eliminating one host of problems in terms of travel, but also distinctly conspicuous and a source of a whole different host of problems regarding whether Agatha could get it to behave -- and whether people would believe that! -- as she approached and entered locations she didn't actually want to be hostile toward.
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saber
2nd Lieutenant
Posts: 516
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Post by saber on Mar 24, 2015 21:08:45 GMT
I'm not sure I can say the battle started until Volume 2. Before that it was getting everyone together and the whole thing with Auntie. We don't even hear mention of The Beast until page 86 of the first volume, and he dosn't start to be actual problem until page 99, and that's because Auntie let him out, and then we don't even see him until the final page of volume 1.
I don't know I personally liked the split between the rising action of everyone getting where they needed to be and the setting of the stage of the first volume and the actual fight in the second. I think though that this might be the Professors trying to juggle making a print comic work as a web comic. As a web comic it doesn't matter really since we get it at the same speed as everything else no matter if the volume splits or not. As a print comic I can kind of see you're point, but at the same time I feel like the last page was a good ending as well.
Honestly I have a feeling that The Beast isn't even the point of all this, just a useful side-effect. Everything that's happened has happened because of Auntie and that book and key of hers.
Agatha's train being attacked was because Auntie was on it, the trains being attacked period was because of Martellus looking for her, Gil figuring out Agatha's on a train is because the trains were attacked because of her, the Bears finding Krosp was because they were under Martellus command looking for her and happened upon the right place, and finally The Beast getting out was because of her.
So I have a feeling that this whole arc is not about The Beast, but about that Book and Key. What she planned on doing with them, and why Martellus is after them so bad. And I have a feeling Paris is going to be important to that. Why? because the Book and Key are connected to the Muses, who were owned by the Storm King, whose Palace of Enlightenment is in France if not Paris itself. So I bet that if not before the end of this Volume, then in the beginning of the next one we'll be in Paris, or at the very least France.
As for the Beast himself I wouldn't be surprised if Agatha dose a little tinkering on him to lower his appetite and then hooks him back up. Changing his appetite wouldn't change his personality any but perhaps may help in keeping him under reign, and he could likely fix himself within minutes from scrap once hooked back in. At the same time I wouldn't be surprised if he simply got hooked up to a speaker or something and they hijack an airship out of their. I do think his brain is fine, it was what it was hooked out of that blew, probably because of a feedback issue, or perhaps as security. It was made by a Hetrodyne though, I bet it can handle more than a little explosion. That said I bet Ulm and King bear are okay as well, if a bit singed.
In fact, the fact Agatha now has a human like clank brain as well as a book on Van Rijn notes on the Muses might be a big point in all this.
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andyab1000
Major General
Archivist Extraordinaire
Posts: 2,855
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Post by andyab1000 on Mar 24, 2015 21:20:46 GMT
Agatha just might replace the Beast's "brain" with her dingbots. Then you still have the self-fueling train with Agatha in control.
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andyab1000
Major General
Archivist Extraordinaire
Posts: 2,855
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Post by andyab1000 on Mar 25, 2015 9:27:18 GMT
Oh, hy iz forgtettink sumtink.
Congrats to my new fellow Major, Herdthinner!
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Post by m1a1x1i1m1s1h1a1t on Mar 25, 2015 11:37:22 GMT
Oh, hy iz forgtettink sumtink. Congrats to my new fellow Major, Herdthinner! Wow! Hy hed not even caught dot! Good eye! Kongretz to Major Herdthinner! ( Herdthinner)
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Post by Schefflera on Mar 25, 2015 14:36:07 GMT
Saber -- I agree that the battle didn't begin until this volume. I'm just inclined to think it should have begun and ended in the previous one -- that it would have both made a better volume-unit (especially if they were going to name it after the Beast...) and read better as a webcomic. If you consider the Beast essentially a sort of... trivial action filler/red herring, I guess I can see where that would make a difference. I do think the book and key are going to tie in significantly to the overarching plot -- or the KoJ subplot, at minimum, if not the really overarching one about dealing with Lucrezia -- whereas even if it takes her to Paris the Beast's involvement may have to be more local. But I'll definitely still miss it when it goes.
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ystava
Private :: Seeking Heterodynes
Posts: 17
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Post by ystava on Mar 25, 2015 18:56:41 GMT
It would be amusing if the explosion left brother Ulm with some sort of super powers or perhaps even given him some spark... maybe switched his brain.
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Dagrun
Captain
Gott's leetle feesh in trousers!
Posts: 1,140
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Post by Dagrun on Mar 26, 2015 21:20:33 GMT
Kongratz, MAJOR Herdthinner!
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