theenbywitch:

The entire idea of “Sparks” in Girl Genius is so heavily autistic coded why didn’t I see it before????

• Sparks (aka Madboys/girls) are a select few people who have a greater understanding of how the world works and can utilize the existence of certain tools and equipment to make things (or make them better)
• It’s easier to notice the “Spark” in boys than girls
• It’s hereditary. If your mom or dad had the Spark, you will have the Spark
• (okay there’s a little controversy over who’s a minor spark and who’s a major spark but if I bend the truth a bit, we could say the minor ones are just better at hiding their Autism which is true in the comic itself. As Master Payne comments that they’re “hiding in plain sight”)
• Some of these sparks are ultra geniuses with no concept of self preservation, and some really just try their best bc they’re excited or passionate about their invention but sometimes it falls flat. It happens. Both of them are great anyway.
• If you’re good at math and science you can create fantastic things that ppl will still use and remember hundreds of years after your death, but you don’t have to know how it works (although a lot of them like taking things apart to find out how it works, a la Austitic Curiosity)
• In some places, even the undereducated have the potential to create excellent sparky inventions of they aren’t killed by others, themselves, and given the chance to flourish
• Even the art projects can come alive and do amazing things, so you don’t have to be some super smart scientist or math genius
• “The Madness Place” is really just Hyperfocus and we all know it
• Okay I will admit there are some darker comparisons that other ppl could make that no one would be happy about and yeah I get it, it’s bad
• Like for example Baron Klaus Wulfenbach experimenting on Sparks to see how they function and destroying the Spark in them and either killing them or making them just like every non-spark
• But when you’re reading you find yourself on the side of the Sparks who DON’T want that to happen to them, so it’s bad but it’s a bad thing done well
• I’m sure there’s other things I’m forgetting but OH
• Before Agatha finds out she’s actually a really strong spark (her locket hides her abilities and I might go into detail later about how that could work) she can’t do anything right or function well enough like the other people and she thinks there’s something wrong with her and she’ll never amount to anything (big mood there)
• And then she loses the locket (it was stolen) and then she starts to break through and then realizes the full potential of her spark once she’s in an environment that supports that potential (kinda like getting a diagnosis and then put into supportive group therapy or getting stim toys or what have you)

My re-read had yielded a lot of realizations for me, clearly. I’m willing to talk about it more if anyone has anything good to add that I missed

(Source: vibecheckinwitch)