Arc 15: Colony

Transcript

Speaker: Worm is a web serial by J .C. McCray, also known as Wildbo. You can read Worm in its original format by visiting parahumans .wordpress dot .com or donate to Wildbo's Patreon at patreon dot .com slash wildbo. This story isn't intended for young or sensitive readers. Readers who are on the lookout for trigger warnings are advised to give Worm a pass. For a complete list, check the description for all of Worm's trigger warnings.

Speaker: Good morning, Brockton Bay belt. Oh, those crevices cause skidders coming in.

Speaker: Wait, what's the crevices? Belt up your crevices. Belt up. Oh, belt up. Okay. Okay. That works. shall i make sensitive areas oh to Oh, I got very confused. yeah yeah yeah makes sense It was good. That was good. That's on me, honestly. I just didn't get it, but it was a good one. It was a good one. Let's reassure Alan more that his intro was good, please. Alan, you have such great intros. Good job. I don't need this right now.

Speaker: ah What we do need is arc 15 of worm yeah yeah halfway through the halfway through the arcs by number. I don't think we're halfway by word count. we don't have to get there and yeah it' we getting In the immortal words of Mr Incredible, we get there when we get there. thank Exactly. Wow. We always bring up the Incredibles and it's already happened. It is the go super speed run. Yeah. Well done. any percent Anyway, here we are. fifty and It's a good long arc. Got some good we' got four interludes in this arc. I think 10 full chapters and a lot that happens.

Speaker: I don't want to waste any time. I don't know if you guys want to waste some time, but we could just dive right into this. We will anyways. Yeah, I mean, we're going to waste time obviously. If we aren't wasting time, are we even doing a good job here? Yeah, we're not. we I mean, we have to. It's almost like a requirement at this point. Exactly. An interlude to the main podcast. yeah We know you guys love that. The nice thing about this ah this whole arc though is that it does kind of have some nice clean ah scenes. but Not everything blends together for the first time in a few arcs. So we can kind of split this up. Hannah, if you want to break down the first couple chapters for us, perhaps? Heck yeah. Heck yeah. The interludes do a pretty good job at ah breaking up different sections ah pretty nicely. So ah we have chapter one.

Speaker: of Arc 15, Colony. ah We get some information about Bitch's people, the the her henchmen. Taylor gives the undersiders ah their spider silk costumes, which is very exciting. We find out she's kind of been doing that in the background. And they have a little bit of meaning to decide ah if they're going to turn on coil to save Dinah. Um, and I'm going to stop there. Oh, also I would like to say really quick, uh, oftentimes I get, and then rewrite a lot of these summaries, um, from a post by steam Rick on space battles of all of these, uh,

Speaker: you know, a lovely collection of, of, of summaries here. And most times I kind of use them as reference and then rewrite them myself. This is the my, my, uh, my summaries today are straight pulled from that post. So thank you so much. steam rick ah I appreciate all the hard work that you put into that post. A life -saving post referenced many times. Were there 80 ,000 words? this Oh my God, were there really? That's like a whole, that's like a whole small romance book. Yeah. That's a good eight hour read right there. Yeah. You're doing some voice acting. It's a lot. It took a while. Yeah. This, this arc, uh, it does feel like the the second time reading it, uh, the story, now that I know it a little bit better, although, um, as I've said before, I'm definitely, there's a lot I've forgotten.

Speaker: It is, it is interesting to kind of see the rise and fall of the different story beats. And now we kind of have a new, uh, long story arc being introduced to the fight against coil. And ah this is, you know, it's, it's much more relaxed at the beginning of the arc, but that's kind of nice coming off of the slaughterhouse nine arc, yeah especially with the climax there with the mist and the pathogen and everything being so chaotic at the end is kind of a, Nice calm start in a weird way, even though it is, of course, still very tense in its own way, just in a quieter way. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Speaker: it feels nice to be getting back to some semblance of normal after all of the chaos. And I think Alan probably said this in our last episode, but I agree with it that like, I love the day to day, the normal, the normalcy of a day in the life of a villain. So we're kind of getting back into that a little bit more. And I like that a lot. imagining that like TikTok trend where it's like, welcome to my morning routine as a influencer. As a villain in Brockton Bay. It's an influencer. Let me show you my morning routine A version. Version A. Next is B version. yeah It's an influencer, but ah all they do is like influence by power. It's like, hi, I'm region. I'm an influencer.

Speaker: yeah

Speaker: truth. No, this was, this was fun to get to see because we hadn't seen, we hadn't seen any of, um, bitches henchmen's powers, right? Yeah, I do love that. Yeah. I was trying to remember if we had seen them fight and I just forgot, but I don't think we did. No, cause bitch has been, has fucked off for a long time. And this is the first time we see, I feel like we see her hench people period. I feel like we've seen, we've had mention of them maybe before, but it's been very vaguely and never in relation to their power specifically. like yeah they were They were introduced the first time that Coyle proposed, ah not the first time he proposed the plan, but the first time he was basically outlining where everybody would be. He pointed to Barker and Biter, I think, and said, they'll be with you, bitch. They can, like, they can handle it, ah whatever you throw at them.

Speaker: I think that's the only time we've seen them though. Otherwise. Yeah. yeah like how they were I they were just mentioned. Am I I remember the description of a biter in particular with the giant jaw. Yeah, that's true. You're right. You're right. But again, very brief though. Yeah, not too much. We got broke arm girl as well. Did she have powers or no? I couldn't tell. No, she, her power is that she was training for what? Veterinary school. Yeah. of that That's right. That's right. That's what it was. Yeah. I love how they were asking Skinner for help on how to talk to bitch. Yeah. What a great, what a great set of lines there. Yeah. I love that. i I also love how subtle or not subtle how Taylor's response is very much like,

Speaker: Yeah, ah it's none of my business. Figure it out. yeah Like no help whatsoever. yeah yeah god like Give them give them something. She gave them absolutely nothing. ah ah She did give them something. I felt like. Yeah, she did. She did. She did kind of help them. Give them some um basic a little bit yeah conversation tactics. She gave them a little bit enough to be like, look, here's what you need to know. but you know, don't, you don't tell her that I told you this is the other thing too. Yeah. It's kind of the feeling of like, yeah. Also, Biter clearly gets it. Like yeah he was just, yeah, like shut up. It's a job. Like just do what she tells you. Not that hard. Yeah.

Speaker: I did love how in this scene as, as kind of mundane as it felt and sort of slice of life that we're talking about. You also get the sense that Skitter has really fully embraced her, her villain persona and how quickly she takes down Barker with Barker, I think. Yeah. Oh, that was cool. It's just like you get this feeling that post Slaughterhouse -9, post Leviathan, post Lung, post everything that she's been through. And here's this here's this little just punk -ass bitch. Who the hell is he? yeah It's my cousin Vinny is who it look who I imagined.

Speaker: It's just like that. It's my cousin Vinny combined with ah what yeah either skull or bones from Power Rangers or whatever their name was oh i was so lost you're like referencing these people as like i have no idea yeah who we're talking about The vibe of them but put on to the actor from my cousin Vinny I don't I think I'm ah kind of i kind of get familiar with that. Yeah. With the full hard like like Brooklyn accent, you mean? and Exactly. Yeah. Okay. I got you. Do you want to see some of my powers, little girl? yeah Yeah. These youths running around here.

Speaker: I like it. Yeah. Yeah. No, that makes sense. That's good. And then we see all of the undersiders together for the first time in a while. Yeah. A little family meeting. I know. and Also before that, I just love Taylor going like, ah pardon me. I've got to step into my evil lair. Just join me in the, in the evil parlor bitch. And I'll show you the new suits, which means it's upgrade time. a yes We love a good episode. I have, I've now changed Taylor.

Speaker: a T A Y L O R to Taylor T A I L O R from now on. Oh, yes. She should have gone with that as her superhero name. If she'd just like gone full tinker, you know, I would expect Taylor to be the villain Taylor. Like that's why all my passwords are password. Like they'll never guess. They'll never see it coming. They'll never know. Exactly. Well, I do, I do like that moment and I do want to highlight how Taylor is really making an effort to reconnect with bitch and to be her friend again. Yeah. Because she's like, Hey, let me show you yours first. And so that way you don't feel any pressure to accept it.

Speaker: And, or, you know, it's a like it even. And I do love how bitch is like, I didn't ask you to do this. And Taylor's like, yeah, it's fine. It's a gift. Bitch is just the whole like, well, what do I owe you? And Taylor's like, nothing. Uh -huh. Sure. So what do I owe you? And it's just that back and forth of like, no, really, please. This is a gift. What girl has never been given anything for free in her life? yeah yeah Yeah, we get a little bit of backstory with her there. She says, ah the only people that ever gave me gifts are Coyle and my, what did she say? My foster dad. My foster dad. Oh, that made me all so so that made me sick to my stomach. just

Speaker: God awful, we already know that her background is is pretty bad and all the foster homes weren't great, but like hearing that just makes me, ugh. It makes me extra sick. But she also got a ah gift from Siberian as well. so Yes. But like that clearly wasn't a a gift though, like it came with ties. I don't know, I felt like it was more like an... No, I feel like that didn't come with ties, that was just like a, hey, you're kinda like me, here's a gift. Well, you don't think that that was had strings attached with being. Being a volunteered, well, not volunteered, volunteer old member of the slaughterhouse night. No, no, I actually don't think so. Like, like when we talk about strings attached, like I give you this and you do this for me. Like as a very, you know, what is it? Quid, quid pro quo. Like this is more like, let me show you what we're like.

Speaker: And like, here's the, this is, you know, a gift to represent like that you and I are kind of alike. Like obviously there's ulterior motives and like trying to influence her, but this isn't like a, you now owe me, which is what the gifts are usually like implying. I, I took that a lot more is that like gifts with strings attached in general. Yeah. It's like, it's a great area regardless. Yeah. Yeah. It's not a, it's not a good association. No, it's not. But at the end, like their way Siberian didn't get upset with bitch because bitch then turned around and fought her and been like, damn, I gave you a wolf. Like, and you're going to go attack me. Like that would be like, oh, there were strings attached and you messed it up.

Speaker: Like nobody was upset over that fact. Yeah. And she keeps the, you know, obviously she keeps the wolf. She keeps the wolfy. Yeah. I see that as something. Yeah. I can understand what you're coming from. I see what you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. Any other thoughts on this chapter? Why are they bitching at Alex so much? yeah

Speaker: evalkalo I love that. like i love how like She just goes with the flow where regardless of what they're doing. Alec is just like, I'm sure, I guess, whatever. I don't care. yeah like love Dude, the world's ending. Yeah. like plus And they're like, but we've got to do this. He's like, I am not disagreeing. How do you not understand? I'm just saying this is why I'm doing it. Like yeah I'm trying to communicate with you people. And apparently that upsets some of you. I mean, communication is hard for this whole group in different ways. So yeah, they not good communication port. Thanks.

Speaker: I do have a power question, because maybe I'm sure that I just read past it, as I have done many sections of the story. Because Shadowbird's there too, right? Because she's just basically following... Yeah, she's basically Regent's shadow. What happens when Regent goes to sleep? I was thinking about that too. They put her in a pen. They have a holding cell. Yeah, they have a holding cell for her. Like pen four or something like that? Yeah, they mentioned it. Isn't it at Coyle? Is it not at Coyle's base? It's in Coyle's base, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, that makes sense. It's a part of the arrangement that he has with Coyle. Yeah, I think so. Because at one point they put her they put her in the cell later on in the chapter where ah Regent takes over ah what's his face? The vampire. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker: Oh, okay. Okay. That makes sense. It does. getting I was getting huge like a silver chair vibes with that thought. We're like just for, for a few hours, the hours in which he probably wants to sleep the most. Shadowbird's mind is free. Like just drama with her and like oh yeah evil, evil character, but still it's just like, oh, he's probably got a sound proof. like one of those at his place though, right? Oh, he has to. There's no way he's traveling to coils every time. He would not do that because he's arrogant and that's just too much for him. ah this just Like no way. Uh -uh. I just imagine that she just, you know how they talk about how she just kind of grabs him under the armpits and floats away in a very undignified way. I just imagine him doing that every night to deliver Shatterbird back to the coil.

Speaker: ah's funny well then she's got imped now right he's but's that's just a man name walk aster They are bonding. Good golly. I mean, I like it. I think that that imp deserves to have ah a bit of a fun friend here, but yeah, and not all these stick in the muds for real being super serious. and it's like ah fact that alec is the

Speaker: yeah like so and Interrupt any time, please. like the Alec is like the best friend for her in this scenario and he's as fucked up as he is. Yeah. It's it's still like, well, okay. Alec's okay. He's not that bad. hes only He's only killed a few people. he's Only a couple. It's that terrible. Yeah. He was worse. He was worse in middle school. I think we can all agree you know i mean Everybody is yeah, I mean who doesn't have you know who hasn't done maybe consensual orgies and a lot of drugs in middle school like show of hands, you know, but you know, he's over that now he's matured now that he's 15

Speaker: scene Oh dear. It's not great. It's not great. Yeah. We'll move past that. ah We were talking about power questions. Here's a power question. Justin, life in general, should friendship be the goal? The question she asks herself. Man, I was thinking about that a lot.

Speaker: I don't remember that question, so you're going to need to remind me. So Taylor is like talking, you know, about bitch and she brings up the, you know, trying to be, or she's talking with bitch and being like, uh, I'm going to, you know, do this thing and bitches questioning her motives. And she's like, should like, I was friends with her. And then all of that got backtracked, you know, ah one step forward, a hundred steps back with like the betrayal and all these other things. And she's like, so.

Speaker: when I work back up to a workable condition between the two of us, should I even be aiming to be friends with bitch? Or should I just aim for like cohesive coworkers? Yeah, amicability. And you know this brings about the thought I've always had, which is like ah some people just aren't supposed to click personality -wise. You don't need to be friends with everybody. You just need to like make it amicable and I was thinking about this with, you know, Taylor's personality and how she's, you know, she has up into this point been like going wildly out of her way to be friends with bitch and kind of like why. And I think this was a good examination for her of like, do I even need to be friends or do I just need to make this relationship work? Getting deep over here. I think um Taylor has a bit of a, a bit of a fixer complex.

Speaker: Yes. Bit of a savior complex in the sense of. justice me Just Just a smidge, right? You know, if if we haven't caught on. And I think that this is her maturing in a way to realize, you know, maybe I don't need to try to save bitch from her loneliness. Maybe I can just work with her. And if that happens to help, then great. But if not, it's not my fault. Yeah. Bit of a, bit of a maturing moment, perhaps for her. Yeah. I just wish that. Maybe she would make that connection with like other areas of her life, not just bitch. Cause yeah, no, that savior complex comes in hard for Taylor. And I'd like to think that she like looks at the henchmen and, you know, them trying to figure out bitch. And she's like, Oh, there are other people that are kind of doing that naturally. There's not maybe be not good at it, but like they're clearly asking about it, which I feel like is more than a lot of people get.

Speaker: I think they're also asking though, out of survival, they're like, I didn't say it was a great reason, but they're like, but Hey, like you clearly are able to talk with her. How do we, how do we do that? You know, as opposed to just, you know, sucking it up and trying to like bite her, like he's just kind of sucking it up and going with it. You know, and it works for him, but you he's not, ah yeah. I just think it's a ah good question to ask and also good for life. Yeah. It's kind of like, you know, as a kid in, you know, we're kind of doing this thing now with, uh, having our son at the HES.

Speaker: But, uh, you know, it's kind of like, if you're going to invite one kid to the birthday party, you got to invite all the kids, you know? Um, and so we're kind of taught from a young age, like, you know, try to be friends with everybody. And that's a good start. I think it's good to teach kids to be social, but at a certain point as an adult, you kind of realize, yeah, it can't, I don't have to be friends with everybody. I'm not going to be friends with everybody and that's okay. Yeah. Yeah. And we have to remember, of course, Taylor is still a kid. She's still learning that process. And I think there's still kind of that temptation as adolescents to want to be friends with everybody. And you feel like if I'm not friends with everybody, something must be wrong with me.

Speaker: yeah There's a ah more offshoot to that. There's a curriculum called Our Whole Lives or OWL for short that some churches use. And the reason I really liked it back when I used to do some youth pastoring, was because it had a lot of just practical life lessons. And one of the lessons in the curriculum was essentially for younger kids, oh, just how do you determine what makes a good friend? Essentially, how do you pick and choose people to be friends? How do you be friends? And I was like, dang, that's some good life lessons that I didn't get at all. Because why would you? I would have liked that. I would have liked that as a life lesson as a kid.

Speaker: Yeah. Cause it's just be friends with everybody. Like, you know, because you have to, cause that's what you're supposed to do. And and then you realize like, no, some people are terrible and you should not hang out with them. Yeah, that's interesting. Moving on to chapter, chapter two, the the first interlude. Yeah, so the first interlude is from Carol's perspective or ah as we also know her as Brandish, Glory Girl and Amy's mom.

Speaker: ah We get a little bit of her backstory of her and Lady Photon's trigger events when they were younger, how Marquis went into the birdcage and Carol ended up adopting Amy into their family. ah That's kind of like our flashback moments, but then we come back to the to the front again where Panacea has been found finally with Glory Girl, and we find out that she has basically fucked her up, and she turns herself in and goes to the birdcage. What an interlude. Godly. This one was rough. Of course. This is a major oopsie -poopsie, I did a little fucky -wucky moment. Yeah. And of course Carol and fucking Alan know each other.

Speaker: i I know, right? Shit. Oh my gosh. It makes so much sense. These lawyers. oh Yeah.

Speaker: yeah what ah What a backstory. What a trigger for her. What's Lady Photon's name? It's Carolyn. whats sarah Sarah? Yeah, I think you're right. Sarah, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God. like they were Like that's awful. Basically, I guess being trafficked, like they were in a fricking shipping container. Yeah. That's what I was getting. my there was it was kind of kind of and like Maybe they had been kidnapped, yeah but I'm not entirely sure either. yeah it' It was just a kidnapping.

Speaker: I mean, if it was the kidnapping, I mean, I like, they're basically locked in a large box with barely any food and no light. And, you know, this which sounds like a shipping kit container to me, but that's my, that was my assumption. But yeah it like, sounds bad right completely. Oh, sorry. Her actual name is Sarah. Okay. Yes. Oh, that's right. Good. Um, yeah, ah just, you know, locked away. not knowing what's happening to them, not knowing what's going to happen next. And just, oh my gosh, what a, like we, we ah know that, you know, these events are like spawned by super stressful moments, but holy crap. Like that is just, yeah. Golly. Yeah. Oh, the,

Speaker: I mean, again, it's it makes sense for the way this universe works, why there are so many more villains than heroes, which we'll find out a bit more about in a different interview. yeah um But I am honestly surprised that they became heroes um in some ways, just because I absolutely see that becoming a vigilante thing. Although I guess it kind of makes sense. They didn't go with the PRT. They didn't go with the typical route of becoming heroes. They said, no, we're going to do our own thing. But it does also kind of make sense why their family is so screwed up. Yeah. Yeah. Just a smidge. It feels like the things that

Speaker: that, you know, because we've we've talked before about Regent, like his emotional stuntedness, perhaps, is like, you know, it affects him functional functionally and, you know, with his powers and everything. And like, it it seems like with Brandish, with Carol, it's, you know, she even says, to to her sister that like ah it took me forever to trust you know my husband. like I don't know if I can trust somebody else. like I trust ah Victoria because I grew her inside of me. like And then that's the only way I could trust to have somebody else this close. like that that Your trauma shapes you. like We know that. But in this way, like oh it just... it Gosh, yeah.

Speaker: Man, ah this is just a oh ah thing that like always weirds me out is when people talk about about children like that. ah Like there's a whole ah for anybody who reads Colleen Hoover ah in Verity. And I think it's the dad talking about the kids while she's pregnant. Like this gave me that same vibes where I was like, I don't like it when you talk about kids like, yeah, I knew, I trust her because I grew her in my body. I'm like, well, don't, sorry that that has some real, it's it's creepy and I don't like it. I don't like it at all. Yeah, no, it's it's a bit weird. It's a bit weird. um Okay. I got to say to you a couple of things um about, say about Amy.

Speaker: um I didn't know how old she was when she got adopted. and it and I didn't remember it, first of all. yeah But I genuinely forgot that I thought she was like a baby. yeah So to have, what, a seven, eight year old girl? Well, ah she I thought she was a toddler. I thought she was like three or four. Oh, she's like five or six. They say six. I think she's six. At least. Oh my gosh. To have her like sitting in the car with the window cracked hearing this woman go, I don't want this kid. Yeah. That makes it so much worse. watching After just watching those people almost kill your dad. Yeah. Good golly. It's no wonder she's got issues with... Yeah.

Speaker: And, you know, I mean, I kind of feel, I kind of feel for Carol because. I mean, basically to be told you have to adopt this kid or it's going to ruin her life. Yeah. I mean, that's a terrible situation to be put in and I, I kind of blame. the Sarah, her sister and the other heroes, yeah basically being like, rather than it being a conversation of how can we best care for this kid? It basically just being like, no, no, Carol, you have to do this. If you don't, fucked up you're going to fuck her up. Yeah. That i'm sorry their worth is just such a huge messed up. Yeah. Oh, that hurts.

Speaker: ah you know No one else, no one. Is there no adult in the room? like it Honestly, just the idea that, okay, you, a superhero, who's married to a superhero. are the best option for you is going to be for this poor little girl is to take her in and cause more turil turmoil, more distress in her life. like it doesn't like Can we get a social worker in here to be like, yeah, you guys, this is not a healthy space. And this kid needs to be in a space that is healthy for her to grow up in and to feel safe in. And clearly, this is not a good position for her to be in, to be raised by the heroes that

Speaker: that put her father in the birdcage. Like who who OK that it just feels so stupid. I think it's interesting to get their point. Oh, go ahead. ja yeah I was just going to say, I think it's kind of interesting that this arc or this chapter comes in this arc where we we already have talked a little bit about, and we'll talk more about in this arc, Taylor's sort of superior superiority complex and this feeling that she wants to be in control of things. When that's the exact same thing is happening here. like it's It's Carol and Sarah and New Wave being like,

Speaker: weird new wave. We can do things better than the government. Uh, and obviously we're the only people that can handle this. So it's gotta be one of us that takes care of the kid because like Scott, we're part of the responsible. Yeah, it's all exactly. It's like, it it's just arrogant it selfish it's, it's oh, it's awful. I hate, I hated that whole scene so much. Yeah. I think I've written a like, they're not bad guys, but, Fuck. I hate their family so much. Yeah. Really? Yeah. yeah Not, not good people. On the other hand, I have apparently a penchant for liking bad guys with cool powers, but it hits different. I forget how powerfully it's about like, man, why was he so powerful?

Speaker: Like he can do bone things like, okay. So he can, he's a bone better. Like, okay. So he can shoot, you know, he can shoot Wolverine claws out. I forgot. He just turns into a sea urchin at one point, like not at every pore. And then, and then his own shards like can turn into like grow more, like Like a little bit, like they turn into little caltrops basically and they're like popping off and breaking and exploding everywhere. my so damn So for me, I and don't know if John McCrae is a fan of Naruto. However, there is a character, I believe in a

Speaker: uh, filler arc of the anime who has a very similar and it's one of the filler arc. I think it is. I'm not entirely sure. I don't remember, but it's one of the coolest. I remember it being one of the coolest fights in Naruto and it's the same power. Basically the character's name is Kimi Maro. Um, and his whole thing is bone, bone manipulation. And it's so cool. And I like, that's just all I can imagine when I see this scene. And I think that might be part of why I really like Marquis power. And I also kind of like the gentleman villain vibe. I know he's a bit of a, I love Maybe he's a bit of a misogynist or something. I don't know.

Speaker: but like but he's got the gentleman villain vibe down and i love that for him yeah I'm getting like reading that scene. And this is maybe because I just watched Django again, but it's very like Leo DiCaprio. Oh my gosh. He's got the robe on, you know, smoking a long cigar. Oh, you caught me at such an inopportune time. Oh, I stepped down on my whiskey. just yeah I also loved that you get the sense... i think they I think Carol even comments on it. You get the sense that he's holding back, probably because he doesn't want to accidentally kill Amy, who's right behind the closet. But like yeah he could have won that very easily and didn't, and ah plays into a lot of that. Marquis is a very mysterious character, and it sort of aids that mystery when a character that could win doesn't. It's like, ooh.

Speaker: You know, what's the value more than winning right now? He's okay with getting captured. Ooh. Not who. but who and yeah yeah He's a really good character. I like him as well. I love basically how all the heroes are like, this guy breed it with someone. Oh my gosh. This guy fucks. Oh, and obviously. ah but Where? Gross. Disgusting. Just so I can avoid it.

Speaker: ah But again, reminder, because this was 80 ,000 words, I guess, or 78 ,000. Thank you, Michael. 78 ,000 words. did Did they mention ah who Amy's mom is? ah No. he says He says that her mom, he didn't even know that she existed until her mom passed away from the big C. which is cancer, ah and we don't really know. I mean, she's not she's not named. I was gonna say, was she just a fan of his? I think it was a fan is what he calls her. does Is she named later? I think so. Jacob, by the way, you said that. I was like, but was like wait. Oh, no, no. That wasn't me like trying to hide a spoiler. I have no memory. i took I did not know if that was the thing or not. no Just to let all of our listeners know, we have no clue what the fuck is happening.

Speaker: I was trying to remember if I just forgot it and it was mentioned in this chapter or something, but okay. Nope, we're good. Anyway, fun, fun interlude. Any other thoughts? What do you need to talk about? We we gotta to get to that a bit the the scary bits. I forgot that was the end of the interlude. You're so right. Yeah. Okay. I need, I need you all to give me what you think Glory Girl looks like because i the what i have but image I have in my head is not what I think is accurate and like the assumption that I've always had in my head of Glory Girl is so confused now that I don't think I accurately have an image of it in my head.

Speaker: so ah ah Nick, you were close there. I wasn't thinking of that scene. I was thinking of of their mother is what I was thinking of. Yeah, basically. just um Essentially, something that once was human, but is is no longer. ah

Speaker: Yes, but that's not descriptive enough. Spilling over the edge of the bed is what did it for me. I was just like, yeah yeah I'm looking for a good image. which So here's the, here's the I want to read it because I think it's worth reading. I'm going to, I'm going to read it. yeah It says a caricature, a twisted reflection of how Amy saw Victoria, the swan curve of the nape of the neck. The delicate hands and countless other features repeated over and over again throughout. It might even have been something objectively beautiful had it not been warped by desperation and loneliness and panic. As overwhelming as the image in the situation had been in Amy's mind, Victoria was now equally imposing in a sense. No longer able to move under her own power, her flesh spilled over from the edge of the mattress and onto the floor.

Speaker: Uh, I don't know if any of y 'all have seen made in abyss. Oh my God. There's a lot, a lot of torturing children and body horror body horror. Yeah. A lot of, uh, I think it's a really good. It's a serious, at least the first season. I haven't finished the second, but man, there's a, there's some puddles of flesh in there and it's, it's rough every time. And that's what I imagine. It's that. Uh, and that's what, that's what I imagine. Yeah, that. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I think there's a character. as I think what it is is she's in her mind. She wrote, it's, it's warping both the panic of trying to fix her mixed with now there's all this extra material. She's added to her body, trying to save her from what, uh, what crawler did.

Speaker: on top of the fact that she already probably has a slightly perverted view of her sister due to all of the issues we've talked about before. yeah And what that turned into is this, I mean, essentially almost like a biblically accurate angel where it's beautiful and horrifying and way too many limbs. And I think the swan curve of the nape of the neck is kind of what fine what gets me this idea of ah like a ah human head, but on a really long neck. is Yeah, yeah, it's it's pretty pretty it looks like I don't you guys watching that you have oh Gosh, I'm trying to think of that guy who does the really creepy weird like carnations animations Meat Canyon yeah yeah like it like a mix canyon and Ito and yeah yeah yeah exactly Did you did you end up finding a picture Jacob

Speaker: I found too many. Sorry.

Speaker: ah Sorry, I asked. Jacob, you weren't supposed to add the tag rule 34 to that. What? No, bad. Get back. so i opened behind me see michael you know even

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Speaker: oh Anyways, but yeah, right so this ah it's horrifying. It's what you should know. yeah It is horrifying. It's like and the idea that, you know, she heard the image of her in her head has, you know, yeah, but literally what you what you just read, Nick, it's. Oh, awful. On to. ah Well, actually, before we ski but say on to happy chapters, I will say I did love the image of dragon watching Amy go into the like welcoming arms of her father in the birdcage. It's just like eerily, it feels poetic, but for the wrong reasons, it's just like, oh, it's so good. yeah Also, you can ask for the birdcage.

Speaker: That's something you can do. I guess so. You're just like, man, I think I'm harmful to society. Put me in the birdcage. Like what? I mean, it's a life sentence. Yeah. I think it's like volunteering as tribute in the Hunger Games. Like nobody expects you to do it, but like you can like, Oh, okay. I mean, okay. I guess. Yeah. Cause I'm thinking like, I couldn't be like, Hey, I just want to go to jail. Like you can't just do that.

Speaker: I think they've done what she has done. And you said, you know, I think I should go to jail. I don't think they would stop you. Hmm. Yeah. Like i if you went up to a, if you went up to a, a precinct and said, Hey, I just killed a guy. Here's where the body's buried. Here's his thumb that I stole. I think I need to get locked up. Like they'll probably lock you up. ah ki you know I mean, people have turned themselves in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's it weird, but it happens. um are we got are Are we good to move on? Because I did just realize we are 45 minutes into this and we still have 11 more chapters. Yeah.

Speaker: ah yeah court amer Yeah, so I'm gonna clump chapter two and chapter three together. ah So chapter two, the Undersiders secure Regent's territory, defeat Othala, Victor, Rune, Knight, and Fog. And chapter three, Regent takes Victor as a hostage. ah Taylor gets upset that ah they didn't give her an advance warning of the plan, and she feels like she was so a little stabbed in the back here. Mm -hmm. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker: ah yeah Fatigue is kind of a reoccurring thing in this arc. A lot of fatigue going around. Yeah. Yeah. yeah I can see that. its It was nice seeing a seeing some more Night in Fog, as always. Yeah, heck yeah. It was fun seeing them talking about maybe - I'm just getting trapped in a little box, I love. That was pretty nice. I'm wondering how they were going to take them on. like little Little bits of them try to get out. I just imagine them going like, but Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on

Speaker: lead out there crying into his hundred dollar bills streaming. No, hundred dollar bills, singular. He can only make one hundred dollar bill. buts And it looks like Monopoly money or something. yeah it did all Did Uber survive Leviathan? I don't know if we've heard. I think they both survived because they bugged out. they Oh, that's true. Yeah, they both kind of. There are a couple of bitches and ran away. Yeah, fuckers. Yeah. So I don't know. It's kind of an interesting, I don't know. It was kind of a, felt like an easy fight for people who have been so scary before. I think, I think it is just kind of this idea of like, well, compared to the Slaughterhouse Nine, like really the only scary member they have is Knight and Fog. And you just put Fog in a box and keep looking at Knight so she can't transform. And

Speaker: Yeah. The blinking thing was very smart. They did it. They won. Yeah. I think a lot of this is just when they have time to prepare, they fuck shit up. Like, you know, when they had time to prepare their fight for the, for the slaughterhouse nine, they took out two people. That's true. That is true. Yeah, that's a good point. But again, you kind of spoke to what kind of what I mentioned earlier. you you kind of just I feel like this fight is useful in the sense that you start to see how much better the Undersiders have gotten. I mean, granted, they have Shatterbird, essentially. So that helps a little bit. Just a little. I do love, though, how Taylor's like, listen, you can take control of my bullies, you can take control of a mass murderer, but I draw the line at taking control of racists.

Speaker: yeah I can excuse everything else. Yeah. i I wrote in my notes. Taylor gets called out and it's about damn time. Yeah, for real though. I do love that. Again, it goes back to Taylor as a protagonist. I can understand why some people might not like her because you start to see pretty quickly she does have a superiority complex. Yeah. And this is where it comes out, I think especially. Where it's like, it's like very high taking control of Victor without telling me. And they're like, yeah, we couldn't tell you because you'd say no and we'd have to yell about it for hours before you agree.

Speaker: yeah We ain't got time for that Taylor. Just waiting for like one of the racists to be like, you Taylor, you and I were not so different.

Speaker: We have morals. You know, we believe in the superior race. You know, we just differ on what they are. Yeah. Wasn't, that wasn't the beginning of one of these arcs where she's like, yeah, yeah. Powers make you feel like you're a better person. Cause we kind of are. Cause you are. yeah god We'll get to that in a second. Oh no. the Fuck you, Taylor. No, but also I'll just say it again. Yeah. Just to get just so do you get it? I still do not buy how hung up Taylor is on Dinah.

Speaker: Oh my God. It got so obnoxious than this. one It's so obnoxious. And it's, and I really do feel if like this is not even a dissecting worm thing. This is more of like, we're talking about just writing. Uh, like I, maybe it's just though the format of the serial and how it was written, obviously. But there is such an aside for the slaughterhouse nine that disrupts so much of the Dinah plot. that it makes me separated. Like if we went straight into, I'm very concerned, we helped like this and you know we went straight into that, into season two. The problem is we had the le Leviathan fight, which, you know, whatever. And then we just kind of like get an odd mention of Diana here or there for an entire set of arcs. And now we're back to it with a vengeance.

Speaker: which yeah like, don't get me wrong. i I like it, you know, but I didn't like, I liked the story. I did not like the pacing of that the first time I read it. I thought it was really weird. I didn't like it the second time. I sure as hell don't like it the third time. And I just keep getting more and more reasons why I don't like it. um And, and As everybody know from the dissecting worm podcast, I really hate how quickly coil is just shown to be the dude in charge. It just seems so odd, especially considering like the entirety of season two just kind of thore throws a wrench in the works of, uh, what I would consider a, a good flow to a story. Um,

Speaker: so i like i like the thought I was thinking about this while reading through it because I am in agreement with you here on and this one, Alan. I like the idea, and this has kind of been reframed a bit on my second read now, where Dinah is really just Taylor's external justification. for wanting to take down coil. yeah It's what she uses to try to convince people that she has a good intentions. And I don't think it's entirely conscious. like I think this is sort of subconscious with her. like I think she does genuinely want to free Dinah. ah But we clearly clearly see that she's fine making concessions all the time.

Speaker: And I think if we're just talking about it and it's the superiority complex and this desire for control, that you're really starting to see Taylor just not happy being under somebody else's thumb. And knowing that right now, Coyle has total control over not just her, but the city. And that's ultimately what she's fighting against and is just framing it as, well, i got we got to free this this this poor girl. yeah You know, I, you and I will discuss a lot of this in the dissecting worm, obviously. And my issue isn't that, you know, cause I agree 100%. She, Dinah is an excuse for Taylor. Um, you know, and, and she can be an excuse and also be a genuine issue that, you know, you, you need to deal with those. Those aren't mutually exclusive. Um, but my issue is literally just the timing of it. Like it's literally just a pacing issue for me.

Speaker: I would be okay with this if it was just, like I said, if either slaughterhouse nine got pushed off a little further, you know, these, these whole arcs go by, you know, quickly. Some of these are like half a day and you did 14 chapters and I was like, whoa, how long did that take six months? And they're like, we did that this afternoon.

Speaker: Don't forget, we are still like, what, not even six months. We're still like, what? Maybe four months from the beginning ah Taylor said that she says later that it's been two months since she moved out two months Yeah, two months. So it's been like three months since the story started. Yeah. Yeah, you know yeah that's Yeah, so like I just wish maybe you know if if you just put a put ah put a little extra time and

Speaker: but some other some mundane things some day-to-day stuff And then, you know, have her worry, build up that tension of like, man, I really got to rescue that Dinah. And then we can deal with the slaughterhouse nine interrupting all the plans that she made, but, you know, for another podcast. I think it doesn't help too that we haven't seen Dinah in so long. Yeah. Like I think if we had been presented with her again in a visible way, like maybe coil really needed her help visibly. Um,

Speaker: And other people saw that, maybe that would help too, because it would be the reminder of not just this is Taylor's, you know, issue, moral issue that she has a focus on, but that, okay, it is pretty obvious that Coyle is abusing this person horribly and that does need to change. It would, it would make it a bit more relatable maybe if we saw it again. yeah Because right now it is kind of easy to forget about. Yeah, out of sight, out of mind. Yeah, exactly. That's just sort of this vague moral thing that Taylor is stuck on. but Oh, no, the morality. That's it. I know, I know. taylor Taylor's sense of morality is such an interesting thing to me um and how it continues to evolve and change. And I think that'll come up later when we talk, you know, we hear the conversation with Flechette and Parian.

Speaker: Um, cause I think that on the other hand, she gives, she makes some good points about morality later. but Yeah. This is kind of a ah silly point to be like, I'm so surprised you didn't tell me about Victor. And they're like, course we didn't tell you Taylor. Well, the door got to understand.

Speaker: And I do appreciate, I don't know if it's in this or in a previous one, but at some point, somebody calls her out and says, we always do what you want, and you're always manipulating us. I think it was in the previous one, maybe. It's Alec. It's Alec, yeah, just talking about it. What is it, Ayesha and Alec show up and then just like nail her to the wall again. The one -two combo of just being right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I do gotta say though. I think she deserves. yeah Yeah, I think she does agree to move on from this section though. Um, one of the saddest lines I think is just so follow being like, it's okay, Victor, you don't have to stay with me. You can sleep with other people if it makes you happy. sleep with other people

Speaker: Yeah, that kills me. Like, it's so sad. And I mean, obviously, Tattletales trying to disrupt the whole, ah you know, the whole ah dynamic of their of their relationship. And, you know, she's trying to get under their skin. But like that, that quiet, like, it's OK if you and he's like, stop it like this. We're not this is we're not talking about this right now. Like, come on. or Would you love me if I was a worm? Oh my god.

Speaker: And that's where they said, that's where it got the story title. Damn. Oh my god. So ahead of his time. yeah I know, right? Actually, I did put in a note here. ah At one point, Victor is called the a talent vampire. And then someone else ah says that ah fog surrounded by the glass is like a death blender. And I wrote, wow, lol, wild bow is on a roll. He's like, he's like titles like talent vampire, death blender, like heck yeah, let's go. Yeah, those are crazy. Every time that hattletail starts like bullying people,

Speaker: Man, it hurts so much. I feel bad for them. I'm like, why couldn't you be merciful and just like beat the shit out of them more? like For real. like She opens her mouth and I'm like, damn. like and Why do I feel bad for the Nazis? No, I love it. It's that charisma that's that charisma D and &D class coming in. Just like, you know hey, I'm going to just talk my way through everything. that's yeah Yeah, they do that and then they're like, yeah, we've already talked about this. We've hashed this out. This is the stuff that we've, and I'm like, oh, I'm here for it. I'm here for, they've already talked this out and they're like, yeah, but are you ready for this? And Victor's like, yeah, we have this little thing we do called communication and we talk to each other about hard issues. Have you ever thought about that? And I'm like, yeah Taylor, you ever thought about that?

Speaker: um sometimes oh But you know, she she does. I appreciate it. but Speaking of communication, now let's talk about hot Brian. Should we say sad Brian? Just sad Brian. Down bad. oh yeah lou brian ah Blue Blue. Brian. Blue Brian. Yeah. Shall we, shall we go to the, the interlude? Yeah. Yeah. So the next chapter we can tell, Oh, sorry. No, no, go ahead. and and yeah ah Yeah. So the next chapter is our second interlude of the arc from Brian's perspective. Uh, Brian is kind of dealing with his trauma, trying to figure things out, exploring powers, uh, granted by second trigger event and.

Speaker: He kisses Taylor.

Speaker: I do love being ah inside Brian's head and also seeing Taylor from the outside. Yes. I'm wondering where you were going with that. starting I love being inside brian b Brian's head. Everyone wants to be inside Brian. Totally makes sense. yeah sorry Sorry to undercut that, but that's a good point. I i do agree. naked so Yeah. It hurts. Yeah. Yeah. It hurts. Uh, seeing Taylor from the outside though is so interesting. I love the little detail of him just saying, Oh, she doesn't look both ways before she crosses the street. I should probably tell her that's not normal.

Speaker: Yeah, I think that's cool because we there's so much that we miss, so much of the little things that we miss about her because it's in it's from her perspective. So like we don't see you know that weird the weird little quirks that happen, not looking both ways before you cross the street. And because of that, we're getting that skewed perspective. And I think Kat said this in one of our early early episodes of that, like Taylor being an unreliable narrator, And I feel like that just kind of comes in pretty well here from Brian, seeing how, you know, how she is. And yeah, I really enjoyed that. She's got lots of angles, but kind of cute, though. Wait, what did you say? She got she got lots of angles, but kind of cute, though. I looked at the whole internal monologue of like, yeah, I mean, she's not she's not that good looking, but I mean, like, I mean, I guess I mean, it's so yeah you know, shoulders. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, i' still I still hit it though. It's so bad. As much as I enjoyed being in Brian's head, like their whole interaction just is so... I think I wrote the most notes about this interlude because it i I hate... ah i i remember one of the things i remember about my first read through is that they like i remember that they got together i think but like i don't know if they actually did or not and so this made me feel like oh yeah i guess they are kind of like

Speaker: They like each other. though They're going to hang out. like I hate it. I hate it so much. It's so upsetting. i i You don't love her. you You just don't want to be alone. And bonding over trauma is bonding, but it's not healthy. It's heartbreaking. and it's can't i just I wrote all the no's and ughs and I just can't. It's so upsetting. like he deserves He deserves to have a moment of peace. He deserves to have this comfort when he like can't find peace within himself. But Taylor is not the right person to find that in. like She can come across as very mature, and we've talked before about how it's easy to forget that they're all teenagers, but like she is still a child. And it's it's if it were anybody else, this would be such a huge red flag. like The emotional connections are so disproportionate.

Speaker: and like She cares for him way more than he cares for her. And he's hurting. He needs the physical comfort, which is absolutely valid. And of course, she's going to like read into that and and ah just, oh, I hate it. I hate it so much. Both Brian and I were on the verge of a panic attack just reading this arc. Yeah. Like, like, yeah I mean, he, he definitely needs some help. Um, yeah. And or using Taylor is not going to be helpful in the long run. You need some, some therapy. Yeah. I love that we can tell this chapter, you know, at least for writing, it's Brian right away. As soon as I hear punching bag, I go, yeah, Brian.

Speaker: which is you know just a little writing thing where like if you have small things, hobbies, drinks, just little details that make ah characters unique in their own little way, and then you associate that with them. So like right away, they're like, I hit the punching bag. you know I'm like, oh, it's Brian. You never need to say it's Brian. I just know it's Brian. like We are, we know our boy when we see it. If we're like, ah, I went out for, yeah. Oh, I put on, I, you know, I, I went out, you know, and started running my daily run. I'm like, Oh, it's Taylor. That's, that's super easy. Like, yeah. Right. Yeah. I knew everyone's secrets all the time, but I'll never sell, tell anybody and behalf of the time is wrong. Yeah. ah No, no. It's like, Ooh, cute top. I'll bully her. like oh like this taddle

Speaker: No.

Speaker: no Uh, I also love this version. I think we got another interaction, this whole thing with Aisha and Brian. And man, I know I hated Aisha. I say hated. I, you know, whatever on her now, cause she's a little shit. up until like this arc and she's so good. Oh my God. she's She's just, her power is to just read people like a fucking book. Oh my gosh.

Speaker: i know I love how Aisha has like that definition of street smart, where she just has a really good sense of her certain her surroundings and like people and who they are and what they want and all that kind of stuff. And her power just works so well with that. like She just gets her brother so easily. And the confidence that she has when he's like, oh, I don't want you doing that. Like, well, I'm going to do it. It's I've been doing it and it's fine. Yeah. Yeah. ah She's the youngest of this group and yet feels the most mature sometimes. It's weird. Definitely. fun i definitely feel Very independent.

Speaker: yeah yeah for sure the fact that she's been marking pieces off on the map at like having taken care of them while gross been stuck in his own head like and you know understandably but she's just been kind of doing it by herself she's just been handling it and like she doesn't really know how to talk to her brother she doesn't really know how to deal with what he's going through. And so the best thing she can do is like, well, I'm going to step up and I'm going to take care of our territory. And I just, what a peach. But I also do get that you can also tell that she's really young because she's got this crazy power and her way of fucking with people is like, I'm going to rearrange their furniture and they're never going to know. Like, oh, they're going to be so scared.

Speaker: like Like iced, or is that what it's called? Say what? Is that guys? Is that what? No, that's not the right word. That was like guys, the spirit of the, like, no, no, no, there's literally a thing. Yeah. Walter Geist. Walter Geist. Thank you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, whatever. I can't even say it now. That's literally what it is. Right. Yeah. Pretty much. Yeah. Stop has moved around.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of, a lot, a lot of you guys get into a bunch of fairies and stuff that like fuck around, which is why like imp or, uh, the old school gremlin from like world war two, which was you you blamed bombers and stuff, you know, crashing or pieces of equipment. breaking because like, Oh, the gremlins got in there and like loosened the bolts. I totally remembered to tighten those, you know, you'd blame the gremlins. Yeah. And so I imagine that's like with imp, it's like, where did I put that screwdriver? And it's like, ah, the imp took it. Also, if I was, if I was a, uh, somebody else who like in another crew here and I fucked up, like,

Speaker: Oh, boss. Oh, you'll never believe it must've been him. None of us remember it. I totally would. I was totally on the ball about that, but fuck, you know, the mind wipe. I didn't remember. i'm like She taken it. Yeah. why Why did you say all of that in like the witch's voice from the potions and no no no the youth potions? She needs it. and have It was down a little bit of a cauldron pile.

Speaker: No one can hear what you're saying, Nick, it's fine. It's all right. I'm just saying we've lost 99 % of our audience there. so don't Those who know, know the rest of you look up Tinder witches. It is it' so nice. it's so in you what and i it is like I feel like. I feel like does really well because it it, you know, covers the variety of worm. It's good evil. What is morally gray? What will you do to get it? Like, you know, it's got all these complicated issues, you know, real ethical quandaries. We have so much to do.

Speaker: the railroad and The rest get this a couple next couple bits kind of she Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm just gonna keep moving if everyone's cool We're just gonna skip the kiss because we're just gonna pretend that didn't happen Okay, we're gonna pretend that didn't happen. But the the matching breathing like laying next to each other Is so real. I don't like it. It makes me upset You cannot like it. That's just what like I don't know but y 'all for me. That's what I do III catch myself doing it I'm laying next to someone. I'm breathing with them. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Sure thing. Yes. It is a thing. It's like, it's like the sandworms, you know, i got you gotta, you gotta, you gotta stay off beat, you know, stay off rhythm. Oh God. Okay. Uh, okay. Uh, we're going to move on to a chapter four and

Speaker: Uh, I guess we'll do chapter four, chapter five, chapter six, I think is what we're going to do. Go for it. Uh, so chapter four, uh, Aisha threatens Taylor, uh, to basically like, don't mess with my brother or I'll take you down. ah Information on all the travelers and undersiders territories is kind of laid out. And Coyle asks Skitter to make sure that the mayor doesn't have the city condemned. And Tattletale notifies Taylor that she realizes Coyle is planning to kill her. ah Chapter five, Skitter talks with ballistic to try and get more information on the travelers. That does not work as they move into

Speaker: Parian? Parian? Parian is the move into Parian's territory and she sneaks off to try and convince Parian to join the Undersiders. Fluschet is there. Huzzah. And stab Skidder. We love it. Chapter six, Fluschet, Parian and Skidder have a little bit of a conversation talk, ah but Fluschet is having done a bit and Skidder ends up giving Parian, Parian, Parian, I'm so sorry. Parian, money to leave the city. ah We're going to stop there. Actually, you know what? Fuck it. We're going to go on, we're I'm going to read chapter sevens too. Taylor does get back home and gets her stab wound looked at um and is multitasking when Parian shows back up and agrees to an informal alliance.

Speaker: That was a lot. I know, but I believe in us. we got do it yeah This is the part where Aisha and Regent nail Taylor to the wall. yeah Regent called her out before. Aisha calls her out here you know the in the Brian chapter. And then here we have both of them. Yeah, this is yeah a good bit of time or a good a good few chapters. I can speak, I promise. Also, this is Uh, something we were talking about before, you know, things like Taylor believing that she's superior, like just the idea of superiority being a reoccurring theme in this arc as a whole. Um, also the idea of other people, uh, us seeing a Taylor from other perspectives. Um, this feels like a very, like very pronounced arc for that in particular. Cause we're going to see it from.

Speaker: you know, not only has Regent finally called her out, Ayesha has done it doubly. So Brian is looking at her and, you know, judging her in ways that we have not seen really. And we'll get further along when we talk about, you know, uh, how the public sees her and how heroes see her and all this other stuff. Um, well, I just thought that was really interesting. Um, so very new, uh, uh, yeah. That being said, does this chapter in particular, feel like a very different thought process for Taylor than normal. I didn't get that vibe, but elaborate. Like, like we know that Taylor has a bit of a savior complex, yeah but this is the, like, but it's, but it's like, she doesn't realize it. And this chapter more than you know what comes before or after feels very

Speaker: blatant, heavy handed, Taylor is like, I'm better. I can do better than other people. Super people are better. Like kind of, I don't know. It just stood out to me as being really heavy ah in her thoughts, you know, heavy writing for that. Yeah, no, I get that. It felt very on the nose of her being like, yeah, no, I'm, I'm definitely better than the average person. um yeah Yeah, not it's it's hard to know because. I don't know I kind of go back and forth on it because it's hard to know does she mean like morally I'm a better person like I deserve more out of the world some a better person where she just saying like practically.

Speaker: I can do more than a non -powered person, which is true. I i mean - Yeah, she's had that thought. She has that thought when she's you know running to like save people from all the glass. She's like, this is one thing that I excel at. ah She does that, talks about that when you know managing her territory. like This is what I'm built for. I'm really good at this. you know There are the some things that like other people just can't do this, but this this is a level of like, this is not like confidence. This feels like, arrogance. it It just felt felt very different than any of the other chapters, honestly.

Speaker: I think part of it too could be because this is where she's trying to convince Coyle that she's worth keeping around because he kind of does the little round table like, how are you doing? How are you doing? And everyone's doing okay. And we're kind of struggling and skidders like incomplete control, no threats. Everyone's got food and water. We're up and running. Like she's she's intentionally being very confident. of what she's done. So I wonder if that's sort of spilling over into her internal monologue that we're reading too. Yeah. So maybe maybe it's sort of a psych up, you know.

Speaker: Yeah, that's what it felt like to me that she's trying to prove herself in this moment, like, because they're all telling, you know, coil about their territories and it's, it's not great. Like they, a lot of, uh, the travelers haven't really done much. And then we get to, to Taylor and she's like, yeah, there are no threats. There are no problems. There is nobody sitting around in wait. Like we're, we're good. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's like, uh, I scared some people and I have two people that are going to maybe call me back about helping and Taylor's like, all right, look, I know y 'all are struggling like Texas in the winter with infrastructure, but I'm set over here. Like I've got a hundred employees. Yeah, almost 200. You know, we're trying to rebuild this. I'm actually setting up new highways. Um, we're going to be laying fiber down next week. Uh,

Speaker: hot water's running um and I'm hosting the Oscars. So yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. I mean, she's got it. She's, she's, she's got her territory under control. And yet even with all of that, she's worried that Coyle is going to get rid of her, which I mean, she should be worried. It's been something that like Brian's been talking to her about since they divvied up territories, like, well, you know, be careful when you make deals with Coyle. But like, so, so her arrogance, I think, to me, it came through very much as like, she's trying to prove herself as much as she can. And like, even when she, she, you know, volunteers to, to go with ballistic and, and deal with area. Well, I will never get it. aan ah They're all kind of like, yeah, you stepped on his toes. Like everybody notices it. And to her, she's like not,

Speaker: aware of that as much as she is being useful to Coyle in this moment. So I think that's probably impacted her decision quite a bit by, you know, beefing herself up, beefing up her resume, as it were, in front of everybody. It's like, well, if she's going to get dropped to the curb because of her deal with Coyle over Dinah, that, like, she has to prove herself. And so she does kind of have to work harder than everybody else. I don't think this has anything to do with proving to coil. I think this is just like she stepped on his toes and she doesn't care. Like she knew she was stepping on his toes, but she was like, maybe I can get an in figure out what the travelers are up to because you know, savior complex. I want to try yeah on one hand, figure them out kind of like bitch. And on the other hand, see if they're cool with betraying coil, you know, and third, I think she just had, you know, uh, Perry and,

Speaker: She feels really bad for, um, because, you know, Parian is kind of what Taylor would have been in a sense. You know, she's a rogue. She's not PRT. She's not a villain. She's just taking care of her people that are like literally her family members and she, you know, and, and the small area and she got fucked over. And, and, you know, not really the, the undersiders fault, but like, Uh, they were, they did kind of push them in there a little bit. Uh, the slaughterhouse nine into there. So she's like really feels bad for her, like really sympathize with her. And she's like, I'm not about let ballistic just walk out there and plug her. So yeah, she like went over there to intentionally step on ballistics toes and also maybe talk to him.

Speaker: Yeah. I mean, she definitely had the intention of, of trying to save slash recruit Parian, uh, to some degree. Yeah. Cause like best case scenario, she's like, Hey ballistic, why don't we talk this over with Parian? You know, and then they walk up and she's like, this is what talking's like in ballistics. Like you condescending motherfucker. you know I mean, she has a condescending motherfucker. Yeah. I kind of get the sense and I could be wrong. I don't think ballistic likes Taylor very much. i why yeah very ah yeah now Most we've seen or heard ah ballistic speak all ah serial so far. It's like the longest conversation he's ever had. And it's just a fuck off.

Speaker: Like he does tell her to fuck off like every other sentence. Yeah. How many ways can I tell you to screw off? Let me count the ways. I like Taylor even though she's like, damn it. I'm not tattletale. I don't know how to do this. Yeah. Yeah. Also yeah like, you know, I don't like ballistic, but of course he's suspicious. He's just been dealing with tricksters ass this entire time. Yeah. well You know, it's one of those things where like a combination of most people see evil in the world because it's what they would do because they're secretly just assholes. And like, also if you just are working for an asshole, like, you know, ah same thing with bitch, you know, that theme still running of like, you know, there's no free gift. It comes with stuff. And since I've only had shitty foster dads or in this case, shitty foster friend.

Speaker: Uh, fucking trickster, you know, no wonder he's like, yeah, I don't trust you. I don't like you. The world's ending. Fuck all this. Fuck you. Fuck everyone. I'm out. I do love how seriously he takes that though. Like, obviously this is a completely different universe, but in our universe, he would sound like, uh, like an in times prepper. Whereas like, yeah, the world's ended in two years. I'm just gonna make as much money as I can, sleep around as much as I can, eat as much as I can. I don't care who gives it to me. It doesn't matter anyway. Like, and okay okay, boomer. yeah You know, it ain't going to be around for long. You might as well enjoy it while you can. Cause uh, when, when the government comes up, I've worked too hard to get here where I'm at.

Speaker: I just got to say, I do love that there they're all just fine. like I know Dinah has a pretty good track record with her predictions, but like I mean, it's just a prediction of the future and they're all just like gospel truth. We got two years, people. like It's over. Yeah. Yeah. There's so much time between now and then. like so So much could happen. It just feels like they're... I don't know. yeah Especially in the town entirely because canonically her numbers change all the time. Yeah. As like coil is like, what about this? What about that? Oh, well now it changes. Now it doesn't. Like, so I mean, the world could very easily not end people. It's okay. Like things could change. is This is kind of funny. Yeah. But we get a good scene with, uh, with Taylor Parian and Flechette.

Speaker: Yeah, so I love Taylor like we're talking talking about, you know, dealing with bitch, dealing with parry and dealing with flechette, dealing with ballistic. She, for all the things that I get, all the criticism I get her and for her reasoning being potentially shady. She takes these extra steps to reach out and try and understand people. And I really respect her for that. Yeah, that is true. Yeah. And at least we do see that her ah her hubris. gets her in the end when she's like, I'm just going to be tough and that let this person stab me. Oh no. It's the one person who can stab anything. That was kind of satisfying. I won't lie. She was being so cocky. I was like, well, good. It's about time you got stabbed a little. No, I didn't like it. I didn't like it. She didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve this whole goddamn conversation.

Speaker: I mean, it's that is that meme, you know, famous last words. What are you going to do? Stab me?

Speaker: Yeah, I think that while Alan, while you love this conversation, I think I just. Taylor still doesn't get the fact that she's a villain and that everyone sees her as a villain. And I think this was the arc, like specifically later chapters when she's at her dad's house, like she gets suddenly gets it like, oh, people see me as scary, as dangerous. And I am scary and dangerous. Like she doesn't think she is. And she's like, oh, yeah, I'm just going to come. Oh, hey.

Speaker: Arian, we're gonna, it's fine. It's fine. Just come on over to art. No. Why did you think that would work? I don't understand how Taylor doesn't get it. She still sees herself as such a good guy. I'm like, you're not. And she's shooting for that too. She spent so much in arc what? Uh, 10 being like, Oh man, like, what do they think of me? Do they think I'm big and bad enough? You know, I got to really put on a show here. Yeah. Like, I don't think they think I'm mean enough. And then finally here, she's like, I'm really nice guys. Trust me. I'm like, did you not spend so long trying to build the image? Like just trying to really nail the image.

Speaker: that you're a big bad guy who should be, so you know, people should be to be scared of. And then suddenly you're surprised when they're like, wow, she's a big bad guy that you should be scared of. Okay. New theory. Taylor's bugs, you know, in the same way that we've talked about, you know, uh, Rachel having dog brain, Taylor's bug brain is sort of like ADHD where if it's not right in front of her, she won't think about it. Yeah, she doesn't realize that people talk about her, which is not around. She got no object permanence. Basically, you know, like she had a bunch of people out of her base, you know, purposefully scaring them and she's like, oh, they're fine. You don't think they're going to go tell people. Yeah, the heck woman.

Speaker: um And obviously that's not true because she is also a chronic overthinker, but um yeah and no, it is kind of this. On the other hand though, it is so frustrating because this has come up before with Panacea in the previous chapter arcs where like, no, I can't help you. You're a bad guy. And Taylor's like, woman, please, we can work together. No, you're, you're a bad guy though. And I'm a good guy. Oh my gosh. And that's exactly this conversation too again with Flechette and Perry and it's like, but you're a bad guy skitter. And she's like,

Speaker: please listen." And they're like, no, no, you're a bad guy. And of course they assume that she had something to do with what happened with Panacea and Glory Girl. Instead of the Slaughterhouse -9 having something to do with it, they're like, yeah, probably skitter. Yeah, to be fair, I think there's a lot of misinformation going on within the PRT. That's what I was going to say, yeah. Because we have the notes, we have the receipts, like Arms Master wrote down

Speaker: You know, maybe a little biasly, but like their first meeting, like, ah, I met this, this young, this spry young lass who was trying to do some heroing. And you know, she helps me with the lung fight and that was pretty cool. And she was like, Hey, how about we work together? And I was like, you're, you're, you know, you got some gumption kid, like we'll talk. And then ever so everybody knows that she wants to be a hero. Like everybody knows a whole reason she was with those guys. And she kept reporting back to arms master was so that, you know, they could do that. We have the notes on that and people have access to that and talk about it. And yet despite all that and her public, you know, confession, uh, that arm and miss master, you know, did just outs her like people are like, nah, she's evil.

Speaker: I would argue though that like if you look at the people who argue against her the most that are that are so adamant, they're like, well, you're a bad guy so I can't work with you. Are the two people that are part of the the wards are part of that you know wards extension of New Wave or whatever, but it's Panacea and ah freaking what's her name? and And Parian is very much like, well, I don't know, we should listen to her because she's, yeah she I don't feel like she's gotten as much of that like trickle down, ah you know, brainwashing a little bit that comes with being part of anything, you know, connected with PRT, like because she's rogue.

Speaker: It's not yeah like the idea is like if it you know, the people who seem to have the biggest issue with the like, well, you're bad, so therefore I could never work with you are are the people that are like very imbedded in the PRT, you know, superhero political world. Yeah, ah like also, ah God, This whole conversation when Flechette shows up, it is like, uh, excuse me. The lady said no. I'm like, I'm sorry. What's sort of fucking a white knight at a bar? Are you fuck off? And then the whole conversation is just like, no, no, like ah fuck off Flechette the entire time. Like Taylor's here. She's like, Hey,

Speaker: She just wanted to offer you some aid and come check it out. I know you have concerns and flush. That's like, uh, you need to step off. She said, no, like bitch, like she can talk for herself. In fact, they could have a conversation like nothing about. Yeah. Like I, I know the public perception. i I know all of that, but like, She has been clearly open to dialogue constantly. The the entire slaughterhouse nine is like, hey, PRT, just giving you a wrangle jangle, ah letting you know we're going to attack.

Speaker: We would love your help. Oh, sorry. Uh, let me get the director on the phone. Uh, go fuck yourself. Okay, cool. Then, you know, the wrangle jangle. Hey guys, thanks for all the help. Um, we took down two of them, uh, and we're going to do some more. Uh, but you know, we'd love to hear back from y 'all and they're like going to leave on red and they just keep doing that. It's like, I'm sorry, but. She has been consistently trying to talk to you and you have consistently just shut the dialogue down. Like.

Speaker: There's so much, there's so much frustration here that is completely justified i couldn't tell and and some that, you know, I think I need to make a jingle for whenever you like in post. I'm going to make a jingle and put it over your rants so that it's like, we know that it's an Allen segment. It might be good. and dream Yeah, exactly. Yep. There we go. you've You've now entered the Allen zone. Yep. yeahp Yeah, I mean, it is definitely a frustrating conversation. That said though, Skitter still does presumably the right by Perry and is like, look, I'm just going to give you money. Do with it as you will.

Speaker: yeah um And then Taylor does, the there's this great scene with the medical. um Who's the doctor? What is his name? Is it Brooks? Brooks, who's the doctor? Brooks the medic. Yeah, in brooks that yeah i i I don't know why. I just really like Brooks the medic. So cool. I very much enjoy that. He's got to be Eastern European. He's just my go -to. Yeah, I think so. Don't move. It'll be painful for you. it Like just such a great character, like minor, minor character. And then just Taylor under surgery, multitasking, sending bucks around with cameras, yeah talking to Perry. I have a head cannon at that point in time that if she died on the table, she would just keep doing the like boat, like the bug clones and like try to go back to her body. And then like, like she goes to like, all right, now time to wake up. And it's like, huh?

Speaker: I seem to be a body down. They're like, Oh my God, she's dead. And she's like, guys, you're like walks in as a bug swarm guys. Did y 'all fuck up? The conscience, the consciousness has just been transferred to the thousands of bugs in the area. Yeah. Yeah. ah That's the kind of immortality that we. look at also Also, I'm glad that we got to it later. But like, Taylor, all you had to say this entire time was like, hey, come to my territory. That way, ballistic doesn't kill you. Um, just live there. I don't need you to do shit. Like, I just want your people out of firing range. Come to my territory. If you want to, I don't know, make some clothes for people. That'd be great. You know, don't call yourself a villain. Just you live here.

Speaker: I'm not going to tell you really what to do, but, you know, there's some social community aspects and she's, and she just, but you should have pitched that first. You really should have. Goes back to Taylor's not as, not as good at the conversation that she thinks she is sometimes. Yeah. She's real good with a strategy, but not so good with people. Yeah, exactly. yeah ah they we get us We get a quick, we get a quick number man drop. It's like, I got a lot of money. Well, when your accountants named the number man, you know, the coolest thing in accountants ever been named, who has been named dropped before, right? So we didn't realize, so realize he was their accountant. This is the first time we've seen a connection between coil and cauldron.

Speaker: Well, they mentioned, they mentioned a connection before. Oh, did they? Uh, yeah. Yeah. I believe maybe it was the legend interlude. Um, but this is, was like true didn mention it and they were like, we've got eyes on him and we're watching. I think they just straight up said like, what about coil? What about our plan with coil basically? But it seems almost like coil is helping cauldron, but unawares. Yeah. It's kind of the vibe I got. Uh, well, know how it, how it comes across a little bit in this next, uh, interlude. I was going to say a little bit, because I think there's something before where they talk about that he is in touch with Coltrane. He maybe is not aware of their plans for him, but they are sort of in like working together. Like obviously he's using the number man for his accounts. So like, you know, they're at least financially in bed together.

Speaker: Yeah. Well, it could be just one of those things though, where the number man said the number man may be approached coil or coil approach the number man, not knowing that they were connected to cauldron, but something like that. Yeah. The number man does consultation work elsewhere.

Speaker: What I was going to say, I wonder what his, what his, uh, his rate is per hour. Oh my gosh. It's not a rate. It's a percentage. Yeah.

Speaker: It's like, don't worry, I've already done the math. Don't worry about paying me, I'll figure it out. Should we just go into that interlude? where're We're halfway there. Yes. Yes, I i think i think we should. ah So the the next interlude is interlude number trace um with ah our main person being Alexandra from exel Alexandra's point of view. We get a little bit of of information on Alexandra's background, how she got involved with Cauldron. The founding of the PRT, the protectorate, the triumvirate,

Speaker: the first and bring her attack, which is behemoth, which is terrifying, uh, how Siberian injured Alexandria, a little bit more backstory back story in Siberian and different perspectives on that meeting that we saw before with the interlude with legend, um, from the previous arc. Um, but now from a different perspective, I forgot Uh, cause they, I, they mentioned it before off -handedly, but there's a book and movie franchise, I think in the, in this universe called the Maggie Holt series. Um, so I mentioned Rebecca, I think reading it in this one or that she was like, I'm going to die. I'm never going to read the third Maggie Holt book. Yeah. And I was like, we, I think we've mentioned that with panacea, panacea and Victoria at one point in time. And I was like, Oh shoot, this time I remembered like

Speaker: Maggie Holt is a character, and and a rather important character in Wild Bo's next to work. Oh really? Oh, that's funny. Yeah. And it's sort of a, like, she's in a set in a supernatural universe in this series, um, as you know, fictional, but in the other series, you know, she's in a, a less goofy supernatural universe. Um, Yeah. I just thought that was, I was like, Oh, that is fun. We're, uh, we're mentioning that pretty early. Cool. Cool. That's fun. Kind of a, kind of a cool reference for the super fans, I suppose. Yeah. That's great. Interesting. Uh, one thing I thought was interesting about this, this whole chapter was that because it, cause in the legend interlude from the last arc,

Speaker: It's it's revealed that legends potentially the only one in the dark because he needs the light detector to realize they're all lying to him. Where in this one, Alexandria would have been left in the dark. If she didn't, her power wouldn't have told her, like she's just too smart. Where they're like, he's like, well, we got to tell, Alexandria's got to know cause she's too smart. And, uh, Eidolon's gonna figure it out because of his powers. So, sorry. Eidolon's powers would just give him the power of knowledge. So yeah like he just turns on lie detector power. Yeah. So legend, sorry buddy, you got, you got screwed there. an Odd man out. Yeah.

Speaker: but uh interesting backstory on uh another one of the triumvirates formerly the quadumvirates what were they before uh hero i guess they were the triumvirate were they just the protectorate or just the the leaders of the protectorate yeah i think i don't think they had a official name because hero doesn't last long once he joins. So I imagine that i like very quickly they turn into like, Oh, that's the big three. It's like, uh, like two years or something, I think something like that. yeah Yeah. Um, yeah. And I think originally it's interesting too, that they make hero in legend, the faces of it.

Speaker: that Alexandria purposefully says, I don't want to be the face of it. Eidolon shouldn't be the face of it because nobody would believe the government could control him. And so you have essentially, you know, the the weakest of the three, I suppose, plus hero who's a tinker. And so it does feel like, you're like, oh yeah, he's, you know, he's just the tech guy. um

Speaker: Yeah. But yeah, then I think that whole plan though, that she has finding out that this has all been planned. And the reason why they need it too is so interesting too, right? This idea of, listen, the way that people get powers is horrifying and there are tons of villains because of it. So if we aren't creating heroes, literally manufacturing a a market for heroes, we're going to be outnumbered and the world's going to go to chaos. So we have to make heroes and we have to organize them. So I think it's a interesting to see this, you know, the plans for the wards and the plans for expanding the protectorate all throughout the United States and all throughout the world. um And how she's already got it all kind of mapped out. She's like, this is what we're going to do. I promise it'll work. I've planted down to it, you know, crossed every I and dotted every T and it's ready. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, I do appreciate their, her recognition of understanding that like, yeah, we're going to, we're going to be outnumbered if we don't do something about it. Yeah. We talked early on about like, you know, I remember the ratio being like one to six villains to our heroes to villains. And then they say at one point, like, ah, it's like more like one to two, one to three. You know, by the official count. And then we get back to this one and they're like, Oh no, it is like one to, you know, somewhere between one to three and one to 10. And it's going to get worse. Like, I'm like, okay. So one to six was pretty darn close.

Speaker: Also, we were just to clarify, we're a little off on the timeline there. Um, they all met ah the four sort of first protector. It's met in may of 88 Siberian attacked and killed hero in 2000. So they were, they worked together for about 12 years doing, yeah, doing hero work. Okay. We should look up when they become the triumvirate. Michael, when did they become back the triumvirate? Is that a more recent thing perhaps? Yeah, it might've been actually. Good thought.

Speaker: I love these. Uh, these are my favorite interludes, the world building interludes. They're just yeah yeah so much fun. i said um that our ground As a whole was kind of a banger. Like yeah it gives me all the things I like, which is solid world building inner interlude. Um, I like, I like these more time skippy interludes, like the ah assault and battery one where like, we're getting multiple little sections, you know, that build up to. present day and whatnot. So I really enjoyed this one. I really enjoy the mundane life.

Speaker: you know ah yeah are you know We do get some fun action. and ah yeah just i you know Some good conversations, really like this arc overall. Get a glimpse of the first end bringer attack, Behemoth's first attack. Yeah, I don't i don't remember Behemoth. And so getting a little bit of a snippet of that, like, oh, just the fuck. Point at a person, you did. yeah Power word, combust. Jeez Louise, what are we supposed to do? Fire from the inside out. Lock. Alexandria's like, I guess we're going to test if I really am invincible here. It's all the best. Oh man. We don't even see the end of that fight. That's so disappointing. Yeah. Little teased.

Speaker: Yeah. Every time. Okay. So Leviathan, I, you know, a pretty good idea of what Leviathan looks like. Samurf we've or smurg or however they pronounce it, you know, we've mentioned before, like I have a good idea of what it looks like, but behemoth consistently changes every time I read it. Like this time it felt like, I don't know. Obsidian glass Godzilla. Like, I mean, I think it's not the idea is I can't see it like it's a rask from D and &D, but like, so that's what I imagined. I imagined it was, you know, Tor Terra from Pokemon or like a Tarasque, but like, I don't know the size of a goddamn mountain. And this time I'm like, Oh, it's only 45 feet tall. You know?

Speaker: I work with, you know, uh, I work with trees. So like the height, I can tell you what 40 feet tall is. And that's, it's not that big in terms of monstrosities. It is a monster to be sure, you know, a solid 10 to 15 feet taller than Leviathan. And that was a bad boy, but in my head, it was like a Godzilla level problem. And this is more like, ah, this is like son of Godzilla. Sure. Yeah, I will plug again, if you want to see some great art of all of the end ringers, Sundara on DeviantArt has art for all three of them. And if we can share that on our social media, I think that'd be great. I actually have it scheduled to put up the Leviathan image this week. So, ah very cool yeah. And then, yeah, maybe with this one we can do, ah with this arc, we could do the behemoth one.

Speaker: um yeah Just because it does, it does a good job of illustrating what I think Behemoth would look like. He's got weird features, right? He's got one eye that's a little bit too low on the head. um yeah And he, it's a very strange creature. And the fact that it can, it it's such a big creature, but it attacks with such precision too, right? The pointing at somebody and then they combust from the inside, the lightning strikes. It's kind of a weird combination, like you said, of like a Godzilla Kaiju type of monster, but mixed with like lightning bending from Avatar the Last Airbender, like just this extremely precise boom, you're dead sniper shot. The control from a giant turtle thing reminded me a lot of Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda with those long fingers that I just imagined, like the the poke. And instead of like you know touching the

Speaker: the the key points and paralyzing them and shooting lightning out. but You know, that is not where I expected you to go with that, but I'm not gonna say - Nick, I would like to know where you were expecting me to go. Expecting behemoth to rise from the ground. My time has come. I never quite know where to expect you're going to go with those long fingers. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. No, no. They finally, they finally defeat Leviathan in my fan fiction and you know, he just does the shaky like jaw and then disappears into a bunch of cherry blossoms.

Speaker: they so they finish they finish so i try to mind finish no yeah anyways I tried to find the triumvirate origin and there's there's none that I can find so maybe the fans can find it and let us know. ah Yes, please let us know. Tell us how we were idiots because we couldn't find the triumvirate. No, we just need someone who's an absolute fucking nerd about the timeline. Like we're not nerds. We are just not about the timeline. Okay, fair. Listen, and we we are we are literary nerds. We're not mad. Exactly. We're not the number man here, okay? We're not, no. No. Stem, not my strong suit.

Speaker: Well, let's, uh, let's move through. We got one big chunk here and, uh, at last, she just gets like the metal thrown on her and she's, or she gets like, Hey, uh, we're the, you know, proc protectorate now. And then as like a presence, like you're making us proud. And she's like, thanks, Jimmy. First name basis with the president tracks. Yeah. Like that makes sense. Uh, All right. And then also, ah can we, oh, so much more we forgot yeah the Siberian fight. Okay. Just gets ripped in half. Yeah. it's bisec Literally. And then slap like backhand slashes, Alexandria. And she's like, ah, that I felt parts of my face hit my breast. I was like, oh, parts of your face falling out. Good God. That's never a good thing.

Speaker: Yeah, I think there's call that a a medical. yeah I think it's called an emergency.

Speaker: But I guess I also it's a good point because I forgot because she has like a ah ah glass eye. Does she have that? That doesn't just doesn't heal for her. She has that now. Yeah, I guess that she has that in present day yeah because I don't I don't think that Alexandria has advanced healing properties. She's just basically invincible. So she's never yeah she's kept young based because yeah I was about to say, but she's I don't know that it said she has advanced healing properties. You just can't. She still looks like she's 16, right? Oh, Lord, like we're like, I know she's like 50 now. She's like, looks like she's 18 or 20. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, I always assumed that she was like, I think I assumed she was like late thirties. Well, I think she is. I think the, the, ah the, the, the vile halted, like majorly halted the aging process. Sort of how, you know, like, yeah, yeah. I'm looking it up right now. She stopped aging shortly after adolescence. So yeah, 20, 2019 ish. Yeah, crazy. What a power. What a, what a vial. Yeah. She got so lucky too. They were not as refined as they are. And they were like, ah, one out of seven makes it. Yeah. If you're lucky, if you're lucky, that's the best vial possible.

Speaker: I mean, I mean, is there a better that we've seen so far? Is there a better set of powers? Okay. Eidolon excluded mister. Yeah. I need everything. and He's got to take a booster shots. It sucks. Yeah. yeah really you Sorry, can't be shooting up like a junkie every 20 minutes because I needed some more powers. You got to get more of that powers around here. I could really use a boost. She does have a great suite of powers though. Yeah. Well, let's save it for the end. We'll do a little, uh, who do you think has got the best powers? We'll save it for the end. Good point. Good point. Let's move on to chapter eight.

Speaker: Okay, cool, so ah the next bit we're also gonna lump together. ah Chapter eight, Skidder goes and threatens the mayor. The mayor's son is revealed to be triumph and just happens to have his girlfriend prism over for dinner. ah Chapter nine, Skidder sends triumph into anaphylactic shock and the mayor promises to do whatever she asks. um Uh, chapter 10, Tattletail is confused that Coyle didn't kill Skitter and Taylor goes home to her dad. Uh, and Coyle reveals that he has a way to fool Tattletail's power and to basically tell them that they should be on their guard when it comes to him.

Speaker: Oh, what a good ending to that little bit of that art too. Oh, it's so good. Yeah. This whole time, right part of the tension of the whole thing with the mayor is Taylor is being so careful. She's like sending decoy after decoy to stand next to Trickster and Trickster's like, where's your real body? She just points at another decoy. Yeah. Because she's so afraid that Coyle's gonna kill her. Fuck you, Trickster. And if anybody would do it, it would be trickster. Like, let's be honest, between trickster and genesis, it would be trickster. We've said their real names before, right? When they were hanging out masks off, right? What is trickster? If we did, I don't remember what they are. It's trickster and Alan, too. Honorary Alan. I mean, it feels close, honestly. It's a middle name, probably.

Speaker: I know what it is. I just want to burn i just know him fuck you think case just not say it. I don't think it's a spoil. I think we've said their names before. yeah fuck you klaus oh yeah shit that's right okay god I've been holding that in for so long. You know what? I get to the scene where they're in the house and skitters trying to spell the words out. Oh, my God. But it it gets me. It's that scene in Emperor's New Groove where Yzma's hitting the broccoli and she's like, yeah not getting it head out like,

Speaker: and wow i like how does he not see it? It's I assume it's a giant. Yeah, collage of bugs on the wall of the world. Like lightning bug season, you know, yeah like like as a neon yeah, the bugs are like flipping like they're like opening their wings. So there's like a giant, um you know, we're in a stadium. Yeah. i am sees it what turns around oh my god also that is do If this isn't just the most Batman rogue gallery break into the mayor's home bullshit type of mission. Ah, Mr. Mayor, it's us. I bet you didn't expect this.

Speaker: It's just so out of place. Trickster just gets foosro -dod into the wall and he's done. Oh. He's out for the rest of the fucking fight. It was so satisfying. Yeah, he gets fucking sky -rimmed and then just has the table right to the midsection like that. and If that had gone hot harder, we'd have two tricksters, and I wonder if those two like could swap places. We'll talk about Taylor being an unreliable narrator, because there's no way trickster survives if what she says is true. She's like, 600 -pound table that he flings across the room. like That's a dead trickster, if that's the case. Just kills him immediately. To be fair, she didn't fling it across the room.

Speaker: He kicked it. So once skidding, you know, and then time them a dealll but having, having been around log material that weighs more than 600 pounds. And you know, you do get tap with that. It hurts, you know, and you can be easily smushed 600 pounds. if If anybody is smushable, it's, it's, it's trickster. It's just very smooshy, easily smooshed. Also, he strikes me as a squishy. The absolute guts that Triumph has to just tell his sister to duck while he kicks a table over her head. Oh my gosh. It's like, oh, it's a great scene. He has to really trust her natural instinct to listen, because I mean, if it was one of my siblings, they'd be like, why? And then they get clobbered with a table. I can hear it in your sister's voice, too. Bye. Bye.

Speaker: Yeah, yeah this whole this whole interaction feels so odd to me. like It feels like such a power play by Coyle. If we know that Coyle already has plants all over within the government system, it's like, well, why why do you need them to go and like convince him. like do you Don't you feel like maybe the night before they go to DC, maybe this isn't the best? like feels like it's a It feels like it's a setup. And so when you know Taylor is so paranoid about it, like it makes sense like because the whole thing feels off. And then of course they're all standing in the dining room and she's trying to figure out like what is off about this picture? like No one's afraid. They're more frustrated and mad than they are afraid of being up against a bunch of villains. like

Speaker: something is off here. And so like from from the very beginning, it feels like a mission that didn't need to happen that felt like completely unnecessary and and just like goes downhill from there. It felt like a setup. Well, and the one thing there's a good reason for him to send them. Um, and it's something that like Flechette talks about earlier where like the undersiders specifically Taylor, you know, as skitter, is around all of these people who, you know, experienced these, we'll just say like corruption. So like arms master, uh, you know, deals with Taylor and all of a sudden he's a bad guy and all of a sudden he's getting locked up. You've got, you know, Amy like goes off a rocker and they assume, you know, ah, could be the slaughterhouse nine, but it also could have been skitter, you know, just consistently that happens. Skitter is like this corrupting influence as are the rest of the undersiders by proxy.

Speaker: So you throw them, you know, a shadowstalker is another good example. Once regents got shadowstalker, you can't ever trust shadowstalker again. Shadowstalker is an immediate out. Like she can't be there anymore. She's a liability. So even if they don't succeed, they show up to this house, they fail massively, they get out. You as a smart person who knows master stranger protocols goes, all right, did they fail or did they like mind control or threaten and then set it up to look like they got, you know, pushed out and the guys like, ah, thank goodness we beat them back. Now I'm going to go to Washington and you're like, um no, you're not like, we can't trust you anymore. We don't know if they really did get to you or didn't cause we don't know what happened in that room. Like, so I think it's just them being there regardless of whether they did it or like,

Speaker: or not, all they had to do was be at his house. And then that's good enough for everybody to be like, well, even if he goes to Washington the next day, it's like probably under the influence. So let's just go ahead and mix everything he says. Yeah, that's a good point. I don't necessarily see it that way because they do need him to argue for Brockton Bay to survive. I think it just shows while Coyle has a lot of people on his side, he doesn't have everybody. And once you find out that the mayor's son is a member of the wards and PRT, it makes sense. It's like, Oh, well, this is why he's not, you know, Coyle probably knew I can't get that guy on my payroll because he's too much of a goody goody. Um, yeah ah but I still need him to make sure that Brockton Bay stays around after everything has happened.

Speaker: I do think they need him to convince. I was like, look here, Coyle, if we're keeping Detroit around, Brockton Bay will be just fine. you know I think the other aspect of this too is that ah they, the undersiders have a ah small idea of how Coyle's power works, thanks to Tattletale, but they're not really, they don't have all the pieces. The audience does, we got to Coyle's interlude, but They don't and it's very obvious when you're reading this knowing how coils power works that this is just one of two options He's letting play out and that's like and that's more obvious at the end when all the sudden tattletales power just stops working on him She can't figure him out. This was clearly for whatever reason. This was the timeline that he chose to keep we don't know what happened in the other timeline, but like clearly coil is playing two steps ahead here and has

Speaker: a leg up on what the undersiders think is happening. So it's i'm like I'm so curious what what the other ah timeline happened, like what happened in that timeline to where Coyle said, no, we're going to keep this one. You know, yeah, I feel like that's what her powers reading off of like, right? Cause we're, we're, you know, normally he stays, he, he varies up his stuff, his schedule, uh, what he's, you know, who he's sending out. Um, but it's usually with generally the same intent of like, I'm trying to accomplish this, yada, yada, yada. Um, very few times.

Speaker: do Do i think he varies so wildly in intent but this is one where in one case he was just say in the room when when he's with tattletale i imagine in the other timeline he torture sir it's the shit out of her and she is feeling you know like. She with her power in this timeline is feeling that kind of, she's like, he means harm. You know, this is all hypothetical. He means harm. He's going to kill me. He's actively like, you know, the energy off of him is kill me energy. But at the same time, I'm also reading that he has no intention of doing that to me in this room. And I'm very confused. So like, I imagine that that's where the misreading is coming from as normally she could go, ah, the things are so close together. Like,

Speaker: I can kind of get a read on his power. And now he's like varying it wildly. We're on one side. He maybe has just murdered the undersiders and or tortured them. And on the other he will no ill intent towards them. Like he's like, I'm going to send them out there on a bullshit mission to just, you know, I'm not going to, I'm not going to do anything to him. And, uh, she gets a misread because they're so wildly different. And and we have to remember too, that, Coyle has known that Taylor has been unhappy with the way he's using Dinah for a very long time now. I have no doubt that what you said is probably true, Alan, that he has used alternate realities to get more information from them than they have actually given him in the reality that we know. And I would say I wouldn't even be surprised if he has the ability and knowledge to hide

Speaker: read one of the realities from tattletale, knowing what tattletale's power is. He maybe somehow can manipulate it. So that way she can see, Oh, this is what, like, this is what she's going to see. Right. Yeah. I don't know. It's yeah, it's wacky. I mean, he knows who Taylor is and where her dad is. Like, yeah. Cause you know, the whole EMT is being there during the glass incident. Like, yeah. He knows everything about them. I think they mentioned that ah one of the earlier chapters in this arc were like, yeah, he definitely knows a lot more than we were kind of just assuming.

Speaker: Yeah, no, you you get the sense in this chapter 10, the last chapter and in particular, you really get the sense. Like we know that Coyle's sort of a mastermind, but we don't we haven't for the last several arcs with the Slaughterhouse, not in town, haven't really seen him shine in terms of how he's using his power. He's just doing a good job of not getting attacked and staying hidden and all this kind of stuff, which is fine. yeah But now it's like, oh, He's, he's got a plan and everything is being executed perfectly according to that plan. And nothing is disrupting it. Like he's got complete control over what he's doing right now. And it's, uh, also Gary. That's ah we're talking, you know, for like reasons to hate somebody and like, you know, whether or not to make him more predatory. I think and at this right here, I think it's 15 .8 where

Speaker: He's, you know, is he doing this to fuck with them? He definitely is. He's setting them up to just be paranoid and whatnot. All of that is so easy to make me hate coil. You don't need to do anything else. Like I hate him for just how he's fucking with them right now. like It just makes actually more endearing to me. Yeah, like like fucking with them. Yeah. Yeah. It's more impressive as a villain, but it also is enough to be like there right there. The unsurety that like you could get outed like, so you know, empire 88 that he could go after your family, like the mayor's family, you know, all these things where he's broken the rules and gotten away with it. Like how do the undersiders not you know know that they won't be the next ones? I mean, they they suspect they probably are, but like,

Speaker: That, that enough is, is enough to, to hate coil, like just that uncertainty and his manipulativeness.

Speaker: Great character. What can we say? I was going to say fantastic villain. I love him. Yeah. and This one really cemented like, uh, you know, he's got a personality and whatnot, but this, this intrigue and messing with them really sold coil for me. Yeah. Like, ooh, really liked it. All right. Last, last chapter, last interlude. I, I just, one thing real quick before we move on. I've got a couple of things. Yeah. Okay. Just one more thing. I just, I, we can't move on without, without saying that like, to me, it feels like these chapters with them at the mayor's house. This is the moment that Taylor became a villain to me, letting him get so close to death and

Speaker: just that like quiet, like well, i have a I have an EpiPen, but I'm not gonna give it to you. And the knowledge that even as she's walking away that like if I had waited 10 more seconds, he would have been dead. Yeah. And like that that knowledge that she let herself be pushed and you know the how long can I wait until I break? like Well, you congratulations, Taylor. like You've passed the threshold. like You're a villain now. I i don't know. I think this this whole arc was a huge turning point for me and how I see Taylor. like i'm kind of um'm I'm over her bullshit.

Speaker: I think. You've proven yourself a villain here in this in this moment. You've proven to yourself that you are you are villainous. you are you know You're evil in this moment. you know This father, the mayor, is like begging for his child's life at this point. like Damn. And then she can walk away and be like, Oh, but Dinah, like, fuck you, Taylor. I was going to say, I like this because it's, I feel like there's a lot of awareness brought to Taylor's attention. And, you know, she's, you know, she realizes like, damn, was I about to do that? Like.

Speaker: And then immediately follows it up with like, she's feeling that while she's talking to her dad, she reads the pamphlets, seeing how others view her as she's kind of just had people, you know, show her how they view her this whole arc. I think there's, ah she, I think she's actually, oh, you know, I don't know about the next arc, but really there's a lot of processing that she's been ah going to be going through and reassessing, not necessarily coming to a conclusion, but probably reassessing like, Damn, we're back at square one. I thought I was one way. Now the other way I'm wishy washing and I need to do a reevaluation and we're kind of starting square one. Am I villain? Am I, am I doing this for good reasons? Am I not like. Yeah. And, and I think it I don't want to skip over her conversation with her dad too, because I think that that really yeah cements it for her.

Speaker: where she sees the paper about her and it says that she is prone to random bursts of violence. yeah She looks at that and goes, just kind of thinks, is that the way that people see me? like i'm just If you get on my bad side, I might just blow up and destroy you. and it's I think it is definitely a ah moment of reckoning for her where she realizes, oh, i'm i'm not a I'm not a good person. Yeah. She also takes stock of who she's become now, you know, and like the little things that have pushed her just a little bit further and a little bit further and a little bit further that she's forgiven herself for because it's like, oh, well, it was the ABB or, oh, you know, it was long or, oh, hey, it was these, these, these guys who had said they'd work for me, but now they're threatening children in my own lair. You know, like she's, she's given herself

Speaker: Her mission, and she's like, made excuses for herself. And it's, they just, we've gotten to a point now where like, Taylor, do you even believe the excuses you tell yourself? Yeah. Cause she, like up until now, these are all people that like, you know, these people, people's opinions, but this pamphlet, you know, she looks at it and it it kind of feels like an unbiased source, like yeah it's in writing, it's not, uh, somebody telling that to her yeah as being widely distributed. It's a fact on paper. You know, this is, yeah this feels objective in that way where like she looks at it and she goes, Oh shit. Like, and, and on top of that, this is, this feels like a very abstracted moment where she is in a not in caped situation and seeing things through uncaped eyes. Like.

Speaker: You kind of get that with Sierra and Charlotte and whatnot, but they're still like, they're in her territory, they're in her space and out here with her dad. She's not pretending to be a supervillain. She's not, you know, she she's walking a mile in a civilian's shoes kind of, and she's like, oh shoot, this is what people see me as. Like it felt odd to return to that sort of, uncaped life. Yeah. Get in, get inside there. It's a, it's a little humbling moment for her. A rare, a rare humbling moment for her. Yeah. and also is this the Second. Gosh. Like no wonder I'm going to go back and forth on this, but no wonder everybody kind of hates the undersiders a little bit. Cause as far as we know from public view, maybe just PRT, they have

Speaker: outed the secret identities, assumedly, Lisa has outed the secret identities of empire 88. And we kind of let that slide. And then skitter finds out Sophia, Sophia's identity when she shouldn't have. And we let that go a little bit, even though she immediately turns around as far as everybody else is concerned and like kidnaps and uses her. And somehow we let that go. And then she goes to a hero's house and attacks their family, which we know is a, like, those are all three of those are breaking rules that we've talked about. Like the heroes and villains will gather together and kill you or put you in the bird cage kind of situation. And we've, we've just kind of let those slide. And, you know, obviously they argue semantics about it later, uh, in the interlude, but

Speaker: but like, yeah it's no wonder everybody hates them. And also skitter in particular, like what the fuck?

Speaker: yeah yeah and and And just for maybe consistency of writing, how do they keep getting away with it? How? How has like everybody not just got on their case about this? That's literally the next, yeah, it's literally the next chapter is they ask all these questions. Yeah. So yeah I'm going to use that as a my transition because we're so, so close. Uh, no, we're not, we're not done yet. You know, this podcast within a podcast crevices below the belt. What the fuck?

Speaker: Like we we we went to the the bank heist and we're like, I'm going to shove it up their nose and in their eyeballs. But now we were very descriptive about where we're going below the pants, you know, classic Taylor move right there. Okay. So the next interlude, Jesus. Uh, we have, uh, Rory Chrysler or triumph as we know him. We look at Triumph and Prism's relationship, how Triumph got his powers, and Assault argues with the Protectorate tapes about how they should respond to the attack on Triumph and how they should go after the Undersiders. And Dragon and Defiant show up.

Speaker: don't but but Oh no. I love, I love, uh, I love, uh, uh, what's the Rory Rory's whole like is, are we just, are we just all ignoring this? I mean, we all love yeah, that that would be, me that's me in the room. Oh, so we're just not going to talk about the fact that arms masters here and everybody's like, shut the fuck up. shouldn't That's so great. I will not autistically shut the fuck up. I do love, I do love the way that paid is just like, if you have something to say, you should say it. I'm going to give you the freedom to say it. However, if you do, know you know, it requires us to do a whole investigation. And then all of a sudden we can't follow the slaughterhouse nine. Like, geez, triumph. Do you really want that on your conscience? Yeah.

Speaker: yeah Wait a way to put the pressure on her like skitter like constantly justifies shit like oh man ah can't do this. I can't rescue dina. It's like ah man. If you out arms master. We can't hunt the slaughterhouse nine. Oh convenient ah Damn, oh, that's great I love the passion in this chapter. I love how i love how angry the good guys are for once. It really feels like they've been walked over for the last 14 arcs. They really have. Yeah, because they have. And and now it's it's sort of bubbling over here and they're all just fed up. And it's it's good to see. It feels real. It feels kind of human. Yeah. We come down into that, into that like, oh, there's a quarrel.

Speaker: And we're going to, you, we see the lines divided. You've got what miss militia weld and kid win on one side and then clock blocker assault vista and, uh, chariot on the other. And I'll be honest in terms of energy, I get why they're like, why they're on the sides that they are. Uh, but I was actually surprised at which group was taking which that like. and Yeah. Not, not for any particularly good reason, just I was like, damn, I'm surprised Ms. Melissa Weld and kid winner. And like, yeah, we, uh, by the books, we, we need to go after them now. We need to make that arrest. And the other group being like, we are fucking tired. I would like to, uh, not do that. Um, yeah. and Like if they're minding their own business right now, maybe we shouldn't stir up trouble. Like nobody's hurt right now. Uh, so like, let's just.

Speaker: mind our own goddamn business and try and fix the city. And so, you know, once again, not strong reasoning on my part, but I was surprised at which people were taking which side. and and I think a lot of it made sense. Uh, the one that definitely was surprising was Vista being on the rule breaker side. Yeah. I think, um, but I think the rest kind of made sense where it's like, I mean, her name is literally miss militia. She is like the military incarnate, you know, you yeah Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which once again, why I expected like this goes back to the, uh, the trickster and wards fight where like, uh, welds like, Oh, we got to take you in. It's protocol. And the dude in tricks is like, dude, like, you know, it's not us. He's like, but we got to take you in for questioning. And he's like, you know, we're not going to do that. And he's like, but we got to take you in for questioning. It's protocol. Like that's what I was expecting the argument to be. And instead it's like.

Speaker: guys, we, you know, weld guys, we really need to, uh, to mind, you know, uh, ourselves and not do any rash action cells. Bitch, you started a fight. You didn't need to for nothing. Like, and now you're going to be like, ah, actually protocol says we stay back here. Cause that's what our orders are. Woo. Yeah. And assaults character here. I loved so much. Cause now that we've had the interlude, assault means so much more. And yeah he like him being this kind of smarmy, I get a little bit of somewhere between region and clock blocker, like smugness, you know, and cockiness, but also he's pissed. like Yeah. Like he's got the smirk on his face, but it's.

Speaker: It's there just because that's his natural like resting bitch face and he wants to get it there and and hurt someone. Yeah. Yeah. ah Yeah. Yeah, I think he even, Rory even says it at one point. That's like, well, clearly his anger is coming from a place of having lost battery and that all of that anger is finally being well, that was like, well, if I can channel that into attacking the people that just, you know, attack the mayor's home, like, let's, let's fucking go. Like we're tired of sitting on our butts, not being able to do anything that actually helps. Yeah.

Speaker: I love they're listing off the people like we've lost all of these people on it. Damn. That's a lot of people. And then somebody's like, well, yeah. And also shadow stalker. And there's just like a, yeah, but nobody gives a fuck about shadow stalker. She left. We don't, we don't. Yeah. I also like the, uh, where they're like, I mean, they just, they, they outed one of our own. Like, what if they do that again? And I think it's Miss Melissa's like, I mean, Tattletale probably knows who we all are by now. It's not really a secret. Yeah. Yeah. They probably have like, they know all about us. So, I mean, it's not really a question of, of if it's more of when

Speaker: I also liked um i liked ah Triumph's little breakdown of the scene too where they were like, everyone's thinking that they went in specifically to out Triumph and Prism. And he's like, no, I don't yeah i don't think so. Like he's putting it together that there's something else going on. That trickster seemed pretty stupid to me. yeah I don't think he was smart enough for that. Like, yeah, fair. That's that's that's accurate. Yeah. And then with, gosh, i I love that Dragon is like, hey, so I have this and this and this and this and also this and also these planes and all of these robots and all of these things that are going to help protect the city. And all I could think of was like,

Speaker: Great. So now we're just going to have a bunch of robots. It's just going to be like a bunch of of Tony Stark Iron Man bots that are just patrolling. Like that doesn't seem very smart. A bunch of fucking Zoid asks looking. What was that? What was the more animal based one? There was a, you know, there was, yeah, I know what you're talking about. Was thatwas zords that Zords. I think they're called Zords. Zords are doors are powering power rangers. Zoids, I thought was the and more animal based. I see. ah Yes. They're like animal robots. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Yes. That's Zoids. Yeah. got the so With a bunch of fucking nerd ass names. Yeah. like Every mythology over here. like oh call it all I did that thing where, where you read, when you're reading fantasy books and you just go, how did you remember?

Speaker: Because you don't you don't actually know what it is. You're like, oh yes, the Shnemeneha and the Shnemeneha 2 .7 and the and And you don't forget the name. You remember it and you remember like what its association is, but you'll never say it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. like and it everybody knows nitog from the you know Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: coolest bes in the game or you know the the classic that one sword fighting steam game that i just absolutely love but so and a for effect for our listeners who like don't get any of those references you know like for them not like for me but like for them What myog is it? Knit off the world snake, the world serpent. Am I wrong there? I thought it was the world. Jormungandr is the Jormungand is the world serpent. He's in the mix. Knit off the one at the world tree. Sure. Right. No idea.

Speaker: I'm going to just wrap around because I don't know enough to dis disagree with you. yeah You're right. Jormungan goes around the world. Nidhogg is like nibbling on the on Yggdrasil or something type of dragon. It's a Norwegian mythological dragon. and Yeah. sor to say And then they just throw Uther like Uther's not a dragon. Like I got his name is pen dragon, but like, Kind of a weird one to throw in there. It's literally Dragon sitting in her office being like, I'm going to come up with as many Dragon -ish related things that I can possibly find. That's a stretch. like I get Uther Pendragon, but come on. I mean, that's Dragon in the name. Why not? and Yeah, it's like a Dragon adjacent, I guess. I loved i love um ah Dragons. Definitely not AI -generated human body.

Speaker: She wasn't quite normal, but she wasn't quite... Yeah. Quick, look at the hands. yeah if That's how you can tell, it's always the hands. She would never be able to pull that shit that shit today. yeah they'd They'd look at her, they'd go like, ah, that's AI art, I know that, I know that. well then And then the fact that you know Defiant has... I love the way that Triumph describes it, right? He's like, ah Colin or, you know, Arms Master has given up part of parts of his humanity for just another edge in battle. And just the fact that...

Speaker: And this is just another confirmation. We see why Mannequin picked Armsmaster. It's not just to mess with him. It wasn't just a toy with the heroes. Somehow Mannequin knew that Armsmaster had something inhuman in him that was worth taking a look at. That's great. Yeah, that's a great observation. Yeah. here we it Here it is. We see it. And the, and again, just trying to just like, are we all just okay with this? Oh, it's so hilarious and frustrating at the same time. Yeah. Uh, there's been some people on Reddit, uh, it's either maybe I'm not, I'm trying to remember which Reddit user it is, but it was talking about like some of the themes, especially for, uh, going into season two, I think, and.

Speaker: Uh, they talk about the difference between monsters and men. And I do not feel that at all. I feel like that's a very clear cut in, in, uh, in the previous set of arcs of slaughterhouse nine slaughterhouse nine are monsters and everybody else is just a person like in comparison. I don't feel like the line's that blurry, but In this season, however, I feel like all the points that people were trying to make about like, these are the themes I don't think apply to the slaughterhouse nine arcs. I think they apply to the fallout from the slaughterhouse nine. Cause you immediately start with this, you know, like going into this where it's like, yeah, he has now made that decision to like, you know, cross between monster and man, like.

Speaker: You don't get any, I don't think you get any of that in the slaughterhouse nine. And I think you don't get that with Taylor really all that much. I don't think you get that with Defiant and other characters. I think you get that in the fallout in this arc. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. I have to put some thought on that. I haven't thought about the, the theming in that way. It's interesting. I've been thinking about so much about themes and Stuff where you and I are going to have a conversation that'll be just about themes. Oh, I'm sure. And it's going to be good. All right. Well, do you want to do some final thoughts? Any wrap up thoughts here on the power from the arc? Coolest power from the arc. We did have some, some interesting powers to choose from. Didn't you have something you were saying for the end? Oh, I was saying, if we want to adjust that segment, coolest power to like, who do we think got the best luck with their power? We've got the best package.

Speaker: rich I vote. I mean, mean alexria who I like Alexandria's. Alexandria's got the best package. We can all admire Alexandria's package. Great deal. That's true. In a black suit like that, Alexandria's package really shows out. God damn you guys. i made him I've made a huge mistake. none by now I don't know what I was thinking. You want to talk about walking right into something that was the. ah yeah Walked right into Alexandria's package. Can't avoid it when it's that good.

Speaker: Uh, Coyle, Coyle to me seems like just having, you know, two options of being able to walk away from something or, or stay and fight and be able to be like, you know what? I think I died in that one or like I lost a limb. So I think I'm just gonna, you walk away. Why not? Like, I think that's, that's pretty, it feels very OP to just be like, well, I'm going to create a world in which I don't do that thing. And, you know, if I die, then I just, you know, we'll decide that I didn't actually. Basically. Yeah. Yeah. It is a cool power coils. Power continues to be super dope, but I mean, I just.

Speaker: I love Marquis power. locking so good It's just such a good How do you compete with that? You know, it's hard. I forgot that that ah we talked about that in the, sorry, so much happens. No, Marquis gets it. i'm Me too. Yeah. So good. I'm a sucker for wisdom ba based powers. So I'm sticking with Alexandria. Like you get to fly, be invincible. But your main thing that separates you is like, you just have really, really, like you're really smart and figure your way through that. So like, that's a stand out for me. It's like, yeah, perfect memory. It's super, it's a super simple power. Like you could say like, ah, Eidolon is so much cool, so cooler because of like the changing out abilities. But like, that just seems like a lot, you know, like you got to do stuff to that, to actively

Speaker: you know, come to keep track of that. And this is just like, Oh yeah. Uh, I'm invincible. Uh -huh. I can, I can fly anywhere I need to. That's super convenient. And also, uh, I'm just incredibly smart. You know, that's just a super simple, easy win for me. I don't really like, I don't like Eidolon's power that much. I think it's just too like, eh, I don't know. It's just like, Oh, what can you do? A little bit of everything. Okay. Yeah. I mean, cool. Yeah. I don't know. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. I don't like Adelon's power so much because I don't feel he's creative enough for it. Every time he's doing something is like, Oh, my he's just flying and, and using super strength. Like my God, you can create any power in the world. like yeah dis manation This man is a green lantern with zero artistic skill. No will.

Speaker: Like no willpower. This is instead of giving, you know, the green lantern to Kyle Rayner, like, you know, a comic artist, they gave it to an accountant and he's like, ah, I'm going to conjure a spreadsheet. Like, Oh boy, you're really afraid that I didn't do my taxes and then just beats the shit out of them. Exactly. Well, on that note, uh, I think we've, we've said everything that just we said. Yes, no. Speak now for a moment, please. I hope so, because I want to go to bed. Yeah, to be fair, this will be, you know, this is the what, like one of the second longest. It's very long. I think the next arc is the longest. We will be breaking the mountain there, you know, passing over the hill after that. Not that there are long ones to come, but there will be a good break after this. That's true. Yeah.

Speaker: yeah You came, you sat down for five and you got 15, you know. wait thanks ah Thanks everyone for joining as always. I'm going to wrap us up here and just move on out. Thank you so much. We've had a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who's been listening along and leaving comments and notes on social media, Reddit, Instagram, et cetera. We've loved reading them. As you can tell, we love to shout out all the great ideas people have people have given us. So ah keep keep living those comments. We love to read them and 16. Oh, go ahead. And I was going to say, and um you should give us a call, leave us a voicemail, leave your name and to argue with us about stuff, because that would be the bee's knees. We'd love to hear from you guys. Absolutely.

Speaker: so ah Argue with us, please. Alan is proffing at the mouth for someone to argue with, so please. Exactly. And with that, we'll see you in the next episode for Arc 16. And Michael, as always, if you wouldn't mind playing us out.

Speaker: Thank you so much for listening. Read along with us at parahumans .wordpress dot .com. We'd love to hear your thoughts. What did you love? What did you hate? Anything you think we missed, etc., as long as it's kind. If you'd like to get in touch, you can find us on Twitter, threads, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit, at Brockton Bay, B .C., or click the link in the description.