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Arc 26: Sting
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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.
Complete list of potential triggers: here
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Episode Description:
The Brockton Bay Book Club had done good deeds for years, at Kevin Norton’s suggestion, waiting and hoping for the reward, the realization. When none had occurred, they had simply kept doing what they had been doing. Seeking out alternatives wasn’t even in the realm of imagination, because imagination was something they lacked.
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Get in contact with us @brocktonbaybc
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Timestamps:
(00:00) - Introduction
(01:10) - Book Club Begins
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Worm and Wildbo
00:00:00
Speaker
Worm is a web serial by JC McRae, also known as Wildbo. You can read Worm in its original format by visiting parahumans dot.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.
Arc 26 Sting and Humorous Exchanges
00:00:24
Speaker
For a complete list, check the description for all of Worm's trigger warnings.
00:01:08
Speaker
Good morning, Brockton Bay. Stay strapped or get clapped. It's arc 26 sting. Nice. One more back. I hate to say that. I feel like that one's been used before.
00:01:24
Speaker
It did feel familiar, but yeah this was a gun happy a gun heavy episode. So fans will know. Yeah. no And they'll tell us. True. so they know you now get hey even if Even if it has been used before, there's nothing wrong with getting strapped so you can get clapped. I mean, not get clapped. Yeah, correct. Smash, smash, smash, smash, which is a callback to our Patreon episode.
00:01:52
Speaker
Which you too could get if you were one of our patrons on the Brockton Bay book club on patreon.com.
Experiences with Reading Worm
00:01:57
Speaker
That's right. Join in for exclusive episodes, including perhaps a Brockton Bay smash or pass. We go really, yeah, really deep into the lore. Really, you know, or true fans know whether they would or wouldn't. Exactly.
00:02:15
Speaker
kinki kinking kky k michael michael the kid but um but It's stuck. We can't turn it off. He's looping. Smash or pass. End of the world. Right. Smash. Double smash. Obviously. Yeah. We've made it to R26.
00:02:39
Speaker
A monster of an arc. My God. I everything. have Holy shit. This has been put off for a couple of some some behind the scenes. We've put this off for a couple of weeks now due to various um and natural disasters and levels of tiredness um and potentially the fact that I read the first half of this.
00:02:59
Speaker
um thinking that I was close to the end and then realized, no, I in fact still had two chapters and three very large interludes to go. Yeah.
Challenges of Arc 26
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's a meaty one. It sneaks up on you. It really do. You feel like you're doing a... i I always can tell because it's the audio... I listen to the audiobook and it's like, oh, okay. So these chapters, okay. Like, you know, 30 minutes, 45 minutes. Like, oh, this one's an hour. This one's 40 minutes. You know, this was like every episode is like,
00:03:33
Speaker
an hour and ten minutes an hour and fifteen minutes fifty eight minutes an hour and twelve minutes like oh my god it took forever to get through this arc holy shit. I believe this is the second. Longest arc in the entire series that was. I believe it.
00:03:55
Speaker
It feels like it was definitely. Yeah, it's helping out at like somewhere around 90,000 words, maybe. Oh, yeah. The whole 90,000. Yeah, that's one whole book. A whole novel. That's wild. Well, it's. Oh, you crazy. He really did. Really, really. The good kind of crazy. We love it. Should we get into it? Well, we definitely could. We can do it. If you guys want to.
00:04:23
Speaker
Don't let me force you into it, you know. I mean, we could always just shoot the shit for two hours instead. We could give the people with us off one more week. Nah, I was going to have to reread it if we do that. So I need to have at least two memories of the arc.
00:04:42
Speaker
Yeah, which ah for my first thing I'll say is, um, I wish I'd been doing this longer, but I, for arc 26 in particular and going for it, I'm going to try to remember to do this. I took a copacetic count and a fuck me account because I think those are probably wild bows to most used words slash phrases. Yes. love yeah Um, and.
00:05:04
Speaker
And unfortunately in this arc, we only had one copacetic and one fuck me. So really only one, only one that I, that I remember finding. I only remember one off the top of my head and that's because I just read it five minutes before this podcast.
00:05:22
Speaker
Oh my God. Yeah. As far as I could tell, there were only one of each. So disappointing for all the copacetic fans out there, but you know, yeah we'll get them next time. There will be more. That's true. Where was the fuck me? Cause I know where I, like, mine was in like ah the last interweaver. Oh, I didn't write where I was just keeping a tally count. Cause I assumed there'd be more, but, uh, Nick, don't you know, Alan keeps a copious amounts of notes every time he reads. Yes. A copacetic amount of notes.
Significance of the Arc and Key Moments
00:05:52
Speaker
No, literally I, those are my, I don't take notes. Those are my only two notes for the entire arc. Fuck me, tattletale. Very, very first, uh, chapter.
00:06:02
Speaker
Yeah, there's women there. yeah Wow. And I can tell you later on when we're seeing things through Sion's eyes, there is a character trying to get his attention who just says, fuck me. And we immediately get that it's Taylor. Okay. So maybe there's two, maybe there's two then. Not very good note taking. It goes in my notes of the amount of times Nick did not take the notes correctly.
00:06:32
Speaker
Literally twice as many as you thought. I know. and What other lies does he have? i' not I'm not really. We'll get to the bottom of this. We're not leaving this episode until we get to the bottom of it.
Character Dynamics: Jack, Theo, and Taylor
00:06:45
Speaker
Would you say this stings, Nick? Oh,
00:06:53
Speaker
yeah um my God. ah Chapter one. Yeah. Chapter one. Uh, so the undersiders and the red hand, uh, come to Killington. What a great name. Uh, they dodged the traps, find nice guy and kills him. And go gets a message from Jack slash himself. Oh, nice guy. Okay. I gotta say, does Killington feel like a placeholder name that maybe never got fixed?
00:07:27
Speaker
It's not the real name, right? I thought it was. I don't remember. It's like a little ski town. I thought that they had like, I thought that when the nine went through and like schlum murdered everybody, they like did the thing, you know, like, like in, uh, in, in like zombie movies where like someone has spray painted, uh, like a line through the name of the town on the, you know, the, the sign in ver Vermont. Yeah. it's a ski Oh, it's really called killing. Well, okay.
00:07:58
Speaker
No, but I think you're on to something where I don't think that that was a because they're up in Vermont. Like why else the hell would the slaughterhouse nine be in Vermont? um They went there because they liked the name. I
Stranger Powers and Storytelling
00:08:11
Speaker
think if they could have found Ninesville or slaughter town like i guess they would have. They were like, what's a fun little spot that could be like a little vacay, but like we could kill a ton of people.
00:08:28
Speaker
You gotta know that one of the freaky members of the Nine suggested coming, Georgia. Oh, oh, for sure. yes Uh, there's no, there's no nines. Interesting. I didn't know it was a real town. Sorry. People of Gilland. I didn't know you existed. Well, they don't anymore. Oh, there is a German city called nine towns. Wait, is that real? That just means like no town. The slaughterhouse nine could have fun. Nine town. Nine. Nine. Nine, you say. ah so Fascinating. Oh my gosh.
00:09:06
Speaker
Slaughter Louisiana. See, but then they'd have to go to louis then they'd have to go to Louisiana. Also the population is 997 people. So I guess if you wanted to bang out 100 people, they were too away from making that the perfect place for the slaughterhouse nine though. I know right.
00:09:27
Speaker
Anyways, um, killington name aside, uh, I didn't, I did remember this arc just with the red hand in, being like, ah, I don't remember who it was, but a couple of them were kind of feeling like, should we be here? This feels more serious. Taylor's like, you don't have to leave. And I don't remember who it was, but somebody's like, that's kind of rude. And she's like, no. Taylor is such a fucking bitch. Yeah, god. Like, she's always been a little difficult, but I feel like this was the arc, or this was this first chapter specifically, where I was like, god damn, what is, who put bugs in your chili, man? Like, come on. Yeah.
00:10:05
Speaker
extra not not nasty, but just like extra petty and like uppity and like girl chill. Yeah, it's interesting. it's It's weird because like on the one hand, she feels like she's one of like maybe five people that really believes the world's about to end and they got to do whatever they can to stop it. Yeah, like justified. But also, you know, take a chill pill. Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:35
Speaker
Yeah, i the Cozen-Weaver back and forth really just made me like greatly
Pacing and Plot Developments
00:10:43
Speaker
annoyed. like Of all the things that that that I greatly dislike whenever we have like two catty women going back and forth in this, like I feel like it it played into that trope too much. Cozen and Weaver just like, I don't know, just like getting all, like, like at one point, Cozen says something along the lines of like, oh, well, and like the way that you treated Grew and the way that you left and everything, and and then and just kind of like implying that that, you know, Taylor did all this damage when she left, and like, well, yeah, I mean, sure, whatever, but like, and then Taylor's response is like, I think he can speak for himself. Like, oh my gosh, can you two shut the fuck up? Like, also, Grew, say something, my dude. like
00:11:29
Speaker
Yeah, no, it just a week. Yeah, it's a lot. There's a lot to unpack from their conversation, but. It it felt very much like high school Taylor again and not the adult Taylor that I think we've been growing into maybe. Well, but I mean, we time skipped through that. We have been this in the sense of like. Confirm that Taylor is an adult. True, but just in the sense that like. um adult, the adult mentality, not the high school mentality she had before. It was kind of a callback to that maybe. Um, it's part of why it's frustrating. yeah It's actually interesting. I was thinking kind of the opposite. I think early Taylor really was somebody who was concerned with, we'll use bitches, the example, like trying to connect with people. Um, and we have now reached the point where she,
00:12:24
Speaker
has a mission and that doesn't involve connecting with people who, you know, cause socially nothing matters when the world's about to end. So like she has one focus and I think she's been hanging around ah certain people long enough that who who are just like her in terms of like down to business, ne ah looking at, you know, defiant over there that like,
00:12:53
Speaker
She's locked everything else out. She is in the zone. She is one track mind. Um, and I think that's actually the, I, yeah, I think high school Taylor would have been concerned about like trying to get people on board and to like be a part of the team somehow to like find a place for them. And now she's like, no, if you like, you are either my way or the highway right now. And she's in a position of power to kind of do that.
00:13:22
Speaker
Yeah. No, that, that makes sense. Actually, that's a good perspective on that. I hadn't thought of so. Yeah. In fact, she sounds and talks a lot like arms master. If you listened to her in that first chapter. oh Interesting. Yeah. I could see that a little bit of a parallel there for sure. No, I like that. Nice guy. Fun power.
00:13:46
Speaker
fun i i love It's so simple, but I love nice guys. What a perfect power for a murderer. It's so good. ah i I really love powers like that. like like imps there's It's a stranger power, right? It kind of messes with your head. I really love a good stranger power. I think that can be so fun.
00:14:10
Speaker
yeah I like it because it's one of those powers that's like, it it is it's the kind of thing, what I love about Worm, the powers in Worm, is you will have these really subtle powers that honestly could let these characters like defeat gods and other and other you know comic iterations and things like that. Like, nice guy could straight up just go kill Batman or anybody else.
00:14:38
Speaker
just yeah He's his power in the world. Like, oh, you just think he's friendly. Quite a simple power. Yeah, yeah. right No, that the Wiki says his power makes people incapable of perceiving him as a threat. Even if he commits violent acts, those observing him see him see him as a harmless bystander. So like, yeah, so it is a very cool, like, again, very simple, but very cool power of just, I'm not a bad guy.
00:15:02
Speaker
no And, and of course it's yeah, I'm a nice guy. Exactly. And of course it's fitting that imp kills him because he's probably not aware that it's funny how those powers interact, right? Like the Wiki says he has to be aware of the people in order to have his power working on them because those who he can't focus on are resistant to it. So of course the stranger power Trump, the stranger power, which I thought was kind of a funny, like nice little take on that, just showing how the powers interact.
00:15:30
Speaker
Yeah, I think, yeah, I think it's also just goes back to ah the way Em's power is different to where she has to consciously turn it off. So even if she is ever caught up in something like that or noticed like the second that his focus turns from her or anything like that, her powers on, it just activates. So yeah, gives her a nice out in these situations. Yeah.
00:15:58
Speaker
I also thought this was interesting. You know, look, we've pointed to this for a while that Theo, you know, has had this time to prepare where he's got to kill Jack. And then ah parallel to that is also at the end of the world. And it's probably due to Jack, you know, happening these two separate things, but Jack is picking on Theo. And all I can think is G isn't Taylor, the one that smoked him like a Christmas ham?
00:16:24
Speaker
Like, shouldn't he be upset? at Like, shouldn't he be like calling her out as his nemesis? right um Because she's the one that who's beaten beaten him and like stripped him of half his ah slaughterhouse nine when he decided to show up and play around. Like, he fucked around and found out and had to run with his tail between his
Psychological Games and Motivations
00:16:42
Speaker
legs. Like, she almost got his ass and sent him on the run. And for some reason, he's got, you know, he's got to pick a fight with Theo.
00:16:54
Speaker
Because in the end, Jack is a little bitch.
00:17:00
Speaker
Well, it all it all goes back to the deal that they made, right? Obviously, I mean, yeah, but because the jacket seems like everything's a game. And so he's not interested in a straight up fight with his nemesis, Taylor, or whoever, yeah you know, he's interested in playing a game, whatever that he knows he would get beat.
00:17:20
Speaker
Well, but like he clearly does enjoy it like he's constantly giving these like weird like he's trying to like put rules in place to play the game because I feel like that's what Jack is into it is like he's into these these games with these crazy high stakes because he's I almost feel like it's because he's invested in like seeing how other people respond other that under that kind of pressure. like When we saw his interlude um my god ages and ages and ages ago of like how he was talking about dangling the carrot and like seeing what motivates different people, like
00:17:55
Speaker
his his love of the game is like what matters. So it's not like, oh, this individual person that I've fixated on. It feels like Jack it like enjoys the the game of all the players and who's going to break first and who's going to try and stay within his parameters and like who's who's gonna who's going to play the game as well as he he does. like That's what I feel motivates Jack.
00:18:21
Speaker
So like going straight up against Taylor wouldn't be playing the game. It would be, it would be, you know, the, ah, yes, my base instinct of like going against my one nemesis. Like, no, like Jack is more, he's more interested in the, in the broader picture. When, and he found out, he found out that he's going to end the world. So of course yeah he knows that like god damn he's trying to figure out that part of the game as well. Right, right, right. But yeah, no, I, I think.
00:18:51
Speaker
I think probably too, with Jack um having a level of awareness of capes and how they think and function, ah like we find out later in the arc. I imagine that he does want to get Taylor back, but he knows that she's going to come after him anyway.
Dragon's Role and Consequences
00:19:09
Speaker
Like he doesn't have to taunt her, right? yeah To get her to to do anything. She's just going to do it because that's who she is. Yeah.
00:19:18
Speaker
She's going to stick herself in the game because she's a control freak. Yeah, exactly. And she can control bugs too. That's true. That's true. Another kind of control freak. That's true. Also, can someone please explain to me the the instructions that Jack gives here when he leaves his like little VHS tape, whatever, for
00:19:43
Speaker
for for what's the space for Gollum. Cause I just, I listened to it a couple of times and it just is confusing. Like he, like he's talking about,
00:19:55
Speaker
I don't know. He had like some weird caveats and then was basically like, find me in five days or I'm going to let loose everybody. Like, I feel like he could have just said that. I'm trying to remember the specifics, honestly. It's so confusing. I i i didn't get I didn't know what all the details were. Like, I got the main idea. But like, and the thing is, is that, you know, Taylor and the the gang, the Scooby gang are going to break the rules anyway. So like, it's not like the rules really matter. Mm hmm.
00:20:23
Speaker
But I was, I was very confused. I feel like if this, if I ever came across, you know, a Jack, you know, game instruction situation, I'd be like, wait, can we rewind that? Cause like, I don't, I don't know what, I don't understand what the rules. Yeah. I got to take do the right thing and ignore all of them because they don't matter and he doesn't play with it.
00:20:43
Speaker
I know it is, it is kind of funny. Like it it it works really well, but it is kind of funny how they're like, ah, the deranged madman gave us rules to follow. Yes, we got to follow him. like ah He tricked us. Devious bastard or one weakness. Chapter two. Oh, I did want to say real quick. Sorry. I was looking for what you were talking about, Hannah.
00:21:10
Speaker
But I saw this great line from, uh, Gollum, where he says. You're his nemesis Weaver. I'm the reason he's here. The reason these people died like this, but you're his counterpart, his mirror. You've got that same excitement Jack has. You think along the same lines and strategy and counter strategy. You thrive on conflict just like he does. And I'm not like that. Hmm.
00:21:32
Speaker
And I'm like, Oh, that's a, that's a, that's a, and that's true, right? Like we see that what, what is Taylor best at is, is being in complex sit at situations. So yeah. i know Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I had a note here.
00:21:53
Speaker
about this chapter. I said it felt like the whole chapter was just a setup for that conversation with Gollum and Weaver to initiate that conversation, to set up the whole like Taylor is a mirror to Jack thing. Like the the strategist and him kind of mirroring back that strategist and her like the playing the game thing. But like it felt like all of Like, I mean, i don't get me wrong, I greatly enjoyed all the weird, like, curious gore and traps and stuff of this chapter, but, like, it all felt like it was just decoration to get them to have that conversation.
Nilbog and Ellisburg
00:22:30
Speaker
And, like, while I and i enjoyed it, it felt...
00:22:36
Speaker
ah not unnecessary, but I think we've we've reached the part in worm where I'm like, enjoying the arcs less and less. I'm feeling like things are rushed. I'm not as like. i'm I'm not as appreciative of how the pacing is in these later arcs, and so I think. Like, while I do love that conversation, it feels like this whole chapter was just a setup to have that. Yeah, no, I agree, I think.
00:23:05
Speaker
Honestly, in terms of enjoyment, this might be my least enjoyed arc so far. I wondered if you might say that you don't have to enjoy the big fight arcs though. I've, I, okay. So this is one, like, this is an arc that I, I know that I don't enjoy every time I came into it, like kind of blank slate, started reading it and was fine with the whole thing. And it's just, it's just a boring arc. It's really boring until you get to the interludes. Um, and for something that is such, it is the second longest arc, ah you know, in the series, nothing happens.
00:23:53
Speaker
I mean, I wouldn't say nothing happens. I mean, if you think it's all good, it's OK. Yeah. In terms of in terms of think overhead, the plot progression. I mean, England, we read the same. It's blown up. OK, that is the literally the last line of the whole the whole thing. like That is it. We all we needed to do was get to Jack.
00:24:19
Speaker
Like that was the goal. And that doesn't happen till the interludes. I think the idea of like, man, this chapter was a setup for that conversation. I feel like you could say that about the chapters period to the actual interludes. Like the interlude is the main thing here, the three interludes. And I kind of wish we had just done a Golem Ark instead.
00:24:55
Speaker
Oh, Golem Ark would have been interesting. Like he would have very quickly, you know, breath like, you know, been very introspective about his part to play walking through here. um You get some of Weaver doing her thing going out and about and then, you know, he gets picked up and they go fight Jack. Like that's really what we came here to do. And you're right. I don't like big fight arcs because It just gets repetitive. It's, it's like watching the end of John Wick three. At some point in time, the fight scenes just go on for too long and you kind of get bored and desensitized to them. And that's how a lot of these larger fights with the 9,000 go where I'm just like, all right, they killed another person because they do it so fast and so quickly. Like.
00:25:48
Speaker
yeah Oh, we killed the next, you know, seven more to go. Yay. Like only 8,000 more slaughterhouse, 9,000 members. Oh boy. Like it's just not, there's the stakes aren't there in terms of the intimate, you know, how do powers play off of each other? And there, don't get me wrong. There's some cool combos. That's just, it's very boring. Fair enough.
00:26:17
Speaker
i I don't know. I think I disagree mostly just because I really enjoy getting to see new things. And because this arc includes some pretty big moments, like little new little new characters keep me interested as well as ah getting to see Ellis Berg and oh yes Saints interlude as well. It felt like there was enough. To me, I could feel the tension building, right? It's sort of like,
00:26:46
Speaker
They're trying to stop Jack, but you get this sense all along that things are going wrong for them, you know?
Saint's Interlude and Character Summaries
00:26:53
Speaker
Um, and so yeah, it's this kind of, I don't know, it's, it's interesting. Um, I can see your point. It is very long and it definitely felt long reading it, but I actually really enjoy these kinds of arts where they are, you know, trying to, trying to figure out how, like, I don't know, just the tension building of things, feeling like it's falling apart already.
00:27:16
Speaker
um I don't know, it's just me. yeah Yeah, no, I think I'm kind of the same way where, um, I also, I listened to the, to the audio book primarily like commuting to and from work every day. Um, but this arc and a couple other times I have stopped to directly read or reread a few of the chapters because I, I just got, I get really invested. Although Alan and I have spoken about this and other podcasts, we read worm for different reasons. I love the, uh,
00:27:48
Speaker
I love the small moments. I love the character building and all this kind of stuff. But I got into worm for cool power fights. And it is why I still read it. So I did enjoy this arc quite a bit for cool power fights.
00:28:05
Speaker
I just like how powers get incorporated in with other people's. And like, it's cool that the slaughter house, 9,000 gets like, they get some fun mashups. And I, I, I think that creativity with that is really fun. Yeah. See for me, it's, it's kind of funny because I feel the opposite in a way, Alan. I think the hardest art interlude for me to read was the last one until the very end. That was the time skip one, right?
00:28:33
Speaker
That was the one um with the history of the entities. um ah Wait, wait, wait. Are we talking about chapters? I was going to say the chapter that has the history of the entities is this arc. ah last No, this arc. I'm sorry. I meant chapter. Yeah. The hardest chapter for me to read. Sorry. The hardest chapter for me to read it in this arc was the last one. Just because I don't know. My eyes kind of start to glaze over when the the world building gets too heavy sometimes.
00:29:01
Speaker
That is true. I remember reading that for the first time and being absolutely bam, like just bamboozled at what was going on and like not understanding the entire like kind of first part of it as you're reading, you know, the first couple of paragraphs. And there's like a momentum where you pick up the rhythm and you're like, okay, wait a minute. I'm piecing together what's going on, you know?
00:29:24
Speaker
It is an English in fact, as it turns out. Um, and by the end you you, you know, you feel like you've put together what's going on or the creatures and the entities and potentially how they relate to powers. Yeah. And it is long. I, uh, all of these are freaking long as I'll get out. But I mean, I think that's another one of those standout chapters in terms of uniqueness. That's true. Engagement wise.
00:29:55
Speaker
Yeah. It, it like you know, it probably goes on for a little too long. Yeah. Anyways, we'll get to that chapter later. Um, yeah, I've got some notes. We should probably, uh, move forward. You can move on. Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:14
Speaker
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00:30:41
Speaker
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00:30:59
Speaker
Okay. So chapter two, uh, Killington is burned. Uh, Defiant and Taylor have a chance to to talk. Golan faces his first challenge. They win, but Jack gets word and two targets appear.
00:31:16
Speaker
I don't remember this chapter. I don't remember this chapter at all. Um, so they fight in this chapter. they're they end up fighting the they're in the um it's oh wait no that the apartment's the next episode or the next chapter oh that's right hold on i gotta go back and look i know right what were my notes there's a lot that happens in this in this arc it's kind of crazy um i know there's a mention of narwhal in this chapter because i just have a note that says narwhal in all caps but Oh, they fight winter winter and crimson. Oh, the winter yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Winter. Oh, winter crimson and screamer. Yes. All the whispery. Oh, right. Right. Right. Right. This ah some of the other fights I was I was invested in. This was the fight that I was not. I had a hard time and it was because of like Taylor kind of taking a back seat and just like relaying to us the information that she sees and interacts with. It was a little bit harder for me to like follow along.
00:32:17
Speaker
Yeah. but Yeah. screamer Screamer was was in I remember the screamer portion of this fight was kind of interesting. um But yeah, it's it does kind of it's easy to sort of glaze over. Well, and part of it, too, is that Taylor is not even in the fight. She's like watching the fight. Yes, exactly. So she's she's getting whispered in her ear. Yeah, this is one where Theo's perspective, I think, would have been the better one, like you said, Alan. Yeah. Yeah. um Yeah, agreed.
00:32:44
Speaker
Screamer's power is interesting to me though. um The ability to manipulate sound, Wiki says, within about a mile's radius, and the ability to make your bones vibrate so you can hear sounds. Yes. That was so cool. That's crazy. Terrifying. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. I will like it. I like my bones where they are.
00:33:06
Speaker
yeah you ah the Another great use of the stranger. What'd you say, Nick? Bad vibes. Bad vibes. Bad vibes. Oh, bad vibes. Okay. Bad vibes. and Yeah. Yep. We got it.
00:33:27
Speaker
Yeah, no, this was another great example or a great use of the the stranger classification and like i I really do love reading sections that like where Taylor is interacting with the stranger classification. Specifically, like they they have these code words in place and Golem, he fucks up a code word because he's stressed out and Taylor kind of has this moment where she's like trying to decide if it's like, is it screamer or is it Golem?
00:33:54
Speaker
under stress and that's why he fucked up the code word like and that little bit of doubt like it's just a sprinkling but it's just enough doubt to make us like sit on the edge of our seat, be like, Oh boy. Oh boy. Like, what is it? What's going on? And I love that. I really do love that. I think, I think what it is, is it's the, um, it's the, uh, unreliable narrator vibe with stranger class. And I really, I've determined, I really like an unreliable narrator. I think that's really fun. As long as we can then see like the perspective of things separately, which is,
00:34:27
Speaker
Again, why I enjoyed the interlude so much for this arc, but, uh, yeah, no stranger class stuff. Just that's my blood pumping. Yeah. Yeah. Really fun. Well, I didn't have much more for this chapter. Oh, was this, I'm sorry. We went 26.2. Yeah. Uh, let's see. Uh, Taylor reads Braille now for multi reading. That's pretty cool. Very Taylor. Oh yes. With her papers, all of her papers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:34:53
Speaker
Smart way to intake information. Cause you know, normally you can only intake a little bit, but if you're doing Braille, you can have thousands of input at the same time. You know, as many as you can put bugs on basically, right? Really crazy. Oh, uh, I have a note. I remember now why my brain skims these chapters, boring processes. Uh, Oh, looking at Taylor from the outside five, 10, 130 pounds skinny bitch.
00:35:18
Speaker
i I actually, I'm so glad you brought that up. So I actually looked it up because I was thinking about that and I was like looking at like your body mass and your BMI and it's like five, 10 and 130 pounds. And that is.
00:35:33
Speaker
That is ah very skinny. That is tiny. Now, to be fair, I looked it up. I found a picture of somebody who is a girl who's five, 10, 130 pounds. It's here it is all fucking muscle. Like there is nothing. Oh, my God.
00:35:52
Speaker
It's just so much muscle. like it's it's all must There's like no body fat on this woman at all. like I mean, she looks like what I kind of imagined Taylor looked like, like an absolute athlete, someone who runs constantly. like I imagine Taylor never walks anywhere. She she like runs or jogs from room to room. Yeah, I always think the difference between like building muscle and then like doing your cardio is one is like bulking up so the muscle increases and the other is essentially shrink wrapping your skin to your muscle that exists there. Cause I put the like, Oh, five, 10, 130 pounds skinny bitch. And then a note under that actually, now that I think about it, I'm six foot three. And when I was in high school, I weighed 150 pounds. Okay. I put the picture in our discord so you guys can see.
00:36:43
Speaker
ah yeah no that that like that You can see the muscles in her thighs, like her ab muscles,
Strategic Conflicts and Taylor's Tactics
00:36:48
Speaker
her arm muscles. like She's not even flexing and they're clearly visible. as like that This is a girl who who puts tremendous amount of time and effort into her her ah her exercise, her workout routine.
00:37:00
Speaker
and like that is not that as I was literally just talking about this to somebody last night, but like your hobby is exercising. like That is your hobby. and like That's Taylor. like Taylor pours all of her time into bug stuff strategy and and working out and like practicing with Golem and everybody else and like running on rooftops. I mean i imagine. you know so likes the yeah She's the example of the meme of the like, while you were reading books, I was studying the blade.
00:37:31
Speaker
yeah yeah yeah Yeah, it's it's it's insanely impressive. it This is this would never I could never This is not the life But but yeah, no, I mean back to Taylor though like Taylor Taylor is a tall lady a lean mean fighting machine Yeah, and it makes sense to like I mean in story. This is two years of time skip so two years of training But she extra training with Theo a top on top of her like normal
00:38:02
Speaker
probably just daily routine that she has. So definitely would expect her to be, you know, bigger, taller, stronger at this point. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Uh, the dragon's teeth, um, getting some strong, like Mandalorian space Marine vibes here.
00:38:22
Speaker
Uh, for sure. Cause they're like, or yeah something we'll find out later. Dragon see, you know, they've got all the best gear that defiant and dragon have to offer, but they're unpowered. Um, love them and they also have that cool thing where they are getting no external input directly. They're only getting cams and audio. So they are not getting messed with by a lot of the stranger slash like.
00:38:51
Speaker
Uh, a lot of the powers are not affected them because they, right they're in the suits. Oh, that's smart. Oh man. I just hope they hired coil sniper. man I mean, it to be fair though, you know what, you know, no, we'll get to that later. We'll get to that later. Coil sniper is definitely in this, art in this arc. Yeah. yeah There's also a, of the cool, you know, talking about the demon sword maker, massive, uh, however you pronounce it.
00:39:20
Speaker
I used to say mass immune, uh, growing up. Cause that's how people who pronounced it when they played the original final fantasy and talked about it. They used to say mass immune, but, uh, I guess it's mass immune. Yeah. Mass immune. Mass immune. Uh, but I guess I'm guessing from context that his ability is he can replicate tinker tech with no degradation. So cool. Which is a game changer. real Yeah. That's that's crazy. Yeah.
00:39:50
Speaker
Um, and that's all the notes I have for that chapter. two Chapter three. Dr. Trace lay chase. Uh, let's see. dooo dooo Number three. Yes. Okay. So I really enjoyed this chapter. Taylor's group attacks an apartment. Uh, the slaughterhouse Niners ambush them. Uh, I don't want comes to help, but gets turned away. Uh, and we find out that Jack is headed to nil blog.
00:40:19
Speaker
I really liked the way that they had the apartment building rigged up with the pressure situation so that every time they busted through a wall, it would like fill in with the ah glacier. And I think Taylor taylor likens it to um like mall whooshing automatic doors like like at a grocery store. And the pressurized air is designed to keep the bugs out every time the door opens, which is so cool. I didn't know that.
00:40:49
Speaker
Um, and kind of that idea of like, well, there's an internalized pressure, air pressure of the building. So that if the perimeter is broken, the building has like an automatic, not um not automatic, but like power eyes defense, basically, which I think is so cool. Yeah. I'm trying to remember it's a mannequin they fight here in 26.3, right?
00:41:14
Speaker
ah yeah He's the one doing the environmental powers. Yes, he's got the environment doors. I'm trying to remember who else there's also um The the other one the one that's upstairs in the box. I can't remember what his name is It's one of the it's one of the 9,000 Basically like can pretend to be somebody else and appear to be somebody else through like a fog they emit through like gills and um mima no no it's a it's ah It's one of the 9,000 members. Psychosoma? Is it psychosoma?
00:41:50
Speaker
Maybe it is psychosoma. I can't remember, but one of them basically pretends to be Jack in the box. And then they realize that, wait, like, no, this isn't Jack. And so then the the stuff disappears and it's just like a poor kid trapped in the box. I'm like, Oh my gosh, get the kid out. Yeah, that's, that's ecosoma. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then they realized like, no, it's not a kid. It is psychosoma, like three layers deep in this section of motherfucker. There's more psychosomas later, right?
00:42:16
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And then there's also a murder rats in this one as well as a hatchet face because they have a whole, they have a whole fight in the um stairwell. Yeah. Yeah. where I did like that fight because of the whole hatchet face kind of creating this timer on the fight of we need to move before he arrives because we can't fight when he comes.
00:42:42
Speaker
yeah right It was was just such an interesting thing. I do really like Hatchet Face's powers. I wish we kind of saw a little bit more of him. But again, yeah just one of those really simple but interesting powers. He's got super strength and he nullifies superpowers at a certain range. Amazing, right? It's just like... It's a great combo. He he is the horror movie villain, like slowly walking through the building, yeah inevitably going to catch you even though he's always walking for some reason.
00:43:12
Speaker
I love it. I love that. Except I do love, uh, I can't remember if it's here, if it's later. Cause doesn't, doesn't Tekton kill a hatchet face or the hatchet face? Is it here? I can't remember. I
Nilbog's Kingdom and Thematic Exploration
00:43:28
Speaker
can't remember. I know group picks up his power for a second here. Yeah. And they're all like, stop, stop. yeah yeah Um, but the fact that like tankers in suits can kind of overcome hatchet face because It's a suit. It's it's not a power. Yeah, it's all mechanical. Yeah. Just just punches them out. I think it might be. It might be this chapter. Yeah. Find it again. Oh, there's also they do that later. There's also breed as well as here are these some of breed spawn. Yeah, breed was also in the first chapter as well. Really gross, but we definitely seems like an S class threat. Oh, my God. For sure. Yeah. I mean, just the like
00:44:10
Speaker
Uh, cause wasn't breed also in Killington and they're like, wash your orifices basically. Yeah. yeah theyre one ors And then the second chapter, they burn Killington. Like they, cause they're not about to let that. Yeah, they can't a famous line in one of our D and D campaigns. We don't let that shit skitter.
00:44:29
Speaker
yeah care it with fire Yeah. If your solution to a Cape is burned the whole town down, that sounds like an S class threat. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Oh, my God. I mean, it all I'm imagining is like like face hugger type stuff from alien. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's kind of the visual. I mean, i'm I'm just thinking cockroaches just everywhere. Cockroaches with like biters. Yeah. Like what are those um what are those bugs? Oh, fuck, they're earwigs. Yeah, kind of imagine like a larger earwig. It's because it's got like those pin chily think pincher like like an earwig, but the size of a chihuahua.
00:45:08
Speaker
who Like the ones in King Kong, the old King Kong, let me just call it the old King Kong. Holy shit, I'm old. Peter Jackson, which is coming up on 20 years old. Wow. Wow. Oh my God. It came out in 2005.
00:45:33
Speaker
Join me in the grave, my friends. We're not that old. We're not that old. Come on. but don't Don't bury us yet, Jacob. Jesus. I'm just already down there. Who's coming with me? Like you're standing at the bottom of the hole with a shovel.
00:45:53
Speaker
My life had a good run. Anyway, anyway, the creepy, the super creepy insect scene in that movie down the pit. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. up Gross. Disgusting. Hard pass. Hard pass. A smash. I also think of the boy scene where he's like, uh, Frenchie is like, Oh, he's trying to get in my ass. Oh yeah. Yeah. We want to go to actually having a bug in your ass. We we go all the way back to the movie evolution. We're famously in the trailer. They're like, got the guy on the table and they're like, where's it going? Cause it's like,
00:46:33
Speaker
gotten under his skin and they're like watching like it's crawling towards your ass. No. no like Under the skin like, you know, running it around. I haven't seen that movie, but I know the scarabs do that in the mummy movie, right? Yeah, they do. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Is it time to rewatch the mummy? Oh, I haven't seen the mummy, but I have seen that one scene in a traumatized music. Oh, you really should. And it's spooky season right now. Now is that an excellent time. Good time.
00:47:02
Speaker
Yeah. It's a good time. Right time. Watch the night away. Still holds up. Great movie. Anyways. Um, yeah. Yeah. Kind of a slightly forgettable fight scene.
00:47:14
Speaker
um i do like ah One of the small things I like here is Crucible, one of the heroes. who I remember he was mentioned earlier as an example of a hero who's really only a hero because of good PR. Because his power is just to trap things in a fiery orb and burn them. It's like, how how are you a hero? like Yeah, but it's good because, you know, they've got breed and these awful villains and it's like, no, yeah, just burn them alive. He kind of, he's like a perfect exterminator to have on the team. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, you don't have Sundancer anymore. So I think crucible is the best second option probably. Yeah. I have a bunch of shout outs for the different heroes I have.
00:47:59
Speaker
Clock blocker is on it. Oh, my God. We got it. We're going to come back to that. Continue. But when you're done, we're coming back to clock blocker because I got the walk walkers on it. Toggle is also on it. Vista knows what's up. Yeah. And then, of course. Foyles sniper for the win, not coil sniper. close Absolutely. Absolutely. yeah We can go, go back to those and talk. Clark Parker being on it. I said squad leader's job is to eventually say now.
00:48:36
Speaker
I. I freaking love clock blocker so much. I've always been a clock blocker fan and like having the clock blocker Weaver combo wombo combo back again and again like fuck yeah, let's yes, let's go and I but i totally 100% agree with toggle I ship it I ship it like the vibes are immaculate I will say I will say though ah the first half of this arc I did listen to and then the second half I read but the first half the the voice uh, I think that ah I have a immense amount of of respect for all of the Narrators who did worm like I appreciate all of the hard work they put in but the voice that the narrator gave gave For clock blocker is like the most like posh uh, like british sounding and voice and all I could think of was like this is giving me um, uh, oh my god, wow what's this fucking me bone dude, Amelia's dad, um
00:49:35
Speaker
What's his name? The bone? Marquis Markey. So like it's giving me like Markey vibes. And so I was like, I couldn't take it seriously. I had to switch to reading it because I was like, what? In the other audio book version, the comment that I saw about it was like, when did clock blocker become Batman? yeah He's got this like really deep voice. Oh, I love that. And just with his like pessimism that he's gained, he's ah is just like he, he gives off these Batman vibes.
00:50:03
Speaker
I need to go and listen to that Ben. He still has time to have the hots for Weaver um just essentially being like yo clock blocker. Do you need to go around the corner and jerk off real quick? You need a moment that you need to sort yourself out. We are wearing skintight clothing and I can see what's up.
00:50:25
Speaker
Just like I think they would make such a fun little pair like I think that they would be great like they would be great in battle together they would be like super he's like super funny and he's got his like kind of like Shoe from the hip humor and she's very like she's a little bit. She doesn't do the she doesn't do comedy Weaver is not a comic ah She's not a natural comic to be sure, but that's only because she doubts herself. She's got witties witticisms there, but they're like better in like, she doesn't say them out loud and she thinks about them in the shower later. She's like, man, if I had said this, then it would have been really funny and they all would have laughed.
00:51:03
Speaker
But she never says that as possible. You you have a full of ships and any one of them can send sail. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Resolution of Ellisburg Storyline
00:51:12
Speaker
fucking Oh my gosh. And also I forget if they mentioned this or this was just something in my head, but I have the, the, the,
00:51:27
Speaker
I have the phrase case 53 rule 34. Yes. that As I quickly abbreviated C five three R three four. Oh no. Yeah. Well, 53 list listeners, listeners. I need you to go online right now and you type in C five three R three four. you Tell me what comes up are three and. or And is it good? Okay, so C53, I'm going to put a space R34.
00:52:05
Speaker
I do like that. That's a car. Oh, weld. Oh my. Although if I don't put a space, it looks like there aren't many great matches for your search, but then the top thing is from the Parahuman subreddit. Oh, I bet it is.
00:52:26
Speaker
I just, I just imagine though, I do love the line of like, that doesn't exist. Does it toggle ask case 53 porn? Everything exists. Kidwin said, and I love that Kidwin knows the rule of the internet. He's a mod. Come on.
00:52:47
Speaker
All I'm, all I'm imagining is a subreddit post that's like, Hey, do you guys remember in 26.3 when toggle asks if case 53 porn exists? ha Isn't that funny? Anybody know where I can find some? Oh, also the correct answer is not to look it up by para humans. Although there very certainly is some, it's to look it up by wild bow.
00:53:14
Speaker
ah word I can't believe I'm looking at this. ever I have to. I'm sorry. Hold on one moment. It's for research. and yeah Okay. Let's see. Oh, no.
00:53:30
Speaker
It's not good. It's not good. But it's there. Listen, if there's some great fan art of worm and there's some not so great fan art of worm, I can only imagine the people bad quality. But I'm saying that ands so there's a 34 stuff could improve. What I'm saying is listeners you need to get on that. No. You step up your game.
00:53:58
Speaker
I judged yeah judge the ah the quality of an IP by the quality of its porn. And Overwatch has got to be the best IP. Oh, no.
00:54:12
Speaker
Overwatch is a game? Yeah, they it's a game they modeled off of ah of all that porn art. yeah Oh, man. Wow. Anyway, moving on. Vista slowly becoming an absolute badass. Um, she now has a cool ass scar and a gun. That's pretty neat. Oh, yeah. Can she kid like, I mean, cool. She's got a gun, but can't you just like, you know, condense space to bring someone within stabbing range?
00:54:50
Speaker
I mean, or execution range. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, think about that. Also, like if somebody was really far away and you were, you know, coil sniper, but you, you know, you had Vista powers, you could be making the world's longest shots and just like, you know, condensing all that miles, you know, to hit them at like 300 feet. Yeah. I don't know if that's how far her thing could reach, but you get what I'm saying. Like, you know, gun.
00:55:21
Speaker
pretty good facing, getting stabby, stabbed, at you know, very fast. Oh, uh, I do have a note here that says, Oh, Cozen couldn't handle the pressure. Haha. Bitch we ass. you can't tell I really hate Cozen. We just all, yeah and yeah. Also on toggles Wiki, it's got a picture there, but it's,
00:55:44
Speaker
The subtitle is poor quality fan art by Dr. Salker. Wow. I'm like, Oh, I'd like to think that that was self-titled too. I hope it was. I hope it was. Um, it was added by Dr. Salker. Okay, cool. so yeah They did title it themselves. You know, they was saw that there was no picture and they fulfilled it and they were like, Hey, can you do better? And you know what? Nobody has. There you go. That's true. ah That's right.
00:56:14
Speaker
and the other Murder rat coming out of the wound wild. I hate it. Yeah, very gross. Murder rat doing what now? ah coming like Okay, so once murder rat inflicts a wound, ah they can teleport through that wound. oh So at one point in time, I forget who gets got, but murder rat cuts somebody and then later on,
00:56:44
Speaker
emerges from that wound ah as their process of teleportation. hu Little, uh, little skin teleportation. We do not like, but of course foils sniper for the win. Just, they blow open the wall very quickly, snipe inside, take them out. That was cool. Yep. Yep.
00:57:10
Speaker
It only takes a moment. A couple of other moments, but foil has some badass moments, this arc. We'll come back. Put a pin in foil. And then finally in my last note, I give you my word as a hero and then they all burn her to death.
00:57:40
Speaker
yeah so You know, I like that we love we love some morally gray like look this is this is not This is not we're not playing no games Yeah, who did they burn to death The the so set it's the psychosome wasn't it? Oh, yeah Yeah. Yeah. Cause it's like, they're like, look, I'll tell you all where Jack went if you promise not to kill me. And they're like, I think we can arrange that. Like, okay, cool. Uh, Jack went to, uh, uh, Ellisburg or whatever it is. Like, Oh, cool. Burn him. Well, we don't silly. We don't negotiate with criminals. We don't negotiate with criminals. so i mean it's It's a great, it's a great little moment. I think it's important. Oh, for sure.
00:58:29
Speaker
It's the whole, it's like the whole, ah it's funny because it plays against the whole sort of trope of the story up to this point, which is very cops and robbers like, oh, you know, give a little territory, take a little territory. Oh no, you caught me. I'm the bad guy. Send me to the birdcage. And like, then we get to here and we're past that now.
00:58:54
Speaker
Yeah, it also just proves that like the slaughterhouse nine in general like they are class class S threats as a whole and even in the individual members like we're not gonna we're not gonna take you in like that's not gonna happen. Yeah. Nope. You don't get to go to the birdcage you stupid bitch. You stupid bitch. Start to pour in gasoline.
00:59:18
Speaker
yeah ah Yeah. Interlude? Oh, it was, uh, it was Nyx that they burned. next Oh, Nyx was the one who was there. I do. I did want to mention too, I like the foreshadowing with Eidolon where he's like, I'm here to help. And they're like, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're good. Just go, go back off. And just the, you know, Taylor being like, look, if, if I spaz out, somebody can kill me. If you spaz out.
00:59:46
Speaker
o yeah acted You guys see that video of the little toddler ah with the Baraka and the parent shakes the maraca and the little toddler comes running into the room like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It has like a whole attitude. Put it down oh yeah and it keeps shaking. That's all I could think of here. Every time it's like, I had a lawn just shows up. Taylor's like, no, no, no, yeah no, no, no, no. Out every time.
01:00:14
Speaker
If it were a legend, I would feel worse because I actually like legend. But there's that moment of like with him where he's like, I'm willing to give my life, but it doesn't really matter, does it? And she's like, nope. Bye. Bye, bitch. There's the door. Nobody can kill you, dude. and Yeah. I don't think you understand cool motives. You're still not coming over here. Yeah. Yeah. not But it's honestly, it's a good bit of setup because this happens a couple of times.
01:00:42
Speaker
ah And you, at least reading it, and honestly, I can't remember where my mind was reading it the first time, but rereading it here, I'm like, it kind of reads like it's setting up that something's going to happen with Eidolon. It just kind of makes sense. He's going to develop, he's going to he's going to create a weird power. You know, who knows what it could be, but it just makes sense that he would be a catalyst for the end of the world. Yeah. yeah Oh, how the rugs be pulled.
01:01:16
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, interlude, because say we got, we got a lot of arc to get through. Yeah, we do. We really do. Okay. So, uh, interlude, there's a lot of interludes of this arc. Um, this is the saint interlude. Um, dragon coordinates, the offensive against the nine while saint watches, uh, then sees that she's trying to track him down. He reminisces and then pulls her plug. The dragon slayers take over in defense of spent.
01:01:47
Speaker
No, no, no, no, hear me out. Cause we're going to spend the rest of this time doing what we all know is about to happen. Shitting on sense of saint. Number one, he has a cool moving face tattoo. It looks like a electric circuit cross, as we found out. Emphasis that it moves to, uh, he's essentially a ah cool power ranger with mexozoids three.
01:02:15
Speaker
He is trying to stop Skynet from going online. Okay. sin terminator ye he has seen to He's seen Terminator. He He's not just seen Terminator. He's seen all the movies where that happens. Yeah. Um, and, and for, he essentially was tasked by dragon's dad to be like, Hey, there's a couple of my creations out there and, uh, they probably going to fuck some shit up.
01:02:45
Speaker
Mm. Like if they get, you know, out of control. So we need you hounded them. Yeah, I know that that's been said. Yeah, good continue. No, no, now that's been said. Let's get into. Why we're here. Fuck that guy, am I right? You piece of shit, motherfucker. Oh, my God.
01:03:14
Speaker
I have one note for this episode, for this chapter. It just says, no, you fuck. Which I feel like encompasses things pretty well. Very saintly. I'm a saint, Sam. A saint, Sam. You're a stain and you had it right the first time. I'm a saint, Sam. You're a tan stain. Yeah.
01:03:44
Speaker
Here's why I love Saint. So obviously from our perspective as the reader through Taylor, we hate Saint, he can go die. ah But from an in universe, like ah bird's eye view, Saint is doing exactly what Taylor is doing. The exact same thing.
01:04:06
Speaker
Saint has honed in on what he considers to be the threat to end the world. Remember I said there's like a handful of people that think the world's going to end. saintana yeah Saint is one of those, one of those handful and sees dragon as the end all be all, which in ah and all honesty, not a bad pick. If you're going to pick some sort of threat to potentially wipe out the world, dragon's probably up there. Yeah. and Not only that, that not only does he is he dedicated and driven, he succeeds. He takes Dragon out of play. And what happens? and Unless I'm misremembering. No, you're right. You're absolutely right. Yeah. The probability and the success rates yeah change drastically the second the Dragon goes offline. Exactly. Now, whether or not that has an actual impact, it's pretty ambiguous. but
01:04:59
Speaker
i I love that we get characters like this that ah essentially parallel the main character in the story, but just from a different perspective, um because it gives us as the reader the ability to sort of see ourselves or see the the main character sort of in a mirror and really, really see what's going on. Cause we're saying and fuck saint. Are we really saying fuck Taylor? Like there's a lot of fun parallels. I'll say it's Taylor too. I mean, yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like you could kind of, you could kind of just say with Taylor.
01:05:37
Speaker
Um, which I think I would, but no, I, I love that a character like Saint exists in this story because it is, it is kind of weird if Taylor's the only character that is trying to do anything about the end of the world. Really, you know, saying it's really cool in this. Yeah. yeah He is really, he is very cool. Yeah. But, but like you said, Jacob, I think that's the point, right? Is that.
01:06:01
Speaker
we, like there's this upset with him when you realize what he's about to do and you're like, no, no, don't do that. yeah But then when you realize that Dinah's like, wait, no, our chances of succeeding just went up. yeah It hits you of like, oh, that might've been the right call. It's this weird moment of realizing. Very upsetting. Yeah, very upsetting, but it's this idea of, oh, the person You know, the person who's been controlling all of this, they were actually a potential threat. And we don't know because, you know, we know it really does happen, but we don't know. Like what if dragon had met Jack on the battlefield? You know, could something have gone terribly wrong there? Like it does later with, you know, like we'll talk about. And so I don't know. So it is so interesting, right? And I do like that parallel to Jacob, because it does sort of force us to confront that question of.
01:06:58
Speaker
What are we willing to do to increase the odds of success in this, you know, into the world scenario, right? It's kind of the, you kill a thousand to save 10,000 kind of a situation. Yeah, right. situation Very trolley problem. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause then it gets into that question of like, okay, well, if we stop dragging and the numbers go up,
01:07:19
Speaker
You know, like what if the the answer really was, golem, actually our odds will go up if we just kill you and you don't fight drag, right? like a thing right you know Like would you be willing to kill golem to do it to stop the end of the world? Yeah, so it's it's a lot. it's it It sucks. And Arms Master is weeping out over there. They're defiant, sorry. My waifu!
01:07:46
Speaker
No, not my robo waifu. No, why? Oh, ah but yeah. I think, I think what specifically what, well, you know, saint has this moment. Honestly, this interlude makes saint a lot cooler than we've kind of encountered before, which is not a lot. Yeah. Um, saint is, is,
01:08:08
Speaker
more than this. He is a little bitch as we've established. Like indeed there are times later where they are essentially yelling at him like, well, you've killed dragon and you're in charge now and you're not being helpful. Yeah. Like he, even though he did the thing, he's still a little, like he's still not like he's still a little bitch coward that is not helping people. Like,
01:08:38
Speaker
You know, if, if really he was trying to help, you know, stop the end of the world, he would at least do a better job at taking over and like trying to get the job of ending the world or stopping the end of the world done. Like, and he doesn't. Yeah. But maybe that's the point. Maybe him being bad at it.
01:08:56
Speaker
was kind of helping them. So, but like, again, I don't know. You know, I think I used this actor before and and talk when we're talking about a fan cast, but I'm going to change. I think ah the actor who plays Stuart in Letter Kenny would make a great saint. Oh my God. Yeah. No. I love that. ok all eyes up He'd look so good as saint. Yep. Yep. Wow. I think that's that's my new cast.
01:09:24
Speaker
so ah So I'm wondering because Andrew Richter. oh Oh, two things. Number one, Dobrynya, our new dragon name that we have, ah famous a famous Russian knight who's like an archetype in a bunch of stories in Russian folklore, ah typically fights dragons. So that is the Russian guy on their team. ah Fun fact, Dobrynya is also a neighborhood in ah the town that I grew up in, in Bosnia. Oh, that's very nice. Cool.
01:09:56
Speaker
That popped up and I was like, Oh, yeah um, and then Andrew Richter, I'm guessing from here, uh, that his power was creating artificial life or just non bio life. Maybe. Cause he was a tanker. Yeah. I wonder if that that was his thing. And then it has, uh, Oh yeah. Yeah. So, uh, dragon has siblings. Oh my God. That made me super curious.
01:10:25
Speaker
called Manhunter and Robinhood. The Robinhood was the whole like moving money around program, right? Yes. Honestly, I don't know why they took that one out.
01:10:39
Speaker
was I guess they repurposed it, but no one was doing good work in the world. The dragon, the dragon people had so many dragon slayers, had so much money that like, well, we don't really need this anymore. So they like discontinued the program because it was piggybacking off of, or there was a, a villain group that was piggybacking off of it or something. Maybe they just shut it down. I i think they talk about it. i think Some, some gang in like Asia is like piggybacking off of the Robin hood system to like hack into people's ah like accounts and stuff. And so they just decided to shut it down. Yeah. Um, and then I can only guess at what manhunter was doing. Yeah. yeah really Fun ones. It's just a dating app.
01:11:28
Speaker
wow It's just Grindr. Yeah. Earth's Earth's best Grindr. Yeah. I love it. You want Manhunter, bro? You don't know, what is my purpose? Oh, boy. Let me tell you. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
01:11:50
Speaker
Oh, I love it. Yeah, I'm looking at a note here. I'm trying to decipher what I was saying, but it looks like, you know, the world ending decrease or dragon, you know, stopping dragon, but a casualty increase. So I find it interesting that the potential for the world to end was decreased with her going away. But the, like, I guess because dragon would have helped in the fight afterwards, potentially with Zion now.
01:12:22
Speaker
Uh-huh. Uh, that like, that's when the casualty is increased so immensely. Yeah. The weird thing they mentioned was like, Oh, potential for the world to ends down, but also the casualty rates up. Yeah. Right. It's weird. Oh man. Their avoidance really mess everything up. Yeah, they do. Any more saint notes? I think that's all I got for the saint interlude.
01:12:53
Speaker
yeah on the go bar chapter four Yeah. So Taylor and the crew are going to Ellisburg and I believe on the way, uh, they realized that dragon's down. She does this a little parlay with nil bog and Jack, and then eventually golem comes up with them. Uh, after some tense negotiation, uh, they set off, uh, everybody, everything goes to shit. Um, and they have to fight all of nil bogs.
01:13:23
Speaker
uh, monsters. Yeah. Oh, eventually Jack runs away with no bug. Allegedly. Yeah. Allegedly. Oh, that's right. I don't think it's confirmed. Oh, that's right. No, they, well they take him, they take no bug with them. Right. Cause Taylor, Taylor pulls an Alexandria on him and does the whole thing where he's in his underground cocoon and she fills, you know, fills his orifice and chokes him to death.
01:13:49
Speaker
but jack gets away with his body i'm pretty sure siberian like yeah goes out of my grabs out of the ground which is to me that's right because she grabs she grabs his like esophagus hose and then because now he's completely bored thing yeah just rips him out of the ground because he's invincible now It's like such a weird image to me because he's supposed to be massive. I just saw a period just pulling out this giant blob of of mass from the ground. I got him. Yeah. This ah conversation was tense. Yeah. Oh, man. See, this is this is the tight kind of chapters I like the tense negotiations with crazy people. Yeah. Yeah.
01:14:38
Speaker
the mind games between both of them. Trying to kind of like learning to talk his language where he's like, you're in my kingdom. You must respect the king. Yeah. And and I'm going to be honest, the first time I read this, it took me way too long to realize no bog is just goblin backwards.
01:14:57
Speaker
a Yeah. Well, though, has all these really, really cool names. Yeah, it may have been the line where they call him the goblin king and I'm like, Oh my God. yeah big ah Big tree beard energy, honestly, with this one. Yeah, yeah yeah for sure. Yeah. the ah It's funny. There is a scene that feels somewhat identical to this weird, creepy ah negotiation over a dinner table that happens in Wild Bo's sequel work.
01:15:34
Speaker
Um, packed. Yeah, I believe it's packed. He has almost like what feels like an identical vibes to this scene. Um, that's funny but instead of a negotiation between a bunch of people, it's just contract law.
01:15:51
Speaker
Love a, love a good lawyer story. Yeah. Legal drama as it were. <unk> the w you Yes, it is. Yeah. I'm just imagining.
01:16:02
Speaker
Yeah. No bog has a, has a lawyer, little lawyer Gremlin that he spawns. Ooh. Come sits down at the table. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it is not a lot to it's, it's a, I really liked the back and forth conversation. I liked golems interactions, trying to, trying to win the day. Um, but like it's, it's funny cause it's also kind of clear that Jack's untouchable and no bog is stupid is yeah is dumb as a rock is insulting the intelligence of rocks.
01:16:39
Speaker
Yeah. Like there was no winning here. Yeah. I mean, you know, like, like they describe, he's a guy who literally created a society, but for him, there's no intelligence there, right? Like he's never talked to people. Yeah.
01:16:59
Speaker
and However many years he's been there. Yeah. So it's like, ah oh, it's, yeah, it's awkward. It's painful. It does feel like talking to like a fairy or to like, uh, I don't know, like a kid, a spoiled child. Yeah. Like a spoiled child.
01:17:20
Speaker
I haven't seen Alice in Wonderland in a while, but it kind of has like Queen of Hearts vibes, maybe. Oh, yeah, I know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I think I think Ellisburg is kind of modeled after a sort of Alice in Wonderland vibe, right? Like it does. In my mind, in my mind, I always imagine it as a wasteland, but they get inside and they're like, no, it's like weirdly pretty. Yeah. That makes it worse. Yeah. Like stuff is growing. Yeah.
Artificial Worlds and Comparisons
01:17:47
Speaker
See, I wouldn't say pretty, I would say almost like The entire world is saccharin. like Yeah, exactly. Like it's glossy and candy sweet and just- It's cultivated, yeah. It's a cultivated QT kingdom almost. Sickly. But everything's like slightly melted and off and gross. It's Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, but ah where all the chocolate's been like, you know, left out to dry for a week. Yeah, yeah.
01:18:17
Speaker
Didn't we equate this to very much of that episode from Rick and Morty? Yes, it's 100% that episode from Rick and Morty. It's literally just that episode to the point where I i pretty sure Wild Bo wrote this first. But yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if some Rick and Morty staff writer red worm. It was like, we're gonna do this. wegan what You mean the one where it's the guy who's trapped in his own world? Yeah, it's Beth's childhood friend. Beth's childhood friend? Yeah, it's like the imaginary world, and he's but he's just like stuck there in this weird childish plate mental space.
01:18:54
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that's such a weird episode. I like all the little creatures are like putting on a play. It gets grosser and grosser as you watch it. That's right. Oh, I remember that. I will hump this tree. I will hump this rock. And it gets worse. That's why we're not saying the next line.
Summary and Tactical Maneuvers
01:19:15
Speaker
Horrifying. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's not great. I'll tell you that.
01:19:22
Speaker
But what happens next? ah Do you want me to read the next episode? I mean, that's what I was leading on, unless anyone else have more notes. Yeah, no. ah Chapter five, ah Heroes.
01:19:37
Speaker
ah unite to contain Ellisburg. The wards and the undersiders swap places, the building crushes the Siberians. ah Chevalier executes a snowman, which is a winter and mannequin combo, wombo combo. um The group, ah yeah, and the group preps to take the fight straight to Jack. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, baby. Things are going down. Let's see.
01:20:07
Speaker
Vista with a gun, yeah still love it, still love it. Eight Siberians though. oh yeah Go fuck yourself. Honestly though, um pretty cool cool way to to try to take him down. They do this a bit in the end too with in golems and eludes, we'll kind of come back to it. But just the clever ways they're trying, they try to get Siberian to stop touching, you know whatever it is.
01:20:34
Speaker
Yeah. they protecting can't that well The thing I always think about is you can't use, Manton can't be affected by his own ability. So it's always some object, a van or a box in this case that Manton is inside that is rendered, you know, immune. But all I can think of is, ah damn, Topsy would have fucked up a box of Manton's.
01:20:59
Speaker
yes true just Just like spinning. I would just be you know snapping my fingers, spinning that box, just having them bonk heads on the inside. Just put that thing in ah on spin cycle for a little bit. Yeah. That's funny. Oh man. Yeah. I mean, I do like the tactic of switching the wards and the undersiders being like,
01:21:24
Speaker
No, no, we've got the wrong people in the wrong place. Like, switch them, and then it'll work. And it does, right? And that's one of those, like, cool moments, tactical moments of, yeah like, I think it's Tecton who's able to help take out Manton in the Siberians, as opposed to the under- Oh, that's right. it's It's Manton. It's not, I was getting confused. Sorry to cut you off. Yeah, it's not, it's not Tecton fights Manton, not Hatchetface. Hmm. Hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Wait, no, no, no. Foil kills Hatchetface.
01:21:53
Speaker
eight Wait, Tekken fights Manton or Mannequin? No, Manton doesn't, he fights Mannequin, but doesn't he also help? He's the one who makes a whole i'm going to go for the the box of Manton's. Yep. Yep. Some people weren't listening, uh, and straight up smoked a kid. Yep. Oh, yep. I forgot about that. Hey, psychosoma's fucking around. Double check. Like.
01:22:22
Speaker
And then some kid, there's somebody comes out and they're like, ah, and like, light I forget if they're like light them on fire or whatnot. And then it's just, it's one of the heroes. Like it's one of the young heroes that they're like, oopsie daisy. I don't even think they named who it was and they just moved on. Whoops. Sometimes you gotta, we're just going to choose to not think about that too much. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, it made me have a fun thought. Uh, how far do you think John wick?
01:22:50
Speaker
would make it in the worm. Like, I mean, we've talked about the sniper before, so pretty far. Yeah. I need a movie aware. Yeah. and I need a movie about the dragon's teeth as well. Basically any special forces versus supervillains. Yeah. Would be great. And what we're hearing is, uh, miss militia, pull your weight.
01:23:21
Speaker
yeah Get on that, lady. No, that is an interesting idea, though. um And it's almost like...
Non-powered vs. Supervillains
01:23:30
Speaker
to To me, that would be like what the boys was advertised as. Not what it actually is, but kind of when it was the first season was coming out. They're like, it's just a bunch of regular guys who hunt superheroes. And I'm like, oh, that's kind of a cool concept. It's not what the show ended up being, of course. no but But that concept is interesting, right? Of like, okay, we're a squad of just regular dudes.
01:23:50
Speaker
who take down the biggest, baddest super villains that yeah the regular heroes can't get for whatever reason, right? Yeah. It is kind of the fun of the boys comic is that while they do have powers that make them, you know, a fight against ah in a straight up fight, they can take on a lot of the evil superheroes. um For the most part, what they're doing is just bugging and rigging up superheroes, like living spaces so that they can tap into their phone lines and like get blackmail on them and then use that black male to like fuck over other heroes that they know or like, like it's all just a giant FBI operation. Um, or, or just straight up, like they have a sniper across the building, like, you know, and they're like, Oh, this guy's getting out of hand. Like he says he's not gonna,
01:24:49
Speaker
Respond to the blackmail. Like he won't, he won't stand for it. And then they just shoot him and like, well, you know, useless. And so yeah I, you know, I really, would I really would love to see a straight up, like you said, non-powered superhero or a special forces team that has to take on super villains. Um, I think that'd be a lot of fun.
01:25:13
Speaker
Also, I found it. I wasn't crazy. It is hatchet face. Tecton used the opportunity to slam the upper ridge of his gauntlet into the hatchet face's mouth and extended the pile driver full force. off Yeah. yeah na boom Nice. Nice. Put the tinker with the suit of armor against the power nullifier. See how that works.
01:25:35
Speaker
It's just like, your powers don't work on me. Don't you know who I am? I'm the Tekton, bitch. and Cauldron making a hell of an entrance here. Oh my God. Okay. I'm so glad you're on that. That's what prompted the John Wick thought here. Now that I think about it. So yes it is so good. That moment is so good.
01:26:04
Speaker
just the two of them. Cause they, they, they hint at it earlier. Uh, right. Someone, I forget who it is. Someone says, maybe it's hattletail says, uh, over the speaker, um, cauldrons cauldron agreed to send their two of their, uh, whatever, you know, elites. Yeah. Two of the two of their elites and, and like in the back of your mind, you're like, I wonder who it is and out pops from the shadows.
01:26:31
Speaker
And then, aren't they just firing into like fog, right? And they're just hitting their targets. The fog clears and there's just bodies. Yeah. Yeah. It's so good. It is hot. It's hot. I mean, I do love though, they, they pop in, shoot a bunch of bad guys, refuse to explain anything, leave immediately. Leave, yeah. And they just dip straight gone. Are you going to explain yourself and then, you know,
01:26:57
Speaker
Count Contessa turns opens her mouth like she's going to say something and then just turns back around and leaves. Yep. Get fucked. Yeah. A little deus ex machina, but I'll allow it. Yeah.
Taylor's Ruthless Decisions and Greyboy
01:27:13
Speaker
And immediately followed up by the Thonda making ah the return as they drop a goddamn building. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Whole last building.
01:27:26
Speaker
Like a pile driver, like they were like, they looked at Tekton and went, that's, that's JV shit. Yeah. Let me show you how a real like pile driver works. And then just summon the building.
01:27:39
Speaker
Which I assume, for those of you have seen, Genevieve Tartakovsky's, uh, Clone Wars, the one where base Windu goes up against the giant earth shaker machine. Oh, that's basically what they did. Yeah. I mean, okay. Yeah. They're the ones who take out Siberian. I forgot about that. Um, you know, that is, that is hilarious to me. And it just that idea of like, how powerful would it be just to drop a building out of space? Oh, pretty powerful. Cool.
01:28:09
Speaker
Like, nice, nice. That was a good move. ah Yeah. Any other notes? Uh, Taylor gives Lisa shit about, about how she was wrong once. Are you sure? She's like, can you please just trust me? I was wrong once or twice. And Taylor's like, I will never forget. I will never forget. Oh, once again, Taylor, uh, you're, you're approaching that line.
01:28:38
Speaker
My friend, yeah calm down. Are we ready for then for chapter six? It's a six. Yeah. Chapter six, the group tracks the portal. Saint doesn't help. um They enter the nine's lair. ah And we have this big reveal about Greyboy and how he stole Aster and kind of we get an insight on his powers. Skitter attacks, kills Cherish, Screamer, and Aster, and some of the nine escape. Damn, she plugged in everybody. God, she just went for it, huh?
01:29:16
Speaker
Just went in and started blasting. I will say just get a compliment. blast basically yeah um As a compliment to the audio book, I don't know. The voice for Greyboy is really good. It's that perfect, childish, annoying, but stupidly evil.
01:29:44
Speaker
sounding voice, like schoolboy voice. I'll have to maybe find a couple of clips for it. I remember it, especially in the arc where he kidnaps Aster. um I think you're in the chapter where he does that a while back. But whoever does the voice for Greyboy, it's like the perfect nasally like, you know, if you don't cooperate, I'm going to just hurt you more. Don't you want to just work with me instead? And it's just that perfect voice. I don't know. It's amazing.
01:30:11
Speaker
I think that is this chapter because they're, they're listening to gray boy over the sound speaker, like the video. That's right. Yeah. there Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. looking around Yeah. Which I think is some great writing. but I really enjoy that. It's a perfect example of how in personally and a lot of writing, I don't think you need much more than dialogue. Sometimes I think you can convey a lot of what is happening ah with like,
01:30:41
Speaker
Uh, what, what is it? When somebody reads into something, not explicit, implicit, you can implicitly write a ton into the scene through dialogue and the gray boy sequence is that. Yeah, that's pretty good. Very tense. Yeah. Oh, this again, speaking of like characters, it should be S class threats. I think gray boy is pretty high up there.
01:31:06
Speaker
Oh, my God. Terrifying power is horrifying. And the fact that it doesn't go away. Yeah. When he does. Yeah. like Correct me if I'm wrong. they They kill him at the end of this arc. They do. Yeah. And those bubbles stay there. Yep. I think so. Yeah. That's the implication, I think. Well, he even says he's like he can't he can adjust them, but he can't turn them off.
01:31:35
Speaker
Which I mean, he could be lying, but ah yeah, i I thought it was that he didn't want to turn them off. Maybe he could, or he couldn't. he He says he can't, but I think it's probably implied that he might be lying there either way. It's horrifying.
01:31:57
Speaker
Yeah, ah that it's I think what's so unsettling is like, because as Taylor's walking around, she can hear the scream that's just like going on and on and on. And it's the same scream, it's just loop. So it's like, there's no breath. There's no like, back for it, stop. ah right Sorry, the cat's trying to eat all the cables. um But there's no there's no pause, there's no breath, there's no like, you know If someone were actually screaming, they'd have to stop and breathe and then scream again. But it just doesn't end. It just keeps going and keeps looping. And it's got that just enough familiarity and lilting that you can kind of hear when the clip starts over, but it's like it's all just one continual long scream. Like, oh, that's horrifying. Like, that's truly... Ugh.
01:32:49
Speaker
And you can't like put anyone out of their misery once they're trapped. Like it's just, that's their existence. Talks about how he breaks their minds and then they rebuild themselves and then they break again. Like just. Yeah. wo Yeah, that's some heavy shit. it's It's understandable why they only ever made one.
01:33:10
Speaker
Yeah. You know, you even Jack, yeah like, it's all like a handle. Yeah. And as we showed later on, like there's a reason, because as soon as Jack seems like he's about to bitch out, gray boys, like, you know what? No love my last move. Fuck you. I'm going to, I'm going to put you in a loop. Yeah. And the attempts to, you know, attempts to get him. Love it.
01:33:37
Speaker
Can someone explain to me why, like, I mean, I i get why, but why did she shoot after? Because the whole idea is that like, well, if she's dead, she can't be a pawn anymore. But that feels like too simple of an answer for the girl who stressed out for months about a psychic being fed candy in coils underground, you know?
01:34:08
Speaker
I kind of read it as, as partly Taylor just covering her basis for potential catalysts for the end of the world. Like she doesn't know. She knows there's a good chance Esther either dies or gets looped, which is horrifying. Uh, or she's the catalyst for this whole thing. So better to take it off the table.
01:34:35
Speaker
Um, yeah. Cause the assumption is that she has powers or will have power yeah because she's a second generation child of two superheroes or two capes. But so there's that fear that if the nine keep her, that she could be the catalyst and I just, why I think the nine have her in the first place because Jack's like, right maybe she's the catalyst. Uh, I didn't think that was it. I'm pretty sure they just had asked her because they wanted to torture.
01:35:03
Speaker
uh, Theo, we'll definitely talk about, we're going to come back. And basically like, sp we're going to go over a bunch of people, but the people we're really going to fuck up are your family members. Like the two people that they, they know yeah we care about, which is. Aster the baby that he's watching when Jack first meets him and his, you know, pseudo mom purity, uh, who also bumps into Jack there.
01:35:33
Speaker
Like, and they have the conversation about literally the two of them. And Jack's like, Hey, I'm going to kill all of them. I'll kill you last, but I'm going to make something special for them. And rather, uh, cause this is a big, big argument online over the whole Aster thing and joking about Taylor being a child killer. But Taylor's saw.
01:35:59
Speaker
purity, who, you know, burned down a city to protect this child attempt to kill this baby by throwing it out a window rather than like gray boy, yeah an S class monster, mind you um get a it's his, you know, time loop on it. Right. Taylor saw that. And knowing how, great you know, basically seeing that and how Greyboy works was like, ah, clearly also the mother was okay with ah the child dying or rather than yeah letting the nine right do who knows what with it. Greyboy also does say something about that when she tries to throw Astra out the window, basically to like, oh, whether you wanted to keep her from me or maybe like force her to trigger, like, because that is a, that is a potential possibility. of Like you throw her out the window, like,
01:36:53
Speaker
Maybe she develops flight as she's falling down 10 stories, you know? Yeah. I mean, an asterisk, what? Four at most now? Seems like a toddler. I thought she was like 34. Yeah. She's real baby, baby. So I'm assuming between like zero and two at the beginning of the story. And it it it is, I had to find the passage again. It is part just trying to make sure in case she's the catalyst, which might play into whether or not Taylor shoots her because the PRT officer that's being tortured,
01:37:23
Speaker
Um, when he went, when she's like divulging everything that Jack says, Esther is supposed to trigger young, usually one child and family. No Jack is coming chance. She's catalyst, yada, yada. So yeah, yeah or I'm, I'm team, uh, Taylor did nothing wrong, but, uh,
01:37:46
Speaker
I don't know that stuff again. It's that question of like, like we were talking about with a Saint, you know, turning off dragon. Yeah, exactly. Probably had some positive effects. I mean, yeah. But, or it seemed like it did, you know, I guess we don't really have the same data we do with Aster, but it is that question of like, maybe it was the right choice. You know, like, and again, she doesn't know, but it's that idea of if I can stop the world from ending by killing one child, is that worth it? That is the question.
01:38:19
Speaker
I mean, also, thinking you're in the right covers a multitude of sins.
Morally Gray Decisions
01:38:23
Speaker
Like, if you feel like what you're doing is for the greater good, like, okay, well, if I shoot Astor, I could potentially be ending the catalyst to the end of the world. Same thing with Saint, like, unplugging Dragon, like, the idea, like, if if she's the catalyst, then, like, I'm doing the right thing by doing this, even if it doesn't, even if it's, like, morally gray or morally,
01:38:48
Speaker
funky whatever it is like I'm doing the right thing and if this is it I will have saved the world and Like that'll be on my conscience, but I'm okay with that like well if you think you're right that covers a huge It covers a multitude of sins because in your mind you're justified in the choices that you've made. Yeah And it's one of those like, if the world ends, then none of this mattered anyway. And if they save, you know, stop the end of the world, then it was to say that wasn't why, you know, so yeah, it's yeah. Yeah, got exactly. And like, I think with Saint, there is that like immediate
01:39:28
Speaker
um uh oh gosh what's the word uh not comfort yeah well the instant graphic but basically like hearing like oh well our chances just got better it's like oh well okay maybe i did do the right thing man like yeah he's instantly uh not validated yes thank you oh my god validated instantly his choice like they're completely validated because instantly we get this note from from what's her face so she's just like hey I don't know what happened but the numbers just got better and I don't know what you guys did but
01:40:02
Speaker
Then the numbers are saying we're we're looking we're looking better all of a sudden. So it's like we're saying that instant gratification. But like Taylor doesn't know here. And then she has to instantly face Theo, like coming into the room and basically basically be like, oh, yeah, in the pile of bodies on the floor could be Astor's body. Like, right. Well, tough stuff. Sex to be Theo. Yeah. Sex to be Taylor.
01:40:30
Speaker
Like she had to make that decision and she has to now live with that. Yeah, but she cold-blooded. She really is. More so than she used to be. It's kind of upsetting.
01:40:42
Speaker
it feels like before I agreed with a lot of the decisions that she made like even if the yeah the rest of the crew didn't like I I agreed with a lot of the the choices that Taylor made and we've like I don't agree with her choices anymore like I don't like the way she looks at the world she seems like maybe it's because of the time skip but like she seems so removed Like she almost like doesn't live here anymore. Like she almost like Experiences the world through her bugs and not as a human anymore and it feels weird Because I don't I don't feel like I know her anymore like we've gone through this whole book where I feel like I know Taylor and I can I can Agree with the choices that she makes or like understand her choices and like all of a sudden I don't anymore like I don't understand her thought process I don't understand
01:41:34
Speaker
you know the choices that she's making that even they are if they are made for the greater good, like like i can't I can't agree with them anymore. It just doesn't track anymore. and like I don't know who you are, Taylor. like You've changed a lot.
01:41:47
Speaker
like Yes,
Theo's Preparation and Combat Skills
01:41:50
Speaker
definitely tough. And I think that's part of the cool slow burn of the story is this idea of like, yeah okay, she's doing questionable things, but ultimately they seem justified. Oh, that was a little bit more questionable, but I can see where she's coming from. I wouldn't do that. And then kind of getting to these moments where you're like, Oh, Oh no. ah yeah Yeah. It does. It does. Uh, Taylor does give off like, uh,
01:42:19
Speaker
I don't know what the right term is, but, uh, I think she's looking for a fight. I think she, uh, I think she likes, I think she likes the thrill of the fight. I mean, it's back to what Theo said about her being the mirror of Jack. Yeah. Yeah. She lives, she feeds off the chaos. Yep. She's the, she brings like, you know, an RPG to a stick fight and is, ready.
01:42:49
Speaker
Yeah. Is it time? Damn. Yeah. You want us to do the two interludes together? Yeah. So the next two interludes are golem, interludes part one and part two. So I'll just read them both. Part one, Theo prepares as they follow Jack. Harbinger's ambush them. Golem moves on, finds Jack and fights. Zion gets caught by Grayboy. Jack tears apart Golem with Hook Wolf.
01:43:16
Speaker
And then in part two, we get a flashback to a lot of the training between Taylor and Theo back in the backcca back at home base. Golem breaks free of Hook Wolf's attack. Reinforcements arrive. Gray boy traps Jack and then foil kills him and Siberian.
01:43:38
Speaker
It's a lot and I really like it. It's so good. It's so fucking good. I love these two interludes so much. These are some of my favorite chapters in all of form. These two chapters. Yeah. Yeah. The tension, the build up. Uh, I love, I love Theo's perspective and all of it.
01:44:05
Speaker
Um, one of the few times I've talked about how much I hate flashbacks, uh, one of the few times where I enjoyed a quick flashback to start the part two yeah was well-placed, I think. Yeah. I mean, everything about this. I, I, the fact that it took me this long to realize why Jack would have wanted to recruit hook Wolf, like, duh, infinite ammo for Jack. I didn't even make even consider that until this. Yeah. yeah So good.
01:44:36
Speaker
That little bit at the beginning of part one where Theo's trying to decide what to do, what to say if he can cry, if that emotional vulnerabilit vulnerability can happen. And that little exchange with with bitch is just so Good I love where she just brings the dog over. Yeah. Oh, it's just so good Like I feel like bitch has grown so much from how she used to be but like yeah, she just brings the dog over She sits it down because she's learned that like dogs are great therapy because they they just are there and you can kind of Mindlessly pet them like it's such a good that's such a good little
01:45:21
Speaker
moment. I think, you know, the calm before the storm is like Theo is now prepped to go and fight. Like he just has this little moment with the dog as he like collects his thoughts. It's just, oh, ah it's actually good. You know, when what, where are we at that bitch is offering comfort to people without prom? So proud. I'm so proud. She's grown so much ah growing up. I know.
01:45:47
Speaker
The dynamic between Theo and Dinah and their like little surprise partnership and the tension with Dinah being like, you've got 20 questions. You know, that's all I can give you. Uh, and the countdown. Oh my God. So terrifying. This was definitely one of those, I need to keep reading. I need like, I need to keep reading. I need to see what happens. I need to find out how the end of the world happens.
01:46:17
Speaker
Because I knew as soon as we did this, Theo's useless. So he's not stopping the end of the world. So what is the end of the world going to be?
01:46:31
Speaker
And man, like I really love the system that they come up with, with the red and the blue. Oh yeah. Oh, it's great. So smart. You know, fight run team solo. Trick her, her power a little bit there, kind of cut a corner. Yeah.
01:46:47
Speaker
And in Theo's abilities have really gotten a lot better with his powers too. Like I'm just really impressed in this fight with his ability to think on his feet. And obviously we credit a lot of that to Taylor, um, training him to do that, but I just thought that was really cool. Yeah. really i I am still not impressed with Theo. Like I get that he's working with what he's got, but that power is so ass. Like I'm, I am relatively certain.
01:47:18
Speaker
that anybody with a stick could beat Theo in a fight, regardless of powers, because his his stuff takes so long to manifest. And like, it just, yeah. and Like his, oh man, we'll get into this. Jack is not, Jack should not be ah that good of a fight. And we, you know, we catch on that he has You know, obviously his power, you know, his extra power that they think he has, you know, helps out with that. But Jack is like dancing like. The way it's described makes Jack sound like he's freaking Sephiroth from Final Fantasy Advent Children. Like he is just levitating and dancing around everything that Theo is throwing at him.
01:48:11
Speaker
When in reality, he's like taking a step to the left because he's like, Oh man, I almost got him that time with my hand coming out of the ground. You know, Jack kind of hops back. early sides Oh, I almost got him that time. Like Jack should not be a fight. and Like Jack might be in shape, but this is a, you know, if you can block his, his sword stuff, you just run up and punch him. You know, right? Really shouldn't be that hard of a fight.
01:48:41
Speaker
I mean, I see what you mean. Yeah. Yeah, that's fair. and And once again, I love Theo as a, as a, you know, ah this poor boy. I really like him, but that, that ability, my God got handicapped. My boy, I think, i think yeah look at his family and what he got. yeah yeah if You look at his family and you're like Kaiser.
01:49:03
Speaker
Like terrible person, but my God, what a power. And then you, you know, the new patch rolls out and you're like, damn, they nerfed that Kaiser. Yeah.
01:49:15
Speaker
I feel like he works really well when it's like we're on a battlefield and we need like, I it's worked before with end bringers. Like, I feel like it was very helpful before as a solo fight against Jack, it does not feel helpful at all.
01:49:30
Speaker
Like this if you get the vibe that that's he's not a conflict person. Yeah. And it's so little of a conflict person, like personality for him, that his shard that we now know, which is driving people to conflict. ah Can't even make him like, can't even drive him to that. Like ah he definitely conflict a verse he is. Yeah.
01:49:59
Speaker
You got one of the, one of like the runt shards that wasn't supposed to leave the host body. I was like, Hey, where are you going? Okay. Yeah. No, like I was thinking about like, what is Theo good at? Cause all of these things are combat oriented or conflict oriented for a reason as we've established, but it's like, okay, but no, his really doesn't work well at all in conflict. So what is his for? And he realized like, Oh, he'd be really good.
01:50:28
Speaker
at getting cars off of people. You know, something that he can get a little bit of time to do, he disaster recovery, you know? He'd be great at that. Yeah. Anything that requires speed, you know, not so great. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, fair enough. um But he does get, he pulls a tailor and outsmarts his opponent with the whole ah realizing that They just need some normal ass dude.
Entities: History and Threat Level
01:51:01
Speaker
Someone with some containment foam. Yep. Honestly, i we need to get that containment foam out there more often. We really don't use it that often. Like it feels like we could use it a lot more. It's pretty strong stuff.
01:51:17
Speaker
I'm surprised they don't have little like containment grenades that they can chuck out. I was thinking the same thing. It's your like we need one that like when the shell cracks, it like expands like the, um, like the, fuck, like the glaciers. Great stuff. Like the ice in the apartment. Great stuff. Yes. The ice in the apartment. Like it busts open. I don't know if you've ever seen great stuff explode. That'd be crazy though. Yeah. Yeah. No, it worked. It would work good.
01:51:44
Speaker
It's just the incredible scene once again. It is. Thank you. It did a first. Anyone else so scream along with Perian when you thought foil was Oh my God, I was so upset. Oh, I was so upset. I didn't remember that happening.
01:52:04
Speaker
But I was pretty sure I was like, nah, nah, that's, that's, they playing, they playing. I was completely convinced. I was so upset. I was like, well, we had to lose someone important. And like, Astor isn't that important. So like, fuck, I guess this is it. Babies aren't important to Hannah.
01:52:26
Speaker
ah Wow.
01:52:30
Speaker
Not what I said. But also light of child murder.
01:52:38
Speaker
ah ah Foil being a badass though. Ooh. Yeah. Yeah. Faking everybody out. OK. Can someone explain the gag to me? Because I was so confused, I couldn't figure out how they did it.
01:52:50
Speaker
They set this up, well, what they, Wild Bo, set this up ah in Foyle then Flechette's interlude. And I don't know if he had planned this from that point in writing, but he mentions in that interlude, I'm almost positive, I have to go back and reread it, that that she has like essentially perfect timing, perfect spatial awareness of where she is. Oh, ah yeah.
01:53:16
Speaker
And so we get to this point and she obviously it would have been cool to see like a maybe a little side interlude from her perspective here, but doesn't get hit by the bubble is able to see where it's going to hit and and hide behind it. hide step Yeah. And then perfectly just loop her actions so that they think they caught her. um I was going to say it's at least from what I remembered specifically,
01:53:44
Speaker
She's like standing behind the bubble. Yeah. So, you know, perspective wise, and she's repeating the scream. Yeah. Yeah. And then they talk about how there's a little like at the very end of the scream, there's like a little change, which is indicative of.
01:54:03
Speaker
I forget how they explain it. I mean, it's indicative of the loop. Like if you, if you've ever watched a, like a looped video on like reels or Tik TOK or whatever, like it's nothing is quite perfect. There's always like a little bit of a glitch at the end where it loops back on itself. Yeah. And I think in this is they talk about that. Like, cause the brain is staying intact. It's like the one point right before it loops that you can like re react or realize you're at a loop or something like that.
01:54:33
Speaker
So while it is the same scream, like that's your one time where you kind of like realize you're stuck in the loop. Right. Starts over again. Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't, it doesn't, it's not perfectly clear. Yeah. Up until the moment foil still screaming, used her augmented sense of timing to measure the length of each scream stepped around the monochrome field he'd cast just in front of her. Um, yeah, not a, not a whole lot of detail.
01:55:02
Speaker
Yeah, there's, there's a section before where I believe he's listening to her scream and he talks about it, but, um, yeah anybody wants to look at that. Yeah. and read it themselves yeah It's a great package a passage. I'll reread it to myself. What a great package.
01:55:23
Speaker
Shall we final final and a lot? Yeah. Last thing I'll say is, is to lead into the interlude. I do also love how oh it feels like a victory, but reading it, you you know, it's not, you know, it's never is nothing ever is because we can never fucking win in this goddamn book. Even reading it again, knowing what's going to happen. I still had the like,
01:55:52
Speaker
I don't know what the delusion of like, okay, but like what does he possibly say or do that would set this off? Yep. ah Wrong. We were right last inter alert all right. All right, we have the history of the entities. Sion and Eve, the birth of their species, their arrival, the bonding of the shards, and Eve's death. Sion wanders, then sees Jack. Jack talks to him, and Sion listens. And then he destroys the UK. Bye-bye, Brits.
01:56:39
Speaker
That's tough. But, uh, I mean, but what did we really mean? It's Ooh, man, rough. The whole UK. Ooh. You know, but okay. All right. wow but I get it. It's just, anyway, what culture was lost? Shut your mouth. Right. Fucking now. What type of, you know, yeah. Food or any sort of industry at all. Thank you very much. You know, yeah.
01:57:09
Speaker
Oh no, no more beans on toast. Oh, no more bangers and mash. Oh my God, you guys. You want some fish and chips, bruv? This is how we ostracize an entire portion of yeah our community. We have so few fans.
01:57:31
Speaker
We only have like six of them. Like we have to keep all of them. We cannot afford to lose any because Alan. It's the UK. What are they going to do? What else are they going to listen to? yeah The BBC. I was going to say, I've seen what they call media.
01:57:54
Speaker
yes Oh so my God. What's it like never seeing the sun?
01:58:03
Speaker
Oh, they they saw a golden morning. All right. That was the first and only time. Oh, look at the sun. not ah Is that the sun looks like?
01:58:18
Speaker
ah so and so so you Oh, man. Can you tell it's late? Keep going.
01:58:28
Speaker
U.K. didn't move on. OK, look, i'll I'll know it did move on now and it moved on to a better place. No, OK. OK, I'll go. I'll go. Ask someone who had some major worm worm, Mencha worm, whatever we were calling it. Wormnesia. Wormnesia. Anyways, the point is I was completely and utterly ah i I knew something was wrong, I knew something couldn't, something was, yeah stuff was bad. The second Zion showed up, I was like, oh no, we're fucked. and He puts him in the bubble and I'm like, I still, like, I don't feel like he's actually contained. The fact that he's here is just so bad. And then we have this chapter and I just like, I felt like with every new sentence and and like, I don't know if you guys, I'm sure you guys probably noticed this,
01:59:20
Speaker
um at Throughout this chapter, all the names of the different arcs are said. ah Yes, I did notice that. Yeah. it was yeah but And it feels like a countdown. It feels like and a different type of countdown from, like ah Dinah was counting down in terms of how many questions we had. And then this chapter had this kind of like counting up to the present of all the different arcs.
01:59:47
Speaker
And it just, it was so like dread, just my stomach was like tied up in knots the entire time. And then when the finally we get the reveal that the entities yeah and that who sign on is like, it just, it hit. And I was like, Oh no, like, Oh no, this is so bad. Like,
02:00:11
Speaker
Oh, we're so fucked. like this is like we were We were freaked out a little bit earlier with Eidolon. This is the worst possible option. Eidolon would have been bad. this We're doomed. There is no coming back from this. This is the end. This is it. This is the end of everything. Ugh.
02:00:33
Speaker
i I love how the interlude ah essentially sets up that dread. Because up until this point, we know Sion's super strong. He can go toe to toe with the endbringers. But there's still like up until now, you're still like, i mean well, if everybody gets together, they can probably fight him. you know But then you get into this whole chapter and it's like, oh, God, no. um there's Yeah.
02:01:03
Speaker
They've been fighting across dimensions since the beginning of time as like a pastime. it's Yeah, it's just a wildly different scale.
02:01:15
Speaker
We it it had this feeling of like we've lost we've we've been Not that we've been fighting a losing battle, but like the battle was already lost. There was no There was no hope like there was never any hope we've we've just been deluding ourselves this entire fucking time Silly me to think that we could ever win that we could ever have good things. There are no more good things Yeah, all the good things are gone They're all gone. Yeah, I Gotta say For such an abstract creature,
02:01:49
Speaker
the Wild Bo's a genius. We love him. um i and And Nick, I know you... No, no, no. There's no butt here. This is a... Okay. All right. It sounded like you were about to launch into a butt. No, ah they quite the opposite. Nick has said this is a difficult time to get through.
02:02:05
Speaker
I loved this chapter. yeah i I loved getting to sort of try to understand the entities as best as a human can. And like it really felt like Wild Bo was and succeeding in trying to write to this as alien as possible while still making it legible.
02:02:28
Speaker
And I think it does a great job. i think it I think it really comes across that there's like just this level of of knowledge that we can't achieve. It was very, it reminded me a lot of, I don't know if you guys have seen Arrival in the Atoms. Oh my God, yeah so and good. Trying to comprehend a language that speaks time essentially, which this doesn't make sense to us.
02:02:55
Speaker
And that movie does a great job. It's the same kind of thing of like trying to convey such an alien concept. ah And it works like I think we get as good an idea and understanding of what these things are that we could get. Yeah, it's a fun shot. Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely a strange one. So i I think what I would like to do, if possible, is try to summarize what actually happened because I think for me, part of what's, what's tough about it is it's just, it's just kind of hard to track. And I was listening to the audio book and I had to like sit down and read it. And even then it still feels like I'm like, okay, I get that they're interdimensional aliens. I get that they were partners like the warrior and the messenger. And I get that.
02:03:52
Speaker
They're the source of all the powers, but I don't get why. Like what's the end goal, right? And I think part of it is, it's just their survival cycle. Like they're, they survive through gathering information and they do that by sharing the shards.
02:04:12
Speaker
Something like that. I don't think it's just a survival thing. I think it is. They're like expansion of the species. Yes. They're evolution. Like their version of the evolutionary cycle is to now kind of parasitically get it off of other creatures. Um, because ultimately it's about conflict. Like, and now that they're at somewhat of a peaceful, like time in their race.
02:04:42
Speaker
Um, the way they communicate is still through conflict, like the whole rubbing up against each other and exchanging shards and stuff like that. Like literally the friction, you know, and and crashing into each other is how they communicate. Um, but, uh, they're doing that with other like whole species, you know, on planets and stuff as well. Right. Right. But then, yeah.
02:05:10
Speaker
Freakin warriors Bay had to go start Texting another shoddy and She like and she like started yeeting her shards into earth bet basically, right and In warriors like you're kind of spreading yourself a bit thin there aren't you and she's like, no, no, no I'm fine. Don't worry about our cool guys.
02:05:34
Speaker
i I like because there's this one moment where, um, uh, warrior and thinker, I guess are probably approaching earth. I'd have to reread it again and they get intercepted by another entity yeah that yeah passes through thinker. And it reads to me like, uh, like a little cheating scandal and really does. Yep. And that's what, uh, it causes thinker to get distracted and crash land essentially. Yeah.
02:06:03
Speaker
Yeah. The big thing here is that it, when it exchanges with um Eden or the thinker, uh, that is it is doing like a more conflict averse way of moving on. And so that's what it kind of takes to earth. Whereas warriors still very conflict heavy so that when they arrive on earth, Eden kind of has this weird change of.
02:06:32
Speaker
We'll say change of heart. I don't know what to call it otherwise. Well, cause they're supposed to break your balance each other out, right? Is the idea. Yeah. Essentially. Yeah. But they also still have the same like plan, like they're doing like agreements back and forth. Yeah. Right. Yeah. All the agreement agreement. Yeah.
Contessa's Connection to Entities
02:06:53
Speaker
Cool chapter. Really cool. Oh yeah. I love this chapter. I love the, you know, the idea that they're, they grew on their world and,
02:07:01
Speaker
they were, you know, when they started doing the whole, like everybody consuming everybody else, they got to this point where they were so large, they were spilling into other dimensions, right? yeah Um, yeah, just, you know, the, I love the concept of the end bringers. I think they're not the end bringers, the entities. Um, I think that just is a really,
02:07:29
Speaker
Really cool. And, you know, we've essentially gotten the origin story finally for the entire story of worm. Yeah. Yeah. Like all the powers and. And it's, it's such a good, like wild catch all system for so many things. Yeah. This is just, it's a crazy good origin for superpowers. Yeah.
02:07:58
Speaker
I think it's really unique. I think it's really good. um We've had, you know, lots of stories where aliens are the origin of powers, you know, one way or another. But this is ah just doing it right, doing really well. Yeah, that was good. We do have to ah point out the worm in the room ah because we do get a title drop at multiple points in this arc, but specifically
02:08:33
Speaker
because at the end of the arc, when it kind of leaves that perspective and we get Eden's trigger and Tattletail's cabinet conversation and as to describe what he sees, those are some kind of like fish or worms or whales. And dissecting worm is when we finally do the first title drop. That's a very first title drop.
02:09:01
Speaker
five seasons later. They said it couldn't be done. They said we were fools for doing the title five seasons in. But all that to say in all seriousness, because it kind of builds off what you said earlier, Hannah, about how Wild Bo dropped all of the chapter titles into this interlude.
02:09:21
Speaker
um Who knows? I don't know how brilliant Wild Bo is. I think it's pretty smart. I don't know why he planned in advance, but I like to think it was building to this point in this interlude of Worm, the title, being a reference to the entities from the beginning.
02:09:38
Speaker
I feel like it has to be, right? Like it has to be. Yeah. Otherwise, otherwise. Okay. Either while Bo is a genius for planning this so far in advance, yeah or he's a genius for fitting it all together. Anyway, right you know, like that those are, those are our options. So without looking it up, what I remember is that early on in the writing, he came up with this idea of,
02:10:07
Speaker
the of Sion. Sion, from what I remember, was his like first character. um I mean, Sion appears very early on. yeah He does. But Sion, specifically Gold Morning,
02:10:24
Speaker
Oh, and the events of that was his first concept for the story. So he's like been building up to this, this whole fucking dime. And, and he and he he wrote, ah well, he didn't write the story, but he plotted the story backwards. Gotcha. Interesting. Like we have this end of the world situation here. We just have to figure out how to get to that.
02:10:49
Speaker
Yeah. You know, and in this case, it's Jack doing something, but to be fair, it could have been anything else, just anything to finally set. Sion on a path where he goes and blows up the UK. Like, right. That is what you just need to get to. And you're working your way there slowly, but surely, right. Um, you know, you're picking characters to you know move along the timeline. In this case, it happens to be skitter.
02:11:17
Speaker
Um, it could, it literally could have been anybody. Uh, because this was going to happen one way or another because this is the origin point for the story of worm. Inevitable. Regardless. Yeah. Oh, biscuits.
02:11:37
Speaker
And this is where the fun begins. Oh, I have just an overwhelming sense of dread. I'm very excited, but overwhelming sense of dread. And so so the idea is kind of like, because these beings are interdimensional, they've brought knowledge of how physics and metaphysics and everything works, and that's where powers come from, basically. Okay, it is but we'll do we'll do a quick, because you asked yeah you asked for it a little bit before. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, where we kind of passed by it, so.
02:12:08
Speaker
If you can imagine, there is a a world with a bunch of worms all wriggling on it, and through all the different, you know, them just trying to survive, they slowly evolve powers. um And then they start eating each other, and those develop the you know shards on themselves. They're like crystallized worm things.
02:12:31
Speaker
And these shards that make them up encapsulate those powers. So as they rub up against each other and eat each other, they exchange or consume and gain those power, like those different evolutionary traits. Okay. Um, eventually they get gravity manipulation and they realize like, Hey, our world is, you know, too many of us were, we're so packed together. You know, we've eaten so many of each other to become these giant entities. We need to leave and spread out.
02:13:00
Speaker
And they, so they start doing it in pairs. It goes from this conflict world to sort of like, uh, they've evolved to do teamwork and yeah go out yeah and the way that they continue to evolve as individual beings is as they're moving in pairs. Um, they can, uh, they go to a world, they shoot the shard abilities, which are both part of them and also separate.
02:13:30
Speaker
they shed those shards into the world, into the creatures there. And the parts of themselves grant those creatures powers and influence them to be a little bit more conflict because they, they notice that, you know, if they have powers then power, you know, sort of power corrupts and causes. kind Right. Right. Right. so Okay. Um, and in observing those creatures,
02:13:56
Speaker
engaging in conflict while holding on to their powers, they gain new powers. The powers evolve within and with the creatures. And then at some point they just withdraw all those powers back with the new information and now they have it. So they've done this for millions of years or whatever. They've essentially been co-opting and hijacking other creatures evolutionary cycles with their own as well. Eventually they head to earth and here for some reason, uh, Eden, the thinker has yeah Eden Eve. Sure.
02:14:49
Speaker
Sorry. The thing I read said it was Eve. I'll look it up. You keep talking. I'll look it up. Yeah. Uh, yeah. So for some reason, uh, she has assumedly died, but as, um, and then this is what makes Sion kind of depressed and mopey this whole time. Um, and what, what has thrown this cycle off quite a bit. Uh,
02:15:18
Speaker
He notices, however, that there is a living shard from his partner in Contessa. Oh, Contessa. Contessa, he notices.
02:15:38
Speaker
Has a living shard. Yeah. I didn't realize it was going to happen. I knew she was hottest for a reason. Also, Alan, you're right. It is Eden, not Eve. Thank you. That is, uh, I thought the shard was in a Jack for some reason. Maybe I missed it. I know Jack is, uh, the, whatever the broadcast shard. And I do believe that is all, all what I'm saying is all the, all the, all the ones we've seen so far,
02:16:08
Speaker
are all of science powers. And the only one that we have seen that is not science power is Contessa. Contessa is not only from Eden, one of Eden's shards, but it's, it's living, which means that she got it when Eden was alive. Oh, interesting.
02:16:37
Speaker
So that means that there might be like Eden might be able to be revived based off of a single shard. Uh, I don't think so. Cause they can exchange shards and they become part of other, you know, the other entity that they exchange with. Um, you know, it it is part of Eden, but we don't necessarily know that it's that Eden is alive because of that. We just know that it was.
02:17:06
Speaker
Eden was alive when it was given to her. Right. It's kind of like testing different like superpowers on rats and then, you know, yeah, perfecting them and then taking those, that information and, and removing it from all the rats and leaving. Yeah. Basically that's what they do. Yep. Yep. This is a very simple and succinct way to explain it. Yeah. Makes sense.
02:17:36
Speaker
Where does it mention, is it in this and this chapter that it's Contessa's? He sees, if yeah it's the last one, he sees the people basically in the portal, which you know is Cauldron doing its shtick. And he spots the female of the group, because it's you know obviously number man and Contessa. And he goes, um that is an Eden shard.
02:18:05
Speaker
And it is a live Eden show. Okay. And all of a sudden, Sion has questions. Yeah. He's been convinced that maybe he should get on on that conflict action. Yeah. You know, why let, why let the whylet jack all the bond wait why have the, let the rats have all the fun when you could step on the rats. and Exactly. You could win the rat experiment. Do you know how easy it is to do those mazes?
02:18:34
Speaker
Exactly. I could get the cheese every time. I am the cheese, Lord.
02:18:44
Speaker
ah I think, I think um all of our brains are shutting down. It is. It's been a late. Yes. Got a rat. It gets in the worm brain. Yeah. The worm brain.
02:18:58
Speaker
i I do love, though, how, like, for being an interdimensional entity, Sion's kind of dumb, if you like, in a sense. Because all Jack basically says is like, you've tried being nice, why not be angy? And Sion's like, you know what, Jack? Sure. I do want to be angy. And then he blows up the UK and he's like, huh, that was nice. I mean, I get it. Yeah.
02:19:29
Speaker
We've all been there. What about David? 1776. Never forget. He's the best. What about who David Beckham, David Beckham, hey going you know beck and night barely know it.
02:19:48
Speaker
my boy ah mean it mean
02:19:52
Speaker
You know, I mean, I'm sorry, what record does he currently hold that hasn't been completely blown out of the water by anybody else? He's just awesome. Okay. I mean, I haven't watched the documentary, Michael, so I'm just going to say that, you know, his best performance was in Bend It Like Beckham. True. would just Well, let's move on.
02:20:13
Speaker
move on click We'll be here too long. All right. Let's close it out. You've got to wrap this one up. Oh, favorite powers. God. Oh my lord. There were a lot. Nice guy. Nice guy was pretty cool. Nice guy was really good. but I mean, I want i want to say golem just to fuck with Alan. As you should. As is you're right. Why are you the way you are? and ah What's the what's um one screamer?
02:20:49
Speaker
Yeah, screamer. Screamer. Yeah, that was pretty cool. Just ASMR powers. A lot of cool powers. I mean, Nix is like fog ah constructions, whatever they are. Yeah, the fog illusion yeah illusions. Yeah, illusions. Crucible. Crucible. Yeah, crucible. For like, crucible, crucible. Yeah. Relax, what better way to say it.
02:21:16
Speaker
Um, no, a lot of cool powers. Um, we didn't even really talk about Harbinger who's number man. So I guess we've met him before. Yeah. But the group of the group of Harbinger was terrifying. Yeah. It was crazy. I love that. I mean, I think one of their abilities is to figure out basically goat feet so that they can just run up sheer face, like the faces of buildings. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm stupid. Why are you stupid? You just said the Harbinger is the number man.
02:21:46
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Did you not know that? No. no i I in fact am have the dumbs. It's fine. hell now He only spells it out clearly in his interlude. You know what? Look. The Wormnesia is strong with this. She's forgetting parts of the book that she already read. i first i'm I forget sometimes if I had lunch the same day that I'm thinking about. That's fair.
02:22:16
Speaker
That's fair. i've got I've gotten out of the shower before and been like, do I need to take a shower? um That's just the life equivalent of like, did I save my Pokemon game? You know what? I better save it a second time. yeah yeah
02:22:32
Speaker
Also, there's so many names. Like, come on. And people are constantly changing their names. Like we were talking about, we were talking about foil and flechette and I was like, fuck, that's right. She did change her name. Like, ah, fuck. Yeah, that's a lot.
02:22:45
Speaker
Grey boy. Grey boy. Oh yeah. I was going to say Grey boy's powers are pretty terrifying, but yeah, pretty amazing. Yeah. It's, it's a great defensive power. Cause you just reset, uh, yup. You know, the moment he triggered basically, um, and then also. Sorry, continue. and so Great offensive power. Cause holy cow. That's terrifying.
02:23:10
Speaker
yeah I don't like the idea of a power that you can't then like change your mind on. Like, okay, if Taylor wants to attack with her bugs, she can then be like, no, actually just kidding. And the bugs will back off. Like with Greyboy, if he legitimately like put somebody in a loop and he changes his mind, if he cannot, cause we're, I don't know if we ever said yes or no one way or the other, but like if he can't pull people back out of the loop again, like they're just stuck in the loop. And there's like a weird sense of lack of control that I don't like.
02:23:42
Speaker
That's true. Hmm. To me, it's like, that's like the part of the child like. This of him, he's just cha actual pure chaos and that's even more terrifying. That's true. It doesn't mean it's, it makes it a worse power. That's for sure. But it makes it a better character.
02:24:03
Speaker
Oh, I did have one note about the entities I forgot. Um, I was trying to ah envision like what it was, what it would have looked like for them to speak to each other. And the only thing I could keep coming back to is the opening for it's a wonderful life where the angels and God are talking and it's just the stars far as just blinking at a lighting bloop bop do dude like lighting up. yeah but affirmative yeah Affirmative agreement. I liked the idea of whales, like the singing.
02:24:36
Speaker
Like whales singing at each other and like bouncing sounds and verb reverberations back and forth between each other.
02:24:50
Speaker
but so I think it's time to go to bed. its I'm so fucking tired. We're making whale sounds at midnight. That's when you know you know. Honestly, for the second longest arc,
02:25:02
Speaker
I think we got out pretty well. I was going to say, I was, yeah. Not bad. Not bad. Well done. Well done everybody. And well done to all of our listeners. Yay, we've made it to through ARG 26. We're in the end. We're in the endgame now. We apologize in advance for whatever part of this very long arc we missed. That was probably your favorite of course. And please let us know what it was and we will ah try to respond to your comments.
02:25:35
Speaker
But we just, I've probably loved it too. We just, you know, there's a lot. We are sorry. luck right and And if you, if you don't want to type out a comment, that's fine. You can leave us a voicemail and we'll play it on the podcast because you'll have to hear your little sweet, sweet voices, sweet voices whispering in our ears. Heck yeah. I don't remember what the number is, but I was also trying to think of the number.
02:26:05
Speaker
9 8 0 9 9 9 0 4 3 8. That's it. Call us, leave us a voicemail. Uh, it's not a live number. So you don't have to worry about like talking to a real person. yeah in No one will pick up. Nope. Yup. We will not answer. We will not answer, but we will listen to your voicemail. We've had, we've had a couple before and it's, it's always lovely to hear, hear you guys. So. Yes.
02:26:34
Speaker
And consider becoming a patron and joining our discord and leaving us comments there. If you want a more direct touch and response, we do respond to those. We chat, we send memes, we talk about a lot of stuff. And I will say, I really like, there's like a cute little community thing happening where it's like, we share stuff about our day and like what's going on. And it's, it's so nice. I love our little patrons. They're so sweet.
02:27:03
Speaker
Warm fans only. Come on in. Get in here. All right, Michael. I think I speak for everyone when I say, play us out.