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BBBC Reads Ward - Episode 6
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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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The Brockton Bay Book Club discusses J.C. McCrae's Ward live! The gang reads a portion of Ward and comes together to share our thoughts with each other and anyone who want's to participate.
This week we cover Arc 5 (Shadow)!
Read along here
Play along with this week's BBBC BINGO while you listen!
Support us and connect with us @brocktonbaybc
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Transcript
Introduction to Brockton Bay Book Club
00:02:46
Speaker
Good evening, Mega City. There's trouble in Cedar Point. It starts with P and ends with R and it's Prancer and it's the Devil's Game.
00:03:01
Speaker
Nice. ah Just wanted to break out into the music man. That there is what it's from. Is that what you're going for? Okay, good. Yeah. a trouble Right here in River City.
00:03:13
Speaker
That's right. Yeah. starts with e what was it starts with t and ends with e it's pool and it's devil's game it's a devil's game yeah okay anytime the word trouble was mentioned my that is what my father would break out into and all right good evening a brockton bay book club and uh viewers uh it's good to see y'all on our weird off week uh this time around um For those of you who have never been here before, we're the Brockton Bay Book Club.
00:03:46
Speaker
We are going through Ward and ah just, you know, little section by section. This week was 5.1 to 5.6 and we discuss um with our lovely viewers.
Managing Spoilers and Engagement
00:04:04
Speaker
Also, as introductions go, I am your host, Alan. We have Hannah. Hi, hello. Jacob. Hello. Michael.
00:04:15
Speaker
Hey. And Nick. Hello there. As you can see, Michael and Nick ah sporting their lovely Brockton Bay Book Club t-shirts.
00:04:27
Speaker
Very fashionable. um And I believe and Jacob is even wearing a Brockton Bay's neon sweatshirt. Darn yourself, Jacob.
00:04:38
Speaker
I do. I do. I very much enjoy it. ah Before we get started, just a quick shout that ah we try to keep the spoilers pretty low in chat.
00:04:50
Speaker
um We are reading. I am the only one that has read this before. So we have everybody else on this is a first time reader and we were treating
Exploring Arc 5 of 'Ward'
00:04:59
Speaker
this like a book club. So trying not to spoil things that we have not read in this section.
00:05:04
Speaker
um However, if you'd like to talk spoilers, we have a Ward spoilers chat ah in our Patreon discord. You can be a patron for as Low as $1 a month and get in there.
00:05:16
Speaker
And it helps fill out our bingo sheet week to week. ah You can put in your suggestions, um which if you'd like to play along with us, there's a bingo sheet in the description below.
00:05:28
Speaker
um and can play along. patrons help right i will say that was right yeah patrons from the specifically the patrons in the ward spoilers chat help us put together that bingo sheet um but there's other stuff we're working on more content and i know we've been really lax on that for ward uh but also our lives have been a lot busier despite not doing a podcast per week And maybe that's just ward is longer.
00:05:57
Speaker
it is it' also bad. Yeah, I will say on the spoilers thing, we are doing arc five, but we're only doing the first half. So if you're um mentally trying to think back to when things happened, we read up to the end of the meeting with the wardens. That's the the last thing we've read. So just to because I know at least if I if I had been like looking back on this and they're like, oh, they read arc five.
00:06:20
Speaker
I might not remember exactly yeah you know like how far 5.6 is. So 5.6 ends with them meeting the Wardens, talking with them, getting to see some of my favorite people again.
00:06:32
Speaker
yeah so yeah yeah, good times. So... so Without further ado, and thank you for those who are already in here. I know some of you are get to finally watch us live for the first time because our schedules have just been off.
00:06:48
Speaker
um Yes, our love goes out to you. ah This arc, what are your thoughts?
00:07:00
Speaker
Oh. Ah. Stuff is happening and I'm happy. I'm so happy. I'm so happy. Yep. I'm so happy. We were so harsh, man.
00:07:10
Speaker
I mean, we were, ah we were harsh last week. Last we were are not last week. yeah all yeah i mean Justifiably so, but it felt really good to, to get into some good chapters now.
00:07:24
Speaker
Not that the rest weren't good, but you know what mean? You know. But yeah, this was good. This was good reading. I think I think this is the first time where consistently I would finish and a chapter and think, OK, I want to I want to get to the next one. Like I want to know what happens next.
00:07:40
Speaker
I feel like this section is really where it starts to pick up
Emotional and Narrative Insights
00:07:43
Speaker
the pace. Things are happening. um Yeah, this is a good one. I enjoyed it. I think honestly, I just needed more more fighting, more interaction and a bit more subterfuge with these groups. It felt like.
00:07:56
Speaker
There was a lot of buildup, but nothing had happened yet, really. So, um yeah, seeing that all come to a head was great. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. No, we were so harsh last time.
00:08:08
Speaker
ah But what an opener. I mean, immediately, just, I turned to Alan, and I was like, ah How does he do this?
00:08:19
Speaker
yeah I can be finishing one arc and being like, what is happening? Like, I'm not invested. I'm not here for this. What's going on? Start a new arc and be like, he got me again. Like, I'm pulled in immediately. The red jeans, the emotional, you know, the grip.
00:08:37
Speaker
The grip. Yeah, I'm here. I'm here for it. We're back in, baby. Let's go. yeah Yeah, this was a good one. it Kind of gets you with the memories, the red jeans, all that stuff with Victoria was great starting it off.
00:08:52
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, good. It's that good. It's funny how like the clothing thing is an interesting like through line between this and Wyrm as well, right? With Taylor going shopping with Tattletail.
00:09:06
Speaker
um yeah Yeah. Image and memory and all of that. so Very cool. Well, shall we get into it? Yeah, let's let's go. Start us off. Let's go o All righty.
00:09:19
Speaker
I'm going to be honest, these summaries, I might start writing my own
Merchandise and Club Engagement
00:09:24
Speaker
after this one because I'm realizing these are a bit. I appreciate the effort that went into them a bit lacking, I would say. yeah got do A lot of them, you know?
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you got to do a lot of them all at once, I understand. It's not your fault. I appreciate the effort that went into them. um Everyone tries to get on the same tape page because ready ready or not, it's time to move.
00:09:50
Speaker
And I feel like that doesn't um explain what happened. no is at all ah
00:09:58
Speaker
This is Victoria meeting with Miss Yamada. um This is
00:10:06
Speaker
them deciding what to do.
00:10:13
Speaker
sort of her talking about the team and about herself, how everything is wearing on her, how it feels. um And them sort of preparing things sort of preparing for the day as they realize Cedar Point's about to get embroiled in this war with the with the fallen and we need to get ready.
00:10:38
Speaker
Yep. Yep. Yep. And this is this is how you kick it off. Yes. Like you said, we went from some of the like ah honestly some of the most boring writing we've had yet to the clothing.
00:10:51
Speaker
And ah you know this is like the opposite of every time we've had Wild Bo talk about clothing up to now. I was going to say the same fucking thing. ah kid tint Continue. No, that a go off um Okay, well, good, because, oh, my gosh, y'all know I have an issue with with with our boy and his clothing descriptions, and they always feel a little weird to me, or, like, just the the vibes aren't quite there.
00:11:20
Speaker
This nailed it. Like, if you're going to talk about clothing, like, understanding, okay, you know, Putting forth a mental image of this character by their clothing can be very helpful.
00:11:34
Speaker
For me, it feels like Wild Blood just does it too much and it's very judgy and I don't like it. This?
Victoria's Relationships and Past
00:11:41
Speaker
perfect like the emotional connection to the red jeans and like the care that victoria has like when she takes a shower she hangs them outside of the bathroom because she doesn't want the moisture from her hot shower to get on the jeans and mess up the color like the the the the detail there is so connected to the memory of dean and so connected to like her
00:12:08
Speaker
early growth as a hero and like this like budding romance that happened between them and then like and then you know he's gone and there's all of this emotional stuff attached to this pair of red jeans are the red jeans important no it's the emotional connection that's attached to them and this is so It feels so good.
00:12:31
Speaker
I like I'm tied in my whole my whole laptop. I love the camera shake um yeah with the way the expression. I'm like ganging on my desk and everything's like toppling. ah No, but like it's just so it feels so good to have this because this is what matters. Like, yeah, man, you got got me again. Like, come on. Yep.
00:12:56
Speaker
And isn't this isn't this also where she has that conversation with the one random worker? Like she's like early morning, flies to Cedar Point, pulls out her laptop, and that guy's like, what you doing here? What you doing up there? What you doing up the delivery driver. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That was a fun little conversation.
00:13:18
Speaker
Being unpowered in this world must suck. Like, imagine just have it being unpowered, knowing nobody with powers, living through gold mourning, this change in realities, different earths, teenagers.
00:13:35
Speaker
Like, it gotta just be, what a world. He's like, I'm just trying to deliver my produce, man. Victoria's like, yeah, you probably shouldn't deliver here anymore, my dude. Yeah.
00:13:47
Speaker
Oh, man, it it does. it It's got to suck, which kind of lends some credibility to the whole like. That one scene way back when there was that group cluster fuck trigger where everybody was exploding and it was like people are like, i can get powers finally, you know? Yeah. Yeah. yeah Right. And then you turn into a tree and.
00:14:07
Speaker
Yeah. And, you know, and then. then you poop your brain out and, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes your brain just stops moving, but you keep going. you wrecking out Oh, God. o Yeah. and There's ah you know because my my brain specifically with the red red denim jeans, I was like, OK, you know, well, let's do the calculation.
00:14:29
Speaker
Good pair of jeans like a good, good pair of jeans, probably like 275 bucks. So let's look at ah he describes it as one weeks of pay If at minimum wage of $7.25 an hour ends up being, surprise, around $275. So math.
00:14:45
Speaker
He did the math. did the math There you go. Yeah, red raw denim jeans, which, ah to be fair, if you're dying them red, you know, they're not really completely raw, but okay. Oh, okay. Okay.
00:15:05
Speaker
and ah I did really appreciate ah just getting more of Victoria's relationship with Dean. Because like when you're reading about it in Worm, it's it's the teen romance from the other group of kids.
00:15:20
Speaker
and The homecoming king and queen yeah the vibe you get from them there. Exactly. exactly And it's over so quick because he's it's Arc 8 and he's gone.
00:15:31
Speaker
and so like it's yeeted by leviathan just gets yeeted oh dean but yeah no getting in getting more of the emotion there even though ah it it was still a teen romance it was still very real for victoria and uh yeah getting to be like yeah that's right she probably is pretty sad about that isn't she that's fair that's fair unfortunate you know i mean yeah it's it's gotta to suck like you're you've got your one true, you know, you know, your boyfriend, high school boyfriend, super intense relationship, probably from the sound of it. Plus their families are involved. Plus, uh, you know, that whole thing.
00:16:10
Speaker
Oh, we lost Santa for a second. Um, and then you add to that. He dies tragically, which is something you always knew could happen, but it's worse than you expected. Then shortly thereafter, you become the blob.
00:16:26
Speaker
Um, You know, it's I imagine that even if it even if in reality it had been a what would have been just a high school romance that petered out eventually.
00:16:38
Speaker
It's not that now because of how things you know, the because of the path that her life took. So it's yeah, it's more than that. And yes, as Chad is saying, everybody should go bald.
00:16:49
Speaker
um Especially Hannah. as i you know Go bald and wear Brockton Bay Book Club stuff, apparently. like Yeah, exactly.
Character Analysis and Narrative Depth
00:16:58
Speaker
I don't think I could pull it off.
00:17:00
Speaker
ah I think you could. I think you could. yeah See, the problem I can't get the reverse. No, no, no. If I can grow the facial hair, I might be able to. The hair on the sides. I don't mean this in a worm sense, but you give strong Greg energy, but Greg is like a 40-something-year-old man.
00:17:22
Speaker
Like when you go bald, you're just, you're Greg, you know? Greg has a really cool workshop and ah he used to he used to be like a poker champion back in the day, but now he, yeah you he woodworked.
00:17:35
Speaker
I don't know. I wish I had a cool woodworking workshop. Yeah, you know. i think of Not the worst, not the worst comparison. the chat. The funny thing is we didn't coordinate wearing merch. It was literally just, we all got on and those who were wearing merch were wearing merch. So I, I should have, I'm sorry.
00:17:56
Speaker
Some of us care more. but but we'll We'll get to, we'll get to that. designed it. Come on, man. ah We'll get, we'll get to why I'm not and and in a bit. It's going to take us while though. Oh gosh.
00:18:08
Speaker
But yeah, no, one of the things I, ah the Danny look, yes. The Danny look, the best look in the world. Danny bald? I don't know if he was bald, but... Probably by the end of the story he was.
00:18:20
Speaker
Probably. Yeah. The stress. Yeah. The stress. He was not bald in arc one He was bald by like arc six. but ah oh He's just walking and like tufts of hair float off of his hair. Oh no.
00:18:37
Speaker
Every time he thinks he sees Taylor. that Taylor? such oh That's so terrible. I hate that. My heart. You Danny boy.
00:18:50
Speaker
But one of the the things I enjoyed about ah this, this chapter, ah especially, um you know, and as we continue to move through is this is of course, from Victoria's perspective and Victoria primarily deals in, ah she has an emotional force field and,
00:19:08
Speaker
that is as we know the perspective that she also gives with taylor she was thinking about a ton of things she was always planning uh and multitasking was her big point of view thing that always kind of you knew who it was without saying it because of the multitasking and for victoria it's this emotion everything has an emotional weight to it in my mind um it It becomes more abstract because she's feeling out things and she can't put her finger on it. And this is sort of her talk with Yamada in part is something's wrong with this group.
00:19:42
Speaker
I don't know what it is, but I can feel it like literally on a power level. I can feel that something's wrong. I want to know what it is. and And then she has moments like this where she's looking at clothing and everything has...
00:19:58
Speaker
has emotional weight. And that's sort of, I see that as the, you know, the perspective in this story. ah Ward, as compared to Wyrm, is a much more emotionally laden tale.
00:20:11
Speaker
ah Not in just a, like, highs and lows, but, like, emotion is a thing that is active in combat. I mean, we have at one point in time, three big emotional hitters literally throwing out emotion powers in a fight later on, like yeah literally warring emotions.
00:20:29
Speaker
And then these quieter moments of seeing the emotion in things. um So it's just a big component to this. ah Yeah, yeah, for sure. the The emotional awareness um kind of There were two things I really liked in this chapter. The conversation with Yamada is just peak.
00:20:48
Speaker
um We talked about last time how she is feeling a similar feeling she had looking back at the bank heist when Tattletail sort of spoiled everything with Amy.
00:21:00
Speaker
um She's having that similar feeling with what's going on with this group now that Rain has explained everything going on with the Fallen. And... What I appreciated, though, and I think we may have even talked about this, what I appreciated, though, Yamada saying, well, be careful not to assume things will go the same way that things went for you. um Right.
00:21:23
Speaker
Be aware that there were there's a lot of other forces at play in your life and in these kids' lives, and it may not... It doesn't have to go the same way. Don't feel like it's inevitable. But it's still that deep gut feeling she has, right? Of like, yeah.
00:21:37
Speaker
The other part that got me with the genes, since we were talking about emotional moments, I found, I found, I think, maybe my favorite two sentences in this entire arc. In 5.1, she says, i hadn't gotten to be fussy with other things.
00:21:53
Speaker
A year after I had gone to the hospital, my mom had donated just about all of my clothes to charity. Yeah. And so just that.
00:22:03
Speaker
That bitch. That that a god that it fuck bitch. bitch. See, Nick, I wrote down the next line as my my quote. Ripping off her own band-aid by giving away my treasures.
00:22:17
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Holy shit.
00:22:22
Speaker
Yeah, that's some grade A level bullshit is what that is. What a goddamn bitch. What a goddamn bitch. I regret reading her interlude in Wyrm. Yeah. Carol never ceases amaze.
00:22:38
Speaker
Yeah. Never ceases to disappoint in the most disappointing way. Never ceases disappoint. Yes. Never disappoints to disappoint.
Parental Actions and Emotional Themes
00:22:45
Speaker
It says... Sorry, Jacob. Go ahead. No, was going to say the bar was low, but holy fuck.
00:22:54
Speaker
ah Yeah. Yeah. my head yeah Reminds me of some poetry I did, which was like, oh my god, I've never seen somebody push a relationship down a flight of stairs before.
00:23:06
Speaker
yeah Whoa. like yeah yeah ah It's literally that and then clambering down the stairs to be the first one to hit them with the hammer at the bottom, right? Oh god! Yeah.
00:23:18
Speaker
Oh man. ah Jeez Louise. With her giving her. Oh.
00:23:25
Speaker
Sorry. yeah i I just want to say. Hannah's been getting a thought in, girl. Thank you. ah Her giving her clothes away to me is like, you are this new person now. You are this wretch, and you will never be the old person again. So what's the point in hanging on to all of your old clothes? Because you'll never fit them again.
00:23:42
Speaker
like it's It's such a hopeless feeling to be like, well, you'll never sew. We just won't. like We just won't even broach it. like It's just gone now because we don't see a hope of you ever being...
00:23:54
Speaker
quote unquote normal again and i guess yeah and to to rachel's point in chat i was gonna say that as well that to a point i get it um like if you're a parent and you've lost a kid you know vicky wasn't dead of course but if you've lost a kid and like what do you do with their stuff i mean maybe you hold on to it for a time but eventually yeah you're grieving too you want to throw it out like you want to get rid of it you want Maybe you want to move on. The difference is that she was still alive. Yeah.
00:24:28
Speaker
There was a chance she would get better. Right. Because there are parahumans who can do stuff like that. Namely, her sister, maybe, someday. if Yeah.
00:24:39
Speaker
And I think that's the big difference, is that it's less. And as she points out, she didn't need the space. It wasn't like... Like, she literally could have just locked Victoria's room, pretended it didn't exist, and moved on with her life. but it in the fucking attic.
00:24:53
Speaker
you know yeah Yeah, put it where you won't see it again. was also so fast, right? Didn't she do it like immediately? Yeah. It was a year um a year. Yeah, a year. A year pretty long.
00:25:05
Speaker
Yeah. yeah and look Yeah. I have clothing that I've hung on to since college that I've been like, oh but this T-shirt from camp. Oh, my gosh. And it's still in my fucking attic, man. Like, there's a certain and it's not even the sentimentality part of it because I understand, like, if Carol's a very, like, dude, dude, dude kind of person, like, I'm going to get my ducks in a fucking row. Like, OK, I understand, you know, organization, clutter, whatever. But like, not talking to Vic about, like not saying anything and all of a sudden all things and it's not just her clothes, but like all the memories that are attached them, like your leather jacket and your your fucking PJ pants that you've worn for six years since you got them at Christmas. Like there's a certain type of this.
00:25:51
Speaker
Yeah, I guess the the problem, ah the problem, like Fran said, is that one person who could cure it in mega jail, um Amy, the other person who could cure it is bone saw and well,
00:26:03
Speaker
i don't think you want to be in mega jail it's a no on both categories it's a no yeah please stay away from me on both sides like yeah yeah but you know alas um i think the saddest image the saddest image is just her floating in the shower like curled in the fetal position oh my god got me victoria get help i will say We have all done that, right? Where we curl up in the bathtub and you just like let the rain. And in your head, you sing the, I let the rain pour down and cover me. And you sing that in your head to yourself on repeat until the water goes cold and then you get out, right? What? I did that a lot in high school. Earlier today, yeah, for sure.
00:26:51
Speaker
No, I stand and I put my head against the wall and drink cold beer like a man. You don't drink beer, you fucking liar! Nuh-uh, don't even! You think beer tastes like gross wet bread. Don't lie to you.
00:27:07
Speaker
He's in the shower with like a frozen blended margarita drink. like That's exactly what it is. That's exactly what it is. It's like a nice mojito.
00:27:18
Speaker
Please, mojitos are too bitter. There is no beer in this. but He's not leaning forward, though. He's leaning back just like, ah. yeah Yeah. Let the back of my head or hit the the cold wall.
00:27:29
Speaker
Well, the blistering heat of the... yeah Here's the thing. I like my showers to beat me and burn me. You know, that's the the level of water pressure and temperature I want. sort of a self-flagellation thing. Very religious. Exactly, Rachel. Classy depression, you know.
00:27:44
Speaker
Exactly. Swirling my wine outside the shower curtain. It's so peak. because You don't want your wine to, like, heat up, so you've got to keep it out.
00:27:56
Speaker
and Yes, Bernard. Thank you, Bernard. I'm glad Bernard agrees. I think it tastes like carbonated wet bread. So... Yes. <unk> not great. And, and also to your point, Bernard, uh, brandish flaming should be a standard space. I didn't think we would bring it up. I don't know why I thought we wouldn't bring it up, but I'll make sure that that's on there from now on.
00:28:15
Speaker
That should basically be a free speech. Uh, yeah. Um, yeah. carol bring A little bit since we have such a strong selection of writing from this first chapter and something I thought about here.
00:28:28
Speaker
Um, There is a moment where Vicky is eating while talking to Miss Yamada, and she covers her mouth while... Or maybe it's Yamada.
00:28:39
Speaker
Covers her mouth while chewing. Yeah. and but Things like describing blocking the mouth while eating is the perfect example of verbosity. The amount... The length that he goes to describe it is completely unnecessary.
00:28:56
Speaker
It doesn't add anything to it. And it really is something that could have been, she covered her mouth while she ate. Yeah. Like, that's really all you need. And instead, it's almost a paragraph.
00:29:09
Speaker
Like, it is a paragraph. Is it really? Like, it's a couple sentences. Yeah. It's way too long. It's ah it's a couple sentences. So I was, like, saying,
Critique of Writing Style
00:29:16
Speaker
like, that. And if you do that and cut it down, you know, a bazillion times, you get a much shorter, much more engaging, you know, work to read.
00:29:28
Speaker
But at the same time, i imagine that the kind of descriptions that we get for powers like the water shadow of Leviathan also come from that same type of overly descriptive writing.
00:29:44
Speaker
So it is a two edged sword that is really cool to swing around, ah but is really heavy. And sometimes you get tired of it. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
00:29:57
Speaker
Another small thing i I thought of on a different topic with this, they talk a little bit about the future of the law of the world, how heroes and powers will work in it. And i it just kind of hit me reading this one. I was like, you know what?
00:30:10
Speaker
We never talked about that in Wyrm because they were criminals. They didn't care what the laws were. know they With the heroes, they got to talk, you know, with the heroes of like, well, we got to talk about jurisdictions and territories and like, you know, how far is too far, you know,
00:30:26
Speaker
you know we don't want to be guilty of hero violence, you know, like right property damage. Insurance company's going to be real mad, you know? Yeah. Give a parahuman city council meeting with a couple k Cape HOAs just hashing out, you know, ah borders and things. Yeah.
00:30:45
Speaker
Need that. Little procedural TV show. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah once Again, I would, I would accept almost. We need the counselor story. Yep. Yeah. We need the,
00:30:57
Speaker
hospital super hospital cape hospital yeah oh yeah um and then i love that uh yamada can't even criticize vicky about her eating habits because you know we know yamada's aren't great Listen, that is a hardworking woman who gets a lot done and also takes care of a lot of ah emotional stability for a lot of different people and as well as herself. So you know what? If sometimes she only eats a granola bar, look, slay.
00:31:28
Speaker
And also, I love her. Look, don't girl dinner or bullshit me. but She needs to eat food. We saw her back. A slice of cheese. Listen, a slice of cheese and a granola bar is a perfectly acceptable dinner. Absolutely not. Not for the calories you're burning doing all that.
00:31:44
Speaker
No. You're putting that brain to work and that thing burns more calories than the rest of your body. Absolutely not. does have a big brain. Let's be honest. That's right. And she was eating pizza in a hotel room like every night.
00:31:56
Speaker
Bless her heart. Like one slice of pizza. Bless her, but she needs to take better care of herself. And y'all know my biggest pet peeve is people who don't eat properly. Not like a health thing, just skipping meals.
00:32:07
Speaker
Okay? Can't do that shit. Whoops. That's your biggest pet just going to hide behind mic for a second. The biggest? You know? I think probably since being with me, it's gotten worse. Oh, yeah. Oh, she definitely door dashes all the time, Rachel.
00:32:21
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Oh, God, does she do door dash? problematic She door dashes once a week, and that's all she eats is that one door dash. Because she keeps forgetting about it. It's like orange chicken for the rest the week. have gulp water and an ice cube, and then I'll go to bed.
00:32:35
Speaker
hurt Look, sometimes you forget about lunch. Yeah. Yeah, you know that's fair. You know what? Her meal prep is just she orders like five things from Panda Express Sunday night and then like divvies it up in containers. Oh, my God. I would be okay with that. That would be That would be Three square meals. That's all I'm asking. I'm not asking for a lot. I'm asking for three sandwiches, you know, seven days a week. A girl for breakfast. Orange chicken for lunch.
00:32:59
Speaker
This is where we ask HelloFresh to please sponsor us because it's...
Arc 5.2: Advance Guard and Conflict
00:33:03
Speaker
yeah that's what she needed of the apocalypse or factor yeah yeah sponsor of of miss yamada who we love vick i will get to it when it is appropriate don't you worry oh okay 5.2 5.2 let's go five point two point two let's go 5.2, Advance Guard intrudes, Love Lost shows what she can do, and the center does not hold.
00:33:37
Speaker
Last part's a little bit vague, but Advance Guard decides to... Advance Guard, sorry, singular. They decide pop in um
00:33:49
Speaker
in. My note is, Jesus, fuck Advance Guard.
00:33:55
Speaker
motherfuckers come on man yeah the the details of this specific chapter i think blend probably into the next one for me so it's hard to distinguish it but i do love victoria's fight with advance guard yeah yeah yeah i like her beef with everybody and victoria's got beef with everybody which is great uh yeah because 5.5.2 is just them showing up And picking the fight. Yeah, it's the part where a nail biter sort of takes custody of a teenager. yeah Yeah. From her parents.
00:34:30
Speaker
Well, she's not she's not really doing anything. She's just standing there. She's just. there yeah True, true. But I will say real quick, nail biter repping me and Michaels and Jacob State now, North Carolina.
00:34:43
Speaker
So, yeah. Good old nail biter, North Carolina. You know, we We love our meth heads. it's oh no We're passionate about our crack. yeah This might be doing the opposite of wrapping up. This is how we get in trouble. This is how we move HelloFresh. Opioids are- Hey, guess what? Guess what? You're still better than South Carolina.
00:35:09
Speaker
You will always be. look I do like the thought of HelloFresh watching this cast going, you know, actually, this might be a good fit for our brand. Okay, never mind. That's exactly what's happening. Three minutes later. Three minutes, not three fucking minutes.
00:35:30
Speaker
Hey, here's the thing. Every minute we're talking about HelloFresh, we're not talking about crack. That's true. That's true. And 2+, you're right. You can't spell infamous without famous. That's true.
00:35:42
Speaker
Hey, I wouldn't need to fight my hunger with crack if I had HelloFresh. Okay, but imagine like, like ah is there a DoorDash service for drugs? Because if not...
00:35:55
Speaker
ah There is for weed. i also There is for weed, actually. If you're in a state. But I really want to come up with some DoorDash ones for like crack. Right. Hey, listen, in South Carolina, you can't even have alcohol delivered to your door. I can't even get wine delivered to me. So look, we're a far, a long way away from a backwards. It's a backwards. Nail biters.
00:36:18
Speaker
Yeah, as as William says, though, my husband and I get HelloFresh and it's still more work than Jessica has time for. it And I'm like, yeah, that's I've done HelloFresh before. love HelloFresh.
00:36:29
Speaker
HelloFresh is great when you can create four different email accounts and then get the like really cheap bundle for four different weeks in a row. And then when you try to make a new one and you have to call them and explain why you have four accounts and they're like, oh, it's you.
00:36:44
Speaker
You're the one. You can also just threaten to cancel and they're like, oh no, stay. Here's more free meals. Actually, that's true. that's true exactly that's ah That's what we did. Anyways. ah Wow. Tangents, huh? We got them. please sponsor us Let's see. ah Yeah, Nailbiter just waiting around.
00:37:02
Speaker
ah ah Them suiting up Ashley to go in. Yes, I liked that a lot. I liked it a lot and it it made me go, yeah, this really is just the wire, but with capes.
00:37:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's fun. That's fun. This would be, that would be a fantastic montage in a show. That scene where they're like, suiting her up, putting on her eyeliner, like, just. Yeah, and the needle. can see the animated montage. Yeah, and the needle going in the eyeball. And like, Aaron having to be like, oh, that's me. That's me. I'm like, oh. Aaron, Aaron, it's still relatable.
00:37:37
Speaker
Do I need to like, go or? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I also love to, Kinsey's like, okay, gonna put it in three, two, oh. I forgot to turn it on. Wait a second.
00:37:48
Speaker
Click. She's about to stab her in the eye. i know. is, like, totally being unfazed by it, though. I guess, like, being a clone, you get really used to needles. I bet I would have had an eye patch. I'm like, positive thinking.
00:38:02
Speaker
Oh, what did she say? She's like, she's like well, you always, like, pluck my eyebrow out. And Svetl's like, oh, yeah. Having. What did I say? Eyebrow? You said eyebrow. Yeah, no, eyeball.
00:38:14
Speaker
i She's like, yeah, and Sveta's like, oh, so you can plug an eye out, but you won't wear a ah wig because that might be embarrassing if it falls out during falls off during combat. Like, that was, to me, like, peak Sveta's fucking hilarious.
00:38:27
Speaker
I love her. and oh ah jokes. Jokes. And then we run into...
00:38:40
Speaker
yeah and then One quick thing about 5.2 at the end. they're so they're they're They're trying to decide, you know do we enter the fray? Do we not enter the fray? you know When do we jump in?
00:38:50
Speaker
and i love Victoria's like, blood? PG-13? We're going in
00:38:58
Speaker
I love it. It's like it kicks it up from a PG rating to a PG-13. Oh, there's blood? Okay, we got to go in now. like Things are serious. like Oh.
00:39:08
Speaker
I don't know. That just tickled me pink. That was funny. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're like, okay. All right. Yeah. so we've got some fun, some fun heroes here, just named dropping them.
00:39:21
Speaker
The sprite is fun. ah He can borrow powers temporarily for people around him, which is pretty cool. um But without some of the downsides, like we'll see that later. That's pretty cool. Like I'm like, oh, that's,
00:39:38
Speaker
That's ah not great. um And then it sounds like we might be having some audio issues as well. my Yeah. Oh, no. Seeing that in chat. um Seeing that.
00:39:49
Speaker
It might just be us all talking at the same time. It's very possible. Three, two, one. Everybody shout out your favorite long movie title. One, two, three. The Lord of the Rings. I really like Lord of the Rings Return of the King. Return of the King. Yeah. Wait, did you also say Lord of the Rings?
Character Interactions and Power Dynamics
00:40:05
Speaker
Who didn't? It's a trick question to see which one of you didn't. Jacob, you should be ashamed of yourself. It's good it's a book title.
00:40:15
Speaker
and I was talking about the trilogy and you have played movies and you should have known that. It's the Return of the King. Anyways, other heroes and villains who are interested. Jacob, when do you ever watch one of them?
00:40:28
Speaker
Okay, back to the podcast. Sure.
00:40:33
Speaker
Anyways, um, so Sprite can borrow powers. Fun. Uh, re-re-sound or re-sound. I'm not sure how he would pronounce it. Based on the emphasis, I'd say re-sound.
00:40:46
Speaker
But, the word is re-sound. Re-sound. Like a resounding call, right? Well, yeah, but he capitalizes the S, so I didn't know. Yeah, that sounds like re-sound. like a play on Is this becoming like a rice hand?
00:40:57
Speaker
um'm I'm looking at it right now, so, um. Rice hand? Re-sound? Yeah, I guess so. Um, anyway, so he's got like sound powers. That's cool. Prancer has a breaker form where he basically moves really fast, has, you know, he's got the antlers and, know, he's got the gold.
00:41:16
Speaker
Prancer sounds like he's got the vibe. Like it's. It's fantastic. Um. Yeah, like ah as far as like vibes for heroes, I think he's got it down to a T. Um.
00:41:29
Speaker
We've got Lovelost who's got her emotion scream. Yeah, terrifying. So that sounds awful. um And then, ah yeah, yeah, some interesting powers.
00:41:42
Speaker
We'll see more in the upcoming chapter. I was about say, is this the one where Anxiety Chris shows up? and No, no, not until later. Okay, I have my my notes mixed up then.
00:41:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, this is just like they they meet, they confront each other, and then the fight just begins. Love, Lost, Resound hit each other. Prancer runs off, Sprite chases, and like that's all that we see so far, basically.
00:42:07
Speaker
um no it's Not much as happened. As soon as they are done talking, Sprite blitzes, runs up, takes the power, and then goes off through the crowd of bad guys and all that.
00:42:23
Speaker
Pretty cool for an alleged groomer. Prancer's still in my bad book.
00:42:30
Speaker
You know, that's a good point. I did forget that part of him. Thank you for reminding me, Fran. I don't think it's alleged either. I think it's pretty... admitted at least He con confirms it in his like weird interlude moment. Yeah, I don't think he's beating those allegations. Much like most Minecraft YouTubers, he's not beating the allegations.
00:42:51
Speaker
Prancer would have done well on Twitch. know oh oh god damn it we love you youtube thank you so much that's why we that's why we're you on youtube that's why we're here never ever nobody ever on youtube has done at everything quite honorable no youtubers have ever committed a crime speaking of loyalty ah when um actually just video when is it nail biter and object think it was nail biter said loyal i i'm loyal to bob
00:43:24
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah. The first thing that went through my mind is, I only eat at Fugly Bob's. Nowhere else. um
00:43:34
Speaker
Ride or die Bob's, man. Regulars just call him Bob. Yeah. It wasn't until much later that I realized that that was Beast of Burden. Yeah. But here, I was just like, Bob.
00:43:48
Speaker
yeah You know what, though? in in my In my mental canon now, I mean, Beasts of Burden is not a pretty person from what I understand. So i'm in my mental canon, Beasts of Burden started Fugly Bob's.
00:44:01
Speaker
That's my... He is Fugly Bob. Fugly Beasts of Burden. He is the Fugly Bob. Do you think he wears the wreckage of his old burger shack? That's what I'm saying. Wow. His trigger event was Leviathan wrecking the burger shop.
00:44:16
Speaker
Oh my gosh. He was never the same again. Nope. I swore he'd never grill again. Never grill again. Wow. I love discovering these kinds of things for so long.
00:44:30
Speaker
Alright. thats um Yeah, let's see. Fugly bobs. Oh, ah my description for this. I actually found this fight to be really boring.
00:44:41
Speaker
I fell asleep multiple times while reading it. And this gets into why I skim a lot of these fights, because they don't matter. Later on, we'll get to stuff that actually fights actually matter, but here they don't.
00:44:56
Speaker
It's just like you could have been a bunch of people running around. There were some powers. That's cool. The powers and the fighting doesn't matter until like, I think 5.4 midway Yeah, I get that.
Group Dynamics and Narrative Challenges
00:45:13
Speaker
like And like like i like we said at the beginning, the fight does bleed together in terms of yeah what's actually happening when and who's fighting who.
00:45:24
Speaker
um i don't think we saw but Bob's power other than he's just like a large. Did we say like a large creature thing with like a bunch of armor strapped to him?
00:45:37
Speaker
I think so. Yeah, we'll have to. I've got a centaur vibes with armor plating.
00:45:44
Speaker
Something like that. That was not the image I had in mind, but all right. but Once again, he could have been humanoid, but his name just like beast of burden made me think he was a giant horse. Well, that's, that's more a Lord of Lord of losses. What comes to mind. And I'll be honest. I know for a fact that the first time I read this Lord of lost and beast of burden were the same person in my mind.
00:46:04
Speaker
There you yeah The blank of blank that, you know, with the matching letters, like, don't what want from me. You can't have words like that. Yeah. um Yeah, so 5.3.
00:46:18
Speaker
three Advance guard. is advance god ah Wow. You got this. I believe you. believe Advance guard. Caught off guard.
00:46:29
Speaker
Sveta and Victoria versus Nailbiter and Love Lost. Place your bets now.
00:46:37
Speaker
Um...
00:46:41
Speaker
Yeah. i <unk>s It's a fight scene. the the one part that um The one part that's interesting here to me in terms of character development is Victoria giving the the riddle, ah the wolf, the chicken, the corn, and the boat.
00:46:57
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah. you know like The idea of if you leave The fact that she's saying this to Tristan is kind of crazy to me. um But the fact that she's basically saying aloud, if we leave the wrong people with the wrong people, it'll get worse.
00:47:12
Speaker
They'll eat each other, yeah. But the way it's said is like... Oh, she's saying it to Sveta, not Tristan. um yeah Which makes more sense. Because Tristan's what kicks it off in her mind. that She's like, i don't want to leave him there.
00:47:26
Speaker
Yeah, because she's leaving Tristan with Kinsey. And Chris runs off into Cedar Point. um and ah And then, yeah, and then so she's kind of like, okay, are we making a mistake here? Are we leaving the wrong people with the wrong people?
00:47:42
Speaker
And I think, too, they're talking about it in terms of confrontations as well. If we send, you know, me and Sveta to deal with Nailbiter and Love Lost, is that going to be a problem? um You know, stuff like that. So it's a very interesting mental dynamic, especially because with Mrs. Yamada,
00:48:00
Speaker
Victoria's already basically confessed she doesn't really trust these people beyond Sveta. Like, yeah, she's really concerned about all of them. And yeah, I don't know. It's it's interesting, though. Just it's that little that little seed of doubt. Right. That, OK, is Tristan up to more than he appears to be as Kinsey up to more than she appears to be? is Right.
00:48:20
Speaker
Could we be more worried about Chris than we are? You know, he's kind of the quiet in the background. We don't need to worry about Ashley. We know she's fine. um but but it Super well adjusted. Yeah, super well adjusted. Totally peak.
00:48:38
Speaker
She did certainly enjoy herself, didn't she? but sorry Oh, yeah. I love the yelling at one point in time. Hey, people pay us to protect this place. I don't care for the villains.
00:48:50
Speaker
pay They pay protection money so we don't blow up property. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, the analogy was definitely lending credibility to our thought that we had last time, which just being that it definitely feels as if the the group is is being set up to fall at some point.
00:49:12
Speaker
And I'm um not sure I like that. When you say set up the fall, do you mean ah by Wildbow or do you mean by an entity within the story?
00:49:24
Speaker
By Wildbow specifically, but I mean but also an entity probably. There's like a lot of forces at play here. But just the the idea that this group is so clearly...
00:49:36
Speaker
ah reliant on each other, but also incredibly fragile. Like yeah just got tap the glass and it's going to shatter. So I'm very scared for all of them.
00:49:48
Speaker
Yeah. It makes me wonder how the group dynamic would be if you lost, ah like, like if Sveta was no longer in the group, let's say for some reason or another, that Sveta was no longer there.
00:50:01
Speaker
Would the group still hold up? And like, I don't think so, because I think Sveta is pretty an an integral, but you know, maybe mother kind of character archetype in the group. She's definitely group mom.
00:50:13
Speaker
Yeah, she's definitely mom energy. So like, okay, so what about Tristan? Like, let's say for some reason, Byron, you know, he's done. There's no nothing. And Tristan has to go. And like, well, Tristan's kind of been like,
00:50:26
Speaker
calling the shots for a lot of stuff. like Like, if you take individual people out, like, for example, if someone were to, I don't know, get murdered, not saying that they will, we lost people last time, we can lose them again.
Introduction and Impact of Anxiety Chris
00:50:41
Speaker
Like, what happens then? How does the group... How does the... How does the group dynamic basically function or cease to function if the group dynamic as it is changes? Because it feels very...
00:50:56
Speaker
actuallyctually unsound yeah yeah i mean like when we when we lost brutus you know like the i don't think they ever never recovered never they never did i never did that's for sure there's a brutus sized hole in my heart always and forever
00:51:19
Speaker
But yeah, it's good point. We do have the confrontation ultimately up in the office with Sveta and Victoria and Sprite. That's 5.4. We haven't gotten there yet. Oh, that's 5.4. Have we not moved there yet? We're still in the boring section. Okay, never mind. we're not fighting Because end of 5.3... They catch him.
00:51:42
Speaker
Yeah, the end of 5.3 is her pointing and being like, what the fuck? luck Fuck you. yeah And that's like the very last line of 0.3. Yeah. yeah That's the end of 5.3. So, but three is where we have anxiety. Chris, cause I do want to talk about anxiety. Chris for a second.
00:51:59
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. He does pop. up i I thought he popped up at the beginning of the fight and screams like almost right. As soon as everybody else starts there, comes in, he comes in pretty quick and 5.3. He's not there immediately in 5.2 at the beginning, but no yeah, yeah. He,
00:52:16
Speaker
Okay. Fucking horrifying. What does he do though? I mean, yes, he's scary, but like, he screams. He's like a head with spider legs. Don't look it up.
00:52:28
Speaker
I'll look up. And no cheeks. Oh, I looked up fan art so quick. I didn't look it up because it sounds disgusting. And he's like constantly like clawing at himself and screaming. And like all I could think of is like the most totally accurate. I wrote the most totally accurate depiction of anxiety, creepy nails, scraping skin, spider legs, anxiety. Oh my God. Like, and just the constant screaming without breath.
00:52:54
Speaker
Just like... There's a creature in like one of the Garry's Mod horror games. I can't remember what it's called.
00:53:06
Speaker
But the creature, you can't kill it, and it just screams and chases you until it kills you. And no matter how far you run, hear the distance. Is that what they're called? From from from ah Left 4 Dead.
00:53:18
Speaker
and Oh, no. It's similar. But that's not was thinking of. But just just that idea of just because you'll be playing and you just hear the distance screaming, getting closer, no breaks, you know, just running at you.
00:53:30
Speaker
and yeah That ain't it, man. That is not it for me. that's ah that That works as a power. I'm terrified. ah That's truly terrifying. I mean, what is it? Role intimidation?
00:53:41
Speaker
Yeah, I'm a giant head with spider legs and I scream without taking a breath. Like, Nat 20. Come on. this was Was this creeping anxiety? Or was this it's and matt mad anxiety? Okay, I'll just read the description of it for you.
00:53:58
Speaker
get the full horror. A horrible screaming face, taller than the average person, and twice as wide. who Completely cheekless.
00:54:10
Speaker
Yeah. The lower jaw is attached to the rest of the face, the way an insect is attached to a thorax.
00:54:20
Speaker
Innumerable legs that look to be made out of pure muscle provide locomotion, while a few claws Well, a few claw at his face, which gives like strong like centipede vibes.
00:54:31
Speaker
Something similar to creeping anxiety, which is mentioned before. Yeah. ah Yeah. Strong, giant like mouth thing.
00:54:42
Speaker
Orid. Towered body. Like on the on the body of a centipede is kind of the vibe I get. How do you get no cheeks? Just like mouth. You literally top and bottom, you know? Yeah.
00:54:55
Speaker
It'd be like, I guess it'd be like you cut it off here, like at the skull, and then you've got the teeth here, right? Very C-shaped. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Fascinating. um I think um
00:55:11
Speaker
there's um there's an artist I've seen... who did a series of mental disorders as monsters. And it kind of reminds me of that, his power.
00:55:26
Speaker
um i almost wonder if it was inspired. I don't know the timing on when it happened versus when this was written. um like Chris inspired by that artist series. But it's it's very disturbing art. Like they're they're disturbing monsters. Yeah.
00:55:41
Speaker
It's really cool, but it it is disturbing. Yeah, very cool stuff. um Yeah. How would a PRT, Fran asks, I wonder how a PRT PR guy would deal with Chris's public image.
00:55:55
Speaker
You just don't show him. you You know what? Just keep him in the wings. Yep, yep. What you do, you know what you know what you do with Chris, actually? um You set up the fact that he's got a twin brother who's like a rogue, right?
00:56:10
Speaker
So whenever you really need one of Chris's negative forms, you're like, oh, that's his twin brother. yeah yeah then you just hopefully, you know, nobody questions why they never appear in the same room together.
00:56:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:25
Speaker
Yeah, that's crazy. I guess. OK, here's my question, though. Obviously intimidating, terrifying to look at.
00:56:34
Speaker
What does he do, though? like You know, like and Nick, I got to be like the thing is, and the thing here's my reason why. Right. He screams. Yes, he screams. I get that.
00:56:46
Speaker
He screams. He screams. I scream. We all scream. Yeah, it's great. um With no cheeks. I think my question is.
00:56:59
Speaker
Like, this is a world with heroes with incredible powers who've seen the most horrifying things. Something gross isn't going to stop them from doing what they're doing.
00:57:11
Speaker
like I just want to know what what powers does this thing have? Because i know his other form had powers. So that's what I'm more curious about is like, what does it do? like That's what I know.
00:57:21
Speaker
um Because he's ahead. So, Nick, let me explain to you. Let me say. So because he's ahead. Hmm. And he has no lungs. He doesn't have to breathe. He just like screams.
00:57:32
Speaker
Right. Very annoying. Forever. Right. That's it. And think about it this way. Think about it this way. Hold on. I'm not done. Think about this way. You got a giant head coming coming straight at you, screaming nonstop.
00:57:46
Speaker
You've never seen it before. Your assumption is not, ah, yes, it screams. Your assumption is, what the fuck is that scream doing to me? Sure, yeah, I mean, I get that. one screams a lot?
00:57:59
Speaker
I suppose that's true. But the Simmer, like, you have clue. Like, we see it later on with the glowing orbs. Like, people don't want to touch because they don't know what the fuck it is. Like, they've never seen this power before. Also, I gotta to imagine, like, a loud scream.
00:58:13
Speaker
Like, it's not just annoying. It's debilitating. like Yeah. guess Yeah, I guess my question is not so much, like, this is useless. It's more of the sense of what else does this do? Like, I'm just curious because all he kind of does, he runs in, screams, and then leaves. That's all we see him do. It does not elaborate. I'm like, okay, yeah. Runs in, screams, doesn't elaborate, leaves. Yeah, exactly. I'm kind of with Nick a little bit. Same. Like, I can punch through the building. I'm just curious. I'm like,
00:58:42
Speaker
then I'm just curious. yeah What can you do? If if I've got powers that can kill somebody, then I'm going to view things a lot differently than me, actual, dealing with this screaming monster. I don't know. It's just interesting. yeah
00:58:58
Speaker
It's interesting.
00:59:01
Speaker
Yeah. yeah man they should i I mean, maybe there's more to it that we'll find out later, but like... I don't know. I feel like Chris is the one that we really haven't seen a lot from yet. So we don't really know.
00:59:13
Speaker
And we haven't seen all his forums. We've only seen like, what this the second one? Is this the second one? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like, I mean, he's the one that's still a big old question mark on the white board of life on the white board of board.
00:59:28
Speaker
It's, i mean, Yeah.
00:59:33
Speaker
yeah yeah Yeah. We'll, we'll see. Also, as chat has reminded me to tell you guys stop looking things up oh i'm not looking didn't look up anything and was just stop looking things up you just gotta stop you know sometimes i look i i look at you guys and we all say yeah hey chat stop spoilers you know but this is the one time chat gets to turn and say hey brockton bay book club no spoilers No worries. I don't even I don't even look at the YouTube chat during these things. So, oh, I have it up right now, but yeah, I guys the other in terms of other powers that I thought were fascinating.
01:00:17
Speaker
Nail biters. Yeah, yeah. Tease and chat for Tabitha. Not not so much in that it's like super unique or anything. What I thought was kind of cool about it, though, is that she can make her like fingers and her nails so thin, like the depth perception gets difficult where you can't tell how fast it's coming at you.
01:00:38
Speaker
Yeah. And I thought that was kind of cool. Like I was like, that's it. The fact that she can be so thin is like, and yeah. I'll tell you right now, that's how I've poked myself in the eye ah basically every time.
Arc 5.4: Narrative and Character Expansion
01:00:51
Speaker
why I probably need to wear glasses is because I've been like picking up sticks or like literally looking down to like inspect a tree. And I like lean forward and just like gouge my eye with like the thinnest little stick. And you can't see where it is because it's just a pinprick when you're looking at it.
01:01:10
Speaker
that That definitely sounds like a personal problem, Alan. You should get your eyes tricked out. yeah He has multiple times. guess glasses He wears glasses now because of this shit. There you go. There you go. Yeah. Um, what were you going to Jacob?
01:01:22
Speaker
No, it reminded me of, um, ah of, uh, uh, lust from Fullmetal Alchemist. The like, the like being able to extend the super long sort of pointy fingers a little different, but that same kind of vibe. but Um,
01:01:36
Speaker
It's getting really, yeah, very, very creepy. The one I was thinking of is the dude from My Hero Academia, um Moonfish, ah that has all the teeth. I think it's, yeah, has all the teeth that comes out and can like stand up and like spider around on them.
01:01:54
Speaker
I think that was after I stopped watching. Yeah, it's it's, I feel like it's in the second season. like It's one of the first encounters they have. it's He's a really creepy... I see him.
01:02:09
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. yeah am am i the one i'm It's his teeth. He can... he can yeah Kind of like Nailbiter, actually. yeah No, that's that's what I'm saying is when I think Nailbiter, I think this character. The thing that has spindly leg type things, I don't...
01:02:29
Speaker
Don't jive with, actually, at all. Yeah. Here's the thing. If I can choose not to, I won't. Speaking of which, Alan, I'm going to need you to kill a cockroach later for me. Strap, under a cup.
01:02:43
Speaker
For those of you playing bingo. Is that a baby? is it a baby? it a little baby? Is it a little baby? away but Is it a little... I saw his head move. Is it little goofy baby boy?
01:02:57
Speaker
goof
01:02:59
Speaker
mark that on your bingo sheet he blends in um blade tooth thank you patrons and discord ah um 5.4 5.4 i think we're good they finally catch up to sprite oh we got a bingo already whoa what dang that's impressive y'all i mean we've been we've been yapping we've been yapping so we have We got important things to say.
01:03:30
Speaker
it's ah It's been a firecracker of hour. Fuck Sprite. This is going to go badly, right? Offscreen child cat distraction. ah Fuck an advanced card. yep Well done.
01:03:43
Speaker
I caught that, Jake. That's fair. Not this time. Let's go! yeah done No, not tonight.
01:03:55
Speaker
Hell yeah. Alright. Did you get them locked in the basement, Nick? Yes. Yes. Um... I was trying to think of a follow-up to that, but honestly, I just... ah felt I felt bad saying that, so... I was like, you know what? No.
01:04:10
Speaker
I can't. He's like, Nick would never too good of a parent. They don't even have a basement. That's true. Doesn't even have children. Haha!
01:04:22
Speaker
Did you say that's what they say? What did they all say?
01:04:28
Speaker
True. saying If you love something, set it free. So that's why I don't love the love the girls.
01:04:41
Speaker
I only appreciate them. yeah Yep, yep, yep, yep. I've used that one too many times. but and And you get weird looks after about the fourth time saying it. People start going, dude, do you?
01:04:54
Speaker
so d there's a There's that this meme I've seen, just speaking of bad, terrible joke tangents. This meme I've seen, it's Olaf looking at the sunset. i'm pretty sure I've sent it to Jacob at least before.
01:05:06
Speaker
Where it's just Olaf looking at the sunset going, wow, you did it. And the caption's just, when the last kid who ate all the other kids realizes the door is unlocked the whole time.
01:05:20
Speaker
Oh. Oh.
01:05:25
Speaker
Uh, 5.4. Nick, please. Alright, 5.4. Sprite gets caught between two angry ladies and coughs up some explanations.
01:05:36
Speaker
Things come to a tipping point. Oh my. Oh no. Such a horrible scenario to be caught between two angry women. Two angry beautiful women? What'll I do? o I'll use their powers better than they can.
01:05:52
Speaker
Exactly. fucking best Yeah. You son of a bitch. Right. That was a little obnoxious, a little bit more than a little bit of noxious when he's like, oh, look at me and my tendrils. And I'm like, shut. Look, listen, Sveta has worked hard. OK, don't get to just like bust those out.
01:06:11
Speaker
Which I love the the balance of he's like, you've got some interesting powers. Looking at Sveta and she's like, I don't think you want to. You're like, I don't know what's gonna happen if you take mine. But then he does and he's like, it's fine. It's just the.
01:06:25
Speaker
Oh, what's lacking is the trauma. ah What's lacking is the fact that you have more than a head and tendrils. You know, got a body.
01:06:36
Speaker
Oh. Do we get the impression that that's what the power was supposed to be before being all case 53'd? For sure. Probably. Oh, you know yeah, for sure. They were just going to be like Elastigirl.
01:06:51
Speaker
I would imagine it was kind of like a changer for him, probably, is what it was meant to be. Probably. Yeah, something like that. Like the idea of could become... Yeah, she could become the tendril thing, but then become a normal human again. But, you know, case 53 will case 53.
01:07:07
Speaker
Ripped asunder. Yeah. Yeah. And then grabbing Vicky's
01:07:18
Speaker
wretch, if you will. Yeah. Yeah, that was, ooh, what a good, what a great, o what an excellent way to bring that up for Sveta to be like,
01:07:31
Speaker
ah what but it excuse excuse yourself, say what now? Oh, that was good. Also, Rachel, that's a fantastic one.
01:07:42
Speaker
His trigger was that he watched a cape that wasn't using their powers correctly so poorly that it frustrated so much he got triggered. No, no, no. Just let me do it. Just let me do it. It's exactly how Alan will trigger eventually.
01:07:54
Speaker
That's exactly it. All y'all motherfuckers are going to make me trigger. I'm about to trigger the worms. The worms.
01:08:07
Speaker
oh The worms. You're doing it wrong. Give me that. Give me that power. Give me that power right now. yeah I'll be the patron now.
01:08:18
Speaker
Yeah.
01:08:22
Speaker
oh true No, I love I love all the subtle the subterfuge we got going on. And then, like I said you Sprite just instantly getting the powers, having a hang of them right in front of them without all the trauma.
01:08:34
Speaker
And I've got to imagine that's what everybody who found out about. um Cauldron vile capes. felt like it's like oh oh we just get powers with no trauma oh that must be super sweet it must be so you don't have to relive the worst day of your life every time you use your power and think about it oh wow like like vicky doesn't even have like her first traumatic event was like getting embarrassed playing sports you know
01:09:07
Speaker
and and then she has what ah is the equivalent of ah you know the trigger event that we treat it as of the wretch like every time she has to use her power she has to think about that like and he's just like um hands you know what I don't want those I just want to fly you
01:09:28
Speaker
know bastard which and once again I love him he's great he's fantastic nothing wrong with him You know, it just it hurts to see people, you know, just flaunt excellence.
01:09:42
Speaker
But that's not his fault. ah Yeah. Don't hate ever hate the game. but It's true. it's true If you've ever experienced.
01:09:53
Speaker
Getting into a hobby and then introducing a friend to it and immediately they're better than you. Like that's, that's that feeling. I imagine of like, or like you're into a video game. You're like, oh man, I've been playing.
01:10:06
Speaker
I've been playing like Halo for years. Hey, you should play sometime. Like, yeah, I've played a few shooter games, pick up a controller immediately wipes you. And you're like, My whole life is a lie. My whole life. Literally. and no that was literally my sister playing video games. I put a control in her hand. She'd never played before.
01:10:26
Speaker
And she played biosh shot at Bioshock Infinite in one weekend when I had struggled over it for weeks. And I was like, you know what? I think I hate you. I love you, but I think I hate you, man. And she never picked up another video game again. That was it. That was she won and she was done.
01:10:43
Speaker
It's my younger sister in Boggle. The game Boggle. Ever since she was like, yeah, Boggle. Listen, and my family, and most members of my family, we fancy ourselves word people.
01:10:56
Speaker
um And so we're like, oh, this will be a nice family game for all of us. We're all pretty evenly matched. And we're all like, oh, how many points did you get, Nick? Oh, I got 15. How many you get, Zach? Oh, I got 12.
01:11:06
Speaker
How many did you get, Kimba? I got 37. Okay, we can't play Boggle with you, Kimba. never playing fuck look but ever again ah god i love boggle oh man it's a great game i still love it but i can't play it uh like trying to play any game with alan i do just i do just want to point out rachel saying if i got dunked on by a seventh grader in front of my family i would trigger too yeah i'll be honest all i can imagine is like
01:11:40
Speaker
from the boondocks cartoon where he talks about like i used to play in the and nba and he's like were you famous he was like kind of i was the dude who got like you know teabagged on when like shaquille o'neal or somebody like dunked on it oh like that famous photo and it's like you know him dunking and below is just the guy just like crotch all in his face it's like you were that dude yeah yeah i had a career yep Okay, can we talk a little bit about um Mayday's power?
01:12:11
Speaker
What? Ooh. yeah What is... okay so all I'm imagining is this... He's literally like... It's come like it's it's like Meteor from D&D or Final Fantasy or something. yeah like you know Or like Fire Emblem. I want it to come down like like this. That guy over there.
01:12:31
Speaker
Fuck him up, you know? Right there. Yeah. right there do Do this. But he's got to do the like, and go. Yeah. because At one point he's like, like each version of his like hand signal does a different,
01:12:47
Speaker
thing when it lands and it like but the way victoria describes it is like it starts on the horizon like way back there ah that's so where is it truly where's going you know why does it have to come from the horizon what the heck also i imagine he's like standing there but like for dramatic dramatic effect he's like doing the
01:13:16
Speaker
And it's just like he's whistling louder and louder and louder to indicate that like, oh, it's coming. Oh, it's coming. Oh, it's going to get you. Oh, it's going to get you. And they don't avoid it because it's the size of a house.
01:13:27
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Also, in my I don't know why I made this connection. It's like it's a Mayday based off Mayday Parade and he's bringing them the horizon.
01:13:40
Speaker
and and it and it burns red like august know Oh my God. right i' I'm trying to come up with. was good. yeah My favorite. appreciate it Who gives a shit about ah the nail biter love lost Sveta Victoria mashup because the best fight going down is the moose versus shortcut showdown.
01:14:06
Speaker
would Remind me. short cut Yeah, remind me too. It's a brief mention, but in terms of matchups, I just want Moose to wipe the floor with Shortcut.
01:14:18
Speaker
Because Shortcut is that asshole from Advance Guard. It's a piece of shit. Yeah, fuck him. He ripples the ground everywhere he goes. I'm trying to remember what he does. I do not remember him.
01:14:32
Speaker
That's all he named, but I don't remember Okay, so the fight really doesn't matter because I had nothing comes out it. But, like, I heard that those two were facing off against each other. He, like, rolls around and as he moves, like, the the the ground ground ripples and he can, like, move really fast because of that. And, like, yeah.
01:14:49
Speaker
He's a mover. It doesn't matter ah because I wanted Moose to beat him to death. ah Because ah we Moose is the nice villain versus the asshole shit hero.
01:15:01
Speaker
Shortguard's bad and bad at what he does, but he's on the hero's side, so whoopty fucking do. Yeah. Whereas Moose is just a good boy and, um you know, deserves... we'll get to Moose.
01:15:15
Speaker
Oh, we'll get to Moose. I've got three about Moose. And then he, like, takes off. it is like She's like, sorry about... Whoa, you're in whole chapter ahead, bud. I'm sorry, okay? My bad. Hold on. Hold your Moose horses, okay?
01:15:28
Speaker
Hold yourard older east is bernard your your Mooses. Hold my Moose Huffles. What was that? all the Mooses. ew bernard says that the the fireball i mean the the the projectile comes from a different dimension but and the dimension's always over the horizon it's always over there it's like how my dad's a different dimension that's always two weeks from now you know he'll show back up but told
01:15:57
Speaker
up the other thing i think of other day with ah With that is the really random reference that just came
Live Broadcasting and Nostalgia
01:16:04
Speaker
to mind. But the intro to the fight with Radon from Elden Ring.
01:16:08
Speaker
Where you you enter this like massive field. And you look up and there's just a meteor coming down at you. And that's the boss coming at you. No. I think I just stay down and God damn.
01:16:23
Speaker
And then like he'll do this thing. If I recall it correctly. He'll do that thing basically where like he disappears. And you're like, where'd he go? And then you just see the meteor coming at you again. I was definitely envisioning a lot of Super Smash Bros. like items and Pokemon.
01:16:39
Speaker
You know, where it's like, you can see the giant. like yeah Everybody's got to avoid it It's just the moon from Majora's Mask flying down.
01:16:52
Speaker
Yeah. Fantastic. um We've got some other funny characters who come up here. They try to call a ceasefire because they're like they talk to Mayday and they're like, look, you guys were set up. You shouldn't be here.
01:17:05
Speaker
um Try to call a ceasefire. Prancer's like, no, we can beat you guys. Oh, lost Alan. Oh, no. I will say our internet is being a little glitchy. So I'm wondering if the the audio glitches that we've had ah so far this evening are on mine and Alan's end. which think it's on my end because I also get muted in my ears when it happens. So I think it's something I need to look Oh, no.
01:17:32
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, no. Oh, no there goes Hannah too. Oh, shoot. The owned it's a cutout. That was crazy. ah Live television, folks. this is That's funny.
01:17:48
Speaker
Please hold for technical difficulties. In the meantime, I'll sing you a song of my people.
01:18:01
Speaker
ah you you are you are a a word family if that's the song of your people
01:18:08
Speaker
but
01:18:11
Speaker
you know you know what i mean you were and you were you were a game show child weren't you game to watch ga a little bit little bit i was really into who wants to be a millionaire but ah there we go that one's hard to do the song for that one though the
01:18:32
Speaker
and's working it out i was listening to the ah and then and the secret of monkey island soundtrack this morning for no reason because i don't know if you listened to it and in years but holy crap it slapped so much So i really want to go back and play the original.
01:18:50
Speaker
I also do. actually I rented it from a blockbuster and I never got to play the original because I wanted they they did that like sequel one that they just put out. There's actually several. They wanted to play it.
01:19:02
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I want to play them. But, ah you know, need to start with the first. So. I might honestly play that and stream it. So if anyone's interested, ah keep an eye out. I will say the Expedition 33 soundtrack is just fire. Well, free on Game Pass.
01:19:20
Speaker
and I have a free moment. Oh, wait. Don't worry, guys. I'm back. Chat, don't worry. I've returned. I know you need me to keep this podcast semi-sane as the the only early pop.
01:19:35
Speaker
We were already talking about old video games, so you're right. We needed you.
01:19:42
Speaker
I'm glad I could be here. Run off so quickly. Oh, we have another bingo. Another bingo. Yeah, and it looks like ah bingo is Moose Love, fucking advance card, cat on screen, and criticizing Wild Bill's writing.
01:19:55
Speaker
me listen Well, look. Let's give him a let's go. him a let's go. 5.5. There go.
01:20:06
Speaker
Congratulations. bye 5.5. Yes, we've just couple other random heroes mentioned by name. Crested, Blue Stocking, um Crested can make shields out of things. She has a fan.
01:20:19
Speaker
ah This is the description, by the way, real quick, this is the description of Beasts of Burden. I kind of get the centaur thing now, rereading it. ah He's the leader of the violent clique. The armor he wore was steel, and it looked like slabs had been cut off of tank armor.
01:20:33
Speaker
Helmet blended into body armor, so broad and heavy it didn't leave a hint of a neck. The helmet had bull's horns longer and thicker around than my leg and only slits for eye holes. Yeah. So, yeah, I somebody said it earlier and um it does kind of remind me of like a cooler version of Juggernaut from X-Men.
01:20:55
Speaker
Yeah, that is what they said in that. and Yeah. Yeah. And I agree with that. right. Five point five. Advanced Guard goes... yep Sorry. I'm sorry. we just we do we Do we want to talk about Sveta and... Oh. ah Sveta and Victoria finally having the conversation about the Wretch?
01:21:18
Speaker
Oh, is that 5.4? Yeah, that's here. Yeah, that's here. i'm they Yeah, yeah it's a good moment. Very good moment. yeah I don't know what it led up to it.
01:21:31
Speaker
yeah I'll be honest, that felt really weird to me. Like, i I get what led up to it. I just didn't get that that actually mattered. So I was kind of confused. Wait, what do you mean? What do you mean? Like, as I'm reading through, it essentially goes like this for me.
01:21:47
Speaker
They are there with Sprite. They go out. Things happen. All of a sudden, they're in the air and they're like, you want to tell me about that wretch thing? Oh. And she's like, hold on. Give me a minute. I need to think.
01:21:59
Speaker
Talk to me, Vicky. And I'm like, okay, both y'all need to like chill the fuck out. I have no idea what's going on. Well, remember, because it's it's both that sprite grabs the wretch, which Sveta notices, but it's also building off of because earlier when Victoria had to drop her because she was afraid of hurting her.
01:22:21
Speaker
And yeah that whole bit where Sveta was like, you can't just do that. What's going on here? So it was a little bit of a buildup of those two things.
Character Conversations and Development
01:22:31
Speaker
Yeah. It just, yeah.
01:22:32
Speaker
That just felt like a lot from Sveta for some. And, you know, I get, I get this. I've encountered people where that is the reaction to what just happened there.
01:22:44
Speaker
um Just for me, I was like, it's the heat of battle. You know, things happen. I just, you know, we are in the middle of a giant fight. I didn't think that was the time to bring things up.
01:22:56
Speaker
Yeah. Timing wise, I can see that. It was a tad out of place, but I did really like the ah ah conversation. yeah Yeah. I like that they kind of, they do take a beat and like Sveta climbs, basically climbs up Victoria to give her a hug, which is like, gosh, I love Sveta so much. She's so sweet.
01:23:17
Speaker
Such a good friend. Hmm.
01:23:24
Speaker
I'm just saying in our fear that someone could die, Sveta would be the most painful, which is why I'm afraid. I'm always afraid. i yeah, no, because here's the thing. If we lost, oh i don't even want to think about I immediately felt like that tingle you get behind your eyes when you like, you feel like you might cry.
01:23:43
Speaker
oh because we wouldn't just lose Sveta. We'd like, we'd lose Weld in a way. Yeah. And I don't, Think about our baby boy.
01:23:53
Speaker
i know. We got we gotta to talk about him and in a couple of chapters. We'll come back. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That is great. This is great. um Yeah. um All right. Five.
01:24:07
Speaker
Five point five time or. Yeah. Let's. Yeah. Let's do it. All right. 5.5. Advanced Guard goes in reverse in a fighting retreat. The future is laid out for everyone, and later the team watches as old adversaries return.
01:24:24
Speaker
And also, I see more support for the Moose X Vicky fanfic. The brief mention where she's like, I don't want to make his mom cry again. like, yeah. Yeah.
01:24:37
Speaker
And he's so much hotter now. He's like, take a little mask. I love that I know this car. Oh my God. and like Every ship is possible. You have a bay full of these ships and they any one of them could set sail.
01:24:52
Speaker
Now, are some of these even boats? No. They're not even in then in the water. This one, for instance, ah this one, the thirst trapping isn't even technically yeah anyways we'll stop it there no no no you keep that going how much further does it actually go don't think we've actually heard the whole thing in a while it's it's pretty it's pretty long but that we get the idea next time we run it out okay next time yeah um no uh but yeah it even says she's like apologize i'm sorry you know you know whoopsie my bad
01:25:33
Speaker
and he's like it's all right you know i did get a girl like say it was pretty cool looking but they did make my mom cry to hear about it i
01:25:43
Speaker
i wrote i wrote moose flirting is my new favorite thing let's win him over i ship it i and then the the quote i didn't want to make his mom cry anymore and i just went bye
01:25:58
Speaker
but I much! I ship it, Moose. He would flip so fast. It would not even be that much of a problem for him.
01:26:08
Speaker
All the boat emojis in chat. He literally is just there because he's like a boy toy for a velvet. like Velvet. Yeah. yeah I feel like he could be won over.
01:26:19
Speaker
Literally, it's just the community he's in He's just chill wherever. Build a new community! Join the good side.
01:26:31
Speaker
Be hot with us. Be hot over here.
01:26:39
Speaker
little lot of little out of place. I thought it was 5.5, but I guess it was 5.4. My favorite quote of what we've read of the seven chapters here. was oh yeah was, oh, I just had pulled up. There it is.
01:26:52
Speaker
It's when the two teams are looking at each other, squaring up, and then just anxiety. Chris was in the distant background, perhaps a block away, screaming. It's so good. It's so good.
01:27:06
Speaker
I love it. Yes, Rachel, that is correct. Rachel says in chat, Moose is the type of guy who would treat you right. That is 100% correct. and even Even when he's like, yeah even when he's like, what?
01:27:24
Speaker
It was Hannah yelling smash in the distance. Sorry. yeah good yes Hit it. Hit it. Hit it. Hit it. Hit it one more time. Michael hit it one more time. but It might be too loud. Smash. It's fantastic. Yeah. No, I, I even,
01:27:38
Speaker
that's fantastic yeah no ah even I do love with Moose to in his interlude with Prancer and Velvet where, you know, Prancer's like, you know, me and Velvet were kind of together. And Moose is like.
01:27:52
Speaker
In what way? Because like, I got to be honest, man, I've slept with her. He's like, oh, I know. I know. It's cool. It's cool. he's like It's cool. And he's like, oh, good. Because I was like.
01:28:03
Speaker
I fucked her. I just imagine Prancer like, mean I was there, Moose. like I was in the corner.
01:28:16
Speaker
ah In the executive cuck chair. that
01:28:23
Speaker
With the desk. ah got Good lord. not by the desk. With your memo pad. Yeah.
01:28:35
Speaker
It's just the the legal pad with the yellow paper and the lines. Oh, no.
01:28:45
Speaker
one Anyway, 5.5? 5.5. the other hand of... Yeah, we're On the other hand of heroes who i or villains who i don't like,
01:28:57
Speaker
um side piece oh yeah yep Real skinny bitch. like Does she regrow them? I hope she does. One would like to believe. And is it just a final column connecting fucking, you know, ah a bottom half to a top half? Oh my gosh.
01:29:22
Speaker
Talk about like a demented bomber man. Like just, I'm going to grab a rib and yuck. Chuck it. And it all just explodes. Ugh. That's horrifying. We've got Bitter Pill as well in there. She was in the last one more um about how um you know she's got like zombies.
01:29:42
Speaker
Oh, yes. I don't understand her thing. Yeah, because she's got a couple things. One at point, they show that Moose is actually foaming at the mouth a little. Probably because of some ability or some tinker medicine maybe that she can hand out people and so like she can do it to buff people and they keep i guess genuine gen generally sane but she also has just straight up zombie innocent people i assume that she has treated yeah yeah yeah no i
01:30:14
Speaker
I do. um Yeah. As Bernard says, between Side Piece, Nail Biter and Kitchen Sink, we got a lot of things flying through the air right now. um ah Just like outside of the context of the goriness of Wyrm, the concept of the power is hilarious to me of like, what's your power? Yeah. Oh, rip my own ribs out and throw them at people and then they explode. Yeah.
01:30:35
Speaker
Like the guns in Borderlands where you chuck and they turn into grenades when you run out of out of ammo and they just explode. Except it's your own ribs. I love it. Also, in terms of in terms of lines that like kind of hit me but with a blind side where, you know, they're Victoria is like trying to position everybody. So they're inside of Capricorn's and moats.
01:30:57
Speaker
And he, she calls out the signal. She goes, Capricorn. I called out. Okay. I heard him say a distance away. Like, like not got it, not on it. Like, okay.
01:31:07
Speaker
Okay. Way to bring the energy, Tristan.
Kenzie’s Behaviors and Technological Parallels
01:31:12
Speaker
yeah no don't talk bad about my boy i love tristan just it's and i don't know that it was meant to be like read as like sarcastic or like nonchalant but just the word okay is so like all right i mean he probably was like okay but yeah yeah like in my head all i hear is like's like okay he's like capricorn go and he's like yeah
01:31:38
Speaker
It's like when you're ready for like a full girl magic, magic girl transformation. And it's just like, and it's just the same outfit, except like maybe with a mask on and like a wand. It's the energy of the release of the Kraken.
01:31:52
Speaker
But, ah you know, hey guys. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause this is, this is Capricorn red, right? Red's got the orange and he solidifies him. Yep. and So it is Tristan. It is the excitable one, um which is why it's funnier to me where he's just like, yeah.
01:32:08
Speaker
Okay. Can do. Can do, Chief. Very well.
01:32:16
Speaker
I love that Victoria calls them the therapy team because we don't have a name yet. Well, now we do. Team therapy. Therapy team, assemble. yeah I love it. I still like Yamada's Angels is my vote.
01:32:30
Speaker
Yamada's Angels is pretty fantastic. Yamada's Angels is good. I just thought of one. Instead of like trauma response team, they're the response to trauma team. Response to trauma team. I kind of dig it. Or just or just response of trauma.
01:32:46
Speaker
Response of trauma team. It's just the trauma oh traumaed team. um It's still trauma response team, but they're they're just the trauma. They are the trauma. Yeah.
01:32:59
Speaker
Oh, no. no will'll be the trump We bring the trauma. We bring the trauma. Fran says suicide watch in the chat and Burnham said misfit toys.
01:33:13
Speaker
I like both of those a lot, actually. They're both fantastic. Suicide watch makes me really sad. I don't know how feel about that one. Good, though.
01:33:27
Speaker
and the
01:33:31
Speaker
I like the idea of misfits, though. Like, that's kind of fun. Like, we have the Undersiders, and now we have the Misfits. Like, I could i could get behind a name like that. That could be fun. They call them Team Therapy, which I know is what they call them, Rachel. It's just, I don't know. It seems kind of, I guess as a placeholder, it works.
01:33:48
Speaker
I like group therapy, personally. The group therapy. The group therapy is fun. Group therapy, yeah. Let's get it. It's like, here's the thing, though. Group therapy would be a great name if they were, like, a group of small villains. But as a group of small heroes, it's like, don't know that's a message you want to send.
01:34:03
Speaker
Yeah. you part Positive mental health. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Working towards a better tomorrow. yeah um Working real hard. Let's see. ah Sprite is only cooler in this chapter. Yeah.
01:34:22
Speaker
Especially when they're like Sprite. Like you're usually more of a rascal than this. He's like, I don't know what to say. heard two pretty women, you know, they tell me to do anything.
01:34:33
Speaker
Like you never act this way around us. He's like, anyways, everybody knows that he's full of shit then. Cause they mayday walks up and goes, pa pat, pat, pat, pat.
01:34:45
Speaker
Uh-huh. yeah dont like like yeah You didn't get anything. You didn't get anything. Yeah. You're a shit when we all know it. I really do like Sprite.
01:34:59
Speaker
I really do like Sprite. He's funny. Yeah. Hey, Ricky, wanna fuck? Nah, not right now. Cool. Like, okay. ah Basically how that first interaction went.
01:35:14
Speaker
yep yeah yeah Because that was Sprite back at the... Wait, is this the same guy? Yeah, the military thing. He was sitting there. He's like, hey, yeah how do you release stress?
01:35:26
Speaker
yeah Are you fucking kidding me? Do we have this training together later? Yeah. Oh, okay. He's like, not what I'm looking for. He's like, okay, okay, okay. All right. Look, I didn't make that connection. Because who the fuck remembers that guy? And then his teammates, like, trying like, dissuade him.
01:35:40
Speaker
And he's, like, flirting. He's like, i will cut you.
01:35:44
Speaker
Anyway, girl, how's it going? I'd date him. Hell yeah. but And that is why the fuck sprite slash fuck sprite is one box on the thing because we knew it would be covered. Fuck sprite fuck sprite.
01:36:02
Speaker
I got you. I got you.
01:36:06
Speaker
ah got you. um And then ah since ah you don't chat, do you don't get to count this as a bingo. Okay? Because I have to point it out.
01:36:18
Speaker
Did anybody notice a ah who the healer was?
01:36:27
Speaker
That's funny. I remember they like that. game up I mean, it's mentioned and I remember, but I i didn't know who it was. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. She mentions it that there it's rare that there are like healer. Bernard don't.
01:36:39
Speaker
Bernard just said Sprite versus Moose, and I don't like having to pick. So. o Both i mean with the healer. Yeah. Both, please. Double smash. So I'll you a hint. it's The healers are very rare in this universe, as we all know. Okay, is it the one who... She's fucking blind!
01:37:00
Speaker
Is it that one? Who is that? Oh, it's Scapegoat. Scapegoat, yeah, it's Scapegoat. is Scapegoat, I knew it was Goat. Does he have a different name?
01:37:11
Speaker
Rachel! they don't They don't mention his name, they just say it's the healer that's right. who who has who is sitting there and they're flickering in and out of like existence kind of yeah yeah yeah first do they're touching also bernard both but right right versus me yeah yeah bernard both put ours as right try to talk michael i'm just doing my job ah Thank you Rachel I got two hands Rachel said I got two hands I was trying to get to Rachel saying I got two hands there Oh yeah got right right That's right Me and Rachel Rachel thinking the right things Rachel knows Me and Rachel We know Heck yeah Why be limited
01:37:56
Speaker
um Yeah And then we move on from there To ah the to our our our Friends on the reunion tour Hold on. Before we get to that, Mayday and Look-See have a little moment and we get a little bit more information about Look-See.
01:38:18
Speaker
We cannot miss this. so this beeny backsory I was going to say, I wanted to bring that up. There's a couple more things I wanted to bring up. was going to say, don't don't don't rush your ahead, Alan. We still got things to talk about.
01:38:30
Speaker
Kenzie, listen, I know you're a child. Although part of me is like now, is she just projecting herself as young? Is she actually older? I don't know.
01:38:41
Speaker
i I've been wondering the same kind of things. Like if if the Kenzie we see is an avatar. Like I'm not 100% certain. it's Yeah. No? Even if we, even but if not, it's still not great, Kenzie. You're a child, but.
01:38:54
Speaker
ah Yeah, the. You've heard of child predators before, but have you heard of child predators? Yeah. ah the The photoshopping yourself into pictures of of somebody and making them look so realistic that this person is like not getting a promotion as it and in fact being investigated because of said pictures. like That is some, that is some like next level.
01:39:19
Speaker
So when we, okay, when stuff was first coming um out about Kenzie and I kind of had this moment where i was like, okay, well that's a little creepy and it's a little, you know,
01:39:30
Speaker
Right. but like we've all had that camp kid that's a little clingy you know and they they're clingy but they're ultimately harmless and so i kind of had this like i if i i' seeing if this is as bad as everyone is reacting and it is that that made no sense basically is everyone overreacting because this feels like right not worth all of it and this is like showing us even more where i'm like whoa okay and then also sat in the bathroom for 20 minutes because she wanted to talk to you alone it's in total silence while you're trying to take a poop she's sitting in there waiting for you to come out that is weird and like with her with the camera thing it's just it she her creep factor has gone up
01:40:19
Speaker
exponentially here. yeah So, you know. Yeah, it's crazy that this was all written, you know, how old, what's Ward, seven years old-ish, eight, something like that, Ward came out.
01:40:35
Speaker
And, you know. Also, Rachel, i nobody has defended Kenzie. Nobody's defending Kenzie. yeah So I'm not going to count that one.
01:40:45
Speaker
Yeah, no. Not not defending her. Creeped out a little. actually.
01:40:51
Speaker
But just now let's out with how prevalent AI images are and how scary that's getting, like yeah this feels a little eerily yeah foreshadowing from when it came out, which is kind
Rain's Cult Experience and Trauma
01:41:05
Speaker
of crazy.
01:41:05
Speaker
Yeah.
01:41:08
Speaker
But also, i mean she's so good ah nom just goingnna say she's so much more dangerous than we're giving her credit for. like i mean in ah Incompetent, older hands, like who's not thinking like a child. like My goodness.
01:41:23
Speaker
Her power is terrifying. it's It's funny. I almost mentally think of her in In the same category as Tattletail, actually. So Tattletail, you know, she has all this information. She's like kind of scary smart to where you're like, oh shit, you really don't want to be on her bad side.
01:41:42
Speaker
ah But like that that same thing, like if Kenzie grows up a little bit more, realizes just how much power she holds, she could just destroy
01:41:55
Speaker
so many people if she wanted to. Like if she just wanted to just... blackmail the shit out of everyone that ever lived she could and have no issues doing it like oh I think too part of what's frustrating in this scene for me and in you know in a weird way her being so like yeah don't like I did bad stuff it's okay you can let them tell you and her kind of being like so embarrassing I'm so sorry I don't know if that's the tone she's taking but yeah
01:42:29
Speaker
That's how I read it. ell It feels like an extra level of frustrating where it's this, not only are you ruining my life, but societally, I i don't have permission to be mad at you because you're a child and you act like a child.
01:42:45
Speaker
You're not, at least for all intents and purposes, we don't know. You're not seeming to do this out of malice. You're simply doing it because you don't know better. You're not aware of social boundaries you're and that's where it feels like i can imagine that's extra frustrating where it's like no i'm not i'm not doing something wrong she's literally photoshopping me in pictures but you won't believe me because she's 12. you know yeah yeah and and that that certain element of of even her being like oh it's so embarrassing like does she
01:43:23
Speaker
even understand how creepy it is, the behavior. Because like, it's almost like she only sees it as creepy because it it was an embarrassment that this all came out and like her private photos were, you know, leaked. They're not really private. Well, i mean, they were, but she was, they were Photoshopped, you know, just like this idea of like, oh, so embarrassing. Like,
01:43:44
Speaker
Do you not see, like, I wonder if she sees it as ah problem or if she sees this as like, well, it was only a problem because I got caught. It was only problem because they threw it out of proportion.
01:43:57
Speaker
You know, like, that does she see how inerrantly this is a problem? And truthfully, as Bernard just said in chat, I don't think she does. don't think she does. I think she's just kind of like, oh, oopsie, sorry, I messed up, guys, but don't worry, I'm fixing it. Like,
01:44:14
Speaker
Yeah. ah in just And actually just watched a video essay on the wonderful topic of family vlogs and child exploitation. um And um morning and fortunate fortunately or unfortunately, i would say fortunately, when there's an accusation of a child being taken advantage of by an adult, that should be taken seriously.
01:44:39
Speaker
And so i imagine it's, But it's one of those things where if you don't know the pattern, you just see this kid. Oh, this kid just got transferred, had some issues with her old team.
01:44:50
Speaker
You don't know the story. You don't know the pattern. She does the exact same thing again. And then you finally talk to everybody. You're like, wait a second. This kid's been causing problems for everybody. What is wrong with them? Like, yeah and you know, it's it's Bernard.
01:45:05
Speaker
And it's it's either good. Good. Good. Finish your thought. Sorry. Yeah. I was just going to say it's to me, it's sad that either like we've guessed maybe Kinsey is not Kinsey.
01:45:19
Speaker
There's always that option, which is spooky. Or i was actually two other options. Kinsey's not Kinsey or like she's an older person. The spooky. Um,
01:45:32
Speaker
Number two, Kinsey is actually an AI herself, like something like Dragon. So she literally doesn't know, but she also can't feel shame because she's a robot. um Or she's just been through something so awful traumatic, worse than rain, that she just has no emotions anymore and like right doesn't understand shame or boundaries.
01:45:53
Speaker
so Which I feel like is very, ah very realistic possibility that whatever the trauma that got her to this point has kind of scarred her emotionally to the point where that's just not those pathways aren't being formed for her.
01:46:12
Speaker
Bernard points out that we called it on episode four, two episodes ago, that Kenzie was potentially the most problematic. Yeah. We always knew it. she She's definitely a person to keep an eye on. i Honestly, like, Rain obviously is the most immediate problem, but, like, Kenzie and and Chris are kind of, like, they're the two youngest members, right? Kenzie and Chris?
01:46:36
Speaker
And they are both highest up on my keep an eye on potential very big problems kind of thing. Yeah. For sure. For sure.
01:46:48
Speaker
Yeah. Alright, well, we've got 13 minutes to 10 and we've got um two bench yeah couple more things. Two big chapters. I'm not even finished with and gotten i was marvel one last One last thing too as well on this chapter for me that I thought of.
01:47:05
Speaker
Prancer knows Sveta, which I thought was fun. Or knows of her at least. yeah Because he's like, hey, Garot, I know who you are. um And she's like, oh, that's not my name anymore.
01:47:19
Speaker
Cersei says hi and she's like, oh, shit. Fuck yeah, let's go. Love that shit. so love our ah Love when your past comes back to haunt you. That's just one of my favorite things.
01:47:32
Speaker
And I'm not being sarcastic. I love that shit. I eat that shit for breakfast. Let's go. Also, ah I have this quote with Mayday talking about Luxie's past.
01:47:43
Speaker
I could let it go. I won't. I just love that.
01:47:49
Speaker
ah Undersiders?
01:47:54
Speaker
Woo. It looks like it's the Undersiders reunion tour. Unders. Unders. The Undersiders um reunion tour. With the opener, him in the heart broken.
01:48:06
Speaker
Gosh, that took me a while to get through. But I'm also distracted because there's baby boy laying on my hand. a He's so cute. Let's fucking go. You can set them up as antagonists. All you want, Wild Poe. We will cheer. We're still going to root for them. so We can't help it.
01:48:23
Speaker
Can't have Especially when Tattletail hacks into their system to talk to him directly and is like, what's up, Victoria? yeah How you doing? Yeah. What's up, bitch? How's it hanging? How's it hanging? You abbreviated it. She's like, what's up, G-H?
01:48:38
Speaker
Yeah, go on. What's up, G-H? I love it. I love it so much. Also, not only did the Undersiders pull up with a har with ah with the Heartbroken. Oil Snipers, baby!
01:48:51
Speaker
you Yeah, well like coil snipers. Yep. Soldiers. Yes, Kinsey's name is confirmed. Bernard. Yes. She's officially Luxie.
01:49:02
Speaker
She's Luxie, but she's she used to go by ah optics. Optics. yes optica Yeah. Trying to go by Luxie. That's what Mayday called. Yeah. yeah And Damsel is...
01:49:16
Speaker
Not locked in for swan song. But like semi locked in for, well, not officially. Cause, cause she, Victoria asked Kenzie to change it on the monitor. Yeah. To say a damsel instead of swan song.
01:49:29
Speaker
So not quite yet close. I love the moment where like they start by getting there and they're talking to the like Lord of ah the beast of burden group, the the violent group and all that.
01:49:43
Speaker
And Tattletail while talking just like looks up and like makes eye contact with the camera. So good. You know, one of those like. love it. It doesn't tell them either.
01:49:54
Speaker
Doesn't tell them. No, it's so good. good. Classic Tattletail. Yeah. What do we have here? oh off screen. Rachel's a bingo.
01:50:05
Speaker
Off screen. Love for Undersiders. Cat on the screen. Criticizing Wild Bo's writing. That is a bingo. Let's go Let's bingo.
01:50:19
Speaker
Nice. Let's go. Flawless imitation. Let's go. There it is. There we go. The recording of me is from HowBetterThanEe.
01:50:31
Speaker
And doesn't let on to the people that she's like working that have hired her. love it. I love it. And then does them the courtesy. She hasn't gotten paid Yeah.
01:50:41
Speaker
Which I guess... i haven't we haven't gotten to that We haven't gotten to that part yet. yeah yeah yeah I forgot that doesn't happen until 5.6, technically. Bernard is it range is Rain as of right now. Chris is Chris.
01:50:55
Speaker
And Victoria is Victoria. The the only person who has ah stuck with their name is... Sveta is Sveta. We don't know. So Capricorn is... Matristin is Capricorn, so that's it.
01:51:07
Speaker
Sticking with that old one. We've got Capricorn, Look-See, and maybe Swansong. And maybe Swansong. Yeah. That's it. Yeah, because Sveta's not, well, mean, I guess Sveta's probably not her real name, because she may not remember her real name.
01:51:20
Speaker
But that's not code name. That's not like her cape name, yeah. So I guess she doesn't have hers yet, either. Doesn't have hers yet. Any more than, like, is Weld. I mean, Weld's Weld.
01:51:32
Speaker
Weld isn't his real name, surely. Well, I mean, I think it's well, has though um I guess that's the thing. I guess that's the thing with case 53 is right. If you don't remember your real name. Yeah.
01:51:43
Speaker
Yeah. And you take on this identity as Weld or Sveta. Right. That's you. on a Hard to hide like a secret identity wise. Yeah, exactly.
01:51:54
Speaker
Uh, uh, interlude interlude five, five D. twenty D five D D's interludes. I have five D's nuts.
01:52:11
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Five point D. Um, interlude cluster rain's night flashback to rain's past and trigger. Aaron helps support him through mama's effect.
01:52:25
Speaker
And the group watches a meeting between the undersiders and the cluster. Mama gives Rain a night away from her. Aaron is made to offer herself to him, and he runs to March's group.
01:52:37
Speaker
What an interlude. Whoa. Holy crap. This is the interlude I remember the most. but Like, if I think about Ward, this is the one.
01:52:50
Speaker
um Like, immediately. And it is, and you know, we'll get to it it. is walking upstairs and Aaron being there in his bedroom and him being like, Oh, fuck. um Like that was that was ah
01:53:08
Speaker
sick isn't quite the right word. um No, but I felt relatable. Confliction in my body like. oh
01:53:22
Speaker
yeah It feels like cults fascinate me, and I've done some some readings and and biographies and stuff on people that have been in and out of them. And I have to think that Wild Boat did some research because it's it's he writes it so well.
01:53:38
Speaker
Like, just... getting into the the mental anguish knowing you can't escape but not wanting to be part of it and then sort of like aaron sort of like you know essentially succumbing to it right and being like well listen we can't escape so let's be as happy as we can which is just fucked up it's it was heartbreaking very well written truly truly heartbreaking yeah this is this is when we talk about like Ward is infinitely more horny than Worm.
01:54:12
Speaker
um This is one of those times where it shows up and it's like in the worst way possible. It doesn't feel good. This is, because I go back to Rain as like the stereotypical teenage ah kind of sad boy. Like, oh man, like, you know, I've got my hot best friend, but I can never tell her how I feel. And this is like the wet dream scenario.
01:54:37
Speaker
And it's the most... This is a... Yeah, that is exactly It's a you know a teenage boy's wet dream, and it is the most horrifying thing you can read. Yeah. Like, the ability to be...
01:54:51
Speaker
to to write that. And for me to, to beat it for you know, having been a teenage boy myself, I'm like, yeah, I get that. And that is, I hate this. I hate this so much. more Like, holy shit. It's what is shown every time it's his night, right? It's always the same dream when it's their night. Yeah.
01:55:08
Speaker
Yeah. I understand that. Right. Oh, Him at the bonfire? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Like, God. I'm sorry. That's gotta be... I can't imagine Lovelost, Nag, and Cradle, the whiplash they had the first time they saw his dream of being like... I mean...
01:55:27
Speaker
look I mean, really easy to hate him. Really easy to hate him. i The hate, I get it. I was like, yeah I mean, Rayne, I was so but sympathetic for too, a bit.
01:55:38
Speaker
that's all That's pretty damning, my man. yeah that's That's a pretty damning you know memory to relive every five four or five nights. Like, Cause it's the fire, it's the freaking, what's called? Bonfire the night before. It's the walking into the mall. It's guarding the door, the laugh, like all of it together piled on top of all the trauma.
01:56:09
Speaker
And also the, they they Rain said very early on that like, it's not kiss kill, It is Kiss Kill, but it's it's only cemented... Kiss Kill has only cemented what was already there. What was already packed in tight.
01:56:25
Speaker
you know It's only kill. It's kill, kill, kill. Yeah, it's kill, kill, murder, kill, mutilate, kill, kill, kill, kill. yeah what What I will say um for this, and I don't know if we want to talk much about the bonfire beyond. It's just weird and gross.
01:56:43
Speaker
um But... The okay, my my question is, so we have Sarah who has an interesting power as well. Creepy guy. We don't like him with the horse. um Interesting power, though.
01:56:56
Speaker
He tells rain guard this door that I've put a chain around. Right. And then later gets mad at rain for not letting the people out.
01:57:08
Speaker
Yeah. It's a damned if you do. Yeah, it so it's an impossible scenario. Yeah. And it's I feel like it it ties back into the cult thing. Like if you break the rules, you'll be punished and you deserve the punishment because you broke the rules.
01:57:26
Speaker
If you follow the rules and something goes wrong, then you're an idiot for not thinking on your feet. And either way, you have this like guilt that latches you in.
01:57:37
Speaker
This idea of wanting to, like, do your job, be the soldier, please your boss, you know, not die, be part of the family that is this cult. Like, you can't win.
01:57:54
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Like, again, I'm just like, what was he supposed, was he supposed to unlock it and let some people out after they've been scared for a bit? No, because they punished him. yeah because clearly sarah but then sarah's like well why didn't like we were just supposed to scare him not kill him why did you do that right and i'm like well what like what did you you didn't tell him what's it like i was so mad i was just like what yeah no the point is that you can't make a right answer like the guy's just gonna kick your shit like he's gonna kick you in the stomach either way at the end of this like and he doesn't care if they died like
01:58:28
Speaker
know Yeah, and i not ultimately, no. he was He was probably chuckling all the way to, you know, outside to just see Rain and be like, oh, fuck this shit again. I hate him so much.
01:58:39
Speaker
Why'd you let him die? You know? Yeah. yeah it's It's stupid. it's like It's like just the grossest hazing, you know, initiation type stuff. Yeah.
01:58:51
Speaker
yeah I mean, i did ROTC for a year. Obviously, it wasn't anything like this, but that's the kind of stuff they do. You know, they would come in and check your room and be like, oh, why aren't your clothes ironed? And oh, sorry, sir. Iron them next. And then they come in next time.
01:59:04
Speaker
Why are your clothes ironed? ah You want them ironed. You shouldn't be doing that till later tonight. You know, and and you don't do that. You know, they just make stuff up because you're always, the point is that you did it wrong. So yeah it's obviously...
01:59:17
Speaker
break you down enough that you won't fight back, that you will be compliant. Yes, sir. No, sir. Yes, sir. They empty you out so that they can fill you up with their propaganda. I'm not saying ROTC. I'm saying cults.
01:59:29
Speaker
I don't know. Yeah, yeah the same no for sure. it's a cat's golden I mean, boot camp boot campus similar Yeah, I mean, fran Fran makes a good point. Maybe Sarah fucked up and blamed it on Rain, which is always a possibility, too. Maybe Sarah took it too far. He's the one who put the chains on the door in the first place anyway.
01:59:46
Speaker
Right. yeah And so maybe he comes back and he's like, oh, crap, that went wrong. Good thing there's this kid here I can blame. Nobody will believe that I fucked up when Rain's around.
01:59:58
Speaker
Yeah. Also, Rain got ran got powers from that. like Yeah. He triggered because of that. And like as we know, the cult values, the fallen value triggered individuals.
02:00:11
Speaker
And Rain is almost a bit of a waste in terms of... you could almost consider him powers. Powers. but like but But that idea of, like well, either way, he will be a useful tool for the fallen.
02:00:25
Speaker
And like that mentality of of people being objects, people being...
02:00:32
Speaker
and Rachel just put in the chat, Rain is a very ah blamable person. I like the flama lambo lamable blamable. Blamable. Very blamable person.
02:00:44
Speaker
Blammo. Yeah. yeah i All I can think of is that's where I wear my blam retardant like clothing, like my jacket and my pants so that I don't get blammed.
02:00:55
Speaker
Yep. Yep. ye yeah What you going to say, Jacob? um Just make sure we don't overlook ah Mama Mathers, who is ah quickly becoming my least favorite character in terms of powers.
02:01:13
Speaker
It it is I mean, just the... Again, props to Wild Bo. We love him, obviously. We love him. So many props. Ability to write the scene and the tension from Rain's point of view where only he can see Mama Mathers like in the car behind them. and Oh my god. Just the...
02:01:36
Speaker
the visceral terror that you feel knowing that he can't escape her sight and it sort of contextualizes a lot of earlier scenes where like rain is staring off into the distance or not present it's because he's looking at her while she's in the room yeah and yeah yeah just god i well and um and what um What it reminds me, it reminds me a little bit of like It Follows or something like that, where it's this consistent thing in the corner, always there.
Tattletail and Strategic Insights
02:02:10
Speaker
um yeah It's rough. ah Speaking of blamable people, um apparently the other three members of his group cluster tried to bring somebody else into their dream world.
02:02:21
Speaker
um you And they got blammoed. What the fuck was that? i don't know. don't know they survived. That was weird. That may have just been a function of the dream world and they' the person is fine outside of it.
02:02:35
Speaker
Someone's on the wall. and And notably, did I understand it correctly? um Rain tried to bring Mama Mathers into the dream, but couldn't. He tried to think her into it. Yeah. He tried to think her into it.
02:02:47
Speaker
Which I was trying. I was wondering if he had done that. I remember saying that a couple weeks ago. So good. It's interesting that that didn't work. Yeah. She can't. Weirdly safe space. Yeah.
02:02:58
Speaker
You know, if it weren't for the fact that everyone wants to kill you.
02:03:04
Speaker
up little bit of freedom. Yeah. ah I love Aaron's um very subtle ah commentary in the car. First of all, bringing him snacks, bless you.
02:03:15
Speaker
ah And trying to make a joke about this the sweatshirt and it being just very poorly timed, but okay. ah But then the the whole thing about the crossed arms,
02:03:28
Speaker
was so good because at first i'm like sitting like what is she trying to say and then it clicked and then he got it too and it was like oh my gosh bless her like for being just the smartest girl on the block like holy macaroni that was so good and then him sitting with crossed arms for the rest of the ride like
02:03:53
Speaker
yeah yeah Yeah, um my my notes for this interlude were I had two notes. I had one. I think I love Aaron, which holds that stands.
02:04:04
Speaker
And the second one. No, Aaron. No. Yeah. Oh, it's so tragic. If only Aaron wasn't good person. just the game.
02:04:16
Speaker
Didn't. Yep. All right. ah mama mathers got you again got me again yeah um if if only erin wasn't a good person who cared about her family then she could just leave with rain but you know she's got to care about her family um of course she does of course she has to have a little brother and she has to have a family that she likes yep i love rachel said mama mathers is just the leave me alone oh so uh maybe a spoiler bernard says that the person who they tried to bring in became brain dead that may have been said i'm not entirely sure
02:05:05
Speaker
They were very much splattered, I thought. I thought it wasn't brain dead. I thought it was just deadzo. Well, the reason the reason why I'm not sure, i wasn't sure if they were physically affected is because when Rain mentions there's kids at risk to Love Lost, Love love Lost punches the barrier so hard she breaks her hand. Breaks her hand, yeah. And he's like, it'll be healed in the morning.
02:05:28
Speaker
So clearly, like, physical stuff that happens in this dream world true true true doesn't seem to affect um everybody. um
02:05:40
Speaker
There doesn't seem to affect you. Sorry, it doesn't seem to affect you physically. Right outside the in the real world. So it's yeah, which is probably why Mama Mather's power doesn't work because it's maybe tied to your physical person, your physical body somehow.
02:05:53
Speaker
And this is dream you. Interesting. Yeah, he he tries so hard to talk to them.
02:06:02
Speaker
And to be like, listen, you don't understand. i i was a kid. I had no choice. And they're just like, nah. Fuck you. Fuck you. we We're going to you. yeah Yeah. Which again, fair. I get it. Fair.
02:06:16
Speaker
Yep. After that. ah Seeing that every fifth night. Yep. Fair. And he wakes up and Mama Mathers is gently stroking head like. Okay. Right. Okay.
02:06:33
Speaker
yeah oh yeah ye Yeah. I don't like I don't like it and don't like it one. but Great chapter. at all I hate Great chapter. Consistently the interludes just bangers every single time. This is where though we got to talk about the um we got to talk about the tat the ah Undersiders.
02:06:53
Speaker
Tattletail and all of that. That was in this interlude as well. Where where So, OK, so we get a little bit more insight on um imps power, which I love.
02:07:06
Speaker
She's like. Yeah, Kinsey's like, my recordings do not like this person talking about it. I'm getting a billion and two warning messages. Victoria is like memories don't track her cameras record her, but the footage degrades over time. It's kind of like what?
02:07:23
Speaker
That's crazy. That's so great. so there's So there can be no long term... yeah Real quick, Fran wrote in chat more like Mommy Mathers. Then chat lost their mind. No.
02:07:41
Speaker
And Rachel said, hey, please don't ever type those words that order ever, ever, ever again. No, Alan, I had in my mind that she was an old witch-looking lady. You told me she was younger than that.
02:07:55
Speaker
so viable option maybe no i can't i can't i mean bothman it's a it's a it's a smash you'll never forget that's for sure that's right it's a smash that stays with you yep yeah yep you can always go back oh it's the smash that keeps on smashing ah
02:08:19
Speaker
Think about that. For the next couple of days, you could be feeling that. as a no stop, Alan. Oh, no. and as a Back to Imp, though. Back to Imp. Footage degrades of her.
02:08:33
Speaker
People forget her memories. you know Memories are loose of her. My question is, is it theoretically possible that one day after she's passed away,
02:08:45
Speaker
Imp is just totally forgotten a person in Lord of universe. Nope, I don't want to hear She'll never pass away. That is her fear. Not saying that she will anytime sooner. I want her to. That's her fear, right? The thought occurred to me. That's her fear, though, right? Is that, like, one day she's just going to be completely forgotten. No.
02:09:01
Speaker
That's a great... I'm curious, because, like, on the one hand, her power is always on, so she's got to consciously turn it off. So, yes. yeah But two, if she dies, is is the power no longer active?
02:09:14
Speaker
And therefore, body you know... Like, in my mind... question is... yeah The question is, is the power is the power having it or turning it off?
02:09:26
Speaker
What's the real power there? Right, yeah. And if the power is turning it off, then... Wildbow, I guess you're just going to have to kill him. You're going to kill him so we know.
02:09:37
Speaker
yeah No, please don't. If you do, i will never speak to you again. and As someone who's never spoken to Wildbow, that's not a very big threat, but, you know...
02:09:50
Speaker
all right Final chapter, we got we're over time. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, we... So what's important about this, the reason we see this from Rain's perspective, right, is because it's important to know that Mama Mathers sees Tattletail telling them there's a war coming, you guys need to be ready, whatever happens.
02:10:10
Speaker
Yeah. um Then she can prep. And... Yeah. I do love just the small small moments here. i love Bitch's moment where she's just like... You said I had to be here.
02:10:21
Speaker
Why am I here? And she's like, well, I thought you'd want to be. She's like, well, i don't want to talk. And they're like, okay, you can stay outside. And she's like, fine. By the river. the dog Yeah. by the river And we got, we got foil and Parian who were back.
02:10:37
Speaker
I love, which gay that gets brought up foil. Is part of a group cluster as well. yeah ah Yeah. And. It was kind of cool. There are people looking for her as well.
02:10:50
Speaker
Yep. I forgot. That's the trade off. That's the trade off. March says. all key I'll. I'll take care of your cluster.
02:11:01
Speaker
You take care of mine. hey Yeah. yeah Forgot about that. We find that out later with March. Nope. I don't like it. I don't like it. Look, look, what I see in the future is death and I don't like it and I don't want it and I refuse. So then what?
02:11:18
Speaker
like Foil's chances. right yeah with that group. All things considered. Yeah. yeah She feels, of all of the of all of the danger, you know, ah most likely to survive. That's where I'm putting my chips.
02:11:34
Speaker
But, uh... Also, i love the... the ah Since we talked we talked about this before, I'll mention again. ah Those of you who have seen the Adaptation v VFX ah outfits... um I'm sorry.
02:11:48
Speaker
I'm looking at chat. Um... I don't think we've mentioned March's look ah from victor Vicky's perspective because we haven't gotten there, Rachel. um Rachel.
02:12:00
Speaker
Season chat. Tease and chat. I already saw it. This is why i don't turn on the chat. Yeah. ah But Adaptation VFX, the YouTube channel, um this person who was doing a bunch of animations for Worm um that are very, very good.
02:12:14
Speaker
Love them. ah They're exactly my mind's eye to, you know, animation. ah But they made an announcement. They were working on a bunch of shows. One of them was the ah Devil May Cry show. And in the Devil May Cry show, the main antagonist is a rabbit head villain.
02:12:32
Speaker
in a big old kind of old style coat. And all I could think the entire time I saw that was, ah, man, it's just March. Is that his vibe? and Didn't you just say, Alan, that we haven't met March and we haven't we seen their vibe? We literally say it's an century coat with at the like and like rabbit ears yeah i didn't i didn't hear the literally described it oh yeah where's a rabbit mask with a uniform that looked like a soldier from the 1800s oh i missed your dangled from her i think that i think it's not a coincidence oh march is totally march is female i kept saying yeah team that's right boss never trust a rabbit never trust a bunny
02:13:27
Speaker
Okay, also, i love that Nicolas Cage exists in this universe. We love that. Yes. Yes. Heck yes. Yeah, it's mentioned...
02:13:37
Speaker
ah Yeah. Who it talking about? Aaron's talking about rain. i Sorry. I was just scrolling through the arc. This is later. um I thought it was Saddle Sale, but it's rain talking about rain. Very Bender and Breakfast Club, except you're way more attractive than Nick Cage.
02:13:51
Speaker
Nice Nick Cage exists. That's all I need. I will go ahead and send you this AI image that I quickly had to generate. Oh, boo for the AI, but all right. line I know. I panicked and I couldn't, nobody else had done it yet. So oh there you go. It is ah John Bender from The Breakfast Club, but AI generated with Nicolas Cage's face on it. What?
02:14:14
Speaker
yeah hate it. I hate it. Although I'll be honest, I've seen pictures of him at that age and I see exactly what they were going for. Like he did really look like that guy. No, thank you.
02:14:25
Speaker
No. Yeah, but ah also the fun fact about that is that ah John Hughes did originally offer Nicolas Cage to play that part. Unfortunately, ah when they got back with like how much you know it would cost to pay him, ah they passed up and went with, what was his name, Judd instead.
02:14:45
Speaker
That is.
02:14:48
Speaker
of my gosh. Okay. well It's a what if. Also, we got a couple more bingos all over the place. Woo! We got the fucking advance guard hate on rain, Nick cage and cat on screen. We got a March question mark. Love for undersiders criticizing. Wow. Those writing fucking advance guard ah down here. We got, Oh, some major bingos.
02:15:10
Speaker
How is Victoria never mentioned the right? There you go. There you go. This is what we were talking about. Oh yeah. A lot of bingos going on. We, this is actually a pretty,
02:15:23
Speaker
feel like we've we've knocked out probably more bingos than we have most of them. You too can see them in the Patreon chat if you were a patron, which I think almost all of you are. so i do Speaking of Tattletail, I love this little this little but bit where Svet is like, Rain, are you okay while she's talking? He's like, nothing about this is really news except just how confident she is. She'll find me.
02:15:49
Speaker
I think she could say the sky is lime green with confidence. Victoria said I'm not reassured. Rain said, and it's true because it's like. Like, although Tattletail is the queen of BSing, it's accurate BSing, right?
02:16:05
Speaker
It's that like I'm going to shoot around the bullseye enough that you think I know where the bullseye is until you you tell me where the bullseye is. Like, like I'm I'm circling it. I know I am.
02:16:16
Speaker
Yeah. oh yeah I love that that people still don't really know what her power is. They know it's a really strong thinker power, some sort of clairvoyance, but like they can't they don't know exactly what it It's great. She's got so much control over every every scene she is in Fantastic.
02:16:35
Speaker
love you, Tiltile. You're always right. yeah And the last in the dream room, and correct me if I'm mistaking this, but they he wakes up in the dream room and you know there's They tried to do something with ah bringing somebody in, and they're a bloody pulp.
02:16:54
Speaker
But he gets up, and his chair his kind of area is out of whack. But ah an extra token falls from the sky. Yeah.
02:17:04
Speaker
Yeah, because it's his day, so right he gets a little extra power. Was it his? He already had his day. We just had him. Didn't we just have his day? We did just have his day.
02:17:19
Speaker
I'm pretty sure this is a... yeah I misread that then. i i didn So here's here's what we know. He goes to March. He asks for help. And then he wakes up in his dream area.
02:17:33
Speaker
And he has an extra bone and metal token.
02:17:38
Speaker
interesting and um seemingly instead of collecting on the ground which people do it lands in the middle and falls to his side and
02:17:49
Speaker
so like but it's not something that ah originates from his part of the room so can like can different clusters merge and like a o like a cluster fuck if you will um
02:18:04
Speaker
I like it. i like where your head's at. I like where it's at. um i mean it just it just gets me more hyped to read the next to read the next half of this arc. like I'm so fucking ready to go. like Let's... let's yeah
02:18:22
Speaker
Also, two plus. With the, want to hear something sad, imagine how Tattletail must feel every time a fly lands on her arm. What the fuck?
Team Unity and Meeting Preparations
02:18:34
Speaker
It's true, though. Everything reminds me of her. Everywhere I go, I see her face. Her bugs. I see her literally just a fly. Yeah. yeah oh Yeah, that's some good shit I'm about to eat.
02:18:53
Speaker
God. All right. we have we have to We have to move. Yeah, we've got to do the last one. We're so fucking close. yeah i got i got I think we'll be quick. Three notes.
02:19:03
Speaker
We'll go. All right, 5.6. Everything comes to this. Team Therapy lays it all out for the Wardens, but doesn't show all their cards. I think my big takeaway here is that Chevalier is on their side.
02:19:17
Speaker
Yay. Always has been. It's my takeaway. Yep. What a what a boy. What a man. this is This is what i remember loving from Ward. This is like that when we talk about downtime and boring chapters, this is the boring chapters that I wanted.
02:19:32
Speaker
Yeah, it's a costume making party. They're barbecuing. They're catching up. We get to see Weld again. We can see their house. It's basically got like cat tree shit all over the place and climbing wall stuff for Sveta.
02:19:44
Speaker
ah Crystal comes over and brings all the gear and then they sit down and they make costumes. the binder with all her essentially Pinterest boards. Um, yeah.
02:19:56
Speaker
Crystal's great. She's like, what do you want me to bring? And she's like, ah, if you could bring this, I meant food, dumb ass, like yeah all of the different names for like all the different people in Vicky's phone, like best cousin. Oh yeah.
02:20:08
Speaker
And like, you know, i love all that. Uh, Chris was, uh, I think just creepy kid, which is great. Yeah. creepy kid Yeah. creep Yeah. Fantastic. That's my phone.
02:20:21
Speaker
You guys all have great nicknames on my phone. Fangirl Presley made an appearance asking about um yeah how did ah Ashley get her hair so white. That's fun. That was very fun.
02:20:33
Speaker
Literally, Ashley, just and a ah short video clip of Ashley just going... but Blasting herself in the head. so yeah Love it. Love it. Um, which brings me to the costume portion of this. And for those of you who are wondering, uh, so I, a long time ago did a did ah ah Victorian, a Victoria Dallin cosplay um for Halloween, ah which some of you are friends were present for.
02:21:01
Speaker
I based it off of Heaven's Chocolate ah outfit design, which you don't need to look up because there are slight spoilers on that. um But those of you who know, know.
02:21:13
Speaker
And so it's fallen into a little bit of disrepair, but you know, Had the back plate. Nice. I don't know if I'll screen you, Alan. There we go.
02:21:25
Speaker
Yeah, full screen that boy. Alan, show show hold full up. Full of your... hold Yeah. Yeah, it was the back plate, like wrapped around. The big old front plate right there.
02:21:36
Speaker
Got me work by some heat. Had some big old honking leg pieces. Uh-huh. and The size of the biggest ones that had to like clip in to the other leg pieces.
02:21:48
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. There's a whole armor piece outfit and all of that. Now that you know what it looks like, was, know, black hoodie, black cargo pants with like all that strapped onto it.
02:22:01
Speaker
um But in shorthand for the second ward tattoo, uh, You know, we got the Omega symbol for Worm and we've got Victoria's like shoulder armor for The spiky. I love it. I don't know what it was. as She was designing like the five, like five fingers stars. Like, what is it? What do you got going on there?
02:22:21
Speaker
And it's like the metallic like spikes going on. Yeah. yeah That's cool. That's cool. Great. I like that. That's funny. I always thought it was a like a diadem, like a crown. and Well, it's the same design. If you remember, I also have the piece that I like it pins to the hood.
02:22:37
Speaker
ah have the black hood. Yeah. For those of you who are on the patron discord, if you look at my profile, I'm wearing the outfit. Yeah, I took those pictures. If you're super lucky, he might post a actual picture in the discord. So head over there. Yeah, I have more pictures that.
02:22:56
Speaker
Yeah, they they were really fun. We took them on the side of our house with a brick wall background. We were super cool. It was giving senior high school photo shoot. It was great. That's awesome. There's a Baldur's Gate 3 mod to play as Victoria as a class with that costume and sold.
02:23:13
Speaker
What? ah Hell yeah.
02:23:17
Speaker
I think at one point in time, was it you, Jacob, that made Gru and Skitter? Yep. Or Gru and Taylor as like the first thing you did when you got Baldur's Gate?
02:23:30
Speaker
I remember getting a screenshot off that. Nice. 100%. It was Taylor with Guardian Gru. yeah yeah Love it. nice Nice. That's awesome. Bunch of nerds. anyway that's yeah That's why had my sleeves rolled up.
02:23:46
Speaker
was So that I could show that off today. Because we finally got to the point where the armor matters. And I love it. a I like that Weld can Weld. Nice.
02:23:57
Speaker
but well That was great. because He's got a better handle on his powers. Gan Weld. Weld. Gan Weld. Can Weld weld well? I did really like... How much metal would Weld need to weld if Weld was going to weld some metal?
02:24:14
Speaker
ah Yeah. Weld metal well. Weld well. what were you I did feel i didn't really like um ah how Weld was like, you know, I had that offer you know you you know long time ago about your your costume, and it's still on the table.
02:24:29
Speaker
And she's like, you don't have to do that. He's like, really? it's no but no no No bother. Crystal, bring the bag. Bring the bag, bring the bag. I've been waiting this moment. We are a go. repeat, we are a go. Bring the bag. Also, you offered that to me when I was in high school.
02:24:48
Speaker
You know, at this point, like five years ago. Listen, Weld doesn't forget. his His mind is like a steel trap. He never forgets a thing, you know? That's right. Once it's glomped in there, it just gets absorbed in.
02:25:00
Speaker
Also, Rachel, you're absolutely right. Taylor is most definitely the Dark Urge. It's like, you know what I should this dragon? I should scoop its eyeballs out. That's the right thing to do.
02:25:11
Speaker
Goes into a blurry red state, wakes up just covered in blood. Oh, I'm sorry, Sundancer. Here, you're... yeah Oh my gosh. had a I had a note here about cape costumes are like Renfair costumes.
02:25:27
Speaker
There's different variations, ah levels of historical accuracy, homemade versus purchased. But in the end, we're all just happier here. yeah I kind of love that. nice
02:25:43
Speaker
I love the, there's that brief interaction as well. Um, cause Tristan comes over as well. Right. And so, uh, and Natalie. And so I love the moment too, with Crystal and Natalie where Crystal's like, ah, I could go for you. If you were a bit older, Kristen's just like, I could go for you. If I was into girls, like like I thought that was great.
02:26:05
Speaker
I love that. is like Nice peak. Good. Yeah. There's also a great interaction with ah ah Tristan and ah Natalie where Natalie's looking at the laptop and Tristan's like, and like shifts it so that he can also look and she gives him a dirty look.
02:26:23
Speaker
That was so funny. Like he shifts the computer so he can read it and she's like.
02:26:30
Speaker
Like, about Natalie is just... Unfortunately... ah Like, why is Natalie there? And I i agree. Like, it's... Natalie isn't... I know why she's there. She's there to, like, do actual work, which is what they're over there for.
02:26:43
Speaker
But, like, she's the one person trying to do a job with a group that is a bunch of friends. Like, it could you imagine if ah you know, heaven forbid ah we got like, Michael became, you know, uh, got moved to like host status and we brought in a new producer, but like their job is to produce. Yeah. And we were like all having a good time. And they're like, uh,
02:27:09
Speaker
Could you not say that we don't want to lose sponsorships? And we'd be like, fuck you, dude. Fuck you, man. You know what it is? it's in It's in school or in college when you were member number five in a group project of a group of four friends that you weren't a part of.
02:27:24
Speaker
Yes. That is 100%. That's exactly what. And you're just like, I just really want to get this PowerPoint done before midnight. And they're like, should we hit up Taco Bell? And you're like, I would like to go to bed.
02:27:37
Speaker
like we have We have one slide that says the word the. And that's it, guys. We got And we're still arguing about font. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. oh Love it. Good.
02:27:49
Speaker
It's good day. All right. Well, with all of that coming to a close, ah let's start with our usual favorite powers. Or we'll go favorite powers.
02:28:01
Speaker
Yes. I'm sorry. I have one more note. Yes. This is a, I don't know if I'm stupid. Jacob, don't look at me like that. i don't to say This is a, I don't know if I'm stupid and missed it or if it's... Nick, I'm sorry.
02:28:17
Speaker
Here it comes. Here it comes quickly. Stop making me laugh. I don't know if I missed it or if I'm stupid or whatever. But when they're in the meeting with the Wardens, ah they say Valkyrie can't engage the fall that group of the Fallen.
02:28:36
Speaker
and i went it has to do with mama mathers why not i mean probably maybe but like also anyone else who saw mom and mama mathers uh would also you know ah run into similar problems so like why is valkyrie mentioned Actually, i could see it one of two things. One of two characters come to mind that might be a problem for her.
02:29:04
Speaker
Mama Mathers, because I think she already has all these voices inside her head. doesn't need another one. She doesn't need another one. Yeah, that's kind of what it is. Plus, because of that, maybe she's more vulnerable to it. Like Mama Mathers could infiltrate more easily. And then she has an inside person on the PRT.
02:29:20
Speaker
The other person I thought of, though, is Sarah has his own weird shadow people. And I'm wondering if maybe there's an interaction between those powers. Or as as Bernard points out, um maybe they just don't want Valkyrie there when a whole bunch of fallen die and she takes her powers. That's true. like She's also kind of under probation.
02:29:39
Speaker
yeah yeah she probably just doesn't need to be there for all the deaths. You know what? That makes sense. Bernard coming in with the clutch answers. Thanks, Bernard. Probably the more realistic option, yeah. Probably. Yeah.
02:29:52
Speaker
Alright, thank you. I appreciate everyone taking that moment to answer the- Alan, if you- As I was saying. Oh, yes. i it it is Yeah, I just- Just the fact that it's literally like, um it's coming!
02:30:11
Speaker
It's gonna be here! Any minute now, y'all are gonna regret making me real mad!
02:30:18
Speaker
There is this, i'm I'm going to call that my favorite power moment of the these chapters. There's this moment when Anxiety Crists and, ah ah ah what's her name? I'm too tired.
02:30:32
Speaker
Are yelling at each other. love Yeah, Love Lost. Having a scream off. They're yelling at each other. And there's, I went back and I like to read some of the old, ah like Reddit readalongs from way back. No, so don't worry, no spoilers. This was all in real time at the time.
02:30:46
Speaker
um But the Redditor was like describing that scene as anxiety Chris just going, I've got so much anxiety. ah And then Love Lost being like, I'm going to fill him with so much hate and rage. ah Anxiety Chris, that makes me give me more anxiety.
02:31:00
Speaker
so just com It's just your three and your five-year-old just yelling at each other. ah yeah Oh, gosh. Who could throw the bigger tantrum?
02:31:12
Speaker
money anxiety Anxiety Chris gets my favorite power of the week. I love Anxiety Chris. ah
02:31:25
Speaker
Mine's Sprite. I love Sprite as a per as a character and I love Sprite's power. yeah It's fun. Yeah, I was thinking Sprite too.
02:31:36
Speaker
That's that's just this just a fun one. can do a lot with that. Sprite is cool.
02:31:45
Speaker
Yeah, curious to see how Sprite would interact with some of these other carriers. Yeah.
Speculations on Powers and Upcoming Conflicts
02:31:50
Speaker
carriers other other capes okay which sprite because sprite can copy powers goes into the ah what if sprite copied eidolon who had died and was driven by but valkyrie who you know that had a loop of how long does he get powers for because they would fade out probably i'm assuming um
02:32:18
Speaker
Yeah. and And finally, what are our predictions for what's about to happen? Oh, Lord. I don't know. I mean, Mama Mathers has someone has as a bit of a head start now, now that she knows we're going down swinging.
02:32:36
Speaker
Sugar, we're going down. I'm yelling. I'm yelling timber. You better move. Exactly. ah There's also this mention of all these other you know people that they're pulling in, that the this fallen group is pulling in. You have the the motorcycle gang and others hu and crew.
02:32:56
Speaker
And it's like, we're we're prepping for of a big blowout fight and I'm excited for it. ah Seeing how... we interacted today not not today gosh that's so weird uh interacted with this group coming in and they kind of got their their asses handed to them a little bit by i the villains and and they they don't even have all their players yet and so i'm i'm really curious to see
02:33:28
Speaker
the the villains go against the villains basically and how we're going to play into that of basically, you know, trying to minimize damages and, you know, ah yeah I, I see it going very badly, very sideways, very quickly. I think, I think this is the first time we'll see a true parahuman like battle.
02:33:53
Speaker
We had, you know, we had the undersiders against the, uh, um Asian bad boys and then the Undersiders versus Empire 88. um But those those weren't like battles. Those were like isolated skirmishes, right?
02:34:09
Speaker
This feels like it's scaling up to be a full on like Battle of Pelennor Field style thing where you've got capes lined up on each side and a big open field just going at each other hard.
02:34:23
Speaker
And I'm excited to see that because we haven't seen that before. And I think that sounds really cool. I'm also I I predict.
02:34:35
Speaker
I predict I think Aaron's going to die. I my prediction saying someone who will die. That's the same thing. Aaron could die. I think aaron or Aaron's family.
02:34:46
Speaker
ah so Aaron Aaron getting got by like one of the the cluster kind of feels right. yeah Yeah, exactly. Aaron caught by one of the cluster. I think we're going to see... i think of the cluster members, I think Snag is most likely to die.
02:35:03
Speaker
um i don't know why. it just gives me ready-to-die vibes. Solely Lost because Love Lost is too angry to die. Love Lost is too angry to die, and we just met Cradle, so surely Wild Bo wouldn't kill off a character we haven't seen yet.
02:35:18
Speaker
Snag... we he i mean we we We don't even have their fifth cluster member. They didn't even make it. Well, that's true. That's that's true. um I could see them dying. I could see... i could see... Who else? I'm trying to think.
02:35:35
Speaker
Victoria's probably going to die. Victoria, yeah, just in the story. I don't need that. I don't need that kind of energy. Yeah. um I don't know. I think we'll see we'll see some action, though. I'm excited for it.
02:35:49
Speaker
um i know and that's my My fear is that somebody more significant than an Aaron, although that would still be very sad. But yeah, my my fearful prediction is that we'll lose a more important name. Yeah. and i don't I don't think we're at the...
02:36:07
Speaker
at the losing region point of the narrative yet right where i don't think so either so that's why i'm not guessing anybody main like i'm gonna say like okay sarah could die like he could die and i you know the right one of the members you know some of the members of the fallen prancer could die like sure i could see that i don't want it to happen but i could see that and that'd be fine we're not at the point where i feel like the core five or six um one of them's gonna get hit yet so We'll see.
02:36:34
Speaker
Now, no Undersiders either. They are immortal. They will not die. They will never die. they die, I stop reading. I mean, it's just simple as that. Well, we've seen it once before. Someone died, but no, it's actually they're on another in another planet. It's fine. yeah So that's exactly what's going to happen. They just get transferred to Skitter's planet and all is well, and it's fine. um I thought you were going to say Brian in the cabin, which was so like Hannah. Brian in the cabin. Brian is still in the cabin. Brian is still in the cabin.
02:37:05
Speaker
Brian's still in the cabin with with what with what's your fuck with the boobs. what if Yeah. Cozen. Cozen. I was say because I always think cozy yeah Cozy Cabin.
02:37:23
Speaker
Um, I... One of my predictions... One of my predictions... One of my predictions, uh, is that something... If Aaron... Stop. If Aaron gets put in danger, Rain will try to protect her, and he could potentially do some...
02:37:45
Speaker
questionable things slash damage slash go too far. Um... Because I think he's still, I mean, the whole group is. but i just I just want Rain to sever somebody's spine and then kick him in the back. Like, that's all I want to see him do. oop yeah that would be that would be great. But, like, I need to see him go all out to try and save Aaron. or Because he's the, aaron Aaron and Aaron's family would be the only one, I think. Or a like maybe Allie would be the only ones that he's, like,
02:38:13
Speaker
actually care invested in protecting yeah and i i feel like he's gonna do something that's gonna freak everybody else out because he stepped a little too far or you know that if he freaks himself out kind of a thing yeah i could see him dying too i mean honestly like i think rain is set up yeah very well for a sacrificial death i think so too if if you were going to kill one of the main characters and do like a a big sort of moment there you know he's the one who's so far has done the most fucked up stuff so you know you you could you could get away with that i think a bit easier redemption arc yeah little reduction error savingers aaron becomes the new party member and is way cooler anyway
02:38:56
Speaker
Well, i i mean, so much of his story has been revealed already so early on, and he's gotten multiple interludes already. So it makes sense for his story to kind of end yeah after a big battle of some kind. Because here's the thing. What's what is his ah what's his what's your damage? What's his damage if we if we solve this thing with the fallen? Not saying we will. I i doubt things will get wrapped up. But like if if things get concluded...
02:39:28
Speaker
What happens to Rain? He's just now the the slightly damaged, emotionally traumatized rando in the group. Like, no, no. I feel like there will be much more than just that.
02:39:41
Speaker
But have you considered second triggers? oh What about eleventies?
02:39:48
Speaker
oh It's my eleventy first trigger. My limited first trigger. Yeah. um All good thoughts. um At this point in time, who is your most worrisome character in the group?
02:40:06
Speaker
I mean, at this point, Rain's kind of the focal point, right? Not him himself necessarily, but... yeah um Just the situation he's in. But if we're just talking who's the most problematic.
02:40:18
Speaker
Yeah, we're still talking about that elusive, like Miss Yamada's painted a bullseye, but you're not quite sure where it is. had Based on everything that happened in this arc, I'm kind of up on Kinsey now. I'm like, I think I think there's some real fuckery going on with Kinsey. And yeah, yeah, yeah, there's something going on.
02:40:38
Speaker
Yeah, i I'm still going to stand by my two youngest members, Chris and Kenzie. There's something going on there. ah Kenzie, problem from the start. ah I'm still not convinced that she's wholly human person that we've been interacting with. um Every time she chooses not to touch someone or every time she doesn't touch someone, i I'm suspicious.
02:41:01
Speaker
So, like, I live in suspicion with Kenzie all the time. And the just the lack of information we have on Chris makes me a little nervous. But... ah it's It's one of them for me. Yeah. Fran brings up that ah we don't talk much about Byron, which is the opposite of the other podcast that Red Ward. Truly unfortunate. And Byron doesn't matter. true Shut up.
02:41:23
Speaker
I love Byron. that Byron even mentioned the entire arc. Yes. Other than you were like, I might have to switch out. Yeah. Byron volunteered extra time so that Tristan could do some cape work.
02:41:37
Speaker
That's true. Byron is a hero. Byron, the thing is, I'm not concerned about Byron because I feel like if anybody ordered the hit on themselves, like I suspect, it would have been Tristan, I think.
02:41:50
Speaker
i I think byron Byron is sad, but I think Tristan is much more upset at their situation than he gives off. um yeah I can't wait to dig into that one more.
02:42:03
Speaker
I want a whole arc of Capricorn troubles. I can't wait. and don't even know how you write that perspective, but that'd be really interesting. I want to see that. Give it to Give it to me.
02:42:14
Speaker
um ah So we have who would Victoria help more? The Fallen or the Hollow Point crew? Hollow Point because of Moose, obviously. yeah Hollow Point because of Moose.
02:42:27
Speaker
While they do have beef with Hollow Point, they don't have like, you know, ah Listen, listen. Hollow Point, they're bad guys, but they're not bad guys.
02:42:38
Speaker
Yeah. The Fallen is a cult. I think they said they're literally just going to hover above and like pick off anybody that gets loose. Like literally if there's a straggler, you go and zip them up. Otherwise, like what it feels like.
02:42:52
Speaker
It feels like Prancer even says that, right? He's like, look, we're just here. Take some property, sell some drugs. Like, yeah, we're just we're not trying to destroy anything.
02:43:03
Speaker
I know if we're not people who want to build in the woods. Yeah. Human trafficking people like, yeah, we're just we're doing like. ah did taxes with drugs and a little violence like we're cleaning up the streets like it's not great but it's you know it's a slightly worse than it was because I think I think like it's that that game that Tattletail mentioned back in worm right there's acceptable there is acceptable villain groups that you can interact with and contain and have the game and then there's the fallen and people like them
02:43:41
Speaker
And I don't think anyone would be upset if the Fallen got wiped off the map. Now, obviously, there's a lot of innocence in that, too. But, yeah you know, that's that's just the reality of the way people feel about them. is like, look, right they're not they're not worth keeping around.
02:43:57
Speaker
Also, another reminder that I had forgotten slash not aware of, the the Fallen groups that each focus on a different Endbringer, and this is the Simurgh group, which... right Hmm.
02:44:13
Speaker
I foresee problems. I foresee dilemmas and problems and difficult choices in our future. Long lasting consequences. Long lasting goddamn consequences what I foresee for our future. I foresee Hannah's going to cry probably a little bit.
02:44:33
Speaker
I mean, I cried a little bit with the whole Aaron thing. That's my pen.
02:44:41
Speaker
uh yeah it's uh yeah i'm excited though i'm ready the the first half of this arc has got me fucking pumped yeah for sure this is this is uh i i want to say maybe the first time i've been like extra excited to read the next arc Not that I wasn't excited to read it before, but it's like, oh, I can't wait. Whereas before it's like, all right, next one. Cool. I'll get to that when I can.
02:45:07
Speaker
This one's like, i'm I might stay up tonight and read 5.7. Like, i that's how I feel. It's kind of how I I have work in the morning, but.
02:45:18
Speaker
Yep. I'm trying it.
02:45:23
Speaker
Live tired. Live fast, live tired. It's okay. I got to stay up for another two hours and do work after this. so So sorry.
Conclusion and Community Engagement
02:45:31
Speaker
Two hours. All right. Jeez. Yeah.
02:45:34
Speaker
Well, life of a let's get you to that then. Without further ado, thank you so much yes to everybody who was here tonight.
02:45:46
Speaker
ah Thank you, all of my hosts, Hannah, Jacob, Nick, and Michael. And of course, a big thanks to myself, Alan. And to the rest of you who were here, we appreciate you so much.
02:45:59
Speaker
Next week, we will be back on for two oh sorry two weeks from now on tuesday the 24th 24th 24th you're back on the tuesday this is just a one-off on a wednesday um and uh we will be reading through the rest of arc 5 so that is arc 5.7 to arc
02:46:25
Speaker
um okay The rest of five. And it is about, I think we said like 53,000 or five. Yeah. 53,000 words. So almost the exact same ah length as the first half. um But that is what we will be discussing.
02:46:42
Speaker
If you'd like to join our Patreon and talk with us there, ah send some really disturbing memes ah or, you know, get the spoilers chat. um We're very welcome.
02:46:55
Speaker
uh we'd be very uh happy to have you there yeah and uh see some pictures in his full costume yeah i'll i'll i'll find them uh yes uh william uh arc five we are so back i'm excited for this upcoming one and uh thank you all thank you big shout out to the patrons uh for ah helping us pay the bills with these but We love you so much. We love you so much. And we will see you next week.
02:47:25
Speaker
Michael, do you have a song for us? I always do. ah Hit us with it. Daddy likes his fans, but daddy loves his patrons.
02:48:05
Speaker
All right. We will see you guys soon. See you on the 24th, Alan. Thanks so much for hosting and we'll see you guys soon. Bye. Woo.
02:48:16
Speaker
See ya. Love you. Join the Patreon. Please come on and join the Patreon. Why don't you just join the Patreon? Come support us and join the Patreon.
02:48:28
Speaker
Please help us and join the Patreon.
02:48:33
Speaker
It's great now to join the Patreon Why don't you just call it Patreon