Transcript
Speaker: I only ever saw the first one.
Speaker: Yeah, I only ever saw the first one and that's like very clearly the one where it's like, we're doing this with no budget and it made a bajillion dollars.
Speaker: And then it was like a blank check from then on to just crank one out one a year.
Speaker: And they did.
Speaker: And they did.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know who else cranks one out one a year?
Speaker: Who's that?
Speaker: Hey, everybody.
Speaker: Welcome back to Pixel It.
Speaker: My name is Kevin.
Speaker: With me, as always, is Phil.
Speaker: On today's show, we are finishing up Jedi Fatal Alliance Knights of the Old Republic.
Speaker: Jedi Republic Knights.
Speaker: The Jedi Republic Knights.
Speaker: Old timey style.
Speaker: We had a deep conversation about Sidney Sweeney at the beginning of the episode.
Speaker: And if you want to hear that, you can go to the greatest website in the world, patreon.com slash pixelipod, where we offer three tiers.
Speaker: $1 gets you the ad-free episode.
Speaker: $5 gets you the bonus episode in front of every episode.
Speaker: And $10 gets your name shouted out.
Speaker: In each episode.
Speaker: To that end, I want to thank Jesuslovesukalseamanruthalismuttermiddleofthingsigmasal.
Speaker: And friendly friend, thank you so much for being a friend.
Speaker: Patreon.com slash pixelitpod.
Speaker: Do it.
Speaker: Today.
Speaker: Excellent.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Excellent.
Speaker: You want to wrap this sucker up?
Speaker: You want to put this body in the marsh once and for all?
Speaker: Let's put body in the marsh.
Speaker: Let's marsh it, marshies.
Speaker: When I tell you to dump a body in the marsh, you dump them.
Speaker: In the marsh.
Speaker: Okay, Marshies, listen up.
Speaker: We are on chapter 30.
Speaker: We're opening with Ulysse.
Speaker: He is in a tight spot.
Speaker: He's kind of in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation because he basically has recognized that...
Speaker: he doesn't know if he should like admit that he is not in the Republic.
Speaker: Like he he's, he's, he's a spy and any information is going to get him fucked over by somebody.
Speaker: Uh, he's, he's very certain he's not going to make it out alive, uh, at this point.
Speaker: Um, and he's part of the group that is heading out to meet, uh, Stryver because if you remember correctly, we left off with, uh, the Mandalorian calling them to the moon of the planet to come up with some sort of plan.
Speaker: Uh, so they're going to have a sit down.
Speaker: Yeah, have a little have a little sit down to talk about what is to be done about these living droid things.
Speaker: So he's chosen to go with the group.
Speaker: He's not thrilled about it.
Speaker: Jet wishes him luck because, quote, you're the only one who will need it, which is I do enjoy his and Jet's relationship because initially you can't imagine they have anything in common.
Speaker: But the more it goes on, like, oh, you're you're absolutely the same kind of dude.
Speaker: So it's pretty funny.
Speaker: So Axe is going to be speaking to the Mandalorian on her master's behalf.
Speaker: Stryver points out that the colony below has grown exponentially, despite only being three weeks old.
Speaker: These robots are the droids.
Speaker: They are building like crazy.
Speaker: We do get a moment, a little moment where Axe notices that Stryber only has four fingers and is therefore probably not a human.
Speaker: So that sets her racism, Sith racism off.
Speaker: Space racism, which has got to be one of the hardest kinds of racisms to maintain.
Speaker: Racism.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, that was an interesting little note.
Speaker: We're like, oh, only four fingers.
Speaker: And speaking of eugenics, it's like not a natural born Mandalorian.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And I did do the research and Mandalorians can be from other...
Speaker: species that's that's actually the part of the i mean that's that's a big uh not a big part a part of the show the mandalorian which i've never watched and i need to so uh yeah uh the main character uh pedro pay played by pedro pascal um everybody's uh bedroom fantasy pedro pascal god help us god help us
Speaker: Uh, he is not a Mandalorian by birth.
Speaker: He is what's called a foundling.
Speaker: He was found by Mandalorians as like basically just a kid who had no parents and they're like, all right, come on.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: So we get a little bit of those prejudices coming out.
Speaker: So Axe starts talking about a plan to kill the the well, they start talking about a plan to kill the human down on the the inventor.
Speaker: Axe's mom starts talking about coming up with a plan because she clearly can't be reasoned with.
Speaker: Twitch Mandalorian points out that she's already dead.
Speaker: Um, then says that if, uh, if these, and this is, this is absolutely the thing, like you totally fucking nailed it because this is where he points out that if these droids are left unchecked, the self replication process that they do would take over the galaxy within a generation.
Speaker: This is Wilford Brimley looking at his computer model in the thing.
Speaker: And it's like, however, I forget how many weeks it predicts that it would take no time at all.
Speaker: That's exact.
Speaker: So you fucking nailed it.
Speaker: Basically, one generation, it would take them to generation like 25 years or something like that.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: To take over the galaxy.
Speaker: And that's yeah.
Speaker: So that so they basically have to destroy the planet.
Speaker: They have to, you know, glass parking lot, that bitch.
Speaker: Well, it comes up with the idea that he will negotiate, quote unquote, with Darth Kratos.
Speaker: But it has to be alone.
Speaker: No one else can be in there.
Speaker: There's no reason for me.
Speaker: No reason at all.
Speaker: Just you don't want to piss him off.
Speaker: I just just leave me alone.
Speaker: I'll take care of it.
Speaker: And so he's he's sent out there with axe and he tells her he tells he tells her and Darth Kratos who he is and agrees to turn on the Republic when the droid threat has been taken care of and they're at their most vulnerable.
Speaker: They're going to they're going to turn on the Republic.
Speaker: What a shock.
Speaker: He admits to his crush, Laren, on the ship, and Kratos uses that information to say, we will kill the shit out of her if you betray us on any level.
Speaker: Yeah, which brings us to part five.
Speaker: He's like, make your choice of what do you want if all this goes well.
Speaker: And he's like, oh, my girlfriend.
Speaker: I'd like this girlfriend.
Speaker: You fool.
Speaker: That is your weak spot.
Speaker: We'll kill her if you fuck up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's textbook.
Speaker: Like, you fucking idiot.
Speaker: It's like, thanks for telling me what you value most in the world.
Speaker: In the world.
Speaker: That's sad, by the way.
Speaker: Because they say, just name your heart's desire.
Speaker: And he's like, well, there's this hot girl I literally just met.
Speaker: It's like, that's it?
Speaker: That was your...
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Like that's bleak.
Speaker: That's that is bleak.
Speaker: That's pretty bleak.
Speaker: That brings us to part five, the eponymous fatal alliance part where we are going to get into the alliances that are fatal.
Speaker: They're quite deadly.
Speaker: They're deadly, deadly alliances.
Speaker: People, people going to die.
Speaker: Well, not as many as you'd expect, but but people.
Speaker: Chapter 31, the Alliance, the Sith and the Jedi and the Mandalorian are all going to have to work together.
Speaker: And they plan on hitting what they assume to be the source of the Hex droids, this factory area.
Speaker: And they're going to also hit the HQ area.
Speaker: And those are both in two completely different places on the world, like continents apart.
Speaker: So they're going to have to...
Speaker: come up with two teams to go in there and take care of it.
Speaker: They agreed to having Ula having the final authority since he's the one who, as far as they know, he's part of the Republic and he's also but he's also the one who negotiated with the Sith.
Speaker: So they're like, OK, he's kind of a neutral party and he's really unsure how he's going to handle this.
Speaker: We get Chapter 32, Laren kisses Shigar and boy, howdy, is it awkward.
Speaker: It is super awkward.
Speaker: So awkward.
Speaker: It is a very I told you I loved you like a brother loves his sister kind of moment.
Speaker: It's yeah.
Speaker: He's like, you know, I'm a Jedi and it's like a virgin for life promise rings.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Like that's like vow of celibacy.
Speaker: I'm married to space God.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Married to space Jesus wizard.
Speaker: And and that's it.
Speaker: So so she bless her heart.
Speaker: She she is just not having a good time.
Speaker: Not having a good time.
Speaker: No, if it was meant to be believed, she is smoking hot and she's not used to having people certainly not altar boys with swords basically turn her down.
Speaker: So she's not feeling so good.
Speaker: And then to make matters worse, she meets the troopers that she's going to be leading in the battle.
Speaker: And one of them is the shitty Zabrak guy who knew about her history.
Speaker: Who was like toxic Moxler.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like, what are the fucking odds?
Speaker: But he's going to be in the team.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: That's great.
Speaker: So after that happens, Axe and Shigar get into it.
Speaker: He's pissed off.
Speaker: He's feeling awkward from the kiss thing.
Speaker: And
Speaker: They get into kind of a not a scrap, but like they get into an argument and he's clearly pissed off and that turns her the fuck on.
Speaker: She is like, oh, you got some sith behind those eyes.
Speaker: Mama like like that's that's literally energy.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so that's now that's an interesting twist.
Speaker: So, yeah, the Jedi and the Sith are going to fight together.
Speaker: And what they do is they trade apprentices.
Speaker: So Tali will take Axe and Darth Kratos will take Shigar.
Speaker: So everyone knows, like everyone would be cool.
Speaker: You know what it reminds me of is you never read The Godfather, right?
Speaker: I never read it.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Because this doesn't happen in the movie.
Speaker: But basically, when there were like these like high stakes negotiations between two families, a third family would volunteer a guy as a hostage.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And basically that guy would be, um, he would be held.
Speaker: And like, if something happens and he was killed, it was like a hedge against anything happening at the meetup.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Um, to, to kind of keep the stability so that the, um, basically there wouldn't be an all out war.
Speaker: Uh, it's like, Hey, this guy's here.
Speaker: we don't want to drag third family into a fight, you know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Or, or we're basically all dead.
Speaker: We're basically all dead.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So like the trading, it reminded me of like they trade apprentices of like, okay, well,
Speaker: You know, I'm not going to do anything.
Speaker: You're not because you got my guy and I'm not going to do a thing because you got your guy, you know.
Speaker: And that's and that's exactly it.
Speaker: And Chigar basically he's talking to his master Satale and he's like, I don't I don't.
Speaker: She's like, well, keep on your guard.
Speaker: You might have to deal with his bullshit.
Speaker: And he's like, I can't.
Speaker: I can't fight him off.
Speaker: Like he's a, he's a Sith master and I'm just some Padawan, like, well, not Padawan, but he's like, you know, I'm, I'm not even a Jedi Knight yet.
Speaker: I can't find him off.
Speaker: She's like, Oh no, he's not going to kill you.
Speaker: Uh, he's got worse shit in store for you.
Speaker: Uh, he's going to try to turn you into a Sith boy.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: And we've seen you get pissy just in this past chapter.
Speaker: So he recognizes that this is going to be a test.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: Chapter 33, Ula is in the Auriga fire with Jet.
Speaker: He's taking command.
Speaker: We just get a chapter with him working with Stryver.
Speaker: They're going to try and triangulate
Speaker: on the communication grid that the hexes use.
Speaker: Because if they can follow that, they can figure out what the hell it is they're doing.
Speaker: Chapter 34, Laren and her squad are in transport.
Speaker: She takes an opportunity to make an example of the dickhead Zabrak.
Speaker: She's not going to take any shit.
Speaker: They essentially...
Speaker: paratroop like they fucking like like jetpack parachute into their target while under fire and she goes into a tailspin and she is crashing plummeting towards the ground and the Zabrak he does reach to help her but there's a very distinct hesitation there and it's and it's enough of a hesitation that he misses her and she drops like a stone um
Speaker: Chapter 35, Shigar's transport.
Speaker: He's transporting with Darth Kratos into the planet.
Speaker: They get hit by a bunch of hexes, and he and Darth Kratos fight their way through them.
Speaker: As I've always said in these books, there are actually some really kick-ass action scenes.
Speaker: I'm not going to get into the details.
Speaker: Spoiler alert, this is a book you should read.
Speaker: This is a good book.
Speaker: So if you want some kick ass Sith slash Jedi team up John Wick action, give this one a read.
Speaker: So while they're doing this, this Darth Kratos is like lecturing him and tempting him and doing exactly what his master is doing.
Speaker: thing.
Speaker: He's doing search your feelings to be true.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Doing all the greats.
Speaker: The whole song and dance.
Speaker: He's trotting them out.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: And it's kind of working.
Speaker: He is absolutely getting Chigar's goat.
Speaker: And that's got to be a motherfucker.
Speaker: When the first thing that you can do to get somebody off of the light side is just troll them.
Speaker: Like that's, that's so mean.
Speaker: Like that's just because the Jedi, I've got to like teach you to be altruistic and kind and patient and all like really hard things to master.
Speaker: And the Sith are just like, I'm not touching you.
Speaker: Does this bother you?
Speaker: I'm not touching you.
Speaker: Does this bother you?
Speaker: I'm not touching you.
Speaker: Does this bother you?
Speaker: Boom.
Speaker: You're on the dark side.
Speaker: It's a, that's a motherfucker.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So the path to the dark side is stop hitting yourself.
Speaker: It's true.
Speaker: It starts with a schoolyard bullying.
Speaker: It's such bullshit.
Speaker: It's so unfair.
Speaker: Why are you hitting yourself?
Speaker: Yeah, stop hitting yourself, girly.
Speaker: It's it's yeah, it's all that shit.
Speaker: They end up jumping from the transport and heading towards the surface together in their own grab chutes.
Speaker: Um, chapter 36, uh, we got another parallel scene.
Speaker: Basically Axe is landing on the planet with Sitali.
Speaker: Uh, they have a similar situation.
Speaker: Sitali is kind of trying to get through to Axe with, and it's kind of working, um, cause she's poised and patient, uh, and, and seemingly unafraid at all times.
Speaker: And Axe is kind of blown away by that.
Speaker: Um, yeah.
Speaker: They fight their way into an S of hexes with a group of commandos.
Speaker: And yeah, once again, you can see the apprentices are both being a little shaped by the opposite one's master.
Speaker: They find evidence of geothermic drilling on the planet, and they are not sure what that's for.
Speaker: That would be for something really, really goddamn big.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: But they want to get rid of the site.
Speaker: And they've mentioned before that one of the transports is in just a death drop on its way into the atmosphere.
Speaker: And they're like, what are we going to use to blow up this mining facility?
Speaker: And Master Satelli is like, what about that?
Speaker: Let's...
Speaker: that giant spaceship.
Speaker: How are we aim that at them?
Speaker: And they do.
Speaker: And they have to get as far away as they possibly can.
Speaker: And they are running from all these waves of red lava that are coming after them.
Speaker: And the chapter ends with them on their way into falling straight into some of the lava.
Speaker: And that we get the cliffhanger.
Speaker: Glorious.
Speaker: Glorious lava.
Speaker: It's true.
Speaker: They're playing the floor is lava game.
Speaker: And just like the floor is lava game, eventually you go, oh, wait, the floor actually isn't lava.
Speaker: Spoiler alert.
Speaker: For both the book and for life.
Speaker: Chapter 37, Ula finds out that leading an attack and betraying his allies is complicated.
Speaker: He doesn't really know.
Speaker: He's promised to betray the Republic, but he's also like, how the fuck?
Speaker: fuck do I do this?
Speaker: Like, I've got to be I can't be too nice to the Imperium, but I also have to do something.
Speaker: This is when Jet points out that they are very similar people, that they're basically both in it for themselves.
Speaker: They're scoundrels.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So they end up the chapter ends with them watching Stryfer flying away from the planet that just shit is going down.
Speaker: And they're like, what the fuck is this Mandalorian guy doing?
Speaker: And and just disappears.
Speaker: Chapter 38.
Speaker: Laren's still falling, still going.
Speaker: She she.
Speaker: this is actually a very funny scene.
Speaker: Uh, in my opinion, she's like jury rigging her grab shoot and she like gets it to, okay.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: At least it's gonna, it's good.
Speaker: She's getting a feather fall spell on like, it's like, okay, this'll, this'll, this'll help.
Speaker: And then she runs out of fuel.
Speaker: It just drops again.
Speaker: And, uh, and it's, it's ridiculous.
Speaker: It's amazing though, that, that star Wars, it, it's, it feels like every, uh, sci-fi, uh,
Speaker: universe like big sci-fi universe like halo like warhammer uh like and i didn't realize this till now like star wars they have their own version of of the odst you know yeah like the the it's like the the hell diver uh type thing where you know you're getting the drop ship you know like the drop ship we're putting you in a tube and you're going down to the surface
Speaker: Yeah, that's exactly it.
Speaker: And so this is this is their version of which is as best as I can tell, just a backpack, essentially.
Speaker: But yeah, so she's she's still falling.
Speaker: She's ultimately saved by Hetchkey, who I realize now is someone we have not really given any focus to during this podcast.
Speaker: He's not that interesting of a character.
Speaker: Not that interesting character.
Speaker: So he was one of the guys that was with there was like the captain of the guard who was a character for a bit.
Speaker: He was just one of his dudes.
Speaker: He was basically the only other dude to survive.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Huda.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So he's, he's just, and he's been like promoted into a leadership role.
Speaker: It's like, Oh, you can clearly take care of your shit.
Speaker: So Hetchki saves her and she wonders how,
Speaker: He knew to do it.
Speaker: And he says that the Zabrak Jop sent him, like gave him an alert.
Speaker: So we can see that this at least that guy might be a dick, but he's got his head on straight when it comes to being in a fucking war zone.
Speaker: Thank God.
Speaker: The troops regroup and fight their way to a structure that ends up being a balls, huge ship, basically, like a kind of ship that they've never seen before.
Speaker: It's got this huge dome top.
Speaker: They can't see any engines or boosters on it.
Speaker: And they're like, oh, well, these guys, the way they fucking work, they might not need them.
Speaker: We do not know how their shit works.
Speaker: Um, they're on top of it.
Speaker: It starts to take off and the chapter ends with them getting ready to jump.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: Chapter 39, Shigar watches the base that he's basically in the distance and he sees Master Sitali and Axe in the distance.
Speaker: It's this like maze building that they were in.
Speaker: It just gets swallowed up by the earth.
Speaker: And Darth Kratos suggests that maybe this is fate because you just lost a master.
Speaker: I just lost an apprentice.
Speaker: Hmm.
Speaker: Mm hmm.
Speaker: He's swooping in right after the girl gets dumped.
Speaker: It's low class, but it often works.
Speaker: So that's basically what he's doing.
Speaker: He points out that Jedi kind of suck, you know?
Speaker: He's like, you know, your Republic is doing the same shit the Empire's doing.
Speaker: It's like you talk about and Shigar's only response is kind of babyish elementary school.
Speaker: Like, well, you guys are evil and that's why we fight you.
Speaker: It's literally the kind of.
Speaker: That's the invective he has.
Speaker: And he's talking circles around him, basically saying, like, you guys are responsible for your with your inaction.
Speaker: You're responsible for just as many deaths as the Sith are.
Speaker: We're just more honest about where we come from and that sort of thing.
Speaker: And it's like.
Speaker: Yeah, no, no, no, not a bad point.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He's not, you know, Shigar is not happy about it.
Speaker: And and they get and it just finally gets his goat and they start fighting.
Speaker: They get into a fight and Shigar totally loses himself.
Speaker: He is furious.
Speaker: He's riding his rage like a Sith.
Speaker: And he is totally going dark side.
Speaker: And the whole thing, the only reason that it ends is a his lightsaber explodes.
Speaker: He's that's like I just they don't really get into the details because he's getting I think it's because he's getting, you know, force lightning by Kratos.
Speaker: And I think that is ultimately what does.
Speaker: But I like to imagine he was just so angry and he's squeezing the lightsaber so much that he just pops it like a water balloon.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And the other reason that the fight stops is because they're like, oh, look at the ship, the size of a county pushing its way out of the out of the earth.
Speaker: So that's that that kind of puts a damper on the little skirmish they were having.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Chapter 40 opens up with Citalia and Axe.
Speaker: They have fallen into what they assume was lava, but it is actually this like weird red liquid.
Speaker: And there's actually a really cool moment where Sean Williams describes the sensation because they're being sucked downwards in this red liquid.
Speaker: And he describes it as it must.
Speaker: Taco Bell medium sauce.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I mean, kind of says they're zipping along like a red blood cell during a heart attack.
Speaker: And I was like, shit, that's that's that's pretty good.
Speaker: That's pretty good.
Speaker: Good writing.
Speaker: So they're they're just getting they finally end up in this area where they find this old ass Imperial ship.
Speaker: um they take off their masks and this all they can smell is blood like for all intents and purposes all this red but it's blood as far as they can tell so there it's it's totally uh uh iron lung uh uh oceans of blood metal yeah uh oceans of blood right when is that movie coming out what is is is what's what's what's just gonna be like i thought it was just gonna be like
Speaker: It's like you told me, right?
Speaker: It's like a 10 minute movie, right?
Speaker: Like, no, it's a feature film.
Speaker: Is it really?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I don't know how they're going to do that.
Speaker: I mean, it's, it's, it's finished.
Speaker: I think, I don't, I think he might've been shopping it around, but I don't know.
Speaker: Trying to get, yeah, probably.
Speaker: That's probably what it is.
Speaker: Trying to get someone to distribute it.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: So they find this ancient ass, well, not ancient, but a really old imperial vessel, and they get inside and they realize that it's Lima Xandrit's ship.
Speaker: And it's kind of sterile at first, but they find an area that is like the living quarters that's hidden away and it's filled with mementos of a life like children were raised there.
Speaker: It's a very kind of warm environment in the middle of this sterile ship.
Speaker: And then they ultimately find a tank that's like a back to tank, but it's filled with more of that red blood liquid.
Speaker: And a woman who looks just like Axe kind of, you know, presses against the glass and and claims, I am you like you.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So we get chapter 41.
Speaker: We come back to Jet and Ula.
Speaker: They are watching the rise of a skyhook that's also just been built by the droids.
Speaker: And the skyhook's basically like a port for a ship to attach to to get in or out of the atmosphere.
Speaker: And so they're watching this, just watching a whole goddamn ship hangar for all intents and purposes just rise out of the earth.
Speaker: the Republic and the Empire both are kind of frozen.
Speaker: They're not doing anything.
Speaker: He's like, we got to blow that fucking thing up because I think these fucking robots want to get out of town and, you know, give a generation or two and take over the galaxy.
Speaker: And I think there's one thing to say to that.
Speaker: Do you think wants to be a dog?
Speaker: It doesn't want to be a dog.
Speaker: It doesn't want to be a dog.
Speaker: It wants to be us.
Speaker: It wants to be us.
Speaker: That's it.
Speaker: And that's that they're there.
Speaker: I mean, they're basically just two different versions of him like panicking up there.
Speaker: And yeah, and the Republic and the Empire are not willing to like really attack this thing because they will run out of ammunition and they're afraid that the other side will blow them up when they've run out of ammunition.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: There's like resources.
Speaker: It's not it's funny because resources as a
Speaker: as a concept are not brought up that often in like star Wars or star Trek or any sci-fi thing.
Speaker: But in the face of, I think it's important to reestablish that there are resources, especially in a battle against just an endless, uh,
Speaker: machine factory of droids, you know, my blaster pistol is going to run out of charge.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: It's why this is an important situation to consider that kind of thing.
Speaker: And and they are.
Speaker: And it's the cut and it's the decision, the the the lack of the inability or the not even the inability, but the refusal to do anything is ultimately going to get
Speaker: Everyone killed like Ula correctly points out.
Speaker: He's like, dude, you getting blown up by the Empire, the Empire getting blown up by the Republic isn't going to matter if we let this, you know, droid disease out into the galaxy.
Speaker: So Jet basically admits that he can hack.
Speaker: the vessels.
Speaker: He's like, you've got to pretend that you didn't see what I'm about to do.
Speaker: But he basically forces them to do the right thing.
Speaker: He takes over both vessels and forces them to start firing on the Skyhook and everything like that.
Speaker: And we get a moment here with Ula where, again, he's kind of like...
Speaker: He's always playing the angle of what's in it for you, what's in it for me.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And he realizes with Jet, this is not an altruistic gesture.
Speaker: It is basically the surefire way of him getting out alive.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So it just happens to be the right thing to do for everybody, really.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So let's see.
Speaker: Chapter 42.
Speaker: We've got this is actually it's a really short but really good chapter where Laren and the Zabrak, who hated her, they find each other on the Skyhook.
Speaker: They both landed on the Skyhook, which has a billion missiles coming at it all at once.
Speaker: And so they just kind of go.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And they sit down and just go, all right, well, they make some cop out about like, we're commandos.
Speaker: We're idiots.
Speaker: We're most people watch fireworks from the other side of this.
Speaker: How stupid are we?
Speaker: It's terrific.
Speaker: Gallo's humor.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so they're basically like, okay, here we go.
Speaker: This is, it's been, I'd love to say it's been nice knowing you, but I don't want to lie in my final moments.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: We cut to chapter 43.
Speaker: Sitalia and Axe have met Axe's clone, Cinzia.
Speaker: Her mother, after her daughter was kidnapped by the Sith, she made a clone of her, but keeps her in this tank, quote unquote, to keep her pure because the red liquid suppresses any force powers that she could have.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And it was like, you start finding out that Lima Zandrit is a fucking lunatic.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: I remind.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And Axe, you know, you don't get to say this often.
Speaker: Probably better off with the Sith.
Speaker: Probably.
Speaker: Yeah, probably.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: She didn't.
Speaker: It was either become a Sith rage knight or like, you know, Carrie.
Speaker: Like, you know, I can see dirty pillows shit.
Speaker: No more wire hangers stuff from Lima.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And she's and she and Lima, we will find out she is dead, but her consciousness has basically been uploaded into the red liquid.
Speaker: So while submerged in it, uh,
Speaker: this Cinzia clone who breathes in the liquid is what keeps her alive.
Speaker: She can hear her and they have conversations and they argue and that sort of thing.
Speaker: We find out that basically
Speaker: the Hex droids entire mission is to keep her safe.
Speaker: And because people are stupid and AI is stupid, the Hex droids take that mission and say, well, the most efficient, surefire way to keep her safe is
Speaker: is to kill everybody else.
Speaker: And that's what happened.
Speaker: Yeah, that's exactly it.
Speaker: So because Zendrit wanted to keep her daughter safe, she's damned the existence of the universe because she didn't think to throw in like a PS thing
Speaker: not at the expense of the whole galaxy, please.
Speaker: So that's what's happening right now.
Speaker: And they're trying to talk to her and explain to her, like, she's the only person that these droids will not attack.
Speaker: And they're like, dude, they're out there killing people.
Speaker: And she's like, they are?
Speaker: Yeah, they're killing a bunch of people.
Speaker: She goes, well, they must have attacked them.
Speaker: You know, and it's like, well,
Speaker: Yeah, but we've got these.
Speaker: This is a liability.
Speaker: Like, so they're kind of arguing over how to handle this.
Speaker: And it's made more difficult by the fact that Cynthia is really isolated and she knows nothing about the outside world.
Speaker: She doesn't know the Republic.
Speaker: She doesn't know the Empire.
Speaker: She doesn't know anything about what's going on.
Speaker: But she does.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: No, she doesn't.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But but she does have like a sense of empathy for them.
Speaker: And she's kind of arguing with her mom, with her ghost mom, saying, I want to help them.
Speaker: And she's like, no, don't join them.
Speaker: It's just, you know, they're all going to laugh at you.
Speaker: They're all going to laugh at you.
Speaker: That kind of thing.
Speaker: And and finally, because it becomes clear that since he has got her mind made up, she's going to help them.
Speaker: The liquid like starts to choke her like mommy dearest tries to kill her to avoid her ending up with the Sith and the Jedi, which to echo what Kevin just said.
Speaker: Probably better off with the Sith, ultimately.
Speaker: Yeah, ultimately.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because the Sith will kill you, but they'll teach you some cool shit first.
Speaker: You get to throw force lightning.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's a somewhat fulfilling life, I guess, as opposed to sitting in goo.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: I would prefer that unless the goo had an internet connection.
Speaker: That might be better.
Speaker: It's basically the mood slime from Ghostbusters 2.
Speaker: That's exactly what it is.
Speaker: If you could breathe the mood slime, that's what she's in.
Speaker: And while this happens, the tank gets blown up by Axe, who's talking about like –
Speaker: She's like, it looked like she was dying.
Speaker: She panicked and wanted to release her.
Speaker: Unfortunately, the clone doesn't breathe oxygen.
Speaker: She breathes through the red gooey liquid stuff.
Speaker: And so she's dying like a fish outside of the bowl, essentially.
Speaker: The clone makes her promise to save the genetic code that contains she and her mother's collective memory and hints at like a password, basically, and dies.
Speaker: And we get a very brief but fascinating moment where Axe is like, was this fratricide?
Speaker: Suicide?
Speaker: I killed myself, kind of?
Speaker: Like, what?
Speaker: exactly is this?
Speaker: If we're going to get pedantic.
Speaker: I don't like qualifiedness.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What is, yeah.
Speaker: What is this?
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: So Axe goes to the genetic, this gene machine, basically, and she gets her blood recognized by it.
Speaker: And so like, OK, theoretically, the droids should be cool with me now.
Speaker: And so it's like there's literally only one way to find out.
Speaker: So they head out to see if if their if their gene tampering worked.
Speaker: So chapter 45, Laren and Zabrak are riding the Skyhook down because suddenly out of nowhere, all of the hexes who are supporting the Skyhook and all this other shit, they for all intents and purposes have turned off.
Speaker: And there's a really good description where he says something like, instead of them acting as a single unit, they are now surrounded by a million individual things all falling separately, which I thought was a really interesting way of putting it.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So Laren uses the these passive bodies of the hexes to kind of like hopscotch her way off of the sky hook and onto the ground floor where she finds Shigar and Darth Kratos, hugs all around.
Speaker: And then another thing emerges from underground.
Speaker: This is the old imperial ship that belonged to Xandrit that
Speaker: Axe and, sorry, yeah, Axe and Satale are on board and it rises up and they come outside.
Speaker: They create like a walkway of Hexbots to walk down.
Speaker: It's pretty hilarious.
Speaker: So clearly it's working.
Speaker: And Axe
Speaker: doesn't request tells Darth Kratos, I am releasing myself from you.
Speaker: I'm not, not working with you anymore.
Speaker: You're an asshole.
Speaker: Fuck you.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Because this whole thing has, has made her realize how much she's being used and, and that this isn't fully what she's looking for.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Basically the way I took it was kind of like, if you're going to be a Sith, you don't want to be,
Speaker: the apprentice to kind of a shitty weenie Sith.
Speaker: You gotta go hard and Kratos ain't it.
Speaker: He is not it.
Speaker: He sucks.
Speaker: He sucks.
Speaker: It's not great for a lot of reasons, really.
Speaker: Um...
Speaker: So she and Kratos get into a big old fight and Axe is just using waves of the droids to shield her and fight against him, that sort of thing.
Speaker: While this happens, a rescue ship kind of comes down and goes, we're getting the shit out of here.
Speaker: Marines, we are leaving.
Speaker: And they they hop in there.
Speaker: We find out that Jet kicks Ula, Ula, who is now in the rescue ship.
Speaker: But we find out through flashbacks that Jet, after it was all done, was like, you got to get the fuck out of here and kicks him out like a one night stand and gets out of Dodge.
Speaker: And fortunately, the rescue ship found him.
Speaker: And you get a lot of respect to him from Ula.
Speaker: Ula's like, God, that guy was an asshole, but he was all right.
Speaker: Like he's just like the Sith and the Jedi are kind of getting perspectives from each other.
Speaker: Ula is getting this kind of scoundrel perspective from him where it's like, oh, I don't have to be one or the other.
Speaker: Like I can be kind of.
Speaker: in the middle, not necessarily out for myself, but like I don't have to do.
Speaker: There's a lot of gray is the point.
Speaker: So let's see.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So axe is using the hexes to destroy what what's left of the facilities.
Speaker: She's like, yeah, fuck this.
Speaker: We're going to we're just I'm just ending the tear down.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Let's tear it all down.
Speaker: And and she stays as long as she can and leaves before everything completely goes to shit.
Speaker: And that brings us to part six preparations for war.
Speaker: Chapter 46, we cut forward to Laren being debriefed by Supreme Commander Stantors back on Coruscant.
Speaker: So basically, we find out that the Empire and the Republic came in and reinforced their teams and collected their shit and left.
Speaker: That's like they just they took their balls and went home.
Speaker: They're like, OK, this let's get out of here before this Cold War gets any warmer.
Speaker: This barely worked.
Speaker: Let's get the fuck out of here.
Speaker: Good game.
Speaker: I'm going home.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Going home.
Speaker: Not worth it.
Speaker: You are not worth the crabs.
Speaker: They don't know where the Mandalorian is.
Speaker: No one does.
Speaker: But the Supreme Commander lets Laren know they are forming a new special forces team and she's going to be leading it.
Speaker: He knows about her history and getting in trouble and all that stuff.
Speaker: And he goes, eh, we're going to...
Speaker: We'll whitewash that a little bit, give you some commendations.
Speaker: You did a real good job with this and no one will give a shit.
Speaker: So she basically gives her her old job back.
Speaker: And then some.
Speaker: So Ula has basically been demoted to data collection over this whole thing.
Speaker: And he's kind of okay with it.
Speaker: Like, he's like, I'm fine with that.
Speaker: I'm fine being out of the spotlight.
Speaker: Yeah, this isn't, that's just not for me.
Speaker: And we do get some kind of sparks between the two of them, which Laren, honey, you just got turned down by a Jedi.
Speaker: You can give yourself a minute.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You don't need to go to Ula just because he's the other- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: You got to know your value, sweetheart.
Speaker: You're okay.
Speaker: Other age-appropriate guy in the vicinity, you know?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: You know, it's bad enough when people settle for someone beneath them in a state or in a country.
Speaker: But if there's a whole galaxy of multiple planets out there, there's somebody else.
Speaker: You can wait a minute.
Speaker: You'll be fine.
Speaker: Anyway, speaking of which-
Speaker: She goes off to meet with Chigar.
Speaker: They have another awkward but kind of nice moment where they both essentially thank each other for their help because they've she provided him with backup that he
Speaker: couldn't possibly have done without and he basically helped her get her life back um and so we have a a nice moment she has a moment where she recognizes that there's still some anger behind his eyes uh we get some hints that there's a little sithy still there's a little sithiness there uh but ultimately they they leave each other and quote never they don't they don't look back
Speaker: Um, chapter 47, Ula waits for a call from the empire, uh, at his, uh, at his now shabby looking apartment.
Speaker: He realizes he like looks at his apartment and goes, this place does kind of suck.
Speaker: Uh, maybe I should get, maybe I should get like a headboard or something like that instead of sleeping on a, on a mattress.
Speaker: Um, yeah.
Speaker: So he's waiting.
Speaker: He gets he gets his contact.
Speaker: He gives him the whole story, but leaves out certain details.
Speaker: And Kratos is dead.
Speaker: He died on the planet.
Speaker: So he's basically able to blame everything on Kratos, which means that it'll take the heat off of Jet.
Speaker: It'll take the heat off of a lot of people.
Speaker: And so you can't really punish the people who are already dead.
Speaker: So that's really just the most convenient thing to do.
Speaker: Uh, after that, he gets a phone call from, uh, the master of logistics, which was like the old friend of his, uh, that they'd come up in the Academy together.
Speaker: And now she's the minister of logistics.
Speaker: Um, and he tells her, he kind of lies to her.
Speaker: He says, he says, uh, cause their whole thing was that they believe that the Sith didn't need to be a part of the empire.
Speaker: Um, and, and he, he,
Speaker: It's not a lie, but he basically says, he's like, you know what?
Speaker: I've changed my mind.
Speaker: I've had to change it hard.
Speaker: I do.
Speaker: Now that I've worked with the Sith, they're pretty cool.
Speaker: And I want to work with them, which is not the truth, but it's going to basically mean that she's not going to contact him anymore.
Speaker: He's basically burning the bridge.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Because his whole thing now, he believes that cultures should he's he's in between.
Speaker: He believes that there should be logic and thought, but it should have emotion and and passion and that sort of thing.
Speaker: So he's basically I'm going to stay a spy, but I'm going to kind of work them against each other and try to do the right thing.
Speaker: He's basically going to be Varys from Game of Thrones.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: He's like, it's, it's like, instead of, he's not going to be, uh, what's his name?
Speaker: He's not going to be little finger who is like, I'm working all the angles to get out on top.
Speaker: He's going to be Varys who is like, I'm working all the angles because, uh,
Speaker: Somebody needs to think of the regular people in the world.
Speaker: And that's exactly where he is.
Speaker: So it's like he honestly, out of all the people in this book, he kind of gets the best message as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker: He does the he makes the biggest change into probably the best person of everybody.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So he yeah, it's clear he's going to have to play both sides.
Speaker: But he's but yeah, you're right, Kevin.
Speaker: He's just going to have he's doing it for the sake of the people.
Speaker: Chapter 48, Shigar's training as a knight is going forward.
Speaker: He's proven himself.
Speaker: If you remember at the beginning of the book, they said, you know, you're not there yet.
Speaker: So they're going to push him forward.
Speaker: He has a moment where he talks to the Jedi Council and tries to convince them that we need to hit the Sith now.
Speaker: We have to do a preemptive strike.
Speaker: And that's just not the Jedi way.
Speaker: You know, he's like, what?
Speaker: He starts kind of like, not dark side, but kind of George W. in the early 2000s, preemptive strike kind of shit.
Speaker: And most of the Jedi give him kind of the calm your tits kid kind of answer, which you'd expect.
Speaker: But there's one Jedi in particular who is who he's a he's a character in the Old Republic and he's kind of the head of the Defense Council there.
Speaker: He's a he's a true military guy and he clearly agrees with him.
Speaker: And he but he has to keep himself.
Speaker: He kind of shuts up because he doesn't need to be too conspicuous about that.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So Shigar, by the end of this chapter, has a realization that he also is going to have to bend the rules, basically, that for all of their talk about peace and calm and, you know, being a Jedi master and all that stuff, that he's still going to find himself in real world situations where he's just going to have to do what he needs to do.
Speaker: And that there's going to be a lot of gray in there.
Speaker: He's still on the light side of the force, but he's also thinking, OK, when I get when I move up a little more, I'm going to go find that Jedi who clearly agreed with me.
Speaker: And he's he's he's going to be a light side Jedi, but he's going to be a pretty militant one.
Speaker: That's that's right.
Speaker: Clear.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Isn't the more like a mace mace Windu?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Kind of guy.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Purple lightsaber kind of shit.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And chapter 49, my favorite chapter in the entire book, by the way, this, this is a axe has been invited to Darth Howl's hunting grounds.
Speaker: Darth Howl being a member of the Sith council who she met briefly, who has sharpened his teeth.
Speaker: And it's just amazing.
Speaker: This chapter is amazing because it's like, I just imagine that.
Speaker: Like he's sitting there in like a plaid, like hunting jacket and cap, like looking like Dick Cheney.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like hunting lodge shit with like a broken shotgun over his arm.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And so they're having a conversation and Darth Howell is like basically trying to his assumption.
Speaker: He's like, oh, you killed your master.
Speaker: You know, and I killed my master.
Speaker: I did the same thing.
Speaker: So how did you do it?
Speaker: Like, like he's trying to kind of needle into telling him a little bit more information while they're having this conversation.
Speaker: They are every now and then leaning over this balcony, looking into this jungle area and shooting these creatures.
Speaker: We never find out what they are specifically, but they're these fluffy, cute.
Speaker: You get the impression they're really cute kind of rodent things.
Speaker: And they're just like,
Speaker: blowing them to fucking kingdom come with these laser guns while they're having this conversation annihilating them.
Speaker: There's nothing left when they're, there's no sport, no sport.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: There's just a, just like a, a bit of ash, but when they're finished, um,
Speaker: And he tells her ultimately that he's going to take her on as his apprentice.
Speaker: And because he kind of warns her, he's like, you know, my last apprentice really disappointed me.
Speaker: And she's like, well, what did she do?
Speaker: And he goes, she liked keeping pets.
Speaker: And so now as punishment, she actually has a view of this.
Speaker: Basically, the implications, all these little fluffy things were animals that she really loved and was always.
Speaker: And so he forces her, his old apprentice to watch him killing all of these fluffy animals that she loves so much.
Speaker: It's really fucked up.
Speaker: But I left my ass off.
Speaker: That was great.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Finally, we get to the epilogue.
Speaker: Jet meets Stryver in a cantina in Tatooine.
Speaker: He tells Stryver that he knows that Stryver is a Gectal and a female at that.
Speaker: And Gectals are kind of a bipedal lizard race.
Speaker: And to the point with also having detachable tails, the way that a lot of skinks and different kinds of lizards can detach their tails.
Speaker: He even says at some point, he's like, so do you just keep your, do you keep trimming your tail down to fit into the Mandalorian outfit?
Speaker: Or have you had it like permanently removed or, you know, she doesn't answer.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: Jet has a hunch, and he's correct as it turns out, that Stryver has basically orchestrated this whole thing, all of it, everything from the release of
Speaker: of the hexes to the Hutts, trying to collect it and make some money.
Speaker: Just he's just she has totally orchestrated the whole thing all in the name of finding out between the Republic and the Empire.
Speaker: who is better on their feet, who should we be more concerned about, and who should we ally ourselves with ultimately when and if all this comes to war.
Speaker: So the whole thing wasn't even about these droids or anything like that.
Speaker: It was about the Mandalorian getting a look at how...
Speaker: these two gigantic armies would deal with this situation and who she believes is better, would be a better support to the Mandalorians in the long run.
Speaker: And also just to keep them fighting amongst themselves, because as long as the Republic and the Sith are fighting, they're not focusing on the Mandalorians.
Speaker: This will not last, as the history books will tell you.
Speaker: But for the time being, it's working out for them.
Speaker: It turns out that Jett's droid Clunker is like God-tier powerful.
Speaker: Because that's why he was able to like basically take over those ships.
Speaker: Because Clunker is just this broken droid that happens to have these moments of complete destruction.
Speaker: Again, God level power.
Speaker: But the problem is, is Clunker resets itself every few days.
Speaker: So it has no memory.
Speaker: It has no long term anything.
Speaker: It's motivation.
Speaker: It only remembers him, basically.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: And so he's the only person that won't try to fuck over.
Speaker: The Mandalorian clearly wants Clunker out of the picture, is not comfortable with that level of power in the droid's hands.
Speaker: And also, it lets slip that she knows Jet Nebula's real name, which is Jeet Keren, which on one hand...
Speaker: way more of a standard Star Wars name.
Speaker: Not as good as Jet Nebula.
Speaker: Not as good as Jet Nebula.
Speaker: I came around to it.
Speaker: I think a lot of people did.
Speaker: So the Mandalorian and Stryver attempts to take out Clunker and is basically...
Speaker: has herself taken out by like four or five different patrons of the bar.
Speaker: And she wakes up.
Speaker: She didn't die.
Speaker: She just, she just got basically stunned.
Speaker: The bar has not changed any at all, except that jet and clunker are gone.
Speaker: And everyone's kind of given her a side eye and she realizes because she's been stalking jet and he's been, he keeps coming into this bar.
Speaker: And she,
Speaker: that while he was doing, he wasn't just coming into that bar to get drunk.
Speaker: He was basically paying everyone off and saying, Hey, some shit might happen.
Speaker: And if that happens, uh, you're going to want to help the guy who's been buying all the drinks and shit.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Um, so that was that.
Speaker: So she's, and, and, and she has like this really, Oh, that's good.
Speaker: That's a, that's a worthy opponent, uh, uh, moment, you know, cause he's, he's just as he's, he's not the simple, you know, scoundrel that he appears to be.
Speaker: He's always planning it right to.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: So she's happy to have a worthy adversary, and she is going to kind of chase him down as best as she can, but ultimately go back to Mandalore with her findings, and then who knows?
Speaker: And that is how the book ends.
Speaker: So that is the Old Republic, Star Wars, the Old Republic, Fatal Alliances.
Speaker: Kevin, what did you think?
Speaker: I really like the last few, the action of the second to last segment and just kind of like the whole, like it really landed the plane well.
Speaker: Like you got to the title, you got to the title concept, the Fatal Alliance, because you got to hit a hint of it on Huda where they kind of had to work together to get out of things.
Speaker: And it still kind of retained a little bit of twists and turns where
Speaker: like Jet, for example, where it's like he's a Han Solo smuggler type, and it's like, oh, he's actually a lot more crafty and or dangerous than he's ever letting on.
Speaker: And he also has this robot that is probably as powerful, not as powerful as the Hex is, but in terms of like,
Speaker: doing damage to things, he can really fuck some shit up.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Because Clunker is able to remotely hack...
Speaker: both Imperial and Republic ships and control them from a distance.
Speaker: Like, that's a big deal.
Speaker: Like, that's a, that's a lot of power.
Speaker: That's R2, for example, R2D2 barely was able to turn off the garbage mashers on the detention level in time.
Speaker: Where could he be?
Speaker: And that, where could he be?
Speaker: That was a direct connection.
Speaker: He was plugged in.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That wasn't a wireless.
Speaker: He wasn't doing Wi-Fi.
Speaker: He was doing an Ethernet connection to get in there.
Speaker: And this is a droid that is thousands of years older on top of everything else.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: Star Wars kind of strikes me as a universe where the technology stagnated.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There's a Warhammer thing to that, too, where it's like the Archaeo tech.
Speaker: Yeah, it kind of got to a point and then it stopped.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: is suddenly an existential threat, you know?
Speaker: So yeah, like the Hextroids.
Speaker: And then you can go forward to like the Death Star in the original trilogy.
Speaker: You know, things like that where it's like suddenly, oh, this really upsets the apple cart.
Speaker: So I think it's a fun book.
Speaker: A lot of fun characters had a good time with it.
Speaker: Yeah, me too.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: I was impressed with how well-crafted it all ultimately was.
Speaker: Like you said, Jet ends up being a more dangerous character than you'd expect.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I was actually kind of getting annoyed because the whole Mandalorian thing just kind of the Mandalorian just kind of disappears and we don't wrap that up.
Speaker: And I was like, what the fuck are we doing?
Speaker: That was the Mandalorian was this huge part of the book for a while.
Speaker: And then
Speaker: they just disappear.
Speaker: That's kind of a loose end.
Speaker: But then when we get the explanation, it does not disappoint.
Speaker: And it's really interesting.
Speaker: And it's a very, it's a very meaty kind of explanation rather than just kind of hand wavy thing.
Speaker: So yeah, same.
Speaker: I was, I was impressed with this.
Speaker: I think I'm going to, I want to keep reading these as we go.
Speaker: These are these, the rest of them was good.
Speaker: And I think we've read, um,
Speaker: works by the other people who wrote these.
Speaker: So, um, yeah.
Speaker: So what's the next one?
Speaker: Uh, the next one I think is, hold on.
Speaker: Oh boy.
Speaker: I was just looking this up.
Speaker: It's another Sith heavy one.
Speaker: As I recall, I know one of them is called Revan.
Speaker: Uh, Revan's the third one.
Speaker: And I've actually read, I read that one years ago.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: That's a third one.
Speaker: Anyway, it doesn't matter.
Speaker: I want to keep reading these.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: And it's nice to have a double dip of a video game and also one of the most popular franchises ever.
Speaker: Deceived.
Speaker: Deceived is the... Deceived, okay.
Speaker: Deceived, yeah.
Speaker: And then it goes Revan by Drew Capartian.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: And there's another one called Annihilation.
Speaker: I think that there's also by true.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There are four novels and three short stories.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So, yeah, I'm happy with this one.
Speaker: So now that now that we have wrapped another and this is a big one, we wrapped another epic one up.
Speaker: Kevin, I've got one question left for you.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Oh, what are you playing?
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: I'm still playing a few games.
Speaker: So I actually started playing The King is Watching.
Speaker: Oh, nice.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's a fun game.
Speaker: It's got a lot of weird elements that just make it
Speaker: different enough from other games in the genre to keep you playing, like trying to maximize the, like, okay, I'm setting things up like this so that when I'm hovering over with my gaze or whatever, that it's producing in the right way.
Speaker: I nearly won beat the final boss of the first king that you get.
Speaker: Like first king level zero dangerousness or something.
Speaker: I nearly beat the final boss.
Speaker: I was like, he had like 13 hit points left and then he destroyed my, he like hit my wall and destroyed it.
Speaker: And I was like, I was like trying to like,
Speaker: I was I was like trying to get an archer or something.
Speaker: Just like somebody, anything.
Speaker: One one thing left and I lost and I was like, I haven't played since then.
Speaker: Just because I understand why I was like, I was like, fuck you game.
Speaker: It's it is it's tough.
Speaker: It's a tough.
Speaker: I will say that when you get over that first hurdle at first level zero, you start rolling down the hill a little more because you can get some upgrades and stuff like that.
Speaker: Sure, sure.
Speaker: It does.
Speaker: It is a it is a tough start.
Speaker: Yeah, I've been putting things into the upgrade tree a little bit, like starting with wine.
Speaker: That's because that gives a little buff to your soldiers while they are in combat.
Speaker: Stuff like that.
Speaker: So I'm playing it and it's good.
Speaker: Did I talk about when did I?
Speaker: Let's see.
Speaker: Did I talk about the drifter?
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: The drifter is...
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, I beat it.
Speaker: I beat it after we recorded.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So the drifter is a point and click horror slash thriller.
Speaker: Oh, you did mention it, but you just started it.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I beat it.
Speaker: It is absolutely amazing.
Speaker: I got to say, you got to check this out.
Speaker: It is probably one of, if not the best voice acted point and click games that I have ever played.
Speaker: It's got a neat story that you don't know where it's going as you're going through it.
Speaker: And there is limited moon logic in the game.
Speaker: A lot of the solutions are not, it's not that they're obvious, it's just if you're
Speaker: thinking like oh yeah no that makes sense it's not like use the rubber chicken with the pulley in the middle right right um you know i say that and that's not even the most moon logic thing in in monkey island uh right but no the drifter uh gorgeous pixel art amazing voice acting it's got a really uh
Speaker: It's got a story that says has something to say about grief, both grief and letting go of that grief.
Speaker: I can't recommend it enough.
Speaker: It took me about seven hours to beat.
Speaker: I know some people.
Speaker: You know, some people take longer and I probably I might go back and do another run just to kind of like get the achievements on it.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: But yeah, the Drifter.
Speaker: Great game.
Speaker: It's really good.
Speaker: I mean, the fact is you.
Speaker: I would say you are probably in my life, my authority on on point and click games like, you know, that shit better than anyone I know.
Speaker: And so for you to say I offer such high praise to it, I was like, oh, shit, this is this must be this must be good.
Speaker: Yeah, it's it's a good game.
Speaker: What else am I playing?
Speaker: Wordplay, I got back into a little bit of wordplay, the game makers toolkit.
Speaker: uh, Mark Brown's, uh, game that he released, uh, earlier this month.
Speaker: It's, it's, it's a fun game to play when you're, it works on, you know, play on the steam deck and you're just sitting there doing your, your boggle stuff, you know, figuring out words.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: He is coming.
Speaker: I finally beat the I beat the first level of of of he is coming.
Speaker: I will say one of the things that holds me back from like fully recommending he is coming is that it it feels like it's one of those games where as you discover more things as you as you
Speaker: hit more achievements it unlocks more weapons and armor and stuff like that but as you it's sort of like a vampire survivor's situation where you start that just decreases the odds of you getting the thing that you want to get necessarily because now the every time you pick up a treasure chest the um
Speaker: the odds it's like you choose one of three things right but now the the there are more options in the pool for it to pull from so if you're trying to get a specific build it becomes less likely as you play more and more of the game which is something that's that happens in vampire survivors that being said vampire survivors does a lot of things to mitigate that um you you know you have your you'd
Speaker: You choose a character with a specific starting weapon.
Speaker: You're like, I want to do this kind of build so I can figure, I can pick, I pick the guy, I want to do the garlic again.
Speaker: So I pick Poe, you know, like, hey, my boy Poe, he's slow, but he knows what's up.
Speaker: So there isn't any of that in He is Coming.
Speaker: So it's still in early access.
Speaker: So I wonder if that is something that might be considered as you go through.
Speaker: Because it took me eight hours to beat the first game.
Speaker: the woodland area just by going playing over and over and over again.
Speaker: Um, I really wish this would be a mobile game.
Speaker: Uh, I feel like I, I think I feel like I'd really haul ass through it.
Speaker: Uh, if it was a mobile game, you just sitting there on the, on your phone or whatever.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Uh, it would, it would really, uh, it, it would work as a, as a mobile game.
Speaker: Um, but yeah, so, uh, he is coming, uh, played it more.
Speaker: Still like it, but it's one of those... It can't really land on my recommended list quite yet just because I feel like there's some balance-y things that need balance.
Speaker: And there's like an early game boredom, I guess, that you can kind of run into where if you're okay... And I think that's something with all of these Autobattler games where if you're okay, just kind of like... You're just sitting there listening to a podcast, just fucking...
Speaker: you know, doing your thing.
Speaker: Um, that's fine, but it doesn't have the, uh, stickiness necessarily quite yet of say a vampire survivors or, um,
Speaker: Even Vampire Survivors is, you know, you're more active in what you're doing in Vampire Survivors than you are in He Is Coming.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And it doesn't have the second level of, like, a loop hero where you're doing the strategy to build out the... You're rebuilding things, and that's also part, like, the survivor camp.
Speaker: So there's something missing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I started playing Lies of P again because I bought the DLC.
Speaker: And, you know, I just want to get into that and see what the deal is with that.
Speaker: And Rogue Trader.
Speaker: Still playing Rogue Trader, of course.
Speaker: I'm never not playing Rogue Trader, technically.
Speaker: I think that's also the situation with me.
Speaker: It's always kind of there.
Speaker: I've been kind of like doing it where I've been playing it.
Speaker: I'll like play an adventure.
Speaker: I'll have like a session and put it away and go do something else and everything.
Speaker: And I kind of love that.
Speaker: I feel like I could make the game last forever.
Speaker: Got that right?
Speaker: Yeah, there's a lot of stuff.
Speaker: I'm going to go to this planet and do a quest.
Speaker: That's exactly it.
Speaker: I get to a new planet and I scan a few things and there's usually one quick adventure or something like that.
Speaker: And I can hop in there and do that in less than an hour and then I give it a break.
Speaker: I'm the same way.
Speaker: It's just kind of always there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, Phil...
Speaker: What are you playing?
Speaker: Oh, I actually, interestingly enough, been playing a lot of Slay the Spire, which I never played when it was new.
Speaker: I got it on my phone.
Speaker: And while I'm working and that sort of thing, I'll just have it on and be able to kind of slowly go through it.
Speaker: It's really good for that.
Speaker: I've always had Marvel Snap and that sort of thing for that sort of thing.
Speaker: But I've started to realize that it's just not
Speaker: in my best interest to have a game where there's another player.
Speaker: You know, it's just you don't want them.
Speaker: Yeah, no, I get it.
Speaker: It's it's rude at best and like completely fucks me over at worst.
Speaker: And so I was like, I need to find a good like one player game, single player game that I can that I can.
Speaker: just have in the background and enjoy and that's it's very very good for that uh it makes me think of those old browser games like it makes me think of a game you'd play on new grounds or something like that in the early thousands and i think that's it was weird because i always i was always like i would look at slave spire and i was like i feel like the art style is a little cheap um
Speaker: And, but now that you say it's like a new grounds game, be like, yes, that's what it reminds me of.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's, it, it looks kind of like ass, but who gives a shit and it's, it's, it is what it is.
Speaker: It does it pretty well.
Speaker: It's got a good loop and I'm, I'm enjoying it.
Speaker: I it's, it's a nice, uh, it's a nice game to have in the background while you get, you know, other shit done.
Speaker: Uh, yeah, I like that.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: i played a demo uh for uh no i'm not a human um i think i've heard of this i think briefly this was like a a a lot of people were playing on tick tock and like that um it makes me think a whole lot of uh don't look outside uh the plot line's fairly similar something's wrong with the sun and you can't go out except for at night and people are there are imposters out there
Speaker: And the whole loop of the game is that you're answering the door and deciding whether or not people should be allowed to stay at your place.
Speaker: And every day that goes by the TV or the radio or something like that gives you another thing to look out for, another sign that they might be an imposter.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: Problem is, is they're all very mundane things.
Speaker: They're like they're like they have perfectly straight teeth and they have dirt under their fingernails.
Speaker: And I just I just went whole hog into it and ended up killing anybody who had any of the things wrong with them.
Speaker: And it was very clever.
Speaker: It's you're in the summer.
Speaker: It's the whole games in the summer or in the demo.
Speaker: You're in the summer and you'll find things that will say, well, this this will be valuable in the fall.
Speaker: Better hold on to this for a fall.
Speaker: And then I find out the full games releasing in the fall.
Speaker: And that's what they're talking about.
Speaker: It's that it's content that I.
Speaker: It was a small I just thought that was really clever and it's very unsettling.
Speaker: I kept waiting for something to jump scare me.
Speaker: It never did.
Speaker: But the camera is just a little too close to your face.
Speaker: Like it's a first person and everything's just a little too in your face.
Speaker: I'm looking at the I'm looking at the artwork and you know what?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What's funny is the guy in the main
Speaker: like the key art, right?
Speaker: He's like got a got no shirt on and he's got a huge smile ish.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: That's are kind of rolled back.
Speaker: He's this.
Speaker: What got me to play the game?
Speaker: That was like, it's upsetting.
Speaker: So there is a there's a picture of
Speaker: Judge Holden, like an artwork of Judge Holden.
Speaker: I know exactly what you're talking.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: You know exactly the one you're talking about.
Speaker: I'm talking about is basically that.
Speaker: And I was like, yeah, I was like, I was like, why?
Speaker: Because I remember seeing the picture and I'm like, where have I seen this picture?
Speaker: art before like or this picture or it has this game is this game where it's like I thought this game already came out or whatever and then it's like I'm thinking of the literally the Judge Holden picture of it's just like a little bit too low looking up at him the smiles a little too big smiles a little too big yeah that's it's very creepy looking
Speaker: I yeah.
Speaker: And the rest of the artwork is it.
Speaker: I don't quite ever reach that level.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But it's an unsettling style of artwork.
Speaker: The music is very simple and it made me think of like not in the content of it.
Speaker: But it made me think of Bellatro, where it's the same kind of loop of music over and over, and you don't get sick of it somehow.
Speaker: But it's a very unsettling musical theme and very strange and spooky.
Speaker: The atmosphere, you can cut with a knife.
Speaker: It's very impressively done.
Speaker: The writing is good.
Speaker: The satire aspects of it are good.
Speaker: Nothing
Speaker: I take it back.
Speaker: There were a couple of like overtly scary things that happened.
Speaker: But for the most part, it's just very paranoid and atmospheric.
Speaker: Like I said, it made me think of Don't Look Outside.
Speaker: because it has a similar inciting incident and and like basic plot line but i think the similarities kind of end there because they're very different styles of game uh and this is a lot more subtle whereas uh don't look outside is very over the top in what it's trying to do and and that's great this one is way more subtle and and very skin crawly um and i i i can say for a fact that i'm i'm going to play this when it comes out in the fall this is this is you
Speaker: Did you beat Look Outside?
Speaker: No, I keep telling myself I'm going to get back to it.
Speaker: I reached a point where I wasn't sure what to do.
Speaker: And I just kind of let it go.
Speaker: And I do want to beat it before the end of the year.
Speaker: There are... Yeah.
Speaker: It can be tough because it does have some like...
Speaker: There is like a meta puzzle that you're trying to solve.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I reached a point game.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There was there was never I was never out of things to do.
Speaker: Oh, it was so much in the game to do.
Speaker: You'll never run out of thing.
Speaker: But there's there's specific things that you're trying to do.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And I couldn't help figure out.
Speaker: I couldn't help but wonder, I don't know if I'm moving forward.
Speaker: I think that's one disadvantage the game has.
Speaker: It's hard to say how much of this I'm just floating in this weird world or how much of it I'm just, it's just fucking...
Speaker: the actual road that I need to be on to beat it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But I do want to sit.
Speaker: I want to start over on it and give it another go because that is a worthwhile game.
Speaker: That game is fucking excellent.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, that is me too.
Speaker: So pretty good stuff.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Great stuff.
Speaker: That'll do it for tonight's episode.
Speaker: Thank you all so much for listening.
Speaker: Go ahead and follow us on social media.
Speaker: Blue Sky Instagram.
Speaker: the TikToks and jump into our Discord.
Speaker: You can find the link through our Patreon, patreon.com slash pixelitpod.
Speaker: Phil, would you rather have a space marine the size of a Goomba or a Goomba the size of a space marine?
Speaker: Is this to fight or someone who's backing me up?
Speaker: Uh, to fight.
Speaker: Oh, to fight.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: I know this isn't going to make sense at first, but I'm going to fight the Goomba the size of a space marine.
Speaker: And I know that sounds like the less logical answer.
Speaker: But, but it all makes a lot of sense once you realize that the breed of mushroom
