Transcript
Speaker: Good evening, Megacity. Turns out there are no romance options in Star Wars Zero Company, so I will not be playing.
Speaker: In other news, the end of the world, maybe.
Speaker: where Will you be holding hands and singing Kumbay Baya with the rest of us, or will you be a crummy Chris? I mean, that was such like a classic late night news yeah hour intro, you know, world ending, maybe find out at 11, but first this new recipe. all that I'll give you, I'll give you, see if you can guess what that ah people are asking is the world ending.
Speaker: Is that what we really need to be concerned about? Are heroes actually the villains or do they want me to play star Wars zero company instead, even though there are no romance options.
Speaker: Why would they put no romance options? Is it because they hate me? Because they hate you? Or is it because they hate America? I'm Tucker Carlson. Welcome to the Brockton Bay Book Club. No. Ow. Ow. Oh,
Speaker: We'll never be sponsored now. Oh, no. It's okay. Yeah. Well, you know, like I said, they didn't put a romance option in, so I don't want to be sponsored by them anyway.
Speaker: listen right right Welcome to the Brockton Bay Book Club, all of you listeners. It's been a long time coming for this episode. We are beginning the first half of Arc 20. Ooh.
Speaker: Arc 20.1 through point A. And ah surprisingly enough, a lot actually happened. ah grant Given that this is the last arc, and who knows where it's going to go from here...
Speaker: So ah with that out of the way, let me welcome you all. Those of you who are watching live, we always appreciate all that you do. Those of you who are listening, ah we thank you for that.
Speaker: ah don't you know Feel free to become one of our patrons, who we greatly appreciate. ah Head on down for more Patreon content, exclusive to our Discord and Patreon, where you can contribute to tonight's bingo. that i do have up a link in description. ah But speaking patron-exclusive content, I think we just had an episode come out. Michael, what was that?
Speaker: Well, Alan, you did a wonderful job hosting our famous game show. Thank you. Yes, the world over knows our famous game show. The one where we definitely all remember the name of.
Speaker: ah Wormnesia. We have two episodes of it out now. Oh, what was that, Michael? Wormnesia, obviously. Of course. I'm sure we'll remember it one day.
Speaker: There you go. But we have two episodes of it out now. ah You know, we'll find out who the winner could possibly be. We don't know. Place your bets now. but i feel like you slipp yeah you I feel like you slipped too deep into Tucker Carlson and now you can't pull out. Yeah, what is happening right now? oh ah you I've had nightmares about slipping too deep into Tucker Carlson and not being able to pull out.
Speaker: As as I said it, I was like, no, don't. It was really just a a team ball on a stand. put fat water all over my bar yeah Hannah not being able to that used to be a thing was Hannah spilling stuff right ah yeah i that was on there that was on in there with a lid now well clearly that's not working I have my my podcast juice here as well amul you never know what I mean that is vibrant mountain yeah what are you drinking so what are we drinking tonight to prepare for the end of the world
Speaker: you um Michael's gone, so we can talk about whatever. well all Well, Alan, I'm drinking all that was left in my fridge. It's a Mountain Dew Voltage Raspberry. Mmm, delicious flavor.
Speaker: Jacob, what are you sipping on tonight? I like, ah so at this time of year, I love to find local brews doing pumpkin-flavored ales. So I'm sipping on a Noda Brewing Company ah gorgeous gorgeous pumpkin ale.
Speaker: Oh, nice. is it Is it a gorgeous gourd? Is it a gorgeous? Is it a gorgeous pumpkin? Yes. Very nice. like you's very nice we love a good we have a good pun.
Speaker: Nick, can't let it go by. Are you sipping on anything tonight? um I am sipping on something tonight. um i I came in very tired, as I mentioned earlier before we were live. um I went to Google and in the search bar, I typed in Google.
Speaker: And then later, moments later, I went to YouTube and in the search bar, typed YouTube. So um I've got a a very fine, dark roast of a delicious, exquisite coffee, Folgeres.
Speaker: um I believe they pronounce it. um and In the Folgeres region of France. Yes, it's only full chairs. It's only really full chairs if it's from... Exactly, you get it.
Speaker: so So there we go. Well, in terms of consuming liquids, I also did a Google search for this and ah basically did the equivalent of throwing a glass of water on the floor, but just by searching. so um yeah I will say, Alan, since we're off topic already, if you need romance options, everybody, um Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave is coming out, and you know you know Fire Emblem.
Speaker: That is the horniest T-rated game you can find on the market. Well, what's what's Hades rated? Hades is M, I'm pretty sure.
Speaker: Hades has got to be M, right? I don't... I mean... eighty question and there's no I don't think there's any swearing. i Hades is rated T, actually. T for time out.
Speaker: Let's get down. Hades 2 is also rated T. Here's the thing, though. here's the thing yes Hades obviously is horny because it's Greek gods and goddesses. and we know who is it They get around. oh more yeah The thing is, though, there's something very unique about basically playing a chess breeding simulator that Fire Emblem brings to the table.
Speaker: you know, Michael's not here, so we can continue on this. I was looking at how much a Switch costs, Switch 2 specifically, get said breeding simulator.
Speaker: wow um i've I've really liked a lot of the character designs ah for this upcoming one. Is this as good as any of the 2Ds? Obviously, it will never be.
Speaker: um you know ah you know good character designs are pretty good, though. Character designs are pretty banging. um Yeah. so hu I'm looking forward Looking forward to ah playing that one day, maybe, you know. Yeah, someday. If I hope and I pray and I scrape enough money out of my couch cushions, I could find enough to put together $500 tax and for but the game. Yeah, so.
Speaker: because we know play just to play back games Oh, absolutely not. Nintendo never does. I am hoping Black Friday deal? Maybe? in three years? Maybe. injury Exactly. I will say, I do agree with you, the 2D Fire Emblem sprites are superior. I have multiple times in my life just gone to YouTube and looked up all critical hit animations from all 2D Fire Emblem games just because they're that good. mean,
Speaker: Forget how like horny yeah you know Hades is. ah Sometimes i will just sit down, you know unzipped, watch this Fire Emblem sprites, do the critical hits. Nothing finer. It's fabulous.
Speaker: Yeah. The one exception, of course, is the Assassin ah animation from the 3D Fire Emblems. Everything goes black, red slash, and then you know they're dead.
Speaker: Feels very on-brand. It's the only one that I will accept. The rest are bleh. It's true. It's true. Can't even get hard. Yeah, I know. Michael, where are you? Michael can't help you. Michael's been banned to the Shadow Realm. ah In actuality, he's probably but working his way through a ah an action hero type scenario where he's made his way into the basement where the goblins and trolls are currently attacking him while he attempts to bloodily ah Metal Gear Solid 4 style crawl his way to the breaker box to hit the reset button on his Wi-Fi, which will then enable...
Speaker: our patrons and ah all of the live viewers to see things clearly without lag. I feel really bad for all the people who are listening to this like a week later who are like, oh my God. Will they shut up? No. The answer is no. The answer is never.
Speaker: No. If they've stuck with us this long, they know better. Let's be honest. Look, okay. Let us brew milk. They've been with us through Ward.
Speaker: That's true. a Nice segue. Red Ward. And, ah you know, had thoughts on it and yet still returned for seconds and thirds and us. So if they weren't, kind I know if they weren't put off by that, I don't know if there's anything we could do to put them off. But we'll try. Let's not test that limit. We don't need to test that limit. Please.
Speaker: like but Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, so it does appear, I think Michael's trying to work on the internet for those of you who hear this message three minutes from now. J-Man commented that he's watching several several minutes behind because of the lag and buffering. So if there are fewer comments, that may be why, just because they're going to be a bit behind. But um when you do see this in a few minutes, J-Man, feel free to comment and we will play catch up with the comments later um and get to them eventually.
Speaker: In theory. In the meantime... real promises, but... Go ahead. If I could get us all back on track for a second. Of course. um Hannah, hannah i'm trying to I'm trying to do a podcast here.
Speaker: um So, Brock and Bay Book Club, ARC 20, first half. Michael, thank you for joining us. ah Michael, how did did ah are you doing all right? did you Did you make it to the catacombs and back in one piece? Yeah, I've been to Hades and back, baby.
Speaker: oh That's what I love to hear. nice Yeah, we're good. I got the internet a little bit better and also we're recording this this time. So even if the internet goes out, we will have no interruptions.
Speaker: Oh, beautiful. That's my boy. We make for ourselves. Cheers. ah Rock and Bay Book Club, ARC 20. First half.
Speaker: Initial thoughts, Hannah. Um... yeah yeah i ah Yeah, I enjoyed it. um Definitely psyched me out couple times there. Made me cry into my pillow because I was reading late and I didn't want to wake up Alan.
Speaker: Only to wake up the next morning and finish the chapter and be like, motherfucker. So there's that. i didn't I didn't like that so much, but here we are. um I,
Speaker: yeah Yeah, fuck fuck Chris. Fuck Chris. So hard. um Yeah. it's It's the end. And if it actually feels like it.
Speaker: ah that Feeling a little sad at heart.
Speaker: Jacob. and thoughts? Yeah, I i think um you actually kind of said it well a minute ago, Alan. Normally, one of our general complaints about the way we break it up, that this is this is not on the story, but that how we kind of have to split up the arcs is like, normally we'll read through the first half and it'll fear feel very disjointed, and we have to read the second half of the arc to sort of catch up. This kind of felt like, with with nine chapters and then an interlude, did feel like an arc, and it kind of ends at a really conclusive point. So like,
Speaker: It honestly was a great little section to read because it does feel like we're about to now read the final arc, which is kind of fun. So um yeah, great fight scenes, exciting.
Speaker: but I've got a lot of mixed ah emotions about the end that we are headed towards, but we'll see how we get there. yeah ah Jolly Old St. Nicholas has left us momentarily, so I'll talk. i ah fluctuated back and forth on the fight scenes. I think these were some of my favorite scenes.
Speaker: Um, and then they teeter into being a little too much. Uh, but overall, some my favorite moments, some my clearest, even though of course I have no idea what the area spatially looks like. I know what's going on and it feels so fun.
Speaker: Like there's some just big, really cool moments that hit. um I think there's some good talky talks. I think there's some good emotional engagement. I think there's some good confrontation.
Speaker: um It's not an all-time best chapter for me or a set of art, you know, chapters for me. um But I really enjoyed this.
Speaker: um It's got to be up there.
Speaker: ah You know, we'll see what the back half of the arc looks like, but so far, if the back half is as good, this probably be like a top three contender for arcs.
Speaker: um Really? ah it's It's just, once again, it's not in any single moment. It's just all, like most of it's pretty good for me. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. as ah you know before we get back in, Switch 2 in this economy, I know, Treaty, it's crazy. We can't even get discs. i Sadly, for the most part, Nintendo, but I need discs.
Speaker: That's the great thing. it's ah It's, you know, cartridges. ah They load faster. And then Zelda, the new Zelda edition is leaked. Maybe that's enough. Is that a Zelda edition of the Switch 2, or are we just talking about the new Zelda Treaty?
Speaker: um I'm assuming the Zelda edition of the Switch. Interesting. um Yeah. ah i'm done Yeah. i Really just crossing fingers and hoping that price goes down eventually.
Speaker: um Oh, crazy. Entreaty is currently waiting for that cutscene that I was describing to finish right now. um It is a long one. They all are.
Speaker: I feel like there's, I believe there's something like ah like a two-hour cutscene at the end of Metal Gear Solid 4. um Fabulous. It's not one, you know, obviously it's a bunch of them together, but like it just keeps going.
Speaker: ah Nick, thoughts? Yes. these chapters. um Overall thoughts on the chapters. um Yeah, I feel like it it feels like an ending, right? It feels like things are finally coming together.
Speaker: um I fear it runs the risk of like tying up too many loose ends at the same time. You know, um in the sense of like, just as one example, in 20.a, we kind of have every major world-ending threat contained within the same interlude um between Machine Army, Sleeper, Simurg, Fortuna. It's like everything's happening all at once.
Speaker: um but But it is starting to feel final, I think. At the same time, though, it just... I don't know. i'm I guess it's one of those things I'm waiting to see the second half. I did like this, but i i'm I'm hesitant to say that i I like this ending so far just because
Speaker: it feels like it's still just more of the same. like We're still just fighting. We're still just doing it. um We're still just fighting for our lives and everything sucks like usual in Ward.
Speaker: um I don't know. I liked it, but i'm just I guess I'm just hesitant to be optimistic, maybe, since it is the ending. And I just want to know how it all wraps up together. um i I like to think um it feels like I'm getting more and more right about what I thought might be the ending, um at least to a certain level.
Speaker: um it's It's a lot closer to that than I thought it would be. um Or at the very least, it feels very similar. I don't know the whole arc, but I know there's like a ah X-Men arc where I think Jean Grey does like her whole no more mutants things and just all the mutants get wiped out.
Speaker: um from the universe and it is feeling very i don't know if it's Jean Grey or somebody else but the ah Scarlet Witch but yes yeah Scarlet Witch does that thank you Scarlet Witch Scarlet Witch thank you I knew it was either Jean Grey or Scarlet Witch couldn't remember you take but yeah see you and you and me just feeling very yeah ah it's it's feeling very close to that in the sense of like the world would be better off without Parahumans so yeah very interesting
Speaker: Well, some good thoughts, but let's go ahead and just roll right on into this. Nick, would you kick us off?
Speaker: Let's do it. Alrighty. I will say as well, just for everybody else, we have been using somebody else's summaries for Ward. We don't write these typically. um However, I got to the the ones for 20, and most of them were blank.
Speaker: um So if you want to harass the person... No, not really. But ah if... No. I harassed them to finish the summaries. That'd be great. But no... we did We did work together to finish them that were blank. So hopefully they're good. And then maybe i can I'll put them into the Word doc for other people.
Speaker: Oh, that's cool. Hold on, Nick. There you go. J-Man just said, Switch 2 goes up $50 in price tomorrow. What the hell? Unbelievable. All right, continue. anyways Anyways. All right. 20.1. Warden leadership briefs the heroes on the Titan Network and the Simorph.
Speaker: Breakthrough tries fighting the Smurf and then focuses on the Machine Army when portal drones come into play.
Speaker: I got to be honest. I completely forgot the Machine Army was in 20.1. I remember now. I remember now. remember now I specifically remember because Victoria's dealing with the the duplicator and the... um Oh, yeah. The portal drones.
Speaker: Because they're, like, popping ones in more and more and more and more. And suddenly it's like, oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, fuck. Oh, the God. god And there's just a lot of them. Just just to make sure i didn't miss anything, because i I know this came up a while ago whenever we talked about the Machine Army months ago. But I haven't missed it.
Speaker: We don't know how they... came into existence, do we? We have no origin for them. okay There is mentioned, I think it's in this chapter, that they were potentially a Tinker project gone wrong.
Speaker: Someone says something about that. Right. i don't know if it's the running theory. Somebody theorized that it was like a Tinker was working on something, Goldmorning happened, and he died, but his machines did not.
Speaker: Yeah, very in line with how Dragon came to... but Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah um But they've also kind of like taken on... they're actually it kind of reminds me of um ah the... ah What is it? the Is it the Illuminate from Helldivers since we played that? They're like robots, but they've incorporate they've started incorporating like fleshy bits as well, right? The cyborgs from... ah yeah cyborgs yeah yeah The communist ah robot faction.
Speaker: Right, right, right, right. Yeah. What if the Machine Army is Pandora? Dragon's other AI persona? We've talked about that. have talked about that option. The Machine Army might be Lookout, and they just have no boundaries.
Speaker: That's funny. I like that. could be There great similarity between meat lockers and cameras. and I've always said that. ah The meat lockers.
Speaker: True. girls I mean, and when we talk about the shape of all of these robots, very boxy. Very boxy. true
Speaker: I mean, I don't think it's fancy, but... You know what? This is America. You're free to think that. And I will. Thank you. you to be wrong afraid you're right yeah You're right. Hannah, it's not the Kinsey we know. This is an alternative universe Kinsey on it on like earth or Earth something else.
Speaker: I have been waiting for that because there's all these multidimensional things. There's all these other versions of people we know that theoretically exist. I'm just waiting for one vengeful, angry copy of somebody we know and love from another universe to pop in.
Speaker: Be like, what the fuck? That would be really good. it just I will say... We're so close to the end. yeah we yeah I will say from Ward, from Ward, and from Wyrm, not that we need to do a callback to everybody from Wyrm, but there have been so many fights where I'm like, man, Sundancer be very useful here.
Speaker: Just push him into the sun. Just push him into the sun. I am glad that some of them did that. Giant spirit orb, Dragon Ball Z. The spirit bomb. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: No, i'm I'm happy that, again, not everybody needs to be referenced. Not everybody needs to come back. I'm fine with that. But it's just funny. There are so many times I'm like, Sundancer could do some work here. A sun would be really helpful. A big sun would be really helpful right now.
Speaker: That's good. and You know, bring ballistic too. He can shoot a few down. Yeah. Fran points out that Rid Tom had a theory ah that ah there was a Roomba thinker obsessed with Earth Aleph based on a Wild Boat comment. They're just all Roombas gone wild. Just trying to clean up the planet. Hey, that's a that's a website name. It's a worst kind of WALL-E situation. Oh, no.
Speaker: oh yeah And what did WALL-E stack? Boxes. boxes Boxes. It is that That would be the classic Ultron thing, right? Where it's like, oh, the problem with humanity is humanity. Kill them all immediately, yes. Immediately, yes. What's the short film where the pool vacuum gains sentience and becomes the greatest artist the universe? The color blue. It's... Hold on. Zirconian Blue?
Speaker: Based on the short story by...
Speaker: It's a great, great little short. ah I want to say it's the same guy who did a did Minority Report. Oh, fun. Am I thinking of something different? Zima Blue. Zima. I knew it was a Z. Zima Blue.
Speaker: Is that... one Love, Death, and Robots. Yeah, Love, Death, and Robots. Oh, you that's what it is. Yep. Yep. That's what is. I think it's like season two, maybe. Yeah. Or season one, possibly. Maybe even season one. It's good one. There you go. Anyway.
Speaker: Yeah. The only other thing... That's fighting. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The only other thing I thought of with 20.1 is that the beginning of 20.1 where the leadership's briefing the heroes on everything, it it again, like, my mind just blanked it out. I'm like, i I'm not going to be able to retain any of this information. It's fine.
Speaker: we'll move on. e they'll They'll remind me when it's relevant. I have a lot of exact when i'm when I'm reading through. It's like, I'm not going to go back and reread the chapter. I'll be reminded when it's relevant.
Speaker: Yeah, and carry on ah exactly.
Speaker: yeah I don't have too many thoughts on point one. Neither did I. Mostly just meat lockers are disgusting. Yes, yes. Meat locker is full of meat. ah Fran says, if you think about it, Kepri was kind of a spirit bomb. And you know.
Speaker: Make a good point.
Speaker: She also screamed for like three episodes in a row, much like a Dragon Ball Z episode. So it's very appropriate. i I will allow it. All righty. 20.2. Yeah. 20.2. The heroes travel to Cauldron's old base to delay the Simurg further.
Speaker: Victoria and others play with Defiant's Battle Simulator. They have their phone call with Bonesaw. Chris offers to help build the genocide option. yeah
Speaker: We'll get more to Defiant in the interlude, but man. ah yeah like Legitimately, one of my biggest praises of Ward is that it just solidified how awesome Dragon and Defiant are.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Are like some of my favorite characters in all of fiction now. It's just great. Oh, cool. i I just had this image of a a ah Injustice style fighting game, but with worm and ward characters.
Speaker: And with this battle simulator, the image that came, you know they all have like opening lines? Defiance being something like, I've run a thousand simulations of this fight. You lose in every one.
Speaker: yeah honestly that's honestly word for word what his little fight would be clock blocker comes out and is like oh I hear you define you like dragon how about dragging these nuts also you definitely said clock blocker and then corrected yourself to cock blocker but yes there was a little burp in there laughing Maybe that's a thing that's a ah patron Patreon content. We'll come up with fighter intros for all of all of these characters. Ian Flagg says, I can't believe Moonsong and Sundancer have zero relation.
Speaker: You make a good point, Ian. You make a good point. Yeah. In another world. Yeah. yeah has been ah Yeah, well, were did we do we say the summary already?
Speaker: Yeah. yeah know The genocide option, that's right. that's yeah yeah I do really like opening up this chapter with them on the ship because it's like, it forces everybody to sit down and just stop for a second after, you know, fighting and being like, okay, everybody sit tight. I got to fill up the other ship and then we're going back. And then it forces them all to just sit and talk and do the simulation and...
Speaker: I mean, we've talked a lot about the whole, ah the the quiet moments between the fighting because you need it or else you're going to just absolutely get overwhelmed. So I like that we kind of started off pretty early on with that.
Speaker: And then, you know, basically all we did was fight for the rest of the time. So, yeah. Yeah, that was good, though. i I liked that. And I liked, I love Defiant's, like, little, his simulation thing. And he's like, he has to come up with ways for Victoria to be able to operate it because it's meant for him and he can just think about it to operate it. And he's she's like, okay, how do I press go? And he's like,
Speaker: i hold on gotta like slash not a karate chop it freaking analog humans it's so funny I love that that he was like oh yeah here play with this and she's like I literally can't and he's like okay hold on and then like stares off the distance for 30 seconds and then it's like okay go ahead Yeah, puny three-dimensional being. I mean, it it literally feels like at this point, English is his second language.
Speaker: Like, he's just fully immersed. Yeah. Yes. ah It's great. Yeah. He's he's deep into the text sauce, for sure. he's Yeah, he's deep into it. I love it. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. um No, it's it's fun. um Yeah, this is a ah needed breath before the plunge of 0.3 through 0.8. Yeah. It's just like everything keeps happening.
Speaker: So, yeah. Where my heart gets broken 18 billion times and then gets repaired and then gets broken all over again. Yeah, yeah yeah yeah exactly. yeah um But yeah, going back to Cauldron's old base, Samarig is there.
Speaker: ah Battle simulator is very depressing because it's like, oh, we lose. Oh, we lose again. oh and you lose worse. Look at this. Oh, here i go. ah yeah Oh, here I go losing again. yeah no that This game sucks.
Speaker: That's your problem. You go back to the winning. yeah ah Oh, man. We're on a video game tangent, so i'm like, it's just like playing Dark Souls and just running into the same boss room with no further preparation than the first 20 times you died to it. Look, they couldn't get me a 30th time is what I'm saying. couldn't get me a time. Their stamina bar is probably depleted by now. It's the whole... Doesn't it reset? What? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: why be the yeah dead What do you mean regenerate? Doesn't that health bar reset every time you you get dead?
Speaker: yeah I don't know. I've never done damage. I couldn't tell you. yeah so yeah Jacob exploded. It's been that kind of night. Many such cases.
Speaker: um What are our thoughts on Windman? Windman?
Speaker: windma yeah so I don't know what in the fucking Mega Man ass series they thought. was like, oh, you get the Wind Man and then that's an automatic win every level.
Speaker: to me, it's a sign that Clockblocker is returning a bit of his true personality because you know he's just suggesting that to mess with Kidwin. absolutely. He's just not very good at the time. He's just like, Wind Man. Listen, if you survive the end of the world, you call yourself whatever you damn will please, okay? Listen. And he will.
Speaker: And he will. and call everybody else would be damn well piece too I will say, I will say, I appreciate that later Wild Bo leans more on calling him just Wynn, which is fine. um ah he called His name is Christopher, though, and I didn't realize that because at one point he calls him Christopher, and I'm like, who the?
Speaker: Is it not Chris. They go through a whole thing when they're talking. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Yeah, he references him as Christopher multiple times, but at the same time, Chris is also in the ship. And so, right it's like Christopher, Christopher, and then like, oh yeah, and then Cryptid said something, or and then later Chris, and I'm like, who the fuck is Christopher?
Speaker: And then I realized it later of like, oh, okay. Okay. Okay. They introduced him as Christopher, like underline bold italics in quotes when ah she first comes out and they're having the conversation between her, Vista, um Christopher and Dennis.
Speaker: Yeah. and it's Bless his heart. What a menace. Dennis.
Speaker: Is he back? He's back. What were your thoughts on Windman? On who? Windman? Christopher.
Speaker: thought we were going to no. Okay, so Clock Clock. Unbelievable. He's the only one that didn't know. He calls him Windman. I totally missed this. Oh, okay. It's in chapter two.
Speaker: Oh, no. It is fine. I like Wind Man is my point. Block Blacker calls himself Wind Man. That's it. Yeah. Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker: Very silly. It's very funny. I of One Punch Man for some reason. Yeah. yeah Yeah, Fran points out. I win. It's all right. We can talk about that. little Fran points out that in ah Pale, there's a sequence where there are three characters with remarkably similar names in the same room. So one of the characters makes them just change their other character's name forever.
Speaker: you're not allowed to have that magic listening yeah we can't have three Johns you're Jessica now but I'm not even oh yeah that's right you're no longer a real boy how did she know always knows was it always enough but An egg is never late nor early, but she transitions precisely when Jimmy's changed. Yes!
Speaker: Amazing. Stupid. Stupid joke, Nick. It is very stupid. Look, at Taylor, it's fine. You do make good quips. Yes! ah know i Somebody mentioned that of like Taylor, her intro line being, yeah I'm not good quips.
Speaker: But I just, I love the idea of her being the one who's like, something like, ah buzz off. Oh, that's stupid. And that's just her intro line. Yeah. Oh my gosh.
Speaker: oh oh It's like I'll be the queen bee around here. God, I should just go home. I'm Every line's like a bad quip and she's like, I'm trying something new here. ah but then But then I love the idea of like her victory quips would be really good ones, but she still has the same reaction. No, no, they're really good. It's just like, I'll fucking kill you. I'm going to scoop out your eyeballs with a melon baller.
Speaker: It's like whoa, whoa. Kepri, you're not you when you're hungry. Have a Snickers.
Speaker: Grows her Corona Palentia back.
Speaker: Anyways. We find out a little bit more, not much though here about the plan with bone saw and Chris, uh, with what they're trying to do. It's called here, the genocide option.
Speaker: If I remember right though, we don't really know in 20.2 what it is. We do not. We just know they're, yeah they're doing something biological. Um, but I liked that mystery. I liked the idea of like, okay, we have a plan. We have a potential weapon.
Speaker: um And it leads really well into it later with the realization of like, oh, it's literally just a kill the parahumans button. And we knew that her idea was something viral.
Speaker: Like, yeah it was a spreading thing. So, that's pretty much how we know. Which is why we need a bone cell, because she's good at that. What did you guys think it was? Because this is exactly what I thought it was. I thought it was, we're killing all the parahumans. Because if all the parahumans are gone, then like,
Speaker: Then the humans can just continue living without us. Yeah. And the problem is solved. That's what I thought. Yeah. that In my head. And it turned out I thought it might be something like that. But I thought it might be like a... They talk so much about shard space. I thought it might be like a shard slash Corona Palencia virus in a way.
Speaker: Where like they can insert the virus into shard space and it targets the shards. um But, you know, this makes more sense. um So...
Speaker: Yeah, it it works. Yeah, i I wasn't entirely sure, though, but yeah. don't know. know. Shall we get to the action? Yes. 20.3. Voices in the walls, fights with corrupted capes, and eventually the Simmer herself.
Speaker: Victoria learns that she can separate from the fragile one. The group does some sanity scaling to check in on themselves, and they figure out Dinah is the target.
Speaker: and I really... but We talk about this a lot, but i got it's worth pointing out again every time it comes up. ah I think... I think Wild Boe is at his best when he is writing ah unreliable or confused POVs.
Speaker: And so, like, yeah any time that that ah you know they're fighting the Simurg or Mama Mathers or anything like that, where you're having to try to, as the reader, have to try to understand if what you're reading is actually happening or not.
Speaker: yeah it's It's really, really fun. Yeah. He does it so well. And there's a lot of that in these next couple of chapters, which is always a fun time. well yeah Head fuck is what it is. She's like, oh yeah.
Speaker: um Yeah, i I ended up, um instead of listening to the audiobook for this, I ended up reading quite a bit of it. Because like I really didn't want to miss anything. And I really wanted to, because I knew we were going into similar stuff. So like, i knowing that was like, okay, well, I think I'm going to read this. And I'm really glad that I did because of some of those moments where you're like, you get the same, like, um yeah, you get like like information twice or you get it slightly altered and then you're like wait that's not okay and being able to like let me scroll back up and like skim back through it again and be like okay no no no i read I read that right yeah was like helpful for me to kind of keep track mentally keep track of like
Speaker: where everybody is and not have like the intonation put in by the audiobook narrator which rain uh does a great job but um i just wanted to be able to read it in like my own head and oh yeah oh man this the screaming holy shit i forgot it it's amazing it brought me like immediately back to Is it Cincinnati? Madison, Wisconsin. Madison, Wisconsin. That's what it is. Yeah. um Madison. And like remembering the screaming in your head and like trying to like tune it out and, you know, think about like, okay, how much of this is literally my brain processing and how much of this is like her stress testing my brain basically. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: So good. Mm-hmm. I love her. love her so much. Yeah. Yeah. It, it leads to this question of like, how much can you trust is real? and anytime you have anything like that, um, it, I feel like it forever puts a mark on the story of like, is this real?
Speaker: Um, very inception esque in the way of like, like you don't know how much you can trust even after supposedly the part you can't trust is over.
Speaker: there's that lingering feeling of, but did we really get rid of all the illusions? Do we really know what's happening? um i don't know. it Yeah, exactly. This was all a dream, right? Or yeah they've already lost and they just don't know it yet because they're all in their own fake world, you know?
Speaker: Yeah. crazy I don't think that would be the way Wild Bo would go with the ending. I think that would be um either disappointing. But... It is fun to consider the reality of like, okay, we can't really trust much right now, um including our narrator, which is always a good time.
Speaker: um What is the... What is it? anne I'll look something up. um Make sure I've got the right concept.
Speaker: Nope, that's something else. Well, you're looking that up. ah Bernard asks, when they fight the Simurg, do you think that they are compromised? And how are they compromised?
Speaker: I mean, i don't think you can fight her without being compromised. Like, you kind of have... It's like saying, oh yeah, I'm going to murder somebody and not get any blood on me. Like, you you're going to get some blood somewhere.
Speaker: Like, you might not see it, and you can prepare for it, but, like, hmm. It does feel, yeah I mean, it feels like have to be compromised, maybe, like, insignificantly so, only because the Simmer doesn't factor them in or something like that to where they're not compromised because they're not a threat at some points or, so you know, things like that. But, yeah, I think it's, you gotta be. ah yeah We haven't seen anyone really demonstrate any like long-term resistance, I don't think.
Speaker: And Chris is so confident. Yeah, that's why he's a bitch and we'll get to him. Yeah. man get to that Bastard. For real. is bastard, man.
Speaker: Yeah. But like the it's so interesting seeing um like the map going from of the facility all of a sudden turning to like yet yellow and red dots of like who is...
Speaker: the most compromised. And thinking of that in terms of, like, you have this massive... Because we know Cauldron is the size of a city. Like, it's fucking huge, and there's tons of people here. And then all of a sudden, they're all turning yellow and red. Like...
Speaker: i'm I'm truly shocked that they didn't get attacked more as they're coming because they're getting they're getting the screaming coming in through the speakers and you're getting, you know, people coming at them and fighting them and the little the pixie woman and, you know, and it's just like, it felt like there there should have been more.
Speaker: But again, like, I don't know what the ratio is at the base of like powered versus unpowered. how many like how easy it is to have the influence like put over you in terms of like your mental state and like there's a lot of math that goes into the simurg and like i'm sure defiant has and dragon have all the math to know like this is how we can calculate who is going to be impacted more by her screaming but like mm-hmm
Speaker: That's a big number, man. That's with the facility that big. That's a big ass number. It's very intimidating. Yeah. Also, I think I forgot about this point where we go back.
Speaker: ah we We need to go back and also talk about Gilpatrick. m True. We find out he has powers, right? after are our yeah boy either bad powers. yeah He gained power. He triggered. I think he was triggered, right? yeah During the dream. Triggered in the shard space. Because they they brought people specifically with Corona Palencias and then triggered and then ah Rain was able to disconnect them so they wouldn't experience the nightmares every night. Continue to go on forever.
Speaker: yeah right Yeah, yeah, yeah. um But yeah, he's got his little power of being able to see the lies that people tell themselves, which makes him great for telling if people are compromised ah by the Simmer. like He seems quite relieved to talk to Victoria.
Speaker: Which makes me so fucking nervous because I've been operating for the past for the past couple of arcs. I've been operating with this mental picture of Victoria being that I don't trust what her powers are morphing into because I just don't i don't trust it. It makes me nervous. And she's...
Speaker: Sveta is like worried about her mental state, which I mean, like I trust Sveta. So I'm like, gosh. And then we're dealing with the Simurgh and then he's like relieved to see her. I'm like, okay, but. but Yeah. ah okay Yeah. Yeah. No, we we, they, they talk about that a little bit later um with the, they start doing the sanity scaling, right? Where it's like,
Speaker: yeah You want to be, it's the one to 10 scale, but you don't want to be a 10 and you don't want to be a one. yeah you want to You want to be right in the middle, like right, right. normal stress amount, right?
Speaker: Yeah. um Not too stressed. Just a little, just a little. Just a smidge.
Speaker: J-Man points out ah back to like ah you know ah unreliable narrator the miasma where you can't recognize people from the slaughterhouse art that was a great yeah yeah exactly oh god great phenomenal.
Speaker: great um I mean, also with that, you had the, ah I think it's Nice Guy. They're all watching on the television upper house 9000 in Killington or wherever.
Speaker: um And then ah just bringing up Fran talking about how do they how do they beat the Simurg? You make Dino run laps. Yeah, we'll get there. We'll get there.
Speaker: um yeah We'll get there. um But yeah, what I was looking up is kind of unrelated, but it was just one of my favorite short stories with an unreliable narrator. um And I could not remember the name of it, but I had started to look it up. It is The Swimmer by John Cheever.
Speaker: um It's one of those classic short stories that you read in like English 101 in college or in high school with an unreliable narrator. If you've not read it, it's a quick read. Great story.
Speaker: um Great example of fictional work with an unreliable narrator. Um, but yeah, I just, I also really enjoy unreliable narrators, especially when they are from the perspective of that narrator. So like the cask of Amontillado is another great one.
Speaker: Um, and things like that where you're in the head of somebody who's not quite right. Um, and that's great. It's great. So anyways, yeah.
Speaker: Um, no, no, Victoria's. Yeah. I I'm with you, Hannah on Victoria's powers being weird. Um, makes me nervous. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: But hey, it seems like it's okay so far. So far. And I mean, they're very cool. But being able to like, you know, that is crazy cool.
Speaker: But um i don't trust it. Because now other people can be inside the force field. Yeah. yeah yeah yeah Yes. And that, I don't know, something about that. and i um Honestly, probably would just come true.
Speaker: Creepy flesh locker box thing. All I could think of is like like a mimic. Those have strong mimic vibes. Imagine you're inside of a large steel balloon and then it compresses.
Speaker: I don't think it's great. We've never heard of that happening before. It's giving gaping dragon vibes. Good gaping dragon, yes. Gaping dragon vibes for sure.
Speaker: Of course, Nick would call it good. Yes. It's it's giving the The gaping one? You mean the fragile one?
Speaker: That's it. I also don't like that she calls the calls it the fragile one, and she speaks to it like it's a younger sister, like a five-year-old younger sister. I don't like it. It makes me uncomfortable, and it feels creepy, and I don't... I have no reasons other than vibes. That's it. like I live my whole life on vibes at this point.
Speaker: um yeah good times good times Victoria talking to aspects of herself or like separating aspects of herself like the wretch things like that is is a very interesting ah character dynamic that's been really fun to read through but like it's not healthy it's also not healthy No. I self- talk self- self-talk can be healthy. Self-talk is yet true. Self-talk is healthy.
Speaker: Because we we haven't heard a whole lot of the, I feel like we haven't heard a whole lot of the other aspects like Because I think the warrior monk and stuff like that, because I feel as if those have legitimately been assimilated into her person.
Speaker: um Like a lot of those were aspects that she wanted to have ah and separating those out and labeling them were things that helped her get through the shattering of her person.
Speaker: um Yeah. So these these different faces that she has that she's trying to embody in different directions, very much like a certain, you know, amorphous force field that she also has.
Speaker: And eventually she, with those other faces, has slowly just kind of integrated them into herself until they are Victoria. um And the only one remaining outside of Victoria genuinely is something outside of Victoria. Yeah.
Speaker: but still a part of her. Like, ah you know, it is a being that has, if you could imagine, once separated from her, could take on its own personality, much like the flock.
Speaker: Yeah. um So, like, coming to, you know, one of those coming to terms with, like, i if she dies, there is a her that isn't her.
Speaker: um but as she lives now, she has to live with the knowledge that she is, um there is another her, uh, it, and it has its own personality that might be hers or, you know, it's figuring itself out. That's part of what like Valkyrie and you know, the others were doing with their things is like pulling the humanity aspects ah out of the powers.
Speaker: Um, but you know it's it's she's absorbed all the others and she has come to terms with the one remaining part uh you know and the balance between what is Victoria and what isn't parallels between that and just the entities themselves with the shards is kind of interesting the way you describe it is kind of fun so hmm yeah hadn't thought about that but yep
Speaker: Yeah. sentient sent Sentient individual pieces of yourself that like are you but also not. Yeah. and And literally they have a whole like sorting process where they're shuffling them around and trying to figure out where they go, what belongs, where you know, what makes up you, what do I need to eject, what do I need to assimilate.
Speaker: um Right. So that is the process of the worm. Victoria needs to find her Abaddon. so She needs to find a badden boy. And lace a badden
Speaker: Let's do it
Speaker: it. More like a bad dong, you know what I mean? yeah been I've been holding off on some real bad ones. I'm still not going to say them, you You gotta. Yeah.
Speaker: What are we even on? We on 2.0? That was 20.3. You can't spell without Annalise, if you know what I'm saying. Okay, yep. What? It's the other way around. It's the other way around. I messed it up. But it's funnier that way because now...
Speaker: that's what i was trying to figure out i like what That doesn't spell anything. What is he saying? okay Oh, that's funny. but no you know what? No, there is something there. There's something there to work. um oh oh What
Speaker: twenty point four fight with blood play chris goes off to my the cure in the lab with Bonesaw's help. Victoria, meanwhile, volunteers to stick it to Giant Mathers.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, Bloodplay is a cool villain. um yeah Interesting powers. um that' That's all I have to say about her.
Speaker: i mean, is she giving strong, like, wasp of vibes? Yeah, yeah, that's what people say about nasty twist on it. the nasty twist on the wasp because she could open a wound that can't cauterize fly into the wound you know yeah oh pull the old ant-man in the asterisk oh yeah so you know yeah yeah yeah but um we do we do find out um
Speaker: yeah we do we do find out um Oh, Truett did have a good comment about how Taylor also does a similar thing near the end of Worm in reference to talking to her shard.
Speaker: ah yeah That is true. Taylor does do that at the end. I forgot about that. in it's don't It's like poetry. They rhyme. I was going
Speaker: i was going to say, later on, we'll get another Taylor reference as well. but Yeah, you well yeah we do we do. That's in 20.9. I feel it's not going to happen, but I do keep waiting.
Speaker: I just i i hold on just the tiniest tiniest little spider silk thread of hope. yeah Just an epilogue where Tattletail just walks through a portal.
Speaker: You know? so i it Exactly. yeah um Yeah. Well, with 20.4, the only note of interest I remember thinking was like, okay, we're trusting Chris to do this thing, but we know he's already compromised by the Simurg from that previous interlude.
Speaker: yeah How is this going to go wrong? And of course, there is conveniently a thing that happens that requires Victoria and the other responsible members of Breakthrough to leave.
Speaker: leave him. So what I'm imagining now is because, you know, Bonesaw can't really see Chris that well, right? Yeah. And Boneslaw's just like, okay, Chris, so what you're going to do is, and she's like giving him all these instructions and he's just like sitting there like sharpening his nails like, uh-huh.
Speaker: Yep. yeah Okay, did that. He's like, he's moving bottles around. You can hear the clink. He's like clinking him. Exactly. He's making extra noise. to let out nice to rings down Yeah.
Speaker: yeah doing absolutely fuck all um So, but yeah, of course, you know, there's a convenient thing where it's like, oh, Victoria and the other members got to go. You got to stick it to Mathers so she can help fight the Simurg, leaving Chris alone with Bonesaw on video where she can't really see him.
Speaker: Oh, let's leave Chris with something incredibly important. Mm-hmm. Never trust. You should be real bitch. Trust no bitch. Trust no bitch. it's I'm always saying one thing. It's trust no bitch.
Speaker: Never trust a rat. i Yes, exactly. Never trust a bunny boss. That's right. Never trust a bunny. Never trust a bunny. I don't know. it It feels like of all the things we should know by now, like we know, obviously we have the information, but even without the insider information, I i'm um i really am just like, we didn't leave one person to babysit Chris just to make sure he's...
Speaker: Yeah, but... right We just over... Money system yeah i guess seems like the intuitive thought in these scenarios. I mean, ah maybe they thought that that freaking bone salt was going to be enough.
Speaker: Not realizing couldn't really keep an eye on him through the monitors as well as they thought maybe or, or or or I mean, also you're in chaos and you're like, shit, I got to go Don't fuck me, Chris. And then you hand him a giant dildo. Like, I don't, it's, I, can i ah it makes me so bad. It's it's like over and on ah over and over and over again, we've trusted Chris.
Speaker: Not we. We're smart. They've trusted Chris. And it's just like, it pisses me off. Like, listen, I've got a lot of grace for people up to a certain point. And and then once you've burned me a couple of times, we're done. I wouldn't trust you to back up my car. Like, not much less make the the biological weapon that could potentially, like, wipe us all out.
Speaker: Yeah. You give that job to the most selfish person you know? Like...
Speaker: oh
Speaker: Yeah. not Not good. Not good, for sure. i think i think this I think knowing makes it feel so...
Speaker: that chris is compromised makes it feel so much more depressing when they're all like, okay, yeah, cool. Chris, you got this? Great. And then they go off and you know like, oh, he's gonna, there's no way.
Speaker: There's no way. And it makes you feel like there's really no hope. And like, I think maybe that's probably part of why this these chapters really do feel like the end. Like it really does feel like we've we've approached the only ending that is possible anymore. Like there's no, there's no ripcord anymore. And it felt, it feels so final. Like, God. Yeah.
Speaker: And like being in on that little bit of Chris just hits harder because you know he's gonna, he's gonna betray something. He's gonna fuck something. He's gonna, oh,
Speaker: yeah Yeah. They keep trying to pull the Anakin move of like, there's still good in him. I can see it. And every time he just keeps pulling the rug out from under him and like, no, proven us wrong. There is no good in More Jedi children.
Speaker: Exactly. Exactly. He is. Got a hunger that only Jedi children can satisfy. i feel like that's, if that's not a comic already, it feels like it is, but it should be.
Speaker: Or that line from Return the Jedi, there's there's still some good in him. And then it just cuts to Luke watching the same, like, a hologram footage of him killing all the younglings. Just being like, yeah ah! Did I take it back? I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. Oh, man. Crazy. The things you do for love. Am I right? ah ellen Killing Jedi babies and no feeding your ghost girlfriend a puppy every week.
Speaker: You know, you got to do what you got to do for love. a You do. That's true. That's true. You you do a lot of things to your ghost girlfriend. It's true. It's true. um I will say, just as an unrelated but as a side note, there are moments in my life where like I'm doing something I don't want to do you know for my family.
Speaker: And from Courage with the Cowardly Dog, that he says it in almost every episode, he doesn't talk much, but one of his only lines is, the things I do for love. That's the thing. and i'll be like just I'll be like just washing the dishes and I don't want to do it. in my head, I'm just like, the things I do for love. Beautiful. it It keeps me going. That's great. um but You know, keeps you going and in the hard times.
Speaker: Well, on to 25. 20.5? Yeah. 20.5. it. 20.5. gets weird. Victoria finds Roman and Imp with Imp appearing to be dead.
Speaker: They find Dinah. Victoria pokes Mathers, and then she pokes Mathers for real.
Speaker: Double tap. Yeah. Always double tap. Yeah. Okay. Yep.
Speaker: Chris, the things I do for hate. things I do for hate. That's good. Exactly. Yeah. yeah And J-Man said, I like that we have anti-redemption arcs.
Speaker: Yeah. Anti-redemption arcs with Chris and Amy balancing Rain, Tristan, and Swan Song. Yeah. For real, though. Yeah. yeah yeah You need a good anti-redemption arc.
Speaker: Like, oh no, he got worse as the story progressed, actually. We kept trying to save him, but he only dug himself deeper. He really did. I'm sorry. Never mind. No. Never mind.
Speaker: No, no. Say your thoughts, Hannah. say now We all do it. No, no, no. or no it's a It's something else. it's a It's a spoiler related. It's fine. and um Anyways.
Speaker: Yeah. is this okay If I had to guess, is this where you cried? Where she found me? Oh my God! fucking mind Okay, so let me set the scene for you. Let me said let me let me set you the scene. Picture this.
Speaker: Alan, dead asleep. Snoring, as per the use. we go it's pretty accurate actually being set i'm i am i'm laying on my stomach in bed i've got my pillow i'm wrapped around my pillow right and i've got my phone propped up and i'm reading like this and i'm i've got my lower half of my face buried in my pillow because i'm just sobbing right and i'm going i'm going no no but i'm whispering it quietly under my breath because i don't want to wake out so i'm like No, no, no. And I'm i'm reading it and Roman is like, you have to get imp, you have to get imp. And she's like, we'll come, like, let's get you first.
Speaker: And she talks about specifically something white that's sticking up that's got hair attached to it. And I'm realizing like, oh, it's a chunk of her skull.
Speaker: And I'm like, I'm just sobbing. I'm just ah bawling my eyes out. And they take him out into the hallway and we see Gru and I cry harder. And it's just like the worst day of my life. And I can't help but think of Regent all over again. And I'm just like, I'm just a blubbering mess. And I'm i'm thinking to myself, I just, I don't, I don't even have it. I don't even know if I have it in me. Like I, but I have to keep reading. So I, so I keep reading and keep reading.
Speaker: And, ah yeah. That's the mental state I'm in for this chapter. Fair. fair That's understandable. Scene set. Thank you. yeah Scene set. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Your girl is your girl is emotionally distraught.
Speaker: Emotional damage. Yeah. Yeah. i I definitely hit. It definitely hit. And I appreciated that Wild Boat did give it a moment where it was like, oh, like we're focusing on this. like This feels very real that Imp is dead.
Speaker: And it almost to the point where I almost forgot that she was afraid her power would keep her invisible while she was if she died. And it was like, there was that part of me that was like,
Speaker: this doesn't seem right. Like something, i don't want him to have died this way. This doesn't feel right. Um, and like, I would have accepted it if it had been real, but I was very glad it wasn't because to me, it just felt like this doesn't feel right. Like something feels wrong about him dying this way.
Speaker: Like she wouldn't, she would go out sacrificing herself for one of the heartbroken, but not, not like this is the, is the vibe I felt, you know? yeah. But yeah, yeah the oh man, and then the whole like, the guy holding Dinah hostage and then slitting her throat, but then she's actually okay, and then the like...
Speaker: the the mind fuck where it's like, oh, she pokes Mathers um and then sees Amy get crushed and then it all repeats. That was something I reread where I was like, wait, was that on purpose? And then you realize, oh, it is on purpose. It's like, oh, that was so good and just so fun to try to realize, oh okay, this is all, yeah it's all been fake this whole time. And then realizing, oh, the Simurg is here. Like, she's not gone. yeah Oh, man.
Speaker: ah Who are the other two as well? um Cassie and Chastity? Yeah. Yeah. that they're both They're both holding hands, but they're dead together. Oh, my God. ah That one also.
Speaker: oh that one hurt. That one hurts so much. Listen, there's nothing like reading those things. And then you have the whole mo that ma ah Mama Mathers stab twice, double tap, all of that.
Speaker: Having the whole, you know, Amy Cinderblock thing ah or piece of rubble. And then realizing that it's fine. and Imp's like, oh, yeah, how's it going, guys? And you're like,
Speaker: Oh my God. Cause she says something. She like chirp, like, like chips into some conversation that they're having. And I was like, you motherfucker, you mother. Yeah. Hucker. You put me through that here. I'm trying not to wake up Alan. And meanwhile, it's fine. I'm on. I was on. Well, I was on. Well, got me monologue.
Speaker: You got me monologue. ah Your illusions, Michael.
Speaker: but so Jeez. Oh, man. Yeah. Jeez Louise. It's good shit. It's good, good shit. It hurts. It hurts. But it's okay. I came here ready to be heard.
Speaker: Yeah, we're we're at that point now. I i did kind of have that moment too where I was like, am I just going to like disassociate for a few chapters and just like take it all in and then crash later?
Speaker: You know, once it's all over, we'll just get through it first. Yeah, I have a feeling that'll be the the next, the back half of this arc. We'll we'll see. I mean, again, that that was my... Yeah, exactly. That was my ah my quintessential experience for finishing Worm was I think I read like the last five or six arcs between midnight and four in the morning. Yeah. Just like how my eyes like glazing over with tears from exhaustion. But like, i't know I can't stop now. I can't. I'm committed. And then like.
Speaker: Yeah, that was where my wormnesia was the worst because I was like, it's all a blur. I have a loose idea of what happened and I liked it, but it was all a blur. Yeah. um Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Crazy. um Yeah, J-Man commented and said, it feels right that we get the full confrontation with the Simurgh that we never got in Wyrm in the same way that we fought Leviathan and Behemoth. Yeah. Totally agree. Yeah. I was feeling a lot of like when Simurgh basically comes in through the ceiling like a whirlwind.
Speaker: I don't even know if this is true. This how I feel. And, you know, because Wild Bo Riding. And then, like, blows everything everywhere. And there's some people who have, like, and ah tons of people get just slammed and killed instantly. think they We talked about just getting wet slapped against the wall.
Speaker: Yep. A ton of people. And Victoria is, like, barely, like, catches herself. And then there's that person who's, like, holding the water, ah the water to like keep the pipe from getting pushed. their leg
Speaker: they're getting like somebody something basically it cuts their leg off And the person below them who's on the ground is like holding them up. And then and it happens again, but before Victoria can get there. And then like two things happen where like the pipe goes through the guy's head and pins him to the wall. And like something happens to the person on the ground. Rubble it falls and hits the person on the ground or something.
Speaker: it his So his legs get... removed and there's someone holding him up and he's able to hold the pipe and then the person who's holding him up gets taken out and then yeah in the pipe shook right through yeah oh god that was that was brutal brutal oh there's a couple of moments like that is it here where you have the the man with all of the spider legs Yes, yes. Yeah. Okay, yeah because that's terrifying, which then, you know, later, once the illusion is broken, basically, he's like, fine.
Speaker: So in that moment of like, oh, cool, now we have to fight not only the Simmer but all and and all the bullshit, but now you have all of the flying debris and the capes that have...
Speaker: turned basically cool and then how much of that is reality and how much of ah that is just in fighting because we don't know what's reality and what's not like good gravy it's like i mean it's chaotic but it's also so good like it just feels juicy as a scene yeah but it doesn't it doesn't feel too complex i just i'm oh it was it was very he firmly cementing best end bringer in my head Yeah, Simmerick is a really cool endbringer. don't know. I still have a soft spot for Leviathan just because he was the first one we see, of course. but Yeah, pretty cool. you know
Speaker: But yeah, the Simmerick has... come that so yeah Yeah, the water shadow and all that super dupe. Super dupe. um Behemoth is just big guy. like It's cool, but he's just big guy. He's just big guy.
Speaker: and he He's just big. Yeah. Big guy, big aura. Yeah.
Speaker: Be right back. I got to go kill a bug. Is that a euphemism? man With all of with all of all of us backing you emotionally, of course. manly duties.
Speaker: Yep. ye Yep, yep. Yeah. I was about to ask that what Jamin just asked. Hannah, you see that?
Speaker: No, I don't have chat open. Oh, sorry. No, you're good. J-Man asks, tattoo-worthy Endbringer? question mark Yeah, actually, i up it i won't make any final decisions until we've finished all of the arcs, but I'm pretty cemented that my yeah worm slash ward tattoo is going to be some version of the Cimmerg.
Speaker: and Definitely all those beautiful wings for sure. and i'm And I'm thinking it's going to be a pretty big thigh piece if I can if i can save up enough. right But that's the plan. And I promise as soon as I get it I will show it to ah anybody who's on page any of our Patreon members.
Speaker: It'll be on our in our Discord eventually. But ah I don't foresee that happening anytime soon. So you guys might have to hold out while I save up. Yeah, last last we asked, you were like, I just want to make sure that they so yeah i need to be... yeah Listen, I just need to make sure that it's all okay. And like, listen, she's such a badass. But I need to just make sure that nothing... Yeah, I gotta just... I gotta confirm.
Speaker: Before I put ink on my skin. You gotta make sure. You gotta make sure first. Truett says... i have some cool stuff safe, so... Truett says, too bad a cult named themselves after the Simurg.
Speaker: Listen, we don't... We don't... nothing It's... and Stupid, stupid fucking and rationalist. well the fuck your called oh god stupid Stupid cult. Yeah. most idiots harry pot Stupid fucking Harry Potter and the fucking realist you know stone.
Speaker: bunch of dumb fucking dumb realists. Oh my God. You think I'm joking. it's Yeah. Rationalists. Oh my gosh. There we go. There you go. There you go.
Speaker: You got it. Jacob. The bug is dead. Yes. but Excellent work. And we shall rejoice. Oh yeah. I'm very good. Do we have any more thoughts?
Speaker: um Not in particular. um I'm going to throw 20.6 and 7 together because our summaries, Alan and I only came up with a few sparse notes. That's fair. Do a big dog.
Speaker: Yep. What? I said do a big dog and then as soon as I said it, I was like, that's i don't know. That felt weird. Sorry. i didn't I didn't think about it before I said it. It just kind of... It's fine.
Speaker: big oh yeah no I'm leaning into it now. All right, big dog. Let's go. i don't think I've been called big dog like ever.
Speaker: you grew You grew up in Georgia. wait No, no. There's no way you haven't been called big dog because i know that you lived on a hall with Tyler. That's true. That's true.
Speaker: And that's pretty much exclusively what he called people. That's true. Yeah. I feel like you have to you have to call someone someone Big Dog in the same in the same tone and be like, What's up? Big Dog! That's also why it caught me off guard because I almost you didn't hear it. You were just like, Go for a Big Dog. And I was like, yeah Me? Am i I? said it and I was like, Oh, no. Yeah. i me there arms dogs It's like when you call your waiter honey or like sweetie and you realize that you just did that and you're like, yeah. yeah ah Sorry.
Speaker: Listen, i' call I've called a waiter babe before and realize it and been like,
Speaker: I'll take 30% and move on. and yeah yeah i was goingnna see when you right that win You wink and give him the old finger guns and then you get arrested yeah no yeah double bisexual fair gun guns and go i have no damn i am the damn damn and do today i damn that it also is different if you say it in a southern voice and it's you're saying it to another lady like if you have a a lady and your like i star You're fine.
Speaker: But yeah i I can't say that to to anybody else. It's like some poor college kid named named Jared. like, yeah thanks, darling. And he's like, oh, no. Like, I got to get out of here. Oh, no. I got to go. I got to cut and run with my tips. Anyways.
Speaker: Anyways, big dog. Let's go. 20.7. Let's go, big dog. Yeah.
Speaker: Victoria broadcasts Dinah's power to Stimmy the Smurf. Victoria and Rain combine their powers to cut the Simurg in half. Very clock skitter of them, if you will. Gross.
Speaker: I mean, these were just two big fighting chapters. From what I remember. Yeah. And that is very little, I'll be honest. The cutting in half moment was cool.
Speaker: That was neat. Yeah. um like power i loved I did love the... She's like looking for a human weapon and she's like, Torso, you're good. course no but he's he's toori He's too wriggly. He's like he's like trying to pick up a ah block of jello. He's all torso.
Speaker: He's all torso. yeah yeah He's not. was with a He was with Death Chester. um He was part of Death Chester's group. But he is literally all torso. He's like not...
Speaker: Yeah, if you look at fan art him. not okay. Oh my God. ands I had to because because she was like, because because Victoria's like, lifting my 12-ton gun is was easier than lifting this guy. And i was like, what the hell? yeah His fan art is... on the wiki On the wiki, it says...
Speaker: ah Torso is very odd. he has yet to speak at all and is mostly seen falling on his face. Nevertheless, he seems to maintain an upbeat attitude. Relationships. Torso is routinely abused by his teammates. He does not seem to mind. does not seem to mind. yeah Personality. Teammates characterize him as a chronic fuck-up. Chronic fuck-up. It is unclear how much of it power-related or just personal twitchiness.
Speaker: Listen, some people are very... Clumsy, okay? And it could be like, he's already clumsy, plus also this poor guy. But I love that i love that ah Victoria picks him up, and it's just like, they're kind of, it's just a mess. And she can't, it's just butterfingers all the way. And then she does finally end up dropping him. And then she he goes and he lands on the ground. And then he like, he like gets up, and he starts running trips again.
Speaker: And Victoria's like, just like staring down at him and is like, well, all right. Who else can we grab? Next idea. yeah
Speaker: Oh my gosh. He's hilarious. And just the fact that his one power is that he has a powerful headbutt, which is capable of knocking a Titan over. oh yeah And Victoria's like, this, it reminds her of like ah an attack from Scion. I remember her saying, it's like,
Speaker: Like, my god. His one ability is the Luigi like... Yes. Exactly. What a guy. Way to go, Torso.
Speaker: He's doing great. He tried. But then it's like, okay, not Torso. I need somebody I can carry. yeah yeah Grabs Rain and Rain is like, yeah I got the daggers, but just the daggers. Can't shoot them.
Speaker: and But they end up using it together and it works out great. um yeah I always love team combo abilities like that. Combos are the best part of these fights.
Speaker: Oh yeah. Anytime we get a good combo. yeah yeah wambo combo I will say it did scare me after we got her cut in half. um We have this moment where Victoria is like, oh sorry Rain.
Speaker: She's like, I'm sorry Rain. And I'm like, are we? is rain down what are you apologizing for? Are you saying you're sorry that he's going to get banged around a little bit?
Speaker: Or you're sorry because you're about to sack? Because I thought for a second she was about to sacrifice him somehow. yeah yeah Yeah. Whatever. And she was going to maybe chuck him at the simmer or something like that. she Because she apologizes before we know what happened.
Speaker: and And he's like, he says, like, she says, I'm sorry. And he's like, it's okay. Or something lie along those lines. I don't remember the exact word. Yeah. He's basically like, it's okay. And then later you're like, oh no, he's just bleeding from the wrist.
Speaker: That is fine. I thought. Exactly. We were going to kill him. So. Yeah. Not yet. No.
Speaker: yeah yeah no yes No, no. They all die in the end. No, they don't. Nobody dies. I was thinking of another cool sequence that happened in the fight scene, which is Victoria has the gun, ah uses the fragile one to like grab.
Speaker: i can't remember if it's the simmer or what she's grabbing. And then the rib cage opens and she like sticks the gun through. yeah That was a pretty bad scene sticks in my head.
Speaker: Was that i i was it the Simurg? I think it was. i would and i mean, it's one of those five chapters in which they're fighting the Simurg. So, yeah. yeah um But yeah, that was really freaking cool.
Speaker: She have the gun gun for very long in these chapters. It's very, it's like later or earlier. i can't remember. It's earlier. It's earlier. That's right. but She does lose it, which is like why she's picking up torso in the first place. Yeah. Yeah. yeah because She's got to something. That's right. Yeah. Listen, exactly. I just learned how to pick things up.
Speaker: Yeah, gotta use it. Gotta use this power for something. Oh, man. I loved her combo. I mean, she's her are most cool probably in in this chapter where she's got the gun and has really worked out her fragile one combo. So like...
Speaker: yeah, sticking it through the the chest cavity of the fragile one to fire, but like having the shield and the hands to both hold on and to also grab things. Because I think it's like a piece of like wall or something like is thrown at her and the hands like grab, rip it open and like the rib cage opens up and so like the hands and stuff are holding it and she like sticks the gun through and starts firing through the debris that's like getting pushed to the side.
Speaker: was like, so cool. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. A couple of great comments. ah What if she regenerated from the bottom half and we just fought her legs for the rest of the story, Franza? That's why they could be, you know, they talk about her brain's not actually in the head. It's not in the head.
Speaker: It's been in the ass this whole time. I knew it. That's why that ass is so thick. Oh my God. Wait, does that mean my tattoo just needs to be simmered, bottom half, big ass, and wings? Yes. yes Just a pair legs with absolute sal cake.
Speaker: Wings. Attached it like just a bum. It's just a tramp stamp, Hannah. And then you are the Simmer's bottom half. so i am Amazing. Thank you. I think. Also talking about how thick it is with like its own gravity, but it's the telekinesis of all the stuff surrounding the ass. Oh my It's so Also, every time go back and laugh, my camera has to reset and I'm just like, I'm glowing. Yeah, it's very funny.
Speaker: It's great. my god. And then J-Man asked, slightly off topic, but did Big Dog ever try the Avatar fighting game? um I have not, J-Man.
Speaker: Unfortunately, I have spent all my personal money on other things this month and have not had a chance to try it, but I do want to at some point. It looks really fun. If the patrons can please only refer to Nick as Big Dog from now on, that would be great. That would be great. Thanks, guys. doesn' need I want the next time we have to do like a chat GPT summary of this that it does not know who Nick is.
Speaker: um dog That's the joy. i'll change I'll change my nickname on on the Patreon immediately. yeah yeah Big dog. Big dog.
Speaker: That's funny.
Speaker: Where we at now? Yeah. don't i honestly don't remember too much more of the like individually in those fights other than the torso bit and things. I feel like we got the big stuff.
Speaker: A lot of it is just like middle. What just happened? which is I thought we lost, but we're all here. We're all here. changed his name and it put us alphabetically. And so now Nick is in order. Damn. Damn. Nice. That's funny. Amazing.
Speaker: I love it. I'm here for it. That is weird though. That tripped me off. i wasn't yeah i wasn't on the I wasn't on the video call. So you guys paused and I'm like, uh-oh, what happened? like i wast that was busy changing my name.
Speaker: Yeah. i lost ah Oh, man. Anyways. 20.8. 20.8 into quiz. It's time. and twenty point eight and point eight yeah into quiz it's time
Speaker: 20.8. Chris, curse your inevitable but expected betrayal. um Chris betrays the team, reveals his plan to subvert the Simurgs. Victoria gets hurt more.
Speaker: That's all I remembered. Yeah. Yeah. I mean... so Chris. Chris was like, what if instead of doing what the right thing,
Speaker: i Became immune to the Simurg and I only was immune to the Simurg and got to do whatever I wanted. And you know what? As a semi-introvert, Chris, I kind of get it.
Speaker: um No! But also... Understandable. Bad Chris. prison Bad Chris. Bad. Bad Chris. Also, Chris is going to go, you know, to survive.
Speaker: And he's just going to be pissy at all the people for like, I can't believe I don't have this because they're dead. How dare they do this to me? Yeah. like yeah The most self-examperated in the story. Just imagine you're the one you're the one McDonald's worker that's immune to the simmer because of Chris's thing. And your job every day is just to cook McDonald's for him.
Speaker: He's like, what like my per I saved you. Now make me fries. Oh my God. Damn it. And if they're not extra crispy, so help me, I'll put you back under her control. Extra crispy. love that he's like, it's cool. If I get lonely, I'll just turn Bonesaw. And Bonesaw's like, absolutely no, thank you. I would kill you and I wouldn't even have fun doing it. It would just be like dead.
Speaker: It would just be another chore. And he's like, okay, fine then. Like he's so butthurt about it when she says that. He's like so mad, which, oh, that gave me a bit of joy. that Riley's like, ew. Yeah.
Speaker: I love it. There have been so many times where people have been kind of right. Like, even Amy has been like, you know, the one time where she's trying to deflect Jessica's attention by pointing out other stuff.
Speaker: but Like, she's not, she's not wrong. Um, you know, she's just wrong. Uh, And this is one of those times where I just like at the end of Chris's like rantings about all of this.
Speaker: I'm just like, Chris, what are you on about? Who? killed What? Are you stupid? Like. you Yeah. ah You know, you've had times before where you're like, oh, I, you know, I actually see what's going on here. And you're being your little eddy edgy preteen self, but you're like onto something, but you've like drifted slowly every interaction until now where you're just saying words. And I'm like, yeah Chris, shut the fuck up.
Speaker: Adults are trying to make decisions For real? Yeah, no, it's um it it's the, it feels like a trope. I don't know that there's a name for it, but the trope of the one who's like so confident they can't be affected by stuff is the one who is the most affected by it, right? Oh, it's not for being affected, but the um be confident in your information ah makes you more likely to be wrong type thing.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. The more confident you are, the more likely you are to be wrong in a way. Something in fact. Oh, well. Yeah. Yeah. It's a belt curve.
Speaker: Yeah, basically. um Yeah. So it's like, it's frustrating because it does feel like he's had so many opportunities and I kind of get it like as a, as a villain and with the idea of like,
Speaker: I really just wanted to make myself and a few people who were interested into space living creatures and we just escape hell, basically. Because this whole view of things is like, this is just hell and I'm just trying to get out of it one way or another.
Speaker: um But he doesn't want to die, and he's not going to sacrifice himself for anybody. Dunning-Kruger effect, by the way. Is it really? I thought it might be called the Dunning-Kruger effect. Dunning-Kruger, it's the... No, that's what I... I was like, that's what I call the Mandela effect when I can't remember what it's called. yeah No... So Dunning-Kruger effect is the people who, ah it's inverse bell curve. It's the people who have the most confidence in their answers tend to be the most wrong.
Speaker: um But on the flip side, you do have people who are genuinely confident in their answers because they're so smart. But you have to be able to tell which side you're on. Right. Remind me to tell you guys a story later about oh yes yeah i could talk about gba in rating on on the the dumb side of Dunning-Kroger. Fair enough. yeah brutal no it's the It's the idea of like um somebody who knows they don't know something is fine, but a little bit of information is sometimes enough to kind of put somebody in the, oh, I know tons about the subject without actually knowing anything.
Speaker: there's There's a different thing for that, I'm pretty sure, where it's like the more you know about information, and the more you can say confidently in your field that like, we don't know anything about this.
Speaker: Right, that's the, that was a very um Socratic thing. I think he has some, there's some line of his where it's like, maybe not Socrates specifically, but it's in that line of like, the more you know about something, the more you realize you don't know about something. Yeah.
Speaker: Like the more you actually learn about it. and and intelligence Basically, yeah. Yeah. um Yeah. As Fran said, it's the opposite of imposter syndrome, ah where you do know what you're doing, but you feel like you don't. Exactly.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. My whole life. Mm-hmm. Are you also a high-achieving student in school who now can't let go of that need to get a metaphorical A on everything you do, but you don't know what an A is anymore and you feel a bit lost because the standards have changed?
Speaker: oh Welcome my life. That's title of your memoirs, Nick. Signed, Big Dog. Signed, Big Dog. By Yeah. like I wasn't him.
Speaker: big
Speaker: nick's cap name is big dog now we have to figure out your powers past stop the name um big dog. It's aura-based. Nothing to do with dogs. Nothing to with dogs. what or a big dog Okay, okay. It's aura-based. It's just... It's aura-based. Yeah, yeah. It's like you put out an aura of big dog.
Speaker: Yes. You give big dog energy. The ground shakes little bit every time you take a step, even though you're you're just you. But everyone's like, us oh, someone's coming. oh he The funk Chad music plays in the background whenever I enter a room. Yeah. yeah thats Yes. Yeah.
Speaker: Amazing. You give the illusion of the Chad ah like filter. Exactly. Exactly. No. um like Like when they look at you out of the corner of their eye, you look normal, but they look directly at you. It's just, you know, that's...
Speaker: It's just like no other powers but like a 22 charisma score in D&D. People think you're the coolest person. You dump everything else. It's just charisma. You got a six in everything but charisma.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, this this goes back to a fanfic that somebody wrote. The personal equivalent of having charismachi charisma. sorry it's good say This goes back to one of the fanfics that we wrote about, but it's you back in the cauldron room with the big meeting.
Speaker: And it's just everybody's like, Tattletail, shut the fuck up. We've got to listen to Big Dog. You're like, guys, I don't have a plan. i just I'll be honest, I don't even know why I'm here.
Speaker: um my gosh. you know He's so right. was like, whoa, whoa. Wait, that's the power. it's it's you It's an aura effect where you bring down the collective intelligence of everybody else. So your baseline intelligence is the most intelligent. Wow. Wow.
Speaker: That's true. That's wild. Okay, but then there has to be some sort of That's be some sort of whiplash when you step outside of the zone, like with some yeah Trophy Wife, how if you step outside if it, suddenly you're like, whoa, my eyes are weird. Okay, okay, got to get back tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stupid, and stupid, stupid. Why would you say that? Not even that I bring them down, Jacob, but I just have a Trump power where I'm like 1% better than everybody else in the room at whatever they're good at. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Ever so slightly better. Just a little bit better than you. And you know it.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly. It's like a little kernel of doubt where they're just like... Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah Yeah. Talking, if we talk about the imposter syndrome, like you just put imposter syndrome on everybody. So when you walk in, they just all have like, Oh God, am I even a real hero? Now the big dog is here. More like big dog.
Speaker: If it's, and then you leave and they're like, who was that guy?
Speaker: I love it so much. That's really funny. Ian went for a similar but slightly different stranger power where people perceive you as physically bigger than them. Which is awesome. I love that. Nick, Nick. Yeah. They just perceive you as bigger than them.
Speaker: and we no Physically. Oh. Exactly. Physically. Oh. Oh. But he's shorter than me. Oh. No. Oh. Big dogs, big hogs.
Speaker: oh No! Also, what if Fran points out that the you basically got a ah status change in the hierarchy of the podcast now that you've literally physically moved to the second person on the screen. Yes. yes I'm in the middle the power of it. Jacob got demoted. did.
Speaker: i did yup I'm in the middle now. Just you and me. don't Don't look at the others. You and me. Just look at her oh at us. The original power of Owlman in DC Comics was making people dumber around him.
Speaker: i didn't know that. that i'll Was Owlman not the alternate universe Batman for like ah one of the either the evil teams or just the alternate universe team?
Speaker: Maybe mistaken. I thought it was the... He did say original, or so maybe he changed. fish Yeah, that's very possible. Who knows? Anyways. Oh, man. All right. Well, we got two more meaty chapters. Two more parts.
Speaker: Yeah, two more parts. Here we go. 20.9 is a good one. Meteor. Yeah. Meteor. It is big dogs. 20.9. hour twenty point nine Victoria gets some much-needed medical attention and has a serious conversation with Tattletail about her plan, which Chris spilled to the wardens and beyond.
Speaker: She begins her talk with Fortuna.
Speaker: Oh, man. This conversation with Tattletail was so satisfying. Just as a Just that, like, I don't want you to talk like you're trying to convince just anybody, Victoria. Convince me that I should do this.
Speaker: And that conversation was absolutely fabulous. Just um just amazing. I really enjoyed it. um
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, don't I don't really have much more to say than that. It's interesting, you know, we're we're getting a lot of parallels between the end of Worm and Ward with, you know, Victoria being like, we have to do this.
Speaker: And Taylor being like, we have to do this. You know, it's very very similar. But the difference continues to be what we've always said, which is that Taylor is just right. Always. She's just correct. And like, always i don't I don't have that with Victoria at all. Like, I get it. but it also like does not feel like the, like when Taylor becomes Kepri and starts that whole bit, you're just like, yes, this is correct.
Speaker: This is supposed to happen. And it obviously just does not feel like that with Victoria. And I think the conversation with, with Tattletail is kind of laying that all out, which is, which is great.
Speaker: um true is asking if we skipped over Dinah's doing laps. Um, No, no, we did talk about that. We did briefly, very very briefly. that yeah Running last into darkness with Gru's help um was a very fundamental image.
Speaker: Yeah, I like that. it's It's one of those, like, sometimes to beat the smartest enemy, you have to come up with the dumbest solution. And I really appreciate that. Sometimes simple just works.
Speaker: Yeah. Okay. Just yeah run laps around the Simberg until she dies. It's easy, guys. Okay. Which always is feels like the answer to every complex like murder mystery thriller. it's like It's always the simple answer.
Speaker: ah The killer was the guy who said he was the killer the whole time.
Speaker: it Couldn't be that easy. i yes yeah What do we think? Is it Harry Johnson or Peter Murder McMurderby?
Speaker: ah Could be anyone, truly. Peter Murder McMurderby. Amazing. ah ah that's our That's our motto here at the Rock to Bay Book Club is simple.
Speaker: That's how we run this podcast. yeah It's our motto. Simple. We're simple. Simple. Bare minimum. No. Simple. Bare minimum. Oh, gosh.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, also. The most complex plot lines and powers require the stupidest podcast host to discuss them. Oh my gosh. Yep. Remind me to talk about overly complicated and how Coyote versus Acme relates to Coyle and his plan to become mayor later on. Okay.
Speaker: I like it. All right. That's a good discussion for sure. That's a good discussion right there. um We were talking earlier about ah Victoria's ah wounds and what happened. So her ribs are broken.
Speaker: yeah Her neck is cut the fuck open Oh, oh. Collarbone broken. Collarbone is broken. So her whole left side is fucked.
Speaker: Yeah, not just like broken because they constantly like have brought it up how it's been deteriorating. Like it has been like she wasn't sure at one point because it was just like so like out kind of. And then at one point in time, it's out far enough that things are like tearing internally, I think. Mm-hmm. So like, I think it's like a bowl crack and pop and pull. and and and that's And that's like halfway through stuff. Then she gets into another fight and then gets into the fight with Chris.
Speaker: Like internally, her just like, she's this just isn't attached. she's no She's like a she's hey I mean, basically, she's fighting. Yeah, she's fighting almost entirely with the fragile one by the end because yeah she's basically like ah like a floating corpse. Just like waving her force shield around and hoping it works. Psycho man's just thing around the room.
Speaker: Exactly. Have you guys seen um Stardust? ah Where at the end, the she uses the the the little putty clay doll of the of the drowned prince. And he's you know he's like being dragged yeah thank you he's being dragged around the room, but his arm is like up and he's like sword fighting with it. But it's like he's clearly dead dead body. It's one of my favorite scenes. And his whole... just Of like, that's the vibe. That's the vibe. Poor Victoria is... yeah she she She barely... She barely hanging on. Yeah.
Speaker: She's puppeteering herself with her... With her arms. yeah really We also had the handprints from how hard Chris squeezed her. Yes. Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah.
Speaker: Sheesh. Yeah. At one point in time talking about like she basically dumps a bunch of blood out of her sports bra like taking it off. She's like yeah I know what's about to happen. just You know and then everything's like this costume.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. She's trying to preserve the costume because she likes it look at a lot I'm constantly surprised that she thinks like every time somebody says this comment about like, oh, well, you know, after this, like kid, like kid, when talking about what he's going to call himself after this, it's like, you're all going to die. Do you not yeah not? Yeah. This, there will be no after you won't have a body to wear the costume that you're trying to be so careful with. Like,
Speaker: you will be dead my dear not with that i almost I almost half expected her to pass out it's like a i imagine a thing where like her costume is like so tight it's just like all this like keeping her blood flowing and she unzips it is like yeah which just Yeah. you know on But um I will say I appreciate that we finally have like a normal human doctor who's actually a good doctor and is like right being a decent person to Victoria as well. I just, I don't know. I just feel like that's rare. yeah we We like to be able to trust our medical care professionals.
Speaker: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. We need a Pitt, a Ward Pitt series. It's just regular Dockers. It's so badly. They're just getting superhero triage.
Speaker: We keep talking about it. We just need to, somebody, one of us needs to write it where it's, yeah you've got Ward Pitt or you've got, you know Worm Universe Pitt. You've got Worm Universe Therapy, Worm Universe Attorney.
Speaker: Like, you know, we just, we need all of those. Yeah. and you know, and then it'll be like Grey's Anatomy where the real drama is the interrelational drama between all the doctors and everybody else. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. You forget they're superheroes. i was going to say the setting doesn't matter. You can do the pit as superheroes. You can do the pet the pit in the superhero universe. like the The writing can carry an interesting concept around. Yeah.
Speaker: you know it would be such a fun way to explore a world. It's just yeah through various little sub-genres stories. yeah I mean, you could do a fun little anthology of a made-up superhero world. Obviously, we would want Worm, but like one episode's just ah you know a murder mystery. One's ah basically a pit episode. One's legal drama.
Speaker: yeah you just do... yeah you know Every episode's a different... type of show and then jumping off of that anthology, you do an actual show based on the one that people like the most.
Speaker: There you go. There you go. That be very cool. Yeah. um So let's, we kind of talked about it already, but Victoria's plan, part of the reason Chris is not a big fan of the plan is because he says, um he basically says, you this is a plan that requires millions of people to trust each other. And I don't think that's possible.
Speaker: um So what I like about this is it is an extension and the opposite. I know it's a joke. It's like poetry. They rhyme though. It's the opposite of what Kepri does at the end of Worm, right?
Speaker: Where it's like, she's like, we just need everybody to work together. And if I could get everybody to work together, we could be Sion. Her solution to that is i need to be the one to make everybody work together.
Speaker: yeah And it works, right? Victoria's plan is the opposite of that, where it's like, we need everybody to work together, and we have to do it by convincing them it's the right thing to do.
Speaker: um yeah Yeah. Which I i like as a parallel and as an opposite, right? um To what Wyrm did. i mean, olive ward one of my issues with all of Wyrm is solely the fact that I feel like it delog not delegitimizes, but it undercuts so much of what Taylor did at the end of worm um Just in the sense of like, oh, we we beat Scion, but everything's actually worse now um in so many ways. um yeah And it didn't actually solve any problems. It just made them worse in other ways.
Speaker: um But yeah, I i appreciate that it's interesting it's it's an interesting parallel to look at, right? Where it's Taylor did it this way. Victoria is trying to do it this way.
Speaker: we're going to see what happens and see if it works.
Speaker: Yeah. ah Yeah. I was going to say um on on that, do you think, yeah, yeah i was going to say, do you think Vicky had a good idea?
Speaker: I think the logic makes sense in trying to trip up the parts of the entities that can't like understand humanity.
Speaker: i think it's a really smart solution. um But i like I don't know. It's it's hard... it it's on the one hand, it's like, you know, they're at the end of the ropes, everything is dying and there's no hope.
Speaker: So yeah we've got to try something. And so like, okay, I get it. But at the same time, earlier in this arc, there she's like, I forget, is it either, it's either the Simburg or Mathers, I can't remember her, but she's basically like, you know, ah do I attack or do I attack harder?
Speaker: You know, I forget what that moment is. But like, yeah I do. Yeah, that's right. Dilemma. Yeah. yeah it like yeah and um And I do feel like at the end of the day, that's just a better option. It's like, listen, just...
Speaker: just go for it and, and, you know, ride or die. So, yeah, I think it's, you no, i just going to say, I have a hard time because so much of the world is, is centered around the heroes and villains. It's like hard for me to remember that there are normal people out there and like many, many, many, many many of them.
Speaker: And this idea of like, well, we have to take care of this now. To save them is like so sacrificial, which, okay, go be a hero about it. Why don't you?
Speaker: It's just, it's so
Speaker: like, it's it feels like the right thing to do, but I don't like it. Like like you said, like, Taylor is right, but she does it in her way that feels ah deals very villainous, like the choices that she's making.
Speaker: And they save the world. But she did it while being the villain. And it feels very satisfying. And this is like, it just comes across as a little self-righteous. And I'm like, okay, all right, let's sacrifice ourselves on the altar for humanity. Like, okay, sure.
Speaker: Great. And I will say, i i do respect the fact that they're all like, well, we'll be the first to be hit with this shit. And we'll pass it on. Like... we'll get We'll start off with the STD. Like, great.
Speaker: But i just it's so... ah I don't know, man. and don't like it. But also, it doesn't feel like we have another solution. Like, what else are we supposed to do?
Speaker: Yeah. yeah Other than, you know, go down with the ship, basically. Yeah. I think that was parting a part of the point. there you know Chris is like... Oh my God. Like, I think it was Chris or... Yeah, it feels like it was Chris who was making a bad argument. But, um you know, being like, you know ah you know, you're just going to get all these people killed. She's like, there are like we do this every time we send them to fight yeah the Endbringers. Like, we know that a quarter of them are not coming back.
Speaker: And they know it. And they know it. Like, that's... We're... Like, we we already asked this of people. Why wouldn't they... do this for something even bigger than, you know, the end bringers before.
Speaker: Um, and the other thing is like, it doesn't have to be everybody. um potentially you do this because they, you know, the, the shard network doesn't understand what, what's going on.
Speaker: And you do this until they get, Oh, okay. Jeez. Like yeah y'all are just killing yourselves. Fine. And back off. Um, so, yeah,
Speaker: Like, there is the potential that, you know, 50% of the capes go and then the the shards get the message and stop. um Yeah.
Speaker: Because... ah do like the idea of the whole, you know, the way the kids beat Pennywise is by, like, just not being afraid. oversimplification, massive oversimplification, but that's how it like comes across. And like the entities just, and the shards just want conflict. So like the only way to beat them is like, guys, we all just got to like start gardening together.
Speaker: You know, like just everyone just pitch in, no fighting. Everyone agrees and the shards will just go away. Everybody just hold hands and start humming. Yeah. oh by Yeah.
Speaker: Well, what's that? How the Grinch Stole Christmas, just singing singing carols around an dead, you bitch-ass shards.
Speaker: Exactly. Oh my god. I'll kill myself before I let you have us. oh Good job, Alan. Some are just on top of the mountain like looking down.
Speaker: ah cool who's These humans. Oh, humans in humanville. That's funny. Well, 20.8 interlude. yeah Holy shit. go. 20.8 interlude defiant.
Speaker: here we go twenty point a interlude defiant Defiant and Dragon talk about plans, consequences, and the future. Fortuna takes Dauntless.
Speaker: Sleeper checks Simurg. And Antares starts the endgame with a handshake. ah
Speaker: There goes my hero. Watch him soar.
Speaker: Jacob, how hard did you cry at 20.8? Please tell us. How hard did he cry? Not just how hard. yeah i you're going yeah I thought it was just how hard were you when you cried during 20.8? There we go. Exactly. no these are i live i live for the Defiant and Dragon moments in these stories. They're so good.
Speaker: just ah I've said it from the beginning. I wish Ward followed these two through everything. Would have been would have been really interesting. i think these are just some of the most interesting characters in the entire story.
Speaker: And I love them. And they're right. And Defiance the best. And the they're and they're both still alive. For now. Of course. And I feel like Wild Bo wanted one of them to die, it would have happened there. And it didn't. So now, in my mind, they're not going to die. And that's where I'm going to leave it.
Speaker: They'll live forever. Yep. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I did think Defiant was, I did think he was dead when he when he dove in and like everything was blowing up. I was like, yep, here he goes. This is it. Yeah, yeah yeah right. Waiting for it.
Speaker: Yeah. I still think he will die, by the way, but I do think he's already digitized his consciousness and that he'll be an AI with dragon. And like, that's, yeah. Together for forever. Together forever.
Speaker: On the dark webs. You know their bitch asses are still going to shard heaven. yeah Oh, for sure, 100%. and This is an all dogs go to heaven situation, where it's like, if they didn't, we we we wouldn't have a, like, what a cruel god. Like, I don't, of course they're going to heaven. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: exactly Also, i can't remember what the question is, but she asks him a question, or maybe it's the other way around. A question is asked, and one of them just answers with, I love you, and the other one's like, I love you too. And I just, oh my God. painful. Oh!
Speaker: ah but oh They're the best. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I have a sound. I have a is um A soundboard sound. Hold on.
Speaker: Hold on. Nope. Nope. Nope. Someone find that it hurts. Please. Oh. Oh. oh Oh. It hurts. Jacob sound that I can't find, unfortunately.
Speaker: Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Hurt. is There we go. Thank you, Michael. So good. Nick, solid. Thank you. thank What? I don't know.
Speaker: Posted one in the Patreon memes. If you would like to see the memes. yeah Join our patron Patreon. Oh my God. Little is a dollar a month.
Speaker: um But to your point, Nick, I It does get a bit congested. We're like a little convenient that everything is converging on this one spot.
Speaker: Does sort of ah simplify everything a bit.
Speaker: Yeah, it's it's it's a lot at once. And to the questions that people are asking about Sleeper, for example, are you guys happy Sleeper actually did something besides Aura Farm? um What did he do? real Not really. Yeah, he was he took care of the Simurg, apparently. He took care of the Simurg, apparently. I'll honest.
Speaker: Here's the thing, right? The reason I wasn't happy with it is because I wanted this i wanted Sleeper to do something, but ARC 20 at the 11th hour was not when I wanted it to happen, if that makes sense. Oh, now going to be picky. Oh, want the Sleeper, but when we get to Sleeper, we don't want the Sleeper. oh That's fine. I got my bingo square off of that.
Speaker: So, you know, shout out to the suggested Sleeper anti-climax. Nick anti-climax all over this podcast. It's true. It's true. I... in many now yeah it' takes
Speaker: i no ah but I think the thing is, it's one of those moments where like I had to go back and check, like oh oh, that's what happened. it's almost it would be like... um it would be i don't know if ah ah of a great example to compare it to but the first thing that comes to mind is if it's like...
Speaker: Oh, what what happened when like Luke and everybody escapes the Death Star? What happened to Obi-Wan? Like, oh, well, Darth Vader killed him off screen. It's like, oh. Yeah.
Speaker: I guess that happened. Like Darth Vader, this big scary guy I've been waiting to see do something, does it off screen basically. um I don't know. like sleeper Sleeper being the cosmic entity that you wonder what he can do.
Speaker: and is almost more fun than what he did. it is more fun, I'll say. It is more fun than what he did in 20.A. um Solely because I also don't really understand it. It doesn't actually answer any questions about his powers or what he can do. It's just like, oh, he's got a storm. He's got a storm range.
Speaker: yeah he's got He's got a storm range, which makes him just a bigger... A bigger version of Action Beast, right? and like yeah Exactly. Thank you. I don't know. It's just not exciting. Again, we were're we're dancing around all the names for these tropes, and I can never remember what they're actually called. But it's the whole, you know...
Speaker: um ah You know, things are better. It's it's to to use the Star Wars analogy again. It's, you know, Boba Fett was interesting because when you see him in episode five, he's given a like he's given ah ah a ah qualification by Vader.
Speaker: But as he's going to all the different people, he's like, and he looks at Boba Fett, he's like, and no disintegrations this time. and you're like, oh, what the hell is this guy all about? He's cool as hell. And like, you only see him in two more scenes and he's captured Han Solo. And he's like, he's like arguing with Vader about how he gets paid. And you're like, who who this guy's awesome. It's so cool. And then, you know, the more you see him and the labor he gets. And by the time you get his is Disney plus spinoff show, you're like, all right, this guy's, he's just like wants to own property.
Speaker: and like you know He wants to be little girl. He's just a simple man making his way in the galaxy. Exactly. Yeah, it's the same exact problem. It's like, you you if you introduce something as like, oh, it's cool because we're not going to explore it, you can't explore it. You're going to lose what makes it cool.
Speaker: And yeah, I think this i think ah Sleeper has a bit of that, unfortunately. it It is. it it is unfortunate just because it felt like, oh, it's so close to Like, we're so close to the end, you know? Like, do we need to introduce him now? And I get why they're doing it. They're like, oh, we need to bring every possible threat we can against the Simurg and the Titans yeah and Sleeper is a big threat. So I get it.
Speaker: um i and I would have loved if instead of just being, like, generically big power, like the big storm he has or whatever it is, it's he's more like a one-punch man type character where he is just the...
Speaker: the aura farming guy who appears to be invincible and can take anyone down. but Like, something like that, right? Like, where he is close to Scion levels of power without being Scion.
Speaker: Again, i don't know. I also just don't understand his power, I think, as part of it. And I'm like, okay, i guess. Yeah, with without the understanding, it's a little deus ex machina.
Speaker: um by But... You could, I mean, you know there's a lot of things that you could make work. Like the power, you could give him whole bunch of different powers that would work. So, like, it's but' still very plot. Like, it's not unrealistic that this worked.
Speaker: it's just It's just not the ending you you think you're going to get to it. Yeah. And confirmed, is is this the end of the Simurg? That he, they what, dump herself into it? And then she... I took it more as contained...
Speaker: i get to I took it more as contained for the moment. like And maybe like that's what his power is is. Once you're in, you can't leave or something like that. Maybe. I mean, a little Greyboy-ish.
Speaker: you know Yeah, kind of. Once you're in, you're in. a walking Greyboy bubble. But with no with no time reset, you're just like literally trapped. A walking vacuum cleaner bag.
Speaker: yeah Yeah, exactly. um cluster Which does... yeah Yeah, exactly. A giant dust bunny. Like, I don't don know what he does. And I... Oh, it's fine. I'm sure we'll get a little bit more in the next couple of chapters, but it felt it felt kind of like, oh. Yeah, I do i don't get the sense that we're done with Sleeper either, which is cool.
Speaker: Sleeper just holds hands with somebody. Also begins humming. Yeah. yeah Exactly. Hmm.
Speaker: Yeah. No, the whole the whole scene though with Dragon and Dauntless and like, you know, Antares is trying to get, I'm pretty sure she's trying to get Bonesaw to them, right? So that Bonesaw can give them the the cure.
Speaker: yeah Exactly. um And so that whole scene though with dragon Dragon and Defiant and all of this was just a fabulous interlude. Once again, Wild Bo killing it with the interludes over the ah the main arc is still good here too, but in this case the interlude still tops it even though the arc itself was good.
Speaker: Yeah. um And just the whole thing at the end where it's like Antares needs somebody to start the reaction. like She has the trust of her team but nobody else. And even Chevalier is like hesitant about the plan.
Speaker: And Dauntless is like or Defiant is just like, alright, I'm going to be the one to start this. And he shows probably one of the last fleshy bits he has. to yeah um And then just she touches him. He begins to hum. And then Chevalier is like, alright.
Speaker: I guess this is it. And they do the predator most ah power handshake. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Muscle arm handshake. is Defiant Chevalier, the two of the last great, like, leaders. Yeah.
Speaker: Chevalier, Chevalier, and Defiant. And Defiant. Defiant. Legend's flying around there somewhere still, too. Probably, yeah Yeah, Legend is around. Oh, man. m it just And Narwhal's out there.
Speaker: I'm trying to think of all the big names that are still out there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Narwhal's out there. um Miss Militia's probably fine. was going to haven't seen Miss Militia in a while. I think about her office. had a turret going at one point in time when yeah there were when I think Victoria was flying through yeah during a separate attack.
Speaker: Still making guns work somehow. She's out there. Yeah. Yeah. what Queen. Yeah. it It feels just so like, I don't know. it feels so slipping quietly into the night. And I know it's not, but like, it also is.
Speaker: And I just, don't, don't,
Speaker: i trust Wildbow that we're not going to get like a beat-for-beat recreation of the of the war warm of the worm ending. The ward worm. Worm ending there. so like I don't anticipate the same like you know giant teamwork, big big fight to make the shards give up and then they blast them all up. so like I think he'll he do something different. so i'm I'm very, very curious to see how he...
Speaker: Is planning on wrapping it up. Like what the actual steps are. Yeah. we need ah Remind me again. We have the second half of 20.
Speaker: Is there any Is there. ah interlude. Is there more after that Alan. Yeah. but again Is there more after 20. I don't know. There is not.
Speaker: It's just the end. well There are within 20, there are seven epilogues. That's right, the epilogues. 20.10, B11, and then yeah, there's six epilogues and then end.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah but it's a year about twenty Here we go. Holy shit. We're getting there. Oh my god, we're so... Wait.
Speaker: We only have two chapters. We have... We have a chapter, an interlude, a chapter, six epilogues, and an end. Yeah. Yep.
Speaker: So we only have two, like, chapter chapters from Victoria's perspective left. From Victoria's POV, yeah. Holy shit. Depending on how the epilogues are written, yeah. Oh, that puts it in such awful perspective. And I, oh, I hate it. I hate it. i I don't want it to end this way. oh.
Speaker: oh getting very final it feels so final it really does like it feels like we've been in limbo so long that we've now come to such an abrupt end that it's like shit I guess the world's really ending this time like ugh ugh I just i hate the idea of the anti-parahumans winning and fuck em yeah yeah yeah Yeah, really, that's what it's about. It's about spiting those normies.
Speaker: Those unpowered muggles. Yeah. um it is those Leaving Middle Earth. yeah Yeah. It looks like we have a bingo. a A double bingo, in fact. oh Whoa! Double bingo.
Speaker: As Alan rants, Nick Ghostful Teacher, Chevalier Glazing, Sleeper Anticlimax ah for one, and then Squick, Thought Imp Was Dead, What the Hell Is Wrong With Chris, and Torso Is Funny.
Speaker: What is Squick? ah Like being grossed out by something. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Fair enough. We did, we did play the Chevrolet right at the end there.
Speaker: Yeah. It's not good in. Nice one. Yeah. There was, there were some earlier Chevrolet glazing as well. And we have a little bit at the beginning. Yeah. I mean, I'll always, if he's if he's mentioned, will play him. Yeah, that's right. You just need some of those worship songs just with plays him instead of praise him.
Speaker: No. No, we don't. Do we? Do we? Do we? I don't think so. Praise him. you could do it do do don't think so play sir Completely unrelated, but if you guys have never gotten a nonstick pan and taken a fresh Krispy Kreme glazed donut and then toasted that glazed donut in a nonstick pan so you can caramelize the donut and then eat a crunchy Krispy Kreme, quite delicious.
Speaker: That just sounds like a like a way to make creme brulee, but on a donut. That sounds amazing. kind of is. It's amazing. yeah Also, it's great for anybody else that hasn't seen it, there's a cat on screen.
Speaker: Oh, well, now that you pointed him out. There she is. Now the entity has returned. yeah Sleeper, the entity. Sleeper, for sure. I still enjoy the the fit the fan theory that that Sleeper is just a cat that got had a trigger event.
Speaker: I don't think that's a fan theory. I think we made that up. instead we demand that our theory Are we got hat sleeping and we not fans? Are we not capable of fan theorizing? more meant it's just like the way it was said makes it sound like I really like this thing that somebody came up with. Some genius. It could have been anybody. Many people are saying it's a real fan fiction. We came up with it.
Speaker: We're trendsetters. What can we say? ah Man, I've been setting so many trends. i was going say. We've been trending all over the place. Oh, did you guys see? don't know if I can't remember if I showed this, but we had somebody who found us, commented on a TikTok that I posted years ago when we were first doing Wyrm. And they were like, so happy I found you guys and also been listening to this at work. And it just like made my day. I'll send you the screenshot. think they started following us on Instagram or something too. And I was like... Oh, did they really? We haven't been posting on Instagram in ages. we haven't posted. I think we stopped posting there like halfway through the first... Maybe not even that far. Maybe arc 10.
Speaker: Maybe arc 10 and one. I could have sort of posted stuff up through like 15, but maybe not. it just It's too much work and we don't care. yeah i want said to You know our motto here at Rocking and Club.
Speaker: simple simple Thank you. but There it is. Bring it back. Yep. yeah I thought our tagline was milk. not and Not anymore. It's simple now. Not anymore. It's now simple milk. Simple simple milk.
Speaker: Simple milk. Simple milk. I love the idea. I love the idea of a t-shirt that just says BBBC Simply Milk. Seriously.
Speaker: It writes itself. I mean, tell tell tell me where he's wrong. You know? You can't. Listen, I'm always trying to come up with new merch ideas, so. I love it.
Speaker: That's right. oh Is that another bingo? That's another double bingo. Another triple bingo? a wango ba and For treaty this time, sleeper anticlimax, was Vicky right debate, cat on screen, Hannah cries, and then Alan rants, squick, milk goes full teacher, and sleeper anticlimax.
Speaker: Look at that. Easy. Easy. GG. Speaking of a GG.
Speaker: Do we have any theories on what is going to happen in these final two POVs from Victoria and the end times?
Speaker: Oh.
Speaker: and butford God. Well, there's another cat on screen. Yeah. yeah He's like a little void entity, too. Yeah. Yes. Nope.
Speaker: I mean, ob void entity I feel like i I didn't know how this was going to end. And when we started talking about some sort of something that we were going to pass around, like, gosh, I the only thing I could think of to end it is that people are going to agree They're going to slip into that dark abyss and the ah humans, the non-parahuman humans will be safe and they will rebuild. And that's the new world is that congratulations. We're back to boring earth.
Speaker: Yeah. I like i like to
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, that fits with the ending I've been predicting, which is the the Devil May Crybaby ending, or at least half of it, where like a lot of people are dead. it Basically, everything's gone. Blank slate.
Speaker: um You know, the world has ended. i i wonder, though, um if there won't be, not quite a deus ex machina moment, but a It's not going to be as bad as it seems. like Somehow they find a way almost to like eat eject the shards without killing the people who they've attached to.
Speaker: um like I could easily see something like that happening where some people die but some people don't and it's like overall the shards get ejected and they move on um you know The cycle continues so to speak but without this earth being involved.
Speaker: At the same time I think i I do see it. here's ah Fran actually mentioned something I was thinking about too. How are we going to kill Amy in the remaining chapters?
Speaker: I think as one like last act of goodwill, I could see Amy shaking Victoria's hand and accepting it, right? like I could see that being something. I don't want that because that implies a bit of redemption for Amy, but I could see that being a direction that goes. It'd be great if Amy agrees it.
Speaker: If Amy agrees to it, and then Victoria doesn't. Like, never have it. No, no. She agrees to it, then Victoria just punches a hole through her heart. Yeah. there's There's too many epilogues for this to be the way it happens, but what i And this could be... because I feel like I've heard the ending of Ward is controversial, but this could be a way it happens. Imagine this where... the ending?
Speaker: Amy... Well, right. ah Amy is like, Victoria, I want to take the the virus. Victoria, Hems and Halls, whatever, eventually does.
Speaker: In that handshake moment, amy so Amy, who can't use her powers on herself, is like, I've got it now. But you're fine. And then like does the whole like reverse trick and saves Victoria from her own plan. That would be a very Amy thing to do. It would be a very amazing what is the oh amy would be yeah it' that so Amy. so Amy.
Speaker: oh Oh, look, making choices for other people. Yeah, exactly. Classic Amy. If she does... be that happening
Speaker: I don't want them touching. That's valid. Amy anywhere near Victoria's at capacity. Of course. Poil sniper from mile
Speaker: pass of course of course oil sniper from a mile away yeah yeah Exactly. yeah down if They're about to handshake and Victoria pulls back and Amy realizes she's on an X marks the spot.
Speaker: yeah A giant handball drops in the sky. i was going to say, bullet goes through her head and then we do a reverse shot like the end of Wanted where we track the bullet all the way back like a mile away.
Speaker: yeah Oh my gosh. yep Exactly. Coil sniper saves the world. Hey, there you go. I still think he shoots out everybody's Corona Polentia at the same time.
Speaker: Wonted style curved bullet just goes to everybody. Exactly. yeah um Just keeps curving. Here's a thought. So as they're passing this virus around and the entity kind of like has this moment of like, oh shit.
Speaker: Oh shit. Okay. Well, Fuck. And then we have this moment between the entity and whichever human is going to represent the pair of humans have a conversation in this like weird half in between half awake, half asleep shard space where they basically like, they're like, okay, well, listen, if you all do this to yourselves, you're crippling me. Like we can't fucking do what we're supposed to do. What what what we're, you know, DNA ingrained to do.
Speaker: And you're going to you're willing to do all of this. like This seems so stupid. So let's just come to an agreement that you give us 500 years.
Speaker: And in 500 years, that's when we'll...
Speaker: you know And you get 500 years to figure out how you want to stop us in the meantime. But like let's just keep playing this game. Let's just keep cops and robbers-ing it, basically. yeah i That could be interesting, but I feel like that almost leans into a potential for a sequel.
Speaker: And I feel like Wild Bo's leaning more into finality. Don't think anymore is coming because it's not. No, I don't think so either. Well, i that's the only other solution that I can think of where that people don't die. yeah Because theyre otherwise it's like everyone's just going to die.
Speaker: And i don't i can't I can't think of anything else. That's all I've got. Either everybody dies or you know the shards are separated and can't reconnect and all that kind of stuff. and then yeah Those feel like the only two types of of endings we're going to get. So I'm curious if that's what it is or if we're going to get something different that we're just kind of not on the right track for. For sure. I'd much rather that much be it.
Speaker: I'd rather be like totally shocked. Oh no. The whole thing. We're still in the dream space. Oh my gosh. Mama Mathers has us all under her spell.
Speaker: This this is, this is all all this is, is the vision that Taylor has right before the second bullet hits. like ah And it comes out and just back all the way up.
Speaker: Oh my gosh. There you go. Yeah. he did it Wow, that was crazy. or what was the What was the one where like somebody was like, the last ending is just Tattletail putting down a comic book and being like, and Chicken Little, you suck at writing.
Speaker: yeah yeah yeah Peace. and Yeah. Alright. Well.
Speaker: wherewa Well, well, well. Okay. So when are we meeting again, people? ah I believe we said
Speaker: due to holidays and conflicts. Yeah. So a week from today, we have a holiday and then two weeks from today, conflict. So we're doing the 21st, September 21st. Just dragging this out.
Speaker: Listen. Well, I'll be dragging the odds. Nevermind. Yeah, go on. plus it I was trying to combine a Defiant and a Dragon Deez Nuts joke, and I couldn't make it work.
Speaker: but ah Dragon Defiance? Dragon Defiance Nuts? Dragon Defiance Nuts? yeah Yeah, yeah. mike Michael, but you between you and Hannah, you're onto it.
Speaker: A homeschool high five. a let's go. um so yeah, the 21st of September, um we are finishing everything, right, Alan?
Speaker: We're finishing three the rest of War. dress and then And then we're doing like wrap-up episode. We'll do a recap. Yeah, it won't be our last live stream. Definitely not. yeah Stay tuned.
Speaker: J-Man, you have the suggestion to read Wildbo's post-war blogs after you hit the end to discuss the last episode. Do you think that would be better for a wrap-up um or a like in the last of the arcs? Because I feel like that's a...
Speaker: rap Yeah, like a wrap-up thing. I would say that's ah like a wrap-up thing. So we we focus on the ending ourselves and then we read his thoughts and include that in the wrap-up when we talk about Ward as a whole.
Speaker: Yeah, because I would also like to potentially get my own thoughts and feelings and then y'all's thoughts and feelings about like from the source material and then yeah later look at it with the context of WildBose blogs because I think that those being separate things.
Speaker: Okay. Yeah. Yeah, we'll save them for the wrap-up. Undiluted, you know. Yeah.
Speaker: J-Man agrees. Perfect. Perfect. I okay think, yeah, there should be some extra stuff in there that I'd like to, you know, before calling it a full wrap on ward, I think we definitely will be doing the breakdown. I think, uh, maybe we have a, like I said, a rewrite, uh, or adaptation talk.
Speaker: Um, you know Honestly, we' like what would we cut out? What would we leave in type thing? And then maybe maybe even an arc tier list. And I know y'all don't remember, so could very briefly go over it's kind of what happens in the arcs.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly. yeah And then apparently we have to read the fanfic about Contessa... I'm going to assume beaking bread is baking bread. Contessa baking bread. Contessa baking bread. Or is it Contessa breaking bed?
Speaker: ah Or is it Contessa baking bed? We got to cook. but Oh, no. I hope it's not. No. I think it's time to go to bed. It's officially 1030.
Speaker: yeah Let's hear something from Big Dog real quick. Join the Patreon. Please come and join the Patreon. Why don't you just join the Patreon?
Speaker: Come support us and join the Patreon. Please help us and join the Patreon. have fun. Join the Patreon. It's great to join the Patreon.
Speaker: Why don't you just join the Patreon? Come on, come on. You might be asking yourself, is the Patreon really worth it?
Speaker: ah you and me haven't heard that one in a while. yeah It's just us. My eyes are up here. All right, guys. We'll see you on the 21st.
Speaker: Thanks for being patient with the schedule, but we're dragging it out. We so we don't want it to end. Exactly. Goodbye. we'll see you soon. Goodbye. Thank you. Bye, friends.
Speaker: Join the Patreon.
