Transcript
Speaker: Worm is a web serial by J .C. McCray, also known as Wildbo. You can read Worm in its original format by visiting parahumans ah .wordpress dot .com or donate to Wildbo's Patreon at patreon dot .com slash wildbo. This story isn't intended for young or sensitive readers. Readers who are on the lookout for trigger warnings are advised to give Worm a pass. For a complete list, check the description for all of Worm's trigger warnings.
Speaker: Good evening, Brockton Bay. Where are the travelers now? And where did they come from? In this hard -hitting episode, we will follow their tragic tale. Move on over to the rest of our news crew and the Brockton Bay Book Club. but Jacob, what do you think? I was not prepared to pick up in this format. ah a It's snowy out here and in Wisconsin. Oh.
Speaker: I'm sorry. Hannah legitimately like got lost and I was like, no I should, I should have passed it on to the e -sports expert. Yeah. Jacob. Yeah. There we go. Jacob sports field. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Picking it up. All right. Well, we I mean, just, just to not confuse the audience too much here. Welcome back everybody to the Brockton Bay book club reading and discussing Worm by JC McRae. How's everybody doing here? Oh, you know, living our best life. you know vibe Thriving and not a eyeball covered freak monster. Unaliving. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Vibing, thriving and not unaliving. I like it. Put it on a shirt.
Speaker: um a and We are in arc 17 of worm feels like we're just, um we're just cruising. I want to say having read this, we are a officially at the 50 % mark. No way. Is that right? That's exciting. i mean According to my Kindle's percentage, we are 50 % of the way through this book. Holy macaroni. And it would never lie to us. Kindle has never lied to me. I love Kindle. Well, we've got a fun arc. Arc 17 is a whole interlude arc about our favorite ragtag group of ah dimension hoppers and the travelers. Yeah. With only one L. Travelers one L as it turns out. Yes.
Speaker: Yes. One L in that word. I say that and I look and ah Hannah has also spelled it with two L's. I have spelled it with two L's. Because that's how I've always i spelled it. i I will blame this on, uh, on, um, steam Rick from, from space battles, warms, synopses. I'm so sorry. She didn't, she didn't mean it. She didn't mean it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I would never say that about Steamerick. I know. He's been so helpful. They've been so helpful. Steamerick, get yourself an editor. These summaries have been very helpful and I very much use them and reference them constantly. And because of that, I definitely spelled travelers with two L's. I have always spelled travelers with two L's. And Jacob pointed out, I forget if we talked about this before, that that's because there is an RPG.
Speaker: spelled that way. And, uh, but, but I also haven't played that RPG until a few years ago. And I've definitely always spelled that travelers in my head with two L's anyway. So I personally would like to think this is just a failing on wild those behalf, um, that he just, you know, when you're editing and you're writing through, sometimes you just miss so misspell things constantly and consistently. um and just kind of glaze over it. But it is in fact supposed to be spelled with two L's and we all know this. I was gonna say, do not talk about our Lord and Savior, Waldo, in that way. Actually, this is probably a good time to ask. I was gonna ask this before we started recording, but because I know I'm gonna get it wrong, how how is the end bringer's name pronounced? Ooh, Simmerk.
Speaker: I disagree. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I also have my whole life pronounce it like your entire life. entire house is first one i was Yeah. Nick was there. Daddy Nick was there. yeah I also thought because of how they mispronounce it, they said, isn't it like that Smurf thing to which I read it. Simmer. Right. That's how I yeah. so Up until prepping for this podcast, like not this episode, but this recent thing where like I you know was like looking up the pronunciations because I would hear people say it on the audio books and I, there are some that they just got wrong and didn't consistently stick with not their fault. You know, it was all over the place there. Um, but yeah, they just said like Simmer and I'm like, the what?
Speaker: That's how I've always read it. i mean Yeah, I've pronounced it Simmerg. But ah Jacob, what did what were you saying was the pronunciation? Well, Alan alluded to it in this arc. So I call it Simmerf. Because in this arc, I forget who it is, which one of them says it. yeah They go, oh, it's the Smurf. And then ah Jess or one of them corrects and says, no, Simmerf. So like if, if the mispronunciation is Smurf and it would stand to reason that people are just mishearing Simurf. Simurf. All right. So this is what the, this is, please don't want to reread this. This is what the Wiki says. Pronounced C. Seymour. Seymour. Seymour. Seymour. So I think, I think the one thing though, cause I've in my head, I've always pronounced it Simorg or Simorg. Um,
Speaker: That's the UK English, apparently. Yeah. The Merg or Seymour. Oh, is it the old Seymour? Seymour. Seymour. But no, um, I, I've always pronounced it Simmerg and I think it's important to know though that they're not from, well, we'll get into this later. They're not from the universe or yeah, the universe where the Simmerg is. Yeah. So I don't know. I could see it being like, you've heard it in passing. You know, like if you had never heard of Jennifer Aniston and he thought her name was Jennifer Allison, you know. Yeah, right. Fair, fair. Benedict Cumberbun? Yes. Yeah, no, that makes sense. for For the sake of this podcast and for the sake of my sanity, I am going to pronounce it Seamerg.
Speaker: or Simorg, because that is how ah my brain reads it. That's fine. I'm sure there will be so too many Reddit comments. To justify that, ah the Simorg is a, it's a ah bird in Persian mythology, which knowing where Wild Bo likes to get a lot of his names wouldn't surprise me if if that's how we found it. ah So Simorg would be correct. Simorg. Okay. The Simorg. Yeah. That's what we're going to go with. Yep. It hurts me, but one I will concede. We've discussed spellings and pronunciations for seven minutes. This is good. We warned people. This is the podcast that everybody has signed up for. They know what they're getting into it. Do they? Do they though?
Speaker: and did by now They should by now. They should by now. yeah they should And how about those stories? If you've made it this long. Right. let's You know what? This is a great a great time to jump in. So because most of our arcs are so broken up into like kind of sectionsy, and this arc is very kind of one continuous little story thing, we're going to just go chapter by chapter. And we're not gonna group anything up ah so we're gonna start with with chapter one we open on Kraus and his friends they meet up and kind of learn about their dynamic their Games they play and then all of a sudden bam the building gets transported and
Speaker: Man, they are. We don't know that at this point. Well, that's true then bam, there's an earthquake. Yeah. really things are top I mean, we we know now, but we know the time the characters did not know. That's true. That's true. This is this entire arc is a great example of writing for writing like in the style of the character again, because as we've shown like trickster's power, uh, is, you know, the whole switcheroo thing. And right off the bat, we get, um, you know, him doing his little switcheroo in the group with him and Cody, and then also like thematically, they get switcheroo to another world. So like, I, I just, I appreciate the theme of switching places.
Speaker: being not just an individual thing, but a thematic device as well that's going on. Well, and it's the whole like his power is not just switching, but it's sort of this idea of replacement and they are forced to replace, you know, they're forced into a place where their world has been replaced with a new world and their dynamic has been replaced with a new dynamic and they have to figure out how to live in this. and they sort of replace their old identities with new ones as later they take on powers and things and become the travelers that we know. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a, it's wild. I do love this first arc though, because Kraus, trickster, he's always been an ass. It's felt. And this just confirms it so much. Like I don't like Cody either. I'm not saying that there's any justification for the way this guy behaves.
Speaker: Yeah, Cody, it feel like it's the difference between somebody who's just like, you look at somebody and be like, man, you're kind of an asshole. Like you're doing no, like you're not, like I don't, like sometimes I don't always mind, but you are an asshole, you know, versus Cody who's like, wow, you're just a real piece of crap. And I don't want to spend any more time around you voted off the team. Yeah, I like that we had plenty of time to get to know the Travelers as characters before this interlude. Because if this was like the first chapter of the whole story, you i you would hate the all of these people so much. You would feel sorry for like Jess and Noelle and maybe Oliver a little bit. And then the rest of them, you're like, you all suck. You're the worst people ever. What is wrong with the with the whole but bunch of you?
Speaker: Yeah, I it's funny because I actually I I really like Kraus and i've always really liked trickster and so This all this whole arc has only solidified that I really still like Kraus still really like trickster and cody's just a piece of shit Like I like everything that cody does like at one point like he says something like well, I care about noelle Like that's what I care about Like, he's just such a jerk and i'm I'm not surprised at all that they're all like, yeah, we're voting him off the team. Like, off you go. Goodbye. Like, yeah. Bye. I'm cool with it. he's a He's like the ultimate Reddit white knight person. Oh, no. We have so many Reddit listeners. We got to be really careful. ah No, no, not Redditers in general. Redditers are great. They're fine. ah I've experienced some great karma on there and had some good times on Reddit.
Speaker: I mean like the guy who's like browsing the incel forums and like, why can't I ever get a girl? Meanwhile, he hasn't showered in five weeks. Oh yeah. yeah Okay. yeah That's like not who I was thinking. I was i was was thinking literally somebody just needlessly jumping into like the thing to defend someone, you know? And then that part of it too. Yeah, exactly. That part of it too. Yeah. So I'm not a nerd enough to understand what that what a white knighting means. Oh, boy. Oh, you know what? I don't need to know. No, no, it's not as bad as you think. It's just white knighting is, you know, the girls at the bar and then the white knight is the guy who stows his like steps up and is like, the lady said, leave her alone. Oh, Jesus. Yeah, no, that's yeah. Yeah, that's that's what I mean. That's Cody, not Redditors. That's right. Yeah. OK, we're good. We're good. We're good. We're good.
Speaker: Yeah. i mean I want to like Kraus so much because there's a lot of things that make sense that he, you know, thinks through and then he does it. And, you know, if he could just help himself for a second, you know, like Cody's going to be a dickhead. We all know this. Let him do his dickhead thing. Like you don't need to be, you don't need to do that extra dig. You really don't. And. you know I get that that's his flaw. I feel like he holds back quite a bit. There are plenty of times when he like thinks about it and then doesn't. So like I feel like he showed a great amount of restraint thus far. He does, but there's clearly like ah like him barging into the room when they're like, we're going to break it to Cody, let us do that. He didn't need to go in that room. He really didn't. And he made that that's true just that much harder. And it's little things like that where like,
Speaker: You know, he doesn't even necessarily do it with ill intent sometimes, but he just makes it more difficult because he's got to throw himself in there and, and to have, you know, have his word and it's just, it's so frustrating. I think, I think the word is smug. He's very smug. Yeah. And he, I don't, again, I don't know that he does it always intentionally, but yeah he's the kind of person who's like, I'm better than you. And I know that I am. and I feel bad for you that you can't accept it, sorry. Yeah, I would say I don't even think it's that. Like i like there is that, but I don't get the tone of voice that he's that much, um that it's that. Hmm, how to put it. Like I think he has resting smug face for sure. Like I don't think that he can go to neutral with his facial expressions and not have a quirk at the corner of his mouth that just makes you want to slap him.
Speaker: I think he he's got what the doctors call main character syndrome, which is for sure. Yeah. Which is ironic in this whole story. Yeah. um and Well, I mean, in one of the, from what I remember, I think the travelers were one of the experiments to find a character to write the world of worm through. um Because I think one of the original formats was not a person learning powers, but a a group of people because. And you're right. He Kraus does have main character syndrome. He just feels the necessity to substitute himself into whatever's going on so that he can get the last word. He just has this compulsion to just constantly be irritating people by inserting himself into stuff. Um, otherwise he'd be a decent human being.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, I think you nailed his personality in this first chapter when he chooses to walk into the room when the group is deciding what to do just to piss Cody off, essentially. Yeah. That's like, that's what he's doing. Was it to piss? I mean, was it to piss Cody off or was it just to say something? Uh, you know, and it just has the byproduct of pissing Cody off because Like I doubt there's anything Krause could have done that would have not pissed Cody off because Cody's pissed off. Yeah. Good point. He just had to, he just had to be the one to do it. Yeah. I think, I think that we can find an interesting parallel here too, between Krause and Taylor because we have two characters who
Speaker: Usually even if they won't admit it they would say that they know better than other people around them yeah, they know the best thing for everybody around them and Whereas with Kraus it becomes more about Noel and focus solely on her For Taylor, maybe it's a bit more broad. Maybe it's a bit wider, you know talking about the city or Diana or however, you know, whatever focus she has at the moment but I think they're both characters who have a hard time looking at themselves and recognizing, I might have a problem with thinking that I know better than literally everyone around me all the time. Because I think we see in both of them, they just make decisions. They don't ask people. They just decide, I'm going to do this. This is the right thing to do. And I'll make it work out later with people. I think Kraus goes into it and knowingly, like that he's going to irritate people.
Speaker: And sometimes he does that on purpose, whereas Taylor just does it and doesn't really think about the ruffling feathers part. And that blind kind of like, you know, she doesn't have a shit eating grin on her face. So when she does something, it's like people have to go, okay, why did she do this? Cause she's got a neutral face put on. Whereas with Kraus, you assume it's because he's a piece of shit. That's true. Yeah, yeah, that's true. And a weird way, like does that come back to the fact that like maybe Kraus has had friends and like has grown up in a group and like had people around him as opposed to Taylor who's been very solitary? Because I feel like that that kind of shit -eating grin, like the smirkiness, it comes from... The attention like if you're not getting any attention your your your i don't know your response tends to shift so like if he is constantly getting. Like affirmation for you know the things that he does and people like i was an asshole but like they clearly still hang out with him and like enjoy him as part of the group dynamic.
Speaker: But Taylor doesn't necessarily have that to play off of because she's never... like The idea of being the class clown, like well, yeah, you you have to be you know interesting in a class to be the class clown. like Well, if you're constantly ignored and bullied and stuck in the back corner and everyone forgets that you're there, then you can't be the class clown. So like why would you you know no to do the smirk face and know to... you Whatever. And so like even though they both have a very similar you know, like idea of, Hey, I and know it's best I'm making the right decision. Like Kraus kind of has more of that like group mentality as opposed to Taylor, who's a little bit more solitary minded. Yeah. Kraus knows how to move socially and yeah Taylor does not. Does not, not even a little bit poor thing.
Speaker: Kraus is trying to make moves to his advantage socially and Taylor is trying to survive. Yeah. Oh, yeah. They're sort of like, uh, two sides of the same coin. Yeah. It's sort of two sides of the same coin where Kraus is the extrovert and Taylor's the introvert. They both think they know better. It's just that Taylor works better in the background and Kraus is better upfront. Yeah. Until he's not, as we see kind of connected to the present. Yeah. Uh, the thing I think we actually left off on, uh, now that I remember was talking about main characters and how, um, I think wild though actually wrote the travelers, if I remember right, to explore this world with a dynamic of group, a group of people who have pretty good powers figuring out how to operate as a group. Um, it's something that he doesn't really work on till later in, uh, not the seek, not this, but a ward.
Speaker: Um, his other superhero work is almost all about team dynamics and, uh, also not packed, but, um, shoot twig twig is also a focus on, um, essentially a Kraus character. Honestly. Um, if, if he was with a group as well and the group dynamics and how they shift and what goes on there. and Um, so. And I personally really like it when he writes groups. um I think i think his his ability to manage dynamics and dialogue between groups, especially in Twig later on when he's got people who know each other and have worked with each other, them like doing you know a good cop, bad cop routine is, oh my goodness, it's like chocolate on paper. It's it's delicious. char And, and unfortunately you have a dysfunctional group here, so it's not as satisfying to see them. Um, because, and we also don't really get to see them work together. I think the only time we've gotten to see them at best is when they fought the wards with weld, um, all the way back in like arc, what is that nine?
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Like, and and and you really don't get to see them do their like, it doesn't, it doesn't, you don't, you don't feel the, the, the flow as much. You just know that they're better than the wards and they're just launching them into the stratosphere. Um, but, but you don't feel that they are working as a team as well as they are just overpowering them with their individual abilities.
Speaker: Well, and I think it's interesting too, we can talk about why they're a team, which I really like as a setup. that you have a group of super nerds who are likely to become professional e -sports gamers. These losers, of course they play League of Legends. That's basically what it is. No wonder these people can't. It's just not League of Legends. I have to defend my fellow League of Legends. You're right, Jacob. League of Legends players are much worse than whatever these guys are. I was going to say, they would have killed each other before the teleportation even happened.
Speaker: Like if they were in the same room, goodness gracious. I'm just kidding. Um, I've only played league like twice, so I have no idea, but the building gets teleported. Do you know how many monster cans would have like, you know, fallen on Noel and suffocated her? Okay. the only The only context I have for knowing how League players players feel about League is after the, this is a side tangent too so we can cut this out if need be, but um there was a Reddit post shortly after Arcane came out. that have like 30 ,000 karma. And it was just somebody saying, you've seen the show, Arkane. And you might think to yourself, I should try playing League of Legends. I've been playing League of Legends for 10 years. Don't do it. I will say I loved Arkane and i i I will never play League because I just is not the kind of game that I would ever want. yeah yeah um anyway If you want to know what game ah they were playing,
Speaker: It's called a ransack. Um, it was invented by wild though, a video game that he actually, uh, has a Google doc that you can look up, uh, called ransack intro. And it's got an introduction. It's a two or three teams of four race to defeat an enemy overlord controlled by the enemy's fifth team member, which if you look at the characters. Uh, the main one in the top left, which is, you know, the red team, uh, it's overlord character is a giant tentacle monster with an eye.
Speaker: oh Interesting. And it's like a, it's like a big slide show thing for like, it's like 31 pages, 31 slides detailing what the game would kind of look like. Um, you know, it's, it is supposed to be a design little notes for making a video game. um And it it actually, you know, sounds kind of fun. Basically your overlord makes a dungeon on the fly while you're in and populates it with traps and monsters while your party goes through the other people's dungeons and you know, in defeating stuff makes money so that you can continue to build up your dungeon. And then eventually you make it to the dungeon boss, which is the overlord. And then you have to fight them.
Speaker: You know, and defeat them. What a writer. That sounds really fun. I want to play it. That sounds really cool. Yeah. It's such a wider thing to do, to be like, hey, so I need my characters for like one third of a chapter to be playing a video game. I'm going to make the entire video game yeah have a whole separate document just for this. Like, okay. Yeah. It's kind of like, uh, what's that one game where if you kill the people, um, crawl? Yeah, it's crawl. I think where you play the monsters and you're trying to kill the one hero.
Speaker: yeah oh interesting and other way It's like that, but if you had multiple teams doing that at the same time, yeah little that'd be fun. Any more thoughts on chapter one before we move on to chapter two? ah Let's see, oo friend group trying something. what ah I will say they they kind of skim over it, but what a traumatizing moment when, just to find out that one of them's immediately dead, right? Yeah. So, because we know these characters, right, we go into this arc, this whole section, thinking, okay, we know who Oliver is, we've heard of him, we've heard of Jess, Marissa, like Luke, like we we know those names, we've heard them mentioned before. Did you hear Marissa or did we hear Mars? Mars, I think we've heard Mars, but they call her Mars Marissa pretty quick, so we know who they're talking about. So,
Speaker: What's interesting to me is we immediately go in knowing, okay, Chris and Cody, those are two names. We don't know what, who they are. And then Chris just gets off immediately. Yeah. Chris gets off immediately. Uh, in the most horrible way too, it sounds like getting your head split open by a bookshelf. gosh Yeah. i So yeah, just kind of an interesting immediate dynamic. And of course the urgency, Noelle is hurt. They don't know it's wrong. She's unconscious. The building is sideways. So they're like sliding down the side of the building. Yeah. It's snowing. It's awful. Like this, I remember this being like one of the most awful arcs just to read environmentally, if that makes sense. Yeah. and And you've got that scream that they start talking about, like they can hear the scream in their head. Yeah. Just be quiet.
Speaker: Well, it's funny that you said that, Nick, about the names because honestly, other than Noel, I i don't remember anybody's names or didn't remember anybody's name. So going into this, this whole arc was me being like, shit, I wonder, like I pretty quickly, i I guess, like, okay, I think I'm pretty sure Kraus is trickster, but I'm not positive. Yeah. And it's tough because in my head I'm thinking like, and then there's bitch boy. And then I realized that applies to basically everyone in the group. And I'm like, fuck. Well, I mean, it's also the numbers game. Like in your head, you're counting like, okay, how many traveler members are there? Okay. And how many people are here? Like shit. Fuck. Like I don't, like someone's missing, like something's missing. Like I'm missing something. Am I not remembering it correctly? But like it's interesting because this entire game, was this entire game of this arc was like, okay, wait, who's who? Who else is going to die that I'm not like expecting?
Speaker: When I think it might've been to this time, the benefit of the second read, because this is one of the arcs that I remember very vividly on my first read. Uh, not again, all the details specifically, but there's a lot of stuff in here that I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I was reading it and going, Oh yeah, I remember that scene. Like it all just immediately was coming back to me. So that might be part of it too, is just the, the benefit of the second read just kind of knowing, okay, I know who you guys are. But even that, I still forgot who Cody was and what happened to him. So. It's cool. Hannah has a brain of a goldfish. It's fine. I love that the early, the early, uh, kind of planting to, uh, cause obviously reading this for the first time don't really realize that they are not from earth bet. Right. And so like, uh, the language that wild boat uses, like, why is she here? All this kind of stuff. It's really well written.
Speaker: in the sense that like you don't you're not clued into the fact that they are not where they're supposed to be right away, which is ah well done. That reveal is a gut punch. And we'll get there. For sure. Yeah, absolutely. I'll go ahead and move on to chapter two then, if y 'all are ready. We'll do it for it. um ah Yeah, so the group dislikes the Simmerg's choice of music in their heads. ah They're climbing through the building to try and get out. ah And the Simmerg dumps a bunch of monsters onto the city as she and Sion fight in the sky over the city.
Speaker: i love the imagery that Wild Bo paints for us of how the Simerg fights. It is like graceful and elegant and beyond that it's like perfect because she is a precog. So she's like in my mind, it's, it's the epitome of how the Jedi should be fighting when you watch Star Wars. It's like perfectly predicting your opponent's movements like yeah and just ever so subtly shifting so that you don't get hit by something. It's really graceful, really fun to read. You get a, you get a really ah neat image of, of the way she fights Sion there.
Speaker: Well, except not Sion, because Sion, for some reason her powers don't work against Sion, but it is still, with the other heroes especially, this very graceful. Oh true, and right. and yeah and But she is a planner, right? You see that she is, all of all of the in bringers have felt, I don't know, the other two feel, they are smart, and we see that they are intelligent, like with Leviathan going for a very particular spot. But I don't know, they don't feel the same as the Simurg for some reason. in In that sense too, like you're saying, Jacob, where she is predicting moves, she's creating a copy of herself to distract Sion since she can't really deal with him. She's, you know, creating this portal to bring monsters from other universes, which is how, you know, the travelers got there was through this portal. Yeah. And it's not just, it's not just that she's making the portal out of nothing.
Speaker: Um, she's, she's stumbled into, uh, the original portal maker for the, uh, earth, the left bet portal, um, that started all this. She's broken into hay wires portal, like his, his, uh, stinker layer and is just ripping stuff out of there to make weapons. Yeah. And then like depositing it over the city, like opening up all of these crazy, but yeah Like you said, Jacob, it's really cool. Yeah. You get, you get the sense that she is very intentional in what she's doing. Like you get that with Leviathan too, but it's more of a general sense of destruction. Uh, where like with, with the Simmerg, like you can tell she's constructing something. She's building something specific for a specific purpose.
Speaker: She's more calculating. Yeah, exactly. We kind of saw that in that brief interlude with Amy in Panacea in the birdcage, where she tries to get a message to Dragon. Yes. Simberg sees it, right intercepts it, redirects it, changes it, and then it doesn't get to Dragon. It gets hidden away. So we kind of see that a little bit already, but seeing it, yeah, seeing it more in combat now. Yeah. We interrupt our scheduled program to bring you a word from our sponsor, Zencaster, a one -stop shop for all your podcasting needs. When we first started this podcast, we knew we needed a service that would let us record remotely. After doing some research, Zencaster was the obvious choice. We started using Zencaster and never looked back.
Speaker: It's super easy to record a podcast with Zencaster. All you do is log in, invite people to join your room, and start recording a high quality podcast right away. You can record studio quality sound and up to 4K video with your guests. You can rest easy even if you have an unstable connection, knowing Zencaster's multi -layered backups ensure you always have your recordings in the highest quality. We do all our recording in Zencaster. And when the episode is ready, we can distribute it to all major podcast platforms. Zencaster has made podcasting so much easier with its all -in -one podcasting platform and tools. Go to zencaster .com slash pricing and use my code BROCKTONBAYBC and you'll get 30 % off your first month of any Zencaster paid plan.
Speaker: I want you to have the same easy experiences I do for all my podcasting and content needs. It's time to share your story. That's zencaster .com slash pricing and use our code rockton bay BC. And now back to our scheduled programming. Bro, who's been exposed too long and you know, he's got the old alarm ban on and it just, you know, blows up battle royale style. Oh, yeah. Now, my question is, Dragon made those, right? That is the implication. yes so And correct me if I'm wrong, but Dragon's not allowed to do that, right?
Speaker: I mean, I would imagine that there's so many safeguards in place and like so many other things that had to be approved specifically because it's the simerg and that it's not just like dragon being like, okay, cool. I'm going to hit this button and like take somebody out. Like it's, it's probably a lot more complex than that. Yeah. Like i it's not, it's not all dragon tech. It's probably dragon tech plus other stuff. Cause I know she's, she's got, you know, when she makes her ah her flight of nine that gets absolutely dismantled against the undersiders. Like there was a lot of deadly components on there um that were only authorized for use against, like fully authorized for use against the slaughterhouse nine. And because of how dangerous they were, you know, that's how Taylor ultimately escapes um because of that.
Speaker: However, it just makes me think like, did she either get special permission for that or is there somebody who is just in the building you know with dragon where she's like, all right. You know, and he's like, can I press the button? She's like, I'm not allowed to say that. He's like, I'm pressing the button. And then like, literally you have a dude whose job is to like, press the red button when it lights up. He doesn't even have a camera. He just, that's, i know he has to do it. It's, it's every time she has, she goes to hit the button. It has that like, I am not a robot. And she has to like, slide her wheelie chair over, let somebody else click it. Yeah. Yes. there's so many fire hydrants are you Can you, uh,
Speaker: Can you click this little box right here for me? Thanks, David. You know, I think, I don't know. I wonder with Dragon's programming, if it's more of a, you know, she, she, her, eight whatever her blocks are only prevent her from certain things, but maybe there's kind of a built -in function that just says if end bringer, do whatever is necessary, right? Override all functions. Yeah, override all functions. What if it's if PRT? You know, if protectorate then override because like the, the armbands are created for the protectorate and the PRT and all the capes to come together and work together against and bring her. So like, maybe it has more to do with. Like the rules that are set in place, like who is in charge of you and who has given you permission to put these things in place kind of a thing.
Speaker: I don't know. It could also very well be that Dragon didn't design these armbands. Like we know she designed the ones for Leviathan's fight, but that was in in Legion with Armsmaster and they were their whole system. So it's very possible that at this point in the story, she's just the AI. Well, they don't know if she's an AI, but you know she's just the sort of tinker that's helping distribute everything, but a different, another tinker. Yeah, except she was teaming up with Bakuta for this one, apparently. Yeah. just ah Like imagine you're that hero and you didn't know that there was a bomb in the armpand. I probably knew going into this, but imagine you're just sitting there and you just hear like the beeping increasing. You're like, dragon dragon. What's that noise? Like any last words to your family dragon, your motherfucker. So cold. The whole, yeah. Oh, sorry. It's too late. We'll tell your wife that you fought. Well, like God, it's brutal.
Speaker: What were his last words at playing last words? Dragon, you motherfucker. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. basically we we um I mean, that's the thing that was okay. So what, what's interesting to me though, about this, and I don't know that I would call it an inconsistency necessarily, but just that. Dragon and the other heroes are willing to literally kill themselves if they've been around the Simurg too long and they're likely to to die. You know, this hero, not only was he around too long, but he couldn't escape and he was probably going to die anyway. So he just, they kill him, but they don't do that with just average civilians. It's not like after they beat the Simurg, they go through town and just kill everybody they find. Yes, there's a quarantine, but
Speaker: I don't know. It just feels like such different drastic measures. I guess maybe the idea is it's kind of hard to quarantine a superhero. So yeah. and they're I mean, it's the idea of like you, I'm going to just take a wild guess, say that you're not allowed to own a firearm after you get simmered. Like the the capacity for damage is so much higher if legend got simmered. You know, you're right. He's just taken or, you know, we'll take purity because we've seen purity level a city before. Imagine purity was doing that with like some really ill intent, you know, really do a, ah you know, a couple of hundred thousands people worth of damage as opposed to, you know, one dude decides to drive his car into
Speaker: a restaurant. like oh like It's terrible, but it's not purity leveling a city terrible. Sure, sure. I guess that makes sense too. Does it also maybe have to do with like vicinity? like Because you're fighting her, you're maybe a little bit closer to her as opposed to the poor people on the ground that are just stuck in the city. That could be true. Could be true as well, yeah. I would guess too. I would bet that, and this is a total guess because As is the case, my mind escapes me for so much of the story, but I would guess too that the Simmer probably targets capes more than civilians. Probably. So that I bet over time they've noticed that the effect is yeah more prominent amongst capes than just average people.
Speaker: And probably targets people that are going to trigger during an event because of the whole precog thing. And then you know if you're if you're doing the whole 10 -month quarantine that comes afterwards, like you have to go through so much ah you know psychological therapy that they would have found out if you had triggered and you had a power. So then you know then they can single you out and deal with that. But like the idea that yeah if if she knows that you're going to be a cape or you are a cape, Like, Oh, I'm going to mess with those people more because they have a higher capacity of, not higher capacity, but higher possibility of falling into the plan of, you know, that I'm orchestrating. They might, they have a higher chance of contracting the STDs. Thank you. But that's not the similar transfer diseases. right yeah yeah I think they call it similar transfer, uh, something else now. No.
Speaker: i I couldn't come up with something with I. No, that's fine. Appreciate the effort. That being said, uh, what the Simurg does do to you though, we finally see, uh, an arc three, if we want to move on to that chapter, uh, chapter three, not arc three. what that do Yeah. So the, so the group ends up hunkering down, um, and tempers flare up between Kraus and Cody. Um, they're just trying to. you know, ascertain everybody's wounds and figure everything out. And Kraus kind of comes to the realization of what what's going on where they are, kills a bird, um and they realize ah that they're they're on Earth, and they realize kind of the gravity of the Simurg situation. Speaking of gravity of the situation, like Simurg, first off, would. Second. yeah I can fix her. now I think she's thinking that she can fix you. Yeah. Fix you into a grave. ah I mean, is not the ultimate Domi mommy move mind control? hi car you know yeah ah Brockton Bayes. Michael, can we hit that real quick? I know you got the music. All right. You didn't know our new segment Brockton Bayes. Here's the new theme. Hit it.
Speaker: Now, without too much spoilers, we've heard about the three Endbringers, Leviathan, Behemoth, and Simurg. Uh, marry Fuckkill. yeah Oh, man. He's third. Oh. I'm marrying Behemoth. You're marrying Behemoth? Yeah. Interesting choice. Yeah, not what I would have picked. I think it looks so cuddly. He is warm, definitely warm. So warm. I think I'm... think I'm think of marrying Simurg, fucking Leviathan, killing Behemoth. I mean, I think honestly with that tale, Leviathan's gonna be fucking you with... Yeah. No? Uh -huh. I wanna switch that up. ah Go on.
Speaker: ah Elaborate. Fuck the Simurg, marry Leviathan, and kill Behemoth. i I also don't remember much about Behemoth. Hold on. Rule 34. No, I don't need that. I don't need that. No, thank you. i yes Yeah, no, yeah. Did you say Rule 34, Behemoth? You know what? I didn't even need the Rule 34 version. Oh, no. What did you say, Jacob? I said, I wonder if Leviathan is like a lube kinetic. Okay, that's what I was going i going with. is no That's what I thought you said. That's what I thought you said. That's great. I'm so glad we were hearing that.
Speaker: i alright I've never felt more close to this group. That's okay. I'll make it worse. ah The Bohusi, the Lebowski and the Smurfs. No, I can't! I can't! No, please!
Speaker: I will say, of all three of those, I feel like the simussy definitely rolls off the tongue the best. That end bringer seat. No, I don't. I love a good end, Bussy. um oh This concludes our segment. the brockman leadinging the theme song We're never having another one. it it one and that's it so not the panmi right there and because this ah People have been bitching for way too long about all the other heroes and villains and what kind of shipping. We're the only ones asking the real questions here.
Speaker: I point you to ah the why fucking King Ghidorah is not gay YouTube video for more context. All of you go look that up. okay Join us next time on the Brockton Bay is where we discussed ah Noel, thick queen or not. Oh, no. um Lord have mercy.
Speaker: All right. Back to our regular schedule. ah three you Man, finally seeing that bird just a smash in its head. Oh, that was kind of like, like I said, cause it feels like this is my first read through because there's so much I don't remember. I i didn't remember everything with this, the simmer, like what hurt, what she can do. And so seeing this bird just bash its head over and over and over and you kind of like get this like moment of like, you feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up and it's like, Oh, Oh shit. Oh, we are fucked. Aren't we? We are.
Speaker: We are fucked. like it it's that it Honestly, it's a if you guys have seen the Chernobyl show, it's kind of like that. It's like that moment where like you suddenly realize that like we're in a lot deeper than we ever thought we were. And what's worse is that like just by being here, just by breathing the air of this space, like we there nothing is ever going to go back to normal. like We have come too far. you know like oh I haven't seen Chernobyl, but I can imagine knowing this. Oh, it's so good. It's so good. like Nick, if you want to watch a horror movie with no monsters in it. Yeah.
Speaker: Oh yeah. Holy cow. It feels like it was shot like a horror, like a horror show. It was so well done. It's a pretty good comparison tone wise to this whole arc. Very similar sort of really eerie feeling. Yeah. Could we bring Craig Mize in just to do this episode? Yeah, do just bring him in. Yeah. yeah quick a Quick aside for the ah the dissecting worm. Quick aside here. Craig Wiesen, I think we tap him for this episode. I think he'd be great at it. Absolutely. Just give him a blank check. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Good sidebar. Good sidebar. Anyway, parking bay book club.
Speaker: Moving on. in plugin That's right. Chapter we're in. Also, I stay again. Cody and Krauss would be almost fine if they would just stop bringing up weird shit like who dated who first. Yeah, gosh, that feels like such a stupid thing. It was so weird. It feels like such a stupid thing from Cody. Like, are we really gonna talk about this now? Like, bro, you have got to get over that. Let it go. You have got to move on. The fact that this is still, like, it it is it is is the the the center it is the core of your issues and like you brought you it's been a while you gotta move on. ah really I'm trying to work as always with the way i think i try to find the angle where you know you kinda try to empathize with the worst characters. And for cody.
Speaker: I'm honestly having a harder time empathizing with him than with some of the less human characters. Like I'm like, no, no, no. Um, you know, uh, uh, like lung, I kind of get his vibe. Like I get his thing. Um, but me and Cody, it it is, I don't know. I think my only, my only guess for Cody, and it this is like way out there out of left field. My only guess for Cody is that he's a middle child. Oh, bless. Who has, never gotten anything without his siblings getting it too, right? He's the kid who, you know, he's experienced like, oh, you know, your mom says like, okay, when you're 10, you can finally watch that movie you've been wanting to. Oh, but your little sister who's eight, she'll get to watch it too, because you know, we don't want to leave her out. And that's just his entire life, right? And so when Kraus comes in and takes everything from him in his mind, of course, his perverted mind,
Speaker: It feels like that all over again. That's the only thing I can get maybe from Cody to try to sympathize with him. But no, yeah, he's still just ultimately, and of course it could be the Simarg messing with him too. I was about to say like that's all amped up with the Simarg as well. Like she's cranking all the dials in your head, like up to 11, you know, to amp up all of those feelings that might push you right over the edge, but it's still, it just, it feels like it, I mean, it makes sense for this to be the thing that he's hyperfixating on. Like that, that the, this is the thing that the similar can, you know, use to hyperfixate on, but like, it's so, he's so whiny. Let me tell you right now, if he, if nobody else was there, the amount of sexual insecurity he brought along from Madison, Wisconsin,
Speaker: ah He would find whatever earth bets Andrew Tate was and start following that tick tock account like right away. That's how the simmer gets. Yeah, that's how they do. There's kind of this funny thing where we're told that Oliver is really whiny. But we never see that. Code now. Yeah, it's almost like we only know that we only believe that Oliver is whiny and weak and like a simpering guy, only because Kraus tells us. But really, Oliver just never does anything. He's just kind of there. He's just quiet. He's just there, yeah. He's just happy to be here. Right. And in like a moment of panic, like, I understand not wanting to be the one to like step up and lead the group, which Kraus obviously, you know, step up, steps up and kind of does.
Speaker: And like the thing that is, is that like other than Cody, no one really fights him on that. Like no one really like says like, Hey, now you're not our leader. Like we should all be democratic about like, no, like everyone everyone's kind of like. Well, okay. You know, they get behind it because it's like, well, yeah, if you're in a position where things are kind of in crisis mode, like you do need someone to step up and make decisions. So like the fact that Kraus does it like good on him, but also like arrogant little bitch, but okay. Uh, and then Cody, you know, he's fighting back, but he's not fighting back because, you know,
Speaker: He's like, well, I disagree with the choices that you've made. He's fighting back because it's Kraus. Like he's only mad because Kraus is the one that's kind of stepped into this position. Like that's his only reasoning. If it was anybody else making the same decisions, you probably wouldn't have a problem with it. Like he would make, like he would say it makes sense. But because it's Kraus, he's going to get all up and bitchy about it. ooh
Speaker: And he sucks. I just really don't like him. it's it's his like like you You can be mad and be upset about it, but what is your fucking motivation, bro? like Is your motivation to like save the group and you don't feel like you know someone has the group's best interest in mind? Sure, that's a valid reason. like What is your valid reason? You don't have one? Yeah, that's what I thought. Sit down. Yeah. um You told him. And Oliver, Oliver's basically Theo, but with like a little more oomph. Not much, but like a little. But no, you tell it. No, not a chance. but Not a chance. Oliver is standing up. ah jack yeah Hear me out. Hear me out. No, no, no. Hear me out. Cause I agree with you. Stone cold motherfucker when it comes to like actually the nitty gritty.
Speaker: But I think in the everyday, like Oliver's a little bit more personable because I feel like he gets out more and hangs out with people. I don't think Theo does. I think Theo's just around a bunch of adults. We've also only seen Theo as like a young child. Yeah, we've interacted with him like 14. I thought he was like 11 when he confronted Jack, but maybe not. No, he's like 14 years old. And, uh, because yeah he's babysitting and then, uh, and then Oliver's only what? Like. 16 maybe. I imagine that they were all kind of like 16. I literally think the difference between them, because they both even talk about like they've kind of had a what's not that a forward parent. I don't know what I'm thinking of, like a parent who's got an overwhelming personality kind of work the ah work. Like an overbearing parent? An overbearing parent, maybe.
Speaker: ah No, that's not the right word, but just a a an ego -driven parent who's worked the personality out of them in one way or another. Yeah, because that was that was Oliver who had said like his mom was just like really crazy, right? Yeah. yeah um And she's so much that it kind of you know just mutes him. And for Theo, you know ah He doesn't want to be like his dad and purity sure as hell doesn't want him to be like his dad and his mom didn't want to be like his dad. So like he's basically had everything kind of whittle the machismo out of them. So he just lacks, you know, all the passion stuff. So I think they're very similar. I just think that Oliver's a bit more social because he has a group of friends and Theo does not. Now, like you said, I think that Theo stone cold motherfucker, but you I kill, I don't, you know, Oliver's not doing that in a million years.
Speaker: yeah Well, I guess, I guess more for me, the point is like, I look back over the SARC and if you were to ask me, name one thing that Oliver says or does. I can't just at the end of it. He's like, I'll do it. I'll take half the file. That's how in the background he is. Yeah. Let me take half of the burden. I'll do it. Yeah. That's, that's the only difference for the two with me. Whereas I feel like I can name, and obviously this comes up cause he comes up later maybe, but, uh, you know, I can name stuff that Theo said and did in his one chapter. I guess maybe he was more of the focal point, but you know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, you get to be fair, you get the purity arc or you get the purity chapter and then you get his chapter. So, but those are both like, he's got little things to do in those and it's kind of a small cast. This is a big cast of characters where your main focus is.
Speaker: literally everybody except for Luke kind of and Oliver. Um, and Jess, like your main personalities are Noel, uh, a little bit of Jess, a little bit of Luke, but mostly Cody and Kraus. So you're always focused on what they're doing. Oliver could say something, but it doesn't matter because like. I think it helps too, because as you're reading this, you're kind of piecing together who each of the travelers are back in the present day. like Kraus is easy to figure out, and well, obviously. And then you can piece together Jess, Marissa, and Luke pretty quickly.
Speaker: like oliver doesn't we' He's mentioned once or twice offhand. And we don't know what his powers are or anything like that. He's just sort of there. So it's also kind of just, he has way less to do with the story at present. So we just kind of, you know, put him onto the side where he belongs. Yeah. I just, my biggest note, especially for this chapter is God, this whole team is filled with little bitches.
Speaker: And I stand by my statement before, if I could line all of them, but, but, um, Mars up in a line and just run through and slap all of them. I do it. And then I'd turn around and slap Cody and Krause twice as valid as valid. um ah Let's keep, uh, let's keep, let's keep cruising onto to chapter four. Hmm. Okie doke. Chapter 4, the music or the screaming in their heads begins to amp up and we start seeing ah little flashbacks and memories. Kraus.
Speaker: fights off a few left in the city or perhaps dropped in the city and finds a mysterious briefcase. Okay, this is the second time I've read this arc and both times I think my mind just mentally cruises past. Where the hell did he find the briefcase? Why What? ah Literally anywhere. I don't remember. Cauldron leaves this shit everywhere. They have no op sec whatsoever. They just will throw briefcases left and right out of portals. You could find one of these on us. Yeah. Find it on a city street. it's They're just literally anywhere. Go pick one up off any city corner. It doesn't come out of a portal because the Simerg is opening up all these different ones that connect.
Speaker: back through to, um, what's his face is research stuff. And there's just, there's just stuff everywhere. And one haywires yeah haywire one of them be this briefcase that has all of these vials of powers in it. yeah Is that, is that right? Uh, I wouldn't say that, uh, because we, you know, we know the vials come from cauldron. Uh, we also see a bunch of case 53s. Um, so maybe those are all getting um getting opened at the same spot. Maybe maybe the Simmer opened a portal to one of Cauldron's labs, essentially, and dumped a bunch of stuff. Yeah. And just shook that thing out. Okay.
Speaker: But like he's finding it, he finds the briefcase because it's fallen out of a portal. Every time i read I read past that part and I'm like, wait a minute. Was this just lying? Like on a park bench? yeah On the sidewalk. Yeah. I'll be honest. I, the thing that I glaze over every time I read this is the, is the, the, the case 53s. Um, I just, for some reason, my mind and eye slides right over them kind of like AMP. Um, And this time I tried to focus in on them and I mistook them for three other case 53s that I know about, because they're remarkably similar. um And I wouldn't, i I don't know if it's true, but I wouldn't put it past Wild Bill having written these before and then writing different characters of similar build and description, but with different personalities later on. Not even different personalities.
Speaker: Matryoshka is very similar to another character that we will run into. I was about to say, Matryoshka, you know, like I said, I don't remember much, but I do remember the Ribbon Girl. It's not the Ribbon Girl. It's not who you're thinking of. Is it really not? It's not. she i'm yeah That is so funny. worked Well, we' we'll get to that. Are you sure? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I know who you're thinking of. Michael, note that for later, for when we can pull this back up and tell Al that he's wrong. We'll talk about it when we get to them, because it's coming up really soon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'll talk about it, because, like I said, I think at least two of these, I instantly was like, oh, that's this character and this character. Yeah. And then they were like, oh, wait, no, they have different names and they are completely different characters. Okay, but...
Speaker: But how much time it's like it's what like two years has passed though Since this whole incident and then our current timeline of taylor and all of them have i've looked it up They're not the same characters motherfucker. I know wild bow. What are you doing? That's why I think he re like tricking all of us just to guess I think he rewrote characters, but he already liked those kind of abilities and skill sets. So they kept him That makes sense. I mean, like you write somebody in cause you need them for that scene and then you go, Oh, that was really cool. I want to bring them back. Yeah. Yeah. i So I was looking at it. Um, all that we know is where he found it is Kraus comes along a laboratory. Um, there's a pile of rubble. He sees a lab. We don't know what it is. It seems like it it was in the city already, not teleported there. um It seems like, uh, but he climbs up pile of rubble. Um,
Speaker: He's looking for a first aid kit. There's empty test tubes, glass vials, canisters without contents, lots of paperwork. And then he finds the metal briefcase within, uh, beneath the desk within a few feet of a dead man's hand.
Speaker: So, um, all we know is that it was a lab. It seems like it was already in the city, but I guess it's possible that the Simberg teleported to there. Also, if we want, uh, some details on these people, um Matryoshka, our ribbon girl here, um has the ability to unfold herself into into ribbons and consume others, taking on a share of their memories and traits, simultaneously diluting herself. And she can do this multiple times at the cost of her own memories and traits um with each like multiple people digested. Interesting.
Speaker: and Uh, um, potentially she can like slowly actually digest them into herself as well. Um, which maybe changes the person, her personality. I don't know. Interesting. and um So weird. Cause cause she even says like, uh, like take, take more to, you know, this is like, I can't, I will lose myself. I'm begging you. Hmm. Interesting. I like that. Creepy. What? What an interesting character. And then we have Guaras. Um, while we know it has like a prison uniform on, which, uh, you know, um, has the super strength that can reflect back onto an attacker, but only if, you know, she can see them. Uh, and then who was the other one that site the person, which, you you know, probably the most like, I don't know, alien Gisa.
Speaker: Um, with the, uh, scythes on the end of the limbs moving on. All right. Also, uh, earth, a left has superheroes to confirm, but they're all losers. Do they?
Speaker: Yeah. they They mentioned like, Oh, we've got a couple of our heroes, but they're like, literally your goofy, like silver age comics. Oh, that's funny.
Speaker: How many people also like go out in costume and pretend to be superheroes? Because they're like, oh, yeah, because Earthbet has heroes. like What if we got them here too? like ok not to not to Not to remind us all of our terrible youths. But like when I was in middle school, I used to like pretend that I'd gotten bitten by a vampire and wear sunglasses and long sleeves and be like, I can't come out into the sun. I would wear one glove. Because I was so cool. But like we've all had those moments where we're like, this is a safe space. We're all fucking nerds. Alec, you cannot tell me that we are not all a bunch of nerds sitting here talking about superheroes. And we made a whole fucking podcast just so we could talk about one book. It's completely different. This is literature.
Speaker: oh is aia my point my point being My point being is that like we've all we've all had moments where we've been like, oh yeah, I'm really into whatever this is and I'm going to like totally pretend to be that. like you like There's got to be a ton of people that just like pretend that they've gotten powers and then like Function in earth a left but with this like oh yeah guys yeah i totally got powers guys oh yeah it's like didn't like jeff sit down like you did not get powers yeah i know i totally did you guys just wait and see we'll lift this car i can turn invisible but only when people are looking yeah exactly like
Speaker: Yeah so like are we sure that Eartha left has superheroes that are shitty or that they have shitty people pretending to be superheroes. Bad cosplayers. Yeah Yeah.
Speaker: Alan can you confirm? Confirm that they just have no all we know is that they just have way less superheroes and they're kind of losers.
Speaker: Okay. So I'm confirmed whether they're just bad cosplayers. They're not, they have powers. We confirmed that they have powers. They just suck. Jesse's kind of a nerd about this kind of stuff. And she was like, yeah, they're nothing like ours. Like hours, cosplayers. Am I right? Oh my gosh. The worst, almost worse than Redditors. oh hey ah Thank goodness. There aren't cosplaying Redditors because this is this is why we keep earth. a love editor you are met You know, we keep them separate because if they ever, you know, we love trashing our audience. as i Here's the thing.
Speaker: I got a lot of karma on Reddit. We are the audience. we go We got to run fairs. We play enough on red on i can't, I got to say, ah and you know, we've all had our moments anyways. Um, ah you what Yeah. Uh, so Simmer exposure, we finally get to talk about that. And, uh, now that I've read a little bit more in my life, cause I love the concept of, you know, It's like sending a rocket, you know, or nuclear missile into the future. Basically, uh, you know, it's things that happen now. The Simmergs attacks are all about the end game. And it reminded me a lot of the cafe from the King killer, King killer on X series. Um, so Patrick Roth, this is name of the wind. I think it's in the second book, there is a say tree.
Speaker: that is usually guarded by the Fae to keep people just anywhere away from it. But if you interact with it in any way, shape or form, these evil trees called the Cathay will basically ruin everything. Like they're trees, they can't move, but if they can talk to you, they can send you like an arrow out into the world to ruin shit. you know and it's And it very much feels like the simmer, like all it takes is exposure and then you're compromised. You are potentially a weapon. Like a bunch of sleeper agents. I mean, it's smart. Yeah. It's, it's just a bunch of sleep rate. Like it's very smart because like when you have an attack like that, and especially the very first one where you have no idea what kind of cause and effect is going to happen. And then like,
Speaker: Oh yeah. Just wait a year. Wait two years. Wait a couple months. And you'll see, the people that were there at Ground Zero, like they start they start malfunctioning. How terrifying that first encounter with yeah with the Simberg must have been. I mean, all of the end bringers really, but like just yeah horrific.
Speaker: Yeah, because they're like, what the heck is this? Which one was the first one? The hematos first. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first. Okay. The hematos first.
Speaker: i guess i would say maybe complexity Okay. The hemat His attacks feel more planned, maybe. ah More like precision strikes, right? The behemoth is just a... It's like the difference between an earthquake and a precision strike missile, where it feels like behemoth is just pure destruction. Leviathan, though, is that precise attack, hitting weak areas, sinking islands, right? And then the Simurg is even more difficult to deal with because it's so mysterious and so complex in how it affects people. Yeah.
Speaker: Didn't they first like assume that she was like Sion? Yeah, they did say that. Yeah, right. She had a humanoid appearance, unlike the other two, which are like, you know, yeah clearly Godzilla and, um, another one, all of the Godzilla has left my brain. Um, sadly, so I need to, well well you know, not King Ghidorah. I'll, I'll figure out what the spiky turtle one was. Um, but that is, I can't believe you would speak those words here. Um, no, uh, but yeah, the simmer, you know, has this humanoid appearance. So they're like, Oh, maybe, maybe she'll communicate with us. And she, then you know, she starts singing and they're like, Oh, this can only go well.
Speaker: yeah I did at one point in time think about getting a, uh, you know, cause I have my tattoos and I really liked them. And there are always a plethora of good tattoos in the wild boa universes. And I thought, man, if I got hand tattoos, you know, I do the, uh, cauldron symbol on one. Yeah. I'd get the, I'd get the mountain special, you know, the cauldron symbol on one, the, uh, swan marking you as a Simmerg. Uh, like.
Speaker: affected person on the other and you know, then you just wait to see if there are any true Wild Bo fans in the room by the way, they just actively avoid you like the plague. They just take one look at that hand and they're like, and I need to leave. That would work. It would work on me. I am not getting on a plane. I would i would turn around. That guy is a flight risk. Yeah, also, I think, Alan, I think you did jump us into the next chapter, ah chapter rev five, but that's fine.
Speaker: Oh, I'm sorry. they ah know That's okay. That's where we basically where they the the group gets together. They're scavenging for food. Justin Krause, ah because the TV's working now, revealed to the group what's really going on. Everybody kind of realizes that he's been keeping it from them. We get a little bit more info about the Simmerg. We kind of understand the weight of it all, um as you've said. And the Simmerg stops screaming in their heads. um Are we, are, do we want to keep talking about this or I can just go on to the next chapter? I would say if we just go one one moment for our Taylor, just a pause for our Taylor. Our Taylor? Rest in peace. Rest in peace. We do have a confirmation. Finally, mark this time down, Michael. Okay.
Speaker: 9 -11 did happen in Eartha Left. That's true. and yeah it The moment he said it, like first episode, I was like, Oh my gosh. What a payoff though. What a payoff. Shout out to our boy. Yeah. I've been, I've been holding onto that one. Yeah. It's, it's hurt for a while. What was instead of 9 -11? Was it Leviathan? Yeah, just end bringers. yeah great got end Bringers. We got 9 -11. It's like same. It's not at all the same. Okay. yeah Well, you know, we'll agree to disagree. All right. Well, never forget. Yeah. So, yeah. I mean, we've got bad superheroes in our universe. You know, we've got, we've got discount Tony Stark. on Oh no. Yeah.
Speaker: Uh, at least according to some people, um, he's got discount King Ken, Donald Trump. That's true. Other than discount Captain America. Yeah. yeah
Speaker: I'm trying to find, wait, are we on, what chapter are we on now? We're technically still on five. and Let's go to six.
Speaker: Okay, cool. So so six ah chapter six, they the group um is able to get a car two cars and head to the local hospital where they've been told they can go. um And they realize that they're absolutely fucked. Noelle's doing very badly. ah Kraus decides to make a decision realizing that there is no easy way for them to kind of get out of this since there's just so much paperwork there's no way that that they're gonna be able to be sneaky with ten months of of ah Quarantine and realize that they're just gonna have to make a run for it. So he runs back gets a power vial steals one to bring to Noel and takes one himself
Speaker: Well, I think, I think too, part of what's interesting and how bad their situation is, is their only experience of how the heroes have dealt with creatures from other universes is to kill them or banish them. And they don't really know what that means. Right. So very clearly they're trying to blend in, but, uh, like we find out later, it's like, yeah, there was no record of anybody with that name in our city. Right. and You don't exist here. We know that, you know, so it's that whole like, okay, how in the world are we going to hide the fact that we're not from here when they're asking for our address, our insurance, our everything that we need? ah Yeah. And so I imagine it is that desperation of just like, and again, we see that sort of Taylor mindset where he's like, yeah, well screw it. um I just got to do something and I think I know it's right for everybody. So I'm going to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Get freaking superpowers. That's never the wrong answer.
Speaker: Yeah, I was gonna say I can't believe that they complained about that for as long as they did. Same, ah same. It feels like this is a huge leg up. Like, why not do it? And I guess, I guess with just like talking about the fact that like, because she knows all all the stuff about the superheroes, like she knows that you can get a weird power. Like there are people that are super, you know, like, um, What was I trying to? Oh, neuter. Just like neuter. Like, well, that's a terrible example. Nevermind. How about Gregor? Gregor. No, also bad example. Cause once again, these were, these are all created. What about scythearmguy? Like we know that, that it could go horribly wrong. And like, you could get a power that's like, really seriously fucks you up. And like, they don't might not necessarily know about cauldron and like big case 53.
Speaker: 53s. 53s. 53s. Thank you. In case of 53s. But basically, it makes sense. like You want to be really hesitant about this. And if your goal is to go back home and like try to return to some semblance of normal, you can't do that if you have a big power that's very clearly obvious, you know, like a flaming somebody, I don't know. It just like, it makes sense to hesitate and be like, well, you know, if there is a chance for us to go home, then like, sure, let's go home as we are rather than go home and potentially like our entire lives will change because we'll show up and we'll have powers now. Like, so like holding off makes sense.
Speaker: if you think that you can go home. But if you, if, you know, a man in all hope, like, yeah, yeah at this point, you you're going to want to take a power just so you can function in this world.
Speaker: It is kind of a lose -lose situation, it feels like, because you're either diving into something unknown and you have no idea what you're going to do. If you get the power, what it's going to do, how it's going to affect your body, your mind, and Or on the other hand, you're powerless and you just hope that the heroes have mercy on you. Good luck. Yeah, exactly. It kind of feels like, well, yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. And I think just that moment of of um when Kraus is standing at the at that front desk at the hospital and the automated voice is just... Which, by the way, the automated voice is basically Dragon, right? Again, yeah, I think that's the assumption. Yeah.
Speaker: Um, but like he's standing there and he's realizing that like, well, we're going to need your bank information. Like, well, I don't have my wallet. Like, I don't have my stuff. It's like, that's okay. You can tell us your full name and like what bank you bank with, you know? Yeah. Why are you asking children this? Well, but the thing though is, is that like they're, they're 16. They're not children. Like they know who their family banks with. Like you could find that out. All you'd have to end, like when I was, when I was that age, I had my social security memorized. Like you should know some stuff, if anything, like basic enough information that like they can pull you up in the system and find you. I feel like I was, cause this was something I remember even up to college being like, Oh yeah, I know my social security because you know, I had to recite it a lot and
Speaker: I remember having to do that real quick off the top of my head and somebody thought that was super weird. And then we had a little discussion, like how many people know their social security off the top of their head? And the answer was not a lot of people. Cause you don't really use it till you're an adult. Not a TCK thing. I think it's a TCK thing because you use it so much more. Yeah, probably. Yeah. I don't think I knew my social by heart until, well, Actually, no, I can't remember when I learned it. I just kind of feel like I've known it forever. I can tell you when I had to learn it. I had to learn it at 10. That is when I had to start reciting my social. I was about to say, I think it was about 13 for me, but yeah. I also learned immediately, but that's just because I like numbers. I don't like numbers and still forget it all the time. And there we have the spectrum.
Speaker: Michael, was that was that what was for? I never needed to use it overseas. OK, OK. I mean, I never needed mine either, but like it was always something my mom wanted me to have memorized. Yeah, probably should have. I had to have my memorized. Yeah, there you go. Kraus gets his powers. So we find out where that comes from, finally. um And we find out how it works too, that it's a, it's a mass based thing. It's not space or literal size in that sense, which I think is really cool. Yeah. I loved the visualization of him seeing like the tethers between objects and seeing how his mind worked and identifying things of equal mass. It was, yeah, really cool visualization. Yeah. I loved that.
Speaker: That's very, I love when anytime you have like a power that's very like personal to the person, like getting to see what they see in their head. Like, Oh, this is how it comes. Like, this is how it is to them specifically. So I love that. Like the whole thing of like, Oh yeah, this, these two things are of the same mass. So they're both kind of like vibrating and there's a tether and like, I know that I can switch them. So like, woohoo. And there they go. Like that's super cool. Can you, can you do that? Can you do that woohoo again for me? Woohoo. There it goes. Thank you, thank you. I love the escape that Krause and Noel have against Meriden and group. yeah Again, kind of like what you were saying, Nick, I think you were saying how Meriden's response is like, you're not from around here, so banishment. like
Speaker: We don't take kind of people around these parts.
Speaker: Alakabanish. Alakabanish. But also love seeing Mirrodin in action, even for just a moment. ah Another one of those name -dropped capes that I think we've seen a little bit of at... It was Gazette against Leviathan. Very, very little bit, yeah. But again, another one of the big names that has popped up. It's cool. Like spotting a celebrity in the wild, you're like, oh my gosh, it's them.
Speaker: I do like Mierton's powers too. I want to know how how how they work. Yeah. I was going to say, Trister said a little bit of something that that kind of gave hint to it. The idea that he has multiple dimensions that each have different things to them. So when he makes people disappear, it's it's that that's a very specific pocket dimension. And then like the the force or whatever is like a different dimension. and like That that's so cool. Like I love it. Like basically got a little pouch of marbles and like each marble is like its own thing. Like, well, this one's going to be a hurricane force that blows everybody backwards and this one's going to make everybody disappear. And this one is just so fun. I love that.
Speaker: Mirden is also one of my favorite heroes because of just his whole vibe. He went like, yeah I am a motherfucking wizard. Yeah. Prove me wrong. Prove me wrong. You say I'm not bish. It's wizard time, motherfucker. What to even say? Doesn't he use a staff and runes just for you like and for the effect? He does. He does. That's why. He's fully committed to the bit. He has a robe. He has a beard. He doesn't need any of that. And I am here for it. This is my thing. Meredin didn't have to go that hard for us, but he did. But he did. And we're very grateful. I don my staff and Wizard. And we'll elaborate this.
Speaker: I understand that reference, Michael. Thank you. Solid. um so we We'll elaborate this on it in a future time, but the idea of like, he literally is opening, you know, like you said, his thing is portals. And and this is, you know, the great example of why wild boas stuff is so cool. It's like, he's not, you know, it's not conjuring a thing out of thin air. He's doing abilities that other people have, but the way he does them is different. He is opening portals to in D and D terms, essentially different planes were like, Oh, I want to shoot fire out of my hand. I opened a portal to the fire plane and just kind of let it leak out through, ah you know, through this nozzle. Oh, I want to do ice. I opened the ice plane and then, you know, through this little portal. And, and it's just such a cool way for him to do. Ta -da magic. Yeah, that's great. It is.
Speaker: I like that. Yeah, look, he does. He he will you will use runes. He'll open up portals in the shapes of runes to give the illusion that he is using a rune to activate the magic. What a goober. That is exactly how I would use that power. That is brilliant. Isn't he also like the non -social cape, too? He definitely Naruto runs like away from fights. Yeah, I was gonna I was gonna put it that far because he's a little bit older I was gonna say is he the guy that was like he was playing D and &D in his basement in the 80s when powers came about yeah, he was like I'm a wizard and you know one day he saw another superhero and he's like, oh
Speaker: Well, I'm already committed to this. so in a different direction like i know yeah I cast blink on, you know, this other, this, this kid, and now he's in another dimension until I unbanish him. Does he just have access to a beard dimension? That he, oh my goodness, thousands upon thousands of tiny follicle portals. So here, here's my thing, right? They don't actually say he's older. They just describe him. He has a long brown beard. So here's my fan casting. You and McGregor. Yes, absolutely. and He would get into it too. You and McGregor. You would go for it. Oh yeah. Oh my gosh.
Speaker: That would be so much fun. Like specifically sort of the, uh, the, um, Obi -Wan Kenobi show vibe for outfit at least. Right. Where it's kind of like, like that older grizzled wizard. Yes, but exactly. You get it, Michael. ah I did hear beer dimension. Oh man. We'd say he's dangerous at parties. He's not the social guy until you know, a party gets turned. He's just always drunk.
Speaker: The always drunk wizard hero. That's, that's my hero. He's not, he's not the the hero we wanted, but he was the hero we deserve. We don't we didn't deserve him, but he is the hero we needed. Well, we're coming near the end here. What do we got? Chapter seven. yeah Yeah, so um we're into chapter seven now. ah Noelle takes ah half the vial. ah They dodge Mirden. They head back to where all the other, the the the rest of the group has been hiding out and kind of divvy up, decide what they're doing.
Speaker: uh, and, and drink, decide to drink the rest of the vials. And then they get the hell out of Madison, Wisconsin. Off they go. Um, and then unfortunately, along the way, uh, we stop at a rest stop and Noel's body suddenly is beginning to morph and an eye, a large one foot long eye appears on her leg. Okay. I've immediately got two things I gotta say. Please, please. One is silly, one is a bit more serious. The eye on Noelle's leg. Anybody here play Soul Calibur? Yup. Is that what you thought of? Yeah. Did you think of the Soul Edge, the yeah sword with the eye in it?
Speaker: Yep, yep. Listen, viewers, if um if you want a little bit of nightmare fuel, pun intended, um you should go look up the character Nightmare from Soulcalibur. You bet I'm looking that up right now. And look at his weapon. It's not him, although he is also creepy. He wields a blade called the Soul Edge. Shit. The Soul Caliber. Shit. It is not the Soul Caliber. I don't know. There is a difference in more. It is, yes. But it's called the Soul Edge. And in most iterations, there is a large yellow eye that is in the blade. And I just got to know, John McRae, you a Soul Caliber fan?
Speaker: Because it is a very specific image that when it is described as the eye that is yellow and angry and accusing, I'm like, it's just, it's gotta be the eye from Soul Calibur. Like, that's all I can think of. Also, I'm looking at this. This is horrendous. yeah Oh, yeah it's a flesh blade. It's horrifying. And the idea of that, like, a huge freaking eye like that growing out of your leg, like, oh, no. Yeah, that's, uh, don't like that. Not a great character in the meta of Soul Calibur, unfortunately. But, very cool. Oh my goodness. Listen, he's a heavy, and heavies just never do that great. Dude, I'll murder you. Can and Dorff would like some words with you. Here's the thing. Casually, they dominate because most people aren't prepared for how powerful they are.
Speaker: professionally Professionally his here at the bottom of the smash ultimate tier list. Wow. That was, you know, when I was a young lad killed with him. So good. No, exactly that's what I'm saying. Thank you. I do love again, casually though. But then you meet a guy who knows how to play soul caliber and they crawl as a volo around you. that was yeah okay um Anyways. So creepy eye. Okay. Actually I've had two thoughts now, so I'm going to go on for a bit. yeah no go off but this one This next one will be a bit of a conversation. So just kind of bringing back some previous things in the arc we didn't cover. Covering Noelle's hesitancy to be physical with Grouse. Covering even just her hesitancy to be
Speaker: intimate with anyone. yeah I think to me at least it's pretty clear that she has undergone possibly some abuse. Um, I don't, I don't know that it's, you know, it's clear that something has happened, right? Something has happened to her. Either she was taken advantage of or she was abused in some way or made to feel bad about her body. And the point I'm getting to is, is this gross irony, that the girl who feels most uncomfortable in her body, who clearly has been violated bodily, yeah is now the one who is once again being violated by her own powers. yeah And her body is literally turning against her. And I just thought, to my as I was reading this again and kind of reading between the lines with Noel's story again,
Speaker: It's just like man what a sad irony and of course crowds who has been patient i mean this is where we see crowds like better side right. Is where he's been patient he's been kind he's been understanding he's even said look. If this is too much we can break up i get it if you want me to leave the club i get it i'm cool like i care about you. You know that's where i think we really do see okay he's not just an asshole he's got a softer side too. And the irony that he's the one who gives her he makes a decision to give her half of a vial yeah. And that is what, I mean, it seems like that's what's going to be her downfall. yeah And now her body's being violated by the power he gave her. And I just, it hurts. It hurts a lot. It hurts. Yeah. Cause we know that she, I think cause there's a conversation with her and I forget if it's Jess or Marissa that basically talks about like she helps out with her
Speaker: Michael, you might want to scrub this. I can't remember if this is here. I was like, don't spoil it. Cause I don't think they've said much at all. Well, well, there's a, she definitely, you know, is uncomfortable with body. We'll just go with that for now. yeah Um, but, but you know, there's other stuff going on there, but I think I, my vibe that I was feeling is very much along the side of what you were saying, Nick. I think that Noel has trauma. from some sort of sexual assault, I think. um Because the vibe I get is a lot of shame about her body and pregnancy vibes. Oh, really? I mean, given that like now when, well, here's two two points. To one, the power.
Speaker: We see later on, and this is jumping forward a bit, but it's okay her thing is, uh, people touch her and all of a sudden they produce more of them. Like she produces more of them. Oh shit. Uh, and, and they're really messed up. Yes. Uh, which I'm going to throw in there. We don't know. We'd have nothing to confirm this, but given, um, maybe the dating scene, like I feel like she's still a little bit younger. So. I feel like this might be even a little bit incesty just because of, ah you like I said, maybe, not maybe not nothing to go off of that other than like i wouldn't timing. But, um, yeah, yeah. Okay. As long as we're, you know, just throwing the stuff out there that, yeah yeah. And there's a line that she says in seventeen point six, .6.
Speaker: where she, you know, we've talked about, you know, very much no touch. She doesn't like being intimate with people. Um, she, uh, Krauss even says she came into there like feeling damaged or something like that. Um, there's a comment that she makes about having a plug on her belly and yeah basically having i this some, some comments about basically being like having a bag of shit or being, you know, yeah like, it and And it very much felt like she was talking about her own body in regards to this, like having something inside of her and you know removing something from inside of her with the plug and everything that felt like a pregnancy that had been terminated because it was from a sexual assault. um Very much reading into that. Yeah. um But she's the one that even makes that comment about the plug on the belly and the bag of shit. Well, no, no. What that's in reference to is after she's been taken into the hospital, she says,
Speaker: This is what they're telling me I'm going to have to do to survive. yeah Is that she'll have to have the lot um the colon bag and all of that stuff. yeah yeah i don't know that I don't know if I quite get that, but I don't know. it's a way The way that she said it. though is because she says something like that. I have it right here. I have it right here. She says, she says, I kind of wish we'd done more boyfriend and girlfriend stuff. Sorry. Don't need to apologize. You did what you had to do. And she said, I could die. Um, they're cutting too much out and they can't wait any longer, but my condition's bad. So I could die on the table. He says, you're not going to die. She says, even if I live, I'm going to be ugly. Nice big plastic plug in my belly with a bag of shit attached, which is really iconic.
Speaker: Which was just really ironic. You don't even know. And she trailed off. He said, I sort of figured it out. She nods, big scars, bag of shit is where is why I wish we'd done more before. Won't be any good to look at after. And he says, I don't care about your scars. It doesn't matter anyways. You're not going to die. Yeah. Right there. The nice big plastic plug in my belly with the bag of shit attached, which is it really ironic. You don't even know. And he goes, I sort of figured it out. Yeah, guess okay I can see that right there. Uh, feels like she might've had a scar on her belly already or something like that. Like, yeah. Um, so I actually, that was not the direction I went. So originally when we meet Noel, I assumed that it was sexual assault. It was this part that made me, that made me think it was
Speaker: probably still sexual assault, but also tied with self -harm. A lot of people are aware of like you know like cutting wrists or upper thighs, but for girls even, it's it's sometimes you're you're your stomach because of a lot of stuff. Um, and so like cutting up your stomach is not unheard of with, uh, with girls who cut. And I'm sure I don't know about with guys, but that's been from what I, you know, yeah friends and working at summer camp with teenage girls. And it's a lot more common guys too. yeah Um, and a lot of it starts, it starts at traditionally wherever.
Speaker: you know, wherever's the closest, you know, often the, uh, it's available or where you can hide, but then I was going to say where you can hide is usually where it ends up though. Um, and yeah, some heavy stuff. Yeah. yeah Um, do you want to keep going through? I've actually found some comments from wild bow about the powers. Um, sort of talking about, yeah oh. I actually have a comment about the powers I was thinking about earlier. I had a thought on that too, actually. Yeah. So in this chapter, when they're when they're looking at the different um the different vials and they're like divvying up what they think you know each person wants, um there's a vial in there that says that's called Aegis. yeah and And I was kind of like, wait, are Aegis?
Speaker: like I don't think it's related. Okay. Cause I noticed it and I kind of had like a little moment of like, what? So I wasn't sure. And that I just had, I wondered if you guys had noticed that. I think it could just be some subtle world building. It doesn't really need more explanation. Like maybe Aegis took that vial and it was so successful. He kept the name. Uh, you know, could have been something as simple as that. Right. Yeah. Um, which that's what my, uh, it's interesting. You have like a lot of these names that are actually mixes of things. Yeah. Um, and have like all of them have balance in them. Yeah. Uh, it's like a stabilizer basically, right? Yeah. It's a stabilizer, but it's also part of the power thing. Um, cause as we'll get to, uh, Noel essentially got all of the,
Speaker: power, but none of the stabilizer and Oliver basically got drank all the stabilizer. Yeah. Okay. Um, that was another thing that I had, I had been thinking about with this is that question of, um, what, what would Noel and Oliver's powers have looked like? if Noelle had just taken the whole vial, right? right yeah yeah So what we learn about it later, and I guess this is kind of future stuff maybe, what we learn about it later is, of course, Noelle's whole thing where if you touch her and she attacks you, then she creates disturbed clones of you ah with your powers, with everything ah still intact. Oliver has become, still is sheepish, hasn't affected him emotionally or mentally.
Speaker: but has it become this handsome, muscular, ever improving mentally and physically specimen. Yeah. So I've been trying to put it together as an idea of, okay, what would these powers have been? And all I can come up with is a couple of ideas is first, this idea that Noel's power basically would have been Uh, if you want to think of it this way, like the gift of strength in the sense of she could touch somebody and say, Hey, I'm going to create a better version of you. Um, sort of just saying like there will be a clone of you that'll have all your powers except better. And that'll be what we use to go out and fight like that. You don't even have to go out and fight. I'll make a better you.
Speaker: And I don't know, i'm I've been trying to just figure out what that might be like. And I'm not a hundred percent sure that I'm happy with that idea. That's just the one idea that came to mind for me. yeah Also the idea that if Noelle had taken the whole thing that she probably wouldn't be so like, Oh, absolutely. Just figured basically, oh yeah she would should have been had and fine that good side that Oliver had. That was basically the incredibly good looking, you know, constantly improving kind of thing, just like another horrible twist of fate kind of yeah yeah girl can't catch a break. yeah Um, also it's, it's weird because, um, and they don't really talk about it at all. So this is, you know, some out of cannon wild or in cannon wild stuff. But, uh, the balance is, uh, essentially like it keeps you
Speaker: Um, more humans. That's what's preventing you from doing the case 53 stuff. Uh, so the less balanced, the more likely you are to do that. So it's the more human side. So Oliver is basically pure. My power is that I'm more human. Um, so one of the weird things with him, it's like not, it's, it's. hinted at, but just barely is that he changes every time he meets someone just slightly. Yeah. Well, he does not look like himself. Kraus says something about that, that like sometimes he, he sees him again and he's like, doesn't quite recognize him. Yeah. Um, so like it is like he is becoming just, you know, he's adding human elements to himself.
Speaker: all the time. And, you know, sometimes that's him changing, you know, parts of his facial structure. Sometimes it's hair is build like he is a shape shifter, if you will, just really slowly, you know, with all these human aspects, most human. Yeah. Interesting. He has the, again you know, the ability to, look ah Let's see, non -combat motor. He gained powers to alter his appearance and approve his ability to learn or physically better himself. So like, even if he doesn't, you know, physically change, you know, on a muscular level, he has an, I guess, an innate sense of how to do it. Like, oh, I've got to work out these muscles. Man, he just every morning wakes up and is like, okay, that's the workout I got to do. Download it. Got it. Yeah. the ultimate sigma grindset oliver
Speaker: Uh, except Kraus says he's still a dweeb. So I just imagine the super muscular, ultimate shriek, my crime set. like He just like, he walks in and he's super muscular, but then somebody like pinches him on the arm and he's just like, Oh, stop. um the Henry Cabell walks into a party and then just goes immediately and finds like the cat in the corner. And he's just like, yes no friends. It's you and me for the night. Hello for baby.
Speaker: Um, But yeah, uh, so in regards to the others, wild bow, uh, was correcting someone in an old, uh, sufficient velocity for him. Uh, it said there is a connection though. Marissa's mother wanted her to shine and she only found peace when she got away from the spotlight. But now she shines brighter than ever. Luke was the pillar of the team. Everyone's friend, the glue that held them all together. oh Now.
Speaker: He stands the most alone. He destroys rather than supports. Jess was really good at compartmentalizing her life, facing reality and entertaining fiction with monsters and superheroes and could measure. Now the lines between reality and dream are blurred. She has everything she secretly wanted for herself and little else.
Speaker: ah I love that that plays into the, uh, while those sort of indirectly, uh, supporting the claim that like when somebody triggers their power is influenced by their mental state, essentially, which you've kind of danced around before, but really sort of confirms that to an extent. And we've talked before about with, um, with battery, batteryy gar um that basically like you have to be in the right mindset when you're taking your power like by being in a calm um mindset and like
Speaker: basically having passed all of your physicals. You have a higher chance of like getting a really like your power being controlled well and not being kind of monstrous in that way. And then of course all of these these teenagers that have just been through an incredibly traumatic event, and then Noel who is who is you know looking at a future of having a bag attached to her and being stuck in ah in a world that isn't her own and feeling like she might die on an operating table and all of that. And then she takes half a half of ah of a power vial. like It's no surprise that things went so horribly wrong that like all of them are in a bad mental state.
Speaker: and then of course like it It impacts them in certain ways, some better than others, but that like your mental state does have a huge, plays a huge part into how the powers do affect you, like how they do kind of come into play. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, I could read some more of off of these files if we want to talk about them. Yeah. Some of these vials were talked about for, uh, for wild bow running RPGs and stuff like that. So he has like a list of like, Oh, if your character took this file, this is what would happen.
Speaker: um So ah fun one, ah Deus, which I think I've mentioned before, but that is the one that Genesis took, um is the same one that Siberian took. Interesting. So they're both projection hours. yeah yeah yeah ah Division, which is the one that Noel drank. um It's got multiple like oh you know suggestions, a duplication Cape that spawned off copies of people they could see with the Cape's memories or personality, a Cape that could create pods that they could respond from if they died within a certain range, a case 53 that could smear themselves over someone in a semi -liquid state and then walk away with a share of that person's vitality and that person's features, but not powers.
Speaker: a cape that could spawn off chunks of themselves that would expand and eventually serve as deployment zones for their own low intelligence duplicates. um It goes on with a few more, but I thought those were interesting ones. Interesting. Tricksters genre that's on over by itself. ah Prince, which is the Sundancer one, which has ah both a 30 % mixture of ages and 15 % mixture of balance in it. um uh, large remote controlled construction. Um, almost always with the same general parameters, a trend of giving a variety of powers, but always in the context of creating a large construct, such as creating giant rings that would act as portal ask portals or a massive floating blaster turret or a localized kinetic storm. Um, and so it's always going to be some sort of large creation. And in this case, sun dancers is a giant fire sun.
Speaker: ah Robbins is ah taken by ballistics. It's always limited and non -versatile power. Vestage isn't that interesting. um And the rest are all other things, but yeah.
Speaker: Some interesting fun, uh, yeah. You did mention earlier that, uh, wild bow was correcting somebody in earlier. Um, while though we would really love it. If you would correct us, please, please come on the podcast. I still haven't sent an email. I really should. Oh, my God. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Have we not officially invited Wild Bo to be on the podcast yet? No, I was told no. And then we have to have the podcast out. You had to establish yourself at least a little bit. Yeah, we're well known around the world. It would be my most greatest dream to like talk through a lot of these. Honestly, like I just would really love to have a workshop, a writing workshop where we talk about powers and like character creation and like building good characters like this.
Speaker: I'd be fine if this podcast just turned into a writing workshop podcast. Well, though, John, please hear our cries. I don't know if we can ask him to do all that, but well, not all of that. How, okay. How about just a great start is we'd love to just sit and talk with you and nerd out with you about your stuff and QA. Yeah. Yes. That'd be awesome. Or revisit some of our, you know, Yeah. Dissection stuff. Oh, yeah. ah Oh, that would be fun. I would love to hear his opinions because we've had some really weird. We have two summary episodes. That's a very some off the wall. Fun ideas. which
Speaker: Well, especially... Hopefully it lights a fire. I mean, yeah to to shift over to dissecting, we use the joke oft told that's made its way around the worm forums of the whole, take that you worm catchphrase, which Wild Bo was famously pitched by somebody attempting to adapt it. And I would just love to hear more stories of the terrible ideas that producers have pitched to him about how to adapt ourselves. so yeah i was i say I would love to know where we rank on this. He's like, yeah, you guys are like some of the worst or some of the better ideas. Like I would love to know. That would be phenomenal. That would be great. We gave LeFi and a voice.
Speaker: ah
Speaker: Deep gravelly boy. I was thinking Danny. Oh, only the finest. No, he's the he's the puppet guy. We already said that. Oh, mannequin Danny. No, not mannequin. The guy that's even better. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, he's no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no God. Frank, you can't just make little goblin creatures everywhere. Why not?
Speaker: Why not Charlie? I'm the trash man. Okay. Uh, are we cool? Moving on to, uh, our last chapter chapter eight. ahs do it So we've, we've moved a little bit further into the future, not quite to, to, uh, our current Taylor future yet. Um, but it's, it's been some, a bit of time since, since, uh, since we left madison um trickster two years yeah it's like two years um trickster has a meeting with accord the local villain uh things go a little bit of a little bit awry and we realized that cody has messed with noel um and he has these uh duplicates that are going crazy and able to
Speaker: handle them. Um, we do finally see Noelle's true form, uh, as they've kind of kept her locked away. Um, the travelers get a call and are hired by coil. Uh, and then we have this moment where, uh, trickster wakes up on, on the beach and we realized that we have officially caught up to the present, present day, the present story in Brockton Bay. Uh, one slight note, we kind of skipped over, but I realized this as I'm looking over my notes. I, I was under the impression that professor haywire had died like a decade prior to the stories beginning, but it's implied that he was killed in Madison, Wisconsin, which I would just totally lost over, but like he was, he was up in that whole thing. yeah I don't think he is.
Speaker: and That's the implication. Both of you cite your sources. Okay. I'm citing the, uh, the worst, which has been wrong before, but that's what I was looking at. Cause I was looking up, I was looking up, uh, the different characters there. And, uh, yeah, the implication is that he was, uh, he was killed during that attack. Okay. Yeah. All right. Maybe, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong. Uh, if anybody knows for sure, for sure. And for certain in the comments, feel free to give us a call. It makes sense. Yeah. in our yeah gil scott Leave us a voicemail. I forget off the top of my head. 9 8 0 9 9 9 0 4 3 8. Give us a call. Leave us a voicemail. Let us know, uh, about professor haywire so we can make sure we're getting these details right. Cause it's important that we, uh, we stay.
Speaker: Stay correct. And keep us honest. Keep us honest, yeah. No, it's a small fan base, but we are small but mighty. Let's talk about a chord. Yeah, let's talk about a chord for a second. This feels like literally the brother to another mother of, you know, coil. Brother to another mother? You know, you do what I'm saying. You step into what I'm putting down. Brother with another mother that may or may not be the same mother, yet another mother that he is mothering right now. A doctor mother, perhaps? Okay. Right, well, yeah, no. Yeah, a chord is very interesting. I like a chord. What if OCD was a power?
Speaker: You know, that is a great way to describe that. That is this power. Yeah, we'll get to him later. i yeah I feel the same way as Nick, but then his power, I'm like, actually, you know what? I kind of dig it. hear You hear the term, you know, for another time. Weaponized autism. like that's Once again, no, no, no. He's not weaponized autism. He's weaponized OCD. Everything has to be absolutely perfect. Can't mess anything up. Colin is a combat autist. we You know what? We stan a short king who knows what he wants. That's fair. Is he that short? Yeah, he's five foot. He's shorter than Gals. Oh, I'm pleased over that. Maybe because I don't see height. yeah but you been Well, everybody's shorter than you, Alan. That's true. That's true. A little bit of Alan lore.
Speaker: Yeah. No, but it's not just, it's not just like, it's not just OCD of like, yeah, these pens need to be in the correct order, but like also the, the kind of the, the understanding of the balance of the universe and the balance of the world. And like, he even talks about, uh, with trickster that like you understand balance, like you, you know, you, I know what your power is. Like your whole thing is understanding, you know, an even, an even, uh, uh, equivalent exchange of, of things. Like it's not just that. that, you know, I have to have my pens in the right order. Like my desk has to be perfect, but it's also like the understanding that the world needs to be, uh, needs to be in balance as well. And I like that tricksters response with everything with Sundancer and like how he's like, yeah, you just need a killer is that to show that she bring that like she understands balance. She understands, uh, like the balance of the universe by, by having her dance for him, like do a ballet.
Speaker: Uh, thing. What's it called? Routine. Do a ballet routine. And that like can, will show him her discipline, her understanding of, of balance, her understanding and not balance, like she can balance with a literal physical balance. Yeah. Well, but, but also like the understanding of like for ballet, you have to be aware of the music. You have to be aware of the tempo. You have to be aware of every single move and you know, the rotation of. your arms and your legs and your muscles and all, all the coordination that comes into play. So like to show that she understands the, you know, the balance, the harmony of it, that she's not just some rough henchmen that ran through the doors and interrupted their meeting. She's an agent of order.
Speaker: Yeah. And understands the importance of order. Yes. And I love that. I love that trickster kind of like has this moment where he's like, Oh, i I think I can fix this. Like, I know how to fix this, which is is very cool. I really liked that. Yeah. You better get in there and dance your heart out. What if it doesn't work? Burn the place I do love that. Like, no, no, no, accord. I totally get balanced. Uh, look what I can do is just how I imagine it. Ask them to go after blasto which I'll tell you right now. What a bait -and -switch name Is that sound is like he most he's a tinker it's plants. It's a team. He's a plant bio tinker Yeah, blasto for like blastocyst isn't that yeah, yeah like you till I think it's like it's a weird, but it's fermanate maybe and latin it's been a while since I've seen it as a root word but
Speaker: Yeah. You know, that's one of those where you're like, ah, blasto man, that it sounds like an earth, a left hero. If I've ever heard one, like, what does he do? Oh, he shoots lasers yeah blast. Yeah. Really? Blasted laser beam. Yeah. But you know, what, what a stupid sounding basic name that turns out to be like a really, you know, Kind of cool, you know cuz you're going doing some like Latin science shit with that tinker stuff like Okay. Okay, so there's more to this a terrible name still because it sounds like the other thing I can imagine him getting like sort of frustrated people that don't understand what his power is It's like having to explain it over and over again PRT keeps showing up with anti laser riot shields Nothing to do with lasers
Speaker: All right, guys, he's about to blast us. i will Wait, to wait until he says it's blast and it's going to blast everywhere.
Speaker: Well, they get to meet up. ah It's the phone call from coil. It's a little bit of hope. Who is the future seer that coil is talking about? I know. yeah Is it? Yeah. Or was he just counting his chickens? like No, I think it's din Dinah. No, it's Dinah. It's definitely Dinah. Cause that's what I'm thinking. But given the timing of this,
Speaker: like, okay. Well, how quickly did they go from here to there? Cause he kidnaps Dinah in Ark 3 and they show up for the first time in Ark five schopenina the schenar five and they have the conversation. The travelers are associated with coil in arc six or seven. yeah but But they show up in Brockton Bay well at arc five. That's when we know they're in Brockton Bay. I always assumed that they had been there for like a little bit already, but we're on the down low and
Speaker: I just didn't associate that like, oh, he grabbed Dinah and then immediately when, you know, called them up and was like, I need you in town now. Well, I imagine he probably had, he had them already like on a sticky note on his desk. Like he knew that he needed to like get them to Brockton Bay. And it was like, I just need to get all the final pieces to fall into place. And once I have my precog, I'm going to call up trickster. And I know that this whole operation is going to be too much for him to resist and they'll come running. And so like, well, I got Dina yesterday, time to make my call today. Like i I would imagine that it probably happened fairly quickly. Yeah. I was wondering what the timing was with that because in my mind, they are right around the corner. They're in Boston. right So like jumping to Brock is, you know, real close, but it just made me think like an hour drive.
Speaker: make a promise before he kidnapped her is like, Oh, I've got totally got this precog that's consensually here. Totally not kidnapped. And, uh, she, Oh, love hold on. I'm listening. ah She said she could totally help you out. Meanwhile, he's like, all right. So we got to kidnap this kid before they get here. Let's get the sense that the travelers probably had a bit of notoriety built up at this point, given that he was able to get a private meeting with the cord. They had probably done a bit of a bit of work to get their name out there. Yeah. Mm hmm. Because I think when we see them in Brockton Bay, it's for the first time, it's in the villain meeting when they're discussing the bakata or no, they're just kind and it doesn't feel like they just yeah showed up kind of. Yeah, they're brand new to the scene in Brockton Bay.
Speaker: Then ah Trickster just kind of looks at coils, brain matter in the sand there. Mm hmm. Yeah. Okay. Let's talk about this real quick. Um, before we get to the ending, we didn't talk at all about Cody being an asshole. oh Yeah, we need to talk. about yeah We spent the whole first part of this episode talking about how much of an asshole no yeah he's like a real asshole now, but also he was always, where is Cody? You fled like a bitch. Did he? No, no. Cause I think he got given to a cord.
Speaker: And then left down I think you're right oh My gosh, they don't say they kind of imply that he's because at first he's like I'm gonna kill him and then oh well Okay, he you know they mentioned that he's pretty banged up. He's got a broken leg broken arm. But like, I finished that but that ah chapter and I kind of just like sat here. I was like, wait, because I don't know Cody. Like, we don't know Cody. We don't know the time. What's his hero name? Perdition. Perdition. That's what it is. Because I know what happens to Cody. I was just saying, we just haven't had it. And yeah yeah yeah we don't live a little bit.
Speaker: Okay, well we can just wait, I guess. Yeah, we'll find out. We'll find out. We'll talk about it when it comes back up. Okay, okay. I was assuming that he'd been given to a court. Did you talk about that? At least at this point. Yeah. At least at this point. Yeah. Because doesn't he say like, go deal with, basically go deal with the real trouble maker then? Yeah, because that's what a court says is like, is like, I see that Sundancer is not the problem. You need to give me whoever is the problem. Deliver the problem. Deliver the problem to me. Yeah. And they're all like, oh shoot, that's Cody. Yeah, it's always been Cody. Come on. They've been trying to kick him off of the esports team for two years. It's been so long.
Speaker: Yeah. How about that final scene? Yeah, I, I, okay. Very well might be that I'm just goldfish brain. Don't remember. I didn't think that they were, that they shot coil at the beach. Like they must've since that's clearly where we are, but like. No, I i was with you. the The setting threw me off a bit too. Yeah. It felt like we were at the beach. Like what, what, when, when were we at the beach? Like I thought we were in like some random patchy grassy spot somewhere, you know, behind a building, behind a building somewhere. Yeah. Like not be honest the beach.
Speaker: setting wise, because, because characters and dialogue and powers are going off and they got into them really important. I often forget a lot of the geographical that yeah like yeah it doesn't match did we look When there's a swarm of bugs and a fireball and stuff, I really don't care whether we're at the beach or not. like Unless le Leviathan's showing up, in which case don't be on the beach.
Speaker: like unless your powers are interacting with it, kind of doesn't matter most of the time. Like, and so I think my brain just skips over like, and there was no grass and definitely sand and water everywhere. It was a beach. I'm just like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then she plugs them, which is the important part. Right. Yeah. it It's what's interesting about the final scene is like, yeah it's, it's clearly set up to make you kind of empathize with the travelers as a group. and right kind of being like, yeah okay, well, great, you know, the coil's dead. that's That's great for our main characters, but like kind of screws over these guys, you know? yeah But at the same time, I'm like, all right, I mean, that's fine. They're screwed. yeah Sucks to suck, guys. Maybe don't be dicks. Yeah, maybe don't. But I love them. They're great. Yeah, I'm...
Speaker: I don't, I just don't, I don't remember what, what's about to happen. And I have a, I just, it's kind of upsetting that I don't remember. And I'm a, I, I know something's about to fucking blow the fuck up, but I just, I don't, I don't know what it is. And well, we know from the previous arc that Noel was let out. Yeah, something with Noel is coming, but I just don't, I don't know what it is. And we saw in the section that her body seems to be taking on. ah ah Whatever people she eats or absorbs. So creepy. And they've been feeding her a lot of cows, weren't they? they Well, they said like, well, basically they have to get a bunch of meat. Yeah. A bunch of meat. On a regular basis.
Speaker: And then, I mean, then okay, cool, cool, cool. And Trixer sort of just drops, well not, it like mentally drops to the audience, to the readers. They're like, oh yeah, just casually the last time she got out, 40 people were dead. and um Yeah, 40 people died. And that was when she was smaller and weaker. It's implied that it was way before she's where she's at now. like Yeah. And he kept it a secret too from the rest of the group. Like they knew people died, but they didn't know how many people know well. also just the horror of Noelle, uh, believing that she's turning into an end bringer. It's just like, Oh gosh. And she's tried to kill herself multiple times. Like, Oh Noelle, like my heart is shattered for this, for this poor girl. Like she's just, she's been dealt the worst hand.
Speaker: yeah Yeah, we've had a few of these chapters now in ARCs at this point where it's like, oh yeah, this is where this is where those triggers are coming in. This is why we have that list on the podcast. Yeah. It's yeah it's rough. Hard to read. It is.
Speaker: It's not easy to prepare for it either. Like you know it's going to happen. Like with Bonesaw, we all knew that like, okay, there's going to be some bad shit that happens with Bonesaw. But then there are other times, like with Noel, where it comes up and you're not necessarily prepared for it. And it just hits a little bit harder. Yeah. Man, we are getting into some, some good stuff as we yeah the get to the back half of this amazing story. I'm ready. I'm very ready. Any, uh, any, any final thoughts, any parting thoughts on this arc?
Speaker: Uh, I mean, it sounds like it's a favorite power time. Man, we have a lot of powers choose from here. you Who's going to kick it off? Who's got a good one to start with. Oh, okay. I, I do want to say though, this is not my favorite power, but possibly my favorite power moment is
Speaker: is the way that Kraus abuses Cody's power against them. Oh, that was great. I enjoyed that. I can do this all day. but also And before then, Cody's repeated just ball kicks and then resetting them, kicking them again. Damn. What happened? Damn. Describe for me who hasn't read what happened, Nick. Okay. So basically, uh, perdition or Cody's power is that he, he has time control powers, but it's only for a few seconds. Right. So he can reset certain objects where they were in time, roughly four or five seconds previously. One to five seconds. One to five seconds. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Uh, one to five seconds. Right. So he's resetting everything. Every, every one to five seconds as a possibility.
Speaker: What's great about it though, is that as the moment the Krauss figures this out, he gets behind Cody, shoves him into a bookcase. So naturally Cody resets time back to where he was, but he resets, he can only reset himself back far enough to once again be slammed into the bookshelf by Krauss. And then literally, it's just Kraus basically saying, I can do this all day, Cody. Pushes him into the bookcase like four times. Oh, that's funny. The other thing about the power about the time thing is that you you whatever you affect, it does they don't remember. So he can do it to Kraus. like
Speaker: you can do the ball kick basically reset cross a couple of times and like kick him in the balls and cross won't remember that it's happened like four or five times or feel it. Yeah, it's a hard reason. And so it's more it's less about like the damage and more about the satisfaction of being able to do it to somebody. So Kraus can do this over and over and Cody has no idea that he's reset himself five times in a row and gotten pushed into a bookcase five times. That's so funny. He doesn't remember. So it's a very funny moment. That's a good one. That's a good pick. It's one of my favorite moments for sure. Yeah. It's one of the moments of all time. Oh, definitely one of the moments. Yeah. I mean, I got to give a shout out to Mirden. Don't get a lot of them.
Speaker: We've already fanboyed over him a bit here. Great, great character. Yeah, Myrna's great. Myrna's great. I really like the Simerg. She's just so... she she's just Yeah, she's such a force. And and the i the idea that she's just kind of like the way that she fights is so effortless because she knows what's coming. and She can see it all in that precog -ness, you know? Like, i I really love that. And kind of this very angelic, um there's some beautiful artwork of her on the internet that's just like, oh, I love that. I love the whole like, biblically accurate angel artwork. Like, I love, that's so cool with all the wings and the eyes. And so like, she gives off that that i that feeling of like, very otherworldly, very like,
Speaker: Like, like just bigger than most capes and bigger than most, like the other end bringers, like they're big and they're monsters and whatever, but she just kind of has like another, a different vibe to her. And I, I really liked that. She's just, she's very cool. Also, I do love the trickster thing. I didn't mention it earlier when it happened, but how trickster, uh, locks them all with the cars. Does the car swap? That was so smart. I thought that was phenomenal. I loved that. He does that ah again for a getaway when they're getting, yet after they kill the perdition clone, they like hopping one car and then swap it out for another. I love that. That's super great. Yeah. I do think, um,
Speaker: If he wasn't such an asshole, I think perdition's power is, is very cool. And it's really one of the only new powers we've seen, so to speak. We've seen a lot of powers, um, that have been reiterated here that we've seen before. Technically, we've just kind of found out more about them. Um, but yeah, there's just something about it again. It's just like, man, if you just weren't such an a -hole, then honestly, I think you'd have some really cool powers, dude. You know, you gotta be an ass about it. Yeah, I love that um both Trickster and Cody got sort of ah powers that cancel each other out in a way or respond to each other. Kind of got the the yin and yang for each other. And ah in both cases, both probably have the most, ah some of the most flexible powers possible. And instead of being really clever with it, they're pushing each other into bookcases.
Speaker: absolute dicks about it. What a goof. was a move Yeah. Yeah. If this is one of those cases where like, man, given the user of the power, it it it comes across really lame. So like, I can't give it to perdition. Like he makes that power look useless. yeah Um, And so, um, he's the, uh, he's sorry to interrupt you, but all I know is like, he's the, uh, he's the, uh, skid mark of the traffic. No, that's exactly what I was thinking. I was like, wow, way to be a scrub about this. If you had to leave somebody with a cord, like it might as well be Cody. Thank God. Um, no. Uh, so I can't give it to him. Otherwise it would have been him, but it's so lame when he, he does it. Uh, so I'm, I'm going to go Matroshka. I like the, uh, Well, cool unraveling person and, you know, absorbing people and then like, kind of like gaining their person, like gaining parts of them into herself. Like I realized that's, you know, due to, due to canonical, extra canonical, you know, but, uh, yeah, I thought that was just really interesting. So I like, I like Matryoshka. Yeah, that is very cool.
Speaker: All right. Well, I think we've just about wrapped up the whole arc. It's probably like, what, our second shortest episode? Between the technical difficulties and the rants and the who knows knows what, what Michael will decide needs to get cut. We're probably getting in, I don't know. I want to take a wild guess. You know, i mean probably at least 20 minutes of this is usable.
Speaker: oh No, I just let you guys cook most of the time. Our audience already gets what they get, you know? Whatever you're giving them. That's right. Well, on that note... We're just having fun here. Having a blast. And we're gonna we're goingnna we're having a blast -o.
Speaker: well done right If you got some good worm puns, give us a call at 980 -999 -0438. That's 980 -999 -0438. And your voicemail may be featured on our next episode. Speaking of next episode, we are diving into arc 18. I think the plan is the full arc. I don't think we're breaking up any arcs here. So full arc, good long arc. I was going to say we're back into it. back and this was a nice little breather. You know what they say? Full arc, full hearts, canvas. Exactly. Exactly. So stick with us. Arc 18 for the Brockton Bay Book Club and stick around, of course, for the next episode of Dissecting Worm. We'll be talking Arc 17 here, ah continuing ah that whole screenplay idea that Ellen and I are still plugging away in because we're crazy. Blanton's for punishment? Yeah.
Speaker: ah Yeah. Yeah. We just can't help it. It's my kink. It's a adapting worm to a shrimp format. It's being told that my adaptation choices are bad. That is my kink. That's right. I feed off of that. you know For some, it's tractors for others. Don't bring Taylor into this. but I mean, we didn't say his name. yeah I wasn't going to say who. And on that note. Your words, not mine. We'll go ahead and call it here. Thanks everyone for participating as always. Love doing this with you all. Thanks to everybody for listening. It's been a blast and we'll see you next time. Michael, lay us out.
Speaker: Thank you so much for listening. Read along with us at parahumans .wordpress .com. We'd love to hear your thoughts. What did you love? What did you hate? Anything you think we missed, etc. as long as it's kind. If you'd like to get in touch, you can find us on Twitter, threads, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit at Brockton Bay, B .C. or click the link in the description.
