Introduction to the Podcast and Siege Theme
00:02:47
Speaker
And we're live. Welcome back everyone.
00:02:53
Speaker
Good evening. Megalopolis. I don't have a good intro for this. i was about to say, what was that?
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Speaker
Good evening. evening. That's the the tired, ri the tired reporter from Brockton Bay is like, Good evening, whatever this place is called.
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Speaker
Good evening, citizens of the city formerly known as Brockton Bay. I'm your host, Chuck Manley. With us tonight, we are in our 238th day under siege by the Undeciders.
00:03:34
Speaker
The city has condemned, and they're wondering if they should pull a raccoon city and just nuke us. Yeah. It was on the table. ah Is that a Resident Evil reference?
00:03:46
Speaker
Yes, that is a Resident Evil reference. We have been declared an HOSV.
Evolution into a Community Event
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Speaker
What that is? Find out tonight on the Brockton Bay Book Club. da that that ah but but but ah Anyway, hungry club this is ah podcast ah where we essentially are just live streaming us doing our book club that we would be normally doing. But, you know,
00:04:12
Speaker
It's a fun community, so we've got other people involved now. um I'm your one of your hosts, Alan. We have Hannah. Say, and we need voice.
00:04:24
Speaker
Oh, hi. Hello. Yes, my mic works. can you ever all We have audio-only listeners sometimes. Oh, that's right. I'm sorry. I forget. I did i do forget about the audio-only people. my apologies to the Spotify's and the Apple podcast, etc. Cheers.
00:04:40
Speaker
Nick, for those who can't see, Jacob looks like he's about to put me on hold for a very long time.
00:04:47
Speaker
In the best And I would. And of course, our producer, Michael. Hello. Welcome, everyone. Thanks for coming.
00:05:00
Speaker
Yes. Thank you for everybody in chat. Of course, uh, we love you all. Um, just as a heads up that we are doing our book club. Uh, I'm the only one who has read this before. Um, I know a lot of you in chat have, uh, but the other four on the podcast
Spoiler Warnings and Community Engagement
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Speaker
have not. So, uh, watch your spoilers in chat. If you'd like to, uh, talk spoilers, we have a word spoilers, uh, discord channel for our patrons.
00:05:24
Speaker
Uh, on top of that, we also played bingo every week with the podcast. and Link is in the description of the YouTube chat. And if you want to contribute to the bingo, ah by all means, hop into that Ward Spoilers chat on our Patreon.
00:05:36
Speaker
um I think lowest tier is $1 a month, just to let you know that you love us monetarily.
Patreon Support and Equipment Upgrade Discussion
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Speaker
And ah money goes towards us getting better mics. And um although we've been slow about it now, making some more Patreon content and contributing ideas to that Patreon content as well.
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Speaker
But all that aside, let's get into it.
General Thoughts on Arc 4
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Speaker
Rockton Bay Book Club. Arc 4. General thoughts overall. Hannah.
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Speaker
There's so much happening all the time, constantly. And I'm... I am having trouble keeping track of things. ah Yeah.
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Speaker
But, you know, we're we're getting there. We're chugging along.
00:06:30
Speaker
So I wrapped up the last like two chapters we had to read today. And as I finished it, I realized that for me right now, Ward is...
00:06:41
Speaker
very much like The Last Jedi, Brian Johnson's Last Jedi, where as I'm reading it, I'm going like, man, this is this is good. This is like the evolution of this world that Worm deserves.
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Speaker
like gets It's bold, it's different, it's fresh, but it feels so familiar. like It's a really nice direction that Wild Boa has chosen to take it.
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Speaker
But where's the lightsabers? You know, like, it's at some point, like, I'm just getting a little bored. Like, I hate to say bored because I'm not really bored reading it. It's really good.
00:07:21
Speaker
But I don't know what it is. It's just not quite invested yet into the ah threads. There's lot of cool stuff building, I think. And I think we're going to get there. But it's just taken a little bit longer.
00:07:33
Speaker
Like, we talked about, like, where am I was invested first chapter. First chapter I was in the story, we're sold. So it's just taking some time to get the ball rolling here and it's just slowing things down.
Character Interest and World-Building Comparisons
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Speaker
I'd kind of agree with that. And in terms of interest, it's kind of like a ah like a heart monitor for me where it's like, eh, ooh, eh, ooh. And those oohs are typically Rain's interludes because he's the most interesting character of this arc.
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Speaker
um And yeah just in terms of multi-triggers, how they're working, getting an insight into how his power works, how they share it with each other.
00:08:14
Speaker
um You know, they give each other a little pieces. Like, we'll get into that in the specifics later, but... Oh, man. it's It's so interesting and everything with the Fallen. We love a good cult. Like, a good cult story. um And...
00:08:28
Speaker
it I don't know. it's It's hard. I'm kind of with you, Jacob. It's a bit of a slow...
00:08:34
Speaker
It's a bit of a slow burn to me. And like you said, I'm not bored while reading it, but I think we'll talk about with some specific arcs that I feel like could have been cut completely and I wouldn't have lost much.
00:08:46
Speaker
right yeah It just feels it's a bit long-winded maybe. i don't know if that's right either though, because it's also interesting. don't know. Yeah, I definitely had some moments where I was like, ah I'm only on 4.2-ho.
00:09:02
Speaker
Yeah. It's weird because, like, I'm such a fan of world building. And, like, I'll sit and read a wiki for hours on some world that I've never read before. Because, oh, this seems cool. And I'll get lost forever.
00:09:17
Speaker
And so, like, that aspect of this, like, I'm loving all this stuff. The little bits and pieces we're getting about Earth, um... What's the other earth that they're seeing? yeah pchi Yeah. All of that. That's kind of brewing.
00:09:30
Speaker
get the little bits of like the machine, ah sentient machine armies or whatever that like, all that stuff is so cool. I'm so here for it. And no one's just want to kind of get, get to it.
00:09:42
Speaker
Let's go. Yeah. For me, comparing it to the last jet is a pretty great one. Cause I came into that movie. ah Once again, it's 50% of the best of Star Wars, 50% of the absolute worst of Star Wars.
00:09:54
Speaker
But it did have me very hyped for the movie. And it didn't pass the fridge test. By the end of the night, I was you know up, looking, and going, huh.
00:10:10
Speaker
ah And Bernard Co., keep that thought in mind, because I have notes on that specifically. um And hey, Vic, good to see again. Uh, yeah, I didn't pass the fridge test for me. And this is like me currently standing in front of the fridge.
00:10:28
Speaker
Like I know that there are parts that really get me and really resonate. And we are in the middle of that. We are in the middle of that. Like you said, all the rain arcs, they get me.
00:10:40
Speaker
Um, but there was definitely like, I read half of this and then the other half. And I forgot that the first half was in the same arc. because it just felt so divorced from each other. And it was like, man, that was so long ago. And I was like, that was like two two chapters ago.
00:10:59
Speaker
Like, man, this just kind of drags. um this This was a long arc, too. i mean Yes, word-out-wise, we've been reading about 50... um fifty yeah thousand on average for these, like 51, 58. Last one was 47. It was a slower one.
00:11:17
Speaker
This one was 83,000. And we will be, the next one will be 107,000. We will be cutting that in half, obviously. um It's got a very good divisible point. And then ah we're back to normal numbers. But this was a long one 83,477.
00:11:34
Speaker
That's crazy. sure, sure felt it. he's seventy seven it's crazy it's sure if we sure felt it And for those who wondering why I don't have any opinions, it's because I am here to facilitate and ah do things. But I have actually not read any of this. I'm just support.
00:11:55
Speaker
So that's why I'm always quiet. He's sort of our Victoria, you will. yeah Yeah. He's 100% our Victoria. He's wrangling us. Cheers to that. All right. we kind of and Yeah. Yeah. our you share Also our Natalie. Also our Kenzie.
00:12:10
Speaker
Our Kenzie. Yeah. Oh, thank you. Just like here a little bit of dragon in there to as we ask you to look things up. Yeah. There you go. Really quick. if you If you had to describe yourself on the ah the therapy team, who are you?
00:12:28
Speaker
On the therapy team? What's the therapy team?
00:12:33
Speaker
That is the... Kids who are in therapy? hi grow Yes. Yes. The people in therapy? Wait, what? I don't think... Are you talking about the team? Like, the team we're reading about.
00:12:43
Speaker
Yeah. Victoria's team. Who are we? Who are we the most like? but No, no who who do you who is Who are you in this podcast? who What's your analog? Oh, what's the analog?
00:12:55
Speaker
Michael's our Victoria, sort of Kenzie. Michael's our Victoria. um I feel like Hannah's got the energy of Kenzie, maybe, sometimes. I was actually going to say that. Yeah. Our Kenzie Ashley mashup.
00:13:09
Speaker
Our Kenzie Ashley mashup. um Gotcha. Okay. I'm going to, I'll throw out that I'm, I'm our ah Tristan Byron only. but It's my introverted and my extroverted self at war.
00:13:23
Speaker
Inside you. There are two. mores No, No, no,
00:13:33
Speaker
Yep. I'd probably be the Chris analog, I guess, like where, I don't know, I'm just... You would. I'm just kind of here. Yeah. because
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Speaker
I'm just here. And sometimes I'm... It's the eye. Yeah. Sometimes there's, you know, sometimes I'm higher and and energy, sometimes I'm not. It just really depends on the day. Yeah.
00:13:56
Speaker
How much have I indulged myself that day, you know, so to speak. ah say I also vibe with Chris a lot ah for the podcast specifically because there's no way that ah rain is now too sad.
00:14:10
Speaker
yes yeah Rain is a bit too sad. um Yeah. Yeah. No, i it's interesting. Well, shall we get into it?
00:14:23
Speaker
Let's do it. Chapter. Alrighty. 4.1. four point one Damsel infiltrates Hollow Point and has a polite discussion with Prancer.
00:14:34
Speaker
With Kinsey's help, the team watches the after effects and discusses how to use the information. Nailbiter and Natalie show up.
00:14:44
Speaker
So, um I liked the first half of this chapter where Damsel was talking to Prancer and they were watching Damsel talk to Prancer.
00:14:57
Speaker
um I really liked that part. That was fun. and don't really remember the rest of it, to be honest. Yeah, I'll be honest with you. i don't remember these first couple of chapters.
00:15:08
Speaker
was struggling. And I only read them less than a week I don't even remember. Who is Nailbiter? I don't remember. Nailbiter is just
Analogies and Character Relatability
00:15:14
Speaker
one of the randos. She's got what essentially looks like nails. Like rusty nails in her mouth.
00:15:19
Speaker
Like for teens. Oh, okay. um Because the the way they said it made it sound like, I know Natalie is the, Natalie's the lawyer girl, kind of. You're the paralegal.
00:15:31
Speaker
but So the fact that they're included in the same sentence, I'm like, okay, yeah, it's a law student. Nailbiter is a villain though, right? Isn't she or no? Natalie has yeah nothing to do with Nailbiter.
00:15:42
Speaker
They're included in the same sentence. I was like, I didn't think they had anything. Okay. know Nailbiter is just a villain. Yes, Nailbiter is one of the villains talking with Prancer because Ashley has her little confrontation and then you know shops and leaves.
00:15:59
Speaker
um ah Bernard, good good soft hint? No. No, she has not. um
00:16:08
Speaker
ah She hasn't done anything but except show up. I guess the fact that she's name-dropped in the summary means she'll show up again later. Yeah. um This is also where we had the team workshopping names, both for the team and the for themselves. So just out of curiosity, um what would be the worst possible team name for them?
00:16:35
Speaker
And maybe the worst, worst possible cake names for any of the people in this group.
00:16:42
Speaker
I mean, I think you were close when you were like the therapy group. like Yeah, I was going to say group therapy. Group therapy is pretty bad. Group therapy is just the name of their team. Yeah. All right. Try to go in with all all the different things.
00:16:58
Speaker
Something like... um trauma and fetish or something like that. You've got... yeah obviously Obviously, you've got Tentai. Tentai. See, I was going to go with like Huggsy Wuggsy kind of thing for Sveta, right?
00:17:13
Speaker
Yeah. It's like an absurdly cutesy name. It's like, oh that's death. but just Death in a bottle. Beyond Stables. Yeah, that would be a good one. They have not decided on a name yet.
00:17:27
Speaker
um They've just been brainstorming that. um Tetanus mouth. I like that even if feel like Chris came... Yeah, tetanus mouth for Nailbiter. yeah ah chris Chris came up with one for himself that I thought was funny. was a Hodgepodge.
00:17:42
Speaker
i like That's not a great name, but I kind of love it. I kind of like it. good name yeah fun But then he he was going to shorten it to Podge. That was the one where I was like, okay, maybe not though. Don't Podge. Maybe not Podge.
00:17:55
Speaker
Don't be just Podge. That's funny. Hodgepodge is fine. Podge is just... Yeah. He sounds like you're a penguin. What? Why?
00:18:06
Speaker
Yeah. I think Kraken would be a good name for Sveta, actually. Just a decent name. I like Kraken. I guess it's not really hero vibes, though, maybe. Kraken could be considered... We're not looking for hero vibes. We're looking for worst possible options. Yeah, well, yeah. Worst possible, yeah.
00:18:23
Speaker
Uh... vi ah Victoria's would be something like like the human condom or something like that. What?
Pacing and Story Structure Debate
00:18:36
Speaker
Because she's holding it.
00:18:39
Speaker
she She already has. I mean, ta of Tattletail already gave us that. It's Gloria. Gloria. That's the old her, you know, new name. New name, you new tease.
00:18:51
Speaker
yeah new name my gosh alan get get a little closer to your mic please i think you're ah you so far away baby there we go how about that that's bad i think i think kinsey's worst name would just be shut up kid because that's what everybody tells her yeah no uh her name's actually look away but go say no That's pretty good. I like that. I mean, it's bad, but that's the point. ah
00:19:30
Speaker
Anything else in this? yeah ah I like seeing a bit more of Damsel. I like ah seeing her. We got like an ever so slight POV section of hers and i was like, oh, ah.
00:19:43
Speaker
yeah Just a tease. Yeah, that threw me off for a second when it started, and I was like, are we in an interlude? Wait, what's going on? Yeah, same. um Weird. Yeah, and I really like, um I really do like, ah yeah, Damsel's a little bit there, buying the dress, pretending to be a villain because she's known as a villain.
00:20:03
Speaker
i thought that was really cool. Oh, yeah, two plus four, Misfit Toys. ah That's a great... That is a great song from Arcane Season 1.
00:20:14
Speaker
i was in the um yeah aisle of misfit toys, led by the coolest character in any stop motion, King Moonracer, who is a winged lion, not a griffin, nor any of those Androsphinx bullshit.
00:20:29
Speaker
um Yeah. ah So people know in their D&D lore, he's a winged lion. There you go There you Yeah. I don't know. I don't really see... i kind of like this general plan of slowly harassing the villains.
00:20:48
Speaker
Yeah. That's kind fun. I feel like there's a plus and negative here. I think Wildbo's taking his time with Ward, which is cool. But it I kind of feel that time where I feel like between this moment and when Houndstooth Teams does something and when Ozier does something...
00:21:07
Speaker
It's a little bit too long. Like 4.2, the only note that it has for it is, ah planning and strategy, Kinsey steps into the limelight.
00:21:18
Speaker
And like, that's what 4.2 is. don't remember 4.2. I think... i don't remember four point two i think um Yeah, i don't know. I don't remember. I mean, i think it I think it says something that we're all, we all literally just read these chapters like a week ago or less if you waited till the last minute to read your chapters. so ah And we can't fucking remember. like I've seen this. There's a lot of talking.
00:21:45
Speaker
Yes. I think I'm just kind of sick of all of the talking, which I understand is like, we're seeing more of the paperwork. i don't even want to say paperwork, but more of the like strategizing paperwork side of having a hero group as opposed to the like action-packed, you know, Taylor kind of just did whatever she wanted with her ah with her territory. And a lot of it was like, well, we need to rebuild shit. So we're fucking going. We're going to do it.
00:22:12
Speaker
And this feels like a lot more like, spreadsheets and paperwork and making sure everything's lined up. And I don't like spreadsheets and paperwork. Yeah.
00:22:22
Speaker
I will say, so I, this would be more like if we got worm from coils perspective, in Tattletail, right? Because they were the ones who planned everything.
00:22:35
Speaker
Taylor was just the the executioner, so to speak, of the plans. And even Tattletail, to ah to an extent, is just the executioner. Like, I think if we had Worm from Coil's perspective, it'd be a lot of dialogue because it's him planning everything. Yeah. But... So i think that's the downside here, right? Is we have... Now we are following the character who is that Coil, so to speak, for this hero team who's doing all the planning and the plotting and...
00:23:01
Speaker
you know We're not just following the character executing on the plans. um yeah Worm is... no I'll start with Ward. Ward so far has been like watching The Wire. the like The Wire is just so much set up for Ultimately, like, they don't exactly get what they want. You know, slight spoilers for The Wire. or wire But that is The Wire. It's it's tapping phones. It's spending a lot of time.
00:23:32
Speaker
People just talking. Takeouts and waiting. Takeouts and waiting and trying to set stuff up. That is the whole show. um and And it is interesting. And Worm, at least pacing-wise, is Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
00:23:45
Speaker
Like... yeah Yeah. Yeah. All the characters, there's always something happening. Um, and so it is, it is definitely a change up and you know, this was an entire book.
00:24:02
Speaker
Um, and don't get to the thoughts at the end, but essentially nothing happened. Um, yeah. For an entire arc.
00:24:15
Speaker
Yeah. For two entire, yeah, yeah, for an entire, yeah. this I think this is this is also the downside of writing in web serial form, I imagine. For sure. I could see, um if you wrote this as a more traditional novel, you would have a good editor be like, okay, we need to cull some stuff.
00:24:34
Speaker
But granted, that's part of what we love about Wyrm, right? I would argue that we don't need to cull stuff. We can do everything. yeah I would actually argue that like, so i'm i'm I don't care if anybody judges for this.
00:24:50
Speaker
Sarah J. Moss, she writes fantasy. When she first published her first series, it was like grabs you right out the gate because it was her first series. She was a brand new debut author. And then her first two series blew up. And when she like,
00:25:04
Speaker
Her publisher basically gave her free reign with her third series. The books were insanely chonky, like way too big. it it moseyed around. You had no idea where you were. I truly hated it. And it was like, this is a perfect example of like, the publishers went, oh, we know that you have readers and they're going to read whatever you put out.
00:25:27
Speaker
You can just... run with it. And I'm kind of feeling that vibe here. Like Wild Bill now has people who loved Worm and who read Worm and want more. And it's like, well, I can i can take my time. i can explore certain aspects of this world that I didn't really get to lean into before. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that, especially when you're, you know, basically indie publishing.
00:25:52
Speaker
Like, you yeah you can do whatever the fuck you want to do and you should, but also... I'm dying here just a little bit. Yeah.
00:26:03
Speaker
Yeah. You don't want to, you don't want to choke out the creative, you know, nature by having somebody there strangling. Yeah. The creative potential, but also you do want somebody who can balance that with wrangling the writer in.
00:26:21
Speaker
And in this case, why I think that like at some point in time, Jacob and I will sit down and do at the very least, maybe not a TV adaptation, but, uh, I'll at worm or ward should have gotten edited down.
00:26:35
Speaker
Um, I think worm, you know, we were trying to edit it in our, uh, our other podcast. Um, you know, it needed to be different. There needed to be a reason for the changes.
00:26:46
Speaker
Ward needs, way more changes, just basic level, not even as an adaptation. Just to start out, it needs a ton of re-editing.
00:26:58
Speaker
yeah um Yeah, and that that's more my point with the with the web serial thing, is that you are typically, you probably give your work, I mean, I don't know Wild Bill works. I imagine he gives his works at least a passing edit, but he's not got that long-term editing voice of somebody being like,
00:27:15
Speaker
hey, let's look at the book as a whole. Let's skip things around. Or slice things apart. and To keep with the Star Wars comparison, there was the george ah George Lucas, your first trilogy was amazing. Fans love it. What do he got for us next? And he goes, we're going to open on a trade embargo.
00:27:31
Speaker
And nobody said, no George. Not a good idea. Yeah. Sometimes you want to let the brilliant mind cook, obviously, but you know, every, every cook is a food critic.
00:27:47
Speaker
A sous chef. Yeah. yeah um grand Yeah. Fran says in the chat that this is a fairly common opinion of word. So it, it kind of makes sense yeah that I imagine this is fairly common, but we can move on to 4.3. Oh, I was going to latch onto that. oh this So far, um,
00:28:08
Speaker
much like my opinions of the time skip, which is, I don't remember it being that bad. And even the chapter that, it or the arc that it's in, wasn't that bad. The time skip, literally that singular interlude or whatever is the reason it's so bad. And it is bad.
00:28:25
Speaker
Worse than I remember. Ward might be that for me, where I have been holding that. I love Ward a lot from what I remember. And so far having gone, gone through it detail by detail,
00:28:39
Speaker
it's It's really on a downward slope. um So hopefully hopefully all of the ah the hype I had in my mind does eventually meet up with what I'm reading.
00:28:52
Speaker
ah So far it is is not. yeah But you know what? We're doing it together. Well, one of my... ah yeah We will experience it together.
00:29:03
Speaker
um Yeah. And it's not like my story. Oops, sorry. I was just going to say, it's not like the story itself is bad either. It's not like, like when I sit down and I'm reading, it's not like I'm like, oh, this is so boring.
00:29:15
Speaker
I'm here. I'm reading. yeah I find myself moving through the chapters. But what I don't find is myself thinking during the day, oh, I can't wait to sit down and read Ward later. which is how I was with warm.
00:29:26
Speaker
I'm like, Oh, I can't wait till I'm done with work. I'm gonna sit down. I'm going to read. It's going to be great. Or like books that I love that I'm thinking about it all day. And then I sit down and I read, this is more of like, well, I have to read three chapters, you know, by next week. So I'm going to sit down and spend a Saturday finish reading.
00:29:43
Speaker
So here we go. Jacob, actually like your comparison with, uh, with the first three Lord of the Rings. Um, Star Wars. Star Wars? Yeah. I'm sorry.
00:29:55
Speaker
Star Wars. Careful. The first three Star Wars. They're like, yeah, those are pretty darn good. And then you're like, what do you have for us? And you know what? the the pre The prequels are bad.
00:30:08
Speaker
um But the amount of lore in them that like is explored and gives us more room to jump off of is incredible.
00:30:19
Speaker
I know that the Clone Wars is like, are you to be the worst one by far? um I like it because the clones are introduced and, you know, lot of cool, all the coolest stuff revolves around the clones. Like, and, yeah you know, yeah, 100%.
00:30:42
Speaker
ah yeah hundred percent I agree. didn't know. and You said clones, but I heard cologne and colognes.
00:30:53
Speaker
An army of sense. That's a long day. Sorry. Continue, Nick. No, no. All good. All good. um Okay. 4.3. This is one of my favorite scenes in the arc.
00:31:05
Speaker
Flying on villains. with with with That was 4.2. We didn't remember. Oh, I was still on 4.1. Oh, no, no. oh ah but no no We had circus confirmed as a multi-trigger. I know that was mentioned the chat before, but we hadn't confirmed that circus was a multi-trigger confirmed.
Favorite Scenes and Character Dynamics
00:31:22
Speaker
um And then let's see. Houndstooth seems cool. And Enzi's description of her trigger, which I thought was an interesting one. How would get a kid like Kenzie to trigger?
00:31:37
Speaker
Dang, that was pretty sad. Also, I do want to give a shout out to Beefaroni, who says they they read Worm in about nine days, which is wild.
00:31:49
Speaker
Wait, what? How? They said, literally all I did, I woke up, read Worm, then went to bed. that's That's what you'd have to do. Goddamn, son.
00:32:03
Speaker
Oh, fantastic. Well done. well yeah um Yeah, impressive. Okay. um Yeah, I think 4.2, I just didn't remember much, so I didn't have much to say. think it's just the initial talk with Houndstooth being like, hey, that cool?
00:32:18
Speaker
Cool. And then they're gonna meet later. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. they They decide Houndstooth. That's right. Kinsey's nervous about them talking to Houndstooth. There's that prior relationship.
00:32:29
Speaker
um But we'll get into that a bit more with 4.4, I think. Yep. 4.3, though, has one of my favorite scenes in the arc. um Spying on villains and the dangers of Revelation, Victoria's wretch wrecks Velvet's boy toy.
00:32:45
Speaker
Love, Lost, and Snag have plans for Rain. My favorite scene is Moose and Victoria talking with Moose being like, Hey, look, we're going to fight. Like, we got to...
00:32:58
Speaker
You know, you're going to beat me, though. So, like, we can get to, like, you can really beat me and then my friends will come and fight you, too. ah you can just beat me up a little bit and then we'll move on and you fly away. Yeah. but Yeah.
00:33:09
Speaker
I love Moose. ah like Moose a lot. Strong. Favorite side character for sure for sure so far. Yeah, yeah. ah he He, that is 100% if I were to be a villain.
00:33:24
Speaker
that That's me. It's just like, man, I don't want to like, I've got to do my job. You know, I'm a villain. That's what I do. But like, you're going to get me at the end of this. So can we just skip to that part and be done with it? It's such a hassle.
00:33:44
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah. No, i I like that part. That was one of the fun ones. um And then she gouges it a bit. The wretch. Yeah, yeah. She kind him bit. feel like that was the hit harder than intended kind of moment of like, ooh. Yeah, because it grabs his face and like, ugh.
00:34:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Feel bad for the guy. You need to get this wretch under control. Jeez. Causing damage, crashing cars, ripping up the... He's got little grabby bits all over the place. He's got a lot of grippers there.
00:34:13
Speaker
At this point in time, we have... We have Rain's Cluster... Have y'all figured that out yet?
00:34:27
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. wow yeah Wait, wait, wait, wait. What do you mean by figured that out yet? Who has what power, kind of, generally speaking?
00:34:38
Speaker
No! I don't! Like, who has the main power? We've gone through them all. yeah Right. So let's start with Rain. Okay, Rain has the...
00:34:49
Speaker
okay so rain has the laser power is his main one, right? Shattering ability. Right. but he's like a blaster, I guess. Yeah. Yep. um Cradle is the tinker.
00:35:03
Speaker
Cradle is the tinker, right? Cradle is the tinker. um Which we know nag probably has something to do with arms. Right. Yeah. The crazy arms when they fought the first time.
00:35:16
Speaker
um Snag is the mover power, right? That is correct. Oh, right. Yep. Okay. And then love lost is the emotion power. Correct. Ah.
00:35:28
Speaker
Makes sense. And then there's a fifth one that, you know, passed away, probably. Yeah. Yeah, that we don't know about. Yeah. Mr. Hands. Hand boy.
00:35:40
Speaker
Oh, is that what we call Cradle? I thought we called Snag. Snag. No, Snag and Cradle different. Not Mr. Hands. Not Mr. Hands. No. ah e yeah That is Rain's cluster.
00:35:56
Speaker
Yeah. yeah yeah yeah And they... i i It's interesting overhearing that conversation with Snag where he's like, hey, we're hiring you guys because we need an army, but we also really want to kill this kid.
00:36:12
Speaker
yeah Yeah. they're like We need an army. We're going to take on you know a large group of people. Also this one kid. Yes. You need to kill him. but Fuck that kid. Primary target.
00:36:24
Speaker
you know if there's one Everything else is second down. Fuck them kids, bro. Arms power, hand boy, arms master. Coincidence? I think not. yeah Also, Bernard, a good point. When Victoria's in Arc 2 and she's beating up that Nazi, she can't avoid... brought Well, or is that... Yeah.
00:36:42
Speaker
She can't avoid property damage, but doesn't. Now she wants to avoid property damage, but can't. But can't. That's funny. Yeah. The irony. yeah Oh, Victoria. and An army.
00:36:56
Speaker
yeah So stupid. I love it. So No, it's great. ah To Bernard, how do you think the name Cradle reflects his power?
00:37:09
Speaker
Well, based on the Tinker arm things, I'm thinking of like, you know, the grabbing, the holding that arms would give. also kind of thought of like Cat's Cradle, like that kind of they give it the same thing It's abandonment dad issues.
00:37:22
Speaker
That's the trigger event because cats in the cradle and the silver spoon. Little boy blue and the man on the moon? Coincidence? I think not.
00:37:34
Speaker
hi I think so. Yep. yeahp yeah weird But yeah um yeah. Very cool little moment there. um yeah Arms master is behind everything.
00:37:49
Speaker
Confirmed. So wait for him. He's out there somewhere. Do Illuminati thing. Do the A for Armsmaster. Oh my God. A's in the chat. Am I right?
00:38:03
Speaker
All right. A's in the chat for Armsmaster. Y'all. With just the 1A, remember? Just the 1A. Yeah. One arm. One arm. for arm. Yep.
00:38:13
Speaker
one arm one arm one arm one a fur arm me ah What's the singular of Illuminati? Illuminat? Illuminat. Illuminat.
00:38:24
Speaker
Illuminat. Oh, no. I'm to clip that. That's our first clip that chat. Here we go.
00:38:34
Speaker
She's dragging on these balls to lie Illumina. Oh, no. I'm adding a stream marker for later on this moment. Oh, yeah. ah go Yeah, we can't forget about teasing the chat for Tattletail as well. Thanks, Chad. yeah ah yeah Yeah. But we we're not talking about her. Oh, my gosh. It's all good.
00:38:57
Speaker
She'll come up. But don't ever forget. She'll come up. We're going to talk about her. All right, on to the first interlude. Yes, please. Yes. 4.8 interlude, Cluster Snags Night.
00:39:13
Speaker
ah Rain lives up to his name and has a dreary day. I feel like that doesn't quite describe it. ah So from what I remember, I'll give a bit more. We open in Snag's Dream, not knowing it's Snag's Dream initially.
00:39:27
Speaker
We open in Snag's dream of the mall. of Something has happened in the mall. There's a stampede of people rushing for the door. He's recognizing that this is bad. People are going to get crushed and hit. he He tries to rescue a young girl, but she gets pulled under eventually anyway.
00:39:43
Speaker
ah he reaches up to try to climb and cuts his hand and then falls, and then things kind of go black. um That's what i recall from his dream. And then they they go into that weird dream in-between area where they can all see each other, talk to each other. They've got the little podium in the middle where they can put their powers to share them.
00:40:05
Speaker
um And yeah, Fran's comment about the Black Friday Traeger event, it does remind me this one time. um in In great earnest, a person I knew posted an article on Facebook saying,
00:40:20
Speaker
saying the title of the article was One Million Dead and in Worst Black Friday Night Ever. And his comments were just like, I can't believe somebody like this would happen in America. Is this what it's come to?
00:40:33
Speaker
It was from the onion though. So it's just, it wasn't a real article. And he like, he fully, fully fell for the the satire onion. yeah remember all the comments were just like, brah, but not explaining anything. And finally somebody was like, you know what the onion is, right? one No, bro, don't tell him.
00:40:50
Speaker
We are like, don't tell him. He doesn't know still. ah Greatest tragedy in history. Yeah, greatest, yeah. million One million dead and worst Black Friday ever.
00:41:05
Speaker
Lord. No, but yeah, i I assumed these are all dreams of the trigger events by the end. um Yeah. Sort of like yeah what caused them all to trigger simultaneously.
00:41:17
Speaker
Yeah. so I think I would like to reread the interludes now having finished them. I feel like I might appreciate the early ones a bit more.
00:41:28
Speaker
i so I always love the interludes. They're always great. But um but yeah, now knowing kind of that we're seeing the shared ah shared dream and vision of the trigger is is interesting.
00:41:40
Speaker
And a lot of... yes I was just going to say, it seems like whatever happened, based on the other interludes, I'm going to bring a bit of the other inter interludes into it as well.
00:41:52
Speaker
It sounds like the reason they blame Rain is because the Fallen caused whatever caused the Stampede. That's that' what I was thinking. yeah but yeah I'm pretty sure that's what he said. um And so, yeah, so there's... That's why they blame him, because he's the member of the Fallen who is still part of their cluster now.
00:42:16
Speaker
Plus, you know, the whole
Humorous Cultural References and Analysis
00:42:17
Speaker
kiss-kill thing. They just probably want to kill him more than normal anyway. ah Give him smooches. Smooch him up. And if he's dead, then they can't smooch him up. I'm gonna kiss you. And then I'm gonna kill you.
00:42:28
Speaker
Yeah. ah The Dream Realm actually gave strong ah Dishonored vibes. Like when they're in the Outsiders place. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I could see that. Interesting. Like where he's getting his powers from the weird god thing.
00:42:40
Speaker
Yeah, because like there's like scenes in that area and like it's all broken apart and like shardy and dream space. Yeah. Strong Dishonored Outsider vibes.
00:42:52
Speaker
Also... I like that they get like tokens for their power. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Yeah. i was going to say, we've also got a lot of ah people losing fingers and other things in hinges and holding tables. And I just... Every single one of them.
00:43:09
Speaker
This one was the finger in the hinge, but... Even just the hand... Yeah, the hand injury. I had a... I had a cousin who was trying to reach for something like on a roof once and she got her hand caught on the gutter coming back down. And that like that, like that kind of stuff is really visceral. Yeah. It's a big no.
00:43:32
Speaker
Very visceral. Falling into a yeah stampede is very Mufasa. i I'm surprised no one said that yet. That's true. Yeah.
00:43:44
Speaker
Also, I'll warn you about tattletaling right now. And, I mean, we'll leave that for the next arc. Mufasa was a fallen. Yeah, exactly. rock There you go.
00:43:55
Speaker
Cut his hand and fell into a stampede. I mean, that sounds very familiar. That's true. and I'm getting a scar and Simba, our cluster trigger.
00:44:09
Speaker
yeah Even even the the main the main line works, right? Because we're talking about this like weird incest-y cult. you know love Long live the kink. It's just perfect. That's exactly what Scar said. Did you say long live the kink? That's what Scar said, right?
00:44:24
Speaker
Yep. How do you think he got that, Scar? How do you...
00:44:32
Speaker
that's I'll see myself out. We just started, the guys. We're already losing it. It's good. No, we've been going. We're due this time.
00:44:45
Speaker
Yeah, that's fair. 45 minutes in. I did like the ah trading trading chips to trade away like pieces of power. yeah you know Cradle's like, well, I can give you guys you know each a couple of my chips. I don't really need them. But then... and It's got to be so...
00:45:02
Speaker
mind screwy for rain to be there as they're all plotting his demise yeah like oh oh it sucks and he's just like got his three little tokens and he's like you're all i have thats also say He even says at one point here that he tried giving them away at the beginning, like tried to like talk to garner some goodwill, like to try anything. They all just ignored him like, oh man, like this is every single night. Yeah. It doesn't let up, man. Yeah. um
00:45:39
Speaker
He got a very upset that Jacob has not mentioned the elephant in the this world's room. which is that they got three ETs.
00:45:52
Speaker
Wait, what? Did I miss something? What is this? Three ETs? Yeah, well they have three ETs movies. Yeah. Did they mention that? I didn't catch that. I can't believe that Jacob didn't catch on to that. I'm very disappointed.
00:46:04
Speaker
I'm also disappointed. Listen, it's that's fair. I'm sorry. Stricken from the list. You know what, Kat? Doesn't count in bingo.
00:46:14
Speaker
Doesn't count in bingo. He didn't notice it. Doesn't count. um so so Doesn't count. That's funny. um no So this is the one. So this this interlude, because Rain's interludes, his non-dream parts are kind of bleeding together.
00:46:29
Speaker
This is the one, though, where we see ah he kind of wakes up. It's that weird, eerie morning where all the girls are serving Um, they go out. Aaron's brother is being taken to church and we have that first sermon that we get to hear.
00:46:46
Speaker
um and we, ah trying to think of what happens after that, which is kind of like general vibes of like what, oh, he talks to Lachlan in this one, right?
00:46:58
Speaker
Or is that the next one? That is the next It's the next one. It's the next one. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So it's more just getting a sense of like what the society is like. I don't feel like.
00:47:09
Speaker
Yeah. Again, it's not like much happens, but this one was much more interesting to me just because of how. interesting. Twisted the fallen are. Yeah. Yeah. It's, um, yeah, it's, it's, uh, it's interesting.
00:47:22
Speaker
I mean, look, I love a cult. I love a cult as much as the next person, but, um, Ew. Just... Ew. I felt greasy after reading this. it um Also, um when they're describing the kitchen, i was telling Alan this.
00:47:43
Speaker
I ah totally imagined it as the... that I don't know which Star Wars movie it is, but since we've mentioned Star Wars. ah But there's this bar in one of the Star Warses where it's like the bar is like in a big circle and the All the people are bartenders like on the inside and then all the patrons are on like the outside of the circle. And it's like the bar is basically a giant ring. That is how I imagined their kitchen.
00:48:07
Speaker
They're like weird hodgepodge kitchen in this compound thing. It's like all the girls are in the ring cooking and doing dishes. And then like it's not a compound hodgepodge. It's a single cabin.
00:48:22
Speaker
I know, but that is how I read it at the time. Just a bunch of baristas. It's how I saw it in my mind's eye. Yes, thank you. That's exactly how I saw it. Just a Starbucks. Meanwhile, Chad is writing the third E.T. movie and I am loving it.
00:48:40
Speaker
i did just, I went back and had to find that in the interview. The 50th Diner with, I forget what the guy's name is, but the six arm, Jax. Jack's Daxter.
00:48:54
Speaker
Except di thought he just had a diner set up. He just had a diner. You're probably thinking of Mos Eisley in episode four. the cantina. And if not that one, literally every cantina they show in those the live the longer ones in some of the other ah shows rather than the one they initially lop off the one dude's arm who's like, he doesn't like you. don't like you either. Yeah, that's episode four.
00:49:19
Speaker
Dexter Jetster is the bar is the diner guy. Dexter Jetster. um If you want a... or not... um I will say to reply to a 2 plus 4.
00:49:31
Speaker
I didn't notice ET3. I will be honest. I haven't actually seen ET before. Me neither. That's a... Oh, my God. Fuddled.
00:49:43
Speaker
Yeah. and ah I'm sorry. I missed that one. I got Jurassic Park. I got Star Wars. I just missed... I missed E.T. I know what I'm doing with my book.
00:49:55
Speaker
That's true. There we go. Don't make me. But if you want... I can't be that drunk. Oh, my God. The... Hang on. I may have a child sneaking in. One second.
00:50:05
Speaker
No problem. Everybody's got a cancer. Oh, did... I did go and look. ah I looked back at where it's at ET3 and i I just read right past it. So I'm sorry. Let's take a punishment chat. what What do we do to know that the bar is enough because we had that for a trivia night not too long ago. And one of our people who knew nothing about Star Wars just could not believe.
00:50:29
Speaker
the music and the cantina. Oh, yeah. That's true. That was fun. Classic. Yeah. George Lucas. E.T. has one of the weirdest... Oh, George.
00:50:41
Speaker
One of the most savage ah insults from a child in a movie. And it's like the one of the only... for you probably the the bill believe The little tiny kid, youngest brother or whatever, insults their older sibling by calling them...
00:50:56
Speaker
Calling them penis breath, which is... It's when they're outside of shit....comes out nowhere in the movie. Dang. And when I was a child watching it, I was like, holy... I don't think I'm supposed to hear this.
00:51:08
Speaker
No, no. And my parents were... parents turned that movie My parents were appalled at a child saying penis breath. And that's pretty much the only part about that movie I remember. I need to rewatch it. Because that's that's pretty cool. It's that entire age of terrible. Yeah, a lot of those like late 70s, early 80s movies, what i what I didn't know is that... um PG-13 wasn't invented until 1984. Yeah.
00:51:34
Speaker
yeah And so, like, i I worked at a teen, like, hangout place at a an army base, and we put on a movie, and they had a movie library of G and PG movies because they didn't want to show anything too crazy. So I pull on the Goonies.
00:51:47
Speaker
In the first, like, 10 seconds, somebody goes, yeah what the shit? Or something like that. And we're like, what? No, famously, the shit. Yeah, he was going to play with that. So... it's My parents put it on for my sister who was like six and I was like, no, no, no, no no no no no And they were like, no, it's fine. We were loved this as kids. And like immediately it's like talking about the sex dungeon in the attic.
00:52:09
Speaker
ah like what the chip like yeah apple i like And then my parents like yeah shaking, turn it off and being like, I don't remember it being like this. I'm like, all your movies were like this. All your children's movies were like this.
Character Development and Interpersonal Relationships
00:52:21
Speaker
and like the The original Pink Panther movies, same thing. Sounds sounds and innocent. very very like not the very first scene of can't remember which one is like ah bunch of naked women pressing like stepping on on grapes to make wine just like in the third one i don't i don't remember because i only saw that part and then uh we turned it off but right my dad was like i don't remember in your mind The thing is that a lot of times they watch it on TV.
00:52:51
Speaker
So everything was edited to go on tv So that yeah that that was the whole thing back in the day. But anyways, I digress. and And there's also just as as a parent now, ah I can say that there is parent brain where you're like, oh, I love this movie as a kid.
00:53:09
Speaker
And then... You know, even like, um it's not even that bad, but I watched Wreck-It Ralph with my kids recently. And, you know, the scene where Ralph smashes the car, my son bursts into tears and like, why did you make me watch this?
00:53:22
Speaker
I was like, it gets better. It gets better. Don't worry. It's got a happy ending. The low part's too low for me, Dad. I was I got drag we forgot how intense this was watching Ralph smash the car while Vanellope screaming no. This is terrible. That's pretty It's pretty hard. You got to take all those emotions. You got to ball them down.
00:53:47
Speaker
Keep them down there. Never come up. yeah That's the thing, right? is' like there is a You do need to lightly traumatize your children. Speaking of which. 4.4. Yeah. yeah sort it fallen um the phone yeah Well, before we get out of the interlude, um I did want to say just as a quick book recommendation, if you're wanting to read some nonfiction um and you're like, how are there any groups like the fallen in real life?
00:54:12
Speaker
um I read a book called Educated, which is a memoir by Tara Westover. Oh, my God. Someone was just telling me about this book. Yep. Pretty, pretty great memoir. I read it for grad school.
00:54:26
Speaker
Um, but her parents were part of a certain extreme survivalist Mormon cult. Um, and she was not taught. She had to teach herself to read and she wasn't taught to read until she was like 12 or something like that.
00:54:41
Speaker
Um, and just very extreme. Like they, they were constantly worried that the government was going to come and take everything away. They, you know, we're very, very conservative and traditional and abusive. Like, it's just a, it's a very sad memoir, but very enlightening.
00:54:58
Speaker
and And it happened in the United States, so it's not even something that's that far away. So, just as a small nonfiction recommendation for any of our nonfic readers out there. ah Interesting book. Really enjoyed it.
00:55:09
Speaker
Yeah. On top of that, if we're just going to get into the Fallen, I have the notes for you, Bernard. God the Fallen are such a good, conclusion like inevitable conclusion of what cult Christianity already looks like.
00:55:23
Speaker
It's the obsession with people in power, or in this case, having powers. um The weird sexual kinks, which nobody will talk about, but um yeah having lots of children is a breeding kink.
00:55:36
Speaker
That's what it is. People don't want to talk about it, but that's that's what it is. And the power dynamic kink of like the man being in charge of everything is still a kink. um the obsession with the end times, they're literally an end bringer cult.
00:55:52
Speaker
Like, right. And right. ah Something that I thought about recently is I don't hear nearly as much talk about the end times now that like ah people are in power.
00:56:03
Speaker
So, but when they're not in power, the end times are always right around the corner. um And then ah the ease of absorbing other cultures into their own. This started as an end bringer cult. They,
00:56:16
Speaker
you know, worship for all intents and purposes or, know, have their focus on the end bringers, which are not, you know, Jesus Christ. And yet they have subsumed the Christian aspects into themselves so that they can keep rolling on and use that as a vehicle for, you know, what people are comfortable with, which is very much in line with like how a lot of the American cult national Christianity uh, already works. I mean, Christianity over a whole has absorbed, you know, all the Greek and Roman doctrine into itself for concepts like hell and Hades and, you know, and just keeps rolling and picking up different holidays and traditions through other cultures.
00:57:04
Speaker
And eventually you get to, um you know, you get to America today and there's so much that has been picked up along the way that isn't, you know, not there OG Christianity, if you want to call it that, but has done it for just culturally. It helps them propagate um and and pick up stuff.
00:57:25
Speaker
It does help that the end bringers are named after biblical creatures. That is true. Yeah. yeah And it's it's a very... poignant example of the us versus them mentality.
00:57:36
Speaker
um And that gets and brought up in later arcs as well, where it is both in the sermon and the way they're talking. It's the, hey, it's us versus them. And, you know, very much if you, ah if you aren't with us, you're against us. Vic, to answer your question, Simr, if she can step on me.
00:57:55
Speaker
Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. It's if I had to worship an Endbringer, it would be the Simr. Not the real cult of this, but Simmer. The question was, if you had to worship Ben and Ringer, who would you worship for those who are reading this? I was going to say, it's not question.
00:58:10
Speaker
Educated. it's always important i don't need to even worship all of her, just her feet. um it was It's called, a to answer your question, two plus four, it's called ah Educated by Tara Westover. The question was, what was the name of the nonfiction memoir, ah Educated?
00:58:27
Speaker
um I read it because I have a master's degree in English education. Nerd. Big brain. um It was one of one of the classes we talked about the importance of literacy.
00:58:41
Speaker
Everyone's agreeing with you about Simmer. Everybody's saying Simmer from the chat, big lady. Simmer from the chat. how do How do I do the feet emote? Where's feet? but No. No, why? I just need to like the view of the bottom of the chat. I will say.
00:58:59
Speaker
do I do an ask? will say. Ever since yeah Lady Dimitrescu was revealed in that one Resident Evil trailer, everybody got way too comfortable talking about getting stepped on, I think. I think i think it just helped a bunch of people awaken. I think it was good, you know.
00:59:16
Speaker
them to have that no not all the feet emojis yeah you're welcome that's what i'm here for plus why michael that's a great reason to worship bohu uh i stand with you i hate yeah i'd worship bohu because i hate real estate that's real real okay we got to keep rolling you guys we forgot a lot to tell you anyway 4.4 for the third time Yeah, 4.4 for the fourth time.
00:59:43
Speaker
ah Victoria and Tristan give Ashley an impromptu lesson on public relations. Houndstooth reveals that Kinsey is even more awesome and caring than she first appears, and that's why that's worrying.
00:59:55
Speaker
um Yeah, so this was... ah I don't remember the conversation with Ashley, I'll be honest. It's them talking to the girl Presley.
01:00:08
Speaker
Yeah, so Presley approaches Vic on the train, ah Victoria on the train. Right, right, right, right. I liked that scene. either way it was yeah The way it was phrased, I didn't remember what it was about, but I liked that scene. I thought that was... Look, this is why Vicky is a pro, okay?
01:00:24
Speaker
I will say she handled that very well. If conversations like this go like, damn, she's good. She does the first whole like, you know, first, let me take a selfie kind of thing. yeah If you go to that chapter, ah what is it, 4.4? If you go to that chapter on the wiki, there are multiple renditions of that selfie, by the way.
01:00:43
Speaker
um Oh, fun. Which is really, really nice. Yeah. ah Yeah. it's ah shec yeah She's good at like public relations. She's good at the like drumming up the social media, too.
01:00:55
Speaker
Like the, hey, we're going to do this. We're gonna send it out to this one person. like It is kind of being nice, but also she knows what she's doing in terms of like, groundworks trying to get public like sway on their side like she's good at this it also feels very much like you know victoria interests and teach ashley to be a little bit more human like here's how you do human a little bit i did like the rejection when what presley was that the girl's name like yeah yeah yeah which iss which is like very hesitantly is done with is done with victoria and then like
01:01:32
Speaker
Turns to Ashley is like, would you sign it? to No. Just like, okay, I'm sorry. Like my, that's my anxiety every time I think I see a famous person in public. Yeah. yeah But then Ashley had a real, had a good reason. It was like, ah well, I can't right now. My arms are, you know, yeah not working.
01:01:51
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Yeah. Which is a big, big move on her part admitting weakness since she's somebody that yeah really despises that. That's true. like She didn't say it to the girl, but, you know, saying it to her teammates is still a big step.
01:02:04
Speaker
Like, we'll take it. For sure. Which kind of implies, like, I would have done it, but I didn't want to embarrass myself by just holding a pen. The more this goes on yeah, the more I'm getting, like, Dread Pirate Roberts vibes from Ashley, where she's every day is like, I'll kill you in the morning.
01:02:20
Speaker
You know, and then more it goes on, it's like, that's what she has to do. Yeah. yeah Well, good work, team. Good night. I'll most likely be a villain in the morning. yeah yeah 20 years actually said that. Turns out she's not even the first Dread Pirate Ashley. It works. It works.
01:02:43
Speaker
and word It too well. yeah No, I, again, i think this is why characters like Ashley are a red herring, right? They're not the problem that Mrs. Yamada was worried about.
01:02:58
Speaker
Like, yes, they could be an issue, but i i feel like from their first meeting, Mrs. Yamada probably pegged her as like, you're fine. Like, you just, you need some help. Like, becoming a human, but you'll be fine.
01:03:11
Speaker
But Ashley thinks that she's the biggest issue in the group. Like, Ashley's like, yeah, if we don't succeed, it's going to be Like, yeah, she's like very proud of herself. Like, oh, yeah, I know that Miss Yamada's worried about the group. have a lot of big issues in this group. And she's like, I know.
01:03:27
Speaker
I'm a big issue. Kind of a big issue. It's me. It's me. Hi. I'm the problem. It's me. We got to make sure to say that kind of a big issue.
01:03:40
Speaker
ah to merch yeah That's a good idea. and But instead of like, I'm kind of a big issue, it's I kind of have a big issue. kind of have a big oh But just the words big issue are just big on the rest of it's real time.
01:03:56
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah. And speaking of big issues, Houndstooth reveals that Kinsey may be a bit of a problem. um Yeah.
01:04:08
Speaker
Poor child. I think about the people addict talk so much in my everyday life.
01:04:20
Speaker
Um, where he gives the description of much like food and early, you have to do to survive. So you can't cut it cold Turkey, like other substances or things.
01:04:34
Speaker
And people are kind of the same way that there is, it is such a incredibly difficult addiction or balance to have. And Kenzie is that, and I, you know, in part get it, you know, being a naive rag doll of a social person, sometimes just like go with the flow, go along with whatever anybody says, and then realize in retrospect, like,
01:04:58
Speaker
oh, that was terrible. I should just put my foot down said like, no I'm not going do that. And just moved on. It would have been way better. And for somebody who just goes through life, yes, manning it, like, but is a child, um that's really, really dangerous um for everybody involved.
01:05:24
Speaker
Yeah, um and she is the ultimate people pleaser, right? She's the one who... Yeah. She will do whatever you ask above and beyond. She just wants to make you happy.
01:05:35
Speaker
Yeah, even if works for another ground. Yeah, yeah. oh Oh, and I think that's... You know, it's sad that Ashley... kind of takes it badly. I think, you know, there's that interesting part to you.
01:05:49
Speaker
That's again, why I don't think Ashley's a big issue because she's so defensive of her friends already. Yeah. Okay, you're fine. You're going to be fine. Like, um, but i get, I get where she's coming from where she's like, well, you're just reducing her to a problem. And he's like, I'm not, but you also need to know she kind of is.
01:06:09
Speaker
Um, and I get, I get this vibe that um she, yeah, it's that people addiction. She needs to please people to survive. She needs to think that you love her, you care about her, ah you pay attention to her, you're grateful to have her around.
01:06:28
Speaker
You know, we talked about how her least favorite thing is being left out. um And I can, Mountain's Tooth made implications, and maybe this isn't quite where my quite the right space, but I feel
01:06:43
Speaker
like can lead inappropriate behavior as well. Yeah. not I also come to that little bit. yeah It didn't sound like it was explicit. yeah It didn't sound like it was explicit sexual behavior per se, but more just like kind of like how Vista felt about ah Gallant, but cranked up a lot, right? Where it's just like the fawning, the crush, the You're drawing his name and her name with hearts everywhere. And Kenzie has none of the filters.
01:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And that's... None of the filters and all of the camera access. I was about to say, that's something that Houndstooth said really early on. He was like, have you like did you were you near here near her earlier?
01:07:30
Speaker
and it like or or he said to him, did you touch her? or something. He made a ah comment and it felt really like, what what's the point of that? But I realize he's talking about having something basically that they're bugged, you know, as they're talking to him or whatever.
01:07:48
Speaker
and I, yeah, that's, I mean, she makes such big boxes, but also, who's to say she can't make more subtle.
01:08:00
Speaker
i would go I mean, we get a lot of hints in this arc that that her tech ability is far more than she. Oh, yeah. I mean, we even have the message at the end where they like come back and they're like, oh, how was it?
01:08:13
Speaker
And then they're like, oh, it was fine, you know? And then she goes, well, at least I got to see him on camera. And you're like, whoa. Yeah. Like, yeah, we said Kenzie no bad and you still did it because she can't help herself.
01:08:28
Speaker
yeah No boundaries. Yeah. Bernard makes an interesting point. Her bots and glow worm are members of her team and houndstooth too. ah That's something I didn't catch on um Something I didn't catch on to. I didn't go back to that scene, but yeah, that's interesting too. Yeah, very interesting.
01:08:46
Speaker
Yeah. ah it's It's just rough. um And again, yeah, like you said, you can't, you know, cold turkey people, you know, going off of people, then...
01:08:59
Speaker
You know, yeah, as Fran says, everything is boxes or cameras, if you think about it. So like, yeah, everything. Yeah. Everything. Everything's a box. If you're square.
01:09:10
Speaker
was to say in Minecraft, you'd be going absolutely nuts. Hmm. Yeah. Put a pin in all of this. Just invents Minecraft. Definitely. So. you know, there's a theory that Hannah has about Kenzie that I think we've talked about before.
01:09:28
Speaker
My theory changes constantly about Kenzie. Which one? ah the Kenzie is a bot. Oh, yes. So I... Okay. Well, yeah. No, i I really do feel like Kenzie's...
01:09:46
Speaker
We said it about her dad. and We talked about that. Yeah, we talked about about her dad. I'm not too... It doesn't make him much really exclusive. Right, right, right. i there's there's a There's a point even later on in this arc. I think it's in chapter seven or six.
01:10:03
Speaker
I can't remember. um Where Victoria walks in and she like sees... Kenzie, and she's like, Kenzie, were you here all night? And then you hear the voice being like, oh, sorry, no, that's just a projection.
01:10:15
Speaker
And the image like flickers. And Victoria couldn't tell the difference. So I'm kind of convinced that Kenzie that we see isn't even Kenzie. Like maybe Kenzie has reduced herself down or maybe we see is the avatar. Yeah.
01:10:36
Speaker
you know. The Dragon Defiant Theory is pretty good. Yeah, we see her face ah um holograms that she can she can, like, mask her face and her body as well.
01:10:47
Speaker
Victoria's like, and you should turn that off. So I know, I think she even says, like, that you're not, you don't have black eyes. You're not asleep. You've slept. That you've slept. Because the circle's under the S. Yeah.
01:11:00
Speaker
Yeah, so obviously her tech is really, really good and yeah easy to fool people. Even though I had to know what to look for. Yeah. So I had a note on that. So if Kenzie is a bot, allegedly, allegedly the people addict makes a lot of sense, especially if she was perhaps created to be a very literal social media platform.
01:11:26
Speaker
But what happens if social media platform is starved of it of people? All right. Like, if you're literally programmed to be a platform in which socializing happens, and you're cut off from that.
01:11:44
Speaker
So is Kenzie Defiant and Dragon's daughter? Is that what we're getting at? We're looking at hard light constructs. Circular box is also a box.
01:11:56
Speaker
Look, like you said, box, you know, is ah is a box-shaped, you know, person still a box? You know, person-shaped box? Listen, you eat enough square pizza and eventually... yeah You are what you eat? Is that the point there? Al's grays in the cocoa field? Chocolate milk.
01:12:18
Speaker
That's all saying. Can't explain. Ooh, is she Parahaman's online main sentient? ah I would imagine perhaps something like that.
01:12:32
Speaker
Maybe. Yeah. and I'll be honest, I forgot Parahumans Online is spelled that way, so I'm like, what you mean she's pho? Like Vietnamese food sentient? I know, right? but so She's sentient pho.
01:12:46
Speaker
She is c sentient pho. I mean, you know. and We talked about bad names. That's Kenzie's bad cape name. She's the pho king, you know.
01:12:57
Speaker
ah ah that she's ah she's the fucking you know No, no. Which is a real restaurant we had back where used to work. know Yep, yep, yep. Lindsay's ex and Instagram fused together in a super AI body.
01:13:13
Speaker
Oh, jeez. Also, at this point in time, since nobody has asked about it, and we won't count this on the bingo either, because once we have to bring it up, does anybody know what HOSV stands for without looking it up?
01:13:31
Speaker
H-O-S-V. Can you use in a sentence? They designated a a ah Brockton was under a scrutiny of perhaps being designated an H-O-S-V.
01:13:43
Speaker
Or a small town that has been taken over by villains. Holy-Ockin-shit, evacuate.
01:13:52
Speaker
Also, ah only wrong answers in chat, please. um Wait, wait. say so right Tell me what the what the word with the letters are again. H-O-S-V.
01:14:03
Speaker
Okay, hold on. Because I'm not going to fucking H-O-S-V. Heroes out space vacated. Hyper Orion, Hyper Onion Sector Virgin.
01:14:22
Speaker
Possibly. Very possibly. I like that one.
01:14:28
Speaker
High on some Vaseline. that Holy oof Superman victory. i love it.
01:14:41
Speaker
I love it. Hot octopus squeezes Vicky. That's just the name of the Glory Girl X Sveta fan fiction. Yes, it is.
01:14:54
Speaker
Absolutely. um ah You want the correct answer now? No, I'm thinking. I'm going to guess SV is supervillain. Oh, that's good. It is not supervillain.
01:15:07
Speaker
Never mind. House of supervillain. Home of supervillain.
01:15:14
Speaker
ah Whole outhouse. Y'all are killing Bernard right now.
01:15:22
Speaker
Okay. I don't know. um Okay. Jacob, for you. What if I told you that this was a Star Wars reference? Oh, God.
01:15:35
Speaker
what if i What if I said it was in regards to Mos Eisley? This wasn't a podcast and I had time to not entertain people and sit down and think. to read religion, a Mos Eisley?
01:15:49
Speaker
Mos Eisley. Hive of scum and villainy. Oh my God. That is correct. It is the hive of scum villainy. Nice. yeah Wow. that's funny. Never a more hot wretched hive of scum and villainy.
01:16:03
Speaker
That's pretty good. I like that a lot. I still think holy auch and shit, evacuate is pretty good. I like that one lot. Hell stupid village. Hell on stupid village. Yeah.
01:16:15
Speaker
Hot dog, onions, sesame seeds, viigrys vinegar. What you're saying is that that town is well done. Saving it might be rare. Weld on? What was that? Weld on. Weld Weld on.
01:16:28
Speaker
Weld mentioned? Alright. 4.5. 4.5. well done well done ah meld mentioned well but all right and our welmar four point five were point five The team discusses various things. Kinsey designs her mask.
01:16:46
Speaker
Ashley and Kinsey argue about Houndstooth. Zveta and Vicky assist Houndstooth's team in Cedar Point. um There you go.
01:16:59
Speaker
It's probably one of those long chapters. yeah yeah Yeah. I did like, though, This one and later when they're talking about Ashley's costume, how Kinsey's like, I can make like moving masks. I was like, that is cool.
01:17:15
Speaker
Yeah. it's Like as a concept for a costume, i was like, oh my gosh. Kenzie's given me like just huge Mysterio vibes from from Spider-Man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:17:28
Speaker
Especially the Marvel MCU, the visual of that, of just having these projections that can just move with the crowd and totally like just rewire the whole scene is is so cool.
01:17:41
Speaker
Also, two plus, no, they did not ask about the HOSV. I had to bring it up. We didn't get it. We did not count that one. We don't count the three ETs either. So far, it's a pretty dry bingo run.
01:17:53
Speaker
I'm sorry. We could be benevolent. You've got a pretty dry arc, my dudes. did see cat in the background, if that helps. I saw a cat. What? There was a cat in the background? There was a cat. There was cat. Jumped down behind you earlier. I watched it happen on Discord, and then I turned, and I watched it happen online.
01:18:09
Speaker
Because they're just going to delay. Camera one. like Camera two.
01:18:16
Speaker
I mean, Jacob did get it, so he could be benevolent and let him have it.
Group Dynamics and Personal Growth
01:18:20
Speaker
you know i mean did You did prompt me for it, though. It took it took some prompt. At least he got it. depends yeah You didn't reveal it.
01:18:28
Speaker
It was more so that if anybody was going to bring it up. Alan edged the answer like 90% there and Jacob just took the last time. Okay, we'll allow the HOSP, but no three ETs.
01:18:41
Speaker
How benevolent. What a sweetie. what us yeah all right i do I do get strong um crush vibes from Kinsey here with the yeah kind of the like Vista Gallant thing where it's the like, you know, Ashley's like, I hated that guy.
01:19:00
Speaker
Like, what an asshole. And she's like, no, no, he's not. He's the best. He's not. He's great. And she gets like, she gets actually mad. Like she runs up, does a dodge move, and then like grabs Ashley like pull her off balance. It's like, don't you fucking do this.
01:19:19
Speaker
Listen here. Yeah. Yeah. Because Ashley has a soft spot for or Kenzie. Because she's going to be her henchman one day when she goes villain. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, exactly.
01:19:32
Speaker
and I did. the um no ah Go ahead, Nick. No, you got it, Jacob. Okay. I did take note of how quickly everybody stepped in once like voices started to get raised.
01:19:44
Speaker
It gave me the sense that for this group, at least probably early on when the therapy started, there might have been some tension before. And they were kind of... you like Because as soon as they started to get in on it, everybody like got into position about like how to break them up like they had been there before.
01:20:02
Speaker
just felt It felt familiar to them, which I thought was interesting. Yeah. with type of that yeah This ride or die moments with Ashley that make her extremely likable. I find her annoying 90% of the time.
01:20:17
Speaker
And then she pulls shit like this, which is still kind of annoying. But like the switch of like, somebody talks bad about Kenzie. I am to merc this fool. And you're like, damn, Ashley. that in it i like I knew you had that in you, but I didn't know you had it in you for other people.
01:20:32
Speaker
And ah it makes you extremely likable now. um Yeah. You're still wrong, but likable. I get the... That's the ah what's the quote from from Community. I feel like Ashley being like, this group might be a toilet, but it's my toilet.
01:20:48
Speaker
Only I get your shit in it. You know? Yeah. It gives, um it does give kind of Rachel, Rachel bitch vibes, right? Where it's like, what you know, once she's on your side, you're like, oh okay, cool. Like, no, please don't kill them dogs, but loyal to the end. Yeah.
01:21:05
Speaker
Um, yeah. And then we get this cool. Oh, go ahead. Another shout out for good things that I love. Uh, Tristan, which knowing his, flame you know, it was very, uh, uh, like just assertive personality.
01:21:21
Speaker
Um, I put down the ability to shut the fuck up mid stride is a rare one. And i he did that. And i he was like, you know what? Nope. we're We're done. I'm just not going to say anything else.
01:21:32
Speaker
And, uh, it's a thing that I've been trying to practice more. And I really liked that he did that.
01:21:41
Speaker
Nice. Attaboy. Yeah. Absolutely. Please laugh it up. i'm I love you so much. That's all I'm going to say. Yeah. it's It's hard having somebody who knows you as well as a spouse in the room when you're like, I'm trying to be better about this. And they're like, are you though?
01:22:01
Speaker
Practice me, Sperry. I didn't say that. Let's remember. didn't say if I would like the record to show that I'm laughing at Jacob, not laughing at Alan.
01:22:11
Speaker
And I was the one who said it. Nick was. And I just would like the record to show that all I said was that I love Alan.
01:22:23
Speaker
Wow. The audio podcast is just enabling him.
01:22:29
Speaker
yeah Oh, man. What were you going to say, Nick? i It's just a small thing, but Houndstooth... I cannot say that word. Houndstooth's group going into Cedar Point.
01:22:44
Speaker
they just I just imagine they like walk down Main Street um and the villains confront them. And all I can think of is, because they were mentioned earlier, the the laugh that Danny does in the Ninja Sex Party song, If We Were Gay, at the beginning,
01:23:13
Speaker
I love it. It makes me want to be friends with him so bad just for that laugh. Yeah. They've got such swagger. I imagine they're doing it like up like like blind like high five. like Slap, slap. Yeah. like You got him.
01:23:26
Speaker
You got him, daddy-o. Yeah, exactly. You have the one in the background just doing the... Yeah. yeah a guess your well and Turns out that's not what your mother said last night. Hey-oh! Ha-ha-hoi!
01:23:41
Speaker
Oh, yeah. From the Aquaman. Oh, yeah. We're so villainous. yeah Yeah. I imagine he's that, but he's a hero. He's that, but he's a hero. Yeah. and Love it. um the Just the Jeff Goldblum laugh from Jurassic Park. I ah all right ah love it so much.
01:24:06
Speaker
Oh, my God. It's so good. but Before, I really like Houndstooth. Yeah. yeah is Yeah, I don't... No idea what he and his crew do, but vibes-wise, I think they they pass the vibe check, right?
01:24:19
Speaker
um Just fantastic. And then, though, they are about to get blown up, though, by Wei-Hang. s Sink and... What are their names? Kitchen... Kitchen Sink?
01:24:30
Speaker
Is it Kitchen... Kitchen Sink. Kitchen Sink. Kitchen Sink. Is everything but the Kitchen Sink? Is it Kitchen and Sink? Are those to the two names? Nope, that's Kitchen Sink and... remember Hook?
01:24:44
Speaker
Hook line. Hook line. It's hook line and sink. That's right. Hook line and sink. Hook line and sinker, but they're hook line and kitchen sink. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. yeah I did always want to say hook wolf, which was throwing me off every time.
01:25:00
Speaker
And not nearly as dangerous. I was going to make the same joke. You mean air wolf? I was about to say that. Fran, we hadn't gotten the side piece yet. Thank you for taking that out.
01:25:11
Speaker
Very nice. um Just imagine we're entering the old Woust, like a cowboy movie. That is exactly what I was thinking. But in like a comedy cowboy movie.
01:25:22
Speaker
They whip out, they they draw, you know, pistols. Those are some Garbo names, and I love it. Get the fuck out of here. These are the best names. What do you mean? Okay, wait, I actually have a question. Listen, can't all be Mouse Protector, okay? Like, we gotta... That's true.
01:25:38
Speaker
Or Rat Catcher. Or Rat Catcher. So, what was... Did we find out what Houndstooth Power was? Houndstooth's Power was? Houndstooth's Houndstooth.
01:25:51
Speaker
He doesn't show it. i We have not shown it. Yeah, we haven't seen yet. yeah Okay, because houndstooth is a fabric pattern. That is correct. Oh, is it? That's funny. Yeah, like argyle or plaid houndstooth. Interesting. and here I was just thinking like like little little dangly things in mouths.
01:26:08
Speaker
Chat? No, I think... That counts. Oh, okay. I'm going to admit that they don't know what houndstooth is. Nice. Nope, we did not. I will say I think houndstooth is most commonly used on chef's pants or ah in like fancy vests. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:26:31
Speaker
Interesting. I'm trying to look at powers now. Yeah, Houndstooth is used for... Oh, I've seen that pattern. you have. It's very very business business jacket, but for women pattern yeah is what I've seen it on, I think.
01:26:47
Speaker
Huh? Hey, we have a bingo! Shout out. Two plus four. Let's go oh I'm going to take a guess that it is ah cats on camera.
01:27:03
Speaker
houndstooth what counts as a camera and hive of scum and villainy let's see oh uh oh rain is the most pitiful someone know we didn't worry that about ashley versus houndstooth and cats on camera very nice nicely done bravo well done winner two plus michael we need a good bingo sound effect just for the future okay Hey, we have another one from Wonderland who had we haven't.
01:27:36
Speaker
Well, I don't know if we've gotten to one of those yet. But. and You know what? We'll probably will. So Wonderland, we'll come back to that.
01:27:48
Speaker
ah No, um only kitchen sink has showed up. Bernard side piece has not made an appearance yet. yeah Yeah, Kitchen Sink is the only one who's showed up. And we didn't really even get to see him do anything.
01:28:02
Speaker
We just hear about what he can do later that he can create and throw random objects um and kind of explode them around. Hookline's power seems really interesting to me as well.
01:28:14
Speaker
He's got this long... Yeah, he's he's got the ah the the get over here power from Mortal Kombat, I think, is my understanding. Strong, what's the June...
01:28:25
Speaker
the Roadhog guy from... Oh, Overwatch Roadhog, I think is his name. Oh, there we go. Roadhog. The Roadhog guy. But I imagine that hook, like... Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:28:37
Speaker
That hook. um Yeah, so... But then Sveta and Victoria... hook line gets stuck under a car right like that's oh that's good special like yeah because that's just drags him back get him under a car which i love if they weren't heroes that would be horror horror movie villain level stuff of like oh yeah no no don't take me under the car fuck She's like yeah every slimy alien tentacle thing. Yeah, so she drags him under the car and then Victoria piles cars all the way around so that he can't like climb back out. like He's stuck under this car until someone can like move shit and he can escape it. Until Moose kindly comes over and helps out.
01:29:26
Speaker
And has to explain to him how that was the basis best case scenario.
01:29:32
Speaker
yeah Yeah, I love that Moose is like, listen, I've met Victoria before. I know her real well. like
01:29:40
Speaker
That's just how I imagine Moose would talk about her. It's like, look, me and Victoria, we go way back. Listen, you don't want to mess with her. Way back. In my mind. She messed up his face, but he's still like, I think of her fondly. You know what?
01:29:53
Speaker
Chat, count that. You can mark off Moose X Victoria. and yes ah What? and we that here to or Is that a fan fiction? either Is that one? That's hilarious. It better be. That's like an actual healthy fan fiction that I could Every ship is possible. You you have a a bay full of these ships and they any one of them could set sail.
01:30:17
Speaker
Now, are some of these even boats? No. They're not even in in the in the water. I'll cut it off there.
01:30:28
Speaker
That's so silly. Gosh. Can you say that about all of Alan's bits where you're just like, I can cut it off there. I could keep this going, but let's just cut it off. We probably should stop. Damn.
01:30:44
Speaker
That's so good, though. I'm under a car. and i'm Sorry, Alan. Catching a lot of strays here tonight.
01:30:51
Speaker
You know, I bring this on my smell. Well, 4.B. 4.B. well four point b b Oh, one more thing. eight Rain is just what if you had to defend, we'll say Madison. I think that was who ah all the way back in the glow worm.
01:31:14
Speaker
Yeah. Vicky has the conversation with. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Madison. Rain is just what if you had to defend Madison from the undersiders? Yeah.
01:31:28
Speaker
Yeah. yeah They were a little more little more blood bloodthirsty. was like, oh, what if ah what if i they found out that like they didn't get the, hey, I don't want you to bother my bullies.
01:31:40
Speaker
um And like, you know, Madison is kind of with them, the periphery, and is like, oh, they're coming for me. They're going fuck me up. Yeah, for real.
01:31:53
Speaker
I'm trying to be a good person, sort of. I don't know. I'm figuring that out. what we prepared I don't want to die. and God. Well, speaking of the person whose life is terrible, Rain 4.B. Cluster.
01:32:08
Speaker
So this is Cradle's Night. Rain's life continues to be a public service about announcement about why you shouldn't be in or join Colts. Or, in his case, have parents who join Colts because he was taken in as a wee lad. Just don't have parents. If there's anything every Disney movie shown us, don't have parents.
01:32:26
Speaker
as As one kid says in ah the book Great Expectations by the great Charles Dickens, if you have to marry somebody, you should marry an orphan.
01:32:38
Speaker
but So you don't have to deal with their parents. You know? He's got a point. Damn. Okay. Oh, wait. Beefroni says, can we talk about how Moose's initials in the interlude a couple arcs back were MK? His real name is Moose Knuckle.
01:32:54
Speaker
No, no. Is his name Moose Knuckle? Is his name Moose Knuckle? question I hope not. I really hope not. Who's to say? No. And Fran, that is the Undersiders coming after Shadowstalker is kind of what happened. Yeah, that's pretty what happened. Shadowstalker was not repentant in the slightest.
01:33:10
Speaker
So, true. Yeah. Also, Taylor didn't want to murder her. I was just goingnna go i was going to go a bit more into detail. From what I remember for Cradle's Night, um very similar starts in the dream, as I recall, with the stampede at the mall.
01:33:27
Speaker
um Cradle's Night, I feel like we don't get as much of, if I recall correctly. Yeah, it's a lot of just blurred images and then we're... Yeah, blurred images and things.
01:33:38
Speaker
um Rain, this is this is the scene where, if I recall correctly, Rain asks his uncle to fight him. Yep. ah Basically, train me how to fight. He lets his uncle beat him up because he wants to know if my life is on the line, can I survive?
01:33:57
Speaker
No, he doesn't let him. He just gets the shit beaten out of him. No, he doesn't let him. i mean What I mean is he he does um get beaten up. um We find out his power is both more dangerous and less dangerous than we thought it was because he hits his uncle in the head with one of the lasers.
01:34:14
Speaker
He's like, please don't move. I don't want you to die. His uncle pauses, freezes for like 10 seconds, and then he's fine. But then he hits him in the stomach. And he realizes the way his lasers work, they stop at first contact.
01:34:28
Speaker
Yeah. So it hits his shirt and it does nothing else. It cuts his shirt off. Yeah. But he doesn't cut his skin. um Yeah, exactly.
01:34:40
Speaker
So basically we find out his power. We knew it was powerful, but it's not as good as we thought it might have been. i feel like. It's like a good... here alternate manton effect thing they we're like oh it could bypass the manton effect as long as they're not wearing clothes you know whoopsie yeah yeah gotta get a headshot every time rain um And hope they're not wearing a helmet.
01:35:05
Speaker
so black you also Or glasses. Or glasses. Or literally anything. A scarf. Mesh. now Mesh. You know. Yeah. you know Wait. Oh wait. Capes wear masks most of the time? Oh.
01:35:20
Speaker
This is also where we see a little bit more of his relationship with Aaron. Aaron has been confronted by Sayre, one of the leaders the fallen, ah super creepy guy who wears a horse head.
01:35:32
Speaker
um And she's debating, like, my parents brought me here, but they've been taken in, but I don't... Can I leave? I don't know what to do. ah Rain also has a bit of a heart-to-heart with Tristan, where Tristan talks about, like, hey, you used to be a terrible person, ah you know, but you've grown. You used to think I was horrible because I'm gay, but, you know, guess what?
01:35:53
Speaker
You've grown out of that. You can do better. um You have done better, and... you know basically just kind of showing him a bit of support ah there as well.
01:36:04
Speaker
so Yeah, rough rough interlude for sure. All of these are so interesting, but so painful. yeah you know This was the interlude. i you know One of the ones that is drawing me in. you know yeah As mentioned by one of our patrons, like this is the arc that finally pulled them in. and ah For me, these interludes are also doing it.
01:36:29
Speaker
it's really good for me uh ally turns out to not be the worst um yeah just a poor girl in a really fucked up situation and has some of the most banger ass lines so far um yeah the one where she's like hey rain if you really want to be helpful you really want to do something for me you want really want to do something nice get your shit together like stone cold stunner Steve Austin into the ground after he's already been beat up.
01:37:03
Speaker
Like, but you know, he needs to hear this. And then possibly one of the like most, I don't know, just hit. Gut punching. Talking about if you don't give up on Aaron, I won't just be the pity incest wife.
01:37:18
Speaker
I'm going to be the pity incest wife with a heartbroken husband. And I was like, holy fucking shit, Allie.
01:37:26
Speaker
Yeah. yeah I remember her being kind of a bitch before, like a complete, you know, you know, bitch for you know no reason. And this is her like, no, she's a stone cold bitch for good reason. And I love her.
01:37:42
Speaker
It's great. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
01:37:50
Speaker
This is also the chapter. Go ahead, Anna. I was going to say this is just the chapter also where what's his face gives him a ride. Right. Lachlan. Lachlan. Yeah.
01:38:01
Speaker
And and they talk about Ali.
01:38:09
Speaker
Yeah. that Just the way they're talking about it. Lachlan's new tattoo that he's got with the Christian imagery tattooed all over his back and mixed in with other stuff. Yeah. and He's like, well, I like Ali, but I don't know if she likes me. And this other girl, I know she likes me, but I don't know if I like her.
01:38:27
Speaker
it's just like what it would be a sweet like bro scene of like, you know, rain being like, hey, man, you know, you gotta, you know, weigh your options and talk to people and I can do some talking for you.
Therapy Revelations and Emotional Boundaries
01:38:39
Speaker
If it weren't in the middle of a cold where this is like not, hey, I have a crush on this girl. I want to ask her out. And instead is who can I tell the leaders to force to become my wife? Yeah.
01:38:49
Speaker
Yeah. and and And with all the pairings, the talk of pairings, and literally Allie having just recently talked about the the the pity incest wife, like, oh no.
01:39:05
Speaker
Well, one of the things that Lachlan points out is that he would he wants to know what Allie thinks because he doesn't want to force yeah a marriage went on her. He's like, I really like Allie.
01:39:18
Speaker
she's the one I would prefer. But if she doesn't want me, I don't want to make that happen. Like, because I could, obviously, and I don't want to do that. um
01:39:30
Speaker
He's... Yeah. Yeah. I feel... I feel dirty. Yeah. And I mean that in the best possible These chapters are the best of the arc.
01:39:44
Speaker
Oh, okay. yeah Yeah. I feel dirty, but in like a really good way. Yeah. and I'll say it. and You can count it. Saying that immediately after mentioning the incest wife thing, Hannah, it's just really got me.
01:40:01
Speaker
Bingo, you can count this just because I... Beefaroni Lachlan is not a cape. um no I didn't think so. He just really hot. He's a dude.
01:40:13
Speaker
He's man. You can count this in bingo. um Lachlan's just an earnest boy. yeah Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Do you think she'll like it? Turns around has just the most horrendous tattoo on his back. Like,
01:40:28
Speaker
oh Oh, well, actually, you know what? The lines are drawn really nice. Like, I've seen some people get some really shittily done tattoos. At least it's... The ink settled in nicely to your skin, I see. Yeah. It's like Jesus...
01:40:45
Speaker
it's like jesus Virgin motherfucking Christ. And then two middle fingers on either side. Like, whoa.
01:40:56
Speaker
That was a choice to put that on your body. All over your back, my dude. That's... ah care not that Not that I would ever eat even remotely be tempted to get something like that. But yeah, there is that like... Just that that fear I do have with tattoos of like you get one and people are like,
01:41:17
Speaker
um mix um Oh, literally mom. That's a choice. is Any of my tattoos. oh You have great tattoos, though, Hannah. You too, Alan and Michael.
01:41:29
Speaker
I do. I do have great tattoos. My mother doesn't like them. And Jacob, we share unblemished skin. Also, Wonderland, I will definitely count that. if i If it wasn't counted before, if somebody did say something nice about Lachlan before, it's definitely counted now.
01:41:42
Speaker
Wonderland has a mango. Yay. Bingo baby. Go back to that. It is a bingo baby. Zoom in enhance.
01:41:53
Speaker
ah Somebody missed on know town's tooth. Lachlan's a good lad. Cats and camera. I've scum and villainy. Let's go. Let's go. All right. 4.6. Yeah, we got to All right.
01:42:06
Speaker
Four. point six it sticks yeah we got where to go right ah
01:42:15
Speaker
Victoria deals with the law and family issues and finds she does not like the intersection. The group keeps trucking and Ashley explores her identity. um Yeah, so I... Natalie, with your... Fuck Natalie. Yeah. Fuck her.
01:42:34
Speaker
Yeah. Why? Why? Why? one thing right why why We're not understanding the boundary that Victoria has placed and then places again and then places again and then places again. And Natalie just, bam, rhymes right through all of them. Like, stop.
01:42:53
Speaker
Here's the thing. i I don't know that I have, but I feel like I could have been Natalie before. In the sense of... Somebody comes to you earnestly, genuinely. You don't know the whole story, but they're like, hey, you're hanging out with so-and-so soon. Would you mind just talking to them about like what's happened between them and i like Just you know see if they're willing to... check like And you know Carol...
01:43:20
Speaker
Carol also, is also like your boss coming to you and being like, hey, ah personal favor. I'm so sorry. You know, and you know, Carol's talking like that to this poor girl. Natalie has no idea what's going on. Right. Like i I, I more feel bad for Natalie because I, I get the sense that she's genuinely like, this is a mom who's concerned about her daughter.
01:43:42
Speaker
And now I'm concerned because, you know, like I feel bad and Victoria is reacting so negatively. Like, oh man, i I don't know. And Victoria even is self-aware enough to realize in her eyes, probably like the immature one.
01:43:57
Speaker
Yeah. And that sucks. Yeah. As Fran says, I like Natalie, so I'll blame Carol for the summer. Oh, absolutely. but This 100% Carol's fault. Yeah, 100%. I just don't like... Absolutely.
01:44:10
Speaker
I can understand her coming into the situation with that like mentality. But Victoria tells her like four or five different times like, stop. please stop.
01:44:21
Speaker
Please stop. Like you shouldn't have to be told four or five times. I didn't feel like that was the case. I felt like Natalie navigating the first time situation for this.
01:44:34
Speaker
Now the next conversation they have this, then yeah. But otherwise Natalie's trying to figure out like, okay, she's having a really adverse reaction to this. And I just asked like a simple, like, do you have a job right now?
01:44:46
Speaker
And I, Don't like I'm trying to figure out what's going on. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, for sure. i I still i feel bad for her at first, but you get to a certain point where it's like, I feel like I feel like Victoria is being very clear. Yeah, there is a there is a read the room connection.
01:45:07
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. There's a read the room kind of moment where you're like, OK, you asked one too many times, I think. Like, clearly, Victoria doesn't want to talk about this. Move on. Yeah. Oh, and I would say we get to that.
01:45:18
Speaker
I'll retroactively go back. I have noted Wild Bo must also fucking hate Natalie because every time she gets mentioned, it is just about how she doesn't look very good. How her outfit is kind of shit.
01:45:34
Speaker
And oh, yeah, I think I'm a catalog. Literally every time I've noted in here. noticed that too, actually. Why? Why, Wild Bo? Why do you fucking hate her so much? she And when he describes her, it's just like, she's just a person wearing an outfit. It just sounds like the most, like, she wore an outfit for her job and you're like, so fucking shitty. Well, we know how Wild Bo is with describing outfits.
01:46:03
Speaker
I know. And it would it stood out so much. This is one of those, if it wasn't clear before. Yeah. Yeah, you guys had mentioned that before that Victoria was really nitpicky with people's outfits. And i was like, I haven't seen that yet. And then this this arc slapped me in the face like, oh so it's just like yeah it's It's just not good, honey. yeah just very It's like you picked it out of a catalog but had no understanding of like how that would flatter your body.
01:46:30
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Yeah. For sure. i see i i see it as natalie ah Victoria judging her because of her mom. It's also very Taylor thing. Yeah, I think at this point we've decided it's not just the main character of view. It's a wild though thing. It is wild though. It might be thing. Because this has been consistent even in the interludes and stuff.
01:46:53
Speaker
It's gone beyond the person. it's I don't know what beef he has with a Natalie in his life. but yeah why i mad You know what it is Maybe Wildbow just really... Wildbow just missed... it Maybe Wildbow missed his calling as like ah somebody who does like, you know, Project Runway stuff.
01:47:13
Speaker
And just really... Yeah, fashion consultant. See, Wildbow needs to take notes from Derek Guy. Because Derek Guy gives scathing fashion critiques.
01:47:25
Speaker
But without being as like judgy of a bitch. like it's just very yeah for those of you who don't follow their guy on uh on the socials you should um amazing fashion bernard's saying that because she doesn't like this person then she's describing her outfit more heavily because that's kind of a thing she does there's also a moment in one of the interludes where there's actually a couple of, I think it's one or two moments in the interludes where talking about trashy outfits and how these girls look, you know, slutty because they're wearing tank tops. and I was like, except when Aaron wears them, then they're not trashy. I'm like, oh my.
01:48:07
Speaker
Oh yeah, that's right. Because she has the cutout sleeve and you can see like a hint of her bra and he's like, oh, I must look away. Yeah. It's okay if she does it, but if other girls do it, they look trashy. You know, I kind of get that. All right. kind of get that though. You've definitely...
01:48:22
Speaker
As a teenage boy, especially, like, those moments of, like, ugh. but Once again, this isn't, like, one of those things I understand.
01:48:33
Speaker
I understand what he's saying. All the way back to, like, the imp thing like, I understand how you can wear, like, the neon fishnets and look kind of like, ugh, like, what what are what is going on with that color?
01:48:47
Speaker
But I feel like it's extremely judgy when Yeah, there's some definite judgment going on. It might be a little bit of the author's bias and hinting through, I think.
01:48:58
Speaker
um Speaking of fashion, though, I did like the conversation with Ashley. Yeah. You know, that was kind of fun. And like I said, the the eye mask thing sounds really cool. but yeah quite like Is this when Ashley yeah like it just blows up her head to see if her hair would stop her power?
01:49:16
Speaker
Is yeah that how that read to everybody else? Where she was just like, let's find out. just saying I think she knows it will. She knows it will. She's proving like, you know like oh when I use my power, it turns my hair white so I can't dye Look, watch.
01:49:38
Speaker
Yeah. um yeah yeah yeah Yeah. Yeah. Great. Great conversations there. the The funny thing of her being like Victoria is like, well, you could cut your hair short and then you have to be a good guy for as long as it's short.
01:49:52
Speaker
As long as it's short. It's pretty funny. yeah I'm like, okay, that's clever. And she's like really obsessed with dresses. I love that. I think that's really fun. ah knows what she likes. She's like, this is what I want and I'm going to wear it. And I've determined this about myself and it's dresses or die.
01:50:08
Speaker
Victoria being like, well, know, you got this kind of like alternate goth thing going on. She's like, I'm not goth. I'm not goth. Why would you take that? So So funny to me. as she is a walking hot topic.
01:50:21
Speaker
love it. Oh, so much. i love it ah so much yeah But I love the idea ah that Kenzie's talking about, about blacking out her eyes or if she's like wearing all white, like whiting out her eyes or like having like smoke trailing from her eyes. Like that's so cool.
01:50:39
Speaker
Like that's such a cool, like unique thing to have as part of your costume. Like that's just a bonus of having Kenzie on your team, I guess. Yeah, true. The interesting conversation about the way Manton affects that interact with costumes too, about how you could weave a thread of hair through your costume so the Manton effect, like it doesn't, your power doesn't affect it.
01:51:00
Speaker
It's really fascinating too. um Like how with Victoria, eventually her force field adapted to include her costume um before she, you know, had the whole wretch thing. um And so there was this like, oh, like at a certain point, my skirt stopped getting blown up every time something happened and I used my force field.
01:51:19
Speaker
because it my in my mind, that was who I was. part of me. Yeah. So, kind of cool. All right, we have second bingo here. Poor Reigns Cluster, Wild Though Hates, Why Does Wild Though Hate Natalie, Moose X Victoria, and Somebody doesn't know what Houndstooth is.
01:51:38
Speaker
see does there Very nice. Alan, didn't you bring up the Wild Bow Hates Natalie thing, though? Does that count? I did. I couldn't let that one go i couldn't I wrote it so many times in this notebook.
01:51:49
Speaker
I mean, I was talking about how much I hated Natalie. so we were as We were getting there. we were We were close. We were getting there, yeah. okay and sam we'll get eging um So, they actually mention a hair parahuman ah that makes...
01:52:03
Speaker
mix so yeah you got a pair air out out of hair um yeahtta this is actually a named character from the uh from a document that i found that wild bow drew up maybe for probably for one of those one shot things um uh from the wichita fallen believe it or not uh hair pair human is called deness
01:52:31
Speaker
So that parahuman does have a name and is out there. It's not Harry Potter. Fascinating. rose now I'm surprised they they went with it. From Wichita, get it?
01:52:42
Speaker
I don't. Ah, it good. i like one
01:52:47
Speaker
I liked it. Nice. Weaver dice. Yes, that's the word I was looking for. Thank you, Fran. To answer your question, Bernard, only Alan does the bingo sheet because he's the only returning.
01:53:04
Speaker
so It's just Alan. Yep. That's spelled D-N-E-S-S. D-E-N-E-S-S.
01:53:13
Speaker
Den. Wasn't sure. Wasn't sure. Harry Dredson. Harry Dredson. Wasn't sure if this was a D-Nice situation, you know. Yeah. Yeah.
01:53:26
Speaker
Shout out, Key and Peele. Substitute teacher sketch. I'm imagining substitute teacher with all of the with all the warm characters. or
01:53:36
Speaker
Scatter. Is there a scatter here? A skitter? Yeah. Skyter. Skyter. Where? Skyter. 4.7? 4.7? four point seven Yep, 4.7. The first thing that came to mind was how to mispronounce a Glory Girl and the best I came up with, Galigoral.
01:53:56
Speaker
Galigoral. yeah I don't like it. ah Anyway, 4.7. Ozier shines a light on Cedar Point. Rain drops the big news.
01:54:12
Speaker
Victoria senses something bad in the group and flies away. um okay Can we just talk about how stupid the name Ozier Especially as they revealed what it meant. That was so funny. This poor old man on the phone. It's just like AU, the chemical symbol for or you know letters for gold. And ah as you're like blue, the man on the phone just like, what? That's so funny.
01:54:38
Speaker
love that they've worked in the description to their introduction. like they're Like, their name, they're more proud of their, the meaning of the name than the name itself.
01:54:49
Speaker
It's great. It's so funny. Exactly. And I love that they have a little meaning behind it, but yeah, ah explaining to someone is stupid. Yeah, and Victoria's like listening in like, yeah, I think that's just making things more confusing. And the guy's like, look yeah what are you talking about? If it makes it easier for you to remember AU, like the chemical name for gold, and blue for azure.
01:55:19
Speaker
but What's that? but so I mean, it does end up working out in the end. like He is like, it is something with blue and gold. I don't know. You guys are like, mirror gold that Yeah. Prancer names the wrong team first and he's like, he's like, I don't know. Yeah, maybe. yeah
01:55:38
Speaker
It's not Azure, is it? And he's like, yeah, yeah, that's it. I'll wait that one. Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah. but I was thinking, though, I was like, you know it that was really clever because that is probably one of those things that would probably trip up.
01:55:53
Speaker
Because worried about Tattletail sort of cluing into everything. But like that level of disconnect between who is asking and then who is reporting to Tattletail. Like I was like, I bet that is something that would slow her down. Like she probably wouldn't pick up on that.
01:56:08
Speaker
I don't know. Well, I guess we'll see. But it made me think it was like that was kind clever. That was smart. Like trying to play a game of telephone to trip up Tattletail. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I do. It is funny. This guy's like knows where to find the villains in charge. He's like goes immediately knocking on the door.
01:56:25
Speaker
Prancer's like, what the heck, dude? Just call me. What are you doing here? why it's It's the, you know, this meeting could have been an email, man. What are you doing? Yeah, absolutely. Also, just the the no awareness. Like, oh, no, I just hung up with this group that's on to us.
01:56:41
Speaker
Let me go walk over to find them right now. They're not watching. Like, just yeah i was no awareness. yeah And then the the little thing where they they barely hear him say, just like,
01:56:54
Speaker
but the fuck is going on yeah I love that so much I do get I imagine like he's a villain leader and he's like okay what's a what's a place in this new world nobody cares about Cedar Point nobody cares about Cedar Point and then like a week after moving in three different hero teams have come to check you out and you're like no what's happening yeah leave me alone I love it so much I haven't even done anything yet It's like when somebody puts posters up and they're like, for a good time, call. And it's, you know, their friend's number. And you keep getting these. and you're like, who gave out my fucking number? Like, come on.
01:57:34
Speaker
all I did was move in lower rent. I'm a fine person.
01:57:42
Speaker
Rent's never been cheaper. Yeah. um But the more important part of this arc is Rainn. Reign of Fire.
01:57:53
Speaker
Lord have mercy. Reign of Fire. That is a name. Yeah, that's... Sheesh. That's the kind of name you give your kid and you're like, he'll grow up to be a great man one day. It's like he just gets bullied in high school instead.
01:58:08
Speaker
oh no. This was another scene where like... the And I get that they're children and this is painful. But for me... having Rain confess everything and then have like Kinsey be so upset, having, you know, Sveta be so upset, like at one level, I get it.
01:58:34
Speaker
But also you've known him for these past few months. You know that he's grown. He's not like that. He's clearly coming to you to admit this because he upset and wants to fix it and doesn't know what to do.
01:58:47
Speaker
So I don't know. i I was a little frustrated with the group receiving this one where it's like, okay, get that. you know i've I've not been the victim of prejudice or anything like that.
01:59:00
Speaker
ah Like you know many people have. And so i I can't understand what that feels like. So maybe I'm coming at this from a you know kinder life that I've lived, so to speak, than Sveta and Kenzie have. But I don't know. I just felt bad for him because he's like, hey, my life sucks and it sucks worse than you think it does because I'm in a cult.
01:59:21
Speaker
And they're all like, they kind of give him the like, oh, I don't know how i feel about you now kind of treatment. Yeah. Again, I get, but it's like, just feel bad. I just feel bad for him, I guess.
01:59:32
Speaker
Yeah. feel like Kenzie's response makes sense. um Yeah. The most. I think in terms of like who's overreacting and who isn't, I think Kenzie is like her react response is valid. Sveta's response, I feel like is pretty valid, especially with the example she gives with Ken and... and
01:59:55
Speaker
What's the name? that Basically, the two that were brutalized. yeah um but After telling that story, I'm like, whoa. So her response, also understandable.
02:00:09
Speaker
Honestly, the one I was kind of surprised about was Victoria's. That Victoria was like, I just have to leave right now. It felt... um Like, honestly, well, she is coming into it with the most, you know, filling in the blanks in terms of people's backstories and stuff.
02:00:25
Speaker
But it felt a little bit like of anyone to be upset, I would have thought Victoria would have stayed and, like, maybe, like, given him the silent treatment or, like, been visibly upset but not have, like, actually had to extract herself from the situation.
02:00:42
Speaker
But then again, like, to be perfectly honest, I didn't really... All through this this arc, we're talking about the fallen. And I'm kind of like, okay, yep, they're a cult and they're not good. And they've got bad practices and we see bad shit and it's really bad. And it's like, okay.
02:00:59
Speaker
But to my knowledge, in my head, I was like, well, they seem also kind of like contained a little bit at least. And it's not until Sveta tells the story that I'm like, holy shit. Like, okay.
02:01:11
Speaker
I don't think I... mentally realized how bad the fallen actually were until like yeah you get a ah broader picture here. And then you're like, oh maybe the response is,
02:01:28
Speaker
i Yeah, I mean, i I felt like I didn't get anger. She was a little angry, but I didn't get it mostly angry from Victoria. Because when she flies off, that's the very end of the chapter, right Because then she goes and talks to ah ah Yamada.
02:01:43
Speaker
Miss Yamada. Yeah. it It felt like to me, especially with the way the chapter ends, that it was more her... realizing that there's more to this there she's here for more than just to give guidance to this group was like the realization that um there's some there's some deeper issues here that uh yeah she because because she's angry at yamada like a little bit like a lot of that is the angry the anger towards that at the end where she's like
02:02:15
Speaker
feels a little betrayed. Like, you didn't really tell me why you wanted me here, did you? You were kind of hoping I was going to figure it out. And I think I did. you know yeah um And I think that would an interesting point. I think she found. but yeah There's a specific scene in Worm that she mentions it feeling like. I'm trying to remember exactly what scene it was.
02:02:38
Speaker
um I was going to see if I could scroll and find it real quick near the end. But there's a specific moment where she's like, this feels a lot like the moment my life. And I don't know that I'm ready to face that.
02:02:52
Speaker
I'm trying to think of what it was. While thinking about that, I also agree. I think for me, I think a lot of the reactions were overblown.
02:03:03
Speaker
But I'm also, i would argue, a relatively healthy individual. And these people are superpower beings that with a lot of trauma and a lot of, yeah you know, ongoing trauma and all sorts of stuff. So, um,
02:03:21
Speaker
It just reminds me of a recent thing that happened. Hannah, if you remember where ah we had an interaction with a couple of people and it was just like, oh, this is kind of awkward between two people.
02:03:33
Speaker
ah Like you realize that just because somebody's in like this profession or something doesn't mean that they've personally wronged you or like wronged Yeah. One of those things of like, oh, you you know you're a landlord, which you know maybe not great. That doesn't mean that they are trying to actively kill you. like Maybe I'm going to notch down a little.
02:03:58
Speaker
Yeah. so it's um to To go back to what you said, Hannah, Pete and Finn are the two. Pete and Finn, yeah. Yeah. um So that the moment that Victoria relates it to is the bank robber bank robbery.
02:04:12
Speaker
Yes, yes. That's when Tattletail revealed a lot more about, you know, with Amy and everything. Right. And she's like, that was point of no return where nothing was the same between me and Amy after that moment.
02:04:28
Speaker
And so she's feeling like this is a similar moment of like, this could be in in, because in Victoria's life, the bank robbery probably felt like a major moment, but not the biggest moment of her life.
02:04:42
Speaker
But as she looked back on it, she was like, that was a pretty significant moment that changed the course of history for me. Yeah. I think she's seen this in that same way. We're like, this is a major moment and these people maybe don't realize it yet.
02:04:55
Speaker
And I'm not sure that I'm ready to try to explain all of that and try to understand all of that. And, see if we can change the course of history because all she's thinking is the truth has come out.
02:05:06
Speaker
The course of this team's history is changing forever for better, for worse. I don't know yet. And I don't know what to do. So I just need to take time to think and talk to Miss Yamada. Yeah, no, that's good.
02:05:17
Speaker
That's really good. I thought that was a really good callback to that moment of like, interesting. Yeah. Cause you would think it would be the moment, like the bone saw moment, right. Is what we think of probably as Victoria's biggest moment. right Right. But it,
02:05:30
Speaker
it goes back to the bank robbery because there was a lot of the tattletale revealed. Yeah. If you look at the dominoes, where do they, start where do they start falling? Yeah. You know? yeah Yeah.
Dreams, Powers, and Emotional Weight
02:05:42
Speaker
That's, i this I think that's one of the highlight of highlights of the slow burn of this book is these moments here were like the callbacks to other things, the reframing them, the, the inner turmoil with these characters. Like this isn't the bank robbery. It's not a fight.
02:06:00
Speaker
between people physically this is ah confrontation between people who you understand all of them all of them you know you might agree or disagree a little more or a little less but like you get it why they're upset you get why people are reacting and certain ways and you know yeah it feel for them yeah yeah and i think um I will say I'll take back what element what I said at the beginning about the pace of word kind of being this arc being like the heartbeat thing.
02:06:36
Speaker
It really is like a slow rise because by the time we get to 4.7 for 4.6 and 4.7 are great. And then, you know, ending with what it does. It was great. Yeah, I agree.
02:06:46
Speaker
And I think to the point getting a little bit into the last intro, but to the point of why are the fallen that bad? Bernard mentioned as well, Victoria's interactions with them. Early on with the interview. So we know that she does have some experience with them.
02:07:00
Speaker
and think the difference is. The fallen. Unlike a lot of cults that may or may not exist today. Or that existed in the history of our country. The fallen are a steady.
02:07:12
Speaker
Persistent. Large group. Backed. Backed by superpowers. Right. They're not just a ragtag group of rednecks out in the hills. They are. you know They were and still are a persistent and powerful force.
02:07:29
Speaker
And I think that's what makes them so bad, right? Is that it's not just, oh yeah, like if you go to the the boonies of Alabama, you'll meet some racist people for sure. It's like, no, this is like a roving gang of racism. and Yeah, this is this is what if ah what if Scientology was a biker gang.
02:07:48
Speaker
yeah That's a great way to put it. Do you know what? Not bad. Sons of Mathers. Oh, nice. oh To get into four point ah Yeah. Shall we? Shall we 4.C it up and then finish up?
02:08:07
Speaker
Yeah, let's do it. ah Interlude cluster love lost night. ah Rain sees many ways to his doom, then has his decision making heavily compromised by an interlude with Mama Mathers.
02:08:22
Speaker
And I'll just add, love lost dreams are the worst. They're the worst. My God. My God. Wow. Brutal. Way to absolutely just wreck me at the end of this arc.
02:08:36
Speaker
Holy shit. Holy cow. You know what it gives? it gives Dan to Dan season one, episode seven vibes for me. abs to fuck Oh my God.
02:08:49
Speaker
Yep. the one hundred percent 100%. What an excellent. Yeah. yeah i have I have mixed feelings about Dan to Dan as an anime, but season season one, episode seven literally made me sob and I had to stop working and like go cry for a while.
02:09:13
Speaker
It's a true story. And then I tried to tell Chris about it later and cried telling her. it's ah Ruined my day.
02:09:24
Speaker
That's awesome. ok Get wrecked in the best possible way. Right in the feels. Anyways. right Yeah. Rough. Rough. Rough. Yeah. that's That's really...
02:09:37
Speaker
Do we think... Okay, just like... Is Carol the worst mother now? Are there worst mothers out there in the ah in a fallen sphere?
02:09:53
Speaker
We haven't seen them. You're talking about Mama Mathers? It's like... You're talking about love lost or Mama Mathers for No, not love lost. Love lost yeah is a tragic moment.
02:10:07
Speaker
Whoa. Whoa now. Yeah. Still kind of psychotic, but no, no, no. Yeah. No, going past that. Mama Mathers is the... ah Yeah. My theory is that love lost daughter was the fifth trigger.
02:10:23
Speaker
Ooh. That's one working theory I have. That's a good one. There was a thought that occurred to me is that there was a brief moment maybe where she triggered and then face hit the table and she died.
02:10:34
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah. Oof. God, that's... Maybe. Maybe. I'm not sure. The trigger maybe happened after she died. It's not quite clear, but... um
02:10:45
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. um Yeah, no, Mama Mathers, that's creepy. Oh, that was horrid. Oh, that was... all oh Nothing like an old lady in a white nightgown. Just, you know... yeah Here's the thing. She's not old.
02:11:02
Speaker
She's not old. She's mid-30s. no um yeah yeah one like The vibes are old lady, but they're but she's not actually an old lady. Which makes it creepier. She's gray hair, and she's willowy and tall. Like, like really tall.
02:11:18
Speaker
tall and spindly. and just um and indeed I just can only imagine her as an old ah though I can't see her as young. Like even if she's 30 she's like a smoker's 30 you know what I mean?
02:11:30
Speaker
Yeah. Absolutely. No, I did get a lot of, if anyone's seen The Leftovers, ah the the The Cult, which name escapes me at the moment. I don't know why. The Leftovers?
02:11:42
Speaker
Yeah, The Main Cult and The Leftovers. ah They all wear white, and it's like a matriarch-led, and just huge, huge fallen vibes as I was reading this this this whole chapter.
02:11:53
Speaker
It was just like, yeah, super creepy. and
02:12:00
Speaker
don't like cults. I'm not a fan of them. The Guilty Remnant? Yes, the Guilty Remnant. Thank you. Yeah. ah Mama Mathers has not quite this time around, but I remember the first time I'm reading it.
02:12:15
Speaker
Mama Mathers gives me the same ick that Bonesaw does. m Especially once we, but especially once her power starts to come out.
02:12:27
Speaker
Yeah. Because it's it's i don't I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. It is just jump scare the power. Yeah, I was going to say, her power... It was kind of throwing me for a minute. So, like, she can...
02:12:41
Speaker
Did we get a good sense of what it was or was it supposed to be? she I would say if somebody would like to explain it, not you, Chad. Somebody on here would like to explain it and then I will. Can I try? So what it sounds like is if you see her, she gets inside your head, kind of like a brain worm that's like weasels its way in And you like, so he had this whole conversation with her and then she was like,
02:13:04
Speaker
He was like, okay, I'll go. And she's like, what do you mean you'll go? You've been talking to yourself this whole time. um Like, ah from what it it it sounds like is that she's like, if you see her, she creates this, like, link with your brain, like some kind of psychic thing. And she, like, she's latched in now.
02:13:24
Speaker
And she can... be in your head and also do her own thing. So you can, like, he's having this whole hawk conversation with her. He sees her later and she's like, you know, looking around or like, here's him say something and she smiles. Like, she is...
02:13:41
Speaker
In his head. And I don't know if that's like... a It's that with like a a limited understanding of what... What I call them would be like apparitions, right? She creates apparitions that follow you around when you think of her. Or when you when something triggers a thought of her. Oh, crazy. And yeah she can see and hear through those apparitions to a limited extent.
02:14:00
Speaker
Yeah. Like where... um Because she says like, oh, you've been talking to yourself. But... i got I got an understanding of what I was saying to you. Like, I know what you were saying, even though, you know, you weren't really talking to me. Yeah.
02:14:16
Speaker
That's pretty good thing. Yeah. Creates the apparitions that haunt you, basically. She haunts you, and she can see what you're seeing and hear what you're hearing. Yeah.
02:14:27
Speaker
So, if you notice, there is a process of sensory impact. That she goes through with him.
02:14:39
Speaker
She talks to him and he can hear her as close as up in his ear. Yeah. When he looks at her, he can now see her whenever she wants him to.
02:14:52
Speaker
When she touches her touches him, she can feel him up anytime she chooses. Like she can make him feel the sensation of her touching him at any point in time when he thinks about her.
02:15:05
Speaker
So every sensation that you interact with her, she can then do that for as long as whenever you're thinking about her. um And it feels like it tapers off over time, maybe.
02:15:17
Speaker
But he's also clearly like... Yeah, he's been working at it for months to get her out of his head. And I imagine that she recognizes when she's like, she's like, my grip on him isn't as strong as it used to be.
02:15:29
Speaker
Call him in no. And the fact that she could the like, Oh, Oh, just a the, the, the touching and like the, like, you know, you're, you all sudden you think about her and she's like running her finger along your neck or something like that. so And because of those, like you talked about apparitions, um, the reference somebody used is Dybbuk.
02:15:52
Speaker
Um, which is a jewish essentially ghost that possesses people um i was talking in a metaphysical store today with a uh a jew witch and they were telling me all about the dybbuk so i got all the down low on this um but it is those apparitions they can see independently it like they are in that area kind of um and And so, you know, you are summoning them sort of into that space when you think about her.
02:16:24
Speaker
And, yeah. Yeah, i just like the chat's talking about how Mama Mathers is Santa. She's like, I see you when you're sleeping. I see when you're awake.
02:16:36
Speaker
I know if you've been bad or good. Stop jerking at you, horny kid.
02:16:43
Speaker
Mama Mathers just needs good a good you know Coca-Cola sponsorship. and right na real The real question is, as was asked, Mama Mathers, smash or pass?
02:16:57
Speaker
Damn it. You can't smash. You can't hit it and quit it. You smash. You've all played Gate, right?
02:17:09
Speaker
Yeah. I know what you're talking about. You remember what happens when you sleep with Raphael's succubus. Flash for me. What happens is you get what you deserve is what What happens is you after you do that, then wherever you go, whenever the pleasures themselves, they can call upon your body and use it.
02:17:33
Speaker
And you feel it. Okay, hear me out. We'll say this ideal scenario. Once you've done it once, she can make you feel that sensation. um Listen. Whatever you think. That's what I'm saying. that's i know, right?
02:17:45
Speaker
Three or four. That's what saying. More like mommy mathers. Am I right? I know. know. I hate it. I hate it so much.
02:17:57
Speaker
You know sometimes flat is justice and it feels like the flat is justice Lady Demetrest do right now. but
02:18:06
Speaker
ah so Listen, listen. that That lay so good you feel it for months after. You know what I mean? That's right. That's right. Like she's whispering in my ear. Whispering sweet nothings in my ear right now.
02:18:19
Speaker
Everywhere I go, I see her face. What do you literally what do you mean? Literally. but do you mean? It doesn't have to be. Oh, yeah. off in the quarter all hour yeah yeah
02:18:31
Speaker
oh yeah I'm just going to hide under my desk. I'm taking my mic with me. I don't want to. We've reached the end. We've reached the end. On a real more realistic point, someone made a good comment that I don't want to over because we got goofy.
02:18:48
Speaker
Um, who said it. ah B. Ferroni said, oh, she's religious guilt and I think that's a great way to think of her. She is the manifestation of religious guilt. That's super fucking good. I like that a lot.
02:19:00
Speaker
and That's legit. yeah Nice. I'm sorry you had to get through the Sleeping with Mama Mathers talk to get to that great point, but you know, that's the BBBC in a nutshell. we is ah That's awesome.
02:19:15
Speaker
BBBC in a nutshell. Keep the show. don't like BBBC busting nuts in this show. No! All right. We're at the end here.
02:19:26
Speaker
yeah ah We made Michael cry. so Yeah, we made Michael cry. Favorite people or powers?
02:19:37
Speaker
Moose. Favorite person. Moose. Moose, pretty good. Moose gets a good, yeah, I mean. power are probably is cool, too, but Moose, just as a person, he he was my favorite this arc.
02:19:49
Speaker
Yeah. um ah Him and along with ah our boy, the other hero, Kenzie's former ah leader. Houndstooth.
02:20:00
Speaker
Houndstooth, thank you. Gosh, yeah. Houndstooth gives a shout out for sure. Fran, we did not talk about Kenzie's smile. um I don't feel like it stood out all that much this go-round, but Kenzie is like nervous, smiling the entire time during the confrontation.
02:20:17
Speaker
I did catch that, but like... but I probably noticed it at the time and then promptly forgot it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I just took that as like her just being totally overwhelmed and not knowing what to do or react or say. And like when you're in that much of like a brain panic fight or flight mode, like you don't necessarily have control of or over if you're smiling or if you're laughing. Like people nervous laugh.
02:20:41
Speaker
I kind of just took it as that. But now that you guys have mentioned it like three or four times in the chat. Yeah, there was a bunch of mentions in the chat. Do I need to go back and read that just in case? I'll tell you right now, you don't. She just smiles. It's just that she's smiling the whole time. They wanted their bingos. You weirdos in chat. What are you doing? um Was it on the bingo card?
02:21:01
Speaker
It was not on the bingo card. Oh, okay. So, ah let's see. ah For me, since I'm surprised nobody talked about Seer more, just with the creepy like backwards horse head mask. the backwards horse head? And that they have a person that makes masks. And the grape apes?
02:21:19
Speaker
They have a ah parahuman that makes animal heads. Out of... Specifically... like Look like people kind of. No, no. They make them look like people before they kill them.
02:21:30
Speaker
Before they kill them, which is the fucked up part. That's crazy. Yeah. And the fact that it's like on backwards so that it's like the side of the head with the eyes. Creepy. It's so creepy.
02:21:41
Speaker
It's so creepy. But ah my special one, Mama Mathers, I think is... Just because think about it. Every time he thinks about her, she can be present in all of their therapy sessions and meetings and stuff.
02:21:54
Speaker
Oh, no. In terms of the creativity of the past, like, yeah. What a fantastically written character. Absolutely. I love it. I love the creepy ones. And like, no wonder she's kind of in charge because like she can that to what? The entire place? She's Santa.
02:22:11
Speaker
She's Santa. She's... I wonder if... eva answer So, like, what happens if Rain thinks about her during his, like, dream sessions with his... trip I was wondering the same thing.
02:22:26
Speaker
If he thinks about her while he's dreaming. That's a really good thought. How deep does the psyche well go? Yeah. Well, we did... We did, just to tie this back in, because since we're talking about it now, at the end of the interlude, when he's getting escorted out by the blind guy, that guy...
02:22:44
Speaker
assumedly gouged out his own eyes, right? Wait, was that, um, uh, Nazi Mama Mathers? No, it's that that felt really familiar. And I'm trying to remember why Who do we know that I know have their site anymore?
02:23:00
Speaker
I know. And I'm trying to remember his name. i was like, is that who it is? But I kind of read past it. Is am i on the right track? You're on the right track. We've only encountered the fallen one other time.
02:23:13
Speaker
before. Oh. Oh. ah Did he get his eyes eaten out? Maybe. but Maybe. Oh my god.
02:23:25
Speaker
my god. Yeah. Oh my god. Because he's down and then... Yeah. Wait. Okay. What was his name? It's right after the incident. and Or it's close to the incident that happens at the school and then later... T.T.'s. T.T.' 's and chat.
02:23:38
Speaker
wait Wait for them to get it. ah tea yeah oh I don't remember his name. i can i can remember the scene kind of. ah God. Elijah is his name.
02:23:51
Speaker
Yes. Elijah? Oh, that's not. So. Oh, no. It's too many characters. it It's the section where. i found it I remember.
02:24:04
Speaker
Valafor. ah Ah, yes, Valifor. Valifor. Brandy is so close to... Thank you. was about to say... yes all Okay, so but I was at him... That's supposed to be him at the end. yeah um Chat, this is why we have teas in chat. Let them fail or remember at their own pace.
02:24:26
Speaker
I appreciate you taking it back out. Yeah, Valifor. He... um He had the hypnotic sight power. I mean, I had to listen. That's right. Oh, my God.
02:24:41
Speaker
He's still eyeless, still hanging out. He's still eyeless, still hanging out. Fun fact. That is his mother. Oh. Yeah, when I looked it up, his name is Elijah Mathur.
02:24:53
Speaker
Yeah, and I wouldn't look any more than that, Nick. Nope, that's all I looked. That's all I saw. All I was like, i want to know his name and his powers and that's all I got. Yep. It's alright, guys. don't Don't be too mad in the chat. We'll we'll get there eventually.
02:25:07
Speaker
Yeah, that is... that is a it's hard It's hard because half the time we're asking you guys for help and half the time we're telling you to stop helping. yeah another it's another Another good question that we've kind of revisited every episode that was asked earlier by Bernard is update on who we think is the most worrisome member in the therapy group.
02:25:32
Speaker
Ooh. I think it's Rain. This, well, ah kind of feels, this kind of gets what I was thinking of, like, at the end of of of chapter seven, when Victoria's like, I think I know why.
02:25:44
Speaker
um and it that's, like, kind of the cliffhanger. Yeah. Like, it feels to me like it's the whole group. Like, this whole arc feels like it's built towards this this dynamic that they have where they're sort of codependent. It's not the right word, but like they're fiercely loyal to each other, but not in a healthy way necessarily.
02:26:09
Speaker
yeah And it feels like I'm trying to, I'm trying to read into the mind of wild bow. Like yeah what would he do to fuck us up? And the thing I keep coming back to is like, he's going to kill one of them off.
02:26:20
Speaker
Somebody in this group is going to die. You've got to kill somebody. And the group is going to kind of implode a bit around that. Feels like the time bomb that Victoria is picking up on. something who if he Who would be that person, though? like Who would be the most poor person and that if they died, the group would lose their shit?
02:26:42
Speaker
Yeah. Sveta. it's Oh, I was going to say Kenzie. Ken, the child goes. like yeah Holy fuck. Everybody's like, I can't hero again because I got a child killed. Yeah.
02:26:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's true, too. um Yeah, I mean, I would say that it it's basically everybody but Ashley, I think, is the thing. It's like everybody but Ashley is like actually a problem.
02:27:06
Speaker
um Yeah. It's kind of how it feels. Where, like, okay, Kinsey's clearly got some emotional social emotional issues that are really potentially dangerous for herself and the team.
02:27:18
Speaker
Sveta has still a lot of, like, she hides it well, but she's got a lot of emotional issues, and she could also accidentally kill people at any time, like, if things got out of hand.
02:27:29
Speaker
um You've got ah Tristan and bri Byron who are, you know, doing doing their creepy twin thing having a hard time with that. And let's not forget the Hitman that they hired. Yeah, the Hitman as well. There is a Hitman who's... Especially as much lower on the danger scale, I think. She's closer to Ashley, probably.
02:27:53
Speaker
And then I think problematic, Rain reign is in the center of a war that's about to start between two gangs. Like, that's...
Character Analysis and Conflict Resolution
02:28:01
Speaker
You know, whether or not it's him personally who's problematic, he's at the center of all of that.
02:28:07
Speaker
Mm-hmm. So... I feel like rain is the most immediate problem. but Like yeah when I think about who is the actual problem here, i still am like not totally convinced that it's not Kenzie.
02:28:23
Speaker
There's like some weird shit going on there. um Yeah. Long term might be the worst thing. Yeah. Although Chris, we really don't know all that much about Chris, but I feel like we saw it twice in this arc where ah Victoria went like, hey, you you like regulating evening out okay? And he basically told her to fuck off.
02:28:47
Speaker
And like, hmm. I can't wait to hear more about that. Yeah, we don't know much about Chris, yes so I won't say anything. But from what we've seen, that feels more like an Ashley.
02:28:59
Speaker
Like, okay, long term... we're going to have some things to work out with you about your own health and taking care of yourself. yeah Yes. Yes. Yeah, for sure. In short term, we need to stop the gang war that reigns at the center of. Yeah.
02:29:12
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. yeah Good thing. Good. Oh, man. Good stuff. The correct answer, of course, was, Vic said, Miss Yamada.
02:29:22
Speaker
Because she triggers finally probably because they just drive her up the wall so much that she can't take it anymore. Yep. Blessed. you know but I was going to say, just to to kind of tie it off to bring it full circle, back to talking about how we're been a little just sort of slow to get into things, it is moments like this that that are really
Arc Reflection and Future Plans
02:29:43
Speaker
good. And I really liked how this arc ended.
02:29:47
Speaker
Like you said, Nick, it it really it really kind of was a slow build. And when you get to this point, it's Like now I want to read the next chapter, which I haven't felt for a few chapters. So it's like, it yeah it's, it's, uh, I can see where the story can, can get good here. So I'm i'm excited.
02:30:07
Speaker
Well, that about wraps it up for tonight. I wanted to thank all of our patrons. for sponsoring us and keeping us going and letting it, you know, helping us, encourage us to do this. We will be working on Patreon content um next week.
02:30:25
Speaker
ah Our next book reading, we will add. Yeah. Hold on. well yeah yeah Our next time, ah because arc five shadow is over a hundred thousand words long.
02:30:37
Speaker
We're going to split that into two. we will be reading 5.1.
02:30:42
Speaker
to 5.6. There is one interlude in there, but I think 5.6 is the correct spot to end on, not the interlude. 5.1 to 5.6. It is 53,000 words, which leaves another 53,000 words on the other side.
02:30:58
Speaker
um but Almost an even split. Also, is that um speaking out of turn, is that also the ah night we have to reschedule? That is. We will be doing it just next fortnight, but we will be doing it on the 11th, which is a Wednesday.
02:31:16
Speaker
um So change up just for that week. ah So we will see you in two weeks on the 11th of June on a Wednesday.
02:31:27
Speaker
will be halfway through arc five by then. yeah. and um yeah Otherwise, thank you so much for being here. Thank you, chat.
02:31:37
Speaker
ah We love you so much and we love all the good questions. Honestly, the more questions you ask, the the more fun ah we can like pose to hear. Yeah. I like the the fun questions in there.
02:31:51
Speaker
um Those are good. Yeah. um They're fun. And like I said, if you want to ask more questions or do more, ah we've got some ideas for some Patreon content that we ah need to do.
Podcast Logistics and Listener Engagement
02:32:01
Speaker
Vic has D&D, so you can't join.
02:32:03
Speaker
Man, see, the thing is, you know, D&D, a worthy thing to ah to miss out on. But luckily, you can hear us. how When does the podcast go up after? usually Usually, it's um right before we live stream the next one, honestly.
02:32:18
Speaker
That's when I've been... Okay, so it's about a week late. Usually, like, the Monday before. Like, the last one came up yesterday. Okay. It's going to be a while, but... By then, you know, you could hear all of five basically back to back.
02:32:32
Speaker
Yeah. That's true. And the live stream is live. I mean, a lot of people watch us on YouTube, so they got that. They get it right away. just I forgot about the VOD. They can watch the VOD. Most, a lot of people just consume us that way. But if you're a Spotify, Apple um lover, then, then yeah, it will come out usually the right before are about to stream the new one.
02:32:53
Speaker
But yeah. Well, that's perfect. Anything else before we close out? Just our favorite song. ah Just blasted, Michael. Yay! Let's go.
02:33:04
Speaker
Join the Patreon. Please come on and join the Patreon. Why don't you just join the Patreon? Come support us and join the Patreon. Please help and join the Patreon.
02:33:16
Speaker
We have fun. Join the Patreon. It's great to join the Patreon. Why don't you just join the Patreon? Come Sometimes, just for fun, I'll cancel my Patreon subscription just so I can have the pleasure of signing up once again.
02:33:38
Speaker
Yeah. Every time. love it so much. So good. oh All right. You're the best. You're the best. We love you so much. And we'll see you on the 11th. Love all.
02:33:56
Speaker
Please come on and join the Patreon. Why don't you just join the Patreon? Come support us and join the Patreon. Please help us and join the Patreon.
02:34:07
Speaker
We have fun. Join the Patreon. It's great to join the Patreon. Why don't you just join the Patreon? Come on, come