Wrecker elbowing Tech and telling him he has competition is already funny on its own cause it means the attraction is very not subtle like even Wrecker is teasing Tech...
But the look Tech gives him is SENDING me.
Wrecker. No one competes with me. Wrecker... No one could even try. Wrecker, seriously, what the kriff are you on? Wrecker.
Hi I'm not dead, I just moved out of my parents house several months ago, which ate into my free time a LOT more than I expected! I did warn you about long periods of radio silence. Anyway, welcome back to my Slugterra rewatch where I go over random details I find interesting. Full series spoiler warning in effect! Previous installments can be found under my tag #Rewatch Rambles
Alright, let's actually break down this commercial monologue bit by bit:
"Do you spend hours on tedious dueling and your slugs still aren't learning new moves?"
-There are two ways to take this. The first is to believe the commercial and suddenly we know slugs work on Pokémon rules where they CAN be taught new moves deliberately, but they also just figure new ones out while working on basics.
-The second is to believe the commercial is being misleading, because the Pokémon game logic doesn't make a lot of sense compared to the rest of the show where training seems to be a very deliberate practice. You don't learn to do new archery tricks by shooting at the same targets over and over again, and you don't teach your dog new tricks by running them through the same old agility course.
-Given the outcome of this episode, I'm inclined to take the second route and say Skill Issue
"Are the other slingers gettin the best slugs leaving you with floppers?"
-Sir, that is a Flatulorhinkus you are holding, and as Pronto will demonstrate multiple times over in this series, it's actually very effective if you know how to use it (even if he constantly complains about Stinky being useless). False advertising.
"Tired of never knowing what slug to use or even if it's worth using at all?"
-This comment is par for the course culturally in the 99 Caverns, but SIR, Club Slug is literally just illegal steroids with bad side effects, how does that increase the SLINGER'S knowledge of which slugs are gonna be effective in which fight? I'm not even blaming the commercial, the people who buy this are dumb. Hence why Pronto buys it.
Also, OH MY GOSH you can tell the "satisfied customer" is being paid extra to do this and is not a trained actor, he sounds so tired and bored lol.
Fantastic terrible dumb commercial, good to know malevolent and bad advertising is a universal experience!
OH MY GOD I WAS WONDERING WHAT EPISODE THIS ONE WAS IN!!!
Eli and Kord PRACTICE their smack talk as religiously as they practice dueling. I think Trixie insulting Eli's one-liners in The Trade got to him more than he's letting in. This is the kind of absolute tomfoolery and cringe teenager behavior I LIVE for. And of course, Trixie OWNS them both because she is ACTUALLY cool while Eli and Kord just WISH they were.
Also, timeline! It has officially been A Few Months since the gang got together, which does a lot for justifying how skilled Eli (and everyone else) will be in these next episodes!
That actually makes me retract some previous statements about how fast Blakk has gotten his ghouls perfected and distributed. We now know that multiple weeks can be passing between these episodes!
Oh my gosh, Club Slug's THEME MUSIC even reeks of terrible exercise commercial. It sparks some deep internal inexplicable rage in me just from hearing it, this is fabulously awful
This whole opening scene actually has really great casual characterization. It's this kind of silliness that provides character depth that I feel has been lost in some modern TV shows. Trixie shows off that she's knowledgeable about Slugterran media and entertainment (makes sense given she's a vlogger), Kord shows that he's a bit jealous of Eli surpassing him, Pronto is impulsive and gullible and spent all their money without asking, and Eli is appropriately wary of something that sounds too good to be true! Good instincts buddy!
Speaking of money!
Eli: "We all worked hard for that gold Pronto"
YOU DID?! DO YOU HAVE A JOB?! HOW ARE YOU MAKING MONEY ELI SHANE, I NEED TO KNOW THIS?! WHERE IS IT COMING FROM?!
I think I've mentioned this before, but my current theory is that Trixie gets revenue from her Slugnet videos (and probably knows where to pick up odd jobs) and Kord makes money servicing mecha beasts for people, but I genuinely have no idea how Eli and Pronto are making money. Like even if Pronto took something with him in his self-imposed exile, it's definitely gone by now (hence his squatting in the Shane hideout), and Eli is waaaaaayyyyy too nice to ask for a tip when he saves people or does them favors. HOW are you not BROKE, boy, do NOT look me in the eyes and tell me you're working part time at 7/11!!!
Seriously though, WHY are the slugs so eager to get into the Illegal Stimulants machine? Does it smell yummy or something? Slugs---and especially slugs that choose to go with Eli---are genuinely very happy to train with a good slinger and become more powerful. It definitely seems fun for them. But this is very sketchy, and generally the slugs are good judges of character. What about this specific machine is throwing off their instincts? Even Burpy seems excited about this and he almost always knows a bad situation when he sees one.
Like I understand that this is the drug abuse metaphor episode, but you don't find drugs appealing and addictive before you even try them, you are wary and worried about the awful effects. It takes at least one use for them to start messing with your neurotransmitters and changing your brain chemistry.
Eli: "Did someone say duel? Count me in!"
I'd also like to add, I'm not surprised that Trixie goes for the machine, even though she's usually the type to be suspicious. She's NOT a traditionalist, and while she's skilled she doesn't have Eli's natural talent or understanding of slugs and how they work. This early in the series, she's still thinking of them more as tools than friends, and this seems like as good a way as any to sharpen her tools, while Eli is approaching this from the "I'm worried about my friends" angle.
Aaaaand there's that shonen braincell. Eli is much smarter and a better judge of character than your classic Goku archetype who is only focused on Food Fighting and Friendship, but he definitely has a similar priority list.
Sargeant Slug: "Takes a few rounds for them to get seasoned like Old Butch here"
CUT TO OLD BUTCH AND HIS SHADY YELLOW STONER EYEBALLS! They're really not being subtle on the drug abuse metaphor.
Also, more of Eli and Kord having a very sweet bromance where Eli is genuinely happy that Kord got one over on him, just confused on the method, and Kord is genuinely worried that he hurt Eli. UGH! FRIENDSHIP!
And! Eli's a graceful loser! This is more of what I'm talking about where he's just such a fundamentally good person. And while it is inspiring to some people, it's also ANNOYING AS HELL to others like the three extras in this episode, and honestly? Most of Slugterra, who have been conditioned for cynicism by the chaotic lawless lifestyle. It's why a lot of people aren't actually inclined to listen to him until he proves himself. He seems naive with how kind he is.
Even though Eli's been on top of his game for months now, he's still a beginner who makes dumb mistakes like firing Bolo straight into a Tornado. He's still got. What? 4 seasons and a couple movies to go before he's REALLY unbeatable!
A NEW ONE FOR THE BURPY LOSS COUNTER! Burpy does actually take a solid hint against one of the jacked up threshers.
Trixie is STILL dissing Eli's one-liners in this fjght and she's not even winning lol! Good job girlfriend, don't let his ego get too high just because he's right!
Side note about this whole episode, I love that Seargant Slug has nothing to do with Dr. Blakk, he's just a garden variety scammer doing dangerous stuff. Hammers home that ordinary people can be just as big of a problem as the big bad if nobody stops them, AND keeps Dr. Blakk from getting overexposure and losing his menace!
Losing this thought as I type it but like, Spike is a fixer-upper in the "this old house" kind of way rather than a plastic surgery "fixing God's mistakes" kind of way. (?)
Like he wasn't all wrong from the start but boy was he made to feel that way. So he let himself be renovated. By Dru, by Angel, by the society he escaped from. All that paint over his woodwork.
And I don't think Buffy ment to do a restoration of Spike. I think it was more she saw a corner of the ugly paint job peeling and just couldn't resist picking at it like a scab. And before you know it we have a "honey? Did you know there's wood floor under all this?"
re-watching Destined Woth You and I'm in ep 2 rn. the scene where Sin-yu is in the car and Red Hand appears out of the blue and starts to caress his cheek, but like, when his own hand goes to hold it, he's so tender.... like idek he's just so fkin tender when holding that hand on his cheek and yk, this is just my interpretation, but like, at that moment, he's prolly like, "get off me, I'm driving" but also like "omg i needed this touch so much"
idk why, but even tho he's in pain in the Red Hand scenes, in some of them he's just so tender w it.
The absolute POETRY it would have been if Dean still had Cas' hand on his shoulder along with the Mark of Cain. That scene in "Meta Fiction" (9x18) when Dean is starting to feel the mark's effects and he looks at it in the mirror after a shower? Just... imagine the camera panning down from his face to his shoulder where Cas' hand is, scarred over, down to The Mark of Cain. THE DRAMA. This? Coupled with the Cas/Colette parallel? The juxtaposition of salvation (Cas) and damnation (the mark)? Absolutely DEVASTATING.
Watching Bad Buddy with a friend and her reaction to ep 1 is, “oh the dad is very handsome. But in the flashback. The present lighting not so much” and “The mum is very beautiful”.
