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[31 Mar 2008|01:11am] |
Sigh. It's been a long past few months. As usual, not much of it is interesting enough to talk about, though. Or maybe I'll feel like it later. Sleepy.
Was gonna save icon for the next Star Trek movie, but that’s in almost a year, and I’d rather hope that it’s good. (I’ve lost count of Star Trek movies. Is it even or odd?) Sylar as young Spock! Dude! Not to mention Leonard Nimoy back as old Spock. Though you gotta feel sorry for an actor who’s always had such a hard time getting a role not involving pointy ears because there’s this one role from ten, then twenty, then thirty, then forty years ago that nobody can un-see. (Though I think he’s considered himself as having retired from acting before it reached the 40-year mark.)
I didn't plan to make this an all fandom journal, but... when I don't have work, all I have to talk about his how much being broke sucks, which isn't very interesting. When I do, all there is to talk about is work, which isn't very interesting.
I wonder what I could do that I would find interesting enough to talk about all the time.
There is the matter of the rest of the Overdrive reviews. Rather than make a buncha posts, I'm going to post the last few at once. Unfortunately, I don't have Home and Away pt. 2 on tape, and the one after that was a clip show and doesn't really count. (No, really. I mean, Koragg's Trial had a story and a point to the clips that fit it. Way Back When, uh, didn't.)
(Actually, since writing that, I have found what I did with Home and Away 2. But don't want to wait any longer. I'll get around to it... uh... when I feel like it. I actually had most of these done months ago but wanted to post them all at once.)
( Better late than never... )
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[18 Dec 2007|02:31am] |
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Nothing to say at the moment, but... just so you know I didn’t fall off the edge of the earth. Hi, everybody!
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| PROO #26: Red Ranger Unplugged |
[03 Oct 2007|01:15am] |
I AM CAUGHT UP! Boo-yah!
Nice bit of continuity with the sequel to the book Mack was reading in the premiere. I wonder what the rest of the fandom has to say about that, considering the (over)reaction Mack's little dream sequence at the beginning of the season got.
(Speaking of which... I guess androids don't dream of electric sheep.)
Dax is amusing. Wonder what his dad's like. To have said "you can be anything you want to be, so long as it's not a stuntman," he might have also been in the movie business...
While Mack sets out to find himself, the Fear Cats are... uh, where are they? It looks a lot more interesting than most villain lairs, but they don't show enough to tell what it is. There's a new Fear Cat in town, and it's... Zen-Aku's mother?
Seriously. That looks a lot like ZA and nothing like a cat.
And Flurious has a Fear Cat detector? There's a diagram of a small downtown or industrial area on his screen, with three little triangles, green for Mig, yellow for Benglo, and light blue for the newbie.
Norg's got a cold. And Flurious decides three Fear Cats is three too many and sends Norg to get rid of 'em. Because Norg has shown himself to be that competent in the past, right?
( Heavy metal )
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| PROO #25: Things Not Said |
[03 Oct 2007|01:10am] |
I didn't get the beginning of this one. What I've got starts with Mack showing pictures from a childhood fishing trip that, as we know, can't have happened, what with Mack having popped out of the test tube only two years ago. Wonder who the kid in the photo is and when it was taken.
Down in the batcave, Mr. Hartford's working on the tablet and talking about a Star of Isis, and Rose has done her first Billy-esque feat, a new weapon that's got a few bugs working out. Prepared for the Zords but likely to cook human users.
The alarm barks, and our heroes rush over to an office building. Once they get their, the Trackers can detect whatever the batcave's computers picked up.
Mack decides he's going to go around back 'cause something seems fishy.
Ooh. We've not had a Kamdor episode in a while. At least, not an all-Kamdor episode. He's doing something on one computer (looks like downloading but that doesn't fit what happens later) and turns another computer (monitor, actually) into a computer monster called Datum. Y'know, I wouldn't be surprised if most people didn't even know 'data' had a singular form.
While he takes on the Rangers out front, the real fun's inside as Mack shows up. Miratrix is having trouble fighting him alone, and Kamdor's saying "nah, you can handle this" and just ignoring them. Miratrix's expressions are priceless.
( Mack 2.0 )
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| PROO #24: Ronny on Empty, Part 2 |
[01 Oct 2007|11:02pm] |
Man, that's a lot of Zords.
The word "Egypt" at the bottom of the screen (in case we missed the pyramids) now has snazzier, more Egypty looking script. The gang's not having a great time.
Of course, stuck with Norg, Will just may have it worse. Or maybe not. Norg's tracking capabilities prove to be pretty impressive. Between that and healing dance... how come he never shared any of this with Flurious? May turn out in the end that he's smarter than he looks.
Meanwhile, the bad guys notice Will and send in the goons. It would happen right after Mig said they'd never find the lair.
( Four Rangers walking through the sun for five minutes )
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| PROO 23: Ronny on Empty, Part 1 |
[01 Oct 2007|11:02pm] |
A shiny new opening that's got major ADHD. Which is a good thing. ^_^
It's got most of the Zords we've seen and a few we haven't. That aircraft carrier is sweet. But how many Zords does one team need?! I think we're approacing Wild Force's record by now.
Also of note: usually, any change to the opening after the change that adds the sixth Ranger is a step down, with more and more cool scenes replaced with transformation stock footage, or just the various toys in order. Good to see that not happen. In fact, there's less of the Flashpoint transformation.
How not to do it is like last year, with virtually the entire battlizer scene, or DT and that truck. (I still wanna know just how a truck that was in one episode only deserved to be shown very prominently in the opening for half the season and Hayley didn't merit being in the opening at all.) TF's opening became something of a gadget showcase near the end, too. One more transformation scene of gadgets we see frequently isn't exciting.
( Did anybody get the license plate of that carrier? )
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| PROO #22: One Fine Day |
[01 Oct 2007|11:00pm] |
Well, first, some things I didn't remember to say about Once A Ranger.
One, who says Thrax was imprisoned for thousands of years? Just like Koragg, who also wasn't imprisoned for thousands of years, he said "all these" years, not giving a number. If you were stuck in a jar for three years, with no minions to talk to unlike Rita, you'd be glad to get out, right? It makes a lot more sense to me for his imprisonment to be short in cosmic terms but longer than you'd want to be locked away, and for him to have simply started his evil career young.
Though it's not implausible that Zedd wasn't above having his way with a pretty underling (at the end of Countdown to Destruction, we saw what Rita really looks like, remember?) and so realistically he could have been around a while... but you don't have to try quite that hard or go quite that far outside something likely to happen in Power Rangers to fit him in.
Born during MMPR or PRZ. Got old enough to use magic staff. Did bad stuff. Got locked up. Got out. Just that simple.
( Because you didn't ask )
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| 9/11 Is Over |
[01 Oct 2007|12:29pm] |
By Thomas L. Friedman
Published: September 30, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/30/news/edfried.php
Not long ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran a fake news story that began like this:
"At a well-attended rally in front of his new ground zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11. 'My fellow citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a promise,' said Giuliani during his 18-minute announcement speech in front of a charred and torn American flag. 'As president of 9/11, I will usher in a bold new 9/11 for all.' If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world's conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions."
Like all good satire, the story made me both laugh and cry, because it reflected something so true - how much, since 9/11, we've become "The United States of Fighting Terrorism." New York Times columnists are not allowed to endorse candidates, but there's no rule against saying who will not get my vote: I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don't need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate.
( What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. )
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| PROO #20-21: Once a Ranger |
[20 Aug 2007|03:09am] |
Starts with a sailor or pirate monster coming out of a museum with a big ruby. Kamdor says it's not one of the Jewels and tosses it aside, but Miratrix catches it, saying she'll take it if he won't. It seems they were just kicking back and waiting for the monster to return.
The Rangers show up, and Kamdor's ready to fight even though he doesn't want the ruby. It's a fairly short fight. Ooh, they don't do the jump kick thing that often anymore. Ty uses the Drive Detector's finishing slash on the monster, which doesn't get blown up but still isn't seen again after this. Ironic, given how many bad guys are gonna blow up in the near future and mysteriously be just fine later.
Miratrix and Kamdor run off after this. We switch to Flurious, who unsurprisingly shows no sign of that grand plan it sounded like he might've had up his sleeve last time. However, someone else has something in mind. Norg gives Flurious a clam-shaped device with a very familiar Z symbol. The message is someone offering to give them what they seek.
Oh, and there's this thing about an ice cube thing on Norg's head that I think was... supposed to be funny or... something.
( Go, go, retro Rangers! )
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| PROO #19: One Gets Away |
[20 Aug 2007|02:46am] |
We kick off with Rose following the COM-paahs along the beach, saying "a little more" every few seconds. When they call her name, she basically tells them to quit saying "are we there yet?" I thought, though, that they were trying to tell her to quit saying "a little more." That got annoying real quick.
But it turns out that she'd run out of beach. Sadly, we don't get to see nearly enough of her right after she's come out of the water.
Meanwhile, it's Stupid Alliance Time. This time, Moltor's lured the Fear Cats in. He gives them the location of a new kind of armor in exchange for getting rid of the Rangers.
Okay, not-so-stupid alliance time. More like, getting someone else to do his dirty work, enabling him to get a power source greater than the one he's led them to. Still gotta wonder why he doesn't use it himself. Is he running out of monsters?
Back at the beach, Dax, Ronny, and Will emerge from the water morphed, and with a good-sized blue gem. You'd think Rose, the only one who knew how to read the COM-paahs and the one whose Zord is a submarine, would have gone.
Miratrix is watching. And Rose looks dry.
( Armed and dangerous )
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| PROO #18: Out of Luck |
[05 Aug 2007|03:00am] |
Hartford and Spencer talk about that compass thing being important, and Spencer says the Rangers are always on high alert. I was sure scenes of them goofing off would follow, but instead, this episode jumps right into things. A familiar-looking dragon enters Moltor's lair. No, not a monster we've seen before, though given how many lives Bullox from Face to Face seemed to have, I wouldn't be surprised if he walked up. Hey, think we're going to have a monster reunion episode this year? MF didn't have one...
Anyway, it's not a past monster, but another past Zord design. Namely, Serpentera. Uh-oh...
And he gets a name, for once. Blothgaar. Meh. We also find out what the board thingy is: an item Blothgaar recognizes as (according to CC) the Paedra Aztec Del Compass. Throughout the episode, he pronounces 'compass' as 'COMP-aaahs.' (He also seems more than a standard monster-of-the-week. Moltor talks to him as almost an equal and called him 'old friend.')
Moltor demonstrates the compass by blasting a Lava Lizard into the magma pit. But we know they can withstand that...
Moltor sends out Blothgaar to use the compass on the Rangers. He winds up not having to look too hard for them, since the Rangers are tracking the compass. (Where's Tyzonn? We don't see him until about halfway through the episode. Please, tell me they're not gonna Trent him...) Speaking of which, Moltor's gotta have some way of shielding his lair. You'd think the Rangers would be able to find it via stolen artifacts. The crown (Moltor's still got it, y'know) especially. That ought to show up on Hartford's instruments like a bright neon sign.
Of course, it's against Ranger law to go after an enemy's lair until a lot closer to the season finale than this. It's in the rule book right after unmorphed Rangers being unhittable.
( Mack and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day )
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| PROO #17: It's Hammer Time |
[05 Aug 2007|02:57am] |
Our heroes have discovered the two items reacting to each other, and it's time to go to work. I'm assuming this is the morning after last episode, then.
When the computer screen is staticing, and Rose can't get through, Ronny bops the control panel and it fixes.
I guess the writers don't think people are really listening. When is getting through firewalls involved in using your organization's computer (to which you have the passwords for this sorta thing) to analyze objects?
Turns out they both have the same signature of the Yanomami Statue. When they show it close up, only now do I notice that the statue is holding both a little Mjolnir and a little Ki Amuk Cannon! They never mentioned it.
Rose discovers that the face on the statue matches the face on Mars, apparently pointing towards the jewel (again, writers have to stop assuming audiences are stupid. I think your average ten-year-old knows that the same point on Mars isn't pointing to the same point on Earth constantly.)
Anyway, the Rangers wind up driving through Mexico on way more vehicles than they need. Even Hartford's gonna run out of money with what they've gotta spend on gas.
( Can't touch this! )
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[05 Aug 2007|02:52am] |
Haven't done a real entry in some time. Partially due to not finding my own life too interesting. Also haven't had much time lately.
So, the HP saga is over. I wonder what some people are going to do. I personally am not into HP. Nothing wrong with it, but I never got through the first book. With some writers, I can breeze through it, and some are a bit tougher. Was considering trying again, but then saw the lengths of the later books. I'll wait for the movies, thanks.
I wonder how the movie will handle them. People talked about things getting left out with the early ones. How do you cram a 1200-page monster into two hours if you can barely do it with the 200-page ones?
Didja know the K in JK Rowling doesn't actually stand for anything? She doesn't have a middle name so she used K from her grandmother's name, Kathleen, for an initial when asked to not use her actual name (Joanne) in case male readers wouldn't want to buy something they knew was written by a woman.
We had major downpours for about a week straight nonstop a while back. Some places had major flooding starting with the first day, but fortunately, this area doesn't get it so bad. Some places, though, had a mini-Katrina before it was all over (assuming it's over.) complete with rooftop rescues.
I like the rain, though. And around here, by this time of year, after only getting a few sprinkles around what's supposedly the rainy season, we're usually talking about major drought conditions, rationing of water, rolling blackouts due to air conditioner usage... not nice.
And to watch the news a few days ago, you'd think Bush's colonoscopy was a grand and momentous occasion. Even though his decisions certainly come from there, George Bush's butt is not anything you'd think anyone would want to know about.
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")
(Oh, no point to that, just saw it on a site somewhere.)
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| PROO 16: Just Like Me |
[29 Jun 2007|01:39pm] |
I didn't think it got worse than The Underwater World, but it does. Last week, we found out it takes a of couple minutes to get from Indonesia to California, and now... this. You-know-who must've decided this season was just going too well.
And yeah, I know the writer and producer credits say Bruce wasn't involved in this one. But the reason I stopped putting those in reviews is because of an interview given once: apparently, an episode is added to and taken away from a lot more than you'd think, by more people than you'd think. The person who gets final credit need not have been the person who most contributed to what finally makes it to the screen. And Bruce Kalish has admitted to, and seemed quite proud of, everything that is most hated about SPD by a lot more people than just me, and the rest he just doesn't seem to get. And this episode is just way, way too SPD to be the work of anyone who was with the show before.
Anyway, we start with Norg and Flurious. I really, really didn't need to hear about Norg's butt. Really.
I also really don't need to keep having Flurious shoved in my face like this. They keep him in episodes so we don't forget he's there, but then don't have him do anything.
Flurious rants at him some more, and Norg decides to leave.
Out in town, Will is showing Tyzonn his style, and Ty is imitating him. When Will says Ty's style is just different, Ty says "I don't want to be different, I want to be more like you," and snatches his hat. Now, the first problem is this, which runs throught the whole episode. When did Ty lose all self esteem? It's not even like something happened to make him want to act like Will. It's not like he was after that girl they passed and she ignored him in favor of Will, or like Will did something exceptionally cool in front of him and he wants to learn how... nah, all this is just out of nowhere. Because it's not like you have to consider if your character would ever actually do what you're having him do. Just forget about little things like the characters you're writing these stories for. After all, it worked for nearly every episode of SPD... no, wait, it didn't.
( Just like Bruce )
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| PROO 15: Behind the Scenes |
[29 Jun 2007|01:35pm] |
New opening again. I expected it to be as much of an overhaul as the previous opening was versus the one before it, but no. However, you don't lose as many cool scenes to the new gear because much of what was replaced was vehicle transformation stock footage. And finally, we have acknowledgement of all the villains.
The episode starts with Flurious and Norg, which has come to be a bad sign. Norg wants to pilot the new mecha, but Flurious won't go for it. (Which is a surprise, given his usual habit.) There's a new weapon called the Cannon of Ki Amuk that he wants.
Kamdor appears, offering an alliance. It turns out these guys didn't know about Kamdor yet, or at least not his connection to Miratrix.
Enough alliances! They're supposed to be competing! I want another Behind the Scenes, not more "I hate you and don't trust you, now go after the thing I want that you're after too and be nice enough not to not try and keep it." Let me guess, he broke Kamdor's sled, too. Now, it would appear Flurious doesn't have the resources to do more than hang onto someone else's coattails, but why would Kamdor bother with him?
Also, they could have used this to give Flurious some desperately-needed clout. He could have done what wound up being Kamdor's end of this, with some simple disguise magic (well, in this show, it seems disguise magic is simple.)
( Good Morning, Indonesia )
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| PROO #13-14: Man of Mercury |
[15 Jun 2007|03:53pm] |
We open with explorers doing some treasure-hunting in Brazil. One pulls out a small statue-thingy, called the Yanomami Statue. Wonder what it can do, and which of our bad guys will try for it. Either way, I'm pretty sure those guys are about to have a Very Bad Day. But I find it impossible to feel sorry for a guy who thinks a pyramid is a "rock formation.
The Rangers find some tree-looking thing, and whatever was supposed to be there is gone. It's nothing like the place where the guy found the statue.
Speaking of which, it's time for their Very Bad Day to begin. Two bad guys drop in, not looking like they belong to either of the usual villain factions. They grab the statue, and the green one examines it... and determines it's worthless.
The baddies are looking for the next jewel, which they were led to here by writing found in a tree in Portugal. So that's what the Rangers were after, and they just missed these guys? Cool.
Their voices are easily recognizable. The green one's trying hard not to sound like Devastation (Kelson Henderson) and the gray one's trying hard not to sound like Zeltrax after inhaling a lot of helium (James Gaylyn.) I'm not fond of the result with either.
The bad guys search the explorers' camp, which involves much smashing and blowing up of things. People get thrown like ragdolls and somehow don't lose their hats.
( OverDredd, accelerate! )
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| PROO #11-12: Face to Face |
[15 Jun 2007|03:53pm] |
Hartford's putting the finishing touches on a new Zord, the Sonic Streaker. Did he say it'd have the speed and agility of a shark or the SHARC? I've listened to it a few times and can't tell. However, though sharks are quick, I should hope it has the speed of the SHARC or a fight'll already be over by the time the Sonic Streaker arrives.
Mack offers to make sandwiches, and Spencer amusingly reminds him of his place. Pleeeeeease tell me the stuff about how good a Ranger Spencer might make is foreshadowing. Just let him become a Ranger once!
Hartford tells Mack that he will be the pilot. Something tells me, though, that just like with the other Zords, the first pilot won't be the only pilot. Spencer comes back with the sandwiches, and as Hartford goes for one, Mack grabs it and goes to tell the others. Spencer eats the other half as he's about to reach for that one. Love it.
There's a brief scene with Flurious just to remind us he exists. I don't know, though, that I'd mind if he didn't. The premiere had me expecting this awesome rivalry, but they quickly turned into squabbling children, and have worked together more than Flurious has worked alone. Their 'rivalry' brings out the worst (worst as in hard to respect, not as in evil) in each other. Now, Moltor vs. Kamdor in that last episode, and the differences in resources and habits that make a Moltor episode different from a Kamdor episode... that is much more along the lines of what I wanted to see. All Flurious has done so far is lower Moltor's badness quotient.
Mack and the others are talking about the Sonic Streaker, and their dialogue shows that he's been mentioning it over and over. Looks like more time has passed than one might think.
( When is an Ultrazord not an Ultrazord? )
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| PROO #10: Lights, Camera, Dax |
[25 May 2007|01:48pm] |
Shiny new opening! Except for the actual credit scenes, it's almost completely new. It looks cooler than the old one but has the same problem: only Flurious' faction gets significant acknowledgement. He is the least often used villain!
Our heroes look over the newest gadget, a car that turns into a robot form. The Transtech Armor. (Which isn't armor. It's a vehicle.)
And Dax would explode if he ever stopped moving. Dax found out about a movie audition. Hartford says no because Dax is needed there. This makes me wonder just what the Rangers do between crises or discovery of new clues. You'd think there'd be nothing stopping Dax so long as he came when called.
Elsewhere, Moltor summons a new monster: Skeltex. Now he should have been the powered-up Lava Lizard. (In fact, they could mass-produce him and make him this year's Orangeheads.) It looked like Moltor had to be at just a certain spot to summon him. Interesting. He's to get the parchment.
Meanwhile, Miratrix is still trying to figure out the parchment. One symbol involves heat, apparently, which doesn't narrow things down much.
Meanwhile, Dax is trying to act out a scene from the audition he can't go to. Rose tells him he looks too much like he's acting, and encourages him to go anyway and simply not take the part.
( Grunt envy )
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| PROO #9: Follow the Ranger |
[25 May 2007|01:47pm] |
We open with Spencer feeding the fish, with fish food that turns out to have ground-up fish in it. Cannibalism! Mack overhears Hartford and Spencer talking about the Rangers and that he's still worried about him. Mack thinks he's proven himself by now.
Elsewhere, Flurious drops in on Moltor as he's putting the finishing touches on his new Zord, and suggests an alliance. He knows all about Miratrix and Kamdor, and says that the Tohru Diamond is the next jewel. He's been keeping an eye on things.
The Lava Lizard acting as foreman growls at the others instead of talking like some could do (only in Weather or Not. Anybody know who the VA was?)
He just calls it a 'robot,' and 'giant robot' a la SPD will soon make a return. I think they don't want to throw the word "Zord" around and call every half-baked machine a villain puts together by a name that puts it on the level with the Rangers' machines, but still... 'giant robot' isn't the coolest.
He's got another called the Dragonizer, but this one will not be named.
( Grand theft Megazord )
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| PROO #8: Both Sides Now |
[25 May 2007|01:47pm] |
The gang finds themselves in Istanbul in short-sleeved versions of their uniforms. Cool. Turns out the bird they're looking for isn't a bird, but a statue. However, it somehow leads to the Tohru Diamond. The second jewel so soon? (I still don't see how the pearl from a while back is the first jewel. Items change form sometimes, but this one showed no sign of doing it. Maybe once they get the others?) I do like that they're mentioning the diamond now. Leading up to things is always good.
I miss the Dax from the premiere and Heart of Blue. He was more fun than the Dax that tries to be Bridge and Chip at the same time and doesn't quite manage either. (Besides, we've already got a Chip wannabe in Mack.)
Will, meanwhile, is using his Tracker instead of sightseeing, and finds where the Houou was supposed to be. (Though it's not nearly as bad as MF's approach to spell codes, the Tracker's cover's at the wrong angle. You even see how it's supposed to be during one of the scene changes!) The door has been knocked off of its hinges and the place is pretty trashed. No sign of occupants, and we never do hear from whoever they were supposed to meet.
( I'm too sexy for my morph scene, too sexy for my morph scene... )
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