Hello and welcome back to the three hamster boys podcast. It has been a while.
It's been a few months.
It has been a hot minute since we've been recording.
The return.
Yeah. It's been a while since we've been
in the room. Season two. Yeah. Since we've been in the room together. We weren't
sure we were gonna get a second season. Yeah.
Yeah. But the year has passed. Yeah. And we are here again.
Yeah. New Year, same us but maybe some new content that we're
Hopefully.
Yeah. That we're coming up here. But, wow. You know, I guess
Your name is Alexander. Oh my gosh.
This is
our father Jeff and this is my brother Jeff's son Nick. Wow.
It's like we forgot who we were.
It's like forgot who we were. Yeah. So, the theme for today is great return or a redemption here as we kick off season two. So, kind of similar to our season one content where we're doing three characters that we found in media that have been redeemed. And I think we'll talk a little bit more about what that means because I don't know about you, but Nick and I definitely had a lot of conversations about what did it even mean for
Like, what's a viable Yeah. Like, definition? Who fits? Who doesn't? How long was it?
And did they have to be pure evil then become good?
Yeah. Like, what was the extent of the the shift.
Yeah. But I think we can get into that. You mentioned you wanna talk some things at the top of the hour here.
Well, no. For this one, let's let's just go to the beer. We'll do
it this single time. Alright.
Okay. Wow.
Sure. Alright. So, today we're drinking out of Ale)works.
It's a brewery in Williamsburg.
Yeah. Lovely.
So, we we got it while we were down in Williamsburg near Christmas last year. And it's the brewery's been there for sixteen years. So what do we got, Nick?
That's incredible. We are drinking a it's it's entitled a Rose Weekend Lager, but it's a Helles. So it should be very light. I'm expecting some sort of fruity aftertaste or maybe maybe some odd dryness.
Maybe some tannin.
Maybe some tannin. I don't know. But Wow. Pick up your glasses, gentlemen.
Yes. Here we are once again. Cheers. Cheers. And what I will say is this is not the first time we're drinking Ale)works. Last year, we had their strawberry shortcake, milk stout and yeah, that was unique to say the least, but I will say we got a pack of that and I was drinking most of that I think after the episode and it just kinda grew on me the more I drank it. So, I'm hoping this will also have a similar effect.
I think it's good.
I think it's good.
It's nice. I think it's like it's very clean.
It is. I was It's it's not as It's not as harsh as the hell this can be. No. But it's got this really unique smooth kind of taste on top of it.
Yeah. It's it's very light refreshing. This is very easy to drink.
This would be a good actually a dinner ale where you could have it with pretty much any meal.
I I would agree. I honestly, you could treat it like like a white wine almost. Mhmm. It's very light. It doesn't linger too long. It's nice. Lovely.
It is strange. I won't lie. This is
We get that fruitiness at the end.
Yeah. Yeah. You're right. I don't really know where to where to put this like on the scale of things because it is kind of in that weird spot where they did a good job of it has like wine like qualities and also like hellish like qualities. It's weird. I think my brain just doesn't know how to categorize this.
And that's perfect for what we like to taste. Yeah.
I agree. Very good though. I I do like It's tasty.
I think it's better than the strawberry shortcake.
You know, put them side by side. Who knows what I'll be saying,
you know? What I really would like to put side by side is their regular weekend lager in this rose. Yeah. To to see what how it compares. Yep. Wow. Alright. Unique for sure. But, yeah. Dad, do you wanna kick us off here with with our first character?
I guess I will. So, I do not have as diverse background in media because anime provides so much content that you can use. I'm really I'm really kind of in the movie genre.
Well, I think that's fine. Yeah.
But Just for all of our other listeners out there, there are a lot of movies as well Yeah.
In the world.
And so yeah. So my first one is gonna be, because I was greatly impacted by the whole Avengers series, is gonna be Nebula, Thanos' daughter.
Yeah. From the MCU specifically.
From the MCU specifically. Because I just think that she played a bad guy throughout the whole thing and then she evolved into really a good character at the end.
Yeah. You know? Yeah. It was it was extremely clear. It was, like, stone cold killer, you know, following these orders to the very end no matter what, willing to die for it.
And willing to hurt Gamora, you know, if she had to.
Well, yeah. Her her role essentially was to be a foil for Gamora and like, this is what she could have been if, you know, she wasn't Thanos' favorite, if she strayed from
That's what I think she was always striving to be Thanos' favorite, but he Yeah. But she never could be.
Right. Because that that's Gamora.
Yeah. So, yeah. It's I, you know, it's one of those characters that's evil because of the situation, but you actually end up being not evil.
But a tortured character. Yes.
Yeah. Conflicted. I think while we, you know, sort of take apart a little bit of the characters piece by piece when we're talking about these redeemed and like more of how we came to the conclusion of our characters. Yeah. I think Nebula is a really good start where the change is clear. Yeah. And like, if they were in the same room together, these, you know, before and after, they would be at clear odds, like, is a definite change of values.
Yeah. I mean, like, when she goes back in time
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Where she's against herself.
Yeah. Exactly.
And it just shows the actual change in character.
Yeah. Yeah.
Wow. It's been a while
since I've seen that movie.
It's almost been ten years now.
Yeah. Yeah. Whatever you said. But just like basing it off of That's the sort of foundation that we started to when we first worked on this idea of Yeah. Like a a redeemed character and I think Nebula is a really good Yeah. Example to start this off.
Yeah. I just I thought it was like the base. This is this is so cut cut and dry.
Cut and dry. Yeah. Yep. Alright, Nick. What is your first character here?
My first character is going to be it's going to be, Parthenax from, The Elder Scrolls, Skyrim. For a little bit of context, Parthenax is a dragon. This really old dragon that you, the main character, meets in this, you know, wintery Arctic continent. Parthenax is this leader and sort of consultant of these people called the Greybeards and they all are monks who have learned the dragon tongue from Parthenax and it's because the dragon tongue has power in it that these voices and words have, like, potential to harm. Parthenax is not was not a good individual.
You first meet him after he's changed. So you as the player don't witness this redemption, but you hear about it through such a scale and you see the ripples of his actions throughout the entire game. Parthenax was the right hand lieutenant to this other dragon named Alduin, who was this dragon god of time who descended from this godhood and, started to besiege the continent, and enslave as many races as they could. Mhmm. And dragons were this tyrannical force of power.
Eventually, some other gods stepped in and a lot of forces were moved around and part of that was this rebellion and break off and individuals like Parthenax were a part of that. So that was that was his moment of it. You don't see it, but you hear about it. But you do know that Parthenax was the right hand man to this evil dragon god, and he absolutely practiced in all of this really awful tyranny Mhmm. Through the continent.
But when you meet him, he's a really old dragon. He's an immortal being, but he's really, really old.
He's really old.
And he just sort of talks, like, really slow, and he's just, like, got a nice candor for the most part. And when we talked about Redemption, he strikes me immediately because he has this sentence that like truly encapsulates the feeling of what we're we're trying to do in this episode and he says, what is better? To be born good or to overcome evil with great effort? Mhmm. And that's sort of his view at this point.
He super acknowledges that he did some absolutely awful things. However, he's spent all these times, he trained these Greybeards, the power of the the Thoom, the the dragon voice to combat Alduin and all this stuff. He was like the one who began this like rebellion and giving power back to all of these, you know, other races on the continent. And I think it's extremely powerful where the ripples that we're talking about, there is a group of people that you work with called the Blades And there are the they're they're this ancient ancient order that serve and protect whatever like is the most valuable like prime of like civilization like they usually protects like royalty or other people who are selected to be Dovahkiin, the the dragonborn. And they they do all of this like very large scale stuff.
And while you're working with them, they tell you that no matter how good Parthenax has been, no matter how much effort he has done, it has not cleansed him of his sins and you the player have to kill Parthenax.
Oh, that's horrible.
Yeah. Yeah. That's horrible. Yeah. He's reliving Skyrim with us all right gosh.
So this dragon that you meet, very funny old dragon, you know, he teaches you the voice, he teaches you the thoom, and does all of this stuff. And he gives you a lot of like information about the world as it should be. Because he's I think he's lived for like three millennia or something, maybe probably longer. But he's a very, you know, powerful character in terms of like just the the weight and the words of this guy and the fact that you you have this weird sense of like, you're, you know, this You're being told by like a human who's probably in their like thirties or forties Yeah. Saying like, you gotta you gotta kill this dragon because like the actions are not, you know, redeemable.
Yeah.
And I think that that's that's probably In in order for you to accept that's redemption, you have to believe that they have actually been redeemed. Yeah. Yep. You know? So, do you believe the dragon was redeemed?
I think I think he'd I think so. Yep.
But you still killed him.
It is the issue where you kinda have to. If you say, no, I don't wanna kill Parthenax, they will say, then you can no longer continue the main story. Yeah. Oh. The the blades will say, we will no longer work with you then.
You're not welcome here.
That's horrible.
Well, it it is it is one of, like, the the main kind of, like, focal points of the the main story. And so, Skyrim is like this like game where you are there's so many choices and options. They don't shy away from the fact that some of your choices will just like end some story lines.
Yeah. But,
truly powerful. That's I love Parthenex. Parthenex is a he's a really cool guy. And, I think that that one sense of him.
Yeah. Oh my gosh.
You know. I think really encapsulates what we're looking for. I mean, I
think put that that sentence next to the blades being like, no matter what Yeah. He can't be absolved. Really kinda hits hard.
Yeah.
That that there's a side tangent there, but Wizard one zero one's getting released on the Switch, which is crazy
Is it?
To think about. My gosh.
We started playing that seventeen years
longer than Skyrim.
Take it back even further. Alright. Great kind of starting characters. I think I will also go with a very quintessential kind of redemption character here. And that of course is from one of our favorite shows to talk about all the time. That's Avatar the Last Airbender.
We'll never miss it. We'll never miss it.
We're talking about Izuko. Yes, that's right. Heir to the firebending or was heir to the firebending throne. Spends his life trying to track down the Avatar, capture him, bring him back to his father to redeem himself to reclaim his honor.
So similar to Nebula.
In a way,
yeah. It's true.
Yeah. There there
is, you know,
the Gotta please my dad.
Sibling inferiority. Yep. Azula is so much better.
She usually gets it.
But yeah, also, like, trying to claim something that in the end is impossible. Yep. Yeah. And even even when it is reclaimed, which you can make an argument that it it's not really, Zuko is not happy with all the effort that he put in for his father, for the fire nation, realizes that all the bad stuff he's been doing, that his uncle's been right the whole time. Yeah.
And then decides, I'm gonna do something about this. And I think the show gives itself enough time where you see that growth from being, you know, at the very beginning of the show, headstrong, arrogant, will do anything to get what he wants and and capture the avatar. It doesn't matter what he's throwing at it. And then we see at at the beginning of his redemption here where he comes to the Avatar, you know, humbled and head down, hands out, please. I will teach you fire bending.
Please just like let me help. And I love seeing those those juxtapositions.
So for me, the Avatar is a couple of redemption stories because I think that the uncle also is a redemption story. Because he Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Because
he was was it the the slaughterer or the killer of his title was the killer of all these people because he was the one that put his brother into power.
Right. He he was a great general. He fought in was it Ba Sing Se?
Yeah. He invaded he failed to invade or he failed a successful attack. Or sorry. Yeah. You know, he Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was unable to complete the siege on Ba Sing Se.
But he he was a mass murderer. He was just Yeah. Terrible. And you see him as kinda like with the dragon, the the after.
Iroh and Parthenex are very similar vibes. They are
also very similar. So You're right. There there is a lot of redemption stories and a
lot of
like smaller redemption stories. You could even talk about like Sokka being a redemption story and the fact that like, he also has a humbling moment where he needs to be taught a lesson and immediately apologizes and and makes up for those mistakes.
I think that that's what makes the story so good.
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Mean, it makes all the characters feel so much more dimensional. Right? They feel so much realer, you know. There isn't If someone was like, I gotta do this and like that's all they do, you're like, yep. I got it. Yeah. Yeah. But it's so much more exciting, interesting, compelling to see someone being like, I gotta do this.
Or the sister just being crazy.
Sure. Sure. But it's I mean, Azula is already a complex character. Yeah. But anyway, returning to Zuko Yeah. To fully complete your your thought as we're, you know, dissecting all of, you know Yeah.
The Avatar. Oh, my gosh.
I mean, I feel like we could talk
about like And we do talk about all the Avatar cast almost every time. Yeah. Mean, it's a great show. We probably could talk about Quora more on the More here, but we don't have to. But yeah. No. I I think Zuko has this redemption arc where he begins his redemption fully humbled and then the show gives itself enough time to follow through with this this arc of of going from really the main bad guy in the show for at least book one. Right? Where like
Yeah.
Ozai is just a amorphous kind of figure in the background Yeah. Into becoming a a member of the team, a member of of the party, and kind of making up for those past mistakes that that he's made. I think the show also does a good good thing in the fact that while Zuko is typically the the bad guy, he never goes too far that he becomes irredeemable.
Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Yeah. Where there are other characters like Oh my god. I cannot remember. Zhao? Zhao. Yes. Oh my You knew exactly I knew. I knew it. Yeah. Where you have characters like Zhao where you're like,
he just killed the moon. That killed the moon.
That guy killed Yeah. The Like,
he is merciless in those and he is greedy and I think maybe they could have made a redemption arc for Zhao, but mostly not because of his actions. They don't show remorse. They don't show any sort of way. In Zuko's case, right, even when he is the bad guy, even when he is still focused on capturing the avatar, there are moments where he saves him even in the beginning.
Yep.
There are moments when the blue spirit comes out, the second persona that he creates mainly for his own kind of like interest here.
Yeah. Like, don't I wanna get recognized as the prince. Yeah. Well, I don't want him to take him
in. I need to take him out. Because Zhao can't do it.
But still, there are moments where there's that hesitation where Zuko could have done more, could have captured the avatar, could have hurt the avatar more and doesn't. And his friends as well. Yeah. And so, I think the show does a good job of like keeping keeping you walking with Zuko on this balance beam. And even though he falls off at times, you're there.
Uncle Iroh is there to kinda help him move on his way, and then it it feels so satisfying when he does finally kinda give in and he's like, okay, I'll go help the good guys. I'll be a part of the team. I think there's something really satisfying about that sort of redemption arc story where you're
like, he's so close. He could do it.
He could do it. And he does it. And you're like, you you feel vindicated at the end of the day.
I think I think especially they truly capitalize on the length and the amount of time you spend Yes. Watching Avatar, right, all three seasons. Yep. You're watching like episodes that you're like, this means nothing. But you're like, I gotta watch.
Because like, I think it is it's almost Power Rangers or like classic like cartoons or shows where they're like, oh, we're checking in on the villains right And I it just makes it so much more, you know, easy to like them. Right? Because there's like, oh, Iroh got captured by some Earthbenders. Well, now we gotta go to find June and have his sandal licked by a weird weasel thing. And, you know, we're gonna go on a hunt.
Right? Like, it's it's this very odd Yeah. Thing you're like, why are we following this? Yeah. Like, aren't they the bad guys? Why do we care so much if this old guy really gets captured? Isn't that a, you know, you're Yeah. But you like Iroh. I they made Iroh so compelling that you're like, okay, if Iroh likes Zuko then you're kinda giving him a chance, you know, internally.
I I think when creating characters, there is that fine line of balance where there are some characters like sometimes you want a bad guy that's so like easy to hate, that's so terrible. But I don't think that's sustainable for a long running show because you only have like so much like negative energy you could give towards a bad guy. Yeah. If you have characters that are complex and three-dimensional, even if they're the bad guys, it gives you a second to be like, well, wait a second.
Yeah.
I think this isn't necessarily a great example, but in Akame Ga Kill, the other kind of party, the bad guys
The Jaegers? The Jaegers, yes. The Jaegers. It's not Jaegers' Attack on Titan. Yeah, yeah, Jaegers. Yeah.
They The show goes through lengths to humanize them at least a little bit. Yeah. In the fact that you're like, oh, do I actually feel bad if they like, die?
I like this like, Village Wade guy. Yeah. Yeah. No. Exactly.
That's exactly what I was thinking about.
Or the the guy without a shirt who has like a daughter and a wife. Yeah. You're like, why are you why
are you showing me this? But again, in in an effort to make three-dimensional characters, they can't just be like hate malice because at the end of the day, you're like, cool.
Well, I think that the length of time to build the character, I think it's important if you look at the MCU, it took Nebula. How many different Yeah. You know, think about how many movies she was in back and forth and the whole storyline. You talk about Avatar being three seasons and all that stuff. I just think that the redemption arc is much more believable if it takes time.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yours is it already happened.
Yes.
Yeah. You know? So you can say, okay, it took a long time but we're at the end of it.
Yeah. Yeah. Which I think is also an interesting way of looking at it because as the player and as your character, you're coming into this not knowing anything. You hear this kind of like soft spoken, you talk to this soft spoken old dragon and that's like your your kind of like your perspective of it. But in the same way, you have people who are like, the history says this. And therefore, because of these things in the past, this This can't be Yeah. This guy who seems nice can't be redeemed.
It's a It's very interesting. Yep.
Yeah. Alright. What what a good start characters.
Momentum. I'm feeling it. I'm the energy.
Yeah. We're we're back in it. Yep.
Okay. Yeah. Our glasses are empty.
Our glasses are empty.
We're gonna go fill them up. We'll get the next drink going. We'll see y'all in a second here. Don't go anywhere. Bye. And, we're back for section two of the video. We've got a new new drink in front of us. Nick, what are what are we drinking next?
This is mango guava.
Blonde Ale.
Blonde Ale.
For effect. It's a for effect.
It's a blonde ale, mango guava. They have sours. They do sours. I feel like this would just be a sour, but they've chosen to make it a blonde ale. I don't know. I feel like it's just gonna be like light, refreshing, fruity. I'm curious. Well,
tink. Cheers.
Tink. Tink. Tink. Yeah. So I I really enjoyed the way that we started out the redemption here, but I I think there Uh-oh.
I think there were a couple of characters that we were cycling through that, you know, we thought might have had a redemption arc that didn't quite, and Boromir was one of the characters that we were going back and forth. Nick and I were having a discussion about it. Yeah. In terms of whether or not we thought that Boromir truly was redeemed or truly needed to be redeemed at the end.
Or was even that evil quote unquote to begin with. Right? Like, Boromir started you're like, he's kind of kind of a jerk, kind of a jerk. Yeah. But, like, it's not like he was evil. He showed up to the gathering being like, alright, we gotta stop. We gotta save the forces of light. Yep. But then also, a lot of his journey is just, he's just tempted by the most powerful artifact on the planet. He's just a guy.
You know? It is this very strange thing where you're just like, man, he he got corrupted. What happened to everyone else? And you're like, most of the crew makes sense why they weren't tempted. The hobbits are the true exception. But, like, you have Aragorn who is the true son of man, a Dunedain and a ring bearer himself. Yeah. Right? Like that's messed up to compare him. You have Legolas, someone who's been around for hundreds of years Yeah.
And has seen and witnessed so many other rings like, pass through hands. You have Gimli, who's, like, been through all of, like, the Moria and is a descendant of the oh, man. What? The Mountain the Misty Mountains. The I
wanna say Thorophane, but I'm not sure
if that's Yes. What whatever. Just
just put some vows together.
And and and talking. But then and then and then Gandalf, like Yeah.
Like Well, not like that, but Bormor was brought up to say, you are destined to be the one.
That is Oh, my other tough thing. I I think he got true a true he got a bad hand dealt to him Yeah. As well because he's like, oh, yeah. My dad's the current king of Oh, my god. Minas Tirith. Minas Tirith. Minas Tirith. He's like
I almost said Gondor, but gosh, there's so
many
names.
It's like the the true lineage of man has been gone, you know, like, we're chilling, I'm a prince, you know, it's good stuff and and then all things are bad happening. It's like, oh, all the forces of darkness are starting to move at once. Okay. I'm gonna go to this, you know, peace meeting to figure out how we can solve this. Oh my god. The true son of like, the true king is here and he's dressed up like like
A ranger. A ranger.
And now a a hobbit is telling me that I cannot like the while he looks at it. Like, he got a bad hand, but I don't think it it's justified of a change from that spiteful moment Yeah. To I'm being corrupted the entire time to Yeah. I got clarity, you know, it's go time. Yeah. I I don't know if that's enough. So This is odd.
Yeah. It is it is sweet, very little carbonation, doesn't have a real strong beer taste to it. You get the hops near the
end. I'm about to say, you really get the hops? It kinda reminds
me At the end.
It's like a weaker IPA, which means it's which means it's better than any IPA.
Not my favorite.
I was
gonna say anything that resembles an IPA, I can tell you this panel is not a huge fan
of Yeah. We're not gonna No. I think IPAs are the things we've done the least and it's sort of the awareness that if we review an IPA, we're gonna have a pretty pretty subtle reaction to most of it.
I am disappointed that it's not fruitier.
I was about say, don't think I'm really getting the mango or guava part
of this.
No. You get it initially. You get an initial hit and that's it.
I get a tinge Yeah. Of No guava. Yeah. I could not tell you where the guava is.
Where did they put the guava? Did
they make the guava watch? Like, what are we talking about?
Alright. So, one thing before we go to the characters.
Yes. Yes.
I I We we were talking about things we did last year, how we're doing this next year. There's like wicked sentiment. Yeah. The wicked sentiment. Anyways So Statman. So, top three videos on YouTube. Yeah. And now that I don't have my glasses, you're gonna
have From to read us? You think I can read this handwriting?
Okay. Oh. Okay.
He should have typed it out. Yeah. I won't even lie.
Oh, yeah. I can't read that.
Yeah. Alright. So, Episode 19, Patchwork, where we thought we reviewed three movies that we made for each other.
Yes. Is that number one or number three?
That's number one for YouTube.
Okay. Okay.
But it is number three for audio.
Oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, I think that one was a fun concept in general like that. Yeah. That was just fun.
And I Yeah. We were I mean, it was definitely a deviation from what we did as well. Yeah. So, something a little fresher.
Number two for YouTube was episode one, Bourbon and Heroes.
Nice. I mean, that makes sense. The first episode
Which is strange because that's the one where we didn't have any video.
That's okay. Yeah. Well, it's podcast. First episode.
And number three for YouTube was episode 13, Tequila Duos, where we talked about duos and we tried the pepper.
The ghost pepper tequila? Yeah. People just wanna wanna hear about tequila. Honestly, that I really like that. Yeah. That was good.
What's funny about that one is that one was the in last place for the audio.
Okay. That's the like the least listened to episode ever in audio.
Oh, yeah. Wow. Alright.
Alright. So, number one for the audio was episode three, Jinn and Mentors.
Okay.
I like that Gin episode. We got we got a little bit blatant. I will
say that might be the That's like top three that we got most drunk
Yep. Episode number two is episode 21, which is beer check. We tried the bold mariner beer and we talked about where we were, what we were listening to, what
we're Oh. Yeah. Yeah.
That's an interesting one.
So anyways. Alright. So that that's the thing. So Alright. Wow. Alright. Who who goes first this time?
We're kicking it off to Nick to start us off here for redeemed characters.
Hello. Anime is sort of going to be my next two. Starting off with one that has not a big following And though the the fans are currently like, meh meh. It's weird. I have a lot of feelings about this show. For the most part, it's pretty good. There's some just fundamentals that I am are like very egregious. But it is a show called Fairy Tale. And the character I will be talking about, is Ghaziel Greyfox. I believe is his last name.
I was
about to say,
I don't remember what his last name at I
think it's Grey Fox. Ghajeel Grey Fox, setting the scene for anyone who's not aware of fairy tale. Mhmm. Picture a very magical and whimsical world where all the major cities have a almost it's almost like Pokemon team Yeah. No. It really is. Pokemon team guild in it. It's like they're the show is called Fairy Tail because the guild you follow is Fairy Tail. But you have like Lamia Scale and like all these other ones. I couldn't rattle off No. Anymore unless you got.
No. I don't have more.
Lania scale is just the only I think there's a Pegasus one. Yeah. Either way. Mythical creature, something else. Right? Yeah. You know, it's the naming scheme.
That's the scheme.
It's like very typical d and d like, oh, what's your tavern name? Yes. It's the Weeping Dragon. Yeah. You know, it's it's verb noun and you're good.
That is probably why it makes it so good because sometimes the writing literally is just like, oh, it feels like someone just put together the episode like, oh, I don't have this in my notes. Let's This is what's gonna happen today.
Yeah. And I It might be a translation thing. Yeah. It might be just a writing thing. I don't know. Either way. You follow this guild called fairy tale and all The world is all magic. Every basically everyone has some sort of magic to them. It could be very specific, it could be wide range, it could be elemental, it could be whatever. Everyone's got like some amount of magic to them.
Throughout the series, there's enemy mages and evil mages and dark guilds and stuff like that. And eventually, the the protagonist team runs into what is presumed to be like a pretty good guild is sort of moving into being a dark guild. Causing up ruckus and, you know, just causing calamity throughout and, you know, attacking other more friendly guilds. So they're they're becoming this antagonistic force. And obviously, they're they're a guild, so they have a huge range of wacky interesting characters for the most part.
And one of which is this character, Gajeel. Gajeel starts out, you truly are not meant to like him whatsoever. And he is supposed to almost be an antithesis to one of the main characters. The main character that I referred to, his name is Natsu. He is a fire dragon slayer.
That's his magic. It's a magic invented to defeat dragons. An aspect to that is whatever element they are, they eat it for power to counteract the sort of elemental nature of a dragon. So if a dragon breathes fire, he can eat that fire and become stronger.
Wow. Sort of
the bane. It is very much like the classic anime style where he's like Yeah. And like, it's all like big and and round after eating fire, you know. What sort of like whimsy image is in your head that's probably exactly what it is?
So this character, Gajeel, is a I actually don't remember what specifically he is. He's a metal dragon slayer. Metal dragon slayer. Or iron dragon slayer.
It's like that or steel or
something.
Steel Dragon Slayer. He eats iron or metal to get stronger.
Yeah. So, like, there is, like, literally an episode where he's, like, eating, like, nuts and bolts. Yeah.
He's like, I gotta I gotta recharge, and he's, like, chewing on a railroad or something.
Yeah. Like a a track. Yeah.
So he set up to be this antithesis. Right? He We hadn't run-in. I thought we I think he's the first other dragon slayer that we also ran into.
Yeah. Because Natsu's looking for other ones. Yeah. And like, will run into like a faker earlier in the show. But I don't think we ever see another dragon
So a faker like he throws a broom to make it seem like he's riding a broom. Yeah. Yeah. True. True. True. True.
True. There's a national in
that world somewhere. Oh my gosh.
But, yeah, more lore. Anyway, Gajeel is made to be this absolutely despicable character though. The most heinous one to really make you angry and the one that truly kicks off this war against these guilds is that Gajeel kidnaps three of the main guild members that you are seeing throughout, I don't know, 40 or 50 episodes and practically crucifies them against a tree with the metal. Oh. And like draws like their guild insignia all over them.
Yeah. It it it's it's a in like such a show that has so much whimsy, it is a very like jarring scene. They're not dead. I just wanna clarify
They're not dead.
They are injured And, I think it adds like make matters worse, they're like some of the people that are like, just kinda friendly and not really the big combatants Yeah. Of the guilds.
They're like because the guilds They're
the accountants.
They're Well well All of us. They're they're usually like like the guilds serve so many purposes. It's not just we gotta use magic to fight people. Like they're the usually ones that's like couriers or like entertainment or like sort of you know, more like know crowd pleasing PR stuff. Like, they're Literally PR stuff. Yeah. Like, that's what they do and that happening to them is just like they would never even be in the fight. Yeah. You know, it gets your blood boiling for that. You're like
And that's why you picked them. They were easy.
Of course. Yeah. Exactly.
More despicable.
Truly an awful person. Eventually, through a lot of fighting, you know, good guys win and all that great stuff. And Gajeel sort of disappears for a little bit Yeah. But then eventually returns invited by the fairy tale guild master to be at fairy tale to find like a a place. Yeah.
His his old guilds are kind of torn asunder. He disappears into the wind and then comes back.
And then comes back. And there's like a lot of unease with like everyone, which is super to be expected.
Yeah. Because they're afraid to be crucified.
Yeah. Yeah. But
they're through great effort on his part Oh. He Sorry. Sorry. Through great effort, he not only directly apologizes and, like, truly tries to be the nicest person to the three that he did that thing to, he also is, like, a very prominent ad like, person in the guild to serve Fairy Tail eventually. And when some of the really top dogs of the guild appear and hear what Gajeel did, Gajeel was like, do whatever you want to me to make up for what I did.
Mhmm. And there's this, like, really gut wrenching seed where he's like, just like almost on the verge of death and eventually one of the three people that he, like, did that to, like, steps in and says, like, that's enough. And, like, there's, like, a sort of trust that's earned. And then, nowadays, he's just, like, one of the one of the main party. He's just like like, he's just a kooky guy now.
So what happened when he was gone? Do you ever hear what happened?
Presumably, based on his character, he tried to be a roaming minstrel. Wait. Yeah. That's right.
It turns out he also sings like jazz.
Yeah. Yeah.
Just as a fun fact.
But it He is such a good redeemed character because like initial remembrance you're like, God, that was just a truly Yeah. Deplorable, awful person. And, when you're like current where it is or like around that time, you're like, he's just He's part of the guild. He's he's one of the main.
Yeah. One of the guys. I That feels great. Yeah. I do think it is funny too because I don't think it's a prerequisite for the dragon dragon slayer magic, but he is like built up as this like really evil guy and then you just realize, he's as stupid as not Natsu.
Yeah. Like, they're just Idiocy is just runs in the family.
And it it makes it so much more fun to see that like that wall, that curtain fall and like him transition from like this like super deplorable guy to he's just one of the guys and he can sing.
Sing jazz.
Yeah.
Alright, Alexander. Yeah.
I'm I'm sensing that through great effort here. Yeah. So for my second one here, I wanna talk about She Ra because I feel like there's a lot of character great characters in She Ra, the animated Netflix show. And I was originally wanting to talk about Catra as the character that is redeemed, but I kept coming back to being the fact like, I don't think Catra ever was the bad guy. No.
Like, I always keep coming back to the fact that maybe Catra didn't necessarily need to be redeemed because deep down she knew that working for a hordeck or working for Shadow Weaver and doing what they were saying was the wrong thing. And at the end of the day, she just wanted to be loved, Which might come back to Nebula in a very similar way.
Yeah.
Yep. So instead, I thought a more interesting character to talk about would be Shadow Weaver.
Her boss. Her boss.
Yes. So the big bad in in She Ra is this guy named Hordak, but his kind of like right hand person is Shadow Weaver and she's in charge of training all of the cadets in order to stamp out the resistance and kind of suck up the magic from the world that they're in. And the kind of show starts with her two pupils, her two star pupils, which is Adora and Catra. And it is made very quickly in the show that Adora is like the favorite of Shadow Weaver and nothing that Catrick does or can do
will Yeah.
So Will get get Shadow Weaver's respect or adoration. And very quickly, Adora breaks off, joins the resistance. Catra is left behind and stays with Shadow Weaver. Shadow Weaver, not a good person, very manipulative, very selfish, very power hungry, and like kind of tortures Catra, not a great person at all. And again, we go back to a show that has a lot of run time here.
Five seasons, I think. So Dude, I That's crazy. There there is a lot of time and it's not until the later portion where Hordak really becomes an actual figure. Again, we talk about similar to Avatar the last airbender. You think that like Shadow Weaver is the big bad or Catra is the big bad, but in reality, of course, we we know that there's some sort of amorphous bigger guy in the background.
And and near the end there, we see cracks in Shadow Weaver's kind of like evil persona where she is there are moments where she really does show kind of like a maternal care for Catra and Adora. And even near the end, she like sacrifices herself to protect them, to keep them safe.
But is she redeemed?
I would I would think so because she has a moment where she is fighting against her nature. She tries to teach one of the other characters more about magic. That kind of goes awry a little bit where she's kind of sinking back into her own own like nature of being selfish and power hungry. And then at the end, she kind of fully gives over and This is a spoiler, isn't it?
Yeah. It's definitely
a spoiler
for sure.
Where she, you know, asks for forgiveness, she tells Catcher that she's always been proud of her, and then she gives herself up. So I think perhaps not as much and this might be kind of a comparison to Boromir, but I think Shadow Shadow Weaver does show effort, great effort in the fact to
Great effort. Try to Short time great effort.
Try to redeem herself at least a little bit here where she is fighting against her her nature, fighting against what Hordak wants from from her while still trying to to keep protect
with my third
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. But we're we're running low on time here. I really wanted to just mention Shadow Weaver real quick. Alright, dad.
What's So my second one is is
Or second. Gosh.
My second one is is really, if you ever seen Pulp Fiction, there is a scene in there where John Travolta, Samuel Jackson are going to kill somebody. Mhmm. And when they kill him, a guy pops around the corner and shoots empties a gun and they don't get killed. They don't get shot. Nothing. And then they they shoot the guy. And then afterwards, Samuel Jackson goes, we should be dead. Mhmm. I can't do this anymore. Yeah.
I remember. Yep. He said, this can't we should be dead. I need to change what I do. I'm gonna do this and then I'm done. And John Travolta is like, what are you crazy? He said, I'm done. So I think that from my standpoint, this is that it didn't take time to do this transition.
Right.
Yeah. It's it's it's one of the odd times when it's this is it.
It's a life changing event. Yes.
That event is, you know, falling out of a plane and surviving. Yeah. Whatever it is. He said, I've been a bad person. I know I've been a bad person. Yep. And he's been saying verses out of the Bible too.
Yeah. Yeah.
And But he hasn't realized what he was saying.
Right. He hasn't been like following through with
that. So, I just I thought it was a very unique instance where it didn't take time. It was just instantaneous.
I I think that's the one that like is one that we haven't talked about. Yeah. It's the like extremely sporadic. Right? Yeah. Like the ones that we've already discussed, it's like, oh, you see the seeds of doubt. You see the change. Right? Like, that part is like very engaging and like, you see the complexity of the character. But for a movie and you're like, we gotta make the switch. Yeah.
It's got two hours.
Right? Like,
unless you have 10 episodes.
Quentin Tarantino is really trying to push
the envelope on two hours sometimes. But it's that part is also very compelling where you see this, like, you know, stone cold person and there is that switch. Right? You're like, oh, they just flipped it. Right? You're like, that's also, like, extremely interesting to see.
Because the rest of the story with him is still not pleasant.
Yeah. Yeah.
You know? He he still is not a good person. He just is less violent.
Yeah. Yeah. He's before working on it.
Yeah. I guess. There You know, that goes to the discussion. It's like, you're a bad person, but like what At what point are you crossed to the good person category?
Yeah. Right? At what point are you redeemed?
Yeah. Well, I mean, one person that we talked about that we we Isn't on either one of our list is Scrooge. Yeah. Scrooge. That that's an overnight change.
Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
You know?
Oh, but it feels like forever.
Heck of a night.
Yeah. Was one night. It was one night and all of sudden everything changed. Yeah. Yep. You know, so anyways.
Yeah. Well, our glasses are empty. Let's fill them up.
Even though they were it was bad. We still finished them.
I mean, it's easy to drink. Yeah. We're
doing our part. Hey, it's a it's a blonde ale. We can we can still knock it back pretty easily. We'll see y'all in a moment here. Don't go anywhere. And we are back. We've got new alcohol in front of us. Fancier bottle.
Yes. It's a tall glass bottle. This is their their flagship, their their most accredited and acclaimed alcohol that they have. This is the Oh, God. This is the Grand Illumination. A ale aged in a barley wine barrel.
Should be very different. It should
be extremely interesting. We we like all the barrel aged beers and ales and stuff like that. They're usually a grand old time. And curious to see like how how fancy schmancy they can get. I am expecting a variety of things, but for the most part, I want like the depth of flavor to really feel something. A lot of introspection happening for the first sip.
Bacon. What the heck?
Woah. You got bacon out of that? I don't think I got bacon. It has a very kinda like citrusy note when you sniff it. It is it is different for sure.
It's very It's almost jarring compared to the previous two. I I had a little shock moment. Not bacon, but I'm not gonna trust you if you
As the vegetarian.
As the vegetarian. You haven't had bacon in a in a minute.
Yeah. I do get a little bit of that citrusy in the beginning. I feel like I go through phases here where I get like a little citrusy. I got the little hoppy And then I think I'm getting like a little like toffee coffee kind of near the end.
There there is something like that near the end. Wow.
Or smokiness or Yeah.
Or Yeah.
The smokiness is what what made me
think of
white thought of bacon. Yeah. That is odd.
Fascinating. It's truly interesting to drink.
It's a it's a complex beer per se.
Yeah. I I will say it is complex, but it doesn't feel like any of the pieces are at war with each other. It still feels smooth to drink through.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Different. That's interesting.
Very good. Yeah. Wow. Alright.
One thing is we talked about a little bit as we go through this whole thing is Sure. So what is our plan for this year? Well, we're gonna try to continue to do the podcast every other week.
We'll see how that goes.
Let's see how it goes. No promises.
We we all have other commitments and other jobs and whatever. But one of the things we we are gonna try to do is as we go buy this stuff, we get a great opportunity to visit distilleries, wineries, meaderies Yeah. Cideries, everything. So what we're gonna try to do is we're gonna try to take you to a couple of these places with us. Add that as like a video only not as a as a audio podcast.
Kinda take some pictures, taste what's there and kinda rate it. So we'll see how that goes. We haven't tried it yet. We're we're gonna get the right equipment and we're gonna give it an attempt and see where we go from there.
Yeah. Yeah. What I would say is for our format of the podcast and this is totally our fault. I think it's common knowledge at this point to know that many of the big mainstream podcasts will film several episodes in a row. Yeah. Like they'll choose a day to film like they'll be like, ah, this Tuesday we're gonna film four episodes or three episodes of our podcast. It's a bit impossible.
Some of those episodes, you could barely get through one. Yeah.
The gin episode when we almost finished that bottle of gin.
I feel like the tequila episode we were feeling it too.
Yeah. Yeah.
Any of the spirit episodes in general.
Some of those spirits get a little too much.
But yeah, will say it is kind of impossible for us to film back to back episodes. So we are truly on a filming schedule Yeah.
Sometimes only one episode at
a time. Exactly. And sometimes life gets hectic.
The other thing we're hoping to do is we're actually hoping to go to the auxiliary studio and have guests with us.
That's true.
Yeah. We are Yeah. We are hoping to have some guests on.
Hope
We This table is truly only meant for three Crease X. It's only meant for two. Especially for all on one side. Yeah. And so, yeah. We we are looking into getting a little more wider space so that we can have more people to imbibe with and train Yeah. With and and learn from as well.
Yeah. I I'm excited to have some guests where we can really like ask them, talk the talk to them and
And learn.
Get some get some new perspectives.
And all of the drinks that we'll be doing with guests will be associated with them or requested by them or zhuzhed up because of them. Yeah. You know, I'm excited in that regard for a lot of the one that we have planned right now. It's cocktails, exploration. It'll be alcohol that I've never had but they really like it. So Yeah. I'm I'm excited.
Should be awesome.
It should be it should be good. Alright. And now with that out of the way, let's round out our redeemed characters. So I had Zuko and then Shadow Weaver and kind of ending it out. We're doing we're going going to anime. Not Welcome. Not unsurprising. All of my characters are animated. But we are going to the world of the devil is a part timer and the character Saddam Mal, who is
I have not heard I've heard a fairy tale.
Okay. Yes. But You don't know the devil is a part timer.
The devil is part time. She Ra, I know because I flip over it and that's
He Man. He Man.
He Man. Yeah. He Man and She Ra. Yeah. Just got it. I got it.
Yes. Well, I'll give you a quick kind of rundown of of The Devil is a Part Timer. It is a story of the devil and his kind of right hand man who have conquered their world. They are the the like the evil overlords and kind of like a high fantasy magical era. And they are being pursued by the hero's party and kind of in an in an attempt to escape, they open a portal to another world and they end up in modern day Japan.
And in this time period of modern day Japan, Saddam Mao, who is the the great Lucifer, the the great Satan has decided that he wants to restart and he's gonna start by working a part time job at McDonald's.
He doesn't have any power also. Yes. They they lose their power. Yeah. Because magic doesn't naturally form in Japan. Yep. So they live in a like like they live in like a like a I don't know, like a 100 by 100 studio. Yeah. The two of them.
So it's just a a one r?
Yeah. One room? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's one room.
It's it's a one room. It's a really small room. It's like very cheap. The like the room is, you know, like a little run down. They're eating like leftover McDonald's Yeah. And like weak old food that they scrounge at like any sort of like deals or whatever. And so while Sidaomau goes out to work his part time job, his right hand general is basically like a housewife for him where he's like cooking, he's like finding deals and like going doing some of the shopping. Cleaning
this is a nice. It's more of a
No. It is a comedy for sure.
A comedy. Yeah. It's super comedy.
But I think the important thing to know is and like as many good comedies are, the show has a lot of like serious notes and serious beats. For instance, the hero follows them into this modern day Japan. And and her attempts to kind of keep her cover story, she gets a job at a call center.
And She becomes evil.
Well, she doesn't become evil, but she she is dubious that Sidaomau doesn't have any intentions of being evil or ruling the world. She comes from a world where he is like the greatest evil of all time, where he has murdered basically everyone that she knows and cares about, that her her parents are dead. And so, we do get a redemption of Saddamau in two ways here. It starts off as a, well, I don't have any powers. I guess I'll just work at McDonald's and not be evil.
To kind of evolving further than that and being like, I actually think I want to do good. Mhmm. And I I think that I, you know, am remorseful for how I acted in the past and I want to be a better person for this new world. Like, is truly a second chance given to Lucifer here, Ursulao Mal. And he is trying to make the most of it.
And there are there are several factors that are kind of like kind of forcing him to look back at his old life or to potentially walk that line again. So obviously, have the hero who shows up, some of his other generals show up that are like, hey man, why aren't you evil anymore? What are we Or some angels from heaven also show up and they really put into question who's the good guy, who's the bad guy because you're like, angels, they should be good. Right? But then they're like, you need to be evil so that we can be good and they kind of put into question, are these guys actually that good?
Because they're like, they're the they have this like greater good. They're like, civilian casualties don't matter because we're the good guys. Mhmm. Yeah. You know, they they have this like very like
And and you see it a lot. Absolute power corrupts
absolute Yeah. Yeah. It is this like
Oh, the ends justify the means.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. The the show again, we're about time. The show evolves even more as it gets deeper. I think there's three seasons of it right now.
I've only seen season one.
And I they have a kid in there. It's not really their child. It's like an artifact that takes on the form of a of a child, but they act like it's a kid and so now, Mal
Is it Mal and Amelia or Yes.
Mal and and Amelia. Okay. Mao and the hero, they kind of share custody and it is very much like a The the joke is basically like divorced parents like, hey, I get the kid for this weekend or like
because they because a good guy wants the artifact and
Yeah. Yeah. But again, both of them are are bought into the fact that this is their child, basically. So
does it hate to be a spoiler. Does it does he get back to the old world? No. Can he get back to the old world?
No. What what happens is he learns that he can gain power again in this world. Oh. And it is by being evil. The the easiest way for him to gain magic is by causing fear in everyday civilians.
But every time that he has that opportunity, he instead uses any power that he gets to be super cool and beat up the bad guy of that season, know, super cool boss fight at the end. Or correct what has happened. Yes. Yep. And then kind of like fix buildings, wipe people's minds so that none of it seems like it happened before and he uses all that power.
So even if he wanted to go back, he's decided that he'd rather just right the wrongs that have been done in this world by the people of his world and just keep living his life as a part time worker at McDonald's and he gets promoted to manager and that's like his big arc Yeah. Is that Yeah. He's a manager now and he can't let his boss down. Yeah.
That's awesome.
It's a good watch. Yeah. I I can't vouch for the other seasons but season one is it's just a tight 12 that's like really really solid.
I I think that they probably could have ended it at season one. I don't
the
other seasons.
It is also the crazy thing. This is one of the shows Yes. It was eleven years before season two came out. Yep. Yeah. Which is one When it got announced, everyone was like, what? Yeah. Who asked for this and why now? Yeah.
Well, it must have been the creators like, you know, I've been thinking about doing this.
Well, here's the thing. Most of the time,
these are like, they're taking a chunk out of the manga or out of the light novel and they're making that chunk into a into an anime. And then if you want more, you gotta go back to the source material. And that's very common for anime. Yeah. And it's becoming weirdly more common for like, it stretches of like ten years before you get a season two. Yeah. Right. Right now. Like most of the time you're like, yeah, okay. I saw season one, probably won't be a season two.
I have to be satisfied with the ending that they gave us for season one, which isn't always great.
And after you've made your piece eight years ago, then they show up again and you're like, I've already like passed all sort of thing. Like, I don't yearn for more because I've I've gone through the hurdles.
I already grieved this. Yeah. The show is over.
There's no more of it. There's no more. And now you're telling me it's more and I'm not hungry.
Yeah. It's it's like No Game No Life announcing a movie and you're like, what?
What are you about? It's been six years.
And then you're like, wow. That movie meant nothing.
Meant truly nothing because it had no relevance except you got to see Sora and Sheeru. Yeah. I liked it. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd.
But yeah. So that's The Devil is a Part Timer. I love it. Think the season one is definitely worth a watch. The other seasons are they're okay. The gag is still funny, but I think season one really kind of encapsulates Yeah. The the joke is like Yes.
Is like very solid and and gets interesting and more compelling Yes. Near
the end. And in terms of redemption, you get to see most of his redemption in that season one, especially at the end there. You just get more of it in seasons two and three where he is really truly working on becoming a better person. Alright. Dad.
Okay. So I'm gonna I'm gonna pick the obvious one. Okay. This is one we talked about over and over again. So my my choice for the redeemed character and we really everyone knows this character. It's Darth Vader.
Who's that? Who is this? Woah. Darth Vader.
For for me, this was when Star Wars came out, I was 10 years old. So I saw all three all three movies in the movie theater. Great. So when, you know, in the end when, you know, he says in episode two when he goes, Luke, I am your son.
You're my son. Luke, I'm your son.
You are my son. And and it's like it's like that was like the the biggest
No. I am your father. Why are you why are you
Oh, no. Whatever. So but but what's crazy about that is you have no idea what a big turmoil that was
Yes.
In media and whatever.
Okay.
Before internet, before all that.
Yeah.
And so, in the end when he dies and he, you
know Spoiler. Woah.
I hate that they changed it to put Anakin in as the redeemed character as a ghost. Oh. In episode six they replaced him with the guy who played Anakin.
Sure. It's a continuity thing but I get you. Yeah. It's a continuity thing. I hear you. Yeah. I hear you.
Anyway, so once again, bad guy bad guy bad guy. But it took three movies to get there.
Here, I'm gonna you think that his choice redeemed him?
Yeah. Do you think he's been redeemed?
I think I have to assume he is because he ends up being the spirit with Yoda.
So, the force decides that he is redeemed. Yeah. Right? That's the indicator.
That's the indicator to me because I hate to bring in faith in this, but from Christianity standpoint, you can be bad your whole life and if the second before you say I believe in Jesus, according to the bible, you can be you can go to heaven.
Yeah. Sure.
And so, that's kind of what he did. Right before he died he said, okay, I'm sorry for everything I did.
Right.
And then you go, really? Yeah. Yeah. Think about all the people that died, all the people
Yeah. I I also think that
when we talk about
like three movies, the the you could see the cracks. You can you can Yeah. See the change. Darth Vader doesn't have that for the most part. In in the last movie, you do see it. Right? When and you see a little bit like in hindsight maybe when interact when he's interacting with Leia. Yeah. But for the most part, I mean, I I we talk about this when we're talking about Darth Vader and similar villains. Darth Vader is a force of nature.
Yeah. Right? Like, you He is human technically for a lot of the things. Right? Like, he is a powerful powerful force that, like, the hallway scene. You're like, this ain't this isn't happening. Right? Like, you cannot deal with that.
I will never do that again. You are correct. Yeah.
They're they're Darth Vader is I mean, when you start expanding to anything else about Darth Vader Yeah. He is a true monster grabbing spaceships out of the sky and moving moons with the force when he's surrounded by hundreds of of men and they're shouting, you're surrounded, don't move. And his reply is, all I'm surrounded by is fear and dead men. You know, that's crazy. That's crazy. And he is such a monster and and other media, if you're looking at Jedi Survive or Fallen Order
Yeah.
Where he shows up at the end and he is just this unstoppable thing and as the player you can't do anything with him and he's always that thing.
Well, I mean if you look at like as the the Disney streaming has gone up, they've done so many like fill in episodes between him turning into Darth Vader and when I hope when the movie four starts.
Yeah. Yeah.
Right? That time between then is he's total evil. Yeah. Yeah. You know, he is the darkest of all evils during that time.
Yeah. And I think that's so fascinating when the original movies are like the basis. Right? Yeah. He's already this absolute monster. And, you know, if you just absorb those, you're like, wow, what a compelling character. That's so interesting, the twist. Right? But now that the so much has flourished and grown around him, you still look at him like such a fascinating character, especially with he was the chosen one and he did not fulfill his destiny.
Not only that, but I think where they started, I don't know whether it's a limitation on George Lucas or not, but it doesn't show how evil he is.
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
You know.
But I
I think, one, it might be a limitation from or from George Lucas, but also I think a part of it is they're letting the audience use a little bit of their imagination. Yeah. Because I mean, when you think about some of the most iconic scenes, that hallway scene Yeah. Of Darth Vader walking after, like, rebel forces. Oh. Oh, my god. This cinematic history like that.
Here's what you need to know about this guy. He can choke people with his mind and he's got a laser sword that can cut through anything. Yeah. That's your imagination letting run wild. Yeah.
So that's my second choice. Gonna
third choice. Third choice.
We're getting we're getting all those numbers
Your turn.
I feel like I'm choosing a classic, a quintessential Redeem that has truly built the foundation Okay. Of Redeemed characters. And I'm going, once again, to anime. I'm going straight to Dragon Ball Z and I am picking Prince Vegeta.
Let's go.
These Prince of the Saiyans and the absolute jerk and beast that now is the the best friend with the main character.
You heard fairy tale, you didn't know Devil is a Part Timer. Are you aware of Dragon Ball?
I've seen parts of Dragon Ball.
Okay. Okay.
But it's a name. I remember characters.
Yes. Yes.
Dragon Ball is is like the classic anime. Yeah. It's the founding father of a lot of modern day Shonen. Not even modern day. It's one of the founding fathers of Shonen.
If you remember our conversation of Shonen.
Yeah. But
Vegeta Dragon Ball Z starts off with Goku, our main protagonist, running into his brother who came from outer space and his brother being like, you're part of this race of Saiyans and you're a weapon of war and you need to kill everyone on Earth and join us and join me and other members of the Saiyan race to kill more. Goku isn't like them and is like, nope, not gonna do that. And through arduous battle, his brother dies. He he kills him. He has no attachment to him.
His brother's dead. But his brother leaves the message, two more Saiyans will show up and they're far stronger than me. And Goku dies from this encounter. Yes. Against his brother. Which, don't worry. Deaths don't mean a lot. Deaths don't mean a lot of things. But eventually, the two other Saiyans appear. A guy named Nappa and then Prince Vegeta himself.
And they are bad people. Yeah. They kill basically the entire main cast of the original series and Vegeta himself kills Goku's best friend Krillin. Before Goku eventually takes down Vegeta, not to the death. Yeah. Not to the death. Not to the death. Because at the very end, Goku was like, don't kill him. To a guy named Yajirobe, who had a katana and was like, I'm a do it. I'm a do it.
Anyway, but after that decision, Vegeta is the most arrogant person through like, that you could imagine. He's like, I'm the prince of the Saiyans. Saiyans are the greatest race in the galaxy. We are made for war and the whole shtick about Saiyans is every fight, their body evolves and adapts and gets stronger. That's like the whole shtick of Saiyans.
Yep. Any fight that they are in, they will get stronger from. So they are a constantly evolving race. That's just how they are made. And he is the prince of that.
So he has this like hyper arrogance about it. But Goku humbles him because he's just a random guy who's like nice and it breaks his foundations to such a degree that he has such a journey through a lot of the anime and eventually proves himself that he isn't like Goku. He's still arrogant. He's still not a great person, but he has crossed this threshold from evil to pursuing the life similar to Goku in that what you have is good and protecting is better than attacking.
Or destroying.
Or destroying. Yeah. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. And I mean, in the same regard
of of a lot of what we've talked about here,
you have hundreds of episodes Hundreds of to
go great effort. I
don't know if I said that through great effort. I think the Pulp Fiction was one of the most interesting choices Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because it was that instantaneous moment. Yeah. Where a lot of these others are like subtle like over time Alright. Running out of time here. Really quick. What were our favorites? What were our least favorites? Dad, I'm gonna kick it off to you.
I think I like the Grand Illumination the most just because it was the most interesting.
I I think you're right.
Nick? I am probably gonna choose the first one, the Hellas. Oh. That's my favorite one.
Yeah. I did like that one. Yeah. I did like that one.
Very nice and clean. The rose was fascinating and Yeah. And I could see myself eating it with more meals than I would have preferred with other beers. Yeah.
I mean, because I think a like a a very fatty or heavy meal Yeah. That's kind of a beer that's light enough to to be able to drink with that.
Yeah. I I like the rose. I thought that was easy drinking, but honestly, I think I'm gonna go with dad here. The grand illumination just was so complex Yeah. And interesting. I think it was my favorite. I don't know if I was really blown away by any of these three. Like I I don't think
We've four other ones, don't I know.
Yeah. We we got more. You're gonna see more ale works.
But
I I typically do like ale works. I like a lot of the other things that they offer. But I think the Grand Illumination was was the best out of this set just because it was complex. It did have some depth here.
Yeah. So, all I gotta say is I hope you enjoyed our first episode back, season Yeah.
If you're still here, thank you.
Yeah. Luckily. I will also say the normal things.
Yeah.
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Comment.
Yeah. We'd love to see your comments. If there's something you wanted us to talk about, hey, we're willing to talk
about Or if we missed a big Yeah. You know, Redemption, let us know. True.
There there is a lot, but there's also a lot that we went back and forth on.
Yeah. We we had a lot of discussion about who we wanted to talk about.
We had Literally today, we were all deciding our third character.
It's true. Yeah.
We we pushed back shooting because we were like, well, hold on. We have two three characters. Yeah.
Once again, this is why we can't do a bunch of them in a row.
Yeah. Well, that's one of the reasons. Not the biggest reason I will say. Alright. Well, thank you all so much. We will see you next time. And welcome back. Welcome back. Have a great rest of your night y'all.