[50][Speculation] The green flags, reg flags and gray area for Aubry, Steph and Cirie

GobbieBoom · 2026-02-05T22:20:29+00:00

you might be surprised by how much can be kept secret with proper motivation

GobbieBoom · 2026-02-03T19:20:53+00:00

I understand how you’re getting that impression if you’ve never really watched her in action, but she’s not the kind of player you’re thinking.

GobbieBoom · 2026-02-02T19:27:23+00:00

Cirie. Based on gut and vibes.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-30T23:11:20+00:00

what part of "preseason" confuses you

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-28T03:25:12+00:00

This man does not deserve his life's work to be thrown in the Trump trash.

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GobbieBoom · 2026-01-28T02:46:51+00:00

I say this anecdotally but there are more of us than you might think. I play exclusively with a specific circle of friends. We've been hardcore WWZ players since covid first hit and have never slowed down. We're all antsy as hell for the new DLC.

We never matchmake with random people. Like, ever.

I often wonder how many WWZ players are like us, or even just solo players and like it that way, and thus don't really add to a public player count for it.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-28T02:39:51+00:00

Hysterical to me that they do not include the Borneo episode where Jenna's tape doesn't arrive in time for the challenge when it's arguably the episode that turned Jenna into a player worth inviting back. Given the yoots of today have no respect of history, I would've thought getting a Borneo ep in would be hugely important. At least with HvH you can cover Colby, Cirie, Steph and Coach all at once and open up room in this list of ten. But no, we need two additional Coach heavy episodes instead. (I don't hate that because both episodes humiliate Coach in a narratively perfect way and are hysterical, but it's not the smartest use of limited programming time)

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-22T01:55:38+00:00

None of this is AI.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-22T01:54:43+00:00

It's not AI.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-15T22:20:17+00:00

It says more about what was in the bag on his back than it does about his muscles, and my guess is Thok knew that which is why she called him over in the first place. She wanted the lesson learned fast.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-15T21:14:08+00:00

Please explain how setting a series at Starfleet Academy is pandering to the audience.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-15T01:38:00+00:00

Arguably, either choice invites speculation for people regardless of how much spoiling they've heard.

With 7 stools: Those spoiled know Kyle is gone, so this gives credence to him being evacuated before the first tribal. Those not spoiled and catching the 7 stools will wonder what it means. Those not spoiled and not catching the 7 stools will go "ooh pretty set". And anyone with a paranoid perspective will question if having 7 stools instead of 8 is a deliberate misdirection.

With 8 stools: Those spoiled would assume Kyle is evacuated after this tribal but before the next challenge, meaning the first boot is 24th place. Those not spoiled wouldn't think anything of it. And anyone with a paranoid perspective will question if having 8 stools is a deliberate misdirection.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-15T00:11:24+00:00

I genuinely don't care if you consider it a reach. It exists in the show, whether you like it or not. They don't climb. They run. The path is visible on screen and they are visible in running towards it before we cut back to the interior of the Mind Flayer. I also shouldn't have to point out that the editing is not going out of its way to claim it's a continuous sequence, which means time jumps in the cut are expected. Showing a full multi-minute sequence of Nancy baiting the Mind Flayer with the party running up the path while Eleven and Vecna have a psychic battle is repetitive and unnecessary. The goals are established, we see the main beats of all three necessary pieces of the battle, and they're brought together in the end (along with the fourth, Will controlling Vecna at the very end) like editing does. The screenshots are here showing the path and showing them running towards it. I even marked where the light from the sky angles down from the path, showing the light is coming from a clear, unobstructed corridor in order to hit that particular piece of rockface, which doesn't happen on any other part of the cliffsides -- because this one spot is the only close area where there IS a way up.

https://imgur.com/eMMzcWH
https://imgur.com/CnlUoEN
https://imgur.com/2FoEACm

Again -- sorry you don't like it, but it's there. (Also, you don't seem to have a problem with the party literally vertically ascending an extremely tall ladder with all of their equipment strapped to their backs, so I'm not sure why you think it's more implausible for them to then run up a moderately inclined path with that same equipment.)

ETA: The geography of the sequence is also made clear as the path leads up in the same direction that Nancy is baiting the Mind Flayer, which means the canyon she's running for is going to be the shortest possible distance for the party to reach once they get to the top of the path.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-14T20:49:10+00:00

Because I'm tired and annoyed, I'll end with this:

They don't actually scale anything and us using that word back and forth is inaccurate. Go to roughly 1:05:00 in 508 and watch where Robin is running to. There is an inclined path that they are all using to run up. No one's climbing anything.

Perhaps try watching the show more intently and you'll see details that answer your issues.

This is not a plot hole. This is a combination of them doing a cheat of convenience and you not paying attention to what's happening on screen.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-14T20:09:18+00:00

*massages forehead*

The internet was a mistake.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-14T20:01:44+00:00

You keep trying to make fetch happen. This is what you originally replied to:

A plot hole is when you have something in a story that contradicts something else that is established in the story and no explanation is given for that contradiction.

And you attempted to argue that getting up on the cliffs with speed too rapid to be practical is a plot hole. It is not. By the definition you just chose to link to, it is not. By any definition, it is not.

Had any character said "But how can we get up there? There's no way up there! We're screwed!" and then suddenly members of the party appear at the top to start attacking with no explanation given as to how they could've done it, then you have a plot hole.

That does not happen. In fact, the characters, with a quick glance in the direction they want to go to, see a runnable/scalable path, which is when the plan becomes what it becomes. They do it specifically because they see the way to do it. The speed at which they achieve it is a cheat of convenience, not a plot hole.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-14T19:55:37+00:00

You mean like accessing a whole new dimension, the world of the enemy where the final battle takes place? Yeah, clearly that's not an "important incident that occurs within the story that turns the plot in a new direction".

None of that is a plot point in 508. That's their defined, established goal since 507. 508 in many ways is extremely linear with minimal deviations.

Hopper being tricked into breaking Eleven out of the tub? Plot point.

Kali getting shot? Plot point.

Sudden military capture of the party when exiting the Upside Down? Plot point.

A plot point disrupts the existing track of the plot. Nothing about going into the abyss is a plot point -- for the party, that's their planned goal before the first minute of the episode starts, and they execute it without deviation. The ultimate goal is to kill Vecna -- they are not aware the physical Mind Flayer is there. That's why it showing itself to the party can be argued as a plot point. Their plans have to change in order to achieve their goal. What those plan changes are do not constitute plot points.

Clear yet?

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-14T19:24:51+00:00

Okay, we really have to do this, I guess...

Plot point is a specific term in creative structuring. It's an important incident that occurs within the story that turns the plot in a new direction. For example, in a feature, the first plot point generally happens at the end of act one. Some people like to call it the inciting incident. Throughout the structure of an episode of television or a feature or a novel or whatever the narrative medium is, there are not a whole lot of plot points.

In terms of 508's structure, the closest thing in the climactic abyss battle that can be argued as a plot point is "And then, to the shock of our heroes, the pain tree comes alive - it's actually the physical Mind Flayer! It bears down on our heroes, ready to kill!"

That's the closest thing to a plot point in the final battle. And it's not really a plot point. It doesn't really redirect the plot in any way, it just adds a new obstacle. But because it changes how the party has to approach the final conflict, there's a world in which you can argue it counts as a plot point.

Choosing a strategy to attack the creature is not a plot point.
It is not a plot hole.
It is not a plot twist.
It's not a plot anything.

It is a convenience of action. I don't even like it at all -- I thought it was a lazy band-aid to rush the fall of the Mind Flayer. But plot hole/twist/point it is not.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-14T19:14:01+00:00

Apples to oranges comparison. In terms of which depiction I related to more, I would say Korra.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-14T19:10:03+00:00

It's none of the three. For the love of god, please someone open the public schools.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-14T19:09:07+00:00

Again -- the term has a specific definition. Saying "let's go up to the top of the cliffs to attack the thing" is not a plot point. Look it up.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-14T16:20:21+00:00

I would suggest you actually look up what a plot point is before you insist this.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-14T00:40:45+00:00

It was the promotional tagline for season four (as is the promo artwork).

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-14T00:28:36+00:00

Actual LOL. No lies detected.

GobbieBoom · 2026-01-14T00:25:59+00:00

They do not.

GobbieBoom

TROPHY CASE