VENOM Unmasks Matt Trakker! (with James Riley!)

Send a Priority One Message to M.A.S.K. HQ!

It's Episode 40: "Eyes of the Skull"!

Matt Tracker dumps his kid to wander San Francisco (“What could go wrong?”) and immediately gets doxxed by Miles Mayhem’s X-ray crystal skull. VENOM finally learns MASK’s big secret…and celebrates with the most conspicuous bank heist ever—blasting a hole through downtown like it’s cosplay GTA.

Meanwhile T-Bob—750 lbs of anxiety in a metal romper—gets curb-stomped into a planter, springs back like Inspector Gadget, and later tackles Sly Rax so hard the poor guy technically dies off-screen. Matt’s rescue plan? Climb the Golden Gate cable in loafers, flash the skull at its own reflection, and trigger a plot-reset EMP that wipes VENOM’s memory faster than an Etch A Sketch. The payoff: Scott’s safe, the villains forget everything, and MASK still barely uses, y’know… masks. It’s 22 minutes of “highest stakes ever!” that end with Father-of-the-Year Matt sighing in relief no one touched his fortune—because losing his billionaire status would hurt way more than that whole kidnapping thing.

It's another episode of the Mobile Armored Podcast Show, featuring our #1 fan - James Riley!

https://www.instagram.com/m.a.s.k.podcast/

Episode Transcript

Adam (00:13):
Welcome to the Mobile Armored Podcast show, the
podcast that transforms into thekingdom of the crystal skull.
My name is Adam Moore, alongsidemy co-host and best friend PJ
McNerney.
How's it going, pj?

PJ (00:26):
Yeah.
I'm doing well today and I'mexcited for this episode on so
many fronts and I mean thatgenuinely, I realize sometimes I
can be a little bit of a downer,but.
love this episode, so I'mexcited.
I'm, I'm, I'm putting it outthere.
Right there.
It kind of explains panda poo,but also we've got a great guest
star,

Adam (00:46):
guest.
Um, you all know him as yourbuddy spooky on Instagram.
We know him as our biggest fan.
He is the one and only.
James Riley.
Welcome to the podcast.

James (00:57):
Hey guys, this is a real honor, a real treat, I gotta
say.

Adam (01:01):
huge treat for us.
you've been with us since

PJ (01:03):
yeah.

Adam (01:04):
you've been reaching out to us, letting us know that you
love what we're doing here, sowe're just psyched to have you
come in and join the fun.

James (01:12):
This is gonna be a lot of fun.
I gotta say, this is a greatepisode.

Adam (01:15):
So, I have a question for you.
What is it about this episode,that you love so much?
Because this is one of theepisodes that you called out
like way back when you hadlistened to like episode two or
three of the podcast Episode 40Eyes of the Skull was on that
short list.
So what is it about this episodethat you love?

James (01:31):
It's one of those things that actually, outside of the
second season.
It's one of the only times wherelike there's an acknowledgement
that there are people behindthose masks and that their lives
are gonna be in danger if,something happens, you know?
perfect example, as we'll see inthe story.
miles Mayhem is like, whatTracker?
Oh my God.
Like, he's like, he's basicallyrealizing if somebody were to
tell, Bain, oh, this is, oh, bythe way, this is Bruce Wayne.

(01:55):
Oh, okay.
You know, that sort of thing.

PJ (01:58):
Bruce Wade, the billionaire, Playboy is Batman.

James (02:03):
I'll break the bat.

Adam (02:06):
Well, hey, so as we said, this is episode 40.
Eyes of the Skull Venom Leader,miles Mayhem uses an ancient
crystal skull that allows x-raylike vision to see through Matt
Tracker's mask and discover hisidentity mayhem.
Then kidnap Scott Tracker forransom.
And I mean, those are stakesright there.
Everybody like, like he knowsMatt is the leader of Mask.

(02:30):
He kidnaps his son.
these are the highest stakeswe've ever had, I think.
Well, there was the comet theywere trying to bring down to
destroy all of Earth.
But in terms of

PJ (02:39):
That

James (02:39):
yeah.

Adam (02:39):
character, these are the biggest we've ever had.

PJ (02:42):
absolutely

James (02:43):
We've gotten used to them doing the cartoonish stuff here
and there.
Like, oh, we're chasing this.
Oh, we'll take all this money.
We could be funneling towards,actual progress in science Maybe
like anti-gravity things or No,we'll just use it for terrorism.
No.
Now we actually have like, venomactually behaving like a
terrorist organization.
Yes, we're gonna kidnap this kidand we're gonna hold onto him

(03:04):
until you do X, Y, and Z.
It's like, okay, finallysomeone's actually doing
something with, and, and italways bothered me until I
watched the, do you guys, didyou guys actually get the, the
original 65 episodes on DVD whenthey released, by Shop Factory a
couple years ago.

Adam (03:19):
only watched them online.

PJ (03:20):
no.

James (03:21):
Well, I watched them of course on tv, but also online.
my long suffering wife, who waslike, I don't know what any of
this means, but I appreciatethat you do and you appreciate
this, that's great.
she, got me that for Christmasand I sat down, I'm like, oh,
there's actually bonus features.
They have interviews here.
And they interviewed a couple ofthe writers and they were
basically like, well, we weretold, like, one of'em was like,
Hey, they just gave me a script.

(03:42):
They said, here are the, here'sthe, the basics.
you can't call outside thesewalls, but inside you can do
whatever the heck you want.
Um, you know, and justunderstand that it resets at the
end of the episode.
And one of the things was, youknow, there's no, no one member
of the team gets hit and likegoes, we know bullets.
There's lasers.
Instead of the things like that,the, the basic kind of Geo Joe

(04:02):
logic, you don't hit the maincharacters.
If you hit the main character.
They get wounded, seriouslywounded, but maybe they go to
the hospital and they're fine atthe end of the episode.
I don't know why Hondo seems tobe the one who's been getting
the brunt of that multipletimes.
He's wound up in a hospital roomand him and Bruce are like, you
know, always the victim,apparently.
Go figure.

Adam (04:22):
once by Brad.

James (04:23):
Yeah.
You know, his long sufferingwave, Gloria, you know, but, it
really reframed it for me in away.
'cause I'm like, oh, okay.
So they were specifically toldthis, this wasn't just like a we
don't want to be violent.
No, no.
We were told do not do this andstay inside these lines.
And when you guys get to thesecond season, I'm really

(04:44):
hopeful to see how you guysreact to that.
Because the second season, it'slike, I rewatched it when she
gave me the DVDs.
it says it's the completeseries.
It's not the complete series,it's just 65 out of 75 episodes.
Exactly.

Adam (04:57):
Because they they repackage the Final 10 episodes
as masked the movie, and I knowin certain regions that's what
they did.
Or it was a three part movie orsomething like that.

James (05:07):
Yeah, they took, half of them and stitched'em together
because there's a lot like it.
'cause I, of course, I was adedicated fan.
I found the movie, and watchedit after rewatching the second
season, they left out one or twobig episodes.
there's an episode where theyintroduced Ali Bombay it's
basically him going back to hisvillage.
It's like, buddy, we just metyou an episode ago and now we've

(05:28):
got your entire life story.
What is going on here?
There's a ton of stuff that isvery different about the second
season.
That is nowhere near the firstseason.

Adam (05:36):
we can't wait to get into season two, how

James (05:40):
Mm-hmm.

Adam (05:40):
episode 40?
so we

James (05:41):
Right.
Yeah.
Sorry.

Adam (05:43):
on San Francisco, the Big Tomato.
I don't know.
Is that his nickname?
I'm gonna use it.
I love your Bay area.

James (05:52):
It future home of Star Fleet command.

Adam (05:54):
Future homo star Fleet Command.
Oh, you're our guy, man.
one of us

James (05:58):
Oh yeah.

Adam (05:59):
Um, so we're in an ornate auction hall and it's Matt and
Bruce and Scott and t Bobb arethere.
they're auctioning off this kindof wooden tribal mask.
and t Bobb says$38,000, likeregarding one of the, the bids
for a mask that doesn't even doanything.
I hope I'm worth 38,000 when I'm2000 years old.
And Matt says, you're alreadypriceless.

(06:20):
Tbo Bob's response is, no, I'malready bored.
Scott, let's go see Alcatraz,the famous prison.
And I'm just like, damn.
He's got an attitude today.

PJ (06:31):
What's interesting is like, he's like, oh, it's a max That
doesn't do anything boring.
Doesn't fire a whip, doesn'tfire blades, doesn't lift
people.
I am done quick.
Economics corner, mini corner.
Just so people know, 38 K and$85is worth approximately$112,000

(06:51):
today.

Adam (06:52):
mask.

PJ (06:52):
Yes.

James (06:53):
And the 9 99, we would've paid for the Scott and t Bob
figure on the shelf is now worthmaybe$15, although we'll go for
probably 50.

Adam (07:05):
Well finally, the next item up is the legendary crystal
skull.
Matt gives a nice nod to Brucewho starts the bidding at
$50,000.

PJ (07:17):
Did you guys have an issue with Matt nodding to Bruce?
why does he need to do that?
why does Bruce need to be hisfront man here?

James (07:26):
I never understood that.
I'm like, okay, you're the guyholding the checks.
why don't you sit down and takecare of this?
you can just write the check andsay, Hey, that doesn't mind.
Forget the auction.
Just gimme the thing.

Adam (07:36):
Bruce to pay for it

PJ (07:36):
It's be

Adam (07:37):
Matt needs to keep his money clean of this?

PJ (07:42):
are saying?

Adam (07:43):
episodes back, with the virus that made the currency
disappear.
He made Bruce use his own 20bucks.
So clearly Matt has no regardfor his teammates financial
situation.

James (07:54):
But it's also like, okay, so, maybe it's a situation where
Bruce is doing this because doeshe think that, if Bruce buys it,
Bruce doesn't get that piece ofhis paycheck or something, is
this coming outta your pay,Bruce?
If you get less, then you keepless, you know?

PJ (08:09):
Oh, I get it.

James (08:10):
Yeah.

PJ (08:11):
So he's, forcing Bruce basically to be the best bidder
possible.
And it's like, look, go overthis amount, that's coming out
of your

James (08:19):
That's it.

Adam (08:20):
Can we also talk about the crystal skull though?
I mean it's literally, it's likethe crystal skull and the only
time besides mask that I'vereally ever heard that term used
is Indiana Jones, so didSpielberg watch mask and was he
inspired by it?

PJ (08:36):
I think David Lynch just talked to Spielberg at their
director's thing is, and theyjust said, Hey, you should watch
this show.
And Spielberg's like, yes,

Adam (08:44):
George

PJ (08:45):
crystal Skull It was a

James (08:46):
yeah.

PJ (08:46):
set of years for George at that point in time.
Guys.
I would just be careful.
I mean, Lynch was having, like,it was rough for Lynch as well
with 80 four's Dune, but I mean,George was going through some
stuff.

James (08:58):
Yeah, but on top of that, you're also thinking like, okay,
so if those are possible, it'salso possible that Lucas and
Spielberg, Lucas probably, werespending the nineties and the
early two dozens watchingancient aliens

PJ (09:12):
Oh,

James (09:13):
is all over that.
that's the only other place I'veever heard of this.
Exactly.
You know what it is,

Adam (09:19):
Yeah.

James (09:20):
that's what it's

PJ (09:21):
I wanna get back to this point later on'cause I feel like
there's some interestingconnections with Its origin
story.

Adam (09:27):
shall we go to Economics Corner one more time here?

PJ (09:29):
It starts off at 50 K for the opening bid, which would be
roughly 150 K today.
Tbo manages to bid it up to 110K, which is about 326 KI, I
don't know if Matt just didn'tcare because he just gave Bruce
a dirty look being like you'repaying for that.

Adam (09:48):
do you think he makes TBO pay for it?

PJ (09:50):
yeah.

James (09:51):
is gonna work it off.

Adam (09:52):
intention?
So you will work this off,

James (09:54):
it doesn't cost me anything to have my, have my, my
robot.
That is probably cost about theGDP of a small country.
It doesn't cost me anything tohave that robot go do tasks for
the people and not just rake inthe money.
That's it.

Adam (10:04):
Well, suddenly the skull starts glowing And uh, fires
these laser beams that blindeveryone.
And when the light show stops,the skull is gone.
Dun dun.

PJ (10:14):
Did you guys love everyone's faces that point in time, but
like, like just, just plasteredwith ridiculous looks across the
board.

James (10:23):
All I could think was the, Great Muppet caper where
they took the picture initiallyand then they see their eyes
like.

PJ (10:29):
Oh yeah.

Adam (10:32):
Matt runs up on stage because I guess he just gets to
do that at the auction house andthe auctioneer is like, oh, Mr.
Tracker, this is terriblyembarrassing.
You're our biggest buyer.
my thought was, must be verynice to be a billionaire.

PJ (10:45):
he always gets the special treatment.
also, guys, I got a question.
I I can't let this go.
If he's so well known as abuyer, does he need Bruce to be
the go-between is he trying tohide that fact from other
people?
Because the dude just shouted itthere in front of everybody.

James (11:03):
He's, I don't think it's laundering.
I think he's probably trying topay Bruce.
So Bruce can pay off hisgambling debts or his, mail
order bride who knows what otherthings Bruce could have gotten
into bad investments.
He's like, look, here's themoney.
You just take it and use it tobuy this and I'll pay you the
difference or whatever.
whatever you don't pay, comesoutta your salary or something
like that.

(11:23):
But yeah, this sounds like alegit thing.
He's trying to give him money,but he is trying not to give him
money.

PJ (11:32):
All right.
A new dimension here we're gonnahave to keep track of, like, is
Bruce, a, decadent gambler?

James (11:39):
wouldn't you be, you've got access to a scanning system
that could see everything allover the world in 1985.

PJ (11:45):
I think you're laying into our theory that masks are the
real villains of this show.

James (11:49):
Basically.

PJ (11:51):
we have deep suspicions that Bruce and Vanessa were in a
thing.
and now maybe it's more of athing like that.
A Bruce met her in some gamblingjoint someplace, Monte Carlo,
he's trying to impress her withsome cash.
Wow.
James blew blowing our minds.

Adam (12:10):
vector Bruce's life.
TBO discovers a trap door in thestage, and, he falls into it,
which leads to your standardmask.
Underground tunnel.

PJ (12:23):
Do you think Venom's got like a boring company contract
where they actually get thosemachines to, to

Adam (12:28):
the Magma Mole, so Yeah.

PJ (12:31):
yeah.
Good call.
Did you guys notice that the wayT Bobb stood on the trap door
was a lot like Solomon's gorge?
same thing.
We're falling into the, well,he's got experience in this.

Adam (12:43):
experience for sure.
Um, they find a TBO down there.
He finds a mini laser that wasfired up into the skull to make
it glow, which is a niceaddition.

PJ (12:57):
It is rave technology.
So Venom really could have,they're missing out again

James (13:02):
Yep.

PJ (13:02):
on being able to resell this stuff.

Adam (13:04):
Yeah.

James (13:06):
All you have to do is just bring it to the right
place.
toss some candy out into thecrowd, so they think it's E and
then just let it up.
You're all set.

Adam (13:13):
and let it rock.

James (13:15):
There you go.
Perfect.

Adam (13:16):
Vanessa goes to a lot of raves.
Um, and probably sly if we'rebeing honest.
So we have this beat next wherethis kind of like Colonel
Sanders looking scientist comesup on stage We did see him
earlier a few minutes ago,bidding on the skull, but then
was outbid by, t Bob's flailingarms.
Colonel Sanders explains thatthe crystal skull has special

(13:39):
powers and in the hands of badpeople it could be very, very
serious.
he says it twice, So it must beserious, I guess if he says it
twice.

PJ (13:49):
had

James (13:50):
The name's so nice.
I

PJ (13:50):
where I like, and we're gonna come back to this again,
but that information would'vebeen useful yesterday

James (13:57):
Yep.

PJ (13:58):
to not have this go to an auction block.
And what I really enjoyed, ifyou watched the beat in between
his various serious lines, likeeveryone rightfully Give him the
blankest stare in the world.
because here's what happens,this old dude comes up and is

(14:19):
like, it's very serious.
Very, very serious.
What do you guys do in thatsituation?

Adam (14:27):
and then he turns and walks away like that's it.
No

PJ (14:30):
Yes.

Adam (14:32):
like additional information.
You just.
Walks away.
I'm like, who let the drunk oldguy in here?

James (14:40):
What is your name, sir?
My name is Doctor Exposition.
Bye.

PJ (14:44):
but he doesn't even explain anything.
He just says it's very serious.
Like, is it serious if itshatters on the ground and you
could step on it, John McLeanstyle, or like, what's the s
like, wait, whatcha doing?

James (14:58):
no, no, no.
That's three years from now.

Adam (15:00):
we need to make room for the mask computer to, be Doctor
Exposition in this episode.
Right?
Because after this, they'redriving in Thunder Hawk.
Matt's paying no attention tothe road whatsoever.
It's distracted driving to themax, and he's just asking the
computer to tell them everythingabout the crystal skull.
And so the little download weget is that the Mayans created

(15:22):
the skull and anyone who wearsthe skull can see through solid
objects.

PJ (15:29):
Once again, things that could have been brought to my
attention yesterday.
does Matt not do any research onthe shit he's buying?

James (15:40):
All he knows is it's expensive, so I want it.
That is his logic.
Start to finish.
It costs money.
Therefore I want it the second.
It's worth nothing.
He is like, get it out, throw itin the trash.
I don't care.
give it to the homeless person.

PJ (15:51):
I, James, I love it.
He flew out the San Franciscowith doing no research on these
artifacts whatsoever,

James (15:58):
Yep.

PJ (15:59):
he saw price tags.
Oh, that looks expensive.
I'm going to put it in mylibrary.
but that information's in thecomputer so let's build out the
world a little bit.
does the Peaceful NationsAlliance know about it?
Does the military, the CIA, somepervert, why hasn't any of these
guys gotten a hold of it yet?

James (16:17):
Probably door number four, the pervert, but honestly,
it seems like if it's gotten toauction, that means they either
were like they found, here's myhead canon

PJ (16:27):
Okay.

James (16:28):
Let's assume in this world that the Crystals call was
discovered by Indiana Jones.
He didn't know what to do withit.
He's like, I don't really wantto hand it to the government.
'cause the last time I handedthe government something, it
disappeared into a box and theydon't wanna show it or research
it or anything else with it.

Adam (16:43):
men.

James (16:44):
So instead I will tell them to go, yeah, exactly.
Top men.
let's not repeat that mistake.
this time I'm going to make somemoney off this and put it into
an auction.
it got stuffed in a box.
And only in 1985 was it pickedup by somebody who's like, I'm
going through my old, my old,you know, boxes and such.
I found this with the laundryhere.
Why don't you just go auctionthis off?

(17:05):
I heard somewhere it has specialpowers.
Let's use that and sell a couplethings.
So word gets out that there's athing that actually is worth a
couple bucks.
but Matt knows it's worth acouple bucks.
He's just like.
I'm just gonna bid on it and getit.
And, you know, Gloria can useit, on our date or something.

PJ (17:21):
We know how their relationship rolls.
Gloria will be like, no, I'mwearing it on the date,

James (17:28):
basically, yeah.

PJ (17:29):
I look frightening in it.
And I get to see you naked,Matt.

Adam (17:34):
I gotta ask though, the Mayans created this crystal
skull.

James (17:39):
Did they?

PJ (17:40):
I is such a thing even possible?

James (17:42):
Yes.

PJ (17:43):
ancient aliens.
Honestly, I

James (17:44):
Yeah.

PJ (17:45):
they've shown that in the, you know, that's who'd have the
technology to pull this off.

Adam (17:49):
Yeah.
this is half the plot of Kingdomof the Crystal skull.

James (17:53):
But also on top of that, we have.
Proof from the very firstepisode or two, like the star
chariot.
Like they clearly, know thatthere are aliens.
And I just love how Matt sawthat and he is like,

Adam (18:05):
Mm-hmm.

James (18:06):
you saved my kid.
Great, good for you.
Now what else, what are wesupposed to do with this?
And it's like, you just provedaliens exist.
How are you not

Adam (18:13):
I

James (18:14):
doing something about it?
You know?
And it's not even like the onlytime they've had like one or two
other times.
It's like, guys, what the hell?

Adam (18:21):
Mm-hmm.

PJ (18:22):
That's your answer right there.

James (18:24):
It's like, all that matters is my money.
it's either that or it's asituation like from they live.
Where the rich people all knowthat they're aliens like does.
Matt know that they're aliensand he is just like, I'm
procuring this for, this dudefrom Alpha Sari who just came by
and was like, Hey, I need thisthen we need this back.
I'm just trying to tie it inwith as many eighties movies as
possible here.

PJ (18:43):
Yeah, absolutely.
we're with you.

Adam (18:45):
out that Miles is the guy who stole the crystal skulls.
Surprise surprise.
we're gonna go, test it out,right.
See if it works.
jackhammer fires a hole in thewall of a bank and they go to
the safe.

James (18:59):
Very subtle.

Adam (19:00):
Don't you think like, that's what we're gonna set off
the alarms.
like, I'm gonna use this crystalskull to break into a bank, blow
the wall open.
sly asks him like, is this somekind of nickel and dime bank
robbery?

PJ (19:12):
So what I love about this is he can see his eyes.
He doesn't have his shades on.
He's gotta be off the drugs.

Adam (19:18):
odd the re

James (19:18):
Exactly.

Adam (19:19):
where they don't put his sunglasses on.
I don't understand like what theanimation note was there.

James (19:24):
They were like, Hey, he finally used his clear eyes.
he got the eyedrops together.
he's, okay.
He's clean for one episode andafter this he's probably gonna
be drinking again

Adam (19:32):
yeah,

James (19:32):
or,

Adam (19:33):
the events of the episode, he is definitely going to be
back on the sauce,

James (19:38):
the amount of pain he is usually in, I'm kind of
surprised he is not on oxy halfthe time.

Adam (19:40):
percent.
So they go to the safe and Milesputs on the skull and turns that
he can see through the door.
Sees all the money inside andgold and stuff, but somehow he's
able to discern the code to theelectronic lock on the door
using the crystal skull.

(20:01):
If it was just, an analog, safelock.
Sure.
I would get that.
Turn the knob there.
I see the, the,

James (20:08):
Yeah.

Adam (20:08):
pins falling into place or whatever.
You can see electronic code withthis,

James (20:13):
Can I just give us a technology corner here for a
sec?
I've been in it for like 25years.
I can tell you absolutely withcertainty, there is no possible
way to do that.
Not at all.
Like these things, even back inthe eighties, they did, whether
they could to prevent,fingerprints being on them
because everyone saw movies andeveryone was like, yeah, let's
not do that because there's nofingerprint coding, there's no

(20:36):
way to tell what the code is.
But technology corner, that'sit.

Adam (20:40):
the code on, like a Post-it note on the other side.

James (20:45):
That's the only way you can, and as an IT support, I see
that constantly too.
it's unfortunate, but ithappens,

PJ (20:52):
so this, you guys already mentioned this, but I was
wondering if they were trying tobe conspicuous at this point in
time after blowing a hole in thewall.
Like, you know, like, oh, nowlet's be sneaky.

Adam (21:04):
have

PJ (21:04):
a good way to,

Adam (21:05):
safe door off as well, so what's the

PJ (21:08):
Yeah.
I

James (21:10):
it's also like, yeah.

PJ (21:11):
show the power.
So I get that.

Adam (21:13):
Well, I mean, so you bring

James (21:14):
Basically

Adam (21:15):
PJ is like.
There are so many different wayshe could have tested the
efficacy of the, crystal skull.
he could have been at thesupermarket and like into, you
know, a box of tricks to seewhat the toy inside is.
he just could've like, put themask on and looked at Cliff, you
know what I mean?
There's like, does it work?
Does it work?
I don't know.
Let's go Rob a bank to find out,know.

(21:38):
Well we cut to, Matt and Bruceand we're back in Thunder Hawk
and they passed an alleyway.
Um, and they see, uh, they seeJack Cameron Piana in there.

PJ (21:49):
Yeah.
Okay guys, I've been curious,like, unless there's a standard
venom license plate, what Brucesees is a motorcycle with a
sidecar and a Bronco, and thenjumps to the conclusion it's
gotta be jack hammer andpiranha.
Like, what if it's just someoneelse illegally parked?

(22:09):
Do you guys ever wonder aboutthis?

James (22:11):
the whole point of these things is like you're supposed
to be able to drive these thingsall over the place, so dial it
back a bit.
One of my things, I actually wastrying to write a mask movie.
Like a screenplay.
I could never get past the logicof doing mask these days because
instantly you'd have anyone witha red Camaro would be a tar.
Anyone with a black Bronco wouldbe identified as being a bad

(22:34):
guy, or anyone with a big rigthat looked and was painted like
rhino.
I've had this happen in aparking lot where I've gone up
to the wrong car.
My wife has done the same thing.
It's like you walk up to thewrong car and you're like, why
isn't it unlocking?
Why isn't that working?
because it looks exactly likeyours.
then you look in the back andit's like, oh, hey,

Adam (22:50):
right.

James (22:50):
isn't my car shit.
So you walk away but it's like,is there a sticker that he
noticed or could he see thateagle eye

Adam (22:57):
back of

James (22:57):
because they're driving past and they don't see how do
you like Bruce?
Do you have that?
Is it, is your vision reallythat good?
Did, are the contexts workingthat well?
I mean, are you wearing yourmask and is it in zoom mode when
you pass by?
What's going on here?

Adam (23:11):
I mean to make some con some comment about how, you
know, in the alleyway next to abank on a Sunday, it must be
venom still.
That's quite the leap in logic.

James (23:21):
exactly.

PJ (23:22):
It just could be illegal parked, man.
That's all.

Adam (23:24):
Matt kicks Scott and t VB out of Thunder Hawk and tells
him to go ride the cable car andsays, no funny business you two.
based on their past experiencewith cable cars, this is
probably not a good idea.

PJ (23:35):
Well, it's also not a cable car.
It's a street car, right?

James (23:39):
Yeah.

Adam (23:40):
Like why does he say that

PJ (23:40):
Yeah.
maybe they didn't know

Adam (23:42):
Mm-hmm.

PJ (23:43):
thing to call it.
The only other option was topotentially bring them into
battle.

Adam (23:47):
Yeah.

PJ (23:48):
but I question then, is that safer than San Francisco in the
mid eighties?
'cause I'm not sure that townwas exactly where you wanted to
be.
No city really was in the mideighties.

James (24:00):
I mean, you look and you're like, well, you know, put
it this way.
Does Matt really think thatthere's gonna be too much damage
given that he's only had toreplace Thunder Hawk twice now?
Or have like serious repairsdone to it?
this is again probably one ofthe five of the year nominees
right there, because it's like,what's worse sending them into
the dangerous city on their own?

(24:20):
does TBO have some kind of weirdauto defense system that he is
built into him?
Like, is there, is it like, youknow, with R 2D two where he is
got like a little shock thing?
He goes,

PJ (24:30):
I feel like we can answer that question

Adam (24:31):
Yes.

PJ (24:32):
soon.

Adam (24:34):
meanwhile, inside the bank, sly uses the crystal
skull.
I'm surprised Miles Leton, bythe way.
But nonetheless, sly uses it.
He sees Thunder Hawk parked outfront.
And so Rey's gonna go out togreet them in Piranha.
meanwhile, miles uses the skullto look through the mask
helmets.
And he discovers, and probablythe coolest moment in the series
so far Tracker is the leader ofMask.

(24:59):
You know, and I watched allthese episodes when I was a kid.
I remember very few of them.
So this is another one where Idon't really remember what
happens next.
I, of course, I should haveknown and guessed that would
somehow forget what happens, butI was really wondering would
this carry through all futureepisodes?
How cool would it have been ifmoving

PJ (25:20):
Yeah.

Adam (25:21):
Miles Mayhem knew that Matt Tracker was the leader of
Mask and the sort ofcomplications that.
would ensue the fact that itprobably wouldn't be capable of
going back to Tracker mansionanymore.
Um, that they would

James (25:35):
Yep.

Adam (25:36):
probably be on the run as we've surmised.
You know, PJ, you and I talkedabout a lot in these past,
series of episodes where they'realways in different countries.
of course not, but it's fun toimagine that's where the show
would've gone.

James (25:47):
Yeah, I mean, you look at what the implication here is,
and it's like if you had donethis and just from here, gone to
the second season, that would'vebeen perfect bridge and that
would've made perfect sense.
I think everybody would've beensigned on right there with you.
I think that was one of thebiggest mistakes to keep this as
a bottle episode as opposed tolike a, keep this like

(26:08):
continuity going, you know?
I just get stuck on thattransition between first and
second seasons and I'm like,

PJ (26:13):
I agree.
The identity thing would be welltaken care of at that point in
time.
Why?
It's okay to do high stakesracing and not arrest venom at
every race is still a questionthat we'll need to get into.

James (26:25):
oh yeah,

PJ (26:25):
this was freaking awesome.
This is awesome.
moment.
Uh, I really did dig though,like it's a nice beat that Miles
has no clue who Bruce is.
He is like, who's that guy?

James (26:36):
dumb guy.

PJ (26:38):
And don't recognize the name Matt Tracker.
That guy's public.
it's the Bruce Wayne problem wetalked about at the top.

Adam (26:44):
well, they, they get outta there.
we go into the agent selectionscene and Matt asks for the
agents best suited for a missionin San Francisco.
I wondered what the parametersare for this in San Francisco in
the eighties.
but you know, we actually end upgetting, good choices.
Here we get Gloria Baker,champion race driver, black belt

(27:05):
in Kung Fu, team, Hottie andMatt's wife.
the computer says, San FranciscoTerrain calls for driving skill.

PJ (27:13):
My opinion on this was the computer has been watching a lot
of star skin hutch and is nowcon, or bullet and bullet.
Why?
Yeah.
It's not an or it's an and.
been watching like all of thoseshows like, oh, yep, we're gonna
need someone who can race inhere.

Adam (27:28):
and then we get, dusty Hayes and the computer says,
proximity to ocean may requireamphibious capability.
Not bad, unfortunately.
No escape scenes though.
so this episode is sadly

PJ (27:39):
Yeah.

Adam (27:40):
our favorite part, which is do they escape from whatever
situation they're in?

PJ (27:45):
I, really would've loved the tagline from the computer saying
Brad Turner in the area, unableto participate in mission
located hate at Ashbury.

Adam (27:54):
I was gonna say.
Well, Matt knows.
He is like, uh, cancel that lastone.
Uh, computer.
Brad's a little bit indisposed.
everyone else approved.
Send the mobile armor strikecommand.
well, meanwhile.
With, Scott and t Bobb justwalking down the street and

(28:15):
suddenly Rex shows up andkidnaps Scott and rather than do
anything to help t Bobb justscreams Scott.
Now I'd like to point out beingkidnapped off the street is
entirely Matt's fault because hejust told his kid like, get
outta Thunder Hawk and go wanderaround.
He absolutely would've beensafer if Scott had stayed with

(28:36):
his father, but of course,here's a father of the year
nominee.
James, as you uh alluded toearlier,

James (28:42):
Yep.

PJ (28:43):
I'll say that slide does kick t bobb in the face because
he goes tumbling into a plant.
But unfortunately we don't getthe electroshock therapy thing.
James, that you were hoping foras a

James (28:54):
Oh, well, better luck next time.

Adam (28:57):
can kick the, 700 pound tbo

PJ (29:01):
750 pound.
Yeah,

Adam (29:03):
the sidewalk and into a planter next to a building.
I mean, maybe the dude is likeamped up

James (29:07):
Well,

Adam (29:08):
or something.

James (29:09):
he probably has steel toed boots.

Adam (29:11):
boots

PJ (29:13):
Why not both?

James (29:14):
Why not both?
Exactly.

PJ (29:15):
we should paint a picture here for a second because when
Sly arrives, he's got his fullmask on.
He's dressed in his standardmotorcycle gear And I, I wanna
point out that he's walkingthrough the streets of San
Francisco like this and nobodycalls the cops,

Adam (29:32):
whatever.
There's like five guys in masks.

James (29:35):
No.
Last time we called the cops andgot Clint Eastwood come on.

PJ (29:39):
few story points though, like Venom knows who Matt
Tracker is.
We've established that they'reintentionally kidnapping Scott,
because they know he's Matt'sson and it's like, okay, when
did they know this?
Because they have met Scott andt Bobb many times.

James (29:55):
And it's not like the kid has different clothes or
different appearances.
He looks the same every time.
It's like Matt doesn't have alaundry, like a laundry budget
for the kid.
He just gives him the same shirtand pants every time.
It's like, I want you to be asrecognizable as possible,

Adam (30:08):
the question too is, I mean, as Matt is known as a
public figure, does that meanthat Scott is known as a public
figure as well, just because heis Matt's son?
'cause otherwise, how did Venomknow?
This kid is Matt's son.

James (30:21):
Does he hang out with the rich kids of other rich parents
or something like that?
does he fly off to Aspen withChelsea Clinton or head off with
Michael Reagan or something, youknow?
Is he hanging out with like,like president's son?
Does he hang with like, what,what's, what's the story there,
Scott?

PJ (30:34):
Yeah.
Really.
Excellent.
'cause we've mentioned a fewtimes that he does have friends.
We just dunno with whom.
but there's a question if theyknow who Scott is.
Isn't kidnapping a billionaireson?
Always a good idea for aterrorist organization.

James (30:48):
Every time you'll get money

PJ (30:50):
Right.

James (30:51):
They won't send Liam Neeson after you.

PJ (30:55):
Got a couple decades before that's dangerous

James (30:57):
yeah.

Adam (30:57):
gentlemen, venom knows the identity of the leader of mask.
Scott's been kidnapped.
T Bob's been kicked in a planternext to a building.
I gotta ask both of you what'sgonna happen.

James (31:10):
I dunno.

PJ (31:11):
I don't know.
don't know.
No.

Adam (31:13):
We'll find out after these messages.
Come on, Jeebop.
Mask will be right back.
Oh, boy.
Back to mask.
we're back.
And so far we've got a prettydecent episode, guys.
Like, I don't, there's not muchto really make fun of here up to
this.
I mean, we've made fun of

PJ (31:30):
Mm-hmm.

Adam (31:30):
but this kind of cliffhanger moment, Scott's been
kidnapped like legitimately,it's

PJ (31:36):
scary.

Adam (31:37):
t Bob's radio is not working.
he goes kind of mad, like hecompletely blows a gasket, but
then transforms into scootermode and decides he's gonna go
save Scott himself.
And I'm thinking good luck withthat.

PJ (31:49):
You guys notice that he doesn't trust Matt to save the
day.
it's like a personalresponsibility combined with
Matt's not gonna be able to pullthis off.

James (31:57):
So that leads, and then I think, um, the theory that I
sent you guys a while back was,I think the reason he did that
is because it feels like inorder to get TBO as an AI
working, whatever happened toAndy Tracker, Andy is probably

(32:17):
Scott's real dad.

Adam (32:19):
Mm.

James (32:19):
And when Andy was critically injured They were
able to save most of his body,but his brain was basically
toast.
he was close to death.
He got himself uploaded into acomputer and that computer got
dumped into TBO at the lastsecond because something
happened in the hospital this isa lot of the stuff I was putting
together for the movie I wastrying to write

Adam (32:39):
wild

James (32:40):
and Yeah.
to basically say you know, he isin an accident or Miles tries to
take him out and then afterwardstries to finish a job at the
hospital.
And then, you know, we have, TBObasically is Andy Tracker, but
with like a big loss of memory.
he can do a lot of computerthings.
but the problem is that you givea computer anxiety.

(33:02):
which is why we don't see a tonof TBOs out there, Matt
abandoned the project.
He just has the prototype andthat's fine.
But then Scott and t Bobb getclose to getting, because Scott
doesn't know, but Tbo doesinside his head somewhere, know
he's responsible for Scott forthis.

Adam (33:18):
that's And I also, I

PJ (33:19):
I I like that.

Adam (33:20):
It's like this is why in a world of masks where a fully
sentient AI is possible, a, itdoesn't work very well, and b,
you know, mask produced thisthing.
There's only, um, Brian, thebrain the only other one, I
guess the mask computer.
But the

PJ (33:37):
Yeah.

Adam (33:37):
is kind of an amped up chat.
GPT really, you know, Brian, thebrain is the only one that's
actually a fully functional ai.
So that actually makes sensethat it was kind of a fluke that
TBO gained sentt.

PJ (33:51):
I like it.

Adam (33:51):
man, you know, our whole show is Head Cannon.
Like that's

PJ (33:55):
Yeah,

Adam (33:56):
we do is try to make up

James (33:57):
Yeah.
Oh, absolutely.

Adam (33:58):
sense.

PJ (33:59):
we live on that all the time, so I'm treating T bob a
little bit better from now on.

Adam (34:04):
Um, well we have a Piha t Chase sequence, and Racks is
Fire and Lasers at tbo.
and he scores a kind of hit onthe ground, which causes TBO to
fly through the air and fallinto a fire hydrant.
do we have a ragdoll award herefor tbo?
The fire hydrant goes throughhim?

James (34:22):
Yeah, but also you gotta consider TBO is big.
He's got a computer and he lookslike he's a solid thing, but how
much is actually inside there?
when he goes to motor scootermode, that tire has to go
somewhere,

Adam (34:32):
Mm-hmm.

James (34:32):
you know?

PJ (34:33):
Hmm.

James (34:33):
And there's probably a lot of empty space in there to
accommodate the tire when he iswalking around, like a regular
person.
And he probably landed on thatand nut shoots out.
But it kind of makes sense.
he's gonna have to drain himselfafterwards, but Sure.
Yeah.

Adam (34:46):
the Writer Defense Award this episode, James.

James (34:49):
There you go.

PJ (34:50):
uh, congratulations.
Uh.

James (34:51):
Oh, no.

Adam (34:52):
well we get back to the hotel.
Matt and Bruce are there,shouldn't Matt be a little
curious where Scott is, it's10:00 PM Do you know where your
child is?

PJ (35:03):
Should, yes.
But is anyone surprised?
No.

James (35:08):
not a chance.
But again, that goes to thewhole, like is this actually his
kid?
No, probably not.
This is his nephew.

PJ (35:14):
So this actually then justifies tbo going ape shit to
like, you know, try and get himback.
'cause he is like, no, Matt'snot gonna care.

Adam (35:22):
So the phone rings one of my all time favorite moments in
the show The phone rings, Mattpicks up it's Miles Mayhem, and
I just love how he sounds onthis phone call.
Hello.
This is Miles Mayhem.
Would you be the leader of Mask
he's very polite, like, and I just thought it's like
he's trying to sell an extendedwarranty.

PJ (35:42):
That reading is so good.
Miles is having a great time.

James (35:45):
Yeah,

PJ (35:46):
Uh, question for you guys, how did Miles get through the
hotel's phone tree to get toMatt's room?

Adam (35:54):
I'm calling for Matt

James (35:55):
DoorDash.

Adam (35:55):
because you know, he probably stays under an assumed
name, right?

James (35:58):
Oh, of course.
I used to do it support for amajor network and I was privy to
the secret names in the mainaddress book for the company of
who's who.
I'm not gonna say who, but oneof them showed up as Chopper.
there, there's all kinds of likeweird names that people pick so

(36:18):
the people can't just hop in andjust go searching through

PJ (36:21):
I love the idea of Miles having to be like, excuse me.
I would like to speak to Mr.
Butts.
Mr.
Seymour Butts,

Adam (36:29):
so Matt's responses, you have a wrong number.
Like what kind of comeback isthat's the best the leader of
Mask has got is, Nope, wrongnumber.

PJ (36:39):
I really want Matt to put on a fake voice and be like, this
is Joe Tracker, the plumber.
Are you sure you have the rightnumber?

Adam (36:50):
Uh, well anyway, miles reveals that he knows Matt is
the leader of Mask and that hehas Scott and Scott pipes up in
the background, don't listen tohim, dad.
Scott is tough as nails.
then, miles lists his demands.
the first one is that thetracker fortune will henceforth
be devoted solely to Venom'suse.
I thought that's a strange wayto phrase that.

(37:11):
Like, how about gimme all yourmoney,

PJ (37:14):
I don't know if you guys thought this, I actually thought
Miles was saying that more forthe benefit of the rest of Venom
in the room.
Like I think he's trying tocommunicate Sly, you don't get
to blow this on weed.

James (37:25):
Basically,

PJ (37:27):
And what I love about it is you see Matt's face when they
get to the line about taking hisfortune away and he is so sad at
the of losing his fortune.

Adam (37:42):
It's the saddest I've ever seen him in the show.

James (37:44):
I can't wait my, my tears with a thousand dollars bills
anymore.
Why do I not?

Adam (37:47):
he thought Scott was dead in the Stard chariot episode,

PJ (37:50):
Yeah.

Adam (37:51):
the saddest Matt's ever been.

PJ (37:54):
Yes.

James (37:55):
Exactly.
his life has been built on hisfortune.
Not the kid who has been dumpedin his lap after the fact.
this is,

PJ (38:04):
Yeah.

James (38:04):
yeah,

Adam (38:05):
And then Miles doesn't even get to

PJ (38:07):
I,

Adam (38:07):
any of his other demands

PJ (38:09):
Yeah.
They cut the teeth up how muchwould you guys wanna hear what
those other demands are?

Adam (38:15):
why would the writer decide not to do that and then
do a, a, a cut to to t bobb?
Because I, it wouldn't take thatmuch unless they were running
short on time.
Like the episode was runninglong and they had to shave it
down.

James (38:27):
That might be what it is because I can absolutely see
them doing something like, haveyou ever seen the movie
Airheads?

Adam (38:32):
Yes.

James (38:33):
they're like, we're doing fake hostages.
And we are like, what demandsare we gonna have?
I don't know, a couple of,football helmets full of cottage
cheese, nude photos of B author,you know, that sort of thing.
And it's like, are those thedemands that he's actually
giving him?
Things like that super weirdthings that he knows he can't do
immediately, Or is theresomething else involved?

Adam (38:50):
And that great recipe for brownies, I heard you had Oh

James (38:55):
Basically,

Adam (38:56):
of whoever

James (38:56):
give me the recipe.

Adam (38:57):
on Thunder Hawk.
Love that thing.

James (39:00):
Give me the KFC recipe.

PJ (39:02):
I want my brothers in arms who are imprisoned wrongly
across the world to be releasedAsian, Dawn Liberty, Quebec
like.

James (39:13):
No, no.
Dear Asian Dawn.

Adam (39:19):
TEBAR busted to the hotel room.
then we just, you know, toBoulder Hill.
And, Matt is talking to, Gloriaand Dusty via the Big Brother
screen at Mask HQ there.
and he tells them to bring allthe masks, the secret data
files, the identities of all themask agents and the location of
Boulder Mountain.

PJ (39:40):
Omo, wanna take a beat on this for a second?
we're talking about exposing allof their ident, like everyone's
gonna get a target on theirback.

Adam (39:49):
I wanna bring up here.
Like we didn't actually hear allall of Miles's demands, right?
We can assume that these are hisdemands, but what if they're
not?
And Matt's just asking for allthis stuff, like Miles are gonna
sweep the deal.
What if you keep Scott and Ithrow in the identity of all the

(40:11):
mask agents?

James (40:14):
And let me keep my money.

Adam (40:16):
Yeah.

James (40:16):
That's it.

Adam (40:17):
Just let me keep the money.
What about the kid?
No, no, no.
That's fine.
I'm throwing him in with thedeal.
T Bobb points out the obvious.
If you give venom all thatstuff, it'll be the end of mask.
Okay, thanks, captain.
Obvious, but also that's whatI'm talking about when I mean
stakes.
In previous episodes, when he'scarving his face on the statues

(40:39):
of the statues on Easter Island,and I'm saying we need some real
stakes.
In an episode of Mask, we'recooking with gas.

PJ (40:46):
Yeah.

Adam (40:47):
Matt says they need to learn more about the crystal
skull, and so they go find,Colonel Sanders.
Dr.
Crowley, as we find out his namefrom the auction, explains that
if he had won the auction, hewould've returned the skull to
the ground.
And his quote is, it came to usat the wrong time.
The world is not ready for thepowers of the crystal skull.

(41:07):
Would the world ever have beenready for it?
But anyways.
He says, he says it's gotta bedestroyed.
'cause the only way to destroyit is, to look into its mirror
image.
And at the moment ofdestruction, all knowledge
gained with it is erased fromthe mind of anyone who looked
through it.
So that's a clever way to reseteverything at the end of the
episode.
Like James, you pointed out,that's kinda like in the Bible
of the show, right?

(41:27):
You've always gotta wrap thingsup at the end, just the way they
were.
but also reinforcing, his statusas the doctor exposition of the
episode.

PJ (41:35):
Yeah.
a couple things though.
I feel like need to hold on thisbeat because there's a hidden
implication here that this isnot the first crystal skull.
Right?

Adam (41:45):
In fact, aren't there a bunch of

PJ (41:46):
Like otherwise, how would,

Adam (41:48):
in his office there?

PJ (41:48):
but I mean, how would you know about what would happen
that comes about from destroyingit if there hadn't already been
some example here,

Adam (41:56):
point.

PJ (41:56):
what else could the crystal skull do?

James (41:59):
So it's possible that the reason they know all this stuff
is not because they've had,research or anything on it.
It's possible that someone foundthe super secret manual, from
the mind civilization that foundall this stuff in the first
place.
And because they've gottatranslate it from Alien to my

(42:19):
end to English.
a thousand different things gotmixed up and convoluted along
the way.
It's like you convert somethingfrom PDF to Word, it's gonna
blow up a thousand differentthings.
do you really want to trust thistranslation?
sometimes you get details,right?
Sometimes you get screwed up

Adam (42:33):
Can we also hit on this point too about All Knowledge
Gained is a race from the mindof anyone who looked through it,
like, who looked through itActually in this episode.

James (42:43):
Yeah.

PJ (42:44):
so what we've seen so far is Miles and Sly have looked
through it, I imagine Miles toldCliff and Sly about Matt's
identity.
So I had this question like, arewe like it?
it so that it curses you to loseany knowledge obtained by

(43:04):
looking through it eitherdirectly or indirectly,

Adam (43:07):
yeah.
Like is it?
Yeah.
So like the second you put thecrystal skull on, from that
moment forward, it appears atthe end of the episode that they
lose all memory of anything thathappened.
'cause miles like, what's goingon here?
What are we doing here?
as we'll find out in a fewmoments, right?

PJ (43:22):
right?

Adam (43:23):
So some fuzzy logic going on here.

PJ (43:26):
And do you guys think Cliff was just too dumb to remember?
I mean, he must have sold likeCliff.
We're, we're calling, MattTracker, who's the leader of
Best.
Okay.

Adam (43:37):
don't know.
No matre, huh?

James (43:39):
Or at the end of the episode, miles is like, what the
hell were we doing out here withthis billionaire, And Cliff and
LY are both like, dude, you toldus to go capture this guy
because he's a head of mask.
And he is like, what are younuts?
That's ridiculous.
That's like saying Bruce, whenhis Batman, nah.

Adam (43:53):
I love that.

PJ (43:55):
That fits with the mo we've seen from Miles and how he
treats them.

Adam (43:59):
who told him miles,

PJ (44:00):
Yeah.

Adam (44:01):
Matt Tracker was the head of mass.
Like, shut up, you dunderhead.
All right.
Well, gathers the team.
the deal is he's gotta meetmiles alone on the Golden Gate
Bridge at Dawn, very romantic.
Um, they need to figure out howto destroy the skull, and he
says The very existence of maskdepends on this, and again,

(44:22):
great stakes.

PJ (44:24):
I thought this would've been an amazing two part episode to
draw, because the thing I reallyhate is that so much stuff is
going amazingly, right?
This episode, and I just wantmore of it.
I want the conversation wherethe mask team members say, like
Hondo is like, look, I can geton that bridge and take miles

(44:46):
out from behind.
it's an us or them situation.
There's some real heavy stuffhere.
And drawing it out, bringingsome stuff, I mean

Adam (44:54):
Well to your point, I mean, didn't know what the true
stakes were he called the team.
Right.
So that's why only Gloria andDusty are assembled.
But this is an all hands on decktype of operation.
Like, you know that that jet can

PJ (45:09):
Yeah.

Adam (45:09):
fast.
You might as well go back andget the rest of the team.

PJ (45:12):
Well they haven't come out yet, right?
Well, they had they, becausethey had to tell them at Boulder
Hill to go pack up the masks.

James (45:17):
Even if you gotta dig up there with a scissor lift,
forklift or something and graball this stuff and dig it out,
you're still not talking morethan like.
An hour or two to get everythingtogether.
You know, you gotta download allthis stuff to the disc.
Okay, fine.
Done.
End of story.
you pack everything into aspecial container.
Okay, fine.
but you're talking like maybe

Adam (45:34):
Mm-hmm.

James (45:35):
or two worth of work, and then you hop on the jet, which I
never understood where theystored that damn thing.
Like, is it in the mountain?
Is it below the mountain?

PJ (45:43):
It's stored in the mountain right next to Airwolf.

James (45:45):
sure.

Adam (45:47):
it's all one team.
in this conversation, by theway, about the very existence of
masks depends on this.
And what are they gonna do aboutthe bridge?
'cause Miles told Matt, he hasto be alone.
Bruce comes out with this gem.
you can be alone yet not alone.
I wanna strangle him.
Like, yes, Bruce.
That's the whole point, man.

PJ (46:07):
Oh,

Adam (46:08):
mean, it's hardly even a Sodom, it's just like

PJ (46:11):
really is.

Adam (46:11):
that he said, like, Hmm.
Dusty says perhaps you can saysomething.
I understand someday.
So right off the bat, boom.
Nice Buddy Hawks nominee there.

PJ (46:20):
We were, were doing so well, dusty.
We were almost Buddy Hawks freethis episode.

Adam (46:26):
it's great, I mean this is actually classic mask stuff
'cause we have a Sodom, we havea Buddy Hawks nominee and here
now we have a matte leap inlogic because for some reason
he's able to jump to theconclusion that t Bobb would go
unnoticed by venom and thereforecould be modified to help in
this situation.

James (46:46):
What the hell, Matt?
That's not,

Adam (46:48):
sly just saw t Bobb when he kidnapped Scott because he,

James (46:51):
yeah.

Adam (46:52):
for sure he's involved somehow.
'cause he tried to save Scottand he kicked him in the face
and shot lasers at him.
So Sly would be like, Hey, thatrobot is in on it.
We maybe shouldn't have himaround.

PJ (47:04):
Okay, but maybe that actually works in the favor,
because now Sly thinks thisguy's a pushover

Adam (47:11):
Okay, well now you get the Writer's

PJ (47:13):
and

Adam (47:14):
defense Award.

PJ (47:14):
well, I'll prove it out in a second.
When we get the next ragdoll, I.

Adam (47:19):
it's Dawn Golden Gate Bridge Mask gets into position
and Matt and t Bobb wait forVenom.
And then, venom arrives fanfarelike they're firing lasers and
for the heck of it, switchbladessprays, you know, fog all
around.
Matt actually offers to throwTbo in with the deal.

(47:40):
I thought it'd be hilarious ifMiles was like, nah, it's okay.
I don't want that thing.

PJ (47:46):
A robot has always fuck shit up for me.
You keep it, huh?

James (47:50):
I don't have.

Adam (47:53):
miles lifts up the skull to make sure that Matt brought
all the masks.
And then in that moment, T Bobbuses his Inspector Gadget arms
and pulls Scott and the skullaway from Venom.
And I'm like, that was the bigplan after all this, after all
the great stakes in thisepisode.
That's what she came up with.
All right.

James (48:15):
I mean,

Adam (48:15):
knocks miles and cliff down with like the cart full of
masks and then, t Bobb gets someserious revenge against Sly by
ramming him square in the chest.

James (48:24):
yeah, you look and you're like, okay.
most of the time he's gettingthrown around and that's one,
that's one thing.
But you get hit square in thechest.
without any kind of protectivearmor you're asking for.
That's like, there's a reasonthey, they call, they, they have
like the instant death punchrumor, you know?
That's, that's, that'sdefinitely a thing.
You can actually kill somebodyby put them directly in the

(48:46):
chest like that.
It's funny, it's funny as hell,but oh my god, you're going to
kill that man.

Adam (48:53):
it's, it's a

PJ (48:54):
So,

Adam (48:54):
nominee

PJ (48:55):
yes, so.
I I wanna double down on yourstatement, James,'cause I did a
little bit of the math on this.
we've estimated TBOs about seven50

James (49:05):
Mm-hmm.

PJ (49:05):
assuming he was running at 10 miles per hour, which I think
is reasonable,

James (49:10):
Yeah.

PJ (49:10):
then that is like 2000 pounds on slides chest.
He's dead.

James (49:17):
Like he got hit with a car going 60 miles an hour.
That's, or a truck straightforce right there.
Not even oof.

Adam (49:25):
Well, RIP sly, see you in a minute.
Matt grabs the crystal skull.
Scott calls the mask team tomove in, and we have our end of
episode mask, venom battle.
Matt starts climbing up one ofthe cables on the bridge for
some reason, which I was likethat, that's the best you got
Matt.
All right.
T bobb extends a mirror frominside his head, so that's the

(49:46):
big modification that was made.
Matt just holds the skull up tothe mirror and, the skull
explodes miles and venom, forgeteverything.

PJ (49:56):
So what's fun is that he is like, you know, I changed my
mind miles.
You can have it back.
And he tosses it like a grenadewhere it explodes in front of
miles and go.

Adam (50:07):
he didn't know if it was going to have a big explosion
but you could probably assumesomething bad was gonna happen.

James (50:13):
based on what the, physician was talking about, it
looks at itself and it'sdestroyed.
That just means it crumbles intodust or something.
I wouldn't have assumed massiveexplosion, but, I just don't
know.
Matt, Listen, just for the, Iknow you're in San Francisco, I
know you appreciate Herbie ridesagain, I love it too.
That doesn't mean you need toclimb up there and chase

(50:35):
whatever you're chasing rightnow, because this is not a
dream.
This is a real thing.
Your kid's at risk here.
What are you doing?

Adam (50:40):
I mean, there's so many other places he could have gone
than climbing up a cable on theGolden Gate Bridge.

PJ (50:46):
A hundred

James (50:46):
Thick as him.

Adam (50:47):
I know.

James (50:49):
Spiderman Now.

Adam (50:50):
I know.
And and they made it seem likevery, very thin.
Those cables are not that thinon the Golden Gate Bridge.
shark shows up fire, some firebolts at Venom, which sends them
running.
So we got them taken care of.
miles got off a shot of Viper,And melted the cable.
So now Matt falls over the sideof the bridge and

PJ (51:06):
Mm-hmm.

Adam (51:06):
on for dear life and the cable is about to break.
Classic.

PJ (51:11):
Hey, he's got his line.
Hey guys, I'm having a swing intime down here.

Adam (51:15):
Classic.
That's how he deals with histrauma.
we have a great moment too, TBSMirror extender, accidentally
gets caught on a switchbladeslanding bars and he gets carried
into the air and over AlcatrazTBO kind of saved the day here,
and now the writer is like,yeah, let's just toss'em in.
beat'em up a bit.

James (51:32):
But also it's like, you know, talking about real world
distances, that's not somethingthat's right next to each other
either.
And it's like, I know, I know.
I'm going way too real worldhere.

Adam (51:41):
we do here,

James (51:41):
But it's also like, you know,

PJ (51:42):
what we do.

James (51:44):
if Shark is firing from San Francisco Bay, there's a
reason that the Golden GateBridge is as high as it is, you
need to be able to fit up likeaircraft carriers underneath on
a regular basis.
there's also the fact thatAlcatraz is way the hell out
there.
theoretically you could swimthere.
Has it been done?
Maybe once or twice?
If he's really picking him upand dropping him somewhere, it's
likely to land in the Bay or,you know, on, on land or

(52:06):
something.
But it's like, guys, come on.

Adam (52:08):
just do a little research.
look at a map

James (52:10):
exactly,

Adam (52:11):
here.

James (52:11):
in the,

PJ (52:12):
people don't want to go to the rock.

James (52:16):
was the pom queen.
it's the thing that bothered meabout assault on Liberty as
well.
When they had everything at theStatue of Liberty.
first off, that whole subwaythey imagined between the statue
in New Jersey and New York.
that's a good idea.
That's never happened, and it'snever going to happen because
nobody wants that happening.

Adam (52:35):
right.

James (52:36):
Nobody wants that.
But also it's like the Statue ofLiberty is not like two seconds
away.
it's a big stretch.
the Statue of Libertytechnically is New Jersey.
It's just legally New York,

PJ (52:46):
far ahead.
Go ahead, go for it.

Adam (52:47):
and he is falling to his death and instead of lifter
being used or anything likethat, dusty uses the water hose
on Gator to break his fall.
I'd like to see the physics onthat one.
and now we get cut to the finalscene out nowhere.
We're in Alcatraz and they findtbo in a prison cell.
It looks more like a zoo to me,isn't it kinda like outdoors?

(53:09):
Like it doesn't seem likethey're inside Alcatraz at all,

PJ (53:12):
thank God we paid off that joke because T Bobb had
mentioned Alcatraz a few timesand this was the linchpin of the
episode right here.

Adam (53:19):
And that's it.
That's the end of the episode.
We cut to the more, you know,Scott and Tbo are in bed.
I mean, don't you think he justwould've plugged Tbo in and sort
of, he would go into standbymode at night,

James (53:31):
doesn't he need like to not be in pajamas because
there's tons of vents clearingout all the heat from his CPU or
something

Adam (53:37):
Well, they, uh, look out the window and they see some
people trying to steal a tirefrom a car in the street.
says he'll call the police, butthen it turns out they were only
trying to fix the tire.
Scott's lesson is, you shouldalways call the police.
Even if you're not sure anyone'sdoing anything wrong, it doesn't
hurt.
And my thought like, isn't thatlike swatting or doxing?

(53:57):
Like you should always call thepolice.
Like, okay,

James (54:02):
every Yeah, I just look at, I'm like, I saw that.
I'm like, what kind ofneighborhood are you living in
with This might actually Mightactually be happening, you know?

Adam (54:10):
Well, exactly.
If

James (54:11):
yes.
They might be.

Adam (54:12):
three in the morning, it's

James (54:15):
It's possible they're not going for the tire.
They're probably taking thecatalytic converter.

Adam (54:20):
Completely.

PJ (54:23):
Fixing a tire and boosting a tire looks remarkably the same.
depending on what part of theprocess you're in.
Both involve taking a tire offhowever involves putting it back
on.
So did you guys notice they saythey're gonna call the police,
but it doesn't seem like thenthey do

James (54:43):
Scott, what kind of neighborhood were you growing up
in?
Where you think you need to callthe, like, yes, you should call
the police, but how often isthis happening that TBO is
suspecting like, oh no, it'sjust somebody fixing their tire,
and you're just like, call thepolice now.

PJ (54:55):
When you're in a gated community, like Scott is

Adam (54:58):
not even

PJ (54:58):
like,

Adam (54:59):
It's the gated mansion grounds like, and also

PJ (55:02):
that's true.

Adam (55:03):
exposure to the police because he's got Matt who has a
vigilante team.
It's more like, you know, call,mask and condor comes

James (55:15):
It is like, Scott, maybe may

Adam (55:16):
rays at these poor kids trying to fix a tire

James (55:20):
you just killed your friend.
he was just fixing his tire.
He was on my property.
he shouldn't be here.

Adam (55:26):
have any

James (55:27):
He's not the right kind of person for my property.

Adam (55:29):
All right, well, then

James (55:30):
it's like, whoa, guys.

Adam (55:32):
shall we go to the awards?
any thoughts on Father of the

PJ (55:37):
Let's do it.

Adam (55:38):
James, you first.

James (55:39):
I was trying to find some other thing, but I think the big
one right off the bat was theobvious.
he lets him out of the car, thetop secret, safe car that's
designed to let someone fly andnot drop them when they fly
around.
I would trust someone a lot morein that car during a battle than

(55:59):
not, but then I'm also like,what about, on the bridge, he is
just leading, letting, lettinghim sit there and he is like,
okay, we're, we'll, we'll he's,he's all the material, you know,
you know, and we think, eh, isit for, is it for him or just
for his fortune?
You know, which one is it

Adam (56:15):
And he doesn't say anything like, you sent Scott
over and I'll send the stuff.
look, I've

James (56:20):
exactly?

Adam (56:20):
on that.
I think leaving him alone in SanFrancisco in the mid eighties is
the father of the year.

PJ (56:25):
A hundred percent.

Adam (56:26):
buddy

PJ (56:27):
percent.

Adam (56:28):
What do we think?

PJ (56:30):
sadly it's dusty.
We've gotta make fun of Bruceafter Aism.

Adam (56:33):
yeah,

PJ (56:34):
it's just

Adam (56:34):
the thing is it actually wasn't very confusing at all.
Perhaps you can be alone yet.
Not alone.
Like, yep.
I clock, I know exactly what youmean, So Dusty is clearly just
trying to rub it in dust in

James (56:49):
So my siblings and I I'm the oldest of 10 kids

Adam (56:52):
10,

James (56:52):
Yeah, so we all grew up watching repeats of mask and all
sorts of other cartoons as theoldest, my tastes kind of
dribbled down to the rest of thekids as well.
We all like Star Trek.
We all like, you know, mask.
We all like, you know, thingslike that.
So we were talking at one pointand we're like, you know, dusty
Hayes is a stupid hick.

(57:13):
And like my sister says that,I'm like, oh my God, you're
right.
He really is.
He really like, and they don'teven hide how,

Adam (57:21):
Yeah.

James (57:21):
he, how much of a, I hate to say stupid Hickey is, it's
like he's just he's there to bethe audience stand in to say,
okay, you know, like someone hasto say the stupid thing.
Here we go, dusty.

Adam (57:32):
and they lean into that trope so hard in this show that
it's almost like, a Buddy HawksAward just for this portrayal
of,

James (57:42):
Mm-hmm.

PJ (57:42):
yeah,

Adam (57:42):
quote

PJ (57:43):
yeah, a hundred percent.

Adam (57:45):
All right.
Well,

James (57:45):
Yeah.

Adam (57:46):
on another Buddy Hawks Award.
sly Rack's Ragdoll Award.
What do you think, James?

James (57:51):
I gotta give it to the 2000 pounds.
of force slamming into hischest.
there is no way, you're walkingaway from that unless you've got
like, some kind of super, or yougot like a, even if like some
kind of armor on you, you'rereally gonna be walking away
from that with a heart attack orsomething.
you're going to the hospital.
It's just a question of howfast,

Adam (58:08):
Agreed.

PJ (58:09):
A hundred percent.

Adam (58:11):
but that kind of actually also then dovetails in maybe to
the Roy Batty Award for theepisode.
pj, what do you think?

PJ (58:18):
I think we have a weird double award here where it's
also T BP crushing his chestcavity with his head.
Like, this isn't even like,you're pissed off.
It's like, no, I'm.
pushing your eyes into yourskull now like this is Roy
Batty.
He wanted revenge.
You kicked me in the face.
You blew me up.
Guess what?
Your chest is gone now,

James (58:38):
Try insulting me when you don't have a heart anymore,
asshole.

Adam (58:43):
Love it.
and then finally, is thisepisode Panda Poo?

James (58:47):
Honestly, this is a great episode.
It should have been atwo-parter.
it should have been expanded alot.
if you put this as episode 65and then you had the racing
series.
It makes a lot more sense inthat case.
It makes so much, it's like,okay, that's when they figured
this out.
We have to do some backstory andtransition between that.
But it makes it, you're going inwith a lot more built up that

(59:09):
way.
instead of just like yesterday.
They don't know anything today.
They know everything.
What's going on, you know?

PJ (59:15):
A hundred percent.
I could not agree more.
I mean, this episode for me goesup there with one of our great
ones.
I think this becomes one of thefour great ones where it's like
we've talked about

Adam (59:25):
well,

PJ (59:25):
go ahead.

Adam (59:26):
I agree with both of you.
These are the best stakes we'vehad in an episode that aren't
over the top bond villain esquestakes, like pulling a comet
down.

PJ (59:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Adam (59:36):
episode though, I mean, there's a mask battle at the
end, but it's kind of missing alot of the use of masks, A lot
of the, you know, vehicles likethe Transforming, which is,
remember this is a show based ontoys that transform into other
vehicles, you know, and thenmatched with powers.

(59:57):
And we don't have a lot of it inthis episode.
So while the stakes andunderlying like concept for the
episode is are, are strong, theparts us, kids playing with our
toys, like what's theinspiration for playing with our
toys in this episode?
There's not a lot of it inthere.

PJ (01:00:12):
Yeah.
I think I'll, I'm gonna doubledown on James's thought here,
and if we combine all this stufftogether, like the Construc
cons, This should have been atwo part episode.
You lay it at the very end ofthe series and what it ends up
with should be an all out maskvenom battle.
take every single character thatwe have seen, and it is the,

(01:00:34):
hey, we're going at it now.
then it ties directly into theracing series.
I think it would work amazinglywell.
So again, I think it's and wewant more.

Adam (01:00:44):
James, it has been so much fun having you on the

PJ (01:00:49):
I

Adam (01:00:49):
I hope you had as much fun as we did.

James (01:00:51):
Absolutely.
This was amazing.
I really hope you guys are ableto invite me back at some point
because I really do want to keepthis going, you know?

Adam (01:00:59):
Somewhere

PJ (01:01:00):
I.

Adam (01:01:01):
and pick a handful and we'll get you on.
Man, this was so much fun.
it's always great to meetsomeone who's like one of us who
watched the same stuff growingup, who quotes the same stuff
the way we do.
Like a fellow brother in armshere, man.

PJ (01:01:13):
Yes.

James (01:01:14):
This has been the dream tree, basically.
Yes.
Thank you.

PJ (01:01:17):
James, so great to have you on.

Adam (01:01:19):
well, now we're gonna turn to, episode, 41.
next week will be stop motionVenom obtains an EMP

James (01:01:26):
Ooh,

Adam (01:01:26):
and threatens to loot bank vaults across the country by
knocking out all electronics formiles around.
Now we're talking

PJ (01:01:33):
Yeah, I

James (01:01:34):
yeah.

PJ (01:01:34):
keep on the stakes and doing it right.
I do have a bet for you for nextepisode, Adam.
There's gonna be nine words thatwill make you say, wait, what
was just said,

James (01:01:46):
Oh no,

PJ (01:01:47):
I encourage you guys to watch it today to see what I'm
talking about.

Adam (01:01:50):
well, uh, looking forward to that one.
But for now, this podcast has totransform and head back to hq.
I'm Adam Moore.

PJ (01:01:58):
And I am PJ McNerney.

James (01:02:00):
and I'm James Riley.

PJ (01:02:02):
Bye-bye.
The mobile armored podcast showis written, produced and edited.
Bye Adam Moore.
And PJ McNerney.