So this may (not) come as a surprise to you but I loooove me some comic books. Long before I was a hardcore action figure collector and customizer I was an avid coming book collector. I worked at a LCS (Crush Comics in Castro Valley, CA) for a couple years and bought books every single Wednesday for about a solid decade before I finally gave it up. Reason for that are in my previous "No More Comics..." article that I wrote several years ago. But, despite that, I still love 'em, and from time to time I'll pick up a few key bronze/copper age books that I want to have in my collection. Call me old fashioned but I try to stick with that era of comics because the hype over this modern stuff is, in my opinion, redonkulous. All this hype over virgin variant, 1:50 store incentive, exclusive-to-one-store covers is just silly. Do we not remember the 90s!? Do we not remember the 13 variants of Gen 13 #1 that everyone was dying for in 1994 and that are now worth less than they were then? A lot of these books are shipped straight from the store shelf (or maybe even the supplier), directly to these grading companies and we're supposed to be shocked and awed when they come back 9.8s? Or, we're supposed to spend top dollar for a book that shares that treasured 9.8 grade with literally thousands of other copies? I prefer to spend my money on the older stuff. The stuff that will retain its value and has a cool history to it. The stuff that's actually rare because people just tossed them out or threw them in a box. Not books that are basically manufactured to be "rare". That's essentially printing money and there's a moral grey area there that I'm not a fan of. Anywho, I got distracted there. Back to the main reason for this long ass post. So, I was doing some googling a while back for grading guidelines, because I was looking to buy some raw books online and I wanted to see what the potential grades may be based on the flaws that I could see in the photos. I stumbled upon this year old CGC forum post where a member was questioning why CGC trimmed down their grading standards to vague, one sentence descriptions for each grading tier. As the internet does, several other members came to CGC's rescue and defended their practice saying thing like, their standards are proprietary and even comparing it to Coke's secrete recipe. Now, I have this love/hate relationship with these grading companies. I find the whole thing a bit suspicious and I hate how it's inflated the market and treats everything that's not a 9.8 like trash. But, I do find it necessary for online sales. I've been hosed more than a couple times buying raw "NM" books only to get them in hand and realize they're VF at best. So I get it. They're like this necessary evil with the bonus of making your comics look real purty on the wall. So after reading through everyone's post, and despite this whole discussion being a year old, I thought I'd chime in. "But wait a minute", you might be saying. "I clicked that there link and there ain't no Supertom post!" Well, well my astute friend, it happened to be the first time I posted to the CGC forums which means a moderator needs to approve it before it's published. So, I wrote out this long winded rant of sorts and threw it out there and kinda forgot about it...until now. Today, I was googling once again, this time for information about old CGC labels, and I find another forum link. I click on it, and I'm greeted with this lil' diddy: I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say the moderator did not approve my post! LOL. I think I may have struck a nerve! Thankfully, I'm a frikin' genius and I copied the whole thing to a google doc because I had a feeling they'd be sensitive Sally's about this. So here it is in all its ban-worthy glory.
Ok, so maybe I was a little salty while writing that but despite my intentional snarkyness and hyperbole, I think I brought up some valid points. I reached out to them to see if this was in fact the reason I was banned and sure enough, this was their response,
Now, I don't really care that I was banned. I can still sign out and read through the forums to my hearts content. I just can't share my thoughtful and well crafted ramblings anymore. I don't think what I said was overly mean or crude. My comments were no more "unfounded" than the ones praising their lack of transparency. If they were completely unfounded, then there should be simple responses that would quickly shut me up, right? But, they didn't give anyone the chance to make such a retort. They just flat out banned me without notification. What I find interesting is you'd be hard pressed to find ANYTHING online, other then maybe some random comments on IG or YouTube, that brings these company practices into question. Even the big name YouTubers will briefly cover some of their questionable practices, but then end the discussion with "but I'm not gonna stop submitting books to them" or "but I still really like them".
So what say ye? Did I cross a line trying to post that? Should I just shut up and accept the fate of the comic industry and enjoy my raw books even though they're mostly trash tier 9.2s? Or should we start to look a bit deeper into what these companies are really after and how they're effecting the market. I'll leave you with these final thoughts. Why would they ban me for something like that? What harm could possibly come from my incredibly witty yet "disparaging" words? Are they worried what might happen if someone did really start to investigate their practices? I mean like some Morgan Spurlock type shit (seriously if anyone has his number hit me up). What if someone discovered something that proved these companies weren't totally on the up-and-up? Could it be that if there was even a sliver of doubt that made people second guess the validity of their grading, it could potentially cripple the comic book market, send big name auction houses into a downward spiral and decrease the value of some collections by tens of thousands of dollars? Hell, I donno. I'm still gonna send some books to CBCS though. I like their new case.
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As mentioned in the previous post, my co-host and I did in depth coverage of the incredible TV show LOST. But as the show wrapped up, fans were still yearning for answers to many of the shows mysteries. Well the 2 Bit guys were ready. We created the article below to not only tie up several of the "loose threads" but also shut up all the haters who for whatever reason, watched over 120 hours of show just to talk about how much they hated it. So whether you're a long time fan of the show or just finishing your first watch-though, this article is for you! Did the series finale of Lost leave you wanting a bit more? Still have questions about the Others, Dharma, or Smokey? Well fear not, the 2bit guys have you covered! We've created a LONG list of answers to anything and everything left dangling in the Lost universe.
These are our answers that we have come up with using information that was given to us through the show (or any of the offshoot websites created by the writers). The great thing about Lost is the more effort you put into it, the greater your return and enjoyment. So lucky for you, we've done all the work. Enjoy. The Food Drop – The food palate was necessary for the person pushing the button in the Swan hatch. While the experiment was disbanded, presumably in 1987 when the Hanso foundation stopped funding Dharma, it was still necessary for someone to push the button every 108 minutes to prevent the release of the EM energy. First we had Radzinski stuck down there until Kelvin was taken from the US military and tricked into joining Dharma. Then Desmond wrecked on the island and Kelvin tricked him into taking over his job. In order for these people to survive without leaving the Hatch for extended periods of time their food had to be delivered. It could have been an automated thing where it dropped every 3 months or it could have been controlled from the Pearl or the Flame Hatch. (Side note: this was further proven in a special scene found only in the Blu Ray box set!) Waaaaaaalt! - We all knew Walt was special. We also knew Hurley, Miles, and Desmond were special. And that's just it. They were born with special abilities. If you were looking for an origin story about how Walt was struck by radiation while saving an old man from an exploding factory, well then you're shit out of luck. Why did the Others make such a big deal about Walt? - We were given a clue in Season 6: What They Died For. While Ben was describing his secret, secret closet, "That's where I could summon the monster. Only now I realize that he was summoning me". Ever since the point when Ben saw his dead mother he, just like Locke, was being used by MIB to achieve his main goal, to kill all possible candidates. This explains the Dharma purge, kidnapping Alex, kicking Widmore off the island etc. MIB could have also given Ben the mysterious list with our candidate’s names, Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, and Kate. This set in motion the raft kidnapping and the amazing Henry Gale story arc. The Other’s, along with the audience, were lead to believe that Walt was extra special when really Ben, under the influence of MIB, was simply using Walt, along with Michael's uncontrollable rage, to get to our 4 candidates into place. I'm sure MIB was hoping Ben would kill them right then and there, the only problem is that once the candidates were in custody of the Others, people like Juliette and situations like Ben's tumor operation steered them in a different directions leading to their escape/survival. So that's it, Walt was special, but no more special than the other people with powers. He like so many others that came to the island, was simply another pawn. What about Walt appearing back on the Island? - It's also possible that because of Walt's powers he was able to project himself back on island to Locke, Shannon and Sayid, to try and help them in a way. This could have been something involuntary since it never seems like Walt was able to control, or even aware that he had powers to begin with. Was Aaron special? - Aaron was never really special besides the fact that he was the first baby born on the island since Dharma was there in the 70's. Which leads me to... The baby problem - We know that children could be born on the island in the 70's. Ethan was born on the island. Miles and Charlotte were born on the island. But then the incident happened and it could have thrown off the balance of electromagnetic fields that surround the island. We know that the island had the power to heal (Locke's paralysis, Roses tumor, etc.). So, what if the down side to that is the powerful EM waves supercharged the fetuses to the point that they were essentially a parasite within the womb drawing out all nutrients consequently killing both mother and child? This is just one reason why we can assume that children are so important to the island. One, because very few children were ever on the island, and two, because we now know after "Across the Sea" that Jacob and MIB were born on the island. So, legends may have been passed down and people could have been led to believe that the next child that came to the island was automatically a candidate. This explains why Aaron was so important to the others. Ethan was never trying to hurt Claire or Aaron, he was simply making sure that the pregnancy went as planned. Why did the Others seem like they had super strength in Season 1? - One, because it was scary to think there was some race of super humans on the island. Two, we really only saw Ethan hang Charlie from a tree. I'm sure Ethan had some extra muscles from marching around a jungle his whole life. Also, hobbits only weight like 40lbs. What was the point of Dharma - Many people believe that the entirety of the Dharma story line was pointless and "filler". Well think about this. Without Dharma, there would have never been a scientific presence on the island. Without the scientists, there would have never been the incident, without the incident there would have never been a hatch, without the hatch there would have never been Desmond, without Desmond flight 815 would have never crash landed on the island. No crash, no survivors, no story. What’s up with the Numbers? - The numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) were basically an equation created by a Princeton University mathematician Enzo Valenzetti which “predicts the exact number of years and months until humanity extinguishes itself.” Dharma’s task was to find a way to change the equation which in turn would save the planet. They thought they could change the values by manipulating the environment, e.g. bringing polar bears to a tropical island, harnessing EM energy, etc. This also explains why they used that specific serial number for the Swan hatch. It just so happens that Jacob "had a thing for numbers" and he wrote every candidate’s name next to a degree marker on the lighthouse wheel. He could turn the wheel to their number and watch their lives, past, present and future (total Voyeur). So, it's possible to infer that Jacob had somehow influenced Valenzetti and "helped" him create the equation. I like to think that our 6 candidates were a key part to that equation as they were basically tasked to kill Smokey and save the world. Also, we know that Kate wasn’t in the equation but she was still assigned a number (51) meaning that she was still important to the overall fate of the world. We saw that conclusion as she is the one that ended up shooting MIB and saving Jack. We also know that Faraday spoke of variables and how we as humans are unpredictable and we have the power to change fate. Well Desmond was that variable in the equation. Without him there would have been no way to depower Smokey in the first place. We can also guess that the numbers made Hurley's mental patient buddy crazy because he followed the transmission and entered the islands "force field" at the wrong coordinates making him nuts just like Minkowski on the freighter. It may have been to a lesser extent since he didn’t die shortly thereafter. Hurley’s bad luck was nothing more than his own superstitious explanation for the terrible chain of events that lead him to the island. Much like Jack and how he had to overcome his complete lack of faith, Hurley had to overcome his self doubt and insecurity to ultimately become the protector of the island. The Swan Hatch/H-Bomb Explosion - For almost all of season 6 we were led to believe that Juliette's sacrifice to detonate the H-Bomb is what caused the Flash Sideways. Well we were wrong. The first thing that the H-Bomb did was transport our Losties back to their correct timeline. Secondly, and the biggest effect of the explosion was given to us in the title of season 5's finale, The Incident. We never wanted to believe it but through a strange twist of time and fate our Losties caused the very incident that led up to the very reason that they crashed on the island in the first place. Sad to say, but Faraday was wrong, what happened, happened and there is no way to change that. Jack said it to Desmond just before he was lowered into the Source in The End. “There are no do-overs, there are no second chances”. We were also led to believe by Juliette that, “It worked”. When really she had already crossed over and she was speaking to James about unplugging the vending machine. Tricky and brilliant writing. The Flash Sideways - Some call it purgatory, others call it Gehenna. Kratos would call it Hades. The point is it's whatever your spiritual beliefs may be will change your definition of what the Flash Sideways actually was. The complete and total explanation was given to us by Christian in the church. Essentially, the time that our Losties spent on the island was the most important time of their lives. They grew as individuals, became better people and in the end saved the world from unspeakable evil. Because of the strong bond that these people formed, they created this point in space (not time) to meet up with one another one last time. If you want to try and rationalize it even further, it is possible that the explosion of the H-Bomb somehow gave each of them the ability to create this form of purgatory. But it seems like this was a place for everyone, not just our main characters. The theme of "live together, die alone" was strong throughout all six seasons of lost. In the end we got to see that while each of our characters may have died at different times and places, they were able to "move on" together and none of them had to do it alone. The thought of that is pretty powerful. Why was the island at the bottom of the ocean in the Flash Sideways? - Since they all created this place together, they created it as a place where fate could bring them together without the influence of the island. The Others - The original Others, lead by Richard, were meant to exist on the island so Jacob could prove to MIB that not all people were corruptible. For centuries Jacob took a hands-off approach to controlling MIB but once Richard came along he found a way to spread his influence without directly manipulating people. While Jacob’s point was not necessarily made-- since many people fought and died on island-- the Others, for the most part, were able to live a peaceful existence for hundreds of years. Then we saw a US Army group stumble upon the island in the 1940’s who were led by Chucky Widmore. Then along came Dharma with Ben, a sweet little boy who loved to bring prisoners sandwiches. Ben kicked out Widmore, killed all of Dharma and took control of the Others. His life was severely changed at the point when he was shot and taken to the temple. We have to assume that Ben was put in the temple pool and healed. Richard said that, he would never be the same. He will “lose his innocence”. It's possible that the water from the pool and the water from the source are directly related. We know from MIB that if you die and are thrown in the source, you become a pure form of evil (more on that later). So, it's not much of stretch to believe that bathing in the temple water, while it may heal you, strips away your goodness and tips your scale to the dark side. We saw this with Sayid at the beginning of Season 6. Which leads us to... Get up, come on get down with “The Sickness” - This was always a confusing topic from the moment Danielle spoke of it in Season 1. We saw her French expedition team go nuts, Claire forget to rinse and repeat and finally Sayid come back to life and walk around like an emo-zombie. Dogun's interpretation of the sickness was that the person had been "claimed". He also spoke of people’s inner scale and how some people can be tipped in the wrong direction. So, it's easy to assume that the sickness was basically Smokey's ability to persuade people to the dark side. But this doesn’t mean that it is permanent or that these people become mindless followers of MIB. It just means that their scale has been tipped. This doesn’t happen to everyone who comes in contact with Smokey as we were led to believe in Season 6 episode, "The Candidate." Only people left with self doubt and guilt over their pasts can be easily persuaded. Sayid was always trying to make amends for his terrible torturing past; Claire was left alone on the island, angry with the people that abandoned her, and the handful of Others that followed MIB around were lost and looking for leadership. But people with strong will power and a true heart of good cannot be so easily persuaded. We can see this as Sawyer and Kate never meant or wanted to follow MIB. This also can be seen from just about every other person that came in contact with Smokey. Jack, Hurley, Sun and Richard all believed heavily in doing the right thing, so in turn they could not be persuaded to the dark side. Ben is interesting because he flipped flopped several times throughout his time on the island. As a child he was pure and good, but once he entered the Temple pool his scale was tipped. When he felt that Jacob used him his entire life (when it was really MIB) and he killed him, he REALLY tipped. But when he felt that all was lost and there was no place to go, Ilana accepted him and he found that there was still a bit of light. At the end he found his ultimate purpose in being Hurley's number 2. A couple hundred years with that guy and you can't help but be a pretty good dude. What is “The Source"? - The source was explained in both a scientific way and a spiritual way. In order to understand it you have to be open to both ways of thinking. MIB said to Desmond that there were pockets of this energy all over the island. The biggest that we saw were of course, the Orchid (aka the Donkey Wheel), the Swan, and the heart of the island, the Source. Each source had a different level of power. Marvin Candle spoke of the Orchid and how it was an electromagnetic collection of matter that created what was essentially a worm hole. Faraday spoke about the Swan hatch and how it was 30,000 times more powerful than the Orchid. We know that the Orchid, when controlled, can transport people across the world and through time. Uncontrolled it turned the island into a skipping record, bouncing it all over the when and where. We also know that the Swan hatch, which was much more powerful, jumped our Losties back to their correct timeline and also, when fully released, gave Desmond Cosmic Awareness and the ability to jump his consciousness through time (and plains of existence). It is also possible that the H-Bomb explosion tore a hole in space and gave everyone the ability to create the Sideways Purgatory before they moved on. Now the Source, or Tunnel, or waterfall could have been exponentially more powerful than any other pocket on the island. It was a manifestation of “life, death, and rebirth”. How else could a woman who lived on an island around 2000 years ago explain such a powerful energy? But this is where you have to tap into your spiritual side. This was the heart of the island and possibly the world. Everyone had a little bit of this light within them. Martial artists might call it your chi, others might call it your soul. If that light goes out, everyone would end up tipping to the dark side and we'd have a whole world of Zombie Sayids, and crazy haired Claires. The phrase, “Heart of the Island” was used for a reason. A heart has arteries and veins that connect throughout your body so your organs and muscles function keeping you alive. The island isn’t much different. It’s safe to say that the different pockets of energy and water were all connected through these “arteries”. This explains why the temple pool was so magical and how the donkey wheel used water as its power source. What the F is the Smoke Monster? - So how exactly was the smoke monster created and why weren’t Desmond and Jack also turned into monsters? While we won’t ever know the exact explanation, we do know that there were fundamental differences in the way that MIB entered the source and the way that Desmond and Jack entered the source. MIB, who had already joined the darkside by killing his step mother, was knocked unconscious and the fall into the source probably killed him. So maybe the instant that his dark soul was leaving his body combined with the powerful source of energy created a monster. Mother also stated that entering the light is forbidden and it will cause a fate “worse that death”. Entering something as powerful and important as the Source there are bound to be consequences. Just like the Ark in Indiana Jones, some things are just too great for mere humans to handle. Desmond already had the unique resistance to the light which is why he was brought back to the island by Jacob in the first place. Without him Smokey would have never become depowered and vulnerable. Jack on the other hand never entered the light until he put the cork back in. But because he was still alive, the light simply transported him away just like it did with MIB's body. What is the Island? - To quote one of the greatest movies in our lifetime, Joe Dirt, “Might as well ask why is a tree good? Why is a sunset good? Why are boobs good?” They just are. Ok seriously. We know from "Across the Sea" that Jacob and MIB were not the first to the island. We also were given several clues (the hieroglyphics, the 4 toed statue, crazy Aztec looking temples, etc.) that many, many people have come and gone from this island over thousands of years. We know the island moves so it’s very possible that civilizations from around the world and throughout time stumbled upon this magical chunk of land. This island has and always will (as long as the light still shines) exist. To ask what the island is, is to ask how the world was created. There are other places similar to the island all over the world. Rose visited one in Australia in “S.O.S.” to try and heal her tumor. We just know that the island is far more powerful and unique. It's also worth noting that in the story that we were given there were a lot of mysteries. Very few of those mysteries were directly related to the island. The hatches, the temple, the numbers, the rules, many of them were related to all of the thousands and thousands of people who have visited the island through the history of civilization. This story was never about this giant floating rock, it was about this large group of people, starting with Jacob and MIB and ending with Hurley and Ben. Still confused? Here are a few lesser and sometimes ridiculous questions that people are still having a tough time understanding. Read on, true believers… Why did Desmond tell Charlie he saw a vision of Claire and Aaron getting on a helicopter that could only come true if he died? - It's possible that he saw the helicopter that Jack, Kate, Hurley, etc. escaped on and also saw Claire and confused the two. We know his visions of the future were not crystal clear. Why did Claire abandon Aaron? - MIB in the guise of Christian influenced her, aka gave her the "sickness". She was already confused that distraught from the loss of Charlie so she was easily persuaded. We saw the same type of irrational behavior from the French crew after they got sucked down the temple hole. What caused the bad luck surrounding Hurley and Sam Toomey? Is there really a curse? - Toomey went nuts just like Minkowski on the freighter because he heard the transmission and he entered the island using the wrong coordinates. Hurley’s “back luck” wasn’t any type of curse. This is actually pretty common in real life for people to win the lotto and believe the money is cursed. His string of crappy incidents is what eventually led him to the island. Why has Kate seen the same black horse on and off the island? – The island is the place for lost souls. Who’s to say this is for humans only? Also, she could have been hallucinating. Why did the Monster not attack Locke at first, and then later drag him into a hole? – Smokey had the power to read people. He realized that Locke was a sucker, an easily manipulated tool that he could use to find his "loop hole". He tried to pull him in the hole for the same reason he drug the Frenchies in to the temple hole and snatch up Claire. He was recruiting. Why did Locke say the Monster was beautiful? – Locke saw what he wanted to see. It’s also possible that as Smokey was reading Locke, Locke got a glimpse of Smokey’s origin and the source. Why did Walt tell Locke not to open the Hatch? How did he know anything about it? Why does Shannon hear Walt say (backwards) not to push the button? Why do Shannon, Sayid, and Locke see Walt in places he shouldn't be? - Walt had crazy powers that he himself didn’t even understand. Walt also burned down the raft because he didn’t want to leave the island but then later decided it was cool. Walt was just a scared kid who was seeing things that he didn’t understand. It’s possible that off island he was still subconsciously projecting himself to help our Losties. Why did the Others make Walt take "tests"? What were the tests for? Were they the same as Sayid's tests after he was resurrected? - The tests could have been the same. The tests were probably closer to what Richard's tests were for young Locke. And just like young Locke, Walt failed those tests. Again, Walt was just bait. He was never really important other than to lure Michael and the other Candidates into a trap. How did Walt manage to chat with his father through the Swan computer? - That wasn’t Walt, that was one of the Others or probably One Eyed Willy communicating from the Flame or the Pearl to set Michael into place so he could freak out and lure the 4 candidates into a trap. Why do the Others want the survivors to stay away from parts of the Island? - They didn’t want them finding their little Dharmaville, the poison gas station, the temple, the lighthouse, etc. Duh. Do the Others really work for MIB or Jacob? - We have to assume that the Others, led by Ben were being persuaded by MIB when they thought they were doing the good work for Jacob. Jacob never took much of a hands-on approach and none of them, other than Richard, ever really spoke to Jacob. And even then we don’t know how often. Why do the Others take blood samples from the people in their custody? - To see if any of them were special, for their records, possible donors. Who cares? Why did Ben tell Locke that nothing would happen if he did not push the button? - That was a pivotal moment when Locke had to test his faith. Ben saw him going nuts over the button and he pushed him over the edge. Why is there a map dawn on the hatch blast door? - The Dharma scientist, Radzinsky drew it because he was trying to map out the island and document the strange occurrences he experienced. What is the ash-like substance around Jacob's cabin? - It could be the ashes of the dead or it could be from a mango tree. It doesn’t matter. The key to the ash was Dogun. Jacob gave him the ability to give the ash the Smokey repelling power (another of Jacob’s kooky rules). Which explains why when he died, Smokey could enter the temple. How does the cabin keep moving? - The cabin is similar to the Source. You can only find it when you know what you're looking for. We’re still not sure if Horus built it for Smokey and Dogun trapped him with the ash, or if Horus built it for Jacob and the ash was meant to keep Smokey out. Why did Jacob make a list? If Jack wasn’t on it, who was? - Jack was on every list. Jacob's list was always of the candidates. Although MIB knew of the cave, he could have made his own lists to manipulate Ben and the others. How did the cabin's inhabitant move objects? How did the lantern fire go out? - Smokey was in the cabin. Giant smoke monsters might cause things to stir things up. Also we know that MIB had force powers. Why does Vincent seem to cozy to Christian, who was later revealed to be MIB in disguise? – I think we only saw Vincent with Christian at the very beginning. Uh also, because Vincent is a dog. A dog who loved everybody on the island. Richard says he "Watched Them All Die" referring to all the Losties who were stuck in 1977. I presume he watched them all die in the atomic blast, but he wasn't there in the episode, so he couldn't have watched them. And there are questions of whether the bomb even detonated. Was there some plot change from the time he said that, and the events of the detonation. What did he mean? - The bomb did detonate and it caused the incident. Our Losties disappeared and were transported back to their original timeline. If Richard saw that he probably assumed that they died in the blast. Was Richard Malkin telling Mr. Eko the truth about being a fraud? If so, why did he refuse to take Claire's money, and even give her $6000 and a free airline ticket? - He was telling Claire the truth and lying to Echo. He didn’t want to believe that his daughter had come back from the dead, even though she crossed over and saw things from the island. He really did predict Claire’s future and Aaron should have been raised by another. We saw how that turned out. How did his daughter know about Yemi unless she really saw him in the "in-between place"? It would mean she really did die and come back to life and that Richard Malkin isn't a fraud. - Yes, exactly, she saw Yemi on island. His soul and body are on the island. That's how MIB was able to use his form. What did Richard Malkin see that frightened him so much he told Claire to get out? - Her future, getting kidnapped, stuck with needles, jumping through time, explosions, her dead fathers shell of a body turning her to the darkside, you know, small stuff. Why was it so urgent that Aaron be baptized? What did Charlie's dreams mean? - Chalie was worried about Aarons safety. Everything with Echo and Charlie was very spiritual. Aaron didn’t NEED to be baptized, but as a religious person or someone seeking religion to cope with tragedy, it's probably pretty important. Why did Christian want a bodyguard while in Australia? - Cause he was a rich, lonely pervert. He had the money so why not hire someone to drive around his drunk ass while he tormented his abandoned lover and bastard child? Since Christian’s coffin is empty, where is his body? - That is something that can't be answered. Locke in the sideways explained it best, “You didn’t lose your father, you just lost his body”. His missing body was simply a metaphor for Jack learning to let go. Who lit the brazier? If it was Danielle, how did she do it while on the other side of the Island, and why did Sayid see no footprints in the sand around it? If it was the Others, what was the smoke’s purpose? – It was the Others. They were very good about trekking through the island and not leaving a trace. How did Henry Gale die? Who buried him? - Who cares? Why does that matter? Any one of the dozens of Others could have found and buried him. They buried him so MIB could not take and use his form. Why did Radzinsky edit the orientation film? - To take out the part about the incident. They didnt want the subjects in the Swan hatch to know the truth about what they were actually doing. How does the island move? – Once again, Joe Dirt, “How exactly is a rainbow made? How exactly does the sun set? How exactly does the posi-trac rear end on a Plymouth work? I don’t know. It just does. Just like the Cabin and the Source. You can only find it if it wants to be found. Why are there blast doors in the swan? –Because that place was harnessing a huge amount of electromagnetic power. I’m sure the scientists thought they would help. Why are the Numbers the code for pushing the button? Why a code at all? - The code is the same equation that Dharma made up to predict the ending of the world. It was just something to tie everything together. If it imploded (as opposed to exploded) why were Desmond, Eko and Locke not crushed within it? –The light transported them out. Just like the Orchid light, just like the Source. Why did the DHARMA Initiative incorporate Egyptian Hieroglyphs into the Countdown timer? - They already saw the influence that the Egyptians had on the island so being smart-ass scientists they incorporated it into the countdown. Also, it was pretty scary. At the Pearl, who salted the earth, and was it their intention to make a question-mark shape? - It wasn’t a question mark, it was a circle, and it was done by Dharma so that they could find the Pearl hatch but also to keep it hidden from the Others. Why does the Staff have a secret room hidden behind some lockers? Why does a medical facility have an escape hatch? - I’m sure they did experiments on things that they didn’t want other people to see. What escape hatch? Everyone went though the front door. Why does the smoke monster constantly uproot trees? – Is that a serious question? Cause it's scary. Really? Come on. What culture and civilization does the four toed statue and stone wall/temple artifact represent? What do the Others seem to know about them? - Tawret, the Egyptian goddess of rebirth. If the Others were educated they may have known all about it. Who built the light house? How can it see the outside world? – Jacob… The Others…anyone could have built the damn thing. It doesn’t matter. The mirrors were probably built by Jacob and just like the ash they were given powers. It's fucking magic. What is the vaccine that they gave to Claire and Aaron? - The Others were worried that Claire would die just like all the other moms on the island. The vaccine was to make sure they baby was healthy. What is the Hanso's relationship to the island? They owned the slave ship Richard was on. They helped fund DHARMA. They are in business with Sun's father. - They were rich eccentric people. They have probably been interested in the island since they lost the Black Rock. They also wanted to create a utopian society and study the Island’s unique characteristics. Why did the Hanso Foundation cut the DHARMA Initiative's funding in 1987? - Probably, the same reason the government stops funding shit or the same reason clients get tired of paying people. Probably because they weren’t performing and the Swan hatch experience wasn’t going as planned. Why did the Temple pool become corrupt when Jacob died? Was it tied to the Cave of Light? - The water in the pool is tied to the Source. The source was called the heart. The heart has arteries. When Jacob died the Source no longer had a protector so it was corrupted and the water turned. What was the Hurley Bird, the one with the 16 foot wingspan that said "Hurley"? - It didn’t speak. Viewers thought it did so the writers ran with it just to mess with your mind. Who completed the frozen donkey wheel? Was it in the same place or someplace different (geography looks different)? - Same place. Obviously more people came to the island in the 1500 or so years before Richard showed up. So, it’s likely Smokey could have recruited others to help him finish it. Why is the wheel chamber so cold? Why does it exit in Tunisia? - Cause it was underground and the light was blocked keeping the warmth away. Also, it was a cool effect. Tunisia just happens to be the spot where the worm hole opens up. Why can MIB not attack while Dogen is in the temple? - Dogen was the appointed protector of the Temple and he used the ash as a barrier. Why was the US Army on the island with an A-Bomb? How did they get there? With the bomb and soldiers seemingly lost, did the Army every come looking for the island? It was an H-Bomb. NO, they were lost and they stumbled upon it just like everyone else. One of the army dudes was a candidate (we saw his name on the wheel) so we can assume that Jacob brought them there. Who was chasing the Losties on the outrigger during the time jumps? – The Others. How do the Others have the money to run corporations in the outside world? - Like any other secret organization, government funding. Why did Widmore put fake wreckage in the Ocean? - So, people would think they were all dead and no one would go looking for them or the island. Could MIB read minds or not? If not, how did the Smoke Monster project the images in your mind? – Yes, he could. Who built the statue and why? - Egyptians, because that's what they did. They probably knew of the healing powers and the smoke monster’s ability to take the form of dead people, so the statue of the goddess of rebirth seemed fitting. Who built the temple and why? - Cause they wanted a place to sleep. It could have been any one of the many civilizations or a combination thereof that made it to the island over centuries of cycles. Why did the smoke monster seem to reside in the temple wall, at least for a while? - Because he wanted to get in. Because there was a little vent that he could hide in. Someone built it almost as a tomb for him. It could have been linked to the underground passages throughout the island. How did Penney know about the island? Why did she have a listening post in an artic environment? How did it find an island in the Pacific? - She didn’t know about the island. She just believed that Desmond was still alive and when the swan hatch exploded her crew found the signal and she went looking. Was the ghost of Ben's mom the smoke monster or something else? If it was the smoke monster, how did it get past the sonic fence? – Smokey can only take the form of dead bodies on the island. Smokey has some kind of influence over some of the spirits on the island. Why does Widmore want the Black Rock's ship logs? - He a rich old man. They like to buy fancy things and he likes the island. It’s the same reason you would want an Action Comics #1. Why is there a time differential between the island and the outside world? To the outside world, were the Losties gone for as long as they think? - It was a short difference. It had to do with the strange force field that surrounded the island causing some type of small wormhole. The Orchid tapes say the island creates a Casimir effect, which would generate the dark energy needed to stabilize a wormhole? Was there a wormhole? If not, what was being done with the dark energy? – They were testing time travel and teleportation. Yes, it was a wormhole and that's how time travel and teleportation were possible. Why are their US Army photos at the Lamp Post, which supposedly wasn't made 'til DHARMA was founded? - They collected the photos on hung them on the wall? Why did the Others form a truce with DHARMA? - The whole point of the Others was to prove that people could live peacefully on the island. Can Jacob see the future? How did he know who to watch as children (watched Jack's childhood home)? Who would end up having "Lost" lives, etc.? Did Jacob wreck their lives so they would end up Lost? - He visited each of them at different times. By touching them he protected them. He saw that they were flawed people like him so he kept an eye on them. He put things in motion so they would all end up on flight 815. It’s possible that he knew certain outcomes but if that was the case he wouldn’t need more than one candidate. We have to assume that he just had an idea of what kind of person it took to protect the island. The circle of ash around the cabin was intact, two days later Hurley stumbled on it and the ash circle was broken. Who broke it? Was Jacob inside hiding? Or had the circle trapped MIB? - Don’t know. We never saw the whole thing intact. It could have been broken for a long time. Why did the show place emphasis on the music box Christian left for Claire? Was it supposed to be important or a time filler? - It played the Catch a Falling Star song and it had a mirror. Mirrors were important to the Flash Sideways as it was a symbol for the survivors to look back at themselves. Was Kate just having a dream of Claire in Aaron's room, or was Claire sending her a message somehow? She told Kate not to bring Aaron back to the island. – She was hallucinating. If Christian was MIB, how did Jack see him twice in the hospital, BEFORE he started taking drugs and stressing out? MIB couldn't leave the island. - Seeing his dad triggered his break down. He was freaking out. Another hallucination. How was Locke drawing pictures of the Smoke Monster as a child? Why was he the "chosen" one? - He was chosen because future Locke (who was under the influence of MIB) told Richard he was special. It’s possible that he subconsciously knew of the island as a kid. Also, he was abandoned by his mother raised in a bad foster home. Kids draw crazy things when put through trauma. What was the hole with the stone plug? – It’s possible that a group of people long ago had the same curiosity as Dharma. They found a pocket of energy where “metal acts weird” and they tried to dig into it. Just like the Swan and the Orchid, they unleashed the powerful energy and were forced to build something to contain it. How did MIB know how to sail when he presumably never sailed a ship before? - The dude is 2000 years old and he’s interacted with thousands of people over those years. I'm sure he learned a thing or two about boats. Why did Mother tell MIB he was special? What made him special? - Same thing that made Hurley, Walt and Miles special. They just were. How did Mother kill the camp and fill in the hole? Was she a smoke monster? A demon from the underworld? What? - It's possible that she knew of the terrible fate of going into the source because she herself had gone in and had become a monster. So that's it! That's about all the LOST knowledge we can dump in one place. Hope you enjoyed the show and this read as much as we did creating it. Once upon a time in a world before wives, kids, mortgages, and yes, even before custom toys, a good friend and I had our very own podcast, The 2bitPodcasters, and website, The 2Bit Gamers. We covered just about every geek related topic you can imagine. Anime, comics, LOST, movies, video games, toys and more! But, as life progressed and we both married (not each other sadly) and had multiple children the show and the website slowly faded away. The website, as far as I know, is lost in the ether of the interweb but my brilliant co-host preserved the podcast episodes in all their low-quality, non-nonsensical rambling glory. While some of the content is obviously outdated, many of our episodes can still be enjoyed today as we covered shit that was old then and still old now. Things like Goldenboy, Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, and our most popular series was by far our coverage of the TV show LOST.
Episodes are slowly being uploaded and you can find them here or on iTunes.
Hello Marvel Editorial Staff,
My name is Tom Green, I’m 30 years old and I’ve been an avid comic collector as long as I can remember. Marvel in particular has always been my universe of choice when it comes to comic reading. I’m writing to express a few things that have been troubling me for some time. Firstly, like most collectors my age I’ve amassed a huge collection of books that is filling my closet to the brim. Barring the imminent Mayan apocalypse I plan on being around for several more decades and if I continue to purchase comics at the same rate, I’ll be divorced and on an episode of Hoarders in no time. Secondly, as comic prices have continued to rise I’ve become much more selective in my comic purchases. I’m very hesitant to try new titles or writers and as of late with the surge of $3.99 books I’m starting to question my “go-to” books like Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Ult Spidey, etc. Lastly, with the way you’ve been structuring “event” books by breaking them into financially-impossible-to-follow tie-ins just to get the whole story (AvX has been the worst offender by far) it is exhausting and frustrating to try and keep up. It also doesn’t help that there is probably more text in this letter than in the last 3 issues of New Avengers. Now, I’ve outgrown the “gotta have it” addictive mentality of most collectors and for all the reasons listed above I’ve accepted and fully embraced digital comics. This is where my predicament comes into play. Charging $3.99 for a digital comic is just absurd especially with no foreseen reduction in the near future (like DC’s drop to $1.99 after 1 month). I can’t wrap my head around paying $3.99 for 7-10 minutes of potential entertainment. I understand this is a business and you need to make money but I’d rather see an ad on every other page than pay $3.99 for a piece of intangible media. So the way I see it I have three options. 1) Continue purchasing monthly floppies, filling up my closet and pissing off my wife. 2) Drop all floppies, switch to purely digital, spending approximately 25% more (than I currently pay with my LCS discount) on monthly titles. 3) Drop all floppies and only pick up digital books that are $2.99 or lower. This will lower my monthly purchases from about 12 titles to about 4. I’d be saying goodbye to ASM, Avengers, Cap, Ult. Spidey and “Event Book X” and hope they show up on a Marvel Monday sale in the near future. Any married man would understand that Option 1 is obviously out of the question. Option 2 is just not financially feasible and because I flat out refuse to pay $3.99 it seems my only choice is Option 3. It breaks my geeky heart that I’m saying goodbye to titles I’ve purchased monthly for over a decade but if I don’t take a stance now it’s only going to get worse. So that’s it. The goal of this letter isn’t to try and convince you to reduce your prices or express some false sense of entitlement. It’s to simply express how a die hard comic reader like me (and most likely many other collectors just like me) has been pushed to the breaking point. Your program to support brick and mortar stores by overcharging for digital comics has failed on me. Instead it has essentially forced me to make a decision where I barely support either. Sincerely, Tom G. |