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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/main03.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:350: [[Manga/SaintSeiya PEGASUS RYUSE-]]errr, I mean, MESSIAH FIST!]]
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4''B[='=]t X'' (pronounced "Beat X") is a SuperRobot themed [[ShonenDemographic Shonen Manga]] written by Creator/MasamiKurumada, [[SacredHospitality published for Kadokawa Shoten's]] ''Shonen Ace'' magazine after he was forced to finish ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' prematurely due to the [[ExecutiveMeddling insistence of its publisher]]. ''B[='=]t X'' has a similar premise but with a different setting and execution, some people considered this as ''Saint Seiya [-[[JustForFun/RecycledINSPACE WITH SCIENCE!!!]]-]''
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6[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture Set sometime in]] the 21st Century [[note]]To be precise, [[Main/TheNewTwenties somewhere between the 2020s]] to early 2030s.[[/note]], the story begins with Teppei Takamiya, as he travels to Beijing to attend an international robotics expo to reunite with his brother Kotaro, who's been studying robotics abroad in Berlin and was scheduled to make a presentation within the expo. Not long after Kotaro begins his research presentation about the possibility to create an advanced form of ArtificialIntelligence, Kotaro was [[KidnappedScientist abducted]] in public by a HumongousMecha in the shape of a Queen Ant. Teppei immediately began his chase-down using a gauntlet known as the "Messiah Fist" to hold onto the Queen Ant as it travels to a secretive base within the Gobi Desert, which was revealed as [[TheEmpire their Empire's]] headquarters.
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8Getting thrown into a garbage heap and facing a cyborg he somehow was familiar with, Teppei's blood awakens a relic from the past; a [[MiniMecha B't]] known only as "[[OneLetterName X,]]" who was considered the most powerful B't in existence. Both are equally stubborn, although quite different in many ways, and after a few initial squabbles, X resolves to help Teppei in his quest to save his brother.
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10Along the way, we find out quite a bit about Teppei's past, the reasons Kotaro was kidnapped, and the Machine Empire's plans involving a home-grown monster of [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Devil Gundam]] proportions.
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12The manga ran in ''Shonen Ace'' from [[TheNineties December of 1994]], to [[TurnOfTheMillennium February of 2000]]; with its anime adaptation released in year 1996. The manga was once licensed by Creator/{{TOKYOPOP}} in North America, and the anime was licensed and partially dubbed (with questionable quality) by Illumitoon Entertainment and has [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-08-19/anime-midstream-licenses-bt-x-tv-anime-series/.105546 recently been rescue licensed by Anime Midstream]], who have redubbed the series from scratch.
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14As of June 2013, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NPY7sz2WqM they have revived into a]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xke-Ldbc9_w Pachinko]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL2NHJeKa5Y game.]]
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16----
17!!This series provides examples of:
18* ActionGirl: Teppei's teacher Karen, who had been one of the Empire's Four Knights up until five years ago. Aramis is another example.
19* AirJousting: A lot of fights take place in the air.
20* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: The airing in Taiwan had a particularly rare situation done by the Japanese companies themselves. Stabilized since [[TheEighties the late 80's]], Taiwan [[TheSongRemainsTheSame would leave all licensed anime opening and ending themes untouched, even when dubbed.]] But in ''B't X's'' case, Fence of Defense's opening theme, ''Haruka~SAILING FOR MY DREAM'' was replaced by [[Music/TMRevolution T.M.Revolution's]] ''HIGH PRESSURE'' midway through it's airing without prior notice despite WordOfGod personally handpicked [=FoD=]'s song and the song [[SleeperHit was selling tremendously well]] in Japan thanks to the anime; this was speculated as to 1) ''B't X'' [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff was popular]] and Sony Music wanted a piece of their pie, and 2) Sony Music wanted to officially package T.M.R to the the international anime fan base, redirecting the demographic into buying T.M.R's ''Triple Joker'' album since T.M.R was officially licensed in Taiwan and was doing well with his ''restoration Level 3'' album thanks to ''Manga/RurouniKenshin''. This made ''B't X'' as the second anime project in T.M.R's history with his name in it, albeit forcefully. ''Haruka~SAILING FOR MY DREAM'' was later placed back to it's normal state by the time of ''B't X's'' [[UsefulNotes/CompactDisc [=VCD=]]] release. Since the Japanese fanbase became aware of this over the years, they treated T.M.R's ''HIGH PRESSURE'' as a "[[BonusMaterial bonus]] theme song" to this series.
21* AnimalMecha / AMechByAnyOtherName: In this case, [[MiniMecha B'ts]]. [[WordOfGod Kurumada]] took pride in this first ever [[SuperRobot mecha]] story that he wrote, and is persistent to ''not'' use the term "robots" for his mechs. See MeaningfulName below for more details.
22* ArmorIsUseless: Averted for the most part. Foh, Hokuto, and Ron rarely use theirs simply because they either [[MartialPacifist hate fighting]] (Foh and Hokuto's reason) or [[ArrogantKungFuGuy they're just that good]]. (Ron's reason)
23* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Applies to everyone with a B't. Except for instances involving the B'ts' WeaksauceWeakness (see below), a B't's protective "Guard System" enables it and its rider to withstand anything ranging from magma to the void of space.
24* [[ABoyAndHisX A Boy And His Kirin]]
25* CallingYourAttacks: All the time.
26* CastFullOfPrettyBoys: It ''was'' made by Kurumada, after all. Also total MrFanservice.
27* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Foh's bible and Raphaello's cell]].
28* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Made apparent with the cyborg named ''Metalface'', who considers sacrificing his own flesh and blood for an immortal robotic body to be an obvious choice.
29* DarkerAndEdgier: The Seven Demon Generals Arc and onward.
30* DeadpanSnarker: At least in the Tokyopop manga, the ''narrator'' pulls this off in the recap of the previous volume, complete with LampshadeHanging various issues such as Teppei's VitriolicBestBuds status he eventually gets with Foh and company, [[spoiler: the fact that Juggler's real face looks just like a clown face anyways]], etc.
31* DefectorFromDecadence: Karen and the other guardians after learning the [[AssimilationPlot true intentions of the Machine Empire]].
32* DefeatMeansFriendship: Averted. Teppei never actually defeats Foh in a fight and the best he does against Ron is fight him to a draw. He also never duels either Karen or Hokuto. However, [[MagneticHero they all eventually side with him.]]
33* DubNameChange: Teppei is named Marlon, Foh is changed to Falcon, Hokuto to Homer, Karen is named Lourdes and so ford. The only ones that remain somewhat the same are Kaos and Metal Face.
34* EldritchAbomination: Raphaello in every sense of the word. For a good part of the series, the Empire has to move heaven and hell to keep it under control. And they fail miserably at it.
35* EverybodyDiesEnding: [[spoiler: the manga kills off a ''lot'' of people, and in the end pretty much the only two protagonists, both human and B't, that survive are Teppei and Kotaro. In the anime, the last scenes implies that everybody died, including Teppei and Kotaro]].
36* EveryScarHasAStory: Teppei and the Four Generals all have physical scars on their bodies and was shown in the OVA. But it's origins were only mentioned in the manga.
37** Teppei's scar is an "[[XMarksTheHero X]]" on his forehead, and claimed it was a "minor injury" from Karen's [[TrainingFromHell training program]].
38** Karen's scar is a big "X" on her back, though she claimed to Teppei that it was a "minor injury" she gained from old battles, [[RuggedScar readers never really knew the story behind it]].
39** Foh's scar is a big "cross" on his back, but like Karen, it's a RuggedScar.
40** Ron's scar is a "Lightning Bolt" on his chest, the scar came from Aramis, who defeated him using her sword one time when they were little.
41** And Hokuto takes the cake of having the most lengthy story behind his scar, a "Big Dipper" located on his back. This was from a radioactive explosion he encountered when he was little.
42* FacelessMooks: the regular soldiers from the Machine Empire.
43* {{Filler}}: Three episodes dealing with the Dark Knights (while in the manga they were defeated all together and very anticlimactically), along with encountering an old member of the Four Knights and also a reclusive scientist.
44* TheFourGods: ''Inverted.'' Contrary to the popular usage of The Four Gods as trope explained, The Four Spirit animals depicted in this work, in Chinese mythology are called ''"[[http://religion.wikia.com/wiki/Four_Benevolent_Animals The Four Benevolent Animals,]]"'' and are said to be the four beings responsible in bringing prosperity to the land.
45* FourIsDeath: Subverted. The Four Knights are, naturally, four in number, and they all eventually resolve to help Teppei. The seven Demon Knights, however, are all out for his blood.
46* GeckoEnding: [[spoiler: The world is saved, and very well...[[BittersweetEnding the main cast, not so much]]]] ...[[OvertookTheManga In the anime that is]].
47* HackYourEnemy: Hokuto and Demon General Dr. Poe throws [[ComputerVirus viruses]] at each other's B'ts in the manga. Kotaro on the other hand, hacks a laser-beam surveillance camera to aid Teppei to combat the hallways in the anime.
48* HeelFaceTurn: ''Plenty'', especially when people realize how dangerous Raphaello really is.
49%%* TheHerosJourney
50* HeroicSacrifice: Again, lots of people. [[spoiler: Metalface managed to pull it off twice. Once sacrificing a means of safely travelling a minefield to help out a young Karen years ago which caused him to require his cyborg parts, and once again to secure the force that would destroy Raphaello at the cost of his body.]]
51* HeroicSpirit: Be it either facing the DespairEventHorizon of B't Rafaello [[spoiler: growing to the giant dark blob ball about to absorb the Earth in the anime or becoming the Ultimate B't in the manga]], it takes the Four Generals plus Kotaro's spirit to give Teppei the power defeat it.
52* HighHeelFaceTurn: A noticeable aspect in this series. Pretty much ''every'' female character who serves in the Machine Empire, such as Salome, Karen, and Nasha, will end up having the brains to help Teppei by the end. [[spoiler:Too bad that ''all'' of them die in at least one version of the story with the sole exception of Karin.]]
53* HotBlooded: This ''is'' a [[SignatureStyle Kurumada manga]] we're talking about here.
54* [[HyperspaceMallet Hyperspace]] PoweredArmor: The Battle Gears, a type of light-weight, flexible, yet extremely durable armor made from non-metal material. The Battle Gear system was focused on Teppei as his TransformationSequence, but anyone who owns a B't will have the Battle Gear System installed within their B't to be triggered once the command: "''[[ByThePowerOfGrayskull Battle Gear, ON!]]''" is spoken by their Donors in order for the B'ts to apply the armors onto their Donors from thin air. The Four Spirit Generals all have wore them in the manga, but only Teppei and Karen wears them in the anime. The Battle Gear system also contains the following examples:
55** AdaptationDyeJob: The cream-yellow hue is a dye-job for the anime, since Kurumada was shown to render Teppei's upgraded armor as white in his illustrations through the very end. The only times the armor turns yellow in Kurumada's illustrations was when Teppei was performing his PowerGlow.
56** FutureSpandex: The Battle Gears every donor wears have these underneath their armors in matte finish. Unlike the armor which are color coded in white, spandex can be set to different colors as each donor chooses.
57*** The default Battle Gear spandex color is black. Which is worn by Teppei.
58*** [[ChromaticArrangement Karen's in red, Fou's in blue, Ron is green]], and Hokuto is grey.
59** LawOfChromaticSuperiority: Regardless of military rank, the color and technical specifications for all Machine Empire Battle Gears, including The Four Spirit Generals, are the same and in the color white. The armor Teppei initially received from X was also white; But after X's MidSeasonUpgrade, Hokuto deliberately tweaked X's system to surpass the TheEmpire's standards, including the Battle Gear System, which gives Teppei's new armor a cream-yellow hue.
60* InconsistentSpelling: Karin is often referred as "Carrie" according to a good portion of Japanese [[AllThereInTheManual manuals]].
61* KidnappedScientist: The Machine Empire holds a long list of current, and upcoming world-class scientists of all fields ready to be recruited by force in case the empire wants them. Kotaro Takamiya was only the most recent one out of tens of thousands being abducted.
62* MagicFloppyDisk: [[WordOfGod Kurumada]], despite claiming to be "technologically dumb," has made some surprisingly near-accurate predictions in technology usage within this story, but with one little blooper of Karen using a memory card that looks similar to a floppy disk to take X's data with her to flee her country. Karen gives this card to Teppei to have him reinstall X's combat data back and turn-on the Battle Gear System by episode 1 of the anime and Act 2 of the manga.
63* MeaningfulName:
64** "B't" is pronounced like "beat", as in "heartbeat". Appropriate considering blood is required to activate one.
65*** [[WordOfGod Kurumada]] insisted to not use the term "Robot" to define the mechas he created for this story, and has also intended the term to be pronounced as ''be-tow,'' [[note]]At least in Japanese.[[/note]] emphasizing the pronunciation from the word, "Total" explained in the section below.
66*** Implied by Aramis, a B't is defined as "a 'Total' definition of a mechanical being with a highly sentient '[[ArtificialIntelligence Brain]]' [[BloodMagic born through]] '[[BloodOath Blood]],' who is programed to be a '[[BraveryTropes Brave]] [[SuperRobotGenre Battler]].'"
67*** BlindIdiotTranslation: In the Spanish localization, however, B't was turned into ''Beta'', deleting any meaning of the original name.
68** FamilyThemeNaming: The given names of brothers, Kotaro and Teppei have metals "steel" and "iron" embedded within their names, and meant "First Born Steel" and "[[SuperSoldier Iron Soldier]]" respectively. This is pretty much their parents' wish for the brothers to form into one [[ExtraOreDinary Unbreakable]] SiblingTeam.
69* MechaMooks: The Lycaons, which are piloted by generic soldiers.
70* MidSeasonUpgrade: [[spoiler:After X dies for the first time, Hokuto repairs him. Among other things, Teppei's armor changes and he gets a new attack.]]
71** Metalface and B't Madonna gets one as well.
72* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Deconstructed with the remaining guardians after Karen's supposed betrayal.
73* NervesOfSteel: Teppei aside, the rest of his allies, namely The Four Spirit Generals and [[MeaningfulName Kotaro]], are individuals who are calm upon confrontations and opts to use their intellects to solve disputes before considering force. Teppei however, gradually grows into this via learning from his experiences.
74* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: Averted. Hokuto's radiation sickness was triggered by being just outside the direct killzone of a nuke that destroyed his home and family and he's got the burns on his back to prove it. [[spoiler: Aramis also tries to kill Raphaello by loading Rosemary up with every nuclear warhead she can find and performing a HeroicSacrifice, but Raphaello's power makes it a SenselessSacrifice.]]
75* {{OVA}}: B't X Neo, also known as episodes 26-39.
76* OvertookTheManga: The anime entirely skips the last four Demon General battles and revamps the final battle against Raphaello.
77* PhlebotinumRebel:
78** Any B't whose owners decides to confront the agenda of their Empire, in this case, The Four Spirit Generals. B'ts are programmed with UndyingLoyalty towards their owners, so if an owner makes an agenda, their B'ts will side with them. However, our titular B't X bares the special case in that he gets to make his own decision as to whether he should aid Teppei in saving his brother who is abducted by their Empire, or reunite with his original owner, who was put on exile. Either way, X is already on the "rebel" side in terms of the greater agenda, therefore he has to make the decision as to whether he should defy ''his loyalty program'' in favoring a new owner over his predecessor. [[PowerOfTrust In the end, he chose to work with his new owner]].
79** [[spoiler: The Messiah Fist]] as well, at least in the anime. [[spoiler:Turns out it was reverse-engineered from a sample of Raphaello's cells]].
80* PowerGlows: Comes with ThePowerOfTheSun package, whether with or without his armor, Teppei will glow once his determination triggered the power button.
81* ThePowerOfTheSun: Teppei's awakened power, and becomes the key person in [[spoiler: defeating Raphaello]].
82* PunctuationShaker: Played straight with "B't", but justified with "Je t'aime", which is French for "I love you."
83* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Many, many people, especially in the manga. [[spoiler: Juggler, Marcello, Amigo, and Aramis just to name a few. Misha and Nasha also die in the anime after each makes a HeelFaceTurn.]]
84* RedOniBlueOni: Teppei and X fit this dynamic quite well, and it's taken to almost VitriolicBestBuds-level proportions.
85* RescueArc: Essentially the entire series.
86* ScamReligion: [[AGodAmI The Machine Emperor]] increases his influence by inflicting nuclear bombings all over the world, manipulating each country to think it was of another country's doing, [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI triggering]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII world]] [[WorldWarWhatever wars]], recruiting war orphans to brainwash them that he's their god and savior, and that he promises to create an utopia for all people with endless life as long as they swear loyalty to him, his country, and execute whatever orders he's placed onto them.
87* ShipTease: [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul Metal Face]] implies Karen had feelings for Foh, though he immediately rebuffs this.
88** It has also implied that [[spoiler:Metalface cares about Karen]] [[{{Tsundere}} more than he admits himself to be.]]
89** [[spoiler:Ron and Aramis]] have this in the manga.
90* ShoutOut / SpiritualSuccessor: From subtle character designs, to the subtle elements within the story plot, having The Takamiya Brothers going against the Machine Empire can be seen as a huge take from ''Anime/GodMars.''
91** Both [[Anime/GodMars Emperor Zuul of alien Planet Gishin]] and The Machine Emperor are their stories' BigBad, and wanted to destroy Earth since The Planet Earth (humanity) never wanted to comply with their ideologies.
92** Both series takes the talents of two teenage brothers working together to bring their respective evil empires to their downfall. [[note]] Marg and Takeru (real name "Mars") are twins SeparatedAtBirth, while Kotaro and Teppei are brothers born 2 years apart.[[/note]]
93** Teppei and Takeru Myoujin shared the same younger brother statuses in respective to their older brothers Kotaro and Marg, the same brunette ShounenHair cut, [[note]] Sideburns included.[[/note]] [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS the letter "T"]] in their first names, and fires their BattleAura while making "X poses" with their arms. [[note]] Teppei holds his arms upwards towards his chest, while Takeru holds his arms downwards away from him.[[/note]]
94** Kotaro echoed Prince Marg's hairstyle, wearing his hair long reaching shoulder-length. And on a bizarre note, like Prince Marg to his brother, [[spoiler: Kotaro can somehow [[{{Telepathy}} telepath]] to Teppei.]]
95** Teppei once had a nightmare about his older brother, Kotaro being brainwashed in serving TheEmpire. ''Anime/GodMars''' hero, Takeru Myoujin's older twin brother Marg was brainwashed by their evil empire ''for real.''
96** From the same nightmare above, Kotaro wore a cape [[spoiler: to reveal his transformed cybernetic body]]. Marg from ''Anime/GodMars'' was the prince of planet Gishin, and is usually dressed in ErmineCapeEffect.
97** One interesting element both works share is their reference to the apocalyptic prediction of the year 1999, named UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}}. [[note]] One of the most famous quatrains read, "The year 1999, seventh month / From the sky will come great king of terror." [[/note]] In ''Anime/GodMars,'' the story setting was on the year 1999, where Emperor Zuul started his invasion towards Earth in attempt to destroy the planet in which brothers, Mars (Takeru Myoujin) and Marg, along with a few supporters fought hard to take down; while here in ''B't X,'' the year 1999 did had a huge scare with a [[ColonyDrop meteoroid crashing near Hokkaido]], Japan. But that meteoroid however, [[spoiler: eventually formed into a tiny private island called Kamui Island, which was the birthplace of The Takamiya Brothers, who became saviors in overthrowing the Machine Emperor.]]
98** [[spoiler:When all hope is lost before their SaveTheWorldClimax within the manga,]] Kotaro throws out a [[HeroicSecondWind "We haven't lost yet!"]] telepathic speech to Teppei, requesting his brother to strike B't Raffaello with all his power [[spoiler:even when Kotaro's physically located in the path of destruction]], and stating confidently that he is a scientist who does his research, and not some kind of saint who makes stupid sacrifices. This was a TakeThat to a ''Godmars'' scene [[spoiler:where Prince Marg made an infamous StupidSacrifice out of pure BigBrotherInstinct.]]
99* SiblingTeam: The Takamiya Brothers. In the OVA, while Teppei's busy taking out killer-robots by hand in the hallway of the Empire Tower, Kotaro remains inside an office of the tower hacking the Empire database AND help Teppei [[HackYourEnemy take out laser-beam surveillance cameras]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment using a laser-beam surveillance camera.]]
100** CopAndScientist: Teppei's the Cop, while Kotaro's the Scientist of the duo.
101** SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: On the appearance, Kotaro is the sensitive guy while Teppei's the manly man; but on the inside, Kotaro's the manly man while Teppei's actually the sensitive one.
102* SignatureStyle: The inclusion of a CoolHorse through our lead mascot, B't X, which in this story is represented by a Kirin. Technically speaking, a {{Kirin}} is a mythological animal that is more of a [[TheMarvelousDeer deer]] with the slight anatomy of a horse, and the head of a Chinese dragon...with no wings. But somehow Kurumada designed his Kirin to look more like a full-on horse with deer antlers, dragon brows, ''and'' wings, which made X resemble more like a {{Pegasus}} over anything else. In many of Kurumada's other works, a Pegasus has something to do with the protagonist.
103* StarScraper: The Machine Empire Tower is this to a tee.
104* SuperRobot: The B't.
105* ThemeTwinNaming: Emperor representatives Misha and Nasha are this.
106* ThirdLineSomeWaiting: You have a number of plots going on at the same time. The three big ones are:
107** Teppei's RescueArc.
108** Foh and the other members of the Four Knights trying to determine if Raphaello is indeed an evil that has to be put down and if they should help Teppei.
109** Kotaro's Adventures in [[strike: Wonderland]] Underhell where he tries to [[DoingResearch figure out Raphaello's weaknesses.]]
110* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The Machine Empire's subordinates believe they are fighting to bring about an end to wars. Some of them are more dogged in this belief than others.
111* ViewersAreGeniuses: Hokuto vs. Dr. Poe... plus any time Kotaro is writing formulas.
112* [[WeCanRebuildHim We Can Rebuild Your BT]]
113* WeaksauceWeakness: B'ts are vulnerable to certain sound frequencies that can damage fragile parts of their systems, but this can be avoided when the B’ts agree to turn off their “auto-pilot” operation (aka. conscience) in letting their owners “manual-pilot” them.
114* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: [[PetMonstrosity B'ts, with their design based from a huge range of animal and mythological creature selections]] tend to suffer from this issue pretty seriously. [[spoiler: [[TheIngenue Poor]] Madonna...]]
115* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Teppei initially views X as a tool to help him rescue Kotaro. It takes a while for him to realize X has his own thoughts and feelings. This also applies to Metalface, although his realization came too late.
116* WhatMeasureIsAMook: The Juggler uses mooks as PeoplePuppets, to which Teppei is horrified ''despite'' having killed hundreds of them by that point. Interestingly, once he manages to end his VillainOverride of them, their [[FacelessGoons helmets]] harmlessly blow up and reveal their faces.
117* WhereItAllBegan: Teppei and X started their journey together from the Empire's garbage heap located at the foot of The Tower, and made their way back to the same location by volume 14 of the manga.
118* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Aramis is eventually demoted due to her efforts to suppress Raphaello's growth. MonsterClown Juggler takes over for her.

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