Recap / Meta Runner S 3 E 06 Global Testfire

"We’re almost at the end now…"

Tari and Theo try to find the gateway while Sheridan finally executes his horrific master plan.

Tari and Theo voyage through a strange beta level of Skybreakers in search of the gateway into Sheridan's server, and end up contemplating their ultimate fates. Meanwhile, Lamar tries to survive the chaos as Sheridan begins to enact his ultimate plan.

Episode 26 contains examples of:

• All or Nothing: With their both their thrusters and respawn points destroyed, the Bluejay crew and Evelyn’s crew are prepared to face off over the gateway to Sheridan's server, with the fate of the world at stake.
• Ambiguous Situation: It’s not made clear if the Meta Runners being forced to fight to the death are Killed Off for Real or respawn elsewhere. Though the finale has Sofia state that the use of Global Warp Technology is definitely killing their physical bodies in some way.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When Theo asks Tari what they'll do when all this is over, she has no idea, after remembering that Lucinia's revival requires giving up what makes her Tari.
• Art Shift: When the brainwashed Masa and Belle are brought into Skybreakers by Evelyn, they immediately shift into the game’s art style. Likewise, Lamar shifts back into his Skybreakers design when he sneaks onto Evelyn’s ship, along with his weapons.
• Author Avatar: There is a pink haired Meta Runner dude who says "No one takes down SMG-" before getting shot down and subsequently pummeled by Lamar.
• Big Damn Heroes: Lamar manages to escape from Sheridan’s server and sneak onto Evelyn’s ship to stop her from killing the Bluejay crew at the last second, destroying her respawn point and giving the Bluejay an opening to take out her thrusters.
• Body Horror: Sheridan twists a poor guy’s limbs to further scare everyone into fighting each other.
• Broken Record: Having duplicates of the same character talking to each other results in this in Petey's case, resulting in an endless loop of each other asking for the other's name until Theo tells them to shut up.
• Call-Back:
  • Sheridan summons assets from all seven of the major games featured on the series- Ultra Jump Mania, Battle Blaze, Tempest, Turbo Crash 9, Pocket Gakusei, Hidden Heroes, and Skybreakers.
  • During the broadcast sequence, we see Meta Runners freezing in several previous locations across Silica City throughout the series; the street where Tari first entered the world in "Wrong Warp", the low-tier alleyways seen in "Hard Reset", The Hive streaming cafe from "Bad Split", the intersection where Lucks met his end in "Fatal Error", and the cyber cafe Tari looked into, also from "Wrong Warp".
  • Some of Sheridan’s achievements, specifically "You Believed", "Tinted Windows", "Input Their Output" and "You Have Friends?!", are references to lines in "Out of Bounds", "Sequence Break", "Hard Reset", and "Firewall" respectively.
  • The Crab King from the Ultra Jump Mania pilot makes two brief cameos, one in the SHERCorp video presentation attacking a recently warped Meta Runner, and later crawling in the background of Tempest during the Meta Runners’ fight to the death.
  • The ending of the episode mirrors the ending of "One Shot".
• Cliffhanger: As Sheridan begins to unleash Global Warp Technology on the world, Tari and Evelyn’s crews prepare to duke it out over the gateway.
  Tari: MD-5!
  Evelyn: SHERCorp!
  Both: Give them hell!
• Deadly Game: In order to test Global Warp Technology before he spreads it to the rest of the world, Sheridan forces the Meta Runners in his captivity to start maiming and killing each other with assets from various other games.
• Deadpan Snarker: When Evelyn arrives to intercept the Bluejay, Tari greets her by "complimenting" how she has terrible timing as always.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: Sheridan hijacks every video stream in the world to announce the launch of Global Warp Technology.
• Evolving Credits: The end titles now feature the beta Skybreakers level as a background.
• Fate Worse than Death: Sheridan threatens to personally torture the Meta Runners if they don’t start killing each other.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • The SHERCorp video presentation features brief snippets of news reports detailing some of the fallout from TAS Corp's collapse; Lucks has had all his awards and accolades posthumously revoked, the company has gone bankrupt, investigations into abuse allegations are still ongoing, and banks are scrambling to sell their remaining assets in the company.
  • Some of the achievements Sheridan has to incentivize the Meta Runners to murder one another include:
    • You Believed: Crush a player with a Jump
    • Lucks Got Nothing To Do With It: Find and kill the Lucks AI
    • Clever Girl: Flank a hostile player
    • Deadspace: Lose your mind in the void
    • Sher The Love: Use a Pocket Gakusei item
    • Braindance: Finish the beta with your brain function intact
    • Head For That Tower: Reach the Turbo Crash tower
    • Bulltrue: Kill a lunging player
    • Input Their Output: Kill a player with a knife
    • Tinted Windows: Splatter 4 players with a TC car
    • That’s So Meta: Unpause the video and stop reading these
    • ‘Splosion!: Kill three players at once
    • Chicken Dinner: Be the last player standing
    • You Have Friends?!: Get four assist kills
    • Pass The Test: Don’t overload your Meta Runner Arm
• Given Name Reveal: Sheridan's full name is Dr. James Sheridan.
• Instant Expert: Lamar manages to figure out how to use the earthbending spell from Tempest while warped as soon as he obtains it.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Marco's distrust for corporate tech turns out to be justified once it's revealed that every Meta Runner arm designed by Sheridan was designed to work with Global Warp Technology.
• Mood Whiplash: An endless loop of two Peteys asking each other what their names are is interrupted by an angry Theo, who is trying to suppress his glitching.
• Motive Rant: During his broadcast to the world, Sheridan lets everyone know loud and clear who really invented the Meta Runner arm:
  Sheridan: See, you all thought that Lucks was the visionary, but… he wasn’t! I AM! I invented the Meta Runner arm! Oh, oh didn’t know that, did you?! Well, all he did, was slap his STUPID LOGO ON IT, and take all… of MY… CREDIT! Well, I hope this demonstration makes… everyone realize… just how much, I’m going… to change… the world…
• Precision F-Strike: Lamar tells Tari that he swiped a "bitchin' hat" from Evelyn's captain's quarters for her.
• The Reveal:
  • The process by which Sheridan is able to warp regular Meta Runners into games is revealed: the Meta Runner arms override the neural feedback sensors of any corporate implant, reaching the brain and causing them to perceive the game worlds as if they were actually inside, no brain surgery required^* Terrible for your health though.
  • Turns out that Theo has still been glitching ever since he escaped his cartridge, and may even be close to dying. He's also been excusing himself to go to the bathroom for this reason to hide it.
  • Sheridan is the true inventor of the Meta Runner arm and Lucks merely took the credit. This not only explains Sheridan's motivation, but also why he’s able to so easily warp regular Meta Runners into his server.
• Rule 63: The opening SHERCorp video presentation shown to the captive Meta Runners is hosted by a female version of Sheridan.
• Secretly Dying: Theo is in danger from glitching away permanently, but has been hiding it from his friends as not to upset them.
• Serial Escalation: MD-5 has now gone from trying to bring down a Corrupt Corporate Executive, to trying to save the world from a deranged Mad Scientist.
• Shout-Out:
  • The episode’s title references the pre-release demos of the Splatoon series.
  • Two of Sheridan’s achievements are also references to other media: "Clever Girl" and "Chicken Dinner".
• Smoke Out: Lamar fires a grenade launcher at Evelyn’s ship, and the resulting explosion produces a smoke cloud that allows him to latch onto the ship with his sword without her noticing.
• Spanner in the Works: Evelyn would have killed Tari’s crew if Lamar hadn’t snuck onto her ship.
• Stepford Smiler: It's revealed that Theo has still been glitching and has been hiding it from his friends. Tari also has to deal with the thought that she won't be able to hang out with her friends after giving back Lucinia's mind.
• Stronger Than They Look: When Lamar takes fall damage inside of Sheridan's server, he acknowledged that Tari's tough for being able to put up with the pain while warped.
• Thinking Up Portals: In addition to summoning assets, Sheridan opens portals to the worlds of most of the games’ worlds to give the Meta Runners more room to fight. Evelyn also appears through a portal to the beta Skybreakers level to pick up Masa and Belle, which Lamar also uses to escape Sheridan’s server.
• The Voiceless: Under Sheridan’s control, Masa and Belle are completely silent, to the point that Jessica Fallico and Brendan Barry-Corter aren’t credited during the end titles.
• Wham Episode: The stakes are significantly raised for the show’s final two episodes: Sheridan has begun to execute his master plan by unleashing Global Warp Technology and warping every Meta Runner in the world into his server, Theo is revealed to be on the verge of dying after being removed from his cartridge, and Evelyn and their brainwashed friends are the last thing standing between MD-5 and the fate of the world.
• Your Days Are Numbered: It's heavily implied that Theo might end up glitching out of existence at some point in the near future.
• You Monster!: Sofia shouts this out to Evelyn shortly after Evelyn eventually reveals the brainwashed Belle and Masa to Tari's team.
  Sofia: Evelyn, you monster! this isn't a game!! Those are my friends' lives you're playing with!!