note
As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
open/close all folders
Chapter 1: The Activity Club and the New Kid
- We get introduced to Max's family, with the implication that the mother's not in the picture anymore: "There. Now the whole family's here."
Chapter 2: Max and the Midnight Visitor
- PJ gets introduced, and it's clear he has a bit of baggage. He barely has any self-confidence (exemplified as he can barely interact with the world, as ghosts need to feel like they should be able to in order to do so) and died when he was a child, and his response to Max's question of how long he's been dead is "Too long". Due to his nature as a ghost, he's also doomed to forget who he is after a while and fade away.
- Max confirms that his mother has been dead for five years. He reluctantly describes her death as "sudden and grisly" and clearly isn't over it.
Chapter 3: Max, Isaac and the Secret Shortcut
Chapter 4: The Activity Club and the Ghost Train
- From Chapter 4, page 22, PJ suggests if it was him he'd probably just told Max's father about the juvenile burglars, then kind of loses his train of thought when he realizes it would have been his father. If he was Max. Which suggests that he has probably witnessed his father grow old and die or move away, and also that he envies Max for still having a family.
- Chapter 4, page 53 starts out feeling different from the other pages right off the bat, with PJ saying "You must think I'm pretty boring, huh?" Then it gets gradually more depressing until the last few lines of the page:PJ: ...I've read a lot of comic books, y'know. I can tell. I'm not like you. I'm not important at all.Max: ...How do you figure?PJ: Heroes don't die. Not before the story starts.
- From Chapter 4, page 99. Poor Eightfold.Eightfold: First thing you do when yer outta [spirit trance] is help Max out, 'kay?
Isabel: ...What about you?
Eightfold: Heehee. Sorry, Isabel.- Building on that, the next two pages deal with Eightfold informing Isabel that she'll never see her again, and trying to send her off with meaningful words. Seriously, it must be seen to be believed... tissues-on-standby recommended.
- Ed sneaking off, leaving Isabel to be scolded by her grandfather. And right after they'd had a moment, too.
Chapter 5: The Activity Club and the Insidious Infiltrator
- Isaac may be on the verge of his Start of Darkness.Isaac: It's just like. Max was supposed to be my friend, like Isabel has Ed, but... they're telling him things they won't tell me... and everyone likes him... It's clear already. He's in the club, and... and I'm still the odd kid out.
- Isabel's sad smile as she remembers her failure to have Eightfold's back.
- While the conversation keeps the usual quirky humor, the potential gap created between Isaac and Max is almost painful to watch, especially since we know from earlier that Isaac is a bit on the paranoid side and sees this as a betrayal of sorts, while Max only lashes out at what he perceives as unwarranted hostility towards both him and Isabel as he doesn't know the whole story.
- Cody's expression about being hit by a possessed Jeff in hitball counts. Cody had been standing up for Jeff the entire series as his best friend, especially during the hitball game; seeing him slowly realize he's been hit and walk off with a depressed look on his face is almost too much to watch.
- Violet trying to reassure Jeff is kind of sweet and sad at once. She vows to stick by his side, but apparently they're not that close, since she adds to think of her as a useless free lawyer if he can't think of her as a friend. But since Jeff is possessed, he doesn't respond.
- Isaac confronts Isabel and Ed and demands that they prove they're not Hijack. When Isabel is able to answer this, Isaac declares that it doesn't matter since Hijack might be able to access memories, saying "You only need two people for a cowboy standoff". Isabel and Ed shoot him with spec shots in response. This causes Isaac to snap, screaming that he knows that he doesn't belong even though Max fits in fine, begging Isabel to admit that he deserves it and that she hates him, bursting into tears when he acknowledges that even Mr. Spender teases him and treats him like an outcast, and declaring that he hates the way he's been treated and the others in the club.
Isaac: I HATE it! I hate YOU! If you hate me tell the TRUTH!!
- Isabel's response to his outburst is also pretty sad. While she tells Isaac that she doesn't and won't hate him and that that viewpoint isn't fair, she also cries out that nobody had tried to console her. It's clear that she's still trying to get over the incident.
Isabel: No one- You never asked...you never cared how I felt!! We all got hurt! We're all dealing with it, so just let me...! Just! Stop picking at the scab!!
- Just as Isabel's about to reach out to try to comfort Isaac, he leaves to go confront Hijack by himself, saying he doesn't need the Activity Club. Isabel looks miserable.
- Chapter 5, page 235. Isabel is devastated to learn that Hijack has been in control of Spender the entire time since Spender encountered Jeff, meaning her honest heart-to-heart with Spender wasn't real.
- Isabel's grandfather gave Flipflop to her as a test to make her strong enough to not rely on spirits, saying that Flipflop was "useless". Given that Flipflop has self-esteem and implied abuse issues and Isabel lost a fairly close spirit friend/partner the day before, this comes off as incredibly callous on Grandfather Guerra's end.
- Hijack's apparent death, as he did everything that day to live up to the standard he saw in his "mother", Mina.
Chapter 6: Stephen and the Suspension of Disbelief
- After traveling, and subsequently bonding, with a dog in a search to find its owner (and get a reward), Stephen finally manages to track down the owner of the dog...only for the promised "Cash Reward" to be the name of the dog in question and Stephen only gets a few cents as a pity gesture. Stephen leaves the owner's house dejected, imagining a scenario where he could adopt the dog and show it off to his friends instead.
Chapter 7: Mr. Spender and the Activity Club
- Dr. Gwen Burger getting to briefly reunite with her son after being missing for three years... and not only does toddler Ed not recognize her current form, he's outright afraid of her. Then to make it worse, she admits that he wouldn't recognize her real form anyways.
- Richard's reaction to Gwen's wight attacking the group. He freezes up, shaking in fear and apparently having a flashback to his possession. You can even see part of his eye through the glasses, just to emphasize how scared he is.
- Richard and Penny's strained relationship with their family and each other. Richard is trying to distance himself from a father who couldn't care less about what he wants and a mother with a bad habit for guilt-tripping, and Penny resents all three of them for it; her parents for treating her as their backup son, and Richard for constantly bailing on her.
