My "Stands take mental focus or deliberate formed intent to use effectively, and are less effective when one is less than one's top emotional form of confidence, aggression, and vitality" hypothesis would also explain why it seems like so many weird-ass Stand users exist who gradually whittle away at the main characters instead of just going straight for the jugular.

Because an experienced Stand user with weird powers might know they don't necessarily have the raw force of will to win a direct confrontation, but also know (perhaps from that same experience) that they can gradually whittle away at even a strong enemy's confidence using terror tactics and superficially damaging strikes. When the enemy's confidence and ability to summon their Stand is sufficiently impaired, it becomes time to close in for the kill.
 
The "get up on the car to be safe" thing and the "attacks any sound" thing are much more specifically Tremors than Dune, tho.

Although if getting off the ground helps, then that raises the question of how a helicopter got taken out.
N'Doul is blind, not deaf. He's got pretty precise hearing in fact, as shown when he accurately grabs a fly buzzing around him.

He only needs the Tremors shit when he's trying to target things he can't naturally sense while at extreme range. A guy running around on sand can't normally be heard a few miles away, while a helicopter, being pretty damn loud, can be heard from that same distance. If the helicopter is within his natural hearing range, he can just use his natural senses to shoot it down rather than his hearing stick.

Think of it like a scope on a sniper rifle. You don't need to use it when you can see your target with your eyes.
 
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N'Doul is blind, not deaf. He's got pretty precise hearing in fact, as shown when he accurately grabs a fly buzzing around him.

He tries to grab a fly, but misses. Unless the anime changed that, anyway.

I have the impression Araki was trying to subvert the stereotypical trope of a martial arts master or whoever grabbing a fly out of the air to prove how amazing they are.
 
He tries to grab a fly, but misses. Unless the anime changed that, anyway.

I have the impression Araki was trying to subvert the stereotypical trope of a martial arts master or whoever grabbing a fly out of the air to prove how amazing they are.
He comes pretty damn close to grabbing it, though. Better than the average person, despite his handicap.
 
Ah, double-checking, that rock bit is in the manga, it's just not conveyed very well. It also actually looks like he hit the fly on accident, as what we see is that he's waving his stick around in a 'I am blind and need this stick to check for obstacles' manner and apparently coincidentally smacks a rock just so. I'm... not sure what to make of that, now that I'm seeing it.
 
Ah, double-checking, that rock bit is in the manga, it's just not conveyed very well. It also actually looks like he hit the fly on accident, as what we see is that he's waving his stick around in a 'I am blind and need this stick to check for obstacles' manner and apparently coincidentally smacks a rock just so. I'm... not sure what to make of that, now that I'm seeing it.

That's how it happened in the anime too, but his expressions and vocalizations, as well as the camera angles etc, made it clearly intentional.
 
Iggy the Fool and Geb's N'Doul (part three)
"Battle In Egypt" has an interesting end credits sequence. Very different than anything the show has given us so far, with relaxed, jazzy instrumental/acapella song "Last Train Home" by Pat Methany Group playing over some cooler colors and sliding images of the Crusaders sitting around being comfortable.



I'm sure there's some significance here, ironic or otherwise, that will become clear as the season continues. For now though, its an okay end credits sketch. It doesn't hold a candle to Phantom Blood's, but...well, I'm not sure if anyother show's end credits sequence is the equal of that one, so that's not anything to be ashamed of.

Anyway, the second half of "Iggy the Fool and Geb's N'Doul" now.

Geb has torn the tires off of their jeep and tossed everyone out onto the sand. Abdul has the brilliant idea of throwing some of his jewelry out into the sand in an incremental path to simulate footsteps, and then hit Geb with a fireblast when it takes the bait. It kind of works; Geb is nimble enough to avoid being hit dead-on by Magician's Red, and manages to give it (and Abdul) a nasty cut that puts him out of the action in return, but it still takes damage, and Abdul left N'Doul with a third degree burn in turn.



Hey, remember a few seconds ago when Geb was staying in one place so it could grab and shake the jeep around? I wonder what would have happened if Abdul attacked it then? Too bad nobody except Joseph had their powers during that scene.

While Geb is busy with Abdul, Jotaro dashes over to where Iggy is sleeping and grabs the dog, jarring him awake. Jotaro and N'Doul both noticed what I didn't at the time; that Iggy woke up in the back seat and jumped out of the jeep the moment before Geb grabbed the tire, not afterward. Which makes a lot of intuitive sense. Iggy's Stand controls sand. It wouldn't be a stretch to think it might come packaged with a "sand sense" that lets him detect things moving around beneath the surface. As I said earlier, Iggy's powerset is uniquely suited to this terrain in much the same way as N'Doul's. Which I suppose is why their respective masters ordered them deployed upon the Crusaders reaching the Sahara.

Anyway, Jotaro figures that if he forces Iggy to stay with him, he can also force him to keep Geb at bay. And hopefully eventually track down the location of Geb's controller. N'Doul doesn't know exactly what Iggy's powers are, but he does know that he was able to detect Geb's approach before it reached the jeep, and so Jotaro could potentially use him for an effective counterattack of some kind. So, Jotaro and Iggy are now N'doul's primary targets.

This sequence and the material that follows it is where the episode is at its strongest. Clever tacticians making clever - and intuitive - decisions and trying to outmaneuver each other. The Stand powers stay consistent from this point onward too, which helps a lot, and the rest of the Crusaders get left behind at the jeep and are unable to annoy me with their author fiat uselessness any further.

Iggy's Fool stand can glide, as it turns out, which is the perfect way to avoid Geb's ground-based sneak attacks. He tries to use this ability to escape from both Geb AND Jotaro, but Jotaro manages to keep ahold of the situation in a manner that Jonathan and Baron Zeppeli would have been proud of.



The Fool can't discorporate its arm to let Jotaro fall without also dropping Iggy, presumably.
On they go, Jotaro periodically kicking off of the ground to help them regain altitude when the Fool starts gliding too low, and N'doul sensing Jotaro's kicks and trying to position Geb where he suspects the next one will likely be. Meanwhile, Iggy farts profusely, because even at its best this is still a Stardust Crusaders episode.

Eventually, Iggy - presumably out of a desire to strike back against the likely source of Geb's attack - senses N'Doul on the sand, and glides them toward him. N'doul starts having Geb throw sand into the air at them as they descend again, and then uses the sound of the sand striking the Fool to pinpoint its location so that Geb can hit it as soon as it comes in reach. Iggy reacts to this in turn by tilting the Fool so that Jotaro will be dragged against the ground, hoping that Geb will kill Jotaro and leave the dog alone.

I guess that's only to be expected, considering how Iggy got into this situation.



Jotaro thinks just as fast, however, and is more than willing to reward Iggy for this behavior in kind. Since N'Doul is just a couple hundred meters away at this point, Jotaro uses Star Platinum to yank Iggy right out of the Fool's hands and throw him bodily at N'Doul. The two will be forced to fight each other now.



Well, in theory at least. I'd laugh so hard if they ganged up on Jotaro now, and then N'doul adopted Iggy after finishing off the rest of the Crusaders. Ah well.

N'doul and Iggy don't exactly fight, as it turns out, but they're forced to at least use their stands to prevent a mutually lethal collision, and the aftermath leaves them tumbling around disoriented long enough for Jotaro to finish closing the distance on foot. N'doul tries one last desperate Geb lunge after Jotaro's made it within oraoraora range, but a final distraction by Iggy (caused by Iggy trying to steal N'doul's walking/sounding stick, whimsically enough) gives Jotaro just enough of an advantage to land his attack first.



And, with that generally engaging and well executed (and beautifully animated, for the most part) search-and-destroy battle over, the stupid comes crashing back into the story like a ton of off-template bricks.

Jotaro starts to interrogate the injured N'doul, but then N'doul Gebs himself through the head to prevent Jotaro from getting information out of him. He then spends his post-suicide death scene volunteering information to Jotaro completely unprompted.

-_-

I couldn't make this shit up if I tried.

He starts with the fact that Dio has nine remaining assassins, including himself. Which on one hand, the Crusaders already knew, but on the other hand I don't think N'doul had any way of knowing that they knew. He then says that he knows that Hermit Purple can read people's minds, so he's not going to let himself live long enough for Joseph to get ahold of him.

...

Okay. Hermit Purple reading minds. There's quite a bit to unpack here.

1) Obviously, the Babyeaters are working under a misconception. They probably deduced that Joseph's Stand has some kind of information gathering power, but came to the completely wrong conclusions about what kind. Okay, sure, that happens. But if Hermit Purple actually could read minds, then now, because N'doul said that, the Crusaders would know that Dio knows about that ability. This is not inconsequential information. If Dio knows about Joseph being telepathic, and Joseph doesn't know that Dio knows that, then Dio could take advantage of this in really devastating ways. Just off the top of my head, he could feed false intel to a minion, let Joseph capture that minion, and then let that false info lead them into a trap. You never let your enemy know how much you know about them.

And, let me remind you; N'doul has just given himself a fatal head wound specifically to prevent them from getting information from him.

2) Possibly even worse than the above: I wouldn't be even remotely surprised at this point if the next episode reveals that Dio and Co's information actually is good and Hermit Purple really can read minds.

Really. I wouldn't blink. That kind of blatant and utterly story-eviscerating retcon wouldn't phase me whatsoever after everything else SDC has pulled. And, the fact that Jotaro doesn't react at all when N'doul says this, even in an internal monologue as JJBA characters often do when they realize something, leads me to think that this is more likely than not the case. And if it is, well. Remember all those times that people tricked them? When they had Enyaba restrained and under their control? When fucking Holly was hiding the truth about herself having a stand from Joseph? When they weren't sure if Kakyoin was going crazy back in Death 13? Poof, all gone.

Seriously. This isn't any worse than revealing that Abdul had a can of Bat Anti-Stand Spray in his utility belt this entire time and just never felt like using it would be. And, like I said, I'm not shocked or even really surprised. I fully expect Hermit Purple to be telepathic now. This story really is just shoddy and careless enough for that to be more likely than the alternative.

...

Next, Jotaro - after looking stunned at this display of fanatical devotion - asks the second stupidest question in any cartoon I've ever seen, coming in just on the heels of "what's aura?"

"Why are you all so loyal to Dio?"

...

It's actually kind of amazing just how perfect the framing and presentation of this moment is. Just...look at it:



"Why are you all so loyal to Dio," Jotaro asks of the man with a conspicuous headband tied around his forehead and hairline and a circular hole in his skull visually reminiscent of something we've seen before.

Frankly, I consider this far more insulting to my intelligence than Telepathic Hermit Purple when and if the latter gets confirmed. Ignoring everything in the show up until now when you retcon shit in for no good reason is just the normal kind of terrible writing. But this specific case has some aggravating factors.

See, flesh buds were pretty much forgotten after the first five episodes of the last season. Of the first three enemies the Crusaders faced, two were being controlled by flesh buds, and the characters were all somewhat surprised when they learned that the third wasn't. Then, from the very next episode onward, flesh buds were completely forgotten about. They never thought to check any of the villains of the week from that point onward, or seemed to even realize it might be a possibility. And, if that trend had continued uninterrupted all the way up until now, I'd probably have forgotten all about flesh buds myself.

Except that there was then ONE MORE RANDOM EPISODE toward the end of last season that seemed to exist largely in order to remind us that flesh buds are still a thing after all. The show went out of its way to remind us that flesh buds shouldn't be forgotten about, even if the characters seemed to forget about them up until "The Lovers." And, the inclusion of flesh buds in "The Lovers" was completely unnecessary on its own. They didn't do anything in that two-parter that a (very, very) slightly different version of Frankfurter Fred's stand couldn't have done on its own. Their inclusion seemed to be there just to remind us that they're still a possibility in the world of the story.

And then, the screenshot above happens.

...

N'doul answers Jotaro's question about why he personally feels such loyalty to Dio. After developing his stand very early in life, he quickly became estranged from society because of his freedom from consequences. He committed theft, murder, whatever he felt like, and lost faith in himself ever becoming anything better than a feral animal in human form (he even compares himself to Iggy in as many words). Dio was the first person to ever both actually intimidate N'doul, and also to ever acknowledge N'doul as a person of substance and worth. Also, he apparently had the hots for Dio's "large and beautiful" body; I'm sure Jonathan would have been flattered. Since his meeting with Dio, N'doul has not feared death, but has only feared that Dio would stop acknowledging him as a person with intrinsic value. He concludes the speech, and his life, with the line "evil people need an evil savior." Jotaro then looks out across the desert at the sunset, wondering who Dio really is. What's actually behind all the reputation and machinations.

Imagine me saying that entire paragraph in the most indifferent, emotionless, deadpan voice ever. Because I don't care about it. I should care. It's normally the kind of theme that does get my attention. But I can't bring myself to, because nothing in this show actually matters. Any sort of arc that's being started here is liable to be forgotten or undone without a second thought.

Then Iggy shits in Jotaro's hat. End of episode.
 
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If it helps, I don't remember Hermit Purple ever reading minds, so I'm pretty sure that line is supposed to be read as bad intel.
 
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Jotaro starts to interrogate the injured N'doul, but then N'doul Gebs himself through the head to prevent Jotaro from getting information out of him. He then spends his post-suicide death scene volunteering information to Jotaro completely unprompted.

...

I couldn't make this shit up if I tried.
Well, to be perfectly fair, he did just suffer a fatal brain injury. It's understandable he's not thinking straight.
 
If it helps, I don't remember Hermit Purple ever reading minds, so I'm pretty sure line is supposed to be read as bad intel.

He starts with the fact that Dio has nine remaining assassins, including himself. Which on one hand, the Crusaders already knew, but on the other hand I don't think N'doul had any way of knowing that they knew. He then says that he knows that Hermit Purple can read people's minds, so he's not going to let himself live long enough for Joseph to get ahold of him.

Okay. Hermit Purple reading minds. There's quite a bit to unpack here.

1) Obviously, the Babyeaters are working under a misconception. They probably deduced that Joseph's Stand has some kind of information gathering power, but came to the completely wrong conclusions about what kind. Okay, sure, that happens. But if Hermit Purple actually could read minds, then now, because N'doul said that, the Crusaders would know that Dio knows about that ability. This is not inconsequential information. If Dio knows about Joseph being telepathic, and Joseph doesn't know that Dio knows that, then Dio could take advantage of this in really devastating ways. Just off the top of my head, he could feed false intel to a minion, let Joseph capture that minion, and then let that false info lead them into a trap. You never let your enemy know how much you know about them.

And, let me remind you; N'doul has just given himself a fatal head wound specifically to prevent them from getting information from him.

2) Possibly even worse than the above: I wouldn't be even remotely surprised at this point if the next episode reveals that Dio and Co's information actually is good and Hermit Purple really can read minds.

Really. I wouldn't blink. That kind of blatant and utterly story-eviscerating retcon wouldn't phase me whatsoever after everything else SDC has pulled. And, the fact that Jotaro doesn't react at all when N'doul says this, even in an internal monologue as JJBA characters often do when they realize something, leads me to think that this is more likely than not the case. And if it is, well. Remember all those times that people tricked them? When they had Enyaba restrained and under their control? When fucking Holly was hiding the truth about herself having a stand from Joseph? When they weren't sure if Kakyoin was going crazy back in Death 13? Poof, all gone.

Seriously. This isn't any worse than revealing that Abdul had a can of Bat Anti-Stand Spray in his utility belt this entire time and just never felt like using it would be. And, like I said, I'm not shocked or even really surprised. I fully expect Hermit Purple to be telepathic now. This story really is just shoddy and careless enough for that to be more likely than the alternative.


Frankly, I consider this far more insulting to my intelligence than Telepathic Hermit Purple when and if the latter gets confirmed. Ignoring everything in the show up until now when you retcon shit in for no good reason is just the normal kind of terrible writing. But this specific case has some aggravating factors.


I am Pretty sure they captured Enya (Justice User) so that they could get to an TV and use Hermit purple to read her mind.
 
Nope. Several plot points won't work if that was actually an option.

The ability was never used before but it was mentioned.


A quick look in the wiki confirmed it:

"The Joestar group finds out the whole town in which they spent the night was made of illusions by Justice, and every resident was actually a corpse. The group decides to bring Enya with them until they can find a TV and use Hermit Purple to read her mind. This way, they will have the advantage by stealing information about DIO and his remaining mercenaries from her. Hol Horse recommends that they just kill her instead as he drives off in their jeep."

Chapter 160.
 
If it helps, I don't remember Hermit Purple ever reading minds, so I'm pretty sure line is supposed to be read as bad intel.
It could be that DIO's version of it can read minds, and either Joseph's can't or he doesn't know it can.

Edit: well the post immediately above disproved that idea.
 
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This is why you make sure to actually kill yourself when you kill yourself.

Look, Leila, it doesn't matter if you've been freaking bisected. If the fictional universe you live in requires you to have a dying speech, you will have a dying speech, and you will not die until it has been finished, with all relevant information revealed and some philosophical point been made, following which you will do the dying gasp thing.

DA RULES!
 
Look, Leila, it doesn't matter if you've been freaking bisected. If the fictional universe you live in requires you to have a dying speech, you will have a dying speech, and you will not die until it has been finished, with all relevant information revealed and some philosophical point been made, following which you will do the dying gasp thing.

DA RULES!
Proof: Mark.

Such a sad casualty. I still cry sometimes.
 
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