"StuGo"s Latest Episode Shows Just How Intense Fandoms Can Get
The latest StuGo shows how intense fandoms can get, whether literary or in the realm of trading pocket life-size monsters.
Elephant Triumvirate Book 6: Trunkumvirate Triumphaphant
The kids (except for Sara), are participating in book club, which is animated and told extravagantly and telling excerpts of the tale the kids are reading - “Elephant Triumvirate."
However, when Sara comes upstairs and sees that the kids are not only doing something without her, but doing something that involves L.A.R.P. fights, costumes, and themed food, she immediately wants in. The problem is, she has quite the track record of making fun of the books the other kids are reading, which is why she wasn’t invited in the first place.
However, while lying trying to get the coveted invite and convincing the other kids that she does like these books in particular, she adds to her story saying that her favorite book in the series is book six. The kids gasp and are shocked. That book hasn’t even been released yet, especially since the author, Col. John Stoneman, has been missing for a while.
Sara’s lies grow elaborate, with her saying that the author is her aunt, Col. John Stoneman is her pen name, and she was just reading the manuscript for the book - implying that she has it with her. Now, she has the kids’ attention. Even Francis, who has somehow just discovered Ketchup, is intrigued and crushes a bottle of the condiments dwindling supply much to Pliny’s displeasure.
Sara immediately runs downstairs to “grab the manuscript" which really means consult with her secret twin and time clone (yes, there are three of them now) and start crafting the new story. However, she is immediately called out when she returns with a book that is only five pages long, when the rest of the series is massive.
She says this is just a tease, considering the rest of the story is so good that they’d go crazy. She immediately goes back downstairs where she and Sarah and the time clone Sara consult and agree there is no way that they can do this without Col. John Stoneman. Fortunately, that exact author is attempting to make an escape from the island. It’s a coincidence so grand, we definitely need an explanation here. Fortunately, we get one. While working on the sixth book, Stoneman suffered a bit of writer’s block and took a trip for inspiration aboard his tiny sailboat - the Extraphagant. While sailing nearby the island, a manatee on a jetski (remember?!) crashed into his boat, destroying it and leaving him stranded near Lullah’s island. Fortunately, Lullah took him in and created a budding friendship between the two - until he offered her a shoulder massage as a sign of gratitude that Lullah enjoyed so much that she kept him as a hostage for whenever she wants one, eventually making him give them to Mr. Okay as well. Now, he has made his escape, but Mr. Okay is hot on his trail. Now, his freedom lies with Sara and that’s not going to happen. He needs to write the sixth book for her.
He points out that he’d rather fall into a volcano than help someone who has never read the stories, and that inspires Sara to stage the next reading near a small volcanic crater. As she is reading, she drops the pages into the volcano and sends the rest of the kids into a panic - before they realize that Sara has made this volcano out of the dwindling ketchup supply, much to Pliny’s displeasure.
Merian is especially upset, as she didn’t want Sara to get involved in the book club since the beginning. Now, they’re all heading back to finish book club alone and without Sara. As they are re-reading one of the books that already exists, Sara comes back with the ending of her book, which is a thinly veiled apology for lying to them. The kids all feel guilty, even Merian, and invites Sara back to the book club.
Meanwhile, more of the kids’ ketchup supply is going away, as Sarah and the time clone are feeding it to Col. John Stoneman, who is still being held captive in the bowels of their abandoned cargo ship.
Z.O.R.B.Z. (Zorbular Orb Rorb Borb Zorbs)
The kids are hiking through the jungle when Larry’s arms starting doing something crazy. It’s an oddity that only happens when there is something to crank nearby, and sure enough he finds out what it is. Abandoned in the jungle is a larger-than-life vending machine that dispenses Zorbular Orb Rorb Borb Zorbs, or “Z.O.R.B.Z." This high-energy collectible sees strange creatures with incredible powers and fighting abilities evolve into different forms with the help of their human trainers, or “Zorb Lordz." Think Pokemon without the licensing or trading cards, just the actual monster.
Each of the kids gets one of their own. Sara has one that has an ability to fight by hiding knives on the island, Merian has one that floods water from its eyes, and Francis has one that has fire to destroy everything with fire. Point is, the kids all get these crazy cool creatures - except for Larry. When he gets his Zorb, he discovers that its name is Glands. Not even with a Z.
This strange Zorb comes down looking sickly and coughing up goo every few seconds. It is decidedly different, weaker, and frankly, lamer than the rest of the Zorbz in the collection, especially the ones that the other kids received.
Out in the distance, Mr. Okay hears the familiar sounds of the Zorbz and comes to the scene, where he sees Larry trying to make the best of his situation, though he is about to give up. After all, how cool can his Zorb be when it’s wearing a diaper?
Mr. Okay explains that Larry just needs to get Glands to evolve. There is a key there somewhere that will unlock its hidden potential. But how does Mr. Okay know this? Turns out, he used to be quite the Zorbz fan and was almost a Zorbz Lord himself. More on that in a bit.
He is coaching Larry through a series of trials in the hopes that Larry discovers the key to getting Glands to evolve. Larry actually starts protecting the Zorb he never really wanted as his own, as Mr. Okay keeps putting Glands in precarious situations hoping that this pathetic looking Zorb will evolve for Larry.
Thrown from numerous high places, thrown into a river of angry hippos, just thrown in general, Larry stops Mr. Okay just as he’s about to crush Glands over a rock thinking the key to its evolution must be inside it somewhere. Mr. Okay even tries to get the other kids and their Zorbz to fight Glands, but they see the Zorb as weak and go easy on it. That’s not how you’re going to get it to evolve!
That’s when we learn why Mr. Okay is taking this so personally. He strips down out of his overalls and we see that he is wearing a diaper similar to the one Larry received when he became the owner of Glands. Mr. Okay goes on to explain that he had nearly every Zorbz creature trained and evolved until he got Glands. He couldn’t figure that one out and eventually cast it out to sea before giving up on Zorbz entirely. But they have to figure this out, they have to evolve Glands.
They head back to the mutant gladiator pit from earlier in the series, and a giant crab mutant with muscular human arms comes out. Glands doesn’t stand a chance, and the rest of the kids and their Zorbz show up to help it fight. Larry, being an encouraging trainer, says he’ll accept Glands regardless (unlike Mr. Okay). That’s when a beam of light blasts from Glands and the diaper slides up and becomes a helmet. Glands has evolved. Now, its Glandz with a Z.
Realizing the secret to its evolution, and with the hopes of relieving himself of the guilt he has carried over the years, Mr. Okay heads to the shoreline where he gave up on his Glands and screams “I accept you!" when a beam of light erupts from the water, and we see his Glandz evolve too. It’s a nice and funny bit of closure for Mr. Okay and how we end the episode.
This episode of StuGo is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW website. It is expected to arrive on Disney+ later this Spring.