MuggleCast EP7 Transcript
Intro
Andrew [Show Intro with music in background]: This is MuggleCast – Episode Lucky No. 7 for September 18, 2005. If you haven’t finished reading Book 6 yet, then you probably should not listen to this podcast as we do talk about several different spoilers.
Ben: Hi, everybody. Welcome back to this week’s show! I am your host, Ben Schoen.
Andrew: I’m Andrew Sims.
Eric: I’m Eric Scull.
Ben: And joining us this week from The Leaky Cauldron is Melissa Anelli, the head Webmaster lady, chicky over there.
Melissa: Hello.
Ben: And John Noe. He doesn’t know much. Yeah.
Andrew: Hey, you guys have your own podcast. Lay off ours!
John: This isn’t a regular MuggleCast.
Ben: We’ve been invaded. We’ve been invaded this week.
John: We’re invading into your podcast.
Andrew: No, actually…
Melissa: This is why we did it.
Ben: Yeah.
Melissa: This is why we did it so we could get onto MuggleCast.
John: This is hostile environment.
[Andrew and Melissa Laugh]
Ben: No, actually if we check the iTunes Music Store, who…
Andrew: Don’t do that.
Melissa: Let’s do that, shall we?
[Andrew Laughs]
Ben: Who’s trumping who? Let me see here.
Andrew: The real reason…
[Somebody makes a rude comment]
Melissa: Hey!
Andrew: The real reason they’re on is because we taped the Special Edition five minutes ago.
Ben: No, that’s a lie. That’s a lie. This is like two days later.
Eric: That’s a lie. We can’t tell them we did that though.
Melissa: But when we did the Special Edition, Ben wasn’t on it, and I couldn’t get through a week without having a nice chat with Ben. So, I had to make sure.
Ben: Exactly. Well, in light of all that, let’s go to Micah for this week’s news.
News
Micah: Let’s see. Do we have any news here…Portuguese book release…October 16th. [Someone whispers: “The trailer!”] What? [Someone whispers: “The trailer!”]
Oh…yeah! The second Goblet of Fire movie trailer was released on Thursday. You can head over to AOL Moviefone who now has a high-resolution, full-screen preview or download it from MuggleNet. We also have the GMTV-aired Goblet of Fire trailer now available.
As previously mentioned, the new trailer will make its debut with Corpse Bride, in all theaters on September 23rd.
Speaking of Goblet of Fire, Patrick Doyle has finished recording the score for the fourth Harry Potter film. The final pieces having been done in conjunction with the London Symphony Orchestra.
You can head over to MuggleNet for all videos, pictures, and the latest trailer news. You can also listen to or read the brand-new MuggleCast/PotterCast 2nd Special Edition podcast where the crew analyzes the new trailer in detail.
And in other news keeping you posted on a topic reported last week, on Monday, JKR updated the News Section of her site to talk about the ongoing situation with eBay.
She said: “eBay has responded to this news item in the press. On the one hand, they have said that they rely on consumers to police their site. On the other, a spokesman called Hani Durzi says that ‘It is the responsibility of the copyright owner to report any listings that violate their rights.'”
She responded by saying: “eBay might be interested to learn that most Harry Potter fans are children, whose ability to verify the authenticity of signatures is not to be entirely trusted.”
We have previously reminded visitors not to purchase off of eBay. The crew talks about this in the upcoming episode.
That’s all the news from our News center in New York for this September 18, 2005 edition of MuggleCast. Back to you guys!
Ben: Okay. Thanks, Micah, for that wonderful insight of this past week’s news.
Brief Goblet of Fire Trailer Discussion
Ben: Well, one of the topics you may have heard him bring up, probably the major topic over the past week, was the Goblet of Fire trailer that was released. And I know you guys covered it in your Special Edition. All those Leaky haters out there decided not to listen to it.
[Eric Laughs]
Ben: I guess we’ll cover it again for MuggleCast.
Eric: Very briefly.
Ben: So I saw the trailer like everybody else. Anybody who’s anybody saw the trailer. And I don’t why I said that, so we’ll keep going. [Laughs] I thought it was pretty decent. I liked it when Dumbledore did the “HARRY POTTER!” part and he laid the smackdown!
Andrew: He’s such a feisty Dumbledore this time around. I love it.
Eric: Yeah, we really talked about it. We need a subtle Dumbledore especially for Order of the Phoenix when he sits Harry down and tells him all that stuff about his past.
[John Laughs]
Eric: He can’t say [in loud booming voice]: “When you were young, I thought I shouldn’t tell you, but I was wrong, Harry!”
Ben: Okay, and do you guys have any idea what is up with the part with Sirius’ face in the fire and the snake coming out of the wall?
Andrew: Yeah. Well, for those of you…
Eric: That’s from the beginning.
Melissa: The snake coming out of the wall we got. The snake coming out of the wall is at the Riddle House.
Eric: Right.
Melissa: And that is Barty Crouch.
Andrew: Duh. Everyone knows that.
Melissa: From Frank Bryce’s perspective.
Eric: But Sirius says: “There are demons in the walls.”
Ben: Hold on a second. What’s with the fireplace? Why is he talking to the fireplace and then the snake coming out of the wall?
John: Exactly.
Eric: Well, it’s not out of the wall.
[Cluttered talk]
Ben: It’s all these different scenes. Okay. Oh well, that was terrible. I don’t know. I didn’t like it. I was kind of confused by it. I was upset.
John: I think he melted.
[All Laugh]
Ben: Okay.
Andrew: Well, we don’t need to go into the trailer again because we just discussed it in the Special Edition.
Ben: Let’s not get into this.
John: That’s obvious.
Ben: Okay.
Andrew: Probably not.
John: Even I knew that.
Andrew: But it’s podcasting – we can do whatever we want.
The Top 13 Reasons You Know You Listen To MuggleCast When…
Ben: Okay, well before we move on to our next news item (thing-a-majigger), I have a Top 13 List I would like to read to you guys, which I thought was kind of humorous. Maybe we’ll make our own Section, kind of like David Letterman has a Top 10, we will have out Top 13. We will have people come on and read it. I don’t know. That may end up being a lame idea, but the list sounds pretty cool.
Eric: Go on, Ben.
Ben: Okay. “The Top 13 Reasons You Know You Listen To MuggleCast When…” This was submitted to us by Hannah, 16, from California.
Andrew: Thanks, Hannah.
Ben:
13. You have quotes in your locker that say things like: “Potter Army” or “Just speculation guys”.
12. You wish you were in the front row of Mr. Nelson’s class.
11. You laugh whenever someone says: “Yeah man, I can” because it reminds you of Jamie.
Melissa: Awww.
Ben: That’s a good one.
10. Your siblings give you weird looks when you listen to your iPod because they don’t understand how Harry Potter discussions can be funny or why you would listen to them in the first place.
09. You know there is no such thing as overanalyzing. [Laughs]
08. You’d rather meet Ben, Andrew, Kevin, Eric, and Jamie than JK Rowling herself.
Eric: Awww.
[All Laugh]
Eric: Awww.
Ben: 07. You’ve fallen in love with Ben, Eric, Andrew and Jamie’s voices.
Melissa: I thought they were going to say “than Emerson”. [Laughs] That’s cute.
Ben: Yeah.
06. You talk about the answers as if you were really in the conversation. [Laughs]
Melissa: Hey, I got that one! That’s on my list.
Eric: I was talking to Ben the other day and he completely agreed with me.
Ben: 05. You stare at Ben, Andrew, Kevin, Eric, and Jamie’s picture on the “About Us” page and wonder what they look like in real life.
Eric: WHOA! I am glad I just updated that.
Andrew: WHAT?
Ben: Yeah. I don’t know.
Andrew: That one doesn’t count.
Melissa: Doesn’t that show you what they look like in real life. Isn’t that the point of the pictures?
Ben: No. 4. This is my favorite on the list.
04. You’re an Emerson and Melissa ‘shipper. [Laughs]
Eric: You don’t have to listen to MuggleCast to be that.
Andrew: We needed that. Okay, forget what I just said.
[Melissa Laughs]
Ben: 03. You check to see who posts what on MuggleNet’s Main Page because you know these people now.
Eric: Awww. That’s really cool.
Ben: 02. You’ve heard Jamie’s “British Joke of the Day”. [Melissa Laughs] Which by the way is absent this week.
Andrew: Oh, geez.
Melissa: Oh, that’s cute.
Ben: He’s probably off studying for exams or something. [In fake British accent] MAN! Yeah MAN! Well in his absence this week, next week we’re going to have two “British Jokes of the Day”. Have a double serving there. Stay tuned.
Melissa: Oh man.
Ben: Stayed tuned, people. And the No. 1 “Reason You Know You Listen To MuggleCast When…”
Melissa: Too much. Can’t take it.
Ben: Drum roll please.
[Eric Drum rolls]
Ben: 01. You think of Ben, Andrew, Kevin, Eric, and Jamie as your friends.
[Everybody “Awwws”]
Ben: Yeah, so I thought that list was pretty creative. And it was really sweet.
Eric: We love you all.
Ben: This is Hannah.
Melissa: That’s great.
Andrew: We love you, Hannah.
Eric: We love you, Hannah.
Andrew: I love you.
Melissa: Hannah, that’s really cool.
Andrew: I’m touched. Okay. Let’s keep moving on.
Melissa: John, where’s your list?
John: I could think of a list.
Ben: Okay.
Melissa: I’m sure you can.
Andrew: I can think of many lists.
John: I already gave my talk, Melissa.
Apology: Slughorn Not DADA Teacher
Ben: Okay, something else I want to talk about. The whole JK Rowling/eBay war that is going on.
Andrew: Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. First, I have two announcements.
Ben: Geez.
Andrew: Okay.
Ben: Andrew is suffering from a cold, so please pardon his nasally noise.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s No. 1. I am ill. If anybody would like to send me tissues and/or money for tissues because I’m running through a box an hour.
Eric: Dude, you’re going to get a hundred boxes of tissues. [Melissa Laughs] You’re actually going to get Fed-Ex tissues.
Andrew: First of all, wait guys. We have to admit a mistake. We made a mistake.
Eric: Oh come on.
Andrew: Eric made the mistake.
Eric: Not the Defense Against the Dark Arts thing.
Andrew: Yes.
Eric: Come on.
Ben: We made a big mistake.
Andrew: Slughorn…
Ben: …is not the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. We’ve gotten about 65 million-bagillion e-mails saying: “Hey you guys are wrong, Slughorn is the Potions teacher”.
[John mocks]
Eric: Okay. I am going to go all out. All right that was my fault. It fit in context. We all kind of knew he was experienced in those areas.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: We know he was the Potions teacher.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: I’m sorry. I do know what I am talking about most of the time.
Ben: Right. You tell yourself that.
Spy on Spartz
Andrew: Also, we had another complaint, which was where was “Spy on Spartz” last week? Well, we actually did record it…
Ben: In all honesty…
Andrew: Hey! I’m talking.
Ben: Oooh. Get off my show.
Andrew: We called Dylan. We actually did a “Spy on Spartz” last week. We did it over the phone because Emerson wasn’t online. So we tried calling and the audio file we recorded got all messed up.
Eric: So we did have it, but…
Andrew: So let me do it now. Ben, do the honors?
Ben: Speaking of “Spy on Spartz”…
Melissa: Are we calling him?
Eric: Let’s call him.
Andrew: No.
Ben: Speaking of “Spy on Spartz”, Emerson is online right now.
Andrew: Ask him what he’s doing.
Ben: Yeah, I’ll ask him what he’s doing. [Types to Emerson: “What are you doing?”]
Andrew: What’s his screen name again? *******?
Ben: Yeah, that’s it.
[All Laugh]
Andrew: That should be interesting to see how many instant messages he gets.
Melissa: Oh, Andrew.
John: Melissa is getting all nervous.
Melissa: Why am I getting nervous again?
John: Because we’re talking to Emerson.
Ben: Melissa’s knees are starting to wobble right now.
Melissa: Yes, guys.
[All Laugh]
Eric: You’re sitting down so that shouldn’t matter much.
Melissa: [Laughs] Yeah, exactly. Sorry if my voice gets shaky.
Andrew: So why don’t we wait an hour for Emerson’s response. Let’s move on to the next topic.
Ben: Hold on, hold on, hold on, we got a response from Emerson. Ooh. Apparently Emerson, he’s studying and partying at the same time. He’s party-studying. Study-partying.
[All Laugh]
Eric: Studying parties. Whoa.
Andrew: What did he exactly say?
John: I think that is how really cool kids study.
Melissa: Is he studying how to party?
Ben: No, he’s studying something.
Melissa: Oh.
Andrew: Yeah. Okay.
Ben: And also, Emerson has been having a bit of trouble with Calculus, so if anybody wants to stop by and tutor him.
Eric: Tutor Emerson. That’s what we’re going to get you do.
Ben: Go to Notre Dame. Look for him. He’s probably having dinner at South or North around 5:30 PM each evening.
Eric: And then cereal right afterwards.
Ben: Yeah, then cereal…cereal. Well, I think that concludes…
Melissa: Wow, guys. You’re very familiar with his schedule.
Ben: …this week’s edition of “Spy on Spartz”. Hahaha.
Melissa: It’s scary.
Andrew: We’ll see you next week.
Main Topic: JKR vs. eBay
Eric: Andrew, go.
Andrew: Okay, Ben. Hit us with the main topic.
Ben: Okay, since you guys pretty much covered the trailer, and if you want to hear more about that, just make your way over to the Special Edition of, what did you guys call it? Muggle-Leaky-Potter-Cauldron?
Andrew: X2.
Eric: Muggle-Leaky-PotterCast Episode X2.
Andrew: Episode Zero.
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: Something.
Melissa: What did we call it? Yeah, something.
[John Laughs]
Melissa: Muggle-Morphy something.
Ben: So if you want to hear more about that go ahead and download, but otherwise the main topic for this week looks like it is going to be (and some of you might be bored by this, but I think it’s actually quite interesting), we’ll delve into a little more, but it’s the latest on the JK Rowling/eBay dispute. eBay has responded to the post JK Rowling made in her official which warned Potter fans about the fake signed copies of the books. She said: “For every one, real, authentic signed copy there are six to ten fakes.” And seeing how eBay pretty much thinks this is just a slap in the face, and that JK Rowling is pretty much laying down the law. Well, you guys are knowledgeable Harry Potterites. What do you think?
Melissa: Except for John.
John: I don’t really know what’s going on.
Ben: What about you, Andrew? What do you think?
Andrew: Well, basically. Okay. I don’t know what to think. I almost hope this almost goes on for a little bit longer. A little dispute between JKR and eBay. Although I think JK Rowling’s a little bit more mature to not go back and forth with them about this.
Ben: Well, what I think she’s really upset about is that eBay sold the Dumbledore toast without her permission and it was all downhill from there.
Eric: JKR is more concerned about the fans then she is about eBay. I don’t really think she hates eBay. I don’t think she was going against them. She was just warning fans that that is a medium people are particularly fond of to rip people off.
Andrew: Well…
Melissa: And does sound like she has tried every avenue she can. Her signature, everybody keeps telling us she should just vero her signature. Her signature is veroed, but the problem is for somebody who has as many fakes online as she does, she would need to hire somebody full-time to report the criminal activity of others about her signature to take advantage of the vero service. It’s just not right. She shouldn’t have to.
Andrew: In a way, this is eBay‘s fault though because they do have security measures in place to prevent to prevent fraudulent items that appear on eBay, and I guess they have no real way of telling if it is fake or not.
Eric: Right.
Andrew: But there are context clues in the listings based on feedback.
Eric: Well, it is abuse…
Andrew: If one positive feedback has a posting that says: “Hi, here’s my signed JK Rowling book – free shipping.” And that’s it.
Eric: [Laughs] Yeah. You don’t send it free shipping.
Andrew: I think that is what most of them are, right? [Laughs]
Melissa: Well, a couple of them are cub reporters books through the Edinburgh thing.
Andrew: Well, that I could see, but didn’t she sign mostly bookmarks or something there?
Melissa: Yeah, the tickets looked like bookmarks.
Andrew: Okay.
Ben: Guys, I kind of fell out of the loop. What does vero mean? Sorry.
Melissa: You can verify your signature.
Ben: Oh okay.
Melissa: And that’s a way you can then quickly report an item as fraudulent.
Ben: Oh, I see.
Melissa: But the point is you have to report it. It’s not preventative. It has to exist on the site first, and then you have to report it. They’ve tried this many times. Her whole team has over and over.
Ben: Okay, I see.
Melissa: However long they’ve been doing this.
Ben: Why did you have to use a fancy word to describe it? Trying to put yourself above…
Melissa: Well, because…
Eric: It’s just the word.
Ben: …the MuggleCasters?
Eric: They are not going to call it…
Ben: Are you trying to put yourself above the MuggleCasters by using big words?
Eric: Ben, you’re just upset because she wouldn’t go out with you.
Melissa: Ben, you’re being mean to me.
Andrew: That was a bit…
Eric: You’re just upset she wouldn’t go out with you. She went out with John last week.
[Cluttered talk]
Ben: Oh, be quiet. Don’t even.
Eric: Kind of along the same lines as eBay bought out Skype now, so do you think people will be able…
Melissa: For like $8 billion.
Eric: Yeah, do you think that they can now talk to other eBay people? Now, we can talk to the people, the sellers on their computers?
Andrew: That’s the purpose of eBay buying Skype. eBay bought Skype to improve their…
Eric: Communication.
Andrew: …communication between sellers and buyers.
Ben: I see.
Andrew: In a way, I think that’s great. It’s an easy way for people to do it.
John: That’s smart.
Ben: So out of curiosity, if we slam eBay, can they get us thrown off of Skype for saying their names?
[Andrew Laughs]
Eric: Yeah, probably.
John: I think they are listening to us right now.
Andrew: Probably not.
Melissa: Oooh. We said probably not, but then we turned up on Apple. So, go figure.
Ben: I know what’s going on. eBay is having this whole Potter dispute and they heard about MuggleCast and PotterCast and the joint podcast, so they said: “I’m going to buy it, and I’m just going to close them down.” I don’t know.
Andrew: That makes no sense.
Melissa: It might.
Ben: That’s my theory. That’s my theory.
Melissa: It’s a great plan!
Andrew: And we all switch to Gizmo podcast.
Melissa: And then we are going to go to Google.
Ben: Google Talk.
Andrew: Well, the problem with Google Talk is that have talking one-on-one.
Ben: No conference.
Melissa: No Mac.
Ben: No conferencing either.
Andrew: Yeah, no conferencing.
Ben: Okay, anyway this isn’t “This Week In Tech” though, so back to Harry Potter News. Okay, so…
Andrew: Yeah. [Laughs] So who’s at fault here? Is it eBay? Or should JK Rowling not be worried about this?
Eric: It’s nobody’s fault. It’s just a thing. They pulled it up and she said: “Hey look. You’re being fooled. Just watch out.” I don’t know. There’s no right or wrong. eBay took it personally, and…go Melissa.
Melissa: Well, how about we lay some blame on the people who are making the fraudulent items.
Ben: Copies. Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, of course.
Eric: Yeah. If anybody is it at fault here, it is them. It’s not eBay. It’s not JKR. It’s just the people who abuse this privilege on eBay.
Melissa: But eBay now knows what is going on. You can’t play ignorance. You know what’s going on.
Eric: Yeah.
Melissa: Do something to stop it. Now you know that a large portion of your readers are being defrauded. Do something about it.
Ben: Right, but eBay is not the only medium of getting these bootleg items that aren’t even real signatures.
Melissa: Right.
Ben: Last time I heard, Andrew was selling some out of his garage.
Andrew: That wasn’t supposed to be on the air like that.
Eric: But then he moved to his backyard. Then he moved to his backyard.
Melissa: Andrew?
Ben: Yeah.
Melissa: That reminds me. Let’s talk after about that deal.
Andrew: Oh you mean THE deal.
Melissa: THE deal.
[Ben Laughs]
Eric: That part where you transpose Melissa. Yeah, I remember that.
John: Melissa has some jewelry to unload.
Andrew: I’ve got some…
Ben: Well, I think pretty much wraps up the whole eBay thingy topic.
Eric: Let’s go to Voicemails.
Potter Fans For Katrina
Ben: Before we go to Voicemails, I would like to tell you guys what’s going on with this Potter Fans For Katrina. Melissa can help me out here. On the right navigation bar on MuggleNet you can see (or also on Leaky Cauldron) a PayPal Donate button where you can donate money to Potter Fans For Katrina. Because as George W. Bush was just on television giving a speech about the city needs help to rebuild. And they won’t be able to rebuild unless they have the money to do so or resources, which is why we are coming to you and we’re asking you to open your hearts and to open your wallets.
Melissa: Very nicely put.
Ben: Melissa?
Melissa: Ben, that was very nicely put. Open your hearts. Open your wallets.
Eric: That was beautiful.
Melissa: It was inspiring. Well, last time we check in we had about $5,000, now we’re up to about $6,000. The drive goes through September 20th and we are looking for companies to match our donation. We have a couple of candidates, but if you think you want to have your company get involved let us know: potterforkatrina at gmail dot com. The e-mail and the response we have been getting from people in the area, from people who know people that were affected, it has been really touching. If you put the button on your site, we will put your name on a list of people who took part, and we’ll just think a lot of you for all time.
Ben: So please do that, if you haven’t yet because like I said, they need all the money they can get. Last count the overall donations have been about $500 million, but when you have several billion dollars in damage that doesn’t go very far. We need as much money as we can get to go to this area and help.
Melissa: The city is literally broke. They can’t make their payroll. This is serious. It is a situation that effects the entire country. It’s not just Louisiana. Get on it, guys!
Ben: Definitely.
Melissa: And I actually want to thank, put out a public thank-you to HPANA because of all the large (I don’t know what the distinction is or where the line is of the really large Harry Potter sites), that’s the only other one that put up a link. Put up the button. And I am not afraid to call everybody out on it.
Ben: Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Jeff and all the other people.
Andrew: Yeah thanks HPANA. HPANA.com.
Eric: Yes.
[Ben and Andrew continually repeat HPANA.com]
Melissa: Okay, they’re a broken record.
Eric: Thank you, Andrew.
Ben: Yeah, there is really no reason to not put up the button because this is people’s lives we’re talking about.
Andrew: You know why I like HPANA so much? Because they are such a fair news site. They’ll post anything that is going on between other sites. They plugged our MuggleCast and PotterCast.
Melissa: Yes, they did.
Andrew: They plugged the Potter Fans For Katrina. Look at that. They even have a big button and a PayPal button right there. Did anyone even ask them?
Ben: So in short – Jeff Guillaume, we love you. He’s the Webmaster. He’s the cheese. He’s the guy over there.
Melissa: I can’t say his name.
Andrew: Ooh.
Melissa: Can’t pronounce that to save my life. But Jeff is a cool guy.
Ben: Jeff. Okay. Well, I think that pretty much covers the whole Katrina stuff. Yeah, so are there any other announcements anyone has?
Melissa: Were you going to announce our marriage, Ben?
Andrew: [Laughs] Oh, geez.
Ben: Uhhh. That was supposed to be secret, kind of like the Andrew’s bootleg copies of Half-Blood Prince.
Melissa: It’s illegal.
Ben: Yeah. [Laughs]
Andrew: Okay. Those bootleg copies I am giving to local libraries.
[All Laugh]
Ben: Right.
Melissa: Robin Hood-ing of Harry Potter.
Interview with Joe Fulton
Andrew: Now before we move on to everything else I want to give you guys a sneak peek at the brand-new Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Lego Sets due out in a few weeks. Here’s my interview with one site that did get a look.
Okay, so we are joined by Joe Fulton of MillionairePlayboy.com who is also known as Lando da Pimp.
Joe: That’s right.
Andrew: How you doing, Joe?
Joe: Hey, how you guys doing?
Andrew: So we brought you on here today, or I brought you on here today because you got a special sneak peek at the new Harry Potter Lego Goblet of Fire Set.
Joe: That’s right. Lego sent them to me a few weeks ago. I got to put them together. Took lots of pictures of them, so that you could get some really good glimpses of how the sets are built. You can check that out at MillionairePlayboy.com. On the front page there underneath the features, you will see the links to the sets, as well as I am sure when this podcast goes live, we’ll have a link to that, as to MuggleNet, and to all the sets so you can check them out.
Andrew: Awesome. So tell us a little bit about MillionairePlayboy.com. What do you guys do on the site?
Joe: Well, MillionairePlayboy is really an online magazine for collecting toys, movies, comics. Sort of pop-culture artifacts. We cater to the swinging bachelor feel. That’s what the website is supposed to look like. The name comes from, if you think about Bruce Wayne from Batman. He’s the millionaire playboy. Except these days in the new movie I think they said he was a billionaire playboy. So maybe we need to change our name.
Andrew: [Laughs] All right. The article you have online at MillionairePlayboy.com is an excellent article.
Joe: Oh, thank you.
Andrew: It really is good. First off, tell us about the Durmstrang Ship.
Joe: Well the Durmstrang Ship, and when I wrote the review a few weeks ago I hadn’t seen the new trailer, and surprisingly enough, an hour before we’re talking now I got to see the new Harry Potter trailer which has a good shot of it. Compared to the set, compared to the movie, it’s dead-on from what I can see. Obviously the color was a little off in the Moviefone trailer, but it looked pretty good. As you know, all the Harry Potters, I’m sure I don’t have to go into the history and what the Durmstrang Ship is because you guys probably know more about it than I do. It’s a pretty decent set. There are lots of little fun things about it. The main part about it at the top is the cabin. Now the cabin doesn’t really open up unless you take it off of the ship because if they made the cabin the size you could open up and fit mini-figures in, the ship would be three times the size of that. And the cost would be three times the size of that. Inside it has a little bat, books, goblets, maps, and all sorts of stuff. Little fun things. Unfortunately, you have to take it off the ship to get into it. Underneath it, on the front of there, you can have a trap door where you can hide people. It’s got a little walk-the-plank. It comes with two mini-figures. It comes with Professor Karkaroff. I hope I said that right. And then Viktor Krum. It’s a nice set with the exception that it doesn’t really have anything Hogwarts related. You get the Viktor Krum mini-figure, which is one of the Triwizard Champions, but I would have loved to see some kind of dock where the ship would have docked at. Welcoming Dumbledore. Maybe another mini-figure character as well.
Andrew: Yeah, so would that be one of the weaknesses of the set? Not maybe only something else besides a dock, but that little cabin on the top you have to detach in order open it up?
Joe: Well, you have too look at it two ways. You can either say it sucks to have to pull the cabin off to open it up and go into it, but do you want to pay more for them to make a ship that you would actually not have to do that? That’s depending on your preference. And the other thing is if you’re new to the Harry Potter Legos, this is not something you’re going to want to get. For me, I have…
Andrew: Really?
Joe: I have lots of sets. Unless you, if you’ve never gotten a Harry Potter Lego Set before, you’re not going to be as interested in this one. Let me say it that way instead.
Andrew: Just because it’s not Harry. It’s not what you would expect from Harry ?
Joe: It doesn’t have Harry. Exactly.
Andrew: Okay.
Joe: For me, I have all the other Harry Potter sets. So this is just a nice welcome addition. But I always look at it when I write a review: “This person has never collected a Harry Potter toy in their life.” If you’re going to buy a new Goblet of Fire Set, this probably isn’t the one I would start with. But I mean it’s a great set. It has tons of pieces. It took me 45 minutes to 1 hour to build. I’m also a very slow builder. I like to take my time with it too, so I am sure somebody could build it a lot faster than that.
[Both Laugh]
Andrew: Yeah. So what’s the price point? What are we looking at?
Joe: The price point for this one is, this is the most expensive one. This one I think is about $49.00, but you can probably find it cheaper in certain places just depending on where you look.
Andrew: Sure. Yeah. Okay, so tell us about another set that…Now are these sets released yet? The four new ones. Are any of them? They’re not out yet, right?
Joe: I haven’t seen them in stores. Lego sells them on LegoShop.com (which you can go and purchase), but I have yet to see them in stores. I was at Toys ‘R Us a few days ago and I didn’t see them out yet. I would look for them soon because originally I heard they weren’t going to be around until October, but the fact that they are on LegoShop.com means you should probably be seeing them soon.
Andrew: So tell us about the other set, the…
Joe: Harry and the Horntail?
Andrew: Harry versus…Right! Precisely!
Joe: I’ll say it for you instead? How about that? [Andrew Laughs] Obviously, this is the first task that Harry has to go through. Lego tried to make it look like (and as we’ve seen in the trailer), it’s in a little rock quarry area. So they’ve created these different walls you can build, and you can actually set it up anyway you want. It comes with obviously the Horntail Dragon.
Andrew: So was there anything you did like about this set?
Joe: Oh yeah. This is probably my second favorite set out of the four. Because there is only four sets with the movie this time.
Andrew: Okay.
Joe: It’s got some great action things. You can put Harry Potter’s broom in a little catapult and when you push down on it, it can go flying. Of course, obviously you can’t get it to fly into Harry’s hands.
Andrew: Oh. [Laughs]
Joe: It comes with a Mad-Eye Moody mini-figure. If you look at the paintjob, which is done on the Goblet of Fire Sets, Lego really, really put in a lot of good details about this.
Andrew: Yeah, the characters are very detailed I’ve noticed.
Joe: Oh yeah. They’ve done details before, but I think they went out of their way to really, really give the characters some good details and making it look like the actual character from the film.
Andrew: That’s really good compared to the regular yellow heads. So how much did this one cost?
Joe: This one is about $30.00. And I think it’s worth it. If you’re going to get into Goblet of Fire Sets, I would definitely pick this one up as your second choice with obviously the Graveyard one (which we’ll be talking about soon) as your first choice.
Andrew: Right. Okay, so tell us about the Graveyard Scene. Let’s hear about that one next.
Joe: The Graveyard Scene? Well, obviously the Graveyard Scene is the scene that everybody is waiting to see because that’s when Voldemort finally appears, I guess, in his own body. Graveyard Duel comes with a great amount of things. First, it comes with a bunch of different cemetery plots. Every cemetery plot seems to open so you can see a skeleton or some kind of coffin. Or it even comes with a couple different skeletons that you can have hang around the graveyard. I guess. [Laughs] It’s also surrounded by a fence you can put together and you can either make the fence go around the graveyard or you could encase it into something. And then of course in the back it has some other great details to make it look like a graveyard. It comes with a real spooky tree that is filled with owls and spiders. And then also a caretaker’s area where he has his broom and shovel and everything else. But of course the biggest part of the set is the Tom Riddle grave. So when you open that up, it actually reveals three different snakes in there. You can also have the cauldron, which of course is where Voldemort appears.
Andrew: Now what about, looking at these pictures, this doesn’t look like a set that would take a while to build. How long did this one take you?
Joe: Actually this one took a while.
Andrew: Really?
Joe: It’s somewhat complicated. The fence if you look, everything little thing is made of a ton of little pieces. It took a while. I would probably say this is a good hour build. At least for me. Again, like I said, I take my time with it. I mean why rush putting together something. So the best thing about this set is that it comes with all the different mini-figures. It comes with Wormtail. It comes with Harry Potter. And of course Voldemort. We kind of get a good look at Voldemort. And now that we’ve seen the new trailer, we kind of get an idea of what he looks like. The coolest mini-figure is obviously the Death Eater. If you look at the Death Eater’s head it has the little mask on it, but if you turn it around and take the cloak off, it obviously becomes Lucius Malfoy. Which is pretty cool. I enjoyed this set a lot. And if you’re going to get a Goblet of Fire Set, this is the one that you definitely have to get.
Andrew: Okay, so everyone’s next question is how much does it cost?
Joe: This one is about $30.00.
Andrew: Okay. Wow!
Joe: Which is not too bad specifically if you look at all the little things you get. I’m actually thinking of buying another set, so that I can make it a larger graveyard and make the fence longer, and combine that.
Andrew: Oh, good idea.
Joe: Of course I’ll have a whole bunch of extra mini-figures, but I always look into how I can make this set larger.
Andrew: Yeah, plus you’re saying it’s one of the best Harry Potter Sets, and then only for $30.00, that is definitely one I’d be interested in buying.
Joe: Yeah. If you look at how the Lego Potter Sets have evolved from the first film until now, they just keep getting better and better.
Andrew: All right. And last, but not least, tell us about the Merpeople Set.
Joe: The Merpeople Set? Yeah, this one is probably one of my least favorites as well, only because…
Andrew: So it is least? [Laughs]
Joe: Well, one of them. The Durmstrang Ship has probably been my least favorite, but there are reasons why this one is not one of my favorites. The Merpeople Set is the smallest of the four.
Andrew: Yeah, I was just going to say this set does not look very large or very detailed.
Joe: No, it really isn’t. And it’s kind of a disappointment that they did this one and they left out the final task, which is the maze. I would have rather seen that one, I think.
Andrew: That would have been an interesting build.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah. Probably too expensive to build too is why we don’t see it.
Andrew: Yeah. [Laughs]
Joe: This set has very blue and green colors to make it have this look of being underwater because obviously that’s where the task takes place. It’s got some interesting mini-figures if you look. If you look at Harry. The detail. They give him the gills. And of course little Lego flippers. And I said in my review I was not sure whether or not this is the first time Lego has produced Lego flippers for mini-figures? And of course I got a ton of e-mails the next day telling me I didn’t know what I was talking about. So obviously, it’s not. If you look at the mini-figures it comes with, it comes with Ron and Hermione, and it comes with one of the Merpeople. And that’s it! And I was a little disappointed because in the scene…I already have a Ron and Hermione figure. I don’t need anymore. You know?
Andrew: Not only that, but I remember you saying in your review that Ron and Hermione look exactly the same except for the hair.
Joe: [Laughs] Pretty much. Yeah. The faces are a little bit different on these two, but if you look at the outfits, the outfits are exactly the same. So, the bodies are exactly the same and it’s just different head and different hairstyle. Which is what they usually do. So that I found to be a bit of a disappointment because Lego went out of their way to make some of these really well-detailed and designed. Then of course it also comes with another Viktor Krum figure, which I already have one from the Durmstrang Ship. This one has a shark head that is removable. But the biggest disappointment out of all four of these now that you look at them all, is that there is no Cedric or Fleur mini-figures. The main story of the movie…
Andrew: Well, that’s upsetting.
Joe: The main story is the Triwizard Tournament and you get two Viktor Krums, three different Harrys in these sets, but no Cedric or Fleur. So you can’t even reenact the scenes if you wanted to.
Andrew: That’s not good.
Joe: So I found that a little bit disappointing. We may see more sets from Lego. Doubtful.
Andrew: Yeah, that was going to be my next question.
Joe: Doubtful. I doubt we’ll see it. You never know. You know, I think overall Lego did a very good job on them.
Andrew: Now, did we mention the price about the Merpeople?
Joe: The Merpeople Set was about $20.00.
Andrew: Okay. So it’s the smallest and the cheapest. All right. So Joe Fulton from MillionairePlayboy.com aka Lando da Pimp.
Joe: My nickname.
Andrew: Thanks for joining us this week. And if there are any more Lego Sets or whatever, you’ll be getting a call from us.
Joe: No problem.
Free iPod Book and Other Blog Updates
Ben: Okay. By the way guys, if you’re on the MuggleCast Blog, and if you’re not sure how to subscribe to iTunes, you can click the Free iPod Book to download from iLounge.
Eric: Dude, not a cast goes by that we don’t plug this book.
Ben: No, but it’s a really good book.
Eric: It is a great book.
Ben: It is goes a good book. We’re trying to help the fans because we’re still working on our own personal iTunes tutorial. In the mean time, we want to help the fans have their own way to do it, and you just download this book from iLounge. You can get the link, click on the link from our downloading blog.
John: That’s really good of you guys. That’s a selfless service.
Melissa: So selfless.
Andrew: Listen, we care about the visitors.
John: I think we ought to take a page out of your book. Just how selfless and generous you are to provide links to things like that.
Ben: Also, by the way the blog has also been updated. It has Word Counts. So when we make of Eric for talking the most in the shows…
Eric: It actually happened except for Episode 5. Jamie pulled ahead of me. I was so happy.
Ben: Jamie did pull ahead of him.
Melissa: He’s pulling ahead.
Eric: And I don’t think, it’s my turn to do Episode 6 so that’s why that’s not done yet.
Ben [in fake British accent]: Shut up Eric! Eric, what are you talking about? What are you talking about, Eric?
Eric [in fake British accent]: I think it’s Eric’s turn. Eric, Eric, did you have something to say?
Ben [in fake British accent]: Eric, you’re next. [Returns to normal voice] Okay, so I think that is enough announcements and…
Andrew: Nonsense?
Voicemails – “Horcri”
Eric: Let’s just get to voicemails guys! Voicemails!
Ben: Okay Andrew, roll the voicemails!
[Audio]: Hi! I’m calling from California and I’m 17 years old. I really enjoy listening to MuggleCast. Do you think the Potions Book that Harry hid in the Room of Requirement will be useful and important to him in the future? If so, how? Thank you.
Andrew: The question was: “Does that book that Harry stuck in the Room of Requirement, will it have any significance in Book 7?”
Eric: Well, I think so. It’s Snape’s book.
Ben: Well, I am thinking not. There are far too many loose ends for it to come back to the Half-Blood Prince’s Potions book that he put in the Room of Requirement.
Eric: Well, I think it is fairly big.
John: No. You’re totally wrong. You’re totally wrong. This is what it is. She makes this big point to describe this forgotten room…
Melissa:
Oh God!
[Andrew Laughs]
John: So how can there not be one of the Horcris (hor-crees) in this room?
Melissa:
Horcri?
John: Yes.
Eric: Well, there’s a cabinet in there. There’s a cabinet that’s described like the Vanishing Cabinet in that room.
Melissa:
Horcris?
John: Yeah. There are all kinds of stuff in there.
[Melissa Laughs]
John: That’s perfect spot for one of the Horcris.
Melissa:
Horcris?
[All Laugh]
Eric: Horcris? What are Horcris?
Melissa:
No, it’s in the book. It’s in the book as Horcruxes.
John: For plural?
Melissa:
Horcruxes are in the book.
John: Horcruxes? That’s her mistake.
Eric: She named the chapter after that.
Melissa:
[Laughs] Here we go again.
Eric: It’s Horcrussies, people.
John: When they publish the next version, she is going to correct that.
Melissa:
Uh huh.
[All Laugh]
Eric: The next book: “Harry Potter and the Horcrussies”.
Andrew: Isn’t it Horcris (hor-crys)?
Melissa:
Anyway.
John: No, it’s “cree”.
Melissa:
That room is hugely important. I don’t know about the book, but the room.
Ben: Yeah, I agree the room is, but after the Death Eaters go through to the Castle, it was in the Room of Requirement. I actually do think the room itself is important, but I don’t know what significance the book will hold.
Andrew: The book has significance because there’s so many good spells in there.
Ben: But that doesn’t matter though.
[John Laughs]
Ben: We look back to Book 6 and that’s what the entire book was basically about. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Who was the Half-Blood Prince? Snape.
Eric: No, it wasn’t about that, though. Ben, that’s my problem with Half-Blood Prince. My only real problem with Half-Blood Prince was that Snape wasn’t in it. The book is titled after him and we saw one of his lessons.
Melissa:
Yeah, but…
Ben: Oh boo hoo!
Melissa:
Well, look at the other…
Eric: It’s a plot twist. The whole book we’re supposed to decide and think about Snape, but he wasn’t in it much.
Melissa:
But look at the other books.
Eric: And that’s a shame because…
Melissa:
Look at the other books. Sorcerer’s Stone – Yes. It is about find the Sorcerer’s Stone, but it’s about a lot more. Chamber of Secrets – you get to the Chamber of Secrets at the end. Yes. It’s about Tom Riddle’s history.
Eric: Well, right.
Melissa:
Prisoner of Azkaban. The things in the title don’t always set the course for the entire book.
Eric: Right, but they are rather mainstream. For two…
Ben: It does though. For example, look at Goblet of Fire. It’s the center of the entire book.
Melissa:
It’s a cup.
Ben: You have this Goblet that spit out Harry’s name.
Melissa:
I think it should have been the Triwizard Tournament.
Eric: I think it’s more mainstream.
Ben: It wasn’t a dramatic twist.
Eric: Well, it was going to be, wasn’t it?
Ben: I don’t know.
Melissa:
Doom Spell Tournament.
Eric: The Doom Spell Tournament or whatever. Yeah, so that was rather…No, I’m saying Half-Blood Prince is less mainstream than the other ones were.
Melissa:
Yeah. I agree with that. But think…
Ben: I don’t know.
Melissa:
But think about it. We’re down now to where artifacts are tremendously important to the rest of the series. These Horcruxes, Horcruxes, Horcruxes!
Eric: Yeah.
John: Horcri!
Eric: Horcrussies.
John: Horcri.
Melissa:
Have you guys been getting e-mails? We’ve been getting e-mails that it says on the Harry Potter Site that Filch knows the location of every last artifact at Hogwarts.
Eric: Who says that?
Melissa:
On HarryPotter.com.
Andrew: I believe that.
Melissa:
And so people are wondering if that’s going to be important.
Andrew: I believe it.
Ben: Put a Memory Spell on Filch.
John: Why can’t Harry just go into the Room of Requirement and be like: “Room, I require you all the Horcri.”
[All Laugh]
Eric: Because the might not be at Hogwarts.
John: And then he takes a hammer and goes “Boom, boom, boom”.
[Melissa Laughs]
Andrew: Because it will say: “I’m sorry. I do not recognize the term Horcri.”
[All Laugh]
Eric: Yeah.
Melissa:
An error of type 6024 has occurred.
Eric: Please re-enter. Please re-enter.
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: Please try again.
[All Laugh]
Melissa:
I’m sorry.
Andrew: Save the Muggles.
Melissa:
To Save the Muggles. [Laughs]
Andrew: Computer, please locate all Horcri.
Eric: Computer, find them. I need all the objects I see.
[All Laugh]
Ben: You know something I really want to talk about with you guys is the Felix Felicis (has trouble pronouncing).
Eric: Felix Felicis.
Ben: The good luck potion.
Eric: Felix Felicis.
Ben: What role do you guys think it might play?
Andrew: We’ve gotten so many e-mails and voicemails about this one.
John: I hope it’s done.
Andrew: And yet we haven’t played them because I guess we haven’t felt like it.
Ben: Yeah, but I think it will be pretty crucial…
Andrew: It’s a serious topic.
Ben: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Ben: Because they perhaps saved the lives of the Trio and other Hogwarts students and people at the end of Half-Blood Prince.
Eric: And the DAers.
Melissa:
Yeah.
Ben: Yeah. The DAers at the end of Book 6.
Melissa:
You think it’s…
John: Yeah. Yeah, and that’s all crap.
Ben: Why John? Why?
John: That’s why I said. Here’s what I said. They substitute continuing the DA, actually learning how to do the stuff. Let’s make a potion that will…
[Cluttered talk]
Melissa:
But?
Ben: I agree.
Melissa:
But that’s, you know…
Eric: I agree with John.
John: If they use that again, that’s a major cop-out.
Melissa:
They couldn’t have done half of that stuff without knowing it beforehand.
Eric: Well, one of the things…
John: They could have tried.
Melissa:
And luck only gets you so far. That’s one of the points. And if you take it you take Felix Felicis too much you become reckless, you make mistakes. It’s not a perfect potion. It’s not a panacea.
Ben: It’s like a drug. It’s a drug. It’s like a drug.
John: What are you talking about the stuff they knew how to do? They described one of them jumping up and down, bouncing around, dodging the curses. Wasn’t Ginny doing that?
Melissa:
Ginny said the spells seemed to bounce off them, but that doesn’t mean that they did bounce off them.
Eric: Well, Ginny gets around.
John: And it doesn’t mean she’s throwing them back at them or throwing any spells back around, it just means she’s doing a dance.
Melissa:
Hmmm. Could mean that she’s just…
Eric: One of the things (I think JKR is aware of it), which is great because in Book 5 where Zacharias Smith or some smart-ass says to him: “These spells are stupid and how are we supposed to defend ourselves with these stupid little first year spells.” I forget the exact line, but Harry says: “Well, it saved my life.” Which was cool.
Ben: Yeah. Expelliarmus!
John: Yeah.
Eric: So, it’s showing that you can hold up a pretty good fight. You don’t need to use the Unforgivable Curses to put up a decent fight.
Ben: Crucio!
Eric: Felix Felicis kind of got…I mean Harry I don’t think is even prepared to almost touch the magic of the Horcruxes. He didn’t even know anything about what Dumbledore was doing in those weird languages in the books.
John: Well no, for God’s sake, the dude couldn’t even dry off his cloak after he jumped in the water on his own. And now he’s going to go chase the Horcri?
Eric: And if Dumbledore lost his hand in that…
Ben: Who couldn’t? You’re talking about Harry couldn’t dry himself off?
John: Yeah, after they dove into the water.
Ben: Oh yeah.
John: And Dumbledore says: “Oh my bad. I’m sorry. I’ll try you off, you little baby.”
[All Laugh]
John: Dang.
Eric: Yeah I think to an extent they are not nearly prepared as they should be, but they’ve held themselves off pretty well so far.
John: Well, far too under-prepared.
Ben: See whenever, and I said this about one episode earlier, whenever Voldemort tries to fix something, he always makes some other mistake. He never expected Harry to be able to stop him with the Expelliarmus, you know?
[John Laughs]
Ben: Next time he tries to kill Harry, I have a feeling it will be something else. In the final showdown, it will be something else he hasn’t seen.
Eric: You know what?
Ben: We all know Harry has to win, but I think it would be the ultimate plot twist if Voldemort won and doomed the wizarding world. That would jut be so sweet.
Eric: There’s a very important question I have to ask all you guys?
John: Yeah?
Melissa:
Yes?
Eric: What do you think? I guess one of the ways Voldemort, it would be cool, if once he was mortal again he actually lost his magical power and was a common Muggle. That would probably kill him.
Melissa:
You mean to live as a Muggle?
Eric: But my question is. Yeah. But my question is the prophecy and JKR’s emphasis on it only has to happen because they want it to have to happen.
Ben: Yeah.
Eric: Or something. What do you think? Because that’s a big thing. That is really pushing the limits. It’s kind of seeming that they really don’t have to kill each other anyway because if Voldemort and Harry both agree not to make it happen, which Dumbledore says will never happen. But if they do, does that mean they don’t have to kill each other? The power is given to Harry to vanquish Lord Voldemort. Do they only work if he wants it to? What’s the deal? Because that’s only…
Ben: Harry has a destiny, and whenever you hear this in other stories and in history, whenever someone tries to evade their destiny, or whatever their told destiny is…
Eric: It ends ups becoming their destiny.
Ben: Yeah. They end up fulfilling that same destiny anyway.
Eric: Yeah. Julius Caesar is a good example.
Ben: They’re told that this is going to happen.
Melissa:
It’s the MacBeth thing.
Ben: And they go all out of the way to avoid it, and it still ends up happening.
Melissa:
That’s MacBeth again.
Ben: And the reason it ends up happening…
Eric: Yeah MacBeth. More so than Julius Caesar.
Ben: …because they knew what their destiny was, and when they tried to avoid it, they somehow made it happen. It’s sort of a circular logic there. That’s the whole point behind it.
Melissa:
Well, the thing is, yeah, if they did walk away, they wouldn’t have to meet each other. But Voldemort is not going to let Harry live because he is a threat. So, that’s going to happen. They are eventually going to meet that way. But he says, and this is what I wanted…this is one of my favorite, all-time…Harry reacted exactly the way I was starting to react about the whole love thing when he was talking to Dumbledore. When he was like: “Yes, yes I know. Love. Yes big deal.”
Eric: Yeah.
Melissa:
When he was like: “Yes, yes I know. Love. Yes, big deal.”
Eric: Oh yes. Absolutely. That makes sense.
Melissa:
And Dumbledore’s answer made things just a bit clearer. He says Harry was willing to wage this fight because he has love for people, because his love for people has ignited this righteous anger and this want for revenge. That righteous anger and that want for revenge is his protection. And it is caused by love. It’s a little twist on “Oh, love will save you”. But love has actually inspired in him the things, which will make sure he doesn’t just give up to Voldemort.
Eric: You know. That’s a great, great point Melissa.
Andrew: Exactly.
Eric: And also if they do both give up, how is Voldemort going to be defeated? They can’t really do that.
Melissa:
It’s that old “it’s not in the script”.
Eric: I thought that was confusing though, the end of that chapter. I’m sorry, John. You can go.
John: We’re talking about love. The easiest way to kill Voldemort, Harry faces him and says: “Hey, here I am. I’m Harry.” And then he just brings Ginny along and just about when Voldemort’s about to curse him, Harry and Ginny start making out.
Eric: It’s just such a display of love that he crumbles.
John: And Voldemort starts to melt because he just can’t witness the love. And he starts to melt.
[All Laugh]
Eric [singing]: Can you feel the love tonight.
Melissa:
I like the theory that…
John: Exactly. And they start playing Disney music.
Andrew: I’m melting.
Melissa:
I just like the theory that he’ll be evil-overlord monologuing and Harry will just sneak up behind him and kill him. [Laughs]
Voicemails – R.A.B. Confirmed?
[Audio]: Hey, MuggleCast guys. Really enjoying your show. Particularly like the Special Episode with Melissa. I think she’s an adorable young woman. And I think it’s great that MuggleNet and Leaky have gotten together to do a show. I really like both programs and I do agree that they both serve different audiences, different purposes. I wanted to ask you guys, MuggleNet had recently reported that Lexicon had reported that a well-placed source was confirmed that Regulus Black’s middle name was Arcturus. Now I can’t imagine for the life of me, who or what would constitute a well-placed source other than Jo Rowling herself. And I wanted to hear your thoughts on that. Thanks again! And I’m really enjoying both MuggleCast and PotterCast. Thanks! Bye!
Melissa:
Well, first I want to say thank you to that guy for calling me an adorable young woman. That’s something that I don’t…
Eric: Yes, he’s very, very correct. We love you, Melissa.
Ben: Young?
Andrew: That would be Brian.
Melissa:
Oooh. Ben!
Eric: Ryan? There’s going to be Ryan and Melissa ‘shippers.
Melissa:
That’s it Ben. I’m not saying “Yes” to your next proposal.
Eric: Proposal?
[Ben Laughs]
Andrew: Okay, let’s talk about this.
Eric: Like you really said “Yes” to the other forty-six.
Ben: I’m just kidding, Melissa. Melissa is adorable and young.
Andrew: Okay, great.
Melissa:
Okay.
[Ben Laughs]
Andrew: Let’s talk about this.
Melissa:
Do you want…
Andrew: HP Lexicon. Here, I’ll explain this.
John: Melissa’s disqualified from this because she knows the answer.
Eric: He’s saying that they wouldn’t have posted this… Yeah, they wouldn’t have posted this…
Andrew: HP Lexicon posts Regulus’ middle name. The world freaks. They take it down. What happened?
John: Interesting.
Andrew: Melissa Anelli?
Ben: What was it? Was it artichoke?
Melissa:
It was artichoke. No, I can’t. I can’t…
[All Laugh]
Eric: Arcturus.
Andrew: I think it was Archovy. Anchovy.
Eric: Arcturus, man.
Melissa:
I don’t know exactly, but I have a good idea. And for that reason, clearly I can’t say because it’s a matter of respect to Steve.
Andrew: Okay, then me and Ben will speculate.
Melissa:
But I can answer certain aspects of it, but I’ll let you guys speculate first.
Ben: Is it a media source?
Melissa:
I can’t say.
Andrew: No. Ssh. Don’t ask her.
John: I have no idea, but I have good speculation because no one tells me anything.
Andrew: What I think is obviously they got this from a highly placed source, highly placed source. I can’t hear myself when I can hear my own voice. I think what happened here is that they got the information from some highly placed source…
John: That’s specific.
Andrew: …and they spotted it. Someone else spotted it and they flipped because it hasn’t been released by JK Rowling, and therefore they made them take it back down.
John: Well, Duh! Is that speculation? That’s the obvious.
Andrew: Well yeah, that’s what happened.
Ben: That was some crappy speculation.
John: That was ridiculous.
Andrew: Okay. Whatever.
John: Speculation is who the highly placed source is. We know there’s a highly placed source. My speculation, and this again is not talking to Steve, and Melissa doesn’t tell me anything. She’s mean.
Melissa:
I know nothing.
John: I’m assuming, like the Lexicon has confirmed other things as far as genders and things like that, it’s through their translators. And when they have to translate the books for different countries, they have to know certain things, certain names, and certain things about characters so that they can get the grammar correct and all that other stuff. If there were ever a reason for some reason to note what the “A” stood for in R.A.B., then it’s for the translating purposes. There’s a chance that that somehow got wind to them through their other contacts they use to translate the Lexicon.
Eric: That’s a good idea.
Ben: That’s as bad as Andrew’s.
[John Laughs]
John: Shut up!
[Eric Laughs]
Melissa:
Well, I just want to address what people say, when they say how could it be anybody other than JK Rowling? It could very well be somebody other than JK Rowling. Clearly any information that is accurate about the books ultimately comes from JK Rowling, but many people are now involved making sure her books go around the world, go into different editions, go to the illustrators. You know what I mean? So different people need to see different things.
Eric: Right. JKR can’t do that all herself.
Melissa:
Right.
Eric: Right.
Ben: But when they put that up and it just disappears like that, they just yank it right off the Web.
Andrew: Well, because someone else noticed.
Ben: Then people are pretty sure it’s true.
John: Obviously, somebody probably told them to get rid of it.
Ben: Right. So?
Eric: Because it’s nothing JKR confirmed.
Ben: I’m just going to take a stab in the dark here and say that R.A.B. is pretty much Regulus Black. There’s no doubt in my mind.
Melissa:
Well, we could go back to the interview, you can see in the transcript, I think I mentioned this in the last, or I will mention this in an upcoming PotterCast that we’ve already taped. In the interview with Jo, and this is not just talking about it, it’s in the transcript. There is a point where we said something about R.A.B. and I, without even noticing I was doing it, answered as if we were talking about Regulus. And she didn’t correct me. She didn’t pause. She didn’t think about anybody else. We were just going on talking about Regulus. And I took that as pretty much a confirmation.
Eric: Yeah, confirmation.
Melissa:
Only because she’s fair about that and she would say: “I didn’t quite tell you it was Regulus, so let’s back up.”
Voicemails – Defenseless Dumbledore
[Audio]: Hi, MuggleCast! This is Jeanluca from Switzerland. I’ve read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in English five times in a row due to the obsession. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the entire book, but I was rather surprised when I was reading the part with Dumbledore’s death. How come Dumbledore dies so easily, with what seemed like no trouble. With such powerful magical powers, shouldn’t he be prepared for at least a Killing Curse? Thanks!
Ben: Well, I think that we have talked about this in the past.
Eric: Yeah, we have talked about this.
Ben: We’ve come to the conclusion that, or at least the majority of us have, and again this may not be true. As one of our 11 or 13 MuggleCast Commandments or whatever they are, this may just be speculation. It’s that Dumbledore knew he was going to die so he really didn’t try to defend himself. That’s my theory. And he knew that Snape’s position in the Order of the Phoenix was too crucial to compromise. What are your thoughts?
Eric: Even for himself. And one of the things Jamie said, I believe it was Episode 3, that maybe, perhaps what blasted him backwards was the huge expulsion of Dumbledore’s power. So even though he seemed to have died easy, that whole thing that pushed him over the edge was his power. Which was a nice way of showing it.
Melissa:
Yeah, when I heard him say that I remember thinking that was a really, really nice theory.
Eric: Yeah, Jamie has that kind of touch on things. Really nice.
Melissa:
Mhm. Steve Vander Ark made a great point in our latest PotterCast where somebody asked him about this, and he said the reason he thinks that Snape is Dumbledore’s man is because right before that scene Dumbledore is weak and says “I’m not worried, I’m with you”. So clearly he’s depending on Harry. Why do you freeze Harry then? He’s not trying to protect him then. He’s trying to stop him from interfering because he knows basically what’s going to go down.
Ben: Exactly. Took the words right out of my mouth.
John: Here’s my question though. The task that Draco was supposed to do. I don’t think, and I keep saying I, like I am the only one with these theories. The thing he was supposed to do couldn’t have been to kill Dumbledore because nobody in their right mind could have assumed that Draco could pull that off. They weren’t assuming that Dumbledore was going to go out on this Horcri mission and weaken himself like that.
Eric: You insist on using Horcri, don’t you?
Melissa:
I know.
John: Yes. Yes. Now hold on. They didn’t assume any of that. For all they knew, Dumbledore could be just as powerful as he always is. So why the hell would they put Draco on this ridiculous quest to kill Dumbledore. I think the quest was to just get the Death Eaters into the Castle. That’s a reasonable quest. And that’s also a reasonable something that Snape could help happen too.
Ben: Yeah, but…
John: That’s why Snape says: “If Draco screws it up, I’ll help get the Death Eaters in the Castle.”
Ben: Yeah. Right, but it does make sense that it was the killing of Dumbledore because Draco can’t do it there at the end, so Snape does it for him. See where I’m coming from?
Eric: But that’s the whole point. That’s the whole point. They thought Voldemort was ticked off at Lucius so they sent his son to die, and he wasn’t supposed to.
Melissa:
Or what if…
Eric: And also, the whole thing with Death Eaters in the Castle, the was Draco’s own improv because he found a way to make it happen with the Vanishing Cabinet. He did that. Snape knew nothing about it.
Unbreakable Vows
Melissa:
What if Voldemort meant for Snape to do it in the end because he sort of knew this was happening. He knew there would be an Unbreakable Vow. He knew that Snape would have to protect him. What if it was Voldemort’s last test of Snape’s loyalty?
Ben: That may be why he did it.
John: Are we under the impression that Voldemort knew about the Unbreakable Vow happening in Snape’s house?
Melissa:
He probably would have. Maybe he just knew that he would try to protect Draco.
Ben: You’ve all heard the reverse Unbreakable Vow theory, haven’t you? Like Dumbledore put Snape in the Unbreakable Vow to kill him?
John: Oh yeah. I thought that immediately. The only thing I can’t think of is who would have bound that Unbreakable Vow?
Ben: John, you are the only one to think of these theories.
Melissa:
That’s a good point.
Ben: Everyone just steals them from you.
John: No, who bound the Unbreakable Vow?
Ben: I don’t know.
John: I fully believe that they did have one, whether the vow was to…
Melissa:
But you what, no. I don’t think they did because I don’t think Dumbledore wants to rely on magic to trust a person. I think that is devaluing somebody’s pride. Saying I don’t trust you fully so let’s do a vow that you die if you break.
Eric: That’s a really nice, that’s a really nice personality observation.
Andrew: Right.
Ben: But he put Snape in a really bad position though. So I understand for Snape, it’s the moment of truth. He knows if he doesn’t do it, he’s going to die then he might be a little more apt to do it.
Melissa:
I don’t think Snape cares that much about his life. I think Snape cared that Draco was going to die if he didn’t do it.
John: That’s what he was arguing about, I’m sure, with Dumbledore. When they had the argument that Hagrid overheard. I think he’s stuck between two Unbreakable Vows and he’s trying to argue with Dumbledore. Snape is saying: “I should die. You should stay, Dumbledore. You’re going to need to be around to help.” And Dumbledore says: “No. No. That’s crap. We need you around because you’re of more benefit to the Order as a spy.”
Eric: Right. Because now he’s on Voldemort’s right hand for this whole thing.
John: Yeah.
Eric: He killed the only one he ever feared. I mean come on. That’s got to be brilliant.
John: Yeah.
Eric: So if Snape is anything that Dumbledore thought he was, I think he’ll come around.
Melissa:
I just can’t get over something…
Ben: Hey, Andrew did you… I’m sorry, go ahead.
Melissa:
I just can’t get over his parting shot to Harry is teaching him. He’s teaching him as he’s fleeing the grounds, as Harry is trying to kill him. He’s still teaching him.
Ben: Yeah.
Melissa:
He’s trying to get him to block his mind.
Eric: He’s trying to get him to block it.
John: And I forget. What did Snape tell everybody about Harry as they were leaving?
Eric: Leave him for the Dark Lord.
John: Didn’t he say: “No, he’s Voldemort’s?”
Ben: “He’s the Dark Lord’s. He’s the Dark Lord’s.”
John: Yeah, so here is at his most defenseless. No Dumbledore. If Snape was really the bad guy, why wouldn’t he be like: “Hey, I got two birds with one stone here. I’m just going to take Harry with me. Take him back to Voldemort.”
Eric: Yeah. I’m a firm believer that Snape does have an Unbreakable Vow with Dumbledore and all that stuff, but also Snape couldn’t have killed Harry there because according to the prophecy, even if he tried, would it have worked? Because one is supposed to kill the other. So if Snape went against Harry would he just have another scar? Or what? Would it have worked?
Ben: I don’t know. It’s not going to happen because…
Eric: Right. I definitely think Snape is a good, but that’s not the question. The question is would it have worked if anybody else tried to kill him, but Voldemort.
Ben: It’s not destiny.
Melissa:
It’s just not going to work out that way. It’s the MacBeth thing again. The characters just, they make it happen that way. Do you know what I mean?
Ben: Yeah.
John: Yeah.
Melissa:
It’s very confusing.
Andrew [in funny voice]: I don’t know what the answer is. I really don’t.
Show Close
Ben [Show Close with music in background]: So I think this wraps up Episode 7 of MuggleCast. I’d like to thank Melissa and John for joining us from The Leaky Cauldron. Maybe sometime they’ll return the favor and have some of us on their podcast.
Melissa:
I think we definitely want.
John: That will be plenty fun.
Ben: Okay. Yeah. So…
Eric: Yeah. Horcri and Horcruxi.
Ben: And if you a comment about John calling it the “Horcri” go ahead and e-mail him. I’m all for that.
John: Spread it around.
Melissa:
What’s the e-mail, John? Isn’t it…
John: It’s what? John at the-leaky-cauldron dot org?
Melissa:
Oh yeah. That one.
Ben: John at the-leaky-cauldron.org.
Melissa:
Yeah, but you say it like that, people don’t do the dashes.
Eric: The dash!
Ben: John at the-leaky-cauldron dot org.
John: Hey, if you guys don’t know the proper address to Leaky Cauldron then I don’t want to hear from you.
Melissa:
We know. Google it.
Ben: Oooh.
Melissa:
Google the word Leaky. You’ll get it.
John: Yeah.
Ben: Okay. Yeah, so that’s pretty much it guys. If you have any questions or suggestions please visit www.mugglenet.com or www.mugglenet.com/mugglecast where you can view all of our contact information, send us a feedback e-mail from the form we have there (something PotterCast doesn’t have).
Melissa:
[Laughs] Something PotterCast doesn’t have.
Andrew: Oh! Oh! I have one more thing. I have one last thing.
Ben: Yeah?
Andrew: I just remembered. Someone drew us some fan art. Remember how I said in Episode 6 how we all gathered around my desk?
Eric: Yes. Well, we do. We are right now.
Andrew: For our podcast. Like we are right now.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Ben. I mean Eric. You have such nice hair today.
Eric: Why thank you.
Melissa:
Hey, we just got one as well by the way. We just got a fan art. It’s really cute.
Andrew: Wait.
Ben: Okay.
John: They have me hiding behind a monitor with a “HBP For Dummies” on top of the monitor.
[All Laugh]
Eric: HBP for dummies?
Ben: Okay.
Andrew: So anyway. Wait! I’m not done yet.
Melissa:
I’m sorry.
Eric: Okay, Andrew. Go ahead.
Andrew: So this person…
Ben: You’re killing me.
Andrew: This person drew a picture of all six of us. Or five of us huddled around my desk.
Eric: That’s so cool!
Melissa:
That’s awesome.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And you’re telling me I have nice hair?
Andrew: Yeah, because you’re sitting right next to me.
Eric: That’s so cool!
Ben: I know.
Andrew: Ha! I just punched you. Yeah, it hurt. Didn’t it?
Eric: Owww!
Ben: Yeah. Okay…
Eric: Okay, are you going to say that…
Ben: Enough. Enough with you bozos.
John: Keep your hands to yourselves boys!
Eric: Are you going to say like… Are you going to call yourself everybody’s favorite Kansan?
Ben: Okay Eric, that’s enough.
Eric: Wait, Ben.
Ben: Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, NO!
Melissa: Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys.
Ben: Okay.
Eric: I’m talking to you, Ben!
Ben: So if you go to…
Eric: Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben!
Ben: If you visit… ERIC STOP!
[Show fades out as arguing continues]
Bloopers
Andrew: Remember what I said about live-to-tape?
[All Laugh]
Andrew: Ah, okay. Just checking.
Ben: Well, now that you’ve just broken the rules…
Eric: Well now that we’ve established that.
Melissa:
Well…
Ben: Okay. Andrew, this isn’t nearly as bad as past episodes. So, don’t even…
Andrew: Computer. Please locate all Horcri. [In computerized voice]: TERM NOT FOUND! But…but…John Noe said it!