An old war buddy of Nolan’s Eddie Braddock comes to Defiance chasing after Earth Republic’s most wanted Pol Madis. Will Nolan and Eddie see eye-to-eye on how to handle this mass murderer? Also, Is there trouble in paradise for couples Tommy and Irisa AND Nolan and Kenya? And finally, DEFIANCE REWIND WEEKEND is coming for both the game and show. Find out what that entails and more on this episode of Defiance Reporter.

EPISODE 6 “Brothers in Armsâ€

Recap

This week, Nolan reunites with an old war buddy of his and team up to chase after a mass murderer. Meanwhile Quentin has to decide if what Luke had kept secret is important enough to keep or if it needs to be destroyed for the safety of his family and Defiance.

Thoughts and Observations

• 
  
• Oooh! What shady past does Doc Yewell keep hidden away?
  
• I was so happy to see Nikki! Except she showed her hand too quickly and was then gone too soon.
  
• Kenya girl, make up your mind. Do you like the guy or not? Do you want him to save you from your work or be cool with it? Kenya’s mixed bag of emotions was predictable and still frustrating to me that I was relieved she ended it with Nolan. Of course this leaves Nolan in the cold with Amanda now showing interest in her old friend.
  
• Speaking of mixed signals, Tommy is getting a ton of them. As soon as the scene changed to Irisa and Tommy, first thing out of my mouth was “oh, here it comes!†Totally called it!
  
  Who was this “Hunter†that Amanda mentions to Kenya?
  
• Notice Pol’s wanted poster? Wanted for Mass murder, bombing of public spaces, deployment of poison gas and creation of biological weapons. Now THIS is an enemy. He eludes erep for years, escapes in a flashbang in the middle of a crowded street, discreetly kills a thief by electric shock, manipulates and plans to kill Datak… Datak is not nearly as tough as this guy!
  
• Another reference to Von Bach. I’m loving the more frequent nods to the game in the show. One of the reasons the Earth Republic is so desperate to get their hands on Pol Madis is that he was working with Karl Von Bach as one of his chief engineers before escaping with highly sensitive corporate secrets. The Earth Republic is desperate not to let those secrets get into the wrong hands.
  
• That’s twice Varus was mentioned this episode! For those unfamiliar with the reference, in the game Varus Soleptor hired us to recovered a valuable artifact known as the Libera Nova Gem. We recovered the gem, but instead of handing it off to Varus, Nolan and Irisa kept it for themselves and headed to St Louis. And I’ve never forgiven Nolan for that. (Can’t wait until he comes back in the game).
  
• Goodbye Mr Birch. We hardly knew ye. Who will do the heavy lifting for Nikki now?
  
• What’s the deal with Quentin? Can he see ghosts? Is that a hallucination? Could that be a self preservation or defense mechanism from the artifact? Does it possess intelligence?
  
• Interesting fact about the caves and artifacts from last episode.. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1811-1812.php There really WAS an earthquake in St. Louis in 1811 – an earthquake so strong that the Mississippi River seemed to flow backwards. Those items Rafe and Quentin discovered – the bones, the pickaxe, the spectacles – looked like they originated from that time period. But what were those people doing down there in the first place?
  

Favorite scenes

• 
  
• Want to come over to my place after work? What’s at your place? Me! Best. Scene. Evar.
  
• Irisa watching over Nolan as he sleeps was both creepy and endearing.
  
• Nolan shot first. No way Greedo..ummm..crap.
  

Dislikes?

• 
  
• This Pol Madis character is kinda awesome and I wish he hadn’t ended up dead. There was some potential for serious mayhem and a strong enemy (though I understand there’s only 12 episodes and much larger and more dangerous enemies to deal with I the show already).
  
• I totally didn’t believe that Eddie would give himself up like that. Seemed out of character.
  
• Does Nikki realize how bad of a liar she is? That was HORRIBLE!
  

Speculations and unanswered questions

• 
  
• Why are there items from the 1800s down in old St. Louis?
  
• Why is Quentin seeing Luke? Is this a product of Quentin’s guilt or is it the Artifact trying to preserve itself?
  
• Who will Nikki turn to now that Mr. Birch is dead?
  
• And lastly, who the HELL gave Pol a nanotab?
  

Defiance is taking a week off and will be back June 3rd! With that, Defiance is now half way done with the season and we will dedicate an episode to our thoughts, hopes and predictions for the rest of the season. Have a prediction or want to share what you think should be addressed in the second half of the season? Let us know! We’ll share your thoughts with the rest of our listeners.

Defiance Catch Up Marathon

Missed a few episodes? Forgot to properly setup your DVR? Or decided the show was worth your time after all? Now’s your chance to catch all 6 episodes this Saturday the 25th starting at 4pm eastern (and again at 11pm) on Syfy. All episodes of Defiance will also be available on demand where available and online at syfy.com or defiance.com.

Shooting the Shtako Episode 6

http://www.defiance.com/en/series/news/shooting-the-shtako-with-grant-bowler

Grant Bowler and Kevin Murphy discuss behind the scenes

• 
  
• Grant thinks that Rob Stewart should have been playing Nolan. He’s really charming and entertaining guy.
  
• Grant also discusses his actions with offing Pol Madis, calling it a soldier solution, not a lawkeeper solution.
  
• “The killing of Pol Madis is the most pragmatic, most humane solution for everybody, but its an action that only a soldier would take.â€
  

Reviews Across the Web

This week we turn to Spoiler TV and Lisa Macklem for our episode review.

http://www.spoilertv.com/2013/05/defiance-106-brothers-in-arms-review.html

• 
  
• This episode did a good job of fleshing out more of Nolan (Grant Bowler) and Irisa’s (Stephanie Leonidas) past in particular and the world of Defiance in the post-apocalyptic world in general. The show pretty consistently excels at teasing out exposition without feeling like they’re doing it, which is not an easy task.
  
• Referring to the artifact, if it was buried during the 1811 earthquake, that would indicate that aliens were on earth a lot longer than the Pale Wars. Perhaps scouting for the Votans? Or is this yet a different alien race who may pose a threat to Votans and humans alike? (Not something I had considered yet).
  
• Did anyone else miss Alak’s radio station this week? I was really hoping that would become a more integral motif.
  
• I thought this week’s episode was pretty solid. It was much more tightly plotted and once again delivered some great performances. The characters continue to grow on me, and that is really what keeps me coming back to the show.
  

[What we did in game]

Ben

• 
  
• 
  I haven’t played a wink since the last Defiance Reporter episode.. Instead I’ve been living in the Defiance forums and waiting for patch 1.020.
  
  

Chris

• 
  
• Worked on the contracts for the current episode, as well as working on side missions. Holding off on the main mission while I try to finish the plethora of side missions that are on my map.
  

DEFIANCE IS 30% OFF on Steam this weekend!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/224600/

• 
  
• The Windows PC version of Trion Worlds’ Defiance is discounted by 30 percent on Steam right now
  
• The sale drops the game’s Standard Edition from $59.99 to $41.99, and the Deluxe Edition from $99.99 to $69.99.
  
• Trion is also running a free to play weekend on Steam until Sunday, May 26.
  

Its our favorite day! Patch Day!

http://forums.defiance.com/showthread.php?73279-Patch-1.020-Buckshot-(Stay-on-Target

Welcome to patch 1.020. Along with numerous improvements and bug fixes, this update also includes new content that will tie in with recent and future events around the Defiance TV show. This content will be released alongside new episodes. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, we’ve omitted specifics, but it includes new missions, new goals, and a new open world game mode called Sieges! (To highlight again, this content is not going live on May 23rd. It will be released alongside new episodes from the TV show.) Some more notable notes being:

• 
  
• Added fast travel point to Bloodbath Turnout in West Mount Tam
  
• Added fast travel point near Coit Tower.
  
• The PvP map, Freight Yard, is back!
  
• The Dam Defense Hotshot is available again.
  
• Fixed the endlessly respawning Raiders at Verdant Ridge.
  
• Rebalanced Hotshot and Rampage medal score tiers.
  
• Added additional rewards and increased the chance to get weapons instead of grenades from Major Arkfalls.
  
• Monarchs now cause vehicles to explode when collided with.
  
• Fix for Soleptor Excavation to prevent players from falling through the world if they defeat the final boss while standing on a spawn door.
  
• Continued to tune weapons to improve balance.
  
• Reduced rate of fire for the Auto Lobber.
  
• Reduced damage per shot for the Crash Boomer, Rebound Lobber, and Auto Lobber. (BOO)
  
• Mods that show up as vendor specials will now be higher quality.
  
• Mods given as rewards from Challenges will now be higher quality.
  
• Synergy weapon mod caches purchased from vendors should now include a wider variety of synergy types.
  
• Vehicles were being used as weapons with very little risk, so we’ve increased the amount of damage that colliding with enemies does to vehicles to increase that risk.
  
• Titles are now available at hidden vendors.
  
• Added new cut scenes for episodic storylines.
  
• Continued UI polish and bug fixing.
  
• There are many more fixes and tweaks and you can read them over at the Defiance Forums.
  
• Right now there are issues with the patch and Defiance has been down for the last 7 hours for emergency maintenance.
  

Across the Badlands Episode 6

This week hosts Greg Laabs and Mat Everett talk about Van Bach and discuss a bit more about Varus from both aspects of Show and Game.

Interview with Bear McCreary

• 
  
• How is composing for a TV show and Game different from other mediums? Music breaks down barriers and gets to the emotional core of what you’re watching. Television and movies is a much more passive experience. With games you have to be more open and make players feel they can change the course of events.
  
• Where did you find inspiration for creating music? I tried to come up with sounds that are specific to the race.
  
  • 
    
  • Irathients have an acoustic sound with “jangley†guitars and stringed instruments to convey a race that lives on the road.
    
  • Castithans are more like the Italian mob. Their music is generally more reserved and alien with weird meters to give a sense of tradition for the alien race.
    
  
  
  
• How do you shift gears between shows? Do you have a “palette cleanser†of sorts? Since Bear has a wide range between his works and due to having to delve deep into his work, he finds he ends up longing for the other, to move from an epic sci fi to a dark and gritty character drama and back again.
  
• The soundtrack for the game is available on iTunes and Amazon. and the Soundtrack for the show is coming out soon!
  

Siege Mode and DLC details

• 
  
• Part of the DLC content is Seige mode, but it will be released before the DLC as an episode tie in.
  
• Sieges are dynamic events that will happen throughout the map from Mount Tam to San Francisco.
  
• Its a Capture and Hold contest and totally different from Arkfalls.
  
• You can capture points to gain points or kill things to gain points to beat the siege.
  
• New sieges will be introduced with the DLC such as the Volge Sieges mentioned last week.
  
• At m24:32 seconds in, you can see a screenshot of what Castithan player models will look like as well as some charged weapons.
  
• A second screenshot shows the Volge in game!
  

Viewer Questions

• 
  
• When will the winners be announced for the Most Wanted contest? Numbers are being crunched and the winner will be announced on an episode of Across the Badlands.
  
• Will Across the Badlands continue between seasons? Were still in the planning phases for off season, but Trion will continue to do the Friday Livestreaming. More news later
  
• With the addition of Castithans and Charged Blades, will we get a dedicated melee weapon slot? We will still be using our primary and secondary weapon slots for melee weapons. No dedicated slot.
  

Rewind Weekend May 24th -June 3rd

http://community.defiance.com/en/2013/05/22/defiance-rewind-week-is-almost-here/

GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY! If you’ve missed out on the Nolan and Irisa episode missions then you’re in luck! Starting tomorrow the 24th until June 3rd, “Meet Nolan†will appear in-game after completing “Raiding the Medicine Cabinet.†NOTE: If you’ve already completed the Episodic missions, they will not appear for you. Trion is working to allow future Rewind events to allow all players a chance to replay this content.

Our second Dodge High Speed Challenge Weekend is upon us

http://community.defiance.com/en/2013/05/23/dodge-high-speed-challenge-weekend-2/

• 
  
• Players can log into Defiance and speed into a new Paradise daily contract and race against the clock in return for access to the Paradise Faction.
  
• There is a new Paradise merchant that will sell multiple colors of the exclusive Dodge Challenger that will include modified stats. The Paradise Faction merchant is only available during these Dodge Challenge weekends.
  
• This weeks Dodge High Speed Challenge is located in Madera.
  
• Available colors are Plum Crazy, Bright White, and Billet Metallic
  
• The challenge will only run from the 24th to the 27th.
  

LAST MINUTE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Just to reiterate everything that’s happening this weekend in the defiance community, we have:

1. 
   
2. 
   The Defiance Marathon on Syfy this Saturday.
   
   
3. 
   The Defiance Rewind weekend in-game
   
   
4. 
   Its Dodge High Speed Challenge Weekend again
   
   
5. 
   Its also the first arkfall of the Dodge Defiance Sweepstakes http://www.dodgedefiance.com/#/index/
   
   
6. 
   and Steam is having a free to play weekend where you can pick up Defiance at 30% off.
   
   

Join our clan IGNI FERROQUE! <defiancereporter.guildlaunch.com>

No registration required, just look for one of these officers in-game, Corso Vanlocke, Jack Thundersteele, or Almazar to get an invite!

A Twitter shoutout for a new XBox clan @DefianceNews

@defiancepodcast hey guys I’m starting up an Xbox clan would you forward this to your followers ;) anyone wants to join just message me

CONTACT US!

Email: defiance@mmoreporter.com

twitter: twitter.com/defiancepodcast or @defiancepodcast

site: defiancereporter.com

Voicemail: 616-666-6778 (and our new widget on the ride hand side of the page)

youtube: youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork

Ben: twitter.com/nebsinsane

Chris: twitter.com/almazar

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