Meta Runner
Meta Runner (known as Meta Runner: The Final Season for its third season) is an Australian computer-animated web series created by Kevin and Luke Lerdwichagul. It is produced in-house by Glitch Productions, along with production funding provided by Screen Australia,[3][4][5] financed with support from Crunchyroll and AMD,[3] and financed in association with Epic Games.[3][6] It premiered on YouTube on July 25, 2019, with season 2 premiering on the channel GLITCH on October 16, 2020. The third and final season premiered on July 22, 2022.
| Meta Runner | |
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| Also known as | Meta Runner: The Final Season (season 3) |
| Genre | |
| Created by |
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| Written by |
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| Directed by |
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| Voices of |
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| Theme music composer | AJ DiSpirito |
| Opening theme | "Always Running" (performed by Matthew Guerra, S1) "Only Up" (performed by Lizz Robinett, S2) |
| Ending theme | "Breeze" (performed by KIMI, S1) "Steady" (performed by Matthew Guerra, S2) "Trade" (performed by Matthew Guerra and Lizz Robinett, S3) "BlueJay" (performed by Lizz Robinett, S3E08) |
| Composer | AJ DiSpirito |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 28 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producer | Kevin Lerdwichagul |
| Running time | 12–23 minutes |
| Production company | Glitch Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | YouTube |
| Original release | 25 July 2019 – 9 September 2022 |
The series takes place in a futuristic society where entertainment and lifestyle are based around video games and esports. The best of the best gamers in this society are known as "Meta Runners", many of whom replace one of their arms with a cybernetic arm also called a "Meta Runner" arm in order to optimize their gameplay performance. The series focuses on an amnesiac cyborg girl named Tari, who discovers that she has the ability to warp inside video games, and comes across and helps an undercover group called MD-5 in their mission to expose the corrupt company TAS Corp.
A pilot for a spin-off show titled Ultra Jump Mania, based on the fictional video game of the same name in the show, was released on 4 September 2020. However, as of September 2023, it has not been picked up for a full season.
Synopsis
In Silica City, all media and entertainment are mostly based around video games, not just serving as entertainment, but also jobs in live streaming and lifestyle. Among members of society are Meta Runners, individuals who have replaced their limbs with cybernetic arms that allow them to boost their gaming performance.
The series tells the story of Tari, a Meta Runner who was the subject of an experiment called Project Blue, led by Dr. Sheridan, a scientist who was commissioned by TAS Corp. After waking up in an abandoned lab, Tari finds herself in Silica City with amnesia. The last thing Tari can remember is a sudden accident causing an explosion in the lab that seemingly kills Sheridan and his patient, Lucinia Porter.
Voice cast and characters
Main characters
- Celeste Notley-Smith as Tari, the main protagonist of the entire series. She is a shy and insecure Meta Runner who has the ability to warp into the video games she plays. She also has an built-in AI that advises her on what actions to take while she is warped inside a video game. She is determined to find out who she is and where her unique abilities come from.
- Robyn Barry-Cotter (born Moore) as Theo, the goofy yet determined protagonist of the game Ultra Jump Mania, where he encounters Tari after she stumbles into his world. He gets transported to the real world via Tari's abilities.
- Hayley Nelson as Sofia Porter, a cheerful and upbeat girl who is one of Tari's friends. She is not known to play video games, but still helps MD-5 via her hacking skills.
- Anthony Sardinha as
- Lamar Williams, an easygoing otaku with a unique cybernetic arm and is a friend of Tari's.
- Dr. James Sheridan, the overarching antagonist of the series and the main antagonist of Season 3. He is an ex-TAS Corp scientist who created Project Blue to try to prevent Lucks from firing him. He is presumed missing alongside Lucinia after an explosion while developing Project Blue.
- Brendan Barry-Cotter as Masa Shimamoto, a calm, composed, and serious friend of Tari but is a former team captain for TAS Corp. He was decommissioned after trying to hack into Lucks’ private server to prove his theory that Lucks killed Lucinia.
- Jessica Fallico as Belle Fontiere, the secondary antagonist of season 1, an anti-heroine of season 2 and 3 a rival of Tari. She is also a representative of TASCorp and their most celebrated Meta Runner. She is Lucinia's girlfriend, but after finding out about her apparent death, she begins to disobey her boss and act on her own accord.
- David J.G. Doyle as Derek Lucks, the main antagonist of the show, and the arch-nemesis of Masa. He was the CEO of TAS Corp who was obsessed with Tari, due to her unexpected ability to warp into video games. He tried to capture Tari in order to discover the cause of her ability and give it to his other Meta Runners so that TAS Corp surpasses their competition. He was fatally shot at the end of season 2 after Sheridan hacked Masa's cybernetic arm. An AI version of Lucks appears as a recurring character in the 3rd season.
- Elsie Lovelock as Evelyn Claythorne, the secondary antagonist of the show and a Meta Runner at TAS Corp., is shown to be extremely snobby, selfish, and whiny throughout her appearances in the show. She is also forced to be Tari's show match partner, even though she heavily resents Tari for stealing her spotlight.
- Amber Lee Connors as Lucinia Porter, the overarching protagonist of the entire series. She was a Meta Runner at TAS Corp, and was the human test subject for Dr. Sheridan's “Project Blue”. She was presumed missing after the "Project Blue" test ended with an explosion. She is the sister of Sofia Porter, the A.I. fragment of Tari, and the girlfriend of Belle Fontiere.
Minor characters
- Jason Marnocha as Marco, a host of underground gaming tournaments in the slums of Silica City. He collects Meta Runner arms and uses two of them as additional limbs.
- Elsie Lovelock as Bo, a minor character who serves as the mascot of TAS Corp. She only appears on Silica City billboards.
- Kevin and Luke Lerdwichagul as the Bot-boys, common robots found across Silica City, usually with a job or function. One is also shown to be in the game Ultra Jump Mania.
- David J.G. Doyle as Elder Tomato, a character in the video game Ultra Jump Mania. His purpose in the game is to give the player expositionary information and advice. He is also a supporting character of the spinoff series Ultra Jump Mania.
- Amber Lee Connors as Satsuki-chan, a character from the dating simulation game Nova Explorers. She appears in the handheld dating simulation game Pocket Gakusei due to a crossover between the two games.
- Brendan Blaber as Petey, an NPC and a tutorial guide from Skybreakers.
Guest stars
- Elliott "Muselk" Watkins as Announcer
- James Rallison as Male Civilian and himself
- Kathleen Belsten as Female Civilian
- Ross O'Donovan as Announcer
- Brodey "Bazza Gazza" de Meur as Tempest Competitor 1
- Nathan "Crayator" Clifford as Tempest Competitor 2
- Kizuna AI as herself
- Arin Hanson as himself
History and production
As revealed in a video titled "The Making of Tari" uploaded by Luke and Kevin Lerdwichagul on 14 February 2019 on the YouTube channel SMG4, the concept of Tari's character started when Kevin and Luke asked their younger sister, Tish, who was drawing in her sketchbook, if she had any ideas for a new character to add to their channel's titular machinima series; she drew a “gamer girl” character who would become Tari. The first early design of Tari was for her to be a robot instead of a cyborg, an antenna on top of her head, headphones, a simple jacket with a love heart stitched onto it and a d-pad for her right eye.
Eventually, Tari was redesigned as a human cyborg with a white vest with the Meta Runner emblem, which was based on the blue jay’s wing. She was also given a blue hoodie with blue jay wing patterns on each shoulder starting from "Sequence Break" (episode 4).
Meta Runner was first teased at the end of the SMG4 episode, "War of the Fat Italians 2018", depicting the character Theo and the date 5 December 2018. The months following had similar teasers of different Meta Runner arms before the official trailer for Meta Runner was uploaded on 5 December 2018.
On 18 March 2019, it was announced that Meta Runner was one of many projects to receive funding from a $500,000 grant from Unreal Engine.[7] On 25 June 2019, it was announced that Meta Runner would be funded by Screen Australia,[8] Epic Games and AMD. On 20 July 2019, Glitch Productions announced that they had partnered with Crunchyroll to produce the series.[9] On 20 April 2020, Screen Australia announced the funding of Meta Runner season 2.[10][11] The second season aired from 16 October to 18 December 2020.
A third season was announced by the creator Luke Lerdwichagul a few weeks before season 2 was completed, before being formally announced on November 29, 2021. A teaser trailer was released on May 6, 2022. The teaser confirmed that the third season will be the final season and will be released the summer of the same year.
On June 24, 2022, the official trailer for Season 3 was released, confirming it would begin on July 22, 2022. It ended on September 9, 2022.
The series has not continued since the final episode, however it has been referenced in the primary SMG4 series, with the recurring leitmotif being heard in the SMG4 Movie "Western Spaghetti". The SMG4 counterpart of Tari was also redesigned to resemble her Meta Runner equivalent.
Comic
After the finale on September 9, 2022, a comic series, entitled "Meta Runner: Source" was announced, appearing to go through the backstory of Lucinia Porter. It was also promoted through a pre-video announcement for the third episode of SMG4's Lawsuit Arc, "SMG4: If Mario Was In... Splatoon 3", released on September 10. A trailer dedicated to the comic was released on September 11 on the GLITCH channel.
Episodes
| Series | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 10 | 25 July 2019 | 10 October 2019 | |
| 2 | 10 | 16 October 2020 | 18 December 2020 | |
| 3 | 8 | 22 July 2022 | 9 September 2022 | |
Season 1 (2019)
All episodes were written by Kevin Lerdwichagul and Jasmine Yang, and Luke Lerdwichagul served as creative director.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Creative Direction by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Wrong Warp" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul and Jasmine Yang | 25 July 2019 | |
| An amnesiac girl named Tari wakes up in a lab and finds herself in Silica City. She discovers she has a cybernetic arm and learns that she is a Meta Runner, people who replace their limbs with cybernetic enhancements to improve their game performance. Tari walks into a TASCorp store and finds a speedrunning arena in a back room. There, she sees a Meta Runner, Belle Fontiere, attempting to set the world record for Ultra Jump Mania by executing a secret glitch. Belle performs the glitch correctly but misses the goal pole, thus losing the record. Once everyone leaves, Tari picks up Belle's controller and starts playing. Belle begins to question who Tari is and where she learned to play that game. Tari's rapid finger movements cause her to suddenly lose consciousness. When she wakes up she finds herself on an island. She is then attacked by Theo, the protagonist of Ultra Jump Mania, and Tari learns she has transported inside the game. Meanwhile, Belle calls in her boss, Lucks, to investigate. While he begins to berate Belle for her failure in the speedrun, he soon becomes intrigued by Tari. After seeing that she's in the game, Lucks calls in TASCorp scientists to figure out what happened. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Out of Bounds" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul and Jasmine Yang | 1 August 2019 | |
| Inside Ultra Jump Mania, Tari manages to convince Theo that she isn't an enemy. Theo tells Tari that she is on Simple Flip Island and then proceeds to leave her behind. Tari catches up to him and follows him on a platforming adventure. The duo eventually comes across a horde of tree monsters. Theo gives Tari a pineapple hammer and the two engage the monsters. Back in the real world, Lucks and his scientists continue to investigate Tari. Belle is unimpressed, but Lucks says that Tari's ability could be the future of gaming and that he could give her ability to everyone. In the game, Tari and Theo defeat the monsters. Lucks arrives in the game, speaking through a version of Theo. Lucks tries to convince Tari to tell him about her ability, but the TASCorp scientists begin experimenting on her arm, causing her agonizing pain. With a burst of energy, Tari returns to the real world and is shocked to discover that Theo came back in the reality with her. | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Bad Split" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul and Jasmine Yang | 8 August 2019 | |
| Tari and Theo are confronted by Lucks, who attempts to convince Tari to work for him at TASCorp. Tari refuses and, with help from Theo, manages to escape the speedrunning arena. Belle tries to chase after her, but Lucks stops her, saying they can't be seen chasing a civilian in public. They take what they have and Lucks promises to deal with Tari. Meanwhile, Tari and Theo hide in an alleyway in Silica City, with Tari saying they are in real danger and Theo's video game mechanics don't work in the real world. They duck inside a streaming pod, where Tari has a flashback of a mysterious scientist and Theo inadvertently gives up their location to Belle by starting a live stream. Tari is confronted by Belle and is eventually captured, while Theo fights off TASCorp scientists and escapes. Theo then sees Tari getting loaded into the back of a TASCorp and begins to cry. However, a mysterious Meta Runner approaches Theo and says "I got this". | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Sequence Break" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul and Jasmine Yang | 15 August 2019 | |
| Inside the back of the TASCorp van, Belle tries to calm Tari down and reveals that video games dominate society and that she herself has been through worse. As Tari begins to wonder what will happen to Theo, the van is hit by a remote-controlled car. Tari escapes the van and sees Theo in the car, which drives off with Lucks and Belle in pursuit. Inside the car, Theo introduces Tari to Lamar Williams, who gives Tari a jacket that causes signal interference, believing Lucks put a tracking device in her robot arm. The trio eventually comes up against a closed barrier set up by Lucks. Tari uses her Meta Runner vision to analyse the situation and takes the controller from Lamar; she escapes by using a fallen billboard to propel the car over the barrier. Lamar promises to take Tari and Theo to a safe place. Meanwhile, Lucks tells Belle that he no longer just wants Tari's powers, but wants her, which Belle calls creepy. Elsewhere, Lamar fulfills his promise to take Tari and Theo to a safe place by bringing them to a secret hideout in a ramen shop. There, Tari and Theo meet Sofia Porter and Meta Runner Masa Shimamoto. | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Aimbot" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul and Jasmine Yang | 22 August 2019 | |
| A flashback shows a spy camera watching Belle at the speedrunning area before Tari shows up. In the present, Lamar explains that he and his crew were trying to gather some intel on Lucks and TASCorp on the day of the speedrunning incident, but changed their plans when they saw Tari's abilities. Sofia tells Tari and Theo that their group, MD-5, are trying to take down TASCorp for all the horrible things they have done. Tari is hesitant to join the group, claiming she wants nothing to do with TASCorp at all, but Theo convinces her to help MD-5 since they gave them shelter. However, Masa refuses to let Tari and Theo join unless they can prove themselves via a first-person shooter called Battle Blaze, to see how well she can handle a human opponent. Tari is easily beaten by Masa several times before Sofia inspects Tari's robotic arm, causing Tari to warp into the game. Meanwhile, at TASCorp, Lucks has Belle search the research facility for info about the crest on Tari's outfit while he investigates the corrupted copy of Ultra Jump Mania that Theo came out of. Belle then wanders into a messy and abandoned lab. Back at MD-5, Tari begins to improve; seeing her potential, Masa gives Tari some advice on how to beat him by clearing her mind. She is interrupted by Theo (who transported into the game as well) using "banana mines" to defeat Masa. Sofia brings them out, and Masa tells Tari that, while she has a lot to learn, they have a place on the team for her. Theo then begins to glitch out due to being out of his game for too long, and Masa urges them to find an Ultra Jump Mania cartridge. Back at TASCorp, Belle comes up empty and begins to give up, until she finds a memory card about "Project Blue". | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Game Plan" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul and Jasmine Yang | 29 August 2019 | |
| Tari gets Theo back into an Ultra Jump Mania cartridge, but the presence of another Theo causes the game to glitch and boot the two out. Sofia deduces that Theo needs to return to his own cartridge, prompting Masa to find more extreme measures to do so. Inside the destroyed facility at TASCorp, Belle watches a video log from Dr. Sheridan on Project Blue, an AI system capable of beating any video game once it is implemented into a human host. Its final log shows an accident with the test run, causing an explosion that presumably kills Sheridan and his assistant, to Belle's horror. At MD-5, Masa schemes to hack into TASCorp's servers to obtain and release their private records and files to the public, damaging Lucks' image. To do this, they would enter an underground competition hosted on TASCorp's private servers; Tari would enter the game and crash it by executing a glitch, which would give Sofia time to hack into the servers and regain Theo's cartridge. Lamar is inttially skeptical about the plan, but concedes after Tari agrees to it. Back at TASCorp, a surprised Lucks sees the footage from Dr. Sheridan, thinking it was a cover-up and Belle reveals that the Meta Runner that Sheridan experimented on was her friend, Lucinia, who they had thought went missing. Examining the footage's details, Lucks inputs Sheridan's code, causing the corrupted Ultra Jump Mania game to show the emblem for Project Blue. | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "No Clip" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul and Jasmine Yang | 19 September 2019 | |
| In Tempest (the battle royale game setting for TASCorp's underground competition), Tari, Theo, Lamar and Masa begin training for the underground competition. They teach Tari how to collect spells, which are used for attacks and teach her what the glitch is, which is hitting the floor, going 55 km/h at 36 degrees. Tari learns that to pull the glitch off, she needs to jump off the top of a mountain in the game and use a wind spell to propel herself downward to gain enough momentum to clip through the floor. Tari continuously tries to pull it off, to no avail. In a flashback, Belle is struggling to pull off a newly discovered glitch in Ultra Jump Mania when she is visited by her friend Lucinia, who gives her encouragement. Back in the present, Belle questions the connection between Project Blue, Tari, and Lucinia's apparent death. When Lucks' search proves no answers, he suggests that Belle obtain answers from Tari herself. Back at MD-5, Tari grows discouraged over her repeated failures. Theo and Masa give Tari some words of encouragement, and Tari is finally successful in pulling off the glitch. Masa tells them that, now that they know how to pull the glitch off, they need to be trained in physical combat, because in the competition, they'll have people attacking them. | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "One Shot" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul and Jasmine Yang | 26 September 2019 | |
| About a week later, the day has come for the Tempest tournament. Tari, Lamar, and Masa sneak Theo and themselves into the competition. Tari starts to have second thoughts, but Masa and Lamar tell her that this is their best chance at pulling this off. As the game starts, Tari warps into the game, but is pulled into a void where she sees Lucinia. After she recovers, she wakes up on the raging battlefield. MD-5 starts grabbing spells, using Lamar's forcefield and Masa's kunai to gather spells and gear. The group is then confronted by a top-tier team, which forces them to take a defensive stance. Lamar uses a teleport spell to get them to safety. Lamar questions if Tari is all right and is worried about Tari when she passed out in the game and was in the void earlier, but Tari insists that she is fine. Masa tells Lamar he understands Lamar's concerns, but they need to focus on executing the glitch. MD-5 discusses their next strategy and is attacked by the top-tier team from before, who knock Tari off of a cliff. Tari falls into a collapsed building and is attacked by the enemy team. Before they can finish off Tari, the rest of MD-5 arrive to assist Tari, and they go on the offensive. | ||||||
| 9 | 9 | "The Run" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul and Jasmine Yang | 3 October 2019 | |
| MD-5 prepares to take on the enemy team, with Masa taking the lead and the others flanking the support members. In taking down the enemies, Theo is taken out after sacrificing himself to protect Tari, and one enemy escapes. In the real world, it is revealed that the last enemy was Belle, who recognizes Masa. Lucks reminds Belle that the goal is to take out Tari. MD-5 gets to the top of the mountain. Tari prepares herself for the glitch but the group is attacked by Belle, who takes out Lamar. MD-5 then realizes that TASCorp is onto them. Masa attempts to convince Belle to back down, but she refuses and reveals to Tari that Masa was once a team captain for TASCorp, but was decommissioned for hacking into Lucks' private server to prove his theory that Lucks killed Lucinia. Masa and Tari engage Belle and almost gain the upper hand, but Belle restrains Tari under a building and makes Masa overload his robotic arm before she takes him out. Lucks tells Belle to finish off Tari, but she disables communications with him so she can privately interrogate Tari. | ||||||
| 10 | 10 | "Shutdown" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Kevin Lerdwichagul and Jasmine Yang | 10 October 2019 | |
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Belle angrily interrogates Tari over her warping abilities, but with encouragement from Theo, Tari agrees to tell Belle everything she knows only to evade her and execute the glitch. In the real world, Masa and Theo commend Tari, while Lamar urges everyone to evacuate the arena. MD-5 tries to escape, but are cornered by a furious Lucks (who shoots off Masa's robotic arm) and the TASCorp security personnel who subdue Tari, Lamar, and Theo. When a tearful Sofia shows herself to prevent Lucks from killing Masa, Lucks takes her tablet and has guards clear it and destroy any backup servers. When Sofia says she just wanted to know what happened with her sister, Lucinia, Belle reveals the footage of the explosion despite Luck's orders. Sofia breaks down and asks why Lucinia was with Sheridan, and Belle says to ask Tari, diminishing Masa's trust in Tari. Lucks prepares to imprison MD-5 for life, when Tari offers to join TASCorp on the condition that Lucks lets everyone else go. Lucks shocks Theo, revealing that he discovered MD-5's plan by using Theo as a spy camera via the corrupted Ultra Jump Mania cartridge. As Lucks subdues Theo, he threatens to destroy him if MD-5 causes trouble again or Tari starts to show signs of disloyalty. Lucks lets MD-5 go and leaves with Tari, who promises that she'll be fine. In a post-credits scene, Belle discovers a device with a backup from Sofia's tablet. As Belle leaves, Lucks asks for an update on his subject. Health statistics are listed and a woman whose condition is stated to be stable is shown in a cryogenic freezer. | ||||||
Season 2 (2020)
All episodes were written by Jasmine Yang and directed by Luke Lerdwichagul.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | "Hard Reset" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jasmine Yang | 16 October 2020 | |
| Six months after the events of Season 1, Belle and Tari are playing a match in a video game tournament. After their win, the two drive back to TASCorp with Lucks, who discusses Tari's big debut at TASCorp with an interviewer. After the interview, Lucks warns Tari to perform better at her debut match. Back at TASCorp, Tari is escorted back to her room while she views the harsh treatment of TASCorp employees. Back in her room, Tari demands Lucks allows her to visit Theo to make sure he is still alive. While talking to Theo, Tari promises him that she'll bring him back to MD-5. Lucks then hastily ends the call. Meanwhile, in a poor part of Silica City, Lamar and Sofia walk through an alleyway to find Masa, who had abandoned MD-5 after the events of Season 1. Masa brushes them aside at first, but Sofia reveals that she saved a backup of the file onto her phone, which she and Lamar planned to tell him. However, her phone is at TASCorp with Belle, who unsuccessfully attempts to hack into Sofia's phone. TASCorp Meta Runner, Evelyn Claythorne, bursts into Belle's room to complain that Tari is getting exhibition matches instead of her. Evelyn then angers Belle by insinuating that Lucinia abandoned TASCorp. Simultaneously, Belle promises to Lucinia and Tari promises to Theo that they'll figure something out. | ||||||
| 12 | 2 | "Firewall" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jasmine Yang | 23 October 2020 | |
| Lucks gives Theo a chair. However, he uses the chair to clip out of the prison and land in the server. Lucks tries to stop him by creating a data partition which Theo easily avoids, then runs a quarantine program, causing Theo to land in an unknown file. Meanwhile, Tari and Evelyn are practicing a game called Hidden Heroes, with Belle overseeing them. Evelyn gets the edge on Tari and disarms her. Belle mockingly tells Evelyn to finish Tari off. When Belle looks at the results of their match, the screen glitches and Theo lands on the screen, asking where he is. However, the quarantine program catches Theo and drags him away. Back in Theo's prison, Theo asks Lucks if the deal is still open, but Lucks turns the screen off. Lucks reprimands his scientists and orders them to monitor Theo so they know what makes him tick. Meanwhile, Evelyn openly complains that she has to share her debut match with Tari. The two bump into a TASCorp scientist, who is playing an anime dating sim called Pocket Gakusei. Evelyn mocks him and confiscates the game, but Tari gets an idea to contact Lamar via the game given that he is an otaku. In Masa's makeshift house, Masa, Sofia, and Lamar talk about the server backup on Sofia's phone, which Sofia thinks Belle is trying to get into. Glad that Belle finally came to her senses, Masa asks if they can just send her the encryption key, but Sofia reveals that TASCorp has a stronger firewall, and if they send anything to Belle, Lucks will get tipped off about the phone. Lamar mentions how Tari and Theo are trapped in TASCorp, but Masa angrily claims they betrayed them. Lamar and Sofia are able to convince Masa to help save Tari and Theo and get the server, but Masa says he needs a new Meta Runner arm since his arm was shot off by Lucks. Sofia tells Masa they can't buy one but tells him they can win one. | ||||||
| 13 | 3 | "Unreal Engines" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jasmine Yang | 30 October 2020 | |
| Masa, Lamar, and Sofia return to the low tier of Silica City to win a new Meta Runner arm. They enter a tournament hosted by Marco, an old friend of Sofia's. Marco challenges Lamar and Masa to a match of Turbo Crash 9; if he wins, Lamar must give up his Meta Runner arm, but if Lamar and Masa win, they get a new arm for Masa. At TASCorp, Tari searches Evelyn's room for Pocket Gakusei and finds it. Evelyn catches Tari hiding something behind her back, but Belle discreetly allows Tari to use the game. She instructs Tari not to tell anyone or they're both busted. Back with MD-5, Lamar takes the wheel while Masa handles weapons. Marco eventually gets the upper hand, but Masa and Lamar overtake him in the end and win the match, much to Marco's anger as he accuses Masa of cheating. They get the arm and drive back to Masa's place; in the car, Masa has an unknown device in his hand (presumably used to hack Marco's robotic arms during the match). | ||||||
| 14 | 4 | "Transfer Student" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jasmine Yang | 6 November 2020 | |
| Tari enters the anime dating sim in search of Lamar, while Belle visits Theo to ask if he can obtain information about Project Blue from TASCorp's servers in exchange for helping him reunite with Tari. Theo agrees, and Belle takes control of him using a controller. In the anime dating sim, Tari's search comes up empty until she remembers that Lamar likes a character called Satsuke-Chan. The character remains silent, making Tari realize she needs to fill up a relationship meter with her. Back at TASCorp, Lucks catches Theo running around in the server again; Theo finds a Project Blue file and is attacked by Lucks's quarantine program. Belle glitches multiple coconuts for Theo to fight off the quarantine program. Belle inadvertently gives up her location in celebration of obtaining the file, forcing her to leave Theo behind before anyone finds her. Lucks then puts Theo back in the corrupted Ultra Jump Mania cartridge, leaving him alone with monsters that he can't fight off due to the glitching. | ||||||
| 15 | 5 | "Heart to Heart" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jasmine Yang | 13 November 2020 | |
| In the anime dating sim, Tari is able to get Lamar's contact information from one of the girls. Tari calls Lamar from his room in the game and reunites with MD-5. Tari apologizes to Masa, saying she herself has a lot of questions like he must have, but Masa tells her they can sort that out after she's safe. MD-5 warps into the game, and Masa reveals they will bust Tari out during her upcoming show match. At TASCorp, Belle accesses the Project Blue file and sees footage of Lucks searching the abandoned lab and finds out Lucks indeed knew what happened to Lucinia. Belle angrily leaves, swearing not to let Lucinia's memory get tossed aside. Tari is rapidly pulled out of the game by Belle, who offers to help her and MD-5 expose Lucks. Sofia gives Belle the benefit of the doubt, but Lamar and Masa are not so keen on the idea, the latter saying Belle has let him down twice before and cannot handle a third time. Tari convinces Masa to give her a chance; Masa agrees, but tells Belle that if she is on his team, she is to follow his orders. Belle reluctantly agrees to this as Masa begins to explain their plan for TASCorp's show match. | ||||||
| 16 | 6 | "Hack and Slash" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jasmine Yang | 20 November 2020 | |
| Lucks introduces Tari and Evelyn at the beginning of the show match, and Evelyn gives a long self-centered speech about how she never got the attention she deserved as the youngest child in her apparently famous family. MD-5 causes a power outage and replaces TASCorp’s Hidden Heroes cartridge with their own. Meanwhile, Belle plays the corrupted Ultra Jump Mania, where Theo is still trying to escape the monsters. Theo is initially confrontational toward Belle for abandoning him, but she tells him if she can beat the game, Theo can get out of the cartridge and escape TASCorp via a link on Sofia’s phone. Back at the show match, Lucks reveals Hidden Heroes is meant to be 2 players against 10 enemies, but for the show match, Tari and Evelyn will face 50. Evelyn continuously complains about Tari’s tactics while Lamar and Masa kill several enemies. Tari asks why Evelyn hates her so much, and Evelyn reveals that she trained for years only for Tari to show up and “ruin” it for her. Tari angrily expresses her wish for Evelyn and TASCorp to leave her alone, and Evelyn immediately abandons Tari, who has to face several enemies on her own. | ||||||
| 17 | 7 | "Friendly Fire" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jasmine Yang | 27 November 2020 | |
| Tari is able to kill all the enemies with Masa's assistance. They notice Evelyn watching them, and Evelyn calls Lucks to tell him that Tari is cheating. Meanwhile, Belle tries to get Theo out of the glitched Ultra Jump Mania game but is stuck on a level due to more corruption from Theo trying to get into the server download. Theo then sees a small glowing ball going through the level and copies the ball's movement to make it to the flag area. Back with Evelyn, she says Tari cheating explains the power outage, Tari's weird tactics, and the friendly fire in the game. Lucks then realizes MD-5 is at the match. Lucks attempts to activate security measures to stop MD-5, but is stopped by an anonymous caller (revealed to be Sofia), who passes herself off as tech support at first. This does not faze Lucks, but Sofia threatens to make TASCorp go bankrupt due to the swirling rumors about them. Lucks makes hand signals to Evelyn in her arena room divider to destroy Tari in the game. Evelyn hits Tari from behind with her sword and engages her in one-on-one combat. Masa and Lamar deal with the rest of the players since Tari is sticking to the plan of keeping Evelyn busy. Tari tries to convince Evelyn to back down, but Evelyn instead targets everyone else on the enemy team, eliminating Masa in the process. Tari rescues Lamar, who asks Masa what he's going to do next; Masa says he is getting ready for when this is all over. | ||||||
| 18 | 8 | "Soft Lock" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jasmine Yang | 4 December 2020 | |
| Evelyn covers the arena with fog and wipes out the other enemies and Lamar, but Tari overcomes Evelyn while Sofia completes the data transfer. Sofia gets on the intercom and starts an emergency evacuation, while Masa tells Lamar to get Tari to safety while he causes a distraction. Masa tackles Lucks, while an enraged Evelyn physically fights Tari, who pushes Evelyn into a closing pod. Tari tries to get the cartridge but realizes Theo is not there, while Lamar urges her to just get out of the arena. Meanwhile, Masa wakes up in a TASCorp holding van where Belle is sitting. Belle calls out Lucks for lying to her for nearly two years, but Lucks says that everything he did was to protect the company. Belle apologizes to Masa, and they have a flashback to the night before Lucinia's disappearance; Lucinia expresses doubt in her abilities since the attention at the time was on Masa (the leader) and Belle (the new hotshot). Meanwhile, Lamar takes Tari to Sofia for a reunion, and Tari reveals they cannot release the server since Theo did not make it across. Tari then comes up with a plan in which they either win big or lose everything, to which Lamar and Sofia agree. | ||||||
| 19 | 9 | "Nightmare Mode" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jasmine Yang | 11 December 2020 | |
| Sofia threatens Lucks that she will release the server; Lucks tracks her location and intercepts her. Lucks scans the cartridge and finds no abnormalities, but discovers Tari has warped into the server to get Theo out herself. Tari and Theo traverse the game's final level, the former creating a giant crab out of Theo’s coconut to chase off the quarantine program. They attempt to reach the end before Lucks pulls a server reboot. Lucks calls Evelyn (still whining about being stuck behind a closed pod door) to offer a rematch. Tari and Theo see the final flag to complete the game, but are stopped by Evelyn taking the form of a massive monster. They attempt to fight Evelyn off to no avail, but Tari obtains a pineapple hammer similar to the one she used previously (see 1x02 “Out of Bounds”), and resumes her battle with Evelyn. | ||||||
| 20 | 10 | "Fatal Error" | Luke Lerdwichagul | Jasmine Yang | 18 December 2020 | |
|
Tari and Theo eventually defeat Evelyn and clear the game. Theo escapes the cartridge, but Tari is visited by Lucinia, who tells her about her past. Back in the real world, Lamar rams into the side of TASCorp's van but Lucks holds Masa at gunpoint and demands Tari to give him the cartridge. However, the data has been leaked to the public, and an arrest warrant has been issued for Lucks. Masa fights Lucks and subdues him, but Lucks reveals that Lucinia is still alive, the explosion having only destroyed parts of her consciousness. He also reveals that the AI created with those pieces, which is Tari herself, could also revive her to which Tari confirms, stating she will sacrifice herself for the task. Sofia promises Tari that she’ll bring her back as MD-5 retreats, but Masa accidentally shoots Lucks, killing him. Belle stays with Masa and urges the others to run, but they are offered a ride by Marco. Meanwhile, Evelyn receives a call from a man offering her Tari's abilities and an opportunity for revenge. When Evelyn questions the man, he responds that it is easy to hack into Meta Runner arms if one knows what they are doing, having hacked Masa's arm earlier, and reveals himself to be Sheridan, having survived the lab explosion. | ||||||
Season 3 (2022)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Art Direction by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 1 | "Power Down" | Matthew Peckham | Jasmine Yang | 22 July 2022 | |
| A week after the events of Season 2, Tari, Lamar, Sofia, and Theo are being held captive by Marco and his crew. Still bitter about Masa cheating him out of a Meta Runner arm, Marco challenges the group to a fair and honest match of Turbo Crash, and if they win, they can go free. Meanwhile, Dr. Sheridan kidnaps Masa and Belle while they're en route to jail and warps their minds into his personal server. He reveals to Masa that he hijacked his (Masa's) Meta Runner arm to kill Lucks and asks them to be a part of his new Meta Runner team, which they refuse to do, which angers Sheridan. In Marco's hideout, Tari tries to warp into the match but Evelyn, under Sheridan's orders, grabs Tari mid-warp and forces her into a digital lab where Lucinia lies unconscious. Sheridan begins performing surgery on Tari to get the data fragments of Lucinia's consciousness out, while Masa and Belle are forced to watch. | ||||||
| 22 | 2 | "Testing Room" | Matthew Peckham | Jasmine Yang | 29 July 2022 | |
| Theo is warped into Sheridan's server and makes his way to Tari and is spotted by Masa and Belle. Masa and Belle try and communicate with Theo, but he is unable to hear them. Sheridan catches them talking, so Masa and Belle distract him by telling him they want to join his Meta Runner team. Theo manages to escape with Tari, but Sheridan has Evelyn chase Tari down and gives her a knife that will collect data fragments from Tari to complete the surgery. In Marco's hideout, Marco stops his battle with MD-5 due to Tari and Theo's absence. Hesitantly, Marco allows Sofia to try and find them. Tari and Theo fight off Evelyn in a room full of A-posing Meta Runners. Sofia is able to open a gateway for Tari and Theo to escape in. Though Tari boosts Theo to safety, some of her data is extracted by Evelyn, and she falls out of the gateway and gets warped into a game called Skybreakers. Due to Evelyn stabbing her and extracting data, Tari passes out. Moments later, Evelyn arrives in Skybreakers too in a mechanical suit. | ||||||
| 23 | 3 | "Skybreakers" | Matthew Peckham | Jasmine Yang | 5 August 2022 | |
| Tari is joined in Skybreakers by Lamar and Marco, with Sofia assisting from outside the game. Though faced with difficulty, Tari completes the tutorial level, Shipwreck Swamp, before being confronted by Evelyn. They manage to best her again, but Evelyn regroups with Sheridan, who likewise "trains" Masa and Belle by having them fight Lucinia, who is awake thanks to Tari's data transfer but brainwashed. Belle's emotions over missing Lucinia, as well as Masa's anger over what Sheridan is doing to her, get the better of the runners. The episode ends with Sheridan revealing a bug as part of his master plan. | ||||||
| 24 | 4 | "Dead On Arrival" | Matthew Peckham | Jasmine Yang | 12 August 2022 | |
| Tari continues to struggle in Skybreakers but eventually finds her footing thanks to encouragement from Lamar and Marco. Evelyn re-enters the game with Lucinia, and Tari regains her data fragments back from Lucinia. A brief struggle ensues that ends with Tari and her friends escaping. Marco names Tari the captain of their ship, which Tari dubs "The Bluejay". Meanwhile, Sheridan has used the bug to take control of Belle and Masa's minds, and he evilly asks which of them wants to go through their employee induction first as members of SherCorp. | ||||||
| 25 | 5 | "Death Warp" | Matthew Peckham | Jasmine Yang | 19 August 2022 | |
| Tari must perform a trick where her character dies at exactly the same moment Evelyn's does, executing a death warp that will ultimately allow her and her friends to leave Skybreakers. While she focuses on that, Lamar keeps Evelyn busy trying to throw him out. During their battle, Evelyn taunts Lamar over not being able to make it in the big leagues, but Lamar admits he never wanted to, knowing what TASCorp did to runners when they no longer saw them as useful. Evelyn defeats Lamar and warps him into Sheridan's server, where he sees Masa and Belle, as well as many others, completely under the mad doctor's control. | ||||||
| 26 | 6 | "Global Testfire" | Matthew Peckham | Jasmine Yang | 26 August 2022 | |
| Sheridan has warped nearly all of Silica City's runners into his server, brainwashing them into killing each other if the hack itself doesn't do it first. Lamar is able to resist Sheridan's control and fights the brainwashed runners while Tari, Theo, and Marco continue in Skybreakers. Theo's glitching gradually gets worse, much to Tari's concern, and Theo admits he didn't tell anyone because he wanted to help his friends and not have them worry about him. Lamar re-enters Skybreakers to help Tari and her friends, while a brainwashed Lucinia, Masa, and Belle are under Evelyn's control. The episode ends with Tari and Evelyn both declaring "give them hell!", initiating the final battle. | ||||||
| 27 | 7 | "Overload" | Matthew Peckham | Jasmine Yang | 2 September 2022 | |
|
Tari and her friends face off against Evelyn and the brainwashed Lucinia, Masa, and Belle. Marco is sidetracked trying to get revenge on Masa, and after getting eliminated, he sets out to destroy Sheridan’s server to keep the kidnapped runners safe. Meanwhile, Theo confronts Evelyn by himself to buy time for his friends. Evelyn makes Theo disintegrate by essentially squeezing him to death and gloats to a distraught Tari about it, but this brings Masa’s mind back. He strangles Sheridan in the lab, who breaks free and stabs him in the neck before Masa’s arm explodes, causing the device hooked to Belle to stop working. Belle helps Tari defeat Evelyn once and for all, and Sofia urges Tari to revive Lucinia before Marco destroys the server. In a post-credits scene, Lamar gets enjoyment out of throwing rocks against Evelyn’s armor back in Shipwreck Swamp. | ||||||
| 28 | 8 | "The End" | Matthew Peckham | Jasmine Yang | 9 September 2022 | |
|
Tari is forced to fight Lucinia in Sheridan’s server. Sheridan controls Lucinia while Sofia assists Tari by hacking into the server. Though Sheridan seemingly gets the upper hand, Sofia enables Tari to reach the room where the lab explosion took place. Tari bids a final goodbye to Sofia and is reassured by AI Lucks before asking Lucinia to tell MD5 thanks and goodbye, and the transition takes place in the nick of time. Meanwhile, Marco hooks Sheridan's control bugs to his body, electrocuting Sheridan to death and destroying the server; Lucinia is reunited with Belle, a still-alive Masa, and Sofia; and the gang mourn the losses of Theo and Tari but rejoice over being together. Marco also forgives the debt Masa owes him. Evelyn is arrested for her crimes and the murder charge against Masa is dropped. Marco’s workers repair Masa’s cybernetic arm, and Marco holds onto it for safekeeping, looking forward to a true rematch with Masa in the future. Masa places a picture of Tari and Theo, as well as Tari’s hoodie and Theo’s newly somewhat-repaired game cartridge courtesy of Belle, at MD5 headquarters, praising Tari for keeping MD5 together. Sofia eagerly takes Belle and Lucinia to their “initiation” into MD5, to Belle’s annoyance and Masa’s amusement. Tari and Theo are preserved in fragments of the old server, and Tari has taken everything she could from the server so that she and Theo can live happily and in peace. The series ends with Tari thanking her old friends for the adventure before she and Theo run off to play video games together. | ||||||
References
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- "The world of film and TV is changing rapidly. Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason explains how the funding body keeps up". Business Insider. 21 February 2020. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
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- "Screen Australia Announces $8.5M for Ten Projects". TV Blackbox. 20 April 2020.