Ash vs Evil Dead Season 3 General Discussion Thread

Joem1k said:
Don't wanna cause a panic or mass hysteria as this is just a speculation/guess post from reddit but i figured it might interest you guys and showcase starz schedule this year and what it might mean for the premiere date for AvED. (Just warning you right now, it's not looking good) 

[font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]It looks like Season 3 probably won't premiere until 2018. Starz announced at their TCA panel today that "The Girlfriend Experience" Season 2 is going to premiere in November. That means they will have three shows airing over the fall months, including "Outlander" and "Survivor's Remorse" and Starz usually doesn't air more than a couple shows simultaneously. The audiences of these shows are also quite different than that of "Ash".[/font]

[font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]My guess would be that Season 3 will premiere in the January slot previously occupied by "Black Sails". In all honesty, Starz basically has no choice but to premiere it in January as the only other series they have in the can is the upcoming "Counterpart", and they like to schedule original programming throughout the year. I don't know what this means for the future of the show as it would likely push back the production of a potential Season 4. I still remain hopeful that we will at least get a fourth season so that the creative team can give the series a proper conclusion.[/font]

Source :  https://www.reddit.com/r/AshVsEvilDead/comments/6q7sq8/season_3_will_likely_premiere_in_2018/

Hopefully this is wrong and they still premiere in the fall but if this turns out to be true, then oh boy  :s

I could see it happening... let's face it: the show hasn't been a big hit for them, outside of the home video sales. No network keeps a show around purely for home video sales. I think the network has faith that it could maybe find an audience... but its time is limited--launching it after all the competition (and during others shows' breaks, if I'm not mistaken) gives the show a better chance.

I think Season 3 really needs to grow the viewer base or Season 4 ain't happening. S2 was already in motion by the time the first landed (with a wet thud), so they were willing to keep the train rolling. We are LUCKY we got S3 and it makes me wonder who Bruce begged to for it to happen.

On the plus side, things like promoting the show at Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights is a step in the right direction. Plug the show at the right time and place away from people who already would know about the show due to being nerds/fans (like on the internet) and plug it out where normies will discover it. Combined with the new showrunner hopefully making a genuinely better show, and our chances will improve.
 
This isn't terribly shocking to me, sadly, between season 2's ratings and Bruce's mild consternation about Starz' reluctance to immediately commit to Aved4 or schedule the season, as seen on his Twitter.  It is interesting in light of the show's DVD performance - season 2's doing fine in the pre-order department, in fact, it's the number one horror pre-order as I type this.  I think the demos might be involved somehow - the show's success as a practical media might hint that it's skewing older than Starz likes, because it isn't doing well digitally.  I know it sounds ridiculous, but this is how corporate executives think.


On one hand, January is better news than it getting posted throughout the winter holidays.  On the other hand, horror shows airing in the dead of winter tend not to do well (see: those times that FX tried to drag American Horror Story out into the new year).  Also, January is a major football crunch month.  If it starts in January it'll end in February or March, and they may end up having to play against the SuperBowl.  When your main audience is men 18-35, you have to rely on your DVR numbers and OnDemand numbers, and those fell far off during AvED's season 2.


I have no idea why they're willing to put TGE on during sweeps, beyond the network's head having a strange thing for it and the Soderbergh prestige.  It did abysmally in season 1 and is likely to go full Blunt Talk by the end of this season.


Starz was very high on the hog when it came to the show last year.  I wonder what happened, because between the Comic Con stuff and the utter lack of trailers and spoilers this far into the summer its position feels very insecure (It's fair to say that they didn't do any ComicCon press for American Gods, either, but AG has done quite well for them and they DID at least send actors for the show in).  AvED wrapped the same time last year as they did this, yet we're officially a year beyond the time when we got our season 2 teaser, and with Bruce's book coming out publicity will be at a high.   It's as if the bad publicity when it comes to Craig's leaving the show combined with its general decline after head-up-the-butt gate has created this sense of uncertainty.


If they're debuting the trailer in October at NYCC then it's quite likely all of this is true and we really won't see it til Feb/January or even possibly in March, since the trailer-to-delivery ratio is usually three to four months.  I can't decide if they're taking it for granted or are blinded by the fact that Power/Outlander/AG/even the Myers deal are "prestige" projects. Either they're confident in the audience AvED curries as a cult property or they're disappointed that it's not drawing Spartacus numbers. Or whatever they've done to fix the corner Craig painted them into last season is Just That Bad.


ETA: It's very interesting to me that they've signed a deal with Stephanie Myers.  I can't imagine them pairing AvED with anything Twilight-esque, but they could easily either pair The Rook with American Gods or AvED.  Now I'm wonder if 
the addition of Ash's daughter
is an attempt to curry favor with female horror fans.  All I can say is - we're already here, ffs.

 
Also here is a link to Albrecht's speech from yesterday, and a confirmation about the Girlfriend Experience's premiere date.  Very interesting that he so strongly talked up American Gods and (obviously) Power, as well as the Myers thing.  I wonder if my fear that AG's success would mean AvED's doom is going to pan out ("we already have one cult piece that's doing well, we don't need two."). Them bringing Myers on doesn't auger well, I think.  Either way he mentioned nothing about AvED at all.
 
The lack of anything about season 3 leads me to believe this show is going to be pushed into January with a minimal advertising push and then just dumped. Bruce Campbell hyped the hell out of the first two seasons and he has barely said anything at all regarding season 3 as if his entire optimism was just killed off behind the scenes. I really really hope I am wrong and that Starz and Bruce will kick into massive advertising and hype train mode eventually here and season three won't be the last season with no ending. Really wish we could get some sort of update on what is going on with this show. Anything at this point would be appreciated.
 
Here's a recent interview with bruce that touches upon the premiere date for s3. (@8:59)

Source : http://redcarpetcrash.com/interview-bruce-campbell-talks-new-book-teases-new-season-ash-vs-evil-dead/

Some good news about s4 

Bruce mentioned starz was very impressed with ep 9 and 10 this season and goes on about how jaw dropping it is (I don't think i've ever heard that kinda warm reception from starz when craig was showrunning...) and there thinking about renewing them just because of that reason so they can continue it. It must be pretty big if starz is even considering it but it's a big "MAYBE" so we'll have to stay tuned on that. 

Man is it good to finally hear some good news !
 
You're burying the lead there, Joe: 

Bruce's quote on when AvED 3 is going to air from the same interview: 

“Hey, when you hear the date, let me know...Well, only 'cause Starz has said a couple different things, about possibly shifting the premiere date to try and get a cleaner slot within the year. And ah, so that's - we don’t know. It’ll either be Fall or first quarter 2018… is my guess.” 

To translate that out of Hollywood speak, they think the show will do better without the Thanksgiving/Holiday breaks ruining the flow of episode.  Which isn't true, because the holiday breaks have never damaged them too severely, but at least they're trying to work it out. 

Bloody Disgusting is saying something to the effect that Starz thinks moving the show away from Stranger Things' debut date will somehow improve its chances, which is a ridiculous assertion for obvious reasons (IE: Stranger Things and AHS were happening at the same time last year and AHS started out huge but dwindled away because it was terrible, not because America became ST obsessed).  If people were going to show up for AvED in the plus fives or through On Demand, and binging Stranger Things was keeping them away, then the digital ratings would be much, much bigger than they are.   Stranger Things has a huge pop culture footprint at this point, as does AHS.  AvED is three seasons in and it's not going to catch up with them, so looking over their shoulders instead of trying to clean their own house up a bit they're just defeating the show.  It's like they're trying to puzzle out why the ratings are bad and the digital media releases are so big.  The easy answer is: Evil Dead fandom skews older (as it should considering its content), many of us are completionists and we really, really love practical media while abhorring the cost of cable. It's also possible that people like the show but don't consider it ST/Walking Dead/AHS-level priority viewing.

If "everything you think is true is not and everything you think is not true is," 
Then that confirms the whole "Ruby is tricking Ash mentally with a perfect sunny version of Elk Grove."
 idea is how they're going to get out of things.  Which I guess is an easy way to move forward.  

He does think they'll get season 4, "kind of" according to the interview, "maybe".  He's strongly hinting what he's already said, that 
Season 3 ends on an enormous cliffhanger.  His nervous laughter when he says "nothing will ever be the same after this season" is interesting.
  And makes it sound like if they cancel it now they'll have an angry audience on their hands.  It seems less like Starz is impressed with the idea but them 'needing to see it in finished form' seems to hint that they're waiting on social media reaction/the season finale's hype to determine on renewal unless they've seen footage pre-finalization (which is doubtful since Bruce said everything is past post-production at this point).  It'd have to be especially earthshaking to get any kind of attention, and with ratings dwindling it might never happen. Either way, networks don't renew shows just because their cliff-hangers are that jaw dropping if the ratings are poor.

There's a lot of mixed messages going on here.  It looks like Starz is both trying to save the show's ratings decline and - judging from the TCAs - consider launching other shows and promoting its female 18-35 directed shows a bigger priority.   I think we're missing a big piece of the puzzle.  Either they think the show is good but think if they just Do the Thing ratings will happen or they're blowing corporate smoke and will dump it in March to let it die. I also honestly think there's no magic bullet or pill they can throw into the arena to fix its ratings at this stage, unless they choose to pull a full Melrose Place and insert a name actor into things. We're a smallish but loyal as hell fandom, and I'm surprised they didn't know that when they signed on the dotted line.

They just purchased the rights to Divegent to make a series about it, so that's one less open timeslot BTW.  I sense a Rook/Divergent team-up, which leaves AvED still partnerless unless they put it with AG.
 
Does anyone else wonder if Lionsgate now owning Starz might have a positive influence, since Lionsgate owns Evil Dead II? Like, if Starz's bosses understand the ED fandom better Starz did previously?
 
I'd like to think so, but the head of network is still Chris "This is a series!" Albrecht. I've always had a strong feeling that he in particular doesn't give a damn about the show. I want to be wrong but he seems so obsessed with The Girlfriend Experience in particular and almost never talks up AvED in the press, and when he does it comes out sounding like "that's also a show we air!"
 
Didn't think my first twitter reply from bruce would cause such a stir in the evil dead community. 

What can we expect to see from the upcoming season #ashvsevildead ? 

[size=x-large]The final showdown. - Bruce
[/size]


Source : https://twitter.com/GroovyBruce/status/895380471604944896

Don't know what this tweet could be foretelling on the show's third season as it could mean a lot of stuff but anyways. 

I've been noticing over twitter and facebook that several interviewers from various websites have been asking for questions for interviews with bruce, dana and ray and some of those articles will be up soon with hopefully more info on s3, this could probably mean starz is starting up the press tour. I'll be sure to link said articles when they are up.

Sources :  https://twitter.com/IntroToGeek/status/895374062838571009 

https://twitter.com/IntroToGeek/status/895311233397796864

https://twitter.com/IntroToGeek/status/894884309147852801

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2222064298/permalink/10155587196529299/

https://twitter.com/AaronFlux/status/895165595209142272
 
Heh, I admit that I came running to see if you'd seen that, Joe!

My 'Ash dies, world resets' guess seems all the more strong.
 
Aaron Pruner, who is one of the guys that interviewed Bruce responded to me on twitter and stated that it sounds like they are still aiming for 5 seasons. While there is no certainty that we will get five seasons it's nice to hear that seems to still be the game plan. I don't think Bruce would knowingly mislead people and despite the not amazing ratings, I still want to believe that it is worth for Starz/Lionsgate to keep the show going for the sake of long term streaming ratings and physical media sales but that's just my guess. Of course we'll have to wait for the interview and see what is said but I figured I'd share this bit of news here anyways.
 
Kevin said:
Aaron Pruner, who is one of the guys that interviewed Bruce responded to me on twitter and stated that it sounds like they are still aiming for 5 seasons. While there is no certainty that we will get five seasons it's nice to hear that seems to still be the game plan. I don't think Bruce would knowingly mislead people and despite the not amazing ratings, I still want to believe that it is worth for Starz/Lionsgate to keep the show going for the sake of long term streaming ratings and physical media sales but that's just my guess. Of course we'll have to wait for the interview and see what is said but I figured I'd share this bit of news here anyways.

They've always been super consistent about wanting five seasons and it's nice to see that they're still on that mission.  

I think he's stuck in that frustrating corner himself, judging from everything he's told us.  Starz seems to not be telling anyone very much RE the show, which is honestly amazing because i think it's their best-selling show media wise? (I might be wrong about this - I have no idea how Outlander and Power have done on DVD - AG only has digital sales at this point).   It's just a very confusing time at this point.
 
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]DC: So we have Season 2 all wrapped up, with a couple of loose ends – if you could tell us, which I’m sure you won’t…what can everyone expect to see out of Season 3?[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]BC: Jaw-dropping – the end of the season will be fairly mind-blowing, and we made sure of that. It’s a hell of a season – Ash not only has to save the world, but he’s back in his small town, and things start great (made a deal with Ruby at the end of Season 2) – so he’s saved his town, and now he’s going to cash in on it – he’s the hero. Things won’t all be well, because the mythology’s going to kick in now, which will give us all an idea of why Ash was chosen – this average idiot…this fool was written of in an ancient book. So Season 3 is where it all will come to a head – the ultimate mettle of the average man will be tested by these demonic forces, and if man fails, then evil will rule the earth – those are the stakes…OH!, and he may be a father.[/font]

I can't help but imagine this was Mark's thought's as he began to write s3 with the new writers.  

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVIs1bnIcCY&feature=youtu.be[/video]

All jokes aside YES, YES, AND YES. Now this is a very interesting direction to take the story and the show in general, really happy to hear this will be the main plot point for this season, here's hoping they will stick the landing. 

Source : http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/246217/man-myth-chin-interview-bruce-campbell/

I'm gonna take a guess and say ash re-opens his father's store and kinda sells out his image of being the town hero to get it up and running again before everything turns to shit on him.

As for the time travel issue, i'm gonna say there in the present timeline were everything still happened is what i'm guessing OR Ruby is playing mindgames and the main group is under a trance while ruby has fun with the new timeline they created.
 
That's a decent guess, Joe:

We knew a bit of this beforehand - that they're going to be noodling with the mythology here, which is definitely a 'could be amazing/could blow up in their faces' prospect (it's dangerous to add purpose to something that seemingly happened via random chance in old movie canon) - and they did mention that this was a plot idea they wanted to do pre-firing o' Criag.  It kind of again feels like too much plot for ten episodes (Three main plots we know or have gathered will happen thanks to what Bruce has let leak out: Ash sells out his fame for cash and tries to fill Brock's boots/Mytharc/Ash is totally the father RE Brandy.  Note there's nothing again for Pablo or Kelly or even Linda to do, though the ratings last year might be a reason why there's seemingly nothing for any of them in the summation.)

It's interesting to me that Bruce is shifting to hyping the whole season instead of the last two episodes.  This is exactly how he sold the Baal stuff in season 2, so I'm taking everything with a grain of salt. 
 
Bruce had me interested until the "Oh! And he may be a father" part. That still sounds like a really lame bottom-of-the-barrel idea to me. Plus, with everything else going on in the story and all the side characters they still haven't managed to develop properly, it just seems incredibly unnecessary.
 
DyD said:
Bruce had me interested until the "Oh! And he may be a father" part. That still sounds like a really lame bottom-of-the-barrel idea to me. Plus, with everything else going on in the story and all the side characters they still haven't managed to develop properly, it just seems incredibly unnecessary.

Well hey, at least they ain't doing a mia crossover.  It could work if it's handled properly and balanced well enough, it could possibly mature ash as a character too knowing now he has to take care of a daughter he never knew he had. Don't know why but so far from what we've heard, it seems like ash could be heading towards having quite the tragic arc in this upcoming season, i hope mark balances it well enough with the serious and comedic moments , and he doesn't play it mostly for laughs like craig did half the time.   

He did mention a final showdown, makes me wonder if ash won't have a last stand this season. Maybe possibly die at the end of it, everything is being set-up for something like that happening. 

- His finally the town hero and has his father's store open again and it's doing well due to him selling out his heroic image to bring business back in and i'm also gonna assume his given pablo and kelly jobs there as well(There's actually a ash cardboard cutout in the s3 cast and crew photo it's seen with the stunt double for pablo) 

[img=300x262]https://image.ibb.co/gF0AZv/ash_photo.png[/img]



-I'm gonna guess in ep1 that all turns to shit real quick when the evil returns and the town calls upon him and his group to take care of it before i'm gonna guess that goes terribly wrong and ends up getting progressively worse for him and his group. If this happens maybe we will see sort of a crack in the team's glue.   

-Don't know how his daughter will come into the fold but i'm gonna assume there will be some build up to it before he finally meets her

-Brock has been confirmed for him returning via ghost form, i'm gonna assume or guess we will finally hear about that secret he tried to tell his son either it will play into the daughter sub plot or it has something to do with why his been chosen 

-Now as for this final showdown/last stand, i'm gonna say it takes place at his home facing off with ruby and her minions by himself while his daughter and the rest of the group try to escape elk grove. 

- As for the twist ending, i have no earthly idea how it will play until we see some footage and a official synopsis for the plot. But if i had to take a guess, it probably has to tie in with either his prophecy with the book or He breaks out of rubys trance via dieing and wakes up to find the world in shambles and in ruin.
 

Overall, i'm just happy were finally getting into the more interesting shit this season, even if some aspects are a little iffy or dumb at the moment. 

ANYWAYS. 

more interviews with the rest of the cast will be up by monday, so we will be seeing more info on what pablo,kelly and ruby will be doing if they ain't cryptic about it like bruce is being right now with s3 but i think we will be getting same treatment from them as well. 

Sources : https://twitter.com/IntroToGeek/status/896158612925554689

https://twitter.com/AaronFlux/status/895883946805743619
 
DyD said:
Bruce had me interested until the "Oh! And he may be a father" part. That still sounds like a really lame bottom-of-the-barrel idea to me. Plus, with everything else going on in the story and all the side characters they still haven't managed to develop properly, it just seems incredibly unnecessary.

I couldn't agree more with you.  It seem they won't fix anything at all. They just add more stuff on the top of it which they don't need to do.  They got enough side characters to develop and I even think they already have too much characters. 

A big mistake of the series is to add sidekicks.  I'm not against the idea but they should be temporary sidekicks.  


When Bruce told this will be the final showdown.  I just have this bad idea.  Ash will die at the end of the season 3 and his daughter will be the new chosen one.  Then the series will continue two more seasons with Ash's daughter.  Ash will come back occasionally as a ghost. Yuk!  
 
After how awful My Name is Bruce was I'm not sure if Mark Verheiden can save the show.
 
Alright, the two interviews i have been talking about are here and oh man this season sounds fucking awesome. (these two articles have some spelling errors, so some of the stuff here is probably gonna sound wired or wasn't correctly transcribed) 

Sources: http://legionofleia.com/2017/08/interview-bruce-campbell-season-3-ash-vs-evil-dead/

http://legionofleia.com/2017/08/interview-lucy-lawless-ash-vs-evil-dead-season-3/


So, in summary. 

-Ruby's more evil side will show it's ugly head in full force this season, and the way lawless describes is desperate to replace ash as the chosen one. And has another candidate in mind and needs a little something from him. (You can probably guess what lucy lawless is talking about/hinting at and boy does that sound like a desperate move on her part  :s ) 

-Ruby has trapped the other dark ones in the netherworld and it sounds like ash is looking to release them to get rid of her. (Yup, sounds like a big dumb move on ash's part)

-Pablo's brujo/shaman powers will start to manifest this season and as bruce put's it "He's knocking on the door from being a full on shaman now" (FINALLY !) 

-We'll be going beyond elk grove this season, so i'm gonna take this statement as us finally getting a first look at the netherworld this season

-Brock coming back will play a part of the myth arc of this season

-Seems like the serious/darker tone will be there this season as bruce put it "It's more personal and more prophetic" and even proclaims this season as a "rough" one 

-Bruce does address the kelly situation with a smartass comment before following up with getting the real thing. Let's just say bruce is avoiding that convo like the plague or it's water under the bridge for him at this point. Who knows  

-From the way bruce words this, kelly is becoming more of a badass, and ash's group will be teaming up with this "like-minded" group that will join in on the big fight.

-quoting bruce on this 
 It’s gonna get big in Season 3. It’s going well beyond Elk Grove. In fact, it will expand to wherever you think it might go. The cat’s gonna get out of the bag, I guess you can say. Some big shit’s gotta go down. Season 3 is big on the side of evil, and so the good guys’ gotta get big, too. They gotta get as big as they’re gonna get. It’s the ultimate good versus evil.

The toll is taken. Not everyone is gonna get to the other side.


So i'm gonna say, a lot of major characters will probably be dieing this season. That last line didn't sound good at all  :s 

-Lucy let's it slip that ruby is still in the 80's. It could mean a lot of things, but judging from first thing that i pointed out, her being in the 80's will probably effect the present, let's just say that. 

-And bruce points out that a crossover with the remake won't be happening. 

While some aspects sound a bit ham fisted or iffy to me (i know some of the parts here you guys are gonna be going in on big time.), most of the stuff that was talked about here is what i have been waiting for to happen since the show started.(Especially the part about pablo. FINALLY !)
 
Heres another interview with bruce. 

Source : http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2017/08/14/int-bruce-campbell-ash-vs-evil-dead-2
 
This is a lot to unpack at once; here's some stuff that sticks out at me initially, but I'm coming back with deeper analysis later:

* Let me be honest - the problem with Kelly isn't her level of badassitude.  She's plenty badass.  The problem with her is that she's badass and sarcastic and there's nothing else to her - no real vulnerability since season 1. What they need to do is convince me that Kelly is afraid to lose this family she has.  She needs something softer thrown into the mix, like Pablo has.

* Bruce claiming the Ash's daughter thing was 'mostly a rumor'  is hilarious and such a thumb in the eye to Craig.  And doubly hilarious because he's been confirming the Brandy thing everywhere.  It sounds like they're almost doing this idea as a 'screw you' to him, and if they make Brandy the opposite of what Kelly was character-wise I hope they'll make it worthwhile for the audience.  Brandy might be a parody of a Dawn-style character or she could be a tribute to her.

* Bruce also says they 'don't want to go too far into drama'.  So they're going to try to attempt keeping the horror/comedy tone alive.  I don't know if they'll ever course correct things enough to get the right mix going.

* Bruce's strange 'OH THERE'S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT, THEY JUST NEED TO SEE THE LAST TWO EPISODES AND THEY'LL GREENLIGHT SEASON 4' is...frankly a lot of corporate  BS from what I can tell.  That's really not how it works from what I grasp of the television world.  They greenlit season 2 before it aired on buzz alone, and then greenlit season 3 a little after the home media sales from season 1 came out.  It's possible season 2's media sales will save it, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure they have to have rough cuts of most of the episodes in post-production now.  But no television show has been kept on the air just because their cliffhanger was just that jaw-dropping.  Believe me when I say this.  It also sounds like they tried to wrap up a lot of story threads in a satisfying way, so you KNOW he's blowing smoke.  It looks like what he's really saying is that they've prepared in case the show gets cancelled.

* I'd also like to thank Bruce for putting a bullet in the 'MIA IS ASH'S DAUGHTER/CROSSOVER COMING' rumors.  Every single comment section I wander into brings this theory up.  They've said over and over again that they want to keep the worlds distinct.  If anything, she'll pop up in a postcredit scene in season 5 or whatever to lead into whatever the franchise does next.  Big if.).

* RE Brock - sounds like he's going to be in an Obi Wan position.

* My guess re the season finale is Ash unleashes the demons, they wreak havoc on Elk Grove, he makes a personal sacrifice, leaving either Brandy, Kelly or Pablo to defend the world against the Deadites (This is so Buffy, guys.  In fact, between the sudden-teenage-group-member/big bad situation, a LOT of the plot twists this season remind me of Buffy, and I don't know how I feel about it).  The question is 'will there be permadeath' or not.


The thing about the scheduling is, no matter where they put it, they're going to run into competition.  They put it on in early spring and they're battling the Superbowl.  They put it on in the winter and it's football/the holidays season.  They put it on in the late spring and they're battling every season finale known to man.  Late summer, Game of Thrones.  I think AvED might be bigger if it were on from June to late July, but the ship has sailed.  This magic search for a bullet that's going to put an end to their difficulties with the ratings is never going to be found.  


@Joe

It looks like they're strongly hinting that Ruby's going to try to seduce Pablo (literally and figuratively) to the dark side, isn't it?  Because if her candidate was Baal she'd be more open in saying it's Baal.
 
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