| “ | I got you now, you alien torso-taking asshole! | ” |
—Max | ||
"Arrival of the Torso Takers" is the first of the two holiday specials of the third season of Camp Camp, and is the 39th episode overall. It premiered for Rooster Teeth sponsors on October 5th 2018 and was made public on the RT website on October 6th 2018.
Official Synopsis[]
| “ | After watching a spooky horror video, Max becomes increasingly concerned with David's behavior. Is Max just overreacting, or is there actually something wrong with David? | ” |
Plot[]
Max, Neil, and Nikki go to Cameron's bomb shelter to watch Dark Reflections, specifically the episode Arrival of the Torso Takers. They watch it for a while, and at one part scream in fear. David walks in, scolds them, and acts very creepy to Max.
The next day, David announces that an "unnamed trio" broke into Gwen's video cabinet and stole a movie. He decides that, starting then, everyone will get 15 minutes counseling with him. He once again looks creepily at only Max, but Neil and Nikki think he is losing his marbles. David takes Space kid first since he's the most special, and it leaves Max skeptical.
David's odd behavior perplexes Max, and he can't help but feel as if there's something suspicious about the other. However, he seems to be the only one to note David's peculiar attitude, for Nikki simply blows it off as Max just being paranoid from the horror movie they watched the night prior. She tries to reassure him by doubting his concern and saying, "Why would aliens take David's body when they could take the body of John Cena, or Guy Fieri?" However, despite her and everyone else's clear skepticism, Max is still convinced that something happened to David, and decides to take matters into his own hands.
Max walks off towards the tents, mumbling about how he's not being delusional, and that something truly was off about David, when he overhears a portion of David and Space Kid's counseling session that sounds extremely concerning and eerie - a direct quote from the episode of Dark Reflections that he, Neil, and Nikki had watched the other night. Perturbed and frightened, Max bursts into the tent where the counseling session was being held in out of direct fear for Space Kid's life. He merely discovers David, seated peacefully at a grey chair, who cheerfully greets him and informs him that he was in the middle of a snack break, and was referring to eating the gingerbread man. Spotting the vacant seat across from David, Max hesitantly inquires him on Space Kid's whereabouts. Much to his dismay, David responds with an utterly ambiguous answer: "Oh, he's...gone."
Without giving any further elaboration on his disturbing reply, David quickly ushers Max out of the tent, excusing himself by stating that he has more counseling work to complete. He even adds in an alarming comment, saying "I just can't wait for our session, Max. I've got something really special planned for you", insinuating that he had something unsettling in mind. This, of course, traumatizes Max, and he immediately rushes over to the counselors' cabin in search of an answer to all of David's mysterious, sinister behavior.
After spending some time digging through numberless files and papers in David's drawer, Max finally unearths his secret diary. He doesn't hesitate to begin reading, desperate to find some sort of clue relating to his ominous demeanor, only to find an uninteresting entry detailing how David had told Gwen he had lost her blue pen, before discovering it later in his vest. After remarking how tasteless and boring David was, Max is about to discard the journal when he hears footsteps reverberating outside of the cabin, signaling David's presence. Max hurries to hide himself underneath David's bed in order to avoid being caught.
Max watches frightfully, trying to hold his breath as best as he can, from beneath the bed as David strolls inside of the counselors' cabin. He stands with his back abruptly facing the other, and complains about how he "hates his part" while reaching for his eyes and disturbs them with his bare hands. Visibly distressed by this almost supernatural behavior, Max continues to be observant in secret as David hauntingly monologues to himself. He states anomaly how he has all the campers right where he wants them, and remarks eerily on how the feast is being prepared before tumbling into an uncontrollable fit of manic laughter, leaving Max stunned as he swiftly departs from the cabin.
After David disappears, leaving behind nothing more than his creepy words and echoes of frenzied laughter, Max scurries out from beneath the bed, clearly distraught from what he just bore witness to. Tugging anxiously at his hair, he quickly pieces together each and every scrap of oddity David's strange behavior has left behind, and hysterically concludes that the once happy-go-lucky camp counselor has indeed been taken over by a torso-taking alien. He briefly stresses about having to warn everybody else in the camp before sprinting off to do just that.
Outside, he runs toward the direction of the tents and shouts for Nikki and Neil, informing them that his theory on David being possessed by an alien was correct. When he receives no answer whatsoever, not even from the other kids at camp, he instantly begins to spiral into panic. Max then proceeds to run all over the camp's grounds, yelling out the names of the other campers in hopes that they were alright, and would respond to his calls. When he nears the mess hall, he hears a muffled scream of sheer terror resonate from the other side of the doors. Remembering the so called "feast" David had mentioned earlier in his disturbing self-speech, Max bursts through the entrance, exclaiming, "I got you now, you torso-taking asshole!"
However, much to his surprise, he discovers that the Feast was not David attempting to devour the life and bodies of the other campers, but instead a mere gathering of all the other inhabitants of the camp. While Max tries to make sense of the complex events unfolding before him, Nikki walks up to him in a friendly greeting, asking if he had spent his counseling session with David yet. When he tries to interrogate the rest of the party about the horrified scream he had heard seconds prior, Neil informs him that it was just Preston freaking out about Nerris's spilt soda on his brand new dance shoes.
Again, Max attempts to question Space Kid's wellbeing, recalling how he had suddenly disappeared in the middle of his counseling session. Nikki notifies him that Space Kid has been at the party for hours, and was actually the one who set up the entire feast, in courtesy of David's command. With all of his major concerns being clarified as just ordinary occurrences and events, Max begrudgingly admits that, perhaps he was mistaken about the entire thing, and was just left paranoid from the horror television show he had watched the night before.
While Neil theatrically consoles him on his misconceptions, David abruptly bursts through the door and immediately spots Max before prompting him for their counseling session. Still remaining rather wary of him, Max reluctantly agrees to follow David for their discussion.
Once the two of them are seated at the same identical chairs shown during Space Kid's session earlier, David confesses that he feels compelled to ask him something. He then inquires Max if he hates him or not, to which the latter responded with an uncertain, inconclusive answer that consisted of no solid words. David continues to concede, that despite his assiduous attempts at making the camp entertaining for him, Max is unresponsive to his endeavors and remains jaded, which he admits to being quite hurtful to his feelings. In a disheartened tone, he proceeds to ask if he would be happier with a different camp counselor.
Again, Max is struck speechless by the sudden solemnity of the questions. He responds with an earnest, "I don't know", and confesses that he is quite aware of his poor behavior, explaining that he was just set on edge due to the odd clip in David's usual behavior, and even sheepishly admitting that he had thought the latter had been taken over by a strange form of alien. David laughs it off, seemingly left unvexed by his peculiar accusation, which leads to Max reluctantly agreeing to its absurdity. Although, he does reveal his uncertainty about the scene he'd witnessed earlier that day, when David had been tampering with his eyes sullenly in the counselor's cabin, before quickly following it up with, "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for that, right?", accompanied by fretful laughter.
David, once again, laughs alongside him, perhaps for just a bit too long before his voice grew abruptly unsettling. He then chides in, taking note on Max's mature ingenuity and child-like ignorance, in a most eerie tone before reaching a hand into his sockets to remove a set of prosthetic eyes, revealing a pair of irises that were aquamarine rather than their usual green. Max instantly catches on, frightfully realizing that the person who stood in front of him was not his familiar camp counselor David, but rather, an imposter that is exposed to be the ultimate cultist, Daniel.
However, his identity unveil only seemed to relieve Max of his previous concerns, as he swiftly sinks in his seat with relief, thanking God. Almost offended, Daniel demands him on why he wasn't scared at all at his "big reveal", to which Max responds by stressing out about how much he had worried about his own sanity throughout the day, and was horrified at the possibility that cannibalistic alien had taken the form of David and consumed Space Kid. He even retorts that Daniel is a downgrade, and wonders about how he wasn't dead from drinking poisoned kool-aid during Cult Camp.
To this, Daniel elaborates that he has grown quite a resistance to rat poison from his experience of being an accomplished cult leader, but is unable to eat any diary products as a result. Ignoring his distress about being lactose intolerant, Max reminds him that he can't try to brainwash the camp into joining his religious cult again, as he had already committed such attempts and ended in failure. Notwithstanding, Daniel muses about how that was not his true intentions for infiltrating the campgrounds this time, and instead, he returned for Max.
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Features[]
Main Characters[]
Supporting Characters[]
Minor Characters[]
- Gwen
- Nerris
- Harrison
- Nurf
- Preston Goodplay
- Dolph
- Ered
- Space Kid
- The Platypus
- The Quartermaster (non-speaking cameo)
- Graggle (pictured)
Locations[]
- Camp Campbell
- Mess Hall
- Bomb shelter
Music[]
- "Camp Camp Song Song" (Opening Theme)
- "Better Than You"
- "Not Myself" (Ending Theme)
Trivia[]
- Max is the only one throughout the entire episode to realize that there is something off with David.
- Like Gwen and Neil, David also owns a diary which he labels "My Deepest Darkest Secrets".
- One of his deepest darkest secrets include him telling Gwen he lost her blue pen only to find out it was in his vest pocket the whole time.
- It is also shown that Daniel is capable of mimicking David to the point where he even sounds like him.
- The actors in the VHS the trio watches are James Willems (Dolph's voice actor) and Jason Weight (who helped Joe Nicolosi write season 16 of Red vs. Blue).
Cultural References[]
- John Cena and Guy Fieri are mentioned by Nikki as best possibilities for alien takeover than David.
- The horror series the trio were watching, Dark Reflections, could be a reference to the anthology series Black Mirror.
- The chips Nikki was eating branded "Layd" is an obvious nod to the well-known chips brand, "Lays".
Continuity[]
- Daniel makes a return after the events of "Cult Camp". It is revealed that he didn't die after his consumption of poisoned Kool-Aid due to acquired immunity.
- However, he has formed lactose intolerance since then.
- Just like his first appearance in "Cult Camp" (and future appearance in "Camp Loser Says What?"), Daniel doesn't blink throughout the entire episode.
- The tanktop Bonquisha was seen wearing in "Romeo & Juliet II: Love Resurrected" is seen in David's drawer.
- Max repeatedly tugs at his hair in distress after snooping through "David's" affairs, he's seen doing it again in "Jermy Fartz (episode)" when realizing the arduous task of being well-behaved for the sake of the bet, and again in "Time Crapsules" while worrying about who he's become.
- The fake knife used by Tabii (as Juliette) in the episode "Romeo & Juliet II: Love Resurrected" looks similar to the real knife that Daniel almost uses on Dolph at the end of "Cult Camp". It is also seen again in Daniel's future appearances in this episode and "Camp Loser Says What?".
Transcript[]
- The transcript for "Arrival of the Torso Takers" may be edited here.
Gallery[]
- To see the full gallery, go to Arrival of the Torso Takers/Gallery.
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