Ah, when the site was merely Smallish Bomb. I recall the day I discovered it... I was chasing a hoop with a stick down the street, 20 ha'pennies in my pocket and a novelty lollipop in my hand, when I saw a man in his Penny-farthing handing out websites. I stopped, staring in awe. This man... he was like no man I had ever seen. Instead of common dress, he wore a black undershirt, as if he were in the privacy of his own home. And, while everybody was racist in those days, this man was just so... casual... about it all.
I stopped him, and he handed me a website as well. I took a look at it, but it was almost too much for my mind to take in. I said to him:
"Mister... what is this?"
"It's a website, son."
"What's it about?"
"It's a website... about VIDEO GAMES."
I was paralyzed with wonder and fear. Unprecedented! My first reaction was to summon a constable, but before I could flag him down, the man laid his hand on my head. Suddenly, as if I were suffering bad humors, my brain was bombarded with images of news, reviews, podcasts, and visual media from the world of video games. I saw the man who was standing before me, as well as three others: a bearded man, a dapper man, and a Gerst man. As a fifth man with unkempt hair began to emerge from the shadows, everything disappeared, and I was back in reality.
"Who were those men, mister?"
"They are 'The Giant Bomb', and they will guide you, should you join our website."
"And that shadowy gentleman?"
"In time, friend. In time."
"What... what's your name?"
"I, son, am Vinny. Vinny Caravella. Now, run home! Run, boy! It's Tuuuuuuesday!"
Although his final words to me were odd, deep down, I knew that I'd be hearing them every week for a long, long time.
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My hoop, now forgotten, lay at Vinny's foot. He regarded it with passing interest, then tossed it into the grass and winked toward where he perceived a camera to be.
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