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Cronos

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TVTItem
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Cronos
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The 1992 debut film of Guillermo de Toro. An old antique dealer, Jesús Gris, and his granddaughter Aurora find a 450-year-old mechanical device shaped like a scarab in the base of a statue. Gris is pierced by the device's legs and stinger and finds himself growing younger but also plagued with cravings for blood. Meanwhile, a dying businessman sends his thuggish nephew (Ron Perlman) to claim the device for himself.The film was given a Criterion Collection (number 551) release on DVD and Blu-ray with updated subtitles and some nice cover and booklet art by del Toro's friend and frequent collaborator Mike Mignola.Several elements from Cronos will be familiar to anyone reading/watching The Strain, and vice versa — an elderly antique shop owner, unconventional vampires and an evil old man seeking immortality, for starters.
 Cronos
fetched
2023-11-04T20:44:58Z
 Cronos
parsed
2023-11-04T20:44:58Z
 Cronos
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Cronos / int_143939c1
type
Trailers Always Spoil
 Cronos / int_143939c1
comment
Trailers Always Spoil: The US trailer spoils most of the film's major plot points.
 Cronos / int_143939c1
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Cronos / int_143939c1
 Cronos / int_14ed6ab7
type
Does This Remind You of Anything?
 Cronos / int_14ed6ab7
comment
Does This Remind You of Anything?: The first two times Jesús uses the device, he slips away to do it in some lonely place, leaving his wife and bedroom for the stairwell, or the bathroom, and has to wave away the attention of other characters. In the commentary del Toro says that this is both part of the addiction metaphor and playing on the sensuality inherent to so much vampire fiction, in this case a 'lonely' sensuality.
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Cronos / int_14ed6ab7
 Cronos / int_166e33f3
type
Little Miss Badass
 Cronos / int_166e33f3
comment
Little Miss Badass: Aurora is fully willing to smack an old man, and quite hard, for her grandfather's sake
 Cronos / int_166e33f3
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Cronos / int_166e33f3
 Cronos / int_1da5941e
type
The Quiet One
 Cronos / int_1da5941e
comment
The Quiet One: Aurora does not speak for most of the film.
 Cronos / int_1da5941e
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Cronos / int_1da5941e
 Cronos / int_27af99f1
type
Raised by Grandparents
 Cronos / int_27af99f1
comment
Raised by Grandparents: Aurora's living with her grandparents. Jesús asks her if she can remember her father at all, suggesting her parents are absent.
 Cronos / int_27af99f1
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1.0
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Cronos / int_27af99f1
 Cronos / int_34031fd2
type
Cruelty by Feet
 Cronos / int_34031fd2
comment
Cruelty by Feet: Dieter survives being smacked by Aurora and fed on by Jesús and asks Angel for help. Angel, who'd been celebrating his uncle's death, decides he's had enough and presses his foot to Dieter's throat, killing him.
 Cronos / int_34031fd2
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Cronos / int_34031fd2
 Cronos / int_50385f24
type
Immortality Inducer
 Cronos / int_50385f24
comment
Immortality Inducer: The Cronos Device by virtue of infecting the person with what is essentially a non-communicable form of vampirism.
 Cronos / int_50385f24
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1.0
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Cronos / int_50385f24
 Cronos / int_504a1991
type
Body Horror
 Cronos / int_504a1991
comment
Body Horror: Transformation Horror: The second layer of skin. Facial Horror: Jesús' face is damaged by the car crash, and starts rotting.
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Cronos / int_504a1991
 Cronos / int_525df529
type
Not Using the "Z" Word
 Cronos / int_525df529
comment
Not Using the "Z" Word: The word "vampire" is never said.
 Cronos / int_525df529
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1.0
 Cronos / int_525df529
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Cronos / int_525df529
 Cronos / int_537dd8fe
type
Affably Evil
 Cronos / int_537dd8fe
comment
Affably Evil: Angel is pretty charming when he wants to be. According to Guillermo del Toro himself, Angel probably could have been a friend under different circumstances but unfortunately is unable to think of any solutions to his problems outside of using violence.
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Cronos / int_537dd8fe
 Cronos / int_53f5119f
type
The Dragon
 Cronos / int_53f5119f
comment
The Dragon: Angel to Dieter.
 Cronos / int_53f5119f
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1.0
 Cronos / int_53f5119f
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1.0
 Cronos
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Cronos / int_53f5119f
 Cronos / int_5c3206a
type
Ransacked Room
 Cronos / int_5c3206a
comment
Ransacked Room: Jesus' shop gets trashed by Angel who was searching for the Cronos.
 Cronos / int_5c3206a
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1.0
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1.0
 Cronos
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Cronos / int_5c3206a
 Cronos / int_6068c76b
type
Clock Punk
 Cronos / int_6068c76b
comment
Clock Punk: The life-prolonging Cronos Device is a bio-mechanical clockwork artifact.
 Cronos / int_6068c76b
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1.0
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Cronos / int_6068c76b
 Cronos / int_6627695f
type
Author Appeal
 Cronos / int_6627695f
comment
Author Appeal: Religious iconography, clockwork, and insects everywhere.
 Cronos / int_6627695f
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1.0
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1.0
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Cronos / int_6627695f
 Cronos / int_663b22d9
type
Dying as Yourself
 Cronos / int_663b22d9
comment
Dying as Yourself: Jesús decides to smash the Cronos device while he still retains his humanity rather than feed on Aurora's blood, repeating "I am Jesús Gris" to stave off his Horror Hunger.
 Cronos / int_663b22d9
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1.0
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 Cronos
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Cronos / int_663b22d9
 Cronos / int_6654b17b
type
Facial Horror
 Cronos / int_6654b17b
comment
Facial Horror: Jesús' face is damaged by the car crash, and starts rotting.
 Cronos / int_6654b17b
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1.0
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Cronos / int_6654b17b
 Cronos / int_67101c52
type
Rooftop Confrontation
 Cronos / int_67101c52
comment
Rooftop Confrontation: Jesus and Angel at the climax, ending in Jesús pitching them both off the roof and through a skylight.
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Cronos / int_67101c52
 Cronos / int_6bda9a30
type
Meaningful Name
 Cronos / int_6bda9a30
comment
Meaningful Name: It might be a coincidence, but Jesús Gris sounds very similar to Jesus Christ.
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Cronos / int_6bda9a30
 Cronos / int_71cc4b5a
type
Descent into Addiction
 Cronos / int_71cc4b5a
comment
Descent into Addiction: Using the device and consuming blood are both addictive. Jesús starts out being able to hide his use of the Cronos Device and turn away from even raw meat, but he resorts to the Device regularly and licks blood off a bathroom floor halfway through the film.
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Cronos / int_71cc4b5a
 Cronos / int_7315fd38
type
Covers Always Lie
 Cronos / int_7315fd38
comment
Covers Always Lie: Several video cases feature a young, implicitly naked woman being stung by the device. There is no character that matches this image, nor does this event even come close to happening in the story.
 Cronos / int_7315fd38
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1.0
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 Cronos
hasFeature
Cronos / int_7315fd38
 Cronos / int_744f2273
type
Jar of the Bizarre
 Cronos / int_744f2273
comment
Jar of the Bizarre: The the villain, in his quest to prolong his life as much as possible, routinely has his aged organs swapped out for new ones. He keeps his discarded organs in jars on his shelves.
 Cronos / int_744f2273
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1.0
 Cronos / int_744f2273
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Cronos / int_744f2273
 Cronos / int_7eda7f78
type
Transformation Horror
 Cronos / int_7eda7f78
comment
Transformation Horror: The second layer of skin.
 Cronos / int_7eda7f78
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1.0
 Cronos / int_7eda7f78
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Cronos / int_7eda7f78
 Cronos / int_8cd96e6c
type
Nasal Trauma
 Cronos / int_8cd96e6c
comment
Nasal Trauma: Dieter's broken Angel's nose many times and does so again on-screen as punishment for Angel's failure. After Angel gets yet another round of plastic surgery on his face he attacks Jesús Gris and has it broken again.
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Cronos / int_8cd96e6c
 Cronos / int_9381f239
type
Clockwork Creature
 Cronos / int_9381f239
comment
Clockwork Creature: The Cronos Device is operated by multiple gears and houses an immortal insect inside it.
 Cronos / int_9381f239
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Cronos / int_9381f239
 Cronos / int_970c790a
type
Big Bad
 Cronos / int_970c790a
comment
Big Bad: Dieter de la Guardia, a dying man pursuing the Cronos Device for its power.
 Cronos / int_970c790a
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Cronos / int_970c790a
 Cronos / int_982b6570
type
Friendly Neighborhood Vampire
 Cronos / int_982b6570
comment
Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Jesús strives to be this as the changes induced by the device take hold. And if not for the villains he might have managed, at least for a while. He eventually smashes the device, an act he expects will kill him, rather than give into his thirst for Aurora's blood.
 Cronos / int_982b6570
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Cronos / int_982b6570
 Cronos / int_9ee065ab
type
Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday
 Cronos / int_9ee065ab
comment
Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: Big events in the film take place during Christmas and New Year's. Though the holidays themselves aren't emphasized — it's more subdued, "normalcy of family is gone" type of thing.
 Cronos / int_9ee065ab
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Cronos / int_9ee065ab
 Cronos / int_9f63d4f1
type
Our Vampires Are Different
 Cronos / int_9f63d4f1
comment
Our Vampires Are Different: Superficial features are closer to "classical" vampires than your typical Dracula. No fangs are evident. Users of the device evoke medieval porphyria sufferers in their quickly degrading skin and extreme vulnerability to sunburns. Their condition seems non-infectious even if they feed directly from someone else's body. Despite their blood craving, they seem to have the potential to eventually revive from mortal wounds as long as their heart is left intact, and the ending implies that their condition might be curable if the insect that originally injected them is destroyed.
 Cronos / int_9f63d4f1
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Cronos / int_9f63d4f1
 Cronos / int_a5cfe2ac
type
And There Was Much Rejoicing
 Cronos / int_a5cfe2ac
comment
And There Was Much Rejoicing: Angel starts loudly celebrating and laughing when he sees Dieter bleeding out on the floor, presuming him to be dead.
 Cronos / int_a5cfe2ac
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Cronos / int_a5cfe2ac
 Cronos / int_a72e8cbe
type
Scarab Power
 Cronos / int_a72e8cbe
comment
Scarab Power: The scarab-shaped Cronos Device, which grants immortality at the price of blood dependency.
 Cronos / int_a72e8cbe
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1.0
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Cronos / int_a72e8cbe
 Cronos / int_b1a7cd14
type
Tap on the Head
 Cronos / int_b1a7cd14
comment
Tap on the Head: Angel knocks Jesus out by kicking him in the head and drags him off to be interrogated.
 Cronos / int_b1a7cd14
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Cronos / int_b1a7cd14
 Cronos / int_c335b9ec
type
Irony
 Cronos / int_c335b9ec
comment
Irony: Dieter has a septic, joyless existence, leading Angel to wonder why he would want immortality in the first place.
 Cronos / int_c335b9ec
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Cronos / int_c335b9ec
 Cronos / int_ce25dff9
type
Amulet of Dependency
 Cronos / int_ce25dff9
comment
Amulet of Dependency: The Cronos Device, at least during the initial nights after infection. It slowly "purifies" the victim's blood and makes them a vampire in all but name. Failure to use it leads to pain and hunger, though it doesn't quell the eventual thirst for blood.
 Cronos / int_ce25dff9
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Cronos / int_ce25dff9
 Cronos / int_ce68d46b
type
Next Sunday A.D.
 Cronos / int_ce68d46b
comment
Next Sunday A.D.: In the newspaper item reporting the death of Jesús Gris, the year of death is listed as 1997, five years after the movie was released.
 Cronos / int_ce68d46b
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Cronos / int_ce68d46b
 Cronos / int_cf7b362
type
Horror Hunger
 Cronos / int_cf7b362
comment
Horror Hunger: Jesus Gris gets a moment of this after his first "sting" from the Cronos Device, staring at fascination at raw meat in the refrigerator, but he's able to shrug it off. With continued use he finds himself lusting after blood spilt from a nose bleed in a bathroom, and later once he stabs Dieter.
 Cronos / int_cf7b362
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Cronos / int_cf7b362
 Cronos / int_d001c42c
type
Anti-Villain
 Cronos / int_d001c42c
comment
Anti-Villain: Angel, who might have been an okay guy had he not been raised by his uncle. In the commentary GDT even talks about his sympathetic aspects and says he would've been a friend in different circumstances, but he only knows how to meet setbacks with violence.
 Cronos / int_d001c42c
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Cronos / int_d001c42c
 Cronos / int_d04d13d0
type
Hemo Erotic
 Cronos / int_d04d13d0
comment
Hemo Erotic: The direction Jesús's actor was given for licking a daub of blood off the floor of a public bathroom? "Lick it like it's champagne in a beautiful woman's navel. Savor it."
 Cronos / int_d04d13d0
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Cronos / int_d04d13d0
 Cronos / int_d0f0a80d
type
One-Word Title
 Cronos / int_d0f0a80d
comment
One-Word Title: Cronos.
 Cronos / int_d0f0a80d
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Cronos / int_d0f0a80d
 Cronos / int_d251db87
type
Alchemy Is Magic
 Cronos / int_d251db87
comment
Alchemy Is Magic: The magical Cronos Device was invented by an alchemist.
 Cronos / int_d251db87
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Cronos / int_d251db87
 Cronos / int_d42569b
type
MacGuffin Title
 Cronos / int_d42569b
comment
MacGuffin Title: Much of the plot is driven by Dieter's efforts to get the eponymous Cronos Device from Jesús.
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Cronos / int_d42569b
 Cronos / int_d959f4db
type
Immortality Seeker
 Cronos / int_d959f4db
comment
Immortality Seeker: Dieter has been seeking the Cronos Device for a long time.
 Cronos / int_d959f4db
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1.0
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Cronos / int_d959f4db
 Cronos / int_da4eae1b
type
Voluntary Vampire Victim
 Cronos / int_da4eae1b
comment
Voluntary Vampire Victim: Aurora is never afraid of her grandfather, even as he changes quite grotesquely, and helps him however she can, though she doesn't quite grasp the danger of it. At the end of the movie, she sees he's fascinated by a cut on her hand and offers it to him, saying his name. Jesús is tempted, but so revolted with himself that he smashes the scarab, somehow getting home to die in his bed.
 Cronos / int_da4eae1b
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Cronos / int_da4eae1b
 Cronos / int_da53340
type
Religious Horror
 Cronos / int_da53340
comment
Religious Horror: Jesús finds the amulet in the base of a damaged angel statue after several roaches crawl out of the angel's cracked face. In the commentary track del Toro talks about layers, the religious aspects of the vampire, and the symbolism of the device as being found inside of a rotting angel.
 Cronos / int_da53340
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Cronos / int_da53340
 Cronos / int_dce53dc6
type
White Is Pure
 Cronos / int_dce53dc6
comment
White Is Pure: In the commentary track, del Toro describes the pale skin of the alchemist found at the start of the film and the second layer of skin growing on Jesús as the result of the user's blood being truly purified by the amulet. Of course, Pure Is Not Good.
 Cronos / int_dce53dc6
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Cronos / int_dce53dc6
 Cronos / int_eb9afb9d
type
Evil Old Folks
 Cronos / int_eb9afb9d
comment
Evil Old Folks: Dieter.
 Cronos / int_eb9afb9d
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Cronos / int_eb9afb9d
 Cronos / int_fb3576b2
type
The Dog Bites Back
 Cronos / int_fb3576b2
comment
The Dog Bites Back: Angel, tired of waiting for his inheritance and fed up with the abuse, kills Dieter.
 Cronos / int_fb3576b2
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Cronos / int_fb3576b2
 Cronos / int_fd94c4ac
type
Theme Naming
 Cronos / int_fd94c4ac
comment
Theme Naming: Jesús Gris ("Gray Jesus") and Ángel de la Guardia (Guardian Angel). Also Jesús's wife Mercedes ("mercies") and granddaughter Aurora ("dawn"), who serve as his Living Emotional Crutches and help him find his final redemption.
 Cronos / int_fd94c4ac
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Cronos

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Cronos
hasFeature
Alchemy Is Magic / int_7e3b34ec
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hasFeature
Amulet of Dependency / int_7e3b34ec
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hasFeature
Being Evil Sucks / int_7e3b34ec
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hasFeature
Clock Punk / int_7e3b34ec
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seeAlso
Cronos
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hasFeature
Cruelty by Feet / int_7e3b34ec
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hasFeature
Films of 1990–1994 / int_7e3b34ec
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hasFeature
Friendly Neighborhood Vampire / int_7e3b34ec
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hasFeature
Horror Hunger / int_7e3b34ec
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hasFeature
Immortality Inducer / int_7e3b34ec
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hasFeature
Jar of the Bizarre / int_7e3b34ec
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hasFeature
Mexican Media / int_7e3b34ec
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hasFeature
Next Sunday A.D. / int_7e3b34ec
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hasFeature
Scarab Power / int_7e3b34ec
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hasFeature
Stealth Sequel / int_7e3b34ec