Mmhm. Definitely fascinates the lot of us and keeps us coming back for more. They were a one of a kind teenage dyad that dreamed and set in motion an unfathomable, destructive plot in a still somewhat-innocent, ripe time period where it could easily be executed and right under everyones’ noses in broad daylight. What they did then in 1999 can no longer be done today with the same impact and all in part because of them. 😉

No major real fighting but annoying one another type nit picking stuff. Just the typical mundane crap; fighting like they’re an old married couple annoyed with one another’s usual traits and whining back and forth at each other. Eric getting pissed at Dyl eating stuff off his plate (after he finished his own) like stealing one too many french fries and waffling it down. Dyl leaving shit laying around at Eric’s house after a sleep over and Eric annoyed that stuff needs to be pickup and put back into order for his parents. Eric being pissy and moody at Dyl for spending too much time lately smoking cigarettes with Brooks and not him…or Zach..or Nate.. whoever Eric disliked at the moment. Dyl getting annoyed at Reb for nudging him just a tad too much to go say ‘hi’ or make a move with girls he knows Dyl has a crush on, and Dyl getting flustered, embarrassed, agitated and pissy because he only wants to do that on his own terms when he’s ready to. That umpteenth time they went to see Tobin at “All Wound Up” and Reb is bugging the fuck out of Dyl “just go up to the counter V and make a move already, ‘GAAWD!’.” Dyl getting maxed out and fed up with Eric telling him what to do, how to do it, and oh yes, to “shut up, Dylan!” acerbically yelling that to him in front of a bunch of peers and girls. Eric being a tad too merciless picking on certain girls and Dyl telling him to stop already, shaking his head. Like that time Eric relished making fun of Jennifer Harmon trying to sing a Rammstein song ‘like a dork’ or when Eric went ballistic on the girl that accidentally ran into Dylan’s car and was in tears, apologizing for it. Dylan being so fed up with Reb so just point-blank calmly orders him to “get in the car”. Eric making fun of Dyl’s music tastes with the ‘emo gnashing bumpkins’ and let’s not even go into Chemical Bros. A cold-war silent treatment did happen briefly between the boys as accounted by Blackjack manager Jason Secor.

Those silvery gray ‘bracelets’ were functional match strikers which the boys’ ingeniously cut from the side of a box of matches and taped together with silvery grey electrical tape, each bracelet had two strikers. They could easily light the fuses of their pipe bombs and other incendiaries in a very consistently accessible manner. In the boys’ usual symbolically contrasting yin/yang, aesthetic, Dylan being left-handed, wore his striker bracelet on his right wrist and Eric being right handed wore his striker on his left wrist.  The ingenuity of their amateur invention was considered ingenious by the authorities.

Below: match striking strips cut from the side of a match boxes.