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A Jar of Soup

A Jar of Soup

BLOOMING WILLOW: D. Bethel takes a minute to share his excitement for the new Willow show on Disney+

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew gets surprised by the dark remake/sequel of Kamen Rider Black Sun while D. Bethel rides the ups and owns of Netflix’s Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.

IN REMEMBRANCE: Our hosts take a moment to honor the sad and surprising deaths of Kevin Conroy––the inimitable voice of Bruce Wayne and Batman in Batman: The Animated Series and many works afterwards––and Jason David Frank, most well known as Tommy the Green Ranger in Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Films in Quarries” (18 June 2021): Where Andrew dips his toe into the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers pool.
  • Doctor Ennui” (27 August 2021): Where Andrew goes waist-deep into the Zyuranger pool.

RELEVANT LINKS:

  • Though not (legally) freely available, you can find the Batman comic written by Kevin Conroy (with art by J. Bone) in the DC Pride 2022 anthology published by DC Comics.

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Waiting for Helicopter

Waiting for Helicopter

HEALING FACTOR: This week, our hosts talk about the surprising news dropped by Ryan Reynolds about Deadpool 3.

BAD BUSINESS: Our hosts then dive into the strange and unfortunate decisions made by the corporate bigwigs at the newly combined Warner Bros. Discovery and how its CEO is making a lot of artistic decisions based on economic benefits…it’s strange, but mostly sad.

RELEVANT LINKS:

  • A tweet from @The_GM_Is_God who posited the casting of Matt Berry as Hank McCoy aka “Beast” of the X-Men (the entire thread is great):

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A Hoseiken Seiko Bat

A Hoseiken Seiko Bat

RIP DCCW: In a DC-heavy episode, our hosts bring our on-the-ground-DC-correspondent, Taylor, to talk about all things DC Comics. First, it’s sad news to fans of the tv-based DC universe as it was announced that only Flash and Superman & Lois return for another season, leaving fans of, especially Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow to deal with their sorrow.

ACTUALLY DETECTIVING: Now that it has been out for awhile, our hosts and Taylor dive deep into Matt Reeves’ The Batman, analyzing not only its story and characters and actors, but also its influences and legacy.

TOO WEIRD: Before closing out the episode, our hosts and co-host take a moment to discuss the very strange trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Don’t Stop Recording” (3 July 2015): Where D. Bethel discusses his impressions of Batman: Arkham Knight.
  • Keep Calm, You’re a Warrior Princess” (1 April 2016): Where Andrew and D. Bethel discuss Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
  • #CyclopsWasRight” (21 October 2016): Where D. Bethel discusses his time (at the time) playing the Batman video game by Telltale Games.
  • The Baggage of Expectation” (10 July 2020): Where our hosts discuss the departure of Ruby Rose from the role of Batwoman, and the announcement of Javicia Leslie as the new protagonist of the DC/CW show, Batwoman.

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Disco McCoy

Disco McCoy

FIRST CONTACT DAY: April 5 is celebrated by Star Trek fans as “First Contact Day.” While the day is fictional, the celebration is real as Paramount releases a bunch of Star Trek news, sneak peeks, and trailers. Our hosts dive into all the news that’s fit to beam up.

RELEVANT LINKS:

CrockerCon 2022 poster. Art by Nooligan

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Bigger Than The Batman

Bigger Than The Batman

WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew watches the most recent entry into the Scream franchise, while D. Bethel finds mild catharsis in the not-at-all-cathartic game from Asobo Studios, A Plague Tale: Innocence.

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Inserting Spaces

Inserting Spaces

STANDING WITH UKRAINE: Our hosts take a minute to discuss the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

REVIEWING REVIEWS: The release of FromSoftware’s newest game, Elden Ring, has many people talking about reviews due to the fact that many outlets rated the game 10/10 (or whatever metric they use) while the reviewers openly admit that they didn’t finish the game (this was due to FromSoftware releasing review codes to websites really late). This lead D. Bethel and Andrew to consider what the role of a review is––heck, what even is a review when the gamut runs from professional reviews to user-written Amazon reviews.

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RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Starting By Starting” (03 January 2020): Where D. Bethel discusses his time playing Frogwares’ The Sinking City.

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Touching Down (Duck Love)

Touching Down (Duck Love)

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew dives into the world of JRPG job systems with Bravely Default 2, while D. Bethel finds more Metroid to love as he replays Batman: Arkham Asylum.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Scotch Tape and Hope” (4 December 2015): Where D. Bethel discusses his love of the Batman: Arkham series of games, specifically Batman: Arkham Knight.
  • Editing Is Magic” (13 July 2018): Where Andrew and D. Bethel discuss Chris Kohler’s book, Final Fantasy V.
  • Ghost Games” (15 October 2021): Where D. Bethel shares his initial thoughts about Metroid Dread.

RELEVANT LINKS:

  • A comparison video showing the original Boba Fett voice and the revision that included Temuera Morrison’s redubbing:

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Meat Pops

Meat Pops

NEWS CRUISE: Andrew and D. Bethel cover a lot of different news stories this week, including the acceptance of NFTs in video games by Steam and the Epic Games Store; the workers of tabletop game developer, Paizo, form a union; developers who worked on Metroid Dread not seeing their names in the credits; Ruby Rose speaking up about their treatment on the set of Batwoman‘s first season; and some announcements made by DC during the DC Fandome event.

UPDATE: Venerated Metroid fansite, Shinesparkers, reached out to Metroid Dread developers, MercurySteam, for clarification on what qualified for crediting in the game, specifically with regard to what constitutes the “25% game dev time” and “significant creative contributions,” stating:

“A significant contribution might mean A LOT of things: from designing a playable character, writing dialogues, lore.. anything substantially important to the game. On the 25% this is something based on our experience. Of course it can be seen differently elsewhere.”

FURTHER UPDATE: Union issues with Paizo and its workers came to an agreement on Thursday, October 21, with Paizo officially recognizing the workers’ union.

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RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Business Exempt” (19 October 2018): Where D. Bethel and Andrew talk about the first major attempt to unionize video game workers.
  • A Casualty of the Rhyme” (22 May 2020): Where our hosts, along with Taylor, talk about Ruby Rose’s sudden departure from Batwoman.
  • Milkbloods” (09 April 2021): When Andrew and D. Bethel first discussed the strange culture of NFTs.

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Dating the Void

Dating the Void

ELEMENTARY, DEAR WOHN JATSON: A brief look at an upcoming multi-platform release from Capcom that gathers two Ace Attorney games previously unavailable outside of Japan. The collection, called The Great Ace Attorney, features some interesting localization of characters names. While not unusual in itself, the fact that in Japan a character named “Sherlock Holmes” had to be changed––to “Herlock Sholmes” for release in the United States points to some very strange aspects of copyright law. Andrew dives deep into the mystery.

Image Source: Capcom

CUTTING CUTSCENES: Based on an GamesIndustry.biz interview with Weird West narrative designer, Lucas Loredo, who posits the idea that maybe we live in a gaming world that no longer has a need for cutscenes in games. D. Bethel and Andrew dive into the purpose of cutscenes and do their best to answer the question themselves.

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The Call Boss

The Call Boss

THE TAYLOR CUT: With the Snyder cut of Justice League now upon us, co-host Andrew and friend-of-the-show, Taylor Katcher, approached the 4-hour opus with hesitation and excitement, respectively. With the Snyderverse fully complete (at this point), Andrew, D. Bethel, and Taylor gather ’round the microphones to talk about Zack Snyder’s Justice League and all the fervor around it. Prepare for hot takes!

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Episode 149 – We Are Not Here” (08 December 2017): Where D. Bethel talked about his experiencing watching Joss Whedon’s version of Justice League.
  • Episode 152 – My Own Finger” (05 January 2018): Where Taylor talked to Andrew and D. Bethel about the 2018 state of the DC-union.
  • A Casualty of the Rhyme” (22 May 2020): Where Andrew, D. Bethel, and Taylor discuss the news of the Snyder Cut becoming reality.
  • Auteur Manager” (12 February 2021): Where D. Bethel and Andrew discuss the news of the abhorrent treatment Ray Fisher alleges having experienced on the set of Joss Whedon’s Justice League and how much of Hollywood came out to support him, revealing an even darker truth about the once fan-favorite writer.

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