WOULD YOU RATHER: Be the social media manager for a popular brand but your posts have unforeseen consequences OR be the mascot for a popular brand but you must always live as the character?
WOULD YOU RATHER: Be quarantined in a Chuck E. Cheese by yourself OR have a raccoon landlord who continues to ask for rent even though you can’t currently work?
Did you know there is awful fanart associated with this episode? NOW YOU KNOW.
The City of Waterdeep has seen parties leave to explore the dangerous bases of Liches know as Dooms before, but has it ever seen one as great as The Doom Patrol?
TAKE A SIP, BABES!
Zone-Casts: I'd Rather Not Episode 125: D*** Don't Glow vs. Fash-ion Week
WOULD YOU RATHER: End racism by sending an alien to destroy New York City so that humanity has a bigger enemy that they will all be bonded against OR end fascism by bombing London’s House of Parliament and killing all of the evil politicians?
WOULD YOU RATHER: A house where a murderer lives under the floorboards OR a beach-side home that is drastically threatened by climate change?
OK, so my plan to "pretend to vote for everyone except Bernie Sanders" has bore mild fruit, but at least John's able to wring some good comedy out of it.
The City of Waterdeep has seen dreams before, but has it ever seen a series of dreams with hidden meaning and portents like these? Also, Dodger processes the concept of Vore!
WOULD YOU RATHER: Have a best friend who forces you to let them ride
your coat tails lest they reveal your deepest, darkest secret OR
attempts to sabotage you at every turn and success?
You are tasked with defeating an evil force and saving the world, but there is a powerful enemy at play and it’s trying to turn you to the dark side WOULD YOU RATHER: Your grandfather is secretly Hitler and he is back from the dead and is trying to make you evil OR your clothing is secretly an alien that is attached to you that is trying to bring out the evil within?
The City of Waterdeep has seen people captured within towers before, but has it ever seen an automaton captured within a church tower? Also, Kiir remembers the loan.
For me, 2018 was a year where I tried out a lot of stuff and it worked. As shitty as things were otherwise, and at times, I felt like I was just spinning my wheels, I have a better idea of what to do going forward.
The con front was quiet, but the few shows I did put on (Mini Iwai, Anime Iwai and Holiday Matsuri), went over very well, particularly because I've got my shenaniganing down pat. I've also put out quite a few songs out on Patreon, and managed to get to a few conventions I wasn't required to play at. Like, I can just hang out and shit.
So I have a better feeling going into 2019.
Here's to 10 More Years! Yeah, I've been at this for 10 Years.
MOST RECENT SONG: "Death's Blossom"
Youtube-
Soundcloud-
I JUST rendered the video and cover out today so I can have this for you guys. You're Welcome!
FAVORITE SONG I MADE: "Thrash Panda"
A song that's still Patron exclusive, but I feel REALLY good playing this song live. The ONLY reason I haven't dropped it yet is because I do want to make a cool piece of art to go along with it.
OTHER COOL SHIT I DID:
2017's 3000 Brigade Show is finally out!
This was a good one. I still have the Wii Fit Trainer stuff, in my closet.
2018's show was even better since I had more to do! Amanda if you're reading this I still have all of your acoutrements in my closet
I've also joined a DnD Campaign long time internet friend Luke Herr is running, which leads me into...
PODCAST STUFF: RPG Pals Club- By the time you read this, it'll be out for the public!
My character is Oi! A Drow Monk who chose the punk life over the underdark. So now he's a punk monk.
NOW HE'S A PUNK MON-
I'd Rather Not- The last episode was... not fit for human consumption, but we're nearing on 100 episodes, so the shaningans will Pentuple!
TREND I LIKED THE LEAST: Coddling Bigotry Being A Cottage Industry
Oh, wait? That was last year? And it still persists this year since all social media companies worry about is "engagement", content be damned, since 4chan Nazis have nothing better to do all day than harass transgender people and other minorities?
TREND I LIKED THE LEAST PART 2: Articles About "Going Too Far"
You know the trend: "SANTA SHOULD BE GENDER NEUTRAL!" "THEYBIES?" "EXACTLY ONE WOMAN WITH FEMINIST IN THEIR TWITTER BIO SAID A THING SO IT'S NEWS"
You've seen these articles a million times shared by friends on Facebook, usually accompanied by a "WTF?", and in the comments go something like "I'm not racist/sexist/hating on x group here, BUT..."
These stories serve a purpose to make you think that a certain marginalized group is going "too far" in the pursuit of equal rights. And when you have the fear of going "too far", its two fold:
1. You're afraid of anything being tried in the first place
2. It leaves the door open for someone more agreeable to the status quo to come in with an ineffective solution.
So the only response is to drag them to the main point kicking and screaming, "Well don't you think X should have the same rights as the rest of us?"
TREND I LIKED THE MOST: Furries Being The Comrades We All Need In This Shittastic World
This year's Internet Hero was not a man, but a fox.
A black, gay fox (everything Republicans hate) who was really, really good at fighting games.
Second place goes to a guy who shat on Elon Musk:
I've mentioned that the furry fandom/subculture is more creator focused than anime fandom, which means that is is decentralized, and all media considered "furry" is not produced by a singular entity. There may be pieces of media popular amongst furries, like Disney movies, Star Fox, etc., but the fandom itself owns the means of production, meaning it's socialist as hell, which is a good thing.
Since there's no singular entity that produces the art, there's no reason for them to ignore bad actors in the name of profit. Video game and comics companies and the like can look at bullshit like Gamergate and Comicsgate and go, "Hey, their money's just as good as anyone else's!
But since the talent pool is widely distributed, and everything is done on a person to person basis, you can tell the Nazis to fuck off:
And yes, there are Nazifurs/Altfurries. When the entire pull of a fandom is "You don't have to be the default you", it can be a good, like a safer space for LGBTQ+ people to express themselves and feel more out (i.e. their fursona is a different gender than the person was assigned, sexuality is different, etc.). Or it can be a bad, meaning "Hey, I was kicked out of my usual group because I was a dipshit who kept making holocaust/attack helicopter/racist jokes, SURELY these people will accept me!"
As mentioned earlier, you can kick out the latter group. It's fine.
When you've been an internet punching bag for so long, you can either be a shittier person, or keep on keeping on and learn to be better on your own.
Same for the juggalos. LET'S COMBINE THE TWO, SHALL WE?
FAVORITE SONG OF 2018: "Make Me Feel" by Janelle Monae
So, the runner up for this was "She's Kerosene" by The Interrupters, but while that a lot of energy and I crank up it my car all the time, "Make Me Feel" wins out because it has sexiest buildup to any song ever, and of course, Janelle Monae at her most fun.
TOP 40 SONG I HATED THE LEAST: "Thank U, Next" by Ariana Grande
My thought process:
"Ugh, OK, like, I haven't listened to a lot of Top 40 Radio, so I guess 'Feel It Still' is in the running, but let's see what Todd In The Shadows thinks..."
"Thank U Next? That Ariana Grande song? It's a meme, but I'll give it a listen."
"DAMN THIS IS SO GOOD! Her voice is so soothing! And the song expresses a sentiment so unique! Haha! I wonder what movies I'd parody for my thank u next equivalent?"
THE "WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME ABOUT THIS SOONER?" AWARD: The Shadowrun Games by Harebrained Schemes
Shadowrun is a TTRPG setting that's basically when two designers didn't want to decide on making a cyperpunk game, or a fantasy game so they're like "FUCK IT, WE'LL DO BOTH!" and have a game where you can play as orcs who can cast magic and elves who can hack into shit.
Since 2013, Harebrained schemes have been making games based off the brand and have done so with X-Com style combat mixed with Neverwinter Nights style exploration, and while not very long, they've been fun to play and get into. Dragonfall is the best out of the three with a better story, and more connections to your usual shadowrunning squad.
GAME OF THE YEAR: See Above
ANNUAL REMINDER I SHARE A BIRTHDAY WITH MC BAT COMMANDER:
Favorite moments:
-"Not Ric Flair"
-Rusev as a farm hand and Tyler Breeze as a maniacal banker
-John Cena's diction that make Jonesy Spencerson look hyperactive
-SEA CREATURE
-Anything Chris Jericho
Colonel Sanders Is Fucking Ripped:
Enzo Amore Wants To Fuck A Chicken:
Podcast Boyz Go Hard:
HEEL TURN ROUNDTABLE
I appeared on this to talk about how Wrestlemania Sun/33 will be meh at best.
-Every member of the podcast is within a year of each other: Weff was born in 87, Me and Mystakin '88 and Arcanon was '89, so we all have the same frame of reference for pop culture.
-Family Feud's NEKKID GRANDMA!
-Family Feud's BUTT
-As far as Game Completion goes, a lot of that falls upon that person's personal psychology. I'm the kind of guy who would prefer to buy a game I can obsess over and play the shit out of it, then spend 60 on a game I'd only play once.
While I enjoy games like Dishonored and ZTD, there's not a lot of replayability in those games. With Stardew Valley, there's enough to do to keep me occupied. With HITMAN (2016), there's a big environment to play around in with lots of challenges sprinkled throughout.
-HowLongToBeat.com is a website that lets you import your Steam Library and let you know how long it would take to beat the games in your library.
-The Who Super Bowl Smash Up is the only way we get any Quadrophenia
on Rock Band. "5:15", "The Real Me", "Love Reign O'er Me", "Sea and
Sand" WHY CAN'T WE HAVE SOME QUADROPHENIA?
-:Fire Water Burn" by The Bloodhound Gang
-For an example from Deadly Premonition, one of the side missions you
do is for Michael, an aide to Harry Stewart, an eccentric businessman
who is also an aficionado of gas masks. At the time of completing the
game, Michael is only seen as speaking for Harry and escorting him
around.
Michael adds weirdness and mystery to someone who ends up being a
central character while getting little to do himself. Not a useless
character, but he just serves a prupose. However, after running an
errand for him, you find out that Michael is adopted and wants nothing
more than to please his adopted father.
-"Stopping Points" in video games are a double edged sword. Yes, they
can provide a "Hook" to get you back, but it's also a place to leave
the game FOREVER. Arcanon brings up Borderlands, and like Skyrim, it's
easy to forget what you're doing in a game like that because the quests
are so small, and the world is so big, so if by any chance you DO come
back, you're like, "Eh...."
The key there is to make the segments digestible enough in 30-60 min
bursts that provide both significant value, and something big enough to
come back on. I understand there's SO MUCH ELSE that a game has to
account for before player psychology, but at least games are at the
point to where we can have this discussion.
-John's "Killer Voice" is but the latest in the roster of "weird voices we happen to do" and I hope, like Jonesy Spencerson, he make a comeback.
-Owen has 2 Daddies came off the tail end of the Mega 64 Podcast that day where they talk about the phrase "Daddy Give Me The Cummies" whcih is probably the least appetizing phrase in the English language behind "Trump Era Republican"
-And now, to give you some brain bleach, the worst thing I ever did:
-Marc Summers suffers from OCD, which is all the more badass considering his job as host of Double Dare. Then he got fired from his job on a talk show after disclosing it. Though "Lunatic Fringe" is a tad insensitive when he's suffering from internal turmoil.
ECHO CHAMBER EPISODE 189
-For the sake of comparison, here's a handy chart that has all the vocal ranges:
There is some overlap between
vocal ranges, for example bass (lowest male voice) and soprano (highest
female voice) overlapping by middle C. Of course, it varies from singer
to singer and song to song, but given that you can sing a note in Rock
Band in a different octave and still have it be "correct", so it's not
that bad. Of course, this was recorded two weeks ago, and the challenge
will be different by the time you read this, so fuck me.
-Sombra's the newest playable hero in Overwatch:
While I haven't given her much playtime, I'm glad she exists because
Overwatch needed its equivalent of the Spy from Team Fortress. Usually
I'd bring out the Spy when the other team has a lot of defenses set up,
since, like Sombra, I can go invisible, get behind enemy lines, and fuck
shit up.
In general, OW is more dynamic then TF2 with each charachter having
ultimate abilities popping off quicker, thereby enabling the tides to
turn. However, her hacking ability gives the game that much more back
and forth, and can do things like hack Torjborn's turrets, and Bastion's
sentry mode, two of the biggest STOP signs on the battlefield.
-Between Inspector Gadget and Godzilla, if Matthew Broderick was involved in a movie based off something from your childhood, it's not going to be good.
I took part in the Patreon Launch Livestream for Insert Quest Here! (I come in at arount 55:00 in). Ray's a super cool dude, the podcast is super fun, and hopefully he has me on more in the future.
I play the love child of Tibalt (from Magic The Gathering) and Captain Kirk.
-PCPartPicker.com is a pretty cang good website, with recoomended builds, advice, and price comparisons. Thankfully my computer is at the point where I can upgrade shit piece by piece, but building a PC from scratch is a good exercise, just so you can better understand what can and will go wrong.
-For those who are further behind, here are the two decks I've been using for Hearthstone: Beast Druid Midrange Shaman
Neither are too expensive to put together, you just need to play through the last two solo adventures and Ragnaros The Firelord, which is in the Classic set.
-I was going to do some number crunching with regards to who was the best question asker, but I think Trace just swept it. Or everything will have to measured in fractiions of Traces.
-
Given my research, as it turns out, you won't be "eaten" so much as "vored" by Griffin McElroy, because "eaten" implies that your flesh will be torn, whereas vore is- Wait where are you going? I HAVE RESEARCH FROM DEVIANTART TO SHOW YOU!
-Something... happened last week? I think. I dunno, the podcast is the same as it ever was!
-Dumb Bullshit Jared Leto Did To Get Into Character For The Joker:
1. Sending random gifts to his coworkers like used condoms and anal beads.
2. Fucking with his coworkers by being "in character" the whole time and insisting everyone call him Mr. J on the set.
3. Dropping a live pif in the middle of a table read.
Yeah, everyone hated him.
Jared Leto feels like the director was egging him on the whole time. Like, all the other actors were like "Man, not this shit again" and David Ayer, the director, along with the marketing team was like "HOW MESSED UP IS THE JOKER GONNA BE?"
-Why I Am The King Of Five Nights At Freddy's: without my kickass song, nobody would have heard of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Markiplier, NateWantsToBattle and Game Theory are all liars and charaltans. Never played the games, but I'm the real King Of Finve Nights At Freddy's: A Game I've Never Played.
-"Bad Things Happen Warehouse Starring Jared Leto" is what is on the marquee at every 30 Seconds To Mars concert.
-Creepy Stuff Scientist is how I imagine John would act if were still alive and unactivated by The Protocol after [REDACTED] activated it.
-Real people painted like animatronics? Did you mean Steam Powered Giraffe:
-If we're doing jump scare muppet house, I'm surprised we haven't brought up the one guy who's got "innocuous object but REALLY SCARY" on lock down: ECHO CHAMBER EPISODE 185
-Rockudrama, while not meaty, is really big on dry humor, like, as Arc mentioned: Jake and Amir. While nowadays it seems "DORKLY" is the big CollegeHumor brand, CH in general was pretty good at that aloof, "bullshit with a striaght face". I thought the series ended when I graduated college, but it's still going on, like this from a couple days ago:
Let's look at comme-
oh... oh... oh...
-I've come around on Kool Terry. Kool Terry is Kewl with Mee. He's like onions: when made to put in a dish, it's great, but you can't eat it on your own. Also it smells bad.
-The TRUE AND HONEST Nintendo Switch Trailer:
-The curly fries look SOOOOO GOOOOD, but those Beef and Cheddar Sandwiches could look better.
-As of this past Friday, the Giant Bomb Shenmue Quick Look ended, and BOY WAS THAT ENDING THE EPITOME OF NOT WORTH IT.
Hope they do Shenmue 2.
-The game I was talking about where your uncle is a cosmic horror is called "The Uncle Who Works At Nintendo" It's pretty interesting, and I might play it on stream one of these days.
Something Awful: So what exactly is your uncle's role in the Nintendo organization? Guy Whose Uncle Works for Nintendo:
My uncle is one of the main guys. He invented Mario. He lives in Japan
and he knows the president of Nintendo. The president of Nintendo is
named Ryu Nintendo and he invented the first Nintendo, which was a robot
that did math. My uncle works on all the games and makes up how the
levels look, and he knows all the cheat codes and can get extra men in
any game. He gets to play all the games before they come out and he
gives them all to me when he beats them.
-My intro is of course referencing, a Bad, Bad Man by John Cena:
-In my door-jump scare searching escapades, I found a website called "Where's The Jump?" that highlights when jump scares come in movies. An interesting idea, and I'm curious to see how the jump scare rating corressponds to the movie's quality. Some of you are going to whine about it because it's the same line as-
-Tom is a hot dog salesman from the game Shenmue, who drunkenly shambles across 7 different stereotypes and then recommends you see a Travel Agency to know about Chinese people:
-John: Do I have a curfew? RB: John., you're a grown ass man, you can do what ever you want.
John: Will Ine-san give me a daily allowance? RB: You're a grown ass man John, you need to work for it.
-This and another episode was where me and John went back and forth on a question where I end up repeating the same thing. I think the "cartoon in the real world" scenario. I'm a big fan of comical repetition
-ANDY AND JOHN OPEN UP A BURGER STAND: One day in 1980's Japan. John and Andy opened up a burger stand. "This will be a fine burger stand!" said Andy. "We got burgers, we got homebrewed beer, what more could the people of 1980's Japan want?" "I KNOW RIGHT" said a very shy, reserved John, his voice like whispers on the wind. "WE'RE GOING TO MAKE SO MUCH MONEY! LET'S GET STARTED!"
John lit up the grill with a smile on his face, and Andy looked at the bottled beers like they were beautiful babies
Suddenly, a hot dog truck pulled over across from them. A strange man with sunglasses and dreadlocks stepped out, and started dancing. "Oh hi Mark! You guys want a hot dog?" he said, dancing. "How's your sex lifes?"
This man was very strange. "HEY, ANDY! THIS GUY IS SO STRANGE!" "I know, right! Hopefully he doesn't cut into our business!" "MAYBE WE SHOULD WORK WITH HIM?" "You know what, John? That sounds like a fine idea! If we work together, we can all be successful!" "AND WE CAN GET WHAT DRUGS HE'S CLEARLY ON!" So Tom, Andy and John all worked together and made a lot of hungry people in 1980's Japan happy, all while getting super fucking baked.
Ryo's father also wasn't dead. ECHO CHAMBER EPISODE 182
-Millennial Weddings:
If we can bother to afford them, what kind
of traditions will we pass down that our kids will think is lame? Our
generation, because of aforementioned financial issues, are questioning
the big to do. While we keep the legal and religious ceremonies, the
fact that it needs to be a lavish affair are-
No, wait, what kind of DJ brings a fucked up file to their party? Like, what happened? Did this guy NOT check?
-Since this episode was recorded, Green Day released this video for a song WAY more coherent:
-Stars Playing Rock Band- The Protomen, as mentioned:
Rush, also mentioned:
Alice Cooper, Death In His Eyes: I CAN'T FIND IT GRAAAAH
PALMCON THIS WEEKEND!
Sasdly, I did not check the schedule that well, and did not realize I had a gig Saturday. I apologize for the invconvienece, as I also came from a work thing.
-That sound effect at the end fits in perfectly with "You just screwed with Martin Shrkeli!" and the sad trombone is all like "Dang, I can't be Seto Kaiba"
-Persona 4 continues to have the best soundtrack:
THIS WEEK'S JAM:
House music is a secret love of mine. Not a shame, because house music rules. It's secret because all the EDM kids are inbto the wibble wobbles these days. I find it calming in a way that a lot of other genres that are supposed to be soothing aren't.
Also, this song rules, because it's made by a man called Sagat and wears an eyepatch like Sagat, who's the best Street Fighter character.
The lyrics are not high art, but they're stupid enough to be featured on Beavis and Butthead:
-My Dad is a HUGE Star Wars nut, so naturally he
took us to the Special Editions in '97 and The Pahntom Menace in 1999.
He was talking about it all the time, so I just assumed it was a big
deal. Then again, I haven't seen Captain America: Civial War yet, so it
is possible to miss out on an "event" movie.
-Possible feature to add to the side: Who Are We Throwing Our Money At? A collection of all the people we recommend supporting through Patreon, Kickstarter, Buying All Their Shit, etc.
ECHO CHAMBER EPISODE 181
-I think adding a "Hashtag" to things is the equivalent of adding Dad to it where it worsens and cheapens whatever the word is. #Courage- WE ARE SELLING YOU WHAT WE BELIEVE IS A COURAGEOUS MOVE Dad Courage- I'm going to try the DOUBLE Bacon Cheeseburger
#Jokes- I am ironicaly referring to what I just said as comedy Dad
Jokes- Hi ____, I'm Dad! See also, "I know you're good, but do you want
any more food?" and "You can tune a piano but you tune a fish?"
#Bod- This Instagram picture has a body in it. Somewhere. Alive? DadBod- Not fat enough to be fat, but fat enough to show that you stopped trying.
-Super Mario Run Trailer:
-It feels... desperate that the console market is working in
iterations. The main rallying point of consoles is that everything works
right out of the box, and the main thrust of this console generation is
that they want to be the main focus of your living room. I'm not sure
what these upgrades are supposed to accomplish other than "we're making
them better". Look at the "thesis" of the past couple generations:
-WiiU/Xbone/PS4: We want to own your TV. You can stream your TV
through us, you can browse the internet us, we want to OWN YOUR LIVING
ROOM. -PS3/360/Wii: Online mofos! -PS2/Xbox/Gamecube: I think we figured out this 3D shit you guys!
-Everyone plays video games. Especially during the 80's. However, a
lot of what changed our perspective of video games happened after the
Crash of '83. Nintendo fixed this by selling video game as Toys rather
than Electronics. Toy aisles back then had were separated by gender,
they picked Boys. Still, even in the early days, video games were still
popular with everyone.
However, as mentioned in the podcast, then shit got complicated. FOUR buttons? SHOULDER PADS? ANOTHER one?
Where games like Halo succeeded is that they removed the "feelbads"
from the game: Recharging shields, less complicated firing weapons, etc.
While the controls are still ridiculous to someone who hasn't played,
the game itself is more accommodating.
Though personally, I'm a fan of Powerman 5000's cover album with "Electric Avenue":
And yes, IndieGoGo.Space is an actual URL
This is BoBoBo BoBoBoBo:
It's about this dude who fights a tyrannical regime who wants to steal everyone's hair. BoBoBo, having a lot of hair, will NOT stand for this, so he roams the land employing his technique Hanage Shinken, or Fist Of The Nose Hair.
-The cosplay scene is verrrrry, shall we say, expansive? Like, there are cosplay models, cosplay porn, cosplay strippers, cosplay burlesque shows, and all of those exist in Florida because OF COURSE IT'S FLORIDA.
Hey Andy:
I want you to remember this in your DREAMS.
I play Dovin Baan, the planeswalker from Kaladesh. He was a fun voice to do. I tried to go for a British accent with some Indian influence, and while it came out well for the most part, except for the times when it slips into Irish/Scottish because I roll my R's as part of the voice I chose.
-Observation: A lot of my calls are to friends I want to catch up with.
-This episode was done RIGHT after I recorded something else in a radio announcer/Jonesy Spencer type voice and forgot to turn off the filter.
-Pro Gamer and Mediocre At Best Magic Player Day9 is doing a playthrough of Toonstruck, and that's what made me think of this question.
-According to Wikipedia, "noids" were the name for normal people, and "doodles" were cartoons. When "noids" are killed by "doodles", they're reborn as "doodles" in Cool World. I feel like I need to watch Cool World, but my time would to be better spent watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit? again.
-"Cartoon Characters Shiting" is John's "Sausage Party Orgy"
-Steven Universe is one of those shows where it supposedly has this rich deep lore, but I watch episodes years apart, and still be OK.
STAAAAAARDUSSSSSST!
It's amazing how outdated these things become when they;'re released because wrestling changes faster than Scooby-Doo.
-Max Steele I remember being a meh CGI cartoon, and there was an episode with Tony Hawk for some reason.
-Scrooge McDuck being a badass:
-Time police from SuperJail! look like the Dream Police from Cheap Trick:
-And with all that, I'm going to leave you with the sick MC Lars track, "The Dip":
