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Episode 749 - Answer: Nygma Time
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We're taking your listener questions on this week's show! We figure out just when Nygma Time is, decide what to get Stone Cold HCC for Christmas, and discuss Thanksgiving parade balloons, among other things!
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Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Recording Details
00:00:00
Speaker
This show is recorded using Zencaster. If you are a podcaster or you want to be a podcaster and you want to be able to record remotely, you can do so using Zencaster. They also have hosting options and you can let them know that we sent you. Follow the link in our show notes or in the episode description and sign up for an account on Zencaster now to start recording your own podcast.
Hosts Introduction & Podcast Overview
00:00:29
Speaker
I'm bored. What plaything can you offer me today?
00:00:38
Speaker
about to walk at Ajax to bring back his body. Terminate, exit, go!
00:00:53
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to War
Discussion on 'Wicked' Movie Adaptation
00:00:55
Speaker
Rocket Ajax. This is the internet's most explosive comic book and pop culture podcast. We are your hosts back here in the holiday season.
00:01:05
Speaker
My name is Chris Sims. With me as always is Matt Wilson. Matt, I'm going to talk in a little bit about Wicked. the the The movie Wicked. The film Wicked.
00:01:19
Speaker
The first half of the stage musical... That was made into one movie. Significantly more than the first half of the of the musical. That was expanded into a movie that is even longer than the musical.
00:01:33
Speaker
Yes, yes. I'm going to talk about that in a minute. But watching it made me realize that if I were to create a musical prequel to... a a piece of of entertainment, to be it movie, book, what have you, that would kind of explain everything and connect it all, and you get to see all your favorite characters ah when they were in college and all had pre-existing relationships ah that in many cases contradict the work itself.
00:02:04
Speaker
I realized that I would want to do House of Buds. And who would be in that? Well, that that's a musical. prequel to House of Leafs about ah a bunch of friends who find themselves in this crazy house where things aren't always what they seem. And I think it would be also fun if it was look kind of like a stoner comedy. Because I don't know if there's a lot of stoner comedy musicals. There might be. i literally don't know.
00:02:35
Speaker
ah but But I think you know good friends... Hanging out at the at the at the old five and a half minute hallway.
00:02:47
Speaker
having ah Having a time. That's what I would do. I like it. i like So Matt, what musical prequel would you put out into the world? Babadook!
00:02:59
Speaker
And it's all about the Babadook in his college years just being misunderstood. pretty good that's pretty good uh can i'm gonna give you a free line for that okay uh because i don't know if there's gonna be like a prince or like a love interest like there is in well as we all know babadook the babadook's a gay icon so um he's gonna like learn like come to terms with his sexuality in the in the musical yeah so i think what you do is you have like the love interest walk up and go so is there a baba duchess
00:03:37
Speaker
That's pretty good. Thanks. That's pretty good. Thanks. I felt good about it. So I'm glad you liked it.
Support Us on Patreon & Benefits
00:03:44
Speaker
Matt, we've got a great show for everybody this week. That's true. We're taking your listener questions on the show. We like to get cozy here around holiday time.
00:03:53
Speaker
And what's cozier than us sitting by the fire and taking your listener questions, answering the questions that you have for us, the burning inquiries,
00:04:05
Speaker
We're going to do that on this week's show. But Chris, before we do that, we do have some business to take care of here at the very top of the show. The first piece of business is thanking our supporters over on Patreon.
00:04:19
Speaker
That's right, Matt. These are the people who want to help out the show. They want to kick us a couple dollars so we can keep going. And they can do that. They can support this show, Comics Ketchup, Movie Fighters, every story ever. They can do all of that just by going to patreon.com slash warrocketajax, where they can help us keep doing the show, pay for those Christmas presents that are no doubt on their way to our houses from each other. yeah I'm excited for you to open yours.
00:04:49
Speaker
i think you'll I think you'll enjoy it. They can even help save Gimmick Street, and they can help pay those Gimmick Street. They keep sending them in mail call bills. but We'll get to the Gimmick Street saving in just a moment. I don't actually have any new names to read out on the show, but we are at basically, we'll we'll call it Wake Up, Wake Up, Wake Up the first of the month. So, um now is a great time to head over to Patreon and ah kick in your support for the show. we are Currently at 425 paid backers, paid patrons on Patreon. We would love to get that number up if you can do so. The the number always goes down a little bit at the first of the month because like people, like their their credit cards expire and stuff.
00:05:40
Speaker
And so they get charged. they don't get charged So make sure that you are in good standing on Patreon if you're there as a paid a backer. And if um you're not a paid backer, we would very much encourage you to be, because you can be with one for as little as $1, as Chris said.
00:06:00
Speaker
And as $1 backer, $1 patron, you get every episode of everything we do completely ad-free. That's right. Totally ad-free. At the $5 level, you can get bonus content that includes bo bonus audio that we um record, especially for Patreon, stuff that I cut out of the show and put on Patreon outtakes, bonus writing that Chris and I have done.
00:06:27
Speaker
And there's a lot of bonus stuff over there on Patreon that if you join at the $5 level now, you can go and get that whole backlog of bonus content. At the $10 level, you get line-stepping privileges for our segments, which currently include 1 to 10 of Swords and Every Story Ever.
00:06:45
Speaker
And at the $15 level, you can join the Gimmick Street Preservation Society. That means that you get to say what is at an address on Gimmick Street.
00:06:57
Speaker
And this this is our last submission as of right now. For a location on Gimmick Street. So if you're at that level and you haven't sent one in, now is the time. Because it's going to be maybe next if you send one in. Because this is the last one we have.
00:07:14
Speaker
But at 749 Gimmick Street, Chris, sent to us by Travis O., a member of the Gimmick Street Preservation Society, is the Sergeant Conrad S. Duke Hauser Memorial Hospital.
00:07:29
Speaker
But there's a tarp thrown over the big sign out front that has a hastily printed sign that says, Doc says Duke's going to be okay. I love that. I love that. yeah They built that hospital fast.
00:07:42
Speaker
They really did. They built that hospital fast, but then could not get the people back to change the sign.
Thanksgiving Traditions & 'Wicked' Critique
00:07:52
Speaker
But if I do love that. That's great.
00:07:55
Speaker
It's just, now it's just like the Duke, in honor of Duke, ah hospital, I suppose. which Which, you know, who has served his country better than Conrad Dukehauser?
00:08:08
Speaker
Yeah. Maybe it could be the Babadook Memorial Hospital. What if Babadook fought Cobra? Matt, I think it would go little something like this. You seen this guy? You seen this guy, Babadook?
00:08:19
Speaker
You seen this guy, Babadook? You seen him? You seen this guy? He wears a little hat. He's got a little hat on? at the $20 level, you get all of that stuff. I just mentioned the bonus audio, the line stepping privileges, the, you become a member of the gimmick street preservation society. You can also get our annual t-shirt. Um, i think I know what our 2026 t-shirt is going to be, but we will have, uh, more serious discussions about that come the new year.
00:08:50
Speaker
Um, uh, Don't worry. We got some ideas for what the 2026 t-shirt could be, and if you're at the $20 level, you get one of those. If you are unable to help us monetarily, which we understand is a possibility, especially right now, it's it's it's unprecedented times. We've been in unprecedented times for far too long.
00:09:13
Speaker
i'm I'm ready for precedent to come back. Same. I'm ready to know what's happening. Yes, ah but... If you're unable to help us monetarily, you can leave us a five-star review. You can help us out in other ways. You can leave us a five-star review on the podcasting out app that you use, whatever that may be. Or you can just spread the word about the show. Tell your family and friends. Tell the people you know to listen to this podcast, War Rocket Ajax. And maybe they have some money burning their pockets that they can go to Patreon and contribute to the show every month.
00:09:48
Speaker
And we would be very, very grateful for that. It's true. We would be. Chris, with that, it's time for Comforts and Joys. What do you say?
00:09:59
Speaker
Let's do it.
00:10:05
Speaker
Season's greetings, Chris. What's bringing you comfort? Did you have a nice Thanksgiving, Matt? I did have a nice Thanksgiving. ah We hosted some friends. On the day, ah some local people who didn't really have anywhere else to go. So um they came to our house. We made a bunch of food. And um I pride myself on never making a dry turkey.
00:10:28
Speaker
And i I did it once again this year. um i succeeded in making a turkey that was not bad and dry. And so I felt good about that. And then I saw family the next day. So um good Thanksgiving. I hope you had a good one too, Chris. I had a very nice Thanksgiving, but ah the the scheduling was a little bit weird.
00:10:48
Speaker
ah Because we had the ah we we spent some time with some family we have up here, AC's family in beautiful Minneapolis, Minnesota.
00:10:59
Speaker
And ah due to some flight concerns, ah the Thanksgiving dinner had to happen ah at like 11 a.m. Which, I know like you usually Thanksgiving dinner pretty early. or that's That's not you, you. That's just the general you.
00:11:18
Speaker
ah But 11am is... is wait When you have the dinner at 11am, you wind up having a lot of the day left. So, AC and I came home, Matt, and ah we engaged in what I think might be a great new Thanksgiving tradition.
00:11:38
Speaker
Let's hear it. I got extremely high and watched Wicked. ah Now, i we haven't engaged in this ah Thanksgiving tradition in some time, but for a while, Marlene and I's Thanksgiving tradition was to watch a Rocky movie.
00:11:54
Speaker
that's That's pretty good. We should get back to doing that. yeah We haven't done it in a little bit. You're going to have like you're gonna have like some good Thanksgivings and some fun Thanksgiving, and then one kind of bad Thanksgiving, and then a sad Thanksgiving.
00:12:09
Speaker
yeah if you do Yeah, well, yeah there's a there's there's a couple of bad Rockies. um i I would be fine just never watching Rocky V or Rocky Balboa.
00:12:21
Speaker
Yeah, Rocky V, pretty rough. ah But let me tell you what else is rough, Matt. Wicked. Wicked made me furious.
00:12:35
Speaker
Wicked kid pissed me right the fuck off, dude. I warned you. I warned you that it was going to be full of Barry Allen's bow tie. it is and entirely... We might have to not call them Barry Allen's bow ties anymore.
00:12:50
Speaker
ah For those of you who maybe are new to the podcast, welcome. What we refer to as a Barry Allen's bow tie is the explanation of something that does not need to be explained. Yeah. yes You do not need to give added significance to the fact that Barry Allen wears a bowtie.
00:13:05
Speaker
He can just be a guy who likes to wear bowties. It doesn't need to be like a gift from his dead mom. He's just a nerd. We might have to start calling them Elphaba's hats.
00:13:17
Speaker
the The backstory for the hat in Wicked is is the big one for me. Yeah, it's like... She could just have a hat. She could just have a hat.
00:13:28
Speaker
Because it's also weird that she has worn the same hat since college. Like, that's also so weird. Yes. um but But there's a few in Wicked. There's the hat.
00:13:42
Speaker
There's the broom, which gets an origin story for some reason. The broom gets an origin story, but it's like a really half-assed origin story. And as you pointed out, the the explan explanation there's there's a fully terrible explanation of the yellow brick road being yellow. Yeah, here's the thing.
00:13:58
Speaker
If you want to do a Barry Allen's bow ties, that's fine. I mean, it's not fine. It's not to my taste, but you know people like it. they They want to see stuff. you know ah High school AU, go for it.
00:14:09
Speaker
Absolutely go for that. But if you're doing Barry Allen's bow ties to the point where you're like, explaining why the yellow brick road is yellow.
00:14:23
Speaker
And the explanation is because they, because the wizard is like, Oh, i'm thinking about building a road that leads to Oz, but I haven't decided on what color it is. And somebody goes, Oh, it should be yellow. The yellow looks nice in the little real estate diorama you have here.
00:14:37
Speaker
If that, if that's your explanation, You you'd have nothing. That's nothing. You're out of gas. Just cut it from the movie.
00:14:49
Speaker
Just cut it out. Also, Glinda has a different name so that they can explain why her name is Glinda. Okay, that there is a plot reason for that, at least.
00:15:03
Speaker
There's a plot reason, but it's nothing. It's nothing, but like at least it's like there to show that she wants to seem like she cares about the animals, which is the big like driving catalyst of all the conflict in the movie, which ah is a really weird reason thing to give the Wicked Witch of the West, who hates a dog, canonically hates a dog. Canonically hates a dog!
00:15:29
Speaker
but But here's the thing. here's the and That's like the one trait of hers that we know. She hates that fucking dog.
00:15:41
Speaker
yeah Here's the thing. and I felt a little bit better about it after I learned this. Also, like the the Barry Allen's bow tie stuff in Wicked, it it made me madder at first than I eventually was. like In the end, I was just like, eh, okay, the the songs are alright and I don't mind the movie.
00:15:59
Speaker
But it like there are so many explanations for things that don't need explaining. It's very true. But Apparently, the play is not intended to be a prequel to the movie The Wizard of Oz.
00:16:15
Speaker
ah it's It's like a totally different setting from like the the Oz of the movie. like The Oz is very different. And so like all of the traits of Elphaba...
00:16:33
Speaker
carrying over into her being the Wicked Witch from the movie, like, it's not supposed to just go from one to the other. but But the movie makes it a prequel to the movie The Wizard of Oz.
00:16:47
Speaker
And makes it look way more like the Oz of the movie. And so, like, i mean that's where you get some of the stuff that doesn't line up. um Because the movie made the choice to make it ah prequel to the movie from 1939.
00:17:02
Speaker
but I feel like the the thing is, Matt, is that there would be a problem, if it was explicitly the movie or the book, with the plot being that the Wizard of Oz invented racism.
00:17:19
Speaker
Well, you know, i they're making the Wizard the bad guy which is fine. I'm fine with that. I mean, yeah. luckly i mean yeah like Again, he's not he's he's a charlatan, but he's not the bad guy. No, he's not he's not the bad guy of the Wizard of Oz.
00:17:36
Speaker
And in fact, like you know he he's pretty nice to Dorothy, all things considered. Yeah. I mean, the the the thing that – the re-contextualization that I'm like, huh, is Dorothy. Yeah.
00:17:50
Speaker
Right? Yeah, man. I was talking to Ted Anderson today, and I was like, look, if me and Matt Wilson thought up a plan to destabilize a fascist government, not as unlikely as you think.
00:18:05
Speaker
And part of that plan was like, I died, and then Matt Wilson went around and told everybody I fucking sucked? I'm not going to sign off on that, Matt, and I would hope you wouldn't sign off on it either.
00:18:18
Speaker
yeah What you don't understand is, the okay, so in this movie, first of all, ah the Wicked Witch of the West is green because she was conceived in sin. Right, um because her mysterious father, birth father, um who who happens to just have Jeff Goldblum's voice, made her mom drink like a potion.
00:18:40
Speaker
and that made her He doesn't make her drink it in the movie, she's just like having a drink. Yeah, well, he's he's, like, coaxing her into drinking it it. Not making her. She's drinking it before he arrives!
00:18:51
Speaker
ah and Anyway, yes. And then Elphaba sleeps with that bottle underneath her pillow at night. The bottle of what essentially, it like, at least seems like a bottle of booze that her mom drank the night that she conceived her aunts in.
00:19:11
Speaker
As what is apparently the first bastard child ever born in Oz. Because no one's ever seen a green lady before. There's a talking bear.
00:19:23
Speaker
Everybody sees this green lady and they're like, that's fucked up. I think the green is from what is from the potion, not from being a bastard. But eat either way.
00:19:36
Speaker
It's spurious, Matt. yeah It's spurious, dog. ah and Anyway, the the the wizard showed up in Oz, and they immediately named him God King.
00:19:48
Speaker
ah he is He is the Lisan Al-Gaib. He is the Kwitsas Haderach of Oz. yep yep And he invents racism. And then when they're like, hey man, it's kind of fucked up that you invented racism.
00:20:02
Speaker
He's like, i need ah I can't really do it, Jeff Goldblum. I needed to give the people a common enemy. And it's like, why? They have already named you God King.
00:20:13
Speaker
You are the Pharaoh of Oz already, and everybody's doing what you say. You didn't have to be like be racist to dogs.
00:20:22
Speaker
It doesn't make any sense. I hated I cannot wait to get high and watch the sequel. I think the sequel has probably less explanation of things. of of it Fewer Barry Allen's bow ties. I mean, I don't know what the fuck would be left, Matt.
00:20:38
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good point. I do want to note, as far as the yellow brick road goes, I would be fully in on it if if Glenda was like, oh, the the road should be yellow to symbolize gold, because our nation should remain on the gold standard.
00:20:53
Speaker
Because that's why the road is yellow in the book The Wizard of Oz. Because Elfric Baum, the writer of The Wizard of Oz, was writing a political allegory about keeping America on the gold and silver standard. That's why the slippers are silver, too.
00:21:09
Speaker
just ah Just a bit of trivia for you. And and then then, of course, that was changed for the movie, which is why the United States is currently on the ruby standard. The ruby standard, of course, yeah yeah. What I'm saying is, this movie doesn't make any sense. I'm glad people like it.
00:21:22
Speaker
I'm glad people are enjoying it, but it doesn't make any sense, and I hate it and it sucks. i I don't think most people who love Wicked um give one fuck about the plot. um But i I might be wrong about that, but I think they like the characters and the romance and the songs. I will say, at least in the musical, you can you can see the subtext when they're like, we're best friends. Oh yeah, very much so.
00:21:52
Speaker
Wink wink. we are We are roommates and best friends. God, AC has actually read the book and seen the musical before, so I was like i was watching this thing like, that guy just say his name was Woodsman? Is that the fucking Tin Man? And she was like, she she smiled like the Grinch, dude.
00:22:16
Speaker
Right up to her ears. and then a guy And then a guy sings a song about how he doesn't like thinking, and I'm like, that motherfucker's not the Scarecrow. And she's like, again, big, big Grinch smile.
00:22:27
Speaker
yeah And then i said, I said, what? Are we going to find out that the cowardly lion was cowed into silence by the institutional racism against talking animals? And she did. She gave me the smile again.
00:22:41
Speaker
and then 20 minutes later, that happened. And I was like, i was joking. Yeah. Yeah. How dare this film? It's also pretty fucking bananas that the Tin Man and the Scarecrow know the Wicked Witch.
00:22:57
Speaker
Yeah! Yeah! know We're like friends with her. And like, we know how the Tin Man became the Tin Man! He was a woodsman! He chopped off his arms and legs by accident! Chopped off his own head became Tin Man! We know how the Scarecrow!
00:23:11
Speaker
Scarecrow didn't need to be a guy! Scarecrow, Matt, doesn't need to be a guy. Great point. Great point. Matt, what is I'm taking a lot of comfort in absolutely hating Wicked and having a blast ah taking edibles and watching it. ah highly recommend, if you partake, that you do the same, dear listener. But Matt, what is bringing you comfort in ah these chilly winter months?
00:23:39
Speaker
Well, Chris, I've made more than clear in the past um that I really enjoy a long, YouTube video to just sit down and watch sometimes in chunks to have on while I work to, ah I find it relaxing, especially certain kinds of YouTube videos.
Defunctland & Disney Characters Discussion
00:24:02
Speaker
And the one in particular that I'm going to talk about here, I'm not recommending it as my joy because I feel like it's weird to recommend this channel that I think everybody knows about. But I will say that I really enjoyed watching Defunctland's more than four hour long video about Disney's living characters.
00:24:24
Speaker
Kevin Persher is doing God's work. He really is. Like, here's the thing. I don't give a fuck about theme parks. Me either. I don't care at all.
00:24:36
Speaker
Like, i if if someone is paying for me to go, fine I'll go. like I guess I'll be going to Epcot in February for a work thing.
00:24:50
Speaker
But like like I'm not going to like go to Disney on my own. the The only theme park I will go to because I want to is Dollywood. Correct.
00:25:01
Speaker
Maybe Carowinds. um Because it's like somewhat close. But I haven't been to Carowinds in years and years and years. um But anyway... I love Defunctland, and I love Kevin Perjurer's videos.
00:25:14
Speaker
And this one is like a masterpiece. It's his video about Disney's various ventures into like semi-autonomous,
00:25:30
Speaker
robotic-ish characters in the parks, and how they've never really come to fruition in any way. And he gives all kinds of examples of the different things they've tried.
00:25:41
Speaker
He tries to define what a living character is and can never get to a satisfactory definition. Because like all the different examples of them all have different things about them that make it really hard to define what is quote-unquote a living character.
00:25:59
Speaker
But it kind of starts with like um animatronic Hall of Presidents Abraham Lincoln. And the way it circles back to that after four hours of video is beautiful.
00:26:14
Speaker
It's incredible. it's It's an amazing video. Oh my God. It's so good. I i know four hours four hours and 18 minutes sounds daunting and is is a lot of video to watch, but we're guys who watch um you know action button videos that are longer than that.
00:26:32
Speaker
So... ah I would highly recommend the Defunctland Disney's Living Characters video. i I guess I'm saying I recommend it, even though it's my comfort. But it it was a great watch, and it it did ah genuinely bring me comfort to watch it. Yeah, on on the off chance that you're not already on the Defunctland train, I do think it is always worth pointing out, it's not it's not like his thing.
00:27:02
Speaker
his thing like They're not comedy videos. like They're very informative. They're exhaustively well-researched. There's a lot going on. Kevin Purger's fucking hilarious. Oh, yeah. they' it's It's all timing.
00:27:16
Speaker
um There's one bit in the video. I guess I'll give this one thing away. There's one bit in the video where the like one of the living characters is a WALL-E robot. And they the the the robot malfunctioned like out in the middle of like a stage scene.
00:27:34
Speaker
at something. And so like people had to come out and put like a tarp over the WALL-E robot. And as they were trying to move it away, it's head-turned like it was about to snap. And as soon as that happens in the video, Kevin Perger just goes, oh god, oh WALL-E, no! WALL-E, no!
00:27:55
Speaker
It's so funny. There's a lot like a true master of timing. yeah amazing videos. i I've been watching, ever since that came out, like I've pretty much just been watching like re-watching other Defunctland videos. like I watched the one about the ah the Wiggles ride today.
00:28:12
Speaker
ah And we've talked about it multiple times on this show. If you haven't watched the Garfield Dark Ride video, oh that is one of the best.
00:28:25
Speaker
That might be my favorite video on YouTube. laughter And has it's one of the best lines. It's incredible. Yeah, it's incredible. a Time for what's bringing us joy. Chris, what's bringing you joy? Matt, Wicked wasn't the only movie that I watched on my on my little Thanksgiving break. i First of all, I caught up on The Chair Company, which you have recommended before, yeah which has a wild season finale.
00:28:55
Speaker
the The last, like... minute of the season finale of The Chair Company, i I don't know if I've ever laughed it harder at anything on television. I've watched on a TV.
00:29:07
Speaker
it like I was ah struggling to breathe. it's it's Even by the by Tim Robbins' standards, it gets real weird. But i i I caught up on The Chair Company, and then I immediately then watched Friendship, which led to me getting confused about when Because I watched like the first all but the last episode of the season of The Chair Company. Then I watched Friendship, and then I watched the season finale when it came on Homebox Office Maximum.
00:29:39
Speaker
And I was like, wait, didn't his wife get lost in the sewer? can only imagine like if you watch them all together getting very confused about them thinking that they're the same. Yeah, look, I think you and I are... are Absolutely.
00:29:58
Speaker
Tim Robinson fans. For sure. yeah I think we can admit as fans, he doesn't have a lot of range. Or at least hasn't displayed a lot of range. No, he's he's got a lane that he stays in. For sure.
00:30:13
Speaker
yeah Which, you know, good on him. It works for him, for sure. he He had a little more range ah back in his like Chicago improv days. but But yeah. ah But I also watched...
00:30:26
Speaker
ah Nobody 2, the sequel to the ah classic Bob Odenkirk action movie, Nobody. And one that ah I was very excited about when I first heard it was coming out, but that also I didn't really hear anything about And...
00:30:46
Speaker
and When I went and reviewed it on Letterboxd, it seemed like a lot of people thought it was a little bit of a letdown comparatively. ah And I will say, it's not as good as the first Nobody, which is a hoot.
00:31:01
Speaker
ah But it's probably about as good as the Nobody sequel could be. Especially because... It is, ah i think, the only action movie sequel that I've ever seen with the guts to set itself at what is essentially south of the border.
00:31:27
Speaker
Like, I'm here for that. I'm here for for ah Bob Odenkirk wanting to take his family on a nice vacation, and the only place that he ever went on vacation and had a nice time as a child was what is essentially south of the border.
00:31:44
Speaker
That's good stuff for me. yeah ah So i I highly enjoyed it. um I had also forgotten that ah the RZA is Bob Odenkirk's brother in those movies.
00:31:54
Speaker
Right, yes. And that's great. The RZA shows up and is a true delight. ah Highly recommend it.
00:32:06
Speaker
It's very fun because it does steal ah what I like about ah the Richard Stark, ah Donald Westlake, Parker novel, Sleigh Ground, which is the part where it becomes an amusement park full of death traps.
00:32:21
Speaker
That's fun. yeah And i I spoiled something for you that I'm not going to spoil for the listeners. But there is a moment where you're like, that guy should have known better. That guy should have made a better choice in the moment.
00:32:37
Speaker
And he did not. ah So check out Nobody 2. Especially, you know, I mean, if you haven't seen the first one, watch that one. That movie's great. ah But this one also is fantastic, and as you find out in the opening minutes of Nobody 2, this one has a dog in it.
00:32:54
Speaker
So, good stuff. Elphaba may or may not hate it.
00:33:01
Speaker
Matt, what's bringing you joy?
Game Recommendation: Metaphor ReFantazio
00:33:04
Speaker
Well, Chris, I've been teasing it for for weeks now, and I can finally give my full recommendation to Metaphor ReFantasio.
00:33:15
Speaker
Hell yeah. Because I finished it. I finished the story campaign, and given that I didn't know everything that I would need or everything that I would be able to do, there was one side mission i didn't finish. Okay. And I i definitely expected...
00:33:36
Speaker
to To be able to do that thing where you finish a game and then it just like plops you back down and is like, okay, now do all the stuff you couldn't do in before. That game does not have that.
00:33:48
Speaker
Nah, man. It immediately just sends you into New Game Plus. Yeah. ah Which is great, which is cool. um But what that means for me is I'm just never doing that one thing I didn't do.
00:34:01
Speaker
Yeah, those games, ah I mean, Matt, you knew it was operating on a timeline. It definitely like sticks to the time, which I kind of appreciate. Like like I said, it's very different from other RPGs. where like Other RPGs will just let you fuck around forever.
00:34:22
Speaker
And grind and take all the time you need before you go to like the town you have to go to next. you know but ah Metaphor ReFantasio, and I'm assuming the Persona games...
00:34:35
Speaker
give you a very set amount of time to do stuff. And if you decide, okay, I'm going to go do this side quest, that burns a day.
00:34:47
Speaker
And that's very interesting. And I kind of, i like I said, I kind of enjoyed it. Like it kind of kept me going and didn't let me just like waste time or not waste time, but like spend too much time on stuff that wasn't the main quest, because if you allow me to ah get sidetracked or do side quests and ah and avoid the main quest, I will do that for as long as I can before I'm forced to go back and do the main quest again.
00:35:21
Speaker
you um But yeah, I really i enjoyed the end of the game. it was like a Kind of surprisingly challenging final boss.
00:35:35
Speaker
I always expect final bosses in RPGs to be kind of shockingly easy. Because so many times that's been what's happened to me. Yeah, especially if you are you spend all your time doing side quests.
00:35:50
Speaker
Right, because I usually arrive at the final boss overleveled. And... um and make short work of it. And i didn't think the final boss was like a huge, like and unsurmountable challenge, but it was it was tougher than i usually think final bosses are.
00:36:10
Speaker
um There were no surprises in the plot to speak of. it It pretty much went exactly the way I thought it would, but it was a fun and enjoyable game. um I think I'm going to take a break from those kind of games for a little while.
00:36:24
Speaker
But maybe I'll come back around to a Persona game after playing this. Because, Chris, Persona is pretty much this, right? I found metaphor to be ah to play a lot like kind of an entry-level Persona game. In that you don't have to worry about making the right dialogue choices to ah advance your relationships. Like, you advance the relationships just by interacting with the characters.
00:36:50
Speaker
ah Which is the most frustrating part. you know i've I've written about it on ah when I wrote on the ISB about ah Persona being maybe my favorite game. The thing that I hate most about it is you are given options, but you have to pick a specific one, and it's very counterintuitive. also so yeah i mean There's a little bit of that in metaphor, but it's just like you get rewarded with less upgrade points than you would
00:37:23
Speaker
If you gave the better, quote-unquote, better answer. Yeah, but not having to go to school definitely frees up your time a little bit. And things are, you know, there aren't, the complexities of the Persona summoning system aren't really there in the way that they are in the Persona games. There's still a little bit of complexity in choosing your archetypes and and that stuff, but it's not like It's not like you need to be nice to this guy to get this persona to then fuse it with three others to get the persona you actually want.
00:38:02
Speaker
That's not in there. But if you liked that stuff and you want it to be a little more complicated and maybe a little more demanding and ah also be about teens...
00:38:13
Speaker
then Persona is your game. Good to know. Metaphor. I enjoyed metaphor quite a bit. So I'm very glad. Cause I also like one of my favorite games and in recent years. I will, I will say this though. Um, from the very beginning of the game, seeing the protagonist who you name, um, so he's always just called like captain or him in the dialogue.
00:38:38
Speaker
Um, He's got blue hair, so every time I saw him on screen, I would say to myself in strong bad voice, you gotta have blue hair. Yeah. But then, spoiler alert, he has not blue hair by the end of the game? And that threw me.
00:38:58
Speaker
Were you like, but you gotta have blue hair. But you gotta have blue hair. Alright, Chris, those are our comforts and joys. Which means it's time to talk about some of the comics of the week.
Comic Highlight: Startling Tales of Santa Claus
00:39:12
Speaker
I don't think there is a texture choice this week, Chris, but I did text our group thread to let our good friend Benito Serino know how much I enjoyed reading the Startling Tales of Santa Claus 2025 Annual.
00:39:29
Speaker
Which is Benito's – Benito finally got his Santa Claus comic out there. And it is nine stories all about Santa ah with Benito and different ah artists. Some of them are from years past when Benito has has just kind of made this stuff on his own and put it online. Yeah, but I believe we ran a couple of them back on Comics Alliance.
00:39:58
Speaker
I believe you're right, yeah. ah But then there's one like considerably longer story called Christmas in the horrors um with art by CK, I think is how you say that.
00:40:11
Speaker
um But it's... ah it's kind of the main story of the book and is very good. Um, if you want to see Krampus, uh, fighting a bird, um, you're going to see that.
00:40:24
Speaker
And, uh, it's, it's very fun and, and very steeped in all these stories are very much steeped in like real global Christmas traditions. The stuff that Benito is very much, uh,
00:40:38
Speaker
known for and very much into and, uh, and knows a lot about, um, like there's a story, um, by Anthony Clark, AKA Nedroid, the, the writer and artist of the Nedroid webcomic, um, all about, uh, Tio Nadal, who is the, the, uh, the log that poops, uh, or I think it's Tio Nadal, right? Uh, Cogatio.
00:41:03
Speaker
Cogatio. Um, who the The log that poops ah candy. Yeah, the log the poops candy. Yeah. ah And ah there's a story with art by Doc Shainer that's back from 2012 that's all about the clowbalf.
00:41:24
Speaker
um So it's, you know, it's good stuff. and And I know it's the comic that Benito has been trying to make and get made for Decades at this point.
00:41:36
Speaker
So. ah If you have not picked it up. If you have not read it. If you love Santa. Like we do. Then you should absolutely check out. Startling Tales of Santa Claus. 2025 annual.
00:41:52
Speaker
ah it's It's very very good. Yeah i'm I'm very. Excited to. I'm saving this one a little bit. For when I'm feeling a little more Christmassy. And. ah I'm very excited. Getting Benito's Christmas comics ah was always a highlight of of the season. I mean, you you know, we've we've said it on this very show, before Benito was our friend, we were fans.
00:42:17
Speaker
Yeah, i I remember buying two copies of Tales from the Bully Pulpit ah and and reading them and loving them. So, yeah, I've always been a fan of Benito's stuff.
00:42:30
Speaker
Yeah, and the and the the There is, unsurprisingly, the the passion that Benito has for Santa really comes through whenever he he does a story like this. So it's it's some of his best stuff from years past, and I can't wait to read all the stuff that I haven't seen yet.
00:42:49
Speaker
And I think Benito's often worried about like people thinking that his Santa Claus comics are going to be... unfavorably compared to other people's Santa Claus comics or that he's going to be accused of ripping people off or whatever. But I don't think this doesn't read like any other kind of santalaus Santa Claus comic um before. It's very different from Claus, from like Grant Morrison and Dan Moore's Claus and anything else that I've read before. Because it is, like like I said, very, very much about like the real Christmas traditions around the world.
00:43:22
Speaker
um So it's great. You should check it out. ah Chris, you wanted to talk a little bit about Absolute Batman number 14, which I have not got a chance
Absolute Batman & Over-the-Top Storytelling
00:43:31
Speaker
to read yet. ah Matt, it's pretty fun.
00:43:33
Speaker
oh yeah You might recall that in the last issue, Batman challenged Bane to a fight at a football stadium. And ah so... Yes.
00:43:45
Speaker
At midnight. So in this issue, Batman and Bane fight at a football stadium at midnight. And Batman's opening move... is ah He goes, I call this one Welcome to Gotham.
00:43:59
Speaker
And he blows up a building that then, he blows up a skyscraper that then falls on Bane.
00:44:10
Speaker
It's, writing Batman as fucking Looney Tunes is great. Like, it's, I love how wildly over the top oh Scott Snyder is making this book.
00:44:27
Speaker
And the the art in this arc by Nick Tregada is... i mean, how many times have we said it? you know put ah Put a rocket on his back? He's amazing. just it's It's so like just heightened to the extreme. Bane is basically just Bane in Absolute Batman. like I feel like he's the least different Of the villains. Well, but until this issue. Until this issue, yeah. um Because he gets Akira huge in this. Yeah, because the deal with Venom in this is that it not only...
00:45:02
Speaker
like like like the way that Absolute Batman comes back from getting his back broken is that Venom also gives you this weird healing factor where you essentially like just grow new body parts.
00:45:13
Speaker
yeah And let me tell you, man. I read this and I read DCKO this week. And what Geoff Johns is to people getting their arms ripped off, I'm starting to think Scott Snyder is people getting their hands cut off.
00:45:26
Speaker
yeah Because it happened to Alfred in Batman. It happens to Superman in DCKO this week. And it happened to that guy, Batman that one dude in the first arc of this game with his Batman axe.
00:45:40
Speaker
That's right, yeah. I forgot about that. So, man loves, watch your hands around old Scott Snyder. Seriously, when I say that he like, Akira's himself. Like, Bane Akira's himself. i'm I'm not exaggerating or joking. No, he's fully Akira-ing.
00:46:01
Speaker
he is He is, like, that is, i I feel like if that was not the actual, ah like, in the script, like, yeah, he's, you know, like Akira. Yeah.
00:46:13
Speaker
Like Tetsuo. I would be surprised. oh But yeah, man, this book's wild. I just love the idea of Batman. like Because when he blows up the skyscraper, it falls over like a tree.
00:46:29
Speaker
yeah you just like It's so funny, man. ah Highly enjoyable. ah the The absolute books continue to be an absolute delight. You can put that on the cover.
00:46:43
Speaker
Yeah. Pull quote right there. One last book that I want to talk about is DC KO Night Fight number one. Or number two. Sorry, this is number two.
00:46:54
Speaker
um So remember, Chris, how in number one, um it was it was Batman coming out of the fight from DC KO and encountering this Dick Grayson who made like an army of Robins.
00:47:08
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Well... Batman sort of solves that problem in the first few pages of this issue. And then he just goes to a different reality entirely that is entirely colored color colored in like red and black, almost.
00:47:27
Speaker
That is overseen by Jason Todd. Okay. So he goes to a Dick Grayson world. Yeah. And now then he goes to a Jason Todd world. Right. so So I think we know where issues three or four of this are going to end up. but um But this is the Jason Todd world issue.
00:47:45
Speaker
And this is by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora, by the way. And so, like, Dan Mora does an incredible job of making the Jason Todd world look really different. Yeah, he draws it like Frank Miller.
00:47:56
Speaker
Yeah, he draws it like Frank Miller. it like Sin City. And, like, the color palette, yeah, it's a very kind of Sin City-ish color palette, um where it's all, you know, just like Black, white, and spot coloring mostly of red.
00:48:10
Speaker
But there there's one idea in this that I had to mention because i like I got there and I was like, that is such a fucking funny, good idea. The Jason Todd Gotham is under a big red dome.
00:48:30
Speaker
So Gotham is under the Red Hood. Gotham is a Red Hood. Yeah, that's that's fun. Yeah, that's very fun. Yeah. um And also Jason Todd keeps insisting that Bruce is Clayface.
00:48:41
Speaker
So by the end of the issue, he's like, okay, fine, fuck it, I'm Clayface. Yeah.
00:48:50
Speaker
Oh, let Batman swear. I've changed my mind on it since the All-Star Batman days. Let Batman cuss. Certainly Absolute Batman should be able to cuss. I mean, Absolute Batman does cuss. Everybody cusses all the time in that book.
00:49:04
Speaker
He got censored that one time, but yeah. Absolute Batman should have been allowed ele bevin should have been allowed to say knock knock, motherfucker. he he really should have, yeah. Alright, that's it for our comic segment. Chris, it's time to take some listener questions. Let's do it.
00:49:31
Speaker
Chris, our first question actually comes from a little while ago. ah Last week, Christmas Cole wants to know, how would you make Dirty Dog and CC Swimming Pool, those are all NWA Sonas, ah into ah using the World Wide Wrestling TTRPG gimmicks?
00:49:55
Speaker
i I have not actually played the Worldwide Wrestling RPG. i do i do We do own it, ah but it's AC actually who who got it, because she was ah a big fan of ah Nate Paoletta as a game designer even before we got together.
00:50:11
Speaker
So I am unfamiliar with the system, but i do I do think maybe we should sit down with it and make CC Swim Pool and Dirty Dog. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like ah an RPG, a tabletop RPG we would be into. Yeah.
00:50:31
Speaker
ah i yeah i don't I assume we're talking about like what classes they would be or whatever the game's version of classes are. ah But i don't i don't know what those I don't know what those are.
00:50:42
Speaker
So, ah yeah, this... Man, what if we... If if we could do it, What if we did a one-shot as some bonus content with Dirty Dog and NCC Swim and Pool?
00:50:59
Speaker
I think that would be very fun. yeah i i don't know I don't know anything about Worldwide Wrestling, so I don't know if it's a thing that you need like four players and a GM for.
00:51:16
Speaker
Or if it's just, we're going to go buck wild as our two boys. I mean, I guess we could just do the character creator and then... I don't know. That's just an idle thought. but i bet we could get Sven the Shooter Shooterson in there.
00:51:32
Speaker
It does seem fun. It does seem fun. I've got to ask Marlene what her NWA Sona is. I have not done that, and I keep thinking that I should.
00:51:45
Speaker
All right. WCWit on our Discord wants to know, Ryan Johnson asked you to pick the setting of the next Knives Out
Knives Out Movie Setting Suggestions
00:51:55
Speaker
movie. movie What do you go with?
00:51:57
Speaker
South of the Border. I knew that's what it was going to be for you. Yep. Easy. Easy peasy. ah what's the What's the new one? where which Do not take this as as a an endorsement of South of the Border, a place that is objectively terrible.
00:52:15
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And racist. Yeah. Like, it's a bad place. Yeah. Okay. The new the Wake Up Dead Man takes place in upstate New York.
00:52:28
Speaker
And it's first focused around a ah church, I believe. I've not watched it yet, but I've heard it's quite good, and I'm very excited about it. I'm very excited, too. Once it's on Netflix, ah you know I'll watch it immediately. But let's see. at The second one was On an Island.
00:52:44
Speaker
On a rich man's island. And the first one was in like New England, right? Yes. So I would set it in... I would you know i want to know... i want it to be in Benoit Blanc's hometown.
00:52:59
Speaker
which Which we can assume is, is what, Louisiana? Down in New Orleans? You'd think it's some probably somewhere in Louisiana, yeah. yeah Down in...
00:53:12
Speaker
Mississippi, down in New Orleans. miss Down in Mississippi, down in New Orleans. Yeah. But I feel like it should be one where it's like Benoit Blanc. Because like usually it's like Benoit Blanc going by his reputation, right? Like, like everybody knows him by reputation.
00:53:29
Speaker
I want him to be in a setting where everybody knows him. And like, remembers what he was like as a kid. And he's embarrassed about it. That's pretty good.
00:53:40
Speaker
That's pretty good. So like if i'm if I'm setting the next one somewhere, it's like wherever Benoit Blanc grew up. And like so he's constantly running into but people he knew when he was a kid.
00:53:57
Speaker
that's That's fun. That's a good idea. ah Okay. ah ah Apparently he was Mississippi, according to a wiki. Yeah.
00:54:11
Speaker
That accent, despite being 100,000% accurate, is a little hard to pin down. Yeah, it's – I mean, okay, the wiki says most likely in Louisiana by his name and accent.
00:54:24
Speaker
He's got a French name. Where his father was employed as a police detective. um But he I guess he did some early work in Mississippi. um So yeah, just somewhere in – some small town in Louisiana is I think where I would set the movie.
00:54:39
Speaker
ah But very fun. Very fun question. i liked that one. Man, you get me to write detective fiction? Yes. ah Robin on Blue Sky asks, We know by Chris's extensive statistical research that the mid-2000s were the worst time for Marvel and DC. But are there any series you'd consider hidden gems from that period of the big two?
00:55:00
Speaker
Yeah. there's good so There was good stuff coming out then. There's plenty of good stuff. I mean, I was yeah i was reviewing comics back then, and there was... plenty of good stuff.
00:55:12
Speaker
It's probably like a little bit after i Identity any Crisis, right? But like Checkmate and Manhunter and all those second tier DC books. There's a lot of good DC stuff from that time period, for sure. Let's let's see here. ah let's Let's look at the December 2005 Detective Comics comics.
00:55:34
Speaker
boy That's a a bad action comics run. That is a bad action comics run, yeah. Yeah, that's... Well, Gotham Central was still coming out. Yeah, Gotham Central was coming out.
00:55:44
Speaker
It was the end of Gotham Central, but it was still coming out. The Gail Simone run on Birds of Prey was going. That was good. That was good. I actually quite liked Breach, ah a comic that i don't think anybody else read.
00:55:59
Speaker
It was like fucking Howard Mackey. No, sorry, it was Bob Harris. It was Bob Harris. the only the The only thing about that Gail Simmons and Birds of Prey run is like, I would have rather anybody else been doing the art.
00:56:16
Speaker
Other than Ed Bennis? Yeah. Yeah. I can see that. ah Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane was coming out in 2005. That's a great book. december two thousand and five that's a great book Yeah, Manhunter would have probably been my favorite ongoing series of the time.
00:56:35
Speaker
ah i really liked that book. I really liked Kate Spencer. Jesus did the art for the first little bit of it. that's ah That's a great comic. And felt very, it's very of its time, but in a kind of good way, you know? yeah I mean, Greg Rucka was doing Wonder Woman then.
00:56:52
Speaker
as well The first Rucka Wonder Woman to run. First Rucka Wonder Woman run, yeah. Which, we we as we made clear, we haven't read the second one. Yeah. Which, apparently divisive, according to our story.
00:57:05
Speaker
I'll tell you what was good as hell that nobody ah seems to remember is Will Pfeiffer's run on Catwoman that Pete Woods did the R for. That shit was really good. Oh, yeah. That was good.
00:57:20
Speaker
Pfeiffer was, like a ah ah guy I believe, a film critic. like He had a like like a day ah writer day job as ah a film critic for a newspaper. And so he did a bunch of stuff for for DC in the mid-2000s and then kind of...
00:57:42
Speaker
left comics, I guess, but that Cowwoman run was extremely good.
00:57:49
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, i remember I remember reading some of that ah and really liking it, yeah. ah The slot She-Hulk run was happening then. That's a good comic.
00:58:02
Speaker
That's a really good comic.
00:58:05
Speaker
um i Yeah, I mean, there's you know there's good stuff out there. ah Runaways was still coming out. The the second volume of Runaways. I remember that being pretty good. There was good stuff coming out. I don't know about Hidden Gems, because I feel like a lot of the stuff we've mentioned has been talked about.
00:58:24
Speaker
um Maybe Manhunter. I mean, I don't know how many people read Kate Spencer Manhunter. i It always felt like it was definitely one of those... oh like I mean, it's ah it's a second, third tier Marvel book, you know.
00:58:40
Speaker
There was that ah that Dan Slott run on The Thing was coming out in late 2005. That's a good comic. That's a good comic, yeah. there there was There was good stuff. Gravity, I think, was happening.
00:58:53
Speaker
um Anything by Sean McEver that was coming out at the time. yeah ah Yeah. The Marvel stuff by Sean McEver, not the DC stuff.
00:59:05
Speaker
Good point, yes. Good point. MargoCity1 on our Discord wants to know, how do we deal with the work of Chuck Dixon in 2025, almost 2026?
Separating Art from Artist: Chuck Dixon Discussion
00:59:18
Speaker
Where are you encountering the work of Chuck Dixon in 2026? I think maybe what Margo means is not new work, but but like how did you revisit...
00:59:32
Speaker
stuff that Chuck Dixon wrote years ago. I mean, we've, you know, we recently read some Chuck Dixon stuff. oh Because we read Robin. Yeah, Robin.
00:59:43
Speaker
And, I mean, you kind of reserved all of your hatred for Tom Lyle. yes
00:59:53
Speaker
It wasn't great. It wasn't great. Yeah. You have admit that it wasn't great. I feel like it's the same thing that you run into every time Every time you find out anything about any comic book creator, you know? Like, and Chuck Dixon is like... Chuck Dixon's a weird one for me, because he did so much Batman stuff.
01:00:17
Speaker
And as a kid, the you know i i wasn't reading the... ah you know mainline Batman books in the mid-90s.
01:00:30
Speaker
I was reading Nightwing and Birds of Prey, and those were the Chuck Dixon books. so like I do have like a lot of affection for those stories and ah like the stuff that happened under his tenure, like particularly with Dick Grayson, who's one of my favorite characters. And with Babs, who is my like maybe my favorite non-Batman character in the Batman family.
01:00:55
Speaker
ah So I get that it's it can be difficult. But I also feel like if you never want to read a Chuck Dixon comic again and never want to think about a Chuck Dixon comic again, i think you're fine.
01:01:13
Speaker
i don't think I don't think we're likely to get Dixon-a-sons. You know? i don't think Chuck's coming back anytime soon. He's never coming back. yeah He's too dug into whatever he's doing now. Yeah.
01:01:29
Speaker
And i do think... i do truly think that he's always been a conservative. He's always been a Republican.
01:01:41
Speaker
But I do think that there... Like, you can see... a change in him as he aged. And yeah how many of us believe all of the same things that we believed 20 years ago when I was 23 years old? you know I certainly don't.
01:02:01
Speaker
um I would like to think that I've changed for the better. Chuck Dixon obviously did not. But I think there was a little bit of a separation. i mean
01:02:15
Speaker
it's hard to say there's a separation because everything is informed by who you are, but like the, the Stephanie Brown pregnancy story, right? Like ultimately Stephanie Brown decides to keep her baby and not get an abortion and become a teen mom.
01:02:32
Speaker
And you can view that through the lens of, you know, Chuck Dixon as a, like an anti-choice guy. Um,
01:02:44
Speaker
or Or you can kind of just read that as as the events of the story, because it is considered, unless I'm completely misremembering, like it is considered like you know in the say not in the same way that it's treated in like icon where the conservative ah Augustus Freeman IV is like, yeah, i actually don't think anybody should be forced to give birth and gives Rocket money to get an abortion if she wants.
01:03:17
Speaker
I think there's... I think he didn't put as much of it into those stories back then that he that he would later. And that even like contemporaries of his, like Mike Barron...
01:03:35
Speaker
I think, ah put a lot more of his own politics into ah his work. But also, you know, like,
01:03:46
Speaker
Chuck Dixon's the king of the C-listers, man. Like, he's he's reliable. So... Yeah, I mean, i i think I think what it comes down to is, like, it this is what we've said so many times before.
01:03:59
Speaker
It's whatever you are okay with. Like, the the The thing, Margo, is like there is no answer to that question. yeah There is no singular answer to that question.
01:04:10
Speaker
We can't answer it for you. It's whatever you feel alright with. and like Personally, i think I can still read an old Chuck nion's Dixon story from the 90s and feel fine about it.
01:04:24
Speaker
yeah it's I think it's very comparable to... like being In this instance, like being wrestling fans. Yeah. Where you couldn't pay me to watch w WWE right now.
01:04:36
Speaker
like I love professional wrestling, and you couldn't pay me to watch the biggest pro wrestling company in the world. Because of everything ah that that they are involved with and the people... It just got to be too much. It got to be too much. yeah But like...
01:04:56
Speaker
does that mean that i I don't want to go back and watch those same people in the shows from when I was a kid? Like, I watched WrestleMania 17 on my birthday, and, you know, Vince is there, Triple H is there. Like, yeah all those all those people are there.
01:05:14
Speaker
But i do think there is a difference between a new thing and an old thing, you know? Yeah, I agree. and and And, like, does Chuck now change Chuck 25 years ago?
01:05:34
Speaker
To me, he doesn't have to But if he does to you, then that's right. Like... That's the only way I can put it, you know?
01:05:45
Speaker
It's so weird, Matt, that you and I have a much more complicated and nuanced and difficult to express opinion about fucking Chuck Dixon than Neil Gaiman. Because with Neil, we were like, fuck that guy! With Chuck Dixon, we're here being like, yeah, but I mean, that Nightwing run was very formative for me.
01:06:06
Speaker
Well, it's just like, you know, like, I don't know what it is, but like,
01:06:13
Speaker
i I feel like there's a sense that like Neil Gaiman was always like kind of insidiously a hypocrite and an abuser.
01:06:26
Speaker
And we've known that Chuck Dixon sucks. And Chuck just has bad opinions, right? like like I mean, they're to the point now where... you ah they can't be abided, which is true of most people who think the way he does. But like, i do think it was more ignorable or more explainable away in the past.
01:06:50
Speaker
um I don't know. I don't know how else to put it, but I think, I think it's, it's the thing we've always said where like, you got to find your own line. Yeah. ah I, I don't think it is,
01:07:04
Speaker
It's not going to be difficult to avoid new Chuck Dixon projects. It will be nearly impossible if you go back and read Batman stuff from the 90s.
01:07:14
Speaker
yeah And I think if that's, you know, nobody's making you go back and read Batman stuff from the 90s. Unless you're me.
01:07:25
Speaker
But, like, he can be avoided if you want. Or you can just read those books and be like, yep, that's Chuck. yeah ah Ted Anderson on our Discord asks, how will you personally be using the phrase, it's Nygma time in your daily life going forward?
01:07:40
Speaker
I texted it to you yesterday. yes you did. And it's it's not that we're using it. It's that you're sending me the whole panel. And I think that is how we're going to use it. like I noticed when you sent it to me yesterday like I got pretty fixated on like It's Nygma time and how that's not a thing. huh But the line leading up to it also makes no fucking sense.
01:08:10
Speaker
a i mean mattis It is posed as a question that no one would ever say. like Try saying it out loud. oh ah I'll try it right now because I have it already pulled up. Question, what time is it to expect the unexpected?
01:08:28
Speaker
like is it shouldn't the Shouldn't the question be, when is it time to expect the unexpected? No. Obviously not. Matt? Matt, I'm sorry say this. Be so harsh. Don't be fucking stupid. yeah even ah I'll cut it down even more. When should you expect the unexpected?
01:08:53
Speaker
Then you're not saying time. Then you're not saying time twice. Here's the answer to Ted's question. when am I going to use this? When it's Nygma time.
01:09:03
Speaker
When it's Nygma time, yeah. yeah And in here, it's always Nygma time. What time is it to expect the unexpected? What time is it to expect the unexpected?
01:09:18
Speaker
Like, that is such a tortured phrasing.
01:09:25
Speaker
There's a part of me that wishes Hush 2 wasn't my favorite comic coming out. But if I'm being real, it's my favorite comic coming out.
01:09:37
Speaker
it's It's something, man. It's something. Oh, man. It's Nygma time. We should change the name of the podcast.
01:09:49
Speaker
To Nygma time? To it's Nygma time. No, it's the name of the podcast. Answer colon it's Nygma time. Question colon what time is it to expect the unexpected? Question mark. Answer colon Nygma time.
01:10:02
Speaker
It's Nygma time. Yeah. That whole bit of dialogue. Yeah. um Alex Ferguson on Blue Sky wants to know what lower tier characters that you enjoy have never gotten a proper opportunity to really get over?
Underrated Comic Characters
01:10:17
Speaker
Hmm.
01:10:19
Speaker
Most of them. Maverick? Oh, man. Maverick got over in X-Men 92. I'll tell you that. Yeah. Yeah. I remember ah Chad Bowers and I wrote X-Men 92, and we did put Maverick in an issue. And I remember...
01:10:37
Speaker
i I don't even think it was on the phone. I think we were actually like hanging out ah together as we were writing. And I remember Chad going, Think Maverick! I'm reading out his dialogue.
01:10:54
Speaker
Oh man, Maverick. um i mean you know I'm glad that Cameron Chase is a big part of Absolute Green Lantern, because I always loved ah Cameron Chase and like the concept of yeah The person whose job it is to deal with the superheroes who has the ability to turn off their superpowers but doesn't control it.
01:11:14
Speaker
So it just kind of like comes out. And also her dad was like a a Batman knockoff that in continuity existed before Batman.
01:11:25
Speaker
in In that same vein, um I was really happy to see Sacha Bordeaux ah be a featured character in Peacemaker Season 2.
01:11:36
Speaker
No kidding! I didn't know that! Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah Good on Sasha Bordeaux! She's very different than comics, Sasha Bordeaux, but like I hope it gets people to like go back and read old Checkmate. Old Greg Ruckett Checkmate.
01:11:51
Speaker
I'll tell you who has, I believe, one appearance and deserves many, many more. And that's little-known Batman villain Johnny Karaoke. Johnny Karaoke, one of the best. Johnny Karaoke, an all-timer, a classic, King of the Rogues gallery, yeah John Ostrander, Tom Mandrake creation, in a story that otherwise, honestly, sorry guys, sucks, but it doesn't have Johnny Karaoke in it.
01:12:20
Speaker
Indicative of the whole John Ostrander Batman run, unfortunately. But ah yeah, ah Johnny Karaoke, mad o man, oh man. Johnny Karaoke and his backup singer, Assassins.
01:12:33
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, man, great. good That's good stuff. ah Here's a question from Noni or nani on Discord.
Digimon vs Pokemon Discussion
01:12:46
Speaker
Chris, we know you love them pocket monsters. I But how do you feel about them digital monsters? Your experience with the franchise, favorites, opinions? I have never watched Digimon.
01:12:58
Speaker
um I find them to be... ah ah you know if you are familiar with Digimon at all, you know what I mean. I find them to be kind of like upsetting and weird.
01:13:11
Speaker
Because it's like, Pokemon would be like a cute animal, a large, cute animal, and then like a dude. Like, Incineroar, that's just a man.
01:13:24
Speaker
You know? Like, Incineroar was a cat and is now a man. yeah And that's kind of like the weirdness of Pokemon, right? Is that you have these cute animals that fully just turn into dudes.
01:13:37
Speaker
Digimon is like, you'll have a cute animal, and then it turns into a car with guns on it, and then it turns into a biblically accurate angel.
01:13:49
Speaker
And I can't get my head around that. But i will say, ah this is ah this is a house divided. i have a Pokemon tattoo. AC has a Digimon tattoo. AC, big Digimon fan.
01:14:01
Speaker
i Is that a house divided, or is that just achieving balance? ah it's It's achieving balance. we we it's you know I'm actually going to get a tattoo that's a yin-yang that's got Pikachu and that weird little dinosaur guy in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:14:21
Speaker
i' not going to do that. i Just to be cool with everyone, I'm not going to do that. On Stone Cold HCC's account on our Discord, his mom, Mrs. HCC, asks, Any recommendations for a Christmas gift for a special young man who enjoys your radio program?
Cameo Prices & Offering Own Cameos
01:14:40
Speaker
I'm talking about my son, of course. He's a little rough around the edges, but deep down is such a sweet boy. He is a sweet boy. He he he um loves to ask a question, phrase a question, um and and sometimes you know he doesn't quite know what he's asking, but we love him.
01:15:00
Speaker
um What should Mrs. HCC get Stone Cold for Christmas? I mean, I have an idea. okay i wound up looking at Cameo Oh, yeah. We went through a whole thing where you were looking through cameo at the prices of the various wrestling personalities cameos. Yeah.
01:15:24
Speaker
And it was like, the those prices are whack. They are all lot of out of... like did They don't make any sense.
01:15:37
Speaker
oh Well, it's it's because the people who make them set them themselves, or their management does. And so, like... You get people way overvaluing themselves and way undervaluing themselves. Yeah.
01:15:50
Speaker
Like, you could get ah you get Big E for $60. Way too low. way too Way too low! Like, that guy's one of the most personable and funny dudes in the entire industry.
01:16:04
Speaker
yeah And like... yeah But if you want Sergeant Slaughter, a man who lied for years about whos serving in the military. Stole valor. a full valor stealer who tried to hide behind, like, oh no, that was the Sergeant Slaughter character. But like he said in interviews that he served, ah that's 195. Unbelievable.
01:16:31
Speaker
unbe That's three big E cameos. Unbelievable. ah Yeah, so I was going through – mean, i there were times when I like literally made you guess – like, I made you put in order like how much people would cost. yes And you asked me to guess what Brutus the Barber Beefcake's rate was, and I nailed it.
01:16:52
Speaker
you got You got it completely right. yeah um It's way too much. It's $100. I'm not paying $100 for Brother Brutai. That's <unk> simply not happening.
01:17:03
Speaker
um But what i I noticed when I went to Cameo, because I was also looking up ah Star Trek ah actors, and I will say, ah AC did get me a Jonathan Frakes Cameo for my 40th birthday, so that was very cool. Oh, man, that's that's the best. Star Trek actors, way more expensive than wrestlers.
01:17:22
Speaker
I can imagine, yeah. I can imagine. ah Like, if you want Tim Russ, that's going to set you back $200. And you know what? He deserves it.
01:17:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i think that's I think that's pretty reasonable. What about John Delancey? How much does it cost? John Delancey ain't on here. He ain't on Cameo? John Delancey is on here. He's $175. Okay, okay, okay.
01:17:48
Speaker
But you know you know what you're going to pay for Jerry Ryan? I mean, $500. $345. Okay, alright. okay all right Which I bet she could get $500. I bet she could too, yeah.
01:18:00
Speaker
ah Anyway, we were on there. What I'm saying is... i So i've heard I've listened to like Paul F. Tompkins talk about Cameo. Because he's on Cameo.
01:18:11
Speaker
Or he was, at least. And I do think a big part of people setting pricing for Cameo... is, like, they will they will charge more than they know that they're worth because they don't actually want to do it.
01:18:29
Speaker
There are a couple of people that we saw and talked about where we were like, this is malicious compliance. yeah yeah This is a person who does not want to do this, and so they have priced themselves out of it.
01:18:42
Speaker
I think... The funniest thing that we saw, and this is perfectly in gimmick, is that MJF is $600. Yeah, and then Tamatanga was $10,000? Tamatanga was $9,999, yeah. Which that is just not wanting to do it.
01:19:02
Speaker
which that that is just not wanting to do it I just ah looked up Paul F. Tompkins, who is currently like on hiatus. Okay. And it's like 1.5 thousand fans want Paul F. Tompkins back on Cameo. And you can you can click a little thing to join a wait list for when he comes back.
01:19:24
Speaker
um here's here's what I'll say. i would I did look up podcast because I wanted to see if there were any like podcasters that we were familiar with who were doing cameos.
01:19:36
Speaker
Because I want to get that money. matt I want to get that money. ah That is where i I found a bunch of wrestlers. yeah Because they are listed. like We talked about this. Vince Russo It's $35, and that's a fucking steal. I mean, Vince Russo is basically a podcaster now.
01:19:57
Speaker
Yes. But $35 is a fucking steal for Vince Russo? Yeah. You said, would you pay $35 for Vince Russo? I said, fucking absolutely. Oh, okay. This is interesting, because I just looked up Big E. Okay.
01:20:11
Speaker
So Big E, his personal videos are $60 plus. okay. sixty is the floor oh okay
01:20:23
Speaker
And if you want to book a business video, the minimum for that is $1,125. mean, that makes sense. You know but we would have to pay for Big E to be like, hey, War Rocket Ajax, Gimmick Street.
01:20:37
Speaker
yeah Catch it. His average video length 3 minutes and 18 seconds. You've got to cut that down, dude. No, I'm not surprised by that at all. Because Big E, you know he's a guy who's going to take some time and be like very funny.
01:20:51
Speaker
and And personable, yeah. And personable. That's too long, though. like What I'm saying is, be knocking this out there's a lot of people on Cameo in the podcast section that I've never fucking heard of.
01:21:08
Speaker
I mean, sure. Yeah, sure. And I mean, like look, I don't listen to a ton of podcasts. i I make one. But, like you know, ah I think we could get in on this.
01:21:21
Speaker
Doug Walker... $50. $50? I think if we both...
01:21:25
Speaker
i think if we both and If you can get both of us for, like, what, $25? I think that's a damn steal. that's a That's a deal, yeah. That's a deal.
01:21:37
Speaker
So what I'm saying is, Mrs. HCC, ah you could get a special a personalized audio message from Stone Cold's favorite podcast boys.
01:21:51
Speaker
Probably favorite. i've never heard I've never heard, like... The McElroy's have never read like a letter from Stone Cold HCC out on their show, so I have to assume we're up there.
01:22:03
Speaker
Hang on just one fucking minute. Yeah? i'm looking I'm looking at the podcaster section of Cameo, which is, let me say, sad. it's It's rough. It's rough. It's group like it's it's a weird group of like non-celebrities, and actual celebrities who just happen to host podcasts. like Like, Michael Rosenbaum is on in the podcast section.
01:22:28
Speaker
yeah like, Kevin from The Office is in the podcast section. Yeah, Jake the Snake Roberts is in the podcast section. Yeah. But, like, then you've got Joe Rogan parody. Yeah, there's... here's What the fuck is that? Apparently, like, because there's also, like, a Vince McMahon parody. who And, like, a Randy Orton parody? Yeah.
01:22:49
Speaker
and how did How do you vet that? How has that been vetted on Camden? I have no idea. i have no idea. That that's is very suspicious.
01:23:02
Speaker
Parody? Yeah, man. It's just somebody like doing a voice.
01:23:08
Speaker
Which is wild. Man, it better not be some AI shit. Oh, I hope not. Talking like Joe Rogan. Surely, Cameo would have to disclose that.
01:23:20
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, I was going to ask how much do we charge? Because, you know, Biggie and Velvet Sky are on here charging $60. I think we could do it for $25. The
01:23:36
Speaker
Flophouse, which is a podcast that I have listened to. There's three of them, and they do it for $35. Okay. All
01:23:47
Speaker
right. Interesting. ah Let us know, listeners, if you would buy a cameo from us, and and ah maybe maybe we'll look into it.
01:24:00
Speaker
No, i'm I'm just making this offer to HCC. Okay, but we'll do one cameo. Okay. For Stone Cold HCC. Yeah. I mean, Matt, do you want to do this?
01:24:16
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. i I don't know. ah let's let's let's Let's do like a sample one right now. Okay. ah For Stone Cold HCC.
01:24:27
Speaker
No, no. Because that's still on offer. but basic we're not on We're not on video. we're This isn't like... was thinking we would do like an audio message anyway, because like we don't do a video thing.
01:24:43
Speaker
But that's the whole point of Cameo, is it's on video. Yeah, but you would you would get the audio, because we're audio guys. No, but like all the podcasters who do audio are on video on Cameo. You have to do a video on Cameo. Okay, fine. We'll do that. But i'm I'm not going to give away what we'll do for Stone Cold.
01:25:01
Speaker
All right, all right, all right, all right. So so this is just a sample... ah Cameo for someone. ah get Yeah, pick a name. Benito.
01:25:14
Speaker
Matt, you've been doing improv for so long. Okay, Benito. Alright. Hello, everybody, and welcome to War Rocket Ajax. Hey, Benito.
01:25:30
Speaker
It's you boys. ah My name is Chris Sims. With as always, Matt Wilson. Hey. ah We heard you had a comic come out this week, and that's that's great. ah Yeah, congratulations.
01:25:42
Speaker
Big congratulations to you. We love comics, and we we've made some comics, and we know how hard it can be to make a comic. So it's really impressive that you did that.
01:25:54
Speaker
It's great that you're that you're doing what you love. ah And if you ever need some tips, ah tips and tricks from two guys who review a lot of comics, then you know what? 25 words per panel dialogue.
01:26:10
Speaker
I don't do that, but other people do. We could definitely tell you what not to do. Yeah, don't don't make it like Identity Crisis.
01:26:23
Speaker
Well... Good talking to you, Bedino. Thanks for buying this cameo. your your friends ah Your friends, Chris and Matt, want to wish you a happy ah birthday and release date for this comic. So, ah from War Rocket Ajax to you, good catching up.
01:26:39
Speaker
We love you. We love you. That's what we said. Yeah, that yes! There we go. Yeah. Alright, that was it. That was the sample cameo. That's about what we would do, right? That's pretty much what we would do. Okay.
01:26:52
Speaker
Nobody chopped that up and put someone else's name in it.
01:26:58
Speaker
Yeah, that would, that's, um it seems like Cameo, you could just take one and replace the name. it Well, you know, if you, I guess if you're talking about somebody's specific circumstances.
01:27:13
Speaker
Yeah, like like when I got the one from Frakes, he was like, you know, oh, you know your your wife said that you're you're turning 40 i to You know, to you get some specifics. We would get some specifics.
01:27:26
Speaker
And he explained how he became two takes. Two takes Frakes. I wish. I wish he would have done that. What's funny is that he introduced himself. He was like, hi, I'm Jonathan Frakes.
01:27:38
Speaker
I played Commander Riker. Yeah, and I know. Captain Riker ah in Star Trek. And I was like, motherfucker, you just wasted five seconds. I know. I'm aware. Yeah. We're dropping money, dog.
01:27:54
Speaker
ah I love that cameo that I got of Frakes. Wearing a John Deere baseball cap was the fucking best. Oh, man. ah All right. Here's the next question. This is from Seasonal Affective Disorder. um Chris, you don't have to answer this question if you don't want to, but um I'm going to answer this question because I have a story.
Chris's Childhood Story & Birthday Curse
01:28:13
Speaker
It's a story. Okay. um The question is, what was the closest you have come to dying?
01:28:19
Speaker
So here's my story about that. Okay. When I was eight years old, on my birthday, the birthday that I turned eight years old, um for the longest time, for for a huge portion of my life, I believed I had a birthday curse.
01:28:35
Speaker
um From when I was around seven or eight up through, up into my 30s, I believed I had a birthday curse where either bad things would happen to me or other people on my birthday.
01:28:49
Speaker
And I think key thing that started that was that on my eighth birthday, had had a bad day already visiting with my aunt. And then I came home and I got my Christmas gift, which was my parents got me this set like – Birthday gift or Christmas gift?
01:29:11
Speaker
Birthday gift. Okay, you said Christmas, but okay. Oh, I meant birthday. Yeah, because I was about to say, your birthday is in June. Yeah. Yes. It's it's ah almost like half Christmas. But anyway, I i meant birthday. i They gave me my birthday gift, and it was like a set of realistic golf club toys. So they weren't just like like little plastic flimsy golf clubs. They looked real, and they felt kind of real. They had like actual metal golf club shafts.
01:29:41
Speaker
And I remember going to my neighbor's house, my brother, neighbor's grandson, um who I used to like hang out with and play with when I was a kid, was there. and So we were like hitting waffle wiffle balls in the yard. And he insists that he told me to move back, and I know that I never heard that.
01:30:07
Speaker
And he swung back and he caught me right above my left eye with that golf club, which snapped the head in half and And bent the shaft drastically.
01:30:20
Speaker
And it knocked me out. And I woke up however long later, and nobody was around. So he he just, like, bounced.
01:30:33
Speaker
Well, I think he went to go tell my mom what happened. Okay, okay. That's that's different. But i I woke up to just nobody being around. I must not have been out for very long. But it's the only time in my life I've ever been knocked out. And I get up. I'm like, where is everybody? And I walk into my neighbor's house. Nobody's in there.
01:30:54
Speaker
I walk up to a mirror and I just see like a small trickle of blood um coming down my face. And I'm like, oh, this is fine. I'm fine. um But I walk outside and my mom and other people are like an absolute panic mode and, uh, they throw me in the car and I'm taken to the emergency room. I get stitches above my eye and then I'm, I'm taken to an eye doctor, um who puts a bunch of like drops in my eye. It's, it makes my vision completely yellow.
01:31:25
Speaker
And like, all I could see out of my left eye was yellow for quite some time after that. Um, and then I learned that, um, because of that, the, the hit, the, smack to my head right above my eye.
01:31:40
Speaker
Um, I had a blood clot right next to my brain. Jesus. And I was told by this eye doctor that if I moved my head quickly, it would burst and I would die.
01:31:51
Speaker
Okay. And that's not a good thing to hear when you're eight. No. And I spent that whole summer not being able to move my head very quickly or do anything. Uh, and, uh, and so, um,
01:32:04
Speaker
That's part of why I thought I had a birthday curse, and it's definitely the close i' ever closest I've ever come to dying. I ah begged the eye doctor to just let me wear and watch wear an eye patch. I was like, can I wear an eye patch?
01:32:16
Speaker
And the eye doctor was like, I guess you can.
01:32:22
Speaker
ah But that's that. And and then by like you know two months later, it had just... ah gone away It just went away on its own. Would you have worked the eyepatch like a gimmick? would you have been like What was the name of the kid who hit you with the club?
01:32:35
Speaker
Craig. you been like, Craig! An For an eye! Yeah. I should have. um the They gave me a thing, but it was just like um a piece of gauze that they taped um over my eye.
01:32:54
Speaker
And only later, I had to like buy like a costume eyepatch to wear, um because I really just wanted an eyepatch. Wild. I was eight.
01:33:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, man. Yeah. So that's ah that's my story. That's my answer. That's the closest I've ever come to dying. I don't know, man. like ah I have been very fortunate. I've... i've I haven't had to go to the the hospital for an emergency in a very, very long time, like since I was like a teenager. um i you know I've umve certainly had like things like, you know like as ah as a kid, like I
01:33:37
Speaker
oh i wound up, because I was a dumb child, like going out into ah the ocean as a hurricane approached.
01:33:49
Speaker
And C's were pretty choppy and had to get ah rescued from that. ah But I mean, yeah like nothing that I can think of that was like genuinely very close to death for me. Fortunately, knock on wood.
01:34:04
Speaker
So, ah you know, i've I've never had to knock on wood, but I guess I know someone who has. Yeah. Yeah.
01:34:15
Speaker
Here's a question ah from Jolene Jolene Jolene Jolene, which is pretty interesting. Okay. Does knowing that Doug Mott's last name is actually pronounced Minch...
01:34:29
Speaker
Changed the potential plans for Munch time, which I think is actually Munch Squad, right? I guess Munch Squad now. It's Munch Squad? Munch Squad, yeah. Which still tracks, right? Yeah, no, I think it's still good. is that Is that how it is pronounced, Doug Munch?
01:34:44
Speaker
It's hard. It's M-O-E-N-C-H. So it could be it could be but could be Monk, you know? Yeah. But apparently if it's Mench, then yeah, that still works.
01:34:57
Speaker
Mench Squad is still fine. Mench Squad still works. yeah i'm I'm kind of leaning towards WizKids now.
01:35:08
Speaker
See, we we're still trying to figure it out. We've got a long time to go with ah Jonathan Hickman. Yeah, Hickmania is going to go on for quite some time. Trivialad wants to know, what Berserk character would make the best Macy's Thanksgiving parade
Berserk Characters as Thanksgiving Balloons
01:35:23
Speaker
balloon? Is Al Roker ready to find out about the Skull Knight?
01:35:29
Speaker
I mean, it would it like it would have to be Guts. I think it could be Nosferatu Zod. It would have to be Guts because Guts is the main dude.
01:35:42
Speaker
Guts is the Pikachu of that franchise. he's the He's the Goku of that franchise, yes. Yeah, he's the Spider-Man. But, if you're going to make a balloon and you want to not terrorize children, Shirky.
01:35:56
Speaker
Shirky, sure. But I'm saying we should terrorize children and make a big Thanksgiving Day balloon a void.
01:36:09
Speaker
What if we just did the God Hand? The entire godhead. We do a big balloon hand, and on top of each finger is standing ah fucking Conrad and Slan.
01:36:24
Speaker
Femto. Slan titties out at the Thanksgiving Day Parade. I'll tell you who would actually be the easiest balloon to make look exactly like he looks is Father Mozgus.
01:36:39
Speaker
he Yes, because he looks of like... That dude is balloonish. He looks like a balloon already. Yeah. yeah ah But I'm saying make a perfectly accurate void with his like exposed brain and flayed open mouth and all of it.
01:37:00
Speaker
That's wild, Matt. Yeah.
01:37:06
Speaker
ah Boyd's weird. Boyd is a weird dude. i gotta say the God Hand? Weird. Weird guys. Bunch of weirdos. Not trying to be rude.
01:37:18
Speaker
Bunch of weirdos. Bunch of real nasty freakazoids. Yeah, just a bunch of weirdos. Those might be the biggest freak perverts in comics. Well, no. Slam, definitely. Because we've got...
01:37:35
Speaker
Well, I mean, Conrad is like and and like, if you saw Conrad, you wouldn't just cross the street. You would you would like get as far away from him as you could.
01:37:49
Speaker
If I saw any of the God Hand, except, well, honestly, except for maybe Slam. I'm just saying, like Conrad, of all of the members of the God Hand, is the one who most looks like a pervert.
01:38:04
Speaker
Yeah, I would say Cobrad and Ubik are are really up there. Yeah, but my point is... ah i oh no, you said they're the nastiest freaks.
01:38:18
Speaker
we've ah No, because we've got the Jackal and Dr. Hugo Strange, who are bigger, nastier perverts. would say the Jackal, yes.
01:38:29
Speaker
I don't think Hugo Strange is as much a nasty, freako perv as... Any of the five members of the god hand. But the jackal, absolutely.
01:38:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Wins.
Assigning a Pokemon Partner
01:38:42
Speaker
um Every time. this This is going to have to be our last question. Oh, but I'm having such a good time, Matt. This is from Teach, who wants to know. i'm I'm skipping over some questions. I'm leaving out some questions, and I'm sorry.
01:38:53
Speaker
But Teach asks, Chris, what partner Pokemon would you assign Matt? Ooh, now does it have to be a starter from the games? Or is can it be any Pokemon?
01:39:06
Speaker
that Because your partner Pokemon can be any Pokemon. then i then Then I think, i say let's go with the more open-ended answer. and Okay, let's see. what Matt, what would you say are your defining qualities as a person?
01:39:27
Speaker
ah I feel like I'm in a job interview. In a way, you are. m um Okay. All right. Okay. um I'm curious. I'm very curious. Okay. Yeah, that's true. i would say that's true.
01:39:42
Speaker
I really like to learn new things. um I take pride in being funny and clever. who I try to be.
01:39:54
Speaker
um But um i i attempt to stay humble. i don' I don't try to be haughty. I i i um you know want to keep my my humility and and don't like to showboat.
01:40:14
Speaker
um
01:40:18
Speaker
i I am known to be circumspect, as I've been called on this show. You are quite circumspect. that the do Well, I don't know if that's true or if you're just circumspect compared to me.
01:40:30
Speaker
um I like to plan ahead. i don't do a lot of stuff by the seat of my pants. And... do what Is that enough, or do you need more? Is there a particular type that you feel drawn to?
01:40:48
Speaker
the 17 types of Pokemon? Yes. I don't know that I know all the types of Pokemon. Psychic, fighting, bug. You are the grass man, Matt Wilson.
01:40:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, ah that's ah it seems like that's that's what it's got to be then, right? i I think... Now, see, and I'm not going to... This isn't like a gag where I'm trying to like burn my boy or something, you know? like I don't know if that was the like the intent, but you know I'm going to take this question seriously.
01:41:22
Speaker
Sure, yeah. i think...
01:41:27
Speaker
I think... It's not a grass type, but I do think you would would do well with with ah the Litten line, which is Litten, Torquat, and Because Incineroar is not just a wrestler, he's specifically a heel.
01:41:48
Speaker
And I think that, I think you would, in like, not that I think you're a heel, but I think, like, ah you know There's a thing on the ah Worlds Beyond Number where Brennan Lee Mulligan talks about the idea of familiars, and familiars are kind of meant to be like the part of yourself that you need to maybe confront a little bit. So I think the heel wrestler Pokemon is a good fit for you. Okay.
01:42:12
Speaker
I'll take it. or Or Spurgatito. Spurgatito. Which is a a starter. It is a is the grass cat.
01:42:24
Speaker
And ah it evolves into Mioscarada, which is ah a like a masked ah bipedal cat, ah which is more of like less luchador and more like flamenco dancer. But I think i think that would work for you as well.
01:42:41
Speaker
i like so I'm looking at Spigatito right now. I like Spigatito. Yeah. ah And Mioscarada is very cool looking. This is good. This is good.
01:42:55
Speaker
Very cool. All right. Thank you for for providing that to me, Chris. And I think that's going to have to do it for this episode.
Contact Information & Social Media
01:43:04
Speaker
If you would like to send us a listener question or get in touch with us about anything else that you want to, um you can email us at our email address, which is warrocketpodcast at gmail.com. You can also send questions to our Tumblr.
01:43:19
Speaker
We're there at warrocketpodcast.tumblr.com. We're on Blue Sky. at warrocketajax.com, so follow us there. You can also join our Discord. If you want to join our Discord, you have to have an invitation to do that, but you can ask us for one in any of the places I just mentioned or on our Patreon. And once ah you ask us, if you do it nicely, we'll send you an invitation and you can join our Discord and be a member over there.
01:43:52
Speaker
Our website is warrocketajax.com. It has every up episode of the show that we've ever done. warrocketwiki.com is the fan-run repository of all the information you can want or to need about this show, War Rocket Ajax.
01:44:05
Speaker
If you want to find me and my stuff, go to mattdwilson.net to find links to my comics, my books, my other podcasts, and my social media. Chris, where can people find you? Everybody can find me by going to the-isb.com. That is my website.
01:44:19
Speaker
It's got links and other stuff. Go there. What more do you need? What? If there's anything more you need, try following those links.
01:44:29
Speaker
Yeah, man. That's all you gotta do.
01:44:35
Speaker
oh Matt. Great show. I'm so glad. I was telling you off mic. I always miss you when we skip a week, even though we pretty much text every day. But it's good to be back. I had a great fun time.
01:44:49
Speaker
Yeah, it was it was great. And we'll be back next week with another
Upcoming Episodes & Social Justice Affirmations
01:44:53
Speaker
episode. It'll probably either be one last Hickmania of the year or one last sword ranking of the year.
01:45:00
Speaker
And then the week after that, the Christmas special. Oh, that's exciting.
01:45:08
Speaker
so Until then, everybody... Do not forget that Black Lives Matter. Trans rights are human rights. As are abortion rights. Drag is not a crime. Cops aren't your friends.
01:45:20
Speaker
Free Palestine. We love you. We love you. Yeah!