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88: You Want the Bones
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🧐 Mostly mild (merely a modicum of manic) meditations on the menaces of the meta and maneuvering matchups in modern modes 🫁😮💨
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- Polaris Horseman of Pestilence 😷
- 🍴😩 Storm Horseman of Famine
- 🫰 Weeks in Snap!! 🫰
- Secret Homework 🙊: Avatar the Last Airbender Eps 1 & 2 🌪️🤖
Links!
- Heavy Rain - Press X to Shaun
- Rue Mer Trailer (give it all the love!)
- Rue Mer on Google Play
Follow us on Twitter/Bluesky:
Check out the other great shows in the Snap Judgments Network:
- Snap Decisions
- Snap Judgments
Join us on Discord! 👾
- Join the server
- Head into the channel "welcome-rules-and-tickets"
- Find the "SJPN Podcast Fans" message, and press the button for Snap On This!!
Featured decks:
Credits:
- Cover art by Lauren
- Snap On This!! Theme by Ben
- YouTube thumbnail by Lauren’s kid, Reggi
- Thumbnail portraits by Adam Star
Timestamps:
- 0:00:00 Intro / Big Question
- 0:06:46 Polaris, Horseman of Pestilence
- 0:25:50 Storm, Horseman of Famine
- 0:34:03 Our Week in Snap
- 1:10:04 Secret Homework: The First Two Last Airbenders
- 1:39:13 Next Week's Secret Homework
- 1:40:18 Housekeeping / Closing Remarks
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Secret Homework
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome back to Snap on This, a Marvel Snap podcast. This week's secret homework, watch The Last Airbender. I'm Lauren Whadevs here with my amazing, delightful co-hosts.
Best Video Game Controller Discussion
00:00:12
Speaker
First up this week, Ben, a magical fairy appears before you and asks you, what is the best video game controller of all time?
00:00:20
Speaker
Mouse and keyboard are allowed. What's your favorite way to control video game? Oh, gosh. I think... Can you imagine? What if I said the n sixty four ah But it's not. It's not. That's... ah That one's towards the bottom of the list, in my opinion. I think, for me...
00:00:41
Speaker
personally i don't know ah the dual shock 2 or any later dual shocky controller is in my opinion that's sort of the one to beat i also don't mind an xbox 360 controller um that's a good one um In fact, some of the the game pads that I, you know, play it mostly PC games now. So they're all Xbox 360 controllers is the truth of it. Um, that's like what you have to, what you have to do or how how it works. I don't, I don't know, but yeah.
00:01:24
Speaker
Yeah. um
00:01:28
Speaker
No, i think I think it's got to be the PlayStation 2, 3, or 4 controllers. I mean, the PS5 one's fine, but i've i've only I've only played that socially, really, so don't have as much experience.
00:01:42
Speaker
Having grown up, like PlayStation's like the one I played the least. So, so you know, like Dreamcast, Xbox, Nintendo stuff, like all of them have the stick up top, D-pad down below, and i just having the stick down low just messes me up. I've played entire games. like I played all of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, 100% of it, all the DLC. I did that on PlayStation. So, like I've used those controllers, but I don't like them very much.
00:02:07
Speaker
Rhi! Our other co-host, what's your favorite way to control a video game?
Personal Controller Anecdotes and Repairs
00:02:14
Speaker
All right. Well, we've talked about the general muted, so I thought I would get real specific and anecdotal. My favorite controller of all time was an off-brand, I believe it was called Madcats, a PS2 controller that was made to be smaller for someone with smaller hands. had one of those paper.
00:02:37
Speaker
Yeah. And gamers. And it's like, do you know how convenient it is? I am someone who gave up on playing the piano because there are just certain chords I cannot reach. And I know you can like make up all kinds of stuff. But I'm like, if I can't read the reach those chords, do i really want to spend a lot of time practicing piano? What's the point? yeah I'm very specific to that.
00:02:58
Speaker
I love this so much. It was like even a wired control and everything that when it like it, the bumpers stopped working, i like, it's like, how, how much do I need?
00:03:10
Speaker
And then I actually oh unscrewed it and tried to fix it using my, i yeah I was at one point in my life, the cell phone repairs woman. Um, so, I tried to use that knowledge to fix it, but it was beyond, ah that capability. And, um,
00:03:29
Speaker
it has been laid to rest. Um, but it's memory lives on. i have a yeah left from the fairy yes I have no idea how the quality of third party controllers is these days, but that was definitely a thing when we were children is like, they had cool designs. They had good ideas. but they were no good No, they just, they did not have good life.
00:03:50
Speaker
They like longevity. They were so sensitive and fragile. and Anyway. um have I have three answers, which is
Favorite Controllers and Unique Picks
00:03:58
Speaker
probably not allowed. My favorite, but I think the best of all time is the GameCube. It's designed for human hands. It has the prominent button is bigger. It's just an excellent overall design. Although nowadays, I pretty much only use it for Smash Brothers. I will bust it out if we're playing something that has like three or more players, because I only have two Pro controllers on my Switch.
00:04:20
Speaker
And I would rather go to GameCube controllers than Joy-Cons once we go above two. um yeah And then Switch Pro Controller nowadays is the thing and that I use the most. I use it a lot, whether I'm playing on Steam Deck or the Switch.
00:04:36
Speaker
And then finally, a special shout out to the Donkey Kong bongos, which are absolutely ridiculous controllers. But holy shit, those games felt great. When you got a super big combo in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, felt like a boss. you just Just playing those bongos and clapping, was awesome.
00:04:54
Speaker
All right, well, if we're if we're shouting out extras, I'm a big fan of the Logitech F310. It's a classic because it works. I need to get a new one, but only because this one's like 15 years old or something.
00:05:11
Speaker
And that's that's still the model, y'all. It's ah still the one. They've got a wireless one, but I don't want to put batteries in it. Also, shouted it out before.
00:05:24
Speaker
Got a... What kind of... This is an 8-bit do. you do Or do. I've never known. um It's an Ultimate 2C wired controller. This is my standard thing. That's what I do all my taties with.
00:05:40
Speaker
um That's mostly what I use it for. I have like... I've got another one that has, I don't know. I've got one that I use mostly for Catherine, but also for socially playing switch games. Cause it's a switch controller, I guess. And it's got like flipped buttons of, uh, so like the, the a button isn't where you, not where you think, you know, um,
00:06:06
Speaker
So I mostly just use that one for Catherine because otherwise it's confusing because Catherine is sort of a one button game. Like, well, really two buttons, but like mostly one button. You know, there's a button for grab block and then you pull or push and, you know, there's all that. um And also I have a ah game server controller that I use just for travel and it just lives in my suitcase. So I don't have to pack it every time.
00:06:32
Speaker
And that's, that's my road controller. And this has been controller talk. Reeve, would you also like to break tradition and make any special call-outs? um It's okay.
00:06:44
Speaker
Sorry, I'm a little under the weather this week. Totally fine. On to this week's card. Back to Marvel's snap in eight minutes or less.
Marvel Snap and Polaris Discussion
00:06:53
Speaker
Polaris, Horseman of Pestilence, a two two with the objective all cards in play have afflicted with a total of minus five power.
00:07:02
Speaker
And then she puts a card from your hand at her location. I could read them literally, but like, i don't know. The objective card's not having the arrow in them. i just It just trips me up every time. um But that yeah, that's what she does.
00:07:14
Speaker
but Have you seen much of her at all? And did you get her? Rhi, Rhi's shaking her head. You go first. um No, I am now sitting on a wealth of 15,000 tokens, ah which means that I haven't been playing...
00:07:32
Speaker
Probably as as much snaps as... Or it's something really like. Nothing's tempted me. ah No, it's Snapsfall. If you can't tempt me when I'm sitting on... That's new. Okay. It's been lately.
00:07:46
Speaker
I'm not excited. Once again, it's just like, it's not an easy, it's not like an exciting new thing. It's a combination of two existing things in a way that doesn't super excite me. So I didn't pick her up and I won't lie, kind of avoided her. I don't, don't know. I have such a grudge against affliction.
00:08:04
Speaker
Like someone played Rocket Raccoon. I was in Conquest. So I like saw the first game. I'm like every game, every game I'm going i have to play against Rock because I just hate it's like it's just there's something there's some things that feel worse.
00:08:18
Speaker
in your mind than the reality on the paper. Like, it is minus one point from you and plus one to them, but it's like three times this feels bad for me. I was so furious about it. Okay. I spent my whole time gamifying, like...
00:08:36
Speaker
avoiding it. They were stupid. I'm like, you were dumb. You should have moved it here. And that's where I would have moved it because that's a smart place to move it And that's why I avoided it. And I knew they weren't smart enough to have done it. They weren't Vizzini-ing is all I'm saying. Okay. yeah Moving on. So I didn't get Polaris.
00:08:51
Speaker
I avoided when they had the hot location that was clearly the like new colored hot location that they like to do. i was like, no, thank you. And I went off to Conquest where like people like just star-lorded me and end of turn me. and you know Or they weren't doing that, and then I just beat them soundly and then looked at their profile. I'm like, oh they're like a 12K collection level. My bad little guy. Better luck next to World of Conquest.
00:09:20
Speaker
yeah Okay. Also on ladder, only play people sub 5K. Like, what? Okay, I get I was there when I first. Isn't it weird? Because I was there when I first because I got infinite usual like earlier than I usually do. and i've been low I'm below. I'm finally dropped out of because don't play enough or I'm goofing off and jack-balling or whatever. thought you meant i fight my collection level. That's what I thought too. I'm in rank. I'm in rank. If you're early on internet, the rank makes sense.
00:09:53
Speaker
hey but right you're in and the rank makes sense yeah I don't like it though I'm like let let us numberless play against each other it's always like some 1.5k and like the only one I like to see that I remember is the one called Mbaku Enjoyer because i was playing this markless like every time I run into them I'm playing my Mbaku deck I'm like did you enjoy it? Did you? It beat you? Did you enjoy it? Okay sorry You're just like starizing own Mbaku over and over again did you see it?
00:10:29
Speaker
Okay, I did unmute them to see if they were going to starize my M'Baku. And they did not, or it was happening before I muted them. If you ever find me in the wild and you emote me and I don't react, I just mute people up front. I am like i don't have the thick skin. I only put myself out there mostly because I have to.
00:10:49
Speaker
Yeah, touch your heart. Yeah, so...
00:10:55
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I thought about Polaris. What about Lauren and Dory Ben? Well. Take it away. ah Not only did I see Polaris around, I got i got the card. i I said I probably would last week. and Sure enough, I did.
00:11:16
Speaker
It's a better card than Archangel. I'll say it honestly. Seems like a good card to me. That's that's my read on it. ah Seems like it goes off for like no reason.
00:11:27
Speaker
um Like, you know, there's that hot location on the second day. But like, wow, I was playing it on day one without the hot location and locations were doing it. It is as I as I predicted.
00:11:41
Speaker
like Man, it is so easy to count to five Affliction. um I'm not sure like how much Affliction you need in your own deck to like make it worth it. I'm pretty sure I've generally been overshooting it in my ah Polaris Cooks. um You know i didn't have time to like test all the Polaris ideas that I had.
00:12:06
Speaker
But i'll I'll talk about the cute one. The cutest Polaris deck that I had is called Silver Sisters. That's a sick Hades 2 ref for anyone who's counting. And yeah, the contents of Silver Sisters are right now... I've i've changed it a couple times a little bit, but like here's the here's what it's about It's about the Hood, the H-O-O-D. That's right. Selene.
00:12:35
Speaker
Selene Classic. Maybe you remember her. She afflicts cards in your hand, yours and your opponents. Merlin. Polaris. Horseman of Pestilence.
00:12:47
Speaker
Vipper. Omega Sentinel. Bluffy. Laufei, I don't know how you want to pronounce those sillies, but do it your way. Uh, Burger King or whatever.
00:13:00
Speaker
Uh, have it your way? Well, we may never know. The Sentry! Uh, he's got a friend, the Void. Uh, they're both summoned by the same card. Um. You remember that one. Hobgoblin, he goes to the other side of the board.
00:13:14
Speaker
There used to be a Green Goblin in the first version of the deck because like you know sometimes you commit to the bit, but then other times you like you realize like maybe maybe you just want the big one. And then we got Dragonlord. That's right.
00:13:27
Speaker
We've got Polaris and Polaris at home. um Or maybe it's the other way around. Maybe Polaris is Dragonlord at home. Who can say? Yeah. And then the final two, closing it out up there at the top end, we got Cersei and the Infinaut. So...
00:13:43
Speaker
so
00:13:46
Speaker
Uh, the whole, like how the deck works is, uh, you want to be sending crap over to the opponent and like, hopefully you've afflicted some of it. doesn't matter too much, but, um, I just didn't want to play Fin Fang Foom and you know, like, you know, the best way to make Fin Fang Foom the wrong thing for your deck is is to ah send things with negative power over to the other side of the board. That's how you know you're not missing out on Fin Fang Foom. And I just, like, I didn't want to feel like I should be playing Fin Fang Foom in here because I didn't want to play Fin Fang Foom. It seems like the boringest thing to summon out of your hand with a Dragon Lord or a Polaris. And you know what a cool thing to summon out of your hand with a Dragon Lord or a Polaris is?
00:14:28
Speaker
Cersei. Yeah, Fin Fang Foom is tired. Cersei's wired. Except I'm pretty sure Fin Fang Foom is a more game-winning thing to pull out of your hand. But Cersei, pretty cool. Pretty cool, right?
00:14:40
Speaker
she'll She'll make a void gnarly. she'll ah Have you used your Omega Sentinel to get that affliction? Well, you know, Omega Sentinel turns into a five cost that probably has better stats. ah Polaris turns into a three cost that like definitely has better stats pretty much. um Also, we've got Merlin out there polymorphing, doing Cersei stuff, lot of redundancy here in this deck. And so, yeah, like the only big thing that you just want to like yank out with a Dragonlord or Polaris is the Infinaut.
00:15:11
Speaker
And I think maybe I went a little too heavy on Affliction things. um I don't know. This one doesn't have a Hazmat in it.
00:15:22
Speaker
I think one of my other... i built like two or three Polaris decks, but I didn't have time to like play a million games with all of them, and this one was like the coolest and the most fun. So this is where I spent the most time.
00:15:34
Speaker
I think it did have Hazmat in it, but I found it was like kind of overkillity, and I cut it from this one. ah But yeah, Polaris just goes off for no reason. It's so easy to count to five. um Yeah, cool card. Also, the other people i saw playing her seem to be doing strong things. Yeah.
00:15:56
Speaker
Seems like some of our friends have been playing her They seem to be doing strong things. ah I like the card. I think it's, you know I mean, it's a little boring. I'm not saying it's like, it's not the card I would have designed, but like, you know, I don't, I don't mind it.
00:16:14
Speaker
You know, it's, it's, it's, yeah. Yeah.
00:16:20
Speaker
Are y'all hearing this crap? Yep. That's okay. Okay.
00:16:27
Speaker
And has outside noise at his place. Sure do. Nothing to be done about it. Oh, well. But yeah, Polaris seems like a real card.
00:16:37
Speaker
i Yeah, that that's my experience ah overall. that's my That's my conclusion also, is that she's viable. She does something. um I'm not...
00:16:50
Speaker
Wyatt is high on her. I think she's just kind of like right on the edge of being playable. Thing is, two cost is good. And you're right, five affliction is really easy to do. The favorite thing I saw anybody else doing with it was you know afflicting seven with marrow it seems like yeah that's one of the cute things that i wanted to build but didn't build i was also thinking like this is a bullseye card but like we're not we're not a bullseye podcast we're like an anti bullseye podcast maybe if you're doing something cool with it but probably not that's interesting it seemed real to me i like the idea that you're wiping out your entire hand with bullseye and then you leave one thing in there that's kind of cool
00:17:32
Speaker
Like you can pull out like you're not doing swarms. So like you're, you're doing like one costs and like, I don't know. I was also like, swarms why notwar hard there there were a lot of like silly ideas. I didn't, um, I mean, I guess, I guess it can, uh, no, you're not doing swarms. Cause like, you know, they'll clog up your hand and then Polaris will pull out a swarm. Right. Oh no. She pulls out the highest cost.
00:17:59
Speaker
Oh, you know, you're right. You're right. nice pull she pulls up like No, they make more. i was like, okay Lauren must know something I don't. Right. Like i'm I was not so ready to be wrong about that. But like, yeah, you're not doing swarms.
00:18:11
Speaker
Yeah. So it's gotta be one. tell something about merow Oh, it's just like she's another one. She's like too good. When I see her across the board from me, there's always like a pin in like my stomach. Because you know it's coming. You're like, oh they're going to go and it's going to like pew pew pew all your cards. I don't like affliction. i don't like my cards being...
00:18:35
Speaker
Like, I picked them, right? Like, don't make my, don't do that to Isuka. Don't do that to Iron Man. don't know, it's obnoxious. And it's like, it's the same thing, like, with end of turn where you're not putting, it's so hard to put in, like, the counter, right? There's the removal, isn't, is that what Ghost, who does that now? Super adaptor, who's the end of turn person?
00:18:58
Speaker
It's Ghost. Okay. People keep... I keep forgetting... poor Ghost. Like, she really has... Yeah. hate that, James. You invisible from my memories. Okay. But, right, you're not putting that in your deck.
00:19:11
Speaker
I mean, even with how prominent I run into end of turn, I struggle for that to take a slot in a 12-spot deck when it's a dead card if you like, run into that That's when use, like, Cosmic Ghost Rider.
00:19:22
Speaker
Yeah. Right? Yeah, that's why you use late Cosmic Ghost Ring instead, but it's still just um ah not there. And it's the same thing for me, sorry, with Luke Cage. It's just like, it's like I just don't want to fit Luke Cage into my decks. and it's I don't know. Yeah, if you're that can't benefit from Luke Cage, I totally agree. He feels too expensive.
00:19:46
Speaker
Right. um yeah When you were bringing that up earlier, how how some cards feel worse than they actually are, Mero is exactly who I was thinking of. I think getting afflicted by seven from Mero feels so much worse than my opponent playing a two seven, even though it's kind of the same thing. In fact, the Mero is probably worse because it's spread across multiple locations. Yeah.
00:20:08
Speaker
Yeah. But it's going to wreck a lot of your plans. Yeah.
00:20:12
Speaker
um Not that I'm like delete marrow. I just like I know to myself that like, oh, this feels worse than if they had just played a two seven. um Here's my journey with Polaris just to keep it short and sweet.
00:20:24
Speaker
i wanted to try putting her in an Affliction deck. I iterated on in a bunch. Like a classic Affliction deck. We're talking Ajax. ah She did not fit in the deck. I cut her quickly, and but I was still having fun with the deck. So I built like a real deck this week, not just a clip hunting deck. I'll talk about that in my Week in Snap.
00:20:46
Speaker
But I ah built a deck around Polaris then cut her out. That was my journey. Yeah. I think mostly my point is just she doesn't really belong in in core affliction, but there's so many other ways to like afflict things on the side that like she's fine.
00:21:02
Speaker
a time this is I've got a question real quick about Polaris and some of these other horse peoples that we've seen. um like From the comics,
00:21:15
Speaker
are these Are these designs for these horsemen like from recent comics or something? Because like they don't look like the horsemen of apocalypse that I've seen around in in my comic book experience. like are these why Are these cyberpunk chibi or whatever? Do you remember how we got a little loose with robots means activate?
00:21:39
Speaker
My understanding is that some of them, I think more of the ones from last season, the ancient horsemen, were actually like real in the comics, but not all of them. Well, mean, and but like the designs of them don't. even Even the ones who have been horsemen that like I remember like from when I've been paying attention, like the designs seem different. And I'm like...
00:21:59
Speaker
Has there ever been a Polaris in the comic that like looked like this? Because this design for Polaris looks like about three different specific Magic the Gathering illustrations. ah to i'm I'm just going to put Serum Visions in our Discord chat.
00:22:15
Speaker
I would guess yes on Polaris because there's an existing Polaris variant wearing this armor from like years ago. so Is it this armor? I thought she was wearing some spiky like knight armor is what it looked like to me. This is spiky armor. i mean, it is like...
00:22:29
Speaker
you know, cyberpunkified maybe, but I, it didn't, it doesn't look like the same like design to me, even though it says it's the like horsemen of pestilence but or whatever. i think overall they're snap originals and that's silly. Yeah.
00:22:45
Speaker
And hilariously, i was like, because they you did do some Apocalypse-related stuff in a big crossover in the X-Men recently. i was like, how many? I get like four or five X-Men titles.
00:22:57
Speaker
Three of them are teams of X-Men, different teams of X-Men. And then, you know, some individual like X-23 and stuff. And i was like, oh, I'm not getting enough X-Men to grasp the whole of what's happening the X-Men.
00:23:13
Speaker
It's honestly big chunk of my Marvel comics now. I know, right? ah And like three of them are about whole teams. And that's like, I'm still like, oh but like, I just, and it's like too much with the, I've been burned too much by Marvel crossovers. I'm wary of them. I mean, that's...
00:23:31
Speaker
Marvel's going to Marvel and the the X-Men are going to split into three different teams. and its It is tiresome. I i agree. I can't always.
00:23:42
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I understand why I don't keep up. i don't know if we've talked about it here before, but I would like to briefly address a flaw with the design and objective, which is that they don't work with each other.
00:23:57
Speaker
There is a single window per turn that checks all objective cards on the board. Did you meet your condition? Which means that if any one of them either adds an objective card to the board or triggers another objective card, say Caliban's Affliction triggering Polaris, you have to wait until the next turn for that objective to go off.
00:24:17
Speaker
And it's so silly and annoying. There's an official answer from Jason ro jason Yang. His username is Radha. ah in the discord where he was like, they tried making it so that objectives could sequence into each other, but they couldn't. It's something that they'll investigate in the future. And it just like, I think it has made them flop so hard because they seem like they were designed for it.
00:24:39
Speaker
Right. Like, yeah like, don't you want to set up a beautiful nesting doll and make a clip? Right. What if En Sabanur pulls out an objective card? What if En Sabanur pulls out a card that gives a new power for Juggernaut to you know trigger Juggernaut? Or a card that afflicts something for Polaris? and's just like There's so many ways that they would be very cool if they chained into each other and they don't. And it has made them so much less fun for me.
00:25:03
Speaker
Where they were already, a lot of them were already like kind of felt sloppy. They feel even worse because you can't even have them interact with each other. And why can't they work in order of appearance? like you know I don't understand. It just seems like it like they know how to do that. like If you play the first Silk, it goes before the second Silk. like it's the It's the same principle, right? You can just do it. like You know how to do it. I don't know.
00:25:30
Speaker
like What if they all had an invisible unrevealability to check their objective? Uh-huh. Yeah. and on fee i'm I'm sure they tried. I'm sure there's a real technical reason they couldn't pull it off.
00:25:44
Speaker
I'm ah less sure. It irritates me and it makes me like these cards so much less. Okay. Next. Next week's Storm Horseman of Famine, a 3-1 with the objective and two turns in a row with unspent energy.
00:25:59
Speaker
In return, she gives your other cards here and in your hand plus two power. Reversed again. I saw this. I was doing this in preparation for the podcast. I forgot it was coming out.
00:26:14
Speaker
And my immediate thought was like, oh, they're not going like this. They're not going like People are so tired of Star-Lord stuff. Yeah. And I feel bad because there's a time a couple months ago I'm just like, it's not worth it enough to skip energy. you know what I mean? To miss energy. And I wanted to, like, apologize because I'm being like, look what I, look, what half, what half rewrote. I don't know. um But like, no, not good that they listen to me at all, but like, ah you know what i mean? But now look, it's just like, ah you know, what's what's less fun than playing the game, not playing the game. And that's what everyone's doing, not playing the game and then star loading. And then it all happens on a turn when you mostly can't do as much about it or you have to make really good guesses or whatever.
00:26:59
Speaker
And um and i give away that's not fun, but I do think, I don't think I was in the wrong, because to me, What I was saying was it's not rewarding to skip energy. What they've done with Star-Lord in these cards is allowed you to not skip the energy, but store it all for a later turn when you can use it all together in sequence in a way that can't be countered the way that used to, like, happen, you know? Like, right? Because nobody even really needs it. They might as throw out their sunspot out there, but they don't even need that.
00:27:34
Speaker
You used to need that sunset. You need that little power scale from getting it. You know, you need this. But now it's like, no, like you just save it up. know what you're going to do. They don't know if if you're doing a Zola or a Taskmaster and which lanes those will drop on. So they just have no way to count. So it's just like you don't play the game at all.
00:27:55
Speaker
And then you play it all in one turn. And it's it's like a solitaire game. You know what I mean? On your side. and and and like that's And so, you know, it's not my fault. Skipping energy should be rewarded, but not over rewarded by just allowing you to store it for later while the other person needs to actually play the game to build their end reward. And that's why it a feels bad. And I agree. I think, you know, it's like they may look at the... I don't know what their data they're looking at within the game to try and judge... cat Because I get the, you know, loud minority of like of gamers gamers who are passionate about your game. where pet yeah Talk more about that later. but
00:28:41
Speaker
Right? But, like, it's like... uh that's why it's it's not fun because it's not playing the game and you're punished for actually playing the game as opposed to just banking all your energy for the last turn okay i have like reiterated my point several times so uh that's how i feel about i think that people aren't gonna like it and i understand i agree with you there are very yeah there are very few cards in the game the history of the game where i'm like this card was a mistake Original Elioth is one of them.
00:29:13
Speaker
um And Star-Lord is one of them. I just think that the card is just flawed in its premise. Like, Sholao and Finfing Foom are problems right now, but I don't think they're flawed in their premise. I just think they need tuning.
00:29:26
Speaker
Star-Lord, i like I just think... needs to be reworked the ability where you get to you know borrow energy against your or like you know save your energy for the future just like it's just not good for the game it's not fun and it's contrary to what makes snap unique with the snapping and retreating mechanic like it wouldn't be fun without snapping and retreating and it's even worse because of snapping and retreating uh yeah it like I don't think they should be putting out new cards that like encourage more Star-Lord. They should be putting out cards that make people play less Star-Lord. and um
00:30:06
Speaker
i'm just i mean I guess Star-Lord is a very popular card because people sure are playing it, but it makes the game like really unfun. It makes me want to play other games, and so I play other games. It's just...
00:30:19
Speaker
I love Marvel Snap, but like, why? Why encourage this with new storm? And like, it's it's just yeah, everything you guys have said, it's like not it's like contrary to the design of the game to be like,
00:30:34
Speaker
rewarding like it really is like that scene in walk hard where you know like tim meadows is like you don't want no part of this dewey it's called cocaine it takes all your bad early energy and it turns it into good late energy and like that's like how it is and it's not it's not really supposed to work like that um Star-Lord is cocaine.
00:30:57
Speaker
Well, I mean, cocaine and walk hard. i think there are people who who would argue ah perhaps about Tim Meadows. is The accuracy, sure. Yeah. yeah I wouldn't know.
00:31:12
Speaker
But yeah, like the the early game energy is not as good as the late game energy. And like somebody is playing an honest game of spending their early game energy on stuff that an opponent can interact with or at least respond to playing around and like, man, and then like just duplicating it later. Like, man, Star-Lord is such a bad card for the game. I really wish they hadn't done it. And I, I know like, I'm not like adding a whole bunch of new stuff. It's just like, it's been going on for like weeks and months. And like, it's, it was such a bad idea. We knew it was a bad idea. And it's just frustrating that they're like, let's actually support that a little more. Let's, let's lean harder in with, with new storm. And it's it's just,
00:31:57
Speaker
Could they not have like, you know, they've they've taken cards off the schedule before, like cards that they, you know, put in the the data mines and stuff that they were like the cards have disappeared in the past. It's happened.
00:32:10
Speaker
Like we've we've talked about cards in data mines that never showed up. Why couldn't this have been one of them? Like, don't do they understand that Star Lord is bad for their game?
00:32:21
Speaker
I don't know. And I don't think it's just like a grumbling, you know, vocal minority. i mean, maybe it is a minority, but like, I don't know. I don't know, y'all. i Star-Lord has been making the game like so unfun for me for, yeah. yeah These past few months are very emblematic of how much of a problem it is that they base their balanced decisions on data only.
00:32:52
Speaker
It takes so much noise from the players for them to listen to player sentiment. And its it shouldn't be skewed that far. Um.
00:33:04
Speaker
Anyway, ah Storm, I don't think is necessarily a Star-Lord card. ah Like, it'll be fine, but she's just she doesn't do as big of things as all the other things that Star-Lord definitely do. I think you might be right about that.
00:33:14
Speaker
I just mean, like, it's like a thing I think they should be staying away from. You don't even want the appearance of being like, we love what we did with Star-Lord. Let's make more cards like that, you know? Like, I don't know.
00:33:26
Speaker
Even as a gesture, it hits me wrong. But, like, Warlock and She-Hulk and Sunspot... fine they're fine yeah um all of them and so i think storm could be fine she might be tuned a little high i think it's more likely that she she's fine but like i think she'll be a good card you play her in something like a a buff stack probably a surfer buff stack and she'll be she'll be good but she's not like i don't think she's gonna be busted She's going to be better than Wolverine Horseman of War or Wolverine, as we've agreed to call him, because, you know, buffs in the hand.
00:34:04
Speaker
On to our side quests. First up we can snap Ben. How was yours? And keep it snappy. All right. My weekend snap. Endeavoring to keep it snappy, as I literally always do. I've set the five-minute timer. It's already taken away. So, so, I've played a little bit of Conquest. I think that's that's maybe one of the big snap headlines outside of testing...
00:34:32
Speaker
Polaris stuff. Um,
00:34:37
Speaker
uh, I'm gonna shout out last month's conquest variant, uh, Cyclops. He's doing a person, his lips in a funny way. And, uh, I like that for him.
00:34:50
Speaker
Um, he's ah He's serving. um He's serving optic blasts and ah and looks. um um I don't remember what this month's Conquest variant is, but it didn't strike me as... Yeah, that's right.
00:35:11
Speaker
I give that a big old shrug. I realized I only vocalized the shrug, but you know we've got viewers on the on the YouTube, so they deserve to see a big old shrug, and they got it, damn it. So ah tune in if you're into that.
00:35:26
Speaker
um What else happened in my weekend snap? Mostly, I've been playtesting Montabi ah pretty extensively, and as we all know, i have ah agreed not to disclose the details of that. Yeah.
00:35:44
Speaker
I usually mention that I do have pretty positive feelings about the experience in the game. And, uh, that's probably about as specific as I will get, but like, gosh, I'm looking forward to it. Sure is coming along. It's, it's, uh, it's a real blast. Um, I hope, I hope I'm allowed to say it's a blast. It's a blast.
00:36:03
Speaker
Um, Other than that, you know, absence is making the heart grow fonder. I'm i'm ready to jump back into the to the kid in mines. You know, that's that's not how you get kittens in Mugenics. But, um you know, well, you can you can occasionally.
00:36:22
Speaker
so Sometimes something will happen to one of your cats and you will return from the the mines. Not not literally the mines. There's not an area that's the mines, but, you know, you There are caves. We'll say that's a mine. I don't know. Point is, sometimes you will come back with a kitten ah that that used to be an adult cat because something strange has happened to it. A lot of strange things can happen to cats in that So I don't know. I guess this was all just to correct myself about...
00:36:51
Speaker
Something about the kitten minds. But yeah, I'm excited to be playing more Mugenics once this Montabi playtest is done. So it's gotten to the point where I got to like type up my findings. And that has been a little bit daunting because I can't show you all my handwritten notes. But like, I guess I can sort of show you the magnitude of my handwritten notes. I don't know. I had to buy a new notebook. I'm taking so many dang notes on this Montabi playtest. I'm really getting thorough.
00:37:18
Speaker
with my thoughts about team compositions and units and things um anywho but yeah i'm excited to play more mugenics or uh sleigh the the lot of the changes in the beta branch have now been rolled out to the main branch and i haven't even touched it i've been too busy with the snap and the montabi uh mostly the montabi if i'm being honest uh maybe you maybe you tuned maybe you just zoned out before the break and you didn't here but like i think The meta's not super fun right now, and I'm, like, real over some of the the cards that ah are so universally played right now.
00:37:57
Speaker
You know, your Star-Lords and your... You know, we we we were just talking about these dang cards. Don't like Foom either. No, no. um Yeah, yeah. Snap's just not... Yeah, that's how my weekend snap has been. ah The snap has not been very good. I've not...
00:38:13
Speaker
um I've not enjoyed it too much, so i haven't been playing too much. And I've got other things to do, both ah in my gaming life and my, you know, life life.
00:38:23
Speaker
stuff There have been tame OTAs lately. Maybe we can hope that the next one will be. i'm not even a person who loves a big OTA shakeup. I just sort of like wish they hadn't done these cards, you know? Yeah.
00:38:38
Speaker
Yeah, but at this point, we need we need balance changes. Yeah, i guess I guess that's the solution. But like just do better in the future. and like i just I wish they just shipped more cards that were in the right place. and like i know I know this is a live service game, and I guess we all live for the OTAs and stuff, but... like I come from paper card games where you get it right the first time, damn it.
00:39:02
Speaker
and um That's not true. They've been on all kinds of cards. It's true, but they've got like rotations and things. and like The card is the card. All right, well, those are my five minutes.
00:39:18
Speaker
I've spoken my truth. Rhi, how was your weekend snap?
00:39:24
Speaker
I hadn't realized until I was talking about Storm. Like, I had seen all the dissatisfaction with Storm and stuff, and I agreed with it and fin-fing-fum and stuff. um Yeah, I mean, and I've certainly seen in my snap, but it seemed like it was more outside of myself until I started going off and I realized how much it was mine, too, because, you know, I thought it was just just I was on the outs because, you know... ah of how I was feeling that week, but it was like, yeah, Snap didn't it invite me in. The things that excite me about like Snap weren't there. like It's like I have 15K tokens. i Usually am like you know usually the ah the only reasons I bank that is that I'm so excited about stuff I already have and want to play with that I didn't bother, and that's not the case right now. Or it's like I went several times I've been like, ooh,
00:40:20
Speaker
going to the candy shop. Like, what am I going to get? I got all these tokens in my pocket. And then i look through at what I could roll from the blind box. And I'm like, but none of these. And you know me, will roll that blind box on the one card I want out of six and not get and be like,
00:40:39
Speaker
ah That's life. But like, you know, but when I look at it and I'm like, none of these excite me. All of these are combinations of things, the toys I already have do. And my toys that I already have, I made sparkly.
00:40:54
Speaker
And these, they' just you know what i mean? It's just one of those. It's not. So I do think i do think they have I wanted to bring up because actually what I had wanted to originally bring to my weekend snap because I i did, you know, play some and not as much as certainly I have other weeks, but nothing i am excited to talk about.
00:41:14
Speaker
um Was that a positive thing? i'm like, oh, I've noticed they've been doing like way more of these ah daily login, like these, you know, rewards, just like giveaways. And I'm like, that's good. And that's what I was going to talk about. But then i was watching the FF14. I'm not going to like go on to length about it. But like please do they had it.
00:41:37
Speaker
yeah I won't now because the point is to bring in the snap part, but like they had the keynote there and I will say vastly, I guess, overall about it is me as someone, you know, who used to very obsessively follow games and still kind of ties into that. I'm generally aware of the big critiques of games and player sentiment. And I, you know,
00:42:04
Speaker
I've ever seen it as well as FF14. And when I saw that keynote, I saw almost like every single one of the the complaints I've seen players made attempt to be addressed. And not just like in a like a we did, but like thoughtfully, like in a way that was there's only one thing where it's like, can they do all this stuff? They're trying to fix it. You know, there's only one. Most of it was like, yeah.
00:42:31
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, you heard. Oh, I didn't know you knew that people thought that. i mean, they should, right? If people make content about how they feel about your game and what they like, why would you not devour that? You know, like, I don't know. Maybe there are too many snap podcasts for them to listen to them all. But like, and that's my passion. I want to know what people want to think anyway. And so to hear that, because I think the way, because this is the way Square Enix has come, and it's come at a different attitude of, like, they really do, they soak that all up. They want to know what players like, because the only way they've been able to keep the game as long running as they have is loosen feedback, and when starts going away, players don't like, they readjust, they re-correct, and they have done this numerous times. And just recently, like, you know, players to, and like, it yes, it was hyperbolic, in my opinion. I don't think, you know, the criticism was much as they deserved, and yet they still took a big course correction. And it's better.
00:43:33
Speaker
I wasn't mad at what they were doing before, but what they're doing now is better, and that's always, right? The goal of when you make something, right? When you make something and you love it, remember people did things because they were passionate about it instead of just money. Okay. But like,
00:43:49
Speaker
I saw that and I felt that because in Snap, I feel like they treat their loud player base. And I get it, right? People are hyperbolic. They get nasty. I get And some people get they cross lines where they just need to be blocked until they learn like how to, you know, hu operate in a society because it's the only way to teach them. But like, but beyond that, it's right. Even if there's a little bit of hyperbolic for people. I get like people put their real life stress on their hobby. I do it too. You know what I mean? And and they they put more importance to this game than is really on it.
00:44:27
Speaker
But they're doing that because these people love, they love the game. They've spent a lot of time in it. They care a lot about it. And sure, they're a vocal minority, you know, of the casual players. But I think the difference when Second Dinner comes to its vocal player base, is they treat them as a nuisance that they need to like take care of so they don't review bomb them and scare off new players or just talk nasty Reddit and all the places and like new players. Marvel's Breath does a great job of scaring off new players all on its own and without community grumbling.
00:45:03
Speaker
But like I'm saying that's the way I feel like that's the way you feel like you're treated. I mean, for me, right? Like it's like it feels like that's the way they come at the community. Like this like this like obnoxious toddler they have to appease so it doesn't like destroy their brownies or whatever. I don't know, you know, and instead of being like,
00:45:26
Speaker
these people love our game. And anyway, and it's great. So it's nice because people get nasty too. I talk a lot about like the positive sides about it, but people and people have harassed voice actors for things they didn't like. Like, You know what i mean? happens in every community, right?
00:45:44
Speaker
But Swearianics still, like, they absorb it all in. They condemn, obviously, like what like, things that cross the line. But they're just like, we're listening, we're listening. And then they come back and they show. They show that they listened and not a, like, okay, you know? Like, and it's not perfect. It's not always that way. Okay, sorry. I didn't mean to go on for so long. Every time like, I'm going to be real snappy, I get into it. Okay, but, like...
00:46:11
Speaker
the What I wanted to say about the daily login rewards is one of the big things about the keynote. um One of the many big things. The point that's relevant now is if they talked about moving from daily roulettes, kind of daily, you know, if you've worked in and MMOs, you know, your dailies, you got your dailies, got your weeklies, moving away from the dailies.
00:46:31
Speaker
daily goals, missions. I mean, it's generous. We don't have to do it every single day to still like complete a weekly and stuff like that. But like, no, that's not, that's not the world we live in. That's not the world, you know, we are in anymore. You have more, like they recognize that there may be a lot of the MMO base and certainly not type or generalize, but people of all ages have always played MMOs, just like people of all stripes have always played video games. Okay. And, um, like, but like lot, right. A lot of people who are teenagers, you know, and some of the others, they don't have the time. Not only that, there's so many more games to play, right? You don't need one thing fill all your time. You don't want as much filler because there's more, mean, there's, there's also a lot of filler out there, but like, you don't want that, you know, like, you
00:47:25
Speaker
You want you want the bones. So like um so they're like we're moving away from dailies and we're just we're making it weekly. So it fits your schedule. If you're someone that just mostly wants to play on them, you can do that. You don't have to. They're not trying to make you feel like you have to log in every day to complete your dailies. Play on your time and week. is good. The reason they do dailies is not about respecting the player and being like, we want to reward them for logging every day. want It's about making you feel like you have to log in every day to not miss something. And so while it's better, the daily logins are better in that they're giving away stuff more for free.
00:48:08
Speaker
They're doing it in a way to try and force you into the game because they're not bringing you into the game with an interest in the cards that I can get with my tokens. Since I'm not collection and complete, right? I'm not going to just play with every card anymore. I don't have the resources for that. I need to be interested. um They're not...
00:48:30
Speaker
They're taking they're finally giving us more stuff like we wanted and being more like, you know, generous. I get there's some people say that they've they've always been generous and stuff, but they're doing it in a way to make up for the lack of the draw that the game used to have for us inherently, because here's the thing about dailies.
00:48:54
Speaker
It's like if you made a great game that's a live service game, that's something like a card game where you don't need to build A.I. strong enough to play your players, your players will play your players. You know what I mean? You you like have these infinite tools to play with. Like you can make your own fun in that you can play with different styles of decks.
00:49:13
Speaker
You have a ladder. If you want to be someone that plays all the day, you can play all the time to try and see if you can climb to the top of the ladder. The rewards are for there who people who just want to play the game and like every single day. and like you know like You can find stuff if the game is good.
00:49:32
Speaker
Forcing people to log in because they like the game, but like not enough to... like like They have the time. Anyway, so you know so what came in as a positive? I do want to say I like...
00:49:47
Speaker
To give another positive daily logins, it used to always just be like seven-day, four-day event, a real get-in-all-you-miss-it, you know, kind of thing. And it feels like they're doing more of like long ones, you know, like 15 where it feels like, oh, it's like a month-long stretch, you know, like you see in more other games. Like it's just, yeah, there's always something. There's always something if you're coming in. Sure, if you do every single day, there's some other reward, but like that's good. But it's like I want to point out like –
00:50:17
Speaker
what they're doing white right, right, right. And what they're doing wrong. um And why i don't think it's wrong for us to demand that people make games because because there's so many people out there who are passionate about an industry. Why is there any room in it for people who aren't, who just want to make money? Right? Like, why is there room for those people? And I feel just full of people who love games and make good ones.
00:50:46
Speaker
Okay. um I think it's worth arguing that about making anything. Right? That's what trying Those industries should be reserved for people who want to make the thing. Yeah.
00:51:02
Speaker
so I want to say like any any sentence that calls second dinner generous... is within the context of being a mobile game, right? Like for, for a mobile free to play game that has dark patterns, pretty generous. You can have a full collection for $10 a month. If you optimize your resources and play a shit ton, but. And also if you started early enough, oh my gosh, it takes forever to probably get to that point. You can still catch up now, but it's a miserable experience. Yeah. For $10 a month. Like how many years does it take?
00:51:36
Speaker
I don't know, like three, um which is which is the life of the game so far. Yeah. um
00:51:43
Speaker
I don't know. There are some things they've done right. I think you're totally right. The login rewards are, it's a cool idea. They've had before where it's like nine days long and you need to get seven of those nine days. But this past one, it was seven out of seven days. If you didn't log in every day, you didn't get Carnage and that's it. There was slack. And...
00:52:02
Speaker
slack and And then they immediately started a 14 day one and I don't know if it's exactly 14 or if it's 14 of 16 or whatever. I just went through it. I should have checked. A lack of slack. There was enough that I didn't care. It was like, whatever. yeah I mean, it's not like I'm going to use that carnage, so it would have been fine if I missed it. but Yeah, i' I've got a Bagley carnage I like, anyhow.
00:52:26
Speaker
But I just i wanted to say, like you're talking about Final Fantasy XIV respecting its player's time. And I'm just like, Snap would never... like no Like the most they respect your time is event tickets and daily missions stack up two or three rotations, which is 16 to 24 hours. But you still have to play again within those windows or you start burning resources.
00:52:53
Speaker
And that is just not respecting your players time, especially because most of your players who are payers, are adults like yeah with it's i don't know uh yeah i i was just thinking second dinner would never and that's sad but also the reality of the market that they're in
00:53:18
Speaker
You know, this is mostly unrelated, but can they just stop showing me the Vibranium rewards if they're not even going to put 25 credits in there? Can they just like not be at the top of the shop to be scrolling through? You don't want 30 boosters?
00:53:34
Speaker
No, I don't want 30 fucking boosters. hi Just get to let let me scroll down to the relevant parts quicker. i mean, like I do use the buttons at the top to like jump to spots, but... like I don't know.
00:53:49
Speaker
Sometimes I just want to have a quick scroll down to to see all my my things, you know? To check through the variants on my way to the the gold, you know? the and's just That's just me.
00:54:03
Speaker
Bree, did you have more? no that was that was it for me, Lauren. I'd love to hear what you did. Okay. I'll talk briefly about my my toxic deck that started as a Polaris deck but did not end up as one. Um...
00:54:18
Speaker
Steam is having a Deck Builders Fest. That's what they call it. I don't know. It's it in early May where they're highlighting deck building games. And so I i wrote an article for Deck Builders Fest.
00:54:34
Speaker
It will be coming to fourth location in a week or so. ah But I talked about how I create a clip deck and also how I then convert that deck into a real deck.
00:54:46
Speaker
So I did start this deck as a clip deck and then it evolved into a real deck. I tried Polaris in both. um Actually, i don't think I tried Polaris in the clip deck, but I did try her in the real deck.
00:54:59
Speaker
So, it was I was double dipping, but I did end up making like a deck that that I thought was pretty fun and pretty real. I had about a 50% win rate, but close to a cube per game average, which isn't like amazing, but it's good enough to climb. Yeah.
00:55:14
Speaker
so Here's the thing is I was insistent upon having Mystique here to be, to talk to copy Ajax. And that's not a thing people do anymore. If you look on any of the deck trackers, nobody's playing Mystique with Ajax. That's not a thing, but it's a strong thing to do if you pull it off. So I'm thinking Malekith and invisible woman as ways to delay those cards, um, you know, to delay hazmat, to delay Mystique, but to be able to play them early.
00:55:44
Speaker
um, And it's really fun. i But Malekith and Invisible Woman do not play nice with Polaris. So that's the main reason i cut her.
00:55:56
Speaker
um You know, if Malekith pulls Polaris, she doesn't ever get to do her thing. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. Malekith was one the cards I kept trying to shove into my Polaris decks, but like i he never made it to the game.
00:56:10
Speaker
He always got cut. And if like Hazmat is behind Invisible Woman, that happens at the end of the game, so you don't ever have an objective phase. and so it's just like So she got cut pretty quick, um it' just because i'm like I'm making an Ajax Mystique deck.
00:56:26
Speaker
um Tried a bunch of things. ah Hazmat is obviously your your plan a like Behind Invisible Woman, you want Mystique and Hazmat. And then on turn six, you can play Ajax, and you have two giant Ajaxes, basically. and And it wins. um I think the one real innovation that I have here is Grandmaster.
00:56:45
Speaker
sure somebody's done it in in ah Affliction before, but it's fun. um You can do the sneaky thing where you Grandmaster the Mystique at the end, but like that doesn't save you that much energy unless you have Sarah out, then you might do that. But I have won several games by Grandmastering either Lafayette or Malekith.
00:57:05
Speaker
So... um or cassandra nova in a pinch you could do that um but you know she she loses how much power she gains every single turn because your opponent's drawing cards anyway the rest of the deck you have scorpion cassandra nova Hazmat and Lafay that are doing Affliction.
00:57:25
Speaker
Invisible Woman and Malekith that draw cards and delay them. Sarah and Luna Snow that ramp. Malekith sort of ramps too, I guess. um And then Ajax and Diamondback are the stars of the show.
00:57:38
Speaker
With Mystique being able to copy either, you can win with just diamond two Diamondbacks and a Hazmat, but it's it's pretty rough. You really do want Ajax. And and then Grandmaster. Yeah.
00:57:50
Speaker
So that's my real deck that is fun to play, if not... Amazing. You know, 50% win rates, just okay. Yeah, but that cube rate, that's pretty respectable. Totally playable. Could have climbed to infinite with it.
00:58:03
Speaker
um The other thing that I did, I played Blanc with my wife, which is a super cute 3D co-op platformer where one of you is a baby deer, one of you is a baby wolf, and you're trying to get back to your family who left you in the winter landscape.
00:58:18
Speaker
And you have to follow their foots footprints through like 10 levels. It's a little clunky, but it was very cute. And then ah grabbed Dispatch, which is, if you don't know, it's a it's by Ad Hoc, which is a studio from Telltale. people like Telltale that veterans started Ad Hoc.
00:58:38
Speaker
So that those story-heavy games like Walking Dead or The Wolf Within. Wolf Within, Wolf Among Us, what whatever it's called. some Thank you. ti two games with mons yeah Yeah. ah They made a bunch. They did Tales from the Borderlands.
00:58:55
Speaker
Really good games. ah So people who used to work at Telltale started AdHoc. AdHoc teamed up with Critical Role, who who do like live play D&D stuff and are a bunch of professional voice actors, to make Dispatch, which is a superhero story game.
00:59:11
Speaker
And I had no idea had come out on Switch. And I saw it on like my What Your Friends Are Playing list. And I grabbed it immediately. It was also on sale, so that was nice. And I am loving it. The story is so good. The writing is so good. The i the gameplay is fun.
00:59:28
Speaker
i The voice acting is great. Gameplay's probably not for everybody because what you're doing is you're between the story scenes, you're dispatching your superheroes your team of superheroes. They're recovering villains. So they're like total, they call that the Z-List team or the Z-Team. They're Z-Listers. They're you know totally bottom of the leaderboard in the superhero agency. um And you're you're taking phone calls. And some of them are more serious. Like, you know, airplane needs help landing in a power outage sort of thing. But some of them are like, my balloon is stuck in a tree. And you have to choose which super which which recovering villain you're going to go send to do this. And they have different stats. And you build them up and all that. So it's like, it has some actual real game elements besides just, you know, sort of the visual novel.
01:00:14
Speaker
But anyway, I'm loving it. I blazed through the first four episodes. And I'm so excited for the weekend to get through the next four Highly recommended for anybody who likes something that's narrative heavy, especially if you like superheroes, which imagine good portion of you do.
01:00:31
Speaker
Blonde Blazer. Oh my gosh. Okay. You know, I always complain about romance. are you I love like... romance keeps like picking like who am I gonna pick from the list of people there's a moment where you're like are you going out are you going to dinner with blonde blazer are you going to the movie with Invisigal and I'm like haven't decided yet and the timer is just ticking down and I like wait it's on the very last second painful but I'm like I want to see both of the stories so bad so I'm going to play i'm goingnna do a second playthrough to experience the other
01:01:09
Speaker
I love a developer that gives you that like, that that can can make that choice and make it meaningful. Like you said, like that, like, here's two hot women, and assuming you're someone that is interested in a hot women, you know, are you going to pick? And you're like, and it's just like, it's like when they can do that, when they can set up, and the mere fact of a timer counting down brings all of this out of you. Yeah.
01:01:39
Speaker
That's game development. It's like, okay, opposite way, much darker, but like, you know, the game heavy rain. yeah and and i'm aware About a child serial killer. So like, much darker storyline has its own problems, but it's like the, the base is like, you're a father who's trying to save their kids. Yes.
01:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, I don't – it's been a long time since I played it. Like, I bring up the example of it, this this particular example, more than I think the memory because it was so long ago that I played it. But, like, you're going – there's this time, right? And, like, you know, silly serial killers do is, like, playing, you know, in in media – like playing games with you and stuff.
01:02:23
Speaker
And there's a moment that's like, okay, you can like save you can save your son. here, take this. somebody's Somebody's loving it. Isn't it Sean?
01:02:37
Speaker
Or am I mixing up with a different? Sean is the usual name of kidnapped children. and Am I right? Maybe maybe I'm mixing. and media satellite like nice day that things I don't want to get this off the rails too much, but there is one of the funniest YouTube videos I've ever seen is a bugged, I thought it was Heavy Rain. It might be a different game where you can like hit X to yell Sean and it's bugged that you can just do it constantly. And so for like like the entire five minute cutscene, he's just randomly going, Sean! Sean!
01:03:04
Speaker
um probably is this cussing there's a part of the game where i think i think there are multiple parts of that game where you run around yelling a child's name i think and i think maybe once it's jason and once it's sean i might need to get to the bottom of this y'all anyway but i'm sure there's a part where it's jason because i remember that vividly running around and yelling jason 50 times i i must know i want to hear your point right Okay. The point was like this timer counting down um this game so many times in it, they do that to you.
01:03:40
Speaker
Timer counting down, make a decision. are you going get your fingerprints off of it. Then they get to this one, to this this part where he's left a note for you and says, I will give you the location um of your son. Otherwise he's gonna die if you right now chop off your hand, your finger, i don't know, part of you, right? ah which And then like I left in like, at you know, ax here or whatever to do it Hopefully I'm even remembering the scene, right? Not conflating two cut scenes in my head. Whatever, the point being,
01:04:17
Speaker
At this moment in time, now I feel like they they give you all of the time to make the decision. sorry if I got plot points wrong, but like this point is the first time it's like endless. You're not on a timer. you have You have to make a decision. And it's like agonizing. And I love to me... Like use of time like that. Right. It speaks a I don't know.
01:04:46
Speaker
it It's like game development. the The ability to make choices. Right. Rather than passively experience something is special.
01:04:56
Speaker
It's a very special thing about games and what you can do with it is is incredible. So I yeah, I liked hearing that anecdote. Sorry. I love turns, personally. I'm a big fan of turns. Also, can I come in with the heavy rain fact check?
01:05:11
Speaker
Good news. yeah Everybody's right. Even me when I was like, I think there were two sons. um Yeah, Jason Mars was the first son of Ethan and Grace Mars and the older brother of Sean Mars.
01:05:22
Speaker
Two years before the events of heavy rain, he became separated from his father when the family went to visit a mall. Grace took Sean to buy him some new shoes, leaving Ethan with the responsibility of looking after Jason. Jason wandered away from Ethan, who soon found him and warned him not to go wandering into a crowded place. Jason, however, did not listen to his father's warning and begged him to buy a red balloon from a clown, then immediately wandered off again while he even got some money to pay for the balloon. Grace returned with Sean and inquired after Jason. Okay, point is, ah the you know... There are two.
01:05:51
Speaker
Yeah, there are two. And that's why ah the Ethan is a sad dad is because um he lost the one son already and his marriage fell apart. And now he just drinks orange juice over and over. That's another thing I remember about Heavy Rain is you drink the same orange juice again and again.
01:06:12
Speaker
And I did because that felt like the sad truth of my character. huge role-playing uh also i just wanted see how many times you could do it and it does waste time every time because like the the time is an important thing even outside of those like quick time decisions of like am i am i gonna start the drugs or not that's one of the characters things that they have to make quick time decisions about is am i gonna start the drugs um Anyway, that's just a heavy rain update on the game that came out in 2009.
01:06:43
Speaker
Tickles me endlessly. as I'll link that. um The other two decisions that that like had me like going down to the timer were both like, decide this person or this person. Cut somebody from the team, add somebody to the team. Like, ooh, which one? Yeah.
01:06:58
Speaker
Anyway, i I'm loving it. The one thing I'm wary about playing it a second time is like sometimes that like really shows you how little influence you had over the story. If you only play it once, you can feel like you had influence. But then if you play it the second time, you start making different decisions, but things still go the exact same way. That's when it's like ruins the illusion.
01:07:18
Speaker
It can be really disappointing, but also sometimes it's it's a like I'm sitting here like, oh, do they have completely different scenes based on who I hired to the team and who I fired from the team? Like, did they did they do this with like every possible combination? That's amazing.
01:07:30
Speaker
um I don't know. I don't know how robust it is. I've certainly played games that are robust. I've i've played games where if you miss the quick time event, that's its own like story beat that like changes how the story goes instead of just a game over or whatever. Or I've had ones where if you don't, if you choose not to say anything, that is its own choice. Like let the timer go out and they have lines for that.
01:07:53
Speaker
Any of y'all stuck with a Dark Pictures anthology or perhaps an Until Dawn? haven't even heard of those. I think they're better than Heavy Rain. That's what I'll say about them.
01:08:04
Speaker
And they're spooky. Ooh. Also, they made a I have people on my family that like spooky movies. Alright, well, that my weekend in snap. I miss Diner. I miss being able to play low-key chill snap um where the stakes don't matter. Which i mean is kind of like Post Infinite. That's how I play Post Infinite. But also, like I don't know, people emote differently when when they're signing up for a mode where the stakes don't matter.
01:08:31
Speaker
I guess I could just mute everybody, but... i don't know. I'm not like that. I would love to live in a world like when I forget, which happens rarely anymore, to be honest, but when I forget to mute someone and we have a cute exchange, I'm like, huh, that was nice. ah Humans. You wonder how often you're missing out on that.
01:08:48
Speaker
But it's like, that's not the that's why I feel like they could do a lot more to encourage that behavior out of people rather than give away. give Keep giving numerous ways for people to get out their aggression that they feel hu from the real world. in a It's like, don't make it a safe space for people to take out their aggression at other people. Make it a safe space for people to escape from the aggressions that are like everywhere out there, please. Thank you.
01:09:15
Speaker
It just stinks that like in the default like mode for, you know, queuing into snap, like you're meeting a stranger and, you know, like you're not you're not going to have like a deep interaction with them. But like it really stinks that like, OK, you're meeting a random stranger and their first impulse is to express hostility like that. Just like that.
01:09:35
Speaker
That makes me sad about humanity when I play Marvel Snap. like It doesn't like hurt my feelings. It just like bums me out about the species. yeah That's the product of anonymity. like I'm going to take this moment to make somebody's day a little worse, to make mine a little better.
01:09:51
Speaker
i try not to dwell on that too much. I try to focus on the positive moments. And I think overall I have more than I do negative, but that also might just be the attitude I'm bringing to it. I'll and try.
01:10:04
Speaker
Okay, on to our secret homework. This week's secret homework was assigned by Ben. That's right. We finally did it. We took the plunge. We watched the first two episodes of Avatar The Last Airbender.
01:10:22
Speaker
um I thought a little bit ahead, and I decided im was going to hit y'all with some synopses. just so the listeners who may have seen the show, but didn't feel like rewatching will like get reminded of what ground is covered. Also, I had, uh, I, I previously said that the Netflix live action avatar was inoffensive, but hugely forgettable. I was shocked at how much I remembered.
01:10:47
Speaker
Uh, there are some differences that actually like really stuck out to me. It turned out, but anywho, here's what happened in these two episodes. The first one's called the boy in the iceberg. And, uh, there is a boy in the iceberg. It's, uh,
01:10:59
Speaker
You know, it does what it says on the tin. Original air date, February 21, 2005. That's more than 21 years ago today. Oh, my goodness.
01:11:10
Speaker
Wow. um So, you know, I'm sure we were all in very different places in our lives. I was not open in my heart to... um avatar anywho point is this episode was directed by dave feloni a name that may be familiar to star wars fans and here's the summary sokka and katara two teenage siblings living in the south pole discover ang and his flying pet or his pet flying bison not his flying pet bison that's that's the wrong order for those adjectives appa trapped in an iceberg after katara frees him she discovers that he is an airbender
01:11:44
Speaker
and the siblings take him to their home village in the Southern Water Tribe. Meanwhile, his unfreezing attracts the attention of the Fire Nation's Zuko, intent on capturing him. And for those who don't know, everything was cool until the Fire Nation invaded or attacked or whatever. I watched these episodes a couple of times, and at the beginning, there's a funny line. think Katara is the narrator. It has been named a lot.
01:12:10
Speaker
ah Yeah, you know, I don't think I knew that, but like i I felt like it felt memeable to me. I was like, this seems like it should be a meme. So it is a meme. OK, that's that's maybe i yu that's why it felt so meme to me.
01:12:24
Speaker
But yeah, that's very that felt super memeable. Anywho, second episode, The Avatar Returns. Oh, this one also aired on February 21st. 2005. Yeah, I know how to talk. um So, this one also directed by Dave Filoni. And the summary of the second episode is... Okay. So...
01:12:58
Speaker
okay um so Anybody want to jump in there I got thoughts, but I've been talking a lot. I would love to hear. ah how how did did either of you watch it on February? Whatever that day was February 21st, 2005. Did either of you tune in? I don't know that I was watching. don't know that I was watching them live like when as they dropped. But I was watching it as a teenager.
01:13:23
Speaker
they definitely reran it a lot on Nickelodeon. I remember that because I was avoiding it. and I was like, I'm not into this shit. I watched it as a teenager. i've watched it as a, I don't know, in my early twenties when I was on night shift and I showed it to my child.
01:13:41
Speaker
Um, I'm not a super duper rewatcher of things, but, but, uh, airbender is on a short list of cartoons I've seen several times in part because I wanted to show them to my child. Um, and yeah, it it was really fun to see it again. um
01:14:01
Speaker
ill I'll have more thoughts later. But that's that's my background with Airbender. I love both Airbender and Korra. Very excited for all the other new Avatar content that's coming.
01:14:13
Speaker
Um, for me, I saw I didn't. I already watched it later after the entire series was out as an adult at some point. Still loved it, which once again, make to make like, you know, like have standards for children. Like, right. That's where that's where you make if you can make things that are also good for adults like that's.
01:14:37
Speaker
I don't know. I think children are worth it. Like, treat them like they're intelligent or how do you expect them to ever become. So anyway, ah love Avatar The Last Airbender.
01:14:48
Speaker
So much. It was from my, it's like, oh, when I think of a past, it's like, oh, that's when I could binge shows. That's when I did binge. That's when i depressively binge shows. Or, you know, non-depressively, enthusiastically without depression binge shows sometimes.
Desire for Avatar Open-World Game
01:15:03
Speaker
um You know, and Avatar was one of those. Let's just say obsessively. Obsessively binge shows.
01:15:10
Speaker
You could, yeah, and i get I just, like, I watched a lot of it. I love all of it, um the Korra included. it is my it is my number one wish, I think, for, like, an open-world Skyrim-type game. I see all these articles always coming out, and it's like...
01:15:33
Speaker
Sometimes the state of journalism, it's like almost more you can like you can speak to good journalists rather than like good journalism anywhere in any category. But anyway, um ah like.
01:15:50
Speaker
Wait, where did I get, what was I just talking about? Sorry, like, started thinking about journalism.
Avatar's Teenage Themes and Cultural Impact
01:15:55
Speaker
Avatar open world video game. Oh yeah, okay, thank you. Sorry, they keep coming to these games like, oh, the Skyrim open worlds are dead. We'll never see games of like that size and scale as the old, like Elder Scrolls type stuff. And that concerns me because I'm like, but what about my avatar, The Last Airbender? Because come on, face it, you want to see that character screen. You want to get to choose if you're going to be a firebender or what. OK, right. Like, did have you you have to have thought about what bender you would be, right? Like, that's part of it.
01:16:27
Speaker
It's part of that's part of a world that gets teenagers in and and adults and everyone build a world that you can see yourself. Give them. I've noticed that about teenagers. It's always like you got have an affection. You can align. That's such a teenage like theme, a trope. My favorite band is this and I'm Water Nation for life.
01:16:47
Speaker
Society is banded into factions and you belong to one of them. You belong. You belong. You belong. Okay. You know, and so I've debated because like I would love to be an airbender and fly, but it'd be between that and firebending for me.
01:17:05
Speaker
Oh, interesting. Side track. Waterbender, no question. Yo, you'd be waterbender, no question. No question. Have you thought about this? Yeah, Ben probably hasn't even seen enough of the others. Yeah. I mean, like, I saw...
01:17:19
Speaker
I saw three episodes of The Legend of Korra and all the live action Netflix. And I've seen, i know that there are more than four kinds of bender you can be. So i'm like, how long is the list for real?
01:17:32
Speaker
i feel like all the others are like subcategories. So like some firebenders can do lightning. Some earthbenders can do metal. That's like, there are subcategories, but that's still just four.
01:17:45
Speaker
Can you imagine? want to learn the deets. I want to get it. Yeah, I want to learn all the ins and outs before I commit to a bending lifestyle. Sorry, read what were you saying? ahin Can you imagine like running around in a video game and a bit and that's like you're like bending like that's your kind of your characters doing that. You can like they made the mobility feel really good. It would be a blast.
01:18:10
Speaker
And it's a world you want to explore, right? It's like I want to see a little, I want to go to the little tea shops. I want to do all the things. um Anyway, so that's like, it's, you know, I love Avatar, but I don't super remember the circumstances around me originally watching it before.
01:18:29
Speaker
ah To answer your question, Ben, there is a fighting game. They've had plenty of video games for the series, but there's a fighting game coming this July. um So, yeah. um For people who don't know, the premise of this show is there are people who can bend the elements. There are four. Earth, air, fire, water.
01:18:46
Speaker
And some people in the world can't bend any. There is one person alive at a time, the Avatar, who can bend all four. ah And then when the Avatar dies, there's a reincarnation cycle.
01:19:00
Speaker
ah ah like dr corn a baby born to the next ah nation in the cycle will be the Avatar. So like when we talk about Korra, Korra is after the the Avatar of Airbender dies.
01:19:15
Speaker
Korra becomes the next Avatar. She's a waterbender. And the world is different, right? Like it's no longer... um i don't I don't know what to call the era of... It's like pre-industrial ah Asia is kind of where Airbender takes place. like Industry is is just coming to be. like They have like ships and stuff, but that's just coming to be. It's more like steam engine, right? like Yeah. And the next time you get to Quora, there's like there's cars and airplanes and like there's ah there's a sprawling city and like the world is completely different. um
01:19:51
Speaker
So, yeah. Anyway. Let's talk about these two episodes specifically. What did you think, Ben? Did you have did you have fun? i did have fun. and i As I mentioned, I i watched like multiple times, just like really letting it soak in because my cat was being an asshole the first time I was watching it and ah so I was like, I need to really, really like let it in, let it seep in. so I watched like several times in a row, just...
01:20:21
Speaker
Having in a blast, oh my gosh. There there are multiple lines that like really stuck out to me. There was one about... um feel like I've got like midnight sun madness. and I'm like, yeah, that's sort of the hosts of snap on this. We love midnight suns. Um, any, another one that, Oh man, dude, this soccer dude. So Oh my gosh. Like he's like kind of, he's kind of insufferable in the live action Netflix series, but like, Oh, they sanded off the rough edges of just like,
01:21:00
Speaker
friggin like just like the most basic like at least examined sexism like oh my god it's it's just like he's like got the raw shit going into his veins like he's he he's not like cutting it with like he's not like rationalizing it any which he just sucks he hates women like this is reable yes but why am you so glad you brought This is what I had. This was my like number one thing watching this again that like had like stirred me that I wanted to talk about. So I'm glad you brought it up because I did.
01:21:38
Speaker
I have not watched. The live action, like, I'm not opposed to it, but it just feels so unnecessary. I'd rather see original IP than, like, a remake of something that's... eight It's, like, the animation aged fine. We didn't need... Yeah. No, it looks great. We didn't need a retelling of this. looks great.
01:21:55
Speaker
So, like... Um, but like, and I heard that I heard they like, they roughed off and the hardest part of talking about this is for me not to like talk about the series at whole or things later, but like, is that they sanded that off of Soka's character And I, watching this, actually loved it, right? Because that, like, ugh, like a girl would do this, it reflects this, like, immaturity of character, right? and for so That, like, that makes clear.
01:22:30
Speaker
And to me, though, he's not completely and insufferable in this, which is what, like, because, right, there are people... who have childish views, right? he's a child These are children who were left by their father to raise a village. try But they're not, they you don't just, you know, being forced into a position of maturity doesn't necessarily make you mature. And his energy when he's like, girls would do that, such a little boy, is such a little boy energy, right? Talking about, because I believe of the two, he's supposed to be the older. But you see Katara, you know what i mean? You see them both have this back and forth where they're both. And her response to it, right? Her response to it is to immediately get in his face, right?
01:23:19
Speaker
And show off her magic powers and get angry. She doesn't take it, right? Their siblings bickering. And so, like, I i can understand. it's And it's like, it's hard for me, right? It's hard.
01:23:33
Speaker
When you grew up in an era of where the phrase, just like if you grew up, I'm sure as a queer kid hearing like that's gay is that's bad. Right. Growing up hearing like doing things like a girl's bed. Don't run like a girl. Don't punch like a girl. Do nothing like a girl. just Don't be a girl. ah All of the media for girls is about how the coolest girls are not like the other girls. They're the one girl that hangs out with the boys. They're the cool girl. You know what i mean?
01:23:59
Speaker
And it's like, and all the other girls only like, you know, shoes. And it's like, spoilers, you can like swords and shoes. There's no, there's no real rule against just like. I'm more afraid of a swords person who's got shoes on, to be honest. I i think I could probably take the barefoot swords person.
01:24:17
Speaker
In the modern days, they probably don't have calluses on their feet. If I'm wearing footwear, I'm at the advantage. But the show, it's on its face, and it's disputed, and it shows, like, it's part of an immaturity that I think is, so if you handle it right, you can't just be like,
01:24:39
Speaker
No character can ever it's have rough edges or need to learn or grow. It's just that you need to respect. You need to not like reward it. You need to address it.
01:24:50
Speaker
And ah you know and i i love when I saw that, I was just like, oh, yeah, right? He is just immediately with the like you you know girl bad and stuff. And it really drives, it's like how he calls, her like, oh, that's weird. i would just hide it if I was weird.
01:25:08
Speaker
And it's so easy and immediate to see if you didn't pick it up right then, later on. How it's just like, he doesn't have, he's not the special. The special always has the power, right? The avatar is the special. In Final Fantasy XIV, I'm the special. You know, and in most things, it's like, hey, did you know I'm the special? Like, you know, like I do the things.
01:25:30
Speaker
And he is he is not. i' roaring I have the power to make things happen in this world. And it's really just only me. And you see all these levels of immaturity, but you see when it comes down to it and you see their sibling bickering and you see where like one is trying to pull the other back cautiously at different times. Right. They have that that energy. um But when it comes down to it, it feels like he's going to.
01:25:59
Speaker
do the right thing. And it's a... definitely not irredeemable, but like, God. It's a different level. Okay, I feel like there's so many characters who are rogues with a heart of gold that like, ghetto get away with it. Like, get away with with behavior that shouldn't be acceptable because they're rogues with a heart of gold and they're charming. And this is showing what that really is like. It's someone who is immature, who needs to grow. But, like, they're going to get there given the chance, right?
01:26:33
Speaker
Like, how many – that was so many of us because we were all children at one time. There's so many ways we needed to learn and grow. but like, we were going to get there because we cared about And it's like I see that – and I get this is the first two episodes, but to me, the fact that they – they took that growth away from Sokka. They took that away. I feel like that's just going to be, that's going to hurt more storylines further down the road. It's kind of a bummer because I think this is, ah ah yeah, in the live action, because I think this is a, ah like, a piece where they do it right, and it's so rare to see that, you know?
Heavy Themes in Avatar
01:27:15
Speaker
Okay. So it's funny that you brought it up. Yeah. So Lauren, you oh you're youre So there's two things that I wanted to touch on. One of them is is simple, which is just like, this is a kid's show, but it addresses sexism, racism, genocide, war, like, and they don't super shy away from it.
01:27:36
Speaker
And I love that. Like, we should be talking to kids about, I mean, we don't need to get super graphic, right? Keep it age appropriate. But like, these are realities of living in ah in a world with other human beings and, you know Maybe we can do better. Looked like you had something to say.
01:27:53
Speaker
oh like there there was... I don't know. There's there's a lot of um Yeah, yeah. it it these These are like some mature concepts and all that.
01:28:11
Speaker
i'm just there's There's the part where Katara is trying to trying to somehow like okay so she wants the avatar to help like win the war and save the world from the fire nation but also she somehow thinks she can like keep him from learning that like everyone he ever knew like got like genocided like my gosh everyone is frozen oh ben froze sorry you froze for a second
01:28:43
Speaker
ah Yeah, Katara somehow thinks she can, like, get Aang to help her win the win the war without, like, ever letting him know that, like, everyone he ever knew died in a a genocidal event. Yeah.
01:28:57
Speaker
i When she tells him, it was so hilarious because she's like, he's like, a hundred years. Like, it's dawning on it. Like, everyone I know is dead. And she's like, well, look on the bright side of it.
01:29:10
Speaker
And it's like, not the time. Let the man, mean, boy, right? Let the boy, let the boy child grieve. He just found out. He's been in the ice for hundred years. Literally everyone knows he's dead. You don't come in. It's like, you know, you have that friend. It's like, it's like,
01:29:28
Speaker
If something really bad happens, like they're allowed to feel bad, don't immediately be like, let's look at the silver lining. And it's like, come back and come back in a week, you know? But the point was, it's like, this is a cartoon show. We got 24 minutes. We got no time for your trauma.
01:29:44
Speaker
Book up, kid. Let's save the world. Oh. Speaking drama and stuff, I would have like if if all I knew were these two episodes here, you know, I remember from the live action that this Prince Zuko, he's got an abusive father. But like, oh, my gosh, if all I knew was Prince Zuko from these two episodes here.
01:30:05
Speaker
I would think this guy's the fucking worst. Oh my God. And there's this scene where like uncle Ira is like, would you like some calming Jasmine tea? And Prince Zuko's like, I don't need any calming tea. And I'm like, there's never been someone in all of fiction who needed calming tea more than you do right now my guy Please take your uncle up on the calming Jasmine tea. My dude.
01:30:32
Speaker
no So here's the other thing that you've both brought up is... these characters are flawed. And I know people who who can't get through Airbender because they think Aang is insufferable. And I've heard the same thing about Steven Universe. They think Steven's insufferable and so they can't they can't get through the show. But it's like, here's the thing. They're flawed.
01:30:53
Speaker
They are acting like children and they will grow. If I look at my like favorite cartoons of all time, they tend to be ones that have a lot of character
Character Development in Avatar
01:31:04
Speaker
development. And Airbender does that. The characters all go through growth. They're all flawed. The relationships between them are complex and interesting. You have to let Aang be a little shit sometimes because it pays off so much more when he grows up.
01:31:20
Speaker
um Yeah, it's it's something that I love about the show. And... Korra, by comparison, gets a lot of flack, actually. People love Aang, and they think, I know I just said that they think he's insufferable, well like people who watch the show, they people will have a variety of opinions there's a heaping serving of Korra is the worst, Aang is the best, and the fact is they just have different flaws, and it's probably sexist criticism. They don't like Korra because she's a lady. um You know, she has some real trauma she deals with.
01:31:55
Speaker
That was what I was going to say is the other part of it. I think one part is the same. One is, like, she is, like, a young, confident woman. And it's like, oh, no, you're not allowed to be confident.
01:32:06
Speaker
And get back in that insecurity thing. You know what I mean? and They're not allowed to make those, like, overconfident mistakes that, like, a young shonen protagonist. Like, young shonen protagonists are like, I'm allowed to, like, I will be the best fighter that there ever was.
01:32:24
Speaker
And everyone's like, that's adorable. That's great. And someone, women is like, yeah will be the but and it's like, wait, what makes you think you can do that? like you you yeah They are so critical of Cora's decisions, Cora's personality, Cora having the gall to be traumatized on screen. Like,
01:32:46
Speaker
But they give room for that trauma in a way. Like I said, just mentioned how Katari is like, silver lining, let's move on. There's less time. They did the right thing in Korra and they gave the care because like, right, in real life, we should not expect like don't process your trauma in two seconds. Doesn't work out like that.
01:33:08
Speaker
and And I appreciate all the stories they told in Korra, but I think part of it, too, is people's resentment to having to recognize a character's trauma when they're used to being that, like, shove that aside, the world's to be a save. You're not allowed to see a character, like, you know, like, not just do that, you know, to be traumatized.
01:33:30
Speaker
um And... Like, they should allow that for more. ass There's a way to do it that is not, like, boring or, you know, like, anything like that. And and I think male characters also should...
01:33:46
Speaker
process their trauma more. um Yeah, I actually think, I think it's season three of Korra mostly where she's dealing with it and it's it's a lovely depiction of PTSD.
Aang's Pacifism Explored
01:33:56
Speaker
um Anyway, so people think Aang is great, he's the shit.
01:34:00
Speaker
Yes, he's obnoxious and acts like a kid sometime. We see in these first two episodes, he is a master airbender. He is fighting adult firebenders and holding his own. You know, he escapes from the boat of, ah he he escapes captivity you know, one versus 15 or something like that.
01:34:18
Speaker
um But the other trait that Aang has, and I don't know if I noticed this the first couple times I watched it until later, but you can see it immediately in these first two episodes.
01:34:29
Speaker
Aang is a pacifist. Aang is scared. And that's why he ends up hidden for a hundred years, frozen in the ice, is because he ran away from his problems. And now he's causing more problems because he refuses to fight when he needs to, and that's his role as the Avatar. And the way that that pacifism...
01:34:50
Speaker
evolves over the course of airbender is really fascinating and deep uh you know avoid some spoilers for the sake of for for ben's sake but that is a big part of ang's story is learning like is being himself staying true to his morals but also sometimes you sometimes he has to fight to protect the people and the world that matter to him o One ah other difference that really jumped out at me from the live action Netflix show and the OG.
01:35:25
Speaker
um think the live action Netflix show in the first episode has the massacre of the air nomads or whatever. like you You see how it all went down.
01:35:38
Speaker
and ah yeah I don't know. I just thought that was an interesting departure. Because you're you just sort of left to Like, you know it happened, but like, you know, see it happen. It's not on screen.
01:35:54
Speaker
or at least it hasn't been on screen yet. don't know if they show things around. It felt like a very superhero's moment when they made sure that you let you know that the like the men covered in ice were fine.
01:36:05
Speaker
Like they melt them all off. It was OK. I feel like that the whole scene just existed for that like reason. Remember, it' so guitar said I'm talking about Guitar did that ice spray finally when they're escaping.
01:36:17
Speaker
And like later they didn't kill them melted off and that they were fine. Yeah. murdered it's just like no that's like a thing whenever ah in children's media there's somebody like with ice ice powers your ice mans your uh your uh the the guy in incredibles what's his name frozen or something um like those people would be fucking dead every last one of them who who got frozen. tasted ice yeah that's that's That's it. You're done, Zo. Can't breathe. no I don't know how you died first, but that would be my guess. like You probably died seven different ways right now.
01:37:01
Speaker
um Okay. Well, I hope you keep watching it. It really is a special show. I think it may be one of the like progenitor shows that showed like we can have something that appeals to both kids and adults.
Avatar's Influence on Animation
01:37:20
Speaker
no for like Would we have a Star versus the Forces of Evil without this show? Or a She-Ra and the Princesses of Power? There are so many shows that owe history to this show. um And it's it's not the only one that pushed the envelope forward, but it did a lot.
01:37:39
Speaker
Yeah, i had I had a blast with it. Glad to hear it. Would watch more. In fact, I kept catching the beginning of the third episode before I like caught on. I'm like, oh, no, no. Go to one. Go to one.
01:37:56
Speaker
i almost watched the third and i was like, oh, I better not in case I mix up what happens in the second. third I'm already like worried that like it's it's because I saw the beginning of the third episode a few times.
01:38:07
Speaker
Oh, well. Oh, well. That just means we'll have to watch the whole third episode at some point. As heavy as it is, it is also lighthearted often. And I think they do a really good job of balancing the two. There are filler episodes where it's light on action, but I think they're they're all important for character development. So and I actually just, I really like that the the balance that the show strikes.
01:38:31
Speaker
Any other parting words on it? I thought I was done like three times. I'm sorry. Parting.
01:38:40
Speaker
Music's good. I noticed that. The is good. Yeah. um Yeah, the animation is good. Like, it's just good. i don't know. I'm like, I'm upset with myself for not like giving it a chance back in February 2005, you know ah This is something that Airbender does better than Korra, and there's reasons
Conquest Mode Homework Assignment
01:39:00
Speaker
for it. But um each of the bending styles are based on different martial arts. So pay attention to that as you're watching. It's really cool how they like inform so much personality just by the movements.
01:39:13
Speaker
Okay, I'm assigning next week's homework. My assignment is inspired by comment we got, I don't know, a month or two ago, asking about Conquest decks. And all three of us are sometimes Conquest players. I spent a good chunk of time as a Conquest main. Don't play it much anymore. But I still love going in and grabbing in.
01:39:35
Speaker
don't if love is the right word. I still like going in every now and then and getting ah getting an Infinity Border. it can be a long run. But anyway, so the assignment is is loosely... Play Conquest mode.
01:39:47
Speaker
Ideally, play Infinity Conquest, but there's only like two or three days before our next recording that will be, you know, that Infinity Conquest will be open. So if you have to do gold, that's fine. um And then we'll talk about about what decks work for us. It doesn't have to be something you cook. It could just be, you know, you're tried and true that you go back to every time you want, you know, to take a run at Conquest, whatever.
01:40:13
Speaker
Their philosophies about conquest sounds good. Yeah, we're going to have a conversation about conquest. ah If you liked what you heard and you haven't already, like, comment, subscribe, etc. Do all the things or come hang out with us but and come hang out with us in the speakeasy. It's our little corner of Discord. The instructions to get there are in the show notes or video description. We're proudly part of the Snap Judgments Network where you can listen to other great shows like Snap Decisions from Joe on Mondays. It's just a good time.
01:40:44
Speaker
ah Hopefully it is still Mondays, but... He is very in tune with the world of pop culture, especially surrounding superheroes and movies and stuff. um Yeah.
01:40:58
Speaker
uh find out uh come here and talk about conquest next week and i think next week will also then be a ranking episode which are long ones but they're my favorite we'll be ranking maze cards ben you're muted god damn it i was uh yeah they're juicy the ranking episodes are long but i i think they uh ah That's the content, baby. It's our most Snap-focused content. Actually, if I'm correct that it is a ranking week next week, then we will be talking about Conquest in two weeks.
01:41:30
Speaker
We're going to try cutting secret homework on our long-range episodes. oh Then we're going to have the best Conquest tips. if they Then you'll have a full week to play Infinity Conquest, but the listeners won't have time to apply the advice. The consequences! you know it is eternal and perpetual yeah that's true conquest never sleeps infinity conquest you know three or four weeks a month that it does sleep but you know for some people who the game mode they've played the most is proving grounds anyway tune in next week one way or another same snap time same snap channel
01:42:13
Speaker
I hoped I could steal outro, even though I forget to. Please don't. need Because, and I do wish... You're the most interesting. I'm only saying that against myself. That's not a knock on Ben at all. That's alright.
01:42:29
Speaker
I really wish I was peppier for this week, but my brain and body inspired against me to take this
New Mermaid Game Release and Promotion Challenges
01:42:38
Speaker
victory away from me. But, like, ah I did finally, finally release my mermaid game.
01:42:44
Speaker
This week. I got through all the steps. in Amazing. Yes. Incredible. It is mostly joyful, right? i have so many complicated feelings because I have had such a long journey. And I started with, I thought my first games that I released were going to be so much larger. And this is still a much larger game than a jam game.
01:43:04
Speaker
But like, you know, you know, it's it's my first and it's out. And I'm really I've been playing it again um because ah here's the thing I had to I played this game so much. Like I have said, I have not like people have not really found like considerable bugs in it because I spent. every night while I was making it. And it was such a joy for me. i had been working on big systems for so long, these big games that are in my head with so many pieces that they they weren't together enough. And this was a game. i would work on it in the day and I would put it on my phone and I would lay in bed at night until I fell asleep and play my game and be like, this got to change. Okay, we're going to do this. We're going to make Mostly, that's why it's not as difficult. Riot is a game. mean, Bill is a game. I love It's a game I made for myself. and um And I was playing it again. I took, like I said I finished this.
01:44:00
Speaker
I mean, not that there have been no updates to it since then, but it was done in, like, November, you know? It's taken me months to kind of get to this to this release point and get through the steps. So recently I started playing it again,
01:44:16
Speaker
um to make the ah trailer for it and stuff. And I found I was like playing it and I'm on, reset the game for the trailer cause the entire trailer, which I will, we will link in the show notes for um the game. All the footage from that was me playing the game on my phone, like the actual game with screen recording on.
01:44:43
Speaker
All of the footage is from me, you know, and not cheating and using my little codex on the computer to make it on. It was just me playing the game. and um And I was playing it today because now because I had to reset the game. I'm like, well, it is my game. I must have it completely maxed out and unlocked and like, you know, obviously be the master of my own game. So i've been playing it to unlock all the relics again and stuff, and I'm down to the like the very last two. And there even points in my own game was taking a screenshot, so I'm like, oh, look at where I took those credits. It was exciting. And it was like, oh, I do – do – I love this. You know, i love this game. And I did not think a Mermaid Cozy Rogue would be the first game i put out, but I put – Me, and not just me, I coded it, I came kind of at him with the original idea, but my artist, um who is the other part of Stunning Billy, also put so much like love and work into it. And um the trailer, um his brother who who does music did the soundtrack for it. And it is so – that's one reason it took so long was the chance, like, maybe we could get that music. And I'm like, you know, I'll wait.
01:45:56
Speaker
And it was so worth it. It is – It is so beautiful. i'm I'm so, like, honored that this music gets to be in my game. It is so good. And it's the reason when I went to make the trailer, um because I think about, you I thought about, like...
01:46:14
Speaker
Because here's where I'm coming at with this game. When I just released it, we kind of talked about this before when when I brought up the death of Spotify. and i think even Lauren was kind of getting more into it. And everyone kind of been telling me this, but I hadn't. I was so focused on making a game. And I put it out, and I realized there is literally... No way. Unlike the internet I grew up in where you could just stumble into all kinds of fun weirdness of new stuff. You know, you could sort things by new and just see, you know, I guess that exists maybe on Twitch for streamers where you can still go and like see who just put out there and has zero viewers, but that doesn't exist at large. To find my game, you have to know the name of the game and and put it in. There's no way for someone to stumble
01:47:02
Speaker
into my game organically. There's no way for someone to just look at me. Can I hop in and be like, it looks like this on the Google Play Store. It's rumor. And then you hit the install button like I'm about to do.
01:47:15
Speaker
Whoa. We'll have main link in the show notes. It is for Android. i am working on it for, ah like, I have to, the only reason, it's not out for Apple. One, I had to, like, learn all this process to get it out and play. And b i don't have an Apple device, but you need to, so many people can't play it because it's not an Apple if thing, can get a testing device and figure out how to get it.
01:47:40
Speaker
Because eventually, long run, I want to get my games Apple. So it is for Android. Even if you can't play it, I do, I would love you to watch this trailer. So, to get to the point where I'm looking at the trailer, once again, I'm looking at, so looking at this, there was this belief I held for so long that I just had to make good work and I could hide behind it and I could put it out and it could be there, you know, and it could grow. And that maybe used to be the case. And maybe there's a couple small places and categories in the internet where that can happen.
01:48:13
Speaker
But like, that's just not that's not it's like I realized I can't like keep like I have to like to get this game out there to get people. to It's like, how do I get people to find it? How do I find things? Right. That's what I'm looking at. Because I've discussed, the algorithm, what it does, it wants to take everything you made and get the juice out of it for itself and leave you with nothing.
01:48:36
Speaker
You know, how do I connect? And it's like the way people do is because like, you know, if people could see, you know, like that's what would connect me if I see that someone loved this game and they made it and it's not another corporate thing. My game doesn't have ads. That was a point of discussion early on because like my artist, like how are we going to monetize this without ads? And I'm like,
01:49:00
Speaker
want I want to be, i don't want to cave to a system i don't believe in, you know so like, I don't, cause what does that say You know, i want to believe that there's a way and that's the gaming I try and support, you know, when I can.
01:49:18
Speaker
Anyway, so I've been struggling with that. I've been trying to figure out how to promote it, how to get the word out. And I'm looking at this trailer, right? Like, think about this. If you're, like, making a game studio now and you did it, you have the game, but, like, you find out that's just the beginning, right? My favorite part is I'm working on the next game. I'm trying to get several projects in the loop I have one that's more rank-based, but I'm working on the code for a game that's, like, Way more exciting. And it's learned lessons. I think the game I'm working on now will sell more easily to ah to Snap players. It's like the thing I, like, Room Air was a learning game. I learned if you were not an established company, like, don't make a game you have to explain to people.
01:50:03
Speaker
Huh? like really difficult. I love room air. I think there is an audience that would love it. And I have no idea how to reach them. You know what i mean? um And, and so like, I'm learning that from the next game. I think it's more for the third game. I'll try and like pick something that's even more got a particular, maybe audience that isn't served or something. But like, that's my joy is getting in there and making the game. Right. But that's not the end. It's like, it's, done, but like you have to go out there and try and get people to look at it. So I'm like, what? Okay, I'm thinking i'm like a trailer. i want like i think about trailers I see for mobile games. it's like
01:50:44
Speaker
I want to show that I'm different, but like not like the other girls in and a way that like I give a shit about my game and not just trying to nickel and dime you on a treadmill based on, you know? I don't care about my cat. Anyway, so So I was like, okay, but you know, like I need to have flashy things. I need to have text that explains like things in the game, all of this stuff. And i heard the music. I heard the music for this game and it changed everything. I remember because um ah Frank will listen to this, but like, from to me's like wait what do you think about the music? Cause, cause we waited so long for it, which they like perfectly reasonable, like, Totally reasonably waited so long because it was not, you know, something we had. Music is hard. and
01:51:35
Speaker
And so it's like, what do you think? You know? and I was like, it is evocative and perfect. And because of that, instead of trying to make like, ah you know, the original, I'm like, it's got to be like max 30 second trailer, 20 second trailer. i i try I only cut the music once. It's not the full track of the music, which is like five minutes or whatever. It's like, you know, a minute 45.
01:51:58
Speaker
The entire trailer is gameplay. Nothing that is not recorded gameplay. in it And I cut it together myself in a shitty editor. It's all screen recording from my phone. If it looks shitty on YouTube...
01:52:12
Speaker
Do like refresh, because I've noticed, because i I've watched it a couple of times myself on YouTube, just to you know remind myself that have a game that's out, finally. But like um if it if it doesn't buffer, it'll like frizz out and look terrible. like, don't. People think my game looks bad. YouTube, why are you doing this? This game will look good.
01:52:31
Speaker
But then you know like refresh it, get it buffered, or whatever. But it is... um Yeah, it's all game. It's all I screen recorded. This all me playing on the phone.
01:52:46
Speaker
And, ah you know, I cut in together in like a Microsoft Clipchamp because like, you know, my studio is operating on no budget. I have no marketing budget. and you know what mean? I have no like I'm not paying like ads, which is like it's really depressing if you go into game developer stuff where people are like, how do I get my mobile game?
01:53:07
Speaker
and To see and they're like, well, you really just got to look at like your ad costs and are you getting more and money back from the game than you spend on ads to get people to play the game? And it's like, I don't like I reject this for my life.
01:53:23
Speaker
I mean? Like, Like, and when you look at Supergiant and stuff, it's like you have to believe that there are some people out there that, like, want something better. Okay, anyway, I didn't even mean, I wish I had, I meant to, like, think more to talk about my game. But, you know, of course you're always getting, I guess, at least honesty. um It's just been, like, not one of my better weeks where I would hopefully present it better. But it's It's in the story. The full campaign mode of the game is free. The only locked portion of the game is like the endless mode. didn't think about how to monetize it when I made it. So the game is mostly free because didn't have to explain. That's pretty generous. Speaking of generous mobile game developers. A little too generous, I'd say. But, you know.
01:54:14
Speaker
that's That's kind of been the the intention all along is for it to be your your game for learning what all these processes are. I've learned so much. it so And the game is so good and juicy that I had to play some right now and I died.
01:54:30
Speaker
You died. I think this was minutes ago. this was minutes ago. I decided to only be only be a little bit rude and just do do one quick little run. That makes happy. And if you don't have Android, like go watch the trailer because i love it and listen to the sound. Thank you.
01:54:54
Speaker
And say nice things in the comments and give it likes and shares. I turn off the comments because I'm like, what if someone just says something really mean and that's like the only comment? And also, am I responsible for moderating the comments?
01:55:08
Speaker
That was my biggest worry. is like I need to moderate. i like The people stuff is hard for me. I want to make it happen. if creators of all sorts have to wear multiple hats but i think like game designers more than almost any have to wear tons of hats already and then you also have to like market your game on top of it and deal with the community and what deal might be ah a loaded word but anyway like there are so many roles to make a game and then to make sure that anybody sees it so
01:55:42
Speaker
uh yeah it's awesome but a lot of competition proud of you proud of you for getting it out there excited to see what's next yeah i'm like i said i am glad you made it you made a cool thing yeah no and like i said i mean that's really the lesson like i said of doing stuff is like You know, get smaller, contain your scope creep.
01:56:08
Speaker
I'm glad I learned this stuff here not on, you know, like a much, much bigger game.