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Episode 757 - Mœbius vs. Anastasia f/ Geoffrey Golden
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We're very happy to welcome Geoffrey Golden of The Devastator back to the show this week to talk about his new game ALL-CARDS, which uses...every trading card! We actually play a bit of the game to get a flavor for it, while also talking about gum, making fake trading cards, Tarot using Tarot, and much more!
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Transcript
Introduction and Zencastr Promotion
00:00:00
Speaker
This show is recorded using Zencaster. If you are a podcaster or you want to be a podcaster and you want to be able to record remotely, you can do so using Zencaster. They also have hosting options and you can let them know that we sent you. Follow the link in our show notes or in the episode description and sign up for an account on Zencaster now to start recording your own podcast.
Hosts Introduction
00:00:28
Speaker
I just, I'm bored. What plaything can you offer me today?
00:00:39
Speaker
War Rocket Ajax to bring back his body. Germany X's
00:00:53
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to War Rocket Ajax. This is the internet's most explosive comic book and pop culture podcast. We are your hosts. My name is Chris Sims. With me as always is Matt Wilson.
00:01:05
Speaker
Matt, if there was a set of Chris Sims trading cards, I think the stats that would be included would be most puns In a D&D item, or best pun in a D&D item name, most obscure comic book character that I have a pitch ready for. Okay. And strength.
00:01:32
Speaker
what What would be the stats on the Matt Wilson trading cards? I don't think there would be stats on the back. I think there would be trivia questions. Okay, interesting.
00:01:45
Speaker
But I think the truth of the matter is that if therere if we were on trading cards, they would be War Rocket Ajax trading cards. We would have joint War Rocket Ajax trading cards. Well, what would a Matt Wilson trivia question be? Because look, we're Matt, you are my best human friend.
00:02:02
Speaker
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. What... I would like to think I could do okay on a Matt Wilson trivia question. Oh, I don't think they're trivia questions about me. Oh, they would just be general trivia questions because that's what you like?
00:02:16
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. all right, that's fair. I think they would just be fun trivia... Like, the the picture would just be, like, me, like, walking back into my house, and then it would say at the bottom, Forgot my keys. And then...
00:02:33
Speaker
And then on the back, it will it'll have just like some trivia questions for fun ah that you can answer. like Yeah, general trivia, um like Trivial Pursuit style, ah because that's yeah that's what I like.
00:02:47
Speaker
so So again, not about you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you you your idea here is that the people getting the Matt Wilson trading cards are are interested in tria general trivia,
00:03:03
Speaker
But not Matt Wilson trivia? Correct. Now, if it if it was the War Rocket Ajax trading cards, ahha if they were if they were not Matt Wilson trading cards, if they were War Rocket Ajax trading card trading cards, and like that set would have like everyone from the canonical War Rocket Ajax wiki pages. That's like four cards.
00:03:30
Speaker
Is it six? Okay. I think. There's six canonical pages. And also like cards dedicated to bits and special episodes and guests and that sort of thing. But on my specific card, I think there would be a stat of hours of podcasts edited.
00:03:53
Speaker
And, i don't know, like like some kind of meter of joke dryness, or humor dryness. that would be That would be pretty good.
00:04:03
Speaker
Number of times died? and Oh, for sure. Deaths. Death count. yeah those are Those would be some good stats to have on the back. um I just think that if if they were trading cards specifically about me, it would be extremely funny and extremely appropriate to not have any information about me on the back. ah just Just trivia questions.
00:04:24
Speaker
And then a picture on the front that just says like where i've I have like a bunch of pieces laid out on the floor of something that you can't recognize. And then it just says in the caption, trying to fix the printer.
00:04:38
Speaker
um You know, something like that. i I like this. i would i think I would kind of get into Matt Wilson trading cards, honestly. Because it seems like it's all you in bad situations. Like, not catastrophically bad, but like not like pleasant.
00:04:57
Speaker
Inconveniences. Yeah. they're They're all documenting inconveniences that I deal with all the time.
Special Segment on 1992 Eclipse Trading Cards
00:05:05
Speaker
We have a great show for everybody this week. Our buddy, our friend from The Devastator, Jeffrey Golden, is with us this week to talk about the new game from The Devastator, which is called All Cards.
00:05:21
Speaker
What could that mean? Well, listen to the interview and you'll find out, because we're going to play some All Cards in the interview. with ah With a special appearance by some pretty legendary creators.
00:05:35
Speaker
That's right. ah Would you like to hear about the 1992 Eclipse Famous Comic Book Creators trading card set? Because we will talk about that um late in the interview. So come back or stick around and listen to that. But Chris, before we get to that, before we talk to Jeffrey, we do have some business to take care of here at the top of the
Patreon Supporter Acknowledgments
00:05:57
Speaker
show. The first piece of business is thanking our newest supporters over on Patreon.
00:06:01
Speaker
That's right, Matt. Now, these are the people who want to support the show, and in in times past, they would have had to go all the way down to 757 Gimmick Street, but you don't need to do that. You don't need no kettlebells. All you need is a device that can connect to the internet, like, say, the one that you're using to listen to this, which can direct you to patreon.com slash warrocketajax, where you can kick in as little as a dollar a month to help us keep doing the show, help us keep doing all our side projects, having a lot of fun, help us keep getting things to recommend on the show, and most importantly, for me right now, at this critical juncture in my life, help me pay those gimmicks they keep sending in the mail called bills.
00:06:41
Speaker
Yes, it's very important. It's very important. no They don't have to go 757 Gimmick Street. but But they can. If they did, they would find a location designated by the newest member of the Gimmick Street Preservation Society, Brian Clark.
00:07:01
Speaker
Like from Chronic? I don't think it's the same Brian Clark.
00:07:07
Speaker
It could it should be. You're talking about Crush? it was it Now, I can never remember which one was Brian Clark and which one was Brian Adams. Oh, that was Brian Adams. Brian Adams was Crush. Brian Clark was Adam Bomb.
00:07:21
Speaker
Yes. Yes. But his name is spelled differently, so I think it is a different... Okay, so it's not Brian Clark. Again, i always feel bad when we do this, because i'm not trying to make fun of you.
00:07:33
Speaker
It's just that like when I hear Brian Clark, like we also have a a longtime listeners' supporter named Scott Hall, and that's just where the mind goes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Chronic.
00:07:44
Speaker
um ah Brian Adams was Crush, so ah my mistake for mistaking that for Crush. Anyway, Brian Clark spells his last name with an E, so it's definitely not definitely not him. Or is that to get around copyright?
00:07:58
Speaker
Possibly. but here's ah Brian's ah location on Gimmick Street is wrestling related. Great! It's the Iron Mike Sharp Memorial Canadian canadian Consulate and Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame.
00:08:14
Speaker
ah While hanging out here on the regular relatively safe property of a foreign government, you can enjoy guided tours of the lives of the legends from hailing from Canada's greatest wrestling promotion, including scenes from the life of Canada's greatest greatest athlete, Mike Sharp, and his purely medicinal reinforced arm brace.
00:08:32
Speaker
I'm glad that the Stampede ah Wrestling Museum is named for the true star of Stampede Wrestling. Iron Mike Sharp. Iron Mike Sharp.
00:08:42
Speaker
Which also has an E, I believe. It does. It does. S-H-A-R-P-E. I'm looking at Iron Mike Sharp right now.
00:08:53
Speaker
What a hunk. like maybe Maybe the best jobber to ever do it, Mike Sharp. Do his job.
00:09:07
Speaker
do do his job knew exactly what his job was in the ring. ah Every single time. Desperado Joe Gomez wishes.
00:09:21
Speaker
Thank you, Brian. Yes, thank you, Brian. That's what's at 757 Gimmick Street. um You can join the Gimmick Street Preservation Society ah by joining our our Patreon at the $15 level, ah which I will discuss a little bit more in just a second. But...
00:09:38
Speaker
We do have some new patrons to thank here as well. um Ben Kroll. Oh, thank you, Ben. And Andrew Horton. Thank you, Andrew.
00:09:49
Speaker
um If you would like to be like Ben and Andrew and help us out here on the show, you can do it by going to patreon.com slash warrocketajax and kicking it as little as a dollar a month to help us continue to do This show weekly to do Comics Catch-Up Monthly, the new comics catch-up about Fantastic Four full circle. Just went up today on the very day we are recording this episode, so you can go check that out now.
00:10:12
Speaker
Every Story Ever and Movie Fighters Snacks Situation, when those come back, those are all supported by your ah Patreon donations. And as a patron, even at the $1 level, you get every single episode of all of those shows.
00:10:28
Speaker
that I just listed off completely ad-free. You get a special Patreon feed that's just for you with ad-free episodes of all of those shows.
00:10:40
Speaker
If you go up to the $5 level on the Patreon, you can get bonus content. That's bonus audio that Chris and I record. That is outtakes from the show that I cut out and put on Patreon exclusively.
00:10:53
Speaker
That's writing that Chris and I have done on Patreon. um All of that is Patreon exclusive, and they're at the $5 level. At the $10 level, you get line-stepping privileges for our segments, which currently include Every Story Ever and One to Ten of Swords.
00:11:10
Speaker
The $15 level is where you can join the Gimmick Street Preservation Society and name a location on Gimmick Street. We are now officially out of Gimmick Street Preservation Society submissions.
00:11:25
Speaker
So if you have not submitted a location for Gimmick Street and want to get one in, ah i would suggest doing so as soon as possible because you will get your address on Gimmick Street on the show very soon.
00:11:41
Speaker
Fairly soon, I think I'm going to open it up to a second location for people to submit So before that happens, submit your location.
00:11:54
Speaker
I'm still closing it to just one per person for now. But if we don't get any in the next couple of weeks, I'll start asking for second submissions. So if you're in the Gimmick Street Preservation Society and you have not submitted ah ah something to put on Gimmick Street,
00:12:11
Speaker
Do it as soon as possible. At the $20 level, you get a t-shirt and everything else I just mentioned. ah The 2026 t-shirt, ah we are we are coming up with ideas for it as we speak.
00:12:25
Speaker
If you're unable to help us monetarily, we'll understand, and you can help us out in other ways. You can leave us a five-star review on the podcasting app that you use, whatever that may be. We would really appreciate five-star review. It helps more people find the show and ah you know spreads the word.
00:12:40
Speaker
You can also spread the word by just telling your friends and family about the show, getting some word of mouth out there, and letting people know to listen to your favorite podcast, War Rocket Ajax. And then maybe the people you tell, they can join our Patreon, and we would sure appreciate that.
00:13:01
Speaker
Chris, with that, now that we've thanked our Patreon supporters, it's time for some Checks and Recs. What do you say? Let's do come over to dickity-dee.
00:13:11
Speaker
Chris, what would you like to check in with this week? ah Matt, a couple weeks ago I talked about my difficult January.
Chris's Ketamine Treatment Discussion
00:13:19
Speaker
And one of the things I mentioned was that i had started a new treatment for treatment-resistant depression.
00:13:25
Speaker
And i just wanted to to talk about that a little bit. Because, as you know, I believe that it is ah important to be open about ah mental health and medication.
00:13:38
Speaker
That ah you take for that. And ah it's in the absence of a job, it's kind of the the main thing that I'm doing right now. And what's the main thing that I'm doing? That's right, ketamine.
00:13:52
Speaker
I ah actually was recommended ah by my therapist. to try some alternative treatments for treatment-resistant depression. And one of the things, ah there's there's magnets you can do, ah which the first time I saw it ah was in North Carolina, and I asked my therapist down there, I was like, hey, I saw that ah that ad you've got out there, or that you know the pamphlet you've got out there for... ah For the magnets that you put in on your brain to make you think better?
00:14:25
Speaker
I have to imagine ICP was on those pamphlets. I wish, dude. and But I was like, straight up, is that bullshit? And she was like, no, it's actually not. ah So trans-cranial magnetic stimulation is actually not bullshit.
00:14:39
Speaker
ah But I opted instead for ah ketamine. Because i have tried everything else. So... ah So, ah twice a week, and then ah once a week, I go into a little room, and they give me like a little Flonase-looking guy. And ah I do that, and then I get real sleepy and see some interesting colors. i don't know how much of a change i have noticed.
00:15:10
Speaker
ah This year so far has not given me a good baseline. of of how my body is reacting to it. ah But AC has told me that she has noticed a definite change in how I've been, so I'm i'm excited about that. And I am excited to be ah doing something that will ultimately be very constructive for my mental health.
00:15:36
Speaker
It is kind of weird, because I did go from doing two doses twice a week to three doses once a week, and that third dose do be hidden.
00:15:50
Speaker
And that is that's that's when it's cuddle time for the bedtime boys, which is me and and Coffee Cup. ah Well, that's got to be a sign of something, that you know that it do be hidden.
00:16:02
Speaker
it It is. It's... I'm not allowed to drive after I take it, and that's a good decision on their part to forbid me from driving. I would say so, yeah. ah But yeah, so you know if you're out there and you're ah struggling with treatment-resistant depression, as I have been, then ah you know maybe look into some some stuff you haven't tried yet, because there is stuff out there that can maybe help you out.
00:16:29
Speaker
Matt, what are you up to? Well, Chris, this is not my right yet. Well, I'm in the K-hole. You've got K, I've got P. Because after resisting it for quite some time, after being like, I don't like Souls-likes, I like...
Matt's 'Lies of P' Game Review
00:16:52
Speaker
the official FromSoftware Souls games, but every Souls-like I've ever played has been kind of clunky and bad. um I finally bought, because it was on sale, I bought and started playing the one that everybody kept saying was actually good, and that is Lies of P. A game i have also been quite curious about.
00:17:15
Speaker
ah It is very much Souls-like um it it's It was developed by Neowiz and Round8 Studio, which are both um South Korean companies, I believe.
00:17:34
Speaker
um But you can tell from minute one, from the very get-go, from as soon as you get going, that Lies of P is made by people who really, really do love their FromSoft games. And in particular, Bloodborne.
00:17:52
Speaker
Like there is some bloodborne going on in lies of P. And so far, I mean, I haven't played a ton of it, but what I, what I have played so far, i've I've at least gotten through the first boss and a little bit past that, like pretty much right after you beat the first boss, you go to the kind of like hub where you can level up and upgrade your weapons and that kind of stuff.
00:18:17
Speaker
And It is so of the structure and in the vein of Bloodborne or ah maybe Dark Souls, the first Dark Souls, I guess. um But sir so far, so good. it's it's It is enjoyable. um The story ah is nothing to me so far. It's it's like um you're Pinocchio, And Geppetto made you, um but otherwise you're just in this kind of like gothic city um fighting other puppets that look like cops.
00:18:57
Speaker
And it's fun, though. like i'm I'm having a good time with it. I haven't gotten a chance to sit down and play it much outside of the first like play session that I had. But as I get further along in the game, you'll you'll find out whether Liza really lives up to the hype. But already, it feels better than every other Souls-like not-made-by-from-software that I've ever played.
00:19:23
Speaker
So ah that... that is That is good. it's like the the the The combat is not quite as tight as in Bloodborne or something like that, um but it's pretty close.
00:19:39
Speaker
so More to come. More to come on that. Time for some recommendations. what do you have to recommend, Chris? Matt, here's what I've been doing.
Chris's Recommendation: Dragon Quest VII Reimagined
00:19:50
Speaker
I've been playing Dragon Quest VII. Reimagine. i have a I have a Dragon Quest tattoo. I have ah i have a tattoo of a slime oh as designed by Akira Toriyama.
00:20:05
Speaker
And here's what I'll say. I'm in the tank for Dragon Quest. Now, it is also true that if you have played one Dragon Quest game, you have you have probably played all of them, more or less.
00:20:23
Speaker
ah But that can be both a that That is a feature and not a bug, as far as I'm concerned. So ah while I would not recommend Dragon Quest VII above ah Dragon Quest XI Echoes of an Elusive Age, I do think Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is ah quite worth playing. um It also has some of the best puns in the franchise.
00:20:53
Speaker
and Such as? i I kind of don't want to spoil it. Okay, yeah, fair. Absolutely fair. my My favorite one for a while was one of the crab monsters is named Claus Celebré, which is very funny to me.
00:21:11
Speaker
There is a name of a town that that made me genuinely laugh out loud. So definitely check out, if you like ah JRPGs and you want the most JRPG that there is, then ah go check out ah Dragon Quest VII Reimagined. I actually got it as a ah as a present from our buddy Annie Creighton, and I have been really putting in the hours into it. I will say, the main character looks like a dweeb.
00:21:43
Speaker
But that is kind of a Dragon Quest tradition, I think. I don't think they've looked cool since Dragon Quest III. I mean, i I would go so far as to say that's a JRPG tradition.
00:21:56
Speaker
oddd Cloud looks pretty cool, right?
00:22:01
Speaker
For certain degrees of coolness, yes, Cloud looks pretty cool. I i suppose you do have to give it to Cloud. he's got He's got cool hair, he's got the... Tidus?
00:22:15
Speaker
Come on. Tidus does not look cool. Tidus doesn't even look like a dweeb. Tidus looks like a dork.
00:22:23
Speaker
Ugh, that guy. Or ah the kid from Kingdom Hearts. Sora? Sora, yeah. yeah Sora looks like a dweeb. Sorry. Yeah, I will say, um the hero of Dragon Quest VII does not look like as much of a dork as either one of those guys.
00:22:42
Speaker
ah right But he's got a dorky little hat, which is the main problem. He's got a doofy hat. if If I remember the guy from Dragon Quest VII, like I think I do, he's got a doofy hat. yeah He's got a doofy hat, but if you purchased it early, you can dress him in some different clothes.
00:23:01
Speaker
And if you get the Deluxe Edition, you can dress him in even differenter clothes. Very interesting. So... Keep that in mind. I love a Dragon Quest. I love a slime.
00:23:12
Speaker
i love all I love a Sham Hat Witch. The best monster name of all time.
00:23:19
Speaker
Matt, what would you like to recommend?
Review: The 2025 Reboot of The Naked Gun
00:23:21
Speaker
Chris, my recommendation is a movie ah that... gotta say, when it was first announced, when I first saw the trailer for it, when when I heard that it was coming out I didn't know. I didn't know that it was going to be very good.
00:23:39
Speaker
i I was quite hesitant about um this franchise coming back and whether this movie would be any good. And the trailer did not help. but ah the The trailer um had the worst joke in the movie in it. Yeah.
00:23:59
Speaker
which Which was not a great selling point for it. But I have watched it now. It is available to watch on Bad Book website Prime. And it is funny.
00:24:10
Speaker
It is the 2025 reboot of The Naked Gun starring Leslie Nielsen. Or not Leslie Nielsen. Well, he is in it. He is in it ah in a photo. But Liam Neeson is who I'm talking about.
00:24:24
Speaker
Have you seen it, Chris? I have not. Because it... I think like you, i was skeptical. It opens with that bad joke from the trailer.
00:24:35
Speaker
And if you've seen the trailer, you know it. It's it's like this thing where um there's a little girl who stops a bank robbery and then she takes off a mask and it's Liam Neeson.
00:24:47
Speaker
And like, that is so over the top and so ridiculous that like, I thought kind of the whole movie was going to be like that. and, and that did not strike me as particularly good. Um, but the rest of the movie is much better.
00:25:04
Speaker
And, um, there there are a lot of quite funny gags. Um, Pamela Anderson, who is the, ah main love interest in the movie is super funny in it.
00:25:16
Speaker
Like she does a great job, uh, as, as, her character in the movie. And, um, I think it just like, oh, Paul Walter Hauser's in it. He's really funny.
00:25:31
Speaker
um And um one of our absolute favorite dudes has a cameo near the end, Chris. But I don't want to spoil who that is for you.
00:25:44
Speaker
But I will say ah multiple people who have done professional wrestling up appear in the movie. I got to know. I got to know which of our favorite dudes. is All right.
00:25:55
Speaker
All right. Don't blame me when the the cameo is ruined. And any listener who doesn't want the cameo ruined, skip ahead a few seconds. It's Big Dave.
00:26:08
Speaker
That's great. There's a gag where Frank Drebin Jr. has to like leave for a minute. And so Big Dave comes in as like his understudy replacement.
00:26:22
Speaker
that's That's a pretty good joke. it's It's very good. It is you know um Akiva Schaefer, who is from The Lonely Island as the director, and it it has that comedic sensibility. um it it is It's good.
00:26:39
Speaker
ah So if you were on the fence about The Naked Gun 2025, can give it my thumbs up it is It is good.
00:26:50
Speaker
All right, Chris, those are our checks and recs, which means it's time to talk about some comics.
Discussion: 'Death Fight Forever' & 'Muppets Noir'
00:26:57
Speaker
Our first comic that I think we're going to talk about this week is Death Fight Forever, number one. um this I don't know if I would call this the Texter's Choice Award, but it it was the book that Benito texted us and was like, y'all y allll are going to read this, right?
00:27:14
Speaker
Yeah, which there was kind of no chance we weren't going to read this. Yeah. ah Despite our us like being behind or or not having read Headlopper, um this is Andrew McClane's new comic ah as writer and creator um with ah art by um multiple different artists. ah there's I think different artists are drawing different chapters of this.
00:27:44
Speaker
this this is This is a wild comic book. Yeah, um it's... ah the The art in this issue is by Alexis Zerritt.
00:27:57
Speaker
And... Right, so so upcoming... there' are going to be five issues of this. Upcoming issues are going to be by different artists. Yeah. And I will say, this first issue ah looks like a better-drawn Ben Mara comic, brackets positive.
00:28:16
Speaker
It reminded me in many ways of a Ben Mara comic. With a little more coherence to the plot, but not a lot more.
00:28:28
Speaker
Yeah. not not ah Not a lot more, but definitely it's got Ben Mara vibes, ah particularly with regards to the coloring, I think. ah or But like even some scenes feel very Ben Mara-like. um like There's this one part... Okay, so the whole conceit is that it's basically like an 80s arcade video game. like it It's Double Dragon Contra.
00:28:56
Speaker
It's Double Dragon Contra, yeah. And ah the the two, the player one and player two are named Bash and Crash. Yes. Bash is like a huge asshole and Crash is like, tries to be, or no, it's the other way around.
00:29:11
Speaker
Crash is, tries to be like a nice guy and Bash is kind of an asshole. And so there's like a page in here where it's just like, um Crash notice that a guy is notices that a guy who's been shot is alive and is trying to save his life.
00:29:24
Speaker
But Bash can only think about how he can't like fit a cell phone in his pocket.
00:29:32
Speaker
And so the guy who's dying bleeds out. That's the kind of stuff that's happening in this comic. Yeah, I love... Thunderfang, who is a tiger man whose stripes are lightning bolts, wearing a ah sleeveless leather jacket and Zubas.
00:29:51
Speaker
I love him. i would I would follow him into battle. Yeah, he's like he's like their commanding officer, ah which is very funny. Yeah.
00:30:03
Speaker
And then the the bad guy is Lord Slither, who is essentially Serpentor. He's Serpentor doing cocaine.
00:30:14
Speaker
Yes, he's shown doing cocaine multiple times. like This is like ah ah sort of the midway point between Ben Mara and ah Tom Scioli, I feel like.
00:30:27
Speaker
Definitely the two the two people I was thinking of, yeah as far as like who can we compare this to. I'm really looking forward to the rest of it, because this issue is just like... The setup. It's like full-out, weird, wild stuff of the kind we really like.
00:30:45
Speaker
ah But also, i'm a I'm a little preemptively bummed out that Alexis Zeret doesn't draw the whole thing.
00:30:56
Speaker
having no idea what the rest of the comic is going to look like. well there i'm sure there's a ah I'm sure there is an incredible ah chance that I will love ah the artists of numbers three, four, and five just as much. But what a great what a great looking book. I loved it.
00:31:14
Speaker
Yeah. Alexis Zeret is ah drawing chapter two. And then 3, 4, and 5 have different artists. um The ah cover is also is by Andrew McClain.
00:31:28
Speaker
um And it's ah I think it's definitely meant to evoke like um like a fighting, like a beat-em-up game. It's Double Dragon.
00:31:39
Speaker
It is Double Dragon, for sure. and And I did appreciate that Andrew McClain did ah put after Kazumi Kakizaki... on here Which meant going in and finding who drew the the key art for Double Dragon.
00:31:54
Speaker
ah and then the And then the second issue is a homage cover to RoboCop.
00:32:02
Speaker
So, this is this is for us. That one I like because the ah the signature on that one says, Ender McLean after RoboCop. Yeah.
00:32:14
Speaker
As though Robocop drew the poster for Robocop. and And it features um essentially the Baroness, like like ah slither Lord Slither's version of the Baroness, who gets abandoned and left behind in this issue.
00:32:32
Speaker
ah So, yeah, we'll see we'll see where it goes. But this this thing's a hoot. Absolute Next up, I wanted to talk quickly about Muppets Noir number one.
00:32:45
Speaker
Holy cow, was there ever a comic book for me. ah this is This is Roger Langridge returning to the Muppets. ah And there's a frame story here where the Muppets are just like backstage at the Muppet show.
00:33:03
Speaker
And it is so hectic that Kermit is kind of losing his mind. Like... Miss Piggy shows up with some pie for him to eat and he has to turn it down, because he's so overwhelmed and he ends up kind of being kind of mean to Miss Piggy to the point where Scooter's like, Hey, you need a break.
00:33:22
Speaker
Why don't you sit down and read a book that you like? And so Kermit sits down and starts reading a noir book, uh, that he enjoys, uh, about, uh,
00:33:35
Speaker
what's what's the what what's the detective's name? Rip Marlin. i He starts reading a noir book about Rip Marlin. um and But he he accidentally gets hit in the head with a brick. And so he starts dreaming about being a noir detective himself named Flip Minnow.
00:33:55
Speaker
And he's also got like a weird ah association with pies, which keep showing up. So they keep affecting him. um it's like all black and white with spot coloring here and there. Like Kermit is green.
00:34:13
Speaker
Fozzie when he shows up is, is, you know, colored like Fozzie and so on and so forth. um But it is, it is a blast. It's so ah well done and so funny. And, and like Gonzo is exactly right when he shows up.
00:34:30
Speaker
um And there's a running gag about how, ah Kermit is looking for Miss Piggy, or as she's named here, ah Meringue.
00:34:43
Speaker
And she keeps like appearing on panel, but he keeps missing her. ah Very funny, very good. i will continue to read this book and and and love it.
00:34:57
Speaker
ah because what could be more for Matt Wilson than Muppets Noir? Love everything about it.
Analysis: Absolute Batman No. 17
00:35:04
Speaker
Chris, you wanted to talk a little bit about Absolute Batman number 17, which I have not gotten a chance to check out just yet.
00:35:10
Speaker
Right. I thought about talking about 1776 number 4, but it sucks real bad. Yeah. In a way that I find fascinatingly hilarious. like i saw I saw on ah Blue Sky that David Uzzamiri was talking about, like,
00:35:28
Speaker
he linked to like a website that was aggregating reviews of different comics. And the first issue of 1776 had like an aggregate score of like six, because multiple different websites reviewed it, and many of them reviewed it poorly.
00:35:43
Speaker
And now that it's up to issue four, only one one website is still reviewing it. Nobody's reading it. like Anyone who was going to give it the the two it deserves is is is punched out. ah So what the one the one website that is still reviewing it is giving it like nines and tens. Yeah, it it sucks real bad. ah But instead I wanted to talk about something that kind of rules, which is ah Absolute Batman No. 17 by Scott Snyder and Eric Canetti. and Frank Martin with ah Clayton Coles doing letters.
00:36:17
Speaker
And this is the debut of Absolute Poison Ivy, who just got eyes in places. Yeah, like ah i so I found the the page ah where she like appears as herself.
00:36:31
Speaker
um Because there's like a whole thing here where she's got like doubles, right? Yeah, she she makes a bunch of Poison things. ah who ah look like, you know, classic Poison Ivy.
00:36:44
Speaker
yeah But this Poison Ivy is, um I described her as being like a Ghostbusters action figure. Yeah. why had that figure. I remember that figure.
00:36:55
Speaker
Yeah, she like opens up like with, she has like five mouths, but they're all like one mouth and they kind of open up ah the wrong way in two ways from the middle of her body.
00:37:09
Speaker
And i've I found the the the page where she's revealed, and I immediately said she looked like a tyrant from Resident Evil. ah yeah Which, um if you know, you know.
00:37:21
Speaker
So the the bit with her origin is that instead of combining like human life and plant life, absolute Pamela Isley is like, I'm going to combine...
00:37:35
Speaker
all of the the oh six kingdoms of organisms. So, animals, plants, bacteria, ah fungus.
00:37:49
Speaker
And so, she's just like a weird omnimonster.
00:37:58
Speaker
I guess, is how I would describe it. She's like... All ah living things. Which is why she's got ah the five mouths that are one mouth that open the wrong way two ways.
00:38:11
Speaker
Right. Right. Absolute... The Absolute Universe is a universe where all the villains are nasty. She's like Metamorpho, but for organic matter instead of inorganic matter.
00:38:23
Speaker
She's... Well... Metamorph- e ah Matt, ah you're slightly wrong about Metamorpho, and I don't want to take the time to explain, because we have a long interview coming up. But, yes, she's real nasty, in a way that I find very fun. like It's very interesting to see,
00:38:47
Speaker
like over the course of the Absolute books,
00:38:53
Speaker
And I feel like you're getting this with ah with Batman more than the ah more than absolute Superman and more than absolute Wonder Woman, maybe because I'm more familiar with the Batman villains than I am with everyone else. But like very clearly, Scott Snyder and the artists of these books are sitting down and being like, okay, what's a new way to do Killer Croc?
00:39:15
Speaker
like What's a new way to do Bane? What's a new way to do Poison Ivy? These are characters that we've seen multiple versions of them over the years. And getting a truly new version of Poison Ivy who's weird but still has that core of of yeah, that's Poison Ivy.
00:39:37
Speaker
That's kind of what Poison Ivy does. is is very like it's It's an interesting feat for them to have pulled off. And I really, really was intrigued by this issue. But again, as you know, if you listen to the Gordies, I am in the tank for both Absolute Batman specifically and Scott Snyder in general. So oh I'm sure everyone's reading this already, but if you're not, read it. Also, this issue had a very funny ah preview of Kyle's new book, Kyle Sturks' new book, End of Life, ah where all the cuss words have been replaced, like a TV cut of a movie. Yeah.
00:40:16
Speaker
Well, speaking of pulling off impossible feats, seemingly impossible feats, a card game where you use every card?
00:40:26
Speaker
Somehow Jeffrey Golden did it, and we're going to talk to him about it. Not only are we talk to him, we're going to experience it firsthand.
Introduction to 'All Cards' by Jeffrey Golden
00:40:45
Speaker
us for the program this week, a longtime friend of the show, I believe, I believe the only guest of the show to ever give us drugs. Right?
00:40:57
Speaker
It's gotta be. What? What? The only thing to give you drugs? No, you, I'm sorry, you didn't give us drugs, you were there after drugs were taken. Never mind.
00:41:08
Speaker
That sounds more like me. yeah I'm not the guy, I'm not the guy who gives you drugs. I'm the guy who you see while you're on drugs and he makes like a funny comment or two. yeah along At the beginning of your trip.
00:41:24
Speaker
And then you go and you get into a deeper high. That sounds like more like me. I'm more of the beginning of the high, Fred. that's right i I was mixing up what happened last time me and Matt were in Emerald City. It's always good to libel our guests right up top. Absolutely, I love it. i know if only i was as well If only I was cool enough to be the friend that gives everybody drugs. How fun would that be? Man, that's like alternate universe version of me. Stark Jeffrey.
00:41:57
Speaker
the je golden Jeffrey Golden is our guest. Here to talk to us about ah a game that you can back on Kickstarter right now that is, as of this recording, perilously close to its goal.
00:42:11
Speaker
be it it would be very easy ah for the listeners War Racket Ajax to push this one over the hump if it's not there now. And I want this game to exist, because Jeffrey, please explain the premise of All Cards.
00:42:26
Speaker
Yes. All Cards is the trading card storytelling game. It's a game that you can play with Any trading cards that you have, your Marvel cards, your Magic cards, your Pokemon cards. When you're building a deck, you can use any cards you want. You got ALF cards? ALF cards are fully compatible with all cards. the Tarot cards? ALF tarot cards? Fully compatible with all cards. So... Basically, ah what the game does is it combines tabletop role-playing style group storytelling with ah with light trading card game mechanics to give your story structure. it is It's collaborative and competitive. You collaborate with ah with your opponent to tell a story at the table, but you compete over who's going to get to end that story, who's going to tell the ending of the story. And and as I said, this story is about your cards, any cards that you have ah in your collection. We've all got these trading cards. I love trading cards. I'm a huge fan of them.
00:43:36
Speaker
But ah i never once once I get them, I open the packs. It's like, oh, this is great. Maybe I'll put some of them into an album. And then that's it. It's like, what what am I doing with these with these Sliders trading cards? Are my... I have one, one year, my mom, like said, like, I know you love trading cards. So I bought you an entire box of the tick sticker cards from Panini. And i was like, mom, this is an entire box of tick cards. What, ah what could I possibly do with all these cards? Well, I decided to invent a game where I could actually ah play with them and turn them from,
00:44:17
Speaker
Just trading cards lying around my house into a game that I can play, and it has a solo mode, and it has duet mode, so you can play one player, or two player.
00:44:28
Speaker
Okay, now, Jeffrey, I don't usually do this, but but you've been on the show before where we've done, like...
Demonstration of 'All Cards' Game
00:44:35
Speaker
Pretty straight up interviews with with you and with ah with ah Amanda Meadows, also of The Devastator.
00:44:42
Speaker
Yes. So i don't I don't feel guilty about springing bringing a gimmick on you. Great. All right. and Sure. Let's do it. Robert Newsome, the publisher of the Atomic Elbow Pro Wrestling Fanzine, would occasionally include packs of trading cards and in with orders of the Atomic Elbow. And like you, i don't know what to do with them, and I don't want to throw away something that was given to me by a friend, because I have anxiety.
00:45:15
Speaker
So I have in my hands right now, and I'm so happy, because I knew exactly where they were. And I was like, finally, a use. I have in my hands one pack of ah Anastasia Oh, saw it in theaters. am very familiar with this movie. I find it fascinating that...
00:45:35
Speaker
the revolution and the assassination of the of the russian royal family oh i saw it in theaters i am very familiar with this movie um so i do find it fascinating that um I did not know this about that particular wrestling zine, but I do find it very funny that they are not packs of wrestling trading cards. They're just random trading cards that he must have gotten at, like, a flea market or something like that. It's just so funny to me. It's just, like, wrestling trading cards are, like, very affordable.
00:46:10
Speaker
ah but that They had an ample supply. The first, like... Six to ten issues of the Atomic Elbow like would also have like a couple of old WCW cards, which I also had as a kid. And then eventually, just the gag got out of hand. So I've got a pack Anastasia cards, and I have a pack of ah cards from Comic Images featuring the art of Jean Girard, Nubius. Great.
00:46:40
Speaker
So, I don't want you to to explain all of the mechanics of this game, because I want people to go to the Kickstarter, and I want people to ah to back this.
00:46:51
Speaker
But I am going to open up these cards, and I want you to tell me ah who would win between me and Matt. Matt, do you want Anastasia or Mobius? Great. I will say, the Anastasia pack is five cards, the Mobius pack ten.
00:47:07
Speaker
So already a numbers advantage for Mobius cards. well Damn numbers game. Because I'm a sporting type, I'll take the Anastasia cards. I would like to note that the Anastasia pack of cards does not have Anastasia on the packaging. It has ah Rasputin.
00:47:24
Speaker
So, interesting choice here. So ah as I'm doing this with the microphone so you can you can hear. ah Love that sound. Love that sound of a pack opening up. These cards seem to be art on both sides. no text.
00:47:41
Speaker
Cool. and The art is all, like, these are all, like, pieces of a scene. Right. So I have i have the the Winter Palace where the Romanov family was murdered.
00:47:53
Speaker
I have a ah this is a corner piece of Anastasia. And on the on the reverse side of that is just half a guy. i don't It's been a while since I've seen it.
00:48:04
Speaker
Great. This is Anastasia reacting with disgust while her love interest is dipped by a man that looks like a pro wrestler. ah With a big k mustache.
00:48:20
Speaker
ah This is Anastasia dressed for a party with ah ah a nice bun. Nice, that's what you want. that that's the That's the iconic image, I think, of Anastasia, the birds hurt the ball.
00:48:31
Speaker
Yeah, and then this is, actually I think this is the money card here. This is Anastasia and whatever the guy's name is. speak Not Rasputin. Not The love The love interest. Okay, great. yeah Cool. So, now I'm going to open the Mobius cards.
00:48:46
Speaker
Sorry, right the Mobius cards. got fit We're talking about Jean Girard. Maybe it's humanoids.
00:48:59
Speaker
Alright, again, these are ah these are all art, ah but they do have descriptions on the back. Well, there's a topless lady. but Right off the top, you're getting exactly what you paid for with these Mobius cards. I love it.
00:49:18
Speaker
ah Let's go This is card number 50, Luna. Native of the Bioforest, Luna's magical dancing saved Pooh from the Eucanus.
00:49:28
Speaker
She then accompanied him until they both met with tragedy from the ballad in Mobius number 2. ah We've got, this one is a purple ah pyramid with ah the top ah is flat.
00:49:44
Speaker
And it is, ah the back for some reason describes this as Lady Malvina. Before she became Major Gruber's fiancé, Lady Malvina was once a gunrunner on Mona 7.
00:49:57
Speaker
from the That's from the airtight garage. ah This is a A real weird looking guy pouring a drink and he's got like three big feathers.
00:50:08
Speaker
Bartina Flor, saloon keeper of Ferragonesia. Bartina Flor tried to cure J.D. Foster with bantma magic after the reckless spaceman had drunk his cocks without frapping.
00:50:23
Speaker
That's Cox K-O-K-S. Sure. Rookie mistake. Rookie mistake. You got to pay. Frap your cocks, everybody. You got to frap your cocks.
00:50:36
Speaker
ah This is ah this is ah a guy looking angrily at a floating robot camera. This is Boomy and Major 5. Bumi was a space cargo pilot en route to Cassiope, who was done in by Major Five, a computerized brain with delusions of ah being on a pirate ship.
00:50:54
Speaker
ah That's from Blackbeard and the Pirate Brain, from Mubius Cat. ah This is a similarly topless lady, but you can't actually see but No nips. No nips on this one.
00:51:10
Speaker
um Governor Ambrose Yano Raven IV fought to deliver the Horny Goof to the breeder in order to protect Earth's metrite contracts and avoid war with the exotics. That's from the Horny Goof, 1974. The Horny Goof? Is the Horny? Is Horny Goof capitalized? It's Horny Goofs in all caps.
00:51:31
Speaker
Oh, okay. but Even better. Thank you. Appreciate that. This one is a a lady who ah is in a spotlight, wearing like a cool dress with like dragons on it and like a cool headdress and a nice gown, ah kind of a serpentine design. Elaine.
00:51:51
Speaker
daughter of John and Kirsten Gerard, granddaughter of Zumurud. She was fated to free Azraq's world beyond the clutches of the evil Sarkin.
00:52:04
Speaker
So that's from 1987. ah Wow. this is ah This one is ah like ah like a like a tanker truck with six wheels, um but like you know in space, like on another planet.
00:52:17
Speaker
and This is the Beirut 2000.
00:52:21
Speaker
ah The tank-like vehicle used by Louis Carnellian to investigate the second and third levels of the airtight garage. Obviously. ah This one's just a guy sleeping in, like, a chair with, like, a Cerebro helmet on. ah Cool.
00:52:37
Speaker
This is Hyperspace Bridge, which doesn't sound... That sounds way more exciting than the guy sleeping. um This was the model used on Terran ships during the Imperium. However, these were later replaced because their drivers tended to flube, projecting the pilots straight out of the continuum.
00:52:55
Speaker
Oh, yeah, you gotta watch out when you're flubing on the on the open space highway there. Now, the final one, I think this... If I had a nickel for every every time somebody flubed out of the continuum...
00:53:09
Speaker
I just remember all those ads. They used to have PSAs on TV that were like, do not floop on the continuum. And then they would show like a guy flooping on the continuum and like exploding. And it was like, see what happens. It's like, oh yeah, that's a good i it's a good i like it ad.
00:53:25
Speaker
I really liked the one where it was like um like ah a pan on a stove. It was like, um this is the continuum. Yeah. And then they crack an egg into it. It's like, this is when you flube on the continuum.
00:53:39
Speaker
i I really made a lot of sense. I just remember how patronizing it was when they had that ad campaign that was like, flubing is wacko if you're a teen. ah So i I just sent this to Matt. Jeffrey, I'm about to send it to you. um because I like this guy. And if I was any character drawn by Girard, Mubius...
00:54:01
Speaker
ah This is who I would be. And this is this is the Tarhai. ah These evil creations of Major Gruber plagued the airtight garage until most of them were exterminated during a gargantuan battle.
00:54:13
Speaker
um And if you want to, Jeffrey, if you want to describe the image you have been sent. I don't have it yet. email is too slow. there we go. Okay. Gotta hammer that up.
00:54:26
Speaker
Oh my god. I paid for fast internet, and this is what I get. when But I need it the most. While we await the arrival of the email, I just want to um note that my morbid curiosity led me to look up ah the horny goof.
00:54:43
Speaker
Because I was like, oh, that's probably some like funny translation thing or whatever. Nope. It's exactly what it sounds like. It's exactly what it sounds like.
00:54:55
Speaker
The horny goof. If you heard the horny goof and thought, it that might not be that. No, it's what it is. Okay, i've got I've got a photo. I've got the photo of the card here. All right, I would say, i would describe this person as like a B-list steampunk superhero. He's got like kind of a flamboyant outfit with like high-waisted pants. He's holding like two metal pitchforks in the air. He's got on like what look like goggles, like those big like like airship pilot goggles with like an airship pilot hat, but that has like ah spikes, like spiky ears sticking out of it, and a cape, and he also has like a tail, like ah like a medium-length...
00:55:53
Speaker
tail under the cape. So yeah, that's ah that's what I see. i mean, he kind of rules, though, right? Yeah, I mean, he does. i mean yeah ones I mean, I do like a B-tier superhero. I said earlier, I love the Tick, of so it's like, I get that that sort of vibe. Yeah, he's a good hes a good guy here. so to you doing it To even things up, I'll take him, I'll take the naked lady,
00:56:20
Speaker
I'll take the the ah the the tank. oh these two cards were stuck together. that's why That's why the pyramid was described as a lady. Because there's actually a lady.
00:56:33
Speaker
late Lady Malphia. The pyramid was the Paternum Sanctum. But ah people are already tired of hearing about this, I can tell. I'll take the ah lady in the gown... And i'll take the I'll take the Purple Pyramid. So those are my five. Matt, you've got these five images from the film Anastasia directed by Don Bluth.
00:56:53
Speaker
It's weird that between Don Bluth and Mobius, Mobius is kind of coming off as hornier. ah you You mean the the writer and artist of the horny goof?
00:57:05
Speaker
Yeah, that's him. That's him. It's just that, like, you watch anything with Don Bluth and you're like, could you calm down for five minutes, dude? Yeah, I agree with that.
00:57:18
Speaker
ah With that assessment of his work, some more than others, but all... Yeah, if there's always going to be, like, a very... Yeah, a very horned-up lady ah in these stuff in these in his video these video games slash movies that his studio outputted.
00:57:38
Speaker
So so who who wins? How do I how do ah i win this against Matt? So each of you, so I'll walk you through it real quick. So each of you should pick a character from ah from your hand. So pick a character who you want to be your main character.
00:57:58
Speaker
Matt, I'm going to guess you you'll pick Anastasia. Yeah, I mean, why not? you Yeah, let's let's go with Anastasia from Anastasia. Okay, do you want her in her cute hat? I like the cute hat. Or do you want her at the ball?
00:58:10
Speaker
Yeah, let's go with the hat. Okay, we've got the hat. I will pick the naked lady.
00:58:16
Speaker
Okay, great. No, no, no, I'll pick the Tarhai. The guy with his clown pants and his tuning forks.
00:58:26
Speaker
Alright, so here's what we do. So next, each of you has a main character, and then each of you pick a sidekick for each of your main characters. So who's going to be the helper character for each of you? Alright, Matt, your options are Anastasia again, which I think is pretty good, or Anastasia's hunky love interest with the vest.
00:58:56
Speaker
I think Hat Anastasia is my main character and Ball Anastasia is my sidekick. Okay. All right. I've got i've got it i've got her laid out here. Okay, great.
00:59:07
Speaker
So the next thing we're going to is, ah this is a storytelling game, and in stories... the naked lady will be my sidekick. Okay, good. Oh, I'm glad we're getting the naked lady out on the table. Like, because would have been a shame to, like, keep her, you know, keep her her hand. Okay, so so this is a storytelling game. And in stories, our characters have goals.
00:59:29
Speaker
They have things they want to do. So basically, what we have is a goal picker. uh in the game and so it's you roll 2d6 and that it helps determine uh the goals for your main characters now the goals of each character are going to oppose one another so uh watch i'll show you so going roll some d6 here okay so i mean look it will not surprise you i also have six sided dice on my desk Yes, that is not a surprise. um it is ah It is on brand.
01:00:04
Speaker
So I rolled so 5-55. So I'm going to go... Okay, who's player one? Matt, I'll let you be player one. All right.
01:00:17
Speaker
Okay, so Matt, you're playing as Anastasia. Yes.
01:00:23
Speaker
In a hat. In a hat, okay. In this game, in this story, Anastasia's goal is to commit an outlandish crime. So, what crime... Like pretending to be the heiress of the Russian royal family, perhaps.
01:00:43
Speaker
i I think her crime is to secretly have her family assassinated so that she can take over as Queen of Russia. Amazing. Great. That's perfect.
01:00:55
Speaker
Okay. And then, okay, so Chris, ah your character, your main character wants to bring all criminals to justice. ah So tell me about your character and how they love they love bringing character other characters to justice. They want to see justice in the world.
01:01:14
Speaker
Well, one thing that you did not mention about ah the Tarhai here is that he does look like he's wearing like a Batman mask. Kind of. Yes. so yeah i thought i interpreted it as like goggles, like ah like a steampunk, per but maybe it is a event maybe it's like more of a cowl. Well, he's got the ears.
01:01:34
Speaker
Right. Yes, this is true. so It's definitely up for interpretation, I feel. I think there's a lot that's up for interpretation on these cards. ah So I would say, like I have already said that I kind of identify with this guy, so I think this is me With the clothes that I bought at the Ren Faire.
01:01:56
Speaker
Wanting to take wanting to take up the mantle of Batman. And using my tuning forks to make to scare criminals with Batman-shaped shadows.
01:02:07
Speaker
I love it. ah Yeah, you're just scare you scare criminals with your with your visage. I love it. Here in 1918... in nineteen eighteen Yeah, I'd say that's that sounds right. Yeah, about early 20th century here.
01:02:24
Speaker
um Okay, so the game ah plays out over ah multiple scenes. So now we're we're not going to do multiple scenes. And I'm also like doing the very like i'm doing a very like ah you know very cheat sheet version of this game. But this will give you a flavor. So Chris, ah why don't you go first and... And play any card, and I will explain la like what it's like what it does for for your hero.
01:02:54
Speaker
Okay, and and this can't be my sidekick, who is the naked lady. Your sidekick is already out. Okay. um So, yeah, let's play another card. Which of your cards do want to play? I will play the big purple pyramid.
01:03:08
Speaker
Okay, great. So a big purple pyramid is a setting. so So you're going to change the setting of the scene that you're in. So when you you're going to play that card, you play that in the center. There can only be one setting at a time. And if your setting is in play, you get to draw an extra. feel like the fear heights is very rational fear.
01:03:36
Speaker
so ah okay so what's happening with your with with ah mr cowell ah mr cowl slash steve pokiro at the big pyramid what's he what's he doing there i feel like the fear of heights is a very rational fear like I think it's it makes a lot of sense to be afraid of a thing you could like very easily die from. So I think, rather than perching on a gargoyle, I have come to the flat on top of this ah this ah pyramid, which is very safe.
01:04:11
Speaker
Because it's very rooted. I take it you're probably on top of this pyramid to like look for criminals, right? To like look and see... Rather than perching on a gargoyle, dangerous.
01:04:23
Speaker
I am just standing on top of this pyramid, which from the art does appear to be like maybe a tourist attraction. Wonderful. Okay, great. So, ah Matt, why don't you go ahead and play play a card? Okay, Matt. Remind me what other cards I have. You have ah Anastasia dancing with her love interest.
01:04:40
Speaker
Yeah. You have Anastasia recoiling in disgust while her love interest dances with a guy who honestly kind of looks like Jordan D. White. right Who I used to do the the podcast with. Or maybe Jacob Wysocki.
01:04:55
Speaker
Two people who don't really look alike, but this guy kind of looks like both of them. And then you have a close-up of Anastasia oh smiling. I'll go with the...
01:05:07
Speaker
Dancing with her love interest card. ah Okay, great. Dancing with her love interest. Dancing is an action. so Action cards can do any ah manipulate supporters or character cards. so For example, you could take a supporter that's on the table and you could have them killed or banished or go on vacation. You basically move them to the discard pile.
01:05:36
Speaker
ah Or you could bring a supporter from – if you you were playing this game if for a law for a while, you might have some supporters that were in that were out of the game. You could bring them back for a for a surprising return.
01:05:50
Speaker
Or ah you could turn a supporter against – their main character. Um, so you might say, oh, now this character is betraying, ah is secretly betraying, who is supposed to be their friend. Um, so why don't you just, so, so, ah given that you have this card of, uh, of her dancing, would you like to maybe, uh, one of the supporters, and ah have them killed or banished or put on vacation, or ah or maybe turn a supporter secretly against, a turn turn a said say a sidekick against their ah their main character.
01:06:32
Speaker
Okay, yeah, yeah. We'll we'll um do everything we can to bring the naked lady over to our side. Yeah. hoper Offer her a position in the new um royal court.
01:06:47
Speaker
Great. Under under my my leadership is Zarina. i can't believe the naked lady has betrayed me. a ah So on the in the game, you would turn that card 180 degrees on the table to indicate that they are now turned. And at the end of the game, if they're still turned, ah Chris, you will get ah matt you'll get points for them. For that character. But if, ah Chris, if you manage to turn them back, ah then ah then then that you will earn points for the naked lady at the end of the game. So the naked lady is in play, is very much in play at this point.
01:07:28
Speaker
um Okay, great. ah Let's see, whose turn? Matt, is it your turn next? Matt just put down the dancing. Oh, Matt just put down the dancing. Okay, so Chris, so it's your turn next. I think I'm going to go with the oh the the tank. The Beatroom 2000.
01:07:45
Speaker
The six-wheel desert tanker truck vehicle. So, ah tanks... are objects. And in this game, we call objects MacGuffins. And these are important objects. These are coveted objects that ah characters want to acquire throughout the game. And if you have, you manage to keep your MacGuffin through the whole game without it getting stolen, which can happen, You'll earn big points for that at the end of the game. Okay, so how does how does your crime-fighting hero utilize their tank?
01:08:26
Speaker
Well, here's the here's the thing about a pyramid. Yeah. A pyramid is four ramps. And this thing appears to be just trucking along pretty pretty solidly, kicking up a big dust cloud ah here as it's... a ah investigating the second and third levels of the airtight garage.
01:08:46
Speaker
um So I think in order to to further my goals, I'm going to do like a big monster truck stunt. Oh, damn.
01:08:57
Speaker
Okay. With my Batmobile, which is post-apocalyptic tanker truck. but Oh, damn. So you're doing a stunt, and that stunt is probably going to like drive fear into the heart of like criminals everywhere. Criminals and like five-year-old girls who are plotting to assassinate the royal family of Russia, yes.
01:09:20
Speaker
Is Anastasia intimidated by this stunt, by this by the by these big wheels? do Do I decide that, or does Matt decide that? Matt decides that. I'm implying, sorry, the question implies, was curious, Matt, ah does is Anastasia intimidated by this, or or no?
01:09:42
Speaker
Well, what's funny is, is the next card I was going to play was Anastasia smiling. um Because she's laughing, actually. um okay, that's great. She's laughing, actually, about this. gotta say, that is pretty badass. Yeah.
01:10:01
Speaker
Now, let's see. Is that card... Remind me, is that card a full body shot, or is that the one that was described as like a piece of a card? Like a puzzle piece. It is a close-up.
01:10:12
Speaker
That would be a the corner of a larger image. Great. Okay, perfect. This is actually ah really good news. This is actually really good news for you, because ah for your turn, because that would be, i would call that a twist card. um So twist cards are like the miscellaneous cards that you get. So like a piece of someone's twist. face in like a part of a puzzle piece or like a checklist or like trivia trivia cards you know these are like twist cards and twist cards have two effects they can you can use them to steal a macguffin
01:10:53
Speaker
So steal an object or you can remove an active setting. But I would think if I was Anastasia, I would definitely want to steal that tank. how are you how does how does anastasia steal this ta How does Anastasia steal the Well, so what's nice about Anastasia is that – or my Anastasia is that she's got a double.
01:11:19
Speaker
Like her sidekick is her body double. And so we're going to a – just like Attack of the Clones? Just like a Attack of the Clones. All of us have body doubles. This is something I've learned.
01:11:32
Speaker
ah For for two two reasons, this is to be our last turn because one, we're out of time and got to go to list your questions. And two, we want to leave them one more. um that's what ah But Anastasia will approach the Batman guy on the – or the body double will approach the batman guy on the um Who is me? admit I want to establish in canon, it is me.
01:12:01
Speaker
yes Oh, you're playing as yourself. so I will approach Chris Sims, the body double will, and and like... ah speak as though she's about to turn herself in.
01:12:15
Speaker
um Say, we see what you've been doing. You've been trying to intimidate us. um We can't let this go on. ah Just take us in. While the real Anastasia infiltrates the tank, hotwires it and speeds away with it.
01:12:34
Speaker
I think that is ah it is amazing scene to end on. ah A spine-tingling cliffhanger. um And so basically you would go you'd play six scenes like that. There's more to it than that, but that's the basic idea. And then at the end of the game, you count different points that you have based on things that you did in the game. And then those are triumphs, we call them, triumph points. And then whoever has the most triumphs gets to...
01:13:01
Speaker
Gets to end the story and say, ah who won? You know, the Mobius knockoff Batman Chris Simms or Anastasia? I mean, I think it's pretty clear that I'm losing.
01:13:15
Speaker
well Well, but you never, but there's there are mechanics that can help you come back ah from ah from a a slow opening. so So don't count yourself out yet.
01:13:25
Speaker
And as I say say, there's also a solo mode, um so you can you can play it as a duet or you can play it as a solo. um So yeah, that's ah that's that's the flavor of all cards. Jeffrey, before we move on to listener questions, I do want to quickly ask you about the example playing cards from the guide.
01:13:45
Speaker
Oh, yes. Which include um Chester A. Arthur as part of Our Sexiest Presidents, um a Dream Cars card where it just says Uppy Doors, and we all know what that means, and a kid holding a football that says a Offensive Face Puncher, and so on and so forth. like These are clearly like funny...
01:14:05
Speaker
Yeah.
01:14:13
Speaker
because you cannot legally show real trading cards from real series in the guide or is it both It's kind of both. yeah So the easy the easy solution would be to scan real trading cards I have and then put funny captions on them, which might qualify as fair use um because it's like criticism, ah but also would probably not stop a lawyer from sending me a cease and desist. Yes, definitely.
01:14:47
Speaker
The Pokemon company lawyers are going to be are going to be on the lookout, I think. yeah so ah So my next idea was, okay, I'll make my own trading cards. And i happen to know i happen to know somebody who works at a licensing agency for like movies. like I met them like once years ago. um so she like does like the merchandising rights for like a bunch of 80s movies, like The Terminator and Bill and Ted's. And I was like,
01:15:16
Speaker
hey, like how much would it cost me to like license stills from those movies for a ah for a short run of black and white zine, a game zine? And she was like, well, ah my absolute the absolute minimum I could charge you would be $5,000 per I like, well, that is a tiny bit out of my budget. I was yeah hoping it would be more like $10 an image. Can we not meet in the middle or meet in the middle closer to my side? um So then i was like, all right, I have another idea. And what I did was I went to the Internet Archive.
01:16:09
Speaker
And on the i Internet Archive, they have CD-ROMs. of like stock images from the 80s and 90s.
01:16:20
Speaker
So these were like images you could use. You were like licensed to like use them in projects. They were mostly photos, but there's some illustrations as well. And basically I i took those and then I created ah borders, like trading card style borders around them. So was like, it started with the funny picture And then I was like, okay, how do I turn this into a trading card? of So yeah, and there's there's tons of them in the book, and they were a lot of fun to make. I would like yeah i would like send them to Amanda, my wife and creative partner, I'd send them to her over Discord, and she would just just like lie just be like, that's ridiculous. Yes, they're they're very fun. i I like them a lot. I'm glad that's what they ended up being. ah
01:17:09
Speaker
All right. It's time to get some to some listener questions. If you would like to send us a listener question for our guest on the show, you can do it in two different places. You can do it on our Discord, which you have to be invited to be a member of. But if you ask us nicely for an invitation, you can join over there. And go to the Listener Questions channel on our Discord and ask questions. Or you can do it on Blue Sky, just like this question from our buddy Ben Gully, Ransford Nantoo, on Blue Sky.
01:17:34
Speaker
Why don't more trading cards tell us about their subjects' energy projection levels?
01:17:42
Speaker
I know. like i would it would be Boy, it would sure be great if I have all these he shows, these trading cards from Jim Henson's dinosaurs. and I really wish I knew Robbie's energy projection levels. It was kind of a it was kind of ah ah weird that they that they sort of glanced over it on the show, especially on the trading especially ah weird on the trading cards if they don't talk about it, especially when he does steroids in that one episode. his energy projection levels would go off the roof. i forgot about that. it's also It would also be very helpful in the final episode where they go extinct.
01:18:19
Speaker
Yeah, think they could to burn up but some of that that ice, it's the the snow that's coming around them. yeah i ah Spoilers for the last episode of Dinosaurs. Dinosaurs.
01:18:33
Speaker
ah Let's see Sam on our Discord wants to know, what's your favorite trading card you've gotten from a trade rather than pulling it from a pack? Oh, what a great what a great question.
01:18:45
Speaker
Favorite trading card I ever got from a trade? Oh, give me a, give me a set. Do you guys have a ready answer for that? I'm trying to think. I'm trying to, I'm trying to think it by if i ah I'm trying to think because it's been so long since I've traded. This would be going back to like, this would be going back to like elementary school, like middle school years. Yeah. Yeah.
01:19:10
Speaker
yeah I only ever traded like baseball cards, and I always got shafted in those trades because my much older brother would like trick me into thinking he was trading me a good card when it was worthless.
01:19:25
Speaker
And so i I never got anything good from a trade. i traded I traded basketball cards. I was big into basketball cards growing up. And I do remember that I had a collection of um the Charlotte Hornets player Larry Johnson, um who was... Grandma. Yeah, oh great. Amazing that you know that. um And, yeah, he was... And, of course, his partner, Alonzo Mourning. The two of them were amazing at NBA Jam. And...
01:19:57
Speaker
I remember I would do anything. I would like trade ah like any card I had for like a Larry Johnson. guy I don't know why I fixated on him, but I loved his. I probably was very happy to get like his ah Olympics, you know his Dream Team card or something like that. um That sounds seems like the kind of thing I would have traded for back in the day.
01:20:20
Speaker
Chris, do you have a favorite card you traded for? i never... traded a trading card in my life. I feel like that was, if you got into Pokemon cards, you were really doing that.
01:20:33
Speaker
i would have been like 16. We're all just a little too old for that. Yeah. yeah ah But I was never really into into trading as much as I was collecting.
01:20:45
Speaker
And by collecting, I mean like, you know, getting my mom to buy me a pack of trading cards at the grocery store. yeah Frankiemon555 on our Discord wants to know which tarot card would tarot Witch of the Black Rose use to play all cards?
01:21:05
Speaker
Okay, wait. Slow down a minute. Okay. Which tarot card yes would tarot character from the Black Rose? Don't tarot the Witch of the Black Rose a character...
01:21:24
Speaker
Of whom I have some some connection. With whom I have a connection. She's a witch created by the artist and writer Jim Ballant, um who um is has a lot in common with some of those Mobius characters we were talking about earlier, in that she's often naked. She's frequently naked, yeah. and Well, you've got the connection. maybe yeah I think you should take this one, because I think I'm out of my depth on this one.
01:21:51
Speaker
I mean... I mean, I don't know. I have a favorite tarot card, but I don't know what tarot would be. I'm going to say i'm gonna say the the the High Priestess would be her her ace. my My first thought was the Lover's card.
01:22:06
Speaker
That one does frequently show up, yeah. Yeah. But, you know, to each our own. To each our own. I get death a lot whenever people do my tarot. They're like, it's here's the death card. And so I'm like, oh, great. This again. These cards always want me to die for some reason. Okay, fine. You'll get your wish someday, tarot.
01:22:32
Speaker
ah Stone Cold HCC, an account that exists only to ask questions on War Rocket Ajax, wants to know, do you ever smell something really bad that turned out to be inside your own nose? Ooh, have I ever done that?
01:22:43
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, yes, it's happened. Do I have like a funny story about it? No. But is it is that is that a a is that a blue sky post I could relate to? Absolutely. 100%. Very relatable.
01:23:00
Speaker
i I hate to tell you this, Stone Cold HCC. Anything you smell that's bad is inside your nose. your Particles from that thing going in your body. That's actually not true. The thing about particles is actually not true. It's chemicals. They're called odorants. Look it up.
01:23:19
Speaker
Oh, shit. It's just like like everybody talks about how there's like pieces of dog poop up in your nose. and That's not actually how it works.
01:23:30
Speaker
BD Clark on our discord wants to know, have you ever ever encountered the bubble gum that used to come with sports cards? All the time. um Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. And so so a couple of years ago, i had a ah podcast where I opened up trading cards with with comedian friends.
01:23:49
Speaker
And we would always when you get the old trading cards, you always get this. You always get the bubble gum and the bubble gum is usually in pretty rough shape. Sometimes it will be like spotted.
01:24:02
Speaker
like it will have like a bunch of like gray or or black spots on it. Sometimes it's like it like disintegrated into dust, so you like open it and it just like gets everywhere. It's anthrax. Suddenly like the bubblegum dust gets everywhere.
01:24:18
Speaker
um but some of ah Some of my guests wanted to eat them as a joke, to chew on them. ah None of them said it tasted good.
01:24:32
Speaker
Most of them like spit it out like after like a second. They were like, oh, that's poison. So one time i remember that the ink from a card actually like was like, you know, like in a silly putty, like when you press a yeah silly putty on like a comics page, it like you see, then you see the comic on the inside. It was that, but like with the bubble gum and like the card.
01:24:56
Speaker
um It was pretty, it was pretty wild. um It's like, oh yeah, oh, that's where, that's where half of that card image went. It's I, my main experience with trading card bubble gum was just that like, it would, it was so hard and sharp that it would like cut your mouth.
01:25:17
Speaker
Yeah. it It's, it's like, it's like chewing glass. Yeah. Uh, all right. One last question. We have time for one last question. This is from Julia Louis Dreyfus on our discord. Um, not Julia Louis Dreyfus from Seinfeld. Um, but, uh, her namesake, uh,
01:25:34
Speaker
And I sent an image of this. How assured would my victory be if I played the shirtless Todd McFarlane card? 100%. I don't want to give it away, but that card is is explicitly mentioned in the manual as being the most powerful card in the game. feel like the only card beats that is the Chip Zdarsky card where he recreated that exact image.
01:26:00
Speaker
ah if you get the two If you get the two of them against each other, um you have to, by the rules of the game, ah rip all your other trading cards up and turn them into confetti and just just throw them in the air. It's like there's no no other cards could compare to those two.
01:26:20
Speaker
I want that Todd card so bad, dude.
Where to Find 'All Cards' on Kickstarter
01:26:23
Speaker
That's a good looking card. How much is it? Gosh, I should go look on eBay. But Jeffrey Golden, where can people find you on the internet? Where can people find all cards and ah back this campaign and ah put these Anastasia and Mobius cards to good use?
01:26:39
Speaker
Absolutely. ah You can find all cards on Kickstarter until ah the last day of funding is February 27th. And ah yeah, if you just look up ah all all dash C A R D S in Kickstarter, you should find it. um If for some reason you can't find it, you can find me on blue sky.com.
01:27:04
Speaker
Uh, I'm at a Jeffrey golden. That's G E O F F R E Y G O L D e N. Um, it's, you know, it's that weird blue sky username, but if you look up that name, you should be able to find me And at the top of my page, it's pinned to the top of my page is the, uh, it's the link to all cards. Um, yeah. Uh, and, uh, I'm excited to know, people, some, so some folks have been posting on the all cards page.
01:27:31
Speaker
Uh, they've been commenting on what cards they're going to play the game with And so I'm very excited to see ah comments about what ah cards people are going to play the game with. I really enjoyed playing with the with the Mobius and Anastasia with y'all, and and i I look forward to hearing what what cards other people ah build their decks with.
Discussion on Collectible Card Pricing
01:27:55
Speaker
ah Before we let you go, I will say, you can get the the Todd card for about $20, but there is but there is a Graded, slabbed, gem mint, 10 out of 10, shirtless typing problem with the baseball bat ah that is $101.15 on eBay right now. British pounds.
01:28:22
Speaker
it's in i found this too chris it's in the united kingdom so but that yes that that's ah
01:28:32
Speaker
ah converts to about 101 US dollars and then the shipping is 36 dollars ish you can also get a whole set of ah famous comic book creators trading cards for 50 dollars and among the pages that this listing has put up is because they're in a binder an official famous comic book creators is trading card binder Jeffrey thank you so much for coming on the show oh my pleasure thank you both for having
01:29:04
Speaker
Thanks once again to Jeffrey Golden for joining us and for indulging us in playing ah all cards. ah Go check out that Kickstarter campaign. Back that book. It's ah it's going to be worth it.
01:29:16
Speaker
Yeah, didn't that sound like a blast? You should go buy that book and play that game. I think we should have mixed up the Mobius and Anastasia cards, but that would have been... that That would have been difficult with me having all of the cards.
01:29:30
Speaker
Yeah, just not be me not being able to see the cards was definitely an added difficulty. I think we should play this game for realsies the next time we are together.
01:29:41
Speaker
I agree. I agree. We absolutely should. Go back that Kickstarter, everybody.
Contact Information and Social Media
01:29:46
Speaker
Also, if you want to email us, you can do it at our email address, which is warrocketpodcast at gmail.com. That's where you can send every story ever lists.
01:29:53
Speaker
One to ten of swords. Uh... submissions. ah Let us know if you want to sponsor the show or get in touch with us about any other old dang thing. You can also get in touch with us by going to Tumblr, warrocketpodcast.tumblr.com. You can find us on Blue Sky. Warrocketajax.com is what we are on Blue Sky. It's our Blue Sky handle. You can ah hit us up on our Discord. If you want to join our Discord, as I mentioned earlier, you can hit us up for an invitation and we will get you one if you're nice about it. And you can join over there. You can also message us on Patreon if you're a patron.
01:30:29
Speaker
Our website is warrocketajax.com, which has every episode of the show that we've ever done. Warrocketwiki.com is the fan-run repository of all the information you can ever want or need to know about this show, War Rocket Ajax.
Matt D. Wilson's Personal Website
01:30:40
Speaker
If you want to find me or my stuff, go to mattdwilson.net. It's where you'll find links to my comics, my books, my other podcasts, and my social medias. Chris, where can people find you? Everybody can find me by going to the-isb.com that has stuff that I've written and links to the things that I do. And hey, are you a large corporation with a great deal of money that you would like to spend on writing?
01:31:04
Speaker
Great news. You can do that. Also on my website. I mean, you don't even have to be a large corporation. i Just if you have a great deal of money. Yeah, you can be anyone with money.
01:31:16
Speaker
yeah And probably less money than you think. Yeah.
Conclusion: Social Justice Messages
01:31:21
Speaker
That's going to do it, everybody. We'll be back next week. I think ah think it's time to talk about swords next week.
01:31:26
Speaker
Might be some time to rate some swords next week on a scale from 1 to 10. So come back for that. Until then, do not forget that Black Lives Matter.
01:31:39
Speaker
Trans rights are human rights. As are abortion rights. Drag is not a crime. Cops aren't your friends. Abolish ICE. Free Palestine, we love you.
01:31:50
Speaker
love you. Yeah! It's for everyone. It's not for everyone.