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KAAAAHNNN (Crimson Skies - Part 2)
318 Plays5 days ago
We move on to the second story in the book, The Manchurian Gambit written by Michael B. Lee! This one has it all, kidnappings, kidnappings, double crosses, another kidnapping I think? And a trip to the Marshall Islands!
I'm a sucker for these kinds of pure adventure stories so we are having a good time with this one. In this episode we read the novella by Eric Nylund set in the Crimson Skies universe (which seems like it is fresh for revisting to be honest).
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Synopsis
Welcome to the world of Crimson Skies. The United States is a land torn apart by epidemic and war. With chaos on the ground, America’s highways have been forced into the skies, a lawless new frontier where the flying ace—hero, pirate, villain—is king. Here are the exciting, danger-packed adventures of three such daredevils.
The Case of the Phantom Prototype . A hefty payday convinced dogfight genius Paladin Blake to fly a top-secret aircraft into the Mojave Desert. But on this job, Blake must not only save himself, but thousands of others slated for death by an unseen foe.
“Genghis” Kahn & the Manchurian Gambit. Why is the notorious leader of the Red Skull Legion pirate gang rescuing a lady in distress, returning gold, and duking it out in blazing air battles from Manhattan to Manchuria with no plunder in sight? Wonders never cease.
Bayou Blues. Ever since flying ace Nathan Zachary made a pirate ship out of a stolen zeppelin, the gentleman air-pirate and his “Fortune Hunters” gang have roamed the globe in search of money, fame, and adventure. But a double-dealing Cajun sky-thief, a crooked businessman, and a pair of star-crossed lovers may just trump this ace in a high-stakes, high-altitude con game.
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's not great. that's Yeah, that sounds awful. Yeah. ah You know what else is spina bifida? What's that?
Introduction & Podcast Host Welcome
00:00:09
Speaker
Hey there, everybody. Welcome back to Pixel It. My name is Kevin. With me as always is Phil.
Crimson Skies Part 2 Discussion
00:00:12
Speaker
On today's show, we got more Crimson Crimson Skies Part 2 featuring a guy named ah something Khan.
00:00:25
Speaker
Jonathan Khan. Jonathan Genghis Khan. Jonathan Genghis Khan, leader of the Red Skulls. ah is Are they Nazis? No.
00:00:36
Speaker
No. um Just even though Red Skull has been synonymous with a a Marvel Nazi supervillain for nigh on 60 years, not a Nazi.
00:00:49
Speaker
Yeah. It's unrelated. Look, there are only so many colors and badass images that we can put together to name our, you know, you know villain team of the week. And and sometimes there are going to be parallels. Sometimes there's going to be parallels. Sometimes there's going to be overlap.
00:01:06
Speaker
yeah Honestly, though, skulls, I kind of want, I think people should just stay away from skulls. um Skulls have got a lot of baggage.
Humor: Political Campaign Anecdote
00:01:15
Speaker
Yeah. That that means you, you ah Maine Senate candidate Graham Plattner. Oh, man. Talk about talk about the switch.
00:01:28
Speaker
Oh, man. i got i i I was on Instagram and I saw one of his... Before everything blew up, I saw one of his campaign things. And it's just this oyster man with a gravelly voice talking to me. I was like, ooh, excuse me. Is this the man who's going to deliver us and save me? i know i feel like a ah pretty girl.
00:01:50
Speaker
And then, you know, it just goes to
Anecdotes on Regrettable Tattoos
00:01:54
Speaker
show you. You got to... yeah Everyone can disappoint. Yeah, everyone can disappoint. um I mean, who's who amongst us hasn't gotten drunk in a foreign country and gotten a Nazi tattoo?
00:02:12
Speaker
I mean, i that's just that's just part of the ritual of being in your 20s. You know, that's that's just being in your 20s. It's one of the things you got to do. You know, when I when I woke up downtown Savannah with an iron cross on my ass cheek, I i got it removed too sweet. That was the difference. ah Yeah. You know, that's the difference.
00:02:32
Speaker
i can't walk around with that because I was i was planning and i and I succeeded in having lots of people in Savannah see my ass over the years. yeah So I couldn't, i couldn't ah you know, I couldn't fuck around with that. I had to get it cover up is a peach.
00:02:49
Speaker
It is. so It Peach on a peach. big Big bite taken out of it. Yeah. You know, so, but yeah. yeah it it's ah It's a peach with a cross in the middle. No. No.
Critique of the Crossed Comic Series
00:03:00
Speaker
not a very good cover-up. they they They can only do so much. Did you hear their there that they are, this is a comic series I never read because it was edgy for edgy's sake, that they're adapting Crossed.
00:03:13
Speaker
Oh, God. Yeah. to For what? TV? For movie? Movie or TV? i don't know. It got picked up for adaptation. I'm like, really? that that i don't know how that's possible. That is a that is a brutal, ah upsetting, and yes, edgy for edgy's sake ah kind of comic. I do not recommend it, to be completely honest.
00:03:37
Speaker
but We do not recommend Crossed for anyone. Yeah, no, no, yeah, no. It's not good for you. It's not good for your family. Don't, don't, to don't do it. I hadn't heard of it until recently when I was on some subreddit for like, Hey, somebody was asking you like, what's the worst comic you've ever, like you've ever read or most absurd comic with like, you know, ah pointless gratuitous violence or whatever. And There's like 50 responses of just people saying crossed.
00:04:07
Speaker
Yeah. And they're like, and people are what's so bad about It was like, I think if I describe what is bad about it, I would get banned from Reddit. Right. but Right. It's the Serbian film of comics. It's yeahs just just mindless. And frankly, just the comic book covers are enough for you to, and because that's what that's what they're putting on the front yeah So you can only imagine what is behind closed pages.
00:04:32
Speaker
It's basically 28 days later without any class.
00:04:39
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not wrong. That's...
00:04:47
Speaker
I don't recommend it. I i discovered it um in an airport. um I think I was going to, interestingly enough, I think I was going to a wine event. And I just, and I was trying to find something on my Kindle to read that would be exciting and pass the time quickly. And I was like, i can't read this in pub. What the fuck?
00:05:09
Speaker
This is not going to work out. um Yeah. I mean, it would it would be better to put be publicly reading a porno mag. Yes. Yes. Without question. And that's actually what I ended up going with. um So it worked out.
00:05:24
Speaker
Jugs. Jugs. Yeah. And Biggins, the latest. Biggins. Biggins. If it's good enough for Al Bundy, it's good enough for me. It's my life motto.
00:05:35
Speaker
That's it. It's a good motto. ah So what say you, we put the ah the body in the marsh. for Yeah. let's Oh, wait. No, don't put. No, don't no wait. Don't put any bodies in the marsh.
00:05:47
Speaker
Belay that order. Belay that order. What am I doing? I didn't tell you to go to the world's greatest website, patreon.com slash pixelipod.
Pixel It Patreon Promotion
00:05:56
Speaker
Obviously.
00:05:58
Speaker
Where we have three tiers. Four if you count free. $1, $5, $10. $1 gets you in the door. You can read some bonus ah content. Phil's been posting book reviews up on there.
00:06:10
Speaker
And it also gets you the ah early slash ad-free version of the episode. $5 gets you access to the bonus episode and $10 gets your name shouted out in every episode.
00:06:20
Speaker
To that end, I want thank Jesus loves you. Kyle Seaman, Ruthless Mudder, Middle of Things, Sigma Sal, Sanguine Flatulence, Chet Beaks, Dumb and Thick. and Friendly friend, thank you so much for being a friend. Patreon.com slash PlexoPod.
00:06:33
Speaker
Do
Return to Crimson Skies: New Author & Plot
00:06:34
Speaker
it today. Do it today. Now the body can go in the marsh. Now the body. I do real quick want to point out we've got a new author for this one too. We have a new author. Yes. Yes.
00:06:45
Speaker
yes Who is this guy? This is Mike Lee. ah Michael B. Lee as the case may be. And he's hes he's one of my guys. ah he ah in In addition to this, he ah was a developer for the White Wolf game Demon the Fallen. I'm a huge White Wolf guy.
00:07:02
Speaker
<unk> to Developers, to developers, to developers, Sorry. And he's continued he's a writer for ah he's a writer for Black Library. Okay. For Warhammer. Oh, awesome.
00:07:14
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Interesting stuff. ah it's a There's not a ton about him, but his his bailiwick seems to be ah you know role-playing related fiction and that sort of thing. so Yeah. Very appropriate.
00:07:30
Speaker
Good for him. Yeah. So we'll get into it. We'll marsh this body. when i tell you to dump a body in the marsh. You dump them,
00:07:41
Speaker
In the mind. We start out with an intermission, ah Dark Clouds. It's basically an introduction to our protagonist for the story, Jonathan Genghis Khan, a scoundrel, a con man, and the founder of the pirate a club, let's say, ah the Red Skull Legion.
00:08:01
Speaker
Yes. Just a little little brief intro to him. um And the story is called The Manchurian Gambit. ah So right off the bat, ah it has nothing to do with the Manchurian candidate. it's ah it's ah It's absolutely nothing. Nothing to do with it. It has no mind control, nothing like that. It's just that it actually has honest to God ah Manchurian concerns in it, which is kind of hilarious.
00:08:27
Speaker
ah So we open up with one, Khan and his ah red skulls. They're waiting for this guy, Nesbitt, to basically be the fall guy. They have let a tip go, ah suggesting that this town out and in ah this communist kind of sector, ah this people's collective, is they're basically going to be paying, there's going to be a ah payoff of grain for gold for lots of money ah in the Lakota territories.
00:08:57
Speaker
And they've tipped him off to this information so that he will be tempted to take his group, his team in to attack and and intercept it and everything like that.
00:09:09
Speaker
All the while their plan is ah to come in while he's attacking this town and to blow them to kingdom come and chase them off and act as the good guys.
00:09:20
Speaker
And so they do that and they, yeah they get escorted to, ah they get heroes welcomed. So yeah, exactly. They're welcomed as heroes. ah They're escorted to the airfield to meet the mayor.
00:09:32
Speaker
um And they're yeah the mayor of this little place. And they're they're they're pitching pretty hard and suspiciously hard. I think the idea that they're like, hey, these pirates are coming back.
00:09:46
Speaker
What we should probably do is load up all of your shit. We'll take the golds. We'll take your money. And get it to where it needs to go. Yeah, we'll take care of it and make sure it's safe.
00:09:59
Speaker
And we are strangers that you have only just met. ah So it's it's it doesn't go over at first. ah But then but they they they keep kind of canoodling the idea and canoodling the idea. i don't know it went with that.
00:10:13
Speaker
ah but it But eventually the mayor agrees and says, yeah, sure, that'll work. So ah they are escorted by a pilot named Angela Dane, ah who recognizes them as pirates. They're posing as another force and they've dropped the name of of their fake ship, their Zeppelin.
00:10:33
Speaker
And she kind of tricks them into basically giving away the idea that they are not who they seem to be. So she holds them up. Right. um Part two, ah Dane wants to lock him up, ah but she is knocked out due to a spiked whiskey that Khan gave her earlier. He kind of shared ah ah you know a flask with her. He spiked his whiskey with laudanum, which, look, laudanum is no joke, but ah they seem they kind of treated as knockout gas. It's it's not that much.
00:11:03
Speaker
yeah It's not great. Don't get me wrong. Yeah. Yeah. well it's ah i What was it? There was a... I'm trying to remember the game that used laudanum as a... like It was like the thing you healed yourself with.
00:11:17
Speaker
Was it amnesia? ah yeah yeah think was. Uses laudanum as ah as like a healing thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's opiates are in it. So it's it's it's a spirit with opiates, which, you it's the best of both worlds.
00:11:30
Speaker
Best of both worlds. Best of both worlds. But it's not going to like... ah ah If you're just spiking your drink with it, it's not going to be enough to like put you out for like a day or two, which is essentially what it does.
00:11:42
Speaker
um They're going to they're going shoot her in the head. ah They're going to kill her because they they can't. like They've got ah they got to get in and get out. And they know that everything's already pretty suspicious. This is ah despite the fact that Khan is.
00:11:56
Speaker
does a lot of admirable, cool things in this. ah This is kind of the the proof in my theory that ah if the first story was about a paladin lawful good kind of character, and this we're dealing with like a neutral evil kind of character, he's for himself happily will kill ah people who just in his way ah for getting his money.
00:12:22
Speaker
um But they they found a a search party is coming for them. And so they just take her with them ah and ah and start loading up the gold, start loading up the loot. ah The search party, they tricked them into thinking that they're just transporting mail. They said, hey, as long as we're here, we might as well take your mail to the next town over because we are just that good. They're just really using that same line over and over again. Yeah. They're like, you know what? We're here.
00:12:48
Speaker
We might as well transport your shit. It's like, wow, you guys are really nice. Aren't we though? arent we that Aren't we just the best? Aren't we just adorable? It's that kind of thing. So theyre they are ah about loaded up.
00:13:02
Speaker
They're about ready to leave. They're in their planes and they're just about ready to fly away when, of course, an alarm sounds. um Part three. Yeah. We get Nesbitt's pirates return for round two, just as ah they suspected they would.
00:13:19
Speaker
um So you've got you've got this ah airstrip. You've got an airstrip filled with pirates trying to take off who are about to be attacked while other pirates show up and start shooting things up.
00:13:32
Speaker
ah It's just it's a clusterfuck. So the pirates start to take off and their main thing that they know they need to do is protect their Zeppelin, the Machiavelli, because without the Zeppelin, they're fucked.
00:13:44
Speaker
So, right. Excuse me. up A dogfight ensues. We get a lot of really good dogfights in this. There's a lot of dogfights. Yeah. This is another – I know it sounds obvious for the subject matter of this book, but Lee is another really solid writer of good action sequences where you actually know the dogfight, what's happening, and you can follow him.
00:14:11
Speaker
ah And this is just another good one. um Basically, the bombers, they have bombers that are going towards Zeppelin. They miss the Zeppelin, ah but they end up blowing up a car where they had stored all the money.
00:14:24
Speaker
So... So they got their Zeppelin, but everything they just did this for, it was like $50,000 or something. It just literally goes up in smoke. i just And I love the entire sequence. is like he he's like He asks one of his people to do it, and they just like tell somebody else to do it.
00:14:46
Speaker
Right, right. And not even anyone on their Yeah, not even, it it was like, yeah, I just told the grease monkeys at the, yeah on the, on the tarmac to do it and be like, well, nobody ended up doing it.
00:14:57
Speaker
And the car, right. And now it's blown up. And now we did all this for goddamn nothing, for less than nothing. um So they do they do escape and they're heading for the ISA, the Industrial States of America, which is basically ah heavily industrialized.
00:15:15
Speaker
ah The Midwest. It's the Midwest. Yeah. Centered in around Chicago. Yeah. Yeah. And they've got a little they've got a little base out there. ah We find we we can owes a Chicago mobster a shit ton of money. And that's why he's kind of screwed.
00:15:31
Speaker
um And it feels risky to head back towards Chicago. But that's their base. So they got to lick their wounds and head back. um His plan is they're going to ransom ah Angela Dane, who is still a prisoner of theirs.
00:15:45
Speaker
um So he figures that'll that'll get them the money that they need.
00:15:50
Speaker
They touch down. ah Their HQ is a converted dairy farm, like 25 acres. And they've converted the barns into you know ah like ah hangers for the planes. And and it's it's it's actually pretty cool. It's a really neat layout. yeah um And they walk into ah one of the barns and they are threatened by a shadowy gunman in the barn who draws a bead on them.
00:16:14
Speaker
ah What did you call that again? what What do you when call it? Schmuck bait. So yeah, we got, i got this is this will will not be the last bit of schmuck bait in this book. that It's funny is because I was like, well, this would have made sense if it was like, you know, ah being printed as a serial.
00:16:35
Speaker
Which I guess it's kind of in that vein is is it's like a serial. But ah I don't know. It's it it's it's fun I guess it's I guess it's just trying to be cute about it. You know, it's being cute and it keeps you moving along. It's like Dan Brown's books. You know, his ah one of the reasons with his tiny little chapters. Right. They're like two and a half pages long and they always, always, always end with some level of schmuck bait.
00:17:02
Speaker
ah So, yeah, it just keeps you going along, I guess. up Surprise. The gunman is actually Hayes, who's an old friend of Khan and a fellow scoundrel.
00:17:13
Speaker
ah He needs help. ah He's working for the Chinese. That's the guy's first name again. hey Something. Oh, it's. um Oh, gosh. It's something really. Weird. I was going to say Abelard, but that's not it. it's You're on the right track, though. It's ah it's an A. ah Hold on.
00:17:31
Speaker
Hold on. I'm going to get it. I'm going to get it. It's almost here. Wait until you see it. ah Blah, blah, blah. Johnny Boy to Carlos Boys.
00:17:42
Speaker
Artemis. Artemis. ah Kind of a different spelled. I think it's it's like you'd see the goddess's name, but with a U instead of an i ah Like Artemis. Yeah, Artemis.
00:17:54
Speaker
ah so he's he's a yeah So he's an old, he basically taught Khan everything that he knows. He's like an old mentor of his. i He has been hiding out in Southeastern Asia after a bunch of ah jobs went wrong, and he is currently working for ah the Chinese government.
00:18:14
Speaker
um Basically, he needs help busting ah the daughter of a Chinese delegate from a delegate from ah the Japanese embassy in Manhattan.
Background: Chinese & Japanese Conflict
00:18:25
Speaker
So there's war. Yeah.
00:18:28
Speaker
ah the japanese are rushing in trying to take over and they make a point of saying like even the the communists and the industrialists are like teaming up yeah the communists and the nationalists in china are teaming up to like stop the Japanese invasion. And they're like, if they're teaming up, you know, it's bad.
00:18:48
Speaker
Right, right. They're working together to to to make something happen. So this whole thing is going down and the daughter of this delegate has been kidnapped and it's his job to go and free her.
00:19:00
Speaker
ah She's in Manhattan in the Japanese embassy. um So he basically calls in a favor and he As we find out, Khan is, you know, one to help his friends, especially, you know, he sees he sees it we where It implies a lot that he owes him.
00:19:17
Speaker
And so this is a this is a favor he has to call in. So. They make their way to Manhattan to the Empire State. That's the name of the ah the country there. ah And they make their way to the Japanese embassy and set a fire.
00:19:31
Speaker
Yeah. A goddamn flare. Yeah. To the fourth floor of the embassy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and And, and, and, and he, and he like, he's like, how long will it take for the firemen to get there? It's like five minutes. Perfect.
00:19:47
Speaker
Flares up the fucking embassy and, and they grab a couple of firemen's ah uniforms on the way in and they're, you know, rush in. Yeah. So ah they they find they they they make their way to where ah ah the delegates daughter is being held.
00:20:04
Speaker
They shoot the lock and nearly kill her. ah ah She goes into shock after she goes. Yeah, because the bullet hole is like right above her head. Like they nearly blow her brains out because they're impatient and opening the door.
00:20:18
Speaker
And so, yeah, she's in shock. She's basically comatose. um So they get her out only to be accosted by guards. A big gunfight ensues in part five.
00:20:31
Speaker
um Our heroes escape to the roof, ah which is like burning to the ground. ah They end up hijacking a rescue gyrocopter. yeah and the like The guy's literally there to save people. And they're like, great, thanks. And they put a gun to his head and pull a Grand Theft Auto. And they're just like, yeah, and yeah I'm going to need this.
00:20:50
Speaker
Right. So clusterfuck happens. the The pilot starts fighting back. The guards are up on their way up the ceiling and and Hayes gets shot and he tells Khan to leave him behind just to go and to get this girl to Hawaii where the ah the Chinese embassy is waiting for her.
00:21:11
Speaker
um So. ah They get back to the Zeppelin and ah Khan's second in command, Hedy, his young ah female second in command who kind of just clearly respects him and adores him. But is this constant like she's like, like yeah, she's kind of she's basically his his work wife.
00:21:34
Speaker
Yeah. In a way that she's basically always second guessing everything he says. Yeah. And there's just most put upon kind of thing. It's like, it's like i we're going to do this. And she's like, eh, you sure that's a good idea? mean, I'll back you either way. but it's like that's all That's the thing. She will give him all kinds of shit, but ultimately she always backs him up, yeah ah which is hilarious.
00:22:00
Speaker
um So she's pissed that ah they're going to be basically doing this favor for a dead man. Hayes is dead as far as they know. And she's like, why don't we just ransom her off and we'll make some money. We'll be done with it. we'll be done.
00:22:16
Speaker
um But he, you know, ah Khan is very ah stuck in like, no, I said I was going to do this. We're goingnna do this thing. So ah they are they end up getting attacked by Japanese jet fighters, a dogfight between them.
00:22:31
Speaker
Japanese planes and Empire State Zeppelins occurs. Very cool. Very colorful. Huge fight. Yeah, huge fight. You can see it in your head, like as a video game or as a tabletop. game like You can see all the different armies swooping on the board. It's it's yeah very well done.
00:22:51
Speaker
um Ultimately, they are outgunned and outmatched, and they know that. So they hide in a cloud bank, which I love. ah that's That's their main form of of of ah camouflage for a Zeppelin that as large as a thousand foot long Zeppelin.
00:23:07
Speaker
um While they're in the cloud bank, they hear a news report ah that basically says that the Empire State will basically be giving them everything they've got until this this girl is rescued.
00:23:21
Speaker
Is this where they also find out that the girl is not just some delegate's daughter, but the daughter of the president of China? Yeah. Yeah. This is they like they realize. This is Shanghai Czech's daughter. Yeah.
00:23:35
Speaker
Yeah, this is they realize just how deep shit they are in at this point. So like it's it's do or die kind of literally at this point. um Part six, they they lose their pursuers, ah but they're still really in a bad way. They're they're hurting. The Zeppelin's hurting.
00:23:53
Speaker
ah They're down on ammo. They're down on fuel. Nobody's doing well. And they're still dealing with like kind of out of the way routes to go west ah because the Empire State anticipates that they're going to be going to the Midwest. And so it's kind of like trying to cut them off at every turn.
00:24:09
Speaker
Right. um Chinese girl is still in shock. um They've lost several crewmen and and morale is not doing great. ah Khan even considers bailing out, at at which Hedy had ah accused him of considering before.
00:24:28
Speaker
She's like, you're just going to fucking leave us with the ball, aren't you? And and later on at this point, he goes,
00:24:34
Speaker
but maybe that before I before it was a no, but now it's literally is the safest thing for him to do. And so he's really giving it, uh, some thought and he goes to check on Angela Dane who attacks him, hits him over the head with, uh, with a chamber pot and they have a ah brief scuffle and, uh, and, uh, and he kind of You know, it's kind of Mr. French in the Departments. Like, hey hey, hey, hey, you know me? Like, stop. to to't yeah Don't make this worse.
00:25:05
Speaker
and And he's like, look, we are down on crew. Come on, let's go. You can leave. Like, you can join. and you're You're part of the crew as far. And I'm going to stick by you so you don't go crazy.
00:25:16
Speaker
And she's like, going to escape the first chance I get. And he goes, here's the problem with that. We're being pursued by all of these people and they see a plane leave the Zeppelin. Let's say you do get out. They're going to assume you're just one of the pirates and they're going to blow you out of the sky.
00:25:30
Speaker
You're with us whether you like it or not. Yeah, exactly. So you are stuck and she, she, was yeah, she has a moment like, oh, well fuck. Okay, great. ah And that's basically the entire rest of the story for her. She, she finds herself constantly in a position where it's like, she has no choice but to stick with them.
00:25:47
Speaker
Um, So they head to a place called Sky Haven ah in ah the Colorado Collective. ah It's basically like ah ah it's like a Tortuga area. It's a pirate haven.
00:25:59
Speaker
i'm So they're approached by a bunch of jets that they are assume are an escort into the city.
Khan’s High-Stakes Race
00:26:06
Speaker
But it turns out that it's Nesbitt and his buddies, and they are pissed off.
00:26:11
Speaker
He is still holding on to a bit of a... The bit of a grudge, but right which, you know what? Fair enough. They really they really fucked him over. they They play up the idea that Netsbit is just kind of a two bit pirate. He's kind of shitty and kind of dumb. And and so they're taking full advantage of him.
00:26:32
Speaker
and But now he's got pretty much the upper hand. So Nesbitt in part seven declares that he wants the money from the earlier job, not realizing that the money is, is disintegrated. There is no money.
00:26:45
Speaker
Yeah. It's, it's, it's in a tumbleweed somewhere in South Dakota. It's gone. Yeah. Um, So he challenges Khan to a duel. He challenges him to the pod race. It's the pod races.
00:26:57
Speaker
Let's face it. It's called the cut. ah Basically, it's it's a race slash, you know, ah battle royale kind of thing. And um so Because they're like they're allowed to shoot each other too while they're dirt they're racing.
00:27:15
Speaker
That's right. that When you get into like the canyon, like the main part of the drag, anything goes. as long as and the And the first person to set down wins. um So based on teams, they've got teams full of people. And the first person who has a team member who lands, they win.
00:27:32
Speaker
So... so hes Khan is in a weird spot because he knows all things being equal, he could beat this guy.
00:27:43
Speaker
ah in this race. ah But things are not equal. he they are they are They are down to, like let's say, 10% life. They are not doing good. ah They are down on ammo. It's not looking good. so But he still says, you know what? Yeah, fuck you. I'll take you up on this because he can't back down.
00:28:00
Speaker
And he also figures the guy in charge of the area who he knows will be able to get him out of it. ah We quickly find out that he will not do that. He is stuck. Will not do that.
00:28:10
Speaker
No, no, absolutely not. It's kind of a, if I let you off the hook, I got to let all these other people off the hook. Fuck you. um So he has to do this duel.
00:28:21
Speaker
um Hedy asks him, basically begs him to please think of his crew ah because people are dead. ah And this is, this could be suicide ah doing something like this.
00:28:34
Speaker
So con. Gives this speech to them and basically gives them an out says anybody here who he's like, we are in Skyhaven. There are like a dozen pirate bands here who would love to have you.
00:28:49
Speaker
yeah If this is not working for you, You can leave ah no harm, no foul. and and and so and and And the chapter ends with a group of ah of people standing and and we get the assumption a lot of his people are going to go.
00:29:04
Speaker
So chapter eight opens. with Captain Dugan, who is our helmsman. um He, he, he's walks up to the jar that anyone they're going to, the idea is to take your red skull badge and drop it in the jar.
00:29:20
Speaker
right So he walks straight up to the jar, removes his glass eye and drops it into the jar and says, that's so you guys know that You can leave, but I'm watching all of you and I'm watching anyone who leaves and anyone who leaves ah is going to be on my shit list and you don't want to be on my shit list.
00:29:40
Speaker
ah So basically everyone who is standing there is like, all right, fine. They all sit down. So we've got a full crew. Once again, ah we find out that Nesbitt has put out a call for anyone who wants to join his team during the race filling out the the roster.
00:29:58
Speaker
Absolutely. Anyone who wants to join him, could totally join him ah for a cut of, ah because what the whole thing is, is it's winner take all. Whatever captain's team wins, gets all of their ships, gets their Zeppelin, gets anything on them, ah takes everything and leaves the other one stranded.
00:30:16
Speaker
all right so So he says, you know, you you get a cut. Anyone who wants to join me can join me to help. So, and this kind of, This gives and we get the notion basically that this gives Khan an idea. And he's like, oh, OK, OK, that's good. That's good.
00:30:33
Speaker
So we get to the race. ah The pod race ensues. It's it's that it's this is pod racing. This is pod racer. Yeah, it's it's all of these ah different planes.
00:30:44
Speaker
Flying through this canyon, trying to shoot each other down while getting to the ah finish line. And we get, again, some really good dogfighting, some good action sequences here.
00:30:56
Speaker
um Finally, it ends with one of the planes that has been on Nesbitt's team landing ah in the ah the you know finish landing at the finish line, basically declaring Nesbitt the winner.
00:31:11
Speaker
Yep. Part nine opens with ah the reveal that what won her yeah, the person that landed was one of these volunteers that he was calling for. But it turns out it wasn't just anybody.
00:31:24
Speaker
It was Angela Dane flying for Comrade Dane. Comrade Dane. Yes, that's right. They they always call her Comrade Dane ah because they're part of that ah communist ah society out there, which is pretty cool.
00:31:37
Speaker
Yeah. So ah they find out that she was the one who won, and therefore Nesbitt has to forfeit his Zeppelin and any remaining planes that he has, of which there are zero.
00:31:52
Speaker
ah They have someone... Someone correctly points out, they're like, dude, if you hadn't shot down every, so we could have made out like bandits, but we destroyed every one of these planes.
00:32:04
Speaker
yeah So we we've just got a Zeppelin. That's it. Which is which is great. but and Because Nesbitt's the only person left on his team with a plane and and and and you know as a final kind of humiliation, uh, uh, Khan leaves him with his plane.
00:32:20
Speaker
Right. So, um, they're kind of reveling in their win. Everything's looking good. We get a little, we get a little victory, but then of course it's ours because Skyhaven ends up getting attacked by the Japanese, uh, which is insane. Like basically no one attacks Skyhaven.
00:32:38
Speaker
You don't do it. It's not done. ah but the Japanese didn't get the memo and, uh, and they are attacking the place. Uh, The delegate's daughter gives them the lowdown on what's going on.
00:32:50
Speaker
She – well, the the president's daughter. She was not there to like negotiate some sort of peace deal. She was headed to Manhattan with half a million dollars ah to broker a deal with the Brits.
00:33:03
Speaker
It was a weapons deal. It was an arms deal. Exactly. Exactly. you know Get the Brits to give us ah a half a million dollars worth of guns and ammunition to help us in our fight. um The Japanese knew that she has this kind of money on her and they want it.
00:33:19
Speaker
And so basically, as long as she is with ah the Red Skulls, ah they're going to get chased by the Japanese because they've got a leader with them. That is like this is his sole focus. He's here to get the money.
00:33:33
Speaker
So. Part 10, the Red Skulls managed to escape
Howard Hughes Lore in California
00:33:40
Speaker
and they are flying over California. They're headed to Hawaii. um And then we get this quote. This this this has this has nothing to do ah with um the plot line or anything like that. I just loved this detail of the world.
00:33:53
Speaker
Right. The Red Skulls rarely found themselves so far west, and not even the well-traveled Dugan knew what to expect. There were rumors that Howard Hughes had secretly installed a network of huge listening devices in the Hollywood Hills that could track Zeppelin movements hundreds of miles away.
00:34:11
Speaker
I love that Howard Hughes and his paranoid ass is in this world.
00:34:17
Speaker
I love it. Yes. I just imagine him surrounded by jars of piss and wondering if Zeppelins are flying overhead. I love it. ah Great detail. Just nice. Is this is this Howard Howard Hughes isn't piss level yet.
00:34:34
Speaker
And at this point, right? No, no, no, no, like no. He's not jars of piss, but he will be. So he will be. He will be. He is on on the path. Yes. Yes. and And his obsession with planes and that sort of thing is fully appropriate ah for this plot line.
00:34:50
Speaker
Just a terrific little detail of world building. I really like that. yeah So Khan and Angela Dane have an argument slash moment ah basically about his integrity.
00:35:03
Speaker
She assumes that he knew about the half million ah dollars. and had worked that into the plan. And he says, I didn't. And she goes, so why are we taking you like out of the goodness of your heart? He goes, no, not out of the goodness of my heart.
00:35:18
Speaker
This is my friend who asked me for a favor, and I owe him, and I'm going to do that. so So maybe he's more lawful evil. ah He's got a code. He's got a code. Right. ah So she kind of this is this is kind of like her learning about him, which happens more and more as the story goes along.
00:35:38
Speaker
ah They land in Hawaii and head to the British embassy. um They meet Ambassador Carlisle, who is the the representative there.
Crimson Skies Climax: Hawaii and Pirates
00:35:48
Speaker
Yeah. And all the British guys, that in all the British characters are absolute schmucks.
00:35:54
Speaker
they They're just... just near They don't really do much. that They do much either, but they're just kind of there and and being British.
00:36:05
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Like British derogatory to is... like You know what i mean? Like the British that would ah that would steal things and put it in the museum type of British. That British. Yeah, that's and that's and that's yeah, that's who we're dealing with here.
00:36:19
Speaker
um You know, and he's like, he's like, hey like, we'd love to help, but where's the money you owe us? We can't do this for free. And ah we learn that she was not traveling with the money as basically everyone was assuming and that there was a separate treasure ship that was coming in ah that they have not heard from.
00:36:40
Speaker
uh, for like, I want to say like days at this point, um, and a long enough time that if the radio is fried, they should have been able to repair it. Basically something's wrong.
00:36:51
Speaker
Um, so they figure that if they're anywhere, they're in the Marshall islands. That would be the closest, that would be the place that they would have ended up if they didn't just crash into the water.
00:37:02
Speaker
ah So Khan and company, including a handful of ah British wannabe MI6, will be ah going along there ah to secure the money.
00:37:15
Speaker
um Chapter 11, they get to the Marshall Islands and they find the remains of a Zeppelin crashed into the mountains and burned and burned. ah They find a mass grave with everybody in it and and realize that these crazy ass pirates who live here on the islands took them out.
00:37:36
Speaker
And they are currently partying ah because ah you know it took them a while. yeah Basically, Khan points out, he's like, look, but gold is awesome and everything, but they would need like the right fence.
00:37:47
Speaker
And that would take a little while. And I'm guessing that today they found the fence because they are partying ah like nobody's business. And this is this part's fucking crazy. um We get a moment where they're like, okay, well, we have to take these pirates out. Like, like we all right, great. yeah So we're gearing up for and a new a fight. you know We've got we got the pirates coming out, loading their guns, getting ready for shit.
00:38:13
Speaker
And then this 60 caliber ship mounted machine gun, they just use it to exterminate the pirates. Like there's no fight. Yeah. There's no fight.
00:38:23
Speaker
Is this the part where Khan goes? ah They're like, yeah, well, we tried to do things stealthily earlier, but we decided, but that didn't really work very well. So we're just going to murder the shit out of everyone. Murder the shit out of them.
00:38:38
Speaker
it's It's vaporized. it's It's truly like in a video game where you fail enough roles and you're like oh, fuck it. and Like, I mean, I got to just start swinging your war hammer at everybody or something like it's truly that moment.
00:38:52
Speaker
And there's it's not a fight. It is not a fight in the slightest. Everybody's dead. They kill every last pirate ah and they and they ah they search ah the buildings that they were in and they find oodles of gold. There we go.
00:39:06
Speaker
So they're trying to load the gold ah into the into their Zeppelin and everything. And there is a like a monsoon approaching like crazy tropical storm. So that's on the horizon, literally.
00:39:18
Speaker
And of course, at this moment, they are approached by the Japanese and Hayes, who turns out Artemis Hayes. Artemis Hayes. And Khan was like, I saw you bleeding. And Artemis and Hayes is like, yeah, I wasn't actually ever bleeding.
00:39:34
Speaker
ah I just kind of like faked that I got shot and I happened to be bleeding from and ah from the wounds on my head. yeah you He says something like you saw what you wanted to see. Like, that's yeah just that's that's how this works.
00:39:48
Speaker
A little bit of sleight of hand. um So chapter 12, we find out that Hayes has been working for the Japanese for a really long time, that the ah the whole Chinese ah leader thing was a ruse.
00:40:00
Speaker
and And he's been working for the Japanese this whole time. um A firefight breaks out um and as the ah the they they the the ah Japanese side are loaded, they start taking the money and ah basically decide they're going to leave the Red Skulls to the mercy of the storm.
00:40:18
Speaker
um So a firefight breaks out. They blow up the gyrocopter that was carrying ah the gold and they kind of like, they do thing where like they run far into the woods to the point where they they just won't follow them anymore.
00:40:33
Speaker
And then they kind of, They make their way back. They de-aggro the enemies and then they turn back. That's exactly it. Yes. Thank you.
00:40:44
Speaker
That's exactly it. They de-aggro, they lose the kite and they and they and they they and they they kind of come back. um yeah At this point, the Zeppelins are gone, but there are like 10 or 12 planes from the pirates that they goddamn massacred ah that are perfectly good working order. And so they're like, right, let's chase the Zeppelins, I guess. ah So that's what they do.
00:41:11
Speaker
We get a big dogfight with the Japanese in part 13. ah Khan blows up his plane against the Zeppelin and jumps onto a landing pad, similar to something that the pal Paladin did in in the last story.
00:41:25
Speaker
Yeah. A lot of lot of that high flying kind of shit. all Right. He gets a stealth game on ah with guards who are guarding the the gold, hits them with an oil drum, ah knocking them out and sending oil goddamn everywhere.
00:41:41
Speaker
Hayes confronts him and Khan opens the hangar doors behind ka Hayes and the oil. He slips on it and slides overboard.
00:41:52
Speaker
and we And he's hanging on. it's It's the classic action movie moment where he's hanging. like you're not gonna let me drop you got a code yeah yeah and so and and he does the he does uh who is it uh is it tim heidecker in uh us uh where he like he like basically holds out his hand to help him and then kind of but pulls the slide back and haze drops to his uh his doom in the ocean uh so Basically, we are we are we're back, baby. Everything's cool. yes It basically skips the rest of the the yeah the battle.
00:42:30
Speaker
it's like The battle, yes, we're done. We're done. Hayes is gone. We're done. ah So they get back to Hawaii. We're tying up the loose ends. um finally we end with ah he he Finally, we end with a moment where...
00:42:43
Speaker
ah Angela Dane is talking to Khan. He's like, yeah, you're free to go. i even got you. I called you a car. ah You're free to go. And she's like, wait, you're serious? goes, yeah, I don't like told you. like Yeah, we have no use for you. You're gone.
00:42:56
Speaker
And so she's very confused. She still doesn't quite understand what he's all about. What is with you, Mr. Khan? That's very much it. Yeah. Yeah. And she asks about the gold. She goes, what do yo yeah this must suck to have all that gold slip through your fingers.
00:43:13
Speaker
And Khan's like, yeah, no, I didn't have it. There was no opportunity. There was no opportunity to steal the gold. I had none. So that sucks. But yeah, but at least I'm alive and we'll figure things out. It'll be fine. And so she's like, okay. And so he, he sets her free and he goes, oh, wait, you're going to need cab fare, aren't you?
00:43:30
Speaker
And he flicks her a gold coin that has a Chinese symbol on it, uh, implying heavily that he did indeed steal at least a portion of the Chinese gold.
00:43:41
Speaker
And, uh, and that's the end of the Manchurian gambit. Uh, so Kevin, what did you think of this one?
Review: Crimson Skies Story Analysis
00:43:49
Speaker
I didn't like this one as much as the first one. And I think my issue with it was that I felt like the the the I I didn't ah fully understand like the the connective tissue of like, oh, we're doing the stuff with Angela Dane like.
00:44:09
Speaker
Right turn. We got a different thing. And there's this looming threat of the mobster that yeah they owe money to over the entire thing. And we're like, well, okay, I guess they ah ah they can pay off Jabba at the end with the gold that they...
00:44:25
Speaker
that's And that's, that's absolutely what that is. yeah It felt a little hat on a hat with the stakes, um, where it's like, they got $10,000 bounty on them. Then they also owe $80,000 to, uh, a mobster. Uh,
00:44:36
Speaker
to ah ah mobster yeah yeah Which one is a little granular. Yeah. Yeah. Got a little granular. I was like, at some points, the $10,000 was the way pressing concern. But other times it was the mobster.
00:44:51
Speaker
So I think I think it was a little loosey goosey in that overall is still a fun story. You know, yeah um i just don't think it was as. ah I don't think it had the plotting of the first one that I thought was really like, ah I mean, you you have a locker room mystery i at any point in your story. I'm going to enjoy it.
00:45:14
Speaker
So sure. Yeah. So yeah. What do you think? i I agree. I think that the plot line overall ah was a little more threadbare, um a little little ah loosely held together. Yeah, you're right. it was like we'd have this one moment and then we'd pivot this way and we have this one.
00:45:33
Speaker
And it it did hang together, but kind of loosely. and Yeah, it hung together as much as it needed to hang together right the way it the way it was. It wasn't like...
00:45:49
Speaker
Yeah, the plot was only there to kind of get us to the action sequences. Right. It served its purpose, but it was pretty loose. Yeah. so i and i and am ah but but But those action sequences.
00:46:02
Speaker
Great, accurate sequences great Great great firefights. This guy's a good action writer, and I really enjoyed those moments. so Yeah. So yeah, still, still a nice breezy story though.
00:46:14
Speaker
Yeah. ah Good pulp fiction narrative. Really enjoyed it. So yeah, I'm with you.
Game Reviews: Tormented Souls 2 & Outer Worlds 2
00:46:19
Speaker
We've only got one left ah next week. We're going to be reading the final story, the Bayou Blues, which is finally Nathan Zachary adventure who we were introduced to. He is the actual main character of the game.
00:46:35
Speaker
Exactly. So we're finally going to to hang out with Nathan Zachary. So that'll be next week. ah But and until then, ah Kevin, I've got one final question for you. what are you playing?
00:46:48
Speaker
Oh, i I didn't think you were going to ask me this. So um what I have been playing, let me pull up my thingamajig here. I can't remember if I talked about it last week that I beat Tormented Souls 2. I don't think you'd beaten it at that point. You talked about ok like Yes, i I beat it. i'm i'm I'm wrapped up on Tormented Souls 2.
00:47:18
Speaker
It is... ah it's It's a wonderful game. If you're like considering ah getting a um a game that is Resident Evil-like, and I mean that both affectionately and derogatorily,
00:47:33
Speaker
so um ah you know that it it's got the puzzle boxes, it's got the monsters, it's got... ah Bad dialogue. It's got worse voice acting. The story...
00:47:45
Speaker
yeah It doesn't matter.
00:47:49
Speaker
i mean, the story exists, but it's not really like an important thing to really lock into. You kind of you don't have to really pay attention to kind of get what's going on. You like your sister, ah the sister that you rescued in the first one, ah she's kidnapped and you got to save her.
00:48:07
Speaker
um And you go through a bunch of different locations trying to save her and you you save her. in the end. Spoilers, I guess. um But yeah, no, it's it's it's good. So Tormented Souls 2, I give it my Resident Evil Game of the Year ah approval.
00:48:27
Speaker
um Okay, what else have I been playing? um Outer Worlds 2, which is, you know, just a ah ah nice little... um It's a nice little Fallout, like re ah not Resident Evil, like Fallout, like Skyrim like game um from the makers of Fallout New Vegas.
00:48:56
Speaker
It's it's from Obsidian. ah The first game I enjoyed, but not ah I enjoyed it more than most people. I enjoyed Outer Worlds one more than most people. You know, it's it's got its quirky humor and anti corporatist point of view.
00:49:10
Speaker
um But ah the second one i feel like they improved on the first game quite a bit. um it's it's It's a lot of fun. So, um yeah, Outer Worlds 2, I really...
00:49:26
Speaker
and I really recommend it, you know, great if you. Yeah. But here's what I'll say. I'll say if you are adhering to the Microsoft BDS boycott, um ah boycotting Microsoft, don't get it.
00:49:40
Speaker
yeah I mean, you don't need it. I mean, I'll I'll I'll be canceling my game pass, you know, eventually once my daughter is done using it for some things. Right.
00:49:52
Speaker
But yeah, it's you don't need it. ah It's a shame. ah ah Obsidian is owned by Microsoft Xbox Game Studios.
00:50:02
Speaker
ah But, you know, you do what you can do ah that. be But to that end, still, it's it's a pretty, pretty dang good game. um And it's to me, it's um they're almost two for two in making these first-person RPGs this year because I really like Avowed, too.
Relaxation with Power Wash Simulator 2
00:50:18
Speaker
I never got to finish Avowed, but it was that came out in January and was was ah pretty sharp. So, yeah, that's... sir That's what I've been playing. Aside from Power Wash Simulator 2, which I've been playing every evening without without fail, I sit there and i i i wash my and wash my stuff.
00:50:40
Speaker
Yeah. yeah it It brings you peace. It brings me peace. It brings me joy. Yeah. ah Phil? What are you playing? ah It's been a lot of the same for me. I've been I've been dipping up my time between ah ball pit, which I haven't finished yet, i but I'm just kind of slowly chewing that piece of gum. and then Yeah, if you if you like you can you can take longer on it than I did.
00:51:07
Speaker
Like you can run because you could go through and get everybody to finish a level before you you move on and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. And and and it's it's just the game I play um when we're when we're watching a movie or something like that on my Switch. And it's very nice. And yeah ah I've also been playing a lot of slots and daggers, ah ah the slot machine ah RPG.
00:51:31
Speaker
ah dungeon crawler kind of thing. it's i'm I'm kind of going through, I have to beat this game. um It's a very, it's a good game. Don't get me wrong. The art style is really cool and and it's a very addictive a style of game.
00:51:48
Speaker
ah But I'm kind of obsessed with the fact that It's like it's it's clearly a game within a game because the game is on a screen on like some sort of like handheld game device that is on a table in front of you.
00:52:05
Speaker
And there's stuff around it like there's there's there's a drink and there's a knife and there's shadows from trees overhead. So it heavily implies uh that either you're playing a game within a game or this is an extension of something and i have to get to the end to try and i just i have to know what the fuck they're getting at with this if that if it has anything to do with anything at all if there's anything at all and what what game is this again uh uh slots and daggers slots and daggers yeah i i know nothing about it other than i saw northern line playing it briefly but Yeah, yeah. I played the demo of it a month or so ago and I was really impressed and and and ended up just buying the game. and said yeah It was on sale for like five bucks. And I was like, yeah, sure garre like great.
00:52:51
Speaker
um It's enjoyable. It's got a good, you know, slot machine, you know, endorphin a simulator kind of thing going. and um And so that's that's the game I've been playing when I sit downstairs and and and watch football.
00:53:07
Speaker
Nice. Yeah, it's it it goes very well. Sit downstairs, watch the Steelers. Yeah, yeah, that's exactly it. So that's been that's been my thing. um I did play a bit of a different game.
Introduction to Darkenstein 3D
00:53:19
Speaker
Have you heard of Darkenstein three d know but that sounds amazing. Okay. So this is, this is kind of great.
00:53:28
Speaker
It is a free game. It is totally free. It is a Wolfenstein 3d like, uh, it is, it is, it is very, uh, um, similar in style and and the gameplay is Wolfenstein 3d. It's all that you play a German hobo,
00:53:48
Speaker
who it's kind of a John Wick situation. They steal your dog. ah The Nazis steal your dog. And so you've got to go in and kill Wehrmacht ah to get your dog back.
00:54:00
Speaker
And it's got a silly sense of humor. ah It's fast paced. It's got that, you know, it's got it's very influenced by Goldeneye as well as Wolfenstein 3D. It feels good to play.
00:54:15
Speaker
um It's challenging, it's fun. And it's totally free and it is a big game. I downloaded it, assuming ah that ah because when I downloaded it, I looked at the reviews and most of the reviews were like an hour or less.
00:54:30
Speaker
Sure. So I was like, OK, so this is a free, quick Wolfenstein 3D like ah that could be fun. That sounds great. Yeah. And as I played, I started to realize, oh, this is this is nowhere near done.
00:54:42
Speaker
and And I've come to find that it's it's like a six or seven hour game. oh wow yeah and it's a wolfenstein game it's free it's it's funny and stupid uh and silly and and ah and i'm waiting for i've I've been waiting for some kind of, ah of um I don't know, message might be the wrong word for it. I'm waiting for some kind of self-aware wink, ah either on the let's kill Nazi side or against it.
00:55:13
Speaker
ah Sure. Somebody somewhere doing something along those lines, because that's what video games are now. Yeah. But the more I play it, the more I i i i think they're just like, Yeah, man, we just wanted to make a fucking Wolfenstein game. Like, come on. yeah let's Let's kill all na Nazis. Let's have fun.
00:55:29
Speaker
And it's and I I'm there for it. It's ah you know, it it is a pretty solid goddamn game for the price tag of zero. Yeah, i just added it to my library just in case the price tag. I think you'll get a real kick out of it. It's not zero.
00:55:45
Speaker
You know? Yeah. Yes. Yes. Good thinking. ah it it is It is a lot of fun. And if you want, it's by a team called Roe. And if you want to support them, you can buy the soundtrack ah for 10 bucks.
00:55:57
Speaker
nice and And the soundtrack is pretty good. It's pretty good. ah It's like a nice combination of heavy metal. And one of the levels they clearly rip off the James Bond theme.
00:56:09
Speaker
it sound It's like it's this kind of weird mashup of heavy metal and like the golden eye theme. So you could they they're wearing their their influences on their sleeve. um It's super fun.
00:56:23
Speaker
It's it's it's really neat. it Makes me wonder, it was it built on i mean, it's it's it's Wolfenstein, of course, but it is it built on the Quake engine?
00:56:36
Speaker
It might be. I'm not sure. um Yeah. It didn't. I don't remember if it's set or not. um But yeah, it's it's pretty cool. it's a And it's a shockingly big game for everything you're getting. It's very campy. It's very over the top.
00:56:52
Speaker
ah And it's fast. Like, it's that good running around, shooting and and throwing switches and picking up keys and and all that shit. All that shit is is in there.
00:57:06
Speaker
and's Published by Microprose. Yeah. Yeah. Weird, right? Weird. Yeah. like that was I didn't even notice that until I started playing the game and Microprose logo came up and I was like, wait, what?
00:57:20
Speaker
um Yeah. It's very strange, but it's ah it's a pretty solid game. So absolutely worth ah your time. I think you especially, Kevin. I think you. Yeah. Yeah. I added to my library. i amm yeah I'm there.
00:57:34
Speaker
yeah i think you're you'll be into this. but But yeah, that's, but that's, I've been, i honestly, I've been painting Warhammer miniatures like crazy. I bought a, um a, ah a combat patrol of death core of Krieg for my birthday. And I've been slowly painting my way through them.
00:57:52
Speaker
And I don't know, man, I think the older I get, the more I'm like, I'm pretty sure analog games are going to be a big part of my future. Yeah. Just being the guy that's just, you know, you're at the you go to the the local store. Yeah. yeah Button around. Yeah. I just like it's it's just it's just really enjoyable. I i have I'm giving myself a break in the sense that ah but I can be a decent painter if I really try.
00:58:21
Speaker
But I'm not really trying like I'm painting. I'm not painting at a desk. I'm painting in my easy chair while while me and me and Emily watch movies and stuff. Right. And um and I do I'm doing Slap Chop, which is a which is a really fun technique that involves building up layers of grayscale on your miniature and then using contrast paints. And so you've got built in highlights and built in shadows. sure Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it's a coloring book.
00:58:47
Speaker
on a tiny yeah you're just doing it you know it's you're not you're not getting in there with hyper detailed like right right and but it still looks pretty it looks good ah good enough and i'm enjoying it and it's still relaxing and it's not like this thing because i you know i follow all the all the the people on instagram that you're like god damn these people are amazing painters i wish i could do that and then i think about it and go with what time When I'm going to, how am I going to? What time? time What time do I have? I'm just going to enjoy it and and and paint them the way I want paint And eventually I'll have an army of some size that I can actually start playing the fucking game. But for now, I'm taking my time and and and playing with it.
00:59:26
Speaker
And that's been that's been a big part of it for me. So that's, but that's me. That's that's my week. That's awesome. um Yeah, I do. I would like to get in a little bit more analog. Something I forgot to mention real briefly, Tavern Keeper.
00:59:41
Speaker
i i bought it. um It's the second game made by Green Heart Games. Do you know what their first game was? Green Heart Games. Game Dev Tycoon.
00:59:56
Speaker
Oh! 12 years later, they return. i dropped i dropped a lot of hours the Game Dev Tycoon.
01:00:06
Speaker
It's a little, ah it's a sim ah where you're just like, ah you're doing a ah ah a tavern in like, you know, a fantasy world. This looks fun. Yeah.
01:00:21
Speaker
It's it's early access, but it's a pretty polished early access. I'll say um i like it so far. nice i barely put any time into it. I'll just like I put in like 15 minutes. So like it or not, like, I don't know if I like it or not like it, but it's, it seems neat.
01:00:38
Speaker
right So yeah. I just figured i'd I'd throw that in there at the end. yeah so this Yeah. This looks cute. Yeah. ah But that'll bring us to the end of ah tonight's episode. Thank you all so much for listening and watching and ah tasting.
01:00:59
Speaker
should saying ah Follow us on Instagram, Blue Sky. ah Join our Discord. ah Come over to our Patreon and ah pay us money or not. It's up to you. We're not we're not your mother. We're not your mother over here.
01:01:15
Speaker
ah But we might be your daddies. We might be, yeah. yeah give a time Give it time. Give time. She thinks we're charming. Hey.