Transcript
Speaker: Well, yeah, I mean, you see Mr. Beast, you know, just make it look so easy.
Speaker: He just throws his face on a thumbnail and gets 100 million views.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: You know who else has 100 million views?
Speaker: Who's that?
Speaker: Who's that?
Speaker: Not us.
Speaker: Not us.
Speaker: But hey there, everybody.
Speaker: I was supposed to be like, yo.
Speaker: Welcome to Pixlet.
Speaker: My name is Kevin.
Speaker: Alongside with me, as always, is Phil.
Speaker: And today on the show, we have very special guests.
Speaker: Dylan, who is the developer of, what is it called now?
Speaker: Wildlands?
Speaker: Yeah, the rebrand is Wildlander.
Speaker: Formerly Ultimate Skyrim.
Speaker: Formerly Ultimate Skyrim.
Speaker: Formerly Skyrim roguelike.
Speaker: Formerly, this is like the fourth name for it, right?
Speaker: Yeah, there's been a lot of names, I guess, at this point.
Speaker: I miss the marketing class about keeping the same name for brand recognition and retention.
Speaker: It's like, you know, let's just lose an entire user base every so often to really keep you on your toes and make sure you're still doing it, you know?
Speaker: Keep your brand on your toes, you know?
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Just keep an eye on it.
Speaker: You're good.
Speaker: If they were too comfortable.
Speaker: If the fans, they'll figure it out.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: They'll figure it out.
Speaker: It's true, right?
Speaker: If they really cared.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: It's like, meanwhile, it's like no one's playing.
Speaker: I'm just kidding.
Speaker: Some people are playing.
Speaker: A few, a handful.
Speaker: So today on the show, we're going to talk about a book, and it's a book that is...
Speaker: Oh boy.
Speaker: It's a book, all right.
Speaker: It has pages, it has numbers, and it is, this is not a World's of Power book.
Speaker: It is a Sega Power book, and it is titled Golden Axe.
Speaker: Golden Axe, everybody.
Speaker: Yeah, that Golden Axe.
Speaker: So a little bit of backstory about the game Golden Axe.
Speaker: Golden Axe was released in 1989 in the arcades.
Speaker: It was a Sega original.
Speaker: It was designed by a man named Makoto Uchida, and he was a huge fan of the Conan movies.
Speaker: Clearly huge.
Speaker: Obviously.
Speaker: Conan and Frank Farzetta were just, you know, just just Frank Farzetta posters all up on his wall.
Speaker: Everywhere.
Speaker: Everywhere.
Speaker: And he was also inspired by side-scrolling beat-em-ups like Double Dragon and Street Fighter, which this marks the first time in history that anybody was inspired by Street Fighter 1.
Speaker: It also had ports to the Mega Drive and Master System, Mega Drive, a.k.a.
Speaker: Genesis.
Speaker: And the original arcade version ended after beating Death Adder, but the console versions had an additional fight against Deathbringer.
Speaker: And that is Golden Axe.
Speaker: It has also spawned a series that...
Speaker: Continued up until, I want to say, the early 2010s.
Speaker: I think the last release was... It was a game that featured... What's her name?
Speaker: The... Tyrus Flair.
Speaker: Tyrus?
Speaker: Who is the...
Speaker: Yeah, it was.
Speaker: She was the main character.
Speaker: Was that the Beast Rider one?
Speaker: Golden Axe Beast Rider featuring Tyrus Flair was the main character.
Speaker: And Tyrus Flair is also the female protagonist in Golden Axe that you can choose from.
Speaker: So that's the game.
Speaker: It's a three-person game.
Speaker: axe battler tyrus flare and with the the the little fella the little yes who is magnet he's a dwarf i have the i don't know if you guys usually edit this kind of thing and i have the um the cover art just here like on from the book which is just like i don't know if i go like this if you can even pick it up oh yeah oh yeah demonstrate like just
Speaker: It is so of its time.
Speaker: Yes, absolutely.
Speaker: It's glorious.
Speaker: Even the dwarf mage is just like yoked, dude.
Speaker: He's like bronzed, white, big hair, 80s icons, really.
Speaker: I love Axe Battler's pose.
Speaker: It's this kind of like just sticking his- It's so awkward.
Speaker: Yeah, almost the T pose.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: What do I do with my hands?
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Yeah, Gerald Peril is the guy's name who did the artwork.
Speaker: And his quote is, when I was a teenager, I was very much into Conan and all things barbarian.
Speaker: So there you go.
Speaker: Thank you, Google, for- We got a job for you, Gerald.
Speaker: No kidding.
Speaker: You like this stuff?
Speaker: Can you copy it?
Speaker: Yes, I can.
Speaker: So, Phil, you and Dylan were actually talking a little bit before the show about where from did this book spring?
Speaker: Yeah, this was this one, the author and for everyone at home, my my computer completely died on me today.
Speaker: So we're doing this by phone.
Speaker: So I'm at a disadvantage.
Speaker: The old timey way.
Speaker: Yes, we're doing it analog today.
Speaker: Not really.
Speaker: I'm still on my phone.
Speaker: As analog as digital.
Speaker: This podcast is sponsored by Alexander Graham Bell.
Speaker: My transatlantic cable.
Speaker: Oh, my God.
Speaker: Transatlantic cable.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, but it was Andy Smith, I believe, is the name of the author of, I think, all of these, the entire series.
Speaker: It's a series of five, a surprising amount of racing-style games in there, like vehicular-style games.
Speaker: This is the only, like, sword and sorcery beat-em-up kind of thing, and this was the first in the series, to top it off.
Speaker: This guy is not like our usual gang.
Speaker: of writers for hire.
Speaker: Oh, he's a writer for hire.
Speaker: Don't misunderstand me.
Speaker: But whereas your Alan Dean Foster's, your Shirley's, like all of the people we've talked to, they stay in the genre lane.
Speaker: That is what they're here for.
Speaker: They're here to throw some sci-fi, some fantasy, some horror at your ass.
Speaker: This gentleman, while he was a writer at very least, if not an editor, for a Sega magazine?
Speaker: Is that what you found, Dylan?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I think that's like in the beginning of the book, I'm pretty sure at least the implication is that he was the editor of this Sega Power magazine, UK based Sega magazine.
Speaker: And I think he published these books in that magazine.
Speaker: He might have written them for publication within the magazine.
Speaker: It's not super clear.
Speaker: And I couldn't find any instances of the magazine to check my work.
Speaker: I love the Dickensian serialized golden ax novel in a magazine angle.
Speaker: First off, it's a really general name, Andy Smith, so it's kind of hard to find if you're talking about the right guy.
Speaker: But based on what I've found, this guy is a writer for hire for basically everything.
Speaker: If this is the same person,
Speaker: He's written children's books.
Speaker: He's written instructional books.
Speaker: He's written he's written every and and not in the way that, for example, FX9, Mr. Seth Godin seems to have made a pivot to marketing and he's a very successful marketing expert.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: this guy just kind of like, if I can vaguely fake my way through 50,000 words and you will pay me for it, I will put my name on it.
Speaker: And that seems to be the name of the game.
Speaker: I could not find a website for him.
Speaker: It was, I think, between the general nature of his name and the general nature of his bibliography, if you will.
Speaker: It was tough to find a lot on him.
Speaker: So this guy, we might not be interviewing this guy.
Speaker: Let me just put it that way.
Speaker: If you could.
Speaker: If, I mean, if we could, we would maybe.
Speaker: I mean, we talked to Seth Godin and, you know, he's like, and here's the thing I'll say about Seth Godin is that the Worlds of Power worked because
Speaker: Seth, it wasn't a pivot for Seth.
Speaker: He did it because he's a marketing, like one of these marketing gurus.
Speaker: He basically he basically saw an opening and was and already had experience with it once before with Shadowkeep and was like, hey,
Speaker: hey, wait a minute, I have an idea.
Speaker: Hey, Scholastic.
Speaker: And the reason why I say he already kind of knew what he was doing is because he went to Scholastic.
Speaker: He had a plan.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker: This doesn't feel like it was constructed necessarily with a plan.
Speaker: No, I don't.
Speaker: I don't think a plan was the first thing on this guy's
Speaker: Dylan, did I leave anything out?
Speaker: I know you did a little research too.
Speaker: I think you got it.
Speaker: I think that's at least everything.
Speaker: And again, my research is based singularly on, you know, what's published here in this book and at the very end, like in a quick Google search, I guess.
Speaker: So almost singularly, you're better researched than I am.
Speaker: The rest is just all supposition.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: That's why Phil gets the big bucks.
Speaker: Do you know what, real quick, before we even get into this, my parents visited this weekend.
Speaker: My mom, like many of my projects, you know, my creative endeavors, my mother is supportive, but does not understand me.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: You know, and so she was asking about the podcast and she said it was the most confusing question she ever asked.
Speaker: Because I said, yeah, after you guys leave that day on Sunday, you know what I mean?
Speaker: We're going to do another episode.
Speaker: And mom said, does Kevin make money doing this?
Speaker: And I went, well, if Kevin made money doing it, I would also be making money doing it.
Speaker: So she's like, oh, no, not right now.
Speaker: Maybe maybe she believes that I'm I'm I'm just like, I am the one that is holding the.
Speaker: Stealing all the labor.
Speaker: And I'm like, I'm yeah, I am just I'm just I'm straight up big business over here.
Speaker: Stealing your labor.
Speaker: Exploiting Phil, unfortunately.
Speaker: Phil needs to form a union of one, a workers union.
Speaker: My mom is like, you know, Phil makes for a great dancing monkey, but he's not quite bright enough to pull this off on his own.
Speaker: You know, she's wrong about that.
Speaker: I understand now why your brother... I'm asking a question to Alex Smith to see if he got paid for this.
Speaker: I think you'll find... And this is a real published book.
Speaker: Was it Alex?
Speaker: What was his name?
Speaker: I'm sorry, Andy.
Speaker: I'm sorry.
Speaker: I think Alex Smith was the quarterback.
Speaker: You're right, is the quarterback.
Speaker: It's like that's clearly what's in my head.
Speaker: It's extra confusing because Andrew Smith is also a writer.
Speaker: And as far as I can tell, I don't think he's the same writer.
Speaker: So it's just... And he also has a series on Golden Axe, which is just, you know, poor Andy.
Speaker: And he did a series of TurboGrafx novels.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Oh, man.
Speaker: Which seems equally likely to be novelized as Golden Axe.
Speaker: That was... You know what I mean?
Speaker: And you know who wrote a lot about... You know who wrote a lot about gold was Adam Smith in The Quarterback.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Oh.
Speaker: See?
Speaker: Full circle.
Speaker: Full circle.
Speaker: I think we can all agree.
Speaker: Just capitalism, man.
Speaker: Oh, man.
Speaker: Come on, man.
Speaker: Just say that at the end of any question someone asked me or any like...
Speaker: you know, monologue that I accidentally enter into capitalism.
Speaker: You say that more, it's definitely a non-zero amount of times per episode that I think we blame capitalism for something.
Speaker: Yeah, I bet it's legitimate.
Speaker: I bet it's a legitimate
Speaker: There's a part of me, as much as we enjoy these books, and as much as a lot of them anyway, we do sense that something is wrong when you have to create a copy of a copy of something for the sole purpose of making money.
Speaker: And therein lies the folly of the video game novelization.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: I do wonder about this one.
Speaker: I wonder... I just... I get...
Speaker: If I had to guess, you know how they say it's always like, you know, oh, I do one for them and then I do one for me.
Speaker: I cannot guess that this is one for them.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: Because like who's asking and just reading it.
Speaker: Like I don't the market for this one.
Speaker: I don't know if it existed or exists now.
Speaker: And just reading through it.
Speaker: Like, I mean, we'll obviously get into it, but like, yeah.
Speaker: At least in my opinion, this seemed like I'm convinced that this is basically like a Golden Axe fan fiction.
Speaker: This is like someone who loves Sega enough to like make this like a fanboy.
Speaker: Yeah, like unlicensed, like you were saying, Phil.
Speaker: Yeah, I could be wrong.
Speaker: I think that's hilarious because I think the exact opposite.
Speaker: Yes, that's clear.
Speaker: Because this might be one of the most passionless pieces of prose I've ever read.
Speaker: It's on par for our readers, for our listeners who joined us for Mega Man 2 with Worlds of Power.
Speaker: To me, this is on the same level of just like following along.
Speaker: You might not even be playing it.
Speaker: And we'll get into this probably at the end of the year when we have a special end of the year episode.
Speaker: Because last year we kind of like sorted out a list of where we kind of felt each book felt.
Speaker: I feel like these specific
Speaker: Sega Power and Worlds of Power novelizations have to be on their own separate list away from other books.
Speaker: They're uncategorizable.
Speaker: They have to be sequestered.
Speaker: And right now, at the top of that is probably Ninja Gaiden is number one on that list.
Speaker: Absolutely the best written one.
Speaker: Best written one by far.
Speaker: Still, sequester them.
Speaker: Keep these, you know, put them on a ship out to sea.
Speaker: Let's bring out the Middle Ages version of quarantining where they had people out.
Speaker: Quarantining.
Speaker: Quarantining.
Speaker: Quarantining.
Speaker: No, that was the thing is in the old days, this is your fun fact history thing.
Speaker: Yes, please.
Speaker: Quarantining literally meant 40 days.
Speaker: So basically sailors who were coming back from somewhere where they could have caught disease had to be kept offshore for 40 days to make sure that they did not have a disease that could be spread to the mainland.
Speaker: Yeah, just eradicate a native population.
Speaker: It's like, oops.
Speaker: I mean, they didn't really care that.
Speaker: Well, they didn't care about someone else's country.
Speaker: Yeah, it's like, well, eradicate someone else, but not us.
Speaker: It was the coming back that Spain tended to have an issue with.
Speaker: Capitalism, man.
Speaker: You know, it's all capitalism.
Speaker: Fucking mercantilism, man.
Speaker: It's like, oh, fucking East India Company.
Speaker: Yeah, trading company.
Speaker: East India Trading Company, man.
Speaker: Yeah, man.
Speaker: Chapter one.
Speaker: I'm going to bring this up.
Speaker: God damn it.
Speaker: My transitions are usually timed to get Phil to do a spit take.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Success.
Speaker: Damn it.
Speaker: So we're introduced to Axe Battler and the land of Yuria.
Speaker: And the big bad evil guy is a dude named Deathadder.
Speaker: And he's been plaguing the land of Yuria for years.
Speaker: Meanwhile, in the bar that Axe Battler is hanging out in, the townsfolk are just torturing a dude.
Speaker: He's referred to as a... I had to go into the game and make sure, be like, oh, it's probably like a monster or something.
Speaker: No, a Henninger just refers to a human person who is just one of Death Adder's soldiers.
Speaker: Sort of.
Speaker: This is a... I was going to ask you guys about this because I'm not sure and I wanted to get your guys' takes.
Speaker: I did the exact same thing.
Speaker: I went and looked... I was like, I'm assuming this is like a direct novelization of the events of the video game and I went and looked up the different monster names and yes, they look like
Speaker: It's just straight up humans, just regular old humans.
Speaker: But I guess maybe I shouldn't spoil it.
Speaker: They die a certain way that makes me like, are they just, are they humans?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Well, we'll see.
Speaker: I guess I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but it's an important question because the implications are significant for either answer.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: If we torture a monster, do we not become the monster?
Speaker: Yeah, the abyss.
Speaker: Stares back and all that.
Speaker: Yeah, the abyss.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So Tyrus Flair, who is everybody's favorite hot lady on the cover, shows up and tells, relays the news that Death Adder,
Speaker: Oh boy, he's really done it now.
Speaker: He's captured the king and the princess and also says the other guy who is the dwarf is not available and she's too injured to go.
Speaker: So that turns a three player game into this becomes a single player mission.
Speaker: And oh, BT dubs, your best friend, Alex, Axe and Alex,
Speaker: you know, who wouldn't become best friends?
Speaker: I mean, I did not.
Speaker: Has been killed.
Speaker: Think about that.
Speaker: Your best friend, Alex, it has been has been slain.
Speaker: So single player mission.
Speaker: That's chapter one.
Speaker: They're ready to go.
Speaker: Fan theory, fan theory, fan theory.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Alex is a metaphor for Axe Battler's soul, for his inner, the best parts on the inside of him, because Alex, when you remove the middle part of Alex, you get Axe, which is of course the only reason to have such a stupid fucking name.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Especially when your main weapon is a sword.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: I was like, someone's got to bring this up.
Speaker: We'll get there, I guess.
Speaker: But yes, it is very good.
Speaker: And by the way, they gave this guy a spinoff.
Speaker: I used to, when I had an old Sega game gear, there was a game called Axe Battler.
Speaker: And I would go whenever we went to the used game store in town, I would buy whatever fantasy looking game.
Speaker: anything that looked like an RPG.
Speaker: Because I was sidled with Sega at that point in my life.
Speaker: So RPGs were kind of... They were low on the ground.
Speaker: Yeah, few and far between.
Speaker: Yeah, I had to get what I could get.
Speaker: Axe Battler wasn't quite an RPG, but it was basically like...
Speaker: you're on a map and then you'd go to a level and the level would just be a boss.
Speaker: It was just a boss game and you played Axe Battler and you had a sword even through that.
Speaker: So the only thing I can think of is maybe it's because he's battling for the golden axe.
Speaker: For the axe.
Speaker: Maybe.
Speaker: Maybe important to establish that his name is spelled A-X.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But the fact that his name is...
Speaker: I always thought it was a title.
Speaker: I always thought of it as a title.
Speaker: So for this guy, you're going, this is the Axe Battler game.
Speaker: Yeah, it was very surprising.
Speaker: Weird choice.
Speaker: Weird choice.
Speaker: Yeah, what's the language that they speak in Barcelona?
Speaker: Catalan.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, that's just the region.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Is that correct?
Speaker: You know what I mean.
Speaker: It's with a C, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Isn't X a sh sound in that language?
Speaker: Oh, we're going to fucking deep Catalan Spanish.
Speaker: I'm just saying maybe his name is Ash.
Speaker: Could be, and then it's like a callback.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Something tells me that Axe is his name, because it's just too, yeah, there's like the series called Golden Axe, like this guy's name is Axe.
Speaker: Yeah, Catalan is also the language.
Speaker: Gotcha, okay.
Speaker: Just making sure.
Speaker: I know what you're talking about.
Speaker: It's almost like a, yeah, I can't say.
Speaker: And is this the- So are you suggesting that his name is actually Shpedler?
Speaker: That'd be Ash.
Speaker: Ash.
Speaker: Oh, Ash.
Speaker: Oh, oh.
Speaker: Yes, because the X would be pronounced, but I like that take way more.
Speaker: I like that better for the record.
Speaker: That's my fan theory is that it's, it's, it's, it's Axe, but it's, it's, it's spelled Axe, but it's Catalan and it's Ash.
Speaker: I like it.
Speaker: So Ash Battler.
Speaker: Ash Battler.
Speaker: Still got to work on the last name.
Speaker: Yeah, it's still a stupid name, but it's less stupid now.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So in chapter two, Ash travels to he's Ash from now on.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I don't care.
Speaker: Travels to Turtle Village and there he kills a Henager, a Longmoan, which I don't.
Speaker: These names, Longmoan.
Speaker: Yeah, I was afraid to Google search that one.
Speaker: It's in the game as a Longmoan.
Speaker: And you can't search that.
Speaker: You can't search Longmoan without... I mean, you can.
Speaker: And you can enjoy the results of the search.
Speaker: Make sure that you hit the shopping tab when you do it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Guys.
Speaker: And Storchania, which let's throw some Russian sounding names in here too.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: When I read that one, I was like, was that like a typo of Stolich Night?
Speaker: Like the vodka?
Speaker: It really does feel that way, doesn't it?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, it's got to be, what, two letters off?
Speaker: Yeah, easily.
Speaker: Who knows why?
Speaker: Who knows why these things happen the way they do?
Speaker: Yes, they're having fun with the names for certain.
Speaker: What's his name?
Speaker: Makoto, who created the game.
Speaker: Uchida.
Speaker: Makoto Uchida, who created the game, maybe he was just, you know, he was just being silly, you know, just having a little fun.
Speaker: He's a big Stoli fan.
Speaker: Just a big Stoli fan.
Speaker: He's got to get this in there somehow.
Speaker: So he, an axe, Ash, steals a domesticated dragon known as a chicken leg.
Speaker: And then he beats up on a tiny dwarf creature known as a thief to replenish his potions.
Speaker: And then he takes on another group of bad guys and he body shames a giant.
Speaker: That's chapter.
Speaker: He does.
Speaker: I remember that.
Speaker: I actually made a note of that here.
Speaker: And I was like, oh, Axe, Ash.
Speaker: Come on, man.
Speaker: Axe, come on, man.
Speaker: Kind of a dick.
Speaker: You know, just because the dude's, you know, a big boy doesn't doesn't mean you can you can say that in the process of killing him.
Speaker: You're already killing him.
Speaker: Like, what what what is what are you gaining by also making him feel bad about his metabolism?
Speaker: You're dead now, fatty.
Speaker: This is in the era of like the presidential like fitness test.
Speaker: Oh, I remember those.
Speaker: Well, actually, but this is UK.
Speaker: So maybe they maybe they had something equivalent like the the Queens, the Queens jump around bits.
Speaker: Yes, I can tell you a little bit about the Queens jump around bits.
Speaker: But it's like it's a different kind of podcast.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The queen's jump around bits.
Speaker: Welcome to the queen's jump around bits.
Speaker: I'm Phil.
Speaker: This is Kevin and Dylan.
Speaker: Oh my gosh.
Speaker: We're talking about those bits.
Speaker: Why they be jumping around so much?
Speaker: Why are they on the queen?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: It's like, ah, I'll see you guys.
Speaker: I'll see you guys later.
Speaker: This was, this was a fun idea.
Speaker: I'm going to go.
Speaker: This is great.
Speaker: If anything, that isn't going to leave.
Speaker: Yes, I would do that podcast.
Speaker: I would say that publicly.
Speaker: I'm like, I won't be a part of it.
Speaker: And then I just hop right back into the Zoom call.
Speaker: And then you show up.
Speaker: And that can be, that's one for us and the rest for them.
Speaker: It's spelled D-I-L-L-O-N.
Speaker: Yes, I have like a fake mustache.
Speaker: She is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee.
Speaker: We will speak her Ghibli bits with respect.
Speaker: Yeah, no, I will dunk on the queen any time.
Speaker: It's like, yeah, I've seen the crown.
Speaker: The capitalism, man.
Speaker: I've seen the crown.
Speaker: You know, it's capitalism.
Speaker: It's more fucking capitalism, man.
Speaker: It's all fucking, that's what the monarchy is.
Speaker: It's literally chapter three.
Speaker: Wait, wait, if you don't mind, this is like, because I had the note about him fat shaming this giant, and this is like when it started to kind of, some of the questions,
Speaker: like the bigger questions if you have any from the book started to pop up to me this is like this is the first time so in this chapter is when he gets like his first kills on these monsters right yes um when so like if you go and i'm assuming yeah like you guys said you're gonna edit in a picture of of any one of these monsters they're they're just humans they look like just people just dudes
Speaker: Yeah, it's the ones who ride, you know, the the dragon.
Speaker: It's the stole each night.
Speaker: I can't remember what the actual name is, but I'm just going to call him Stoleys.
Speaker: They all just look like.
Speaker: Yes, like generic, like glam metal white buff people.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: And so I assumed I was like, are these, you know, is he are these human lives being taken every time he kills him?
Speaker: they like disintegrate into dust.
Speaker: So I was thinking it was like, I'm like, all right, are these kind of, you know, like, is this like a Power Rangers, like putty people kind of scenario?
Speaker: I think that's the case, but it gets more complicated.
Speaker: And this is the only reason I even said anything at all is because, you know, we're our fat shaming giant.
Speaker: I believe it's in chapter two where the giant like,
Speaker: says something back or some responds or like i don't i can't remember if it's here or not i'm looking for it but eventually you'll find that they are intelligent enough to like communicate in the same language that axe speaks so there's like a degree of sentience here so now it's like yeah even if they are putty people you know what i mean like they're not just going yeah you know like these are these are sentient creatures that are just being murdered kind of like and i get they're like the you know
Speaker: the agents of the evil guy, but, uh, there, I did think it was like noteworthy and I was like, okay, I'm just trying to figure out the moral barometer.
Speaker: But before this book came out, we already had shadow keep where the guy kills a lowly goblin and still thinks to himself, I don't think I should be doing this.
Speaker: So he's got no excuses, man.
Speaker: This is what I mean.
Speaker: It's like, what degree of kind of a, of like ethical grayness are we going to contend with in this?
Speaker: Because the entire thing, it's, it's just, it's such an interesting question to me because of the fact that this book exists at all.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: The book is, because like at that point, like to be clear for like anyone who's not played Golden Axe, like it is an extremely simple, like very bare bones, early style side scrolling beat him up.
Speaker: And this book is this like, what I think is actually like charming about it is it's like this attempt to novelize the very like,
Speaker: very specifically the events of like they don't build on the world at all they don't expand on anything that is not in the games and there's barely anything in the games to work with but they still kind of you know like right around it so yeah it was just kind of like this interesting question like to me of like what to what degree are we going to have a character who like thinks about something like that right i guess i'm not going to spoil it yeah i mean that's basically it yeah yeah spoilers none there's gonna be no thoughts yeah yes okay
Speaker: i don't know it's pretty good we'll get in there's more examples that i thought there's more examples of that but you know it's oh yeah we got plenty of those we got plus and chapter three uh during this and chapter three literally starts with like the in-between level like camp scene where one of the old thief dudes pops out and you get to beat this out of him for and steal his potions right
Speaker: Like this again, like this being the primary in the game, there's the mechanism by which you replenish your resources is like, you know, the little random dudes run across and you like bop them.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And that's it.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Like you steal their items and it's kind of like, oh, but it's okay because they're thieves.
Speaker: It says this in the book.
Speaker: It's like everyone kind of tolerates them because there's so many of them.
Speaker: So we just do this.
Speaker: We take their food and their potions.
Speaker: They kind of treat them like a different species.
Speaker: Like, yeah, they are.
Speaker: Yeah, a thief isn't the name of your profession.
Speaker: Yeah, I know what you mean, where it's like, you think, oh, it's like a thief, like, here's a guy who's a thief.
Speaker: It's like, no, it's a thief and also a different species that they call thief, who also happen to be thieves.
Speaker: It's very strange.
Speaker: This is what I mean.
Speaker: The source material does not give you that much to work with.
Speaker: So the idea that this man is here.
Speaker: A rare blue spotted thief.
Speaker: Yes, exactly.
Speaker: It opens so many questions of moral.
Speaker: And this is a side note.
Speaker: I was considering back when I was doing the video, the YouTube video thing, I was thinking about writing a video about how violence is portrayed in games as too often the only solution to
Speaker: for so many of the problems.
Speaker: Because it's like, and it's like, you know, there's the old Ludo narrative thing of like Uncharted.
Speaker: You're like, there used to be, there was like an achievement in Uncharted called Ludo narrative dissonance for after you killed a thousand dudes.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: It's like, I'm the good guy.
Speaker: I am the good guy.
Speaker: And so- 1,000 human lives taken.
Speaker: And it's like, it's not to get all like, I don't know, like a Coldplay song playing in Barnes & Noble, but you start to ask what the weight of human life is.
Speaker: Yes, that is exactly it.
Speaker: And you have the thieves who just, you know, run, it's like,
Speaker: The idea that the author chose to just portray it exactly as it was versus, you know, he had a conversation with the thief and like then convinced him to give it to him or like he, you know, accosted him multiple times throughout the book.
Speaker: There will be a little section where it's like, yeah, then he saw another thief.
Speaker: So he bopped him and he got six more potions.
Speaker: And, you know, as one does, it is just like an attempt to
Speaker: just narrative eyes for lack of a better term.
Speaker: Exactly what happens in the game.
Speaker: Yeah, nothing left out, but nothing is expounded upon.
Speaker: I know it's just exactly what's in the game.
Speaker: It's not.
Speaker: You see so many.
Speaker: I mean, I don't want to require exactly you guys.
Speaker: So it is what it says on the tins.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Where it's like they'll take, you know, because video games, especially like older ones, obviously don't give you as much like narratively.
Speaker: They're just like relatively simple experiences.
Speaker: So when you have, and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong, because you're the experts.
Speaker: I imagine when you have these adaptations,
Speaker: a lot of the time you'll get, or it's like, you know, movie adaptations of so many things, you'll get a lot more in the adaptation than was really present.
Speaker: Like the Castlevania anime.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Use that, right?
Speaker: So it's like Castlevania III, pretty, there is technically a story.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's very simple.
Speaker: And they build this entire narrative and world and universe out of it.
Speaker: That is not Golden Axe.
Speaker: This book, I don't know if there's a subtitle.
Speaker: And I just think that's so ballsy.
Speaker: I can't help but respect someone who's like, nah, it's going to be the game.
Speaker: We talk a lot about the goal of an adaptation.
Speaker: And it's one of the things that we kind of stumbled upon early on.
Speaker: Was that one of the main goals of an adaptation should be matching tone.
Speaker: It's like there shouldn't be a tonal disconnect between adaptation and source material.
Speaker: But...
Speaker: that doesn't mean that you can't expand the universe or expand the stuff that you find in the source material to kind of, because like a lot of, so for example, the best chapters.
Speaker: To be able to tell a good story.
Speaker: Yeah, you still got to be all telling the story.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: The best chapters of the Flood, and we interviewed the author of Halo of the Flood.
Speaker: And he was telling us that he had to beg Bungie to let him write these interstitial chapters that were just the stuff that he created, whole cloth, because the game, the meat of the game was not enough.
Speaker: So these chapters,
Speaker: still match the tone of the rest of Halo, but they were so important to the enjoyment of the book because the Master Chief parts of Halo the Flood are by far the worst parts of the book.
Speaker: Like if you're balancing the two against each other and it's because it is just what the game is.
Speaker: Yes, it's like there's not a lot to work with there in terms of telling a good story, you know, at least in those games in particular.
Speaker: So in order to tell the story, you do have to, you know, pump it up a little bit.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: It's like, otherwise you end up with this.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think one of the people who, who said it best and he wasn't talking about adaptation so much, but it's totally valid was Alan Moore when they were asking him if he would write a screenplay for the watchman before that was a thing that had happened already.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: And he said, no.
Speaker: And they said, why not?
Speaker: And he said, because if I wanted to write a movie, I would have written a fucking movie.
Speaker: Yeah, sure.
Speaker: And that is – so if you're going to adapt it, the question becomes – it's kind of like covering a song.
Speaker: If you're going to cover the song, what are you going to do that's different for you?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: What's the purpose?
Speaker: Are you going to do a new take on it?
Speaker: Are you going to, you know, and and the reason things like Golden Axe, for example, fails, in my opinion, is because they there is.
Speaker: Yeah, nothing new.
Speaker: There is less than no reason to read this book because it's because Golden Axe fucking rules as a game.
Speaker: It's a great game.
Speaker: It's so much fun.
Speaker: I love that game.
Speaker: It was one of the earliest games I played as a kid, and I still have fond memories of it.
Speaker: And it's way less exciting and invigorating and fun to read the book.
Speaker: So what's the point?
Speaker: Yeah, what's the point if you're not going to do it?
Speaker: So continuing on chapter three.
Speaker: So, you know, there's the thing with the thief.
Speaker: Axe then deals with a Henninger, making him fall to his death.
Speaker: He rescues some children to kill some more dudes.
Speaker: And then we have a nice double beat as he kills a storage Naya and steals another dragon.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, like another still it's a double beat.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: It's like every time it's like clear.
Speaker: I've never I've played Golden Axe like for literally 30 seconds and it's like the amount of times in this game that you
Speaker: I killed the lady and I stole her dragon.
Speaker: I bopped a dwarf, or sorry, a thief, like, on the bum and got some potion.
Speaker: So many things I'm like, hmm, these sound like game mechanics that you would mention maybe once in, like, a novelization of a, you know, a game.
Speaker: But nope.
Speaker: It's like every time.
Speaker: I almost wonder if it's like,
Speaker: shot for shot.
Speaker: I was like, are the exact same amount of monsters in this book as there are like in the games?
Speaker: Because it almost feels like it might be.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: It sounds like the way they describe.
Speaker: It's like this.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So in chapter four, Axe saves more children.
Speaker: He murders a woman who is begging for mercy, which that scene really bummed me out.
Speaker: One of the Stoleys is begging for mercy and he's like, but you're a bad guy.
Speaker: And he stabs her in the heart.
Speaker: And I was like, this is that's a lot.
Speaker: So I guess we can expand and expound where we see fit.
Speaker: And that expounding is just in the worst way possible.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, it's like if that doesn't happen in the game, it's like this is the thing that you chose to kind of try and... That's the thing he wanted to do.
Speaker: Add something to it.
Speaker: I haven't hurt enough women in this book.
Speaker: We started off by completely negating, you know, what was the line he talks about with the female warrior character?
Speaker: He says, she was one of the greatest fighters ever seen.
Speaker: Of course, he'd never actually tell her.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Why?
Speaker: Why wouldn't you tell her that?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Well, he's got to keep negging her, you know?
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: I would never admit that a woman's good at something.
Speaker: He is.
Speaker: I'm also wondering.
Speaker: Ex-Baddler is employing the Dennis method.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: i wonder too if there's not and i hope that this is you know uh i'm sorry it's not alex smith what is his name andy smith it could be a great guy if he's i don't know if it's just the source i mean you look at the cover of the of golden axe and it doesn't exactly scream you know hyper progressive at you which is not a day i mean i understand that it's you know the the style at the time like kind of the conan and the barbarian but i also wonder it's like those components like in the tavern and then also this like i'm gonna murder this one and also what was it the giant
Speaker: who I guess, you know, in his defense was male, but still it's like, Hey, fatty, like, hi, you're so fat.
Speaker: Also, I'm going to kill you.
Speaker: It makes me wonder how much of that is Andy versus like, like if there's like ax battlers kind of reading this book going, dude, what?
Speaker: Like, why would you, I would never do that.
Speaker: Like where, where does it start?
Speaker: Or like what percent, you know, it's like, yeah.
Speaker: I'm a huge fan of the original Robert E. Howard Conan short stories.
Speaker: I adore his work.
Speaker: I find it to be amazing.
Speaker: And you read it and you're like, this is not great sometimes.
Speaker: I'm just going to.
Speaker: It's like it's like Lovecraft.
Speaker: You're like, oh, this is.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Oh, you know.
Speaker: Oh, great concept.
Speaker: Oh, bad, bad, bad stuff here.
Speaker: Bad details.
Speaker: Bad details.
Speaker: And then you read this and you're like, but that was extra, though.
Speaker: This is extra.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: It's like, well, there's the answer to the question, I guess.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: It's like your Phil.
Speaker: It's like, what are you going to add?
Speaker: What is the impetus for this to exist?
Speaker: It's like, well, misogyny.
Speaker: Yeah, we got it.
Speaker: Killing this lady.
Speaker: So, he then he phases off against some skeletons and I put in my notes after winning because all Axe does is win baby.
Speaker: He beats up all support thieves.
Speaker: After defeating people and murdering defenseless women, I like to kick dwarves in the ass and steal their money.
Speaker: Steal their money and their food.
Speaker: And their meat.
Speaker: And their potions.
Speaker: Yes, the potions is the only thing they can stay alive with.
Speaker: And then a giant turtle talks to him and...
Speaker: reveal, big reveal.
Speaker: Turtle Village is on the back of a giant turtle.
Speaker: Yeah, it's cold.
Speaker: And the turtle's like, hey, I'll take you across the ocean.
Speaker: Just promise not to stab me in the back like the proverbial scorpion because I just saw you kill a woman who was begging for mercy.
Speaker: Just a few minutes later, we hear the words, sorry, dude, I'm an axe battler.
Speaker: And the whole island just... Oops.
Speaker: It's in my nature.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Good Lord.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's the first four chapters.
Speaker: Chapter five.
Speaker: Go ahead, Phil.
Speaker: Well, we do.
Speaker: This goes into chapter five.
Speaker: We do get a little bit of expounding here with the dialogue between the turtle and him.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We don't get, and I will say, and I will say, this kind of puts it above Mega Man 2 in the sense that the turtle's kind of an interesting character because he kind of gives Axe Battler shit.
Speaker: Because Axe Battler's like this very like, rah, rah, we're going to win because I'm on the side of justice.
Speaker: I've got something.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: He's very convinced.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And the turtle goes, you're a fucking idiot.
Speaker: Turtle's not digging it.
Speaker: Yeah, he's kind of the turtle from the Neverending Story.
Speaker: Mothra, something like that.
Speaker: We don't even care whether or not we care.
Speaker: I did like the turtle.
Speaker: Yes, I did like that he said that to him.
Speaker: I like the axe battler having his first moment of...
Speaker: the first non like I'm just the best or like, cause the skeleton gets some good hits and he's like, Oh, actually, if I'm not careful here, like I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna fuck it up.
Speaker: And then having this conversation with the turtle where the turtles basically like, yo man, you're gonna fuck it up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: If you're not careful, you're gonna fuck it up.
Speaker: It's like what he calls him a fool.
Speaker: He's like, I have justice and hope on my side.
Speaker: And that's not something that he pulls out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's like change.
Speaker: It's gonna happen.
Speaker: And then the turtle is like,
Speaker: not by itself so yeah i did i did like that overall confirmed leftist turtle yes absolutely it's like i want you to win dude but like you can't just wish for it and make it happen you can't just wish for it man i need to change my handle and i need to i need my brand to go from elkunky to leftist turtle i think that would be good for you that is not bad dude or just like phil comma leftist turtle and then you can switch it up to like whatever you want it to be but that is a great one
Speaker: I think that's, I love it.
Speaker: I love that for you.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: And also, turtles consistently are the best.
Speaker: If you've, Dylan, have you played Elden Ring?
Speaker: Yes, I have.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I think you're talking about the dogs, though, in Elden Ring, right?
Speaker: I don't remember any turtles in that game.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: It's only dogs.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: No, there's a... All the bits.
Speaker: That's the meme, air horns.
Speaker: Yeah, no, there's a turtle pope in Elm Ring, and he's just the best dude.
Speaker: He's literally a turtle sitting there with a pope hat on.
Speaker: He's just a gigantic turtle sitting there with a pope hat, and he's been there forever, and he's like, he's the best.
Speaker: You bring him your spells, he'll teach you spells, and he's like, I'm not going anywhere.
Speaker: Bring me your shit.
Speaker: His mechanical role is to literally absolve you of sins.
Speaker: which is like dang you know and you can you start beating up on him and he'll just let you kill him he's like pure pacifist most people won't let you do that in those games turtles are just cool man just cool i feel like there's so many i i could be there's a note you guys are much better read than i am i'm trying to think of like historical examples of cool turtles i can think of like
Speaker: Yeah, Avatar.
Speaker: Terry Pratchett.
Speaker: Terry Pratchett.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: That's probably like the, you know, for a lot of people.
Speaker: Discworld.
Speaker: Discworld would be like a good example.
Speaker: Avatar, Last Airbender, Big Turtle, you know, Big Spirit.
Speaker: I feel like there's got to be some sort of like, you know, theological history of turtles being like these wise creatures.
Speaker: You climb on the back of a turtle in Majora's Mask.
Speaker: I remember that.
Speaker: I don't know if you guys played Zelda.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: One of the turtles takes you to and from one of the dungeons.
Speaker: turtles turtle rose you know they're great yeah my favorite then what's that turtles not a turtle oh yeah see you got yes that is true they and you know depending on the species they live forever you know they're they
Speaker: I think that's probably why the wise thing happens.
Speaker: Yes, you're right.
Speaker: There would be people pass pet turtles down through family, and it's like, oh, I mean, the turtles, my grandfather bought the turtle, and then the turtle outlived my dad.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Dude, I think you figured it out.
Speaker: That's got to be exactly it, man.
Speaker: It's just always been kind of walking around the garden for the past 200 years.
Speaker: I think the turtle absorbed my dad's soul because now they walk around the garden and swear.
Speaker: Damn.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that happens in chapter five.
Speaker: And then he drops him off.
Speaker: And Axe Badler kills a couple of girl bosses called Straubias, which are the leveled up versions of the Stolis and a few more giants.
Speaker: And I guarantee it mentions how he jumps on one of their dragons like after he kills them.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: Yes, there has to be all verified.
Speaker: I think I stopped noting double beats around chapter five.
Speaker: Which is, because we'll be here all day.
Speaker: Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker: That is true.
Speaker: And then we get to chapter six and he kills a few captains of Death Adder's army and then he fights the Tower Knight from Demon's Souls.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: That is exactly what I pictured in my head as well the whole time.
Speaker: I'm glad they were on the same page about that.
Speaker: And then he, but he tricks the tower knight into telling him where Death Adder's castle is.
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker: It's, come on, man.
Speaker: Dude, yes.
Speaker: I'm like looking at Phil on that one too.
Speaker: I was like, bro, I'm assuming we all kind of clocked this one or just like, Axe Battler, what an ingenious interrogator you are.
Speaker: Like that's definitely what would have happened.
Speaker: This guy would have just immediately, while he's talking about how he doesn't trust you, he would immediately tell you where his like boss is that he knows that you don't know.
Speaker: He's not here, you idiot.
Speaker: He's over there.
Speaker: He's over there.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: You go down this road.
Speaker: It's like, but don't though.
Speaker: But don't.
Speaker: But don't do that.
Speaker: That's where you would go if you were supposed to.
Speaker: If you see the lows, you've gone too far, you're going to need to make a right, and then there's some train tracks, and then you'll be, there you are.
Speaker: But don't go there.
Speaker: But don't.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm going to kill you right now.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, no, I'm bleeding.
Speaker: Oh, no, I'm dying.
Speaker: Did you just call me fat?
Speaker: Fuck.
Speaker: I'm an asshole.
Speaker: And then in my notes, I wrote, and oh, my God, there's still 10 chapters left.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, I know, dude.
Speaker: So this thing is called the Fiend's Path that he's on.
Speaker: And really brief notes here.
Speaker: He's walking along the Fiend's Path, gets attacked by a bunch of dudes, and eventually the wind starts blowing feathers at him.
Speaker: And the ground is trembling.
Speaker: It's trembling, it's shaking, and it's...
Speaker: It's all that fun stuff.
Speaker: And then chapter eight, we get long moans.
Speaker: Here's the thing.
Speaker: Here's the thing why I don't think the long moans and the Henningers are monsters is because we get specifically zombie versions of them in this chapter.
Speaker: That is also true.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So they were they were resurrected.
Speaker: These guys are resurrected from the dead, which makes me think that they cram crumble to ash in the game because it was 1989 and processing power was limited.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: It would be like writing into a final fight or a double dragon novelization.
Speaker: After killing the guy, he blinked a few times and disappeared.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, that's...
Speaker: It's like if someone then wrote a book for Double Dragon and very explicitly described how that exact thing happens when you kill them.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: That's like, it's like if he's, you know, like writing this book and like he kills them and they still turn into Ash, I'm like,
Speaker: that's now canon in our universe, baby.
Speaker: Like these people, when they die, they turn to ash.
Speaker: But as you just said, Kevin, you're right.
Speaker: There's also zombie versions of these creatures that have come to life to me.
Speaker: I mean, I guess, you know, you can't conclude that they have souls, but it's certainly implied, or at least I think, you know,
Speaker: Because, you know, maybe I guess you don't need a soul to be a zombie or like maybe something was important to the soulless husks of the living thing.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But, you know, you bring up an interesting point with the soul factor, because I think that that basically lays it out that
Speaker: human creature they do have souls and therefore require the salvation of our lord jesus christ yes which is i'm sure that where the book will end you know or it says i don't want to spoil the ending of the book too much but there's you know it seems like there could be even more adventure to come and like what if that's the ultimate
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: That's where we land.
Speaker: The ultimate adventure is giving your life to your tribe.
Speaker: Yes, the salvation of your soul.
Speaker: Have you heard about the ultimate adventure of saving your soul?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And your precious, precious virginity.
Speaker: And your precious, precious virginity.
Speaker: And don't be fat.
Speaker: And then it's like the dude, don't be fat.
Speaker: And then the dude takes his mask off.
Speaker: The author takes his mask off.
Speaker: And it's like, Jack Chick.
Speaker: I know, oh my God.
Speaker: It was a Chick track all along.
Speaker: Axe Battler, the coolest youth pastor in the world.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Oh man, Axe Battler cannot sit in a chair normally.
Speaker: He has to spin them all around.
Speaker: There's no, he has to- Yeah, sit on it backwards.
Speaker: He's gotta get that backwards.
Speaker: Let's talk about Christ.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Hey, let's wrap a little bit.
Speaker: Oh yeah, sorry.
Speaker: A man I know and love, his name's Jesus.
Speaker: Have you heard of him?
Speaker: And that's Axe Battler at Jeebus Camp.
Speaker: Yeah, that's what he's doing there.
Speaker: You guys could be on to something.
Speaker: We could be.
Speaker: We could be.
Speaker: It's like I'm not reading back through for subtext.
Speaker: Subtext?
Speaker: No, it's really subtle.
Speaker: Dylan, just take our word for it.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: Insert the Garth Marenghi meme of I know authors who use subtext and they're all cowards.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: I've not seen that.
Speaker: Oh, what's it?
Speaker: I'm trying to remember what what it's actually from.
Speaker: I can't remember the name of the show, but it's it's just this author is like has sunglasses and slicked back hair.
Speaker: And the caption at the bottom is, I know I know authors who use subtext and they are all cowards.
Speaker: Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker: I kind of like I got to a point in my life where I was like, I almost agree with that.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: You can kind of see.
Speaker: I mean, and again, that's why Andy among the best.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: Among the best.
Speaker: I'm going to spell it out for you.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: You will know exactly how I feel and what's going on.
Speaker: Please don't think.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Please don't think.
Speaker: So he's fighting through the Zombos.
Speaker: He gets the end of the path and finds out that he's been walking and there's only one set of footsteps.
Speaker: That's where he was being carried.
Speaker: The big man upstairs, you know what I mean?
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: God is good.
Speaker: And all the time.
Speaker: God is good.
Speaker: God is good.
Speaker: And then he's been walking on the back of an eagle.
Speaker: Now I'm thinking of on eagle's wings.
Speaker: And you raise me up.
Speaker: Oh, God, no.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I'm actually, I was joking before.
Speaker: Someone put a wallet under his tongue.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: It's really all coming together now.
Speaker: And the Fiend's Path used to be called the Friend's Path.
Speaker: Oh God.
Speaker: We writing this down?
Speaker: We taking notes?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We're taking notes.
Speaker: The Fiend's Path, they dropped an R at some point.
Speaker: The Eagle used to just take people soaring through the sky.
Speaker: And then the Eagle is sad that that doesn't happen anymore.
Speaker: So he's going to help Axe Battler.
Speaker: Yeah, something here, it's like the eagle is supposed to be some sort of spirit or something, like of the world.
Speaker: It's somehow also corporeal because it, yeah, he also gives him a ride.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, just like the giant turtle.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: And how the...
Speaker: something they cast a spell or something.
Speaker: It really doesn't say.
Speaker: It's like this is like the one like interesting.
Speaker: I guess.
Speaker: Yeah, it's like and then also a Phil said about the turtle being like, oh, this is interesting, but it's like not wearing going to stop on that for too long.
Speaker: We're not going to.
Speaker: We're going to stop on.
Speaker: Maybe it's obvious in the game.
Speaker: Maybe he's really counting on you to have played it as well.
Speaker: There's no way spelling out the entire game.
Speaker: surprising lack of women to murder in the game itself.
Speaker: That is the... Let's move along.
Speaker: Let's move it along, fellas.
Speaker: Speaking of moving along, we're going to take a break and we're going to pause the episode right here and Dylan's going to be joining us in the next episode for more Golden Axe.
Speaker: More Golden Axe.
Speaker: We'll see you then.
Speaker: Bye.
