This might have a little something to do with expectation vs. reality. Like Captain America: Civil War, Secret Invasion is named after a well-known storyline from the comics. However, the series never reached the heights of its comic book counterpart, as the tense tale of paranoid espionage we hoped for ended up being a muddled exercise in testing how long viewers would stay tuned before bowing out.

#5 – The Marvels

Hopes were high for the debut of Ms. Marvel on the big screen after the success of her series, and to her credit, Kamala Khan was the bright spot of this movie. Unfortunately, the shortest movie in the MCU ended up feeling rushed, never leaving enough time to properly explore the relationships between Carol and Kamala or Carol and Monica. Pair that with one of the most boring villains from Marvel Studios and you end up with a movie that never reaches its potential.

#4 – Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

When I think of the prior two Ant-Man movies, I think of street level action and humor. Unfortunately, Quantumania throws a wrench in that formula. Sure, there are a decent amount of laughs, but the scale gets much larger, resulting in this entry in the Ant-Man franchise losing a lot of its charm. Kang makes his big debut, which should have been more exciting than it was, reducing the next “big bad” of the MCU to another disposable villain.

#3 – What If…? Season 2

Like the first season of What If…?, there are highs and there are lows, depending on the episode that you’re currently watching. While there are definitely some fun concepts to explore here, What If…? continues to be bogged down by its desire to create a connected plot through a lot of the season. I’d prefer that they ditch the connected plot and start exploring more outlandish ideas.

#2 – Loki Season 2

Season 2 of Loki had a lot to live up to after a stellar first season. While the first half of it dragged a little slower than I cared for, the latter half picked up and concluded with one of the best visuals we’ve ever seen in an MCU project to date. I also can’t talk about Season 2 of Loki without bringing up how great Ouroboros is.

#1 – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Guardians 3 is perhaps the only project from 2023 that felt like it delivered on everything that we used to expect from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It honored the journey of a group of characters we’ve grown to love while also making us laugh, cry, and keeping us engaged with its many needle drops and action sequences. It even had one of the most interesting antagonists in the MCU that we’ve seen in awhile. More of this please, Marvel.

Rob: What video games got you into gaming early on?

MopGarden: I began playing games at a really young age, mostly with my brother. We used to play a lot of Mario Kart, Perfect Dark, Duke Nukem, and Twisted Metal. I have really fond memories of wanting to play multiplayer with my brother and dad and I think I got my gaming love from that! Working together as a team in these games is definitely a very fond memory of my childhood.

I remember the first game I really had the “I NEED TO PLAY THIS” feeling towards was Final Fantasy 9. I remember coming home from school every day and just wanting to sit by myself and play it. (Side sad story: one day I came home and my memory card was glitched! So unfortunate). That was the first game I played by myself without my brother’s help and I remember having such a blast with it.

R: A big focus of your stream is Rainbow Six Siege and other competitive shooters. What is it about those types of games that you enjoy so much?

M: I’ve never been able to really place what I enjoy so much about competitive shooters. I think it’s the mixture of the fast-paced nature of them, forming strategies, and practicing until you’re good. I really like being able to see your skills improve over time and learn things about the games – you feel like you’ve accomplished something. It’s also great to have a game where you can have multiple people on your team, so you can play with friends and viewers from Twitch.

In the beginning of my gaming, I played a lot of shooters, such as Perfect Dark. Shooters were just kind of what a video game was to me. I think that extended to my teenage years when I played a lot of Counter-Strike as well. They’re just the type of game where you can sit down, play one game (or ten) and have a blast with it every time.

R: Are there any narrative games whose stories have stuck with you over time?

M: I think Detroit: Become Human is one of the narrative games that has really stuck with me. I love the gameplay in it and the fact that you can choose your own story. It has a lot of really beautifully done metaphors and comparisons to modern-day society and I love that a lot. I cried in it and I very, very rarely cry in video games! It also recently came out to PC so if you haven’t tried it yet due to PS4 exclusivity I highly recommend giving it a try.

R: Are there any particular characters from games whom you identify with?

M: I definitely identify the most with Duke Nukem. Naw, just kidding of course. I had to give this question a lot of thought and I had to go back to the games I’ve played over the last few years. I think I would have to say Little Misfortune the most. She is so silly, fun, and doesn’t take things too seriously. She says really random stuff and you’re kind of like “what..?” If you’ve ever been in my stream you know that feeling well. I may not be exactly like her, but I love her and aim to be as fun-loving as she is! She really tries to see the good in people (which sometimes gets her in trouble) and tries to be lovely and positive to everybody she meets. I’d say I am sweet and innocent as well but I’m not too sure if that is true.

R: What have video games taught you about yourself?

M: Video games have really taught me a lot about myself in varying degrees. They’ve taught me that I can be patient. Things sometimes get stressful and frustrating in games but you need to improve yourself and allow yourself to make that improvement. There is always something you can do better and it takes patience to get there. It has also been really helpful to learn that it’s just a game – you can’t win every time. That would be unfair to the other team! This goes for everything in life; you win some and you lose some. Sometimes you aren’t going to get your own way and that is a-okay.

They’ve also taught me to a large degree to stop trying to be a perfectionist. That’s still something that I struggle with everyday, but it’s important to allow yourself to realize that not everything you do will be perfect. In games like Skyrim and Fallout, it’s easy to pick up everything and want to clean up everywhere you go. It’s impossible to pick up every item you see and to make the world perfect. Sometimes you need to leave things behind in order to improve yourself.

R: If a studio approached you and said they wanted to make a video game based solely on your creative input, what type of game would you want to create?

M: I would be so honoured if a studio approached me to make a video game! I would definitely want to create some sort of beautiful story game. A game that has very original, beautiful graphics and a great story. An amazing soundtrack is definitely a must because they play a big part into emotion and expression in video games.

I would want a game that is positive and uplifting but also can be interpreted in the player’s own way. I’m thinking something similar to Gris! Perhaps something where a person is struggling with mental health and is trying to be uplifted and learn about themselves through the journey they are having. The player’s experiences would be different based on their own life experiences. I love games that don’t go by the standard type of graphics and I would want something very bright and vibrant (think Subnautica) but also in kind of a painted style (think again of Gris).

Make sure to check out MopGarden on her Twitch channel, her podcast Just Chatting with MopGarden, and on Twitter and Instagram.

You can back Tapeworm on Kickstarter right now by visiting tapewormgame.com.

If you’d prefer to listen to the interview, you can hear it on one of our podcast episodes.

Rob: Obviously we’re here to talk about Tapeworm and how that’s going to be coming out on Kickstarter, but I have a lot of other questions cause I’m a big fan of yours to begin with and the games that you make. So, there was a panel that my podcast network did at PAX East, this most recent one, which somehow happened right before all this craziness happened.

Edmund: You lucked out.

R: Yeah, right? We did a panel on the most influential games of the past decade and my number one was The Binding of Isaac.

E: Well, thanks. I got snubbed like crazy. I thought I’d at least make somebody’s top 20. I don’t know if it was from the controversy of Nicolis or what, but I got snubbed. Super Meat Boy is in there too. I didn’t get any mentions in most of the bigger websites, but not everybody likes me so what are you gonna do?

R: That’s shocking to me that it didn’t get more attention. For me, it was the first procedurally-generated game that I ever played and that was a completely new concept. Was that fairly new to you or did you have a lot of influences that had that concept already?

E: Before I was developing it, I knew I wanted to do a roguelike. I had been playing a bunch of roguelike games. The only one I could really get into was called Stone Soup, but it was a version of Crawl, which used to be all ASCII art and then someone did an art visualizer for it. I could not hang with the ASCII art. It just didn’t work for me. I’m a visual person and I just want to see something, you know? Just any drawing. I got into that pretty deep and then around that time I think the original Spelunky had come out and a game called Desktop Dungeons, which had randomly-generated elements and they pulled from the roguelike genre a lot. And I was like, “Oh shit, this is pretty untapped.” I wanted to make a roguelike.

It’s just kind of funny how things fell into place because I originally made The Binding of Isaac as a prototype to kind of learn how to do a roguelike so I could make a good roguelike. So the good roguelike that I wanted to make was called Mewgenics, which ended up never coming out. But I’m actually working on it now, almost 10 years later. When I was with Team Meat it just wasn’t happening. So, I prototyped this game which eventually became Isaac, which was just a three-month project that I made in Flash. I didn’t really expect it at all to do that because the only game that I knew of that kind of melded the roguelike genre into another genre was Spelunky, and no one really knew about it back then. It was pretty niche, pretty underground.

When Isaac actually initially came out not many people were really into it and it kind of threw them a bit. The idea of dying and then actually wanting to play again because it was a different game… that didn’t click with a lot of people, especially in reviews. I remember reading the IGN review, or it was another review, they gave it like a 7.5 or something and said it’s basically like Zelda. And it’s like, ‘Well you didn’t play the game because all you picked up on was what I was riffing off of and didn’t understand that you gotta play it. Even still to this day… like I’m really close friends with George Fan who made Plants vs. Zombies, and no one realizes this, that Plants vs. Zombies was one of the first deck builders long before Slay the Spire. It’s a deck builder.

R: Yeah, I never even thought about that.

E: Yeah, it’s based off of Magic: The Gathering, but he framed it in a way that you don’t always need cards in order to do that, but George was like, “Yeah I liked Isaac. I thought it was pretty good. I beat it and that was it.” I’m like, “What do you mean you beat it?”… “I killed Mom.”

R: “Ohhhhh noooooo.”

E: That’s the beginning of the game. You finally got to the point where you’re unlocking the game now. He had no idea, and if George Fan got that far into it, beat Mom and said, “I’m done with it,” how many other people out there have done the same thing? I just really wonder how many people jumped on the bandwagon, played it through and were like, “Oh, this is pretty good,” and then put it down not realizing that that was just the 10% mark when it came to anywhere in the original game at all.

R: It was one of the early games to do that. I feel like we were learning from Isaac. That taught us how to play a different kind of game.

E: I mean… sure. {laughter}

R: It taught me, at least. I’ll say that for sure. At what point was making games even an option? Because a lot of people don’t even think of it as like, “Oh, I can go make video games.” They’re just content to play them and never even consider the building aspect.

E: I remember, in high school, a few teachers actually saying, “Have you ever thought about getting into video games?” My whole thing was I knew that I would never work for a company that would let me do what I wanted to do and it’s one of those situations where I’m an okay illustrator, like I can get the job done, but there’s a million other people out there that are better than me at drawing. I’m an okay animator; it’s all shortcuts. I’m not a programmer, and I’m a designer, and a writer, all these things that I’m pretty good at.

When you work for a company, you’re just a cog in a machine, and how can I be like, “Listen, I’ve got this idea for a naked child that cries… No wait, hear me out… he’s bald and he cries on shit.” How is that going to go? There’s absolutely no game that I’ve ever made that I could pitch to a large company and have them take a bite. There’s no way that they would be like, “Yeah, that sounds like something we want to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in.” I knew that in high school. In high school I knew that that wasn’t going to be it. It just wasn’t going to happen.

I wasn’t going to enjoy working for somebody and all through high school and even some of middle school, I was making comics and made mostly all independently and just self-published my stuff. Basically what I’m doing now, but with comics. Comics eventually dead-ended because I was barely making enough profit to reprint them at Kinkos. There’s no money in that, but I’m only like 18 or 19 years old. Gotta figure it out. By the time I was 20, I mailed Slave Labor Graphics my comics in hopes that they would pick me up and they thought my stuff was way too weird, which was crazy because they’re publishing like Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and the really early day Invader Zim-type stuff. Looking back, I remember thinking, “Oh my god, how is it different? It’s basically the same.” But now looking back, my stuff was really harsh, really weird, really dark. and very adult. So I can understand now.

But back then it was crushing, and I was like, “Ok, well I have no future in making money off of comics. What am I gonna do?” Around that time the internet was really exploding when it came to websites, so I decided I was gonna learn Dreamweaver, and HTML, and stuff like that. I actually took a few courses at the local college just to learn and I just skipped out once I knew what I was doing. So I failed all those things, but one of the classes was also Flash. So I learned Flash, Dreamweaver, HTML and then I was living with my grandma at the time and just stayed up, like literally days. I would do 48 hours to see how far I could push my body, basically converting my comics, my stories, my personality into this website which was called This Is a Cry for Help, and that was also the name of my comic. It started actually making me money.

I got picked up by Tom Fulp from Newgrounds who promoted my website. I started doing animations and I started putting them up on Newgrounds and animations turned into some minor interactive things. My claim to fame back back in the early 2000s was this thing called Dead Baby Dress Up, which is where the blue baby came from. It was the blue baby, but you dress it up. and it was a point-and-click, drag-and-drop scripting situation.

R: I remember the WWF one.

E: Yeah, the WWF one. {laughs} I was pretty into it. I was pretty into WWF back then. I was just having a good time doing whatever the fuck I wanted to do and for a few months I was making like $250 a month off of ads and then the internet crashed and everything was destroyed. So many websites went down and it just wasn’t an option anymore. A fan of mine from Newgrounds started doing Flash-scripted games and Tom was also doing Flash-scripted games and he asked if I wanted to work on a Flash game, and I was like, “Sure.” That was a game called Carious Weltling, which was my first “game” game.

I never even realized… I was already in the bucket of boiling water. I didn’t realize I was being boiled. I didn’t know I was making games. I thought I was just making animations. It never even dawned on me that I was making games, but I did. I made like two or three games with this guy and I had lost my job. I was an animal control officer. I lost my job and I was like, “OK, I want to try again to make a living off of my work.” In searching around, I found a company that was just down the street from me which is an independent studio called Chronic Logic and they were looking for somebody. They ended up paying me $400 a month to just do all the illustration work that I could for them and eventually I pitched them a video game idea, which was Gish, and that opened this door.

They showed me this whole world of independent video games, and the IGF, and GDC, and it was this untapped… it was a total wild west. You could do whatever you wanted. There wasn’t any money in it at all. Gish was considered a hugely successful game for 2004 and it made enough to pay rent for maybe a year or year-and-a-half and that was it. It was done. Record-breaking sales back then, I think we sold 112 units once when we got linked on Penny Arcade in 2004/2005. You compare that to now where I think one of the first Super Meat Boy sales we sold 140,000 units in a day or something. It’s a totally different situation. But yeah, that’s how I started and I didn’t realize it. It was just this natural progression into it, and I ended up utilizing all the stuff that I’d learned previously. The main one being, how to be independent, and how to be self-motivated, and how to do your own projects and keep things moving. Eventually, by 2008, you could start making money off your games, and that was basically it.

R: You mentioned illustration a few times, and you have a very distinct style that a lot of your games share. Where does that gross/cute combination originate from?

E: I think the short answer is Garbage Pail Kids and Ren & Stimpy. Growing up, I always drew. I was really into Ninja Turtles and stuff like that, which also had a gross/cute aesthetic to it too, especially the bad guys. I was all about the bad guys, especially the action figures. There was this one called Mutagen Man…

R: That you put the ooze in? I had him.

E: So that made this big impact. That character and Muckman, Pizza Face, there’s a bunch of really cool, really gross designs that were really neat. Garbage Pail Kids were all gross too, which had a bit of a cute aesthetic, and then Ren & Stimpy came out and I was all about it. I remember recording episodes of Ren & Stimpy and then actually pausing it, and then redrawing all these different keyframes on paper. I was super obsessed with Ren & Stimpy. I guess out of that it just became a thing. I just kind of figured out I could get away with so much by making things cute. You could just go real dark. Because if you describe any of my games to people they sound horrific, but when you see them… like you know when I say I made this thing called Dead Baby Dress Up… Who wants to see that? “No, no… It’s just a little baby doll. It’s just a cute little design. It’s not anything to be scared of.” But then I can get away with it. It’s kind of fun playing around with those things.

R: So, I used to teach a video game design class at a high school level and one of the things that I would show the class all the time is the scene from Indie Game: The Movie where you’re describing how to use different elements in Super Meat Boy. Like, you have the cutters and you have to use them more than one way in order for it to be effective. Is that something that you self-taught or was that just natural learning?

E: I assume I learned it from Mario and stuff like that, subconsciously. But for me it was just one of those things where I played bad games. Growing up, especially with Nintendo and stuff, they produced some really shitty games, especially games based on IP’s and movies and stuff like that, and you learn right away what not to do. And a lot of what not to do is just redundancy. I’ve always been the traditional ADD child. I need to be stimulated constantly, and I don’t want to ever feel like I’m seeing the same thing over and over and over again and having to do the same thing. So for me, that was it. It’s just a ruleset that I knew that I had to do and it goes for visuals as well.

Even with Super Meat Boy, I focused on keeping each of the levels a different hue. The colors change, the environment changes, and things progress. I don’t want it to look the same because the same means boring, and you never want to keep doing the same thing over and over again. So for me, it’s that and then adjusting the value of something where when you add a new mechanic, if it’s good, you don’t want to use it once. But you also don’t want to just use it forever. You don’t want it to be the only thing you’re doing over and over and over again. So my rule was, a mechanic is only good if I can find three other ways to use it and utilize it in interesting ways. Then we can combine it with different other things later on. You just always want to switch it up, and I think that’s always been a rule of thumb for me.

R: If you’re someone that needs that constant stimulation, how do you find the focus then to work independently? Because I imagine it’s very hard to self-motivate.

E: It’s never been hard for me. It’s kind of a curse. If I’m not being creative and I’m not doing things, it goes dark. I get depressed. I get self-destructive. When I’m idling it’s just the worst thing in the world for me. It’s very uncomfortable. I think, as a kid, I always made projects for myself to get myself out of my head because it was such a terrible place to be… where you’re just sitting there and listening to terrible things that you’re telling yourself. So for me, it’s always been an escape. It’s been a way to stop myself from obsessing over all the horrible things that can happen to my wife, my child, myself. It’s like a shark. I need to keep swimming or I die. It’s a requirement. I need to keep being creative. I need to keep doing projects because that’s what makes me happy, and it makes me very happy, and that’s why I do it. I’m just not one of those people that can be easily fulfilled with other things, I guess. I’ve learned that the amount of discomfort that I feel will motivate me to the point of never stopping. {laughter} That’s all I can really say. I guess I require a lot of stimulation.

I’m always looking for the next thing even if it’s not creative. Like, last year I got into D&D. I was really into D&D as a kid, but my friends would never play right. They would just be dicks and they always wanted to go smoke pot and it was terrible, but I got into it again recently and it’s just been this new thing for me… this whole new world that I really love a lot. I’m always open to new things and in a lot of ways, Tapeworm is like that. It’s this thing that popped up and I really want to do it, and I’m going to do it and for Studio 71’s sake I hope it does really well.

R: And Tapeworm’s not even your first foray into tabletop gaming because you had Four Souls before this. What was the impetus behind moving from video games… obviously you’re still doing video game development too, but to branch out into the tabletop area?

E: I dabbled in it, briefly, around the time of development of The Binding of Isaac. Right after Super Meat Boy ended, in an attempt to avoid the inevitable postpartum depression that you feel after working on a project for two plus years, I fill myself with stuff. I just get busy. I started working on The Binding of Isaac, Tapeworm, and Mewgenics. Those were the three projects that I was working on and sketching up and focusing all my attention on.

I didn’t think anything was going to happen with Tapeworm cause it was a physical card game. It was just something that I wanted to do and I shelved it for 9 years. When Studio 71 approached me and they were like, “Hey, can we license the IP for The Binding of Isaac to make a board game?” I’m like, “Number one… no. It’s not gonna happen. What do you mean ‘board game?’ What are we talking about? Do you have an idea that I don’t?” and they’re like, “No, but we’ll find somebody to…” OK, well if I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it myself. This is what I do. I kind of blew them off and scoffed at the idea, but the seed was planted and it was planted very deep. It was just one of those things where it was like, if I did do it… how would I do it?

If I could do a Binding of Isaac board game, it would have to be a card game. I want it to be multiplayer. All the stuff just started falling out of my head and I just started collecting it. I came up with a prototype. It took a year. I was just thinking about it and I remember I got really sick and I couldn’t do anything, and I just started sketching up ideas for the card game again. I called them and luckily it wasn’t too late. I was like, “Hey, is that still on the table? I think I might have something.” I think I told them that too. I told them, “Naw, it’s not gonna happen, but I’ll let you know if I ever come up with an idea.” If I ever come up with an idea that I’m proud of and I wanna shop around and actually want to get people to buy, then I’ll contact you… and I did. Then it kind of snowballed, like literally within 3 days they were at my house after that. I was just like, “What the fuck’s going on?” and they were like, “The Kickstarter starts next week,” and I’m like, “What? I just sketched all this together. I don’t know what’s going on.” It was a wild ride, but a very fun one.

I think one of the reasons why I’m doing Tapeworm is to recapture that. It was a very fun, dynamic campaign. It was a neat experience for sure, and it was something I got to also do with my wife which I’ll be doing again with this.

R: Is the process of developing a tabletop game very different from a video game or a lot of the same stuff?

E: No, it’s totally different. It’s easy, it requires one person, and you just kind of sketch ideas down on paper and you can test them right in front of you. You’ll know what works and what doesn’t, and then once you got the prototype, you invite people over to play and then you just watch them play. If there’s a problem with something, if they’re not understanding a mechanic, you write down, “OK, here’s the issue that I need to solve tonight once we’re done.”

With Tapeworm we prototyped so many different things and we edited on the fly and one of the things was, “Hey, I noticed that you can actually make a circle that encompasses itself. Like, you can connect stuff all the way around and it becomes this ring.” That’s really cool. I should try to find some way to reward the player for doing that. So, I called it a ringworm and I made it a major mechanic where if you actually can make the ring, you can discard a card and that was your reward. But then in testing, that reward wasn’t that good, so we just decided, “Hey, let’s play a round where you discard two cards when you do that.” Then you started seeing people winning with it and it became like an alternate win condition. It was just so cool. So much of that happens from just playtesting and then saying, “Hey, now let’s play like this.” That’s it. It’s a breath of fresh air. It’s really cool.

The social interaction aspect is very rewarding and completely the opposite of working on a digital game because you’re just alone for forever. It’s just a world of difference. People don’t tend to not cross over back into board games because there’s not a lot of money in it. There’s not a lot of money in stuff that’s not digital. There’s no overhead. You’re not having to pay like 50% of your profits to just making the product. I think in a lot of ways, even with Four Souls… it did so well, but it wasn’t this big moneymaker for me and that’s not the reason why I did it. I did it just because I wanted to do it. I think that’s one of the less appealing aspects of board games vs. digital games, because with digital games, everybody knows the split with Steam is huge for the people involved and you’ve got places coming out the woodworks that are just offering more and more. The profit’s there. It’s very apparent. If I wanted to make a million bucks, I’d make another sequel to The Binding of Isaac. But I’m at a point where I want to do fun, interesting things that are challenging for me that are cool. Tapeworm is one of those things where I feel like I get to finally attempt to make a casual game in the real world.

In my mind, I remember… vividly… summer camp. It was the first time I ever had a girlfriend.The first time a girl was interested in me when I was 9 years old/8 years old. She was really into playing Uno and at summer camp we would all gather around to play Uno. There’s no fucking strategy to Uno. It’s just so fucking random. Nothing is going on but you feel good when you do stuff. It’s just chaos and you’re all playing. I have such fond memories of how easy that was to play and the idea of seeing kids being happy and doing things even though they’re not. Then just trying to think of like, how could I make a game that was like that, but you did actually do stuff? Like you could accidentally play stuff together and it would look really cool and make you feel good, but there would actually be another layer of strategy there that you can strategize and then realize, and be like, “Oh wait. If I hand this card to this person then that screws them over because there’s no open spaces on the board for them to play.” Something as simple as that. So really simple, rudimentary type, entry-level card game mechanics that do add strategy to something that feels as accessible as Uno. That’s kind of what I wanted to do. I just wanted to make something that anybody could sit down and play, like Uno.

R: Shockingly, we’re almost out of time already but I want to hit you with one more question because I’m super curious about it. The Binding of Isaac’s DLC Repentance is in the works. I’m just curious, it’s been like 10 years since Isaac came out, almost?

E: Almost…

R: What is it that keeps you interested in that game? Cause a lot of developers would move on at this point, and I am so happy you have not, but what is it about that game that keeps you coming back?

E: I think the thing that keeps me coming back the most is The Binding of Isaac is the most brutally honest thing I’ve ever made. The End is Nigh comes close. I think The End is Nigh might be my favorite game that I’ve ever made, but it’s one of those things where it’s my least accessible game. There’s such a high barrier of entry when it comes to difficulty and theme. But with The Binding of Isaac, I think I just keep coming back to the story because it’s by far the most familiar thing that I’ve ever written and everything about it just feels really true and honest. I feel no compromise… it was just balls to the walls honest craziness and I pulled from a lot of feelings growing up and stuff like that. I don’t know, it just represents me in a really perfect way so it feels very comfortable and I know that people really like it, my wife really likes it and she plays a lot.

It was different with this one, too. I really thought Afterbirth+ was the end. It definitely was. But then Antibirth came out, the mod, and then I instantly contacted these guys because there was something about… a lot of people are like, “There’s a lot of mods out there that are amazing! Why did you choose to work with these guys?” It’s because their head person, his name is Vin, there are certain aesthetic rules that I set in place with The Binding of Isaac. They are very difficult to explain and very difficult to abide to, for a majority of people, and this guy understood them. It’s hard to define this, but he never crossed the line and everything that he did felt like I could have made that. So it was kind of a weird situation where I instantly contacted him and like, “Number one: do you want to work on The Binding of Isaac? Because you are phenomenal.” He just had such an understanding of the game and then he also has this kind of young blood drive, like reminding me of me when I was younger, before I was jaded by the world. He just had such a hunger for being creative and in really doing good stuff and being true to my vision, essentially.

So we started working together and we worked on a bunch of booster packs, and he was just so fun to work with and I thought, “Hey, let’s just do it. Let’s just make a final expansion with all the stuff that you’ve done and then I’ll come up with some. It’s like 50% his/50% mine. Let’s just mash it all together. The stuff that didn’t work, I’ll make it work, and let’s just see what happens.” That was the key. That was the new element that brought me back in. The idea of working with a fan who grew up playing this and knew it as well, if not better than, me. It just felt really cool. I’d never really been in that experience before, that situation seems so cool… why not try it out? And that’s why I did it.

R: Well I’m certainly looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to Tapeworm, so I highly recommend people go and back that. Is there a URL or a social media that people should check out to get to that?

E: Tapewormgame.com I think will be used. Either way, if you follow me on Twitter then I’ll be tweeting about it constantly. I’ll be losing followers for the next month that’s for sure.

This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.

If you’d prefer to listen to the interview, you can hear it on one of our podcast episodes.

Rob: First of all, I just want to say I absolutely love Voyage to the Stars. I binged right through it; as soon as I hit the first episode I could not stop.

Felicia: That’s so wonderful to hear, thank you!

R: I’m very curious about the methods used in creating the show. I know that it’s partially improvised, so what do you go into a recording knowing about the episode beforehand?

F: Yeah, we get an overview of the episode and then we get story points for each one of the logs, the sections within the episode. So, we kinda know, ‘This is the setup. You guys are gonna discover a planet. Elsa, you’re gonna be upset about this thing…’ Colton has his own marching orders, and then we start improving, so it’s this awesome balance between scripted and unscripted content. None of the words that you hear us say are pre-thought out. We know where we’re going to start and we know where we’re going to end and so it makes it really fun to be able to play within the parameters of that.

R: That’s cool. For the dialogue, I know you do, like you said, an improvised run through. Now, does that get edited down or do you go back and try new things on what you just improvised?

F: Honestly, we rarely do pickups. Sometimes if we didn’t hit one of the points in the outline we’ll go back and be like, ‘Hey, can you just throw in a line about whatever,’ but in general we do quite a lot of recording per each minute. We make ourselves laugh quite a bit. I know they have to cut a lot of us cracking each other up out.

R: Also for my own personal curiosity, I’d love to know what the physical arrangement of the recording space is, like where everybody is when you’re recording.

F: Yeah, we sit around a table actually, just like a regular podcasting studio. We’re all just sitting at a table with our mics in front of us. We have our story, our papers in front of us. Generally, we have a ton of snacks in the middle, where we’re all just feasting on nuts or whatever cupcakes got brought in that day and then we just have a good time. We do about two episodes a day so it’s quite a lot of recording that we do for each episode. I think the post-production especially, the sound design, is really, really valuable and makes a big difference.

R: After the recording session, do you hear just the finished product after that, or do you hear intervals of how they’re working on it?

F: I don’t hear any of the edits. I love the behind-the-scenes of editing and stuff, but I’m not part of that. I just get to hear the episode. The funny thing about improv is that, you literally make up things on the spot so it’s not like you retain them past the moment. So when I listen to an episode, I honestly don’t remember things coming out of my mouth… none of us do. We can be fans of our own podcast cause we don’t really remember things that happened.

R: To jump to your book a little bit… as a creative who clearly has an interest in various forms of media I imagine you’re constantly getting new ideas for things you’d like to make, yeah?

F: Oh, for sure. I’m the kind of person who has a lot of ideas, but the follow-through and the bravery to get them out there is my thing that I have to struggle with, and so that’s actually why I wrote the book. I think that had I had a little bit more guidance and help over the years about overcoming procrastination, being a little bit more clear about who I am as a creator and what I want to say, all these things would have just helped me get my voice out there a little bit easier. That’s the whole reason I wrote the book. I just want to give everybody else a jump start from all the years that I’ve learned how to overcome my own enemies like anxiety and procrastination and all that stuff.

R: So when you get all those ideas, what do you do to keep them in check and make sure that you finish what you’re already working on before chasing the shiny new thing?

F: I talk about that in the book. I always write down things. I think if you constantly collect yourself you’ll never neglect yourself. I didn’t mean for that to rhyme, but that just happened. All of us are really creative and I think it’s about acknowledging our creativity in small ways that leads to our getting bigger creative ideas. Having a confidence, and our weirdnesses and our differences, and how we see the world, really allows us to open up a whole new way of being. Maybe you don’t think you’re creative, but if you decorate that birthday cake for your kid in a fun way… that’s creative. If you drive home a different way every day, that’s creative. These are things we unconsciously do as human beings that we don’t acknowledge and that keeps us from doing bigger creative works. And like you said, the most important thing is to see things through. I think a lot of us get hung up on the end result and worrying about how people will receive something and really that’s not even the point of creativity. The point of creativity is to work through the creativity and make yourself a better person toward the end of it and then see how that impacts other people. And if you get the ego out of it a little bit, you actually can be a lot freer in making things.

R: In relation to that, do you have a personal barometer that lets you know when it’s time to wrap something up or just put it behind you and move on from it?

F: That’s really tough as a creator. I never want to let anything go, but I think once you train yourself to be a little bit more in touch with who you are underneath, you have instincts that will tell you, ‘OK, this is how I want this to look’ and you’ll eventually get there. You have to train yourself to trust what your instincts are, and we don’t. We don’t go with our gut a lot. I have a lot of times in my past where my brain has overridden my gut in deciding what to do with my time or doing a job or something and always, 100% of the time when I didn’t follow my gut instinct, I was led astray. That’s just me. Also, having a deadline; you can wander around and write one book in seven years, but you’re selling yourself short cause you probably could do a couple of books and learn from that first process. Sometimes you just have to get through things even if they’re terrible and you’ll learn how to do the next one better.

R: This is your second book now too, so what did you learn from writing your first book that helped a lot with this one?

F: What I learned was having a deadline helps. Having people to complain to helps. And giving myself encouragement that when I’m blocked it’s worth it just to do bad work to get to the point where I’m doing good work versus collapsing and procrastinating and feeling bad for myself. Giving myself the confidence that, yes, this is going to be a lot of work to get through this block but I can do it and when I get through it I will see a clear field only to lead to another mountain, like another creative block in front of me, but that’s okay cause that’s part of the process. Nobody’s gonna just poop out a perfect screenplay or a perfect book or a perfect movie with no resistance and no trouble. Sometimes it might happen that you’re struck by lightning but that’s a one in a million chance, so a big part of my message is embracing the work of creativity and not the end result. Focusing on the work and that will get you through all those tough times.

R: Something I know I struggle with, and I’m wondering if you do too, is when you are creating so many different types of things it’s hard to turn that off and just kind of relax and chill out. What do you do for that?

F: I can chill out only by playing video games. Even watching TV just makes me feel either guilty that I’m not writing something or trying to come up with a new idea or I see people I know in it or analyze how it’s made so it kind of ruins the experience. It’s less escapism for me, but video games are where I really can relax. And I do a little bit of cooking, but really it’s video games.

R: Since you just said TV, to wrap things up… I’m a big fan of The Magicians and I love your character Poppy on the show. What was it like envisioning and creating her?

F: She was so cool on the page. It was very different from the book. I was very familiar with the books and I was so thrilled to be a part of the show, but when I got the sides I was like, ‘Oh, she’s a little more evil than I thought.’ Not evil, but just a little more nuanced, a little bit more ruthless, a little bit more of a badass. A little bit of a psychopath, but that’s OK too. It’s one of those things where I really feel like it was a joy to be a part of. I like to be a part of fan families and The Magicians is the cool kid on the block, so being Poppy is awesome. I hope I get to go back. There’s no plans right now to go back, but crossing fingers!

Season 2 of Voyage to the Stars debuted on September 17th.

Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity is available for pre-order right now at feliciadaybook.com and comes out on October 1st.

This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.

Add New Streaming Categories that are More Specific than IRL and Creative

With so many streamers on Twitch, we need to give you better ways to describe your stream when you go live.

In mid-September we will remove IRL and Creative as categories and add more than 10 new categories, which will let you better describe the content of your streams. These categories will be added to the Browse page, which will be updated to show gaming and non-gaming categories in a single view. You can see the list of categories below, and share your feedback or suggestions for additional categories here.

We are also saying goodbye to Communities and introducing Tags, which will let you describe your stream in even more detail beyond the category you’re streaming.

These are the new categories we plan to add:

• Art – For all the artists creating paintings, illustrations, animation, comics, photography, and more, whether you’re using digital or traditional methods or techniques.
• Hobbies & Crafts – Use this category when you’re crafting real world objects or working on DIY projects. Includes making costumes, sewing, sculpture, LEGO, woodwork, metalwork, and more.
• Food & Drink – From cooking to eating and everything in between, this category is for anything related to the creation, culture, or consumption of food and drinks.
• Music & Performing Arts – Use this category when you’re dancing, singing, composing music, playing an instrument, and more.
• Beauty & Body Art – Use this category when you’re streaming makeup, skincare, bodypainting, tattooing, and more.
• Science & Technology – Use this category when you’re streaming activities like software development, game design, science experiments, engineering, or robotics.
• Just Chatting – This category is for conversations between streamers and viewers, like when you’re warming up at the start of your stream, doing Q&As, or live vlogging.
• Travel & Outdoors – Whether you’re exploring a new city or just hanging out in your hometown, this category covers all your walking-and-talking needs.
• Sports & Fitness – From team sports to training solo, this category includes everything you’d do in a gym and more.
• Tabletop RPGs – Finally a place to stream all the tabletop RPGs you love.
• Special Events – This is where you’ll find big events like TwitchCon, E3, and PAX, as well as special announcements from game developers and publishers.
• Talk Shows & Podcasts – This category name gets an update for all the podcasters out there.
• ASMR – A centralized place for ASMR content.

Why combine games with non-gaming categories?

We learned from Communities that having multiple directories made it harder for non-gaming streamers to build an audience and prevented streamers from exploring the full range of content they were interested in streaming.

Combining games and non-gaming categories into one directory improves visibility for non-gaming streamers.
Tags will let viewers filter for the categories and streams they’re interested in watching, which makes a mixed directory more manageable.

Why split up IRL and Creative?

Creative and IRL have become catch-all categories that don’t help describe the content of a stream. New categories give you more accurate ways to describe your stream and help viewers find you. Tags will let you add even more detail beyond the category you’re streaming.

Add Tags to Twitch that Let You Describe Your Streams in More Detail

With so many streamers on Twitch, we need to give you better ways to describe your stream beyond just the game or category you’re streaming.

In mid-September we will add tags to Twitch so you can help viewers see what makes your stream unique, even when you’re streaming a popular game or category. We are also saying goodbye to Communities and applying what we learned from Communities, Creative, and IRL to introduce more than 10 new categories to Twitch.

Our goal is to connect you to the viewers who are most interested in what you’re streaming and are most likely keep coming back to watch you again. Viewers will be able to filter by tags within a directory, or across different games from the Browse page, making it easier for them to find the types of streams they’re interested in and hopefully discover new streamers along the way.

Why?

Choosing what to watch gets harder as Twitch gets bigger.

• In May 2018, you could browse Fortnite streams and see as many as 18,000 different live channels in the directory. That’s a 6x increase even from just last year.
• With that kind of growth, we can’t expect viewers to read every stream title in a directory, so we need new ways to help viewers figure out which stream they want to watch.
• Tags will have a common structure that lets viewers create filters and learn more about each stream in a consistent, easy to see way.

Why Remove Communities?

Communities were one solution for giving viewers information to help them decide what to watch, but viewers weren’t able to see that information while browsing within a directory they were interested in. The open nature of Communities also led to confusing overlap between different Communities or between Communities and games. When we learned that less than 3% of Twitch viewership came from users who found streams using Communities, it was clear that Communities were not helping viewers find new streamers to watch. As a result, we are saying goodbye to Communities and introducing Tags, which let viewers filter within directories to find streams and discover new channels based on what they’re interested in watching.

STREAMER HEADS UP

How Do Tags Work?

• Tags will describe your stream everywhere viewers can find it: directory pages, the homepage, search, channel pages, etc.
• Tags will be shown alongside your video thumbnail, stream title, and the game or category you’re streaming
  Directory pages and the Browse page will be updated to let viewers filter by tags.
• Each time you go live, you can select tags on your live dashboard to describe that day’s stream
• Most tags will be manually selected by you, but some will be automatically applied by Twitch – For example: we’ll apply genres to games, and we may apply tags for certain in-game features we automatically detect.
• Tags will not be user-generated, but you will be able to suggest new tags.
• Tags are not tied to a specific game or category. You can select whichever tags describe your stream best, whether you’re playing a game or streaming non-gaming content.
• Tags are meant to be objective, but we realize not all self-identifications are objective. As a result, we will work with streamer communities, starting with one of our active LGBTQ+ community, to identify how self-identification should be integrated into tags. You will see an LGBTQ+ tag reflected in the list of tags available in September, and we look forward to hearing feedback from streamers on how we can incorporate self-identification into tags.

The current list of tags that will be available when tags go live can be viewed here.

Produced by the Russo brothers – and based on the best-selling graphic novel – Deadly Class premieres on Syfy in 2019. The trailer features a slew of kick-ass characters set in 1987 San Fransisco. As not only major geeks but also misfits… it’s easy to say we are hyped for what is to come from this show and its incredible cast of actors.

#14 – Disenchantment

The new series from The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, set to premiere on August 17. Disenchantment follows the misadventures of a badass princess, her feisty elf companion and her own personal demon. From what we see in the trailer, it’s a new take on a familiar tale with relatable circumstances. Anything new coming from Groening gets us excited here at GeekGen. Especially something new with a sassy female protag and a heartfelt narrative saturated in comedy.

#13 – Nightflyers

From the mind of George R.R. Martin comes the psychological thriller, Nightflyers, premiering this Fall on Syfy. Not only is Nightflyers right up our alley with a new story regarding space travel, it also delves into what happens to the mind as we travel through space, showing us that perhaps it’s not as glamorous and awe-inspiring as we might think it is.

#12 – Steven Universe: The Movie

A very short but sweet sneak peak at the upcoming movie from Cartoon Network, Steven Universe: The Movie. The trailer has fans raving across the internet on who and what this story may be including. We wait with anticipation on the edge of our seats to see this mysterious film finally reach it’s audience.

#11 – Marvel Rising

The next generation of Marvel heroes debut in Marvel Rising: Initiation, August 13th on Disney XD! This trailer and the sneak peak that came with it days following has us hyped for the appearances of Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, Patriot, Quake, and of course the illusive Ghost Spider. The promise of this series “standing out” from the rest is real and gives hope for the future of Disney XD.

#10 – Dragon Ball Super: Broly

Dragon Ball Super lives on with Dragon Ball Super: Broly. The twentieth Dragon Ball film hits theaters in North American in January 2019. A NEW DRAGON BALL FILM? Need we say more?!

#9 – Titans

Titans, the new trailer staring Robin and many other young heroes from the DC Universe coming… soon? This highly discussed and heavily critiqued trailer has us more than interested to see more from this dark and gritty take on the Teen Titans franchise.

#8 – Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Reporting in for another tour of duty.You thought it was over? You sure as heck thought wrong.

#7 – Young Justice: Outsiders

Highly anticipated by fans and picking up after the dramatic events of Season 2, Young Justice: Outsiders finds our heroes reuniting to take down a meta-human trafficking organization. This trailer gives us a sneak peek and re-telling of some of Young Justice‘s most impactful moments before giving us a new look at Outsiders. One of DC’s most popular animated series will next be seen on their new DC Universe streaming service.

#6 – Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

The release of this fantastic trailer has us giddy and excited for the potential of what is to come from this franchise. Not only does the trailer elaborately highlight what is coming with this new film, it also reveals a new character that Harry Potter fans know all too well. Be sure to check this one out not only for its magical visuals but also just so you can talk about it with literally everyone else in the world.

#5 – Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Long. Live. The. King. Try to watch this trailer without getting goosebumps. Godzilla is a legendary tale and this new movie has us beyond excited for this new film coming from Warner Brothers. The cinematography alone has us waiting in line for tickets IMMEDIATELY.

#4 – Doctor Who

New cast. New writer. New… everything, finally. This is the Doctor Who we’ve been waiting for.

#3 – Aquaman

This trailer isn’t just badass, but gives us the hope that we needed for the live-action DC universe. The hype is real… now all we have to do is wait and hope the wrath of the seven seas doesn’t take this film with it.

#2 – Glass

If you haven’t seen Unbreakable or Split… go… GO NOW. This final installment of the three part series spanning over almost 20 years from director/writer M. Night Shyamalan has a HUGE fan base over here at The GeekGen. It’s a superhero series disguised as psychological thrillers. It gives us hope and excitement on what new and original writing looks like and is truly the epitome of taking geek culture and writing it to fit the realities of everyday life. Try not to watch this trailer more than once. Go ahead.. try.

#1 – Shazam!

Of course it’s almost impossible to NOT choose Warner Brothers new Shazam, coming to theaters April 2019, as our top pick. This new interpretation of a fan favorite easily speaks for itself in this funny and elaborate trailer. This is a story we haven’t yet seen in theaters which is almost guaranteed to be exciting for both the most hardcore and even the more casual fans.

You’ve made it! The end of an exciting and hopeful list of what is to come to both the big and small screens. What was your favorite pick? Maybe you’d like to switch the order of a few or even add in your own that we might’ve missed. Be sure to leave a comment below or tweet at us about your very own San Diego Comic Con 2018 favorites.

If you’d prefer to listen to the interview, you can hear it on one of our podcast episodes.

Rob: I do want to talk about The Expanse, for sure, but there are some other things I definitely want to touch on as well cause you’ve been in the industry for over 25 years now with very consistent work.

Cas: I’ve been working, I’ve been working. Let’s not date the poor man, but yeah I’ve been working.

R: So one of the things that I was really curious about is when you finish a project, what are the feelings that wash over you as an actor? Do you start reflecting on that project right away, do you have the heartfelt goodbyes, or do you immediately start going, “Where’s the next role coming from?”

C: That’s a good question. It really depends on the project. I’m an old theater guy so I’m from a background and a training that we will work our asses off for weeks and weeks and months and months and months on a show and get completely invested in it, blood, sweat and tears, and then run it for a few weeks and then finish and then never see it again. And the whole process takes 2 to 4 months and then we have a big wrap party where we emotionally purge ourselves because we all got so close and it was like a big emotional roller coaster and that’s where I’m from so I do get emotionally attached to the projects I’m on.

It really depends. There are some projects in which I did not have huge contributions in there and so I was just in and out in a few days and then there’s other shows like The Expanse or The Strain or Neverland or some other shows that I’ve done in the past where I became very attached to the people and very attached to the project and saying goodbye was very difficult. The Expanse is, probably for obvious reasons, the most difficult for me. I’m very attached to the entire team. It’s really a family. I’m completely in love with the material and my character. It’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had playing anything on screen. So when the show was cancelled for that few brief moments that was a very, very emotional time for me and the entire team.

R: We see these campaigns happen like every other week now because with the power of social media, everyone’s like, “Alright, we gotta rally together and get this happening,” but it actually worked this time. So when you get the news, is it immediately calling everyone else in the cast and being like, “Oh my God, it’s happening, it’s happening!”

C: Have you seen the video that took place at the event where Jeff Bezos made an announcement? So yeah, it was a magical night and luckily most of the key people were at the event with me so I didn’t have to tell them. They got to witness it first-hand with me and that was really actually wonderful because sharing that with some of my co-stars was incredibly rewarding. But then, that news literally was on the internet and released to the trade papers in less than 10 minutes after it happened. There were people in the audience videotaping and Skyping and everything they could do, and tweeting it out there, so that just got blasted out within minutes. I sent one group text to everyone on my WhatsApp that was part of the show and then my phone started blowing up. Everyone knew within a few minutes and it was absolutely euphoric. It really was. It was a Cinderella story or something you would see in a movie; it just couldn’t have been written better.

R: How much do you know about what’s going to be happening moving forward? Are there any big changes because you’re moving to Amazon?

C: It’s still really new territory. I’ve already asked. I said, “Is there any differences between our old home and our new home?” and the writers’ room says, “Not yet, we don’t know.” There was no real impact noticeably. What I know, just from being an Amazon Prime fan, I know that we’re going to have a little bit more freedom and I know that we’re going to have less restrictions on the content and on time. Like, when you’re working on a cable station that is designed for commercials you really, really are bound by that act structure. Cliffhangers right before commercials, 47 minutes (whatever the exact timing is) and you sometimes have to cut really nice material just to fit within your framework because your show ran a little bit long. Once you’re streaming, your show can be 50 minutes, your show can be 60 minutes, your show can be 45 minutes, depending on what the story demands. There’s much less restrictions on you. I think Shohreh is probably going to be ecstatic once they kind of take the muzzle off Avasarala and she becomes a little bit more the character that was written in the books, the truck driver that she is.

R: I imagine that’s gotta be creatively exciting, knowing that you’ll be able to get into some new areas.

C: Yeah, but let’s be fair. We have to be fair to Syfy because Syfy took a massive, massive project and put out three excellent seasons. This is a huge undertaking. This is a massive book. “Game of Thrones in space” is what they call it and it’s huge. We blew up five ships in the first six episodes of Season 1. It was a massive undertaking financially and artistically and transforming those books into television. Huge challenge. And we did it. Syfy did it and I think they did it beautifully. Yeah, maybe we couldn’t swear as much as we wanted. Maybe there was a little bit of a restriction here and there on time or language or things weren’t quite as rough and tumble and gritty as they could have been, but all-in-all it was extremely faithful to the books and very professional, very beautiful, very authentic, and very much honoring the spirit of the novels. So, I think we need to be fair to Syfy cause I think they did a great job. And Season 3, let’s not forget, that was under Syfy’s watch and Season 3 is kicking right now.

R: Also, I wanted to touch on your voice work because I am a big fan of that early arc of Assassin’s Creed that starts with Altair in the first and goes through Revelations and the whole Ezio thing and… are you a gamer, yourself?

C: Yeah, I am. Huge gamer.

R: What are the games that you get into?

C: I am an RPG player all the way. I mean, big surprise, I’m an actor that likes to tell stories. I love stories. Favorite game… The Last of Us. Dying for The Last of Us 2. Really pissed off I couldn’t get to E3 cause I was shooting a film in Europe, cause I wanted to see if they had The Last of Us 2 at E3. I don’t know if you know or not, but I wish I could have been there. Skyrim‘s my jam, Mass Effect, Fallout 4, any of those. Dishonored… awesome game. I got it for free on PS3 cause I was part of that PS3 club and I was like, “Oh, free game. It’ll be fun,” and man, it was good! Dishonored, loved it.

R: So when you took on the role of Altair for Revelations, you were already familiar with the franchise?

C: I wasn’t super familiar. I was familiar with Prince of Persia, which kind of came first, and I had heard about Assassin’s Creed but I hadn’t played it yet so I kind of felt bad about that. But as soon as I got the audition for the role I went and researched it and I was like, “Holy crap, this is amazing game, what an incredible mythology,” and now I’m a hardcore, hardcore Assassin’s Creed fan.

R: When you’re creating those kinds of voices for those characters, and especially tackling pre-existing fandoms, where does the inspiration for that voice come from for you? Do you look to other similarities?

C: I’m a huge gamer, so I kind of have an idea. I kind of have an instinct on what kind of voices work well. It’s a little bit different than doing a regular kind of acting job because you’re creating a voice that is going to be in someone’s head, not for 2 hours, but possibly for hundreds of hours. So, you can’t do the exact same kind of acting and performance and voice quality that you would do if you were doing just a two-hour performance of a film. You also have to understand that some of the lines that you say are going to be repeated over and over and over and over again so you have to come to it with a uniqueness to your voice, but you’ll have to kind of have a bit of a neutrality to you that you are not going to become annoying to listen to and then they’re going to go into the settings and then hit mute on the dialogue and just read you. It’s hard to really explain. I follow my instincts on that and I just try to make the character interesting, compelling, but not potentially annoying when he’s being listened to over and over and over again.

R: That’s interesting. I wouldn’t think about the annoyingness level of a character that I was creating in the moment, probably.

C: Oh man, how many times have you played a game where you’re playing a character and you keep dying or something and then they say the exact same things over and over again? Eventually you just throw your controller at the screen and go, “SHUT UP!” I don’t want to be that character that gets the controllers thrown at me.

R: Also, going back to The Expanse, I heard there was a bit of a gamble when you first auditioned for the role of Alex?

C: Oh, you heard that, did you? That was a big gamble, actually. That was scary. Actually, it was a lot less scary because I had absolutely no clue what the show was gonna be, so the scary part about it was that I loved the character. They pitched me a character. They gave me a couple of pages of scenes and the character’s description is, “Alex is a Mars-born fighter pilot of Pakistani-Indian descent with a Texas accent.” I’m like, “Yeah, sign me up. That is so my jam. Let me at that.” So, I fell in love with the character based on that description and then I read the scene and I’m like, “Wow, this is really well written. It’s compelling, it’s not kitschy, it’s not derivative, it’s really emotional, and it’s sharp.”

But I didn’t get to read the script. So, I was just in love with the character and then I read the pilot script and then I heard that they loved my audition which I had put on tape and they wanted me to go in for a callback in LA, and I hate auditions. I really do. Some people love them; I hate them because it’s such an unnatural environment. You get to go in with 10 pages of dialogue to present and you’ve got 4 minutes to do it. You’ve got people looking at you all over the place. You’ve got network execs, and you’ve got directors, and producers, and casting, and they’re all around you. You’re in a fluorescently-lit room, there’s a camera off to the corner and you don’t know who you’re playing to. Are you playing to the camera? Are you playing to these people? It’s such an unnatural environment and it’s so easy to get thrown off. You never have to do 10 pages of dialogue in 4 minutes. That never happens in the real world. You get to do 4 pages in 12 hours. That’s how you shoot. You never have to do all those things one after the other. It’s a formula that works against the actor to make him fail. Some actors love it. Some actors thrive on that pressure, but some of us don’t. Some of us love to work and craft our performances and work with the directors, and we don’t always get that chance.

So when I get to do a self-tape, that’s my jam. I love doing that. I did a really good one; I felt awesome about it. Then they wanted me for a callback, they wanted me to go in, and I said to my manager, “I killed that self-tape. I did the best I could possibly do. The only thing I’m going to do if I go in there for a callback is worst. I’m only going to do worst.” I can’t do better than I did on that self-tape, cause I took like half an hour and put it together and I did it exactly the way that I wanted and I got the accent right and everything. I said, “All I’m gonna do is undermine myself,” and he’s like, “Yeah, but they want to see you.” I said, “Well…”, cause I had been working in Vancouver and working on this series called Olympus and I said, “Just tell them that I’m doing Olympus and I can’t do it.” And he goes, “Are you sure?” I said, “I have a feeling. I can’t do better than that tape and I want that tape to speak for me,” and he goes, “OK man, we’ll see what happens.”

And then there was radio silence for like two weeks and I was like, “Oh man, what have I done?” Then after two weeks, finally he calls me up and he goes, “They gave me an offer. They want you.” and I was like, “Oh, thank god.” But I rolled the dice on that one. And then when I got to the set and I started talking to the creators and the creators were like, “We were so scared we were going to lose you, because when we saw your audition you were Alex. You were the one. We had seen all these other guys and you were the one we wanted and we were so afraid cause you were shooting other stuff that we were gonna lose you.” I’m like, “Damn, I wish I’d known that. That would have been a much better experience.”

R: Man, took the gamble and won. Doesn’t happen all the time.

C: No, it doesn’t, and a friend of mine does the same thing and I’ve lost on those gambles, too. There’s a William H. Macy film that I didn’t want to do a callback on and they said, “We’re going to give it to someone else,” so you really got to know what you’re doing and you’ve gotta be ready to lose it.

R: When you know the role is yours, do you then dive into the books to immerse yourself in that world or is it just taking each script?

C: Me personally, yeah, I do. I’m up to book 4 or 5 right now, because we’re about to enter into those books, and in season 4 we’re going to start book 4. But a lot of the actors don’t. A lot of the actors find it confusing because the books are so modified and they start bringing material from other books and they get confused by what’s actually going on in the series is slightly different in the books and they don’t want to deal with that. They like to deal with everything fresh, whereas me, I love to get everything that’s in the books and just process it, and digest it, and absorb it, and bring little tidbits from the books that may have been omitted in the screenplay, and bring those to life.

R: Is there anything that you’d like to say to the fans that were out there busting up social media with you?

C: Oh my God! I want to say thank you! This Season 4, and hopefully Season 5, and beyond is because of you. There is no question. There is no doubt. This show was buried; it had no pulse. The fans brought it back to life, revived it. It is because of the fans that The Expanse is back. You guys just started busting out, you guys broke the internet, and you made the show come back. This is to tell you guys, you can move mountains, you cracked the glacier, you broke open a pass through this obstacle and now we are going to get to finish the story the way it was meant to be told rather than leaving people hanging in some sort of a… truncated Firefly-type of an environment where we never get to actually reach fulfillment in terms of the storytelling. So, thank you. We love you, and thank you.

R: Aside from reminding people that they should be watching the season finale for Season 3 this upcoming Wednesday, Is there anything else we can plug for you?

C: We’re going to be starting this year on Season 4. I’m in Toronto right now and we’re going to be starting shooting here. I’m currently shooting a film in Europe, a really exciting thriller with Diane Kruger and Martin Freeman, which I’m very excited about. I’ve got another feature created by Veena Sud, who is the creator of Seven Seconds on Netflix and one of the writers from The Killing, and this new feature film – I think its working title is Between Earth and Sky – stars Peter Sarsgaard and I co-star with him and it’s an exceptionally exciting thriller with some really deep messages and dark, realistic undertones that I think people will like. It has a very, very similar vibe to Crash. It’s got that same kind of gritty, urban kind of vibration that deals with a lot of racial issues as well as being incredibly exciting and compelling as a thriller. So keep your eyes open in 2019, I guess, for those two films.

The two-part Season 3 finale of The Expanse airs July 27 at 9:00 PM EST on Syfy.

Kettle Corn Oreos

The Kettle Corn Oreos are stocked with cream, making them roughly Double Stuf size. It seems the reason for this is to allow enough room for the “Puffed Millet Pieces” contained within. On the initial bite, they are intensely sweet and the puffed millet is hardly noticeable. If you separate the cookies and eat just the cream, the millet is much more detectable and does add a texture similar to a popcorn kernel. Once the initial sweetness subsides, the aftertaste really reveals the kettle corn flavor, which is surprisingly accurate. A hint of caramel is also present.

Cherry Cola Oreos

The smell of cherry cola comes flooding out of the package as soon as you open the Cherry Cola Oreos. It’s easily the most intense of the three regarding both aroma and flavor. When biting into it, the cola flavor is the most prominent. Soon after, you’ll feel the popping candy exploding in your mouth, a clever way to simulate the carbonation that actual soda would have. It’s also here that the cherry reveals itself, as the popping candy is most likely the source of that flavor. With these, if you’re going to eat one, you might as well eat a few, because the aftertaste is going to linger for quite awhile.

Pina Colada Oreo Thins

The Pina Colada Oreos are instantly separate from the other two as they opted for the Thins style of cookie. This seems like a wise decision, as the cookies feel lighter and more refreshing, making the cookie more suitable for warmer weather consumption. The taste of pineapple dominates the flavor, but a hint of coconut completes the intended effect. Because of the lighter feel of the Thins and the most accurate translation of the three, I can see myself eating more of the Pina Colada variety over the other two options available in this contest.

Alt-pop musician Lights is breaking the mold with her upcoming album and companion comic book series Skin&Earth by writing, illustrating, and coloring the book herself. At San Diego Comic Con, we had the opportunity to chat with Lights about her decision to enter the comic book world and the challenges she faced in doing so.

“I grew up loving both mediums and always wished that they crossed over more. A lot of comic fans are music fans and vice versa and I don’t think we’ve seen the crossover genre happen enough.”

Initially wanting to hire someone to write and produce the comic, Lights ultimately decided to tackle the project herself after reaching out to veteran comic creator Brian K. Vaughan.

“I went straight to the top and asked Brian K. Vaughan if he would write it, cause I’m a huge Brian K. Vaughan fan. I didn’t really expect him to do it, but in the process he said, ‘You’re a writer already. You can do this.’ He gave me a little advice on how he panels out pages and his limit of speech bubbles per page. I really enjoy the flow of his comics and the readability of his comics so I basically applied all the same things that he applies to his comic writing in terms of the way he panels and paces. So that was sort of my launch point.”

Ready to dive in headfirst, the accomplished musician knew she had to do her homework if she was going to be able to create her vision on the page.

“I just read a million books, like Alan Moore’s Writing For Comics. There’s so many tidbits in there that I applied. Tons of webinars online. I actually approached Jamie McKelvie. He’s an artist on The Wicked + The Divine, which is a comic that I love. He would send me screen stills of him working on his comic to show me how he layers, because previously all my art was on paper and I switched to the digital format, which is so much easier and so much better for the environment. It was just a learning process the entire time.”

While some people might have been hesitant to break out of what they’re known for, in this case being a musician, that was actually a driving force for Lights in deciding to try something new with the Skin&Earth comic series.

“I think now, more than ever, people are prepared to have mixed media projects. If anything, it’s almost required to have second or third provisions for fans in order to incentivize them to listen to the entire record. We’re in a day and age where people really only want to hear the singles or playlists on Spotify, so if you can give people a reason to listen to those album tracks, I’ll put the time in and do it. All these songs mean something to me and they mean something to the other artists that make them, but people just don’t hear them.”

Lights was quick to acknowledge other artists like Coheed and Cambria, KISS, and Gwar that also have comics as another arm of their art. However, she’s breaking new ground by writing and illustrating herself, as well as doing so as a woman within the pop genre. She described the process of creating both mediums as, “symbiotic.”

“I had this sort of base idea of the story and would go into song writing sessions with that, and say ‘This is the part of the story I’m going to write about today, this is the mood that I want this part to convey,’ and it became this cinematic creation because I knew the mood and the content and I just had to create the song. It was a matter of getting the right song.”

It’s also important to note that a lot of effort was put into each medium standing on their own. While both the album and comic series are fully integrated, a fan could also pick up one or the other and enjoy it as a standalone project. But together, as Lights described, they’re like a “super force.”

Skin&Earth, the album, will be out this Fall. The last issue of the comic will be out in December, which will be double-issue length.

Grab the first single from the album, Giants, right now on Amazon.

Follow Lights on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

You can also listen to the interview on one of our podcast episodes.

Rob: I could go into your credits right away, but frankly we just don’t have that much time because you’ve had such fantastic career longevity. I’m curious if there’s anything that you attribute that to?

Ernie: Yeah, I think when I first discovered theater and acting, I was so excited by it that my biggest dream was just to have a career, and have a career that would last. I was just so thankful to finally find something that I thought I could actually do well. So, I think it’s always been about just the work as opposed to trying to get a show that was gonna be everything. I had so many friends who had success and then that show was over and they haven’t worked since. I didn’t want that, so a large thing was making sure I did the basic training. And of course, having a family – I was a single dad early on – but I’ve always had family and I think that always makes you aware that this is the long haul as opposed to something that’s going to be quick and flashy and live some lifestyle that’s some fantasy and then burn out. I knew that when that job was over I had to go back to the boards and knocking on doors, and that’s been my career. I think that’s why, and not really expect too much. Or somebody gets into a headspace of, “I did this and this, so I deserve this.” Just knowing that it’s a job and a lot of people want it, and so let me just keep it real and go to work.

It’s changed a little bit, now that I’m older, age-wise, because that need, now that the kids are all grown up and the mortgage is paid, and now I don’t have to keep pounding away at it as much and maybe I can just sort of back up and really look for projects that I want to do for my fans and for the work as opposed to, “I need the job.” I know that’s a long-winded answer, but it’s somewhere in the middle of all that.

R: Oh no, there’s a lot of wisdom in that answer, I appreciate it. As one of the original Ghostbusters, which is still a hugely iconic role for you, do you ever get sick of talking about that? Do you ever say, “I’ve done so many things. Can we talk about something else instead of Ghostbusters?”

E: Well, you know, I don’t really mind. The Ghostbusters fans are great fans. I’ve had friends who are action stars or they’re known for different things and people are not as kind, but I think there’s so much love for Ghostbusters. So people are very respectful and I’m thankful as an actor to have a show that registered with people and kids grew up with and now they’re introducing it to their kids or they share it with their parents. I’ve done a lot of TV and film and some stage stuff, but having something that really registered and means something; that’s really special.

I have actor friends who’ve never had a movie released, so for me, I’m honored and so amazed. I meet fans who can probably quote every line in the movie, not that I’d want to stand there and hear them do it, but I appreciate that they can do it. I’m actually a bit in awe of it. People come up and quote lines that I don’t remember saying, but it meant something to them and that means a lot to me.

R: I’ve seen you very active on the convention scene and I’ve heard nothing but complimentary things about how warm and friendly you are with the fans…

E: It means a lot to me to be able to be there one-on-one with people and to get that personal feedback and they tell me stories of what these movies or these performances meant to them. I’m just really, really grateful and especially when you’re in that situation… it seems like an awful place to have a bad day. I have friends who go and you get the vibe that they don’t want to be there and I’m like, “this is not the kind of money where you’re gonna get rich or anything, so if you don’t wanna be there, just don’t go.” So I just really appreciate being able to go out.

R: I was gonna ask if you had any particular experiences that stand out, being at those conventions, but it sounds like it’s overall a pretty good experience for you.

E: Yeah, and even sometimes when people sometimes come up and they’re a little weird and I don’t quite get what… cause some people say the strangest things. I think sometimes being nervous, stuff comes out, and I don’t know how to take it, but that’s kind of OK too. I don’t expect anything. I don’t go there expecting that they’re fans, so they should come up and tell me how wonderful I am. So you’re just kinda open and people… we are a strange species, man. People come up with the weirdest stuff sometimes. So they’ll vent their stuff and they’ll come up with a smile on their face and then immediately tell you how much they hate pretty much everything you’ve ever done. I just find that funny. I just try not to take it personal and I realize that this is their experience and it has more to do with what they got from whatever and what they’re feeling and their families and it’s not about mine, and that’s OK. I’ve always enjoyed it.

R: One of my favorite roles of yours is from The Crow, which is a movie that I still absolutely adore to this day, and I think it gets overlooked as a movie that really helped lead us into this age of modern superhero movies, when in 1994 there really weren’t a ton being made, especially with R-ratings. Did you see the potential of the superhero genre back then?

E: What I saw was – I knew Brandon [Lee] maybe about 6 years, I can’t remember, that was in ’94 so I met Brandon in about ’88 or ’89 in Vancouver. I was working on a show called Broken Badges with Miguel Ferrer who grew up with Brandon. Miguel just passed away a few weeks ago. Brandon came through Vancouver and hung out for about a week or so and I got to know him fairly well, just sort of hanging out. So when the movie came up, it was something he had wanted me to do and I would have done it for that reason alone, but Alex Proyas, who directed it, sent me his reel and I was blown away by it. I thought, “This guy is really, really talented.” It was really extraordinary. When I saw his work, I just thought he would be able to.

The problem was when we started doing the movie, the studio was so, I thought… just from my perspective so this may or may not be true… but they were so oppressive. They were so pushing him. It was really annoying to me. They would threaten to shut the set down if we didn’t wrap at a certain time and I just saw Alex jumping around everybody’s demands. And then when the accident happened, Alex stepped up and suddenly he took control of everything and I think the movie became what it was because he made it his personal mission to make sure that we got it right. I never said to him, but I just thought, “Man, I wish that had been the guy who started out.”

But yeah, I’m very proud of the movie and I’m very thankful that it’s a movie that I think Brandon would have been proud of. It’s awful what happened, but at least, thank god it’s a decent movie. My kids, The Crow is one that they all liked when they were young and they still like.

R: Yeah, it feels timeless. There’s a lot of heart in that movie.

E: Yeah, I think so. I haven’t seen the other ones and I know they’re planning, I heard they’re planning to do another, the studio system… I’m not surprised they’re always gonna try to milk it and do whatever, but I just thought that was it. They called me about it, I think some TV show. No, Brandon was The Crow as far as I was concerned. I don’t even wanna think about going there again.

R: So APB is what we really wanna talk about and it’s a super fun show. What attracted you to that series and to the role of Captain Conrad?

E: Well honestly, the role in the beginning wasn’t really written much. But what really drew me to the show and which made we want to do it… I like the idea of policing taken to the modern era. We have so much technology and so many advances that really could benefit all of us. Unfortunately, it seems like the cost is available to big corporations and wealthy people or whatever. But it would help the public society if we had access to that invention, those things that can move us forward and I hadn’t seen it. Usually when we talk about policing and all the stuff that’s going on: let us bring in more police, let’s give them more high-powered weapons, let’s bring in the tanks, let’s militarize, as opposed to how we can use technology to connect with each other better.

I read the show and the first episode was that app that people had on their phones and they have direct contact. I just like the idea of putting something out there that could expand that thought. All the technology that’s used in the show is available now. It’s not some futuristic, “Let’s make up something.” But let’s do it in a way, luckily on our show it’s a billionaire who had good intentions. The problem with all new inventions is it’s a double-edged sword. That stuff in the wrong hands and people with the wrong intentions. But I think it’s needed now. We’ve seen just with videos and what a difference it’s made just in terms of public awareness of things that’ve been going on for generations and now suddenly we’re like, “oh my god.” So I think it’s forcing us to make a change and to look at ourselves a little bit differently.

So I like the idea, to get back to the question, I wanted to be a part of this show because I thought it was uniquely different. I worked on that CBS show about the geniuses (Scorpion). I worked on the pilot on that and I thought that was kinda cool that there were people out there doing the Elon Musk… guys who are using that to possibly move of us forward as opposed to just for profit. So I liked the idea.

And then I like the character I play, the Captain, because I really felt he was in a situation that lot of African American men are. You’re working in a department that you love and appreciate, but you’re from a community that feels overlooked. So here’s a guy who still lives in the neighborhood that he grew up in, and it’s the most underserved by the Chicago area so there’s no kind of issues. So on one hand, you’ve gotta do your job, and on the other hand you see the effects of when the job is done badly or not done at all. But he’s a Sergeant and he can’t make the call. When Gideon comes in and changes the department, he gets promoted to Captain and suddenly now he has a chance to be directly involved.

Also, I think he’s really concerned about this new technology, these young people coming in with these ideas and not understanding a lot of this stuff is in place, protocol is there for a reason and you can’t just throw all that out the window. There are consequences to everything you do. And so he becomes the voice of reason but also I think he, what fascinated me about the character and the show, is he was feeling what I was feeling, that we all know we need to do something different. We know there’s some issues that are not being resolved the way we’re doing things, so either we try to push harder or we open ourselves up and say, “You know what? I don’t get it, but it’s time to do something different.” All those kind of conflicts made the guy interesting. Now, as an actor, you can only play what’s written… or you can play more than what’s written, but it helps to have something written there. As we move forward with the show, I think the actors kind of gelled together and began to get a sense of who we all were and what we’re doing.

R: Yeah, it’s a really fun show and I know there’s a big push for Season 2 right now, so I’m wondering what it is that fans can do to help support and help spread the awareness and really make sure that this happens?

E: Well, I’m not totally sure. Because I’m like the character in the show, I’m not the most tech savvy. But I think letting the studios know, through social media, letting FOX know that they like the show, they care about the show. The numbers haven’t been great. I’m not sure if the positioning on Monday is the best time. In my experience, the way I work, is that you do the show and you move on. But this is a show that I’d like to see move forward, because I think the potential is really great. I think it just needs a little time for the audience to really find it. But if people like it, I’d really appreciate them emailing or tweeting or whatever, just letting FOX know that it’s a show that’s worth letting develop.

If you look at the first two or three episodes and you compare it to the last two or three episodes, I mean the growth, we find our way. And it takes a while for a show to come together and I just think it’s very special.

R: I agree. It’s great even as it is now and yet there’s still so much potential moving forward. And I really look forward to Season 2 of APB because I know it’s gonna happen.

E: Well thanks, I appreciate that. I hope so. While it’s been a lot of fun, I’m doing a couple other shows: I do Grace and Frankie on Netflix and Graves on Epix and I love working on those shows, but APB, I think, it’s just really special. So thanks a lot, I appreciate it.

The season one finale of APB airs Monday, April 24th at 9PM EST on FOX.

You can follow Ernie Hudson on Twitter.

https://youtu.be/bsbVnrOkcr8

You can also listen to the interview from one of our podcast episodes, which starts at roughly 1:25:46.

Rob: First of all, looking at your career history up to this point, films like The Dark Knight, Independence Day: Resurgence, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, you were on Arrow, and now Ghost in the Shell – you’ve done a lot of genre films and TV. Is that something that you had a particular goal for, or did your career just start moving in that direction?

Chin: No, it wasn’t an intentional direction. I started out in the theater and I remember the first few plays being, pretty much, the classics. I did Molière ‘s School for Wives, I did Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, it just somehow happened that my first American movie, ostensibly, was The Dark Knight. And that obviously opens very specific doors for any actor associated with that particular film because it’s such a seminal film in the world of comic book movies. So, no, it wasn’t intentional. I’m happy to do little independent movies about a family of chefs, which I did with Michelle Yeoh called Final Recipe or a movie about a family moving to Germany called A Different Sun which I did two years ago. When I look back on my career, it’s also kind of funny to me on how it played out that way.

R: In that same vein, while I’ve certainly seen you play various types of characters, a lot of the other roles that I see you in are powerful individuals like businessmen, mobsters, and military commanders. Do you think that’s the result of playing the role successfully when you did and then people wanting you to do it again, or do you think that’s maybe a vibe that you give off as an actor and it feels natural to pull you into that?

C: I think these troubled characters are more interesting to play anyway, in general, because I think they’re, especially the character of the chancellor in Marco Polo, that was multi-layered and complex. Somehow I’m automatically drawn to these characters because they’re conflicted and flawed human beings. I think perhaps that’s why these projects find me as well, as much as I actually find these projects, because I think I find them more interesting and more of a challenge to play.

R: In that level of deepness, you said you like a more complicated character; I’ve heard you say that you choose your projects based on director as well. Is that the most important factor for you, or is it the depth of the character that you’re going to be playing?

C: Well it’s a combination of factors. I think, in film, the director is the commander-in-chief really. In television it’s a little different, but in film it is. Which is why when I look at film choices, I think the director is paramount. After which, I think, the screenplay is equally important because it’s very hard to work off of a script that is not working. I don’t trust that I’m an actor of such great ability that I can make a bad script work so I need the script to be in place and structurally sound and interesting characterizations and then after which, obviously, who your co-stars are are going to determine your experience on the film.

When you do these films, you’re actually away for long periods of time, right? And sometimes you’re isolated and you find yourself in a place that’s further away, like Albuquerque or New Zealand and you’re going to have to spend a lot of time with these people. So I think who you’re going to work with is one of those selling points for me as well when I decide what I want to do.

R: I imagine a movie set is a very close, almost summer camp type of feel, where you’re together for this period of time and it’s all very intense and then you go off in separate directions again. How often do you get to keep in touch with people that you’ve built these friendships with on a movie set? Or is it just a work thing and then you go off and find the next thing?

C: Well, it depends. There are some sets that are special, that the friends that you’ll keep and you’ll keep for years to come. I don’t know what it is about certain sets that encourage that or help with that. I’ve been on movies where, after it’s done, you really don’t stay in touch with most anyone. But, for example, The Dark Knight… I have a few good friends from that movie. It’s been ten years and I still stay in touch with them and I go for coffees and lunch with them and not on a weekly basis, but pretty frequently.

2012 as well; the family I got from Roland Emmerich’s 2012. I’ve stayed friends with a lot of people on that movie as well, and the people from Marco Polo. So yeah, it’s like summer camp and hopefully you can stay friends but a lot of the time, because of the nature of our work as well, they have to be away. They have to be in Iceland shooting something while you’re in Kazakhstan.

R: How often do you get to then loop back around and bump into those people again?

C: It’s surprising because you always do a movie and you’re like, “OK, I’ll see you on the next one” and you’re just thinking you’re going to be working together again for sure. But, it doesn’t happen as often as one might think. Hollywood is a big, big place. You don’t get to work with people twice, but when you do it’s such a joy. I think for something like 2012, I got to work with Roland Emmerich again on Independence Day: Resurgence and meeting up with him and the producers, Larry Franco and Harald Kloser, it was like meeting family again even though we hadn’t worked together for 5 or 6 years. It doesn’t happen as often as you’d like, the looping back.

R: I guess from the outside it looks like Hollywood’s a much smaller place where it would look very different from the inside like that.

C: Yeah, it’s become such a global business anyway. You have actors and directors coming from Europe, you have actors and directors coming from Asia, and it’s a very diverse community at this point in time, which is good. I think ultimately it’s good for the business because it will then be reflected in the work and the movies that we make.

R: In regards to working on TV vs. film, I’ve seen you do some stuff in Arrow and you had your recent run in Lethal Weapon. What are some of the major differences that the general public might not be aware of? Or are they roughly the same when you’re working on TV vs. film?

C: Well, TV is a marathon I think. If you do a season that’s 20 episodes or if you do a season that’s 10 episodes long, which is what I did for Marco Polo, it’s still a very long period of time to be working on something and also the pace of shooting is so much faster. For example, you can shoot effectively 4 or 5 scenes a day for TV. I think that’s easy. But with film, for example, an action set piece in Ghost in the Shell might take days or two weeks to shoot one scene. You have the luxury of that. So I think with film it’s more compact. I think it’s like a high performance athlete, working in film. You just start and then you barrel your way through to the end. Of course, in film, you just gotta pace yourself and keep going for a much longer period of time.

R: Is there one that you prefer over the other or is it two sides of the same coin?

C: I like the idea of the limited series because it’s somewhere in between film and television. It is long enough for you to really allow storylines to unfold in an organic manner, in a more comprehensive manner. It’s also long enough for your characters to be fleshed out in a way that is satisfying for an actor. Sometimes with film, you need to rely on some shorthand for fleshing out your character because you have one and half hours to do it.

So the limited series, I really like that form because it’s not as long as a 20-episode arc, which is to me, it requires a lot of stamina and engagement. Right in the middle is the limited series which I have enjoyed working on.

R: I don’t want to go the whole time without talking about why we’re here, which is of course Ghost in the Shell. What familiarity did you have with the source material going into this?

C: I was familiar with the source material because I grew up with a love for graphic novels, whether they were from the East or West. I think I was very influenced by Frank Miller and Alan Moore’s work. I think they had a profound effect on me. Then going to the anime world of Ghost in the Shell and Akira, the manga, that stuff was really great for me. All those things came out in the 80’s as well, and that was when I was a teenager, and you know how teens are, you just consume this stuff.

I think it was just the right timing as well. This stuff was coming out in the 80’s, I was in my teens, hormones raging, and I’m looking at all the very provocative artwork and provocative stories. I was very influenced by them, so when the option came to do it, I jumped on it because it’s rare that such opportunities come around because they’re so hard to make. You’re translating something from panels in a graphic novel or from animation into live action and that requires a fair amount of skill and attention to detail.

R: And probably just took a long time to even get to that point visually where now we can even do it and they can actually represent that in a live action film.

C: Yes, absolutely. I was at the fan event yesterday at Universal CityWalk and watching the stuff… maybe even a decade ago I don’t think we would have been able to do some of these things and it was very immersive and stunning to look at.

R: To wrap things up, how much do you pay attention then, since you were familiar, how much do you pay attention to the previous incarnations when shaping your particular take on your role?

C: For me, you take Shirow’s manga as the jumping off point, and then the iterations are so different anyway if you look at Oshii’s work or Kamiyama’s Stand Alone Complex or even the new character design-wise and how they animate it so different. I would say that when you’re looking at the character and when I’m discussing it with Rupert Sanders, the director, we try to capture the spirit of it. Instead of being a literal translation from the picture to the live action, we want to capture the spirit of the character.

For example, when we’re looking at costume design stuff, I went through a whole bunch of digital watches to decide on which would best be suited for Togusa and I found one that Rupert loved as well, that was so cool. It was something from the 80’s, something that I grew up with. It was a Casio calculator watch. So, obviously, who needs that now with mobile phones, but we found it. And whether you see it in the movie or not really doesn’t matter… it matters, but it doesn’t matter because it helps capture the spirit of the character and it just felt good wearing it.

Ghost in the Shell hits theaters on Friday, March 31st.

You can follow Chin on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

The future of video games is always a fun topic to ponder. From the next big hit to the next generation of consoles, there’s always something to wonder. With the continuous growth of PC gaming, there’s always discussion on how consoles will stand out against powerful gaming computers. After Microsoft’s presentation at E3 2016, an idea popped into my head – I think the XBox One successor will be more of a gaming PC rather than a traditional console.

The Microsoft Company as a whole, including both their gaming and computer divisions, is an interesting case when it comes to modern video games. Plenty of people purchase XBox consoles, but the majority of computer gamers use PCs running Microsoft operating systems. However most PC gamers simply use the OS as a means to an end when gaming – the actual purchasing and playing of games is done most popularly through store fronts, such as Valve’s  gaming platform, Steam. With many AAA games appearing on both PC and consoles, many have forgone the purchase of an Xbox One or a PS4 in favor of a gaming PC simply because it is more versatile than a gaming console. And I think the XBox team might try to get ahead of this by the next console generation.

Windows Store vs Steam

Microsoft introduced their “Play Anywhere” program at E3 2016 that allows for certain digital titles to be cross-purchased for play on both Xbox One consoles and PCs running Windows 10. This pairing of the Windows Store and Xbox Store seems to be a move by Xbox, and more broadly Microsoft, to compete with PC gaming distribution platforms, like Steam, in order to capture a bigger portion of the gaming market. While new models of the Xbox One show sustaining faith in the current console generation, I can imagine that the Xbox One could be the last of Microsoft’s “traditional” console.

You may remember that when the XBox One was revealed back in 2013 that the console received backlash when it was announced that the developers wanted owners to be more or less always connected to the internet, particularly when playing games downloaded from a disc (as opposed to always having the disc in the console). Looking back, I think the timing was poor but that the idea would be more welcome in 5 years, especially if the console is branded as more of a computer than simply as a gaming console. Heck, it might even be a non-issue if internet access becomes even more available in that time span and if more people greatly favor digital download over physical media. I mean, it’s been years since gaming developers for PC titles relied on CD-Rom distribution for their games since all-digital has become the norm.

Console and Computer

If you think about it, modern game consoles have become very similar to PCs in terms hardware and capabilities, and with a dedicated gaming PC, Microsoft would be able to unify the console and PC gaming markets that it has its hands in and try to pull away customers from Steam, Humble, etc… When Xbox One’s successor comes to light (which I imagine will be anywhere from like 2018 to 2021), I’m imagining a “Reverse SteamBox” if you will. Where Steam Boxes were various consoles running a dedicated OS and internet connection that allowed for gamers to play Steam games without a PC, I’m imaging Microsoft releasing a heavily dedicated gaming PC that will have dedicated systems to prioritize and optimize gaming like a console but also have traditional computer functions.

This console-PC hybrid would continue the image of Microsoft’s desire to be the center piece of one’s entertainment setup but would probably also still serve basic the needs that a computer has (internet browsing, word processing, proprietary software etc…) without being as clunky as app version of some programs can be on consoles. Compatibility with a keyboard and mouse alongside a dedicated controller (and other peripherals) would also cement this image. Certainly, this would sit on the higher end of costs compared to other consoles, but would certainly appeal to those who straddle both the XBox One and PC gaming.

The “Always On” Issue from 2013

Take a trip back to the XBox One’s unveiling back at E3 2013 and one thing you’ll be greeted with is a ton of backlash to a feature that required console owners to connect to the internet at least once a day in order to play games without needing the disc after installation. This was removed following heavy criticism as there are certainly many people who buy consoles because they do not have internet. There is, however, a growing demand for internet in most households and I wouldn’t put it past Microsoft to try something similar for enhanced cloud-based gaming.

Most people who have a gaming PC have a decent internet connection and the PC-console-hybrid that I propose would certainly try to replace that PC. Man PC games have some sort of connection based DRM anyways that require some sort of frequent internet connection. The growing trend for online multiplayer-only titles and constant patches and updates, the world may be growing closer to accepting a unit that requires constant connection. Depending on how trends, and potential changes in how ISPs deliver internet,  are in the next few years, there is a possible future where the “Always-On” blunder was just a feature too far ahead of its time.

In Closing

Like I said earlier, this is merely conjecture and I could be way-off base considering that at this time we’re likely not even at the halfway point of the 8th console generation. But there is no doubt that major changes are on the horizon considering the upcoming Nintendo Switch hand-held/console hybrid and the current age of Virtual Reality titles hitting the markets.

Let us know what you think in the comments below or strike up a conversation on our Discord channel!

Penny Arcade and ReedPOP have announced PAX Unplugged, its first tabletop gaming focused event, in front of tens of thousands of attendees today at PAX South. PAX Unplugged, the sixth addition to the international line-up of PAX events, will debut at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, November 17 – 19, 2017.

PAX Unplugged will take all the elements that have drawn millions of gamers to PAX – the chance to play and see the reveal of highly-anticipated upcoming games, attend game-inspired music concerts, participate in tournaments and watch panels with industry leaders – but with a renewed focus on fostering the best event for the burgeoning tabletop gaming community.

PAX Unplugged will be a destination for attendees to share their common passions and socialize over board, card and other tabletop games, which have experienced a renaissance in recent years. Penny Arcade and ReedPOP are happy to embrace the thriving tabletop scene and provide those around it with a welcoming atmosphere to take this resurgence to even greater heights.

“With the rise of popularity of board games, we wanted to provide a dedicated space where fans can come together,” said Jerry Holkins, co-founder, Penny Arcade. “We will continue to have tabletop games at every PAX, but Unplugged will focus on stepping away from the TV, monitor and phone to foster face-to-face multiplayer experiences.”

Badges for PAX Unplugged will go on sale this Spring.

For more information, visit the PAX Unplugged site or follow PAX for updates via Twitter.

Rob: You’re in the middle of filming season two right now, correct?

Emily: Yes, we are. Nearly at the end, we finish in December, so we raced through it. Yeah, I know, it’s been a whirlwind.

R: So I think it’s safe to say, without giving away too much, that The Widow does not die in the first episode of the season?

E: Oh no, I gave away a spoiler and I didn’t even realize. Well, I’m not dead now. I’m not sure if I’m gonna last the season or not.

R: How much, on that topic, do you get to see beforehand? Do you get it episode by episode or do you get more of the larger story arc from the beginning?

E: Al [Gough] and Miles [Millar] will talk to us about the story arc before, but we get each episode… we don’t know all the dialogue in the specific scenes until we get each episode before each block. So we get each episode a few weeks before. I can’t even tell you the next part because I don’t even know.

R: What was it that drew you to this particular role of The Widow, cause she’s a very strong character but is still very vulnerable at the same time?

E: Yeah, I think she’s a really realistic character that people can connect to. I think it’s always a bit distancing if you’re watching a character that just has absolutely no fears or vulnerabilities at all. And I think that’s why she’s a character that is easier to connect to, because she’s brave and she’s fighting for something that seems impossible, but to her it seems so right. She’s an idealist and she wants to fight for equality in the Badlands and, at the same time, it makes her vulnerable as well because she is on her own.

R: I think she’s identifiable in a way too, because even though the majority of Season 1 shows her as a villain, she drops some hints that she’s fighting for a purpose that we didn’t necessarily think was the case…

E: Yes, which is very unusual. She’s a bit of an anarchist in the Badlands because nobody else wants what she wants.

R: What was the audition process like for this? Did you have to come in with a certain physicality because the role demands so much of that?

E: Well, initially they requested that somebody has just some experience with physical things. I had had experience with ballet and stage combat, but not really the same thing. If I’d have known I’d be fighting with broad swords then… it’s a very different experience. Kung-Fu is really fast and really intense… very athletic.

I auditioned in Britain a couple of times, and then I did the final round test in Los Angeles which was just doing the scenes. They never tested us on our martial arts skills because we had the five week training pre-shoot; before the series we had a five week fight training.

R: So you developed all that in only five weeks?

E: Yes, it was so intense. It was the most intense, physical five weeks I think I’ve ever had in my life. I learned a lot about bodies in general, and muscles, and physiology. There was a lot of protein shakes and electrolytes cause we were doing the training in New Orleans and the heat was intense as well so we had to get used to that and adjust to that because a lot of the fight scenes were outside in the hottest time of the year. Intense is the word for the whole experience. But it was very gratifying once we saw it.

R: The production has moved on from New Orleans. You’ve moved into another area now?

E: Yeah, we’re shooting in Dublin right now. Weather-wise it’s easier to do the fighting. The air… there’s oxygen to breathe. It’s easier to breathe when you’re fighting. Such a rich landscape here, and the whole land really develops. It’s great because, the Badlands, the world expands so it’s obviously a whole different flavor. Yeah, it’s been great shooting here.

R: Have you, prior to this, had as much extensive wire-work as was required in this? On the DVD itself, it has great behind-the-scenes where you’re basically fighting horizontally that had to be new to you.

E: Oh goodness, yeah. I’d never done harness work in my life before this, before Badlands. It’s a balancing act. You have to have good core strength and balance to do the wire-work. That scene that you probably saw… we film it very guerrilla style, which is very unusual apparently for an action series so we don’t actually learn any choreography before we shoot…

R: Oh wow…

E: Yeah, so we step onto the set and we have no idea what we’re going to do and Master Deedee choreographs it when he’s there on the set and that’s probably why it adds to the whole creative – cause the fights, I think the fights are quite unusual and quite creative – so he choreographs it as he goes along and he teaches us some moves. We go through it sometimes twice until we just about know it and then we have to shoot it really fast, full pelt and just really go for it and trust yourself that you know it and that you’re not going to panic and stop.

They taught me that sequence, which was quite a complicated sequence with the two katana swords, and then I got onto the set and they’re like, “By the way, you’re gonna be on a harness and you’re also gonna be sideways on a wall so you’re gonna be walking backwards on a wall and Daniel’s going to be standing on the floor.”

So the fight was completely unrecognizable to me because I’d just been fighting him the right way up. But it worked!

R: When the choreography is being developed on the set, on the fly like that, how often are injuries happening because it just seems like an environment for danger?

E: Yes, it does! Well, nobody has been injured, but I think you have to expect to get bruised and a little bit hurt and a teeny bit beaten up if you’re doing action like we are… intense, martial arts, Kung-Fu fight scenes. But no, nobody’s been injured.

R: I imagine your background as a dancer helps with that a lot, because the fights are, like you said, they’re not the conventional fight and they’re very dance-like in their execution.

E: Yeah, that helps. Especially with the kicking and the balance and they also help being on stilettos. In a way, I actually found it easier fighting on the stilettos than I did walking or standing still on the stilettos. Just standing still, I just kept falling over because they’re so high, but when you’re moving and you’ve got the momentum of the movement, it’s a bit more like dancing or being on the balls of your feet… surprisingly.

R: I’m always curious too because in the series you don’t have your accent, you have more of an American accent, and it’s always fascinating to me for people to drop that accent. Like, I don’t know what an American accent is. What would I even do?

E: Yeah, it must be a bit discombobulating.

R: So what does that involve for you? Are there words that you go to? Are their phrases where you can activate that?

E: Yes, well my mum is American so I just speak in an American accent to them. My mother’s side of the family is all from Phoenix, Arizona so I’m used to listening to American accents. But we also have a dialect coach who is great and she had lots of words for us.

R: What are some of the things that your dialect coach would teach you to Americanize a certain word. What sounds would you change?

E: It’s the vowels. She says that the Rs wrap around the vowels because a lot of the time when British people try to do an American accent, they just make their Rs really heavy and it sounds kind of crazy. I thought that was quite a nice visual.

There are no words that, ya know, you can copy a ton of people. “Sanctuary”… “sanctuary” is a hard one. There’s lots of words, because the dialogue in the show is so unusual and almost period-like. It’s almost, kind of, fantasy medieval-like and the way they say things is so…. That coupled with an American accent is really difficult actually.

R: We at The Geek Generation believe that being a geek isn’t necessarily about what you like but more about the obsessive way that you like something, and I’m curious about you, yourself, are there things that you would say you “geek out” about, that you’re really obsessed with?

E: Somebody asked me this before and I found it strangely quite difficult to work out. I love flea markets and thrifty finds. I like vintage because it’s like one-of-a-kind and feel like you found something unusual that might have a little story to it. I just feel like they’ve got more character.

Ally [Ioannides] says a I geek out about a lot of things, so clearly I’m not very self-aware. Music! Yeah, I geek out about music. I like Edgar Wright. I like comedy. I’m listening to a band called Das mörtal at the moment, constantly, which is on the Stranger Things soundtrack cause it’s got great electro… oh my gosh, what a brilliant soundtrack. Yeah, so a band called Das mortal and Magic Sword, which are two really good bands which I’m geeking out about at the moment.

R: With your interest in flea markets and vintage finds, you must have a temptation to pull some of those costumes from wardrobe home with you, no?

E: Yeah, well maybe not the stilettos. At the end of the day, my feet are a bit numb. Yeah, they’re great. The costumes are really, really creative. I love them. There’s sort of an Asian leather, period fusion. They all surprise me every time they pull out a new costume and I think I really win on the costume front. I think I’ve been spoiled for the costumes out of all the characters on the Badlands. Well her palette is quite limited; she only wears black, but those costumes are really cool. The costumes in Season 2 are really cool as well.

R: When you’re doing all the fighting scenes and you have to use weapons, was weapon-work a new thing for you or was this something you’d dealt with before?

E: At drama school we’d done a little bit of stage combat with broad swords, but that was it. It was a completely new experience. When you’re first working with these weapons, you get a lot of blisters and you just have to, it’s like playing guitar really, you sort of have to get your hands used to it because they’re heavy, hard instruments and you’re using them a lot. I’m much better at the katanas now. The katanas were quite challenging for me at first. I found the daggers easier because they’re shorter and they’re lighter, easier for a woman to use and I found the larger swords harder, but I’m getting a lot more used to them now. Just practice really, and experience with them.

The weapons, they’re fine. They’re easy to use once you’re doing the scene and you have the motive cause… obviously it comes naturally cause you’re trying to fight.

Into the Badlands: The Complete First Season is currently available on Blu-ray and DVD.

You can follow Emily Beecham on her Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Set in a world centuries from now, Into the Badlands: The Complete First Season focused on the spiritual journey of Sunny (Daniel Wu) and M.K. (Aramis Knight), a teenage boy who harbors a unique ability, and their growing relationship as teacher and student. Both discover their true purpose and decide to explore what lies beyond the borders of the Badlands, but as their Baron Quinn continues to battle against his own family as well as his rival Baron The Widow, Sunny and M.K.’s journey to a more peaceful existence seems further out of reach.

While filmed in New Orleans, Into the Badlands creates an entirely new dystopian world whose origins have still not been fully explored. The aesthetic spans multiple environments, from farmlands to towns, and touches on even more cultural influences, pulling from Southern, Asian, and Victorian, while seamlessly merging them together. Showrunners/executive producers/writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar put their many years of experience on display to weave the fantastical story of Sunny, the most feared Clipper in the Badlands. Sunny soon discovers M.K., a boy who possesses supernatural abilities that are coveted by the Barons. While each Baron will stop at nothing to recruit M.K. once they discover his power, Sunny takes the boy under his wing in the hopes that they might escape the Badlands once and for all.

The thing that stands out most about Into the Badlands is the amazing action. In this world without guns, the sword and the fist rule. Battles are fought as spectacular martial arts scenes that feel beyond the scope of a television production. Reminiscent of such martial arts epics as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero, the residents of the Badlands leap through the air while dishing out endless amounts of punishment. The balance between action and story is sound as well, as the events that unfold build up the meaning of each action scene. Punches are never thrown just for the sake of doing it.

Daniel Wu excels as the core of this tale, making Sunny feel both lethally dangerous while remaining relateable. Marton Csokas as Baron Quinn chews the scenery every time he’s on screen with an over-the-top performance that straddles the line of caricature, but is so entrancing in his performance that you won’t be able to take your eyes off of him. Emily Beecham is the next great strong female character to come along as The Widow, who arguably might be the best fighter of all the Barons, and yet retains a softness and vulnerability that reveals her as much more than she initially seems.

The first season of Into the Badlands is only six episodes long, which might be my only complaint. Creating a new world takes some time and exposition to flesh out, and the Badlands still need quite a bit of explaining. Just when the first season when hitting its stride, it was over. The first piece of good news is that the tale is not over, as the filming of Season 2 is close to wrapping. The other good news is that there are wonderful extras on the Season 1 Blu-ray and DVD that will give you more to enjoy, such as the “Anatomy of a Fight” segments that break down the major battles in each episode. character highlights, and even a digital comic.

Into the Badlands: The Complete First Season is available on Blu-ray and DVD on November 8th, 2016.

Here are some examples of the similarities I heard. First, the main theme of Star Trek…

Then, compare that to these two tracks from the Doctor Strange soundtrack that highlight the main theme…

(start around 2:11 if the video doesn’t jump there)

(start around 0:30 if the video doesn’t jump there)

Are you hearing what I’m hearing? Please tell me I’m not crazy.

Please keep in mind that there’s simply no way to see absolutely everything, and the bulk of what I had the opportunity to see was the content I was hosting Q&As for. That being said, here are some of my favorite projects from the festival in no particular order.

It’s A Hit!

Nestled among the office parks of suburban Connecticut are the formidable headquarters of Cobra Mephisto & Leibowitz, the deadliest assassination firm in the Greater Northeast Region. Star assassin Samantha Steele (Abby Elliott) re-evaluates her career choice when she realizes that she’s losing her passion for killing people for money.

Coded

Shae, an idealistic teacher, embarks on a new job teaching five tenth graders with severe behavioural issues, all coded. As Shae gets drawn into his students’ personal lives, he finds himself in murky, ethical territory.

Superior Living

The show focuses on a modern day commentary on people who have lost a bit of reality. We watch how much our society has crossed the wires between being pretentious and proper. We wanted to utilize absurdity, but in a naturalistic way. Our characters feel real and authentic; however, through political correct language, technology, and the media, we showcase how much society has become absurd within itself.

Fully Engaged

“Fully Engaged” is a twelve episode web series about Erika and Danny, a nice, normal, engaged couple living in New York City. Sure, they come from different backgrounds and they’re on a tight budget, but they love each other and they have a strong sense of self, so planning a wedding won’t be as hard as everyone makes it out to be, right? WRONG!

Saving Unicorns

“Real Job”, “Real Relationship”, “Real Life”… is there such a thing? Everywhere Sady Hart looks, people are getting married, having kids, buying houses, getting promotions … all the Trade Marks of an accomplished adult. For Sady, getting her laundry done is an accomplishment. Sady keeps waiting for Real Adult Life (RAL) to kick in – that long term, organized life plan she is “supposed” to be following.

Sauced in Translation

Howie is a on a quest to redefine American food around the globe! 1st stop: China! After diving into local cuisine for inspiration, he cooks up an American classic for whoever is willing to dare! Will they run back to KFC or be Sauced in Translation?

You can subscribe to Japan Funbox here to get goodies of your own delivered every month: japanfunbox.com

Make sure to subscribe to her YouTube channel, visit her cosplay page, and check out her blog.

#10 – The Intern
Surprisingly good, I went into a screening of The Intern with low expectations and came out of it having thoroughly enjoyed myself. Fearful that this would end up becoming a romantic comedy that would force a relationship between De Niro and Hathaway, I was delighted to see a more meaningful story unfold about two people who affect each other’s lives in a positive way.

#9 – Ant-Man
Marvel has been avoiding superhero oversaturation by making movies that could fit into other genres. In this case, Ant-Man is a heist movie that just happens to have superheroes in it. While other Marvel movies have also infused humor throughout, Ant-Man has comedy in spades, clearly the result of Edgar Wright’s influence on earlier drafts.

#8 – Room
In a movie where the quality of the final product rests primarily on a handful of actors, Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay deliver stellar performances to carry this tale of two people trapped in a single room. The second half of the movie was unexpected, but not unwelcome, as their relationship with each other and the outside world unfolds.

#7 – Trumbo
Supported by a fantastic cast and based on a true story, Bryan Cranston shines in this story of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo as he and his compatriots tangle with an American government that’s on a witch hunt during the Cold War. Cranston embodies Trumbo thoughout this period of his life as he deals with being blacklisted by Hollywood and struggles to fight his way back to acceptance.

#6 – Ex Machina
A true sci-fi tale in that it’s an exploration of the human condtion, Ex Machina dishes out information in small portions, and just enough to keep you guessing until the very end. Stellar performances from the trio of Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, and Oscar Isaac add layers of depth to this thrilling story.

#5 – Burnt
While it’s not the first movie to tackle the subject of sacrificing to achieve greatness, Burnt approaches this concept through the military-like atmosphere of a chef’s kitchen, which is endlessly fascinating to me. While the subject matter is enough to warrant comparisons to last year’s Chef, Burnt does more than enough to set itself apart and stand on its own.

#4 – Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Even with the bad taste the prequels left in the mouths of Star Wars fans, the excitement level was off the charts going into Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Episode VII brought back the iconic legends of the franchise while introducing new characters to welcome in a new generation of fans… not an easy accomplishment to pull off.

#3 – Inside Out
A truly emotional movie (in more ways than one), Inside Out approaches storytelling in a way no other Pixar had up to this point. While prior Pixar films had been targeted toward a younger demographic while sprinkling in jokes for older viewers, this movie seems to have been made for adults with enough humor to keep children invested. A new formula for Pixar, but one that ended up being a huge success.

#2 – Creed
Creed should be the template for all franchise reboot/sequels moving forward. The first trailer showed no sign of past Rocky films until the very end, and rightfully so, as this is the story of Adonis Creed. Set in the familiar continuity of the Rocky franchise, and with the Italian Stallion himself by his side, Creed successfully passes the torch from a beloved movie icon to a new contender while both honoring the past and setting a path for the future.

#1 – The Martian
Even with a phenomenal cast supporting him, The Martian is a showcase for Matt Damon. It’s incredibly refreshing to see an original movie on such an epic scale that’s not about punching your problems in the face, but using your wits and ingenuity to battle nature itself. With great performances by all, this nearly two and half hour tale is crafted masterfully, keeping the viewer engaged and excited the entire time. There are few characters in movie history that I can recall rooting for as passionately as Mark Watney.

Honorable mentions that I would still recommend:

• Playing It Cool
• Avengers: Age of Ultron
• The Loft
• Project Almanac
• Kingsman: The Secret Service
• Chappie
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• Jurassic World
• Paper Towns
• Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
• Bridge of Spies
• Spectre

Better Than Expected:

• Predestination
• Vacation

Huge Let-downs:

• Fantastic Four
• Z for Zachariah
• True Story
• Jupiter Ascending

The Good

This headset is built with quality and comfort in mind. The high-grade plastics and metallic accents give the unit a heft that is reminiscent of units that cost 1.5 – 2 times as much, and the build quality appears to be of the highest grade. The ear cups are ample and well-padded, while the arch connecting the two benefits from that very same padding for comfort during long gaming sessions.

The unit comes with an Xbox One controller adapter, which improves upon the proprietary Microsoft controller adapter in both aesthetics and function. Intuitive controls for three equalizer settings, voice/in-game volume controls, mic mute button, and an analog volume dial all promote an ease of use and clarity that is great for on-the-fly adjustments while gaming. Being able to feel the volume adjusting through the muted clicks on the volume control was immensely satisfying. That appeal may be more personal than anything, but it’s a welcome change from the adapter from Microsoft which provides buttons to mash with varying degrees of success.

Sound quality is a mixed bag. It’s not as incredible as the build quality and price of this headset would lead you to believe, but it’s also not terrible like cheaper units available on the market today. The bass is rich and the treble is crisp when it needs to be, but on two of the three equalizer settings the mid range sound seems faded and washed out. The unit does not claim to be Dolby capable, and yet it’s not something I missed during the time I used it gaming. I was left feeling very confused by the sound quality: serviceable, yet not what I expected.

The Bad

Sizing: Gamers with larger heads, beware. I wear size 8 fitted caps and my hair can sometimes add 1/4 to 1/2 an inch on top. Even after pulling the ear cups as far as they go, I was barely able to fully surround my ears. While this won’t be a problem for most people, those with big brains and thick skulls such as myself will definitely notice this issue.

Dropped audio: Considering the benefits of a semi-wireless set-up, I was surprised by the periodic dropped audio during the extended use of this unit. Over the course of several gaming sessions lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours, I noticed at least one or two instances of dropped or choppy audio reminiscent of connection issues or failing battery life. However, even after addressing both issues the audio still managed to periodically drop out. These instances were one to two seconds at most, but were still noticeable enough to take me out of the experience with a measurable degree of frustration.

Lack of versatility: Unlike other semi-wireless units, the A40 does not offer alternative usage straight from the box. Other headsets of this type allow for compatibility with anything using a 3.5 mm jack, from a home computer to wireless music devices. However, because the A40 unplugs its 3.5 mm plug from the headset’s female 3.5 mm port, you would need a separate wire altogether to use it in any other way. This is a shame considering it might very well avoid the issues with dropped audio if it could be divorced from the Xbox One adapter, making it great for general use like listening to music.

Overall

The A40 + Mixamp M80 is built well with intuitive controls, providing serviceable audio quality that is average to slightly better at times. However, the aesthetics of this unit seem to mask critical issues that you would not expect from a headset at this price point.

The Astro Gaming A40 Headset + Mixamp M80 – Halo 5 Special Edition can purchased online here: http://amzn.to/1LOzT3i

Episodes of Impractical Jokers can be seen Thursdays at 10PM on truTV.

Host: Rob Logan

RMC: Random Movie Club – introduction

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Being the creative artist that he is, he took it upon himself to illustrate our interview. That’s right, there now exists a cartoon version of myself! Anyways, check out the video below for our fun conversation.

Here’s Abril’s description of his project:

“A Smallville Man” is my animatic film featuring an original Superman story told in over 150 illustrations set against the aural backdrop of the song “Walk” by the American Rock band Foo Fighters.

The film explores the relationship between Superman’s past and present through separate stories that take us from the jungles of South America to the quaint streets of his hometown of Smallville. For those not quite familiar with South America, it’s “like America but south” (sorry for the un-related movie quote, but I just couldn’t resist). The two story lines ultimately converge thematically to show that the “S” on his chest represents not just his alien power but also the strength of his humanity.

Movies, super heroes, music, wrestling and intergalactic fun come together in Framingham at the Super Megafest, New England’s premiere Celebrity Pop Culture Fan Fest. This year’s event will feature Hollywood icons & celebrities, rock and roll, science fiction and wrestling legends.

The Super Megafest takes place Saturday, Nov. 22nd from 10:30am to 6pm & Sunday, Nov 23rd from 10:30am to 5pm at the Sheraton Framingham Hotel located at 1657 Worcester Rd., Framingham, MA 01701.

Celebrity guests include Hulk Hogan, Ryan Hurst, Ian Ziering, Lee Majors, Joe Pantoliano, Lindsay Wagner, Micky Dolenz, Kevin Nash, Lee Arenberg, Dwight Schultz, Jake Lloyd, Marina Sirtis, Jamie Kennedy, Scott Hall, Jimmy Hart, Debbie Gibson, Linda Harrison, Deep Roy, Kris Holden-Ried, Paul Amos, Kristen Renton, Teddy Long, Denise Crosby, Vincent Pastore, Tony Darrow, Aida Turturro, Aileen Quinn, Nick Joseph, Marissa Jade, and Gary DeCarlo.

For more info visit www.supermegafest.com

It’s now being reported that CBS has given a series commitment to a Supergirl television show, which is said to focus on Superman’s 24-year-old cousin, Kara Zor-El, beginning to use her superpowers which she has kept hidden for much of her life on Earth.

With a new series in development, opinions on who should play Kara Zor-El were inevitable. Keeping in mind the 24-year-old character age and focusing on actresses who are more prominent in television than film, here are my Top 5 choices for Supergirl.

#5 – Emily VanCamp

Where you might know her from: Everwood, Captain America: The Winter Soldier

#4 – Ashley Benson

Where you might know her from: Pretty Little Liars, Spring Breakers

#3 – Lyndsy Fonseca

Where you might know her from: Nikita, Kick-Ass

#2 – Alexandra Daddario

Where you might know her from: Percy Jackson, Parenthood, True Detective

#1 – Laura Wiggins

Where you might know her from: The Tomorrow People, Shameless

What do you think of my choices? Who would you cast as Kara Zor-El? Sound off in the comments below.

The “Words Are Here, There, and Everywhere” initiative was developed in partnership with PNC Grow Up Great. For more info, visit: http://sesamestreet.org/words

For some extra hilarity, check out the out-takes from the video shoot.

Listen to my adventures from my first San Diego Comic Con:

The Geek Generation – #195 – San Diego Comic Con 2014

Before you start thinking “Oh great, a history lesson,” allow me to point out that this story plays out like a movie. It’s historical fiction, meaning that the accounts are real but the dialogue is a reenactment that shows each characters’ personality and aids in the creation of an actual story. The back of the book does a great job of setting the scene:

“In 1990, Nintendo had a virtual monopoly on the video game industry. Sega, on the other hand, was just a faltering company with big aspirations and even bigger personalities. But all that would change with the arrival of Tom Kalinske, a man who knew nothing about video games and everything about fighting uphill battles. His unconventional tactics, combined with the blood, sweat, and bold ideas of his renegade employees, transformed Sega and eventually led to a ruthless David-and-Goliath showdown with rival Nintendo.” – Console Wars Synopsis 

Tom Kalinski serves as the main character representing the spirit behind a scrappy and “too-cool-for-school” Sega versus the old-fashioned and conservative Nintendo. Sega and the Genesis are the underdogs in this fight but prove that they can challenge Nintendo and the up and coming SNES who are made out to be the bad guys – quite the contrary to what most people today believe.

Many marketing strategies, like “Segaville, USA” as well as struggles between Sega of America and Sega of Japan are explored in this behind-the-scenes thriller. The novel doesn’t just focus on Sega’s perspective however. Many chapters are devoted to simplified, yet enticing recaps and snapshot moments that give insight to what events were taking place for Nintendo and other companies as well as including Sony and EA. This gives the reader a chance to see a glimpse of both sides of the story as well as the relationship between companies. Individuals are introduced briefly and important ones are developed subtly throughout the book. The same can be said for the not so exciting history statistics that are carefully woven into the story only when necessary. There are some lulls in the action here and there but they aren’t too tough to get through.

The novel features a forward written by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, the men who will be working with Harris and directing the movie adaption, which is currently under development. Sony Pictures will be producing the film.  It’s not really anything all that funny or exciting but it’s good to know that the producers have their own history in retro gaming.

Overall, this book is a must read for those who love retro gaming and want a trip to nostalgialand, as well as those who have always wanted to know how the heck video games became so popular. The book is available now and can be purchased online with this link through Amazon.com in both hardcover and digital formats. It’s a book and it’s about video games, plus there’s a movie coming out about it. That’s worth getting excited for!

About the Author

Blake J. Harris on Facebook

Follow on Twitter: @blakejharrisNYC

Console Wars Website

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(trailer not yet released)

Atari XE system (Atari vs. Nintendo)

When the NES hit the market, Atari previously had a tight grip on the gaming industry despite the gaming crash of 1983. The NES was selling very well and revived the world of gaming. Atari was determined to stay in the lead and turned to advertising in hopes of promoting the Atari XE system over the NES.

“Are you gonna buy the same old Gameboy?” (Atari vs. Nintendo)

And let the trash talking begin! Not content with just asserting that the Atari Lynx boasted a larger screen, color graphics, stereo speakers and reversible controls, Atari hoped to squash the GameBoy and take over the handheld market.

“Blast Processing”/ “Genesis Does What Nintendon’t” (Sega vs. Nintendo)

When Sega broke into the gaming market, they branded the next generation of gaming as the 16-Bit era with their 16-Bit console – the Sega Genesis. Genesis got out ahead of the SNES and were equal contenders for a long time. Sega put a lot of effort into slinging mud at Nintendo, and they even went as far as to create a catchy jingle to go with their slogan “Genesis Does What Nintendon’t.” From their action-pack ads to their “cool-guy” announcers, Sega showed no mercy in trashing Nintendo.

Game Gear vs. GameBoy (Sega vs. Nintendo)

Sega also took a shot at the GameBoy when they released their Game Gear portable game system. This handheld was much bigger than the GameBoy and featured full color gaming. Too bad powering it with 6 AA batteries never caught on.

Star Fox 64 Commercial (Nintendo vs. Sega & Sony)

Enter the PSOne. For the first time in gaming, there were three large consoles battling it out for dominance. This feature length TV spot (and Nintendo Power gift to subscribers) had Nintendo dishing out a little retaliation of its own.

Crash Bandicoot Commercial (Sony vs. Nintendo)

It’s Mascot vs. Mascot in this commercial. I’ll let it speak for itself.

Sega Saturn vs. PlayStation (Sega vs. Sony)

Sega decided to give newcomer Sony a piece of its mind with this one. Seems like there was only room for one disc-based console on this planet.

How to Share Used Games on PS4 (Sony vs. Microsoft) – E3 2013

During the 6th and 7th generation of gaming, corporations seemed to have cooled off with their public acts of humiliation and let the fans do all the “console warring” for them. But when E3 2013 came around, Sony was ready to make Microsoft pay for their initial used game policies.

Who do you side with in the Console Wars?? Let us know in the comments below.

Head over to homestarrunner.com and check it out!!

Hitting the streets in San Francisco with a police escort they filmed caper after caper in real time in order to keep the experience authentic for five year old Miles Scott. There were no second takes. The characters, the coordination team and everyone involved had to make it great the first time. All of the cameras had to be in place, and all the special effects including the pyrotechnics had to be done live once and only once.

If you’d like to support Make-A-Wish continue in their efforts, you donate at their official site: wish.org

#10 – The Kings of Summer – A coming-of-age tale about three boys who walk out on their normal lives to build a house in the woods and live on their own. In addition to being very funny, this movie unlocks a feeling of freedom and endless possibility, as well as features one of the best characters seen in any movie this year.

#9 – Despicable Me 2 – A worthy follow-up to the original, Despicable Me 2 continues the story of Gru and his adopted daughters. After his previous transformation from heel to hero, Gru is recruited to take down a new villainous threat. This movie is packed with the same brand of hilarity as the first, along with many more moments with the beloved Minions.

#8 – Pain & Gain – Pain & Gain is the best Michael Bay movie of the past decade. Starring some of my favorite actors to watch on the big screen, this unbelievably true tale about bodybuilders who get caught up in extortion and kidnapping will have you cringing at their pure idiocy. Visually, the movie is shot in a unique style that adds to the beautiful backdrop of Florida, while providing an extra layer of energy to the already frantic scenarios.

#7 – The Way, Way Back – With a cast featuring Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell, Allison Janney, Rob Corddry, and Maya Rudolph, this comedy won the battle before the fight even started. Exploring the adolescent struggle to fit in, The Way, Way Back shows us that sometimes all anyone needs is the support of one person to make a difference.

#6 – Frozen – Shattering the Disney princess mold that Tangled put cracks in, Frozen is a new, fresh approach to an old-fashioned formula. Gone are the days of the damsel in distress waiting for the rescue of her prince, and good riddance to them. Along with having some of the most gorgeous animation of any movie all year, Frozen provides the first Disney soundtrack in years that will be stuck in your head from the moment you exit the theater.

#5 – Star Trek Into Darkness – Even though it sometimes gets lost in its own nostalgia, Star Trek Into Darkness successfully continues the story of J.J. Abram’s new take on the classic crew of the USS Enterprise. Familiar races and villains return to provide non-stop action at warp speed.

#4 – Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 – The animated conclusion to one of the most popular Batman books of all time, The Dark Knight Returns: Part 2 picks up right where the first left off and adds the Man of Steel and the Clown Prince of Crime to the mix. Batman must overcome his greatest challenges in this faithful adaptation of Frank Miller’s acclaimed story.

#3 – Elysium – Neill Blomkamp’s first motion picture since District 9 matches, and perhaps exceeds, the quality of his first endeavor. Elysium borrows concepts familiar to science fiction to create an original world wrought with social and political inequality and introduces us to an unlikely hero enhanced by a strong performance from Matt Damon.

#2 – American Hustle – Sometimes a movie has a great story. Other times a movie has a great cast with great performances. American Hustle has all of these. David O. Russell has been on fire in recent years, putting out such critically-acclaimed successes as The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook. Combining the casts of his previous two projects to tell the tale of a Jersey con man continues this streak and earns the director a spot on my list for the third time in the last four years.

#1 – Stuck in Love – This directorial debut from Josh Boone was not the most publicly hyped movie of the year, but after seeing the cast rundown of Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Connelly, Logan Lerman, Lily Collins, and Kristen Bell, I knew I had to see it. Exploring the complexities of love and relationships through the eyes and analytical minds of several writers, all approaching the feeling from different perspectives, weaves a tale and movie that shouldn’t be missed.

Honorable mentions that I would still recommend:

• Saving Mr. Banks
• Monsters University
• We’re the Millers
• Kick-Ass 2
• White House Down

Better Than Expected:

• Fast and Furious 6
• The Wolverine
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
• Oblivion
• Erased
• Warm Bodies
• G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Huge Let-downs:

• Movie 43
• Red 2

The Super Megafest takes place Saturday, Nov. 23rd from 10:30am to 6pm & Sunday, Nov 24th from 10:30am to 5pm at the Sheraton Framingham Hotel located at 1657 Worcester Rd., Framingham, MA 01701.

Celebrity guests include:

Christopher Lloyd – Doc Brown from Back to the Future

Eliza Dushku – Known for her television roles including recurring appearances as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff series Angel

Tom Felton – best known for playing the role of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series

John Heder – Napolean Dynamite

Barbara Eden and Bill Daily – the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie

Manu Bennett – Spartacus, The Hobbit and Arrow

Ray Park – Darth Maul and Snake Eyes plus much more

Karen Allen – best known for her role as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Jeremy Bulloch – who starred as Boba Fett in Star Wars

Josh Sussman – current role as Jacob Ben Israel on the smash hit Glee

Bronson Pinchot – Balki Bartokomous on the ABC sitcom Perfect Strangers

Aaron Ashmore – best known for his roles in American TV shows, as Jimmy Olsen in Smallville and as Steve Jinks in Warehouse 13

Larry Kenny – voiced Lion-O of the ThunderCats throughout the mid eighties

Elvira – Mistress of the Dark

Larry Storch – Corporal Agarn on the TV series F-Troop

Vic Mignogna – voice actor and musician best known for his work for ADV Films/Seraphim Digital, Funimation Entertainment/OkraTron 5000, and Viz Media/Studiopolis plus much more

Ron Moss – recognized for his role of 25 years portraying Ridge Forrester on The Bold And The Beautiful

Frank Avruch – Boston’s own Bozo the Clown

Carrol Spinney– original one and only for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street

Mia St. John – 5x World Boxing Champion and Playboy Cover Model

Wrestling guests include Sgt. Slaughter and Kelly Kelly.

Comic artists include:

Ethan Van Sciver – best known for illustrating a number of titles including Green Lantern, Superman/Batman, New X-Men, and The Flash: Rebirth

Al Plastino – best known as one of the most prolific Superman artists of the 1950s

Paul Ryan – worked extensively for Marvel Comics and DC Comics on a number of super-hero comics including DP7, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Batman, Flash, Superman and the Phantom plus much more

John Hebert – X-Men Adventures, Punisher, Deathlok and current Captain Action artist

Greg Larocque – Spider-man, The Avengers, Justice League, Legion of Super-Heroes, & the Flash among many more

Jose Delbo – main artist on Wonder Woman plus much, much more

Hannibal King – former Magic: The Gathering artist for Wizards of the Coast and worked on comics ranging from Grendel for old Comico to Marvel’s Excaliber to DC’s Green Arrow

Jamal Igle – Green Lantern, G.I. Joe, Martian Manhunter and Supergirl plus much more

The stars will be signing autographs and doing Q & A sessions with fans throughout the day. Professional photos with most celebrities will be available on site. There will also be an incredible dealers room chock full of the hottest collectibles, gifts, toys, comics, movie posters, and trading cards from the 1960s to today.

Start the Megafest on Friday night, Nov 22nd, with the Super Megafest Comedy Kickoff Party featuring 3 top comedians. Surprise celebrity guests will mix and mingle. Every attendee will be entered into a free raffle with awesome prizes and those in full costume will receive a free Super Megafest t-shirt. A cash bar will be available. Doors open at 8 PM and showtime is 9 PM until midnight. Start the weekend off with a memorable fun-filled night.

The Come Together Mega Music Fest celebrates the magical music of some of your favorite artists. Featuring Chuck Negron, formerly of Three Dog Night, Mark Lindsay, Niki Luparelli and the Gold Diggers and Loose Salute who will feature the works of Michael Nesmith. Showtime is 7:30 PM to Midnight on Saturday, November 23rd.

For more info visit www.supermegafest.com

Marcus made The Flying Man in order to demonstrate his vision as he currently outlines a feature version of the script. Marcus believes that releasing it online ahead of festivals could help accessing a potential audience and measure its reception.

The short was produced under a very low budget and it was only possible due to the collaboration of friends and passionate, talented artists. With his background in visual effects, Marcus was able to accomplish around 60 vfx shots with the valuable help of another visual effects veteran João Sita within a short period of time for nearly no money.

I had the privilege of interviewing members of MegaDudes Productions, the force behind the project. You can read the transcript below and keep an eye out for an EXCLUSIVE REVEAL at the end of the interview!

Damien: Hello Everyone, I’m Damien, writer at The Geek Generation, and thank you all for joining me. Who do we have here representing MegaDude’s Productions in this interview?

Killer336: I’m Killer336 and I’m the co-leader and writer for Chrono X. I do my best to handle any managerial-type work.

MaxRock: I’m the  leader and also the programmer of CX project.

SoulRed12: I’m SoulRed, and I’m the game’s musician.

Midnite: I’m Midnite, I’m the current art director of sorts.

Windsofthepast: I’m Windsofthepast, I’m just a graphics guy.

So my first couple of questions are kinda general and anyone is welcome to answer them. So to begin, What is “Chrono X” exactly? Where does this name come from?

Killer336: Chrono X is supposed to be a theoretical sequel entry into the Battle Network series. The aim is to create a good ending for the series, story-wise at least. We all saw how Lan and his friends ended up 20 years later and that’s all well and good. What I personally aim to do as the writer is to show how they get into that position character-wise. Not only that, but also I want to create an intriguing story worthy of looking an entry to the series, but a climactic one as well. Many people felt Battle Network 6‘s story was lacking in some aspects, especially when you compare it to the original finale of the series — Battle Network 3.

As for the name? It was sort of the best idea for a name that came to our minds. We looked at everything we were going to do, our power-up system, our plot references, and so on and so forth. Chrono X fits to us, but it’s a name that has a lot of in-game meaning — something that you’ll need to play the game to really understand.

MMBNChronoX has been released in a series of demos that have gotten increasingly complex over time. The 4th build of the demo was released at the end of last year if I recall. About how much of the full game in total is currently in development as of now? 

MaxRock: It is best to look at this in terms of a divided percentage. The base engine is pretty much at 100%, while the music is somewhere around half, I think (Soul, correct me here). The story is also completed, while the actual programming of it is not. My best answer is that the majority of the programming content in terms of major add-ons is completed. We just need graphics to complete the rest. However making graphics takes time… especially with only a few pixel artists.

I can’t exactly say how far the full-game is, but for sure we will give more information on that as time progresses.

SoulRed12: Well, the music I’d say is about half done, yeah. It’s hard to give a real estimate because we tend to change our minds a bit on what needs (new) music and what doesn’t, but a good portion of the stuff that gets reused is done so that makes up a lot of it.

Midnite: Battle Network Pixel artists aren’t as bountiful as they were a few years ago, haha…

This one goes to the art department (Winds and Midnite for the most part). What was it like building the sprites of new characters with initially only the concept art as your basis – especially with the fan-submitted character that won the contest? Is it a difficult process turning a drawing into a digital sprite?

Midnite: We usually try to keep a reference on all the Battle Network sprites, arts and such so we can keep a good feel of the series. To be honest, I’m not a fan of some of the designs made before I came on board. I wouldn’t say it’s difficult. But with the small team of pixel artists, most of them going on and off the team, different skill levels, it’s hard to keep some sort of quality control. At times our sprite styles just clash with one another.

CactusMan was a character that the team thought had a lot of potential. We wanted to make him cool being a Mr. Famous navi and all but still keep the idea of the original design. I hope the players enjoy him as much as we do!

Killer336: Yeah, we really could use more. That’s the main thing that eats up our time.

Windsofthepast: I personally find it easier to do maps, OW objects, and in-battle sprites as opposed to OW characters simply because of where I originally started with sprites, the Zero series. So doing characters outside of the battlefield is already a bit more of a challenge for me personally…which often leads to what Mid mentioned, the clashing of sprite styles. I’d have to say that the hardest part is getting things to look just right which often means it gets redone a few times more often than not.

I’d like to direct this next question over to SoulRed about music. Aside from some of the songs reused and remixed from previous games, Chrono X features many original tracks that you’ve been credited with making. Aside from the original BN games, do you have any other inspirations that help you make your tunes?

SoulRed12: I do get outside inspiration from some other franchises, yes. The trick, though, comes in ensuring what I produce with that kind of inspiration fits in the Battle Network game. Those who have read some of my posts on various forums know I really dislike analyzing music based on whether it fits a game’s “style,” but there is something to be said about ensuring it fits with the particular scene in the particular game, and the fact that it’s Battle Network will determine some of the variables there for what will fit.

One franchise in particular I take some inspiration from is Final Fantasy (I’m a bit of a Nobuo Uematsu fanboy, lol). But most of the time, what I’ll do is listen to some of Uematsu’s music that strikes me as similar to what I’m looking to create, and then start writing and just use my ear to know when I’m satisfied.

Very impressive. Might I also ask what you use to develop your music tracks?

SoulRed12: I’ve been using Garage Band on my mac laptop. People talk bad about it sometimes, but in my experience it works just fine.

So this next one goes to MaxRock about programming. What’s the hardest part about programming such a large and in depth game like this using GameMaker? Is it the animations? The Battle System? Triggering Cut-Scenes at the right moment? Or something else?

MaxRock: The hardest thing…hmm. Well, I wouldn’t call it hard, but rather annoying to work with. Long story short (and skipping the headaches GameMaker caused me with a few specific AMD graphic cards), GameMaker has horrible methods of handling resources and produces software which use massive amounts of RAM. I have to spend a lot of time optimizing the resources and trimming our own ideas to the max to make sure the game will use as little memory as possible. Believe me or not, but there are still people who use PCs with less than 1GB of RAM. The latest version of GameMaker seems to have changed that, but it is still in a WIP stage, making few things not fully working yet, so we will see how that will go.

Killer, you’re up to bat – it’s been said that this story is going to be a bit darker and mature than the first ones since Lan and the gang aren’t “just kids anymore”. Should we expect any changes in personality from our beloved characters? Perhaps Lan goes rebellious or the idea of growing up becomes a theme?

Killer336: Well, if there will be changes, it ought to be a natural progression inside the work. I think that by the start of Chrono X, Lan is established to be pretty much the same, but with slight improvements. One of them is that Lan’s grades are getting better, this was shown by the end of the sixth game.

Yes, Lan growing up is part of it. Even the end of the fourth demo shows a bit of that. But Lan won’t be the only one. Mayl, Dex (I personally can’t wait until we see where he goes). None of them will really become rebellious, however. Overall, most of the characters should be established as being largely the same, but over the course of the story, they’ll change in small ways. Hopefully, this results in believable and intriguing character development.

Thanks. I have a second question for you. So far the demos have had little references and jokes and other things that speak directly to fans who have played other BN games – including long lost characters. Should the fans be expecting more of these small fan-service moments, references, and inside jokes as the story continues?

Killer336: Oh, yes. Definitely. The more knowledgeable you are about the series, the more you’ll get out of it. References to past events, old things being used in new ways, etc. There’s lots of it in demo 4, and there will be even more. That’s partly what gives Chrono X its meaning. And I really think that helps to validate Chrono X as a seventh installment. It feels right.

Midnite: We are huge fans of the series and MegaMan after all. I’m the one that actually put in the little visual easter eggs in the game. Like the Ciel doll, Legends 3 Aero and X on guitar.

Has Capcom ever contacted you guys or mentioned you at all in any way or form (good or bad)?

Killer336: Capcom? No. I’m pretty sure they know about us, however.

MaxRock: There was that one user who posted on Capcom of America’s official forums about us. He posted a link to one of our old sites and asked what is their stance on fangames. CoA’s vice President responded that they can’t legally sanction fangames and such. You know, legal stuff. It’s been a couple of years since then…and then there was the case of MMxSF.

SoulRed12: Legally, they have to defend their IP or they risk losing it. But if they act as if they don’t really know about the fangame, it’s sort of like “plausible deniability”. So, we haven’t really pushed it.

Now, back to the project; Chrono X is one of the most developed current BN7 fan games out there today. Do you see other BN sequels as competition?

Killer336: Well, in some way, yes. A team member might disagree with me, but in my opinion, as projects, we’re competing for the same resources and attention. See, in order to make your game, you’re going to need resources, graphics (as Mid mentioned, there aren’t a lot of Pixel Artists for our style left), music, programming  writing, etc. And what do you need in order to create those resources? Talented individuals. How many people do you think are willing to commit their time, talent and energy for a fan-game with no pay? The answer is not many.

So, to make sure you get those people, you need to show them that your game is excellent and that it will get done. No one likes to work for a project  that will die, right? So, it’s a bit of a conundrum. You need talented people to attract talented people.

The truth is, we’re all vying for the same valuable manpower. In addition, seeing other Battle Network projects get credit for stuff that we did, or attention that you feel you should be getting is discouraging.  Battle Network’s community isn’t as big as it once was, so we really need to work for what’s left. Since we aren’t getting paid, the only thing we have to keep us going is a lot of people enjoying our game. Gotta have a really determined attitude in this community, haha.

On the subject of dying fan-games, we’ve counted over 43 failed projects from 2010 to 2013. The first documented one started in 2004. Needless to say, we DON’T want to be another. That’s why we require fan support. The more, the better. We encourage our fan-base to spread the word and get others into it.

Being as you guys are located in different parts of the world, how tough is it to make a fan project of this level without stepping on each other or getting left out?

Killer336: Good one. The reality is that sometimes decisions are made without others being around. Our schedules don’t always line up. It can get quite tough, even annoying when we have to consider new input after the fact and redo it. With all the things that happened in the team, new sprites were made and now some old ideas are getting reinvented, or remade.  Happens all the time.

Killer336: Like, for example, the Me.M.E.N.T.O. system. We generally have a sit down meeting and discuss each form’s abilities. Luckily, we were all there for it, but if we weren’t, we’d have to consider what other people thought about the abilities for each form.

SoulRed12: The time difference, I think, is the hardest to deal with, but we all tend to be night owls so it’s not always so bad, lol.

Wonderful. I just have one last question on my list if you don’t mind. What can fans do to help make this project successful and go as smoothly as possible?

Midnite: We need talented or willing-to-learn pixel artists. Once again, the community is low of their kind nowadays. We will always need pixel artists considering how large of a game an RPG like MMBN is.

Killer336: There’s quite a few things, really. You can spread the word about us on your favorite forum, page, or whatever you got. Visiting the site and following our Facebook/Twitter pages is another way. If you do that, you can keep on top of current events. You could subscribe to our YouTube, as well.  Chatting with us on our chatbox is another way. My personal desire is that I hope people accept it as a seventh entry, but we’ll see. Posting on the forums, and the list goes on to 120. Just involve yourself. Take in what we do and support us. Play the demos, get other people to and keep other people knowledgeable. Discuss it with your friends. The works. Let me just put out there that this interview is a good way of supporting the project.

And Now The Big Reveal!

I again want to thank the MegaDudes team for the interview and especially for the information. Check out a special conversation about a modern robot master recreated as a Net Navi.

Is there anything else you wanna add? Perhaps I could get an exclusive or some inside information *wink wink*?

Midnite: Okay, we got something we can show…

Killer336: How about we reveal a new character?

Killer336: This one is one of my favorites. He’s loud, cool and likes to blow things up! He’ll first appear in Chapter 3 and he’s from a very recent Mega Man game. He was green, big and used missiles. I’d say he’ll be a nice ally. Can you guess who it is?

Thanks for reading and be sure to like The Geek Generation and MMBNChronoX on Facebook! And if you know of any other videogame projects in the works, let us know.

How nobody ever noticed Commander Riker’s odd style of sitting in a chair until now is mind-boggling. Being a Trekkie myself, I watched in awe as if I’d never seen it before, or at least never noticed it. Riker commands a room. This is your proof.