# [[MFP41 - "Life is Weird" with Razbuten]] Transcript
This transcription was completed on March 4, 2026 with the application MacWhisper on macOS. This was done automatically, without human input during the transcription process. The transcription used the Parakeet v3 model.
My hope is that by offering this transcription – however accurate it may be done by a machine learning/AI – will help you, the listener. I’d love to offer full, proper transcription some day, but that is not feasible at this time. Thank you for listening and reading. I hope you enjoy the show and that this document was helpful. Enjoy.
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Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Max Frequency Podcast.
*00:00*
I'm your host, Max Roberts, and I have the honor and privilege of this time being joined by the People's Paper Bag.
*00:03*
Rasbi
*00:09*
It is me.
*00:11*
How are you?
*00:13*
I'm good.
*00:14*
The people's paper bag.
*00:15*
I I'm surprised there are unfortunately a lot of other people that use paper bag avatars on YouTube.
*00:16*
It's a little surprising, and it you 'cause it's not uncommon for people to not share their face, name, identity, and things like that.
*00:24*
And you just would think like paperbag over the head would be
*00:34*
I mean I've seen a lot, but you know.
*00:40*
Heck, it's a it is a hat option in Animal Crossing.
*00:43*
If Animal Crossing recognizes it.
*00:47*
It's gotta be a works well for me.
*00:50*
As is in a lot of video games as a customizable option, I I feel like it can always get me in a game, you know, promoter stuff.
*00:52*
Raz joints smash.
*01:00*
And then you just I could see that.
*01:05*
Is it a me hat option?
*01:07*
I don't know.
*01:10*
Uh probably
*01:11*
Probably not.
*01:12*
Probably I don't know.
*01:13*
Do the Mis have things that There had to be at some point.
*01:14*
Like you could put a maybe like in a Tomodachi Life or something where you could put it on.
*01:19*
I don't know.
*01:23*
That sounds like something they would be able to do.
*01:24*
button.
*01:26*
Yeah.
*01:27*
For for the uninitiated, for the people not in the paperback fandom Raz is would you
*01:28*
We I talked about this with Wizawhat on the last episode, but would you just describe yourself as a video essayist, YouTuber?
*01:37*
Like what do you job-wise call yourself?
*01:43*
Oh.
*01:46*
Uh, you know.
*01:47*
Professional Professional idiot.
*01:49*
Something like that.
*01:53*
Nah, you're not an idiot.
*01:54*
Yeah, I'm back and forth on it.
*01:57*
I mean, I guess video essayist.
*01:59*
I
*02:01*
It is a conversation that I still to this day have troubles with when talking to more normal people in my life of what do you do?
*02:02*
And I'm the you know, I'm like, uh
*02:12*
Sometimes I'm like, I I produce videos.
*02:15*
I make YouTubes on you know I make videos on YouTube.
*02:18*
Yeah.
*02:22*
That's kind of what I say is I like I say I do YouTube.
*02:22*
You could say I work for Google.
*02:25*
I work for Google.
*02:27*
Yeah.
*02:29*
But then they think is something uh like not cooler, I guess, but uh, you know, more
*02:30*
More uh professional.
*02:37*
Yeah.
*02:40*
No, no.
*02:41*
Probably that I'm like a program, right?
*02:42*
If I say I work for Google, oh if you work for Google, sure yeah.
*02:44*
You're figuring out you're writing code, not essays.
*02:46*
But yeah, no, I I've kind of just I say youtuber.
*02:49*
I think that's probably the term I like the most I video essayist I certainly I make video essays.
*02:53*
Right.
*03:01*
But you know, I try to do some other things too.
*03:01*
Like I ideally it'd be really cool to be be you know multifaceted on YouTube, have a video essay side and have a
*03:04*
just talking side, you know, in uh less formal side.
*03:15*
So we'll say I'm a video essayist aspiring to be a YouTuber.
*03:19*
I like it.
*03:25*
That works.
*03:26*
I've I've been watching you I had to go back because I was talking to Liz and I thought that my introduction to you
*03:27*
Was Gaming for a Non-Gamer, which is by far your your most popular series, unless I'm wrong, but given the fact you make a lot of them.
*03:36*
But I looked back and
*03:45*
Unless I'm researching someone, I'm not one to like dig deep in someone's YouTube archive.
*03:47*
I kind of like pick a spot and go forward with maybe a bit of context.
*03:51*
And at the very
*03:54*
I watched your inside video, so and I don't feel like I went back to watch that.
*03:56*
I've been watching you for a while, is what I'm trying to say.
*04:02*
Okay.
*04:04*
And you're you've been one of my favorites.
*04:05*
I've kind of
*04:07*
I was thinking back at some guests on recent episodes.
*04:08*
I'm really going for my kind of like, if you imagine Thanos and the Infinity Stones, like I'm getting my favorite YouTubers are all the the stones.
*04:10*
Because I had Javid Steridon from Good Blood.
*04:19*
Um You have had the guys from My Life in Gaming.
*04:22*
Wizawood is a new addition to that because of just our interactions and stuff.
*04:26*
It's so I'm like getting more powerful, I feel.
*04:30*
like.
*04:32*
Yeah.
*04:32*
Yeah, gotta gotta reach out to Jacob Geller next.
*04:34*
Jacob Geller, I would love Nikki Jaky.
*04:37*
Nikki Jaky would be a dream.
*04:39*
Yeah, yeah.
*04:41*
I uh the Jacobs.
*04:41*
You know, they're not going to be able to do that.
*04:43*
Yes, you gotta get the Jacobs.
*04:44*
I saw I actually saw Jakey, uh the Nakey Jakey, not Jacob Geller.
*04:45*
I don't believe he was there, but I went to uh
*04:49*
Oh, what is it called?
*04:53*
The big boxing thing that iDubs put on twice a minute.
*04:55*
Creator Clash.
*04:58*
Creator Clash.
*04:59*
I went to the second one in Tampa.
*05:00*
It's about like three or so hours away from me.
*05:02*
And Jay and Nicky Jeky was there walking down on the floor by the VIP area.
*05:04*
I was like, ah, I was more excited for that than the boxing dash
*05:08*
Yeah, those people turn out to those things.
*05:13*
It's pretty and maybe I was there.
*05:16*
Maybe that would have been wild.
*05:18*
I didn't see anyone with a badge.
*05:20*
I was not.
*05:22*
I was definitely
*05:23*
not uh yeah it's I only went because I'm close enough to go uh that's the only reason I would not fly out for that it was fun though it was a lot of fun
*05:24*
But I've so like I said, I've been watching you forever, and you're often a fountain of inspiration for myself.
*05:34*
So I do just want to say thank you off the front.
*05:40*
Your your insight and video style and all that stuff is great.
*05:42*
And I
*05:47*
I called you out, not called you out, that sounds a little confrontational.
*05:48*
I referred to you in my one of my most recent videos, which was about
*05:53*
the games that got me through uh our miscarriages that my wife and I had before.
*05:58*
Yeah, I I watched it.
*06:03*
Oh you did?
*06:04*
Okay, so you saw the reference then.
*06:05*
at least.
*06:06*
Okay.
*06:08*
Um you know that's kind of the stuff I pull from and I've written about your stuff in the past on my website and all that fun stuff.
*06:08*
So so a big thank you right out of the gate.
*06:15*
Well yeah, thank you for the kind words.
*06:18*
I I appreciate that.
*06:19*
And um I what I really appreciate about that video is
*06:21*
you are vulnerable on the internet, which I have been at times.
*06:27*
And it's not easy.
*06:32*
No.
*06:33*
It's not easy to go over experiences that
*06:34*
That like some people will heavily relate to, uh, and and that will mean a lot to them, but then many others won't.
*06:39*
And that's okay.
*06:46*
Yeah.
*06:48*
Uh that they haven't been, you know, uh
*06:49*
been through something that evokes a similar sense or feeling.
*06:52*
Uh, but like that's okay, but th there's always this hard thing of w uh will they get it?
*06:56*
Will they be able to respond with empathy or will they
*07:02*
Not, you know, and then uh do the internet thing of assume the worst in you for sharing an experience.
*07:07*
Yeah.
*07:15*
It
*07:16*
Thankfully, like in in my very particular instance, that hasn't happened, that video has been received in a positive way.
*07:17*
Now, my previous video about comparing skydiving mechanics from Fortnite and Tears of the Kingdom
*07:25*
That was received as if I was uh, I don't know, a criminal burglar in the net.
*07:31*
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
*07:37*
So, you know, you win some, you lose some there.
*07:38*
But I think
*07:41*
You correct me if I'm wrong, but on your scale, uh obviously I you're closing in on a million or nine hundred thousand.
*07:43*
You have a lot of subscriptions.
*07:50*
You have a a play button thing that all the middle schoolers probably envy on some level.
*07:52*
And you know, you do from time to time put out the
*07:58*
more vulnerable videos and I I realized as I went through all my questions and actually rewatched the video again yesterday for the upteenth time.
*08:02*
I really just watched your your video.
*08:10*
I hope this video doesn't suck far too much.
*08:12*
Um
*08:15*
Which I think is one of your more vulnerable in the bunch.
*08:17*
Um and it just I as someone who makes things, it resonates on
*08:21*
A level of like, yeah, I do have a buttload of ideas and I don't know, like I can make it a tiny thing, but I want to put all myself into something.
*08:28*
And then in your job,
*08:38*
People resonating with something or watching it and engaging with it on some level is vital to like your life.
*08:40*
In a way, for me, I just I make what I want and it's
*08:48*
it doesn't impact my family.
*08:52*
Um you know what I'm saying?
*08:55*
Yeah.
*08:57*
Yeah.
*08:58*
So I was talking to Wiz about it after after you had reached out to me about this and
*08:59*
Uh when I was looking through your channel, something I said to him is like Max's channel is what YouTube should be.
*09:06*
Like, like just a a um
*09:16*
You know, just looking at your video tab, right?
*09:20*
It's like just a snapshot of your interest and your life and the kind of content you want to make in that moment that you make it and put it out.
*09:23*
instead of a highly curated page um of just the right thumbnails of just the right titles of of just the right ideas.
*09:32*
You know, that like your channel is what I wish
*09:43*
YouTube was.
*09:48*
And you know, unfortunately the powers that be and and you know the
*09:49*
Everything increasing.
*09:55*
Yeah.
*09:57*
The ever uh increasing you know uh hand of capitalism that the algorithm is like, no, like it's gotta be it's gotta pop.
*09:58*
Uh you know uh
*10:07*
uh yeah you know unfortunately it's that direction, but I think there is something so pure about this is what I love and want to talk about and this is what I'm interested in.
*10:08*
Um and and yeah, just doing just doing
*10:19*
that.
*10:23*
My channel is definitely that.
*10:23*
Um this is just a smorgasburg of things from I have all sorts of weird stuff.
*10:25*
Now you have me going like way back.
*10:30*
Um that's fine.
*10:32*
Well thank you.
*10:34*
But
*10:35*
For you, I'm curious about that kind of split between what you want to make
*10:36*
And what the algorithm, the audience, all of that, like they look to you, right?
*10:45*
To make a certain thing.
*10:52*
A gaming for a non-gamer.
*10:53*
Calling stuff weird.
*10:55*
You know, these are like Rasputin Staples.
*10:57*
Yeah, yeah.
*11:01*
Dark Souls.
*11:02*
One day I'll watch your Outer Wilds videos.
*11:04*
You know, you have like a a thing that people
*11:07*
I would think come to you and expect from you.
*11:11*
But then you put out something that's like, man, Survivor's pretty crazy.
*11:13*
Uh you know, and that video is just so that sense.
*11:18*
How do you balance that as someone you you know, you have an English major, you're a writer, you've clearly figured out what I'm
*11:22*
I guess kind of coming to grips with is just if you want someone to read your writing, you you can't give them a book or 18,000 words about the history of Naughty Dog.
*11:31*
You have to make some sort of video that's called like complete retrospective.
*11:40*
of the entire thing.
*11:44*
Yeah.
*11:46*
Which is unfortunate.
*11:47*
Yeah, that's a good question.
*11:50*
I think I think what's interesting is there are so many
*11:51*
different, I guess, audiences to consider, right?
*11:58*
Because if we're talking about my audience, that is different than the YouTube audience.
*12:02*
So a video like, I hope this video doesn't suck.
*12:09*
A video like honestly, even the Outer Wilds video.
*12:14*
I know I am one of the Outer Wilds.
*12:16*
guys.
*12:19*
You're in the club, as Javit says.
*12:20*
Yeah, but it's not like those videos do that well relatively you know, relative to the rest of the channel, right?
*12:23*
Those
*12:31*
Unless it's part of a bigger concept that that like can stretch further
*12:34*
the stuff that I've done on just Outer Wilds, like usually appeals to that core demographic who likes
*12:41*
Who likes me, you know, who who it's it's not that they like my topics, it's not that they like uh the thing I'm talking about, but it's that they
*12:50*
uh have bought into me, right?
*13:00*
So, you know, something like the Outer Wilds video, something like uh I I've noticed
*13:03*
Like a lot of like my music video like videos I do about music, those don't always stretch as far.
*13:10*
So it's more of like just people that share kind of similar
*13:17*
interests to me.
*13:20*
That's like the core audience stuff.
*13:21*
And and when I do that, I think I strengthen the bond, I guess, with
*13:24*
the core audience, right?
*13:29*
The people who are res uh like like fans of fans of you.
*13:31*
The channel.
*13:36*
Yeah, me.
*13:37*
It feels weird saying I I'm not you know, yeah, no, it it does feel weird to say like people like me.
*13:38*
You know.
*13:43*
People like me enough to to watch my stuff and even some people even give me money
*13:44*
You know?
*13:50*
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
*13:51*
Well what are you guys doing?
*13:52*
Do you guys do that?
*13:54*
Please it would be helpful, but uh uh yeah.
*13:58*
It's that constant mix of being like, hey, this would help me make more stuff that you like, but also, you know, I don't want to waste your time or money, you know?
*14:01*
Um
*14:11*
But yeah, so right, it's kind of that mix between certain things will appeal to the people who will watch anything I put out, and then other things go, you know, further into that algorithm.
*14:12*
And I think it is hard to find the mix.
*14:24*
I don't really know where gaming for a non-gamer fits into that because those are definitely my biggest videos.
*14:27*
Um but and there is also a lot of me in them and obviously a lot of my wife.
*14:33*
You know, like I think a part of what people like about it is that our, you know, relationship has some funny moments like any relationship.
*14:38*
Sure.
*14:46*
Uh
*14:47*
You know, my my favorite part uh of your video was the very end with your my wife asking about Hades.
*14:48*
Uh yeah, she
*14:58*
So I was just like, I gotta include this because it makes fun of me.
*14:59*
But I did ask her, I'm like, are you cool if I put this in here?
*15:03*
And she's like, the only problem would be if my students saw this and they're not gonna find it.
*15:06*
So whatever.
*15:10*
Um yeah.
*15:11*
Yeah, that's I I think it's those humanizing things that people like see.
*15:12*
I mean, it you know, to a degree it is parasocial and that that's that's a whole
*15:17*
thing that doesn't have to be bad, I suppose, but can get bad.
*15:22*
But you know, people like seeing uh organic moments in real relationships.
*15:25*
Between people, whether it's friendships or you know, romantic relationships, I think that is appealing to people in content.
*15:32*
It's like authenticity, I assume.
*15:39*
suppose, right?
*15:41*
Is wanting to see something of people having a good time together and people having fun.
*15:42*
Um
*15:48*
Yes.
*15:50*
People care about each other.
*15:51*
That's something I grab onto when I'm watching or making something.
*15:52*
It's like, how do I make this like more this probably sounds like not the right word, but like practical.
*15:55*
When when you watch like a big blockbuster movie and they use practical effects, like the old Star Wars or or maybe the early Fast and Furious movies, those are what I get.
*16:02*
to.
*16:12*
Like there's something real about it that you feel in your gut.
*16:12*
And then there's you go to the other end of that spectrum, go to a modern day huge CG thing, and something just doesn't quite click.
*16:16*
I feel like
*16:24*
those moments where the lady you live with, you know, defeats a boss in Elden Rain and like just the sheer joy that you can hear coming out of her voice in that moment of triumph.
*16:26*
That many people who've played those games have felt themselves, but it I don't know, there's something that resonates there on the audience and where you like it and you
*16:40*
You kind of hold on to it like ah I'm here for this one bit, you know, to see your wind.
*16:50*
Yeah.
*16:56*
Yeah.
*16:56*
I I and I think
*16:57*
People people like experiencing stuff through the lens of someone else.
*17:00*
Right?
*17:04*
Stu especially obviously stuff that they've experienced before.
*17:05*
A huge thing to go to bring it back to Outer Wilds as I always do.
*17:07*
A huge thing with the Outer Wilds community is watching streamers play it.
*17:12*
Like like I I haunt the Outer Wild section on Twitch.
*17:17*
I if you have streamed Outer Wilds on Twitch, there is a decent chance that for part of it I was in there lurking
*17:22*
You know, it's it's something that so many people like doing because just watching those moments of discovery that you really can only have once with the game.
*17:30*
Right.
*17:37*
It's just really fun to see other people
*17:38*
discover it and and you know have that excitement about it.
*17:41*
And I I have ran I've like recognized other Twitch chatters
*17:47*
in in like outer wild shots.
*17:53*
It's like, oh yeah, hey, we're here again.
*17:55*
I see you.
*17:58*
Like like so, you know, you it's it's a it's an interesting community.
*17:59*
But to that point, I think
*18:03*
Part of what uh resonates so much with Game and Friends Gamer is yeah, people remember their early experiences with games.
*18:05*
And I think also people have tried similar things with
*18:12*
their significant others or parents or siblings of of getting them into gaming when they're not super familiar with it and seeing those moments of joy.
*18:17*
So then to have it kind of captured on video
*18:27*
uh you know through my wife, they're like, oh, this reminds me of this great memory of mine.
*18:30*
So I think there's this connection they can make uh to that, which is is probably appealing.
*18:37*
Yeah, it it's human.
*18:44*
And actually I you're talking about this.
*18:46*
I'm gonna jump down in my notes.
*18:48*
I feel like this is a really good spot for this, but you
*18:50*
Some more like personal moments in your video.
*18:53*
I think of like the King of the Mountain moment with your friend in Journey where he bugged into the mountain and was like, nope, I'm done.
*18:55*
It's like, how do you not see the end of Journey?
*19:01*
And that reminds me to when I made some friends like
*19:03*
You gotta play journey.
*19:06*
Um and you make them sit down.
*19:08*
And really, like you said uh about my channel earlier, it was just it's a snapshot of what I'm into at the moment.
*19:10*
And as someone who's just made I mean, my very first YouTube channel was about card magic tricks.
*19:18*
And then the second one was about Smash Brothers Brawl.
*19:25*
And then that dovetails into what I like to make and do online.
*19:28*
But
*19:32*
My entire life has been about sharing the things that engage I'm engaged with and I'm passionate about with other people.
*19:33*
And
*19:41*
To tie that to you, your Princess Bride video, and kind of you the zinger or whatever you close with is you know, I think at the time they were talking about a possible remake or something, which
*19:43*
Which doesn't sound up my alley.
*19:56*
Yep.
*19:58*
Uh or anyone's, but you want to pass on the version that was passed on to you.
*19:59*
Mm-hmm.
*20:04*
And I don't know as we're both new dads, but like that's the thing I'm most excited about.
*20:06*
Oh is sharing the things
*20:13*
That I love with them.
*20:16*
Now, whether or not they also enjoy them and engage with them is completely a separate thing.
*20:17*
Like I'm not gonna force my kid to, you know, love Smash Brothers, but
*20:23*
You know, just those moments of introduction, whatever they may be, I'm excited about are you do you feel the same way about your kids?
*20:28*
Yeah, I'm I am
*20:36*
n nervous and anxious about it.
*20:39*
Right.
*20:41*
To a degree because, you know, I like
*20:42*
I think my parents were quite good at not putting on too many expectations of the person that they like uh on me, you know, of who they wanted me to be.
*20:46*
Uh I I really appreciate that about them.
*20:57*
Uh I am sure though that the things they thought I would be interested in are not what I am interested in.
*21:00*
Uh you know, I think that's always the case.
*21:08*
I think it took
*21:11*
you know, my dad and I a long while until we had like a shared hobby, which ended up being like rock music, uh like, you know, 70s rock music.
*21:13*
I I got really into the who when I was younger.
*21:22*
My mom loves the who
*21:25*
Yeah, so so that's when my dad and I started connecting more on that, but it took a long while.
*21:27*
Uh you know, I think he thought we'd probably connect over sports earlier, but I didn't really get into sports until I was
*21:35*
older.
*21:41*
Um, you know, so sometimes I guess you also just have to wait as a parent.
*21:42*
Like uh, you know, I wasn't into football.
*21:46*
Yeah, yeah, yes.
*21:50*
I wasn't into football when I was in elementary school, but
*21:51*
by the time college came around, you know, we talked about it all the time.
*21:54*
So so my point in all that is I yeah, I want to
*21:57*
Temper my expectations with it.
*22:03*
Obviously, like, you know, I'm not gonna sit my daughter in front of uh Outer Wilds and be like, okay.
*22:05*
Now love it.
*22:13*
Like love this.
*22:14*
Like Love this.
*22:15*
Love me.
*22:17*
If if you don't walk away from this with
*22:20*
you know, an existential crisis and and an understanding of uh the universe, like, then then you failed.
*22:23*
Uh you know.
*22:31*
It's wanting to be careful about placing too high of expectations on them loving the things you love.
*22:34*
But of course, I am excited to introduce gaming to my kids.
*22:38*
Uh it's so hard to imagine my youngest at this point being interested in anything because she's still in that uh little baby stage of of
*22:43*
It mostly p mostly a sack of potatoes um that that smiles sometimes and spits up a lot.
*22:53*
Uh just always needing to be burped.
*23:00*
Yeah.
*23:03*
Uh but my toddler, she definitely, you know, has a personality now and is interested in lots of things.
*23:04*
So it'll be interesting to see
*23:13*
uh how that takes shape as she gets older and older.
*23:15*
We haven't really done like it done much of an introduction to video games for her yet.
*23:18*
Same.
*23:24*
The clo the closest my kid's gotten is is
*23:25*
She saw us play rock band one time.
*23:28*
Okay.
*23:30*
And like held the microphone.
*23:30*
So she doesn't know what's going on.
*23:32*
Yeah.
*23:33*
Yeah.
*23:34*
And I as a baby baby, she would
*23:35*
You know, uh I think in your twenty twenty two video, like you know, your kid's taking a nap and you're finally playing something.
*23:37*
Yeah.
*23:44*
I've played my fair share of games with her and my arms asleep, so Yes.
*23:45*
My my newborn
*23:49*
I I call her newborn, but she's not that newborn anymore.
*23:52*
But you you know the newer one.
*23:54*
The newer one.
*23:56*
Uh through through uh all of Shadow the Erd Tree, I was holding her.
*23:58*
Through Animal Well, I was holding her.
*24:03*
Uh through a lot of Skyrim this year.
*24:06*
I was hoping.
*24:08*
So so she she has been my companion for a lot of games uh in in this season of life.
*24:09*
But yeah.
*24:15*
Isn't that interesting that
*24:17*
I f for me, like I think back to some of the games I was playing when my kid was new new and I would hold her like God of War Ragnarok came out two months after she was born or I was playing Resident Evil 4 for a podcast at the time.
*24:19*
And it's like in my brain, now my kid is intrinsically tied to that stuff.
*24:33*
Sure.
*24:38*
In a way I never expected.
*24:39*
And so like I can't separate the two.
*24:41*
I don't know.
*24:44*
I'm it's weird.
*24:45*
Yeah.
*24:46*
Yeah, I mean it's just the connections that you your brain is gonna make, especially you're in that stage where your brain is so mush.
*24:47*
You never knew you could feel this way about another human being.
*24:58*
Yeah.
*25:03*
So it's like I think your your brain is trying to reform and create connections and it's just like video game.
*25:04*
Okay, we'll build around this.
*25:10*
Like, okay, good.
*25:12*
Build around baby.
*25:13*
Yeah.
*25:15*
Uh but yeah, with my toddler to to for her exposure to games so far, she did see us play Animal Crossing a bit.
*25:16*
Uh and and yeah, we were we made my wife and I made a new island uh
*25:25*
to you know just start over from the beginning which we didn't get super far from that but it was fun for a little while and
*25:30*
what like she saw as playing and it was just cool, like she thought it looked cool, like the bright colors.
*25:38*
Sure.
*25:43*
Uh and then I was like, okay, I don't want her just like
*25:44*
watching yeah zonked me play.
*25:47*
So what I did was I I like went into the camera mode where you can fix the camera and I went by like houses and trees and bulletin boards.
*25:50*
And would have the character hide behind stuff and have her like point to a or point and call out what the character was hiding behind.
*26:00*
So she'd be like, Yeah.
*26:08*
Yeah.
*26:11*
Uh and then have the character come out and and
*26:11*
like play peekaboo for a bit.
*26:14*
So for like two weeks in our household she would run up to the TV and be like hide and seek?
*26:15*
Like hide and seek.
*26:21*
Peekaboo, peekaboo.
*26:23*
Uh so that was fun.
*26:24*
But that's that's been her game and exposure so far.
*26:25*
Yeah, my like I said, I think just some rock band, nothing too major.
*26:29*
Um I really intentionally plan on
*26:33*
like a more a b uh an actual attempt at introduction when she's older, like four or five, kinda is what my brain is thinking.
*26:38*
Like here's Pac-Man, you know?
*26:47*
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
*26:49*
Kind of start somewhere simple there.
*26:50*
We are gonna introduce her to movies.
*26:52*
She watches a little, like very little TV in general.
*26:56*
Um, but when she turns two, we're gonna put on my neighbor Totoro.
*27:00*
We're gonna see if she'll sit through that.
*27:04*
Well, you know, no two-year-old sits through anything
*27:07*
No, no.
*27:10*
We'll see how it goes.
*27:11*
Watch it in in fits and starts.
*27:12*
But yeah.
*27:14*
We'll see.
*27:15*
So one thing I think a lot about with games, which I which will be interesting
*27:16*
when y we do a proper introduction for her.
*27:22*
I mean, A, uh to get on a tangent as I w o am off to do, like, h where do you start?
*27:25*
Do you start with the Miss Pac-Man, right?
*27:34*
Is that is that the best place?
*27:36*
So here's Pong?
*27:37*
Yeah, I don't I don't know.
*27:40*
Space.
*27:41*
Um what's the the one off the year at college?
*27:42*
Yeah.
*27:45*
Uh I don't know.
*27:46*
I was gonna subscribe to kind of the Andy Bowl theory that he did, which was basically go through current history in like kind of a swath.
*27:48*
So it starts like in the arcade, then goes to the NE
*27:58*
S and and so on and so forth.
*28:00*
So by the time the kid is I don't know how old it it was an interesting documentation of the process.
*28:02*
I'm like, okay, this at least gives some contextual history without being inundated with uh
*28:07*
Well, what skin do I need in Fortnite to, you know, get the the right dance move or whatever?
*28:13*
You know, start with just ghosts and dots and work our way up is my intention.
*28:18*
But I, you know.
*28:23*
Who knows?
*28:25*
Yeah.
*28:26*
Which I feel like I valued so much starting on the NES, which definitely by the time I was playing games, was
*28:27*
you know, ten, fifteen years outdated, right?
*28:36*
Like the the N sixty four like when I really started playing games, the N sixty four was had been out for a few years.
*28:39*
So Yeah, same.
*28:45*
So, you know, I I didn't need to start with that, but I did, and I think and my parents didn't know either.
*28:47*
Like
*28:55*
They didn't play games, so they really lucked out on on giving me a gaming education without knowing anything about games.
*28:56*
Not that they would have seen it as a game in education.
*29:04*
They were just like, oh, your cousin gave us these, so here you go.
*29:06*
Uh so that works out.
*29:10*
Yeah.
*29:12*
Uh yeah, uh so so anyway, aside from the starting point, it's also like what is the gameplay going to like
*29:13*
look like.
*29:22*
And I think probably what you found as just a parent in general is the the thing you give to your kid, they will almost never use it in the way that it's supposed to be used.
*29:23*
Everything.
*29:38*
Everything.
*29:39*
Yeah, it's the classic, like, here's the toy, okay, you're playing with the box now, sort of thing.
*29:39*
Yep.
*29:44*
Um and yeah, uh, there's a really good video by Heavy Eyed.
*29:44*
I don't know.
*29:50*
Are you familiar?
*29:50*
Uh I am because of Wiz now.
*29:51*
Like I've picked up on the names now.
*29:53*
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
*29:56*
I've learned about who Iron Pineapple is, so like, you know.
*29:56*
I'm getting introduced all around.
*30:00*
I did watch Heavy Eyed's
*30:01*
Zelda one of his Zelda videos, I think.
*30:04*
So Yeah.
*30:08*
So he he had one about Breath of the Wild, like a goodbye to Breath of the Wild, where he had a few other
*30:10*
folks who do YouTube give their thoughts on Breath of the Wild.
*30:16*
And and Javid uh did a section for that where he talked about his daughter playing Breath of the Wild.
*30:19*
And how she would just play with the horses.
*30:25*
Like she would collect the horses, check them in at the stable.
*30:30*
And that was the game for her, and she played it for a good while and had a ton of fun, but didn't care about saving Zelda or doing shrines or
*30:34*
Or anything.
*30:45*
It was just like, here's this space where I can play with horses.
*30:45*
You know, and I think that I'm excited to see the ways in which my daughter uh breaks video games.
*30:49*
Yeah.
*30:57*
It is that specific example with Breath of the Wild just reminds me of those early stories of Miyamoto himself playing the early demos of the game and where he just climbed the trees and picked apples.
*30:59*
on like what would have been the creative.
*31:11*
It's like, well, uh, is this good?
*31:13*
I don't know, you know, and in the case of that particular game, yeah.
*31:16*
Uh
*31:20*
Uh is great.
*31:20*
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
*31:22*
Uh but yeah, that's they never interact with anything the way you think.
*31:24*
And it it's hard not to draw
*31:28*
An analogy to your gaming for a non-gamer.
*31:31*
Now I'm not saying turn your children into content, Raz.
*31:33*
Actually, far from it.
*31:37*
Don't please don't do that.
*31:38*
Yes.
*31:39*
Um
*31:40*
Yeah.
*31:40*
The day you make a video that's like, now my kids are playing games, it's like, oh no, what happened?
*31:40*
Um Yeah.
*31:45*
Yeah.
*31:46*
But
*31:47*
In a way, you will eventually, and I will, be performing informal experiments.
*31:49*
I mean, isn't parenting just an informal experiment?
*31:53*
Sure.
*31:56*
Awesome, yeah.
*31:57*
Yeah.
*31:59*
And it's gonna be
*32:00*
I think that there's probably millions of different ways parents could respond, but I think in general, you could respond with, well, how cool is it that they respond to it in this way?
*32:03*
And they discovered something that I never even would have considered.
*32:13*
Or I guess you could get mad and be like, no, you have to go save the princess.
*32:17*
Um that feels like not the answer.
*32:22*
Yeah.
*32:26*
That's what I'm excited about is to see what she gets interested in and engages with and whether that's
*32:27*
games, movies, art, sports.
*32:34*
I mean that's how the universe would treat us, right?
*32:38*
Is our kids would get super into sports that we were never into as children and we'd have to figure it all out.
*32:40*
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
*32:47*
Have to watch curling.
*32:48*
Curling and uh gosh, what are the all sorts of sports.
*32:50*
I don't know.
*32:54*
No offense to curlers.
*32:56*
you know.
*32:58*
No, no offense to me.
*32:58*
Any curling fans listening to the podcast.
*32:59*
If there is a curling fan listening to the podcast, let me know.
*33:02*
I guess I would love to know.
*33:06*
Yeah
*33:08*
Uh kind of to tie it to like circle back to the creative side and your job.
*33:10*
Um, two things that you've are you've done it twice now, not two different things, I suppose.
*33:17*
But you've taken a paternity leave uh both times, and your job is one that often
*33:22*
dictates the need for consistency.
*33:32*
Um or at least that is what the back end of YouTube Studio tells me is consistency, consistency.
*33:36*
And you do the what I think is the right thing, and you actually spend time with your kids as as babies, which is something that like in my job at the time
*33:43*
I had I think two days that I could do because there was no paternity leave.
*33:53*
Oh jeez.
*33:57*
And it was just sick time and I only had accrued like two days of sick time.
*33:57*
Thankfully we worked from home.
*34:02*
So really
*34:04*
It didn't matter.
*34:05*
Um Yeah, yeah, yeah.
*34:07*
But you as you're self employed, like, you know
*34:09*
I there are you have to do ads and and certain things I'm sure all the time, but like you're your own boss.
*34:13*
And you took that time.
*34:19*
And I'm
*34:21*
I guess how does that work for you?
*34:23*
Like, when do you decide now I gotta come back?
*34:25*
And like, how do you get back onto that horse?
*34:28*
'Cause again, I think taking the time off to be with your your family is of the utmost importance and especially at these critical moments.
*34:31*
So it's
*34:39*
I'm not saying, well, no, better keep making those videos, buddy.
*34:40*
Yeah.
*34:44*
Yeah.
*34:45*
But how do you, you know, I guess come to wrestle with that aspect of your job, which does demand some sort of consistency.
*34:45*
Yeah, I mean consistency in the YouTube space is interesting.
*34:54*
I think it actually means a lot of things when YouTube kind of pushes that idea.
*35:01*
Because you can
*35:05*
Like you don't obviously you don't need to post a video once a week to be successful.
*35:07*
I don't.
*35:12*
I post maybe once a month.
*35:13*
Since having kids, it's been, you know, 10 videos a year, maybe.
*35:15*
Which
*35:20*
Uh it it is not ideal.
*35:21*
I I I would like to get to a spot where I'm posting more than that on the main channel.
*35:22*
But you know, it it it's been enough to to be able to do this full time with with that level of output.
*35:29*
it.
*35:38*
But I guess my point is you can kind of go on decently long breaks and come back and not have that ruin your spot in the algorithm.
*35:38*
Right.
*35:49*
It's not like
*35:49*
I mean, cause think about like, you know, H.
*35:50*
Bomberguy or or Jenny Nicholson.
*35:52*
Uh granted, you know, they're going and then coming back with like four-hour epics.
*35:55*
Sure.
*36:00*
Uh but but still that, you know
*36:01*
they're from from a view count perspective, they aren't hurt at all by by not posting every
*36:05*
week or month or year event, you know, uh they they do all right.
*36:13*
So it's like YouTube does the algorithm does have a way of
*36:19*
Like like what I think what it looks for in consistency isn't just about how long since your last upload, right?
*36:24*
I do think early on it's probably more important to be consistent because you know I at this point
*36:33*
I think within this little carved out space of gamers online like I I think Rasbuten is a known name, right?
*36:42*
It's a it's a relatively known entity.
*36:51*
People know of it.
*36:53*
your videos.
*36:57*
Yeah, yeah.
*36:58*
I I think like I'm I'm in the knowledge of people who watch video essay.
*36:58*
Right.
*37:07*
Positively or negatively.
*37:08*
Like they're like, yeah, I know that guy.
*37:10*
You're in there.
*37:12*
Like I said, you're one of the infinity stuff.
*37:13*
Yeah.
*37:16*
So if I didn't post a video for a year, people wouldn't be like, I forgot who this guy was.
*37:17*
They'd be like, oh, he's finally back.
*37:24*
Hell yeah, he's back, you know?
*37:27*
Whereas early on, if you take those long breaks and someone subbed to you after watching one video and and you don't have you you
*37:30*
You don't have, I guess, that kind of uh I guess cultural relevance.
*37:38*
That feels like a weird way to put it.
*37:42*
But like credibility with an audience.
*37:43*
Like um and and also catalogue that people are familiar with, right?
*37:45*
Like like then they just will be like, oh, I forgot who you were.
*37:50*
I a and and and yeah, so I think consistency early on is pretty like a or at least you know at a certain
*37:54*
channel size is is probably more important, at least consistency of uploads.
*38:04*
Now of course
*38:11*
you know, my my income is affected.
*38:12*
Even though like I'm I'm not I guess what I'm saying there is when I don't post for a few months, I'm not worried that when I come back
*38:15*
I'm done, you know?
*38:22*
And I think for a while that was an assumption a lot of people made about YouTube is that if you take a break and come back,
*38:25*
you're screwed.
*38:32*
But from my experience and also from conversations I've had with people who know more about it and know more about how the algorithm works, um
*38:34*
It doesn't like that, you know, that isn't the determining factor of your channel being a success or not.
*38:45*
It's almost like
*38:53*
D T V in a way, you know, like the bear goes away every year and it comes back.
*38:56*
Uh and you know that the
*39:03*
the show's quality should be maintained in that sense.
*39:05*
So I'm yeah, they're you actually the TV analogy probably works pretty well.
*39:08*
I guess that's why more people watch YouTube
*39:13*
on their TVs now than actual TV, I suppose.
*39:15*
Yeah.
*39:19*
So like, you know, the main thing that taking a break does is just means that I'm I'm
*39:20*
making less money during that period, which you know, that just comes out to budgeting.
*39:28*
Budgeting and planning ahead and all that stuff.
*39:35*
Yeah, budgeting and planning ahead.
*39:37*
Uh
*39:38*
Uh and 'cause thankfully kids usually have you know, they have this roughly average eight to nine month timer that you know when things are gonna get crazy.
*39:39*
Yeah.
*39:48*
Not that we've always been perfect about No, no one is perfect at the budget.
*39:49*
The budget is never perfect.
*39:55*
Neither of us are accountants and it shows.
*39:57*
But but you know
*40:00*
It's like you can plan ahead for those things and then just you know, luckily for us, both of our uh both of our babies are spring babies
*40:02*
Which means that it's been paternity leave in spring, which pretty famously is not a great time to make money on YouTube.
*40:15*
Really?
*40:23*
Uh yeah, I mean the m the time is fall.
*40:24*
Fall is the time.
*40:27*
November and Decem
*40:29*
Uh uh holiday ads I I believe is the big part of it.
*40:30*
Huh.
*40:35*
Quarter four is when a lot of uh companies are trying to I think I I think that they like
*40:36*
I'm not a business guy.
*40:44*
I need to start.
*40:45*
I have an English major, right?
*40:48*
Journalism.
*40:50*
We're in the same, you know, we were building.
*40:51*
From my understanding though, is a lot of companies
*40:54*
don't want to end the year with a surplus.
*40:57*
Uh because generally I think when higher-ups or certain people see that there's a huge surplus
*41:00*
They're like, oh, then we'll give you less next year, right?
*41:08*
So so they want to spend the money they have towards a thing.
*41:11*
And quarter four, not only is it a great time for buying because
*41:15*
of the holidays, but also they're like, well, we this is the time to spend what leftover budget we have and have saved up for.
*41:19*
So it just ends up being a a yeah pretty big windfall time of
*41:27*
Uh AdSense paying out more, I think you know, sometimes sponsorships in general will pay out more.
*41:33*
Get your Raycon earbuds for the holidays.
*41:39*
So if you see, yeah, if you see people
*41:42*
uh ratcheting up their content production in October, November, and the beginning of December.
*41:45*
That is why, you know.
*41:52*
So you know You learned something.
*41:55*
It yeah, I we lucked out and I didn't have to think about taking, you know, whether or not I should take a paternity leave because it was just
*41:58*
obvious that it would be most beneficial to our family for that time for me to be taking off work.
*42:07*
Whereas, you know, maybe if it had been in the fall, it would have been harder to justify because
*42:13*
you know, what ends up being a large part of my income comes during those months.
*42:20*
So I'm really thankful of of the timing of things in our life.
*42:25*
Uh that I didn't have to uh
*42:29*
worry about that side of it of like, do I spend do I spend time in this very important stage or make sure that we can afford the basic things we need for that?
*42:34*
So yeah, I lucked out there.
*42:46*
Good job.
*42:48*
Good good job, family, rap paperbag family.
*42:49*
Yes.
*42:52*
For being spring.
*42:52*
Spring oriented.
*42:53*
New life.
*42:54*
Spring?
*42:55*
Yeah, all of us are spring.
*42:55*
There you go.
*42:58*
My wife is, I told you I think before the show, twin.
*43:00*
So her birthday.
*43:04*
They were born on their dad's birthday.
*43:05*
Um, their mother's birthday is a week later.
*43:07*
And then my brother is in between those sets of birthdays, and then my daughter was originally
*43:11*
uh supposed to be an October kid, but she decided she just had to fit into the month of September too and came in at the end of the month.
*43:17*
So it's just like September is like Christmas for us.
*43:24*
It's
*43:27*
Ridiculous.
*43:28*
Yeah.
*43:29*
So we have the full opposite or fall oriented over there.
*43:29*
How how does this kind of gap, this paternity leave, or just a gap in general?
*43:34*
Whatever it may be.
*43:41*
How does that impact you creatively?
*43:42*
Uh I don't know.
*43:47*
I tried
*43:49*
this time to like prepare better for when I would go back to work.
*43:51*
A big thing for me since my first daughter was born.
*43:57*
is like focus has been a problem.
*44:02*
And and I think this is a lifelong thing that focus has been a problem.
*44:06*
And I've I've been trying to
*44:11*
uh figure out the root of it uh a fair bit recently.
*44:14*
And and I w I guess my point is it definitely became a much bigger problem once I had kids because
*44:19*
where when I procrastinated or wasn't able to focus in the past, I would just stay up for twenty-four hours and get it done.
*44:26*
You know, video needs to be done, okay.
*44:34*
I'm I'm up for the next two days.
*44:36*
Let's do this.
*44:39*
you know, the procrastination right before the deadline.
*44:40*
I it was possible.
*44:44*
But but yeah, once you have a kid and then once you have two kids, you can't do that.
*44:45*
No.
*44:52*
It would take a supreme amount of caffeine um to make that possible, I would imagine.
*44:54*
Yeah.
*44:59*
And it's not good for anyone in the family.
*44:59*
Yeah, you you just can't get away with it in the same way that you could before.
*45:02*
So yeah, I tried during during paternity leave.
*45:07*
I like, you know, I read some some uh self-help books about uh you know
*45:10*
uh productivity and and whatnot to you know to mild uh they all have nuggets yeah yeah that's what I've learned is you have to like because then you have to implement it and you can't
*45:18*
I just read this year Atomic Habits, which probably is probably on your list.
*45:32*
It's like, I'm not doing everything James Clear said.
*45:37*
But some of the stuff is stuck and round.
*45:40*
And one thing personally
*45:43*
that I kind of I I've learned about myself this year and thought about for a long time, but never really kind of accepted it until now is like I totally have ADHD.
*45:46*
And um, you know, folks with ADHD definitely can fall into that, procrastinate, do it at the last minute, hyperfocus.
*45:57*
Like in this this miscarriage video, I I probably spent well I didn't probably I did spend far too much time just thinking about font and color decisions and like
*46:05*
I was like, I don't need to stress out about this as much and also be so zoned in where I I'm cooking dinner and I'm thinking about which font to use, you know?
*46:15*
It's like, well, how do I detach from this?
*46:23*
So
*46:26*
I hear you in the sense of I'm not saying you have ADHD, but just saying that Well, that's what I've been trying to figure out.
*46:27*
Yeah, it's one of those things.
*46:34*
I have taken a few assessments and actually next week I'll be going in to figure out uh, you know, if if that's what it is.
*46:38*
Or, you know, if it's something else, if it's just situational.
*46:49*
I mean, I think a lot of people, their focus and ability to focus has just changed in modern day, but also totally made
*46:52*
Yeah.
*47:02*
And then I think especially after like the lockdowns, uh that has just shifted how a lot of uh people engage with things.
*47:02*
Uh so I you know.
*47:10*
Yeah, uh we'll see.
*47:13*
We'll see.
*47:14*
No, I hear you there.
*47:15*
It it took me a long time because I'm in my brain, I'm like, maybe I have this.
*47:16*
And my brother has it, my dad has it.
*47:20*
So like logically.
*47:22*
It's all there, you know?
*47:24*
It would make sense, yeah.
*47:25*
But I didn't wanna like I didn't wanna label myself with it
*47:27*
Or and I personally don't want to use medication for that.
*47:32*
Um simply because addiction runs in the family.
*47:36*
I'm like, I don't really want to take legal speed.
*47:39*
Um and I understand that that statement itself is
*47:42*
Medicine can help a lot of people.
*47:46*
I'm personally just avoiding it for myself given the very particular situation.
*47:48*
I mean it's it's the right choice for a lot of people.
*47:53*
It is not the right choice for
*47:55*
Everyone.
*47:56*
Yeah.
*47:57*
I watched I watch Jane's animations video on it.
*47:57*
I'm like, that sounds great for her.
*47:59*
Um but and so to counter that decision personally is like I have to like
*48:02*
Do all these different things and you read these books and different tools and all this stuff.
*48:10*
And it's it's hard to figure that stuff.
*48:14*
Build skills, create systems.
*48:16*
Yeah.
*48:18*
Yeah.
*48:18*
Tools and all sorts of stuff in place.
*48:19*
And then it all goes out the window and the deadline shows up and you're like, ah so did um your brother have like very obvious
*48:21*
ADHD.
*48:33*
He's he was more of the as a kid bouncing off the wall kind of.
*48:35*
Like what you would typically have you'd go, that kid's got ADHD.
*48:42*
Yeah.
*48:46*
So then where it's just you who's sitting in the classroom thinking about like what if Mario's hat could turn a little bit to the left?
*48:47*
Would that change his character design and game?
*48:55*
You know, and then the teacher talks for 20 minutes about something that you nothing went into your head, but like that's not gonna be noticeable comparatively.
*48:58*
Right.
*49:07*
I would get my homework done and do everything on time.
*49:07*
And actually we were from second grade to seventh grade, I was homeschooled.
*49:10*
So I could I did my schooling at my own pace and was
*49:15*
self-driven in that sense.
*49:19*
So there was no well, I'm sure there was on some level, like my mom could have theoretically been like, oh, this is interesting or or whatever.
*49:20*
But she was busy figuring out that her other kid had it in a different way.
*49:29*
Sure.
*49:32*
Yeah.
*49:33*
And so but I was over here reading, getting things done, but also like super pouring you know, I wish I still had it, but like I would take copious notes on video games, like to an absurd degree for a kid.
*49:33*
Like, here's how the crazy hand and master hand tag team you.
*49:47*
It's like, how do I beat Event 50 in Smash Brothers melee, right?
*49:50*
Yeah, yeah.
*49:54*
Or stay up all night playing Paper Mario and be like, this is how you get the optimal badge, you know, equipment.
*49:55*
So
*50:01*
It was there just in a different way, which makes ADHD itself a wild thing 'cause it manifests in so many different ways for people.
*50:02*
It's yeah, hyperactive versus inattentive.
*50:11*
Yeah.
*50:13*
I'm like I zero in on something.
*50:14*
Um I think like I said before, uh YouTube, I've been living I'm the Raz Butan number one fan right now because I keep going into the channel.
*50:16*
It's like, do you want to watch more Raz?
*50:25*
And it's like
*50:26*
Well yes, I do.
*50:27*
I need to, but I promise YouTube, it's not like this forever.
*50:28*
Um like watching it all the time.
*50:31*
I still will watch your videos, Raz.
*50:34*
Promise.
*50:38*
Thank you, yeah, yeah.
*50:39*
But do so I'm thinking about creativity and one of the things I took from I'm sh
*50:40*
I'm sure you've read it.
*50:49*
Uh, On Writing by Stephen King feels like a must for writers.
*50:50*
I'm gonna assume you've read it.
*50:55*
I have not read cover to cover.
*50:57*
I, you know, from different classes.
*50:59*
I've read, yeah, yeah, passages and whatnot, yeah.
*51:01*
But he talks about how he was always reading.
*51:04*
And he's one of obviously America's most prolific authors of just cranking it out, you know, and pretty consistent quality.
*51:06*
But he's always reading.
*51:14*
And in my head
*51:16*
I mean the same goes for any creative endeavor.
*51:18*
I think you have to consume stuff to know, like to cr build up your own taste and then what you want to try and implement and do things.
*51:21*
So
*51:30*
Are you like obviously you have to play a bunch of games.
*51:31*
Uh you know, what did you just put out your what you played in May video?
*51:35*
You know, May was just last month.
*51:38*
Super exciting.
*51:40*
It is like f a week ago was May.
*51:41*
It's wild.
*51:44*
It's crazy.
*51:45*
June, baby.
*51:46*
We're in June today.
*51:47*
So you're playing a bunch of games, you're I assume you're watching all sorts, you know, YouTube to some degree.
*51:51*
Like how do you find yourself, does that go up in the uh
*51:56*
the off periods and do you come back feeling refreshed or are you just like, man, I really want to make a video about Skyrim, so I'm gonna dedicate the next
*52:01*
Two months to play in Skyrim again.
*52:11*
Yeah.
*52:14*
I mean so I guess what I can say about to to touch a bit on the paternity thing and tie into this.
*52:15*
Like during paternity leave, you know, I I tried to think of some structure things, tried to r you know, read atomic habits uh to become a person.
*52:24*
perfect human.
*52:32*
Um, you know, dig in a journal now and kind of wrote out things that I'd be interested in, you know, thinking about and and pursuing once
*52:33*
you know, um I I I s stop being on leave.
*52:45*
Um so yeah, I I like I kind of
*52:48*
tried to plot out what I wanted to do for the rest of the year, of which I haven't really done most of it and won't be able to do that.
*52:55*
It's June, don't worry about it.
*53:03*
Right.
*53:04*
It's only June.
*53:05*
Uh but but yeah, it so
*53:06*
But it did help me think about like these are the ideas that I'm feeling more passionate towards, and these are the things that I will have to do.
*53:10*
to complete it, right?
*53:21*
So Skyrim, yeah, uh that was a thing of like just just constantly think about why is this game that I think is uh uh you know mid
*53:22*
Uh the worst thing you can call a game mid.
*53:34*
Um you know why obviously like I'm an outlier.
*53:37*
Uh you know, there are plenty of people that will share the same opinion.
*53:42*
Don't worry.
*53:45*
I'm with you, buddy.
*53:45*
Uh yeah.
*53:47*
Bethesda person in general, so you're not alone in the sense of thinking Skyrim is mid.
*53:49*
Yeah.
*53:54*
But you know, I had all these thoughts about it and wanted to build it out into something bigger.
*53:55*
So yeah, I kind of used yeah, I mean I definitely use time off to ideate and like be like, okay, this is how long I think this project will take, and this is how many things I need to do and complete to make this project.
*54:00*
So let's try to plot these out as best as I can.
*54:12*
You know, so yeah, I was thinking about the why Skyrim video, like
*54:16*
five months probably before it came out, right?
*54:21*
Like like that sounds appropriate for Skyrim.
*54:23*
That's a lot of research and playtime, man.
*54:26*
That
*54:28*
Yeah.
*54:29*
There's a big dedication to it.
*54:30*
So yeah, I mean I I think and I guess also this ties back to the first question that you asked that I don't think I answered.
*54:32*
It's a journey, Mabel.
*54:41*
It's a journey.
*54:42*
It's a journey.
*54:43*
Um of like I I think that my videos
*54:44*
And probably, I guess, everyone who makes anything.
*54:49*
There are two like somewhat distinct ways to do it.
*54:53*
There's like working from the outside going in and the inside going out.
*54:56*
Right.
*55:02*
So so when it's uh rewards are weird, right?
*55:03*
That's me noting that I feel like a lot of rewards in video games
*55:07*
don't feel that rewarding.
*55:13*
They are just kind of a circle of here's a bright flashing improvement, but actually everything else in the world also improves, so your improvement
*55:16*
And you know, you are on a treadmill, like you are not going fast faster.
*55:23*
Uh it's it's like having that feeling while playing games.
*55:28*
And then I'm like, okay, now I'm going to play all these games that have a good example of it.
*55:31*
and look through my footage of games I've played in the past and think of games that are good examples for it.
*55:38*
Right.
*55:44*
So it's like I have the idea, I have the story.
*55:45*
And now I need to build the support for that.
*55:48*
Where on the other hand, with something like gaming for a non-gamer,
*55:53*
Like the first the first video of that is a little different because you know that was before I decided to, I guess, like, you know, serialize it.
*55:57*
Yeah.
*56:06*
But but but you know, there's no like
*56:07*
Like there's no story in just in the pure idea of my wife plays
*56:13*
Tears of the Kingdom, right?
*56:21*
Like that's the story reveals itself through whatever she does.
*56:22*
Yeah.
*56:27*
So for something like that, it's like, okay, we are going to play this game.
*56:27*
And then we do it, and then the experience happens, and sometimes the connections are super obvious of this is the narrative to work through.
*56:32*
And sometimes
*56:40*
uh I have to discover it, right, as we go through.
*56:41*
And I think another example of stuff I've I do that is like that is like the the games that got me through each year.
*56:44*
Yes, you know, is is pulling back, looking at everything I played in a year, thinking about how I felt throughout the year, thinking about the important things to me.
*56:51*
And then kind of like, you know, I not physically doing this, but but you know, putting them up against the timeline of putting the games I played up against the timeline of my life that year and being like, huh.
*57:02*
This is real like uh I was really stressed during this time and I played 40 hours of uh you know Alden Ray or whatever.
*57:15*
Yeah, exactly.
*57:26*
Um so yeah, it's it's kind of two different ways to discover video types is like I guess topic first
*57:28*
And then build out based on examples, or like here's just the thing, and I have to find the heart of it.
*57:41*
Um yeah, yeah, within it.
*57:49*
So, like, you know, I play games each month.
*57:52*
I do the monthly videos as just kind of a way to share some thoughts.
*57:55*
Uh sometimes there's reason behind playing the games.
*58:01*
Sometimes it's just like I want to play a video game and maybe we'll figure out something later.
*58:03*
Yeah, yeah.
*58:09*
Maybe this will be useful.
*58:09*
Yeah.
*58:11*
So like I
*58:12*
It's like, you know, it it happens all sorts of ways all the time.
*58:14*
Yeah.
*58:19*
You know, there's not just one
*58:20*
approach uh that I go about of yeah, I'm playing these six games so I can make this video.
*58:22*
It's more of
*58:30*
Sometimes it'll be that, and sometimes it'll be like, hey, I played these six games, and I think there's a video there.
*58:31*
Yeah, it's
*58:38*
In my very, very short time of trying this essay format in general, I I've already kind of discovered that.
*58:40*
Like you saying it hits home with me.
*58:48*
Uh
*58:51*
the Fortnite Zelda video.
*58:51*
I'm playing Tears of the Kingdom for the first time.
*58:53*
I'm like, man, this is a lot like falling out of sky in Fortnite.
*58:55*
And that's pretty fun.
*58:58*
Like and then you figure out like, oh, this is at least in my case, like I this is what I thought connected those.
*59:00*
And then the miscarriage one was kind of like I woke up.
*59:06*
It was actually after Wiz told me that he had read
*59:10*
uh the article on my website where I link to this kind of comes full circle to I hope this video doesn't suck.
*59:15*
And I just kind of offhandedly told him I'm like, oh yeah.
*59:21*
I remember that and also going on at this time, but I didn't say it in the article was like we were going through a miscarriage and it was like not fun.
*59:24*
And then I woke up at 3 40 that morning.
*59:31*
I'm like, I could
*59:33*
do a video about this.
*59:33*
And I sat down and like looked at the timeline and I truly realized what I was doing with the games, kind of like your year in review, which is
*59:35*
why I mentioned it in my videos, like it's the same thing.
*59:44*
I didn't realize that me playing getting the platinum in all the God of War games was actually a subconscious coping mechanism for dealing with uh
*59:48*
a a truly terrible thing, but hindsight's 2020, I guess.
*59:58*
Um yeah.
*01:00:03*
I I like that.
*01:00:04*
I like I I think that's what's so cool about
*01:00:06*
Creating in general.
*01:00:11*
I was gonna say just writing, but I think creating in general, like you you can draw inspiration from all sorts of stuff and things bubble up, or you go in intentionally and like
*01:00:12*
Like man, Uncharted 2 was really one of the great games of all time, and now it's really, you know, it's hard to say that about stuff anymore.
*01:00:21*
Yeah.
*01:00:29*
So yeah, I mean
*01:00:30*
Yeah, life is weird, huh?
*01:00:32*
It is.
*01:00:35*
Life is weird, huh?
*01:00:36*
I mean, I think uh to to bring it back, you know, we were talking earlier about just those memories that you have.
*01:00:37*
uh of playing games while holding your kid, right?
*01:00:44*
I I think I think in life even before kids, to to be clear, this is always the case.
*01:00:48*
It's like
*01:00:54*
Like, of course everything you do informs everything else to a degree and is connect like there's nothing in our life
*01:00:56*
out of context.
*01:01:08*
How high do I sound right now?
*01:01:09*
I mean, it's true though.
*01:01:12*
Things build and riff off each other all the time.
*01:01:15*
I mean it's
*01:01:18*
Look from the things of like what is the hottest trend in fashion or tech and the way that that filters down to game design.
*01:01:20*
I mean
*01:01:32*
I guess in games it's a it takes eight years to come up with a hero shooter, but you know, this is the year of the hero shooter again, even though Overwatch was out eight years ago.
*01:01:33*
Oh, what a sad story.
*01:01:42*
It's tough.
*01:01:44*
It's oh my gosh.
*01:01:45*
It's so funny.
*01:01:47*
And it's funny specifically because I asked Wiz like what he thought about those two games and in one gap between one episode Concord's gone.
*01:01:48*
It's so bad, man.
*01:01:58*
Terrible for the team and what few fans Concord may have had.
*01:02:00*
Yeah.
*01:02:06*
Yeah.
*01:02:07*
It'll be interesting to see what they do.
*01:02:07*
Because it sounds like they're not just burning the code.
*01:02:09*
You know, it sounds like they're going to try to relaunch at some point.
*01:02:14*
Maybe they hope.
*01:02:19*
I don't know.
*01:02:20*
I don't know.
*01:02:21*
I don't know.
*01:02:21*
Yeah.
*01:02:22*
Dark anyway.
*01:02:23*
Rest in peace, Concord.
*01:02:26*
Yeah.
*01:02:27*
Marvel rivals.
*01:02:28*
Hopefully you have a better shot.
*01:02:29*
Um deadlock seems to be a surefire thing.
*01:02:31*
I mean it's it's Valve.
*01:02:33*
It's Valve.
*01:02:35*
So yeah, I think like to to the context part of it or what I was trying to get at is like
*01:02:37*
You know, everything you experience, you sh you will tie to your life in some way.
*01:02:45*
And I don't know, not everyone has to pull back and be introspective and be like, wow, uh, you know
*01:02:51*
know, Miss Pac-Man really changed my life.
*01:02:58*
You know, I played it just at the right time.
*01:03:02*
Like I think entertainment, you can just view it as entertainment.
*01:03:04*
Right.
*01:03:09*
I don't think we always need to do the work of how does this have an emotional impact on me.
*01:03:11*
But like also those connections will happen.
*01:03:17*
Especially as time goes on, like you will look back and be like, oh, that was really a special thing or a special time in life of playing the X game or watching this movie or or
*01:03:21*
um you know having this show be on the air and and appreciate it for that.
*01:03:35*
I mean I I don't know.
*01:03:40*
I there's this trend that I am really not a huge fan of.
*01:03:42*
That I see a lot of like gaming is dead.
*01:03:45*
Like tr Triple A has killed video games
*01:03:49*
and and indie games are king and stuff like that.
*01:03:53*
Indie games, many are incredible.
*01:03:57*
Triple A games have some very bad business practices and are are hurting like video game production.
*01:03:59*
To be clear, like these things are the key.
*01:04:07*
Absolutely true, but it doesn't it doesn't have to be so extreme to the sense of every AAA game is killing the uh
*01:04:10*
the medium that we all engage in love with.
*01:04:20*
Like sure, does it suck that it takes a naughty dog seven to eight years to put out a video game?
*01:04:22*
Yeah.
*01:04:29*
And the crunch practices at that studio are they
*01:04:30*
not good for the people there?
*01:04:34*
No, they're they're not.
*01:04:36*
But how do you balance these two things?
*01:04:38*
I how do you balance their creative ambitions to make these super realistic things and
*01:04:42*
you know, art that moves forward.
*01:04:47*
It's like, uh man, remember when Uncharted 2 was the best video game ever and it only took two years to come out?
*01:04:49*
Yeah.
*01:04:56*
Well, and I think what's hard about that is sometimes they will have a very good point that I think is the true heart of it, which is
*01:04:57*
I am whatever, uh, you know, uh most of them are younger than me.
*01:05:07*
But like, you know, I am in in my late twenties or early thirties.
*01:05:13*
I have responsibilities.
*01:05:18*
I have a full-time job.
*01:05:21*
I, you know, maybe they have kids.
*01:05:22*
Most of them don't who I see these videos from.
*01:05:24*
But, you know, maybe some of them do.
*01:05:26*
And it's like, it's just how could
*01:05:28*
gaming be the same as when I was ten and played Ocarina of Time with my brother like for eight hours on a weekend, you know?
*01:05:32*
Yeah.
*01:05:40*
Like it's just life has so many more responsibilities.
*01:05:41*
And that's the part of those videos that I do like and am interested in.
*01:05:44*
And I think that's kind of the heart of it for a lot of people.
*01:05:48*
And I I don't want to say it's just nostalgia, but it's like
*01:05:50*
It is that life is much more complicated today.
*01:05:54*
Yeah, and there's um there's a longing
*01:05:59*
For us to it's strange.
*01:06:03*
It's like we had all the time in the world, but we had no money to to or we didn't even have the taste.
*01:06:06*
You know, I think back to like some of the games I'd rent that would be
*01:06:13*
a complete waste of time.
*01:06:16*
Uh today, but I didn't have the taste.
*01:06:18*
But now I have the taste and the money, but I don't have the time.
*01:06:21*
Yeah.
*01:06:23*
You know?
*01:06:24*
Well and I think the reason I specifically say a lot of the people that I see these videos from don't ha have kids.
*01:06:24*
is is like, I mean, I'm sure you've experienced it.
*01:06:31*
And and it like, you know, the joy that a kid can have from playing with a wooden block.
*01:06:35*
It's a mess, right?
*01:06:42*
And and you know, anyone who who is a parent of a kid that's, you know, o older than a couple months who is starting to interact with things, like
*01:06:44*
can see that that there's so much joy to be found within the mundane and discovering things for the first time.
*01:06:53*
And
*01:07:00*
And like this is a big reason why people have kids, right?
*01:07:01*
Or a big reason, like a big source of the joy that comes from having kids is seeing them discover things.
*01:07:04*
things and and yeah I think that's the excitement right about having them hopefully enjoy video games.
*01:07:10*
Hopefully maybe even the games we like.
*01:07:16*
Like it's it's them discovering it.
*01:07:19*
um and things are fresh to them they tell you anochna my my daughter
*01:07:21*
Went knock knock.
*01:07:28*
I said, who's there?
*01:07:30*
She said boo.
*01:07:31*
I said boo hoo.
*01:07:32*
And she's like, Daddy, don't cry.
*01:07:33*
It's like, yeah, I've heard this joke a million times.
*01:07:34*
But she cracked up saying it to me.
*01:07:37*
Cracked up when I had a reaction, right?
*01:07:40*
And it's that those things that are like to us so
*01:07:42*
mundane and so overdone and and played into the ground, but to her is the first joke she's told.
*01:07:47*
Uh it's hilarious to her.
*01:07:58*
And it's the fun thing.
*01:08:01*
Yeah, and it's just because she heard someone else say it, but but to her
*01:08:03*
It it's it's novel and new.
*01:08:07*
Um so I think I think that is what people miss is that feeling of of novelness and newness to someone.
*01:08:10*
something, that that freshness.
*01:08:19*
And also, you know, not having uh to pay rent or a mortgage or or insurance.
*01:08:20*
All these other things that make life hard.
*01:08:27*
But it's it's that ability to have so much joy.
*01:08:29*
And I think in modern games, there is tons and tons of joy that kids will love
*01:08:34*
and have fun with.
*01:08:42*
So I think there are so many good modern games.
*01:08:43*
I think there are obviously problems with the AAA system and and and the way I mean the layoffs this year have just
*01:08:46*
been so discouraging.
*01:08:57*
It's unfortunately that's not what a lot of videos criticizing AAA focus on.
*01:08:59*
It's like
*01:09:04*
Th more mad about microtransactions, which I think is a bad business practice, but it's like let's look at the material w means of the workers, right?
*01:09:05*
Like, yeah, but like I feel like micro transactions have settled into what they're
*01:09:14*
supposed to be, which is just cosmetic fashion stuff.
*01:09:19*
Like back in the day, or not back in the day.
*01:09:23*
Maybe.
*01:09:26*
I don't know.
*01:09:26*
A lot of them still aren't.
*01:09:26*
Really?
*01:09:28*
I I don't know.
*01:09:29*
Maybe I'm just I certainly don't play enough of them.
*01:09:30*
That that is fair.
*01:09:32*
Like I remember in The Last of Us factions.
*01:09:34*
You could buy a weapon pack and in there was like the gun.
*01:09:37*
Like you needed to buy.
*01:09:40*
Like that's not cool.
*01:09:41*
That sucks.
*01:09:43*
But then I played Fortnite today and it's like
*01:09:44*
Oh, yeah, I definitely will buy this Dragon Ball Z skin because I love Dragon Ball Z as a kid, you know?
*01:09:48*
So to me, like that split is like, okay, I don't have to engage with this if I don't want to.
*01:09:55*
But it's there.
*01:10:01*
And Fortnite is a very extreme example, right?
*01:10:02*
Because it's incredibly successful and prominent and
*01:10:05*
Heck works with Disney and stuff now.
*01:10:10*
So how do how do they pull that off?
*01:10:12*
Like the amount of people they work with
*01:10:14*
I mean I guess that's when you make billions and billions and billions of people.
*01:10:18*
When you have the kids.
*01:10:21*
When you have the kids.
*01:10:22*
Exactly.
*01:10:23*
You come to the people come around.
*01:10:24*
It's
*01:10:27*
In a weird way, it's like Telltale.
*01:10:28*
Remember when Telltale had both DC and Marvel licenses?
*01:10:30*
Or like, how'd you do that?
*01:10:33*
And then it all came crumbling down.
*01:10:34*
Yeah.
*01:10:36*
Um
*01:10:36*
What a sad, sad story that was.
*01:10:38*
Please, Wolf Among Us 2, just make it out in one piece.
*01:10:40*
Um, please.
*01:10:44*
Yeah.
*01:10:46*
I'm so desperate for for that.
*01:10:47*
Um
*01:10:49*
Yeah, I don't know, man.
*01:10:51*
It it's har you know, another thing that I see
*01:10:52*
I'm I'm I I haven't been on Twitter in like a year and a half in any regular basis, so I don't even know what the dialogue's like these days, but I remember when
*01:10:59*
The PS5 and Xbox Series X, like games were seventy dollars now.
*01:11:07*
I'm like games should have been seventy dollars for a long time.
*01:11:10*
Um Red Dead Redemption 2 should be like a hundred dollar video game.
*01:11:13*
What are you talking about?
*01:11:19*
Um
*01:11:20*
And so I don't know what that conversation is like these days, but personally, as again, the adult with money and time, or not time, but with the money, the discretionary funds.
*01:11:21*
I personally am happy because and maybe it's because I've I follow the game industry and I know what it takes to make these types of games, like what people have to do.
*01:11:32*
But and so I guess I'm then happy to pay that and support that, but it's either games get more expensive or you gotta start nickel and diamond to some degree.
*01:11:43*
I don't know.
*01:11:54*
Yeah, uh and also, alternatively, have games be cheaper to make, right?
*01:11:56*
Like that also I think
*01:12:04*
uh not on the consumer side, right?
*01:12:06*
Like is is uh the Sonic meme shorter games with worse graphics.
*01:12:09*
Uh you know, like I mean does you know, does The Last of Us Part Three need to cost three hundred and fifty thousand dollars?
*01:12:14*
Like what?
*01:12:21*
I th you know I think that's what Spider-Man 2 costs.
*01:12:22*
Like, does it need to cost that much money?
*01:12:25*
I don't know.
*01:12:27*
It's I don't know.
*01:12:29*
Yeah.
*01:12:30*
Seems like a lot.
*01:12:31*
I mean, I yeah.
*01:12:32*
And you know, I I think like
*01:12:33*
wanting to increase scope is a very understandable scope creep is desire.
*01:12:36*
Yeah.
*01:12:43*
And and wanting to have this thing that just feels perfect and is like the ultimate representation.
*01:12:44*
uh of of your creative thing.
*01:12:50*
One of my favorite things though, and I don't think there's been a ton of them, but I love these $40-50 what you used to be like a DLC expansion is now just a spin-off game.
*01:12:52*
But I really like that trend of the Lost Legacy, the Miles Morales.
*01:13:04*
Oh yeah.
*01:13:09*
Yeah, I loved Lost Legacy.
*01:13:09*
That was an Uncharted Two Greatest Hits.
*01:13:12*
Yeah, well, okay.
*01:13:14*
So I I think about this a lot.
*01:13:15*
Uh like my I I am lukewarm on The Witcher 3.
*01:13:17*
Yeah.
*01:13:22*
Blood and Wine is one of my favorite gaming experiences ever.
*01:13:22*
And it's because Hearts of Stone incredible too.
*01:13:26*
Yeah, that's incredible too.
*01:13:31*
Uh but what I love about Blood and Wine is they, you know, make a new map, which is much smaller in scope than the base game, but
*01:13:32*
by it being smaller in scope, they're able to design it so intentionally.
*01:13:41*
And it's just such a well designed area.
*01:13:46*
Toussaint is just like like the way it's laid out and the way you can see almost everything and
*01:13:49*
And look at a landmark and know where you are.
*01:13:55*
Like you can actually navigate without using the minimap or the map in a way that is really hard to do in the base game.
*01:13:58*
Absolutely.
*01:14:06*
It's just so cleverly designed.
*01:14:06*
I think that smaller scope, and that's something I like about Shadow of the Ur Tree too, um, is like because it's so compressed and it's
*01:14:08*
focus more on verticality opposed to wide expanse.
*01:14:17*
Like there is just a level of detail to the world.
*01:14:22*
that that i is is extremely impressive and never overstays its welcome.
*01:14:26*
And what's s cool about those
*01:14:32*
is it's after those games come out and they take the lessons they've learned in the reception and then can apply it and make the base thing even better.
*01:14:35*
I I haven't played Cyberpunk or Phantom Liberty, but
*01:14:43*
Similar response is what I've heard of Phantom Liberty is great, and obviously the game's in a much better state technically, but
*01:14:48*
It it makes me miss the days of the the DLC expansion, um, which is now just the spin-off, which I love those types of things.
*01:14:56*
Uncharted the Lost Legacy, while incredibly compressed timeline for development.
*01:15:05*
But that took that was just like a greatest hits of Uncharted.
*01:15:10*
After four games, this is what makes Uncharted pop while exploring like a little bit of a- Here's the train.
*01:15:14*
Yeah.
*01:15:20*
Here's a train.
*01:15:20*
Here's a here's a Jeep chase.
*01:15:21*
Oh, you want a tank chasing you?
*01:15:23*
Like
*01:15:24*
Fight a helicopter.
*01:15:26*
Yeah.
*01:15:28*
Gosh, we had the Remember that in The Last of Us?
*01:15:29*
What if we did it with elephants instead?
*01:15:32*
Um what do we we've got giraffes, elephants
*01:15:35*
There was a zebra in part two.
*01:15:37*
Yep.
*01:15:39*
Yep.
*01:15:39*
Guess the next zoo animal, I guess, is like what we gotta do.
*01:15:40*
Maybe uh maybe we need something more vicious.
*01:15:44*
Yeah.
*01:15:50*
It is clearly a Naughty Dog greatest hits.
*01:15:51*
I think even there's a Crash Bandicoot style runaway.
*01:15:54*
I don't know, you know?
*01:15:57*
It's all in there.
*01:15:59*
It's but y but yeah, I mean I think, you know, these bigger experiences that are huge scopes, your your base game of Elden Rings
*01:16:00*
Your Breath of the Wilds or Tears of the Kingdom, your uh The Last of Us Part Two is like these huge endeavors are impressive and are good.
*01:16:09*
But yeah, it does make me wonder, would I rather have one Elden Ring or three Shadow of the Erd trees?
*01:16:18*
And the answer is three Shadow of the Ur Trees.
*01:16:28*
Right.
*01:16:30*
Right.
*01:16:30*
Like it's So do you go back to an era of
*01:16:31*
Here's three uncharted games all in the same console generation, two years apart.
*01:16:37*
And so you get to
*01:16:42*
Personally, I like Uncharted 3 more than those.
*01:16:45*
So like those games to me grew and culminated in what would be the best on that platform, in my opinion.
*01:16:47*
Or do you get the here's one last of us game this generation?
*01:16:54*
Hope you're ready to play that for, you know?
*01:17:00*
Yeah.
*01:17:03*
I don't know how we get back to a balance.
*01:17:04*
It feels like we've just swung out of balance.
*01:17:08*
Well, and you know, to Sony Santa Monica's credit, God of War Ragnarok was
*01:17:11*
a four year development.
*01:17:19*
I mean, God War 2018 came out in uh I believe twenty eighteen.
*01:17:22*
Uh and that's a four year development
*01:17:28*
uh during a global pandemic too, right?
*01:17:31*
Like that is uh and an incredibly title as well.
*01:17:33*
Exact oh, exactly.
*01:17:39*
It's two games really in one.
*01:17:40*
Um
*01:17:42*
They really should have maybe split it up.
*01:17:43*
Maybe, yeah.
*01:17:46*
I mean story-wise, I think it maybe treads further than you'd expect.
*01:17:47*
But yeah, I I mean, and you know, I think obviously it is quite a big game, but I think they were smart in how they scoped it and how they
*01:17:53*
uh reused their assets from the first game but d but did change them in a way that felt notable.
*01:18:03*
Uh
*01:18:11*
Uh but yeah, I think they were clear in how they did it.
*01:18:11*
Frozen.
*01:18:16*
Yeah.
*01:18:17*
What if we had to animate less water?
*01:18:17*
Everything's cold.
*01:18:21*
Yep.
*01:18:22*
Yeah.
*01:18:23*
You know, they were clever in a lot of important ways.
*01:18:23*
Yeah, man.
*01:18:27*
I could talk I'm gonna fight the urge to have a Ragnarok tangent.
*01:18:29*
Um because I love a good Ragnarok discussion.
*01:18:34*
But instead, I wanna I wanna deviate before because I don't want to like totally run out of time and you uh are a staunch.
*01:18:38*
Avatar the last airbender fan and a legend of horror fan.
*01:18:48*
Um and so am I.
*01:18:51*
I grew up watching the show.
*01:18:53*
I think I s I feel safe to assume like you did.
*01:18:54*
Uh
*01:18:58*
And you know, I feel like a lot of this could be kind of applied to Avatar itself of what we're talking about, both from
*01:19:00*
It takes a long time to make something animated really well that's told well, and when that is disrupted by Viacom, Paramount, Nickelodeon Overlords, things may not go as well.
*01:19:08*
Um, and also how do we get more of it?
*01:19:20*
But also that's good.
*01:19:22*
And all of these questions are being asked again because
*01:19:24*
There's now a studio.
*01:19:28*
And I I looked this up just for this these show notes, but I didn't realize that or I'd forgotten that
*01:19:30*
We have a movie that apparently is coming out in two years.
*01:19:36*
I don't know why.
*01:19:40*
But then another show.
*01:19:41*
Zuko may be getting a movie which feels unnecessary.
*01:19:43*
I don't know, where are you at in the Avatar life cycle?
*01:19:46*
I'm mixed on it.
*01:19:51*
Uh I think I I love st I love Avatar.
*01:19:53*
I love stories in the Avatar universe.
*01:19:57*
I think some of the stuff that they've set out, you know, as you said, like, uh, do we need a Zuko movie?
*01:19:59*
Uh I don't know.
*01:20:04*
I don't think so, to be honest.
*01:20:06*
I
*01:20:08*
I I don't know.
*01:20:10*
I'm oh I'm weird about prequels.
*01:20:10*
I don't like most prequels for stuff.
*01:20:13*
Interesting.
*01:20:15*
I'm a huge prequel fan.
*01:20:16*
Are you?
*01:20:17*
I love them.
*01:20:18*
I like it has to be done well.
*01:20:19*
Uh which I I mean duh.
*01:20:22*
Like every everything has to be done well.
*01:20:25*
You know, like Better Call Saul, great.
*01:20:27*
I think that does it really well.
*01:20:29*
Inaculate.
*01:20:31*
And I don't know, I think sometimes though and and like Rogue One uh and Andor, I think are both solid prequels.
*01:20:33*
I think what I worry about with prequels is when they focus on what I, genius Raz Butan, thinks is the wrong thing.
*01:20:42*
Yes.
*01:20:51*
Right.
*01:20:52*
And I think like like I don't think they have any plans to do this, but if they did a an Iro prequel, I would hate that.
*01:20:53*
Because it's like I I don't want to see Iroh when he's a young man.
*01:21:01*
You know, I feel I already know what I need to know about Iroh.
*01:21:05*
He was a warlord.
*01:21:09*
And like he wa you know, wasn't a great guy in that sense.
*01:21:11*
Exactly, exactly.
*01:21:16*
And I think the space in which we have
*01:21:17*
to fill in the blanks and imagine, you know, his thought process and maybe his conflicted thought process at the time.
*01:21:22*
I think that is super valuable and super interesting.
*01:21:31*
So like, you know, what I like with prequels is stuff that is in the world, maybe tangentially related to the main going-ons and the main character.
*01:21:35*
but but separate.
*01:21:46*
So usually I wouldn't like something like Better Cost All is what I'm trying to say.
*01:21:49*
But you know it's
*01:21:52*
It's Vince Gilligan.
*01:21:54*
Yeah.
*01:21:55*
I remember when that show was announced, I'm like, do we really need a prequel about Saul Goodman?
*01:21:57*
Yeah.
*01:22:02*
And now it's it's better than you know the original show.
*01:22:02*
Yeah.
*01:22:06*
And that's again them taking the lessons from Breaking Bad and applying it into something else.
*01:22:06*
But it's with Avatar I struggle though, because
*01:22:12*
I feel like they're I don't basically, I guess I don't trust Viacom Paramount Nickelodeon, really is my problem.
*01:22:20*
Um
*01:22:29*
Especially with the way they just treated the team during Korra.
*01:22:30*
Yeah.
*01:22:33*
But it feels like um
*01:22:35*
It feels like we need a cinematic universe is like the is on the PowerPoint slide in the business executive meeting, like and this is the one thing we have.
*01:22:37*
But Avatar does have this extended universe talked about candidly in the shows and as it's been explored in the books and I guess the comics afterward, which I haven't even really read a ton of
*01:22:48*
of those.
*01:23:01*
I should, I guess, if I want to learn about Zuko's mom.
*01:23:02*
But do I really want to?
*01:23:05*
Do I need the Zuko mom or you know I feel like someone who's read it?
*01:23:06*
No, I I actually don't think you do.
*01:23:11*
Like I I'm not saying that there's nothing powerful in the story, but I yeah, I don't think
*01:23:14*
I yeah, I don't think it's necessary, and I don't think it really adds to the original story that was told.
*01:23:25*
Like, like I I
*01:23:33*
I think the way Avar The Last Airbender is told, it doesn't matter what happened to Zugo's mom, right?
*01:23:37*
What matters is the impact she had on him when she was there and the impact that her leaving had.
*01:23:43*
Right.
*01:23:50*
Like you know and even if you go to the moment at the end of the whole show where he walks into the prison cell where his you know spoilers for Avatar goes.
*01:23:51*
Um, you know, walks in where his dad is and says, you know, like what happened to my mother?
*01:24:03*
I forget the exact line.
*01:24:07*
I feel like even that says everything you need to say.
*01:24:09*
Like
*01:24:12*
We know where Zuko is now, and he's just gonna get, you know, he's gonna try and get the answers from his dad, which I I can't imagine the Fire Lord being very receptive to that anyway.
*01:24:14*
Like
*01:24:25*
So But it's the power shift.
*01:24:26*
It's hey, you you answer to me now.
*01:24:27*
Yeah, that like that moment is what it conveys, not the the answer to the question.
*01:24:30*
Like that's just a a device you use to show the shift in the dynamic.
*01:24:36*
Yeah.
*01:24:41*
I mean I don't know.
*01:24:41*
I struggle with this.
*01:24:45*
Yeah, yeah.
*01:24:47*
I mean, okay, so like I think I I have been on record saying I could watch stories in the Avatar universe.
*01:24:48*
forever.
*01:24:54*
And I think that's true.
*01:24:54*
It's just I want them to be.
*01:24:56*
You're gonna get it now.
*01:24:57*
Yeah.
*01:24:58*
I feel like I want them to be the right story.
*01:25:00*
And uh, you know, of course, what I view as the right stories is is gonna be different than what other people view.
*01:25:03*
And there's also like what is probably going to make the most money and
*01:25:08*
I imagine a Zuko movie probably would do better than a movie focused on some Earthbender who isn't the Avatar, like navigating life in bossing, say, during the
*01:25:12*
The hundred years that Aang is gone.
*01:25:26*
Right.
*01:25:28*
That's what I want.
*01:25:29*
Sure.
*01:25:30*
That's like what I think would be rich and is interesting if we're doing a prequel or something.
*01:25:31*
But like that's probably not what makes the most
*01:25:35*
sense for them in terms of capitalizing on the IP they have uh in appealing to this wider audience.
*01:25:40*
I don't know.
*01:25:48*
I also think like Avatar Studios is run by uh uh Brian Canisco and Mike DiMartino.
*01:25:48*
Um so like it is in good hands.
*01:25:57*
Although, you know, I know deep Avatar heads will be like, Aaron Hijas, the writer, he's the reason it was good.
*01:26:00*
It's like he is an incredible writer, but I think
*01:26:07*
Uh, have you watched the Dragon Prince?
*01:26:11*
No, I have not.
*01:26:14*
Um, I actually don't have Netflix.
*01:26:16*
We haven't had Netflix for a hot minute, but
*01:26:17*
I have heard incredible things about it.
*01:26:20*
It's quite enjoyable.
*01:26:22*
I think, and uh, you know, I'm gonna leave it at a few sentences here and not dive super into the whys.
*01:26:24*
Um
*01:26:31*
But like I think watching that and watching Korra like side by side, you can very much see like
*01:26:31*
This is how these two groups needed each other.
*01:26:40*
I think uh Mike and Brian are very, very good at establishing setting and a world and world building.
*01:26:43*
Um
*01:26:52*
And Erin Hijas is very, very good with strong character moments and strong character motivations and just dialogue in general.
*01:26:52*
And I think, you know, the marriage between them is a huge reason why Avatar the Last Airbender was just kind of this perfect moment in TV.
*01:27:02*
Um they just complemented each other's strengths so well.
*01:27:10*
And and yeah, I I think watching those two shows, you can see where each is lacking.
*01:27:14*
It's like if only they could read forces.
*01:27:20*
Yeah.
*01:27:22*
Yeah.
*01:27:23*
It's I'm I'm
*01:27:24*
You know, two of these at least announced projects or talked about are movies, like an animated film in the movie theater.
*01:27:28*
And my brain just keeps going back to they already did that.
*01:27:35*
With the finale, which I feel like at the time and even since is unprecedented.
*01:27:38*
I mean it's a 90-minute finale of a show that felt so earned in its build-up to everything.
*01:27:43*
Um
*01:27:51*
And I don't I don't know if uh gosh, how long has it been since Avatar ended?
*01:27:52*
But like I don't know if Aang the Last Airbender, a film
*01:27:58*
In a weird way has like earned that?
*01:28:03*
Like I it feels like too long I don't know.
*01:28:05*
I Yeah.
*01:28:08*
It's strange
*01:28:09*
Um yeah.
*01:28:11*
I also think that Korra, where Korra ended, and really where Korra began, to be honest, like escalated the timeline
*01:28:12*
of the world, right?
*01:28:24*
The whole thing I mean it you know the last season has like uh the first season has mechs, you know, but but but the last season has like tons of giant I guess Avatar the last airbender had some of these
*01:28:26*
things too.
*01:28:36*
But yeah, industry moves quickly.
*01:28:37*
Yes, industry moves quickly.
*01:28:39*
So if we're doing an avatar after Quora
*01:28:41*
It's like unless you have Cora die at a pretty young age, of which they did with Aang, you know, relatively, but like
*01:28:44*
The next avatar is going to be in the 1990s.
*01:28:54*
Right, right?
*01:29:01*
Yeah.
*01:29:01*
It's like there are going to be video games in that world, which I do think could
*01:29:02*
be interesting to see like a modern world with bending.
*01:29:08*
Yeah, like a like almost like a
*01:29:14*
A Neo Tokyo Neon Lights Hoods in the Rain.
*01:29:16*
Sure, sure.
*01:29:21*
Like tech.
*01:29:24*
But yeah, even like I'm just saying it like 1990s.
*01:29:24*
Sure.
*01:29:27*
But they're but you can water bath
*01:29:29*
Yeah.
*01:29:32*
But real.
*01:29:38*
Yeah.
*01:29:39*
But but but also that doesn't feel like Avatar to me.
*01:29:40*
Right.
*01:29:46*
So it's like I I wonder what they'll do with post-Korra stuff.
*01:29:47*
And I do know that Korra kind of uh spoilers for Korra, I suppose.
*01:29:53*
You know, it ends opening the door for a more spiritually balanced world, right?
*01:29:58*
Sure.
*01:30:05*
Um and and does kind of push back against this uh ever growing aspect of
*01:30:05*
industry but the industry is still there.
*01:30:11*
Verric didn't go anywhere.
*01:30:14*
Exactly.
*01:30:16*
It's like you can't just say it stops because there are also spirits.
*01:30:17*
The hippies are in charge now.
*01:30:23*
Yeah.
*01:30:24*
So, you know, these things will continue and yeah, it makes me wonder where where it will go and what the world will become
*01:30:26*
become in the next generation if that is something that they explore, or if they just kind of are going to have to keep moving to the past.
*01:30:35*
So yeah, yeah.
*01:30:44*
Honestly, it's so we're sounding like the uh the air nomad struggle of Tenzin in later seasons of Korra.
*01:30:45*
It's like a tradition.
*01:30:52*
Yeah.
*01:30:54*
We don't want to be nomads.
*01:30:54*
Exactly.
*01:30:56*
Yeah.
*01:30:57*
So, you know, that's interesting.
*01:30:58*
I did want to ask you
*01:31:00*
If you're gonna go see Avatar in concert, even if it's close to wherever you live, but Yeah, I have tickets.
*01:31:02*
Yeah, I'm going.
*01:31:07*
I'm seeing it in October and I'm through the roof.
*01:31:08*
Yeah, I I'm I'm I'm excited about it.
*01:31:11*
Okay, good.
*01:31:13*
Um I'm glad you're gonna be able to see it.
*01:31:14*
Yeah, yeah.
*01:31:17*
Feels like we're finally getting the respect the soundtrack deserves.
*01:31:18*
I think and then a few weeks after it I'm going to Taylor Swift, so you know it's
*01:31:22*
The two the two goats.
*01:31:26*
God speed, man.
*01:31:28*
That'll be crazy.
*01:31:29*
Um that'll be a lot, man.
*01:31:31*
Holy cow.
*01:31:34*
We'll see how much crossover there is between Swifties and Aftar the Last Airbender fans.
*01:31:35*
Hopefully a lot.
*01:31:41*
I'm gonna dress up as Aang to Taylor.
*01:31:42*
is my thought.
*01:31:44*
Yeah, shave the head, tattoo your scalp.
*01:31:45*
Real tattoos.
*01:31:49*
Real.
*01:31:50*
Fully dedicate yourself like Jenora.
*01:31:50*
Um and see how into it.
*01:31:53*
Yeah.
*01:31:56*
Taylor calls you out.
*01:31:56*
I see you, Aang.
*01:31:58*
Nice head tattoo.
*01:32:00*
Nice head tattoo.
*01:32:01*
My cabbage.
*01:32:03*
Just take a actually you should just carry a cabbage in with you.
*01:32:04*
Like the subtle fan approach, you know?
*01:32:07*
Yeah.
*01:32:10*
Yeah, no, I'm excited for that.
*01:32:11*
Uh the music of Avatar is just
*01:32:12*
So incredible top to bottom.
*01:32:15*
Like uh Jeremy Zuckerman, I think.
*01:32:17*
Something like that.
*01:32:21*
Composer's name.
*01:32:21*
Uh, it's been a while since I've thought about
*01:32:23*
All the people associated with Avatar.
*01:32:25*
But yeah, he oh my gosh, just s so beautiful.
*01:32:27*
I think I you know I I am
*01:32:31*
Mixed on Korra, like the video I made on it, called it a beautiful mess.
*01:32:35*
And I think it's just it's just a messy story that I think has so much beauty.
*01:32:39*
uh in it and and and the music does some heavy lifting.
*01:32:44*
There are some moments that I'm like, I don't know if this is earned, but I'm I'm crying.
*01:32:48*
Jeremy done Jeremy Jeremy like picked up the production on his back at times and was like, I got you, don't worry.
*01:32:54*
Yeah.
*01:33:01*
Uh fills in fills in some gaps for for beats that
*01:33:02*
Uh yeah, maybe we're lacking.
*01:33:06*
But yeah, quite quite incredible.
*01:33:08*
Very excited for it.
*01:33:10*
And then I wanted to ask you simply because I haven't watched it, because again, didn't have Netflix when it aired.
*01:33:11*
Um
*01:33:17*
How how's the live action?
*01:33:19*
Oh, it's bad.
*01:33:22*
Okay.
*01:33:23*
It was bad.
*01:33:24*
I didn't like it.
*01:33:25*
Um I think
*01:33:27*
I I don't know.
*01:33:32*
I don't like I don't like being a hater.
*01:33:33*
I I often am, but I don't like it.
*01:33:37*
I think I think it
*01:33:41*
What what I'll give it credit for is there are a few people who are trying really, really hard.
*01:33:45*
I think a lot of people who are working on it are trying really, really hard.
*01:33:50*
Um, and I can appreciate that is like the the craft that went into it
*01:33:54*
While not maybe always the most skilled craft or the most uh enjoyable to watch, like you can you can tell that it is a thing made of passion.
*01:34:02*
Okay.
*01:34:14*
Also backed by a thing of money because after the last airbender did really, really well on Netflix uh uh, you know, from when it got put on around 2020, like then they knew there was money there, obviously.
*01:34:14*
Sure.
*01:34:28*
Each episode costs a lot of money.
*01:34:28*
My point is, I feel like the creative team working on it was trying.
*01:34:32*
Whi which which I I I know doesn't maybe matter to a lot of people, but I think you can see it there and you can see especially I mean
*01:34:37*
It is it is weird.
*01:34:46*
They the the length of time, like the minutes of this eight-episode season is about the same as the 20 episodes.
*01:34:48*
of the first season.
*01:34:57*
Like if you if you add up the time, it's pretty much the same amount of time that passes.
*01:34:59*
Right.
*01:35:04*
Like in in terms of minutes.
*01:35:04*
They they use up the same amount of time to tell both stories.
*01:35:05*
But because it's an eight-episode structure, they they end up combining things
*01:35:09*
Cause because yeah, you can't have like one episode of TV have three or four different resolutions.
*01:35:18*
Right.
*01:35:28*
You know, like you can't mix all these like
*01:35:29*
The little subplot adventures.
*01:35:32*
Again, I don't know where the Netflix show goes ex particularly, but it's like, how do you how do you emphasize the importance of Aang learning about the spirit world while also having him
*01:35:34*
You know, uh I don't know, ride an unagi.
*01:35:47*
You know, it's like, I don't know.
*01:35:50*
Yeah.
*01:35:52*
And unfortunately, they cut the unagi.
*01:35:53*
That's the answer to that one.
*01:35:55*
Uh huge special effects, but problem.
*01:35:57*
But yeah, so they combine a lot of stories.
*01:36:00*
And what I will say is like when I look at it from a narrative perspective, I'm like, I understand why you combined that.
*01:36:02*
And I like I can almost picture the people in the writer's room like having the aha moment of like, if we move this beat
*01:36:11*
From this story here, it can connect because they, you know, have parallels in terms of the things they're telling, or or they're in the same location.
*01:36:20*
It's like that part of the craft, like looking at it, I'm like
*01:36:28*
I can appreciate the thought that went into the adaptation.
*01:36:32*
Now, the issue is these changes they make fundamentally ruin the spirit of the show.
*01:36:36*
Uh they they make it so the characters don't spend almost any time together so that when you get to the finale and Katara is like, Aang, we care about you.
*01:36:43*
It's like you haven't talked to Aang all season because each episode you were doing your A plot uh your B plot as Aang did his A plot and then Sokka did his C plot, all of which had you in different locations.
*01:36:55*
doing different things, talking with different side characters who are now no longer relevant.
*01:37:09*
So it's like because it tries to fit all these things in and ends up
*01:37:14*
Pulling characters apart because like you know what's good about the original show is when you
*01:37:19*
do a plot or a subplot, all the characters can still be involved in that.
*01:37:28*
But when you put them all in one episode and they have their different paths they have to go on,
*01:37:32*
It's like they're with each other at the beginning of the episode, apart for forty minutes, and then together at the end.
*01:37:37*
And it's like you here.
*01:37:43*
Mm-hmm.
*01:37:46*
Mm-hmm.
*01:37:46*
Uh and I think so much of Avatar is
*01:37:47*
the kinship between the group and how they feel like a group of friends.
*01:37:50*
And I think that was an issue with Korra too, is is like the gang and Korra, I don't know.
*01:37:54*
Like.
*01:38:01*
is st not really believable as friends for the most part.
*01:38:02*
It actually kinda is like an example of the strength of the filler episode.
*01:38:06*
You know?
*01:38:11*
Yes.
*01:38:12*
They flesh out the world, but they also flesh out the core characters and just their dynamic with each other.
*01:38:13*
Like I'm I've been slowly chipping away at a rewatch of Avatar uh this year
*01:38:19*
because I haven't watched it in a in a hot minute, but I just watched uh the episode I think it's called Avatar Day, uh, where Ain is accused of, you know, killing their great leader.
*01:38:24*
Yeah.
*01:38:36*
And
*01:38:37*
Is his past life to Kyoshi and that whole episode Sokka is a goofy detective with a bubble pipe and like
*01:38:37*
That's like just a character attribute of him that then gets kind of played out and gets little jokes and nods later on.
*01:38:46*
But in a show like Netflix, I'm I'm gonna guess there is no bubble pipe detective soccer.
*01:38:52*
No.
*01:38:58*
Exactly.
*01:38:58*
No
*01:38:59*
And so you lose kind of that essence of Sokka, which all builds towards great moments in the show.
*01:38:59*
I mean, you talk about
*01:39:08*
in your art of tearbending.
*01:39:09*
But I don't think you get to the end of The Last Airbender where he's hanging there on the the blimp with the top.
*01:39:11*
without Detective Sokka.
*01:39:19*
Exact exactly.
*01:39:21*
Like you need all those moments for for like looks like this is it.
*01:39:23*
Like
*01:39:28*
Mm-hmm.
*01:39:29*
Oh, I'm about to cry just a second.
*01:39:29*
You made me cry when I watched the video the other day.
*01:39:31*
You need him to be aloof in a
*01:39:34*
And like weird and wacky in different ways.
*01:39:39*
It's like, yeah, I I don't know.
*01:39:42*
I I know it got signed.
*01:39:44*
I'm excited that it got more seasons because I want to see what they do with the whole story.
*01:39:45*
So I'm I'm interested in seeing how they adapt it.
*01:39:50*
I don't think like, you know, it shouldn't exist because who cares?
*01:39:53*
Who cares?
*01:39:57*
If if people want to make a thing, it doesn't impact the original.
*01:39:58*
Like we can always go back.
*01:40:02*
And watch Avatar Life Sarebender and I have enough copies of that show where I definitely can do that.
*01:40:04*
Yeah.
*01:40:10*
I never take it.
*01:40:11*
What will they do with cactus juice, right?
*01:40:13*
Like like they have to put cactus in there.
*01:40:15*
They can't put cactus juice
*01:40:18*
Yeah.
*01:40:21*
And I think my worry is what they're gonna probably do is have him, you know, have like make it a deep moment, right?
*01:40:21*
Of like him having a hallucination of
*01:40:29*
uh Princess Yue and be sad, or you know, like but it's like maybe can just be really silly.
*01:40:31*
Like we'll see.
*01:40:38*
Exactly.
*01:40:42*
Uh but also part of what made the cactus juice so funny was the animation.
*01:40:43*
Yes.
*01:40:47*
And and just how it used animation
*01:40:48*
and changed Sokka's look entirely as he did certain actions and looked at things and just in a way that I live action just really
*01:40:51*
unfortunately can't or fortunately I don't know animation's great animation can just be animation yeah um it is a different art style and achieves different things
*01:41:00*
And they don't always have to be, you know, they don't always benefit from from just making it live action.
*01:41:10*
You you you're always gonna have things you lose out on.
*01:41:15*
Yeah, look at uh The Lion King or any Disney live action adaptation.
*01:41:19*
Yeah.
*01:41:25*
Yeah.
*01:41:26*
Well, and you know, that's what I appreciate so much about the Last of Us uh adaptation.
*01:41:28*
I do have issues with certain things and certain changes.
*01:41:32*
Um
*01:41:36*
And I wish, frankly, I wish they would have done way more stuff like the Bill and Frank episode.
*01:41:37*
Thank you.
*01:41:43*
Um because
*01:41:43*
It like the changes are interesting.
*01:41:45*
The world i that the you know is built, I know it's another postpocal uh post-poctivist
*01:41:48*
Elliptic zombie world, but it's still interesting.
*01:41:54*
Like in in the way its specific world works.
*01:41:56*
My favorite stuff in the show was, you know, stuff
*01:41:59*
like the Bill and Frank episode is stuff like the cold opens.
*01:42:03*
Um, man, uh that scene I think it's the second episode and it's like
*01:42:08*
that they get that infection s expert or whatever yeah talking about talk yeah like who looks at the infection and is like what do you think
*01:42:14*
we do and it's just like bum and it's like bomb bum bom it's like oh my god like it is the stuff they changed was the best part of that show yeah um
*01:42:23*
And when they stick so closely to the script of the original, that's where they lose a lot of it.
*01:42:36*
Like the moments that are supposed to hit don't hit.
*01:42:41*
I was just talking about this with a friend the other day, but
*01:42:44*
Like Joel's march up to the hospital room is like uh it's like a it's I don't know, it's not very good in the show.
*01:42:47*
I also yeah, so I think
*01:42:58*
I don't think I'll ever make a video about this, but I've thought about it.
*01:43:01*
Um like the
*01:43:04*
Uh like I think part of what makes it so powerful in the game, A, is that you are doing it.
*01:43:10*
Yes, right.
*01:43:18*
It's on the stick, as as Nardog likes to put it.
*01:43:19*
You are.
*01:43:22*
Yeah.
*01:43:22*
The story is in your hands.
*01:43:23*
You you are like you don't have a choice, but you are doing this thing.
*01:43:26*
You are also like
*01:43:30*
It is this thing, and I there are so many arguments about, oh, Joel did nothing wrong or whatever.
*01:43:32*
And it's like in that moment, it it doesn't matter.
*01:43:38*
if if Joel is morally in in the right or not.
*01:43:43*
Like that that's not what's happening.
*01:43:47*
He's not justify like he can justify to himself later why it was okay.
*01:43:50*
But that's just just like yeah, it was that the person he saw as his daughter was going to be killed.
*01:43:55*
And he wasn't gonna let that happen again, right?
*01:44:02*
And and so you uh are are with him for that whole journey.
*01:44:04*
You're there at the beginning, you're there at the end, and as a player, you're like, we're doing this, right?
*01:44:07*
So that's one part that's powerful is like
*01:44:13*
aligning with Joel in that moment where he's doing a thing that like is pretty barbaric, but but also it's so messy in all stages of getting there.
*01:44:17*
It is messy as a player uh weaving through these groups of many guys.
*01:44:28*
I mean, I guess if you're really good on your first playthrough, which I doubt most people are.
*01:44:32*
Yeah, no one's doing that.
*01:44:36*
Stealth all the way first time.
*01:44:38*
Yeah, you're probably you're probably getting spotted.
*01:44:39*
You're probably in cover.
*01:44:41*
You're probably having these desperate moments where you're like, I need to get to that room soon.
*01:44:42*
uh and and taking hits that you shouldn't where in the show he's just like tactical he's like bump bump got you bump bump um you know and then in the moment where
*01:44:46*
Like with with the doctor specifically where where you uh you know have to walk through him.
*01:44:56*
Or I I suppose Abby's dad I guess we can Spoilers for the last of us part two with Dr.
*01:45:02*
Anderson
*01:45:09*
Um, you know, the way that goes is so barbaric too.
*01:45:10*
Like, like it's all feels messy in a way, where in the show he's just like, I'm I'm a navy SEAL now.
*01:45:14*
There's no uh there's no trouble getting to the end.
*01:45:23*
Of course I saved her.
*01:45:26*
Yeah, like there was no urgency or frenetic nature.
*01:45:28*
to it.
*01:45:33*
And what's so interesting from a gameplay perspective is it's a situation you've never been put in before.
*01:45:33*
And they give you a weapon that you've never used before, but a weapon that also conveys
*01:45:38*
It's a level of power you've never had before.
*01:45:44*
So you actually get to act out your desire in that moment, which is to save her at all cost.
*01:45:46*
But you do it in a way where it's like you haven't handled an automatic weapon before in this world and there are more human enemies which are truly the scary ones in the game.
*01:45:54*
And there's, you know uh I mean to talk about reusable items or crafting things, it's like now's the time, like I'm I'm not worried about holding on to the smoke bomb or the the nail bomb here.
*01:46:04*
Like I need to use this in all
*01:46:16*
So it the frenetic nature of it lends itself to the urgency narratively.
*01:46:17*
It's so good.
*01:46:23*
And like desperation.
*01:46:24*
There's just desperation.
*01:46:25*
to it all.
*01:46:26*
Where in the show there's no desperation.
*01:46:27*
It's like minutes.
*01:46:29*
Exactly.
*01:46:31*
It's so quick.
*01:46:32*
It's so clean and and
*01:46:33*
uh tactical and you know I get like probably what they were going for of like this this switch flipping in Joel's head of like I'm just gonna do this mission and
*01:46:36*
pull out all humanness from myself and not care about who I have to hurt to save this one person.
*01:46:49*
Yeah.
*01:46:56*
And there's some power to that too, but I just don't think it's nearly as effective.
*01:46:56*
Um yeah, yeah.
*01:47:02*
There's also the like when I think when they do stuff line for line, that is
*01:47:05*
The as you said, like the stuff from the game that they did in the show, like the whole conversation with Ellie and Joel um in
*01:47:11*
uh what's the what's the city called again that they um uh I can't remember in Kansas City?
*01:47:20*
No, no, no.
*01:47:27*
When they're like um
*01:47:28*
Early on or at the end of the day.
*01:47:31*
Where like where like his brother is, where uh Jackson, thank you.
*01:47:32*
I can't remember.
*01:47:36*
Like when they're in that area and having that conversation.
*01:47:37*
of like You're on mighty thin ice that one yeah yeah it's like you should have just changed this whole scene like you you really should have just made something
*01:47:40*
new because the characters are different enough where they do you know I they're not one for one and they shouldn't be so when it slips into the one for one
*01:47:49*
It's like, oh, okay.
*01:47:59*
Like yeah.
*01:48:01*
And I and I don't know if it hits as hard for even the people who haven't played the game.
*01:48:02*
Um I guess we'll really find out when season two airs and what they do.
*01:48:07*
Um
*01:48:12*
Yeah.
*01:48:13*
'Cause that's also what's I think so great about part two is they take that alignment with the character and twist it on itself for you.
*01:48:14*
in multiple ways to leverage that storytelling medium through gameplay.
*01:48:23*
And I'm so curious how they're going to approach that.
*01:48:30*
in the show because there's a lot going on there.
*01:48:33*
Oh yeah.
*01:48:36*
And they're doing it in two fewer episodes.
*01:48:37*
Now, I believe there's basically a season three already, so like it's not gonna be all of part two in one season.
*01:48:39*
Mm-hmm
*01:48:46*
But I don't know what they're gonna tell in seven episodes and how they're gonna convey that gameplay film.
*01:48:47*
I mean also, yeah, structurally, right?
*01:48:56*
Because you know, the the structure of part two is something that I think a lot of people take issue with.
*01:48:58*
Um
*01:49:05*
Which I think I you know, I think it's brilliant.
*01:49:07*
I I love it.
*01:49:09*
I love how the structure works.
*01:49:11*
I I love that you like I get it.
*01:49:12*
I get why people are mad about being switched to this character that they're you know
*01:49:14*
spent the last eight hours hating, but I think that's that's what makes it work.
*01:49:19*
That's the most that's what makes it one of the most powerful parts of the game.
*01:49:22*
Mm-hmm.
*01:49:26*
It it's like so grating, right?
*01:49:26*
Yeah.
*01:49:30*
I mean how the frustration is good.
*01:49:30*
It it makes you feel different, both at the midpoint uh fight between Abby and Ellie, which is just
*01:49:33*
Like what a but yeah, what a gut wrench.
*01:49:44*
Like Oh yeah.
*01:49:48*
They'd really take the whole you were playing as the villain thing.
*01:49:49*
to the whole, you know, to its like logical next level.
*01:49:52*
And then the very end of the game, it's like, oh my gosh, where I don't I don't want to do this at all.
*01:49:55*
But I have to do it.
*01:50:02*
So I uh
*01:50:04*
I like in both instances, like at any time those confrontations would come up, I like uh put my controller down.
*01:50:06*
And like I like I was like, I wonder if there's a thing where like maybe if you just die, like it goes this way, you know, like or if it's just a typical stage.
*01:50:15*
Yeah.
*01:50:24*
Yeah, you can't change it.
*01:50:24*
And I yeah, it's just uh I yeah.
*01:50:26*
I imagine the show probably won't do that structure.
*01:50:29*
My guess is the show will probably intercut it.
*01:50:34*
Yeah, I am picturing a game of thrones like that.
*01:50:37*
Yes.
*01:50:40*
Also being told in order, not so much like here's a the flashback moment, more like let's tell the story in order to some way.
*01:50:41*
So And you know, uh like it'll be interesting to see if in that progression and in that medium if people have
*01:50:49*
you know, a different take on it.
*01:50:58*
'Cause I think about Game of Thrones and like y you've watched I assume?
*01:50:59*
I've watched uh the regular show all eight or nine seasons.
*01:51:08*
seasons and felt the sh you know the the bum out I yeah ironically House of Dragons we started um
*01:51:12*
And I don't know if it was like episode five four, five, or six, but the episode in House of Dragons season one where basically everyone is giving birth.
*01:51:20*
Uh that night is when my wife went into labor.
*01:51:28*
So it was a very uh foreshadowing moment.
*01:51:32*
And we never came back to House of Drakens after that.
*01:51:35*
So
*01:51:39*
It was like really great to watch that right before watching my wife do it.
*01:51:40*
It was like, oh, this isn't good.
*01:51:44*
Yeah.
*01:51:46*
Um but yeah, I mean I think like
*01:51:47*
I don't know.
*01:51:52*
It's like Jamie Lannister, right?
*01:51:52*
People love Jamie Lannister because of how he works.
*01:51:55*
And I I don't think it's one-to-one to uh Abby, right?
*01:51:58*
But I think
*01:52:04*
Game of Thrones has proven that characters like that.
*01:52:05*
I think there's tons of people like that who aren't uh just w that that you're kind of should hate.
*01:52:07*
But you you enjoy watching them.
*01:52:15*
Yeah.
*01:52:18*
And you enjoy seeing their progression in the story and understand why they are them.
*01:52:18*
Look at Zuko.
*01:52:23*
Zuko, yeah, Zuko's a great example of it.
*01:52:25*
Zuko's perfect.
*01:52:27*
Um
*01:52:28*
Yeah, so it'll be interesting to see if TV does a better job of dealing with that and handling that.
*01:52:29*
I think also the way the show ended set it up a bit more.
*01:52:35*
Yeah.
*01:52:40*
Two 'cause they knew where they were going.
*01:52:41*
Yeah.
*01:52:43*
Like they knew the final product of like the second part of the story.
*01:52:43*
They uh that was already complete.
*01:52:48*
When at the time of The Last of Us the game
*01:52:50*
Um it was just an idea, you know.
*01:52:53*
So we'll see, because undoubtedly part three is in the works, so I imagine they're stretching the TV show out to be in line with the game.
*01:52:55*
I mean it will be uh Yeah, that wouldn't be that would not be surprising.
*01:53:05*
I I'm almost I'm confident in my sign of that, but we'll see how it all shakes out.
*01:53:08*
Um
*01:53:16*
Well, thank you so much, Raz.
*01:53:17*
I think that does it today.
*01:53:18*
I've kept you longer than promised, which seems to be happening more and more lately on the show.
*01:53:20*
So thank you for hanging out with me uh and talking about all this fun stuff.
*01:53:25*
The people can find you online at
*01:53:31*
on YouTube at Rasbuten.
*01:53:34*
They can find you on Nebula as Rasbutan.
*01:53:36*
They could subscribe over there or on Patreon, Twitter.
*01:53:39*
You're just Rasbut.
*01:53:42*
I think you're the Rasbuten or something.
*01:53:43*
something on Twitter, but you'll pop up.
*01:53:45*
You'll probably find me.
*01:53:49*
Yeah.
*01:53:50*
Yeah.
*01:53:50*
So yeah, I hope I answered
*01:53:51*
So I I don't think I answered fully any question as we got to other interesting things, but I think I half answered a lot of questions, hopefully, well enough.
*01:53:53*
You took no, that was perfect.
*01:54:04*
I had so much fun with all the conversations and where it took us because that's that's like the beautiful thing about this format is I can do all of this.
*01:54:06*
And then the conversation just goes and it becomes its own thing.
*01:54:14*
And that's I think that's the beauty of this whole thing and process and what I love about it so much.
*01:54:17*
Uh so thank you.
*01:54:23*
If you would like to find the links to about what we've talked about, uh you can check out the show notes in your podcast player or head over to maxfrequency.
*01:54:25*
net forward slash mfp-41.
*01:54:33*
That's where this episode will be living in perpetuity.
*01:54:36*
Um, you could find my writing over at maxfrequency.
*01:54:40*
net or check out my other podcast.
*01:54:43*
chapter select where we bounce back and forth between a series exploring its evolution, design, and legacy.
*01:54:45*
Uh our test season was about The Last of Us, right, when part two came out.
*01:54:51*
So not a lot to bounce back and forth between, but um we'll see what 2020 Max thought about those games if you feel so inclined.
*01:54:56*
Um but thank you all so much for listening, and until next time, adios.
*01:55:04*