A journey into the things we love: Podcast + blog! Get your geek on or discover your inner geek: games, video games, RPGs, comic books, movies, TV, books, oh so much more!
Thrilling fantasy stories of the swashbuckling duo Mongoose and Meerkat with author Jim Breyfogle. Adventure fiction as opposed to “pulp” fiction (and what exactly does “pulp” mean, anyway). Who is Jim’s number one favorite writer from the past? Shane’s dirty little secret when it comes to Robert E. Howard’s fiction. Robert A. Heinlein was both amazing AND sketchy. Fair Witnesses are cool. The Odyssey Writing Workshop. Some love for CIRSOVA magazine and its publisher P. Alexander.
JAQ: Journey Adventure Quest is the new drafting board game with resource management, cool mechanics, challenging monsters, fun lore, and multiple paths to victory. Jesse Stacy, Tommy Noel and Brandon Beam from Triceratops Games join Shane to talk all about it (and demonstrate some actual play)! Also: Why the name Triceratops, wait until you hear about the artist, shout-outs to favorite board games, reminiscing on the early days of Magic: The Gathering, and of course more.
Board game shout-outs: Thanos Rising: Avengers Infinity War Mystic Vale Wingspan Ankh Fantastic Factories Libertalia Lords of Waterdeep Star Trek Expeditions Ticket to Ride Small World Tokaido Lost Cities (2 player) Jaipur (2 player)
Comics artist (and self-described art hobo) Brian Shearer has worked on such high-profile properties as Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Doctor Who as well as his own creations Gunship Thunderpunch and William the Last. How did Brian become a professional artist? Tips for creators to build an audience online. What’s the line you have to cross on a late crowdfunding project fulfillment before Shane gets annoyed? Working on G.I. Joe pages while with your wife in the delivery room. SDCC and many other big cons aren’t for comics creators and fans anymore. Transformers toy history, and Bob Budiansky and Jim Shooter’s vital contributions to Transformers lore. Some Classic Who and New Who discussion. Favorite entertainment properties from the 80s. Shane was NOT down with the Ghostbusters cartoon that had an ape. 80s anime and those sweet, sweet Star Blazers twisty laser cannons. Catching episodes of Dragon Ball and Ranma 1/2 in Japanese and trying to make sense of it. What’s that certain unique something that Cowboy Bebop has? Favorite breakfast cereals, cereal toys of yore, and Saturday morning cartoons.
My 8-year-old son is soloing Valheim, and did a great job taking down Eikthyr (the first boss) on his first try. He had all leather armor on (pants, tunic, and helmet), had eaten three different types of food first, and used a crude bow with fire errors.
DC’s Injustice animated movie dropped in October 2021. It’s based on the Injustice: Gods Among Us video game and the related comic book series.
The plot involves Superman breaking bad after the Joker does a Really, Really Horrible Thing and heroes taking sides and beating the dog nuts out of each other with the fate of the world at stake (fascism or freedom).
The video game and comic books have received high praise. The movie is watchable and has some interesting moments but I wouldn’t say it’s great.
But that’s not what we’re here to talk about.
We’re here to talk about knuckles.
Or rather, the lack of knuckles.
There are no knuckles in the Injustice animated movie.
They have been, for want of a better description, censored.
Redacted, even.
The knuckles, throughout the entire movie, have black bars on them.
“We’ve got to knuckle down on this.”
“Nothing in this report explains why my knuckles are censored.”
I’ve watched this movie twice now and I just don’t get it. If it’s an aesthetic choice, it’s baffling because it’s not a pleasing effect. It’s distracting and ugly. I constantly get distracted by it. All I can think is, “Why did they do this?” when instead I should be enjoying someone getting super-punched the heck out.
“I’m about to super-punch this menace out, but he’s… staring at my knuckles?? Wait, where ARE my knuckles?”“Great Hera! The evil of Man’s World has censored my knuckles!”“Amazing! Amazo can even absorb my black knuckles!”
I’ve searched online a few times to see if there is an answer to this mystery. I can find other people commenting and asking about the black knuckles (other folks seem as confused as I am), but I have yet to find anything mentioning why they went with such a glaring and weird artistic choice. It’s such a weird and noticeable deviation in the style you think someone would be talking about why they did it. But the Internet is as silent on the subject as those censored knuckles.
I considered the possibility that it was some kind of computer-assisted animation process. Maybe there was something wrong with the original knuckle art and instead of spending a lot of time to correct it they just used a process to put black bars over the knuckles as a cheap fix.
But no, I’ve found another instance of Warner Bros.-related animation that has the same style.
The Mortal Kombat Legends animated movies do the same thing.
“My knuckles look really stupid, but at least they kind of match my sunglasses. I guess.”“Bah! Scorpion will… wait, no, stare at my cool snakelike spear thing, NOT MY KNUCKLES!! Sigh…”“Black or red with my enemy’s blood, Shao Kahn cares not the color. But they do look kind of weird.”
So, inexplicably, it seems to be an intentional choice.
Someone actually thought, “Hey, it will look SO cool to put ugly and distracting black bars over all the knuckles in this animation.” And the other people involved went “Yep, amazing idea. Let’s do it.”* *Theoretical dramatization, not actual footage of the event in question
It looks like two different South Korean animation studios did Injustice (NE4U Inc.) and Mortal Kombat Legends (Studio Mir). Maybe they share some animators or both of them farmed their work out to yet a third studio that does the weird knuckle thing. But on paper, they are not the same studio. I expected to find otherwise once I saw two different Warner Bros.-related movies using the same design choice.
Hopefully, someday, somehow, the decision behind this knuckle-biting mystery will be unredacted and we can finally understand. It probably will still be strange, but at least we’ll know why for goodness sake.
If you’re reading this and you know why and how this happened, for my sanity please share the knowledge. I beg you.
I leave you with more examples of the black knuckle carnage:
These black knuckles just don’t ring true.
“Chicks dig scars, but these black knuckles? Not so much.”
“I just gave an order! Why is everyone staring at my knuckles?!”
The theory that the censored knuckles were a power source was disproven quickly.
These aren’t even censored knuckles. They’re like bands or knuckle rings or something.“No, don’t start blacking out until AFTER I punch you!”“I’m trying to look intimidating, but I know you’re just looking at my weird knuckles right?”This dramatic moment completely ruined by strangely censored knuckles.“Flash Fact: trying to figure out why they drew my knuckles this way is a headache.”“You said it, Flash!”
RPG designer Bruce Nesmith discusses his career as a TSR veteran (Ravenloft 2E, Gamma World 4E, Dragonlance), Elder Scrolls Skyrim lead designer, and now novelist. Bruce’s first day at TSR was an experience, to say the least. What does he consider his biggest achievement while at TSR? Bruce’s opinion of TSR under Gary Gygax versus Lorraine Williams and what he considers TSR’s “glory days”. What was his job description as lead designer on The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim? Why did Oblivion have a big celebrity but Skyrim didn’t? Bruce was years ahead of the game when it came to his revamp of the Armor Class system for Gamma World 4E. What do you do when you want to play D&D but you don’t have the rules? You invent it, including simulating the d20 with d6s. Writing for games versus writing prose. Bruce’s Loki in his novel Mischief Maker is not the MCU Loki. Shane laments the lack of a werecow in TSR publications.
RPG designers John Kennedy (Star Trek Adventures, Stargate 5E) and Sharene “Madfishmonger” Gilchrist (Capers, Vast Kaviya) join to talk their new Staged Heroism RPG: A Comedic RPG of Super-Heroics, Super-Villainy, and Failure at its Best inspired by shows like The Venture Bros. Plus: Designing not to fail forward, but to embrace the fail. The Roger Rabbit style of gameplay. Flashback scenes as a game mechanic. Venomous monarch butterflies. Where did Sharene get her nickname? Cops raiding a Vampire LARP session. The design philosophy behind Star Trek Adventures. John gets a no-prize. Everyone is entirely too amused by the Burger King Kids Club.
Comics writer Paul Kupperberg is the very definition of prolific! He has written 1,400 comics over 4 decades, wrote for and was the editor of the Weekly World News, wrote Mad Libs, and is still staying busy writing books and novels. Paul’s credits include the Doom Patrol, Peacemaker, Vigilante, and the first comic book miniseries (1979’s World of Krypton), as well as being the writer who killed Archie (after simultaneously marrying him off to both Betty AND Veronica).
Also: In the real world, superheroes would be NUTS. The willing suspension of disbelief versus the art style. What Archie means to Paul. Target audiences for comic books over different eras. Does Paul prefer the JSA or JLA? Armchair quarterbacking by comics fans.The challenges of continuity in serialized fiction over time (with some insight behind Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot). Which classic silver age DC comics issues didn’t have a number on the cover, and why? One positive early benefit of the direct market in the comics industry. What was the first comics miniseries (and why was it a last-minute thing)? What did James Gunn think of Paul’s version of Peacemaker? Which comics character has Paul had the strongest fan feedback to? What does he consider his strongest sustained comics work? What’s the one comics character he would love to return to? More!
Highlights: Stephen Chenault aka the Troll Lord of Castle & Crusades publisher Troll Lord Game joins to talk about what’s new with C&C and some wise principles he uses to run TLG that have helped them tremendously while other companies have encountered severe disruption during COVID. Plus: Steve has to do daily battle with Skynet for sales. The perfect timing of the emergence of crowdfunding for TTRPG companies. Steve’s honesty when asked if he’s ever considered giving up. Dissecting the current massive popularity of RPGs. What is Steve’s favorite monster, and why is it the Gibbering Mouther? How did Troll Lord Games get its name? Some comic book industry discussion. Tribute to David Middleton aka The Digital Dungeon Master.
Highlights: A cool project to make 3D-printable RPG miniatures from Jeshield’s art. Plus! How did he build his RPG stock art business as the main part of his income? What was the RPG that influenced him to become an artist, and what piece of its art impacted him the most? Straight talk on the financials of the RPG art business. Comparing an artist website versus Patreon vs DriveThruRPG. The importance of a rate sheet. Beware the mighty werefrog!
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