Shows
The Disney Animated CanonballEncantoThe widely praised 2021 Disney movie about generational trauma and Columbian culture has shaken the world and set a new standard for the kind of media it is, coming from a deeply considered authentic place of emotionality in a family from whom we so often hear nothing. And if you can hear this podcast over the sound of Talen's grinding teeth, you'll be able to find out what Fox has to say about it!2022-07-2600 minThe Disney Animated CanonballFrozen 2If two princesses and one good song can make a billion dollars, what can two princesses and no good songs do? Well, we check it out with 2019's Frozen 2, the last of a pre-pandemic culture's vision of blockbuster family cinema! Do they do a good job? Will the movie earn Fox and Talen's approval as 'good stuff' or will it have to take its mere billion dollars as a consolation prize?2022-07-2600 minThe Disney Animated CanonballMoanaThere were TWO Disney movies in 2016? And one was a Musker & Clements joint? Holy macaroni! Oh and it has a joke about tweeting. Fox and Talen talk about Moana, a movie with a beautiful visual scope that nonetheless wants to try and include in its wide spread arms a set of cultures whose territory encircles an ocean larger than the moon. How did they do? Better ask a pair of white people in a settler state!2022-07-2600 minThe Disney Animated CanonballFrozenWhat would it take to make a princess movie that made a billion dollars? Turns out, two princesses and exactly one good song. Fox and Talen talk about 2013's media juggernaut and landscape shaper Frozen. Bonus, this is once again, the last movie Walt Disney ever worked on.2022-07-2651 minThe Disney Animated CanonballWreck-It-RalphIf a Boomer had an opinion on videogames in the forest, would it still be a bore? We talk about the 2012 3d animated feature Wreck-It-Ralph, which made Fox and Talen surprisingly angry. Come along and learn how the story of Wreck-It-Ralph is about Trans Women In Sports, and how reference is not commentary.2022-07-2600 minThe Disney Animated CanonballWinnie The PoohTwice now the Disney Animated Canon has included a short story compilation about Winnie the Pooh that just kind of wanders around the house making up a story about whatever random things it finds. Fox and Talen look at the 2011 animated feature called just Winnie the Pooh, and try to stay awake.2022-07-2600 minThe Disney Animated CanonballTangledFox and Talen look into the long-form history of the conflicted almost-traditionally-animated 2010 Animated Canon smash Tangled. We talk about an alternate viewing technique, the marketing history of 'four quadrants' storytelling, and inevitably get distracted by the (really quite good) TV series.2022-07-2659 minThe Disney Animated CanonballThe Princess & The FrogDisney returns to traditional animation with 2009's The Princess And The Frog. Swimming through the foggy waters of the bayous, Fox and Talen consider if there's any reason this movie somehow didn't quite hit the same notes as other movies that added to the Princess canon, or if there was some reason audiences missed it (racism). There's a spooky villain, a Lion King tie in and an alligator playing a trumpet, and yet, there's still some uncomfortable Protestant bullshit.2022-07-2600 minThe Disney Animated CanonballBoltDog movie dog movie dog movie dog movie! And thank goodness for it, as Bolt sets the precedent for Disney's competent 3d storytelling going forward.2022-03-1451 minThe Disney Animated CanonballMeet The RobinsonsAn auteur makes a movie about something deeply personal but unfortunately, isn't able to make the actual movie into anything worth watching.2022-03-1400 minThe Disney Animated CanonballChicken LittleWow, it's a deep dark well the Disney Studios fall into when they try and make a story that matches Shrek for irreverent and approachable tone.2022-03-1452 minThe Disney Animated CanonballHome on the RangeDo you wanna hear jokes about cows with boobs? Because you're going to hear jokes about cows with boobs.2022-03-1400 minThe Disney Animated CanonballBrother BearWalt Disney makes another Phil Collins movie while trying to make The Lion King 2, but King Lear, but with Bears, and it all gets stitched together by people who could finish a project, but not actually make a project.2022-03-141h 00The Disney Animated CanonballTreasure PlanetWhat if Disney hero boys were like, attractive, and interesting, and not boring cutouts for Disney princess to latch on to? What if their stories were about what it was like to find a surrogate father, and for that love to be complex? What if there were hoverboards and street racing over molten gold? What if?2022-03-141h 16The Disney Animated CanonballLilo & StitchTalen's favourite Disney animated feature film, Lilo and Stitch is a 2002 escapee of a low budget and low expectations that nonetheless got to reshape the world and of course, etch a place on Talen's heart.2022-03-1459 minThe Disney Animated CanonballAtlantisAdventure! Daring! Needlessly racist worldbuilding! Come to Atlantis, we have two halves of two movies to half-give you.2022-03-141h 08The Disney Animated CanonballThe Emperor's New GrooveWhen we talk about the way Disney makes movies, it's a given that these people are good at their jobs and executing on their plan in the best possible way. That is not always the case, as in The Emperor's New Groove, a movie that did not get 'made' as much as it was 'congealed.'2022-03-1443 minThe Disney Animated CanonballDinosaurWhat do Lockheed Martin, Liam Neeson and a eighteen meter tall crane have in common with this movie? Nothing to do with the sex monkey, that's what.2022-03-141h 20The Disney Animated CanonballFantasia 2000When Disney made Fantasia in 1940 they looked to the future, to the notion of a spectacular world of animation with a million possible futures spinning out in front of them. In 2000, they looked down at their own bellybutton, and deemed it good.2022-03-1436 minThe Disney Animated CanonballIntroducing Season 5Welcome to Season Five of the Disney Animated Canonball, LOST in the THIRD DIMENSION! Adrift in a sea of mediocrity after the stumbling of the end of the Renaissance, the company proceeded to make some amazing and catastrophic mistakes that only an international media empire can make!2022-03-1417 minThe Disney Animated CanonballTarzanThe rare example of a movie that's better if you have literally no audio than if you do, Tarzan takes a classic and extremely racist story and makes it? Less? Bad?2022-01-1057 minThe Disney Animated CanonballMu LanWith the help and insight of a friend, Fox and Talen talk about another complex movie that relates to the telling of an Asian story; both in how it views the world, and how that view of the world is moulded and warped around the cultural impositions of the imperial presence.2022-01-101h 18The Disney Animated CanonballHerculesWhen this movie was premiered in Greece, the country were so mad they cancelled Disney's promotional events. This episode had some recording problems which we have accommodated as best we can.2022-01-101h 08The Disney Animated CanonballThe Hunchback of Notre DameFeel the stones around you shiver as you make your way through the vaulted halls of history and experience the kind of dizzying high that only Disney can make, and only Jason Alexander can truly ruin.2022-01-101h 10The Disney Animated CanonballPocahontasA long sharp intake of breath as we gingerly dismantle the legacy of a movie that has definitely got some problems but is also a better movie than its reputation holds it to.2022-01-101h 02The Disney Animated CanonballThe Lion KingImagine being the best in the business at what you do and probably the most important film of your type of a generation only for some nerds years later to come back and remark how your whole moral landscape is just kinda monarchist and the world would be better if the lions were dead. Who listens to the Antelope? Fox and Talen do.2022-01-1058 minThe Disney Animated CanonballAladdinThe millenial voice lives in this movie, and it is Robin Williams. Come listen to Fox and Talen as they tease out how they love this movie that is DEFINITELY orientalist as hell.2022-01-1057 minThe Disney Animated CanonballBeauty and the BeastWhat do the French Aristocracy have to say about love? Well let's check it out in the supposed movie that made the Disney Renaissance, despite being a ho-hum kinda affair.2022-01-101h 09The Disney Animated CanonballThe Rescuers Down UnderSpeaking of complaining about things for money, we also looked at 1990's The Rescuers Down Under, the first time Disney attempted to tackle sequels and Australia, two things that we, as Australians and sequels, would very much like them to stop doing. Voice acting, wildlife, landscapes and storytelling, try and find a thing in this movie they did that made Fox and Talen happy. You'll be a while!2022-01-101h 06The Disney Animated CanonballThe Little MermaidIn 1989, Disney released an animated movie based on Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid, a movie that has since been the bedrock of a host of thinkpieces about how it actually sucks and Ariel is a bad character. But does that hold water? What is actually here in this movie lots of people have preconceived notions about since they watched it when they were kids and now they have youtube channels that complain about things for money?2022-01-1057 minThe Disney Animated CanonballIntroducing Season 4Welcome to Season Four of the Disney Animated Canonball, the Disney Renaissance! Ah yes, the movies that we (millenials) think of as 'the Disney movies everyone loves' and it's shocking to say that this season has a bunch of movies that actually seem to deserve their reputation!2022-01-1011 minThe Disney Animated CanonballOliver & CompanyThe most unintentionally 80s thing ever made, Oliver and Company is a movie that sounds like a punchline to a joke about bad animatied movies, featuring Billy Joel as a street-wise singing dog. It's an adaptation of Oliver Twist, and Talen has OPINIONS on that!2021-11-021h 01The Disney Animated CanonballThe Great Mouse DetectiveSherlock Holmes is a tricky character to adapt so Disney decided to do it by making him a mouse and hiding all the cocaine. In 1986, we got to see the results of it with Basil the Mouse Detective.2021-11-021h 01The Disney Animated CanonballThe Black CauldronHey, you want to start an argument? Suggest this was the first Disney movie with CG animation and watch people bicker. After the gut-shot of the animation department in Fox and the Hound, the story of Disney continues with this brutal box office failure and adaptational mess which really has a better idea at the heart of it than it deserves.2021-11-0200 minThe Disney Animated CanonballThe Fox & The HoundThe ongoing twisting of Disney in this thrashing period has the apocalyptic title The Fox and the Hound where a whole generation of animators walked out of the studio.2021-11-021h 13The Disney Animated CanonballThe RescuersIn 1977's The Rescuers, we follow the story of a pair of mice saving a little girl from ocean-side spelunking, something that any good or sensible person would rightly find more terrifying than crocodiles playing the organ. Bonus: Racist turtle.2021-11-021h 12The Disney Animated CanonballThe Many Adventures Of Winnie The PoohWhat? What? We're awake, we didn't totally miss the entire... Season... What happened? Oh yeah, there was a super boring movie for tiny little babies here.2021-11-0235 minThe Disney Animated CanonballRobin HoodAnd the furries go wild! It's time for the release of a fun, lively adventure where a handsome fox and his handsome bestie woo a handsome lady for handsome rewards!2021-11-021h 09The Disney Animated CanonballThe AristocatsOkay, gunna level with you: This one's gunna have some racisms in it. The Aristocats, the 1970 Disney Feature includes a fantastically long lived and old actor, and a box that smells like poop!2021-11-021h 03The Disney Animated CanonballIntroducing Season 3Welcome to Season Three of the Disney Animated Canonball, Swaggle Rock! Thus begins the secondary industry period of Walt Disney, which is finding ways to make Furries give them money. An entire generation of animators given the time and space to half all their asses.2021-11-0214 minThe Disney Animated CanonballThe Jungle BookAnother instance of a classic book being turned into an animated feature, 1967's Jungle Book shows the way the world shakes and changes in Disney's wake, with animators finding new ways to make animation happen in their new workflow and new environment. Oh and they were going to try and get the Beatles in this one.2021-09-051h 14The Disney Animated CanonballThe Sword In The StoneBeginning the trend of Disney media, it's time to take another important and foundational story of the culture and reprocess it into a sludgey goo full of American ideology to make sure everyone knows the world as Walt Disney shapes it!2021-09-051h 01The Disney Animated Canonball101 DalmationsDog movie dog movie dog movie! But in this case it's a boring one. Oh well. A wonderful excursion in animation that just happens to also feature obnoxious characters and a vision of privilege that can be quite sickening.2021-09-0550 minThe Disney Animated CanonballSleeping BeautyThere's only so much a movie can do with a five minute bedtime story, but once again Disney find a way to do it, with wonderful riotous visual effects that are completely unnecessary and at least one wielded fish.2021-09-051h 00The Disney Animated CanonballLady & The TrampDog movie dog movie dog movie dog movie! A new vision of technological development let the Disney company use their animation for one of the things it's the best at - the truly inhuman!2021-09-051h 10The Disney Animated CanonballPeter PanPeter Pan is the most obnoxious character Disney has made so far, taking the crown from Jiminy Cricket, and then there's a whole extra story of how terribly the actor was treated. Content warning for child abuse in 1953's Peter Pan!2021-09-051h 16The Disney Animated CanonballAlice in WonderlandIn 1951, Disney released Alice in Wonderland, a book that would be treated by most as unadaptable, showing how you should never trust that word. Fox and Talen talk about the source material, the weirdness of its translation and what the movie overall has to say, and whether or not it lands now. There's a talk of camera technique!2021-09-0549 minThe Disney Animated CanonballCinderellaDisney begins a new trend, which is 'show feet.' Cinderella takes a five minute bedtime story and pads it out for an hour, to no proper avail. But let's talk about the way that you humanise a mouse by giving it clothes and therefore, anxiety.2021-09-051h 02The Disney Animated CanonballIntroducing Season 2Welcome to Season Two of the Disney Animated Canonball, The Last Glass Of Cigarette! Suddenly feature films are possible, and the movies get more ambitious and the animators get more ornate. One or two of these movies is actually good!2021-09-0407 minThe Disney Animated CanonballMelody Time and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. ToadYou may wonder if Disney adopting The Wind in the Willows and Sleepy Hollow would be extremely interesting, but it turns out, no, it's not. But it is in the Animated Canon and so it must be Canonballed!2021-07-231h 19The Disney Animated CanonballMake Mine Music & Fun and Fancy FreeAt a certain point you have to admit there's almost nothing worth talking about when it comes to Disney's compilation musical features, and that point is the first minute of the first one. But there's still more to go so here we go!2021-07-231h 37The Disney Animated CanonballSaludos Amigos & The Three CaballerosThe fantastically boring compilation musicals begin - so here, Fox and Talen compact together two half-movies into one episode. This time it's a pair of love letters to Latin America in terms of music and song and creeping on women!2021-07-231h 09The Disney Animated CanonballBambiAh, fatherhood and natural order, two things that Walt Disney definitely had good opinions about that weren't at all going to have horrifying results. Check it out in 1942's Bambi, a movie that's renowned for having a traumatising bit in it that really isn't that bad if you're already absolutely steaming mad about all the ways the movie sucks!2021-07-231h 01The Disney Animated CanonballDumboWhat's dis? Some kinda pachydoim! Dumbo is a 1941 feature film that kinda just... Ends abruptly, just like this description will.2021-07-2355 minThe Disney Animated CanonballFantasiaA technological marvel, 1940's Fantasia literally had to invent whole new methods of stereo sound delivery for movie theatres. Fox and Talen talk at length about it and get to vent some long-standing anger about the Sorcerer's Apprentice.2021-07-231h 13The Disney Animated CanonballPinnochioIn 1940, Disney released Pinnochio, establishing a long form vision of extremely Protestant bullshit as voiced by Jiminy Cricket, the most awful character in the franchise for a long time. But don't worry, he never gets better! Come for the weird racial stereotypes and bad locks, stick around for the inexplicably wet fire.2021-07-231h 01The Disney Animated CanonballSnow WhiteWe start the Canonball with 1937's Snow White, a movie that is almost a century old, and absolutely wears every one of its years. Shockingly dusty from top to bottom, Fox and Talen delve into a movie that is as important to the culture as it is dreadfully boring.2021-07-231h 11The Disney Animated CanonballIntroducing: The Disney Animated Canonball!This is your first step on a journey of SOME NUMBER of movies made by Disney, in the collection known as the Disney Animated Canon. Season 1, we're going to look at the movies of Disney, starting with Snow White. Tune in and listen to Fox (a Disney and classic animation fan) and Talen (a media studies scholar and former cultist) as they look at the legacy of Walt Disney and the Disney company on its way from Scrappy Little Union Busters to The Great Global Empire.2021-07-2212 min
From the RooftopsThe MastermindFrom The Rooftops is a podcast about superheroes. Join Corey, Clay, and Talen as they talk not about specific issues and individual stories, but rather about the mechanisms of superheroic storytelling, what it lets you do, and where it can fall down as they shout about what they love, from the rooftops. This episode, we look at the role of the Mastermind, and manage to not get too waylaid by Homestuck.2021-07-2054 min
Earth Riot RadioRobert E. GlyphosateAfter witnessing the final scene in the new ban of RoundUp in New York Cityparks, we can say: These tortured molecules that now saturate our eco-systemsare like Robert E. Lee statues that celebrate slavery. These chemicalconstructions are meant to be permanent, markers of imprisonment. We sense astrange business plan in the mass death encouraged by big fossil banks and theirchemical company clients. Don’t they know what Extinction is? Do they reallybelieve we'll go along with this?2021-05-0729 minFrom the RooftopsUtility BeltsHey, this one was thanks to a listener asking questions, and we avoided mentioning Heidegger. But other Nazis who can bus off into the sun get mentioned!2019-11-1800 minFrom the RooftopsThe Time ForceBut not really! This week we're going to talk to you about reboots in comics!2019-11-0300 minFrom the RooftopsThe DeityYou know what you need? you need two former churchboys who dealt with apocalypses talking about the way comics handle the idea of gods and their presence in the world. Why not hear Clay tackle the phrase 'Modern Myth' and Talen bring up 'lusury attitudes?'2019-09-2900 minFrom the RooftopsThe MercenaryWhat do we mean when we mention 'mercenary?' It's not just someone who does something for themselves. This privatised personalised military force is something the superhero setting is filled with, so it's probably best to get a good handle on how they work and what they can do in a story.2019-09-0900 minFrom the Rooftopsthe gangWe talk about gangs as used in superhero comics, with some talk about real world racism, the role of the gang and what causes them to flourish and even some of that fancy-pantsy academical stuff! Also, Clay goes the whole episode forgetting that Blood Syndicate exists, the silly.2019-08-2500 minFrom the RooftopsThe Space TyrantIn this episode, we talk about the big spooky dude out of space, the ruler of something, This is where we talk about the ways a story can use a powerful external force, with a different ideology, and what you can use it for in a story!
Hey, by the way, there was a tiny bit of audio problems, Talen's mic was set up wrong, so he's kinda echoey and weird. Sorry!2019-08-1100 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 30 – The PassengerAnd we're back, with a single day turnaround and technical issues hopefully sorted! This week, we talk about characters-within-a-character, the idea of the Passenger. This covers characters like Hulk and Venom, but also Moon Knight, and of course, Moon Knight. Passengers can be helpful or mendacious, proactive or uncooperative, and we talk about them as a story tool and what you can use them to do.2019-08-0400 min
Board Game BlitzEpisode 82 - Pride in GamingAmbie and Crystal discuss Ora et Labora and On Tour. We then highlight some games and people in the gaming community that are in the LGBT community.
Announcements: 0:41
Recent Games: 1:29
Pride: 9:18
Outro: 25:07
Bloopers: 26:20
Ora et Labora: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70149/ora-et-labora
On Tour: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/251412/tour
People/content mentioned (for links, see our full show notes at http://www.boardgameblitz.com/posts/203):
Designers: Isaac Vega, Nikki Valens, Morgane Gouyon-Rety, Rachel (Bowen) Simmons, Alice Davis, Aaron Vanderbeek, Talen Lee, Bez Shahriari, Peter Hayward
Podcasts/Blogs/Videos: Board Games In Bed, The Game Shelf, Danny and Derek Do Board Games...2019-06-2027 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 29 – Say Your NameHoly heck does this even work any more. Clay and Talen talk about superheroes and their fundamentally creative nature and how refusing to use a superhero name reflects that.2018-12-0300 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 28 – The KaratemanHoly hell we're still here! With a few weeks of preparation to get this one solved, after some DREADFUL technical issues, Clay and Talen talk about The Karate-Man as a superhero comic archetype!2018-08-1600 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 27 – FandomFandom, boy, I don't know. It's a beast of a problem, something that we use to connect ourselves to our world, things that give us metaphors and common spaces and also, at the same time, something some people use as a reason to hate people. Good news, though, we solve it forever in this podcast (we don't).2018-06-0700 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 26 – Kamen PrimerNow, it's time to count up your sins! Since there's a recent groundshaking event in superhero fiction - ie, Talen watched a Toku series - we felt it's time to talk about it! There's something about hoppers.2018-05-1000 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 25 – The Meta CharacterOh, we know you're reading this. There are a bunch of characters in comics who play with the fact that they are, in fact, in comics. This time, we talk about them! Sorry it's late, the editor was busy!2018-04-2700 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 24 – Games!Superhero media isn't limited to comic books and movies! Clay and Talen have played a LOT of games that let them make and play superheroes, so in this episode, we talk about our conception of superheroes as you can express through play!2018-04-0500 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 23 – The EVENT!Hey, what if we talk about the kind of comic book thing that is like, just another term for 'something happened?' We talk about the way comic books try to structure the 'idea' of an event and compare it to Movies and whether or not there's any There There.2018-03-2900 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 22 – The VigilanteSince we talked about rogues, and villains, in true City of Heroes style, we wanted to add to this and talk about Vigilantes. The nature of the Vigilante is as a character who can push the story in different directions than a hero or villain might, recontextualising villians and opponents. But at the same time, the Vigilante can be handled badly, and often intersects with uncomfortable things about the way cultures regard violence. As a content warning, we do discuss some elements of modern news with guns, and the idea of arming teachers.2018-03-0800 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 21: The Villain and the Status QuoWe've talked about groups of enemies opposing a hero, but we haven't spoken about the idea of the Villains, of larger, story-shaping opposition that the narrative bends around.2018-03-0300 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 20: Black PantherYou want to learn about barking Jabari? You want to hear the concepts underpinning the storytelling praxis of Killmonger as a character vs Killmonger as a storyteller? You wanna hear about the music, the style, the tone, or just what Clay thinks of the movie BLACK PANTHER? Well, Talen hasn't seen it, so here we go!
"I'm Black Y'all" comes from the movie CB4, and is included here for educational and parody purposes, © Universal Pictures2018-02-2400 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 19: Rogues Galleries!Clay and Talen aren't just great heroes in their own right. They're also defined in part by the villains that oppose them. This week, we talk about the Rogue's Gallery, ways they form, what they're good for, and why we're stuck with some of the ones that suck.2018-02-1500 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 18: The Multiverse!There's a realm of realms out there, thousands of parallel worlds, and this podcast is coming to you from Earth-1. You, the listener, are on what we call Earth-2, or, more often, Earth Poo. Clay and Talen talk about the multiverse and all the ways it's pretty ordinary and silly.2018-02-0800 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 17: Shipping!We here at From the Rooftops are a pair of boys, one of whom is good and pure and the other of whom is a peddler of filth - literally - and so it seems this is a perfect cohort to discuss the important and sophisticated topic of superheroes doinking and the people who care about superheroes doinking. So, come along and see as we talk about the origin of shipping, its application to media and then try - badly - to talk about ships that interest us. Fact: This will not end well.2018-02-0100 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 16: Extrinsic Factors in TVHey there folks! It's a new year, so new episodes! Don't ask about what happened to the Vigilantes episode. We'll get back to that. Anyway it's an episode where thanks to television doing Superheroes, we decide to talk about the way superheroes are reflected in television, and one of the ways those series can have problems: Extrinsic Factors.2018-01-2500 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 14: Costume Design IHey there, folks! How you doing? You had a nice break? We get talking about character design, the superhero costume, realise how DEEP we can go into it, and then we make fun of Hawkeye a bit.2018-01-0400 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 13: SidekicksThere's a lot of talk to be had about whether or not heroes should have them but what does a sidekick actually mean? Are sidekicks always the same? Are they irresponsible, or do they give you access to a new dimension of storytelling? And is Clay Talen's sidekick, or vice versa?2017-12-0700 minFrom the RooftopsSpecial: The Day Without CrimeWe reminisce about the game City of Heroes, which has been shuttered now for five years, today (2017/12/01). It gets sad. We get testimonials from others.2017-11-3000 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 11: MasksThere's a fundamental power to the mask in superhero comics, and we decide to talk about them. We talk about masks that work well across different media, complaints about how masks are sometimes handled, and at some point conclude that Blade is a cop.2017-11-2300 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 10: SettingWith all our talk about setting elements we figure it was high time we sat down and talked about the setting itself and how it interacted with characters. Why it being modern matters, what it can say, how it can change and how reflecting reality isn't as important as feeling reality. There's also some talk about France, and a surprise Comboman appearance. Now we're having some technical problems lately, in part because one of us had to evacuate to avoid a Hurricane, so there will be some pop and it's a bit uneven on sound. Very sorry about that!2017-11-1600 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 9: SupersuperteamsThis time, it's a bit of a crossover episode; we talk about teams that bring together larger groups of characters, and in turn, some of those smaller characters with things going on. Then, to demonstrate that we're not too proud to write fanfiction, we talk about our lineups for the Avengers and the Justice League!2017-11-0900 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 8: The AuthoritiesSuperheroes step in where the authorities aren't doing their jobs, but what are those authorities? How do characters represent them, or interact with them?2017-11-0200 minFrom the RooftopsOCTOBER Spooktacular Part 3! COSMIC HORROR!THE HORRORS OF THE VASTNESS IN ALL PLACES! Clay and Talen, winding down October Spooktacular, talk about the horror in vastness; as a pair of former religious fundamentalists, they have their own grappling to do with the pulp horror that underpins comic book superheroes, and why Necron, Unicron and Galactus aren't... quite... the same thing.2017-10-2600 minFrom the RooftopsOCTOBER Spooktacular Part 2! The MONSTER HUNTER!Where there are monsters, there are monster hunters, those who look into the abyss and stand on the precipice and patrol the border and whatever liminal metaphor you want. We talk about doing them well and the ways to identify the archetype, and also, talk about Blade.2017-10-1900 minFrom the RooftopsOCTOBER Spooktacular Part 1! The SCIENCE MONSTER!IT CAME FROM BEYOND OUR UNDERSTANDINGS! Clay and Talen discuss a term they've used in the past, the _Science Monster_, a type of character that represents fears and anxieties about science, and how you can use these characters as lenses to look back on older stories, times and places, and see what really mattered to people. Also, Sandman and some bonus radioactive crocodiles.2017-10-1200 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 7: The NaturalTalen finally vents his spleen about how mad he is about all those characters who want to insist that they don't need to be superheroes to be superheroes. Don't worry, there's plenty where that came from. We talk about unpowered humans and how they frame superhero stories.2017-10-0500 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 6: Magic And ScienceWally is probably wrong, and that's why today we're discussing the Superheroic tropes of magic and science, and the way those two intersect and oppose one another, or rather, don't. What do they do for a story? How can you use them well? We tell professionals how to do their jobs, and we're right.2017-09-2800 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 5: Power LevelsLet's talk about power levels! Not the challenge of measuring them, but about how different types of power, different levels of power, change your stories and change the way your stories work out!2017-09-2100 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 4: SuperfamiliesSometimes we talk about topics that make us mad, sometimes we talk about topics we love. This time, we're talking about something we love: Our love of found-family superhero structures. Batman is mentioned, from time to time.2017-09-1400 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 3: The Mutant As MetaphorIn this episode we talk about the Mutant as a metaphor, specifically how it's sometimes used to represent some idaes that don't work, and how you can break away from things at those failure points. Vampires eat people.2017-09-0700 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 2: The Secret IdentityExpanding on our thesis from last time, we discuss the idea that a superhero needs something of a secret identity, some duality of self, that allows them to connect to the universe that we already live in. We talk about Moon Knight!2017-09-0600 minFrom the RooftopsEpisode 1: Defining SuperheroesClay and Talen introduce themselves and the podcast. In order to talk about superheroes, we figure it best to start out by explaining just what we mean by superheroes. In this podcast, we discuss way superheroes require connections to the real world, to a modern framework, and some form of secret identity.2017-09-0400 min
Downloadable ConceptS2E14 - Dark Souls With Amber!This week: Talen Lee has been hiding a secret from the podcast for a few months now, and now that he's finished playing Dark Souls 1, it's time to admit it, and talk about it - and that's why we recruited an expert on the topic! Meet Amber!2016-07-241h 11