And there came a day unlike any other...
Well, mostly unlike any other. I recently had Kenna on the show, but I was itching for the opportunity to talk to the full dynamic duo, so I was thrilled when Kenna and Rich of the Going Last podcast agreed to do a live recording at PAX. The three of us teleport you to the atrium of the downtown Philly convention center, bustling noise of thousands of PAX attendees and all.
Tons of Videos
I mentioned this last week, but there are tons of videos popping up on our video channel, largely as a result of PAX. From furniture to wyverns, records to krakens, there's something for everyone there...
3 Awesome Things
While there are TONS of things I'm working on for TCbH, sometimes I just want to use this as a platform to geek out on stuff with ya'll. Here are 3 things that I'm kind of obsessing over this week:
-The Defenders
I know, I'm kind of behind on this one, but after the dissapointment of Iron Fist, I wasn't expecting much out of the Defenders. I'm a huge comics fan, and Iron Fist has long been one of my favorite characters (check out Ed Brubaker's run in the late 00s, it was incredible). But I heard good things about Luke Cage so I gave that a shot, and was 100% back on the Marvel/Netflix train again. Luke Cage was start to finish incredible, and while I'm not liking the Defenders as much as each of the individual shows leading to it (except for Iron Fist, which remains supremely lame), I still appreciate how comic-booky it feels while still maintaining a separate identity from The Avengers. The characters feel natural together, and the actors bring a huge amount of chemistry, and heck, even Luke Cage manages to squeeze a little levity and humor out of Danny Rand, making him much more likeable than in his solo show. I'll probably finish this one up this week.
-Tolarian Community College " What We Owe To Each Other"
I'm not deeply invested in the MTG community anymore, but the controversy surrounding Christine Sprankle quitting MTG cosplay caught my attention. The Professor at the Tolarian Community College channel did an awesome video explaining the situation, and calling out toxic members of the community. I had never watched any of the professor's other videos, but he came across as thoughtful, genuine, and deeply integrated in a community and hobby that he loves, and I applaud him for standing up for his beliefs that MTG, as well as all hobbies, deserve to be positive, welcoming environments. Even if you don't follow MTG, this is still a fascinating look into both what good, and horrifyingly awful, community interaction can be.
-The Hunt for the Ring
I had to put a game in here, didn't I? Full disclosure, I got a review copy of this game, and I interviewed a designer and one of the publishers for the podcast. I'll have my full thoughts later, but for now, I just want to say that this game has me SUPER PUMPED about Lord of the Rings. I've never hidden the fact that I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan, but while I like and even love many of the games based on Tolkien's works (Lord of the Rings LCG, Middle Earth Quest, Battle of Five Armies, etc...), many of them are tough to recommend because they are unwieldy, long, or out of print. Hunt for the Ring on the other hand feels incredibly clever, with cool systems, plays quick, and is deeply thematic. Man, I LOVE how this game is feeling right now. As I play more, I may find flaws or things that don't work for me, or reasons why I might not recommend this for other people, but for now, this feels like such a refreshing and elegant take on Hidden Movement Games, and is incredibly reverent to the source material.