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The Wait For It Podcast
Hosted by MrEricAlmighty and PhilTheFilipino, the guys discuss all things in Pop Culture from movies, gaming, anime and anything in between. New episodes every Wednesday, all you have to do is...WAIT FOR IT!
The Wait For It Podcast
Creator Spotlight: Josh Portillo
The world of voice acting often seems glamorous from the outside, but behind every character is a person with their own path, struggles, and triumphs. Professional voice actor Josh Portillo shares his journey from childhood influences to navigating the voice acting industry, balancing grief with career demands, and finding community in creative spaces.
• Started voice acting to support a friend before discovering his own passion for the craft.
• Went full-time after careful consideration and encouragement from peers.
• Credits video games and cartoons for "saving his life" during a difficult childhood.
• Emphasizes the importance of genuine networking over transactional relationships.
• Reveals how he connected with indie developers to build his resume and create meaningful industry relationships.
• Wrap up the episode with a couple of fun games!
Find Josh Portillo here to stay updated on his upcoming projects and convention appearances!
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Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment. Wait for it Gaming, wait for it Anime PLUS ULTRA. Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino yeah, they've got you covered and all you gotta do is wait for it. This is the Wait For it Podcast.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone, Welcome back to the Wait For it Podcast. I'm your co-host, Phil Barrera, aka Phil the Filipino.
Speaker 3:And I'm your other co-host, mr Eric Almighty, and we are back with Creator Spotlight and for this edition we've brought along a friend. We can now say, after meeting him at Brick City Anime Festival just a few months ago, we are now excited to bring him on as promised for this particular series.
Speaker 2:So excited. We've been working on this for a few months now. It's also crazy to think that we're already two months removed from Brick City Anime Festival, because we're here in March. We're recording this episode a little bit earlier in March, but yeah, it is crazy that the year is just flying by. But, ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome in our guest here this evening, josh portillo. Josh, we met you, like we said, brick city anime festival and we're just so excited to work with you again here. How are you doing tonight? And thank you so much for the time hey, phil, eric, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:um, it is a pleasure to be here, an honor to be. First off, I just want to say you all made myself and my cast feel so welcomed at Brick City and we love you all. So they haven't they've been talking about you like on Instagram and such in our groups or on Twitter, because we have a group there too and you know they can't wait to to talk with you all more. But no, yeah, I'm doing well, staying chill, getting busy, talk with you all more, but, um, no, yeah, I'm doing well, staying chill. Um, getting busy, uh, it's, you know, it's like you said, it's already. We're already two months, like you know, removed from brick city and the year is just flying by. And as a voiceover artist, as a voice actor, like, once you get more into the year, work starts to get more busy. So, it's, I'm feeling it and just trying to space out the recording sessions to, you know. So I don't blow my throat out, so, but, yeah, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me y'all.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. We're very excited to talk about so many different things. Josh is also a Jacksonville Jaguar fan. We got inkling that he is a wrestling fan. We share a whole lot of fandoms. Who knows how long this episode is going to go. I don't think Josh gave us a hard stop, so we're just going to be hanging out here tonight. So, eric, very excited to jump into this conversation and, like I said, just kind of, it's really going to be like a choose your own adventure. We'll just see what happens next. Light, dark, neutral. Actually, eric, do you have a? Can you go get some of the dice from your son?
Speaker 3:I've got a dice tower or the wheel, or the wheel, or the wheel, the wheel. Let's not introduce the Wheel of Chaos to what is going to be a very chaotic but great episode. And honestly, phil, this is something I'm really excited to kind of get into. So if you want to get through our first spiel at the beginning for our audience new or returning we'll go ahead and jump into it and I'll let you take the first question here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, first and foremost, Josh, just take a moment to introduce yourself to our audience and let everybody know what you do.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. My name is Josh Portillo and born and raised Jacksonville, florida. Do all been a Jaguars fan since 2008, since Garrard was there, since you know MJD, all that, since that dreadful five and 11 season that was my first official season as a football fan, not going to say anything. But you know MJD, all that. Since that dreadful 5-11 season, that was my first official season as a football fan. Not going to say anything. But you know, I just did. But no, I'm a professional voiceover artist, voice actor. Been doing it since 2018. So seven years already Going on, my seventh year coming this September.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, been doing that for seven years. Went full time in 2022, took the leap and I've been scared ever since because it is it's, it's scary being a freelancer. So, you know, just trying to make dreams a reality. But, yeah, that's pretty much me. I will probably get into credits and stuff later on. But yeah, that's pretty much me. I will probably get into credits and stuff later on. But yeah, that's pretty much me.
Speaker 1:I love wrestling. I love, um, love, video games. Uh, I, I credit video games and cartoons for, uh, you know, besides my friends, besides my mom, kind of saving my life whenever I was younger Cause. Uh, um, you know, when you're growing up as a, as a heavyset kid and you don't really know how to make friends, kind of go home. And then you know, when you're growing up as a, as a heavyset kid and you don't really know how to make friends, kind of go home, and then you know the things that you, that you're into. Well, for me it was like starfox, it was ed ed netty and all that. That was like my friends, you know, growing up, until you know I grew up a little bit and met, you know people and all that um had friend groups but growing up was kind of tough and you know those know those type of things really did. You know they were there for me.
Speaker 1:I remember playing Star Fox 64 religiously every day. I'd make my mom, you know, have me rent it from, like let me rent it from Blockbuster, or you know, wait until 10 pm on Fridays. Oh yeah, on Fridays, because on Cartoon Network that's when Ed Edd n Eddy came on and then you know, before that I'd watch, like Dexter's Lab or some. You know those type of cartoons. So yeah, I credit those a lot. But yeah, I'm going to talk a lot if y'all don't stop me.
Speaker 2:It's so funny you mention having to tell a parent to keep going back to Blockbuster to like rent the same game over and over again. That game for me was game day 98. I don't know if you guys remember that on the ps1, and I was living in michigan at the time and like I would just like spam the crap out of barry sanders all the time, like I thought.
Speaker 2:I thought I was good at football games, but really I just had barry sanders, uh. And then finally one day, for chris or one Christmas, I got a Game Day game. They finally were like we have to stop going to Blockbuster and getting the same game we're losing money going Blockbuster renting this we should have just kept the game.
Speaker 3:We should have never returned it For those of you that don't know.
Speaker 2:Blockbuster was a place that you would go and rent movies and video games. Yes, RIP.
Speaker 1:Yes, it was great To Blockbuster.
Speaker 2:It was great. Yeah, eric, a lot of shared experiences there, it sounds like from Josh.
Speaker 3:Oh, 100%, and that's what's going to make this episode really entertaining, at the very least. So I'm very excited to get into it, and, phil, let's get started.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, josh, one question we definitely like to ask a lot of our voice acting guests. You know, when did you first realize that voiceover versus voice acting could be something you pursued full-time, could be a career? Because I know, you know, we were much later in our lives, eric, where we realized, oh, this is something you know. When it comes to also even thinking about podcasting, oh, we could do this all the time. When was that realization for you?
Speaker 1:This may be a little winded question, so you know I apologize for how long it could be, but growing up, you know, I was really shy and I, you know I always, you know, playing Metal Gear Solid, playing all these games. I was like, you know, it'd be so cool to sound like David Hayter, to sound like Raiden to you know. To you know, I'd hear all these actors and you know, to you know, I'd hear all these actors and you know the one voice, Fox McCloud from Star Fox 64, while as many lines as he had during that game, you know, and Falcon Lombardi and all the characters in that game, they didn't have they had a good amount of lines, but they were all memorable and that really impacted me as a kid. And you know, when I was younger I would be like man, it would be so cool to do something like that, but acting just felt so far away. Maybe it was because I was, you know, growing up I had a little speech impediment, so it didn't. Really that didn't give me a lot of confidence in myself. As I've mentioned before, I was a heavyset kid, didn't have a lot of confidence for numerous reasons beyond that too, and it just seemed like something that was just far-fetched.
Speaker 1:Fast forward, you know, by the time when I was 25, I find myself kind of going in it to support a friend. That's how I got into voice acting to support a friend. He wanted to get into voice acting. By that point, him and I, we went to high school together. We did some stage plays, stage musicals. We did Phantom of the Opera and Fiddler on the Roof together, and then in college I did, you know, my friend another friend of mine was in operas, so I helped out in like ensemble for a few of those and I did a few acting classes here and there. So it was something I always kind of dabbled in. But my confidence I mean being truthful with you I have probably, I've always had self-esteem issues begun to get more open about and it's, you know, it's really hard to handle sometimes, uh. So that that was one factor.
Speaker 1:But going back to my friend who wanted to do uh, to do voice acting, he just wanted to do it and I was like, you know, I need something good in my life right now. Uh, don't know what I'm doing in college, uh, which is majority of everybody, so that's normal. But I decided to dive in it with him, and that was back in 2018. And the more I did it, the more I was like man, this is really fun. I wonder if he can make a career out of this. And I remember my friend talking to me and he's just like you're going in three different ways. You're wanting to be a personal trainer at that time, you're in student affairs too, and you're doing voice acting and you seem like you really like him voice acting a lot more. He's like I know it's a very dangerous, you know, path too, because it's uncertain, acting is uncertain. So you know are too, because it's uncertain, acting is uncertain. Um, so, you know, are you willing to do that? Do you love it? And that's like the one factor that we talked about Do you love it compared to these other two things? And, uh, you know I made the decision. You know I'm uh, I think I was about like, yeah, 25, 26 at the time or something like that, and because right now, I just turned 30 in January. So you know I was like, ok, yeah, I'd probably take the leap right now and see how it goes.
Speaker 1:From that point, I took classes learning more about the field, how it flows, and, you know, started to really kind of just take myself seriously, not until like 2022, 2023. I know I'm kind of jumping all over the place, but that's around the time. You know that I really got it, got serious into, and when I went full time was 2022. Cause I was like, you know, my friends are telling me to take the leap. You know I've taken the necessary steps. I've learned about voice acting a little bit. I have a little bit of ability. I think I can handle myself. You know I there's other jobs that you know I'm interested in besides just, you know, the character work, there's narration, there is other stuff too, and I was like, okay, yeah, you know you're young only once. So you know, just take the leap and see what happens. So we're in it right now and, yeah, that's, that's how I'm here with you all. There's a lot of details I left out but for the sake of time I didn't want to, kind of you know You're doing great.
Speaker 3:No, that's perfect.
Speaker 3:I think I can speak for Phil Like that's exactly what we're looking for, cause I think the cool thing about why we started this particular series is whenever you're jumping into the mind of somebody that's creative or creating anything, there's such a unique perspective and journey that comes along with that and we get to take people along the ride for that and kind of sticking with that theme.
Speaker 3:And where we are in the conversation, I'm very curious what your peaks and your valleys have been, as far as your highs and your lows, and I'd love to know whatever comes to mind first about what that looks like, because I know, when we talk to voice actors, a lot of time and a lot of people in this industry, there are so many no's that you are getting right, you're auditioning, you're doing all of these things, but man, when you get that, yes, it is so sweet. So I'd love to know from your journey what have been maybe the biggest peaks or the biggest high in your career so far and if you're comfortable talking about the low point giving us that compare and contrast.
Speaker 1:So the biggest highs for me? There's been a good amount that I can go off of, that I can go off of, but I guess all the yeses have been the biggest highs because, again, being a guy who is learning to have better self-esteem, every yes seems it's an adrenaline boost, it's a confidence boost, it's confirming that I'm in, I'm in it, I'm in the field and, uh, you know, there are just so many moments that I could, I can go off of. I mean to be, to be real, like the biggest one so far, and not to, you know, put everything else like on the bottom or anything. This is just the first thing that comes to mind is when my friends and I got Noctiton. That's you know, that's you know, I call it a cult classic becoming a cult classic. The manga is still ongoing. It's only one anime, but it's the deer anime and it's funny. If you're wanting a big, giant SNL skit into an anime, that's Noctiton, that's my dear friend, noctiton.
Speaker 1:And you know being also on a technical level, being also remote, living in Florida. This isn't not to put shade on voice hubs, but this isn't Texas, this isn't New York, this isn't Los Angeles. I'm in the middle of Florida and Florida is trying to get there, but it's not. You know, they haven't had the a company go to the levels of crunchy roll yet they haven't had that boom of artists like Los Angeles has over the course of I don't know 60 or 70, I don't know how many decades, um. But you know, uh, there are some artists out here that are good and I'm, you know, um, I'm one of them that's grinding and to have something like that, that was a big high. That was a confirmation that you know you're doing something right.
Speaker 1:And I think, as artists, I think as actors, you know people who want to make art. You know drawing, the podcasting, doing anything in the arts, like, once you're confirmed that you're doing something right, you, it just fills your soul, it fills your heart and it really touches you. You know so much so that you can maybe cry. I've cried many times while I've gotten into this field and being. You know the, the, the, saying that you know men are not supposed to cry. Be tough, you know, grind till you die, all that shit. You know it's just like chill out, motherfucker.
Speaker 2:You know, grind till you die all that shit you know it's just like chill out, motherfucker.
Speaker 1:You know, let me cry, damn it. I fucking got this role. I'm really proud of it, fuck off. But there are a lot of times, I think one of them, I mean it doesn't even have to like be like a big production project, like I remember.
Speaker 1:Another high was when my friend who I was supporting, who I am still supporting with voice acting you know him and I got into this fan dub or not fan dub, excuse me this fan project for the series Danganronpa and it was called Danganronpa F, shattered Hope. And that was one of the first projects that really told me that I could do this, because it demanded character acting. It demanded character. You know to be boisterous At least that's what my character really called for and I always said, like the character I was cast as in that project was just me times 10. And it really helped get me out of my shell and show me that I can do this type of thing. And again, that was a fan project, not to put down fan projects, but I know there's a stigma around it sometimes and I'm just like that's how people get started and, um, that's how I got started, that's how my friends got started and I don't know it's led me down a path that I like. So, but if I'm not to be real, there have been lows and, um, I have made mistakes, whether it be marketing myself in a, you know, not in the smartest way, or, you know, as an artist, we have pride. We don't want to get talked down to. We don't want unsolicited advice. You know I've exploded on a person for giving me unsolicited advice that I regret now. So apologies to that guy who I exploded at, just being real. And there have been others.
Speaker 1:I remember, you know, I, stuff didn't really really work out and, uh, in 2021, um, I, I screwed up a lot and I, you know, I had to go back to my old job. Friends and I were supposed to move out to Texas to pursue anime work and you have to take responsibility for stuff that you did wrong and I learned that. And you have to throw pride out and that's what happened to me. I had to grow up even more and say you know, sometimes it just doesn't go your way and you have to do with what you have and you know whether it's your fault, whether it's their fault, whether it's anybody's fault, it doesn't matter. You're here now and you have to be in the present, and that's one of the first things that you're taught as an actor Be in the present and you know, be. You know, you know, be responsive, you know. At least that's one of the things that you're taught and that was a big low.
Speaker 1:I mean, I remember back in 2021, I was not the happiest person uh, very, you know, auditions weren't hitting and you know I was just, I was gravitating towards having a place carry me to where I want to be. That's what I looked at Texas as back then and I'm just like that's not how a true voiceover artist, a true voice actor, is supposed to think. We're supposed to act because we love it, no matter where we are, and you have to make it. You know, if you really love it, if you really truly want to grow into it, you need to learn. You need to know that you're, you're always, you're always going to be a student, no matter where you are, and that's you know. As I was working that, that job that I hated, I was like you know, I just got to suck it up and just keep learning and just keep, you know, trudging away and maybe something will hit. Maybe not, but I got to try. And again, this is it. I'm not trying to paint myself as like a hero or some crap or somebody that was confident at that moment. No, like I had fucked up and so it's just like own up to it and grow from that. That was a pretty big low and I would say right now currently it's not a low, but the past two years it's been learning how to perform under pressure, and I'm not talking about like under the pressure of a director, I'm talking about pressure of life.
Speaker 1:Mom hasn't been in good health. I've said it in numerous podcasts, but it's on my heart now and I really don't give a fuck, so I'm going to talk about it. She hadn't been in the best of health for about two and a half years. When you see a loved one, loved one's health, get cut down slowly, it makes you grow up even more and you put that in your read. Sometimes, and it's funny, sometimes some directors are like man, you sound really depressed. You were supposed the. The specs said happy, brother, are you okay? Or dude, again, this is supposed to be a happy, a happy line. You yelled Are you okay? It's like, no, I'm not okay, but no, she had been in seeing her health go down like I'm talking. You know open heart surgery, you know amputation because of an accident. It was bad and unfortunately she passed back in October of last year.
Speaker 1:And guys, I don't know how the fuck I'm still here or just like focused. But I've been learning, especially if you're in this field. I can't speak for anything else, I can't speak for, you know, as an athlete or anything, but in this field, this field, demands and deadlines can be budged sometimes and if you have a chance, you got to take it and it's, it's been. It was hard to balance that and my mom would tell me it's just like. No, I want you to have a good life, I want you to focus on your work, and I would do not focus on me. Let me do my thing, let me live my life.
Speaker 1:And it's hard to balance that Cause you know, deep down you're like it's, we're getting towards the end here. I want to come see you, you know. But you want to keep that person happy and you want to keep that vision of normalcy in front of them so they don't panic. That you're panicking. To keep calm while acting. That's rough, that is tough, that, that's that's. I'll never wish that upon anybody.
Speaker 1:It almost felt like hell, but right now, currently it's not a low, but it has been tough. It has been rough, it's been very hard to handle. I'll be honest with y'all, now that we're away two months out of two months, uh, removed from brick city, brick city was one of the ones where I was losing like a lot of bat, like a lot of battery power, where it was the first day and I was like, oh man, it is, there's some nice people here, but I'm tired like it's and that's disrespectful to you all, to, you know, the other voice actors that you know that got there, that fought to be there, that the people that you know that came to see us, that you know it's, it's like it's hard to explain, you know now I, I think I think we kind of understand from a different perspective.
Speaker 3:Like you know, some context behind the podcast was we were it was very casual at first and more of a hobby before we really took it serious and we were eventually getting to a consistent schedule, but we were doing like two episodes a week. That's a lot and that was for years. That's a lot. Yeah, it were. We're madmen. I love it. And there were times where we were burnt out and we're like we have to put out this content and we had to have that decision of making that adjustment while also serving our audience. And, like you mentioned, Brick, I mean you were absolutely, I think, balancing your personal struggles and our condolences, of course. Thank you, balancing your personal struggles and our condolences, of course.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 3:But you know that's a tough thing to be dealing with on top of the life itself. Right, you're looking to achieve those big dreams, but there are challenges on that road and I think you served both audiences Phil, I'm sure you agree here very well, because if that's what you're going through, we couldn't tell. And I mean that's again serving through. We couldn't tell, and I mean that that's again serving your audience and and I think you did a great job there- thank you, yeah, thank you so much for being so candid with us as well, josh, and, and sharing that with us.
Speaker 2:And yeah, to echo what eric said, you know you really wouldn't have been able to tell and, um, I think that's just a testament to you understanding that being in a situation like at brick city, like we understand the weight and the importance of us being there, like we all had a role to play while we were there, and and and you, you and your entire crew just shout out to everybody just did a fantastic job and it was so great, uh, getting to, to interact with y'all and, like you said, we can't wait to have the rest of the cast on.
Speaker 2:That's going to be a whole lot of fun. So I want to talk about oh and also just also echo what you had said, like having also seen a family member just deteriorate over time. Like trying to balance your life, yeah, um, amongst that, and try to. Just when your friends ask you how you're doing, what do you? How do you think?
Speaker 2:you know the answer no, I love my friends you know the answer yeah, but it's like you kind of like it's like a default question. People feel like they have to ask you that, even though they know and it's because they love you. So I certainly understand that I wanted I wanted to ask you because just now, starting off my voice journey, as a lot of our audience knows, um, and following you guys and following your work since we met back in january um, whenever anybody in your circle is announcing a a new role and you just look at the comments and everybody is so excited and so supportive and eric. One of the first things we learn in our very first bold match, surrey, uh, with elizabeth maxwell, uh, she talked about the importance of networking. So I want you to talk about kind of the importance of networking and establishing these relationships in terms of helping yourself stay motivated through times where it does get rough.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So in that aspect, in that realm of networking, connecting, making genuine connections, making genuine friendships, because to me that's the trick You've got to be genuine. You can tell a mile away when somebody is just wanting something out of you. And, yes, we are in the field, we are in the entertainment field, we have connections to other jobs. You know, yada, yada, yada. That's there, it's the elephant in the room. It happens At some point if you're talking with another artist, it may lead into you know, talking about jobs.
Speaker 1:But there has to be, in my opinion, I've learned, you know, in my experience, you know from trial and error, if you're not willing to be genuine with the person that you're talking to and if you don't genuinely want to get to know them and make a connection, make a friendship beyond the field, then fuck you. Then then you're just, you're just trying to get something out of that person. And smart people and there are more smart people than you think out there, especially in this field who will see that a mile away. So you can't. That's the number one rule. You got to be genuine. And if you're just trying to get something out of the person, then well, it's going to be hard for you because you got to first off. You have to. You have to learn how to work by yourself. You have to learn how to work without a coach, without somebody holding your hand, without a group. You have to learn to work solo. You know that's, that's the trick, Like, but that's just a whole nother can of worms. I get passionate about this stuff. So I'm not yelling at you all, so I'm just, I'm just talking towards myself. But when it, when it comes to networking, it's so important because there can be a stigma with it, just from everything I just mentioned, but just coming at it with you know, being genuine and wanting to know the person, that's important. If we're getting really technical with it, I can only speak from my end Because, again, I have not been in a hub.
Speaker 1:I have not been in a. You know where I've gotten, you know, anime work, where I've gotten studio work For me. I've never worked in a studio. So that's a little insecurity that I have uh right now, but hopefully it happens soon. But in the uh, in the realm of being remote and working off of social media, what I, when I was uh in 2021, when I was, I had that low. I really, really kicked in the gear of reaching out to like, for example, indie devs and, to me, indie games, indie video games are like the things that are helping keep, you know, creative ideas alive, not driven by an agenda, not driven by, you know, a corporation that's just piling up and, you know, making the next Mario game, which could be good, I don't know but and making the next Mario game, which could be good.
Speaker 2:I don't know If we're going to talk about the state of gaming. We're going to be here another hour, oh boy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but indie games.
Speaker 1:Steam, indie games, all that stuff, the amount of creative platformers, for example, that I see out there, that remind me of Gex, that remind me of Jak and Daxter, that remind me of Sly Cooper, that remind me of Glover. You know like they're out there and you know I've reached out to many people, to many people, and I've been respectful, you know, and again, I have to like their project and I want to make a connection with them. That's the rule. So if I, you know, if I really don't care, unfortunately, if that's just not their project, if I, you know, if I really don't care, unfortunately, if that's just not their project, is just not my taste, then you know I won't go. But if they do seem like a nice person, huh, I maybe I'll just have to word it in a certain way to where it's like again, I'm not like I want to know more about your project, but you just seem really cool.
Speaker 1:It's just, it's honestly, you know, it's the lost art of communication that people have lost over the years because we're all on our phones, which can we really blame ourselves? No, that's just the culture. But when it comes to reaching out to people online, there have been a big I wouldn't say big number, but there have been a good amount of people that you know. We're talking casually. I'm talking with other artists and they say that they're scared. I can't blame them. It's scary. It's scary to reach out to someone you don't know, because you don't know how they're going to react, that you may be very. They may think of you as rude or you're stepping over a line. Why are you going into my DMs? You creep? It's like I was just talking about work. I'm sorry, that's the fear and you know I definitely can understand it.
Speaker 1:But when you're again, I can only speak for being remote. When you're remote, you have to take, not drastic measures, but you have to like. What else are you going to do? It's already hard to audition. You have these great demos that you commissioned for. You need to put yourself more out there.
Speaker 1:If you're not reaching out, at least to some people where you've read the room and you know they seem friendly in their posts on Twitter or Instagram, and you're not willing to at least throw a DM out there, a professional DM? No, basically, in and out. You know, not dwelling and talking about oh my gosh, I like this video game too. I like this. You're being professional, keeping it straight to the point, then you know, if you're not willing to do that, then I don't know how you're going to grow. I don't know how you're going to I mean, maybe through recommendations, maybe through other means, but for me, that's how I got myself off my feet.
Speaker 1:That's how I networked, was reaching out to different indie devs that helped build up my resume and from there I had more confidence to reach out to other creat, other creatives that had, for example, dubbing experience.
Speaker 1:That's how I met donald guzzi, who's the narrator for my dear friend nokatan um. That's how I met um, our friend roly, who's the voice of um gintoki in gintama, and you know, they did these shows from miami and, uh, you know it's, uh, it took me some, you know it took me to, you know, get my courage up, but I reached out, I was genuine, I wanted to make connections with these guys because, yes, they had, you know, you know they had experience in the dubbing world, but they just seemed like genuine dudes, you know, and and I've been friends with them ever since and that was back in again 2021, so four years removed. But um, yeah, I didn't. It grows as you keep reaching out as you kind of kind of feel out how you, as your own individual, reach out to others. What's unique to you, um, you go off of that. So that's that's what I have to say on that.
Speaker 3:I don't know if that helps, but yeah I definitely think it does, and I think that that's really like telling from your social media profile like how much networking you are doing, not just on your end, but one thing that I really enjoy from now, following you on Instagram, for example, not just seeing what you announce that you're going to be partaking in or doing voiceover work for, but other projects that you're passionate about, or friends projects, people's Kickstarters, people that inspire you, whether that's a post or something thrown on your story. I'm just very curious, like what? What makes you go that extra mile to continue to lend a helping hand, to support other creators? We talked at brick and you know there was a group of you guys just uplifting each other from the entire weekend that that, uh, energy was infectious, and I think that's such a positive thing that we could tell right away that all of you bring. So what kind of drives that from your end to take those extra steps when it's just so easy to leave a like and move on?
Speaker 1:okay. So this, this may be a deep, a very deep answer. Is that okay? Is that all right, y'all? Yeah, no, no I think you're.
Speaker 3:No, no, we are digging in deep here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I love it. Did we say casual, I meant deep, I love it, I love it, people love that. That gets you more views.
Speaker 3:Yes, if you could actually work up the tiers at this point, that'd be great for clips.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. No, but to answer your question, that's how my mom taught me. That's how my mom taught me when you see someone trying and they're genuine about it and they love it, you can see that they love it. You want to support, especially if you work with them too. I know some, for example, indie devs, who are not getting the algorithm on their side, which is bullshit, and you just want to lend a helping hand. And especially if you get to know the person and maybe you know their life, maybe you get to know, like, what they've been through, it gets personal. And I feel how do I say this Once you make not the whole thing because I'm learning that as well Like, if you make this field personal as a whole, it's not gonna be fun. That's what I've learned.
Speaker 1:But if you make it personal on that sense of just caring, of just lending a hand, being helpful, being uplifting, even if you're having just the roughest day and if you have imposter syndrome kicking your ass, if you're getting mad at your friends for getting roles that you may want or that you're not able to audition for because of where you are, once you get past that and you're like screw my insecurities, like this person deserves some praise. Or you know, like, that's not how I would like. How would I want to be treated in this sense? You know like they deserve the praise, and then you're not even doing it just because of that, too, it's like this person deserves it. Or you're just like, yeah, they just deserve it. Or you're just like, yeah, they just deserve it. You have to give them their flowers because they're probably going through the same struggle that you're going through auditioning every single day and not getting anything, trying their hardest, you know, spent $500 worth on coaching and still not getting something. Just like you, yeah, they deserve their flowers. We're all going through it in our own way.
Speaker 1:And, put on top, you know they're going through life stuff like you have. It gets really personal very fast and you know my patience hasn't been the best, I will be honest, ever since October or ever since two years ago. But it's growing up. I can only speak for men because I'm a man, or I can just speak. I don't know I can speak for everybody. I don't know.
Speaker 1:As you grow up, you're just like why would I send out that negative energy to people? Why? What's the reason? What is your, why? Why you know so and do you want to emanate that or put that out there so you know they can feel what you're feeling, so you can feel better about yourself? No, that's a dick move. So To me, showing encouragement to other artists who are suffering just like you is very important.
Speaker 1:And you don't know where their mental health is at too. Maybe they really did need that role to get through the day. You just never know. You just never know what somebody else is going through. So that's why I try to support when I can, when I'm able to. Again, it just all comes back to what my mom taught me and you know, supporting others and helping others, just helping folks in general. Again, I'm not a perfect person. I don't look at myself sometimes as a good dude sometimes, because that's just where my self-esteem kind of leads me. But you know, I would say I'm decent and you just, you just want to be good to others.
Speaker 1:Going back to, to Brick City, that group I'm blessed to have that group to, to have been, you know, to be around folks like you know, like Donald, like Rue, like Bay, that uplift each other. It was tough. It's tough when you're new on the scene too. I mean, I'm not going to hide it we were there. We were new on the scene. We had Erica there, we had Zach Aguilar there. We were new on the scene. We had we had Erica Erica there, we had Zach Aguilar there and we had Christina Kelly there.
Speaker 1:It's, these are big stars in anime and their lines are long and it's like you have to mentally be ready for that and fight with that. If people don't really know you, you know, you have to know that you still are worth a shit. You know, if people don't really know you, you know you have to know that you still are worth a shit. You know, and you know being again. Why I say we're blessed is because we were in that group. We are in that group and we go to cons as a group sometimes and you know to have that. You know those people that have your back. It's a blessing and we just want to keep each other's energies up and keep the good vibes.
Speaker 2:I think it's also very important to find that balance, because there's nothing wrong with being like man I wish that was me, wish I had done that but also still be excited for your friend, for your peer and that, but also still be excited for your friend, for your peer I meant to mention this as well when you were talking about you know how difficult it is to hear those rejections and to come up short. You know, I did stand-up comedy for 10, almost 11 years and those nights where it was bad, I was like dude, do I suck at this? And at the same time it time it's like no, no, I don't. I know I had a bad night, eric. We, at the same time, we know we're good at what we do.
Speaker 2:When it comes to not only this, when it comes to podcasting, but also when it comes to panel hosting. We can say we could do what that person does. But we also understand that person that is in that position worked their ass off to be there like that's not. They're not there by accident. Will we do? We want to come and take their job?
Speaker 1:yeah, but, do we want to join them. Do we want to join them? Right exactly, we want to join them. Yeah, we're ready.
Speaker 2:You have to find that balance, so it's like that. That's why it's so great to see uh eric. When we see the short box, you know win best podcasts. We're coming for that award, uh jacksonville, by the way, oh yeah when we get your roses, boy, when we see them win. When we see ryan and gam doing all these great things here, it's like this is awesome because it benefits all of us yeah, you know so but also it's okay to be, to have have a little competition.
Speaker 2:So there was a comic I worked with in Dallas and I knew he was way better than I was A great guy. Great person works his ass off. He's now. He's been on Conan. He's got a Netflix special. I think he's about to be on an HBO show, ralph Barbosa.
Speaker 2:go look him up and I saw him in Orlando last year or two years ago. He performed at the improv and he was lucky enough Lucky he remembered me, so we got to hang out with him after the show and just got to tell him how proud I was of him. Man, and you saw that coming. So like it's a good feeling, because sometimes, or a lot of times, when other people win, you feel like you win too, and that's a very healthy mindset to have.
Speaker 1:Absolutely my friend, for example, my friend Gerard Castor. Shout out to him. He's one of the growing voice actors in Dallas, Texas, right now. He just announced a role for Dragon Ball Dyma.
Speaker 2:Awesome. I think I saw you post about that today, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like reposted on my story or put on a comment there, and you know it's the people that you're close to the most or that you know who have been in your realm and you just you've seen them grind and you see them. You know the lowest and the highest and you know Gerard, for example, deserves that, you know tenfold. You know I'm so happy for him and you know'm so happy for him, um, and you know that's where that love comes from.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I love all of that. To turn the conversation back into pop culture, uh, you know you mentioned some of those characters that were very important to you growing up. God love ed and netty. So good love that whole era. Courage, dexter, johnny, bravo. Like all those characters, uh, powerpuff girls, uh, the original, not the uh live action that leaked here recently over on social media, but who, uh, to to kind of bring it to present day are there. Who are those characters that you maybe resonate with now, because I think a lot of old heads will kind of get in their space, like, well, it's not like it used to be and like it is. You just kind of you got to look for it because there is so much more now to choose from. So who are some of those characters, whether it be animation, whether it be live action, who are some of those characters that you that resonate with you now that I think are you know people are are sleeping on so for right now, and I'll answer the question.
Speaker 1:I'll'll just give you a. Totally to be transparent, when you're full time and voiceover, you don't have a lot of time. Sometimes you're stressed out most of the time. So my friends have gotten on me to play more video games, to watch more shows. That's why this isn't an announcement, but that's why I want to stream, just to have an excuse to play a video game. I don't even care if there's nobody in the chat. It's like we're going to be playing Bloodborne. Oh, hey, hey.
Speaker 2:Hey, listen. I streamed Jurassic World Evolution 2 to four of my friends last night and we had a great time. Oh hell yeah, dude.
Speaker 1:Hell, yeah, that's how it starts. But yeah, see, it's fun. But to answer the question, hmm, I'm thinking right now, you know, the one thing that comes to mind one of the few or the one show that I've watched, that's you know, that's been recent, is Invincible and the characters in that are very impactful and it's just a heavy take on superheroes Very gory but super real at the same time of how it is to be a hero and the responsibility it takes to be a hero. Yeah, there's a lot of struggle in that which can be fun to watch, to see the hero kind of go through it and overcome it and see how much he's been holding back. I'll just say that. But another show man, I feel like an, like an old guard because I'm so still enamored with the run that ed ed netty had, that danny antinucci, his vision, what he had, how matt hill and all of them, how they acted in that show.
Speaker 1:A Aaron Fitzgerald or Fitzpatrick I can never get her last name right. I'm so sorry, aaron. I'll just say Aaron, she was in Persona 2. She's awesome, just that whole cast, how they did it. Peter Calamus Roll it really did like shape my whole childhood. But you know, I, I can't. I haven't dabbled in the recent cartoon network, which I again, I don't like how that's been handled. Um, just like, not cartoons as a whole, but like recently with the company. I don't like how that's been handled. I don't like how animation's been handled. Overall, it should be more respected, like the. The coyote movie. That got, that got, uh, that got canceled.
Speaker 2:The full-on movie just thrown out for tax purposes and then, and then we learned there's a looney tunes, there's a daffy duck and it's just daffy and porky daffy and porky movie where they go to space, remember in, remember in deadpool, when he's like it's like the studio couldn't afford the other x-men, like that's what it feels, like it's just, it's just daffy and forky. Where's the rest of them?
Speaker 1:oh, that that's a funny premise though, dude, like see stuff like that, like, and I I don't know, I just animators as a whole have been some of the most disrespected group of workers I have seen, and I I'm like. Why, though, like this? Entertainment, and animation in particular, helps shape childhoods. They help shape the generation of tomorrow. You send out messages through your animation, through like entertainment, and that's how generations grow, and so if you take that away from especially kids, what the fuck are you doing?
Speaker 2:They're going to watch Mr Beast games. I think I just had a stroke and then you have these asshole AI animators with their dead-eyed characters and weird hands.
Speaker 3:It's all in the hands.
Speaker 2:people Look at the hands.
Speaker 3:They can never get them right a real artist nightmare is ai's reality really quick.
Speaker 2:Eric, do you want to tell josh about why invincible is in your bag?
Speaker 3:we didn't have to do that.
Speaker 2:No, you do we did, because you did this with jessica cavanaugh on wicked last month.
Speaker 3:So your take on wicked is objectively bad. It's like that's okay.
Speaker 2:That's okay. No, but you hate Invincible and I don't hate Wicked, I don't hate.
Speaker 3:Invincible. I just think it's to a certain extent like it's just a gore fest and I don't like Mark as a character. That's like the summary of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I think the twist is cool, for sure. I think a lot of people get hung up on that and it's a really impactful thing. That kind of happens out of nowhere, yeah. But yeah, I think the movie relies, or the show relies, a little bit too much on gore.
Speaker 1:I agree.
Speaker 3:And I just don't like Mark as a character. Love the actor that does the voice for him. Of course we're a big fan of his, but yeah, I just don't like the character and maybe that development happens. But you're talking about how difficult it is to watch stuff these days. I mean we're in the content business to talk about these things, and I get overwhelmed with how many fandoms we have our hands in. If I'm not vibing with something, it's hard to continue it, so maybe it gets better in season two.
Speaker 1:I would hope. I would hope in the future. I will say as a critique for a show like that I do think that Mark gets his ass kicked way too much.
Speaker 3:He needed a training arc. Badly, yeah, and and I know it's going on a training arc badly yeah, I know yeah and I know that it's going off of the comic which is very graphic.
Speaker 1:But, like in the show, I'm just sometimes, while I like the storytelling for me, I like the storytelling, at the same time I'm just like, did he have to get his his, his suit ripped up and get bloodied, like you know, black eye and all that? Like again, like is this? This is just Mark to me, you know, and it's, yeah, that's to be critical of something that I like. I feel like that's that's, you know, that's valid. I'm like why? Why do we have to do that? Is that just our culture nowadays? Like, is that entertainment, you know?
Speaker 2:And I feel it doesn't have to be that. And speaking of animators, there's the whole thing with Invincible and the animation that we again, we will not get into right now. Just do not have time.
Speaker 3:I need to catch up on.
Speaker 2:Invincible, but very much enjoying it. Yeah, so, like you said, Eric, there's just so many. The fact that we do have our hands in so many pots is insane. Fact that we do have our hands in so many pots is insane, uh, which is like how we keep up with with all these different things. Um, I literally the other day, actually earlier this week, I had time at work to start to, I just jumped on shonen jump and I was like god, I I haven't been on this app in forever, but because I just don't have time here we go, here we.
Speaker 2:I just don't have the time to read, to watch, to play.
Speaker 1:It's insane. We're adults, we're adults.
Speaker 2:I'm tired all the time. I'm tired right now, guys. Oh yeah, yeah, I'm tired too.
Speaker 1:We're all tired. We're all tired.
Speaker 2:I cannot wait for Collective Con, but I am tired already.
Speaker 3:I'm so exhausted. Oh for sure You're tired of it, man. I'm so exhausted.
Speaker 1:We're going to be there because it's like I'll be. You know I drove and then, like you know, did a bunch of voice work and that's emotional. Voice work is emotional. Go to Collective Con. You have a bunch of personalities and people who are happy.
Speaker 2:You see people you haven't seen in a while, you won't be able to tell.
Speaker 1:Oh man, you won't be able to tell, but I am, we're going to walk in and fall over Like walk through the door and just fall over. We will suffer together, brothers, we will suffer together. And I'm just a guest. I'm not a guest, but I'm just a person that's just going. I bought my ticket today $55.
Speaker 2:I couldn't get it on my cell phone, by the way, so I got to fix that. Oh crap, I got to get my Spookala ticket, god dang, it Did those prices go up already. God dang it. I think it was tonight at 8 o'clock.
Speaker 1:Sorry to make a tangent. Sorry to make a tangent, but to go back on the animation thing, I think one thing that people need to watch right now or get on the train on is One Piece. I'm sorry One Piece, oh Phil, one Piece.
Speaker 3:I guess it. This is your turn to talk.
Speaker 1:You don't like One Piece?
Speaker 3:You don't like One Piece?
Speaker 1:You just won't watch it.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to commit to something with that many episodes. I will defend him until the One Piece comes out the One Piece yeah. The refusal to watch. It is going to be unbearable, but I will say I am on Skypiea right now.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice, nice.
Speaker 3:Just like Alabasta, it drags.
Speaker 2:It does drag.
Speaker 3:It drags.
Speaker 2:It does drag.
Speaker 3:There is a lot of filler. However and I say this every time I fucking love the show already. I know people say it takes till this arc or this arc. The second I saw Luffy's goofy ass fucking smile and I met all these characters. I was on board. So I definitely agree with you that people should be watching One Piece, but I also can acknowledge the 1,000 episode thing is a real hurdle to cross.
Speaker 1:It is it scared me back in 2018. Jesus Christ, excuse me, jeez Louise, that is, yeah, 2018. I still can't believe that. My friend got me into it and I was scared, but I took it slowly, I took breaks. Um, I think people when they say like yo get into one piece, they're like watching one go and I'm like, no, I'm not, that's not what I'm saying. Take a break after an arc or and just come back to it another time during the year or some some stuff like that.
Speaker 1:But I would have to say when you are hooked is around the time of the Sabote uh, yeah, sabote arc, cause that's when things start to change. That's when things start to you know, the story takes a weird turn and you're like, oh, okay, that's happening. And then when you get to Marineford, that's one of the peaks of One Piece. That's some good stuff. However, to anybody who's just scared of just going down that rabbit hole, I will also say that the live action is pretty good too. I love the live action. That's the first anime live action besides the Rurouni Kenshin movies that are like, yeah, this is some good stuff. I would definitely recommend that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the live action was very good. I very much enjoyed it. I'm excited for the second season, absolutely To see how they do everything there. But I'm very curious. There's so many fandoms we still need to jump into here, so sticking just kind of in the media realm. And then, phil, maybe we can jump to some of those extra ones that we don't normally get to talk about with most of our guests, which is a super cool. Again back to when we did two episodes, uh, a week. We were covering like sports and wrestling and all that stuff. We really had to condense it down, so just kind of sticking with like films and gaming. I'm kind of curious. We'll actually do one of each. What is? If you could kind of go back in any point in time to see a movie on the big screen in theaters and to play a video game for the first time, what would that movie and video game be?
Speaker 1:So for me, iron man was always. It helped me a lot when I was a kid. It's weirdly, like weirdly was one of the sources that helped me try to get into shape. It's weird. It's weird Like I just I love Tony as a character. He's imperfect, but he still tries, and he's still imperfect when he tries. People are like but you're, but aren't you like a captain america, like you're such a good dude. I'm like no, I'm a tony, I'm a start like. I love tony stark. He's great.
Speaker 1:Um, the one movie that I would want to go back to and watch over again for the first time is Endgame. I know that's probably a uh, you know, a bandwagon answer, but for me, endgame just hit it. Um, it was the, the end of the infinity saga. It was the end of 10 years of straight storytelling through many films that we have not like. We haven't seen anything like that and it wrapped up beautifully. I mean I am iron man, I am I and I am iron man. Like, started with him, ended with him and just to see that over again, that that would be cool for the first time, like that'd be awesome video game. Now, that's hard. Oh man, goodness, gracious man, that's a roughy, that's a roughy. I can only have one answer right.
Speaker 3:I mean, there's no real rules.
Speaker 1:Would you like us to go?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was like there's no real rules.
Speaker 3:But while you're thinking about yours, mine are easy because I've had time to think about the question. It's a lot easier when you've asked yourself that question and you're not on the spot my movie. Phil knows both answers. My movie is your Name, the anime film that is my all-time favorite film, and the video game is Bioshock and honestly it's a 1A, 1b for Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite. I love those games almost equally. Phil, what is your movie and your game?
Speaker 2:Now. I mean, I technically did see this movie in theaters. It's like my first core memory. But I would like to go back and experience Jurassic Park again for the first time, erase it from my memory and just watch it again. I watched it in a movie theater in Puerto Rico and again, it's my first memory.
Speaker 2:I was five years old when it came out Nice, and for the video game it's kind of it kind of changes over time. But more recently I would have to say it's Red Dead Redemption 2, because when I played through that game the first time, first off I was I was moving. I had moved from Dallas back to Jacksonville. Finances weren't great, so I played the game very late, after it had already come out, and I was living with a roommate at the time who, and I think I really just didn't appreciate the story the way that I should have and taken my time with it because I felt like I was already behind. So I kind of rushed through it. I have been replaying it here and there on PC, which has been fantastic. But if I could go back and just kind of sit down in front of a television and really focus on it, I think it'd be Red Dead 2.
Speaker 1:Red Dead 2. Those are some good choices, y'all. I think if I can do a redo, because this game came out at a time where there was a lot going on at home. I was focused more on sports because, a little lore about me, I thought sports was going to be my out. If that gives you any idea being a Metal Gear Solid fan, it helps you turn into a man, and Solid Snake really was there for me whenever I needed him the most, you know as a father figure in a way.
Speaker 1:That concept like Tony, like you're not perfect but you're going to do the right thing. You don't have all the abilities, you don't have all the superpowers, you're not a super soldier, you're not any of these things, but you do have some ability and you can get it done. The one game that I would like to go back on and play it, be focused on it and just take it all in is metal gear solid 4. That is a deep game. I'm not going to give a synopsis because it would be long, because hideo Kojima games are long to explain.
Speaker 2:Josh, can I tell you this story really quick about Metal Gear Solid 4? I've told you this story before, eric, with Brock, a buddy of ours, one of our closest friends from high school, I was over at his apartment and he was playing that game and a cutscene began and we went to go eat.
Speaker 3:We came back and a cutscene was still playing. He was like no, and we came back and a cutscene was still playing.
Speaker 2:He was like no, we got time, Come on, let's just go get some food.
Speaker 3:We got time. We can go to Five Guys, and it was still playing.
Speaker 2:So that's my Metal Gear memory.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah dude, that's Metal Gear Long cutscenes, a lot of freaking storytelling and a badass main character's metal gear. That's funny because that's true, but yeah, that's uh. For me it's metal gear. Solid 4, the.
Speaker 1:The story is very deep. I mean, if you followed solid snake majority of your life up to that point and you you know the stakes in that game, then Then you know how serious it is. You know how much this means to the series. And just to see Snake as an old man. You know this strong individual, this strong-willed man, this strong-willed dude who's just trying to do the right thing, who could just sit in his cabin and just be a drunk, like he did in the series at some point, but still something told him to do the right thing. And again he's doing it again, but as an old man, because he has accelerated aging and he's just like I need to save the world one more time. That's something I feel that all young men, just young individuals, should play, just to see. That's perseverance right there. Yeah, I would want to play that 100% and do it over again, because I didn't give it the right amount of respect at the time, because I was just focused on other things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have never played a Metal Gear game, so I've been very excited for the Snake Eater remake to come out because I'm 100% going to dive into that. I didn't really play a lot of story-driven games when I had, you know, ps1 was my first PS1 and Sega Saturn were like my two first consoles and I was playing, you know, the football games. We talked about a lot of sports games. I also didn't have a memory card for the longest time For those of you that don't know you used to have to buy memory in order to save a game, yep, and I didn't have any of that. So I really didn't get into like story-driven games, I think until the original Xbox, like with Halo.
Speaker 1:So I missed out like on a lot of those older story-driven games Gotcha, gotcha, yeah, it's um story driven games have been like again.
Speaker 1:It started for me it started with Star Fox 64 and a lot of people would be like really, that's a story based, that's a story driven game and it's like it is. It is, I mean, fox McCloud is offending his father, who got killed by Andross, and he's trying to save the galaxy with his friends at the same time. And for me now, as a grown man I this is the other part of the lore that I've kind of created for myself is that game is a full-on suicide mission to Fox, not to his whole team, because at the end, whenever he says I'll go it alone from here, that's like he had this planned out from the beginning. He's like I will take down Andross, no matter what it takes. That's the whole game and that's what makes the whole ending, the true ending of that game, so impactful. And I it's one of the first endings in a game that really got me Cause I'm like I was not expecting a supernatural type of touch to a rail shooter, that was just a shoot-em-up basically.
Speaker 2:I could talk all day about that.
Speaker 1:I love Star Fox yeah.
Speaker 3:And you know, phil, a lot of these we've known of and again, so many fandoms to dive into. Again, so many fandoms to dive into. I think one of the things that we got excited about in the pre-pre-show that kind of relates to all this in pop culture is like, especially once you've dived into movies, video games and all of these things, there's that select few of us that not only also like sports but also like wrestling.
Speaker 3:So, you called out the NXT title that Phil had in the background. What is your relationship with wrestling? I don't know if you know, but wrestling is like the big ticket now. It's cool now. So I would love to hear your perspective. I'd love to hear your perspective on what you've known about wrestling, what type of fan you've been, whether that's afar or hardcore, and then what you think about this new era that we're entering recently.
Speaker 1:OK, so very good question. You know, when I was younger, I got into wrestling around the time of 2006,. Around the time of the second coming of DX, and you know I was in grade school. You know you would do the suck it in elementary school. That's what I did and it was really fun and I feel like just like anime. Back then a little bit, kids were too afraid to say they liked wrestling. Now it's cool, just like anime. Thank you Netflix. It's cool, just like anime, thank you Netflix. And yeah, I got into it around 2006 and I was a diehard.
Speaker 1:Honestly, me and my friends at the time, we watched a bunch of pay-per-views together, talked about it. You know, consistently we had our favorites. We all hated John Cena. You know all that stuff. The legendary run that only lasted for, I think, a year and a half but felt like 10 years. How you know how Shawn Michaels, super kicked and sweet chin musiced him onto. I think it was Triple H and he won the match. And we were like, fuck you, cena, Even though we liked Cena deep down. We, you know, talking about the Hardys talking about, you know, old wrestlers to talking about, you know, as you get when you get deeper into it. You know I bought the WrestleMania anthologies that were in Walmart and learned about, you know, the legendary match. You actually saw it. You know the legendary match, the match between, you know, hulk and Andre the ladder match, razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels it's.
Speaker 1:I loved all of that man but I kind of grew out of it whenever I was in, when I got into football and things in life got a little bit more serious. So you know, and I and I want all of us want to be wrestlers because it was cool to us. But you know, when you get more realistic you're like I don't know how to get into that, which, funny enough, there are more outlets now, especially, I think, here in Orlando that there is an outlet, you know. So it's like if you want to go into it you can. But right now I'm starting to.
Speaker 1:It's not like I want to be a wrestler, but I love just watching the history. I have been binging Cultaholic YouTube channel and they put out a lot of good content on the history, like they had, I think, a three or four part, maybe even a five part anthology on the Golden Era, you know, when Vince bought it from his dad and built it to what it is now, which I don't really condone at all what he's done, which sucks because people did look up to him, which is, you know, it's like okay, that's terrible. But yeah, right now I'm just, I'm more of, I like to watch the history of it and everything and and this new era that we're going into. I feel it's great because, you know, I feel Triple H is going to lead this into the next level, probably, of what Vince wanted, but into beyond that, because how he's been handling stuff with, like the portal, the people taking time off, you know, caring more about the wrestlers who haven't gotten a lot of time or just a lot of light on them. He brought the Hardys back, for example. He cares, and I love that and you can really see how much he loves this business. It's, I think.
Speaker 1:I think WWE is in really good hands. He brothers, he, he. He brought TNA into the mix, you know, he, he, I don't. It's like he wasn't doing that whole Monday night war thing that Vince and and and and Ted had, which was epic at the time. I mean, I think it propelled the business to where it is now and we needed it. But it's like do we really need to do that again. You know, I think teamwork is what makes the dream work right now.
Speaker 1:So just seeing like Joe come into the Royal Rumble, that's revolutionary. That's innovation right there. So, yeah, I think this new era is going to be really good and I think this current WrestleMania is going to be one to keep your eye on, because, I mean, the Cena turn is one of the most built-up heel turns if you look at it in history, probably even better than the Hulk Hogan going and, and you know, kevin Nash and Razor Scott Hall making NWO. I think it's even bigger than that, because Cena's been a good guy a baby face for how long? Over 15 years, you know it's been a long time. So just to see that, and him working with the Rock too, the final boss it's like this is, you know it's been a long time. So just to see that, and him working with the rock too, the final boss it's like this is you know, cody has his hands full. We were, we were shouting.
Speaker 3:We were shouting at the television on my knees like I could not, because I could, could not believe you can ask, I am.
Speaker 2:I am that john cena fan that every time he won I was like LOL, Cena wins, Fuck y'all. I was eating good. One of Eric's worst memories.
Speaker 3:Oh, I knew it here in this house. As a Randy Orton fan as well, by the way. Oh, a Viper fan I've always been.
Speaker 1:Randy Orton's my guy.
Speaker 2:We've always been like against each other. It was at the Royal Rumble at the Madison Square Garden when he had injured his pectoral muscle just a few months earlier. Wasn't expected back anytime soon. And John Cena's music hits at number 30.
Speaker 1:And I jump out of my seat and this was back when nothing was spoiled.
Speaker 2:You couldn't just go on the internet and find out things were happening. So I jump out of my seat and Eric is livid because he knows he's gonna win he knows there's no way they're bringing him back as a surprise.
Speaker 1:There was plot armor around that man especially at that time.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, so, uh, john cena, I've always been. Uh, he was the first pay-per-view I ever went to was survivor series 2003. It was in d and that was when he had turned, so he was heel, but he had joined Team Angle at that time and that's when he was faced. From that point on until just a week ago Now, 2003, 21 years yeah, so 25, 22 years, and to make this decision with less than a year left in your career is ballsy.
Speaker 2:Like it is crazy, and I think it's a testament to Cena's character work because of how good of an actor he is and how how much better he has become since leaving WWE. So I think it's going to elevate everybody. It's going to elevate Cody. It's going to elevate the rock, who we have our own opinions on as far as his acting not in the WWE, just we have our own opinions on as far as his acting not in the WWE, just outside of the WWE. But final boss character slaps he does. So I did see a thing on Twitter that was like what at one point? Like with this, do we think that maybe it's a skin condition? Maybe he needs to get something checked out? Maybe it's not goosebumps, maybe he should go see a dermatologist.
Speaker 3:I love that CM Punk called that out on you. He bullshit.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So CM Punk coming back like that's something that would never happen under Mr man and? And has Triple H been perfect? No, absolutely not. I think he needs to book the women better, for sure, as far as that division. But he definitely going in and bringing in TNA. I mean, just two years ago we had Mickey James, who was TNA, who was the knockouts champion she was in the women's rumble and then last year Jordan Grace before she came over, so the fact that they're working together is great.
Speaker 2:Somebody that we'll probably never see working together is Tony Khan and Triple H, and we have ties because of Tony Khan on the football side and the wrestling side. I'm just curious have you dabbled in any AEW? Because it is kind of a homegrown Jacksonville product.
Speaker 1:I feel so bad for not diving into it. I do want to watch Edge slash Cope um he's Edge, I mean at least Adam.
Speaker 2:Copeland was okay, but just Cope is not good Cope yeah, I feel bad, like I'll be totally honest.
Speaker 1:I'm just starting to get really back into it. Like, for example, like I want to on my own time at some point on YouTube, watch old like New Japan stuff, because you know I want to learn more about the history of the Bullet Club. I want to. You know, I learned a little bit from it, from one of the YouTubers. I watched Super Eyepatch Wolf and he talked about the Bullet Club with Kenny Omega, with all these guys who are in AEW now. So I do like what they're doing at AEW. You all might know more than I do, but it seems like it's good from the outside point of view, but in the meat of it I I would probably have different opinions, honestly it's great having a competitor, that there needs to be a competitor and an outlet for these very talented people.
Speaker 2:And and I think wb and aw are both in this situation now where there is too much talent there are like when you say so and so deserves a push, yes, they do, but so do so do these other people. So it is rough. So, eric and I, we were definitely very invested in aew in the beginning. Uh, vince was still around and we weren't. We weren't liking that product. It was all about, oh, this person needs to go to aew, this person needs to go to aew.
Speaker 2:The problem with aew now is tony khan books aew as a, which he should be, but not enough like a businessman as well, and we've seen some of that carry over into the Jacksonville Jaguars, unfortunately. So that's the problem with AEW is there is so much talent there, but sometimes they get caught up in storylines that just don't make any sense. Keeping people around a little bit longer than they should be. Like chris jericho, who who's um? What he has done for the business cannot be taken away, cannot be understated, but in 2025, when you have a stacked roster of young, incredible talent, chris jericho shouldn't be as much of a focus.
Speaker 2:You know things like that should be yeah, should not be happening yet he's had his time.
Speaker 1:He's the first undisputed champion, I think.
Speaker 2:Mox, aka formerly known as Dean Ambrose, in this current role, not really working for a lot of people, right, eric? So I really only keep up with AEW through social media. Again, in the beginning, eric and I would watch pay-per-views. Again, in the beginning, eric and I would watch pay-per-views. You know we were very fortunate, being here in Jacksonville, to go to a lot of AEW shows during the pandemic, which was a huge, huge opportunity for us. But it's just similarly to like we have too many fandoms, we can't watch wrestling five days a week.
Speaker 3:It's just not possible and I think I think, with this new era of WWE is telling us is that fans want story-driven, like narratives. They want to see cinema and fulfill.
Speaker 3:How many times have we said this is cinema, right between the bloodline, the bloodline stuff last year uh the scene of heel turn, like there are so many moments that that make you feel that way, and AEW is so focused on being wrestling that I just I don't think they're ready to be a TV product and it shows there's a lot of holes in their game, but they have a lot of great, great talent. And I think you know, as we kind of wrap up the wrestling portion of the conversation and inevitably turn our attention to the Jaguars, I do want to ask you, josh, is there a wrestler that is yours? So I mentioned mine has always been randy orton. Phil's always been the john cena guy. Who was your guy that you always kind of lean towards. It doesn't have to be a greatest of all time thing, but who was your guy?
Speaker 3:my guy or girl, it's not a guy girl, yeah, no, yeah I mean shout out to.
Speaker 1:I mean it's like one of the best trish stratus, like can still wrestle today. You know it's um, you know showing that age is just a number, but um, for me, kind of going on the theme of just not perfect but gets the job done, he's one of the best. Sean michaels bar none. Sean michaels, the heartbreak kid like if you read up on sean michaels early on, he's a good guy he is an asshole, not a good.
Speaker 1:He's just like where's my fucking gold at? Where's my money at? Why is brett hart here? Who the fuck is that? I don't care.
Speaker 1:I, and you know I can still remember it as a kid watching his documentary, the Heartbreak Kid or the yeah, I think that's what it was called but Just learning just his life turn, you know, just was not the best dude and found God, you know, found his soulmate, just grew as a man, came back faced Triple H in SummerSlam and you know, you can just see there was a, even as a fan who was just getting into it more and looking up, like the history, basically, again, like you know, like I am right now, you can just tell the difference in his eyes, in his how he carried himself. There was a difference and that's just very interesting. That's breaking the fourth wall to me, because I mean, you know, when you, when wrestling becomes personal and their personal lives, you know, transcend beyond the, the, the kayfabe, just the storyline, just just everything, it becomes special. And we talked about you just mentioned Eric about storytelling, or it was Phil, my bad One of you all mentioned storytelling. Some of the best this is cinema that I've seen when I wasn't, even when I was starting to transition out. I would always go back and see the rivalry between him and the Undertaker and he becoming obsessed with ending that shriek, so much so that he put his career on the line and had one of the best matches again against him. It was amazing. And then seeing Triple H do it twice, you know trying to, you know it was just that that was good storytelling. Another gosh, I gotta put him in here. I know, um, I gotta put him in.
Speaker 1:Eddie Guerrero, eddie Guerrero, um, again another anotherero. Um, again another another one. His story transcends beyond the screen. Um was addicted and you know the. The WWE kicked him out, or you know, and he was in ring of honor for a little bit and trying to keep the love alive and Ray Mysterio and his boys back then were telling him you know, glad, you're good, glad you're fine. You know, glad, you still love, still love the, the. You know the sport and we just hope that you come back one day and comes back.
Speaker 1:And no way, you know, comes back and you know he gets in a rivalry with Brock Lesnar and you know this is the giant, this is the beast. You know this is one of the one of like the Goldberg of the WWE. You know you do not fuck with Brock Lesnar and it's Eddie, you know, and I still remember buying the the no way out because unfortunately I got into it after he passed and just watching that and just seeing him, you know his whole moniker of lie, cheat and steal. He hits him with the chair and everybody's cheering and like he does the frog splash and wins it and wins the WWE championship. It's like at that time as a kid you really look up to stuff like that. You know it's all entertainment, but this is a guy who earned his way back into Vince's view, into, you know, the the Titans view, basically.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Um and the same thing with Sean view basically, yeah, um, and the same thing with sean, somewhat of an of an underdog story, and where me and phil diverted with randy and john, uh, that that connected us with was eddie uh, eddie that eddie's probably the only.
Speaker 3:I don't normally like really get sad about celebrity news because, like I don't know them, I'm fans of their work. Yeah, like I'm not like sobbing over like every celebrity death, but that was a death of somebody that was in a high-profile position that passed away suddenly, where I was emotionally struck, and I think that's the relationship that wrestlers can have with the audience.
Speaker 1:You can feel it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can just feel it and I think it's just such an interesting dynamic between the two. Phil, any thoughts there on Eddie?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Eddie is one of those runs where the win, the title win, really it didn't matter what happened as far as the title run. So, like Eddie, Daniel Bryan, Kofi Mania, like those. We can't really remember how Kofi's ended, but I don't really remember how Daniel Bryan's championship run ended. But what we do remember is like those moments, you know the yes movement, the Eddie Guerrero over. We don't even care that Brock Lesnar I mean that Goldberg interfered in that match. No one, no one remembers any of that I can't even remember that know, one remembers that kofi mania.
Speaker 2:The build-up to that was incredible. So, like when you have, when you can pick out those moments of time, cody, finishing the story, there are a few moments where, yeah, like it just doesn't really matter how the rest of it goes cody finishing the story.
Speaker 1:I wasn't even like going back into wrestling at that point, but I knew the, the road storyline, um, I heard it through social media his struggle and that, just again, that's real. He's trying to, you know, complete the story that his dad started it's. How can you not get behind that?
Speaker 2:I'm speaking to bullet club a guy that left, found himself, reinvented himself, believed in himself, started a rival company and was like all right, I'm gonna come back now and I'm going to be your guy. So he should be absolutely commended before, eric, we turned that quarter into that. This next topic I do want to ask you guys do we need an Eddie Guerrero style, style iron claw film, with Pedro Pascal as Eddie Guerrero? That's yes.
Speaker 2:That's what I've been. That's the fan casting. I hear about a lot. He would have to get big, he would have to, which I think he can do, but is that the casting? Is that the movie we need?
Speaker 1:Yes, please, yeah A.
Speaker 3:Eddie Guerrero movie would probably slap and then just end extremely sad, so I don't.
Speaker 2:Well, I haven't seen Iron Claw, but I know it ends really sad, wow so they all basically die Phil yeah. That's a family.
Speaker 3:But yeah, it's um, it is sad, and that's a great transition into our our topic of the Jaguar.
Speaker 1:Oh my.
Speaker 3:God, um it, just it really.
Speaker 2:oh, oh, it really is Damn son Literally almost spit out my water, it just almost spit out my water. It was a comedic time we really need to add that beaver to the soundboard, Eric Phil.
Speaker 1:We are living and seeing a living storyline, like WWE with the Jaguars Literally, Literally bro, it's a storyline every single year.
Speaker 3:So for our listener base, if you haven't already skipped past the wrestling stuff, if you don't watch wrestling, this is your cue to skip to game time. But we're going to quickly talk about the Jaguars because that was one of the first things we kind of connected with when I was talking to you at Brick. I don't even know how the Jaguars came up, you just lit up and I haven't lit up about talking about the Jaguars at all this year. So it was really nice to get to talk to somebody in a positive way. I'm very curious if you can kind of summarize for us what your journey with football has been, because you've been both a fan and you also mentioned a couple times that you've been involved with it and I'm curious what your relationship with football is as a whole and then with the Jaguars. What has this journey been like? We talk about the highs of the Garrard years and then the absolute lows of the Gene Smith years and a lot of the bad drafts that we had.
Speaker 3:Gabbert, Gabbert of, like the Gene Smith years and a lot of the bad drafts that we had Gabbert, gabbert, and now we're somewhat back to relevancy and then we kind of took a tumble this year. So just really curious again your journey with football, both as a fan and getting involved with it, and then how that kind of relates to your journey of being a Jaguars fan. Sure, definitely I'll start with kind of like okay, so, uh, being a Jaguars fan.
Speaker 1:Sure, definitely. I'll start with uh, kind of like, okay, so, hmm, how do I start this? I got into football around 2007, 2008. I got into it because and I don't know how I'm making this transition, but we're going to try to make it I needed to lose weight. By sixth grade I was 345 pounds and it was pretty bad, like starting to turn eyes there, like that's not good, to the point where it's like the coaches at my elementary school were like, um, mrs Portillo, uh, if he doesn't get active, he's going to end up in a wheelchair, those type of conversations. And I remember my coach. I won't say his name, but I remember my coach in middle school. He walked right past me.
Speaker 1:He's like you're a big kid, or like you know, in a very respectful way, it's like you should join the football team. I'm like I don't like football. You know, I hate hurting people. I don't like hurting people. It's just like it's a sport. It's a sport, you know, it's for fun, you should definitely come out, it'll be good and so that kind of you know when you're a kid, you know when someone tells that to you, you're like maybe I should watch football. So, you know, I watched it a little bit. And again, the first season I watched was the 2008 Jaguar season, where everything kind of fell apart after our 11-5 run. Yeah, two dropped touchdown passes that Gerrard should have had in New England in the divisional round. Damn you, dennis Northcutt.
Speaker 3:It's always New England man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is always New England man, miles Jack wasn't down 96, 2006, 2000.
Speaker 1:Yeah, every, every time but yeah, it's uh, you know, uh still, though, you know, um, my time in football when I was a kid and the Jaguars, they kind of grew hand in hand from the get-go. I, I saw that I I like to. People kind of teased me for it, but I did look up to Gerard. He was a tough dude, tough quarterback, quarterback that didn't have a lot around him besides MJD, you know, and a few other guys, but we all know to make a good Super Bowl winning team you need a lot, a lot of tools, and they never correct me if I'm wrong, but ever since you know the, the offensive lines of Tony Buscelli and you know him leading the charge and his, you know his cast there. We haven't had really good offensive lines ever since then and I remember seeing Gerrard get killed, killed. I remember this one specific game that he got killed in the air mid-air in San Francisco. I was like what the Holy shit?
Speaker 2:Not to cut you off, josh, but the issue with that offensive line was really the exterior of it, Because they had Vince Manowai and Brad Meester, who were excellent, and then they could not figure out the rest of it. True at that time.
Speaker 1:so, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's where, um you know, and Vince and Brad, I mean, they're the reasons why our running game was decent half of the time that's why MJD or Fred, when I watched him too, um would just.
Speaker 1:You know, you just pop right in through the middle in the trap and it's just like whoa, they're gone. But anytime when they run, and it's just like whoa, they're gone. But any time when they run outside, sometimes it's just like it's nothing. Or you know, gerard's always stepping up in the pocket and you're like he's going to get killed, crap, and let's just say, on a bad play, brad or Vince. You know there's just those plays, you can't get all of them. And unfortunately, an interior defensive lineman, a nose guard, gets right past him, goes to the three hole and just gets Gerrard, and it's just like damn. And then you hear the Gerrard sucks chant, which, as a fan of his, you're like fuck off. Yeah, I looked up to him a lot because of his toughness. He was a stand-up dude off the field Still is an advocate for Jacksonville apparently, which that's what I've heard.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I remember kind of like growing, you know, as I went through football, like I remember I think they had a good year in 2010. And that's when we had a good year in high school football. I was able to play. I went to Providence Providence School of Jacksonville and our coach at the time, paul Peterson, led us to the playoffs for the first time and that was a. We had a heartbreaker against Trinity Christian. It was a triple overtime and they won in the end. And, yeah, I still remember that that was over, that was 15 years ago and I still remember that it was. Yeah, I remember. Yeah, I played that year too. I was on JV for a little bit, but played as a freshman. That was. That was hard. You're getting yelled at by the coach and you have, like at one point, all seniors on the line and then I was the right tackle and I'm like I am so fucking scared right now. Holy crap, dude.
Speaker 2:I don't know what any of this shit is and I'm fucking scared.
Speaker 1:I liked how you said that I am so fucking scared, right now Coach stop yelling at me.
Speaker 1:I am so fucking scared right now, Coach, stop yelling at me. Yeah, and at that point too, my coach from middle school had led me, you know, trained me in the weight room. All that. I'd lost like 145 pounds by that point. So that was really cool. And again, as I went through football, the Jaguars kind of had their journey Near my sophomore year of doing football, which started to suck after that for numerous reasons. I remember that Gerard got benched for Luke McCown. I don't know why that happened. I don't know why people were like thinking like Luke McCown's going to lead us to the promised lands. I'm like, all right, this is where we're at, and this is where we're at in my football career too, because it is crap here right now.
Speaker 3:It is. It's bad to look back on it because for every like great Fred Taylor, marie Jones drew game and for every Mike Thomas Hail Mary, there are like so many bad moments you know so many bad moments, so many bad years, phil. We were like grasping at straws with people like Ace Sanders and Denard Robinson oh my God. And LaRon Robinson Remember he had one good year in Dallas, straws with people like ace sanders and denard robinson and oh my god, and moran robinson.
Speaker 2:Remember he had one good year in dallas. They brought him in, gave him a bunch of money uh like a 34 year old tory holt oh my god, like those years.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, I remember that 70, seven to nine year that year.
Speaker 3:Those years were so bad and like again when we had saxonville, and like bordles and that one magical year, and then we just completely just shit the bed again. Um, and it was funny because in that patriots game where miles jack wasn't down as a reminder, I knew going into half we lost because I remember there was like a little bit of time at the end and they need, and I was like you can't do that, not against New England.
Speaker 3:And I knew we were going to lose that game, and we did, and then Bortles showed exactly the person he really was, which wasn't surprising, but it was.
Speaker 2:Doug Marone didn't trust him. The coaching staff didn't trust him, and probably rightfully so. But, they stopped throwing the ball.
Speaker 3:And the head coaches too have been like so weird, doug marone mike. A lot of retreads like yeah, just awful, awful coaches as well, and that's why I'm hopeful with what we've got going on right now. But like duval, like liam cohen doesn.
Speaker 1:Duval, the inflection see Liam.
Speaker 2:Cohen should be a voice actor.
Speaker 1:You should be a voice actor. You know inflections nice. Liam Cohen just doesn't inspire confidence either.
Speaker 3:So like I don't know, like it's just so weird to see these like high and I mentioned this to Phil I went to the game where we came back against the Chargers in the playoffs the most magical atmosphere I've ever experienced in any sporting event. It was amazing and to think that another year later, we canceled our season tickets. We didn't want to be there anymore.
Speaker 1:It's incredible man it's crazy, it's incredible.
Speaker 1:And it's really incredible too how the year after that they went 8-3, and we talked about it in the pregame here I think phil mentioned it that no one wants to talk about how trevor was playing mvp football, mvp football his numbers were on par, maybe a little bit lower, but on par with patrick's and then injured, and now it's like we're back in football. Hell, it's like. And that that goes to coaching too, because I remember reading an article and I, you know I try to be kind of like, eh with articles because there's just opinions, but I do agree with this one. That goes back on coaching, because these things happen, especially with the seasons that we have now, with the season extension of like the amount of games you play. That's a rough year of games to be put on your body. So at some point one of your starters, many of your starters, are going to get injured. Your backups are going to be the stars at some point and they need to be ready Quarterback, wide receiver, lineman especially, and the Jaguars don't have any fucking depth at all At running back.
Speaker 1:Really, in my opinion, quarterback no, wide receivers no, and defense shit, it's bed. Last year, for some fucking reason, we got rid of our defensive coordinator, which I don't know, but yeah, that wasn't even good last year either, so none of it was good. Yeah, that wasn't even good last year either, so none of it was good. And I still personally am on the belief that Trevor was hurt starting out of the season and he just didn't say anything. That's kind of like my theory a little bit. People can go against that, I don't care, but for me I feel like he was still kind of hurt.
Speaker 2:Trev has kind of become, even outside of Jaguar fans. Trevor has become the kind of litmus test for ball knowers and non-ball knowers, like people that know and the people that just go based off statistics. Because when you look at like, for example, last year, patrick mahomes and aaron rogers had the same statistical season, but did they really have the same season? No, so that's one thing I've definitely learned, and shout out, eric, of course, to my co-host, james johnson, over on touchdown jaguars he's, he's the guy once. He's. Once I started yeah, he is, he's fantastic. And once I started working with him, you can really throw statistical stuff out of the window.
Speaker 2:Until you go and watch film and that is one thing that I have gotten better with over time I can't sit here and say caleb williams was trash last year. I didn't watch the chicago bears play football. I don't know what's going on over there, I don't, I can't. I can see that just uh, justin herbert is blowing like a 27 point lead to jackson on the playoffs, but I didn't watch justin herbert play football all season. So when it comes to all that, I try to stay out of it on social media because you just really you're not following all these other teams.
Speaker 1:So um absolutely.
Speaker 2:Trevor, like I said, really has become kind of the poster boy for you Gotta watch the tape, because what the tape is showing, what the numbers are showing, are not the same thing. I'll say this I would rather be a Jaguar fan than a Cleveland Browns fan. I'll take what we've gone through with the Jacksonville. Jaguars over Cleveland over what?
Speaker 2:Cleveland has been through losing their team and then it coming back and going through the I mean as many quarterbacks as we've been through. You know that guy that keeps adding names to the back of his jersey. That's a Cleveland Browns fan. At least, we're not that guy. So I'll take the Jaguars' history over the Cleveland Browns. I don't know how you all feel about that.
Speaker 1:We're one. I'm telling you all. We're one or a few, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Could be one, could be a ton, could be five, could be a ton, I don't know.
Speaker 1:But when Trevor came and you know that magical season we had and unfortunately we had that crash in 23 or 24, I forgot.
Speaker 2:Yeah 24.
Speaker 1:24, technically. Yeah, and then this season was just all bad, yeah, but it's like if we had more depth. That goes back on coaching. It's funny like even the announcers like I'll watch it with my friend's dad. We love watching sports together and it's like we're just one play away. It's one play away.
Speaker 2:We lost 10 one-score games this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one fucking play away from a great season compared to a terrible season. It's that one step to be on par with the Eagles, to be on par with the Chiefs, to be on par with those type of teams. It's the teams that can win in tough situations that are under pressure and unfortunately, I think Trevor and a few others are ready for that, but they're not putting them in great situations. I mean, who the fuck runs a jet on on first down first and goal? You, fucking taylor, like you press you, tear her in god damn it.
Speaker 2:I don't know where press taylor. Oh no, he's in chicago, that's right. I was like sorry, chicago, oh we actually like swapped bad coordinators. We got Shane Waldron and they got Prince Taylor, so luckily I don't think Shane Waldron will be too involved with play calling. But I think it's kind of funny that we swap the two most hated coaches on both teams.
Speaker 1:Bro, how do you? I remember seeing that last year, last year and I'm like first off, trevor is kind of hurt or he's been hurt, so his running is not on par with what it used to be. It's first and goal, okay, or second and goal, but you haven't really implemented the running game at all. You haven't gotten that going you should have. You're putting our quarterback in danger, like what the fuck is your, is your thought process? Did you really think this was going to work against a defense? I can't remember who it was, but they had a decent defense. I'm like they've been attacking us on the edge all fucking time. They've been. They've been destroying cam robinson like you're really gonna do that right now. Like really like, help him. You're, you are, you are, you are.
Speaker 2:Help me, god, help him, yeah for those of you that are still around that aren't football fans uh, if you want to know how to get into football very easily even if you don't have a team, play fantasy football. Fantasy football is a way for people, a lot of people who don't even really care about football. They'll play fantasy football and it's a great way to get kind of ingratiated with the sport. So, um, yes, uh, that that is my suggestion there. But, yeah, the jaguars, uh, we, uh, we just can't quit them. I'll tell you, I'll tell you this, josh, I'll give you a little, uh, inside information touchdown jaguars almost ended.
Speaker 2:If, because tramp bulky was going to stick around, we had real discussions about either ending the podcast or turning it into an all-encompassing NFL podcast, I could not do it again, and we already took the step of canceling our season tickets. I wasn't going to be able to sit. We released the least amount of episodes we ever have last year just because we could not do it. It was not fun to talk about them. There was no hope.
Speaker 3:Trevor was injured. What I gonna do? Talk about mac jones going seven for 13 and for 83 yards and two touchdowns. You know, listen, hometown boy was funny for like a quarter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like a little bit it was like fun for like a quarter and then it was like I'm okay with him being our backup quarterback, but I don't ever want to see him play football again. It's sad, I want to add.
Speaker 1:I want to add like real quick, like dude, I mean, if there's any pressure that they need, cause I feel like I mean the NFL, I know, can have divas, it's just like I don't know, I don't know. I've never been into that damn locker room, I'm not an, I'm professional football player. But if you need any pressure, you have local businesses that are running out of business because of the Jaguars, your team fucking up. If that's, I mean sports mania.
Speaker 1:Sports mania is one locally in Jacksonville sports mania sports mania, because the Jaguars suck Most of the time. It's like that. Business goes downhill. And they were selling other stuff to Seminole stuff, uh, gainesville stuff. And they were selling other stuff too, seminole stuff, gainesville stuff.
Speaker 2:You know, the Florida Gators all that stuff you go to the one in Mandarin or out at the beach.
Speaker 1:Beach Beach. Yeah, that's because my dad used to work at a place called Chizu, so yeah, it was kind of across the street from there. But yeah, sports Mania, you have some other places that no one in Jacksonville probably really heard of Football.
Speaker 2:Fanatics is gone. No one in Jacksonville football fanatics is gone. It's the locker room by Lids now. So it's just corporate owned, Just a corporate entity. I mean fanatics is also a big corporate entity. We're not hating on you, we're just saying I'm hating on them a little bit. They're pretty bad.
Speaker 1:We like mom and pop football players, especially for our home team. But it's like what the fuck can you do when all you do is like not you, but it's like all you do with your team. All they do is lose.
Speaker 2:Duval Till we Die shop. They put in incredible work and release amazing stuff. And I mean, granted, eric, we went to the garage sales. Phil spent a lot of money.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Good deals, dude Deals a deal it was a great time.
Speaker 1:The one person I would say that is suffering the most, I feel, is Tony Buscelli and Mark Brunel, yeah, or just Jaguars in general. I mean MJD deep down when he's doing his NFL analysis work. It's like I have to talk and defend the Jaguars again.
Speaker 2:Always picks us. Always picks us.
Speaker 1:Always picks us. He doesn't give a shit. It's like that's my hometown or that's my home team. I'm not going to go against my home team, but I don't know, man. It's like we're living like some anime right now. I'm waiting for that climax and the Chiefs are like freaking all for one. It's like I'm like when is that? I need to see that arc, damn it.
Speaker 3:That's why Eagle's Blowout was so fun to watch this year.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, the Jaguars are blue lock, but we're one of the kids that got sent home. We didn't even get past the first initial. We didn't even get past it, they got hit with the ball.
Speaker 1:They got sent home. Dude, we're an NPC.
Speaker 2:What's up?
Speaker 3:Well, while it may not be fun to be a Jaguar fan, we are at least going to have fun now as we get ready for game time, so that's at least going to be a plus here, phil, I think as we transition, we had a lot of topics, a lot of stuff that we talked about. I think these two games will really be a cherry on top to a great episode that we've had so far, and if you want to pull them up, I'll have you which one we want to do first.
Speaker 3:Yeah I'll have you present. Uh, we'll do this or that first and then we'll do game, game, uh, so if you've been, a fan of the show. You've seen these, some new questions and prompts and you know, while you pull that up, phil, I meant to grab this at the wrestling conversation. I'm going to grab the belt really quick to show.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I'm excited, I'm excited. I forgot about this I still haven't seen it in person. I must see it. Yo wait Bro. You need to bring that to collective Dang dude, I must see it.
Speaker 2:Yo wait Bro.
Speaker 1:You need to bring that to collective Dang dude.
Speaker 3:So my brother, got this for me and it's got both of us. There's Phil, there's me, randomly last.
Speaker 2:Christmas, he like hey send me a picture of you. You can't ask why I was like what so yeah, you're putting me on like, like, some kind of dark web website.
Speaker 3:I mean.
Speaker 2:I'll do it for the money, but like. Could you at least tell me?
Speaker 1:like where am I going? What the fuck am I doing? Dude, what are you doing?
Speaker 2:I wish I would have known, because I would have picked my headshot. That looks like your headshot.
Speaker 3:I do want to replace that with it. I figured, once we get updated headshots, I'll just replace both of these with new headshots.
Speaker 2:Is it easy to do like?
Speaker 3:what is it?
Speaker 2:no clue because I haven't seen it in person. No clue. I mean, like the pictures, how are the pictures?
Speaker 3:the pictures are fine um, they just slide in, or the logo looks the best, which is what matters. But yeah, no, they have like um things you could screw to get the plates off oh, okay, okay, okay, I thought it was like okay I guess whatever company he got this through I this is a uh trophy smack. I think it's what it's called. I don't I might have made that up, but there's a company during fantasy football season you get a million of those.
Speaker 2:It's probably the company that does that, yeah, yeah, so not to take us off track, but yeah, I was like it's just, it's just hanging there on my wall.
Speaker 3:So I was like I'm to my NXT belt uh Josh.
Speaker 2:In the back. It's signed by uh Adam Cole uh the street profits and Bianca Belair Wow, yeah, we met her and the street profits back in December. We did a uh, it was a bucket list thing for us to do the meet and greet VIP thing and we did it when they did a.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a lot of fun. They were so sweet.
Speaker 2:They're great uh, as far as execution, wwe can work on that, but the experience itself was good, and that might have been more of a vi star arena thing.
Speaker 1:To be honest, damn, yeah, yeah, I would say that I would say that I mean, there was a pay-per-view that came here in 2008. It was extreme rules.
Speaker 2:We were there, you were there, yeah hell yeah, we were.
Speaker 3:Oh wait, that was there too.
Speaker 2:No, isn't that crazy like how we probably just missed each other in so many moments. That's so cool.
Speaker 3:We were there.
Speaker 2:We met Bobby Lashley at like a car dealership the day before.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, that was so weird, that's so cool.
Speaker 2:And remember he was, people told him like the people there. No pictures, but I like grabbed onto his hand and then Eric snapped a picture of me really quick so I got to find it. I'll send it to you I was like Eric now.
Speaker 3:Now, now Do it Got it Woo.
Speaker 2:See you, brother. What were they going to do? We already took the picture. What were they going to do? Shoot me the.
Speaker 1:All right, that was a good pay-per-view Shout out to Do-Rag Vince.
Speaker 3:That's bad dude. We're not doing this. We're not doing this. All right this belt is getting a glare from my ring light and I don't want to hold it the whole time, so I'm now going to put it down.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, you got to protect that it's also way heavier than you think it would be. But that being said, this or that, uh, the instructions on the next one uh, phil, if you want to move forward, a very clear uh. Don't cheat, don't look up the answer. Everyone gets to answer. On this one uh, it'll be a little phil, stop. It'll be a little different. On the next one uh, and most points win. So it'll be pretty easy, phil, I got rid of the. Are you ready slide? Uh, as you requested.
Speaker 3:So we're just gonna get right into the game and it'll be pretty easy to figure it out as we go. So for the first prompt for this or that, I want you guys to talk through and decide and pick individually which franchise has had the bigger retail sales. I will give you a hint Both of these are over $50 billion.
Speaker 2:And they are the two highest according to Wikipedia.
Speaker 3:So Pokemon or Mickey and friends? And yes, that is Mickey and friends. So all of those properties, goofy Donald, all of that jazz. So, josh, talking it out and then eventually making a decision. But talking it out, what are you thinking over here? Pokemon or Mickey and Friends? What are your?
Speaker 1:thoughts man, I mean two big legendary franchises and have split off into different mediums. I mean in their own way.
Speaker 2:We're also talking lunchboxes. Yeah, dude, you know silverware, silverware, clothes Blankets, yeah, blankets, like bro, bedsheets, bedsheets.
Speaker 1:I mean for me, like I'm gonna take a hot take, I'm gonna do a hot take and say Pokemon, pokemon. I Okay, I don't know why, but I feel it's Pokemon.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you got to go with your gut. This is worldwide too, probably right.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Like worldwide. Yeah, that's why it could very well be Pokemon because of the Eastern market, yeah so I'll take Mickey. Yeah, I'll go Mickey. Okay, but I wouldn't be surprised either way.
Speaker 3:Okay, let's go ahead and reveal our answer, which is Pokemon, that's just crazy.
Speaker 2:Wow, it's not even close, it's not even close.
Speaker 3:Pokemon is estimated to be $91.6 billion and I want to clarify it also you can't get cards anywhere. Yeah, so it also breaks down overall and, unlike the other ones, most of Pokemon's comes from retail, which is kind of crazy.
Speaker 2:um, yeah, so yeah yeah, I mean, I went into game stop today and there was a two-pack limit on pokemon cards, so that's really. Yeah, I guess scalpers are are snatching them up, man it's a whole craze it is a it's back the. The state of tcg is is terrible right now as far as collecting, which is a bummer because I just got back into it solely to collect. I have no desire to sell cards, I just want to collect cool cards.
Speaker 1:Are you getting into like One Piece Arcana, all that?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Lorcana.
Speaker 2:Lorcana from the Disney. Yeah, I've collected a few of those. They're really cool. I just like collecting. I like collecting stuff. That's why I have the Funkos. I've got the cards and stuff like that, so it's just good to go back. I got a lot of physical media as well. Nice Pokemon I got back into at the wrong time. I should have done it a few years ago.
Speaker 3:That's crazy man, it's tough Alright. Well, josh is up 1-0. And now our next one. Which of these have the most total episodes? Is it one piece or all of the law and orders?
Speaker 1:Oh shit.
Speaker 3:So is it possible that one piece is more? Or, if I combine all the law and orders, is that one more? Phil, we'll kick you off with this one, just kind of thinking it out loud. You know one piece is long. You also know there are a lot of versions of Law Order in there.
Speaker 2:Law Order has like 25 episodes a season too, so it's not like a normal television show. Remember when television shows would have a lot of episodes? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I will tell you these two are pretty close in number, which is why I went with these two. So, phil, I will tell you, these two are pretty close in number, which is why I went with these two.
Speaker 2:So, phil, I will take the underdog and go. Law Order Okay.
Speaker 3:Josh, what are you thinking? Which one do you want to go?
Speaker 1:with as much as I want to say Law Order, I'm going to just pick one piece. Well, God damn it. I'm starting to second guess myself. Damn it.
Speaker 3:Think about it.
Speaker 2:They're on season like 25 or something of the, just the regular SVU. I think it's not even taking into account regular law and order.
Speaker 1:I mean, good grief man, good grief Charlie Brown. Jeez, we're not going to be here all day. I'm just going to pick one piece and I want, if there's a shock value, to see how many episodes there are at law and order. I I can't wait to see all right.
Speaker 3:Well, the answer is law and order with oh wow, I was for sure I was losing law. Law and Order has 1,383 episodes across 67 seasons of television.
Speaker 2:Oh shit, my bad. Thanks, I guess when I click away, I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 3:But yeah, that is our answer. One piece, 1,122 episodes as of this recording.
Speaker 2:Why is it blank? Is it blank on y'all's end?
Speaker 3:Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, you broke it. There are four OVAs, 14 TV specials, 15 movies estimated, but again not counting those, just episodes. One Piece falls a little short. Crazy to think that One Piece will catch up to that number, though.
Speaker 1:Probably, probably, there we go, probably All right we're back on board.
Speaker 3:Our next category, letterboxd, is where anyone can create a profile and rank a movie from 1 to 5 stars. What movie here has the lowest Letterboxd rating average among users? Is it Batman v Superman or Suicide Squad squad? And yes, it is the original suicide squad. God damn, jared leto, joker suicide squad. So, josh, I'm gonna let you talk this one out. Uh, where are you kind of leaning? I'm assuming you may have seen or at least heard of these two films oh, yes, oh, I saw bits and pieces of suicide squad.
Speaker 1:Why does it keep happening?
Speaker 3:I don't, I don't know. I didn't, I thought at least heard of these two films. Oh, yes, oh, I saw Bits and Pieces of Suicide Squad. Why does it keep happening? I don't know. I thought you did that on purpose.
Speaker 1:I've watched Batman versus Superman. I watched that actually in theaters Same and it was. I wanted to like it. I thought Ben Affleck's Batman was the closest we'll get to a comic book Bruce Wayne and Batman in a way but just the direction that it went. Yeah, I can go on a tangent on that, but I'm just going to go Suicide Squad. Okay, you're going Suicide Squad.
Speaker 3:Phil are you going to go along with that as well, or are you going to go the opposite route?
Speaker 2:I think I will also go Suicide Squad, because Batman v Superman has its defense. Those Snyder fans, dude, they are ravenous. So I will also go Suicide Squad and see if we can at least keep it tied. Keep it tied.
Speaker 3:Okay, all right, let's go ahead and reveal our answer.
Speaker 2:And, unsurprisingly, it is Suicide Squad with a 2.1 average rating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 2.4 for Batman v Superman Sucks because there was a bunch of good actors in that movie.
Speaker 3:I know it is a bummer A bunch of good actors and bad writing, very bad writing. They wanted to be guardians so bad.
Speaker 2:And also look at this killer croc.
Speaker 3:That's so awesome.
Speaker 2:That's clearly just a dude, that's just a guy with a hoodie.
Speaker 1:I say I thought it looked awesome, but Captain Blushang looks like a crackhead over here in this picture.
Speaker 2:What's going on To play devil's advocate there? Josh King Shark looked awesome in the newer Suicide Squad, so like why did we get this Killer Croc?
Speaker 1:You do have a point. You do have a point. Yeah, crap, maybe. See, I can be too nice sometimes and I'm just like, but they're trying, you can see that they're trying a little bit Shout out to Katana, who is carved out.
Speaker 2:I can't remember the name of the actress, but she has carved out an awesome career. She's in the boys now, right, Isn't she in the boys?
Speaker 3:I think so. That actress, yes, good for her, all right.
Speaker 2:And Margot Robbie. Come on, and Margot Robbie, yep.
Speaker 3:Although I'm going to of Jared Leto Crazy. Anyway, we've moved on to talk about the higher ranking, so I'm going to clarify this. This is on the Hollywood reporters critics picks for the 50 best films of the 21st century. Oh, so I want to know which of these animated films.
Speaker 3:These are the only two animated films on that list. I want to know which one of these two animated films were ranked higher. Was it Spirited Away or WALL-E? Both of these films were in the rankings and the only two animated films to make the list. So, phil, of course Spirited Away had to, you know, get brought up here, but WALL-E pleasant surprise. What are you thinking here?
Speaker 2:I'm actually not surprised that WALL-E is on here. People love WALL-E. I think WALL-E is fine. I just I think it's a little boring and when you have other Disney films to choose from WALL-E, it would be a long time before I brought up WALL-E, but I think I can confidently say I think it's WALL-E.
Speaker 1:Okay, and Josh, I think, just to know that these are the only two I have thoughts but we're not going to get into that. Shout out to Treasure Planet. It doesn't get enough roses.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or Atlantis, that's right. Both of them, both is good. Both is good.
Speaker 1:Both, both, both is good. I'm going to have to pick WALL-E too. This is for the whole world, or just United States?
Speaker 3:There were international films on this list as well. The Hollywood Reporter, the critics that were on a panel that picked this. They were selected to pick the 50 best films of the 21st century. So this included pretty much any film under the sun animated, international, etc. Wow.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I'll do WALL-E, Okay.
Speaker 3:Both of you selected WALL-E and our answer is actually Spirited Away.
Speaker 2:Wow, spirited Away made it sixth on the list.
Speaker 3:They love that movie. Wall-e 14th.
Speaker 2:What was number one? Hold on, can we guess?
Speaker 3:You're not going to know the movie. You won't know the movie. I think it's Shawshank Redemption. No, it's a movie I never heard of who's in it. It's called Wait, I think this is the one. I should have wrote it down. I had a feeling you might ask me and I still didn't write it down. It's called Yuri, Yuri, I believe. No, no, that can't be it. That's not right, Yuri.
Speaker 2:Yuri, no, that's not it.
Speaker 3:No, that's not. It Hold on Top 50 films of the 21st century. There we go. If you get it, let me know. But that movie is, oh, there we go. It has a nice little feature where you can skip ahead. Oh, yee, yee, I don't know where I got Yuri Yuri from. Yee, yee is a 2000 film that came out and I've never heard of this.
Speaker 2:never heard of this maybe if you got rid of that yee-yee-ass haircut, you'd get some bitches on your dick. I can't finish that. I can't finish that line. It's from GTA 5 oh, that's funny oh my god.
Speaker 1:I never really played GTA, so that's really funny.
Speaker 3:Great, all right, phil. All I know is I'll take to number nine.
Speaker 2:I wish I hadn't explained it and just left that there for no context.
Speaker 3:No, I think it's better for all of us that you did All. Right, let's get to our last. This or that. Now, this is based off of Family Feud, and obviously you know how Family Feud works. They're asked a question and there's typically a number one answer. So I would like to know, for the scenario, name a sitcom that always seems to be rerunning on TV. When asked 100 people, which one is the number one answer the Big Bang Theory or Friends? Phil, I know you hate one of these shows, but both of these are arguably two of the biggest sitcoms out there. So what are you thinking?
Speaker 2:The scramble to turn off TBS after a basketball game ends before the Big Bang Theory starts.
Speaker 1:All the university, all the hot bets.
Speaker 2:Literally every single time. No, no, no, no, no, I'm going to try to like grab the microphone. I think it's friends, but I'm not confident, okay, okay.
Speaker 3:Josh, what are you thinking over there? How are you feeling?
Speaker 1:Are you fans of?
Speaker 3:both of these or watched any of them.
Speaker 1:Joey was my favorite on Friends, but I never really watched Friends. I watched how I Met your Mother oh yes, that. But also my number one was king of queens. Oh yeah, solid, great kevin james kevin james.
Speaker 2:Kevin james, before he went to this weird, he like took a strange. He tried to follow adam sandler's footsteps but like his movies weren't as good his solo movies unfortunately, you know so, but he's super talented I I love.
Speaker 1:Kevin James. I love Kevin James, but I'm going to have to man, I'm going to have to go with, I think, big Bang Theory. I Again good actors, the writing. Sometimes I'm just like I kind of question. I'm like why'd the laugh track go over that? That was not funny yeah.
Speaker 3:Great actors. That's the Big Bang Theory, so we'll lock you in for Big Bang Theory, phil, to determine a winner. Is Penny really that much?
Speaker 2:taller than Leonard. I've never noticed that before. Damn.
Speaker 3:Shout out to the Short Kings. Right here, baby Phil, we locking you in for Friends to get a winner. Okay, yeah, the answer is the Big Bang Theory Boom 26 versus Friends 22. Is the Big Bang Theory Boom 26 versus Friends 22. Others that made the list out of a survey of 100 people Seinfeld, frasier, two and a Half Men, the Simpsons, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Hmm.
Speaker 1:Okay, I like Frasier and I like the other one you said.
Speaker 3:Fresh Prince, two and a Half Men, seinfeld, seinfeld.
Speaker 2:Seriously, I do not remember this disparity. It's really bothering me. That's very wild, that's very wild.
Speaker 3:You're like I had a chance.
Speaker 2:Who's supposed to be me? Who's supposed to be me and Golden Globe winner Kaylee Cuoco Shout out to her.
Speaker 3:who's supposed to be me and golden globe winner shout out to her alright, our last game is called game game and we are gonna play this. This is all video game based and there are gonna be three different types of games about games. So, as Phil pulls that up for our visual audience, again, audio only. You guys will be fine here for the most part, up until the end.
Speaker 2:So there are three games yeah. Before I pull this up here, josh, keeping it brief, how did you feel about the how I Met your Mother finale and how that ended?
Speaker 1:talking about your mother finale and how that ended. Um, I sometimes no words are all. If they were gonna go now, tell me if I'm wrong, because it's been a long time since I watched it. But if they were going the robin route, just go the robin route right like stop it yeah don't give robin and barney these crazy redemption arcs and tear them down.
Speaker 2:And yeah, it really yeah.
Speaker 1:And I love Barney. Barney was funny, but yeah, I mean I feel like again you can disagree with me, but like I felt the show kind of went on for too long?
Speaker 2:It definitely did.
Speaker 1:I felt like again, if they were going the robin route, which I, I, I liked, I liked ted and robin together the whole time, I, I was like I don't know why that didn't work. I maybe, well, actually, yeah, I liked how they that at the beginning that happened and then found their way back to each other.
Speaker 2:And found your way back, yeah, and then you find out you know you're still in love with, with aunt robin like, like, if you're going that route, well, they shoehorned themselves in because they filmed that ending with those kids so long ago and then, of course, they grew up because they're children. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it definitely went on too long, and that's why Jason Segel is barely in the last season, because he did not want to do that character anymore. He was over it.
Speaker 1:That's why he's barely in it. I just think it should have ended sooner and Robin should have been the one and not get Barney involved. Sorry, but that was kind of useless. Sorry, eric, I had to take over there. No, that's okay, that's okay.
Speaker 3:You need someone to share your pain.
Speaker 2:I really do.
Speaker 3:I understand it, game game is easy to play. Game game it uh, game game is easy to play in game. The three types of games that we'll see on the next slide here, uh, is answer the question so just, it's going to be a question and answer multiple choice and then complete the word. I think we'll adapt on this one and what we'll do is we'll give josh first dibs at answer the question, uh, and if you don't get the answer right, phil will get a chance to take over and then get the lead to the next question and we'll kind of go back and forth. When we get to complete the word, it'll probably be first one to shout it out, but it may need a hint, which I have available if we need. So, okie, dokie, I can't ask you, are you ready?
Speaker 3:because Phil made me take out that slide Do you have permission to use in canva, so nintendo can take it up with also.
Speaker 2:We're not monetized on youtube. Just kidding. We have nothing to lose, not yet nothing to lose, all right, uh, josh.
Speaker 3:First question what nintendo game is the highest open critic? Uh, with 97, with a 97 critic average. So open critic is just an average of all reviews and is, uh, one of the primary things that people will go to to see how good a game is according to users and critics. So what do you think is probably a 97, which is, I should clarify, the highest Open Critic score?
Speaker 2:So it is top, top, top of the list.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm going to have to say Open Critic. A game that everybody could play, a game that everybody will like Families, adults, kids. This is kind of a pocket pick Mario Party 1. Okay, it's a good guess. Pick Mario Party One Okay, it's a good guess Not what we're looking for.
Speaker 3:Phil, you have a chance to take over and steal here, is it?
Speaker 2:Mario 64?.
Speaker 3:It is not.
Speaker 2:Oh, I was so confident.
Speaker 3:Josh, if you want to take another crack at it, I will give you a hint here. The uh game is a mario game yeah, okay, mario kart it is not mario kart fuck phil, I'll give you one last crack at it, otherwise we'll reveal oh my god, what was the name of that game, mario?
Speaker 2:No, no, it's not that one. Oh my god, oh my god.
Speaker 1:I'm freaking out.
Speaker 2:It's not Mario 64? Is it like Super? Oh, jesus Christ, you're gonna have to guess. I'm trying to think of the one with his fucking hat. He throws the hat around. Oh my God, mario, you're going to be so mad, I really am. I'm just going to go with the one I know like Super Mario Brothers 2 or something.
Speaker 3:No, okay, the answer is Super Mario Odyssey.
Speaker 2:Damn. That is the one with his hat right on the screen.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I was thinking of the right game.
Speaker 2:I just he's got a.
Speaker 3:T-Rex in it. Although neither of you guys got a point, josh, you do still get to go first now, so it is back in your court. Our next question Sweet, in gaming, when someone is not actively playing, what is the most common term used? I need the abbreviation and what it means.
Speaker 1:Oh AFK away from people.
Speaker 3:Boo, that is correct.
Speaker 2:Boo, this should have been the first question.
Speaker 1:I know I play League of Legends all the time and people are AFK and we lose our ARAMs.
Speaker 2:Josh really quick, yeah. Do you suggest anybody play League of Legends?
Speaker 1:Fuck no, dude, take a shot.
Speaker 2:That's our new take a shot.
Speaker 3:It's the same answer every time. Josh, have you had to take a break for your own mental well-being?
Speaker 1:I took a break for like five years. Dude, it's always that long too, it's always so long.
Speaker 3:It's always like I stopped playing WoW or I stopped playing League for a couple years, I changed as a person and now, unfortunately, I'm back in it.
Speaker 2:That's every single time. I wish it were easy to do to just put a compilation of clips. We gotta start tracking it, Phil.
Speaker 3:you have revealed the answer.
Speaker 3:That is correct AFK, away from keyboard. Our next question Josh, you are going to get first crack at it. Sure, this creepypasta has been adapted into numerous video games over the years, even making its way into communities like Minecraft and Roblox. Slenderman Fuck. It is not. Slenderman. Fuck. It is not Slenderman. Fuck. It's a great guess. That is the guess to make, unfortunately, not the correct answer. Phil, you do have a chance to steal and I will say the hint was that Slenderman was the probably best guess. I would say this is probably the second best guess because they've made a ton of these Like. This is one that is is there's a lot of them like Slenderman is like, specifically like the game you think of.
Speaker 2:No, that's not a creepypasta. Wendigo's not a creepypasta.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's more folklore man, I think I know the answer, but fuck oh my god, I really thought it was Slender man.
Speaker 2:Which creepypasta.
Speaker 3:I'm so mad I think you will be mad.
Speaker 2:Oh my god, I don't know if I have a guess.
Speaker 3:Do you want to take one? Do you want to go Wendigo?
Speaker 2:No, because it's not Wendigo, it's whatever the creepers are based off of, and I don't know it.
Speaker 3:Okay, I think I got a guess. Wendigo, it's not Wendigo. Okay, bad guess.
Speaker 1:Josh, do you have a guess? I don't know if this counts, but I'll say it anyways the back rooms.
Speaker 3:It is Good guess oh, that's a good guess the back rooms.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, Okay great guess.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, it is.
Speaker 2:I was thinking like some sort of monster. Yeah, side note, I'm going to a new therapist and on the second floor to the right there, is just a totally empty office space and I'm like oh my god, I'm gonna die in here.
Speaker 1:It's the back rooms. Oh shit, no one's gonna see me ever again hey look. A. I hope the therapy's going good. I gotta go back to my house.
Speaker 2:Highly recommended. Every time I go, I'm gonna drop a pin just so you guys know where I parked the car.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, but every time I go I'm going to drop a pin just so you guys know where I parked the car. Oh, my God Not going to get me, hey man, those empty spaces like yeah, they're scary.
Speaker 3:Also, eric knows, as somebody who uses the back hallways at the mall all the time, I am totally a candidate to get lost in the back room and I'm making Phil. We're're playing a game, are we during a game for this month called the Stanley Parable? Oh yeah, that's specifically all he's been doing is going in like empty, empty shameless plug-in.
Speaker 1:I will do a shameless plug-in. Right now I am in a video game called the back rooms, lost tapes, and I'm in the first. Hell, yeah, um, I love the back rooms. Well, that's kind of a weird saying, but like, yeah, I want to find me in the back room.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna no clip my ass out of reality. Find me in the back rooms, baby. No, yeah, that's. It's that creepypasta Kane Pixels has done. It's crazy. A24 wants to work with him on a film for the back rooms love it, that's crazy. A24 wants to work with him on a film for the back rooms Love it, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just recently listened to a podcast about the back rooms so it's very fresh in my mind so I should have gotten this. Yeah, I thought you would have. I didn't know there was back rooms in Minecraft. I didn't know that was a thing in Minecraft.
Speaker 3:Oh dude, my son plays the hell out of that thing. Yeah it is creepy. It is creepy, all right. Our next set of questions are going to be multiple choice. They'll work the same way, except there's a little bit more of an advantage if the person gets it wrong for the person behind. So, josh, the question is yeah. Which of these games have the highest rating on steam?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Is it left for 2, Hades, Stardew Valley or Portal? I'm going to let you get first crack at it, and if you don't get it right, Phil, you'll have three options, Josh will have two and then, if he gets it wrong, well, it's one left. So you're kind of at an advantage, being the second person, if neither of you know it. But do you know it, Josh? You know it. But do you know it, Josh? Or do you have a good guess you want to make? I'm going to make a guess Stardew Valley. It is.
Speaker 2:Stardew Valley. That was also going to be my guess. A lot of people played that.
Speaker 3:I was hoping I would trick somebody, because Portal 2 is the only game that would have been on this list. That would have been higher. I only listed the original. I thought it would be stardew or hades yeah, yeah, hades a little bit lower actually, uh surprising. All right, josh, you're. You're uh rocking it with three points here and you've got first crack at our next question, which is for you as of december 2024. How many copies?
Speaker 1:oh my god, from the metal gear franchise hey, I don't know numbers.
Speaker 3:I don't know numbers.
Speaker 1:I just love this series.
Speaker 3:I'm going to have. So is it over $60 million, over $70 million, over $80 million, over $90 million?
Speaker 1:copies sold. Metal Gear is a very it could be a niche franchise to get into. It's not like Mario, but it was kind of the pillars of PlayStation and gaming in general. I am going to do something that I was taught whenever, whenever I was younger, on a test, when I don't know the answer, pixie that honestly.
Speaker 3:That would have been hilarious if you got it.
Speaker 2:Fuck uh but no, no, you did not get it, phil.
Speaker 3:you now have three options Is it over 60 million, over 70 million or over 90 million?
Speaker 2:I'm gonna go B. It is not B Shit, is it D? So Josh?
Speaker 3:is it over 60 or over 90?
Speaker 1:Hideo Kojima, hear me in the ether.
Speaker 3:I'm going to pick D. It is not D. Oh my God, Phil, would you like to make the choice it?
Speaker 2:is. Is it C?
Speaker 3:That's crazy. That is crazy, all right, but that being said, we're in the middle of game game you are winning, so game game phil does get first crack at this one. According to smash wiki, which of these characters are the lowest on their super smash bros ultimate tier list? Is it bowser jr? Mute to me sword fighter. So the sword fighter from the wii or zelda?
Speaker 2:which of these is lowest on their tier list?
Speaker 3:I don't think it's yep, so their tier list goes from a, b, c, d, e and of course, their s tier, which one is ranked the lowest. So more than likely they're on the D or the E tier.
Speaker 2:I think maybe based off his size, is it Bowser Jr? It is not. Oh crap, I should have gone with my gut. If it's my gut answer, I'm going to commit seppuku.
Speaker 3:Josh, do you have a guess here?
Speaker 1:Me, me, swordfighter.
Speaker 3:It was a good guess but, not the answer we're looking for.
Speaker 2:No, isn't Mewtwo. People hate the Pokemon characters.
Speaker 3:It is not what.
Speaker 2:Josh, it is Zelda.
Speaker 3:What? Zelda is right behind me, Sword Fighter how?
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 3:Yeah, mewtwo is in the C tier, though they don't love him.
Speaker 2:I'm so confused, I know I wonder why, I mean, I don't play Smash. I'm terrible at it, I know I don't know. Here we are.
Speaker 3:All right. Josh you're going to get.
Speaker 2:I don't have them for you.
Speaker 3:Josh, you're going to have first crack at the last multiple choice or no, we're at a multiple choice. Okay, I lost track of time. You're going to get first crack at. Actually, this can go for either of you guys. So first I want to shout out the answer. Take a look at the missing letters and the letters that you're seeing. This is three words. Who can complete the word? And if nobody can, I will give a hint Again. First one to shout out the right answer will get the point.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness gracious, oh my gosh Enunciate.
Speaker 3:For our audio only listeners. They are just staring at the screen.
Speaker 2:I know the second word For our audio only listeners. They are struggling Staring at the screen.
Speaker 1:I know the second word is Right.
Speaker 3:Phil, if you want to reveal the hint.
Speaker 2:I just click forward once, yep.
Speaker 3:The studio that handles this game is called Sucker Punch Ghost of. Tsushima, it is.
Speaker 2:Ghost of Tsushima.
Speaker 3:Jin Sakai, yes, which you recently played and beat.
Speaker 2:I did and I love.
Speaker 1:It is horseshit, but that game isn't. I loved that game so good.
Speaker 3:I played it for the first time for an episode we did because Phil had played it beforehand, but I played it for the first time last year. It was very, very good.
Speaker 2:It's one of the most beautiful gaming experiences I have ever had.
Speaker 3:Yeah, man, ghost of Yotai is going to be hype. Oh yeah, let's go ahead and jump into our next word. It's two words.
Speaker 2:Oreo. I literally thought Oreo into our next word. It's two words oreo not oreo. I'm just hungry, I'm a hungy man.
Speaker 1:I'm a hungy man. What?
Speaker 2:is that second word?
Speaker 1:nah, dude uh, no, oh man am I just, I'm just out of it. Um, nah, dude, no man, am I just, I'm just out of it.
Speaker 3:That's tough For you both, not to get at least one of the words kind of crazy, I'm kind of crazy, okay.
Speaker 1:I'm wild. Yeah, Oreo All right. Well, no.
Speaker 3:Oreo lets me know we need the hint, so if you want to reveal the hint.
Speaker 2:Photo Pokemon Snap.
Speaker 3:Motherfuck. The hint was photo and the game is Pokemon Snap. Alright, phil, I do believe you are down by like Two points, so Is this the last one? This is the last one. Maybe I don't have a tiebreaker, so I think you're going to just lose. I like two points, so this is the last one.
Speaker 2:This is the last one, okay, maybe I don't have a tiebreaker, so I think you're going to just lose, but it'll be interesting to see which one of you guys get this one. So Reddit mod.
Speaker 3:Reddit moderator mod. Not the worst guess, but not not correct. No.
Speaker 2:Is that three words? It is three words oh. Oh gosh, darn it, dude oh man, man, okay, this has got to be invigorating for the audio. Yeah, no, it's fine.
Speaker 3:Let's give you guys the hint. The hint is it's a first person shooter. Ready or not? It is.
Speaker 2:I'm in that game and I didn't even get it.
Speaker 1:I was going to say Josh is in that game. Oh are you? I am in it.
Speaker 3:He did voices for the game that team is really nice.
Speaker 2:Have you played it? I have played it. Damn it, he did voices for the game.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. That team is really nice too, have you played it? I have played it a little bit. That thing is realistic as fuck.
Speaker 2:It's hard. It is hard If you ever want to jump on and play. We need a fourth.
Speaker 1:Holy crap man. I would love that. That would be wild. That game is. That team that made that game is some of the nicest people I've met in the gaming industry.
Speaker 2:That's good because the stories are fucked up. It's good to know. When you really dig deep. That's some of the YouTube deep dives I've gone into. Is Ready or Not? Lore, that stuff is deep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, and it's realistic.
Speaker 2:They've built a really crazy world.
Speaker 1:Very realistic character. Yeah, it's a great game, crazy game.
Speaker 3:That is our game. Game.
Speaker 2:Game game.
Speaker 3:Josh, you won both of them.
Speaker 3:So kudos to you, thank you, and I thought Phil had a good shot at this, so I felt like that was a pretty even keel game.
Speaker 3:But yeah, that's a fun way for us to kind of wrap up a invigorating conversation about all types of fandoms and the highs and the lows of everything that you do. But I got to say, josh, like just seeing the work that you do, the effort, we are big fans. We're so excited to have had you on and this is a great opportunity for all of our listeners to learn about any of the projects you can talk about. I know some are still, you know, kind of in development and you still have some to announce, but I know there's been a lot happening for you recently. So if you want to take an opportunity just to shout out any projects that are coming up here in the near future or later on in the year that you want to shout out, this is your chance to do so, and we'll make sure to have all of your socials and everything in the show notes as well, appreciate that brother.
Speaker 1:Everything in the show notes as well. Appreciate that, brother. You know I'm not, I'm always, um, I'm always never, I'm never, like, good at talking about myself when it comes to work. But, um, the stuff that I can talk about, if anybody hasn't watched it, it's on Amazon prime and crunchy roll. My dear friend no Catan, it's 12 episodes.
Speaker 1:It's a comedy series. I was being very serious when I was like, yeah, it's like an SNL skit put into an anime. It's you turn your brain off, you have fun. It's 12 episodes and you'll laugh and it's the cast and I had a real good time doing it. And, you know, I think it would mean a lot to the cast, to, you know, to see a lot of people watch it. So, the reception that we've gotten at cons and just on the internet too, and just seeing the memes, the memes are wild, um, it's really cool. But, um, yeah, my dear friend nokatan, um, just recently, uh, my friend sarav, uh, he is the creator of the first Indian anime called Trio, and he just announced some stuff about it at Kolkata Comic Con across the world and was able to announce the cast and that's being in production right now.
Speaker 1:Myself and some other stars, some great voice actors in that as well. Some of the notables are Adam MacArthur Adam MacArthur, I hope I said that right voices Itadori from Jujutsu Kaisen and then Marissa Duran, who is also one of the leads in Hell's Paradise they were able to be a part of it and some other voice actors too on that team. It's just really cool to be a part of it, and some other voice actors too on that team. It's just really cool to be a part of that. Fun fact, saurav and I were close to each other. We both live in the Florida area, so it was really kind of like fate for us to meet and that's how we started that off. So it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Dislight is a mobile game I play as I voice, as Fushi in that. Funny enough, I've had some people come up to me at cons and say, like you're Fushi in Dislight and I'm like yo, wait, oh my gosh, yo a Dislight fan. So that's a game that I'm in and just a good amount of other stuff too that I can't talk about. A and uh, just a good amount of other stuff too, um, that I can't talk about. A lot of the projects, a lot of the indie projects kind of like, kind of like conjure up together and I just like it's not that I forget about them, it's just like there's so much and then it kind of like coincides with the, uh, the full-time work that I do for narration and such. So I guess another one is the back rooms, lost tapes and then a few other, uh, horror games, uh, that I don't think I can talk about. So there's a good amount uh that I'll be posting on my social soon, uh, but again NDA stink. So yeah, man.
Speaker 3:And I know Phil uh, I could speak for both of us. This was fantastic to have you on, josh. Like really, really appreciated it Enthusiasm that you had from the show bringing it on here. You know, getting on late at night with us to record, to play some games, to talk some pop culture and beyond we covered a lot of fandoms.
Speaker 2:We did we just really really appreciate it and, Phil, definitely definitely time worth having here yeah, josh, thank you so much for joining us here tonight, and you know, once again, when we linked up at Brixley Anime Festival, we had an idea that not only you but your entire cast were people that we could vibe with, and yourself, and also Rue, have just been so gracious with your time in terms of giving me advice, as I've started my own voice acting journey, so I apologize, I will be jumping into your DMs quite a bit, just like you said you did once upon a time. Can't wait to see you at conventions throughout Florida here within the next few months as well. So I had an absolute blast. So, thank you, we'll be rooting for you and continuing to monitor. You know what's next on your end.
Speaker 2:So, with that being said, audience, if you want to keep up with not only the Way4 podcast but also Josh, everything you need will be in the Linktree link in the show notes of this episode. You can follow us on social media, the most important ones to keep up with being Instagram, tiktok, our growing Discord page, youtube, as well as Twitch, where we stream every other week, and you can support the show a couple of different ways. You can head on over to Apple Podcasts, spotify, your podcast player of choice. Leave us a five-star review, thumbs up, whatever that may be. Head on over to YouTube like share, subscribe All that stuff is very helpful or you can tag us share the content, let us know that you listened, let Josh know that you listened and tell us that you had a good time. All of that goes a very, very long way, but if you find yourself maybe wanting some additional content and becoming one of the elusive or one of the infamous Weight Watchers here with the podcast, eric will tell you a little bit more about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So, of course, becoming a Weight Watcher means you joined our Patreon and that's where we are thanking our patrons for the show Briar, stefan T3Kato, corey from the World Is my Burrito and Vintage and Bridget from Retro AV Rewind. Thank you, guys for your support through Patreon and, in exchange for that support, getting access to early access and behind the scenes look at episodes like this one. We really appreciate it and really hope to increase the content that we're doing there. We've been starting to make slow changes, including April becoming Patreon month, where they are recommending shows, movies and games for us to check out and introducing those throughout the year. We're really excited to do that for them shows, movies and games for us to check out and introducing those throughout the year. We're really excited to do that for them. But if you're not able to do that, support all the free stuff helps.
Speaker 3:Joining our Discord, being a part of the community, likes, comments, shares all of the above, not only for us, but for our guest as well, so make sure to show him some love. With that being said, my name is Mr Eric Almighty. That is my co-host, philip Filipino and our guest of honor, josh. Please keep in mind that for the podcast. We release new episodes every Wednesday, plus bonus content on platforms like Twitch and TikTok, and all you got to do is wait for it.
Speaker 1:So I heard you're looking for a go-to source for entertainment. Wait for it Gaming. Wait for it, gaming. Wait for it. Anime Plus Ultra, mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino yeah, they've got you covered, and all you gotta do is wait for it. This is the Wait For it Podcast.
