Judge John Hodgman - TEASER: Members Only Mailbag August 2025

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

Is this creature an ape or no? The J Squad isn't sure. They talk about this and much more on the August Members Only Mailbag episode! If you're a member, make sure you check your bonus feed now for the full episode. If you aren't a member, it's never to late! Join for just $5 a month and get immediate access to the entire catalog of MaxFun bonus content! Just go to maximumfun.org/join. Judge John Hodgman is member-supported! Join at $5 a month at maximumfun.org/join!

It's the Judge John Hodgman podcast. I'm bailiff, Jesse Thorne, with me, Judge John Hodgman. Hey, if you are a maximum fun member, first of all, thank you. Second of all, go check your bonus feed. The new episode of the Membo Mailbag is now in your bonus content feed. If you're not a member, this is what it sounds like. Demon of Hatred is one of the hardest bosses in Securo, S-E-K-I-R-O. I don't know how the brands that.

Oh, man, you got to chop them in the nuts. your sword. That's how you cheese. It says here... No, that's the traditional battle. Oh, look at this. That's how you defeat him. You go between his legs and chop it his nuts.

But how do you know what the cheese... What cheesing is? That's more of a mystery to me. Cheezing is beating him in a cheesy way, right? It's like... Oh, I don't know. It's like getting past the boss without actually doing the thing... Oh, that makes sense because the poster here says after dying countless times,

countless times. I found a cheese strategy to easily kill him without having to fully engage him and lead him to his death. He has a furry appendage. He is very ape-like. In a still photograph, he looks a lot less ape-like because of his terrifying skeleton-ish quality. He looks like a hairy orange skeleton. Right. But once you see the appendage that you're supposed to chop at and his manner of motion. It strikes me as pretty clear that he is very ape-like. He is an altered form of a character named orangutan. So it's hard for me to not believe that this is not a demonic ape.

Let's all say at the same time. You saw the picture, right, Joel? Of the demonic ape. Well, don't say what it is. Just say ape or I'm going to kind of three. And after three, say ape or say not ape. Okay. And we're all going to say it at the same time.

Okay. I'm going to do one, two, three, and then you answer. Okay. One, two, three. Not ape. Not ape. Not ape. It's 50-50.

This is based on this image, but after hearing Jesse talk about it, I'm a little more convinced, but my initial reaction was not ape or nape. That's how you cheese him. You get him right in the nape of the neck. Well, now, he's got more spindly than your classic ape. You know, John, I think that Solce's 45-49 put it best. This was such a stressful fight. I just went into it blind with only my sword and dodges with no cheesing.

That's what I like about this game, dying and slowly learning little by little until you get that perfect run. And if you want to hear the full episode, memberships at Max Fun start at just $5 a month. All you got to do is go to maximum fun.org slash join and sign up so you don't miss out.