The Ringer-Verse - ‘Creature Commandos’ Premiere, Animation Awards, & Interview with ‘Arcane’ co-creator Christian Linke | Mint Edition

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

Jomi and Steve are joined by Ringer staff writer Daniel Chin for an animation filled episode of Mint Edition! First, the trio gives their reactions to the premiere of the DCEU’s ‘Creature Commandos’ (02:00). Then, they hand out their 2024 Animation Awards while celebrating the year that was in animated film and television (28:00). Later, Jomi interviews Arcane co-creator Christian Linke to discuss the show’s incredible finale and more (1:16:00)! Hosts: Jomi Adeniran and Steve Ahlman Guest: Daniel Chin Producer: Jonathan Kermah Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Yossi Solic, and I'm here to announce a brand new season of my Ringer original podcast, Bansplaine, the show where we explain cult bands and iconic artists to you and yours. This time, babe, we're going across the pond. That's right, I'm absolutely chuffed to be talking about the music scenes of 80s and 90s Britain. I'm talking Mad Chester. I'm talking baggy. I'm talking Shugays. I'm talking Brit Popmate.

So tune in every Thursday starting November 7th for a new episode of Bansplaine on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject trumphia, proper training is required. Tramphia is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely

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The Ringer's Nexus feed for all things fandom. I'm Steve Alden. And I'm Jomey Naderun. And welcome back to Mint Edition, the once-in-a-while podcast about the latest fandom that you just can't live without. It's a big day, Jomi. Dude, we are, it's, we're so back to the gills

what stuff to talk about today. Like, we're up to our necks. We're neck deep in this. Content, brother. First question, how did you celebrate the end of mid-Bember? Oh, man, so I went to my favorite bar. Okay? It's called the 86 below you.

I never heard of it before. I never heard of it. Never heard of it before. I got a men julep. I never get a men julep before. I ain't never had one, but I was like, hey. I was like, yo. You've never had the finer things.

Never had the finer things. I like, I'm a simple man. I like whiskey. I like bourbon and I like tequila. Just straight. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Straight out of the gas.

Straight out of the gas tank. Well, here's the thing, right? I went to college. You know, you know that those vodka bottles that were plastic, and if you smelled them, if you put them in your car, your car would drive. You know what I'm saying? I'm past that life.

Okay, you know what I mean? Give me the top shelf stuff. Okay. You know, but I had them in Juliet for the first time, brother. Changed my life. That's how Jomey's moving different. I decided to celebrate, I invented a new holiday.

I called it Thanksgiving. Oh. Yeah, a white man would invent Thanksgiving. Yep, a white man would claim. As one only can. Exactly. Yeah, it's just perpetrating, brother. You got to break the bonds of the stereotypical behavior, my brother.

Open your third eye. But I was here, here's the thing, though. I was here to celebrate all of the great listens and people that had reached out to us and listened to our pot over the course of mid-Vember. That's what I was thankful for. Right. And we're here to give it to you once again with a great guest. From across the pond, the pond being the land of the United States of America from New York City, the most devious bastard.

New York City. Daniel Chin. How are you doing, buddy? I'm doing great. Man, that's a hard introduction of follow up there. I mean, it was a hard one to make up off the spot. I was like, we're going on with a pond. I'm doing well, man.

D.C. It's good to be back here. D.C., man, we miss you. Love to have you back talking some animation, brother. Let's get into it. Oh, man. I'm hyped to this. Yeah, we're going to have a great show for you today. We've got a bunch to talk about, before we get into anything,

some programming reminders before we begin. We're coming at you on a Friday, so we got a bit of a longer weekend. But on Monday, we've got the House of Art giving you their Dune Prophecy Deep Dives. We've also got the Midnight Boys talking about Skeleton Crew as well as House of R, giving you their deep dive from Skeleton Crew as well. Also coming at you very soon is going to be button mash. Talking about Indiana Jones in the Great Circle, Jomi's going to be on that episode.

I am going to be on it. Are you looking forward to playing as Harrison, Troy, Ford, Baker? Well, so here's the thing, right? I watched Dala Destiny. You were there. Arjuna was there. We were all there. We all sat there and watched it. And it's really cool to see that I'm going to be able to not only just watch

a fake Harrison Ford this time, you know? I get to be fake Harrison Ford. and forth. Yes. Yes, I'm excited for that. Wonderful. Wonderful. Lovely. And now, let's get into it. We are going to be talking today. We're gathered here in this fine confines of Spotify, Los Angeles Studios, and Daniel's apartment, that we are going to be talking about creature commandos.

Creature Commandos. The beginning of James Gunn's DC Universe. Yeah, buddy. And we're going to be handing out our animation best of awards. For the rest of 2024. guess what? We're going to be giving a bit of leeway to everything that isn't Arcane and then we're going to talk about the things

that we also liked on top of Arcane. How about that? For all the other shows that didn't have a dedicated month to them, we're going to be, you know, giving out some great pieces of hardware that we can only see in our minds.

Also, we've got a special treat for you, talking about Arcane. Is Jomey at dinner on? Jomey, what did you do? I got to speak with the co-creator, Christian Link, and I asked them a whole bunch of questions about this season and the future of Arcane.

So we'll have that in there at the end for you. So tag along. We had a bit of breaking news that they cut that vise scene down. Well, we can't spoil it at all, but maybe you'll know why. Yeah. Coming up. All right, but for right now,

it's time to talk creature commandos. Spoiler warning, friendly neighborhood, et cetera, et cetera, for, I guess, just creature commandos. And maybe every James Gunn film ever. made, let's just say, because maybe it has a couple of similar things. Well, hold on. Having to do with a couple of other James Gunn things. If you're seeing

Creature Commandos, then you've seen all of James Gunn. You might have. You just might have. Yes. Anyway, let's get into it. All right, Creature Commandos. The beginning of James Gunn's DC Universe, written and developed for television by James Gunn. It was

announced in January 23 and is the first official entry into the DCU under new management. Daniel Chin, I'm starting with you. Were you excited when this project was initially announced? And what do you feel about it right now? I was excited.

I mean, even you just saying that it was announced in January, 2023, I can't believe it's been that long at this point. But I guess it's finally here, and that means they were actually, you know, at the start of the new DCU. I think it's an interesting choice to be the first one. I don't know how you guys feel about it, but it's like an interesting soft launch to me

because to your guys point, too, it's a lot of James Gunn in it, including even in the opening sequence. You see James Gunn at, he's literally in the opening credits. I thought it was a little bit too much when they had him in animation form, but there's a lot to like about it. I think it makes sense as the first one, too, because it's a lot of James Gunn. And it's very similar to the suicide squad. It's a lot of what he does right, like the humor, the violence.

There's a lot of the touchstones that you'll see with a lot of James Gunn's work. But to see it in a different medium, I thought was fun and different. What do you guys think? I like the term soft launch because launching your big universe on a streaming app is kind of interesting. He's just putting, he's taking a big picture of a plate and you can see another hand on the side. You're like, ooh, who's on that plate? Who's on that plate? Especially in an animated show, right?

What's wrong with those baked potatoes? Yeah, why is who else is there? Ooh, now I'm interested. I want to ask more about who you're in this Instagram story with. I think that's the perfect thing. I have been on record as a podcast that you can go back and listen to where when he announced Creedje Commandoes, I was like, I'm not, I don't want this. This is not for me.

How dare? How dare he? And not the fact that I wasn't, I mean, that I hate the characters. I'm not familiar with them. but also the fact that, you know, they cut off a lot of other content, you know, for this to service this. And we'll talk about that a little later. But in terms of, did I enjoy the show? Am I regretting a little bit how I came at Kitchen Commandos beginning?

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe it's a little bit. Maybe a little bit. The show, like we said, has all of the James Gunn stuff that you love. that we've come to expect. And the first episodes, man, it's just been a hoot.

I've had a great time. The jokes are funny. The characters are very interesting. I want to see how, you know, they get along going forward. And so for the first episodes, man, I was like, oh, I want to see more, man, let's get this thing cracking.

I'm really into this world so far. Yeah, for the premiere that we got, you can't help but be bowled over with a bit of charm. and at least a good amount of James Gun Winsie dealing out both adult humor and violence and cheeky one-liners and everything that you can come to expect from a James Gun staple show, movie, project, and everything.

We've seen, you know, Peacemaker, we've seen his Guardian's efforts, we've seen his work into, you know, light horror comedy. At this point, I think we're, starting to get a good feeling about what we know what we're going to get when we hire up James Gunn to get our superhero fix. And I'm really curious to think that whether or not we actually really enjoyed this because this feels very similar to a lot of the things that

he's done before. I mean, it's basically his LeBron, like looking at his hand move when he want to shoot that three. It's the same thing, right? Once he do it. Once he does, that, you know, you know the shot going up, and you know it's going in. Well, I mean, and that's the thing. Until it stops going in, then do we have a problem? I mean, that's the real thing. Not when you've perfected, you're like, that's your thing, you're that guy. Sure.

You know, when you're the found family guy and they hire you, you're like, I'm going to make a found family of lovable freaks. Boom. 10 out of 10, what is it? What did Drake say? Kendrick up his mouth, we're going to hand him a Grammy right now. It's the same for James Gunn. Oh, he did a found family movie.

give them $500 million. Or it's that TikTok prompt where it's just like James Gunn when it comes to making found family projects about lovable freaks and then it's just a LeBron James mix tape. Exactly. That's exactly what it is. Which is fine. I don't, there's a thing. And for somebody like me who loves animation and loves these kind of stories, a lot of the stuff that we enjoy our found family, Rebels, Star Wars Rebels. Sure.

Avatar. All these things have these elements in them. he's just now the guy who does that all the time. You can argue and be like, he should do more stuff. He should get out of his wheelhouse. Not when it's made me a bagillionaire. And the head of D.C.

Right? Like, why would I change the flow? What's working? Until we start getting sick of it, I guess to your point, we're not going to stop complaining. And so far he's been good. So there's no need to complain about it.

All right, Daniel, tell me about some of these standout characters. We've obviously got a great cast of lovable freaks. Who's the most lovable freak for you? I like The Bride and Frankenstein a lot. And I like the dynamic that they're starting to play into a little bit. I mean, in the first episode, all you see is Frankenstein at the end of it. So we don't know too much about him yet by the end of that. But I like the direction that they're starting to go with it by the end of the premiere.

They have the classic introduction to all of them that you've seen. seen in the Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy at the beginning of it. And I'm very curious about the fish scientist woman, Nina. Oh yeah. You don't really see much of her yet. But I think they're starting to hint at some interesting possibilities. And I think this TV medium is going to be a cool way for them to explore that in a bigger way. And the way that, like, Peacemaker was a different medium for James Gunn to explore as opposed

to the, movies with Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Spot. Couldn't agree more. Jomey at dinner on is James Gunn over-employing Allen Tuduk? Yes or no? No, man, when you got a, when you got a guy so he's like, he's like a he's like the greatest middle

reliever pitcher in the world. Oh, talk to me. He's gonna, he's got all the pitches in the book, the splitter, the cutter, brother, the fastball, ghost, you know what I mean? You've been playing backyard baseball. Hey, man, amen. Don't even get me started, brother. We don't have a talk.

My boy, background soccer came out on Steam, brother. I haven't slept in. I haven't slept since Friday, man. I've been locked in, but that's not the point. That's not the point. He can eat up four or five innings and dominate. You know what I mean? Alan Tudik is amazing.

And so I'm honestly shocked at. Sean Gunn got the double role in this one. Actually, that's not true. Sean Gunn says in a lot. Sean Gunner, he'll be doing, he'd be doing a lot. Right? He's doing GI Robot and Weasel. Quick follow-up question.

You are the head of D.C. Are you giving your brother a lot of jobs? I'm giving him senior VP. What are you talking about? Yeah. Senior VP of nothing. He ain't got to oversee nobody. All they got to do is collect a $350, $100 check a month and go home.

I'm that kind of dude. Because I've met your brother. I'm hiring all my. homies, listen. Right. If you know we go together and if I make it, we often get rich. Okay. Okay.

We're taking that white man money like crazy. So speaking to that, what are you employing me as? You're James Gunn. I'm who? Are you? Oh, I'm HR? You HR. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm a pencil pusher, for sure. Okay. You got to do that. You're white. You got to do actual work. Okay, okay. You actually have to do some. Kerm?

You already know I got you. My dog. You know I got you. Yeah. My dog. I'm going to make him a music executive. What do you got to do? Just like, yeah.

And that's it. Find the Spotify playlist and make us a good soundtrack for this show. Boom. But no. I mean, here's thing. Sean Gun is doing this thing in this, this show,

right? I think. As weasel? As Weasel and GI Robot. Yeah. But I'm saying, weasel, it's just,

yeah, he doesn't have to do too much as Weasel. Well, no. Yeah, there's not a lot. You say that, but then they have that scene where they're at the, where they're outside the door.

And the guy comes to tell, or just try to tell Rick Flag, Senior that the bride and Nina escaped. And Dr. Frost was like, hold on, he's going to need 30 seconds. And then Weasel goes, he makes that little like, no, no. And Ross was like, oh, you think he's getting in a minute. Oh, interesting. Like, you know, there's still some inflection that I think should would be lost on a less

talented actor that I think Sean Gunn does imply. But in terms of like the character I'm most interested in, it's Rick Flagg. Rick Flagg, Rick Fleck, you know, they mentioned in the first episode that, you know, sorry about your son, my fault, you know, or she did, first of all, man and Waller would never apologize. I'm sorry that I even, like, had that thought. Yeah, no, that's very true. She would never apologize.

Never apologize. But she was just like, oh, yeah, your son. Oh, touchy subject, you know. And I think it's interesting, like, for him to come to work, to be in her employee after what happened to his son, like, what's that doing mentally for him? Like, does that manifest in this show going forward? That's what I'm interested to see.

Maybe, because these guys are supposed to show up in live. action, right? Like Frank Grillo is not only voicing him. Yeah, I'd imagine so. And that's the thing. Like David Harbor and everybody. Yeah. With the MCUification of most of these things, we're bound to see all of them. Probably not. We wouldn't get all of these high-profile celebrities

to not just voice. You think Sean Gunn's going to dress up as a weasel? He was already a Rocket Raccoon, absolutely. He was weasel in the movie. And he was wheezel in the movie. It's probably the movie, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Answer your own question. Well, I was just joking, man. I mean, listen. Hey, man, listen. I

I'm of the opinion that we need to let Viola Davis rest. Nah, that's my girl. Amanda Waller is everywhere. That's my girl. Now, I have some, first of all, so you want to take a job away from a black woman? No, I'm not saying that. That's what you just said. I'm saying I want to give more jobs to more black women.

Keep digging out of hole. Hold on, hold on. You go on with black women to work? You're not going to flip this on me. Hey, Kerm, real quick, what we're going to do is you're going to have like some stadiums We're going to need a whistleblower. We're going to have to go to VAR for that one. We're going to go to go.

We're going to go. We're going to go. The play is under the further review. Right. And then we go to the thing. I throw the flag down. I'm challenging. We're looking at it.

I don't know. Okay. Wait, whistle. What are you? Further reviews. The play on the field stands as called. Steve, you're canceled. All right, all right.

You're going to call that a cancel. Sorry. The thing with Viola Davis is, I've been a fan since How to Get We're a Murder, right? Annalise Keating. Yes. I've been locked in, bro. I used to, my roommates, they had to kick me at the house when I was watching because I was standing for the TV and pace.

I was so locked in. You know what I mean? She's one of our best and brightest, just like an Oscar winning actress. She's got a knee got, if I'm not mistaken, right? She is that kind of woman. She out here getting to change. check. I ain't mad at it. Shout out, Adelais Keating, shout out Viola Davis. Get your bread.

Wow, she is an EGOT winner. Wow. Show up to the studio. Yeah, you want to take a job from her. You're crazy. You show up to the studio. I mean, there are no more worlds to conquer Viola. That's what? That's what I'm saying. Go get you a check. You show up to the studio for like what? The sound booth, what? Yeah. Two days, three days. I just need you to be mean, Viola. That's it. Like, it's not, ain't nothing crazy about it. I ain't mad about that. Was there anything that you noticed? Um, was there anything that you noticed, um, that you noticed DC that you really, really, like, were into in these first two episodes.

Something that's, like, really stood out. I think that's the thing for me. Like, I enjoyed everything I've seen so far with Preacher Commandoes, but it's nothing that, like, it's like relevatory. Like, not that has to be the bar, but, like, it's nothing that we haven't seen so far, whether that's James Gunn or even, like, DC animation. Like, DC animation's been consistently good for a while now. It wasn't even my favorite DC animated project this year so far.

So I think for me it was really wondering, like, or thinking about, like, is this really the right medium for this story to be told? Like, would I prefer this to be live action? And is this more of just a holdover until we get to the rest of the DCU until we get to the actual live action stuff? Yeah. Or is this really a good usage of it? So I like generally like the characters. And I think it's good to see them use this. medium in this way, at least like for James Gunn to start in this way and to be able to

show how he can bring his character-driven storytelling to the new DCU. But I'm hopeful of that they can like build on this. And like this show can be more in the future too if they decide to pursue future seasons with it. Yeah. So here's my like problem. And I mentioned it when I talked about how I felt about the show going into it. So the show does bring back some of those classic DC feelings.

You know, not like Batman the animated series, but. you're watching a show about these characters and you're like, okay, cool, we're going to get some time with them, we're going to get to learn and understand what makes them tick the entire thing. And then you look up and it's like, oh, there's only seven episodes, right? Like, when I think about

the DC shows that I grew up loving and enjoying, man, season one, Young Justice, 22 episodes, season two, 20. I mean, how many Batman the anime series? There's like 60 episodes, of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. You know what I mean?

Like those things go, like how many episodes of Batman Beyond, right? These shows go on for long and get to really spend time with these characters and we're not going to do this in this show. Even as much as I'm having fun with it, I know like, okay, cool,

it's only what, seven episodes in five weeks? Like 25 minutes? Yeah. 25 minutes too, right? Yeah. It's all done and dusted. This could, it could have been a movie. Right?

It could have been a straight-to-max movie. Yeah, but is that, Is that too easy of a of a of a of a bandaid for for a show like this just to be like, ah, you could have just made it in a movie. Like there's always going to be these things where like we're, we're not going to be getting these like higher profile bigger budget, even animated projects because you have this big celebrity cast.

It's the flagship thing that James Gunn wants to kick off his thing with. He's writing it. He's making all these production choices. He's doing all these things. Like, I feel like, those days of like the middle tier. And when I say middle tier,

I mean like mid-budget, long-lasting, big season shows where you had like long stretches of time to really like experiment with characters and their dynamics. I don't think we're going to be getting that anytime soon. It's not from a James Gunn, D.C. that we're going to be looking forward to. But is that the solution here? Yeah. I mean, that's a disservice.

Here's the thing. I don't need a Batman show to be connected to the universe. I don't need a young justice show or Justice League or Teen Titans or whatever to be like some part of this big grand adventure. Brother, just give me 20 episodes of these heroes trying to figure out who they are as they try to save the world. That's all I'm asking for, you know? And so while I am enjoying the show,

I harken back to a day where, I mean, not really like, you know, waking up, getting some cereal, watch a Saturday morning and enjoying the show, but just like, I know I'm going to get a bunch of time with these characters. I'm going to get to watch them grow over a longer period of time and get much more time with them. I don't know how much I can feel for somebody in seven episodes versus 26, or even like 16.

You know what I mean? Like, it's just, it just, I don't know. Maybe this is just me and anchoring being an old man about animation right now, but I feel as if we got to a place where like, like you said, we're just ditching that whole, that whole dynamic, that whole, uh, there used to be a whole bunch of these. Now they, like,

rarely exist or even don't exist at this point. It's disappointing as all. I think that's all definitely fair. And I think part of, part of this, at least for me, is that I think there was some undue pressure on this being the first project, too. Because it's definitely a lower stakes affair.

And I think, at least for part of it, too, like the penguin was, so good. And this is coming on the heels of the penguin, which is obviously a very different show. And it's like not even considered to be part of the DCU. So it's a whole different conversation. But I think because of like how the high we're riding on that and this being James Gunn's first project and it to be a lot more of the same with James Gunn. It's, I think it's put more pressure on it when otherwise, you know, it's a fun seven episode entry point into it's where we're going. And it's, I think it's a good like appetizer, you know, it's not, it's not a meal on its own. But it's a good appetize.

A perfectly serviceable start for this new cinematic universe for show. We're going to talk about Rick Flagg being bad at his job. I mean, Rick Fag has always been bad at his job. I mean, but in this specific instance, brother of me, you know, first of all, you let the phone out, just like out there somebody else can find. That's fair. You just put it out on your person at all times. You think I'm at Wanner got that thing tucked away somewhere? No.

At least have one of those like dad holsters for the phone. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? That click. Put it under the pillow or something. You know? The more and more I think about it And I'm like, maybe I do want a holster for my phone.

Brother, no, you should, so we can laugh at you. Like one of the belt clips? I'm re-watching Mystic Force when I'm at the gym. And I read someone I see them run up and they got their morphers and like Sight holster man. It's so funny. Yeah, but it's convenient. It's convenient, but it's also very 2005.

I get it. But like, listen, you got to have the beeper on you and you're not going to put it in your pocket. Keep that thing on me. It's just your phone and a leather clip on you. There was a great quote where it's like, if I can see the phone in your pocket, you better use it to call a Taylor. Oh, that's a bar. But then, like, he has a fight with Dr. Frostriss, and that, like, almost burns down the mansion.

And then, brother man, you out there with girl, I understand. You know, it's been a minute. You know what I'm saying? She put the pressure. You folded like origami. I get it. Who among us? Who among us, right?

Has it run out of a room with a... Has it unfolded under pressure? Yeah, that's right. Sorry, Rick. I don't think that would happen to me. Okay? Rick Flagg. I don't condone the behavior, but I understand, right?

But at the same time, you know the people you're running with. You can't trust them. You can't take your eyes off for a second? You think that they're buddy, buddy? I do like it when Dr. Fosperis got caught and he's like, hey.

Hey, what's going on? No, man, like, you got it. He's not locked in, is all I'm saying. He's not locked it. That's fair. He's got to lock himself in. All right, Daniel Chin, last thing before we move on to our awards.

Are you at all concerned, or do you feel like this is a better indication about what we can get out of Superman? Or is it maybe unfair to judge? I think it's a little too soon to tell, a little unfair to judge with it, because it's just, I feel like it's so different and in the way that there's a lot of pressure

on Superman to succeed. And for James Gunn to see, it's going to be hard to do, the whole James Gunn thing to Superman, I feel like. And this is a much more... But what if he does? Are you sure? Are you waiting? He got a feeling that he just might.

I don't know. Do you know how many people are in this movie? It's going to be hot girl, Mr. Terrific, Green Lantern, Superman, I don't be like, guys, man, remember when we saved the world from Brainiag dog? That was real cool. And we were just a bunch of lovable freaks and I'm Superman. What are we, some kind of Justice League?

Boom! Say that again. Boom! $3 billion. dollars, Dan, you know? I don't think, yeah, it's way too early to judge what James Guns, D.C. has in store, just off these two episodes. I do think, though, this is like a fun, like you said, hepatizer.

Just something to wet our beaks in with this universe. And I'm really excited to see what happens next. Like, the scene with the bride and Frankenstein in episode two, I thought, was lovely. Watching their fight across time, like her background, she's going to be very important, you know, to the story. And so, yeah, I'm really interested to see what the entire thing holds. I can't wait to watch the final five episodes. Yeah, Steve Kronachie calls this one too close to call when it comes to judging this on Superman. But James Gunn, decent start.

James Gun, brother, that found family card, brother. He got that thing in his tuck all the time. He's got a whole deck of those cards. He's got that thing in a tug all the time, brother. So it is. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business, Fast, Reliable internet means everything for your business. And even this podcast, that's why I trust Spectrum Business.

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It's time for Mint Edition's Animation, Year, and Awards. Jomey's It's when you lean back in your chair It makes it sound like it's creaking though Like I'm falling off Jomi has gone through the painstakingly difficult process of narrowing down our nominees

To six hours To all of these categories Our categories will be Favorite theme song Best animated fight scene Best looking project of 2024 Best Animated Movie of the Year and best animated show of 2024.

And by the way, spoilers for pretty much everything that we're going to be talking about for this awards show. If it came out in 2024, like spoilers. Like spoilers. We won't get too crazy.

Unless we've covered it on this show before. Then we'll get crazy with it. Then we'll get absolutely nuts with it. Now, here's the thing. Arcane was a pretty important show that came out this year. Hey, man, I'm not going to lie to you. There's conversations to be had.

There are conversations. There's conversations. Oh my goodness. Jomey, are you coming around? There are conversations to be around, Jomey? I love Arcane. I want to be,

guys, I'm going to be very, very clear. Uh-huh. I love Arcane, but it's not some, you know, Usain Bolt-type run where they're 60 yards ahead and you just got off the starting block.

Yeah, that's true. Right? It's a little closer than we think. It's time to open our minds and have adults and... People were talking pretty crazy about Arcane, when it...

Your thing. No, no, no. And I was with him. Sure. I was with him. with them. But when you take, when you take a step back and you look at the entire landscape about this year, brother man, we have some hitters. We're going to talk about them. Right. But we had some real hitters. But before we get into that, I wanted to ask you guys,

like, I talked a little about how I thought, how I feel about animation right now. How do you guys feel about animation, especially in 2024? DC. I mean, just overall, just like animated stuff. Yeah. I mean, I think it's a good question. And at least, for me, I've been really excited with a lot of the movies. Like, we'll get into it a lot more. But movies like the Wild Robot that have this, and arcane, too, this new form of animation style that's kind of been inspired

by the Spider-Verse movies. And just seeing like that 3D animation style that typically American animation studios, American, American studios will roll with like the classic Pixar style. We're starting to shift away. from that in exciting new ways and really trying to push the animation medium forward in in exciting ways.

But there's also a lot of like, especially when it comes to Pixar, we're deep into sequel territory. There's definitely a lack of creativity. That makes me excited when movies like the Wild Robot comes out, you know? Yeah, no, I completely agree. I think, and you mentioned it earlier, Steve, the lack of the mid-budget stuff. Because you get a lot of high-end quality things that I'm obviously going to enjoy. But sometimes you just want a little 22-minute, 23-minute thing.

It keeps you, you know, week after week. I don't need everything to look like arcane, right? Because if it did, we'd get two shows every six years. Yeah, and I certainly would not like shows to, like, on the other end of that, to not look like, say, this year's adaptation of Uzimaki, which was, like, made on a... Three frames per series. frames for second.

DC, I don't know if you caught that. I actually was just watching this the other day. Good God, no. I didn't know what I was expecting. But, oh my God. On the movie front, on the movie front, again, DC,

brought it up. The Pixar sequel machine, man. Let me tell you something. Everybody under the sound of my voice, you're listening to me right now. Inside Out, too. We will never see Pixar make another original movie ever again. It's cooked. It's absolutely cooked. It will never happen again.

They have the, what, the Elio movie that they announced. It's the, the Elyo movie, and then there's the one where you're... With the otter? She body swaps off with a robotic otter. Yeah, robotic otter or something. Those will be the only... That's it. Only Pixar Disney movies that are non-sequel that will ever get released. I cannot stress to you enough how wild that Pixar presentation was at D-23. Dog, Inside Out 3. Toy Story 6. Incredibles 4.

Cars 4. Brother Man's, it's over. It's over. We lost that battle because the Bwana 2 thing, inside out I can understand, right? It's a sequel, but you know, there's some like new ideas. This is new stuff going on.

I don't know if you guys don't know this, I'm going to brief you a little bit. Moana 2 was originally a Disney Plus series that they were going to drop. And Bob Biger came in. It was like, actually, guys. We've got to make a couple of them. really's up here.

Let's get this thing out of there, but it's not how we do things. And they were worked into a movie. And as of right now, I'm pretty sure it's made over half a billion dollars at the theaters at time of recording. Here's the thing. Bob Iger, you might know how to make money. I mean, like, here's the thing. He did what he had to do.

You know what I'm saying? I will not be giving him a standing ovation anytime. That was crazy. I mean, we talked about it then. That's one of the wildest things that's ever happened to me. We talk about glazing and bouncing. that was a super glaze and a super bounce. Yes.

That was nuts. I'm no CEO. A standing O for a CEO, have some shame. For a billionaire? Oh, my God. But that's not the point. But the movie is going to make, Disney, Moana 2 is going to make so much effing money.

Yes. That you just hope they don't learn the long lessons from this, right? But it's capitalism, so they will. and we're never going to get an original movie ever, ever again. So it's great, guys. But we'll get them while we can. I think my overall sentiment from this year's animation before we get into the awards.

Good stuff, easy to overlook. I'm seeing a lot of the things that we've both covered in the course of this year and the things that were new and noteworthy. It's really tough to know which one is the thing that is absolutely going to blow your socks off or if it's just going to be something that might just be enjoyable that you'll try to find out.

It takes me a long time to watch Don Don. Takes me a long time to get to some of these older ones. Like Vox Machina, I feel like it's always going to be there for me. Like people are going to be buried under Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles like to know whether or not that that might be something that's really worth their time. But it's still out there. And it's definitely worth giving a shout out to. What are, just before we dive into it, like full, full.

What are some shows that probably won't get mentioned here That you guys want to Gonna give a little shout out to show some love to Man Probably like the last Last breaths of rooster teeth animation As that went down All right brother

So you did that to spite me You did that to be mean to me Mean to you? Red versus Blue Grass duration You don't think I hurt You don't think I feel Brother man you weren't in the trenches with you bro You weren't in the trenches

You weren't watching that shit on QuickTime On the library computers Don't do that don't do that Don't do that I'm younger than you, so I definitely wasn't. You definitely were not. You were downloading 30 megabyte files for 10 minutes. Nope.

Shout out Netflix, 2014 college. Netflix. Oh, my God. I just, I put it on. I'm getting more and more like Van every day when you start talking. Your generation is fucked. I put it on, Red versus Blue, it changed my child life. Rest of peace to rooster teeth.

but red versus blue restoration meant something to me I'm gonna miss those guys forever Lower decks I mean we talked about it We did talk about it It's not gonna make the noms

It's not gonna make the noms But I always gotta give a shout out to To my guys And I mean I'm gonna try and force Star Trek Potagie in there somewhere So we got a lot of people Don't worry about it.

You've got anything for us Before we get to our awards It's one of those that's kind of on the fence here because part of it was in 2023, but as I was mentioning before we started recording, Invincible season two. Of course. Of course.

Again, tough, tough for that show to stick the landing, but it has some good moments in here. Worth mentioning. I think the mid-season break was tough too, you know? Awful. They learned that, they learned from that mistake. They're not going to do that again. They learn the hard way, though. Yeah, don't do that shit again. When it's

out, it's out. That's it. All right. So let's get to it. Let's start off. This is actually really funny to me because this category is actually kind of stacked and not. Best theme song. We have X-Men 97.

Great. Fantastic. That's the same theme song from 1994. Again, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But if it ain't from this year, do we nominate it? Okay, when did X-Men 97 come out? All right. Again. I'm just asking.

The theme song, okay. When did X-Man 97 come out? Yes. 20-24. Did that theme song? If a Star Wars movie comes out, do you nominate the opening team for Best Original Score? Did that theme song not play in the opening of that show? It did.

Okay. It's a she-code that way, but yeah. Yeah. I'm just saying, like, you know, it might be resting on its very well-earned laurels. Maybe. There's a banger, though. All right. Okay.

What else? Don to Dom. Don to do. That is so catchy. Including the animation and the intro, it's like... That's a close second for me. And then you did this to humor me. Did I?

Arcane. Oh, the misery. I almost spit up my coffee when I saw this on the list. Okay. Okay, DC, I need to get your thoughts on the... The theme song of Arcane. Are you pro? Are you against...

Are you against yourself if you like it? I am very hard against the imagine president's intro. And when they appeared in season one, it almost took me out of the whole show. Is it right? Oh yeah, when they were in the show? That almost took me out of the whole show, yeah.

Understandable. But again, do you skip that intro? Every, every time. I'm so quick to hit that button that, like, sometimes I go too early. You can't ever bet. I can't stand. It's a really good intro.

It looks. excited? Yeah. I was excited for this new season, but I was most excited to see if they were going to change it. Oh, you could change it. And I was devastated that they didn't change the entrance.

It's too iconic now. But the title sequence looks better in season two. Yeah. But it's the same time. I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know. I was watching it with my girlfriend and she beats me to the remote. Because I'm just like,

I'll get a couple of measures in years. I wake up to the sound and just like, get the fucking thing off the screen. But you know what you never get to miss, though. Look out for you. sale. I really want that to be a sign off that ever I'd do. Like until next time. Oh, my. Bro, if we still had A-Messages,

man, that could be your outro. Aim messages? God damn. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. Look who's old now, huh? No, I'm, I know what the fuck you're talking about. I know, but I'm saying I was there too, dog. You weren't in the trenches. Bro, AOL messenger, dog. Come on now. You weren't.

Come on now. What social currency were you set to lose if you didn't answer your aim messages at what age? Oh, man. At eight years old? Nah, not, because, so here's the thing. Everybody had a psychic.

I didn't have a psychic. So everybody was on aim. I was out, bro. It wasn't until, like, late, I want to say, like, late middle school, early high school. What year? Ooh, this had to be 2009, 2008, 2007, or 2008? Or, 2008, 2009. Okay.

And I was finally, like, got the computer, was able to go on aim and, like, talked to all my people. in 2009. So you were, I'm sure you were, you were texting people at that point, or sending faxes, right? Yeah,

no, I had three jobs at that point. Was it pigeons that you guys used? What's your guys' favorite theme song? I'm going with, I'm going with Don's Don. Don, da, da, da, don't. That's that,

that's thing slap. Daniel, you, you think about it. You think it about it. I mean, it is your name's sake. It's tough for me.

It's tough because it's like, to like, to like, I think Steve's point, like when we started this conversation, does X-Men 97 count? like it's a I think it does count it's a bangers still so

but innovation of you know it said this is a new I just can't believe that you brought Imagine Dragons into this palace I'm telling you I was I was cracking up when I saw that earlier like what what street rat have you brought in here everybody just look everybody just want to be my enemy

that's what it is yeah yeah yeah spare the sympathy I trust you will all right let's I nominate Donna Don as well and so it is Don to Don, you are the best theme song of 2024. Best animated fight scene, good golly, we got a lot. We got a lot, man.

And I don't think that there's many omissions that I would have here. But from Arcane, we have Caden Vi versus Jinks and Skeva. Episode 3, I believe, in season 2. Skeva versus Smeach when she gets her new Jinks arm. Yeah, that was cool as hell. Victor versus Jace, I believe you're talking about the finale. Yes. And in X-Men 97, this is X-Men versus the...

Sentinels in the first episode. Nightcrawler versus Wolverine versus the Bastion of Mind Controlled Goons. That would be that's an immaculate pick. Gambit's Sacrifice Play in Genosha. And from Legend of Vox Machina

the ice golem hitting the stone cold stunner. That was crazy, man. I mean, I talk about it on the podcast, but I literally jumped out of my chair when that happened, man. I was like, did he just, I rewanted like eight times? I was like, yeah. Oh my goodness.

Oh my gosh. It was awesome. What else? Dan, do we miss anything? Yeah. Going back to, I was trying to think about Invincible season two a little bit. And I guess like the last fight scene, the like multiversal. Sure, yeah, yeah.

That's like I wouldn't put it above some of these. I feel like Dondodon has some pretty good fight scenes, but none that are like super memorable to me at this moment. Yeah, not off the top of my head, yeah. Not off the top of my head. I think these are solid picks here. man i i went so i'm let's make some cuts here because we this is this is actually a pretty

we could we could we could we could we we we could do we could pick one of x-men and one of arcane how about that if i had to pick one of x-men it's night crawler and wolverine yes that's specific specifically uh when uh wolverine gets teleported with night crawler i was gonna say the way i literally i nearly cried when i saw that i nearly cried when i saw that that was that that was that guess what It's because it is exactly how I imagined it happening in slow motion. Oh, that was perfect. And then if I go with Arcane, this might be, this might be like just a Jomey heart pick,

but I want to go Savika and Meach outside. Smeach. Smeach, is that we call him? Big smeech, little smeech. Sevika is Smeach just because it was just so much fun. The arm and, yeah. The arm and like just the machinations of. Jing's doing a little dancey dance.

Yeah, like that just, it's just. a whole bunch of fun. I had just watching it. There was a smile on my face. Every little moment there was something new and event of watching her pull the arm and having the thing roll around and I don't gamble so I don't know

what it's called. Slot machine? Slot machine, yes. That was awesome. Counterpoint Victor versus Jace with the inclusion of Echo saving the day with the time machine lawnmower machine. Oh my gosh. You forgot about this.

Brother. You forgot about that. Seriously, you sting, right? I don't know who you thought he was. Is it a fight, though? He's not really fight nobody. He's fighting. He's fighting fate and destiny.

No, he was fine, people. They were trying to grab at him. Yeah, yeah. He had to go past the fourth second limit, do the thing, and then when they rewound back to it. Textbook definition of locked in. Textbook definition of locked in. That was gas.

That was kind of gas. What do you think, D.C.? For me, at least it was really thinking about the three X-Men, picks that you put in here. And I think I agree that it's Nightcrawling Wolverine. Yeah. But because like for the Gambit one, I think that's one of my favorite scenes just like full stop.

But it's less about the action than it's about the story. The moment. The moment of it. And it's just how like shocking that entire like second half or really the last like whatever 10 minutes of that episode is. And then first the first one, the X-Men versus Sentinels, I think that's when I was like fully locked in in that show.

Yeah. Where it was like, wow, they're doing a lot of really fun stuff with the, animation style. They're really visualizing all the X-Men's powers in these really fun and new ways that is showing how they're modernizing the show. But the Nightcrawler and Wolverine, just like having the two of them fight together so iconic and seeing the way they visualize, like Steve mentioned, the teleportation was like,

what has it for me? And just like how they're like sucked into his teleportation was such a cool way that you haven't seen before in any of the least. So that's it for me. Yeah, man. I think we got to go with the Nightcrawler Wolverine. Yes. And again, I think the thing that takes it away from anything from Arcane is because of the inventiveness of the thing that's happening. Yeah.

And again, that's tough because you have, like, they're fighting in like a metaphysical space in Arcane. And Echo is like time traveling four seconds into the past while that's happening. But again, if you show me what happens when you teleport with. two other people in night crawlers teleportation ability. I'm going to give you that. That is that shit.

All right. Best looking project was 1.24. It's so funny that you nominated so many other things underneath Arcane. Number one, Arcane. Hold on. There's discussions to be had. There's discussions to be had. The Wild Robot.

Don to Donned Don. Vox Machina. Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I think we can I think I can give a tip of the cap to the wild robot and Tales of the Teenage Mutin Nidturtles and Vox Mockina

Respect the wild robot I was going to say Respect the wild robot You see what I'm saying You're not even you're not opening your third eye Brother I

I'm I'm yes I've seen the wild robot I respect the wild robot Come on man It's good It, wait, wait, wait, wait, the movie just good? Yeah, the movie is just good. This guy, nah, see, cut the podcast, cut the podcast off.

What do you mean it's just good? You're saying this when our boss is in the room. When Bright Bill comes back to the spot to see Lupita, you want to say, that doesn't mean something to you? That's beautiful, it's beautiful. I'm a grown man. Grown man's tears. I'm in the theater. It's me and two other people who are also, they're.

about themselves. And I got tears running down my face. I didn't know how I was going to get home with all the water in my eyes, bro. It was just, and the reason why you feel so invested, forget, like, all the emotional stuff that helps. But just that world, when they're running

and you can see the landscape, the hills, the mountains, the snow, the trees. You feel like you're in that world, man. Whatever they were doing in that story, studio did was that work man the entire movie comes together and makes you feel like you're a part of that community so when they hurt you hurt when you're in the little they're that little um the the the cave whatever little den and they bring all the entire forest in there i'm like yo we all rocked together gang forest gang what's up what y'all want what you let's do we you know rep the set that was my

favorite part when they all said forest gang forest gang you know what I mean I, if I'm being completely honest, Arcane's do his thing and Accrains won't get his due, but what they did in the Wild Robot with everything, we could talk about Arcane fight scenes and all that. Yeah, you got to, obviously, Arcane does his thing. The Wild Robot, man, exceptional stuff, exceptional stuff. Even if we don't go with it, it's worth mentioning.

It's worth giving Wild Robot that credit. That movie. Those flowers, sure. Sure, well deserve. deserves every single petal, every single ounce of pollen on those flowers, man. It was just a spectacle. Daniel Shinn.

With the caveat that I actually haven't finished Arcane yet, I think that the Wild Robot is number one for me. For a lot of the reasons, I thought Jomey put it really well. But quick, for me too, quick update. Where are you in Arcane? Like three episodes in, four episodes in? Of season one?

No, no, no, no. Season two. Oh, okay, okay, okay, all right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was going to say, I was like, we got a lot going on. A lot going on here. I've already heard some spoilers, but I figured that we're going to get into some spoilers on this one. I know you guys.

Like Jace's no good, very bad day? Oh, man, you're going to love episode seven. Episode seven, real great cinema. You're going to love it. All right. You're trying to fight for Arcane. I mean, what's actually winning here? You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, respect. Respect the gang, feel me? Yeah. Fight the gang. Look, Arcane. fire does its thing, man. Every single frame is a painting. But I think what puts the wild robot over the edge for me is just how I'm not, that's, like,

that's stuff. When Bambi mom gets shot, that don't mean something to me, bro. Yeah. Tough. Oh, no. Another deer got shot in the woods. Uh-oh. You know what I mean?

But. Yeah, I was the same thing with Bambi, you know? Yeah, I was like, oh, no, there's a fire in the Bambi woods. Oh, no. Oh, no. There's never been a fire before. Really you. You're right.

Shout out. But the Wild Robot, man. There's just some about getting transported into our world that just made me feel like I was six years old again. Six years old again watching a film and just being like really captivated and encapsulated in the world, brother. That's fair. It was good. It was special. I appreciate it.

Best looking show though. Wild Robot or best looking show. Arcane. Yeah. Yeah, best looking. It's arcane. Okay. Best looking.

No, no. That's why the, we'll. I understand. I've heard. the arguments. I've heard the arguments. What do you mean? You mean the argument? It's two against one. You lost. You lost. Chalk that one up to the game, brother. That's the hell for you.

Here's the thing. You lost. Half of this, a third of this voting body. A loss of it. No, you lost. That's fair. That's why I started off. The caveat that I haven't seen all of arcane. So I'm proud of it like an you must. You might need another vote in there. You lost. Right. Right. You lost. Arjuna, where you at? You seen both? I go

I go Wadroba. This is insane. Boom. You know, you know, You're not, you're not there. Here's what I'll say. Here's the only thing that I'll say against Arcane. I think the best thing it has going for it is its looks. And if it doesn't have that. I mean, look, we'll talk about, you know, the best show of 20, 24, 24 a bit later.

Okay. But I, there's something, maybe what it is, is that Arcane, like, I know what I expect from Arcane. I already know I'm going to get. Sure, sure, sure. I'm going to get the goods. When I walked in a Wild Robot, I just heard it's good. Y'all going to love it. It's emotional.

I tapped down, like, bet. Like, I got this AMC A-LIS, you know, put it to use. Yeah, but expectations can't move the needle that much only if you came from here and got higher rather than started high, maintained high. Yeah. I mean, but interesting, I didn't have any expectations for Wild Robot. I just went in literally, like, as blind as somebody can be. I thought it was going to about a robot who don't talk.

And I was like, hey, man, if y'all send me to this movie and nobody talks. And nobody talk. If it's just Lupita talking to herself for two hours, y'all got to see me outside. This is nuts. Secondary take, do we think that Godzilla and Kong should just be allowed to talk?

Yeah, but, and I know you've seen this one, but Godzilla is voiced by Keith David and Kong is voiced by Ron Perlman. I'm into that. Yeah. I'm into it. That's the only people who can voice those characters. I thought you're about to say Sean Gunn for a second.

It'd be great if only one of them could talk and then Gatsil just like, yeah, that'd be funny. Nah, man. Look, Arcane is fan. Again, we're talking about Katie and Bronnanate Prime, you know what I mean? Like, you can really can't go wrong. For my personal preference, I'm going with a wild robot. All right.

I was going to say, it's a little tough to compare, too, just because with Arcane, I think there's such a degree of difficulty with some of these action sequences that you just don't have with a wild robot. But the wild robot has all of these moments where it's just purely focusing on the landscape and the very Miyazaki kind of way to me. And seeing that that kind of approach to it was just... Again, I would like with Jomi too. I went in with pretty low expectations,

but I had heard like, oh, I go check out this movie. All right. I came out loving it. Love it. All right, that's it. Wild Robot. Best animated movie of the year. See, we just gas up the Wild Robot.

And here we are again. Inside Out 2. Transformers 1 Kung Fu Panda 4 Moana 2 The Wild Robot And then I'm adding one of my own nominees here Piece by Piece

The Farewell Williams Lego documentary Did you watch it? I might have What did you think of piece by piece It was genuinely kind of nice It was kind of nice It was kind of nice Oh my God

It's got nice It's got nice I mean I mean I'm sure Don't write it off I'm not writing it off But like all the It's a clean

story. Yeah. Yeah, there's no, it's not, no, it's access journalism. It's the last dance for Farrell Williams. I want to know, what I want to know is what happened in the studio when Farrell was out there with Birdman and

him and he was like, all right, here's what I got. What happened to that boy? I want to hear that whole story. In Legos. They're not going to tell that in the Lego story though. Right. You know? I need like that, oh man, I want that Birdman interview in Legos. on the breakfast club Put some respect on my name.

That's not. So then he walks out He just, so here's the How does it compare to the other Lego one, Steve? Yes. How does it compare

the other Lego movies? Honestly, it's the worst. It's the worst one? Yeah. Interesting. There's some pretty good, like the Batman movie.

We got Lego, the Lego movie. Lego Batman. Lego Batman. Lego movie two. Lego movie two. Lego Ninjago movie? Again.

Haven't seen that. I haven't seen that. But I'm going to guess that it's not as bad as, The Farrell Williams documents. You guys want to hear about Lego Ninjago story? Please tell your Lego Nizago story. I was out of date.

Oh, no. Show me. We got to the theater and I was like, what, like, what do you want to see? Wait, you don't, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop. Stop story. Stop the story right now. Stop it. You go to the movie theater and you don't already agree on what you want to see. It's 2017.

Still! What do you mean? How old are you in 2017? 21. You don't go to the meeting with the plan? You just roll up and look at what's on the screen? Yeah. What?

Yeah. And she was like, I want to go see. I think it might have been it or something. Hell yeah. And y'all know me. I don't like stare. I don't do the scary. You coward.

I don't like the scary. See, this is how I know you fumbled. This is how you like. I don't even know the rest of the story. I fumbled. Yeah. Brother, we can't. We have time to get in.

We got to stay on top of it. Got us stand on top. You didn't see it. We didn't see it, but we saw Lego Ninjago. Let me say something. Movies funny. I had never seen no Ninjago thing ever, but I had a good time in there. So respect Lego Ninjago, okay, before y'all come hating.

All right. Respect piece by piece. Here's the thing. I think for this category specifically, it comes down to two movies, Wild Robot and Transformers One. I spoke all my plots about. about Wild Robot, I think, here's the thing. We have to give Transformers 1

some credit. Oh my God, yes. We're going to give it a lot of credit. We've got to give a lot of credit because what we thought going in, I don't want to say my expectations were low. That's not fair. Middling at best, though.

But I'm thinking this is a movie, this is a movie for children. This is a movie for children that me, a 28-year-old I'm getting paid to cover and talk about. And for, I'd say almost half of that movie, that is what it is. Yeah, for like, maybe like two-fifths of it. It's basically like, okay, yeah, that's what it is.

Here we are. They're best friends. They're going on this adventure. Right? It's goofy. It's silly. Badassetron. Like, they're kind of funny, but I'm like, yeah, this is not, you know what I'm saying?

This is not for adults. And then it becomes arguably the best media and Transformers. seen in the 21st century at least. At minimum. Yeah. Right? I'm like,

oh my, did I? Is this, is this freaking gas? It's, no, and it's, and it's, and it creeps up on us. Oh my gosh.

I'll never forget, I'm sorry, DC, but like, I'm never going to forget sitting in the theater with Jomi being like, like, I think we've,

we looked at each other like three different times being like, is this fucking good? Like, when they get, when they get their new transformation all spark

when they start to like run from their new enemies and they start to learn how to transform when they like beseech Star Scream and his like imperial guard to work across the city and then Megatron like

tries to kill him like yeah it's nuts how good this is when they jump Megatron at the end bro like the action is crazy I'm tired of saving you blam and then you know man

on a technical level like on a just like which movie is probably like the better movie because from start to finish it's probably wild robot but the highs

in Transformers 1 man are very very high are very high I'm interested can I see what you guys think Can I take a quick ISO for Inside Out 2? Oh no

Dan and Shane have you seen Have you seen Inside Out 2 I was curious what you guys thought about it but yeah Give me your thoughts DC and then I'll

I'll take it away I liked it And I thought It's great take Great take It's because I feel like it was a very natural progression. You know what I mean? Like when it comes to it, like she's getting older, now she's teenager, anxiety.

I thought it's clever in many ways. And I do appreciate the conceptual levels that they really go with both of these movies. But it was a lot more of the same and just not as good as the first one to me in a way where I was like, this is kind of my issue with Pixar these days where it's just. the sequel machine now. And I thought that the original one was really good, but I just didn't really personally need this one too. But again, this is mostly a children's story, children's movie,

and it's also going to be helping probably a lot of kids deal with what they're going through going up. And experiencing those tough teenage years. What's up? You didn't need it, but Disney needed it to a tune of a billion dollars. I know. And that's why we're going to get a lot more of these. The highest grossing animated film of all time.

All time. Man. That's actually nice to think about when you really like, I mean, to speak about what Me Four came out this year and that made almost a billion dollars. Yeah. But like those movies.

Not letting off steam, really. Kind of. Well, because, I mean, the other ones have made a Billy. For the most part, I think this is like the first one since maybe like, since maybe the first one to not make a billion dollars or the second one. We only made $800 million.

It was like nine six. Yeah. They were right there. It wasn't far off. Yeah. It wasn't far off. But it's crazy. Like, the numbers just kept jumping up.

And I was like, Incid Out 2 moving units like this? That's, I mean, I would as, I mean, I'm sure, like, they had the plan at, like, before Inside Out 2 was making out of money. But that's why it went more on it, like, more on a two, got to be a movie.

Mm-hmm. Right? Like, how much money you leave it on the table. You know, that, like, again, that direct to Disney Plus stuff, all that, Birds. It was funny enough, I was talking to Sean Fantasy about it.

He had also seen, um, and why don't know, we're having kind of a same conversation. And he's like, his take that I kind of agree with is that the Disney Plus stuff should be just like back catalog. You know? Just all the old stuff on there. Yeah, yeah. Keep it alive. Put all the stuff that you need to be seen in the theaters. Make a trip, make every inside out.

Make a drill. Yeah. You know. have that make all the money and then put it on the app. There's no need for us to be creating context specifically for this app. And I'm kind of starting to see it.

The problem for me now is what happens to like the television aspect of it all. Like, again, we keep bringing up the mid-budget stuff. It's like there needs to be a place and a home for that kind of stuff. But brother, man, forget all the, yeah, we're going to do this. We're going to bring people to Disney Plus.

Nah, man. You don't come to Disney Plus because we got Iron Man 2 on there and you like to watch that. on a random Saturday when ain't no football on. You just kind of, you don't want to stare at the phone all day. You know what I mean? Right. But you kind of do.

But you kind of do, but you want to, you know what I'm saying? You want to have a thing on. You want to, yeah. Exactly, right? Second screen viewing. And I think, like, that's, if that's a lesson that they learn, I'm not mad at it. Because I do think I'd like to go see a lot more stuff at theaters, even if it is for sure, for sure.

Disney garbage. But I'd go do it. Here's the last thing I'll say about Inside Out, too, and then we'll get down to business. I was deeply moved by the finale of this movie. And it was something that really stirred me to give kids and children an emotional vocabulary for complex

and difficult to articulate things. Like a panic attack or jealousy. And all of these things that as they happen, you can't actually... It takes a very long time for us to realize why those things boil over and fester within us. And then when it becomes too late and those things boil over, people need to understand what those things mean.

And I think inside out to capture that perfectly. But that being said, I got a feeling that you're going to be boiling it down between Transformers 1 and Wild Robot, and I'll vote Transformers 1. Okay, here's what I'm going to do. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to pull a classic Mallory Rubin. Right. Smuggle.

I'm going to smuggle. I'm going to go. with the Wild Robot. Okay. But go watch Transformers 1. I beseech everybody to watch. Every single person, go watch Transformers 1. Go watch Wild Robot as well.

But first, because everybody loves Wild Robot is going to win an Academy Award. It's going to get the Oscars. That's fine. You don't need this show to tell you that. You know what I'm saying? They're going to make 100 of them. Don't worry about this. Everybody go watch Transformers 1 because it's on Paramount right now.

I'm telling y'all. Frankly, I need Transformers too. I need Transformers too. The way that ended, I need Transformers too. Because if they're able to do the war of Cybertron, like the first five minutes of Bumblebee, I don't know what, I might cease to know what cinema is.

Come on, now. We need to see it. But I'm going to go with the Wild Robot. Go watch the Tritormers 1, but I'm rocking with the Wild Robot. What about you, D.C.? It's Wild Robot for me, too. Great.

I will say I'm excited to see Moana 2. I'm going to go with my niece. And my brother and sister next week. Uncle DC. Exactly. You ready to spend $300 at the theaters, my boy? 4DX. Come on now.

You got to get that large poppy. It probably will be that. And she's only two years old, so she might lose her attention. Very quickly. So you're going to throw her in the twister seat? Just be like, boom. Great stuff. What's the last one?

Find out. Last one, Best Animated Show of 2024. X-Men 97. Don to Don. Arcane Season 2. Batman Cape Crusader. Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Terminator Zero.

If I may, I'm going to put a line through Terminator Zero. Jesus Christ. A fine time. A fine time. Just get it out of there. But let's get serious. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a great, great time.

Oh, dude, so much fun. So much fun. So much fun. So much fun. There was a category for fun. Yeah. That would, that would a one. It's Transformers 1 in this. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. But again, thanks, but no thanks. Thanks for playing. I want to give some flowers to Cape Crusader If I can't It's just a bandy of a time I love Cape Crusader Yeah dude I thought Cape Crusader again like

I didn't know what to expect They mentioned like Batman anime series but like the 40s In which I'm like okay There's kind of this It's really nebulous What are we like? We're evoking the animated series

But it's not really Exactly it's a lot going on Ultimately a fantastic series 10 episodes real clean Real nice One of my favorite memes of this year that came out, you're going to help me and they're all going to pay. That was so scary when childhood Bruce Wayne is just standing over Alfred in his bed.

That was so good. Somebody said that that was Kendrick Lamardo, his producers. They're going to pay and you're going to help me. Wake up, Bustin. Let's get to stay crack it. Yeah. So what we got left? What we got left.

Arcane season two, Don to Don to Don, Don, and X-Men. 97. Don to Don to Don, awesome. I think we can cross it out. I don't know. For the sake of business. For the sake of business, what's all about, man?

You don't, look, this thing, if we're doing, like, you know, those are our top three. Yeah, give it, give it the flowers. Give it, give it, give it, give it, you know. We haven't talked, we haven't talked too much about, we gave it the best theme song. Yeah, but the show is,

so I don't, I only watch, uh, romance animates. That's it. That's my entire wheelhouse. Yeah. I don't do Shonin. That's not self-love. I don't do, I would never watch an Isikai a day in my life.

And yeah, all the other stuff. If it's, if it's like romantic, I will be there no matter what. And so when I'm looking at the, what's it called, at my anime list. And I'm like, yo, what's the romance time is coming out in the future? This was on the list. And I was like, aliens, they fight aliens. I'm not really trying to do that. But then it's on Netflix.

I'm like, mine as well, what's one episode going to do? you know what I'm saying? And that first episode is just some of the most spectacular action, animation, a story. It's just, it envelops you in this world so quick, so fast.

You don't have time to process what you're watching, but by the end of you're like, I love this. I love everything about this. How can I get more right this instance? Right?

that's the thing about Donodon and after these last like six or seven episodes it just keeps getting more and more inventive, more and more fun Momo and Ocaroon they're like falling in love but like

you know they're both really awkward the entire thing has just been an excellent fun adventure so far it's not done yet there's still like three or four more episodes left in the season but in terms of shows that snuck up on me and made me feel something that I didn't know

I was still capable of feeling, I think this show is probably right up there with my other choice. It's just like something that means so much to me at this moment of time. Daniel Chin, talk to us about Don to Dunn. I've been enjoying it a lot. I'm still, I'm like an episode or so behind,

but I love, I mean, starting with the intro, like, I think that really just tells you everything you need to know about the energy of this show. and it's such a quirky, like, strange, but like very prenetic show with a lot of really... It's just very fun. It's just very fun. And I really like the animation from...

I think Sai and Saru is the animation house that does it. Big fan. It's like very silly in a way that, like, it's just so different. Like, my topic would be X-Men 97 for this year. Again, with the caveat that I haven't seen all of Arcane yet, but it's so, like, tonally different. It's completely different.

with just the fact that it's an anime as well. And it's so funny. It's very funny. It is very, very goofy. Very goofy, very silly. It's rare that an anime makes me like laugh out loud. That off. Like, oh, you always chuckle.

You know what I'm saying? It's something that's like funny, you know, but I'm just like, oh, this is good. I'm watching Donna Donna don't and I'm laughing my cheeks off, bro. It's so funny. It's nuts, man. The show is just incredible. Here's why I think X-Men 97 takes it. I can't think of a single thing this year

that got maybe outside of Arcane, but I had my issues with it. Outside of Arcane, X-Men 97 had a universal acclaim for the amount of storytelling. Well, not universal. Near universal. Sweet, there's one person who didn't like it. Yeah, there was one.

It's one person. There was one. that as far as the storytelling at hand for not just a superhero outing but an X-Men outing to know exactly what both fans and people wanted out of this, drama, mess, action, pretty good animation,

but ultimately a very good story and really compelling scenarios that all of the characters we love are in, it's got to go to that. Well, I mean, I hear you guys, and honestly, when you, like, when you hear it the way that you two have put it, I think there's only one real answer.

Star Trek Prodigy, baby! Let's go! That's right! That's the show of the year! Yeah, man! You know, Dow, Gwen, Jacob, Rock. All of them. Janeway, that's real cinema. You know what I'm saying?

Shout out Star Trek. Pardric Prology, that's the show of 2024. Yeah. We are indeed out here. We are indeed out of here. No, no, buddy. Look. Stardrick, but, look.

Kerm, can you put in that like, like, br-b-b-b-br-br-br... The price is right. No, here's the thing. Netflix, I know you're listening. We need season three. I need 79 more episodes. On my desk.

By Monday morning. I need it. It's a fantastic show. But no. I think... I loved Arcane season two. We've talked about our plotts. I do think, like, you know,

here's the thing about Arcane Season 2, and we didn't talk about it too much on the show. I've been thinking about it a lot. And here's what I imagine had on Arcade Season 2. Right. Season 1 comes out. It's fantastic. It's a...

Everybody loves it. It's a smash shit. It's a smash shit. They're like, whoa, we got to get this thing cracking, man. We've got to make some more. It's going to take three years. Mm-hmm. Okay, well, what about

Season 3? How long is that going to take? That's going to take three years after we work on season 2. It's like, oh, we can't wait that long. Let's just wrap this up. Let's wrap this up in two, you know? And while it does its absolute best

to deliver a 10 out of 10 experience. By the way, $250 million just continue. Right? It's also very expensive. you got, there are some parts where like, I wish they would have flesh this out more, which way to have a more time, you know? And so as awesome as it is,

as it is, as much fun as I had, as much as I'm never going to stop singing its products and saying, like everybody should go watch it. I'm going to sing the gospel of arcane like I'm one of Victor's disciples. You know what I'm saying?

Absolutely. But not sallow, because he got hit with a hammer and that hurt. I mean, you won't last for too long as being sallow. No, I can't do that. But I got to go with X-Men 97. I think we kind of had an idea what we're getting with the show.

It's going to be a revamped X-Men team. But every single thing about it was a hit. Just completely knocked it out of the park. There wasn't a step out of place in the show. Every character got their moment. Every single storyline made sense. I was, brother, I felt like a kid on Saturday morning booing up that show, man.

Amen. It was a adventure, just a thorough ride that I cannot wait to watch again, man. Shout out to Jake. He came on and talked to Midnight Boys about it. I can't wait to see what they do come season two. Hopefully, don't take three years. But I am just, I'm so locked in on that show. I cannot wait to see more.

Couldn't agree more. All right. That's our awards. We did it. We did it, guys. We did it. All right, Jomey, let's get to your conversation. Anything we got to know before we throw to our esteemed guest?

I was really honored and blessed to be able to talk to Christian. We only had a little bit of time. So it's not the longest interview in the world, but we talked about all the stuff that I think that you guys are going to be really interested to hear about the production and about the future of Arcane. So tap in, man. It's going to be fun. Want to support your gut health?

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Special, special, special guest in the house today. He is the co-creator and executive producer of Arcane, one of my favorite shows. We got Christian Link in the house. Christian, how you doing? Hello, sir. I'm doing good. You know, still taking it in. Friday was bananas.

It was the, you know, the moment when we kind of had the cast and a lot of people that worked on the show together in the theater with a lot of fans and watched the last act. and was really fun to see the reactions. Oh, yeah, I was there. I was there at the shrine. People were going crazy. Look, after nine years, the journey of Arcane is finally ending. What did it mean to you to see those reactions and see all the response from everybody in that crowd that day?

I mean, it's, man, I think the strongest feelings that I've had was the hardest thing to come to process is that the journey is coming to an end on the everyday basis of working with a lot of the people the writers the artists the musicians the sound designers the animators the directors like it's hard to for nine years that dictated our life every morning you get up to work on this show and suddenly poof you're like it's uh i think that'll be the strangest thing you know like this is the first day now today this very morning is the very first first morning that I have where Arcane

is not looming over my head as this like this will have to go out and be you know this this this behemoth of a project so it's it's like you lose a little bit of you know what's the next north star this one's has just disappeared you know

so let's talk about season two for a bit there was a lot going on with all the characters you know Jace Vye Kate chinks you know echo you know how did you manage to spin all those place to find a satisfying ending for everybody? Well, it is not easy.

I mean, one of the hard things about adapting something like League Legends is that you don't really get the luxury of, you know, just considering any characters that come from the game, like a side character that doesn't,

you know, doesn't need some kind of focal point or there are a moment to shine, you know? It's hard because there's an economy to this, you know? Any other kind of story that you create, yeah, if someone just has a few scenes and nothing else, that's fine. You know, if I'm earning her doesn't have like a full-blown story, I'm hearing it. You know, and so that's not easy. We really just had to spend the time, you know, to really find these pockets and moments for every character.

It's just, it's hard and you just have to, you know, put in the effort. You mentioned that the premiere of season two is that you wanted to think Netflix for putting up some auto requests. Was that scene in episode eight with Kate and Vi, one of those odd requests? Because as I'm watching it, I'm a big Kate Vi shipper. And I was like, whoa, you guys are really going for it. What was the thought process but having that scene go so hard? I'll give you the honest answer. Please.

This is what happens when you tell about 400 French people in an animation studio to depict a sex scene. they will go to town I mean look it's like if you walk through the streets in Paris there's nudity everywhere you're going to just see boobs and whatever else and it's totally normal for them and so I think that's just a different like this is what love looks like

this there was a longer scene you know that we actually had to like you cut you cut some more well I mean it was the ratings were the problem you know we were getting to a point where it's like hey just so you know you will lose your rating this will now be there will now be like

an age block and also this would change the rating of your game potentially because these are connected and so we're like uh all right maybe we can't just you know nuke the entire uh the entire business here but um but it was we just kind of were like dancing the line of like okay this is still rated tina whatever it is people have been asking i know you've been gone it and i know you're you're gonna you know we're here at the ring of verse you want to bring the people the news first so christian link i am asking you is jinx a lot well, well, well. You can tell me, it's just us.

You can tell me. Right, right, right. Yeah, these microphones mean nothing. No. Look, I mean, you know, we're still, it's still pretty fresh, you know, like two or three days after the release. Don't, you know, I don't really want to speak to it because, like, I don't want to color how people watch it. This is how we wanted to say it. I would honestly, like, encourage people to focus on the relationship between Vai and Jinks and Kately and Jings.

people must understand that there never was a version where things just go back to how they were you cannot recover from everything you know you cannot just like you know what Caitlin said to also to Jinks and to buy

like some of these crimes were too big and too impactful but there's no way they could have just become friends so you know you need to move on in a different way and anyway I'll leave it there

but I would say really focus on like think about like what that relationship between them is like especially Kailen and Vye yeah I completely agree I said it to my friends as if like look there's no if Kail and Vire are going to end up together there's no scenario where Jinks is also alive

you know and just like hey I'm coming over Thanksgiving living like hey it's not really in the house that my mother lived in that you killed like it's never that's never going to work so I totally get it I know you know you don't want to spoil anything you know for the future but we see that through ad revin at the end there what can as much as you can tell us what can fans expect in this universe that you've helped usher in going forward well we always said that you know the invention of hackstack really puts piltever on the map in the larger scheme that wasn't the case before you know like uh it's no surprise that when you when someone invents such a powerful technology

that the world starts to pay attention and so Knoxes will be one of the first. So yeah, excited to kind of zoom out and show more of the world of, you know, the Legends and the IP. And that's what we're also really excited to do. Fun. More Mel. Who can say no? Who can say no?

You know, she's really cool. I don't know if he's just seen that we just announced that she'll be also a champion in the game. And so it's, yeah, it was really fun. I mean, what a journey. Yeah, what a journey. What a journey. So I set this on our finale pod, but this show has the chance to inspire so many people, so many creators.

You know, like there's so much, like this show has done so much to, I mean, going to the premiere, going to the finale event, everybody was so geeked. Everybody was so jazz. And I think this show has a chance to usher in a new generation of people who want to create things like, Arcane and have you know this kind of legacy when you think when you step back and look at what you've created over these last

nine years what do you want the legacy of Arcane to be who I mean I think you know at the bottom line for me is that as a gamer as a nerd as Ali Legends fan as an animation fan

as as I just want there to be more stuff like Arcane I want that you know video games have so many cool characters and IPs. And we still live in this era where like Hollywood kind of dictates what they turn into and how these stories are told. And I think we just really wanted to stay true. They're like, no, this is our game. This is our story.

They're our style. I hope that the best outcome could be that Arcane inspires other video game developers to be like, you know what? We can do this too. Let's have more of the video game world, you know, on the big screen. small screen and also done by gamers. Awesome. Christian,

thank you so much, not only for the Zinaview, but for Arcane. I said it's one of my favorite things that I've ever seen. I am going to relish the, you know, at three years we had with the show,

you know, and I cannot thank you enough for not only coming on a spot podcast, but for creating the show. It's just been an adventure, you know, through and through.

Thank you. I really appreciate it. And, yeah, I hope you'll like what we'll do in the future. I'm sure I will, man. Thank you again for coming on, man.

Really appreciate it. All right. Thank you again so much, Jomi, for that wonderful conversation. And thank you again to D.C. Daniel Chin for joining us from across the country and always near and dear to our hearts.

It's always great having you on. Thanks for coming, man. Thanks for having me on, guys. It's always a pleasure. And don't forget, ButtonMash is going to be coming to you with the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle episode as well as instant reactions on Skellivan crew from the Midnight Boys, deep dives from House of R

and all that great stuff. You can follow that on the social channels of your choosing. Jomi, why don't you tell us where they can be found? They can be found on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok at Ringiverse. Lock in if you're a real one. Mm-hmm.

Lock in indeed. Thank you again so much. Junior Mintz. We love you so very much. It's coming up on the end of the year. but we've got a couple more things for you. Stay tuned. We love you.

Jomi, parting words. Guys, shout out for rocking with us. Shout out to D.C. For joining us. Always love to have you on My Guy. We love you guys. Shout out again to our intrepresenter producer, Mr. Number One,

Catherine Kermway. And we will see you guys. Next time, There we go. Come on, come on, Dan. Go on, Dale. There we go. There we go.

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