The Ringer-Verse - The 2023 Versies Awards

Episode Date: March 16, 2024

Fandom's biggest night is upon us and all of the Ringer-Verse stars are ours as they celebrate the 2023 year in the world of fandom. They give out their awards for Best Power Couple, Biggest Heartbreak, and so much more. Special guests also join them throughout the show to give out awards of their own in this all-out celebration. Hosts: Mallory Rubin, Joanna Robinson, Charles Holmes, Van Lathan, Ben Lindbergh, Jomi Adeniran, and Steve Ahlman Guests: Chris Ryan, Rob Mahoney, Daniel Chin, Justin Charity, Matt James, Arjuna Ramgopal Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Did Don Draper really buy the world of Coke? Did Tony Soprano really die? Or just order more onion rings? The finalees of our favorite shows can make us argue, make us cry, and make us crazy. From Spotify and the Ringer, I'm Andy Greenwald, and this is Stick the Landing, a new podcast where we'll be telling the story of modern TV backwards, one fade out at a time. Find Stick the Landing on Wednesdays on the prestige TV feed, on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start.

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Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Trimfairadio.com. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping. Then you'd want a cargo liner or a road trip goes sideways, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors. So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer.

You don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. And welcome to the annual Versi's Awards, where the entire Ring Reverse family puts on our capes, picks up our shields, reaches for our mead or morning coffee with yearning mushroom tendrils, and gathers at the Versi Zoom Theater to hand out our fictional hardware for the completely serious and very normal awards that we all made up. The Midnight Boys are here. The House of ours here. Button mash is here. Yo. And the Mint Edition crew is not only here,

but standing by on the digital red carpet to check in with tonight's presenters. Stephen Jomey, activate your com links and take it away. Steve, man, how are you doing tonight, buddy? Oh, it's great. It's Hollywood's biggest night at 4 p.m. Pacific,

and we are here on the red carpet. We are, Jomi, you've got some people on the red carpet with you. Why don't you say hello to them? Look, I'm going to, I'm going to bring Van Lengthen over. Van. I love the drip, man.

Who are you wearing right now? Tell the people who you wear? I'm wearing Target and Carhart. Yes. This sleep shirt I got from Target. And Carhart is the official sponsor of portly guys everywhere. So that's what I like to wear when I step out of the house. So, yes, it's amazing.

It's a great night. Dazzling night. Happy to see all some of my favorite colleagues and friends. wait to see what they've brought to the Versa's today. Yeah. Love it, love it. Now, as someone who's won an Oscar, right, you've reached the pinnacle of filmmaking merits. Yes.

What would you say is the more prestigious award, an Oscar or a Versi? Well, there's absolutely no doubt about the fact that it's an Academy Award. It's not even close. And so the Verses doesn't belong in the same sentence with that. However, the Verses is an opportunity. to hang out with your friends and kick a little bullshit. Let's go. All right, man. We'll get you on one of them

slow motion shots. Steve, you got somebody with you right now? Yes, I am here with Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson fresh from south by southwest. How was the trip? How was the show? What did you think of Texas, everybody? Oh, yeah. Texas is

incredible. It only made us a little ill, but we're fine. We made it here for the red carpet. Mallory, how's your jet lag? How's your Texas flu going? It's going great. Today I'm wearing a Star Wars shirt, some Viorian Leisure Joggers,

and the shield of Sudafed and Recola. Great to be here with you all, my beloved colleagues and pals. Absolutely wonderful stuff. Now, Jomey, we're going to quick throw to you, and I think you have Ben Lindbergh and Charles Holmes here before we get to the show.

I've got two of the most New Yorker guys we know. Oh, wow. That's why. California love, I'm Mr. L.A. Let's keep a respectful, Joe. Oh, interesting. So, Charles, you've come to L.A. and you realize we're the Superior Coast.

Talk about it. Whoa. Not the Superior Coast, but here's the thing. If you want to get them Illamonati checks, you know what I'm saying? If you want to get in the back rooms with Jay-Z really, like, chop... Whoa, Vince!

Then? Don't make me blow you off. I remember what happened on Sunday. Anyway, you know, I'm living that L.A. lifestyle. Did you feel you? I feel you, Ben. Defends New York. It's good to be the sole remaining true East Coast representative on the Ring ofverse

crew at the Ring ofverse Council. Charles Hollywood Holmes has forsaken his roots to chase the bright lights of L.A. Some of us are staying true to our homes. Notorious Lindberg over here. We have O-Ton-Times. Are you going to ask what I'm wearing or who I'm wearing? Who are you wearing? I'm so glad you asked.

I am wearing my pajama jeans, my trademark look. If you want to walk the red carpet with confidence and comfort, I'll just stand and do a twirl so you all can enjoy. Oh, please. Love it. That's America's ass. That's America's ass. That's America's ass.

That's America's ass. That's right. That's America's ass. He went up on his tippy toes. He went up on his tippy toes so we can get the full. Here's the thing, Joe. You don't have to describe it because Ben is definitely doing that knowing that joey's going to put it on TikTok. It's adoring public weights.

Ben loves him to feed the Lindbergh. I got dressed up for the occasion. That was. Dan pandering to the IG real fans. Yeah. Love it. That was Hollywood Holmes and baking dick and cheese with a best Ben Lindberg. Everybody.

Let's get to the show. Okay. Bad Babies, Midnight Riders, Junior Mints, button masher's. Welcome officially to the fourth VERSES Awards. This is the fourth time we're doing this. We did back in June 2021, an MCU-specific versus. And that's how you know that the MCU was good ones. In 2021 versus, we did in March, 2022.

The 2022 versus we did in December of 2022. And now we're doing the 2020 3 verses in March of 2004. We're back on an Oscar schedule and let's just go with that. Not we're back on whatever schedule we decide to be on at any given moment in time. Great news.

You're not going to have to wait for the fifth verses to hear from all of us again. The feeds are popping as usual. On Monday head back into the ringerverse for Mint Edition's X-Men Draft. On Tuesday, head over to the House of R for our three-

Body Problem Book Club on Thursday. Back into the Ringervverse for the Midnight Boys instant reaction to Invincible season two, episode six, and the X-Men 97 premiere. And then back over to House of R on Friday for part one of our dive into the three body problem Netflix binge drop. Follow the pods on Spotify wherever you get your podcast. Follow the ringerverse on the social media platform of your choosing. Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, we're everywhere.

Ah, but how can you follow along during today's fake awards show? Here's how it's going to work. Each ringerverse host will be presenting an award of their own design, one that they were able to build in a cave with a box of scraps. After they walk through the nominees, they will toss, thanks Joe, to the small council for input. And after a brief discussion, the awards creator will reveal the winner. Maybe the winner comes down to votes.

There are seven of us today. There will be a majority, maybe, or at least a plurality. Could be a predetermined certainty that the awards creator had already decided on. Maybe one person's particularly compelling case swung the outcome. No envelopes, no formal tallying here, just vibes. Now, when we're considering the nominees, Everybody is welcome to throw out alternative suggestions, but the Versi will ultimately go to one of the five primary nominees.

Steve and his orchestra are standing by waiting to play us off if any winner reveal goes too long. Between each of our Verses, we will be hearing from some of our cherished friends of the pod who will be presenting honorary Verses to help us look back at the year that was. Any questions? Comments, concerns? No? Okay.

Then it is time for our first award. Please welcome to the stage. New York Times best-selling author of MCU, the reign of Marvel Studios. Joanna Robinson. Oh, hi. Thank you so much for that kind of production, Mallory Rubin. I'm here this morning, and it is still technically morning here on the West Coast. Ben is in his pajama jeans in the afternoon.

on the East Coast. But I just thought, like, I don't know how long you guys have been awake. But I thought I was wake us all up, like, fully emotionally with my category, which is, we are starting with biggest heartbreak. We didn't have to start with biggest heartbreak. I didn't set the schedule. That's someone else's choices to which category would first. But I did want to bring some tear bending into the conversation here today because we want to

talk about some things that broke our hearts, made us cry, made us feel. made us feel alive and that's why we love story. So here are the nominees in Biggest Heartbreak of 2020. We have from Across the Spiderverse, Gwen and Peter B. Parker betray Miles Morales. You talked about this? You knew? Yeah, that's, that one got me. All right?

Got me. Thanks. This one goes out to my pal. Mallory Rubin. It is from Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3. And it is when Rocket Raccoon loses his pals. All of them. All of them.

And then later he makes new pals. But he had pals and he lost them. And it was devastating. And I think Mallory sobbed on our Guardians 3 podcast and we talked about it. Okay. This one, sorry, I'm biased. This one also goes to Valerie because I'm not sure of I think the rest of you watched it, but I did want to include it.

And it's from the Amazon series Good Omen's Season 2. And it is when Michael Sheens's Azirafel rejects David Tenants Crowley after a declaration of love. And I'm sorry that you didn't watch it. It was devastating. It's one of the worst things I've ever seen. Absolute emotional train wreck. Back to something I know we all watched. And that is Last of Us.

This is obviously not the last time Last of Us is going to show up on the award show today. But this is Bill and Frank saying goodbye. It's more in the bittersweet category, right? You were my purpose. This is the end of one of, I think what we all agree was one of the greatest episodes of television that we saw in 2023. And last but not least, bringing it back to the MCU in Loki. Season two, series finale of Loki, question mark? End of Loki and the MCU forever, question mark?

Hopefully. All right, Charles. The Loki sacrifices himself for the world. Loki takes the long walk, says goodbye to everyone he knows, and sits in a chair forever, question mark. To be continued. We'll see how long that sacrifice lasts. We're kind of hoping, I agree.

I hope forever, because that really means. something. So yeah, Charles, Charles, let's go to you first. Anything you want to say about these nominees? Oh, this one is easy. You know, this is the Oppenheimer Award. It's got to be rocket, bro. It has to be rocket. Come on. It was rough. It was rough. James Gunn is a sicko. He's a sick motherfucker. And it was just, I cried. I was just like, no. No. So it has to be Guardians three. What? Come on. Come on. Jomey Adoneron. Got to agree with Chuck. Man, when guy even I'm thinking about it now that that guttural scream that rocket gives out when all his friends are gone it echoes in my brain on the regular that's real pain real pain in my chest when I think of that moment dog no man rest in peace to lila and the walrus and the other rabbit teaves and floor they have names too absolutely

The worst guy and the rat. Over the sky. Yeah. You know, it was painful. How dare you? If I remember their names, it starts to get real. I can't. I can't be crying.

I see you, Jimmy. It's early in the ceremony. We got to keep it together. We got to keep it together. I got to go a Guardian story. Benjamin Lindberg. I must agree. Even if you're not an animal lover, that movie will make you one.

And also someone who mourns animals when they are cruelly destroyed and are the victims of horrific experience. pyramids. That moment, that's got to be among the most wrenching in MCU history. That's earning the PG-13 rating. That's like, that should be an R-rated movie because of that scene, because of those deaths. Just tragic. And I will also say, you mentioned that Bill and Frank, more of a bittersweet moment, plenty of true heartbreak in The Last of Us, some still to come, perhaps, who could say. Wow. But I think the line before Bill says, You Are My Purpose.

He says, this isn't the tragic suicide at the end of the play. I'm old. I'm satisfied. And you were my purpose. That's almost a triumphant moment, right? It's sad, but sad in a way that makes you cry, happy tears. I was just thinking sad rocket tears. Of all the time that I was like shuddering, crying, gasping, sobbing at something.

And that was definitely one of those moments for me. Van, Lathan, a receiver of Best Friend magazine. Are you going to go for the animal answer? What do you think? Yeah, for sure. So of all of these, there's only one that I've only watched once and will never watch again. And that is Guardians 3. I'm not going to watch a two and a half long hour animal funeral ever again.

The movie was fantastic. I'll never see it. I was literally felt like my spine was being pulled out of my body. I cried six or seven different times in the movie. Every time an animal went, oh, ha, ha, ha, let's you look at the sky. It wasn't even just about his friends dying. They made them people, and then they killed them.

Sick, sick bastards, okay? It's easy for me. I did really love the Last of Us episode, but it kind of, to Ben's point, was like a triumphant ending. Animals getting fucked over. Gets my vote every time. I love you, Bozeman.

Stephen Olman. I honestly, I just fear for crypto in the new Spider-Man or Superman movie now, given Guardians 3 happening. James Gunn, you're an absolute monster. It only is Guardians 3 for me. Like, that was an absolutely gut-wrenching moment in my life. Valerie Rubin? It's going to be a clean sweep here, perhaps.

Unsurprisingly, no, I will just say. This is not what I wanted to have happened, actually, by the way. This is a complete surprise to me. I think that I share the opinion of some of my fellow voters here that, you know, that paying attention to things, it's how we show love idea. While I cried in an extraordinary number of tears during the Bill and Frank episode, I felt the sense of like hope and possibility and that's the thing I carry with me most from that. Just because I think we loved it so much, I will just shout out.

I'm really glad that Crowley and Zerafel made it on. to this list because we could have been us is the most devastating thing I've ever heard. And I think about it all the time since we watched it. That was absolutely shattering. So, you know, all of these are incredible picks. And they all made me very emotional. I think actually the Good Omen's one would be my runner up. But I, you know, of course, nothing.

Nothing hit me quite as hard as going from. It really is good to have friends and our beautiful little furry pals choosing names. choosing to embrace their humanity and their found family and then being torn not only apart by the high evolutionary, but away from each other. Utterly, utterly devastating and cruel. So that is my pick as well. Joe, what were you hoping we would vote for? Yeah, listen, democracy probably will rule this category because I'm not a monster and you guys have all expressed your genuine, like, heartfelt feelings about Guardians 3. I just think Loki's long walk, like this is like a character we've been following for so long.

And again, it is a bit of a bittersweet moment in that like we're proud of him for doing this, for achieving this character arc. But it's just I was a mess watching this. I was a mess podcasting about it. I just thought that it was an extraordinary moment, especially in a year. I mean, we're talking about two major MCU moments in this category. in a year that was sort of dicey for Marvel. I thought this was just like a real home run moment, an emotional winner. I personally felt slightly emotionally manipulated by James Gunn and Guardians

3 because I feel like he did all of that just to ring every last cheer out of us. That being said. It worked. I believe in democracy. So Guardians 3, it is. Rocket loses friends. Can I say Gwen still has a chance to make it up to Miles? Yeah.

So does Peter. We'll see. We'll see. I mean, it's going to be tough to come back from that. A lot of game left. But there's no coming back for Teifs, the Walriss, and Floor the Bunny. All right. Let's go now to our first honorary vercy from the king of IP himself, Christopher Ryan.

Hey, everybody. It's Chris Ryan. Co-host of House of the Dragon Recaps with Mallory and Joanna. This is the Everything But the Cape Award. I wanted to shout out some TV from 2023 that did not feature any superheroes but may appeal to ringerverse heads. Call me the half nerd prince the way I stay out here. Immersing myself in classic reality.

The nominees are quickly, Slow horses, Apple TV, London-based international spy saga, Red Rose, Netflix teen horror series, Copenhagen Cowboy, Netflix, Nicholas Wendy Reffin series about an avenging angel in the Danish underworld, Lioness, Taylor Sheridan series

about a special apps group that trains women to get close to and then a leaning terrorists. And then you're, winner, it's Silo. Silo is Rehiverse Core. I'm cheating a little bit. It's Rebecca Ferguson. Shout out, use the voice, stars in their sci-fi mystery about a dystopian underground

community with a conspiracy at the heart of it. The Verses! Y'all let him get his lying-ish shit off on our airwaves. Lioness was great. It's incredible. Fuck lying-ness, bro. No, that first episode was too much, bro. Fuck, lioness was great.

But I don't like this anti-nerad agenda. Grow up, geeks is what Chris Ryan just said You know, one time I asked Chris Ryan if you've ever seen Spider-Verse, and his response was, I don't watch cartoons. Yeah. Yes. But we'll get to that. We'll get to that. We will get to that.

This was the year that he changed his life entirely. Van Leithen, you're up. Yes. First of all, it's a pleasure to be here. I'd like to thank the Ring of Verse Academy and everyone for having me here. I don't have a movie to produce or to promote during my whole presentation. But I'd like to tell everybody to watch everything I've ever done. and support me inlessly.

All right, listen. This award for me is about celebrating women. And I personally think that as a podcaster who works with such amazing women, that it's important that we remember

that we're only half of the story. It's not his story. It's not her story. It's our story. Their story, they story. They story. That's why my verse is very binary. It's going to go to

best female performance of the calcium variety. There's somebody here named Jomi Adiron, who's changed my life. And growing up in Louisiana, we never had milk men that delivered the milk to us. We had to go to the store.

But now, one of the Midnight Boys has shown me that the milk can come to you whenever you wanted to. This award is for you, Jummy. Best female performance of the milk calcium variety, okay, aka, hot as white woman of 2023. That's for you, John. All right. First up, Grace, Haley at Will, for Mission and Pulitzer. Possible Dead Reckoning Part 1.

This had Jomey losing his mind. It was bad. Jome didn't know what to do. We're in the theater late at night. I look over Jomi spilled his popcorn. What you're doing, kid? Fundamentally not true. Facts.

Number two, Captain Marvel from the Marvels. She's fantastic. The type of power that Jomey likes, because there's some, you know, Jomey likes to get a little roleplay going. So who else to like make that happen in the most powerful woman in the whole universe? Jomi likes it. You know what I mean?

Number three, Hara from Asoka. This was actually disruptive. Yeah. This was almost too much. Like Jomi, we, we. This one bled all the way into House of R. I have to say. We, we couldn't actually do the podcast as we wanted to because Jomey could not stop fixating

or marry. It was something about it. Number four is a little bit of a curveball, if you will. Megan, the robot. Because Jomi is not all the way, like, evolved, like something you can program. Okay. Number five, number five, Barbie, Margot Robbie. everyone's favorite white lady

that no one awarded during the awards. Okay? Look, I have my own thoughts about who Jomey is going to want to go with, but here's the thing. I want to hear everybody's thoughts. I'm just letting you know

there's only one vote that matters here. And that's from Mr. Milk Jomi Adon. But let's start it off. Steve, you're in a somewhat interesting situation here. Who do you think had the best calcium performance of 2023? Except to say, you know, I would like to think that while a consolation prize of an Oscar would be a vertices, I think that Margot Robbie's Barbie performance would be worthy of an award.

Yeah, go fuck yourself, Steve. Ben Lindbergh. Ben fucking Lindberg. Yeah, I'm talking here. Give it. I know Hara was an eye-opening, eye-catching performance for some members of this podcast, and I don't want to take away from that. Do you feel threatened men in your status?

Is that who you were emulating? In our group outline, this category was just called Best Female Performances. This has taken on layers and dimensions that I was not anticipating. I may have missed Megan, forgot that that came out in 2023. not a big horror movie guy. I guess I'll give it to Barbie, right? It's the chalky pick, but I guess that's appropriate for this category.

Now we come up to the two ladies who really have some skinny day game here. Best female performance of the cows in her writing. Listen, I historically love Hiliatwell, but I believe that her place in Mission Impossible came at the sacrifice of one of our other favorite white women, which is Rebecca Ferguson's.

My wife, Rebecca Ferguson. Please refer to her by her full title, My wife, Rebecca Ferguson. Mallory Rubin's wife, Rebecca Ferguson. I will never forgive, I don't know, probably Tom Cruise for that. Scientology for that. So putting the Barb and, Barbenheimer, it's got to be Barbie. It's got to be Margo.

Snubbed at the Oscars, but honored the Verses, feels right to me. Mallory. Is every category going to be a sweep today? I'm also going with Barb. How can we not? Like one of the defining experiences of our shared year. Now, obviously, our mutual affection for an interest in Hera is something that we remember fondly and cherish dearly.

But that might be a little bit more like a inside of the ringer verse thing. And, you know, part of the goal of the verses is to reflect our shared experience. right with our listeners. So I think it's got to be Barb. Hara's my runner up, though, for sure. Guys, you guys, this is, I don't like this, okay? First of all, first of all,

this category is finding the perfect woman for Jomey, okay? And at the end of Barbie, Barbie is on her journey of self-descruptery. It's called Best Female Performance. But, but, Joe, we had a late change. And here's the thing, I don't want Barbie

to have to sacrifice herself. She just separated herself from Ken. she needs to find herself. Jomey needs someone, you know, I think a little bit older. He needs to be the stepfather that stepped up. Guys, it kind of has to be Hara. I really do think that Jomey is a strong woman because, you know, he has a wandering eye.

I've been in the club with Jomey. He's just, you know, it's rough. And I think Hara can definitely whip him into shape. That's all I'm saying. So Jomey. For the listeners, Jomey has rolled all the way back from his camera as he could be. He says far away. from this

without being in the other room entirely. So Jomey, it's now time for you to do something on this show that you're about to have to do in real life, which is choose a white woman to commit to. Hmm. Hmm. Who are you going with

milk merchant number one of the entire world? I deserve hazard. pay. Go for it. Let's go through the list. Okay. Megan would not.

That's, y'all got it. That's not, that's not me. Okay. Bree Larson is a legend in, in, in these streets, you know, 21 Jump Street, you know, the room. You know what I'm saying? Like, one of the best to ever do it. Scott Pilgrim versus the world.

Scott Pilgrim versus the world. You know what I'm saying? Captain Marvel, though, the Marvel's wasn't, wasn't her best work. Okay. Now we start to get, now we start to get top three. This is,

this is tough, right? Mary Elizabeth Winston, as Hara, you know, I thought she brought a lot to the table. But ultimately, what did she bring to the table, Joe?

And to the chair? Yeah, I bet you did, you, you sick fuck. At this point, you're sick, fuck.

At this point, go ahead. You got to rock with it. You got to roll with it. You got to rock with it, Joe. Jomey, Jomey, that's a mother.

Keep going. You know what I'm saying? And at the end of the day, when I think of Hara, you know, I think about, I think about rebels. You know what I'm saying?

I don't go to the live action, Asoka. So it's ultimately down to to Grace and Barbie, right? On one end, you have, you have Margot Robbie,

just an incredible performance as Barbe. in one of the biggest movies in recent memory, just an incredible performance. On the other hand, you have Haley Atwell as Grace, who I was like, traditionally, I was like, why is she here?

What is her purpose in this, in this movie? And she was entertaining as usual because it's Agent Carter and she's great. And who doesn't love seeing Agent Carter do great things? Yeah, yeah. So it's really, tough. Like, you know, for me personally, you know, I'm torn between my head and my heart here, you know?

You're what? Joe? My head and my heart. Wow. This is a family-friendly podcast. Yeah, I don't know what you're doing right now. Is it? The whole content.

The verses contained. First of all, make a decision. You act like you're talking to your parents like she's sitting behind you right now. Just make a decision. You know what? Like, make, like, get, do it, Jomey, do it. I want to apologize to all the Barbie heads out there. I'm going, Grace.

I knew you were. I knew it. I knew it. Hell yeah. You know what it was. Boom. You know what it was. Boom.

I took a debate. If you had done anything else, you would have been a weakling. I know, Jomey, you can't give it up for her. Give it up for Haley Atwell. Give it up for Haley, I'll everybody. Give it up. And by the way, and by the way, before I move on. throw it

to the next honorary verse I would like to say this give it up for female empowerment yes is that what this was is that what we

came together to celebrate today ladies happy international women's day happy international women's we have to sisters

are doing it by themselves for themselves for themselves for themselves shout out Four. Jesus. Throw to Rob, please.

Throw to Rob. Hey, this is Rob Mahoney, and I come to you as a guy with a dog and an appreciator of the animal kingdom to present the award for the best animal character in fandom. Very competitive category this year. We got cat aliens. We got alien cats.

We got ninja turtles. We've got Godzilla. But the winner for the best animal character in fandom goes too. And can I get a drum roll? Can I get a bleeding sheep? Can I get a dolphin noise? Can I get a howl at the moon? Lila from Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3.

James Gunn, I see you. You know what you did. I was emotionally manipulated and I don't even care because that little otter messed me up, man. So shout out to Lila and to Teifs and to Floor and to Rocket. because they were right. It really is so good to have friends. Back to y'all.

Our tears had just subsided. We've got to go and bring it up again. Milk and tears, the greatest combination. I don't deserve this. I really don't. I just hope at some point somehow it'll be tough with the timelines, but if we could get the first couple of Star Wars on screen together, Ewan and Mary.

Obi-Wan and Tara, Mel and Jomey taking that spectacle in together. With, but with, can you imagine if they're there and then all of a sudden a young Harrison Ford walks into there? Oh my. Remake for Mal, a remake of challengers. Does that mean we're taking a group trip to a gentleman in Moscow, the upcoming Ewan McGregor, Mary Elizabeth Winstead joint? Oh, let's go. Let's do it. Let's do it.

Even a CGI-D-aged Harrison Ford, which leads us to Mal's next category. Nice. Look at Ben. Always finding a way. King in the transit. Try to keep us on track here. 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. It keep companies of all sizes connected with Internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 U.S.-based support. Millions of business owners already trust Spectrum business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. I am here today.

To present an award I'm calling, you weaponized my nostalgia, and I loved it. In our era of streaming wars and IP expansion of endless spinoffs and sequels and backdoor pilots, nostalgia, it could sometimes feel like a dirty word. With this award, I posit that it needn't always that when our member berries

are gently cradled in the hands of creators who are not only reaching for the bundles of cash floating in the halo of a famous name, but also for the shared history and affection that rooted a character or story or universe in our very souls, the IP machine. can churn out more than coin. It can spin new memories, new meaning, new joy. I present the nominees. First, Barbie, if we carry nothing else with us from 2023, let us remember that a Mattel toy that children have spent decades upon decades embracing

and or boiling in stovetop pots became this. centerpiece of an Oscar-nominated treatise on identity and purpose and patriarchy. Nostalgia, when paired with Greta and Margo, is Knuff. Next. Why is this movie in this category? This next movie? Indiana Jones and the dial of destiny. Yes.

Extend your elbows for a gentle kiss. that will quiet your skepticism and port you back to the pure germ of a thing you've loved for eons. Take off your fedora and allow yourselves the grace to feel your age for a moment, to feel it in your bones and in your spirit, to show your vulnerable, teary admissions and anxious navigations. This summer, Indy himself told us, I've come to believe it's not so much about what you believe. It's how hard you believe it. And Dial of Destiny bore that out on the nostalgia can be good front too.

Next, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mutant Mayhem. Before this movie, my main question sincerely was whether the filmmakers would capture the exact sheen of animated cheese that sparked so many of my youthful snacking expeditions. The pizza always looks so good. I left this movie. Thinking about the gift of finding others in this life who not only accept you for who you are, but help you accept it to. When Donatello asked, whoa, who are we?

Did we not ask ourselves that too? Next, the Super Mario Brothers movie. Please accept this offered plunger to clear out any clogs that still remain in your mind about whether a video game adaptation banking on a bunch of millennials' obsession with magic mushrooms of a different sort could reach the heights of not only a waiting coin, but a true artistic achievement.

As we watch Mario and Luigi worked their way back to each other, as we listened to Bowser's surprisingly dulcet tones. As we thought about our carding days through something other than a drive-to-surve lens, that's an F-1 joke for all my fellow F-1 obsessives here, We realized that Princess Peach's words,

there's a huge universe out there with a lot of galaxies, they're all counting on us. Weren't just there for us for the heroes of the story, but for the filmmakers too. Finally, Asoka, specifically Anakin and Asoka, finding each other again. You're more than that, Anakin Skywalker said to his Padawan,

because I'm more than that. Osoka was more than that too. More than just a ploy to pull us to the dark side of Clone Wars and prequel era nostalgia. When we traveled into the world between worlds, we knew not just the nature of time, but the heart of memory and meaning. I now toss to my fellow voters to hear your opinions.

I'm going to go in a clockwise order here on my Zoom, Van, you're up first. This is a tough one. God damn it. Because if I'm basing them off the movies, I have one answer. But if I'm basing them off the nostalgia, then I have another. Okay. I'm going to go strictly nostalgia here.

I'm going to go Anakin and Asoka and the world between worlds. All right. When I think about the nostalgia, I think about Hayden. I think about, because real quick, this is different nostalgia. This is nostalgia on steroids because this is the nostalgia of feeling something from someone, but then actually watching them step into the thing that they should have done in the way that they should have done it. It's nostalgia fulfillment. Hello, there's nothing better than nostalgia fulfilled.

And in that case, there's nothing better than Anna Kna Kine. and finally getting his fucking due. I'm going with Anakin and the so-coil the world between worlds. Done. Beautiful. Ben Limburg, you're up next. This is not going to be a unanimous response because I am going with Dial of Destiny. Someone's got to say it.

Someone's got to stand up for Dial of Destiny. Oh, I can't stand. What is this? You're not going to be the only one. Okay. I'm happy to hear that. I think like Van, there would be more than one answer to this question.

I'm not saying it's my favorite entry in this category, though it might be. but if we factor in the importance of the nostalgia in just how integral that is to whether you enjoy this movie or not, I think it's almost entirely dependent on that. You can watch a lot of these other things and enjoy them without having that preexisting childhood love of the thing. But in this case, I don't know that you can. And yeah, it's one thing to see young Hayden and Anakin again. But Hayden, you know, he's a 40-something-year-old man.

It's another thing to see young version of 80-something-year-old man who still looks as great as ever. But I thought they pulled off the de-aging, just really audacious, bold, gave us more of the de-aging than we've ever seen before. And yet it kind of worked. And because this was the first Indiana Jones movie in roughly 35 years, can't recall any others in the interim. The fourth. This is the fourth. Because of that, we're reaching. Further back here than we are anywhere else.

They totally made a movie in like 2008, but yeah. What? What are you talking about? Someone fact-check that, please. We'll have someone look that up. That doesn't ring a bell. The in-theater experience I had with Dial Destiny was among the most joyous of 2023.

I liked it. What y'all say? Fuck y'all. I like it. At the time of my life. I liked it. Charles, you're up next. Oh yeah, I'm gonna keep this short.

Bicking a cheese, baking a good cheese. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The babe, get do be with the band. We outside. We outside. We outside. We outside. We outside.

It makes you laugh every time. I got to go with you and mayhem. That shit's hilarious. Oh, my God. We're going to have a lot of a real split ballot here. Boy, okay. Jomey. So let's let's let's let's let's start eliminating some stuff off the list first and foremost.

Uh, so my first Indiana Jones film, you won't believe this. Crystal Skull. So I don't really have emotional attachment. The first one you ever saw. I was in eighth grade. That movie doesn't even exist. What a test? He gets in the fridge.

I'm like, interesting. Honestly, not that bad. Not that bad of a movie. Well, it was kind of weird when the alien shows. up, but again, I was like 12, 13, so it really didn't matter at that point. Didn't really grow up playing with Barbies. Movies great, but, like, I wasn't, like, in there, like,

man, I remember this toy. Didn't really get into Teenage Me and Nitch Turtles. You guys talk about the secret of ooze. That movie came out five years before I was born. So, no attachment to that at all. And I didn't grow up playing Super Mario. The Green Machine. What did you do growing up besides watch Agents of Shield, Jimmy?

I was out hooping. We was out on the streets. We was hooping. All right. We was running off. Steve. Outside. We outside.

We was hooping. A show you did watch as a kid. Baywatch. I'm sure that's one you didn't miss. I did not watch Baywatch. So, I mean, so by default, my answer would be. I watched it. Osoka and Anakin in the World Between Worlds.

But honestly, even if I had the attachment to all this stuff, I would still go with Anakin and Osuka in the World Between World Between World. World's. That episode, it's like Van said, it's something that you've always wanted to see. We saw seven seasons of Clone Wars of Asoka and Anakin being master and apprentice. They split up, but their relationship is so central to that story. And for us to finally see Hayden Christensen and Rosario Dawson talk to eat like any- Are you about to cry? I got,

it meant something to me, man. Wow. It meant something to me, man. Jesus Christ. I'll go with Anakin and a suck in the world between worlds. Beautiful. Okay, so our first nominee that has more than one vote here, well, anything else earn more than one to vote.

Steve, what do you got? It's hard to not like go into this vote, knowing what's going to win, knowing that you hold the envelope. No, just vote for, you don't know what I'm going to pick. You don't know. I don't know what you might not pick. Why would you say that?

I don't know what I'm going to pick. You want to tell me what I'm going to pick? I have no idea. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. International Women's Month, you're telling her what she's going to do? Jesus Christ. It is right. I apologize.

I apologize. I think I might need to split this vote and go with Newton mayhem. I have the turtles hold something very special in my heart and this is one that's that really means a lot to me. No turtles need to be de-aged. Jackie Chan as a rat doesn't need to be de-aged. With his giant cockroach wife. Oh, wow, Steve.

Just be careful. That, like, that just... It was a cockroach in the end of the movie. You know what I mean? The giant and then it comes next. My antenna went off and then they had to come back down. Just be careful, Steve. Come on, man.

You know me. Oh, boy. Let the record state that the bulk of Dial of Destiny was not about the de-aged. Yeah. Indie experience, it was a... about what it's like. It's 45 minutes of a

two hour of 30 movie. Okay. Joanna, you're up and you might send us into a three-way tie for two votes apiece. I think you know I will. I think if I'm doing my math correctly, majority

on this call thinks style of destiny is a great film. Yes. I also think that as well. Love that movie. Oh, okay. Massive majority on this call thinks style of destiny is a phenomenal film. Had a fun,

fun, fine time at the movies with Dial of Destiny. And if you want to talk about nostalgia correctly deployed, let's talk about

James Mangold, who made a little film called Logan and knows what it is to take someone's legacy and really have something to say about it.

And that's what I love about Diala Destiny. Because I didn't want another Indiana Jones movie. And I certainly didn't want Harrison Ford

to make another Indiana Jones movie. And then I heard James Mangold and I was like, huh? And then I saw the movie and I was like,

Okay, okay, because we do have these little moments. We've got Sulla is here. Marion is perfectly deployed. Shilabuff has been hilariously written out of continuity. They killed that motherfucker. But the majority of the film, we're talking about the future. We've got Phoebe Waller Bridges character, and we are bridging, if you will, towards the future. And so there's like little moments of little tiny member berries carefully deployed.

Of course, a nostalgia-laden John Williams score. But then you've got, I don't know why Antonio Banderas is here. That's really my only question mark about the film. But the rest of the time, great stuff. Do you know what I always want to see? Someone punch a Nazi. And that's what Indiana Jones style does me. But to be there, they had Harrison Ford moving like Robert De Niro and the Irishman.

So he was better. Don't do that. It was so much better than the Irishman. Are you kidding? Okay, okay, okay. You know that that example from the Irishman deeply resonates with me. It wasn't that.

Harrison gave us all he could. It wasn't that. That's one of the funniest thing. I can't let you do that. He wasn't moving like that. He was going a lot better. You're trying to crumple up an entire film that includes

Mads-Mickleson into the trash can are you kidding me? Dialed of Destiny dialed into my emotions dialed into my memories dialed into my enjoyment it's got to be Indy

Amadale you have a real opportunity here My goodness I just want to say Hayden already has his flowers for Assoca Everyone was like Everyone was like

This is great I don't want to stop the Bellet Is this one? Is this one? Is this? Is this Capitol Hill? What the hell is going on?

Stop the steel. Stop the steel. Stop the steel. Everyone was like eight men has already like walked out at Star Wars at convention, celebration, crying because everyone's like, you're back, you're the best, you're amazing, you're wonderful. I do remember Harrison Ford bringing his old ass out there as well. No, and then a bunch of people were like, dial a destiny sucks and they're wrong and you have an opportunity. Harrison doesn't want to win this award.

He doesn't want to win this award. He doesn't want the attention. He just wants to be up in the air at his ranch. This sparked a passionate debate. By the way, by the way, I'll say something right now. You might as well win this. They've never given the Academy Awards. It's been nominated like once for witness like 86, okay? This entire time, he's never gotten his dude.

I'll say something else. By the way, Harrison is still cooking. This is Hayden's only thing. Hayden is Darth Vader and the nigger from Jumper. Oh, my. Like Harrison Ford is a shattered glass erasure here. Hold on. Yeah. Life is a house.

Like it is about to be Thunderbolt Ross. Mary Rachel Bilsen. He's just, he's just catching. He's just hitting his stride Harrison Ford. Jesus Christ. Come on. I'm tormented right now. We have two votes for Soka, two for Indy, two for the turtles.

It's down to India or Osaka for me, obviously. You know what you have to do. Shocking everyone to hear that. Do you have the strength to do it? It's, we know what's about to happen. Do you have the strength to do it, Mallory? Okay. There's a beautiful moment in the beautiful film, Indiana Jones,

and the Dial of Destiny, where Sala and Indy share this exchange. I miss the desert. I miss the sea. I miss waking up every morning, wondering what wonderful adventure the new day will bring to us. Those days have come and gone, perhaps, perhaps not. When I think about that a lot.

but not as much you know if I'm being honest I'm sorry I'm more of the indie but if I'm being honest with myself I don't know that

any single thing it impacted me quite so keenly this year as seeing Anakin and Asoka together and sharing that

with you guys like I just seriously it was incredible our mistakes cost lives that doesn't bother you. Of course it does. Is this a mistake?

Maybe, but it'll only cost an honorary versy if so, you know? So is that what this is about? Right now. I'll tell you straight right now. It's about you becoming Darth Vader, Anakin. This is one of the greatest

Zags in the history. Are you kidding? This is how it was always going to pick. What did you think I was going to pick? I thought you were going to win. You thought Mallory was going to not honor Assoca and Anakin? Are you kidding? Of course.

Asoka and Anakin are their pantheon for me. Yeah. I mean, Harrison Ford is too. I thought, I thought Harrison Ford. I thought this was going to, I thought this was, I thought this category was chosen by you to honor. To honor, Andy.

I think I honored, I think I honored Harrison Ford in the way that he is accustomed to being honored. Ben's case is compelling. You know, he's here for the hang in for the mention. He's not leaving with the hardware, but that's okay.

It's just one fewer thing for him. to put in the plane that I really hope he doesn't crash. It's just another plane crash for Harrison to survive, losing the mercy. Henry Jones Jr., we love you. This should have been 1969 best actress, Catherine Hepburn and Barbara Streisand. We should not have picked a winner here. It can't be a tie. Seven of us.

Arjuna, do you want to cast a vote and send it to a tie? But you would vote for Asoka. Oh, yeah. That's just hand in this category. Can we get Sean Fennacy on the line? Do what he has a day. I don't like that. I think he would vote for mutant mayhem.

I think he would vote for killers of the flower moan. There's no wrong answer here. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Only one person, only one property actually gets the Versi. But you know what? This was all about the joy that all of these stories brought us.

So we're the winners, really. The Verses go to us. It's time. After that spirited debate, Burndex, honorary Versi, From Daniel Chin. Hey, this is Daniel Chin.

I'm a staff writer at The Ringer and a guest on Ringerverse podcast such as Men Edition. I'm back to hand out an honorary diversity this year, the Masked Stinger Award, for the best post or mid-credit scene in a superhero movie or TV show.

Now, I'm giving this one to The Marvels, which featured a post-credit scene that showed that Monica Rambo was still alive, reunited with another version of her mother in a different dimension. But that she was also with Beast, with Kelsey Gramer reprising his role from Fox's X-Men movie,

Now, using the X-Men for a stinger is a bit of a cheat coat, but that's exactly why this is an easy win for me. The reintroduction of Beast was the first time that an X-Men character has appeared in an MCU project who wasn't some sort of spoof like Ralph Poner in Wanda Vision, or who was really just there for the shot value of killing them, like Thresor Xavier and Dr. Strange in the multiverse of madness. Kevin Feigey and Marvel Studios could very well just be biting their time with a scene like this as they continue to drag their feet with the X-Men. But regardless, this stinger all but confirmed if the X-Men are being brought into the full

through the multiverse, and the Marvels did it in a way that left my audience wasn't. All right, thanks for listening. Now back to the Verses. We should scrub that award from the broadcast, you know? So here's the thing, right? I love Daniel. I love Dan, too.

That's my guy. Shout out DC. Not even the best credit scene in that film. So. Oh, right, Jomey. Now you know, no, no, no, get out of here, milk merchant. Get out of here. It's not even about the milk.

It's, first of all, it's my Young Avengers agenda. Let's go. Thank you. Thank you, Mallory. And who's your favorite Young Avengers, Jomey? That's confidential. That's between me and God. Not even the best comeback of a Kelsey Grammar character in 20203.

Oh, no, no, no. We're not talking about it. Oh, no. The truest version of themselves today. General spicy. Abomination. Don't get you. Benjamin, no.

Frasier was not the problem with the Frazier reboot. Everything else was. You've been Times Square cooked by that like giant Kelsey Grammar Fraser ad that was running downtown New York. Don't let the man's political leaning sway you. Frazier is still an iconic character who has a place in our hearts. With a bad show. With a bad reason. In the original show, not the new show.

It's not a great show. But Frazier is still great. Why would you do, why would you do Frasier without Niles? That's my question. you even try? Because Niles said no. I know. Then you don't do it. This episode is brought to by Borris Head. What if we told you the taste of deep fried turkey is now available at your local deli?

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Guava for those that want to be fueled up and fired up with a hundred-bound hour tropical tasting power. Ignite your taste, start your engine, shift your flavor to high gear with new Nass Energy Grand Prix Guava. Hit the street, grab a can and get after it. Guys, are you ready for the most controversial award of the night? Yeah. It is time for the, hey, maybe we were a little too critical,

aka the what were we doing award. Okay? This is for all of the movie and TV content that, you know, maybe some people who should go unnamed were a little spicy about. Now, I think you guys all know that I've been on a journey with the ringerverse. It's very difficult to be the most positive person on this team. A lot of times these podcasts get very, very, very. contentious.

Mao, I don't know when the last time she liked anything that Disney Plus did, you know, Jomey over here hates all cartoons. I'm just trying to keep the positivity alive. So these are some movies in TV that I think we, or honestly, y'all, we're a little too critical about. First up, Aquaman and the Lost City. Next, the Marvels. Third, Ant Man and the Wasquantamania.

fourth, the flash, fifth, my favorite, secret invasion. All right, so we're going to the number one hater at the Ring ofverse first to start us off. Mal, where are you going? Which one were you a little too critical on? Let's be honest.

I'm overwhelmed right now. This is just astonishing. One of my great, Joanna knows this, but genuine laments and regrets. When I think back when I'm old and even more withered that I am right now, and I'm taking my final breath. So like, you know, 18 months from now. You can't vote for this.

And I think, what do I wish that we had spent time doing together as a team, as a family? It is potting from a body of water about Aquaman in the Lost Kingdom. think we missed the chance to go out on a yacht together and do that. But I think the answer is the Marvels. Because this is a fun, zippy, peppy movie that I think unfairly carried the weight and expectations of everything happening around it in the MCU and never had a chance to even be assessed on its own merits. Never had a chance. that movie falls into the I had a good time at the movies

with my friend Buckets to me and that's okay Joanna you were the most critical of the marvels do you agree with this stance is this what you will be picking first of foremost I would like to say that I'm really glad that Mallory didn't vote for Aquaman because I'm pretty sure she still hasn't seen it nor am I

but someday we will podcast from a boat that is a goal that we set out for ourselves for the future. You guys are all invited to our podcast yacht. I completely agree, no shock with Mallory Rubin, that The Marvels should win this category. Because, yeah, absolutely fun, fine time of the movies. Amon Valani, what a joy. They hacked this movie down so that it was like mostly Kamala and her family and cats.

And who said no. Got out the Flurkins. Who says no? Also, Samuel Jackson had a tough, tough summer with Secret Invasion. Nick Fury, completely delightful and fun in the Marbles. Just like great time. Have it a great time. So, yeah, the Marvels is a completely, absolutely, absolutely fun, fine Marvel movie.

Van. Okay, so here's the deal. So. Oh, no. It depends on the way you look at. this category, right? Don't do it. Do not do it.

Because the category is maybe we were a little too critical. And I liked the Marbles. I wasn't too critical of the Marbles. I thought that the Marbles is by far the best movie. We are the collective, right? Okay, well, if it's we the collective, then it's certainly the Marvel's.

But. If it's me, oh no. Maybe me were a little too critical. If it's me, I'm gonna go with the flash. Oh, fuck out of here. No, no.

This is the worst thing. Okay, can I tell you something right now? Jomey's leaving and I can only support that. Jomey's walked into the corner like the ending of the Blair Witch Project. Jomey left because Jomey saw a white lady outside of the day. Okay. This is beyond unsurious. I need you to take this exercise seriously.

man. Be for real. This is an august award's body. This is the fourth, the third, whatever. We've been doing this for years. We need to talk about the integrity

of the votes now. We need to, we need to like, this is, this is almost as bad as La La Land's Moonlight, the situation,

bro. Have, La Land was bad. Take your role seriously, man. I love Moonlight. Moonlight was a more important movie than La La La Land.

Moonlight was a better movie than La La Land. No. All right, we're done with Ben. We're done with Ben. He's not as much. You're not taking the Cut his mic.

You're not even taking this seriously, man. Are you sticking with the flash? Yeah. Yeah. And let me tell you why I'm doing it. Let me tell you why I'm doing it. Okay, so all of these movies are probably, besides secret invasion, which is an abomination, even worse than a flash. But let me tell.

I'm doing it because it's because it's what I'm called to do. Charles put this movie on this list so that I would do this. And I'm doing it. I think personally that the Flash wasn't as bad as everybody said that it was. Is it better than the Marbles? No.

I'm sticking to it. I'm fucking at you. I fuck it are you in. And the fuck of the U. is everyone. Mint boys. Can you please get us back on track? All right.

I think with a slight perspective of like what we collectively were too harsh on, I think it is a bit of a consensus that the Marvel's was a lot more enjoyable than we gave it credit for initially. But I will say, my vote will go to the Marvels,

but I will say that if history might judge Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom a bit better in time. Literally, not a bunch, not by much. Not by much. Not by much. Man, you just advocate for the Flash. The Flash is better than Aquaman. The Flash is better than Aquaman.

The Flash is better than Aquaman. The Flash is better than Alman. I haven't seen it. So I trust you, Charles. So you don't even know. I don't trust you, but I trust Charles. See, this is the problem with social media. We've got to get TikTok out of here.

You don't even know. You don't even see it. Oh, but I saw the Flash. Fucking Ben Limber. Maybe the Marvels shouldn't be eligible because, as previously stated, Some of us were never too critical about that movie, but I have fond memories of attending the Marvel screening in New York. I ran into Van and Dan and Cal and I went on a beautiful midnight moonlit stroll in Central Park.

Central Park! And we discussed how much we enjoyed the movie, The Marvels. I believe Van may have anticipated that some other members of the Midnight Boys might not enjoy the Marvels as much. he may have been right. However, anyone who didn't enjoy the Marvels, that was a great time at the movies,

much like Dial of Destiny. I'd put it in the same kind of category there. I'm pretty sure I messaged Mal after I saw the Marvel's and said Marvel is back, which was definitely not the general reaction. You said,

I had a beautiful mood with a show with a man in Central Park. Those were the two messages you sent me. We had fun. A finger on the pulse of the fandom right here. Love that. for you guys. Wait, are you guys potentially

letting the beauty of the moonlit stroll color your opinion of the Marvels? No, because the moonlit stroll was enhanced by the Marvels and the Marvels was enhanced by the moonlit stroll. Get out of him, Charles.

Is it a symbiotic? Joey? I mean, let's be real, man. It has to be the Marvel's. Aquaman and Lost Kingdom? Garbage. Amand Wast Consamia? Gobbage. Not really. Flash. the flash is grade

a garbage Ant Man is not that bad Secret invasion It's dead Ant man You know what You know what man It's cool

You know what you do You do my brother Whatever it takes for you To go to sleep at night Whatever it makes you Hit your head on that pillow And knock out You tell yourself that

You know what it lets me go to sleep tonight Same thing that you Makes you go to sleep Warm milk Keep going All right Secret Invasion I mean, it's like

It's the worst thing that came out 23. Just legitimate out garbage. My favorite line of the year though was definitely from Secret Invasion. The platitude moment was iconic. I'm glad we got the series just for that.

Sometimes I just sit and like my eyes glaze over and I think about her little drags arm. Amelia Clark's little drags arm. Oh my God. What she would she give you now? She selects? Is he a little flak?

The Guna arm? Terrible. Just terrible. All right, guys. Here's the thing. I'm disappointed in everyone of you. All right? This category was a test.

And unfortunately, you all failed. Because there's no winners when the content is this bid. So, unfortunately, we will try next. Next award show. What a winner? I'm very disappointed. Unbelievable. Does that mean that we can give this video?

It's a vacant Versi to Indiana Jones. Yes. No. No. Not at all. I'm sorry. I've already Ingrateful.

Some people were a little too critical of Donald Destiny. It's gone. It's over. That's great. Put it in the play. I love this.

Flying off into the sunset with it. Now, let's throw it to my other most positive member at the ringer for his honorary versy, Mr. Justin Charity. Hey there, this is Justin Charity, the Gilgamesh of Buttonmash.

I am here for the interstitial awards to nominate the best line reading in a TV show, really the best line reading in anything in 2023. And I thought about this long and hard. And yet the answer is super obvious. And I should have thought of it immediately. The award obviously goes to the last of us. And it obviously goes to, well, can you? Kids die, Henry.

They die all the time. What a moment. What a character. What an episode. What a show. Oh, love chair. That's my favorite one. Doesn't just have the most

soothing voice, first of all? Secondly, so glad Melanie Melanie Olensky is in the mix on on the mercies here. Melanie Walgham for the Mircees. Yeah, welcome the mercies. Melanie Malinski. What a pivot.

I was expecting Joel calling Ellie baby girl. No, for this thing from that. Thank you, Justin, for teeing me up. My category here could be contentious, because this is a stacked category this year, most likely to win over an animation skeptic. None of whom are on this call. Well, embracing animation, but some people, they harden their hearts. And this is about which animated property released in 2023 would be most likely to soften those hard hearts. I don't know if last year was the best year for animation,

but it felt to me like maybe the most mainstream year for animation. It was tough to ignore animation in 2023, even if you wanted to, and some people did want to. I'm not just talking to the haters who call all animated movies or shows cartoons for kids. I'm also talking to people who just prefer the look of live action or have a harder time connecting with animated characters. If you were still anti-animation or even on the fence, you were probably, be feeling some FOMO last year. And I'm here to say, you don't have to miss out. Animation will welcome you. And that's what this award is about. The hardest thing about this was winnowing down the nominees to just five. And this is not necessarily the best animated project, not necessarily

my favorite. It's the one you would show someone who thinks animation isn't for them to convince them that it might be. We should have brought Chris Ryan back on just for this category because he could have spoken from experience. He went through this last year. The categories, the properties I eliminated. I'm not nominating the boy in the heron as good as it is. Thank you. There are a dozen Miyazaki movies and they're all great. And if you haven't been convinced by the previous 11,

this probably won't be the one that wins you over. If you haven't seen any of them, there are probably better ones to start with. I'm not nominating Elemental, even though my daughters made me watch it 18 times. Because as good it is, there are probably better places to start with the Pixar canon. Not nominating the Mario movie,

even though it was the second highest grossing of the year, just wasn't as inspired as some other projects. Not nominating Suzuki because it came out in 2022 in Japan, and I also sort of steered away from spinoffs, subsequent seasons of existing series, Invincible, Harley Quinn, The Legend of Vox, Machina, Castlevania, Nocturn, Star Wars Vision, Star Trek, Lower Decks.

Shout out, Joey, I see you. But this year was so stacked that there were still some tough cuts, Scott Pilgrim takes off my adventures with Superman, et cetera. I could go on, but I won't because it's time to name the nominees. They are Blue Eye Samurai. Scavengers reign across the spiderverse. Teenage mutant ninja turtles, mutant mayhem. And finally, Nimona.

I don't know how many of you seen Nimona. Mutant Mayhem and Nimona are sort of the same movie, structurally speaking. They're both about beings who are shunned by society because they're different. humans call them monsters and attack them, but in the end, there's a kaiju battle, and they save the city and gain acceptance, etc. So this is a murderer's row, Mount Rushmore Plus One of animated projects from 2023. I want to hear your opinions. I'm going to start with the man who's probably watched the most anime and manga of all of us,

Charles. You broke my heart, fucking Ben Lindberg. There's no jiu-jitsu kizing. There's no fear in. It's like, yeah, this is why I want to you. I'm not getting, it's, it's, oof. All right. So, we're going to be real.

Cross the Spiderverse. I'm starting to agree with Van a little bit. Good movie. Tad overrated. Like, I think we, we just tad overrated. So that's off. Namona. Okay, just okay.

It's fine. I liked it. It was cool. It was cool. It was cool. TMNT. I don't know. I don't know.

I think it has to be blue eye samurai or scavengers rain. You know, I'm a man who loves swords and blood and tities. so blue-eye samurai. That's what I have to be. Blue-eye samurai. What? Even if they're animated. What?

Guys, all right? Don't get on me. Fucking Joni's over there. If you had Pughey's over again. Peaches. I think that comment went over fine with all of us and you had unanimous buy-in. No, I saw some skepticism on Van's face. It's blue-eye samurai.

It has to be. So all of these are great. I'm honestly, on the fact that you mentioned all the animated projects that came out 23 and you forgot the best one. You didn't mention Velma, Ben? It's true. It's an insight. So here's the thing.

All of these shows, I mean, I fell asleep to Scaverages Wayne like three times. Wow. How dare you? I don't know. I did as well, even though it's good. It's a nap. It's a nap. Come on.

I never even heard of it. How dare you? It starts out a little like, ah. You know, like, this couch getting comfortable. You know what I'm saying? It's like the world's most beautiful screensaver. A perfect screensaver show. Here's the thing.

I have to be honest with, I have to be honest with you guys right now. It's just us seven on the call. This is just for us right now. When I put on across the spider verse and they get to the scene where Miles and Gwen are singing through the city. And Dominic Fike's song just playing in the background. and they're just chatting about, you know, what, what,

Gwen's been up to, I get, I get emotional. That scene, it means something to me. It's beautiful. It's poetic. It just calms me in a way that not,

not a lot of things do. You know, when I watch that scene, I go, wow, I feel at home. That song is terrible, Jeremy.

What are we doing? Look. look hey man if that's how you feel that's how you feel but for me i gotta go to cross the spot first baby lock me in i look at this award and i think of what's the thing that's going to make skeptics of people take animation seriously and think that like okay maybe we got something that i'm not actually going to be able to see i remember i remember hearing chris ryan saying after watching blue-eyed samurai i think i want to be a midnight boy now because of what this show can do and I think that's probably the exact universal claim that this award's looking for.

Blue-Hat Samurai is probably a show that when converted to live action, we would have taken just as seriously a Shogun, Game of Thrones, anything else. I think that if you don't get won over by Blue-Had Samurai, then maybe this type of storytelling isn't for you. Fan, your turn officially. Okay, so I don't, I didn't see some of this shit. So I never seen, I never saw, I never saw, I never saw, we have to win over here. Could be.

I never saw no. pneumonia. I never saw. I never saw scavengers rain. She got floated her lungs. What's going on? So I never saw those two. I just looked up scavenger's rain and it looks like the lead is a bleck.

Is that true? One of the leads, yeah. There's more of the leads. But I saw a bleak that was prominently featured. So is this a bleak story? The bleak. No. No?

No. No. The bleak. Okay. So it's not. It has nothing to do. It's just like, so this is not the story of... No, it's space exploration.

It's like a science fiction odyssey. Right. So you're saying that can't be a black story. I'm not saying that can't be a black story. It's not about black people. It's about space because we have no place in space. Even though we're floating around space right now. Gotcha, Steve.

Cool. Nice to know. All right. So I'm going to go... You guys know how I feel about Across the Spider-Verse, which, by the way, let me clarify something real quick. First of all, I never said I did not like across the Spider-Verse. I did not say that.

That's never... That's not what. I said, people were like, oh, he didn't like Spider-Verse. I gave a 9 out of 10. What I'm saying is, people came away from Spider-Verseeing. It was the greatest anime movie they ever sat before in their life. And I was like, whoa, guys, I don't think so. And then the Academy agreed.

Okay. So this is what I would say. If I'm looking at these, it's between TMNT and Blue-Eyat Samurai. The question is, most likely to win over an animated skeptic, somebody who doesn't like animation, you have to go to Blue Eye Samurai. You have to. People that don't like animation are probably going to be against the tremendous amount of pluck that TMNT has, and it's a pluck fest.

If you're trying to show somebody, animation can give you all of these layers, all of this beauty, all of this savagery, all of this meaning and message. It can do the same things that your favorite live action movies can do for you. You're probably showing Blue Eyesemiride. Joe. The best part about the stories that we watch and consume or sharing them with the people we love. And Mallory Rubin will tell you that I've been harassing her

about two properties specifically. Have you seen poor things yet, Mallory? Soon. One day. She's going to see it soon. I can't wait. And have you seen Blue Eye Samurai yet, Mallory? And last night, I got a text from Mallory Rubin

that she was watching Blue Eye Samurai. Let's go. Let's fucking go. Let the record statement. though, because I think this could be misperceived. It was not that I had a ton of interest in watching this. My husband betrayed me.

It was on our holiday watch list. And he watched it without me, without telling me. Top-tied. No one is saying that Mallory would not watch Bluey Samurai. She just hadn't yet. It was just dying. Top the list. I know.

This is not, it's not to be some of it to Merchie Mallory. It's just to say, all I wanted to do was talk to you about Blue-A-Samurai. That's a good Blue-A-Samurai. And I just wanted to share Blue Eye Samurai with Mallory, and now I finally can. So it's got to be Blue Eye Samurai. Though I just want to say, I love Namona. I thought Namona was incredible. It's based on a graphic novel that I love.

And I just thought they did an incredible job with that. I thought it was beautiful. I was really worried because that film was in development hell for a million years. And I just thought the end result was amazing. So I love Namona. And it's a lower threshold, right? because it's a film, it's like a shorter investment. But I have shown Blue-Eyed Samurai to a lot of people who don't, like, necessarily

fuck with, like, genre and stuff, who don't necessarily fuck with animation. And they all got sucked in because it's just the storytelling is just top tier. Michael Green, amazing storyteller, love him, love everything he does, almost everything he does, asterisk, some of the Poirot stuff. So, but Blue Eye Samurai, absolutely, undeniably. Blue Eye Samurai. Now, was your one-night experience with Blue Eye Samurai enough for you to put it at the top of your list? So, I mean, all of these are wonderful.

Like, I think a lot of, my decision here just comes down to how you were framing and presenting the prompt, Ben. Because I think these are all great. I think that, like, Scavenger's Rain is, if you said, show somebody something that can clarify instantly the, extent of what the human imagination is capable of, right? And like what you can do to innovate on animation, that might be my pick. I think that the question of most likely to win over a skeptic, it comes down to then Blue Eye Samurai or Spider-Verse.

And it's hard to argue against, we should just be, I mean, multiple people have invoked Chris's name already, but like, Frank, that Chris opting in, To Blue Eye Samurai, what he has for years said on pods that he won't spend his time on animation is like a notable moment in our shared experience together. Andy then responding by saying I didn't really like it and Chris feeling like he had been building for a decade and a half toward telling Andy that he loved an animated thing. And then Andy was like, I'm not interested in this conversation today. It was one of my favorite watch moments of all time.

I rerout and replayed that like 50 times. It was heaven. here's the thing. I think when I really like, what does Ben's question get at, though? I have to go with Spider-verse because you can't win somebody over if they don't elect to watch.

And I do think that eight hours of television is just a harder sell for somebody who's on the fence in the first place than a film. And I think the idea of Spider-Man and a comic book property that they'd heard raves about

from into the Spider-Verse is probably, like, more potent fodder to work with to get somebody to say, yeah, I'll check this out in the first place. I think the barrier to entry is lower with across the Spider-Verse. You know, we had an Air Jordan one drop far across the Spider-Verse. Like, this is mainstream. So if we're trying to convert the doubters and the skeptics, we only have one shot, one go.

I'm going with Spider-Verse, and I'm counting on the stunning animation and the variance and inside of that that tapestry to win them over so that then they say, I can't wait to watch Blue Ice Samurai. I can't wait to watch Scavenger's Reign, et cetera. This is tough.

We've got, what, four votes for Blue Eye Samurai, two for Spider-Verse, split loyalties here. I got to go with majority rules. I'm siding with Blue-Ey Samurai. Let's go. I think it's the choice here.

Let's go. For a number of reasons, Mal you're right, I considered just the barrier to entry here. eight length of the episodes. On the other hand, it's on Netflix. Just throw it on once you see the first one. You'll want to keep going.

I thought about that with Scavenger's Rain, too, because it's 12 episodes. Then again, our episodes. God damn. Right. And Boy, I said, where I kind of broke the seal for the watch, as I recall, because they got into Scavenger's Rain, too. So this is the gateway drug to a whole animated world.

But I would say, as great as Spider-Verse and Mutant Mayhem are, they're maybe the most animated movies, and that might be a problem, as Van is saying. I think that's a selling point for us, but the fact that they really lean into the hand-drawn, sketch, comic style look, if you're someone who's conditioned to reject that, then that could be an obstacle for you. They're also both based on established universes with a lot of backstory and source material, which you don't need to know about to appreciate those things. But just in case, I'm not taking any chances here.

You don't need to know anything going into Blue Eye Samurai. This is an original story. This is fresh IP. It is, I think, kind of consciously cinematic. So it's sort of reaching across the aisle to the unconvinced, the undecided voters of content and saying, welcome, come in. If you like Shogun, we're really just rolling in the historical Japanese fiction these days. What was Shogun and Blue Ice Samurai and Rise of the Ronan? This is as good as any of it.

It's adult-oriented. It's violent. There's some titillation for Charles. There's also some deep motive storytelling, some truths about identity and revenge. I can't imagine someone not liking this. People have talked about Shogun having a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes for a while. Blue Ice Samurai still does.

I'm not sure it's possible to dislike Blue Ice Amirai. Give me one good. Give me one good reason for not liking it. Give me one bad reason for not liking it. I defy you. No one can resist the appeal of Blue Ice Samurai, even an animation skeptic. You got George Takeda in there.

You got Kenneth Branagh. You got Mingna Wen. As Madam Kazi says in episode four, to deny a desire is to cut out a corner of your own heart. You know you want to stop living that live-action-only-like. Stop denying your desire for animation and check out Blue Eye Samurai. Now let's throw it to my other sometimes colleague on Buttonmash, Matt James, for another honorary Versi. Hey, Ringerverse, it's Ringer Deputy Art Lead and frequent button masher Matt James,

hell diving into the Verses to present the award for Best Video Game Remake 2023. Break out your baggy pants and bucket hats. What was once old is new again. in a year that reconnected us with the brilliance of the first 3D Metroid, the thrill of survival horror in space. The thrill of survival horror in space again. And Mario's weird marshmallow cloud friend who thinks he's a frog. One game remake escaped as champion with the president's daughter in tow. Your winner for Best Video Game remake of 2023 is Resident Evil 4,

a remake that keeps everything that made the original shine, while expertly tweaking and modernizing the elements of the game that were showing their age, one of the greatest games of the 2000s, is now one of the greatest games of the 2020s. And now, please follow the yellow paint as you are directed back to the mercies. I didn't understand one thing that motherfucker said. Me neither. I didn't understand one thing that motherfucker said. We understood the words resident and evil.

I think we understood those. That motherfucker was talking about the president and the yellow big road. What the fuck is this? What is he, what, what's going on in the game? Like, what's the game? I didn't get one. I was trying to, I don't understand

a fucking word that came out of his mouth. Maybe you should listen to butt mash. I don't know. You should. I listened to button mash before. Like, I listened to button mash when they had Final Fantasy. Yeah, well, that did button mash.

I tried to play me with it. I had to ask to be on button mash. like we have a whole video game like a pod on the ringerverse I'm playing Spider-Man so much to where it's ruining my relationship Gleika goes, yo, are you going to choose between me and the dog or Spider-Man?

I was like, I'm not sure. Honestly, I don't know. I could be cool just doing this. And so I had to go on there and talk with him, but whatever was happening with, whatever that game he was talking about. I don't know. You just need to go to your PlayStation store and buy Resident Evil 4 and have a great time.

That's all you need to do. I think Ben would hate Resident Evil before. I've played Resident Evil before back in the day. When are these game series in? How many? Never. Never. They're remaking it.

That shit was coming. That shit was out back in Don Carter's All-Star Lanes, Banerud, circa 1998. Okay, anyway, I'm sorry. Jomey. It's my turn. Hello, everybody. Welcome to, back to the Versa's. Great to be here.

We're talking about TV. You know, that thing that's in your house, that back in the day, you know, yes, you used to have to plug a box in and you could get thousands of channels and pay $200. Now, you get five subscription services and you pay $250 a month to watch three things.

It's great. We love it. You know, I could go on a whole space, Bill about, you know, fill the dreams and what that means or, you know, he was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spotters right before she died type beat. But let's just get right into it, you know, so my nominees for real television is back that shows that brought TV back to us in 2023. First one, HBO's Last of Us. Just an incredible series, is one that tucked our heartstrings. Next up, Netflix is Blue Eye Samurai.

We talked about it all day today, but the show was a real one. Next up, Disney Plus's Loki. You know, in the era of the Marvel Disney Plus shows, this one has not only stood the dust of time, but still above the rest as being one of the best. Amazon Prime's GenV, a surprise hit

2023. Everybody didn't know what was going on there, but Gen V was really, really good. And last, and certainly not least, Disney Plus's Asoka. That rounds out the nominees. We're going to start

with Steve. Steve. Where are you going, buddy? It's hard not to overlook Last of Us as the thing that really a kicked off last year as this is what Prestige TV is going to be now. and with the leaving of succession, it's like, this is going to be the next big thing

that HBO probably invests a lot into. I'm really excited about that. I think Blue-Eyed Samurai, with the amount of things that Netflix ignores and throws away by the wayside, like, we're just going to be happy to get a season two. I don't know if that's going to move the needle for us.

Loki and Asoka, occasionally great, but I think the thing that really brought me to, like, actually celebrate what we've got planned is going to be the last of us. Gen V was wonderful, but I think it's got to be the last of us. Okay. I hear you.

Van, you got some glasses on. Where are you at? I got the black hat. I got the sunglasses on. You know why? Because I have to be the man in the black hat. I have to be the villain. Because here's the thing.

You got a lot of good shows here. Las of us, great. Big huge, procedure thing. Blah, blah, blah. Blue-eyed samurai. Great. Very important. We're in Japan, whole nine.

A lot going on in Japan right now. A lot happening. Okay. Loki, fantastic. Oh, it's the second season. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Great. Osoka, amazing.

Could argue that maybe it shouldn't be on the list. It was good at times, at other times. People got powers and that they shouldn't have had. GenVe is easily the best show on this list. All right. Easily. Oh, I'm not done. No, let's wrap it up.

No, this is so unseeing. What if he were done? What if he were done? I'm not done. How about this? How about this? This is my alter ego. The black cowboy.

This is Texas man. By the way, he just wore this on the street in Austin. And I was told that the night before when he presented a panel, he had boots, a belt, buckle, and the hat, the whole line. All of it. A bolo tie? Was there a bolo involved? Going to get one tonight for the end. NAACP Awards.

Look out black people. Here comes a cowboy. All I'll say is when you're watching the shows. I'm not talking about all the stuff and I'll watch you play the game and it was all of that. No, when you're watching the shows, you'll have the most fun. You'll be the most enthralled.

And you'll be the most by Gen B. It was the best. Jim B is almost as good as the boys. I said it. Okay, now I'm going back to a regular event. If we were just picking one episode, I think I would be more inclined toward Loki because the finale

was that meaningful to me, but for an overall impact of the full season, it wasn't time that did it. It was the last of us, which I thought was by honestly, like a comfortable margin, the best show of the year in our universe. You know, non-slow horses division.

This is the show that I think about the most. On the one hand, it feels like a long time ago already. On the other hand, it feels like just yesterday, watching it every week, diving into the game, learning how much it had it meant to people for so long, forging these relationships, what they were able to do episode to episode, these deep attachments that we formed to people that we knew we were going to lose painfully. It was just an incredible achievement. I think about the show all the time. I can't wait to rewatch it. I can't wait for season two. Can't wait to talk about it with all you. Last of us.

Easy pick for me. This was the easiest pick of anything on the. on the slate for me, actually. Oh, this is easy. There are four unsurious picks, and then there's the one that I'm just like, come on, this is HBO. That's a level of like, it's a video game adaptation.

It's like filling a slot on HBO. They had been kind of like a little bit like, oh, what's after Game of Thrones? John from Cincinnati? Come on, bro. It's last of us. It's easy. Like, come on.

Like, let's be serious, guys. About John from Cincinnati. Would you like me to go through a list of HBO shows that are fucking trash? Like, because there's a long list, little daddy. Oh, oh, HBO shows that we ever. No one has said the words John from Cincinnati in the last decade, man. That's amazing.

Vinyl? Me too. Wait, here's the thing. Last of us could have been vinyl and it wasn't. That's why it's getting this award, you know? Because there wasn't as much cocaine. I mean, if there, can you imagine if they were just like, we're just doing a lot of cocaine? That's what I would do.

Hold on, hold on, hold on. That's what I would do. How come they never made that zombie movie? Like, the zombie would be called, fuck it, we out. No free ideas to the people, Van. You do it for yourself. I'm sorry, sorry. Oh, man, this is push a tea as a zombie.

This would be crazy, bro. Make your own cocaine zombie movie. I apologize. Be the change. Joe, where are you going? I think The Last of Us is like sort of the obvious easy answer, but I'm going to zag a little bit because, again, sometimes on these awards ceremonies, we have the opportunity to award

something they didn't win eight Emmys this last year, which The Last of Us did. And so I will say the Last of Us is a show that I loved because Mallory and I got to talk about it every week, not on the Ring orverse, but over on the Presti's TV podcast feed. So, and I tend to, you know, and Loki, like, and Osoka, like the shows that I cover and gets talked to you all about and deep dive with Mallory about tend to stick in my brain. But I will say that Blue Eye Samurai is the show that I had the most conversations with just like people in the wild about. Like everyone really wanted to talk about it when it came out. It didn't get coverage from us. It was a binge drop, like all that sort of stuff. But I just like just everyone in my life seemingly was watching and wanted to talk about it was so excited about it.

And I just feel like it could use the boost of aversie to, you know, take season two into the next level. So I'm going to I'm going to go Blue Eye Samurai. Love it. Ben, did we decide that vinyl is not eligible in this category? Is that what we said? Because if I can take vinyl, it's not too late, Marty. For the throwback versus. Vinyl, season two, Marty, you've got time. Jack Wade isn't too busy, right? He can still do one of season two. I just gave an award to Blue Eye Samurai. I think it would be deserving here as well, but I'll spread the love around a little and I'll give the love to the show that you're all given the love to. I would enjoy any of these television programs. They were all fine TV shows.

But when I hear the phrase real TV, I think of the communal experience. I think of the Sunday night drama. I think of the show we're all watching at the same time because we're afraid of spoilers, unless we've played the game and we know it's going to happen. But we still want to see it when everyone else sees it so that we can all talk about it together. On a personal note, this was the show that laid to rest any last doubts about the viability. of video game adaptations, ensuring that we will watch many, many, many more in the years to come.

Got to go with The Last of Us. It may be the obvious easy choice, Joe, but it's the right one. Wow. So we got what? Three votes or four votes for The Last of Us. One vote for GenVee and one vote for Blue Eye Samurai. Wow.

See, you know, like we all said that the easy answer is the last of us. And you guys would be correct. It's HBO prime time. Everybody got online at 7 o'clock p.m. and was going crazy. This show not only changed lives, but realistically gave us a sense of community and a sense of of fun, despite the show's

sadness that we haven't had, honestly, since Succession came out. That being said, going with my heart on this one. Go with Gen V, baby. All right. Let's go Arjuna. Honorary Versy Arjuna. I'm just... I'm going with Gen Vee, man. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. About Gen V. I was watching

that thing. When they had now spit off, I was like, this is dumb. It's going to be... It's going to be whack. It's going to be... Gen. It was really fun, but... It was very good. It was... The defining show of a year. Here's my question. What are we doing here? I have an opinion

Joanna now Do you see what I deal with Every week I deal with this Shenanics People not be serious at all I'm like yo What is this This is I'm not gonna like what are we doing here

Like literally I'm like Charles What are we doing here? Watch the show I'm like yo This is awesome This is incredible This stinks How have they done this again

I don't think Charles Watching TV The Boys Universe So shut the fuck up So what are you talking about? You want me to watch the fucking woman who sprang blood? No, no, no, no. I'm going to die one day.

I'm familiar of this moment in awards. There's only like two more categories. Everyone's tired and hungry. And I'm going to snack. They've been visiting the bar too much. We're running on gas. We want to go to the governor's ball. Let's wrap it up.

Let's go. You guys can have this argument. at the Vanity Fair Awards. Or actually, we can go to the Chateau and go see Beyonce and Jay-Z over there. The gold party. Yes. Yeah, we can go to the gold party. We can see Braun and all of them over there.

But let's get out of here. So we're going to throw to our last honorary versi. This is our last one, right? Yeah. Our last honorary versi from Arjuna Ramgapal. Hello, I'm Arjuno Ramgapal. The additional production supervision guy here on the Ringiverse. My honorary versi for 2023 is the moment that basically broke a Canon award.

There's a lot of choices from 2020. my heart wants to really go with the Dark Sabre unsurimoniously getting crushed by Moth Gideon in Mando season three, but Gaia becoming the most powerful being in the MCU during the finale of Secret Invasion takes the cake for me. Congratulations

Secret Invasion on being the best at something. Now back to the Verses. Arjuna get on here and defend yourself. What the shit? Arjuna never corrected us on butchering his name for years. It's been years. Arjuna to defend yourself because Jone was very much.

Years. Very. Saying it right the entire time. I know this is our fault. Obviously, it's our fault. But, like, please know. Years. There's always a safe space for you to tell us that we have been butchering your name.

It's, I mean, it's, it's fine. It's not. Not really. No. There's a complicating, there's a complicating factor. There's a complicated factor of this, right? So my father's last name is Ram Gopal. But that was a misspelling that was made by the government of Guyana.

And then we corrected it when myself and my brothers are born to pal. So that's why we accept both pronunciations. I just got to feel like I should say it the way you say it. You know what I'm saying? It's going on to post it, going on my monitor, never getting it wrong ever again. Sorry, Arjuna, we love you. No, it's totally. It's fine.

It's tough to live in this white man's world, isn't it, Arjuna? It's tough. It's tough to live in this white man's world. They don't know your name. They only see you, Arjuna. us. We're talking. We got to, Arjuna,

Arjuna, a lot of things about you make more sense now. You know what I'm talking about. A lot of things about you make more sense now because you know

it's tough. It's tough living in this white man's world. This whole time. They didn't even be saying your name right, dog. They don't even know.

They don't even know our names, bro. There's a video. There's a video reaction. They don't know our names, dog. There's a video record van of your jaw-dropping

to the floor when you heard that. Our names, bro. They don't even know our names. It's tough. You're like, who is this? You got to take our names back. Arjuna, me and you. This is our Adele Dazine moment.

So we just want to issue our Al-a-olda. Before we move to the next, and once you know something, bro. I see you. We want to issue an apology to Arjuna Ramgo-Pal. Ramga.

For years. Ramga. He's no pal of white supremacy. time for the final award let's go Steve it's my turn yeah they just

change his whole man's name I just change his family name what why am I and she's his whole fucking name okay let's go let's move on

get out of you was a great year for power couples some of the best pairings that we've seen in quite a lot long time in fandom, but only one award can be crowned the best our couple in 2023. This is the couple that is here

to stunt on everybody else to show their love and affection for all the world to see. Our first nominee is Mario and Princess Peach. Super Mario Brothers. Wade and Ember from the Pixar film Elemental. Ben, I know that you'll be voting this way.

Or at least have a pretty good bias. Miles and Gwen from across the Spider-Verse. going through a bit of a rough patch, but I think they can mend that bridge. CEO of Steel Your Man Industries, Wallace and Todd from Scott Pilgrim takes off, and Prince Yan and Carol Danvers from the Marvels. Who doesn't want a singing boyfriend?

This is such an easy category. Three of these relationships, if we're going to be honest, are just very manipulative, all right? If you put Carol Danvers and Valkyrie, you might have won me over, but I don't know what you're talking about here. Carol Denver's

went to the singing planet and got that motherfucker blown up already so she can't trust you That's not a good relationship No That's not That's not

I can't say you apologize But I think they were They were stunting at like That plant Those planetary balls For like when A couple of months Quinted two black men

Against each other You know She's the yes Jules of the Spider-Man Verse so Oh Jesus That is crazy Cannot

That is crazy Bro She's catches What are you talking about Jules didn't do first let's move on. Let's say, like, let's let's, no, no, don't the

no, don't take that now. Don't go. No, what don't you take it? No. No. No, stand on your shit. Steve, what are you talking about? Fight back.

Go ahead. Just go ahead. Just go ahead. Wallace and Todd, no. No, just less said better. Ann, Wade and Ember, I don't know if they're going the distance, to be honest.

I don't know if that relationship is going the distance. I have to go with the iconic here. They went off to get a whole ass family in the other land. That's how it ended, right? Mario and Peach. They are an iconic couple. They've stood the test of time. When we look to two individuals that were just like, how do I want my, my partnerships

to go? They're always giving, you know, it's a give and it's a take. All right. Peach wears the pants in the relationship. Mario is the hunter-gatherer. It's Mario and Peach. Come on. Joanne Robinson.

What do you think? Like, TBD on Miles and Gwen. Let's see how part three turns out, right? So I'll go with Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches. and Mario. Van, what do you think? So look, I didn't see Elemental. I didn't watch Scott Pilgrim.

The Princess Yan and Carol Darrow, Carol Danvers thing is a joke. A joke. It's no way we could be a power couple if you bring untold cataclysm to my planet. It's a joke. Get out of here. So it's between Miles and Gwyn

and Mario and Peach. Now, I think that Miles and Gwen have the capability. to be a power couple, but that's going to mean Gwen's going to have to make a decision. Gwen is shredding this young man's mind.

This is a completely toxic situation that he's involved in. He's being compared to guys who are like Sid Vicious and other punk heroes from the past. I feel bad for him. The answer is Mario and Peach.

That's kind of not a great relationship right now either. Why? It's not. None of these relationships are really functional. All right. There's, you know, but if I like, the one that I like the most,

Mario on Peach, I could argue that Peach and Bowser, even though there's some problems there, are in the situation. Some problems. The problem is being imprisoning a young woman

against her will? But the song, the song. Peach's kingdom is always on the verge of war. She's a wartime ruler, and she just needs a simple man. Van loves a Stockholm syndrome story, so. Also, it's very true. It's been disproven.

Also, really quick, just going back to Gwen, Gwen can't be a power couple because she put, she put her feet on a young black man's bed. Like, that's very disrespectful, you know? It's like, come on. No home training. Wait. Yeah, no. Gwen.

Home training, there's some problems at home. I mean, she's got some situations going on. You know what? Her dad never taught her to take off her shoes and be respectful. It was too much trying to catch Spider-Man, man. You try to catch Spider-Woman's. Didn't have time to raise her properly. All right.

I'm going with Mario and Pete. All right, Ben, what do you think? My daughter might listen to this podcast someday. I hope not, in case she does. I hope so good. There's really only one choice. Actually, no. To be a good dad.

And also, heartfelt choice. I saw more elemental last year than I saw any other movie made in 2020. Not always by my choice, but never against my will. And Wade and Ember, you know what? Star-crossed lovers, love when they come together despite all the barriers between them. Fire and water, you think they wouldn't mix. And yet, opposites attract. And I think they'll live heavily ever after.

Wait an ember for me. They saved the city. It's not just that they fall in love. They really did have to fix that, like the municipal code in that city a lot. Yeah. It was a falling apart city. Love conquers all. Mallory Rubin.

You know, Gwen and Miles share that maybe some things are just for us moment, which I love and think is a beautiful idea. But I'm with you all that they've got to work their way back toward a full embrace of that idea. We're all works in progress, Mel. And I want that for them. I'm also going to go with Mario and Peach. Not only is this an iconic pairing, much more accurate. much more active role for Princess Peach in this movie

and I would like to celebrate that I think that's something where we should collectively rejoice. Peach is an active driver of this experience and of this power couple so they get my vote for the Versi. Peach is about to get her own game.

Stay tuned for the next button mesh. Oh yeah, she is? I'm excited for that. I would play that game. Oh, she's got fits. Are you going to go on button mesh to talk about it, Joe? Ben, can I come on buttonmash to talk about Princess Beach Showtime?

Princess Beach. Okay, great. Can we do a double feature with that on Yoshi's Island? Because I have a lot to say about Yoshi's Island. And we'll get Ben on to talk about Super Mario Brothers 3. I love the game. It's the greatest video game ever made. I actually genuinely agree.

Super Mario 3 is the best video game ever made. Canonically a play. Guys are just saying words. Just a whole bunch of words. Hey, hey, can't be honest with you? This is what I don't like. How many times have you played? Super Mario Bros. Three.

Don't shut the fuck up! You never played the game before. It's a seminal piece of art. Why are you guys talking about? You never played the game. You never played it. So how do you know it's not the greatest video game of all time? I didn't say it wasn't. I'm just saying you got the same words that I don't understand. The part of the Mario 3 where he puts on the raccoon suit and then you can turn into stone.

Come on. The Chinookie suit. Come on. The frog suit. Jummy, you ever wear the frog suit before? I've never won the frog suit before. So much. Should we finish this podcast is my question?

So, I mean, here's the thing. Miles and Glenn, they're going through a rough patch right now. Yeah, we can't really give it to Prince, Prince John and Carol Danvers. It's not really what it's looking like. And Wallace and Todd, wow, hilarious, ultimately not something that lasts. So you're left with Wade and Ember and Mario in Peach. and while Mario and Peach are the seminal video game relationship in the history of media. Seminole on again, off again relationship.

Those two, they can't keep it together. Talk to them, Ben, right? When I watched Elemental and I watched Wade and Ember, fall in love, fight, fall back into love, you know, do their whole song and dance, quite literally, in fact. It meant something to me. It was real to me. I was sitting in El Capitan. And you know the reason why I know I liked it is because El Capitan seats. They be having your knees and your chest.

It's like up here. You're not comfortable in that theater. It didn't matter because Wade and Ember gave us something special. They gave me something to believe in. You know, I believe in love again. Yeah. Because of Wade in Ember. Cinema.

So I got to. Thank you, Ben. Cinema. my vote is for Way to Number from Elemental. Well, Way to Number, much respect to that. But congratulations to the power couple of the year, Mario and Peach and Super Mario Brothers. That's like when they were nominated Modern Family

for comedy every year. And like you, like, what was the point of nominate anybody else? You can just ship that to Ty Burrell's house. You know what I'm saying? You could have, you know what I'm saying? We didn't have to do the whole song of dance, brother. This is hard work. When you're the best?

I feel like we should pack snacks for this. How's everyone feeling? Good? I need some orange slices. I really do. Guys, that has been our four annual firsts. We came, we saw, he conquered. Honestly, I love my friends.

The friendships, the vibes could not be any greater. Thank you to Steve Allman, our producer. Thank you to Arjouin. to Ram Kapal for honestly just. You said it wrong. You said it right. He said he accepts both. He says he accepts

both. Romga pal. Okay, my number one. Thank you to our illustrious. Guys, can we finish this fucking show? You do it. You finish it. It's done.

Mal is taking her hair down. Thank you to our illustrious host. Every, all of our honorary versus guests. And with that, Jomi didn't beat the milkman allegations. All right. The fourth annual verses went down in flames.

And Arjuna, from this day forward, I will never butcher your name. I look at this category as the thing that's like kind of going to be the most four quadrant, but going to be the thing that makes the... Were you asked to go? Dan! Dan, what's going?

Wait, Steve, he's trying to keep in fucking, I'm going. Steve, come on, man. Like, Steve's always easy. Stop, stop. There's a lot of stuff. There's a lot of deep dip on the ship at time. Because he asked to, see, everybody. Steve, see, does this.

Go ahead.