Voltron v Unit-01 | ft. Chris (Play Comics) & Caleb Van Nice

S5 E5: Join us in a thrilling exploration, as we bring together two guests from the world of comics and movies - Chris Osborn from Play Comics and Caleb Van Nice, a former host of Level Playing Field and a movie connoisseur. From discussing the alluring world of giant mech shows to predicting outcomes of a spine-chilling Voltron vs. Unit 01 matchup, this episode is packed with enthralling discussion.

We devote a part of our dialogue to the immersive series, Voltron. With the expert insights of Chris and Caleb, we voyage through the origins of Voltron, the character arcs, and the riveting action sequences that set the series apart. The conversation then takes a deep dive into the enigmatic Neon Genesis Evangelion. We discuss Shinji Ikari's significance, the gripping storytelling, and the profound psychological themes that resonate in the series. Additionally, we explore the show's reboot, the game-changing movie ending, and the series' enduring impact.

As we approach the climax of our discussion, we put the spotlight on Voltron and Unit 01's unique strengths, battle strategies, and ponder how a fight would unfold between these titans. From the formidable power of Voltron's sword to the protective AT fields of Eva Units, we leave no stone unturned. Wrapping up, we make our predictions on who would emerge victorious in an epic showdown - Shinji or Voltron. Brace yourself for a rollercoaster ride of insight, debate, and speculation, right here with us.

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Intro music created for this show by Nick Heredia

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Thanks so much for joining us on Super Bracket Bros. My name is Jay, your host and your personal brrrracketologist. This is the podcast that takes your favorite fictional characters from across the multiverse and throws them into a tournament to find out just who is the best of the best. Today we pass the halfway point of the first round in our Kaiju tournament, as we discuss a mech battle for the ages between the 6th seeded Voltron and the 11th seeded Unit 01. And, of course, as always, seen across from me, i have my co-host and your lonely teenage paladin, elias Stokes. How you doing today, eli? Pretty disappointed, jay. That makes sense, you know. I hear you're going through a phase.

Speaker 2: 0:54

Yeah, because I was so happy when they let me join the team, but I didn't know I would be the periwinkle paladin.

Speaker 1: 1:03

The periwinkle paladin. So you must have a periwinkle lion then.

Speaker 2: 1:08

No, it's more like a periwinkle lynx. It's a much more smaller cat. That's not comfortable.

Speaker 1: 1:16

So tell me about this Are you part of like? is it like a mini Voltron, then? Is it like just like? a half the size looks exactly the same, but it's just the lighter more fatted versions of all the original colors.

Speaker 2: 1:28

Yeah, no, exactly, i'm also on Voltron. I'm the right calf, so the right calf.

Speaker 1: 1:34

So yeah, sorry.

Speaker 2: 1:37

Are you not the foot too? No, i'm not the foot, i'm not that important, i'm just that calf muscle.

Speaker 1: 1:47

What do you do when you're fighting bad guys? What do you do during the big bad?

Speaker 2: 1:50

fights. I try, I try my best. Congratulations. Eli We humanity appreciates you trying. There's a reason I'm the lonely periwinkle paladin.

Speaker 1: 2:08

Thank you so much for having joined us on the show today. Today we are talking Voltron from the legendary Defender Netflix series versus Unit 01 from Nia Genesis Evangelion As a first round episode. how today's episode is going to break down is we have a few guests to introduce to get to know. The bulk of the first half is going to be getting to know our fighters today, and then the back half will be breaking down who would win in a fight between these two mighty mechs? But, like I said, we have a couple guests to introduce and our first guest today is another first timer here on Super Bracket Bros.

Speaker 1: 2:38

He is the host of Play Comics, a podcast that focuses on video games based on comics. but it is not just a video game review podcast. Our guest hones in on how well a game represents its source material and if that game is a good introduction to the comic itself. Some highlights and personal favorites of mine in the recent catalog include Spider-Man 2, the Cowabunga Collection and Batman Gotham City Racer, with over 200 episodes of excellent podcasting content. I didn't even know that there were 200 video games that you could do for a podcast like this, but it is incredible.

Speaker 1: 3:10

Play Comics is an easy to recommend show with a host whose expertise we are lucky to have on our episode today. Please give a warm welcome to Chris Osborn of Play Comics. How are you doing today, Chris?

Speaker 3: 3:21

I'm good, but now you make it sound like I know what I'm talking about all the time, which is supposedly not true.

Speaker 1: 3:26

I sincerely apologize. I won't make that mistake again. Okay, But how are you feeling about today's episode about your first appearance on Super Bracket Bros?

Speaker 3: 3:37

I'm feeling good about this one. Listen to some episodes before. I purposely have not listened to anything this season because I wanted to be as fresh as possible, because I figured if I was Voltron coming into this fight I wouldn't be watching everything else, i would be preparing myself to get ready for the fight.

Speaker 1: 3:54

That is an interesting angle. I have never heard anyone take that before but I appreciate it deeply. You are very much in the Voltron competitive mindset, which I deeply appreciate. I'm interested to see how that comes out in our discussions later. But Chris is not alone today. This guest was a former host of Level Playing Field, a video game podcast. But we know our guest is so much more than that. He is a movie connoisseur, some would say a movie hobo, moving from podcast to podcast spreading delightful knowledge about all his favorite things in the universe.

Speaker 1: 4:32

He's a one-piece fan. He's been on Super Bracket Bros Many times before. we appreciate him greatly and we're super excited to have him on as an expert of both of our fighters today. Please welcome to the show once again, caleb Van Nys. How are you doing today, caleb?

Speaker 4: 4:45

Good, good, I've got a fancy spindle stiff I will show you in a second because it plays into something we're going to talk about in a minute. Just doing my movie hobo thing, wandering from town to town, seeing movies, showing up on random people's podcasts and they don't know how to get rid of me is actually the problem.

Speaker 1: 5:08

When I released all the matchups, Caleb just became a part of the outline.

Speaker 3: 5:15

I didn't add him. I didn't add him to this call.

Speaker 1: 5:18

It just sort of happened and I'm trying to make myself look good by giving him a nice intro. But yeah, Caleb, how are you feeling about today's episode?

Speaker 4: 5:26

See, the trick is, I just stay on this channel.

Speaker 3: 5:30

I sit here in front of the webcam, waiting for you guys to start recording.

Speaker 4: 5:35

I'm like, hey, today's matchup is going to be a very interesting one, because I don't think you can find a better example of the range of what giant mech shows can be Two different, very different ends of the spectrum than Voltron and Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's like, technically speaking, yes, they are both about teenagers getting in giant robots to fight monsters for the benefit of humanity, but that's a very big picture for you to get into the details. It's like, oh, these are very different. It's almost like saying, you know what? hello, dolly and Rent are both musicals.

Speaker 1: 6:20

That's a fantastic comparison. I appreciate that You're sure to your title of movie trivia hobo Caleb.

Speaker 2: 6:26

Yeah, well done. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 6:29

But yeah, so I'm excited for today's episode. I think it's going to be a lot of fun, but, like I said, we need to get to know both of our guests a little bit more. Chris, this is your first time on the show, so we'll start with you And we have, as always, the ultimate unfair question, but I think it's a great insight into who you are as a pop culture fan. So, chris, do you have any favorite fictional characters of all time?

Speaker 3: 6:51

My super, absolute favorites. I will get any comic she is in, no matter what, even if it's a stupid fortnight comic character is specifically the Earth 65, gwen Stacy, who is now known as Ghost Spider.

Speaker 1: 7:07

Ghost Spider is obviously a very relevant very, so I got to ask. I'm presuming you were there Wednesday, thursday night to see the new Spider-Verse movie.

Speaker 3: 7:18

I actually wait till Sunday to see it, because it's when one of my friends is available often. So that's just kind of our thing. We go, we see the movie on Sunday and then we go to the Chinese place next door. But I mean, i've been a Spider-Man guy my whole life. but the first comic I bought myself when I was old was I went into the store and decided to make a poll list and just Sean and McGuire's Spider-Gwen run. One of the trades was just sitting there staring at me on the shelf, so I grabbed it and I just fell in love with it. It's a good book.

Speaker 1: 7:53

Yeah, but very, very, very solid choice and that, like you are a fan of I mean obviously you're a comics fan, So it's very cool that, like you've been a fan before I mean I don't want to say bandwagoners I think a lot of people, deservedly, are huge fans of the character today because of the Spider-Verse movies. But I just wanted to get your two cents. You know, yay or nay on the across the Spider-Verse.

Speaker 3: 8:18

Oh, it's so good. I thought they had too much miles in it, but that's only because I really wanted my Gwen movie. But like it's so good and anybody who hasn't seen it needs to go see it, and anybody who has seen it needs to go see it again.

Speaker 4: 8:32

I did see it twice, No it's funny you say that? because it's just, it's like there's too much miles. I went into thinking I was actually impressed. I wanted her to co-lead, like in the first film. She was very much like the supporting character. And then this one it's like no, no, this is a Miles and Gwen movie, that's, that's, that's who we're at. Which I loved.

Speaker 3: 8:51

And if they go, and if they go where I think they're going, it's definitely going to be a heavy Gwen movie.

Speaker 1: 8:59

for the third one Caleb, i want to toss things back over to you. You've been on the show many times, so today's question is not quite as soul searching, i imagine, but I still want to get your two cents here. Do you have a favorite weapon from fiction?

Speaker 4: 9:14

Hang on, let me pull out my Bindle. Stiff, i'd get the little Bindle off it.

Speaker 2: 9:19

And what's this It's the Master.

Speaker 4: 9:21

Sword.

Speaker 1: 9:23

Yeah, okay, okay.

Speaker 4: 9:25

I had that, but when you said you were going to ask that question, like I've literally got it in Arms. Reach here.

Speaker 3: 9:31

No, i've always as one should.

Speaker 4: 9:33

I've always been a sword guy, like I have also within Arms Reach here I think down.

Speaker 1: 9:38

If you pull out a Buster Sword, I'm going to be shocked.

Speaker 4: 9:43

But like I have arms and armor, like I've always loved, like swords, knights, that sort of stuff. And then my favorite video game series of all time is Legend of Zelda and that's the Master Sword it's kind of the main sword there, the Blade of Evil's Bane. It's got a fascinating, just sort of recurring history throughout all those games. It's also nice in that I do love a good Buster Sword. I do love Podstrives' Big Dang sword. I like that the Master Sword's design is both plausible and also elegant, Like it's distinctive, so that you can see just the health and know immediately what it is. But it's also not something you're like a human being couldn't use. That That's not a thing.

Speaker 1: 10:28

Oh, yeah, there's absolutely something to the simplicity, the elegant nature of the Master Sword that I can definitely appreciate. So New Year's Elde fan, so the Master Sword makes perfect sense. But yeah, no, the Master Sword absolutely an excellent pick. I could totally understand that. right up there with yeah, like you mentioned, the Keyblade is another one that comes to mind that I think is fantastic. But let's move on into today's main subject, shall we? Let's talk about Voltron. Voltron is the universe's greatest weapon and defender against the evil Galra Empire, created 10,000 years before the events of the series. it is composed of five robotic lions piloted by five paladins who were chosen by the lions themselves. The original television series debuted in 1984, but the version we'll be using today comes from the Netflix adaptation, which ran for eight seasons from 2016 to 2018, for a total of 78 episodes, which is a crazy number, by the way, if it didn't come out all one season at once on Netflix, that's an episode every two weeks, less than that.

Speaker 1: 11:45

That's an insane pace. Each pilot possesses a unique set of skills, while all the lions themselves also have their own beast with varying personalities and capabilities. When combined as Voltron, they are capable of destroying entire fleets of starships with its incredible speed and devastating blade. Before we get too far, let's take a deeper dive into who made the series and the original series, and if you were wondering if the Power Ranger comparison similarities were going to stop, they are most certainly not. Just like our dear, mighty Morphin Pals, voltron was based off a Japanese IP called Beast King Go Lion, which came out in 1981, three years before the original Voltron debuted. And you guessed it, voltron was the same show, cut, copied and pasted to make sense for American audiences. The original creator of this Japanese series was the Toei Toi Toei I should know how to pronounce that this far into a kaiju season. The series was the Toei company, who also created the Super Sentai season which, if you remember, power Rangers is based on.

Speaker 1: 12:52

To focus back on today's version, this reboot was brought to life by a deal between Dreamworks Animation and World Event Productions. The primary executive producers on the project are Joachim DeSantis and Lauren Montgomery. Desantis also worked on animations such as Avatar S Airbender and Justice League Unlimited. Once again, we have five characters to chat about today From Voltron Josh Keaton and Shiro, the leader and pilot of the Black Lion, steven Ewan as Keith, the pilot of the Red Lion. Jeremy Shadas. Lance, the pilot of the Blue Lion, bex Taylor Claus Spidge, the pilot of the Green Lion, and Tyler the Bean as Hunk, the pilot of the Yellow Lion. Chris, i want to start with you. When we were talking about where you might be able to slot into this season, you immediately gravitated towards a Voltron, so I want you to tell us about your connection to the series and why you were so eager to talk about this hero today.

Speaker 3: 13:44

This entire series, like your series here in this season. Who doesn't like giant robots? So it's like you couldn't go bad, no matter what?

Speaker 3: 13:55

But also just this series. So many of my friends were looking at this. At first it was okay, here's this cheesy 1980s cartoon that they're redoing. They'll update it, they'll make it more gritty and everything Not a big deal. And then, as you go into it, you have so much character development into it, so much getting into. What is this character's secret? who is this person really? how is everybody working together to do this? And it becomes so much more than just sitting your butt in a giant robot and pressing buttons and fighting. It becomes how are you going to make the other four pilots there with you and your support team back on the ground into this giant family of yours that you've found and you're able to work your entire life around? Also, there's a giant sword that's getting used by a robot.

Speaker 4: 14:51

He makes a compelling argument. He makes a compelling argument.

Speaker 1: 14:56

But oh, undoubtedly, undoubtedly, the cool factor of this show is off the charts. I really just all the action sequences were just absolute eye candy. I really enjoyed each and every one of them. But then, yeah, it was interlaced with really interesting interpersonal story between all of the pilots and beyond the pilots, their responsibility to the universe, right. That was a huge thing that they talk about throughout the series. That I really enjoyed. But before I get to Caleb, i want to know about your connection to the series too.

Speaker 4: 15:31

Well, first of all, i mentioned earlier I love Joaquin Dos Santos. You talked about those action scenes. It's one of his specialities. You go back and watch the episodes of Justice League Unlimited. He directed That stuff like. He directed the finale, which is where the world of cardboard speech is. From that famous bit where Superman's like I feel like I'm living in a world of cardboard. I always have to hold back so I don't hurt someone or break something He's like. But you can take it, can't you, big guy? And he just pounds the other one crap out of dark side, great. But Joaquin Dos Santos has been doing stuff like that for years. He looked at his episodes of Adtar. They're great, also very funny. We singled him out because he has also just made his theatrical feature film debut of co-directing a big budget animated film that is currently in theaters called Spider-Man Across the Spiderverse. So you know, turns out really nicely. So if you're wondering, that action scene there at the beginning, that was pretty well put together. Oh, who's the director? Oh, yeah, okay, he's one of the three directors on that film.

Speaker 4: 16:32

But no, my experience with the show I had, no, no attachment to the original Voltron. I kind of unlike I. It's weird. I have this thing with 80s culture where, like I grew up in high school, i had a big phase where it was like I really watched a lot of 80s, like the A-team, rockford Files, quantum Leap. I listened to a lot of 80s music, completely missed all of the 80s cartoons, like no emotional attachment to He-Man, transformers, any of that stuff.

Speaker 4: 16:59

I got into Voltron because they dropped this. They dropped this, like you said. They dropped this thing on Netflix. You're like sure I'll give it a shot. But you know, joaquin Dos Santos and several other people from Avatar, the last airbender, were working on it And so I was like I'll give it a shot, could be good, and got very into it, watched all the seasons. I do. This is my own, maybe hot take. I kind of think they entirely dropped the ball after season six. I don't like those last two seasons much at all, but I did very much enjoy the show. Otherwise, some great stuff all throughout. Just the cool factor can't be denied. And then, of course, because of me, i have to know all the things You know. It's really funny about the original Go Lion show. They used to do this apparently all the time where they would go to Japan buy the rights to some show and then tinker with it to make it into something for American audiences. The original Voltron 80s show is two different animates they pulled together they got another combining robot show.

Speaker 4: 17:54

That was like cars and helicopters that turn into and they're like this is the Earth Voltron.

Speaker 4: 17:59

And then there, was the Space Voltron Oh my God, some episodes you would watch and it'd be like this one team and they're doing stuff and they're out in space and it's like, yeah, and other episodes are like, meanwhile, back on Earth, the Earth Voltron team you know they have these cars and helicopters that turn into a big robot too, and it's like and no one said anything. And then that's when I found it about Robotech and I realized oh, people just got used to this, because that's three different shows stapled together that are completely unrelated.

Speaker 3: 18:28

It's crazy what happens when they go over there and do that, like, oh, you have a whole new set of characters, yeah, this is the next generation. You're just never going to see the parents ever, because they're all dead.

Speaker 4: 18:38

They would literally do that all the time of just like I had to imagine being a kid back then was so weird because you just got used to it. It's like, yeah, this show I was watching, you know, when I got home from school yeah, they've changed all of the characters And they said it's like in a different country or it's like connected to a thing and whatnot. It's like, oh, yeah, we bought three different Japanese animated shows and we burnt. you know, we had to cut all of it to make it appropriate for children, but then we only had like 20 episodes and we need 100 to fill out our slots. So then we got 60 episodes from the southern show, 30 episodes from the southern show.

Speaker 4: 19:12

And they're like yeah, this is after those guys win and defeat that evil overlord. They've settled a new planet and now we follow these people, and that's 100 years later.

Speaker 2: 19:21

They're just like. they're just in a room like smoking cigarettes, exhausted, like okay, this scene right here. It's like that doesn't work. We're going to make it work, damn it.

Speaker 3: 19:30

We need this episode to be five minutes longer. Let's make the transformation sequence flipped around.

Speaker 1: 19:38

So home back in on Voltron here. So, chris, have you seen the 80s show at all?

Speaker 3: 19:44

I have not a considerable amount or anything, but you know I've seen little bits of that and the, you know Voltron Force is another series that they have in there. I've seen bits of that one, not enough to like come on and talk on a podcast about them or anything but enough, too bad.

Speaker 4: 20:02

That's. that's what this podcast is about.

Speaker 1: 20:04

Did no one tell you, yeah, that'd be, that'd be an awful like pull the carpet out from underneath you and be like oh yeah, sorry, we're not talking about what we talked about all up leading to this. I wanted to ask so did you watch that after you watched the rebooted series, like as a curiosity, or did you? was that what triggered you to watch the reboot when it came out?

Speaker 3: 20:26

My wife and I in college magically somehow got the Transformers animated series from the 80s So we'd watched all that and we're like, hey, you know what else can we watch? It's kind of like that because we wanted something super mindless, that it wouldn't matter if I fell asleep, because I would fall asleep. And we tried to watch Voltron and she just couldn't do it. I lasted a little longer than her, but there was just it was too much 80s cheese and we didn't know anything Like Transformers was different, because we already knew who the characters were and stuff. So that was fine. But you know, we probably got like four or five episodes in and that was that.

Speaker 1: 21:09

So what makes the reboot great? You know what, what makes it? you know I, you know, i know it improves a lot upon a lot of things. It's obviously modern, but you know what, specifically to you, you know, makes this a great reboot.

Speaker 3: 21:20

Honestly, the first thing is that it's it isn't just a giant toy commercial Yeah, i mean, so many 80s cartoons are but it's all of the stuff I said before. It's the character development and the overarching storylines, instead of we're going to solve everything in 22 minutes. It's the fact that oh, here's this thing that they just kind of dropped a plot thread for in episode three that becomes important in episode 17, kind of stuff, and you didn't get that in a lot of 80s shows, because they made them so that they could air them in whatever order they wanted to air them, because they didn't know when they were going to get finished, so they would just pop them out.

Speaker 1: 21:58

Honestly, i think that that's so. It makes the pace of this show even more crazy to me is that they didn't just remake it, they rebooted it. You know, i think that you know, really makes it something special. But let's hop over to the other side of today's fight. Let's talk about unit 01. So, first off, unlike Gypsy Danger, the Megazord and even Voltron, unit 01 has a single pilot instead of a team or a duo, and that single person is the protagonist of neon Genesis Evangelion, shinji Ikari, a young teenager. Shinji is one of the few people of his world capable of piloting an Evangelion, a towering mech capable of going toe to toe with the alien kaiju, known as Angels.

Speaker 1: 22:46

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a name and anime that strikes convoluted fear and frothing admiration from fans of the medium. But we'll get into that shortly. The series ran for a single season, from October of 1995 to March of 1996, for a span of 26 episodes. There have been remakes of the original run of the show as well, but they are true remakes rather than reboots with a newer, altered story. While the show has many interesting themes and some would say, like we talked about earlier, the show isn't really about mechs fighting aliens. It doesn't stop from the fact that unit 01 is a terrifying force to be reckoned with in this tournament and in today's fight.

Speaker 1: 23:29

The series comes from the mind of Hideke Anno. Evangelion is by far his most notable work, being described by some as the greatest ever of its medium. However, in recent years, anno directed the 2016 film Shin Godzilla and has been involved in the subsequent Shin Ultraman and Shin Common Rider. As for what led to the creation of Shinji himself, well, he is very much of representation of Anno. The series, in part, is a reflection of the depression he experienced following the airing of his previous work, Nadia, the Secret Blue Water. Shinji is introverted, anxious and, frankly, just really going through the shit in this series, having to grow up and protect the world at the same time.

Speaker 1: 24:09

As for the voice actors, the Japanese voice actress who helped bring Shinji to life is Megumi Ogata, who is also well known for voicing Yu-Gi Moutou in the Toei version of Yu-Gi-Oh. On the English side, we have Spike Spencer, who is also known for his appearances in anime such as Martian Successor and Excel Saga. So let's talk about Evangelion, caleb, i'm gonna start with you. This series is critically acclaimed, but also maddening to some fans. But I want to hear about your experience with the series.

Speaker 4: 24:39

So it started I kept hearing really good things and I heard it from people who don't like. I've always heard it's like oh, it's one of those classics and it was always a curiosity because for a long while you couldn't watch it legally. The, the, the show aired in the 90s, you know. And then it got some VHS releases and a DVD release early-mid-oughts, like when the first TV on DVD boom hit, and then those kind of went out of print. No one had the rights. It kind of just became this thing. It's like oh yeah, one of the greatest works of the anime medium, this device of work you can't really legally watch anymore. You could get your hands on the end of Evangelion movie, which is a that's its own bucket of worms. We'll come back to that in a minute. That's actually. That's the one thing I still haven't seen, because it's a lot. I'd heard about it. I'd wanted to see it. Finally, netflix picked up the rights. It was a huge deal. It's like we got the rights, we're doing a new dub, but we will be streaming it in its original Japanese as well. Just, we're gonna. You will have access to Neon Genesis Evangelion. Everyone is excited.

Speaker 4: 25:45

I was still like, yeah, i might catch at some point. But I kept hearing from people who don't normally like anime, who weren't like big anime nerds. Like I gave Neon Genesis Evangelion a shot and, uh, this is one of the greatest things I've ever seen. I'm like, oh okay, sure. And then it was actually Shin Godzilla that made me like bite the bullet and try it out, because I love Shin Godzilla. It's probably my favorite Godzilla movie now. It's so good. And I was like this guy made, this guy made a, that that Evangelion thing everyone talks about. Let's give it a shot. And so me and my sister because she's a giant animation nerd, she's a talented animator in her own right we're like, yeah, we'll, we'll sit down and watch it. We watched it. We're, uh, had to deal with it being both a masterpiece and horrendously bleak and depressing, and yet genuinely uplifting it. It's a. It's a. It's an ordeal like. It's a great show, one of my favorites ever made. Don't him, don't just like lackadaisically, hey, i'll give this a shot.

Speaker 4: 26:42

Be prepared for this stuff but then I watched the show. Love the original show read about why he made Edna via Evangelion and what the whole deal with that was like. I will catch that at some point, but that sounds miserable uh, but I did watch the uh, the, the rebuilds which, like you said, occupy this weird space of like.

Speaker 4: 27:02

They start as like. This is just a straight up remake of the show, and about two thirds of the way through the second one, it's like no, it's not, this is something else entirely. And by the third film you're like I don't know what's happening anymore. But it's, it's, it's very good. I like it a lot. I don't understand it. Again. Shin Godzilla is my favorite Godzilla movie. I can't believe they watched this and then let him make a Godzilla movie yeah, i thought that was interesting as as well.

Speaker 1: 27:35

When I saw that he directed Shin Godzilla, i was like, wow, that's the same they. They did that with that property, like okay, i mean like I get like, you know, he's got a lot of respect on his name, you know, like very well respected creator, you know, for I mean like it's a lot of like a lot of things I was reading ago like partially revitalized anime.

Speaker 4: 27:56

You know, during that, during that era, you know they did his, his uh production company, um Gainax, that he was one of the leading members of. They spun off. He went off to do his own thing, but Gainax part of the people who worked on Gurren Lagann went and reformed and made Studio Trigger, who you now know for everything from Promere Kill, i Kill and the recent Cyberpunk Edge Runners. Um, so they they're still you feel the aftershock to to this day. But no, they were a bunch of basically anime nerds, of like old school anime who are like we think something's wrong with the current state of anime. We're gonna revitalize it. Uh, but they were. They were giant, giant, giant nerds. They did.

Speaker 4: 28:36

They're famous, aside from Evangelion, fully Cooley and, uh, gurren Lagann, the show I'm watching right now I don't know why, i can't remember its name uh, they did a famous short animation for a convention called Dicon 4. Uh, that's just basically set to an elo song and is just a random mishmash of a girl and a bunny outfit going through all these different movie parodies and it's the coolest, weirdest and just most copyright lawsuit infringing thing you've ever seen. Uh, but it was them just being like we're giant nerds and we love this stuff. We like Godzilla and we like Star Wars and we like Ultraman, and yet you know it's so. Ono's a giant, he's a giant nerd, he just likes this stuff.

Speaker 1: 29:17

Eli, i know you watched this series for today's episode, so I I mean you, i give you credit. I I did not get through the whole 26 episodes, so I give a lot of credit to you for getting through it. What are your thoughts on the series? It's a lot. It's a lot.

Speaker 2: 29:35

It's a lot. Yeah, so I was. I was interested in watching it for the show. And then, fun fact, uh, wes Anderson, my favorite director, put out a list of his favorite movies and media, and Evangelion was on the list and I was like holy shit, i gotta see how this works.

Speaker 2: 29:52

Uh, and I watched it and I I enjoyed Evangelion the first half a lot. I thought it was a fun, darker version of like the mech-animates I grew up with. But halfway through it takes a turn where it turns into something completely different and horrific and psychological and it definitely is one of those media that I more appreciate than I enjoyed. Like I love that this thing exists and that uh Anno created it with his vision and did what he wanted to do. But, man, i really don't need to see that again. It was, it was. It's a seminal work. I have nothing but respect for it. If you love it, then I totally understand it. But it was very much like the first half. It was so much fun. Then the second half was decidedly not fun. It meant to be, like you know, not fun on purpose, but it was kind of difficult to watch.

Speaker 4: 30:39

Oh no, it is. I have told people I'm like it is my favorite work of art I've ever seen about depression. It is not even something, it's real. By the back half It is, you know.

Speaker 2: 30:51

It's real And like I actually watched the end of A Vangelion movie and that just pfft. I don't even know how to process that. I'm like beside myself. So yeah, i don't regret watching it. It was very cool to see this. It's one of the hallmarks of the genre and such a defining piece of media. I'm happy I watched it, but man, yeah, it's a lot.

Speaker 3: 31:16

You guys are making it sound like Grave of the Fireflies, the series which I describe as one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen and I never want to watch it again.

Speaker 2: 31:24

It's in that same energy. It's just like, oh my god, that was so good, but man, it's one of the works. You don't know what to do with yourself afterwards. It was just, it was a lot, but it's like with mechs and psychology.

Speaker 4: 31:39

Yes, Because we've mentioned it a couple times I got to give the backstory for end of A Vangelion, so the end of the show. The show has an ending Now. The show has a weird ending because halfway through making the show they had a real life news event that made them have to change what their original plans were And so they pivoted to be more about the depression that was already kind of at the forefront And they're like this is what it's about now, like it was already there but now we're diving really deep down on this kind of psychological examination. But they also started running out of money so they never really got to like and they're very creative with how they handle the fact that for the last few episodes they blatantly do not have money. So it gets very experimental. It works, it rules, but it is straight up. There's a couple scenes that are straight up, just storyboards And how they play it off is very cool, but they had no money.

Speaker 2: 32:37

Caleb, do you remember that Looney Tunes bit where Daffy's fighting with the animator?

Speaker 4: 32:41

That's my favorite short film of all time. I love Duckamuck yes.

Speaker 2: 32:44

Yeah, the end of A Vangelion series is that, but not funny.

Speaker 4: 32:50

Yeah, no, it's, but it comes to the final conclusion. It's this very raw, emotional. It's him trying to give a very positive. He's like this is what depression is like. I want you to know you're not alone, it's OK. It's a very heart-rending, open, like bare message, and people hated it at the time, it was not like at all. So imagine you're a guy who's already struggling with depression. You have made this very heart like this is your soul, bared on a platter, to give the world like here I love you guys And they're like this sucks. Where's the robot fights and the hot girls?

Speaker 2: 33:26

And he's like yeah, ok, yeah, ok.

Speaker 4: 33:28

So they gave him. They were like well, it was popular enough. You want to do a movie and do like an alternate ending, like the real ending. He's like fine, ok. Ok, you want robot fights and hot girls? OK, you can have it. You, sons? like it's the angriest, it's a spiteful movie of just like fine, i tried to be nice and you wouldn't let me be nice. So I want you to know I hate you personally for making me do this. That is the energy of the entire film And that's why I haven't watched it yet. So I'm like I'm good, i need a. I watch the first. I need some space.

Speaker 1: 34:03

So, Chris, I have to know does this conversation make you more or less likely?

Speaker 2: 34:08

to watch it even.

Speaker 3: 34:11

More likely in a vacuum. less likely because my wife will not be able to handle it, So I'll have to find time when she's not home.

Speaker 1: 34:19

Yeah, i feel the same exact way. I'm like I feel like I need to watch this on my phone, like in the dark, like so, like it's just like my brain can like look at it and process it And then like it could stay there, because if I let it out, then, like you know, like I'm going to, i'm going to feel and think too many things about the universe that aren't, aren't going to make me like the universe anymore.

Speaker 3: 34:45

The good and bad thing is that I wake up a lot earlier than her on weekends, so I could sneak in a few episodes there, but then, once she wakes up, i have to stop.

Speaker 1: 34:54

Yeah, Then your whole day you're going to be thinking about neon genesis and even ghillie, if you start your day like that, my God.

Speaker 3: 35:03

Well, is it better to do that or to do it right before I go to sleep?

Speaker 1: 35:07

No, I honestly don't think there's a good You have to watch it at high noon every day.

Speaker 2: 35:10

Yeah, there's not a good time to watch Evangelion. Let's be honest You're going to be sitting with that regardless of when you sleep.

Speaker 1: 35:18

Oh, man, you know, I give, I give both the like Caleb credit. I watched the show and I really enjoyed what I watched, but I was watching it at press time period to try to get ready for this show. And then I switched to Voltron because I was like I need something a little bit more straightforward, just like personally right now. But at some point I am going to dive back into Evangelion and try to watch it at a better pace that I think will be more sustainable so that I can adequately talk about and discuss the many deep themes that are in this show. I mean, it's talking about religion and depression and what it is to be a person and what it means to be a person on this earth, And just so many interesting things that I really loved. And you know, yeah, so I'm going to give it another go, absolutely, But yeah, So what episode of that followed by three hours of one piece.

Speaker 1: 36:20

How many hours of one piece do you need per episode of Evangelion so you can watch all of both at the same time? Well, at one episode of Evangelion, then 24 hours of one piece, and then you should be able to watch both at the same pace. But with all that being said, shall we get into the fight, boys? Let's do it, let's do it.

Speaker 1: 36:44

Let's bring it Just as a reminder. This is a fight to incapacitation, whether it be death, trapping, unconsciousness or forceful battlefield removal. It's important to note that we also take these characters as they are morals, ethics and everything included, except we are going to make them fight to the best of their ability. Also, with all of our fights, we have our random location generator. We have special locations just for our kaiju tournament. So let's roll the dice and see where we are headed today. And we are headed back to one of the universes we already talked about this season. We are headed to the Attack on Titan universe. We are headed to Parody Island, specifically Shigashina district of Attack on Titan.

Speaker 1: 37:26

So if you're unfamiliar with the series, this is, i mean, probably 17th, 18th century type technology. You've got a lot of low level buildings, you've probably got a few like cathedral surrounding, but the most imposing part of this area is the 50 meter wall surrounding this district. So you have a few square kilometers on each side, but this is a very enclosed space. But yeah, so let's jump right into it. So I think it's appropriate. Voltron swoops down from outer space because he is the universe defender that he is capable of flight, so swoops in down from outer space, lands on top of the wall and then you have Shinji piloting unit 01. I like to imagine that there was a secret sector of the district where he was underground and pops out completely out of place. This technological skyscraper bursts out and Shinji stomps out, and as these fighters eye each other up, i want to ask how does this fight break off?

Speaker 2: 38:45

I think it starts off with five minutes of the Voltron crew bickering at each other trying to figure out what to do and Shinji just not sure what to do and getting scared. So nothing is happening.

Speaker 4: 38:59

You have these two giants squaring off Like they're in a Clint Eastwood Western, but on the inside they're swabbling it and there's existential angst.

Speaker 2: 39:09

I was just like. This is why I was so excited for this matchup is that this is our first fight between two mechs, so it's not monsters, these are actual people, so there's going to be a psychological element to this. They're both extremely powerful in their mechs But, depending on the strength of the characters themselves, that's how I think it's going to determine this fight. So, yeah, i'm very interested in talking about that, but yes, i do love the image of just Voltron crew just yelling at each other. Lance is probably trying to be cool, keith is being or chastising him, hunk is looking for something to eat.

Speaker 3: 39:46

Lance probably wants to go and swing in right away. Keith and Shinjo are sitting there trying to hold him back.

Speaker 2: 39:52

Like we need a plan. It's like the plan is to hit him.

Speaker 1: 39:56

Yeah, i guess like, who does make the first move here, you know, does Voltron, does the Voltron crew get their stuff together first, or does Shinji collect himself enough and ready for this fight?

Speaker 2: 40:09

I think I'd go with Voltron. Yeah, i think, just by some of the personalities, like Chris mentioned, lance and Keith, they're the hotheads. I think they're going to go on where Shinji is much more reserved, i think he's going to be on the defensive. And, yeah, i think, right away Voltron gets the sword out, gets the shield and just starts charging, and Shinji, i think, is going to be on the defensive.

Speaker 4: 40:29

I was going to say it's going to be Voltron, because Shinji is more of a reactive fighter than anything else. He is more he very rarely. He either has to have someone in his ear telling him OK, here's the plan, this is what you're going to do, or, if he's cornered, he is a nasty scrapper in the unit one, but it is always a they move first and then I react to whatever they do.

Speaker 3: 40:54

See, i'm with you on Voltron going first, but I think it's more of because somebody's going to tell Lance not to press the button and he's going to have to press the button.

Speaker 2: 41:07

It's just like Didi from Dexter's Laboratory. Just what does this button do?

Speaker 4: 41:13

Oh no, it's absolutely in their character that stayed bicker And someone will be like guys we got it Like it'll be paged like guys, we got to just go.

Speaker 2: 41:22

I do have the question what equipment does unit one have? Because he has the Prague knife. I think that's going to be very important in this battle. We usually see him with some sort of gun, like, like it's basically a giant assault rifle like, i think, anything else or?

Speaker 1: 41:41

I think. Does he use anything else during the course of the series?

Speaker 4: 41:44

Those are the two things I saw him use and that's what I was imagining it with Having today specialized loadouts, so like they have the big sniper rifle and he has like a couple other like bits of gear for very specific situations. But yeah, i was kind of thinking the basic loadout is the Rifle, the knife, but also the AT fields, the ability to project AT fields. That's the yeah.

Speaker 1: 42:08

At fields, i think, are gonna be a big part of this conversation, which, before the doing research just today, i didn't realize did for absolute terror, yes, which is wild. Wait, that's what AT stands for? absolute terror field, yes, yeah.

Speaker 4: 42:29

This is not a subtle show. No, no, no, it's not kill.

Speaker 3: 42:34

Do you want to?

Speaker 1: 42:34

talk about AT fields quick. Otherwise, i think I got it because I got a Wikipedia page, because I needed to understand.

Speaker 4: 42:43

Yeah, no, basically it is a sort of force field that the unit, the Eva units and some of the aliens have that they can use to Protect themselves from sort of like. It's the main reason the Eva units can go toe-to-toe with the angels, because the angels are kind of implied to be like these, love crafty and like unfathomable, like Monsters. There's nothing humanity can do against them except the Eva units, like that's, that's it, that's all they got. And part of the reason they're even able to go toe-to-toe with what is basically Cthulhu and friends is the AT fields. It's this thing of absolute terror. It's the representation of humanities will to Not die. So it's, it's that's. That's kind of the big last resort thing. In one of the videos you sent is the bit where they basically all catch an angel that's trying to to touch down and Cause trouble, buy three of them using biggie AT fields to just push it back.

Speaker 1: 43:42

Yeah, the AT fields are what prevent, you know, prevent the angels from taking Harm and thus the avers from taking harm from like conventional weaponry, so like tanks, missiles, guns, all those things I mean, just like you imagine, like with a Godzilla, all those things would be useless against an AT field. and so I Want to know Voltron comes in swinging, comes in hot with the sword, i mean this sword that has taken down Battle ships many hundreds of, not thousands of times the size of Voltron and 01. here You know that, going up against an AT field, what does that I mean? what? what in the world does that look like?

Speaker 4: 44:26

It's not pretty. I'm gonna say the AT field, i think, can block it, but I mean, it's like that's the AT feels the only reason unit one survives any part of this battle. I got my thing coming in here is I love both these show. I'm more of an Eva guy than a Voltron guy but like Voltron is the magic winning robot like they they're like. Well, time to get Figure out our issues. We press the button, we turn to Voltron, we win the fight like it's. It's kind of a.

Speaker 3: 44:51

Not in a bad way, but it is the.

Speaker 4: 44:53

Deus Ex man, yeah, no it is the Deus Ex Machina It's like. Well time to fix the problem. You get Voltron.

Speaker 2: 44:57

Caleb Are you saying that winning robot was the working title for Voltron in the?

Speaker 4: 45:01

early stages, the robot that wins.

Speaker 3: 45:07

And you can't forget to that they can break apart into their five different parts of the Voltron and then just drag it off.

Speaker 4: 45:12

Exactly. There's like there is an element here where I'm like unit one is incredibly outclassed, except for the part where I'm like The AT field works like. That is the. That is the thing where it's like I do think that holds off. I think they'd have to get, they'd have to whittle that down before they could go for the kill.

Speaker 2: 45:31

If I can be in character for Voltron for a bit, i think a fun way they figure out. I like to imagine the sword is blocked by the AT field And at first they have to like figure out like what's going on. Part of the fun of Evangelion is that the, the crew at nerve, which is the anti-angel like paramilitary Organization, has to solve, use science to figure out how to defeat the angels. And guess what Voltron has. They have a science nerd and Pidge, and Pidge is gonna figure out how to break through that AT field. I Think I think they could figure it out, if not just the sheer power of the sword getting through the AT field.

Speaker 2: 46:04

I think they you know they are dysfunctional But you know when they need to they can come together and come up with a plan and I think Pidge, being there, gives them the scientific Analysis to like try to figure out the AT field and try to get past it. But if they do get past it, like you said, caleb, unit one is a scrapper like yeah, it's, you know when they get there and if Shinji's back into a corner, you know when. When unit one goes into like that berserk mode, it's scary.

Speaker 4: 46:34

No, that's, that's its main advantages. It's just like there's something a little like I said, the angels are basically his love crafting creatures. There's something a little bit worse about the evens. There's something about them. It's like these probably shouldn't exist. Actually, this is a little.

Speaker 1: 46:47

Yeah, no, the, the evas themselves are Horrifying. Like that. They are scary, you know they towed the line truly of mech and monster for sure, and I think that that's definitely something worth talking about. One thing that Chris just mentioned that I want to circle back to is The idea of Voltron separating. That, i think, is really interesting because, like Eli mentioned, you know, like Pidge and the pilots all have very distinct personalities and abilities. Like Pidge is the scientist, can figure things out and Incredibly smart, but the lions themselves are actually pretty distinct. You know that they have different powers. You have one can freeze, you have one that's a brawler. So, chris, you know what is. You know, if ultra decides to split up or Perhaps forcibly get split up by a devastating blow from you, unit Oh one, what does that look like in this fight?

Speaker 3: 47:42

Well, hopefully you have Pidge and hunk staying together, because you have, like, both sides of science there.

Speaker 3: 47:49

You have Pidge for the theoretical What can we pull off and you have hunk for how to actually pull it off. So if those two are together then that is a really hard team to go up against with this, because they're gonna figure out a way through that AT field. And Then the other three whether you have it With Shinro or, if you have it later, with the princess, you've got Three people who can work together well to fight. It's more of like a black clover situation in there, i think, where nobody is gonna be able to do it by themselves, but when you get them together They compliment each other well enough that you could have the guy who just runs in there all All hotheaded, swinging the sword like crazy kind of thing, but then you have the other support around him to distract well enough and keep it Unit oh one off balance. That I think if you have, especially if you have both of those groups going in together, then that's again to be a hard fight for unit oh one to win.

Speaker 1: 48:56

So what I'm kind of imagining, at least that in my version of this fight, i feel like Voltron advances really quickly, goes with the sword, but like I've seen things bounce off these AT fields like nothing and I feel like Voltron, the crew, they're not gonna be ready for that and I could see them like going too far and like hitting, hitting this AT field, which is, i mean, more than just protection. Right, you know, like unit oh one uses the AT field Against the angels as like an offensive weapon to so like tear through their own AT fields and so like I could see that being a force that like shatters Voltron into five lions and I really think that it gives them an opportunity one to not get defeated as one. You know, i think, if I think, if oh one Gets a hold on to like, if he, if he like gets this into like a grappling situation, voltron could be in significant trouble. I've seen unit oh one like grab aliens that were just Wiping out a city in single blows and just grab them by their appendages and crush those appendages. You know like I could see him doing some serious damage in hand-to-hand combat with Voltron, and so if he gets a hand on one of the lions.

Speaker 1: 50:12

That's tough If, or if he gets it, you know, like hand on Voltron as a whole. I think that's a tough situation. So I think, as lions, i don't think they stand a lot of chances successfully attacking, but I think it's a great mechanism for regrouping in this fight, you know, like, like Chris was saying, like coming together, thinking about the situation and being able to evade, because that's the other thing. Voltron is extremely fast, perhaps the fastest fighter in this entire tournaments with the lions Can't forget also have the their own ability to fly, like you know that they're. They're spaceships, all of them are spaceships, they're spaceship together, like We can't forget that part either.

Speaker 4: 50:59

Yep, no, in my brain I Concur Lions are a little at a little bit more of a risk than Voltron as a whole. I do think, like you said, in a hand-to-hand like weapons aside kind of fight, unit one I wouldn't go as far to say has an advantage. But I think unit one is going to be scrappier and meaner. Like there's that bit in when unit one goes berserk, where it just rips the things arms off like it's. There's there's a surprising, i think what catches the Voltron off guard is. There's a surprising strength there and there's a surprising sort of Nimbleness and berserker fury to how Shinji fights in unit one. That would catch the card.

Speaker 4: 51:37

I I Like I said I think Voltron as a whole Still holds its own. Okay, i do think splitting into lines That's good for a grouping, that's good for keeping unit one off at a grand. If he gets a hold of one of the lines, i think he destroys a lion like. I don't think like as a whole Voltron. I think it's a tougher fight. If he manages to grab a lion, the lion's gone. That's how my brain is just saying that would go is.

Speaker 4: 52:02

Yeah an individual lion is not as up to the task as Voltron itself is.

Speaker 1: 52:07

Yeah, i would say outside maybe the yellow lion Stands a little bit longer, but all of the other ones, i yeah, even even the black lion, which, yeah, if he, and if he takes out one of the lions, then I mean, then Voltron can't form, right, yeah. and so then I feel like, as a crew, you're pretty in trouble at that point. Do we see any of like the lions? I mean, is there anything besides, you know, a strong Sword strike that breaches the AT field? you know, does the shoulder cannon make its way through the AT field? I think the black lion when it.

Speaker 2: 52:50

Chris and Caleb, you remember when that wings spread out and he just Slice yeah yeah, i can see that Through, just cuz, like we talk about, even Gillian has its science fiction, but there's kind of a lot of like Magical qualities to it, and I think Voltron is sort of cut from the same cloth of. Yeah, it's science, but it's like science, magic, you know, and like I feel like the sword, the, the lions themselves and that like wing attack with The black lion. I think there's some magical quality of it that I think if anything can pierce an absolute terror field, it's the power friendship.

Speaker 4: 53:26

No, no, it's absolutely a thing where I think this The super slice sword, flying slice thing Or the shoulder cannon pierces it. If they whittle like they wear Shinji out. I think. If they exhaust Shinji and then use that, at fields gone, and then I think the, the AT fields gone, voltron wins, like the Unit one also has. We haven't really talked about this yet, but it is another kind of like massive disadvantage for unit 01 that I'm sure Pidge will immediately figure out and want to take advantage of is It has to be plugged in like there's a, there's a big old cable from the back of it going to give it power. You disconnect that. It's got like what? 12 minutes of power before it just like shuts down.

Speaker 1: 54:12

Which can get overrided if Shinji isn't a desperate enough situation, though.

Speaker 4: 54:17

No, and that that's that becomes its own dangerous thing right there. But yeah, no, it is also an element of because we're also We're talking about this like it's gonna be them at the most desperate of that. taking the morals of the characters account, shinji doesn't want to kill them. They probably don't want to kill Shinji. you know fighting in capacitation, i think, if I think The second they go wait, that thing's plugged in, take it out. and Shinji flails about like oh no, oh no, no. you know he fights, it's desperate, it's still brutal, it's mean, but the power shuts off and he falls over and they're like okay, we're done here, we're not gonna.

Speaker 3: 54:52

We don't know what his deal is.

Speaker 4: 54:54

I think that's to me That's the most likely way the fight goes is like there's a whole bunch of other variations, but to me it's just like they go. Oh wait, that thing's plugged in. Unplug it falls over. It's like, all right, we went for none.

Speaker 2: 55:05

I want to, i want to take, i want to pivot a little bit and talk about the location, because we haven't talked About a little, we haven't talked about it at all. I honestly think it benefits Shinji in this situation because he's smaller than Voltron. You know, we have the size comparisons at Voltron's, a hundred meters versus unit one, 70 meters, and it's in this, like it's sort of this, like Jay said, this 18, 19th century Kind of like metropolitan area. It's a big area and I think Shinji can take advantage of more of the buildings, of, like you know, skating by dodging attacks and and Using the terrain, climbing up walls, maybe to get to Voltron flying. I don't think it. I think Shinji can use the environment more than Voltron can, but I don't think Voltron's at a disadvantage, if that makes sense.

Speaker 4: 55:50

Yeah, no, i think it gives Shinji a leg up, but it's not like a game changing leg up, it's just like oh no, this benefits him more than than Voltron.

Speaker 1: 55:58

I do love the imagery of like Shinji getting on top of the wall and like I mean like the, for whatever reason, like the unit 01, like sprinting is, like I like to mean how, how fast he can go in the machine and like running around the wall like it's a track and then like yeah, like, like like long, jumping off of it and grabbing like Voltron by the legs and like ripping him down to the ground for a big slam, like I'm, yeah, my mental pit.

Speaker 4: 56:27

I have two mental images from this is, one of which is, like you said, climbing the walls But then doing like wwe, like Yes.

Speaker 1: 56:38

There we go.

Speaker 3: 56:39

Oh, it would be so much fun.

Speaker 2: 56:42

RKO out of nowhere.

Speaker 4: 56:44

It's Shinji with the steel chair factory.

Speaker 2: 56:50

Like the building, like you know how it pops up to give him a gun. It pops up to give him a giant steel chair.

Speaker 3: 56:58

There we go. I think the big one with this is Especially after learning that unit 01 has to be plugged in. Voltron doesn't necessarily have to win, the team just has to not lose, that's yeah, i think that's gonna how.

Speaker 4: 57:13

That's. That's their best strategy and it's one I think they'll pick up on pretty quickly. It's like hang on, we don't have to kill this kid, we just have to not die. That's our, that's our main thing not die and make sure they're done. That's it.

Speaker 1: 57:24

It would almost be more of a disadvantage to be if, like Voltron was evil. Like it, voltron like wanted to like beat the crap out of 01. You know like it would be. It would be different because if it did that then, like, 01 goes berserk, but 01 doesn't go berserk if it doesn't get the crap beat out of it.

Speaker 1: 57:45

You know like Yeah, it's not. Like Voltron is gonna start like Killing civilians or something like that. That's gonna like activate shit, like yeah, like none of that happens. So yeah, interesting aspect. So how we decide the winners here on Super Bracket Bros, each of us is going to give it out of 10 on who we think will win this fight. The out of 10 is just represent our confidence in it given fighter, but whoever receives three out of four or four out of four of our total votes is gonna be the fighter that moves on in The tournament. Eli, i'll hand it off to you. Do you have a decision in mind?

Speaker 2: 58:19

I do. This is one the matchups I was most excited for after watching you vanguilin cuz it's like there's like we've mentioned, these two characters are the most polar opposite of The mech genre. You can possibly get Voltron's this idealistic. You know heroes saving the day. Mech, or is a vanguilin, is a Deconstruction of that and part of that, you know, when talking about this fight, you know We're talking about the characters, the pilots themselves, and I think the Voltron crew just have such an advantage of being a cohesive unit, whereas Shinji, anytime he succeeds in a vanguilin, it's because he has a team with them, whether that's another Eva unit or the nerve command giving him orders and giving him strategies.

Speaker 2: 58:57

He's alone out here and we've seen so many times in the show. Shinji alone is not a good thing, and so I give it to Voltron. Not even mention. I think Voltron just have stronger power, like I think I think the AT field for unit one plus the berserk You know, scary mode makes this interesting, but I still think Voltron wins this pretty handedly. I'm gonna, i'm gonna respect, like the AT field in the, in the, in the berserk mode, and give Voltron seven wins, but I think it's close to eight. I think Voltron wins this pretty handedly.

Speaker 3: 59:29

Chris, i'm right there with you on seven. Like you've got the the world where Lance gets them too deep into the mud and they have to fight, but other than that I think everybody else is level-headed enough to be able to sit back and see what's going on. So I think seven's a pretty good number there for Voltron winning. There's just too many instances where They just have to not get the thing pissed off.

Speaker 2: 1:00:04

That's gonna be tough for Lance though.

Speaker 3: 1:00:09

Yeah, that's why they tie him to the chair.

Speaker 2: 1:00:11

There's this fighting without a leg, the lines tied to a building.

Speaker 4: 1:00:18

I'm gonna go eight out of ten Voltron, i think which is for the record, this conversation has helped me get to that point, because when we started as again Eva's one of my favorite things ever made, i love it I was like ten out of ten Voltron. Have you seen Voltron? that gets the magic winning robot? I Like that too. Like I like the show for different reasons, but I'm like, yeah, no, if they went in a fight it would be Voltron right. So the fact that I've gotten it down to like eight out of ten, i'm like good work, shinji, you're doing good. Because I did not have any confidence at the start of this to do anything. Shinji's entire flaw as a fighter is Kind of knows his limitations, but he's so insular. Literally the point of the show is him learning to, you know, come to peace with himself and relate to other human paintings. That's like literally the end of the show. But yeah, no, i'm eight out of ten Voltron.

Speaker 1: 1:01:06

I'm in the same boat. I, i Would go. I Was really, i was close to I'm. I'm still pretty close to going six out of 10 times for Voltron here, because I do think that that AT field is a little trickier than I think that we're, as a collective giving credit for. I think it's a little trickier to get through, obviously, the fact that you know it's plugged in, but that doesn't stop the fact that, like you, can protect it. Maybe I just haven't seen enough of Evangelion to understand how not great of a fighter Shinji is.

Speaker 1: 1:01:41

I've just seen like the terrifying nature of the berserk mode, but I feel like I'm defending my decision here. I'm still going seven out of time, seven out of 10 times Voltron and unit 01. Man, i'm almost disappointed. I really like this fight. I think there's some really cool moments to be had between these two mechs, but I'm a little disappointed it didn't go up against somebody else, because I think, like there's a lot of just melee fighters in this tournament that 01 could shred, you know, like that are truly terrifying and some like villains, that like don't have the forethought, you know, to not turn it into berserk mode, you know. So I think this is just, i think it's, you know, besides being an 11 versus 6, i think it's just legitimately a bad matchup for 01. I think that Voltron has a lot of pros here and I think Voltron is super strong in this tournament.

Speaker 4: 1:02:34

You know, I think.

Speaker 1: 1:02:34

Voltron's got a, got a legit chance.

Speaker 4: 1:02:37

I was going to say I think unit one takes most other things Like I'm going to be honest because it's not going farther. Unit one versus Godzilla. I kind of feel like I'd still give it to unit one, like there's a point where you're like no, it's just that a combination of like this was a bad matchup for unit one specifically, and I do think Voltron is like has a decent chance of coming away in your top four, if not the winner of this tournament.

Speaker 1: 1:03:02

Yeah, no, and with that being said, voltron is going to be moving on in the tournament. Voltron is going to be facing the winner of next week's matchup, where we are talking King Kong from the monster versus Razagith from the World of Warcraft universe, which is one that we have not touched yet on, super Bracket Bros, but I'm excited to dive into. But yeah, with that being said, i want to thank both of our guests for being on today's show. Chris, please tell our audience more about Play Comics, where people confines you and what you've got going on.

Speaker 3: 1:03:33

Well, the easiest place you can go to is PlayComicscom, where I've got links to all the social medias and everything you know with how Twitter is acting. Who knows where that will be by the time this episode comes out, but the website will always be there, and I think one of the best things about the show is you can pretty much go and cherry pick. You know, like you don't care about Batman episodes, just don't listen to them. You only care about Batman episodes. Then cool, just go grab all of those and listen to them. And I'm always looking for guests. So if you feel like you want to be on the show, then you know there's a nice list on the website where you can see all the games that I'm looking for people for real quick, and maybe we can get something worked out. I saw at least two faces light up when I saw that.

Speaker 1: 1:04:21

No, yeah, i highly recommend PlayComics. I really like the concept of your show. It's just a nice. it's another good take on a video game podcast that I really appreciate. So but thank you for coming on the show. I love having first time guests and you know I love to have any on today, so thank you.

Speaker 3: 1:04:39

Well, thank you, i agree. You know, like I think keeping it away from being a game review show was possibly the best move I could have done, because you know you don't need to hear game reviews for the 20 millionth time. you know just being able to separate that out, and you know obviously you can't 100% keep away from that. But when the focus is, yes, this game sucks. it's horrible to play. I wouldn't give it to anybody. But it really teaches you a lot about Spider-Man. You know it gives you a reason to go back and look at some of these games that otherwise you wouldn't have a reason to.

Speaker 1: 1:05:12

Oh yeah, absolutely, and that's why I appreciate it. And I also like what you said about cherry picking, like going back, and that's what I did. I looked at a lot of your episodes and was like I like Spider-Man stuff, so I was like going through and grabbing those. So, yeah, that's a great way to approach the show, if you're interested. Now, caleb, what have you got stored in your Bindle Forest today?

Speaker 4: 1:05:30

Well, as Chris pointed out, the easiest way to find up what I was up to was Twitter, but we'll see if that exists.

Speaker 4: 1:05:38

next week It's funny because everyone makes the jokes all the time, but it really does feel like every week It's like are we sure I'm going to open the app and it's even going to do anything. However, you can find me on Letterbox that CJ Van Ice. You can find me on Instagram at CJ Van Ice if you need to keep. But if Twitter goes down, that's probably going to be the easiest way to keep up the date on my projects. I don't have any. I'm still far too busy to actually like be on a podcast regularly, but I will definitely always be around, so if anyone needs me. but yeah, no Letterbox, twitter, instagram are probably your best bets if all three of those still exist this time next week.

Speaker 1: 1:06:16

Yeah, there are no shortages of Caleb Van Ice guest appearances between Super Bracket Bros, your friendly neighborhood gamers, and more, so no reason that you shouldn't have enough Caleb in your life. But thanks for coming on the show once again, caleb, i'm glad that we had this matchup for you today. It felt like it was meant to be, so thanks for taking the time.

Speaker 4: 1:06:35

Not a problem. Thank you for having me on, as always, it's always great.

Speaker 1: 1:06:38

If you're looking to catch up with Super Bracket Bros, you can do that on Instagram and Facebook. We were on Twitter for about five seconds a couple years ago and I'm glad I never went back, so you cannot find us there. But yeah, you can follow us at Super Bracket Bros. That's a great place to do so to keep up with all the show updates, and at the pinpost at the top of the page you can find a schedule so you can know when all of your favorite fighters are going to be contending for the championship. We also have a Patreon, if you're interested in checking it out.

Speaker 1: 1:07:10

Patreon I don't know how recent this is. I just recently found it out is that there are now audio previews. So if you want to just go through and peruse all of our selections and kind of get a taste of what everything's like, now's a great time to do so, because I went through and I found the you know some of the highlights and selected them, so you can go and you know catch up and see what we're up to over the Patreon. We've got unedited versions of all our episodes and we have monthly Patreon exclusive episodes. The unedited episodes you can get for just $3 a month. The exclusive Patreon episodes you can get for $5 a month and that's an entire unique, just to you content that you can enjoy on our Patreon.

Speaker 1: 1:07:49

Speaking of our Patreon, i want to give a shout out to Andrew, emily, the Wait For It podcast, matt Bliss and Kyle for being current patrons that are helping Super Bracket Bros live on and continue and helping pay the bills over here, and we genuinely appreciate it. As always, a shout out to Nick Heredia at NDH Artist for creating our new theme song. But that is going to do it for us today here on Super Bracket Bros. Eli, do you have anything else for the people?

Speaker 2: 1:08:26

The Periwinkle Pal, then, is signing off Voltron.

Speaker 1: 1:08:41

Then, thank you so much for having joined us on Super Bracket Bros, on behalf of myself, jay, my co-host, eli, and our awesome, awesome guests today. Caleb and Chris, remember no true hero is a one-trick pony.