#23: Voltron: Legendary Defender/Dragon Ball FighterZ/Altered Carbon

Chris is back! Fellow indie animator Ben Reynolds makes his debut! I can't stop using exclamation points! We talk a healthy variety of topics this week, from opening discussions and projects that drive our longtime message "Animation is hard" home, to Ben's thoughts on the recent Netflix series Altered Carbon, and Chris and John finally dishing out their feelings about Dragon Ball FighterZ after months of personal hype.

But the bulk of the episode goes to Ben's pick of another ongoing Netflix exclusive, as the three of us talk about the characters, action, writing, and other ingredients that make Voltron: Legendary Defender (Seasons 1 & 2 to be specific) something special. Expect some observations on older incarnations of the franchise, Studio Trigger aliens voiced by Norman Reedus, why emo Coran is the best, issues with mech transformation scenes, how Chris can go ahead loving Lance all by his lonesome, and a horrifying Google search that has blessed you with this episode's thumbnail. Plus, listen to the end for our roadmap regarding the next two episodes.

Check out the debut short of John's sci-fi cartoon, Spacious: https://youtu.be/L34V0mq0Fm8
Check out Ben's work in drawing and animation: http://ben-reynolds.com/

Email feedback and suggestions for the show to: behonkiss@gmail.com

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Show homepage: http://sketchwatchplay.blogspot.com/
John's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Behonkiss
Chris's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChristopTheWade
Ben's Twitter: https://twitter.com/daiconv

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#22-B: Final Fantasy Retrospective

As teased at previously, John and guest host Marc Gonzalez take on something of an intimidating task and devote an hour and a half to a freeform discussion on the juggernaut that is the Final Fantasy series.  Typical topics like favorite entries are brought up, but expect tangents on other Square Enix games and JRPGs in general, the series' history and transition from Nintendo to Sony, observations on the cult of FF7, John's old tradition of discovering surprising voice actors throughout the series, what happens when an FF13 fan meets an FF13 hater, and Bubsy.  Somehow, we keep bringing up Bubsy.
Check out John's new animated short, "Spacious: Self-Demotion", on YouTube: https://youtu.be/L34V0mq0Fm8 And Newgrounds: https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/705055
Check out Marc's podcast: http://fanoffmedia.com/shows/gen/
Show Twitter (Send feedback, questions, and requests!): https://twitter.com/sketchwatchplay
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Show homepage: http://sketchwatchplay.blogspot.com/
John's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Behonkiss
Marc's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DankInEffect
Chris's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChristopTheWade
Opening song: Joe Redifer - Final Fantasy V "ROBOVoice"

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#22-A: Coco/Alita: Battle Angel Trailer/Zootopia Fan Comic

Originally recorded in mid-December and teased at in our bonus holiday episode, first time guest Marc Gonzalez from Generation Animation joins John to talk about a wide variety of topics. John gives his overall thoughts on Pixar's latest without giving anything away the trailers already haven't, Marc gives his thoughts and expectations on Robert Rodriguez's upcoming big-screen adaptation of one of his favorite comics, and because it was making the rounds when this was recorded, we try to wrap our heads around THAT Zootopia fan comic.
Tangents include Marc's thoughts on recent fighting games, speculation on the ramifications of the Disney buyout of Fox, the Olaf short that angered moviegoers everywhere, and John having the euphoric revelation that Tommy Wiseau is on Twitter now. Look forward to the second half soon, where we take a look back at the Final Fantasy franchise.
20:07 - Zootopia "I Will Survive" fan comic discussion
26:27 - Coco review (no spoilers)
58:29 - Alita: Battle Angel trailer thoughts and speculation
Show Twitter (Send feedback, questions, and requests!): https://twitter.com/sketchwatchplay
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Show homepage: http://sketchwatchplay.blogspot.com/
John's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Behonkiss
Marc's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DankInEffect
Chris's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChristopTheWade
Read John's initial real-time reaction texts to Chris while reading I Will Survive: http://behonkiss.tumblr.com/post/168306975227/so-i-sent-that-first-image-to-chris-not-knowing
Check out Marc's podcast, Generation Animation: http://fanoffmedia.com/shows/gen/

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Bonus: The Christmas Tree Audio Commentary

It's a Christmas miracle! Not the great kind though, more that Chris and Serena Wade were able to persevere through their first full viewing of the amazingly bad holiday cartoon The Christmas Tree. John joins in and records a group viewing, with plenty of outbursts, horrified utterances, unintended laughter, and plenty of questions with no chance of an answer.
Listen to the previous bonus episode for a proper review of this thing along with our Best Media of 2017 picks, and feel free to watch along with us via the YouTube upload we used: https://youtu.be/GlFtMxG6mnY
Happy holidays and New Year to all our listeners - look forward to Episode 22, Chris's return and more new guests and topics soon!
Show Twitter (Follow for updates, and send feedback and requests): https://twitter.com/sketchwatchplay
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Show homepage: http://sketchwatchplay.blogspot.com/
John's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Behonkiss
Chris's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChristopTheWade
Serena's Twitter: https://twitter.com/omnomsenzubean

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Bonus Holiday Episode: The Christmas Tree (1991)/Best of 2017 Awards

Episode 22 is fully recorded and still being edited, but with the winter holidays coming up, John decides to pull a Christmas miracle and sneak an extra episode out, not only getting Chris back to co-host, but recording on location at the Wade residence, mercifully sparing us of any Skype & Discord errors. We take this opportunity towards the end of 2017 to do a personal awards show, listing not just what films, TV shows, and games we adored the most, but also look back on Sketch Watch Play's history so far to discuss our favorite episodes and moments as well as plans for the near future, with John throwing a curveball of an extra award out as a capper.
But that's far from the only thing we discuss in this episode. The actual reason John went to Chris in person was to show him a little special from 1991 by the name of The Christmas Tree, an independent animation that's got a reputation for all the wrong reasons. Be it the garish character designs, numerous animation errors, abysmal voice acting, or straight-up insane last act, there's a lot here for so-bad-it's-good fans like John (And a lot of pain for non-fans like Chris). Discussions include theories on what was surely a messy production and its director, the possibility of expanded lore that enriches its insane villain, one particularly disturbing early moment that steers it into anime territory, and Serena Wade's first proper appearance on the show.
John recorded audio of our entire watch, and will put that up as an additional bonus commentary soon. If you're curious about watching this thing for yourself, either check out the reviews John mentions towards the beginning or the actual special here if you have the stomach for it: https://youtu.be/GlFtMxG6mnY
01:25 - The Christmas Tree review
44:38 - Best of 2017 awards
Show Twitter (Follow for updates, and send feedback and requests): https://twitter.com/sketchwatchplay
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Show homepage: http://sketchwatchplay.blogspot.com/
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Chris's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChristopTheWade
Watch John's analysis of Sonic Forces' ridiculous writing: https://youtu.be/xLWBRhj83AM

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#21-B: X-Men Movie Retrospective Pt. 2

John and Tyrone finish off their X-Men movie retrospective by tackling the films past the original trilogy. Tyrone covers Origins & Apocalypse, both tackle First Class, Days of Future Past, & Logan, and we honestly both skipped The Wolverine because neither of us were ever interested enough to see it (And Deadpool, because although we both liked it, it's a different beast compared to the main series- Apologies.)
Topics include how Origins' director seems like a bad fit stylistically, how First Class mishandles the first appearance of a particular character, John's controversial opinion of Days of Future Past, and more talk about Logan than the rest because it's such a unique beast (HA!) of a sendoff film, and there's a lot about it to dissect.
One more thing: The recording of this episode brought with it a record number of technical problems while recording, leading to an extended editing period and numerous spots where John's stereo sound isn't equalized. We tried our best to correct things, but still apologize for what's noticeably off and have figured out how to lessen these issues going forward.
00:20 - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
07:19 - First Class
18:28 - Days of Future Past
27:40 - Apocalypse
36:37 - Logan
Show Twitter (Send feedback, questions, and requests!): https://twitter.com/sketchwatchplay
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Show homepage: http://sketchwatchplay.blogspot.com/
John's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Behonkiss
Tyrone's Twitter: https://twitter.com/tyronehydraulic
Chris's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChristopTheWade
Check out Tyrone's webcomic, Elements of Light: http://eolcomic.blogspot.com/
Check out Tyrone's indie film fest Soul 4 Reel: https://twitter.com/Soul4Reel
Watch John's analysis of Sonic Forces' ridiculous writing: https://youtu.be/xLWBRhj83AM

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#21-A: Thor: Ragnarok/X-Men Movie Retrospective Pt. 1

Thanksgiving break is winding down, which means that John is finally editing together the behemoth that is Episode 21 (And by behemoth we mean it - hence the Part 1). Tyrone Selby returns as the latest rotating co-host for an unintentionally Marvel-centric episode, as the two discuss their overall thoughts on the latest Thor film to hit theaters, then dive into the long and varied juggernaut (HA) that is Fox's X-Men movie franchise. This episode covers the original three present-day films, with Part 2 touching on the Wolverine spinoffs and the more recent prequel entries.
Observations include the great central conflict that drives the characters, coming at the series with varying levels of background knowledge, some iconic characters that get a bum deal, why we didn't find The Last Stand the disaster everyone cites it as, and John's stance on why he'd prefer the series stay independent from the MCU. Special bonus: So many audio issues that John had to add a disclaimer at the start.
09:37 - Thor: Ragnarok review (Spoilers)
39:22 - X-Men/X2/X-Men: The Last Stand discussions (Spoilers for all three)
Show Twitter (Send feedback, questions, and requests!): https://twitter.com/sketchwatchplay
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Show homepage: http://sketchwatchplay.blogspot.com/
John's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Behonkiss
Tyrone's Twitter: https://twitter.com/tyronehydraulic
Chris's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChristopTheWade
Check out Tyrone's webcomic, Elements of Light: http://eolcomic.blogspot.com/
Check out Tyrone's indie film fest Soul 4 Reel: https://twitter.com/Soul4Reel
Watch John's grandma seeing the original Thor for the first time: https://youtu.be/DDztQDoOtbY

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