TWIPYs: Behind the Scenes | Don Wants to Buy a Pokemon w/Ian and Colin

So Colin, Ian, thanks for joining us. You guys were...

Could it be back?

We're the main Twippy's team apart from Mark Silk, I guess, but he can only do recordings in the morning because he's in the UK, so I didn't invite him to this.

But I don't... I think he's got enough stuff to do anyway.

Yeah, it's a trip, sure it's fine.

I'm sure he got enough of us for sure.

Also, if he was on this, we would just be doing bits the entire time, so it probably wouldn't get...

We probably wouldn't actually get anything done.

My kind of guy.

But yeah, so let's talk about the Twippy's and how it went.

Can I just say that you guys...

Absolutely killed it as the creative team, like all three of you.

It was just awesome. It was beyond my wildest dreams, I think.

Awesome, thank you.

And I thought you guys did pretty good.

Thanks Ian.

Always room for improvement.

Yeah.

No, it was really fun.

I thought it was super fun.

And I think it took some chances in a way that the Twippy's kind of had too,

because to be honest, it was funny how I was calling.

I told you, I'm the only really holdover, I guess,

besides you, of people who did stuff last year to this year.

And so it was funny to see how different production really was.

And I think it was really cool.

Maybe we can talk about reception and even wanting even more people to see it than saw it.

But also, I think this is one of those ones where people can kind of come to it later.

And there's so many funny moments.

Yeah, it didn't feel...

Okay, one of my favorite things, something that sticks out from my childhood

or early teens is when Kono Brian did the five year special.

And it was a crazy mix of real stuff and clips.

And also a bunch of fake stuff.

And this was in that vein.

And so I love that part of it.

So that's a long-winded actual answer.

But yeah, also, yeah, pretty good.

It was pretty good, guys.

Yeah, I know, thanks.

Pretty good.

It was pretty good, man.

Thanks, man.

Yeah, of course.

It almost killed me, dude.

I got sick twice.

And one month, if you can imagine that, that's crazy.

That's full for you, too.

Well, yeah, yeah.

So...

I mean, yeah, it...

Because we, you know, kind of were ambitious and then, you know, didn't actually know.

We were doing things.

We're like, yeah, we can do that.

But things we had never actually done before.

Yeah.

And some of the video stuff, green screen stuff.

It was kind of like, yeah, we can do that in theory.

But we didn't really, I don't know, having not done it before just took longer.

Yeah.

And we had two back-to-back snowstorms, two weekends in a row leading up to the Twippies.

And then, you know, don...

I couldn't even get out of my driveway.

And so, don couldn't get out of here.

I couldn't get in the driveway.

Yeah.

I had to park, like, next door and walk, like, through the snow.

It was crazy.

For, like, the last...

Like, one of the last interviews on, like, one of the last few days or something of...

Yeah.

That week, which is, you know, we did the last interview, like, a couple, like, a day before or something.

Well, I think Thursday...

This type of Thursday.

Yeah.

The Thursday before, yeah.

So, it was...

It was a lot...

It was just a lot of editing and a lot of, like, you know, challenging things for people who aren't exactly, you know, video...

Video experts.

Like, we both have dabbled in that stuff and we knew we could do it, but it was just, like, there were some challenges and, you know, tricky stuff.

Honestly, though, you know, I think that this kind of, like, was for me personally, kind of a proof of concept.

Yeah.

Like, we came up with a concept, you know, collectively and, like, can we do this?

Let's try.

Yeah.

You know, and we pretty much did, you know, minus, like, a few little things here and there.

Like, the last thing for me was, you know, I guess, next time I didn't realize we would need an entire day to render.

Yeah.

To render the video.

The whole set.

Like, I literally was, I spent 12 hours.

I got up at 7.30, like, Saturday morning or something.

And I literally was rendering, like, editing and rendering all day.

Dude, it was crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, timing of that, yeah, ended up being late on it.

And which was unfortunate because we were like, we can be the first twippies that doesn't have technical demographics.

I know.

It's a curse, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Every time, no matter what you do.

But I feel we'll be in better shape if we do it again and, you know, we'll kind of know.

It'll go a lot smoother and I think we'll be able to kind of give us.

Are you guys over more time?

Are you thinking about doing it again?

Is that?

Dude, I think we should.

Well, I mean, and honestly, if we had a little bit more time, you know, we could collectively, you know, conceptualize different, like,

moments and bits and parts and make it more of like a collaborative thing.

I think for this, because we were limited on time, it was kind of streamlined with just us brainstorming and just like,

maybe we should do this.

I mean, we should, hey, Colin, what do you think about this one thing?

Yeah.

And I just to keep it kind of expedited and fast.

But I would have personally loved to, like, have multiple Zoom meetings, you know, brainstorm ideas come up with, like,

bits and skits and that kind of stuff.

Yeah.

But ideas that involved other people too, and we would have liked to bring more, brought more people into it.

But it was just a matter of, like, there's just no time to, like, try to schedule another person and then, like, do all that extra stuff.

So, you know, we did end up getting, like, Brad in there at the last minute and we got Mark in there.

Mark Silk and Brad Albright, the artist who's in the beginning of the video.

Yep.

But yeah, it would have been cool if we could have just expanded, you know, to more.

Are you going to keep the lore going?

The lore that you created?

I think so, I would like to.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I'm probably going to get a Pentonium tattoo somewhere.

Maybe like, maybe like right here.

Like right here.

Perfect.

Which, by the way, this beard, man, I think it was a side effect of the Pentonium, if you look.

It's, I mean, it's like a real dude.

I don't even know how I got that long.

Shaggy.

And the graze.

Yeah.

And the graze in the shape of a perfect gorgar face, which is crazy.

That actually could have been what it was from, perhaps.

I don't know.

So, like, can you guys walk us through your experience of the production?

Like, how did you come up with the concept?

And what was it like actually doing the work of creating it?

Yeah.

And also, how did, like, who made it really funny?

To me.

She and Shisha Shobi.

Dude, honestly, like, Matt and I have very different, like, strengths and senses of humor, you know?

So I think it was just a collaborative, like, I sprinkled in the stuff that I thought was funny.

And, you know, like, Matt, for, in my opinion, is a great, like, a writing.

And kind of, like, just writing out the stuff that maybe that I think is funny,

but making it more comprehensive or, like, easier to understand for someone that

might not have, like, my temaneric or kind of, like, a random, you know, sense of humor.

You're so random.

It's, you know, it's just, like, yeah, man, I don't know what it is.

Weird sound effects and, like, squishy sounds and, like, weird awkward moments and stuff.

I like that stuff.

Yeah.

I mean, I think we, we conceptualized just, like, right off the bat, I think it was like,

let's do, you know, kind of cone in meets an award show, you know?

Obviously, cone is hosting the Oscars this year and last year.

So it's, like, an, kind of an easy reference point, but really, my reference point

is more like the 90s, like you were saying, Ian, the 90s show and just, like,

silly, stupid stuff.

And so, yeah, the idea was, like, let's make it, like, more of a actual,

kind of normal award show, but then let's just make it kind of bonkers at the same time.

And then, like, writing, writing this stuff, largely, like, we did a lot of

filming up front at all the different locations.

So pretty much right off the bat, like day one, we worked on it basically

January 1st almost.

Yeah.

It was like a month straight.

Literally a month.

Yeah.

I think you told us, like, a little bit before that.

And then with our scheduling, we could first start it.

And I think we literally had, like, four weeks.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And, like, right off the bat, we went to Charlotte and Greensboro and different,

just went to the arcades and started filming a bunch of stuff.

Right away.

And right away, Don, just had a ton of work to edit, start editing all that stuff.

And the special effects and figuring all that stuff out.

So I just got to writing all the...

Well, you're writing the script on the way.

Right.

Like, really driving in the car.

Also, yeah, all the stuff there, we were writing kind of on the way.

And then...

Because we just didn't have time.

Like, if we could have sat down and, like, just kind of, like, rehearsed,

like, gone through the lines and stuff.

Like, we're just winging this thing, man, because we have to shoot, like, this...

The best thing that happened out of those was, in my opinion, was the man on the street.

Interview stuff.

Like, what is it?

Those are funny.

The ones with Wippy.

You like that?

Yeah, that was really funny.

And, like, having...

That's cool.

Because it was, like, having pinball people.

Like, they were obviously all kind of...

I mean, there was a couple of people who were maybe not as into pinball,

but it was funny to hear even pinball people.

Like, a couple of people got it.

A couple of people didn't, like, kind of...

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, and that was really...

Yeah, I think that, like, it's good to be able to...

Like, it's a very rare commodity, especially in the pinball entertainment space,

to sort of be self-aware and be able to, like, poke fun at yourself.

And I think that's, like, a really fun way that, like, it both...

Like, then all those people knew what the Twitties were after that, you know?

Yeah, no, exactly.

And then also, though, it was, like, just...

Yeah, it was really...

I thought that part was so funny.

Like, and that was one that I didn't know.

Like, you guys brought me in to write.

That was what I was trying to ask with my question, Dom,

was, like, how funny did I make you guys?

But...

But I...

But I was only...

Yeah, I know, but I'm gonna make you talk about it, my mom's...

You made me sit down and write some stuff, so...

But no, I mean, that...

I didn't have anything to do with that part of the show,

and that was, like, a real joy for me to, like, watch those little clips

were really, really fun, so...

But, yes, after I had done, like, the first pass on the cone of it

and the, like, lore pentonium stuff, then we brought Ian in,

and we did, like, a little Zoom session,

a little Zoom, like, punch-up session.

Yeah, we did rewrites.

It was fun.

And, yeah, you already had, like, the whole bones of everything there,

but a lot of it was, like, getting...

Well, first of all, I think the...

We really wrote the Arnold stuff a lot during...

Yeah.

And that was, like, because...

So, I play Arnold Schwarzenegger in that.

So, you were talking about you got too sick twice.

I think that actually cured my bronchitis, doing that voice,

because I was, like, screaming.

And, like, it kind of, like, I felt something...

I felt something go loose, like, when we were recording it,

and I was, like, damn, I think I fucked something up,

but then, I think it cured me.

So, yeah, but you brought me in, you brought me in to,

kind of, punch up some stuff, and it was really fun.

It was fun knowing that Mark Silk was going to read our stuff.

Yeah.

And so, that was really cool to do, especially that.

But, I love, like, dude, I totally got, like,

what you were going for in my mind was, like,

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, kind of vibe.

And that's my shit.

I wasted so much, like, dude, there are band camps that I want...

It's so funny, like, I was the nerd at band camp,

but, like, truly, like, I would be reading those books

instead of, like, talking to fucking saxophone players, you know,

or whatever.

But, like, so, like, I was getting those references.

I love writing that stuff, and I just could see Mark Silk,

like, killing that vibe, which he did.

Yeah, that was really, really fun.

Yeah, I've never been in any actual writer's room,

so that was, like, the closest thing to it,

and that was really fun.

Like, it's pretty much what it's like.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, it was, it was really fun, and we would just kind of try to,

like, it sounds so dumb, and, like, this is what everyone says,

but it's, like, you just try to make each other laugh.

And, yeah, I think what was cool about it is,

then, when we were, especially, like, for us three

when we were doing the Conan Clutch Cargo kind of bit.

So, for, like, I'm assuming anyone who's listening to this has

watched the Twitties, but if you haven't,

there's sort of a moment where Chris wrote it.

So, I don't think we had this part, like, in my script.

No, no.

It was hilarious.

We figured that we loved this part so much.

Yeah.

So, it starts with Christopher Franchi, like,

like, Trashing Gorgars Art, and then Gorgars.

No, no, no, Gorgars himself.

We were, we were, he's doing both, right?

Isn't he, kind of?

Yeah.

Well, well, we actually talked about, specifically,

not making fun of the art, but making fun of Gorgars.

This is important.

He was very adamant about not shitting on the artwork.

Oh, my God.

Okay.

Okay, guys.

Oh, it's sure.

Okay.

Yes, you're talking about the imaginary person of Gorgar,

and not the real art.

Okay.

It's just that all the, the only fucking thing we know about this,

guys, from the artwork, nevertheless, but, um,

but okay, fine.

When he's making, when he's making fun of the fictional person of Gorgar,

and then he gets, uh, and then Gorgar materializes in front of him,

and then, I think, I think kills is Christopher Franchi.

And he doesn't know.

He doesn't know.

He doesn't know.

In Twippy Laurie.

Yeah, he, like, really gets it.

And then, and then it kind of starts a bit,

where if any of you guys have seen, like, old Conan O'Brien bits,

where it's, like, just a picture of the person,

and then they, like, are, uh, like a mouth is moving, right?

So we all got to, we all got to do voices, right?

So Matt, you were Gorgar.

I was Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Don, you were King Kong.

And King Kong was my fate.

Like, King Kong was so...

King Kong was the leader.

Yeah, for sure.

So, um, yeah.

And, and basically, we just, like, do a classic, like, you know,

uh, like, bash guys are trying to control the room,

and we're, like, all out of control.

So, and, and for me, that was my favorite part of the Twippy,

is obviously, I mean, I got to do the most in that one,

but also, I just thought...

At first, first time I watched it, I cut it out,

and maybe laughed so freaking hard.

Oh my god.

It was like, this is incredible.

I love it.

I'm, my god.

Yeah.

I do, like, uh, Ian, when, at some point in Arnold,

you dipped into, like, an australian accent.

Oh, yeah.

Well, it was too...

It was hilarious.

There's, like, yeah, there's one or two line readings,

where I was, like, I would probably do that again,

if I could, but also, like, I mean, hats off to me.

I feel like that's a pretty good streaming Arnold for...

No, it is.

I know.

I was gonna say your, the first line,

I was like, oh my fucking god.

This guy is, like, legitimately sending this shit right now.

Yeah.

I didn't think you could make it for the entire script,

dude, you did.

Yeah.

I mean, I...

I used to be a singer in stuff.

So, you know, you just...

You just...

Channel energy.

Yeah, you project.

Yeah, I don't know.

I'm a...

You guys know I'm a big guy.

I can suck in a lot of air, so.

Yeah.

And initially, I was gonna just do the Arnold voice myself,

because I can kind of do, like, the Hans and Franz Arnold,

but watching the original Conan stuff, it's...

It's the guy who does the triumphant insult comic.

Yeah, Robert Smigel.

Robert Smigel.

Yeah.

And he's just yelling the entire time as Arnold.

And like, that's part of what makes it funny.

And immediately, I was just like, I bet Ian could do it.

Yeah.

No, for sure.

I have good German accents in general, actually.

Like, I can just do them, because I live next to two German kids for a while.

But doing...

You're right, though.

Like, I was watching those two, and Robert Smigel is like one of my fucking comedy idols.

For sure.

Ambiguously gay duo, he did kind of hard.

He's like, like, yeah, SNL legend.

So, like, I wanted to do it the way he did it, for sure, which you're right.

He's just screaming the whole time.

And it's really funny to hear Arnold's from that era,

as opposed to, like, kind of now, because I feel like...

He's not doing, like, an exact, like, the Arnold that everyone else does.

He's kind of, yeah.

No.

It's something else, sort of.

But, yeah, definitely was just, like, trying to ape that as much as possible.

You're right.

A couple of...

I mean, it was funny to try to find, like, what was the...

Like, uh, George Gomez.

Like, that's how...

Goumbes.

Like, it has...

It's, like, those are weird, like, syllables, like, to try to, like, put together.

But, yeah, so...

I remember some of those lines were also so long that, like, even as, like, a regular read,

it was, like, hard...

It would have been difficult to just say it, like, out loud, as you're reading it.

And you were just, like, delivering full-send, like, this full freaking paragraph.

Like, how the hell did you do that, man?

Well, I just always picture...

It's my...

Yeah, it's my ass on the line, you know, if it sucks.

So, it's like, just fucking have no shame and get it out there.

Right?

Yeah.

The Arnold stuff, yeah, basically, to write that initially, I just watched, like, every single

Conan with Arnold, like, five times.

And I was taking notes, like, okay, no ours are ever pronounced.

Right.

Constantly yell the entire time.

And I had a list of, like, 20 different notes.

Because they'd had, kind of, recurring things.

Like, Arnold was always making up some heroic story about himself.

And so, you know, that led to this thing with Ian...

Right.

...that, yeah, with...

...79.

...79.

Sideborg, you know, whatever.

Sideborg...

That way, Bay, we based the movie collateral damage.

Well, that was one of my favorite lines that we came up with together.

It was, like, about a firefighter who hates bombs.

It was bombs.

That was bombs.

That was one of my favorite lines, too.

Yeah, the one that I wish I could do that was your totally yours, Matt, was that I kind of

fucked up and I wish I could do it again is when he said, uh, it's a holiday, classic film.

Chikolata way.

You know, right?

He, like, doesn't really fast.

He's like, Chikolata way.

Like, he...

Yeah, you got it.

That's how a smile, like, he kills that.

Yeah, Chikolata way.

Yeah, yeah.

Every single one ever, they would always do the jingle all the way.

I think even if it was, like, 10 years after the movie came out, it was always self-promoting.

And then you came up with the idea of, like, it's the Williams...

They should have made that into a Williams game.

Yeah, yeah.

Exactly.

Well, and that was, like, we're both obviously fans of that.

And then it was fun because from there, it kind of set the tone and, like, dude, Don, you

found that voice, like, that you were going to do, like, while we were recording, you know,

for King Kong.

Well, do you remember, uh, your, your Arnold voice was, like, so, like, magnetic that I literally

couldn't find, like, my own voice, because I started sounding, kind of, like, didn't I sound,

like, Arnold or something?

I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Yeah, I didn't know.

I didn't know.

No, he said about when we were recording.

No, not in the record.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah, I never recorded it.

But, like, I was trying to find this, like, Kong voice because I, you know, I'm his panic.

And I was like, you know, I can, I can kind of talk like these a little bit, like, a little

bit of an accent or something.

Truly the only of us who should do that, for sure.

Right.

I couldn't do that.

I couldn't do it.

Like, I could not, because I, I keep, I keep, I keep hearing, was like, Arnold.

Yeah, well, you got it.

You got it.

You got it.

Yeah, well, yeah.

Eventually, yeah.

I mean, I think you were almost being too precious with it because you had so many different

versions of a Spanish accent, you were kind of like trying out some different, like,

like you had more.

I had like one speed on my pitch,

so I just pitched a hundred miles an hour

at the whole time.

You were trying to like kind of like vary it.

I was like, now bro, just like,

this is not about subtlety right now.

You're playing like a hundred foot monkey, you know?

So that's pretty funny, man.

Yeah, yeah.

I was, I was pretty happy with how that turned out.

Yeah, I mean, you don't,

don't like put it all together

after we did all the sessions.

Cause you know, on the real Conan thing,

they're actually doing it live.

You know, they have like somebody

and the guy is in the back room

and Conan is just interacting with him in real time.

But we actually had to, I had to do it Ian.

Listen, and this is like a no for anyone else

that's listening that wants to do this kind of bit.

Record like the head further away.

Because the closer you are, right?

The more like the more a minor movement will affect the actual,

I literally had to go frame by frame

and really center you in Arnold

every single frame for like, wow, higher performance in.

Cause like, well, you know, yeah, we tried, right?

Remember, we tried to keep you centered, but it was like,

well, even you, even yours, yeah.

I mean, I'm, I'm screaming at the top of my lungs.

Like, there's no way, yeah, of course, of course.

That just also shows you like what a pro

Robert Smigel was to just be able to do that live every time.

Yeah, I mean, the problem, well,

they, he was looking at himself doing it.

So I mean, fuck off, bro, I feel like I could do it.

But, uh, yeah, no, that is, that is crazy.

That's wild.

I can't believe you did that.

Like, that's dedication to the dedication of the pressure.

Yeah, I had to, man, I had, I mean, it worked.

It, you know, it's, there's like a few moments that, you know,

I think we decided collectively that it was worth the performance

to just have a little bit of the mouth.

Kind of, yeah, yeah, it was, it's hilarious, it's hilarious.

It does that in Smigel's stuff, too.

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

They played around with it some, yeah.

But for anyone that wants to do this,

if you're a reference, do not, do not get up close to the camera,

like get like a little bit further back and don't move at all.

Yeah, but we had to, we had to film ourselves separately,

reacting to everybody that, even though we were also the voices

of the characters.

Right.

So it created, you know, that whole aspect of it was like a lot

of piecing stuff together.

Yeah.

That took a lot longer than we were.

Man, it turned out so good though.

And you said you're going to bust out like some of these things

into their own videos so people can kind of just, yeah, that's something

that, that actually I wanted to talk to you guys about.

I mean, man, I haven't really like, after the Twippies,

we haven't really like caught up or done anything like this together.

So maybe we could all kind of talk about that and figure that out

after the session or now or whatever.

But yeah, I think that's a great idea.

Yeah, yeah, I think, I think we could like,

because there were aspects of it that we didn't get to do like a final layer

of polish or just like the audio mix at the end,

like was kind of rushed and so there's just a few things that we could

actually kind of like fix, I guess, that wouldn't take much effort.

Yeah.

And then post like kind of a final version of everything.

Yeah, I mean, it's potentially, yeah, exactly in 4K, you know,

because technically this was 1080 just because it just took so long

to export all the stuff in 4K, you know?

Yeah, well, it'll probably be the first director's cut that's shorter

than the...

Sure.

But I don't know, we've got all those interview clips too, though, right?

That's true.

And that's the other thing is like we're talking about maybe posting like

getting all the rest of the interviews finished at the same time as, you know,

posting like the separate clips of the, you know, Conan bit, the intro,

Pintonium bit could be separate little videos and just kind of having that

all ready.

Yeah, having all that stuff kind of ready at the same time and then there

could be kind of another, you know, the blast blast of sorts or whatever, yeah.

Are you guys, are you thinking like YouTube or like social media stuff, like

YouTube?

But we'll definitely like that could also be broken up into like shorts and stuff.

Right, right.

Like sub segments of the Conan thing.

That's what I'm saying is like I love like when I was literally just watching

like Conan posted the Bill Hader, like Bill Hader was talking about this

fart machine bit that they had on actually crazy on the movie collateral

damage.

He was like an assistant on that.

But it's like a little four minute clip off off their podcast, you know,

and but I and I didn't watch that, but now I'm going to go listen to the

podcast because I watched that four minute clip.

So I think that's like nice one thing I wanted is I want to find out because

I don't really know much about this, but Colin, I was curious.

Like how long it took for you to like write the, you know, like different

category descriptors.

Yeah.

Yeah, we haven't talked about that.

Colin Ross has all of the descriptions.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We have too long to do that.

Like I think I had what a few days or maybe a week to pull that together.

Yeah.

But like fortunately, I had some basic stuff I could pull from from the prior

year.

Which is like we had done this whole massive voting guide that covered all the

categories and all the nominees.

So I was able to pull from that and just sort of channel my like a

work show voice in my head and kind of turn it out pretty quick.

I love for most of my life.

I love watching like the Oscars every year.

So I had to sort of like play that a little bit.

Yeah.

I thought they turned out great and, you know, you kept, you kept them all like right

around 20 seconds.

Oh, and I was like, in hearing them done out, I think they could have been a little bit

shorter.

Like it did track down like a little bit, but like, you know, it's fine.

Live a mile.

Well, yeah, when I was reading through them, I was like, yeah, they're all about 20 seconds

and then Mark read them and like the way Mark read stuff, it kind of like a little

embellished.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I would take that back if I could at least do it.

Yeah.

But who cares?

And also like, isn't this by far like the shortest whippy's ever?

Like, I feel like it was, right?

Like, and I think we might have lost your mic or something.

Sorry, my bad.

This is it.

Okay.

Yeah.

No, it's definitely, it's definitely the shortest.

And that's good.

That's really good.

I think like lean into that, like every, okay, I'm like a weird person to talk about award

shows with because we, Colin, we've talked about this a lot, it's like I don't like

awards for art.

Like, I just think that's kind of stupid to like do that.

Yeah.

I think it's good because it'll get eyes on things like if a movie, right, gets an award

and like a lot of people wouldn't have seen it, but I got this award and that's good.

But like other than that, I always think it just makes people crazy.

Like, you know, Colin, I've got a little, I've got a little bit of it behind the scenes,

but it, you know, awards make people go crazy, whether they're nominated or not, oh my god.

Like, like, it just, it's a whole podcast about that.

Exactly.

That's what I'm saying.

That's why I don't like them.

So this one doesn't do that.

This one actually, what it, what it does is it celebrates the winners.

You really busted it down to like the categories that makes sense and actually make it a little

bit more about art and design, like how it is now.

Yeah.

And then the conversations exactly and then the inner, the interviews are awesome.

And then if you can bust that out in a longer stuff, that's actually helpful to pin

them all.

That's actually things that a casual can watch, can watch that and learn something.

So like, is it just going to be a huge dick sucking contest of what like award shows usually

are of like, oh my god, like, who cares?

We don't want no one needs that.

There's so much of that in the world, like, this is better.

So, so anytime what kind of talking about this and like being like, it's shorter.

It's got skits.

It's got actual interviews.

Like those are things like, to me, I'm like, yes, that's the award show I want to see,

you know?

Yeah, it's like, it's like the awards are sort of like backbone and the structure that facilitates

all the other creative stuff that you can do with it, at least that's how I tend to think

about that.

Yeah.

And we talked, you know, Colin, we talked a little bit about kind of the structure that

we came up with for this sort of potentially being able to be reused, you know, for future

twippies.

Well, I think, I think it is the format and the way they think about it moving forward.

Absolutely.

I think there's, you can only go up from here with it once, once we go, we were fine

it, absent more time to, like you said, have actual production meetings and brainstorms

and really think it through, it only gets better, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

By the way, I don't think we probably covered what we need to cover, but I just wanted

to mention one thing that I talked to you, Ian, about, was how we broke Mark's silk.

Oh, yeah.

Mark's silk.

We did.

Yeah.

Elbs orbs.

Yelp or something.

I think is what it was.

Elbs orbs.

Elbs orbs.

Elbs orbs.

Elbs orbs.

Elbs orbs.

No, it's a fake.

It was a fake yelp that I was like trying to make up like, like, because you know, like a

hitchhiker's guide thing or something, but like Matt had written something about there

was like a fake yelp, like an alien yelp that they were like looking at.

And so then I was like trying to come up with like a weird yelp.

So then I said, yeah, Elbs serves Yelp, I think.

And he like, there's this like 15.

You guys can probably put it in, but there's like a clip of him, like trying to say it is

so fun.

I thought it was like an audio edit mistake of the first time I heard it, but it's like

light.

It ended up kind of getting messed up in the final version.

Weirdly.

But what's funny is it was intended to be like sped up like on purpose.

There's like a almost like an alien language, you know?

Like that was like the way to say it in that language was Alps orbs orbs orbs orbs.

But it was the thing that Mark had to read like 25 times, but he actually did have to read

it multiple times.

I feel good about that.

Like I was like, damn, all right.

Here we go.

It's kind of like I figured out the move to get through like the judo master.

I was like, yeah, actually, yeah, it was, it was funny.

I thought he might break down.

Yeah.

And so now he was a total fro like it didn't phase him.

He was awesome.

He was awesome.

He was really awesome.

Yeah, I was working with Mark was was pretty amazing.

It was, it was the only way, the only reason it was hard was because he had too many good

lines.

And it was like, how do we even like pick because they're all different and awesome

in their own way.

And it's like, if we would have just done one or two of each, it would have been great.

We had like three or four.

And then like, yeah, he was like adding stuff to it and probably really, really, really

cool.

And it's kind of adding a bunch of cool little flair and like different deliveries and

like little side bar comments that really like enhanced some of that, some of that script.

Yeah, some of that stuff made it in.

But yeah, I would like to have, I would love to be able to like put out some bloopers

or something.

Both from like the session with Ian, oh, yeah, we had, we had some crazy, they're, yeah,

there's some, we're going to have to spend some time and go.

Go through and grab some of the best stuff from there because there's definitely some

really good.

We even have it all around, even have it be like blooper reel, at least like to get ready

for the next one.

You know what I mean?

If you haven't added of the bloopers, like that gets out right before the next 20s, be

like, yo, we're fixing this stuff.

It's your, yeah, it's a good idea, man.

That's a good idea.

Yeah.

No, I literally only have good ideas, guys.

If you, if you call that out every time we're going to be here all day, so dude, I can't

go with you, man.

Was that, was there anything else you guys wanted to talk about with the Twippies?

Well, I was going to say, I was going to say Colin, you know, like thanks for offering

us the opportunity and just like working with us to try to make something happen.

I think we did and we think it's awesome and fun and there's like a couple of little

things that I think if we had a little bit more time, could have been better, which I

think if we end up releasing like the, the 4k version, I think we probably will have

some of those edits in there.

I think it will be a little bit more like polished, I guess you could say.

Yeah, I guess if you haven't seen it yet, you could wait for that one or not.

Or not.

It's too not.

Go watch it.

Go watch it.

Yeah.

Go watch it.

Yeah.

Go watch it.

Yeah.

Watch both.

Watch both.

Well, I want to, I want to take away from that too, is like, dude, this was like such

a fun, like it was fun to make it, it was really fun to watch it.

And I think like people, like I said, if you come to it now, you're going to have fun

watching it just as much as you would have, like, if you watch it on Valentine's Day instead

of hanging out with your girlfriend, so, yeah, watch it.

So find it.

So thanks, thanks Colin and you know, honestly, thank you, working with you was a dream

because you were just so cool, so chill, like open to collaborating, like you weren't

hounding us about like a schedule.

I mean, it was just like, heck yeah, like this guy gets it, like, just make cool art.

That's it.

Yeah.

Let's just have fun, man.

And honestly, like, I think if we end up doing it again, I think it's going to be like

even better.

Oh, yeah.

So thanks Colin.

Thanks Colin.

Yeah, thank you.

Yeah, it was sick.

Yeah, it was sick.

Nice.

Well, let's talk about a little known franchise called, uh, what is it?

Pokemon.

Pokemon.

Pokemon.

Pokemon.

Pokemon.

I was going to say, don't ask Jack Danger, because he can't tell you, obviously, so I have

best friends.

So, yeah, I haven't, or any of us actual Pokemon fans, like, so I used to be in third grade,

I think, yeah, third grade, I got like Pokemon red, okay, and my buddy who's my best friend

on Game Boy, Game Boy, and we just duked it out, man, that became my thing.

And I had just moved to the U.S. I was living on military housing, and we used to ride

our bikes to school together and play Pokemon.

So did you also, like, watch the anime, because that was probably out around then?

I watched the show.

I played the trading card game.

I bought Pokemon, the trading card game for Game Boy.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, it was, it was my jam when I was a kid, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I think I was already like 16 or something when Pokemon came out, but I

was a gamer, and it was like huge.

So I think I did play through like the first one or one of them on Game Boy, and I was

like, that's cool, but like, I'm not.

Yeah, I'm a little younger, so I think that's why I got me, like hooked me right in.

Yeah, I enjoyed it.

Like, I played through the whole game.

I just was like, kind of like, all right, that's good, I'm good on Pokemon forever now.

Yeah, I think quite a bit, man.

I remember coming out, I was like in fifth or sixth grade, and like, it was a really

weird time, because you're like, I actually told this to the stern people, but I was like,

you're kind of in between adulthood and childhood.

So it's like, I had a bunch of X-Files episodes taped, and in the mornings, like, dude, I was

such a little freak.

Like, I was like totally alone in the morning and stuff, so I would just like watch an X-Files

episode waiting for Pokemon to come on, and then I'd watch like every episode of Pokemon.

So like, especially those first season, especially, I saw like every single one and definitely

played yellow.

So that was like a very big part of my life.

Just like, if you can see the like, the seed for the stoner I would become by, it's like

X-Files and Pokemon with like a giant ball of cereal, it's like, that's like the seed

that was like, just get back to that moment.

So, oh man.

What about you, Colin?

Yeah, you know, I was like 10 when it came out, so all my friends were into it.

I played, I probably played it a couple of times on Game Boy, but I never really like

got into the series that much.

So it's not a big cultural touch point for me, other than sort of realizing that it was

pretty big at the time when I was a kid, and obviously it's been big since then.

So it's just interesting seeing stern sort of move in that kind of younger, almost

youthful direction with the IP, you know, that's what's interesting to me, I think.

Yeah, I've been, I'm a like big Nintendo guy forever.

Like I had the NES in like 1985, and I even had like a Japanese Famicom somehow.

Nice.

Nice.

Oh wow.

And like every Nintendo system.

What is that?

Yeah, I was going to say it.

Check this out.

I was going to say.

Little virtual boy.

No.

Hell yeah.

This is just, this is not a real virtual boy.

It's like the, they just came out with this, you put a switch into it.

Oh, that's cool.

Oh wow.

Like perfectly emulates a virtual boy.

That's cool.

But yeah, I spent $100 on that thing.

So that's how big of an Nintendo fan I am.

Like I never owned one of those things, but I rented one multiple times one in one time.

From Blockbuster, I did that as well.

Yeah, I remember that playing Mario, Wario Tennis or Mario Tennis.

It was Mario Tennis on that.

And I'm very, very, very worried memories of, like, yeah, for sure, like an example to play.

Yeah, and it's just red because back in 1995, it was an LED display to be able to fit in

that thing.

But only red and green LEDs were really a thing at the time.

Right.

There were no blue or white LEDs.

So it's just, everybody was like, why isn't it just color?

It's like literally couldn't make blue back then.

Wow.

Which is great.

Yeah, I think that's the reason that I wear glasses now.

I used to have 20 vision before I rented a virtual boy.

Yeah, dude, you get a, if you play that more than like 20 minutes, you're going to get

a headache and like, oh, yeah, but it's like the first my grains I ever had was just

that thing, like roasting my, my retinus, your retinus, yeah.

Yeah, you have to like adjust the pupil distance and like no matter where you put it, it's

just, yeah, that doesn't feel right at all.

No human has eyes like this.

Yeah.

But anyway, point being like, I'm most, for as far as like Pokemon coming out as a

stern pinball game, the thing that decides me the most is really like what other Nintendo

franchises or might have.

Yeah, like obviously Pokemon's like the biggest and technically Pokemon is like is kind

of half Nintendo, half game freak, but you know, Nintendo was definitely involved in

this pinball.

Like they have their hands in every Pokemon thing.

So just like that door opening up, that's exciting to me, like Zelda, Metroid, Mario,

Donkey Kong, like all those things, they're all huge media properties, like as big as just

about any other.

Yeah.

And there's a lot of crossover with those particular IPs and pinball buyers as well.

Totally.

Like they're not gamers in all, yeah.

Definitely.

Yeah.

Like there haven't, there hasn't been really, I mean, there's a Zelda homebrew.

There was a terrible Mario game that it was a godly, godly, godly, godly, godly, yeah.

Boy, that, it's so brutal, like and, and you'll still see it, you'll still see it pretty

often just, I literally think because of the theme.

Like if that was some random, yeah, no, it, it still does well on location.

Right.

And it's, and I can't, and I can't emphasize enough how terrible that game is, probably

all the hate I have for bonebusters, I really have for Mario, but exactly like we need,

we need, we need another Mario for sure.

Like that, that's the one to me that really, like when you talk about it, like I would love

Zelda personally as like a theme, but man, like a Mario game would do gang boasters.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I, you know what's funny?

And I had this, so for our dream theme segment, yeah, I had this like original concept

called master plumber, with like, like Harry Potter, staircase style, like swinging tubes

that you could like, reroute balls, that's what we should do for Mario, dude.

Yeah.

All right.

I'll give it, I'll give it away to whoever wants to make marge, take the idea, so generous,

you know, rerouting tubes that you can send the balls in different places.

It's kind of, winch, easy, winch, Winchester has a mech like that kind of, it has that rotating

like circle that changes ball paths, so or, or like the, just, yeah, staircase and, yeah,

but like for them in there, just, you know, have different combinations and we've gone far

astray from Pokemon, but I do think there, anyway, yeah, there probably are, they're probably,

there probably are some diverters in Pokemon, I'm trying to think about, I mean, there are

because balls will do different things depending like when you shoot it at stuff, but do you

want to talk layout or anything like that?

I think, am I the only one who's played it?

Yeah.

I don't want to play it nice.

Yeah.

So tell us about, tell us about playing it in the stern event and just how that went down

since we were all wanted to go through, we're all doing like, quickie stuff so we couldn't

make it.

Yeah.

You guys were all busy.

Um, I'm the only one who's like super duper unemployed, so I had no problem making

that down here.

Uh, and you live, and you're like four hour drive away.

Yeah.

It's a four hour drive for sure.

Um, yeah, it was, well, first of all, let me just say, I think there's like one prevailing

school of thought that has come out that it's like, oh, this is some like easy shooter.

I think it is an eat, it's a fan layout, but also I think it's doing a lot and it's kind

of, there's a thing that Stern has been doing with their layouts now that I really, really

like where it's, if you're shooting it well, it's a fast floor.

The ball's always going, you kind of get in rhythm when you have problems.

You really got to like get it under control and it can be dangerous and I'll say this

for like all the like, whatever, I'm a fairly good player, I think, for, for all the crap

that Pokemon got, I'll say there's some really interesting stuff happening up there with

like the upper, like basically where the standups are and where the meowth comes down.

I had what was essentially a power drain down the middle by it, like hit one bank, hit

the other bank, and then like came back down and I'm like, that's really interesting.

Like those are, it actually, it has some surprising, um, it has some surprising moments

to it while you're playing it, uh, but it is like an easier layout.

Like and I think that's a good thing for obviously we talked about how big the IP is, like

all that stuff.

But and the rule set so far, the hard part about this is always talking about is like,

I think it shoots great.

I love it.

I talked about this in our article.

My favorite shot was up the middle and it will actually return as like an orbit, uh,

to the right flipper, like the meowth kind of area, like opens up and it takes that kind

of, uh, and then there's that other shot that feels like it should be an orbit that

is like one of those, like vintage, like George Gomez ramps.

And I just think like having those unexpected returns and kind of having, like those, those

are always like interesting to me when I, when I'm playing it.

The thing that I, that they talk about that I would love to see more of is like, you

always kind of at the stern events, you always hear about the code that's going to come,

but you don't really aren't, and I understand it.

Like I love all those guys.

We're going to do an interview with like the three guys coding, uh, Pokemon, just because

I find that to be so interesting, but it's just like, there's the game that they talk

about and there's the game that is there.

Um, the game that's there is fun right now, but it is not representative of I think what's

going to be in there, even maybe at like when there's like kind of like launch, like actual

official launch.

So, um, yeah, that's kind of my impression.

Yeah.

It'll be even better is what you're saying.

Yeah.

And better.

And that's what I mean is like there were kind of like I, they told us we could go to

different like zones and I know they have like different maps and stuff like that.

Uh, that wasn't, that wasn't coded into the game when I was there.

Um, it felt like maybe.

So that, that at least I never was able to do it.

I never saw anyone else do it.

I watched Steve Bowden play one ball for 20 minutes is he was playing with them.

I was like, this is the dumbest person to play with.

Why did I pick Steve Bowden?

I told him like, uh, like just glee play and he's like in his own little world, just

like having a ball, you know what I mean?

And he's like, we, and I'm like, God damn it.

Like, when do I get to play, uh, but, um, and I never saw him go to a different zone

either.

So I'm just saying, like, I don't think that was in there yet.

Um, I'm assuming that it will be though.

They talked a lot about that.

And I, and I think that'll be really interesting.

Those were the parts I was most interested in because it's like certain Pokemon are only

going to be in certain regions or it'll be like easier to find.

I mean, they're going to make it really like Pokemon.

So, um, I'm, I'm excited for that.

Did it feel like a child's game when you were playing it or were you like, I could play

this at an arcade and have fun and not feel like a doofus?

So the rules are really simple.

It's basically like monster bash where it's like you hit something three times and then

the fourth time is like a mode starter.

As far as a child's game, I mean, I guess they're all sort of child's game, children's

games.

Are they not?

Uh, but I don't know, like the art and stuff was cool.

Oh, dude.

This is one of those themes where it's like, I actually got this is, I'm going to, I

sound so shilly, but I don't give a shit.

Like, this was the one, dude, you guys know, I've been to like all these releases.

Basically, I think it may be missed one.

This is the first one that I actually got chills when they like showed us the game.

They showed us the art, the song played like, I was like, damn, this actually is me.

This is like my childhood, you know, like, and so, um, I think it's still just a twinge.

Kids love it.

But I'm saying for me, my child inside was it resonated with for sure.

Okay.

So that's, that, that's the interesting about the property, though, is it like it does

hit that nostalgia bone for like people of, of our general age.

I mean, it's 30 plus years ago, um, as well as, you know, some of the younger people

who are into it now.

So, um, it's got it's pretty wide of fuel.

Yeah.

I, I think like Gen Z people generally are like have no hesitation to just still be totally

in love with Pokemon.

Yeah.

Like, like, it's not like, I don't know, like for, for me, some of those things are like,

well, you, you grow out of those things like as you get older, but I think Gen Z, that's

not a thing.

They're not growing out of Pokemon.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm a bad judge of this because I like all the shit that I liked when I was 17,

so I don't know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I do too for, for whatever reason, Pokemon just always was like a more of a kitty, a little

bit younger, younger skewing thing than like other, you know, video game stuff that I

had.

I had that more with Harry Potter than I did with Pokemon.

I think Pokemon was still kind of in my age range, but I understand what you're saying

in terms of like, maybe not having that inherent, but I, I'm saying for this one, I actually

kind of did.

And I think like that feeling is there's no denying this is the most popular theme they've

ever had just by looking at social media.

Look at social media.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like, there are people, there are people who I never see talk about Pimball who are like,

oh my God, there's Pokemon Pimball.

Yeah.

Jack Danger was saying like, he's got, he said, like, he had an axe hit him up because they

know that he works in Pimball and they love Pokemon and they're like, hey, did you know

there's a Pokemon Pimball machine is like, like, he's like, yeah, I made it, yeah, yeah.

But, but so that's what I'm saying is like, it's bringing in crazy like, yeah, like from

everywhere, you know.

So you got crazy external media coverage too, just from all sorts of like games outlets

and pop culture outlets and all the obviously didn't tend to outlets.

So, yeah, I think even Nintendo like published something online.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

There was, you know, I follow some video game sites and podcasts and they were talking

about it on there and everybody, the overwhelming thing is like, wait a minute, 7,000.

Right, right, right, right, right, no one knows how much they actually follow until now.

Oh, that sounds so cool.

Oh, no, I can't afford that.

Well, you can go play it on location, but it's also really cool is talking to Zach Sharp.

It sounds like the Pokemon company, I think, is that who is like the owner of Pokemon

or whatever?

Yes.

So, so when they saw the game and were like able to play it, like they had, like, it had

just happened, I guess they were like enthralled by it.

Like they were like, yes, this is exactly what we want and we're like, hey, we're going

to bring this like, this is our 30 year anniversary.

We want these like everywhere that we're going to be for like all this celebration stuff.

Like we want these pinball machines there.

So like, damn, perfect, that's great, yeah, that's great.

So Ian, did it feel like a Jack Danger game or a George Gomez game or something else?

I think, well, definitely more George Gomez in that it's more traditional, I would say,

like there's not a lot of like the, when I think about Jack Danger games, I kind of think

about, okay, here's how it's like Jack Danger and here's how it's like George Gomez.

I would say George Gomez, we talked about that ramp.

There's a little bit more of a traditional, simple design, right?

And then it's going to like lean on the code a bit to like get good.

That's how bond was.

People didn't like bond until the code got good, right?

This might, this is kind of in that zone, but the Jack Danger part of it is more like

when it's flowy, it's, you're ripping it and it's, and you keep going and it doesn't

stop flowing and, and, and, and sort of these unexpected returns and where it's coming

from.

Sometimes that can change.

But the flowingness is like quite, yeah, Jack Danger.

Nice, nice.

That's good to hear.

I was going to ask you guys two, man, so I've been like kind of waiting slash looking for

any game and I don't know, man, this might be yet, but like, I'm kind of on the fence,

right?

Because like a pro would obviously be like the easiest way to get in, like I'm kind of

thinking like this might be the game to try to find a way to buy, even sell my games

or something, get the cash, put it on route somewhere, like maybe you get some money back,

at least have it pay for itself or something like this would probably be the game, right?

I hit up one of the guys that I know here, semi locally in Wilmington, his name is Eric

aka Zooty.

Yeah.

He has a distributor, he has a bunch of games around and stuff.

He told me that his distributor basically took an order for 100 on day one.

Wow.

He was like, he can't even, he's had a distributor for a long time, like since 2018 or something,

he's like, I can't even get you on the first run.

So now I'm thinking, maybe it's not a good idea, because like heard that there are the

first few runs that pretty much sold through, so later in the year, but you guys think about

that.

Well, you're a glitterotty media type.

You can't like pull some strings, so yeah, there you go.

What's, what's, what's, what's, what's Kaneda doing that you're not exactly?

Like, that's helped me, yeah.

He's, he's getting an LE for $3,000.

Uh, good Lord.

I don't, it's, that's, I don't know if that's true or not.

Um, I think, dude, I don't know.

Well, if you're asking me, if you're personal personal, if you're asking me, if you should

buy it and put it on location, this is like, I would buy a pro and put it on location.

like, yes, obviously, right?

That's the one I would do.

Like, I wouldn't do for all the Empire, I wouldn't do.

Like, other big IPs, I also wouldn't do.

This one I would do because I'm like,

there's a local record store here at Braxis

they've been trying to get a game forever.

It's a great all ages spot.

I'm like, we need to find a Pokemon to put in here.

It's a likely to print money, so.

I would watch out for it is because of the demand

from the game and how it will buy it

is if your local area gets over saturated.

Like saturated.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you're living in Ireland, then go for it.

Yeah.

I was going to say, we have a lot of pinball, right?

We don't have good pinball.

Yeah.

There's one place that will definitely get it

and it'll stop working in three months.

Yeah.

And there's one other place that might get it.

I don't know.

But you're fine.

I just think having a game on location

is such an uphill battle already.

This is one of the few games where it's kind of giving you

something like guaranteeing something.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So like, yeah, that would be my read on it.

Ian, did you get to play the pro and the premium?

Yeah.

I played, yep.

I played the pro, premium and Ellie.

I mean, premium Ellie are the same.

But I was going to ask this.

Colin, you, you, I don't remember like from playing.

But is the magnet only in the premiums and Ellie's

or is the magnet also in the pro?

Oh, I don't, I don't know off the top of my head.

Okay.

That sounds right.

Yeah.

I think the magnet in between the, the me too at the top.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's premium only.

So, so that is my only.

Okay.

Look, I don't give a shit.

I mean, I think it's pro because like if you're putting it on

location, it has to be pro because.

Yeah.

I do.

I mean, in exactly what it's become so that it causes me any

get stuck to it.

And jd 5% of the game is there

without it.

This is what I love wants turns doing in general is that

if I was an en we're not rich.

Guys.

Not breaking any news here.

But like you.

What's Stern is doing with their games now?

Is like you get most of again in the design and without having

the extra max and in what's cool about this one is you

get you doesn't move anymore and know the poke ball doesn't move any but they're there

and I know this. I don't know if Stern wants us talking about it, but that was at the

insistence of the licensor. They were going to maybe do plastics. It was on the table,

but they were like, look, we want it to look good, you know, we really want it. So like

the only thing that's really like for me a gameplay that was really interesting that

I think the magnet actually kind of gives a lot of variance to up there. That's the only

thing you're missing, like other than that, it's everything is in there. So like that

and means you're going to be fixing less shit, right? Like, yeah. Yeah, I just I think

the pro is super duper fun. I had a ton of fun on pros. I people also say I like them

because I'm a big guy that likes to move machines around, but which it's always way easier

in a pro, right? I almost yanked my shoulder out of its socket, trying to move an AIQ. That

was like a premium AIQ the other day. I was like, ah, Jesus Christ. But no, this one,

the pro is super fun. It shoots, I think they shoot very similarly, if not the same.

So yeah, nice. Yeah, it seems like Stern's been doing better. The last few releases as

far as like, kind of keeping like the core gameplay. Definitely. Yes, absolutely. And

it's probably way easier for their coders to like, I imagine, right? Like it's got

it, especially with a game where you're coding in all this shit. Like, but because this is

what I want to say is like to give those guys like a little bit of slack is like, they're

coding in, excuse me, they're coding in battling, like, finding Pokemon and like, going to

places, plus whatever, like how that represents itself in gameplay. So it's not like a broken

pinball game where you score like a billion points from doing like one, you know, the thing

that everyone is going to like exploit, right? So there's, that is like in that way, you

know, it's complicated. Did they, did I have, I would imagine that Nintendo is like one

of the hardest companies to work with because they're very, very protective about

their IP and historically that, you know, they got burned with the first like Mario movie

in the 80s and like some of that stuff was just trash. And like they famously like didn't do

any licensing or anything for years and years and years and years. And now they're finally,

I think because their CEO died a couple of your like five or six years ago.

Are now like kind of opening up to, you know, you got the Mario movie and I got another movie.

And um, but did they, did Stern say anything about working with, you know, the licensor or

anything along those lines? I mean, very famously, I always show up late to these. So I always miss

the initial talk. Were they, uh, well, so I actually, I do have something for that. But I,

I just wanted to say like in full disclosure, I'm not, I don't go to that part a bit because

honestly, I don't really feel like we find out anything at those. It's sort of like a nice like

PR like we got the license guys. Aren't you happy? It's like, yeah, okay, like congrats guys. Um,

I think the way that they got around with working with a really hard licensor like this is

they used, uh, well, first of all, they used the stuff from the show and it was like everything

after season 10 basically. And that was both because it was HD quality that it was like,

that was when they upgraded and also because all that stuff is still canon Pokemon. Um,

and then on the plate on the play field art and on the cabinet art, right? They used Pokemon

art. Uh, so like, yeah, and zombie Eddie said, right? This is like the hardest job he still has

ever done, just like laying it out. But I think that was how they got around it. And I do know this,

this is like a crazy story is so they were looking at the Pikachu, um, like on the play field. And

it was the like outline of it was in a 13 point like, you know, line or no, it was 15 point and

they're like, yo, like Pikachu is 13 point. Like they like, it's mind blowing to me. Someone

like measured that. They're like, no, no, no, no. Like you're trying to thicken it up because

there's like pinball reasons that you would do it. And they're like, no, when we show Pikachu 13 point

line, it's like, damn, okay. So, so I think both hard and not hard because it's like not hard

because guess what? You don't get that many choices. But, you know, um, but hard in that, like

the application of that, you still want to be awesome. And I think it's succeeded. I think they

did a good job. Nice. Yeah. So like, like, I'm, I'm honestly, I wasn't dare in a room, but, you

know, I've talked to some people who have been in the room. My, my understanding is that, um,

Stern basically got a seat at the table or an opportunity with the license because of

relationships that Seth Davis had from his time at Disney, where some people at Disney

eventually made their way over to the Pokemon company. And that's sort of how that came together.

But that also means that Nintendo is still a little bit of an uphill battle, I think.

That, that tracks, uh, because Seth Davis was so fucking happy that whole day. He was like,

walking around. He's like, he's like, who's gonna do the thing? Or, yeah, I was like, uh, who's

the guy who's like, kind of like always shaking his head like the professional wrestler. He's like,

it's bigger than Mario. It's bigger than Harry Potter and Star Wars. Like he was, I heard him say

that like two or three times. I'm like, dude, this guy is a lovin. He must be stoked. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

For sure. Definitely. I mean, I think he is. Yeah. I looked at the list of the top media franchises on

Wikipedia and Pokemon was number one. And it's not even close. It's like, yeah, quadruple the closest

thing. Like Star Wars is like, not even half of the sales figures of Pokemon, which is great. I

think the card, the card game is just, especially like pandemic and post pandemic has been like,

it's a multiplier for that thing because it was like, it was a kid's thing. It was all that stuff.

But you add in collectibility into all that. Like, that's really just, it's chumming the waters

of our capitalist culture, fellas. I mean, I'm sure Jake Paul is going to get one of these

machine rights. I thought about that, right? I mean, people are definitely going to be marking

their, their alleys. It's so funny, right? Because so Colin, do you have any insight? This is

something I was interested in is like, they were talking about, they had all these ideas for

the alleys and they're like specific numbers that are essentially tied to Pokemon. They can't

legally, I guess say that it is, but they are, right? Did you, do you know anything about like any of

that? Like, was there ever plans to like actually have that art or any of that? Oh, I mean,

I'm sure they might have suggested it or wanted to do it at some point. I don't have any

confirmation that that was ever like officially in the plans, but I'm sure it's something they

thought it out and asked for. It's just like something that people are obviously going to do now,

right? Is like if you, well, yeah, I mean, I think, I think a lot of people are, a lot of the,

yeah, the early buyers. And then I do see a lot of conversation around that of people securing

a certain number, like you're, you're podcasting partner Shane. I think he was big about getting a

certain number. Yeah, you got, I think he got, he got geo, dude. Yeah, some, some, some like that,

but the people are making that connection naturally and talking about it that way. So, I mean,

regardless of whether or not Stern is like officially facilitating it, like people are doing it

regardless. Yeah, yeah, I didn't even thought about that. It's crazy, man. What, what one would

you guys want if you got them? No, I don't, I don't actually know any Pokemon. I would want,

I would want Snorlax. I'm looking up the list. Snorlax is not bad. I would want Snorlax.

Okay, sure. I mean, I'd probably go Squirtle. What was the, do you remember the cheat on the

Gameboy game where you were like, you had to like find, you had to like go on this like boat and

then go on the edge of the screen and go up and down a couple of times. Oh, yeah. No, that's

Snorlax or something. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do. It was like a, it was like a, like a rare

candy multiplier cheat or something like that. Right, yeah, like level up forever. Honestly,

though Snorlax is such a like frustrating Pokemon because it's like just used as a barrier in

the game, right? It's like you can't get into places. You just like this. It's just the wall.

But I mean, I get it. I mean, Snorlax features very prominently on the play field. It's like

where the flippers like right underneath that, like where you drain. Oh, really? There's a big Snorlax

there. So that's cool. I would probably pick Abra. Do you guys know that one? Like Abra?

Yeah. Hell yeah. Yeah. Cause I have always like psychic Pokemon. I think they're cool. I would

always like play them too early and like in the wrong scenarios and like just be really fucking

frustrated. Be just because I thought they were cool. So yeah. In general, I like, I like those. I

yeah. So nice. Nice. What about Colin? Colin? What do you?

Is your, is your kid Colin? Is your kid too young for Pokemon still? I don't know. Yeah.

He's these two and a half. I he watched a few episodes of Pokemon the other day and like seem

to be sort of into it. But yeah, he's sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Word. I was going to guess 23. So yeah,

two and a half. That's a lot. 23. Yes. Dude, you know what? I just, what I just remembered

thinking about the Pokemon or Snorlax is my first pick, second pick, Mewtwo. Okay.

My screen, my aim screen name in like 2000, like 2000, my name screen name. Mewtwo rules,

nine, nine. Nice. Three two rules. Uh, Mewtwo rules. My nine. That was like, I was chatting with

like probably 30 year old. All right. Tell us everybody. What's everybody's aim? Um, user name

back then. Mine was Katie fan 16 and it stood for Carl Denson, the jazz saxophone player,

which I thought was cool. Of course. I was a music guru six with the K.

It was a screen name. I don't know if you if you guys all all remembered the like MTV

game show where they had like a online trivia component. It was like one of the first ones

to ever do that. So that that was my screen name from that and I just used it.

Nice aim too. That's hilarious. Oh, there's mine was. So I, I, I drove a Honda CRX. That was my,

I don't know if you guys know what that car is, but it was like a cool hatchback. Yeah.

Yeah. 90s. I used to race it a little bit. Autocross it. So my, my screen user name was CRX Goon.

Damn. That's actually like the toughest of all of our names. That is by far the toughest one.

Like still holds up. That one's good. Actually, yeah, dude. You have like bring that back.

You have real lore like behind you that we don't even know about. You're like, yeah,

back in my fucking street racing days. Have you ever watched, have you ever watched initial D?

Do you know what that is? I'm a, I'm a familiar with it. Yeah. Okay. I like get into it right.

Dude, you should get into it. You would like it now. I still watch it. Hipes me up, bro. Yeah.

There was a game too. Like an arcade game. Yeah, it's good. It's, it's good. Yeah. But anyway,

I, that's how I'm thinking about you. Like, because it's like basically about a kid who has like

kind of a shitty car, but it's like amazing at drifting and he can like win every race.

And everyone's like, I think that's like how I think about you. I think you had a Toyota 86. He does.

Yeah. He does. He does. If it was the CRX, I would have definitely watched that show.

Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. That's so funny. That's funny, man. So anyway, Pokemon. Is there,

is there anything else to talk about with Pokemon? I'm going to try to get one, dude. Yeah. Yeah,

I'm going to try to get one. I think it's, I think it's time because I've, I've been like,

kind of waiting for a new game and like, you know, I think I can kind of like wheel and deal the

ones that I have now to pin the cash and be fine. So I mean, I was going to say go, go hit up Jeff

from Mad Pinball. Maybe he'll get you to the front of us. Yeah. He's a mad pinball. Yeah,

mad pinball. He's just, they're a sponsor of the Nudge Kess. So that's why I'm saying. Oh,

cool. Oh, cool. They could, I don't know, but that's cool because I don't, I don't really know

anyone. Yeah. I'm saying he might hit them up. Hit Jeff up. Sir, Sirvana. Is that his name?

They had games that, um, triangle pinball collected. Mad pinball had games over there. Oh, really? Yeah.

He's a good, he's a really good guy. He's super nice. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, thanks for the tip.

Welcome. Uh, so a side note, do he, does Stern have any like, uh, like demo loner thing that they

do with like streamers or anything like that? I thought I heard somebody say something about it.

I think they did. Yeah. Ralph had a deal with them. How do they do anymore? I don't, I don't

either. It was all coordinated through their distributor network. So, um, word. And I think

one of their PR firms too. So, no, I would, I would love a game from Stern. That would be sick.

But, uh, yeah. All right. It's, it's probably like all metrics based to, right?

Well, I mean, you got, you got to plan some seeds first. So I mean, if you guys did like,

if you stream like twice a week or something, I'm sure, you know, about something to talk about.

Yeah. But you don't even stream twice a year right now. So, you know, you got to, yeah,

got to do that first. You guys are going to start streaming games. Yeah. I think so. I'm going to

build a streaming rig like in the next month. I've, I've thought about that so much. Uh, I would

love to do that. Well, because we do budge the nudge and all that stuff. Um, and I would love to

like do some film versions of that because I also think it'd be funny. Like I can rip on people

on stream kind of, um, but you'd be, you'd be a, you'd be a hilarious streamer. Seriously. Yeah.

You really should have thanks. Um, but I think, yeah, that, that's cool. I'm like, I'll watch you

guys do it first and then learn from your mistakes. All right. Sounds good. Appreciate that. Yeah,

you can give us some feedback. Of course. Make it worthwhile. Well, you guys know I'm like your

biggest fan. Well, it's probably who's that one guy is your actually biggest fan and then me,

but uh, the audio Glenn, Glenn's probably. Oh, Glenn Wector. We love you. Glenn Wector is

your biggest fan. But I'm like, you know, I'm coming in distant second. So.

Nice. Well, thanks for the support. We appreciate it. Um, was there anything else you guys

want to talk about? I want to hear more from Colin if he has anything he wants to say. Um,

but I'm good personally. Anything, anything to add about Pokemon or otherwise?

I think I would do Pory gun. That would be my, oh, 137. Wow. That looks, that looks kind of cool.

137. If I, if I had to pick one. Nice, dude. Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited to play it. I mean,

this is this is the first media event that I haven't gone to since Wix. So it's sort of watching

it from a distance. And I got some big time filmo from hearing everyone's feedback on the game

and how much they liked it and how much fun it was. And obviously how excited, uh, the rest of

the community is about this release. It's really, it's really, um, positive to see.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm like similar to Harry Potter. It's just like one of these huge franchises

that needed to be a pinball machine. Just for, just for like the growth of the community and the

hobby and all this stuff. So I'm glad that it's not a turd and that home pin didn't make it. So

totally like, could you imagine? It's home pins making Digimon. That's the one.

Oh, man. Dude, that's, that's true. But, but who's gonna make Yugiodo? Oh, shit. That'd be like,

that's like, that's like a barrel's title. It's like, it's got, it's got like a strong base.

It's like a weird cult following you know, like, yeah, we'll make you love it for sure. So,

so before we, before we wrap that, what's Stern's next game going to be? Do we know? Does,

are the rumors like, everyone says Transformers? Transformers.

Yeah. But Elliot is the, is the rumor. I don't, I don't have any like in on like that at all,

but I think that's probably what it's going to be. I'm not super jacked on that theme or anything,

but Elliot's a really cool guy. I think he's like smart. I'll like to, look, I just want, yeah,

exactly. I want new, I want new ideas in Pimbal. I want young people in Pimbal. So I'm like,

on a, on a designer who's under 50. Yeah, I thought Wick was great too. I still, I love that.

I still love John Lincoln. Well, I think that's going to wrap it up.

Yeah, that was fun. Do you want us to say buy or anything? Are we doing like, yeah, that's going to say.

Yeah, we can do that. Maybe when, um, bye, everyone is chatting.

All right. See you. See you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Watch more Pokemon. That is a 23. All right. All right. See you guys. Bye.

All right.

We turn to your own.

Evacuate all personnel.