EP8 - STAR WARS

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:08] Speaker B: My name is Nathan. Yes, there's two of us now. I'm sure that won't get confusing. Today we're talking about Star wars the Good, the Bad and the prequels. Strap on in. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. Dozo Yoroshuku. I was a stay at home dad, so a lot of it came down to what can I do? [00:00:35] Speaker A: You know, you do whatever you want. You just have to put your heart. [00:00:37] Speaker B: Yeah, not when I'm taking care of an 8 year old and a 5 year old. [00:00:40] Speaker A: No. [00:00:40] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that's not a thing. [00:00:42] Speaker A: Hello everybody and thank you for tuning in for episode eight of Vegas GeekU. This is the Star wars edition. This is Nate, Elp Indicator Ramirez. [00:00:50] Speaker C: This is Balante. [00:00:51] Speaker B: Hello, I am Noel. My name is also Nate or Nathan. So you can just call me Mr. Onizuka because that was my former YouTube name. [00:00:58] Speaker A: I like it. Mr. Onizuka. That's pretty cool. [00:01:01] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean it's, it's an anime. He's, he's personal like Lord and savior. If you ever watch the anime, like he doesn't care what anybody thinks. He's just going to do what he's going to do and he's going to be himself and he's a teacher. Okay. [00:01:14] Speaker C: It's an all time class. [00:01:15] Speaker B: It is. [00:01:16] Speaker C: Gto. [00:01:17] Speaker B: Gto. Great teacher. [00:01:19] Speaker A: I have to watch it. Another one to add to my list. [00:01:20] Speaker B: It, it, it's good. It's a little older so there's a lot of stuff that's not kosher nowadays. But yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty good. [00:01:28] Speaker A: So here's a quick recap of what we're going to cover in this episode. We're going to recap the last month. So we had a lot of events. We had level up was just here. That was intense. [00:01:38] Speaker C: That was a lot. [00:01:38] Speaker A: I did a little bit of everything and a lot of nothing is what it felt like. We, we did. And then there was front row card show and then you had, you had multiple events right in the last month? [00:01:50] Speaker C: Yeah, I had to work for the day job. I had to work a bunch of different events, mostly like charity and nonprofit fundraisers for stuff like our local school district. We've had to do some fundraisings for our local girl scouts as well. It's just been a lot of build up for this summer more than anything. [00:02:06] Speaker A: And how about you, Nathan? How's your month been, man? [00:02:08] Speaker B: You know, I started H Vac school today and I already have a test tomorrow so I should be. Yeah, well, it's in accelerated. If you've got like half an hour I could tell you how bad CSN is. But so I'm going to an accelerated program. It's only three and a half months and then you get your license and all that. So yeah, there you hit the ground running. [00:02:24] Speaker A: You're definitely in the right town for that fashion though because like they get paid. Especially if like you work for like the university. Like UNLV will hire a lot of H vac techs because everything's outfitted. [00:02:34] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:35] Speaker A: And so yeah, you're getting. Dude, you're about to be rolling in it. [00:02:38] Speaker B: I, I mean, I hope so. [00:02:41] Speaker A: And then. So today's episode is Star Wars. We're going to talk about Star Wars. Nothing specific, more like what, what introduced us to Star Wars. Favorite characters, maybe things we enjoy about Star Wars. Because it's such a big universe, it's hard to just focus on one thing. [00:02:55] Speaker B: I mean it's gotten wildly bigger since like the prequels. Infinitely bigger, I would say. [00:03:01] Speaker A: Have. Are you a fan of Disney? [00:03:03] Speaker B: I have Disney. I don't have the time to watch all the stuff my wife and I tried to watch andor and like two episodes in she's like, I'm not into it. And like this. Yeah, she, she's one of those people if it doesn't grab you within the first hour, she's not in. She, she can't. [00:03:18] Speaker A: I recommend Skeleton Crew. [00:03:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:20] Speaker A: Because it's a standalone new thing. It doesn't depend on any of the other lore and it's, it's really good. It's like Goonies mixed in with Star wars. So it's exciting from the get go and every single character has their own personality and it's not one that you'd expect. So if you want to sit there and watch it with your kids even [00:03:36] Speaker C: it's really, it's a very all ages show. [00:03:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:39] Speaker A: Okay. [00:03:40] Speaker B: Well my 8 year old, like he's, I've been asking about Star wars and I'm like, yeah, but it's a show. You have to sit there and listen. You can't just like they're not going to show you visually. Well, this is this and this is like you have to listen to what they're saying and understand it. You have to stop jumping on the couch and sit down. So we're going to try, try Skeleton Crew. Skeleton Crew. [00:03:59] Speaker A: I'm telling you right now because it's, it's children coming of age and they're like, they're experiencing, you know, crashes and they're experiencing adventure. You know when in a sense, when you were a kid and you're adventurous and you play like ding dong Ditch. They're. They're doing stuff like that. They're stealing bikes and you're like, oh, man, it's exciting. So it just reminded me of good news I want. Now moving on. Do we have. Do you have any nerd shots or anything you like to visit or something? A shop you want to shout out? [00:04:25] Speaker B: Sure. Actually, one of my, I guess that you would call it friends. There's this video game store. Do you know Retro City Games? I love Retro City Games. Doug is amazing. His wife, Nicole, she's more of a stay at home person now, so I haven't seen her in like six years. Antonio over there, he's like the greatest guy ever. But that's where I got a lot of my stuff. [00:04:46] Speaker A: One in Henderson. The one at one of the outlets or the one, the original one. [00:04:51] Speaker B: Well, I knew them from the original ones, the warehouse one. It's actually by the school, the NTI that I am going to, but I know them from that and they're cool. They've like, you know, hey, come here all the time. Here's 10 bucks off like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, before kids I had disposable income. I don't have that anymore. But like I got a complete in box Chrono trigger for like 200. It's worth almost a thousand. [00:05:16] Speaker A: No way. [00:05:17] Speaker B: Well, that was also like 12 years ago. Something like that. Like it's been investments is. I can actually tell you exactly because my wife, my amazing, beautiful wife bought me something that's called CLZ Games and it can tell me exactly what my collection is. So right now Chrono trigger is worth $883.36. [00:05:38] Speaker C: That is an investment then. [00:05:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it's nice. [00:05:41] Speaker B: I mean that. Yeah, I got Rule of Rose from them, which is 1,053.12. And I got that for like 400. [00:05:48] Speaker A: You know what? I, I, me personally, I can't. I don't want to look up the prices on some of the stuff I own because I know what I paid for it. And if it's under what I paid for it, I'd freak out. I'd have a meltdown. [00:05:58] Speaker C: I'd be like, it's mine more than anything is. This is something that I got that I can finally enjoy and price for certain things. You know, you're just like, okay, that's so worth it. [00:06:08] Speaker B: Do you have. It's like the stock market, you know, like right after Covid, nobody could do anything. So all everybody's like, I want to play this again. And everything shot up. [00:06:17] Speaker A: I remember, oh my God, it's the worst offender. It went up so high post Covid. And I just remember like I had a buddy that paid like 1200 for a DS Pokemon. I don't know if it was like Sapphire or one of the, one of the, like the Gem. [00:06:30] Speaker C: One of the older ones. [00:06:31] Speaker A: Yeah. And for an original, I was like, why would you do that, bro? It's like you can get an emulator. And it's like. He's like, no, but I have the physical. [00:06:38] Speaker C: I can relate to that to some degree because whenever I head back over to Japan to see my wife's family over there, we do a lot of thrift shopping in some of the second hand stores. And their way they do it over there is very different. So last time I went over there, I did manage to get a. I did get a Ninja Turtles game. Yes, I did get it for you. I hope you really appreciate it as it is the Japanese edition. [00:06:57] Speaker A: So I used it once and then I put it in a glass case to be admired. Yeah, well, I didn't want, I don't want anybody to touch it, like, because, you know, my little one was like, can I see it? No, no, absolutely. [00:07:10] Speaker C: But yeah, we find a lot of really good Japanese retro games. This last year when I went, I didn't manage to get Pokemon Leaf Green. I got a Japanese copy of Pokemon Crystal. And then I also got two Nintendo 64 games. I got a Japanese copy of Goldeneye. And is that pretty. Oh, it's so good. Yeah, it is so nice. And a Japanese copy with the original box for Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time. And they both work. They both work. I'm so happy for it. [00:07:40] Speaker A: I love, I love the box art on the Japanese stuff sometimes more than the original stuff. And it's just because it's so unique. It's so different. [00:07:47] Speaker C: Yeah. When other countries have like their displays for it. On the topic of the Star wars one, when you see Star wars in Japanese or when you see it in French, it's pretty unique. But I did, when I was doing a design class, one of the design aspects we were looking at were movie posters. And a unique one was actually movie posters from Poland. And looking at Star wars movie posters from Poland, you would not think it's Star Wars. You would think it's like some kind of Star wars knockoff or bootleg. But the official movie posters for it is kind of bizarre. Like Darth Vader has like a mohawk made of lightsabers. [00:08:22] Speaker B: And I think I've seen a YouTuber talk about that. [00:08:24] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:08:26] Speaker A: Some of it's always I want to get into. I'd love stuff like that. Yeah. [00:08:29] Speaker C: It's just so out there and interpretive and seeing like something that is so like universally beloved as Star wars be interpreted for different audiences from around the world is very unique. But the Poland one is by far the most out there. And I highly encourage everyone to look at movie posters from that country, but especially the older ones, like pre 1990. They were on something that I want to know. [00:08:50] Speaker B: I. I don't know if it was Poland, but Ghostbusters has a crazy. Like they're wearing like goggles. Like old, you know, old Ray Bans are like one over your head, but their like eyes are sticking out like it's bananas. So you mentioned your, your wife visiting your relatives in Japan. So. Nihongo Wakarimasuhto. Okay. [00:09:10] Speaker A: It's so cool. I feel left out, but it's getting left out. [00:09:13] Speaker B: Touch on your homies for six years. But I have short term memory loss, so all of it gone. Star Wars. Okay. Yoda talks backwards. Must go. I must. So in Japanese, their language is backwards. It's not I go to the store. It's store. I go. So does Yoda speak normally in Japanese? [00:09:30] Speaker C: I haven't heard the Japanese stuff of Star wars or Yoda or anything outside of that soul Caliber four where Darth Vader and Starkiller were like the cameo characters. I did hear Darth Vader's Japanese voice. That's actually very fitting. But I actually need to now see like Star wars in Japanese to see just the way Yoda talks. It would be. Nor from the way you make it sound, it'd be almost like normal English. [00:09:51] Speaker A: Dude, now I want to figure that out. I was like, man, that's a good question. [00:09:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:55] Speaker A: Hey, before we move on Blunted, do you have any shout outs for any local businesses or anything? [00:10:00] Speaker C: I actually dropped by a little card shop called Omniscience Gaming. It's pretty darn close to my work's main office and it's a nice little hole in the wall. Fun fact. It was also before it was a card shop, it was a cafe. And I knew people that did the mural on that cafe. So seeing it kind of be repurposed for a more nerdy setup is really, really nice. And they got a good selection of like card games to end up playing. And I think one of Their biggest inventories right now is for Magic the Gathering. The Ninja Turtles set. They have a lot some good inventory for that over there. [00:10:30] Speaker A: Play that. Oh, well, here's the thing is be, I, I saw it and I keep seeing it, and I keep seeing people resell it because it's, it, it is turning a profit. It's, it's pretty good. Uh, but I, I, I don't want to invest in it unless I talk to you. And I kept telling, I keep telling her, every time I see it, I'm like, I gotta talk to Balande. I gotta talk to Balande. We gotta figure it out before I, I, I make that jump. Because I see that so many people are playing it right now. [00:10:52] Speaker C: Yeah. And in the magic, and from my understanding in parts of the magic community, that whole set has had some unintended consequences that are kind of hilarious if you're familiar with certain formats in Magic the Gathering. [00:11:04] Speaker A: Okay. [00:11:05] Speaker B: I mean, I don't think anything would beat the Lord of the Rings like you, you have the one ring you win. [00:11:10] Speaker A: Right? [00:11:10] Speaker B: Wasn't that the thing? [00:11:12] Speaker C: Yeah. There was a lot of different mechanics with it, but it is a very strong card. But this one is more of like a you inadvertently made something toxic more toxic. [00:11:20] Speaker A: I, I don't know. It looked interesting to me, and then I was like, oh, I gotta talk to Milana about it now. Going on to socials. We are on all social media and everything is monitored. I just posted the last episode we did. And so it's been a little while since we've been, you know, gotten together. But ultimately it's because we've all been busy. We all work in, us, we all work in the live event industry. And so since we are always, we're always turning and burning and there's always things going on and going back to the live event topic. Level up. [00:11:48] Speaker C: Yes. [00:11:48] Speaker A: Highlights it for level up. [00:11:50] Speaker C: So the level up one was definitely. [00:11:52] Speaker A: Did you go to level I? [00:11:53] Speaker B: I don't do cons. No, no. It's just not my scene. I have friends that do it. You know, like, he moved to Florida, but, like, you know, he would go and dress up and do all that. And I'm like, yeah, Level up is strictly. [00:12:05] Speaker A: It's gaming. [00:12:06] Speaker C: It's a, it's a pan fandom convention. They had entire things where it's like the barbarians next to the Master chief next to Star wars, next to the Pokemon trading card game next to so many cars that were all decked out with skins of characters. It has a lot of fit for everyone. [00:12:24] Speaker B: I get the idea of it. I hate waiting in lines like, we went to Disneyland for my son's fifth birthday, like, two months ago, and it's just like, I don't want to be here. The nice thing about these five. So let's do this. [00:12:36] Speaker C: The nice thing about the level of thing is the lines are really only for when you're wanting to meet the celebrities that they bring out. [00:12:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Or if you're. Or if you're going to, like, hunt for specific merch. Because this year they had. What was it? [00:12:46] Speaker C: Hotel has been. [00:12:47] Speaker A: Hotel has been. Hotel Hazbin. Hotel has a huge online following, and people came from states and states over to go see. Go get this exclusive merch and then go see the actual characters, because they were here. The voice characters. [00:13:00] Speaker B: Right. [00:13:00] Speaker A: And so. And then K Pop Demon Hunters, they were here. The voice actor for. For keeping. Well, are they voice actors? [00:13:06] Speaker C: Because they're also actors. No, it's the actual, like, actors that played the main three. [00:13:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:11] Speaker C: In the show, in the movie. It's. Those are the things you really, honestly wait in line for. But when I'm there, I'm seeing fan artwork. I've seen unique pieces up available. I see official merchandise from some of these franchises that you can pretty much have, like, as convention exclusives. There was a free play arcade location, too, for people to just do DDR for fun. [00:13:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I miss DDR. [00:13:36] Speaker A: They had, I think it was like, eight kiosks, all different versions of DDR. And there's people up there in cosplay battling, dance battling. It was intense. [00:13:44] Speaker B: I like DDR, but I'm not about to battle. I'm not that dialed in. But, like, you do some love Shine, you know? [00:13:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:51] Speaker C: It's a lot of fun, though. And they also have, like, some free play games for indie studios that are making indie games, and it's a lot of fun. I would not. That was the best way to phrase this. I would recommend everyone go for at least one day to Just to see how it is. [00:14:06] Speaker B: I mean, like, I'll do the Ren Fair. [00:14:08] Speaker A: I do that too. Dude. There's a pla. There's a vendor at the Ren Fair that does the root beer in a. In a big. [00:14:14] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Like the bottle. [00:14:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:16] Speaker B: And. [00:14:16] Speaker A: And I carry that thing around. Just chug it with my kids because it's good. And yeah, this year, my brother was like, I want one of those. And he's like, but I don't want my own. I was like, here, just. I bought him one. And that dude just chugged It. He's happy. [00:14:30] Speaker C: You're going to find something. I would guarantee you like. If you like a lot of nerd culture, geek culture, that convention has something for, quite honestly, everybody. [00:14:38] Speaker A: Yeah. And then there's the Anime Cons coming up right at the very end of the month. I think 20 something or it might be this weekend. [00:14:45] Speaker C: I know there's one that's going on in San Diego. No, not San Diego, San Jose. There's an anime convention going on in San Jose in a week. That's the one that I'm aware of. [00:14:53] Speaker A: There's another. There's one coming up too here. I don't remember where it's at. And then there's also the Las Vegas Comic Con, which is amazing. The amazing Comic Con. And that's gonna be at the Orleans the last weekend of the month. If you wanna join, you have a. [00:15:06] Speaker B: But it's, you know, I always throw [00:15:08] Speaker A: invitations out there because then that way people are like, they're not like, he doesn't want anybody to join. [00:15:14] Speaker C: It's a lot of fun. [00:15:15] Speaker A: So moving on now, let's start on the topic. So Star wars, you know, cue the music. Or binary sunset if you're more of an emotional guy like myself. For me, Star wars was honestly the only platform that I could connect with my. With my old man with. It was the only thing that he kind of. Because he's a very stoic, traditional male. And so it was the one thing where he was kind of. He made himself vulnerable and he's like, I enjoy this. You know, I was like, all right, cool. And. But he likes the original stuff. And I feel like the original stuff was. It was cool. But I'm. My biggest connection to Star wars is Rogue One. And I love it because it's a standalone story and everyone dies at the end. [00:15:56] Speaker B: So my wife is not a nerd. [00:16:00] Speaker A: She's. [00:16:00] Speaker B: Okay, let me rephrase that. She's a different type of nerd. She is a book person. She is not a movie person. [00:16:05] Speaker C: Okay. [00:16:06] Speaker B: So she knows about these things. So we went and saw Rogue One and then when everybody died at the end, she was like, but I like those characters. And I was like, yeah, but it's bridging the movies. [00:16:18] Speaker A: Yeah. No, what it's doing is it's giving it a foundation. [00:16:21] Speaker B: Right, right, right, right. [00:16:22] Speaker A: And what I. So what I love about Rogue One is that it truly imitates life. It sacrifices need to be made for greater good in general. When whatever you do, right, you sacrifice part of you and who you are for your Kids because you want them to have a better life than you. You want them to be. You want to create evolution and you want to help them take a step forward without them actually being like, being over the top. And I feel that also, like, when you do things like Batman, right and wrong, you have that choice at all time and at all times in your life. And so I love Rogue One for that because it shows you these people sacrifice for the greater good. The rebellion, you know, and so me being in the military, I was like, this connects. And my dad hates that. I like that movie so much. He's like, dude, you grew up on the original. And so it's. And for me, I felt those characters, ideally, they are great foundational pieces for what Star wars should be, and it helps the younger generation understand what Yoda and everybody else is fighting for. You know what I mean? [00:17:25] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I, I understand that. Yeah. [00:17:27] Speaker A: Do you have. What's your. What's something that you enjoy about Star wars or you dislike? Because either. Or. If this is an open forum. [00:17:34] Speaker B: Sure. No, I, I like Star Wars. I haven't really had a chance to get into the newer stuff, like I said, but the original trilogy, my parents, we would watch that kind of like what you were saying about your dad is I got into it because my dad's like, let's watch this movie. I don't know what's happening because I am a 5 year old jumping up and down. I just, you know, you see the lightsaber battles and whatever. And then when the prequel trilogy came out, I was a teenager working at a comic store. So all of this went out. [00:18:00] Speaker A: Yeah, dream job. [00:18:03] Speaker B: I'm not a comic book nerd. [00:18:04] Speaker A: What? [00:18:05] Speaker B: No, but I. [00:18:06] Speaker A: So if you come to the house, you'd be like, oh, Nate. [00:18:08] Speaker B: No, I mean, I have a bunch of comics, but that's because I worked at a. A comic store, but I'm never on a sell. Well, they might be worth a little bit, but I went there with everyone from there. So we got to see it, you know, as a teenager. And then like this was pre. When Internet was like foundational. So it was always, well, the battle between Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker is going to be an hour long. [00:18:30] Speaker C: And that's how he got forum rumors and all the. We want this to happen. [00:18:35] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, exactly. So when we went and saw all three of them, because that's how long I was working there under the counter, by the way, because I was only like 16 or 15 when I. Yeah, well, you know, you got Undercover. [00:18:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:52] Speaker B: Well, you know, you want, you want that candy bar, you gotta buy it. All right. I'm gonna go get a job anyway. But yeah, I, I have more foundation with the older stuff. I saw the new trilogy, the, the sequel trilogy, and I, I bootlegged the third one. I didn't care enough. No, Yeah, I bootlegged it on YouTube. [00:19:07] Speaker C: It was the worst. [00:19:08] Speaker B: It was like 10 minute chapters. And at some point I just like googled how it ended. Like, didn't this guy die? I don't know. I forget because it wasn't. [00:19:17] Speaker A: Out of the new sequel trilogy, I feel like the best one was J.J. abrams first one, the Force Awakens. [00:19:22] Speaker C: Force Awakens. I think so. The thing with the Force Awakens is it did set everything up to kind of continue on in such a way that I'm like, okay, I'm interested in that. You bring back a lot of familiar faces. You're getting rid of certain things to make way for other things. And at the same time, it just kind of felt like, oh, where are they going to go with it? And I think that's why I got the hype built up to go see more of the sequel trilogy. But I'm just. I got to agree with you, Nathan. I just couldn't get into it after the first one. The things that just built up for it, like, for example, my favorite character from the sequel trilogy is Finn, willing to set up so that he was supposed to be. [00:19:55] Speaker A: Well, a lot of people don't realize J.J. abrams was actually a Star Trek nerd. And they, they, they coerced him into doing Star Wars. Things are great. And what he did was basically do everything that he wanted to see as a kid in the original, and he brought it. That's why you have the cool swing entrance and all this stuff. And he wanted to introduce new characters to the Force because that's what he imagined. But when they said, when Disney had said that each, each sequel is going to be directed by a new person and then the second person took it over and it was like, what are you doing? [00:20:24] Speaker C: It definitely felt like, yeah, you can, yeah, you can play with my toys at your house. And then you return it and it's like they're missing an arm or like it's all dirty. And it's like, what happened? [00:20:34] Speaker A: But I did enjoy it. Like I said, my. But my top favorite is Rogue One. Do you have any characters that either a. You feel are great representations of the, of the different Star wars universes or characters that you feel are just useless or Positive or negative about any character. Something. [00:20:54] Speaker B: I. I have always liked R2, and I think that a lot is expressed with his beeps and boops. Like, you can literally. [00:21:02] Speaker A: That's your favorite Droid. [00:21:03] Speaker B: Yeah, I like R2. Like, you can literally, like, you know, you can tell what he's feeling by how well those beeps and boops are. [00:21:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:11] Speaker B: So he's probably my favorite character. A lot of people are probably going to say the worst is Jar Jar, and I don't. Yeah, but that was for kids. Like, that makes sense. You know, you're trying to bring in an audience. It was annoying. I get. [00:21:23] Speaker A: Actually has a weird following now. [00:21:25] Speaker B: Oh, does he? [00:21:26] Speaker A: Yeah, because now he's. He's. He is a popular character. There's a Darth. There's a dark Jar Jar that plays on Fortnite that kids really love. Yeah. [00:21:32] Speaker B: I mean, you know the theory behind Darth Jar Jar, right? [00:21:35] Speaker C: No, that's a fun one. [00:21:37] Speaker A: So. [00:21:38] Speaker B: So the theory is that because of Padme, gave Jar Jar her throne after she seceded or whatever the term is, and then he let the emperor come to power. Well, then. But the emperor was the Sith Lord, so he. Right. So he is actually a Sith, not Lord. [00:21:55] Speaker C: He's affiliated with the Sith in some way and actively sabotages Qui Gon and Obi Wan in their efforts and constantly tries to do whatever it takes to undermine Padme in order to gain the position and that he's an agent for it. However, it's a fun theory that a lot of people have just, like, colloquially adopted. There's no official thing on it, but it is funny to kind of think about it. [00:22:16] Speaker B: But I think that's the case of, like, people are reading too much into something and they, like. Yeah. The fans are creating more interesting stories. [00:22:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:22:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:25] Speaker A: That's. That's where most, like. I guess that's where creation comes from. Right? Your mind just going to the right. I mean, a lot of people don't know that the 50 shades of gray is actually Twilight fan trilogy. Fan. Fan fiction. Sure. [00:22:38] Speaker B: I don't see the connection, but I've heard that several times. [00:22:41] Speaker C: See it, but hearing it is just different. [00:22:43] Speaker A: Yeah. No, no, no. She. The author blatantly said this is. I was in. She. She envisioned the vampire being a stockbroker in Seattle and doing this stuff. And so I was like, all right. [00:22:54] Speaker B: I mean, you. Maybe I have a problem with the term. Like, oh, it's a fan, whatever. Like, they. They're not connected at all. You may have started doing something this way. And then it turned into something else, which is completely fine. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with doing that. That's how D D campaigns go about. [00:23:11] Speaker A: So yeah, D and D. I want, I really want to get into that. [00:23:14] Speaker C: It's fun. [00:23:15] Speaker A: Have a favorite droid or character or thing. [00:23:17] Speaker C: So I got, so I got introduced to Star wars when I was pretty darn young. My dad had these ideas of just like, hey, let's throw whatever kind of movie things that, that everybody's. [00:23:28] Speaker B: Dad. [00:23:28] Speaker A: Yeah, [00:23:32] Speaker B: I'm 41. [00:23:33] Speaker C: I turned 34 in two weeks. [00:23:35] Speaker B: Oh, so old one. [00:23:37] Speaker A: No, no, I'm. Well, I'm 40. Yeah, one year, but. [00:23:39] Speaker B: Oh, okay. [00:23:40] Speaker A: But we. I understand you. I think our parents generation, they didn't have moments where they felt comfortable being vulnerable. And so things that they connected with in their childhood kind of, kind of openly was one of those. It was an open door. It was a way to connect. [00:23:54] Speaker B: And right. [00:23:54] Speaker A: If you're at that age when you're looking for that type of attention or approval from your parent, you're oh, okay, I'll get it. I'll watch this with you. [00:24:00] Speaker C: Mine was a little different actually, but tell me. Okay, so my dad is always, always, even to this day, his big thing is always getting the biggest, the newest, the loudest, the best stuff when it comes to home entertainment systems. So for me as a kid in the 90s with the big tube TVs and the big setups where you need to have four different cables just for your audio, for your surround sound and all over and what the heck is wireless? So my dad, what the heck is a wireless. [00:24:28] Speaker A: Having LAN parties before they were a thing. [00:24:30] Speaker C: So I've literally connected. But my dad had this amazing entertainment system that he would always try to upgrade or fine tune or something. And whenever there was like some sort of movie night, we would kind of take like these franchises or something like that. The two biggest ones that I personally connected to were Godzilla movies and Mad Max. [00:24:51] Speaker B: So you're James Rolfe is what you're saying for similar. [00:24:54] Speaker C: Now that I think about it. Oh, no. But one of the movies, one of at the time, I believe it was that it was Star wars first ever, like complete Collection trilogy on VHS as [00:25:05] Speaker B: the like black and gold box. [00:25:07] Speaker C: It was similar to that. I actually still have it. I still own the original tapes that I watched Star wars on the first time with. But it's the VHS release of Star wars and my dad got it as a good way to test out the entertainment system with the surround sound and everything. And I'M watching it and five year old me. Oh, Darth Vader's the coolest thing on the planet. That's my Halloween, Halloween costume when I was 5 at preschool. [00:25:27] Speaker A: Did you teach your ask you like, do you know who this is? [00:25:29] Speaker C: Vader? No, I couldn't pronounce Vader. I had to say Darth Razor because that's what they were saying. When you're five and you're watching something in this space, cyborg Samurai wizard comes out. It's the coolest thing ever. [00:25:44] Speaker A: And did you. So do you enjoy any of the newer stuff or any. Or are you connected to anything that's. That's come out recently? [00:25:50] Speaker C: Like so not recently. Honestly, I don't want to say I have like been overloaded with a lot of Star wars stuff, but I've been kind of jumping around to a bunch of other franchises to finally get myself into. Oh, I should have finally gotten into this. I sort of gotten into that because Star wars will always be there on Disney plus for me to come back to. And it's amazing to have like a marathon with Star Wars. It's. I just haven't caught up with anything recent. I know. Andor is top of my list on new Star wars stuff to watch. [00:26:18] Speaker A: I recommend Skeleton Crew. [00:26:19] Speaker C: Skeleton Crew. [00:26:20] Speaker A: Skeleton Crew. And then I, I also recommend like if you want to, if you kind of want to connect to the newer stuff, the animated series Rebels. [00:26:29] Speaker C: Rebels. [00:26:29] Speaker A: Rebels is really good because Filoni and Favreau pull from Rebels to, to introduce a lot of new characters they're introducing in the Ahsoka series. And so all these people are connected and so you see it and I'm like, oh, this is great. And Rebels, it's only two seasons long so you can. Or three seasons, I can't remember two or three seasons long. And the episodes are entertaining enough to where you know each one at the very end. Is it really connected? It kind of ends and it gives you an ending to that chapter. [00:26:56] Speaker C: So almost episodic. [00:26:57] Speaker A: Yeah, so it's good. [00:26:59] Speaker C: So. Oh no, I'm gonna have to check it out because I heard a lot about like Skeleton Kruger being a good like all ages intro for much younger Star wars fans. I remember when it came to like the series the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone wars was my all time favorite. [00:27:14] Speaker B: You know I tried to watch Clone wars and again kids and it's like I'm like two episodes in, I'm like, I don't know what's happening. I'm not paying attention anymore. [00:27:20] Speaker C: 3D1 or the 2D1 3D. [00:27:22] Speaker A: I believe the one with the. [00:27:24] Speaker C: The narrator, Gandhi Tartakovsky, the guy that does Samurai Jack back in the mid-2000s at the height of the prequels, did do these little five minute episodes that are very narrative and visually driven and if you combine them all, it's about a two hour segment and it's very much like experiments in world class animation. Showing the battles that took place during the Clone wars, showing off the skills and abilities of other characters to the point where it was the first introduction of General Grievous. And seeing how General Grievous was a total monster in this animated series, Clone wars and then seeing him in episode three, it was almost disappointing because he was made out to be just horrifying. [00:28:04] Speaker A: Did you ever read any of the books? [00:28:06] Speaker C: Oh no, I have not, dude. [00:28:08] Speaker A: My favorite. My favorite set or series of books was the Jedi Academy books. And I was so sad when Disney was like, we're not going to bring any of that. We're going to start fresh. And I was like, but these are so good. And it's like, no, none of those matter. And I was like, what the hell? But Jedi Academy. Did you read any of the books? The actual books? [00:28:27] Speaker B: No, I haven't read any of the comics or books or anything like that. [00:28:31] Speaker A: The comics are good too. I like, they. I was really engaged. They had an Old Republic series that, that they started. [00:28:38] Speaker B: I played Knights of the Old Republic. [00:28:40] Speaker A: That's good too. [00:28:40] Speaker C: Such a good game. [00:28:42] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. Aren't they remaking it? [00:28:44] Speaker B: They. I know they did a compilation on the switch, on the OG Switch. But yeah, I don't, I don't know about an actual remake because they got [00:28:54] Speaker A: Knights of the old K O T R Kotor. [00:28:57] Speaker C: Kotor. [00:28:57] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And that was a fun game too when they came out on original Xbox. Yeah, Original Xbox. [00:29:03] Speaker C: Yeah. That whole era around the Xbox when it was like prequel hype. But that's the Star wars that I personally did grow up to and related to as I was following the releases of the movies. I know a lot of people like to mess with the prequels with, you know, the dialogue or some of the plot points. [00:29:17] Speaker B: But growing up, everybody gives us stuff like bad juju, you know, like what do you want? [00:29:23] Speaker A: It's entertaining. [00:29:24] Speaker B: You know, it's supposed to be this way. It's not supposed to be super uber serious. Right? [00:29:31] Speaker A: There's. But there's also those serious fans, right? [00:29:33] Speaker B: You can be a serious fan of something and still understand that this is supposed to be quirky. At points. It's supposed to be funny. [00:29:40] Speaker A: Probably be canceled for liking Rogue One above any of. And not, not choosing the original three. The, the sequels or the sequels to the sequels. [00:29:49] Speaker B: But, but it also depends on what you're looking for in a movie. Like, my wife liked it because of the, like the, the romance. Right. And I liked it because of that ship battle at the end that ripped off Spaceballs. Right. [00:29:59] Speaker A: The. With the oxygen shield space coming out soon. [00:30:02] Speaker B: No, that's not what it's called though. They're calling it the second one. I, I love Mel Brooks's side tangent. [00:30:08] Speaker A: I no, no, Brooks is great. He's, he's an all time a classic hero. [00:30:13] Speaker B: He's like 99. So we're going to lose him soon. We're going to lose a. I love that. [00:30:16] Speaker A: So I. Have you watched any of the social media clips where Josh Gad talks about calling him in middle of the night and saying like, hey, I want to do this. [00:30:23] Speaker B: I've, I've run into them. I haven't seeked them out, but I've seen them. Yeah. [00:30:26] Speaker A: Yeah. And he's like, he's like, I heard this man just say I want to do this. And he's like, whatever you want to do. Let's. I was like, it's cool. But no, my favorite droid, because that's kind of, I've been stuck on that thought. Chomper from Rebels. And he's become, he's actually, they just introduced him in the Ahsoka series, so he's actually alive. And I, I, I ended up getting, for Father's Day last year, I got a, a big version, a LEGO version of him. And then I also got the, the booster kit that I get. So I added all the lights and whistles and stuff, which was co. At night, but that, and I feel a lot of the newer stuff is great because it, you don't have to be a super knowledgeable human to be able to have a conversation with someone else that's watching it with you. Because sometimes I feel like when you do watch some of the original stuff and you're watching it with a group of friends and they're like hardcore into it, there's, there's that judgment factor. It's like, did you hear what he said? He cheered for Jar Jar. Like, oh my God, he likes the sequels to the sequels or blah, blah, blah. [00:31:26] Speaker C: To a degree, I can see like, why some people want to do some kind of gatekeeping. Like they just want to have different kinds of conversations with people like Respectfully, on whatever it is. Because you come at Star wars with a bunch of different ways. Like, you can look at it as, oh, this is how the story is. The special effects for the time were never before seen. You can look at it as a trilogy. That's like a blueprint that Hollywood has done now for the, like, the last 50 years. This. It was. Was. I believe it was Star wars or Jaws, the first summer blockbuster. [00:31:54] Speaker B: No, no, I think Star wars was outside of the blockbuster. I think the. Because a lot of people haven't seen Star wars. And what I mean is, like, Episode five, like, before they decided, oh, this took off, we're gonna keep going, it just said Star wars, and that's all it was. It came out in, like, February or something. [00:32:14] Speaker C: We got. [00:32:15] Speaker A: I mean, I don't know. [00:32:16] Speaker B: Fact check me. I'm. I'm not that type of guy. But, like, I remember hearing we're not [00:32:21] Speaker A: those type of people. [00:32:22] Speaker B: Yeah, well, anybody at home wants to chat? Fact check me. [00:32:24] Speaker C: Fact check. [00:32:26] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I'm trying to pull this from the recesses of my brain, but it was not. It was not pushed to be a blockbuster, and it became one. [00:32:34] Speaker C: Okay. [00:32:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:36] Speaker B: And that's when they. They went, okay, pull it out. Put a new hope in there. Because that. It doesn't mean anything. What is the new hope? Like, if you think of the original Star wars, what's the new hope? Nothing, because they just had to give it a subtitle to make it something. [00:32:49] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and if you look at Star wars as actual like. Like franchise, it started the characters of people like the composer, John Williams, Harrison Ford, you know, and. And all these things. And you see all these characters, Carrie Fisher, and they're integral parts of Hollywood because look at. John Williams did compositions for Hook, Home Alone, Indiana Jones, and so he's integrated into some of the, you know, movie classics. And so I think Star wars in general has had their hand in a lot of different things in the entertainment industry. And I'm. I'm appreciative of it in its entire. [00:33:28] Speaker C: It started in the careers of a lot of people, even outside of those that worked on it. I believe it was James Cameron quit his jobs so he can become involved in Hollywood just because he was inspired from Star Wars. [00:33:38] Speaker A: James Cameron, he's another. He's another hero. I like. I like a lot of his stuff. [00:33:42] Speaker B: I like a lot of his stuff. He did the Avatar stuff, right? That's him. [00:33:45] Speaker A: Yeah, he did that. [00:33:47] Speaker B: That's some stuff. I'm not. I'm not into The Avatar. [00:33:49] Speaker C: Someone told me one time that. Yeah, yeah, Someone told me one. That James Cameron is really good at making other sequels for other movies, but not making his own movies. [00:33:58] Speaker A: Well, no, here's the thing. People say that. That the character Jack in Titanic. Because he did. He did Titanic. [00:34:05] Speaker B: He's a time traveler. [00:34:06] Speaker A: Yeah, it's actually. He's actually from Terminator. He's actually the original. The. The dad. [00:34:13] Speaker B: Not John Connor. [00:34:14] Speaker A: Yeah, John Connor. He's John Connor's dad. [00:34:16] Speaker B: No. John Connor's dad. [00:34:18] Speaker A: Yes, yes. So he's actually John Connor's dad. And so like. And that James Cameron kind of did that to kind of connect his stories, his universes. But, you know, the Internet, their mind runs. [00:34:29] Speaker C: You don't. Yeah, it's just like Jar. Jar. [00:34:30] Speaker B: Yeah. They're trying to dart pieces together that were never meant to put together. [00:34:34] Speaker C: Exactly. The only thing that really connects these stories is the person who directed it and showed it in the theaters. Pretty much. [00:34:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. And so closing. Closing thoughts overall, this was your first time joining us? [00:34:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:45] Speaker A: And how'd you feel about the Star wars conversation? [00:34:47] Speaker B: Star wars is great. I love, you know, I love easy. I love talking nerd stuff to anybody that will listen. Like I said, my wife is not that type of nerd. So when I talk, it's just like, you can see the glaze go over the eyes. And she's just like, okay, you're not listening anymore. All right, I'm done. [00:35:00] Speaker A: I guess it's not. It's not a glaze. It's more of like, how does his mind work that way? [00:35:05] Speaker B: You know, my wife could have hours conversation about how she doesn't understand the mass that is my brain and how it functions because I can remember the most minute detail about something else. But when it comes to who invented the AC unit. No, I don't know. And that's on my test tomorrow, so. Sorry. [00:35:24] Speaker A: Do you have eidetic memory? [00:35:26] Speaker B: No, I just remember stuff my brain wants me to remember. And then if I don't want it, then brain's like, nah, you don't. You don't have that. [00:35:32] Speaker A: I like that. How about you, Ben? Closing thoughts. Star Wars. [00:35:36] Speaker C: Star wars is started off as this movie that went over budget, over production, over everything, and expected to fail. But it spawned the one of the largest media franchises ever that has touched so many parts of people. And I'm always grateful for it. And I'm always grateful to talk about it. It's become something nowadays that is just so permeated. I am your father or Come to the dark side. All these phrases. It's a cultural touchstone and I really do enjoy a lot of Star Wars. So seeing Star wars in so many different ways, it does fill me with a lot of different emotions. Whether it be like confusion or excitement or in worst cases, like, okay, that's nice. Some, some shows or some franchises or some things or things that they're working with, is that I'm sure that other people will enjoy it and we can have a great discourse about it. It's a very all encompassing, all connecting franchise, which I'm grateful to talk about. [00:36:30] Speaker A: So Star wars for me, you know, it plays an integral. It's, it's a pillar in my life. You see, I have a wall dedicated to the house and I use it as a teaching tool for my kids. And I. Good and evil, you have that choice. And, and, and with your choices come great responsibility. That's Spider Man. Not so. But I think it's, it's a great thing to have. Overall. I think it, people enjoy it, people hate it, and it gives us something to talk about. I, I have nothing negative. I have everything positive to say. I'm grateful for it and George Lucas and all his work, John Williams and his music. I've connected to all these things for so many years. And I hope to, I hope my kids connect to it at some point and be like, I can understand why the old man liked this. You know, like there, there is, there's a lot of story to tell and, and you just, you have to enjoy it for what it is. And, and you got to find your own value. But that's my closing thought. Thank you so much for joining us. This is Nate elevindicator Ramirez. [00:37:25] Speaker B: Nathan. Mr. Onizuka, this is Belonter. [00:37:28] Speaker A: Thanks, guys. I'll see you next time. [00:37:33] Speaker B: Sam.