117: Thanks for the Memories

That's all folks! As Dani and Ify prepare to say goodbye, they get a few friends to help send them off.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello and welcome to the final episode of Nerdificent. For
the last time, I am one half of your host,
Danny Fernandez. Sorry, sorry, no, you're perfect. I did too
long of a pause, if you know, an improv like

(00:29):
you were ready to swoop up and swoop in, so
we didn't have any dead air. Trying to keep the
air alive, the fresh air. Yeah, how's it going. It's
iffy wandy way in the building. How how's the how's
How are you feeling? I'm feeling good. I hope people are.
You know, I get being sad about the show ending,

(00:51):
but you know, you can still the show lives on.
You can go back and listen to episodes, and especially
like as these franchises and things they're dropping new you know, Marvel,
d C, Star Wars, but like everything else we covered
anime like as there as. You need a refresher before
a lot of these properties start dropping the next year
or two. Yeah, but also you can still follow our careers.

(01:14):
We're going to be doing a lot, so yeah, truly,
you could just just stay following on on the twitters
and you won't miss a single thing. Probably today we
have a couple of guests just to kick off our
our final episode. But up top we have a man
who I think you have done the most episodes of

(01:35):
the show. It is Hector Navarro. Welcome, so happy to
be here. Guys. How many did I do? I did
at least two? Was it just two to three? Really? Okay?
I did m c U. You did Nicktoons and Batman
Tunes and Batman I did Batman Cool? We do? We did?
We did a refresher before Infinity War two and that's

(01:57):
when you brought all your cards. So that's for oh man,
that was my Marvel Cinematic Universe card set four. I guess. Wow. Well, no,
I think that was the m c U on much
we did too, because we did the original one. Yeah,
and then I think we had you back. You came
back before the end game. Wow. In any case, it
has been an honor and absoluting you both. It was

(02:20):
a pleasure. Thank you guys for having me back. Yeah. No,
of course, we you know, we we had to, you know,
bring you back to to bring it down for a landing.
H y'all are some of my favorite folks and I
have loved nerdificent from the beginning. And uh, you guys
had a fantastic run. So I hope that you guys
are really proud, like genuinely proud of a really cool

(02:41):
thing that you guys did. So congrats always, I guess
to kick it off, like, if you of those ones
that we listed with Hector, what stands out for you
as far as like some of your favorite moments. Oh,
it's definitely going to be the m c U whichever
one you bought the cards too, because that's when I
was like, Yeah, this is this is why we call

(03:02):
a hector. Hector is going to make sure that all
of that that we don't miss a single thing. He's
going to make sure that beat for beat, you know,
he has his bases covered. I mean even when we
were talking about you know, um, I think which one
was we brought you brought like the Almanac or something

(03:26):
at one time and we were talking about no that
was on Twitter or something, whether I was asking about
Wakanda and now this was we should we should set
this up if he This was before the Black Panther
movie was released and and everybody was discussing the character
of Black Panther, the comic book of Black Panther, the
idea behind it, and you posed such a great question

(03:48):
as to like, why would this fictional group of people
allow atrocities to happen if they were in fact advanced
and they had enough of UM technology or resources to
like fight back or help. And it's not the first
time I saw that arguments, not the first time I
saw somebody bring that up. Certainly not the first time

(04:10):
I saw a black man bring that up. And so
I remember going back to my rolodex and being like,
as far as I can recall, the only in universe
explanation was that Stanley jack Herby, whoever then worked on
Black Panther comic books afterwards, like established that it was
an isolationist country that they closed themselves off to the

(04:34):
world to protect themselves. And we had a great and
I like pulled it up and I took pictures of
like the encyclopedia explanation of that, because I have a
Marvel atlas that gives you the history of ah fictional country.
So there's like Wakonda, lat Veria where Dr Doom rules
and all these different fake places, Genosha where Magneto eventually
ruled the Mutant Island nation. So Wakonda had that in there,

(04:56):
and I took pictures and you know, it was talking
to Iffy back and forth. But then I remember that
that helped me to appreciate the movie Black Panther more
because when we went back to talk about the m
c U and the movie Black Panther and everything that
it had evolved into. I think part of the discussion,
which was great, was like Ryan Coogler recognized this. Ryan

(05:18):
Coogler and his co writer collaborator recognized this, and they're
black men and they wrote that as part of the
backstory for the villain Eric Stevens, a k A. Kill Monger,
and what a villain and what a motivation. He kind
of wasn't wrong. He just killed people and that's messed up.
But that's that was a highlight for me. And talking

(05:38):
about the m c U with you guys and especially
with Iffy, that was a blast. Yeah, I would say
for me, aside from that, which I think was really helpful,
Like for people, you just had a way of talking
because you we did our Road to Infinity War was
that what it was or something like that. It was

(06:00):
insane because you were just able to quickly update people.
And then there were some movies like you can watch
this you don't have to. One of my favorite things
was you actually also have an entire encyclopedia on Nicktoons,
and so we did our Nicktoons episode, you were able
to pull that out and talk about the start of Nicktoons.

(06:21):
I forgot that. What is your favorite Nicktoons show? That's
a great question if we're not counting, because I think
we all know Avatar the Last a Band is amazing,
and if we don't, if we don't consider that, because
it's something that I think not to dis Nickelodeon or
Nicktoons in the same way that like I wouldn't dis
Cartoon Network or like Disney Channel cartoons or you know,

(06:42):
w B Cartoons or whatever. But like Avatar and then
Cora felt like they transcended Nickelodeon a little bit, like
they really kind of right, they got to another level.
So if we're just if we're excluding them from the
conversation and we're like, no, this is a straight up Nicktoon.
But I do want to say also a big part
of the reason why at hard of The Last Airbender
was so good was because of that infrastructure of Nickelodeon

(07:04):
letting those animators do what they did, so like that's
a Nickelodeon show too, you know that when that was made,
When and where it was made, and who let those
creators make it, that's all Nickelodeon. But let's be real.
My favorites probably Hey Arnold. I'm a big Hey Arnold guy.
I really love that show grown up. I I dig SpongeBob,
but I definitely caught it, you know, late nineties, early

(07:26):
two thousand's on my way, you know, sort of out
of that age group, and then SpongeBob turned into a
well this is funny for adults, and it is, but
by then I was like, yeah, but I'm I'm into
the Simpsons and you know, South Bark and Family Guy
and all this other stuff that's more for adults. Um,
but SpongeBob is great. But my favorites, Hey Arnold, what
are your guys? His favorite nicktoons? Oh? I think you

(07:47):
know a lot of classic Wren and Stimpy. You know,
Rocko's Modern Life, not even just because of the jokes itself,
but just the art style was always so interesting and
kind of pushed the boundaries. But then I you know,
SpongeBob has this special place because I remember the when
they did show the first ever episode after the Kid's

(08:09):
Choice Awards, and I was like, oh man, this is wild.
So I remember, yeah, I was so to me, I'm like, okay,
this is a solid one. Um, it's so funny you
said Hey Arnold because I knew that. I forgot that
about you. But I should have known because you remind
me of Hey Arnold. Great, thanks, I don't remind you
of Doug. Funny. I'll take it. I'll take it. Why
why don't you like Doug? Doug's cool? But Doug was

(08:32):
a dork Doug, you know, like right, Doug was cool,
But I was always as a kid, I was like, look, man,
make a move with Patty or just or stop. But
then again I was that dorky kid. I don't know.
I like spet more. However, I swear to god, if
Hey Arnold were older, he'd be like the type of
like white guy in college that tries to teach you

(08:53):
about jazz, like a he's Ryan Gosling. Yeah, So I'm like, yeah, absolutely,
he is Ryan Gosling. Um mine, okay, so my favorite.
So I also grew up adoring Hey Arnold. It tackled
a lot of different things that I feel like we're
important it felt different for Nicktoons. Um, just this is

(09:13):
a shoutout because we didn't even cover Nick Jr. At all.
They were doing work like I love Little Bear, like, um,
a lot of the stuff that they were doing, but
Little Bear always played like classical music and it always
felt really safe but sticky. With Nicktoons, I would say, um, Rugrats.
I mean I just adore Rugrats. It's great. It was
just so great and really funny. And again, like when

(09:35):
you watch it as an adult, there's a lot of
like adult humor in there amongst the parents. Oh yeah,
dr lipshits, Yeah, the child psychologists. Yeah cool. What is
something that you guys are real proud of looking back
on netificent, What's something that you're real proud of? Because
I know here's why I'm bringing this up, because I
know that you guys get the most amazing positive feedback.

(09:57):
You get feedback from listeners that is so encouraging and
so inspiring and so cool. So give me a favorite
piece of feedback that you guys got, or something that
you're real proud of that led to some like a
great response. Yeah. I think until this day, I still
really enjoyed when we had our comic con meet up
because it's like one thing too to to like, you know,

(10:19):
talk with folks online, which is great, but it is
like something extra cool when you get to see everyone
face to face and kind of just be around each
other and enjoy the present, you know, the presence of
each other. Yeah. For me, I think it's like the
multitude of guests that we had on which are so

(10:41):
well versed in every topic that we covered, but allowing
people to really hopefully open their minds about a lot
of things, like we've had really difficult, not difficult, but
like just conversations that a lot of other quote unquote
nerd podcasts don't have or they're afraid to have, And
for us it's kind of just like, why can't we
have these conversations and just be more open to representation

(11:04):
in comics. When Iffy and I created this show, we
really wanted to remove gate keeping from the nerd community.
We want to be like, Okay, if you don't really
know about this thing, then it's kind of like your
philosophy hector, where it's like, let me, let's be passionate
about it and talk about it, as opposed to being like,
you don't know about this then this isn't for you.
Instead it was like, oh, you don't know about this, Okay,

(11:24):
well let's talk about it and bring someone in that
does know. So. But also just yeah, our conversations about
getting to talk about queer characters and gaming, getting to
talk about representation of women and a lot of these comics,
representation of people of color, and a lot of these comics,
and like, also how we were kept out because the
biggest thing that I see in the comic book community,

(11:46):
in the nerd community is like, well, this isn't cannon.
They were white, Like this character was white, And I'm like,
that's because all those characters were white. That was what
was allowed to exist in the forties. When these were
made in the forties and fifties, we weren't allowed to
be in them. So like, it's not going to kill
you if we change some of these characters to be
more reflective, because the truth is to me, it's like, well,

(12:08):
when they came out, they weren't reflective of the actual world.
We existed. We were always around. We didn't just appear
suddenly in the eighties. We were always around. For me,
It's just like having those conversations about representation. Yeah, and
is really important. I know, I think it is very
important because it also just kind of nerdifficent. Was such

(12:31):
a fun thing to have because you know, I've been
doing you know, nerdy content for a while. Like I
remember on stream last Friday, We're going back and I
was reading my old site, that Black Nerd, which was
a blog I had when I was talking about nerdy stuff,
and I pulled it up because I specifically wanted to
look because I remember, and I've said this on the
pod before, that no one you kind of shift my

(12:53):
like idea of what being a nerd is because like
everyone's like, oh man, you know, the gate keeping and
all this stuff and what like. You can change from that.
You don't have to be protective because I wasn't necessarily
like a full blown gate keeper e guy. But definitely
the way I talked about nerdy stuff is like definitely,

(13:17):
I wouldn't one never like talk about it that way now.
But it's like some of the way that ignore that
annoys me now, Like I'm looking at this is uh.
I posted this in August fifth to two thousand and eleven,
so you know, it was like twenty four and and
I was talking this is when Miles Morales was first,
you know, uh first like announced and so like I

(13:42):
wrote a whole thing on like a black Nerds thought
on a black spider Man and like um and like
the reading through you know, it's uh like I think,
I like, it's so funny because I wouldn't treat it
the same now because my my big whole takeaway in
the is that like it's like, oh, it's not it's

(14:02):
not that big of a deal because we've had a
black nick Fury and all this stuff. And also like
my whole thing and kind of the way I moved
now is even if I did personally think it's not
that big of a deal, I definitely don't want to
be like stopping on anyone's parade. I don't want to
be like you. This is why you shouldn't care, because

(14:24):
if it's a big deal with somebody, it's a big deal.
Like there's no there needs to be no, there's no
qualifier for a big deal. And it's and the reason
that's so funny to me now is because looking at
that article and then fast forwarding to when uh black
Panther came out and so many just so many white
YouTube videos had to be like this is why Black

(14:46):
Panther is not even important. It's not that important. It's
not this is it's like you don't get to decide that,
like like it's like just simply at all, Like I
can never just you know, decide what's important for you, Danny,
anyone in here, because what's important you is important to you.
That's a personal, uh, you know, relationship that you have

(15:09):
with yourself. But it's so I think in nerd them.
You see that a lot of like especially like if
you look at the new trilogy and stuff, and people go, oh,
that's you like that, how do you how do you care?
And it's like who cares? Like there are people who
are like I liked the prequels, you know, like and
and then they'll be like, because I grew up on
it and and so that's what I had. And you

(15:30):
don't get to say that it's not good or that,
because if you go back and objectively look at the
original trilogy, it's not it's not slapping as hard as
someone who came into Star Wars Lady who didn't grow
up on it. I slept fell asleep during a New Hope,
Like it's it's not it's it's all these connections and
I think you nerve them. Um, maybe I'm just laughing

(15:52):
because I think, like, you're gonna get cast into Star
Wars thing and someone's going to clip this and they
can be like and and say that you fell asleep.
I hope they do. And you know what, that just
just the same way they kept playing Hector's own voice
when he got cast in d C Daily like and
and And that's what's so funny. I was just thinking
about this when I was on a walk the other day.

(16:14):
Is the idea of appreciation is so much different, right,
Like I feel like before and I think I'm gonna
yank this. Super producer Joel brought this up of the
I think I'm gonna mess it up, but I'm gonna
say it anyway. I think it was the French Revolution
or the new wave film revolution, where you had critics
criticizing the films and and they and that thus caused

(16:37):
the filmmakers to try and step it up so that
it was like a friendly kind of marrying between criticism
and creation. And I think now the idea of nerd
um is to blindly like it and not call out
anything about it, like you know, like, because I'm a
DBZ fan, I can't call out that Mr Popo is racist.
It's like, no, I can appreciate the parts of DBZ

(16:58):
that like and call out that this is a caricature
of sambo uh that was used in this and you
know it's it's interesting and I think that's the soul. Yeah. Oh,
I wanted to go back to what you said if
you about like things being important to people, even if
you took away like all those YouTube videos that were
like this is why black Panther actually doesn't really matter,

(17:20):
blah blah blah, Like even if you took away representation,
which is important to people, it's really important that we
show studios that they can bank on these Like that's
the biggest thing, Like it was aside from yes, all
of that, but like, if we're still talking about the
white gate keepers in our industry, they need to see
Unfortunately we still in order to push for movies that

(17:42):
are representative of us, we need to show them that
we can make money. Um, because they're still controlling so
much of these decisions and so much of what gets
funded and what doesn't get funded. I mean it sucks,
but that's like also why it was important that it
did well. Yeah. I think also it's just you know,
as people who are in the industry, there's so much

(18:02):
information that we're privy to before the public and seeing
the public's reaction. It's just so funny to know how
confident people are when they know nothing, Like it's so
interesting to see someone describe and try and fully explain
something that you know how it's gonna work. You know,
you you you know what what's being worked on, you
know the steps, and people just doing full through Twitter

(18:25):
threads that you're reading and you're like, oh, you're just wrong,
and what's gonna happen is you're gonna be wrong and
you're just gonna move on with your life and not
even taken into the fact all these claims that you've made,
all this you know, pressure you've put on someone based
on just your assumption. And I think that's what starting
to drive at me is like you people are just
so openly, loudly wrong and so confident in speaking on

(18:50):
things they know nothing about it. And I think that
could be said about many things that male persons. Sorry
all so agreeing, Yeah, I just want to say too,
I just want to say back to Iffy. For a second, Iffy,
that was a beautiful compliment you gave me where you
said that I had changed your idea of what a

(19:11):
nerd is, because I totally agree with you a hundred percent.
I think differently about things today than I did when
I was in my twenties than I did when I
was in my teens. You know, it's okay to be
able to change your mind about things j K. Rolling.
It's okay to be able to to to to update
and to realize, you know, what's important. And I was
more protective and defensive and traditional with the stuff that

(19:32):
I loved, And as I got older, I looked at
the context. I looked at the historical context, and I went,
why are the things that I like the way that
they are? Why are the things that I love? Um,
it's like, so why do I love them so much?
Are they a strong enough idea and strong enough important? Like?
Are they important enough to me that I can hear
somebody lob and honest criticism at it and still be

(19:53):
able to take it. I love Spider Man, and there's
real genuine problems within the story of like he ends
up marrying a supermodel, Like that's not super healthy. That's
not a great message to give to young boys. And
that's just one small example. There's there's lots of examples
where nerdy stuff, you know, Like you mentioned you guys
are talking about all the big franchises have to do that.

(20:14):
They're really a focus of what's happening at a larger scale,
uh in the world at the time. And what's happening
right now is that people are becoming more aware of
others experiences. They're becoming more aware of what is important
to other people, and they're asking and demanding for their entertainment,
at the very minimum, to be equal and fair and

(20:36):
representative of different people. I think people are also asking
for more important changes to happen, and and hopefully that's
going to happen too. But at the very minimum, we're
talking about entertainment. When people go, oh, it's just entertainment,
just let it be entertaining. Don't involve politics into it,
don't bring in social justice into it. I I have
said this over and over and over again. There is
no such thing as art without politics. That is part

(20:58):
of it. It's an expression of what's happening in the world.
And if you're a fan of this stuff, and if
you love this stuff, I think that sometimes it can
be tough to look inward and to look at the
stuff that you love and honestly criticize it. But I
also think it can be tough to in that space
of loving an entertainment thing to look around and point
at your peers and point at your colleagues and go,

(21:20):
you know what, what you're doing is unhealthy. What you're
doing is gate keeping. What you're doing is whether or
not you know it, it's upholding white supremacy. It's upholding
the patriarchy like it's sexist, it's racist, it's all this
stuff that doesn't have to be that way. And you
may think, no, I'm just complaining about how I don't
like the new Star Wars movies. Well, why well, I
don't like so and so and so, Well why not?
Are you consistent in that feeling with other with like

(21:42):
the rest of the historical context of that particular franchise,
and are you aware about the rest of the historical
context and you know what it does and how it appears.
And it's such a bummer to say this, but we've
come a long way. We have a long way to go,
and in terms of the nerd sphere like it's it
may it may see like it's small potatoes, but really, truly, really,

(22:02):
I think there needs to be much more work done
at the level of like calling out toxicity on the Internet,
especially because those big studios, like Danny was mentioning, they
are paying attention to the vocal minority. They're paying attention
to the people that are very loudly saying we didn't
like Star Wars at the Last Jedi because this, this,
and this, and then the Disney response to that and

(22:23):
then goes and makes their third movie and apparently, allegedly
according to the rumors, they really did look at how
people responded and then they sort of course corrected. And
it's like to some people they course corrected in the
right way because they made a movie that they enjoyed,
and to others, they course corrected in the wrong way
because it went back on some of those ideas that
a lot of people connected to that were like feminist
ideas or you know whatever. So but it's all varied

(22:46):
and there's a bunch of different nuance and everything that
I'm saying. But I really do think that, like in
the same way, it's a bummer to have to ask people, Hey,
call out your relatives on the internet, especially on Facebook
and stuff when they're spreading like misinformation about political issues,
because that can too harm. Like you have to call
out your relatives. Uh, and it's a bummer, But same
sort of thing like call out your friends, call out

(23:06):
your peers. And when you see somebody online, especially like
somebody like Danny and Iffy who they're they're doing the work.
They put themselves out there, they talk about issues they're
important to them, and then they always get knuckleheads coming
in and being assis about it. If you see an
ass go in there and be like, you know what, look,
this is why you're mistaken. Boom. And it just helps
because it's another voice that is being added to the

(23:29):
voices that are saying we care about this stuff and
we want to share it with people, and we don't
want to be exclusive. We want to be inclusive and
just be able to enjoy all the stuff we enjoy. Well,
I was gonna ask what message you have for the
nerd community. That's the message. Baby did it? You did it?
Um Hector. Thank you so much for coming on our
final episode and all of these episodes that you've been on.

(23:52):
Thank you so much, Thank you Danny for changing my
mind about what a nerd is. And thank you Iffy
for changing my mind about what a nerd is because
before if you, I didn't know nerds could bench, but
now I know they can bench. Seriously, they can. They
can take on animals that are much larger than them
strength to strength and be able to defeat him. Thank
you Iffie, you know. But yeah, no, that's it, thank you,

(24:14):
because there's a lot of buff nerds out there getting
it up. Absolutely, Um, Hector, where can everyone catch you?
What are your socials? Find me on the internet at
Hector is funny on Twitter and Instagram. And uh, that's it,
And thank you so much again guys for having me.
You guys are awesome. Yeah, we're going to take a
really short break and then we'll be back with more

(24:36):
guests right after this and we are back. Hector is
such a joy, always such a joy. Um. But we wanted,
of course, on our final episode to talk to super
producer Joel Monique, who joined us this year. Hey lady, Hey,

(24:58):
what's up guys? What I'm sad this is the last one.
It's been emotional for me as a person, but I
defendn't see you guys once a week. We still have
our long standing Netflix parties. That was getting it in. Yeah, no,

(25:18):
that's a what what a what a wild ride it's been.
But yeah, you've been on quite a few eppsh yourself,
you know. And so do you have a favorite episode? Oh? Man,
uh the Soak episode, which you know happened so recently
but was such a blast. It was so fun to
talk about my girl. I'm obsessed with her um And

(25:40):
then the chance to defend aunt Man as potentially the
greatest superhero comic book movie of the m c U
was amazing because I didn't think anyone would want to
hear that argument. So I appreciate you guys letting me
hear that out here on I guess I would because
you're so heavily and try inn in the nerd community

(26:01):
as well. Like, what are some things that you would love,
Like what are the messages you would give people one
who maybe like don't necessarily feel they have a place
or have been gate keeped. And then like things that
other people can do to kind of make this a
more welcoming space. What you can do to make this
a more welcoming space? Is when someone tells you why

(26:22):
they like something, listen to it. Similar to Hector's take, um,
which was, you know, maybe more about not being sort
of like a direct asshole. My my take is more
like you might learn something if you hear why people
are enjoying the new thing, right, Like I feel like
I have this debate with the Star Wars people a lot,
especially like first gen Star Wars people, and then I

(26:44):
had to learn it too. Here's the craziest thing. You
can be the most woke nerd person, or at least
think you are, and once you get older and this
new generation comes in and you're like, listen y'all. Because
I was ten when the prequels came out, and I'm like,
these are not great. They're not the Star Wars I'm
used to. They're a little slow. I hated Part three.

(27:05):
And then some kids came out they're like, no, it's wonderful.
How dare you doubt our queen? Look at her dresses?
And I was like, I do have to give the
dresses props. They're like, look at all that she does
as a politician, in the fact that we have this
like strong female politician in the front. Look at how
we start um equating droid like usage, especially as like

(27:25):
slave labor, and start you to open up those conversations
in our galaxy far far away like this like network
of things expanded, not just in a technological aspect, but
from a fan basi. And so for a lot of people,
I love the prequels, and I hadn't learned that the
hard way because I was certainly out there trashing them
and anybody who liked them, Like you don't know Star
Wars in So definitely take a listen to somebody like

(27:46):
something you don't, and you just take the opportunity to
hear what it is they're enjoying and why they like it.
You'll probably learn something not just about yourself, but about
what your fandom has lacked. And I think that's a
great way to start, like allowing people in the other thing,
I would say, it's like, go to conventions when it's safe.
Not now to convention now it's not a good scene,
but when they're when it's safe. Um. I used to

(28:07):
think I couldn't go to conventions because they're super expensive,
and I was like, how will I ever managed to
do this? And and hotel and people, But if you
can get close and even like your local conventions are
going to have amazing artists, and I think as fun
as like a whole h can be. It's fun to
be quote in the room where it happened. But it's
also really cool to like watch an artist grow by

(28:29):
like going up to their table and be like, oh,
my goodness, look at all the like cool work you've done.
That's really sweet. And then you come back next year
and they're like, here's my first comic I self printed,
and you're like, wow, that's so cool, Like I'm really
proud of your progress. And then two years later they
have a deal with a major thing, and like that's
how you become involved in the community. Like that, to
me is a communal aspect. The stars are awesome and

(28:50):
great and it's so wonderful to see them do their thing,
but it's the people that are just getting started out
who are so like on fire passionate about their work
I think makes the community the strongest. Oh my gosh,
I don't even know how to add to that. Yeah,
I was gonna say, I guess what what things that

(29:12):
are coming out or like things in our fandom franchises, movies, whatever, comics,
what are you excited to see in this upcoming year
or hopefully things that are going to eventually come out.
M yes, there's a lot of good stuff keeping my
Star Wars trend. Debra Chow she is phenomenal if you

(29:34):
haven't seen Flowers in the Attic perfect, but she's also
doing all of the Star Wars stuff and she's so, so,
so talented. She directed two of the Mandalorian episodes, but
now she's taking on Like, I believe the Han Solo
series is going to be about what was happening when
Han Solo was hiding out on tattooed in and like
how was he protecting Luke from Afar and undercover Dad?

(29:55):
Sounds like the best story ever and I'm very much
looking forward to it. Obviously, the Wonder Woman movie can't
get here fast enough. I have so many questions. A
lot of my faves are in that. Um so I'm
looking forward to seeing that. And then you know, I
don't ever The Last Airbender. It is really having a
renaissance right now with addition to Netflix, and if Nickelodeon

(30:18):
wanted to pick that up and do anything with another avatar,
I love Kyoshi. I wouldn't mind seeing what happens after Cora.
We could go back and do origins of the first
one post when he gets his powers, Like, what are
the first missions? He's going on? So many cool aspects
of that series. Even if you just wanted to give
me adult ag I'm not complaining about it. Whatever you

(30:38):
want to do with Avatar the Last Airbender, I'd be
here for it. Let's do it. Yes, same. I don't know.
Maybe maybe we should give Shamalan one more try. Maybe
maybe give him one more crack at it, stop it stop,
zero more try three rocks for Earthbending no fail. Wait,
have you guys seen the videos where they do the
side by side of what it's like to like what

(31:01):
the fight was in the television series versus what the
fight was in the movie. No, no, I'm going to
try to find that. It's the saddest thing in history.
Fight with the Master Airbender guitar Fight with the Master
Airbender brilliant, gorgeous, wonderful in the animated form. You can
drop us a link right now because we have to

(31:22):
take another quick break and then we'll be back with
one final guest. Right after these messages, and we are
back final episode of Netificent and now we are joined
by one of my dear friends, Mr Christopher Smith Bryant. Hey,

(31:44):
Hi guys, how are you doing good? Good? Are you
emotional having the last show today? I mean, I think
we've been pretty pretty chill. I think it's going to
be yeah, you know like that. I always call it
the Will Smith moment. That's that's that's how I deal
with emotion. That's that's how the TV taught me. How

(32:07):
to deal with emotions as a black man is you
have to let it happen. Then you come back to
the empty house like I'm gonna log into an empty
zoom on next Tuesday, where all my friends. Chris, you
you were on for a couple of our episodes one
of our. One of my favorites is our Queer Characters

(32:27):
in Gaming, which we just ran for Pride a month ago.
You were also on our SIMS episode I remember with
Claire Max. It was funny because both episodes we talked
about how nerd culture is very important for any marginalized group,
especially marginalized groups that are using nerd culture for escapism.

(32:49):
It's funny. I was just having an interview about Comic
Con this year because it was all online and I
was like, I felt like it was so amazing because
it was finally super accessible for the groups that need
it the most, which are marginalized communities that don't usually
have access to comic Con and now they feel like, yeah,
like they could because it is such a privileged thing

(33:10):
to go to Comic Con. But really the people who
need it the most are people marginalized groups in the
middle of you know, the country who need that community.
So for them, I think this year was actually really
a brilliant year for that. Yeah, now that that's super
like That's what I was thinking about too, is just

(33:32):
especially just like even people who maybe have the financial means,
but just the like I don't know, get all the
walking around, getting around this pack city, or if you
if you're not comfortable around large groups of people, you
can finally like get all the info and all that
and still be at home and not dealing with, you know,

(33:52):
people pushing you out the way so they can get
a toy from Hasbro. The Funko pop like collector Bros.
Are slightly that's just as a scary level that I
didn't know existed, Like especially when you go to their
house and they're just like all staring at you all
of the little you know eyes, the funk pop eyes.

(34:15):
It is kind of elitist and the fact that they'll
nab them, right, you have to have the accessibility to
be able, and again we're talking about something that's like
less than thirty dollars. So having the accessibility to be
to get to be in San Diego, get to like
stay there. Again, I've talked about this. The hotels that
weekend are insane. And I had like I got to

(34:35):
stay at the Marriott for one night because like another
company was paying for it. And I was like, oh,
you know, I just instead of changing rooms because I
normally have to change rooms a bunch, I'm like, I'll
just I'll just stay another night. And I called down
at the front desk. I'm like how much is it?
And they're like, oh, it's eight hundred dollars. I'm like, okay, no,
I'm good. I'll sleep on someone's caught. But like just
being able to be there, like you said, or the

(34:57):
badges are like three hundred four hundred dollars in um.
So they nab these toys and then they sell them
for like three four hundred bucks, and it's like it's
just like you were saying, it's keeping the people who
actually need this community, who could who could benefit and
enjoy some of this, It just keeps them out. So
I'm just hoping that they continue to live stream panels

(35:21):
even if they have them in person. I would love
they live streamed them more of them, and I would
love if the exclusives are just mass you know, available
to the masses like they were this year, you know,
online and everything, because I want people, especially people like you're,
people who have disabilities, people who have UH. So for

(35:42):
the viewers who don't know, I'm on the autism spectrum,
and crowds for me are very difficult, so I can't
imagine especially you know, UH people who might I hate
using this term, but lower functioning people in the spectrum
going who can't go out to comic Con. I want
them to have the ability to, you know, to feel

(36:03):
like they are a part of it, because community, especially
in in the geek world, is one of the most
important things that we can have. Is is community, so
that people who might feel lonely or who use this
as some sort of advice, UH can can use this
as a way to bring people together rather than be
more and more further divided, I would say that's what um,

(36:26):
being that this is your last show, that's what I appreciate. Really,
what you guys created is you created a voice in
the nerd community that is very needed. That is like,
it isn't just a white, cis male space. Um, many
people need need this community, and I think that you actually,
you guys created more than just a podcast that you know,

(36:49):
people could bring facts. You gave a voice to I
think people who didn't hear themselves heard in any other
you know, sort of nerd media. Yeah, thank you very
much for that, Chris, for you, Um, can you tell
us a little bit about the comic companel that you
did because people can catch that right now, they can

(37:11):
watch it. Oh yeah, I think that's a cool thing
about Both me and you had panels about feminism, right
like yours was about. Can you tell you first? What
was your sign? I think mine the title I'd have
to look up, but it was essentially like representation of women.
We actually were featured in Huffington's posts, which I'll tweet

(37:32):
out from the Nerdificent thing. But we had an entire
article dedicated to our panel that talked about tropes like
a lot of the things that we tackled with, like
how the misrepresentation of women in media still today in
and how we can fix that, because I think it's
a lot to point out like they do this, but
we also pointed out like here's a way that you
can fix that. So, um, I'll drop a link. It

(37:55):
was really panel. It was really awesome. I saw some
of the clips of it, and you are so well spoken,
and it was such a great panel. Mine was a
similar Mine was the Power of Female Friendship and it
featured the cast of Sailor Moon and also our good
friends Sam Maggs, who is the writer of Captain Marvel,
and it was It was cool because it was a

(38:16):
panel about Sailor Moon with also being more than Sailor Moon.
It's about like how important it is to discuss female
friendships in nerd media and how there are very few,
like even a lot of the superhero books it's a
female that's working alone, and how important it is to
have talk about relationships in writing and in nerd media. Yeah,

(38:40):
you're you're totally right. I wanted to talk about just
even the the exclusive real big, real quick before jumping
uh back into this, but they're back in the day,
I knew people who got you were talking about, you know,
getting the free hotel. But I knew people who got
free tickets to Comic Con from sellers. They'll get their
ticket and all they needed from them is to sit

(39:02):
in the Hasbro line to help them buy it up.
So they're out here like abusing the system to do
like like, there are systems in place meant to kind
of make exclusive more accessible, and people are going out
of their way to go around it and sell them
for way too much money. And I think it really
really kind of sucks that people it was like, we'll

(39:26):
do that, but I think, yeah, I think that's that.
That was the one thing that it's funny because you
know who who shot you. You know the other podcasts
that do their whole tagline is a movie podcast that
isn't three white dudes talking. And it was funny because
that's essentially what we wanted to do with Nerdificent words,
like we we noticed this space and even though now

(39:48):
like even though there are there are a lot of
things that were around before us and came, but I
think now people are actively kind of searching for different
voices out there. But like it felt like when we
were coming together to make ner deficent, it was like
you there, there weren't anyone kind of propping up these

(40:08):
like diverse voices. It was the same, you know, the
same white voices you'd hear. And that's why it's even funny,
uh seeing you know, G four and everyone being like,
I hope they have all you know, the same hosts back.
And I was like, do you though, do you want
the same? Like we've come so far from when G
four went down, you want the same? It was all

(40:30):
that was the unfortunately thing. I loved G four growing up,
but all the hosts were like white people and and
and you have people being like, oh well, it better
be the same host and I was like, it better
not be the same host. It will And I think
it's because you know, people don't realize how weird that
would look, you know, people and it and it And
that's why I kind of talked about in the hector

(40:51):
portion this attachments and nostalgia for nerds, just like, oh,
you want the same thing, and I think that's the
same that that'll find That'll be that problem with with
Star Wars and every time we see there are people
who put find their nerd thing, and they put in
a time capsule and I was talking with a friend
and she was talking about a show she was watching

(41:12):
with her partner right and the show was like a
mid show, like not even like this great show, but
the show had so much emotion attached to where she
was at the time that she saw it. So they
finally got to the final episode and like she was
crying because of just knowing how far she come at
that time in her life and what she was going through,

(41:33):
and she was laughing how she was like she didn't
know how to explain to her partner that no, the
show didn't make her cry. She's you know, it was
more just that, but she almost it was almost too
much to explain. I was like, oh, just say the
show made you cry then, like that'll be easier. But
I think that's what people do to nerd them is
especially like when you see it and even I do this,

(41:54):
but I think it's it's good to kind of like, uh,
notice it and don't become to those people who make
your identity these nerd things so that when something is
changed about it, it feels like they're trying to change you.
And that's what you're seeing when you see people have
these violent, aggressive reactions to characters changing, people changing, it's

(42:16):
because they put so much of themselves within this property
that they don't own or have control over that when
it changes, it feels like someone's trying to change them
and they have to fight for it. And really it's
like appreciating what you got from it and not not
attaching yourself to it. You know, like you can be
attached to it, but it you shouldn't make yourself a

(42:39):
part of something you And I think this goes beyond
nerd things. I think in general, never make yourself a
part of something you truly can't control, because you will
be put in that position eventually. Well. And it's like
you always, even if it's real life or nerd culture,
you will always see you'll always be disappointed by your
heroes in some way. And I think the problem is

(43:00):
is that people like I remember when the last Star
Wars movie, uh god, what was it? The one that
piste everyone off? The Last Jedi came out and a
lot of these nerd bros had this violent reaction seeing
Luke Skywalker become and end up such a flawed human being,
where in their mind that might have been Mark Hamill
and that in that time might have been like a

(43:22):
father figure, this person that lifted them up. So it's like,
I think you're right. The Last of Us two is
a great example because that's something that's dividing the nerd
culture in a way. I think people put so much
of their self on the first game, and when the
second one broke everything down, they couldn't appreciate what was
new because they wanted the same feelings that they had

(43:45):
with the first game. Again. I also think that there's
a huge thing in what you were saying, which is
like the nerd community collecting versus community, Like instead of
focusing on collecting every Funko pop or every this comic
con should be about the community and it should be
about getting together. And I think that that's one of

(44:07):
the things that's hard that's hard to watch, that was
cool to watch this year is that it kind of
became again about the community, even though we are all
so you know, distanced and everything, and made people focus
on like, wait, the important thing isn't getting these funco pops?
Are this and that I want to be around my
friends my Honestly, I love cons because it's the one

(44:27):
time where nobody would say we can't cuss on here,
but nobody would call me the sea word or be
word to my face, like none of they some of
those people at Comic Con, they might have written it
to me, but they don't have the guts to say
it to my face. And so it's just a time
where I can exist in this space and just take

(44:48):
in everything and have people come up to me and
celebrate work that I've done, or just like or just
me getting to be a nerd in exist out there.
But it's just like it was my favorite part in
all of like the voice actors and my friends that go.
It's like none of us get treated like a like
a pos when we're there, but it's like, you know,

(45:09):
online we take so much of that hate, and like
you said, it's the vocal minority because then when we're
amongst everyone at Comic Con, it's just this bustling feeling
of happiness and energy and joy, and it's that's how
it should be. It's like all this passion coming out.
Oh yeah, that's why I think that's why the it
is very accurate to call Comic Con nerd Marty Gras

(45:31):
you know, and because you really do. And it really
like even as you know, uh, someone as dorky and
extroverted as me, you get to see people kind of
come out of their shell dancing, having a good time
because they feel comfortable and safe. Because I think one
of the things that keep people from being, you know,
as open and I think this goes once again another

(45:53):
one of those things that go outside of nerd um
is just like how much people will relate to you,
how much you trust, you know, you don't want to,
you know, let loose in front of somebody you fear
might make fun of you or make you feel less
than for doing it. So when you have all these
like minded people, you're like, oh, this person over here
is dressed as link. They're definitely not going to judge
me for like busting down on this coac arena jam,

(46:16):
you know. And and that's what I love is just
seeing those faces and you're seeing people light up and
and and and also that's why, you know, as much, uh,
I was almost gonna let's say as much, uh s,
I'll say I I dump on San Diego as a city,
as a whole, as a county, as a part of
the world. I do love that you know, San Diego

(46:39):
has given in and allowed you know, the nerdom to
just take over downtown, which is why anytime people like,
oh it moves to l A. I was like, no,
we can't like as much as you know, Angelina I am,
I love. There's just too much going on. Like everyone's
always like, oh, l a sports fan, don't care. I
was like, no, we just always have something going on.

(47:00):
I'm sorry. When there's a Lakers game, there's probably a
Taylor Swift concert going on next door. There's also a
baseball game, there's you know, there's so much going on
that like you almost have this like, yeah, you're not hyped.
I'm sure in Cincinnati when the Bengals play, that's a
whole event because yeah, you know, and it's like, um no,

(47:22):
I was gonna say, it's kind of like E three
for me is right, is usually right after Pride. Oh
my god, I'm like walking into the three hungover. I
bags just like kill me because it's true. In l A,
it's like we don't have that hype because it's like
there's always But with Comic Con in San Diego, I
mean it was cool. I had a friend that face

(47:42):
timed me and there are people still in the middle
of the streets social distancing, trying to kind of experience
I couldn't be there, Yeah, I can only imagine. Yeah,
San Diego probably felt the change of all this the
most because especially all those businesses, Like as much as
you know there's those there's always like one or two
weird bars that are trying to like make fun of

(48:04):
the comic Con thing. But as much as even they
will do it, they probably make so much money from
the city just being flooded. Every bar like it really,
like I think we're they're going to feel unfortunately a
huge financial hit because I'm sure all these businesses make
bookoo bucks because every bar is packed, every restaurant, like

(48:27):
no matter where you want to go, if you want,
if you're thinking of okay, since I wasn't able to
go because of the RONA, I'm definitely going to Comic
Con next year. Let me let you know that no
matter how far you push out, you just go to
go get a good airbnb, go to the rouse and
cook up a dinner and then save one night where
you're really willing to wait for an hour to have

(48:47):
a good dinner because everything is so packed. But it's
kind of Why also I like that this comic con
was online is that I'm hoping that in smaller communities
and people who can't get to San Diego, they can
have a local bar night where they all watched Panels together,
or they can have like a many comic con over there. Yeah,

(49:09):
I think that would be beautiful. Well, Chris, I was
going to say, as we're wrapping up here, do you
have any words of encouragement for nerds, maybe any of
them that might be on the spectrum or queer, like
anything that you've had to deal with trying to make
space for yourself in this community. Do you have any
words of encouragement for people who aren't quite there yet.

(49:30):
I think that now is one of the most difficult
times because because of the distancing and everything that people are,
the social distancing, and we've already had an issue of
it's like what you were saying, Danny, how you would
go to comic con and finally people were not calling
you negative words to your face, but they do that online.

(49:51):
And unfortunately, the one negative side to all of the
distancing is people are more vocal and more fighting online
now more so than ever. So I have the weirdest
thing that is just try to not argue on the
internet would be my biggest thing. Try to find zoom
calls if you're doing twitch some way though of still

(50:15):
meeting people and connecting with people where you can actually
talk to them versus then just tweeting them. Because the
most important thing for us to do as nerds is
to have some sort of community together. And that's one
of the things where I'm so sad about this show
is because I know that it was um you know,

(50:36):
it's it wasn't just a podcast in a weird way,
it was kind of showing the actual community of nerds
that are not always represented in you know, every nerd media.
Was showing you had people who are trans every single
color like you had so many, such a diverse group
of people, and I think in some ways it wasn't
just a show. It was kind of a show of
a community and it brought people together. Every show that

(50:59):
you guys do, I of people that reach out, so
let's say like thank you. I felt like my voice
was heard. And I think that what we can continue
on with the spirit of Nerdificent is just continuing positive
communication but also communicating like how you guys do in
this podcast people hopefully not just talking over Twitter, but

(51:21):
being like, Hey, do you want to go on a
zoom call and talk about this game or talk about
why we have a difference of opinion of the last
Jedi or like whatever, like actually have those conversations where
you can see and talk to the person instead of
just relying on on Twitter, because I think that that
will be the way to make sure that we have
a community and have connection with each other, um in

(51:43):
a time where connection is very scarce and and is
you know, fleeting. So that would be my advice. Thank
you for coming on for our final episode, Chris no worries.
Thank you for having me. I love you guys, and
I'm very proud of everything that you created with this.
Well where can everyone catch you? Um? You can see

(52:04):
uh my Instagram at Tinder Chris. That's t E N
d R Chris uh c h R S and um
you can also see me and Jenny ng have a
show that is every other week called Comedy Crossing, which
is a uh comedy show in animal Crossing. Also my
charity which is a queer gaming nonprofit, the biggest one

(52:26):
in the United States. It's called lags Los Angeles Gaming Society.
You can find us on Instagram as well. Yay, thank
you guys so much. Look at my friend doing so much. Um.
I definitely wanted to shout out super producer Joel Monique,
thank you again for all of your hard work. Um,
can you just plug your socials again really quick? For

(52:46):
the people's sure, it was an honor. It's a lovely
show and so I'm sad to see it come to
an end. I do you think it stands as a
lovely historical record. So if you guys want to follow me,
I'll be pretty see a couple of new Nerds shows
coming down the pipeline here at my heart that I
cannot talk about yet, but I am very excited to
share with you guys. I'm all of the internet at

(53:08):
Joe Monique, that's j O E L L E M
O N I q U E. And of course our engineers,
Zach McKeever, who has been with us since day one,
holding it down. Yep, yep, you don't ever hear him,
but he is why we why we sound good. Um.

(53:28):
Of course struck Key's are editors also why we sound good.
He cuts out a lot of things to make us
sound smart. Yeah, and you know he's been on the
pod before and he has his own pod culture kings.
You know, we had Dan Goodman, Jack O'Brien for you know,
believing in the vision. Uh. Ana Hosnier holding it down

(53:51):
with us at the top. Uh and every guest who's
ever came on, and everyone of you who has ever listened, truly,
you're the only reason we've been able to do it
and made it great along the way. Uh. And you know, speak,
don't take Nerdificent as a podcast. I'd say take it
as an ideology. Uplift voices that you you don't hear

(54:14):
being said a month, you know, smash that rt if
someone if someone's you know, speaking truth to power, and
I think you know, uh, you know, feel free to
nerd however you want to nerd, as long as it
doesn't encroach on anyone else's vision. And don't let anyone
ever make you feel less than for doing that. Um.

(54:34):
And as we'll say, for the last time, stay well,
we actually got it up together on the last time.