Episode 122 - Ninja

Andrew joins Ben this week to talk about something which thanks to pop culture is turtle adjacent and thanks to an obscure martial arts publication is also peach adjacent… weird eh?  They catch up on what has been going on in their lives—lots of writing for each! Andrew has been working on his ADHD focused book, and Ben has been playing Edge of Sanity for game review material on Substack. They explore an assortment of topics before moving to video games including the following: the Insane Clown Posse, the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, household appliances, motorcycles, the movie You Only Live Twice, G.I. Joe toys and comics, the Community episode “G.I. Jeff,” The Tick, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja (Hero) Turtles franchise. In closing, Ben and Andrew talk about some of their favorite ninja themed arcade games and the PC games they would play in their youth.

***

00:00:21 - The intersection of life stuff and writing stuff, lots of stickers, and a fleet of snails 00:03:44 - Andrew’s “Attention Dragons” mini-zine, a new Ko-Fi page, and shuttering Patreon 00:06:33 - Taxes, staying out of Etsy jail, a flu fighter, the plural of ninja, and asking a Juggalo  00:09:33 - Learning on a bus, the quintessential alcoholic clown movie, and the 2VP Substack 00:12:05 - H.P. Lovecraft, separating art and artist, the Cthulhu-verse, and “The Cats of Ulthar" 00:16:18 - Ben’s preliminary thoughts on Edge of Sanity, the madness meter, and Xenophobe    Check out Ben’s full review of Edge of Sanity on Substack! https://substack.com/home/post/p-150996029

Check out Andrew’s reference to the song “Night Boat to Cairo” by Madness!  https://youtu.be/lLLL1KxpYMA?si=b5eoHuDOmllJKNeP

00:19:20 - It literally means spy, food processors, motorcycle names, and You Only Live Twice 00:22:46 - From blenders to Snake Eyes, comic loopholes, and “PORKCHOP SANDWICHES!!!” 00:26:50 - Complicated personalities, the government issue Jeff episode, and the original Joes 00:29:12 - A surrounding hedge, straight outta Birnam Wood, ninja parody, and TMNT or TMHT  00:35:41 - Adventures with Chicago weapon vendors, finality of death, and parodying parodies  00:36:57 - Cheap 80s and 90s newsprint, cashing in on trends, arcade remakes, and The Tick 00:39:07 - Bitch or ninja, czars in government, subreddits, Ninja Mind Control, and fruit theft   00:42:52 - Memorable ninja arcade games, 28 quarters, Arcade Archives, and Mystic Warriors 00:45:32 - Telling stories in shortened arcade experiences, and Andrew briefly checks out 00:48:20 - Sinistar’s backstory, board games, and Andrew ponders if he likes “story” games 00:50:30 - His name was Richard Garriott, remembering Tabula Rasa, and Ultima with Andrew’s 00:53:02 - Games of the college days, Ben remembers Strider, and a Vancouver microbrewery  00:56:00 - Strange beers, brewing, the flavor of the day, juice pouch problems, and apologies 00:58:05 - Andrew remembering the Juggalo lore and Ben remembering a Patton Oswalt bit

***

Follow Andrew / Partly Robot Industries on… His website: https://partlyrobot.com/ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/partlyrobot On TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@partlyrobot On Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/partlyrobot And his TREE o’ LINKS: http://linktr.ee/partlyrobot

Follow Two Vague on… Our website: https://www.twovaguepodcast.com On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/two_vague_podcast On YouTube: https://www.youtube.co