February Discord Chat Session Recap (Patreon)

Earlier today Peter and Lloyd held this months Discord chat session. So, I just want to recap what was discussed for those of you who couldn't be there live. (If you wish to read back the entire transcript of the discussion, the start of the chat is pinned in the #concepts-and-spoilers channel)

[Please note: for those of you who don't want to read spoiler type information, then maybe don't read any further of this post]

The chat began with some general Valentines Day niceties! Pete explained that he had "stayed home and cleaned while the kids went to mom's sister's". A few patrons reminded us they are single and looking for love. The right person will find you all one day! ;o)

The discussion began with Peter suggesting the match-up of Jeff Bezos vs Mansa Musa. (as an alternative to the Bezos vs Lex Luthor matchup talked about last month) For those unaware Musa is a West African emperor from the 1300's who was known for his excessive wealth. He made a pilgrimage to Mecca along with allegedly 60,000 of his people. It was a lavish example of how he liked to show off both his power and bulging supply of gold.

Peter is very keen on asking YouTube rapper "Scru Face Jean" to portray Musa and he also thinks Lloyd could portray Bezos well. Although admittedly Peter is also potentially a great fit for the role. The idea got a generally very favourable response from both Lloyd and the patrons in attendance.

One potential negative brought up by one patron was that it "feels like a re-tread after doing four different rich / tech bros in Musk, Zuck, Gates & Jobs". Which is a very fair point. I think if we went ahead with Bezos he'd need to be given a deeper, more layered portrayal than just another "rich white dude". 

Lloyd was very happy with the matchup. Peter seems pumped for it. And Scru Face Jean seems like the perfect guy to cast as Musa. So it's one matchup that we are gonna be considering strongly.

In view of the recent round of "Most Wanted" Lloyd floated the idea of Mussolini vs Mansa Musa; primarily because of the way the two names sound together and the fact we have been struggling nailing down a perfect candidate to face Mussolini.

But Bezos was the overwhelming preferred candidate to face Mansa Musa and Pete felt there'd be more appeal and more jokes to be found with Bezos involved. 

As a side note: we are currently discussing all the suggestions patrons made for the Mussolini Most Wanted and we will hopefully have a final five poll published soon. It's been tricky as for what ever reason there's not been many that have felt a perfect fit. (Which is the whole reason Most Wanted exists I guess!)

The next topic discussed was a follow up on Ulysses S. Grant who was someone we discussed in the January discord chat. Last month we had discussed potential opponents including Robert E. Lee and George S. Patton. But since then Pete has started to think Ho Chi Minh - the Vietnamese revolutionary and politician - could be a more interesting choice. The connection here is that Grant and Ho are two famous leaders who fought for the "North" in a Civil War but it would demonstrate two very different histories.

Peter said that he "really likes the idea, the depth and girth of the matchup", but didn't think it's the right choice for right now. He wants to view it as a long term idea, something we can come back to next year and delve into. But, its a match-up both he and Lloyd are very interested in. 

If and when we do it we'd ideally like to get a Vietnamese rapper to portray Ho and in the current Covid / lockdown situation that is a bit more tricky. In the mean time Pete said he will "keep learning about Minh and brainstorming with Javi and Forrest about how to make them look like they are in respective war movies".

The next topic discussed was the idea of Taylor Swift vs Dolly Parton which is a match-up that has been floating around for a while now. Pete thinks it's a banger. Lloyd loves it too. (Although maybe Josie was typing his responses!) ;o) The idea received a mixed response from patrons. Some loved it. Some thought it was trash. [I'm personally in the latter group - Ed] Pete suggested that "there's lots to hate and love about Swift but that's what so good about it".

A bunch of patrons wanted to move on and discuss Van Gogh vs Andy Warhol instead, which admittedly has been a popular matchup for many years. We even opened a writing room for it on Discord back in 2019. So, it is one idea that Pete and Lloyd both like a lot. Its one we have wanted to do for a while. It is not alone in that sense. There are a bunch of matchups that have been put on the backburner for a variety of reasons. 

We then discussed the possibility of doing an ERB news update video either on the ERB or ERB2 YouTube channel. I think once we have a better idea of what 2021 is gonna offer and what is gonna be possible, doing an update video to the wider fanbase makes sense. 

A bunch of other match-ups were then very briefly thrown around. The likes of Godzilla vs King Kong, Tim Burton vs Hayao Miyazaki, Red Baron vs White Death, H.P Lovecraft vs Rod Serling. Notably a mini head to head vote between either 1) Swift vs Parton or 2) Lovecraft vs Serling ended up in a defeat for the two country gals.

Lovecraft vs Serling is the current active writing room on the Discord. It s open for lyric submissions for at least another seven days. Lloyd is unsure about it. But I don't think his knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos or the Twilight Zone is very deep at all. That is where you cool folk come in! So, please submit your suggestions this week as Pete and/or Lloyd will be reading thro them all (and potentially rapping some of them) later this month.

We also decided after some heated debate on the benefits of turd sandwiches that we'd reopen submissions for Gogh vs Warhol. The news got nearly universal support from all but the hardiest of Swifty fans. Sorry. Swift will live on to fight another day. So don't be too down. But Gogh vs Warhol is a battle that has been around for a long time. It needs to happen one day. It's got two great characters. So, you can now find that reopened room over on the Discord server. Just look for the channel called #poptarts-spoiler

That about concludes this recap. Hope you found it useful. Remember, this months video live stream is on Sunday 28th February at 2.30pm PT. Hope you can attend! 

If you have any thoughts about this Discord chat session, feel free to post them in the comments or email us at: erbpatreon@gmail.com