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Community Showcase - January 2020 (Patreon)

Published:
2019-12-26 20:11:16
Imported:
2026-06

Content

A new year, a new showcase! On Tuesday, January 7th I'll be ringing in 2020 with Ian Hinck and all of the spectacular creations from our inspiring community. With 2019 wrapping up, and a new decade ahead of us, there will be a lot to talk about and appreciate. What games, movies, or shows did you enjoy over the holidays? What are you looking forward to most in the months ahead? This Showcase is almost two weeks away, so I don't want to see any sneaky Patrons slipping in their posts at 11:59 the night before. I mean, I'll allow them, but I won't be happy about it.

- Brandon


SHOWCASE GUIDELINES

No submissions will be accepted past January 7, 2020, at 12:00 AM PT.

While you retain all rights to your content, by submitting here you’re giving Easy Allies the right to show the content in our monthly Community Showcase live stream.

You may submit a comment, an image, or an audio/video file. If you’re submitting anything other than a comment, please host the file elsewhere and link it on Patreon. You can make a tweet or Instagram post with your image, or link the audio/video from a YouTube account, etc.

If you’re posting a video, photograph, or drawing, keep your comment limited to a description of the work. Leaving a piece of art, or a video, in addition to a long comment is a bit disrespectful of people who just leave comments. If you’re posting a lot of images, we will only show a maximum of 9, of our choosing unless you specify otherwise.

Comments have been known to disappear from Patreon posts, unfortunately. Double check that your post remained active before the day of the Showcase. Leaving a comment helps to keep it from vanishing. If you’re submitting text, save a copy locally in case you have to re-post.

Any text to be read should be 500 words or less. Any video or piece of music should be 3 minutes or less. If the entry is longer, we will edit it down to a manageable length. We reserve the right to remove any content we find offensive.

Only one entry per month. Unless you specify what you’d like us to focus on, we’ll always use the last post from each Patron.

You may comment on any submissions, but keep original posts focused toward the Showcase so no submission is overlooked.

Comments

Megan Linart

Hello Ian and Jones, As promised im gonna talk about the series SKAM. I figured i'd explain what it is in this post first because it's kinda hard to talk about if your not familiar. Its a Norwegian web series, its 4 seasons total. It follows the lives of a group of teenagers as they make their way through school. Every week each episode was released in real time as short clips on a daily basis on a Norwegian Public Broadcaster called NRK, people would tune in and watch the clips everyday as they were released, or you could wait and watch all the clips together when they were out. by season three it broke all streaming records in Norway. It also had a big social media following. This lead to tons of fans providing translations for the show. Even cooler is there are SKAM adaptations/remakes that have been made everywhere all released differently and at their own speeds, which include Druck (SKAM Germany), SKAM france, SKAM Italia, SKAM Austin, SKAM NL (Neatherlands) wtFOCK (SKAM Belgium), and SKAM España I'm actually planning on watching all of the remakes and reviewing them in the coming months, so far i've seen SKAM og and Druck but i'm just going to be talking about the original this time. So each season follows mostly 1 character and their story but they all intertwine in some way. Season 1 mostly follows Eva and her relationship with Jonas as they go through hardships and her dealing with insecurities about their relationship and ultimately overcoming them. While making her own group of friends. Season 2 follows Noora one of the girls that Eva becomes friends with in S1. It follows her meeting and falling in love with William all while dealing with her traumatic past. This season also covers alot between the friendship group as well. Season 3 follows Isak and him meeting and falling for the charismatic Evan, it’s essentially him coming to terms with his sexual identity, but also covers some other topics like mental illness. Season 4 follows Sana The season deals heavily with her religion, she is islamic in the show and its entirely from her point of view. Also this season deals with topics like forbidden love and her friendships. The thing I love most about the show is the amount of Authenticity it has, everything feels so real from the performances to the situations the characters experience. The writing Is top notch and by the end of the show your so connected to all of the characters, and just in a short time it has become my one of my favorite shows of all time. that's all the room I have, I'll be back next month to talk about Druck and I’m going to be starting SKAM France next, season 5 was just announced and as your reading this it should premiere tomorrow! This is a big deal because it’s the first SKAM remake to do a completely new season! I'm super excited to talk more about it! Till next time. Happy New year guys ☺️

Kit Snow

Hey Allies, I tend to show my latest venture in writing or art or whatever creative hobby has my interest in these monthly showcases, this month I think I'm gonna take a step back and tell y'all about me a little bit. I live in rural Alberta (that's Canadian Texas), and I've always been the very loudly queer and weird person. When I was younger I didn't take as much pride in that as I do now. My interests range from embroidery to horror video games to analyzing characters in any sort of media (English teachers loved me) to farming sims. My favourite fictional characters in the entire world are Edmund Pevensie from Narnia, Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds, and George Weasley from Harry Potter (don't worry, Steve Burnside is still top five). One of my favourite jokes is "what does the L in Kit L Snow stand for?". While I always believed I would end up in a creative industry, I work in the weed industry and kind of love it? I technically graduated high school a year early but had to go back over an error about a class. And after spending my entire life believing I couldn't survive on my own, I've been living by myself for almost a year.  I also have multiple disorders, mental and physical that affect my daily life. The heavy hitters being severe depression, PTSD, and being autistic to name a few.  But I'm not just surviving, I'm thriving My point here is to try and show to people who are struggling as I have, that they're not alone in it. Mental health is so exceedingly important, and anyone can be affected by it. On the outside, I appear pretty confident. My fashion sense can be called… bold. I can be loud and obnoxious People always seem shocked when I tell them about one thing or another to do with my health, and that's my point. Anyone can succumb to poor mental health. To those who are struggling, you are loved and you are not alone. To others, be kind. Have empathy. I'll end this with a sort of thank you. The friends I've made, and bonded with, in my time in EZA's community has meant the world to me. I am a better person for knowing and learning from the people I've met. I found EZA during a rough time in my life, and I can honestly say my life would be completely different had I not. This past year alone I hit almost every milestone I never thought I would ranging from moving out of my parent's house to taking the first steps to legally changing my name to actually driving. It's love and support I got from this community, from the friends I've made and got closer to, that have helped me become the person that I am today. I'm confident in myself, and I'm content. Thank you EZA community for being welcoming and supportive. Kit Lev Snow

Michelle Jackson

Hello! I’m gonna be honest, November and December were pretty intensely rough months so I spent my break relaxing and recovering rather than working on Unusuals. Because I don’t have much new content to share I decided to do a brief look back on how the game has evolved over the past decade. I hope to be back to regular updates next month. Happy New Year! (Non-Jones peeps please don’t watch before the showcase, and if you do please don’t comment about it. I’d also prefer Jones not see the ending before the showcase but I understand that you have to screen submissions.) (Edit: I realize my previous statements might have made it seem like there was some big surprise in the video. Don’t expect much lol. No release date or anything like that.) https://youtu.be/uJ1OOKY7eQg

Alexander Zyryanov

Brandon, Ian, your personal shows make me feel like I know you well. I make many submissions, but I never told you about myself. I think it’s unfair and I want to fix this. I’m 35 years old and one word description of me is “Mathematician”. Not only because I have PhD in mathematics and good with numbers (at the age of 4 I remembered temperature, mass and other numerical aspects of Solar System’s planets). It’s just how my mind works. I apply logic to everything and deep down I perceive every problem as solvable puzzle. I can’t be convinced without proof, so marketing and loud opinions have no effect on me. I will never be hyped or depressed simply because losing control of yourself isn’t beneficial. Alas this feature makes hard to predict how others will feel about my words and actions, so sometimes I accidently cross the line. Sorry if I’m doing this now. Also sorry that I’m pledging less than you worth for me: my health never was great and I have to spend most of my income on doctors and medicine. Don’t worry, situation isn’t critical, I just can’t do some “normal” things. Like eating in café (my single-ingredient meal isn’t tasty enough for sale) or having typical social life. But since my logical mind easily suppresses unfulfillable desires, I’m happy with the life I have. Speaking of life, I enjoy programming, thinking, movies and listening music (although I don’t spend much time on the last two). I think programming is the ultimate art, because programs can create any art. But coding is just my hobby – I work as network engineer, which I obviously like. Previously I taught computer networks at university and since nobody cared what I’m doing I was insanely creative. I can make separate post about this if you interested. But my favorite thing is videogames. I like western RPGs, action-adventures, puzzles, story-driven, racing and some other. Story is my favorite aspect, especially if it doesn’t have happy ending. I like open world, but I need goals for exploration, so I love radio towers & quest markers. I hate grinding, needing to master combat and other progression blocks except puzzles. Cutting-edge visuals and modern game design are so important for me that I almost never like non-current-gen and retro games. I rarely play multiplayer, because I don’t have friends and I don’t want to be a burden to strangers. I dislike shadow-drops, timed events and other artificial urgencies. I can always wait to play a game and I don’t play two games simultaneously. I try all free games & demos from my subscriptions. I only buy games I want to complete, so I play 100% and finish 99% of my purchases. My backlog can get empty. I play mostly on Xbox (Game Pass), buy mostly on PC (much cheaper), use PS4 for exclusives and own Switch. Well, that’s a short slice of me. If you interested to know more, don’t hesitate to ask.

Adam Hentschel

Hey Brandon and Ian! For this month’s piece of music, I wanted to try and arrange something that I felt deserved some representation for 2019’s Best Soundtrack and I ended up landing on the main theme for Final Fantasy XIV’s Shadowbringers expansion. Even as someone who hasn’t come close to touching the game, it was damn near impossible to go anywhere without hearing the praises of its soundtrack and it turns out, it was for good reason. The score by Masayoshi Soken definitely holds its own as an excellent series of standalone compositions and it should definitely be given a listen from anyone who enjoys some varied and well-composed video game music. Hope you all enjoy this condensed version of its main theme! Adam Hentschel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6d33zQvY90

BeardedScotsman86

Hey Brandon and Ian, Very busy month for me. I helped setup and run the Christmas Fayre in our village. I was Santa's helper, making sure all the kids got a chance to see him. Just before Christmas I celebrated my 33rd birthday. Then of course there was prep and celebrating Christmas itself. For my birthday I got Ring Fit Adventure, and Horizon Zero Dawn. Then for Christmas I got Assassin's Creed Odyssey. I also had an issue with the mail which meant my rental was so delayed, they sent me a replacement and both arrived. So I got Shenmue 1 and 2 as well as LEGO DC Super-Villians.  I wouldn't have even looked at Ring Fit if it wasn't for the Friend Code episode on it. So a big thanks to Damiani, Huber and Sofia for that. It was especially good having Sofia on as she had knowledge of past fitness games which helped for comparisons. I have done a little exercise everyday. Haven't done too much as I didn't want to burn out over the festive period. In the PSN January sale I picked Need for Speed (2015) too, so I have lots to play now. Priority going to my 2 rentals. Christmas day was spent with my wifes family. We made the turkey and veg, my sister in law made the roast potatoes, and my mother in law made the soup for starter and chocolate bread and butter pudding for dessert. Lovely meal. Got well and truly spoiled this year. Have a nice heated blanket to put over me at my desk now and lots of sweets (candy). Plus Anthony Daniels biography (I am C3PO The inside Story).  Love and respect, BeardedScotsman86

César Villa

Hello Ian & Brandon! I’ll start by saying, Ian, I’ve failed you. In your previous appearance in this show I said I wanted to beat the Talos Principle by the next time you were in the guest seat. You asked if the version sold in the PlayStation humble bundle included the Road to Gaena DLC, and I did check that and it does, but other than that, I hadn’t even touched the game. I’d say I will have played it by your next appearance, but at this point I better not make any more promises. Returning to a running theme I’ve had the last few month, you won’t believe this allies, but the soccer team that the wife’s likes WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP. They made it to the playoffs just barely as the last seeded team and we thought they wouldn’t make it further than the first round, but they destroyed their rival, the best team in the tournament, and moved to the semi-finals. There they just did what was needed to progress and the final was a nail bitter of the worst kind, ending in penalty kicks with the wife’s team getting the glory. And now. If you are wondering if I managed to get any Mario & Luigi time during the games (as I said many months ago was my plan, to play that game while the wife watched her soccer team’s games), the answer is NO, goddammit NO! I don’t know how I thought it was possible to play during that time, but I managed to find another window and I’m close to the end of the game. I wanted to beat it this past weekend, but the cat decided against it. We were away for the holidays a few days and a friend came home to feed him, fill its water supply and clean the litter box; but what he couldn’t do was play with him, so the cat decided to entertain himself by chewing the gamepad’s charger cable until it broke. I noticed until the controller ran out of battery and I pulled the cable to charge it and I just got the head. That cat hates the wiiU. The sensor bar was his first victim, then he managed to break the gamepad screen and now the charger’s cable. Anyway, I got a replacement and I hope I can give you my input on the game on next month’s show. And last, I started Silicon Valley on HBO after you (Jones) mentioned it in Cup of Jones (I think?) and oh man… that’s what I’m talking about! It helps a lot that I’m a computer systems engineer, so I relate a lot with the characters. I swear “big head” rode the elevator with me this morning. Thanks for the recommendation. And that’s it for this month. Keep up the great work, allies. Love & Respect, César. [Ignore from this on Jones, just didn't want to leave Jessie Blu's comment without context] "This Showcase is almost two weeks away, so I don't want to see any sneaky Patrons slipping in their posts at 11:59 the night before. " I feel like this is aimed at either me Or Jason A. Sackel, or both.

Brandon K Gann

The 2020 release schedule is INSANE, and as I look at the release schedule of my anticipated games, the majority are coming so close to each other. As of this writing, it appears the first game to come out is the one I want the absolute most: Final Fantasy VII: Remake. I never tire of rewatching every trailer and presentation as my own Shenmue moment still echoes through time. Mr. Hinck was right: It didn't come for five years. And while March 3rd will be a happy day unlike any other, there’s no way I can get through it all in eight days, because March 11th is Ori and the Will of the Wisps’ new date. I’m not bummed it got delayed, but why go to March? While it is (and has been for some time) my most anticipated Xbox exclusive, I probably will still be working on Remake by the time my third game comes out: DOOM: Eternal, just nine days after Ori, on March 20th. I should be done with both Remake and Ori by mid-April, though I’ll probably be only partway through DOOM when April 16th arrives, and with it, CyberPunk 2077. CyberPunk’s sheer scope is intimidating, and I’m more than confident it will take forever to finish. I’ll be working on it by the time the next game I'm getting comes out six weeks later (but with finishing up DOOM, it’ll probably be more like three or four weeks). In between however, Gears Tactics is coming April 28. I’ve never played a game in the genre (though I’ve been tempted by Final Fantasy Tactics), but until the confirmed Xbox port comes sometime in the future, I’m going to hold off on it. Good thing too, what with CD Projekt Red's behemoth on the docket. Then, as we work our way through May and over two weeks after my birthday, comes The Last of Us Part II. Only VII: Remake surpasses this game for personal hype. Of my interests, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so little of a game, but be so overconfident it’ll be exceptional. The end of the year will be the dawn of a new generation, and while I’m never a first adopter because I need multiple games I’m interested in to be released so the initial investment pays off, Halo: Infinite being a Series X (weird name by the way) launch title is interesting. The rest of 2020 for me is vague, but exciting: Weird projects like The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe Edition and Superliminal; Games that draw heavy influence from others like Wrath: Aeon of Ruin (think old school DOOM/Quake in a gothic/fantasy setting) and Ghostrunner (Mirror’s Edge in a Cyberpunk setting). And even games I’m sure won’t be this year, like Beyond Good & Evil 2, Back 4 Blood (the spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead), and Witchfire. I know I’m crazy for typing this: But 2020 could be my personal favorite year of gaming before we even hit E3.

JessieBlu

Hi Jones, I just sent you my link. - L&R JB

Small Leviathan

Season's greasons, Allies! The 2010's are over and seeing as I've spent most of my teens and all of my life as young adult in that timespan, that feels weird! It was a decade of ups and downs, highs and lows. I grappled with my gender identity and realized I was nonbinary (which in retrospect puts my childhood fascination with androgynous anime characters in a whole other light), went through an existential crisis before finding my place in the world thanks to some great games and the words of late philosopher Alan Watts, and discovered my two all-time favourite artists, Burial, and Baths. But that's enough about my life story, I wanna get into my favourite games of 2019! Before I begin, a quick shoutout to Risk of Rain 2, which is STELLAR but also in early access. You'll get your chance in 2020, bud. 5: The Outer Worlds. I think I was less impressed by this game than most people were, I didn't really dig that combat all that much for instance, but it's hard to deny that the Outer Worlds tells a great story full of wonderful characters. Parvati is my baby. 4: Blasphemous. This delightfully morbid metroidvania is probably the closest any game not made by Fromsoft has come to feeling like a part of the Souls family, but where lesser games are content to just mimic the greatness of Souls, Blasphemous does what Hollow Knight did and pushes forward to show that it is not merely inspired by, but stands beside the Souls series as a true equal. Also, I never want to fight Expósito again, thanks. 3: Baba is You. I am TERRIBLE at this game, yet I cannot stop thinking about it. Underneath it's charmingly crude and cute exterior lies a mind-melting smorgasbord of puzzles that always seem to have one more brain-breaking new twist just when you thought you had seen it all. I have reached a point where I consistently need walkthroughs to progress, and this doesn't diminish my enjoyment one bit, because the sheer ingenuity of the solution is often as fun as figuring out what it is. 2: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Fromsoft's latest outing arrived this year with the best combat in the business and some of the most consistently fantastic bosses in their entire discography of pain. I had my reservations about the lack of RPG mechanics and a set protagonist, but I think they made a case for those changes, in the end. 1: Katana Zero. I went into Katana Zero expecting a slick cyberpunk romp and that's what I got, but I also got a brilliantly clever story full of jaw-dropping, gut-wrenching story moments and the best soundtrack of the year. Literally the only complaint I have with Katana Zero is that it ends too soon, and the dev is working to resolve that with a future content update, and I one for couldn't be more excited to see how this tale ends. So, that's that. Here's to a great 2020 for everyone watching! Love and Respect, Small Leviathan

Happy Gaming

A decade of gaming  in review. Also movies. In Christmas of 2009, my brothers pooled funds to surprise me with a PS3. My brothers and I kept ourselves occupied for the majority of 2010 with  my first PS3 game and it's multiplayer, Uncharted 2. At the time we huddled around my small 4:3 tube TV to play the brand new PlayStation console. Also Inception came out that year. In 2011, I got my first collector's edition. I was lucky, and got my hands on a Ni No Kuni Wizards Edition that came with that cool book. Being a lifelong Ghibli fan, I was in heaven. It was a game I didn't expect to get in the states. Also we got The Adventures of Tintin. While the 360/PS3 generation gave rise to downloadable titles, 2012 was the first year that we stopped calling games Indies or 'digital games' and just started calling them games. Telltale's The Walking Dead and Journey were some of the best games of the year. Also Looper. Holds up.  2013 is that controversial year where you're probably in one of two camps: GTAV or Last of Us. I got both, I'm in the latter. Also, the release of Frozen that year made working at a movie theater an insufferable experience for six months. What did I play on my new PS4 in 2014 again? Dragon Age? I liked The Evil Within a lot. I uncomfortably watched my roommates play an unhealthy amount of Hearthstone every single day. What a weird year. Gone Girl and Nightcrawler were also great. 2015 had The Phantom Pain, The Witcher 3 and Bloodborne. Remember that whole Konami Kojima travesty? Your loss Konami.  At least I still have PT installed. Shout out to Inside Out and The Martian. I waited a whole decade to play Final Fantasy XV and in 2016, I finally got to. I loved it all the way through. It feels like a privilege to be able to have certain games in your life, and XV is an example of that for me. Not perfect, but I love it to death. Arrival on the other hand is perfection.  In 2017 we got my favorite game of the decade from a franchise I was up to that point unfamiliar with. Its story so powerfully relevant and impactful, I played Persona 5 for over 150 hours and still think about it every single day. Also, Logan.  Sure we got God of War, Monster Hunter, Spiderman and Red Dead in 2018, but I probably spent more time playing and loving Celeste, my reason for purchasing a Switch, than all of those. Platforming perfection and powerful emotional storytelling. Just like Into the Spiderverse. Finally, 2019. It's a weird gift to be able to finally say that I played Kingdom Hearts 3. I didn't need to hear the entirety of Let it Go in the Frozen world, but I think my positive feelings outweigh my frustrations. Parasite is my movie for 2019. 

Asbo Zappruder

Happy New Year, Allies! How is 2020 treating you so far? I spent January 1st playing DQXI and watching AntennaTV’s NewsRadio marathon, which is about as good a start as I can imagine. Anyway, we’ve got Jones and Ian here so… let’s talk some theatre! There wasn’t much to do workwise these past two weeks so I got to catch up on some things. Here is what I could fir. 1. Les Miserables – The Staged Concert. A few months ago I mentioned how weird it was seeing Michael Ball play Sweeney Tood. That turned out to nothing compared to seeing him play Javert. He was onstage while everyone’s singing “One Day More,” but he didn’t sing the line “My place is here, I fight with you.” Still, at least it wasn’t Nick Jonas this time. Anyway, it’s not a bad version but there are some arrangement decisions that made me tilt my head. 2. Carousel – Live from Lincoln Center. I like Carousel a lot. I recognize it’s issues and the fact that it has probably the worst line of dialogue in any show ever. But I think done right, it’s the most interesting Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. It gets treated as a romance a lot but I think it’s more about deeply flawed people not quite making it work and then passing that on to the next generation. I find it incredibly sad. Specifically sad, not big enough to be called tragic. 3. Much Ado About Nothing – Shakespeare in the Park. They do interesting things to bookend the show but I’m disappointed they didn’t carry it through the rest of the show. But this production has a pretty charming Beatrice and Benedick and that’s really what you need. My biased favorite will always be David Tennant and Catherine Tate’s version, though. 4. Julius Caesar – National Theatre Live. It’s the kind of production that starts off with a rock band performing at a political rally and the stage is a series of platforms interspersed among the crowd. This wasn’t as annoying as I thought it was going to be. Probably because it also had Ben Whishaw as Brutus, Michelle Fairley as Cassius, and David Morrisey as Mark Antony. 5. Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles. One of the thoughts I had while watching this documentary is that it resonates so much because it’s one of the few musicals that is really focused on family. And the only other one I could think of off the top my head was Falsettos. I’ve basically run out of room here so I’ll stop so I can ask two questions. 1. I don’t have a Christmas musical tradition like I have for Easter and Halloween. Do either of you have any show suggestions? 2. I’ve spent a long time talking to Jones about musicals but almost none with Ian. So I’d like to get a sense of Ian’s tastes and experiences. Anyway, I’m so glad to have 2019 behind us. Here’s hoping 2020 isn’t terrible!

Ben Fitter

Hey Ian and Jones! I got a new audio interface, so hopefully there is a noticeable difference in sound quality. I decided to test it out with an excellent song that I'd been saving for a bit because I didn't like how it sounded on the old interface. Hope you enjoy! https://youtu.be/xaRQ8nggGfU L&R - Ben

Robert I.

On "Frame Trap - Episode 97 "Holiday Hangout"" Jones mentions Huber created a Marvel Strike Force Guild and then bailed on it. I just wanted to follow up and say: A number of members of that guild went off and formed a new Guild: "Easy Allies Assemble". We're still going strong. Shout out to Huber for initially bringing us together!

Tokyo Slim

Took a day trip by ferry to an island about 40 minutes away from Seattle. https://tinyurl.com/v54klch Walked around Blakely Harbor Park, which has an abandoned mill that I poked around in. https://tinyurl.com/uqykwu3 https://tinyurl.com/v69exg2 https://tinyurl.com/rvc2hxl Then went and visited the Hall's Hill Labyrinth, which I think kind of reminds me of Myst or The Witness, which I know Ian enjoys. https://tinyurl.com/upq7qza https://tinyurl.com/rhdj57m https://tinyurl.com/yxy9ejmc https://tinyurl.com/w89ppbw The view from the labyrinth hill overlooking the bay https://tinyurl.com/ttczl5s

Tyler Gardner

Hello Brandon and Ian! Gonna dive right into the meat of things this month. Breath of the Wild. Coincidentally I’ve neared the end of my journey as you (Ian) are about to be on a showcase, and I cannot thank you enough again for giving it to me. To start at the most simple - this game is magical. Magical in the sense that Ghibli movies are (would a Ghibli Zelda film not be wonderful?), the look, the music (THE MUSIC!), the characters. It has a mystical, magical feel that’s a joy to live in. While combat and the story are fun, what kept me really going back to this game over the past few months (plus having to wait to get a drifted joycon back) was the quirky world and exploration. There really is a sense of wonder to wandering this world and seeing what oddity you may find. Having never completed a Zelda game (Ive only ever touched Ocarina, and that was maybe five hours), it was a blast to fully dive into this game - learning about the Gerudo, Zora, Goron’s, and gathering snippet’s of the past through memories. Finding the Master Sword was a real highlight, and one of the peak moments of exploration for me throughout the game. As I near the end (only needing to fight Ganon), Im taking the time to enjoy the small things - cooking, building Tarrey Town - and exploring this world which still feels surprisingly unexplored and wild. I see now why there’s such an excitement around a sequel - and Im eager to now be able to play it at release, and explore a fresh world when everyone else is as uncovering it as well. Really my only big criticism would be I wish there were perhaps a few more shrines you could easily access early, and that the puzzles in them were more varied. Im not the biggest fan of the breaking loot system either - but thats completely a personal preference - I understand the need for it. It is genuinely very hard to capture my feelings on this game in such a short span of space - but Ive had a really wonderful time of exploring this vibrant, beautiful world. (Honestly I would love a Stardew Valley esque game where Im just inhabiting this world, no monsters.) An unrelated side note, I really enjoyed Episode 9 though found it makes 8 feel like a black sheep. In retrospect Id have preferred they kept JJ through all 3, or let Rian handle the ending. Fallen Order was also a blast (though I was spoiled on a huge moment through an awful ad that played in Twitter). And shoutout to Spike Chunsoft for porting a Steins Gate spinoff this month! Onward to gaming in 2020 - Persona 5 Royal and Animal Crossing are the next two big releases on my radar. Cheers, and hope you all had a good holiday break! -Tyler @tmgm528 Edit: 1:30 AM, January 7th. Ganon is slain

Phazonmasher

Hey Jones and Ian, I want to thank you and the community for the reception to our Tales of series retrospective we shared last month. My partner and I were very nervous of sharing it with a wider community and unsure of the quality. Jones forgetting about the three minute rule and watching five minutes of it was the best seal of approval we could've asked for. As an aside, my partner who provided the VO for the video was super elated when he heard what chat was saying about the quality of his narration. He was super unsure of himself, but he now has more confidence; and the takes that I've been going through for episode two are even better than before. Speaking of which, we're working on episode two of the retrospective right now, and it will cover everything regarding Tales of Symphonia from its announcement, development, launch and cultural impact. The writing is done, and the VO is mostly done. We'll hopefully have the video out by the end of January just in time for the next showcase. I'll be sure to remind you of the three minute rule next time. Thanks again! L&R as always! P.S. Making a retrospective about a long running JRPG franchise for our first project might have been a mistake. Capturing footage takes more time than anything else.

James Davie

Greetings Brandon and Ian, I’ve been a fan of GameTrailers/Easy Allies since 2006 when I was searching for a TOCA Race Driver 2 trailer and I haven’t looked back since. I was super sad that GameTrailers died in early 2016 and was overwhelmingly stoked when 9 of you guys reconvened to reform and thus continue GTs legacy with Easy Allies a month or so later. Brandon has been the voice of my videogame life since I started listening to his authoritative signature pipes narrating the reviews at GT. Thanks to you guys I’ve been an avid videogame writer since the age of 15 and have recently started to expand my reach, writing for videogame websites like The Xbox Hub and The Xbox Tavern. As for EZA I’ve got to say no other YouTube page deserves my admiration and my time, and no other Patreon-funded page deserves my money more than you guys-because no other Patreon page has my money. On behalf of the whole community I’d like to say THANK YOU!!! Infinitely for the amazing content you produce daily for us lot, please know that your tireless efforts are always appreciated and revered strongly. 2019 was a decent enough year in videogames and being a certified game freak, I’ve played most of the big-hitters that released as well as some absolute stinkers. I decided to write up a huge list of my best to worst games of 2019 so I could document all the games that I played. Some of my favourite games were Resident Evil 2: Remake, A Plague Tale: Innocence, Wreckfest (console version), Untitled Goose Game and APEX Legends and some of the worst include Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Police Chase, Delta Squad, Crackdown 3 and GRID (reboot). 2019 marks the first year I’ve refused to buy a WWE game because I’ve been getting fatigued by how dull and unexciting the games have been getting the last several years with their inconsistent quality, mirroring my indifference in the TV product because those halcyon Ruthless Aggression and Attitude Era days were unbeatable, making me pine for AEW and Chris Jericho’s A little bit of the bubbly as an alternative. Only two games have my utmost attention in 2020-CyberPunk 2077 and The Last of Us Part II. In addition, I’m also excited for the console versions of Disco Elysium and Two Point Hospital. I also want to ask Ian about whether he has watched any French New Wave films like Breathless and the 400 Blows as well as what he thinks of them because he wasn’t part of December’s Q&A and he’s the resident EZA film guru. Lastly can either of you two do a convincing Dr Crabblesnitch impersonation? Peace, Love and Respect.

Miguel Menjivar

Hello Ian and Jones. Greetings Chat. Happy new year my fellow Allies, we are starting a new chapter in our life and we are ready to start the hype train towards the new generation of consoles, whether you like PS5, Xbox Series X or whatever Nintendo does, this year looks to be a good one indeed. I have a few objectives that I would like to fulfill this year, however, at least during this showcase I just want to mention one that looks simple but it is actually harder: I want to have a positive perspective or attitude towards different things about my life and stop going all negative(kinda) with things that have not even happened. Something I noticed about myself is that I usually tend to see things in a negative way and not the bigger picture, I don’t know why I’m like this to be honest and is bothering me so I want to change it because it will help me to enjoy life better, to see other possibilities and overall to worry less about things that might not even happen. To start this, I would like to mention some of the games in the past decade that had some kind of positive message for me: -Mass Effect 2: Finishing what you started is the message here, no matter how hard your objectives are, as long as you bring people that trust you with you, nothing will stop you. -Red Dead Redemption: It is never too late to correct your life, maybe some stuff wasn’t as you expected but you can still fix your mistakes and learn from them. -The Last of Us: Hope is a powerful ally, the world around you might look like is ending but there will be always hope that things will change for the better.... Eventually. -The Witcher 3: How far will go for someone you love? Maybe you will go around the world just to find that person that is important in your life, and even if the trip is difficult, once you reach your destination you will see that it was worth it. -Persona 5: A lot of things are positive about this game but the message that I relate the most is that friendship is a beautiful thing and those who you call your best friends will be there during the most difficult times. -Breath of the Wild: The world is big, don’t be afraid to explore it and find the place you belong. -God of War: The sacrifices a father will have in order to provide his child with the best life possible and teaching how to navigate through life. Not only these games gave me a positive message, but they were also some of the best games on the last 10 years. Well, that will be everything from me this time. As always I wish you the best. Amor y Respeto. Miguel.

Super3dcow

Hello Brandon and Ian! I decided to pass this time on a Pop'n Music song and share screenshots I took in games this past year on PS4. Thank you for the wonderful years of entertainment. I am thinking of finally visiting for your 4 Year Anniversary show, but it is daunting to schedule a trip from PA to CA. https://imgur.com/a/np9r3FF

Mason Victoria

Hi Brandon and Ian! Happy New Years! the latter half of 2019 was a huge year for me because not only did I start my Masters in Music, but I became fully invested in video game composition and audio design, beginning with the EZA Glinny's Cauldron game jam. I began going to game dev meet ups, went to a few game jams and even wrote music for a few games! I also fell in love with something that was foreign to me for a very long time - modular, FM and subtractive synthesis (syyyynths!) It was awesome to finally be able to follow along Ian's synth Easy Updates and appreciate all the knowledge he has for the artform. Today I present the first synth piece I wrote for one of my Masters assignments. Here's to 2020 and the hopes of working with many more talented artists and game devs! https://soundcloud.com/masonvictoriamusic/crash-course-synthesis-study L&R Mason Victoria

Anonymous

Hello and happy new year! Here's hoping that 2020 will be a good year to everyone. I just checked my 2019 list of beaten games and I can say this was the best year since I returned to gaming. I played some of my favorite games ever, like Final Fantasy IV to VIII, Xenoblade Chronicles, Shenmue II, Super Mario 3D World, A Link Between Worlds and many more. The last game on that list is Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia for DS, a pretty hard game! You receive more damage than usual and recovery items are scarce. The combat is very fun with lots of options, changing your skill sets is crucial and you can swap between them easily without opening a menu. Boss fights are the best in the series and they can kill you easily if you are not careful (there is even a medal that appears if you manage to beat one without being hit!). The presentation is fantastic as always with this series, its the best looking entry since Symphony of the Night and it has a sweet Yamane soundtrack. Overall it feels like a swansong for 2D Castlevania, its like the team knew this was the last one in this style. Now, talking only about 2019 games, my 5 favorites!: 1. Sayonara Wild Hearts: That hour went flying, it was a blast all the way through with no stops. The presentation is just wonderful, it can’t get more stylish than this. I'm curious to see what that team will do in the future as this experience was full of creativity. 2. Super Mario Maker 2: While this feels more like "Mario Maker for Nintendo Switch" instead of a full sequel I had a really fun time creating levels. Seeing one of my levels being played in a group stream was really exciting for me. 3. Outer Wilds: A fantastic and refreshing game, a solar system in constant motion that doesn’t care about you, no stats, no upgrades, no combat, just exploration. More people have to experience this! 4. Fire Emblem: Three Houses: A lot of flexibility, properly developed side characters and plenty of quality of life features make this my favorite in the series. I wasn’t expecting this to be that good, it even did the miracle of uniting a very divided fanbase. 5. Death Stranding: Such an unique and weird game, there is nothing like it. Delivering was strangely relaxing once I learned to avoid dangerous zones and finally connecting all the knots was very rewarding. I’m glad this game was possible. Oddly enough, my most anticipated games for 2020 are both remakes, FF7 and Xenoblade. But there is still a lot we don’t know, like the huge game that Nintendo could release in the second half. It has to be Super Mario or Zelda. Looking forward to another year with this amazing group! Amor & Respeto Tomás

Stepan Hakobyan

(Jones, my English is not that good, so sorry in advance) Hi Jones and Ian. I want to give quick thoughts about some of the games I played this year. 1. A Way Out Everyone should play this game who ever played a video game. 2. Resident Evil 2 (2019) For a guy who played original RE2 a million times, I just can't close my eyes on the repeating scernarios in the remake. 3. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Feels goooood. 4. Persona 5 Too long. At the end I was bored to death. 5. GRIS The visuals and the music are the reasons you should play this game. 6. Path of Exile Dumped another 100 hours of my life this year :( 7. Control Quantum Break was a better game. Please don't hit me. 8. Warhammer: Vermintide 2 I was never on online gamer, but this game stole my hearth. 9. Children of Morta Easy Allies how did you missed this game? This is not the greatest of the games, but it is unique in its own way. Action RPG, with a little roguelike in it. What great about it is the characters and the story. A story about a family, a big family, how a family loses and wins in this game we call life. And you play with most of the members. Jones, I wrote about this game which came out in September, but you did not read my comment, so remember the name Children of Morta. That everything I wanted to say. Happy New Year Version 2.0.2.0.

Trung Nguyen

Hi Brandon and Ian. Happy beginning of the new year. Hope you guys had a good rest during the Holidays. I'm sad Box Peek ended but glad at the same time since latter half was a pretty wild ride. Also very grateful for Ben Moore doing a "Don't Skip" on Ghost Trick which is a superb game so shout out. Ian. Thank you and Jason and Huber for Mysterious Monsters. It's such a good show that I look forward to every month. Here are stuffs I drew for a month: #1 Was surprised the croc was bigger since I only saw it in battle and know near nothing about Pokémon. #2 A traveler #3 Just a dude who was in a brawl #4 ...and a dude doing a pose #5 Colored version of Kazomi that I submitted on Box Peek's fan art on final day #6 Christmas is a time to spend with family #7 last one I did in 2019 #8 the master of unlocking #9 Wanted to try something different so made her hair like that. https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1209310140530339842 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1206500773959520257 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1210130954972487680 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1210131012669366274 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1206499178832154624 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1209198308306100232 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1211305652628443143 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1206561829587165185 https://twitter.com/tearjuengi/status/1208409027950137344 Personal GOTY: Resident Evil 2 Love & Respect. Cheers. TearjuEngi

Juan Rolón Jr.

Hola Ian y Brandon, At the beginning of 2019, I decided to follow Huber’s recommendation of keeping a list of games I’m playing and made sure to note things I abandoned as well. Thought it would be fun to look back and convert the list into different stats to see how it panned out. From a total of 74 games and 6 DLC’s (where dropped games are ones I won’t return to): Games Completed (rest dropped): 78% DLC Completed: 83% - Shovel Knight DLC 1 is the only one I didn’t care to finish due to play style. Most time Spent on a completed game: 140(ish) hours – DQ Xl (Switch) Least amount of time on a completed game: 1.5 hours – Three-way tie between Hook/Kamiko/Sayonara Wild Hearts Most time Spent on a dropped game : 20 hours – Tied between Octopath Traveler and Kingdom Hearts 3 Least amount of time spent on a dropped game: < 1 hour – Fear Effect Sedna Oldest game completed: Double Dragon ll: The Revenge (1988) Newest game completed: Pokémon Shield (Nov. 2019) Highest number of games played from a single Publisher: 9 – Devolver Digital Most games played from a single Franchise: Tied between Banner Saga Trilogy and Steamworld Dig 1/2/Heist Biggest Heartbreak of 2019: Kingdom Hearts 3 – Got as far as Arendelle but just had to give up. Tough pacing, lack of staples, and a story that I eventually stopped caring for. It hurt me to let this one go after having stuck with it since the release of the original Kingdom Hearts. Biggest Surprise of 2019: Dragon Quest Xl S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – This was the first time I’ve ever played a DQ game and I fell in love with it instantly. When the demo was made available on the switch, I decided to give it a shot and was surprised how it’s basically the game itself up until a certain section. 12 hours into the demo, and I knew I HAD to play the full game. The amount of small quality of life additions make the passage of time so easy to deal with. I haven’t dived into an RPG like this since FF7 back in the late 90’s. To top it all off, I was given the gift of meeting Sylvando who has to be my favorite game character of all time. His charm, attitude and intrigue had me coming back for more. I would easily pay to play a game based solely on him. I’ll end this here, but also want to thank you both, along with all the other allies for doing everything you do. I’m afraid to even look at the number of hours of EZA content I’ve consumed in the last 12 months, but every single second has been worth it. To another great year! Amor y Respeto, Juan Rolón Jr.

Kate Bishop

Hi Jones and Ian! Cutting it pretty close with my entry this month because I was hoping to finish Death Stranding first, but this finale is taking a lot longer than I expected. In lieu of that, I’ll talk a bit about Jedi Fallen Order and then move onto my end of year thoughts. When Fallen Order was announced, I would be lying if I said I was excited. EA has so thoroughly dehyped me on their Star Wars output, so I had a lot of skepticism pre-launch. When I heard y’all talking it up so much, I decided I would give it a chance. I am so happy to be wrong. Fallen Order won me over early on, with an immediately engrossing story. The endearing cast made it easy to be invested in everything that was going on and I loved the world design. BD-1 is my new favorite droid by a long shot, I would die for them. This is exactly the game I needed after Episode 9 left me pretty sour. It concluded a year in which I finished more games than I ever had before, with my final total coming in at a healthy 32. 2018, on the other hand, I finished 20. I tried to get to as many big new releases as I could, but there was definitely a lot of older games that I was catching up on. My goal was to diversify the types of games I was playing so I wouldn’t get burnt out. So for every Witcher 3 there was a Sayonara Wild Hearts. This was the first year I finished a horror game RE2 Remake, and then I finished a second one, The Last of Us. I dabbled in tastes from yesteryear, with Kingdom Hearts 1.5, Katamari Rerolled, and Link’s Awakening. And I even fit in some small games after Easy Allies talked about them, such as Where the Bees Make Honey (cool but forgettable) and Gorogoa (utterly fascinating). There were “walking simulators” both good and bad, with Edith Finch and Gone Home winning my heart and Dear Esther literally putting me to sleep. I added 5 Platinums to my collection, was one of the first 2.4% of people to finish The Outer Worlds, and can legitimately say the majority of games I played this year were genuinely great. But through all of this, there was one game that I felt hit all of my buttons and gave me the most satisfying experience all year, standing out as my GOTY. That game is… Control. Even though I played it on a base PS4 at launch, no game impressed me more than Control. The vibes, the music, the combat, the character, the design, everything was just firing on all cylinders. I loved seeing Jesse Faden grow and change throughout her adventure running through the Oldest House. That DLC can’t come soon enough. That’s it for this time. Next month, Kojima willing, I’ll talk about Death Stranding. Love and Respect, GOTYlocks

Anonymous

Hi Ian and Brandon! Happy new year and all that jazz, just a quick update this month. A few showcases ago I showed a work in progress of a Mega Man build I was working on, had to shelf it for a bit to do my Christmas animation but now that that is done I'm fiddling with it a bit more. I want him to look somewhere between how he appears in Smash and in Mega Man 11. The mesh is basically finished, still a few tweaks to be done. Face needs a little more attention and his ears currently just poke through his helmet. I've just done some very basic texturing and surfacing and will experiment with how realistic or cartoony he'll be, I quite like how glossy he is at the moment. He's not rigged yet so I've just modelled him into a pose for the sake of the render. For anyone interested I build and render in Modo and do my rigging and animation in Maya, I'm hoping when he's done to be able to make the rig available for others to mess around with. https://youtu.be/KF5xqRth_KQ Love and respect, and as always, keep up the great work! Dave Cleland

Nextgenheff

Hi Brandon and Ian, Last year when you guys did the fantasycritic draft, I was inspired to join a league. I joined one on the unofficial eza discord and went to work. In my first year I got the number one overall pick and got RE2 Remake. But then later I also took left alive, and well… I wasn't left alive. This time, I hope to do better. We have more teams this year, and after a bug, (huge thanks to founder elitefusion for making the website and fixing the bug), we went to work drafting right before the new year. Here is how the first round went down (and what I thought of each pick) 1. Persona 5 The Royal (Passion pick, but I wanted it with my first pick) 2. Last of Us Part 2 (Great pick) 3. Ghost of Tsushima (Great pick) 4. Cyberpunk 2077 (Great pick) 5. Doom Eternal (Good pick) 6. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Definitive edition (Ok I guess) 7. Animal Crossing New Horizons (Ok i guess) 8. Half Life Alyx (Ok I guess) 9. FF 7 Remake (Amazing pick, surprised it fell this low) 10. Persona 5 Scramble (My pick, because i was getting a persona game on my team no matter what) 11. Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Good pick) 12. TLOZ Breath of the Wild 2 (Ok pick, not sure if it will release in 2020) 13. Super Mario Odyssey 2 (Strange pick, not even in master list of games, most likely won't be announced this year) 14. Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Ok pick) After 4 more rounds, it ended up being a rough year to counter pick with all the great games. I went with Super Mario Odyssey 2 as my counter pick, and now I am dreading all of this year’s nintendo directs. I hope this counter pick will not be like my left alive pick last year that ruined my team for good. Hey Ian, how did your league go and do you guys plan on doing a 2020 league? Also after The Quiet Man in 2018 and Left Alive in 2019, do you think there will be a terrible 2020 game published by Square Enix continuing the trend? I made sure not to draft any Square games this year. Hope you guys had a good Holiday, New Year’s Day, and have an amazing 2020. L&R Sean

Kévin Gillet

Hello Brandon and Ian! I hope you had a nice break! I'm carrying on my Christmas musical tradition, which also was my submission a year ago, which is to take Christmas carols and turn them into epic orchestral pieces. In minor. In the last four years, I've done Carol of the Bells, Jingle Bells, Silent Night and last year's submission, O Tannenbaum (you may find a link to the playlist in that Patreon post or suggested at the end of the video). This year, my carol of choice was We Wish You A Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoy this reimagining, and wish everyone a Happy New Year! Take care of yourselves and each other! Love & Respect ! Bonne année ! Kévin Gillet Link to the music: https://youtu.be/S7Od2W6Nz4I Link to the Christmas playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz0R17apW8GxmugWOPJl10QZaRko7sV8d

Anonymous

Hello Ian and Brandon, I've decided to share some art from my holiday break and a replay of Bloodborne. I wanted to do a few illustrations depicting my character at various points throughout the game. While I fell behind on the art I still wanted to wrap it up nicely. First is just an image of my hunter for this playthrough, I went with a strength build and early game if you aint Kirkin' you aint workin'. The second and third are after the Blood Starved Beast and unlocking the rune tool, fourth is after Amelia and the last, well it's the end haha. Anyways I hope you both had a great holiday and I can't wait for what 202 brings to EZA. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xV_mYY1TvHvAe9Y4pkPIJFxZDXt0h-bO

Dan Allen

PART FIVE OF THE SHENMUE EZA-DUB PROJECT STARRING: MICHAEL HUBER BRADLEY ELLIS BRANDON JONES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmehdmJxYDo&feature=youtu.be HAPPY NEW YEAR ALLIES ALL OF THE LOVE ALL OF THE RESPECT Dan Allen Detroit, Michigan PS: Go Through the last year and a half of Shenmue EZA-DUB Project Shenanigans at youtube.com/litmitmedia

Joseph Caruso

With the decade about to change several outlets have been doing various gaming-related lists from the past 10 years, and while there's still plenty of things to be rightfully pessimistic or upset about, I want to mention some things we should be grateful for today that would've been hard to imagine existing in 2009. Personally, a feature I've always dreamed about but never thought would be available is being able to record recent gameplay, but that is a standard on every console and modern PC. If something unexpected or amazing happens in a game, you can press a button to see it again. That's just a feature we have now. How amazing is that?! We have one-to-one motion controls with accuracy down to a millimeter, and that's all in the magic that is modern virtual reality. Graphics have gotten significantly better and if you don't agree, go ahead and look at almost any triple A last gen videogame right now compared to one that was released this year. Heck, compare Gears 5 to Gears 4, both running on Xbox One X. Do it right now, then slap your brain for thinking the visual improvements were marginal. Many gimmicks like Kinect and Amiibo are basically dead. Those absurd $10 Online Passes that tried to curtail used games are long gone. Deals as absurdly good as Xbox Games Pass exist, and now on PC as well. Think about the growth in popularity and financial success of the industry these past ten years. Games like Minecraft, Fortnite, and Pokemon Go took over the world, and even a lovable indie as tiny as Undertale became a phenomenon. It feels like almost every genre, no matter how niche, is being catered to. There's more diversity in the industry, better representation in our media. So many videogame sequels that even the most dedicated fans had assumed were never happening have released or are right around the corner. Could your 2009-self imagine shows like The Witcher or Castlevania existing? TV quality is general is at an all time high. The whole videogame industry has grown up. Seriously, watch the jaw-droppingly awkward VGX from 2013. Now we have the VGAs instead, and E3 is downright classy compared to what we used to tolerate. Oh right, and Nintendo Directs exist. After over 20 years since its unpopular release, my favorite game ever, Earthbound, is finally available to replay, legally, on not just one but three Nintendo devices. Twitch! Twitch is a thing we just have now and it's thriving. Fans can support what they want directly through outlets like Kickstarter and Patreon, which leads to my final thing to be grateful for: Easy Allies. I doubt any of us could imagine this whole crazy thing existing in 2009. My current job which I've had for almost the entirety of this past decade lets me listen to personalized content like Easy Allies. You two help this bored accountant get through the day. Love & Respect, Joe.

Esther Devil

(patreon keeps deleting my post...) hi ian! hey jones! this month marks the second anniversary of the D&D campaign i play with my friends and fellow allies. just like our in game characters, we've all been through so much together, despite all living so far apart. we started the campaign as relatively new friends and over the last two years we've really become more of a family. i love all of them so much and i would've never had this group of friends or this campaign without eza, so thanks for that. can't wait for us to share many more adventures. i've also come a long way as an artist over the last two years, so to commemorate i wanted to show off the pieces i drew at the very beginning of the campaign next to newer, updated drawings. first is a group shot i drew right after our first session: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENoQdCIXkAEIsx7?format=jpg&name=large and one i drew late last year: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENoQeOKWkAEgeHH?format=jpg&name=large and then here's the concept art i drew for my character, Cuss: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENoQD7AWkAA76aU?format=jpg&name=large and here she is now: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ELZVaMqWkAIPEw9?format=jpg&name=large i also wanted to give a quick shout out to my GOTY of 2019: Anodyne 2! it flew pretty hard under the radar and it's a difficult game to explain, but my best elevator pitch is: zelda meets mega man legends but existential and trans. it's obviously so much more than that, though and i hope more people get a chance to play it. i don't think any game has ever made me both laugh and cry as much as Anodyne 2. anyway, here's some art i did of the main character, Nova: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENjKih0W4AIbbR5?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 that's all from me! apologies if i wrote too much! i just booked my tickets for year 4 and i can't wait to see you two and the other allies again, as well as all my friends in the community, in march! love & respect! <3 - steph

Sebastian Hall

Hi Jones and Ian, Hope your 2020 has gotten off to a good start! I was lucky enough to fly home to Sweden and see some family and friends again which I enjoyed a lot. One of the evenings I even got a chance to pop around my friends house for some Star Citizen exploration. As the new 3.8 patched just launched we wanted to take a chance to broaden our horizons. We had a great evening with some spiced rum, sweets and general banter as we went to the new planet introduced, Microtech with its main city New Babage on it. We spawned in to Space port Olisar and quantum jumped to Microtech ASAP. First thing that really held us in awe and what also made us just exploring was the new planet tech 4.0 released. After just exploring by ship, we finally decided to land and look closer on foot. Unfortunately the new weather effects and cold forced us to pop back into our ships and find more of a tundra to explore. My friend put on the Skyrim soundtrack through his speakers which actually turned out to fit rather well… for a while at least. Our other friend decided to test out the new fist fighting mechanics as well as knife takedowns which caught us by surprise and well... he took us down before we had a chance to really understand what was going on. After some frustrating giggles and throwing pillows at each other (and some phrases which I can’t repeat here) we decided to explore the new mining gameplay loop. You can now buy a multi tool and a rucksack which you can take with you when you go down in caves or just running around on foot to find small pieces of rare ore, which sells for tons of money. Finally.. As bad as I feel to admit it, I finally caved in and bought myself a new spaceship. The Aegis Sabre. It was on sale so it set me back “only” $120. I know… I know… It is a lot of money. But this is one of the best single seat fighters and I’ve badly wanted one since it was introduced back in 2013. I had a chance to take it for a spin whilst my friends managed to engage a swarm of pirates, whiiich in the end overwhelmed us and blew us to pieces. (Yes, at this point you would've thought we were the pirates after all the rum we had downed). As we then realised it was 3 am we decided to call it a night. This might not sound like anything super special, but as I got to do it sitting in the same room as two of my oldest and closest friends, which I hadn’t hung out with in almost a year, it was a night I will cherish for a looooong time. All the Best, Love and Respect Lotias Images https://imgur.com/a/ImxwzYk

Anonymous

HAPPY NEW YEARS to the whole lot of ya! Ian and Jones, hope you both are well. 2020 Baby! This is gonna be the year I try! I had some recent success with my artwork, I got published! The book is called Chasing American Monsters: Creatures, Cryptoids, and Beasts. I didn't write it but I got to draw one of the monsters from each state. It's a humble beginning but I got paid to draw monsters! My 10-year-old self would fist pump the air if he knew. So I thought I'd share a few of my favorite monsters from the book with the allies and a few pencil drawings from my "game" that I think Ian will enjoy. Thank you kindly allies, I don't show my work too often and you've been a wonderful outlet for me. ALL the love and ALL the respect to you ALL. <3 Skim milK https://bit.ly/36v7Cld https://bit.ly/39MHiFi https://bit.ly/35tqLTa https://bit.ly/2QUJ12q https://bit.ly/2sSrD6D https://bit.ly/2SVIYGt https://bit.ly/39HdoSF

Lyn

hello, ian and jones!! today i have for you both animal crossing inspired illustrations of my d&d party! we’ve been playing for more than 2 years and i love them, the characters and my fellow players, all so, so dearly. we wouldn’t have met if it weren’t for eza and that’s so special- they’re truly my best friends. i can’t wait to see some of them, and you all!, this march in LA! (and, animal crossing comes out that friday- what a wonderful way to celebrate!) Cuss: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/402617426799362054/663940321142636554/Untitled_Artwork.png Marbles: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/402617426799362054/663940197427445771/Untitled_Artwork.jpg Syl’ta: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/402617426799362054/663940113436508180/Untitled_Artwork.png Tera: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/402617426799362054/663883895208411191/Untitled_Artwork.png Pruuvial: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/402617426799362054/663883609152946186/Untitled_Artwork.png thank you so much and happy new year!, lyn @gooPartyPlanet on twitter

Jason A. Sackel

It's 2020, so lets try something different this year. Gonna stick to being positive. Call it the 2020 rule. The new year, new me bullshit I guess, why not. So since this is going to simply be positive, I am going to try and not make this completely boring. Anyhoo, last month was a lot of moving and visiting home for the holidays, so didn't get any gaming done. I did however marathon all the Star Wars movies with my brother leading up to seeing the latest movie. It would be fun to talk about anything, but gonna stick to the 2020 rule. Right, though, Mandalorian was good. The first 5 minutes of the last episode may be my favorite scene in any Star Wars. Oh! If anyone wants to watch something really good and amusing that is streaming, I suggest John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch on Netflix. Right... oh! Also, Taskmaster is a great show. They have been uploading the episodes on YouTube, one a week. Greg Davies hosts, it's hilarious. Hmmm, probably should type about something Video Game related, I guess. I'll have a lot to talk about next month. Got Death Stranding for Christmas. Excited to dive into that one. The final bit of DLC for One Piece: World Seeker came out. They've done a great job with the story bits, so looking forward to checking that out. Love that they did an original story instead of rehashing bits from the comic. Oh, man, One Piece right now. My brain just drifted and started thinking about this week's chapter again that I had to reread it. I cannot put to words the emotion this chapter made me feel. It truly feels like it is wrapping up as well. I'll leave it at that in case someone listening/watching hasn't had a chance to read it yet. A question had popped up that if I could erase any piece of media from my mind to be able to experience it for the first time again, what it would be. It's One Piece for me. I can't think of any other piece of media that comes close. Broken record time, but if you haven't, read the series. Yes, it is daunting, but it isn't too late. A chapter a day, you'll be caught up in about 3 years (figure chapter 967 came out today, maybe like 43 chapters come out a year... I dunno, too tired for math). Kinda like how exercising is like just put in that little bit of time. Get those crunches in. 10 minutes a day. All chapters are available on the Shonen Jump app/site for like 2 bucks a month, so you don't have to buy all the volumes or anything. That's it. Read One Piece. It is amazing how well done something can be when the creator has a clear vision, maps out a story, makes every character feel important, and puts so much care into their work. It's great.

Mr.V

It has been another slow month of gaming for me, as I have only really played Smash Brothers, and had a lot of fun playing it. I played at the end of last semester against my students and cleaned house against them. Not that I am good, cause I am not, just good enough to win against my students. I also have worked a lot on Gunpla. I want to submit this picture of my best gunpla build so far. Here are the ones I have worked on and painted up this last month Image 1 Gelgoog: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EM_TB4IWkAQOoOU.jpg:large Image 2 Zaku I: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENci6GRXUAE_zbY.jpg:large Image 3: GM: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EMzgYW0XUAEkV8y.jpg:large Image 4 Zaku II:https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENp9ZJQUcAA7sMh.jpg:large

Ian Alexander

Yo, dudes! Submitting some photos this month taken in Taichung Taiwan. First are some from “Painted Animation Lane” or as I call it, Anime Alley: https://i.imgur.com/gxpa59k.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ie4rJC4.jpg https://i.imgur.com/gZJCyor.jpg And then some from “Rainbow Village.” An artist, now 98 years old, saved a little village from demolition by painting the buildings and turning it into an art project. https://i.imgur.com/I0ZB32A.jpg https://i.imgur.com/G5ZO00J.jpg https://i.imgur.com/37CwD6x.jpg https://i.imgur.com/qPErgX6.jpg https://i.imgur.com/QwjkY10.jpg https://i.imgur.com/CZCjpc4.jpg L&R, Ian - @alexander_arts

Samo Rozman

Aloha Brandon and Ian, I hope you had a happy Holiday and New Years season. Don't really have much to talk about this month as the Holidays kept me somewhat busy. Film wise I did enjoy Jumanji, The Aeronauts, Spies in Disguise, and Star Wars Episode 9, and had a great time with The Witcher once I figured something out (No spoilers), the Expanse season 4 as well. Also having a surprisingly good time with the new DCU Harley Quinn show, but man is that show for adults.... Got a couple really great presents, one I hope to build for next months Showcase (Huber and Brandon are going to love it). Also showing off a couple seasonal Lego's I built during last months Gundam stream. Lastly I would like to present 3 Haiku's I wrote since New Years. One of my resolutions is to make more art this year, so here they are. The first is about my Psoriatic Arthritis that I mentioned a few times last year and my way of dealing with it. The second is about a new condition that it started causing this past summer, Photo-sensitivity (I get a sunburn within 10-15 minutes of being in direct sunlight now). The last is my thoughts regarding the Star Wars sequel trilogy that just ended. Hope you enjoy them and have a great start to 2020. Mahalo nui loa for everything you do, L & R, Samo Rozman @Namzor A years worth of pain, Games no longer a solace, Comfort in TV. The sun burns me so, Darkness a calming blanket, How I miss the beach. Great moments in all, Build on the last they do not, Plan ahead next time. https://imgur.com/a/gOZ5PPn