Checkpoint Daily Podcast

Anyone who grew up in the 90s knows how important X-Men the Animated Series is to the world of superheroes. It inspired a generation of fans and creators. Reading the Mr. and Mrs. X series from a few years ago by writer Kelly Thompson, you can see the essence of Rogue and Gambit living on. Ben and Robbie are joined by Eric and Julia Lewald, the creative minds behind the show. Eric and Julia share some incredible stories about the development and lives of the X-Men series as well as several of their own feelings and opinions on characters and the creative process.

Eric and Julia talk about about the hurdles the show had to jump just to get a pilot season. The story behind the decision to use Jim Lee's art and how it almost killed the show before it aired. Plus, who are their favorite characters, and what are their favorite arcs? All that this week on the Other Identity. Also, don't forget to follow Eric and Julia on Twitter as well as their account for series.

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Kali joins us for a round of your new favorite game: RPG Character Name or Porn Star? Play along with us and let us know how many you got right/wrong on Twitter - Twitter.com/CheckpointXP

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St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas. made waves this spring by hiring Katlin Teniente as their head coach. The new program is not only is entering its first season its also going in with one of the first female head coaches in the country. We talk to Coach Teniente about her experience in the back end of esports and what it's like the be top dog in a male-dominated position. Also, with Texas becoming a major hub for esports, we talk about what sort of culture St. Mary's wants to foster for its new squad.

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Malik and the Checkpoint crew also talk about game companies and how they've reacted to the protests. Many developers like Ubisoft and Square Enix chose to donate to Black social justice groups or vowed to increase diversity. Many like EA and the Niantic committed to both. Malik lets us know that while EA may have a sour reputation with gamers, they've stepped up when it comes to diversity. We have a great discussion on how certain companies could effectively speak to the black community. And how others took us by surprise with their commitments. We examine who did what and what the impact this could have on the gaming community.

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Aaron "Aero" Atkins, Head Coach of the Dallas Fuel joined the OWLs Nest to chat with Robbie and Jake. He shared his opinions of what makes the rivalry between the Dallas Fuel and the Houston Outlaws so engaging. We also talk to him about Gui-un "Decay" Jang's amazing Widowmaker performance Rialto where the Fuel set a new fastest attack time. Aero also discussed the challenges that both coaches and players face on a week to week basis under the Hero Pools\Bans.

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Several months ago a discussion sparked on Twitter about comic book deaths. Whether or not bringing back a dead character invalidates the weight of the original death. One of Ben's favorite stories is the Death of Barry Allen in the Crisis on Infinite Earth's crossovers. Robbie thinks that the Death of Spider-Man in the Ultimate Timeline is one of the best stories from Marvel. Where the two differ, is that Robbie doesn't think bringing a character back hurts the original story. They discuss at length, if Barry Allen's resurrection is worth it or if Wally West actually suffers more as a character.

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While most esports is still being played online due to COVID-19, we've seen a spike in cheating during competition. But how come it seems like it's mostly traditional sports athletes who are the perpetrators?

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Due to the ongoing protests across the world, Sony felt it prudent to postpone its PS5 reveal stream to a later date. But that doesn't mean we can't speculate on the system and the games coming to it. We talk about it all from the guts of the hardware to what could give Sony the edge over Microsoft's new Xbox Series X.

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While it's not a gaming topic, Black Lives Matter is too important of a discussion for us not to have. Former Cheddar Esports host Erin Simon joins us to talk about the importance of the movement and what we can do to help. If you'd like to help more, please visit this website.

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Robbie tries something different and leave the in-game analysis behind to test another aspect of Jake's knowledge. Using a custom made Lore Quiz of obscure Overwatch trivia, Robbie puts Jake to the test to see how true of an Overwatch fan he really is. You can play along as you listen to see how you rank as an Overwatch Lore Master. Have your friends take the test and share your results with us on social media.

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