Idle Thumbs

Rob, Brian "Chef Lu Bu" Smawley, Rowan, and T.J. discuss the Mandate of Heaven expansion for Total War: Three Kingdoms. Brian has been radicalized the populist vision of the Yellow Turbans and feels like only Zhang Jue has put in the work to lead China to a glorious new age. Rob and T.J., meanwhile, feel that incremental reform is the way to go. Rowan is out for themselves, but is also starting to wonder if that old Total War campaign inertia might not be settling in.

Time is money! It's the biggest TV Spot event of the year, and Derek and Ric are breaking down all the big game spots including F9, Sonic, Top Gun Maverick and Minions. They also talk about what makes TV Spots a unique thing to create.

Trailers Discussed: Sonic the Hedgehog, Independence Day: Resurgence, The Twilight Zone, Minions: The Rise of Gru, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, Top Gun: Maverick, Black Widow, Marvel Studios Disney+, Never Say Die, The Invisible Man, A Quiet Place Part II, F9: Fast and Furious 9.

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Self referential meta trailers are an art unto themselves in movie and game trailers. What makes these trailers so much fun? When are they the most effectively used? And how long did it take for the trailer industry to start referencing how formulaic they were being?

Trailers Discussed: Comedian, 6 Underground Whisper Trailer, Jumanji the Next Level ASMR Trailer, Inception Acapella Re-dub, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, BattleBlock Theater Steam Trailer, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists UK Trailer, The Stanley Parable Raphael Trailer, Muppets Most Wanted, Toys, Miracle on 34th st (1947) Trailer 1 Trailer 2, The Birds, Psycho, Real Life, Mother, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Gone in 60 Seconds, Gemini Man, Deadpool 2, Detective Pikachu, Free Guy, Mighty No. 9 Masterclass Trailer, Kingsman the Golden Circle.

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Rob, T.J., Rowan, and Fraser gather to consider the last ten years in strategy games. There is a stark division about what happened to the RTS, as well as how the concept of a game being "finished" mostly disappeared. Then Rob tries to wrap up the show and it goes for another hour as everyone tries to choose their favorite genre game from the last ten years.

Making a trailer for a sequel requires a different approach than something which is entirely new. We discuss what some of those approaches are for that difficult second launch. Along those lines, we dive into the trailer for A Quiet Place: Part II.

Trailers Discussed: A Quiet Place: Part II, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Magic Mike XXL, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, No Time To Die, Grown Ups 2, Half Life: Alyx, Thor: Ragnarok, Cloverfield, It: Chapter 2, Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Happy Death Day 2 U, Frozen 2, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi

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Rowan, T.J., Jon, and Rob look back at 2019 and the games that most delighted or dismayed them.

Season 1 of Every Game in This City is over...but that doesn't mean Kuala Lumpur is the last city where we'll try and play every game! In this short conclusion, Stephanie, Patrick, and Doug look back one last time before setting the stage for Season 2 where eight game makers, curators, and researchers are meeting up in Shanghai for a week to try and watch every game at the International Dota 2 Championships!

It's Christmas at the Plantagenets as Rob and Troy watch the superb Lion in Winter and the less superb Becket. What do these movies have to say about history and politics, and is any of it related to historical fact? How good is Hepburn? What is O'Toole doing across these two films?

Jon and Rob welcome back Paul Dean to discuss Julian Gollop's and Snapshot Games' Phoenix Point, which tries to blend some of the old-school systemic realism of the original X-COM games with the ease of play of newer tactics games. It's all going well until the gang realize the AI plays like a zombie... and this isn't a zombie game.

Our favorite trailers from 2019, personal works of the year and trailers of the decade!

Trailers Discussed: Kerbal Space Program 2, Astroneer Release Trailer, Wilmot's Warehouse, The Last of Us: Remastered - From the Beginning, My Friend Pedro Full Throttle Trailer, Knives Out, Waves, Joker, IT: Chapter 2 Teaser, Bombshell, CATS, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Mulan Trailers 1 & 2, The Lighthouse Trailer 1 & 2, Love, Death and Robots, Wonder Woman 1984, John Wick Parabellum, Ghostbusters Afterlife, Ghostbusters (2016), Detective Pikachu Leak, 6 Underground (The Process - Aviation Gin, Samsung QLED, Explore Italy), Midsommer (Bear in a Cage, Couples Therapy), Jurassic World Battle at Big Rock, Katana Zero Therapy Session Trailer, A Star is Born, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Hereditary, Mad Max Fury Road Teaser & Trailer, 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Social Network, Inception, The Wolf of Wall Street, Kong: Skull Island, The Handmaiden, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Suicide Squad, Man of Steel.

If you have questions or comments please send them to [email protected].

Join us in the Idle Forums to discuss this week's episode!