Opinions May Vary

Another revolution around the Sun. Another 52 episodes in the bank. 7 years later this damn podcast just refuses to quit. No anniversary episode would be complete unless I get really sappy and say thank you to everyone. To all the guests, listeners, and friends we've made along the way: thank you all so much. I say it every year but this show would absolutely 100% not go on without all of you. You're the best and we hope we're able to find new people and things to talk to/about for years to come. Per usual, Alex spent the last few weeks throwing together another amazing montage of our "best-of" moments from the last year and after getting to hear it a few hours ago I'm excited to say he killed it yet again. I don't deserve this man. Enjoy! -Jr. Song Credits: Exit the Premises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Getting it Done Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ "Mechanical Steed" by Steampianist

This week's episode is the direct result of a simple conversation at a convention almost 7 years ago. Flash back to 2012 to the Hynes Convention Center at a show formerly known as "The Boston Comic Con". While wandering around looking for excuses to spend money I didn't have, I noticed Alex chatting with an artist and decided I'd go over and partake in some not-so-subtle eavesdropping. About 30 minutes later we walked away from this table, both with pages of original art in our hands and both of our wallets a little bit lighter. And both with huge smiles on our faces. We didn't quite know it at the time, but the two of us had just experienced one of the most memorable moments we'd ever have at a convention. And it was all because of this week's guest: the incredibly talented Jim Calafiore. For those unaware, Jim is an artist who has worked on books like Leaving Megalopolis/Surviving Megalopolis, Secret Six, Red Lanterns, Exiles, and many more. A true veteran of the industry, Jim is as humble as he is talented and is always a welcome sight whenever we spot him and his ever-growing splatter-print collection at conventions. Be sure to check out his website HERE and stop by his table sometime if you see him at a show. With convention season gearing up there's a very good chance you'll have your own opportunity to create some memorable moments you'll recall for years to come. Enjoy! -Jr.

After working in the book business for a decade people are sometimes shocked to hear I wasn't much of a reader growing up. I had my handful of favorite books: Hatchet, Maniac Magee, and Where The Red Fern Grows to name a few. But aside from the classics I really couldn't be bothered to read unless it was forced on me. That didn't stop my parents from buying me books now and then, especially during the Goosebumps craze of the early 90's. I had probably 6-10 different R.L. Stine titles including one unique one called Escape From the Carnival of Horrors. Unique, meaning it wasn't just your standard spooky story...it had a twist. As part of the "Give Yourself Goosebumps" series, it was advertised to have "over 20 different scary endings" and as the reader, you got to choose where you wanted to go next (usually ending in your untimely demise). Admittedly, I never really "finished" Carnival of Horrors. I remember finding the end of a few stories but I can't say I ever completed every scary ending. We can probably blame my brother's Super Nintendo for that. All of this rambling has a point, and I promise I'm getting to it. See, whether you were an avid reader or not, it's very likely that you've come across those "choose your own adventure" style of books at some point in your life. And for those currently nodding in agreement and longing for the days of your youth...we have something neat to show you. Enter Ben Bishop. A comic artist and writer, Ben is the creator of the groundbreaking comic series The Aggregate. Billed as "A post-apocalyptic graphic novel with giant robots, organically engineered terrorists and spider-cats", The Aggregate is a split decision comic, meaning at certain points in the story you're going to be forced to make some decisions on where the story is going to go next. And it's rad. Currently, Ben is Kickstarting volume 2 and within days he's already smashed his goal. Check out our chat as we learn more about these spider cats and the subtle art of wallpapering your house with comic art pages. Enjoy! -Jr.

The internet is full of terrible things. Let's be real here, it can be a horrible place sometimes. But every now and then you can stumble upon something that makes the internet a better place. Something that you didn't know you needed, but now that you've found it you wondered how you went so long without it. This week we're talking about one of those things. Alex and I have over 20 years of theme park experience between the two of us (Yes. Alex accounts for around 18 of those years but the numbers don't lie). And after 20 years in the business it's fair to say we (Alex) have seen and done most everything you could imagine. So when we stumbled upon @FakeThemePark and the hilarious yet painfully accurate satire contained within, it was love at first sight. Created by former Universal Studios tour guide Jason Ginsburg, @FakeThemePark "is a fictional, unnamed park that combines all the best – and all the very worst – of Disneyland, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, and Six Flags. Its Twitter and Facebook accounts contain daily posts about the bizarre happenings in the park, from ride accidents to employee issues, parking problems to construction delays, holiday events to overcrowding, all in the cheerful tone of your average mega-park." In other words, it's great. It's just great. And it's something that anyone can appreciate regardless of whether they've got 20 years of experience under their belt or haven't worked a single day in a theme park. You can follow the along with the daily happenings of @FakeThemePark by following them on Twitter and Facebook plus you can even purchase an e-book containing the craziest tweets and Facebook posts with all-new material, including a timeline of park history and the first-ever interview with all the Park Princesses by clicking HERE. Enjoy! -Jr.

This week is about the little guys. The ones who spent their entire lives training and rising through the ranks of elite tactical outfits only to get destroyed in seconds by a literal god. The ones who have to clean up the messes when the superheroes have finished their business. The ones who don't have cool names, outfits, or superpowers. The ones who spend most of their days standing around guarding a door or playing Galaga on a tiny computer screen. The real heroes. This one is for you, fellas. We also talked about TV seeing as it's in our logo, on our business card, and tagged in every episode. So we figured it would be good to touch on some recent shows with our good pal and longtime friend of the show Mike D. And it was good. Enjoy! -Jr.

It's been a minute since we last talked about anything resembling RPG/tabletop gameplay. So we thought it would be a good idea to absolutely flood you with an hour of RPG/tabletop gameplay featuring two different guests running two different crowdfunding campaigns for their two different, but amazing projects. First up is someone who may sound a little familiar as we had the honor of speaking to him a couple of years ago when we learned about the art of hand carved wood pressings. But now Drew Meger is back and he's here to give us the inside info on his new project "What Happened at Wyvern Rock?" and how he's managed to surpass his goal by over 200% in just a couple of weeks. Following Drew and his High Strangeness Zine is a new friend and designer of his own wildly successful campaign. Tanner Yarrow of Yarro Studios launched his first Kickstarter just a few days ago but has already raised over $200,000 for his book of Immersive Battle Maps and he's showing no sign of slowing down. As of this writing both of these campaigns have just about 2ish weeks left to go so if Drew and Tanner convinced you these are things you might need, you still have some time to throw some cash their way. Be sure to check out the links above and show some love to some rad and passionate creators. Enjoy! -Jr.

This is one of those episodes that was spawned purely off of a conversation that happened 2 hours prior to recording it. That's how you know it's going to be a good one. While driving home from our pal Brett's art show at Comics N' More this afternoon, Alex and I had some time to reflect on some casual comic shop talk we had participated in. The premise was simple: some people think Cyclops is cool. Other people think Cyclops is not cool. Many valid points and verbal jabs later the joke was made: "Oh, well you're Cyclops apologist anyways." Which got us thinking. What characters within the multiple comic book universes are we apologists for? Also, what the hell does apologist mean? The answers might shock you. Enjoy! -Jr.

Long ago, Zach was our guest when the news of "Batfleck" first broke. Three(ish) movies and multiple "Rotten" scores later, the Ben Affleck Batman-era has come to an end. It wasn't all bad. And it definitely wasn't all good. But it happened and now it's time to talk about it. -Jr.

Ok. So I made it to Texas and back without dying which feels like a win. Despite all of the things my brain was telling me in the weeks leading up to the trip, not one of the four planes I had to take off and land in crashed. So it seems everything is coming up Jayare these days. With that out of the way we're back with our regularly scheduled programming. Joining us this week are two incredibly talented women who are currently making their mark in the YouTube world with their amazing makeup tutorial channels. Kae and Lauren aka "Killa Kae" and "Glamorous Massacre" are two artists who regularly work with Alex during the haunt season making people look beautiful and dead. Added bonus? They're also seasoned YouTube creators with dozens of tutorial and transformation videos under their respective belts. Take a peek at their channels and maybe toss a like or two their way if you dig what you see. Maybe even subscribe if you'd want to see more? I'm not quite sure how YouTube works but from what everyone else says at the end of their videos it seems like subscribing is a good thing. So maybe do that, too. Enjoy! -Jr.

Friends, I'm dropping part two of our Spider-Man extravaganza a little earlier than usual as I'm due to be on a plane to Texas in about 6 hours. I'd like to think this is a welcome thing as I'm hoping you're all eagerly awaiting the finale of our Spider-Talk, but if you haven't had a chance to finish up part 1 yet, don't worry. This will be here waiting for you once you're ready. As expected, Colin is back with us and the SPOILERS for all things Spider-Man both past and present are pretty heavy this week. We hope you enjoyed our Spider-Themed two-parter as much as we did. Going back and reminiscing about all the old memories and growing up with the wall-crawler was a blast. Plus it gave me a good excuse to dig out this ancient hoodie from my early high school days. I mean, seriously. Check this thing out: No one can say I didn't have amazing taste when I was 16. Anyways, I need to get some sleep so I can have enough energy make it to the airport in a few hours. Enjoy! -Jr.