Beard Stroking Bullsh*t

On this episode Jon and Mike are joined by special guest, Twitch streamer Bailey Skye, to talk about how she got into streaming, covering a LITTLE bit of the Cyberpunk 2077 controversy but spending MOST of their time recapping The Game Awards that took place a few weeks ago and mostly talking about the games that were premiered over the course of the show and their thoughts on what's to come. Excitement and nostalgia abounds in this episode as the trio seem to realize that so many of the premieres remind them of games they already own and makes them want to play them all again.

Jon and Mike return this week to catch up on what they've been up to over the past couple months of the pandemic, discussing books, shows and games they've imbibed during the past few months and talking about the latest on the upcoming Avengers game from Square Enix, Microsoft and Sony's next gen console/game releases to which of those games has been delayed....looking at you Halo and Deathloop. They also predict where the price marks are going to be for the Xbox Series One X and the PS5 (and the indie games we could see on other platforms), the Oculus VR headset in talks about requiring a Facebook account to use, Treyarch teasing Call of Duty: Cold War and much much more.

On this episode, Wes Locher returns as a guest to discuss his upcoming comic with Loch Ness, Bug Slugger, their loving send up to the shows of the 90s like Power Rangers, Street Sharks, and so much more. Mike and Jon pick their brains of how this project came together, where Loch Ness' artistic inspiration came from, to what its like to relase a comic during a pandemic/quarantine.

After being put into Shelter in Place for the past few months Jon and Mike have come to terms with life in quarantine and have started catching up on a whole host of things. Jon talks about the most recent, fanless UFC experience, Mike talks about what he's been playing, mostly Animal Crossing and a deep dive into the last Assassin's Creed, Odyssey. Then they dive deep in the realm of the real bullsh*t happening.

On this Episode Mike and Jon are rejoined by Patrick Trahey, writer of the XII to talk about what is to come for the rest of the series and for the second part of his story. The three discuss where we've been in regards to the story of the Father in Book One of the XII and where we'll be going with some minor spoilers given to us by the author himself. The three also descend into some other (at the time) current topics that have now shifted upon us as to where the world stands in what we are experiencing and a little bit more unrelated to the XII

*Editors Note* This was originally recorded prior to lockdown/shelter in place orders and due to some personal issues hasn't been uploaded til know. We hope you all are staying safe and are healthy! Thank you for continuing to support our podcast as we've adjusted to this new normal. We will be working a bit harder to try to bring together more current episodes for your listening pleasure as we move forward!

Rob Sheridan rejoins Mike and Jon to chat about the upcoming release of the High Level volume 1 collected graphic novel, we talk a little bit about what comes next and an interesting fan project that brought a soundtrack to High Level. Outside of that we discuss what Rob's been up to in the mean time and his time playing catchup since he's finished up the first part of High Level, TV Shows he's watching. Mike and Jon make some suggestions to what comics he should be reading now that he has the time and on top of that he shares his current obsession with Ring Fit Adventure on the Switch.

On this episode Mike discovers Jon has re-discovered Escape From Tarkov and has been bitten by the bug hard. Outside of discussing what Tarkov is about they talk about the latest patch (.12) and their recent Twitch Event held at the end of this year and the beginning of this year which enabled drops and what that did for the community. If you still haven't heard about Tarkov take a listen to what the fellas have to say...if you enjoy FPS/MMO/RPG with emphasis on looting and shooting (Sh'looters, as Jon affectionately calls them) this is the game for you.

On this episode Mike and Jon catch up on the holiday's and then immediately dive in the all things Star Wars! SPOILERS BEWARE IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FINALE OF MANDALORIAN OR RISE OF SKYWALKER!!!! They first dive deep on the final few episodes of Mandalorian and discuss what works and doesn't work for the series and their thoughts on the finale for season 1, there's a little dabble into Witcher vs Mando in terms of popularity and has binge culture really messed us up in the sense of how we consume TV/Original Streaming series. And then they go in for the big conversation of what their thoughts were on Rise of Skywalker, this is a bit on the longer sides, it goes a bit all over the place, kinda like Rise of Skywalker, but stick with us its worth it.

On this epsidoe Mike and Jon dive DEEP into the final two episodes of the Watchmen HBO series (Warning, if you're not caught up they spoil the hell out of the finale). They cover episode 6 of the Mandalorian, talk about about early responses to the Rise of Skywalker, and discuss Activisions decision to put Call of Duty Modern Warfare K/D Ratios behind a $20 fee, Mike challenges Sean Ramjagsingh (lead dev of NHL) to come on the podcast, and talks about the release of Star Citizen's 3.8 patch.

On this episode Jon and Mike continue their discussions on Watchmen after the last two episodes and finally getting some real answers from Episodes 6 and 7. We continue discussing the progression to the Mandalorian's story with Chapter/Episode 4 and the introduction of Gina Carano's Cara Dune, in what felt like a "Side quest" episode. Mike saw Rian Johnson's new film Knives Out which is a funny, timely and quite interesting Whodunit which constantly keeps you guessing until the end. Jon spent time with Halo Reach on PC and feels like its in a much better place than its console version, while also spending some time with EA's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which according to him feels like a Dark Souls' esque Star Wars story which takes place between the prequels and A New Hope. Mike took some time to get back to Star Citizen and see what the Convention was all about, and explains his excitement for the upcoming patch 3.8 which should add some persistence to the world that transfer's from patch to patch.

On this episode Mike and Jon dive deep into Disney Plus' The Mandalorian, Mike and Jon discuss the semantics of Episode 1 Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Repeat and what it means for all of Season 4, Mike saw the sequel to The Shining, titled Doctor Sleep and exudes the amazing intricacies of following up to one of the best known Stephen King films in cinematic history and how it absolutely stands on its own. Further more Mike and Jon jump down the rabbit hole of Watchmen on HBO and the deep seeded theroies that are starting to form around all the principal players. Jon spends some time talking about the new CoD, where Fortnite stands in regards to Season 2 and of course the BR community in and of its self. Mike discusses his time with Obsidian Entertainment's latest game The Outer Worlds and how it feels compared to Fallout and all the wonderful little easter eggs and lines of dialogue that connect to pop culture. Mike also discusses his time with the public test realm build of Project Zomboid which adds in detailed player models and new animations. Finally Jon discusses the fervor over EA's removal and resurgance of SKATE 4's trademark AND then Mike loses his mind in a passionate rant as to why its insane that EA still hasn't released NHL on PC after 15 or so years of waiting.

On the 100th Episode Mike and Jon rejoin to talk about all things The Boys (Spoiler caution if you HAVEN'T Finished it yet DON'T LISTEN!), Mike rants briefly about Baby Boomers ruining Movie going experiences and the Madness of Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse, Bong Joon-ho's latest suspenseful thriller, Parasite and its theme connection to Joker, which Mike and Jon deep dive into, and finally round this out with a full dissection and theory on their new favorite series HBO's Watchmen.

After what seems like FOREVER, Mike and Jon have finally returned to talk about The Boys, Preacher and its final season, and the approaching release of Netflix's Witcher series. On top of that Jon talks about his jump into the indie game Noita, and Gears 5, Mike talks about the upcoming patches for Star Citizen and Escape from Tarkov and rounding this out they talk about the release of the 6th and final(?) issue of Rob Sheridan's High Level from DC Vertigo. The duo also dive into their usual bullshittery regarding gaming (and why it feels tough to stick with a game right now) and so much more!

On this Episode, Mike and Jon catch up after a short break and talk about the state of the MCU with the release of Spider-Man Far From Home (SPOILER WARNING!!!), Mike's been deep diving into Star Citizen and joined up in the 3.6 PTU (which is now Live) to discuss the updates to the world of Star Citizen, and Jon talks about his dive into Attack On Titan and why it could be one of the best anime's of present day. This and much much more on this weeks episode!

 Mike and Jon return for this episode packed with installing PC part woes (m.2's are fantastic how they handle your SATA Lanes, is not), they finished out Chernobyl and talk about the ups and downs of what did and did not actually happen and Russia's idea of what their Chernobyl series should include and we finish it allllll out with our Recap and breakdown of E3 2019. 

On this epsiode Mike and Jon go through their thoughts on the final few episodes of Game of Thrones and what their reaction/feeling is to the ending of the series. Mike discusses his joy/horrific fascination with the Chernobyl mini-series and his waiting for the release of Good Omens on Prime Video. With E3 around the corner (Sony and EA bowing out of this years conference) Jon and Mike go through the run down of predicitions of what we could be seeing at this years E3.

Rob Sheridan rejoins Mike and Jon to talk about the recently released issue 2 of his DC Vertigo run, High Level, his writing process (including what he listens to when planning out issues), the issues with selling comic books to non-comic book people and the problem with not being able to re-print issues. Past that, Rob talks about enjoying indie games on his Switch the idea of curation and organization on the Switch to make it easier to find games, on top of that the guys talk about remasters and remakes of games and the lack of time to play said games.

 On this episode, Mike and Jon experience C2E2 over the course of the weekend. Mike sat in on the MK11 Panel and Mike and Jon got to experience the Alien 40th Anniversary Fan Film shorts (which will all be released on IGN). We recorded in a couple of different spots to cover some new things we've missed, our thoughts after seeing the short films and several interviews which we gathered over the course of the weekend including a sit down with Tom Bilyeu of Impact Theory and some plans past the Neon Future comic with Steve Aoki and Jim Krueger. We also were able to talk with Rob Guillory (Of Farmhand and Chew), and long time friend of the podcast Matthew Waite. 

 After a brief hiatus Mike and Jon return to talk about a whole HOST of things since they've been away! Mike discusses his short time with Spider-Man 4 on PS4 and his thoughts so far, which transitions into the conversation about Into The Spider-Verse winning a friggan OSCAR! Mike and Jon talk about EA/Respawn's foray into the world of Battle Royale with Apex Legends, in the midst of this two games brought to Mike's attention were Kenshi and Intruder both with a ton of potential in the realm of gameplay (Kenshi mostly gameplay and the workshop mods!). Mike and Jon tackle the removal of "user reviews" on Rotten Tomatoes for Captain Marvel and of course the final X-Men film from Fox, Dark Phoenix got a trailer and of course we've got some thoughts! 

As a PS. Mike and Jon talk about our friends over at Black Site who will be running a LIVE podcast on Klean's twitch page for the upcoming game Ready or Not from Void Interactive be sure to check it out on 3/7 at 7pm PST/10PM EST www.twitch.tv/klean 

 On this episode, Mike and Jon are joined by guest co-host Rob Sheridan to talk about a whole heap of things! SPOILERS: Mike and Jon discuss the end of Chapter 6 of Red Dead 2 and their initial thoughts on the epilogue of the game (If you haven't played this far or haven't reached this part of the game Skip ahead to about 12/15 minutes in). Rob and his wife got their hands on a PSVR and what his impressions are of console VR vs PC VR. They also got to experience some VR porn and it sounds wild...rooms may look a bit messy...per Rob's wife Stephanie. Bungie and Activision have parted ways in terms of publishing rights for Destiny 2 which could allow for some interesting new doors to open in terms of the development of the game. Bethesda holds a players account hostage because they accessed a secret area within Fallout 76. Rob got to see Into the Spider-verse and gives his thoughts on the film which also extends into an idea of curated media for comics/streaming media in which ACTUAL people curate "playlists" of TV episodes (Cartoons mostly) or series of comics (where to start). We round all of this talk out with our thoughts on the first footage of HBO's Watchmen series that was shown during the Golden Globes 

 Recorded before we rolled into the new year, Mike and Jon dive into a couple of discussions covering a wide range of topics. Our friend (and soon to be reoccuring guest host) Rob Sheridan sent Mike an early preview of High Level issue one (out February 2019) and without spoiling a thing, Mike gushes about his feelings for the first issue and the world/story it presents to the reader. Mike and Jon hop into their discussion and thoughts on "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse" followed by Jon's thoughts on Venom.  Jon also follows up with his thoughts on long awaited release Below, which didn't seem to hit all the things that Jon was hoping for. Mike explains the situation of what took place with Battlestate Games and Eroktic in which they issued 40+ DMCA's against the YouTuber and what it meant for his channel and now where the situation is. Mike spends some time talking about the newly released Insurgency Sandstorm and rounding out the episode is Jon's thoughts on the CW "Elseworlds" and what the CW does right for the DC universe. 

Our good friend and Community Manager from Gamepires, Wonder, joins Mike and Jon again post E3 to talk about SCUM and whats happening and off the bat he answers whats on everyone's mind, no there isn't a release DATE, but we have a release month (August)!  Wonder takes some questions we have after seeing the game in motion at PAX East and some gameplay from E3 mixed with some Facebook fan questions. We cover if Mr. Smiles will be our friend, what happens when we don't keep up with our vices, If we did the crime does it boost our skills, and much more!

Its that time of the year again and Jon and Mike are here to bring everything to one space to hear the latest news and announcements that came out of E3 this year! EA was kinda humdrum, Ubisoft is giving us another Division and Assassins Creed, Bethesda announces an "entirely online" Fallout in Fallout 76 and tells us they are working on the next Elder Scrolls. Microsoft pumps up their number of gaming studios under their hat and show us that they are still here to stay. Sony shows off The Last Of Us 2 and just lets the gameplay and teaser trailers roll without saying a thing. Devolver continued the madness that is their press conference...It just doesn't end, but we've put it all in on place for you to digest! 

On this episode Mike and Jon talk cover a lot of ground discussing Rob Guillory's upcoming comic Farmhand (Ashcan) as a preview to the coming comic (Out July 11th!). Past that they have a spoilery discussion about the recent Star Wars movie release, Solo, and their thoughts. We get a few teaser drops regarding the next Fallout Title from Bethesda and the next Assassins Creed iteration.  They round out the episode talking about the recently filed lawsuit from the PUBG Devs against Epic, the creators of Fortnite which we feel holds no water and a breakdown of the mods for the Escape from Tarkov community after the firing of the Community Manager. 

Mike and Jon dive into their thoughts on the sequel to Deadpool, don't worry they keep the spoilers to a minimum so you can FULLY enjoy it. With E3 around the corner they discuss the Walmart Canada leak and what else we could possibly see or here at this years E3 (Devolver Digital is back with a press conference and we hope its just as insanae as last year). And Jon talks about the ending of some TV shows this season (Agents of Shield, Arrow, and a few more) 

On our SECOND episode of the week Mike and Jon take a dive full force into the ramifications and what Infinity War means for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Will these deaths be forever? Or will we see it all reversed and lose some long time favorite Avengers? Who Knows

If you have not seen Infinity War yet SKIP THIS EPISODE!

On this episode Mike and Jon catch up on the returns of Archer and Westworld, talk a bit about Rockstar forcing a patch that removes music (but does add some new tracks) to GTA IV and what that means for licensed content tied to video games. Jon talks about Halo Online and Micrsoft's penchant need for more money. Jon talks a non spoilery review of the new God of War and make Escapes from Tarkov a couple of times! 

On this episode Mike finds himself split between two conventions, so he does what any sane person does and spends one day at each of them. With Walker Stalker/Heroes And Villains and C2E2 overlapping a weekend Mike attends both and reports back on his meetings and such at both and he provides a brief review of John Layman's upcoming comic with Nick Pitarra, Leviathan. Outside of that Jon and Mike discuss their dive into BossKey's Radical Heights and its "Xtreme Early Access"-ness, PUBG's Event Mode that dropped and Fortnite's upcoming event that involves TWO busses! Mike drops a shotout to our friends from Gamepires who were at PAX East last week showing off a game type and some actual gameplay from SCUM and Jon mentions that Due Process was there as well. Jon says that God Of War may be the Citizen Kane of video games. Mike tells his tale of RimWorld and the colonist who needed a new leg.

On this episode Mike and Jon run through their thoughts on Ready Player One, the film and come to terms that even with all the different pop culture refernces, it wasn't AS BAD as they thought it would be. Mike took some time to see Greg Berlanti's Love,Simon, which turned out to be a really great film from the perspective of story and the cinematography. To round out the episode Mike and Jon give a rundown of what they are currently playing, Jon picked up the recent Ubisoft release of Far Cry 5 (Surprise! Its just like Far Cry!) and Mike has invested serious hours already into an indie game called Rimworld!

On this epsidoe Mike and Jon rewind to Thor Ragnarok being relevant, which technically it is since it released to Blu Ray/DVD and discuss what makes this Thor movie so good. Mike and Jon then dive into the violent video game panel President Trump threw together all while discussing the Nostalgia Bomb that is Ready Player One mixed in with a little bit of Jon's night at Paddy's Pub, the "it's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" pop up bar in Chicago.

They have RETURNED! After a longer than expected hiatus, Mike and Jon return better than ever....maybe. On this episode they review and talk about the Marvel Cinematic Universes newest hit, Black Panther (with some spoilers so a heads up on that), the latest trailers that were released while they were away, and the antics they were up to while on hiatus, mostly what video games they've been playing and such. So pull up a chair, grab a nice cold beverage and enjoy!

Mike and Jon are joined by creator of Unit 44, Wes Locher. As the three discuss the actual comic itself, Wes gives Mike and Jon a behind the scenes look at what the inspiration was behind the creation of Unit 44, further looks into what it took to get Unit 44 out into the world and what the future holds for Hatch, Gibson, and Wes himself.

On this episode Mike and Jon discuss what is to come with the dismantling of Net Neutraltiy thanks to Verizon Corporate Shill Ajit Pai. Outside of that Jon and Mike discuss what video games they are planning and plans into the new year (hint: we're talking a small-ish break to get some extra stuff done for the podcast and Jon's YouTube channel) and finally Mike and Jon have a spoilery discussion (LISTENER BEWARE!) about the latest Star Wars, The Last Jedi.

On this bonus episode, Jon explains his disappointment in Justice League and his enjoyment of Thor Ragnarok, Mike talks about Black Friday deals that SHOULD hopefully be available (most likely on Steam), which causes Jon to excude on his joys of Wolfenstein The New Colossus. The guys talk a little bit about the last update in PUBG regarding vaulting and the enjoyment that they got from it. They cover the latest season of the Walking Dead and the enjoyment that they are getting from the All Out War storyline coming to life on the TV Screen. They round out the episode talking about the issues behind Electronic Arts release of Star Wars Battlefront 2 and their debacle behind unlocking heroes and loot boxes. 

On this episode we are joined by commuunity manager Josip, aka Wonder to talk about Gamepire's highly anticipated game SCUM covering all sorts of ground discussing the upcoming game (scheduled for a Quarter 1/Quarter 2 2018 Early Access Launch). Jon and Mike learn what it takes to survive in the beautifully crafted world of SCUM on top of what SCUM brings in terms of "entertainment for the masses". But we don't want to give it all away...take a listen and find out some juicy tidbits of whats to come.

After a short-ish break, Mike and Jon return to cover a whole gamut of things including a hang at Galloping Ghost (with lots of Windjammers being played), Finally playing some indie titles bought from Steam Sales, Jon's plan to make the MOST money (and finally buy himself a Switch and the latest Super Mario), and Mike's first time at High Five Ramen. All of this and SO much more. 

On this episode Jon discusses his thoughts on the recently released Middle-Earth Shadows of War, Mike and Jon discuss Marvel's VERY short lived partnership with Northrop Gruman, and of course we round it out with discussion of the Rick and Morty season finale and the asshattery of Rick and Morty fan's over McDonald's single day release of the coveted Szechuan Sauce.

We return this month with some heavy gaming conversations covering the likes of the Battle Royale showdown between Fortnite and PUBG, returning to Rocket League and Shadows of Mordor, Shadow Warrior 2 is a game you shouldn't pass up (if you love loot gaming), Jon dives into buying Cuphead and enjoying Lawbreakers and expresses his feelings towards the COD World War 2 beta. They also discuss the recent Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer dropped by Rockstar. Mike rants at why you shouldn't spoil new movies (and other things) on social media. To round out the epsidoe we discuss the second to last episode of this season's Rick And Morty, "The ABC's of Beth" and what our thoughts are for the finale. Mike also drops the news of McDonald's bringing Szechuan Sauce back for  1 DAY! (October 7th 2017) 

Mike and Jon return from a brief hiatus due to work and other life things, Mike's voice is destroyed (Thank you Prophets of Rage) and gives his thoughts on his first Riot Fest, Mike and Jon give their thoughts on the newest re-imagining of Stephen King's IT, the latest Rick and Morty episodes (Two-fer on this episode of the podcast) and catch up on gaming news which includes everyones "favorite" streamer/youtuber/whatever PewDiePie and his latest controversy, Fortnite's crossplay mix up, and the latest PUBG update and issues with stealthily changing their rules without telling the community. 

This episode covers a bit of ground regarding the season finale of Game Of Thrones, Jon catches up on Stranger Things, Mike discusses his time with the Raid: World War II beta and the two discuss Gamepire's upcoming game, SCUM, which seems to have some interesting premises to it. All this and a little discussion regarding an update on Jon's use of the Vive.