0:19

Hello, friends, benders and non

0:21

benders alike. Welcome to Braving the Elements,

0:24

Nickelodeon's podcast about all things

0:26

Avatar Verse. I'm Janet Varney and

0:28

I'm Dante Bosco, and today we're gonna be talking

0:30

to someone from another very beloved

0:32

world, multiple worlds, actually lots

0:35

of crossover in the Avatar fandom with this

0:37

other thing we're talking about. That's

0:39

right, buddy, But this person, for

0:42

some reason, we're refusing your name even though it's in the episode

0:44

title. Uh. This

0:46

person has also found himself playing

0:49

let me say it this way, playing a critical

0:52

role behind the scenes

0:54

of animation, working not just

0:56

as a voice actor but also as a voice

0:59

director to make wonderful shows.

1:02

Wow. Wow, Well, like

1:04

you're so cover for using the words critical role, Janet,

1:07

Well, instead of answering that, I'm gonna welcome a very

1:09

special guest this week, Sam

1:11

OReGO. Welcome to show. Say I'm going to go along.

1:15

I'm so happy to be here. Thanks

1:17

for having me, Janet. That was incredibly

1:19

impressive. I

1:21

don't know, that's got to have been used twenty

1:24

zillion first time. That's

1:27

it. That's the first one. Nice,

1:30

try but up

1:33

your game for the next one. We'll do, We'll

1:35

do. Uh well, we are

1:37

so excited to have you on the show because,

1:39

Um, if there's one crossover, I

1:42

would say like maybe Star Wars as

1:44

well, But I feel like the consistency of

1:46

crossover of fandom with Avatar

1:48

fans that we meet at cons and them

1:50

also loving Critical Role is like, um,

1:55

there's just a lot of love for both

1:57

worlds in the hearts and minds of

2:00

who seemed to love the Avatar Verse. So it seemed

2:02

like such a no brainer to bring you in because

2:05

we also have this great interest from

2:07

our listeners and from fans of the Avatar Verse about

2:10

sort of all aspects of making

2:12

great animation, and you

2:15

sort of have a hand now and like almost

2:17

every part of it. I mean, I'm not sure if you're like drawing

2:19

individual cells or like sitting on a computer

2:22

uh from more far away making making

2:24

pictures. But aside from that, I

2:26

feel like you super have done

2:28

everything else. I've been very

2:31

lucky to um to be part

2:33

of making animation for many years

2:35

now as a voice director or casting director,

2:37

sometimes as a voice actor like

2:39

like you guys, but now through

2:42

Critical Role. Also we make our own

2:44

cartoon called The Legend Vox Makina,

2:47

on which I'm an executive producer and writer

2:49

and I also direct some

2:51

of the voices. And you're

2:54

totally right. It's I've gotten to really sink

2:56

my teeth into all things animation. And

2:59

yeah, I think that our fan communities

3:01

really do have a lot of overlap because, um,

3:04

weirdly, I feel like the critical role

3:06

Verse Verse

3:09

and the Avatar are

3:12

they're very similar. I mean, like they're well,

3:14

our show is possibly more adult, but it's not

3:16

like yours is just for kids. Like it's

3:19

very adult storytelling, very sophisticated

3:22

and mature themes and stuff like that, even if it's

3:24

not as much cursing as we do.

3:26

But like I think our stories

3:29

and our show is sort of a

3:31

slightly kid friendly adult show,

3:34

uh and and yours is a very adult

3:36

friendly kids show or something something. They're

3:39

both sort of in the in the liminal space

3:41

in between. Um, and they're both filled

3:43

with great characters and amazing magics

3:46

and such cool twists and

3:48

turns, and and of course fans of one

3:50

would be fans of the other. It makes total sense. This

3:52

is especially pleasing to me because Dante asks

3:55

Sam and I how we know each

3:57

other and how long we've known each other? Yeah?

4:00

And Varney, how how do you

4:02

know each other? How long have you known each other? How did this

4:04

get started? What's going on? What a good

4:06

question, Dante? You really up in your game?

4:13

We met, boy. I probably

4:15

get the year wrong, but it was. Was

4:17

it the two thousand and three

4:21

Sketch Sketch Fest? Nailed?

4:23

It nailed? The year nailed years

4:27

ago? Yeah? Oh my goodness,

4:30

that was years ago, two thousand three.

4:32

Oh no, Yeah. I came in as

4:34

a performer. Uh. And Varney

4:36

over here and her cohorts invited

4:39

me and my um my sketch

4:41

comedy partner Rob Blatt to come to

4:44

our sketch comedy show at San

4:46

Francisco, and man,

4:48

it was so great. It was probably the

4:50

highlight of our sketch comedy careers.

4:53

And so many cool

4:55

people were there, and uh and

4:57

we we hung out with you guys, and I

5:00

just remember we all hung out in a hotel room

5:02

one night, being all dorky and fun and

5:05

it was. It was such a great time. And we've

5:07

remained friends ever since. And I've gotten to work

5:09

with Janet and the Voiceover World a

5:12

little bit, and I

5:14

certainly have watched from afar as

5:16

you've become a mega

5:18

mega star. Okay, that

5:21

was directed to actually towards you, Dante.

5:23

What was the name of the sketch the Sketch

5:25

group, and where we're all hailing from.

5:28

We we started as the Infinite

5:30

Monkeys, okay,

5:32

but then we changed our name to Regal and Black because

5:35

that seemed that seemed somehow

5:37

even less appealing. I've

5:44

infinite monkeys. We've all heard the Infinite

5:46

Monkeys typewriter make amazing

5:49

stuff. Sure, but then we got it. We

5:51

we started to overthink it and we were like monkeys.

5:53

It seems like a hacky comedy thing.

5:56

And and then there's only two of us.

5:58

It doesn't make any sense. They were

6:00

not infinite. How many monkeys

6:02

are the infinite monkeys? Too infinite

6:05

monkeys half infinite each table

6:07

didn't make sense to choose your name to the finite

6:10

monkeys. That also didn't really work. Two

6:12

monkeys just seemed like a weird sequel

6:15

to two monkeys is not a good time to seven.

6:19

And we guys coming out of l A. Or we just come of Chicago,

6:22

or we came out of New York. We did

6:24

a citizens Brigade stuff

6:26

in New York before there was even

6:28

an Upright Citizens Brigade theater in l

6:30

A. And after doing

6:32

the sketch comedy and improv scene for a while,

6:34

we came to l A to seek our our

6:37

fame and fortune as as hot

6:40

comedy writers. Infinite Monkeys are coming

6:42

to town. Watch out. Here come the infinite

6:44

Monkeys and the infinite possibilities.

6:47

Yes, yes, it turns out there was only

6:49

two possibilities. There

6:53

was only two and it was success or failure, and

6:55

we fail. Yeah,

6:58

total failure. Donna tell one,

7:02

I don't know. He's also Donna Tello on

7:05

the Teenage Meeting Nina, which happened to be actually

7:07

saying my favorite turtle. Oh

7:09

mine too? Yeah, there I go. How

7:11

is life as a turtle? I mean that's its own

7:14

kind of you know. I

7:17

think it was one of my favorite roles I've ever

7:19

played. Uh Big fans

7:21

since I was a kid, always loved Donna

7:23

Tello. He was my favorite. I actually when I got

7:26

cast in it. I won't bore the fans

7:28

with boring behind the scenes stuff,

7:30

but I got cast as Michaelangelo stuff.

7:32

How dare you you got cast Mike and

7:35

the guy he ended up playing Michael Ancho.

7:37

He got cast as done, and we recorded

7:39

the pilot episode with those roles,

7:41

and when they played it all back,

7:44

they were like, it doesn't

7:46

sound it's just not right. Something's

7:48

not right about it. And we thought we were

7:50

for sure going to get fired and replaced, because that's

7:52

what happens in this business. But instead

7:55

someone was like, how about this just switch? And

7:57

so we switched roles and it was like

8:00

magic. It was a miracle. It was. It

8:02

was perfect, and I was so glad to play

8:04

to keep my job, but also so

8:06

I'm happy because I really did, like I

8:09

like to tell him better than my Glantello was

8:11

a better fit. People

8:13

love those stories. I love when I see

8:15

movies and on TV shows and like you

8:17

find out the little trivia bit that like two people

8:19

switched roles. I absolutely love

8:21

that. There's a bunch of stuff that

8:23

we could name another one, uh, that

8:26

you were very well known for him. The video game

8:28

side is Phoenix right in the

8:31

game series. I don't mind

8:33

if I do love the name Phoenix. Is

8:36

this show just you guys making me

8:38

feel good? Well, we actually have the surprise

8:40

for you the podcast that video

8:43

game come out here? Please? Yeah?

8:46

I got to play, uh, and I

8:48

still do occasionally. I feel like I just recorded

8:51

him a few months ago. I

8:53

get to play Phoenix, right, who is an

8:55

ace attorney for these

8:57

weird video games and some some anime shows

9:00

that that feature him.

9:02

The thing about the video games is he only ever says

9:04

like ten things, so the

9:07

recording sessions are very very short.

9:10

He just has to say objection, hold

9:12

it, uh, like one or

9:14

two other things?

9:15

And do

9:18

you ever get to say you're on or in an

9:20

exasperated tone? I should

9:22

write that in the Yeah.

9:25

No, it's been fun playing that role

9:27

as well. And um and I can't

9:29

wait to hear how you're gonna make me feel good next,

9:31

Janet, Well, I'm gonna

9:33

pass the torch to Dante. I had it. I've

9:36

had it making you feel good. I want to

9:38

talk about the amazing Critical

9:40

Role this. I feel like you guys

9:42

created a new genre of

9:46

storytelling. Of course,

9:48

a lot of fans out there of Critical Role. For people that don't

9:51

know what Critical Role is, you

9:53

want to kind of explain the whole talk

9:57

about its inception as part of the

10:00

the journey. Yeah, so, Critical Role

10:02

is a is a live play like

10:05

role playing game show that me and

10:07

my friends play. We played Dungeons and Dragons

10:10

on our on our Twitch channel

10:12

every Thursday night at seven pm

10:14

um Twitch dot tv slash corect role.

10:17

But the genesis of it was me

10:20

and my voiceover actor friends all

10:23

got together for somebody's birthday, for Liam

10:25

O'Brien's birthday, and he

10:27

wanted to do something weird and fun for

10:29

his birthday, so he said, let's all

10:32

get together and play D and D. And we

10:34

just roped in some random voiceover

10:37

friends and started to play. And many

10:39

of us, like myself, had never played before,

10:42

had never played any role playing game. Um,

10:45

yeah I was. I was not a very good

10:48

nerd um. But when

10:51

we were finished playing, we thought that was

10:53

it and we would go about our merry ways and our

10:55

merry lives. But then we all started texting

10:57

each other saying, like, dude, that was really fun.

11:00

Can we do that again sometime? And it just became

11:03

a thing that we would that we would do sort of

11:05

monthly at each other's houses, until one

11:07

day, Felicia Day, a super

11:10

talented actor performer nerd

11:12

queen, asked us to do

11:14

it if we could play our game live

11:17

on on her Twitch channel, and we

11:19

said, no, that's a horrible idea, but we did it anyway,

11:22

and we thought it would be horribly boring

11:25

to watch random Josh Moo's play

11:28

Make Them Ups for four hours,

11:30

unedited around a table, But

11:33

we found that people really got into the

11:35

stories and the characters, and they really enjoyed

11:37

seeing a group of friends together at

11:40

a table who truly we're

11:42

just trying to crack each other up and and loving

11:44

each other. And it turned

11:46

into this thing where we have

11:49

an amazing fan community like you

11:51

guys do, and it has afforded

11:53

us the opportunities to travel the world

11:55

and meet a lot of fans and do other things

11:58

like make comic books and board games and

12:00

novels. And now we get to make We

12:03

take the characters and world

12:05

of our story and we've made this animated

12:07

series and it's so phnomenal. It's a wild

12:10

thing that we never planned. But Infinite

12:12

Monkeys never knew. This was part of the infinite

12:14

possibilities of what was going to happen in this town.

12:17

But nonetheless, guess what Infinite

12:19

Monkeys things happen. It's true,

12:22

but we've had a blast, and it's so great

12:24

to be able to go to work every week with my friends

12:26

and just make up stuff together. That's great.

12:29

You are the perfect person for

12:31

us to give as an example when we are

12:33

doing panels at cons And I'm sure you get asked

12:35

this all the time too, and we'll talk more about

12:37

kind of voice over and all of that and a little bit. But

12:40

um, you know, so often when people

12:42

ask about getting started in acting

12:44

or performing. Um, people

12:47

today are both blessed

12:49

with the Internet and things like YouTube

12:52

and twitch and TikTok in all these places that

12:54

you can be seen, but they're also um intimidated

12:56

by it because they're such a mass

12:58

of stuff to see. But

13:02

I think the answer for us remains the same, which

13:04

is like it doesn't matter how many

13:07

avenues or how much competition there is, Like do stuff

13:09

with your friends. Do stuff with your friends, find a group of

13:11

people you love making stuff with an You are the perfect

13:14

example to say, Look, these

13:16

guys did it because they loved it, they love each other.

13:18

All of that comes out in what you

13:20

guys get to watch. And so it's such

13:22

a great example to be able to give to people to

13:25

say, you know, don't force it, don't you

13:27

know, just find it and and

13:29

enjoy it. Yeah, we never set out to do

13:31

this. We never set out to make a company or make

13:33

a show or any of that stuff. We

13:35

just set out to hang out with each other and

13:37

do something that we were passionate about at the time,

13:40

which was learning how to play

13:42

role playing games and learning how how it all worked.

13:45

And um, yeah,

13:47

that that's such great advice, Janet,

13:50

just to to anyone who's trying to be a creative

13:52

in any part of the industry.

13:55

Um, not everything that you do has to be

13:57

geared towards like making

13:59

money or an agent to or getting

14:01

a job. It can you should have passions

14:03

also outside of that, and sometimes

14:06

following those passions can lead you to unexpected

14:08

places and infinite monkey

14:11

possibilities, and you might

14:13

end up where you wanted without even

14:15

having tried to get there well

14:18

first. And for almost like I got to talk about Liam

14:20

having a very ambitious idea of

14:23

inviting friends over for his birthday

14:25

to play to play Dungeon's

14:27

Dragons, and some people have not played it. You could have got

14:29

roped into a three month game. It

14:32

could have been a blissfully ignorant

14:35

about your first campaign, could have been like guess what we're

14:37

playing is for next two years? Like what what are we doing

14:40

and too, you're talking about

14:42

your friends, and uh, Sam's

14:44

friends just happened to be Laura

14:47

Bailey, Travis Willingham,

14:50

Ashley Johnson. Who else is

14:52

I mean, we got Matt Mercer Mercer

14:55

Jaffee tell us that, I mean, these

14:57

are his friends, you guys that he just happens to go and

15:00

like this first game but done dragon with So

15:02

that's also quite a bit of infinite

15:04

monkey luck right there. That's pretty true. It's

15:07

true. And at the time when we started

15:09

this was like eight or nine years ago. Now, we

15:11

were all just, um, like

15:14

you guys have been in the past, you know, work

15:16

a day voice actors, just

15:18

trying to scrape out a living, um

15:21

doing anime dubbing, or trying

15:23

to get an agent and try to get a commercial

15:26

job, radio commercial job, or just just

15:28

anything. So um, it's not

15:30

like we all got together and said like

15:32

these will be the greatest voice actors

15:35

in the history or anything. So we were just

15:37

all like hungry young actors who

15:39

who were trying to make our way in the world

15:42

today. Um, And it

15:44

worked out great and we've all been Another

15:46

great thing about having you

15:49

know, a group of friends going through this altogether

15:51

is that we've been been able to support each

15:53

other. It's not all easy, you know, you

15:55

get setbacks and you get failures and mistakes

15:57

that you make along the way, but it's so great to have a group

16:00

of folks there to bail you out if

16:02

you make a boo boo or something. So yeah,

16:06

more good advice for folks listening is to just

16:08

have have a few friends around that you can

16:10

rely on when you make make a mistake,

16:13

which you definitely will in life for

16:15

sure. Well, and that takes us to kind of improv

16:17

too, which is another thing that we often tell

16:19

people is a great tool for if you're trying

16:21

to get comfortable with yourself as a

16:23

performer or as a voice actor,

16:26

whatever the end goal is UM

16:28

being in an environment where you know

16:30

their structure to it. It's organized, and that's kind

16:33

of I think like people who

16:35

didn't do any RPGs UM

16:38

before but who were performers

16:40

and vice versa. And then obviously there's crossover

16:42

between the two for people who you know like Patt

16:44

Noswalt who's like always been patent and always

16:47

been doing both and all of that, but that

16:49

is another way that they sort of do like intermingle

16:52

and when you start doing an

16:54

RPG, if you're a performer, like, oh,

16:57

like, I get it. This is like structured improv

16:59

let's strategy and friends and laughs. And

17:02

if you are an RPUG player and

17:04

you, you know, try to perform, you're like, wait a minute, this is

17:06

not dissimilar from the character I play

17:09

in my absolutely true Yeah.

17:11

Like I think all of us were, some

17:13

more than others, but many of us left

17:16

that first game just shocked

17:18

at how many itches playing

17:20

this game scratched for us.

17:23

Like my desire to create

17:25

a character, yes, check.

17:27

My desire to do a funny voice

17:30

check. My desire to sort of to be

17:32

a writer check, because you're writing

17:34

it as you go. My desire to be

17:36

immersed in a long form story and

17:39

and and the soap opera of it all check. Like

17:41

all my creative desires were all sort

17:43

of boiled and baked into one thing, combined

17:46

with getting to to see your friends do

17:49

the same thing and passing around

17:51

really unhealthy snacks and

17:53

uh and sodas while you do it. So it's

17:56

it's so great. I really want to believe

17:58

that there's there's such a parallel the between

18:00

you starting to d M two being a dungeon master

18:02

and voice directing. I wanted to be

18:04

like they were happening on the Saint, like on

18:07

parallel tracks, because that I could

18:09

even squeeze that together and make

18:11

it fit, like, Oh, suddenly, you're the one

18:13

controlling the story in a whole new

18:15

way and shaping the overall

18:18

story that's being told in the adventure, not on

18:20

like directing voice actor. What

18:24

a good segue if it were true. I

18:28

don't know that it was, but but it was.

18:31

Yes, let's just say yes and UM,

18:34

but yeah, I I have done a fair amount

18:36

of voice directing UM since

18:38

I got to l A and UM.

18:41

That all mainly came about because I was started

18:44

in l A doing a lot of voice

18:46

over dubbing, anime dubbing, which is

18:48

slightly different from how we record original

18:51

animation. The pictures already done

18:53

and for those listening, and then we

18:56

take the Japanese or foreign language

18:59

um DIO track and just sort of mute

19:01

it and then replace it with an English audio track.

19:03

But you have to match the lip flap and the lip movement,

19:06

and it's part art because

19:08

you're acting, but it's also kind of part

19:11

math because you're just kind of counting

19:13

how many times the lips move and

19:15

making sure that your mouth is moving at the same

19:18

speed and there's the same number of syllables

19:20

and stuff. So me and Liam and

19:22

other of our friends, Talison, we're doing a

19:24

lot of anime dubbing, and

19:27

the folks who produced those figured the

19:29

best people to direct other actors. Where

19:31

the folks who helped write the episodes, and

19:33

me and Liam and Allison and other folks were

19:35

adapting a lot of these anime scripts

19:38

for English acting, and

19:40

so it was just sort of a natural fit to have the

19:43

people working on the scripts to direct

19:45

the actors. And so I started doing that and I

19:47

got better and better at it. One day, I just

19:49

sort of happened to be in the right place at the right time, and

19:51

I was auditioning at Disney for

19:54

something as an actor, and

19:56

I did this stupid thing whenever I whenever

19:58

I directed. Since I was

20:01

like in my twenties at the time, I

20:04

wanted the actor to feel like

20:06

I was in charge. So I wore a tie

20:11

well because I didn't think they were going to take me seriously,

20:14

this twenty six year old kid,

20:17

Like, why would Gray Delisle listen

20:19

to me? You know? Why would ye?

20:23

So I would, so I would wear talking Michael

20:25

J. Fox movie in the eighties, that's what it feels

20:27

like. It's like, yeah,

20:31

exactly. And so I wore tied every

20:33

directing session. And I went to Disney

20:36

on a lunch break to audition for something

20:38

and they made fun of me and they were like, why are you wearing

20:40

a tie? And I was

20:42

like, well, I think the wreck to thing across

20:45

town and this is what I wear when I

20:47

direct. And they were like, I think somebody

20:49

else had like quit or been fired that

20:52

day. But when I said the word directing,

20:54

everyone in the room their eyes lit up and

20:56

they were like, wait a second. You're a voice

20:58

director and I was like, yeah, I

21:01

am. And they're like, after your session today,

21:03

can you come back and talk to us? And

21:06

yeah, and I was like sure I can, And so I went

21:08

and I finished my session and I came back and I met

21:10

with them and they were like, we are looking

21:13

for someone actively right now who gets comedy

21:15

and we need we need someone and are you available?

21:18

And I was like yeah,

21:20

my goodness, So had you not been wearing

21:23

the tie to then BT s audibly

21:25

enough that you explained why you're wearing the tie?

21:28

Who knows. I'm sure it would have ended up doing it anyway, but

21:30

that as eight a music story, yet

21:32

another infinite monkey possibility

21:35

going on? How telling

21:39

Dante the name of the infinitely

21:42

infinite regret? Correct

21:45

answer, correct answer. Well, let's

21:47

talk about the legend of box makina Um,

21:50

your animated series. How does that happen?

21:53

How do you guys? Like that was suggested

21:55

from the outside because sometimes

21:57

we don't really think that we can

21:59

do with thing until someone goes, you know, what you should

22:01

blah blah blah, or was it something that you

22:03

internally as a group started talking about, like,

22:06

wait a minute, what if this was a cartoon?

22:08

I think it was mostly the latter because

22:11

our show, our Twitch show, is very much

22:13

theater of the mind. It's basically like a

22:15

really, really, really long radio play

22:17

where Matt our dungeon Master. He

22:20

describes what's happening with very visceral

22:22

language and um, it's all

22:24

awesome. We we do have a little music playing, but most

22:26

of it is just sort of imagination

22:28

games. And because of that,

22:31

we've always sort of in our heads imagined

22:34

how our stories would look

22:36

like. And I think because we're all voice over

22:38

actors, the way that we imagine these

22:41

stories is as cartoons,

22:43

like when I flosed my eyes and like,

22:45

that's what I picture. Um. Also,

22:47

we are blessed and fortunate to

22:49

have an amazing fan community who

22:52

drew incredible pieces of fan

22:54

art based on some of the scenes or moments

22:57

from our games, and so we

22:59

would have these just cinematic

23:02

imaginations of what we are describing

23:04

in our game, and we were always

23:06

like, yes, yes, that's it. I wish I

23:08

could see this this image animated,

23:11

you know, I wish I could see it come to life. So I think

23:13

in the back of our minds we always dreamed

23:16

that it would one day be an animated series.

23:19

And we took it out and pitched it

23:21

around town to everybody, all these

23:23

places, and they all said no, and

23:26

it was very sad um.

23:28

But then we remembered that we

23:30

have this incredible fan community, and so we

23:32

put up a Kickstarter to try to find

23:35

enough money to finance a pilot

23:37

episode. We figured if we could make one episode

23:40

as sort of a proof of concept, we could get somebody

23:42

to say yes to it. And our

23:45

fans went crazy and

23:47

they gave us way more money than we had asked

23:49

for. Uh, and we ended up raising

23:52

eleven million dollars a

23:56

little bit four

23:58

million dollars, which was I

24:00

think eighteen times

24:03

what we had asked for or something

24:05

like that. And it was the It was the number

24:07

one film and TV kickstarter

24:09

in history. Uh, and it was

24:12

life changing for many reasons. We didn't

24:14

get to keep any of that money. By there, I'm not

24:16

I'm not money bags McGhee over here. We

24:18

we spent it all on the animated series.

24:21

And wouldn't you know it, right after that happened,

24:23

all the places that had said no to our animated

24:26

series called us up and they were

24:28

like, hey, we

24:31

want to do your show. Will you come back and

24:33

pitch it to us again because

24:35

there's clearly an audience. And so we

24:37

did that, and we pitched it around again, and Amazon

24:40

said, we would love to have this

24:42

on our platform, but also take

24:45

the amazing gift that your fans gave

24:47

you and uh and put in our own

24:49

money and instead of making one

24:52

season of it, um, we want to make more.

24:54

So we they said, let's make a second season

24:56

also, and let's make more episodes per

24:58

season than than you exp did, and

25:00

let's make the animation quality the best in

25:02

the business and higher the best of the

25:05

best animators and character designers

25:07

and actors, and so it

25:09

was an offer that we could not refuse. And

25:12

we've now made an animated series that is

25:14

it's our dream come true, and it's truly a dream

25:16

to work on every day. Yeah, that's

25:18

so good. Let's

25:24

get into our own just some

25:27

some lore and some chit chat from

25:29

our own animated world.

25:31

Which, again, if you like one show,

25:33

I think there's a terribly good chance you will like

25:36

the other if you are not already fans of both.

25:38

UM, we know that critical

25:40

role members love Avatar because

25:43

they have been very generous in social media

25:46

UM expressing that love of Avatar,

25:48

Last Airbender and Legend of Kor, which is

25:50

so wonderful. But I understand

25:52

that you also have a couple of kiddos who

25:55

are not not

25:57

hating on the Avatar verse either. During

26:00

the pandemic, it was one of the I

26:03

think it was one of the first things, you know, because

26:05

everyone was going a little stir crazy there

26:07

at the beginning. UM. I

26:09

think Avatar was one of the first series

26:11

that they sat down and just watched

26:14

start to finish, kind of like

26:16

one episode per night until it was

26:18

all through. And UM

26:20

and then I think they went back and walked watched

26:22

through it all again, which was

26:25

so thank you for that because it helped

26:27

me take care of them for a while and not

26:29

have them go to board or stir crazy.

26:32

And then I forget when, but

26:35

I mentioned to them like, oh, by the way, you know there's

26:37

another series. There's this thing called Cora.

26:39

Also, I don't know if you guys are interested in that, and

26:41

they were like, what, there's more, and

26:44

so they watched that over and over again. I

26:46

have an eight year old and a ten year old, and my eight year

26:49

old has watched the Court of the entire Cores series

26:51

I don't know, eight ten times through

26:53

or something. Um, they're

26:55

huge fans. Um they're

26:57

gonna This is probably the most excited exciting

27:00

thing that I've ever done. Is being in this podcast

27:04

feels really good. Have

27:06

you ever had conversations with them? And I totally

27:09

understand if like this hasn't happened, But are

27:11

there conversations that you have with them, whether are like this

27:14

is why we love the a Verse or like these

27:16

are the characters that we keep coming

27:18

back for over and over again. I don't know if that's something

27:20

that you get into, if they're just like, dude, we love

27:22

this show, which is also fine. I think they really

27:25

like how complex it is. I know

27:27

they're just kids at all, but like that's

27:29

that's also part of the rewatchability

27:32

is I think that they like that the stories

27:34

aren't all the same. It's not a formula

27:36

every episode, and it's not

27:39

you always know at the end they're gonna they're

27:41

gonna end it with a silly joke when when there's

27:44

nothing like that, like when they were watching

27:46

it the first time, is that guy the bad guy? And

27:48

they're like, well, yes, but not

27:50

really. I mean, he can't really call

27:52

him a bad guy because he's also now a good guy.

27:57

And I'm like, okay, well

28:00

are they and I don't, and they're like, no,

28:02

I mean they be, but it's

28:05

very it's very complicated. They

28:08

complicated. I love

28:10

that so much. All Right, Well, we'll

28:12

get into some of our our favorite

28:14

questions to ask our guests. Dante,

28:17

you want to dig in with some animal

28:19

crossing. You know how the animals in the

28:22

Avatar verse are a lot of hybrid

28:24

animals, so every you know, it seems

28:26

that people have us included, have drawn

28:29

into our favorite hybrid animals. Do

28:31

you remember any favorite hybrid animals in

28:33

the Avatar verse. Um is

28:35

Momo hybrid of two things? He

28:38

is, Yeah, he's a hybrid

28:40

of a

28:43

a lemur and a bat. It

28:46

gets confusing because Momo was also modeled

28:48

after one of the guy's cats,

28:51

so then we get throw

28:53

cats in there as well. Um,

28:56

but yeah, and so he flies, he's like a flying

28:58

lemurs is a little kind of um little

29:00

like flying squirrel slash bat wings. But he's

29:02

not an airbender, whereas Apa,

29:05

who's the air bison, he definitely

29:07

is airbending, so he's magic in that way.

29:09

That's my son's UM favorite

29:13

is Apau good taste, Good

29:15

taste yours my eight year old? Uh,

29:18

their favorite character is Cora. Yeah,

29:23

obviously, But I was trying to think

29:25

of of good pairings, and I

29:27

just think it would be cool to mash like

29:30

some of the weirder looking animals

29:32

together to make like if

29:34

you took a blood fish and a platypus

29:37

and an ant eater. Maybe maybe there's a there's

29:40

a three way hybridization or

29:42

something, But like I feel like either

29:44

that's gonna be horrifying, or

29:47

what if all the all the ugliness

29:49

sort of cancels itself out and you have

29:51

like an Adonis looking creature,

29:53

like the most beautiful looking thing

29:55

ever. It could absolutely happen.

29:58

Yeah, I definitely want to see the snout on

30:00

that creature. I definitely want to see

30:03

what comes through on the snout of that

30:05

triple hybrid. That's amazing. I

30:08

believe the shares shoe could be a triple hybrid

30:10

too, is a triple hybrid? Yeah?

30:12

Oh nice. I can't remember the three animals at

30:14

this moment. Poisonous

30:16

Tongue, you bet, yes,

30:19

definitely three, and that is one of the scariest animals.

30:21

Um. So, you talked about an item

30:23

with your kids, so obviously your kids know about the

30:25

ships. Are there are there ships in the

30:27

Avatar universe that you

30:29

ship? I think they are

30:32

very happy with Ang and Katara,

30:34

because I was asking them before

30:37

going on the show. On your show, I

30:39

was like, why do you rue rank so much? And

30:42

they're like, come on, you've got to He's

30:44

just the greatest. So

30:46

yeah, I mean yeah, and anything

30:50

you guys out there that the regal family shout

30:53

out to Katang listen,

30:56

I think what you need to do is tell them that

30:59

Prince Zuko said he's very hurt that

31:02

they don't ships that they

31:04

don't ship Zuka at Qatara.

31:07

Can you handle it, Dante? It's a nice ship.

31:09

No what I say. I love people shipping

31:12

our shows and your show too, Sam, because

31:14

it because it's like the fans have that they

31:16

gain ownership of the show and they create

31:18

their own storylines with the things that we've

31:21

created or helped create, and it's really

31:24

just feels good as ours saying, Oh, wow,

31:26

you guys are so into it that you've taken it to another

31:28

level that's not even cannon anymore,

31:31

which I find amazing and I

31:33

love it. Yeah. No, you're totally

31:35

right. When they've that's when the story

31:37

sort of leaves your control and just sort of enter

31:39

enters the world, and it's like, oh, this isn't

31:41

my story anymore, it's it's our story.

31:45

Such a great feeling for sure. Um.

31:47

You brought up Sam being at Disney and worrying about

31:49

great alot of taking you seriously, Um.

31:52

She plays one of our all time favorite

31:54

stories on the show, a Zulo,

31:57

but Dante has mixed feelings about it because

31:59

he at door is Gray, my

32:03

sister. It's so hard because Gray

32:06

as a person is uh is

32:08

so wonderful and so hilarious.

32:11

But she's just so good at being evil.

32:13

She played the bad guy on our

32:15

show the first season of our show, and

32:17

part of the reason that we cast her was her performance

32:20

as Zula on your show, Um,

32:22

because she's just so she's

32:25

so good and and you

32:27

do even on your show, you get little

32:29

hints of like, oh, this person isn't

32:31

just bad to the bone, like she

32:33

was made to be bad, you know, from

32:36

her traumas or or her background

32:38

or her father or whatever. And and on

32:40

our show too, like she plays

32:42

a multidimensional villain, UM,

32:45

And I think that Gray is just so good at

32:47

at using her voice to make

32:50

you care about a villain, you

32:52

know, like a lot. She's a wicked

32:54

wit and wicked sense of humor.

32:57

It is amazing, though she can empty

33:00

her voice because she's so warm and

33:02

so funny and lovely that she can

33:04

empty all of that out, tip it all out,

33:06

so that there is just like this like

33:09

cruel voice that seemingly devoid

33:12

of compassion. Is a

33:14

real talent because I don't

33:16

know, like you sort of go ouch, some of that's

33:18

got to shine through. And you're right in that they're complex

33:20

and she creates complex roles,

33:23

but at the same time, you

33:25

know you're not seeing a lot of Gray in

33:28

a zula, and that is it's

33:30

amazing. It's just amazing. She becomes

33:33

another person. It's really cool. And then you

33:35

hit stop on your recording session and

33:38

she just turns into a lovable

33:40

weirdo again. Yes, instantly.

33:43

She's so fun to direct. Also just

33:45

because she she has this

33:47

thing. The best voice actors, I feel um

33:51

are ones who like could

33:53

also be writers if they cared

33:56

or wanted to, you know, or or what are

33:58

needed to um. But like she has

34:00

that gift that a lot of great voice

34:02

actors do. Like you, you you both where

34:05

you can just kind of look at a script and

34:08

maybe you read the whole thing, maybe you didn't

34:10

even read the whole thing, but you but you

34:12

kind of like you instantly get Okay,

34:15

I get what this scene is about. I get what my character's

34:17

role is, and I get what I'm supposed

34:19

to be servicing, like I'm not like Gray

34:21

will come in and you guys will too, and

34:24

instantly understand like, Okay, I'm not the main character

34:26

of this episode, but that's totally great. I

34:28

know exactly what my my function

34:31

is I'm supposed to make the main

34:33

character feel really really bad so that

34:35

at the end of the episode they can feel really really good

34:37

or or whatever. Or I can be the sum

34:39

one system for the main character. But you guys

34:42

can get that after just reading just a

34:44

couple of lines of dialogue. And

34:46

um, I think that's one of the things that great

34:48

does so well, is like you can show

34:50

her one page of a script and she she understands

34:53

what the other thirty pages will be. Probably.

34:55

Oh, that's so well said. I love that, all

35:01

right. Bosco asked the big question,

35:04

Arnie. The big question we asked every guest that

35:06

comes on this podcast is, of

35:08

course I'm a huff puff. What kind

35:10

of bender? No, that's helpful, that's helpful.

35:12

That's actually very helpful. Yes,

35:15

well, what kind of bender in the Avatar verse

35:18

would you be? I've

35:20

given this a lot of thought, and I also checked with

35:22

my kids. Um there was a lot

35:24

of well, you wouldn't be this because, and

35:26

you wouldn't be this because, um

35:29

so we eliminated fire very

35:31

quickly. I knew you would eliminate fire

35:33

fast. I by the way, I had this whole converation in

35:36

my head as well. But I was really

35:39

torn with the other three when I was thinking about

35:41

you, like, I was very torn. I don't think I'm

35:43

cool enough to be fired Dante, honestly,

35:46

and I don't think my kids think so either too,

35:49

Dorky, don't worry, Dante,

35:51

this is still a compliment to you. Don't even

35:54

worry about it. Where are we going, Sam,

35:56

Where are we going with the Zellms? No? They

35:59

my kids agreed. They thought that I would

36:01

be an air bender because they said that I'm

36:03

I keep calm when things go wrong.

36:06

They said that I'm always happy and smiley and

36:08

joyful. And they they said

36:11

that I fared a lot. That's

36:15

another bendor right there. That

36:18

is the best trilogy

36:20

of reasons. That's the best

36:22

triangle triumvirate. I'm not sure

36:25

what I mean, but I know that those are the best three

36:27

reasons we've ever had. I can remove

36:29

air and wind, I can settle

36:32

air. I was close to water for

36:34

you, but I settled on air. And

36:36

but I dismissed Earth. But I played

36:39

with Earth because you're so funny and like very grounded

36:41

as well. Um, but I'm very smug

36:43

right now. Oh my gosh,

36:46

uh, Sam Regal, this has been so much fun.

36:48

Thank you so much for coming and talking about

36:51

your world and fandom and passions

36:53

and all the good stuff, your kiddos and all

36:56

of that. I'm braving the elements. I

36:58

have to thank you in the popularity of Critical Role

37:00

for bringing D and D back into the

37:03

universe of the world and the gamers out there.

37:05

For me too, it got me playing D and D

37:07

a game with friends and campends. Of

37:09

course, special shout out to my friends Laura Bailey

37:12

and Travis William part of your crew. I

37:14

went to my first comic con with so many

37:16

years ago in Australia, before

37:18

they're married, before their parents, and

37:21

I just have great memories those guys, so you know,

37:23

when this happened for them, I was just so just

37:26

delighted and it was amazing. Well,

37:28

that's very nice, and thank you right back from

37:30

from me and from all of us. I really do think

37:32

that that Airbender and Cora

37:35

really kind of like it established

37:37

an audience for these kinds of stories

37:39

that are complex and magical and

37:42

rewarding and uh, these

37:44

kinds of journeys that take unexpected

37:46

twists and turns into fantasy spaces and

37:49

and there's definitely characters

37:51

on Critical Role, especially keels

37:53

from the first campaign that are straight

37:55

up based on airbender stuff.

37:58

So so thank you guys for influencing

38:00

us and being the spark that lit

38:03

the flame. So uh and thank you

38:05

guys guys so much for talking to me for so

38:07

long. Oh man, this has been great. Um, where

38:09

can people find you? Is there anything you want to

38:12

mention that you haven't had a chance to yet?

38:15

Uh? Yeah, I mean if you are seventeen

38:18

or older, let's say, uh could

38:21

definitely check out our cartoon. It's

38:23

an adult cartoon on Prime Video. It's called

38:25

The Legend of Box Machina. Season one

38:27

is out and season two is

38:29

is coming soon. And uh

38:32

we broadcast every Thursday night at

38:34

seven pm on twitch dot tv slash

38:36

Critical Role. If you want to check out some

38:39

role playing games, and there's also

38:41

comic books and novels

38:43

and stuff at Barnes and Noble and other stores.

38:46

And if you just wanna check

38:48

out our stuff by reading it.

38:50

Yeah, I love it all

38:52

right, everybody, Thank you, Thank you so

38:55

much for listening to Avatar Braving the Elements,

38:57

and hey made sure to subscribe follow

38:59

We've a so review. All of that really helps

39:01

the podcast so much, and we love you guys.

39:04

Next week, we're going to be recapping The Serpent's

39:06

Pass with fellow podcasters Athea

39:09

Augustine and Vincent Bernard. You

39:11

can follow me on social media at the j V Club

39:13

on Instagram and at Janet Varney on Twitter.

39:16

I'm at Dante Bosco on both of

39:18

those. Well, see you next Tuesday on the

39:20

I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or

39:22

wherever you get your podcasts.