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Game theory! na na na na na na na na na nananananana game theory!
Game Theory!
GAME theorieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee (and we're done)
(super cool game theory intro)
Hello internet! Welcome to Game Theory.
*batman music*
So, honest talk time, even though I host a super cool show
that takes awesome video game logic and applies math and science to it, at heart
I'm a nerd. A red-blooded American nerd. No, you didn't see that one coming.
I've hidden the clues pretty well. Nerd pride! But for as nerdy as am about math, science, television, film, history,
ceramics, crystal stemware, and of course videogames; one type of nerd that I'm NOT is a comic book nerd. Oh, sure
I've watched my fair share of Teen Titans, was at the edge of my seat during the dark knight more than once, and
suffered through the entirety of Superman 64,
the depth of my comic experience was limited to what movie Bob told me on his escapist show The Big Picture. "COMICS. ARE. WEIRD."
I was what you would call a comic book new I couldn't tell a hal jordan from a hell lutnick
But then I played Lego Batman 3 now before you laugh at me for playing a lego game
let me tell you that these things are like my guilty pleasure right alongside
mobile games diet coke and the occasional dose of toddlers and Tiaras
But the Lego games to me have always gotten a bad rap most people write them off as kids games
But really they're everything I love about games great puzzles fun action and platforming
Hilarious Storylines seriously these games are so well written playing through Lego Batman 3
I saw a lot of faces that I
recognized and a lot more that I didn't like a cow and a guy that was half Batman half Superman and
Whatever this guy is which got me curious
And when I get curious I get to researching and what I found was that the DC characters
You don't know or often cooler than the ones that you do let me explain
Take for instance that half Batman half superman guy clearly this was something the Lego developers threw in as some bizarre
fanfic easter egg right nope before there was Batman V superman there was Batman plus Superman otherwise known as
composite
Superman and his story is just as weird as he looks meet Joseph meech a struggling diver who set up a water tank in Superman's
Hometown of Metropolis and planned a jump as a Pr stunt
Surprise it was leaking and meech had to be saved at the last minute by
Superman to ensure the guy stopped jumping off a building
supes also gave him a job as a janitor in his superman museum since you know even the man of steel needs some cheap day
Labor sometimes anyway meech was bitter about needing the assist and being surrounded by Superman's winning smile and bulging
Pectorals wasn't helping it sounds fairly normal so far right yeah
Well throw that out the window
One night will Janitor izing a lightning bolt passed through an open window and struck a bunch of superhero statues
unleashing an energy blast that gave me all those Hero's abilities because of
Reasons(you nailed it matpat ;D) now equipped with the power to shape-shift this super villain chose a costume that was probably better at tuned to an indecisive pause player
Superman Batman
Um how about both then using his telepathy and yes this guy had literally every power in the book he figured out
everyone's secret identities and threatened to expose them unless he was allowed to join their group but Batman and Superman were totally like nah ah
friend get your own face causing me to suddenly rampage and totally kick the pants off these guys
until he was defeated by the power of
Deus Ex Machina um sorry I read that wrong by the fact that his powers were only temporary
guess you guys got lucky on that one, huh now
How is that for an origin Story none of this oh?
I'm super rich and my parents died and now I'm gonna go use my money to become a superhero, ha
Lightning bolts and statues my friends now this might be a bit of a reach
but I wouldn't expect to see this guy show up in a DC cinematic universe anytime soon
And he's not the only bizarre superman clone. I also stumbled across this guy in Lego Batman 3
Cyborg Superman what's cooler than the man of steel the man of steel of steel get it cuz he's a robot even though
He's not really a robot
Kinda here
this thing is hank Henshaw a scientist who Took a
spaceflight with his wife terry only to have the shuttle explode getting everyone exposed to cosmic radiation because seriously if you're a
Researcher in a space shuttle in a comic book you know you're going to be exposed to some sort of Gamma Ray
Cosmic Krypton beam that's Gonna give you some weird powers that you never asked for I never asked for this yes, Adam
I know I know I get it anyway the radiation made his face melt and his wife almost disappear into another dimension because
Reasons(nailed it another time matty) Superman Helps Hank save his wife
but then hank dies
Fortunately hank saved his consciousness in a computer mainframe which allowed him to control
technology and put himself into a robotic body
he gets so excited about this that he runs to go tell his wife the good news and
Lets us up there to really think about why this is a bad idea
you're his wife
Terry you just survived a spatial
Exploding getting exposed to radiation that was causing you to teleport into another dimension
And then lost your husband who is now reborn as a robot worst week ever
So it should come as no surprise that seeing her terminator s husband drove her insane and led her to jump out a window
Bla Bla Bla Robo Henshaw Gets Superman's powers blames the man of steel for all his problems
Because apparently no one appreciates what this guy does for them and then poses as him in the aftermath of the real Superman's death which
Was a thing that happened once or twice
or never mind Robo hank even gets the official seal of approval from the president of the United states saying that he is indeed the
true Heir of Superman a cyborg over here
No
Not not that cyborg that's different one cyborg superman goes a bit naughty tries to destroy some cities and has finally brought down
by the power of Deus, Ex machina
sorry read it wrong again a kryptonite blast that passes through another Hero killing him but
Miraculously happens to restore the revived real Superman to his full power because for once in his life kryptonite doesn't
hurt him game set Match Heroes one
Radiation poisoned scientist robot zero but that's only scratching the surface of the lore I've learned from this game
How about the fact that Superman's original foe wasn't Lex luthor, but a super genius?
Monkey-looking guy named ultra humanite Lex wasn't introduced until nearly a year later ultra humanite was designed to be Superman's
Opposite while supes had superhuman strength this sky had a crippled body from the waist down
But also possessed an incredibly advanced intellect, it's pretty cool and speaking of super intelligent
Arch-nemesis me and my comic-book noob Miss Haddon ever encountered Gorilla Grodd
The Telepathic genius gorilla that fights the flash because nothing says the antagonist of a super fast hero like a super smart eight
Monster in fact as I came to learn animals have a really interesting role throughout the DC comic universe there is Krypto the Superdog
But much Cooler is back
How you heard that right bat cow a cow that was saved by Batman and Robin from the slaughterhouse
There's
Not much else to say about him
But just the concept of a cow on the Batman team with a deep gravelly moo that strikes fear into the hearts of criminals
Just makes me giggle and what we just talked about gorilla Grodd apparently DC figure
They hit the gold mine when they came up with the idea for hyper intelligent
Primate characters because there's not one, but two in this universe by day
He's Bobotie Chimpanzee, but by night. He's detective chimp
crime-solving monkey now. Let's pause right there, technically a chimp isn't a monkey
It's a great ape but seriously the joke worked better that way unpause and here
We thought clark kent's glasses were an absurd disguise is that uh is that detective chimp?
No, it couldn't be that monkey doesn't have a hat on now. You may be asking yourself
How a chimp gets crime-fighting abilities to which?
I reply from a dog with crime-fighting abilities, duh
Bobo started off as a circus act where he was trained to answer questions to make it look like he was solving mysteries
Then one day rex the superdog took him to the fountain of youth yes
That fountain of youth which granted him eternal life obviously and also the bonus ability to speak to all living creatures
because
Reasons(nailed once again pattrick) and it's been revealed recently that he assists Batman in his cases by way of a chat room where they swap
Theories crime
Theories, thanks for watching and if the thought of an internet Solving Crime saw a chimp gets you excited
then you'll love
Dexter the cat Dexter was an adopted house cat who lived happily with his owner until the day of burglar broke into the apartment?
And murdered her yeah
That'll put a damper on the afternoon the next day when detectives arrived to investigate
Dexter was kicked out as they were worried he would contaminate the crime scene this left Dexter homeless
forcing him to live on the streets until the day when two thugs
Decided to put him in a bag and throw him off the brooklyn bridge hoping to watch him drown worst week ever
but before he could hit the water. He saved by the power of deus Ex machina. Sorry read it wrong again, man
I'm having a hard time keeping logical consistency here a red lantern Power ring detects the rage in his heart flies in and turns him
Into dex star a red Lantern Super cat powered by anger and determined to hunt down his adopted owners Murderer revenge of the cat lady
Beware his fur balls of Justice not when I first read this story
I had two thoughts all that bore cutie poo and wait. There are red lanterns
I mean, I knew that there were green and yellow, but red they accept cats into the court again. I admit my new business
to me
But apparently there is literally a fabulous or rainbow of Lantern colors with Green being the most well known but also
probably the least
Interesting of them a walk through this quickly
But the colored Lantern rings harness the different powers of what the comics call the emotional spectrum red for rage?
orange for Greed yellow for fear Green for Willpower blue for Hope Indigo compassion and violet for love
There's even black powered by death and white fuel by you guessed it life now
Seriously look at that list and name for me
Which one is the least exciting willpower? Duh? It's like being a planeteer and having the power of heart
Sorry hal Jordan but violet lanterns are way cooler cuz they're the star
Sapphires a core formed by an immortal race of warrior women or better yet the black Lantern's
Basically started by black hand a regular Joe obsessed with death who gets himself an energy-Absorbing
weapon that allows him to fight on the level of a super here since he's a
Little nutty he goes off and kills his family and then commits suicide, but this earns him the first black power ring
Which has the power to reanimate the dead this lush errs in one of the most famous story arcs in comic dumb
Blackest night where black hand goes around reviving a bunch of dead superheroes to fight on a zombie dream team in an attempt to resurrect
Necron the embodiment of death and Ruler of the Dead Zone in one of the earliest and most
iconic moments from the series Black hand visits Batman's grave long story and goes all hamlet on Bruce Wayne's skull
Alas Poor Batman
I knew him booster gold
he then uses bruce Wayne skull as basically a weapon for the whole rest of the story Arc
I don't see Captain willpower over there doing anything like that and from deckstar to the
Glamazons to black hand where did I get exposed to all these?
Fascinating and sometimes disturbing characters certainly not the movies Lego Batman 3 and I think that's the point here
I said at the beginning of this episode that the guys you don't know from the DC universe are cooler than the ones that you
Do and looking back at everything we just covered I stand by that fact compare
Superman the perfect hero who doesn't have a mean bone in his body?
At least when he's not snapping next to composite Superman the high diver turned a janitor turn
Supervillainess cosplayer or compare Batman the brooding detective to Bobo teach him or even though always just green
Lantern's to the Rage-Fueled Murder Cat deckstar. I'll be the first to admit it
I always found comics interesting and I wanted to get into them, but I knew that there is this huge Learning curve
complex stories years of Lore Retcons
Everything so I just skipped it
But I always thought the characters and their powers were fascinating fast forward a few years and now we're in an age where comics for
Everywhere TV movies and of course video games, but as they become more mainstream it seems
they're feeling of pressure to dilute their weirdness embrace more realistic rules and characterizations so as not to scare off people
That's the exact opposite of what made them so cool in the first place
Give me the bat cows and telepathic apes and robotic supermen of the world. We're ready for the weird
We're eager to see off-the-wall characters with unique
Personalities because they're comics and while studios may not be ready to roll out the weird on a grand scale quite just yet
that's what I appreciated the most about Lego Batman 3 it gets it it
recognizes the tongue-In-cheek
overdramatic nature of this yawn run runs with it throwing every fan favorite character against a wall and seeing what sticks
in short this game introduced me to some of my new favorite Super heroes and Super villains
Once that I would have never discovered because the comics are so dense and ones that I'll never see in the movies because they're so
Absurd and it looks like now
I finally become the comic book nerd I was always
Destined to be not the comic nerd I deserved but the comic nerd that I thought that I needed to deserve to have
No, old Batman Dark Knight now. If you'll excuse me
I need to go and continue to try to wrap my head around crisis on infinite Earths, but hey
That's just a theory a game
Theory, thanks for watching
Welcome back to the super amazing end card tournament where today
It's a battle of the bizarre which of the characters we talked about today is the most interesting to you is it composite Superman?
cyborg Superman detective chimp deck star black hand or maybe you already knew all these guys let me know in the comments if you
Actually learned something from this all of this was news to me, and I thought it was pretty cool
But who knows maybe you're a comic superfan and are like man old news
cast your vote for the one you thought was the weirdest and who knows maybe I'll send the results to
DC. And we'll get a Netflix series of that person or something who knows I think composite Superman is still my favorite