Mental Health Check-up #2 - A Free For All Venting Session | RPC | Renegade Pop Culture - Podcasts on Animation, Movies, and Video games

Welcome to the second episode of our Mental Health Checkup series here on the RPC Podcast Network! This episode was a bit different from the first one, in that we kept the format a bit looser and the discussion turned into more of a Free For All venting session, but the core message was still there: Whatever it is you’re dealing with, especially during these unprecedented and strange times, even though the path is dark and confusing… things will get better. The dawn will come again. Life, to paraphrase Dr. Ian Malcolm, will find a way. I know that may sound trite, especially for those going through the most horrible of circumstances, but just know that you can make it through, and as you’re struggling, you’ll always have the RPC crew cheering you on!

Trigger Warning: This episode talks about gun violence and other sensitive issues. Listener discretion advised.

Our toughest topic came from Josh and Kristal, who talked about an upcoming documentary about the El Paso Walmart mass shooting incident that occurred on August 3, 2019. The documentary filmmaker is apparently showing the massacre through the use of unedited cell phone and camera footage, which is not only disrespectful of the victims and their families, but also distasteful, sensationalist, and very indicative of the filmmakers’ true motives. He’s reopening wounds which have only begun to heal in the community of El Paso, and anyone who would do what he’s done in any of the towns which have been hurt by gun violence is equally despicable. We won’t share the filmmaker’s name or the title of his documentary in these show notes, but we do talk about it on the podcast.

Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto was a GameFan fan, too! Pic from Hardcore Gaming 101’s article.

We also check in with Mike, Brock, and Jacob, and see how they’ve been withstanding these pandemic-ridden times. Brock mentions his newly acquired home (congratulations to him!), while Mike tells us about his work and the stress related to it and how he’s coping. Jacob talks to us about his happy memories meeting Patrick Warburton at a fan convention, which is super cool! I’m always amazed by those stories.

For my part, I discuss something that happened a few weeks ago, when I discovered that someone whose work I greatly respected had passed on in January of 2018. Eric “ECM” Mylonas was Editorial Director/Editor-in-Chief at a now-defunct gaming magazine called GameFan in the late 1990s. He had been a staff writer prior to his attaining that position, and had become EIC due to a behind the scenes management shuffle. Under his tenure, the magazine had really found an edgy, in-your-face voice, and his articles always featured a ton of personality and underlying gaming knowledge. Sure, he may not have been understated or always the most sensitive guy, but I loved his passion for games and his unabashed love of Treasure, a small boutique Japanese developer who specialized in 2D platformers and shooters.

In the early 2000s, after the magazine went under, I had the opportunity to message ECM and tell him how much I enjoyed reading his work. He and the team at GameFan over the years really inspired me to write my own thoughts in games and even inspired the creation of this very website! We even messaged each other a few times to relay our thoughts on the comics and movies of the day. He was a joy to interact with and seemed very touched that a random person on the internet enjoyed his writing.

So, fast forward to a few weeks ago, at 3am in the morning, during another sleepless night for me. I decided to try to look up ECM and tell him about RPC and maybe attempt to bring him on the show. I searched for him, and came across a rumor that he had died in early 2018. I did more research and discovered that it was true. It was confirmed by some of the people who had worked on GameFan, too, in this forum thread. It’s a very long read, but well worth it if you are interested in the history of the magazine, as told by many former employees.

Editor’s Note: Kudos to Nintendo Life’s Damien McFerran for this awesome retrospective on GF magazine!

ECM was one of a kind, and there will never be another GameFan Magazine. Even our efforts here will never match it. Lord knows there were behind the scenes kerfuffles and machinations, grammatical errors, editorial shakeups, creative SNAFUs, and crazy incidents, but the one thing GF always had, beyond all of those shenanigans, was passion. An intense, burning love of all things gaming. The original EIC, Dave Halverson, had it in spades. ECM had it coursing through his veins and in his blood. May he rest in peace.

Well, seeing as I’m tearing up as I write this, I’ll just leave it at that with these show notes, my friends. Thank you to my co-hosts, Mike, Brock, Jacob, Josh, and Kristal, for joining me for this rather unorthodox episode. Mahalo to Kawaii Kyle for editing it all together! And a special, huge thank you to all of you for listening! Stay safe, wear a mask, wash your hands, and be kind to each other, Renegades!

Cybermorph in all its mind-blowing glory!

Kawaii Kyle says: We evolve, beyond the person that we were a minute before. Little by little, we advance with each turn. RPC is back. Come pet the cat!*

*This is a paraphrasing of the conclusion of Dave Halverson’s legendary Cybermorph review in GameFan. Google it. Trust us.

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