Flashback to November of 2012. A spry, 26 year-old Jr is getting ready to head out to only the second midnight release of a video game in his life. You see, after getting an Xbox 360 he got addicted to Halo 3. And then Halo: Reach. It was only natural that Halo 4 would also cause massive levels of excitement as well. He's managed to convince his friend who has to work at 7am to spend the night at his place so they can play until they pass out. It would be a night to remember; full of steak dinners, triple kills, and accidental betrayals. It was good.

Never would I have imagined that almost 6 years later I'd have the opportunity to talk with one of the people responsible for creating the game and yet, here we are. Because our guest this week is concept artist Kory Hubbell and he was indeed one of those people.

Working on some of the Halo games isn't his only credit, though. He's currently a Senior Concept Artist for Amazon Game Studios and he also dabbles in art direction for table top games like the about-to-be-funded "Brutality". Check out our chat with Kory as we take a trip into the world of concept design and PvP Medieval Brawler Board Games. It's the perfect opportunity to learn something new such as: how to get a job as a concept artist or how to design the perfect Spartan helmet (just be careful when you mess around with the visors, though...).

Enjoy!

-Jr.

We gotta hand it to the fine folks over at Super Art Fight. We've been bothering various members of their troupe to come on our show for something like 4 years now and every time we've come knocking they've always been willing to chat with us. This time was no exception.

Ross Nover joined us this week and like all the other members of the Art Fight crew he is a person of many talents. Specifically, he's the creator of "The System" webcomic and he also represents one-half of the hosting responsibilities for the live Art Fight bouts. With over 800 individual comics to his name and an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure cultural references we're starting to think that, despite what the t-shirts say, Ross might not suck all that much.

Plus the dude can take a hell of a chop from a professional wrestler. (See: ConnectiCon 2017)

For those heading to PAX East in a few weeks you'll have a great opportunity to meet Ross and some other members of the Art Fight roster as they're making their PAX debut on Friday night. If you can't make it out to Boston don't fret: they also have a Kickstarter going at this very moment so you can bring the Art Fight competition into your own home. It may not be quite as Sexyful as the real thing but it will be a good substitute to hold you over until you can make it out to a live show.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

Among his many talents, our pal Joe has a knack for spotting truly remarkable creators while walking the aisles in Artist Alley. And among my many talents, I have a knack for listening to him when he tells me he thinks he found someone I should check out. A prime example of this would be this week's guest Nooligan. During one of our ventures to Boston Comic Con a few years ago Joe pointed me in the direction of Nooligan's table and since then the entire OMV gang has amassed a trove of prints, books, sketches, and pins. I think it's safe to say Joe was right again.

Join us this week as we learn more about the artist behind the name and how he found success with a unique style, a chill mentality, and some Chuck Taylors.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

What happens when you give a man an ungodly amount of money so you can buy the movie rights to his comic book characters?

*sigh*

It seems we're going to find out.

Join us this week as we discuss Netflix's most recent comic-related acquisition: Extreme Studios....

*siiiiiiigh*

Enjoy!

-Jr.

Our guest this week goes by the name of Savage and let me tell you what Savage's deal is:

He makes rad cosplay.

We first met Savage last year at our favorite backyard convention: ConnectiCon. We were all completely blown away by his original Metapod cosplay design and after seeing Savage pop up in photo albums and cosplay videos across the internet it was clear we weren't the only ones.

Fast forward a few months to Katsucon 2018 and look who pops up in the latest Legend of Micah video. Seeing Savage's updated version of his Metapod design was the last straw: we needed to talk to him and get our learn on. Luckily for us he was more than willing to give us a call and join us on the show to talk about cosplay, conventions, and magnets.

Yes, magnets.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

THE Zach Charbs is back in what could easily be described as one of the most anticipated returns in the history of Opinions May Vary. It seems like just a few months ago we were chatting with Zach about our Batfleck thoughts while having extended conversations about Wesley Snipes fighting vampires.

That was 4 years ago.

But we're going to make up for the time lost by talking about two things Zach has an expansive knowledge on: Video games and vinyl records. I also took this week as an opportunity to tell tales of diving through 13 year-old boxes of storage and finding treasures from my childhood that were thought to be lost long ago. Who knew refusing to throw anything out would pay off so handsomely?

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a copy of Star Fox 64 that is just screaming my name.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

Usually when we sit down to talk with someone I have a general idea of the questions I want to ask or the points I want to touch on. Obviously not every minute of every episode is planned out (they don't call us the Kings of Tangents for nothing) (also no one calls us that) but inevitably some unplanned topics or questions always tend to come up as we dive in and get talking.

This week, while talking with Amber Dionne about The Society for Creative Anachronism, I think we may have set a record for "Most questions asked that we didn't know we were going to ask". In other words, talking with Amber about the SCA was absolutely fascinating and every topic we discussed birthed an insatiable hunger to learn more about it.

Check out the episode and you'll see what I'm getting at.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

This one is a little long but it's worth it because the SombreBlanco himself is back in the studio and we're talking about games where people punch each other until someone passes out. 

Ken, by the way. Ken is our guest this week. He knows more about fighting games and the fighting game community than I know about anything else so I tend to get a bit excited when I have the opportunity to put a microphone in front of his face. With the new Dragonball game fresh off a hot release and the recent EVO lineup announcements it's safe to say we had plenty to talk about.

And talk we did.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

If there's one lesson I've learned today it's that the Overwatch League is extremely detrimental to my productivity. I guess there's just something about people who are enormously skilled at a videogame that I pretend to be good at with my friends that I find addictive and entertaining. And now there's city-specific teams to root for? With merch? And skins? Come on.

But don't worry. I know you're craving that weekly dose of OMV deliciousness and today we've got a great one for you.

This week we're joined by freelance/comic artist Jonboy Meyers. A 20 year veteran of the comic and design industry, Jonboy's work can be found in various comics like Royals and Teen Titans and video games like Hearthstone and League of Legends. Of course, that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Jonboy's credits; check out his website HERE to see more.

Tune in this week as we sit down with Jonboy and learn about what it takes to make a living in the world of design and illustration.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

Usually we make it a few months into the year before we start talking about conventions. With PAX East being one of the earlier shows we can typically hold out until around March/April. This year we made it to January 27th. But this isn't our normal "omg we're so excited for this year's conventions"...instead we're diving into a different part of events that are essential to the operation of any show: The Volunteers.

Enjoy!

-Jr.