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Here is the Kickstarter link so we can make new episodes!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexomv/the-starwell-foundation-season-1

If you liked this audio drama please check and follow our Link tree for all our pages and socials   to keep updated on the upcoming kickstarter to make more episodes of The StarWell Foundation.

"The StarWell Foundation" is an audio drama set in a city of Super Heroes. Through the Foundation children make requests to meet famous athletes, movie stars, or even their favorite heroes... But the kids have started to request something new:  they want to meet their favorite villains and up to the newly promoted Meredith Dare to make their dreams come true.

This is the combined episodes 1&2 of the pilot season.

This episode features the voice acting talents of:
Kae Giroux
Bob Savage
Brett Kelley
Sarah Gherri
Mike Davis
Joe Van Allen
Steph MacGillivary
Colin Vigneault
Michelle Arslan
Babs Daniels
Kristen Blakely Chesler
Colin Allen
Ed Gogolski
Milta Vargas
Alex Squiers

Featuring music clips by Kevin Mason.

Additional sound effect and other music from:
Freesound.org
BBC Sound Effects   http://bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk
Incompetech.com -- "carefree" Kevin Macleod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/license/by/4.0/


-Alex.



Direct download: StarWell_Pilot_Season_rerelease_ep_12.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:23am EDT

Well, here we are.

I toyed with the idea of doing the minimalist "ok, that's it!" and leaving it at that but I feel like that would have been doing the episode a disservice seeing as this one snowballed into a little more than we expected. A few weeks back we released part 1 of the OMV All-Stars and the first half of this episode is going to feature part 2.

Turns out we relied on a lot of All-Stars and despite all the planning, we ran out of episodes. Luckily, with Colin getting us all emotional on 448, some of our 450 material was used up giving us the perfect opportunity to squeeze in conversations with Vicky, Jon, and Charlie.  The episode is still a marathon at almost 3 hours long, but it was worth it and we think you'll agree.

Like I pointed out last time: the search feature on our site works surprisingly well. So if you're looking for any other appearances from Vicky, Jon, and Charlie just pop their names in the search bar and it should pull up everything you're looking for.

With that said, I think it's time to end.

Pretty much everything I wanted to say is included in the episode so there's not much else I can write here besides "thank you." If you've ever tuned in, read these blogs, liked a post, or even asked us "oh you're still doing that?", thank you so much. I had no idea what this was back in 2012 when Justin, Alex, and I all sat down to record episode 1 but I'm so proud of what it became. It's been a wild decade and while I may be stepping away from the microphone and the current OMV format is coming to an end, fear not! I assure you, the show is in good hands.

From both Alex and myself, thank you for tuning in. We hope you enjoy.

-Jr.

 

Music provided by Christina Pepper. 

Direct download: 3.29.2022_Episode_450.mp3
Category:Comics Movies & Videogames -- posted at: 10:22pm EDT

The emotions are starting to hit.

Even just creating the title card for this episode hit me with waves of happy, sad, nostalgia, and relief. There aren't many things I can say I've done consistently for 10 years straight. It turns out a decade is a long-ass time to do anything, especially something like a podcast. But here we are.

Our super official, by-the-books anniversary was technically sometime last week but we still have one episode left to release before we close up shop and if the last few weeks were any indication, it's gonna be a wild ride of feelings for some of us.

But let's not get too ahead of ourselves because this week Alex worked his yearly magic and has assembled one last best-of montage featuring clips and snippets from this past year's episodes. It's hard to say what year was our strongest in terms of guests but I'd say that this last year gave the top spot a run for its money. We talked to some incredible people both long-time friends and new guests alike. It's been said countless times before, but it's doubtful we would have even made it past year 1 without the help everyone who has come on the show. So to be here 10 years later is truly an honor and Alex and I are eternally grateful.

Four hundred forty nine down....one to go.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

 

Audio Credits:

More 8 Bit Drama, Arcade Adventures, The 8 Bit Circus by Eric Matyas

 

Circus Of Freaks by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5740-circus-of-freaks
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


Stage 2 from DojoKratos by Sawsquarenoise on Free Music Archive
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/sawsquarenoise/dojokratos/stage-2
Direct download: 3.25.2022_Episode_449.mp3
Category:Comics Movies & Videogames -- posted at: 11:22pm EDT

The closer we get to the end, the harder it gets to write these things. Not because I'm tired or just fed up with it, but because we're talking with so many amazing people and it's difficult to come up with ways of saying how much they mean to us without it becoming repetitive. Like, how many ways can you say "here's another one of our best friends, listen to us thank them for the next two hours."?

I guess this week's episode is a little easier because while we were ready to do exactly that, Colin came on and completely flipped the script on us. We were fully prepared to spend an absurd amount of time telling Colin how rad he his, how much he means to us, and how valuable he's been to the show over the last decade but he was like "nah". And while we did manage to squeeze a few thank yous in here and there, most of the episode was spent fighting back emotions.

That's right, folks. Colin made us feel things.

It was a truly wild ride and what we believe to be a perfect ending to the Colin arc of OMV. He's been a part of practically everything we've done over the years: convention reviews, voice acting, in-depth analysis of the latest "thing", even working our table at shows. We're honored to be able to call him our friend and OMV has only been made better by his presence.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

Direct download: 3.18.2022_Episode_448.mp3
Category:Comics Movies & Videogames -- posted at: 8:58pm EDT

The march to episode 450 continues this week with a multitude of guests who have been featured countless times in the past.

And while "countless" might be an exaggeration because you can literally count the number of times they've been on, it doesn't begin describe their impact and contributions to the show over the years. Doing these last few episodes has really shown Alex and me just how many people we've relied on and how they were always ready and willing to give us a hand whenever we asked. We said it about a million times throughout the course of this 2+ hour episode, but I feel like there's no way we could possibly say "thank you" enough.

For those feeling either curious or nostalgic for all the previous appearances of everyone featured today, the "Search" feature on our website works surprisingly well. Just pop in the name of anyone listed in the title of this episode and it'll pull up pretty much everything you're looking for dating all the way back to the beginning. Some of the topics may be a little dated, but we just see it as a fun and easy way to time-travel. Without all the nasty spacetime continuum consequences, of course.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

Direct download: 3.5.2022_Episode_447.mp3
Category:Comics Movies & Videogames -- posted at: 1:21pm EDT

If you pull up any random episode of OMV, there's about a 1 in 10 chance you'll hear Brett Kelley's voice. Given that we're almost 450 episodes deep into this thing, that's a pretty insane statistic and goes to show how much of an asset he has been to Alex and me over the last 10 years.

Whether it helping us come up with ideas for new stuff, covering a show as an official OMV correspondent, or just calling in to hang out and let us record him for an hour; Bret was, quite literally, always there for us. From the very beginning he's been one of our most loyal supporters, always willing to signal-boost our episodes and even donate his artwork on multiple occasions. His impact as both a friend and a contributor can't be overstated.

So when Brett recently launched a Kickstarter for his latest project, we felt having him on to talk about it was the very least we could do to try and pay him back for everything he's done for us over the years. So we did just that. It's a little bittersweet as this is also doubling as his final regular appearance, but we did our best to make it worthwhile.

When the OMV Hall of Fame is eventually erected, Brett's name will be first on the ballot. Full Stop, done deal. He's one of the best friends we've ever had and somehow doing a podcast for the last decade has only strengthened that friendship. It's been an honor sharing the airwaves with him these 40+ times and I think I speak for both Alex and myself when I say I can't wait to see what he creates next. But for now? Go throw money at his Kickstarter and get some rad pins.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

Direct download: 2.25.2022_Episode_446.mp3
Category:Comics Movies & Videogames -- posted at: 9:25pm EDT

I'm going to preface all of this by saying one thing: maybe bust out the headphones for this one if you haven't already cuz there's some language. You have been warned.

With that said, we have an absolutely phenomenal episode for you this week featuring an all-star cast of guests. Over the last 8ish years we've had the pleasure of getting to know some folks from the Baltimore area who are either currently a part of, or were former members of, a group by the name of Super Art Fight. They're no strangers to this show with each guest on this episode having made an appearance at least once since 2014.  And seeing as they've always been incredibly kind to two guys constantly bothering them for content, we thought having some of them on one last time would be the perfect way to say thanks.

Rather than have 6 people all talking over each other at the same time, we broke this episode up into two sections: The first features Brandon Chalmers and Jamie Noguchi. Two former members of the Art Fight crew, Brandon and Jamie have since split off to form the FDI Cast and are already over 100 episodes deep into their run. What started out as a "30ish minute chat" quickly snowballed into an hour and a half of madness but we do eventually talk about the FDI Cast and what Brandon and Jamie have been creating. We just took a couple extra left turns before getting there.

The second half of this marathon of an episode features two of the longest tenured members of Super Art Fight in Marty Day and Ross Nover. Acting as the hosts and live action commentators for the majority of the Art Fight bouts, Marty and Ross have formed a sort of hive-mind full of random facts and obscure references that can be fired off at a moment's notice all while keeping the crowd focused on what the artists are spewing on the canvas. It's really a thing of beauty and their chemistry is borderline unmatched.

Similar to our chat with Brandon and Jamie, 30 minutes just wasn't enough time and this episode quickly turned into the longest single episode we've ever released (I think). But it was totally worth it because like I mentioned before; these guys have been incredibly kind to us over the years and we can't begin to thank them enough for always coming on and chatting with us. This episode was some of the most fun I've had in a long time; my face hurt from smiling so much and my stomach hurt from laughing. I borderline lost my voice and yet somehow we could have easily gone another 3 hours. I'd like to think that's the sign of good content but after 10 years of doing this I still have no idea.

Either way; check out the episode, listen to the FDI Cast and if you can get to an Art Fight show in the future: do it. Just do it. You never know, you might wind up making some neat new friends in the process.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

Direct download: 2.17.2022_Episode_445.mp3
Category:Comics Movies & Videogames -- posted at: 8:38pm EDT

Posting this episode feels like a triumph. Like we conquered some sort of mythical beast....completed an epic quest. Not through any fault of our guest or anything....but because it felt like the world didn't want this episode to happen. Between technical difficulties and internet issues it genuinely felt like this episode was cursed for a minute.

But here we are. And I'm mere minutes away from clicking "Publish" so ya'll can listen to a rad chat we had with Eisner nominated artist Joe Eisma and, barring any last second acts of God, the episode will be released. I hope. 

So before I go and knock on all the wood I can find, I might as well tell you about our guest. In case you weren't aware, Joe Eisma is the co-creator and artist of Image Comics' MORNING GLORIES and has also worked for just about every other publisher you could think of. You can find his art on classics like ARCHIE and CHARLIE'S ANGELS as well on books from DC and Valiant. Some of his latest work, the 12 issue run of ENGINEWARD from Vault Comics, is hitting shelves later this month in one collected trade. So for those of you (like me) who missed out on the floppies, now's your chance to snag the whole run!

Huge thanks to Joe not only for coming on and chatting with us, but also for dealing with the technical gremlins haunting our respective computers. Be sure to follow him on the socials for more art and news on his latest work (including the highly anticipated return of MORNING GLORIES....spoiler: not yet) and check out the trade for ENGINEWARD in a few short weeks!

Enjoy!

-Jr.

Direct download: 1.30.2022_Episode_444.mp3
Category:Comics Movies & Videogames -- posted at: 11:29pm EDT

This is another one of those "goodbye" episodes. We had our first one with Joe a few weeks ago and now we're back with a double-whammy. You probably already read the title of the episode but this week Jason Ginsburg of @FakeThemePark is back so we can bend his ear for a bit about his experience talking about monsters when he was a tour guide for Universal. (We also had some help from our special guest-host Will who, with his expansive knowledge of monsters, was like a kid in a candy shop talking with Jason.)

Talking monsters is fun. Talking with Jason is fun. And we always relish the chance to chat with Will (especially since our usual spooky episode couldn't happen last year). But there's also some serious news to go along with the monster chat. If you've been following Jason or @FakeThemePark you may have already seen the press release or the announcements on the various socials. But without spoiling too much here, Jason came on to give us the 4-1-1 on the future of @FakeThemePark.

Now that the suspense is likely tearing you to pieces, be sure to follow those various socials and check out the fancy new @FakeThemePark merch while you're at it. Who knows how much longer you'll be able to snag some....

With all of that said, Jason deserves a huge thank you from the OMV crew. Though we've only known Jason for a few years, we've always had an absolute blast talking with him. The level of devotion and originality he's shown with @FakeThemePark is unmatched and we can't wait to see what he makes next.

And as for Will? Ever since his first appearance on Episode 14 he's contributed to some of the most entertaining and hilarious moments we've ever recorded. It didn't matter if he was 20 minutes down the road or literally across the country, Will was always willing to sit down and chat with us about spooky stuff, stupid stuff, or the Hulk spilling his soup. We can't thank him enough for all the time, effort, and laughs he's given us over the years. He's another true OMV legend.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

Direct download: 1.27.2022_Episode_443.mp3
Category:Comics Movies & Videogames -- posted at: 11:57pm EDT

This episode was a ton of fun to record for a couple reasons. The main one being we got to chat with a local artist who specializes in illustrating watercolor fantasy, dabbles in archery, and is a champion of expressing yourself and living your best life. She's also a friend and former co-worker of one of our best pals in the whole, wide world (unbeknownst to us, we had no idea until after we had reached out to her).

Her name is Amanda Putnam and when she isn't educating today's youth in the ways of the arts at her day job, she's bringing incredible fantasy illustrations to life. With a degree in Children's Book Illustration from the Academy of Art in San Francisco, Amanda has put together a mindblowing portfolio of work including some of the tightest, most detailed watercolor pieces I've ever seen.

Take a look at her Instagram and you'll see what I'm talking about. I straight up didn't believe those were watercolor the first time I saw them.

Anyway, check out our chat with Amanda. We talk about her art, her job as a teacher, and the importance of being your best self both in the world of art and in every day life.

Enjoy!

-Jr.

Direct download: 1.13.2022_Episode_442.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:28pm EDT

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