Nerd Tutorial Podcast

Topic: Dungeons and Dragons Adventure This week, we have our long awaited Dungeons and Dragons Adventure with both my Mom and Little Brother.  We describe some of the rules along the way, but obviously it's a bit complicated for those that don't quite understand everything about the game.  I think we had a lot of fun, but you get to be the judge of that.   Adventure   Mom and John are a part of a local traveling caravan.  They are fairly popular and the caravan always makes a lot of money and throws great village/town parties.   Sapphire Review has seen a mother and son duo to check out the next town over to see if there is money to be made.  They’ve come across a town where the people itself seem quite out of money though. People seems to giving all their money to the local Noble, who is taxing the town far too much.  Without money, the people can’t pay the caravan, and the caravan can’t really move on until it makes atleast some money to pay for lodgings, food, and their own profit of their benefactor.    Q

Topic: Spider Man: Far From Home & Comic Con 2019 Marvel Panel Impressions/Thoughts So a viewer of ours reminded me that I haven't even mentioned the new Spider Man movie. Which is true, I completely forgot it. And he also wanted to know more about what we think the new stuff will be coming out thanks to Marvel's Panel at Comic Con 2019. Okay, I'm up for some thought processes and what I'd like to see happen. Tutorial: Spider Man = Peter Parker Bitten by radioactive spider that gave him his powers:Spider-SenseEnhanced StrengthEnhanced Reflexes/AgilityEnhanced SpeedWall Walking/Stick Web shooters – Invented by Peter Parker Originally going to use powers for personal gain. Could have stopped a robber, but that robber ended up killing his uncle, which came the quote: “With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility”. Peter Parker is a “Tragic Character”. Most writers seek to put him in poor or uncomfortable situations to either torture the character or hinder him. Review: Spider Man Far From Home Tom Holland as

Topic: Dungeons and Dragons, Character Creation This week, in route to our eventual short D&D Adventure, we create a Character for my mom.  She chose some interesting options for her character, which I'm proud to see, so lets find out what kind of character she created. Tutorial:  Before you begin, you will want the following:  Dice of various types, Ideally 4 D6 Dice Character sheet Scratch paper Player’s Handbook, or Rule Book PDF via D&D Website Pencil and Eraser  How to Build a character. Choose a Race Choose a Class Determine Ability Scores Flesh out your Character’s Story and Personality Choose Equipment   1) Race & Class Typically decided on your own, not absolutely necessary for it to make sense, so long as it makes sense to you at the end of the day. Keep in mind that Some classes give special abilities, added Ability scores, and even special interactions.  Choosing a Race is Very Important. If you Race is what you are, then Class is what you’re a professional in.  Be certain that your co

Topic: Dungeons and Dragons   By personal request from mom, tonight, we dive head first in to the complex world of Dungeons and Dragons.  Because Mom wanted to know what on earth was going on at her dining room table at 11pm at night.     Tutorial: Like all fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons is based off J.R. Tolken’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and Hobbit books. Created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974 as a spinoff of another game called ‘Chainmail’. Chainmail was an early predecessor that revolved around the rules for medieval miniatures and armies. It provided the first major set of rules for miniatures and very popular. Dungeons and Dragons was original Published by Tactical Studies Rules(TSR) and later bought by Wizards of the Coast(same people as magic the gathering card game.) Dungeons and Dragons is considered the benchmark for ‘Table-top Role Playing’ games, with many variations on the game for different setting, time periods, and genre. Game has had multiple editions over the years, with a number of

Topic: Star Trek Review   Last week we discuss the long lineage of Star Trek, how it's had a fixed rotation in syndication for decades after it went off air, it's dominance in the 90s, and it's revival over the last decade.  For our review, I had Mom watch some newer episodes of Next Generation.  It's an interesting conversation we had.   Review:   Offspring, Season 3, Episode, 16 Data creates an offspring called “Lal” and attempts to raise it as his own child.  Starfleet eventually learns of this and tries to take the project/android to be studied further, prompting Captain Picard to Step in.  Eventually, “Lal” is overwhelmed with emotions, causing a malfunction in its brain, which eventually causes her to shutdown forever. (Directed by Jonathan Frakes)   The Pegasus, Season 7, Episode 12 Admiral Pressman is trying to find the Pegasus, a starship lost to an asteroid field, using the Enterprise to do so.  Pressman and Riker have history and the Riker is coy about what really happened during a mutiny on the Pe

Topic: Star Trek Tutorial We've been talking alot about fantasy and wrestling, and figured we needed to get back hard in to Nerdy stuff.  Thus, one of the most popular fantasy topics, I present Star Trek.   Tutorial Broad-scope of Star Trek, not in-depth. Created by Gene RoddenberryOriginally pitched as “Wagon Train to the stars.”Each episode was meant to work on to levels, one of morality and one of suspenseful adventure stories. Trekkie or Trekker = Star Trek Fan Things to know:Enterprise is main ShipStarfleet is like united nations: Peaceful, Diplomatic, Explorers, multiple Alien RacesKlingons = bad, but not all the timeSymbol for Starfleet is the Starfleet Delta, it changes through out time.Many gadgets and inventions made their way to real life (iPads, Cellphones, wireless communicators, Alexa/Google home)Uniforms have a purpose, which shows ranks and which division you are withCaptains = Main Character Enterprise (22nd Century)•The Original Series (1966–1969) on CBS A bit more in the vein of “Wagon Trai

Topic: Game of Thrones Season 1 Review. After two weeks, which was just enough time for Mom, we rejoin the conversation about Game of Thrones.  Spoilers are ahead, one of which I'll spoil now: Mom liked it.  We may have future seasons to review.   Review: This Podcast Contains Spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 1.  Character Impressions:Ned StarkTyrion LannisterDaenerys TargaryenJoffrey Baratheon HBO’s gratuitous nudity. Story:Ned Stark unwillingly becomes Hand of the King, travels from Winterfell to King’s Landing with DaughtersNed Stark discovers corruption in King’s LandingKids of Robert Baratheon are probably not his, but incest between Jaime Lannister and Cersei LannisterIn attempting to bring it to light, Ned Stark tries a coup, but fails. Loses his head as a result.Joffrey becomes King.Sansa Stark stays in King’s Landing.Arya Stark gets out of King’s Landing kinda. Jon Snow goes to the WallTries to find his uncle who went missing.Everyone hates Jon SnowCommander of Night’s Watch likes him, gives him t

Topic:  WWE's Monday Night Raw Live Show   We had a special treat this week.  WWE's traveling roadshow came to town, allowing us to watch it live and in person.  WWE's main shows are split in to two weekly events, Monday Night's Raw and Tuesday's Smackdown Live.  Raw was in town and so we had the pleasure of going.  We had a great time, so listen as I need no convincing to my mom that the Pro Wrestling is totally worth it!   Review: Arrival Baron Corbin, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn confronted Universal Champion Seth Rollins Lars Sullivan def. Lucha House Party (Elimination Match) Lacy Evans & Beck Lynch Talk The Miz Talks to Samoa Joe The Miz, Braun Strowman & Ricochet def. United States Champion Samoa Joe, Bobby Lashley & Cesaro Lacey Evans & Alexa Bliss def. Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch & SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The IIconics def. Lisa Lace & Aleyah Mia Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre celebration The Revival def. Zack Ryder & Curt Hawki

Topic: Game of Thrones Tutorial   This week, we're diving in to the fantastical and 8 years in the making to get to.  Game of Thrones might of just ended, but Mother hadn't seen a single episode, so we're going to do some tutorial on it.     Nerd Tutorial Podcast Topic: Game of Thrones Intro: Welcome to the Nerd Tutorial Podcast. A Podcast giving a tutorial about nerdy topics, for those who aren’t quite so nerdy themselves. With you today is myself, your Nerdy Tutor, George. And Whitty Title, my Mom. Welcome. Tutorial: Game of Thrones is based off George R.R. Martin’s Books “A Song of Fire and Ice”.Initial Publication 1996, “Game of Thrones” was the first book.Took 5 years to write. Books were intended as trilogy, later decided to be seven books.Thus far only five books have been released:• A Game of Thrones (1996)• A Clash of Kings (1998)• A Storm of Swords (2000)• A Feast for Crows (2005)• A Dance with Dragons (2011)• The Winds of Winter (forthcoming)• A Dream of Spring (forthcoming) Chapters take place fro

Topic: Covention & Cosplay My Mom and I went to a local Anime Convention. We even dressed up. I did a bit more dressing up though. Come listen to our thoughts on what we saw and did at the convention. Review: Mom Cosplayed as Princess Peach• What did you think of your costume.• Did you have fun?• What did you learn about your costume as you walked around in it? Nerdy Tutor Cosplayed as Bowsette.• Did a Drag version of a cosplay, Challenged by a Co-Worker• Started at 8am to get ready• Thank Michelle and Sabrina for the Make-up• New appreciations for what women go through to get pretty What was it like seeing everyone dressed up for Cosplay? Was it overwhelming to see everything? What did Mom see? What did mom Find most surprising? What was Mom’s favorite things? Outside of cosplay? Visit Our Facebook Page to see pictures from the event.

Topic: Conventions / Cosplay An Anime convention is rolling in to town. We though it prudent to show my mom what it’s all about. Join us as we talk about Conventions and one of my favorite hobbies, Cosplay! Tutorial: Conventions Two major types:Industry – Put on by or for the purpose of the industry to promote their products, More about selling you on something or getting you hyped for it.Fan – Put on primarily by fans or major groups to celebrate/support the products, more about getting people together who are all interested in a product. Not mutually exclusive, there are Industry that have elements of Fan Conventions, while Fan conventions have elements of Industry. Anime is an example of Fan convention with Industry there to help promote the convention.Video Game is an Example of Industry convention that will certainly have Lots of Fans, and some fan aspects to it. Things you find at a convention:Exhibition Halls • Common at all Major Conventions but differ depending on the type of convention o Industry is

Topic: Marvel's Avengers: Endgame   We took a week off to watch the New Movie, and decided we wanted to wait a little bit to give our thoughts.  After a long 3 hour movie, it was worth it, but so much to cover!  This Episode contains quite a bit of Spoilers   Spoilers to Follow Tutorial: Major Cast• Tony Stark / Iron Man(Robert Downey Jr.) • Steve Rogers / Captain AmeriCaptain America (Chris Evans)• Bruce Banner / Hulk (Mark Ruffalo)• Thor (Chris Hemsworth)• Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow: (Scarlett Johansson)• Clint Barton / Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner)• James "Rhodey" Rhodes / War Machine (Don Cheadle)• Scott Lang / Ant-Man (Paul Rudd)• Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel (Brie Larson)• Nebula (Karen Gillan)• Rocket (Bradley Cooper)• Virginia "Pepper" Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow)• Thanos (Josh Brolin) Lots of Supporting Pulls from all over the Marvel MCU, save for TV shows. For those needing a Primer before going in to the movie, we recommend the following Video: The COMPLETE MCU Recap | CRAM IT (Avengers: Endgame Edition

  Topic:  Mecha Anime Review   Last week we discussed Mecha Anime, the difference between a Super/Giant Robot series and a Real Robot series.  This week, we have two shows that are indicative of both genre of Mecha Anime, so lets see which one liked the most! StarDriver   Premise: Tells the story of three high school students who safe guard the world from dangerous alien mecha from escaping in to our time.  Set on fictional island of Southern Cross Island, the island is home to powerful mechanical creatures called Cybodies that have been hidden away and protected by four Maidens of the island.  Once one of the Maiden’s seals is broken, it allows those with marks, or masks, to pilot these Cybodies in what’s known as Zero Time, a realm where only they can exist.  If all four Maiden’s seals are broken, they’ll allow the Cybodies to exit from Zero Time and then take over the world.  Stopping them is Takuto and his mysterious Tauburn Cybody, which holds back the Glittering Crux Brigade from succeeding in their pla

Topic: Mecha Anime This week, Mom is out on Vacation, traveling the world as usual.  So we Invited my Little Brother to join us.  When asked what he wanted to learn about, Mecha Anime was what he said.  So here we go.  A primer on Mecha Anime!   Tutorial: Mecha Anime: Any anime/manga/media where robots exist within a show, and are important to the story being told. Robot = Mech/Mecha   Two Major Sub-Categories: Super/Giant Robo/Robot Real Robot   History: 70s – Rise of Super/Giant Robot Series Mecha shows easier to handle because you don’t need to draw faces.  Easier to produce in 70s.  Shows largely not about war/conflicts between humans. Mazinger Z (1972) Dr Hell and Dr. Kabuto find ancient robots buried underground. Hell decides to use the robots to control the world, while Dr. Kabuto escapes and builds Mazinger Z before being killed by “half Man, Half woman” Baron Ashura.  Robot is passed on his grandson Kouji Kabuto, who fights against Doctor Hell. Spin Offs Great Mazinger (1974) UFO Robot Grendizer (197

Topic: Shazam (2019) We talked about Captain Marvel a few weeks back: how the name Captain Marvel existed originally as a DC owned character, then found it's way in to the hands of Marvel after DC sued Fawcett Comics over the character rights/originality.  The character came back to the DC fold once purchased, and become Shazam, since Marvel owned the License to the name a that point.  Well a super hero movie happened, and we went to watch it.       Tutorial:   History Shazam originally known as Captain Marvel. More popular than Superman. DC Sued Faucett Comics over rights for the character Eventually bought by DC and re-christened as Shazam.   Billy Batson(10), orphan Meets a wizard after escaping bullies on a subway. Wizard gives him the powers of Shazam = Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury   Marvel Family Captain Marvel Jr. Mary Marvel Marvel Triplets: Fat Marvel, Tall Marvel, Hillbilly Marvel Doctor Sivana – similar to Lex Luger, stereo typical Super Science bad guy.    Review: Rock Orig

Topic:  Pro-Wrestling in Review Last week we discussed the history and a tutorial of Pro-Wrestling, and more specifically the history of the WWE, and how it go to here.  Well, this last week, we watched some Matched from Wrestlemania 35, and my mom has some thoughts, and I've got some explaining to do.  Spoiler, she liked some of them. For those interested, WWE offers a 1 Month Free trial for their WWE Network: which host all their Pay-Per-View events, Lots of historical wrestling shows and matches, newer episodes of Raw and Smackdown a few weeks later, and some original material, along with some of my favorite material, behind the scenes.  If you want to review Wrestlemania with us, we recommend visiting WWE.com to learn more about getting access to the WWE Network. For all matches, under the match title is the time stamp, so you can quickly navigate to each match. Review: Rock Vs Stone Cold Steve Austin - Wrestlemania 15 Mom Stumble across this match. Very Classic MatchFirst of Three different meetingsVery

Topic: Professional Wrestling, AKA, WWE  After doing something a bit girly the last few episodes, I figured something manly was in order. This week we talk about Professional Wrestling on way to WrestleMania on April 7th. We'll watch some of the matches from the event and give you a brief review of what my Mom thought of it all.  Spoilers, I probably will enjoy it. Wrestling is Not Fake, wrestling is scripted Terms / Ideas: Kayfabe (Wrestling Illusion, wrestlers as their Characters in public) Shoot (Unscripted event in wrestling, not expected) Rules of Wrestling (Pin Fall, Submission, Count Out, Disqualification, etc) Tag Teams Finishers Characters/Gimmicks Lucha Libre (Masks are sacred) Stories Championship belts History Has existed since before 19th century.   Golden Age (40s/50s) Becoming a staple outside of circuses and side-shows Territory System NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) Lou Thesz Gorgeous George Bruno Sammartino Verne Gagne   Silver Age (60s-70s) Modern TV begins showing wrestling (local Only)

Topic: My Little Pony Review / Fandom   Previously, we did a tutorial on My Little Pony and the more recent incarnation of the series, Friendship Is Magic. Now, My Little Pony isn't actually nerdy; it's down right mainstream if you think about it.  But I wanted to use this topic, something Most people are generally aware of to discuss and get to Fandom, in particular the culture of the Brony, along with discussing some aspects of Fandom media, including Fanfics, FanArt, FanVideo, and Fan-media as a whole.   Review Material Netflix Season 1: Episodes 1 & 2 Episode 6 Episode 13 Episode 25   Bronies? Started on 4chan, derivative of 2chan in Japan.  4chan is a semi-popular, underground hub for discussion on various topics of media, from memes, to shows, and often random and bizarre fandoms and interest. Often blamed for mobilizing though pranks, coordinating attacks on other websites; trolling comes from this website often. Initially criticized by Amid Amidi(Animation news website) for being a toy-centric ca

 Ep 5: My Little Pony Tutorial Topic: My Little Pony   This week we discuss the history of My Little Pony and the most current incarnation, "Friendship is Magic", en-route to a future discussion on 'Bronies' and why an older demographic fell in love with a show about colorful horses meant for a younger, female audience.    History:   1981 My Pretty Pony 10 inch tall, very large by comparison Didn’t sell very well   1982 – 1992 My Little Pony (Gen 1) More iconic version from the 80s/90s Smaller First incarnation of symbol on backside/cutie mark. Animated series in 1986 & 1987, various movies Very collectable   1997 – 1999 (Gen 2) Slimmer, turning heads Not as popular in west, popular in Europe   2003 – 2009 (Gen 3) A re-launch Childish, aimed as a much younger audience Many of the hallmarks from 1986/1987 animation   2010+ Friendship is Magic Created by Lauren Faust Desire for more complex/in-depth characters, Adventurous settings Stories resolve around friendship/relations, with some adventurous/action el

Episode 4: Captain Marvel Review Topic: Captain Marvel    Last week, we discussed the various incarnations of Captain Marvel in Comic Books in anticipation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie coming out in Theaters. We're back to discuss the movie with spoilers, but Spoiler, we liked it! Please check out Episode 3 for more information on Captain Marvel various incarnations and Carol Danvers's long history in Comics.   Review  Spoilers Ahead (What is a Spoiler)   Released on International Women’s Day, 3/8/2019   Cast Carol Danvers / Vers / Captain Marvel – Brie Larson Nick Fury – Samuel L Jackson Talos / Keller – Ben Mendelsohn (Skrull) Korath – Djimon Hounsou Ronan the Accuser – Lee Pace Supreme Intelligence & Mar-vell/Dr. Wendy Lawson - Annette Bening Yon-Rogg - Jude Law   Thoughts: Lots of Kree, both Blue and Pink variation.  Wonder if Kree is a title/organization alignment or race of creatures.  Yondu – Kree  Carol Danvers being so Loyal doesn’t appear human.  Surprised by Skrull narrative  Not real