Check Behind the Cut to see what’s coming up for the show and what else is happening right now!
Schedule of Upcoming Episodes
To make up for the fact that this is so late, I’m posting FOUR months of upcoming episodes. When we get to the next State of the Wall post, I’ll just post those two months’ worth.
2/15 – Miller Time: All-Star Batman and Robin #10
2/22 – Pokémon-related review (haven’t decided yet).
2/29 – PATREON: Gokaiger Episodes 1-5
3/7 – Blue-Skying, Part 1: Blue Beetle Dan Garrett
3/14 – Blue-Skying, Part 2: Blue Beetle Ted Kord
3/21 – Blue-Skying, Part 3: Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes
3/28 – Blue-Skying, Part 4: Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes New 52
4/4 – Star Trek Special: Flesh and Stone
4/11 – PATREON: Blackest Night #1-8
4/18 – Dart #1
4/25 – PSA Hell: Batman: Shadow of the Bat #58
5/2 – PATREON: Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Skies
5/9 – Ultimate Power #3
5/16 – Star Trek: The Next Generation #3
5/23 – Comic Book Quickies #6
5/30 – 400th Episode
As always, the schedule is subject to change depending on whim, availability of material for the review, and other minutiae. I might also pull things back a week and try to have two reviews done at once. Why? Because the 400th episode is being released at the end of May… and the 300th episode was also at the end of a month… which resulted in horrible, horrible low revenue (end of the month is usually when ad campaigns ends, resulting in a brief period where no ad plays or low-paying ads play) and thus inspiring me to start a Patreon at all. I’d like to avoid that problem again.
Storyline
Many people have been asking when the storyline is going to resume now that the movie and whatnot are done with. The answer is: soonish! Look, here’s the thing – “The Sleepwalker” is going to be kind of a big one. Lots of things I need to write and keep track of, where I need to step up my game as a writer and do my damndest to make this good, because if I screw this up, it pretty much ruins the whole thing, so I’m trying to be more careful about it, writing the whole thing in advance. I’ve got at least four episodes’ worth of story written so far and I want more before I start filming and releasing it. All I request is people continue to be patient (don’t you love how that’s my usual tune on the subject?).
Movie Rewards and DVDs
This right here is why there’s been a delay in posting this. Basically, wanted to get things in place before I posted about it.
The movie DVD, and the distribution of past DVDs for IndieGoGo backers is going to be handled by Screenwave! They’ve put together some awesome stuff so far, but I figure I should get into some details about how this is going to work:
-All my previous DVDs will still be available, individually, via Kunaki on the links here.
-For ease (and cost) of distribution, it has been decided to compile the three previous DVDs into a single compilation dual-layer disc! This means that those who pledged to receive only a single past disc will actually be receiving the compilation, same as those who pledged for all three DVDs. I know this might seem upsetting for some, but bear in mind: this was not how it was originally SUPPOSED to be distributed, but the simple fact is that shipping is expensive, especially since a good number of people who pledged are international. It simply would have been too expensive and too complicated to handle this any other way. Chalk it up to my original poor planning and estimates in regards to the rewards.
-For those who didn’t pledge and are interested in acquiring this compilation disc, it will be available for sale in the near future and I shall share details when it is available. The same goes for when the Movie DVD will be available for order.
-The compilation disc includes everything from Volume 1: Secret Origins, Volume 2: Editorial Mandate, and Volume 2.5: Special Holiday Issue… with one exception. The riff of the 1935 film “Scrooge” is NOT included in the compilation disc. It takes up an hour and 15 minutes worth of time and since it has already been released for free online before, it was decided it was unnecessary. The only difference between the DVD and online versions of the riff are that there are different opening and ending segments. If anyone is disappointed that they won’t be receiving the version with those different segments, I will be happy to upload the DVD version to youtube as an Unlisted video so that you can view it as it is seen on the original DVD.
-On the same note of cost, it has been decided that instead of two single-layer DVDs as was originally planned for the stretch goal, the movie shall be a single dual-layer disc. It’s basically the same thing as having two, but in a more convenient (and cost-effective) package.
The Movie DVD, as it stands now, will include these:
-The Movie itself, with the originally-intended remix of the theme song by The Living Tombstone. The End Credits listing of IndieGoGo backers have been adjusted to correct names as people have requested over the last few months as well as correcting minor spelling and color errors that we caught after the movie was released online.
-Three commentary tracks: Directors’ commentary, Caelestis Crew commentary, and Fat Grandma commentary
-A Behind the Scenes video detailing production of the film, stories about filming, and just general thoughts of how things went from the cast and crew.
-Bloopers and Alternate Takes
-“The Story So Far” – A humorous recap of the Atop the Fourth Wall storyline up until the movie.
-A review of BloodGunn #1
-Caelestis: Mission to Jupiter, a short film made by the Caelestis crew about them preparing to leave on their trip to expand their characters a bit.
-Bloopers for Caelestis: Mission to Jupiter
I had stated before that the plan was also to include a Nostalgia Critic review of the film. Unfortunately, due to Doug’s VERY busy workload (plus the various issues Channel Awesome has had with youtube), he was unable to produce said review. It might come up in a future DVD, but at the moment it will sadly not make it to this one.
The next question I’m sure people have is WHEN are these going to be available? To that I say… Soon and please be patient. Yeah, I know I sound like a broken record on that point. I do apologize that this has taken me longer than I had originally anticipated. Needless to say if I ever do another crowdfunding project (though probably not any time soon), it will be better organized. What needs to happen now is for the DVDs and their covers to be printed. The covers will then be shipped out to me and I’ll sign them (per the IndieGoGo rewards) and ship them back so they can be sent out to backers.
As for other rewards, anyone who contributed at the “Internet Sensation Pollo” level should have received an e-mail by now asking for you to make a selection on which print you’d like to receive. I would remind people to recheck which e-mail address they utilized for IndieGoGo. Those who did not make a selection will have a selection made for them. One the data has been collected there, we’ll work on stuffing envelopes and shipping those and the signed cast photos out to backers.
As for rewards that HAVE been sent out, all backers at the “DUUUDE!” and “Editorial Mandate” levels should have received copies of the three script draft PDFs for the movie. If you have not received it yet, please double-check the e-mail you chose for your IndieGoGo contribution. If it still has not arrived, send your pledge information to me via the Contact form on this site and I shall get the drafts to you that way.
Longbox of the Damned
I’ve begun work on the Midsummer’s Nightmare for this year, which will be in June instead of July like last. I’ve already gotten a promo written out and I’ve written the first review of it. I’m hoping to actually film in April and thus have all the videos edited in May, which will be a first, but of course given how late it’s taken me to even get this post up, you can see the best laid plans of mice and men and all that. I’ve pulled it back a month primarily because people have said they didn’t like how close it was to October’s Longbox, so they felt oversaturated by it. Hopefully this will correct that… well, that and because this will be the first Longbox month NOT hosted by Moarte! Yes, the Midsummer’s Nightmares are theme months, so I felt for the one I have planned, something more appropriate for an entire month of this subject worked better. No details for you just yet, but I’m hoping this will even draw in some people who haven’t been interested before because I’m not doing the heavy accent for it.
And here’s another thing I want to talk to you guys about and get a head start on. Last year, I tried to organize a Halloween event on Channel Awesome with mixed success. There were things I was promised or wanted to have happen that didn’t end up happening, but one of the things that people REALLY enjoyed were the different Halloween-themed logo eyecatches/idents/bumpers/whatever you call them after the videos. Well, I actually liked that, too, so while I’ll probably make a formal contest for this when we get closer to October, I’m announcing that this year in October, I want to have at least 31 unique Longbox of the Damned eyecatches for this year. I have some ideas for a few myself, but I’ll be opening the floodgates for others to do their own. I’ll also be releasing a high-quality version of the logo for you to use if you’d like. My only requirements will be that it has to be less than 15 seconds long and be Halloween-themed. This is of course more than half a year away, but if you want to start thinking about it, go nuts.
Let’s Play Pokémon Omicron
As you may have noticed, two new episodes finally premiered! If you’re curious why they still include “An Inked Reality Production” at the end, it’s because these have actually been sitting on my hard drive for the last year, totally done and completed. I always prefer to have a buffer of Omicron episodes before I release them and those two were my buffer. The good news is that since then, I have edited all the remaining footage I have into episodes!
The bad news is that I have edited all the remaining footage I have into episodes… which only brings us to episode 32. Yeah, seems I actually had less remaining footage than I thought. However, the good news from THAT is that I’ll be resuming streams again. For those who keep asking, I sadly have to remind you: THERE IS NO SCHEDULE WHEN I STREAM. I stream whenever the mood hits me, as it did recently (resulting in a brief scare where it looked like I had lost the save file for the game). However, THAT stream was for a different purpose and while recorded, will only be used for a quick montage at the beginning of episode 33 – namely that I felt the need to finally grind my Pokémon to more acceptable levels, so I spent three hours on that. Whenever I do a proper stream again, it shall be at THIS LINK and I try to announce when I’m doing it via twitter if you want to join in, but because there’s no set time, it sadly might mean you miss it.
Restoration of the Archive
Over the last several months, I’ve been attempting to restore the archive as best as I can and replace blip embeds, but of course not everything has been replaced. I suspect many vlogs are still broken as well as various other miscellaneous videos. Pretty much any “You’re Such a Card… Game” videos are just gone. Sad fact is that those were Liz’s videos and I’m pretty sure she never reuploaded them and I’m 99% certain I don’t have any copies of them, myself. Crossover videos are a mixed bag – MOST are back up, but there are the odd exception here and there due to them being other reviewers’ videos and thus they haven’t reuploaded them. I try not to use uploads other people have done, since it’s taking potential revenue away from the actual video producer (the only exception is the Warrior #1 review, since it contains plot elements for the show and Spoony has yet to reupload it. Other stuff, like Angry Joe’s old “Hotel Awesome” videos that he did during the Brawl and Kickassia, do not seem to exist on youtube at all (although strangely some videos are on Archive.org).
So yeah, we seem to be 95% fixed, though I fully expect you guys to find stuff that needs to be put back up again and I’ll try to get to those as such requests happen.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Comic Translation
So I finally got my hands on a copy of the comic adaptation of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band! I REALLY would like to do a review of it this year, but of course if you’ve seen the episode where I briefly talked about it, you know then that the comic is not in English, but French. As such, I’m looking for help translating it and I’m willing to pay for the work, especially if it can be done sooner rather than later.
NOTE: A translator has been found and is working on it. Thanks for the offers, though!
History of Power Rangers
The youtube reuploads of History of Power Rangers have begun, with two of them currently up! If you haven’t seen them before, they’re also re-recordings, adding additional bits of information and jokes (plus corrections), so they’re worth a rewatch, I’d say, especially with the improved quality. I’m going to keep doing these for a while and I have no planned end for re-recording them (aside from around Overdrive, since that was when I started my current recording method for History of Power Rangers), albeit the closer we get to modern ones, the less likely it’ll happen to such extremes since my writing won’t have as many issues than I did back in 2010.
If you’re worried about me “George Lucasing” them, not to worry – the original versions WILL remain up on Screenwave if you prefer the old ones. I always attempt to have a way for you to have access to the originals, but these newer versions were necessary both to avoid copyright issues on youtube plus hopefully build a larger audience, since they’re more professionally put together than before.
Youtube Progress
Speaking of youtube, for those who have had trouble with youtube before, I’m happy to report that we’ve reached the point where we’re two years off! Judging by my loose math, youtube should be completely caught up with new uploads by October, which will be nice and convenient for “sweeps” as it were for ad revenue (October through December usually yields the best returns due to Christmas commercials). In the meantime, the current schedule will remain – four old Atop the Fourth Wall episodes on youtube Monday through Thursday, then Friday has two Longbox of the Damned videos (at the time of this posting, we’re nearing the end of “Rise of the Marvel Zombies”). I’m not sure yet what we’ll do once we reach the end of Longboxes to release publicly over there, but I’ve had some ideas, including getting a lot of “A Quick Look At…” videos done with and to serve as a buffer, with brief reviews of horror movies and the like to keep up with the “Frightful Friday Nights” thing I’ve got going there.
The other question of what I’ll be uploading will include the Southland Tales crossover, since like History of Power Rangers, I suppose theoretically it could be edited to be more youtube friendly. The biggest issue with it is the ending, however, with the “All These Things I’ve Done” segment, which would require a cover or 8-bit rendition, which kind of defeats the point, frankly, so that’s still up in the air.
Patreon
Patreon continues to hold steady at its current amount, but I’ve decided to alter some of the rewards again. I remind people that it’s always an ongoing process to see what I’m capable of doing given my workload, but I think this will work out for the best.
First of all, I have decided to drop the $15 “Choose a Riff” reward. The simple fact is that I have people still waiting on their riff selection from 2015 and given how long it takes for people to get their selection, it’s unfair for them to have to wait so long for it. I’m going to try to play catch up on this stuff this month and next.
Secondly, I have reduced the amount of slots available for the $30 “promote something at the end of an AT4W episode” reward. Unfortunately, it ended up being a bit of a hassle keeping track of who had used the slots already and in what period of time since their last one, etc.
And of course a reminder that if you haven’t been e-mailed about your reward lately, please contact me at your convenience to ensure you receive it.
Conventions
I don’t think I’ve been officially announced at anything for this year as of yet, though it’s likely I’ll be going to the usual ones this year – Animinneapolis, Anime Midwest, ConBravo, and Youmacon, though I of course make no promises. I am not attending MAGFest this year… and possibly not as much anymore, frankly – it’s a huge expense for me to go with very little return. The only big advantage is seeing a bunch of friends I don’t normally get to see, but even then the location is so huge and spread out with some people wanting to hang out with specific people themselves or them working on their own projects that frankly I really don’t get to hang out as much with them, anyway.
Whew! That’s it for now. Sorry again about it taking so long!
