[00:00:00]
Come on! Let's go! This way! On your left! Oh fuck, I tripped! Look out!

[00:00:18]
Oh shit! Oh no! Where are my legs? Guys, guys, there's only one way out of this now.

[00:00:30]
Chris, what do you mean? It seems like we have at least a couple of options here.

[00:00:35]
No, no. It's, uh, there's only one way out. I'll just, I'll have to charge the line and distract them while you and Tori get away.

[00:00:43]
Chris, where are you charging, bud? You can't charge anywhere without any legs, but Chris, I can carry you.

[00:00:52]
No, no. Just, uh, just put me in that cardboard box over there and push me down the hill.

[00:00:57]
That's a very, very good use of a cardboard box, I must say, and a totally feasible distraction to let us get going, but it's really unnecessary, don't you think?

[00:01:08]
I mean, we have supporting fire, we can call up.

[00:01:11]
Yeah, what about air support?

[00:01:12]
No! There's no other way. I'll have to sacrifice myself to save us and end it.

[00:01:22]
Save us?

[00:01:23]
Yeah, yeah, save us. Down in a blaze of glory and all.

[00:01:33]
Chris, is that a, Chris, is that a COVID cough?

[00:01:37]
Tori, it's not 2020 anymore. We can't say that. We're gonna get blocked.

[00:01:42]
Hey, Alessio. Q, here's to you. Here.

[00:01:46]
Ooh! I'm a ghost!

[00:01:54]
Uh, sorry, Chris. I, uh, thought we had an agreement here. I'm not gonna edit any of you guys' episodes anymore.

[00:01:59]
Also, what the fuck is going on?

[00:02:02]
Uh, it's just, uh, Chris is trying to be a martyr, I guess.

[00:02:07]
Yeah, he's, he's trying to end it. And what?

[00:02:10]
The podcast.

[00:02:12]
Wait, who's shooting at you guys?

[00:02:14]
The podcast.

[00:02:15]
Say no more. I completely understand. What's the plan?

[00:02:18]
There's only room in this cardboard box for one whole person, and it's gotta be me.

[00:02:23]
But Chris, you're half a person.

[00:02:26]
Ugh, not anymore.

[00:02:28]
Guys, can we quit it with the legs?

[00:02:31]
Oh no, Tori. Why did you shoot your legs off?

[00:02:34]
The podcast.

[00:02:36]
Well, now you both can fit on the box, I guess.

[00:02:42]
Alright, I'm, ah, alright, I'm in position.

[00:02:45]
Warren, give us a push.

[00:02:47]
Absolutely. It's a good thing I just got this aftermarket arm put on.

[00:02:52]
Excuse me, what?

[00:02:54]
Oh, yeah. Get a little of that.

[00:02:57]
Is this some Senator Armstrong shit?

[00:02:59]
Oh no, he's a turnt coat!

[00:03:01]
Chris, he's not wearing a coat.

[00:03:04]
Shhhhhh.

[00:03:06]
Lie down, both of you, you're losing a lot of blood.

[00:03:08]
Is this like a whole liquid ocelot thing?

[00:03:11]
I, uh, like Big Boss' nightmare from Metal Gear Solid 3?

[00:03:15]
I'm confused, and you guys are scaring the shit out of me.

[00:03:18]
I do not want to be here anymore.

[00:03:21]
But Alessio, the podcast.

[00:03:28]
Oh my god.

[00:03:33]
That was the wildest dream, Jesus.

[00:03:37]
Do I, oh god.

[00:03:39]
Okay, whew, my legs are still here.

[00:03:47]
Hey, Tori.

[00:03:48]
Chris, why the hell are you in my room?

[00:03:50]
We don't even live in the same state.

[00:03:53]
This is all a metaphor.

[00:03:55]
Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to come and be the new host on Metal Gear Mondays, you know, with Cole and I.

[00:04:01]
No, Chris. I don't think I will.

[00:04:15]
Here's to you dear listeners, and welcome back to another episode of Metal Gear Mondays Revengeance,

[00:04:21]
where you'll find your favorite conversations around Metal Gear and Kojima-related content delivered to you through tactical podcast action.

[00:04:29]
I'm your host, Warren Minix, and with me, as always, are my good friends in no particular order.

[00:04:37]
Chris Hampton, what's up, man?

[00:04:39]
Hi, D. Ho there, campers.

[00:04:41]
Tori Cortez, hi Tori.

[00:04:42]
Hello.

[00:04:43]
And we are joined today by Ghost Dad himself, back from the prow.

[00:04:50]
Alessio Summerfield, what's up, man?

[00:04:53]
Hello.

[00:04:54]
Ghost Daddy.

[00:04:58]
You know I'm around because everybody's hair starts standing up on the back of their necks.

[00:05:02]
I got goosebumps.

[00:05:03]
Oh, shit, I really do.

[00:05:04]
It might be cold in my apartment.

[00:05:06]
I don't know.

[00:05:07]
No, I'm actually there.

[00:05:08]
No, I'm actually there.

[00:05:12]
No, legit.

[00:05:13]
I just turned around to face the wall that's behind me, expecting to see you.

[00:05:18]
And now I'm disappointed.

[00:05:19]
I thought you were going to say I just turned around to face the wall and there is somebody here,

[00:05:23]
but it's not Alessio.

[00:05:24]
Well, what are you doing?

[00:05:26]
And then the audio just cuts out.

[00:05:29]
Yeah, that would be Blair Witch style.

[00:05:31]
That'd be impressive.

[00:05:32]
Cue that scream here.

[00:05:34]
Ah!

[00:05:35]
Ah!

[00:05:36]
Ah!

[00:05:37]
Ah!

[00:05:38]
Ah!

[00:05:39]
Ah!

[00:05:40]
Yeah.

[00:05:41]
God, that last shot of Blair Witch, like, is burned into my brain for the rest of my life.

[00:05:48]
It still sticks with me.

[00:05:49]
I think that's a big chunk of why that movie still kind of tracks.

[00:05:52]
That's great.

[00:05:53]
I've never seen Blair Witch.

[00:05:54]
Oh, Chris.

[00:05:55]
I don't like scary movies.

[00:05:57]
Sorry.

[00:05:58]
Me no scare scare.

[00:06:00]
No, no, no.

[00:06:02]
I mean, you're not wrong.

[00:06:04]
I mean, you'd probably enjoy a chunk of it, especially from a how they made it standpoint.

[00:06:08]
Like, wow, this is really impressive that they made this all work.

[00:06:10]
But that last, like, 20 minutes in a proper way is like pretty legit, like, well-made tension.

[00:06:17]
Yeah.

[00:06:18]
It makes my tummy hurt.

[00:06:21]
Makes me throw my popcorn.

[00:06:23]
Makes me scream Mike.

[00:06:25]
Oh my God.

[00:06:26]
How many times do they scream Mike in that shit?

[00:06:29]
Heather!

[00:06:30]
Mike!

[00:06:31]
Mike!

[00:06:32]
Cool.

[00:06:33]
Are we going to find somebody's ear wrapped in some cloth?

[00:06:35]
Yeah.

[00:06:36]
It's always a possibility.

[00:06:38]
Welcome to the Blair Witch cast.

[00:06:41]
Yes.

[00:06:42]
So, yeah.

[00:06:43]
So, I don't know, guys.

[00:06:44]
What do we want to talk about here?

[00:06:46]
This is our little in-between episode that we wanted to put out there just as we transition

[00:06:53]
from our, from our Portable-Op season to our final season.

[00:06:58]
Wait a minute, Warren.

[00:07:01]
Do they know it's the final season?

[00:07:03]
Maybe we should talk about that.

[00:07:05]
Yeah.

[00:07:06]
I think that's why we're here, Alessio.

[00:07:09]
Perfect.

[00:07:10]
Chris, you sounded like you were either clearing your throat or really needed to say something.

[00:07:14]
You know, the elephant in the room, right?

[00:07:16]
Wait a minute.

[00:07:18]
So, Tories has a ghost in her room and you have an elephant in your room.

[00:07:21]
What is going on?

[00:07:22]
Warren, what's in your room?

[00:07:24]
Oh, I got nothing interesting.

[00:07:26]
I got Mega Man's.

[00:07:27]
There's some Mega Man.

[00:07:28]
Whoa.

[00:07:29]
Hold on.

[00:07:30]
What kind of, what?

[00:07:31]
Oh, I thought like actual.

[00:07:32]
I was like, what is happening?

[00:07:33]
Warren is actually, yeah.

[00:07:34]
I actually have like a life-size blaster.

[00:07:36]
Warren is Dr. Light.

[00:07:38]
He is Dr. Light.

[00:07:39]
I didn't know this the entire time, but his full name is Warren Light Minnix.

[00:07:43]
Warren Dr. Light Minnix.

[00:07:45]
Hell, yeah.

[00:07:47]
So, yeah.

[00:07:49]
Well, anyway, bye.

[00:07:51]
Yeah, this is that transition piece.

[00:07:54]
I guess, I don't know, I feel like we, I think it's important that we kind of, you know,

[00:07:58]
just sort of set the table.

[00:08:00]
I think that was the understanding that we'd like to do with this is just, you know, transparency

[00:08:05]
has always been our MGM brand regardless of hosts or season we're in.

[00:08:12]
So, I think that's what, I think that's our game today.

[00:08:16]
Yeah.

[00:08:17]
And I think also in the spirit of transparency, you know, as much as we would hate to admit

[00:08:21]
that this isn't, and say like, oh, this isn't really an afterthought.

[00:08:25]
This literally is, I think, an afterthought, right?

[00:08:28]
We're recording this after we have recorded everything that will be published after this.

[00:08:36]
You know, we just kind of realized, hey, we left all these expectations out in the air

[00:08:42]
for the audience.

[00:08:43]
So, we come to correct ourselves.

[00:08:46]
That's crazy.

[00:08:47]
I think it's the first time in Metal Gear Monday's history that there has been an entire season

[00:08:52]
recorded ahead of us talking about said season.

[00:08:59]
Sure.

[00:09:00]
Yeah, it's crazy.

[00:09:01]
Well, shit, guys.

[00:09:04]
Yeah, I, on my end, so we recorded so for the listener in the future.

[00:09:11]
There's a very lovely round table with Tori Warren and Chris that is going to be coming

[00:09:17]
up about some like origin story stuff, which is cool.

[00:09:20]
But I guess it would probably be more appropriate for us to talk about like why the show is

[00:09:27]
trending and for you guys to have like a proper Metal Gear Monday's Revengeance hat tip.

[00:09:34]
So, I don't know.

[00:09:36]
What's the best way to do this, Warren?

[00:09:37]
How do you want to do it?

[00:09:38]
I mean, I like that we can just sort of talk it out, you know?

[00:09:42]
I mean, lots happened, you know, since Revengeance started, right?

[00:09:46]
Yeah.

[00:09:47]
Just in the world outside of the three and four of us in the room, you know?

[00:09:50]
Oh, shit, you have four people in your room right now?

[00:09:52]
Yeah, I told you, multiple Mega Men.

[00:09:56]
Life-size Mega Men is staring.

[00:09:58]
It's all the Mega Men arranged to represent us and he's like staring at them.

[00:10:03]
Oh, he's talking to them?

[00:10:04]
He's having a tea party?

[00:10:06]
Well, no, like a representation.

[00:10:09]
They're Avatar for us.

[00:10:11]
Thanks, right?

[00:10:12]
Yes, exactly.

[00:10:13]
Is mine Proto?

[00:10:15]
We're just Proto Man because, you know, it's my favorite.

[00:10:18]
Oh, of course.

[00:10:19]
I've only ever known Chris as like a dude with a Proto Man avatar.

[00:10:23]
I don't know why.

[00:10:24]
Yeah, Proto Dude.

[00:10:26]
No, that's why.

[00:10:27]
Thanks, Tori.

[00:10:29]
Yeah, like, yeah, so what's, why the fuck are you guys ending my show?

[00:10:36]
What?

[00:10:40]
Would it be best to go about this chronologically maybe because I think the fallout happened

[00:10:48]
one person at a time.

[00:10:50]
Yeah, sure.

[00:10:52]
Which I think would have to start with Chris.

[00:10:56]
So you cool with taking it away?

[00:10:59]
Yeah, I'm cool to revisit a lot of my trauma on air.

[00:11:06]
Chris, I know that your scar is just healed, but we're going to have to nail some more.

[00:11:10]
More nails through your palms.

[00:11:12]
I mean, what are we?

[00:11:13]
Come lie down on this couch.

[00:11:15]
Where?

[00:11:16]
I'll come lie down on your couch.

[00:11:18]
All right, hold on.

[00:11:19]
I know I'm going to make a joke to include couch.

[00:11:22]
The Proto Dude doll is moving to a couch.

[00:11:25]
That morning has couch sounds.

[00:11:28]
All right, check your messages, guys.

[00:11:30]
I just sent you a picture of two of them.

[00:11:33]
Oh shit, is this the Mega Man?

[00:11:35]
This is a couple of the Mega Man's.

[00:11:37]
There's Warren and Chris.

[00:11:38]
Yeah.

[00:11:40]
Warren, why are you so much bigger than Chris?

[00:11:43]
It's the helmet.

[00:11:44]
It's half a person.

[00:11:45]
What was it you first said about me, Alessio?

[00:11:48]
It was like I was two feet shorter in real life.

[00:11:51]
Oh yeah, dude, Chris, you shocked me when I made it.

[00:11:57]
Yeah, okay.

[00:11:58]
So why the show is ending?

[00:12:00]
So, you know, we kind of hit this thing.

[00:12:05]
Ground running when Sam left and it was Cole, myself and Tori, right?

[00:12:12]
We had planned this, we had sort of planned the whole season ahead of time, right?

[00:12:18]
And production was kicked off and I had hired an outside editor and everything.

[00:12:24]
Because the thing is, like my job is my day job because I don't do this for a living.

[00:12:30]
No, I don't think anyone who's ever done this, I can safely say has ever done this as their job.

[00:12:36]
If they have, I never knew about it.

[00:12:39]
Right?

[00:12:40]
Yeah, no kidding.

[00:12:41]
Somebody might be siphoning some money or something.

[00:12:46]
Years down the road, Warren's like actually the Wawa thing was a front and I was making

[00:12:52]
a full-time job out of it.

[00:12:54]
Yeah, Warren's always, sometimes I'm trying to figure out a nana grant for Wawa, it's not

[00:12:58]
working out.

[00:12:59]
Warren's working on some oil tanker out in the Seychelles.

[00:13:03]
Yes.

[00:13:04]
Liquid.

[00:13:05]
The podcast.

[00:13:07]
Yeah, so that's the reality of my life and then 2020 happened, right?

[00:13:17]
So I had gotten laid off from my job and it was pretty unexpected and I was like scrambling

[00:13:25]
there for a minute.

[00:13:26]
I was also like moving, I'm also like building a house and that's kind of scary, like getting

[00:13:34]
laid off and also building a house and then so I got another job and things were looking

[00:13:42]
good and then I got laid off again.

[00:13:45]
Yeah, man.

[00:13:46]
Yeah.

[00:13:47]
That sucks.

[00:13:48]
But we're all good now.

[00:13:49]
Spoilers, Chris?

[00:13:50]
It turned out super well, ultimately for me.

[00:13:55]
I'm neck deep now in my field, my industry and I'm loving it.

[00:14:01]
I'm glad that you followed that up with your field and your industry.

[00:14:04]
Find me a link.

[00:14:05]
In the dirt.

[00:14:06]
Right.

[00:14:07]
Now, Chris, is that neck deep with legs or without legs?

[00:14:16]
I would say without legs, sans legs.

[00:14:18]
Yeah.

[00:14:19]
I like it.

[00:14:20]
I'm sitting down for this.

[00:14:22]
Chris is our Lieutenant Dan.

[00:14:25]
Yeah.

[00:14:26]
So ultimately what that resulted in is as we had moved out of the work that I had preplanned,

[00:14:37]
which was really...

[00:14:39]
Like the transition team.

[00:14:40]
Yeah, we were the transition team and what I had preplanned and started doing was the

[00:14:46]
rebrand and everything and then the season three.

[00:14:50]
I spent a lot of time sitting up a whole system, a project system for us to follow, basically,

[00:14:57]
to quickly publish the show and not have it be a huge burden.

[00:15:04]
And then beyond that, though, I was able to really continue that level of involvement,

[00:15:10]
because that's a lot of work, right?

[00:15:12]
Yeah, for the listeners at home who may not know, when an episode goes live, it is not

[00:15:17]
just click a button.

[00:15:18]
It is upload to...

[00:15:21]
You have to upload it to the server, which then pushes it out to Spotify, Apple, blah,

[00:15:27]
blah, blah, blah.

[00:15:28]
But then you have to make a post on the website, update the artwork, make sure the description

[00:15:33]
is right, then you have to publish it to the website on top of that, and then YouTube,

[00:15:38]
and then Facebook and social posts on Instagram and Twitter.

[00:15:41]
It's like when an episode goes up, it's probably two hours of work just to put it up.

[00:15:47]
So, the arrangement, I believe, that we had sort of discussed, and please correct me all

[00:15:55]
if I'm putting words in your mouth.

[00:15:56]
I don't mean to misrepresent you, and we're totally talking off the cuff for listeners

[00:16:02]
at home.

[00:16:03]
This is exciting.

[00:16:04]
This is like a hurry, but without the drama, I think.

[00:16:09]
So like a PBS special, maybe.

[00:16:11]
Or we could always put some...

[00:16:14]
Hold on.

[00:16:15]
I think, Alessio, when you're editing this, you could put some like Kitchen Nightmares

[00:16:19]
music in the background.

[00:16:21]
And then we could be like, fuck you, Chris.

[00:16:23]
That's not how it happened at all.

[00:16:26]
Yeah.

[00:16:27]
But I sort of...

[00:16:29]
The way it sort of was shaking out was like, I was going to have to sort of take a step

[00:16:33]
back and be a third wheel more in the background.

[00:16:36]
Tori and Warren are going to drive the vehicle, right?

[00:16:40]
But I still wanted to remain involved in support capacity, and be there to help with

[00:16:47]
the fucking Discord or whatever.

[00:16:51]
Keep that in a positive way.

[00:16:54]
Yeah.

[00:16:55]
Those are the fucking Discord.

[00:16:57]
Fuck Discord, man.

[00:16:59]
The drama, baby, is really...

[00:17:02]
So that was totally the case.

[00:17:08]
After I got laid off, though, that changed.

[00:17:13]
Because, you know, if a man or a person, any non-gendered, specific person, who's used

[00:17:20]
as the means of their livelihood, and they're not like wealthy, independent of that, it's

[00:17:26]
a bad thing.

[00:17:28]
And so I had to scramble to do that and resolve that pretty quickly.

[00:17:33]
And that required me to shift 100% of my focus to sort of retrain, regear myself, and have

[00:17:40]
lots of arguments with the Tennessee Department of Workforce Development.

[00:17:46]
Go get them, Tiger.

[00:17:47]
Yeah.

[00:17:48]
So...

[00:17:49]
I bet you chewed them out good.

[00:17:50]
I was sort of stepping back.

[00:17:51]
And Tori and Warren did all the piecewalkers of yours, really primarily them.

[00:17:57]
And I think they did a fantastic job.

[00:18:00]
It's just like, conceptually, I think, probably one of my favorite seasons of the show, and

[00:18:04]
it was just really fantastic to be a part of.

[00:18:07]
Thanks, man.

[00:18:08]
But, you know, that was primarily Warren and Tori driving all of that work.

[00:18:12]
And doing the interviews with Ryan, there's 100% of them.

[00:18:15]
Like, Tori had like...

[00:18:17]
When I had sort of taken a step back, Tori had taken on editing the show, too.

[00:18:23]
So that was some additional work.

[00:18:26]
Like, there's just a whole lot that goes into Metal Your Mondays.

[00:18:30]
It's a machine that's been made kind of before us, and it's like a thing you inherit, and

[00:18:35]
you tweak it and you change it.

[00:18:37]
But ultimately, it's a very large thing.

[00:18:39]
It's grown a lot.

[00:18:41]
It's been like, what, a decade?

[00:18:44]
How long has this show been around?

[00:18:46]
It's like a hair over six years.

[00:18:49]
Yeah, yeah.

[00:18:50]
It's close, though.

[00:18:51]
It's like a decade in modern times.

[00:18:55]
Anybody, like millennials and under, we got shorter lifespans to look forward to.

[00:19:00]
If you go by more than not working, from all the not working and asking for handouts.

[00:19:04]
Yeah.

[00:19:05]
Jesus.

[00:19:06]
If you're a boomer listening, then turn it the fuck off.

[00:19:11]
Codoth.

[00:19:12]
As the oldest person in the room here.

[00:19:13]
I think we're all right.

[00:19:15]
Yeah.

[00:19:16]
Well, so it's fun that Chris mentions the Tori editing thing, because that's kind of

[00:19:20]
where my part of the story starts, which is kind of fun.

[00:19:24]
I was on the initial phone call with Sam and Chris and Cole.

[00:19:30]
Who the fuck else was on that?

[00:19:31]
Sam, Chris, Cole, was that it?

[00:19:33]
Maybe Zach.

[00:19:34]
Zach?

[00:19:35]
Yeah, Zach was there.

[00:19:36]
Yeah, so Zach also was like, hey, personal stuff.

[00:19:38]
I think I'm going to take a step back.

[00:19:39]
And it's like, okay, cool.

[00:19:41]
The show is transitioning to a new era anyway.

[00:19:44]
But on that call, and if we are talking super transparently, on that call, it was definitely

[00:19:49]
like Sam saying he's leaving, Zach saying he's leaving, and then me being like, well,

[00:19:56]
what do you guys want to do?

[00:19:58]
And I remember talking to Chris and Cole and they still sounded like real fired up and

[00:20:02]
that they were really excited to do this.

[00:20:04]
And I know that obviously it was going to be a lot of work.

[00:20:07]
And so I was like, me and Sam both were like, oh, if you guys need help, we're always here,

[00:20:12]
yada, yada, yada.

[00:20:13]
Yeah.

[00:20:14]
But it was definitely like a, hey, this is the moment where it's like, should we stop?

[00:20:18]
Should we keep going?

[00:20:20]
And I think like every like horizons were like new horizons were on the on the cusp of entering

[00:20:27]
the picture and everybody was still very excited.

[00:20:30]
And yeah, the support team was there and ready to rock.

[00:20:35]
But as Chris mentioned, like a lot of curveballs got thrown at the planet.

[00:20:39]
Surely.

[00:20:40]
Yeah.

[00:20:41]
And so yeah, so that's kind of where I jumped in and was like with Tori.

[00:20:45]
I actually had a lot of fun Tori with you where we would hop on like video calls and

[00:20:51]
we would just like edit stuff together, like kind of showing each other stuff or whatever,

[00:20:58]
asking questions.

[00:21:00]
And then I also kind of like would help Tori as far as like running through all the responsibilities

[00:21:05]
and stuff of the website and all that other shit.

[00:21:08]
So that was super fun.

[00:21:09]
But yeah, obviously I don't want to steamroll over your part of the story.

[00:21:12]
Tori, I just wanted to mention like for anybody who may know me exclusively as a discord.

[00:21:20]
There we go again with the word ghost discord ghost.

[00:21:24]
I was doing stuff to help you guys out too because I think primarily like I don't even know if I

[00:21:30]
would have been on the discord prior to that because I think at that point it had sort of like I don't

[00:21:36]
think I'd been on it a while before the before the switch.

[00:21:39]
Yeah.

[00:21:40]
Well, you had just expressed a need that you had wanted to like sort of stay away from it too.

[00:21:45]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because I like I just moved to New York.

[00:21:48]
I was super busy with work.

[00:21:50]
I was still trying to figure out like what the fuck am I going to do because it was like, hey, I moved to New York for a reason.

[00:21:56]
I got to get out there and network and like meet people and blah, blah, blah, blah, and then like four months into that.

[00:22:02]
It was like, no, you don't.

[00:22:04]
You have to stay home.

[00:22:05]
You don't have to do anything.

[00:22:07]
You're going to be here now.

[00:22:08]
Yeah.

[00:22:09]
Oh, man.

[00:22:10]
Yeah.

[00:22:11]
Yeah.

[00:22:12]
So I mean, I won't lie.

[00:22:13]
I definitely like crawled to the discord because I was like, I don't know anybody and it's scary outside.

[00:22:18]
I think that you know, 2020 certainly did become sort of a safe haven for a lot of us, you know, for sure.

[00:22:28]
For sure.

[00:22:29]
And like that, we saw a huge amount of growth in the discord during that time.

[00:22:33]
That's when Warren joined in right about that time, I think.

[00:22:37]
Certainly.

[00:22:39]
Yeah.

[00:22:40]
It's crazy.

[00:22:41]
Yeah.

[00:22:42]
But you know, if I could like just comment, let's say on that, that one period of time where it did look sensible to end it and like, you know, Cole and I had this, I think desire to continue and like, I think I at the time just had this desire to like see the show keep going.

[00:23:01]
And I also have this like propensity to like, if, if I am like, given some responsibility of something that I'm going to make sure that it lasts, you know.

[00:23:12]
Well, for the record, I just want to say to everybody at home, Chris might be one of the most organized and committed human beings that I've ever met in my life.

[00:23:21]
For sure.

[00:23:22]
And so for, yeah, so for Chris to be like, life's fucking crazy right now.

[00:23:27]
And I need to take a step back.

[00:23:29]
It was like, oh, fuck.

[00:23:31]
Like this is this is real.

[00:23:33]
Yeah.

[00:23:34]
Yeah, because I mean, just sort of sitting on as the shadow council sat on the planning meetings and just listen to Chris's plans and everything and looked at the Asana breakdown and all the documentation for the process and stuff.

[00:23:48]
I mean, essentially what Chris did was he walked in, saw this super crazy fucking automobile I had built in a garage that was held together with like duct tape and post it notes and Google docs.

[00:24:02]
And Chris was like, no, no, no, no, no, we can do this better.

[00:24:06]
So, but yeah, so Chris, I just want to give you a shout out because yeah, you were fucking killing it.

[00:24:12]
Thank you.

[00:24:13]
Yeah, I think like if I was if I am admitting, if we're being like really transparent, if I'm admitting things candidly, I would say Chris, are your pants on or off right now?

[00:24:25]
They are definitely off, you know, you know, today, I think today was a no bones day.

[00:24:33]
So, oh my God.

[00:24:35]
A no bone.

[00:24:36]
That's right.

[00:24:37]
I do a TikTok marketing now.

[00:24:40]
I never thought I would hear no bones in this space.

[00:24:45]
I, yeah, I think I bit off a little more than I could chew, you know, I think it's a lot.

[00:24:50]
Cole and I both did and I think that Cole had the sense to sort of admit it and take a step back from it.

[00:24:59]
And I had the stubbornness to say, well, I'm not going to fucking take.

[00:25:04]
Yeah, I'm not going to fail.

[00:25:06]
Well, yeah, everybody.

[00:25:07]
Yeah, I think unfortunately it was sort of viewed as this.

[00:25:10]
Well, again, I want to let everybody else have their piece, but I will just very quickly say that like personally, I didn't want to swoop in and be the angel of death.

[00:25:19]
But I think from the outside looking in from like me and Sam's perspective, kind of looking at what was going on.

[00:25:27]
And then eventually obviously talking to everybody.

[00:25:30]
There was just sort of this like weird sense that like everybody was like doing like obligatory mountain moving.

[00:25:38]
And it was like, guys, I like the community is fucking awesome and I love these people.

[00:25:43]
But also like, please don't destroy your souls just to like keep something going for the sake of keeping it going.

[00:25:51]
You know what I mean?

[00:25:52]
So it was sort of this like at a certain point, like I called Tory and like we all kind of talked and stuff.

[00:25:58]
And it was like just kind of this moment of like, hey, it's OK to be tired.

[00:26:03]
It's OK to stop now.

[00:26:05]
But yeah, I don't know. Chris and Cole were very, very convincing, I think on the phone call because I think Chris was really fired up to cover some Kojima shit.

[00:26:12]
Well, we had like really started planning already.

[00:26:15]
Pretty earnestly.

[00:26:16]
Yeah, you guys.

[00:26:17]
Yeah, all these ideas and like it was just a really fun,

[00:26:21]
creative time for like all of us.

[00:26:24]
Like Tory was joining in and that was really fun.

[00:26:27]
Yeah. And by the time by the time I was joining in on calls and meetings and stuff, you guys already basically had season three mapped out and it really didn't require much effort on my part.

[00:26:39]
I got to kind of just jump in.

[00:26:41]
So Chris, huge kudos to you for that because I know you had the largest hand in that.

[00:26:45]
Yeah, it was crazy.

[00:26:46]
So for as much as Zach James hated Kojima and Death Stranding, that is the inverse proportion to which Chris was very excited to report it.

[00:26:57]
Yeah.

[00:26:59]
Yeah.

[00:27:00]
But yeah, anyway, so yeah, Tory and Warren, I'll let you guys take it away.

[00:27:03]
And yeah, obviously I don't want to paint it as like a everybody was dying.

[00:27:07]
And then we were like, we got to cut the brakes or everyone's going to die.

[00:27:11]
Like, I think it was just it was more or less just kind of like a.

[00:27:15]
We sense something and like better to go out on a high note than to like watch something fall off a cliff.

[00:27:22]
You know what I mean?

[00:27:23]
Yeah.

[00:27:24]
And well, I just want to say one more thing before Warren and Tory continue the tale, which I'm excited to hear.

[00:27:32]
And it's all of that that I said, you know, to you, Warren and Tory, I hope that you don't take that as any sort of diminishment of my own excitement in working in

[00:27:44]
this project with you guys because I was very excited and then I did actually very much enjoy working with you, you know, and.

[00:27:53]
So I hope you don't take this reflection on either of my feelings towards you, you know.

[00:28:02]
Oh, not at all.

[00:28:03]
It was a blast through and through.

[00:28:05]
And when when you were available, like it, we were all driving and Vibe in and something else that rhymes with that.

[00:28:13]
And that's.

[00:28:14]
I just I am not available.

[00:28:18]
You know, I'm not I've not been emotionally available or anything like that.

[00:28:23]
Like 2020 fucking sucked for me.

[00:28:26]
I killed my dog, you know, like shit.

[00:28:30]
Yeah.

[00:28:31]
Fuck that year.

[00:28:33]
Fuck everything about that year.

[00:28:35]
Yeah.

[00:28:36]
So yeah, that's where my head's at.

[00:28:39]
Well, that's kind of a good segue into.

[00:28:44]
Jesus.

[00:28:45]
I mean, I'll start it off on a positive note.

[00:28:47]
Yeah, I'll take it back to when when I jumped in.

[00:28:50]
It was it was thrilling to be it.

[00:28:53]
What a thrill to be asked to come in and take the mantle for the show that had had.

[00:29:01]
Such a huge impact on my life up to that point and and beyond that point.

[00:29:10]
You know, at the time my life was really stable, almost to a seconding degree, you know, so a project of this magnitude sounded amazing and to be able to have a hand in the thing that brought me so much joy.

[00:29:28]
It felt really special.

[00:29:30]
And maybe it should have at first and I don't think it did feel as daunting as as it later became.

[00:29:41]
Because yeah, I mean 2020 really fucking rocked everybody's boat.

[00:29:46]
I think and I'm no exception to that.

[00:29:48]
Lots, lots and lots of personal life changes.

[00:29:53]
Just kind of threw my whole world upside down.

[00:29:57]
And I also lost it.

[00:29:59]
God, I'm sorry.

[00:30:01]
Getting choked up.

[00:30:03]
I also lost a job and I moved to a new city.

[00:30:11]
I got married.

[00:30:13]
I got a puppy like all these huge things were happening at once.

[00:30:20]
And I did my best to cope with them all and still put every bit of energy I had left into producing the show to the best of my ability.

[00:30:31]
Like Kristen Alessio said it's it's a lot of work.

[00:30:35]
When I added editing into the mix that was a pretty slow learning curve for me it took me a while to feel like I was getting decent at it.

[00:30:48]
And in fact, by the time I felt like I was doing pretty okay is when my my emotional and mental availability started to wane. Unfortunately.

[00:31:01]
And then the beginning of 2021 was just not not better.

[00:31:07]
So I still didn't have a job by like March, starting to get a little depressed starting to wonder, you know, where things were going for me.

[00:31:21]
To be perfectly candid and transparent, like everybody is so wonderfully doing lost that relationship and that marriage had to move out of that house that I just moved into into a friend's house with a puppy that I was not prepared to take care of on my own, you know, just like all this crazy shit.

[00:31:45]
I just wasn't left with the bones to be able to carry out the show to to the quality that I know I'm capable of. And that's when I really started to look at it and and ask myself, and it was a little later than it should have been.

[00:32:08]
I feel like maybe I should have asked myself this question sooner but eventually I said hey am I am I still going to be able to put in the right amount of effort and not hate myself and my life and the answer pretty clearly after some time was no.

[00:32:31]
And that was the that was the biggest motivating factor for me was the quality, you know, we, we took the show that was already doing so well, reaching a lot of people and truly having an effect on their lives.

[00:32:44]
And the fact that that the quality on my end was starting to drop didn't sit very well with me. So yeah, that's that's kind of the whole spiel on my end.

[00:32:57]
Just not wanting to, like Alessio said, not wanting to let this fall away and a miserable into a miserable pit of despair.

[00:33:09]
Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, I so I know two things to be true both before this episode and definitely now after this episode and it's one, the most beautiful part of Metal Gear Mondays is the people.

[00:33:22]
Oh, and two, Metal Gear Mondays eats podcasters.

[00:33:29]
So Warren, what is your Metal Gear Mondays Vietnam story?

[00:33:34]
Sure. Well, I mean, I got to say, so yeah, I was the off the waiver wire pulled in at right right before the trade deadline.

[00:33:43]
It was super early into the season, obviously, I believe I was like episode two of like the true beginning of the game because that was when when Tory sort of implemented the character focused the boss.

[00:33:56]
Yeah, I've got it. So I got a quick question actually for you guys, because I was listening back to to Revengeance for for something that the listener will hear later on.

[00:34:07]
And where did you guys ever publicly state why Warren appeared or did he just appear and then roll with it because it felt like he just kind of appeared.

[00:34:18]
We touched on it very briefly. Kind of a subtle nod to to Cole having like everybody else and some some personal life stuff.

[00:34:29]
I don't know how to put it. And then, you know, just kind of introduced Warren as stepping in to take the mantle.

[00:34:38]
Cool. Cool. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, I just want to bring that up as sort of like the origins.

[00:34:42]
Yeah. Well, I mean, we did agree that I just introduced the episode. Yeah. And then it was, hey, Chris, anything we want to do before we start the episode.

[00:34:52]
And he was just like, yeah, maybe we should talk about who you are. You're not cool. Yeah. You know, yeah, as low as my voice is, it is no cold Duncan.

[00:35:05]
Nothing I can do about that. But yeah, no, I was I was a late acquisition. Chris did reach out to me shortly before Tori, you know, basically just sort of pitching it out there.

[00:35:16]
And well, Chris can only reach out shortly.

[00:35:19]
That's my last. That's my last short.

[00:35:26]
But what I would say is I sort of when Chris had to step away with everything that was going on with him. And of course, we were, you know, doing our best to be like, hey, man, how do you want to handle this?

[00:35:35]
Do you want to keep it between us? Do you want to take some time? Is it a week? Is it a month? Is it a year? You know, like, we were trying to still leave the olive branch out of like, hey, man, whenever you're free, come on back, you know, like take care of your stuff and we'll get going.

[00:35:52]
So I tried to be sort of the planner, you know, took over some of the Asana as far as like prepping future seasons and then letting everybody else sort of pick apart, you know, what they what made more sense and that's of course then Ryan, you know, added three episodes to last season.

[00:36:06]
So thank you.

[00:36:07]
But but I think the big thing with me was that 2020 wasn't, I mean, it was annoying for what I do for work.

[00:36:16]
But 2021 easily has been the most challenging, demanding year of any, anything I've ever done in my entire life. And I'm as busy as I've ever been only outside of Metal Gear Mondays, none of it was creative or fun.

[00:36:32]
So I was in a band before I was playing out shows, I was writing music, I'm doing parody songs for podcast networks and guesting and just having like a lot of fun doing things. Yeah, I'd be busy, but it was like it was a choice.

[00:36:45]
Like I didn't have to so I enjoyed that. And now it's just been, you know, back in college to get a degree that makes more sense for the work I've been doing for almost 15 years.

[00:36:55]
The job has dramatically changed for what I do. I mean, you guys heard the Wawa joke, but you know, in the Northeast, there's a chain of food restaurants called Wawa that do, you know, a little bit of everything.

[00:37:05]
I'm a general manager for that. And I'm not, I'm high enough on the chain that half of our country hates me because I'm the guy that hires you.

[00:37:15]
But then I'm also like undoubtedly the person who does more physical work than any other person I pay.

[00:37:22]
Like literally everybody sees me there. I'm there every day. Like so it's just been a little bit of everything and I'm trying to balance of the I'm really not the bad guy.

[00:37:29]
I don't, you know, I don't make people work doubles. I don't do any crazy work while trying to compartmentalize and keep happy home, you know, and get my school work done and, you know, not let anything really falter, which has been a big part of my life.

[00:37:44]
It's been, you know, it's done, right? Like I'd like to say I succeeded, but doesn't make the journey kind of worth it is the problem. You know what I mean?

[00:37:53]
And I'm trying to transition out of my current position because it has changed and I really don't like being the bad guy anymore.

[00:37:58]
I used to like motivating and lifting people up and putting them in a position to take care of themselves and financially afford what they want to do with their lives.

[00:38:06]
And now I'm, you know, now I am an enemy because I even asked them to work, you know, and it's just, it's just not a fun headspace to be in anymore.

[00:38:15]
And I feel kind of felt like I'd be, I basically projected that onto the podcast, right? Like I don't want to be I'm the guy that's going to whatever you guys need, I'm here.

[00:38:25]
And, you know, I didn't, I kind of felt like I was starting to push, you know, as opposed to just understanding that, you know, people need to take a step back. You should too.

[00:38:35]
You know, including me. And I think that was like the biggest piece for me because I mean, I have fingers crossed it gets better, but 2021 has only gotten worse for me.

[00:38:44]
It's been a year of sacrifice of just other people are requiring me to do things for them. And I am the kind of person that I will do it because I care.

[00:38:53]
We said no warren.

[00:38:55]
But yeah, I think it was a little bit of a like, at least for me, hold on, I got to do the same phrasing. So since we're being so transparent.

[00:39:06]
I think, I think a big chunk of it was me projecting that like I'm legitimately bummed. I'm not like a musician right now. It's all like with my little mega men guys up here.

[00:39:18]
I have a lot of music equipment that is getting dusty and, you know, I pick up the acoustic just to kind of play with the cats who are my audience now, you know what I mean.

[00:39:26]
And I think that since I haven't had that and I've only been distracted with just kind of meeting a deadline and I, you know, Metal Gear Mondays wasn't that.

[00:39:35]
But it just, you know, it just felt like another thing to complete at some point and it just, you know, it just worry about like I said, it's making it seem like it's a problem.

[00:39:44]
I know it isn't but the projection is there just because, you know, it's more just get something else off the list because tomorrow six more things are going to get added. You know what I mean.

[00:39:53]
Right.

[00:39:55]
Quick question. Warren, why do you feel like a bad guy for asking people to work?

[00:39:59]
Well, so no, I don't feel like a bad guy for asking people to work. I am the bad guy because I'm asking them to work in the current climate.

[00:40:07]
That's the issue. Like I truly don't think I am. I've put some of my information in the Discord of just like, I, you know, I don't play the games of, oh, we have to watch budgets and no, no, I

[00:40:19]
I don't play the games of, you know

[00:40:49]
don't play the games of, you know, I don't play the games of, you know, I don't think you're just so anxious to go on a

[00:40:51]
sit and play games, you know, and you're playing my computer, deftly.

[00:40:53]
We had a demonstrating think board play formerly,you know, and they had, and then you know, these are the afternoon ups that people use to

[00:41:03]
seeconomies again and again paralysis is what I know, it's what you.

[00:41:06]
I know good people are not forced to go to dancing about songs, like a mother, she can have a blast and why not learn weekends on

[00:41:13]
software at the performance of Kim, or I don't know, now, while cooking Vielen A

[00:41:14]
?...

[00:41:15]
I mean you know, she's Eine

[00:41:18]
I agree too.

[00:41:19]
So like Warren, I know that like sort of wrapped up in all of the like personal details of

[00:41:25]
the story that you told that like the core is, I would say all of the cores to all of

[00:41:31]
our stories are exactly what you said, which is perfect.

[00:41:35]
Which is like that we were all bringing all the other shit to the table.

[00:41:41]
Because like I'm going to be honest with you guys.

[00:41:44]
I had a little bit of a revelation doing this finale season where so six months ago I found

[00:41:49]
out I was bipolar and that's just been like a whole thing for me.

[00:41:53]
It's a good feeling to like be able to put a name to it.

[00:41:55]
Yeah, big time.

[00:41:57]
But it became and I don't want to bring it up for like boohoo woe is me whatever.

[00:42:01]
Like I don't I don't want to bring it for that.

[00:42:03]
I want to bring it up because it's important to the show and it's important to the 207

[00:42:09]
I guess 208 now episodes that there will be when it's over.

[00:42:12]
The reason why the workload was so difficult for multiple people is because of the one person

[00:42:18]
who was doing 90% of it before was doing it out of mania like literally unhealthy mania.

[00:42:29]
So I think there was this weird realization that I had while recording this finale that

[00:42:34]
like in a weird way like mental illness powered Metal Gear Mondays.

[00:42:39]
That makes sense though.

[00:42:41]
That's the most Kojima thing you've ever said.

[00:42:43]
It's great.

[00:42:44]
Well, because like I don't again like I don't want to turn into like a soapbox thing, but

[00:42:48]
it's like like there we podcasted until I could barely stay awake like a lot for this

[00:42:53]
show just like we're doing interviews like so Jeremy Blasene and Donna Burke there in

[00:42:58]
Japan.

[00:42:59]
So our interview times for them were like 330 in the morning or something crazy.

[00:43:04]
But it wasn't even just that dude like we did double.

[00:43:06]
I remember when me, Sam and Isaac did Uzumaki and Silent Hill 2.

[00:43:09]
We did that in the same recording session you guys.

[00:43:12]
Oh, those are both three hour episodes.

[00:43:15]
That was same as you.

[00:43:17]
Dude.

[00:43:18]
Yeah.

[00:43:19]
So there was there was that shit.

[00:43:20]
There was like, yeah, to kind of to what Warren was saying, like through most of this,

[00:43:25]
like I was running a production company that I owned in St. Louis.

[00:43:29]
I like took one of our massive clients to court at one point like tons of personal shit

[00:43:35]
has happened.

[00:43:36]
I think for everybody during this podcast.

[00:43:38]
But I just want to say like it, it just takes a toll and it takes a lot out of you.

[00:43:43]
And I think for the people listening, like we don't say these things to make you feel

[00:43:47]
bad for liking the show.

[00:43:50]
We just say these things so that you can understand who is behind the show.

[00:43:55]
I guess.

[00:43:56]
Yeah.

[00:43:57]
But yeah, I don't know.

[00:43:58]
Yeah, I don't want to be a pity party or anything.

[00:43:59]
And I also want it to be like as the finale season rolls out, which you guys are going

[00:44:02]
to hear over the next few additional episodes.

[00:44:06]
There's just like a lot of really, really great shit that people have like written

[00:44:09]
into the show and said or that people have sent audio messages for and all that stuff.

[00:44:13]
So like every time somebody wrote in and said, I work at a hospital and every day it's hard

[00:44:19]
for me to go to work, but you guys make me smile in my car.

[00:44:21]
Oh, shit.

[00:44:22]
Or every time somebody.

[00:44:23]
Yeah.

[00:44:24]
Or like every time somebody wrote in and they were like, dude, I was crying listening to

[00:44:28]
you guys today because you were reminding me of my childhood or whatever.

[00:44:32]
It's like anytime we got a note like that.

[00:44:34]
I mean, because fuck, the show took a break like three times, right?

[00:44:37]
Yeah.

[00:44:38]
We were like, oh, we got to take a couple months off, which like in retrospect, Jesus Christ,

[00:44:41]
we should have taken that break way sooner.

[00:44:43]
But every time we would take a break, it's like me, Sam and Isaac would be talking and

[00:44:48]
then we would all talk about like, hey, did you see the comment on YouTube or whatever?

[00:44:54]
And we would all be like, saddle up, see biscuit, we got to go make people smile.

[00:44:59]
Oh, yeah.

[00:45:00]
And like, again, I don't say that to be to make anybody feel bad, but like that was

[00:45:05]
definitely the dynamic for us before we passed it off.

[00:45:08]
Yeah.

[00:45:08]
And that's that's definitely the headspace I was in for the better part of this year.

[00:45:13]
I mean, I don't even know if I can safely say like Warren, I don't even know if I can

[00:45:18]
say safely that this year has calmed down all that much for me yet.

[00:45:22]
But yeah, trying to have fun and keep things light and goof around when personally, I felt

[00:45:35]
like everything as I knew it was being shattered.

[00:45:40]
That's that's a tough thing to do.

[00:45:42]
And I couldn't lie through it.

[00:45:45]
You know, it's it's very easy to tell when you attempt to do something that your heart

[00:45:51]
and your head is just not in.

[00:45:52]
And that is also ultimately what led me to thinking an outro would be necessary in the

[00:46:00]
near future. Plus, if I could just piggyback on to onto Alessio's big confession, I too am

[00:46:09]
in the bipolar boat Alessio.

[00:46:11]
So you and I have something to bond over now.

[00:46:14]
Is everybody bipolar?

[00:46:15]
Is this what you discover every host of Metal Gear Monday?

[00:46:19]
Well, and the reason I'm bringing this up is because that has affected.

[00:46:25]
I'm now realizing my communication skills and and it affects the way that I interact

[00:46:32]
with people while I'm stressed, especially.

[00:46:35]
And that's also not an easy thing to put other people around.

[00:46:41]
You know, I've had I've had my share of freakouts or little meltdowns or whatever.

[00:46:47]
And I walk away from them going, God, damn, what the hell was that?

[00:46:51]
I don't even, you know, it's just one more thing to feel bad about.

[00:46:56]
And yeah, just not only did I not feel like I could do it to myself anymore.

[00:47:01]
I didn't want to explode on anybody else anymore.

[00:47:06]
For sure. Yeah. Sure.

[00:47:08]
We could break the cycle.

[00:47:10]
Yeah. Yes. We're the ones.

[00:47:11]
Yeah. So if you're really into Dark Souls, this is the Dark Souls three ending

[00:47:16]
of the DLCs where we say, fuck the cycle.

[00:47:19]
We're just breaking it forever.

[00:47:22]
I was going to say, are we charging hourly rates for this, Alessia?

[00:47:25]
We're getting a lot out on our table right now.

[00:47:29]
We should. Well, and that's the other thing, too, is like, I think there is a world

[00:47:33]
where had we been way more business savvy, Metal Gear Mondays would have somehow

[00:47:38]
partnered up with like two or three other shows that maybe had different people

[00:47:42]
running them so that way they were feasible.

[00:47:44]
Mm hmm.

[00:47:45]
And maybe there would have been some sort of network component.

[00:47:48]
And then the shared shows would bring in enough of an audience to have

[00:47:52]
like people legitimately be able to work part time for the podcast.

[00:47:57]
Right. But I think, like, and we kind of fooled ourselves, I think,

[00:48:01]
early on into thinking maybe we can do that ourselves, which like it's dawned on

[00:48:05]
me, like early episodes, like we do talk about shit like that, possibly happening.

[00:48:10]
And clearly it didn't.

[00:48:11]
But like, I think Metal Gear Mondays was always so niche that like this was,

[00:48:16]
this is the top for it for this.

[00:48:18]
You know what I mean?

[00:48:19]
Like I know that there are YouTubers like Yong Ye who cover a lot of Metal Gear

[00:48:24]
stuff and have way more listeners or viewers than we do.

[00:48:27]
But that's because they cover a whole lot of other shit.

[00:48:30]
I think here with it being explicitly Metal Gear, give it like besides a

[00:48:34]
couple of things here and there that are very loose.

[00:48:37]
Though I will say it's like all of like Silent Hill, Junji Ito stuff,

[00:48:40]
all that stuff was always like very, very, very borderline related to Metal Gear.

[00:48:47]
We were Jason enough.

[00:48:48]
Come on.

[00:48:49]
We were Jason enough.

[00:48:50]
But I think that sort of being our only rule is like, oh, it has to tie to Metal Gear.

[00:48:56]
I think that really limits you to a certain extent.

[00:48:59]
And it's like, I mean, other than the one or two gaps in coverage.

[00:49:03]
So like Chris, I still want to fucking play Snatcher in police knots with you.

[00:49:06]
Yeah.

[00:49:07]
Other than other than like one or two omissions, like I don't really know what

[00:49:12]
else there is to say about Kojima that hasn't been said in 300 hours.

[00:49:16]
You guys.

[00:49:17]
Yeah, that 300.

[00:49:19]
That also has weighed heavily on my mind.

[00:49:23]
Just, you know, how how how could we keep this going in an interesting enough way,

[00:49:28]
especially for people who have been listening since, you know, episode one

[00:49:34]
or early episodes in general.

[00:49:36]
That's, I don't know.

[00:49:38]
I'm saying this now, but then again, I every year feel like I need to have

[00:49:43]
another playthrough of the series and listen to episodes again.

[00:49:46]
But at a certain point too, just from our position, taking over a show that

[00:49:52]
has already pretty much covered all the ground and done it really well.

[00:49:57]
It was hard to imagine being able to top that, let alone, you know, live up to it.

[00:50:03]
And I'm not saying I think we failed to produce interesting and

[00:50:08]
and good content to listen to, but it felt increasingly more daunting to try

[00:50:15]
and and make the next thing better.

[00:50:18]
I'm really envious of what you guys did with the Portable Ops season.

[00:50:21]
That was pretty cool shit.

[00:50:22]
I won't lie.

[00:50:23]
I just thought that was awesome.

[00:50:25]
Yeah.

[00:50:25]
Yeah, it was great.

[00:50:26]
Like I if I could go back in time and do it all over again, I would have a

[00:50:31]
developer or somebody close to the project on like every season talking

[00:50:36]
about the thing we're covering.

[00:50:38]
Yeah.

[00:50:39]
Cause like that was phenomenal.

[00:50:41]
We looked out super hard.

[00:50:42]
I mean, and obviously it all started with your getting Ryan on the show, Alessio,

[00:50:47]
but the fact that he's just such a like fucking sweetheart for one and so easy

[00:50:53]
to talk to, he made those interview episodes.

[00:50:56]
So just a breeze to get through for one.

[00:50:58]
But then bringing Kazuma Genuchi on to produce more content for that season.

[00:51:04]
That was just couldn't have asked for any better way for the season to go.

[00:51:10]
Right.

[00:51:10]
Totally agree.

[00:51:11]
Yeah.

[00:51:12]
So I don't know.

[00:51:12]
I think all that being said, too, I just want to put a just put a quick flag down

[00:51:17]
here and say, because this has actually been asked a couple of times.

[00:51:21]
The episodes are staying live.

[00:51:22]
Like all 208 episodes.

[00:51:26]
Uh, you're going to hear me say 207 a lot on the, on the finale season parts,

[00:51:31]
but this is the addition.

[00:51:34]
So all the 208 episodes, they're still going to be on Spotify and Apple

[00:51:38]
podcasts and all that stuff.

[00:51:40]
Um, so it's not like you won't be able to come back and listen to it again.

[00:51:46]
But yeah, I have a question for you guys.

[00:51:48]
And I might should know this and I might put my foot in my mouth.

[00:51:52]
What was the next season going to be if MGMR continued?

[00:51:57]
It was going to be a peace walker, right?

[00:51:58]
Peace walker.

[00:51:59]
Yeah.

[00:51:59]
Oh, that's right.

[00:52:00]
Cause you guys are doing chronological chronological.

[00:52:02]
I have a, I have all the notes.

[00:52:04]
I'm sure you're ready to go.

[00:52:07]
Uh, Warren, you should put them up on Patreon.

[00:52:10]
Yeah.

[00:52:10]
Yeah.

[00:52:11]
I mean, I had like, oh, it's just cause I mean, I was trying to be, you know,

[00:52:14]
playing right.

[00:52:15]
So we had, before we were done MGS three, I was, I, you know, we had approved all

[00:52:19]
the notes for, for portable ops at that point.

[00:52:22]
That's crazy.

[00:52:23]
Yeah.

[00:52:23]
I tried to be as prepared as I could, you know,

[00:52:26]
I was super impressed and only a little intimidated.

[00:52:31]
Well, and kind of like I shouted out Chris, like I definitely like much

[00:52:33]
love to, um, Tori and Warren on top of it, because like Warren, a hundred percent,

[00:52:38]
like what you said about your work ethic, like at the end of the day, no matter

[00:52:43]
what, there is no denying that Warren did not fucking put time and effort into the

[00:52:50]
show.

[00:52:51]
Oh, for sure.

[00:52:52]
Cause God damn true.

[00:52:54]
Good God damn.

[00:52:55]
Thanks guys.

[00:52:56]
I appreciate it.

[00:52:57]
I want to say, uh, everybody that I've worked with on this show ever has put in

[00:53:03]
a thousand percent of effort.

[00:53:05]
So I don't think there's ever been an issue of anyone's particular slacking,

[00:53:10]
you know, and I definitely feel that way about you, Warren and Tori, you know,

[00:53:15]
for sure.

[00:53:15]
One, Warren was sort of like cool uncle Warren, cause like constantly fucking

[00:53:21]
putting together events for Patreon, um, which is a discord, discord

[00:53:25]
streams for Halloween and stuff.

[00:53:27]
Like, yeah.

[00:53:29]
Yeah.

[00:53:29]
I don't know.

[00:53:29]
Just crazy stuff.

[00:53:30]
Everybody going above and beyond, but I think it's the proclivity that we all have

[00:53:33]
to go above and beyond that is killing us.

[00:53:38]
Oops.

[00:53:38]
He kept playing 2020.

[00:53:40]
It was fun.

[00:53:41]
I just, I did.

[00:53:42]
It's different now.

[00:53:43]
I don't know what it is, man.

[00:53:44]
It's a different world we live in.

[00:53:46]
Well, it's cause 2020 never really ended.

[00:53:48]
It's only gotten worse.

[00:53:51]
It's true.

[00:53:51]
Well, Chris, what are you going to say before we went into hell for a second?

[00:53:55]
What was I going to say?

[00:53:57]
I don't remember.

[00:53:57]
There's some joke about something Warren said.

[00:54:02]
Hell yeah.

[00:54:04]
I guess super quick lowdown on the episodes that you're going to hear.

[00:54:07]
If this is your first time coming to this episode, what you're going to hear coming

[00:54:10]
up is a teaser for the finale and then four final parts and their beefy episodes.

[00:54:16]
They're like two and a half, two and a half to three hours per.

[00:54:20]
If you're like, oh, these sons of bitches are trying to get out with this hour long

[00:54:24]
apology episode, like shut up.

[00:54:28]
You're about to get 12 hours of content.

[00:54:32]
But yes, they're pretty fun.

[00:54:33]
They're very good.

[00:54:33]
There's a lot of different variety and I think you'll enjoy it.

[00:54:36]
And I hope that everybody who's with me on this recording enjoys it as well, because

[00:54:42]
trying to make sure that everybody smiles before the credits roll.

[00:54:47]
Oh, yeah.

[00:54:48]
It's weird.

[00:54:48]
I never really realized it wasn't until working on the show and then just a couple

[00:54:55]
like pieces of art that I had like consumed over the last couple months.

[00:55:00]
I never really realized.

[00:55:01]
I always thought it was trying to think how to put this in a word.

[00:55:04]
I'm sorry guys.

[00:55:06]
I had always been told that to do things for anyone other than yourself was wrong and

[00:55:15]
that trying to please other people is silly.

[00:55:19]
And I agree that being a people pleaser is silly.

[00:55:22]
What I don't agree with though is that you shouldn't do things for other people and that

[00:55:26]
you should always try to like watch out for yourself or like make art for you.

[00:55:30]
Don't make it for anybody else.

[00:55:32]
Make it for you.

[00:55:33]
And I think what I have learned through Metal Gear Mondays is that me making something

[00:55:38]
for somebody else to smile and enjoy is me making it for me.

[00:55:44]
Because that's what I want.

[00:55:47]
And I just if that is the barometer to which we're grading Metal Gear Mondays,

[00:55:51]
like I feel like we succeeded a million times over because like I just feel like we did

[00:56:00]
a really good job of making people laugh and making people have a good time.

[00:56:03]
So we're 100% agree.

[00:56:05]
That has been the engine for me without even thinking twice.

[00:56:10]
Yeah, it's great.

[00:56:11]
I don't know.

[00:56:11]
It's super fun.

[00:56:13]
It is weird that we picked this game series to turn into like a comedy podcast.

[00:56:18]
Yeah.

[00:56:20]
There's some good moments.

[00:56:21]
There's some some fun moments that should, you know, feel that.

[00:56:24]
Yeah, for sure.

[00:56:25]
Definitely.

[00:56:26]
Do you guys want to let's go around and fucking I know there's going to be a

[00:56:29]
roundtable with you guys, but like do you guys want to do like your final words?

[00:56:34]
Is that too too grandiose, too intense?

[00:56:38]
Hmm.

[00:56:39]
I guess I guess I will just say that after all this time, I learned that yes,

[00:56:46]
love love can bloom on the battlefield.

[00:56:48]
Very nice.

[00:56:49]
Is anybody else going to fall in suit with also also legs can fall off.

[00:56:54]
So very easily.

[00:56:56]
Careful.

[00:56:57]
Yeah.

[00:56:58]
Yeah.

[00:56:58]
Chris, you guys got anything final sign off?

[00:57:01]
Can't be like, yeah, can't be like real winners eat their vegetables.

[00:57:06]
You gotta get something real.

[00:57:08]
I don't know.

[00:57:09]
I mean, I think at the end of the day, I hope that I hope that it stays out like

[00:57:18]
as an inspired thing and that people have learned that, you know, if they want to

[00:57:24]
do something, they should just do it themselves, too.

[00:57:27]
Like this is totally community driven thing or was, you know, and if you want

[00:57:33]
to like see something happen out there, just, you know, do it.

[00:57:37]
If you, if you don't know how, like ask somebody for help, talk to people,

[00:57:43]
see how many people you can get around it, you know, hell yeah.

[00:57:46]
Asking for asking for help is a really good way to make friends.

[00:57:50]
Yeah.

[00:57:50]
Agreed.

[00:57:51]
I feel like outside of college and work, trying to make friends becomes a really

[00:57:57]
daunting task.

[00:57:59]
And even when you move somewhere and you're like, I need to go network.

[00:58:02]
Um, the easiest fucking way to make friends and get people excited to be your friend

[00:58:08]
is to be like, Hey, I'm working on this thing.

[00:58:11]
And I really wanted to know if you could help me out and like really just ask them

[00:58:16]
questions and be like, I don't know, just open and, and, and be okay with making

[00:58:21]
mistakes because they think I can be a little bit of a perfectionist, but I

[00:58:25]
think if I wasn't okay with making mistakes, I don't think Metal Gear Mondays

[00:58:29]
would exist and I don't think there would be so many recordings of me talking

[00:58:32]
about masturbation now available on the internet.

[00:58:37]
I hope my parents don't listen to the finale.

[00:58:42]
Yeah.

[00:58:42]
And I think, um, yeah, I'm just outside of just being really grateful.

[00:58:47]
And, uh, I think, uh, you know, I can say I've said it on previous episodes,

[00:58:51]
future episodes, uh, with all the, you know, tough talk we talked about this,

[00:58:56]
but this community has like been there and honestly, like in a positive way,

[00:59:02]
exclusively, like just I've talked to this, this community more than people I

[00:59:06]
see in real life.

[00:59:08]
Uh, like they are my closer friends in this moment.

[00:59:11]
You know what I mean?

[00:59:12]
Um, and that's just been like really important to me, like having internet

[00:59:16]
only friends, uh, I'm kind of newer to that.

[00:59:20]
And as in like the last five years, it's been common for me, but not as, not

[00:59:24]
as in depth as obviously MGM has been as I'm a host.

[00:59:28]
So yeah, just really appreciative, really grateful.

[00:59:31]
Um, and anybody knows where to find me, so I'm not too worried about that.

[00:59:35]
I guess the only request I would have is because a few people did reach out to me

[00:59:38]
as they did want to make sure that there was a final letter rip, Jack.