Morrigan ASSIST ME! is Happening

Those of you who follow Max on Twitch know that I was up in LA for the streams this last weekend. If you missed it, catch it on the YoVideogames YouTube channel when Simmons gets it uploaded (hopefully in the next week or so, because it was so hype.)

Anyway, the reason I'm writing today is because I talked to Max about the next episode of Marvel ASSIST ME! (Morrigan) and he confirmed it is in fact happening. We filmed the episode nearly a year ago, and it's insane how that time blew by. Max was swamped working on other projects since the Dante episode came out, but he now has a tutor for the character (I'll leave it to him to announce who when the time's right.)

So it's happening! We went over the live action footage and he made a few tweaks. There's still lots of sound editing (Doom VO, music, etc.) and probably other work to do, but it is happening. I'm so stoked it'll be coming out. Don't know when, so don't ask me, but it is gonna happen and I think you guys are gonna love it.

For reasons that escape me entirely.

Stay tuned!

The "Operation: Raccoon City" Special That Never Happened

Digging through my old files tonight. Found a funny one that was meant to be a promotional video for Resident Evil Operation: Raccoon City.

This hilarious affront to the gods of gaming.

When ORC was still in its promotional phase, we had some connections to CAPCOM and used them to pitch an idea that we'd shoot a small comedy introduction video for the six playable USS characters. The story was conceptualized by Simmons, and I wrote up the script. It involved HUNK and Night Hawk (a USS pilot erroneously renamed 'Lone Wolf' in ORC) searching for people to recruit to Delta Team.

I would be playing HUNK, Simmons would be Night Hawk. I had actors lined up for every other role, and locations as well, but ultimately communications with CAPCOM fell through the cracks and so we never shot it.

There are some nice ASSIST ME! references here, and I think the comedy's decent. This is the rough draft of the script, but enjoy it!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SCRIPT!

What's It Like Playing Wesker?

This is entry #1 in a series of posts that will detail my insights to the characters I play in ASSIST ME!

Up first is my favorite of the bunch, Albert Wesker of Resident Evil, who makes far more appearances than any other character I play in the show. Wesker has a rich history of actors playing him. First voiced by Sergio Jones in the original video game, Wesker was made a fan favorite by Richard Waugh, who took the reigns in Resident Evil Code: Veronica. Waugh set the standard for Wesker's mid-Atlantic accent (sort of a midway point between an American and British accent and often attributed to Americans of a high social class). Waugh was eventually replaced by D.C. Douglas, who voiced him for his more recent video game appearances, including UMvC3.

In live action, he's been played by the likes of Jason O'Mara and Shawn Roberts. However another source of Wesker's character is Ken Lally, who did the motion-capture work for him in Resident Evil 5 and also portrayed him in the live action versions of the cut-scenes done by Reuben Langdon's studio Just Cause Entertainment.

What a boss.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ken (and several of the mo-cap and voice actors from RE5) at Fanimecon 2009. Ken got a kick out of my Wesker costume, and we talked at length about the character and his interpretation of Wesker's body language and martial arts background. It was a great source of character research that I did well before I expected to play Wesker in any videos. Ken helped me work on Wesker's posture, explained to me why Wesker often had his left arm tucked to his body and had his right hand free by loosely near his neck or upper torso. Wesker's left arm tucks down his holstered Samurai Edge so that if he needs to draw it, it's ready to go. His right hand is always loose and ready to draw if needed, but he also keeps it ready to block any incoming attacks to his head or neck. Cool stuff.

Ken also talked about one of Wesker's character traits that he wanted to implement, but didn't because in CG it looked weird. Wesker is always watching the ground - his combat arena, if you will - to be constantly aware of his surroundings, enemy movement, obstacles and potential traps. He may be superhumanly strong and fast, but he doesn't survive by being careless.

One thing I picked up from reading interviews with Richard Waugh was that Wesker always refers to people by their first name (this is why instead of "Doom" or "Dr. Doom" or anything, he calls Doom by the name Victor.) Waugh also liked to cut out abbreviations (his Wesker says "will not" instead of "won't" and so on) although this isn't a trait that survived into the D.C. Douglas era, and so it wasn't something I picked up on since my Wesker is based on RE5.

I try to implement the official actors' quirks when appropriate into my physical portrayal of Wesker. Of course, ASSIST ME! being a comedy allows lots of freedom for other character quirks.

Aside from making sure Wesker appears confident and ready for a fight, there are other things I do specifically as Wesker. When Wesker does take a seat, he relaxes. Not so much slouches, but just chills. I figured if Wesker would bother sitting with his enemies, he's going to at least make himself comfortable. (This is opposed to Deadpool, who sits forward facing and is always eagerly childish.)

Another source of inspiration comes from Tom Cruise's character Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder. In ASSIST ME!, Wesker's hot headedness and precise insults are a bit of a nod to Les. I try to avoid it being a knockoff as much as possible, but it seemed appropriate for the parody series.

In season 1 and Ultimate, Wesker being the villain made my job easy. I just took what he was like in the games and made it funny. But with season 2 and on, Wesker starts to get this really interesting character arc. Of course we first see him help Max and Doom survive Deadpool's attack, but that's more for his own gain than any other reason. In the Chris episode we see Wesker is living with Max and Doom, but tensions are still there. Ironically enough, the first real hints we see of his arc are in "Doom and Wesker Watch Resident Evil 6 Trailer #2", which takes place after the Chris episode and is alluded to in the "last time on ASSIST ME!" bit of the Phoenix episode. What seems like a one-off joke was actually integral to the plot, and it's the bit where Wesker finds out he has a son.

Now, Wesker (in the show) has always had daddy issues. He admits to them in his own tutorial episode, referring to the fact that his father never taught him to play baseball (before drinking a lot). Now that he finds out he's also a deadbeat dad, he panics. This, in addition to Doom's accusations of Wesker causing the zombie outbreak, cause Wesker to leave the apartment.

It's actually a way heavier character moment than the viewers may have realized, because Wesker just had his whole world turned upside-down by the revelation that he's just like the father he hated. And it was that that turned him around and made him start towards the good-side of the fight. You'll see it more in season 3 (assuming it's released) but you do see it at the end of season 2 when he comes back to help the guys fight Taskmaster. He didn't come back but for any other reason than that he's trying to right his wrongs.

These are the eyes of a man who hates himself.

It's one of my favorite things about playing Wesker in the series. He comes off as cocky, brutish and villainous, but he's actually a deeply delicate character who ultimately recognizes his own sins and starts to right them.

And probably, nobody noticed that til just now.

Q&A - Round 1

Yesterday I offered to make a blog based on a Q&A both on my Facebook and my Twitter. I didn't get a huge response but I'll answer those questions here. I may do it again in the future.

Q: Is there a cosplay or character that you would totally refuse to do? (From Ayrton Frank Pilares Delgado via Facebook)

A: This is an interesting question. I look at cosplay personally as a way to express my love for a character. I don't cosplay a character if I don't already like them a lot. Hence, my list of cosplays is short even if I've rebuilt each of them a dozen times. Since I started, I've cosplayed as Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean), Link (Legend of Zelda), Jecht (Final Fantasy X), HUNK (Resident Evil) and Albert Wesker (Resident Evil). I guess you could also count Deadpool (Marvel Comics) and Thanos (Marvel Comics) although I did those costumes for ASSIST ME! rather than personal cosplay. Of those characters, Jecht was the one time I did a cosplay based on friends wanting me to do it. It was a fun and simple enough build, but I honestly didn't enjoy wearing it because I had no attachment to the character and no love for the series.

For me anyways, when you wear a costume you have no particular attachment to, it's boring. Plus you'll get people who are fans coming up to you to talk to you about the series, and you don't know what they're talking about, and then you look like a douche.

Pictured: my Jecht costume, apparently.

In the future I have plans to make costumes of Batman (DC Comics), Edward Kenway (Assassin's Creed), and perhaps an originally designed Hylian Knight. That's all stuff I want to do, and I know I'll enjoy it.

So in short, there's not really any one costume or character I'd refuse to do. The fact is I simply won't do it if it's not interesting to me. I guess that technically puts the count of characters I would "refuse" to do pretty high though.

Q: Will you be going to Anime Expo this year and/or any convention this year? (From Matthew Nevarez via Facebook)

A: I have no intentions to go to Anime Expo unless they return to Anaheim. The last time I went to AX was 2007 when they did it in Long Beach. The location wasn't the problem as much as the fact that in 2006 and 2007 the con was run so awfully that it just turned me off. I would go back to Anaheim for the sake of nostalgia though. Really, I've fallen out of the con scene. They just aren't all that fun to me these days. I might get back into them in the future, but I did them for 10 years and to me they got dull.

Q: When is next ASSIST ME!? (From Alvin Li via Facebook)

A: That's really a question I can't answer. Season 3 was almost entirely filmed in the spring of 2013. We do have some pickups to shoot, and we haven't shot the finale episode yet. The next episode of UMvC3 (Morrigan) is completely filmed, but to my knowledge Max hasn't had time to do the in-game stuff yet. He's been extremely busy with paid projects (as I've said before, ASSIST ME! costs more to produce than Max gets back from YouTube hits). I don't know when he will, you'd have to hound him for it. Soon, I hope, while people are still interested. That said, he has talked to me about doing more Killer Instinct episodes. They'd be easier to make, and that's what he's passionate about right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he releases some KI episodes before we see Morrigan.

I NEED AN ADULT.

Q: How exactly did you do the Deadpool mask? (From Jaymic Schliesman via Twitter)

A: Pretty simply, actually. The red part of the mask was just a cotton-spandex blend fabric (the same as the outfit) that I sewed into a custom balaclava. I based the thing off of his appearance in Marvel Ultimate Alliance, which gave me the idea to have black makeup instead of fabric to allow for eye movement. Our makeup artists then covered my eyebrows and most of the rest of my face in layers of liquid latex to give the appearance of twisted, chunky, fucked up Deadpool skin. They painted that black with some grease makeup, eyeliner around the eyes, etc. and popped in white mesh eye contacts. It took over an hour to get the makeup done, and taking it off hurt like hell, but I think it was worth it.

eBay? Ain't nobody got time for that!

Q: Any advice for cosplay beginners? A friend of mine wants to do Chris Redfield soon. (From Dan via Twitter)

A: As I detailed a bit in my first answer above, stick to what you like. Do what you're passionate about. Even when doing commissions, if I work on something that I'm not interested in it just isn't nearly as fun. At the end of the day cosplay is supposed to be fun, so don't get too caught up on anything but doing something you want to, and doing it the way you want to. For some people that means a big extravagant debut in their first costume, which is cool and all, but that shouldn't be your standard. Enjoy yourself.

Also, make sure your costume is easy to change out of, use the restroom is, breathes as much as possible, doesn't totally block your peripheral vision, doesn't drag on the floor (an escalator will fuck your shit up) and isn't Hetalia.

Fuck Hetalia.

"Day Of" Jokes

To my understanding, an honest-to-God film production doesn't have changes made the day of filming. The risk of continuity errors, etc. is just too much to handle. Once a script is written, it'll be used in rehearsals, screen tests, and otherwise edited probably a ton before the final version is ultimately settled, but come filming day nobody's throwing out new ideas or coming up with new dialog.

At least, that's my understanding of it. Don't take my word for it.

In ASSIST ME! things are a lot different. I usually write scripts well before we're ready to film, and send them out to the cast for feedback. Due to our conflicting schedules and travel distance, we can't get together for a bunch of rehearsals and discussions. So everybody reads it, sends me any feedback they might have, and I'll make some changes. Usually my second or third draft is what I call the "final" draft, but that doesn't mean that the script is scripture when it comes time to film.

A lot of the rest f the crew doesn't pay much mind to a particular episode until filming day. And since we don't get together for rehearsal not even I can be sure what the flow and feel of the episode will be like until we're in character, bouncing lines off each other and the camera's rolling.

To somebody used to professional procedure, this is probably an enormous headache. But to those of us just doing it for fun, it's kind of a blast. Everybody gets to toss in ideas, and what we agree works best is what we go with. A prime example is "magic hood" gag, where Doom pulls random plot devices or other props out of his hood.

Back when we were filming Ultimate ASSIST ME!, Max had written the script for the first episode and  if memory serves me correctly, the script just called for "Doom pulls out a copy of Ultimate Marvel 3." When it came time to film, Max realized there needed to be some kind of interesting reveal. We didn't just want to have Doom snap it into existence because we had done that for mundane props before - the early copy of UMvC3 was a big deal in the plot, so we needed something new. After we all thought on it for a few seconds, I said "Just have him pull it out of his hood."

Doom's hood is friggin' huge. So we stuck the game up in there and had him pull it out like there was some mystical pocket. It was a bit of a pain to make it work, because with his gloves on Simmons couldn't even feel the case, but after a few tries we got it down, and magic was born.

Since then, Doom's "magic hood pocket" has been iconic in the series. We made a throwback to the gag in the Deadpool episode. When Max wants to show Deadpool a change from the vanilla version, he reaches into Doom's hood (notice how he reaches into the opposite end that Doom pulled Ultimate from - aw, shit!) and pulls out the game to Doom's surprise. As Max and Deadpool play, Doom pulls an assortment of random crap from his hood, surprised at everything he finds.

The inside of Doom's hood, probably.

We used the joke again in Retro ASSIST ME! when Doom sticks old games into one side of hood, and after horrible grinding noises pulls Infinity gems from the other side. (And also plutonium, because comics are stupid.) It's one of the seemingly intentional iconic pieces of ASSIST ME! lore that was literally thought up on the fly during filming.

And that's just one thing. The amount of jokes and gags in the show that we come up with day of is ridiculous. This is why even though I'm often credited as the main writer, I've said before at pretty much every panel we've done that nobody can really take full credit for any particular episode. The whole process is so organic and involves a lot more heads than one.

Sometimes it works out really well. Other times not as much. But really, it's a fundamental part of the show. I wouldn't have it any other way.