“Critical Role is an American web series in which a group of professional voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons. The show started streaming in March 2015, partway through the cast's first campaign” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Role](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Role) \ \ Fandom Facts * Holy **crap** Critical Role is popular: is is the most popular it has ever been (aside from March 2019), but also, its popularity coincides with a [massive increase in popularity in Dungeons and Dragons](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fg%2F11clghjr0y,%2Fm%2F026q9,%2Fm%2F04dzk1_) (but _not _Pathfinder) * There is a site entirely devoted to [stats about the critical role game](https://www.critrolestats.com): d20 rolls, puns, lore, you name it! * “After the split from Geek and Sundry, the cast announced a fundraiser for an animation of the popular Whitebriar arc. The campaign asked for $750,000 but reached $1 million within an hour, ending with a record-breaking $11.3 million in donations.” ### First Impressions **T:** I honestly had very little impression of what CR actually was. My only exposure was through following ItsGinnyDi on Twitter and seeing various Jester-related cosplay (I actually forgot that the show’s premise was voice-actors playing Dungeons and Dragons)! I might have seen some humourous animatics with Jester too… but when G said that the episodes are like three hours long and unedited, I was skeptical. **Z:** I think I first heard about this from G, and I thought it sounded kind of like The Adventure Zone. And that was kind of it. Not because I don’t find D&D interesting, but instead because I felt like I’d heard The Adventure Zone and I was good on the recorded tabletop RPG playing front. Aside from that, though, it seemed to me like it was kind of like the Game Grumps ...
If chins could kill, you'd want to watch out for fans of this week's topic: Bruce Campbell Are fans of Bruce Campbell distinct from similar fandoms (e.g. Evil Dead, Horror)? What makes them special? Does Bruce Campbell do a better job with fanalysis that we do?! Good. Bad. We're the one's with this week's episode. Everyone's a fan! Find more like this: [fanthropological.com](http://fanthropological.com) Find us on social media Twitter: [@thenickscast](http://twitter.com/thenickscast) Instagram: [@thenickscast](http://instagram.com/thenickscast) Facebook: [fb.com/thenickscast](http://fb.com/thenickscast) Youtube: [youtube.com/thenickscast](http://youtube.com/thenickscast) Email us about fandoms you want to hear about: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) Play-by-play 00:00 - Cold Open 00:06 - Theme Song 00:26 - Introduction 02:01 - Who are Bruce Campbell fans? 04:25 - Trivia 16:05 - Is Bruce Campbell fandom a thing (vs Evil Dead)? 30:02 - Does celebrity fandoms exist (through the lens of Bruce Campbell)? 36:06 - So, what is it about Bruce Campbell then?? 46:32 - Fans of the week 52:19 - Spotlight: [Anime Feminist](http://www.animefeminist.com/) 56:08 - Goodbye! 57:32 - Outtakes Citations ["'Ash vs Evil Dead' star Bruce Campbell reveals weird fan gift - Business Insider"](http://www.businessinsider.com/ash-vs-evil-dead-star-bruce-campbell-reveals-weird-fan-gift-2015-10) ["Bruce Campbell on How the Fans Brought 'Ash vs. Evil Dead' to Life"](http://variety.com/video/ash-vs-evil-dead-bruce-campbell-starz-tv-show/) ["I'm Bruce Campbell. I'm back. Ask Me Anything. : IAmA"](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3saj8z/im_bruce_campbell_im_back_ask_me_anything/) ["Fans Call For Bruce Campbell As Mysterio In 'Spider-Man 4' - MTV"](http://www.mtv.com/news/2595331/fans-call-for-bruce-campbell-as-mysterio-in-spider-man-4/) ["LAST FAN STANDING Episode 1 FREE on CONtv - YouTube"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I2R65bUmvY) ["Fanalysis"](http://www.bruce-campbell.com/product.asp?specific=199) ["Bruce Campbell - Encyclopedia Dramatica"](https://encyclopediadramatica.se/Bruce_Campbell) ["Help Bruce Campbell fund the Last Fan Standing - Kickstarter"](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1774323088/help-bruce-campbell-fund-the-last-fan-standing/description) ["Hail to the King: Bruce Campbell on Fandom - Kickstarter"](https://medium.com/kickstarter/hail-to-the-king-92c2e2a92a35) ["Cult hero Bruce Campbell has fun with Fan Expo - The Toronto Star"](https://www.thestar.com/amp/entertainment/2009/08/29/cult_hero_bruce_campbell_has_fun_with_fan_expo.html) ["Bruce Campbell and Lucy Lawless talk about Comic Con and the difference between their fans - AOL"](http://build.aol.com/video/57f5893fc7480e39fd58fca0/) ["Strong Lineup Kicks Off First Edition of Bruce ...
[// Pregenerate link to episode ahead of time: - clicktotweet.com- sharelinkgenerator.com]: # This week, T is Tanking, G and Z take Offense as they all push the payload towards the goal: Discovering what is the appeal of Overwatch, and what makes people a fan of it. Are there fans that try to embody characters when they play? Why is Hanzo maining a bad thing? How did fan's react to Tracer's girlfriend? All this and more as we dig into the fandom! Next week, SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT: We'll be talking about fans of Rick and Morty (with a special guest)! ## Episode outline ### Fandom Facts **History and Origins:** Overwatch is a class-based, online first-person shooter (FPS) developed by Blizzard Entertainment released in May 2016. Mechanically, the game consists of two teams of six "heroes" each working towards some objective depending on the game mode. There are over twenty heroes, each with their own unique abilities and skills broadly grouped into "offense", "defense", "tank", and "support" roles. As far as the story of the game: > Soldiers. Scientists. Adventurers. Oddities. > > In a time of global crisis, an international task force of heroes banded together to restore peace to a war-torn world: Overwatch. > > It ended the crisis and helped to maintain peace in the decades that followed, inspiring an era of exploration, innovation, and discovery. But after many years, Overwatch's influence waned, and it was eventually disbanded. > > Overwatch is gone… but the world still needs heroes. > > Now, conflict is rising across the world again, and the call has gone out to heroes old and new. Are you with us? > > — [Fanlore - Overwatch](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Overwatch) **Search Data:** Looking at the [search data for Overwatch](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=%2Fm%2F0128442n), search interest in the game has ...