Cup of Jones - March 16, 2020

Howdy, Jones! I’ve supported you guys from the beginning of Easy Allies. I got out of boot camp in March of 2016 and Kyle’s solo channel got recommended to me and he plugged EZA at the end of each video, so I checked it out and watched the little intro video y’all made. I. Was. In. I binged every episode of Tabletop Escapades that was out at that point and I knew I’d never stop supporting you guys no matter what. Kyle’s departure is a bummer. I probably wouldn’t have discovered you guys without him. That being said, you’re all superstars in my eyes. I’m glad you’ve decided to take the podcast in your own direction because an attempt to copy Kyle’s podcast wouldn’t feel right. Also, I noticed Blood said he’s free to be that next permanent seat on the podcast if you want. If you ask me, I think the dynamic between you and Blood would bring a nice flavor to the new podcast. Sorry this is so long. My first time commenting on Cup of Jones despite watching every week and I want you guys to feel the support!

TokenGamer

Okay third time's the charm, let's see if this one actually stays on: Hi Jones, hopefully you are having a lovely day. I could've sworn that I did write a comment on last week's episode and I even went back and edited it but it's not there.... maybe my memory is failing me even more and I forgot to actually send it after writing it haha (seems like it was a Patreon glitch, this is the third time I'm sending this comment lol) Anyway here is the trivia answer from 2 weeks ago: The phrase "Featuring Dante from Devil May Cry series" comes from Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, which featured Dante (DMC2 one actually) as a boss (he even had his own cutscenes and dialogues). What most people probably don't know is that Atlus and Capcom actually did another collaboration between DMC and SMT last year as well. Last year around DMC5's release, the mobile game Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2 did a DMC5 collaboration which featured Dante, Nero and V. It also had an all new original story which was supervised by Capcom. I thought this was a fun bit of info that a lot of DMC and SMT fans might not know about. Also for last week's question I was thinking about the long standing DMC tradition that DMC5 broke and wanted to present that as a question to you. (DMC5 SPOILERS here) The answer to that question would've been the fact that no one cried in DMC5. Ever since DMC1 every sequel in the original series (and even in DmC) had someone crying at some point (I mean it is called Devil May CRY after all), but in DMC5 nobody cries which breaks the long standing tradition of the series. They actually make fun of this in a very funny scene that I recommend you watching if you haven't seen it: (and have no plans to play/finish DMC5 in the future) DMC5 ENDING SPOILERS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKr9bbapvyU That's it for this week in regards to Trivia stuff. With everything going on within EZA and the madness around the world with COVID-19 stuff it just didn't feel right to keep doing this silly bit for now. So I might still pop up and drop some trivia stuff, but it wouldn't feel right to waste your time with such questions in the midst of everything going on right now. I also wanted to say thank you for going along with this for as long as you did. It was fun thinking about what sort of question I should ask for each week and seeing your answer in the following episode haha. Hopefully once everything calms down a bit we can continue this in some fashion if you are still up for it :) That said, I'm still gonna ask business related questions tho haha Business question: With you taking over the podcast duties after Kyle leaves, could you see a change in the scheduling of the podcast? In the past there were weeks where we barely had any news and Kyle had to rely on a lot of bits and weird segments (which I loved tbh) to get through an episode and then there were times when we had so much news that it wasn't really possible to cram them all in one episode, so some stuff would get ignored or wouldn't get much attention. With that in mind, do you see EZA podcast becoming a biweekly show (in both sense of meaning) depending on how much gaming news we get during a certain period of time? Sorry for the wall of text (and my bad English). And as always, love and respect.

Hi Jones, hopefully you are having a lovely day. I could've sworn that I did write a comment on last week's episode and I even went back and edited it but it's not there.... maybe my memory is failing me even more and I forgot to actually send it after writing it haha Anyway here is the trivia answer from 2 weeks ago: The phrase "Featuring Dante from Devil May Cry series" comes from Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, which featured Dante (DMC2 one actually) as a boss (he even had his own cutscenes and dialogues). What most people probably don't know is that Atlus and Capcom actually did another collaboration between DMC and SMT last year as well. Last year around DMC5's release, the mobile game Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2 did a DMC5 collaboration which featured Dante, Nero and V. It also had an all new original new story which was supervised by Capcom. I thought this was a fun bit of info that a lot of DMC and SMT fans don't know about. Also for last week's question I was thinking about the long standing DMC tradition that DMC5 broke and wanted to present that as a question to you. (DMC5 SPOILERS here) The answer to that question would've been the fact that no one cried in DMC5. Ever since the first entry every sequel in the original series (and even in DmC) had someone crying at some point (I mean it is called Devil May CRY after all), but in DMC5 nobody cries which breaks the long standing tradition of the series. They actually make fun of this in a very funny scene that I recommend you watching if you haven't seen it: (and don't plan to play/finish DMC5) DMC5 ENDING SPOILERS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKr9bbapvyU That's it for this week in regards to Trivia stuff. With everything going on within EZA and the madness around the world with COVID-19 stuff it just didn't feel right to keep doing this silly bit for now. So I might still pop up and drop some trivia stuff, but it wouldn't feel right to waste your time with such questions in the midst of everything going on right now. I also wanted to say thank you for going along with this for as long as you did. It was fun thinking about what sort of question I should ask for each week and seeing your answer in the following episode haha. Hopefully once everything calms down a bit we can continue this in some fashion if you are still up for it :) That said, I'm still gonna ask business related questions tho haha Business question: With you taking over the podcast duties after Kyle leaves, could you see a change in the scheduling of the podcast? There were weeks where we barely had any news and Kyle had to rely on a lot of bits and weird segments (which I loved) to get through an episode and then there were times when we had so much news that it wasn't really possible to cram them all in one episode, so some stuff would get ignored or wouldn't get much attention. With that in mind, do you see EZA podcast becoming a biweekly show (in both sense of meaning) depending on how much gaming news we get during a certain period of time? Sorry for the wall of text (and my bad English). And as always, love and respect.

Hi Jones, hopefully you are having a lovely day. I could've sworn that I did write a comment on last week's episode and I even went back and edited it but it's not there.... maybe my memory is failing me even more and I forgot to actually send it after writing it haha Anyway here is the trivia answer from 2 weeks ago: The phrase "Featuring Dante from Devil May Cry series" comes from Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, which featured Dante (DMC2 one actually) as a boss (he even had his own cutscenes and dialogues). What most people probably don't know is that Atlus and Capcom actually did another collaboration between DMC and SMT last year as well. Last year around DMC5's release, the mobile game Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2 did a DMC5 collaboration which featured Dante, Nero and V. It also had an all new original story which was supervised by Capcom. I thought this was a fun bit of info that a lot of DMC and SMT fans might not know about. Also for last week's question I was thinking about the long standing DMC tradition that DMC5 broke and wanted to present that as a question to you. (DMC5 SPOILERS here) The answer to that question would've been the fact that no one cried in DMC5. Ever since the first entry every sequel in the original series (and even in DmC) had someone crying at some point (I mean it is called Devil May CRY after all), but in DMC5 nobody cries which breaks the long standing tradition of the series. They actually make fun of this in a very funny scene that I recommend you watching if you haven't seen it: (and have no plans to play/finish DMC5 in the future) DMC5 ENDING SPOILERS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKr9bbapvyU That's it for this week in regards to Trivia stuff. With everything going on within EZA and the madness around the world with COVID-19 stuff it just didn't feel right to keep doing this silly bit for now. So I might still pop up and drop some trivia stuff, but it wouldn't feel right to waste your time with such questions in the midst of everything going on right now. I also wanted to say thank you for going along with this for as long as you did. It was fun thinking about what sort of question I should ask for each week and seeing your answer in the following episode haha. Hopefully once everything calms down a bit we can continue this in some fashion if you are still up for it :) That said, I'm still gonna ask business related questions tho haha Business question: With you taking over the podcast duties after Kyle leaves, could you see a change in the scheduling of the podcast? In the past there were weeks where we barely had any news and Kyle had to rely on a lot of bits and weird segments (which I loved btw) to get through an episode and then there were times when we had so much news that it wasn't really possible to cram them all in one episode, so some stuff would get ignored or wouldn't get much attention. With that in mind, do you see EZA podcast becoming a biweekly show (in both sense of meaning) depending on how much gaming news we get during a certain period of time? Sorry for the wall of text (and my bad English). And as always, love and respect.

March 2019, the alies had 8,855 patrons and now they have 9,033. There was a 200 drop from Dec but the patreon is hovering from 42k-44k. Hopefully they are still doing well.

Hesperus84

Hello Jones, I'm writing this post after the complete lockdown of LA came into affect and all I can think of is how Kyle will deal with the ongoing situation if it goes past April and is not allowed to leave. Please let us continue if in someway to support him until it is safe for him to leave. He says he will stick to "leaving EZA" no matter what but I don't see why he can't postpone it so that he is supported and feels the support of the community with him. At a time where people are losing their jobs and schools/universities are closed, we must be prudent and cautious.

Hesperus84

Hi, I don't typically tune into Cup of Jones, but I bet this question has been asked plenty of times already and I apologize for that. I would just like to ask if there is a possibility of getting the public version of the podcast along with the ad-free? In this case, patrons are able to watch/listen to whatever they prefer. I also noticed that many of the youtube comments in the public version are patrons who are there just to listen to the ad read. And considering how the public version does not require as much editing as the ad-free, it seems plausible? Thanks and keep up all the hard work!

Abdullah

Happy quarantine Jones! I know you mentioned last time you planned on interacting with the community in animal crossing during your stream. As someone who personally doesn't often watch live streams, I was wondering if you or the allies had any long term plans to involve the community in the game? It would be a shame to miss an opportunity during a stream to take part but of course the process of throwing a friend code out into the ether can be problematic in itself. Thanks in advance.

Cabbagelad

Heya Jones, These past two weeks feel overwhelming and I am so grateful that EZX, even in this stay at home form, will hopefully be an opportunity for everyone to relax a little bit and just have some fun. There are already a ton of questions about everything going on and it's entirely possible mine has already been answered. I'm going to ask it anyway: If you were talking about someone you admired, would you describe them as a Bendel bonnet, a Shakespeare sonnet, or Mickey Mouse?

Asbo Zappruder

Hi Jones! I just recently became a patreon after following for a few years. One of my favorite streams you guys have done was the original "Fancy Fifteen" group stream. As such, I wanted to ask why the allies did not continue the "Fancy Fifteen" show? Since I've only now been getting caught up on the patreon-exclusives, I figured it just didn't do as well as your other shows, however, I was shocked to learn that the lowest viewed episode of "Fancy fifteen" has more views than any (patreon exclusive) episode of both "And for that reason!" and "Achieve it yourself!". Since these are patreon rewards, views obviously aren't everything, but the format still has alot more going for it. It would presumably be a lot more easy to produce, since it in theory requires a lot less editing, as well as less time to record. In the recent Kyle post, he mentioned that Damiani would take over "Achieve it yourself", which indicates that there is a Season 3 of that show coming this year. This leaves me wondering why "Fancy Fifteen" has been neglected. Is it because the show was more difficult to produce than it would seem? Is it because the allies don't like it? Have you simply forgotten about it? Or do the allies simply favor "Achieve it yourself" that much? I appreciate any insight you may have on this topic. Have a good day and stay safe! L&R

Edvin

Hey Jones, just remember kinda funny games daily is not funny and they still have viewers so there is no pressure :)

Jonesy! I think you will be the best replacement as host, given some time. I say that because the one important quality that you share with Kyle, is in your level of professionalism in delivery etc. You are not as funny (no one is) so I really hope you don't try to but instead just make sure that the podcast runs smooth and well. As a host you don't need to be the life of the party, it was always the entire group that made the podcast great and you will be the one that makes everything stay on track. Actually, I feel that was what Kyle did also most of the time, but he and the rest of us would describe it as "a train wreck" etc. If it was actually a train wreck we wouldn't like it, in fact he managed the podcast flawlessly while acting like a train wreck. You are great at managing things, and with time you will become completely relaxed and grow as a host. I really believe in you!

triphide

In a way I kinda like the idea of all of us explaining it to that person, I bet all of us will trip over each other describing him, posting links etc..

triphide

You guys really need to take Corona more seriously. Not staying at home is not only dangerous to yourselves but frankly very reckless towards especially older people.

Deniz Schreiber

Love ya Jones

VGJunky

Mr. Jones, No question this week, I hope you, the Allies and your family stay safe and healthy.

Morgan Mohalla

Hey Jones, hope you and the Allies are well. I wanted to ask about whether there are any plans to add Previews or Impressions to the audio only feed? I know the Reviews/Reactions etc. are YouTube only for obvious reasons but I feel like Previews & Impressions could work well on the audio feed. The last "Preview" that was on the feed was your Red Dead Redemption 2 Preview and it was great. Also might be worth plugging the audio feed as I did not know it existed for Patreons until I asked and Blood answered...The key is that you can only get your RSS address through the website, not the app. Cheers

Hey Jones! With your knowledge of Pokemon types and who is good or not, what end game Pokemon team from the four Pokemon games you played would win a round robin tournament against each other? (All Pokemon are the same level, of course)

Parasitepaladin

Safety Post

Jacob Hobbie

Hey Jones! First time writing into the show, but I've been supporting for about 2 years now! Just wanted to say thank you for all the updates and all the great content over the past two years, even if I haven't watched it all! First off, I would love to have you keep playing Pokémon, but take your time, do it when you're ready, and feel free to add who you'd like! I'll miss Kyle for sure, but everyone has to move on and grow at some point. Second, an ACTUAL business question. During the Magic the Gathering tournament, I noticed that you were using a shortened URL for people to use, which while free, also made it feel less legitamate, and hard to easily type in/remember if you were accessing through mobile, (unless you had chat opened). I went ahead and bought easyalliescharity.com, and I'd be more then happy to transfer that over to you guys for you to use for a future charity if you like. If you don't want it, I'll just let it expire, or I'll keep it around and just link to it whenever there's a charity event. Another suggestion however would be to work with your website guy and setup charity.easyallies.com to link to wherever you need it to link up to. In any case, just wanted to help and encourage more charity events in the future! At times like these, we could use more of those. Thanks, Jacob

Jacob Hobbie

Yes please, play more Pokemon games. And Ben would be a great companion to discuss it with.

Saugerdees

I would stop watching the show if this became a thing

VGJunky

idea to help with transition for podcast - you could invite a different patron to jump in for 20 minutes in the middle, via skype. just to get a burst of weird personality. could be a funny train wreck. could stumble on someone who is a good fit for longer term thoughts. or could just make patrons drool at thought of being on the show (and thus maybe stick around).

warren blyth

Hello Brandon. From time to time I look at Easy Allies statistics on Graphtreon and there’s one thing that continue to bother me: your income is steadily dropping since the month you’ve announced Phase 4. The patron’s number was growing last year and achieved record numbers in December, but in 2020 it’s quickly dropping and now you have fewer supporters than in March 2019. This may be completely wrong, but I suspect that getting rid of Patreon goals and joining Roost ad network have created a feeling that everything is good and that our support isn’t needed that much. Without going into any specifics (unless you want to) can you please tell how stable is current financial situation for Easy Allies?

Alexander Zyryanov

Hi Jones! With the news that Kyle is leaving and the Sick Owls will be no more, could you provide some closure on wether it is a clever Tootsie reference you snuck by Kyle? L&R!

Javi

I gotta say, puppets, "wig-a-wam", a new focus on animal's... all of you joke examples actually sound amazing!

Matt Brookbank

Hey Jones! Last week someone suggested the Allies react to a bunch of Kyle Bosman clips for his last stream, and I would just like to second that. I think it would be a great way to honor him while also satisfying the "EZA reacts to EZA" itch that many people have. Cheers!

Aidan Vilchis

Will Liquid Bosman replace Kyle when he’s gone? Seriously though, I’ll miss Kyle so much. Will there be a clean break or will he pop up now and again?

Kjetil Berge

Safety post.

TurboChickenMan

If the Easy Allies Podcast hosted by Brandon Jones ends up not having the right vibes, would you consider trying Huber out as host? His strong personality would give it back the jazziness that's going away with Kyle...though I do realize Huber has shortcomings in other departments (maybe TOO strong of a personality, tendency for mispronunciations). Still, I'd say that he's the second most recognizable member of the group after Kyle, and even MOST recognizable to some. Also, I'd HIGHLY recommend bringing back Bloodworth as a permanent member of the panel, as he was during GT Time. He's the man with the facts, always correcting and giving deeper insight. He's also a great "straight man", keeping discussions realistic and steering away from hot takes. P.S. Watch that "ocarina" pronunciation... -_-

TurboChickenMan

Ian's the one with hippie hair...

TurboChickenMan

+1 for puppet bits

freeze

Hi Brandon, Would you actually consider a puppet for the podcast? Would that not work because of people listening in their car? What would the puppet be like? Thanks, V

Vint

Next Cup of Jones: "Amanda Cuts Brandon's Hippie Hair: LIVE"

Marcus Malone

Yo Jones, Have you guys thought about outsourcing podcast hosting duties? I realize the podcast is the cornerstone of the Easy Allies community, but the moderator is only one part of the podcast. You have three of the Allies on the panel still, so it could be interesting to have a revolving door of guest moderators for a while. I'm not saying you wouldn't be good at it, but you seem to have some anxiety about the idea, and this could be a good way to take some pressure off of you, while also keeping the podcast interesting. Also, it would give you more time to figure out what your version of the podcast should be. L & R

Marcus Malone

Oh, thank you. That's incredibly sweet of you to say. Although I now feel bad about this week's submission...

Asbo Zappruder

Have you thought about changing the podcast number to 1 for your first podcast (maybe that might confuse people), but changing something to mark a new era?

Varun Kachhwaha

Hey Brandon! So with some of the noise that began to circulate regarding stagnation and perhaps changing up the status quo, I was wondering if you had any thoughts towards the treatment of streaming new releases (particularly single player focused games) and getting live first impressions in a setting that isn’t a group stream. I saw this sentiment get kicked around by some of the community and the Hottake segment of the most recent Frame Trap brought it back to mind. Even as I’m typing this, Damiani is currently bringing up this topic during the Resident Evil Remake stream in regards to his recent Ori preview stream. Now I’m not saying that you should be streaming your review process necessarily but I do wonder if you had any thoughts on whether it would benefit the allies enough to rip the spoiler band-aid off and start streaming more new releases from the very beginning. I know most of us don’t have the chance to play every game so having the opportunity to experience the opening hours with you all is something I’m sure many of us would look forward to. Of course, I have been enjoying the dev preview streams as well as the pre-recorded impressions videos but there is definitely an excitement to be had when everybody is enjoying the moment together. Thanks for your time, Adam Hentschel

Adam Hentschel

Hey Jones, What are the chances of on the final group stream, having an homage of the final day of GT, but this time hugging Kyle instead of Lightning (but also hugging Lightning too because why not)? L&R Logan Tawse

Logan Tawse

They don't even have to put much effort into I think. (I hope) Something here and there like this is the schedule, Mysterious Monsters will be uploaded today. That's a great shout JChrist.

Varun Kachhwaha

I could hear the sadness in the room. Absolutely a sad day, but, I will of course, continue to support you guys! 🧡🤝

Sonny Laguna

Hi, Jones. Now that so many people are staying at home and Gaming is getting a lot of people who never played games, stopped playing many years ago or that now have more free time, as well as Twitch almost tripling its viewership numbers, isn't this the perfect time for Easy Allies to have more promos and adverts outside of YouTube and Twitch in hopes of getting more new Patrons than normally? What are you your plans to spread the world around the gaming community? For example, I believe many people on sites like Eurogamer, IGN and Gamespot would love your content, so advertising in them would definitely benefit the company. L & R

Daniel Ribeiro

Hey Mr. Jones! While the transition of Mr. Bosman moving on is going to be felt for such an extended period, I’m curious about how to explain his absence to any future people discovering Easy Allies for the first time after his departure. What will be the best way to explain to new subscribers/patrons/etc., who he is if they go back into the extensive backlog of EZA? Being such an integral part of EZA, his presence was felt across a lot of the content such as reactions, Bets, the main podcast, Box Peek, the Pokemon playthroughs, and his singular streams just to name a few. If a new person comes and sees four years’ worth of content from someone who isn’t there, how will EZA handle the question, “Who is the guy in the hoodie and glasses in a lot of your past stuff?” “Kyle?” “Yeah!” While all of us who have followed EZA and GameTrailers have had him a part of our lives in some way, it’s a weird thought that comes to mind when in a possible future there will be those of us who knew of him and fans who won’t know who is. I always thank you for reading my questions, but to slightly adjust, thanks for being the Ally who has had to juggle a lot of the messaging of all the upheaval Easy Allies has experienced and taking time to have a conversation with all of us. Have a wonderful rest of your day. Cheers! QUESTION: After Mr. Bosman’s departure, what will be the best way to explain to new subscribers/patrons/etc., who he is if they go back into the extensive backlog of EZA and realize this person isn’t on content or a part of the group anymore? I’m not expecting this to happen for a very long time, but being such a critical part of EZA, his absence and all the ramifications that go with it are, quite frankly, incomprehensible and I can’t fathom his absence until it’s already upon us.

Brandon K Gann

Hey Jones was curious if you’d guys ever start doing YT stories? I’ve heard other channels say the algorithm boosts channels that use it. I Don’t know how much work actually goes into it but I think it would be a cool little thing. L&R Jason

Wire rope

No question, just telling you we love you and thank you for answering my question this(last) week. Time to go back and re-listen to Tabletop Escapades...

James McCoy

No question this time I just wanted to say thank you Jones, you alleviated a lot of my worries.

Olf Himself

Asbo Zapruder if you're reading this thank you for your continued musical questions! They make my day and they are extra appreciated in these times of trouble!!

Alec Church

This is going to be one very interesting episode. There's so much to talk about.

Varun Kachhwaha