Episode 250

### Title

EFAP #250 - The Fifth Anniversary of Pausing Every Frame - Covering Everything with Everyone

### Guests

Metal Commander
ShortFatOtaku
E;R
CynicalCJ
Theo
Jedi Brooks
The Movie Cynic
Indigo Gaming
JonCJG
Shadiversity
MarctheCyborg
PSA Sitch
Adam Friended
Capital-O Opinions
Nutsa
Act Man
Weekend Warrior
CryMor Gaming
The Meme Repository
Chud Logic
Glidus
HeelvsBabyface
DasBoSchitt
JLongBone

### Videos Featured

Jim Sterling
GC Vazquez
Wisecrack
Hello Future Me
Filmento
Rory Glynn
Nostalgia Critic
Schnee
LocalScriptMan
HiTop Films

### Link

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

### Next Episode

Episode 251

**EFAP 250** is the two-hundred-and-fiftieth episode of the Every Frame A Pause podcast

## Important Events

* The Five-Year Anniversary of Pausing Every Frame
* Introduction of Lewis

## Plot

MauLer, Rags, and Fringy assemble a star-studded cast of previous guests to celebrate 5 years and 250 episodes of EFAP, taking a look at a smorgasbord of videos over the course of 24 hours

## Synopsis

### Part 2

#### Nostalgia Critic on Selling Drugs to Children

Having been recommended it in a superchat prior, MauLer showed Rags, Fringy, Metal, Meme, Weekend, E;R, and Moriarty the last few minutes of the Nostalgia Critic's *The Lion King* (2019) review. Nostalgia Critic came in swinging, rebuffing the idea that the Disney live-action remakes were just harmless kids movies by comparing it to selling drugs to children, which similarly makes a lot of money but is still wrong, though the former kills creativity rather than kill brain cells. His conclusion statement tearing into the soulless cashgrab remakes was followed up by him stating his desire to give director Jon Favreau a piece of his mind, then calling a fictionalized portrayal of Favreau himself, who explained to him that movies like the *Lion King* remake are indeed bad, but the money made from them helps fund the things he really cares about like *The Mandalorian*, which could not exist without them. The cast was baffled by the logic that bad movies that were allegedly comparable to selling drugs to children were being called a necessary evil in exchange for, of all things, *The Mandalorian*

#### We Killed the Multiverse

> "Who is this 'we'?"
>
>

> - Weekend Warrior
>
>

Part 2 concluded with a long-awaited return to HiTop, where MauLer, Rags, Fringy, Metal, Meme, Az. Weekend, MarcTheCyborg, and Glidus took a look at his video titled "We Killed the Multiverse." HiTop began by recounting how Hollywood found another way to take our money and we were duped, prompting MauLer to ask just who was duped by *The Flash*, while Rags maligned the people saying Phase 4 of the MCU is bad now after having previously praised each release. HiTop asked if any of these movies other than *Spider-Verse* or *Everything Everywhere All At Once* had anything to say, to which Fringy answered that he would gladly say *No Way Home* did, with MauLer adding that even something like *The Flash* had something to say, it just sucked. His description of multiverse movies as "stale on arrival" was confusing, since he and EFAP alike seemed to agree that *Into the Spider-Verse*, the film that kicked off the trend, was anything but stale. Regardless, something far more important took the spotlight - *Raid Shadow Legends*, the sponsor of this video!

After teaching everyone that *Raid Shadow Legends* has over 700 unique characters, HiTop assured them that he would not be upset if people didn't like his video, then mourned the lost potential of *The* *Flash* to "create imagery" by using some actual Flash villains, and while MauLer argued that a newly-created villain, or even someone like Zod, could be just as memorable as a classic Flash villain if written well, the gang was still able to sympathize with the befuddlement at *The Flash* being so focused on things unrelated to the Flash. HiTop's next big gripe was with Tom Holland's Spider-Man's first Green Goblin being the one from the Sam Raimi films, rather than allowing John Watts the chance to make his own Goblin, to which MauLer countered that both of those things can happen, the previous two films by Watts had villains in them not used in other movies, and Watts may very well have considered working with Willem DaFoe to be a golden opportunity, with Marc adding that Peter's history with this Norman Osborne could paint his view of that world's one. HiTop did consider that Watts may get his chance at his own Green Goblin, but argued that that Goblin would not be the one who killed Aunt May, with Meme and MauLer both arguing that Peter has plenty of other loved ones he could harm. HiTop bemoaned that the MCU's Peter relearned (a phrasing MauLer took issue with since responsibility is a nuanced subject, and every *Spider-Man* sequel so far has introduced tests to that value) the lesson on responsibility from someone else's villain, raising the question of what was wrong with that, with Fringy also adding that by antagonizing MCU Peter, DaFoe's Goblin *became* his villain. HiTop considered it irrelevant how well it was executed, since regardless a director's vision was overwritten, raising the question of why Green Goblin being a character from another movie barred it from being Watts' vision, and if that meant characters like Loki or Thanos would fall into the same category. He chalked this decision up to the belief that there was no point in even bothering trying to outdo Dafoe's Goblin, rather than the other possibility that they just saw an opportunity to do more with him, especially since as Marc pointed out now would be the ideal time to do so before the actors got too old.

HiTop figured that at least *Multiverse of Madness* tried to say something thematically, raising the question of why that was the only movie to get that concession, Fringy pointing out that even *The Flash* tried to say something, it just failed. He also noted how despite spanning multiple realities, these movies show us nothing different, with what was ostensibly the world of Tim Burton's *Batman* lacking its aesthetic and looking no different than the DCEU's, and MauLer and Co were happy to see that he did not exempt the world where traffic lights are reverse colors in *Multiverse of Madness* from this criticism. Oddly enough though, he also applied this criticism to *No Way Home* (complete with the 2 poorly-composited shots everyone uses to make this point), despite that film not taking place in another universe, with MauLer also noting that he'd previously complained about too much of the Raimi movies being in that movie.

HiTop concluded that the amount of money, talent, and resources put into these films was irrelevant since the studios just use them as cynical cashgrabs, and the B-roll he used of the sequelbait from *Amazing Spider-Man 2* only helped further undermine his point by showing the issue had nothing to do with multiverses. Metal pointed out that the reason studios get away with this is because people like HiTop praise their films upon release only to realize they're bad after the fact, MauLer elaborating that the only one he didn't praise was *The Flash*, which Fringy pointed out was the one that killed the hype among general audiences, in stark contrast with the "stale on arrival" descriptor from earlier. HiTop seemed to even admit to this, saying that despite the cynicism "we" keep giving them our money and "we" will be sucked in to see them again, which nobody watching agreed with. He ended with an anecdote of him and his friends fantasizing about different actors' portrayals of superheros crossing over with each other, but knowing even as children that something like that happening in real life would be stupid, something Marc doubted since he seemed the type to cream himself at each of these releases. With the video over, MauLer breathed a sigh of relief, and everybody else was similarly exhausted by all the preceding melodrama

## Quotes

### Part 1

* "Zoom is both good and gay. There we go, there's my official stance, and I'm sticking to it" - Shadiversity
* "Chat are doing their thing again, with Lewis, right, changing the name of things. The one that just stood out to me for a second was 'Lewis Party 7'" - MauLer
* "I think we need to hear Lewis' side of the story" - Shadiversity
* "Sorry, I wanna finally ask, who the fuck is Lewis?" - JohnCJG
* "In all of our hearts, Lew *is*. Thank you for watching" - Indigo Gaming

### Part 2

* "Oh, it's our favorite. It's our guy!" - Weekend Warrior, upon seeing HiTop
	+ "Oh no it's the shoe, oh no!" - Rags
* "Hold on, are you giving me flack for leaving? You gave ChudLogic less flack and he was here for half the time!"
 "What does that say? I guess I love you more"
 - MauLer and Dev
* "Nothing is ever as powerful as our dreams" - HiTop
* "I meant stale on the arrival of the stale ones" - MauLer, applying HiTop's teachings
* "I think we happened"
 "It's not fault if you give me a glass of- if you give me granny's peach tea, and I drink it, and I spit it out, because I'm like 'Oh wait, this isn't granny's peach tea at all, this is ur-ine,' you can't blame me for spitting it out, you gave me piss!"
 - HiTop & Rags
* "Absolutely everyone needs to stop using the royal we. Only say the word 'we' if you can answer specifically the people you're talking about if asked"
 "We can all agree on that"
 - Marc & Az
* "But first, can you imagine if *Raid Shadow Legends*-"
 "[uproarious cheering]"
 - HiTop, and everyone
* "JonTron didn't make Hollow Knight!" - Glidus
* "This video is very much for me to vent, and I hope you're willing to follow along, but if not, thanks for being you"
 "I kinda despise what you do, but you're welcome"
 - HiTop & Rags
	+ "This video's about you being at fault, but thanks for being you" - Az
	+ "Don't worry, I'm not big mad when you call me a hack cuck" - Fringy
* "There''s a *GI Joe* character that goes around in the arctic stuff and he's called Snow Job" - Az
	+ "So a snowjob in a Canadian schoolyard would be when a kid gets pushed to the ground and then you kick snow on them"
	 "That's what a snowjob was at your school? That's not what a snowjob was at my school"
	 "Well, you probably went to a more fun school"
	 "... no."
	 - Marc & Rags
* "What is your problem with Captain Cold, Rags? Like, what's the deal?"
 "I don't have- I've- we've- I've- we've only just met"
 - Fringy & Rags
* "All the potential to create imagery" - HiTop
* "Shit would be banging, if done correctly"
 "Yeah but everything's banging when done correctly"
 - HiTop & MauLer
* "Well, we liked Zod in *Man of Steel*, right?"
 "I did fucking not, by the way! What is this 'we'?"
 - HiTop & Weekend
	+ "He said we're not ready, we weren't ready Weekend, we weren't ready"
	 "What do- I'm sor- 'we'? 'We'?"
	 - MauLer & Weekened
	+ "What is this 'we'?... Stop saying 'we,' this is a fucking consoomer mindset" - Weekend
	+ "'We'? Shut up with this 'we'!"
	+ "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'WE'? WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'WE'? I did not fucking clap at the end of *Flash* goddammit"
	+ "What is this 'we,' Mr Top?"
	+ "What is this fucking 'we'?"
* "Out of all the DCEU villains, he was probably most definitely the best"
 "Probably most definitely?"
 - HiTop & MauLer
* "I need to go back to the robot factory. I'm a poorly designed cyborg"
 "Work in progress, work in progress, get that [smacks table] negative self-talk out of here Marc!"
 - Marc & The Meme Repository
* "Am I sounding bad again?"
 "Nope. I mean you sound okay, it's the things you say"
 "Oh, I'm sorry"
 "They're fine"
 - Marc & Rags
* "A filmmaker, a writer, a storyteller"
 "You don't have to do that - 'a filmmaker, a writer, a storyteller' - you can just say like, a filmmaker"
 - Fringy
* "Why, in the middle of a *Doctor Strange* movie about happiness, is Patrick Stewart there to get his neck snapped?" - HiTop
* "even if it happened so briefly by the need to play the hits - Charles Xavier, Captain Carter, Black Bolt-"
 "I'm sorry, 'play the hits - Captain Carter'?"
 - HiTop & MauLer
	+ "Do we really care to see any of these characters other than Charlie? Probably not, so why?"
	 "He just described them as the greatest hits"
	 - HiTop & MauLer
* "There were 5 or 6 fans of *The Inhumans* who were really happy to see Black Bolt again"
 "But not for long"
 - Marc & Metal
* "the least common denominator" - HiTop
* "Let's go to 'Hi Top Flam'- no, sorry- 'Hi Top Film Spider-Man'" - Rags
* "'You smell toast?' I don't buy bread" - Rags
* "It feels like want to shut that damn door and go back to self-contained stories that actually have something to say"
 "You already said MoM had something to say, you can't go back on that. Like, they all had stuff to say, some of it was cringe"
 - HiTop & MauLer
* "I think I've profiled him. He's been on a couple dates where he showed the girl his video, or guy I dunno what he's into, and they were like, 'oh my god, you read things so poetically and nice,' and he started playing it more and more to the point that it's become this" - Marc
* "'We'? Stop it!" - Weekend