Final Fantasy - Thirteen-Year-Olds, You’re On Notice

Fanthropological

Content provided by The Nickscast. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by The Nickscast or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.

6y ago 1:32:48

MP3•Episode home

Archived series ("Inactive feed" status)

When? This feed was archived on June 08, 2021 01:28 (3y ago). Last successful fetch was on February 27, 2021 01:34 (3y ago)

Why? Inactive feed status. Our servers were unable to retrieve a valid podcast feed for a sustained period.

What now? You might be able to find a more up-to-date version using the search function. This series will no longer be checked for updates. If you believe this to be in error, please check if the publisher's feed link below is valid and contact support to request the feed be restored or if you have any other concerns about this.

Guests

Ari

Ari • Formerly Rikku-chan 🇺🇸 Cosplayer since 2004 / Photography / Makeup / Chicago / Final Fantasy / Toast with Butter & Jam / <3 www.youtube.com/user/TotallyToastyAri

Ari • Formerly Rikku-chan (@totallytoastyari) • Instagram photos and videos

Danny Lopatka

On-Screen Bassist for EMPIRE 🎥 🎸

This week, there’s no need to use a Phoenix Down because we are ALIVE, and talking about the fans of the Final Fantasy series! The iconic music, characters, stories, costumes… whatever it may be, it has left a lasting mark on the RPG and video game worlds for the decades since its introductions, and we get into all of that with some special guest friends of ours, Dan and Ari!

Next week, just in time for Anime North, we’re talking about fans of Boys’ Love with Sarah of the Feminist Fujoshi!

Where can I learn more about Dan and Ari?

You might remember Dan and Ari from our super-cut of Super MAGFest 2018 and his panel on the music of Final Fantasy. You can check out more of their work online:

Ari

Dan

Episode outline

Fandom Facts

History and Origins:

Final Fantasy is a science fiction and fantasy media franchise owned by Square Enix. Despite having fifteen numbered games, 135 million copies of the various games sold, and well over 40 different sequels, spin-offs, and other properties, the game acquired its moniker in 1987 due to the game designers’ belief that Square was going to go bankrupt (according to Nobuo Uematsu, composer of many famous Final Fantasy tracks).

Though most of the numbered games are stand-alone stories in different settings with different characters, there are many recurring plot themes, game mechanics, and character names (e.g. Plots center on a group of heroes battling a great evil while exploring the characters’ internal struggles and relationships).

Search Data:

The Final Fantasy series has had a dramatic decrease in interest since 2004. The series is about a tenth as popular as it was back in 2004. There are spikes in interest in September 2005 (The release of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children), March 2010 (Final Fantasy XIII), and December 2016 (Final Fantasy XV). The top ten countries, by search volume, are as follows: Phillipines, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, South Korea, United States, New Zealanda, Spain.

[// Also gives us some interesting data on most searched By topic:

XIII-2
Dissidia
Brave Exvius
Lightning Returns XIII
XV

By query: XIV XIII-2 Dissidia A Realm Reborn (XIV) Type 0 Exvius ]: #

Fan Demographics:

We actually managed to find a survey from 2015 with some data! Though it is skewed towards whoever responded on r/FinalFantasy, Tobzzen has us covered with almost 5000 responses:

Age: 21 to 30 years old (47%), 18 to 20 years old (42%) — a very narrow age range
Gender: Male (82%), Female (16%), Other (2%)
Location: >50% North America, >30% Europe
Employment Status: 60% studying or working
Gaming Status: 95% had more than 4 years of computer gaming experience; >25% had more than 16 years experience
Game Playing Time: 53% played on average 3-6 hours per day; >10% played more than 10 hours per day

Fanac Fast Facts:

Archive Of Our Own has over 28 000 works related to the Final Fantasy Series
- … most being categorized as M/M (13000+), Gen (7000+), or F/M (6000+)
- … the most represented game being XV (14000+), VII (6000+), and XIV (1300+)
- … the most represented characters being Noctis (9000+), Ignis (8700+), and Prompto (8300+)
  Last Episode’s Famous Last Words

What is it that has endured about FF7 compared to FF6?

The people who came into the FF world long after the SNES… do they go back and play the old games (and do they like)?

Why is it still called Final Fantasy?

[// Couldn’t find anything conclusive. Probably because it stuck? Did find this list of renamed games though: Ff1- Warriors of Light Ff2- Red Roses Ff3- Crystal Darkness Ff4- Legends of the Moon Ff5- Crystal Heroes Ff6- World into Ruin Ff7- Mako Crisis Ff8- Balamb Heroes Ff9- Honor Among Thieves Ff10- Son of Sin Ff11- Crystal Heroes Online Ff12- War of Ivalice Ff13- Chained Destiny Ff14- Crystal Heroes Online 2 Ff15- Journey of a Prince ]: #

Sarah

What is your all-time favourite Final Fantasy song?

EpicFilmGuys

At Zanarkand is the greatest FF song ever written. Debate.

tengumaru

“You son of a submariner” is a good Final Fantasy famous last word… ?

What did we discuss?

Questions: ~~- What do you wish folks knew about Final Fantasy and its fans?~~

What do you see as one of the biggest parts of Final Fantasy fandom (e.g. vidding, fic, art, cosplay, etc.)? ~~- What are some of the biggest points of conflict or contention in Final Fantasy fandom?~~
What are some common myths or misconceptions about Final Fantasy fans that you wish would go away?
Have you noticed any problematic aspects to the fandom, and if so, what do they tend to be?
Could you describe a moment where you were participating in the fandom and were just blown away in a positive way? ~~- How did you get into Final Fantasy?~~
How do you express your fandom? ~~- When did you know you were a fan?~~
Which is your favourite Final Fantasy game and why?
If we did an episode on one of your other favourite fandoms… what would that be?

The Verdict

G is in. One of G’s favourite games of all time… FF6 worthy of an HBO drama. Ari is in. Definitely a lifelong fan. Would love to play all the games. Dan is in. Final Fantasy has, musically, shaped the way he constructs music. T is in. Will give more Final Fantasy a shot. Z is out. But really interested in playing FF IX and some spin-offs.

This week’s spotlight

OverClocked Remix

> Founded in 1999, OverClocked ReMix is a community dedicated to the appreciation and promotion of video game music as an art form. Its primary focus is ocremix.org, a website featuring thousands of free fan arrangements, information on game music and composers, resources for aspiring artists, and a thriving community of video game music fans. In 2016, OC ReMix officially moved under the umbrella and sponsorship of Game Music Initiative, Inc, a 501c3 non-profit charitable organization. > > — OverClocked Remix - About Us

Famous Last Words

This week’s famous last words around next week’s fandom, (Fandom name)!

Did this genre emerge simply because folks saw these elements in other stories and make a quick buck? Or was it about expressing themselves?

How much BL is sports manga?

Is there a golden standard for “this is the best BL manga” OR is it getting better as time goes on?

Dan

Is there a distinction between Yaoi and Boy’s Love? Why has the terminology changed?

Ari

I really like Love Live? Where are the boy bands? Are there boy idols?

Raph

“hewwo i’m 5 wats yaoi”

Where can you find us online?

We are everywhere! Most notably though, we like to hang out in a few places on social media:

If you want to be part of our podcast (or just want to check us out), we record our podcast LIVE on twitch.tv every Monday at 20:00 Eastern Time!
For all the latest updates, check us out on Facebook or Twitter
To see the latest hijinx from our conventions or even our daily lives and adventures, check us out on Instagram
For our latest convention updates, Let’s Plays, and other in-real-life video, check out our YouTube channel
We’re also on iTunes, and Google Play, and would love it if you could leave a review and rating!
if you want to reach us, and for some reason none of those work for you, try nick@thenickscast.com
You can check out our website; that will mostly bring you back to this stuff.
Everything is thenickscast, so if you can’t find us, go on your social network and search for that!

What is “Fanthropological”?

How did you read this far without asking this question?!

Fanthropological is an anthropological (ish) podcast where we bring the fan’s-eye view to you! Each week, we take a look at a different fandom, dig up interesting background, trivia, and history, and try to get to why it is that people are a fan. We also try to highlight good causes related to that fandom, and find interesting things that fans have created to share those to the world. Each episode is about an hour. Ish.

Who is “The Nickscast”?

We are the Nickscast! Three products of late-80s / early-90s pop culture who love exploring fandom and everything geek … who also happen to have been best buddies since high school, and all happen to be named Nick. Yes, we are super creative (dare we say, the most creative).

Ahem

We are Nick Green, Nick Terwoord, and Nick Zacharewicz: We started the Nickscast as a labour of love, and as a place to entertain and to discuss our love of fans and fandom, and all that is shiny and interesting in that realm. It’s what lead us to start our first podcast, our satellite podcasts, Fanthropological, and so much more.

We want to help others learn more about different fandoms, and to create empathy with other fans: We dream of a world where other fans aren’t “those Weird-o’s”, but just folks with different tastes. A world where fandom is full of discourse and analysis, and there are plenty of tools and resources to help. Fans building communities to do good in the world. Because everyone’s a fan.

Thanks

Special thanks to Dan and Ari for being patient with us and flexible as we deal with time zone differences, for joining us on the show, and for in general, just being amazing people!

Credits

Sources

Music / Sound

"Crystal Caves in the Mountain" by TeknoAXE used under CC BY 4.0
All other music and sound for this week’s episode were provided by Nick Green!

Artwork

"Glasses" by Anton Anuchin used under CC BY 3.0

161 episodes

Final Fantasy - Thirteen-Year-Olds, You’re On Notice

Fanthropological

18 subscribers

published 6y ago

MP3•Episode home