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May 30, 2018
3,400
Easy Allies Official Thread (Three)


Easy Allies (EZA) is an independent group of experienced writers and video producers who love playing video games, analyzing the games industry, and interacting with the community. They produce shows, video game reviews, and stream live on Twitch several times per week.

Group photo shamelessly stolen from the Easy Allies Twitch header.

The Easy Allies are (back row to front row, left to right):
Ben Moore | Bradley Ellis | Don Casanova | Daniel Bloodworth | Kyle Bosman
Isla Hinck | Michael Huber | Brandon Jones |
Michael Damiani

Easy Allies Website Twitter Account Patreon Page YouTube Channel Twitch Channel Archived Streams YouTube Channel

Visit the Easy Allies website for a detailed schedule of upcoming streams in your local timezone.

Easy Allies - Reviews, Previews, & More
Easy Allies Reviews - Brandon "The Voice" Jones narrates an Ally's detailed review of a game (text versions can be found here).
Easy Allies Previews - The Easy Allies take a look at new games before they hit the shelves.
Easy Allies Reactions - Easy Allies react to game streams and announcements.
Easy Allies Plays - an entire YouTube channel with archives of every EZA Twitch stream. Subscribe!
Community Showcase - Patrons $10 and up submit their creations to be shown in this monthly live stream.
The Hall of Greats - Every three months, the Easy Allies champion their game nominees for the Official Easy Allies Hall of Greats - but only two can be inducted at a time.
Betting Specials - In these beloved specials, bets are placed on outcomes of new game reveals and other ridiculous details. High stakes.


Weekly or Bi-Weekly Shows

Easy Allies Podcast Easy Update
Frame Trap Friend Code

Easy Allies Podcast - Hosted by Kyle Bosman, we discuss the week's headlines, answer listener questions, and keep a running tally of stupid bets. Releases every Sunday.
Easy Update - Isla Hinck brings you original songs, conversations with other Allies and friends, and on occasion, pure magic. Releases every Saturday night.
Frame Trap - A podcast hosted by Ben Moore. We speak more specifically about what each guest is playing and tackle a big central topic - aka the Hottake. Releases every other Monday.
Friend Code - A podcast for the latest and greatest Nintendo News, hosted by Michael Damiani. Releases every other Friday.



Recurring Shows

Box Peek Don's Design Lab
Don't Skip Fiasconauts
Huber's Prison of Love
It's EZ to Like Anime
Mysterious Monsters Reaction Shots
The Occasional Board Game Show Trailer Jones

Box Peek - Jordy Defective is on a mission to learn all about the world's most popular game--and maybe get into a match or two.
Don's Design Lab - Join the Allies as they collaborate to design levels in Don's Design Lab.
Don't Skip - Highlights on video games that are worth taking time out of your schedule to play.
Fiasconauts - Zany improv scenarios from the game Fiasco, headed up by Isla Hinck. Releases once per month.
Huber's Prison of Love - coming soon!
It's EZ to Like Anime - The Allies go in-depth discussing a particular Anime show episode-by-episode.
Mysterious Monsters - A monthly trivia game show hosted by Michael Huber with RPG elements and special guests.
Reaction Shots - The Easy Allies movie podcast, hosted by Isla Hinck. Releases once per month.
The Occasional Board Game Show - A new board game show that happens from time to time.
Trailer Jones - Brandon Jones and company dissect and score the latest trailers.



Cup of Jones - Brandon Jones gives a behind-the-scenes update on what's happening at Easy Allies, answers questions, and gives a brief editorial.
Achieve It Yourself - Since Nintendo refuses to make an achievement system, the Allies try to beat patron-submitted achievements for the Switch.
Spoiler Mode - A group of Allies discuss a particular game, movie, show, or other media that they've recently experienced all the way through.

Check out these shows and more here which you'll have access to after supporting the Easy Allies on Patreon.



Completed, Retired, or On-Hiatus Shows

These shows may not be in production anymore, but they still live on in our hearts and on the web.
Top Tens - This popular show that ranks all kinds of video game topics makes its return.
Retrospectives - Documentary style videos going deep to chronicle the history of a gaming franchise.
Huber Syndrome - Michael Huber goes on camera to discuss a topic he's passionate about each week.
Game Sleuth - Damiani examines video game myths, mysteries, secrets, theories, and easter eggs, through rigorous tests and research to prove whether or not they're true.
Tabletop Escapades [Season 1] [Season 2] - An ongoing D&D campaign with Ben Moore as dungeon master.
Don's Discount Gaming - A reality style show where Don traverses the urban jungle in search of affordable entertainment.
The Busted Trifecta - A horse racing mini-series from the mind of Don Casanova.
Brandon Plays Pokemon - Brandon Jones has never played Pokemon before. Veteran Pokemon fanatic Kyle Bosman joins him on his new journey.
Brandon Sun, Kyle Moon (I couldn't find a playlist for this so I made my own)- Brandon once again enters the world of Pokemon with Kyle for the new 3DS adventure.
And For That Reason - A spin-off of a popular Easy Allies Podcast segment, this Patreon-exclusive show sees the Allies judging patron-submitted game proposals.



Q&A

Q: How can I support EZA?
You can subscribe to their YouTube channels and follow their livestreams on Twitch. You can also subscribe on Twitch (using Twitch Prime, for example) or pledge to their Patreon.

Q: I can't follow all their streams live. What's the best way to catch up?
You can always view the VODs on Twitch or you can view the archives on their second YouTube channel, Easy Allies Plays.

Q: What is Patreon?
Patreon is a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter, but you pledge on an ongoing, monthly basis. EZA is primarily funded through Patreon so every little bit helps!

Q: Do I get rewards for pledging on Patreon?
Yes, and you can find the full list of rewards on their Patreon page. Of note, pledging $1 lets you view all their exclusive content (Cup of Jones, Spoiler Mode, and their limited-run shows). Pledging $5 allows you to submit questions and comments to the EZA Podcast and also gives you early access to this and many other shows.

Q: What else can I find at their website?
In addition to their show and stream schedule, you can also find their bios, their PO Box address if you want to send fanmail or gifts, and also text versions of their reviews.

Q: Is there an RSS feed for their audio podcast content?
If you pledge to their Patreon, you can access your private RSS link by following the directions listed here.

Q: What is this Hall of Greats thing? What games have currently been inducted?
The Easy Allies Hall of Greats is EZA's very serious, very sobering take on the greatest games of all time (in their opinion). Every quarter, each Ally brings a nominee and they all debate its merits in a group livestream before voting and inducting the top two finishers. You can find the rules here, the list of nominations and winners here and the YouTube playlist of past Halls of Greats here.

Q: EZA GIFS?
Here's a whole thread on the official Easy Allies forums. Warning: the forum lazy-loads posts, so it's kind of hard to navigate.

Q: Last and most important, who is the best Easy Ally?
The obvious answer is Sophie.


Thanks to y2kyle89 for the OT title idea and JayC3 for letting me include their Q&A. If you think anything else should be included in the main post or Q&A, or see anything wrong or broken, let me know!

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abrack

Unshakable Resolve
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,785
DFW
Great OT fireworksordie!

I'm pretty sure the 2nd season of Achieve it Yourself isn't Patreon exclusive though, might need to move the placement of that.
 

Liyfda

Member
Oct 27, 2017
349
Great OT, I love seeing all the new branding together because it looks so good!
 

BassForever

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
29,915
CT
My poptart is cold steel 3, and their discussion is why I know people hesitate to jump in, but man the story is so good.

My toaster strudel is Death stranding, cause I've seen more footage of this game then almost any other game pre launch and it mostly looks dull.
 

IDreamOfHime

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,419
What I'm not a humongous fan of is threads getting locked.
What I am a huge fan of is brand new OTs.



...sexy.
 
OP
OP
fireworksordie
May 30, 2018
3,400
Great OT, I love seeing all the new branding together because it looks so good!

Yeah, I really wanted to emphasize the new branding as much as possible. I hope they get their website updated with the new branding soon and nix the old.

I did my best to make everything nice to look at on both Dark and Light themes. Also I think I got alt-text on every image for accessibility. If anyone finds any issues please don't hesitate to let me know.

Also, if anyone has a good full group shot without the logo plastered on the image, send it my way!
 

RugoUniverse

Member
May 15, 2018
1,006
Yeah, I really wanted to emphasize the new branding as much as possible. I hope they get their website updated with the new branding soon and nix the old.

I did my best to make everything nice to look at on both Dark and Light themes. Also I think I got alt-text on every image for accessibility. If anyone finds any issues please don't hesitate to let me know.

Also, if anyone has a good full group shot without the logo plastered on the image, send it my way!

Gotta be the one from this tweet, right?

 

sora87

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,860
Kyle's saving his F-bomb for a mega man opinion yell isn't he?
"Legends is one of the best fucking games of all time and it deserves a fucking sequel!"
 

Hazz3r

Member
Nov 3, 2017
2,112
I think the difficulty this year is that there's not a whole lot coming out, so very few games fit into the definition of looks okay but no ones talking about it or everyone's talking about it but people should temper their expectations.

For me, my Pop Tart is probably Need for Speed Heat.

My Toaster Strudel is probably The Outer Worlds.
 

Slim Action

Member
Jul 4, 2018
5,566
Pop Tart - Disco Elysium. An RPG with almost no combat where you level up different parts of your mind/body and then they argue with each other. I think Ian would love this.

Toaster Strudel - Jedi Fallen Order. I think it will be a solid game but one of those ones where you keep being reminded of similar, better games (God of War, Dark Souls, etc.)
 

klastical

Member
Oct 29, 2017
4,712
I think the difficulty this year is that there's not a whole lot coming out, so very few games fit into the definition of looks okay but no ones talking about it or everyone's talking about it but people should temper their expectations.

For me, my Pop Tart is probably Need for Speed Heat.

My Toaster Strudel is probably The Outer Worlds.


I agree with what your saying. Q2 and 3 of next year will likely be the same.

Poptart: after party

Toaster struddle: GOLEM
 

jondgc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,208
Incredible OT design! So happy to be a small part of the EZA community. Truly, the best in the biz.
 

Deleted member 28523

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 31, 2017
2,911
yeah Kyle's gotta clarify the whole Poptart/toaster strudel thing again. we clearly can't figure this out.

poptart: prodeus

toaster strudel: star wars: fallen jedi because star wars has been boring since 1980
 

Kamala

Member
Sep 22, 2019
466
Great OT. Gundam streams are back, Kyle and Jones playing Pokemon Silver, Mysterious Monsters, Achieve it Yourself is back... ahh, it's a good time to be a fan.
 

Sheldon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,331
Ruhrgebiet, Germany
On the evergreen topic of Poptarts vs Toaster Strudels, let it be known on this fresh page one of a new thread that Kyle Bosman, by his own admission, has never eaten a Toaster Strudel in his life and cannot be trusted with taste or getting his metaphors right.
 

Yoh

Member
Nov 19, 2017
337
On the evergreen topic of Poptarts vs Toaster Strudels, let it be known on this fresh page one of a new thread that Kyle Bosman, by his own admission, has never eaten a Toaster Strudel in his life and cannot be trusted with taste or getting his metaphors right.
He's afraid to like it.
 

MrMette

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,303
Belgium
On the evergreen topic of Poptarts vs Toaster Strudels, let it be known on this fresh page one of a new thread that Kyle Bosman, by his own admission, has never eaten a Toaster Strudel in his life and cannot be trusted with taste or getting his metaphors right.
I know I have said this before (probably a couple of times), but I don't want to put either one of those in my mouth.
I'm glad they aren't available over here (at least as far as I know). I still love the segment though.

Edit:
Btw, thanks fireworksordie for the new thread.
 

Rickenslacker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,415
I've had both Pop-Tarts and Toaster Strudels.

Pop-Tarts wins on sheer degenerate versatility. When you're in a shitty breakfast pastry situation, you don't want all that prep bogging you down. Just take it straight from the box and into your gullet and leave little room for regret to seep in before it's over.