Crack open your Millennium Puzzle and prepare to roll some incredibly awkward polygonal dice, because this week on Play Comics we’re delving into one of the most bewildering spin-offs to ever stumble out of the Yu-Gi-Oh universe! We’re talking about Yu-Gi-Oh Dungeondice Monsters for the Game Boy Advance—a game so determined to turn Kazuki Takahashi’s trading card phenomenon into a dungeon crawler that it somehow forgot to ask if it should.

Joining us for this delightfully confusing journey through Dungeondice Monsters is none other than Marcus Stewart from Game Informer, who’s armed with the kind of gaming knowledge that only comes from actually playing this thing. Whether he’s here to defend it, destroy it, or just figure out what the heck is happening on a 240p screen, we’re thrilled to have his voice in the mix as we attempt to understand why anyone thought “card game meets roguelike dice mechanics” was the logical next step for the King of Games.

So lock your monsters in the vault, prepare your dice for rolling, and get ready for an episode that’s far less about card strategy and far more about watching two people gradually lose their minds over a game that inhabits some kind of strange liminal space between “ambitious experiment” and “fever dream at a game arcade.” The dice have been cast. The dungeon awaits. Our sanity? Well, that’s negotiable.

Learn such things as:

• Does the dice-rolling mechanic create engaging strategic depth or just mask random chaos behind a veneer of math?
• Does the actual Dungeondice Monsters storyline tie-in justify the existence of this video game adaptation at all?
• Does the very small mention of what this game actually is give young gamers their first instance of bait and switch marketing?
• And so much more!

You can find Marcus over at Game Informer in either digital or physical format or on BlueSky @marcusstewart7

If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.

If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.

Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.

You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky.

A big thanks to Piecing it Together and “Fun” & Games for the promos today.

Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who rolls dice to see which dice he should roll.

Support Play Comics by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/playcomics

Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-89f00a for 40% off for 4 months, and support Play Comics.

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This is a 1 time only crossing of the streams.

In this debut episode of Sugar, Spite, and Everything Is Fine, hosts Chris and Karrington revisit the 1973 Disney animated classic Robin Hood—not just as nostalgic adults, but as media-literate observers of politics, social structures, and childhood lessons that shape us long after we grow up. What begins as a lighthearted walk through a beloved children’s film evolves into a sharp, insightful discussion about wealth inequality, community care, political complacency, and how stories told to children often hold uncomfortable truths for adults. Using Robin Hood as both a lens and a launchpad, the hosts connect its themes to the modern economic landscape, increasing instability, shrinking middle class, and the collective power of communities to resist tyranny. With humor, honesty, and plenty of relatable frustration, Chris and Karrington explore why this movie still matters—and why its lessons might be more relevant in 2025 than ever.

• Why Robin Hood is the perfect starting point for the show

• Childhood media literacy (or lack thereof) and adult reinterpretation

• Wealth inequality, middle-class erosion, and modern parallels to medieval class divides

• The ethics of “stealing from the rich, giving to the poor” in a contemporary context

• Community power and resisting unjust leadership

• Universal healthcare, taxation misconceptions, and social safety nets

• Political polarization, voter apathy, and the myth of “my vote doesn’t matter”

• Historical examples of justified lawbreaking (Civil Rights Movement, Underground Railroad)

• How stories like Robin Hood frame morality, justice, and resistance

• “Half-assed is better than no-assed—or 1% progress is still progress.” — Chris

• “People don’t care until it affects their life or their family.” — Karrington

• “Nobody questions that Robin Hood is the good guy—unless they’re trying to be contrarian.” — Chris

• “Redistribution of wealth isn’t about getting rich; it’s about helping people survive.” — Karrington

• “The law isn’t always right—and history has proven that.” — Chris

• Disney’s Robin Hood (1973) — streaming on Disney+

• Nottingham comic series (referenced by Chris)

• BlueSky community feedback & listener submissions

If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe to Sugar, Spite, and Everything Is Fine and leave a review to help others discover the show. Share the episode with someone who loves childhood classics—or someone who’s ready to rethink old stories through a modern lens. Follow the show on social media for episode prompts, updates, and listener discussions.

Support Play Comics by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/playcomics

Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-89f00a for 40% off for 4 months, and support Play Comics.

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Dust off your cowabunga collection and prepare your fists for some serious turtle-powered mayhem, because this week on Play Comics we’re diving shell-first into TMNT: Mutant Melee, the 2005 arena-based fighting bonanza that took the 2003 animated series and asked the most important question: what if we just got all the turtles, their friends, AND their enemies into one room and let them beat the absolute snot out of each other? Developed by Konami for PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and PC, this isn’t your typical one-on-one fighter—it’s more like if Smash Bros and Power Stone had a shell-covered baby and that baby knew all of Splinter’s teachings.

Joining us for this body-slamming brawl is the incomparable Tommy Proffitt from Distant Echoes and Lee Carvallo’s Podding Challenge, a podcast wizard who understands the intricate art of dissecting character-based chaos and canon coherence like few others can. Plus being able to bring his signature blend of gaming nostalgia and comedic precision to help us determine if this colorful chaos simulator managed to capture the spirit of its source material or if it swung its nunchucks at empty air.

Together, we’ll navigate the treacherous waters of Last Man Standing mode, contemplate why anyone thought having 22 playable characters was a good idea, and investigate whether the game’s holiday-themed cosmetics (seriously—set the date to December 25th and watch the turtles rock Santa hats) are feature or bug.

Learn such things as:

• What does it say about a game when its best feature might legitimately be the ability to unlock the original arcade game inside it?
• What’s the difference between a party fighter and a fighting game that doesn’t know what it wants to be?
• Can the 2003 cartoon’s tone can survive being translated into “everyone fights everyone all the time?
• And so much more!

You can find Tommy on Bluesky @awkwardcomma, and his podcasts Distant Echoes and Lee Carvallo’s Podding Challenge.

If you want to be a guest on the show please check out the Be a A Guest on the Show page and let me know what you’re interested in.

If you want to help support the show check out the Play Comics Patreon page or head over to the Support page if you want to go another route. You can also check out the Play Comics Merch Store.

Play Comics is part of the Gonna Geek Network, which is a wonderful collection of geeky podcasts. Be sure to check out the other shows on Gonna Geek if you need more of a nerd fix.

You can find Play Comics @playcomics.bsky.social on Bluesky.

A big thanks to Byrds Eye View Comics and There Are Houses In The Woods (brought to you by Blue Frog Den Comics) for the promos today.

Intro/Outro Music by Backing Track, who’s favorite turtle is Franklin.

Support Play Comics by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/playcomics

Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-89f00a for 40% off for 4 months, and support Play Comics.