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Pure Pwnage Toronto Premiere!

The entire cast of playerFIVE.com recently took a trip to Toronto for the premiere of two brand new episodes of Pure Pwnage (Episodes 17 and 18), and the 600+ mile trip was more than worth it!

Saturday morning began with a Pure Pwnage breakfast at 9:00am, which I attended as the lone representative of playerFIVE. The meal was held at Maggie’s, a local Toronto diner which is featured as teh_pwnerer’s favorite place to grab a bite. The crew and I had already eaten lunch there the day prior, where we ran into Geoff LaPaire, Dave, and some of the other cast and crew of Pure Pwnage. Haven been scolded by Geoff (”Kyle” from the show) for not ordering a #1 with bacon, I decided this time to follow suit and partake in the delicious. I was not disappointed!

The breakfast was hosted by Davin and Miranda, who play General Douglas and Anastasia respectively. They were both super cool, and Davin was nice enough to take a really cute picture of me with Anastasia. It was great to see her again, since she would not be able to attend the premiere. She’s a really sweet girl!

After breakfast I headed back towards the hotel to gather the rest of the group for the premiere. The trip back to the hotel was eventful, as I managed to break my glasses and had to feel my way to a drug store to get an eyeglass repair kit. I’ll save that story for another day, however.

The premiere began later that afternoon, with a long wait in a line full of rain-soaked fans. The giant umbrella I last used at the Pure Pwnage Episode 13 premiere in New York City was, once again, called into action.

After meeting some of the other fans and obtaining our tickets from the mighty Myren, we were slowly filtered into the Bloor Cinema and took our seats. It was crazy watching the glow of all the Nintendo DS units in the crowd. Sadly, I had left mine at the hotel.

Things kicked off with a little music from some gent on a guitar, who was pretty damn good. He played some of the music from the show. The spotlight then turned to Linda Gallant, who sang the Pure Pwnage classic “World of Warcraft is a Feeling” alongside Davin. The cast was introduced, and it seemed like everyone except Miranda was on stage (she had told me at the breakfast earlier that she was unable to attend due to a prior obligation to a musical she had a role in). They did the introductions, and kicked things off with a little refresher course via Episode 16.

Having paid attention during last season, Chris and I decided to depart from the rest of the group and let them yuk it up while we visited the Noob Store to buy some schwag. Upstairs, we were pleasantly surprised to find Jarret Cale (Jeremy), along with Dave and Geoff, who were all kind enough to sign autographs and take pictures with us! We said our hellos, bought our goods, and went back to our seats for the start of Episode 17.

Entitled “Just the Guys, Pt. 1″, Episode 17 starts off with an extremely amusing parody of “Zero Punctuation” - the Escapist Magazine’s Flash animated satirical game review series - created by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw. The parody presents a very harsh reality on gamer culture, and how the media and so called “casual” market has negatively affected those who would consider themselves “core” gamers. Jarret touches on the insatiable demands of the Internet gaming community, the lack of insight in the games media industry, and even manages to take an entirely necessary Canadian jab at good ol’ George W. It was truly hysterical, and extremely insightful.

After the piss-your-pants laughter is quelled, the episode opens with a Tarantino style retrospective on teh pwnerer’s week.

The basic subplot of the episode is that Jeremy’s teacher, known as Teh Masterer, is sending students to Dave and Jeremy to be trained. While Dave is already abusing his pupil in a Karate Kid style manner, Jeremy is excited that he is being shipped a Californian boy named Chris to do his bidding.

The episode also focuses on the differences in personality between the members of the crew, and climaxes when Jeremy discovers Anastasia dirty dancing with another man at a club appropriately called “Skanks”. Things heat up, Jeremy overreacts, and Anastasia calls it quits. It was apparent after this that it was probably a good idea she wasn’t at the premiere!

Episode 18 continues the week, and shows Jeremy’s depression and recovery after the breakup. It was full of more laughter, and more pwnage, but I won’t get into details here - I’ll let you watch it for yourself after it debuts on purepwnage.com later this month.

The premiere ended, as they all seem to, with an autograph session with the fans. The cast continued - for what seemed like hours after the show ended - to sign autographs, shake hands, and take pictures with the fans. I was able to flush out my autograph collection, but unfortunately due to time constraints I didn’t get a chance to grab a picture with Joel Gardiner like I had hoped to.

On my way out, I gave Davin a quick pat on the back, and thanked him for being so cool at the breakfast. He thanked me back, and told me that the crew would be attending an after party at Pauper’s, a bar that was just across the street, and that he hoped to see me there. I was pretty excited about that, so the playerFIVE crew and I went back to the hotel, changed, and went out to grab a bite to eat. We then attended the after party, which started out as just a bunch of fans, and Dave sitting at a table with some of his friends. The rest of the cast slowly filtered in and did their rounds, socializing with the different groups. Being too shy to ask them myself, Chris was man enough to invite Doug, Troy, and their friends to do some Irish Car Bombs with us. We got Dave, Jarett, and Jarett’s girlfriend Stacey all involved, and Chris and I ended up ordering about 15 or so of the drinks. That got us all talking, and we spent the rest of the night chatting it up with the cast. I spent most of my time talking with Jarett and Stacey, buying them drinks whenever their glasses started to look a little empty.

Jarett, Chris, and I talked about a lot of things that night. He spoke about his views and experiences on the cultural differences between the United States and Canada - such as our ease of access to guns. He told us stories about the places he’s been and the things he’s seen.

However, out of all the discussions, the thing that stood in my mind the must was his utter disdain for Penny Arcade and it’s creators. Apparently, PAX has refused booth space to Pure Pwnage two years in a row. The first year, they simply cited that Pure Pwnage wouldn’t attract enough people. After proving them wrong with all the downloads, premiere attenders, and the crowds they attract at other expos like ComiCon, Penny Arcade simply explained that they don’t think Pure Pwnage really fits with the style of the show.

Obviously offended, a slightly intoxicated Jarett explained to me that PAX allows groups like Mega64 to attend, and while he has always tried to remain courtious with Gabe and Tycho, he has often felt snubbed by them, and the members of the games press. He has felt that they simply don’t want Pure Pwnage to attend because it presents competition in gaming, and because they “have never been any good at playing videogames”, they simply despise Pure Pwnage because they can’t compete. Jarett then publicly challenged Gabe and Tycho to their choice of any game, at which he would promptly beat their ass.

Jarett’s qualms with the games press were also not without warrant. “Why is it that places like Kotaku will report on all kinds of conventions and expos related to gaming, but thousands of people travel all across the world to see a Pure Pwnage premiere in Canada and they won’t say shit about it?”.

Personally, I’d say Pure Pwnage is doing just fine without them! Their fanbase is solid and radically devoted, and their viewership continues to grow. I witnessed firsthand, for the second time, the pure love the fans have for the series and its cast.

During our discussion on the games press, I was able to save a little face for IGN, as I informed Jarett that IGN Editor Ryan Geddes had recently given PP props on their “Podcast Beyond”. He was happy to hear that. We also spoke about the now defunct Internet gaming show “Epileptic Gaming”, and he was sad to hear that it was no longer in existence. That brought us to some discussion about Marcus “djWHEAT” Graham, who is now an announcer for the Championship Gaming Series - which of course led to conversation about how gaming as a sport has a long way to go in this country before it ever becomes mainstream. The conversation rattled on, and at some point ended. It was extremely cool to be able to sit down next to someone I am such a huge fan of, and carry on a simple conversation about our passions over some drinks.

Speaking of drinks, at this point I was pretty well gone. Chris and I were the only members of the crew still left standing, and we continued to buy drinks for the cast and people we had met. At the premiere, there was a guy who had proposed to his girlfriend in front of everyone with the spotlight on him (it was very sweet). It turned out the couple was from Minnesota, and while I don’t remember their names I do remember how cool they were, and how great it was talking to them! I also bought a drink for Snubs of Hak5, who is apparently pretty popular amongst the Pure Pwnage fanbase! She was also really nice and fun to talk to.

It started getting fairly late (or early, rather) at this point, and Stacey and Jarett were trying to get on their way out. So, Chris and I said our goodbyes and stumbled back to our hotel room to get some rest for the long car ride back home.

All in all, the trip was a total success. The premiere was great, and the after-party - while blurry at times - was fantastic. It was an absolute blast meeting other Pure Pwnage fans, and hanging out with the cast in such a relaxed manner! I can’t wait to do it again!