Scott Pilgrim - A 'Trash Dillweed'

We got a stereo, you just got to turn the knob and baby we'll go as far as we can... but we're not garbage men. This week, we have special guest, [Matthew Tyler Di Leo (aka SonicMTD)](https://twitter.com/SonicMTD) to help talk us through the fandom of Scott Pilgrim... fans. Next week, we have [Jen Frankel, author of the Undead Redhead series](http://www.jenfrankel.com/) to chat with us about fans of speculative fiction! ## Where can I learn more about Matt? If you'd like to hear more from Matt or check out his work, you're in luck! - City in Wires, [his band](https://www.facebook.com/CityInWires/) - His [YouTube](https://youtube.com/SonicMTD) - His [Twitter](https://twitter.com/SonicMTD) - His [Facebook](https://facebook.com/SonicMTD) ## Episode outline ### Fandom Facts **History and Origins:** > Scott Pilgrim is a series of graphic stories by Bryan Lee O'Malley. The series is about Canadian Scott Pilgrim, a slacker and part-time musician who lives in Toronto, Ontario and plays bass guitar in a band. He falls in love with American delivery girl Ramona Flowers, but must defeat her seven evil exes in order to date her. > > The series consists of six digest size black-and-white volumes, released between August 2004 and July 2010, by Portland-based independent comic book publisher Oni Press. It was later republished by Fourth Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins. Full-colour hardback volumes, coloured by Nathan Fairbairn, were released from August 2012 to April 2014. > > A film adaptation of the series titled Scott Pilgrim vs. the World starring actor Michael Cera in the title role was released in August 2010. A video game adaptation developed by Ubisoft for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade was released the same month. > > — [Wikipedia - Scott Pilgrim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Pilgrim) **Search Data:** As far as Google trends data goes, Scott Pilgrim looks like a flash in the pan, and [the movie is a lot more popular than the graphic novel series](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F05j3y0,%2Fm%2F05t0_2v). There is a huge spike in interest (on either graph) around August 2010, then a long tail into the present. By country, for the graphic novel series, the top ten countries for search volume are: Iceland (by a large margin), Mexico, Chile, Puerto Rico, United States, Philippines, South Korea, Paraguay, Australia. By country, for the movie, the top ten countries for search volume are: Mexico, Chile, Canada, Puerto Rico, United States, Russia, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom. **Size of Fandom:** Based on a few data points... - According to Oni press, in 2010, and after 6 years, Scott Pilgrim's final volume, _Finest Hour_ had sold over 1 million copies in North America alone ([Comicsbeat](http://www.comicsbeat.com/scott-pilgrims-finest-sales-chart-1-million-in-print/))... so, presumably that gives about one million as one possible estimate - It has [over 300 000 ratings on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446029/?ref_=tt_urv) - It has over 12 000 subscribers [on the Scott Pilgrim subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/ScottPilgrim) - There is a discord server, [_Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Discord_](https://discordapp.com/invite/QzBnDad) which has over 400 members ... so it's probably fair to say that there are _tens of thousands of fans_. **Fan Demographics:** Looking at the [ratings from IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446029/ratings?ref_=tt_ov_rt), we can get an extremely loose sense of the demographics (for the movie at least): - *Age*: Predominantly folks between ages 18-29 (38%) and 30-44 (37%) - *Gender*: Predominantly male (68%) as compared to female (15%); data is missing for other genders **Fast Facts:** - There are about 150 Scott Pilgrim works on [Archive of Our Own](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Scott%20Pilgrim%20-%20All%20Media%20Types/works) - During its opening weekend, the movie raised $10.5m at the box office... significantly less than the $60m the movie cost to make ### [Last Episode's](http://fanthropological.com/e/#-name) Famous Last Words **T** How popular is Scott, as a character within the fandom? **G** Is the music portion of Scott Pilgrim as important to the GN fans as it is to fans of the movie? **Z** How divisive was the movie? **Lauren** What did you think of Lost at Sea?? Do you want to talk about Lost at Sea with Lauren? ### This week's spotlight **[Race Against Time IV](http://raceagainsttime.io)** > Now in its fourth year running, the Race Against Time is an annual charity marathon to raise money for the Alzheimer Society of Canada by beating the SNES classic, Chrono Trigger, as many times as possible in 24 hours. This year, the event is running every week until August 11 and 12 for the main event (see website for detailed schedule). > > Alzheimer's is a terrible disease that slowly robs those afflicted of their memories, and, eventually, their very sense of being. We are racing to help preserve those memories of loved ones and for a cure to stop it once and for all! > > All donations go directly to the Alzheimer Society of Canada. ### Famous Last Words This week's famous last words around *next week's* fandom, speculative fiction! **T** Is the distinction between speculative fiction and genre fiction substantial? **Z** Is speculative fiction a label from authors, publisher, fans...? **G** I speculative fiction meant to be cautionary? Is it all black mirror? **Matt** "Avenge me" Where does speculative fiction tow the line; when does something stop qualifying as speculative fiction? ## 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](http://twitch.tv/thenickscast) every Monday at 20:00 Eastern Time! - For all the latest updates, check us out on [Facebook](https://facebook.com/thenickscast) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thenickscast) - To see the latest hijinx from our conventions or even our daily lives and adventures, check us out on [Instagram](https://instagram.com/thenickscast) - For our latest convention updates, *Let's Plays*, and other in-real-life video, [check out our YouTube channel](http://youtube.com/thenickscast) - We're also on [iTunes](https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/fanthropological/id1163621210), and [Google Play](https://play.google.com/music/m/Icmngxz7yhaoivdvivvf6q6c2pu?t=Fanthropological), 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 [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) - You can check out [our website](http://thenickscast.com); 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 Matt for making the time _to_ chat with us, AND for providing [his own show notes for this episode](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bhqcl27DhtiuDixl8_6nDf2QZckTAJuLZG5Km-e1w5M/edit)! Also, thanks _from_ Matt to the following folks (many of whom were part of early Scott Pilgrim fan communities): - Rebecca Blanchard - [Erin Encheta](http://aancheta.com) - MaddoxFan - Media Mike of What To Play Gaming for his series on _Scott Pilgrim vs The World_ ## Credits ### Sources - [Wikipedia - Scott Pilgrim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Pilgrim) - [Comics Beat - Scott Pilgrim's finest sales chart: 1 million in print](http://www.comicsbeat.com/scott-pilgrims-finest-sales-chart-1-million-in-print/) - [IMDB - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446029/ratings?ref_=tt_ov_rt) - [Reddit - Scott Pilgrim](https://www.reddit.com/r/ScottPilgrim) - [The Telegraph - Scott Pilgrim: where are all his geeky fans?](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-blog/7968139/Scott-Pilgrim-where-are-all-his-geeky-fans.html) - [Google Trends - Scott Pilgrim](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F05j3y0,%2Fm%2F05t0_2v) - [io9 - Scott Pilgrim author says it "sucks" that the story was "so white"](https://io9.gizmodo.com/scott-pilgrim-author-says-it-sucks-that-the-movie-was-575876991) - [r/ScottPilgrim - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ScottPilgrim/comments/4p6gpv/scott_pilgrim_vs_the_world_the_game_faq/) - [A Forever Quest - Graphic Novel Review: Lost at Sea by Bryan Lee O’Malley](http://aforeverquest.com/2017/04/29/graphic-novel-review-lost-sea-bryan-lee-omalley/) - [Quora - What-do-Fans-of-the-Scott-Pilgrim-vs-the-World-Comic-Think-of-Mary-Elizabeth-Winsteads-Performance-in-the Film?](https://www.quora.com/What-do-fans-of-the-Scott-Pilgrim-vs-the-World-comic-think-of-Mary-Elizabeth-Winsteads-performance-in-the-film) - [Quora - What Made Michael Cera Perfect for the Role of Scott Pilgrim?](https://www.quora.com/What-made-Michael-Cera-perfect-for-the-role-of-Scott-Pilgrim) - [Quora - Why Did the Movie Scott Pilgrim Versus the World get Such Good Reviews?](https://www.quora.com/Why-did-the-movie-Scott-Pilgrim-Versus-the-World-get-such-good-reviews) - [Quora - Why Does Scott Pilgrim vs. The World have a Cult Following?](https://www.quora.com/Why-does-Scott-Pilgrim-vs-the-World-have-a-cult-following) - [Quora - Why Has Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Performed Poorly at the Box Office?](https://www.quora.com/Why-has-Scott-Pilgrim-vs-the-World-performed-poorly-at-the-box-office) - [r/FanTheories - The Moral of Scott Pilgrim](https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/12j970/the_moral_of_scott_pilgrim/) - [r/Movies - I Didn't Get the Hype with Scott Pilgrim vs The World - Am I Missing Something?](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/7ild3r/i_didnt_get_the_hype_with_scott_pilgrim_vs_the/) - [r/Movies - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a Perfect Film.](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/8k2jq6/scott_pilgrim_vs_the_world_is_a_perfect_film/) - [r/Movies - What's Your Opinion on 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World'?](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/3jw3pk/whats_your_opinion_on_scott_pilgrim_vs_the_world/) - [r/ScottPilgrim - A Question for Fans of Scott Pilgrim Fan Fiction.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ScottPilgrim/comments/3v0kh3/a_question_for_fans_of_scott_pilgrim_fan_fiction/) - [r/ScottPilgrim - What Drew You to the Scott Pilgrim Series?](https://www.reddit.com/r/ScottPilgrim/comments/4vljr9/what_drew_you_to_the_scott_pilgrim_series/) - [r/ScottPilgrim - Why Scott Pilgrim is Oane of the Greatest Stories of the Time. And Random Discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/ScottPilgrim/comments/1kt5c1/why_scott_pilgrim_is_one_of_the_greatest_stories/) - [Things Mean A Lot - Lost at Sea by Bryan Lee O’Malley](http://www.thingsmeanalot.com/2009/05/lost-at-sea-by-bryan-lee-omalley.html) - [Watchman Comic Movie Forum - Bryan Lee O' Malley's Lost at Sea](http://www.watchmencomicmovie.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=4670) ### Music / Sound - ["End of Year"](http://teknoaxe.com/Link_Code_4.php?q=1355&Genre=Rock) by TeknoAXE used under [CC BY 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) - All other music and sound for this week's episode were provided by Nick Green!