Awesome / Extra Credits

Extra Credits

• Three of their most important episodes from the perspective of game design, where they tackle three of the most prevalent misconceptions is modern gaming, making them something that every game developer should know about:
  • Why "Graphics" and "Aesthetics" are not the same (and why the latter is more important)
  • Why "Complexity" and "Depth" are not the same (and how to balance them)
  • "Differences in scale" vs "Differences in kind" (and how the latter will do more for you than the former- if used with care)
• In the Piracy episode at 2:25:
  "Oh, and Sony, a word to the wise: Do not tangle with the kind of people who install Linux... On their Playstations. Trust me: You are wasting your time."
• Their epic thrashing of EA's Marketing. The whole episode is concentrated awesome.
  • Especially the dissonance of putting together an Old EA magazine article over the top of a Dante's Inferno video.
  • And their response to how fake reports of the "Bad Nanny" achievement for Dante's Inferno offended the International Nanny's Association:
  "You know how hard it is to piss off people who watch other people's five-year-olds for a living?!"
  • The real MoA for this event, for Extra Credits, for the Escapist and possibly the entire video-game-based web-series genre? The head of EA marketing invited them to a meeting to discuss their marketing strategy after the video went viral.
    • Think about this— EA saw it and cared. The episode honestly did something, Electronic Arts is trying to right itself. And this is Electronic Arts we're talking about here!
• Similar to the EA example above, their episode on harassment called out Microsoft in particular. Microsoft acknowledged the call and invited James for a chat.
• The series' presence on The Escapist was a MoA on its own. In the earlier episodes, before they got picked up by the site, they said that it was inspired by Zero Punctuation. After a while, they're featured on the same site and have an almost greater following.
  • After they left, they found another hoster almost as fast, and it was none other than Penny Arcade.
    • Which is itself a MoA, because of the absolute respect and gratitude they showed for Penny Arcade and its Childs Play charity.
• On June 29th, 2011, James let fans know that the illustrator, Alison, needed shoulder surgery to continue working as an artist. The original plan was to accept donations over a 60 day period. In less than a day, they already doubled their original figures in donation costs.
• The whole second episode on compulsive gaming was one of these, with James talking frankly about his own past problems and ending on the life-affirming message that real life is always waiting for us to return and that we can apply the same zeal we applied to gaming to life with much grander results.
• The "Call of Juarez: The Cartel" episode as a whole, but sternly calling out the designers for willfully misinforming people about human trafficking deserves special mention.
  • Their conclusion about the responsibilities designers have ends simply but powerfully.
    We can inform, and educate, and entertain, but failing all that we can at least BE HONEST.
• The ''Politics'' video. They managed to get Jared Polis, a REAL CONGRESSMAN, to speak in the show. Wow.
• This. For context: Richard Danksy, a friend of James, sent him a copy of Charnel Houses of Europe: The Shoah, a supplement for Wraith: The Oblivion focused on the Holocaust. The episode explores the game and the topic of what is and isn't appropriate to discuss in a game.
  They knew they were gonna hear a lot of angry voices saying, "You can't talk about these things in a game." But they also knew that wasn't true, in the same way that you'd never say that such important topics shouldn't use the medium of television, or that people shouldn't make movies to discuss such serious things. You can't say that something isn't appropriate for a medium. That type of generalization doesn't even make sense. It's not in the medium, but rather how we use it to determine whether we're treating a subject with respect.
• The Narrative Mechanics episode. One of the points that the Extra Credits crew has been saying for years is that story told through gameplay is what designers should aim for, but at one gaming convention, the writer, James Portnow, was challenged to name a game that actually accomplished this. Not only does he succeed, but the example they chose is one which forced the player to confront moral dilemmas with limited resources in a universe which invites an enormous emotional investment while delivering a powerful anti-war message in the bargain ... and their example did it before most Extra Credits viewers were even born. As quoted on the TV Tropes page for the game itself:
  Daniel Floyd: What's the bluntest point made by this game? That you can't win. No matter how many stages you survive, or how much time you spend playing, you can't beat Missile Command. Nuclear war has no winners. Your job is futile, but you do it anyway because you can buy people a few more minutes of hope.
• Episode 200 is out!

Extra History

• The Creative Assembly has paid these guys to do a history lesson on the Punic Wars, an educational video series to advertise for Total War: Rome II!
  • The best part was Creative Assembly telling the EC team that they didn't need to mention them, or the game - just teach some history. But EC did both anyway, since they felt the idea was so awesome.
  • They enjoyed doing the series so much, they're bringing it back!
    • And now it's officially a weekly show thanks to Patreon!
• Punic Wars.
  • The Battle of Cannae. Hannibal not only knew his opponent so thoroughly that he could make them charge him by simply waiting a day, he also created the infamous Pincer Maneuver, whereby he simply had his battle line slowly retreat as the outer edges hold and close in on the enemy. It's poetic that the Punic Wars would be the first in the series of videos, as you will see this tactic again and again in war, always under a different name and with some slight modifications (such as Shaka Zulu's Bull Horns technique or even Admiral Yi's Crane Wing formation), but always with the same general idea.
  • Fabius, the elected Dictator who would arguably save Rome from Hannibal, managed to out gambit Hannibal during his tenure by recognizing every single bait and refusing to bite, opting to needle at Hannibal's forces with hit-and-run tactics. This is despite how Hannibal managed to turn nearly everyone else in Rome into Leeroy Jenkins with his trolling tactics.
    • However, Hannibal paid him back by deliberately avoiding lands owned by Fabius, casting suspicion that Fabius' reason for abandoning their usual strategy was out of collusion, rather than caution.
  • Hannibal bringing War Elephants into combat against the Roman Army. Dan was not kidding when he said that this story would have fighting monsters. And these were pissed off elephants.
    • And then the Romans, the reservists and dregs who weren't sent off to Spain, to Africa, hold their ground in the face of the elephants, and if it were not for the defeat of their cavalry, quite possibly would have won.
  • Really, the fact that Carthage was able to stand against the might of Rome for as long as they did is a MoA all on its own.
• Sengoku Jidai.
  • Oda Nobunaga, forced to pull an ignominious retreat after an ally turned on him, leads his troops marching down a forest road, when a ninja shoots him with an arquebus, pulls another, and shoots again, fleeing in the confusion. Nobunaga is thrown from his horse, and his men clamor in confusion. Then, slowly, Nobunaga rises, one bullet lodged over his heart, the other in his helmet. His eyes *glow* with fury, and the viewer has no choice but to pity his traitorous brother-in-law.
  • Ieyasu makes it back to a castle with only five men to protect it after being crushed by the Takada cavalry. Five men against a whole army is suicide and yet Ieyasu dodges death again by lighting braziers along the wall, throwing open his gates and banging a huge drum, daring the enemy to come and get him (which they don't). Then, his secret weapon, Hattori Hanzo, does so much damage to the Takada in the night that they flee to their home.
  • Torii Suneemon's Undying Loyalty and Heroic Sacrifice. He's captured by Takeda Katsuyori, crucified^note It's debated whether he was crucified before or after his defiance, and told his life would be spared if he shouts that no help would be coming from Tokugawa Ieyasu.
    Suneemon takes a deep breath. Everything is silent. Suneemon shouts that Tokugawa is on his way! Hold firm! And then he's stabbed with dozens of spears, and dies. But the garrison does hold out, and Tokugawa and Nobunaga arrive with their army.
• Justinian and Theodora.
  • The Battle of Dara, the way Daniel narrates Belisarius' observation of the numbers at the battle it sounded something to the effect of: "Well, better put some coffee on, this is going to be tricky to plan for."
  • Empress Theodora proving her status as Empress by basically telling her husband and the Imperial Court to stand and fight, rather than run from the rampaging Demes.
  • Belisarius taking back Carthage from the Vandals with only sixteen-thousand men, even less than the numbers he had at Dara. And succeeded where the efforts of BOTH of the Roman Empires of old backfired with six times that many soldiers.
    • He then proceeded to take Rome itself with even LESS troops.
  • Theodora holding the empire together while Justinian was stricken with Plague, preventing a coup and maintaining general order until he miraculously recovered. Not for nothing is episode 10 of the series labeled not "Justinian and Theodora" or "The Byzantine Empire", but rather simply "Theodora".
  • Belisarius, when faced with the task of defending Rome from a much larger force, laughs at them and then shoots down three riders to raise his men's hopes.
• Suleiman the Magnificent
  • Suleiman's sheer dog-headed determination and drive. From the moment he becomes Sultan, nothing distracts him from his dream of expanding the Ottoman Empire and inscribing his name into the annals of history. No matter how cruel, misguided, or capricious he might be, his determination never fails. He even demands his army march as full-speed, despite the fact that traveling so wracks his aged, gout-ridden body with utter agony.
  • The Knights Hospitaller must be given their full credit: They are the last of the Crusader Orders. Before them, the Templars were brought down by the avarice of kings, the Teutonic Knights destroyed themselves in battle after battle in Eastern Europe. Yet they stand tall, defending the soft underbelly of Christendom, the Mediterranean.
    • Suleiman unleashes the full might of the Ottoman Empire against their island fortress of Rhodes. Do they capitulate? No. They stand and fight, for over five weeks, defying the ruler of one of the greatest empires of the known world, until at last he accepts generous terms and lets them and all Christian souls depart, unmolested.
    • Years later, the Knights have forged themselves anew on Malta and continue to harry and harass the Ottoman shipping lanes. Once again, Suleiman dispatches an army to root out this last relic of the Crusades. Whilst this time it is a smaller force, such an army should nonetheless be able to destroy the Knights of Saint John. But this time - in a conflict known as The Great Siege of Malta - the Knights hold firm. Even when the entire garrison of one of their forts on the island is killed to the last man, they hold on and repulse the pride of the Ottoman Empire's forces. Without doubt, these Knights of the Hospital proved for all time why they were the last to fall (some two-hundred years later, at the hands of no less than Napoleon) out of what was once the spearpoint of Christendom.
• The First Crusade.
  • The desperately outnumbered Crusaders holding the line against the Turkish forces for hours without retreating, without being baited into an attack, and then, after four episodes, the Crusaders finally band up assemble as one to repel the Turkish forces in a daring charge, clearing the way to the city Antioch. There's even a observable Big Damn Heroes moment for Bishop Adhemar (who spent all other episodes suffering some physical or moral injury), who comes crashing down in the Turkish flank and pretty much saves the civilians.
    • The civilians themselves get one — as women risk their own lives running with pitchers to give the shieldbearers water to drink to sustain them.
  • Love him or hate him, Bohemond's stratagem to take Antioch for himself is very clever: He plays the Byzantines like a fiddle (claiming there's a plot to assassinate their leader, and when they retreat to confirm that information, accusing them of cowardice), then delivering a crushing blow to the Turkish reinforcements and finally bribing the guards to take hold of Antioch. His crusader allies are impotent to do anything against him due his popularity with the common people, meaning he does all this without even damaging his reputation.
  • Bishop Adhemar gets a second Big Damn Heroes moment by stopping a mass desertion amongst the crusaders (he even drags Walpole back to the Siege), proposing a fast to regain favor with God, thus single-handedly solving the troop's starvation problem and boosting their previously-falling morale.
• During the Cuban Missile Crisis, a U-Boat ran into the american blockade. Since they hadn't been in contact with Moscow, they assumed it was an attack. Both the captain and the political officer voted for using the U-boat's nukes, but there was a third man aboard who had a vote: The flotilla commander Vasily Arkhipov, who said no. His decision may have prevented nuclear war and the destruction of human civilization.
• Admiral Yi.
  • His series begins with the steady, ominous beat of war drums.
  • Admiral Yi who, when he broke his leg while on horseback during a military examination, hobbled over to a willow tree, splinted his broken leg, and completed the examination.
  • Admiral Yi, who when the infamously strict governor inspected his post, earned a "Well done."
  • Yi's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Yi Il, who attempted to pin a defeat entirely on Yi instead of taking the blame.
    Yi: My Lord, you are asking me to assume the whole responsibility for the misfortune. But you are wrong. May I remind you that you have always refused my frequent requests for reinforcements. The defeat was not a result of my negligence of duty, but in large part, your fault. Therefore, it is not I, but you, who should be held responsible for the defeat.
  • Pretty much all of Admiral Yi's naval campaign against Japan is one long moment of awesome (note that this started after he was called out of his retirement).
    • He creates the turtle ship, which can't be flanked or boarded by the enemy and uses it to devastating effect.
    • He goes battle after battle without losing a single ship (some of his ships were commandeered fishing boats).
    • He takes a bullet to the shoulder and continues to direct a battle, and then casually digs it out with a sword afterwards.
    • When the Navy is reduced to just twelve ships, Yi makes the Badass Boast when told the Navy would be decommissioned: "I still have twelve ships under my command.". His last stand has him taking down thirty-one enemy ships, again without losing any himself.
    • After getting fatally shot in the last battle of the war, he simply told his son and nephew to keep fighting in his stead, as the battle was nearly won before passing away on the deck of his ship, having ensured Korea was saved.
    • "And so passed the man so ill treated in life, so often demoted and accused, the man who would forever be known as the Martial Lord of Loyalty."
    • Yi was actually so awesome and loyal that James struggled to find ANYTHING that had something bad to say about him. Eventually, he found one book that heavily criticized what Yi had done. His auto-biography.
    • The same segment had this quote from Admiral Togo, roughly 300 years later.
      Togo: It may be proper to compare me to Nelson^note Togo was dubbed "The Nelson of the East", but not with Korea's Yi Sun-Sin, for he has no equal.
    • And this quote by British Admiral Ballard:
      Ballard: It is always difficult for Englishmen to admit that Nelson ever had an equal in his profession, but if any man is entitled to be so regarded, it should be this great naval commander.
• Odenathus.
  • Odenathus creating an army from nothing but his cities troops, scattered Legionaries and the peasantry of Palmyra, and beating the Parthian Empire to a standstill, even twice going to their capital. But that's not all, he pretty much moved Heaven and Earth to maintain stability in the empire, giving the Roman Empire enough time to lick their wounds and rebuild their strength.
• John Snow and The Broad Street Pump:
  • The first episode's depiction of John Snow's rapid ascension from mere apprentice to fully learned Doctor with every possible license one could attain in the field of medicine at the time, in ONE YEAR.
• Mary Seacole:
  • Despite everything the world had to throw at her, from disease, racial remarks, the loss of her husband and dear mother on the same day, the loss of her hotel in the fire that ravaged Kingstown, she never conceded defeat. Despite the war department and the nurses of London refusing to send her over to Crimea to assist the sick and injured soldiers, she never conceded defeat. In short, she was The Determinator personified. No matter what happened, shit was going to get done.
  • Even when in a field hospital next to the fight, she almost got hit by artillery. Thankfully it missed her, but still.
• Catherine The Great:
  • She started out as The Unfavorite of her mother, who was hoping for a son to help solidify her position in court. However, Catherine proved better at selling herself than her mother, greatly impressing Frederick the Great over idle conversation, convincing him that Catherine was far more interesting (and interested in learning) than her mother believed her to be, sending a favorable letter to Elizabeth in Russia to inform her of such.
  • Her coup against her husband goes off beautifully, with Catherine having successfully won the hearts and minds of commoner, noble, and clergy-member alike, utilizing this when representatives from her husband show up to try dissuading her from going through with her revolt. Her retort hints that she would become The High Queen.
    The embassy from Peter's company arrives, one of them begs Catherine not to take arms up against her husband. She takes him by the elbow and leads him to a balcony. Gesturing to the ecstatic crowd, she says: "Deliver your message to them."
  • When Peter arrives at a fort he believes is still loyal to him, he's shocked when they refuse to let him in. Calling to the fort, he demands that they recognize his status as emperor. The reply?
  "We no longer have an emperor. Long live Empress Catherine II!"
  • After completing her (surprisingly non-violent) coup, Catherine manages, through sheer force of will and personality, to cajole the Orthodox Church into becoming officially State-owned, as Russia's treasury was nearly empty due to a number of failed military ventures, and they desperately needed more tax revenue.
• D-Day
  • Operation Fortitude, the largest military deception operation in the history of warfare.
  • The last video of the series, detailing the German perspective, is truly awe inspiring, it shows just how effective the actions of the Allies were, the deception of the British (detailed in Episode 2) hampers their response, the French sabotage of specific bridges and railroads (detailed in Episode 3) slows them further, and the assault on the beaches (detailed in Episode 1) were devastating.
  • The Utah landing party accidentally landed on the wrong beach, something that could have been disastrous and might have caused the entire landing force to be left behind during the invasion. Thankfully, they had General Teddy Roosevelt Jr. (son of President Teddy Roosevelt) with them, the oldest man in the invasion and the only general to land in the first wave. He realised the beach was actually better than the one they were supposed to land on^note It's not mentioned, but there was only a single German strongpoint, which had been badly damaged by bombers, as opposed to the two covering the intended area, and the strong tide that had caused them to land off target had also washed up many of the underwater obstacles in that area. and managed to redirect the entire effort of the failed landing into a rousing success. He did all this despite his age and health issues that would claim his life only a little over a month after the landings.^note It isn't mentioned, but he was also the only man in the first wave whose son also landed in the first wave: his son, Captain Quentin Roosevelt II, landed with the first wave on Omaha
• Hunting the Bismarck
  • In the aftermath of the horrific loss of the H.M.S Hood in battle, the British navy burns with renewed fervor to bring down the German behemoth, conveyed through a steely delivery by Dan as the pulse-pounding music rises:
  The airwaves are thick with this one message: Sink the Bismarck. Sink the Bismarck. Sink the Bismarck.
  • Let's take a moment to reiterate this: The Navy HQ is despondent over the devastating loss of the Hood and the damage to the Prince of Wales. They don't know what to do now and they are at a loss. Then a phone call comes. It's Prime Minister Winston Churchill. While the HQ is having an HBSOD, Churchill is angry and he has one order to give them and he insists that they follow it. Just by saying the three words, Churchill managed to whip the Navy into the frenzy that spurred them on and they transmit this order to every ship in the North Atlantic.
  • Then comes attacking the Bismarck. The Swordfish biplanes are not up for the task: Inexperienced pilots, the planes are made out of canvas around a metal frame and most of their new torpedoes are faulty. Yet not a single plane goes down every time they assault the Bismarck.
    • How the Swordfish biplanes avoided getting shot down despite being so outdated is ironically enough because they were outdated. Modern anti-aircraft guns are designed to target faster aircraft. The Swordfish's low speed also makes it easier to manoeuvre (slow and steady wins the race indeed!). Also, because it's made out of canvas, the shells that hit don't even detonate, going right on through!
    • But even before the Swordfish descend on the Bismarck, they initially prepare to bomb a US Coast Guard ship ten miles away. They do realize their error before causing an international incident at the worst possible time, but lose they element of surprise, the (supposedly) only advantage they had!
  • One pilot is going up for the rear for one last attempt, but his co-pilot shouts "Not now!" Said co-pilot is hanging off the side of the plane in order to judge the water waves for a good strike. And he picks a perfect window. They knocked out the Bismarck's steering and sent Him back out into the Atlantic instead of France.
  • Amidst the attackers, one warship^note ORP Piorun, a Polish Navy destroyer, though not identified in the video signals the Bismarck "I am a Pole," before opening fire.^note They leave out exactly what the Piorun actually did: it charged the Bismarck by itself, exchanged fire with the battleship for an hour, and only left the battle due to low fuel
  • Admiral Tovey leaves nothing to chance against the Bismarck as His guns are more than capable of taking down any of his ships, so he attacks from all sides, forcing the Kriegsmarine to split their fire salvos against multiple targets and not do enough damage.
  • One thing that went unmentioned after the Bismarck had finally sunk. A midshipman aboard the Dorsetshire, Joe Briggs, went down into the water to pull out a German sailor who had lost both his arms. Several Bismarck survivors noted this bravery and Mr. Briggs' fellow sailors wanted him rewarded for such humaneness.
• "Otto von Bismarck had a plan. Bismarck always had a plan".
  • In the very opening of the first video, Bismarck, in his last years, predicts the first world war, the cause of said war ("Something in the Balkans"), and that the German Kaiser would lose his throne 20 years after Bismarck's death. Bismarck died 30th of July, 1898. The Kaiser abdicated the throne 20 years and four months later.
• The Great Northern War
  • The King of Sweden, Charles XII, proves himself as a keen battle commander by leading from the front in an era in which the practice had been largely abandoned.
• Khosrau Anushirawan
  • Kavadh (Khosrau's father) pulls off a Batman Gambit that would make the trope-namer proud. When dealing with Sukhra, an advisor who was making him into a Puppet King, Kavadh finally dismissed him from court, knowing full well that it wouldn't diminish his influence.
    The stars had aligned for Sukhra. To all appearances, he stood on the brink of claiming the throne for himself. This is what Kavadh had counted on. If he knew one thing about Iran's noble families, it was this: through all the centuries of intrigue, manipulation, and outright bloodshed, the one thing that always served to keep noble families in check was their rivalry with other noble families.
  • Crossing over with funny, "Khusrau's Better Antioch" ^note  Wēh Antīōk Khosrow . An exact replica, down to a mulberry tree, of the captured city of Antioch.
  Khosrau: Your soldiers choose me, your towns choose me, and your people choose me. GET REKT SON!
• The Battle of Saragarhi had 21 Sikhs at a signaling post against an army of a 10,000 tribesmen. The Sikhs know they can't win but decide to Hold the Line anyways to give the forts the army want time to prepare. Ishar Singh the commander of the Sikhs pulls a Heroic Sacrifice to buy the others time to retreat. Finally the last Sikh left kills 20 men before the room is set on fire and he dies shouting a Sikh battle cry. The delay gave the forts enough time to get reinforcements and beat the army and when the post is retaken hundreds of tribesmen are found dead in the station.
• The Berlin Airlift:
  • American generals dismissed the airlift as impossible. No one could possibly supply an entire city by plane. The British, knowing a lot about rationing after the war shortages just a few years earlier, disagreed. They were right.
  • Credits to William H. Tunner. The logisticians are normally not considered war heroes, but Tunner deserves to be remembered for accomplishing the impossible: Passing the 4000 tons quota of supplies needed in Berlin.
• The 1918 Flu Epidemic:
  • The Catholic Church in Philadelphia during the Spanish Flu epidemic went way beyond the call of duty in helping the city manage the plague and its victims, despite the horror and widespread death (one warehouse contained corpses over twelve times the building's usual capacity.)
  • When Philadelphia's government began breaking down, other citizens volunteered their services.
  • While the patients who died directly from the flu were beyond help, those dealing with secondary illnesses like pneumonia were able to find relief with Dr. Avery's anti-pneumonia serum and new thoracentesis treatments that drained the fluid from lungs. With doctors either overseas or overworked to their limits, nurses were able to provide help by keeping patients warm, hydrated, and breathing comfortably, and manage symptoms as best they could, which was more than what doctors could reasonably provide at the time. The Red Cross was even able to develop a system to predict flareups of the flu, allowing nurses to know where they were needed beforehand.
  • John Poyer, the naval governor of American Samoa, was able to track the spread of the flu, and ordered a quarantine of the port. To do this, not only did he essentially flip off ships that complained they weren't allowed to dock, but he had to convince the local tribes to uphold the quarantine to make sure not a single person set foot on or off the island. As a result, American Samoa became the only place on Earth not to suffer flu deaths. The result? American Samoa voted to remain a territory of the United States; meanwhile, Western Samoa, thanks to the New Zealand governor's incompetence which resulted in 8,500 deaths (20% of the population), became an independent country.
  • The efforts of doctors during the Philadelphia outbreak. While their coworkers died around them, nurses and doctors stayed at their posts, doing their best to help those who still could be helped. Some private practitioners made over 60 calls a day.
• Dr. Joseph Goldberger's fight against Pellagra, both in determining a cause and cure, and in getting southern leaders, who didn't want their control of cotton farms threatened, to back down enough to help the poor. Not even dying from cancer stopped his work, as his colleagues took up his work, eventually discovering niacin.
• The story of Guy Gabaldon, "The Pied Piper of Saipan". Growing up in Los Angeles, Gabaldon had been orphaned as a child and was adopted by a Japanese-American family who taught him to speak their language. During the Second World War, while his adopted family was interned in a Japanese internment camp, Gabaldon enlisted in the Marine Corps and was deployed to Saipan. During the fighting, Gabaldon abandoned his post and using his grasp of the Japanese language managed to convince two Japanese soldiers nearby to surrender to U.S. forces. His superiors punished him for leaving his post by assigning him an overnight guard shift, only for Gabaldon to leave his post again and come back the next morning with over fifty Japanese soldiers and local civilians that agreed to surrender. For the rest of the campaign, Gabaldon would be assigned to help convince Japanese soldiers and civilians to surrender peacefully. Armed with nothing but candy, food and grenades as his only means of self-defense, Gabaldon would walk up right to Japanese encampments alone and make friends with the soldiers as he convinced them to stand down as opposed to fighting to the death or committing suicide. All told, Gabaldon is credited with having captured over one thousand Japanese soldiers and civilians, most likely saving their lives in the process.
• Sun-Yat-Sen, a revolutionary who failed multiple times in his attempts, arrested by local authorities, friends getting assassinated left and right, and banned from multiple countries, successfully overthrown the Qing dynasty and become the first president of Republic of China. Both Communists and Nationalists respected him as "Father of the Nation" even to the present day.
• John Joseph Hughes, bishop then archbishop of New York, founded Irish schools and newspapers, fought for Catholicism, lead classes on how to fit into American society to help new arrivals from his native Ireland, and not afraid to bring on the hurt. When the nativists who torched Catholic churches and beat up refugees and migrants in Philadelphia scheduled a meeting/rally in New York (that everyone was afraid would devolve into torching and beatings), Father Hughes visited the mayor of the city to deliver a message. "If one Catholic church was touched, the Irish were prepared... to burn. New York. to the ground."
• When Queen Nzinga meets with a Portuguese official, he sits in a chair while only offering her a mat on the floor. Rather than sit in a position lower than him, Nzinga orders a servant to get down on all fours and sits on her back.
• "Surprising Soldiers"
  • This exchange between General Lee and Lieutenant Colonel Ely Samuel Parker, a Native American Union soldier, during the surrender at Appomattox.
  Lee: It's good to see at least one real American here.
  Parker: We are all Americans.
  • Hawaiian citizens tearing down a Confederate flag that a Southern-born citizen tried to fly there.
  • The Mexican American militia that thwarted the Confederacy's attempt to seize gold mines in Texas to bypass the Union blockade.
  • Joseph De Castro, the Hispanic Union flag-bearer who charged into enemy ranks, fought a Confederate flag-bearer, stole his flag, and returned both flags to his commanding officer. He was the first Hispanic American to receive a Medal of Honor.
• "Policing London":
  • Jonathan Wilde, Chessmaster Extraordinaire. This guy committed numerous crimes, but he did it by playing both sides of the law. The charming and intelligent Thieftaker General, and the brutal, ruthless leader of London's underground.
  • Jack Sheppard, a lone thief, managed to single-handedly topple Wilde's empire of crime through his incredible talent as an escaped artist.
  • Henry Fielding had the most epic career: not only was he a provocative author and satirist, but the man reformed the system of magistrates, cracked down on corruption, and created modern policing. His half-brother John managed to build upon his police reforms while being legally blind.
• Allan Pinkerton - The Knights of Capitalism
  • Regardless of what one thinks of his legacy, Allan Pinkerton was undeniably badass. He stormed a hotel as a Chartist supporter to rescue political prisoners, took down a gang of counterfeiters as an untrained cooper, founded a highly successful detective agency, helped slaves escape to freedom, foiled an assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln, and provided intelligence to the Union army during the Civil War.
  • The final battle between the strikers and the Pinkerton agents. After being portrayed as nearly unstoppable, the Pinkertons are taken down by the full fury of the strikers after years of abuse. The Pinkertons are better armed but the strikers fight back with guns, rocks, burning oil, burning rail cars, and a cannon. Eventually, the Pinkertons are forced to surrender.
• In the final video of "The Empire of Mali," the weakened Mali army's glorious stand against the invading Moroccans, who are armed with gunpowder weapons. Despite being outclassed by firearms, the Mali infantry hold the line and throw themselves at the invaders with suicidal bravery, until the Moroccans are finally forced into a draw and retreat.
• In the final video on the Incan Empire, the emperor Atahualpa has been captured by conquistadores Hernando De Soto and Francisco Pizarro. The episode starts with an uneasy meeting between the two, the highlight being when De Soto charges Atahualpa with his horse and stops it a hair's breadth away from him. Atahualpa doesn't even flinch, and has the guards who try to help him executed. Matt puts it best: "True Incas do not flinch."
  • Later on, after Atahualpa is executed, things go pear-shaped for Pizarro and company as in-fighting causes their colonies in Peru to collapse into chaos. Eight years after conquering Peru, Pizarro was assaulted by twenty men in his mansion in Lima, and chose to fight back in a Last Stand - he lost after getting his sword stuck in the body of one of his attackers, but still. As for the Incans, the second of their puppet rulers (after the first died of smallpox) left after three years to found a Neo-Incan state in the Amazon, which would last for another four decades. In short, the Incans outlasted Pizarro, and their culture is still remembered and celebrated today. In a time where most of the Mesoamerican indigenous people suffered at the hands of the Europeans, this triumph was well-deserved.
• In a special pride month episode, they tell the story of the Sacred Band, Thebe's first standing army consisting entirely of homosexual men. Not only were they one of the first standing armies in the greek world, but they defeated Sparta! Not only that, but Sparta had never been defeated by an equal or weaker force before, and the Sacred Band had been outnumbered two to one.
  • In another battle, the Thebans were outnumbered three to one, against the still infamous Spartan armies. Thebes decided to break against the tradition and have their best duke it out with Sparta's best directly, rather than let the weaker forces widdle each other down first. The force they sent to fight the Spartan elites, the very best the ancient world had to offer? The Sacred Band. This was the greatest loss the Spartans ever suffered.
  • Pelopidas, the leader of Thebes who created the Sacred Band, was no slouch himself. He was born wealthy, but insisted on living life as the poorest of Thebe's people. When Sparta basically conquered the city-state, Pelopidas wasn't having it, threw the Spartans out, and formed the Sacred Band to defend the newly freed state. He led them personally in battle in both their major victories against Sparta. When he died, Theban power crumbled without him.
  Theban soldier: We have fallen into our enemy's hands!
  Pelopidas: And why not they into ours?
  • The Sacred Band far outlasted their founder. They were finally defeated by Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great, who is said to have wept at the sight of the battle.^note Philip spent his early life in Thebes and was close to Pelopidas with some historians saying they were lovers.
  • Phillips reaction in particular, translated for modern audience benefit: "Nobody can say these men were dishonorable."
  Matt: So when you think of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, remember also the 300 of the Sacred Band. Standing by each other, even to death, not just for duty, but for love.
• The Harlem Hellfighters, who earned that nickname from the frightened Germans they faced against. Many would not receive high honors in life, but that nickname stuck, and for good reason.
  • Especially impressive was Henry Johnson, a member of the hellfighters nicknamed Black Death. When he and a fellow soldier were caught in a german ambush, his gun jammed, and he had to resort to his knife to make his final stand. When the other americans arrived, they found Henry still alive, with four dead enemies at his feet, and the bloodmarks of ten more. Henry had fought with such ferocity, that the Germans had fled.
• Bartolomé de las Casas, after reforming from his former, sinful ways (an act of awesomeness in itself), got himself appointed bishop of Ciapas in Mexico. He then proceeded to use his title to fight for the rights of slaves, refusing to service slave owners and offering deathbed absolution to those who freed their slaves. Even after being chased from his own diocese and put on trials for high treason, he continued to fight for the rights of slaves his entire life.
• "Teddy Roosevelt the Trustbuster" has plenty of epic moments, since it is centered around one of America's most badass presidents.
  • Ida Tarbell used her journalistic skills to bring down Standard Oil, especially since her own father had been ruined by Standard's unfair practices. One episode has the image of Ida Tarbell tracking Rockefeller down to his church, giving him a fierce glare.
  • After years of corrupt practices, John D. Rockefeller is swatted by a harsh ruling in the Supreme Court...and one judge only dissented because he didn't think the verdict was harsh enough. While Rockefeller's interests weren't hurt too badly, this still was a serious blow to the once unquestionable power trusts like Standard Oil held.
  • Extra Credits' apt summary of Ben "Pitchfork" Tillman, who was so profoundly racist the EC could not say one of his infamous remarks.^note  "the action of President Roosevelt in entertaining that [N-slur] (Booker T. Washington) will necessitate our killing a thousand [N-slur]s in the South before they learn their place again." "Ben Tillman was a piece of s***".
• While the first episode of the Frederick the Great series is sad and tragic, as it deals with Frederick's life under his abusive father, Frederick overcame his horrific childhood and become of the greatest rulers of the 18th century.
• Their series on John Brown proved that he was not merely mouthed regarding abolitionism and racial equality.
  • He not only worked on the Underground Railroad but went to a black church and helped free black communities develop self-sufficiency.
  • Brown's passion was so great as to impress Frederick Douglass.
  • He formed racially integrated militias that would fight slave catchers and take on the pro-slavery border ruffians of Bleeding Kansas.
• Captain du Petit-Thouars gets both his arms and one leg blown off. Yet he remains conscious and, seated in a bucket of grain, continues to command his ship. The Black Knight would be proud.

Extra Mythology

• A Nightmare-inducing Alp demon somehow was befriended by a human midwife. This midwife was executed by a hateful Catholic priest falsely accusing her of witchcraft. So the Alp went to the Priest in his sleep and proceeded to give him nightmares of his own execution for so long that his heart exploded.

Side Quest

Dark Souls 1

• During a mini-episode where Dan was recording without James, he eventually decided to man up and take on Havel the Rock as many times as necessary until he won (prodded by comments from viewers telling him he'd get a super-awesome ring for doing so). He expected he was going to die and die and die again, and indeed the first time he tried he messed up and Havel predictably squashed him with his first attack. But when he went back for his second go, he killed Havel easily, making the entire sub-episode video a mere 6 minutes long! This was arguably the point where Dan first really "got gud" at Dark Souls.
• After much fretting and stress, and without even knowing exactly what it was he was fretting and stressing about, Dan beat the Capra Demon on on his first attempt.
  Dan: First. Try. You guys thought I was gonna die, all of you did!
  James: Show 'em!
  Dan: Screw all of you!

Dark Souls 3

• The Dancer of the Boreal Valley is considered by many to be possibly the hardest boss in the base game. Dan beat it on on his first attempt. Several episodes later, he noted that he hadn't even realized the Dancer was such a notorious boss until after the episode was uploaded (which came up after Dan had been struggling with some typical Elite Mooks).
• For each game in the series, Dan wrapped it up with a "Lore Retrospective" video in which he explains the backstory of what he encountered during the series, connecting the dots for himself and the viewers. In the final one, the music mixing builds up masterfully to the theme of Gwyn, while Dan delivers a litany of Gwyn's crimes against nature and mankind that will absolutely send shivers down the viewer's spine.
  Dan: The first Soul of Cinder. Gwyn. The one responsible for all of this. He who clung to his Age of Fire, who staved off The Dark for as long as possible. He who committed the first sin, and doomed man to follow in his footsteps for generations to come. He who subjugated us, who robbed us of our age to preserve his own. He who used us, and has continued to use us long after his own demise. The Lord of Sunlight.