Twitter can be a wretched hive of scum and villainy that feels engineered to fill you with crummy feelings and ruin your day… but it can also be a miraculous forum on which to witness incredible people engage in incredible conversations about incredible things. Or at least super-nerdy things. Or at least hilarious mean things. Based purely on the strength of a lengthy exchange between filmmakers Rian Johnson and Duncan Jones, Twitter has earned the right to exist for another few weeks or so.

What happens when the director of Star Wars Episode VIII challenges the director of Warcraft to a Twitter duel over the value of their respective film series? You can see for yourself below.

If you’ve come here looking for an enlightened, intelligent debate, go ahead and turn back now. This is less of a proper argument and more of a quickly escalating series of low blows. It’s all in good fun, but man, it sure gets dark. Directing hugely expensive movies with countless fans and studio executives breathing down your neck must gives you a near-unlimited amount of steam that needs to be blown off.

It all started with Jones, who is neck-deep in post-production on next year’s Warcraft movie, throwing out a provocative tweet that surely knew was going to ruffle a few feathers:

"Shooting on film" is just vinyl for movie hipsters. Discuss. — Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) October 19, 2015

While some filmmakers, like Jones and other industry stalwarts like Steven Soderbergh and David Fincher, have embraced digital technology, other directors have fought tooth-and-nail to preserve 35mm film. The likes of Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams all shoot on film and will never tire of letting everyone know their preference. So, enter Rian Johnson, who is about to begin production on Star Wars Episode VIII:

@ManMadeMoon YOU'RE just vinyl for movie hipsters. — Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) October 19, 2015

Jones was quick to join Johnson on the snark wagon:

@rianjohnson JJ gave you all his short-ends to shoot on, didn't he? — Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) October 19, 2015

However, things got real when Johnson inquired which iPhone Jones used to shoot his big fantasy epic:

@ManMadeMoon Did you do Warcraft on the 6 or 6s? — Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) October 19, 2015

And then it was on. We’ll let this next stretch speak for itself, because it is a thing of great and terrible beauty:

@rianjohnson Oh! We're doing this? How tough was it convincing the committee to let you frame up your own shots? pic.twitter.com/WIGO4tzl54 — Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) October 19, 2015

@ManMadeMoon Is your release going to be multi-console? — Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) October 19, 2015

@rianjohnson says the guy who made the movie following the guy who followed up those 3 other movies that came after the ones we loved. — Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) October 19, 2015

@ManMadeMoon All kidding aside, I'll be there opening night. I am so curious to see how you squeezed a fourth movie out of The Hobbit. — Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) October 20, 2015

@rianjohnson Haha!! Just laughing at how depressed your accountants going to be when all that Star Wars money skips right past you to Lucas. — Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) October 20, 2015

@ManMadeMoon The dusty banner above the Warcraft toy aisle: "HOPE YOU LIKE ORCS!" — Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) October 20, 2015

@rianjohnson Feel for you, Rian! Everyone will already have all the plastic crap they need by the time people stop buying merch from Ep VII! — Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) October 20, 2015

@ManMadeMoon You laugh, but when the 8th installment in the Warcraft saga is coming out you'll be facing the same challengeshahahahahahahaha — Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) October 20, 2015

@rianjohnson So Ep 8. Guessing THIS time, the baddies will be chasing a princess who'll get help from a reluctant hero & his droids. Close? — Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) October 20, 2015

Thankfully, the whole thing concluded with the Twitter equivalent of a friendly hug, complete with a winking emoticon and a GIF. How else are you supposed to indicate not-so-gentle good humor on the internet?

That was better than therapy! Thanks @rianjohnson! ;) — Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) October 20, 2015

Anyway, Warcraft will be released on June 10, 2016 and Star Wars: Episode 8 will arrive on May 26, 2017, just in case you want to reward Johnson and Jones’ Twitter skills by throwing some money at their tiny, indie movies.

A tip of the hat to Film School Rejects for bringing this majestic exchange to our attention.