Blackwell Podcast

@BlackwellPdcast (Twitter) / Homepage / Youtube Channel

Tell us a bit about yourself (or yourselves if you’re multiple people running the community). Who are you and where are you from?

Jamie — I’m Jamie and I’m one of the co-founders of the Blackwell Podcast. I’m in the UK and we’ve been running the podcast for almost 3 years now.

Joey — I’m Joey, I’m on the east coast of the US. I’m 30 years old, and currently studying computer programming; hoping to get into game development when I graduate college. I’m a co-owner along with Jamie, and I’ve been with the podcast since the beginning. I do audio editing for the show, as well as some general planning and liaison work.

Sian — I’m Sian and I live in England. I’ve been with the podcast for just over a year now I believe, but I knew Jamie before then and was a fan of the podcast, but I’ve always been super involved in the Life is Strange community since the beginning and ran a popular LiS blog on Tumblr called Arcadia-Gay until I accidentally deleted it a few months back (RIP) and had to start all over again.

Zach — My name is Zach Farque and I’m from Louisiana in the United States.

Why did you create this fan community to Life is Strange?

Jamie — I came up with the idea of the podcast after playing Episode 4 of Season One. I really wanted to express my opinions on the game after the ending of that episode and I heard Max and Chloe have the “podcast” exchange. I thought to myself that a Life is Strange themed podcast would be fun to do.

Joey — Jamie actually created the show, but I was one of the original 3 co-hosts (himself, myself, and Julia, who left shortly after for school). I was extremely moved by LiS and wanted to talk about it a lot, so it seemed quite serendipitous that Jamie had posted the idea on reddit and I jumped at the opportunity. Since then Jamie and I have developed the show to be larger than we could’ve ever imagined, giving us the opportunity to raise almost $10k in charity over two 24 hour Extra Life streams (2016 and 2017), as well as have numerous guests join us from voice over talent to developers from Dontnod, Square Enix, and Deck Nine. I think the goal for me has to create an inclusive environment that people can enjoy being a part of, and creating a show that people can enjoy listening to that fosters that sentiment. It feels weird to call us “content-creators,” but that’s effectively what we are and as such I just want to keep growing it all. I want people to feel like they can tune in with each episode and feel like they have familiar voices to listen to, and engage with us (even if I can be bad about chatting, anxiety sucks). Hopefully we present new ideas for people to think about in regards to the game, or cover ideas that resonate with people.

Zach — I didn’t create the podcast but I joined just because I loved the game and the people I’ve met because of it. It sounded like fun!

Gif by katiebishop

What stands out with your community?

Jamie — I’d say what really stands out with the BWP community is that we can all relate to each other and we all have each other’s back. Life is Strange has all given us a common interest and courage to talk about stuff featured in the game.

Joey — I think the biggest thing about this community that stands out to me is the passion for the game, and the compassion shown to fellow fans in the community. I also love how people inspire others to create, or find friends, or empower their own lives through the game and through the community. It’s honestly incredible to witness.

Sian — For me, it’s mainly just the undeniable friendship and connection everyone has with each other. Myself and many others have met some of the most important people in their lives thanks to the game and the podcast, and I feel it’s one of the things that makes what we do so special because it’s also what brought everyone on the podcast together.

Zach — I think something that stands out with the LiS community is a strong sense of unity between the fans. The game deals with a lot of tough themes and I think the people who the game speaks to are people that have dealt with this stuff or things like it in their own lives, so everyone has this caring and compassion for each other that I think you don’t get with a lot of other game communities.

What does Life is Strange mean to you?

Jamie — Life is Strange has a lot of things related to it, mental health, relationships and innovative storytelling. If we stripped away the location, characters and the main storyline, I personally believe that it’s alright to have flaws, but to respect everyone no matter how insecure they may seem.

Joey — God, so much haha. It’s one of the first, if not only, games I’ve played that has tackled feelings of depression, fear, isolation and alienation, jealousy, all those nasty things in life that can keep us constantly dragged down, and shown it in a mature way while showing how far sympathy and empathy can go. Plus thanks to the game I’ve met my best friends, people who have wholly enriched my life and who I don’t know how I really managed without them before I met them. I could go on, but if you want more listen to our episodes hahaha.

Sian — I’ve talked about it a little bit on the podcast, but with losing my mum and realising I was gay not long before the game started, seeing Chloe and the way she dealt with the anger she felt about losing her dad really helped me realise that what I was feeling was valid, which made it easier to deal with feeling those things.

Zach — LiS I think means a ton to me. After I played the game I met a bunch of amazing people and started to look at things in different ways and it’s had a huge positive outcome on my life.

Gif by MiyKu

What’s the best about the game?

Jamie — Putting into words the best part of Life is Strange is difficult, but I’d have to say that every character has their own flaws. No story has a completely perfect character, and if they did it wouldn’t be a story the audience wouldn’t relate to.

Joey — Whew this is a tough question. Speaking purely from the narrative standpoint, I adore so many of the characters. I think from a more meta standpoint, and what I would probably have to pin as the best part about the game is just how far it goes to show how love can change your life, be that from a friend, significant other, or even just the kindness of a stranger.

Sian — It’s so hard to pin-point just one thing because it’s all really special to me and who I am today. However no matter what, there will always be a really special place in my heart for the characters, particularly Chloe. They just feel so real and one of a kind and it can be really rare to find that in the media sometimes.

Zach — I think the game shines in its story and characters. It tells a story that hasn’t been matched by many games before it. I’m hoping it’s had a big effect on the gaming industry as a whole.

Do you have a favorite memory while working with this community/network? Something that stands out or something awesome that happened?

Jamie — I’d have to say our Extra Life streams are a personal highlight for me. We play Life is Strange for 24 hours and we have guests throughout the day for charity. We have been able to raise a total of $9000 for children’s hospitals with our first two streams. We are always blown away with how intense those streams are with donations, interviews and fun times in general.

Joey — Extra Life definitely stands out. Those have been such a blast, and have just blown me away at what this community can do with how much they’ve donated, and the support we’ve garnered. I have a couple of favorite memories specifically though: our first interview was with Dayeanne Hutton (voice of Kate Marsh) and Jamie and I were bricking it with how nervous we were about it, as we never thought we’d get an interview even with reaching out to folks. We were scrambling to get ourselves composed and prepared for the interview (we failed, hahaha), and while trying to make sure we both had the questions ready we saw our guest account pop-up as online. Jamie and I, simultaneously, just went, “Oh sh*t…” I still laugh thinking about that. Another one was before our first interview with Ashly Burch (voice of Chloe Price), we were being bombarded with “When will you have Ashly on the show?” questions. We had sent a few emails and sort of exhausted what we knew to do to try to get her on the show, and figured it was never going to happen. Jamie also liked to do this thing where he would make email accounts, set the name as Ashly, and then email the podcast email to get my hopes up. He did it so much. Well, March 21st 2016 rolled around and we got a response from the real Ashly at around 10, 11 at night. At first I was just like “Jamie, why are you even up doing this go to bed wtf,” but then I checked and double checked and saw it was actually her. I spammed the heck out of Jamie’s phone until he woke up so I could tell him the news.

Sian — Honestly Extra Life has been one of the most rewarding experiences, it was so much fun and knowing that it all counted towards helping San Jose’s Children’s Hospital was so dope. Another great memory is when Jamie, Joey and I (as well as Chris from Life is Strange Fans) went to Square Enix in London and hung out with Alejandro and Toby was such a great day, they’re both super chill dudes and we’re great to us.

Zach — I’ve met a lot of cool people because of the LiS fandom, people that I hope stay in my life forever, but definitely the coolest thing that happened was that I met my wife through the fandom. We’ve been together for nearly two years and married for 5 months. She’s my best friend and I’d do anything for her.

How important do you think it is for a game franchise to have a fan community?

Jamie — Without a community, it’s very hard for the reputation of the game to be withheld throughout the years. The community helps keep the game alive, whether it be through memes, fan art, cosplays or fan-made music.

Joey — the most. Especially for a single player game, personally speaking I would meter my success on how my game brought people together and how close-knit it made people. Plus in having such, you get to see all sorts of amazing fan content get produced on what you’ve created.

Sian — I think when it comes to things like Life is Strange it’s just really important because there’s so many hard hitting and tough themes that lots of people can relate to, so people can meet others they can confide in, and it’s helped a lot of people feel less alone in the world and that’s a really powerful thing.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Does Dontnod, Square Enix or Deck Nine know that your community exists? If so, what do they think of it?

Jamie — They do! Each company have been so supportive of the show and we’ve had different people interact with us personally either through social media, or with the Extra Life Streams mentioned previously.

Joey — Yep! Senpais have noticed us. I hope they love it, but even just the fact that they know we’re out there and have listened to our episodes is an honor.

Sian — Yeah, totally! Obviously we actually got to go to SE, but a load of people from SE, Deck Nine and Dontnod (as well as some VA’s) follow the podcast and the hosts and they’ve also joined us for episodes/interviews and they’re always super interactive and supportive of what we’re doing. It’s actually really cool that they care so much about what the community is doing and creating, it’s one of the reasons we have such a strong community I think.

Would you say there is a particular bond between Life is Strange fans? Do members of your community get together or work on fan projects (cosplay, art, fiction, competitions etc..)

Jamie — I believe so. I’ve seen different collaborations happen such as writers and artists, musicians and even cosplayers working on Cosplay Music Videos within the entire Life is Strange community and it’s amazing to see the game affect a bunch of people like myself.

Joey — Absolutely. I’ve lurked other fandoms but never really been a part of any, but from what I’ve seen this community has one of the closest fandoms. There have been so many collaborations between artists, musicians, cosplayers, et al.

Sian — Absolutely! There’s so many themes in the game that brings lots of people together, particular LGBTQIA+ people, it feels like a little family. I met my best friend through the game, and Zach from the podcast met his now wife from LiS Fans, which is crazy but so cool!

What’s next for you? Any events happening soon?

Jamie — We have episodes discussing “Hell is Empty”, the Farewell episode and an episode on Mental Health coming out within the next few months and the 3 year anniversary sneaking up in August. We also are working on getting more guests on from either Season One or Before The Storm.

Joey — We’re planning for our next Extra Life at the end of the year currently!

Sian — Absolutely! We’re still working on new episodes and thinking about new interviews. Not to mention Extra Life, which we’re planning towards. I’m excited to see what the future brings for us.