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OpenAI announced on Thursday something that power users have been asking for: a $100/month plan. Previously subscriptions jumped from $20 to $200 per month.

Few do DMing as well as Brennan Lee Mulligan. He may have hopped over to Critical Role to lead the series’ most recent campaign, but that doesn’t mean he’s left behind his cast of heroes at Dropout’s Dimension 20. Mulligan returns to host the latest season, entitled City Council of Darkness, which sets up a fangtastic adventure of vampiric tabletop goodness. Ahead of the first episode, Dimension 20 launches a video explaining everything you need to know to understand Vampire: The Masquerade.

Watch the Explainer Video Here:

City Council of Darkness is the latest chapter of Dropout’s anthology actual-play show. The season of Dimension 20 follows the Vampire: The Masquerade system, which is similar to other TTRPG’s like D&D. However, there is some variation when it comes to the rules. For instance, Vampire: The Masquerade uses special d10s to determine outcomes. In addition to the regular dice, the game also has red hunger dice, which directly correlate to each character’s bloodlust. Skye explains it all in the video.

What will the Storyline of the City Council of Darkness be about?

The chapter introduces Mulligan and his entourage as a group of vampires running for local government in the desolate town of Purpee, Oregon. The vampiric escapades of Dimension 20 unfold over 14 episodes. The story is packed full of dark creatures and their inner conflict of bloodlust.

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The first episode of Dimension 20‘s second season, City Council of Darkness and all its vampire goodness, aired on April 8 at 4 pm PT and 7 pm ET. You can tune in to Dropout.tv. If you missed the teaser trailer, check it out below for a more in-depth synopsis of what’s to come.

City Council of Darkness Teaser Trailer:

The previous season, Dimension 20: Gladlands, took place in a delightful post-apocalyptic wasteland. The obvious next jump is vampires. Get ready to sink your teeth into a world of hunger and mayhem.

The post DIMENSION 20 Explains Everything You Need to Know About Vampire: The Masquerade appeared first on Nerdist.

The EFF follows the departure of various news organizations and others, who no longer find X a viable source of traffic.

In 2021, Anjuna Security was growing fast, hiring aggressively, and chasing a market that seemed limitless. By the end of that year, the venture-backed cybersecurity company had scaled to around 75 employees, building out sales, customer success, and support teams in anticipation of continued hypergrowth. Then 2022 hit.

All resources at its U.S. factory are aimed at the upcoming Atlas SUV.

People love to escape into a world of carefree bliss. That is precisely the reason why people love Pokopia. Pokopia is a life simulator game that lets players explore the world of Pokémon at their own pace. It combines the community aspect of Stardew Valley with the creation aspect of Minecraft. With no shortage of creative people out there, there’s been some pretty amazing builds. And we love to see them. One streaming duo decided to take a more tasty route. Having the Cheesy Gordita Crunch in real life just wasn’t enough, so instead, the pair recreated a working Taco Bell in the game. It’s time to Live Más, because Taco Bell just opened in Pokopia. Check out the build below.

We made a Taco Bell in Pokopia 🌮🔔🌴✨ pic.twitter.com/51r3o3Uvm2

— KoiJay🍥 (@KoiJayx) April 6, 2026

And so the Pokopia fast food chain multiverse continues. Everything about this build is immaculate, even down to the classic purple bell. I wonder if it has the Mountain Dew Baja Blast pie. On second thought, let’s maybe keep that detail a mystery for fear of resurfacing bad memories. (Note: never attempt to eat an entire Mountain Dew Baja Blast pie in one sitting unless you wish to be filled with deep regret like our staff writer, Mikey Walsh.)

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Blake Jennings and KoiJay are the two streamers behind the impressive Pokopia Taco Bell. We really appreciate how they didn’t skimp out on any of the details. The build has all the components of an actual Taco Bell, including seating, a kitchen, a front counter, and a parking lot. It even has a full menu inside the restaurant themed around the different Eevee evolutions. The pair streamed the entire creation process live. You can check out the three-hour-long stream below.

Pokémon Pokopia launched on March 5 of this year. Since, players have been absolutely loving both creating and checking out cool builds. This Pokopia Taco Bell is merely the latest of many. Does anyone else feel like a Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme right now?

The post A Working Taco Bell Officially Opens in POKOPIA appeared first on Nerdist.

When you’re hot, you’re hot. Last year’s Final Destination: Bloodlines was a surprise hit for director duo Adam B. Stein and Zach Lipovsky, after only helming indie horror and TV projects prior. The movie’s success led to the pair lining up a Venom animated film for Sony. The studio seems to be pretty happy with them and have now given them the reins to a film adaptation of video game franchise Metal Gear Solid. From The Hollywood Reporter, Stein and Lipovsky, as part of their overall deal with Sony, will direct MGS with Avi Arad and Ari Arad as producers.Konami

The Metal Gear Solid series of video games—stealth and spy games with increasingly weird sci-fi elements—began as the brainchild of Hideo Kojima. Kojima has made no secret over the years of his desire to make games more like movies. However, rights holder, studio Konami, parted ways with Kojima a number of years back. Ergo, it’s highly unlikely Kojima will have any kind of direct influence on the movie.

Still, the directors heaped praise on Kojima in their statement about their hiring. “Metal Gear Solid was nothing short of a groundbreaking cinematic masterpiece that forever revolutionized video games. We are thrilled and honored to bring Hideo Kojima’s iconic characters and unforgettable world to life.”

Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group President Sanford Panitch released the following statement about Lipovsky and Stein:

“Zach and Adam are thrilling storytellers, masters of visuals and suspense, and two of the most impressive director/producers working today. With projects across all the company’s film labels, we are so happy to create a home for them, and proud to have them as part of the Sony family.”

We’ll see what becomes of the project as time goes on, but get used to saying “Lipovsky and Stein” for a while.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.

This post has affiliate links, which means we may earn advertising money if you buy something. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, we just have to give you the heads up for legal reasons. Click away!

The post METAL GEAR SOLID Movie in the Works from FINAL DESTINATION Duo appeared first on Nerdist.

ChatGPT had reportedly been used to plan the attack that killed two and injured five at Florida State University last April. The family of one victim has said that they plan to sue OpenAI over the incident.

The consumer protection agency says the company violated the FTC Act and its Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees by "deceptively" advertising ticket prices on its website without clearly disclosing upfront what the total cost would be, including all mandatory fees.

After falling victim to a hacker, Mercor is facing lawsuits and reportedly losing big-name customers.

The app was ranking No. 57 on the App Store just before Meta AI's new model launched. Now it's No. 5 — and rising.

Are real cybersecurity concerns a cover for a bigger problem at the frontier lab?

Is spring too early to start planning for Halloween? For us at Nerdist, it’s never too soon to start getting ready for spooky season. And apparently, it’s not too soon for the folks at Home Depot either. And this is the earliest in the year Home Depot has ever begun selling its Halloween animatronics. The retail giant has become the #1 place to purchase those elaborate and detailed Halloween decorations we see so much these days. The kind once reserved for theme parks. Now, as part of Home Depot’s Halfway to Halloween promotion, they are bringing back an animatronic figure truly fit for a Disney park. All bow down before Maleficent, the Mistress of Evil, from the animated classic Sleeping Beauty.

Home Depot/Disney

You can see several images of this incredible decoration of the iconic Disney Villain down below, as well as together with some of Home Depot’s other “Halfway to Halloween” offerings this year.

Click To View Gallery Home Depot/Disney Disney/Home Depot Home Depot/Disney Disney/Home Depot Home Depot

And here’s the official description from Home Depot:

The 6.5 ft. Animated LED Maleficent includes servo motors that provide 5 fluid, lifelike movement, including her head, mouth, eyes, staff, and even the mouth of her faithful crow companion. This officially licensed Disney centerpiece leads with realism, featuring piercing orange LED eyes and a staff that glows with a sinister light to simulate dark magic. Motion-sensor activated and ready to enchant, Maleficent speaks 5 classic character phrases accompanied by authentic crow sounds to surprise any passerby. Standing 6.5 feet tall, she is crafted for indoor placement and includes a 6-hour timer for automated nightly displays. The unit is plug-in powered for continuous operation and designed for a simple 1-person assembly in approximately 30 minutes, making it the ultimate addition for Disney-themed Halloween enthusiasts.

This Maleficent Halloween home decor will set you back $279. And it’s already available for pick up at your local Home Depot, or delivery to your home. You can purchase her now at the official Home Depot website. And their Halfway to Halloween promotion features several other incredible decorations, including their iconic giant 12-foot skeleton. Last year, she sold out early, so you many not wish to delay in buying her. Although Maleficent is designed for indoor use, we imagine most hardcore Halloween fans located in temperate climates will let her play outside on the night of October 31. You simply don’t want Maleficent to miss a party. She gets very petty when not invited.

The post 6 ft. Maleficent Animatronic Returns for Halloween 2026 appeared first on Nerdist.

The two tech giants are looking to co-develop custom chips, at a time where demand for CPUs is high due to a growing global shortage.

This post contains major spoilers for The Boys‘ season five premiere. If you’d rather Homelander laser eyes you than see them, read our non-spoiler review of the show’s final season instead. If not, then join us as we dive into The Boys season five with Eric Kripke.Emilia De Leonardis/Prime Video

Showrunner Eric Kripke was always going to have to say goodbye to the entire cast and crew of The Boys after the series’ final year. But season five’s premiere showed he had to say goodbye to one major member of the show immediately, as Jessie T. Usher’s A-Train met his death in the first episode. Why kill him off? What was it like telling his longtime star he wouldn’t make it? And how does he feel now that the highly anticipated last season is finally here? We asked Kripke about all of that and more when Nerdist spoke to him on the eve of The Boys fifth season debut.

Nerdist: You’ve talked previously about how you’ve been thinking about the end of the show for a long time. You started working on the final season at least two years ago. Now that it’s finally here and ready for the world to see, how are you feeling?

Eric Kripke: Mostly, I feel anxious. I’m not mentally healthy enough to feel things like a sense of accomplishment or pride. Mostly, I’m just anxious. I want people to really like it. I want people to say, “That didn’t suck,” and, “This does not make me hate the show or like the show any less.” Finales are hard, man. They do this thing where people judge the series retroactively. Or, at the very least, the legacy of the series is based on how you stick the landing. So I at least want it to be good enough that it doesn’t change the viewer’s attitude about the show. If they like the show, I want them to keep liking the show and not say, “Oh, I’ve decided the show sucks.” That’s my main goal.

Prime Video

Before we get into some of the bigger moments from the season five premiere, what quieter moment from the episode do you hope viewers really notice?

Kripke: It’s not so much a quiet moment, but it’s the one I find the most touching. When A-Train basically allows himself to be captured by dodging that woman because he just refuses to run through her. And to me, it’s a quick moment, but it’s just such a moving signpost of who he was when we first met him to who he is now in our last interaction with him. I find it really heartbreaking, but really heroic.

Prime Video

Well, we can get into that scene now. I think his death clearly sets the tone for what we should expect during the final season, but why Reggie versus another major character?

Kripke: I think we had known early on that A-Train was going to probably be the first on the list because of the story, honestly. Homelander felt so betrayed by A-Train that barring killing Butcher or Annie in the first episode, which while that would’ve been shocking, was probably not the right thing to do for the final season, that A- Train would’ve been the person Homelander most wanted to take down. And it felt like we could really give A-Train the proper sendoff.

So many of these things fall into place just as you’re breaking the story. We need him to rescue them, or we need to really get them out of a tight corner. How are we going to do it? Well, we’re going to have A-Train rescue them. Well, that puts him in front of Homelander. So these things start to take on a life of their own.

Prime Video

I want to come back to Butcher, but I do want to ask, did saying goodbye to Jessie T. Usher so early in the season help prepare you for saying goodbye to the entire cast and crew?

Kripke: It’s a great question, but no, it’s really hard. It’s a really hard phone call to say, “Your number’s up in the first episode.” And without spoiling too much, that was not the only time that season I had to make that call. And it was hard every single time, like, “Sorry, you’re not making it to the end of the season. You’re going to pack up and leave Toronto.” It’s like telling people they’re on Survivor. It was not fun because you create such a relationship and bond with these people. They genuinely become your family that it’s hard to tell them that their role is over.

Prime Video

Somebody who I don’t expect to survive this season survived this episode, Butcher. Homelander tells Butcher he will miss having him as the only person who ever challenged him right before Butcher survives yet another encounter. So does Homelander even really want to kill Butcher? Or is a worthy opponent the only thing that makes Homelander happy at this point?

Kripke: Homelander has genuinely mixed feelings about killing Butcher. He’s the only person who’s ever challenged [Homelander]. He has a weird affection for Butcher that I don’t think is reciprocated by the way.

One thing I like about the episode, and the fantastic job Paul Grellong did writing it, is this whole time Homelander seems just desperate for people’s devotion. “People aren’t devoted to me. They need to be devoted to me in their hearts. The people who work with me at the studio, they’re not devoted to me.” But Butcher is, in a dark homicidal way. But nevertheless, I don’t think Homelander notices the difference that much. He’s just really into people that are obsessed with him. And so I think he likes Butcher for that. He knows that eventually there needs to be a final reckoning, but he wants that to come, really, on both of their terms.

Prime Video

Huey wears his emotions like Macbeth. He can’t hide them, whereas Laz Alonso’s performance as Mother’s Milk is always a lot more reserved and quiet. So if Huey represents hope, what does Mother’s Milk represent at this point in the story? Is it acceptance, resignation, despair, or something else entirely?

Kripke: It’s something like cynicism and resignation. He says it. He’s accepted that he’s already dead and that there’s no future for him after this war. That doesn’t mean he’s not going to fight the war or win the war. He just doesn’t expect to survive it. And a lot of the concern this season is, “All right, so what happens when this war is over? Do we expect to have a happy ending?” And then [Mother’s Milk] decided that he won’t and can’t. So it gives him a cynicism and an ability to play dirty, with a lack of morality than he’s ever had. Which puts him much closer to Butcher’s point of view.

Prime Video

No series has taken on the rise of fascism, anti-intellectualism, and downright stupidity during this period of American history more directly or better than The Boys. Now that it is ending, have you thought about how it might end up being an important show historically because of how it directly addressed this era?

Kripke: I haven’t. I’m way too insecure as a writer and not particularly up my own ass to ever make statements like, “I think it’ll serve as a statement.” I’m just trying to work out my own feelings and frustrations, and the writers’ feelings and frustrations. And if I can make people laugh and think a little bit about the world they live in, then that’s for sure the most I could ever hope for.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He thinks it’s 50/50 Frenchie dies this season. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post THE BOYS’ Eric Kripke Teases Major Character Deaths in Season 5 (Interview) appeared first on Nerdist.

Life can be pretty stressful. We all need a fun little distraction from time to time. What better form of stress relief than with something cute and cuddly? For some people, that might be a childhood blanket. For others, perhaps a stuffed animal. If you’re in the market for something new, we’ve got you. These emotional support plushies with emoji faces are absolutely, positively adorable.These Adorable Emotional Support Plushies are Everything Click To View Gallery Nuggies, Amazon Highland Cow, Amazon Pop-Tarts, Amazon Sushi, Amazon Capybara, Amazon

From the creators of What Do You Meme? comes a collection of emotional support plushies that are sure to put a smile on anyone’s face. They come in various forms, ranging from cuddly animals to chicken nuggets. Personally, I can’t get enough of the emotional support Pop-Tarts one. Each set comes with five individual plushies, each with its own unique expression. I find it funny that at least one in every quintet manages to have a sweet pair of sunglasses. You can snag ’em here.

These emotional support plushies are split into two main categories: food and animals. The food-themed options include the following: nuggets, dino nuggets, donuts, ice cream, sushi, dumplings, hot dogs, mushrooms, pickles, fries, pizza, crinkle fries, strawberries, and Pop-Tarts. For the animal ones, you can choose between Highland cows, capybaras, chicks, kitties, puppies, or bunnies. There’s also a flower bouquet-themed one, which feels perfect for date night or a get-well-soon gift. Truthfully, these plushie sets work for any occasion, big or small.

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The kicker is that every single one is under $20. In today’s economy, that’s a steal. Especially for the quality these plushies seem to suggest. Each group of five comes in a plushie container matching the overall theme. For instance, the Pop-Tarts come in a Pop-Tart package, the pizza comes in a pizza box, and the fries come in a fry carton. I seriously cannot get over how cute and fun these emotional support plushies are.

Amazon

Maybe you’re in the market for a cute gift for yourself. Maybe you’re looking for a friend. Either way, these emotional support plushies are everything. We’ve kindly linked them to this post for anyone who wishes to take any of these adorable sets home for themselves.

This post has affiliate links, which means we may earn advertising money if you buy something. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, we just have to give you the heads up for legal reasons. Click away!

The post Adorable Emotional Support Plushies Will Melt Your Stress Away appeared first on Nerdist.

It is always a supreme pleasure to see a nerdy kid not only live out their dreams, but excel at them at a high level. Doctor Who fans feel that when they think about David Tennant, a massive fan of the show who literally grew up to be a beloved Doctor. Same goes for Oscar winning actor Michael B. Jordan, a comic book and anime nerd who portrayed the MCU’s Killmonger and had a starring voice role in gen:LOCK. 

The same sentiment also applies to indie creators like Breana Navickas, who went from watching Disney films as a kid to working for Disney as an animator. And, they are blazing their own path in animation with The Three Tomes, a queer story that blends vampire romance and magical girl elements together in a 2010s era Midwestern locale. It follows Tammy Harris, a Black girl who accidentally releases 13 spirits from an ancient tome while filming a short horror movie with her best friend in a graveyard. Tammy now has to capture them, face off against a mysterious foe, and try not to fall in love with two vampires.

We caught up with Navickas to chat about their many career highlights, crafting unique protagonists, and why whimsical Black stories are vital. 

Nerdist: What are some of the cartoons and who are some animators that inspired you as a child? 

Breana Navickas: So this is going to sound kind of generic, but I was a big Disney kid growing up! I’m 32 years old, so I’m a millennial and the Disney Renaissance era was my big thing. I watched things on my VHS tapes… Remember that kids? VCRs! [laughs] I watched Bambi in particular quite a bit and there’s a feature at the end where Walt Disney would come on and talk about the multiplane camera. I didn’t quite know what was going on, but I knew I loved the process of seeing all these people drawing and explaining what the multiplane camera was and how they painted it. All of that blew my mind. 

And Naoko Takeuchi, who’s the creator of Sailor Moon, and her works, too. I grew up with Toonami, which was very much a staple in my foundation for cartoons that I watched. Sailor Moon was the first anime that I remember watching and being like, “I don’t know what this is, but it looks way different than anything I’ve seen before. And I want more of that.” 

In high school, I got a little bit more serious with learning about different animators. The creator of Proud Family, Bruce W. Smith, ended up becoming my boss and is such an inspiration.. I worked on The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder reboot. Gendy Tartarkovski, who created Samurai Jack, was also a big inspiration as well. As I got into the industry, I started to learn more about more just different Black and brown animators and women and femmes like Carole Holliday. She’s a veteran, Black woman animator who did the design for Roxanne in A Goofy Movie and such an inspiration. I feel like she needs to get more flowers.

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Yes, shout out to her indeed! Roxanne is one of my favorite animated characters of all-time. How did you get on the pathway from watching anime and Disney to going into animation yourself? 

Navickas: Funny enough, Disney wasn’t really my goal! I really wanted to work for this company called Titmouse. They do crazy, wild, and super interesting stuff. It’s very unique in comparison to everything else that the industry does. There was a cartoon called Motor City in particular that I was very fascinated with, which was on Disney Channel. So I guess it still goes hand in hand.

I went to Columbia College in Chicago, which is where I am from, and that’s where I got my schooling for animation and whatnot. And I ended up after graduating and taking a year off. My grandmother passed away and I was just trying to refine myself a little bit. I ended up moving out to LA in late 2016 and that was when I decided that I’m going to be more serious about trying to break into the industry. I wanted to storyboard and not animate. I found out that full-on animating is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. 

But I love being a storyboard artist, which works in tandem with the director and the writers to bring that initial blueprint of the story to life. That part I really, really enjoy. And I ended up networking my first year out here in LA. I worked as a graphic designer for a little bit just to keep food on the table and pay the bills. I eventually became a production assistant on a Disney Junior show, and not for Disney proper, but for a third party studio called Wild Canary Animation. That first job as a PA was on a show called Mira, Royal Detective.

Courtesy of Breana Navickas

I was the PA, a design coordinator, a host coordinator, and then an episodic coordinator all within a year and a half to two years! With a small studio, you end up doing a lot. But then after that, I went to Disney as a production coordinator, and that’s where I worked on The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder for the first two seasons. That was probably one of the most magical… this sounds corny, but it was one of the most magical moments for me. Because again, Disney wasn’t the goal, but Proud Family was special to me because I had grown up with it…

And most of my career has been with Disney ever since… I did a very short stint on Jessica’s Big Little World for Cartoon Network. And that’s how I got to work with Carole Holliday actually as a supervisor, which was an immense honor. Now, I’m headed over to Fox to work on King of the Hill.

That’s really, really awesome! So let’s get into your work, specifically The Three Tomes, which is about a young Black girl who accidentally releases spirits while filming a short horror movie with her best friend in a graveyard. I’m so curious about how you came up with the idea in the first place. What were some sources of inspiration you used when you were crafting that story? 

Navickas: A lot of the inspiration came from just being a millennial. I grew up in a “peak dystopia YA” kind of time period for the teen times, the 2010s era. So you had The Vampire Diaries, Twilight, Hunger Games, all that stuff. All that media was cool but it has a lot of issues. Let’s be real. Let us not ignore the issues that are with Twilight. I also didn’t see any Black people in some things. 

Being a Black teen kid that really enjoyed the supernatural white melodrama stuff, I just didn’t see myself represented. But when you’re that young, you’re not quite thinking about it. You’re just like, “Wow, this is neat.” But as you get older and you start to unpack things, then you realize, “Oh, I was lacking this stuff and now I crave it in the media that I’m part of or that I want to see now that I’m an adult.” 

The Three Tomes also came from me just doodling in my sketchbook in around 2017 or 2018, somewhere around there. In cartoons, there’s the trope of the side character who’s the Black best friend who doesn’t really do too much. And I remember drawing this black girl with glasses and a tomboy white girl and just posted online to see who people thought the main character was. 

I kept drawing these characters over and over again, and they sort of morphed and changed where the Black girl became more front and center. The tomboy white girl became not white anymore. And I just got rid of the gender binary for that character in particular and just made them non-binary. And then I added a little vampire boy as well, whose name was Greg, and he just was a Murdoc Niccals clone because I was going through a resurgence in my fascination for the love of the band Gorillaz. 

I’m a big fan of Interview with the Vampire and I really love Anne Rice’s works. I am very much in love with the new series as well with Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson. I feel like they are the peak adaptation versions of those characters. So yeah, so that’s kind of where this story just came from. My love for YA kind of vampire media melodrama and also my love for anime, and me sort of smashing those two things together to create a story that reflects coming-of-age stuff that I would’ve liked to have seen as a teenager. 

Usually when we get coming-of-age stories for young Black people, it’s always kind of Black pain or we’re struggling. And not that those are not valid, but it doesn’t have to be the only thing. I feel like having Black whimsy and fantasy is so important because whenever we as Black people are in fantasy, it’s always a question of, “Why are they Black dwarves? Why are they Black mermaids?” And it is simply because they can be. We can be a part of that world too and have adventures. 

Exactly! What are your ultimate hopes for The Three Tomes?

Navickas: Right now with the pilot being out, I’m trying to just build a fan base and gain traction, and I’m hoping to launch a Kickstarter for episode two and for future episodes. Those episodes would still be in animatic form just because we’re in an indie animation boom right now. There are a lot of professionals like myself who are dipping into the indie world, especially those of us who are Black and brown people.

It is not lost on me or anybody that we are in a very hostile political climate right now that is very hostile to Black, brown, and queer stories. And mainstream Hollywood is just scared to touch any of that. Some stuff gets through like Sinners, Interview with the Vampire, and even Heated Rivalry. Ryan Coogler broke through with that anomaly [of Sinners], but he still had to work his way up. 

Courtesy of Breana Navickas

Yeah, it took him well over a decade and a lot of proven commercial success with films like Creed and Black Panther to be able to have his original screenplay get the support it needed. 

Navickas: Yeah. It still takes a while for people for their original stuff to get made and even harder for us as Black folks. It would be really great if a studio did want to take a chance on me and my story. I’ve been in the industry for almost 10 years at this point. I’ve worked in production management and on the artist side of things, so I know how stuff works. But that’s kind of up to the studios willing to take a chance on a Black and queer story because that’s what this is. 

It is a Black queer YA story because my main character has two boys pining for her, but all three of them are bisexual. And I have non-binary characters. I have two gay vampires. There’s a sapphic relationship and everybody’s a person of color… well, except for the one white boy. And that’s something that just scares Hollywood now, which sucks, and I really hate that. But that’s sort of why so many of us, myself included, are doing stuff independently.

The Three Tomes was my idea, but I just always want to make sure I’m giving credit where credit is due to my team. In 2024, I had just rolled off of a show and I was unemployed and also pregnant when I decided to jump into production of this.

I called up my creative partner and very dear friend Waymond Singleton, who was my director on it. I was like, “Do you want to just make something? It’s a mess right now. There’s so many shows that are getting canceled and all the Black and brown shows are getting canceled and mergers are happening.” And it was just very distressing to see, but I wanted to make something original with my friend. And he was just like, “Yeah, let’s go. Let’s do this.” 

Courtesy of Breana Navickas

I had the script written, but I just didn’t have the time before. Without my team of 40 plus people who worked on this with me, it wouldn’t have happened. I’m a board artist, but I’m not the strongest action board artist nor the strongest editor. It really was a team effort of just grabbing people who were industry professionals that wanted to work outside their nine to five because they were craving something more creative. This project really was a creative outlet that allowed a lot of people to be free.

My team consisted of a lot of black and brown and queer people, and that’s so important to have on screen and in the background making the thing for me. And also contracting my friend Kennedy Freeman from Luv Letter Studios to do the animated sequences. They’re the only female Black-owned anime studio here in the US, and it was very important to me to have Kennedy on to do that animation. Her team knocked it out of the park!

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It truly takes a village and people have to champion for and support the projects that they want to see! One more question for you. At Nerdist, we are all about celebrating the things that bring our nerdy hearts joy, from comics to gaming. Outside of animation, what do you nerd out about? 

Navickas: Outside of animation, I nerd out about video games really f**king hard. I love video games so much. I am a big RPG person. Persona is one of my favorite franchises that I love to play. Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Silent Hill, Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, I love those video games so much, and I can rant on and on for hours, especially when it comes to Final Fantasy! My favorite is Final Fantasy 10.

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Every founder who applies to Startup Battlefield wants the same thing: the Disrupt Main Stage. Here’s how to get there and why the opportunity starts well before the main stage.

Instagram users can now edit comments, which is a long-awaited fix for anyone who’s ever had to delete and re-post a comment just to fix a typo.

If you watched the first season of Daredevil: Born Again, you know Frank Castle/the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) had been in hiding in NYC, came out of hiding to help/egg on Daredevil, and then ended up captured by Wilson Fisk’s Anti-Vigilante Taskforce. So, then, why wasn’t the world’s angriest man in one of the cages in Daredevil: Born Again season two’s prison break scene? That answer is at the heart of a the Marvel Special Presentation The Punisher: One Last Kill. This will offer Frank the opportunity to kill people and swear before we see him in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Disney has released the first trailer for The Punisher: One Last Kill (which will likely have many more than one). Check it out below.

Ah yes, the classic Punisher vibe of sad violence. The trailer doesn’t give a ton of info on what the special is about, but it looks to involve Frank protecting a family, specifically a young girl, who reminds him of his own daughter. Rioting seems rampant in NYC, which would make sense if the unrest under Mayor Fisk continues apace. Frank also seems to hallucinate people from his past, which is very on brand for the, let’s face it, badly mentally unwell Mr. Castle. But we love him anyway.

Disney

Regardless of what sparks him, we just like watching Frank Castle go off on people who (probably) deserve it. It’s a power fantasy. And Beardy Bernthal is everyone’s favorite. A Marvel Special Presentation The Punisher: One Last Kill is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green from a script co-written by Bernthal and Green. The special episode debuts May 12 at 6pm PT, exclusively on Disney+.  That’ll be the week after the Daredevil: Born Again season finale. Buckle up, friends!

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.

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