METAGAME: Reception and Edit Updates

Hey all,

I’ve taken the time to read some reactions to Metagame, process things for myself and figure out what the next steps will be. I’m gonna detail some of that here. I realize not everyone will be happy with my decisions, but I know there will always be those who have a differing opinion on it. Honestly, it’s one of the things I value most about the smash community - we all bring different life experiences and perspectives along with our controllers; I’m hoping that our shared love of this game will continue to be the thing that binds us all no matter what.

Before I get into specifics, I’d like to explain a little bit about the creation of the documentary itself. Principle photography for the series was completed in a span of just 4 months in the Winter of 2014/2015 (although a significant amount of footage was used from tournaments and interviews I conducted from 2011 to 2012 for The Smash Brothers). After about 2 years of editing, the series was pretty much completed. I’ve spent the past few years on sourcing archival footage and photos to fill out the b-roll, among other things.

In contrast to the original doc, I went into this one with less of a sense of how it might be structured and how it might end - though I had ideas. At the time I started shooting, Apex 2015 was looming as a climactic moment for the community, so that obviously looked promising as an ending. I wanted to use the “current” timeline (the buildup to Apex) as one track, while also going back in time to look at how the players had gotten to where they were - a historical track about the formation of the Pantheon as well as important moments in the players’ lives.

After Apex completed, I thought I had all the footage I needed to create another compelling narrative about smash.

In that sense, Metagame is in many ways a time traveller; it has a perspective that is firmly rooted in the time it was conceived and shot, with the limits of scope that that fact entails.

On rewatching it with the community in 2020, I can see how out of place and awkward the inclusion of some people’s brief appearances were. At the time I was editing those segments back in 2016, they just seemed like innocuous asides - bits to inform motivation and moments for which I had video and photos.

Likewise the offensive language which was prevalent in the community back then - a subject I gave paltry little time to in the first doc - didn’t jump out at me as an issue (even bleeped) until watching it at the premiere; it needed some context or more heavy censoring.

And the inclusion of the specific .zip allegations in Leffen’s introductory segment was not necessary for a number or reasons and I’m sorry for dredging them up at all.

These things to me are fair criticisms and are places where changes can be made relatively simply.

The choice to make Leffen the antagonist - the villain to Mango’s hero at the Apex money match, for example - was a tonal choice that to me reflected the real drama in the community at the time. It was honestly the most exciting period in smash history to me because Leffen embraced that role as the heel. He seemed to relish in it and I wanted to give that drama its due.

The absence of a proper interview with him in the series was a constraint of my budget and - following that - my belief that I could still tell the story without one. He was more of an agent of change in the narrative anyways; a force of inevitability that almost represented the march of time itself. Of course, this doesn’t make for a fuller picture of the man and who he is and it definitely could be seen as a weakness.

I’ve talked with Leffen since the premiere and he agreed to do an interview that will give him a chance to reflect on this period of time - if not within the narrative itself then as part of additional interviews associated with the project. I look forward to adding more interviews with the gods as well in a sort of "After Metagame" format.

I realize some in the community might want to see more substantial changes made - either to make room for players they like or to highlight other tournaments or to make the music more hype in spots. I understand the motivations for these ideas (and to that last point, I will say I did change out one of the tracks for Leffen’s introduction), but as simple as some of these ideas sound, they mean many months of re-editing, possibly longer and at this point I just can’t do that.

Part of this is practical - I’ve sacrificed my savings to see this thing completed and I just don’t have enough funding to support continued editing on that scale.

But another part of this is emotional. Having worked on this thing for 5 years in an attempt to make something that will surpass the first doc - I can only say that I am beyond burnt out. I had a vision for this project and I saw it through to the end. At a certain point a project has to be done and you have to move on with the knowledge you’ve gained to do better next time.

Perhaps taking on a project of this scope as one man meant that it was always destined to be imperfect. Perhaps after the success of The Smash Brothers, I believed in myself too much; that there was no project so large I couldn’t tackle it on my own, given the time if not the money.

I still think that in trying to do this, I have created something very special, if flawed. I have learned so much from this entire process. Perhaps most important of all, I’ve learned that I don’t have to be alone in following my vision. Going forward, I want to embrace more collaboration and add more voices to my work. It feels like I’ve been out in orbit in a small space capsule for half a decade and I am very much ready to come back to Earth.

Lastly, I want to say thank you.

To everyone who has continued their support of me in this journey, I am incredibly humbled to have it. You’ve enabled me to follow a dream and I will be forever grateful for that.

I’ve also appreciated the kind words that some of you have sent me, they mean more than you’ll ever know.

In the immediate future, I’ll be releasing more Metagame Extras and Samox Faxes on my Patreon (the Samox Faxes will now be focussed on MG stuff instead of TSB stuff). A lot of it will probably end up on the Metagame Twitch channel at some point. Also I’ll finally be getting DVDs out to people (both MG and TSB)!

Beyond that, I’ll be streaming and laying the groundwork for the next things I’d like to focus on in the medium and long-term. 

Finally and perhaps most importantly:

***THE UPDATED VERSIONS OF METAGAME WILL APPEAR ON VIMEO TOMORROW***

All the best, much love and HOLD THE LINE,

SAMOX <3