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https://trademarkfilms.com/films/d121a6f6-231f-481d-86bc-3fe5ee83847f

Available for preorder now, out Sept 19, one man's quest for the soul of Grimdark.

I was surprised to see that the guy from Napoleon Dynamite is the guy behind this.

This looks cool, and I want to watch it, BUT...

It will be a cold day in hell before I buy anything that is hosted somewhere that allows me to watch it. If you want me to BUY it, then you have to actually sell me something... As in "Once I pay money for it, it lives on MY computer, not YOUR website."

Your website could disappear at any time for any number of reasons, and if it does, the thing you claim you sold me goes with it.

I'll pay for a download. I'll pay for a streaming services that hosts hundreds of things for me to watch. Hell, I'll even pay for a streaming service that has a handful of things I want to watch if you give me a cool exclusive miniature to go with it.

But I'm not purchasing access to single video which could disappear at anytime for any number of reasons. Personally, I believe nobody should, since it's a bad business model and we need to stamp it out like 8-track tapes, but I'm not really at liberty to impact other people's choices about what they do with their own money.

On a side note, 8-track tapes were fething terrible, but at least when you bought one you actually owned something.

I'd prefer to just buy some of his art than watch this, that would be a better use of his time imo though I suppose the art relies on GW IP.

I might watch it although it seems we'll get a lot of nonsense and not much time with John and his contributions. Twelve bucks is chump change nowadays. I am more concerned about wasting an hour of my life.

So I got a chance to watch a review copy and what can I say? It's niche of course, cute and nice. I wonder who exactly it's for, it spends a lot of time talking to fans around the world about what is Grim Dark art, Grim Dark games and Jon Heder's reaction to them. It's almost like trying to explain 40k, Mordheim, Necromunda, et al to our families and friends. So the people who know and/or care who John Blanche is might find most of the film just sort of obvious.

Blanche does not appear in person until about an hour in and the interview with him is interesting. He's had major health issues in recent years, including a stroke IIRC, and it's good to hear from him, y'know, what we still can. I'd have liked more of that.

There's a lot in there that's good for the audience ego, we're not gamers, we're artists and we're writers and creators and collaborators in creating a shared world. Yay us!

There's some neat humor and good transitions and it really is not just a love letter to Blanche, but also one to the miniature hobby and the grimdark aesthetic as a whole. Jon Heder is charming throughout.

Could it be improved? Yeah, sure. But it's good.

Does that make it worth your $12, that's up to you. As the proud owner of multiple Blanche art books from Ratspike to Voodoo Forest this is very much up my alley so yes for me. If he's not your bag, then maybe not.

I will probably pick this up, and I'm not worried about having to go to the website to watch it. Once I do that, I can download a copy to my computer either easily or less so.

I was thinking, this Is the kind of thing I would like to watch on Warhammer plus, and GW should at least be trying to license it.