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'''Metagame''' is an | '''Metagame''' is an nine-part documentary series produced by Travis "{{Sm|Samox}}" Beauchamp and is a follow up to his earlier work, ''[[The Smash Brothers]]''. The series premiered on [[Twitch]] on December 11th-13th, 2020 and was released for purchase on Vimeo on January 29th, 2021. | ||
The series focuses on the "[[Super Smash Bros. Melee in competitive play#The "Dark Age" and the era of "The Five Gods" (2008-2013)|Five Gods]]" of ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'', in addition to {{Sm|Leffen}}, through their competitive history from 2008 through 2015. | The series focuses on the "[[Super Smash Bros. Melee in competitive play#The "Dark Age" and the era of "The Five Gods" (2008-2013)|Five Gods]]" of ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'', in addition to {{Sm|Leffen}}, through their competitive history from 2008 through 2015. | ||
==Episodes== | ==Episodes== | ||
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
|+ Metagame Episodes | |+ Metagame Episodes | ||
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According to Beauchamp, the documentary had gone through many re-writes and the revisions that the original documentary hadn't gone through. Additionally, due to him seeking more than just a [[YouTube]] release, Beauchamp had to track down the owners of many ''Melee''-related videos throughout many different countries.<ref>[https://www.patreon.com/posts/final-metagame-44823228 "Final Metagame Production Update" - Samox's Patreon]</ref> | According to Beauchamp, the documentary had gone through many re-writes and the revisions that the original documentary hadn't gone through. Additionally, due to him seeking more than just a [[YouTube]] release, Beauchamp had to track down the owners of many ''Melee''-related videos throughout many different countries.<ref>[https://www.patreon.com/posts/final-metagame-44823228 "Final Metagame Production Update" - Samox's Patreon]</ref> | ||
On November 23rd, 2020, a trailer released, along with the announcement that the series would premiere on Twitch on December 11th-13th, 2020.<ref>https://www.metagamedoc.com/</ref> Episodes 1-3 aired on December 11th at 2-5 p.m. PT, Episodes 4-6 aired on December 12th at 2-5 p.m. PT, and Episodes 7-8 aired on December 13th at 2-4 p.m. PT. | On November 23rd, 2020, a trailer released, along with the announcement that the series would premiere on Twitch on December 11th-13th, 2020.<ref>https://www.metagamedoc.com/</ref> Episodes 1-3 aired on December 11th at 2-5 p.m. PT, Episodes 4-6 aired on December 12th at 2-5 p.m. PT, and Episodes 7-8 aired on December 13th at 2-4 p.m. PT. | ||
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==Reception== | ==Reception== | ||
{{Citations | {{cleanup|Needs to be rewritten in a neutral tone; currently, it reads too much like a personal review in several parts of the section. Citations should be added in as well.}} | ||
The release of the documentary's first three episodes resulted in the hashtag "metagame" rising to #2 on the United States trending page of [[Twitter]].<ref>[https://twitter.com/metagamedoc/status/1337535302722756610 #2 on U.S. Trending]</ref> | |||
The documentary received a mixed reception upon its initial premiere. The presentation received near-universal praise, frequently considered a massive improvement over [[The Smash Brothers]] on a technical level. The music was also regarded as high quality and heightened the emotions of the scene. However, some say the cinematographers and artist got too ambitious with the visuals, often dramatizing events to extreme level when it was not warranted. Furthermore, despite the fact that the docu-series lingered in development hell as Beauchamp spent years getting clearance for the use of copyrighted material, many still criticized the documentary's choice to only cover events up to Apex 2015, as many notable events occurred between then and the release of the docu-series. | |||
Some players prominently featured in the documentary such as {{Sm|Mango}} and {{Sm|Leffen}} publicly criticized it, as did much of their followerbases. With Mango being a teenager and in more lax social situations in the footage of him making derogatory statements, and with Leffen becoming a respected member of the community in the years since his initial controversies, critics argued that their depictions in the documentary were biased against them and based too much on their pasts, with the editing and music choices surrounding their appearances in the documentary further villainizing them. Critics also argued that it did not focus equally on all of the featured players, depicting {{Sm|PPMD}} as the "protagonist" who received the most attention while only identifying {{Sm|Mew2King}} and {{Sm|Hungrybox}} as "gods" and giving them comparatively little screen time. | |||
Some criticism was levied towards the last-minute revision that added {{Sm|Leffen}} to the docu-series, most notably by {{Sm|Hax}} as part of his [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msy4E3ScZVk "evidence.zip 3"] [[Smasher:Hax#Evidence.zip_3_and_ban_plea|video]]. In the video, Hax compares the revision to be something akin to propaganda, depicting Leffen as a "hero" and misrepresenting the nature of the original "evidence.zip"; specifically, Hax claims that the theme song the video provides to demean the importance of the controversy. Hax concludes his criticism of the video by stating that the docu-series sets a precedent that allows top players to lie and control the narrative, and that {{Sm|Samox}} not only became a victim of Leffen's manipulation, but also broke his integrity. | |||
Beauchamp was also accused of not properly responding to criticism. While he eventually revised the aforementioned depictions of Leffen and Mango, many still felt he was only staving off criticism and not trying to understand what the criticism was for in the first place. A specific instance is the topic of "gamer language", a phrase referring to insensitive language used to describe aspects of a game and its players. Although gamer language became increasingly frowned upon in the years since the events depicted in the documentary, as well as the fact that the documentary itself liberally referenced it multiple times, critics questioned why the documentary never explicitly condemned it, while selectively censoring instances of it in his footage (such as Armada calling Jigglypuff "gay" being censored, but not Mango calling PPMD "bisexual"). | |||
While not directly related to the quality of docu-series, many prominent figures in the community had to be cut at the last minute due to [[2020 Super Smash Bros. sexual misconduct allegations|allegations of sexual misconduct towards them]]. Beauchamp's statement of replacing them with different figures was seen by critics as an improper response to the fallout that failed to directly address what many community members argued was a crucial topic to discuss regarding competitive ''Smash''. | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
