A Talk with MistareFusion

Photo Property of Lance Rumowicz

I just want to tell you guys that I’m super excited today, and it’s all because I recently got to interview a person I’ve admired since high school: Lance Rumowicz, who runs the MistareFusion YouTube channel! I’ve had tons of respect for this guy ever since I stumbled upon one of his videos while looking for information on Kyoryu Sentai ZyuRanger, the Japanese show that was adapted into the first season of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Lance is probably most known for his ongoing Dragon Ball Dissection series, in which he breaks down the story of the Dragon Ball manga, anime, and movies and gives them a detailed analysis and overall evaluation. Lance’s insight is always well thought-out and enlightening, and his work inspires me to think harder about the media I consume. I can’t thank him enough for taking the time to talk to me. If you’re into intelligent discussions about nerdy properties, I encourage you all to check out his stuff.

I started the interview with some small talk, asking Lance about his favorite Zelda games since he had recently uploaded a video on Ocarina of Time glitches. He said that he liked every Zelda he’s played except for Skyward Sword, which is the correct answer in my book.

Video Property of Lance Rumowicz

I then moved on to asking what else he did in his spare time, and he impressed me with his answer. Lance plays Brad Majors in a local production of Rocky Horror Picture Show in addition to acting in other plays when he can, immerses himself in presidential trivia, and goes on long bike rides (he mentioned a recent trip in which he “rode all the way across Tampa Bay and back”). This is in addition to his video work his regular job, and his real life. I told Lance that he’s probably one of the most well-rounded people I’ve ever spoken to, to which he responded by saying, “I’ve dipped my toe in a lot of waters.” He then mentioned the other things he’s tried such as runway modeling, pole dancing, tap dancing, and making commercials. If you ask me, Lance is like if the Jack of All Trades ran the Yahtzee and Uno tables as well. Needless to say, the guy finds himself with very little free time.

I then asked what the video production process is like, and Lance pointed me to James Rolfe’s behind-the-scenes episode of The Angry Video Game Nerd (please note that Rolfe’s series is famous for mature language and situations).

Video Property of James Rolfe

“While I’m not up to the level of production he is,” Lance says, “the methods are pretty similar, and I suppose they are for most people who make this type of content. For most of my videos, the process is the same.” Lance says that scriptwriting varies in difficulty, with some scripts coming more naturally than others. For long-running series like Dragon Ball Dissection, he has to take structure into account and anticipate topics for future videos. “But say there's a bit that comes up frequently throughout a story arc,” Lance told me. “Maybe it's a character thread or something like that. Well, I could just mention it every time it comes up. But that would be pointless and tedious unless I was purposely using it as a running gag. So I try to find the best single time to talk about it the issue as a whole, and that requires planning ahead.” Lance says that one of the consequences of holding off on mentioning certain issues is that “it also ensures someone is going to make a comment to the effect of, ‘You forgot to mention such-and-such!’ which always drives me crazy, hahaha!”

After discussing how he makes his videos, I asked about the fan response to Dragon Ball Dissection. Lance’s opinions, while incredibly well-supported, tend to differ from the general consensus, so I asked how his audience usually reacts to his thoughts. “As a general rule,” he responded,” I have found myself very fortunate when it comes to my fans. I tend to have a very literate, very passionate, and very civil group of people posting on my comments.”

Video Property of Lance Rumowicz

He does mention one area in which many new fans tend to vocally disagree: “In terms of Dragon Ball Dissection, the biggest pushback I get is my rendering of the name of the character Buruma as Blooma instead of the more common Bulma. It's pretty much a non-issue at this point, as everybody who follows the series has long since gotten used to it.” Lance mentions that the Blooma issue "tends to be a surprising sticking point” for newcomers, “and they tend to express their dissatisfaction in unpleasant ways. Usually, though, when it happens, I try to engage them, politely and professionally.”

Lance mentioned another interesting trend with his fans, in which they “don’t tend to take issue if someone likes something they don't,” but do get riled up when he criticizes something they enjoy: “Someone can be a huge fan for years and engage me in conversation often. But the second I give that person's favorite story arc a low score, suddenly they hate me. That seriously has happened.”

A little later we talked about Dragon Ball Super, the current iteration of the franchise. Unfortunately, Lance has a more pessimistic view of it. “If I was told that our reality was to be replaced with an alternate reality where all post-revival Dragon Ball material never happened, I could do little more than shrug,” he told me. “I don't hate it. But I don't love it. There are elements I have loved. And there are elements I have hated. But in an overall sense, it's just kind of... there.” He mentions that the show’s status as a “midquel” (taking place in the previously unexplored ten-year gap between the defeat of Majin Boo and the end of the series) and the fact that the show feeds on nostalgia hold it back from being able “to really go anywhere.”

Video Property of Toei Animation

Lance also suggested that Super’s level of escalation is also an issue: “Dragon Ball has always been about escalation, but there's only so far you can escalate before you lose all sense of scale... There's only so far you can go before it gets ridiculous, and I feel it's long since gone past that point. Dragon Ball had a great end in 1995. Now it just seems like it's on life support.” While I’m a big fan of the new show, I have to admit that Lance makes good points.

Outside of his Dragon Ball-related work, Lance finds pride in his other videos as well. “I am certainly proud of the Power Rangers/Sentai Videos,” he told me. “To this day, they're still among my most-watched videos.”

Video Property of Lance Rumowicz

He also mentioned his review of The Super Mario Brothers Super Show, saying that it “just hit all the right spots in terms of humor.”

Video Property of Lance Rumowicz

He goes on to talk about his review of the final Star Trek (the original series) episode, which he frames as if it were an old educational film. “I love getting to do things in different styles like that, and I feel I really captured that 1960s educational filmstrip you'd see in schools back then. So getting to do all of the various audio and video filters to make it look as bad as possible was just a lot of fun.”

He continues with his videos on The Facts of Life and its supposed conspiracies with other media. “I don't care if that doesn't tie into my demographic at all, I had a lot of fun with those.”

Video Property of Lance Rumowicz

Lance concludes by talking about his Ghostbusters II review, even though technical failures got in the way. “But I loved really digging in deep to what makes a maligned sequel work or not work. And I loved, loved, loved getting the chance to visually demonstrate, with side-by-side comparisons, just how closely it adhered to the structure of the first movie, from plot points all the way down to specific shot compositions. That's something you can write about all day long and never convince anybody, but actually showing it is what really sells it.” All of these videos are well-reasoned and incredibly funny, so I’d advise that everyone check them out!

Video Property of Lance Rumowicz

I noticed that something was strangely missing from the videos he mentioned, however. Why hadn’t he mentioned his Batman reviews? Upon asking about them, Lance said, "Haha, no, I love my Batman videos. I'm just a little bit embarrassed by how I've handled them. I managed to get through fifteen chapters of Batman and Robin, a serial I didn't have any really strong feelings for, in about two months, if memory serves. Now I've been working on its predecessor, a serial I grew up with and loved, for nearly six years! By the time it's done, I will have been able to celebrate its 70th and 75th anniversaries! There's no two ways around it. I really dropped the ball with that one and probably killed any chance of people caring about it.” Well, I still care. While I understand that the demand for Dragon Ball Dissection got in the way of the Batman reviews, I’m glad that Lance told me that he’s begun work on the final installment and hopes to have it out early next year after he wraps up Dragon Ball Dissection December.

Video Property of Lance Rumowicz

Lance is also a strong proponent of preserving media history. I already knew from his videos that he was against products such as the Star Wars Special Editions, and he told me that what really bothered him about them was how they attempted “to rewrite film history and leave fans with no alternative for many years (and still no true alternatives up to the level of quality those films deserve).” He isn’t totally against the existence of the alternate versions, however: “As a kid, I owned both, and I thought it was a cool new way to experience the movies. It was only when I realized that they were meant to replace the original movies rather than stand alongside them that I took issue with them.” While Lance prefers to stick to the theatrical cuts of films, he only dislikes alternate cuts when the original versions are swept under the rug rather than preserved.

Video Property of Lance Rumowicz

He further illustrated his point with an example from the original Dragon Ball manga: “It blows people's minds when they find out that Gohan was actually originally written to be three years old. I was too when I found out. And that's because all readily-available evidence of it has been neatly wiped away. What's good about that? If Kanzenshuu hadn't unearthed the original magazines, we never would have known.” Lance thinks it’s harmful to sacrifice the history of a work in order to correct its mistakes. As he describes it, “It's the creative process. Things change. Creative people make mistakes. I'd rather see that process laid bare than have it covered up. And I'd rather see them devote that time to making the next thing the best it can be rather than trying to rewrite the past. It's over. It's done. It's history. That's how I see it.” This sentiment is made clear throughout Lance’s videos, many of which are dedicated to disavowing products like the Special Editions or the various Dragon Ball Z home releases that insist on cropping the video to widescreen. I have to say, while I like some directors’ cuts and extended editions, I also agree that the theatrical versions still have the right to exist as a piece of history. Heck, I genuinely believe that the theatrical versions of Star Wars are better than the Special Editions, even with all the shiny effects. With that said, it’s great to have a guy like Lance who’s willing to go to bat for the sake of media preservation.

Video Property of Lance Rumowicz

I concluded the interview by asking Lance what the best thing ever would be. He simply replied with, “To paraphrase Dumbledore when he looked into the Mirror of Erised, I see myself wearing a particularly comfy pair of socks. The best socks.” I don’t think I could have received a better answer to this question.

I’d like to thank Lance again for the interview. Him agreeing to talk to me made my entire week. I’ve been following his work since I was a teenager, so I literally got to interview one of my role models. It was pretty awesome, to say the least. I urge all of you reading to stop by the MistareFusion YouTube channel. Lance covers such a wide variety of geeky topics ranging from movies, comics, gaming, TV shows, and more, so just about anyone should find something that they like. He’s a super interesting guy who encourages his audience to be thoughtful consumers of media, and he brings fresh perspectives and funny insight to each one of his videos. Oh, and he’s incredibly handsome, too. Go check out his YouTube, follow him on Facebook and Twitter, and enjoy some great content!