The Incredibles: A Deep Dive into Pixar's Superhero Family Dynamics

Christian Ashley: 00:01:20

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, superheroes, super villains, and distressed babysitters of all ages, we welcome you all to the wonderful world of Walt Disney's Animation Studios. This is Systematic Ecology. We are the priests of the Geeks. I'm your host, Christian Ashley.

As we continue on through one of our Disney series today, I am joined by of course, the core three that were there at NC Comic Con together. You know, the greatest hosts, if you want to say that. I mean, there's come up with good ones here, but I mean, the trinity.

Will Rose: 00:01:46

Of the systematic egology, the holy trinity of sg. Yes, it's a reunion.

Christian Ashley: 00:01:53

Yes, it's a reunion. Holy Trinity. We have Will Rose. How's it going, Will?

Will Rose: 00:01:58

Good, good. I want my nickname for this particular episode not to be Jack. Jack. But to be Will. Will.

Christian Ashley: 00:02:02

Will. Will. All right. Perfect.

Will Rose: 00:02:04

Okay.

Christian Ashley: 00:02:04

Will. Will. We got Peng. How's it going, Peng?

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:02:07

Hello. It's going pretty well.

Christian Ashley: 00:02:08

Excellent. Yeah, I'm excited about this one. But before that, guys, what have you been geeking out on recently?

Will Rose: 00:02:16

Liz, go first. Hop in.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:02:18

Okay, well, I just said it on my other podcast, but I just have to episode if you hear it, so it's just so good. And I started reading the manga because I couldn't wait for the week to week episode. Honey Lemon Soda.

the pinnacle, the pinnacle of: 2025

Like me is literally swooning. Reading.

Will Rose: 00:02:47

It's called Honey Lemon. What?

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:02:49

Honey Lemon Soda. It is fantastic. It has everything you want. Yes. It's in a high school setting and I'm in my 30s. But that's okay. We ignore that part. It's not weird.

Will Rose: 00:03:02

Where do you watch it? Where do you stream it?

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:03:03

Crunchyroll. There is four episodes, two English dub, but then two sub.

So not only have I watched all four of the sub, but as even the English dub is getting released, I'm rewatching them too. Like, and now I'm reading the manga. So I'm like obsessed with this. And it's your classic girl who gets bullied trying to come out of her show.

Boy helps her out to discover herself. She finds her hidden strength and yeah, it's just fantastic. Cliche. Hallmark anime right here.

Will Rose: 00:03:33

Hallmark anime. Who doesn't Hallmark?

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:03:36

could be the best romance of: 2025

Will Rose: 00:03:42

Okay, we're not even done With January yet.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:03:44

I know. I know. Someone hold me to it yourself.

Will Rose: 00:03:50

Yeah. You know, Christian, I'm interested your thoughts on this.

I watched the first couple episodes of your friendly neighborhood Spider man, and I'm hooked. I love it. It's charming. It's in the kind of Tom Holland MCU Spider man universe, however you want to classify it. I did not.

I went in cold, not seeing any trailers, not knowing anything. And I was like, oh, I kind of know what they're doing here. I know where this fits in and whatever timeline they're playing with.

But the animation, the voice acting, the characters are all there. It's not quite the same retread of all the stories, but all the.

All the canon Spider man characters that you grew up with or think you know, show up in this particular series. And I can't wait to see the twists and turns of how they tell this story. I loved it. Christian, how about you?

It's okay if you don't, because I know you're a Spider man fan. You have very, very authentic opinions about your favorite fan, similar to me in Star Wars. So I'm all ears. I'm sitting at the feet of Christian.

What do you think?

Christian Ashley: 00:04:52

I was going to make this my geeking out too, because I also watched the first two episodes.

Will Rose: 00:04:56

Yeah, brothers.

Christian Ashley: 00:04:57

Yeah, of course. Brothers in arms. I am mostly positive with this series so far.

I think there's some interesting choices into who they chose to make his supporting cast for this, that he's way too young for some of them to be showing up. But you know what? Different reality I can finagle a little bit because originally was gonna be like that.

This is what was happening to him before he shows up in Civil War. But then they decided, well, that's too limiting. And I agree with the decision. So they decided to do their own thing.

So it's MCU inspired, but not in the mcu outside of, you know, the whole reality thing, alternate reality. So it suffers from that problem of that's what's happening with every show right now.

Instead of the 20 some episode seasons we used to get, they're condensing it down to. And you can tell that they're moving too swiftly because of that in the first two episodes. But I like what they're doing.

I think the animation is growing on me. Peter's pretty much perfect how they're characterizing him. Yeah, I'm in it to win it.

Will Rose: 00:05:58

Yeah. When they did three months later, after he got bit, I was like, oh, man, I want to see like the Day after, the week after.

Like, I want to see that learning curve, but if you got to speed it up, because this day and age, you can only do 10 episodes. You don't know if you're going to get a second season and tell your story, I guess. But, yeah, I'm excited.

It's another appointment television each week. When it drops on Wednesday mornings, whatever. I'm gonna be there with a cup of coffee, ready to watch it before the day starts.

So not a bad new comic book Wednesday to wake up and have a new Spider man cartoon waiting for you.

Christian Ashley: 00:06:29

Oh, yeah. All right. So we are still in our Disney series. As mentioned earlier today. I don't think I forgot to mention it.

We're actually doing the Incredibles as part of our different eras of Disney. This is not technically an era, but we're doing Pixar kind of animated films. You heard Toy Story beforehand.

Now it's time for the Incredible Incredibles. Spoilers. My favorite Disney movie of all time.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:06:51

Wow. That's a bold statement.

Christian Ashley: 00:06:55

And if you're interested in hearing some more of what we've had to say about Disney films in the past, you can check out the playlist and the link down below. But, guys, today, the Incredibles. What is this story about someone who has never watched this film, and I pity that poor person.

How can we tell them why they should do it?

Will Rose: 00:07:10

Christian, did you just allude that it's not Toy Story, that's your favorite Disney film of all time? It's the Incredibles is your favorite Disney film of all time.

Christian Ashley: 00:07:16

Indeed it is.

Will Rose: 00:07:18

point, when this comes out in: 2004

I was trying to find online, and some of the dates weren't mashing up for me. And I'm just kind of wondering when the acquisition was. And.

Christian Ashley: 00:07:41

And they bought them in: 2006

Will Rose: 00:07:47

Mm, yeah. Yeah. As a comic book fan, I will say that this is the Fantastic Four movie we never got. And so when I.

watched this way back when in: 2004

What they were doing in terms of a family of superheroes. It's a, you know, in terms of, of the plot. Christian, you're so good at recapping. I'll let you recap. But I would just say, like, yeah, it's up there.

My top favorite films of all time. I think I. Maybe once a week, maybe a couple times a week, I'll say, where's my super suit? Is in my head. And that I just.

That's just what I say, because of this movie.

Christian Ashley: 00:08:35

Okay, so we start in flashback. We get. Superheroes are in the world. We've got Mr.

Incredible, also known as Bob Parr in the civilian life, who is about to marry Helen, going to be par. Elastigirl. And he is thwarting the schemes of an evil villain known as Bomb Voyage, where this. I love the names in this film.

And in the process, he gets a sidekick he didn't want named Buddy, who is his biggest fan. And through a bunch of shenanigans going off that. It's an explosion, a guy gets hurt and Mr. Incredible tries to save him. He also gets married.

But then as a result of what happens, they start what's known as the superhero relocation, which superheroes are banned from doing their jobs, from protecting people. They are forced into a civilian life. And then we flash forward, I think about 15 or so years later, where Mr.

Incredible and the last girl are married. They've got three kids, Violet, Dash and little baby Jack. Jack, love my boy Jack. Jack. And Mr.

Incredible is in this soul sucking job of being an accountant for this, like, insurance firm or something, like dealing with people's files. And he's not able to save people in the same way he used to.

And even when he tries to do it in his job, he gets stonewalled by his boss, who's a huge jerk. He just wants to be a superhero again. So he and Frozone, one of his main guys, of course, voiced by Samuel L.

Jackson, do superheroing on the side every now and then illegally, because they also want to get back into the game, which of course gets them in a little trouble. And they're then contacted, well, sorry, Mr.

Incredible is contacted by a woman named Niraj, who says a wealthy man wants to hire him to stop this rogue droid that they made. And he goes. That barely survives the fight with it.

Then they come back home, there's some marital strife, you know, with the secrets that he's keeping. Helen thinks he's having an affair because of the hair she finds on his. He gets a New costume with Edna mode.

Also one of the best characters in the film.

Will Rose: 00:10:42

Yep.

Christian Ashley: 00:10:43

In a film with a lot of good characters. And then he is brought back to the island because of something else. And it turns out the droid is back. It's been upgraded.

And as he finds out, superheroes have been who have been in hiding, have been lured here to fight this thing multiple times over.

Because Syndrome, who is a grown up buddy, has become wealthy and wants to kill the superheroes so that he can be the superhero now and to get revenge on Mr. Incredible for not taking him on as a sidekick forever ago.

And as we learned throughout the film, their children Violet and Dash, and eventually Jack, Jack will find out also have superpowers. So Helen tries to investigate. They come with her, and they all get captured.

And then they start forming like a family team, as you know, the Omnidroid goes rogue and takes Down Syndrome because he starts, you know, villainously monologuing. And eventually he gets taken down. They fight the Thing with Frozone, work together. The people love them again. They love superheroes once more.

And then they take Down Syndrome before he tries to steal away Jack. Jack. And we end our film with everyone much better off than they were before. How do you think? Anything I missed?

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:11:50

You forgot to talk about the babysitter.

Christian Ashley: 00:11:53

Yes.

And this whole time, you know, Elastigirl trying to be smart, leaves little Jack Jack behind because he's not even one and his powers are still developing and it seems like he's got those combo platter powers of whatever he can do. And poor, I think her name's Kari, is like struggling to keep him there.

If you haven't seen the short film that they do of Jack Jack Attack, you're missing out because that is some great comedy there too.

Will Rose: 00:12:21

rhythm of, you know, this is: 2004

But you know, this animated version, Brad Bird, who I guess did Iron Giant, and it didn't do great in the theater, but he wanted to do a kind of a superhero movie and.

And with Pixar, in terms of what superheroes are or aren't or washed up or midlife crisis and family, they are spot on in terms of the tropes of what it means to be a hero, maybe some. Some trauma there, what makes the villain, and then how to come together as a family, grow together as a family to fight the superhero team.

And how these powers are actually actualized and animated. It's just, it's beautiful. It's great. I'm with you. It's. It's one of my favorite films up there as well.

And the comedy, the facial expressions, just the subtle non verbals that they're doing, even with the animated is just, just, just great.

Christian Ashley: 00:13:30

It's great. Hang. Anything you want to add?

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:13:32

No, it was just fun even like going through. I think they hit a really cool family dynamic as well. So definitely.

Even if you're not into superheroes, it was just kind of family friendly because I wasn't really into superheroes at that time, but it was just a fun movie. My Spanish teacher actually looked exactly like Egna Mode. And so we would call her that behind her back, but she really did. It was really fun.

Christian Ashley: 00:13:59

Perfect. All right, so when did we all first see this film?

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:14:02

Probably when it first came out. I'm pretty sure.

. And so I saw it probably in: 2004

Will Rose: 00:14:14

Yeah, it was, it was October: 2004

I'm like, surely I didn't see this in the theater because I had a two year old and a four month old and probably moving from Florida, South Carolina, I'm trying to figure out, but I know I saw it somewhere and immediately fell in love with it. And then it became a staple. The DVD became a staple just in our family viewing, watching.

So it, you know, we know it backwards and forwards from that. But I can't remember if I saw it in the theater or just right when I went to dvd. We watched as a family in the house and immediately loved it.

So yeah, from, from the beginning it was there and my kids were kind of that sweet spot of when they were growing up. Let's show them a good, you know, animated, fun movie. And that was it. That's what we watched.

Christian Ashley: 00:15:03

Yeah, that reminds me, one of the kids my mom watches, he started getting into it a lot too, because we used to call him Jack Jack. He didn't have much hair back in the day and he was always everywhere and places he shouldn't be. So that's. Yeah, that movie.

I don't know how many times it's inflated our home just from us watching it. Siblings versus all the other Kids mom has had in the house. And there's a reason, because it's just that good.

And I saw this, I don't think it was opening weekend, but around that time, fairly soon, and fell in love because, yeah, Will, you're right. This is around a time. You know, we've had the X Men, we've had Blade, we've had Spider, and we haven't had a Fantastic Four film yet.

And you're right. I mean, that's one of the big jokes around. This film is the best Fantastic Four movie ever made.

And I can't argue against that because maybe First Steps changes us all whenever that does release. But right now, I mean, this is kind of the perfect encapsulation of that family.

Their power sets are different and everything, but there's enough of an influence on the film that you can see. So, yeah, I mean, I'm not going to say anymore, I love this movie. Let's go into discussion before I start gushing.

Do you have a favorite scene or moment from this movie?

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:16:56

he preview, so let's do math.: 2004

Will Rose: 00:17:05

21 years ago.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:17:08

I hate this game. So I'm 32 minus 21. So I'm 11 at this time. So I feel like Violet is on that preteen, you know, age. And so like this, this resonated, like, obviously.

And I was such a moody girl because we would just pass the night. So I was like that little emo, hipster type girl. So Violet I felt a very, like, connection to. And I was boy crazy as well.

I've said this before, but that scene when she turns invisible and he's like, looking at her but not at her, and then he, like walks away and she's like, he just looked at me and like, she's literally like so in love with this boy. And being a typical, like, I identified with that. So hard being 11 years old and just watching that and like just rooting her own so much.

So that was. That's probably the most rememberable scene, I think. Favorite scene was at the end when Jack. Jack finally.

Not Jack Jack, but when Dash finally got to play sports. And so. But he couldn't win so bad. He's like, slow down a little bit. No, speed up. I just love. I love that scene.

Will Rose: 00:18:19

Yeah.

Christian Ashley: 00:18:21

Looks of the parents understand.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:18:23

It's so funny. It's like, we know you're going to win, but, like, you know, just go easy on them.

Will Rose: 00:18:27

Don't Win by too much. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think for me, I. I do like the beginning of the movie when you get to see them kind of use their powers.

And a little mystery of he's late to somewhere, but you don't know where he's late to, and he's. I got time to. And you see the. The unfolding of all the things that Mr. Incredible wants to do and what brings him joy in this.

When he eventually runs into Elastigirl and her, like, flipping over the buildings and stretching and going away. Like that animation being like, that's. That's cool. That's how you would use elastic powers. It's so, so good. So I. I love that. And then the.

And then the. Just the doldrum of, like, everyday office life and. And seeing the character arc or the story, the plot line of. Of Mr. Incredible is pretty.

Pretty fun. But of course, you know, I can't talk about this movie without, like, the babysitter, like, freaking out.

And the phone call and the voicemail and the. On the. The unfolding voicemail of Jack. Jack getting his power set. And it finally hitting. And. And what she's called to do is. It's just.

There's nothing better. Nothing better than that. And even Buddy. Even Buddy and Syndrome, I. I think. Yeah. Who doesn't want to be a superhero?

You look up and your fans and, you know, we go to comic Cons and get autographs of people we look up to and all that stuff. And then the disillusioned who then turns. You know, the tensions went wrong as. Classic. Classic. Love it.

Christian Ashley: 00:19:56

Oh, yeah.

Will Rose: 00:19:56

Yeah.

Christian Ashley: 00:19:56

I mean, so many good ones to pick from Final Battle. I mean, I always love a good action scene.

And you get to see everyone's power sets just working with each other, like, learning to work together as a team, as a family. Of course, Frozone coming in to save the day as well. I mean, love him. Love Samuel Hill Jackson. I could listen to that man talk all day.

And just because they're working together, because this droid Omnidroid has been built to fight against multiple superheroes, has murdered many of them in the past. And now there's that huge threat. It's like. Well, Violet and Dash haven't really trained that much for their abilities.

She's like a very early Invisible Girl, when she was still the Invisible Girl. Instead of Invisible Woman, learning how to actually erect a force shield and turn invisible. Well, and not get captured.

And you have Dash, who's super fast, but, I mean, that's not going to stop a giant metal robot. So, like, there's an actual threat to the children, and they actually realize that. And it's not. It's not played for laughs or anything.

It's like there's an earlier moment where Helen's like, look, these are not like the bad guys in your. Your Saturday morning cartoons. They will murder you even if you're a child. So keep that in mind. So there's a huge threat of the entire family.

And it's also a Disney film, so you're not expecting it to happen. Like, there's a terror there.

But then they all work together, take it down, and then after being in hiding for so long, like, the people respect them again. And that's one thing I do like a little bit more about DC than Marvel, is that most of the common people tend to respect their heroes more in D.C.

than the Marvel Universe. So it's nice to see something like that happen. But I'm also gonna go with the moment when Mr.

Incredible finds out what's been happening on the island and that this has been planned.

And he's going through all these lists of these different heroes, and he sees, like, you know, Gazerbeam was like the last guy there, and these are his friends that he used to work with. Loved working with them, and loved in sharing experiences. And they've all been murdered because of the ambition and ego of Syndrome.

And it's like, very haunting as he's just going file by file. That's a really great scene.

Will Rose: 00:22:06

Yeah. And I think about their. Their power sets and how they're used together. You know, I've talked about some other places too.

I love the team books because it's cool when they have their individual superpowers and they have their own story arc and character arcs and.

But when you have a threat bigger than the individual, they have to come together and work together as a team, like a basketball team, team, whatever. Whatever sports cliche you want to use. But. But them eventually coming together and use our power set is pretty. Pretty amazing.

And if you think about, like, I've always thought that. That Sue Richards, like Invisible Woman, like, her power set is pretty awesome.

Like we did one year during March Madness, my comic book store did like a brackets of superheroes and the final four, and then who would win in the end? And I had Sue Richard.

Sue Richard going Invisible Woman, going all the way to the championship because not just turning invisible and things invisible, but putting. Putting force fields around things or putting just a. She can knock you out with a. With a Air pocket in your brain.

And she gave me amniorism like that, like it's over.

If she really wanted to flex really hard on, on those powers and so what that would mean in terms of suffocation, but force fields turn things visible or not. I.

That power sets, I think highly underrated when it comes to her and I hope they showed that in the fantastic form of you how, how awesome her power set really is. Other than just I want to disappear and not be seen. Which as a yes middle school goth girl who's insecure, maybe, maybe that's what you want to.

You want to see. But then at some point you come into your own and you become more confident and use it in different ways.

Christian Ashley: 00:23:35

Yeah, it's one of those things like you see the early Stan and Jack when they're doing Fantastic Four, it's like they just had a woman there for the sake of there being a woman. You know, I have a pretty face around there. And eventually she got more characterization with them and under other writers.

But was it Byrne who actually stepped in and made her become Invisible Woman? It's like, look, if you actually think about it, she's the biggest threat here. I'm sure the thing's a big riot.

Guy who can topple buildings, Johnny can burn you alive. Mr. Fantastic and Stretch, well, someone with Hearst power set, I ain't fighting against that.

Will Rose: 00:24:08

Yep, yep, 100%.

Christian Ashley: 00:24:10

All right, so one thing we also like to focus on here when we're talking about these Disney films are just particular moments of, you know, animation that are striking to us. Is there anything that like, like jumps out at you guys?

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:24:22

Nah, I don't pay attention. Like, I mean, I appreciate when it's not bad, but like actual like animation, like cool. I don't care about that.

Christian Ashley: 00:24:30

I should know better.

Will Rose: 00:24:33

No, I, I rewatched it recently just just to refresh my memory for, for this pod and, and it holds up. It's so good.

I think about it being over 20 years old and, and still just being an absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous animated film with which at the time that's probably what we were all gushing over. Not just, just the, the tech and, and why Disney wanted Pixar because you're like, oh, they're doing good stuff.

We got to get them because it's just the animation is perfect. And I know, I think Brad Bird reading somewhere was saying wanted to do that traditional 2D animation like you would with Snow White or whatever.

Old school, old school Disney, but using that computer gen generated, it's not Blocky. It's not as scary like it's facial expressions. You freeze frame on the old black and white newsreels. And it's. It's good. It's so good. Good. Yeah.

It's amazing that it's 20 years old.

Christian Ashley: 00:25:25

Yeah. I mean, obviously the final battle, I think is one of the most well animated parts of the film. Since I already talked about it.

I'm going to choose the opening of the film because of everything. Like some of the stuff that you mentioned, like her flexibility, the way she moves around Elastigirl, that's animated very fluidly.

And of course you've got the comedy of errors that just comes up with like trying to stop this guy from bon voyage, from stealing this money.

And then you've also got this kid who's not supposed to be there, who's suit and everything doesn't work yet because he hasn't actually tested anything. He's just that fanboy who hasn't thought through what he's about to do. And the building's collapsing and Mr.

Incredible saves someone's life who was trying to like commit suicide and that it goes into that bit of. They're all the comedy of errors that happen create this registration act and kind of changes the course of the world for the next 15 years.

And it's very important.

I'd also throw in animation wise, Elastigirl Infiltrating Syndrome's base and utilizing her powers effectively there where she keeps getting stuck in the doors. It's very funny, but it's also drawn really well and does amazing work.

And yes, some of it's a little fan servicey, but at the same time there's a purpose behind what they're doing.

Will Rose: 00:26:42

And there's small moments too. Like I reminded how great the scene is when Mr.

Incredible is lifting his car over his head and the little boy in the little tricycle is there staring at him and his gum pops on his face and he just stays. And it stays silent like that. Awkward for just a few moments. And he's just staring at him. I just. The way that unfolds is brilliant.

And with the superhero registration act that's been played with in comics and other places and what that would mean. But again, it's not the first time comics have entertained that thought.

But if there really were people around superheroes, superhero powers and mutants or whatever, we'd be terrified. We'd be like, what in the world is going on? So it would be very intimidating.

All of a sudden there was a group of superheroes that were around the world doing good or evil. It would be pretty. Pretty terrifying.

Christian Ashley: 00:27:41

Yeah, I know. You probably talked about this on X Men episode or something. I'm forgetting. Was it the X Men Inhumans 1?

Will Rose: 00:27:47

Probably.

Christian Ashley: 00:27:48

Did you talk? Okay, yeah.

Because Peng and I have done it before with my hero, and I understand why things would exist, and I would even say we should pass legislation if these superheroes actually exist in the world. But there's that part of me that's the anti registration that wants to believe Christian's a vigilante. Yeah.

Will Rose: 00:28:07

Yes.

Christian Ashley: 00:28:08

Who wants to believe in someone who's doing something for the sake of good, who's doing for the sake of protecting other people. Know who that person is, because, well, if it's in the government registration somewhere, well, how easy is that to hack into?

How easy is that for someone to take advantage of, you know, suddenly their family's at risk? There's a reason why superheroes typically have a secret identity.

So I flip flop, I argue, like, if this is the real world, you know, if Jean Grey exists, if Professor X exists, a telepath who can take over people's minds with literally a third thought, I need to know what they can do, and I need to have something in place to make sure that doesn't happen to, you know, say, the president or a leader of another nation or what have you. So I understand why that needs to be a thing. I just don't like it.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:28:52

Well, I do. I am still, like, unpopular opinion. Super unpopular. And I'm just pointing it out there. Not sure I agree with it, but I'm like, why don't we just.

I know it's an invasion of people's privacy, so don't come at me. This is not a political statement, but this is just how I believe in Rich. Like, why don't we.

If people are born in the hospital, just go ahead and take their DNA right then and there, put in a database, and then that way, crime scene, boom. Like, it will solve so many dang crimes. But invasion of privacy, I understand that, but that's just kind of like, where I think.

I'm like, just register everything. If everything's tracked, everyone has accountability. But remember, I align on the communist side of things. I've said it before.

That's the quiz I took.

Will Rose: 00:29:37

Oh, that.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:29:39

I don't know. It was, like, in public speech class or something like that. And I still remember this dude's thing.

And so we had to take a quiz, and it was like, some kind of political quiz. And I Literally got communism. Only one who got communism.

Will Rose: 00:29:55

I love that story.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:29:58

It was because I was like, yeah, I don't care. The government can decide.

Christian Ashley: 00:30:01

I'm.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:30:01

I'm just going to pay attention to myself. I'm going to do me help people when I can help them and do right, you know, know when I can, and the government can do them.

And so apparently that is communism.

Will Rose: 00:30:13

Wow.

Christian Ashley: 00:30:13

I think the last time I took one of those, like, political compass, spectrum, whatever they call them, charts, quizzes, I was like a couple notches up and like one dot away on the off right side. So, like really close to also being off left, but like still just barely on the side of off right. Yeah, I get it.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:30:35

And I think because, I mean, obviously I'm not ignorant in our political things. Like, I understand what's going on. We talked a lot in North Carolina. I understand a lot from the right and the left and their policies.

I enjoy, I love information.

But then at the end of the day, I'm like, I said it before the election and I say it now, like, they're gonna do what they're gonna do and I'm gonna do what, you know, I can't control them, you know, so I'm gonna just do what I can do in my sphere of influence and, and live my life. So that's gotcha. So, yeah. All that to say, register those Zhang superheroes, super villains, let us have a database.

Will Rose: 00:31:12

Yeah. And I'm like, who do you trust? There's, there's an element of trust. You're gonna.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:31:16

Yeah.

Will Rose: 00:31:17

So if you don't trust anybody, I certainly don't trust the government with that information. What they do manipuli, manipulate or commodify those things.

In terms of those right now who are in charge of the government and the social media and the oligarchy anyway, we can go down a whole different road.

But yeah, this movie holds in terms of popular opinion being sw turning real fast on the heroes of those who are trying to help them and then, and then the oppression of that and then coming, making a comeback and gaining trust. I. There's still some issues there that need to be talked about. In terms of government control, what are you going to trust?

Are you going to elect who you're not going to elect? Who do you trust? All that stuff is there. So I haven't taken one of those tests in a long time. I just know that I'm. Right now, right now I'm.

I'm not feeling very confident in, in the institutional government structures that are in place so you can add us, you can, you can email us@joshua mail.net.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:32:14

Well, I just have one thing to say about that.

Will Rose: 00:32:16

Good game. Good game. Good game. Good game.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:32:18

I showed Will a TikTok once again and I've never, I don't even think I told you guys on North Carolina. I will never choose which side I align with because once you choose a side like then people just can't have conversations anymore.

And I enjoy having all aspects of conversation within reason. I sent Will a tick tock and I was able to act it out in real life.

It was just like all the Harris signs and every time we, he was driving when I was like, good game, good game.

Christian Ashley: 00:32:44

It was.

Will Rose: 00:32:44

That's pretty classic. It is definitely memorable. You know, this reunion of our NC Comic Con. It was at that time but I.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:32:51

Would have done the same thing for the other party too. Big game. I don't discriminate and I trust no one. One. So it's fine.

Christian Ashley: 00:32:58

We know who you should be able to trust. Your family.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:33:01

Oh, no, no. Absolutely not. I've told you about my family. I don't trust.

Christian Ashley: 00:33:05

Emphasis.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:33:06

I'm the only one who hasn't been to jail or prison. Immediate family.

Christian Ashley: 00:33:10

You know this segue we call it in the game, a segue back into the next question not to be derailed by certain blonder members of the show. Now, how well do we think, think that the Parr family's dynamics are played in this movie as a believable yet also dysfunctional family?

Will Rose: 00:33:29

Yeah, I mean I think in: 2004

You have the hyperactive boy who's getting in trouble at school and then you have like the, the middle aged girl or middle school girl who is, you know, insecure and wants to disappear. I think that's how it played out in, in a nice way, but a pretty stere.

But the way they, there's a reason there are stereotypes there in the first place and then, then it kind of leans into that and then expands it and grows and you see how they understand one another. I, I love it.

There's definitely been times at family dinners when things have derailed and people are, you know, had a long, hard, stressful day and they're acting out in ways that, you know, because of what's going in their lives. We've all experienced that. But I, I thought it was, it was done well for the movie that was trying to be for an all ages and family movie.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:34:25

So you have the middle aged dad who is questioning life. He's overworked, he's not being fulfilled, he's bringing it home to his family.

And so I'm sure we can all think about like, my dad was like that, like coming home grumpy, not happy, not being able to regulate emotions. And so I think it was like the family dynamic was typical. Like, you know, your two parent, two kids, household. And it was entertaining.

Like I said, I related hard to it.

Christian Ashley: 00:34:51

Yeah, I mean, that's one of the core dynamics of this film is family and like how well you work together and how well sometimes you don't.

And I mean, we've got Bob very unsatisfied with his life because he used to have this passion that was a huge part of his life and now he can't do it anymore and he's stuck somewhere he doesn't want to be. But it's also for the sake of his family, who he loves deeply.

But it's really hard to show that at times, especially when you're, you know, he's really depressed. I mean, he's the middle of a midlife crisis at the moment. And got Helen, who's trying to keep the family together.

And she also wants to do this cool thing she used to be able to do, but she has a responsibility now as a mother and a wife to watch after her family. And while her husband is off gallivanting God knows where, he's not talking to her, which is a huge part of a breakdown of any relationship.

You don't communicate. She, of course, goes to the worst possible scenario, especially when she finds Mirage's hair on his clothes.

That's a perfectly natural response to think, oh, well, he's doing this thing. He must be having an affair. And that word is never said out loud in the film, if I remember correctly. But the implication is there.

And obviously that's for the children's sake. But as you grow up, you go, okay, that's exactly what she's thinking. Here's why. And then you've got two kids growing up.

Like, Dash wants to express himself. You know, he's got this ability. Why should he have to control it?

It's not his fault that he was born with super speed, but at the same time, you know, they're living in a world where these things are supposed to be controlled. You're not supposed to be super heroic. You're not supposed to abuse your abilities like this.

And you have Violet, who just wants to be a normal teenage girl and she wants to fall in love with this guy that she's crushing on and be noticed, while she's also, ironically enough, has the power to not be noticed. And you got Jack. Jack whose job it is to be a baby. And you know what babies do nothing. And that's fine because that's what they're designed to do.

They're growing, they're becoming their own thing. They terrorize their babysitters and this one a little more than others. I think they do it extremely well.

And why they succeed in the end is because, yeah, we have all these things working against us, but we're also family. So like, let's talk about our problems.

Let's work together, let's figure out, you're good here, I'm good there, let's fit in the gaps here and we'll work together as a team. And that's one of the other reasons why I've loved this film as much as I do, because that's played extremely well, in my opinion.

Will Rose: 00:37:07

And I think, you know, they play that trope and an age old idea and virtue very well in terms of communication and transparency.

Like half the our world's problems and our interpersonal problems would be a lot less complicated if we just out and open we're honest and, and transparent with the people that we're closest with. Just be, this is what's happening. I don't want to hide anything.

I don't want to go behind your back, whatever if you're going bowling or superhero or have an emotional affair with somebody.

Like if you're just open and talk about what with, with the people who are closest to you, what's going on in your lives, that's going to be the best case scenario.

And as a person who shepherds communities and, and relationships and, and that transparency and honesty and forthrightness is, goes a long way and will save people a lot of trouble if they just leaned into that more.

Christian Ashley: 00:37:57

All right, so we have our main big bad here of Syndrome, who as we said earlier, it used to be a fanboy of superheroes and now has let bitterness and resentment kind of take over his life.

He's grown up, has started a successful company, enough to where he has enough money to buy his own private island and create these giant robots that, you know, he's planning to murder superheroes with and has successfully done so.

But part of his big ethos is kind of built around the idea that as he blatantly says, you know, if everyone is super, you know, Then no one is, you know, alongside this part of being rejected by his idol, like this kind of his ideology, like, what are our thoughts on him, like, as a character and his belief.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:38:37

I feel like he's just a big baby. That's all.

Christian Ashley: 00:38:39

I agree.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:38:40

He was. He's a big baby. He didn't get his way. It was just like everyone else when like they thought tick tock was going away.

You take away the iPad and the pitching of your old fit until they get the iPad back. Listen, not everything goes your way. Get over it.

Christian Ashley: 00:38:55

Well said.

Will Rose: 00:38:56

Yeah, I, you know, we talked about what makes a hero and what makes a villain and, and how we respond to the traumas or disappoints in our lives often leads down the path to heroism or, or to be a villain and taking it out on others.

I mean, his, his ideals aren't necessarily off base in terms of like building up a company or a place to be a hero, but how he's going about it and what he's doing and other people's expense to get to where he wants to go or be noticed is, is not. Yeah, it's, it's bad. It's bad. Don't do it. Don't do it. Folks, there's your cautionary tale, but there's simple choice of, of Mr.

Incredible at the beginning of the movie. If he would have just said, hey buddy, let me sit down with you. Let's take a, let's take five minutes and let me have a heart to heart of why.

Yeah, he's putting himself in dangers, but he's also annoyed by this kid. And it's like trying to get. I've done everything. I've signed your things. You're just a fan. Crazy thing. Get out of my life.

But if you're taking just five minutes to look him in the eyeballs and be like, look, maybe later let's meet up for coffee and we could talk about how you can be a superhero or not.

Or like, let me invest in our relationship just a little bit to have a heart to heart with you of why we can't do these things, why I can't barge in while someone has bombs or toxic bombs. And then maybe it would have, it would have been a whole different movie or saved a lot of heartache and lives.

So, so again, just, just take five extra minutes with somebody and be honest with them and you're probably going to save a whole world of hurt.

Christian Ashley: 00:40:18

I think it too, like it's part of that's not even his own fault. He's got, like, 50 different things he's worried about at that moment in time. And, like, talking to this kid is not highest on that priority list.

He's got a wedding to get to. He's got, you know, this guy is stealing money he's got to deal with. But, yeah, he also ignored this kid who looked up to him.

And, yeah, he should have been gentler with his words, but he was also stressed. Like, he was understandable on all sides why this would happen.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:40:44

Yes. But once you get into a position, because he chose to be a hero, if we want to get into this little route, you choose to be a hero.

You choose to put yourself in a public figure. So with that comes a responsibility and an expectation. And so I feel like he failed on that.

Just like people who choose to be in church leadership, if you choose to be in church leadership with the Assemblies of God, there is an expectation you will not drink. No one's forcing that expectation on you.

But if you are choosing to align yourself with the Assemblies of God, these are our expectations of you to be a minister with us.

And so just as if you choose to be a hero, a public figure, and you love the limelight flight, these are the expectations of this, whether you like them or not. Same thing with politicians or musicians or anything Hollywood.

There is a public expectation that you, even though you may not sign up for it, it comes along with the territory. You can't have it both ways.

Will Rose: 00:41:46

Yeah. Our denomination has a booklet called Visions and Expectations.

And so that's definitely something that they make you read before you go to seminary, while you're in seminary, after seminary, when you're a pastor, there's definitely visions and expectations that. That you have to live up to.

Now, I will counterpoint and just say, just because you're a public figure or just because you're in the public eye doesn't give other people the excuse to treat you badly or treat you differently or be a jerk to you kind of thing. So there's. There's boundaries there you need to do, but part of me wants to be like, hey, buddy, read the buddy. Literally, buddy, read the room.

There's a guy with the bomb. There's something going on. There's like 12 different things. Come on, kid. Like, just wake a little bit. It's not about you at this moment.

But then again, just.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:42:30

You have to handle the adult. Being an adult. Pretty.

Will Rose: 00:42:33

Don't need to be. Don't you have after all that said and done, and you're looking at the kid and bon voyage Is taken care of. Just.

Just say, like, hey, get two minutes of, like, have a heart and heart. Hey, you want to meet up next week? I know you really admire this. You almost got yourself into trouble. We need.

We need to have a conversation, a deeper conversation about what just happened. And, you know, as a kid who looked up to him, he's like, oh, I get extra time. Mr. Incredible.

He's going to take me out to get a coffee or pizza pizz to have a. I can't wait. You know, like, imagine with that little bit of mentorship, just a little bit would have done a long way.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:43:04

I would have.

Christian Ashley: 00:43:05

Because, I mean, excusing his actions.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:43:07

Yeah, no, absolutely. Buddy was an idiot.

Christian Ashley: 00:43:10

I'm not excusing either one of their.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:43:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Christian Ashley: 00:43:12

But I'm saying, like, it's all the. Like, the perfect storm of why I. I'm not angry at either person initially, at that moment, because of everything that's going on, which is good.

If you're writing. That's a good way to have a scene like that. There's plenty of moments like, yeah, I could easily. I could make one of these people the villain here.

But if I do that, I'm missing the nuance of everything that's going on, and I think they do that really well. So Buddy takes the wrong lesson from this, though, is that he can't look up to anyone. He has to be his own person.

And, like, thinking that he could ever be a superhero like him was a fool's errand. So he's just going to engineer it, and that's his own downfall. Later on, it's like trying to make everyone.

His plan is to make everyone as super powerful as him because uses gadgets. He doesn't have any inherent superpowers, and he just basically wants the rest of the world to suffer by making.

Putting everyone in an even level playing field. And at the end, well, nobody's going to be super.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:44:07

At that point, you really had a chance to be the new Batman, and the dude fumbled.

Christian Ashley: 00:44:11

Yeah.

Will Rose: 00:44:13

Or Iron Man. Yeah. All that money, all that tech. You don't have superheroes, but you got to wait. Where are you going? To find out where you're going to put it.

Yeah, I agree. And that's why it holds up. It's so good. It does superheroes.

Christian Ashley: 00:44:24

Because it's his hubris that was mocked earlier in the film. Mocked by himself. Oh, you sly dog. You caught me monologuing. Well, that's set up where he does it again.

And when he's saving the people from the droid. The droid has enough time to adapt because that's literally his job.

Because he's spending his time, like, letting the people praise him and he's monologuing about how great he is. And that causes his downfall. And not only in that scene right after it, because he doesn't learn his lesson. And I appreciate that a lot.

Will Rose: 00:44:50

Yeah.

Christian Ashley: 00:44:51

All right. Well, one other thing we like to do in our Disney series here is see, like, how they're handled across the parks. Have they appeared anywhere else?

Well, the Incredibles as a series in Disneyland has the Incredicoaster, which, from what I understand, replaced the California Screaming Coaster. Now, I've been to Disney World a lot of times. I don't even know the number. I've never been to Disneyland, so I cannot confirm or deny.

Apparently, that's a thing that exists. So good for them. I guess California deserves something, too.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:45:23

Shots fired.

Christian Ashley: 00:45:25

Now, I do know, because I have seen this. At Disney World, you can see Mr.

Incredible and the Last Girl in the Disney parks more often in Hollywood studios normally be enough of a line there for people to get their autographs. They have appeared in several video games, including the one based on the original movie. Then you have the Incredibles.

When Danger calls Rise of the Underminer, there's a Lego Incredibles game, which sounds amazing. And when Disney Infinity was kind of their, like, big crossover kind of thing, they did. Now, as far as references in other movies, mostly Pixar.

Yeah, I believe all Pixar cars 2. We see that there's a movie poster in there for the Incredimobiles and Finding Nemo. There's a child reading a Mr. Incredible comic book.

I think that's at a dentist's office, if I remember correctly. And in Ratatouille, we see a bon voyage is a literal mime in the film, which makes sense. He's kind of French.

Will Rose: 00:46:19

The same one that's confirmed.

Christian Ashley: 00:46:21

I think they have confirmed it's him. I don't know how that works, but don't worry about it.

Then we have in Coco, from what I understand, it was a poster that had the Parr family kind of seen as skeletons, you know, as fits the subject matter of the film.

Will Rose: 00:46:36

Yeah, and there is another video there.

I don't know if it's confirmed, but the babysitter looks similar to the kid who comes in Finding Nemo with the braces and the red hair and brings in a fish and that kind of thing, too. So people make correlations. Is that the same girl from there? Not. Not sure. But I do love it on Halloween when I see, like a family of Incredibles.

The dad has like a muscle shirt, is Mr. Incredible, and they're around. It's pretty classic. And just the big eye on. On the chest is.

Is pretty cool to see as like a symbol, as a superhero team. I do like this. Make its way into pop culture that way.

Christian Ashley: 00:47:09

Before we start wrapping things up, you guys have anything else you want to add?

Will Rose: 00:47:12

If you haven't seen this movie and you like superheroes, I mean, come on, what. What are you doing with your life?

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:47:19

And there is a sequel that's pretty fun too. So you can have double the fun.

Will Rose: 00:47:23

Yeah, you can. Yeah. It took a long time for that sequel.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:47:26

It really did.

Will Rose: 00:47:27

Yeah.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:47:27

I watched the sequel in theaters. I waited for it. So stoked.

Will Rose: 00:47:33

Yeah.

Christian Ashley: 00:47:33

I think I saw something where there might be an Incredibles 3 somewhere down the line. I don't think there's a development date or anything, but who knows?

Will Rose: 00:47:41

Why not?

Christian Ashley: 00:47:41

Yeah. Second, that. This is a really great film. We're going to get a rating and reviewing in a moment.

But first, if you want to support us, Patreon captivate wise for our special supporters, going to do a bonus question where I'll be asking our panel here, if we could have one superpower, and I do mean one, what would it be? So give them some time to think about that as we ask for reviews. How are we going to rate this film out of ten?

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:48:07

That's hard.

Will Rose: 00:48:08

Yeah, I. Eleven for me.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:48:13

Wow. I say eight and a half.

Christian Ashley: 00:48:15

Okay. Caustic critic Elizabeth Pengaling and Clyde gives it eight and a half.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:48:19

I would not like. I would enjoy rewatching it, but I'm not going to go seek out and let me, like, rewatch it right now.

Christian Ashley: 00:48:24

That's fair.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:48:25

But I remember so much of it because it's so good.

Will Rose: 00:48:27

Yeah.

Christian Ashley: 00:48:28

Me like, yeah, this is breaking the rating scale. It's a 10 out of 10. 11 out of 10. 12 out of 10. I could keep going. This is my favorite Disney movie of all time.

This appeals to the comic book side of me. This appeals to the family drama side of me with character interactions with a wonderful world where there's a lot of stuff there.

Like, you could just watch the film and move on with your life. But there's so much there of just fun built in of, oh, this character was here. And you also saw them in a scene here. It's.

I adore this film so very much.

Will Rose: 00:48:58

And call back to the beginning, like where, you know, hang was talking about Honey Lemon Soda and just swooning. I feel like I'm swooning over Christian right now. Like that. Just review. I want to grab his hand and we just skip off into the sunset agreeing.

The Incredibles is, is 11 out of 10 stars.

Christian Ashley: 00:49:17

You know what? I'm fine with that. I'll make a eight hour drive your way.

Will Rose: 00:49:21

We're grabbing hands and skipping down the road and people like, what are they doing? They're talking about Incredibles. They're talking about the Incredibles.

Christian Ashley: 00:49:27

All right, guys, thank you all for you do for this show. We really appreciate it. Before that, actually, does anyone have a recommendation that they want to give to the audience?

Will Rose: 00:49:38

Go watch that. Short of the Babysitter and, and, and Jack Jack, which I'm going to go rewatch as soon as we're done with this.

Christian Ashley: 00:49:46

Yes, Jack. Jack Attack.

Elizabeth (Pang) Clyde: 00:49:48

I've been watching Solo leveling a season two, so go watch that.

Christian Ashley: 00:49:52

All right, well, if this wasn't enough Fantastic Four for you and you want to read a current run that has simply been amazing and fun, which is what I like in my comics, read the Fantastic Four. Ryan Northrun, he is doing tremendous things with them. He knows how to play them off of each other really well.

There's a lot of goofy antics they get up to. But also, also, I think he has a science background because he's way more scientifically minded. Like he's given Reed a lot of great things to do.

I am loving his run of Fantastic Four that's currently being published at this moment in time.

Will Rose: 00:50:25

Agreed. And rumor is, rumor is at the super bowl, one of the commercials may be a Fantastic Four trailer. We'll see. We've got the Superman trailer.

During the Super Bowl, I don't watch a lot of the game Snack talk with friends. But then when the commercial comes on or trailer comes on, I'll stop everything and watch and see what they're doing.

And rumor has it we might get a Fantastic Four. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see.

Christian Ashley: 00:50:47

Love it if they did. All right, guys, thank you once again for everything you do for listening. Please, you get a chance.

Leave a five star review and your podcasting platform of choice. We really appreciate everything you guys do with the helping us with ratings, with finding more people.

If you think this is quality content, you want us to find more people, keep doing it. That's a great way to do it to help us out there. But also another way great way to help us out is to become a supporter.

And I'd like to shout out a couple of them right now. Aaron Hardy, Daniel Sigman, Trip Fuller, James Barrett. You guys are the best. We appreciate everything you do.

You've decided that we're worthy of your time, we're worthy of your money. Can't say heat. More praise upon you for that. Remember, we're all a chosen people. A geekdom of priests.