The Unsolved Mystery of Skullgirls

[@mrtoast3319]

The crazy thing is them trying to gaslight Mike into dividing up his shares and becoming a programmer or contractor, just so they can fire him silently later so he can have nothing. These people are so scummy.

[@justice8718]

They will get their rewards in Hell.

[@surgecentral05]

​@@justice8718I just know the deepest layer of Hell will swallow them all while. Absolutely disgusting humans.

[@kappachino726]

If anyone wants a Mike Z update, he's now doing programming on a new game called Diesel Legacy, led by a female CEO that's fully aware of his situation. He's a huge credit to the team with his working knowledge of fighting games and GGPO netcode, all the demands of leadership were never his skillset.

[@DarioSpina97]

Good for him. Objectively, the guy knows stuff. The guy is brilliant at making games. As soon as he was out of the skullgirls franchise, it was just downhill from there. The net code wasn't the same.

[@Jin-lp5lt]

Dude also has his own upgraded version of GGPO available for arcade emulation! He's a very valuable person and it's a shame he was treated the way he was

[@ZeroLovesDnb]

@@DarioSpina97 I'd go as far as to say the whole game wasn't the same. Practically everything new just feels a bit off/different. While he was working on the game it felt like it was constantly receiving constant, thoughtful , changes and adjustments. It also kinda bothers me a bit that it feels like (and this is completely something that I -feel- , not something that may actually be happening) that Future Lab has a "Wow OUR game is amazing" kinda attitude and that rubs me the wrong way.

[@neonthunder3261]

Based

[@BeeYawn]

After watching this video I actually want to get the game just to support Mike. He can be awkward in how he text or message people but I really don't see it as bad as they painted him to be. Edit: I was talking about getting Diesel Legacy not SG

[@mrharvy100]

Current “skullgirl devs” acting like Skullgirls is their game when both Alex and Mike got essentially pushed out with dirty means is exactly why I moved on to other games. From what I heard they implemented more draconian policies like censoring digital ARTBOOKS and other BS. Sounds like I dodged a bullet

[@fistpump64]

i mean i still love skullgirls can the game is still great theres still lots of programs and artists who probably have little to no knowledge on the slimy corporate side of things that fucked over mike

[@yeez13]

The same thing happened with much of the senior leadership & veteran developers that were responsible for the writing & concepts for many of Rockstar Games’s biggest hits. For example, The Houser Brothers (Dan & Sam) were the main writers for many of Rockstar North’s big IPs (and their sequels) like: - GTA III, VC, San Andreas, IV and V - Manhunt 1 + 2 - Red Dead Redemption 1 + 2 (and Undead Nightmare) - Max Payne 3 (underrated classic) And some others I’m blanking on atm since I’m unsure if the Housers were the writers on Bully 🤷🏽‍♂️ The younger/newer staff had to systematically (much like Mariel C. & Francesca) push them out with allegations and threats of lawsuits in order to take it over under Take 2’s go-ahead…which is QUITE TROUBLING! Not only does this not bode well for GTA VI, since the “leftovers” began “making progress” on it around the time the Houser Brothers & their fellow veteran developers were forced out of the house they’d built sometime before the [2020 Global Health Crisis]…but I think it set a dangerous precedent that others like Future Club chose to follow… Edit: Sam Houser is still at Rockstar North but he seems to have become a recluse. It must SUCK to not have his usual collaborators to bounce off of in order to get the creative kinks worked out since it’s possibly indicative of a push towards making him concede more control of his influence on the studio to the younger/less experienced inside Rockstar North…

[@kaishadows919]

@@fistpump64 I'm pretty sure them censoring the ARTBOOK has nothing to do with Mike.

[@andymcclurg9916]

The game looks mad fun though

[@onedeadboy5680]

Also, Technicals: "Is it normal to talk about your periods with your coworkers? Ladies in the comments section, let me know" There were no ladies in the audience, and nobody let Technicals know. lmao

[@j.r.8176]

LMAO

[@GSEleven]

He is formerly a Smash content creator, the smell of sweat and feet from the rest of his audience definitely scared them off.

[@onedeadboy5680]

@@GSEleven tbh smelling like feet would be an improvement for the smash community, lets be honest lol

[@amberhernandez]

I'm ten days late, but there's a certain level of familiarity you need to get past "I'm on my period" with someone else. It's touchy, but when Mother Nature is your common enemy, you can _kiiinda_ bond over it. I personally avoid it unless my coworkers are comfortable enough to mention it lol

[@jakereich2080]

A lot of these allegations don't even require an autism argument to defend... it just straight up wasn't a big deal or there was context that made it fine 90% of the time.

[@j.r.8176]

True, which is why I think the autism argument is a bad move. He didn't mistreat anyone in the first place to need to excuse it with autism or anything else.

[@FolstrimHori]

The problem is that Twitter users have no brains.

[@Iceblade269]

@@j.r.8176He wasn’t excusing himself, it WAS autism. Struggling with reading the room, social boundaries, etc is part of the disorder. It happens all of the time with me. It’s part of being on the spectrum. He was telling the truth. I could see myself making an error just like that. It might not be a political joke, but something that I thought would sound different to how it was taken. It’s a real disability, and I despise that people claim we bring it up as an excuse. They don’t have to be judged just for not knowing social cues. They get to be who they are while we have to mask.

[@punchdrunkfgc]

@@Iceblade269 and when the mask inevitably falls off because we literally can't maintain it anymore, we get called out for suddenly being "weird" when we're actually just completely being ourselves, because it's a noticeable difference to how we acted before. Masking is not only detrimental to our mental and, yes, physical health, but it gives people the wrong idea about how we actually function. Yet the thought of dropping the mask entirely is a terrifying thought for most autistic people, myself included.

[@Kidneyjoe42]

@@j.r.8176 Yeah, the autism is only relevant in highlighting the cruelty of his accusers. Mike Z's own actions were fine, autism or no.

[@sheepishly6942]

Those chatlogs are just insane. The people who would go on to accuse Mike of being creepy just offering up talk about their boobs and dick and periods, and him being the one weirded out by it even as he tries to reply in kind because they started it.

[@lizs606]

They're wolves in sheep's clothing

[@LeakedWisdom808]

None of those devs would've survived 1990's a game dev career.

[@funkyweapon1981]

​@@LeakedWisdom808They wouldn't have survived the 90's, period.

[@LeakedWisdom808]

LOL.. True that. @@funkyweapon1981 xD

[@Power-9Hunnid]

✔✔✔✔✔✔

[@dal4268]

bunnyayumi was a former vtuber who was exposed for being a terrible person. whether the accusations towards mike were legit or not, the damaged was already done.

[@SketchyTinkerer]

Yeah, I remember it coming out that she abused an ex-girlfriend, which REALLY adds some disturbing context to the lesbian BDSM comment.

[@joedatius]

@@SketchyTinkerer we don't know if thats true. the issue with twitter gossip like this is that its alot of hearsay. a serious problem when people mindlessly claim someone to be a terrible person while only knowing little actual knowledge oh how people actually are or the events that happen. neither of you are better then the people who jumped on the bandwagon to hate Mike Z because he said something creepy once. childish gossip at best.

[@desmonides]

Makes sense when you factor that lesbian couples tend to have the highest rates of reported DA

[@Sassy_Witch]

I looked up her model. Its literally a cheap base-model from a vtuber editor software. Holy shit what an awful piece of shit waste of human

[@waverazor]

You can read the conversation.. the accusations were pure ass baloney. Rage bait

[@d.s.s.9935]

I used to think that Mike Z was just bad and the former Lab Zero leadership were in the right, but all of this information paints a much clearer picture. Just about everyone in Lab Zero's leadership were not very good people who directly contributed to the downfall of the company. I think the fact that they got off more or less scot-free while Mike Z was forced to take the fall is really messed up. I hope he wins the counter suit. Honestly, the only people I feel completely bad for are the lower employees who had to witness this absolute madness unfold while their jobs were on the line.

[@tinminator8905]

Honestly, everyone is so weird in this whole story and their entire company seems awful. I would be shocked to hear that the new company made up of the same people will survive.

[@dango2917]

Yeah, I get he wasn't rational in firing everyone but what do you expect when the guy sees that they defend him behind private messages but throw him under the bus in public eye.

[@Drilbit]

Yeah and now skullgirls is imploding itself with how much it pissed off the community with the censorship. Best chance it has now is that mike wins and reverses all the changes.@@heyhackurs

[@Jackrost01]

Wonder, I think everybody already know that if some talanted guy that don't have bad reputation was accused in some sort of harrasment or pedo - it's fake. Try to remember Scott for example(FNAF)

[@MrShadownetwork]

And this is going to keep happening because no one does their research but want to be heroes without having to go through being a hero

[@IceKarma]

Those chatlogs are the perfect example of why HR departments exist. Running your internal company messaging like it's an edgy discord server is just the dumbest move you could ever make.

[@Awesomeisme7000]

😂😂😂 Are you actually fucking serious? HRs are the most useless parts of a company filled with the most unhinged weirdos and power obssessed mongrels who are too dumb to actually provide value to a company so they latch onto HR instead to drag everyone down with them.

[@STINKY1790]

With full context MikeZ was just a guy with autism who communicated poorly due to it but everyone accepted for over 10 years cause it was clear he never had any ill intent. Then suddenly all people he thought were his close friends completely turned on him and insulted him and made up lies about him while also doing many of the things he was accused of, so they could get a bag. This is literally just bullying and taking advantage of an autistic guy for money (based on publicly available information), what the fuck

[@dasamster]

Sums it up nicely

[@BronzeAgePepper]

this is what guys with Aspergers have been dealing with forever. It really sucks that Mike got into a career that a lot of us have dreamed of having since we were young; but that field has become overrun with skeezy "professional victim" feminist types, who are constantly putting suspicion on guys like Mike who can't stick up for themselves, to misdirect from how much worse they are at treating people. They get a stranglehold over all opportunities in the industry by taking advantage of people's goodwill, reduce the quality of work by only letting in people who conform to their arbitrary social rules, and oust anyone who calls them out for their behavior as "regressive" or "toxic" or whatever the fuck leftist Marxist crap gets drilled into these people's small minds from their earliest years in the education system.

[@sporepics]

Had alot of respect for Alex ahad. NOT ANYMORE. pure scum.

[@TheBottomTier]

@@BronzeAgePepper lmao this guy believes the education system drills leftist ideals into people

[@Dudex11a]

Do you think you could elaborate more on "whatever the fuck leftist Marxist crap gets drilled into these people's small minds from their earliest years in the education system."? It just seems very unrelated to me.

[@relativedepression4604]

That convo between Mike and Bunny made me physically contort out of embarassment so much that now I am bedridden with several broken bones.

[@christopherhammond5142]

So fucking embarrassing. It actually made me really happy (and a bit sad too) to find out that he has autism. My daughter's got a similar type of autism and she sometimes does super cringey shit like that, too. Man, I felt sorry for the poor bastard when I heard that, I've got a lot of (really uncomfortable) experience with conversations like that. If only he was diagnosed thirty years ago, when he was my daughter's age; it probably would've really helped him communicate like a 'normal' person.

[@DarioSpina97]

I need to go to the hospital for a second-hand cringe after listening/reading that exchange.

[@j.r.8176]

She literally started the convo in the creepiest way possible and then had the gall to accuse Mike-Z of being creepy.

[@Doc_Fun]

​@@christopherhammond5142I refuse to believe that someone who has a child would ever describe them as "cringey". If you really do have a daughter, you are a pretty shit father who should really reevaluate your life choices. Imagine if your (imaginary) daughter were to find this comment one day. What a POS thing for a dad to say about their own child.

[@MrValsung]

@@Doc_Fun lol, I thought the same about the first half of your comment. honestly tho, calm down dood: calling your autismo daugter cringey is offputting, but I don't think it bears any metrics on the quality of his parenting.

[@boardmindless6932]

After listening I hope Mike wins everything in the countersuit. The employees openly planned to destroy the company, did so, costing Lab Zero millions from skull girls, Indivisible, and other future projects.

[@strayfrogg]

And justice for all

[@Mr300Milesof]

@OboAlmighty They did? I just remembered the admin of the account liking the post in question. They also liked a tweet that was mocking them over their "core values" ironically enough

[@Drilbit]

Would be the best way to tell them fuck you after throwing him to the wolves and trying to ruin his life. Mike certainly has the receipts to win this case.

[@shanthegamer21]

I wanted WayForward to acquire both Skullgirls and Indivisible, but if Mike Z wins everything back, I’ll give this as much needed praise.

[@shanthegamer21]

@OboAlmighty Oh yeah, and I was attacked by one Twitter user who supported the censorship thing. He thought the real Skullgirs fans were “the actual active community” and claims I am an anti-Skullgirls poser. LMAO

[@Whitesnake273]

Now imagine if Leffen tries to enter the Skullgirls community, says Peacock or Valentine are cheesy then gets kicked out of the community Tekken style💀

[@substitutedoll5224]

naw they'd just dox his home address straight up, those mfs don't play around with rodents such as leffen

[@Whitesnake273]

​@@substitutedoll5224I can also see that happening, because it's a more closed community and everything isn't an echo chamber unlike Smash or Tekken

[@legendofsonic3979]

Bro couldn't handle basic Fahkumram pressure, he'd get cooked

[@dango2917]

wait he got kicked out of tekken? how did that happen

[@DiceOL]

He'd be fine with peacock, have you seen the cringe he plain other games?

[@neru9347]

i sincerely dont want to take sides on this stuff, but, you did a great job calling the other peoples BS on this matter as well (like the girl that started DM's talking about gay sex, then made a scene ffs.) Otherwise great video.

[@Halibut86]

The straight hypocrisy of these people who made inappropriate sexual comments to mike Z to then accuse him is disgusting. I can only conclude mariel is manipulative and straight evil, trying to destroy Mike's company for not responding to her advances.

[@kirbyjoe7484]

Mariel is a lesbian. I highly doubt she had any interest in Mike Z.

[@lunatic0verlord10]

For that, she must be sent to Gehenna.

[@Sassy_Witch]

The woke folks are always huge hypocrites.

[@cristalido3640]

Manipulative and a sexist piece of shit, saying that Mike must accept having BunnyAyu accuse him of bullshit simply because he's a man and "men have abused women historically".

[@radiantveggies9348]

☕

[@littlefuniman6881]

You understated how absolutely unhinged everyone was acting towards the BLM and Bunny controversies. People were bullying him to donate his own money to forgive him which he did and shows proof and then everyone shat on him more saying he's only donated because he was told too and is garnering sympathy. And i even heard some pedophile claims thrown around back then, completely baselessly.

[@terrax527]

Uh i wont say baseless when the dude sexualized minors in his game.

[@RevyaAeinsett]

​​@@terrax527The only "minors" sexualized were 16 at the youngest according to a single mention on the official website that has never been mentioned in game. Not to mention the only relevant character to this discussion is Filia, who looks nothing like a child. Stop conflating real life pedophilia with the sexualization of fictional characters who don't even resemble children. It doesn't help anybody. Also, it's not even Mike's game, it's Alex Ahad's game, he designed the characters, Mike was just the programmer.

[@terrax527]

@@RevyaAeinsett i just got " um actually " about pedophilia, you have no self awareness do you?

[@Quarz8]

@@RevyaAeinsett Conflating real life and fiction does help real life predators though. "Wait is this guy actually dangerous or are we talking about make-believe?" So good job on that one terrax, I'm sure MAPs appreciate you're support.

[@Jobocan.]

​@@terrax527Drawings aren't minors.

[@RomeoEchoDelta]

I remember the Bunny dm drama. It always astounds me that these e-thot types are all about autism awareness and shit until they actually have to deal with an autistic person. Then suddenly any empathy they have is thrown out the window. Then again considering all the other awful shit Bunny was up too at the time this isnt the least bit surprising in hindsight.

[@joedatius]

as someone with autism i can let you know that having autism doesn't make you magically immune to consequences. he's on the spectrum he's not unable to function like an adult.

[@RomeoEchoDelta]

@@joedatius Cool, as you are someone with autism. Can you point out where I said that?

[@silenceyouidiot]

@@RomeoEchoDelta Joe already proved he's on the spectrum and not to be listened to from other responses here.

[@HoChiMints2007]

BunnyAyu one year prior had a big fight with then girlfriend Swimsuit Succubus, who characterized her as manipulative and controlling

[@kirboman5175]

@@joedatius As someone else with autism, explain further. You explained seemingly nothing.

[@nooneyouknow13]

And yeah, as a 20 year tax professional and bookkeeper I want to back Mike up on something here - there is no legal way to *give* an employee of a corp, stock in that corp, without it being taxable income. Further, when it's a non-publicly traded company, you have have to have an appraisal of the value of the company before you can proceed. Since the given stock would be considered wages, the employees receiving the shares would have to pay Mike their share of the social security and medicare taxes on those wages.

[@gregstunts347]

I’ve been diagnosed with Asperger’s at the age of six, and even with speech training, the potential of being in these sorts of situations have been scary for me all my life. The thought that one weird statement of joke could lead to me being socially outed. The thought that people could attempt to manipulate me, and I’d be ill equipped to handle the situation. I can only feel horrible for Mike, who has had to deal with both these scenarios at once. I’m genuinely surprised that there wasn’t one “close friend” who was willing to put their personal relationships ahead of their greed and ego. The more I had listened to the video, the more it sounded like some wild “what if” thought, due to the universal agreement to socially exile Mike. I’m especially angry at how they wanted to pose as the “good guys”, whilst they tormented and bullied someone they’ve known for years, because they knew they’d get away with it.

[@GSEleven]

Someone said the exact same thing not too long after you posted this comment, "This sounds like a wild what-if." I guess it is just that crazy. Edit: Ohhh that was you!!!

[@MrShadownetwork]

Welcome to the real world where when it comes to money it dog eats dog

[@RockNRollHorrorshow]

The problem is the left doesn't care about invisible disabilities like Autism

[@spirit8296]

it’s a pretty horrible form of gang mentality, right? i’ve had this sort of stuff happen myself considering my communication isn’t up to par but i’m not as socially stunted as mike, so i genuinely cannot imagine the soul-destroying feeling this would’ve caused him.

[@Pokemonmovemaster]

I find it's because Aspergers/Autism, especially for those who might be classed as 'high-functioning', is really hard to identify visually for people. Most have a preconcieved notion that Autism looks a lot like Downs syndrome, where we all run around flapping like birds and are unable to speak coherently when in reality it presents itself in different ways for different individuals with a few common threads between them, some not always made easily appearent. So, since you don't immediately present yourself as 'disabled', people will assume you aren't and expect you to think and talk like they do, even if that is severely challenging for you due to a genetic condition. And since outing your own condition is reliant on trust, and our society has become less and less trusting coupled with the fact that Autism is a spectrum, people may refuse to believe your diagnosis or that your diagnosis causes you to speak in such a way based on a preconcieved notion of what an Autistic person 'should' be.

[@deci]

Another point that people often overlook is how Bunny initially accused Mike of sexual harassment but didn't release the conversation. She incited the twitter mob (it was like the 4th biggest story on twitter for some reason) and let it build for several days before actually releasing the conversation. At which point many people tried to point out the lack of actual 'sexual harassment' but by then it was too late. Pretty tactical on her part, and Carbonbae made the situation even worse by adding more accusations without providing any actual examples or evidence. Always rubbed me the wrong way.

[@jamesneese7663]

yeah but it works. that's the beautiful thing. The twitter mobs are happy to form lynch mobs no matter how many times things turn out to NOT be as clear cut as they think.

[@icyatlasartworks]

People on Twitter are always happy to shit on someone to make themselves feel important, even if the person that they're attacking isn't guilty of what was accused. It's not like they have to face any real consequences for mobbing someone, right? There have been more notable cases of that happening this year, just from sexual harassment allegations, then I can count on both hands.

[@marw9541]

Who would have expected an online goon girl to be a bad person

[@dftew53]

Bunny Ayu is such a slimebag. She was so toxic in the VR Chat scene.

[@jebril]

Yes but her fake tits look great in costumes so she gets a pass. I'm being sarcastic obviously the bitch seems actually insane and kinda autistic herself.

[@arbalest327]

Ah yes, the virtual reality simulator of modern day fourchan

[@XanKreigor]

She backstabbed another vtuber and caused tens of thousands of dollars in debt for that person, because she pulled out of a deal about making a figurine. This was after she was unresponsive to inquiries about "Hey does this model prototype look good?" for WEEKS, always using excuses why she can't respond with more than a 1 sentence reply that's evasive. She also lied about not being paid etc.

[@rudeboyspodcast]

I'm an OG Skullgirls fan. I was on the SRK forums back in 2010, my favorite and most anticipated character was Black Dahlia, and I've been playing this game and watching tourneys for 12 years. Mike, Alex and the entire team made something I really wanted to see in the fighting game genre, and hoped that it would influence more devs in the future. Now, that same project is being run by people I have a hard time respecting after seeing what they're willing to say and do. It sucks to be a Skullgirls fan right now when we're getting new content in a decade-old game and I can't even get excited for it. All I feel is sadness.

[@cypresshill9268]

I was just about to buy this game and play with my friends too. Hopefully Mike can make a game with people who care about him...

[@jacobinho86]

@@cypresshill9268 He is (hopefully), diesel legacy or something like that.

[@Impalingthorn]

I have to affirm this. I am a Skullgirls fan, pretty much since release. I just like the art style, combat system and world they had created. There wasn't even a "sexual" aspect to it because everyone was so over the top, exaggerated and goofy that it read with the same clarity as an Adult Swim cartoon, and I don't exactly beat it to shows like Drawn Together or Game of Thrones. The recent fiasco with Skullgirls REMOVING content to be politically correct ruined the game for me an reinvigorated the Mike Z discussion for me. Only thing was, I had no idea just how scummy the people he was working with WERE. And now it is especially unsettling because I HAVE Aspergers Syndrome. I'm functional. I was helped. But I still have "quirks" (such as my inability to write a short/brief comment without going into unnecessary detail), and reading these chat logs was like watching a horror movie for me because I, personally, have been in similar situations where women tried hitting on me in very strange ways by just bringing up sexual shenanigans at random. Thankfully they were just trying to hook up with me, but I know the terror of a false accusation; at one point in life I had a female "friend" shove me against a wall ans attempt to physically engage with me and when I didn't reciprocate and made it clear that I was confused and mislead, she then went into school the next day and told everyone and her boyfriend that I assaulted her. This kind of behavior is something sick people do. I'm 29 now. I have no patience or tolerance for this kind of crap, I hope Mike sues these people into the floor and they get blacklisted from the industry.

[@cypresshill9268]

@@Impalingthorn I had a girl act similar in high school. You wouldn't believe how many women are predators who hide behind being a 'soft innocent' woman

[@snailthelostcow63]

With the absence of Arcana Heart, I though Skullgirls will perfectly fill the void well... WAS

[@doclouis4236]

Never underestimate when co-workers you consider "friends" will stab you in the back just as quickly if given the opportunity to get some compensation out of it. Goes to show how social climates can influence people's loyalty, or lack thereof, in these types of situations.

[@opo3628]

"Coworkers are *NOT* your friends." It's the best advice I was ever given.

[@yathercantillano3874]

I had this exact thing happen to me brutally from a narcissist. It left me with CPTSD.

[@fistpump64]

capitalism. and greed.

[@TheFirstRamenKamen]

My fav thing about this. Is later on Bunny was exposed by her GF (yall know who it was) about her being abusive, manipulative and just insufferable. Its wild!

[@freshboy3968]

So Bunny's a dom? daaymn

[@vibemasterkorosu2469]

@@freshboy3968She ain’t gonna be a dom anymore when she finds out that sex workers of any kind suffer a good amount of abuse in the adult film industry. Sickening to see how she gets away with it scott-free

[@cristalido3640]

@@vibemasterkorosu2469 She's not part of the adult film industry, though... Her brand of sex work is that one where she gets money in exchange from sharing sexy pics and videos of her online, and now she's retired, living off simps through streaming and ASMR, so she doesn't even has to show her body that much anymore, only look cute and sexy in exchange for donations. She got away with being a shitty person in the cosplay and anime community for a long time, though... That's tragic indeed.

[@HoChiMints2007]

YEP. The swimsuitsuccubus thread

[@crome2021]

SUSU THE GOAT

[@Sigelisvigel]

I still remember the bunny controversy to this day and was wondering how she wasn't completely ousted and was just allowed to continue like nothing was happening. Only for her to get into more controversy later and me being completely not surprised.

[@somerandom2858]

Boobs. Literally all her following is for nothing but boobs so she could kill someone and it wouldn't affect her following one bit. The only thing that would affect her following is her getting a boyfriend.

[@sexmansex4776]

because whores support whores through thick and thin.

[@RaveSault]

Even funnier is that some sizable streamers just accept her as a in their chat now.

[@bulb9970]

Women

[@dango2917]

For a man that supposedly did wrong to women he really did put them in many positions of power in his company, almost seemingly so that they could reel him in if he got out of line.

[@feliperapidstar3951]

i feel you brother

[@Shnarfbird]

Such betrayal is enough to make a misogynist of anyone...

[@rubanka6373]

@@Shnarfbirdstfu and go to therapy

[@fistpump64]

​@Shnarfbird don't joke man. its just important to understand algator tears

[@Zxerom]

It was unimaginably vexing watching this shit go down and having midwits regurgitate their talking points while dismissing all the evidence that this was a setup, or at the minimum, extremely fucking abnormal/blown out of proportion. Bad enough they got rid of Ahad and began puppeteering the corpse of his artstyle, but they even had the gall to pretend they were doing something righteous. Glad Mike is still hanging in there and hasn't shotgunned himself, this is the kind of betrayal that'd ruin the strongest of men.

[@GSEleven]

They've won until Mike Z prevails in court. Fingers crossed.

[@GodOfOrphans]

Calling such vermin midwits is actually an insult to midwits, to call them beneath humanity would be putting it nicely.

[@llcdrdndgrbd]

Honestly it showed strength and courage to refuse to step down because he wasn’t going to be left with much of a company anyway and he knew that, he was doing it out of principle.

[@toottootsonicwarrior5777]

Funny how hard everyone would throw Mike under the bus when in reality their conversational topics always seemed to be as, if not more sexually charged then his, who in his case comes off as the more innocent one who often gets roped into their horny talk. Hypocrisy at its finest.

[@exaIgnus]

As Mike Z said himself in the chat logs, he was "raised prudy".

[@jamesneese7663]

moment there was money to be made, nothing else mattered. If he had committed suicide, that would have been fine for them since all they were concerned with was the cash. Then they turned around and screwed their customers by wanting all characters in hijabs......

[@slightlyngl]

Technicals never fails to bust our balls.

[@arbalest327]

Not mine, that's for sure

[@arbalest327]

@OboAlmighty I am teching out of here LMAO

[@protodevilin]

I was approached by Alex Ahad on DeviantArt, who wanted me to help with art and animation for Skullgirls very early in its development. I couldn't commit because I was in the military at the time, and I haven't kept up with Lab Zero's activities at all in the intervening years, but it looks like I dodged a bullet. I still love Skullgirls though; in spite of all the chaos, the game itself turned out amazing.

[@Supernir]

Are you an oldhead artist? Whats your portfolio?

[@Sassy_Witch]

You dodged a rocket lol

[@bfFAN221]

Dude dodged a Hydrogen-nuke, more like it xddd @@Sassy_Witch

[@thega.merdude]

Do you still work in that field?

[@protodevilin]

@@Supernir Haha, yeah, I guess so. But I try to keep my KZbin account separate from my public artist identity, for privacy. At any rate, I've ended up doing very little in terms of game art, and instead my bread and butter is motion design for apps and product promos. Been at it for about 20 years, now.

[@GreatSmithanon]

This modern trend of people needing their feelings "validated" by those around them is just horrible fucking narcissism, and the difficulty in gauging whether an honest question is going to be judged as some kind of bigotry is why a lot of neurodivergent people just stop trying to socialize at all. Fuck sakes I'm 35 and I've been tired of dealing with people for almost a decade. And I don't even yet have a formal autism diagnosis!

[@j.r.8176]

By the way, none of this could have happened without the behind-the-scene approval of Autumn Games. People forget to mention how scummy Autumn Games acted throughout the whole situation and even before leading up to the whole thing.

[@CHRIS-X]

You know what, I probably should’ve known that a PG-13 version of an R 34 fighter would probably have a lot of weird people and drama at the helm

[@nintenx1235]

God these people are pure evil. I hope mike gets everything back in court. Payment for damages, emotional trauma, ip etc etc. It's also not just perceived censorship they literally removed the arm band from THE CONCEPT ART PDF.

[@GSEleven]

I completely agree.

[@cristalido3640]

Everything surrounding Skullgirls is worse now that Mike Z is out of the picture, and the bastards who backstabbed him have shown psychopathic tier level of manipulation, holy fuck...

[@bfFAN221]

Wait 'till you see how hard the shills are defending these degens over on the Steam forums,@@cristalido3640... Granted, it's only up to 4 users at this point, but still...

[@justice8718]

Mike Z is going to have an encounter with Jesus someday that gets him away from this stuff. Perverts are evil.

[@UltraHorseBoots]

Honestly when the video got to the part where it went over the day by day conversations that were happening on their Slack I could not believe what was being read. I also work for a company that is primarily filled with young adults not too dissimilar to Lab Zero and while I would say me and my team are much more open about talking about our day by day, never fucking once have we ever mentioned porn, sex games, or people's fucking menstrual cycle.

[@madirabbit]

I had the exact same sentiment, those workplace conversations were just downright inappropriate. Sure, Mike may have said some inappropriate things as well from time to time, but from what Tech had gone thru during that segment, Mike was prolly the most tame regarding such topics. Some of the comments made were simply egregious! Mike was correct in being concerned about discussing such topics in one of the conversations that was went over. Were I a man in his position, I'd shut down such conversations for fear of sexual harassment lawsuits, it is just a disappointment that, due to his brand of Autism Spectrum Disorder, he lacked the wherewithal to nip conversations like those in the bud.

[@jake384100]

Peruods are kinda just apart of womens lives, and i dint really get the hangup over that, but otherwise agree

[@Sassy_Witch]

I worked once in a really shitty place in an office with 2 young software dudes and they were soooo fucking annoying talking about porn and sex and other nasty stuff. It does happen, but tbh that company was shit too.

[@THE_BASED_GOD]

@@jake384100 The thing is, you still aren't REALLY going to be talking about this shit in a work place. Just like how i'm not going to talk about how good that piss was, or that i feel like i went through reenlightenment after the best shit ive had in years. Something being apart of daily life does not mean its okay to talk about in a work situation. Sure like maybe its okay to be like "sorry man had to go to the bathroom bad was a big one" or like "sorry i had to go change my tampon" is another thing to mentioning your period every month when its irrelevant when it happens or detailing how much better you feel after that massive dump.

[@KopperNeoman]

​@@jake384100They're disgusting like pissing and shitting - it's just because they're a Woman Thing that people try to push back on that. If men had periods it would be a crime to discuss them in public.

[@NoFriendsEntertainment]

If anyone is interested (Story & Character wise anyway), we're actually trying to keep the original Skullgirls experience alive due to Future Club/Lab Zero also blacklisting, Alex Ahad the other co-creator of Skullgirls alongside Mike Z. Hoping to give something to the fans that aren't looking for asinine censorship.

[@EmmanJo1128]

neat seein' y'all here! ^^

[@MrX-sm8at]

Hey, i know you. You are awesome

[@KZN02]

How is Future Club/Lab Zero blacklisting Alex Ahad?

[@ParrotMan01276]

I've been following Skullgirls and the Mike Z situation for over a decade. I've been following Alex Ahad's artwork for a decade too. Let's just say, I've put a lot of money into Indivisible(not thousands, but a few hundred). I was really angry with Mike at first. But as time went on, I just kept having more and more questions. Then I felt silly for being so angry at a guy with autism. Of course he isn't going to know how to act in situations. That said, I'm sad that the extra content for Indivisible is no longer a thing. That game SORELY needs it. However, I will NEVER support Skullgirls again. I bought the season pass twice on two different platforms and then I hear about the ridiculous censorship and doubling/tripling down by the developers. Future Club has completely lost the plot and is now treating genuine fans just like they treated Mike Z, but 10x worse. I sincerely hope they fail. PS: I'm glad Mike has a new job with that fighting game. He's not a leader, he's just a REALLY exceptional autistic programmer.

[@waverazor]

If you followed Mike z before the fiasco.. it should’ve made you second guess the accusations. Mike z is a super chill nice dude. Once future losers took over it, I expected it to be a skid mark. It’ll only get worse now

[@ParrotMan01276]

@@waverazor My only excuse was that I was VERY angry about the fact that the Indivisible campaign was now fully unfulfilled and wouldn't be getting any of the promised content(or any of the missing content since they cut some out just to make the release). This AND the way he was responding to the discord messages at the time from rightfully angry backers was not helping...though this was before I knew he had autism/was on the spectrum. Now those discord messages of responding so...tersely to angry backers makes much more sense. It was still a REALLY stupid move to even go into the trenches to respond to angry backers right after the horrible news. However, I understand now. It was just a bad situation all around. No matter what choice Mike made, Lab Zero was still going under due to a failed Coup attempt and the indiegogo campaign was an elephant in the room.

[@thega.merdude]

Dog you are not getting it worse than Mike Z did lmfao

[@corey2232]

I'm glad you discuss the reality of autism being on a spectrum, and simply hand-waving it away doesn't work. I currently work at an elementary school with SPED children, most of them having been diagnosed with autism. I can easily see most of them growing up & living respectable lives, holding a job, living independently, etc. but their social behaviors will ALWAYS be different. One of my students flinches & gets super uncomfortable when another 5th grader even talks about girls. Another kid freaked out when one of our students was reading a Naruto manga & saw a slide of "sexy Jutsu..." When I say these kids are "innocent" in nature, I mean truly INNOCENT... to the point where most of their peers are afraid that something they do or say will set them off. 5th grade sounds young, but these kids are 11, about to turn 12 heading into middle school. They all try to act cool, talk about memes, Fortnite, horror movies, rap lyrics, etc. but our autistic kids are still watching Looney Tunes & will proudly tell others "my mom doesn't like me to watch PG movies" in front of the entire class of judgemental pre-teens. When a teacher is in the middle of teaching a lesson, some kids will raise their hand to ask for clarification on a subject. While our kids are in their gen ed classrooms, they will raise their hand & say "excuse me, are you almost done talking?" not even realizing how rude it is. The teacher will politely answer, explain that they should be trying to listen, but then mid-sentence our autistic kid will ignore everything they say, cut them off & say "is tomorrow the weekend? My mom said I can play Minecraft on Saturday." These are all *MILD* examples. I'm not even discussing the lack of boundaries when asking personal questions, how they might get angry over something they're THINKING about in their head (unrelated to anything we're doing, just sitting their quietly pondering) only to start throwing stuff across the room, or physical outbursts (like punching a teacher in the face out of nowhere). If this guy has gone 40 years without an official diagnosis, he did not get any help or social therapy growing up. At MINIMUM, he would definitely struggle to understand boundaries or how to phrase questions.

[@codybaier]

You have no idea how happy I am to see you bring your shenaniganry to the broader FGC and how much more of it I need in my life.

[@Shlankyman545]

Not such a sad spotlight if it was needed.

[@DuneEryksson]

Lab Zero/Future Club''s treatment of Mike Z is disgusting and ableist, everyone who was 100% on board with ripping his livelihood out from beneath him are terrible people. This situation worries me about my own future as I navigate through life while I'm also on the spectrum. It worries me greatly that if I do find success the people I trust will take advantage of my social ineptitude and ruin my life because of it. I wonder if he has trust issues after all this.

[@mariokarthero1997]

I wouldn't blame him if he doesn't form close relationships again. I found out in recent years that I am on the spectrum too (Aspergers) and have been through a similar situation myself in the past concerning some "fake friends". Kinda hard to form proper relationships when I have to worry about being backstabbed again.

[@lunatic0verlord10]

I can never know which groups to trust, and the only laws I truly trust are the laws of physics.

[@precisedime1377]

[ ] - Single. [ ] - Taken. [X] - Cannot place my life in the trust of a single other human being.

[@ponikoTV]

When I work in the future, I Will only work people whit autism like myself, becuese neurotypicals are ableist when austitic people are just being themselves.

[@lukelandis3090]

Yup. Big fear of mine too. I avoided broadcasting my autism for years out of paranoia that I’d be targeted/ostracized because of it.

[@Gamersgoinblind]

As someone who loves Skullgirls, I will admit, I've always been indifferent to Mike Z with my first experience with him being that Blazblue Tager tutorial Blu ray in the limited edition. I get companies wanting to be clean of their people, but if someone is innocent then what they were accused of shouldn't matter but people do whatever they can to just make anyone a villain. You can't just cancel someone because they don't know how to talk to a girl.

[@fistpump64]

i agree im still a giant skullgirls fan but this shit is horrible these people letting greed and crap ruin stuff

[@zagonzal]

Dude these women were legit evil. They gaslit an autistic man and stole his baby. Holy shit.

[@Howardpower679]

Classic woman moment

[@hoxyheart5479]

*Are*

[@rubanka6373]

@@Howardpower679any excuse for the incel to be misogynistic

[@thecompareablezombie]

I presume they were the ones who were the ones who censored the original game.

[@JaMeshuggah]

​@@rubanka6373woman apologists don't get the dick

[@Cableguy15]

The conversations that Francesca and Mariel were having with Mike are the types of conversations I've only ever had with women I've been with. Wildly inappropriate at work, obviously. Out of all of this, I think that Mariel looks the worst. We can see that Francesca was drawing up plans to dump Mike from the company without anyone asking her to, so she probably never considered him anything more than a work-buddy. But Mariel was hesitant at first. She defended him early on, and you can see an internal struggle of siding with her friend vs siding with whatever her ideology happens to deem appropriate at the time (Her comment about men bearing the consequences of sh!tty men's past actions, specifically) I believe that she thought of Mike as a close friend. But ultimately, she chose greed over her friend. Ironically, even if she wins the lawsuits, Mariel has painted herself into a corner where she can never truly be herself again. Because now she can no longer risk angering the crowd who have taken her side; the crowd who have become unrealistically puritanical in recent years. She has already opened that Pandora's box and it can't be closed. She will now spend years nervously looking over her shoulder and praying that she hasn't offended anyone in her corner, all while censoring herself in public and in private (The people she keeps company with are willing to use her words against her, as they did Mike). It's sad, but she did it to herself.

[@AFO666]

Tailing bunnyayumi's digital footprint for a client and let me tell you, when I had to sit down and give my report on her I had typed verbatim "She displays traits of a liar and a narcissist. To clarify to client in layman's terms; she seems like someone who likes to lie to paint herself something righteous. Presents an immediate risk, albeit not too great of one, if anything is taken as a sort of slight against the topic of investigation. In response to previous inquiry I would like to formally state that I would not have any relation with her; friend, business, or otherwise had I had a choice."

[@sakitoshi]

after watching the work text section, i think mike z should sue them for sexual harassment, not the other way around...

[@hanzumautist4945]

Skullgirls will forever be known as the game that could’ve gone mainstream in the FGC but was constantly held back, either incompetence, spite, greed or just a spot of bad luck. It’s only lasting legacy will be the hentai, and that’s genuinely heartbreaking.

[@moonwarrior3342]

Man, they really did wound up being the new Darkstalkers. rofl

[@NrettG]

Before any of this, it was the game that couldn't catch a break. Now that it's had it's break, it's never going to get another chance again by many people after that censorship update.

[@Gamer-g2v1r]

@@NrettG That update was the last straw to me. I don't even care about the new DLC character anymore, it's so sad.

[@ninjack11]

"It’s only lasting legacy will be the hentai" ah so like Overwatch :)

[@NrettG]

@@Gamer-g2v1r Same here. Just a mess of an update that made it clear they don't care about their fans at all. If they felt nasty working on the game and felt it NEEDED these changes then why didn't you just make a new one? The fact they went out of their way to ensure that people couldn't revert back is disgusting behavior. Like how do you finally have your chance on the EVO main stage then just throw it all away because you no longer agree with it?

[@Davaroni]

Workplace etiquette section is well above the lethal dose of cringe.

[@ArakishiTokugawa]

Message looks like not what would get sent to co-workers, but what you would talk with a close friend. This men has been literally backstabbed by a ton of his best friends, basically.

[@doyouknowdaway65]

So what I'm hearing is Mike is socially awkward due mainly to his autism and everyone basically bullied him up to the point of a lawsuit

[@finnmarr-heenan2397]

The fact they censored the game like 10 years later is such bs

[@exaIgnus]

It's even more BS that the censorship took away crowdfunding stretch goals rewards.

[@DiscoCokkroach]

Everyone here is talking about Skullgirls, but I'm more upset about Indivisible being left about 85% finished. The game is still great in it's own way, but there is so much that was left on the cutting room floor that we're never going to see incorporated into the game.

[@toottootsonicwarrior5777]

Was absolutely looking forward to Shantae coming to the game, until it absolutely didn't happen...

[@karayi7239]

8:35 "enjoying sexual themes in a fictional game =/= consent to be creeped on by a man with influence" 1- she literally has more influence than him 2- saying "I love the yuri bdsm you made" unprompted is as creepy as if he had said "I love your [very explicit/sexual] photoshoots". He's certainly beyond awkward but trying to frame it as "A predatory misogynistic man with influence" is beyond vile.

[@talkingtakotaco8611]

People are quick to get upset over sexism and when the word is mentioned people immidietly think it's sexism against a woman, but never think it that there could ever be sexism against men.

[@grapenut6094]

@@talkingtakotaco8611 Cuz it has nothing to do with actually caring for people who get hurt, its that womens victimhood is weapons grade plutonium for leftwing political maneuvering. The right does it too but to a much lesser extent than their favored god bothering know your place tactics.

[@DiceOL]

My little brother is autistic, and no matter how much shit he messes up, i still love him dearly. Reading Mike Z's side made me genuinely angry.

[@Drilbit]

It honestly made me feel really bad for him how his colleagues that he knew for so long took everything away from him and stabbed him in the back.

[@AnimeProfilePicture]

My son is autistic and yes you love them faults and all but it's what steps are taken to correct behavior even if you have to tell them 1000 times or show them or even give concise and direct explanations. Mike wasn't failed by his company, he was failed when he found out late that something that takes YEARS of treatment to intergrate into society in a meaningful way was robbed from him. He misses social ques because he isn't taught to read the room, which is why he poked at Bunny to see how she felt or why he went into a weird way of saying Trans instead of saying Trans. In his head, all this makes sense. Everyone's spectrum is different, and if you live with someone with Autism you learn to look pass the surface of their statements and actions for their intent. Mike wasn't given the therapy and at 40, his co workers weren't gonna take the time to learn with him. It was messy for everyone

[@selinnazsur2328]

I came from Dev's video. These people should be absolutely ashamed of themselves, especially Mariel, for what they did to Mike and Skullgirls. But I doubt they'll ever feel bad about it. Straight up disgusting. I hope Mike wins the lawsuit and takes everything from them.

[@ponikoTV]

I will never excuse Mariel, in fact if something bad happens to her it is because of her karma

[@LarvitzTarr]

MikeZ ran and played in offline Skullgirls weekies, made crazy combo videos of SG and other games and used his game engine he programmed long before SG for SG. He even helped Mariel with the animation a lot because he learned how very fast 2D action spritework works off of osmosis from playing and making combo music videos for other fighting games for decades. He's so cool and so many people learned so much from his work.

[@exaIgnus]

I'm really sad we'll probably have no more content like that from Mike ever. He also gave very interesting ideas about game design and Fighting Games.

[@meathir4921]

@@exaIgnusYeah, seeing the 3s custom balance patch he wrote up was awesome.

[@ParrotMan01276]

@@exaIgnus Thankfully he's working on a new game called Diesel Legacy. It looks really good.

[@drifter402]

All this for "inclusively"

[@wak7996]

This whole case is just "a nigga with no rizz"

[@mariokarter13]

You'll notice with these pubic accusations that the accuser will lightly brush on the serious allegation before going into a three hour diatribe about how he stole the last doughnut from the breakroom, and left the toilet seat up, and didn't notice their new haircut. That's because the serious accusation is completely fake and their actual grievances are so petty that they had to essentially clickbait the general public into caring.

[@Landmasters]

You touched on it at the end with the review bomb, but for anyone curious I can elaborate a bit more As he mentioned, Future Club is now handling Skullgirls along with the crowdfunding for new characters. The problem is that Skullgirls 2nd Encore is the same listing ever since Lab Zero got the game back on the marketplace for development following a falling out with Publisher Konami a decade or so ago. One thing you can purchase is an art book with various stuff like concepts and more. Future Club in its wisdom decided that some characters such as Big Band, Valentine, and Fillia had "problematic themes" and decided to remove them from the game. Okay fine they've removed some animations in the past that they didn't agree with, you can just write it off as patches and making the product better, it's a footnote in the overall value. The issue is that these illustrations were removed from a digital artbook. This isn't even a case where prior owners to the removal keep the illustrations, everyone no longer has access to these panels outside of people who archived the stuff in advance. They even went so far as to delist the original vanilla version on Xbox in response to the review bombing which was a version with some of the removed illustrations. In response you got those reviewbombs which Future Club would successfully get labeled as off-topic. Even if you think the removed stuff is petty bullshit that has little to zero overall value, this is a bad precedent being set. Digital-only is getting closer and closer and we already have digital artbooks being offered in stuff like Special/Collector's Editions. What exactly stops someone from deciding that they want to go scorched Earth and remove a digital artbook, a soundtrack, or anything else? I love Skullgirls, arguably the fighting game I put the most time and effort into outside Vanilla Marvel 3, but much like with Ultimate Marvel 3 I don't agree with this practice and won't show support in response for the foreseeable future (Unrelated, but I got the Jester Icon for laying out my gripes with my copy after explaining that the game is wonderful to play, listen to, and appreciate. I guess I didn't consoom product hard enough)

[@salj.5459]

Nobody owns anything digital. All the companies have that stipulation in their contracts. So unfortunately, they can do whatever they want at any time

[@N12015]

@@salj.5459 ... FOR NOW. Laws are made by the will of the people submitted by them. Incidents like this can force countries to threat digital content more similar to physical one. But yeah, this is why I don't like digital if there's options.

[@KZN02]

Just to ask, the "problematic themes" with Valentine has nothing to do with her crosses?

[@SageRuffin]

I was pretty indifferent to the changes at first, but then I got a better understanding of what the new team was doing. It's one thing to say a character's age is problematic - just increase it a few years and no one's the wiser (something I wish Senran Kagura did, but I digress). It's quite another to remove and say that a non-black girl with an afro and hair pick is racist (for the record, UFC fighters have their hair braided all the time out of safety and to nullify possible (dis)advantages. I've yet to find anyone who thinks that's racist). There's also the thing about Big Band's backstory, the Black Egrets, and that one image with the tentacles where _more_ tentacles were added(??), and I'm sure there's more. I stopped playing long before all this happened as the game's a little too technical for me, but this sure as hell didn't help matters (even if I really like Eliza and Black Dahlia). Also, I met Alex Ahad a few times. Great guy. Drew me a special pic of the one girl with the birds in her hair when I bought one of his artbooks.

[@jakoski]

@@KZN02 No, it was the red armband she wears. Or wore now. They removed it.

[@huevonesunltd]

I always suspected this whole thing right when it happened, i remember discussing about it and people thought i was talking nonsense, having "twitter users" in your work place only brings trouble

[@joedatius]

tbf Skullgirlz only became a thing because of it.

[@petarpoljak6918]

@@joedatius I see you comment everywhere, do you despise Mike z or Skullgirls? Cause you are being pretty petty on people voicing their own opinion. The guy already paid the price, and judging by the controversy over the censorship, the Future Club team will soon as well.

[@joedatius]

@@petarpoljak6918 bro when the fuck did i say anything actually bad about Mike or Skullgirls? yeah people can voice their own opinions and so can I. don't get defensive because someone has a different opinion then you.

[@huevonesunltd]

@@joedatius not at all, just because thats how you learned about skullgirls doesn't mean that it wasn't well known before that, it was a success since it came out.

[@RadioactivePuppy01]

Tech, your measured skepticism and outrageous sense of humor are sadly a rarity in video games discussion and journalism, but I’m so glad to see that you’re keeping at it. Your content has always been high quality and your standards for human decency and honest discourse is inspiring. And you make me laugh. Keep up the amazing work!

[@DarkOverlord96]

You mean to tell me that the people who censored a 10yo game against their customers' wishes turned out to be *HORRIBLE* people? Well shit color me shocked.

[@talkingtakotaco8611]

Shocked I tell you, shocked! Well, not that shocked.

[@iamLI3]

:O *but in colored text *

[@kursna]

Prime example of why I never buy into internet drama. Mike is not socially equipped at all, that much is obvious, but he doesn't come off as a bad person at all. 99.9% of internet drama is hugely conflated. Mike is a socially inept man who was forced to navigate very public social interactions

[@vibemasterkorosu2469]

Better to have an enemy who slaps you in the face than a friend who stabs you in the back

[@Stryfe52]

Yeah, at least you’ll be within your rights to slap them back when it happens.

[@AdamMichalMarkowski]

This is REAL journalism. You came to the story with as little of bias as possible, did your research and presented us with clear info. I admire this and I really enjoyed listening to this story. Heck, even did not notice how an hour went by. Whole story just shows how broken current net landscape is and how easy it is for some to abuse that situation.

[@kyperactive]

Finally, Skullgirls discussion from a relevant youtuber! Own these frauds!

[@Gamingbrony360]

I kinda feel bad for Mike Z now, i mean when i joined the SG community everyone said Mike Z is horrible and i kinda believed it after watching this video it seems like Mike Z isnt really a bad guy, just lots of people throwing him under the bus. Have a feeling if i talk about mike Z in a SG discord ill get ban then shame on

[@N12015]

I honestly doubted this for roughly the some reasons you can't trust Leffen or CaptainZack, nor say Jhonny Depp or Quinton Flinn are guilty. YOU KNOW how prone is twitter to exxagerate stories, and I ALWAYS was left without answer when questioning "What did he really do?" Because it was all gossip and no substance. Benefit of the doubt is a virtue.

[@thatpersonwithoutear]

Funny that nobody ever called out "hard" alex ahad aside that he was just "hard" to work with. Considering it would be missing the deadlines or being late, sure, i guess that would happen, but nobody else came foward saying something bad about Alex. However, as soon as Mike thing happened EVERYONE went against him... Heck, not even Alex said anything about Mike, but rather the "team" talked about alex behind his back

[@MicroBihon]

thats why I thought that the team are trying to sack Mike and Alex tbh Bunch of snakes

[@Slatanata22]

This is what happens when you hire a bunch of fairies to work for your company. Best friends with you one second, stabbing you in the back the next.

[@GSEleven]

I am not a people person, I could never see this happen to me though. But if it did, I wouldn't even know how to process it either. Probably just vanish like he did.

[@zeldrio6079]

At the risk of sounding stupid, what are "fairies" supposed to mean in this context?

[@Slatanata22]

@@zeldrio6079 honestly there's a better word for what I said that starts with an L

[@zeldrio6079]

@@Slatanata22 I just looked it up. Yeah that's certainly one way to call some of those people.

[@tribacioustee2846]

20:30 As someone with autism myself - who has repeatedly been told this whenever I've confessed this about myself to people in moments of indecision - thank you for not sounding insane when talking about this. It makes me want to give up on people when they think I'm using one of my deepest sources of personal frustration as an excuse for anything

[@cristalido3640]

I hope this video becomes viral and ignites the discussion around Skullgirl's current direction and Mike Z's reputation all over again, people NEED to know the full extent of this whole mess... I thank you deeply for taking the time to gather all of this information, details and put it all together in such a well done video, well narrated, funny and with a pretty objective look on everything, you've gained a new sub!

[@Salamando]

I'm an Indivisible backer from years back. Not a small donor either. I followed MikeZ's Guilty Gear videos waaay back when and played SG casually when it came out. I was devastated when the allegations came out and looked into it as best I could. I didn't find anything line-breaking in what Bunny posted and (to the contrary of this YT author) I don't think there's anything inappropriate about his G Floyd comment. I looked up to MikeZ as a developer prior to this event and was determined to find something damning, but there were only allegations with no proof. I was shocked and dismayed when Mariel's tweet came out about her resignation. As an Indivisible donor, I followed the development very closely and interacted with this team during their live streams. The chemistry they had early in development and before the Indiegogo was great. It seemed like a bunch of friends hanging out and was fun to participate in. For this reason it was hard to imagine Mariel was telling the truth and felt like a back-stab. I had a bad feeling about the whole situation, but couldn't come to any conclusion myself and was definitely wounded by what happened. I'm really glad you posted this video as I feel a bit of closure about the whole thing and vindicated in my instincts. Yeah, MikeZ is awkward and a little cringe, but he's an autistic game developer and one of the most brilliant minds in the FGC. What did you expect? I think it's very dishonest to cancel the guy because of anything he said. His videos on Super Metroid that he posted during the development of Indivisible were incredible for someone who is interested in game design. They have since been scrubbed from the internet as far as I can tell, and it's a damn shame. Also, if anyone remembers the New Year's celebration LZ did where Mike played Alundra for like 8 hours, talked about the design and many of his coworkers followed along to perform various voices for the characters in the game... it was just fantastic. I wish MikeZ the best. I just wanted to say thank you very much to Technicals for posting this. And to say to MikeZ if he somehow reads this: Please come back and make more content like the stuff I mentioned above. You are a unique mind among game devs and you are sorely missed by at least one person.

[@t.h.4377]

Bunch of E-girls bullying a guy with aspergers is craaazy

[@chedisLoL]

I really fail to see how Mike contributed to a toxic/harassment workplace beyond being an autist. The workers should be counter sued and held liable for corporate conspiracy.

[@jacobinho86]

I mean, the whole video was showing the contents and exhibits of the counter suit document, but you're right, conspiracy is something that should be on the table in this case.

[@thefranChise1]

Holy moly it’s Halloween

[@LKristofer]

I came here not knowing who you are and with a complete "screw Mike" point of view from what the mainstream videogame journalists portrayed. This video was definitely an eye-opener. You just won yourself a subscriber. Good job.

[@wayofthemasterlord8357]

Forgot “snakes in the grass”, there was no grass, just snakes.

[@actuallynotsteve]

Mariel making all those posts, but then saying harassment, like what the fuck? Don't talk about your sex life with your co-workers, people.

[@naejimba]

TLDR: Dude made one offensive joke, and two of the board of directors conspired to make false allegations of sexual misconduct, sabotage the company (that he owned 100% of the shares of), steal his IP, steal his business connections, and leave him to pay back all the debt on his own and ruin him financially. All because Mike decided he wanted to share ownership equally with everyone and that was taking too long for them. They lied, threw him under the bus, and stole everything from him because of their greed, and the joke was just blood in the water as they saw an opportunity. EVERYTHING they did is illegal. These people need to be in PRISON. The reality is you can flat out lie and make up fake allegations, and before ANY investigation or court date, destroy a person's life. This is insane. Look at what this bunni thirst girl or who the hell ever did... I mean we have the receipts for all of this now. This is a modern day witch trial. The worst part? This man's reputation is ruined FOREVER. Everyone reads the headline, no one reads the retraction. Those who lie go unpunished. This needs to stop. People are even harassing the new place he's working at, trying to get him fired.... even though anyone who has read through all of this KNOWS this man did NOTHING wrong except make a racially insensitive joke. Nothing else can be proven or more likely has been 100% DISPROVEN with evidence. Like it or not that is free speech that is protected by the law. However, if you have your life destroyed for saying it, do you really have free speech? Look at how he doesn't even post anything online anymore. You know when they talk about the "chilling effect on free speech?" Well this is a textbook example. It doesn't just silence him; others who see it make sure they don't say the wrong thing either so their head isn't next on the pike. Sure, it was an offensive joke... is being protected from having to hear it worth losing your rights over? Because that is the choice we're going to have to make.

[@Halibut86]

I remember this drama Didn't realize it was bunny ayu, the softcore twitch streamer lol That's funny as hell Also Mike Z is only guilty of spilling his spaghetti - not knowing how to talk to women.

[@XanKreigor]

She backstabbed another vtuber and caused tens of thousands of dollars in debt for that person, because she pulled out of a deal about making a figurine. This was after she was unresponsive to inquiries about "Hey does this model prototype look good?" for WEEKS, always using excuses why she can't respond with more than a 1 sentence reply that's evasive. She also lied about not being paid etc.

[@Dadude572]

There's no other video commentary channel I know who try to get interviews with those directly involved. Not only are you entertaining, it always feels like I'm learning something new in regards to a hot situation, keep up the good work and branching out to other communities seems like an excellent idea.

[@RaveSault]

Now BunnyAyu is attaching herself to sizable streamers as a mod. To no one's surprise, it's as if nothing happened and no checks were done just because she got huge assets

[@fmsyntheses]

It's kind of a waste of taxpayer money for a girl who looks like that to even go through court

[@Thatkidyoukindaknow]

"Drop in, save the day, get a little bit of money." Lmfao. The ego people get from doing nothing is hilarious lmao

[@metalgeartrusty]

this is crazy. i was going into this vid thinking there would be a resolution to all the craziness around skullgirls, but this makes me want to play skullgirls even less then i already do. future club went about this in the wrong way, and clearly just found a shady way to circumvent him entirely.

[@sabbathjackal]

Heavy Metal is NOT porn. Its adult comic books. Think shonen jump but with sex and gore. The mags are a collection of short stories made by different artists

[@GSEleven]

Fair enough but it is definitely NSFW and lends to the argument either way.

[@ducklaser]

2:04 Why'd I laugh then? The silence made it funnier, even. Maybe I understand that he was just being a dork and I don't have the hyperventilating, foaming-at-the-mouth need to make everything about me.

[@thehooded-guru]

It's crazy how no one outside this comment section is talking about this (at least not on Twitter-X-it's 5:37 AM so I'm just lazy to check elsewhere now.) But man I feel for Mike, getting betrayed by hypocrites you trusted for ~10 years of friendship is honesty one of the most hurtful things anyone, and I'm sure especially someone like Mike, can go through. Then you have thousands to mayhap a billion people believing that shit without a second thought. Rancid.

[@jagtaggart936]

wtf is even this "workplace culture"??? At work I don't even have TIME to bring up inappropriate topics with coworkers since I'm busy actually working.

[@timmer919hep]

I didn't get autism diagnosed until I was like 23. I had to take a 4 hour test. I had never even heard of aspergers until someone told me I might have it. This whole situation is like THE definition of being cancelled on the internet. It's pretty obvious they just wanted to get rid of Mike Z when he refused to leave his own company. These people wanted something they thought they deserved and when they were told "no" they went nuclear.

[@Vaporwarez]

Skullgirls is a great game that has suffered because of the egos behind the talent from both sides, sadly. Sad to see how an ounce of goodwill from all parties mentioned could have kept a good team together on further projects, but I suppose that's the risk you run when you have socially inept savants failing to be professional. Great video as always, Tech, looking forward to the next release in 2024!

[@ratedr7845]

​@OboAlmightyit shoukd go back to Alex Ahad

[@j.r.8176]

​@@ratedr7845Exactly and he should draw and animate similar time out poses for all the cast!

[@ratedr7845]

@@j.r.8176 amen brother

[@ChillstoneBlakeBlast]

Sounds like another case of the smash community and the horros of mutiny in Human Beings

[@cainsalim4802]

TL;DR: he didnt do anything wrong and fuck the people that tried to ruin him.

[@Hank..]

As soon as I saw the DMs between MikeZ and bunny, the first thing that came to mind was "this doesn't seem like he's being a creep, it seems like he's autistic". I'm not trying to defend the guy, but my gut reaction is "autistic guy who's talking to someone he admires, is going out of his way not to say something offensive because he's nervous, and ends up coming across as weird". I don't wanna assume she's being uncharitable, but one would think she's gotten enough creepy messages to know a creep from someone who's awkward

[@dangerousshoes]

Like many people have said, he seems like someone who doesn't know how to read the room.

[@auronx]

Dev (AKA Short Fat Otaku) brought me here, specifically to see the interview from Kim MacAskill. (I bet Technicals would do the trucker video before Dev would.)

[@Zerarick]

He absolutely would

[@LunaGropeAnnelotte]

I already knew mariel cartwright was a hypocrite for complaining about being uncomfortable talking about innapropriate stuff despite her being a NSFW artist. But holy shit, i had no idea she used to have those convos with mike in the past. Now her hypocrisy meter has reached heights higher than the earth's atmosphere.

[@toottootsonicwarrior5777]

She's an NSFW artist? Hahaha wow, yeah, that explains why her convos are so obsessively sexually charged! and then she has the nerve to call someone else out as being inappropriate.

[@ablur5129]

This vid really was scary. Bro got socially executed with basically no hope for recovery. Mfers be fake as hell

[@xzgears929]

Ah, yes. Sonicfox, the fgc subhuman who was buddy buddy with Mike because they put his cringe fursona in the game. That groomer apologist also threw Mike under the bus just like those two-faced lab zero employees.

[@bfFAN221]

Finally - someone based and not regurgitating FGC cultism in the comment section! Here, have my handshake, good sir!!! 🤝

[@Justpassingby204]

Mike’s plotting ex-staff used him as a scapegoat and left him in ruin (debt and defiled reputation). He seems rly flawed, but his social ineptitude and poor reputation made it easy to blame him further. He definitely needs help with his autism / help with social skills and boundaries, but I don’t expect much from FGC people Edit: last sentence is vague, but meant the majority of fighting game players/competitive players at large aren’t quite known for their fantastic social skills either-Mike is a gamer like they are and I imagine his issues would stand out more in a general population.

[@jasonelbow3807]

I'm not on the the Mike Z hate train. But fuck his autism.

[@neonthunder3261]

As someone who was diagnosed with Autism at an early age and has fucked himself over by being socially inept before God the treatment Mike’s received is horrible.

[@Justpassingby204]

@OboAlmighty yeah, they're not too socially adept on average either and that's without autism in many cases.

[@Justpassingby204]

@@neonthunder3261 I wish you the best my friend, it's harder to be social in this online age too

[@neonthunder3261]

@@Justpassingby204 Yeah, I've been developing for years and ironically, social media like Discord has actually helped me a lot more than I expected. I'm still a bit awkward and ramble a fair bit, but I've been doing much better than I did in middle school.

[@aaronlaluzerne6639]

Yeah, Rest in peace Skull Girls, your death was cruel, unjustified, and far too soon.

[@Rowrowfightthepower]

I worked in an alternative rock/goth/punk/emo style club and the vibes there match so hard to what I have seen happening with the fgc. It's all "we should love and respect each other and be happy and kind, we're a big family" etc but behind closed doors they are the most bigotted, horrible people I've ever met in my life, not all of them, some of them are genuine but what I've found is the more they preach awareness and love and peace the more evil and nasty they are. The stuff they did to mike z, ive watched happen to my friends right in front of my face. Someone casually flirts with them (nightclub means thats going to happen) and then they're in group chats shitting all over the poor bastard and calling him creepy and weird and mostly they're just a bit odd and drunk. I dunno how to say this without being insensitive... In fact I don't even care anymore, hence using my actual account to say this, every day I become less and less impressed with the actions of 18 - 30 year old people with coloured hair and pronouns in their bio. I get it not all people and that but every single day your people let you down. They need to get a grip of their community as a whole before it gets any more out of hand. I used to count loads of people like that as my closest friends but I've cut most of them off because they kinda make me sick now.

[@Rowrowfightthepower]

Sorry for the rant this just got me feeling all kinds of bad for Mike Z and had to vent.

[@lunadead]

That's why you should use bright color as what it is...a warning signs of toxic/poisonous shit for you to avoid. So many times I saw these same group of people sprouting bs while being the one causing or exacerbating it in the first place.

[@snailthelostcow63]

@@lunadead Like a poetry. Even nature shows you how to avoid them.

[@ares395]

There are POSs everywhere. I feel like more popular and mainstream something gets the worse people it brings. Generally people in goth communities I know are pretty accepting but I've never seen them preach family dynamic (that's weird af). The ones that are not accepting are the gatekeeping kind, usually teens that want to be cool instead of just being themselves like many goths. You know, the situations where someone is like 'do you even know what goth is?' while you were goth before they wore diapers. That being said, there are definitely POSs like in every community and I don't like generalizations, they always breed hate. Metalheads are usually chill but I know couple bad apples for example. And I feel like by 'people in colored hair' you just mean pretentious and entitled people that try do demean others for their own amusement. It's not really the hair, it's just the internet screwing with people's heads and people grow up with internet nowadays so whatever happens on the internet is a part of them. It influences people and a lot of the times not in a great way. Anyways, that's a topic for an entire essay so I'll just leave it at that. Edit: Also people that make a living of off internet are the worst and live through drama. People seem to do everything for popularity and they will 'cancel' people just cuz they can. It's so stupid to me that this even exists and even worse how that can happen just because a pretty girl with booba says something without proof. This straight up ruins people's lives but they don't care because of course people will side with more popular pretty lady that plays a victim.

[@МаксимЗахаров-ы3ю]

I am so glad to see this comment.

[@angrybread478]

Moral of the story: Your coworkers are never your friends, no matter how long you've been together

[@siggyxy5715]

But also to be cautious of women in power LOL

[@QuintusCunctator]

You're right, this is scary. Imagine having to keep receipts of everything you say and do, because some malicious turncoats may decide to backstab you for personal gain when you're most vulnerable. Imagine the constant paranoia - because that's what you learn from this story. It's horrible. The only positive side of this is, I now can add some specific people and companies to my personal boycott list. That's a small thing, but I hope many other people do.