Founder’s Note: Purpose, Production, and Post-its

When Ryno said he wished there was a space online where people could celebrate their fandoms without toxic judgment from those gatekeeping what it means to be a “fan” of something, I asked him point blank, “then why don’t we make it?” This spiraled into months of “will-we-won’t-we” beers, anxiety-induced donut eating, and a flurry of post-its that felt like it would never come to a conclusive project. Until now. We finally launched The Ampliverse, and here’s a peek behind the curtain on how a brainstorm of ideas became a new adventure.

Get Out the Stickies

Before we came to The Amplivere, Ryno and I were just two fanboys trying to find ways to express our love for things. I was going through a layoff that made me reset my entire life path, and the only things that kept some form of joy and peace in my life were my creative outlets: my podcast Resident Services, my YouTube channel RJ’s Food Rocks, developing my writing, and consuming pop culture through via a never-ending supply of shows and movies online. I wanted to give all of those things the flowers I felt they deserved. A bigger platform and purpose to justify that these seemingly superfluous things were actually giving me the strength and inspiration to help me find my path and keep me grounded. When I brought these thoughts up to Ryno, he not only validated my feelings but also shared his desires to amplify marginalized voices in the discourse of fandoms and pop culture, and to have a more inclusive representation of who is out there sharing their passions. So, I got out the post-its.

Our first brainstorm for what would end up becoming The Ampliverse

I love brainstorming. I get such a thrill from a blank wall, a stack of post-its, different colored pens, and a prompt to answer. We wanted to see if the idea stewing in our minds could be conceived in one cohesive world. We wanted to see if there was a common thread within our creative projects, and if they could all live harmoniously in one space. My experiences in both directing a theatre company and producing for theme parks kicked in, prioritizing that we should develop an overall mission statement to define everything we do in this safe space we create.

After many long and arduous brainstorms later, we finally came up with what the thing would be: a network. Underneath this network, we would strive for diverse voices, unique takes, genuine celebration and excitement, and maybe even personal and passionate reflections on pop culture that will hopefully resonate with an audience.

Time to Brand

Initial visual mood board to develop how The Ampliverse will look

Not only is Emily our talented graphic designer, she’s also a model!

Color and shape explorations for The Ampliverse logo

I felt like I missed a calling somewhere of conceptual design and strategy because boooooyyyyy do I love making a good mood board. I wanted to capture all of our feelings, thoughts, and goals of this network in one icon. And getting there was tough. We toyed with the idea of calling it a “creative co-op,” but you’d be surprised how many combinations of the words “creative” and “co-operative” already exist in the world. We started to go into other iconography that represented the same feelings of combining different ideas and perspectives in one place: kaleidoscope, rainbow, a box of crayons. None of these sparked any good names, so we started to look up and out. Way out. Nebulous. We looked to the stars, and found inspiration in the idea of a “cinematic universe” and how movies and stories all cohesively fit in one giant expanse. We started thinking about how our shows and content could be planets that live in one solar system, or galaxy, or universe. A universe of voices that we amplify. And there it was—The Ampliverse was waiting for us to claim it (literally, the URL was available).

We Exist to Co-Exist

As we began establishing the look and feel of The Ampliverse, our last step was to establish the vision that would tie all of our shows and writing together underneath one brand. I felt it was important to bring up concrete examples of what we want to combat. In the video game The Last of Us 2, the introduction of a pivotal character who happened to be trans led to toxic fans swarming the internet to blame the voice actress and writer for the destruction of the game’s core by introducing “social justice fluff” into the story. Captain Marvel faced criticism of her legitimacy by saying she was a Mary Sue, an overpowered character to the point of ridiculousness, to try and peg down its historic feat as the first female-led superhero movie in the Marvel cinematic universe. In some instances, culture that is subject to criticism like the Disney company is often protected by an increasingly loud and aggressive defense from fans that immediately take any form of criticism as “liberal political correctness.”

Kelly-Marie Tran as Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

In its peak, what actress Kelly Marie-Tran experienced became our rallying cry. Marie-Tran’s character Rose Tico was scrutinized so viciously by misogynistic and racist “die-hard fans” that, amidst death threats and a flurry of hate speech, the game’s social had to be shut down. In an interview, Marie-Tran says she felt that, “I was other, that I didn’t belong, that I wasn’t good enough, simply because I wasn’t like them.”

Often, the chorus of hate and ignorance overpowers voices from communities that find strength and power in pop culture: women who are finally seeing themselves as the protagonist in a multitude of previously male-dominated genres, trans and queer youth who are finally seeing themselves honestly represented in heroic (rather than just tragic) characters, and people of color who are finally seeing themselves as the heroes and at the center of blockbuster films.

We Are Here

Laying the foundation of a new universe was not an easy task, but I am so grateful that I was able to create a space that means so much to people. Sometimes we forget that existence is resistance—the fact that we are out here celebrating what pop culture means to us and how it inspires and advocates for the marginalized voices is advocacy at work. When we laugh, smile, and have genuine conversations, we are doing the work of sharing positivity in pop culture. I think I need to remember this too, when I’m updating the website at odd hours or editing my next video episode—that I do this to prove we can. The brick work has already been done. It’s time to live in this space now and see what life can come from it.