Interview: On The Set Of The Walking Dead: World Beyond With Aliyah Royale

Aliyah Royale as Iris – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 1, Gallery – Photo Credit: Carlos Serrao/AMC

Aliyah Royale plays as Iris on The Walking Dead: World Beyond. Iris is the sister of hope and these two have a great bond with eachother that we will see when World Beyond debuts in a matter of weeks. During my set visit tour, I got a chance to speak with Aliyah Royale about her role on World Beyond and her love of The Walking Dead in this exclusive set tour interview.

Aliyah on being casted on The Walking Dead: World Beyond

Aliyah: “It was absolutely insane. Wednesday I got this call to go in this room super early in the day. At the same night when I was with my friends at Benihana’s and I get a call to be in New York tomorrow. I tested for it that day with Alexa, and I was in New York for 12 hours max. And on Saturday morning, me and my mom were heading to the movies. My agent called me while we were in the car at the parking lot. He told me that I got the part and My mom was clearly the first person I told.”

“It was so crazy because we both told eachother that we were going to the movie and to also remain calm. But we were there jittery and we could not stop moving. We then decided to leave and go to the cheesecake factory to talk about this. It was so exciting and I got to share it with my mom.”

Aliyah Royale as Iris – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 1, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Sarah Shatz/AMC

Do you remember what movie it was? And did anyone in the theater notice that you were very excited?

Aliyah: “It was Stuber. We sat there for the first two minutes and I could not stop moving or pay attention to this movie. There were people looking around in that theater like ‘who the hell is this’, ‘who won’t stop talking, and ‘who won’t stop shaking the whole theater with her legs.’ I do have to watch Stuber at some point.”

Aliyah on describing Iris Bennett

Aliyah: “I like to describe her as a really good friend. She is very sweet, loyal, and a giver. Iris is ready to do anything for anyone at anytime and she does not need to know you. For example, the first time she meets another character, everyone else is asking ‘who the hell is this guy’ and Iris gives him a snack after she asks him if he is hungry. I like that about her because she always gives people the benefit of the doubt.”

Does Iris have a weapon of choice?

Aliyah: “Yes! her name is shilo. I am the only character that named their weapon. My favorite character on the main show is Negan and he has Lucille. So I wanted to name my weapon because of that. Shilo isa pole with a triceratops horn attached on the top of the pole. It belonged to Elton at first and he wanted to make the weapon cooler. And then Shilo was born!”

Has the name of Iris’ weapon made it to the show?

Aliyah: “It has not made the show, but it has made it to the crew which I am very happy about. Like when they hand me the weapon in the props area, they know that it is mines because I have the weapon’s name on a card where it is placed. Shilo is also the same name of my husky I had when I was eight years old. I associate both of them with the same level of coolness.”

How long have you been a fan of The Walking Dead?

Aliyah: “I would say ten years ago, but I was very young. I was too young to watch it at the time, but my brothers love the show. I became obsessed with The Walking Dead because of my brothers. My brothers also still do not believe I am on the show. They are in denial even after I told them. But I technically have no proof to show them because I can’t share any pictures at the moment (laughs).”

What kind of conflicts will we see Iris go through?

Aliyah: “I think one of the biggest conflicts Iris has, is making hard choices. She is trying to find the line between putting everyone in danger vs. doing the best she can to find her father. Her and her sister went on a journey to their father. During that journey, Iris has been put in situations that potentinally put people in danger that nobody expected to be in. If someone gets hurt, she does not want them to be left behind. She wants to make sure that none of the people that she brought with her on this journey serve the conciquences because of her decisions.”

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Super Mario 3D All Stars Is A Power Down From A Poison Mushroom

When Nintendo announced that a collection of the best Mario 3D platformers would arrive on Nintendo Switch, I was excited. That is, until I found out that it would be an extremely limited run. It boggles my mind that Nintendo decided to do this for Super Mario 3D All Stars because after March, there will not be a way to get a copy, or download this game.

Super Mario 3D All Stars consists of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, and the official soundrtack for all three titles. What is great, is that you can play these as you remembered them when you were younger. But that comes with a cost. More specifically, Super Mario Galaxy.

Galaxy’s original release was on Nintendo Wii in 2007. At that time, motion controls was the standard and it is required for some of the controls of Super Mario Galaxy. You can play it with your joycons as if you played it on your Wii.

But if you use your Pro Controller, the gyro motion will distract you from playing the game.When the pointer is out of focus, you will have to press the R trigger button to center it. It gets really annoying when you have to do that every few seconds especially when you are on a boss battle.

Super Mario 64 plays the same exact way as I played it on the Nintendo 64. The controls felt very respinsive as I was playing. It seems like this version of Super Mario 64 is the version that patched all of the glitches from the original version.

I am fine with that since I am not a speedrunner. I only care to finish the game with 120 stars. Something that I wish that was supported for this version, is for full screen support. This was possible on the Wii Virtual Console port of the game, but not here. I still love Super Mario 64!

The last game of the collection is Super Mario Sunshine. For some reason, this version of Sunshine kept all of the glitches that were found on the original Gamecube release. You would think that Nintendo would patch all of these issues, but they did not do that. Another problem I had with Sunshine, is the clunky controls, and the upscaled brightness that will make your eyes burn like you are taking a look at the flash from Men In Black. There are also textures that I noticed that are in the wrong place when I am using FLUUD. If you want your ears to bleed too, it will pick up most of the sounds at the wrong time.

Whoever was in charge of porting these three games into one package, needs to get their license for porting video games revoked. This is Mario’s 35th anniversary and there should have been more effort to making this collection mean somethimng. Don’t get me wrong, I love all three of those games when they were first released, but the technical issues outweigh over what was supposed to be a celebration.

The lack of Super Mario Galaxy 2 in this collection is also puzzeling since that is the sequel to the first title.Mario’s party for Super Mario 3D All Stars has finished faster than a mini game on Mario Party. And Luigi did not have to do anything to win this time.

But when you take those negatives out, you can play this collection and it is for all ages whether if you are a veteran, or a newcommer. What the Mario franchise has done to bring generations together for many years will continue for years to come. Let’s hope when the 40th anniversary comes up in five years, their next celebration collection will be better than this collection.

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Interview: On The Set of The Walking Dead: World Beyond With Nicolas Cantu

Nicolas Cantu as Elton – The Walking Dead: World Beyond _ Season 1, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Zach Dilgard/AMC

Nicolas Cantu plays as Elton on The Walking Dead: World Beyond. Elton is the youngest of the group of main characters and he is interested in observing everything that is outside the walls of the community. But there is more to Elton than his bright personality and Nicolas Cantu is here to talk about the character.

Myself and other journalists got a chance to speak with Nicolas Cantu during the set tour of The Walking Dead: World Beyond and here are some of the highlights of the interview I will share. Also to note, Nicolas was accompanied by his mother and dog as these interviews took place.

Nicolas on his audition on the show and his initinal reaction

Nicolas: “When I saw the audition and it said ‘TWD3’ (at the time), my mind flipped out. Then I realized that it had nothing to do with the main show. So I had to play this character, but they could not spoil anything of the story elements. So it was a very weird audition to do that. But then I did the audition and I thought it went well. Then I got the callback and I thought that things were getting closer. A month later, I got the call that I will be joining the cast and I jumped on my couch. I was so estatic! It was so crazy.”

Nicolas on his character Elton

Nicolas: ” Elton is a very analitical, 14 year old boy. He is an old soul and is obsessed with this discovery with the world around him. He grew up in this fortified community and he has done all of this study behind the walls. Now it is time to get visceral with this study. Elton’s quest is to go out to the world and seeing how nature and these ’empties’ have affected the way people live outside of these walls. He is obsessed with discovery.”

Why are the walkers on this show called empties?

Nicolas: “In the main show, there is no zombie media so you could not call them zombies. In different parts of the world, people call them different things. We call them empties because they are empty inside. They are a shell of a person now. That is what I think of the thought process is. They are very distinct from the walkers on the main show. They are very affected by the enviornment and you can see how nature has taken both physical places and the bodies of these people.”

Nicolas on if Elton has a weapon of choice

Nicolas: “Elton’s weapon is karate, the knowledge of martial-arts, and his brain. Instead of actively going out to fight these empties, he knows that it is way more effictive and efficent to try to deter them or not engage at all. Every second you are fighting an empty, you also have every second of dying. If he ever comes face to face in a grim situation, he would rather deflect than try to completly demolish the threat.”

Does Elton have a special connection with anyone in the group?

Nicolas: “Elton is an orphan child in the community and he has not had a family in a long time. He and Silas get close together in the pilot. He also gets close with the girls of the group. Elton is building this family that he has not had in a long time. It is a very special thing for him and it is what he cherish the most.”

How does everyone that is younger find out about the empties?

Nicolas: “From inside the university, there are people doing research on the world out there. Elton would read books in the library to study up on what people know and documented on the outside. There are also clases to try to fight these empties. When the time comes, you would know what to strike, what to target, and what to avoid. They do know a lot about it. They have not seen these horrors first hand, but they know of them. The empties lurk outside and the security dispatch them like it is nothing.”

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