The Last B3 Post, and Where We Go From Here
As I sat in my apartment late at night, I pondered over how one sums up everything that the Boston Bastard Brigade has done over the years. Since July 2009, under the ElectricSistaHood umbrella, B3 has done all that it could to cover the best and brightest (and sometimes the worst and smarmiest) in gaming, anime, manga, music, and other pop culture realms. Whether it was via the thousands of articles penned (3,491 articles, specifically), the hundreds of podcasts that were recorded, or the handful of videos that we shot, B3 strived to be above and beyond the others.
And now, here on March 31, 2026, the era of the Boston Bastard Brigade has come to an end.
The writing has been on the walls for quite some time now. One by one, the rest of the ElectricSistaHood — including the main site — called it a day and went off to do different things. BC Roe and BC Manda (fka NinJaSistah and Pandalicious) are now turning heads at Black Compat; Phil The Issues Guy is still dabbling in many YouTube video reviews and essays; and the rest, well, they went to search for what made them happiest. But for me here, the last lone writer of B3, I always found joy when it came to writing and recording.
Mind you, not everything I covered made me happy. There have been sucky video games, unwatchable anime, badly written manga, and music that made me wish for deafness. However, the good always outweighed the bad, and it felt wonderful to spread my thoughts on why people should listen to a new artist, watch or read a new series, or pick up a controller and try a new gaming experience. It was (and still is) a lot of work, but there was something cathartic about bringing my voice out to the masses, whether it’s to those from my hometown of Lynn, Massachusetts, or to those who live in my new home of Tokyo, Japan.
But now, as this post declared, the end of the Boston Bastard Brigade has arrived. The news of its closure came to me on May 29th of last year. BC Roe told me that she would no longer be updating the domains, and that the sites would be archived. It was a bit of a shock, but at the same time, I knew this was coming. However, I felt nothing but thanks and gratitude to Roe for all that she and her husband, Andre, have done to keep B3 afloat for me, as this was a true passion project of mine.
In its heyday, I had hoped that the Boston Bastard Brigade — alongside the other ESH sites — would become a global journalistic juggernaut. I imagined that we would have our own modest-sized building, offices to write, rooms to game in, and theaters to watch anime. For a while, it felt like something like that could happen, especially when ESH partnered up with a bunch of other sites to work alongside Electronic Gaming Monthly on their EGMNOW page. But then, the Aliens: Colonial Marines debacle happened, and just about EVERYONE associated with EGMNOW got dragged down with it too.
It was soon after that when things kind of slowed down at B3. Blueonic found love and got married, which meant the end of the main Boston Bastard Brigade podcast that he and I founded together. And while we still went to many conventions like E3, PAX East, and Anime Boston, many of the familiar faces we once saw were nowhere to be found in the halls, the afterparties, or the big special company reveal showcases. These nerdy worlds were getting bigger and bigger, but the camaraderie was shrinking, to the point where it felt like it became an “every man for himself” situation in the pop culture journalism world.
However, it was a couple of twins from Braintree, Massachusetts, that reached out and pulled me into a new world. AFLM and JonStar’s Wicked Anime rekindled my love for all things anime and geekery, at a time when I was starting to lose that feeling. Talking to those two on their show and mine made that spark in my heart flicker back into a mighty flame. So I pulled up my old bootstraps, brought back my old college radio show in podcast form, and kept on marching forward.
Where did it get me? I look around again in my apartment, in the middle of Tokyo, Japan, and see where exactly it got me! I get to experience the Tokyo Game Show in person, something I never thought I would achieve. I’ve been quoted on the volumes of CITY, Flying Witch, and even a freaking Junji Ito book! I’ve interviewed the pillows, the band that was the catharsis of all that I do today and what I aim to do in the future! For a website with a risqué name, the Boston Bastard Brigade accomplished a lot!
And it all began with three friends who wanted to make a show where we just made each other laugh. The original Boston Bastard Brigade podcast was meant to feel like a good chat in a pub. For a time, it felt exactly like that, as myself, Blueonic, and Anvil made a fun routine out of it. We woke up early Saturday morning, went to the movies to watch a new film or two, ordered either Atha’s Pizza or the local Subway, ate, played all of the new game demos, sat down, and recorded. From 2009-2013, those original B3 shows were tons of fun, even if there were times when we were a little winded or out of energy from everything we did to prepare for it.
Listen to the very first Boston Bastard Brigade podcast here, published on July 8, 2009!
But as the years went on, plans changed. Members came and left, to the point where I was the sole contributor to the Boston Bastard Brigade. And while I often joked about being a “one-man army”, it sometimes felt like I was shouldering a massive responsibility to keep B3 going. So when the time came for it to start winding down, I felt both sad and relieved. Yes, it’s rough having to call it a day on a site you’ve spent 16 years pouring your blood, sweat, and tears into, but to be given a new lease and a new opportunity to grow is something I think many journalists, podcasters, and YouTubers need to do from time to time.
Which leads me to this: where does King Baby Duck migrate to now? Well…that’s easy: Duck Amuck in Japan.
Starting tomorrow, you can go to www.duckjapan.com to watch the next part of our journey unfold. There will be the usual articles, convention coverage, the Shameless Tuesdays, and so forth. You’ll also see our livestreams and YouTube show, a brand-new interview program, and so much more! This is something that I’ve been working on for the past few months to bring to fruition, with AFLM and JonStar aiding me in all things web design and logo creation.
However, what won’t continue will be the podcast incarnation of Duck Amuck in Japan. The show and all future programs will now be found in livestream form on Twitch, with recordings uploaded to its YouTube page. The good news is that you can still listen to the hundreds of episodes of B3, No Borders No Race, One-On-One, and other specials here on the archived site. So if the urge to take a trip down memory lane comes around, then this site will be waiting for you.
As we reach the end of the Boston Bastard Brigade era, I hope that you will continue to follow us in our new Duck Amuck in Japan incarnation. But before that, there are so many people I wish to thank.
To Blueonic, Anvil, Nenya, Shades Blackflame, Teg, Pink Taco, EliteFourDerek, JC Riley, and the many, many voices you heard in the original B3 show: I thank you for all that you did, and all that you helped me with.
To Black Compat, Wicked Anime, Nerdy Show, abstract:japan, GamerTag Radio, HipHopGamer, The Region2 Show, RPGrinders, The Mike Rogers Show, Scarlet Rhapsody, Anime Jam Session, The League Podcast, Fantastic Forum, ARGCast, and so many other shows and websites: thank you for joining me in my playground, and thank you for letting me come into yours.
To Shauna McLarnon and the Shameless Promotion crew: thank you for introducing me to a ton of amazing indie artists. I hope that I was able to help them find a new audience, and I look forward to continuing to showcase them on future Shameless Tuesdays posts on the new site.
To Crunchyroll, Sentai Filmworks, VIZ Media, Kodansha Manga, Yen Press, One Peace Books, and the many, many game devs, PR teams, and other folks who send us stuff down to cover: thank you for overlooking our sketchy name and seeing the hard work we put into writing about the things you create and release to the world. With that being said, I hope “Duck Amuck in Japan” will look more appealing to put on the back of a book or an anime Blu-Ray in the near future.
To TsuShiMaMiRe, the_Stampede, and Mere Notilde: you are the soundtrack to my life and everything that B3 is and was. And you will continue to be so on the next journey!
To my friends and family, who never gave up on me and allowed me to spread my wings and fly: thank you for making me the person that I am today. I hope to continue to grow in Tokyo both in my personal and professional life.
Lastly, to every person who read an article here, listened to one of our podcasts, or watched one of our YouTube videos: thank you for letting us into your home. We hope you enjoyed our thoughts and opinions, even if you disagreed with us.
With that, the Book of the Bastard is closed. And now, onto the start of the next adventure!
ありがとうございます！またね！
Evan Bourgault
AKA King Baby Duck
AKA Mr. Ikebukuro
AKA The J-POP King of America
AKA #1 Fan of Sanrio character Big Challenges
