During my process to recover the missing episode thumbnails for the All Gen Whale Rocks episode list, I came across two “unreleased” thumbnails.
What is a thumbnail?
The episode “thumbnail” is the featured image you would see when you view the podcast episode on their website.
They are not true thumbnails by the traditional definition, but “thumbnail” is the term that was used whenever they were referred to in the podcast.
What is an “unreleased” thumbnail?
These are images that were uploaded by the All Gen Gamers1 to their website but never used as the final episode thumbnail.
The images were named using a particular episode number, so I am assuming this means that they were — at some point — intended to be used as the thumbnail for that episode.2
But if you check what the official thumbnail was for the episode, it was a different image! They must have gotten replaced with the final image at some point in the process.
However, the unreleased images were never deleted from their server. This made it possible for me to locate (read: accidentally stumble upon) these “unreleased” thumbnails.
Let’s take a look!
Unreleased Thumbnail #1: Episode 117
I haven’t listened to Episode 117 in awhile, and I don’t remember it well. Let’s check the episode summary:
This week we discuss the fast approaching Wii U launch, the Neo Geo X handheld system, a Pandora Update!, Pier Solar HD, Air Raid sells for $33,000 and much more.
Wow, 117 episodes in and we’re still getting Pandora updates. Poor Gamester81.
So, what was the unreleased thumbnail for Episode 117? What could have been?
A Neo Geo X ad. Cool, that makes sense.
Now let’s compare this to the official thumbnail:
It’s just… a hose? A super close-up shot of a plain green gardening hose?
I get it. It meshes well with the title. But they also talk about the Neo Geo X in this episode. It could have worked, too.
Personally, I prefer the Neo Geo X ad.
Unreleased Thumbnail #2: Episode 82
Ah, Episode 82. Now that’s an episode I know well.
This is a classic All Gen Gamers episode that featured the epic Final Fantasy XI discussion between Pete and Johnny.
And the unreleased thumbnail for Episode 82 is related to that discussion/tangent:
This screenshot is presumably taken in-game from Final Fantasy XI. But I’m not certain where this screenshot came from.
I’ve performed a reverse-image search using this image, and that returns no hits. So it’s very likely that this is a screenshot provided by Johnny, featuring their old character from Final Fantasy XI!4
This would be such a cool little discovery if true.
Okay, now let’s take a look at the official episode post:
Yep, this was a good one: Johnny’s Final Fantasy XI setup in his living room. Who hasn’t had their own version of this at some point in their lives?
I think the released thumbnail was the way to go. But the in-game screenshot would have been really neat and unique as well.
And… that’s it! I only came across two unreleased images, but it was still interesting enough to write about.
Well, I’m going to publish this blog post, now. I’ve had Pete and Johnny’s Final Fantasy XI discussion playing in the background since I started working on this post.
And it’s still going.
That’s how great that tangent was. Over 20 minutes long.
Thanks again for that one, Pete and Johnny.
- Probably by Pete, as I believe he normally handled the episode summaries on the website. ↩︎
- My guess is that the “unreleased” images were initially used when preparing the podcast release, but someone went back and changed them before publishing (or shortly after). ↩︎
- Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20121219045214/http://www.allgengamers.com/home/2012/11/8/episode-117-ever-been-hosed.html ↩︎
- In the episode, Johnny mentions he was going to share his screenshots on the forum. Pete mentions he never took screenshots. So this is very likely Johnny’s character. So cool! And even if Johnny did share these in the forums, I am doubtful that the Wayback Machine was able to save this. So this might be a little piece of AGG history that was saved! ↩︎
- Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20120619100030/http://www.allgengamers.com/home/2012/3/1/episode-82-two-former-addicts-speak-of-their-past.html ↩︎