PotterCast #268: Conjuring Conclumdrums

Episode 268 of PotterCast is here, and begins with a much-deserved, long overdue congratulations to the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts teams (and more specifically costume designer Colleen Atwood) for the wizarding word’s first Academy Award win!

The winners of the NewtCase competition is announced, with some honourable mentions to some great answers to the question “What would you put in your NewtCase?”.

News that the Harry Potter subreddit has banned Trump and political posts after issues with debates getting heated and discussions being derailed sparked an interesting discussion of the power of fandom and the internet between the podcasters, with potential leads into future discussions on the issue. What do you think about the ban? We’re curious to hear your opinions about politics and fandom, and next week’s episode will focus on J.K. Rowling’s social media presence and politics, so be sure to send your ideas over to PotterCast (via message, tweet, Facebook, owl – whatever’s most convenient!) to be discussed.

The Q&A for this week’s episode sheds light on some of the conclumdrums  of the swooping evil potion at the end of Fantastic Beasts, and the nature of magizoologist experimentation.

Another competition is announced amongst discussions of tolerance and politics – be sure to share a wizarding ‘alternative fact’ for the chance to win a NewtCase!

Terrible! @pottercast Igor Karkaoff is a better headmaster than that overrated wizard (pathetic) Albus Dumbledore. Sad! #alternativefacts

— K. McGuire (@Joker_Fish) March 5, 2017

.@pottercast All of Rita Skeeter's articles #alternativefacts

— Vicener (@vicener) March 5, 2017

The podcasters finish this episode by going back to last week’s discussion of Newt vs. Dumbledore’s ‘danger levels’, the physics of magic and ranking the Potter books.

Listen to the full show below! Remember to book your LeakyCon tickets here, and get in touch with Melissa, John, Frank and Zack here.