12 Years of the GCRN: Evolution and New Shows

Hi, this is Kevin Conroy and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. This is the brain

and you're listening to the geek cast radio network.

Yes, Steve. Do you hear that? Heard what? We're

old, man. How old? We're 12. We're almost teenagers.

Oh my god. We're 12? Yes, 12. 6 and 6. I don't

know. But we're about to be canceled too. Oh,

no And children. Yeah, we put too much audio

in old shows The big music companies scared of

us little people No, they're not scared of us.

They just want their money. Yeah All right, folks,

this is episode 201 201 of geek cast radio and

Steve and I are here celebrating 12 years of

this podcast network. Holy shit! Who'da thunk

it? Not me. First of all, thank you to everybody

who has ever listened to the people that used

to listen to the people that still listen. It's

been one hell of a ride and we aren't done yet

but... Things are changing here at the heat cast

radio network because of the way that the podcast

landscape is changing So and I am way too old

for individual cartoon review shows anymore I

have I have like in the last year since From

the time when we did episode I think it was episode

199 where we did the year -end sort of thing

for 2019 Uh, from that time until now in 2021,

well, first of all, COVID -19 and all that, that's

everybody mask up, everybody go get vaccinated,

just do it. Yada, yada, yada. But like I spent

a year without podcasting because my computer

was in storage at the time. And it's like, holy

crap. I feel like I've lost who I was at the

same time. Things change so much. Oh yeah. Things

change. so much and it's so creepy that it's

just like you put one line of dialogue in a podcast

and oh crap I don't know it's just one of those

things but I have nothing but appreciation for

anyone that has ever listened to us anyone that

has ever emailed or sent things in sent submissions

to us Anyone who has ever donated to me or us

or whatever work or you know as Thank you to

everybody because without you guys even though

I do this for myself and to talk with Steve and

all the other friends that we've made in the

past 12 years I still want listener interaction.

I still want listener feedback and my podcast

approach At this point is completely shifting

I Do not want to sit here and as much as I am

as proud as I am of what we've done with the

review shows in the past I do not want to sit

here and review a 130 episode cartoon series

anymore I Kind of like doing the whole interview

thing with whether it's podcast approach on sphere

2009 asking people about podcasting Whether it's

the origin stuff with the pull bag or tune cast

or other shows that we're doing. Toy cast, toy

cast. I never thought I'd bring toy cast back.

Never. I had no inclination to do so. And then

I started talking to some people and we got an

idea and it's coming back. Which is funny because

it died at episode 99. Yep, and now Seven years

later here. We are. Yeah seven years later. I

have episodes 100 through episode 103 Recorded

edited and uploaded ready to go there will be

a new toy cast I'm stealing your day. There will

be a new toy cast every Friday and from now until

Whatever happens next and for those that don't

know for those that are just listening to this

episode Back in the day when we started the network,

at first we were like, oh, we should do a show

that has everything all in one. And then I was

like, what if I want feedback from different

people that listen to different things? We should

have multiple shows that cover each individual

topic. A movie show, a cartoon show, a comic

show, even though the comic show didn't come

until 2013. You know, a this show, a that show,

a whatever show. and Toycast was the toy show

and Toycast at the time in 2009 when it started

June 11th 2009 I started it with Pia the goddamn

proto man and the late great Optimus Scourge

Optimus Scourge aka Gary Clark one of the best

dudes I've ever known sadly he passed in 2011

and Toycast lasted Three years after he passed

and I just It just kept hitting me every every

month every every month every year on the anniversary

of Gary's death Should I keep doing this have

have I faded and at that point in 2013 2014 I

had gotten to the point where I was in 2011 or

2012. I had sold off my toy collection So I'm

like, yeah, I don't know if I really want to

still do this And it's been seven years. And

the idea was from fellow, actually a GCRN award

-winning podcast. When we did the GCRN awards,

I think it was year two or year three, I forget

when Toy World Order won. But anyway, Toy World

Order, who is Jason Duvall and David Draper.

They have a podcast called David DeWalls Toys

and Collectibles and they talk toys and they

talk things and they're whatever I know I like

their rapport and You know Jason I knew from

that new toy smell along with pixel Dan and everything

else. So You know they have a show and they have

a group on Facebook for all their fans One of

their fans who is actually used to be almost

a neighbor of mine in Illinois when I lived there

Said something about He wanted to create a toy

crimes police department now first things first

I Have the utmost respect for police officers

detectives all that stuff anyone that does that

job I have the utmost respect for them as long

as they're doing it properly and correctly and

by the law and everything else This is not in

any way shape or form and we are still working

on getting the idea ready for toy cast We haven't

even done anything with it yet Toy crimes police

department and basically we would decide what

toy like I'm gonna go take this Beast Wars Megatron

and put it in the ladies lingerie section like

basically hiding toys and going back and buying

them or scalping which scalping is a crime folks

in my personal opinion you know that kind of

you know obviously you buy a toy you take it

home you take that toy you know you you put the

wrong toy and return it kind of thing and you

know so it was just this funny thing and we were

like oh this is gonna be a blast and that's kind

of how toy cast kind of had its resurgence and

then before the idea was fully settled and we

still haven't fully settled it obviously but

I was like, ooh, what if we bring Origins and

we get the toy stories of any and all toy fans

that we can? Now, over on All Things Transformers,

we have Origins for Transformers fans, which

is somewhere between 25 and 30 questions. On

the pull bag, it's 25 questions about how you

got into or out of reading comics on Toycast,

and I'm preparing you now for this. 42 is the

answer to everything right there are 42 questions

for toy cast origins of how you got into or out

of toy collecting Okay, so am I answering that

at some point? Oh, yeah, most definitely you

yeah Yeah, most definitely you will be a guest

on it My buddy Joe Reed will be a guest on an

optimus solo is gonna be a guest I'm gonna have

all kinds of people come on the show But it's

literally like as I'm trying because again, I

was just copy pasting the pull bag one and I

was Trying to cater at two toys and then Josh

and my other co -host a despair and who has done

the Masters of the universe comic stuff With

me on the pull bag was like, oh, what if we ask

this? What if we ask this this way? What if we

end the questions just kept calming and I'm like,

oh crap So, yeah, that's what's been going on

in the last few years of our 12 -year history.

We've got a new Top 100 coming out soon. We're

going to be recording soon for that, hopefully.

The Top 100 Transformers characters. And from

what Optimus Solo has told us, it is probably

the most statistic -heavy countdown we've done

to date. We have done in 12 years six countdowns

in total of the six that we have published from

Animated series animated films animated characters

villains I did not count the top 50 video game

thing, but basically all the top 100s that we've

done top 100 TV top 100 Whatever else it was

In total, I don't have the exact minute second

down. Our top 100 countdowns add up to just under

78 hours of content. You say insane, sir? I do.

Yeah, that's insane. Anything you want to say

about what we've learned in the last 12 years?

Don't put music in your podcast. There is that.

Because what amounts to is you get takedown notices

and then you have to go back in your backlog

and edit hundreds of episodes. That's the problem

with being around for 12 years. We have thousands

of podcasts. Yeah, we're idiots. Well, there

is that I mean, I mean, there's no denying that

In in the in the upcoming episode where I talked

to my co -op my new co's Josh the floor burger

when I asked him his origins he's like One of

the questions in there is kind of a deep, you

know I try to get some sort of emotional response

out of the questions kind of thing and He's like,

oh we're getting deep here and the first thing

I said was yeah I'm no Freud, I'm more of a fraud

than anything else. A lot has changed in 12 years.

When we started, and even before we started,

the podcast landscape really didn't start until

2005, 2004, 2005 kind of thing. And it was a...

very slow start, but ever since I wanna say 2011,

2012, in the last decade, it has just become

a booming business. Podcasting's become quite

a interesting duck, I would say. I didn't see

it blowing up the way it is now, but unfortunately,

if you're one that's been around for a long time,

even if... You're decently known because I wouldn't

say we're like a hundred percent well known Because

we don't we're not famous But I feel like we

we've we've stuck in stuck through it stuck in

The podcasting industry pretty well over the

last 12 to 15 years and Despite everything Yeah,

we're still learning too. But because of the

boom in 2016, it's also buried us quite a bit

too. Yeah, there's no more reveal Maurice LaMarche's

voicing a character, get picked up by some no

-name site, get picked up by IGN, and then you're

gangbusters, sadly for us. I still enjoy doing

it. I still enjoy the recordings. I may complain

about 15 hour editing sessions, but for me, the

reason why I had to do the process of editing

the way I do it is because I want to make sure

I'm a single folk. I cannot multitask in 12 years

that we've been online. Two years ago, as of

May 6th, I had to have brain surgery. I was The

doctor said about a half inch away from my brain

just popping out of my skull. What I had was

hydrocephalus, which is essentially a buildup

of spinal fluid in the brain. They went in, they

drained it. No, I don't have a shunt in me yet.

Hopefully I won't need a shunt in me. I like

robots. I don't need robot parts in me. Thank

you. That has severely changed. That is why I

want to shift my focus into more of discussions,

question and answer, like starting discussions

that way versus trying to sit here and do research

and spend all this time getting a topic together

and then talking about it and just doing it the

way we used to do it. I just want to have a conversation

with my friends about whatever it is, whether

it's toys, whether it's cartoons, whether it's

whatever, and I have kind of found this style

that I have now of, like I said, even though

we were doing the whole old man's skit at the

beginning of this, uh, you know, normally I'll

be like, hello and welcome to insert whatever

show name it is here. I am of course TF2 and

Mike. Joining me is... And then whoever, Steve,

Kevin, Michael, whoever it is, and then I quiet

down and talk like this and I find a way to just

go with the flow. Most of the time I'm not looking

at anything. We are still doing some review shows,

like we have the Phineas and Ferb podcast organization

with a lot of cool acronym show. And I do look

at the Phineas and Ferb Wiki for that kind of

thing. But in general, I am just like sitting

here talking. Like i'm not really trying to do

too many other things because if i do. I will

get distracted very easily and you do not want

a distracted podcast host folks it does not sound

good i am dreading editing episode eighty six

eighty five eighty six about. Gee i wonder why.

Well it's not because of the music or anything

like that i just kind of. Like zoned out during

the recording Like I'm in another world somewhere

What's funny is I've done that too There were

there were points where I was playing Star Trek

online You don't do that anymore. At least not

while you're podcasting. No not while I'm podcasting

I actually only play it every now and again,

but it's more so when they have a reason for

me to actually turn it on But yeah, it's it's

yeah So this is just a quick little episode folks

just want to say thank you to everybody once

again for listening if you've just started listening

to us if you've been a long time fan like Tim

Silver's or scanner 51 or Anyone else I when

I released episode 99 .5 of toy cast where Josh

and I did our first episode together talking

about the King County Chicago toy show I posted

the episode and somebody I don't even know is

like Whoa, this podcast is back and I'm like,

yep. I thought I'd never see toy cast come back.

I'm like Wow people were excited One person was

I don't know if that person is still gonna listen

Hopefully well and that's what I'm hoping with

bringing toy cast back and with this new Thing

will be doing with it. We are still gonna do

display case So we are still gonna have episodes

where I pick a toy you pick a toy Whomever is

on the show with me most likely will be Josh

and and and a das baron Like we each pick a toy

we each talk about the there will still be those

episodes like there used to be But with the interview

thing it's like I can There are so many toy fans.

I've made friends with all these last 12 years

that I can talk to and you know have a discussion

and put out weekly content talking about toys

without having to go into some of the negative

aspects of toy collecting. Oh, boy. Oh, the toy

landscape has just gotten so since Toycast went

off the air in 2014. Oh, boy. Last seven years

have not been good luck for the toy industry.

No, they have not, especially with scalpers.

Yeah with scalpers, but there's also there's

just so many other things going oh my god Some

of the things I've seen recently holy crap But

anyway, is there anything you would like to say

is there anything any? Anything you want to say

to the listeners before I close this little thank

you 12 year celebration thing out I don't think

so I think that we definitely have a lot of new

things and new ideas coming. As time permits,

of course, we'll look at other features and things

working. Just stay tuned for some new stuff that

we're working on over the next year. Yep. We

are back. We are going to unleash the geek in

all of you. Yeah, you'll uh, you'll be hearing

from us soon here on the geek cast radio network

12 years online Holy schnikes. Hey, Tara strong

here and you're listening to the geek cast radio

network. I know I'm already editing everything

I appreciate trust me for someone who has edited

everything most everything for the last X number

of years I get it dude. I get it And trust me,

it is not going unappreciated. I'm not asking

you to edit. I'm just asking, are you in the

mood to celebrate the fact that we've managed

to survive 12 fucking years? No, I know. I was

just... Yeah, I know. What's your elevation there?

I don't know. Hold on. Let me Google it. Google...

What is the elevation of Vancouver, Washington?

171 feet that's that's lower than Michigan the

lower you are the hotter it is this is Phil Lamar

and you are listening to the geek cast radio

network