GrandCon Recap and Convention Culture

Hey, this is Steve blue and you are listening

to the geek cast radio network Hello and welcome

to Altered geek unlimited episode 59. I'm your

host Steve Megatron Phillips and joining me again

this week is Michael Booth and your powers Of

course, so what's up? Well today's been a good

day I decided to try out Marvel infinity that

the game that's based around Disney basically

Disney's version of Skylanders? Isn't that just

Disney Infinity 2 .0? Yeah, and you know what?

These things are like crack. I bought all the

Guardians of the Galaxy and all the Avengers.

I may have a problem. I did that with Skylanders.

But they're really cool. I couldn't get into

that because they... The one thing I knocked

them for was locking mr. Incredible behind buying

the starter pack And I really wanted I had no

interest in the game, but I wanted the figures

But I wasn't willing to buy the full game just

get mr. Incredible the thing I'll say about Skylanders

versus that is at least you can get the figures

separately outside of the starter pack yeah,

I was surprised I would give you iron man in

the starter pack for this, but I can't but then

again in retrospect I can't really say that because

he's super popular. I got sent this today from

the PR company that represents Microsoft. If

I hadn't got the starter kit, I don't know whether

I would have went out and paid it myself, but

I found out there was a starter kit you could

get from Vespy, I think it was, and you got all

the Avengers in one set. I don't know if I got

that one though. But still though, this thing

is really cool. I got, I'd say my favorite figure

probably so far is Rocket, Raccoon, and Groot.

Because they'll be the hot figures to find this

year, I think. Because Guardians is popular everywhere.

Yeah, I haven't been paying much attention to

this. I'm honestly surprised that that movie

made that much money this year. Honestly surprised

I'm not that surprised given that it was well

No, actually, I'm not that surprised this year

was starved for good movies Yeah, like there

wasn't a whole lot this summer that I really

saw either. I mean, I really wanted to see Planet

of the Apes I just didn't get around to it. Unfortunately

Ninja Turtles was okay Yeah, I'm of the same

opinion and Transformers 4 was like being stabbed

in the ear with a screwdriver Yep I'm trying

to think of what else. Days of Future Past was

probably the best thing I saw this year. What

about Cap 2? And Cap 2, yeah. Those are the two

top movies I saw this year. I can't think of

what I saw earlier in the year because that's

how not memorable this year has been. Which that

really sucks is there was no big animation movie

this year either that I really gave a shit about.

Nope. Because there was, what was it, Planes,

Fire and Rescue and... That was in theaters for

what, like a week? Yeah, LEGO Movie was doing

it. LEGO Movie, yeah, okay. That was awesome.

Everything is awesome. That was so annoying.

I was surprised they took a movie, like a concept

like LEGO and actually made a really fun movie

out of it. I was really, really surprised. Because

normally they're just bad. And there's some weird

messages in the LEGO Movie. Yeah. There's a lot

of people that have personal problem with the

film, but I don't care. Does that Blanchard hate

the Lego movie? I know Michael Wilson doesn't

like it. Until Batman showed up. Until Batman

showed up. Everything is terrible until Batman

shows up. That was great. And voiced by Will

Arnett, man, that was amazing. It comes in black

or really, really dark gray. The one thing I...

After watching the Lego movie so many times at

home on my own accord, because I don't have kids,

was that I would I think I've said I don't know

if I said this before, but I know I tweeted it

out. I would love to see a kind of not necessarily

like a remake reboot of the Adam West Batman,

but I would like to see a TV episode. Well, I

would just like to see a TV like a. You know

a live -action TV version is kind of like the

campy Batman with like Willard net as Bruce Wayne

Batman and Maybe bring Adam West back as Alfred

That would be actually kind of fun to watch actually

um one gag I would do is have will our net clears

throat and for a second It's Kevin Conroy that

he goes. Oh, sorry that happens sometimes Yeah,

I think would be a great little throwaway gag.

Yeah, but I would be funny Think that would be

I would watch that I would definitely watch that

show. Oh Warner Brothers if you're listening

make it happen hopefully So yeah, this is the

first episode since coming back from Grand Con

how was it I Had a lot of fun I Know we had a

better turnout on Sunday than we did on Saturday,

but that's because good to hear well What happened

was we kind of learned every day that we go And

so like this year we came prepared with more

stuff to give away and stuff like that, but we

didn't have anything to like draw anybody into

the table To like engage us in conversation.

So Sunday it was the off -the -cuff crew was

there but we still you know, we were representing

geocast radio We had Joe from off -the -cuff

bring in all of his video game controllers and

he dumped them out on the table and people would

just come up and play with them and We started

just doing an impromptu poll. Like what's your

favorite video game controller? So we have all

those stats for this week's off -the -cuff Oh

nice, but and I don't even know what they are

because my wife and I got kicked out of the hotel

at noon, so And then Danner's kid got sick. So

he had to leave. So Joe was there manning the

booth by himself but He gave away all the CDs.

Oh, nice. All the brochures. And yeah, it got

a lot better when we had stuff for people to

like, you know, bring them over. Yeah. The thing

is, like when you're when you're there, everyone's

got like artwork and Joe had artwork in fairness,

but not anything that like there wasn't anything

really there that like brought anyone to us.

Everyone else has like artwork or you're a comic

book illustrator or you've got a board game to

show off So there's things for people to look

at and ask questions about and engage with you

about so when we brought the controllers on Sunday

that Completely turned everything around I wish

I'd been able to stay for more of it, but yeah,

it's you know it's alright I knew things were

picking up because as soon as we You know even

the vendors like all came over talked to us as

soon as we dumped the controllers on the table

Before the doors actually opened on Sunday, so

Oh, wow. Now, I don't know how much of that is

going to result in direct traffic, but, you know,

people were, at least as far as - Paying attention.

Yeah, people were paying attention and they were

also asking, you know, us for our gamer tags

and stuff like that on PlayStation Network and

stuff, so. So we have enough people to go do

the Vault of Glass, right? Oh, I have enough

people already. Oh, take me through. I just don't

have enough people that are - we aren't high

enough, like, level to do it, so. I'm grinding.

I'm so trying actually speaking of comic conventions

Answer me this guys. How much cosplay did you

see there? Not nearly enough. It wasn't I guess

from what I was reading because Mark McKenna

was there He he posted something on his Facebook

earlier today about the fact that something about

the artists and how much they make and everything

else and uh... there was there was a point in

there where he said that a lot of conventions

are turning into uh... cosplay cons instead of

being comic cons and he said this one was definitely

heavily board game uh... centric which i understand

it's going to be comic and board game centric

but i feel like there wasn't enough comic book

influence in the convention it was it was I would

say a good 80 % board game. Like coffee basically.

Yeah and then basically there was very little

comic and artist stuff in there and I guess at

his panel or the cosplay panel there was a lot

more people that we didn't see walking around

the floor that were hanging out there because

of that purpose that came pretty much solely

for that because he said he didn't see that many

at his booth but when it came to that he saw

a ton. Now, the main reason I bring that up is

my agent is a woman named Denise Dorman, and

she's the wife of Star Wars artist Dave Dorman,

the guy who used to do the really cool covers

for Dark Horses. Basically, anything that was

painted in Star Wars was this guy's work. And

she wrote a blog, I think it was on BleedingCool

.com, I posted it on my Facebook the other day,

and it talked about Comic conventions are becoming

more Cosplay conventions and it's hurting artists

and that's what he was saying Yeah, and I would

love to get your guys opinion on that because

I've been like I do a lot of fan conventions

as A guess like I've done calm Bravo. I've done

magfests. I've done packs east a couple years

and It's kind of funny how many cosplay people

you do see there and it's Can see the point on

both sides saying I could see how cosplay can

distract people from visiting Artists and other

content creators because they're clogging up

the hallways But some of these cosplay people

are so incredibly talented like they should be

working at Hollywood town I don't think maybe

it's just me. I I think it's kind of Mmm, obviously

geek ass right isn't the same thing as the network

but as like a conquer cars or anything like that,

but I feel like That is kind of the same thing

that, you know, it's we're, you know, geek cast

raters at the bottom, right? We're at the we're

at the convention and no one's coming to talk

to us because no one knows who we are. And then

you have like the comic artists that show up

and, you know, some people know who they are,

but not as many people know who they are as they

would like. And then there's like other people

that they may come for. I just think it's like,

it's kind of like there, you know, we sit back

and complain that no one comes to our table and

they sit back, but no one knows who we are. And

they sit back and complain that no one's coming

to their booth, but it's kind of like, isn't

that your problem? Like that's - Well, sometimes

certain things get covered. Like for a convention,

I won't do a convention unless certain expenses

of mine are covered. Like at least my hotel and

a per diem. I don't mind covering some travel

costs. But, for example, in the article, Denise

was saying they pay for stuff like hotel, they

pay for booth and stuff like that, and going

to San Diego, you can imagine, is retardedly

expensive. This year they went, didn't make a

whole lot of money despite having a really nice

booth, they actually came back a thousand dollars

in the hole. And some of the conversation was

going, there's another guy that I talked with,

His name is Andrew Ferrago, and he's the curator

at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Diego. And he

was talking how it's affecting other artists

too, and it sucks because sometimes artists don't

get noticed at these conventions, which is really

unfortunate because some people that do this

as a hobby that are selling fan prints of like,

say, Doctor Who, Deadpool, Mega Man, or whatever,

they're getting the foot traffic is shrinking.

So I can see it from both sides of it. And I

don't know, I mean, you've got a really good

point where it's up to the content creator to

bring people in, like to have a booth that's

interesting and to have content that people are

gonna wanna come and not necessarily spend money

on, but engage you in conversation or something.

Okay, sorry. Well, I mean, I'll make it real

brief, but I think that, I mean, I kind of agree

on both sides of it, because obviously we started

kind of... brainstorming ways to draw traffic

to our booth. Not only what you guys happen to

do Sunday, but for next year as well of some

way to draw attention. At the same time, these

conventions generally fly out and put these guys

in a hotel for the conventions. uh... have them

is like their headliner type thing and have them

do uh... panel talking about it with you know

q and a and everything which is is fine well

for those that know who they are like uh... for

instance like mark mckenna the name son of familiar

i wasn't to familiar with his work but i think

that's because i think that's a really familiar

well he does a lot of comics he does star wars

he does he does marvel he does dc did a lot of

the batman stuff in the seven hundreds Issues

and then so I mean I was I was familiar with

him, but I wasn't familiar with his name So but

it you know and then seeing all the the awesome

stuff that he had in his booth But you know at

the same time there wasn't a whole lot I I feel

like the comic end of it at least this year was

a lot lower than last year Well, last year there

was a giant, one of the vendors had like an entire

wall of just like, you might as well have walked

into like half a comic book store. Yeah, which

was kind of cool because if you were looking

for any variety of things, you could go to it,

whereas I only could count, at least that I noticed,

there were only two booths that were actually

selling comic books and there was one that was

selling a little bit of newer stuff and there

was one that was selling like quarter bin stuff.

And then the rest was like artists and then it

was it was like I said 80 % Board game centric

seem like the actual artists that were there

like I don't know like I don't think Like I I

have no idea who's going like when I hear about

grand con or anything like that I don't go and

look at who's going to be there or anything like

that Like I go and I wander around kind of like

when I like I treat them like I would if I was

going to like a car show like I'm gonna go wander

around I'm gonna look at the cars that I want

to look at and that's about it like I know Danner

went and Danner and Joe went and spent a lot

of time over at Mark McKenna's booth and stuff

like that Which was like right next to ours as

did I but I never went over there I could care

less about what the guy's done, but I did go

and buy a bunch of art from this Corinne I wish

I could remember her name. My wife has her card.

I went and bought, you know $40 worth of artwork

from her because I Liked her art like her art

caught my eye But his art just looked like generic

comic book art and I can see comic book art anywhere

I want to see it like I don't I I've heard this

I've heard this before like on many different

places especially after cons about how people

go out there and they lose money on on stuff

like that, but I think the way that it might

come down to the way that people are like maybe

consuming media like Do you actually need to

go to a comic store comic like comic -con to

buy a comic when you could probably go to your

comic book local comic store and get it for a

lot less Well, yeah, I mean it and they've become

malls more or less haven't they conventions?

Yeah, they're kind of like mini malls or like

the like you want. It's like it's like a giant

flea market Yeah, that's fine. But like I'm gonna

go and look at what I what I want to look at

I'm gonna wander around Yeah, and if cosplay

happens to be like if I walk by and I see someone

in a cool cosplay outfit Yeah, that's cool to

see it's kind of like I walking through an auto

show. You see a freaking cool -looking car That's

really nice craftsmanship. You did a really good

job but as far as like the people I just feel

like that's. Maybe if you're I guess maybe if

you're going, you should kind of know who is

going to be like what kind of you should kind

of pay attention to the overall. The vibe that

the conventions trying to portray beforehand.

Yes, like if you're if you're if they call you

up and again, this is Grand Con's problem, not

necessarily like the. the artist thing but in

his in in this case it's kind of like should

mark mckenna maybe have um looked at the lineup

that grand con was booked like how heavy was

it board game two comics and if like you're like

if your two comic book guys go in there and the

rest of them are all like board game retailers

and creators and stuff like that maybe you shouldn't

go Did maybe this guy do some artwork for like

a Dungeons and Dragons book or something or if

he did I didn't see Maybe all I saw was like

a bunch of Marvel characters. No, he had Marvel

DC and Dark Horse like Star Wars and Batman and

but see at the same time like I like Dungeons

and Dragons. I like exalted I like a bunch of

white wall stuff, but I don't know who does any

of their art, you know, like I'm I Don't know

Maybe I'm part of the problem but It's weird

because the convention environment has changed

so much and even so much in the last couple of

years Like you Mike for example, you go for the

experience Steve if there's an artist there you'll

go and see them and Kind of I kind of visit,

you know, I try and give like a general You know

go see everybody and kind of see what's going

on before, you know, I mean, I don't really go

for any Now if it were a transformer convention,

yeah, I'd go for specific people but like for

for comic -con I kind of expect to see like a

broad View of everything Like I how many people

showed up at Grand Con? Would you guess over

the course of the two or three days? I haven't

seen numbers, but I know Friday night alone had

more people than all of last year I know that

they said that they they at least at least doubled

from last year So and it is a loss. Oh, sorry,

Mike No, no, and Grand Con is Grand Con is definitely

more board game centric, but that's something

and if they want more comic vendors out there

That's something that they need to like address

and I do remember seeing on Facebook that Grand

Con was putting out special There were special

posts dedicated to like cosplayers like They

did try to attract cosplayers this year, as well

as comic vendors and stuff like that. But yeah,

there was a smaller amount, but that's because

they all did so bad last year. Well, and I did

notice that there was, across their social media,

there was a couple of random bashings, the fact

that, and some of it was, some of it I could

kind of get, they were kind of being nice about

it, but they were, at the same time, a lot of

people were just... going, oh boo, I don't, you

know, you can't, I don't know, you can't really

judge it without going, but some of these people

went and were going, oh, there's barely any comic

stuff here. And, you know, they were expecting

at Comic -Con and... How many years old is Comic

-Con? Two. Yeah, it takes three to four years

for a convention to really find its footing.

Well, and to be fair, we didn't. You know, even

last year when we went, we didn't have a clue

what the hell we were getting into. No. And I

don't think they really knew either because there

were a lot of a lot of vendors showing up just

because they didn't know what to expect. And

then this year it was kind of like some of them

came back and then some of them came back as

press instead of having their their podcast tables.

And then some of them were, you know, like doing

like us. We just did the same thing, you know.

But here's the thing. Grand Con. Let's just think

about this. The name Grand Con, that is not pigeonhole

you into any one thing basically it's a conference

or it's a convention yes and that's that's what

it is so um and that's kind of how i take it

like i want to go and hang out with a bunch of

other nerds maybe i'll get in a conversation

with some people like i did on sunday morning

about video games or you know stuff like that

um it's kind of like just going to my friend's

house and hanging out for the weekend but i'm

doing with like hundreds of other people I don't

But I see people maybe people just have like

the wrong expectations for grand con because

like I said the name doesn't pigeonhole it into

any one thing No, but it does say, you know,

it is grand con gaming and comic arts convention.

Yeah, but see gaming is first Yeah Which I get

I'm I'm not bashing it. Anyway, I I go for the

the comic -con purposes and It's close and I

wish I would have seen more cosplay though. I

kept seeing bikini wings, but I never saw saw

her I like smaller conventions myself like Grand

Con actually one of the conventions I'm very

heavily involved with I've worked for them for

a few years I've also been a guest for the last

three or four years is a convention called calm

Bravo in Hamilton Ontario and They're a multi

-genre convention. There are comics there, but

it's not so much. It's a lot of... I see a lot

of cosplay, a lot of people that make stuff.

Very much like having Etsy. Like you can have

people that can make you... You want a Deadpool

purse? Not a problem. You want transforming shoes?

No problem. They can do weird things like that.

And the main reason people go to those ones are

the panels. As a combo for example is very heavily

new media focused so they have podcasts out there.

They've had John Tron came out this past year.

They had the angry video game nerd the nostalgic

critic James port now from extra credits came

Two years ago. I think I was extra credits and

It's a it's a really cool show. Just the fact

that these smaller conventions they can address

problems that the larger conventions can't for

example uh there was one convention happens in

toronto every year toronto fan expo and every

year they invite all these cool people the problem

is it's not it's changed so much because it's

more like you're there to see hulk ogen and captain

janeway and the guy who may have played jason

in friday the 13th once in a background scene

fifty bucks for his autograph and I don't know

there's something about corporate run conventions

that this don't right rub me the right way the

only one that even does kind of is packs but

even it's got its issues because of the huge

floor space which is pretty much what what the

conventions about there's also really awesome

panels at the same time but it has a more community

feel to it and I think That's more friendly to

us in the podcasting community. Because you can

do interviews there, you can hang out, like you

said, actually make friends at these things.

Or if you're into a larger, I wouldn't call it

a corporate convention, I don't even know how

I quantify this. You guys have heard of DragonCon,

right? Yeah. Yeah, I have some friends that go

to that. Yeah, and it's a huge roleplay nerd

convention, and yet they have celeb - hell, the

guy who directed Gurren to the Gownsley was there

this past year. James Gunn, which is really awesome.

Um, I don't know, like, convention culture has

changed, and it's little conventions, like I

said, like Grand Con I would go to. Sure, they

may suck for the first year or two, but they're

willing to listen to you. and they can adapt

their programming, and they don't necessarily

have to spend thousands of dollars to fly out

some of these guests, because I've worked in

convention booking before, and you'd be surprised

what people ask. What the hell was that? Please

don't look. I heard something fall over, and

I don't like what I heard. Boom. Damn kitty.

Yeah, pretty friggin' much. Kat, I swear to God,

if you knocked over those Ninja Turtles, we're

gonna have words. Anyway, continuing on with

the shit. Fuck you! Sorry, guys, this is married

life. You too can look forward to this. But,

yeah, I mean, smaller conventions are fun. And

honestly, Steve, where is Grand Con? Grand Rapids,

Michigan. How far is that from the border? of...

Canada? Well, uh... Where are you at in Canada?

I'm just an hour north of Toronto. Okay, forgive

me. I'm not familiar with the word Toronto. Is

that on the what, East Coast? Yeah, I'm... Are

you... How close are you to C? It's... I'm close.

It's probably like, I would say like a two and

a half hour drive from... B? Well, it's a two

-hour drive from where I live. And I live in

Flint. You know what, guys? I just got a plan.

Next summer, if I'm not busy, I should join you

guys at Grand Con, and we should just take it

over. I've done this before, and it can be a

fun time. Now, admittedly, there may be a little

bit of police trouble at some point, but it's

worth it. Trust me on this one. But that's the

cool thing though like with these large conventions

sure you can have elevator parties and that will

that's a guaranteed way to piss someone off I

might add But I don't know I One of the things

that I've kind of found recently with some of

these conventions is Like I want to go back to

this like earlier point because we because you

guys were talking how? Grand cover example didn't

have a whole shit ton of comic comics there yet

you go to a large convention like let's say a

wizard world or something and It's a lot like

we discussed a pop -up flea market. I Don't know

there's there there's something very wrong to

me about going to a convention and paying 30

40 percent extra on top of something to get it

just because it's at a con and it might be rare

or whatever but I don't see too many people walking

away conventions with deals unless it's like

Sunday afternoon before they pack up and they

don't want to take it with them Yeah Like I've

known people who go to convention and they'll

blow five six thousand dollars and I go to convention

I have a budget and I feel like an asshole for

saying this but I'll go with a budget of around

fifteen hundred And I don't know why I do that.

Usually I end up coming home with like at least

$1 ,100 at least. I don't ever go planning to

buy anything. It just kind of happens. Yeah.

So I don't let go. And here's the thing, like

I am very like, I like a lot of the geek stuff,

but I'm very peculiar about what I will grab

because when I'm looking at something, I'm like,

how does this? Kid you guys not when I'm looking

at something like I literally am thinking how

does this look on display in my family room like

How how does this fit into because I'm I'm very

crazy with that stuff I will not you know my

entertainment center, you know It's an Ikea entertainment

center and I dismantled parts of it so that it

would look right to my eyes Like so it would

not be offensive to me And so when I'm looking

for stuff to buy I I'm looking even if it's like

something I'm really passionate about I Seriously

sit back and think is this going to work? Yeah,

will this work? Will this be offensive to me

to my senses in my house? Even though it could

be something that I really really like Will it

be offensive with like what my decor? We'll just

say it because that's what it is And if I think

it would be offensive to my decor, I won't buy

it But this one, you know, like I said we ended

up buying a bunch of artwork from this one this

lady and because I want I think it looks really

good and I think it would I think it would be

just fine putting some frames and hanging up

on my wall. But I didn't see a whole lot of that.

But at the same time, there were there wasn't

as many people with like the trinkets. One of

the things that. I think almost last year might

have been a little more flea market ish than

this one, because there was a guy that showed

up last year that had vintage He -Man stuff.

He -Man figures and. Was hoping he'd be there

this year so that I could I there was one he

-man figure that I wanted to buy for my mom that's

a long story but it has to do with the fact that

when I was a kid she worked at Toys R Us and

she bought me all the he -man figures and Anyone

she always has this embarrassing story that she

tells about me and my he -man figures and I wanted

to buy the figure for her that Is what the embarrassing

story is about? But I didn't do it last year,

but I wanted to do it this year But the guy didn't

show up so I couldn't buy it for her And I was

kind of bummed about that, but maybe he didn't

make enough money to warrant coming back out,

you know? Now, a question for you, Mike. What

figure was it? It was, I always say the name

wrong, Telia? Oh, yeah. Now, do you want the

figure loose or on card? It doesn't really matter

to me. Let me look around in my extras bin. I

might have one. Like the story, because everyone's

going to want to know the story is now. when

I was a kid my mom worked at Toys R Us and you

know she was pregnant with my sister but she

still worked at Toys R Us and every she'd always

go through all the boxes the shipments when they

came in and she would buy me the figures um so

I had all the He -Man figures and you know like

a kid I'd go outside and play with them in the

yard and my mom knew all the figures just like

I did and she expected me to take just as good

a care of them as she did and I came inside one

day after she had looked all over for Telia like

at Toys R Us to bring it home and you know, she

finally brought it home for me. I did not know

any of the effort that went into this because

you know, this was before 1989 so I was less

than eight years old. Anyways, long story short,

I came inside with my He -Man figures and she

was like, well, where's Telia? And I was like,

I don't know. She goes, you better get back out

there and find her. And so sent me back out into

this giant ass yard by myself. And she swears

I was walking around the backyard front yard

going, Delia, Delia, where are you? And, you

know, we did end up finding her. Apparently,

I buried her somewhere in the backyard. I don't

know. Nice. But I, you know, I saw the figure

last year. I was like, I should get that for

because I think that would be really nice to

do. And, well, I didn't do it last year and I

didn't get to do it this year, so... Your mom

is officially the coolest mom that I've heard

of recently? She's done, well... Yes, like...

If only she would go through figures and know

that, that's amazing, I wish my parents knew

that. She was cool, but when I was a teenager

she was not, and now she's cool again. I think

that's a word of passage. Yeah. I love my mom

and I appreciate all the stuff she did for me

growing up and stuff like that, but yeah. I was

kind of bummed that guy didn't come back. Yeah,

there was a lot of things I was kind of hoping

that would happen and then I think we had last

year more people stop by our booth, but I think

it was also because we were kind of on the Right

on the outside of the doorway Yeah, it was unavoidable.

Whereas this year we had to dive under and over

the table to get to our booth Yeah, I feel like

we had a better location last year. I I feel

like we kind of get screwed a little bit this

year with the location of it I mean it was it

wasn't that it was bad. It was the fact that

we it was a pain in the ass to get in and out

to the thing plus we were kind of smack in the

middle of two different things and the one people

kind of glossed over and then the other one people

stopped by more so because it had to do with

the uh the cartridges but see that's what gave

me the idea to bring the controllers people were

stopping by and checking out those those nes

cartridges they had made into flasks that's fucking

so cool and that's they had really cool names

on them too i can't remember any of them for

the life like drunk hunt yep They redid the 8

-bit control well what it was is the controllers

or the another controllers the cartridges were

the the classic NES You know that made out of

food plastic so it was it was perfectly safe

And they took the shape and everything it looked

just like an NES cartridge and they had new 8

-bit art done up for them in the style of like

Mario or duck hunt or you know the various 8

-bit games and you know they were flasks which

was kind of interesting and they said they used

them to get past like the border and like customs

and metal detectors because you know you can

just put your drink of choice in there and don't

give the terrorist ideas to you i don't want

to be killed by duck hunt drunk hunts drunk hunt

they also the uh the gold zelda cartridge too

which which was an exclusive for the convention

they don't sell it online That's really cool,

especially when conventions do exclusives like

that. And that's another thing, too. A lot of

conventions do that. I know for Fan Expo, we

have exclusive comic covers, and there'll be

an exclusive convention toy. The worst offender

for this is San Diego Comic Con, as I'm sure

you all well know. I went through hell and back

in July of 2012. to get a My Little Pony Derpy

Hooves toy. These things, now, they retail for

40 bucks when you got them at the show. Day of

the show, they were selling for over 250 online.

I'm driving with my wife and I've got my iPhone

out, right? And I'm browsing the internet and

I'm watching the site. One of these things is

gonna go live on Hasbro Toy Shop. I was willing

to walk up to a stranger's house and ask if I

could use their computer to buy a My Little Pony.

I have a problem. Pretty sure the police would

have been called. And then I yelled at my wife

to go do it. I'm like, come on, you look softer

than me. I look like a criminal. You can do this.

Happy end to the story. I did get my My Little

Pony. And then I tried to sell it to Walt from

Comic Book Men. Unfortunately, I still have it.

I'm never letting her leave the house again.

Sad man, carry on. I love how that put you into

stunned silence. Things you don't know, Steve.

I think we've beaten that topic with a shovel,

but it was very enlightening for IdeaWise. So

do we want to do a little bit of random news

and then close it out? Certainly. Alrighty. Alrighty.

Have you guys seen the Charlie Sheen wanting

to return to Two and a Half Men? How's he gonna

come back as like a force ghost or a zombie?

Yes. I don't see how that's even possible. He

was Ashes. Well, yeah, I don't know. But Blanchard

was kind of joking. He says, so they cancel his

other show and he comes back. But it's actually

because they're hitting the 100 episode syndication

mark and they're closing it out at that. So I

think it would be great if somehow the two and

a half men pulled like a half days and yeah,

or something like that. Like it was all a dream.

or two and a half net is actually like quantum

leap or something it'd be something really really

messed up it'd be amazing I think Charlie should

totally come back I'd love to see them try and

explain that that would just be crap he'd wake

up from a serious hangover whoa that sucked yeah

I dreamt I was Ashton Kutcher what the hell yeah

I don't know I just I just I thought it was the

most retarded thing, but I still felt it was

goofy enough to mention. I'll leave the TV talk

because some of us may not have seen it. They're

both good. That's all I'll say. I doubt it. Anyways.

Have faith, my son. Well, it's weird because

Jeremy on the site reviewed Gotham and he gave

it like a one star. He called it fan fiction

gone wrong and he's saying that they all phoned

in their their their characters, which I think

it's too early to give it that kind of a Beating

you got to give it at least five episodes. Nope.

Well, and it's it Everyone gets to I I said I'll

give I'll give it till midseason Because that's

usually the telling point if it's gonna keep

me or not Because by then, there should be plenty

going on that I shouldn't be worrying about.

Who the hell is this? What's going on here? Blah,

blah, blah. You know, it should already be hitting

the ground running by then. Or it could pull

an Agents of Shield because it didn't get good

until after the midseason. But the thing is,

there's nothing to pull from for this. That's

true, and it's going to rely a lot on heavy,

heavy good character writing because the fact

that it's a Batman -less Batman show... they've

got their work cut out for them. I mean I'm excited

to see what they do with all the characters with

Gordon and Bullock and Cobblepot and you know

Enigma and so I mean I'm looking forward to seeing

what they're doing but I don't I don't want to

like put all my faith in it right away but I

wouldn't give it a one star either. Yeah, I see

that's the thing it should be it shouldn't be

a review of the TVs I'm looking at it not I'm

not reading his review I'm just looking at the

way it's worded review of Gotham TV series. It

should not be review of Gotham TV series It should

be a review of the Gotham pilot Yeah, like now

that aside Dodd I don't know if you've ever heard

anything that I said about TV, but I usually

give everything two episodes Regardless because

I feel like the first one more often than not

in all the TV I've watched the first one is always

almost always a pilot. It's literally labeled

pilot And a lot of times in the second episode

you will see complete changes in characters.

Sometimes you'll even see some people like recast

And so that's why I always give it two And I

won't immediately drop a show after two. I have

three distinct categories. After two, I will

either file it into a, oh, I have to keep watching

this. Or I'll file it away into what I call a

train wreck, which means I can't stop watching

it. I have to see where it's going to go. Shows

that have fallen into this category but rebounded

include Arrow. Arrow was immediately a train

wreck because the first half of that season actually

almost up until They found out they were renewed

for a second season. It was trying too hard And

then after they were renewed it it really came

into its own Trying to think of another show

that was like that. The Walking Dead was like

that for me Because the second season was crap

but that pilot for For the first season was amazing.

I didn't like the first season at all I liked

it starting with the second season because I

feel like that's when it's kind of broke away

and started doing its own thing But that's a

whole other thing So and then the third one is

just outright canceled like I cannot I cannot

do this Shows that have fallen into that were

the ringer which was bad Or was a ringer The

one with Sarah Michelle Gellar. Yeah. Yeah, there

was the ringer, shit my dad says. I stop watching

that like five minutes into the episode. I was

like, nope, we're done. So those are like the

three categories. Something will go in. I don't

think Gotham is going to be I'm not watching

this again. I think it will end up being a train

wreck and I'll keep watching it and it may end

up getting better. But. I feel like I'll have

a better idea after I actually watch it, which

I have not done yet. What I do with TV, and I've

only done this since the last couple of years,

I give it the DVD treatment, which means, in

my opinion, you give a show five episodes. Why

five? Because that's typically the amount that

fit on your average DVD. If I don't care after

five episodes, See you later. Maybe I'll watch

on Netflix when I'm home and near dead and you're

kind of on his background noise Yeah, often doesn't

fall fall into this category It's still too early

to tell yeah, like we'll know more by midseason

for sure Yeah, I mean It'll be interesting like

I don't have enough to say about it cuz I haven't

seen it and I I meant to and I Completely forgot

to do that Yeah, I'm I I have class every night

until nine o 'clock now or Monday and Tuesday

So it makes it difficult for me to watch all

my shows so Torrance and DVRs it is I Just got

agents of shield so I can watch that to review

later. Oh the other reason I'm so forgiving with

my TV watching I have the three categories that

I do is because I work 50 I work 15 hour shift

at the movie theater and a 17 hour shift at the

movie theater So I have a lot of time to watch

TV and I have a lot of time to fill the void

So that's why I don't just like I won't just

acts a show like I will have train wreck shows

So I can just have something to fill the void

So anyway, so So there's the, I don't know too

much about it, but I see that they have invented

this new type of reversible USB cable, which

they're talking about where replace HDMI and

display plugs. Now, where's the outrage about

this? Where is the outrage over USB announcing

a new frickin cable? Yeah, I don't want to buy

new cables. And it's supposed to be reversible,

like it's supposed to be the same end on both

ends, which... Essentially would make all of

our flash drives all of our ports all everything

to do with the old drives obsolete One is USB

3 .0. Well, here's the thing. The only reason

I brought that up is because I Am my Apple fanboys

gonna shine through here. I guess if you can

call me that most people do Unnecessarily, I

don't consider myself that I just like products

that work. Um Everyone lost their shit when Apple

came out with the lightning connector but USB

has Four different USB endings on them I think

there's six now. But they're so common and they're

not expensive because I'm an Apple person too

I guess it's all about where you about what the

lightning connector or the yeah, because I'm

like I have a million of the Basically, the fat

connectors, and I bought two lightning connectors

cost me 50 bucks. You got taken. Yes. Yes, I

did and bent over. I go to Monoprice for all

my cables. I just waited for them to come out

with their lightning cable. I went to the future

shop. Try Monoprice. Any cable you need, try

Monoprice. I pip Monoprice every chance I get.

Any cable you need. In the show notes. Like I,

I don't know. I guess I don't see how USB is

any different than any other cable. I mean, in

terms of like, why are there so many? I mean,

it's interesting. It'll be interesting to see

what it does, because as far as I know, these

new cables will work with your existing USB ports.

I haven't seen anything that says that they don't.

All I see is something else that can break, though,

because there is that that. the connector actually

flips flip flops back and forth um so i see a

lot of cables breaking so we'll only time will

tell but they've it's got some advanced usb power

delivery thing and 3 .1 data and uh display port

for audio video built in so good they're finally

catching up with uh intel's thunderbolt ah i

i won't be an adopter right away anyway so um

and then marvel announced a netflix like service

for their comics i thought this was wait i i

want to see this because i thought they already

had this i don't know blanchard posted about

the other day so can you put that was not aware

about it i think it's a good idea i just wonder

how that will affect affect brick and mortar

Is it new comics or just like is it like they're

just her back head? It says instant access to

over 15 ,000 Marvel comics only $9 .99 a month.

This is not new. Okay, I didn't know about this

so It's interesting to me. I yeah, I looked into

this like I was when they first heard about it.

It was I Think it was this is not new. I don't

want to say I I want to say I heard about it

last year But I could be completely wrong. I've

heard about this before. And I was like, oh,

that sounds really interesting. I would totally

do that. And then you go and look at it. And

it's kind of like the Hulu model. It's like you're

not going to get or it is the Netflix model.

It's not the Hulu model. You're not going to

get new stuff for a while. So it's not something

like I could use to keep up with comics the way

that I want to. But it does it does appear that

They have different packages for it. They'll

give you a figure or they'll give you a certain

variance or whatever. Just whatever their special

happens to be. I don't know. I just thought it

was kind of interesting that they're doing something

like this to kind of help draw in people that

don't normally buy the stuff. See, I don't know

whether I could stick with purely digital, although

I could make a very strong case for it. For example,

I support my local comic book shop. Although,

I like physical comics. I like the ability to

pull something out of one of my long boxes, sit

down on the couch and read something. But you

know what? As I sit and record this with you

guys, I'm staring at four long boxes in my living

room. Physical comics are starting to take up

space. And I wonder if I'm just going to have

to get some kind of a tablet or some kind of

like a Kobo or something and read comics that

way, but I don't want to hurt my local store.

Well, see, that's the thing. I know a lot of

comics versus the economy. Well, I know a lot

of a lot of comics come with the digital comic,

but that's still buying the physical copy and

you either at the pitch it or store it. Yeah.

Man, I just wish there was see the whole thing

with me and print buying print on digitally It's

the same issue. I don't know if I have the same

issue with Movie I have the same issue with video

games. I don't have it with the movies To a certain

extent and I don't have it with music movies

I feel like Should be cheaper if I buy them digitally

because I'm not they're not paying for packaging

or shipping or Anything like that like I feel

like that should be the case I feel like games

should also be cheaper because they're not paying

for the packaging or the storage space or anything

like that But that hasn't happened yet And the

same thing goes for comics like I feel like you're

not chopping down a forest to print off a magazine

And you're not running giant machines anymore

Like it's ones and zeros basically I I don't

know why you're still charging me five six bucks

for an issue when it should be like two bucks

Because the overhead isn't there unless they're

doing something astronomically wrong, but I feel

like they're using both models to prop up one

model, you know and And that's fine, but that's

keeping me from buying it And you know this this

$10 a month thing sounds great except for when

you realize it's not The newest stuff and what

was really bad is that they showed you the newest

comics like upfront It's like, oh, look, you

can read this on your tablet digitally if you

subscribe to this. But no, it's all the stuff

that's behind it that you can read up to the

new stuff. See, I'd be OK as long as their old

stuff catalog was really extensive. Well, 15

,000 issues sounds like it could be pretty extensive.

Well, I want to know, are certain store lines

going to be cut? Are they are we just getting

the trade paperback versions of certain things?

Like, are we getting basically like Are we getting

the omnibus editions of certain things? Like

basically, if I'm going to have 15 ,000 back

issues, do I have my choice in how I wish to

digest them? Because certain comics may vary

from format to format. For example, I think there's

differences between The Walking Dead and its

individual issues to the omnibus. There are little

subtle changes, but I think there are little

minor differences. I feel like instead of just

shouting off at the mouth about this, I feel

like one of us should try this and I nominate

myself. Okay, that's cool. Maybe I'll try it

Maybe I might subscribe to it for a month and

see what it is and get back with you guys So

I don't have a problem with this. I've been looking

for a way to read read comics I love reading

comics on the iPad Because it's as close to paper

as I can get I love it I have a great comic app

on there, but you know, it's for pirated comics

But anyways, yeah, I mean it'd be a it's this

is it They've been doing this for a little while,

and it's it's an intriguing idea. And I was interested

in before, but I do like reading the older stuff

like I do have a long box, but it's like tucked

away in my closet, but I haven't pulled it out

in forever. I like reading the old stuff, but

it's kind of like, why would you describe this

if you can't read the new stuff? But I don't

know, maybe I'll try it out my next check. I'll

sign up for a month. See what happens. I may

do that as well. I don't know. I'll I'll play

it later, I guess. We'll get back so what's that

we'll get back to you guys. Yeah, we'll get back

to you So yeah getting into a little bit of the

comments from last week there were comments about

the Deadpool movie and People more or less bashing

Fox already Or or more or less saying that they're

expecting Fox to screw it up. I Don't think you

could screw up a Deadpool movie Hold on I say

that I say that because I mean Let's look at

his first appearance right that was X -Men Origins

Wolverine Yes, which was downright comical in

its appearance Like I feel like there was enough

Goofy shit going on in that sorry That it could

be considered a Deadpool comic like I don't know.

I feel like there's a certain... You get a lot

of leeway with a character like that. I think

the fact that it's PG -13 may actually help it.

I do too, but at the same time, I also am a firm

believer that PG -13 means Jack anymore. Yeah,

because PG -13 means you can say fuck once. You

can have as many gun battles as you want as long

as you don't show excessive blood. Yep. So it

all comes down to who is he fighting? If it's

a bunch of robots, you're going to get all you

want. But I just I don't know, I think like movies

like The Dark Knight and some of the later Harry

Potter movies, they show you that you can get

away with PG -13. And if anything, the X -Men

movies or X -Men origins, no, first class, first

class and Days of Future Past show you that you

can use the F -bomb in the best way possible.

Yep Yeah, like you save that for your punchline

for something. Yeah. Yeah fuck off Like I just

I imagine Deadpool using it where the bad guys

have him cornered and he's like Fuck dude or

something like that. You know or like they did

in the the the minute and 30 some second Preview

clip, you know, we're at the end he goes fuck

me The problem is I've never seen Deadpool by

himself. I've always read the cable Deadpool

comics So that's like that's Deadpool having

someone serious to play off of Well usually like

He's got what is it death that he has this bond

with yeah, I Don't know too much about him. I'm

actually kind of interested to read some but

So there's that and then I Asked something of

what geek culture stands out and People were

saying that TV shows being in the same universe

theory is crazily impressive People have a lot

of time on their hands What do they ever did

you guys watch that video Well, that's all we'll

say about that. All righty. But yeah, that's

pretty much it as far as that's concerned. So

I think that about wraps it up this week. Thanks

for having me out again, guys. This was so much

fun. No problem. Yeah, thank you for joining

us. Yes, thank you. Yes, have some. Yes. So,

you can interact with us in the following ways.

You can call the voicemail line, 502 -526 -5821.

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Hashtag altered geek. My Twitter handle is at

scp21. Mine is at Boothinch81. I am at Birdman

Dodd, D -O -D -D. It just kinda rolled. So, as

always, get altered, get geeky with the Altered

Geeks. See you next time! Bye!