Transformers 40th Anniversary Release, Darkwing Duck Casting, Toys R Us Comeback, Gremlins 3 Teaser & Studio Re-releases

Hey, you guys, this is the mask and you guys

are listening to the geek cast radio network.

And you know what? You are smoking. I'll forget

geeky. It's a wild ride. Hello and welcome to

Altered Geek. I'm your host, Steve Megatron.

And joining me on this adventure into geekdom

is TFG1 Mike. It's International Podcast Day,

everybody. We're recording this September 30th,

2026. Yep. And yeah, it's It's been a little

bit since we've recorded one of these, too. Yeah,

I did not realize we were going to end up doing

this. And then I woke up this morning and I'm

like, oh, right. Memories, memories on Facebook.

And that popped up. And I forget who initially

shared the International Podcast Day logo. it's

Facebook. Everybody steals photos. Well, I stole

one of the logo photos from it. And for me to

make it my own, I just turned it black and white.

So I've had it on my Facebook page is black and

white for like, I don't know, the past nine years

or so. And I wanted to figure, okay, why is it

September 30th? Why, why that day? And I'm on,

uh, internationalpodcastday .com looking at their

about and looking up their history and everything

else. I'm like, oh, so that's why. So I will

shoot you the link as to what it was. But it

was basically started by Steve Lee and Dave Lee

all the way back in 2014. I remember when it

started. Yeah. I kind of do, but I kind of don't,

which is why I wanted to research it and read

their about page here. Obviously, not going to

read the about page on the podcast. People can

click the link in the show notes and go read

it themselves. But basically, they just wanted

to, you know. gather people from around the country

and uh they held q a sessions on google google

hangouts of all things god you remember that

geez talk about old technology that doesn't exist

anymore yeah i remember that it's not google

meet and was like google duo and yeah yeah it's

another one of those things that gets bought

out changed bought out changed yep yeah absolutely

absolutely now there's uh yeah a different company

has the duo name now that rotten fruit company

has the duo name now since they just uh just

unveiled their duo but uh but yeah we are here

and uh and yeah it's been a little while but

uh we are ever so closer to almost 475 we're

two away from 475 and we are yeah we're 27 math

right yeah 27 20 yeah yeah 27 away from 500 the

road to 500 that's right yeah that's uh i'm excited

for that i'm excited uh not sure what i'm gonna

do for 500 i don't know If I'll revamp some of

the flow of the show or do something a little

bit different. So I'm open to suggestions if

people want to drop those in the comments on

thegcrn .com or feedback at geekcastradio .com.

Let us know there. But this week, we have some

discussion points. We have some stuff about Transformers.

We have Darkwing Duck. We have Toys R Us. Uh,

we have a tiger blood, Adonis DNA. Uh, remember

those days, uh, have a couple of gremlins in

the, in the kitchen and, uh, some DCU conversation.

So without further ado, let's, uh, let's get

to the Transformers stuff first, even though

it's not all things Transformers. Yeah, no, just

two things. Just it's, this is, this is going

to be fun and ranty at the same time. Yes. Yes.

So when it was announced that the 40th anniversary

of Transformers, the movie, when it was announced

that Transformers, the movie was coming back

into theaters on a limited run, that limited

run has got extended up until I think October

7th or October 8th. But we knew that shout factory

shout studios, whatever they're calling themselves

these days, entertainment. okay well so all of

their they were shout shout factory became shout

studios then they merged with somebody else became

radial entertainment and then groove .com gruv

is now their shout factory yeah it's weird well

it all of there's at least i guess i need to

follow new social media stuff then because all

of the social media stuff i still see is shout

so Guess I'll have to get with the times then,

folks. I'm an old man! Get off my lawn! But anyway,

when it was announced that the physical media,

the 4K, the Blu -ray, all of the physical media

for Transformers the Movie, the 40th anniversary

edition, was going to be released, the 4K specifically,

because the main DVD cover is still the... I

mean, no disrespect to whomever the artist is

that did the main DVD cover. It's the one with

Optimus, like, running into the camera. I just

don't know who the artist is that did that. I

don't know if that was AI art that did that or

whatever. I don't know. No artist has come out

and said, hey, that's my art. or whatever I know

this art that's on the 4k cover is Marcelo Matera's

art of the dead optimus arm dead optimus prime

uh 40 years still hits like a truck so when the

pre -orders went live it was that other art And

it said art not yet final. Well, they finally

finalized it and they finally given us the full

package. Amazon just updated and they've given

us looks at what the inside of the case of. So

it isn't just the outside that we see. It's the

inside, the backside and the discs. So the backside

is Unicron. on the back the inside underneath

the discs is optimus laying on the slab with

his chest open and the matrix the matrix is colored

he is not he is turned gray but the discard man

the discard is the original poster with ultra

magnet and i saw that i was like yeah yeah i

have to look i'll Keep talking. I'm going to

pull up my Transformers movie 20th and 30th anniversary

to see what the discs look like. My discs are

in the other room, if I remember correctly. Mine

are literally in the cabinet part of my desk,

so I just pulled them. My Transformers the movie

20th anniversary special edition looks very similar

in some regards. To the DVD version. Okay. There's

a lot of similarities to it. In how it's formatted.

How it's set up. The positioning of certain characters.

Now I do know that these were artists. That drew

that. And then they have like Grimlock on there.

And you know. Other characters. A lot of the

same ones that are in it though. Are in it in

both. So I found that interesting. So the disc

for the original. The 20th anniversary anyway.

It has Unicron on disc one for the, uh, the widescreen

and it has the matrix with energy coming off

of it for disc two for the full screen. Yeah.

So that's the Sony one, the, the 35th anniversary,

I believe it is. Uh, yeah. The 4k restoration

has like, yep. The, like when they're, they're

doing the spinny thing into the techno techno

world to do the, you know, and have the transformers

logo come out of it. That's the thing that's

on the first disc for the full frame Blu -ray.

For the widescreen Ultra HD, it's Rodimus opening

the Matrix with the disc thing in the middle,

which I thought was kind of neat. I love the

artwork for all of it. I really do. However,

I don't know if I necessarily need another one.

This is the last time. I'm happy to get it. I

would be happy to get this limited edition steelbook

to get this other artwork, this other stuff with

the other special features that are added, but

I probably won't buy another one. I would like

to compare the three discs, however, and the

features and appearances just to kind of do a

compare and contrast. Yeah. so like, I, I think

I said on, uh, on the, whatever the most recent

all things transformers episode is, this will

be my last time purchasing this movie because

I don't think shout factory is going to do like

a 42nd anniversary or like the next time we have

a, a, uh, a, It's going to be 10 years from now

in 2036 will be the next anniversary. I will

be 56 years old at that point. And I don't think

I'm going to need another version. I'm not sure

what else they can do at this point. And I'm

not trying to be negative about it. I'm not trying

to be negative at all. I'm just saying whatever

they're doing with the 40th anniversary version,

it's going to have to be the best version of

the movie that they've ever done. Like, the only

way I'm buying a 50th anniversary version of

this movie is if it's in 8K and we all have 8K

TVs by then. That's the only way I'm buying this

thing again for another time kind of thing. Because

I just don't know what else they're going to

be able to do in my personal lifetime. Like,

for new people, it's great. For younger people,

it's amazing. It's awesome. Don't get me wrong.

Again, not trying to, you know, whatever. uh

but it's just one of those things where i'm trying

okay new presented in dolmy atmos for the first

time optimus prime awakening animated companion

piece will be on this version yeah see i don't

think i don't think they're doing anything additionally

to transformers the movie On this version, I

think this is going to be a one -to -one transfer

of the movie itself from the 4K that was on the

35th. The one that we currently have with Hot

Rod opening the Matrix on the front of the cover.

The one that we currently have that says 4K Ultra

HD in Blu -ray. I think that's the version we're

going to get as far as the movie itself. I don't

think there's any new features other than the

ones I literally just read from this Amazon listing.

They upgraded it to Dolby Atmos for the sound

or for the vision. Great. Awesome. We get the

Optimus Prime Awakening short. Awesome. We get

the reformatted edition touch the touch music

video. OK, cool. And we get the 40th anniversary

screening theatrical trailer. OK, cool. Great.

But that's it. They're like, I don't know. They

could have put they should have put the and I

know this has been a long time coming. These

are already well overprinted. They the clip that

was included with the movie. And I get that they

put it on their YouTube channel. But the one

that was a tribute to Peter Cullen. Yeah, they

should have put that on here. Maybe it is on

here and it's just not listed in the Amazon listing.

I don't know. Yeah, I have no idea, but I'm either

way. I'm excited for this as a final, you know,

it's got prime on the cover. I mean, yeah, he's

dead, but I, I, I'm excited. for for it again

i'm also curious to see if it's been upgraded

because if it's the same copy that was on the

theater screen like there were issues with a

lot of grainy elements in certain sections uh

it like it was super pixelated and like blown

out like it wasn't made for that resolution yeah

uh so i'm hoping that this isn't that uh i need

to re -watch my my Blu -ray of it and my 20th

anniversary just to compare notes at this point

because I really don't know. Which is why I think

they're going to use the 4K transfer from the

35th, not... Whatever is and maybe that I don't

know. Is that what they used in? I don't know.

I don't know what they I didn't go to the theater.

So I have no idea what they used. I have no idea

what they used. I just know that there was some

elements I could tell were higher definition.

And then there were some elements that were uber

grainy and pixelated. And I was like, what? Yeah.

So and I'm sure some of its original or it might

even be the original. you know playing of the

movie I don't know but because obviously I didn't

see it the first time I know people that have

seen it the first time in the theater and I'm

not one of them because I was born the same year

I would have had no use for Transformers at that

point but yeah so I'm I'm excited to see what

what is new with it and and check it out and

yeah I agree it'll be it'll be my last of the

Transformers disc sets of at least of the movie

I still plan to possibly I still plan to possibly

get generation one yeah like the whole series

on disc I haven't they sell it at Walmart it's

like 36 bucks I just haven't pulled the trigger

on it yet I do want it I'm just like yeah I'm

kind of heen and hawn I bought The entire Star

Trek film collection on Blu -ray and the first

six movies are 4K upgraded. They just don't explicitly

say it until they don't advertise it on the cover.

But if you open it up, it says that they have

the regular and then the 4K remaster in there

of those. And then they have the four TNG films,

which were higher definition than the original

six. And then I have the entire DCAU. Outside

of Superman the Animated Series now. Nice. Very

cool. Very cool. So this will fit nicely with

that nice little collection I have going. Very

cool. And then as far as other Transformers stuff.

Yes. So I just saw this and they had linked the

2027 Age of Evolution or Age of Megatron, whatever

the line is going to be called. I've heard both.

I've heard Megatron Rising is a toy line. But

I've also seen that they've dropped the Age of

Evolution. And TFW is pretty bad about consistency.

Because literally yesterday, it says 2027 Age

of Evolution listings. And then today it says

that Hasbro's dropped the Age of Evolution. name

and gone with Megatron rising which is coinciding

with the awakening clip yeah as far as I can

tell like of where Megatron you know yeah so

I won't spoil it on here in case somebody hasn't

watched it but it's it'll be on the disc I'm

sure and then on YouTube and everywhere else

so anyways the toy line is gonna be called Megatron

rising and it's a the story is in a timeline

Optimus Prime the Autobots defeated the Decepticons

and won the war but in order to do that the Autobots

got corrupted shattered glass and you know they

rule Cybertron as tyrants and you know the Autobots

are still good but you know they're remnant Decepticons

and you know the Megatrons do what Megatrons

do yeah cross the multiverse and collects to

fight the evil Prime and has a combining gimmick

anyways they're gonna have a multitude of new

figures. Among them are like GoBots, Megatron,

a stylized G1 Mirage, a new tooling of Studio

Series 86, Leader Astro Train. They're going

to have some steamroller guy. They're going to

have Leader Scorponok. It's not Energon, but

they're saying it's a tooling kind of baked in

of some sort. something to an homage of an IDW

or BotCon 2014. They're also going to have a

corrupt Optimus. It says reactivate redeco, or

it looks meaner. In a Voyager, they're going

to have a corrupted Prowl, a corrupted Bee, a

corrupted Slug, which is Slag. And then there's

a Voyager Ironhide Demolisher too. The one that

concerns me the most is they're going to have

a Transmetal It's been listed as Transmetal Megatron.

And from the initial, everybody was super excited,

like uber excited. Present company included.

Until JT Prime 17 on the TFW boards. He's got

like a target in or he works there or something.

So he gets like all these Transformer product

numbers and things. So anyways. I don't know

if he sees the image of what they are or the

description, but it's hard to say because we

don't see any of that stuff. But he posted that

this one's going to really upset people, saying

that he's going to be a remold of Kingdom Megatron.

Looks good in beast mode. Bot mode is not very

accurate. To which everybody lost their colossal

crap. Yes. On the FW. Myself included. Because

I'm like, I've been... This is the one. Hasbro

could do anything with Beast Wars. This is the

one that every fan wants a show accurate figure.

Do not screw with Transmetal Megatron. Literally,

that is the figure because of the gold plastic

syndrome, which funny enough, the gold plastic

on him was not what broke. It was the brown plastic.

Yep. So his chest, his shoulders, his arms, and

his upper part of his legs and the head are all

made of the same plastic. And somebody actually

created a 3D print file to replace the torso,

like the upper part of the arms from the elbow

up and from the knee up, up to the neck of Megatron

and 3D printed the whole thing and it transforms.

was able to replace all of the broken the parts

that shatter and repaint it and have it look

like the original toy and it's such a hot commodity

in the the collector space that i mean i've had

four of these and that each one is broken from

the same problem and i've tried to preserve them

i've tried not to transform them i've tried to

just do anything and then they just like they

get brittle and they just shatter um and I have

I have the trans art version of it, which is

awesome. Don't get me wrong, but I would love

a Hasbro official re -release of something and

then hopefully do it justice. And to hear this,

it's extremely discouraging. I'm hoping Hasbro

has another angle on it. I would love to hear

another angle on it, and I hope that it's not

true. But only time will tell. I mean, I'm glad

it's a leader. I'm glad in that sense. I'm hoping

that it's more than just a redeco or a remold.

It could be a heavy remold. It may transform

the same. Maybe that's the case. And then replace

a lot of the parts and share some common components.

I think I could live with a couple of common

components, but it's like you can't really screw

with the transformation too much. There's only

so many places you can... go with it i mean if

trans art could figure it out and make a show

accurate version that hasbro apparently can't

do there's no reason why they can't do this either

way like if it's if it comes out decent enough

i'm almost wondering if they're going to do the

10th anniversary thing all over again where we

got that deluxe figure yeah where it looks like

a kind of like what the transmittal probably

should have been of megatron and optimus primal

right I'm wondering if they're going to go that

route with it, and that's going to be their quote

-unquote transmetal, which they used those two

molds in Transformers Earth Wars video game on

the phone rather than the actual transmetal of

both Primal and Megatron. So I'm wondering if

they're going to do that, and that's what the

transmetal is meaning here. Instead of the original

transmetal, they're going to go with the 10th

anniversary transmetal. Hmm. Could be. Either

way, I'm only going to get it because it's going

to be a stinking Beast Wars Megatron. I'm just

being for real. I've 3D printed a Beast Machine

Megatron. I've 3D printed the IDW Megatron. I've

made the Dawn of Future Past Megatron. And I

have a buttload of other Megatrons. I mean, I

have the Yolo Park one sitting on my shelf, too.

It's fun, too. So, I mean, I don't know. I'm

a cranky fan, but not totally going to go against

either if it's Megatron. But I really hope they

can make it show accurate. Yeah. And I'm really

hoping that next year they can do something more

with Beast Wars, because don't get me wrong,

I get it. 86 is very important. It is. So is

96. 96 saved your asses, Hasbro. It did. 96 saved

the brand. It revived Transformers. Yeah, and

what, two 7 -packs? One for Maximals, one for

Predacons? Outside of those two giant packs,

and maybe a handful of other toys? Like, I haven't

seen... much like oh my god biggest beast wars

blah blah blah like like damn what a way to waste

a 30th anniversary well true so yeah maybe maybe

if they don't have anything for the 50th anniversary

of transformers the movie they'll do something

special for the 40th anniversary of beast wars

in 10 years I doubt it. It's like, come on, man.

Come on. Make us a Beast Wars movie with, you

know, Simon Furman and Bob Forward. Yeah, that'd

be nice. And then bring back what's left of the

original cast before they, you know, sadly go

the way of the Matrix. Don't finish that sentence.

I know. All right. Well, I love Beast Wars. I

love my actors for it. Absolutely. like let's

give them one more shot yeah give them their

transformers the movie moment yes absolutely

that is not rise of the beasts because that doesn't

count let's do let's do the the prequel to beast

wars when they were getting ready to go to earth

like yeah that would that showing how all the

crews came together you know i know they did

you know after the golden disc but i would like

to see something a little bit more meaty right

there you know I know they've done it in comics,

but yeah. Yeah, well, you know, again, that would

be very, very cool. So moving on, we have Darkwing

Duck. Let's get dangerous. All right, coming

out of St. Canard, September 22nd, 2026. An all

-new Darkwing Duck series has been greenlit for

Disney +, bringing back Drake Mallard as the

iconic crime fighter Darkwing Duck. This action

-packed continuation of the beloved franchise

comes from Sean Treta from Star Trek Picard.

And I'm going to... Somebody else. I'm not even

going to pronounce the person's name. I can't.

I'll butcher it so hard it isn't even funny.

I pride myself on being able to pronounce things,

folks. I can't pronounce that person's name.

That person worked on Lost and Crowned, who both

serve as executive producers. Seth Rogen, Evan

Goldberg, James Weaver, Alex McTea, or McAtee,

and Gabby Grantham are producing for Point Grey

Pictures. Tad Stones is the creator of the original

Darkwing Duck series and consulted on the development

of his new adventures. Speaking of his new adventures,

this is the synopsis for it, or the overall description

of what it's supposed to be. For the last 35

years, Darkwing Duck has been trapped in his

worst nightmare, an alternate world that's never

heard of his superhero exploits. Now a rebellious

teen, named Ducky, who knows all about his heroic

past, shows up to pull this ego -fueled vigilante

back into battle. Together, this unlikely duo

will get dangerous to fight old enemies like

Negaduck and Megavolt and reunite with allies

such as Launchpad, Gosselin, and Morgana to save

the entire universe. The lead cast includes Mark

Hamill from... Things Everyone Knows Mark Hamill

From, Batman Animated Series, Arkham Asylum,

and more. As the voice of Drake Mallard, a .k

.a. Darkwing Duck, Seth Rogen, as Launchpad,

Lizzie Kaplan, as Gosselin Mallard, Lily Marr,

as Ducky, Dan Stevens, as Glade McTowers, Tiffany

Shepis, and sorry. She was also in Picard as

Rosa, Catherine Newton, as Firecracker, and more.

Disney said, let's get dangerous, and we said,

hell yeah, shared the Point Grey team. Like every

other fan of the original show, I'm excited to

see Darkwing getting dangerous again in a whole

new series, said Tad Stones. The new creative

team has certainly amped up the action and comedy

without forgetting the Disney heart. This series

places DW in the literary tradition of Robin

Hood, Zorro, and Sherlock Holmes, heroes whose

lore has been... Reinterpreted by multiple creators

in multiple mediums, they explored the core of

those characters by tossing them into new eras,

new relationships, and even new universes. No

matter when or where, Darkwing Duck will appear

in a cloud of smoke, blue smoke, and grab the

spotlight. Produced by Disney Television Animation,

the Emmy Award -nominated original Darkwing Duck

series ran for 91 episodes, originally premiered

on Disney Channel, and then aired on ABC in syndication

beginning in 1991. ABC run concluded in 1993,

with a syndication run wrapping up in 1995. Uh,

so yeah, that's a dark wing duck. We'll be coming

back to Disney plus does not say when does not

say it just says it's going to be that the series

has been greenlit. I think the biggest thing

for me coming out of this is Mark Hamill as the

voice of Drake Mallard as slash dark wing. I

love Mark to death. He's an amazing voice actor.

but you compare what Jim Cummings did as the

original character and what I know Mark's voice

to sound like as the multiple voices Mark has

done over the years. And obviously we don't know

what Mark's going to do this time around, but

I just don't feel like his voices will fit that

character. I agree with you. I am not a fan of

what's going down right now. Like I, no offense

against Mark but Mark plays Mark like he plays

he plays various levels of the Joker like he

doesn't really have much range anymore like unless

it's like uber deep it all sounds the same like

we get various stages of the Joker when he played

Skeletor we had some ups and downs but it still

sounded like the Joker just in a different manner

yeah but and I'm not like I'm not knocking the

dude because like I love his work I love the

Joker I love you know Luke Skywalker but I don't

love that they're shoehorning him into everything

it kind of reminds me of like the whole like

when everybody you know everything was Benedict

Cumberbatch or you know what's his nuts from

Fantastic Four oh not Chris Mandalorian oh Pedro

Pedro Pascal like I can't stand the dude like

he's in everything like So like it's getting

to that point like we're getting to that fever

pitch of where like Mark is in too much crap

and then like especially to reboot something

if you're going to reboot it like at least get

like relative unknowns to do it or you know start

over with younger actors. These guys are all

like old like if you're going to pull somebody

that's in their 70s to get the original guy like

don't don't play this game. I don't understand.

I don't know. And I haven't done the research

on it as to why does, I don't understand what

the, what the, the, the beef is between Disney

and Cummings. I don't know if there is any beef

between Disney and Cummings. I don't know if

it's Disney's issue versus like, I don't think

like I watched Jim's podcast every once in a

while on YouTube. I, he's never said a bad word

about them to my knowledge. at least the episodes

I've seen recently, uh, you know, always very

respectful. So I, I don't know what happened

there. And they snubbed him too, with like the

achievement award stuff. I mean, he's done Winnie

the Pooh, Tigger, like all, you know, Darkwing,

like he's been a part of most of Disney's animation

lineup for, you know, four decades. Yeah. Like,

why are we screwing this guy over? Yeah. I don't

know. It's just, It's just crazy. I don't know.

So, yes, moving on, we'll go to the fact that

we got Timu Toys R Us now. Yeah. Oh, God. So,

have you seen one of these new stores? No. So,

I've been in one. Okay. We have one about 35

minutes from where I live, closer to, like, Denver

area. And I was like, OK, I want to check it

out. It's like in the Thornton Mall and it's

a pretty big shopping area. And I was like, OK,

you know, they used to have a toy store here

and then it closed down. It was like one of those

go go games or something, you know, the place

that had the calendars and a bunch of other miscellaneous

crap. So they put a Toys R Us in there and it's

trying very hard to be Toys R Us. It's not. it's

not even a good like KB toys. Like it's, it's

very much a toy store ish that they slap the

Toys R Us label on. And they have like three

storefront size, you know, space. And you would

think that like, and it's rented in a mall, like

it's not even its own building. It, which, okay,

I get that. They're, they're restarting. They're

trying this again. The expansion is with like

go retail group. So they're bringing Toys R Us

to more customers across America and new store

experiences. And so I went to these things and

I don't know what they're doing with some of

these other ones, like the one in Texas or anything,

but the one that we have here, not counting the

ones that they put in certain Macy's stores nationwide,

the one that they have here, you go inside and

it's kind of sad. Like there's no character to

it. It's boring. It doesn't remind you of the

old one. Like it's. very much white walls it's

very bland there's no color there's you know

big empty spaces between shelving units uh the

shelving units mind you are only like is they're

like four foot tall so like you're over four

foot like you're seeing over everything like

you can see the whole store uh from one end to

the other and it's I don't know. Like, it's kind

of just sad looking. And they have these nice

little kiosks of stuff and the wall space and

everything else. Like, all the walls are kind

of covered, kind of. Yeah. But it doesn't evoke

that feeling that you got, like, going into a

Toys R Us. Like, you just knew that you were

going to see, like, the biggest variety of toys

you've ever seen and, you know, exclusives. You

know, they still have the premium pricing. Yeah,

of course they do. Yeah, they still have that.

Like, that's something they kept. But part of

the boneheaded part of it is then they have these

sections of the store. Like, it's smack in the

middle of the store. And I don't know what's

up with these... I call them S -boxes. Infer

what you will from the S. But they're like those...

You know how Toys R Us, on the way out, they

used to have the little quarter machines where

you get the little junk toys? Yep. And you knew

they were crap. Like, you knew they were crap.

so they have these big kiosks in the middle of

the store big ugly green things and they they

take you know of course dollars because nothing

takes a quarter anymore and it's it's like useless

junk like but it's like all of these boxes are

useless junk like there's nothing good in them

and And it's all like stuff from like China and

Japan and stuff, but it's like all this off brand,

like nothing, nothing is branded. Like it's all

just these, it almost looks like when you go

to a festival and you've got all these people

that have 3d printed the stupid wiggly dragon

thing. And they're like, look at my 3d print

tour that I just made and pay it for $10 for

this. And it's like, dude, I could print this

at home for like 35 cents. Yeah. You know, it's

like, yeah, you could print it for 35 cents and

sell it for $5. Yeah. So I would still make a

surplus, but I mean, it's, that's the kind of

crap that I feel like we're dealing with here.

And so I just, I walk into these stores and I

just feel sad. Like it, my kids even went in,

they're like, eh, it's, it's okay. And I'm like,

you don't, I'm like, you guys were too young

when we went to the last Toys R Us, like in Flint,

Michigan. when we lived in that area and it was

nice like it was it was slow and it was decked

out and it was slowly being taken over by video

games but it was you know this these have no

video games whatsoever yeah they have some transformers

they're loaded with super sevens of all brands

like power rangers transformers you know all

of it like there's just a buttload of super sevens

uh the, the $20, like three inch figures included.

And then they have like a bunch of old toys.

They have, you know, your, your staples, your

DC stuff, your Marvel, your transformers, your

turtles. And then, you know, of course all the

other product and buttload of Lego. So I just,

I don't get it. They still have a lot of the

popular brands, but they're not quite the same

thing. Yeah. I, so. Toy stores are online. Big

Bad, Amazon, and technically Amazon is not a

toy store, but you can get toys on Amazon. Unless

you're in an area where there are mom and pop

toy shops and things like that. I know several

of my friends live in areas where there are mom

and pop toy shops and things like that and those

types of shops. are run by people like, uh, like

if I had, you have more brain power for this

than I do, but let's say I had some sort of brain

power for business. And obviously you have the

physical knowledge and, and aptitude for the

3d printing stuff. I was in the front room. You

were in the back room, Mr. Geppetto. you know

just you know whittling away at your 3d printing

stuff and i know that's not the analysis it's

not the proper analogy you know what i mean like

okay like you know if you and i were living in

the same area which we are currently not but

if we were and we decided to do oh look gcrn

3d printed stuff and we actually wanted to make

money off this 17 year project of ours we could

make billions you know what i mean like yeah

if i had the brain power if i had the marketing

brain power which you do too is like you you

actually have it you know how to you would know

how to do that kind of thing because you have

it all more so than i do but it's one of those

things where that's my point something like that

something where if i was in the front room like

for me i'd I would have to want to actually deal

with people in general, but I think I could deal

with customers. I don't, I don't think I'm a

Tom. It's all the God damn customer. I don't

think I'm Mr. Office space, Tom, old man, Tom

from office space. I think I could deal with

customers while you were doing the work in the

back kind of thing. And I could talk to people,

that kind of thing. And I could probably sell

the stuff. kind of thing and whatever but uh

but yeah man like i know there are a lot of people

that do have toy shops and things like that we

used to over on toy cast i still have the advertisement

i gotta check in with my buddy josh and see what

he's up to but we used to advertise for one of

his buddies uh for the toy shop that he used

to go to and he used to help out at uh over there

in illinois Uh, so I know there are my point

in all of this is I know there are mom and pop

toy shops and things like that, but they're mostly

people of around ish, our age who grew up with

this and who go to these toy shows and buy and

sell and trade and do all this stuff. And, you

know, have a, like most of the mom and pop toy

shops, I know they have inventories of. old classic

gi joes and transformers and he -man and insert

whatever other brand you want to hear kind of

thing and that's you know this is the way it

is most of the selling i see now for toys uh

in the last i would say how long has it been

since at least right right before the pandemic

late 2018 early 29 whatnot I used to follow a

bunch of people that do whatnot auctions for

specifically, in my case, Funko Pops. But I know

they sell a bunch of other things on whatnot

as well. But yeah, I mean, brick and mortar toy

shops like Main Street, like you're saying, Toys

R Us and things like that. It ain't the way it

was 40 years ago in 1986. No, it's just not.

I specifically go to Walmart. Yeah. Or Target.

Those are my two go -to stores. You might find

the occasional thing at Walgreens or something.

But ultimately, you're not getting any of that.

Walmart is my number one go -to. That's my ride

-or -die place to go for toys. And it varies

from location to location. Like, I was at one

on Monday, and they had the full -blown Hasbro

kiosk in the middle aisle, you know, for the

holidays. And they had the, you know, the G .I.

Joes. They had the G .I. Joes. They had the Transformers.

They had Marvel Legends. They had, you know,

literally everything. I looked at them and like,

for instance, I found the, the Marvel doomsday,

Marvel legends, doomsday figure of Cyclops, which

was on my BBTS, like a pre -order. Yeah. And

they had a nice kiosk set up there. They had,

you know, Falcon, Captain America, they had Shang

-Chi, they had Punisher, they had brand new day

Spider -Man, they had Gambit. Uh, and then, I

went to and then like the G .I. Joe stuff like

they had the new Laura Croft Tomb Raider G .I.

Joe figure they had for the Transformers all

the ones that are currently out and then I went

to the one nearest my work which is you know

six minutes from there they don't have the kiosk

they just put crap on the shelf but they didn't

have half of that stuff So they didn't have Cyclops,

but they had all the other stuff that I mentioned.

They didn't have the Tomb Raider figure of G

.I. Joe. They didn't have because they didn't

have like the dedicated space. Now, if I go to

a different Walmart in Loveland, the other one,

they'll have the kiosk and then they'll have

all that stuff. And so it just kind of varies

location to location. But same thing with Target.

Like you can go to one and they'll have certain

figures and you go to the other one, they'll

have crap for stock. And the whole thing with

Toys R Us is. The figures I saw there weren't

even new. They were stuff that was selling three,

four years ago. Oh, geez. Like, they had War

for Cybertron, like Hound and Mirage and some

of these other guys. And I'm just like, why are

they carrying stuff so old? Like, I could not

fathom why they were so old at this point. Like,

they had stuff that my kids owned four years

ago that they sold. Like that's crazy. So like,

and they don't even have like all the major Marvel

legends. They have like a lot of those FH or

F F S H F big warts figures, which are the highly

expensive ones of like, you know, like anime

figures and dragon ball. And so they had that

stuff, but yeah, they didn't, they just, in my

opinion, they can't, they still can't compete

with. these newer stores and the new stores are

barely selling the toys as is like most of the

time they're clearancing them off. Like they've

got a buttload of, uh, turtles and, uh, you know,

Hasbro DC figures. They've got some Farland figures,

which both those companies lost the rights, uh,

the turtles, like they lost the rights. Uh, and

then we're, you know, they've got a bunch of

transformers shelf, well, shelf warming. Power

Rangers is shell forming. Like nothing's being

bought. Yeah. Because I go week after week just

because I'm like, one, I'm trying to get out

of the office and two, I'm curious what's going

and what's not. And generally, it all sits. Like

kids don't play with toys. It's us, the grownups

that are the collectors, but we're also broke

and trying to pay, you know, for life. And so

like, I don't foresee Toys R Us lasting, but

you never know. But I don't see them lasting

when you have people that undercut the pricing

and have up -to -date stuff like Walmart and

Target, both of which have Doomsday figures and

Transformers figures and all of these other properties

that Toys R Us just doesn't carry. There was

somebody earlier today on Instagram that was

in... I think the guy was in a target on Instagram

in a target store. Cause I think target is the

one that has the 40th anniversary apology tour

kiosks. They do. Most of the stuff sells out

super quick. Yeah, I understand. Okay. But I

want to make sure that target is the one that

has the apology. So this, I don't even follow

the person. It was a doom scroll thing. So he's,

he's walking around it. He's like, oh, they have

this, they have that, they have this, they have

that, they have the, and I don't know if it's

because he just didn't want to say the word dead

on Instagram or not, but he says, oh, they have

the injured Optimus Prime, meaning the battle

damaged Optimus Prime, the one that we've been

talking about for months. Yeah, they had a ton

of those, including the Megatrons that are damaged.

Yep, yep. What I find so other than I find that

funny that he says injured Optimus Prime. What

I find so funny about this person's video on

Instagram is as he pans through the rest of it,

he goes through and he goes to the other part

of the section. He goes, oh, and then Nintendo

comes into the Hasbro section of Transformers

and you get Mario and Luigi just hanging out

here. I don't think Hasbro is going to like that

very much because somebody else, obviously in

the store, you know, some other person in shopping

in the store just left a Mario and Luigi plushie

toy, just sitting there on the transformer shelf.

I thought that was hilarious. It's just crazy.

But yeah, I mean, as much as I wish them well,

they're just, it's a pale, it's, it's. shell

of its former self and i just i don't see this

boding well no it's never gonna be the same i

mean if you think about it if if they're because

toys r us inside macy's is bad because Toys R

Us inside Macy's is just, oh, look, we really

don't care about Toys R Us because it's just

this little kiosk inside of another store. Now

you're taking actual physical buildings that

are of older stores that are closed down, these

empty buildings, and using them. And again, it's

to whoever owns the buildings, they can do with

them however they please, I guess, because whatever.

But to give people false hope and say, look,

Toys R Us is back. No, it's not. Don't lie to

me. Don't lie to me. The hell you think I am?

Born yesterday? I think so. 46 years ago yesterday.

Well, 46 and whatever. Anyway, it just is crazy.

Toys R Us. Uh, let's talk some TV, shall we?

Some more TV. You talk TV, I talk TV. Okay, Meatwad.

I require a popsicle over 15 minutes. You obviously

did not get the memo. Yeah, exactly. Oh, boy.

Coming from Deadline, Charlie and Martin Sheen

to star as father and son comedy series Happy

Jack for AMC. So that's right. The Sheens are

reuniting as father and son. And the new series,

the first time they've done this in over a decade,

the duo are headlining Happy Jack, a comedy series

for AMC and AMC+. I almost read that as AMC asterisk.

Half an hour family comedy has been greenlit

for six episodes and will start production at

Warner Brothers Studios in the studio where Friends

was filmed for a 2027 launch. The series comes

from Jim Patterson and Matt Ross, who worked

together on shows such as Two and a Half Men.

And The Ranch. Whatever the hell The Ranch is.

Never heard of that show. At least I haven't

paid attention to it. It's a little weird that

they're doing a six episode run. Really? Seriously?

In this day and age? This is AMC and AMC+. This

is streaming, dude. Yeah, six episodes. Yeah.

I cannot fathom. The level of stupid in modern

television. I really can't. That's where we are.

It marks an interesting move for AMC, which has

not really been in the comedy business and is

certainly not the half hour space. The Breaking

Bad broadcaster has aired series such as Kevin

can himself. and Lucky Hank, but they have been

more in the dramedy space. As I already said,

Happy Jack stars Charlie Sheen as Jack, a bit

of a lifelong ne 'er -do -well. That's casting

to type. He's got two great daughters, although

his dad, played by Martin, deserves more credit

for how they turned out. Kate runs Jack's company

and keeps him on the rails, while Sam, his wild

child, who is more like her dad when Sam comes

home to introduce everyone to her new boyfriend,

Jack's shock to learn Paul, a former investment

banker turned van life guru? What the? Okay.

He's the same age as he is. Oh, boy. It's one

of those. Okay. So Paul is the same age as. Oh,

so Paul is the older guy. Okay. Same age as he

is. So that's why he's a van life guru. Shocked

at first, Jack soon realizes he's got a choice

to make. Will he keep looking out for number

one or embrace this last chance to be a real

part of his daughter's lives? The pair have portrayed

on -screen father and son in a number of movies

and series, most recently on Anger Management,

the multi -camera sitcom that premiered on FX

in 2012, and most famously in Wall Street. Charlie

will also executive produce alongside Todd Christopher,

Eric Tenenbaum, Kim Tenenbaum, and Jason Wang

with 20th Century Television as an executive

producer as well. Charlie said, I've always heard

the moments that truly matter happen when they're

supposed to. The good folks at AMC have played

a huge hand in deciding that moment is now. It's

no secret it's been a minute, and I'm thrilled

to be going back on television in such a meaningful

way. An equally wonderful show. The crew has

reassembled. Suffice to say, it's time to give

the people what they want. Give it a couple episodes,

maybe just to see the father and son act together.

Well, and I think, too, is like people are joking

that they added Martin Sheen specifically to

go against, you know, to play with him on screen,

too. Yeah. I'll keep Charlie in line. Probably.

I do find it weird that it's going to be a half

hour family sitcom for AMC, like trying to jump

into that realm. Yeah. And comedy at that. So

I mean, I'll check it out because like I like

Charlie Sheen as an actor, him as a human. He's

a weird individual. That's why I made the joke

about the DNA of Tiger Blood. Yeah. They used

to make that joke when that happened. I like

them both as actors. They're great actors. Yeah,

they're both great. And it'll be interesting

to see how this goes. I'll just say that. And

the fact that it's got somebody he knew from

Two and a Half Men, so it probably will be good.

They'll know how to write for him. Definitely

will check it out while we're before we get to

the other parts they have and I couldn't leave

this out of this episode because it's going to

be news as of like the next week. The Paramount

Warner Brothers merger is going through. I don't

have to comment much on it right now because

I'm sure we'll hear more news on it later. I

just had to bring it up for the sake of saying

that. Uh, it is, it has been passed and starting

October 1st, uh, they'll, they'll start, uh,

the transitionary period. It's, it's been okayed

by the judge at this point. So they're, they're

going to go through with it. Yeah. They're going

to go through with it. What they do with an afterwards,

who the heck knows. So, yeah, I, I think they

should go alphabetical. So paramount comes first.

Just so I can see the stars in the mountain first

in the logo. Well, what will happen is they'll

call it. They'll call it Warner Brothers Skydancing

Paramount. Yeah. Or it'll be Warner Brothers

Paramount, a skydance company. Yeah, probably.

I think that this is. I don't know. I think it

would have been better with Netflix, to be honest,

because they probably would have just left it

alone. for the most part it would have just been

a Netflix company no different than like MGM

with Amazon yeah it kind of just kind of coexists

there yeah but at this point we just have to

wait and see what they do or don't do or how

they ruin it or don't ruin it so yeah it so I

think moving from that one I think we'll go to

the the okay so you told me or you sent to me

or maybe i saw it first i forget who the hell

so you saw it on some somebody posted uh black

nerd comedy or something like that so andre aka

black nerd comedy posted that there was a gremlins

3 teaser out and i immediately i'm like nope

i unless i find this thing myself on youtube

and again what's the largest video platform on

the internet youtube where's the most uh ai generated

crap on the planet youtube okay well that's neither

here or there as far as that goes but like seriously

and i don't necessarily consider myself to be

in the quote -unquote general i mean technically

i guess i would be in the general public but

like I'm a geek, I'm a nerd, I'm a this, I'm

a that, I'm a whatever. I generally like to think

I have my finger on somewhat of a pulse of something.

If I was going to see or hear or whatever about

something about Gremlins 3 or whatever, I would

have seen it or it would have popped up, especially

since I follow Warner Brothers. Like, I'm subscribed

to the Warner Brothers YouTube channel. Uh, I

don't follow them on Instagram. That'll come

up later in a moment, but like I follow a lot

of the film studios and I've subscribed to a

lot of their channels because I'm like, Ooh,

I want to see trailers from the actual film studios

kind of things and whatever, whatever, whatever.

And I've been subscribed to these studios for

as long as I've been on YouTube the last 15,

16, 17 years. And I went after you shared it

to me or I shared it to you or whatever. I went

searching after I saw his, his reaction video.

I'm like, that doesn't. The only thing I could

find was from some company name. And I, again,

I'm not trying to throw shade on this YouTube

channel. I found a YouTube channel called one

media, like never heard of one media, no clue

who they are, but they had this exact trailer

that he was reacting to in his video. So I commented

on his video. I was nice about it, and I said,

I'm trying to still find this here on YouTube,

and I'm not finding it. We exchanged in conversation

through his comments, and he's like, oh, yeah,

it's on Warner Brothers and Amblin's Instagram.

And I'm like, mother trucker, you've got to be

kidding me. Like, okay. So I then went to the.

Finally took like two or three days before I

actually saw the Warner. Like I actually had

to go to the Amblin Instagram before I could

actually get to the, I went to the Warner brothers

Instagram page. I went all over their Instagram

page. Could not find this thing at all whatsoever.

Uh, you got a YouTube channel. You, uh, you,

you, you use it. Warner brothers. Like, I don't

understand this day and age. Like I understand

this day and age of instant advertising is, Oh,

just upload it to Instagram or upload it to Facebook

or upload it to whatever. But YouTube is for

the last 21 years has been the number. Okay.

Maybe not the first, whatever, you know what

I mean? For 20 years. YouTube has been one of,

if not the biggest video platforms on the internet.

Like, why wouldn't you just update your YouTube

channel? Like, put the dang teaser trailer on

there because that was the first place I looked.

I didn't even think to look at the Warner Brothers

or Amblin Entertainment Instagram pages. And

apparently that's where they debuted this thing.

And the video. is basically just a little teaser

what is it um coming june 28th 2028 and it's

just gizmo hiding and he makes some mogwai noises

and it's just a teaser like i have no gizmo looks

cute that's pretty much all my reaction is to

it I'm glad I have an, I'm glad I have an, I'm

sorry to cut you. I'll let you go. Sorry. I'm

glad I have an actual official page verification

that it actually is a real studio video teaser

and is not some AI generated BS or somebody made

it up and it's fake. Like originally I thought

it was good. No, and I, I didn't believe it either

until I found it earlier today. looking through

the Warner Brothers entertainment website. So,

yeah, I am interested to see what they do with

it. I just hope that they get as many of the

old cast back that's willing to come back. Otherwise,

it's going to kind of not make sense. It's kind

of a double -edged sword. Yes, our generations

want to see the nostalgia. We love the old stuff.

That being said... I do feel like studios milk

it too much. Like we're, we're at this day and

age now where they're, they're milking it for

additional footage by re -releasing the film.

We're going to get her. We're going to get to

that. Don't, don't jump the gun on that. So we'll,

we'll go down that soapbox in a minute, but I,

I just, yeah, I just, I don't, I don't, I just

don't know. Yeah. So the original film was in

1984. The second film was in... Remnants to the

New Batch was released in 1990. So 1984 and 1990

to 2028. That is... 84, that's 44 years. And

90 is 38 years. That's too damn long. In my personal

opinion, like if you want to do a reboot and

you want to like, don't call it gremlins three,

call it gremlins, the new, new batch or something

like, you know what I mean? Like, like do something

different. Do like, don't call it gremlins three.

Like you can still have it with gizmo. You can

still do, but just don't call it gremlins three,

please. For the love of Mike. Don't do that.

It does not have, at least according to IMDB

currently, Gremlins 3 does not have a cast attached

to it. Yeah, there's no cast attached. Okay,

so Christopher Columbus is attached to direct.

There are, at least as of this recording, there

are five writers attached to this thing. That's

never a good sign. Chris Columbus is attached

as writers for characters since he was the originator

kind of thing. Screenplay is Carl Ellisworth.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. We are

two years away from Gremlins 3. I'm more interested

right now in the end of September, beginning

of October, because by the time you find people

hear this, it will most likely be October. So

happy October, everybody. It's fall, y 'all.

What? It's true. I know. But I'm more interested

to see what films we are getting next year. I'm

more interested to see the 2027 movies and that

kind of thing than I'm more interested in focusing

on what's coming next year than to look so far

ahead into 2020. Like, I don't even know. I'm

more focused on the doomsday clock than anything

else at this point. Because honestly, I don't

even want to hear anything else about it. I just

want to watch the dang movie. I think I said

this in one of the other episodes we did a couple

weeks, maybe a month or so ago or whenever it

was. I think everything we have heard about Doomsday

so far, I hope it's wrong. I don't think it is,

but I hope it is. I hope Doomsday knocks all

of our socks off and it's nothing that we expected

it to be. I hope... Every one of us that is listening

to the sound of my voice right now goes into

that movie and comes out of it and says, I didn't

expect that at all. Because that movie has to,

it's got to reinvigorate the Marvel Cinematic

Universe. It really does. And that's the thing

is we just don't know. Well, yeah, exactly. Like,

I don't, I hope that they're not going to. do

what i think they're gonna do for stuff but again

time will tell yeah i won't tell so yeah i think

uh then there was the dcu stuff yes so there

was a rumor i don't know how the rumor got started

but there was a rumor that matthew lillard uh

from the film hackers from 1995 he also played

shaggy and scooby -doo he's also done a bunch

of other stuff as well there was a rumor that

he was going to be playing the flash the barry

allen version of the flash in james guns dc universe

and from what i can find at least on threads

someone asked mr guns's official account on there

that is this a factually correct thing, and the

Gunn account on there said no. Now, Mr. Gunn

can say no all he wants. Maybe he's lying to

this person. I don't know. I have no idea. But

we won't know until the flesh in his universe

gets gassed. yeah i don't know i don't know what

to think and i it's hard to say if the dcu is

going to survive the uh merger too that's very

true yeah well we'll have to wait and see because

i i again i just i don't know what's coming down

the pike and uh well because i wanted to it wasn't

You had sent me a video of somebody. I don't

know who the person was, but you sent me a video

of either Facebook or Instagram or wherever it

was about this person suggesting that Matthew

was playing Barry and obviously older Barry,

because it seems like that's what Mr. Gunn is

doing. He's casting all of his DC Universe main

heroes as older, yada, yada, yada. and whatever

to bring in all the younger versions of the heroes

so you can eventually set up jl and jlu a la

dc animated universe to homage the dc animated

universe and whatever um and i was you know initially

going to entertain that conversation with you

and then i was like but wait what if all of that

is wrong. And I wanted to Google it and figure

it out about, is this rumor right? Or is this

like, how, how is this rumor falling? Where did

this rumor come from? Is it, are there news sources

for this rumor at all? And Google pulled up James's

official threads. profile for me and i'm like

oh crap we can't go down that path but that's

the news folks the news well sounds like uh bruce

almighty yep that's the news that's the way i

like it yep give me a cookie yeah that's so yeah

I'll be interested to hear what what everybody

has to say about it all of the stuff that we've

kind of discussed here on this recent episode

and yeah what's the one story like that you guys

listening like that stood out to you or that

you you really want to know more about or that

you enjoyed our commentary on I I'm looking forward

to seeing what happens with some of this movie

stuff. I know we talked a little bit about Transformers,

but yeah. And I would love to know people's opinions

on these toy stores and the revivals, because

honestly, that's probably the most intriguing

thing right now, because I know that they tried

to revive KB Toys, too, and it flopped like a

dead fish. Yeah, it didn't work at all. So anyways,

let us know what you guys think. Leave your feedback

on the GCRN .com. Put it on the comments on the

episode post there. And you can, of course, always

send us feedback. Feedback at geekcastradio .com.

Until next time, get altered, get geeky with

the Altered Geeks. superheroes clash as we spark

up the flame. Ultra Geek Podcast, remember the

name!