Geek Culture Unleashed: Superheroes, Tech Trends, and Transformers Tales

Hi, this is David Kay, and you're listening to

Altered Geek. Geek. Geek. Geek. Geek. And welcome

to Altergeek. I'm your host, Steve Megatron.

Welcome back to the podcast. So what has been

up? So it's been a couple of weeks. I've been

kind of rebooting the batteries. I've been kind

of looking into things and, you know, changing

things up. Some of it with AI, some of it with

other elements here and. So yeah, this is kind

of a new experiment with the theme, just kind

of playing around with it to see what resonates.

But I do have some topics today as I fly solo

once more. So before we get into that, smash

that subscribe button on the podcast, if you

would please. And of course, thank you for tuning

in. And if you like the show and you want to

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Altered geek I'd really appreciate it and as

always comment on the episode in your desired

method and let me know what you'd like to hear

next so Since the last episode I've been doing

a kitchen renovation. I've been working my tail

off Haven't done much in the 3d printing realm

haven't done much outside of the website I've

guessed it on Kai dragon media and Yeah, really

haven't done a whole lot in the heck of podcasts

I've had a lot of anxiety and stress issues,

and so I've been kind of taking mental health

days to just kind of game and just kind of sit

back and watch Netflix or just not do anything.

I've also been kind of looking into some new

ideas for the show, like to kind of liven it

up, refresh it, kind of give it some new flair

for the fact that it's been around since. I think

about 11 or 12 years now. So it's it's crazy

that this show has been around that long. But

ATTF All Things Transformers has been around

quite a bit longer, actually 16 years and kind

of beating the network. So but we've entered

15 years stride on the podcast network here and

no sign and stopping. So, yeah, I've been I've

been working with my. Cabinet and adding to my

geek cabinet. I've got a nice like G1 G2s Transformers

collection Beast Wars collection Star Trek I

have a Some of the stuff is Hot Wheels related

I've been picking up Batmobiles lately from the

animated series and different color palettes

from Hot Wheels as well as like s10 Chevy trucks

and Yeah. So I've been doing that. I've been

I've been collecting Power Rangers figures. I

got the lineup that I cared for, which was the

MMPR and Zio. And then, of course, all the Jason

David Frank stuff. And then recently, for some

odd reason, I got back into Dragon Ball Z. And

what's funny about that is years ago, I had a

podcast idea. I was going to start with Mike

the Birdman Dodd and or Mike the Birdman. As

he kind of calls himself now And I was gonna

do a Dragon Ball Z podcast called the Cyber Dragon

Ball, which the Cyber Dragon Ball was actually

oddly enough a Dragon Ball Z website that I started

After I did my first Transformers website actually

so it was Majin Phillips and Bebby Kilburn and

then Majin Vegeta and Bebby Gogeto or something

and Dragon Ball Z GT website. And then it eventually

went to the Dark Dragon Ball and became the Cyber

Dragon Ball. And yeah, so I went through a lot

of name changes, mostly just because I was playing

around in Geo cities. And, you know, that was

the kind of era that we were in. So it, of course,

was before Dragon Ball Kai and Dragon Ball Super

and Dragon Ball Daima or Daimyo, which is the

one they've changed the whole. Timeline of the

Dragon Ball thing like GT technically doesn't

exist, but it technically exists in a weird way

So you get Dragon Ball you get Dragon Ball Z

or Kai whichever one you prefer I've never watched

Kai, so I have no idea. You know what I'm getting

in for but Dragon Ball Z As far as I know is

longer, and it's older animation, and it's kind

of Lengthened compared to Kai and then What's

funny is after the the Boo Saga where they kind

of jump back to a tournament with Oob and Goku's

wearing like the blue getup at the end, they

explain that that's supposed to be like 10 years

later. However, Dragon Ball Super takes place

directly after the Boo Saga, as far as I can

understand it. And so. They. They kind of wrap

that in there in in an odd way. And I find it

funny because they've got all these magnificent

moves and all these special powers and, you know,

Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue and Ultra

Instinct, all these things that, you know, are

a little odd. But it also shows that. Goku is

still quite immature during Super, and at the

end of Z, he's supposed to be more. More of that

kind of trainer set up. So it's kind of interesting

how they're going there. And then Dragon Ball

Daimyo or Daimyo or what? I can't pronounce it.

I haven't heard it yet, so I can't pronounce

it. But it takes place after Super, apparently.

And then it goes like because it knocks like

Goku and all of his friends down to like children

level, kind of like GT did to begin with. And

then it's supposed to like they're supposed to

get back to normal. And then it's the end of

Z. So it's it's rather confusing how it all goes

like I would have seen super is after Z and then

like the daimyo I was like why but I don't know

either way I'm kind of excited to kind of cover

some of that and I've kind of gotten into some

of the figures there's I've discovered there's

like three different price tiers you get your

SH figure arts figures, which are like 60 bucks

and then you get your your Bandai Bandai Namco

Figures which are around like 20 to 30 dollars.

They're kind of higher detail come with a little

bit more hands or faces or things like that.

I I want those, however, I've kind of committed

to the ten dollar figures because those are the

Dragon Ball Super Evolve and they have like more

bend ability to them. They have a little bit

nicer of a. Pose ability and aspects they do

feel cheaper. I will admit that they're very

light and they're very cheap However, I like

the sizing scale and I like the fact that they're

$10 so I've I've already got Super Saiyan blue

Vegeta Super Saiyan blue Goku and Super Saiyan

blue Gojira coming I would love to get my hands

on like Super Saiyan to Goku In his uniform not

with like the torn uniform and then Super Saiyan

like the yellow gold hair of Gogeta and Vegito

to go with it, because I while I like the blue,

like I'm still fairly new to that. And for my

nostalgia sake, I like the gold hair thing. So

I'm still kind of hunting for those. And they're

very rare. If you find them like I can find Ultra

Instinct, Goku and Trunks and Goku without any

Super Saiyan, which I might pick that up yet.

Like because I'm more of a Goku fan from the

whole series, but I'm not a I'm not one of those

guys like unless it's Beast Wars or Transformers.

I don't pick up the villains, which is amazing

because I like playing the villain character.

I like playing the the voice of the villain.

Like I have Cobra Commander from G .I. Joe. That's

the only G .I. Joe figure I have, but it's him

with a deak. battle armor. And then I have, you

know, all these other, you know, heroes from

everything else except for when it comes to Transformers

or Beast Wars. And so so, yeah, I'm kind of getting

into a little bit of Dragon Ball stuff. And as

you've noticed over the years. Whatever I happen

to get into at the time That's kind of what I

collect like I was into huge into Beast Wars

And so I've got some of those and I'm well, I'm

happy with it. I'm not collecting any new ones

So I'm not getting like Silverbolt Tiger Hawk,

you know stuff like that I'm not getting any

more of the trans art stuff because there's really

nothing that resonates with me outside of the

optimus and Megatron stuff G1 I want I want some

of the stuff, but again, it's not anything I

absolutely have to have some kind of done there

and same thing with like Star Trek and and Power

Rangers and let's play mates comes out with something

immaculately awesome. I don't see myself buying

any of those, but I'm kind of into Dragon Ball

Z stuff, Dragon Ball Super at the moment. So

I'm I'm kind of going that direction with it.

And then, of course, you know, we're going to

get into the topics, but. It's it's just kind

of. It's it's kind of crazy, I guess you could

say. With just some of the stuff that's been

going on in the podcast and geek world. I. I've

seen like some different. Interesting topics

like. I don't know how many people like frequent.

LinkedIn, I see a lot of like geek and like tech

culture things kind of pop up in there. And so

it it makes me very interested in the topics

that are that are kind of popping up. And. I

I've been experimenting with, you know, do I

talk about these? Do I not talk about these?

Like I've seen some stuff about like streaming

prices nearing tipping point. That was posted

like three weeks ago because people are just

kind of you know, they're figuring out how to

turn a profit by charging people more and You

know the the years of prioritizing user growth

with low prices are over Because like Disney

Plus and you know Max and Peacock Paramount and

everybody are all jacking their prices up now

and It's oddly enough pushed a boon for people

to move back to physical media, DVDs, Blu -rays,

CDs like. It's. It's really quite amazing, to

be honest. You know, you're seeing more more

cheaper and supported models, however, you know,

while they're cracking down on password sharing

and other things, but they're they're doing price

hikes. Like I even saw a report from Streamyard

that they were like doubling and tripling in

some cases, the pricing people were using that

service for for live streaming. I mean, there's

other alternatives. There's there's discord,

there's video dot ninja and or ninja dot video

or something. I don't know. I don't know what

it's called, but there's that option. There's

OBS. There's there's just all kinds of things

in in that neighborhood that are kind of interesting

to see that, you know, services are just wanting.

all reward and no risk, kind of like Hollywood

with doing upcoming shows and sequels and tried

and true genres of things like mysteries and,

you know, sitcoms and sequel series and revivals.

And I mean, I talk ad nauseam about this stuff,

you know, but they're kind of going with like

no risk shows. I find it. I do find it humorous.

I'm not going to lie. Because. There's just.

All the things this year as far as movies and

media that have done well, you know, Beetlejuice,

Beverly Hills cop, Deadpool, Sonic, like those

things are nostalgia, but they were good. Which

makes it kind of interesting because media companies

are They're wanting to remake pretty much anything

that was Something big like media companies are

also wanting to like and laugh out loud comedies

and reboots that come with built -in audiences

believing people want to be cheered up after

the pandemic and heading into a tense election

season and Like Some are making fewer titles.

You know, I'm looking at you, Disney and leaning

on sequels over originals after a state string

of box office flaps. It's funny because they

say even a lot aren't guaranteed to have a buyer

like CBS known for reboots and revivals is reviving

Batlock with Kathy Bates, which I. I do agree

with the idea of a reboot fatigue. I think that

we're kind of hitting this grand point where

people are just kind of tired of seeing a lot

of this stuff. They've they've. Created these

weird situations where. They're just not willing

to try anything new and I get it like there's

there's some things to be said for nostalgia.

I do understand that because nostalgia is kind

of that built in money bags, but same token.

I don't necessarily enjoy seeing. A reboot or

revival or a prequel of something. Like we keep

getting these like stories that I don't necessarily

believe we need. Like we had, you know, Pennyworth,

we've had the acolyte, we've had. Again, like

these things that they just don't. I don't think

we need them like I I didn't need Star Trek Discovery,

although I will give it merit for reviving the

Trek franchise. It's again, it's it's. kind of

just getting old, seeing a lot of this stuff

kind of popping up. And then, of course, we're

kind of going the other direction on some stuff.

You know, there's people freaking out about a

possible digital dark age because people are

like, well, the Internet is not forever. You

know, people are worried about like digital footprints.

being just wiped from existence because they're

talking about having an online heritage with,

you know, protecting it because like the Internet

Archive wants to do that. And I'll get to them

in a minute. But, you know, they're talking about

like saving family photos or, you know, having

magazines, you know, looking back after decades

and, you know, like centuries and things like

that. You know, because I think some of the there

were some websites that kind of just went the

way of the dodo. And the Internet Archive is

trying to back things up and trying to archive

stuff. But even they're kind of hitting brick

walls on some stuff like the court system went

after the Internet Archive recently about. allowing

access to scan digital copies of books because

publishers sued them, which they're a nonprofit

organization. They're kind of equating it to

like a physical library. However, I will say

it is easier. To find outdated and copyrighted

materials on the Internet Archive, like you can

find old games, you can find old magazines, old

comics, old movies, old TV shows. old CDs, old

podcasts like you can find pretty much anything.

That's older than five years old. And so I do

somewhat agree with like the publishers, however,

there's a lot of cases where because like they're

they're facing like a 400 million dollar copyright

infringement lawsuit from a group of record labels

because of stuff, and then they've been getting

in trouble with book labels. I. I think. And

this is kind of like really touchy. I think I

agree in the sense of. Archiving this stuff.

But it is out there to the public, so it's kind

of creating situations where. They'll end up.

being like ebook lending and regulations on what

is able to be archived. For instance, like I

wrote an article for our war for Cybertron Transformers

Review Kingdom years back. And when we were doing

the website migration, it got wiped. I was able

to go to the Internet Archive, find the original

document, the original post, find the date, find

the all the information. And they'd scraped it

perfectly. I was able to go back and copy my

original post and put it and republish it back

for the same date on the website like it was

never gone. So, I mean, I like them, but I also

I understand the lawsuit part of it and the copyright

infringement and the licensing agreements and

things that they're going to have to be more

vigilant with protecting intellectual. intellectual

property rights. Can't speak tonight. But yeah,

I mean, I'm I'm a big proponent on saving and

kind of archiving a lot of this stuff. I do think

that in a lot of cases, like some of these publishers

either need to have a way for you to get it.

Like an old book that you cannot find anymore

or an old game that you cannot get your hands

on anymore. There needs to be a legal way of

having it accessible and not charging an arm

and a leg for it. I. And this is again, this

is another reason for going back to physical

media over having streaming or having digital

files, because all it takes is somebody to get

a hair up their butt and make it disappear. Like

it's not. It's not something that you can count

on always being there. We've been seeing it a

lot like it's like Disney they would do the digital

vault and Kind of lock things away and then bring

them back out for a DVD release. Oh, it's a new

platinum edition Oh, it's a new gold edition.

It's a new you know diamond edition you know

they just create a new edition and have it come

back out with something else, but they would

create that sense of limited time only and I

didn't like that because they would just kind

of nickel and dime you every time it came out

and charge an extra like three, four bucks every

time it come out and basically milk the money

out of the same product. And. I like being able

to access like the older nostalgia pieces without

being ripped off. However. If they're going to

if they're going to like throw this big of a

tantrum over copyright infringement, they need

to make it accessible. If they're not, let the

Internet Archive be the Internet Archive and

have it freely available. If nothing else, you're

getting someone into whatever the medium is and

in hopes that they will buy something that is

new, that is in that same franchise that you're

publishing today. So soapbox ended there. And

then, of course, we get into other realms. We

have. Nokia at the end of August released a dumb

phone. European manufacturers of Nokia launched

a Barbie branded flip phone in partnership with

Mattel, and it's only available in the UK for

130 bucks, which I think is kind of steep. They

do plan on having it come out in the US, harnessing

the digital detox trend. The model is a dumb

phone with no internet access and only basic

camera and text messaging options The phone's

debut comes a full year after the 2023 blockbuster

release of the Barbie movie They're still forecasting

brisk sales of 400 ,000 units in the UK. I find

it interesting because Again, it's a flip phone.

I mean no key is kind of known for this anyway,

and it kind of looks cool Like I mean, it's a

flip phone. I don't I mean, obviously I wouldn't

get a Barbie version, but I mean, I do like the

idea of a dumb phone. I loved my Motorola Razr

3 V3, and it was by far my favorite flip phone,

by far my favorite dumb phone before I got a

smartphone. I I do agree to some extent that,

you know, despite it being nostalgic and in retro.

It's funny that what's old is new again. But

it's also fun to see the trend kind of coming

back. It's also fun to see that people are kind

of second guessing this whole digital medium

of being always connected at the hip. Honestly,

if. I was going to have a. a new phone and it

wasn't a smartphone, I would go back to a flip

phone. But I mean, I think I've gotten so connected

with being able to do everything from my phone

and not necessarily needing a desktop. Like I

can play games, I can write, I can do Canva and

create business cards. I can work on geekcastradio

.com if there's an issue. And I can do it from

anywhere. And that's kind of the point. But also

then you're always connected to your work. I

do have access to work. However, I also have

to put boundaries and blinders on like I'm not

going to touch this when I'm not being paid.

And it's more so just because I will get carried

away and log in because it's available. Whereas

if I had a dumb phone or like the Motorola razor

or, you know, things like that, it's a lot harder

to text. It's a lot harder to stay connected.

It's just strictly a phone. And I think sometimes

that's what we need. But yet we're not always

on that kind of wavelength. And I feel like sometimes

we get a little bit overboard. So, I mean, I

if I was going to get a phone for my kid, it

would likely be a dumb phone like this, because

while I would want to teach them. The. The concept.

of, you know, the phone, the digital phones that

are out now. I don't know if I would want him

and my boys being always connected at the hip,

because I feel like it screws with your mental

state in a lot of ways, just being always on,

like always available. And then, you know, of

course, I do this, too. You're always preoccupied

and staring at the phone. And so like it makes

it difficult. And I think that's a why we've.

have a lot more like people having issues like

and to leave with like anxiety and stress and,

you know, you're dealing with social media and

then you're always connected and then you got

to check this and you got to check that. You

got to, you know, there's no downtime. There's

no boredom. There's no element to make us just

sit back, relax, think, take, you know, a pause,

breathe, kind of find a hobby that's not connected

to digital. I sometimes struggle with this, too.

I've. I've definitely struggled with it, which

I would love to get back into my 3D printing

and my painting, but just haven't quite gotten

there yet. But yeah, I mean, it's it's kind of

interesting that what's old is new again. And

then, of course, kind of rounding out the last

two topics here, there was somebody made in in

like Bloomberg was talking about. Shortening

attention spans and podcasters is finding it

that it pays to go longer and. I think it's funny.

Because they're talking to the host of acquired,

which went there was like a podcast with Elon

Musk and Neuralink executives that went nine

hours. To me, that's like excessive, like I have

a hard time going over an hour and a half. My

attention span drops and I'm just done like as

the host. Like I'm done. Like it's it's very

difficult. I have to be very engaged or the topic

has to be kind of something that I'll stay engaged

with and so I mean It's funny because there this

podcast was mentioning that 70 % completion of

a recent three and a half hour episode noting

that every time they made something longer people

only seem to love it more and It's you know,

they're like podcasts are no longer only 30 minutes

or even half even hour -long affairs increasingly

podcasters are pushing the outer limits of episode

length while stress testing their audience endurance

Popular podcast episodes can now run on for half

a workday or longer. Well, I think it's funny

that they're kind of making this joke and then

they're they're like. You know, giving audiences

what they want to some degree or having, you

know, more topics. I also kind of think that

there is still a place. I kind of go by that

creed of. Podcasts are as long as they need to

be. Not a minute longer, not a minute less. Like,

talk about what you have to talk about and stop.

Like, stop recording. Don't ramble. Don't let

it go on. You know, if it's if the topic warrants

it, record by all means. But when the topic dries

up, it's time to shut it down. Like, I don't

feel like I need a four hour episode of Altered

Geek. Like, I don't feel like I need a four hour

episode of All Things Transformers. I mean, if

it's a top 100 thing. Yeah, I mean, if I'm going

to hit three and a half hours, that's going to

be the exception. I don't feel like I need like

an all day live stream or I need an all day episode

of recording. I wouldn't mind recording multiple

shows in that time span, but I don't necessarily

need one podcast running on for three hours.

So I don't know what you guys think on this.

Like, I don't know what the perfect time frame

is for you or like if you just have a drive time

thing or if it's, you know, you listen sporadically

throughout the day. Like, I would be interested

in hearing this because like I'm seeing these

like Bloomberg and, you know, all these things

because I'm frequenting like the marketing and

all these different news on LinkedIn. And it

kind of struck me as funny. And I'm like, well,

no, duh. Like people have always recorded longer.

It's just that it's not really been as noticed.

Until recently like I think that like a lot of

this is just way behind in the news And they're

just like we got nothing else to do that's that's

mentioned how podcasts should go longer I don't

know. It's it's it's weird, but yeah Let me know

what you guys think feedback at key cast radio

calm or just let me know on the episode post

And then finally transformers one is coming out

and IGN had the gall as they always do. They

gave it a 5 out of 10. They said, though the

tragedy of Optimus Prime and Megatron's storied

rivalry could have felt larger than life, Transformers

1 is mostly content with half -hearted puns and

barely legible Cybertronian battles that could

have been used some major transforming before

rolling out. I hate IGN. I'm not hiding it. I

really do. I hate them with a passion. I feel

like so many of these sites, like I saw something

from Screen Rant earlier and it made me like

chuckle. And I was like, these guys are putzes.

Like they had a the top like a worst worst to

best rating of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,

which I'm going to go over with TFJ1 Mike at

some point on Studio 2009, because I want to

have us give our rating because Theirs was so

off base, like everybody in the comments was

going for this screenwriting article. They're

like, did you even watch the movie? It was it

was amazing the. The way that they ranked all

of the films, like some of the ones that should

not have been in the top 10 were in the top 10

and some of the ones that were in the bottom

10. should not have been in the bottom 10. It

was amazing. But we'll we'll bring that up in

a future episode. I would I wouldn't mind seeing

what everybody else's thoughts are on the, you

know, 32 Marvel films that have come out in the

last like 15 years. But back to the Transformers

one article here. Yeah, I. I thought it was kind

of amazing that they managed to bring this up.

and the gall that they had with it to say this

and like TF Hype Guy on X said appalling showing

from IGN terrible review that doesn't look good

on their already terrible record for reviews

and then of course Proto Man Daniel Arsenault

goes IGN is owned by Ziff Davis Inc that makes

Sure that traditional toy play is no more in

the wake of digital gaming always follow the

motive and you know, of course I put Also IGN

and most of these public entities are shallow

reviewers who are unaware of what is actually

good this film looks like a breath of fresh air

for the franchise like Beast Wars was back in

the 90s and the 2007 film was in its time if

IGN is against it. I am on board And of course

like TF2 and Mike goes well said somebody else

on on X goes they gave rise of the beast at seven

Which okay, it was it was halfway decent You

know and this person was like if they gave it

a seven then TF1 is at least an eight or a nine

or a ten I don't know. I'm so I hate like like

Rotten Tomatoes changing their whole structure.

It's funny because somebody else goes IGN has

been handing out sevens like it's their job and

now that gets a five, which has been praised

by literally every review other than theirs must

have not gotten paid enough. I I don't even know,

man, I I hate IGN. I so can't stand them. Someone

else goes, this is how you know it's a good movie.

If IGN says it's a no, it's definitely good.

Somebody else says if it's IGN or it's IGN, if

they don't like it, then it must be good. Barely

legible that battle, somebody has put the all

the battles were great. They're like, remember,

they gave She -Hulk a nine, so their opinions

do not matter. Somebody else goes my dude, it's

IGN. They don't have real fans working for them

there They have wannabes who only view content

and do reviews so they keep their views counts

up Somebody says I had the privilege yesterday

to see the movie and I loved it ten out of ten

transform and rollout I I can't I can't believe

this I Everybody's everybody everybody on there

on this this Twitter thread is going. It's IGN

like they're using that as the excuse. Common

IGN loss. They gave it the same score as Madame

Web. Wow, yeah, I don't know. I. This this is

kind of this is kind of the market. We're in

with reviews They all suck like all these review

companies like you get the Mary Sue you get these

guys you get You know screen rant you get they're

all terrible like the none of them none of them

Do this very well anymore, but I would love to

hear what you guys think and when you see it

what your review is Let us know and of course

get a hold of us on the website. Let us know

your feedback And as always, thank you for listening

to Altered Geek. I've been your host, Steve Megatron

Phillips. You know, interact with us on X at

SCP 21 and at Altered Geek. This episode's post

on Facebook and of course, always on GeekCastRadio

.com. We're working on getting this feed on other.

digital distribution platforms. A lot of the

stuff got screwed up when Spreaker had it. So

we're still ironing those details out. But you

can always listen on GeekCastRadio .com, Spotify

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