iHeartMedia's Human Guarantee, Black Friday Meh, Batman Batcave, and YouTube Collabs Frustrations

Hi, this is David Kaye, and you're listening

to Altered Geek. Geek. Geek. Geek. It's a wild

ride. Join the discussion. Let's dive into lore.

From Star Trek to Transformers, we're ready to

soar. Superheroes clash as we spark up a flame.

Altered Geek Podcast. Remember the name. Hello,

and welcome to Altered Geek. I'm your host, Steve

Megatron, and joining me on this adventure into

geekdom is TFG and Mike. This podcast is brought

to you by Barf. He's in space balls. For those

of you who are too young to know that. Yes. You

might be listening to this podcast. So anyways,

so there's a ton of different little minutiae

things. So I think we'll go through the ones

that we had in Facebook Messenger first and then

go through the other ones in the document. So

there's a rumor floating around that Harrison

Ford has been in talks to play Carl in a live

action up film, which is fitting for an Ed Asner

thing. It is. I just don't know if Disney's ever

going to do that. Like not cat. I don't mean

do that as in cast him as that. I mean, do that

as in, would they ever adapt up as into. Like,

I don't know. Like, the live -action remakes

and the reboots and the whatevers have been so

hit or miss. Like, really? Honestly? The only

hit that I personally am invested in with Disney's

live -action remakes is Lilo and Stitch. The

rest of it, I could give two craps less. I don't

know. I would watch this, I think. Yeah, no,

I would watch it too. I just don't know if it's

on their radar to do it. Like, I don't know if

that's what their plan is, but I think he would

work as a live action Carl. You just have to

find the right woman to play Ellie. I don't know

who that would be in Hollywood today. Yeah, I

don't know, but I think this is kind of cool.

If it's true, just because I could see him playing

this. Nope. I saw a thing, funny of all things,

posted by E -Bombs World. Now, I will say that

it is backed up by actual factual statements.

I don't know if it was on Hot Ones or wherever,

but I have actually seen Macaulay Culkin say

this. Well, this is a different one that I was

talking about. But yeah, the Macaulay Culkin

thing. Okay. Wants a Home Alone. I mean, this

was by Variety, IGN, Getty. Yeah. So he wants

a Home Alone sequel where Kevin's son sets a

trap on him. It could work. Which is kind of

cool. I mean, they did do that adult. Alexa or

Google Home or whatever Christmas commercial

a few years ago. Because I literally just saw

that like a week ago. Because they had him and

at least Joe Pesci back because I heard Joe's

voice. I don't know if Daniel Stern was in it

or not. I forget. But they basically did the

same thing with the setup of. him coming home

nine o 'clock oh be ready blah blah blah and

he sits down to the macaroni and cheese dinner

kind of thing and then they pull up and but it

was a commercial for to show off the whatever

the home security thing is that that they were

advertising but yeah no i can see that could

work hey it couldn't be any better than any of

the sequels we've gotten since home alone 2 yeah

exactly Because they've all been dumpster fire.

Three wasn't that bad. No, three wasn't that

bad because technically it still was supposed

to be him. Well, it wasn't, though. It was a

completely different family, though. It was the

same dad. No, it wasn't. Same actor. Okay. Okay.

Huh. Weird. But yeah, Macaulay Culkin wants an

actor who wants a job. Look, that's what these

things are. We've known this for years. We've

made fun of this for years. When news items like

this pop up, it's because they want a job. my

god hold on i mean i think he's kind of you know

faded in obscurity okay so it's it is a different

kid in the third one i thought it was a i thought

it was i could have swore i saw another movie

with the guy playing the dad and somebody else

playing the kid but you probably did but yeah

the reason why i remember three is because it

was alex d lens because alex d lens is the guy

from is the kid from jerry mcguire who played

ray oh you said fuck he's the little kid from

jerry mcguire because he played that a year yeah

i don't know i'd watch it i think it's i think

it's a great idea yeah absolutely um it it kind

of fits with the the hollywood of today where

we have the majority of the films being a sweet

sequel or a prequel or a reboot or a soft reboot

that's technically a sequel I think that that

is kind of the boat we're in. And I think that

it would fit rather nicely and it would give

them a freebie Christmas movie. Yeah, absolutely.

I find it entertaining, but yeah. So another

one that kind of caught my eye is I saw this

news report by E -Bombs World. of all places

and it said economists say we're using our devices

longer and that's bad for the economy uh but

wait but how is that bad for the economy when

everything like literally i just sent an email

to my dad today Because he's going to help me

with some certain thing financially, et cetera,

et cetera, that I'm not going to reveal on here.

But my dad is of a generation where he was born.

He's 70 something years old. And he basically

you one of the only people I know that still

uses cash for everything. Like the last time

I needed him to. give me money to put in my bank

account for something he actually had to go to

a bank that he didn't have an account to ask

them for a check he practically had to open a

brand new bank account to get a check uh so of

course like yeah we're all using our phones because

everything financial transactions weather reports

uh all the social media stuff uh your daily horoscope

Your reminders. You're this. You're that. Everything

is on your phones. How is... My brain. Ow. They're

saying, you know... And I don't know if this

is satire. I don't know. Like, I honestly don't

know because e -bombs was technically a little

bit of both. It's e -bombs world. We need to

take it with a grain of satire salt here. But

it is true that people are trying to use their

devices longer as long as they work. And, you

know, like, especially, you know, it took forever

for people to get off Windows XP or Windows 7.

And here we are at Windows 10 and nobody wants

to leave it because Windows 11 is becoming agentic.

which essentially means they're going to make

it as disturbed with, say, they want to stupefy

you and give you AI whether you want it or not.

And their solution to File Explorer being broken

is they're like, oh, we'll preload it, which

essentially means that you just don't see how

slow it is. Yeah. But it's still just as slow.

I don't know. They've got so much garbage in

Windows 11. I just don't want it. My computer

can run it. I have two computers in the house

that have it, unfortunately. But I am literally

looking for alternative software or ways to run

this software on Linux. And that Zorin OS that

I reviewed years ago when I was unemployed two

jobs ago. And I was writing, I think it was like

2019, I was writing articles about these. at

the time i hadn't used it but i did a ton of

research on it and i was like if i switch to

linux this is the one i'm going with because

i can do a win you know basically windows it

runs a lot of the stuff i can run steam uh there's

if i pay 50 bucks i get like all of the open

source software that's alternatives to you know

like adobe and all these other programs that

that are out there and the other thing i don't

have a replacement for is audition which would

be the only thing that I would be kind of, I

might end up dual booting my computer. So I have

one that's windows 10, so I can use, uh, audition

and then I can use Doran for like just everything

else. But yeah, I, I personally do not like the

direction Microsoft is going. And I know it's

kind of a tangent from this. I mean, because

the joke on here is like, my office still runs

Windows XP, right? I don't feel the need to upgrade.

I'm still using a Pixel 6a. I'm using an old

computer that I built pretty much after I moved

here. I think I built it in 2019. Did I? I don't

know. somewhere around there it was yeah because

the other computers are 2011 this one yeah this

one was built in 2019 it's still chugging along

and i've you know of course cobbled parts from

the old one and that's what i always do uh but

it works just fine like it works better than

half the new builds you get now because i overpowered

it and upgrade as needed but the the the whole

thing of They make all this crap to fall apart

and die. Like I'm, I'm using a computer at work.

That's all right. To give you perspective, I'm

supposed to create content and, and you know,

media stuff and I'm supposed to edit and Adobe

products and everything. I've got 128 megabyte

graphics card. Oh, because it's an Intel graphics

card and there's no, like it lags so bad. it's

got 16 gigs of Ram and it should by all means

work fine. Or maybe it's got 24 gigs of Ram,

but it plugs up so fast and it doesn't, it doesn't

do anything because the video card crashes before

anything else. And so like my, my current video

card in this machine, for instance, and I use

this software called Speccy. Yeah. Freeware.

And it tells me basically everything I want to

know about my computer. I have, I have like a

core I five, you know, basically a six core processor,

um, ninth generation Intel. It's got 64 gigs

of Ram. I got, you know, I've got a, a two gig

Nvidia G force RTX card just cause it was cheap.

And then I probably got, I've probably got like,

2 .5 terabytes worth of hard drives in my computer

like i've got five or six hard drives in my computer

yeah and of all varying capacities and so it's

my computer is for all intents and purposes like

it's a custom build but it's it's very powerful

so it can handle a lot of the crap and so when

i was i recently requested a new computer and

i was like hey i i need something with some power

And they're like, well, what do you need? And

they're, you know, they're like, well, you know,

we can consult our IT company. And I'm like,

I'm telling you, I do IT, I do graphics, I do

media. These people aren't going to know what

to do with graphics and media. And so I sent

the specs and I sent why I needed it. And the

IT guy was basically like. yeah we we we get

our computers from a reseller and they're like

and they're like he knows what he wants you're

better off buying it yourself and there we are

and so now i'm just kind of waiting on what's

going to happen but it's it's essentially like

an overpowered laptop yeah because i'm like it's

i mean it's a gaming laptop And it's not even

for gaming. The thing I've realized is gaming

equipment is built sturdier and more to outlast

a lot of the generic cheap crap that you find.

So like if you're buying a, you know, four to

$600 computer or it's an $800 computer, you might

be all right. But, you know, anywhere from like

a two to a $600 computer. You're rolling the

dice on whether it's going to do what you need.

You ain't rolling the dice. I have an Acer laptop

that I bought a year ago because an electronic

chain store closed down around us and they went

bankrupt. And they had a thing that was like

50 % off. So I got this $800 laptop for $350.

Nice. And we also got our new stove and refrigerator

for the cost of one of those items instead of

both. But I mean, I got this laptop and it's

it's got eight gigs of RAM and it's got it's

got a similar video card. I mean, I can run some

stuff on it like I can run. Like sparking zero

on it, but it's very laggy. I can run Star Trek

online on pretty much any of these. I could run

it on my, you know, when I work if I really wanted

to. But but I mean, it's it's a decent computer

and I've got Dell, a Dell computer for for my

wife. And it's about the same specs as that little

bit better. But I pretty much only buy Dell laptops

if I'm buying a cheap one because they come with

the least amount of bloatware. And if you need

them just for normal use, it works just fine.

But if you're needing it for graphics. a gaming

laptop is the way to go. And like, even my, my

mouse from my computer, I use gaming mice. Yeah.

I don't use regular ones because, uh, like I

have a red dragon, uh, gaming mouse, which was

like 40 bucks or something. And it has 12 buttons

on the side. And then it's got like the, the

back and forth and the, the left click, right

click. and then the scroller click so it's got

you know like 16 18 buttons on it and then i've

got this this logitech g series mouse that i'm

using here at home although my work one broke

a long time ago uh but it's got six buttons on

the side and then you know the other stuff but

i mean for the most part they last really long

time but i can program all of these things for

just normal work use and editing use and so it's

it's a dual purpose you know my my blue yeti

is a better microphone than my mackey microphone

because it's made for podcasting and gaming and

you know music and stuff like that so i mean

yeah it's kind of like my whole point is is like

if you're going to get a computer and you're

going to be doing a lot of processing and you

need it for graphics or you need it for you know

editing or whatever just get a gaming pc like

it's going to be your best route but It was amazing

to me how crappy the video card was when I actually

investigated it because the computer originally

like crapped out like three weeks ago and I lost

everything. Yeah, it did. That was a nightmare.

Yeah. I mean, luckily I had everything backed

up in the cloud or on an external drive, but

it, you know, I lost my bookmarks. I lost, you

know, a little bit of stuff. I lost some software

and I mean, and then I come to find out that,

you know, they disabled windows update and. What

other crap? So, yeah, I mean, I think this whole,

you know, bad for the economy. I think, I think,

you know, people are also sick and tired of spending

money, which is why I'm moving to like more open

source. Yeah. Well, like the fact you can't buy

software anymore, you can't outright go into

Best Buy or wherever and just buy. a game like

you you have or whatever it is doesn't have to

be a game microsoft uh whatever microsoft office

is up to nowadays you you have to like there

are no cd keys anymore like i think microsoft

word 2007 which is the only version i still have

i still have the cd with the cd key in my thing

but you can't even buy that anymore you can't

buy physical software anymore everything's a

download everything's this everything's that

uh my um when i lost didn't lose but nothing

i always take care of my stuff i always take

care of my phones or whatever but something happened

to my galaxy s9 that i had from samsung back

right after karen had passed away in 2021 So

I'm like, oh, okay. And right around then, Google

had just announced the Pixel 6 lineup. Literally

just announced, oh, Pixel 6 Pro. Awesome. Great.

Last year, after three years of having it, three

years of taking care of it, I have no idea what

happened. No clue. Thank God I have the insurance

plan on these things. Because I will never not

have a mobile insurance. I don't mind paying

15 extra bucks a month to Xfinity for mobile

insurance for Xfinity Mobile. Saved my ass. Something

happened where I couldn't charge the phone. It

was not, it connected, but it wasn't doing what

it was supposed to do. I never got the phone

wet. I never exposed it to any light. There were

no gremlins. There's nothing here. No clue what

happened to it. I called them, got set up with

Assurant or whoever they use for their insurance

purposes. They sent me out the Pixel 7 Pro, which

is essentially the next model up from what I

had. I wish I still had the Pixel 6 Pro, but

it is what it is. And, you know, my point is

I had that phone from 2021 to 2024. If that phone

didn't... do something stupid it wasn't me that

did something stupid to it i don't know what

happened to it if it didn't fumble around and

pluck itself up notice i said pluck with an l

uh just want to clarify folks f -l -u -c -k -f

-l um I would still have the Google Pixel 6 Pro

right now because it was a perfectly working

phone. Nothing wrong with the screen. Camera

was great. Everything was still working great.

Whatever, whatever, whatever. My point is that

was three years on one phone. I'm not a phone

reviewer. I'm not a technology reviewer person.

I'm not one of these types of people that needs

to... heaven forbid if you're listening i'm sorry

mike i'm sorry we bow to the original co -host

of this show mike powers booth ninja 81 he gets

the from at least what i remember it might have

changed since the last time we talked to him

but he used to get the new iphone every year

no matter what because it was okay well i i don't

know i haven't i need to catch up with mike in

the new year in 2026 but that's my thing like

I understand that's part of the upgrade program,

but I don't feel the need to upgrade every year

because that's once a year. I have to then transfer

all my stuff to the new phone, get used to the

new phone. Like, no, I treat my cell phones like

my dad used to. Well, my dad used to treat his

cars like some. men in the 50s used to treat

their women but uh because sometimes dad would

come home with a new car every other week but

uh the point is is that i only need one thing

for a long period of time and until that thing

goes away or until that thing something happens

to it where i need to actually upgrade i ain't

upgrading unless like i was half tempted this

year half tempted For the Pixel 10 XL, because

I want the larger XL slab candy bar phone. I

was half tempted at the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. God,

they got to work on those frigging naming schemes.

That's a whole other podcast topic in and of

itself. But I'm just patiently waiting to see

what comes next for Google Pixel. But yeah, it's

like nobody believes in the state of the product

anymore. It's like, oh, you have this. Well,

I'm only going to have this for a year. And then

I can get the next new thing or whatever. I don't

know, dude. It's crazy. It's freaking crazy.

It's kind of like plastic crack. Bringing it

back to toys. Nice. Yep. Batman and the Batmobile.

Hey, this is cool. No, and let me preface this

with McFarlane is doing a slam dunk great job

with their DC Universe stuff. Oh, absolutely.

I have the new Batman Adventures and the Batman

Continues Batman and the animated series Batman,

which funny enough, I saw on like I got it on

eBay a while ago. I was in target the other day

and I saw, I saw three of these blasted things

in the store brand new and I paid almost double.

Oh no. Because I was like, I don't know if they're

new. I don't know if they're old. Like I don't

like, I literally didn't know. And I was like,

this is ridiculous. Um, because like you just,

you just don't know. And so anyways, uh, like

I wouldn't mind getting my hands on like the

Batman Returns Batman or something you know just

because Keaton's my live action Batman although

I have a new appreciation for Bale yeah after

a very intense rewatch and but I mean they they

have this new thing you know between the Batmobile

uh -huh and And the new. The new Batman with

the Batcave. Yeah. So. The one you brought up

was the Batman Beyond Batmobile with with Jeremy

Guinness Batman. Yeah. And this thing has lights

and sounds as far as I remember correctly. And

it looks so like. i don't remember the last time

we got a batman beyond batmobile i know it has

happened at least once before but when they announced

this i'm just like oh okay arm getting weak feelings

stabbing motion in arm like basically when comic

book guy on the simpsons fakes having a heart

attack over excitement That is the feeling I

got when seeing this thing. And I think I originally

saw it because I think Will Friedle was doing

the official unboxing for McFarlane or something.

And I'm like, oh man, this is so freaking cool.

It looks awesome. I mean, it comes with a display

stand with the name. It comes with Terry with

different hands for the Batmobile. You can take

off the little wing things. It gives him the

red aesthetic. uh so it looks like he's inside

red aesthetic so it looks like he's inside the

yep um and it gives the the shadow he had inside

um the batmobile lights up it's neat it's 21

inches long uh i like this uh i like the animated

series batmobile first yeah and then this is

and then this is the second and then i like the

batman returns batmobile yeah Oh yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. I don't know. But, but like this never

really gets any love. And because last year was

the 25th anniversary, they put this out and it

finally got the love that it deserved. Like just,

wow. That's how much it is. Like 110, 150, something

like that. 170. Yeah. It's, I knew it was somewhere

around there. I think if you got the Walmart,

one of the versions, like I know it lights up,

but I think one of the, there was the McFarland

website version and then there was an exclusive

Walmart version. I think one of them has lights

and sounds and the other one only has lights.

I don't remember which is which. I could be wrong

on that though. I think that they're all light

and sound because it's the gold label. The gold

label is something that they're doing now so

they can charge a premium. Yeah. Because the

Batman Returns stuff in some of the DCAU animated

series lockup, he's a gold label. Although I

don't know why, because he's on sale for like

$23 at Walmart. But, you know what I mean? The

Michael Keaton 89 and Returns Batman are gold

label. oh wow so I'm while I would love to get

my hands on some of these like I just between

cost and just the fact that I'm like I don't

need everything although like I said I would

I would like some of these yeah One, I have limited

space, so I have to be very choosy, but two,

I'm just kind of like, I like it, probably not

enough to get it, but I like it. It's kind of

like this, or like the Batcave playset, which

is $225. Oh, Jesus. This is the thing. This is

stupid, because you're getting a cardboard cutout.

of the cave you're getting a little pedestal

you're getting the the bat cave you know computer

and and ram with a little bit of a display that

you can change out you know the screen yeah of

what's on the screen and then you get a btas

batman with the paint job of the keaton batman

and it's $225, and it's like, well, I could buy

the $35 Batman at the store, repaint in black,

and then I could 3D print the Batcave. Yeah.

Because, like, it does come with his chair, it

does come with, you know, the side printer, computer

analyzer, you know. I mean, it comes with cool

stuff, and don't get me wrong, I love the idea.

yeah because i had the old you know the fold

out wayne manor bat cave when batman returns

was out i was like oh this is awesome blah blah

blah uh but i'm just looking at i'm like 225

dollars for this i'm kind of underwhelmed uh

yeah yeah so it's funny you mentioned the bat

cave and and this that you know there anything

else I understand everybody in general just wants

the normal, everyday, regular toys. I get that.

Oh, wait, I can use this one instead. Go over

here. Sorry, I'm talking to myself here, folks.

I get that. But there's no... At least in my

personal opinion, there's no substituting. At

least for me. Like, there's just no getting around

what Funko does. There's just no getting around

it. Get this damn. I'm putting this in Messenger

for you if it freaking works. There you go. So

they released a Batman 89 in Batcave. Now I have

the Alfred with Wayne Manor. If I added this

to that, that would be so freaking cool. Like.

Yeah, and that's only 25 bucks. For that, like

I don't need to spend 200 and something dollars

on on a bat cave that. I could just give you

that money and you could 3D print me one that's

better. I'm, like, tempted to look for a Batcave.

Yeah. So, yeah. Absolutely. It's crazy. But,

I mean, I was even looking at, like, BBTS and,

like, looking at the different Black Friday,

Cyber Monday stuff. And I'm like, a lot of this

stuff is very underwhelming to me. Yeah, it's

like the problem I have with Black Friday now

is it doesn't actually happen on Friday anymore.

It doesn't happen on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

It doesn't. It happens the week of or the week

before. It's like Black Friday week sales. Like,

it's Black Friday week. It's not Black Friday

day. Like, I thought the whole point of Thanksgiving,

Black Friday, and then Small Business Saturday

was to, number one, spend time with your friends

and family and stuff yourselves full of turkey

and fall asleep for nine hours after the fact

when whichever football team you love loses or

wins or whatever. And then Friday you go out

shopping and kill yourself trying to find the

best Christmas present for whichever family member

you're shopping for. And then Saturday you go

online and you help small businesses and you

do something that way kind of thing. Um, you

know, so, but yeah, no black for, I don't, I

don't care anymore about black. Like when Thanksgiving

is over, Like, when literally Friday morning

happened this year, after the Friday after Thanksgiving,

first thing I did, go on Facebook, change into

my I'm Santa Claus, damn it, photo for my Facebook

profile picture. And I changed my Facebook featured

photo or profile cover photo, whatever the hell

they call it these days. I changed that to the

Merry Christmas Autobots logo. thing that i've

had for years that i stole from uh steven kennett

the fourth uh stupid 869 on whatever social i

don't know if he's still on my buddy steven he

used to my other buddy steven he used to i think

i hope he still listens to the shows but um we're

friends on facebook and we've been friends for

years and he posted that autobot logo christmas

hat thing uh i was like oh that's cool yoink

i don't know where he got it from but but yeah

no it's it's a yeah the whole the whole messy

deal is just nuts yeah i i'm just i'm kind of

over it because like i i like some of the stuff

but i'm Either the costs have gotten too high

or they're just not enough of a draw to go after.

Yeah. And there's so many variations anymore

between the different iterations. I mean, it

gives you variety if you're into certain ones,

but then there's so many crappy like toy companies

that, you know, like all the super sevens are

sitting on clearance everywhere. If they can

still have them. to the point that nobody carries

them like nacelle nacelle any of their their

figures for series that are not star trek are

in the clearance bin like they're literally in

the clearance bin everywhere and then they are

not restocking anything that's nacelle yeah like

neca has a spot mcfarland has a spot mattel hasbro

uh bandai but then you look at you'd look at

that and then they're like nope not gonna do

it yeah well like like i said i i've been for

years now i've been following a lot of funko

creators on youtube and instagram and other places

and some of them will go out and do funko pop

hunts like you do toy hunts and things same thing

technically since funko pops are toys but And

they'll go to some of the weirdest, whacked out

stuff. I'm like, why in the hell would that store

have Funko Pops? Like, when you think of Marshalls,

the first thing you don't think of is Funko Pops.

But yet, some of these people have gone in there

and they've gone over to how Marshalls even has

a toy section is beyond me. I guess every toy,

every department, big box store needs a toy section

no matter what. that their niche is or not but

uh yeah i don't know man it's it's crazy like

toy companies are kind of like streaming yeah

there's a million of them well there's a million

of them but there's also the conglomerates of

hasbro and mattel so disney and uh um oh crap

netflix and paramount and whatever but like like

there's like two major camps of whatever this

that anything and then you have like little scrappy

things like funko or nacelle or or super seven

i saw an article somewhere and i can't substantiate

this but i saw an article somewhere where super

seven closed down a couple of their warehouses

or something or like super seven's in trouble

more than funko Yeah, that's crazy. And the crazy

thing is that I didn't know the person, but just

because of Funko's social media, somebody who

used to work at Funko went to work for Super

7. And now I'm like, oh boy, that's not good.

Like, not a great idea, guys. Yeah, no. But.

Yeah. I mean, although I have seen some pretty

neat stuff like Playmates has some remastered

TMNT stuff. Yeah. So like Shredder and Splinter

don't have the fabric clothing that plastic.

So it's more molded. And then they, you know,

they just look better. Almost kind of like the

Super 7s do, except, you know, affordable. Like

you could buy all four turtles splinter and shredder

for like 60 bucks. Yep. And I'm like, no, that's

not, not bad if I actually wanted them again.

Yeah, true. Uh, but I mean, yeah, I don't know.

I'm, I'm kind of to this point that I'm, I'm

like, do I need it? Do I not need it? Do I need

it? Do I not need it? And then I'm, you know,

the, like the, the one captain Kirk, I'm kind

of, obviously that's, that's been a bucket list

item since the nineties for me. So that's, that's

kind of a hands down, no brainer, but like, I'm

like, I still, you know, I want studio series

86 Megatron. And I'm like, do I need quick strike?

Like, do I care? Yeah. Like that one's kind of

on my, do I care list? The, the stranger things

vehicle to become Ultimis. I'll probably do that

because I'm like, I can repaint it and then I

can replace the head. Yeah. I'll just 3d print

like a, or honestly, if it fits, I'll use my

Optimus prime head that came with my studio series

86. Yep. That I replaced the figure's head for.

Right. Like, and put the show accurate one and

leave that on and then just change the, you know,

repaint the head for Ultimis and just put it

on there. Yeah, exactly. So, I mean, I don't

know. I'm just kind of all over with toys at

this point. I'm like, I'd like them. But they

take up so much space. unless it's one that i

care about yeah and the funny thing is for me

is like i am literally like i've bought two funko

pops this year i'm pretty sure maybe no i bought

a few more than that in the last three and a

half months i've only bought two funko pops and

Even though my OCD is like, um, you need these.

I just sent those to you in messenger, but, uh,

you need these. And I'm like, yeah, but I can't

find anywhere where I can get all four of them.

Cause one of them's a chase now and whatever,

but like, I can find the other three, the one

where Terry's unmasked is the chase, unfortunately.

Uh, but when they came out with, they just released,

uh, or yeah, they just released cause everybody's

getting it. They just released Old Man Bruce

with Ace. And I was like, damn, where am I going

to get this damn thing? GameStop, be stupid,

yo. It was the day it was supposed to go on sale.

I'd just gotten paid from a job I had done. I

actually did a vocal coaching job. That's a whole

other topic for another day. uh i had gotten

paid the thing was like i don't know after whatever

game stop whatever it was like 20 25 bucks after

shipping something like that i could be wrong

whatever and i was like oh cool kept refreshing

the game stop website a day of oh they're only

going to be in stores or oh we don't know if

the link is actually gonna be available online

later in the day of the day of the release, and

I'm sitting here thinking, I'm on the GameStop

app on my phone. It clearly shows that they have

it on their app. It's just not available to purchase

yet. What the hell are you doing, GameStop? So

a buddy of mine is, I paid a buddy of mine to

grab it for me because it's old man Bruce, and

it's a little ace, and it's a pop buddy thing.

It's a whole thing. But basically, it's old Kevin

Conroy. but as far as the other four that are

currently out the uh the new terry mcginnis batman

with masked on and mask off and then the armored

bruce and then the blight i've been wanting those

since they released earlier this year and it's

like i'll get them when i get them can't get

them right now got too many other responsibilities

i got to deal with to quote a different superhero

in a different universe with Great power comes

great responsibility. It's like, yep. Everything

else has to get paid first before you can buy

action figures, which is the responsible thing

to do. Oh, boy. But, yeah. Yeah. So, then there's,

you know, iHeartMedia. yes then there's iheart

and it's funny because somebody brought this

up to me after i mentioned it they were like

you know the fact that they're guaranteeing a

human you know for their core branding message

means that people are going to analyze the crap

out of them now oh yeah to see if they're they're

full of crap or not yep but they they claim that

they don't use you know ai generated personalities

we don't use AI music that features synthetic

vocalists pretending to be human in the podcast

we publish are also guaranteed human. You know,

everything we do is real and authentic. They

said, you know, even though 70 % use AI tools

themselves, you know, they're saying like 90

% want their media created by real humans. And

what they mean is like, you know, not. They're

having AI as a tool, not a replacement. And so

they're, they're stressing that, you know, they're

AI powered operational tools, such as scheduling

analytics, show prep and workflow automation.

It's a tool. It's not a replacement for the,

you know, for the personality and the human element.

Yeah. Yeah. You can't replace Daniel official

writer strong and Wilfred L to talk about boy

meets world with boy meets world robot versions

of themselves. I mean, you could try, but it

wouldn't be the same. But I mean, like I. I was

quite surprised. Like I had to give them kudos

on it because I'm like, OK, this is they drew

a line in the sand and. I actually have to go

with them on this because I agree, like I love

being able to. discuss the topics and everything

but i also don't like i use ai but i use it as

a tool i use it to you know i use it to help

me with the show notes or the description of

the episode or things like that um i don't use

it for the artwork because it sucks at that um

i'm sure there's services that can come up with

it or duplicate the style but it's not i i like

to do it and if i don't have the time to do it

i just don't um but i use it for mostly for like

the analytics for the show prep and i use honestly

i just use automation for scheduling like i don't

i don't use ai i just it's just i just use automation

so it's not even ai it's just me being lazy and

letting something else take the uh post it you

know so i mean i'm i'm all for you know ai when

it's an automation thing or and you know an operational

tool, but as a replacement for people, no, no,

does not need to be replacing people. So I don't

have to talk about it much. Cause I wrote an

article about it on geekcastradio .com, but the

fact that they're drawing a line in the sand

for guaranteed human content gives me a lot of

respect in where we're at. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, that was a good article. That was a good

reading. Uh, cause we've, we've always, um, hated.

I hate radio. Cause that's what I've been calling

them. I hate radio since before they even get

into podcasting. Like I've been calling them

that since like the early two thousands. Cause

just the whole I heart thing. Just what's the

opposite of I heart. I hate. so to round this

one out to round out this episode after uh that

anyhow uh you had mentioned some you know so

youtube and their the way they present the youtube

collaborations i have nothing wrong with so back

in the day early 2009 2010 late 2009 early 2010

you used to be able to do collaborations in a

way where like i would come on your video you

would come on my video and then the video it

was a whole thing they're trying to they brought

back collaborations but how they're promoting

the collaborations and how they're displaying

the collaborations to subscribers of certain

channels is the problem that I have with it.

So the example I have here is a Batman Forever,

because 30th anniversary this year. Riddler and

Two -Face destroy the Batcave from Clip Zone

Heroes and Villains. Now, remember years ago

when everyone was like, YouTube is subscribing

us automatically to channels we've not subscribed

to, and blah, blah, blah. YouTube's up to shenanigans

stuff, how they used to do all that stuff. So

I noticed this when this popped up in my, this

is why I always look at my subscriptions feed

to see what I'm actually subscribed to, to make

sure I'm not subscribed to anything that I haven't

actively subscribed to myself. And I see this

thing called clip zone heroes and villains. And

I'm like, I didn't subscribe to that channel.

Why is YouTube subscribing me to a channel that

I didn't actually go to? And then I looked to

the right a little bit. YouTube, um, clip zone

heroes and villains and Warner brothers entertainment.

Now I know I'm subscribed to Warner brothers

entertainment because trailers and announcements

and whatever else. The way that I think YouTube

needs to do this is whatever you are subscribed

to should be the first thing that's shown. Now

I know. I don't know all the facts about how

the YouTube collabs work because I haven't actually

done a YouTube collab. I'm sure if Clip Zone

Heroes and Villains set it up first and then

had asked Warner Brothers to join in as a collaborator,

maybe that's why Warner Brothers' name is second.

But yeah, no. literally freaked me i'm like oh

my god are we going back to the days of youtube

subscribing people to channels that they didn't

care to so it's kind of like how and i'm gonna

bring this up a little bit but like one of the

reasons why we don't have uh most of the time

we don't have uh auto auto ads anymore why we

don't have the auto dynamically inserted ads

for the most part like in the middle of the show

and stuff is because some of the ads that they

were giving us were not meant for our audience

at all. Nope. So, yeah, like, because I saw that

and I was like, I don't know, man, it just freaked

me. And I know it's something, it's first world

problems, whatever. It's something so small.

But if you are, especially if you're a paying

YouTube premium member, which I am, it's like,

it would be different if this had shown up on

my home tab. Because on my home tab on YouTube,

it shows me some stuff that I'm not subscribed

to, which I understand. They're trying to recommend

me things. But this showed up in my subscription

tab with ClipZone Heroes and Villains being the

first name. And I'm like, what the? is that it's

kind of like uh charlie tweeter uh from varsity

i don't know if you remember varsity blues what

he's looking down his pants what the is that

oh god Just keep an eye out on that, folks, with

YouTube collabs, however you're seeing your collaborations.

Honestly, make sure you're subscribed to both

channels. I don't think YouTube would throw something

in your subscription feed. Literally, I had to

click on Clip Zone Heroes and Villains. To go

to their channel to make sure I was not subscribed

to their channel. Not that I didn't want to be

subscribed to their channel, but again, I wanted

to make sure I didn't do something like when

I was half asleep scrolling through YouTube shorts

and accidentally press a button. I didn't. But

yeah, so there's that. Thoughts? No, I mean,

I'm. I'm just not entirely sure I know what direction

YouTube is going. I don't think any of us do

other than the people that they actually share

the information with. I mean, I, I honestly get,

I mean the, the, the collabs, I get why they

do it for like, you know, if, if it's a channel

talking about something and pinning it to Warner

brothers or whatever, you know, they're sharing

where it's coming from. I get that. But. I wonder

how far that goes. Like if they're like, Oh,

I'm collaborating with geek cast radio. It's

like, no, you're not. Yeah, no, you're not like,

I don't even know you. Yeah. Like, I don't, I

don't know if like you can basically, you know,

I don't know how that's going to turn out, but

on top of it, like I'm also sick and tired of

these people that are like, I can help this video

perform better. And it's like, it doesn't have

X, Y, and Z. And I'm like, I'm looking at this

clip and. Other than their ClipZone logo and,

you know, Jim Carrey's Riddler on it, there's

not anything that says anything about what the

clip is about on the picture. And that's what

these people are trying to sell me on is like,

you need something on the picture other than

blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, no, I don't.

I'm like, it doesn't need to be all that descriptive

on there. Like some things are, you know, I'm

like, our content primarily is ported over from

a podcast. Like I'm not going to do a bunch of

extra work for something that's being imported.

Not that I don't have any love for the YouTube

side. I would rather create original stuff for

YouTube that I put more effort into. And the

podcasts are just kind of imported. There is

another syndication point. Yeah, exactly. It's

a syndication point for us. And the funny thing

is about that thumbnail. Look at the title. Riddler

and Two -Face destroy the Batcave. The movie

is 30 years old. If you haven't seen it by now,

you must be living under a rock. When Riddler

and Two -Face, that thumbnail is literally, I

think that's from the scene where he's like,

you know, he reaches back, he's going to throw

it, and he strikes him out, and he's doing this

whole baseball thing. And it's like, okay, cool.

I remember the scene. I've seen the movie multiple

times. We've done multiple podcast episodes on

this movie multiple times over the last almost

17 years we've been having the network online.

Like, I get it. You get it. Unfortunately, YouTube

didn't get it. I don't know. It's just weird.

What are you watching? I've been watching the

Tobey Maguire Spider -Man films. Yep. Those are

my favorites. I like those. I can relate to Spider

-Man. I can relate to that era of Spider -Man.

Now that I don't like Andrew Garfield, I definitely

like Andrew Garfield and Tobey more than I do

Tom Holland. Tom Holland is for the younger generation.

Tom Holland literally was the kid that Tony Stark

had to teach about certain things. So yeah, Tom

Holland is not really our generation of Spider

-Man. No, and to each their own. Increasingly,

with each Spider -Man, Aunt May gets younger,

and the Spider -Man talks faster. Yeah. And it's

more spastic. So like Toby is more soft -spoken,

more calm. You get Andrew and he's kind of a

mix and more sarcastic. And then you get, you

know, Tom and he just talks too much. Well, I

can't really blame Tom for that. That's the role

that was written. And the reason why the role

was written that way is because look who his

influence is. Like. yeah aunt may is still there

and whatever but she's not influencing him who's

influencing him in all three of those movies

tony stark well he wasn't in the third one okay

but for the second oh my god i know i'm messing

with you i get what you're saying but yeah the

but the point is like tom holland spider -man

peter parker spider -man from the mcu His overall

influence is coming from Tony Stark. It's not

coming from with great power comes great responsibility.

Like, yes, he has that lesson in him from his

uncle Ben dying, but the overall day -to -day

lesson, like in the normal 616 universe, you

have Peter, May, and Ben. Ben dies. In some instances,

Norman will kind of sort of fulfill the father

figure role up to a certain point, either when

he turns green or whatever. And then we have

the Toby movie, the first film from X number

of two decades ago. God, 2002. I miss you, 2002.

Anyway, you know, or, you know, you'll have somebody

else in there and what they decide how they decided

to because they were going to work it in because

the Sony deal, Marvel deal, whatever. The one

way to work Spider -Man into the Marvel Cinematic

Universe, have Tony Stark be his mentor. That'll

work wonders. That's why the kid talks like this.

He talks so fast. You can't even hear what he's

saying. is what it is anyways what are you watching

uh for me i i still need to write the article

it's been a rough holiday season over the thanksgiving

break and whatever actually i was sick for most

i don't know what the hell was wrong with me

i was oh just death now but i did finish watching

the first 13 episodes of the simpsons I can safely

say, if I remember my notes correctly, I remember

six out of the 13. The other seven were practically

brand -new, fresh to me. I don't remember them,

even though I know I watched them as a kid. So

I'll be writing that up. TF2 and Mike vs. The

Simpsons Season 1 will be coming soon to Geekcast

Radio Network, only on geekcastradio .com. And

then I've got to get into Season 2 here soon.

So that's... Even though season one started with

a Christmas episode with Santa's little helper,

I'm going to be spending Christmas at the Simpsons

this year. Sounds like fun. Yep. So thank you

as always for listening to Altered Geek. I've

been your host, Steve Megatron with TFG and Mike,

and be sure to check out this episode post on

the website, geekcastradio .com and your favorite

pod catcher. So until next time. Get altered.

Get geeky. With the Altered Geeks. Discussion,

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