The Architect of the GCRN: Deconstructing Legacy and Audio Engineering

Hello, I'm Alana Ace, and today we're breaking

down a legacy. We're going from the Wild West

days of RSS feeds to the high stakes landscape

of 2026. We are deconstructing the career. of

a man who hasn't just watched the industry grow,

he kind of helped build the foundation. Welcome

to a landmark edition of Alana Unleashed. Today,

I'm sitting down with the architect and co -founder

of the Geekcast Radio Network, the host of Alter

Geek and All Things Transformers, and a man who

has produced and edited more digital audio than

I've had hot meals. Please welcome... the legendary

Steve Megatron. Welcome, Steve. You've been on

my guest list since, well, day one. How does

it feel to be on this side of the mic? Well,

to be honest, not that abnormal. I typically

record a lot of podcasts, so I'm usually on the

other side of the microphone with whomever I'm

recording with at any given time. But to be interviewed,

it's very rare. Thank you for having me in this.

This is really awesome. Thank you. So, Steve,

you started Geekcast Radio back when you practically

had to be a coder just to get an episode out.

What was the most MacGyver thing you had to do

back then just to get a show live? Oh, I remember

those days. Oh, man. I. I used to have to hand

code the RSS feeds. I used to have to automate,

well, not automate, manually do everything, including

edit episodes, edit podcasts. I had to teach

my co -host and co -founder of the network how

to edit. I had to basically build connections

out there and learn how to do. everything because

i didn't have any money and honestly i still

don't have all that much um but i'm trying to

i'm trying to amplify and build the network up

more than it already is at this point uh which

is which has been a uh a struggle and a challenge

but uh i think this might be our year but yeah

so the most macgyver thing i would have to say

is just busting my butt honestly just grinding

Working multiple jobs, getting home, staying

up an extra four hours, recording four episodes

a night, and then somehow having time to edit

and then put them online and then update the

code on the website. So yeah, it was definitely

a chore. Oh man, I remember those days. It was

all duct tape and hope, right? Oh, totally. 100%.

You've hosted and edited a literal mountain of

content. After all these years, how do you keep

your ears fresh? Do you still hear ums and ahs

and everyday conversation? That's where it gets

to be fun. I still have that verbal crutch. I

still mess up. I still say on and go. So it's

like I'm almost like quasi burping on the microphone.

And so, yeah, it's it's quite entertaining, but

it's annoying if you're editing that out constantly.

I did end up creating a filter in Adobe so that

I can take out my breathing and some of the clicking.

There have been times where I've played video

games while I'm recording a podcast. And so I'm

about 50 % in both. And it's more so because

my mind has to have something to do. That makes

sense. So there were points in time where I had

random clicking and all of that. As you can hear,

I'm doing the uh and the um. And so the verbal

crutches, as it were. So, yes, I still hear it

after all these days and years and everything

else. The only thing I can't fathom is hearing

people breathe. And that's because I learned

that in college when I was a wee lad. No, I'm

just joking. No, we were editing and doing a

short film, and my professor was like, we don't

need to hear them breathe. I mean, it didn't

sound like that, but it's regardless. You get

where I'm going with this. Oh, okay. What was

the philosophy behind building a network instead

of just one show? Was it about community or just

having a brain that never stops wanting to talk

about everything? honestly with the network starting

it was by accident i i was recording all things

transformers at the time and i'd met tfg1 mike

on twitter and we were just kind of we kind of

clicked and then we met pecan court michael and

and the the birdman don and a bunch of other

were all on Twitter. It was fairly new at the

time. I mean, I joined in August of 2008, which

is also around the time I started the podcast.

And I used to listen to This Week in Geek and

I used to be on TFWire. And so I'd always wanted

to do not just a Transformers podcast, but a

movie podcast. And so when I got to do that,

I was like, you know, it would be nice. to do

a movie podcast or do a general geek podcast

or do you know a bunch of other things and mike

wanted to do tfg1 and doing a review show and

i i still was doing all things transformers and

various iterations and cancellations and revivals

and so we we kind of paired up with other people

that were creators and you know decided that

It was time like it was we wanted to cover other

things other than Transformers, even though that's

kind of the bread and butter of the network.

We we decided that, you know, it would be fun

to cover other topics. And so we started Geek

Cast Radio. We started Movie Week in Review.

And then we started, you know, Altered Geek and

the Beast Unleashed podcast and Legends of the

Dark Knight and so on and so forth. There's only

one show that you'll never find in the network

again. And some of our listeners have the files

and were so gracious as to give them back to

me because I had deleted them years ago. There

was a show called Headshot, which is where I

went on a tirade and it was not pretty. So that

one I had intentionally scrubbed because I was

a loudmouthed, young, early 20s kid. shoot his

mouth off about things he didn't really know

about because you know I'm almost pushing 40

here and we're at this this vantage point where

I'm like looking back and I'm like I am so more

evolved despite the fact that I still have verbal

crutches I uh -huh so much more docile than I

used to be hmm now I will say that the other

part of the network aspect is we wanted to talk

to voice actors we wanted to talk to creators

we wanted to talk to producers writers musicians

i mean we've talked to stan bush multiple times

and david k and uh just a majority of these these

actors i mean we i mean we got to talk to larry

detilio uh jason david frank and kevin conroy

all actors who are sadly not with us anymore

and you know if i had to kind of break it down

and say you know what are some special interviews

that we think were a masterpiece like I would

say some of those definitely I've loved the ones

with David Kaye and the ones with Rob Paulson

I've loved like a lot of other podcasts that

I've been on and to be honest I think it's just

I think it's just kind of a luck of the draw

of who you pick and like how you promote it and

if they promote it back and I mean If, you know,

I can think they're a masterpiece all day long

just because I'm super excited to get into it.

And then, you know, they may not, it may be DOA

as soon as it's posted. So, I mean, it's hard

to tell. It really is. But I think it greatly

breaks down to if it was somebody that resonates

in other people's nostalgia and childhood. Right,

right. Exactly. Sometimes the best stuff is the

sleeper hit. Yep. How did you handle the early

trolls? Back then, the community was probably

so small that the feedback felt way more personal

than it does now. Personal, you say? Oh, you

have no idea. I can remember a multitude of different

scenarios. Mike and I used to get on the show,

and at the beginning of whatever it was, episode

it was we would start trolling them back like

just calling them out saying they're you know

name calling just whatever it was petty but to

some degree they were right i mean we were very

green we were very loud mouth we were very opinionated

and spiteful and just hating on stuff sometimes

overly so like just overly nitpicking Some of

it was warranted, but, I mean, we've gone back

and looked at, you know, movies and TV shows

and stuff that we covered, you know, way back

when, and our tune has changed since those days.

So, I mean, it just shows that, you know, you're

open to growth as time goes on. And the other

aspect of it is the fact that we... We used to

use only selectively Netflix. I mean, it was

Netflix and Hulu, and then there might have been

another one hanging around, but I can't remember

for the life of me at this time. We used to use

Netflix exclusively as our streaming source,

or we have a disc or some kind of a DVD or a

Blu -ray or something. And it was entertaining

because we had one troll in particular that was

hating on us something bad because we didn't

support Hulu. We didn't trust it. We didn't source

it. And it was like, dude, like we just sourced

what we had. Like we weren't singling out Hulu.

It just happened to be the one we didn't pay

for. So we didn't have it. And so it was just

an entertaining back and forth. I mean, there

were scenarios where we've had we've had death

threats over things we've said. We've had people

not like something we've said on the podcast.

you know, break it down and be like, Oh, you're,

you're this, you know, and then start slapping

political labels on us or start slapping other

stuff. And it's like, dude, we're just making

commentary about stuff. It's like, we're not

always the most well informed, but we're very

raw and authentic. So it's kind of, it's kind

of entertaining when it happens. Uh, I remember

having to very thoughtfully draft out emails

to deescalate the situation. I mean, now people,

You know, they swat people or, you know, whatever

it's called. I think that's what it's called.

I'm old. I don't know. But people people have

gotten so petty with like all of the stuff online.

Like, I feel like I have to be very, very, very

careful in what I say anymore on anything. And

so it doesn't allow me to do the controversy

is fun thing. Oh, you're going there. That's

fair. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely hitting there

and I worry for my own safety and things. I mean,

yeah, it's just times have changed. It's gotten

a little more difficult to be a content creator

without having the haters just come out full

force. I mean, back then it was a lot safer than

now. Talk to me about technical disasters. Was

there ever a great server crash that almost made

you delete the entire network in a fit of range?

Now, I wouldn't say there's been one of those.

I mean, there have been technical disasters where

things have had or happened in different scenarios.

Like there was an episode of the TFG1 podcast

where the only good audio was of Birdman. And

he was, I think it was Beverly Hills Cop 3 or

something. And everybody else was super squirrely

or like slow motion. Like it was something with

audacity, the way that it had. broken it down

or imported it i mean we've figured out some

of those issues over the years too uh but it

was it that one it like totally tanked it i mean

we've had ones where the telephones have damaged

some of the technical issues and we've been able

to fix it later i mean i'm sure i can run them

through ai now and clean them up i just can't

afford it because our content library is huge

uh and then there's there's of course uh we've

had website issues constantly over the years

because i mean I'm, I'm kind of that last line

of defense for the website. Like I build it,

I maintain it. I, you know, all of it. So if

something goes down, it's like Steve. And, and

then I have to, I have to deal with it. Uh, even

if it's an unfortunate time where I don't necessarily

want to deal with it. Uh, so there's, there's

plenty of times where I'm like, eh, screw it.

I don't need the website. I'll just create like

a, just a landing page for all of the RSS feeds

and just be good with it. I love the site. And

so I love being able to play and tinker and learn

new things. And so kind of that avenue for me.

And so I won't ever give it up. I mean, I might

at some point just because of age or, you know,

whatever. But as far as like technical disasters,

I mean, we've been littered with them constantly

over the years. There's an episode of that we

interviewed Rob Paulson, for instance, it's only

like two minutes long. And it was supposed to

be like an hour long episode and none of us have

the original file. So there's, there's just so

many, like I completely wiped out my back catalog

at one point because I was like, Oh, they're

all on the RSS feed. And then it was like, Oh,

I still don't technically have all of the back

catalog because they're on the RSS feed. So at

some point I'm going to have to like rip and

download everything because I don't have copies

of everything. Especially when we started adding

contributors, I didn't have. Because we used

to host them on the server. And then when we

switched to like BlogTalkRadio and then switched

to Spreaker and then switched to RSS .com, the

URLs for all the MP3s have changed like four

times. And then a lot of the feeds are still

broken in places like TuneIn. And they refer

back to the actual older file. And so... It creates

this conundrum of like, oh, we don't have that

episode anymore because they don't update their

stuff. And it's like, pay attention to the updated

RSS feed. Like I've done all my part. Yeah. So,

I mean, there's constantly something going on

that I have to deal with. It's like putting out

a fire or Picard going damage report, you know,

or damage report every time. Exactly. So in audio

dramas, you're the director and the Foley artist.

When you're scripting, how do you decide between

telling the audience what's happening versus

letting a sound effect through the work? So I've

been the director on certain shows and then I've

also been the producer or I've been the writer

in some cases. It really depends. Like most of

the time it's it's we don't have a Foley artist.

Most time we just find like clip art or sound

effects or things like that, unless it's something

we can replicate. Like, for instance, there was

an episode. where somebody had written that I

had to play a Scottish character and I knew that

I could do a Scotty, but it wasn't like authentic

Scottish. And so I watched a buttload of Scottish

television and movies so that I could try and

get the accent down to pull it off. And then

I had to rewrite the script and so I could say

it properly. So, I mean, there's been one of

those situations where I've had to do that, but

it's not really Foley. I have played a talking

bird. that got vacuumed up in an episode of one

of the audio dramas somebody wrote it you know

they're being careless kid being careless vacuums

up the bird and then it goes like and then the

director's like because he looked at it and he's

going i i don't even know how to do this and

i'm like wait wait wait i got something for you

and i've done this backwards like breathing screech

thing for years so it's just fun It's not fun

when they tell you, though, to do it really,

really loud or long. And he's like, that's good.

Longer. And so I'm going, you know, and then

the birds like gone, you know, in the vacuum

and you hear the like as the birds, you know,

disappears. And so it's kind of just funny. But

I mean, those kinds of things, it's just, yeah.

I mean, in a lot of cases we had a narrator and

they would tell the audience certain things that

were happening. And then there were certain things

you kind of had to pay attention to what was

going on in the background. So yeah, it was,

it was just, it was unique and a lot of fun.

And I recently did a, you know, a play this last

year where they synchronized the whole thing

to vocals. like they acted it out they physically

acted i was one of the actors but i also was

the one that did the editing for the post -production

and uh the the vocal effects for certain like

if you're doing like angels or demons and you've

got like ethereal sounds and you know these over

grandiose sound effects added to them like those

are things that you would add to kind of like

oh they're important because of this or they're

evil because of this Like you'll hear it. It

kind of helps morph it because it's theater of

the mind, really. It's like painting with sound.

Pretty much. As an educator, you see podcasting

101 changes every semester. In 2026, we have

AI that cleans audio perfectly. And do you think

we're losing the soul of the edit by letting

the machines do it? yes and no i mean if you

can afford it and it's easier to throw it through

a filter and clean it up you know without having

to do the manual labor go for it i still like

to chop it up because i like to see it um not

saying that if i had the money and the they weren't

based on a credit system and it was just a monthly

charge that just did it for you okay uh like

if it was like 20 bucks a month and i could just

upload a file and it it filters out and cleans

everything up for me and i don't have to sit

there and have a filter or a uh an effect track

on on adobe uh great but in most cases like most

of us indie podcasters can't afford that uh i

think it's still a an art that you should harness

like you should learn how to edit like you should

not rely on ai because what if the ai bubble

bursts or what if they all get so astronomically

high in cost because you know it it just will

at some point what do you do then like where

do you go like how do you how do you navigate

that it's going to basically put us back to the

stone age of computers in the sense that you're

going to end up having to know a skill. So I

don't know if AI is going to completely remove

that. It's certainly making it more convenient

and more accessible to people. But if you're

one of the indie podcasters, you don't always

have the money to afford these things. So I think

that learning the skill will give you a deeper

appreciation for when you're like, okay, I have

enough money. I'm going to not deal with this

now. it's i mean it's like the other automations

with the podcast and with rss feeds it's like

at some point like things will progress and it

will get cheaper and become just kind of common

but i mean you can't even right now for crying

out loud the the memory and graphics prices are

going through the roof so i mean you might not

even be able to edit it because you don't have

the memory available to do it so it's yeah it's

just changing constantly What's the hardest lesson

you've had to teach a student about the reality

of being a creator? Is it the consistency or

just finding their actual voice? That's a good

one. So honestly, the hardest lesson that I've

had to teach as far as like students and things

like I have, I'm not a educator by trade. I mean,

I, I kind of do that and I enjoy it. I go around

and I talk to boys and girls clubs or, you know,

schools or. things like that uh but the reality

of being a creator is you're going to fail and

you're going to fail often and then you're you're

going to hit this this roadblock you're going

to be like oh i'm burnt out oh i'm you know it's

it's kind of keeping going though like take a

break when you need to re re you know regroup

learn something new listen to other formats listen

to other shows relisten to your own stuff critique

it like i've gone back and re -listened to all

the top 100s because i want to not be the same

fool that i've been in the past ones and not

be ignorant when we do this next top 100 and

so it's been it's been a necessary evil of just

kind of making sure that you're on top of it

like you don't have to be perfect you don't have

to have the perfect gear you don't have to i

mean just Have a goal and just go for it. The

hardest lesson is probably just telling people

just to go for it, because there's so many gatekeepers

in the community that it's difficult to get started

and or stay going once you've started. Like I've

been doing this since 2006. I'm honestly not

going anywhere, so. I don't see me stopping,

so it's. I think it's just consistency and just

once you have that consistency and you kind of

iron it out and you work at it a while, you'll

find your voice. It's it's there. You'll find

it. The authenticity will come out and you'll

be ready to go. I like what you're doing. You

know, that's a huge point. Everyone wants the

result. Nobody wants the process. True. If you

had to build a masterclass today, what would

be chapter one? Is it the script, the mic technique,

or the sound library? Honestly, out of all of

those choices, it would be the mic technique.

It's literally just figuring out what you need

for your room. I have a geek room here. Granted,

it's a terrible mess right now. But it's in an

old bedroom in my house. We have a closet with

coats in it. I open the closet so that it's not

bouncing off the wood doors and so that the sound

is diffused by the coats. And then I have sound

panels all around my room. I have stuff up on

the walls. I have crap everywhere. So literally

there's stuff diffusing the sound all over the

place. And then I have, you know, I have my microphone

hanging in front of me. It's making sure that

you're not too close to the microphone to eat

it, but you're also not too far away to where

it's not picking you up at all or being clear.

Also not hitting the table or clicking, you know,

all of these little nuances that kind of go into

it, not breathing into it, not clicking, you

know, stuff like that. The really annoying things,

it's just learning how to talk in front of a

microphone, making sure you're well hydrated,

making sure that you're just, you know what you're

going to talk about. How do you teach someone

to have a radio voice? Without sounding like

a fake 1940s announcer. Honestly, it's just talking

like you're talking to your friends. Like, don't

go out of your way to amplify the voice. Don't,

you know, don't go into all of that. It's literally

just talking as if your friend is in the room.

Even if it's a solo show. Like, talk like you're

having a conversation with friends standing around

you. Like you're presenting something. Like,

don't. Don't go, well, today we're discussing

Transformers. You know, it gets kind of lame,

I guess. Like, you lose the authenticity, you

lose the love of it, the care. Like, you can't

feel the emotion in the voice. So, I mean, it's

definitely a lost art. So, what's the weirdest

sound you've ever had to record for a Foley effect?

Give me something gross, weird, or unexpected.

The weirdest sound aside from the getting vacuumed

up backwards, you know, the, the backwards thing

with the throat going, uh, that's yeah. Super

loud. And I'm sure I just butchered everyone's

ears. Uh, I don't, I don't really have, I don't

really have like a voice as far as that. I mean,

I've done outside of Foley. I mean, I've done,

unexpected things using beast wars megatron's

voice and you know barney is you know and and

the beast unleashed which i won't repeat any

of it but yeah i uh there was there was a topic

about barney and you know transformers and uh

i think we're ending the podcast or no we were

doing an episode and uh mike called it like the

purple Barney loving dinosaur and I goes, I love

you. And Megatron goes, shut up. I'm not done.

Like as if he was railing. No way. Seriously?

Yep. And yeah, it was just it was weird, but

it was funny. And we both all laughed like Pecan

Corps, Michael, TFU and Mike. And yeah, that's

just wild to think about. So Alter Geek is about

how culture changes us. How has your own geekiness

evolved since you started podcasting in 2006?

Are you still excited by the same tropes? To

be honest, not really. I mean, I used to be into

a lot of different stuff that I'm not into now.

I mean, comics and just different series. Like

some of them I don't care to ever watch again.

I and that's why I say like get altered, get

geeky with the altered geeks and the altered

geek is basically it's altering your geekdom.

My geekdom has changed so much over the years.

I can't even recognize it. I mean, I like some

of the same shows back to the future. Transformers,

Beast Wars, Power Rangers, Star Trek, Dragon

Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super. So I X -Men, you know,

Marvel, DC, Batman, like I've got a plethora

of things here. in my cabinet that I use. And

then I've got 3d printed stuff. Like I, I enjoy

customizing. I enjoy, I'm printing a Megatron

helmet right now that I have to finish printing

and then assembly. And then I got to glue it

all together and yeah, and paint it. And so it's

going to be a chore, but I, that's where, that's

where like, I, I kind of enjoy certain shows

and some of them I've just learned don't. Do

any commentary because I have nothing good to

say about it. So I'll either just watch it passively

or just find things that I do want to review.

And sometimes it's more difficult than others.

OK, I want to talk about your 3D printing and

toy customization. So the tech is insane this

year, but you've been doing this for a minute.

How does printing a custom part for a figure

feel compared to the retail experience? So what

I like to do as far as the 3D printing and toy

customizations, I mean, I just got a Power Rangers

more for Christmas for my son. And he got me

the Playmates toys one. It was like 15 bucks.

The colors are way off. But I looked at it. I'm

like, OK, this is at least doable if I want to

customize it. So I bought a can of like gold

spray paint. I taped it off. I repainted parts

of it. And then now it looks like a master morpher

that Tommy Oliver used. And then I respray painted

all of the coins because they were this weird

brownish bronze color that was not even metallic.

So I sprayed those first just to test and they

came out gold. And I was in awe of how well it

turned out. But I've also printed Star Trek ships.

I've printed the captain's chairs. I've printed

Starfleet badges. I've printed the stasis pod

that I wanted as a kid that Hasbro never produced.

uh i've printed add -ons for like g2 megatron

i've printed parts for uh my quote -unquote g2

optimus prime i've printed shelf like step lifters

for characters so that i can have them staggered

on my shelf so i can see all of them uh i've

print custom printed uh beast machines megatron

i've custom printed the idw megatron uh it's

And honestly, it's been fun to just kind of see

what I can do with it. Like now I'm printing

a Megatron helmet. And quite honestly, I'm excited.

I cannot wait to get this thing together. And

yeah, I think it's going to be super cool. Wow.

It really is a game changer for collectors. Oh,

totally. Total autonomy. When you're customizing

a toy, what's the... Megatron touch. What's the

one thing you always change to make it feel like,

well, yours? Well, to be perfectly honest, I

have this thing for if they are show accurate.

So I literally won't buy something unless it's

three quarters of the way there. Like if it's

just a paint deco, I'll fix it. I've bought various

Star Trek ships I've bought various like the

Power Rangers I haven't touched those the the

Batman figures the Marvel figures like they've

all been great where I have the issue is like

even the Dragon Ball Z stuff's fine the things

I have the issue with honestly is the Transformers

I cannot stand cannot stand having my Transformers

not show accurate uh especially when they substitute

colors that make no sense or they don't do anything

with it. Like I've bought, they used to be called

repo labels, but it's toy hacks now. They have

stickers now that you can get for a lot of the

Transformers to fix a lot of the missing details

that Hasbro was too lazy or cheap to put on.

And it's like, okay, Hasbro also made, just for

frame of reference here, the Marvel figures that

I have. They made the Power Rangers figures,

the Lightning Collection stuff, which I have

a boatload of. And then they've made all of these

Transformers. And what's funny is the knockoffs

actually do a better job of providing all of

the decos and all of the paint. Like I have Transmetal

knockoff masterpiece, like Optimal Optimus, Transmetal

Optimus, Rat Trap, Megatron. And they look like

they jumped out of the show. And then if I look

at, you know, and Hasbro does do masterpiece

figures and they look nice, but the smaller figures,

like there's a lot of paint stuff. Like I've

repainted my Pterosaur because it was like weird

colors. I've repainted Inferno. I've repainted

Transmetal 2 Megatron, Waspinator. War for Cybertron

Optimus Prime, I repainted as G2 because I was

getting the Studio Series 86 Prime. Uh, I've

repainted my air razor. I've repainted my rat

trap. I repainted a dino bots. I repainted another

dino bot and turned them into Grimlock. Uh, I've

repainted, uh, parts of Rhinox. Uh, so I mean,

there's, there's just been so many that I repaint

them because it just bothers me. Like it's a

aesthetic thing, even though I'm never going

to transform these things or most of them, I'm

never going to transform again. They're just

like a shelf piece. Uh, it still just drives

me nuts. So. Yeah, I change things to make them

look as show accurate as possible. But I also

like the high gloss thing. So I will spray them

with like a high gloss finish at the end. Wow.

Transformers, Batman, D .I. Joe, Star Trek. Which

franchise has stayed the most true to its roots

throughout all the reboots? Honestly, most of

them don't really stick very well. We'll say...

I will say that Batman's pretty close in a lot

of scenarios. G .I. Joe, they take some liberties

with. Transformers, they go all over the place

with it, although they seem to stem out of a

lot of G1 aesthetics. Ninja Turtles, they butchered

it in the recent one. I can't really say that

they really stay true. Even Star Trek, there's

a revolt going on with Starfleet Academy right

now. I don't love it. It's not the best show

ever. I mean, I could watch it. I don't love

all the gratuitous like CW high school crap,

but at the end of the day, like it'll either,

it'll either rise to the occasion or it'll flop.

And generally Star Trek seasons flop at, you

know, they flop hard on the first season and

then they get better. But I don't know, like

there's a lot of, a lot of controversy with this

one. And so I honestly was, I would love them

to go to Star Trek legacy, but I. I know they've

been trying to do the Starfleet Academy thing

since Abrams took over the franchise for the

films in 2009. And I honestly wish we could have

gone back to pre Abrams stuff because Kurtzman

has been terrible. So I don't know. I'm I've

loved some things that have come out in recent

years. Strange New World, Picard Season 3, Lower

Decks, Prodigy. But I don't like Discovery and

I don't. much care for this. Section 31 was garbage,

so I think it really depends. In an all -digital

world, are you still a collector? Do you need

to hold the comic, or have you embraced the cloud?

Quite honestly, I can do both. I prefer print,

to be perfectly honest with you. I prefer print.

I can't afford it. So I know digital and print

costs the same thing. We get review copies of

stuff. So I tend to read those and review them

with Mike at some given point in the future.

Like there's a ton of Star Trek ones I want to

go over with Mike. And I know he's trying to

give me some Transformers to kind of go over.

And I'm not opposed to recording and editing

and or not editing, but discussing those. But

honestly, like I like paper, even though it puts

me to sleep anymore. unless it's a comic. And

even then, like, I just, I can't afford them.

But yeah, I prefer print. I will do digital if

that's a better option, because at least I can

access that on my phone and it doesn't take up

space. I'm with you there. I still love the smell

of the ink and the feel of the paper on my fingertips.

So what is the holy grail of collectibles for

you? The one thing that represents your entire

journey? Holy grail of collectibles. I mean,

I've got a lot of them. I never had a Megazord

growing up. I never had a Morpher growing up.

I never had various smaller versions of the Starships.

I've never had the amount of Beast Wars or Transformers

or the characters that I have today. Some of

them I had. Never had Dragon Ball Z figures.

I mean, the stuff that comes out nowadays is

so show accurate. I love it. even if it's off

like i love it like i have studio series 86 megatron

and optimus prime there's some things i don't

like about them and the paint deco but not enough

to actually repaint them which says a lot because

i just i don't want to i don't want to damage

what they are like i really love what they look

like and so i'm i'm looking at that and one of

my grails was transmetal megatron and i had one

from hasbro and it had gold plastic syndrome

which i can get into that a different time that

essentially the plastic would dry rot and that

it would shatter when you go to transform it.

So you'd end up with a head and some arms and

like the legs, but the torso was gone. I've had

four of those over the years and they've all

broke. So I've had that, but I have the TransArt

Transmetal Megatron. My grail is a Beast Machines

Megatron in the cloak that transforms. into the

dragon. And I don't see them ever doing this.

But that's my grail item that if they ever made

it, I would get it. They're already making a

Star Trek Generations vested in the Nexus Captain

Kirk, which I made of multiple figures with Playmates

toys. And they're finally coming out with that

this year too. So time will tell. If you could

redo one classic 1980s cartoon with a 2026 budget

and your audio experience, which one are you

picking? Well, if I could pick one classic 80s

cartoon with modern budget, it would be Generation

One, because I would honestly bring back as many

of the voice actors as possible, have them revoice

it and be a little more, you know, a little bit

more adult with it. But at the same time, like.

I don't know, like, I would have done that. Plus,

I would love to play some of the parts. Like,

I could, you know, do Scourge. Yes, mighty Galvatron.

You know, among some of the other ones. So, yeah,

that's kind of what I would pick. I think at

this point in time, I don't know what else I

would do. What was the one toy you wanted as

a kid but never got? Did you buy it as an adult

to heal that inner child? Well, funny you say

that. I pretty much have everything I wanted.

I have various starships. I have the Enterprises.

I have various Star Trek characters. I have the

Power Rangers. I have the Megazord I wanted.

I have the Morpher. I have Zeomorphers again

because I 3D printed them. I have the Back to

the Future DeLorean. I have Dragon Ball Z. I

have the Tobey Maguire Spider -Man. I have the

Hugh Jackman Wolverine. I mean, I'm sitting good

right now. Like, I got everything I wanted, and

they're pretty much show accurate. I mean, I've

3D printed a stasis pod, something I built out

of Legos as a kid. So I can't complain. Like,

I got most of everything I've ever wanted. Oh,

the ultimate victory. Take that, eight -year

-old me. Oh, yeah. Yeah. What is the one piece

of 2026 tech that makes you say, I wish I had

this 20 years ago? honestly the only one i can

think of is the 3d printer but even then i don't

know because 20 years ago i mean you would have

had to find the resources to print in the first

place and i'm not a 3d modeler so i don't i honestly

don't know what i would do with it i guess so

I don't know, like, that's probably the only

one. I mean, some of the AI stuff that's out

right now is pretty nice. I mean, the suno .com,

like, doing my own songs and stuff and just kind

of playing around and making theme songs for

the shows. Honestly, if I could go back 20 years

ago and have custom music and not get into the

copyright garbage with putting the recording

industry songs that are in some of the movie

we can review, episodes into them and saving

myself trouble then that would be ideal is the

golden inch of podcasting behind this or are

we just entering a new phase tell me where's

the medium going honestly i think the golden

age has kind of already happened it's changing

so quickly and it's gotten so commercial over

the last several years that it doesn't even look

recognizable anymore plus they're encouraging

everyone to do video shows which is just more

crap that gets put out which is why like a lot

of the ai slop is being you know positioned around

they're they're kind of saying you know at this

point in time like there's not it's going to

be very difficult to get noticed and things like

that it's become another youtube and another

Another vehicle for advertising. And so it's

kind of lost its way. So it'll be interesting

to see where they go with it. Interesting. Tell

me more about that. Honestly, I think with I

think with AI, I think we're going to get a lot

more people jumping into it. I don't know how

many of them will stick, but I think people still

think that like, oh, I can get rich off of podcasting.

Well, it's not quite there yet. I mean. And it's,

it's another one of those, it's not a get rich

quick scheme. Like it's very much a, you know,

a slow burn. I mean, I've been doing this 20

years. I don't make buku bucks. I just, I mean,

I've gotten free stuff sent to me for review.

A lot of that's dried up over the years because

there's so many people in the space that it makes

it difficult for anyone to get involved or get

the stuff. Like, unless you're big into it, like

you're not going to get noticed. And like a lot,

like I said, a lot of the stuff's dried up for

us even. Like I don't get as much review copy

stuff anymore. And video is where it's at. Like

if you aren't using video and the podcast, like

both of them can be in tandem. But the audio

side is definitely not getting as much love as

the video side. So I would think about that in

the future. Steve, you've done over 4000 episodes.

That is a staggering amount of time on air. How

do you stay inspired? What's the secret to that

kind of longevity? how do i stay inspired and

the secret to longevity um i don't know like

i i am inspired by just getting to educate people

have the conversation get to discuss things that

i enjoy with friends and and people online like

uh i i mean i talk about it with people at work

i talk about with you know wherever i I love

being the knowledge base. I I've done it all

the way back. And as far as like elementary school

and middle school and high school and college

and just everything I've done, you know, work

wise, I, I soak it up. So like I, I stay inspired

by just kind of seeing where I can go with it.

Where can I improve? Like it's never, it's never

just staying still. It that's the, I guess that's

kind of the secret to it. Like keep growing,

keep learning, find out what you don't know.

And then when you don't know what you don't know,

learn it and then find something else you don't

know. That's the journey I'm currently going

through. I mean, as I'm, you know, trademarking

the network name and things like that. So, I

mean, it's it's just a lot of change, a lot of

just paying attention to where things are going.

OK, that makes sense. If you could broadcast

one message to every aspiring alter geek who

is afraid to start, what would it be? Honestly,

just start. You don't need anything expensive.

You have the device with you. You have a phone.

I have literally recorded podcasts in my voice

memo and then edited later. You can get, you

know, like Gold Wave and download that and edit

a podcast. You can, you have a podcast resource.

You can do it there. You can live stream on YouTube.

I mean, the things that have changed, I guess

that would be the tech I would also go back to

is like having a smartphone. Because you'd have

the world at your fingertips. You can do literally

everything from your phone. So, I mean, that's

where I would start. Like, if you don't have

any of the gear, don't worry about it. You have

a phone. At some point in the future, you know,

you may want to get an actual microphone. USB

microphones are fine. I have a Blue Yeti sitting

in front of me. I've had it for, I don't know,

like 15 years. And it still works fine. So I

wouldn't trade it in just because it's old. How

do you balance the creator's side of your brain

with the business side? Do they ever get along?

Honestly, no. The creator's side of me is constantly

going 24 -7. I'm always thinking about what I

can do, what I can play with, what I can learn.

I mean, I'm upgrading my computer so that I can

do some of this stuff that I'm imagining in my

brain and trying to... keep costs low and, you

know, invest in the network without necessarily

spending a buttload of money. And then the business

side of me is like, well, you got to do this

because of compliance reasons. You got to do

this because of legal reasons. You got to do

this because of, you know, if you want to do

the, you know, follow this structure to get to

this point, you need to do this. Otherwise you're

just doing what you're doing and nothing's going

to change or get better. So, I mean, it's, it's.

Definitely a yin and yang situation here. Ah,

the eternal struggle. I felt that too. What's

the most underrated podcasting gear under $100

that everyone should own? Honestly, a microphone.

That's literally all I would worry about. Maybe

some headphones, like some $9 headphones, and

then, you know, a Yeti or something. You can

get both for under $100. That's pretty much what

I would do. Or, you know... Yeah, that's probably

the most cost -effective way of going about it.

I mean, you can get DJI, you know, those fuzzy

mics that you can clip to your shirt magnetically

that people like to hold up to their mouth like

it's a teacup. That drives me nuts. It's bad

etiquette. It's not proper. It's not good mic

technique because when you get an actual microphone,

it's not going to sound like that. Now, for a

convention, if you want to have it that way,

great. because it does filter out noise. But

yeah, as far as that, that's what I would do.

If you were starting a brand new network today

from scratch, what would the first three shows

be about? Probably wouldn't do things much different.

Transformers, geek, culture, movies. Because

I'm still doing both those shows and I'm reviving

Movie Weekend Review, which was in a... But in

the original concept, I designed for it before

it went to like review show. So that's that's

kind of where I would go with it. Who is the

one that got away? The person you always wanted

to interview for GCRN, but never could. There's

quite a few of them. I would say Scott McNeil

from Beast Wars because he played Silverbolt,

Dinobot, Rattrap and Waspinator. And I mean,

I've met him at a convention. He's an awesome

dude. I would say him, Frank Welker, Peter Cullen,

Mark Hamill, because he played the Joker. So,

I mean, those would be the ones I would want

to interview. Yeah, that would have been legendary.

Maybe in the multiverse? Never know. All right,

Steve. Rapid fire. G1 Transformers or Beast Wars?

Beast Wars. Best advice for someone buying their

first real podcast mic? Get a USB. Best Batman,

Conroy or Keaton? Trick question. Keaton for

live action, Conroy for animated. Audio drama

or live stream? Audio drama. Who's your absolute

favorite musician or band to have on in the background

while you work? Weird Al. Digital or audio books

or physical books? I'm going to go audio book

because I don't read much. If you could only

listen to one podcast forever, what is it? Altered

Geek? Well, that's been the breakdown for today.

Steve, this has been an absolute masterclass.

Thank you. Thank you so much for everything you've

done for the Geekcast Radio Network and the Altered

Geek family. To everyone listening, Steve Negatron

is a titan. Go explore the archives. I'm Alana

Ace, and thanks for hanging out in the interwebs

with me. Find me on X and Instagram and Blue

Sky at Alana Ace Geek. Leave your feedback. What

was your favorite deep cut today? Drop a comment

or DM me. I'll be reading the best suggestions

and listeners' geek stories on air soon. Till

next time. See you at the next save point.