Transformers Hockey Fan Art and News Roundup

Hey, this is Greg Berger, and you are listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Me Grimlock say

you listening to all things Transformers! and

welcome to All Things Transformers. I'm your

host, Steve Megatron, and joining me on this

adventure into the Transformers fandom is TFG1

Mike. Hello, hello. Game on! Send the Zamboni,

everybody. Right. So, yeah, this is... I don't

know where this came from. I wish I could give

the credit to whoever I stole it from. And I

am admitting that. So I said this off air. I'll

say it on air. I understand and respect that

some people want to keep their Facebooks limited

to friends or whatever. But a post like this,

an image like this, where it's like all these

hockey teams as Transformers things, like that

should be a public post where you could go back

and blah, blah, blah. I couldn't share it. So

I commented on it. I'm like, ooh, this is cool.

Yoink. So I have no idea who the artist is on

this. No clue. It does not say. There is no.

I do not see any watermarks on this anywhere.

I wish there was a watermark so I could credit

somebody. Because the person that I commented

on this. They didn't comment back to me, and

I honestly don't. I have like 500 and something

friends on Facebook. I don't remember who I stole

this from. But I like hockey. You like hockey,

question mark? Oh, I like hockey. I haven't watched

in years, but yeah. We never talk about sports

on the Geekcast already. We've talked about sports

exactly one time with the Sports Gal Pal years

ago at this point. But yeah, I love hockey. Boston

Bruins born and bred. Detroit Red Wings. Yep.

I live in Denver neighborhood now, and so them's

fighting words. What? No, I'm saying like...

With you being there, yeah. It's like, I'm not

supporting the locals. But no, I mean, this image

is funny, and I have very tiny Transformers news

that... Okay, well, we'll get to the news later.

We'll get to the news later. But this is kind

of funny. I'll do the run -through of these,

because when you first sent it to me, I just,

because these are so well done, I didn't realize.

Well, I was looking at it from a distance, you

know, because it shrunk down on the phone and

everything, and I didn't realize that they had,

you know, transformerisms put into it or the

names changed. Uh -huh. And then when I zoomed

in, I'm like, holy crap, this is hilarious. Yes,

it is. So we have the Anaheim Depth Chargers.

Fish pants. Which I think it's the Mighty Ducks

or something. Well, it's the Anaheim Ducks now.

Yeah, yeah. And it doesn't matter what the real

teams are. And, yeah, so. So we have that. We

have the Arizona Dinobots, which I didn't even

know Arizona had a team. I think it's the Phoenix

Coyotes, if I remember. That's right. Why would

they put Arizona then? Because... They're not

the Arizona Coyotes. Why didn't they just put

Phoenix? I mean, they went with cities for everything

else. Anyways, we have the Boston Bees. Like

the Boston Bruins. Yep. We have the Buffalo Star

Sabers. The Buffalo Sabers. Yep. The Calgary

Minibots, which used to be the Calgary Flames.

And then we have the Carolina Battlesparks. Which

it's the Carolina Panthers. I know that for a

fact. Or not the Panthers. No, no, no. Hurricanes.

Yep. And it's funny because they broke out like

into different conferences, too. They're like

Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central and Pacific,

which is funny because they kind of moved everybody

around. The Chicago Constructicons. Yep. Which

Chicago Blackhawks, which is cool. That makes

sense. The Colorado Aerial Bots. Which Colorado

Avalanche. OK, sure. I mean, it's funny how how.

closely most of these look. Yeah, exactly. The

Columbus Combaticons, which are the Blue Jackets.

Yep. The Dallas Stars are the Dallas Stunicons.

The Detroit Junkions are the Detroit Red Wings.

I mean, you've got to admit, Detroit is kind

of a planet of junk. Well, yes and no. But I

do like how they use the wheel. You know, that's

iconic in there. Really, whoever designed this

was a genius with the art. Like, it's so fitting

and perfect. You know, it's hard to discern that

this is just fan art. So, yeah. And then continuing

on, we have the Edmonton Energon. Edmonton Oilers.

Yep. So, again, it's keeping with the theme of

the Oilers, you know, the Energon, the fuel.

Florida Minions. That's the Panthers in hockey.

Yes. That doesn't track too well. But okay. No.

So, then we get to the Los Angeles Tyrants. Los

Angeles Raiders. Yeah, that kind of fits. Or

the Kings. Yeah, you're right. Kings, Tyrants.

They're all... Yeah. And then the Minnesota Maximals.

Which are the Minnesota Wild. Wild, yep. Some

of these teams I'm not quite familiar with, to

be honest, because... Some are new, some are

old. Yeah, so, I mean, some of the teams I'm

familiar, but they've changed names or they've

moved. Montreal Coneheads. Yep, which is the

Montreal Canadiens, yep. Nashville Predators

are the Nashville Predacons. Nice, that's awesome.

The New Jersey Quintessons. are the New Jersey

Devils. Yeah. The New York Insecticons are the

Islanders. Yep. Or, yeah. The next one is New

York Elite Guard, which is the Rangers. The Rangers,

yep. The Ottawa Sweeps are the Ottawa Senators.

Yep. Philadelphia Protectobots are the Philadelphia

Flyers. Yep. The Pittsburgh Penguins are the

Pittsburgh Piledrivers. Rumble is purple. Gotta

love it. San Jose Sharks are the San Jose Sharktacons.

That one is obviously very spot on. The St. Louis

Soundwaves are the St. Louis Blues. Yeah. Tampa

Bay Kremziks are the Lightning. Yeah. The Toronto

Wraiths. are the Maple Leafs. Maple Leafs, yeah.

And it's funny because it is pretty close to

how the shape of the Maple Leaf thing is going.

A little bit, yeah. The Vancouver Cloud Jaws

are the Vancouver Canucks. Yes. And then the

Washington Blasters, which I'm not familiar with.

It's the Capitals. It's the Capitals. Yeah. And

then the Winnipeg Seekers. The Winnipeg Jets.

So that's very on par. But it's funny just looking

at the difference. All of them are pretty spot

on. Yeah. And the designs of each of the images

is just so cool. Literally, the Washington Blasters,

they have Blaster as the bottom part of the hockey

stick in the L for the larger T for the Blasters.

Yeah, it's so fun, so cool. I wish I knew the

artist that did this, because, oh, my God, we

need to interview that person. Because that's

hilarious. Well, and this is the thing, too,

is the, like, even this, like, the Washington

Blasters, because the Capitals, I felt like that

could have been the Washington Elite Guard. Mm

-hmm. Like, the Capitals, because it would have

had the Elite Guard, you know, kind of. Or, like,

the Washington Hot Rods or something. Because

I'm basing it off of, like, a version of Rodimus

Prime that's in, I think, the Energon universe

or something. Yeah. And he's got, like, this

similar symbol as the Capitals. Yeah. Yeah. But,

yeah. This is getting expensive. So this image,

and I looked for it on Google image search, comes

up on an Instagram thing. Okay. And it's from

the account Hockey Fights. Okay, cool. Next time

I'm on my phone, is there an underscore in there?

I'll send you the direct, and then you can take

it from there. I did a Google image search, so

they're missing a couple of teams, obviously.

Yeah, they're missing a couple of teams. But

I mean, honestly, it's just funny. Yeah, I think

I found it. But yeah, I'm loving this graphic.

This is just spectacular. I like hockey, but

this takes it another step. Now I just want to

see Transformers hockey. That's right. We need

to see... We saw... If Optimus Prime can play

basketball, he can sure as hell pick up a friggin'

hockey stick. And now, Optimus. Yeah, no, this

is amazingly awesome. Yeah, I already found the

guy. I already found the image. I'm already...

Oh, wow, he's got music to it. That's not good.

I mean, it's fine. But it's not good for a podcast

because you can't have music and podcasts that

you don't own, folks. Don't you know? Yeah. That's

called a copyright infringement. Yes, exactly.

Oh, don't even get me started on it. We'll be

here all night. This is all things Transformers.

This is not Geekcast Radio. Okay, fine. Since

I was already on Instagram, explain to me how,

like literally, I just shared this person's story.

Now, when you share, anyone knows that's been

on Instagram for the last five years or longer,

when you share a story, it comes up with their

information. It automatically credits them. It's

not like I'm stealing the stuff. I'm not downloading

and re -uploading. I'm sharing directly from

their account to my story. Well, over the last

three days, Facebook has given me two infractions

saying I'm stealing content. That I've uploaded

videos. And I'm like, no, I haven't. What the

hell's wrong with you, Facebook? Like, it's ridiculous.

It's stupid. Facebook, Instagram, they're all

meta. Like, how can one... Platform's terms of

services be different than the other whatever,

whatever, whatever. I'm sure somebody will ask

that question. You can answer whatever the hell.

I don't care. But the point is, how am I going

against Facebook's terms of service when I'm

not uploading anything? It's a direct share from

Insta... Oh, man. I want to throw Facebook into

the lava over at the dark side and just... So

anyway, what news do you have? Because I looked

at some of the news and I'm like, I don't really

want to talk about any of this bullshit. So,

obviously, for those that haven't paid attention,

we have a Geekcast Radio store. Oh, you're going

that route first. Okay, yes, we do. I'm going

with the positive first. So, yeah. So anyways,

the Geekcast Radio store is shop .geekcastradio

.com, and I'm going to add some more stuff on

it, especially after I just found another, like

an old store that we were using for a short bit.

I'm going to add those items to the Geekcast

Radio store as I continue to build that out.

But yeah, I mean, I'm having fun adding some

stuff to it. I've got plans to add more. some

of them of quotes and some of them podcast titles

and, uh, just a lot of different things to the

store. But, uh, yeah, I, I have myself a nice

kick cast radio mug and that sucker turned out

perfect. So it could, it could withstand a picture

cause like they use like a sublimation type thing.

So like they print out a sheet type thing and

then they somehow adhere it to the glass. Uh,

but, I made sure I did it without the drop shadows

or the glow. And this sucker looks pretty crisp.

I'm pretty happy with it. I'm waiting on the

Geekcast Radio shirt to show up. And then I have

a Geekcast Radio hat. So if I ever have to go

somewhere and network, I'm going to have some

pretty awesome stuff as I sit there and I drink

out of my mug. like i'm just sporting swag so

i do plan on doing some like live stream stuff

eventually next year with it yep just to kind

of like show it off but yeah so that's that's

that's first and foremost what uh what's going

on there also had an interesting thing that i

told you about offline about uh one of the old

stores that i'd uploaded like ultimis to and

you know the show's mascot uh and uh it's funny

because somebody was like, so is Optimus Prime

a custom, you know, he's like, he's like, is

he, is he, you know, uh, an original? He's like,

I don't know what the story is. He says, I looked

around in the Transformers Wiki and Google and

no luck on who it is. You know, who are you referring

to as an Ultra Magnus reference or, you know,

and, and I was like, well, he's, he's a custom

creation of mine based on my old truck and Optimus

Prime, you know, the backstory of this follows.

And I, I dumped the tech spec that I wrote up

for him a long time ago in the style of the one

from the... I think it's the IDW tech spec database,

their whole sourcebook breakdown. Because I bought

some of those at one point and had the Beast

Wars ones. I didn't have the G1 comics of those,

but I had the template, so I made it. But yeah,

I told them that it was essentially the mascot

for this podcast. And the individual goes, oh,

that makes sense. My nephew was looking through

the site because he wanted Transformers shirts

for his birthday and showed it to me in confusion.

All I could tell him was, I never heard of that

one. A rarity because that was the one I was

into when I was growing up and still am to a

degree. I still need to finish my Aerial Bot

collection. I said I did the usual web dig to

see if it was something I was unlucky with seeing.

Also, I guess the inquiry was fruitful for both

of us. I got an answer to my question. You got

a new podcast listener. I'll check it out. Thanks

for the listen there. Really appreciate it. It's

always cool how that kind of stuff works out,

though. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. So if you're listening

and you're brand new to the podcast, thank you

for listening. And if you want to interact further,

visit us on geekcastradio .com and check out

for Adult Ears, the Beast Unleashed podcast,

if you're into Beast Wars. Yeah, that's not for

children. No, it's not. We intentionally... It

was recorded like 14 years ago, so... Almost

15. 15, yeah. We intentionally did not make that

for children. No, no, we did not. Remember, folks,

all roads lead back to the low road. My kids

like that episode, by the way. They got good

taste. Yeah, they like the super rhino farts.

Anyways, so I saw this Studio Series Devastation

Deluxe Optimus Prime. And while, while the picture

of him in the box does look cool. Yes. The picture

outside the box does not. Uh, no, I mean, in

all honesty, if, if like I was, obviously the

studio series one is the better figure. Obviously.

Hands down. Yeah. This one has, you know, I mean,

if you're just looking for like a static Optimus

prime, that's, you know, smaller. mm -hmm this

will suit your needs and it and it is aesthetically

similar to the devastation video game yeah if

you're gonna leave them in the box like i'd say

great or if you're just wanting a discount optimus

prime that would be the way to go however i i

would still recommend like the studio series

86 or like one of the third party optimus primes

uh i still have the the netflix war for cybertron

figure and i just repainted them as g2 prime

because i was like well it kind of fits. And

then I have J axis and then I have G2 Megatron.

And then that means that I have the G2 leader

squad. So if I ever get, go ahead. Sorry. I was

going to say, if I ever get a G1 prime, then

I've got a G1 prime. Yeah. No, the sad thing

is about this. Number one, it looks like something

super seven would make in the box. I'm looking

at the flat image of in the box. The figure looks

like something Super 7 would make, and the only

interesting thing to me, the cool thing about

this whole thing, is the art on the front of

the box between the robot with the glowing blue

eyes and then the glowing truck. Everything else

about this, I do not care. I would rather have

Studio 86. And which, that honestly has grown

on me since I've started looking at it. I just

wish, like, I don't want the Devastation figure.

I do want the Studio Series 86, however, I don't

want the trailer. You don't want the trailer,

I know, I know. It's a space issue, though. And

it's more so, I'm never going to transform him.

I'm going to leave him in bot mode. Okay, so

here's the thing. You know what you do? When

you buy a toy that, let's say, has an accessory

like that, what do you do? You take, like, with

Commander Class Rodimus. Yeah, I've got the trailer

sitting out on my desk, but if I didn't want

the trailer sitting out on my desk, what would

I do? I would put it back in the box and I would

put the box in the closet. So even if you did

buy him or somebody bought him for you, you could

just have the figure by itself and just leave

the trailer in the box, man. It's fine. It's

not that big of a deal. Nobody's going to know

but you, other than the fact that I just told

them. True. The other thing that... that you

could technically do with it is use it as like

a, uh, uh, one of those stands so that your figures

can be like staggered. Yeah. Kind of like steps.

Uh, cause I've done that with my Dragon Ball

Z figures. Uh, I used a block of wood and then

I use like this, this peel on wallpaper that

I have in my display cabinet. And I have like

the back layer standing on it because you couldn't

see any of the characters when I took a photo.

Yeah. So. So, I mean, that is a possibility.

I also like some of the third -party Optimus

Primes that don't come with the trailer that

are actually like $20 cheaper. Right. And they're

shiny. And I don't know why. I just like the

metallic sheen and the shine that comes with

the Transmetal figures. And so they just kind

of stand out more to me. Yeah, exactly. Because

it's cool, man. It's just cool. I like the shinies.

That's right. Nothing wrong with that. So if

this Prime had the shinies, I would probably

splurge. Yes. But, yeah, so there's that. And

then there's new Transformers G1 and Beast Wars

bag flips. I know this sounds totally ridiculous.

However, I think it's kind of cool. Yeah, me

too. Because... I mean, it's got that Authentics

vibe to it for the G1 stuff. Like, it's got Megatron

says Megatron, and then, like, Dinobot, or not

Dinobot, Grimlock says Raw Power, and Bumblebee

says Bumblebee, and a certain aesthetic, and

then Optimus Prime with the red, white, and blue.

And then you've got Prime. It says Prime, but

it's got Primal's face. in a box, and then it

says Heroic Maximal, and it's got the Maximal

symbol, but from Rise of the Beast. So with the

Autobot Maximal mixed. Right. So, I mean, I like

the one with the Beast Wars stuff, obviously.

Obviously. And it looks kind of neat. It looks

like they came out earlier this year, but it's

just now kind of showing up. Cool. I don't know.

It's something interesting. And then this one

probably interests you more so. The rumor mill

of the Funko Pop Beast Wars figures actually

hitting production instead of just being a digital

file. If there isn't actual glam shots, I don't

care. No, I know. If there isn't glam shots yet,

I don't care. Because until they do glam shots,

I don't believe it. Oh, if they were going to

have them. Yeah. What ones would you want? Obviously,

Beast Wars, Megatron. I do want the NFT Cheetor

that they do already have. But yeah, so the listing

includes potentially Optimus Primal, Megatron,

Rhinox, Blackarachnia. I want the Transmetal

2 Silverbolt specifically. The Wolf, not the

Wolf. You mean Fusor? Yeah, the Fusor. Yeah,

he's not a Transmetal 2. Okay, what? No. Yeah,

he is. No, he's not. Yes, when he... Transmetal

2 was with the Transmetal Driver. Right, but...

You did not have the Transmetal Driver. No, no,

no. Silverbolt was born... No, no, no. He was

born in a stasis pod when the Thorn of Sturge

hit him. Yeah, I remember. I'm not talking about

Beast Wars Silverbolt. I'm talking about Beast

Machines Silverbolt. Well, that's not Transmetal,

too, then. Well, it looks Transmetal. No, it's

Beast Machines. It's the Transform and Transcend

Transformation Revelation. It's Beast Machines,

man. You can't see this, folks, but I want to

knock him out. I was just waiting for the head

desk. You know better than to argue with me when

it comes to Beast Wars. Yeah, yeah, yeah. From

Beast Wars, Waspinator would be cool. That would

be fun. Waspinator would be cool as a Funko Pop.

Probably, maybe Inferno. But only if they took

the quotation thing that they gave Mary Jane

Watson, where she says, Hello, tiger. And on

it it says, yes, my queen. I'll have to show

that to you off air, but there was a Mary Jane

Funko Pop that they came out with, and she literally

has a white plastic quote above her head that

has her normal Spider -Man quote that she always

says. I'm like, what are you people doing? There

have not been any actual... The last major Transformers

Funko Pop release we had was back in July of

this year with Optimus and Megatron, Laser Beacon,

Buzzsaw, Buzzsaw was the chase, Blaster, and

Astrotrain. Now they offered Optimus and Megatron

as individual Funko Pops, and they also offered

them as a, is it a Hot Topic, Tupac, I don't

know, it's behind me. But the Hot Topic 2 -pack

is the same figures except they're metallic looking.

So I got the... Actually, I bought two 2 -packs

so I could have one out -of -box and one in -box.

So they have that. That was the last major one

that they released. They do have the NFTs coming

for Wave 2, which is including the Cheetor, Ultra

Magnus, and I forget off the top of my head the

other ones. But those were delayed. For some

unknown reason. Nobody knows. It's Ultra Magnus,

Blitzwing, Arcee, Cheetor. King Starscream, so

Starscream with the crown, and Freddy Funko as

Grimlock. Nobody gives a crap about Freddy Funko

dressed up as other characters. At least I don't.

Seriously, dude, I don't mind if Funko wants

to have their mascot dress up as certain characters,

but having him dressed up as Optimus Prime and

basically have a human with an Optimus Prime

helmet on or a Megatron helmet, it's stupid to

me when it comes to Transformers. So that's the

ones that they've got so far. Now... potentially,

these are not coming until 2025, I think? Correct.

So, the first ones that we had leaks of, which

is all the same kind of thing, Hot Rod with Matrix,

Cyclonus, and a 6 -inch Omega Supreme. So the

Hot Rod and Cyclonus with a regular 4 -inch Funko

Pop, so 6 -inch Omega Supreme is a larger figure.

And then they did something really stupid. Funko

Pop Soundwave Diddy Bots. Interesting. What this

is... Have you seen... I don't know if you've

seen this. No, I have not. Okay, hold on. Give

me a... This is getting expensive! These things

are stupid. I understand the whole point of Funko

Pops is big head, little body. But in the case

of this, it should have just been big chest,

little head or something. But basically, it's

the 10 -inch sound wave, the one that I already

have. But they make his face... be able to go

up so the bitty bot of Rumble can fit inside

his head like a Power Ranger or a person from

Voltron or something. I'm like, what the fuck?

Like, what are you people doing? I don't understand

this whatsoever. So there's that. Yeah. And then,

like you said, we get the Beast Wars with Optimus

Primal, Megatron, Rhinox, and Blackarachnia.

Supposedly these are coming summer 2025? I don't

know if they're actually going to come or not

because Funko and the Transformers license, it's

like they do certain things and they don't do

other certain things. And then when they try

to do something so asinine, it just makes you

shake your head. It's like, really? Seriously?

This is what they're doing with it? It's kind

of like the old line from Master... This is what

you're doing. This is what I want you to do.

Like, just... And I don't know who to directly

blame. Funko or Hasbro are probably both all

at the same time. I've got one thing, but what

else you got before we go into my one thing?

No, I mean, that was kind of it. There really

wasn't a whole heck of a lot available for news.

Yeah. Those were really the only things I kind

of noticed. I have noticed that a lot of the

stores have figures shelf -warming, which...

is unfortunate. I've seen them in the clearance

aisles at Walmart. I've seen them. Well, I mean,

and they're not even clearance. They just are

there. Yeah. And then the, and then the, the

regular toy aisle. And this is the case for most

of the figures down the aisle. Most everything

is either clearanced on sale and not moving,

which. It begs to wonder, are the toy industry

professionals missing the boat on what people

actually want? Or are people just not buying

them because either A, they're out of money,

or it's not resonating? And I don't know what

the right answer is here. I think it's a combination

of all three. Yeah, I'm kind of wondering because

for me, I love Beast Wars, but I didn't even

pick up Silverbolt. I didn't feel the need to...

to continue down that rabbit hole. And I have

all the season one guys and I have various third

party trans metals and things like that. But

the, the majority of the stuff that's out, I

just either it's priced way too high or it's

just not, it's just not characters I care about.

Like there are repaints of a repaint of a repaint

of a repaint of a repaint. And so it kind of

just takes me out of it. So when we did the 1027

event and they were talking about Devastator

being the next thing in the next line or whatever,

okay, fine, cool, a lot of people are going to

go after that that may not already have a Devastator,

or those that may have a Devastator want a more

movie -accurate Devastator, fine, whatever, but

like... Every event that Hasbro did this year,

really, to me personally, and I'm sorry, sorry,

not sorry, actually, didn't really celebrate

the 40th anniversary of this brand. It's great

that they had Peter and Frank and they did a

couple events with them or whatever. That's all

well and good, but, like, it just didn't feel

like they really celebrated it at all. It's depressing,

but it is what it is, and I think you're right.

You know, either people already have what they

have or what they want out of whatever, or they're

not excited for the new stuff, or maybe they're

getting rid of their toy collections, or maybe

their kids either aren't old enough or are too

old and have grown out of the toys. Or maybe

kids of this Generation Z, Alpha, Beta, wherever

the hell we are in the generational naming scheme.

Maybe they just don't care. Maybe they would

rather play Transformers Angry Birds on their

iPads than actually collect action figures. And

yes, I know Transformers Angry Birds is old at

this point, but it's all mine. No, I get what

you're saying there, though. I mean, it's...

I mean, you're a parent. You have two boys. When's

the last time they played with a toy for more

than a week? Never. And I'm just being honest.

Right. Exactly. They don't care about toys. Period.

It's just kind of the nature of the beast. They

don't care. They like something for a short time.

And then... Just nothing. And I know that's not...

And I know that... It's not for lack of trying.

It's not for lack of trying on yours and your

wife's part. And it's not a lack of... It's not

the parenting that's the problem. It's not the

genes that are the... Y 'all need to see Steve

Megatron's collection. If his kids were really

into toys as much as he was and he is... they

would be doing almost, but it's just something

with this generation that just, it's so much

different than our generation when we were growing

up and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with

that, but it's just kind of sad because once

we're gone, how are these toy, these toy companies

are going to be gone with us if they're not gone

before we are kind of, you know what I mean?

Like, like you said, You've gone to Walmarts

in your area and the same stuff from a year and

a half to two years ago is still on the shelves.

Oh, I know. And it's, and it's unfortunate. Don't

get me wrong. Like I'm, I, I like the thrill

of the hunt. I like to go in, I like to explore

it. I like to see what's there. And then just

to kind of discover that it's not like, it's

just the same. stuff that's been there for quite

some time and it's and it's sad like because

you're like oh this means that things are not

going so well yeah and it's not just transformers

it's all toys no and it's all it's all well and

then this is the other thing they they overstock

the stuff that nobody's buying yeah or at least

in certain vicinities like i'm sure they get

you know certain orders where they're you know,

there's certain things they're constantly ordering.

And then there's, there's situations where they're

just not ordering anything new. So like I was

on the hunt for like Dragon Ball Z figures, Dragon

Ball Super, couldn't find stuff nowhere. Like

I was trying, I was looking like occasionally,

like I got lucky at a Walmart that some of the

figures, they had them on clearance. for whatever

reason at this one location, they were on sale

for $10. These like $25, $30 figures were $10.

And I was like, well, that's a no brainer. So

I bought them all. And then there were other

ones where it's like, I can't find them at all

because they're either sold out or they came

out years ago or they're just not really stocking

or is, I mean, there was a lot of, A lot of stuff

like that. And that's the case with everything,

like the Transformers stuff. If you're trying

to find an Optimus Prime, good luck. If you're

trying to find a Megatron, good luck. I would

see them in the store for like a week. You can

find Transmetal 2 Megatron if you're really looking

around. And I have one. I got it right when it

came out. And then I promptly repainted most

of it. I still got a little bit left to do on

them. But yeah, I mean, it's very difficult to

find some of these figures. And again, it kind

of just boils down to the kids don't really play

with it. It's us, the collectors, that are kind

of keeping these things afloat. Because we're

like, oh, they have more articulation. They have

more detail. Yes, they are missing quite a few

of the paint decor or the decals or any of that

stuff, which I've just been doing my own over

the years. But it's the fact that most of the

people that are getting them are the collectors.

Everybody else is kind of just like, eh, I don't

need it. And I've kind of gotten to that point

too. I mean, 3D printers have made it easier

to obtain things that the toy industry doesn't

make. So I've got Star Trek ships, I've got Stasis

Pod, I've got add -on parts. I 3D printed a head

for the Power of the Primes Optimal Optimus and

painted it. and popped it on the body, and now

it's optimal Megatron. That's right. So, again,

it kind of just boils down to the fact that kids

don't really play with any of this stuff anymore.

They don't care. And even if they don't get it,

like my kids don't get electronics. They get

to watch something periodically, but it's not.

it's not a daily occurrence so it's like what

like they would rather just sit on the floor

and kick each other yeah like literally that's

we're like you have toys play with them they're

like ladies and gentlemen for those that don't

know who haven't been listening to us for the

last 15 and a half years or longer he's got two

boys so it isn't like it's two girls kicking

each other all the time No, but I mean, it's,

it's just, it's still the fact of the matter.

Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's just, it's, it's ridiculous

because like, that's all they do is they just

hit each other for the fun of it. Like, I mean,

they're collecting Pokemon cards right now, which

I'm like, okay, I can somewhat resonate because

I used to collect Pokemon cards once upon a time.

But again, it's yeah. Just kind of is what it

is. I guess you could always get them into reading.

Well, they do that. They do that a lot. So I'm

going to go back in time in order to go forward

in time. Okay. Back on August 12th of this year,

I remember us reporting on this because you just

rolled your eyes and I just laughed through reading

this whole thing, but I'm going to read it again.

And this ties into the current day story of what's

happening over at Skybound and Image. Skybound's

Transformers Worst Bot Ever. Meet Ballpoint.

Skybound announced the... Why would you do this

to me? I can't even finish the first sentence

without him groaning, folks. Skybound announced

the first book in a new series of original graphic

novels due in shops next July. So July 2025.

Credited to writer Brian Smitty -Smith. An artist,

Mars Jr., who has done Void Rivals covers and

stuff like that, the Decepticons are known for

being bad, but Ballpoint is truly the worst.

The biggest failure of them all. After the latest

attempt to take down the Autobots goes horribly

wrong, he's kicked out of the Decepticons for

good. Will Ballpoint be able to prove his worth

by defeating the Autobots all by himself? Or

will he keep failing and find that being the

best is more than meets the eye? Blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah. So the whole point of me bringing

this up is because I finally remember what the

hell the name of the Skybound thing is. This

inaugural offering in Skybound's Young Readers

line, Skybound Comet, so Skybound Comet is going

to be Skybound Entertainment's Young Readers

thing, is an integral... component of its overall

comics partnership with Hasbro. Other key components

include Skybound's new Energon Universe comic

book series, Void Rivals, two -time Eisner Award

-winning Transformers and G .I. Joe, the miniseries

Duke, Cobra Commander, Scarlet, and Destro, which

right now, G .I. Joe number one just came out.

I have read it. It is very good. Everyone go

check it out and all that good stuff. So the

reason why I told you that story to tell you

this one, folks. Skybound's Energon Universe

Free Convict Day 2025 special. Skybound announced

the upcoming special Energon Universe issue for

Free Convict Day May 3rd, 2025. Hey! Free Convict

Day is back in May again. It was in September

last year or something or other. Yes, excellent.

The biggest names in comics bring you the biggest

Free Comic Book Day release of the year with

its three all -new stories from the Energon universe

featuring G .I. Joe, Transformers, and Void Rivals,

a perfect jumping -on point for new readers with

huge revelations for longtime fans. Of note,

Transformers Worst Bot Ever is also listed for

Free Comic Book Day. It's coming out, but Free

Comic Book Day 2025. It's going to be fun. It's

going to be awesome. I can't wait. I have been

loving the Skybound stuff. Honestly, all of it.

Like, the only thing I did not like was the Destro

miniseries. So I'm syndicating Jesse Early, a

.k .a. Matrix Prime. I'm syndicating his show,

Another Comic Review, under the pull bag for

the older episodes that we've done. And since

we've already done the Destro miniseries and

the Scarlet miniseries for G .I. Joe, I am naming

those episodes Dismal Destro and Stunning Scarlet

because the Destro comic series is by far one

of the worst comics I've ever read. It is poorly

written. Completely poorly written. Oh, God.

And when I say poorly written, I don't just mean

the story is bad. I mean the writing, the way

it is written is bad. Like, it's like this person

doesn't, and I know this person does know English

because they're actually British, but that's

beside the point. I think they're British. I

don't remember. But the point is, is like, they

write things in a way that no character, you

wouldn't hear a character say it the way that

they've written it. It's crazy and stupid, and

apparently Destro's ancestors were the ancient

spirits of evil from Thundercats. You had to

be there, folks. It was freaking crazy. Well,

that's certainly interesting. Okay, so that's

what it reminds me of. So the whole point of

the five -issue miniseries for Destro, he keeps

going back to Scotland and he keeps going back

to this temple with his ancestors in the Himalayas

or whatever. I know Scotland is not in the Himalayas.

He keeps going back to this stupid mountain range

thing. And I'm like, okay. I know you're trying

to give us backstory here, but you're failing

upwards really badly. And, yeah, no, I'm... But

so far, G .I. Joe number one, interesting. It's

going to be interesting to see where they take

it from here. So you can check that out every,

almost every week, as long as there's a comic.

We do another comic review over with Jesse Early.

Sometimes we do it with Brian the Enemy and Flo

Merkley as well, usually on Transformers issues.

So we've got this month still to come. We've

got Transformers 14 that we'll be reviewing and

Void Rivals number 14. Once again, I think I'll

have to track down the trades for you, but I

think you would like at least try the first Void

Rivals trade. It's space with a little bit of

Transformers mixed in. Not much, but a little

bit. Very, very cool. But yeah, that's all I

got. Sounds good. So that's about all I have

as well. So thank you for tuning in to All Things

Transformers. I've been your host, Steve Megatron,

along with TFG1 Mike. And you can get a hold

of us on the website, geekcastradio .com. You

can, of course, subscribe to this podcast on

any of your favorite podcatchers, other than

tune in, because, you know. They don't update

their feeds. Okay, okay, okay. What you're saying

is they tuned out. Yeah, they don't stay up with

the times. There's a lot of that going on in

the industry. However, we are on YouTube now,

on YouTube podcasts, as it were. Still a video

format, but whatever. It works. So, yeah, we're

on there. And until next time, transform and

transcend on all things Transformers. Yes. I

wish to speak to my lawyer.