Nerd Stuff

Intro Sketch

Rex (00:00:00 - 00:00:01): Let’s go!

Rex (00:00:01 - 00:00:03): The True North Nerds are about to start.

Rex (00:00:03 - 00:00:06): I know. I’m trying to find the signal.

Rex (00:00:06 - 00:00:08): Thank you, monster nerd.

Rex (00:00:08 - 00:00:12): No, that’s the wrong one. Move over! Let me do it.

Rex (00:00:13 - 00:00:16): If I don’t go to this nerd school, I’m gonna lose my mind.

Rex (00:00:16 - 00:00:18): Come on, come on!

Rex (00:00:19 - 00:00:21): We can’t go against that guy. We’re nerds.

Rex (00:00:21 - 00:00:22): We’re gonna miss it.

Rex (00:00:24 - 00:00:28): My fellow nerds and I’ll retire to the nerdery with our calculators. Wait, I got it.

Theme Song

Kirby Crackle (00:00:29 - 00:01:29): [Theme song lyrics omitted for copyright.]

Welcome and Sick-Day Banter

Brent (00:01:29 - 00:01:54): Welcome, loyal listeners, to another episode of True North Nerds. This week, uh, the news and something. We’ll see, we’ll see what we come up with. Uh, you’ll have to excuse me, I’m getting over a cold, so that’s why I sound a little stuffed up. Uh, but, uh, you know who doesn’t have a cold? Kevin doesn’t have a cold.

Kevin (00:01:54 - 00:02:01): I don’t. I am healthy as a horse, and a very skinny horse that’s not very fast.

Brent (00:02:02 - 00:02:07): And so far Gen doesn’t have a cold despite living with me.

Gen (00:02:07 - 00:02:11): That’s because I’ve been having zinc and banishing Brent to the basement. Yep.

Brent (00:02:12 - 00:02:17): And Ryan kind of had a cold last week, but he got rid of his a lot quicker than I did.

Ryan (00:02:17 - 00:02:22): Oh no, I haven’t. I just didn’t get it as hard as you did.

Brent (00:02:22 - 00:02:22): Oh, okay.

Ryan (00:02:22 - 00:02:36): I’m still all full of phlegm and Yum yum, stuffed nose and sinuses. Oh, such a good time, especially after I just got over a cold. I played.

Gen (00:02:36 - 00:02:39): I’m gonna go have some zinc. I’ll be right back.

Brent (00:02:40 - 00:02:49): I don’t. I don’t think his cold can get through the internet to you. It’s not a computer virus. Oh, I’m just gonna beat you all to it.

Gen (00:02:50 - 00:02:50): Ah.

Brent (00:02:51 - 00:02:51): Yeah.

Kevin (00:02:53 - 00:02:53): Yep.

Gen (00:02:54 - 00:02:55): This is what you’re in for today.

Speaker A (00:02:55 - 00:02:56): Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ryan (00:02:56 - 00:02:58): Yeah. When they come back here, the highbrow humor.

Gen (00:02:59 - 00:02:59): Sure.

Brent (00:03:00 - 00:03:01): It’s why people—

Kevin (00:03:01 - 00:03:02): Hey, Ryan.

Ryan (00:03:03 - 00:03:03): Yes, Brent.

News: Star Trek, Avatar, Shrek, Streaming, Spider-Man, and Hexed

Brent (00:03:04 - 00:03:05): What’s in the news this week?

Ryan (00:03:06 - 00:03:16): Okay, here we go. Let’s start off with one of Kevin’s favorite things. Mm. We got a new trailer for Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 4.

Speaker A (00:03:16 - 00:03:17): Yeah.

Kevin (00:03:18 - 00:03:20): It means the show is almost over.

Ryan (00:03:21 - 00:03:34): Oh, yes. Sad but true. Yeah, it does. The first episode comes to us on July 23rd, so, you know, a month away. But yeah, looks like it’s gonna be another good season.

Kevin (00:03:34 - 00:03:36): I love that show so much.

Ryan (00:03:37 - 00:03:38): It’s so good. Trek.

Kevin (00:03:39 - 00:03:59): Yeah, and it’s obviously— it feels like it’s building towards like a new series with, with a new original cast because Kirk’s gonna be around a lot and And we got Scotty, and there are— I’ve heard that we’re gonna have Bones by the end of the season. So I don’t know.

Ryan (00:03:59 - 00:04:02): Yeah, but who knows if it will happen.

Kevin (00:04:02 - 00:04:07): We’re in this weird Paramount limbo right now, so we’ll see.

Ryan (00:04:07 - 00:04:13): And yeah, I’ve got— oh no, okay, go ahead.

Kevin (00:04:13 - 00:04:29): No, I was gonna— I said, uh, I’m going to the Star Trek convention in Las Vegas. the 60th anniversary convention, uh, the beginning of August. Maybe there’ll be some news by then. Maybe, but I doubt it. But maybe.

Ryan (00:04:29 - 00:04:30): But maybe.

Speaker C (00:04:30 - 00:04:31): Maybe.

Ryan (00:04:31 - 00:04:33): There you go, be positive.

Kevin (00:04:33 - 00:04:34): Yeah, maybe.

Ryan (00:04:34 - 00:04:48): Uh, a little reminder for everyone because I had forgot that this, uh, premieres this week. Uh, season 2 of Avatar: The Last Airbender comes to Netflix.

Kevin (00:04:48 - 00:04:51): And is that the live-action series?

Ryan (00:04:51 - 00:04:54): Yes, that’s the live-action series.

Kevin (00:04:54 - 00:04:57): I have never watched an episode of any kind of Avatar.

Speaker C (00:04:57 - 00:04:58): Really?

Ryan (00:04:58 - 00:04:59): Oh my goodness.

Kevin (00:04:59 - 00:04:59): I just—

Brent (00:05:00 - 00:05:03): oh, you should. The animated series at the very least.

Kevin (00:05:03 - 00:05:06): Oh, I will, I will. It’s, it’s, it’s on my list to watch.

Ryan (00:05:06 - 00:05:09): You’ll get to it in 5 years.

Kevin (00:05:09 - 00:05:10): Maybe if we’re lucky.

Gen (00:05:11 - 00:05:16): Yeah, I should add the live-action one to my list because I keep forgetting.

Ryan (00:05:16 - 00:05:24): Oh yeah, no, you should watch— if you enjoyed the cartoon, you should watch live-action, this live-action version. Don’t watch the movie.

Gen (00:05:24 - 00:05:29): Oh God, no, the movie, the movie made me so sad and angry.

Ryan (00:05:29 - 00:05:31): And it’s right up there with the Dragon Ball.

Brent (00:05:31 - 00:05:42): I was gonna say, you were not sad, you were angry. You were very angry. But also visibly angry when it was—

Gen (00:05:44 - 00:05:44): yes.

Ryan (00:05:44 - 00:06:02): Uh, and then in the department of movies we didn’t really know we were looking for another sequel, we got the first look slash teaser trailer for next summer’s big movie, Shrek 5.

Kevin (00:06:04 - 00:06:07): If there can be a Toy Story 5, why can’t there be a Shrek 5?

Gen (00:06:07 - 00:06:10): Wait, did I miss Shrek 4? What was Shrek 4 about?

Kevin (00:06:10 - 00:06:14): Um, I bet it was about Shrek and Fiona.

Brent (00:06:14 - 00:06:16): Is that the one? I was thinking the same thing.

Ryan (00:06:16 - 00:06:22): Let’s see, for the one where there’s time travel, or the wish—

Brent (00:06:22 - 00:06:23): Time travel?

Ryan (00:06:23 - 00:06:25): Oh, like where they undo everything.

Kevin (00:06:25 - 00:06:46): Shrek Forever After was a 2010 DreamWorks Animation film. Uh, it stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, blah blah blah, Julie Andrews, John Cleese. Uh, let’s see, I can go through the whole plot, but you don’t want that.

Gen (00:06:47 - 00:06:57): I think maybe I have synopsis. Maybe I have seen that one, or at least saw the ad for it, because that’s the one where Shrek finds Fiona and she’s like the warrior princess of the ogre tribe or something.

Kevin (00:06:58 - 00:07:13): The story follows Shrek, now a domesticated family man and local celebrity, longing for his days of solitude and being feared, leading him to make a magic deal with the deceitful imp Rumpelstiltskin, which creates grave consequences. That is the plot of Shrek 2.

Brent (00:07:13 - 00:07:15): I can honestly say I don’t think I saw it.

Kevin (00:07:15 - 00:07:16): No.

Ryan (00:07:16 - 00:07:31): I, I, I’ve seen it once, I feel like, because yeah, it’s like I remember. Yeah, okay, yep. We’re still getting the real— it’s one of those what-if, uh, you know, oh, I wish I was just— it was kind of like, oh, what if Shrek didn’t go on his adventure?

Kevin (00:07:33 - 00:07:38): And so yeah, so that is the— that was 16 years ago that Shrek 4 came out.

Ryan (00:07:38 - 00:07:38): Oh geez.

Kevin (00:07:42 - 00:07:44): Wow, how to make you feel old.

Ryan (00:07:44 - 00:07:46): Yep. Thanks.

Kevin (00:07:46 - 00:07:48): You’re welcome. That’s what I’m here for.

Gen (00:07:48 - 00:08:01): I mean, I like the first 2 Shreks. If I’m remembering the second one, but I was never so into it that I felt like I needed to see 3 and 4 and, I guess, 5. So, meh.

Ryan (00:08:01 - 00:08:07): 3 is the one that had Justin Timberlake as Arthur. Mm-hmm.

Gen (00:08:07 - 00:08:08): Maybe I didn’t see that one.

Ryan (00:08:08 - 00:08:10): With Merlin in it as well.

Kevin (00:08:10 - 00:08:13): It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Shrek movie.

Gen (00:08:13 - 00:08:24): Basically, if we get an invite from our niece and/or nephew who’s— and say, do you want to go and see this with us? Then I will see it. But other than that, I’m probably good with Shrek 5.

Kevin (00:08:24 - 00:08:28): But you’ve got a couple of years, so— Yeah, or a year.

Speaker C (00:08:28 - 00:08:28): A year.

Ryan (00:08:28 - 00:08:29): A year. A year.

Gen (00:08:29 - 00:08:36): I want to go see that, um, uh, the Minions movie, the Monsters one where they summon Baby Cthulhu.

Kevin (00:08:36 - 00:08:37): Yes, that looks—

Gen (00:08:37 - 00:08:39): I’m gonna go see that with our niece and nephew.

Ryan (00:08:39 - 00:08:54): Minions and Monsters coming soon to a theater near you, I think. Oh yeah. Question. Did you guys know that Fox owns Tubi?

Kevin (00:08:56 - 00:08:57): I think I did know that.

Brent (00:08:58 - 00:09:23): I, yeah, I wanna maybe because to be fair, I don’t know if I knew Fox owned Tubi or Pluto because they’re all like all those quote unquote free streamers with ads. are all owned by, like, actual networks. One of them, I guess Pluto is— is it Paramount or at least co-owned by NBC?

Kevin (00:09:23 - 00:09:26): I think, I think Pluto was Paramount CBS. Yeah.

Gen (00:09:28 - 00:09:28): Yeah.

Kevin (00:09:28 - 00:09:33): I think, again, I’ve got Wikipedia up. Let me call it up and find out.

Ryan (00:09:33 - 00:10:01): Well, while you look that up, Fox has also just— the reason I bring this whole thing up is because they just recently purchased the Roku TV channel, the TV streaming service. So if you’ve got a Roku TV and you ever watch any of those Roku channels or shows, uh, yeah, that’s all owned by Fox now. And not the Disney Fox, the leftovers of from what Disney didn’t buy of Fox.

Kevin (00:10:01 - 00:10:10): Yes. Uh, Tubi is owned by Fox. Uh, in Canada, they’re owned— they’re in partnership with Bell Media.

Brent (00:10:13 - 00:10:14): Yeah.

Kevin (00:10:14 - 00:10:30): Yeah, that makes sense. And the other one is owned by Pluto is owned by Paramount Skydance. Yes, because Pluto is the service that I watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on.

Ryan (00:10:30 - 00:10:42): There you go. Now, who wants to? I had a little game to go with this now. Okay, who can tell me how much Fox paid for Roku?

Gen (00:10:42 - 00:10:45): Oh, $1.99.

Ryan (00:10:45 - 00:10:51): We’re not playing by Price is Right rules. Okay, pretty sure someone’s gonna be a lot closer.

Kevin (00:10:51 - 00:10:55): For Roku, let’s say $1.2 billion.

Ryan (00:10:55 - 00:10:56): Okay.

Gen (00:10:56 - 00:10:59): Stick of gum and 3 rocks.

Brent (00:10:59 - 00:11:02): Nah, I’m gonna go with $50 million.

Ryan (00:11:04 - 00:11:08): Wow, you guys are all way too low.

Brent (00:11:08 - 00:11:10): Really?

Ryan (00:11:10 - 00:11:19): They paid a whopping $22 billion with a B for Roku.

Brent (00:11:19 - 00:11:20): Jeez.

Speaker C (00:11:21 - 00:11:21): Wow.

Brent (00:11:21 - 00:11:30): Now, does that involve— does that include like— I don’t know, technology side, or is it just like the TV channel stuff?

Ryan (00:11:31 - 00:11:40): Good question. I don’t know. You’re asking me details. I just skim off the top of these news stories, right? Come on. I find the juicy piece and that’s it.

Kevin (00:11:40 - 00:11:56): I, I hear there’s a lot of stuff on the Roku Channel, but I do not— oh no, I don’t use a Roku, so I don’t have access to the Roku Channel stuff. So yeah, if they— if that means that they’re going to be bringing Roku programming onto their other services, then I’m all for that.

Ryan (00:11:56 - 00:12:04): That I could see it all just getting meshed into one big thing, bringing their Tubi stuff onto Roku and vice versa.

Speaker A (00:12:06 - 00:12:06): Yep.

Ryan (00:12:08 - 00:12:20): Um, oh, another— we got— I have 2 big trailers, one big trailer and a new trailer that we never heard of left on my news list here. So the big trailer, we got another look at Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Kevin (00:12:20 - 00:12:23): I think I broke that one to the little group chat we have.

Ryan (00:12:24 - 00:12:24): Yes, you did.

Kevin (00:12:24 - 00:12:30): I posted it first. Haha, I beat you to the punch. Yep, it just happened to drop while I was on break.

Ryan (00:12:30 - 00:12:35): Yeah, I was gonna say, I was working at work, you were on break at work, so you beat me to it.

Kevin (00:12:35 - 00:12:35): I did.

Ryan (00:12:36 - 00:12:41): Good job. Thank you. Um, thoughts?

Gen (00:12:43 - 00:12:44): I still want to see this movie.

Brent (00:12:46 - 00:12:47): Yeah, yeah.

Ryan (00:12:47 - 00:13:04): Oh yeah, we see the Hulk for the first time. Uh, we see Spider-Man using his webbing like, like he, like he can in the video game where it’s like, and, and like he does in cartoons where it’s just webbing everything all over the place. And yeah.

Brent (00:13:04 - 00:13:14): Uh, now has it ever been confirmed that Mr. Negative— has it ever been confirmed that Mr. Negative is the bad guy, or is that just the, the rumor?

Ryan (00:13:14 - 00:13:35): I, I’m more and more I’m thinking that’s Possibly just a rumor mill because we’re not seeing anything. I don’t think he’s the invisible villain because his powers don’t work that way. We’re, you know, because it’s more of a— I’m, you know, it’s more of a psychic power. I’m starting more and more to possibly believe that it’s Jean Grey.

Brent (00:13:38 - 00:13:39): Oh, as a bad guy?

Ryan (00:13:40 - 00:13:42): An accidental bad guy? Like she’s—

Brent (00:13:43 - 00:13:46): I don’t know. I don’t buy that.

Gen (00:13:46 - 00:13:54): Maybe she’s being controlled or Yeah, or one of the 70 million being closed.

Brent (00:13:54 - 00:14:19): I know Marvel is involved with this Spider-Man movie, but I also don’t foresee them sticking X-Men characters in it. I don’t know, it just— I— it seems like weird to me for whatever reason. Yeah, but there is a redheaded actress that’s been cast in it. So yeah, yeah, so of course she could be a protagonist.

Kevin (00:14:19 - 00:14:23): Okay, but could she be Mary Jane Watson?

Ryan (00:14:23 - 00:14:26): That’s what— yeah, but with psychic powers.

Kevin (00:14:26 - 00:14:30): Yeah, well, she’s got Venom powers in the comics right now, so yeah.

Ryan (00:14:30 - 00:14:51): That’s the other thing a lot of people are speculating is that we’re gonna see the Venom symbiote get added into this movie at some point, either during the movie or like at the end in, uh, in a bonus credits or something like this to, to start bringing in Venom and the symbiotes into the rest of it.

Brent (00:14:51 - 00:14:57): Does Tom Holland— is this technically it for him unless they sign him back up for more?

Ryan (00:14:57 - 00:15:06): I don’t know. No clue. Because I think— I feel like he just re-signed a contract. Yeah, after the, you know, after the last one.

Kevin (00:15:07 - 00:15:08): Is he signed for Avengers?

Ryan (00:15:08 - 00:15:19): No clue. I’m assuming he’s in at least— if not Doomsday, then Secret Wars, but who knows. I, I’m not up to—

Brent (00:15:19 - 00:15:22): I don’t think he’s in the list of chairs.

Kevin (00:15:22 - 00:15:23): Okay.

Brent (00:15:23 - 00:15:26): But that doesn’t mean anything.

Ryan (00:15:26 - 00:15:27): True.

Brent (00:15:27 - 00:15:36): It’s like, I— like, that’s for Doomsday, for one, and two, it, it Doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

Speaker C (00:15:36 - 00:15:36): No.

Brent (00:15:37 - 00:15:38): Yeah, we’ll see.

Gen (00:15:38 - 00:15:40): Yep.

Ryan (00:15:41 - 00:15:59): So that’s coming soon. That’s, uh, coming out in July. It is. Tickets available now. And then, uh, Gen, what were your thoughts on this lovely new Disney movie, uh, animated film called Hexed? Oh, it looks— you saw the trailer?

Gen (00:16:00 - 00:16:04): It looks cute. I mean, it doesn’t really tell you a whole lot.

Ryan (00:16:04 - 00:16:13): Um, looks like a girl who starts becoming magical powers, and then she finds a witchy world, and that’s really all we know.

Brent (00:16:13 - 00:16:14): Yeah.

Gen (00:16:14 - 00:16:26): Um, but I was— there’s a, uh, a Disney TikTok that I follow, and the Disney TikToks were enjoying this. I should send that one. Do you have TikTok, Kevin? I should send this.

Kevin (00:16:26 - 00:16:26): I do have TikTok.

Ryan (00:16:26 - 00:16:27): Yeah, yeah, I should send her to you.

Kevin (00:16:27 - 00:16:28): You’d probably enjoy her.

Gen (00:16:28 - 00:16:51): I don’t— honestly, I don’t remember her name. I’m sorry, um, but she was going through and saying how she liked that this character, uh, seems to be quirky but not apologetically quirky. So it’s not like, oopsie, I made a mistake, hahaha, forgive me, I’m just a girl. Uh, she seems to be more like, you know, she, she makes something that explodes in her face and she goes, yes!

Speaker C (00:16:51 - 00:16:52): Mm-hmm.

Gen (00:16:52 - 00:17:50): Um, so she’s feisty, but she’s not apologetically feisty, and, uh, That was a big bonus for this particular creator, and I’m fairly certain it was hexed as well. She was also talking about how there’s a character of mixed race. I can’t remember now what it was. I should have rewatched it. But they so this this content creator is also mixed race, and she was excited to see herself being represented in the movie. And they had, um, done a special animation style for, uh, the way her curly hair would move. Um, I think that was also— it was either— that was either also part of the Hex trailer or it was a different Disney property, and I’ve just binged too many of her videos. Um, but yeah, overall, I think— I mean, from that tiny little teaser trailer, it looks really good. So I, I would like to see it.

Kevin (00:17:50 - 00:18:27): So here’s— here are some details, uh, again according to my source Wikipedia. Uh, the premise is Billy, an impulsive and unconventional teen girl, discovers magical abilities that take her from suburbia into Hexe— that’s H-E-X-E— a realm of witches. With her cautious mother Alice, she investigates family secrets connected to the world of witches. The voice cast is Hailee Steinfeld as Billy Doe, a teen girl who discovers her magical abilities. Her mother is voiced by Rashida Jones. And then Tracy Ullman is in the movie as Ms. Quill, an enchanted feather quill pen.

Gen (00:18:28 - 00:18:29): And so yeah, she was in the trailer.

Kevin (00:18:30 - 00:18:34): And Stephen Fry as Elias Choir, a magical journal.

Brent (00:18:34 - 00:18:35): Mm-hmm.

Kevin (00:18:35 - 00:18:36): So there you go.

Ryan (00:18:40 - 00:19:06): So one thing I’ve heard about the way the trailer at least has cut for— was cut for this movie Um, the main character is almost always within like the center of the screen. Hmm. And it was cut this way knowing that it was going to be shown or recut to be seen on a phone in the vertical format.

Speaker A (00:19:08 - 00:19:09): Huh.

Gen (00:19:09 - 00:19:10): I don’t know if I like that.

Kevin (00:19:10 - 00:19:12): Yeah, the trailer, not the movie.

Ryan (00:19:13 - 00:19:32): Uh, well, we don’t know because the movie’s not been out yet, right? But at least the trailer, if you watch the trailer, yeah, you can almost— it’s not— if you see a copy of it where it’s like on your phone where it’s a reel or a story or something like that and it’s that horizontal view, yeah, she’s almost always on, you know, in frame.

Kevin (00:19:32 - 00:19:35): Cool. Well, I kind of like that.

Brent (00:19:35 - 00:19:45): I wouldn’t be surprised if we started analyzing more trailers, that a lot of them in the last 2 years do that more than we actually, like, noticed.

Ryan (00:19:45 - 00:19:58): Well, I hope it’s just a for-the-trailer thing and not a, you know, the whole movie thing. Yeah, because that would just be a bad trend to start.

Gen (00:19:58 - 00:20:10): Yeah, but I mean, they want people to go see it in the theater, so They’re not gonna shoot it for viewing on a phone when they’re trying to encourage people to go and see it in theaters.

Ryan (00:20:10 - 00:20:24): Yeah, well, even if you were watching the actual movie on your phone, you’re not watching it that way. You’re turning your phone to watch it because it’s not cut to— you know, it still wouldn’t play. It wouldn’t automatically cut everything else out unless they filmed the whole movie that way.

Gen (00:20:24 - 00:20:28): Yeah, the whole movie is, uh, in vertical.

Ryan (00:20:29 - 00:20:29): Yeah.

Gen (00:20:31 - 00:20:32): Oh God, that’d be annoying.

Ryan (00:20:32 - 00:20:39): Uh, and with that said, that’s all I’ve got for news. Anybody got—

Brent (00:20:39 - 00:20:42): I got, uh, 2 things. Okay, go for it.

Ryan (00:20:42 - 00:20:43): Hit a sprint.

Comics, DC Next Level, and Cartoon Reboots

Brent (00:20:43 - 00:20:54): So, uh, the first thing is, I, I believe we talked about it a couple weeks ago, that, uh, Jonathan Hickman and a host of other people are launching a horror-themed Marvel Universe.

Kevin (00:20:54 - 00:20:55): Yes.

Brent (00:20:57 - 00:21:11): uh, referred to as Midnight. Um, it got announced today that on October 7th, which is a Wednesday, that those books are launching, and that’s the only thing Marvel is really putting out that week.

Kevin (00:21:11 - 00:21:12): That’s interesting.

Brent (00:21:12 - 00:21:52): So they, they are putting out all the stops on it. Now I’m assuming that means just the, the weekly comic, like the monthly comics, that like there’ll probably still be some trades and other things out. But it’s just those like 3 books on that day. That’s new comics. Now what, what does also make it a little interesting from a comic book retailer perspective is it’s like the, like early on in the month. It’s not— sometimes there are like 5 Wednesdays in a month, and if that’s the case, I could have seen that because they weren’t probably going to have just because of how publishing details go.

Speaker C (00:21:52 - 00:21:53): Yeah.

Brent (00:21:53 - 00:22:20): But they’re doing it right out of the gate, which means they want this to do well. That I, I’ve heard some people saying they want this to do absolute DC numbers, to which I say good luck. Like, it’s a good thing to aspire to But it’s gonna be pretty freaking hard to achieve.

Speaker C (00:22:23 - 00:22:23): Wow.

Brent (00:22:24 - 00:22:27): The other, uh, comic book news— oh, go ahead, Kevin.

Kevin (00:22:27 - 00:22:48): I was gonna say, I mean, they’re— I think Marvel is also struggling for another hit, hit line like the Ultimate line was. Um, and they, they haven’t— I mean, they’re still clinging to the desperate last threads of the Ultimate Universe. I hear they’re still putting out Ultimate books right now too, even though that universe is apparently done. So I—

Brent (00:22:48 - 00:22:51): The last 2 books in that universe come out this week.

Kevin (00:22:51 - 00:23:03): Yeah. So, you know, I think they’re— Marvel’s not used to playing catch-up. And so they’re— yeah, let’s hope it’s— you said it’s Jonathan Hickman?

Brent (00:23:03 - 00:23:33): He’s doing one of them. He’s doing the X-Men book. And from what I understand, he’s kind of like it was his grand pitch for this universe, but other creat— kind of like, right? Yeah, the— but it’s the— I, I think a lot of it seems cool, but horror is much more niche than like what they were like within comics than what the Absolutes are doing.

Ryan (00:23:34 - 00:24:20): So yeah, right. Yeah, even with it being the only Marvel stuff out that week, just because like you said, because it’s just its new horror superhero books, I don’t see it being as big numbers as the absolute books. Especially if you know if DC is smart and they decide, oh really, that’s all you’re putting out? Cool, cool, cool, cool. Well, we’re gonna put out these other awesome books or these other things. and take people’s money that way while you’re, you know, whether they decide whether or not to buy your new book. It’d be interesting to see what the, the counter-programming is for it.

Kevin (00:24:20 - 00:24:38): Well, I can tell you because DC solicits for the fall have just come out and they’ve got a new Legion of Superheroes book and a new Teen Titans book and something, something else that falls into their next level banner that they’re using.

Brent (00:24:38 - 00:24:48): So I was actually going to bring that up about the, uh, the Next Level stuff. Uh, you’ve heard that Legion of Superheroes is coming, right?

Kevin (00:24:48 - 00:25:01): Yes, I love the Legion. I’m not sure I like this Legion, but we’ll, we’ll see. It’s a— it’s again, it’s another total reinterpretation of what the team is.

Brent (00:25:02 - 00:25:20): It’s, uh, yeah, Joshua Williamson is writing and Hayden Sherman is drawing, and they’re like the one bastion of light in a dark, dark universe, apparently. Apparently, yeah.

Kevin (00:25:20 - 00:25:40): So it’s not the classic, um, the classic Legion from the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s. It’s something new, and they keep trying to do that with the Legion, and it lasts for maybe 2 or 3 years and then it goes away again. So we’ll see. I mean, I like Joshua Williamson.

Brent (00:25:40 - 00:25:55): I’ll, I’ll give it a shot, but there’s, there’s questions to what the, the other books are going to be. There’s, there’s hints that Jonah Hex is one of them.

Kevin (00:25:55 - 00:26:01): One of them is Teen Titans, and it’s a new, a new team of Titans. Yeah, all new characters.

Brent (00:26:01 - 00:26:06): Well, Static’s in there. He’s not new.

Kevin (00:26:06 - 00:26:10): I thought he was in the, the current Titans book.

Brent (00:26:10 - 00:26:14): Um, and that’s where this book is spinning off of.

Gen (00:26:14 - 00:26:14): The—

Brent (00:26:14 - 00:26:20): it’s— they, they, they introduced this team at the end of KO.

Kevin (00:26:21 - 00:26:41): I think that, yeah, they, uh, there’s a team that Jonathan Kent Superman is leading that’s saving the Nightwing-led Titans right now. I am reading the Titans book, um, but all of those are characters, uh, that I am aware of, that I know.

Brent (00:26:41 - 00:26:56): Yeah, I, I thought that’s who the team is. Because I know what’s-her-face, Arsenal’s daughter, is part of it. Yeah, she’s, she’s in that group.

Kevin (00:26:56 - 00:27:06): She was in the, um, she was in that, um, Cheshire and, uh, the Cheshire, uh, Cheshire and Cheetah Rob the Justice League book.

Brent (00:27:07 - 00:27:09): Yeah, let’s see here.

Kevin (00:27:10 - 00:27:13): Oh, the new team of Titans is led by Red Hood.

Brent (00:27:16 - 00:27:18): No, that makes me less interested.

Kevin (00:27:18 - 00:27:30): Yeah, it’s, uh, it’s a team— like, these are characters I never heard of. Uh, Fairplay, Cheshire Cat, Proxy, Wildcard, and Red Hood.

Brent (00:27:30 - 00:27:42): Yeah, that’s that whole team from— from— that’s in Titans and is— was that the MKO? Yeah, Fairplay is, um What’s-his-face’s, uh, Mr. Terrific.

Kevin (00:27:42 - 00:27:52): Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, we’ll see. I mean, I read everything on the app, so I’ll give it a shot.

Brent (00:27:52 - 00:28:12): Yeah, yeah, it’s like, like I said, I was interested until I heard the words Red Hood. Yeah, I don’t know, he’s one of those characters that I just don’t have any interest in anymore. They’ve kind of played him to death for me. And when they started doing something kind of interesting with them recently, they, they killed that series after one issue.

Kevin (00:28:13 - 00:28:25): So the other new, new book that DC solicited for September is Doom Patrol. Yeah, it’s by Darcy Van Poolgiest and art by Nico Henrichson.

Brent (00:28:25 - 00:28:32): And apparently they’re going to be like heroes for hire. Yes, is, is the, the elevator pitch for it.

Gen (00:28:32 - 00:28:32): Yeah.

Kevin (00:28:32 - 00:29:00): The Doom Patrol is broke. Adopting a heroes-for-hire business model to stave off financial and emotional ruin, the team finds itself responding to a simple case: a missing cat. But when this case proves to be far from simple, the world’s strangest heroes find themselves pulled into a truly out-of-this-world situation. And elsewhere, beyond the view of Robotman, Elasti-Girl, and Negative Man, and perhaps even beyond the veil of reality, a ghost of the team’s past is preparing to cross into their world. So yep, it’s a Doom Patrol book.

Brent (00:29:00 - 00:29:16): I know Michael Walsh is apparently working on something for DC as well, but he hasn’t revealed what it is. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s in there, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the Demon book that comes out of this as well is.

Kevin (00:29:16 - 00:29:25): Hmm, they’ve also solicited a new— I guess it’s a one-shot Absolute Cassandra Cain?

Brent (00:29:25 - 00:29:33): Uh, yep, she got— she got introduced at the end— spoilers— at the end of Absolute Catwoman #1.

Kevin (00:29:33 - 00:29:46): Okay, I haven’t been keeping up on the Absolute books except for Wonder Woman. I really like Absolute Wonder Woman. Oh, and then there’s a new book called Gotham General. Oh, by Greg Rucka.

Ryan (00:29:47 - 00:29:48): That one sounds interesting.

Kevin (00:29:49 - 00:29:51): about a Gotham City trauma center.

Ryan (00:29:51 - 00:29:58): The write-up I saw was like, well, think of The Pit but in Gotham.

Kevin (00:29:58 - 00:30:21): Yeah, there’s also a new Gotham Central book too. Yeah, DC’s— I mean, this is something as good a thing to talk about as any on our podcast, but I’m, I’m, I’m just going through the DC solicitation Gen, anything you want to talk about here while we talk about DC superhero characters?

Brent (00:30:21 - 00:30:25): Yeah, I’m just kind of zoning out.

Gen (00:30:25 - 00:30:26): I’m just knitting.

Ryan (00:30:26 - 00:30:31): Have you been up to or done anything interesting as of late, Gen?

Speaker A (00:30:31 - 00:30:37): No.

Ryan (00:30:37 - 00:30:42): Oh, I just work, then I sit at home. That I work.

Gen (00:30:42 - 00:30:58): I finished watching— I finished watching Frieren. That was cute. I think that was my geek pick last time. Um, yeah, play Sims. Yeah, that’s about it.

Brent (00:30:58 - 00:31:00): Well, we have Supergirl coming up.

Gen (00:31:00 - 00:31:02): My life is boring.

Kevin (00:31:02 - 00:31:04): I am looking forward to that movie.

Brent (00:31:04 - 00:31:22): It’s going to be, uh— I’m looking forward to it. I’m kind of curious to see how the, the pitch for comics that are like— there’s just a slew of Supergirl and Lobo related material coming out over the next like month.

Kevin (00:31:22 - 00:31:23): Yeah.

Brent (00:31:23 - 00:32:07): Um, to be honest, the latest issue of Lobo, uh, with her in it, I rather liked. Like, it’s a like a new story point, um, and it was fun. I enjoyed that. But, uh, it’s, uh, there’s, uh, there’s a couple movies left before the end of the year. Oh, uh, quite a few. Yeah. Oh, um, did, uh, did we all hear, to this, probably to the surprise of no one, that, uh, despite Masters of the Universe not doing amazingly well at the box office, uh, there is I can’t remember who it is. One of the other film companies is looking at bringing in ThunderCats.

Ryan (00:32:07 - 00:32:20): Oh, I thought I saw something. I didn’t, uh, yes, I saw on Facebook a headline, but I never saw the story. But yes, somebody is, yeah, wants to bring back, uh, do a ThunderCats live action.

Gen (00:32:20 - 00:32:44): I guess they should probably start with a ThunderCats show because I know they tried that in like the 2010s, didn’t they? Because I remember seeing the toys for it. And it didn’t do well. So I mean, I think He-Man did Revelations, She-Ra did The Princesses of Power, so they’ve kind of reintroduced them into the modern setting. I feel like that’s probably the first step before you jump into a picture or into a movie that’s probably not going to do well.

Speaker C (00:32:44 - 00:32:49): True.

Gen (00:32:49 - 00:32:51): Also, ThunderCats didn’t hold up as well as I remember.

Brent (00:32:51 - 00:32:54): That’s because it was never particularly great.

Ryan (00:32:54 - 00:32:54): Yep.

Brent (00:32:55 - 00:33:33): The, like, the char— the characters and the idea is cool, but, uh, like, overall, it, it was, it was definitely one of those ones where they, they tried to cash in on the, the craze of He-Man, which, like, that’s how toy shows went. Like, you know, Ninja Turtles begot 1,000 toy lines and at least 5 or 6 different cartoons. So, like, like, and that’s not to say they’re all bad or good, it’s just That’s how it is. But I don’t know, I think it’s one of those things. The idea of ThunderCats is better than the actual ThunderCats.

Gen (00:33:33 - 00:33:45): Which is why I think that they need to do a TV show remake of it first and then like figure out how it’s going to work in a modern day and age and then maybe make a movie.

Speaker C (00:33:45 - 00:33:48): Is—

Brent (00:33:48 - 00:33:52): here’s a discussion topic for us right there. Good job, Gen.

Gen (00:33:52 - 00:33:53): Thank you.

Brent (00:33:53 - 00:34:03): Is there a cartoon property that is prime for a major league movie in, in your mind?

Gen (00:34:03 - 00:34:07): Like an ’80s cartoon property or a modern-day cartoon property?

Brent (00:34:07 - 00:34:19): You can go with both, have your pick. I, I don’t know what modern ones— I don’t know any real modern cartoons other than Like Avatar, but—

Speaker C (00:34:19 - 00:34:20): Rick and Morty.

Brent (00:34:20 - 00:34:26): Yeah, yeah, okay, maybe.

Ryan (00:34:26 - 00:34:29): Um, My Adventures with Superman.

Kevin (00:34:29 - 00:34:31): Oh, what a good idea.

Ryan (00:34:31 - 00:34:36): Spider-Man.

Gen (00:34:36 - 00:34:57): I mean, I would like to see a Rainbow Brite reboot. I know that this— okay, you were talking about how Ninja Turtles begat a whole bunch of, of, uh, cartoons and toys. Uh, the girl toy franchises all came from like Hallmark. Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite.

Ryan (00:34:57 - 00:34:57): Right.

Gen (00:34:57 - 00:35:46): They all started off as like greeting cards. So I would really like to see somebody take, uh, Rainbow Brite especially because there’s a little bit of that magical girl aspect to it. And reimagine it for, like I said, like for a modern age. Make it less, uh, cutesy and a little bit more, you know, what, what kids these days would like to see. But like the still the basic premise being the same. Um, I think that would be interesting. I don’t think you could do it with Strawberry Shortcake because the— or Care Bears really, because I mean I feel like they don’t have as much of a villain side thing. Like Strawberry Shortcake, it’s the purple pie man wants to eat all of their, their strawberries or something weird.

Kevin (00:35:46 - 00:35:47): Yeah.

Gen (00:35:47 - 00:35:51): That’s kind of hard to spin into something relatable these— this day and age.

Ryan (00:35:51 - 00:35:51): Yeah.

Gen (00:35:51 - 00:36:08): Um, Care Bears, you might be able to, but I think Care Bears are even too sugary for this day and age. But I think you could probably make Rainbow Brite a little more quote unquote hardcore, uh, and but still keep that the message of the show kind of.

Brent (00:36:08 - 00:36:18): It does have a villain that wants to take all of the color out of the world, and I feel that kind of is more and more relevant. Yeah, more days are going by.

Gen (00:36:18 - 00:36:42): You could even make the villain almost be like a social media type thing, like kids are being consumed by their phones and, you know, it’s like almost like a symbolism for like depression and anxiety and all these things that are plaguing children more and more nowadays because we’re consuming so much social media and online bullying. And then you could have Rainbow Brite be like the protagonist who’s coming in to kind of help them with that kind of a thing.

Ryan (00:36:42 - 00:36:46): See, I was just saying, I think you’re already pitching the Care Bear movie right there.

Gen (00:36:47 - 00:36:48): Yeah, right.

Ryan (00:36:49 - 00:36:57): Their bad guy was trying to take all the emotion and happiness out of the world. If that’s not social media, I don’t know what is.

Gen (00:36:57 - 00:36:59): But I think—

Ryan (00:36:59 - 00:37:11): and I can picture a whole bunch of Teds running around with little tattoos on their chest, on their stomach, right? They’ve already got the good-looking live-action teddy bear animation down.

Gen (00:37:11 - 00:37:32): Yeah, you could probably do it. I don’t know. I still don’t think it would work, but I feel like Rainbow Brite, at least you’ve got a human in it. Oh, so you’d have to rename all of the other— all of her friends are kind of like racist characters. So you might need to rename a couple of them. Not all of them, but some of them.

Ryan (00:37:32 - 00:37:33): What’s wrong with Bitch Pudding?

Brent (00:37:33 - 00:37:39): No, that’s, uh, that’s Strawberry Shortcake. Yeah, and she doesn’t actually exist.

Ryan (00:37:39 - 00:37:44): Oh, I thought you were talking about Rainbow Brite. Uh, all those girl toys all just blend together in my brain.

Gen (00:37:44 - 00:38:04): Well, that’s because they’re all basically the same. I’d also like to see Rose Petal Place, but honestly, I don’t remember the plot of that one very much. I just really like the toys. I think they’re cool. They’re pretty. So yeah, my thing is Rainbow Brite. I feel like you can modernize that a bit, but I don’t know if anybody will.

Kevin (00:38:04 - 00:38:32): For me, it always comes back to what did I love when I was 7 or 8 years old? And I will use the Japanese name, but Gatchaman is the first thing that comes to mind. I think there are a couple of live-action Gatchaman Japanese movies. I have never seen them, but I don’t know if we could do a full, um, American version of, uh, of that. Um, it was a thought.

Gen (00:38:32 - 00:38:35): What did Gatchaman get brought over to?

Kevin (00:38:35 - 00:38:37): It was Battle of the Planets/G-Force.

Gen (00:38:37 - 00:38:39): Oh, right.

Kevin (00:38:39 - 00:38:40): Yeah.

Ryan (00:38:40 - 00:38:53): Now, because you went there, my thought was, you know, say, oh well, you know, ones that would work, like I could see like Robotech. Mm-hmm. Which I think they’re already working on. I think we’ve talked about this before.

Brent (00:38:54 - 00:39:05): Yeah. Um, that’s a project that comes up like, yeah. Although Voltron, I’m like, at this point I’m almost not holding my breath on it.

Ryan (00:39:05 - 00:39:34): Oh no, don’t hold your breath. Um, I think an interesting one because now it, it’s right in the right, uh, nostalgia era. Because, well, we’ve— their new comic book has proven it. Uh, if they did a Ben 10 live-action movie, like an actual theatrical one, not like the straight-to-TV for, uh, you know, Adult Swim live-action movie, which actually, you know what, when I watched those years ago, they weren’t horrible.

Kevin (00:39:34 - 00:39:44): Yeah, yeah, Ben 10, uh, uh, came to my mind too. But apparently there are 4 Ben 10 movies.

Ryan (00:39:44 - 00:39:46): Yeah, I was just saying, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen—

Kevin (00:39:46 - 00:39:51): Oh, that’s animated. No, there is a live-action one called Alien Swarm.

Ryan (00:39:51 - 00:39:54): Yep, I feel like there’s 2 of them.

Gen (00:39:54 - 00:39:57): I have never seen anything Ben 10 before.

Kevin (00:39:57 - 00:40:03): Uh, Race Against Time. Yeah, there are a couple of live-action Ben 10 films.

Ryan (00:40:06 - 00:40:33): Uh, Well, we’ll see if I guess if Thundercats gets made and but it’s like I’m trying to think of other ones from that era that was like I don’t think any of them would work but it’s like I guess you know Centurions I could see that one being done before Silver Hawks could do math yeah and I just keep thinking of that uh.

Gen (00:40:34 - 00:40:41): Oh, probably Robot Chicken skit where they’re like, aren’t these helmets? Yeah, somebody just really wanted our acronym to spell mask.

Ryan (00:40:41 - 00:40:50): We’ll see. They’ll do mask once they introduce the, the, the shared G.I. Joe Transformer live-action universe, then that’ll just be a spin-off.

Brent (00:40:50 - 00:40:52): I don’t know if we’re getting that anymore.

Ryan (00:40:52 - 00:40:53): Oh no, we’re not.

Brent (00:40:53 - 00:40:55): Between like Paramount—

Ryan (00:40:55 - 00:40:55): mask either—

Brent (00:40:56 - 00:41:04): Paramount buying Warner Brothers and the financial troubles that both are going to be in probably in the next—

Kevin (00:41:04 - 00:41:04): Exactly.

Ryan (00:41:04 - 00:41:14): So they’re going to need a big budget, big tentpole Transformer, you know, bringing in a billion dollars franchise movies. So there you go.

Brent (00:41:14 - 00:41:46): Um, I was looking it up. Yeah, there, there is at least one live-action, uh, Gatchaman film from Japan that came out in 2013. Um, however, there, there was talk of one being worked on with the Russo Brothers. It got announced at, uh, Comic-Con, at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019. So, but that, like, who knows if that’s even still in development or not.

Gen (00:41:46 - 00:41:51): Yeah, as always, we need a Squirrel Girl.

Ryan (00:41:51 - 00:41:52): Squirrel Girl movie.

Kevin (00:41:52 - 00:41:55): Why has she not made her MCU debut yet?

Gen (00:41:55 - 00:41:56): I know, right?

Kevin (00:41:56 - 00:41:57): They’re saving her.

Ryan (00:41:57 - 00:41:59): We haven’t gotten the Young Avengers yet.

Gen (00:41:59 - 00:42:07): She’s gonna be like a background character that doesn’t even have any lines. You’ll just see a girl with a tail run by and they’ll be like, oh look, you got your Squirrel Girl, and I will be mad.

Brent (00:42:07 - 00:42:16): I think unfortunately the live hopes for Squirrel Girl kind of got dashed when, when She-Hulk didn’t do well.

Gen (00:42:16 - 00:42:17): Oh.

Kevin (00:42:18 - 00:42:21): She-Hulk did do well though, haven’t you?

Brent (00:42:21 - 00:43:18): Yeah, we liked it, but they— well, I shouldn’t say do— did well, is for whatever reason Marvel has decided that they’re not moving on with anything introduced in that show. Like, it— like, it’s, uh, like we’ve seen Hulk now in Spider-Man and no sign of his son. Not that they can’t get back to it, but I have a distinct impression that that is never going to be referred to ever again. That’s— I, I think it’s one of those few times where they, for whatever reason, listen to the internet backlash on it from the very few but incredibly loud assholes, and that, that has kind of sank the hopes of us getting more or anything else going on in that sort of vein for a while.

Kevin (00:43:18 - 00:43:24): Yeah, even though apparently it’s one of the most watched MCU TV shows.

Gen (00:43:24 - 00:43:30): But this is why we can’t have nice things, folks.

Kevin (00:43:30 - 00:43:31): Exactly.

Ryan (00:43:31 - 00:43:32): Yep, yep.

Gen (00:43:32 - 00:43:36): It’s like probably why we’re never getting any more Ms. Marvel, even though that show was awesome.

Speaker A (00:43:36 - 00:43:37): Yeah.

Brent (00:43:40 - 00:43:42): I hope we get more of her in something.

Ryan (00:43:42 - 00:43:49): Yeah, I’m sure I can see a lot of those, you know, younger people showing up in Secret Wars.

Brent (00:43:51 - 00:43:51): I hope so.

Ryan (00:43:52 - 00:44:03): Maybe not if they’re not necessarily getting big plots in it, but if it’s the whole Battleworld scenario, right, where they’re just pulling from everywhere, yeah, it would only make sense.

Patreon and Community

Brent (00:44:07 - 00:44:24): Alrighty, well, we’re, we’re almost done this episode. Before we go, okay, we have to thank the good people who give us money on Patreon, patreon.com/TrueNorthNerds.

Gen (00:44:24 - 00:44:26): You could be one of those good people.

Brent (00:44:26 - 00:44:46): Not that you’re not a good person. Like, what are you? Quite frankly, you’re— if you’re listening to this show, you’re, you’re a good person, I feel. However, uh, for $3 a month, you can help us, uh, pay for new gear or, uh, pay for our theme song, which we just did not too long ago.

Gen (00:44:46 - 00:44:46): Yay!

Brent (00:44:46 - 00:45:37): And a bunch of other things. And, uh, you get some exclusive content for it. There’s a season 1 of Kung Fu Island. It’s myself and Nefarious Media’s, uh, Nate Milton Going through a miniseries where we review kung fu movies. It was a lot of fun to do. I enjoyed it immensely. Hopefully I will get to do it again at some point. Um, there’s also a music nerd show called Listen to This, which I host, and, uh, along with Alex, where we talk about various music things. Uh, we are currently working on an episode right now to be released at some point. Unfortunately, Alex had technical difficulties out the wazoo, so it’s, uh— Going to take a while for on our end, and then we have to give it to Rex, and then he has to close his wazoo. Yeah, we have— we get to hear this.

Ryan (00:45:37 - 00:45:39): I have technical difficulties in my wazoo.

Brent (00:45:39 - 00:46:03): Yeah, and we have to, uh, listen to Rex rip out what’s left of his hair. So Rex doesn’t have hair. That’s what I’m saying. He is going to dig deep into the follicles and just pull out when he hears he has to like try and make work. Pirates.

Gen (00:46:03 - 00:46:05): I don’t think Rex is capable of anger.

Brent (00:46:08 - 00:46:12): I, I’m pretty sure he is, but it’s one of those things that I never want to see.

Ryan (00:46:12 - 00:46:14): That’s his secret. He’s always angry.

Brent (00:46:16 - 00:46:29): Yeah. Although I kind of imagine like his transformation into the Hulk is it’s like the Hulk, but it kind of looks like Rex. And it’s made out of Muppet material.

Ryan (00:46:29 - 00:46:36): Oh, I thought you were gonna say it just keeps having different, uh, animated character voices coming out as he’s changing.

Brent (00:46:36 - 00:47:03): Oh, that, that happens too. You know, he gets Mickey ears briefly and, uh, so thanks go out to Drew, Karina, uh, our good friend Alex, Dean Woods, who has done a wonderful job with our website, True North Nerdstock. Maple Printing, and Rex. Uh, Geek Picks, who wants to go first?

Geek Picks

Ryan (00:47:03 - 00:47:07): I will go first. Um, all right, I have—

Brent (00:47:07 - 00:47:07): you go first.

Ryan (00:47:07 - 00:48:11): I have 2 Geek Picks. I am going to spread the Geek Pick love around here. Uh, both of our comic books have available— should be maybe available now at your local comic book store. Uh, but we have finally added to the Energon universe And we got Mask issue 1, came out, I guess, 2 weeks ago now, after— just after the last recording. And yeah, it was a great first issue, tied up, you know, if you’ve been reading the John Universe and getting the Free Comic Book Day books and reading all that stuff, then, you know, they’ve been slowly sprinkling in Mask characters. And so now this kind of very much an issue 1, it’s a setup, but, uh, I enjoyed it. And of course they did one of the things that I also enjoy, they had blind bags. So I bought, uh, well, including the one I bought so I could trade for a copy of the COVID that I knew Brent wanted, I bought 8 copies of this book.

Speaker A (00:48:11 - 00:48:13): What? Yeah.

Ryan (00:48:14 - 00:48:36): Uh, the first 3 blind bags I opened, I got all the exact same cover, and it was Cover C, which is the one we had available to, you know, to purchase in store. So yeah, that was fun. Uh, then I figured out— I broke the code, and I figured out how to find the, the foil covers. So I got a couple foils.

Gen (00:48:36 - 00:48:36): Mm-hmm.

Ryan (00:48:36 - 00:49:13): I got it. I got the 1 in 100 variant. I got this, one of the secret Rom the Space Knight #1 issues, uh, because now Rom the Space Knight is joining the Energon universe. So that’s awesome. But, uh, yeah, so if you, if you’ve dipped your toes into the Energon universe, as we have recommended you do many a times, uh, then this is another great new addition to it. My other geek pick is a one-shot comic that came out And I will have to bring it by so Gen can read it. I got my copy of Godzilla: The Odyssey.

Speaker C (00:49:15 - 00:49:15): Wee!

Ryan (00:49:15 - 00:49:16): And it is great.

Kevin (00:49:16 - 00:49:18): So it’s Godzilla versus the Argonauts?

Ryan (00:49:18 - 00:49:54): No, it’s Godzilla. Godzilla is— so in this story, he is like Zeus’s number one guy. He’s like, he’s a champion of Zeus. Zeus will send him in to, you know, when he wants to help people or smite people. I guess. And, uh, so every so often Godzilla shows up to help them along their travels as they’re being, uh, you know, persecuted by the gods, uh, and other— well, other Godzilla monsters show up and do things too every so often, you know.

Speaker A (00:49:54 - 00:49:55): Mm-hmm.

Ryan (00:49:55 - 00:50:08): So it’s a nice little The Odyssey story, but then they insert Godzilla and his characters every so often. So I would really like— I enjoyed it. But I really have barely any knowledge of the Odyssey itself.

Gen (00:50:08 - 00:50:11): Uh, oh, just wait till the movie review.

Ryan (00:50:11 - 00:50:25): Yeah, other than like pop culture references or when it shows up in, you know, other stories where it’s like a take on the Odyssey. Uh, so I, I’m looking forward to Gen reading this comic book and letting you know if she liked it.

Gen (00:50:25 - 00:50:37): I kind of like the idea of— I kind of like the idea of Godzilla being like Zeus’s pet, more or less. Although, yeah, historically speaking, that didn’t happen, obviously.

Ryan (00:50:37 - 00:50:41): But anyway, yeah, did any of it happen historically speaking?

Gen (00:50:42 - 00:50:47): I mean, probably. Maybe not exactly, but probably.

Ryan (00:50:50 - 00:50:51): So those are my geek picks.

Kevin (00:50:51 - 00:50:52): Those are good.

Ryan (00:50:52 - 00:50:53): Who would like to go next?

Kevin (00:50:53 - 00:50:57): Uh, okay, I guess I will.

Gen (00:50:58 - 00:50:59): I can’t think of one. I’m still looking around my room.

Kevin (00:50:59 - 00:51:39): Yeah, uh, so, uh, I am— I, I have an Audible subscription thanks to my subscription to Amazon Music Premium. They give me one Audible selection a month. So I am now currently listening to the second book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which I sang the praises of, I think, one of my last Geek Picks. Uh, but in between that, I don’t want to just read all of those one back to back after the other. In between that, I listened to an audio adaptation of the new history of the DC Universe, uh, based on the 4-issue comic, uh, that came out, uh, not long ago. Um, it—

Brent (00:51:39 - 00:51:42): Oh, that, that I can actually see as an audiobook.

Kevin (00:51:42 - 00:52:27): Yeah, it, um, it was a little bit dry because it’s really just Barry Allen reading a list of historical events, but it is fully cast with lots of voice actors. Um, saying incredibly, um, uh, you know, profound things about, uh, what, what their, what their characters have been up to. It was an interesting listen, not too long. I think it was only about 4 hours in total. So, uh, yeah, it was kind of fun. Um, not quite as fun as the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, but, um, but fun enough. So yeah, so I listened to The New History of the DC Universe, uh, an audio drama They’ve got tons of DC audio dramas there. I think the next one I’m gonna do might be Kingdom Come.

Brent (00:52:27 - 00:52:29): So yeah, yeah.

Gen (00:52:31 - 00:52:35): Next, I guess me.

Kevin (00:52:35 - 00:52:38): Hey guys, I’m stepping away from the mic for a minute.

Gen (00:52:38 - 00:55:05): Okay, um, I recently listened to a book called The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar. You might recognize him, he’s done a bunch of kids’ books, that author. And this is a young adult book, and it’s— it was— I recommend it because it was interesting. It wasn’t the best thing I’ve listened to, but it wasn’t terrible. I know that’s not a really great stunning review, but it was the last book I listened to, so it’s the one I’m getting. And it’s about a magician who works for the King of Escoveta. which is kind of like— I was kind of guessing that it was like an Italian, like a little Italian, uh, kingdom, um, because it does take place in the— in our world. Like, it’s not a fantasy world, but it’s a fantasy kingdom. And basically, uh, the princess of that kingdom is being forced to marry the prince of the neighboring kingdom, uh, Occitania, and she does not want to. So, um, all of it is, uh, this magician’s kind of bungling to try to save her and the adventures that, uh, it takes them on. But the most interesting thing about it is that it starts off with the magician Anatole, uh, in our modern day and age touring the ruins of the castle that he used to live in in the 1500s. So there’s the whole you know, that was a long time ago. It’s like 500, 600 years. How is he here? Um, so that was probably the most interesting part of it, is hearing his story about how all of the craziness happened with the princess and then how he ended up surviving to the modern age. Well, I guess more than that, it’s probably about 1,000 years in the future. Um, yeah, so it was pretty good. It wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever read, like I said, but it wasn’t terrible. It’s a short book. It was only like a 7-hour-long audiobook, so It’s a good quick read if you ever— if you liked Louis Sachar’s, uh, uh, reading his books when you were younger, uh, it might be a good one to, to listen to or to read. Um, I’m not sure when it was published. Uh, I don’t think it says on here. Hang on. Oh, 2025. So it’s not that old. Well, yeah, so that was my geek pick.

Brent (00:55:07 - 00:56:17): Alrighty, that leaves it to me, and my geek pick is a movie called The Furious, which you might still be able to catch in theaters. Uh, Ryan and I caught it a couple weeks ago, and it is almost 2 hours, and about an hour and 45 of that is punching and kicking. It was a very solid, uh, martial arts movie, uh, very simple, uh, story. Uh, one guy’s daughter’s been kidnapped by a human trafficking ring, and the other guy’s wife, who is a reporter, has gone missing investigating that ring. And they have to beat the crap out of people in order to find out what happened to their loved ones. Sometimes you don’t have to remake the wheel, you just have to make it pretty good. And that’s the case of this. Uh, the action sequences were really well done. It’s really well shot. It doesn’t seem to lag at all. It’s, uh, if you like that type of movie, it is worth watching. Um, that brings us to the end of this episode. Uh, join us in 2 weeks where we will be talking about Supergirl. Yeah, if we can all figure out when we’re actually going to be seeing it.

Closing

Ryan (00:56:17 - 00:56:19): Well, we have 2 weeks.

Brent (00:56:19 - 00:56:34): Yes, that’s— we will definitely all be seeing it. It’s whether— it’s probably more whether we’re going to be seeing it together is the question mark. But, uh, with that in mind, uh, thank you for listening, and until next time Abomasday!

Gen (00:56:34 - 00:56:35): See ya!

Outro

Kirby Crackle (00:56:36 - 00:56:38): [Theme song lyrics omitted for copyright.]

Rex (00:56:38 - 00:57:06): Thank you for listening to the True North Nerds. You can find us at truenorthnerds.com, on Facebook, X, and Instagram at True North Nerds. To contact one or any of the nerds, email them at truenorthnerds@gmail.com. Theme music provided by Kirby Crackle. You can find more of their music at kirbycracklemusic.com. If you’d like to If you’d like to support the show, please consider becoming a Patreon at patreon.com/TrueNorthNerds, or go to your podcast app of choice and rate and review us.

Kirby Crackle (00:57:06 - 00:57:38): [Theme song lyrics omitted for copyright.]