Sneaky Geek - podcast cover

Sneaky Geek

Bryce Rankins and Bryan Romerowww.sneakygeekpodcast.com
Sneaky Geek is an inclusive podcast that focuses on learning about and appreciating all manner of geek culture. We are geeks against gatekeeping! From comics to movies, books to video games, we're here to get you up to speed without gatekeeping, complaining, or yucking anyone's yum. Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, you name it, we're about it!
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Episodes

Wondering (and wandering) through Wondercon!

Episode 57! Con season is upon us! Bryce and Bryan revved up slowly and gently to Wondercon 2025 by first visiting a pop up for Gundam and Gunpla, then the next week went to The Inland Empire Strikes Back!, a small but excellent Star Wars convention. With the convention just days away, there's planning to do! What panels to see? Is there merch to be on the lookout for? When are we getting s'mores? Will Bryce somehow win ANOTHER raffle? We go over the event schedule, some of the notable guests, a...

Mar 27, 20251 hr 17 minEp. 57

How to Comic-Con: A Con-Prehensive Guide

It's that magical time again! San Diego Comic-Con is here at last! Get ready to conquer your next comic-con with Sneaky Geek! In this episode, we're joined by the amazing Sarah McIntosh of MacAttack Cosplay to share insider tips on making the most of your con experience. We chat about what essentials to pack, how to plan your visit, and the best strategies for enjoying the con whether you’re flying solo or with a group. Sarah shares her expert advice on con-essentials for cosplayers, and we all ...

Jul 24, 20241 hr 52 minEp. 56

Anime and Black Music: A Cultural Exchange w/ Dr. Marcus Norris

Sneaky Geek is talking about anime again, and this time it's not just pokemon. Join us on this episode of Sneaky Geek as we dive into the unique intersection of black culture and anime, especially through the lens of music. We're excited to chat with Dr. Marcus Norris, director of the South Side Symphony, about how black music has influenced popular anime series like City Hunter, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kids on the Slope, and Cowboy Bebop. From the beats of City Pop to the impact of the Wu-Tang Clan, we...

Jun 26, 202453 minEp. 55

Big Monster! The History of Kaiju

It’s a kaiju podcast! This week we are talking with John Hazlett yet again but this time its not about his time curating Star Wars history, and is instead about his love of the King of all Monsters, Godzilla! Godzilla, or Gojira as they call him in the streets, has been destroying cities since the 50s, and during that time his films have gone from poignant anti-WMD narratives to gigantic wrestling matches to Taco Bell Commercials to Oscar winning films. Listen as we do our deep dive into the his...

Jun 13, 20241 hr 43 minEp. 54

BONUS: Tales of The Empire Trailer breakdown

Star Wars: Tales of The Empire is a week away! We're so excited for this follow up to Tales of the Jedi. So we decided we needed ANOTHER trailer breakdown! So we broke the trailer down, frame by frame, to find every reference, Easter egg, or sneaky recut that we could. We also talk about hopes for the series, how it might tie in to Ahsoka, Mandalorian and Grogu, and everything else a-brewin' in Dave Filoni's branch of the galaxy. Enjoy! Find us on Instagram and Threads at @SneakyGeekPodcast Join...

Apr 27, 20241 hr 10 min

WonderCon Recap feat. The Bitches of Dathomir!

Wondercon is one of our favorite cons, it's far less daunting than SDCC but still packs a punch. This years Wondercon took place on a rainy Easter weekend, and it had some interesting affects on our usual con experience. But that didn't stop us from seeing great panels like Her Universe with Ashley Eckstein, Star Trek Discoveries season 5 premiere, or The War of Rohirrim panel! Joining us this episode are Reychel and Frankie, from The Bitches of Dathomir, a Star Wars podcast that focuses on prin...

Apr 17, 20241 hr 47 minEp. 53

BONUS: The Acolyte Trailer Breakdown!

At 8am on March 19th, 2024, Lucasfilm dropped the trailer for their newest Star Wars show, The Acolyte. It featured intense fight scenes, a whole lot of lightsabers, and a new threat we haven't yet seen! This whole show takes place a hundred years before Anakin told Sebulba he was going to be bugsquat (sleemo), and that means it's during The High Republic! What is The High Republic? What do all this quickly flashing scenes mean? What kind of alien is that again? All these questions and more are ...

Mar 19, 202444 min

Star Wars: The High Republic, is it worth it?

This week we are honored to have former Wookiepedia Bureaucrat, writer, and Legends afficionado John Hazlett on the podcast! Lucasfilm is a few years into its multi-media storytelling initiative, "The High Republic." Since it's going strong, we wanted to ask John if he had seen any of these stories before and whether this era in Star Wars overwrites any of the old canon. He had some fascinating insights, comparisons, and drops a few knowledge bombs on us. The High Republic takes place between 50...

Mar 13, 20241 hr 42 minEp. 52

The Nuzlocke AKA - How to make Pokemon utterly tragic

Want to make Pokemon harder? Tragic even? Well do we have a challenge for you! You get two Pokémon games with every new generation, so we're giving you two parts to this Pokémon episode! Because... because it's part 2 of our Pokémon episode... get it? This episode was first streamed LIVE on Twitch.tv/sneakygeekpodcast, and it was so big, that we broke it into two episodes for you! In this episode, we discuss how the nuzzlock and soul link work, what these new iterations bring with new features, ...

Feb 21, 202443 minEp. 51

What keeps bringing us back to Pokemon?

It's Sneaky Geek's 50th episode! You asked, we listened, and now we're here to talk about Pokémon! This episode was first streamed LIVE on Twitch.tv/sneakygeekpodcast, and it was so big, that we broke it into two episodes for you! In this episode, we discuss how pokémon came to be, its many iterations, and how pokémania has taken the world by storm on more than one occasion! Timestamps: 0:05:00 Introductions 0:27:00 What's your favorite starter 0:34:00 History and origins 0:52:00 What did you na...

Feb 14, 20241 hr 30 minEp. 50

Should you watch Echo?

Sneaky Geek is an inclusive podcast that discusses all things geek and fight against gatekeeping. This week on the show: -Is Echo worth the watch? -How does it fit in with the MCU? -What is all this Marvel Studio's Spotlight business about? -Should Dargula be played in every Marvel Property? -Why is Biscuits your new favorite MCU NPC? -How is Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin still managing to surprise us in all the right ways? All these questions and more in this week's exciting episode of Sneaky Gee...

Jan 17, 20241 hr 10 minEp. 49

BONUS! Ahsoka Essentials and why Chopper is your new favorite

So it turns out Ahsoka is your new favorite... or maybe it's Sabine... if it's neither it's obviously Chopper. The problem is, you wanna learn more but you don't know where to start. We have excellent news for you! Bryce hit record right as he and Bryan were discussing this exact subject and before you could say Follow the white Loth-cat, a bonus episode was formed. We go through some of the key moments to watch without being too spoilery! What episodes do you think are quintessential Ahsoka plo...

Sep 08, 202354 min

The History of the Blue Beetle Part 2! Scarab Boogaloo!

"Let's split that Blue Beetle episode into two parts!" Bryan and Bryce said excitedly. Our comic historian Dave Ziegler is back again with us this week as we get to the second part of our Blue Beetle History. Then we talk about what we're reading for a while. Maybe those "what are you reading?" bits should be their own episodes at this point... Hmm... What was I saying? Oh yeah, I was telling you about this episode. It's great. Go see Blue Beetle when you're done listening. We hear it's really g...

Sep 02, 20231 hr 23 minEp. 48

The History of the Blue Beetle Part 1

Did you know the Blue Beetle comic is almost as old as Super Man? Or that he wasn't originally owned by DC? Or that there was a team of super heroes called the Mystery Men and no one on that team even bowled? Well we didn't, and that's why Bryce went over to our favorite Comic Historian Dave's house to record a podcast episode remote with Bryan back at home as the man in the chair. Blue Beetle is in theaters August 18th, and you can learn all about Jaime's (and a few other Blue Beetles) history ...

Aug 18, 20231 hr 2 minEp. 47

2023 SDCC Recap! Piecing it all together

The whirlwind blur of SDCC has come and gone. Bryan and Bryce try to piece together what exactly happened and when after only a week of being back home. After-parties, panel cancellations, signings, trailer drops and so much more happened! Have a listen and do your best to follow along. Let us know in the comments what you thought of Comic-Con this year!

Aug 06, 20231 hr 56 minEp. 46

Weekend at Visions! Part 2

The long awaited second half of our WandaVision episode is finally here! Obviously, after so many current and up-to-date episodes, the best thing to do would be to keep our momentum going with an episode about something that was totally relevant two years ago You're welcome for our genius career move to let you hear something recorded about a character who isn't even in current MCU things. It makes TOTAL sense that we're doing this.

Jul 15, 20232 hr 54 minEp. 45

Indiana Jones teaches Indiana Jones how to Indiana Jones

Bonus episode! We know it's off schedule but Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny came out last week and we felt compelled to do a quick review! This is Harrison Ford's swan song for his clearly preferred franchise. We happened to like the film very much so don't expect a ton of complaining from us.

Jul 06, 202340 min

Three Marios: Mario Mario and Luigi Mario

The Illumination Super Mario movie was great, but before Mario could run with his arms stretched out wearing a tanuki costume, Bob Hoskins had to drunkenly walk with a couple of broken fingers, in weird shoes, next to John Leguizamo, also drunk... and with a fractured leg... and through that pain, we got the truest form of art. We caught up with our Video Game Historian, Nick Fratto to talk all about the bizarre story of the original masterpiece that is the 1993 Hollywood Pictures dystopian clas...

Jul 01, 20231 hr 58 minEp. 44

All the geek things that happened during the pandemic (And then some)

After an almost two year hiatus, Sneaky Geek is back with a vengeance! A new season of Sneaky Geek is upon us and we've missed quite a bit since we last hung out. So let's catch up and go over what we missed. We're going to rapid fire through as many things that we missed since the world shut down! Ms. Marvel! Falcon Winter Soldier! John Wick! Godzilla vs. Kong! Mortal Kombat!

Jun 16, 202344 minEp. 43

Comic-Con: Special Edition - Putting the Calm in Comic-Con

It's that time of year again! Comic-Con is here! Except this time, it's special! November 26th through 28th marked the first ever Comic-Con Special Edition. So instead of Black Friday shopping, we went to the exhibit hall! Joining us on the podcast today are Bridget Kelley and Nicole Jones to talk about their first con experience, we also reflect on past cons and what what the absence of Marvel, DC, and film & television meant for a con as big as this one.

Dec 04, 20211 hr 31 min

WandaVision or... So you've accidentally conjured up magic babies, now what?

So you've finished watching WandaVision and you're thinking to yourself, man oh man... who are those extra characters? Where I can I read their backstories? What if I want to read the greatest young super hero book of all time? When should I start? The answer? Yesterday. We're joined by our in-house historian and fact checker extraordinaire, Dave Ziegler as we navigate the publication history of all your new favorite characters from WandaVision!

May 11, 20211 hr 54 min

New Pokemon Snap, The High Republic, and Lucasfilm Games

Episode 40! Would ya look at that! Lucasfilm Games is BACK! But what does it mean? Star Wars The High Republic is up and running! And there's a new Pokemon Snap on the horizon? Sound the dubstep horn! Hosted by Bryce Rankins and Bryan Romero Recorded at SGHQ - Garden Grove Edited by The Legendary Mitchell Thompson

Jan 30, 20211 hr 10 minEp. 40

Jedi: Fallen Order, Rings of Power, Metal Gear Solid, and Scrubs for some reason?

Episode 39 - Remember that time that we did an episode, didn't drop it, so we recorded a follow-up, added it to it, and it was all really timey-wimey and confusing? We don't either! But this is just a great update on all the geek things happening at the time we recorded it! Well we've decided to give an update on it! We recorded it in October! And now you're getting a new episode! Three months later! You're welcome.

Jan 12, 20211 hr 25 minEp. 39

Game of Thrones In Concert, Maximum Carnage, and other pre-pandemic musings

Sometimes we record episodes that never make it to you guys, and that makes us sad. So we decided to rectify that problem by presenting to you an old episode of Sneaky Geek, featuring an even older segment with Special Guest Clay Davis! We talked about what was going on in comics, predictions for upcoming events, and a whole bunch of expectations we had long before the world shut down and we all sat at home finishing Netflix. From October 6th, 2019, we present to you, The Sneaky Geek Vault. Enjo...

Oct 18, 20201 hr 42 minEp. 38

Bullsh*tting with Bryce

Here at Sneaky Geek we like to keep things reliable. We like to hit you with a new episode every week. And last week we did not end up succeeding in that mission. But that's okay! We're only three days late! It's fine! It's totally fine. Bryce has set forth to come up with new content. Even if that content is absolute nonsense. He makes some lists, calls a friend, and talks about this week's geek news! So here's our new segment: Bullsh*tting with Bryce. We even spruced up our theme song! There's...

Sep 29, 202039 minEp. 37

SG SDCC @Home Day 3!

Episode 36! It's time for our annual SDCC Recap and this is Day 3 of SDCC @ Home! We talk about our favorite Panels from the Saturday lineup and how Comic-Con International has handled mid-pandemic con life. We discuss: Dune (6:00) Magic the Gathering (17:30) Bill and Ted Face the Music (27:00) Lovecraft Country (40:20) An Evening with Kevin Smith (54:45) Enjoy! Lovecraft Country is available on HBO Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bogus Journey, and Face the Music are available from Metro-Go...

Sep 18, 20201 hr 22 minEp. 36

SDCC @ Home Day 2! We Beat Con-Flu!

Episode 35! We're back for more Comic-Con @home panel discussions! We watched quite a few panels from Friday! Adventure Time Distant Lands Star Wars books Drawing Ninja Turtles Marvel's new Empyre event Avatar The Last Airbender expanded universe Zoom into Xadia with The Dragon Prince! We also discuss what we miss and what we do not miss about Comic-Con with it being cancelled.

Sep 10, 20201 hr 28 minEp. 35

Wakanda Forever - Revisiting Black Panther pt. 2

Part 2 of our Black Panther episode, we continue our discussion of the events that led to the Black Panther comic being made, and to the Black Panther film being made, as well as discuss our favorite moments. We'd like to again thank our guests Alita LaShae and Steven Littles, We'd also like to thank our other contributors Mychal Thompson, John-Michael Angel, and David Archer. All audio from Black Panther from Disney and Marvel Studios. Black Panther is available for viewing on Disney+...

Sep 05, 20202 hr 18 minEp. 34

Wakanda Forever - Revisiting Black Panther pt. 1

On August 28th the world was shocked to hear that Chadwick Boseman, King T'Challa, The Black Panther, had lost his battle with colon cancer. We recorded a Black Panther episode from 2018 that we had planned to release after Black Panther 2 began filming. However, we felt it would be best to release that episode this week instead. This being our tribute to a man who transcended the film industry. Chadwick Boseman was a hero to so many for his actions on screen and off; and we are devastated to ha...

Sep 05, 20201 hr 15 minEp. 33

SG's 4th annual SDCC Recap @ Home Edition!

Cons are cancelled and we won't be getting con-flu, but SDCC brought us panels to watch online! We watched as much as we could and are here to give you the run-down! We talk: Cons from home, Solar Opposites, Marvel's Storyboards Special Guest: Nicole Jones

Aug 27, 20201 hr 1 minEp. 32
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