The Parentacons: Recent Episodes
DadBot Media
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all big geeks, sharing stories of our personal experiences as geeks, as parents, and of course as parents of new geeks. Together, we’re giving dads new hope, by offering an alternative model of fatherhood for those of us who don’t know how to oil a glove, but do know how to build a 4000+ piece Lego® Death Star(™). We’ll also offer our take on the latest developments in the geek world, and share the toys, books, shows, and games that we’re currently into with our own families. Visit www.parentacons.com to learn more about us, read show notes for each episode, and be sure to sign up for our email list for early access to bonus content like watch parties, trailer reviews, and product unboxing.
It's a question parents might ask their kids, "just because you can, does that mean you should?" That's right, we're getting inside the mind of Dr. Ian Malcolm and his dino hunting pals in this installment of our series on Fatherhood in Geek Media.
Who's the best parent in Jurassic Park? How do you feel about freaking kids out by grabbing an electric fence that you know is turned off? Or the grandfather who brings his grandchildren to an island sized genetic experiment before the insurance company signs off? There are so many questions to ask here, and we had a blast taking a new look at one of our favorite movies as geeks and as dads.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
We've said before that Derrick is a scientist, and it's true! Every year, as part of his job, Derrick travels to Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show, where he spends a week thinking about ways innovation and development in consumer electronics can be leveraged in the aerospace industry.
For The Parentacons that means we get to release an annual show pestering Derrick with all of our social media driven questions. Did he see the robot dog? What about cool VR experiences? Anything mind–blowing in the parent space? What about lawn care! Sit back and enjoy a half hour of Ian, Jay, and Nate tossing out questions and doing their best Owen Wilson's at the answer. A 43 inch curved OLED monitor that's 4K at 120Hz? Woooowwwwww!!!!!!
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
It's pizza night at The Parentacons! Every Friday night–like parents all across the United States–Ian, Derrick, and Jay sit down to share a pizza with their families. Whether your pie is delivered from that special place, baked on a pizza steel to aid energy transfer, or crisped to perfection in your brand new Ooni, everyone has a preference and opinion on what goes into the perfect pie. This week, we sit down with our new friend Eidref, host of the What's Good Dough podcast, to see what's he's learned after dozens of interviews with the pizza pro and experts he hosts on his podcast.
Eidref also happens to be, by now, a new dad. Congratulations, Eidref! When we sat down with him, he was eagerly anticipating the birth of his first child, who was born a week after our recording. He was kind enough to share his hopes, pizza dreams, and trepidations headed into fatherhood, including his plan to nail his first official baby pickup.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
It's time for the second installment in our annual recap of everything life, Star Wars, the wider geek universe had to offer us in 2022. Nate joins for this special edition, where we share our top picks for 2022, biggest disappointments (somehow DC made both those lists!).
As you wind down your 2022, we'd love to hear what you thought of this year! Feel free to drop us a line with your favorite thing of 2022, what most disappointed you this year (unless it was us...hehe), and something special you're thinking back on as the year wraps up. See you in 2023, when we'll kick off the year, literally, ninja style, with another installment in our Fatherhood in Geek Media series, this time covering the OG 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It's gonna be shell-tacular.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
Family, no matter what kind, is truly the best gift of all. This year, as our holiday gift to you, The Parentacons are reviewing Disney's recent Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which was more of a Christmas special, but more on that later.
This episode, as part of our Fatherhood in Geek Media series The Parentacons break down Drax and Mantis's quest to bring home the ultimate gift for their fearless leader—StarLord, aka Peter Quill. And, if you haven't seen the special yet...spoiler alert! That gift is Kevin Bacon, who turns out to be one heck of a guitar player.
Strap in, sit back, and grab your little man...I mean some candy canes...it's holiday time on The Parentacons.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
It's like this. The X-Wing fighter piloted by your kid was making its final approach to the Death Star, but took an unfortunate hit from the turbolaser on the coffee table. Better grab some glue, some paint, and maybe a little epoxy, cause that X-Wing needs some serious maintenance.
Whether you're saving a toy from the trash, building a new geek cave, or just trying to the vacuum to, well, vacuum DIY is a necessary skill for every parent's tool bag. In this. episode, Derrick, Ian, and Jay share their own experiences with doing it themselves, including how to get started, how to tell when you're over your head, and which projects are honestly best left to the professionals.
Grab your toolbelt, put some extra batteries on charge, and turn off the power...it's time to get busy on this episode of The Parentacons!
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
Let's be honest. Detective Comics...the franchise that gave us Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin, The Green Lantern, The Flash...is a mess. Whether it's numerous cinematic universes that don't connect, too many recasts of key characters, the cancellation of release ready movies, and a willingness to discard once-in-a-generation casting opportunities; DC Comics is a dumpster fire.
So The Parentacons thought we'd weigh in, as experts, with our thoughts on how to right the BatBoat, and take the Invisible Jet off autopilot. Of course, since then, DC has hired the amazing James Gunn to do this. So Jimmy, if you're looking for three expert geek consultants with a combined century's worth of wisdom, we've got you covered. For everyone else, we hope you enjoy.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
This week, we called in an expert. Nate is always saying we need more Star Trek on the podcast, so as part our Fatherhood in Geek Media series, Ian, Jay, and Nate sat down with Jeff Akin, host of Starfleet Leadership Academy, an award-winning leadership development podcast told through the lens of Star Trek. Jeff's spent over 20 years as an executive business coach, helping high performing leaders be better. Jeff also happens to be a parent, and he's got a unique view of the crossover between executive leaderships skills and parenting skills. So, looking through his parenting visor, Jeff offers positive and not-so-positive examples of fatherhood in Star Trek from across the canon including Picard, Sisko, and Janeway.
Beam me up Scotty, make it so #1, and let's fly.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
Communication is hard, but talking with your spouse? That can be even harder. Especially if your kids are watching. No one enjoys fighting, but conflict is part of life, and role modeling healthy conflict followed by meaningful resolution is a critically important part of parenthood. Of course, it’s way harder in practice. In this episode Derrick, Ian, and Jay discuss their own marriages, how they communicate with their spouses, strategies for building stronger relationships, and why professional help can be such an important part of that journey.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
What's not to love about a brotherly quest to find a little bit of magic in the world, and bring their father back to life for 24 hours. Along the way they bond, and connect with one another in ways they never imagined. Plus, they have a super cool van! Onward was slated to be Pixar's next big hit, but then the pandemic struck, and its themes became more relevant than ever.
As part of our Fatherhood in Geek Media series, The Parentacons rewatched Pixar's Onward, and spent some time reflecting on the feelings and emotions this movie brought up—about fatherhood, death, passing on traditions, and always looking out for magic, even in suburbia.
Have a movie or show you think if chock full of parenting motifs? We'd love to hear about it! Send us an email or visit www.parentacons.com.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
Every family has its fall traditions. Some go apple picking, some pumpkin patching, and others take a long drive or hike for some good ole fashioned leaf peeping. There's another fall tradition, though, tucked away in a wooded fantasy realm, where kings and queens reign, knights joust, mead flows, and blacksmiths...well...blacksmith? Forge! Blacksmiths forge. Nailed it. :)
The Parentacons are huge fans of Renaissance Faires, and happen to know the fine folks running one of the best out there—The Midsummer Renaissance Faire in Ansonia, CT. Ian and Jay at down with Bella Greenwolf, Daniel Greenwolf, and Ken Briodagh to get their take on why a trip to the Renaissance Faire is an ideal family outing. We also get their take on Amazon Prime's Rings of Power, which wasn't out at the time of this recording, and has totally wrapped up its first season before this episode was released. How'd our guests do on their predictions? Eerily prescient.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
You might not know this, but 3 out 4 Parentacons, is an avid gardener. Sometimes, you just have to get your hands dirty! The Parentacons have dug into hobbies before, but this time we’re getting specific, talking about our love for planting, tending, and harvesting plants in our gardens and on our decks. Jay shares his strategy for keeping those tiny critters away, Derrick talks about gardening with his son, and Ian gives his wife (the science teacher) all the credit for teaching him how to water “sad looking plants” without accidentally killing them!
Gardening is a great way to engage your kids with healthy eating habits, teach them where their food comes from, and set them on a lifelong path of good nutrition, and healthy relationships with food. Into this type of content? Check out our Hobbies episode!
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
Sometimes the long play, is the best play. When we sat down to plan Season 2 of The Parentacons, Ian said, "we have to talk about The Phantom Menace." Turns out, he was right! Time has been well to this classic movie. It gave a new generation of fans a chance to see NEW Star Wars in the theaters. It allowed John Williams to compose Duel of the Fates. And, honestly, it helped push cinema forward, dramatically.
(Darth?) Jar Jar made Gollum better...there, we said it.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
The Parentacons are hard at work gearing up for the release of Season 2 on October 26, 2022. In the run up to release day, we decided to share some of our favorite episodes from Season 1. Some are from when we first started out (and sound like it!). Others are more recent. We're super proud of every single one of these episodes, and we know you will be too!
In this episode, the Parentacons talk about their experiences dealing with deaths in the family, how they’ve experienced it, and how each of them approached the topic with their kids. You’ll get a look into one of the most challenging aspects of parenting.
It’s something that every parent will eventually have to do… but no one is ever prepared to do it no matter how old, or experienced we are with it. All the experts in the world could give you their opinions. You could study and read up on it. Yet, when faced with it, you might freeze, or say something that confuses you… and your kids even more. Let's be honest. I's hard to talk with your kids about death.
We’ve included some resources to provide context for the discussion:
Be Honest and Concrete (NPR)
How to Talk to Children About Death (Fatherly)
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
The Parentacons are hard at work gearing up for the release of Season 2 on October 26, 2022. In the run up to release day, we decided to share some of our favorite episodes from Season 1. Some are from when we first started out (and sound like it!). Others are more recent. We're super proud of every single one of these episodes, and we know you will be too!
Bonus! Amanda & Bill's latest game, Romancelvania, will be released soon. Check it out on all the major consoles!
You've seen him on the screen, and at Comic-Con, and soon in a new Netflix series...but still you wonder, who is the face of Jack in BioShock?
Jay and Ian recently sat down with Amanda and Bill Gardner, who write and code original video games as The Deep End Games. Together, they're the team behind Perception, and the recently released Romancelvania, which pushes the boundaries of conventional RPGs while paying tribute to a classic genre.
Bill also happens to be an industry veteran, and was the lead level designer behind BioShock, which is one of Ian's all time favorite games, and which Jay never finished. Ian took full advantage, asking all the level design questions he, and you, always wanted to know. Of course, with three kids in the house, Bill and Amanda's lives are about more than just great writing and level design. They share insight into what it takes to balance their lives, how they navigate what content to share with their kids and when, and what their eldest son really thinks about the award winning, genre defining, once in a generation video game his dad helped make.
If you're a regular listener, then you already know, The Parentacons take video games seriously. We recently released the first two installments of a trilogy on "Why Video Games Matter," including a conversation about the retro arcade gaming of our youths, and one about the console wars that have transformed the gaming landscape. And because we're dads, and we don't get it right all the time, we had to go back and add a little bit of extra content for all the parents out there with our bonus release, Console Wars – The Parenting Angle.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
The Parentacons are hard at work gearing up for the release of Season 2 on October 26, 2022. In the run up to release day, we decided to share some of our favorite episodes from Season 1. Some are from when we first started out (and sound like it!). Others are more recent. We're super proud of every single one of these episodes, and we know you will be too!
The journey to fatherhood can be all too short, long and difficult, or anything in between. We're three dads, and each of us had our own journey to fatherhood, with our own ups and downs along the way. That's without even getting into our partners' journeys, as we're all blessed to have loving and supportive parenting partners in our wives.
For this episode we open up about our personal journeys to fatherhood, each of us sharing our story in case it's helpful, meaningful, or otherwise valuable to you.
Fatherhood also changes how you look at the geek world, even some of your favorite geek content. For the Roundtable this episode, we each picked one piece of content that we've always loved, but which we look at differently now that we're the Homer...I mean not the Bart...I mean the responsible parent. We're all responsible parents. :) Still reading? Good! Now go listen.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
The Parentacons are hard at work gearing up for the release of Season 2 on October 26, 2022. In the run up to release day, we decided to share some of our favorite episodes from Season 1. Some are from when we first started out (and sound like it!). Others are more recent. We're super proud of every single one of these episodes, and we know you will be too!
In this episode of The Parentacons Ian, Jason, and Derrick share the stories of how they first met. They'll also discuss how the geek culture which first brought The Parentacons together, how that culture has changed over time, and how those changes impact their kids' experience of geek culture. Along the way they'll share the toys, games, and content they're consuming with their own families, and give you their take on the latest developments from every dimension of the geek multiverse. This IS the podcast you've been looking for.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
The Parentacons are hard at work gearing up for the release of Season 2 on October 26, 2022. In the run up to release day, we decided to share some of our favorite episodes from Season 1. Some are from when we first started out (and sound like it!). Others are more recent. We're super proud of every single one of these episodes, and we know you will be too!
What's your happy thought? Is it the first time you heard your child's voice? The first time they squeezed your finger? Or that time your team won the Super Bowl and you DID NOT spike the baby, because you're an awesome father who would never do that? It's second star from the right and straight on the Neverland this week, as we dive deeper than a mermaid into Steven Spielberg's masterpiece — Hook.
More than a Peter Pan movie, more than a fairy tale sequel, Hook is star-studded, crazy well written, and that costuming! But what about the fatherhood angles? Hook, after all, is a movie about childhood, and having fun, but balancing that fun with responsibility. You can go too far either way, as Jack, Maggie, and Pan the Man teach us.
We couldn't sign off before sharing our favorite Robin Williams moments, with so much respect to the genius human who we lost too soon. Be sure to stick around until the end of the episode to hear our favorite Robin Williams movies...and see if Good Will Hunting made the list for four guy from Bah-ston!
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
Previously on the Parentacons…Our intrepid heroes, Derrick, Ian, and Jay traveled near and far across the galaxies, bringing you all the best in geek culture and dad life.
But what does Season Two possibly have in store? We’re ready to fall in love again with the Phantom Menace, talk about doing our own projects, interview some really great guests about their lives, and so much more….
Season 2 premieres October 26th so keep up with our social media at the Parentacons on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our Fellowship and follow along anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
Contact: dadbot@parentacons.com
Did you hear about Kevin Feige's recent off-site? The one where he theoretically mapped out the next 10-15 years of the MCU? Wait...you weren't invited??? Well neither were we...so we decided to hold our own off-site, and do our best to set the rumor mill a milling with our hopes, dreams, and nightmares about the future of this amazing franchise.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our journey anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com
Have your own thoughts or experience to share? We want to hear it! Email us at dadbot@parentacons.com, and maybe we'll have you on the show!
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
"Aye Coach, which is the better sports movie, Space Jam or The Mighty Ducks?"The Parentacons were thrilled to connect with Coach Cameron Johnson of the Our Village Stories podcast recently. A self professed Trekkie, Coach Cam brought deep pulls from his favorite parenting moments on Star Trek, shared his personal story as a coach and educator, and offered Derrick advise on how to engage a non-competitive pre-teen with all the benefits sports have to offer. You can also check out his answer to which is better – the original Space Jam or The Mighty Ducks, and which one he'd pick if he had to choose one – Star Wars, Star Trek, StarCraft, or Star Talk.
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our journey anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com
Have your own thoughts or experience to share? We want to hear them! Email us at dadbot@parentacons.com, and maybe we'll have you on the show!
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
In this episode, the Parentacons talk about their experiences dealing with deaths in the family, how they’ve experienced it, and how each of them approached the topic with their kids. You’ll get a look into one of the most challenging aspects of parenting.
It’s something that every parent will eventually have to do… but no one is ever prepared to do it no matter how old, or experienced we are with it. All the experts in the world could give you their opinions. You could study and read up on it. Yet, when faced with it, you might freeze, or say something that confuses you… and your kids even more. Let's be honest. I's hard to talk with your kids about death.
We’ve included some resources to provide context for the discussion:
Be Honest and Concrete (NPR)
How to Talk to Children About Death (Fatherly)
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our journey anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com
Have your own thoughts or experience to share? We want to hear it! Email us at dadbot@parentacons.com, and maybe we'll have you on the show!
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
What's your happy thought? Is it the first time you heard your child's voice? The first time they squeezed your finger? Or that time your team won the Super Bowl and you DID NOT spike the baby, because you're an awesome father who would never do that? It's second star from the right and straight on the Neverland this week, as we dive deeper than a mermaid into Steven Spielberg's masterpiece — Hook.
More than a Peter Pan movie, more than a fairy tale sequel, Hook is star-studded, crazy well written, and that costuming! But what about the fatherhood angles? Hook, after all, is a movie about childhood, and having fun, but balancing that fun with responsibility. You can go too far either way, as Jack, Maggie, and Pan the Man teach us.
We couldn't sign off before sharing our favorite Robin Williams moments, with so much respect to the genius human who we lost too soon. Be sure to stick around until the end of the episode to hear our favorite Robin Williams movies...and see if Good Will Hunting made the list for four guy from Bah-ston!
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories from our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our journey anywhere you get your podcasts, and check out all of our content on our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
From Tetris on a green screen to a few stolen moments of Candy Crush in the stall...mobile gaming has exploded since the GameBoy first arrived on the scene in 1989. From bite-sized (some say watered-down) versions of your favorite console games all the way to FTP casino style games like Candy Crush, we're covering all things mobile gaming. Can you get too much dopamine from Angry Birds? How much screen time is too much screen time for kids? Derrick, Ian, and Jay are here to break it all down for you in this episode of The Parentacons, the final installment of our three part series on Video Games in Geek Media. Check out Part 1 – The Arcade and Part 2 – The Console Wars if you haven't listened yet, either now or later!
Have your own opinion about mobile gaming? We want to hear it!!!! Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
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A Note About GameBoys:
While it wasn't the first handheld device, and not even the most tech heavy, it did run for a thousand years on four AA batteries. Just don't try to play it in the dark. We see you GameGear fans, ruining your eyes with those beautiful color screens...and your 100 lb battery packs. We're jealous...but not that jealous.
Have you heard about this new movie, starring a Caped Crusader who used to be a vampire? I mean this new movie about a Dark Knight who's also secretly traveling backwards in time to prevent revenge against present day people for climate change?
Alright, I'll say it, Robert Pattinson has been in a LOT of movies recently! But that doesn't mean YOU should SLEEP on The Batman, out now in a theater near you, probably.
The Parentacons had a chance to see The Batman early, before its wider release, and we decided to put together a few thoughts of our own. But if you're dads like us, then maybe you haven't gotten a chance to see it yet? Never fear! Our resident Batman expert, Jay, actually couldn't attend the screening, but is still here to break it all down for you, without ever having seen it! Don't worry, Ian and Derrick actually saw the movie, and they do most of the talking.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our adventure by subscribing to our podcast anywhere you get your content. Check out our website to see all of our past content and blog posts. And be sure to check out our recent interview with Bill & Amanda Gardner about the thrills and challenges of parenting while designing award winning video games.
Have your own thoughts about The Batman? We want to hear them! Email dadbot@parentacons.com, and you might hear from us wanting to interview you for the next episode of The Parentacons.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
You've seen him on the screen, and at Comic-Con, and soon in a new Netflix series...but still you wonder, who is the face of Jack in BioShock?
Jay and Ian recently sat down with Amanda and Bill Gardner, who write and code original video games as The Deep End Games. Together, they're the team behind Perception, and the recently released Romancelvania, which pushes the boundaries of conventional RPGs while paying tribute to a classic genre.
Bill also happens to be an industry veteran, and was the lead level designer behind BioShock, which is one of Ian's all time favorite games, and which Jay never finished. Ian took full advantage, asking all the level design questions he, and you, always wanted to know. Of course, with three kids in the house, Bill and Amanda's lives are about more than just great writing and level design. They share insight into what it takes to balance their lives, how they navigate what content to share with their kids and when, and what their eldest son really thinks about the award winning, genre defining, once in a generation video game his dad helped make.
If you're a regular listener, then you already know, The Parentacons take video games seriously. We recently released the first two installments of a trilogy on "Why Video Games Matter," including a conversation about the retro arcade gaming of our youths, and one about the console wars that have transformed the gaming landscape. And because we're dads, and we don't get it right all the time, we had to go back and add a little bit of extra content for all the parents out there with our bonus release, Console Wars – The Parenting Angle.
We are The Parentacons, three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of our lives as parents, as geeks, and our eternal quest to bridge the two worlds. Join our adventure anywhere you consume fine podcasts. Visit our website to read more, and be sure to check us out on Instagram!
Have you own thoughts about video games and BioShock? We want to hear them! Email us at dadbot@parentacons.com
Thanks for listening. We love you 3,000!
But wait there's more! We recently released the second installment of our trilogy on "why video games matter," Video Game Part 2 — The Console Wars. But we realized that in our haste to talk about all things console, including our childhood memories and our favorite games today, we neglected a core aspect of our podcast—parenting!
So here's a redux mix of our latest episode, all focused on parenting and video games. We're using this opportunity, globally, to reset as well, and you can expect to find shorter, more focused content in our feed, and more of it too!
We are The Parentacons—Derrick, Ian, and Jay. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of our lives as geeks, as parents, and our eternal quest to intersect the two. Join our adventure anywhere you find podcasts, and check out our website to learn more about us!
Have an idea of your own to share? We want to hear it! Email us at dadbot@parentacons.com
Why do video games matter, and why do The Parentacons care so much about video games? It's Part 2 of our trilogy exploring the history, culture, and impact of all things gaming, and this time we're talking consoles from Sega to X-Box and everything in between. Jay, Derrick, & Ian share personal stories about their own experience about growing up with console games, how they've seen the industry evolve, and where they think gaming is headed next.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being parents, geeking out, and passing our passions on to a new generation. Join our adventure anywhere you get your podcasts, and visit our website.
Have an opinion about console gaming of your own, or an opinion about OUR opinions? We want to hear from you! Send us an email at dadbot@parentacons.com.
Following up on our pre-finale review of The Book of Boba Fett, The Parentacons are pleased to present our final thoughts on this tremendous new installment in the Star Wars canon! Was Jay right about Crimson Dawn showing up in the finale? Do you hang a wolf-pack...I mean rancor on the wall if you're not planning to use it at some point?
All this and more in store as The Parentacons review The Book of Boba Fett as only deep Star Wars nerds can do.
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing stories of our lives as parents, as geeks, and as parents of potential geeks. Follow along and join our adventure at www.parentacons.com.
Have thoughts of your own about The Book of Boba Fett? We want to hear them! Send us an email at dadbot@parentacons.com.
This Star Wars content is not for the faint of heart. If you're not here for high level, super nerdy Star Wars breakdowns, with the whole canon and dreamy new connections on the table, THIS PODCAST IS NOT FOR YOU! Also, spoiler alert....this is a mid-season review of The Book of Boba Fett, so if you haven't watched up through Episode 6....don't listen yet! Go watch, then listen. Or listen and be spoiled, you've been warned! We really feel like we shouldn't have to say that...given the high level alert...but there you go.
The Parentacons got together recently to review The Book of Din Djarin...I mean Boba Fett. If you're confused already, see the above spoiler warning. Otherwise, sit back, grab something cold from the fridge, and punch the coordinates into your nav computer...This is The Parentacons!
Have your own opinion about The Book of Boba Fett? We want to hear it!!!!
Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
It's that time of year again! As 2021 winds down, The Parentacons take a look back at our favorite things of the year. We cover it all — parenting hacks, best purchases, favorite movies, and how much we hated Eternals. Need more bonus? Our producer Nate joins us for this episode to share his thoughts on the wide world of geek.
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
Recently The Parentacons got together to chat about Our Favorite Things of 2021, and we couldn't help trashing some of our least favorite content of the year while we were at it. It was a regular Airing of Grievances, although no Feats of Strength took place. So in the true spirit of Festivus, we present our 2021 LEAST Favorite Things!
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
We love video games, which probably doesn't come as a surprise, but are video games important? Do video games matter to society? Do they have value beyond entertainment? The Parentacons are excited to launch into a new trilogy asking the question "why video games?"
Some of the BEST franchises come in trilogies — Star Wars, Back to the Future, The Godfather, Indiana Jones (cough...cough...what do you mean there are four?), Star Trek II, III, & IV (come at me Trekkies!), and of course who could forget Christopher Nolan's masterful The Dark Knight. We see you search algorithms, we see you.
Gamification is everywhere in society, but for this episode we wanted to take it back to the beginning, the primordial ooze of geekness — the video game arcade. Whether you grew up on the boardwalk, hopping a bus to the mall arcade, or regularly visiting Mr. Chuck E. Cheese, arcade were a staple of our geek childhoods, and probably yours too. The sticky floor, the wealth of games, the sound of quarters, pinball machines that shut down if you tilted too far, and single serve Swedish Fish poured straight into your hand (very unhygienic!) for five tickets a piece. Can't get that at Dave & Busters!
Join The Parentacons on a journey back to the arcade, as we discuss what made that place special, the lessons we learned there, and how we're trying to replicate that experience, if not exactly, for our own kids.
Have your own opinion about video game arcades? We want to hear it!!!!
Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
If we were The Ghostbusters, which Ghostbuster would each of us be? This is a serious topic, and we've got a lot of great choices. Winston Zeddemore, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, Louis Tully, The Ghostbusters franchise is filled with amazing characters, and that's just the male-oriented side of the franchise, but let's be honest, none of us has the chops to play on Leslie Jones or Kate McKinnon's level anyways.
But seriously, if we were The Ghostbusters, which Ghostbuster would each of The Parentacons be? Find out in our latest piece of bonus content, and check out the new Ghostbusters movie in theaters now.
Ready for more content? Subscribe to be notified when our new series on why video games are an important part of society goes live.
Have your own opinion about The Ghostbusters? We want to hear it. Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
The Parentacons sat down recently to record some brand new content on video games, coming your way soon, around the same time the final trailer for Spiderman: No Way Home dropped. As geeks, parents, and parents of geeks, we couldn't be more excited for the final installment of the latest Spiderman trilogy with our beloved Tom Holland.
But the trailer...well...you see the title. Is it a hot steaming pile of garbage? Is it literally on fire? Listen and find out!
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Check out our series on Fatherhood Role Models in Geek Media
Part One — The Dark Knight
Part Two — Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade
Part Three — The Walking Dead
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
We went down a rabbit hole in our last episode, E13: Fatherhood Role Models Part 3 — The Walking Dead. To keep the episode short, we decided to cut some of our chat about the wider zombie universe, and how The Walking Dead fits into or pushes the boundaries of what existed before. But we also thought it was a really good conversation! So we cut it together for you, as a bonus episode. Enjoy!
Have your own thoughts about zombies or the zombie universe? We want to hear them!!!
Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
The Parentacons are proud return from our summer hiatus with the final installment in our trilogy of fatherhood role models in geek media. We started with Batman, discussing Alfred, Bruce, Robin, and The Dark Knight himself. We continued with Indiana Jones and his complicated relationship with Indiana, Sr.—which we really only see on screen during Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade.
Now, in honor of its final season on AMC, we’re excited to bring you our take on Robert Kirkman’s zombie classic—The Walking Dead. Led fearlessly through the dark by Jay, our resident The Walking Dead fanboy, we take on the big boys—Neegan, Shane, Rick, and Carl. If you’re into the psychology of The Walking Dead, or believe it’s really a show about Carl more than a show about Rick, this is the episode for you! But hey, fair warning, like The Walking Dead itself, this episode is probably not appropriate for kids.
Of course, a lot has happened since we first took our break. So for the Roundtable this episode we each picked our Top Three events from summer vacation. The only question is…who mentions Dune first????
Have your own thoughts about fatherhood & The Walking Dead? We want to hear them!!!
Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
The journey to fatherhood can be all too short, long and difficult, or anything in between. We're three dads, and each of us had our own journey to fatherhood, with our own ups and downs along the way. That's without even getting into our partners' journeys, as we're all blessed to have loving and supportive parenting partners in our wives.
For this episode we open up about our personal journeys to fatherhood, each of us sharing our story in case it's helpful, meaningful, or otherwise valuable to you.
Fatherhood also changes how you look at the geek world, even some of your favorite geek content. For the Roundtable this episode, we each picked one piece of content that we've always loved, but which we look at differently now that we're the Homer...I mean not the Bart...I mean the responsible parent. We're all responsible parents. :) Still reading? Good! Now go listen.
Have your own journey to parenthood that you'd like to share? We want to hear it!!!
Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
When you look across the broad expanse of the geek universe cough MULTIverse, you find an endless assortment of cool cars, boats, planes, jets, spaceships, speeder bikes, and X-34 land speeders. Of course, dads have specific vehicle needs—we see you Honda Odyssey and your 15 cupholders—and every family is different. So The Parentacons offer up our humble perspectives on what it would take to make the ultimate DadMobile, from our own experience, and what kind of cars we're using to drive our dear beloved families around town.
For this episode's Roundtable, in honor of Daniel Craig's last turn as 007 (c'mon...did you SEE that first car chase in No Time To Die?!?!), we took turns talking about our favorite vehicles from across the multiverse. There are so many, but you can see a few of our favorites in the episode art this week.
Have your own opinion about family cars and what makes the ultimate DadMobile? We want to hear it!!!!
Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
Last weekend The Parentacons hit the road, enjoying our first movie outing as a team since the pandemic hit. We filled our popcorn buckets, drank a gallon of soda, and watched Marvel Studio's latest entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe—Black Widow!
If you're a regular listener you probably expect us to say this, but we had LOTS of FEELINGS about Scarlett Johansson's first solo starring role (FINALLY!) and the third act in particular.
SPOILER WARNING!
If you haven't seen Black Widow yet, don't listen to this. Go rent it on Disney+ or if you feel comfortable, throw some business towards your local movie theater. You can listen to us on the drive home!
Have your own thoughts about Black Widow? We want to hear them!!!
Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks,
being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
A little behind the scenes look at stories we tell while putting together episodes. This one from Jay didn't make the final cut, but it sure is great so we decided to share it anyways!
Have you upgrade to 4K? What about 8k? Still living in DVD Land or Kingdom VHS? It seems like the media world has been stuck in upgrade mode for the past 30 years. How many times have you bought Star Wars, or Star Trek, or the movies that prompted in this particular discussion—the new 4K release of the Indiana Jones Trilogy?
In this bonus cut from E10: Fatherhood Role Models Part 2 — Indiana Jones, The Parentacons share their thoughts on 4K, what they're watching in their own homes, how new technology is breathing life into old movies, and what's next in the world of hi def video content.
Have your own thoughts about 4K, 8K, or anything hi def related? We want to hear it!!!! Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
The Parentacons are excited to bring you our first ever interview! We recently released an episode about hobbies, and in particular the role hobbies play in teaching kids to find their passions, and learn skills along the way. Have you listened to it yet? Check it out here!
In the episode, Derrick mentioned his passion for modifying NERF® blasters, a passion he shares with his son. Derrick put together a great blog post with tons of resources for new and seasons blaster fanatics, including a link to OUT OF DARTS, a company that produces resources and guides for modifying your store-bought blaster, and a few custom designs of their own.
We reached out to Luke Goodman, their Founder & CEO, to chat about his passion for blaster modding. It was a great conversation, one of many we look forward to sharing with you. Luke shared how he got started in the business, the educational value he sees in the hobby, and how he's passing the passion on to his own daughters. Plus, Derrick's son joined us and asked a few questions of his own!
Have your own thoughts about blaster modding? We want to hear them!!!
Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
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We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks,
being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
It's Part 2 of our three part series on Fatherhood Role Models in Geek Media. For this episode, we're focusing on another truly iconic character, one whose relationship with his father is heavily concentrated in the third installment of the character's original cinematic trilogy.
Grab your whip, your revolver, dust off that fedora, and lookout for Nazis. It's time to talk Indiana Jones, but don't expect any references to Indy's kids. There's just too much to cover, so we decided to focus on Indy's relationship with his father, most of which is captured in that cinematic masterpiece Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade.
Indiana and Henry Jones, Sr. (RIP Sean Connery) have a complicated relationship. For starters, everyone else calls Indy, well, Indy...but his dad calls him Junior...and that's just the tip.
For the roundtable this episode we offer what we know you want, our hot takes on the best scenes in Indiana Jones, and why we love this character so much.
Saddle up, it's gonna be a wild ride! If you get lost, just follow Marcus, he knows the way. And always, always, remember your Charlemagne, or at least your umbrella.
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Have your own thoughts about the relationship between Indy & Henry Jones, Sr?? We want to hear them!!!! Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com.
Miss Part 1 of this series?? It was about Batman, and you should TOTALLY check it out RIGHT NOW! Click here to listen.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
The God of Mischief is back, in his stand alone, much anticipated series. The Parentacons couldn't wait to get our hands on this new content, and after watching we just had to talk about it. So we did something crazy, something we haven't done in 18 months....we got together in person and talked about geek stuff!
It was awesome, and we're so thankful to folks who made the COVID-19 vaccines possible so we could get together safely. We hope you enjoy our thoughts, geeking out about Loki, friendship, and the good vibes of being together again. Community, that's what being a geek is all about.
Have your own thoughts about Loki? We want to hear them!!! Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
Everyone needs a hobby, it's how we grow and fuel our interests as human beings. Whether it's photography, woodworking, comics, music, bird-watching, or spelunking, having passion for a certain hobby just makes life more fun.
As parents, we want to pass on our love of certain hobbies, and teach our kids to find their own passions in life. For this episode, each of The Parentacons goes deep on a hobby of theirs. Sure, we're all big geeks and nerds, but did you know one of us owns a home that's more than a century old, and does most of the maintenance work himself? One of us is an amazing cook, and focused on how he can teach lessons about nutrition, culture, and heritage during cooking time with Daddy.
Most hobbies are solo activities, though, so for The Roundtable this episode we took at look at ways hobbies can bring people together, with a focus on LARPing (live action role-play), Renaissance fairs. Expect plenty of references great Paul Rudd/Sean William Scott movie Role Models, which of course is what we hope to be to our kids.
Have a hobby you're passionate about? We want to hear about it! Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com. We can't wait to hear from you.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
The Parentacons understand how hard it is to handle spoilers on the Internet. So while we strive to avoid spoilers, sometimes it happens when we're recording. In this case, we chose to pull Ian's spoilers for The Last of Us 2, a PHENOMENAL video game that's slated to be made into an HBO Original series. We. Can't. Wait.
Until then, we thought you'd enjoy listening to Ian's final thoughts on The Last of Us 2, in a contained, spoiler-friendly bonus episode!
Have your own opinion about The Last of Us or The Last of Us 2? We want to hear your thoughts! Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
When Jay sat down to think about what gives him “the feels” for E8: Feel the Rhythm, Feel the Ride, Get on Up, It’s Feelings Time!!! there was one character he definitely DIDN’T want to inlcude—the big bad himself, Thanos. It’s true, Thanos is a father, he has two adopted daughters—Gemora and Nebula. But his relationship with them is totally dysfunctional, and while it definitely leaves all of us with some feelings towards Thanos, they weren’t the kind of feelings we had in mind for the episode.
But…we couldn’t help ourselves…naturally, when we sat down to record. So we decided to cut this piece of bonus content together for you, our fans, a little behind the scenes look at how this content comes together. We hope you enjoy, and thanks for listening. We love you 3000!!!
Have your own favorite piece of geek media, or a story to share about how parenthood changes the way you watch certain shows or movies? We want to hear it!!!!
Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
We're so excited to release a surprise review of Amazon's Invincible, based off the original comic by the great Robert Kirkman, who you might also know as a co-creator of the original The Walking Dead. We were completely taken by this new series, and felt like we couldn't pass up the opportunity to review some amazing new geek content that's all about the relationship between a father and son superhero duo. Spoiler warning, if you haven't seen Invincible, wait to listen until you're done. We don't want to ruin the drama for you!
If you like this bonus content, we hope you'll share it with a friend, personal recommendations from dedicated listeners like you are the best way to grow our community of parents who happen to be geeks. Share it with a friend via email, post it to your social media with a sentence or two about why you listen, climb on your roof and shout it out to your neighbors (just don't fall off!). We're deeply grateful for any help you can give us, your support is so meaningful to us.
We are The Parentacons.
Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood.
www.parentacons.com or email us at DadBot@parentacons.com
Have you ever teared up during a movie, or at the end of a great video game? Ever had to put a book down because it was too intense, or maybe you couldn't put it down at all and speed read every page in a single day. Great movies, games, tv shows, and books can be emotionally overwhelming, it's what makes us love this content so much.
Of course, great content isn't stagnant, and our relationship with our favorite movies and games can change over time, especially as our own lives change and evolve. So for this episode, The Parentacons go deep, each exploring a piece of geek media that gives us The Feels, and how our relationship with that content has changed over time, especially after having kids.
Be sure to stick around for the second half of the episode, too, where we flip the script and each take one thing to task in the geek world that really just grinds our gears.
Have your own favorite piece of geek media, or a story to share about how parenthood changes the way you watch certain shows or movies? We want to hear it!!!!
Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
In 2017 Warner Bros. released a two hour movie—the highly anticipated Justice League from Detective Comics. It wasn't well received. The movie faced a series of production challenges, and unfortunately the theatrical release didn't match with the vision of its original director, Zack Snyder, who stepped away mid-project to take care of himself and his family amidst an unspeakable tragedy.
But the story didn't end there. Fans clamored for the original cut, even with temporary CGI. They wrote letters and signed petitions, and eventually Warner Bros. contracted Zack Snyder, and spent millions more on hours of reshoots, in an attempt to give fans what they seemed to want.
We were so excited for the Snyder Cut, as this release is called. As Jay says in this episode, "we were expecting perfection." Hear all of The Parentacons reactions to the Snyder Cut in this bonus episode, including a unique perspective from Derrick who managed to never watch the original theatrical release and came to the Snyder Cut with fresh eyes.
Have your own opinion about the Snyder Cut? We want to hear it!!!!
Send us an email at DadBot@parentacons.com
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all BIG geeks, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks.
Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood. Find us wherever you get podcasts, and visit our website. www.parentacons.com.
Thanks for listening. We love you 3000!
As geeks, and as dads we have lots of feelings. Parenthood can be an emotional rollercoaster, and if you listened to our last episode (E7: Are You the Batman To My Robin, Dad?) you'll know that we have more than our fair share of feelings about geek media and geek culture.
In April 2021 we'll release our eighth episode—E8: Feel the Rhythm, Feel the Ride, Get on Up, It's Feelings Time. We'll each take a turn on the soapbox talking about one piece of geek media—a movie, game, or show—that gives us the FEELS. The conversation took some interesting turns, and we couldn't fit everything into the final episode, so we're sharing this clip with you in advance. It's all about the family bedtime ritual Jay developed with his daughter after they watched Avengers Endgame together.
DO YOU:
- Have a favorite piece of geek media that gives you the FEELS?
- Have a family ritual that's you've borrowed from the wide world of geek?
- Have a story that lives at the intersection of Fatherhood Road & Geek Street?
Send us an email, we'd love to hear from you!
DadBot@parentacons.com
Visit our website to learn more about The Parentacons, read our blog, and follow our journey.
We love you 3000.
Ever feel like you're parenting in the dark? We all feel lost sometimes, which is why it's so important to build community with other parents. Role models help us learn how to be the best parents we can, and for geeks like us that often means examining how our favorite superheroes and villains parent the children in their lives.
This is the first in a three part series we're releasing in 2021 looking at parenting role models in geek media. From Iron Man's relationship with Spiderman (not to mention his MCU character arc), to Picard's mentoring of Wesley Crusher in Star Trek TNG this topic runs deep. So we decided to pick one character per episode, and we're starting with our hands down favorite superhero. 2 out of 3 Parentacons agree, Batman beats anyone in a fight, unless he's busy saving Robin, and without Alfred's guidance Bruce Wayne might never have overcome the trauma of his parents death, or at least learn how to work that trauma out on the criminals of Boston. As he grows older Bruce Wayne and Batman take on new parenting roles, with Tim Drake, Barbara Gordon, Stephanie Brown, and Damien Wayne.
Needless to say, we're so excited to be sharing this episode with you. And yes, we know this is being released on the SAME DAY as the long awaited Snyder Cut of DC Comic's Justice League. You won't find any spoilers or reviews for the new cut here, but check back soon, because we're excited to geek out over this new release with you!
Thanks for listening. Join our adventure and learn more about us on our website, https://www.parentacons.com. Like and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and if you're on Apple Podcasts we hope you'll leave a quick review for us.
We're so excited for Episode 8 of The Parentacons to drop this month, March 2021. It's the first in a 3-part series on Fatherhood Role Models in Geek Media. We're starting with Batman, who happens to be Jay's all-time favorite superhero.
We always say it's not what you geek, but how you geek, and we know that not everyone is as hardcore for Batman as Jay. So we put together this little piece of bonus content, a dramatic reading of Batman's origin story featuring none other than our local Batman nut...Jay.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all big geeks, building community with other dads about being parents, being geeks, and everything in between. New episodes are available monthly with lots of bonus content (just like this!) sprinkled in. Be sure to like and subscribe for all the updates. Visit our website, https:///www.parentacons.com to learn more about us and this podcast.
Thanks for listening, we love you 3,000!
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Where do geeks come from? How are geeks made? Can Geek Squad fix my PS4? In this episode of The Parentacons Derrick, Jason, and Ian will answer two out of those three questions, from their own perspectives. Does it take a geek to make a geek? Do geek parents naturally have geek children? Tune in and find out!
Of course, we'll also cover the latest news and developments in all things geek. This episode's Geek Roundtable includes the Dads' thoughts on Wonder Woman 1984, news from the DC Universe, the expanding Star Wars Feige-verse, and of course the Marvel Cinematic Universe (did someone say Wanda Vision?!?)
Sit back and let DadBot plot your course for this important conversation on geek parenting!
Think we missed something? We want to hear from you! Go to www.parentacons.com or email us at DadBot@parentacons.com. We can't wait to hear what you think about the show.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all big GEEKS, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks. Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood.
Learn more, join the adventure, and connect with us at www.parentacons.com. Be sure to sign up for our email list for exclusive early access to new episodes and bonus content just like this!
Thanks for listening, we love you 3000!
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Have you seen WandaVision yet? Well The Parentacons have, quite a few times. We’ve been looking forward to the premiere of WandaVision for months, and it didn’t disappoint…or did it??? We have LOTS of thoughts, theories, and feelings about the first three episodes of the new series from Marvel, so we did a DEEP DIVE into all the Easter eggs, what if’s, and who might’ve’s we could think of.
Who's Agnes? Do the kids names mean anything? What's up with Geraldine? I don't mean to be rude, but didn't Vision die in Endgame? Also, Beekepper???? And who is this SWORD everyone keeps talking about????
All these questions and more, along with expert commentary from your favorite geeks in residence, The Parentacons. Office hours begin after bedtime, but you can listen to the podcast anytime! Oh, and we promise to do another one of these at the end of Season One, just to see if any of our crazy predictions hit the mark.
Think we missed something? We want to hear from you! Go to www.parentacons.com or email us at DadBot@parentacons.com. We can't wait to hear what you think about the show.
We are The Parentacons. Three dads, all big GEEKS, sharing personal stories of being geeks, being raised by geeks, and raising our own kids in turn, who may or may not turn out to be geeks. Join our adventure and follow along as we explore a new model of fatherhood, one based on building the 4,000+ piece LEGO Death Star instead of tossing the pigskin (not that there's anything wrong with pig's skin...go sports...just kidding a few of us are huge sports fans....Go Bruins, Go Pats, Go Cats (still in line for 9).
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We had some extra content from our latest episode (E5: Good with Gore??? — The Walking Dead, Call of Duty, Merrie Melodies, & Violence in Geek Media) that didn't find its way to the final cut, but still feels valuable. It's about our first experiences with violent movies, and how they affected us as kids. So we decided to share it with you as a bonus cut. Hope you enjoy this little peak behind the curtain at the conversations we have when putting together new episode of The Parentacons.
Have something to add to the conversation, or a movie experience of your own to share? We want to hear from you. Send us an email at dadbot@parentacons.com and share your thoughts!
We are The Parentacons. Like, subscribe, and sit back to let DadBot plot your course. This The Parentacons, three dads, all big geeks, sharing personal stories of growing up geek, geeking out as adults, and of course, raising future geeks. Learn more, join the adventure, and connect with us at www.parentacons.com. Be sure to sign up for our email list for exclusive early access to new episodes and bonus content just like this!
Thanks for listening, we really appreciate it!
Violence, and the way it’s represented in video games, toys, movies, and television shows, is an important topic in for all geeks. It's especially important for parents like us who are watching, playing, and imagining with their children.
In Episode 5 of The Parentacons, we discuss how violence is used and misused in geek culture. We take a critical look at the games and shows we were raised on, as well as the geek content we’ve introduced to our own kids, and our perspectives as parents on how violence might impact child development. From Call of Duty to Merrie Melodies, everything violent in the wide world of geek is on the table.
We want to keep this conversation going, too, with listeners like you. So, after listening to Episode 5, we hope you’ll take a moment and give us some feedback. If you think we missed something, if you have a different opinion than ours, or if you have a parenting story you think adds to our conversation, we want to hear from you! Email us at dadbot@parentacons.com or go to our website, www.parentacons.com
We are The Parentacons. Like, subscribe, and sit back to let DadBot plot your course. This The Parentacons, three dads, all big geeks, sharing personal stories of growing up geek, geeking out as adults, and of course, raising future geeks. Learn more, join the adventure, and connect with us at www.parentacons.com. Be sure to sign up for our email list for exclusive early access to new episodes and bonus content just like this!
Thanks for listening, we really appreciate it!
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The holidays are finally here, and like everything for 2020, they’re different this year. We’re missing some of our favorite traditions including time with family, tent-pole movie releases, and seeing the look on someone’s face when they open their new, custom-made lightsaber.
Of course, we’re also making new traditions this year. New content from some of our favorite galaxies, and new features to watch with friends, are helping us focus on what’s truly important during the holidays—connecting with our friends and families, and making the season special for the children in our lives.
In this episode, The Parentacons chat all about our favorite holiday traditions, including what we’re missing and what we’re doing differently this year to help our kids form their own cherished holiday memories. We’ll share the latest toys, games, and content we’re watching with our own families, including a focus on holiday specials (say from 1979?).
We are The Parentacons. Like, subscribe, and sit back to let DadBot plot your course. This The Parentacons, three dads, all big geeks, sharing personal stories of growing up geek, geeking out as adults, and of course, raising future geeks. Learn more, join the adventure, and connect with us at www.parentacons.com. Be sure to sign up for our email list for exclusive early access to new episodes and bonus content just like this!
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On December 12th, 2020, the Walt Disney Company hosted a quarterly earnings call for investors. Despite the challenges faced by media companies large and small in 2020, Hakuna Matata played as investors waited for the call to start.
In keeping with the “no worries” motto of Timon and Pumba, Disney executives proceeded to announce more than 60 new projects scheduled for production and release in the next three years. As geeks ourselves, we were overwhelmed by the volume of news, as long rumored projects were officially confirmed, trailers were released, and starring cast members were announced. So we put together a special Geek Roundtable, dedicated to all the wonderful Star Wars, Marvel, and other news included in this Disney MegaDrop.
We are The Parentacons. Like, subscribe, and sit back to let DadBot plot your course. This The Parentacons, three dads, all big geeks, sharing personal stories of growing up geek, geeking out as adults, and of course, raising future geeks. Learn more, join the adventure, and connect with us at www.parentacons.com. Be sure to sign up for our email list for exclusive early access to new episodes and bonus content just like this!
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The Parentacons went nuts for the surprise LEGO Holiday Special that Disney+ released last month. Is it canon? What type of statement are they trying to make about Rey's status as a Jedi Master, or Finn's force abilities? How awesome were all the throwbacks to the original Star Wars Holiday Special, a one-time television airing steeped in lore?!
Watch along with The Parentacons and hear their expert(?) opinions about these topics and much, much more. Be sure to log on to your Disney+ account, and they let DadBot plot your course to a galaxy far, far away.
We are The Parentacons, three dads sharing personal stories of life as geeks, as parents, and as parents of geeks. Please be sure to subscribe, follow, or like our podcast to be notified when we release new episodes, and if you have a chance, we'd love for you to leave a review.
We are The Parentacons. Like, subscribe, and sit back to let DadBot plot your course. This The Parentacons, three dads, all big geeks, sharing personal stories of growing up geek, geeking out as adults, and of course, raising future geeks. Learn more, join the adventure, and connect with us at www.parentacons.com. Be sure to sign up for our email list for exclusive early access to new episodes and bonus content just like this!
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Have you seen the first episode of The Mandalorian Season 2 yet? If you haven't what are you waiting for? If you have, great! Watch it today, with The Parentacons and their expert geek commentary to keep you company. Be sure to logon to your Disney Plus account first, and get your stream all set up. Ian will give a countdown when it's time to press play. So prepare to make the jump to light speed, and join The Parentacons, Mando, and Baby Yoda on The Outer Rim!
We are The Parentacons. Like, subscribe, and sit back to let DadBot plot your course. This The Parentacons, three dads, all big geeks, sharing personal stories of growing up geek, geeking out as adults, and of course, raising future geeks. Learn more, join the adventure, and connect with us at www.parentacons.com. Be sure to sign up for our email list for exclusive early access to new episodes and bonus content just like this!
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In this episode of The Parentacons Ian, Jason, and Derrick share the stories of how they first met. They'll also discuss how the geek culture which first brought The Parentacons together, how that culture has changed over time, and how those changes impact their kids' experience of geek culture. Along the way they'll share the toys, games, and content they're consuming with their own families, and give you their take on the latest developments from every dimension of the geek multiverse. This IS the podcast you've been looking for.
We are The Parentacons. Like, subscribe, and sit back to let DadBot plot your course. This The Parentacons, three dads, all big geeks, sharing personal stories of growing up geek, geeking out as adults, and of course, raising future geeks. Learn more, join the adventure, and connect with us at www.parentacons.com. Be sure to sign up for our email list for exclusive early access to new episodes and bonus content just like this!
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Join The Parentacons as they share memories of their favorite childhood toys, including how those toys met tragic and unfortunate ends. We'll compare our experiences as kids to the experiences we hope to give our children today, including our take on the toys and other merchandise that exists, and how the wide popularity of geek culture might affect a kid's willingness to identify with geek culture.
We'll let you know what we're actually using, with our own kids, and share geek friendly tips for all the parents Plus, we'll talk about the latest developments in the world of geek, including the latest trailer drops, major releases, and the freshest rumors from the rumor mill.
We are The Parentacons. Like, subscribe, and sit back to let DadBot plot your course. This The Parentacons, three dads, all big geeks, sharing personal stories of growing up geek, geeking out as adults, and of course, raising future geeks. Learn more, join the adventure, and connect with us at www.parentacons.com. Be sure to sign up for our email list for exclusive early access to new episodes and bonus content just like this!
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On the inaugural episode of The Parentcons, we'll address one of the most important questions for any geek who's helping to raise a child. How do you introduce that child to the one, the only, the holiest of holies for many geeks—Star Wars? But with the latest trilogy in the Skywalker Saga, this question has expanded from "which movies, which order, and which editions?" to "movies vs. TV shows, comics vs. games, and the role of new "kid-specific" content in introducing children to the wider Star Wars universe.
We'll let you know what we're actually using, with our own kids, and share geek friendly tips for all the parents Plus, we'll talk about the latest developments in the world of geek, including the latest trailer drops, major releases, and the freshest rumors from the rumor mill.
We are The Parentacons. Like, subscribe, and sit back to let DadBot plot your course. This The Parentacons, three dads, all big geeks, sharing personal stories of growing up geek, geeking out as adults, and of course, raising future geeks. Learn more, join the adventure, and connect with us at www.parentacons.com. Be sure to sign up for our email list for exclusive early access to new episodes and bonus content just like this!
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We’re three dads, all big geeks, sharing stories of our personal experiences as geeks, as parents, and of course as parents of new geeks.
Together, we’re giving dads new hope, by offering an alternative model of fatherhood for those of us who don’t know how to oil a glove, but do know how to build a 4000+ piece Lego Death Star. We’ll also offer our take on the latest developments in the geek world, and share the toys, books, shows, and games that we’re currently into with our own families.
We are The Parentacons. Like, subscribe, and sit back to let DadBot plot your course. This The Parentacons, three dads, all big geeks, sharing personal stories of growing up geek, geeking out as adults, and of course, raising future geeks. Learn more, join the adventure, and connect with us at www.parentacons.com. Be sure to sign up for our email list for exclusive early access to new episodes and bonus content just like this!
Thanks for listening, we really appreciate it!
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