Geek Freaks Podcast: X-Men 97 Drama, New WoW Expansion, and Insights from Titus Walker

House of the Dragon Season 3 finally lands, and the Battle of the Gullet gives the premiere one of the strongest hours the show has produced, complete with a death that reshapes the war and a 9 out of 10 score. It is a solo Father's Day episode, so Frank carries the news himself before settling into a full spoiler breakdown of the Targaryen civil war. Along the way Frank reacts to the first full Shrek 5 trailer and the cast joining Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz, celebrates the official greenlight of the Dungeon Crawler Carl TV show at Peacock, and unpacks EA's new in-game advertising platform coming to Madden and College Football 26. The episode also brings back a roundtable from the previous week, where Phil and Thomas help untangle the messy, fast-moving Bricks and Minifigs consignment controversy and what it says about chasing clout in a legal dispute. Timestamps and Topics 0:00 Intro and Father's Day Catch-Up 1:03 Shrek 5 Trailer Breakdown 5:18 Dungeon Crawler Carl TV Show Greenlit at Peacock 11:10 EA's New In-Game Ads Platform 16:23 Bricks and Minifigs Controversy with Phil and Thomas 36:21 House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 1 Review 55:53 Father's Day Send-Off Key Takeaways The full Shrek 5 trailer eases a lot of the early animation backlash, introduces the next generation of characters voiced by Zendaya, Marcelo Hernandez, and Skyler Gisondo, and reunites the original trio under returning director Walt Dohrn and co-director Conrad Vernon. The Dungeon Crawler Carl series is officially greenlit at Peacock with Matt Dinniman confirming it, Seth MacFarlane executive producing through Fuzzy Door, and Chris Yost writing, plus a Princess Donut CGI test that won the creator over. EA is rolling out a proprietary in-game ad server built on the Frostbite engine to drop swappable, location-targeted brand placements across Madden, EA Sports FC, College Football 26, and NBA titles. The Bricks and Minifigs saga started as a local consignment dispute over a massive sealed Lego collection and spiraled into a national story involving Reckless Ben, Coffee Zilla, Patreon, and harassment of unrelated stores. The Battle of the Gullet leans into spectacle with two real ships built to collide and three dragons in the air, landing the death of Jace and setting Rhaenyra up to carry the blame. The premiere doubles down on its core theme of women like Rhaenyra, Alicent, and Rayna being boxed in by the men around them, earning a 9 dragon eggs out of 10 from Frank. Quotes "House of the Dragon is about smashing two gigantic CGI dragons together and seeing who survives." "I'm going to give this a solid nine dragon eggs out of ten." "You kids nowadays, you don't know the joy of a DVD menu." "I don't believe there is good, I don't believe there is evil. I believe everybody has the capacity for both." (Phil) "When everything is said in clickbait titles instead of what is actually going on, suddenly everybody is a bad guy and everybody is a good guy." Call to Action If you enjoyed the episode, hit subscribe so you never miss a drop, leave a rating and review wherever you listen, and share this one with a fellow geek on social media using #GeekFreaksPodcast. Links and Resources All news discussed on the show is sourced from GeekFreaksPodcast.com, including the full Bricks and Minifigs timeline. Visit https://geekfreakspodcast.com/ Follow Us Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegeekfreakspodcast Threads: https://www.threads.net/@geekfreakspodcast Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GeekFreakspodcast Host: Frank [@franklourence79] Listener Questions Got a hot take on the House of the Dragon premiere, a Dungeon Crawler Carl casting pick, or a topic you want covered next? Send your questions, reactions, and future episode ideas our way. We love reading them on the show.