Needless Things

For the first time, Needless Things is going beyond our normal toy talk in our annual look at San Diego Comic Con! This year was so big it required two episodes – one for the toys and one for the various media happenings. Today’s Part 2 focuses on the big movie trailers and reveals that happened this year! Phantom Troublemaker, “Howdy” Mike Gordon, Chad J. Shonk, Nicole Gould, and Ryan Cadaver met...

It is time once again for Needless Things’ annual look at Sand Diego Comic Con! This year was so big it required two episodes – one for the toys and one for the various media happenings. Today’s Part 1 focuses on the toys that debuted this year. Phantom Troublemaker, Mr. Beau Brown, Ryan Schweck, The Belligerent Monkey , and Josh Wilson of The Oncoming Storm Podcast convened to discuss all of the...

On June 11th, 2015, the world lost a legend – wrestling superstar Dusty Rhodes, The American Dream, passed away. In this episode of the Needless Things Podcast, tribute is paid to the incomparable son of a plumber. Phantom Troublemaker, Revolution SF ’s Joe Crowe, Sean Reid, Johnny Danger, and Noel Wood of Dork Droppings remember the American Dream, from the NWA to Sapphire to WCW to NXT. The crew...

On June 23rd, 2015, Rocksteady’s final Batman game was unleashed upon the world – Batman: Arkham Knight. After a week of playing, Phantom Troublemaker gathered a group of Batmaniacs to talk about the game and the history of the franchise. Phantom is joined by Needless Things Irregulars Ryan Schweck and The Belligerent Monkey , as well as newcomers Mike Nelson and Chris “Crispy” Lloyd. The fellas r...

Batman fan and memorabilia collector Brad Ladner is attempting to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for having the world’s largest collection of Batman memorabilia. Obviously he needed Phantom Troublemaker’s help. Brad contacted Phantom after the NeedlessThings Toy Panel at Joelanta & the Great Atlanta Toy Convention . He had a massive Batman collection and needed an expert to verify it...

This episode is all about Phantom Troublemaker’s favorite band of all time – Faith No More! Join Phantom, Sean Reid, and Mr. Tibbs of The Mystery Men? as they discuss the history of the band and review the new album. Each of the guys shares his personal story of Faith No More fandom, as well as recollections about live shows, appearances by the band, and thoughts about FNM’s place in pop culture....

It’s a spontaneous episode of the Needless Things Podcast! After watching WWE’s excellent Elimination Chamber pay-per-view Phantom, Mike Gordon, and Jason Frazier engaged in a conversation about possibilities and modern media and pop culture versus what they grew up with in the 80s. It all started with a debate on whether or not any wrestling company could ever again challenge the WWE in the way t...

Tiki Zombie creator “Howdy” Mike Gordon returns to the Needless Things Podcast! Phantom and Mike talk about spoilers, the state of DC Comics’ television shows, Mad Max: Fury Road, and more.    Also, Phantom talks about finally getting to see one of his heroes perform live. Marc Maron did a set at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta on May 16th and Phantom and Mrs. Troublemaker were there. Maron was o...

This episode was recorded LIVE at Joelanta & The Great Atlanta Toy Convention! Phantom Troublemaker is joined by rocker and toy aficionado Ricky Zero from Radio Cult for Needless Things’ first-ever Joelanta toy panel! The topic is licensed toys through the years.    Special thanks to Rudy Panucci of Pop Cult for not only recording video of the panel, but also being a fun and important part of the...

Last weekend Marvel Studios released the newest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe – Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. Naturally a few of the Needless Things Irregulars had to convene to talk about it. This episode wasn’t planned, but after an onslaught of text messages it was decided that a group conversation had to happen. Age of Ultron was simply too big and too packed with story and...

Derek and Ryan from The Casket Creatures visit the Phantom Zone to record a double dose of podcasts!    Over the past few years Phantom Troublemaker has gotten to be pals with the Atlanta horror rockers after meeting them at the illustrious Clermont Lounge where they shared a bill with the legendary Tone Deaf Pig-Dogs. Since then Phantom has emceed shows for the guys and enjoyed general drunken re...

In the second would-be episode of the Phantom & Gary Show ( the first ended up being about Leonard Nimoy ), the fellas’ impending Star Trek conversation was waylaid by the release of trailers for two massive movies – Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.    Once they got over the fact that Star Trek talk was again going to be put off, Phantom realized he...

Last weekend Marvel unleashed the newest corner of their Cinematic Universe on Netflix in the form of Daredevil. The show was so dramatically different and so impactful that Needless Things rallied the troops and recorded a podcast! Phantom Troublemaker is joined by Needless Things' Head Researcher Ryan Schweck, The Belligerent Monkey Jay Hornsby, and a new addition to the Irregulars, costume desi...

Phantom Troublemaker talks to Noah Holt of Kill, Baby… Kill! about music, managing a full-time career and a full-time passion job, and the rewards of family life. Phantom Troublemaker has known Noah for years longer than he’s been Phantom Troublemaker. Noah has been making music for most of his life and was an important influence for Phantom. From punk bands like Stuck At Zero to the surf rock of...

Listen up, Phantomaniacs – it’s that magical time of year when the WWE comes to the forefront of the entertainment world and puts everything it’s got into producing the biggest, wildest, and most entertaining spectacle of the whole year! Phantom Troublemaker put out the call to some of the Needless Things Irregulars to assemble a team of commentators with different outlooks and opinions to specula...

In what was supposed to be the start of an ongoing series of episodes focusing on Star Trek, Phantom and Gary Mitchel end up discussing one of the great heroes of science fiction – Leonard Nimoy. Over a month ago Phantom Troublemaker and Gary Mitchel had agreed to start a secondary podcast – a subcast, if you will, with just the two of them talking about the Trek franchise. The first episode was s...

In today’s episode – the second this week! - Phantom Troublemaker interviews James Bickert, the director of the cult biker/exploitation/Bigfoot movie Dear God No! and its follow-up Frankenstein Created Bikers, which is currently raising funds on Kickstarter . Phantom and James talk about the process of creating films independent of the Hollywood system, James’ personal history with movies, and the...

Phantom Troublemaker and the Needless Things Irregulars once again convene to discuss and review Toy Fair! The 2015 New York International Toy Fair was held from February 13th – 17th so that toy manufacturers from all over the world could get retailers and journalists excited about their offerings for the upcoming year. Hasbro, Mattel, Funko, NECA, and many more all bring out their prototypes, con...

Phantom Troublemaker and the Needless Things Irregulars once again convene to discuss and review Toy Fair! The 2015 New York International Toy Fair was held from February 13th – 17th so that toy manufacturers from all over the world could get retailers and journalists excited about their offerings for the upcoming year. Hasbro, Mattel, Funko, NECA, and many more all bring out their prototypes, con...

Phantom Troublemaker and the ESO Network’s “Howdy” Mike Gordon convene to discuss a common favorite topic – the live-action Batman television show, now commonly colloquialized as Batman ’66. The recent release of the entire series as a deluxe Blu-ray box set prompted this episode. Both of the guys crammed in as much Bat-Viewing as they could to prepare for this look back at a critical point in not...

On today’s episode, Phantom Troublemaker talks to Christopher DePetrillo, the Chief Marketing Officer of Figures Toy Company! Phantom talks to Christopher about the history of Figures Toy Company – from their Legends of Professional Wrestling line to their current robust roster of licenses, including The Three Stooges, Batman ’66, KISS, the characters of Robert E. Howard, and their newest acquisit...

Phantom Troublemaker, The Belligerent Monkey Jay Hornsby, and Needless Things’ Lead Researcher Ryan Schweck convene to look at the current state of comic book adaptations on television. Specifically – Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, Arrow, The Flash, Gotham, and Constantine. The guys also get into the potential of Marvel’s Netflix series and interaction between the movie and television universes....

Phantom Troublemaker and Mr. Beau Brown reunite to take a look back at last year’s Masters of the Universe Classics releases from Mattycollector.com! As it turns out, 2014 was the penultimate year of the Masters toy line and Mattel delivered big. While there wasn’t a big release like Castle Grayskull, the releases were more consistently good than they’ve ever been. With impressive toys like Modulo...

Phantom Troublemaker talks to himself and looks at 2015 month by month.    From January’s Royal Rumble Party to the far-flung wilds of October’s Monsterama Con , our host discusses his plans for 2015 and does a little pontification on the side, brought to you by Angry Orchard Cider and Fireball Whisky. Settle in and get ready for an episode that borders on rambling, but is snatched back from the b...

Phantom Troublemaker has been trying to get in with the folks of the Great Atlanta Toy Convention for a while now. Last year things didn’t work out due to his work schedule, but this year it looks like Needless Things will be well represented at the con in March. Before that happened, Phantom wanted to get to know the folks who run the show and they, rightly, wanted to know what they were getting...