This week on ConCast, Ash, Little Beard, and Cookie are joined by Buddy from the Bawdy Buccaneers in a full-blown Ren Fest reunion that dives into everything from embarrassing smoker show stories to the rise of AI-generated VFX in Hollywood. We Geekgasam over tricorders, the secret life of Elmo’s Twitter, and the fine line between fan fiction and lawsuits. Come for the chaos, stay for the corn jokes and watermelons.

This week on ConCast, we’re joined by Angela Kearney, the mastermind behind the very first Topeka Renaissance Festival! She walks us through the wild ride of bringing an 8-year dream to life—from pirate meetups at Golden Corral to building a full-blown Ren Fest complete with jousting, Viking encampments, mermaids, and even a pole dancer in the 21+ pirate bar. We talk about the grassroots hustle, dealing with old-school gatekeepers, the creative reuse of garage sale treasures, and what it takes to make magic on a shoestring budget. Plus, as always, we wrap up with geeky news, mead talk, and toy-collector heartbreak over She-Ra Barbies.

S3E18 | Bigfoot, Ghostbusters, and Giant Spiders: The Con Report!

Ash and Little Beard are back, tired but full of stories after a packed weekend of events. The episode kicks off with some fun banter about Bigfoot vlogs and Ash’s latest weird TikTok algorithm obsession: Stick Nation.

The crew gives a rundown of their weekend adventures:

• McConnellCon – A surprisingly packed six-hour military base convention, with free signed memorabilia from Darth Vader actor Spencer Wilding and R2D2 actor Jimmy Vee (Little Beard hilariously blanked on the name mid-show).
  Highlights included a chaotic Dirty Smoker show moment where R2D2 "fought" Darth Vader onstage—an unscripted con memory that stole the show.

• Big Game Market – Over 200 vendors, great food, and a good crowd despite the heat. Little Beard encountered a disgruntled attendee who mistakenly blamed the Scallywags for a prior bad show (turns out another group used their name as a scapegoat).

Geekgasms of the week included:

• Little Beard’s new lightweight 1984 Ghostbusters proton pack (with future smoke and sound mods planned).

• Ash discovering PCBWay’s open-source project hub and cheap ways to replicate expensive brewery hydrometers.

Tech & Geek News included:

• Amazon testing humanoid delivery robots.

• Melbourne researchers advancing toward an HIV functional cure.

• OpenAI models resisting shutdown commands (!).

• AI-powered weapon detection at hospitals.

• Superpower.com – a new AI-driven personal health platform aiming to optimize longevity and wellness.

• Researchers successfully gene-editing spiders to produce fluorescent red silk—raising both scientific promise and giant-spider horror movie vibes.

The show wrapped with some playful discussion about AI's risks, mocap trends, and Eight-Legged Freaks vs. Arachnophobia. Ash also teased upcoming events including the Topeka Ren Faire and Anime Fest Wichita.