400 Moo Deng Neil the Seal Comic Con Doug Brode Shelli Interview Doom Scrolling Intro The Foos made it to 400 episodes. Joe and Steph celebrate with VMC cocktails, reflect on 8 years of The Foobar Show, and explain why some older episodes have disappeared from platforms over time. No huge blowout, no fake promises — just 400 episodes, a toast, and the usual chaos. The animal kingdom takes over the top of the show: Moo Deng officially turns 2, proving that the internet’s favorite pygmy hippo is still the queen of slippery rage, bouncy pork energy, and conservation awareness. Then Neil the Seal finally takes his 2,200-pound chaotic ass back into the ocean after weeks of lounging around Tasmania, blocking roads, flattening signs, and refusing to respect anything vertical. Joe and Steph also explain why the podcast has been spotty lately: life, work, band stuff, Steph’s Sunday schedule, and the massive backyard facelift happening because Steph volunteered the house for her brother’s baby shower. There’s also some Medieval Times talk because sometimes you just need dinner, jousting, horses, and giant beer steins. Geeking Out starts with San Diego Comic-Con: they didn’t get badges, of course, but there’s still plenty happening outside the convention — themed cafes, Paramount at the Lodge, Hello Kitty, Magic: The Gathering Marvel Super Heroes, Star Trek experiences, and all the badge-free chaos that makes downtown San Diego worth visiting during Comic-Con week. They also hit LA Comic Con tickets going on sale, with the convention returning October 30 through November 1 and guests already including Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, and performers from K-Pop Demon Hunters. Then it’s long-awaited movie news: Legend of the White Dragon finally has a release date. The Jason David Frank-led, Power Rangers-adjacent action movie arrives August 28, and the Foos have been waiting years for this one. Avatar fans get love too: Aang: The Last Airbender is coming to Paramount+ on July 25 as a movie featuring an older Aang and the gang trying to save the world again. Joe and Steph revisit why the original Avatar series still holds up as one of the best animated shows ever made — adult themes, perfect pacing, emotional stakes, and Appa trauma included. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey also enters the chat, with Matt Damon as Odysseus and a massive cast including Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, and Jon Bernthal. Practical ships, real locations, giant crowds, IMAX cameras, Greek mythology, and enough complicated storytelling to make Nolan feel right at home. The big feature this week is an interview with returning guest Doug Brode, storyboard/concept artist and author of the Ship saga and the Shelli synthetic crime series. Doug talks about Shelli: R-Evolution, why it is not actually the final Shelli book, how the series has grown, the challenge of writing sequels that stand alone, AI and synthetics, keeping villains understandable, writing in silence, short chapters, and why Shelli’s world keeps expanding. He also shares that the first Shelli book is getting a 99-cent Kindle BookBub deal starting July 15.
