Toy Stores Then and Now

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joining us is mr. Adas Baron hello, hello. Hello

And for this first new topic talk of the new

generation of Toycast, the topic is the toy stores

back then and not now. You mean they are not

right now at all? Yeah, no. We'll get there.

We'll get there. Yeah. So we're going to take

you guys and gals and you fun listeners all the

way back, at least into the eighties. Oh, well,

yeah, it would be at least until the eighties

because the guy who would take us back to the

seventies isn't even here. Seeing as I'm the

oldest one on this podcast at this point, but

yes, the 1980s, the best decade at the time,

at least, uh, for me, I grew up in southeastern

Massachusetts. I was about. depending on traffic,

I was about an hour, hour and a half south of

Boston and we had two main competitions. We had

Toys R Us and we had Child World. Child World

was a New England specific chain at the time

and they never really got any further than that.

Obviously Toys R Us is. Toys R Us. I mean, there

should be no explanation needed for that store

and that conglomerate that they were. How long

was Child World around? Because we didn't have

them in my area and I've only seen clips on YouTube

and I'm like, what? There's this roller skating

panda man? Yeah, there was. I want to say it

was around for at least 20 years. Want to say

that I don't know off the top of my head 30 no

no Yeah, pretty much 62 to 72 62 to 92 hmm, so

they were around for about a good 30 years So

they have this lovely castle sort of design to

it. I've never seen one of these places. Yeah

Yeah, that was what was so cool about it in order

to get in did you need a ladder and like a catapult

and Was was there a four -day siege to get in

no you just walked in It was a different design

I think I think they were I think this is actually

where I got my idea to do a not Basically, a

construction paper castle in elementary school

art class was basically from the Design of the

Child world entrance here. Because there's pictures

of me floating around somewhere online of me

with this giant black and gray castle that kind

of looked just like this, but it was an actual

castle. I like Child World. I thought it was

great. I think our stores kind of closed out

by the time Super Nintendo, like I said, 92.

So by the time Super Nintendo was out at Christmas

of 92, Child World was not a thing anymore, sadly.

But I eventually, you know, went over to Toys

R Us and all that, and I even slummed it at KB

Toys a few times. And I gotta say, between Toys

R Us and KB, I like Toys R Us more. It's for

me, it's difficult because each one of the stores

in my area had its own charm. So I could pull

different things from different stores. So I,

I mean, yeah, Toys R Us was my favorite, but

not by much. Yeah. So what were some of the stores

in your, what area were you in or are you in

Das? I am in the Philadelphia area. So I grew

up in the suburbs right outside like Northeast.

Philly and Broad Street. So we had Toys R Us.

Of course, we had the KBs at the mall. And then

we had Kitty City, which was this literal warehouse

of toys. It was very no frills when you get inside.

Just very clear pegs, wire peg framing systems.

But you could find stuff that I couldn't find

at Toys R Us there. So Child World gets to look

like a magnificent castle. Kitty City looks like

some sort of spooky factory warehouse with just

random stuff everywhere. Yeah. Wow. Okay. So

when you get down to a city, it's just not as

glamorous. Apparently not. What could you find

there that you would not find at Toys R Us? Specific

Ninja Turtle figures. Troll stone protectors.

I can tell you that Just like you go there and

you find the most random thing that you just

weren't necessarily looking for but it was on

your radar and they just popped up there I remember

being there one night and there was a Batman

animated series penguin figure on the pegs and

I got him that night. I almost never saw him

in any of the stores And what was really neat

was with Kitty City and Toys R Us. They're literally

a block apart from one another So I would go

on lunches with my uncle and we would go like

McDonald's or Burger King or whatnot And afterwards

we would go into one of the store. We'd start

at Toys R Us and then we'd make our way over

to Kitty City. That's pretty awesome I That was

kind of a trend out by me where I lived and you

would see a Toys R Us at a KB's somewhere within,

you couldn't always walk to them. Usually Toys

R Us was outside of a mall. You'd go into the

mall and there would be a KB in there. The two

major malls by me had that set up. There's usually

a Toys R Us right outside across the street or

there's a KB inside. I didn't really have a whole

lot of unique places like a child's world or

anything like that. I know that I had a ToyWorks

as well, which was basically eventually absorbed

into KB. And it was KB ToyWorks, I think it was,

at some point. And so one mall had a KB ToyWorks.

You walk to the other side and there's a KB Toys.

So it was pretty awesome. It was more like one

big toy store, just split into two, versus two

separate ones. So, I got to run around to each

of those. Personally, I think growing up, I was

a bigger fan of KB Toys more than Toys R Us,

although I always loved Toys R Us. Most of the

time most of the stores had different zones had

different I mean all stores have different sections

all stores had a boys section or a girls section

or a play school section or a or a You know,

this age and above section, this kind of thing.

We're a video game section. Once video games

obviously kind of took off and everything. And

I liked that it was done that way. And then I

go into like KB Toys. I don't think I ever went

into a KB Toy Works, but I go into KB Toys and

they're just, this is this aisle. This is that.

Like there was no real special. presentation

or order to it was just a store that toys were

on the shelves. And that's what I kind of liked

about it a little bit. I don't get me wrong.

I enjoyed Toys R Us. I think one of the things

that even I noticed as a kid in Toys R Us that,

yes, there were more toys, there were more variety,

but KB would have that. little obscure flavor

that you wouldn't necessarily get at a Toys R

Us. Toys R Us had a lot of the mainstream stuff

and a lot of it, but you go to KB Toys or even

there was a, it was literally called Toy Liquidators

and as a kid I had no idea what that meant. I

thought it had to do with something that was

liquid. But it was just called Toy Liquidators

and it was up at a tiny outlet mall. And just

like KB, which had the same model of liquidating

toys that nobody else wanted, you could find

a lot of really cool stuff that was somewhat

obscure, harder to find at Toys R Us at that

time, and you could get it for cheap. Excuse

me, post -Christmas toy money buy -ups? I went

to KB Toys. I would get a whole lot more there

than I would get at Toys R Us ever. And that's

kind of the thing with child world. When I went

to child world or Toys R Us at the time in Massachusetts,

child world had so much, Toys R Us had a bunch

of stuff, but child world is essentially, you

know, kitty city kind of thing where like Toys

R Us might have, let's say the four turtles and

they have splinter and shredder, but they may

not have Bebop and Rocksteady in 88 or 89. And

you go over to Child World and here's Bebop and

Rocksteady on a random shelf. Yep. That's exactly

how Kitty City worked with me. Yeah. Yeah. And

I liked that. And I thought that was really,

really cool that we had options of toy stores

as kids, whether our parents took us or not kind

of thing, depending on how, you know, if we were

good kids or not. I remember I almost didn't

get the 89 Batmobile because I threw a tantrum

in the mall because there was only one at the

KB toy store at the time and my mom was not going

to go to Toys R Us or any other toy store at

the time because we were in the mall. I just

threw a damn tantrum and just I didn't get it

that day. I had to, you know. apologize and behave

and do better and like a couple weeks later I

got it but yeah it toy stores when we were kids

they were so much fun oh I could spend hours

just walking around I know that when I was a

kid going to there was there's a large very long

ball it's not a loop it's not a box it's You

go from one end and it's sort of like two Z's

attached end to end. And there's really no way

to loop back, which is one of the most inconvenient

parts of it. But as a child, we would go to the

mall, and this is when going to the mall as a

child and walking around by yourself was still

relatively considered to be safe and something

you could do successfully. And if I went to the

left, there was a toy shop down there. If you

go to the right, there's a toy shop down there.

I could walk back and forth between the two and

spend hours just going through the aisles. And

these were just the toy works and the KB toys.

And I would look through everything, and I'd

only have 15, 20 bucks in my pocket, but I'd

look through everything. And they had random

stuff there to find that, like I said, you don't

see anywhere else. So yeah, you could spend a

lot of time in there. I also would get stuck

on their demo video game things. All the time

oh well I mean I can say that I thought virtual

boy was the coolest thing in the world until

Until I pull my face away from it after staring

into it for a while and I literally have Just

the shape of the goggles around my face in red

because the the blood was coming to the surface

of my face And I remember my brother looking

at me seeing What happened to you? Where have

you been? And I was kind of sweating a little

bit. It was kind of a mess. You were in a virtual

reality? It was virtually the most real, terrible

thing I think I've ever experienced. But I was

stuck on it because it was free and nobody else

cared. But also, one of the things with KB and

ToyWorks is that unlike Toys R Us, you got a

lot more of those really unique little knock

-off lines. I don't know if you remember those.

I used to find knockoff transformers that you

couldn't see anywhere else, knockoff lantern

core figures that you couldn't find anywhere

else. They had a lot of that stuff that Toys

R Us was just kind of blowing their nose at.

And that's why I really liked it, because you

could find those unique items. I don't know if

I remember those, but at the same time, I wouldn't

have been hunting for those. So maybe they were

in the KBs near me, but I don't recall seeing

them. It's so funny because we also had another

store up in Massachusetts called Benny's That's

a liquor store up by me Yeah, Benny's or Benny's

Benny's Not Benny's Benny's. Oh, sorry. Sorry.

I've been against No, no. I want some Irish food

There there's no cummerbatch here And that's

where it's so funny because Toys R Us was always

sold out even though I said earlier That I could

always find the four turtles splinter and shredder

and April and Casey or whatever at Toys R Us

They were there the the pegs were there the figures

were I actually found the four turtles at this

little store They were not knockoffs. They were

the actual thing And it just goes to show you

that back then, toy stores were a huge deal.

Well, they had the buying power. Yeah. Do you

feel as if despite these specific toy stores,

you were kind of always in a toy section no matter

where you were? Because like each big department

store had their own toy department. So when I

got to a certain age, I just tell my mom, hey,

I'm just going to hang out in the toy aisles

here and just look around while you do your thing.

And she'd leave me there for 20 minutes or whatnot,

and I would just take it all in. Go ahead, Josh.

I was going to say, I think obviously as we were

kids, there was a whole lot more that was going

to be amazing. Everything was for the first time.

Everything was bigger. Five figures looked like

10. And I think that was one of those big aspects

as a kid when you're going to these stores and

every eight weeks or so, I think it averages

around eight weeks, you get more stuff on the

shelves. So we're going to Walmart, we're getting

milk, we're getting the groceries. I'm doing

the same thing, hanging out in the toy aisle.

And there were, I would say, I don't know, even

at a Walmart, three or four aisles of toys. And

I studied every single one, and there looked

like there were a ton. And you had not only big

movie lines, but you had your basic comic lines,

and you had your random lines. You had everything.

There's always something to investigate if you're

really, really serious about it. And it was always

impressive, because I'm this little kid, and

I'm like, ooh, there's so much here. I don't

know about you guys. I remember there was one

department store in the Northeast called ports

of the world. And I didn't realize until I got

a little older that way in the back of the store,

there's a toy department. And what I began to

realize as I got older, they had a lot of import

toys. So they had like a lot of Japanese model

kits and whatnot. And that kind of started kicking

into my gundam. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I

think the thing of it was, was that back when

we were kids, because obviously we were kids

and kids are small, like now, like me picking

up a Funko pop is like, oh, this thing is so

small, but the detail is so well done. As a kid,

I would pick up G1 Optimus Prime. Oh. This thing

is just slightly smaller than me at a four or

five six years old kind of thing And it really

what I mean it was I was much bigger than G1

Optimus Prime obviously at the time but you know

what I mean like as kids we go into these toy

stores and we look at everything that's there

and it's like Depending on what you were into

you had your choice of everything whether it

was boys toys And even the girl toy aisles, I

mean, girls toys were everywhere just as much

as the boys toys were. And then you also had

like the sporting stuff. Like I always remember

any of the big box stores and honestly, I do

not remember in Massachusetts ever seeing a Walmart

before 1989 when it showed up in Christmas vacation.

So we were at all kinds of other. Big box local

stores whatever hell stop and shop used to carry

toys. But it's one of those things where they

would always have the. Toy section next to the

sporting goods section because they want you

to either be active or they want you to sit there

and play with fictional characters. So the walmart

by me speaking of that the walmart by me. The

toy aisle was notoriously close. to the gun section

when Walmart still had large display sale cases

of handguns and rifles, and I can't remember

what else. And God forbid my brothers and I ever

went close to that. That was, we can go anywhere

else in the story we wanted, but if we looked

in that aisle... my mom was very anti -gun, do

not look at those. So that was as akin to an

adult section at a bookstore that you just don't

go to. And that was, I have to agree, that's

very weird where you have little kids looking

at transformers and stone protectors and battle

trolls and you wander one aisle too far and all

of a sudden, oh, these look just like the toys

I saw in that aisle. Not getting into a gun control

debate, not going there, not what I'm trying

to do, but that was just one of those unique

memories I had. So it's funny you mention that.

As kids, I had a... Of course, I didn't find

this out until almost 40 -something years later,

but as a kid, I had one of the biggest imaginations.

Every, think of every kid in every movie that

daydreams about certain things and like, you

know, think of Ralphie. You know, shoot your

eye out, kid. You know, whatever, but that's

something he wanted. He wanted that toy or that

whatever thing, you know, the Red Rider BB gun,

action rifle, whatever the hell it was. And...

For me, I had a huge imagination. I was, you

know, imagining like one Toy Isle was Eternia,

the next Toy Isle was Cybertron, the next Toy

Isle was the Hiss Tank or the aircraft, whatever,

you know. Like when I went into a toy store,

whatever toy section or toy isle I was in, I

was in the world of those. Like if I was looking

at superhero stuff, I was in DC or Marvel. I

if I was looking at transformers I was on site

like I had all this imaginary things going on

in my head so being in a toy store was a. It

was a transformation it was a different thing

it wasn't just and then going back to what you're

saying Josh if you go one aisle to fur to to.

you know, one aisle over to much further than

where the toys were. No matter what that aisle

contains, it's like, Oh, um, let me go back to

my toy world, please. So you'd go one aisle over

too far and you're like, Oh wait, no, I need

to back up and go back to my toy world because

this aisle, whether it's sewing, whether it's

guns, whether it's antiseptic, whatever it is,

it's like, Oh, this is not where I need to be.

And similarly to me, when I would go into a toy

aisle, the way I've always collected, and we

can always have a longer conversation about how

we collect one day. We will. I've always, even

as a kid, sort of went to the toy aisle like

I was casting for a narrative in my head. Even

as a child, buying toys, playing with toys, I

always had a large narrative in my head. So I

wasn't just looking to shop to complete all of

my Transformers figures. It was, how is that

one going to fit in the narrative I've been guiding

in my head for one of the things I have going

on? So your own headcanon? Basically, and that's

almost still how I somewhat collect. And going

into a KB Toys, that's why I'm looking at right

now these tech toys. I was mentioning knockoff

Transformers. They're called Tech Toys Robo Reptiles.

I remember having a few of these. and they fit

in very nicely with my Transformers, but because

they're in scale with G .I. Joes, I could have

an alligator that turned into a robot that could

fight with or against the G .I. Joes and it just

worked. So it was very, very particular and it

was always a casting call every time I went in

when I had a couple bucks to buy the next thing.

Absolutely. See with with me I've always had

an issue with interconnecting my franchise of

the figures that I own So like, you know, thundercats

have to stay with some thundercats. He man has

to stay with he man Turtles stay with turtles

and you know, I just don't in my head. I have

no crossover abilities So I I feel like I robbed

myself of my own imagination sometimes Because

I kind of like it map on it. Yeah Well, I don't

think there's a necessarily anything wrong with

that your kid you play the way you want to play

I Just would have a lot of splinters of different

things especially because I inherited so much

from two older brothers You just may do with

what you had and if it didn't fit Maybe I didn't

play with it that day or if it if I could make

it fit it would be something larger So as I'm

looking behind me, yeah, there was a lot of stuff

because a lot of them What I used to have is

on the shelf behind me. Turtles could kind of

mesh a little bit with He -Man, but they didn't

really mesh with G .I. Joe. They would look like

giant turtle beasts against them all. So those

stayed separate. I'm not going to lie, those

did stay separate for me. You never saw G .I.

Joe in the turtle van. Just didn't happen. But

turtles did go up against Chuck Norris a few

times. That almost works pretty well. Who are

you Jonathan Brandes? What is this the 1990s

and sidekicks? Hey that movie is a lot better

than anybody gives a credit for I'm not disagreeing

but that's the only thing I can think of when

I think of Chuck Norris and and action figures

and Well, if if you're gonna steal the script

for karate kid and add in a bunch of hallucinations

That's a great movie Yes, yes it is I'm surprised

you knew that movie. Are you kidding me? I actually,

besides Sequest DSV, I actually only know two

movies that Jonathan Brandis was ever in. That

one and one other, which I can't remember off

the top of my head. Ladybugs. Okay, yeah, that's

Rodney Dangerfield, yep. Yep. And oh, I guess

I know three never -ending story too because

he was the new bastion never -ending story, too

and he was in hearts war that What's his name?

He had a deleted scene in that but I know that

because of reasons of reasons. Yes. Yes back

to the Chuck Norris action figure our folks When

was the last time each of you remember being

in an actual... I'm not talking about Walmart.

I'm not talking about Target. I'm not talking

about Hot Topic, which isn't really a toy store,

but they carry collectibles now. An actual physical

toy store chain that is not just somebody opening

up a toy store on their own. Das. One more time.

When's the last time you remember being in an

actual toy store? Well, the dying days of Toys

R Us, of course. Yeah, that's true. Same. Same.

And the dying days of KB Toys. I remember visiting

one a few times right before they closed. The

Toys R I mean, this is a whole other discussion

and people have discussed this well before we

have. In the past, the dying days of Toys R Us

could be its own thing and whatever, but it's

one of those things where I remember going into

this was just, you know, a couple of years ago,

but whenever they went out of business, but when

they announced that they were going out of business,

it was like no one cared. And I'm not faulting

the employees. I'm not at all, but I'm just saying

nobody cared about where anything went. There

were several bins where Barbie was with Funko

and Funko was with Transformers and GI Joe was

with GI Joe if you can even find Let's face it

folks GI Joe toys. They're all online exclusives

at this point Well the original three and three

-quarter inch yeah, I think one of the problems

that Toys R Us had especially in its dying days

It it was the writing was on the wall unfortunately

up to that point. They just could not figure

out what to do. And I think even by the time

that they're starting to clear out, there wasn't

really anything all that interesting to say,

I want this, I'm going to try to buy it, I'm

going to sit around. The best stuff that I found

during those dying days is when I was checking

under shelves where you're not supposed to look.

And I found that somebody had hid a movie Megazord,

the legacy one that had been hidden there for

a couple of weeks. And I found some other figures,

I don't remember what they were. And it's just

there was nothing there when they started clearing

stuff out. It wasn't even worth going to and

hoping for a discount because most of it was

already clearanced out of other stores for months

by that point. Even the few years before that,

it didn't feel like itself anymore. No, it didn't.

And even so, sorry. So I would get first crack

at some of the figures there because I worked

there at the time. But outside of that, there

was no incentive on shopping there. Well, they

were trying to fix things up by ordering more

of the popular lines. I remember that and being

impressed. Wow, they're putting in so many more

Marvel legends and turtles and stuff. And turtles

were selling very well with that Nickelodeon

line. But they would order so many of these Marvel

legend lines that people would take what they

wanted from it and all the peg warmers would

sit and you could just count how many cases you

think they probably had if these were single

packed figures and It just astounded me if you

knew that what was a really big peg warmer there

at the time speed speed demon was it and you

would see 10 of those and he was single packed.

It's like, wow, you went through 10 cases. I

saw that recently at the target near me. There

were like 10 Katie's from the new Shang -Chi

movie line. Yeah, just that one. Do they? I think

they send out some packs of just one figure nowadays.

Well, that happened with Ant -Man and the Wasp,

which was. Shocking during endgame endgame comes

out and you would think the entire movie of endgame

was just about Ant -Man and the Wasp For about

six months after that movie came out Yeah, and

they were important parts of that movie. But

yeah, they were sending out single case packs

I don't know what it was. I don't know why they

were doing that and it took about a year for

them to finally sell but Toys R Us had just tons

of that and I think we're kind of slowly transitioning

to the second part of what we're talking about.

Basically that there are no more toy stores anymore.

There are no toy stores anymore, but they're

all suffering from some of the same issues of

too few pegs, not ordering enough. Where Toys

R Us was just trying to fill everything they

could, stuff was selling, but not enough. I knew

a comic shop out here. that I shopped at for

a while, and they were really trying to figure

out how to get their business going, and they

just would order 10, 15 cases of something because

they had pre -orders for one figure out of each

of those cases, and then they still had all of

that other product just sitting on the shelves.

So there has to be some sort of economic science

that I just don't know about running a successful

toy store and moving stuff out. Toys R Us obviously

had it wrong. Again, I don't blame any of the

Toys R Us employees. I blame the upper management,

the people that were in control. They just kind

of let it go, I guess. Oh, yes, they did. I mean,

you know, anybody that worked at that store,

I salute you because holy crap. What I had read.

Good. What I had read is that once Toys R Us

is bought up by one of those venture capital

groups and pulled them from being in public trade

or whatever it was whatever the phrase is They

had leveraged a bunch of debt on them. So any

profit that Toys R Us was making Was going to

pay off that debt versus being reinvested to

improve the store, which usually when a store

makes profit That's what they should be doing.

But instead, it was going to pay off that debt.

So that's why Toys R Us was just kind of floundering

for three, four or five years after that. That's

really sad. It's it's equal parts really fun

and also a complete nightmare working there,

if that makes any sense. Yeah, I could tell that.

Out of the one that I kept going to in Gurney

at the time That that's where I was going to

I was going to that one too. So we were competition

Not really. I didn't really buy I like Okay,

so me and Toys R Us in Gurney, Illinois at the

time when when Karen and I were living there

the only things that I ended up buying there

the only one item I ended up buying there was

a Fraggle Rock, Toys R Us exclusive Sprocket

Funko Pop. And as this news kept coming down

about how Toys R Us is closing, these are the

final days, these are this, these are that. Well,

I guess Funko isn't going to have any more Toys

R Us exclusives. And I'm like, I wonder what,

not that I would ever sell him, but I wonder

what the value on my Toys R Us sticker Sprocket

would be because you know, There's no more Toys

R Us and yeah, you know, it was just so funny

and so weird and I would find the most Random

they were new releases at the time, but I didn't

see these at GameStop or anywhere else I would

find the most random Funko pops in Toys R Us

before it closed like the Baywatch line like

Whatever other lines were coming out at the time

that weren't in the other stores and it was just

a little crazy like oh I remember. What's that

one Disney show? Hi, Carly. No, that's Nickelodeon.

I can't believe I know that, but that's Nickelodeon.

Hannah Montana? No, no, no. No, it was Waypeth.

Are you kidding me? Hannah Montana pops. Those

are the only ones I know. I'm obviously wrong.

Yeah, it was Elena of Avalon. It was one of the

Disney channel kid, it was one of the Disney

Junior kid shows or something or other. And Funko

did pops of these. But they were everywhere in

Toys R Us. That was like, that was the only Funko

pops they were buying besides that in Baywatch

and one Fraggle pop. And it's just, you know,

transitioning to now where we don't have chained

toy stores. Yes, there are still Toy stores out

there. There are you know, you know self -employed

People who own toy stores like our buddies at

times past collectibles says we were saying anyway

The point is unless you're you have somebody

like that or unless you have like a comic shop

or something like I remember The first Funko

Bob I ever got was Stone Cold Steve Austin in

a comic shop in Louisville, Kentucky. I'm stunned

To get it 316 day anymore. Yeah. No, I got it.

I'm right there with his heat that was there

man Yeah, I got it. I got what your I picked

up what you were putting down there get used

to it That's what I do. I know I'm right there

But you know we have Walmart and Target as the

big box. I don't even, I'm not going to sit here

and call them toy stores, but big box stores

with toy aisles, toy aisles that are a business.

That's why I love this. Does Walmart even count?

Kind of. I mean, they just love keeping those

Transformers, Bumblebee, Cyberverse figures around.

And that toy line is at least a year or two or

three old at this point. I just don't understand

why every time I go in there, the majority of

the toy section is stocked. However, when you

get to the boys action section, it's like a desert.

Yeah. Every single time. So the good old toy

guru actually just put out a very interesting

video about this. And I know a lot of people

have their thoughts about Scott Knight, like

the toy guru. and you are allowed to have those

thoughts, but he's an insightful dude. Shall

I share what he had mentioned? Sure, why not?

So he was saying a lot of this in general. He

wasn't speaking to specifics because obviously

each store can be a little different, but what's

happening in the toy aisles right now is that

there is a little bit to do with COVID. There

is a little bit to do with a lot of the toy product

being in demand, but... Every peg that you see

in a store has a general time frame that it should

be selling in. So depending how many figures

fit those pegs, one of those figures by the general

guideline, the sales guideline, their goal is

to sell one of those figures a week. And ideally,

they will be refilling those pegs every eight

weeks. So if you have a peg that holds six figures

or so, their goal is to sell those in six weeks.

That means that it's successful to hit their

metrics. So if you get a case of Marvel Legends,

which is, what, eight figures typically, how

many collectors are going to go in and just buy

one these days? Few you have your you have your

cherry pickers, but how many people go in and

buy an entire set these days? Not many I Would

I mean I would say anecdotally from what I've

seen Quite a few there's a lot of people when

they see that first set that pops up, especially

if they see it early They're gonna buy up the

whole thing even if they're a reseller So what

happens is that if you have the new Shang Chi

line They say that right Shang Chi Yeah. Okay.

The new Shang -Chi line, there's eight figures

in that. I think there's two that are doubled

up. So if seven out of eight of those are sold,

they met their quota for the eight week. They

have seven sold, they are done. Like they don't

need to replenish for about eight weeks. And

that's why we're seeing it go so slowly because

there's so few, the demand is high. And that's

their general guideline for refilling. And that's

one of the reasons why stuff is so bad right

now. That's why there's nothing in the stores.

You would think that, and I know, you know, we're

living in the times of COVID and everything else,

but just in general, before COVID hit, and even

now, you would think that even with all the,

and Josh, you can speak to this a little bit

more since you are an educator. You would think

with the school year running, whether it was

online or in person or however they're doing

it now, if you have a traditional school year,

for example, let's just say August to late May.

Obviously you have all your breaks in between

there. You would think obviously Christmas time.

And I know last year was a rough, obviously because

of COVID and everything. You'd think Christmas

time and summertime would be the times that you

would not see a desert island of the action figure

shelf in any of these big box stores because

you would think that that's when the toy companies

would want to infuse the stores with product

because kids aren't going to be in school. They're

going to be at home and they're going to want

toys. In part yes, the other part is summer you're

getting a lot of movie releases So that's where

you see a lot of toy tie -ins and that's why

summertime you see a whole lot more on the shelves

and that bleeds into The fall and they're usually

hitting in late spring Christmas they're just

gonna be ordering more because it's Christmas

time. Yeah So no, I mean you should be seeing

more like we should start seeing more popping

into the shelves right now But what are the big

movies that we have tying in at the moment? Ghostbusters,

I've heard nothing about when those are hitting,

but that was supposed to be a big plan for last

summer. Shang -Chi looks like it's starting to

hit. Snake Eyes will probably hit soon. We'll

probably start seeing some stuff, but I don't

think we're going to see a whole lot of replenishing

for some time. And I don't know if it's catching

up from COVID or not, but it's. I hope it changes.

Yeah, I hope it changes too. Because why would

Walmart, Target, Meijer, why would they want

to keep empty shelves when they could put other

things on those shelves that could make them

money? Yeah, exactly. That's the thing. Why are

you having the shelves just stay empty? Yeah,

I really don't like having to buy my toys online

I much prefer going into the stores, but I'm

finding nowadays that I'm ordering more online

And I don't like that feeling For me and this

is going to be a completely other discussion

in the future It'll be a completely other topic

talk, but basically the art of the toy hunt kind

of thing And here's my thing now at 41 years

old. I just want the toy. I want to be able to,

like... If I want a GameStop exclusive Funko

Pop, most of the time, unless it's super popular,

I can go in and get it most of the time. But

if I want an Amazon exclusive, I either have

to pre -order it months in advance, and sometimes

like actually this is funny i actually had a

pre -order for the metallic version of the original

funko pop optimus prime with the with his rifle

and everything else and they're like oh it's

going to be delivered to you it's it's coming

out on release day you're going to get it like

four hours later that day oh sorry we're having

problem with our stock we'll let you know if

this is ever in stock again I just canceled the

pre -order like a week and a half ago because

I'm like I'm never gonna get this metallic optimus

prime and at this point I don't care but for

me like like I have a buddy who also is Hopefully

at some point he and I are gonna work up some

sort of sponsorship deal my buddy West who runs

popping off toys calm He's a funko dealer He

gets you know the stock just like every other

funko dealer does and most of the time I can

go on there and pre -order and Yes, granted.

I have to pay up front and that's fine. I don't

care I'm guaranteed a figure I've paid the money.

I'm guaranteed a figure and that's fine with

me whatsoever You know, you have toy stores out

there like big bad toy store comm and I love

BBTS I think they're great their pile of loot

is single -handedly the best thing ever in my

personal opinion because you can get you can

have christmas in july you know i mean you can

wait to have all your toys shipped to you at

once and it's like that's awesome so there are

and and i do generally agree with you das it

does have somewhat of an uncomfortable feeling

ordering them online But at the same time, if

online ordering is what is going to actually

get me the figure and I don't have to fight a

seven year old, not that I ever would, but I

ever have. But you know what I mean? Like I don't

have to fight somebody. Like I remember, what

was it? It was, um, it was one of the Target

exclusive Funko Pops. There were 10 of us outside

the store before it opened on one of the Funko

Target con days. Out of all the ones that were

there, I just wanted one, and luckily enough

I got one, but I'm like rushing to the toy section

of Target thinking, are we gonna get into an

argument over a stupid Funko Pop? No, I don't

think so, but it's just, and that's the other,

and again, this is... Conversations for the future,

folks, because there's so many things talking

about toy stores and how they're not around anymore.

There's so many things that have come out of

this that we can go on to several other tangents

and other things that we can talk about in the

future. It's just so crazy. Yeah, there's nothing

wrong if that's your preferred method of obtaining

your toy. It's just my preference. Yeah, no,

absolutely. It's just... I feel like when we

were kids and had toy stores, it was... There's

enough for everybody. If this Toys R Us didn't

have a turtle figure, the other one did. If KB

didn't have this, or if Toys R Us didn't have

this, KB had that. Like, you could always find

the stuff. Nowadays, I feel like toy hunting

is the Wild Wild West. And everybody wants to

suck on Rita's tit. Whoa. Epic fail. It's definitely

gotten difficult, and I think that was very,

very clear at the Cane County Toy Show. I don't

know how many of those dealers there got a lot

of their product by buying bulk volume from Hasbro

or McFarlane or whatever, but there were definitely

some shops there that you knew. they were the

guys who were running into targets, buying up

everything off a shelf. The Nika Ninja Turtle

stuff is a great example of being ridiculously

hard to find, ridiculously scarce, and there

are some places where I've known people who said

they have never seen it actually. ever hit their

shelf, period. End of story. And they're regular

hunters. They say they go every couple of days.

They've never seen a single bit of the product

hit a Walmart or Target because it's bought up

so quickly. And is it like the Wild West? I would

say so a little bit. I've heard of people getting

into fights. I've heard of people like trying

to sneak in the back room of Targets. It is a

little insane. I think it's only going to get

worse. as we continue to see people still dropping

secondary prices on items that are retailer exclusives.

As long as that continues to happen, it's going

to keep people motivated to buy up everything

and just do what comes naturally in capitalism.

Buy cheap, sell high. I mean, it's a commodity

right now. Except my Waterworld toys. Nobody

wants to buy those. Why doesn't anybody want

Kenner Waterworld? Because they suck bane of

my existence Josh They do not suck and they could

hear you when you said that you need to take

that back right now It's not my fault they're

sucking down on some water Well, we could go

into the science of water world one of these

days if you want but I don't think you respected

enough. I don't think there's no pee in the water

the horror the horror You just don't respect

Kevin Costner. Oh, I respect him when he is in

good movies. How dare you? Any final thoughts

to ask before I let Josh have his own final thoughts

and we close this out? No, I think I am good.

Josh, do you have a final thought you would like

to share with the audience? Yes, and I'm going

to put it into writing to send to the manager

of this show. No, I think in terms of the topic

of the fact that we no longer have chained toy

stores, it does come down to the fact that toy

sales are such a small fraction of major retailers

these days. And it's at the point that because

it's such a small amount, they don't care. Caring

for these companies cost them money and that's

why when you have collectors complaining about

nothing being on the pegs They don't care And

I I think is my final thought here It's also

because there's been a huge shift since I would

say about 2005 somewhere between 2005 and 2007

the huge shift is going from actual toy hunting

in stores whether they actually be actual toy

stores or chain stores or whatever to shopping

online whether that's eBay whether that's an

actual toy store whatever it is the convenience

of shopping online is just more appealing to

most people even some toy collectors I know that

there are plenty of people that are scrambling

to get whatever exclusive Funko Pop, FYE has,

or Entertainment Earth has, or whatever. Oh,

this makes me sad. So in 2005 or six or seven,

I forget when it was, on eBay, I spent $110 on

G1 Optimus Prime. I'm looking at the listings

now actually there's one here in the box $35

for pop or for original transformers optimus

prime oh it's the walmart version probably you

moron that's what i was gonna say i mean if it's

an original and they're doing good stamping those

they keep them looking pretty close but I see

a loose one here for $66. That's not bad, but

I'm just going to prove my point. I could jump

on eBay or whatever and find something might

not be at the best price, but recapturing your

childhood or even finding something that... Reminds

you of your childhood like and again, that's

why I say the whole the whole funko thing is

like Oh, whatever character it is. It's like,

oh, I'm never gonna have a character of this

thing In any other medium now, obviously there's

transformers. There's GI Joe There's this that

the other thing and everything else. But when

I say that about funko, it's more like they're

ad icons how many dolls or action figures do

you have of the Monster serial characters like

Count Chocula and Frankenberry and Boo Berry

not many And those are really cool I one of the

biggest problems we have right now though in

in not not just collecting but the toy industry

is that And this is something that's been known

for a while, there's not new information. If

you don't get picked up by one of the big retailers

and if you don't have major backing from something

else, whether it be a movie backing, TV show

backing, you're gonna have a hard time getting

bought up. And if you don't get that support,

if you don't have a very cheap IP and you can

find a cheap way to push that stuff out, that's

why I think Gross 4 Gang worked very well. Yes,

absolutely. Yeah. The grocery gang, that's like

what, moose toys, moose jaw toys? Moose, yeah,

moose. Moose. I don't know what their business

model was. I think it's because it was their

own intellectual property. They didn't have to

license anything. It came out a lot cheaper,

so their overall costs were lower. They could

pump those into stores easily. But one of the

reasons why Marvel Legends are going up in price,

and they're 20 bucks, and you don't get a whole

lot with them, is that they're a... Licensed

property they cost more which don't even get

me started about why GI Joe is the same price

and you get So little with them, but you know

he man being the same thing but You're not going

to see I'm just looking at my shelf right now

food fighters is a great example. Just like grocery

gang What else is up here? Do I have any other

most of these have some sort of TV show following

them but even random TV shows, how many shows

are there right now on Disney Channel or Nickelodeon

that don't have toys? True. Especially toy lines

as big as, well there's not really been anything

as big as Ninja Turtles, but even Visionaries

had what, two series, three series? Yeah. Thought

it was just the one. It could have been just

the one, but I don't know, they might have done

some sort of anniversary thing. Well, they had

a lot. But Gargoyles had several series, and

that was only a two season show. Captain Planet.

Gargoyles, oh, I don't count the Goliath Chronicles.

Nobody in their right mind should. That's not

a healthy show. But Captain Planet had a whole

bunch. Even though Double Dragon didn't have

a lot, they had a pretty big toy line. They had

figures and vehicles, and I want to say a play

set, but I could be wrong about that. Yeah, all

things considered that line had more attention

to it than I thought they would get the Super

Mario Brothers movie figures. Oh They had a playset.

Yep What place it was it? it was the Transformation

chair where you put a figure in and then you

can turn them into like a dinosaur head dude

turn into a goomba Okay It's really cool. It's

about four thousand dollars on eBay right now

Yikes, that's not... that's not very cool. I

did have one of those Goombas at one time. I

have two right now. They're actually a ton of

fun, but I don't think we're going to see a whole

lot of movie lines out anymore the way we used

to. I think they're going to be... Kind of tied

into other things or be collector gear like the

new Ghostbusters toy line that we've seen advertised

at Toy Fair like what four years ago two years

ago now it feels like because of kovat That all

looks very throwback to the original cartoon.

It does not look like the current movie of what's

coming out So even that stuff isn't going to

be based on the current movie It's going to be

more related to older stuff that we've already

seen And that's the thing, like, you can do a

movie line or something, like, you look at all

the movie lines that Hasbro did for Transformers

for the Michael Bay films. I only, between the

first three films, I only ever wanted one figure

from the Hasbro Transformers movie line, and

that was Revenge of the Fallen Ravage, and I

actually had him. But the rest of them... I just

didn't, because of the style the toys were and

all of that, it didn't really matter that much

to me to have. You don't like plastic origami?

No. No, no, no. Garbage origami. It was basically

what they were. But they had the backing of a

movie franchise, if you want to call them actual

movies in cinema that's left to be debated. Yeah,

that's for another day. billion dollar movie

franchise behind them. So stores are like, OK,

we'll carry that. But they even turned their

back on Star Wars after the last movie. Oh, boy,

did they. And now isn't Disney shunning the entire

sequel trilogy? I don't know. This is a discussion

for a completely different podcast, folks. I've

been hearing murmurs of that. Yeah, so have I.

There was a disappointment in the performance,

but those are all the factors that are affecting

toy stores today and why we see what we have.

I think to bring it back, poorly performing toys

is why stores are like, eh, we don't really care,

you're not really a big part of our sales anyways

anymore. True. Which kinda sucks. So, a question

for the audience, for the people who may or may

not be listening to this, and if you're not listening

to this, why aren't you? My mom's listening to

it. Oh lord. I guess we have to watch our language

next time. Hi mom. Good thing it's rated explicit

no matter what. Anyway, what toy stores did you

visit and when was the last time you remember

being in an actual toy store that wasn't just

a aisle in a big box store? Alright, we are gonna

get the heck out of here. Floorburger, where

can the people find you online? Right here, until

I go through all my Twitter and make sure I don't

get in trouble for anything I've ever said. Das,

what about you? I am Adas Baron on all four fronts.

Be that Twitter, as apparently Mike says, I still

have my Twitter account, even though I haven't

used it in years. Facebook or Instagram. There

you go. I am at TFG and Mike on Twitter. You

can also follow at TF Toycast on Twitter as well

as at GECast Radio for all the other network

updates. Next time, I don't know what we're doing.

I have something listed down here as exclusivity

exclusions. So we can talk about all the exclusives

that. Only the scalpers get apparently or something

or maybe we'll do an origins because the first

two exclusively get sad lives Yes, yes, they

do. Sorry Or we could debut the origins and toy

collections with either Adas Baron or Josh the

floor burger Because we're gonna shore up those

those 30 questions and then that interviews section

will start here on the podcast We've got other

toy topics coming soon as well. We hope you enjoyed

this episode of Toycast. We hope you enjoy the

new direction we are taking the podcast in. Any

other final words from you, Mr. Baron? Keep on

trucking. And you, Floor Burger? I don't know

if I have anything as insightful as that except

Find a local brick and mortar toy shop. Go check

them out. See if you can relive some of your

childhood. Give something to your kid. Give something

to your nephew. Go check them out and support

them. They're small businesses trying to keep

an industry alive. There you go, folks. And we

will catch you next time here on Toycast. Oh,

yes. Easily. Does that technology still exist,

Snake? Is it for sale? This is the world, Mr.

Traff. Everything is for sale. Weird, when I

get into a mood, I'm like, I'm fluffy. But like,

when I'm in a good mood, I'm like, I'm just Floodburger,

it's cool. The alter ego's. Yeah, Fluffy Burger

is Angry Burger. Oh boy. Yeah. What are you angry

about? Or do we not want to know?