Origins in Toy Collections with Josh the FloorBurger

Hi, this is Dan Gilbazan, and you're listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Jazz here, and

I am so digging the GeekCast Radio Network. Cliffjumper,

commence countdown. Five, four, three, two...

listening to the only toy podcast you will ever

need hello and welcome to an all -new generation

of toycast as we get the origins of any and all

toy fans that we can I am of course TF2 on mic

and this is a new direction for toycast we're

gonna be doing a multitude of things this is

episode 102 and you heard the big five -hour

recording with episode 100 and then myself along

with Adas Barron and my current guest, Josh the

Floorburger. Hello, sir. Hello, I'm the Floorburger

and I'm one of those things in a new direction.

Yes, and he's a table elitist. I am a table elitist.

I find tables to be elitist. would guess that

is self -explanatory. I don't find tables to

be elitist because I'd rather eat a burger off

a table than off a floor. Well, look at you.

Uh -huh. I mean, at least I didn't have to worry

about a giant bathtub full of unneeded and unused

Waterworld toys. Anyway... I'm sorry, I didn't

know I was talking to someone who was so bougie.

anyway has to have a table but no water world

toys oh that's right absolutely and this is a

new direction a multitude of the new direction

that toy cast is gonna be going in you're gonna

hear display case which is what we used to do

where it's myself Josh and Das and sometimes

it might be myself and other people I don't know

because that's kind of what I did back in the

day it was I got a bunch of people together uh

to talk about one or two toys that they had like

right within arm's length of them but this is

origins and what is origins origins is something

i created over on the pull bag i brought it to

all things transformers over there it's 25 questions

about how people got into or out of reading comic

books on all things transformers that should

be self -explanatory it's 25 questions or so

depending on the guest about how they get into

or out of the Transformers fandom whether they

like it whether they don't that kind of thing

Well, we're bringing that format to toy cast

and this might be an extra long episode folks

because We don't just have 25 questions for this

one. We have 41 questions for any and all guests

that want to be on Toycast to talk about their

toy collecting habits. Some questions are easy,

some questions are hard, and some questions may

be a 20 minute answer, other questions may be,

yeah, I could do without it and we just move

on. I will be fair with you, I'm not looking

forward to the long division portion of this.

although the interpretive dance has me very fascinated,

so I'm looking forward to that part of the interview.

I'm sorry, the well -dressed man in the suit

is not here today. This is a one -on -one thing.

That guy that dresses up like the Joker every

once in a while, he ain't here, so you can leave

your Das Burger love on the floor there, I guess.

Oh! No, the interpretive dance has nothing to

do with him It's a tradition. It's a floor burger

tradition I've already been doing it. You just

can't hear it. Oh Lord Anyways, if you'd wear

your cloggers, we'd be able to hear it. So I

actually switched to Crocs I In my previous house,

we had neighbors and they did not appreciate

The clogging at three o 'clock in the morning.

Nobody appreciates clogging at three o 'clock

in the morning, especially when the toilet's

backed up. That took a different direction than

I had anticipated. Let's get to the questions.

Let's go. Let's go. I'm charging you by the minute

here. Alright, let's go. Alright, 41 questions.

We start at the beginning because everybody has

to start at the beginning. What is or was the

first toy you remember having as a kid and do

you still have it today? Earliest memory I have

is G .I. Joe Charbroil. I do not have the same

one. I did recently pick up a almost complete

version at, I believe, one of the local... See,

I'm doing it already because I'm trying to think.

You caught me off guard. No, there's a local

toy shop chain franchise. I don't know how well

it survived COVID called Quake, but I did find

one that was mostly complete. I think he's just

missing his tubes. I do have that particular

figure. Yes. So G .I. Joe Charbarro. His tubes?

He just has that big tube. So right now I just

have a string on there. I think eventually I'll

just go to the hardware store and get a larger

gauge wire. It'll work just the same. All righty

then. Just don't tie them together. Was there

a particular adult who was supportive of you

playing with toys as a kid? And was there anyone

who was unsupportive? So I would say growing

up, my mom was always the most supportive, especially

as I got a little bit older into 12, 12 years

old, maybe 13 years old. She knew that I wasn't

necessarily drawn to the same things that most

kids my age would kind of fall into, especially

in the 90s, going into baseball and sports. I

think she understood that I still enjoyed toys

and action figures and she was always doing her

best to help out with that given our financial

situation or whatever. I wouldn't necessarily

say that there was anybody who was unsupportive

in that they were grabbing my toys and throwing

them out the window. I think just having two

older brothers and a dad who were all sort of

drawn towards baseball and more grown up. Typical

male things it was more You're a boy. Why are

you not playing? Why are you still playing with

toys? Why aren't you getting more drawn into

what most boys get drawn into at that time? so

I don't hold any ill will towards them for that

because now especially in my career, I'm starting

to realize that There are certain trends that

people just follow without realizing that it

might be negative. And I mean honestly between

sports cards and things like that back in the

80s and 90s we also had Kenner and their starting

lineup figures so I mean it wasn't like there

weren't sports toys but yeah I get what you're

saying about the whole you know oh you're six

you're too old to play with trust me that story's

been told the death by me on this on this show

before so i'm not gonna retell that one but yeah

it wasn't necessarily six it's just when i started

getting to be around 12 or 13 i enjoyed baseball

i just wasn't very good at it right i i went

through years where i was decent and went through

years where i wasn't very good usually because

i just didn't care and Again, my brothers and

my dad were more in that direction and being

the youngest. My mom and I had our own moments

where I do remember her sneaking me out to the

outlet mall and going to the toilet liquidator

out there. And I still have really good memories

of some of that stuff. And she did the best to

support me because it wasn't, I still feel today

that she didn't want to tell me that the things

I was interested were wrong or bad. She just

wanted to support me in the things that I enjoyed

and appreciated. And she just sort of steered

me in the direction that made me the happiest.

So that's... I'm trying to keep this as much

of a consolidated answer as possible. Right.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Without saying

like, so tell me about your father. Let's get

into the ego and the id. No, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no. There's no Freud here. I'm just

a fraud. So that's okay. Fair enough. Fair enough.

What types of toys were your favorites to play

with as a kid? I think I kind of described this

on one of the previous shows. I recognize now

that I was trying to be almost a casting director

for whatever narrative it was. So if you look

at my vintage display shelves and maybe one day

we'll have a YouTube channel and we can start

showing that kind of stuff off. If you look at

what would be considered my vintage shelf, it

was Anything that was maybe popular or cool or

something that fit a phase or a fad that I was

into I mean I have random shelves of just Last

Action Hero, Demolition Man, Mega Man. If it

looked like it could fit into my play pattern

I got it. So I would say if you were to average

the height or the style of figure that I've stuck

towards It would be like Kenner Playmates about

five inch. So if it was in that range Probably

something I went after very cool very cool. What

were your favorite childhood toys that really

stood out? More than others so pretty much anything.

I got my hands on for Power Rangers as a kid

would be up there looking at The Megazords I

didn't get a lot of the I would say there may

be nine eight to nine inch tall figures from

but the eight to nine inch figures those were

always standouts for me because There was a point

that those were ridiculously hard to find. So

anything I got my hands on was amazing the Bucky

O 'Hare One of the few that I had Toxy the Toxic

Crusader Most of the Ninja Turtles Pandacon Yosagi

Ujimbo, those were big ones for me. The one food

fighter I had, Mean Weiner. I will always like

Kevin Costner's, not Waterworld, layoff. Robin

Hood, Prince of Thieves, that was an amazing

figure for me as a kid. And G .I. Joe's, just

several, several G .I. Joe's will always fall

into that category. Yeah, I figured you were

gonna bring up Robin Hood because I actually

had that one myself. And it's crazy, folks, because...

Josh and I have only really done three episodes

together before, and I just realized, oh crap,

he's five years younger than me. So by the time

I get into Power Rangers, I was 13 and it was

fine. I wasn't actually into the toy. I was,

and wasn't into the toys anymore. But as soon

as I saw that movie two years later, I was like,

I'm going to whatever toy store I have to go

to. I'm getting that Ninja Falcon Zord. Cause

I, and there's a picture of me in Florida holding

the damn thing with me. Look, just staring at

the damn toy. Yeah. Yeah, it's just I think that

Power Rangers covered a lot of different types

of and I'm gonna keep using the term play pattern

and I hope it's something that we can go into

but it covered a lot of play patterns it had

the more posable figures that were not really

common at the time it kind of covered the Transformers

combiners aspect it covered the superhero aspect

and it's during the time of the X -Men and other

superhero teams becoming popular but you also

had characters that you could kind of identify

with I'm not gonna lie, fourth and fifth grade,

there were days I went to school wearing all

the same color because I thought that's what

you did. I thought that was a fashion style that

was acceptable. Quickly learned it was not. But

I did go to school wearing, I was Tommy, I wore

all green a lot. That was my choice. TF2 and

Mike here, folks. I don't know what happened

to my little audio clip here, but what I was

saying to Josh was that when I was a teenager

in the 90s, I was Tommy Oliver when he was the

White Ranger with Saba. White Ranger Tiger Power!

Well, and in the mid -90s, that was a very easy

color palette and style to do. Black vest, white

shirt, that was not uncommon. but you show up

in fifth grade wearing all green, people are

going to have questions. Hey, it's better than

showing up in kindergarten in corduroys and a

horizontally striped shirt. Oh, that's all sorts

of confusing, but that's awesome for kindergarten.

No, no, it really isn't because that's how you

get served eyeball soup at Halloween. Anyway.

That's a story for another day folks indeed it

is Do you prefer the label of action figures

dolls toys or a different label? So I think all

of them fall under the label of toys You there

is the toy section when you get to the toy section

there are dolls there are action figures I think

that the Obvious gender barriers between those

aisles still exist even to this day where some

of those barriers Companies are trying to break

down and just have more of a unisex marketing

system That right there are girl action figures

boy action or they're just action figures. Is

there a huge difference between a 12 -inch? Frilly

doll that stands on someone's shelf and I'm looking

at the Black Series Leia figure. We could probably

talk about the differences, but I think it is

just totally natural that when you find a label

that fits the best, you apply it. So I will say

action figures for what I collect. I don't have

any dolls that I would actually say is a doll,

but do I have people who come over and say, wow,

you collect a lot of dolls? And I sort of want

to kick them out of my house and file a restraining

order against them. Hey folks, TFG1 Mike here,

and... I goofed up big time in this episode,

so all of that has been cut out. Now on with

the show. Tucson's that were older than me. So

by the time I got to me she she knew she knew

the story She knew a lot of the stuff. All right,

good guys bad guys, which toys were your favorites

to play with the most? So I don't know if they're

necessarily my favorite to play with if you were

to actually look at the sampling size of my collection

right now You could probably make the argument

that it was very clearly Good guys, but I think

that's also with the exception of GI Joe and

maybe he man That's generally what was the most

Frequently found in the heaviest packed in cases,

right? But I usually Part of my I'm going to

say this and we could probably turn into a drinking

game play pattern Was that my bad guys were very

very powerful whenever I was playing with them

So I only needed one or two and it was you can

make the argument. It was the x -men or the Power

Rangers Approach of you needed the whole team

to take down this one bad guy. It wasn't I was

not a bad guy army builder until I became an

adult collector. Yeah, exactly. We'll get into

that later. Uh -oh. What is or was your favorite

toy vehicle and or toy playset? I can easily

say as an adult, the Masters of the Universe

Classics Castle Grayskull is just a wonderful

piece. I think that will always go down as my

preference as an adult of one of the And I'll

bring it up a couple of times in this whole questionnaire.

It's probably one of my favorite pieces ever

created that I've ever had. It fits so many different

scales. It's so detailed. It's durable. It's

just a very well -constructed and well -thought

-out piece. So as an adult, that's what I would

say. As a kid, if we're talking about vehicle

or playset, so I never got the Ghostbusters Firehouse

as a kid. That would have been on my list if

I had it. As far as vehicle, it would probably

be the Ecto 1A. being one of my favorite vehicles.

There were aspects of it that were close to the

cartoon, that were close to the movie. It was

a functional vehicle. Could I, when you had two

people in the front seat, could you jam any more

in there? No, you could never really get four

Ghostbusters in there at once, but let's just

say a lot of extra characters got very comfortable

with each other in the back trunk of the Ecto

-1A, cramming them in there. But oh lord, let's

let's move on then That's hey you got a team

of four and you can only fit two in there Somebody

missed the boat on that one. Yeah, they probably

did but you know, what are you gonna do about

it now? so you actually improved on this question,

but The reason why I wrote this question down

was because different toys have different features

Some are action features. Some are other things.

But like when you go into a toy store or to a

toy show, or if you're looking online, what features

define a good toy to you? Basically, how true

does the item feel in comparison to the source

material likeness? I'm going to jump to right

to what I felt as a kid. I was always an articulation

junkie as a kid. When it came to toys, if you

got added articulation, even if it was just knees

and elbows, I was a fan of it. So articulation

is always going to be important to me. Again,

looking at the stuff I have in my shelf, some

of the items I have are not nearly as articulated

as others. I have everything from G .I. Joe to

Marvel Legends to I think Centurions up there

to Visionaries. So there's all different levels

of articulation, but that was always important

to me. I did not like the preposed toys of the

90s. I wanted to be able to do what I wanted

to do with a toy. If I wanted him to be a ninja

and fly through the air and kick and cartwheel,

do whatever, that was important to me. I wanted

that to be an important aspect. As far as looking

close to the source material, excuse me, there

was an extent that it had to. The original Ninja

Turtle line... Did not look like the show kind

of looked like the comics But I didn't know the

comics as a kid and when I saw them because there

were more adult nature I was like, ooh, that's

dirty. I shouldn't look at that Yeah, but I I

didn't mind as a kid the different interpretations

because I felt that okay, the cartoon is a better

realization of this toy and It just worked for

me. It was a maybe I felt that the artists could

do a better job creating these whatever I didn't

mind so much when it was something like Ninja

Turtles, but I'm looking over at my Double Dragon

toys and... As a kid, I looked at those like,

wow, these are absolute junk. They don't look

close enough. They have weird features doesn't

make sense now They're on my shelf, but they

had to look close enough that at least I could

use my imagination to be okay with it Articulation

was big. I also didn't want action features that

Inhibited the figure that just took over the

figure so if the action figure feature was the

majority of the figure I Didn't like it, so I

can't think of a good example off the top of

my head of something because even now I don't

collect anything where the action feature is

overwhelming. Okay, so here's a good example

is Last Action Hero, the Mattel toy line. It's

imaginative, it's kind of cool, but with the

exception of one of the Jack Slater Arnold Schwarzenegger

figures, where he's basically like a Kenner Big

Five articulation figure, which was my favorite

one as a kid. Every single other one, the mold,

the sculpt, the action feature dominated the

toy. So you couldn't really use it as just a

generic uniform figure. He had a throwing feature

or had a weird trench coat that popped off or

something. And that to me ruined a figure. So

I never bought those, never got those. So if

it had an action feature, it had to make sense.

It had to work for the figure. So I'm looking

right now with the exception of like Double Dragon,

like Chuck Norris, Karate Commandos. Those action

features, for the most part, my perspective did

not inhibit the figures too bad. Some of them

were a little weird, but that was when I remember

that, you know, you squeeze the legs, the arms

move, but you still can play with them in a normal

way. One of the figures has a weird extendable

foot or something. It's just kind of strange

and never really worked. I'm not sure what the

feature was supposed to be, but that's an example

of action features that don't ruin a figure.

But I preferred your Hasbro cops, your... your

Kenner -style figures that were not pre -posed,

which was a problem with Kenner in the mid -90s.

But I've kind of gone off this, but what defines

a good figure? As a kid, that's what I was looking

for. As a modern adult, if something's going

to be at the 20 or now a lot of the $20 figures

are going to be $25 figures, has to be posable,

has to be something that can be posed accurate

to its source material. So if you're giving me

a stormtrooper, he's got to be able to aim a

rifle. He's gonna be able to hold that rifle

in two hands. If you're giving me a Han Solo,

he's got to hit those iconic Han Solo poses.

So there's a lot of figures I've passed up on

when I saw that they couldn't do that. If I'm

gonna be investing money to put something on

my shelf essentially, it's got to be able to

replicate the source material as closely as possible.

Which bothers me when Hasbro is like, oh, we

put out a figure that... We're we're going to

say for right now. We're never releasing another

Boba Fett again, haha So you get the first Boba

Fett that comes out Years later. Oh, here's a

Boba Fett with better articulation, and he's

got little fire pieces You can put into his jetpack.

I don't know why Hasbro all of a sudden has an

accent, but I'm talking as Hasbro with an accent

but That always bothers me that always actually

discourages me from from upgrading Because I

feel like they know that down the pipeline that

they're gonna be able to do those things. But

anyways, I digress has to be Has to reflect the

pose ability of the source material Has to be

iconic looking that kind of stuff. Yeah, you

won't talk about has to reflect the source material

1986 1987 Transformers toyline has bro The American

version of Galvatron was gray, black, and white.

The e -hobby version that came years later was

sort of toy accurate purple. It wouldn't be until

almost, pretty much, 35? Yeah, this year's 35th

anniversary. 35th anniversary of Transformers

The Movie's release this August 8th. We are fine.

It's actually out in store. I think it's going

to be out in stores now soon, but we are getting

a leader class Transformers Kingdom Galvatron

looks just like the friggin thing from the movie.

Yeah. So, you know, you want to talk about something

that has to look the part? Yeah, I am right there

with you. If it doesn't, I don't care. Well,

and that's why when I was younger and B source

was out I enjoyed B source I loved watching B

source when it was out I was getting a little

bit older for toys at that point But I didn't

really start collecting it until I think I got

one or two Maybe in high school is kind of a

just like ironic like ooh rat trap cool I mean

in the trans little rat trap is actually really

cool figure It wasn't until I got in a college

and like B source figures were dirt You could

get entire collections for 30 bucks. I remember

in my dorm getting a box the size of what you

would probably get one of those HelloFresh or

one of those meal programs that sends you all

the meals in a box. Just stuffed, filled with

so many Beast Wars toys. Got them for 30 bucks

off eBay at the time. And there's some really

neat ones. in that line, but I remember not getting

them when the show was out, because even though

they looked close, some were just kind of weird

looking. Yes, yes they were. And that's a case

of the toys being sometimes designed before the

show comes out, or whatever, they're trying to

make changes. This was a long answer for a simple

question. No, it's all right. That's the whole

point of having 41 questions. Some are longer

than others, and some are more sure than others.

Yeah, Beast Wars, nobody knew what mainframe

is going to do as far as I know. And if I'm saying

this wrong, Steve Megatron, and you're listening

to this, I'm sorry. The original Optimus and

Megatron was a bat in something else. And then

the show came along and they made them the gorilla

and the T -Rex. So, yeah, the original Optimus,

Optimus Primal and Megatron were completely different

from what the show actually had. Yeah. And one

of my missions in the last probably, what year

is it? 2021. Probably the last five or six years

as a collector is whittling down to the iconic

version of the character. So I don't want 15

Optimus Primes. I want one that just screams

to me Optimus Prime. Same with Batman same with

Captain America. I used to have ten Captain America's

I'm finally whittling it down as much as it breaks

my heart because he's one of my favorites But

I just want depends on a few if it's ten Steve

Rogers or five Steve Rogers and five Sam Wilson's

because there's been more than one person to

hold that shield Well, I was a big fan of the

cinematic universe Captain America and one of

my first actual figures as adult collector was

the original Toy Biz Marvel Legends Captain America.

That figure wowed me with the six inch scale

and the articulation. It was something that I

used to display proudly at school on its display

base and I had that on my college dorm room shelf,

which weirdly nobody commented on. I think people

just chose to ignore it, but it would come...

To back to my house with me it would come, you

know, it would go back and forth It was just

really really cool fear. I still have it. It's

just boxed up right now But that was one of my

favorites and that kind of started me off on

this whole Adult collector piece like he needs

friends. He needs a team He needs enemies and

and that was that's I don't know we have a question,

but that's a whole wormhole Starting figure right

there. Oh, of course. Yeah. All right next question

What does toy packaging have to have to draw

you in so you're going down the toy aisle? it's

1989 and you're looking for something and you

see a Team and I'm five. Okay. Well All right,

sorry, but the point is is that you know you

see like the older the more classic toy packaging

You know sometimes would have like like bubble

things on it like oh, yeah Donatello now can

remove his shell Only in this action it would

have some sort of something. So what does the

toy packaging have to have for you? as a kid

and as an adult collector to really draw you

in to say, hey, I actually want to spend money

on that. So I don't know about necessarily like

if packaging gets me to buy a figure. Sometimes

it does, sometimes it doesn't. I've always been

more interested in the figure inside. So the

packaging has kind of been secondary, but for

me as a kid, the packaging I liked was the packaging

that helped tell the story that I needed to know

about that figure to an extent. I don't need

everything about it, but Ninja Turtle packaging

was really good because the character it was

focusing on, the vintage stuff, would have artwork

all along the packaging of that figure, of that

character in action doing something. At least

up until the end of the run of that line where

it just had the generic turtle head background

on it. But turtle figures, and I'm looking at

the ones I have on the shelf right now, they

show that character in action, which visually

as a younger kid, where maybe my reading comprehension

wasn't the strongest or maybe I wasn't as interested

as like, new toy, I want to go read about it.

I'm going to sit and read this over and over

again. I did read the bio cards, but I was more

interested in the visuals because that helped

me know what I could do with that toy to an extent

or what I should do. So that was a big part.

File cards never meant never managed to intrigue

me as a kid tunics to too much because I was

I'm Casting this really cool character. He's

coming into my toy world. He's going to be Hang

out with everybody else, but I'm giving him care

a character. I'm giving him life The bio card

only gave me so much but a big thing about packaging

is I want to see Everything else that's in that

release. I want to see all the other toys everything

else that's out there so I can keep an eye out

for it. I can think about it. So that's a big

piece. Bright colors does help. I mean, it's

something that younger kids are always going

to be drawn to are bright, bold colors and logos

and designs. So that's always important. But

packaging never 100 % sold a figure to me. It

was usually the figure. So Batman the Dark Knight

collection is a good example. The packaging is

cool, but the figures on the inside were usually

the cooler part and the ones that were on the

back of the card were also really, really cool.

Absolutely. So yeah, long story short, that was

it. The only packaging that I would say if I

were to go back and say I want to keep all of

these in the card because they fit a really coherent,

very unique style, are the original run of the

Lord of the Rings figures by Toy Biz, because

they had that really nice window box that was

surrounded by different designs, usually the

one ring. The figures were usually posed in an

action pose, if they could be. And that was a

very, very cool style of packaging. It was also

something resealable. So if you wanted to take

the figure in and out, you could check it out.

That was one of the... I could be wrong about

this, but I think it's one of the first resealable

packages that existed. I'm not even sure, yeah.

I don't know. I don't remember exactly. But they

were better about that. And it just was a very,

very strong visual. Most other ones, I would

say, are somewhat disposable. Except for the

Funko boxes, but we'll get to that later. Yeah,

we'll get to that with a bottle of kerosene and

a lighter. I don't think so. That's what the

Water Roll toys are for. Do you open your toys

or do you leave them packaged? If you keep toys

packaged, do you have any specific criteria for

that? When I first started collecting as an adult,

I was a straightforward opener. Then I really

got deep into Toy Biz and Marvel Legends. And

if you know anything about Toy Biz and Marvel

Legends, some were notoriously almost NECA level

fragile. Right. I had figures that would break

right out of the box. So when I would get a figure

I really liked, I tended to always start buying

an extra, not for display, not how some people

say, oh I bought one to open, one to display.

That wasn't me so much, that was, I'm opening

one to pose and display and put on my shelf,

and I'm buying another one as an insurance policy,

in case this one breaks. Right. Yeah, that was

really the purpose and that's how I actually

started growing a really really nice Packaged

Marvel Legends collection. I used to have 30

or 40 including the rare variants and a lot of

the really nice figures that were in that line

and It was not because I wanted to display them

in the package. It's just I wanted to keep them

safe in case my Deadpool or my Thor Buster Iron

Man broke. And that got me into the mode of collecting

figures in the package. I've gotten rid of a

lot of my package figures over time. The ones

I keep right now are mostly examples of some

of my favorite toys growing up, or they have

some sort of significance to them, or they're

a really great example of packaging from that

time. So I have a Bucky O 'Hare in the package.

I have Ninja Turtles in the package. because

I think some of these just look better in the

package or they just are kind of significant

and I prefer them in there. I think a really

good example is I have a X Factor Cyclops, the

blue and the white outfit, where he's in this

giant onesie unitard sort of thing with very

little detail to it, but he had a really good

light up feature. If I put that on my shelf right

now, it would just get lost. But having it up

on the package, on the wall. Again, it's not

a super valuable figure, but at least it gets

its own place to stand out. So that's the other

reason why I keep a lot of stuff in the package,

or it's just, I don't want it to get lost in

the shuffle. I want it to look unique and just

sort of represent that cool aspect of, hey, I

was a kid, I liked packaged toys. I used to keep

them on a pegboard, so they looked like they

were actually at a toy store, but that started

taking - That's cool. Yeah, it was a cool little

thing, and I might do it again one day if I have

the space. but you can only see the figure on

the front at a time, like you only see the one

figure at a time. So it was, do I want to save

space and put them all on this peg, or do I want

to put them on a wall and I can see them all

at once? So a lot of decisions had to get made,

some got sold, I got rid of some, some got opened.

So now I actually open up a lot of vintage figures

and I save the card back, so I have a little

card back collection. And they just make their

way under the shelf. So there's always a whole

process. If it was actually something that was

scientific or legitimate or something detailed

on paper, I would tell you. But it really just

comes down to the feeling at the time. Right.

Absolutely. If as a kid, you only were allowed

to choose one toy franchise to collect from,

which one would you choose and why? Meaning.

No Water World toys for Josh. And I'll have you

know, I didn't collect Water World toys until

I was in high school. Just throwing that out

there. True, but still. Just throwing that out

there. Just throwing that out there. Because

I actually didn't see the movie until almost

two or three years after I was in theaters. But

anyways, I would honestly say G .I. Joe. 100

% G .I. Joe, without a doubt. And almost at any

point in that entire line. Reason being, variety.

Color, unique characters. Do I want a tank that

can launch a plastic glider 20 feet in the air?

They got it. Do I want bases? Do I want bivouac

tents? Do I want just about anything you can

get in the GI Joe line and it's nice and posable.

There's tons of accessories. The variety is outstanding.

And a lot of the features were functional. Boats

could float. Some of them. Some sunk. Some you

would put in water and they would sink in three

seconds. Yes, they did. But the vehicles rolled.

They had opening and closing canopies or doors.

You could fit... I have the His Tank 2. I'm looking

at it. The His Tank 2 is basically the minivan

of Cobra vehicles. You could fit, I think, four

or six... Soldiers in the back of it. It had

a really cool like opening mouth piece in the

front it just really Anything you could think

of they had and it was Filled with so much variety

that yes, if I could focus on that. I probably

would have gotten a whole lot more and So appreciate

to this day Just think, if they painted that

thing white and put a no ghost logo on it, you

could fit four Ghostbusters in there. And I would

not have been as angry of a child. All of my

discipline problems in school just because I

could only fit two Ghostbusters at a time in

that car. As an adult, do you prefer vintage

toys or modern toys? If you were to ask me a

couple of years ago, I probably would have said

vintage now I'm not as sure anymore because they

both have the same problem is that if you want

them you either have to pay more than I would

say wouldn't be sensible or you really have to

hunt them down or variety somewhere in between

so a lot of the unique vintage toys that I would

be after right now For some reason, the stuff

I'm really interested is what the market is just

shooting up in. Street Sharks are a great example.

I think it's a very fun, very silly, very goofy

line. It's very eye -striking if you see it on

a shelf. But holy cats, those are super expensive.

10 years ago, 15 years ago, nobody cared. I just

saw a packaged Street Shark for $400, $500? Oh

my God. Yeah. Holy crap. Yeah. Modern figures

are just getting annoying because if, if Toy

Guru is right about how things are being put

out there, it's just shopping at retail is not

easy. I feel like I'm not always getting my money's

worth. I don't know. I'm trying not to get jaded.

I'm not, I'm trying not to get bitter, but I,

without a doubt, if Kane County is a great sample.

Here's my answer to this question at the end

of the day. I had more fun checking out with

vintage stuff that I could go around and say,

oh, wow, I remember that or oh, wow, I didn't

know that existed or oh, wow, that's so cool.

Modern stuff, I don't really say that about as

much anymore. So vintage, I think, is where my

interest, my amazement. Vintage is just where

my attention was drawn to more because there

are booths filled. with modern toys, but digging

through an old bin, looking through somebody's

box of just random stuff they had. I know they're

not making more vintage toys, but it's just where

I was more fascinated with what I could find.

Absolutely. And I mean, you know, at this point,

10 years from now, what's currently modern will

be vintage. I know technically there are actual.

distinguish eight, you know, a hundred years

is antique 20 year. I understand all of that.

That's fine. I'm just saying everybody, you know,

we always talk about vintage toys over modern

toys and how the modern toys are now. Well, in

20 years, the modern toys of today will actually

be vintage. Well, if you think about it, well,

yeah, exactly. If you think about it, what was

popular 20 years ago? So 2001, Marvel Legends,

Spider -Man classics was just starting to come

out. I think Muppets was a thing at that time.

But 20 years before 2001 was 1981. So in 2001

were people looking at Kenner Star Wars. as vintage

at that time. I think that's an interesting question.

So if people were looking at Kenner Star Wars

as vintage in 2001, I think we can look at early

Toy Biz Marvel Legends as vintage in 2021. But

I don't want to start a flame war and get attacked

by people who are going to pull definitions out

of the Encyclopedia Britannica. No, they still

have those. Yes, you can access it online. Thought

that company went belly up. Apparently you can

access it online and anytime anybody says anything

to the contrary you can copy and paste a link

right to a page about what vintage actually means.

Discussion is dead. Is one toy you can always

play with? I feel like this could be a very loaded

and dangerous question. No, no, no. I didn't

say sex toy. I said action. Okay, fine. What

is one action figure? So, just so you know, my

mom might be listening to this and I wasn't going

there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, well, I

was. It's my show. It's explicit. Sorry, Mom.

Mom, I am, I am, Mom, I am sorry. Put a mom warning

on this for me please, and coworker warning,

and spouse warning if you can. Just put all the

warning, whatever warning labels you can put

on there. Now one toy that I can always play

with is usually going to be some sort of a transformer.

I would say I don't have a specific one, but

if you give me an easy to transform transformer,

not like the Michael Bay ones that were more

like origami, than a transformer, but some of

those generations or the thrilling 30 years that

it wasn't difficult to transform them. I felt

smart being able to transform these transformers.

And I have a, I guess a bright example. I can't

remember the name of the transformer. He's a

bright orange bulldozer that came out a couple

years ago and has been clearanced out at every

store that has ever carried him. But it's just

a very easy transformation He's got wonderful

bright orange colors and when you have cats and

like five cat boxes It's actually kind of fun

to goof around with and be like look I have a

transformer that serves a dual purpose of cleaning

the cat box out. He does get washed every time

don't worry But I I would say transformers, especially

ones that are just a little bit more straightforward

and easy to transform I don't want the 42 76

step transformers like the new Unicron, which

is 76 steps if not more transform it 76 steps

really I thought it was like a hundred and seventy

six steps Okay, it might it very well could be

and apparently you also need to be a part -time

power lifter in order to actually transform it

easily so But nobody's confirmed. That's me.

Now. You said a bulldozer, correct? Yes Okay,

I have wedge That's and no we're not talking

about Star Wars folks I put into Google bright

orange bulldozer transformers toy and the first

thing for all that came back is Something called

way Let me look at the images here. Yes folks.

We're live podcasting. Don't you just love it?

Let me see here. Yeah, it says Cybertron landmine.

There's that Transformers robots in disguise

wedge. I don't know anyway Who knows let's spend

the next 20 minutes trying to figure out which

one I'm talking about actually I'll try to answer

the next question while I'm looking it up. I

will multitask which is something. I'm not very

Skilled at yeah me either even though there are

always toy lines that people never purchase are

there any that you specifically and purposefully

avoid pops Hey, hey, hey. Pops. Next question.

Pops. This can be toy lines, specific characters,

etc. Pops. Next question. Uh huh. Pops. Uh huh.

And what he means, folks, is Funko Pops. So in

case anyone doesn't know, alright. Are there

any toys in the past or currently that you wish

you hadn't bought them? Are there any toys that

you may have sold that you regret letting them

go? I'll answer the second question first. I...

Won't go into too much detail about it. I made

a deal that I thought was going to be Strong

at the time. I put some money in my pocket move

out some products, but I sold a blind box palisades

pit battle ash figure from army of darkness I

Couldn't be they're really rare. So they're very

hard to find a value on and I sold it for way

less than I should have and I'm I still kick

myself to this day for actually selling it. The

only reason why I can make myself feel a little

bit better about it is that they're so fragile

that I worried about if I actually posed them

or put them on my shelf, if he ever fell, he

would just break anyways. That entire line is

known for being extremely fragile. So it's not

just the value that I lost on it, but it's just...

I'm gonna keep that story to myself a little

bit more, but I regret selling that one because

I think I would have rather just have the amount

that I got for it. I think I would be more happy

if it was just still sitting in a box, long story

short. As far as something that I wish I never

bought, that's a tough one because even if you

were to look at my display, you'd be like you

don't seem to be in the least bit. picky about

the things you buy. I'm actually very picky.

There was a box of transformers that I bought

off of a Facebook ad, marketplace ad. I got a

decent deal on it. I wish I investigated a little

bit further. I bought it in a parking lot at

night in the middle of the winter. And I was

hoping to use it to add some meat to my Kane

County Toy Show booth. And after I had gotten

it, there were a couple of decent Transformers

in there. But after I did some research and I

split them up and I parted them out and I tried

to figure out what I could do with them. I just

could not figure out how to even sell them. to

make the smallest amount of profit, even if it

was like a $2 profit, I still couldn't figure

out how to do that. So, I would regret having

bought that entire box. I eventually was able

to get my money back on it, but it was so frustrating

because it was that, it was after Armada, maybe

it was like Transformers Cybertron. And they're

really, it was some Energon and then whatever

came after Energon, Cybertron or something. And

it's not that they were bad necessarily, it's

just nobody is craving an Energon Starscream.

Oh hell no. No. Hell no. So I priced them just

to get my money back on them and I remember being

so annoyed and so disappointed in that purchase

because I was trying to get into that. reseller

thing and finding good lots and I I just I gambled

poorly so that'd be something I would say I regret

buying also I got a pop once and I regretted

it uh -huh which one I don't know I I have repressed

it from my memory I was so disappointed it took

years of therapy to finally accept the fact that

I sold it to a small squirrel in the backyard.

Oh, God, stop it. I'm sorry. Uh -huh. OK, then.

I refuse. So a couple of years ago when Karen

and I were still living in Illinois, it was like

right at the craze of the Ness and SNES classics,

the new little... $80 $90 small mini video game

computer things that oh you can have all of these

things in one thing you can have Super Mario

World you can have Legend of Zelda like so all

those that you know it comes with 30 games Well,

I found one on Facebook market. I will never

because of this one It wasn't because of the

the actual encounter when I went to go get it

it was because apparently I didn't look close

enough that it was basically just an Ness classic,

but it was an emulator. So it didn't really,

it's like, oh, it has over a thousand like, no,

it doesn't have over a thousand games. It should

initially have 30 cause it's all it's supposed

to be on it. And like literally there was like

angry birds, super Mario brothers, angry birds

on this thing. And I'm like, wait, what, how

does that fucking work? I don't know how that

fucking works. So ever since then I have the

only other thing we've done on Facebook marketplace

is. We sold our old couch before we moved. And

that actually led to a fairly good friendship

where the people and we are still friends today.

But in general, if I'm buying toys, I'm going

to eBay. I'm going to Amazon. I'm going to anywhere

other than Facebook Marketplace. Yeah. You know,

and I still talk to a lot of sellers. I talk

to a lot of people who run shops out here and

they still I don't know how they find it. Granted,

I'm not looking, so that's probably how I'm not

finding it, more than likely. But there are still

things to be found out there, but people are

starting to learn that the things they have have

value. And they're knowing that, hey, I'm not

gonna just throw this up for 20 bucks and it's

$400 worth of toys. They at least have an idea.

So shows like, what was it, Toy Hunter? Whatever

that show was stuff like that just even if you

had a box full of junkie toys from the late 90s

early 2000s you think you have gold and you're

gonna put your kids through college and That's

not necessarily well. They think that that's

not going to happen, but that's what no that's

what they think and That was one of my issues

sometimes going to the one estate sale. I went

to buy toys They thought they knew that they

had gold. They really didn't there was a decent

stuff I mean, I got a toy box filled with a ton

of different parts and stuff that turned out

to have little golden nuggets in there but But

no, it's it's getting it is getting harder and

harder to find stuff that is going to be at a

good price because people are knowing that they

have stuff that is kind of valuable so All right,

what's next? How large or small is your toy collection?

Do your toys take up the whole house or they

just relegated to one room shelf or something

like that? It's definitely not a small collection.

It's definitely a large collection It would be

if this is Coming out after Draper's collection.

I don't know. I don't know how he described his

collection His is a fantastic museum. Yes. It's

it's a whole basement Yes, and this will be coming

out after after episode 100. So yeah, and it

is a meticulously Set up display and it's it's

amazing To see it in person. I can't even do

it justice to describe it however mine is Mine

is pretty large. I have a three -bedroom home

We're very very fortunate in the home that we

got. We're very very happy with it and One of

the bedrooms is a guest room one of the bedrooms

is our master bedroom and then we have this other

one that's kind of my It we used to call it the

man cave when I went in our previous home This

is more. We just call it the blue room because

it's a very blue room. All the walls are blue

but Two of the walls are filled floor to ceiling

with shelves and figures There is a large window

in the room that takes up one of the larger walls.

There's not a whole lot on that wall, just in

one corner. And yeah, it's a very sizable collection.

When we had a box to move, it was almost embarrassing

to have my friends help move it because there

was so much. Granted, a lot of the boxes also

had a lot of padding and packaging to make sure

it stayed safe. But it's a sizable collection.

I don't know if I could throw a dollar value

on it or if I were to try to count everything

I have because let's be real like some people

could have 15 figures and the value of those

15 figures could be more than my entire room

or possibly even my house but it's a sizable

collection it's probably it would shock most

people to see if they don't know what collections

actually typically look like side note not on

the list how do you keep track of all of it so

my mind doesn't work good i am really good at

having a mental inventory of accessories and

parts and where things are. And that one of my

biggest anxieties is losing accessories. So I've

gotten really good at storing accessories and

Organizing especially since I moved and I completely

reorganize the majority of all of my collections

So I do a really good job keeping them stored

in plastic bags in labeled boxes And in the next

couple weeks, I'm really going to improve that

system as it is But in terms of keeping track

of them I have a weird memory. I can tell you

what accessories came with Toxy, the Toxy Crusader,

but I might go to the store and I'll forget three

of the 22 things that I went to go there. Like,

not even the three of the 22. Three of the four

things I went to the store for. Let's just be

honest. I can go to Target and forget to buy

75 % of the things I went there to buy. And I

know I should use a list and I should... try

to memorize stuff or whatever, but it's a really

weird situation. I would say just because I've

gotten better at keeping it, and I call it organized,

somebody from the outside would probably say

I'm absolutely insane for even suggesting that

I'm keeping a system of organization. But I remember

once I'm getting ready for a toy show, I could

not find a hand for an Iron Man figure. And losing

that kind of stuff is one of those things that

just sets me off. It's just... That's funny.

I need to find it. I need to get it soon, especially

when, as you know, in the action figure world,

you could have a $50 figure if it's got all those

accessories. If it's missing one, it becomes

a $20 figure. Yep. Oh, yeah. Or a $10 figure

or a $5 figure, depending on what it is. Absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah. And it could be something as simple

as a instead of a fisted hand. It's just an open

grip hand. I've gotten past that a little bit

now where it's like, it's not a huge deal. I

don't really care. But I still keep pretty good

track of those things, just by having a sense

of organization. Like I said, next couple weeks,

I'm going to keep building on that. How do you

display your collection? On shelves. Lots of

shelves. With lights on some of them. On some

of them, but not others, huh? I used to have

a stronger thematic run through the shelves.

I actually had a logical transition. I've had

to forego that a little bit in my most recent

display. I could actually describe to you why

I Went from Power Rangers to transformers and

why did that then flow into this section and

why I used to have a better grasp on that But

just to get things to fit to get them to be visible.

I gave up on that. I do keep an eye on size height

color and somewhat theming. So I like keeping

pops of brighter colors throughout. I don't like

all dark colors being in one section. I like

having some sort of uniform height system if

I can. If you were to look at it, you might not

actually agree, but it's something that I am

pretty meticulous about. I'm actually pretty

typical to set up an entire shelf. sit down,

look at it for about 10 minutes, take the entire

shelf back down and redo the whole thing. Wow,

holy crap. Yep. All right. So. Yourself, your

wife, the pets, the kids, the whatever, everybody

is safe, but the house is on fire. If you could

only keep one toy from your entire collection,

what would it be and why? That's a tough one.

And I know this is not an uncommon question amongst

collectors. I've been asked this by people who

have just come to see the collection. Everything

I have on my shelf for the most part is replaceable.

That's the tough thing for me right now to realize

is that almost everything up there is replaceable.

There is one thing that is legitimately not replaceable

because... the people making it no longer are

making it, but that's the 3D printed food fighter

playset. So that's a one of a kind piece I have

up there, and I also painted it myself. So I'm

not saying that's the one I would grab, but everything

else is pretty much replaceable over time, and

not saying that I would want to rebuy my entire

collection, but everything is replaceable. I

would say the most unusual thing that I would

try to save, and I have it buried somewhere,

is... When I was a kid, we had a Frankensteined

Ninja Turtle figure that my mom tried to make

for us because it had gotten broken. I think

a leg or an arm got broken off of it. The head

had to be swapped. I think it's a Raphael body

with a Leonardo head or vice versa. One of the

arms is missing, and I have a distinct memory

of my mom doing everything she could to repair

this Ninja Turtle for us. Especially for me.

I was very heartbroken over it. I think because

Raphael was one of mine she was trying to repair

it and it was just kind of one of those moments

where you knew where I as a kid recognized how

above and beyond my mom was trying to go to try

to fix the situation and I'm pretty sure I still

have it. I might try to dig it out after we're

done, but it's missing the forearm So from the

elbow down it's missing that it's got a mismatching

head but that's probably the only thing that's

irreplaceable because that was something that

my mom tried to do to fix a bad situation. Everything

else, it can, you know, I hate to say it, but

it can burn. Okay then. Well, that's interesting.

This is a new question for us here at Toycast.

This is one you actually came up with. Here's

the toy box challenge. You get one 18 by 18 by

18 box. The only toys you can keep have to fit

in the box. What can you pack into it? I would

probably take a good handful of my favorite G

.I. Joes of all time. So pure hardcore G .I.

Joe collectors are probably going to disagree,

but I have some Eco Force figures I'd probably

hang on to. Some of the figures that my brothers

and I really enjoyed as kids would go into there.

Some of the more neon and more despised figures

would fall in there. My food fighters would probably

still fit into that box. 18 by 18 would fit.

The food fighters would probably fit in there.

Toxic Crusaders. Buck Yo' Hair. If I could fit

the original Dragonzord in there and the Green

Ranger, that would probably fall in there. I

have a fun story behind that one. Awesome. I

would probably toss in some Ninja Turtles. Pretty

much it would be like a If my shelf was a buffet,

that box would be my plate at Old Country Buffet

and I would just grab a little bit off of each

shelf. I would keep that variety. If I could

only pick one shelf in general though, like if

I could only go one shelf at a time, it would

probably be the Ninja Turtle shelf because that

also contains Toxic Crusaders and Buck Yo' Hair.

I think that would be... I think most people

would say, yep, that's the most Josh collection

there. At least there's no water world choice.

They all burnt up. No, don't worry, because they're

water world. They will not burn. They're all

water. Sure. Are you a Funko fan? Seriously?

Hey, you told me to ask the damn question. Seriously?

I wasn't I wasn't going to ask the question because

I know you're more of whatever. But like, I wasn't

even. Here's the thing. I I started off being

very, very just at ease with Funko Pops. I was

okay with them. I didn't want them. There was

a couple that I thought were okay, but it was

sort of like me and Brussels Sprouts as a kid.

It was on the table. It was on my plate. I was

never going to touch them. And in fact, if I

could just throw them in the trash, it'd make

no difference to me. But since you started picking

on Waterworld... It's Waterworld! Again, as I

mentioned in our text thread, you are making

fun of me for something that you did not know

existed. Because honestly, does that movie really

need to exist anymore? Are there any actual fans

of the 1990... Seven, five, six, five. 1995 Waterworld

with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. Anybody

a fan of that movie? Whitney Houston was not

in it. The Water Guard. That would have been

a better movie. However, I think we can both

agree that if Whitney Houston was in it, her

pop single would have been awesome. I want to

drown somebody. Continue on, let's hear it, sir.

Continue. Hum a few more bars for us. Again,

I will say that I appreciate that Funko creates

500 ,000 different licenses in the same style.

So if you want a nice uniform collection, you

can have that. I appreciate that. I just avoid

it because it's a rabbit hole and it's a wormhole

or whatever you want to call it. It's something

I do not want to get involved in and it doesn't

meet any of my criteria for what I like in a

toy. I'm sorry. It may not meet your criteria,

but they do have the GI Joe license and It might

be the only time in my entire life, other than

the fact that when I had Mighty Mugs about a

decade ago, that I might actually have G .I.

Joe action figures because I was never into G

.I. Joe as a kid. I may have had a couple of

them, but they were more like, oh, here's another

green army person that isn't voiced by the late

great Arlie Ermey kind of thing. So yeah. And

I respect that. I think you do realize if they

do make a charbroil, I will have to get it for

you. And if they make a Kevin Costner from Waterworld,

I probably will get 22 of them. However, again,

I love G .I. Joe, but I'm drawn to the neon ridiculousness

that was the 1990, 1991, two, three, four figure

lines. And if they're making, like you said,

just their early, more realistic olive green,

dark green, forest green, G .I .J .O.'s, I'm

not as interested, which is one of the reasons

why I don't care for G .I .J .O. classified anymore,

because I feel that they're going to go more

that route and have more of the uniform, more

realistic -looking than sci -fi and crazy neon

colors. And that's great. If people like that,

then awesome. It's just you'll have one less

person to compete for. or compete with to get

those figures. I like the neon stupidity. Then

you should really love the Funko Pop Blacklight

series. No, I won't. Anyway, all right. What

was the most money you ever spent on a toy or

a toy item? Hands down, Masters Classics Castle

Grayskull. Nothing comes close to that. I don't

think anything ever will again. That was something

that I got the pre -order for. saved up for,

got prepared for, I don't think I've gotten anything

that's even close to half what that cost. So

that would be it. I would say the Mezco 112 figures,

the Affleck Batman would probably be closer to

that because I was hoping he would become my

iconic Batman, but... You can snort and snort

all you want. He's always telling stories. Every

time he comes here, he's got another story, but

we all heard this one. Go ahead, don't say it

anyway. I will go ahead. Thanks a lot. I guess

I have the floor now. Yeah, my Uncle Marty's

driving home, right? Bombed out of his tree.

Just hammered out of his gourd. Just cracked.

The state trooper, last season, pulls him over.

So my uncle's fucked, basically. We got him out

of the car, trying to make him walk the line.

He gets out of the car, you know, pukes on the

guy. Stady's pretty sure he's over the legal

limit. So he's about to throw the cuffs on him

and put him in jail. And all of a sudden, 50

yards down the road, there's this huge fucking

boom, right? So Stady gets real spooked and he

turns around. You got a shot? No. I heard this

story before. Some other guy's car had hit a

tree. Okay, there was an accident. Anyway, how

could he hear the other car? Shut the fuck up!

Shut up! Okay, shut up! Sorry, he told you the

story once before. So he tells my uncle, stay

here. Don't move. So Stady goes running down

the road to deal with the other accident. After

a few minutes of just lying in his own piss and

vomit, my uncle starts wondering what he's doing

there. Gets up, gets in the car, and just drives

home. Well, the next morning, my uncle's just

passed out. And he hears this knocking at the

door. So he goes downstairs, fucking pulls the

door open. What? He stayed true for the pull

of the mobile. He stays like, fuck, you mean

what? You know what? I pulled you over last night

is what? And you fucking took off. He's like,

bitch, I ain't never seen you before in my life.

I've been home all night with my kids. I don't

know who the fuck you are. He's like, you know

who I am. Let me get in your garage. And I was

like, what? He's like, you heard me. Let me get

in your garage. I was like, all right, fine.

Takes him out of the garage, opens the door.

And there was... This is Dady's police cruiser.

It's in my uncle's garage. He was so fucking

hammered, he drove the wrong car home. The best

part about it is, the fucking state trooper had

been so embarrassed, he didn't do anything. He's

been driving around all night in my uncle's Chevelle,

looking for the house. All right, Chuck, what

the fuck's the point of your story? You know,

he got away. It was a solid figure because one

of my criteria for Batman is I want him to have

a cape, a soft -goods cape. I also wanted him

to be poseable. I want him to look like he's

in some sort of armor. Those are some of the

criteria I had for Batman and the one problem

I have with Mezco and this is one of the better

Aspects of Mezco is that the cloth outfits just

end up looking a little chunky and he didn't

fit with with what I had The light didn't hit

him the same as my other figures Like it was

one of those visual things that just the more

I sat back and looked at him Didn't want him

and Mezco toys typically hold their value. So

I was able to actually Sell him at a very good

price and still make a little money off of it

So I I think I was up maybe 20 bucks on that

figure at the end of the day What toys are you

collecting right now or actively searching for?

I would say I'm pretty much not looking into

G .I. Joe Classified anymore. I think I'm done

there. Marvel Legends, I would be shocked if

anything came out in the next year that I really

was after. DC is pretty much dead because McFarland

does a different scale than everything I've collected

over the years. So there's not a whole lot. that

I'm really interested in. Wrestling, I'm really

getting to the end of that. There's not a whole

lot more that I want. And most wrestling figures,

at least with Mattel, you get one, you kind of

get them all. They're all pretty similar. They

don't change much except for who the character

is. So modern stuff, I'm kind of getting towards

an end of with a lot of those lines that I just

mentioned. vintage stuff there's just odds and

ends I'm looking for like there's a one there's

one little tiny transformer I'm looking for there's

what was the other thing I was just keeping an

eye out for can't remember there's little odds

and ends but the thing is I have to keep telling

myself sometimes when I'm trying to get a little

bit more discipline dedication to what I have

if I did not get another toy for another six

months I would still be perfectly okay so I can't

give you a good answer on that, with the exception

of this random, tiny, what was it called? I think

it's Euler. Really, really, really tiny. Maybe

Micromaster called Euler, I think it was. Okay.

Micromaster or world's smallest, maybe. Not world's

smallest. If I had my phone out, I could look

at my eBay saved searches, but it doesn't...

I have one, it's just he's missing his door that

also transforms into his arm, so I'm just trying

to replace that. The Ninja Turtle's missing an

arm, the Transformer's missing an arm, man, you've

got a lot of mismatched arms in your collection,

don't you? Hey, let's just say that they're all

disarmed. What modern and or vintage toy lines

are you currently collecting? I kind of, I think

I kind of answered that in the previous question.

Kind of, alright, let's move on. Yeah. Do you

visit... Toy shows or conventions. Obviously

this question folks was kind of written out before

COVID hit last year. It's, it's another one of

my other standard questions. Obviously since

COVID is still a major thing, no matter whether

you're vaccinated or not. I know obviously we

did the, uh, the, the Kane County, the Chicago

toy show episode for, for this podcast, but in

general. Up until COVID hit, were you constantly

going to shows? I would not say constantly. The

King County Toy Show is pretty much my primary

show for several years. Before that, I think

starting in like 2003, 2004, I was going to Wizard

World Chicago when that was actually a thing

before it became basically a really awkward celebrity

convention. Right, yeah. And I was going to that

for several years, sometimes going for the whole

weekend. Quite literally, Friday, Saturday, Sunday,

I was there, almost open to close every single

day. I did that for a couple years, then the

ticket prices started going up and the toy dealers

started going down. That was one of my only places

I knew to get vintage toys or toys that I hadn't

seen for a long time, with the exception of a

couple of small toy shops. But when it started

becoming... Get your autograph signed by 4th

Stormtrooper from the left in that one scene

in Empire Strikes Back or Washed Up Wrestlers.

I got some stories about some washed up wrestlers

there. When it became an autograph convention

and no longer where toy dealers could come in

or comic shops could come in and make some extra

money on the side. I had friends who ran those

booths saying it is no longer economically viable

for me to continue the show after this year.

I stopped going and I don't regret that when

C2E2 started. I did C2E2 for a couple years when

it first became a thing. But I will tell you,

I just was going for the toys. I didn't get autographs.

I didn't care about panels. So when I started

going to Kane County, I stopped going to all

that stuff. Why would I drop $65? to go spend

more money, and that's less money that I can

use to spend on a dealer or a small business

in the place. So, $10 at Kane County seems a

lot more of a better deal. There you go. Couple

of these questions, folks, have come from other

podcasters that I've podcasted with in the past.

You'll probably hear some of them in future guest

appearances on Toycast Origins. What do you think

it is about our generation that causes our childhood

toys to mean so much more to us than, for instance,

our parents' generation? So this is something

I think with a little bit of research we could

do an entire episode about. There's not only

generational, economic, social reasons for this,

but generally in the late 70s and 80s, because

of a lot of political changes, a lot of legal

changes, toys became... Big money. It was a viable

industry. I don't know what it was necessarily

in the 70s, but in the 80s That's how you how

companies could make a ton of money Very easily

just create a bunch of little plastic figurines

I remember there being something about either

a court case or a Reagan law something was lifted

that made it a lot easier to make action figures

but that became Big business Also, rising economic

levels, people having a little bit more money,

the economy of the 80s. Yeah, it was buying stuff.

Commercials went up. You need to have this to

be happy. Buy it. Get it. Kids were happy. It's

also a time when video games were awesome, but

they weren't so good that they completely took

all of your imagination. Did kids play a ton

of video games? Yes. But they also had toys to

make up a lot more of that. there's so many different

factors why my mom had toys she did have toys

she still has some of her original Barbies my

dad had a train set he still had some of those

but also a Barbie is maybe an exception but for

my dad those care His toys weren't tied to characters

that he sort of felt drawn to which I think is

a big difference where you being 49 right 41

Yeah, you being 41 You grew up a little bit more

of Star Wars. You probably connected with Star

Wars or Transformers or whatever the case may

be my dad had train sets there wasn't a hero,

there wasn't a struggle between good versus evil.

He had toy soldiers, but it wasn't the same as

what we had growing up. And they were just very,

very different times. I think another big piece

of it is just the changing culture of we need

to make sure kids are as happy and entertained

as we possibly can. And that means buying all

the toys for them, getting all the toys for them.

making sure that they felt good about themselves.

There's so many different things that I could

say about this. The rise of the Saturday morning

cartoons, the rise of specific toy stores, all

those things. Absolutely. What is your motivation

for purchasing toys to display, to play, to fiddle,

just to have them, just to sell them? What's

your motivation? We're really getting deep here.

I feel like I Should actually be paying you $150

an hour right now. Yeah Yes, please do because

the these questions like the one I just asked

you and this one and a couple others actually

come from Another educator my buddy Joe Reed

who also teaches students and things like that.

So Joe has a very deep thinking brain So he was

really trying to go for the gusto here So the

first reason I'm going to start with is I don't

have a motivation of I want to complete this

entire set. I don't do that. I think a big piece

for me is similar to a lot of other people where

I grew up with toys as a kid. Now that I'm adult,

I never really stopped enjoying toys. I enjoy

the business side of them. I enjoy the design.

I enjoy the conversations. I enjoy the story

that they have to tell, the connection they have

to different time periods. The best way I could

describe it is maybe a little bit more of it

being my art form. I can draw, I can't draw well.

I can write, but I don't write well. I can talk,

but based on how often I say um, I don't talk

well enough. Stop saying it! hey that was an

example that wasn't me saying it by accident

let's just be let's be clear on that let's be

unclear on that right one of my primary motivations

I would say is that I enjoy it as a visual sort

of art form I enjoy displaying them I enjoy there

being a story behind why I have things the way

I have them and All collectors have similar motivations.

It's fulfilling some sort of emptiness or something.

There's a sense of completion. There's a sense

of a successful hunt. Long story short, it's

also chasing the dragon. There's always that

saying of chasing the dragon. Of you're always

going after the next, for lack of a better term,

the next high. Hey, I just found this figure.

Ooh, I liked that feeling. I'm going to go out

and try to do it again and duplicate it. And

that becomes something that as collectors you

have to get under control because that can get

a bit difficult to manage. But I also like the

historical side of toys. I like that I actually

have certain toys that I have now that I had

as a kid and I can remember a time or a place

or some important fact about it or where it came

from it's there is some anthropo excuse me uh

anthropological no why am i saying that wrong

anthropo i am on the struggle bus anthropomorphic

is that what you're looking for no no anthropology

but as like an adverb anthropomorphic as far

as i know but i don't know no anthropomorphic

is where a non -human object has human -like

features no anthropology is the study of of Humans

and their history and how they came together,

but there is a Deeper no Tommy. He's busy. No,

that's my alarm to give my cat his medication.

So There is a deeper piece to toys that I enjoy

there. There's history to it. I think toys kind

of help with Identifying the zeitgeist of of

culture at the time Give me a toy line, a toy

series, and we can probably have a deep conversation

of what society was kind of like at the time.

GI Joe is sort of the extension of Cold War politics.

kind of seeping their way into children's play

things, preparing them for a fight between good

versus evil and allowing them to take pride in

their military and looking at the military as

superheroes, stuff like that. And then you get

into the 90s extreme era and you have Batman

basically doing the splits. in his poses. Yeah,

it's a good thing Batman Damned wasn't around

in the 90s or else you'd have a pretty follicle

Batman. Have you ever purchased a toy for a child

with the ulterior motive of playing with it yourself?

So I can see what the next question is. Why don't

we go ahead and ask the next question? Because

I think they go together. Have you ever purchased

a vintage toy for a child because you enjoyed

it as a child? Yes and yes. Okay. When the Happy

Meals sort of anniversary classic celebration

came out where they were selling Reproductions

of old Happy Meal toys I gave one of my nieces

the changeables hamburger from McDonald's that

came out with that and She loved it. She named

it burger man. She played with it I just happen

to have an extra when I was traveling to see

Dave and Deval and I gave it to her because she

Her parents my brother and my sister -in -law

live about halfway between Springfield and where

I'm at now in in normal So I just I usually like

to stop and see them if I'm in the area and so

I gave it to her and she loved it and she was

My brother told me that he excuse me My brother

told me that she made a little camp for him under

her dresser and really loved it and Became a

big big piece of her of her toy playing So I

did go and order her several others off of eBay

because I love them I love to see that she enjoyed

them she found two different ways to play with

it either as play food or as a living character

and I did get them for her so I knew that you

know I could play with her and those at the same

time and my other niece as well and It was it

was a lot of fun for me because those were really,

really fun toys is as a kid and to see how they

could make so much out of it as here's a little

little man who's going to run around and he's

going to talk and interact or here's lunch uncle

Josh and I pretend to eat a robot cheeseburger.

There you go. Optimus prime rib. There you go.

It feels like questions 28, 29 and 30 are almost

the same thing. So 30 is, have you ever purchased

a toy for a child because you thought it would

be fun based on your own preferences? And I feel

like the story you just told us kind of fits

in with, but if you have a different one, that's

fine too. I know I have, I just can't think of

it right now. It was probably several years ago.

Are you a toy customizer? Do you do any toy modifications,

painting, building, dioramas, that kind of stuff?

If I do, it's going to be something pretty minor

right now. I have a Judge Dredd that I have been

working on customizing for several years now.

I think he's buried in a box somewhere right

now. It makes me sad that I tore apart that toy

biz Judge Dredd that came out a couple years

ago because he's actually a very valuable figure

right now, but I tore him apart because I wanted

him to look more like the Dredd from the 2012

movie. So he's almost done. He just needs one

last paint job. And like I said, it's been a

few years. I do enjoy doing it. I did make a

couple of wrestling figures that were supposed

to resemble My friends and I, when we did the

backyard wrestling in high school, like a lot

of very unusual children did at that time, but

I did buy some modern wrestling figures and repaint

them to sort of resemble us. And I learned how

to do dry brushing and washes and all that stuff

and priming them, taking them apart. So if I

need to, I do. But for the most part, I try to

avoid it as much as possible. I just I worry

about destroying an expensive figure. It's this

is just a small side note, folks, because it's

kind of current to the times. And this is completely

off the wall here. But. I am I don't know if

you're a long order fan or not, and that it's

neither here nor there if you are or you aren't.

But I had been watching a special victims unit

since it debuted in 1999. I had watched up until

Christopher Maloney. who played Elliot Stabler,

left at the end of season 12. Is that when he

went to college? Is that when I went to college

or when he went to college? No, is that when

the character graduated and went to college?

Like was that his next big step up? And then

we get Law and Order the college years? No. No,

no, no, no, no. I would love to see Law and Order

the college years. Please, no. That no don't

give them any ideas. Anyway, not that they would

take them because they'd have to pay you for

them So anyway, I watched up until that main

character left And I watched here and there but

I wasn't really paying attention and then they

did the whole William Lewis and Benson and that

whole Storyline and I kind of paid attention

then but my point is is that I'm currently going

through a watch through from season 13 all the

way up to current which is there at season 24

now And the most recent episode I saw was season

16 episode 5 or 6 It starred A very much older

version of Judge Rico, Armando Santi, was in

a Law and Order episode, and a few times when

he turned his head or when I saw his face from

a certain angle, I'm like, wait a minute, wait

a minute. I went on IMDB, I'm like, fuck, it's

Rico. And if in that episode, he did not weirdly

say the word law, I would be severely disappointed

and he should just retire from acting as of this

recording I do not remember if he did because

he was playing up an Italian accent So I'm not

really sure which would probably have made it

even better if he did so Please rewatch it let

me know if he actually does say law because if

you watch the original judge read it is The one

word it seems like nobody can say normally It's

either the volumes either way higher in it. They're

really really accentuating that law or They have

a mouthful and marbles raw raw Yeah, anyways

next question Do you think toy companies should

specifically have adult collector toy lines child

toy lines or find a way to mix both? I think

in today's day, and I age with the toy industry.

I don't think that they can make The big companies

can make toys without having it be something

for both. They don't see it being a possibility.

And there's not really big toy companies. It's

like Jazzwares, Hasbro, Mattel, Moose Toys has

a little bit of an influence in there, but there's

not a whole lot in the toy aisles anymore. We

can say Nika. Nika is probably one of the few

that sticks to predominantly action figures geared

towards adults Reason being if I gave any of

my Nika toys to my nieces for more than 30 seconds

They would be in pieces on the floor in no time.

Yeah, Nika is notorious for that kind of stuff

Well, and that's a whole nother side episode

and discussion is itself So Nika does make Toys

for adults and I think we see what the result

is for that Could companies be better about it?

Could we make the argument of some of the Bandai

import figures being more geared towards adults

like Sigma or Mafex, which are probably more

geared towards adults. But when you do that,

it starts becoming way more expensive. Or more

fragile or more limited to the features you may

want in it. I think Hasbro. throw all the criticism

that Hasbro deserves because they deserve it.

I think their Marvel, G .I. Joe, Star Wars six

inch lines are the best middle ground between

kids and collectors. I would say Mattel does

a really good job with wrestling. There's a lot

of kids who do enjoy their more adult oriented

elite line, the more posable line. But I don't

think you can actually make your way in the industry,

have large volumes of sales, pull in massive

profits unless you have a mix. That's just the

way of things right now and I'm gonna stick to

that. As much as what Toy Guru said about there

being the 80 -20 rule on toy lines where 80 %

of the purchases are by kids and moms and 20

% are by collectors, which I kind of believe,

I think that's a guideline. I don't think that's

the rule. I think that's just a guideline. I

think that's going to be the way it's it's going

to be for the time being i don't see that changing

so i'm going to say it's gotta be both because.

You can't have one or the other because then

you start getting some of the issues you see

when it becomes one or the other right. Do you

have a parent my parents get rid of my toys story?

No, I think when our toys were thrown out or

they're given away It's because they were clearly

broken My mom was actually really really good

about that and I would love to ask her maybe

if she listens to this show mom Why were you

always so good about storing our toys? I would

be very interested in that the closest thing

I have to a oh no What's happening to my toys

was when we had a Leaky pipe in our basement.

It was a toilet pipe It was it was a septic pipe

And it was a time when we were using those blue

Disks those blue things you could put in your

toilet tank that would make or tank or bowl that

would always make the water almost look like

blue powerade all the time and there was a leaky

pipe and Don't want to point the finger at my

dad, but I'm pretty sure it was my dad Took a

large bin of my toys because it was the closest

thing to that and slid it underneath the leaky

pipe of this blue water and and I was able to

rescue some like my buckio hair. I rescued him

he He was able to be cleaned. But there were

so many, and I know as a fact now thinking about

it, so many good toys just got lost in the blue

goo. And it's not that it was, hey, we're getting

rid of these. It was more toilet blue water goodbye

forever. And I wasn't as heartbroken about it

at the time, because it was maybe in high school.

as it was later on when I realized how much was

truly lost to that. All right. Was there ever

a moment where you were done with toys? Have

you ever considered stopping being a collector

or even selling your entire collection all the

time? All the time. All the time. There was a

time where I was really thinking about getting

out of it. I had just got out of a relationship

and I in trying to figure out. And to process

the end of this relationship, I was putting some

of the blame on collecting, which collecting

can cause a lot of relationship issues. I will

be the first person to say that. We'll get to

that in a couple of questions, but yeah. And

it's unfortunate that, you know, a very fun,

very enriching hobby can do that because hobbies

and obsessions have a very thin barrier between

them. So I. felt that it was an issue and my

way to try to resolve some of the crisis I had

in my head and some emotional crisis I had was

to purge. And so that's when that aforementioned

package Marvel Legend line, I sold all of that.

I had a pretty decent Transformers collection

that disappeared. I sold a lot of Michael Bay

Transformers for next, I just maybe got retail

for them, probably got less for them. Really

just started purging a lot of stuff and it eventually

came to mind that it wasn't necessarily the collecting

that caused the end of the relationship. It was

other larger issues, but I just eventually found

my way back into it and... It's been going pretty

steady. The only reason I've considered selling

it now is because I've had my fun I have all

these little figures staring at me right now

Especially with how much we've talked about collecting

becoming a commodity that I have an investment.

It's Is this now the time as if it was a stock

market should I? start pushing some of these

things out and trying to raise some extra capital

is something I do consider every so often. And

if it came down to it, if there was ever crisis,

if I ever needed the money, if there was something

really big that we wanted to do, that I think

that's what some of this stuff is here for. If

it was a very specific or very important situation,

like a down payment on a house or something,

I don't know. But it's at the end of the day,

like I said, if our if our house, God forbid

our house ever burns down, I would race in to

grab our cats. I wouldn't grab my toys. Right.

No, no, no. And that's, you know, that question

earlier. That's why I preface it by saying, yeah,

everybody is safe. No human or pet is going to

get hurt. That's why I always phrase that question

that way, because it's more about. If you only

had one chance to save one, you know, you know.

Yeah, no, no. And I and I love that question.

And I absolutely love that question because.

It does make you think about what is replaceable

and what is not and even if it was replaceable

Would you want to right by the way? I do recommend

everybody get a good insurance agent get your

collections insured I've been looking into doing

that over the last year I have a really good

insurance agent who's gonna work with me on it.

Just do it get pictures Inventory get an idea

what you have get it insured. You never know

get it insured What is something that does not

have a toy? that you'd love to have in toy form?

I think I mentioned this on an earlier episode,

and I'm going to stick with it. I would say a

playset of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride,

not something from the movies, but the actual

ride from either Disneyland or Disney World,

something that has the fortress or the town or

the village or the creepy haunted cave with the

skeletons and the treasure in it. That that's

something that I would probably Want to have

in a toy form. I think it would make a really

cool display piece I I enjoy Disney park replicas

They have the monorail train set that has all

sorts of really neat play sets that are made

from things at the parks. I Really think those

are really quite cool. So I think that would

fit right in line with that. So yeah, I would

say Pirates of the Caribbean ride playset. Awesome.

What is a toy that you'd love to have scaled

up and functional for the real world? So if I

were to say something that I would want just

for me, like if I had it just in my everyday

use in my normal life right now, right? Probably

is the condor from mask. Yep, the the Camaro

car that has the doors that pop open and right

there. I want that in my driveway. I want to

be able to just pop into that, that the doors

pop open, I fly to work. Let's just do it. That's

what the hover conversion DeLorean is for, you

know. I mean, yes, that unfortunately, as I turned

around, was not visible to me, but I do have

that just a few shelves underneath. So for my

own personal use, yes, that would be it. If it

was something that I could see on a daily basis,

Probably Castle Grayskull. How have your spouses,

significant others, mates, partners, past or

present, dealt with your collection? This is

a question that I want to answer delicately and

respectfully. I know it has been a challenge

for my wife. I know it has been a challenge.

I know it's been something that's been hard for

her over Wondering how much money was going into

it where things were coming from and I think

there's always little things like that in in

relationships of where people's personal passions

maybe dominate a lot of their life and may be

taking away from some aspect of the relationship

and She has especially since we've moved has

been just an absolute saint and supportive individual.

She supports me in the hobby. I think she actually

admires a little bit that there is the ability

to flip toys, to buy a toy for 20 bucks and throw

it on eBay or take it to a toy show and turn

it into more money. I think that's something

that is a cool aspect for her because, hey, why

not? If you're going to have a hobby, might as

well be able to have it sustain itself. But I

think she also really wants me, if this is something

that I'm devoted to and passionate to, to have

it be something that looks good. She wants to

do the Ikea makeover of the display room and

have good lighting and have things be visible

and say, hey, when you walk into the room...

your eyes are going to be going directly to this.

Make sure that when people first walk in, because

it's going to be overwhelming, make it be something

that's colorful and unique and varied that's

going to be good to look at. So I think as long

as it's something that's healthy, I think she's

supportive of it and I'm very grateful for that

attitude. But I do acknowledge and respect that

it's been a challenge for her. I have to admit

that, and that might not be the most extent that

I can describe it in, that would be the most

accurate, but I'll throw that out there for now.

What part of collecting do you struggle with?

Space. That's what everybody struggles with,

I mean. Well, space in terms of what I want to

do and what I have. I always miscalculate. how

much space I have. I think Marvel Legends is

a good example of that, of I really like the

Marvel Cinematic Universe toys that have come

out. That's probably one of the favorite things

I've collected for the last couple of years because

I really enjoy those movies. I enjoy the improvements

that they've made on them, that they look a lot

better now. But I used to collect primarily the

comics because that's really all that existed

with the exception of Ben Affleck Daredevil and

Thomas Jane Punisher and the Tobey Maguire movies.

There wasn't really a lot of cinematic stuff

out there, but I'm once I got my cinematic universe

stuff up I Don't have a lot of space for what

I really loved about the comics before So I have

several but legends that I can't get up on the

shelf including a lot of bad guys and villains

because I'm kind of out of space They're on an

eight -foot shelf. I think that is and I didn't

want to dedicate more than one Shelf to Marvel

Legends and I'm a space and I still have more

So do I get rid of some of them because the ones

I have are the ones I want to keep so that that's

a big problem Is just the space piece because

I don't want it to be a very clustered Overflowing

shelf either. I want things to be visible. So

space space is a big piece for that I would say

I also struggle with having all of these. Let's

just be honest. They're things I have all of

these things on my shelf and what are they doing?

They're sitting there. I don't play with them.

I don't really interact with them. Every couple

of weeks, I have to come into the room and find

that 10, 20 of them have all collapsed and I

have to do a quick inventory of, all right, where's

all of your parts? Did anything break? Where's

this one? Oh wait, now I just found his hat on

the other side of the room. And I would also

say just the expense. It's not a cheap hobby

and the time put into it. I don't really go to

stores as hardly as I used to anymore. I don't

really go out toy hunting to the Walmarts and

the Targets anymore. And it seems like the only

way you are going to find stuff is by pure dumb

luck and coincidental timing of when things are

going on the shelf. Or you're like some people

and I'm not downing these people because they're

dedicated. This is their hobby. This is what

they're passionate for. But there's people who

go to Walmart Target, Walmart Target, Walmart

Target every single morning. And I don't I don't

have a pity for them. I don't have a sympathy

for them, but I don't have anger towards them.

But that seems that seems to be the two ways

you actually succeed in this collection anymore.

You go regularly or you have pure dumb luck or

you preorder. Yeah, it's crazy. What is one positive

and one negative memory you have with buying

toys on the positive side? There are several.

being at toy shows with friends, finally getting

that last piece to a collection, finally getting

the last Biker Mice from Mars, or finally getting

the last carted Toxic Crusader, and I remember

getting those feeling like I got them right before

the prices beyond skyrocketed. There's a lot

of stuff like that where it's, I got the last

one, or I think I mentioned on a previous episode,

buying up some of my favorite packaged Ninja

Turtles at five bucks a piece at Kane County

before those skyrocketed. There's a lot of stuff

like that. My buddy at Times Pass Collectibles

being just so awesome of connecting me with some

of my holy grails and just not expecting to find

something that I've been hunting down for five

years. I also had a tradition going to Disney

World, I would always find a new Transformer

to buy. And I still have most of them looking

up there right now, but almost every single year

I would go, I would end up purchasing a transformer.

Do I have most of them? I think there's one year

I didn't get one, but almost every year, for

whatever reason, I got a transformer when I was

there. And that was always fun because I know

that that bumblebee and that... whatever his

name is, came from. That's probably Sideswipe.

Sideswipe? I don't know. He was a Michael Bay

Transformer. He was like the Silver Corvette

or something. He had like giant wheels that he

stood on, so he barely stands well anymore. But

it's a lot of stuff like that. There are some

toys I can tell really, really good stories about

because I remember how I got them, where I got

them, something about them from when I was a

kid. And I think that's one of the big positives

with toys is that there are some that you will

always have a good story about if you're buying

it with a purpose as far as negatives with buying.

Having to pay money for them. Oh I mean like

Like you said earlier and this could be a whole

other discussion but like the whole exclusive

game and either pre -ordering or having to show

up at the store at 5 a .m. When it doesn't open

till 8 a .m. And there's you know a line out

the door for Whatever, you know What's what's

Target and Walmart doing like like the the exclusive

Masters figures or something or whatever? I mean

if we're talking about in a functional memory

of actually Buying toys and having a bad memory.

That's a little bit hard. But as far as a bad

memory with being a collector. Yeah is Anytime

I I really put a lot of time and effort into

finding a figure in the shelves and it never

did or realizing I was there five minutes too

late. One fun memory I should mention, because

I wouldn't be doing this if I had a ton of bad

memories, a fun memory I remember was, I want

to say maybe 2005 or 2006, might be 2006, when

the Walmart Toy Biz Marvel Legends line came

out. There was a news bulletin in the toy boards

that there was this Marvel Legends line that

was coming out. It was going to be in those display

boxes, those big displayers. They showed everything

that was gonna be in their giant man and all

these really new figure really really awesome

figures and a lot of them I wanted and they a

random assortment of it hit a Walmart in Maybe

Missouri or Kansas or something like that. Just

really Random location and nobody really understood

what happened why it actually hit there But somebody

found them there posting on them and I remember

that night and I didn't have any early morning

classes in college at the time And remember it's

two o 'clock in the morning, something like that.

I had really weird hours when I was in college

and I hopped in the car two thirty in the morning.

I remember sending a message to all my friends

on the message board. I'm going to go check my

target right now and I'm going to come back triumphant.

I jumped in the car and I threw in a CD because

that's how you listen to music back in 2006 in

your car. And I was probably playing Eye of the

Tiger or something, rolling down College Avenue

in normal Illinois. heading up to the Walmart,

get in there. And I'm, I'm feeling all the luck

is behind me. I'm, I'm set up for success. And

I walk into the Walmart and I go to where I think

it should be nothing. And I see the employee

and I ask her and she has no idea what I'm talking

about, which is still a thing in retail where

you might go to somebody, do you have the Marvel

Legends? Power and glory Captain America for

the new movie that comes with the hammer, but

you can't see it And they're like we have toys.

I don't know what you're talking about, dude

I remember going there and then coming back and

typing to all my friends in the message board

because before Facebook groups and all that It

just and I I didn't see it didn't find it, you

know womp womp and I remember the excitement

about it and then a couple weeks later I did

the same thing again just on a whim and I found

the majority of the set and over the next couple

of weeks with the help of some friends in different

parts of the state. They've actually got everything.

Good tip to collectors, if you have small rural

towns, maybe 30, 45 minutes outside of your town,

check out their Walmarts every so often. Not

the ones directly off the highway, but if you

can go in a little bit, get off the beaten path

and find some out of the way of Walmarts or Targets,

you're gonna be better off finding some of this

stuff. I still remember that night. And that

sort of characterized me as a collector, especially

in college of just. There were no boundaries

for time of day for collecting for me. Right.

If you could create any toy, what would you want

to create? Now, this is either you can create

your own thing or any of the big toy companies

give you the keys to the gate. Like if Hasbro

gave you the keys to the kingdom to create your

perfect. Charbroil, I almost said flame broil.

This is not Burger King, although that's King

Randor. But anyway, yeah, what toy would you

wanna create? Is it just one toy or can I make

a toy line? It's one toy, but I guess you can

make a toy line, I don't know. If I were to choose

just one toy that I could make, I mean, if I

had an ultimate one, I wouldn't even know what

to tell you. I probably would want a very iconic

Superman or Batman, probably a Batman. Just give

me a very posable Batman with interchangeable

parts, tons of accessories, a cloth goods cape.

Just give me the perfect Batman. So I don't need

to buy anymore. So he can just be as iconic as

possible. It doesn't have to look like any particular

version of Batman. It just has to be recognizable

as an iconic Batman. And just make it perfect.

It doesn't have to be a hush Batman or a Justice

League Batman or a Keaton Batman. I just want

Just an iconic version of Batman if I could make

a toy line though and Super seven is kind of

doing this a little bit I would actually want

a fan voted toy line dedicated to just Favorite

figures through multiple lines. So one series

could be Toxy from Toxic Crusaders and Lone Star

or brave star rather. Excuse me. Lone Star is

baseball's brave star have Prince Lightstar from

Skeleton Warriors have a food fighter have a

Ronin warrior and the the series is basically

just those individual somewhat obscure iconic

toys and Put them in a almost a Marvel Legends

style or super seven super articulated style

that And super seven start doing that with Toxy

the Toxic Crusader recently And I think people

want to see that a little bit more, because those

are the toy lines that people are going for.

They bought all the Ninja Turtles. They bought

all the He -Man. They bought all the Dundercats.

They want the Street Sharks. They want the Toxys.

They want the Bucky O 'Hairs. They want the lateral

toy lines that are the next step after you've

completed everything else. Give me a Superposable

Captain America and a Donci8012 as a variant.

There you go. All right, what is the one piece

of advice you would give the toy collecting fandom

chill the bleep out? Just take a chill pill people

are getting angry and fighting and getting bitter

and negative and Being annoyed with something

being Upset with it to a healthy extent is perfectly

natural. I I do get annoyed with certain aspects

of the industry, whether it's how much toys cost

or how hard they are to find. And a little bit

of constructive criticism is great, but if you

are just nasty and negative and bitter all the

time, find a professional to help you out to

talk to. I hate to end that on kind of a negative

Organize, organize, organize. Keep everything

organized, keep everything labeled, and don't

let the hobby cross that line into becoming an

obsession. Don't let it take away from everyday,

ordinary, daily activities that you should be

doing in your life. If you're not paying your

bills because you're putting money into toys,

something's wrong. If you're not going to work

because you're hunting toys, like if you miss

work, you're late to work or something, you might

want to avoid doing stuff like that. Don't let

a hobby like this take over your life. That's

not a positive piece of advice either. Let's

go for a third. It's a good thing. We don't end

on that question anymore, apparently, because,

uh, yikes, dude, because again, because I added

my own question about, um, that, that follow

up question I asked you earlier. I mean, this,

this episode's over two hours at this point,

so I don't remember what it was. So we now have

42 questions because the answer to everything

is 42. What is. A piece of advice you'd give

to kids who enjoy toys. Don't let anybody, even

the toy companies themselves, tell you how to

play with toys. If you pick up any figure and

whether it's designed to be a good guy or a bad

guy, if you want it to be whatever you want,

that's what it is. And enjoy that time in your

life of just unstructured, no boundaries, go

nuts, play. I think it's so important for kids

in their creativity and their imaginations to

have unstructured play. Go for it. Make a character.

Make a bad guy. Make a story. Absolutely. Make

a universe. That's what I think one of the best

aspects of boys is. The other thing is, keep

your stuff organized. I hate to... I'm gonna

say that again. If I could go back and tell my

childhood self one thing, plastic baggies and

little Tupperware containers are your best friend.

If you take it out... put it back in and store

it wisely because when you're 37 and you're trying

to find the helmet to the planet to your motorcycle

and you can't find it, you're going to wish you

bagged it properly when you're younger. This

is why I'm so glad Funko doesn't need bags. Funko

might as well just be a picture on the wall.

Stop it. Okay. interesting that you say that

for Karen's latest birth last year's birthday

the year before recently either Karen's birthday

or Christmas or something I pre -ordered a Funko

pop that I knew that she would enjoy from my

buddy Wes Howard over at poppinofftoys .com.

It wasn't going to come in time for either her

birthday or Christmas, so I made her a card.

Here. Here's a picture of Grumpy Cat. Grumpy

Cat will be showing - Grumpy Cat Funko Pop will

be showing up in the mail at some point in the

future. Happy birthday, Merry Christmas, Mazel

Tov, whatever. So, Funkos can be real things

in real life. And they can also be pictures.

We are going to take a quick break. You can hear

a couple ads. I'm going to come back and close

the show out after this. No, there will be no

Operation Interference. I am TFG1Mike and you

should be listening to my very first podcast,

the TFG1 Podcast. 24 episodes covering the entire

US run of the 1984 Transformers cartoon. I also

have a few supplemental episodes and an interview

with Stan Bush. I bring in guest hosts who will

be full -time co -hosts in Steve Megatron and

fan of the show now co -host Pecan Court Michael.

So check out the TFG1 Podcast. You can find it

on iTunes and the web at www .geekcastradio .com.

Transform and roll out! By the power of Grayskull,

I command the Jor -Bridge, open! The Powers of

Grayskull series will cover every episode of

all four Master's League Awards cartoons. Jon

Optimus, Solo, and myself, TF2 and Mike. as we

tell tales of Eternia, discover the myths of

Etheria, become masters in space, and finally

masters of Grayskull. We'll have a commentary

on the Secret of the Sword film and a few other

special episodes. You can find this 125 episode

long podcast in iTunes and on the web at geekcastradio

.com. By the power and honor of Grayskull, we

all have the power. Decian, the superhero webcomic.

Decian's got superhero antics and sexy girls.

For action, comedy, mayhem, and more, read it

now at Decian .com. D -A -S -I -E -N .com. Because

the world needs another movie podcast. The Geekcast

Radio Network presents for your listening pleasure,

The Cinema People. Hosted by Amanda, Kevin, Matt,

and... Each week we dive head first in the landscape

of movies as we discuss movie news, play movie

games, go in -depth on reviews, and even have

a top 10 countdown or two. Also, don't miss our

director retrospective series where we review

line is, if you love movies and love podcasts,

you need to experience the Cinema Geeks. You

can find us on iTunes, Blog .Radio, or GeekCastRadio

.com. On the Simplistic Reviews podcast, we talk

movies. We talk TV We talk trying to make our

spot sound more exciting by adding explosions

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you could have got the

point across with sound effects. Not the real

thing Download the show on iTunes or simplistic

reviews dot blog spot dot com. I'm sure your

insurance company will cover that No, they won't

know they probably won't do you like retro cartoons?

Then Saturday morning rewind is the podcast for

you Join them each month as they talk about classic

cartoons and interview legendary voice actors

like Jim Cummings Corey Burton Rob Paulson Nancy

Cartwright and many more so grab a bowl of Lucky

Charms Put on your hammer pants go to Saturday

morning rewind calm And be prepared to feel like

a kid again Once again, that's Saturday morning

rewind calm Saturday morning rewind was voted

best podcast ever by its host him Nydell. So

it's got to be good Thank you for joining us

here on Toycast. If you'd like to get in contact

with us, leave feedback for the show. There are

several ways to do so. Visit the website geekcastradio

.com where you can comment on this and all of

our other content. Send us email to feedback

at geekcastradio .com. Put Toycast origins in

the in the subject line. You can also put Toycast

origins guest request in the subject line as

well. Here all the ways you can listen to us

nowadays. Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and

of course the home where our files exist, Spreaker,

as well as any other podcasting client you use.

However, I prefer you use one of these. Leave

the show's feedback in iTunes. Yes, iTunes is

still a thing for Windows PCs. Please give us

a review on the podcast. Follow us on twitter

at meet cast radio is the network twitter You

can also follow at tf toy cast for the show.

I am at tfg1 Mike What is your twitter sir? You

know, you've asked me this every time I actually

don't know my twitter account off the top of

my head. You keep tagging me in it I don't remember

what it is. Josh's twitter is at floorburger

553. Oh it is? Become a fan of... yeah. Oh All

right. Well, that's how I can log in from now

on. Yes, it is at floorburger 553. Anyway, feel

free to Check out my random attempts to be funny

or thoughtful or sassy to politicians. There

you go. Become a fan on Facebook, go to facebook

.com slash Keycast Radio Network. You can also

search out TF Toycast over there on Facebook.

For now, I am TFJU and Michael with The Floor

Burger. Join us next time when we will be talking

toys here on Toycast.