PecanCtMichael on Toy Collecting Origins

Jazz here, and I am so diggin' the Geekcast Radio

Network. Greetings, humans. This is Starscream,

and you're listening to Toycast. And if any of

you call me a parts former, one more time! Toycast

oh yes Listen to the only toy podcast you will

ever need Hello and welcome to an all -new generation

of toy cast as we get the origins of any and

all toy fans that we can I am of course TF join

Mike and joining me for the first time since

episode 100 is pecan court Michael. Hello, sir

Hey, how's it going? It's going sometimes I wish

it would stop but it's going we are back here

at toy cast and it is time We started talking

toys again and as everyone has known for the

past eight or nine episodes of this show We have

toy cast origins 42 questions all about your

toy collecting habits likes dislikes all the

other good stuff Starting out. What is or was

the first toy you remember having as a kid? The

first toy as a kid or yes, I mean so not just

transformers just like any toy The first toy

the fact that you only have a Transformers collection

will come up way later All right, then the first

toy that I can remember I vividly remember was

a Star Wars I had an X -wing fighter with a Han

Solo Han Solo, I'm sorry Luke Skywalker and I

also had a tie fighter so I could make them Chases

out there around the house, which was fantastic.

My first broken toy was a sand person from the

Star Wars line and I was playing with my toys

outside and I forgot a sand person in the driveway

and my dad ran him over. Oh, you mean you didn't

lose the sand people in the sandbox? I don't

remember if the driveway was sandy or not, but

it was it was Exactly. So there was a lot of

uh It was heartbreaking. Honestly, I vividly

remember the broken sand person once it occurred

to me what it was. I was pretty upset Yeah, they're

villains. They're no -name villains. It's okay

Was there a particular adult who was supportive

of you playing with toys as a kid on the opposite

side was there anyone who was unsupportive I

Don't think so I mean, my parents got me like

all the Star Wars toys when I was little. And

as I got older, you know, my mom and dad got

divorced, I think when I was like five or so.

And then after that, you know, my mom still bought

me toys, not as many toys. I wasn't like a completionist

at age six. But yeah, I got toys up until I was

probably 14. Arguably too old for toys. I don't

know. I was told at six I was too old for toys.

So, you know, it is what it is. Oh my gosh Yeah,

you remember that I've told that story a million

times on this on this podcast and other podcasts

on the Geekcast Radio Network I'm gonna tell

that story kid. You'll play with a stick. Yeah,

I've been telling that story for like 13 years

now What types of toys were your favorites to

play with? Wow I've always liked action figures,

boys toys. It went from Star Wars to He -Man

to Transformers and you know just all action

figures just like boy stuff. What were your favorite

childhood toys that really stood out more than

others? So were the Transformers more important

than G .I. Joe or was Mask more important than

He -Man kind of thing? You know, I think each

one had its own, like, era. Like, my Star Wars

toys were really important to me up until I started

collecting He -Man. And the funny thing is my

mom would, like, sell my toys. So, yeah, so it's

like, oh, you're not playing with these Star

Wars toys anymore. I'm going to sell them. OK,

cool. I've got He -Man. I'm fine. You know, and

then, oh, you're not playing with these He -Man

toys anymore. I'm gonna sell them because now

you're playing with Transformers. So I'm like,

all right, fine. But I had like a huge trunk,

like a steamer trunk, like you could hide bodies

in the steamer trunk and it was full of He -Man.

And she sold that for like 40 bucks. Oh, that

probably is worth like $4 ,000 now. Yeah, yeah,

it is. I can only imagine. The Star Wars toys.

Oh, I mean, remember, you know, I'm like five

in 1978. So I had all the toys and I had all

those in a box, you know, all the way up through

Return of the Jedi and. she sold them, I don't

know, for like 40, 50 bucks. And it's like, oh

my God, if I had that box today, put that on

eBay and put my kids through college. That's

crazy. But yeah, each kind of like wave of new

toys was my favorite at the time. Transformers

though, my mom did not sell that box. And I had

it all through, all the way up through adulthood.

There you go. Do you prefer the label of action

figures dolls toys or any other label? I think

I like collectibles You know when I think of

like my g1 transformers I think of those as collectibles

more than action figures now because You know,

I don't play with them like I did when I was

12. Hmm Absolutely Good guys are bad guys. Which

toys were your favorites to play with the most?

I think I have my favorites on either side You

know, but generally I do like GI Joe really like

bad guys really like bad guys, but Transformers

I think I really like the good guys Yeah, I mean

that Rodimus kid man, he's gonna be the best

leader ever You know as funny as when that season

of Transformers came out. That's when I was on

my way out of playing with toys. That's so depressing.

I know. I never got into like headmasters or

target masters. What is or was your favorite

toy vehicle or playset? Oh, my favorite as far

as like a toy goes is probably Metroplex. I got

a Metroplex for my birthday. My dad got it for

me. I might have been oh Boy, how was I I might

have been like? I forget but No, I was almost

11 or 12. Anyway, what it come down to is I played

with that damn thing all the time He was who's

almost like a carry case because you could put

figures in his legs. Yep So I just carried him

around with me under my arm absolutely this Kind

of this next question is something I used to

do all the time because at recess at school we

would always end up bringing like School when

I say school, I mean like kindergarten through

sixth grade Where you know recess was a thing

because by seventh eighth and ninth grade you

really didn't have recess That was middle school

or junior high or whatever. So basically elementary

school, you know, when you were actual children,

did you and your friends ever pretend with your

toys that you had by this? I'm meaning, did you

say, I'm going to be this toy and you can be

that toy. Like Steve Megatron can be the piece

of glass and you can be the can of Coke or the

Coke bottle top or whatever. Like, did you sit

there and say, I am Optimus Prime and I will

rip off your face? I don't think so, to be honest.

You know, when kids play, it's always like, oh,

I am the cop and you're the robber, you know,

or, you know, I'm the fireman and we're going

to rescue you or something like that. But but

I was never like, I'm going to be this particular

character. Yeah. Well, basically like if you

take any of the old Transformers commercials

where it's more than one kid like if it's two

No, no, seriously, if it's two kids one of the

kids would say I'm gonna be Megatron and ah Optimus

I'm gonna shoot you kind of thing, you know,

yeah, and then later they would have more than

meets the eye Yeah, there was a TF con not too

long ago where they actually found that guy and

brought him out and made him made him a special

guest. Wasn't that Tommy, I think? I don't remember.

But yeah, you're right. It was just something

funny that popped into my head. What features

define a good toy to you? How true does the item

feel in comparison to the source material likeness?

Wow, what do I like in toys? You know, I think

It's hard to say play value. What is play value?

Play value is like, is it sturdy? Does it feel,

does it transform well in my hands? Is it something

that I feel like I could enjoy playing with?

You know, there are toys that I'm like, this

is crap. I would put this on a shelf, but I wouldn't

play with him. You know, it's like, yes, I do

own that one. It's on a shelf, but I don't I

don't play with it. There's a lot of like, you

know, transformers from like the Energon series

that that are like that, where it's like, yeah,

they're all on my shelf, but I don't actually

play with them versus, let's say, like figures

from Beast Force that I still love the Transform.

I still enjoy playing with them because they're

poseable and they're sturdy and they stand up

on their own. They have little places in their

arms and legs to stow their weapons. They have

neat gimmicks. It's just a fun toy. Absolutely.

What does toy packaging have to have to draw

you in? So is it more about the action figure

inside, or is it more about part of the red version,

like the old Autobot packaging from G1, where

it's red, and it has the giant Transformers thing,

and it has the amazing artwork on the back. Obviously,

you have to actually pick up the package to see

the artwork on the back. Or is it the Decepticon

stuff with the purple, and the this, and the

that? No, honestly, I think a goodly chunk of

it is the artwork. I really like figures that

you know, like all the old GI Joe figures you

had a bubble blister right with a guy in it his

weapons and The bigger the weapon bubble the

more I wanted it, you know Because you see all

the weapons these guys got a lot of weapons in

there But the other side of the card is just

big picture is painted There was a guy who did

the painting and I forget his name now, but he

painted like hundreds of these and they're very

consistent looking and they're all exciting and

they all have that starburst in the background

that they're kind of like jumping out of an action

pose. I have this problem now with the current

line of transformers and that they're all in

a box and the box has a window on it. In the

figure so small inside that you can barely see

it and you're like, why is this tiny figure in

a box? That doesn't make any sense You know,

they're charging me 20 bucks because it's in

a giant box No, they're charging you $50 because

it's in a giant box. Well, that's the thing They're

like their voyager size figures are 50 bucks

their leader size figures are like 80 now Yeah,

I even as a collector. It's hard to justify If

I could find them in a Walmart, you know, right?

But you know, that's the difference here is these

older figures, you know, they were on a blister

pack and they had really cool artwork on there

and and Especially like maybe has it been five

to ten years now where they had the ones that

came with? comics and the comic cover was literally

the blister card pack and you have really just

Well done art from IDW guys that that is right

there front and center but You got this blister

pack and you can see the whole figure. It's not

just like a little tiny window or you see a head

pop poking out. Absolutely. Do you open your

toys or do you leave them in the package? If

you keep toys packaged, do you have a specific

criteria for this? You know, it's weird. A lot

of my vintage toys are out, you know, because,

you know, who has 40 year old toys still in a

box? And the answer is me. I have a few of them.

But you have a whole closet full of them. Well,

that's the thing. I have a closet. I've got a

few G1s and I've got some G2s mint in package.

But a lot of the stuff from the from the 90s

and the early aughts, you know, I would buy two

and I'd have one one to put in the closet, you

know, in the package and I'd have another one

that I put on the shelf. And I did that for a

long time up until like the Michael Bay toys.

And then I really wasn't excited about those

and I just bought one and Most of those are in

the closet. Yeah, most of those are in the closet

When I ran out of the room in the closet, I started

putting them I stacked them up behind my desk.

I've got this desk It's about seven feet tall

and there's a gap between the wall and the desk

Just big enough to put a blister card and they're

stacked to the ceiling behind the desk Cuz I

ran out of room But yeah, they're all back there

they're Some at one point I was like I'm gonna

pull these out of the package and I'm actually

gonna transform them and I'm gonna put them on

a shelf and I got a whole shelf, you know full

of you know, 2007 toys but Honestly, the only

movie toy that ever mattered to me that I thought

was ever cool enough for me to have at the time

when I was collecting anything else except Funko,

was 2009 Ravage because he had a purple eye and

he was really cool. Movie Ravage, I loved Movie

Ravage. But the rest of them, I don't need. I

don't want my Optimus Prime to have his insides

on the outside. Exactly. I own a Starscream,

but I don't like the Starscream. I love the voice

actor, but I don't love the toy. Yeah. I'm looking

at my, I'm looking on the shelf here. I've actually

got three ravages. Wow. There was a, it was a

mail order ravage. He was like Chrome or something.

And I forget what, what promo he was with, but

I got him. I was really excited about it. Um,

I was actually, it was funny. We used to have

a website, uh, for me and my wife. Uh, but we

started when we got married and I think it ended

when we got Facebook because I started posting

everything to Facebook instead. Right. But I

still have all the old pictures and stuff. And

I was just looking through photos the other day,

old photos, and I found the backed up gallery

from that website. And one of them was Mail Order

Ravage. I was like, I wish I could go back and

look up the story behind this because this is

kind of neat. So question 12 folks for those

of you who have heard the previous episodes of

origins here inside toy on toy cast Question

12 is specifically because of Michael Michael

did not ask this question. He did not write this

question down as a suggestion This is me because

it's because of our friendship If as a kid slash

adult, you only were allowed to choose one toy

franchise to collect from, which one would you

choose and why? This is because of my criteria

of only having one collection. So I chose Transformers

because I own one of each. When I met my wife

I had a much smaller collection I had I had my

head that I wanted to get all the combiners from

when I was little because they were my favorite,

you know like Devastator and Well, I had Devastator

but I mean like I didn't have a Defensor and

they didn't have a Predaking and didn't have

I thought like monstructor would be like the

Holy Grail. Mm -hmm But you know as as my collection

grew My wife was like, you get too much crap.

And I'm like, well, what do you mean? She's like,

well, look at this. You have more and more Transformers,

but you also have this whole shelf of Star Wars

stuff. And it wasn't like Star Wars when I was

little, that stuff. It was just, oh, there's

a new Star Wars movie in the late 90s, so I'm

going to get Darth Vader. I'm going to get a

Darth Maul. And I had a bank that if you put

money in it, Darth Maul would start swinging

this lightsaber back and forth. And it would

make noise. And I was like, that is the coolest

thing I've ever seen. But my wife is like, you

know, you got too much clutter. So she, so, you

know, we made a compromise. She's like, you know,

I'll be supportive and, and we'll, you know,

go whole hog on your Transformers collection.

But you can't have, you can't have any more,

you know, GI Joe, or you can't have any more.

I didn't have any He -Man or anything at the

time, but I had like a smattering of G .I. Joe.

I have a smattering of Star Wars and and other

stuff. And she basically said, no, you're going

to focus on one. And I was happy with that. I'm

like, all right. And, you know, true to her word,

she did back me up. We went to bot cons together

as as like vacations. And we every. Every summer,

you know, we would go to a new city, to a new

BotCon. And she was cool with whatever I wanted

to buy. And she would sit in line with me and

sometimes she would take my space in line. So

it's like, hey, rather than sit here for two

hours to talk to Peter Cullen, why don't you

go shopping and I'll just wait in line for you.

And it's like, oh my God, marry me. And she did.

So. Awesome, alrighty then. As an adult, do you

prefer vintage or modern toys? Wow, right now

with transformers, I don't think there's much

of a difference. Yeah, no, it's like every toy

on my 1984 shelf is duplicated on my, you know,

classics shelf. You know, in classics, even was

10 years ago. And now they've got the the Earthrise

figures that are amazing. I don't have any Earthrise.

I don't have any kingdom. The most recent ones

from the last couple of years, which is sad because

they're fantastic. They look great. And it'd

be nice to, you know, take some G1 toys and put

them next to the Earthrise toys. Absolutely.

But no, I think I'm more. I have the toys from

G1 and the new ones I haven't so much bought.

And, and it, it's not so much because I didn't

want to, it's just, I, I sadly, uh, Corona hit

or coronavirus hit and, uh, uh, I spent some

time unemployed and just didn't buy toys anymore.

Right. And you know, now that, now that, uh,

things are better and I, and I'm employed again,

uh, I just don't want to go back in. You know,

pay scalper prices for all the toys that I missed.

True. What is one toy you can always play with?

Wow, that's a good question. Hmm. I'm looking

around like, what do I what was my normal go

to toys? You know, it's weird is I've got my

rescue bots here on the shelf and, you know,

they're they're like one step transformers, you

know, but they're really easy to just pick up

and fiddle with. So that's what I do sometimes.

If I'm online, I'm talking to somebody, if I

want a conference call or, you know, however,

whatever I'm doing at the time, I get up and

I wander over and I'll, you know, grab a boulder

from a rescue pod and just fiddle with them.

Cool. It was a good show. Yeah, boulder is awesome.

Yeah. I was gonna say, I hear he has a great

voice. Even though there are always, and this

obviously doesn't really apply to you, so I guess

we don't have to ask this one, but even though

there are always toy lines that people never

purchase, are there any that you specifically

and purposefully avoid? This can be toy lines,

specific characters, that kind of thing. Toy

lines that I avoid? You know what, I was... Never

big on third party with Transformers at least.

And the thing was, is I didn't think that it

was right to spend like 80 to $100 on a figure

that probably shouldn't cost more than 10 on

the shelf. And I get it that you're not talking

about economies of scale. You know the people

who make these put a lot of time and effort into

them and it's it's a one -man shop in most cases

You know and and you know, they're they're worth

$80, but again, it's like wrapping my head around

Why would I pay $10 or why would I pay $80 for

that when it's you know, $10 with a plastic?

You know that being said I find it hard to justify

paying $20 for you know, literally like a deluxe

size figure in an oversized box Right. It's hard

now, but again, you know in the ten years ago

when you first started seeing these third -party

figures It was like wow, that's kind of neat.

I like that, but I can't justify paying, you

know 80 bucks for that Nowadays they've got these

fantastic like weirdly Produced figures that

are it's like the Rolling Thunder from GI Joe

that turns into it an Optimus Prime. It's amazing.

How did that even happen? Probably were easily

worth 150 bucks in my eyes, but I'm still not

going to buy it because I got it in my head now

that I don't want third party stuff. I think

the reason why the third party stuff really crept

up and got the popularity it got about a decade

or so ago is because Hasbro wasn't giving us

much. I mean, you know, Decade ago was 2011 Animated

was just about to end if it didn't already end

I know back on 2011 was was the animated set

but shortly after that The animated toy line

ended and they went to prime or whatever, you

know, cuz I think prime no prime started Yeah,

but anyway, but the point is is that you know

between 2009 and 2011. Yeah there were a lot

of shifting things in those years that the third

parties were like hey you want specially cool

things for these like you know you you bought

classics magnus or classic optimus or classic

um nemesis or if you got the shattered glass

2008 bot con optimus prime hey look we have shadow

commander or city commander or whatever the the

Shattered whatever, but you know, you're in the

armor. Yeah Yeah, the different optimus builds.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like you you already owned

that figure. Oh, would you like to? Enhance that

figure armor for him. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, here

you go Those are really cool. And again, wow,

it's really neat stuff, but I just never bought

them the closest thing I got to third party was

the fun pub figures That were like repaints that

were it's like they maybe should have been Is

fun publications really a third party because

aren't they there that's essentially bot con

yeah, I mean it's not really like Right, but

I mean they had their bike on toys, but then

every month or so they would release Something

else like yeah, I've got Like a chrome dome.

That's a repaint of Which will Jack was that

I forget But you know, it's like, oh that's really

neat, but it wasn't like one of their exclusive

figures It was just one of those that they sold

monthly They also had like a fan club there for

a while where every every month or so there was

a different figure they did a bunch of combiners

For that fan club that I did not get and I was

like, oh man, you know combiners again near and

dear to my heart, but Justify paying $40 for

it's like by the time you're done by the time

it's all said and done You've you now have a

$600, you know Power the primes combiner Honestly,

it'd be cheaper to import one from Japan true

Crazy like the oh man the the golden Bruticus

his name was baldigus. They did a baldigus In

Japan out of the Bruticus Set and it was Gorgeous,

but again 250 bucks import one from Japan seemed

a bit much. Yeah 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 go? Aside from the huge

box of Star Wars from when I was little, I regret

letting that go. My mom would have been like,

you want to sell these? Heck no. You better find

room for them because I'm never selling them.

Even now. My wife is like, when are you going

to get rid of some of these? And I'm like, no,

keeping them forever. Even I'm like that. I mean,

they're in the closet. They're not doing anything.

Hell, at least donate them to Toys for Tots if

they're 10 -year -old toys. Oh, man. I'm sorry.

I had a little mini heart attack there. Oh, please.

If you have doubles, you know, like, anyway.

Yeah, I have done that before. I've, you know,

it's like, Oh, I'm not saying you haven't. I'm

not trying to make you out to be a monster. Not

the point here. The point is, is that your wife

said, Oh, when are you going to get rid of those?

And my thought is, Oh, you should donate them.

Yeah. Unless it's something that's really, really

valuable and you can, you know, make your next

house payment. Yeah. You know, as funny as those

shattered glass box sets are just particularly

priced now. I don't know what they are right

now. I haven't looked but I at one point I heard

somebody bought one for a thousand dollars I

know for a fact when I when it was a thing Yeah,

but it when botcom 2008 was going on At the time

I was working I had you know a really really

good Job with a really really good, you know

salary kind of thing. Yeah, I spent eight hundred

dollars on the whole thing. Well, all the everything,

the box set, the all just everything that came

with it. Yeah. Eight hundred bucks plus a little

bit of shipping or whatever, whatever, whatever

the shipping costs. It was like, OK, sure. Scalper

prices. Yeah, it didn't seem that way. You know,

it's funny. Like I said, my wife and I would

go to these bot cons together. Right. And she

would get a set and I would get a set that was

You know, you bought your ticket, that's what

you got, you got a set. And as soon as we got

home, night one, not even home, back to the hotel

room, we'd check in on Thursday night, right

before the weekend, and we would get our box

set, we'd go back to the hotel room, we'd take

pictures of it and immediately put it on eBay.

And we would sell it, like that night, and it

would be, it would pay for the trip. Wow. Yeah.

I would get a set, you know, and her set would

literally pay for our vacation. Right. Man, I

should not have looked this up. I have no interest

whatsoever, but you got me curious to see how

bad the, uh, the BotCon chat, just the five figures,

not, not including anything else. Yeah. The box?

The box was the best part. Well, no, no, but

I'm saying just the box, the five figures, not

including Rodimus, not including the other, like

the five grand is the first listing I see for

a five -figure. No. I shit you not. $5 ,000.

I'll put mine up on eBay right now. $44 .99 .95.

Like, yeah, like. It's not even it. Are you kidding

me? In the closet, man Hey, if you're gonna stack

them in the closet, just give them to me damn

it forget this the holy grail of icon collectibles

for Yeah, you know, I think I think the big difference

I don't think I have the pin a lot of people

were like, oh you gotta have the pins gotta have

the pin I don't think mine has the pin could

be wrong But yeah, I've got the, even if you've

got the authenticity paper still in line. Wow.

It's crazy. I can't, man. I don't know, for five

grand, I'll take five grand. Ooh. Man. Yeah,

that's... Ironimus is expensive now. Really?

First listing I see for Shattered Glass Ironimus

BotCon 2008, 650 bucks or best offer, plus $14

.99 shipping. Looky here, folks, if you're going

to if you're going to have a figure that costs

that much, at least put in free shipping. You

know, I wouldn't put in free shipping because

I know me, I would pay 50 bucks worth of packaging

to get this guy in there right. So he doesn't

get damaged during shipping. There's nothing

worse than buying something online and then getting

it in, you know, one of those flexible bubble

packs. Why'd you ship it like this? You know,

you knew it was expensive. Why do you put it

in an actual box with? Peanuts in there or something

some styrofoam to keep it from jostling. Yeah

This one is is interesting Bot card 2008 shattered

glass erotimus it comes with him his little flame

gun Obviously his card and his instructions says

pre -owned and I'm not looking at the actual

listing I'm just looking at the the the search

result pre -owned 1349 95 free shipping It's

just it's crazy That's insane. I wonder who wants

one that bad that they're gonna pay a thousand

dollars Not me. No, I had him. I'm good This

isn't one of those You know, I don't know like

gold plated Japanese only. Yeah like Moon base

to wait a minute. Wait a minute No, you know

what I don't have any of those what I don't know.

So no, it's um Ash somebody is trying to sell

the comic book from BotCon 2008. Yeah Transformers

timelines number three BotCon edition 2008. Yeah

A hundred and seventeen dollars and ninety -four

cents. Oh No For a comic. Yeah, just for the

comic That's crazy. All right, we get if you

bought a box set for five grand. I throw the

comic in for free. Exactly I want to say like

one year at BotCon they included like a like

a sucker They had a bug in it or something and

it's like, you know, it was it was a I hope it

was a fake bug I don't remember. I think I still

have that sucker somewhere. It's like I would

throw in this sucker because Only a sucker is

gonna pay that price That's what it is how large

or small is your toy collection Do your toys

take up the whole house or are they relegated

to one room shelf or something like that? That

was an agreement between my wife and I when when

we were you know when my collection was growing

which was that you know my collection stays in

my room and I have an office downstairs it's

goodly sized right but I've got all my toys in

here when my son got to be a certain age I built

a certain age that he would want to grab my toys

rather I built shelves in my office and they're

like, you know six six and a half six six and

a half feet tall and two feet deep and There's

a set of like four of them and each one is the

size of like a large refrigerator Let's say they're

essentially dead off folks dead tops folks, but

a little bit better. They're oak deltofs What

do you mean there? Yeah, it's it's got glass

fronts and that glass they're plexiglass And

there's lighting inside and there's lock and

key on the front that are built into the oak.

They're really nice. I probably got like 20 grand

worth of shelves here, you know, and because

I did it myself, it was significantly cheaper

than, you know, 20 grand, but it's a lot of oak.

I like oak in my house. I got a lot of oak trim,

but these are really nice shelves and they're

full, like top to bottom with transformers. And

then, like I said, I got a big oak desk and with

Transformers probably behind them and then I

got a I got shelves over here. Then I got a closet

In the closet is probably well like 12 feet wide

with Ceilings in there and there's a and it's

jam -packed with stuff in the boxes, but outside

of my office I don't have any transformers, you

know, because they're all this room. That was

that's the agreement My wife used to collect

stuff and her room was for her collection but

She doesn't so much collect anything anymore.

But my room is chock full of collections. How

do you keep track of your collection? I know

you used to have a spreadsheet. I did, yeah.

I had a spreadsheet. There was a website in the

early 2000s, late 90s, early 2000s, and it had

a list of everything up through like beast machines,

like all the toys that were sold. And I used

that list for a long time. And then after that,

I kind of made my own kind of going, you know,

going, going along. And I think I kept that list

up through the Bay movies. And then after that,

I think my collection kind of went downhill and

I stopped recording stuff. But because I had

that spreadsheet, I knew what I was missing.

I knew what accessories I didn't have, right?

And, you know, when I would go toy hunting or

when I went to BotCon, I could, you know, make

a subset of my spreadsheet that had just the

stuff that I was missing, and I would stick photos

on it and then print it out and carry it with

me. Interesting. Yeah, and I can't... I mean,

that spreadsheet's somewhere, but I don't remember

exactly where it is. It's somewhere on my machine.

And I just don't, I'm trying to remember where

I left off. I think it was, I don't remember

exactly. It might've been somewhere probably

around 2010 that I stopped keeping track. Yeah,

somewhere between animated and prime. Somewhere

in there, yeah. Okay, so everyone is safe. Okay.

you the wife the kids the pets everybody is safe

but the house is burning and all the oak is just

being eaten by the fire oh no what is one toy

you would run in and save you can only keep one

toy from your entire collection yeah you know

it's funny as i always said i would grab fort

max and throw him out the window i had to save

one toy fort max says he'd be the biggest one

you know i would just run over and grab him real

quick He's not the biggest one anymore. Well,

he might be the biggest one in your collection,

but he's not the biggest Transformers toy anymore.

That's the funny thing is I've got, um, I've

got bigger, bigger toys now that, you know, I,

I still got like the, um, the Devastator at the

two, two half feet tall or whatever. I got the

Metroplex. I got, um, the Tripticon, uh, What

other ones were there, you know, I did not get

the one I didn't get it was the Omega Supreme

Hmm and I was kind of bummed because I really

I really wanted one of those and then that was

less when I did not get um Oh the the Predaking

I got the Predaking too anyway, so i've got big

ones. They're probably bigger than than the fort

max but Uh, they're in the closet with the rest

of the box stuff and my fort max is just right

here Yeah, I would probably just scoop him up

if funny I've got a oh I think I'm not I don't

think it's brave max What's the name of the one

that came out with the robots in the skies line

in 2000 in Japan? I? Don't know So there's like

three flavors of Fort Max. There's Fort Max.

There's brave max That came out in Japan. It

was a repaint of Fort Max and then there was

the one that came out in 2000 Hmm. Anyway, I

got him in a box. Mm -hmm and the box for that

guy is directly behind Fort Max and the sadly

You know Fort Max I'd probably grab first. He's

roughly the size of a child and I have to rescue

the children First was going out the window.

Oh Boy In the basement, you know, my windows

are ground level. I'm not actually throwing them

to their death. I'm just. Yeah, but you're still

chugging your children out the window. Exactly.

Now, you know, but I've got so many toys down

here and I wouldn't spend, you know, I wouldn't

hide in the basement while the rest of the hide.

But, you know, I wouldn't stay in the basement

throwing toys out the window while while the

house is burning. And because I have a spreadsheet

of everything I own and. in pictures and such,

I could probably still carry those to the insurance

and say, this is everything I lost, except for

that Fort Max, because I threw him out the window.

All right. So here's the toy box challenge. This

is kind of the same question, but a little different.

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? You know what I've got a whole

shelf here the oak shelves right and they got

one dedicated to 1984 1985 g1 toys And I could

probably hold the box next to the shelf reach

one arm in and just scoop them into it There

you go that probably yeah, so at that point I'd

have 84 or 85 And the shelf above that is like

86 87. I got a bunch of combiners up here And

I got my triple changers and such, got my mail

and stuff, things like that. And it would be

a shame to let those go. But if some of them

still fit in that box, I'd be like, ah, let me

grab these. Awesome. Are you a Funko fan? You

know, sadly, I don't have many funcos. I'm not

a funco fan. My kids liked funcos for a while

and I've got a couple overwatch figures because

I've played overwatch for like five years straight

and I've got a pickle Rick. So I've got my mercy

and my May from overwatch and I've got pickle

Rick on the shelf and that's that's it and They're

kind of like tucked back far up on a shelf on

my desk. So my wife doesn't see him What's that?

That's not a Transformer. Yeah, neither is Parry

the Platypus. I had to literally beg her. Beg

her to let you have that. Anyway. The Parry the

Platypus may have paved the way to let her allow

me a little space here for the Overwatch guys.

There you go. And good thing now, Funko is actually

making real Transformers, not just movie version.

I saw that. I love Funko. I love them. I have

a whole bunch. I'm looking right now at Grimlock

and GameStop Optimus. GameStop Optimus is an

exclusive to the box set that they were doing

this year, and he has his orange energy axe from

the first episode when he and Megatron were fighting.

So they are actually doing the actual Transformers

brand now. They've had the license for years

because they had the movie toy license, I guess.

And even then, I don't want to see the insides

and the outsides of my Funko Pops. Yeah, I would

not buy like a Bayverse Chicken Walker Starscream.

No, no What is the most money you spent on a

toy? Oh Wow, um You know besides the box sets

because those were like 350 a pop, you know,

yeah, I mean I even my fort max I think I only

spent like 200 bucks on him. I Bought I got an

auction on eBay. I got a g1 complete trypticon

and a G1 complete Predaking and It's a steel

body one, right? Mm -hmm. I think I paid 700

for both. Oh Wow, I think I think that's what

I remember spending something for 700 and it

was a huge purchase and I got a bunch of stuff

and the Predaking and the Tripticon We're in

that in that set But they were they were expensive.

Yeah Mm -hmm, but it's hard to find a Predaking

in good shape. I mean even even the reissues

now, I mean, I've got another Predaking That's

like a plastic reissue. Mm -hmm, but it's not

the same. I mean the the metal body ones And

I know it's it's exciting. They're fun to play

with it's exciting. It's like Optimus Prime will

always says Diecast construction. It's a lost

art. It's a lost art. Exactly. What was the cheapest

toy you bought? Basically, what was the best

deal you ever got on a figure that may have been

worth quite a bit more than you paid? That's

a good question. The Fort Max in the box from

2000, I got for 200 bucks. And honestly, I think

I probably should have paid more, but the guy

The vendor was like, oh, uh, you know, I'm packing

up, you know, do you want to deal in anything

I got here? And I'm like, well, I got about $200

left. You want to sell me the Fort Max? You know,

I said, it's really big. Maybe you don't want

to, maybe you don't want to pack him back up

in the truck. And the guy's like 200. And I'm

like, yeah. And he's like, all right, fine. So

I gave him my last 200 bucks and walked him down

with that, with a Fort Max, which is crazy. Because

honestly, 200 is probably what I would have paid

for him when he was new. True shipping it from

Japan the other deal really quick story. I was

at a garage sale because my wife and I used to

do garage sales for fun on the weekends in the

summer and There was a grass. So this kid had

a box of Beast Wars figures and it had like cheetor

and Rhinox and a bunch of other like early ones

and a couple of the transmental ones. And some

of them were missing pieces, but for the most

part they were pretty solid. And I think I bought

it for like five bucks. It was crazy. And the

kid was like, let me show you how to transform

him. And I felt bad taking toys away from a child.

And I remember when my mom was like, you don't

play with these anymore. Why don't you let me

sell them for pennies on the dollar? And I kind

of felt that way with this kid where it's like,

all right, I got probably, you know, $200 worth

of Beast Wars figures here in a box and he showed

me how to transform Cheetor and I'm like, that's

really cool. And at the time I didn't have any

Beast Wars figures because I just wasn't a fan

of Beast Wars. But I got a bunch of them and

it wasn't until a few years later that I really

went whole hog and started buying up all the

Beast Wars toys. But that was my first kind of

foray in the Beast Wars and I'm like, well, they're

Transformers and it's a whole box of them for

five bucks So I'm gonna go ahead and get them

Hmm, but that was a really good deal Awesome

when you visit toy shows or conventions when

it's not kovat times. Do you have a typical methodology?

Do you bring a certain amount of money for what

you're looking for or do you just? See what you

can find You know, honestly, I think like in

99, I brought a certain amount of money. But

then after that, it was like, no, I'm just bringing

a credit card. Whatever I get, I get. You know,

like I said, I had that spreadsheet and when

I printed it out, I would carry it with me and

I pull it on my backpack and I'd say, oh, you

have this or do you have that? And I show a picture

of it. You have this in the box or something.

And that was that was basically what I did for

years. Carry my spreadsheet around look for stuff,

especially for things like I Was looking for

a g2 orange scrapper for years and He was on

my spreadsheet and I would just walk around you

got this guy And eventually there was a vendor

who had him and gave me a really good price on

him I was really excited, but it took me years

to get an arm for my for my orange Devastator

What do you think it is about our generation

that causes our childhood toys to mean so much

more to us for instance than say our parents

generation You know, I don't know I mean they

didn't have the cool toys like we did Toys honestly,

I don't think cool. I don't think toys were you

know cool until like the 80s Sure, because they

didn't have the cartoon to go along with them

It's like Howdy Doody. Oh, you know, like Toy

Story, you know, so you have you got Woody and

there was like the Howdy Doody TV show and the

kids would watch it and they'd be like, I want

a Woody and they'd get a Woody and they'd get

a whatever the girl's name and whatever the horse's

name was. And that was that's their toys. Yeah.

But in the 80s, you watch the TV show and there's

a set of 100 toys to buy, you know, and 120 new

toys within the last three episodes Exactly.

It's like that. That's what the Transformers

movie was is we have to sell more toys We're

gonna kill off all the characters from the first

line and we're gonna Bring in all the characters

from the new line and the kids are gonna buy

them because it's it's a movie now that's just

a that's just a cartoon that you come from home

from school and watch but You know, I'd come

home from school and I watched Transformers and

I watched GI Joe and I watched Thundercats And

he man and you know, we'd have the toys and they

kind of married up and you just, I don't think

you got that before the eighties. Not really.

No, I'm, I'm not sure if you get that even in

the nineties. Cause it's like, you know what

I don't find. I don't find a lot of like Rugrats

toys. You got that with like Spiderman and Batman

and that kind of stuff. But yeah. And obviously

Pokemon and trading cards and blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah. Oh, Pokemon. Yeah, you're right.

Pokemon was they did it right. They had a cartoon.

They are the cartoon and that damn card game.

Could the card game be considered the toys? Because

they got a cartoon, but I've also got a collection

of 120 cards. True. I guess I got to buy 50 packs

of cards in order to get a full set. And then

I got to trade all the commons with my little

brother. You know her whatnot, but yeah, they

did it right. That's how you do it and I I think

to a certain extent transformers tried to do

that later on I Remember specifically there were

Transformers it wasn't a trading card game But

there were transformers trading cards. Yeah Had

like five or six of them I wish I could find

them now just so I could see not that I want

them or anything But just so I could see and

remember them because I the only thing I remember

is holding a card in my hand That had like iron

hide driving away and like one of the scenes

or something or other So I know that transformers

had trading cards. I mean everything had trading

card. Hell x -men the animated series had trade

like I specifically remember those I specifically

remember the X -Men trading cards because there

was the blue team cards and there was the gold

team cards. This was X -Men trading cards series

2. I want the hologram set. No, no, I don't have

any of that cards. I haven't had trading cards

in forever. Oh, that's one of the things. When

I was a teenager, I had a huge comic book collection

and then the trading cards were part of it. So

I still have the trading cards. There you go.

What is your motivation for purchasing toys to

display, play, fiddle? Describe your collecting

style. Are you a completionist, a storyteller,

a cherry picker, or otherwise? Wow, that's a

big question. There's a lot to cover there. Yes,

it is. For a long time, I was a completionist.

So once I got past, oh, I'm just going to buy

the combiners that I liked when I was little.

Once I had everything from 84 and 85, You know,

it was just kind of snowballed from there. I

mean, I got back into collecting probably in

99. I got my first job in Chicago. I had disposable

income and I had a buddy at work who said, oh,

you know, have you seen Beast Machine or Beast

Wars? And it's like, no, he had a Transmetal

II Optimus Punch. or not, Megatron Dragon on

his desk. And I'm like, that is the coolest damn

thing I've ever seen. What is that? And he's

like, oh, it's Megatron. And I'm like, oh, wait

a minute. And after that, I started, you know,

I started buying the the Transmetal stuff that

I really like. And, you know, I didn't get the

originals, but I got a lot of the Transmetal

and then Beast Machines came out. And that's

when I really became a completionist and started

buying everything. Back when like KB Toys was

open at the mall, you know, we go to the mall

and I'd be like I go to the toy store this is

probably new beast machines and I started collecting

stuff from Japan and I started You know just

getting like I said one of the one or two of

each and So and that that lasted a long time

and nowadays I you know, I don't buy anything

but I'm really just happy with what I have I

think Sometimes I look back and say, oh, maybe

there's something from like Overlord. I don't

have a Japanese Overlord Not many people do you

know and the people who do it was like this is

my holy grail and I've got it now It's like,

you know, do I need to go back and get one of

those? Probably not. I don't feel the compulsion

that I used to You know for me it's like collecting

was about the hunt. You know, I want to go I'm

going to look at all the targets and I'm going

to look at all the Walmarts and and he's going

to look at all the back rooms of targets. I'm

going to scour the back rooms because I know

they got them back there. They're hiding them.

It's release dates, man. It's release dates.

Have you ever have you ever purchased a vintage

toy for a child because you thought it would

be fun based on your own preferences? Yes. Yes,

I have. In more recent years, my son Aiden has

become interested in Transformers. I've gotten

toys for him. He's got a lot of Power of the

Primes and things like that. Things that have

come out in the last several years, including

the Insecticons. He's got a set of those those

insecticons that came out and it's like well

if you like these guys You know what you're really

gonna like, you know, it's gonna blow your mind

is the you know, the 1985 insecticons because

those were Some of my favorites. I loved them

on the TV show and I love the figures and they're

really simple You know nowadays all the chrome's

worn off and their legs are too loose, you know,

but I take my boy to, well, up until COVID, but

I've taken a lot of the comic cons and they'll

have toys there. And at one point we ran into

a couple of insecticons and I made sure that

he got a couple of insecticons that were in good

shape and had their guns. Cool. Yeah. So he's

got those in his room next to his regular or

next to his more updated insecticons. And yeah,

they still hold up. I honestly I think I prefer

the g1 better Do you do any toy modifications

or customs painting building build dioramas No,

I don't in fact I I don't do anything to my toys

for a long time Collecting to me was you know,

I have to find the best -looking figure with

the most stickers and the best paint and I didn't

try to touch them up myself. I don't like Repro

labels. I shouldn't take that. I shouldn't say

that. Wait, wait, wait. I like Repro labels,

right? I like the idea of this is a figure with

no stickers, and I can restore this figure to

its vintage original look by using Repro labels.

Or what I did once. Oh, what's it called? Alternators.

Alternators was a really, really nice Transformers

line that people don't remember as well as they

should. But the Jazz, there's an Alternators

Jazz that was just pure white. And Repro labels

sold a set of stickers that turned him into G1

Jazz. And I bought those stickers and I put him

on the Jazz. And honestly, I love that Jazz.

He looks fantastic. You know, I feel bad saying,

oh yeah, I got this vintage toy and I'm going

to restore his stickers. You know, it's like,

no, I want to find the best stickers and the

best paint on a toy that's vintage. And, you

know, for all I know, you know, somebody replaced

the stickers with referral labels on it already.

But I don't want to say I don't like referral

labels. I do like, I like toy hacks. I think

they provide a good service and they're not too

expensive. But that being said, I, I don't put

them on my own toys very much with a few exceptions.

Do you think toy companies should specifically

have adult collector toys, child toys, or a find

a way to mix both? Uh, that's an interesting

question because, uh, Hasbro is I think is doing

a good job juggling that right now. You know,

they've got their kids set, which is like cyber

verse that are, you know, very They're not very

good toys, you know, like we discussed what makes

a good toy, you know, it does it feel good in

your hands, does it transform easily, is easy

to play with. And these figures just, I don't

like them as much and I just don't like them.

But they also, you know, have their stuff that's

more leaning toward adults. And I'm not specifically

talking like a $600 Unicron, but... That's like

the end result of that. We're looking at adult

collectors. Would you mind spending $600 on a

toy the size of a small child? And it's like,

yeah, sure, I'll buy that. But yeah, I like the

idea of saying, well, we have a line for little

kids because that's where our bread and butter

is. And we have a line for adult collectors because

you know, if if we don't they're gonna throw

fit It's funny because I I think I Want to say

that Transformers is might be oh, no, that's

not right transfer I was gonna say transformers

might be the only line that actually does that

but he man did that Mattel made a line of collectors

figures that were only available to adults through

mail order because they just didn't have any

human on the show. So they did not have a kid's

land. They only had the adult. Yeah, because

at that point back in 2007, eight or nine, I

forget when classic started at that point, it

was there was nothing in 2008. There was no cartoon.

There was no nothing. Whatever, whatever, whatever

fans. There was just old us old fans. And it's

like, hey. Well, you know, this is perfect because

I can put this right here. This is Radio 3D Cybertron.

Thank God Hasbro isn't Mattel. Ender, the floor

is yours. Mattel's Masters of the Universe has

gotten to be like the most malignant, moronic,

mishandled line in history. Not since Hasbro

Creative meeting when one executive blurted out,

let's kill the red truck guy, has a franchise

been handled worse. The Masters of the Universe

classics are an amazing line. They use modern

toy -making techniques to bring out the best

of a vintage figure, retaining its charm and

essence while consistently exceeding modern quality

standards and delivering fan -driven fun for

the adult collector at a price that while higher

than average is altogether reasonable. Sadly,

the he -man genius falcon reaches its apex at

this conceptual stage and then careens out of

the sky with the aerodynamic grace of a quadriplegic

hippo with an inner ear infection, plummets through

a sky of inept customer service, plows straight

and through a swamp of incompetent planning and

rests broken and ruptured in a bedrock of useless

management. Matty scalper comms inability to

even handle its monthly server load much less

the demand for its product has settled into a

comfortable pattern of letting itself be milked

by scalpers at a rate of 10 figures in order

while the real customers wait in error screens.

Meanwhile, scalpers, who are, by the way, the

most worthless scum on earth, have already posted

their overpriced ripoff auctions on the well

-oiled servers of eBay, touting items rarity

due to a false scarcity they themselves have

created with the foolish help of Mattel. Nothing

endears fans to a brand like having legal tenders

slapped out of their hands as they attempt to

exchange it for your product The band -aid of

a club was offered seemingly a reasonable fix

you commit to buying the figures and they guarantee

you one Simple enough until the line branches

out into non club figures and the cycle begins

again as battle cat is snapped up by the scalping

horde and he man fans get shackled with one dar

a not remake of a never was exclusive Now underestimating

demand for a fan line or miscalibrating your

limits is not an unreasonable error They have

to make a profit and have to hedge their bets.

However, one might think that after one and a

half to two years might be enough time to calibrate

well enough that your servers don't crash every

full moon and your product will last more than

half an hour. Mattel get your together fire everyone

on this project who is not a designer and sell

us toys. We give you money you give us stuff

because someone else I'm gonna have on this podcast

at some point. Our good buddy Ender. Yes. As

you've heard, folks, just now has an amazing

Mattel and Matty Collector rant that he did on

Radio Free Cybertron back when this first happened,

when Battle Cat came out. And people would have

just heard this in the audio and in the actual

episode. But I love Ender and in his rant on

what Matty Collector and Digital River and all

of that did back then, because it's like, you

know, the whole point is we give you money, you

give us stuff. Yeah, you don't you know jerk

us around and well Maddie clue. Yeah, they basically

yes. It was crazy back then You've kind of already

mentioned this a few times a little bit. Do you

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

parents get rid of my toys my wife got rid of

my toys my kids get rid of my toys When my kids

were almost start playing with toys, I would,

you know, buy them toys of their own. But I would

also, you know, buy one for myself and put it

away in the pile. Right. But I also, you know,

sometimes would just get one for them or in a

couple of situations where they got some for

their birthdays or whatever. And I didn't have

this. I didn't have one like a twin twist. The

Power of the Primes twin twist was hard to find

at the stores. Sludge. The combiner Sludge for

the DinoBot set. Couldn't find him in the stores,

but somebody ordered him one. Thank you. I think

it might have been Chrissy's mom. Somebody got

him one. So he has one and I don't have one.

I want one of those. But as far as like throwing

away my toys there in his room There are figures

and some of them may be mine some of them may

be his but he's got a goodly -sized collection

And sometimes they break Sometimes they sometimes

they lose pieces they break folks. Oh My god,

you know and it hurts right here in my heart,

you know when I see a broken transformer He's

got one upstairs. It's a Combiner Wars Quake.

And that was the repaint of Hardhead, right?

And he doesn't have a head. I don't know where

it is. I don't know what to think of it. And

Hardhead has this tank turret on his shoulder

that's completely snapped off. And it's like,

I don't know what you did to this toy. You know,

it is a mistreatment. You know, it probably just

fell off the shelf or something. But it's like,

oh. Ugh, this hurts. It hurts right here. Well,

that's the thing. When we were kids, we played

with our toys until, you know, I, I don't have,

I don't think I have them anymore, but, uh, you

know, my original, I had them a few years ago.

I don't, I think it was, uh, whatever. Anyway,

but basically I had my original 88 Leo and Donnie

still. but the belts were all screwed up. You

couldn't see that. Like you could see more of

the whites of their eyes than you could the color

of the bandana. I mean, obviously I could tell

which one was which because Leonardo's skin was

one color and Donatello's skin was another color.

And that's fine. And plus obviously they're in

different poses kind of thing. But yeah, I mean,

as kids, we played with our toys. We weren't

thinking about how we would be 40 something years

later and be like, It has to be mint in box or

mint on card or ah Right, you know, yeah, but

just and I think that's the thing with your boys

You know as they grew up they were playing with

their toys that way even though you were trying

to instill in them about the whole thing of eventually

This may get you through college or something.

I don't know. You know what I mean? But like

the parent that you are the geek that you are.

Yeah, you know You're that geek dad that would

be like, Oh, son, but this is supposed to be

blah, blah, blah. Don't rip its head off, please.

Kind of thing. You know what I mean? Like play

with it, but don't play with it to the point

where it breaks. Yeah. Well, that was the rule.

You know, it's like, you can take this toy and

take it upstairs to your room. But the rule is

we, we don't lose it and we don't break it. That

that's the rule. It's like a, it's like a library

book. Yes, this is on borrowed time, son. Exactly,

yeah. Do you feel you are coming to an end of

your act of collecting? If so, what has signified

this phase for you? Was there ever a moment in

your life before this when you were done with

toys or have you ever considered stopping completely

or even selling your whole collection? That question

was just for me too, huh? No Questions for everybody

The answer is yes, you know during the babe the

bavers so when the transformers movies I I you

know watch them and enjoyed them as much as anybody

else and much as you possibly can But the toys

I just I don't like those figures there and I

stopped collecting around that time now I'm trying

to think what else was going on. I still have

more toys. I didn't stop completely. I still

bought toys but I severely curtailed after 2007

and I Stopped pretty much collecting all together.

Like I said, about 2020 was really hard. I just

did not have the income at all to buy toys. And

so I just stopped buying it. And at this point,

it's like I can't justify going back and spending

ridiculous amounts of money for the figures that

I missed. I mean, I could, I guess I could probably

go back on. You know entertainment earth or something

and buy old boxes of our old crates, you know

It's like, oh, I got a crate from because that's

you know, they sometimes put them on sale But

I mean I wouldn't get all of them It would just

be more trouble than I believe it's worth At

this point. It's like yeah, I'm about a year

two years behind two and a half years I don't

know if it's worth it. I've run out of space

Like I said, I'm only allowed my one room and

the closet is full. I don't have any more space

behind my desk. All my oak shelves are chock

full. I've got like bins full. It's like I got

way too much stuff basically. And that leads

me to the last part of their question was would

I imagine selling it? Part of me is like, no,

never. This is going to be my mausoleum that

will be lined with transformers. Like the pharaohs

of old, you got to build a pyramid just to be

in there with all my plastic crack. But I've

thought about it, especially when you said. You

know the the box set for shattered glass is five

grand. I'm like, oh my god. Where do I wait?

How quickly can I sell this for five grand? That's

not sold. That's just what somebody listed it

for Yeah, some crazy person is just waiting to

spend that was no one's gonna buy that for five

grand No, but I did see somebody selling it for

like a thousand at one point and I was like for

a thousand bucks I put it on eBay. Yeah But yeah,

yeah part of me is like at what point and I've

given this some serious introspection Yeah at

what point do I feel like I could sell the set

and It's hard because I know I Don't believe

that I would be able to sell everything and get

a decent price for it, right? it'd be like and

we've had this conversation before about the

Oh, what's that show where people take all their

stuff to election intervention and and until

I'm hunter. Yeah Yeah, it's one that one stars

the toy hunter. Yeah that guy he gets good deals

and it's he's always low ball on them and I get

it 200 have a field day in my house, but the

pond stars episode where they go to the guy's

house and he's got G1 toys duplicates lined up

on the floor. Yeah, and and I'm looking at this

collection going holy cow there there's Possibly

tens of thousands of dollars here, you know Yeah,

I had like like eight Fort Max's and like he

had That was so staged it was I don't know it

was crazy all the stuff this guy had I'm like,

oh my god, this guy's this guy puts in my collection

the same shame and I got a lot, you know, I got

thousands of Transformers and This guy was like,

holy cow. I can't I can't imagine this and they

offered him I want to say like five grand for

the whole set. Yeah, I think so. I don't know.

I don't remember the equivalent of my mom saying

here's a box of vintage Star Wars. I'll take

40 bucks, you know? Yeah. No, you know, but the

alternative and I understand why. And it's because

when you try to sell your transformers, you have

to market them. You have to put them on a website,

like eBay or something, or Facebook Marketplace.

You have to handle all the payments. You have

to package them. You have to ship them. You have

to do all the customer service. You've inevitably

got this guy that says, it broke. Or, this isn't

what I wanted. I wanted one with blah, blah,

blah. And it's like, that's not my fault. You

paid me for it and I sent it to you. No, no,

you got to send it back now. I want a refund.

It's like, ah, Jesus. Selling things is not worth

my time or effort, basically. Could I possibly

package up all my G1 stuff and sell it? Let's

just say 1984. Let's say I take the 1984 line,

I take pictures of it, I put it on eBay, and

I try to sell it. It's the hassle involved. Would

be ridiculous and by the time I got them all

sold I might get what 1 ,500 bucks Two grand

tops right and it's like wow all that effort

for two grand. I'm not sure All right, two grand

seems like a lot of money. But again, you're

fighting with people. You're getting people haggling

with you Yeah, you got a guy who's like, oh I

won I wanted it for two grand, but I didn't mean

to I'm sorry to go out on a rabbit hole here,

but I met a guy at a comic -con that was a friend

of my wife. He was actually a substitute teacher.

And he's like, yeah, I substitute teach on the

side, but what I really like to do is set up

shop at these comic -cons. and he sold, uh, comics.

He had a lot of comics. And he's like, dude,

you know, I see a lot of vendors come through

here. I've done a lot of Comic -Cons, you know,

and I've seen, your wife has shown me pictures

of your collection. If you brought your collection

here and laid it down on a table, they would

disappear within a day. And it's like, you know,

and whatever you want to, whatever price you

want to put on them, that's what they're going

to sell for. And you don't have to ship them

to people. You don't have to You don't have to

do anything crazy. You don't have to haggle.

Well, you have to haggle a certain bit, I guess.

But if you just say, look, the prices I got down

here are firm. All the accessories that they

came with are right there. These are 40 -year

-old figures. If you want to spend $200 on Hound,

because he's got all of his little pieces, that's

what I'm selling them for. And they would just

scoop it up, hand you cash, and run off. And

I think that's not a terrible idea The other

thing is I've got so much it wouldn't you know,

I've got enough stuff here that would last weeks

Selling them at a table and I don't know if I

want to do that I love that's how I would want

to spend my comic -con time. So you're you're

in Indiana Yeah, close to Chicago. Just just

outside of Chicago kind of thing. You're on the

other side of the border I need to put you in

touch with my buddy Joe Reed, who is actually

going to be the next episode of Origins here

on Toycast. He has this thing up in Grand Rapids,

Michigan called the Geek Stuff Garage Sale. They

do not charge for tables. You could take your

entire closet of all the packaged toys that you

have up there and just price them out. You'd

make so much bank. Yeah. Yeah. So. Well, that's

something to think about but again, you know

I I would have to research and how much is this

figure selling for now and You know, this guy's

got a scratch on him or something. You know,

it's like what do I what would I take this for?

It's like, oh, yeah, I do have a g1 Thundercracker,

but the stickers on his shoulders are missing,

you know So how much do I charge for that versus

a you know one with the right stickers? I don't

know You know, I never thought I'd sell them.

I don't even worry about how much I could get

for them. But then I'd have to research it all

and then I have to transport them all out there.

And I don't know. Um, part of me is like, yeah,

that's not such a terrible idea, you know, but

I, it's just a lot of effort. And this isn't

my full -time gig, you know? No, it's not. What

is something that does not have a toy of it you'd

love to have in toy form? Oh, that's a good question.

I don't know. I don't have a good answer for

that. I don't know. Is there something that you

think I would want? I don't know. Hasbro is like,

look at all this stuff we've made. Well, I mean,

like, that's the thing about Kingdom. They're

doing stuff in Kingdom that like. For me if I

wasn't just and I'm It's only because I don't

really care Because I just want the stuff so

where I can see it and I can like again like

I can reach over here grab Funko pop optimus

prime Okay, like literally the the Funko pop

optimus for it's literally a tiny body of the

original a like it literally it looks just like

the toy except it's got a giant head so that's

the only difference like I can look at that and

be like, oh cool, I have this Optimus, he has

his Energy Axe. At the same time, there are two

Kingdom toys that I would love to have. The sad

thing is, because I don't want to transform them,

I would have to have two of each of them. So,

and that would be Kingdom Galvatron and Commander

Class Rodimus. because when I saw people revealing

and doing videos of Commander Class Rodimus,

I'm like... He looks good. It's 19... I specifically

remember this. I didn't get him until... When

did the original Rodimus, not Hot Rod... 1986?

1987? 1987, somewhere around... I don't remember,

but the actual space Winnebago trailer Rodimus

came out. I remember specifically being in Key

Biscayne, Florida in December of 1989. I went

everywhere with that toy. So Commander Clas Rodimus,

when I first saw him, I'm like, it's a they've

done everything. They've put everything in the

big size in the this and the that. And it's Rodimus

40 years later, but better. I'm like, give me,

give me, give me, give me. But for me, I don't

like I don't need to. Rush out and try to figure

out how like I just don't like I love it. I love

that He's there. I wish I could have him. I don't

need him I don't need anybody to buy him for

me or anything like that not asking Yeah, I mean

really if I was gonna ask for something it would

be funko pop nemesis prime because of reasons

But anyway repaints hard to find nah He paints

it. Well. He was a funko shop exclusive and anyway,

it's a whole other thing we also talked about

the third party stuff, so it's like Even stuff

that I don't think would ever get built sometimes

gets built. Yeah, like the comic books. You've

got G .I. Joe versus Transformers. Right. Right.

You've got Optimus Prime turning into a Cobra

stun. It's a it's a vehicle that has cannons

and splits in the front. Right. I love that vehicle.

The Rolling Thunder loved that vehicle. I mean,

and they have in the comic books, you know, oh,

look, Optimus Prime turns into this and, you

know, it or different for different characters

turning into different stuff. And you you think,

well, they're never going to make a toy of that.

But you have third party companies that are making

that toy. Mm hmm. And it's like that is the coolest

thing ever. Hearts of Steel. You know, wow, I

never thought I needed a bumblebee that turned

into a train, but someone's making it. That's

a really cool idea. That's awesome. Someone's

making it. So this next question comes from the

Pullbag Origins questions where I usually ask,

what is one item in a comic book that you would

love to have in real life? Example would be Batman's

Batarang or Green Lantern's Ring or that kind

of thing. So what is one toy you'd love to have

scaled up and functional for real people? Who

the weather dominator? No bad Michael no We don't

need any rainy cloudy skies over at Pecan Court.

Thank you very much You know, I would only do

good things with it. Sure Damn liar. I would

position those rain clouds over the crops and

I would make it sunny and pleasant Wherever people

needed it to be sunny and pleasant Don't know

how this question came at this number but and

you've kind of already told us the story of the

deal But 37 in a row. How have your spouse's

significant others mates partners, etc, etc,

etc dealt with your collection You know, it's

funny because I hear it horror stories about

people that are like, oh, you know 40 year old

virgin People come in and they see my room And

they freak out. It's like you bring home a girl

and you say, do you want to see my pleasure room?

And they're like, yeah, you bring them in and

there's 2000 Transformers on a shelf. Right.

Yeah. But no, like I said, my wife has been really

supportive. She I mean, and it sounds like, oh,

she's horrible. She only lets you own collection

and she makes one room. But I mean, the fact

is she's. Really cool. She's brought me home

toys. She we know we've gone on vacations where

she buys me toys The kids have you know go and

buy out Target there was I want to say a couple

e it was during the drought right during the

the the baver stuff When I wasn't collecting

so much My wife would have Father's Day and there

would be a stack of toys and my kids would be

like, we bought every toy at Target for you.

And my wife would say, do you have this already?

And I'm like, no, I haven't been buying them

because, you know, it's Michael Bay, but at the

same time, thank you. This is awesome. Yeah.

Yeah. But yeah, I mean, so supportive. She's

easily the best. Awesome. Toy collecting can

have its struggles. What is one aspect that you

tend to struggle with the most? Unemployment.

That was the worst. That was really hard. Again,

COVID is hard on everybody and the economy is

bouncing back. Jobs are coming back. I can't

complain now, but that was hard. As far as like

collecting, collecting, you know, during the

best of times, I don't know. Again, I used to

enjoy the hunt. I used to go find the toys and

I've got one of each. I found the toys, right?

And, you know, sometimes I had to go into the

back room of Target to get the ones I wanted,

but I got them. And nowadays, you know, sometimes

I like to still look at the toys. Can't find

them anywhere. That I don't know if it's the

scalpers buying them up before I can get there

and again I don't go there religiously like I

used to but it'd be nice to go to the store and

see them on the shelves Yeah, I think the only

thing people are doing with that right now is

basically origins he man and Skeletor at least

those will always be on the shelves What is one

positive and one negative memory you have with

buying toys? Positive memory I want to say like

the story that you keep bringing up was the time

I went to Target and and there was a Like a three

-month period where you just couldn't see any

toys on the shelf and normally like just before

Christmas all the toys dry up and they don't

restock them until like February, right? Right.

Right. So it was about February or March or somewhere

in there. And I go to Target and they had moved

the stock out onto the, onto the aisle. They

had a pallet full of toys and I, you know, just

basically broke up my key and stripped off the

tape off, off a couple of the boxes and started

pulling them out. And I would grab them and just

throw a couple on the shelf and put what I wanted

in my cart and I got like 20 figures that day.

You know, you exaggerate. You're like, Oh, you

went out in the back room and, you know, opened

all the stock up and it wasn't in the back room.

It was out in the aisle, but you know, somebody

came in the island said, Hey, you can't do that.

And I showed him my cart and I said, I'm going

to buy all these. I'm sorry if I left a bunch

of boxes open in the aisle, you know, on this

pallet, but, uh, I'm buying these. If you want

me to put the rest of them on the shelf, I will,

you know, but I'm taking these. And the guy's

like, no, I don't bother. It's fine. And I'm

like, okay, cool. But then, but I had already

opened all the boxes and I got like all the figures.

So I, and it was probably aside from like bot

con trips, it might've been the most figures

I'd ever bought at the same time. Jeez. Yeah.

And so that was, you know, that was a story that

we still talk about today. Yeah, because it's

the one thing I lured over you with the fact

that you, you know, went in the back room of

Target and. Exactly. I fought my way through

stock boys and. Exactly. I was in it. I had the

like Raiders of the Lost Ark style, you know,

go through the warehouse until I found just the

right palette of toys. Yep. This story just grows.

Hey, man, you know, it is what it is. Yeah. But

that was that was my the best one. I don't know

if I have a bad story about like buying toys.

One time I bought a computer on and it was from

a seller in Italy and I sent them one hundred

dollars and never got the toy. Oh, jeez. Yeah,

that would be a negative purchase. I could not

track it down. I was really pissed. Geez, that's

not good. It was a long time ago. Yeah, well,

that's good. If you could create any toy, what

would you want to create? Basically, Hasbro gives

you the Transformers license. They give you the

keys to the kingdom, quite literally, and money

is no object. What would you want to make with

it? Oh, wow. I don't know. You know, I feel like

there's a lot of How should I put it? There's

a lot of repaints out there already, but it's

like, wouldn't it be nice if we could still bring

back some of those unused, you know, G2 repaints?

You know, like we have, um, we have current Dinobots,

but we don't have them in green, you know, or

we have, um, lots of secret jets, but we don't

have cyber jet repaints. It's like, why can't

I get a repaint of Hooligan? It's like, I kind

of want one. And sometimes we do. We get like

a repaint of G2 Ramjet or G2 Starscream, but

the Cyberjets had fantastic colorings and we

don't get them. Or, you know what, let's revisit

the Cyberjets because those were fantastic figures.

They were very posable and they had cool gimmicks

and they were very interesting. Why can't we

make secret repaints of those? There you go.

Probably could. They're smaller scale. They'd

be cheaper easier to manufacture and limitless

repaint possibilities. There you go. What is

the one piece of advice you would give the toy

collecting fandom? Wow, I don't know. Don't spend

all your money on toys. I know a few guys. You

know who have really good jobs and they You know

have money is no object just buy whatever you

want and I like that I think at one point I was

kind of like that But you know eventually yeah

Do I regret buying so many toys? I wouldn't say

regret But I know now that maybe there was stuff

I could have been spending my money on other

than thousands of dollars in toys Very true.

Very true. All right, let's see here Don't spend

it all in one place. There we go. There you go.

There you go What is advice you'd give to kids

who enjoy toys? Enjoy them You know don't don't

let anybody tell you you can't Exactly, I think

that's I think in in all of these episodes we've

done so far that's been Almost everyone's answer

at this point because if you know who are the

people that are telling kids that they shouldn't

play with toys I don't aside from your parents

That's that's funny it was only my dad and it

was a long time ago heck he probably doesn't

even remember it I You know But with my own kids,

I tried to give them opportunities to do as much

as they want, to experience as much as they want.

We've done sports, we've done musical instruments,

we've done lots and lots of toys, computers.

They have the ability to do anything that they

want. You know, if part of that is, you know,

they want to play certain video games or they

like particular toys, like my son Aiden really

likes Transformers. So I kind of spoiled him.

Gavin really likes Fortnite. So he's got a lot

of Fortnite figures and stuff, you know, and

we we don't discourage them from playing with

anything. We don't discourage them from doing

anything. I mean, right. You know, I got a guitar

and a drum set here in the basement that they

might not ever touch again. But we expose them

to these things and let them play with them.

All right. Exactly. Yeah. Awesome. All right.

Well, there you go, folks. Peek on Chrome Michael's

Toy Story. That was it. We're done. That's it.

42 questions. That's it. We're done. You kidding

me? We've been here for like four hours. It's

probably been two and then we spend a goodly

chunk of that just BS and which no one will hear

Thank you for joining us here on toy cast if

you'd like to get in contact with us Lee feedback

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case you hadn't realized. It's the beginning

of August now, and we've had almost two solid

months of episodes, first time in over seven

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Join us next time when we will be talking more

toys here on ToyCast. Decepticon intruder in

my brain! Let's go! Decepticon intruder who moves

my eyes! The giant awakes! Sweet. Nice. Done.

I am very happy that we didn't try to record

Phineas and Ferb and this because... Yeah, no,

that would not have worked. That would not have

worked. No, that would not have worked. We would

have been crying. We would not have allowed it.