Joe Reed 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 in 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'm of course

Chief Joe and Mike and joining me in this episode

of Toycast Origins is Mr. Joe Reed. Hello sir.

Hello, you mean we're not talking about a Ninja

Turtle comic? No, not this time, no. I'm actually

surprised that the IDW comics don't have a full

-on toy line from Playmates or whatever. I expect

someday there will be at least some statues based

on a couple of the different artists, but yeah,

no toy lines yet. You know they got a toy line

for everything else Turtles. You'd think they'd

have one for what is arguably the best Turtles

comic ever. And with some of the most extraordinary

and diverse, is that the right word, diverse

art? Yeah, very, very diverse art and very, very

like the writing is so. Ladies and gentlemen,

we've been recording Turtles comics podcast since

January of 2014. I will put a link in the show

to all. Oh, there's probably well, I know there's

at least 100 episodes. There's probably more

than that Not exactly sure how many but yes,

but we are here to talk about toys today because

Joe is a toy fan and a toy collector and Boy

What is or was the first toy you remember having

as a kid? one of the earliest toys that I recall

was a Mork from Ork egg clock radio with I think

the Robin Williams was inside the egg or like

the door opened and it was a radio I apparently

really loved the show as a two or three year

old and that was something that I got at some

point and I only have this one memory of it being

in my infant bedroom, sitting on the floor, playing

with that, and I can feel it in my hands and

see it, and I can hear the music playing. I don't

remember what it was playing, but that was the

only memory I have of it. And then I kind of

grew up with my mom talking about that, being,

oh, you loved that show. You loved Robin Williams

and Nanu Nanu. And I couldn't... remember it

never saw it and then of course because the internet

happens you scroll through a Facebook toy group

and you're like there it is there it is that's

the mark from work egg that I had as a child

as a baby but there's my childhood how much is

it gonna cost my soul to get it back thankfully

that just it didn't Was there a particular adult

who was supportive of you playing with toys as

a kid? Was there anyone who was unsupportive?

No, I was thankfully blessed with the type of

mother and father who did not sell my toys off.

I guess they supported it in that way. I didn't

have the most toys out of my friends. I didn't

have the best toys out of my friends. They were

toys that I wanted very badly and that I asked

for and didn't get. I did definitely have an

ample supply and when I look through my collection,

you know, whatever, the shelf that's currently

behind me now, a lot of them are the toys that

I grew up with, damaged and wrecked as they are,

or the toys that I bought myself as a teenager

and college student. I never really became a

toy collector. just kind of evolved into that

because I had a mom who bought my toys for me

when I was a kid and never asked me to throw

them away. What types of toys were your favorites

to play with as a kid? I was definitely the action

figure variety and I would have large elaborate

play sessions where the characters would do the

voices and they would Animate their movements.

I was basically kind of living out the cartoon

shows With my own stories with the action figures

in front of me Even my stuffed animals had like

little I don't want to call them stage plays

But they were they were episodic adventures that

were in my head that I would animate them I mean,

of course we had special brands and genres that

you might end up going into detail with Later,

but right definitely action figures were my thing

What were your favorite childhood toys that really

stood out more than the others so basically this

is Did the the he -man stuff stand out more did

the transformer stuff to the GI Joe stuff? Did

you play with Star Wars more, you know that kind

of thing? Yeah the as I was growing up and the

new things would come out and We didn't have

all of the money in the world and so I selected

the thing and then you go to school with this

thing that you selected and it's us versus them.

Like I remember in one of my elementary schools

that I went to, it was the Transformer kids played

over on this side of the playground and the G

.I. Joe kids played over on that side of the

playground and when we got together in the middle

of the playground, the Transformers are better.

G .I. Joe uses guns and they shoot each other.

Well, Transformers has cars and they race. I

didn't get to pick everything. Didn't get into

He -Man, didn't get into G .I. Joe, but I was

definitely a Transformers kid, probably through

sixth or seventh grade, maybe a little younger

than that too. And Ninja Turtles got me big.

The Playmates action figures, or was it Playmates

back then in the 80s, 90s? Oh yeah. It's always

been Playmates. Yeah, playmates got bought by

somebody aren't the new ones aren't playmates

are they I think they are I Don't have them sealed

in a box over here to check. I thought they got

bought. Maybe they the name stayed the same but

Transformers and Ninja Turtles were my were my

jam growing up. That was what I focused on my

cousin Had the GI Joe's and and on Christmas

at my Grandma on my dad's side We'd go over to

their house and he would bring his Christmas

Hall of the giant spaceship Launching thing and

the big tanks with the bridges that folded out

my little guys We'd have a war and I'd have no

clue how to play with GI Joe's because I just

wasn't Into it, but it was cool and I'd be over

here with my transformer in the corner But then

the Ninja Turtles and that that's another that's

one of the the things that I have a very, very

clear memory of. It would have been 88 or 89.

We go over to an adult friend of ours, my mom

and dad, her boss from work, we go over there

to hang out one evening at their house and on

his end table is this little green thing with

like, half a dozen weapons stuck into his belt

all over just crammed in and he had this orange

thing and a grimace on his face and I played

with that thing all night and it was my first

the first Ninja Turtle that I had ever seen and

I didn't know what it was but it was a Michelangelo

Ninja Turtle. I went home to my house in South

Bend, Indiana and shortly after we moved up here

to Grand Rapids where I'm at now and it was on

television here. It was this cartoon and that

was where it all started with that orange Michelangelo

first release Playmates Ninja Turtle. That was

my first thing and that blew open the doors for

everything that I have become. Absolutely. Well,

you know, when Mikey's putting Choco Puffs on

pizza, I mean, it's kind of hard not to have

the doors blown open. Do you prefer the label

of action figures, dolls, toys, or other labels?

Each of those labels gives me a little shudder

of discomfort because that's not what they are.

for me anymore. They were as kids. They were

toys when I grew up because I played with them

and I acted out situations that taught me about

socializing and good versus evil and values and

communication. But action figures, OK, that's

what they do. Dolls, yes, that's what they are.

But of course, that rubs me in a slightly uncomfortable

way, not out of a gender thing, but just that's

not what they do. What they are for me are totems.

They're a little petroleum -based product that

represents some character, or ideal, or personality

in my head, or it represents a memory from my

childhood. And so I don't exactly like to identify

myself as Toy Collector, because I don't feel

that's what I'm doing. Especially Transformers

and as I sit here and talk about this I have

the Earthrise Optimus Prime action figure in

my hands which you may hopefully you're not picking

up too much clicking over the microphone, but

This is like the best Optimus Prime ever It has

that that g1 kind of aesthetic and look and proportions

It feels like it's the same size as it was when

I was six years old playing with it But I don't

play with it. I don't walk around. I am Optimus

Prime come here unless I'm playing with my kids,

but Right But it is a representation of like

my childhood It's a memory. It's it's connecting

me to my to my youth. So toys, okay action figures

probably But it's a totem. It's a it's a memory

made physical There you go Good guys or bad guys,

which were your favorites to play with the most?

I was a totally good guys and Even more than

that. It was it's always the main guy. It's it's

It's a video optimist front Leonardo. It's Kermit

the frog. It's he man It's the earthworm Jim

just the earthworm Jim character. I don't know

nobody else It was always that kind of Boy Scout

main character that that got me and Maybe it

was because those are the ones that you could

find on the shelf although nowadays the the main

guy is the ones that short -packed and everybody

wants it so it's hard to find but Honestly, it's

hard to find any toys these days With another

pandemic has been terrible partly because I don't

go out anywhere Another part is the distribution

has been Abysmal and slow, you know understandably.

So I'm not angry or upset at that It's just what

happens when you know half the world shuts down

and a boat park sideways in the Suez Canal stuff

like that happens But yeah, oh and Matt tracker

from mask my cousin had the mask toys with the

The gas station with the rolling boulder and

the awesome semi truck rhino But yeah, it's always

it's always the main guy the Boy Scout the plane

Jane main character that did it for me Yeah,

I had all of them most of the mask toys I even

had Boulder Hill for like three months or something

until I destroy it or something back I Honestly

don't remember like I need to actually look up

a video Review or something of Boulder Hill because

I remember it was yeah, you're right. It is the

gas station It does have the boulder on it, whatever,

but honestly, I barely remember that toy Yeah,

what the armored wall slides around the front

of it and the car can come out the garage That

was that was neat played with that. I would if

I could find a Rhino for a good price I think

I would have to have that cuz I'm a sucker for

semis. Thanks optimus What is or was your favorite

toy vehicle or playset? Oh, man. Oh, man. That's

really hard. Now or then. Is or was it or was

or it could be current or it could be way back

then. There was one of the toys that I remember

playing a lot with. It was a Lego, I think. um

there's a lego minifigure one of the knights

uh and i think in my imagination it was uh uh

the hero from the dragon warrior game and uh

because i had so many different genres of legos

they would have this like mortal combat all these

different realms will get teleported to one realm

and have this big mega battle and because i was

into knights and armor at the time that character

would always win and and those are some of my

Think most numerous play sessions were with the

Lego minifigures doing giant Mortal Kombat deathmatch

thing And there was a Leonardo I think my turtles

action figures did that too and I remember one

of the Leonardo figures I had probably the original

I would cram every katana Sharp bladed weapon

mace thing into his belt that I could and he'd

go in there decked out, and, ah, my sword broke,

I had to chuck that away, and he'd go at this,

and the other Ninja Turtles bad guys were the

villains he had to get through. I'm very video

gamey, you know, the way I think about it. This

is really, really sad. So, I am looking at the...

I looked up on eBay the Masked Rhino, and, oh

my god. For a complete version of it with the

box. There is a listing on here for and Why you're

gonna charge this much and not offer free shipping

is beyond me $289 and 95 cents. No, I don't think

I need it that bad There's another one on here

for $320 plus $30 shipping again if you're going

to charge something that much Mean I get it.

It's the toy. It's pretty probably has that kind

of value. I don't know I'm not looking up at

the toy, but I'm looking at the picture He has

the box. He has the styrofoam. He has the manual

the truck looks okay He has I think three figures

here But I'm sorry 300 I got it $50 shipped?

That's ridiculous. My guess on that is that,

yes, it's worth every penny of that. And the

reason that they are not charging shipping is

because the purchaser is going to want to say,

no, I want that insured. No, I want that sent

FedEx, not USPS. And they're leaving that open

for the shipper to decide or the purchaser to

decide. Because my golly and something that size

I have to imagine would actually be kind of expensive

to ship. I mean starting it Yeah, I mean, I'm

not I'm not saying yeah, I understand charging

for shipping I get it but yeah, I mean charging

for shipping is like maybe like and again I know

this toy has value because it's you know Thirty

six years old at this point kind of thing. There

is one on here Mask, Rhino, Matt Tracker, unused

stickers. $800. It's got the box. It looks like

it's pretty much in the, like it has never been

open. Yeah, all of these pictures. Okay, yeah.

All of the pictures so far are just the box.

And then there's a couple of pictures with the

truck in the styrofoam. Yeah, the truck isn't

even out of the styrofoam. It's basically brand

spanking new. $800, holy crap. I am so glad I

do not need to get my childhood back. One of

the issues with those toys, the mask toys in

particular, I'm looking at the bottom of my Matt

Tracker figure and it says made by Kenner, but

I think it was licensed to Kenner and I want

to say Tonka made these and the plastic. is very,

very brittle. And as those age, they do not hold

up. The springs get worn out. The plastic yellows

and becomes brittle. And so it's very, very difficult

to find these things in any sort of good condition,

let alone with the box and manual. So that's

about the only way that you're going to get one

that isn't just totally turned to powder. And

I mean, like I said, I'm not sitting here trying

to say, oh my god. It shouldn't be this, because

I don't know what the actual value of it is.

It's just, I'm sorry. Those eBay prices, they're

just shocking me. I mean, I get it. It is the

toy that it is, but holy crap. And it's also

the pandemic, which drove everything up. And

you can look at, especially with video games,

like on the price charting website, when that

first stimulus check came out, boom, prices shot

up. And then when the second stimulus check,

Boom, the prices shot up. Well, you know what?

A lot of us people that want these toys are 40

something years old. We're in a decent job that

didn't lay us off and we don't need the stimulus

money. So what am I going to do with it? Well,

I'm going to buy a PS5 or I'm going to buy that

thing that I never got as a kid. Yeah. OK. It's

funny you say that you talk about, you know,

making voices with Optimus Prime and whatever.

So did you and your friends ever pretend with

your toys that you had? By this, I mean, did

you say, I'm going to be this version of Optimus

Prime, and I'm going to hit my buddy Mike Powers

over the head with this Optimus Prime, and I'm

going to hit his Megatron, or that kind of thing?

I did not. I was a single child, only child.

Single child? No, you say only child. I was an

only child. And so most of my playtime was imaginative

on my own in my bedroom or in the living room

or in the basement, wherever I happened to be

playing. But when I the times that I remember

playing with friends, it was video games or Legos.

And we didn't do I didn't have two player or

two people back and forth, that type of thing,

which is kind of I wonder if that's Why or it

has something to do with how I don't do well

in those social social situations Like I am kind

of a loner and an introvert very interesting

I'm gonna have to pontificate on that later.

See I told you we would bring the psychology

out of it here. Oh, yeah For Pete's sake, I'm

pontificating here! Sheesh! Yeah, so what features

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

feel in comparison to the source material likeness?

That is moderately important. I think the big

collection I have now are Optimus Primes, and

I collected for a number of years every Optimus

Prime... plastic thing that I came across, every

single one. Nowadays, since I have two children,

just out of not having the time to drive around

and look and browse the internet to find those

things, I just buy the cool ones that I find

now, or the main ones that come out in a new

line. What I look for in just about all of my

action figures nowadays are points of articulation,

poseability, And with transformers in particular,

it's interesting transformations. And for a number

of years now, after going to some of the transformers

conventions, I'm following the engineers and

the designers of these things. And I'm watching

them learn this particular technique. The shell

formers, where the body of this organic vehicle

would just... turn inside out, and it would become

the geometric robot. Like, wow, all right. I

get to see them do the different things and solve

problems different ways, as even the Optimus

Prime evolves. 50 % of them are square cab with

blue dual tire back end. How many different ways

can you make that turn into a robot? they keep

coming up with new interesting ways that get

the panels out of the way so he has ab crunch

or can you do it so that the matrix opens up

and comes out of his chest and this earthrise

prime is one of the best I don't it's playable

like it's not gonna break it's not gonna fight

I would not hesitate giving this to my four -year

-old to play with and the next time they come

out with a figure like this that they'll solve

the only problem on this, which is the two front

tire pieces of kibble in the back. But the Marvel

Legends that I collect, it's the points of articulation.

It's a double -jointed elbow and a double -jointed

knee. And my wife, who I dragged into geekdom,

not reluctantly, she just did it with a laugh

at my expense. She now knows. So, Joe, how many

points of articulation does that one have when

I come home with a new toy? Or does that one

have double -jointed knees? Could you tell me,

please? My wife does not sound like that, but

she does when she's making fun of me. That's

funny. What does toy packaging have to have to

draw you in? So basically, the toy package is

essentially the comic book cover. Everybody needs

something on a comic book cover to basically

make them do a double take. So what for you is

it about toy packaging that makes you want to

get that toy? Nowadays, it would be retro homage

type packaging that would at least make me take

a double take at it. But packaging has never

been a draw for me. And because I'm a I'm a rip

it out of the package. And generally, pardon

me, throw the package away type of guy. But like,

what was it? I kept the Voltron lions that came

out with the Netflix series. There was something

about those card backs that I kept those. They're

sitting over here in the corner. So yeah, I guess

that did something for me. But no, I mean, I'm

not shopping for action figures by... browsing

around and checking that out, but there's a line

of Ninja Turtle figures out that makes them look

like the old packaging, and those caught my eye.

And then I looked at them and said, would those

only have five points of articulation? I'm not

gonna buy those. And so I walked off by. But

yeah, no, not. Not really, because generally

what I'm learning about toys is online, looking

at other people's pictures of them out of the

box, so I don't even get to see the packaging.

If as a kid or an adult you only were allowed

to choose one toy franchise to collect from,

which one would you choose and why? A half a

second, I thought that was going to be a hard

question to answer because it's Ninja Turtles

or Transformers and it's totally Transformers.

I think that's easy. Really? Yep. That surprises

me. No, it's Transformers because you get value

for the figure. Optimus Prime is a robot who's

a character who talks, who has a backstory, a

history, and a personality. And then he's a truck.

that you can drive around and race and roll through

the mud if you wanted to. And then where I get

my value out of action figures now is I can take

him off the shelf and I can go upstairs and sit

on the couch with my wife and do like hand puzzle

activity back and forth, robot truck, robot truck,

robot truck, to keep my hands busy. So it's like

three toys in one. I'm going to edit this out,

but I would say I'm going to edit this part out.

But I think if you're sitting next to your wife,

your hands would be fairly busy. No, no. We're

not like that. Totally. You don't have to edit

that out. If she listens to this podcast, she'll

be like, oh, no, totally. We don't touch each

other. When I say Netflix and chill that means

I'm sitting on this side of the couch with an

optimist prime in my hand She's over there. She's

browsing on her cell phone and we're perfectly

content Watching or ignoring Netflix while we

fiddle around with whatever's in our hands, and

it's not each other It's a joke for us we are

a typical I'm just glad she tolerates all of

this nerd -dom that I'm surrounded with. I try

not to let it infiltrate the living room or the

dining room. The pandemic made that a little

harder because I started a bunch of projects.

I customize things, I paint them, I touch them

up. I buy other people's broken third party transformer

figures and then mold and cast plastic gears

to rebuild it. And so those projects tend to

sit upstairs. Out but no no that doesn't invade

there. It lives in the basement on my office

desk and in my nerd room There you go as an adult.

Do you prefer vintage or modern toys? Knowing

my personality it's weird for me to say modern

toys and because I think you get the idealized

version of that character that you remember,

like this thing is, this Optimus Prime in my

hands, it's the best version of the figure we've

ever got. He has knees and elbows and a neck

that turns and shoulders that rise up above his

head, which that's, you didn't get that as a

kid. So it's an idealized version of that character.

I mean, I still have my actual Optimus Prime

that I got Christmas of 84. Mm -hmm still have

him with his fists, but this is this is the one

that is actually worth playing with Yeah Hmm

what is one toy you can always play with? That's

I can't I don't think I can pick one Because

it really is like which one am I in the mood

for today? Right if I but maybe I'll look at

that question like if I Could only eat one food

for the rest of my life So like what's the hand

candy optimus prime that I would want to sit

on my couch with for the rest of my life? Oh

Magic square optimus prime. I think it was a

third party version of him that is pretty decently

posable, although it is a little fragile. Honestly,

I need to put more thought into that because

I have too many. But as I'm sitting here with

it in my hands, this Optimus Prime is just very

nearly perfect. It's durable, it's articulated,

and it has the trailer. Really would I rather

play with that I'm gonna break the legs off of

that someday going back and forth this one will

never break So I'm biased because it's the one

that's in front of my hands Wow that one actually

looks really cool the magic square one I'm looking

at it now. Holy crap Yeah, there were three companies

that came out about the same time with a g1 optimus

prime Hasbro came out with the third version

of their masterpiece, Optimus Prime. And it is,

I don't even know how they got the price so expensive,

but it's almost $450 or $350. And it looks good.

It looks like the cartoon. And then Magic Square

did one and another company that I can't remember.

And it's all the G1 cab glancing at it. People

could not, I don't think you could tell the difference

glancing at it. You have to get in there and

see where the, the joints and things are. But

I think for the price and what it did, the Magic

Square was the best of them. Wow. All right.

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, et cetera. I am a sucker

for any of the lead characters. even from things

that I didn't watch as a child. And while I am

familiar with He -Man and watched the episodes

and can get the jokes, I never really got into

it. But right now there's a Skeletor and a He

-Man figure that look like the vintage figures,

but they have knees and elbows and they're $14

.99. And I want to buy those so bad to put it

on the shelf because I want the lead character

and I want the lead villain. I don't want anybody

else and I want the new GI Joe figures the ones

that they're releasing that are like Marvel Legends

scale figures and I want the lines and I want

Duke and Scarlett I Barely watched GI Joe growing

up. I want those characters and I don't know.

I think I have to get snake eyes at least But

that just means I'm gonna deprive him from somebody

else who wants him more than me, but I guess

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? Any of the toys that I regret buying,

I end up selling at the Geek Stuff Garage Sale,

which is just a wonderful little nostalgia festival

that I put on. There are things that I don't

remember getting rid of. that I'd stumble on

and say, oh my god, I have to buy that. Like

I had a couple of popples growing up and I don't

remember ever throwing away any stuffed animals.

But I saw a popple at the geek sale, like that's

the one I had and I bought it. And so like now

it's back, it's on a shelf upstairs in my bedroom.

and the Boglins, the Boglins just did a Kickstarter

and I had a Boglin growing up and it was a cute

little puppet and I love puppetry. It's another

one of my way too many hobbies and so that when

that Kickstarter came out, don't know why I sold

it, don't know why I got rid of it, don't remember

getting rid of it but I bought myself a new Boglin.

I often regret buying Transformers because those

are kind of impulse buys sometimes or Oh, yeah

that character that I don't really remember from

the cartoon who was just a background character

that looks like a cool transformation and I buy

it and I sit in the living room and watch Netflix

for a few evenings Transforming it back and forth

and then I'm like, hmm. I You know, I really

only if I if I do more than optimist prime I'm

gonna get myself in trouble and so then I sell

it at the geek sale I May be regret selling the

armada Unicron, but I know that that went to

somebody who very very much loved it. I sold

him at the first geek sale He was not for sale

at the geek sale But the dude saw that I had

some transformers and he said have you ever seen

a Unicron and I'm like, you know what? Wait a

minute and I go inside my house and I go down

to the basement and I pull my armada Unicron

off the shelf and I say here he is Like wasn't

gonna sell it, but he definitely wanted it more

than I did 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? The eventual dream is to have a Massive

well, I have a nerd room in the basement is separate

from this office Podcast room where I have a

wall of various action figures But in my nerd

room, that is where everything will eventually

be on display. But on one wall, I have all of

my retro video game stuff hooked up with the

television. On a second wall, I'm going to have

all Transformers. And I built a 6 -foot wide,

2 -foot deep base platform where all of my Optimus

Primes are. This summer I'm gonna be building

an eight foot long semi trailer that the rest

of my optimist primes will stand on inside and

on top of and I'm gonna motorize it and I'm gonna

light it with LEDs and I'm gonna eventually learn

how to do raspberry ply and make it play Stan

Bush transformers when it opens up or as it's

opening and Then as when that's done, I'll build

a shelf for my Megatrons and I'll build a shelf

for my bumblebees And I'll build an arc diorama

so that I can display the legends class figures

the small arc Autobots that I'm collecting I've

got a wall of Ninja Turtles where my comics and

the turtle action figures are and then I have

a Lego wall But I think I'm gonna get rid of

the Legos I think I'm gonna say you know what

Oliver here. These are your Legos now son May

they be your burden and not mine And and then

I will have a room with furniture and that people

can come down and hang out in there and that

will be the very dedicated collections that I

have and this office here is going to be Kind

of be my catch -all everything else So this is

where you'll come to look at my model deep space

nine that I bought at the geek sale The iron

giant the Casey Jones action figure the Predaking

the Gundam robots the earthworm Jim The Ghostbusters

the vintage figures and the plasma figures. So

like this is my catch -all My one GI Joe vehicle

over there I'll get pictures of this stuff. I'll

send it to you. And it keeps changing. It evolves

because I find new things. Yep. How do you keep

track of your collection if you do? I don't.

I largely go by memory, which does get me in

trouble sometimes. That hasn't been as big of

a problem recently. It has been a problem with

my comic books because I keep they live in four

different spots depending on where I'm reading

them and I keep losing them and needing to buy

them and then I realize, oh my gosh, how did

I end up with three copies of Ninja Turtles 72?

I don't even know. But with the action figures,

no, I'm staying on top of my Optimus Primes,

I'm staying on top of the third party and the

first party releases of those, so that doesn't

usually get me. So you've mentioned that you

have shelves here and shelves there. How do you

display your toys? Do you put the Transformers

with the turtles? Do you put the GI Joes with

the mask? That kind of stuff. The nerd room is

going to be a curated display of the vintage

video games, the optimuses. Everything's going

to kind of be potted out. This room in here,

I want it to be the mess. This is the, not mess,

but I'm going to put my star wars figures next

to my muppets and my iron man next to transformers

and the legolas figure i kind of like that mix

going and i think maybe in this in this room

i will have to do at least one shelf of the lead

characters from that show so put my kermit next

to optimus next to leonardo next to he -man next

to duke and whoever else i come up with Awesome.

Okay, so heaven forbid anything happen, but if

the house burns down You the kids the wife every

the pets everybody is safe You can only keep

one toy from your entire collection. What would

it be and why? Probably my g1 optimus prime And

and that's just that's one of my earliest memories

the I and the reason that I do like the Optimus

Prime character above most others is that he

reminds me of my grandpa who I lost a number

of years ago, but that stoic wise knows what

to say and when to say it and how to say it to

really just punch you right in the heart and

make you understand very quickly. And so I think

that figure represents My grandpa, that particular

figure represents my grandpa in my head. And

like I said, these action figures are totems.

And so it would be like rescuing the totem of

my grandfather by robbing that Optimus Prime

off the shelf and dive outside as the house explodes.

There you go. All right, 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 can pack quite a bit in that

size box. My favorite part about that challenge

is that it's not the most valuable figures. My

G1 Optimus Prime would be in there. It'd probably

be my top five Optimus figures, which would very

easily fit in that box and have plenty of room

left over. I think I'd have a couple of different

sets of the Ninja Turtles packed in there the

the NECA movie figures the six inch ones I'm

assuming my house may still be on fire at this

point and so the The ones that are like two and

a half feet tall the movie figures that I got

for a slick awesome deal No, those can burn up.

I want the six inch ones because I can actually

play with those Those go in the box and I'd still

have plenty of room left over. I'd probably bring

along some of those Megatrons over there, especially

the ones that I repaired and painted. Yeah, I

could probably put the Transformers that I want

in there and then just sweep every single one

of my Ninja Turtles into that box and have plenty

of room. I'd be able to close the box if I did

that. Yeah. That's really it and you know, then

that kind of actually helps me out Thanks for

asking that question because everything else

could probably go to the geek sale Thanks Mike,

I just got a whole bunch of room and money There

you go. I made you more money than that Bitcoin

crap did why I'm up I'm up about a hundred bucks.

There you go Are you a Funko fan? No Okay points

of articulation Yeah, there's not really any

articulation, but the turtles figures that they

do look damn awesome. I anywhere I regret not

buying the full set of Ninja Turtles because

I do buy all the Ninja Turtles I've somebody

gave me a Leonardo that they got in a Oh gosh,

one of those subscription boxes one really early

back in the day. Yeah Joe likes Ninja Turtles.

We'll give it to him. All right. Thank you But

I will admit to owning the Bob Ross pop, the

Tom Swanson pop. They are both on the shelf behind

me here. Did they do an Optimus Prime? I am turning

Joe into a Funko fan, ladies and gentlemen. Well,

I need him for my Optimus Prime shelf. He's a

cross collectible. So, they have done... Oh,

no. This sounds like it's going to be a plural.

Mm -hmm. They have done multiple versions of

Optimus Prime. All right, fun code hard to hate

dear listeners as I open a tab to YouTube I wouldn't

Don't don't do that. Now. I'll I'll send you

all the stuff later. Don't do that. All right.

All right. Oh, yeah, so Funko has had the Transformers

license or a version of a Transformers license

since the 2007 or 2009 film since the first or

the second movie They originally did movie versions

of funko pop so like movie bumblebee or movie

whatever But they were the movie aesthetic where

you saw the parts on the outside As a funko fan

I can straight -up tell you folks those Transformers

movie pops were the Some of the ugliest funko

pops I have ever seen and I love funko pops So

recently as part of their retro toys line They

have G .I. Joe, they have Transformers, they

have everything. They have released Optimus Prime

and Megatron in multiple versions. Now, the main

Optimus Prime version, the regular, you know,

that everyone can get is Optimus Prime with his

gun, excuse me, with his rifle that he always

had. And it literally looks just like the...

Take your 1984 toy. transform it and put it next

to this Funko Pop. The only difference is the

Funko Pop's head is like three times the size

of the Optimus Prime. You know what I mean? Because

obviously Funko, little big head, little body.

So the multiple versions, they have the one where

he has his rifle, which is the regular version.

They did a GameStop lunchbox multipack where

you could get two of four figures that either

had Optimus Prime and Cobra Commander. or Megatron

and Duke. The difference is Optimus Prime in

the GameStop lunchbox has his orange energy axe

instead of his gun. So when he and Megatron were

fighting in I think their first episode and they

pulled out the plasma energy weapons, that's

the Optimus Prime that I'm actually holding the

box in my hand. I'm looking right at his axe.

And the Megatron version has the purple mace.

They also so far have released a Nemesis Prime,

so essentially the black Optimus with the gun,

but that goes for big bucks on eBay. I'll send

you all the stuff later. It's too late. I already

bought the Optimus Prime. See, folks, I can turn

anybody into a Funko fan. I'm up to three. You

can't call me a pop collector just yet. As soon

as you hit five, you are. OK, I'll see what I

can do. I could probably hit that. Is that a

challenge? Of course it is. I also have Grimlock.

They've done... I need to find Megatron. I think

that might be next. Yeah, let's see. They've

got Optimus. Grimlock, Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream

was a Target exclusive, Bumblebee and a Bumblebee

version that was a Target exclusive. The only

difference is his doors are open. It's fine.

Whatever. They also have Jetfire and that I'm

hoping they're going to be doing. I can't wait

to see what Funko does with Shockwave. But anyways,

what was the most money you spent on a toy? Oh,

that's a good question. I don't think I've ever

spent more That has to be less than $200 I I

can't even think about what I Get really I get

really hesitant going, you know above 150 140

some of these third -party optimist primes get

Pretty expensive because they're they're cheap

until you have to ship them from the other side

of the world, right? No, I know how much I've

spent more on One comic than I think I have on

all the rest of my toys. Oh, wow. I mean not

total not total but Yeah, I think that though

the most I've spent on a collectible is the the

hundred and Forty dollars I spent to get issue

29 of Ninja Turtles volume 4 Hmm interesting

No, okay. Well, no, I'm I'm looking at something

that I that I will eventually spend more money

on I'm currently doing the It might count as

a toy, but the build the Ghostbusters ecto one

from Eagle Moss I saw Adam Savage building it

on his YouTube channel and I like did the math

a whole bunch of times and slowly justified the

giant purchase to myself because it ends up being

very expensive, but you pay for it over the course

of three years. Not on credit. They just send

you the parts and you have to put it together.

Right. There you go. And I don't want to say

the number out loud, but it's very high. It's

very high. Four figures, five figures. Four.

Oh, dang. Yeah. Holy crap. I've justified it

by the fact that there is an incredible amount

of engineering going into that hole. And it's

huge. It's almost three feet long. So this Ecto

-1 will be three feet long. Most of it is die

-cast metal and chrome. You open the hood, the

engine's all there. It's incredibly detailed,

lights and sounds. But between the engineering,

and the small bespoke nature of printing so few

kits, because this isn't mass market, not really.

I'm like, okay, I can justify it. And then, of

course, spreading it out over three years. And

I'm having a fun time. So I'm buying the parts,

the engineering, I'm paying for the engineers,

and I'm paying for the experience of putting

it together and customizing it. So, I've justified

it. There you go. Alright. What was either the

best deal or the cheapest toy you bought? Free

is pretty cheap. Free is pretty cheap. Here's

another Transformers story. I go to TFCon in

Toronto. This was two years ago because we had

a pandemic and they didn't have one last year.

And when that convention was happening, what

Transformers was doing were releasing these little,

I don't know, half inch by half inch heads. They

were the headmaster figures, but they changed

the line over and made them prime masters. And

they plugged into little matrix shells that would

go into the chest of most of the figures that

were out at the time. And they released all 13

primes. And so you know you had to get these

three little legends figures for five bucks apiece

to get those Primes and you'd have to get optimists

to get that matrix Prime and they transformed

into the little they folded open and they were

the little guy the one of the primes was only

with the hundred and sixty dollar Predaking figure

that they released the giant one and I don't

want Predaking all I want is that Prime master

because I'm a Collect them all I have to get

the whole set sort of guy when they tell you

that there's only going to be 13 of them I'm

going to have all 13 and so I go to TF con in

Toronto and the first night that you show up

there you Bring a toy or something to an auction

and you that you give them the thing to auction

off for charity and they give you tickets Hey,

thanks for donating this item for charity and

then you go over to these bags and it's like

a raffle for particular figures and I gave him

a stack of comics, I didn't want Transformers

comics that I wasn't after and they gave me one

ticket for every comic and I put two or three

in that bag and then the rest of the hand filled

in the Predaking bag because some vendor had

put up a Predaking and they pulled my name out

of there and I remember that guy and for the

Predaking, Ruffle, Ruffle, Ruffle, Joseph Reed

and both my arms shot up in the air. That guy

is really excited about this Predaking come on

up and get it and my friend who was with me was

also after all the 13 primes I sat back down

with the giant Predaking in my hand. He's staring

at me like he wants to Killing you bite my head

off. So what do you want for that? Well gosh,

it was Predacom I can't remember the name of

the headmaster, but it was Predacon something

Predaking. Predaking? No, that's the big guy.

Yeah, Predaking is the combined form. Yeah, I

have to go get that. Razor Claw... Let's see,

let's see if I can remember this from memory.

Razor Claw, Tantrum was the bull. Dive Bomb is

the eagle. Well done. I forget the other ones.

Yeah, I... Razor back. I can't I'd have to maybe

look it was never it was never my thing You know

that was he was in two or three episodes you

know I wanted the toy as a kid because I wanted

everything as a kid, but nope He's sitting on

the shelf behind me there I bought an upgrade

kit for him since I didn't pay any money for

him I didn't feel so bad spending 45 or 50 bucks

for the gold plated wings that replaced the Hasbro

wings and I know somebody might want it someday,

and I will sell it and I'll feel okay about that.

I'll give them a deal because they didn't cost

me anything. There you go. What modern and or

vintage toy lines are you currently collecting?

First and third party, Transformers. Mostly the

optimus I'm hankering for the man The retro any

of the retro figures that are getting re -released

and upgraded like the plasma series Ghostbusters

There's a couple more of those I'm hunting for

because I want the terror dog that came in them

waiting for the last few figures to go on clearance

so I can buy it and Get the rest of them. Oh

get a list while I'm talking about those plasma

series figures you know, I bring home the four

Ghostbusters and Here's a terror dog leg another

one the two back legs All right, and and I'm

talking about this at the dining room table to

my wife and I say, okay Yeah, the the torso comes

with Dana Barrett and the head of the terror

dog comes from gozer and I'm really upset because

that's only one terror dog and they were two

terror dogs and my son without missing a beat

Oliver says Well, I guess that just means you'll

need to buy two sets of figures so that you'll

have two terror dogs. And I shed a tear because

boy. How old is Oliver now? Oh, no, no, no, no.

He said, but that's not how it went. He said,

but dad, they were two terror dogs. You're going

to have to buy a whole other set of action figures.

That's what he said. He was nine at the time.

But yes, I shed a tear, one because he remembered.

even only watching the movie once or twice, that

there were, yes, two terror dogs, and then that

he thought, well, Dad, you have to get two sets

now because there were two terror dogs. That's

probably not a good thing that he does that because

that might be unhealthy as an adult. Yes, well,

look at us, okay? I forget off the top of my

head how old you are, but I'm 41. 41, yep. And

I, not in my Funko collection, the only one that

I will buy duplicates of is most likely Optimus

because again, Nemesis Prime is a different character.

I don't necessarily need Optimus, the Optimus

with the rifle. I have the Optimus that I want.

But when I was buying actual action figures from

2006 to 2011, We live in a time folks where you

either you always buy two either one to open

and play with or one to keep in the box. So what

your son is telling you essentially is you know

you need. Two of them to make the set right so

you can open it up and play it. It's we've been

doing this for years folks I I don't do too many

boxed figures. There is a right No, I know but

I'm saying like the buying. Yeah, I think generally

is so we can pull one out and play with it and

That didn't sound right When you do an episode

on scalpers, I'd be interested in participating

in that because I do have kind of animosity but

also at the same time understanding for the scalpers.

The geek sale that I run is about getting the

collectibles into the hands of the people who

will be the final collector. It's part of the

conversation that goes on behind the scenes with

my vendors, who are just regular people. I don't

get comic convention vendors. There are a few

people that have upgraded to that, but I talk

to them and I say, look, I'm not charging you

a dime to have this booth. That convention over

there charges you $400 to have a table. That

convention over there charges you a thousand

bucks to have a table. I'm not charging you anything.

And so when somebody comes up and they want something

and you priced it that, Like you know give them

less than eBay for it You know buy it by something

let them bundle let them put it together You

know I'm not saying to give it away. I'm not

saying to lose money on it, but I'm not charging

those people anything to be there and And so

it I we try not to scalp the things that I sell

are under eBay prices Essentially what you know

what what you're saying is what? But one of the

original co -hosts of this show always used to

say he was the guy That was always you know,

if you wanted a figure and he had it he would

only charge you cost plus shipping Mm -hmm. He

was never out. He always believed in karma. His

name was Gary Clark His online name was optimus

scourge. He passed away. Oh Fuck it's been a

dip 2011 yeah, yeah, he passed away in 2011 and

I kept this show going until 2014 and then I

just Stopped it until my buddy my buddy Josh

said hey, I have an idea and I'm like, okay good

I'm reinvigorated. I don't think Gary would mind

if we Brought the show back and here we are now.

We're nine hundred nine episodes in nine. Wow

nine episodes in her anyway But, you know, he

was always that guy who believed in karma. What

you put out into the world, you'll get back kind

of thing. So I think that's the same thing you're

saying with how you're the organization, you're

the person that does the sale that won't charge

to have a table. You know, it's all about everybody

making what they can without feeling like, oh,

gig stuff, garage sale. There's nothing but scalpers

there. There aren't, folks. I'm not saying...

I don't want people to hear me say that sarcastically.

That's not what it is at all kind of thing. And

I'm sure there are plenty of people that go to

those $400 table conventions or whatever, and

they maybe make good bank. Who knows? I don't

know. They do. I know some guys. OK, there you

go. This question was obviously written before

the pandemic. So do you visit toy shows or conventions?

Generally my own I don't do so well finding things

at the comic conventions that have people selling

toys and mostly because yeah, the prices are

so high and We we've not I've noticed going to

a couple of conventions here and there you drive

into town someplace that I'm I've never been

and I hit the target and the Walmart and whatever

else they might have and the shelves are bare.

And then I go to the toy show or the convention,

the comic convention, and I see all the toys

that should be in the store for double the price.

And I know what happened. These people rolled

into town on a Wednesday to set up their booths

and they cleared the shelves to stock or to get

the new current toys so that then there wasn't

any competition at the convention for that figure

that people were looking for. And on one hand,

I understand doing that because you go to the

store, you see the figure on the shelf and you

know, oh man, that $20 Marvel legend sells for

45 on eBay right now. And one of my buddies said,

okay, if you go to the grocery store, if you're

out in public and you see $50 laying on the ground,

do you bend down and take 25 and then put 25

change down so the next person can get it? Or

do you take it both? When that was explained

to me, I understand why you do that now because

we're all educated, but I want the kids to get

them and I want the collectors to get them without

having to pay too much. I help people out when

I can. but the best conventions that I've been

to. Oh, Mike, that was where I met you for the

first time at the TFCon in Kentucky. It was the

final BotCon, so Louisville, Kentucky killed

BotCon. Actually, no, BotCon killed BotCon. BotCon

is a whole other thing, folks. We're trying our

best not to give it promotion anymore, but yes,

in 2016, I was shocked as s***. Shit, I was at

the Stan Bush concert. It was the only part of

the convention I went to. My friend Amy had flown

in from Arizona, and we were going to the Stan

Bush concert, because it was a free concert out

on 4th Street Live in downtown Louisville. I

ran into Proto Man, who actually runs TFCon.

He's one of the runners of TFCon in Canada. And

then I run into you, and I'm like, wait a minute,

I know that voice. Holy shit, it's Joe. What

the hell? Talk about a meeting that's off the

cuff. That was cool. Yes. Yes, it was and and

it's like yeah, we've been podcasting for years

by that point and it's like Like I know yeah,

we could start hanging out tomorrow going to

lunch places and it wouldn't be it's like we've

known each other for years Yep, but but those

those conventions are Both the bot cons that

I had gone to and the TF cons are a totally different

beast Mostly because it's like going to a flea

market and at a flea market I don't care about

90 % of the booths that are there But when I

do find the cool booth like hey, this is the

one I want to spend time in but at TF con and

and bot con Every booth is the booth. I want

to spend time in and and that's different from

even a comic convention And so that targeted

convention is way neat of an experience. And

I do sell and buy things at those conventions.

TFCon, the three buddies that go, or the two

buddies that go with me to that, three of us

total, we bring things to sell and there's a

thing they do, they... You leave your hotel door

open and your room number on a tag down in the

convention hall and people can come up and buy

stuff off your bed. And going from the United

States to Canada, we're bringing figures that

the Canadians don't get right away and we're

selling them for a good price. And then the exchange

rate works in our favor. And so we do very well

at that convention. I buy ridiculous things.

for very cheap and I come home with more money

and toys to play with and give to my children

and to put on shelves. So that convention is

incredible. But for the whole pandemic, everything's

been Amazon and Target curbside pickup, which

is to say it's been a slow year. Alright folks

the next couple of questions because I had a

bunch of people help me with these 42 questions

and Joe was one of them So now Joe has to answer

his own questions. Oh boy What do you think it

is about our generation that causes our? Childhood

toys to mean so much more to us for instance

than our parents generation And man, that's a

question that I wanna, I could have a whole podcast

topic about that, like five different people

to give their opinions on that. But there was,

when I wrote that question, that's because I

wanted to hear the answers from the other people

that you were gonna ask this question to, because

I'm not sure that I can answer it. For me, it

kind of goes back to what I talked about earlier.

These things are totems. Memories made physical.

Characters made physical. Figures from literature

and film made physical that I need these to remember.

If I didn't see them laying around, I'd forget

that they exist and I would forget the lessons

that they taught me. That's the beginning of

the answer like I don't know why don't why doesn't

my dad? Collect Tarzan action figures. Why aren't

there Tarzan and Lone Ranger? action figures

getting updated and new releases and Like I can't

I don't know what happened marketing capitalism

something. I don't even know and I think it's

because We see this revival right now because

the kids who played with those toys in the 80s

are the engineers and the designers and the writers

and the movie makers and The cartoon makers they're

all they're the fans now getting to make toys

that they wish they had I think that's a component

of it but since writing that question I Came

across a Facebook post from a friend of mine

And and I might get the wording of this wrong.

So bear with me, but it was a hypothetical somebody

saying to somebody else, oh, you mean you have

a healthy relationship with your past and present

so you don't have to clutter your house with

memorabilia? And I'm like, oh man, I feel seen.

Like is it because I don't have a healthy relationship

with my childhood or my present day or my work

life or my family life that I... do this, I think

I'm happy. I feel positive, I don't feel like

I'm suppressing anything, but like bam, that

just hit me. And so that's something that I'm

gonna have to think about for a while and figure

out what that is, because this isn't hoarding.

I can still walk from here to there and I do

sell a lot of stuff from time to time, but yeah,

I mean. Do all of those designers, artists, creators,

writers, showrunners, do they have a healthy

relationship? I don't think it's a healthy relationship

with capitalism and consumerism, but hopefully

they're all right. Hopefully. What is your motivation

for purchasing toys to display, play, or fiddle?

I'm a fiddler, I think. But then also, yeah,

there is the totem of it. I just picked up the

He -Man that came out, oh gosh, 2003, 2004, that

weird TV show one, and it's a memory of the four

horsemen, the toy designers that pioneered that

weird shoulder joint that made for more natural

articulation and gave He -Man a giant broad shouldered

look. Like, man, action figures copy that all

the time now. And so, like, I get into the engineering

of it, and I get into the designers of it, and

then, yeah, it's the He -Man from that show.

And I'm fiddling with it. Yes, you are. There

you go. Have you ever purchased a toy for a child

with the ulterior motive of playing with it yourself?

Every... I about said every day, but all the

time. And that's the joy of having two children,

is that, yeah, you do get to have excuses to

buy things I wouldn't. And it's not even with

the action figures so much. The kids know, like,

those are daddy's toys. We don't play with those.

Or they'll occasionally say, hey, dad, can you

get that Optimus Prime down and let me play with

it? And that's where we get down on the floor

together, and I make sure he doesn't break the

arms off. But but also like I get to do things

like let's order that tinker crate from the internet

I kind of want to put that together myself and

I'm an adult and I could buy it But it makes

it much easier to justify when you can vicariously

live through your child buying those more pointless

sorts of things But but yeah, and and you know

the rescue box I can buy those and then say okay

when he's done playing with those I'll put those

on a shelf because They're kind of cool. All

right I end up adopting a lot of my son's discarded

toys. The Fortress Maximus he bought and the

Tripticon, the new figures, he saved up his own

money and bought those and now doesn't play with

them anymore so they get to live on this shelf

back here. There you go. This question is kind

of similar to the last one, but have you ever

purchased a vintage toy for a child because you

thought it would be fun based on your own preferences?

Don't buy a lot of vintage figures I think mostly

for the fact that they the the playability is

less because you know the points of articulation

or the Accessories that they came with or or

just having brittle plastic So I don't think

that I have And I've never bought a vintage figure

and then like tried to hide that under Them so

so I don't think so. Yeah You've mentioned that

you do already so I know that you do and besides

I already knew that you did anyway, but do you

do any toy? Modifications or customs painting

building build dioramas that kind of stuff all

of the above. Yeah, I love I love repairing and

and What am I the? one of the most striking things

or most impressive things that I that occurred

with a build is somebody bought that the masterpiece

Megatron from Beast Wars, the purple T -Rex.

That is a very expensive figure. I think it's

a $250 figure. $350, I think. Okay, there you

go. Yikes. Would have wanted it. Never would

have bought it on my own. Dude comes across Transformers

website. Telling action figures and says I bought

it. I opened it I tried to transform it and I

broke the leg off the gear is shattered and I

don't want it. I'm angry at it $35 and like the

post was two or three minutes old when I Happen

to scroll by it and I'm like, but I can't get

the PM made fast enough. I can't yeah I want

that figure right now and he says, you know,

it's broken right? Yeah 35 so I $35 the guy Knowing

that he was gonna lose his hat on shipping alone

like for the box everything he sent everything

and I Opened it looked at it started taking pictures

took the whole waste assembly apart the gear

was in pieces and the mounting for it was in

pieces and so I Took the other hip apart got

the gear made a mold out of what is that stuff

called? The silicone clay that we used to play

with in kindergarten. Made a mold out of that,

poured a two part epoxy to recast, to make a

duplicate of the gear, and I rebuilt the hip

assembly with styrene plastic. Fitted the new

gear in with the spring and the mechanism that

was still good. Put my housing over the top of

it and painted it. He has a ratcheting hip and

he can stand walk and transform and you could

barely tell that there was a repair there it's

a little thicker because I used styrene and I

wanted to make sure there's enough body, but

I now have a $350 Megatron And that I never would

have bought I never would have been able to afford

that ever and so I'm excited Somebody needs to

find a broken Beast Wars Optimus Masterpiece

figure because I'm not paying for that one either.

I'll buy it broken and fix it. Beast Wars Megatron

MP43 Masterpiece on BigBadToystore .com is $319

.99. I got it for $35 and the price of a sheet

of styrene. There you go. All right, do you think

toy companies should specifically have adult

collector toys child toys or find a way to mix

them I I don't know that you can even put that

much thought into it deliberately anymore because

the adults are Gonna want the kids versions as

well. There's gonna be enough Adult collectors

that will want the kids versions As well like

even the there are different lines of transformers

and there is a kids line of transformers And

yeah, we're fighting over those two because they

released RC in that line and it's a really decent

RC figure and then they released a build a figure

in the kids line and So everybody wants to build

a figure. It's just I think we we do need high

-end Action figures like the the hundred dollar

masterpiece optimist primes, maybe not the four

hundred and fifty dollar optimist primes But

yeah, we're gonna need that and I kind of wish

we were Even more awesome like Japan is and how

they handle their adult collector market They're

a much smaller country with fewer people. I don't

know how they're able to sustain the The manufacturing

that they do over there, but you know all right

I'll do with what we can over here But yeah,

I don't think you can separate kids from the

adults anymore because it's just we're gonna

all want all of it true Just going back really

quick MP32 Optimus Primal is sold out on BigBadToyStore

.com, but they list him as $125, which isn't

bad for a masterpiece. That one is small. Yeah.

Which is kind of why I didn't buy it. Now if

that were, well, it wouldn't be in scale. I was

gonna say if that were a foot and a half tall

or well about 12 inches tall like the G1 Optimus

Prime MP thing is. That'd be great, but it's

it's really small that I saw it on display at

TF con and was like, oh I don't think so. Mm

-hmm I'll find one someday. I'll be patient.

Yep I know you don't because you already said

you don't but do you have a my parents got rid

of my toys story? There's if I thought hard about

that I'd probably come across something where

they decided to get rid of it But no, I had a

very understanding Mom I think more or less understanding

and maybe more liked to make up for the Depressing

disappointing things in our lives with toys and

that maybe is also the start of an unhealthy

relationship with them But she understood what

How important they were to me and I so I don't

think I have too many of those got rid of it

Thankfully very cool was there Ever a moment

when you were done with toys have you ever considered

stopping as a collector or even selling your

whole collection? Not the whole collection and

and I think that that is because they're a totem

for me there there it'd be so it'd be like selling

Not the same as selling my children, but there

would be an element of that It would be kind

of down that path the the biggest moment that

I had there were okay two moments that happened

with my video game collection and it happened

with the toy or object collection, was I realized

that I was starting to buy things not because

I wanted them or because they fit the collection,

but because I didn't have them. And when I realized

that that was the motivating factor behind my

buying, like Optimus Primes or video game systems

in cartridges, that was where the geek sale started.

was me saying, look, I have a whole bunch of

stuff I need to get rid of. And I don't want

to sell it all on eBay. And I don't want to pay

money at a convention. So I had a garage sale.

And I sold between that geek sale and finding

a dude who wanted to buy everything that was

left. I got rid of 85 % of my video game collection.

I had just gone in with a couple of garage sales

and that guy. And the action figures that I didn't

want got trickled out. of the geek sale over

the past nine years. So, get rid of it all? No.

But have occasional purges where I'm getting

rid of those purchases that I regret that I talked

about earlier? Yes, all the time. I have a box

out in the garage right now getting ready for

the next geek sale. I might put Predaking in

there. I don't know. What is something that does

not have a toy of it you'd love to have in toy

form? Oh. I'd have to think about that. Man.

You know, you can find a Kermit the Frog plush,

but it doesn't look right. You can find other

Muppets as plushes, but they don't look right.

I know there was like a Sesame Street Kickstarter

Cookie Monster puppet legit. Puppet that you

could buy but even that didn't look right and

and I know that they don't want to do that for

reasons They don't want people buying that and

then going and making their own Videos show with

them. That's the very reason that they don't

do that But I want a Kermit the Frog puppet that

looks like Kermit the Frog And and that's something

that I don't think they'll ever sell us but it'll

be happy It'll have to be something that if I

wanted I'm gonna have to build it That's just

off the cuff answer right there. I'm sure there's

something else that I hadn't thought of yet.

Right. What is a toy that you'd love to have

scaled up and functional for real people? This

question actually comes from the pull bag because

I always ask people over there, in those origins,

what is one item from a comic book that you would

love to have in real life, like Green Lantern's

ring kind of thing. So that's basically what

this is. But would it become the actual object?

Yes. My knee -jerk reaction to that is a proton

pack. I find it odd that this question is at

number 37 in a row. How have your spouses significant

others mates partners, whatever you want to call

them dealt with your collection? My wife tolerates

it when it gets its way up into the living room

Or or the dining room table if I'm building something

But I Have to really ask her like is there any

amount of pride? That she has that I feel about

the collection Or is it shame? I know that she

does. She is excited to be able to say things

to coworkers. Oh, you you have this thing that

you want to get rid of my son or my son. Look

at listen to that. Like she probably that was

a nice. Was that a Freudian slip? I don't think

so. My husband does this collecting. You should

talk to him if you want to find out how much

that's worth or he knows people at this sale.

So there is that kind of pride, but. Don't necessarily

think that was a Freudian slip considering, you

know Oliver is already buying two things to get

the two dogs Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know like

father like son I think I think the implication

was that I just called my wife my mom, which

is really unhealthy Yeah, that was me boy doing

her voice saying my son so I might have to investigate

that later and I'm I'm I'm sweating now that

was Damn, yeah, I know right and talk about stuff

on the cutting room floor folks. No, you don't

have to cut that that's hilarious And she'd get

a kick out of that too, and then she'd actually

she'd be a little disappointed and then she'd

think it's funny But yeah, I will have to ask

her that I know she tolerates it when it's a

mess upstairs But there there is a little bit

of she gets it. She understands it And I think

there is a small part of her that is jealous

that she doesn't have the thing. She cooks. She

likes good food and making good food and tasting

good food and having good tools in the kitchen.

So that is kind of her thing, aside from the

domestic nature of that. That is her hobby, but

she wants, she's jealous of. The hobbies that

I have and all right, so I'm just gonna ask this

because we're free -flowing at this point How

many cooking shows does she watch? We we don't

have streaming cable. We don't cable TV. So we're

not doing like the Food Network stuff. We used

to watch Alton Brown together back in the day

and that's because he's a cooking nerd but now

our cooking shows are binging with Babish on

YouTube and Sam the cooking guy on YouTube. Have

you guys ever watched either grocery games or

diners drive diners drive ins or dives with Guy

Fieri? We did watch drivers. I dive it. I keep

bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh

bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh

bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh

bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh

bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh

bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh

bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh

bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh

bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh

bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh

ble I hit all the comic stores, she brings that

book, and we hit all the triple D places that

get listed. And the supermarket sweep type game

shows, I don't know if we would watch that if

we had access to one, but I'm sure she's seen

it. If you have Netflix, the classic supermarket

sweep is still on there, I think. Anyway, yeah.

So the reason why I ask that is because, again,

This is me, folks. This is where I am in life

now. I am all about that Funko life. There is

a Guy Fieri Funko pop that you could get her

so she could feel close to the whole cooking

toy collecting thing. Oh my gosh. One of our

buddies that we both met at a board game convention

is an illustrator. who does the usual kinds of

con sketches of the superheroes or the celebrities,

and she does her own comics that we've given

money. Either way, she's really moved up in that

world. And one of the things that I have done

for Jenny is that I have commissioned drawings

of Alton Brown, Sam the Cooking Guy, and I've

built frames for them and those hang in the kitchen

in the dining room. They're very cartoony and

delightful illustrations of those characters,

of those people drawn as characters. So that's

a little bit of a cross -collectible for her,

I think, as well. Cool. Awesome. All right. Let's

see. Where are we here? We are at... What part

of collecting do you struggle with? I have too

many projects involving the collection. I need

to fix that, repair that, paint that model kit.

I need to build the shelf for this. Thankfully,

I'm a teacher and I have summers off, so I do

have more freedom than most people. But yeah,

if all this stuff was in boxes or piled in a

corner, I... then it would be a problem. So I'm

thankful that I do have the freedom to be able

to do those things. But the ADD in me means I

have a hard time picking the one thing and prioritizing

the things that solve the problems. But I'm getting

there. I got time. There you go. What is one

positive and one negative memory you have with

buying toys? When the first Transformers movie

came out, there was a target near me that broke

street date on the movie figures. And I found

the leader class Optimus Prime, which I was gonna

buy because it was Optimus, and it's the $50

figure, $45 figure at the time, and I take it

up to the cash register, boop, she beeps it,

and it rang up at $19 .99. And I'm like, Whoa,

wait a minute. Can I go get the other one? And

I went back and I got the other one with the

intent of flipping it. And so I did the dirt

bag thing. But I think fate and karma got me

because I went home and I put that thing right

on eBay and the street date was like four days

from then. And I put the thing, I initially listed

it as a seven day auction. it didn't sell the

first day and it didn't sell the second day and

I had to buy it now of something I don't remember

what it was I tried to make the money on it and

I didn't sell it and somebody said nobody's buying

it because they're gonna get it after the street

date you needed to sell it before the street

day and get it into somebody's hands and so I

unlisted it and relisted it as before the street

date and ended up not making I made the 20 bucks

plus shipping on it, but I was intending to sell

it for like 60 so that I could get that Optimus

Prime for free, essentially, and it didn't work

out, and that was probably one of the last times.

That's kind of a dirty taste in my mouth memory.

Yeah, I tried doing that a couple of times with

a couple of Funcos and it didn't really work.

If you could create Any toy, what would you want

to create? Like, basically, Hasbro or Mattel

or whomever gives you the keys to the kingdom,

money is no object. Yikes. Yikes. Um... They

probably already made it. I mean, yeah, they

probably already made it. Like, uh... Knee jerk

reaction is an optimus prime, but I have one

sitting on my desk The second knee jerk reaction

and maybe it's just because it's where I'm sitting

But I want to I want a grown -up size proton

pack, but I'm a crafter I can build that and

I know that they've released versions of that

or at least third party people the the costume

Crew have you could buy proton packs? Right.

I don't have an answer for that right away. I

would have to Really think on that because I

get into the boardroom or I get into the idea

room and say more points of articulation more

paint apps But what they build would be up to

them. I do I do look at it as I'm I'm giving

money or my appreciation to the engineers to

those creatives You know that just like that

got me I want an action figure of the character

that I invented way back in high school that

lives in my head so I've got that superhero that

is a The power fantasy for me that I drew into

little comics back in the day. Yeah, I want an

action figure of him so you want Joe the Hawaiian

shirt man. Oh, that's what that's what this dude

is when he takes the helmet and the armor off

I want the I made it I made a Joe Reed action

figure in high school I sculpted a little version

of me in clay and I drew a Star Wars Power of

the Force Tenback thing on cardboard and ripped

a bubble off of a figure and put me in the bubble

and glued the bubble to that drawing and I have

that somewhere in a little Hawaiian shirt or

a plaid shirt and khaki shorts or something.

What is the one piece of advice you would give

the toy collecting fandom? limit yourself. Focus

your collection because if you go, it's more

important to have three very high quality pieces

than it is to have 30 crappy quality pieces.

So for every Pez dispenser that I bought in the

2000s of Optimus Prime or something like that

could have added up to being one good Optimus

Prime figure, and I should have done that. But

I have right here in a binder, dad's very own

Pokemon trading card game base set. When my son

started getting into Pokemon cards, I collected

them with him. Just kind of like, you know, he

wanted them and there's one that I need. And

I have the gotta catch them all in the bottom

corner of this illustration that I did on the

cover of this binder like I'm in high school.

And I crossed out catch them all. and said, gotta

limit myself. Limit yourself and target a particular

thing. If that means collecting one version of

a character or only the best versions of the

lead five characters, that's what you do. Because

otherwise, you'll end up with every single figure

and then you just have a problem that you're

gonna leave for your relatives after you die.

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

who enjoy toys? Keep your toys and keep them

in good condition and don't lose the parts That's

very difficult. I think and that's a that's a

topic of another Podcast is that I don't think

kids Play with toys like we did I think that

is that type of play is almost dead because we

have the video games now I'm a little concerned

that that's going that way. But I'm so very thankful

that I was gentle with my toys. I have very few

of my childhood toys that I have were ever missing

pieces or broken. And how good do I feel that

I don't have to spend 15 bucks to buy a G1 Optimus

Prime Fist right now, because I didn't lose mine.

There you go. I'm awesome. Alright folks, that's

gonna do it for this episode of toy cast You

have any info for a geek stuff that you want

to give out Facebook page email address or any

of that kind of stuff? Yep, let's do it We are

on Facebook comm slash geek stuff garage sale

all one word Look to that website for announcements

on future dates on information about becoming

a vendor for free And or just email me and ask

questions about stuff. I would love to have some

messages come from podcasters or podcast listeners

Coming to me from there, but we're looking to

do a sale. I think first second third week of

September sometime Barring a new variant or something

crazy All right, folks. Thank you for joining

us here on toy cast If you'd like to get into

contact with us, we'll leave feedback for the

show There are several ways to do so This is

the website geek cast radio comm where you can

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Send an email to feedback at geek cast radio

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Mike with. Joe Reed, the advice and the feedback

on that line is gonna be, that dude talks too

much. No, it's not. Join us next time when we'll

be talking more toys here on Toycast.