Origins in Toy Collections with Rodimus Primal

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'm of course TF2 on

Mike and today's special guest is someone who's

hailing from Cybertron It's that youtuber you

all know and love The hero of the Cybertronian

war is the leader of the Autobots and the true

bearer of the matrix of leadership Well, isn't

that just prime? No, it's Rodimus primal. Hello,

sir. How you doing? I'm doing fairly well Yeah,

how you doing? I'm doing okay. How you doing?

Oh, excuse me for loving on the East Coast No,

hey, man, I was born on the East Coast. So trust

me. It's not I'm not making fun I was born in

Queens, I can tell you that. Oh, boy. Is this

going to be a Boston, New York thing? Great.

OK, I see how it is. Hey, hey, I said I was born

in Queens, not the Bronx. OK, that enough said.

That's it. I'm not going there. OK, my family's

already had that fight. Stupid 86 World Series

freaking. Can you believe this ball game of shame?

Oh brother. So the winning run is at second base,

with two out, three and two to Mookie Wilson.

Little roller up along first, behind the bag!

It gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight and

the Mets win it! Back to full! Red Sox back!

The Boston Red Sox are world champions. Anyway,

we are here to talk toys, action figures, and

all that other good stuff here on Toycast. And

as people would have known from the previous

episodes of Origins, we asked 42 questions of

how you got into or out of or are still into

the toy collecting thing. First of all, what

is or was the first toy you remember having as

a kid? That I can remember I mean, you know,

obviously the Fisher price toys and stuff like

that like that they came out in the early 80s,

but then Eman And GI Joe had come out before

obviously before Transformers So those toys had

come out and I had I had few of those before

Transformers hit the hit the the shelves and

I had Castle Grayskull and The whole man is whole

body like slew of he -man figures You know in

addition to the I think I think I had more he

-man figures at first more than anything else

that I can remember so That's the same with me.

I had all that stuff I Think the only thing I

didn't have was the palace. I had grayscale.

I had snake Mountain. I had all that stuff Yeah,

yeah had it had the battle ram had uh, yeah,

what was that? I win the Raider. Yep There are

so many different like vehicles that they don't

and all that and then of course my dad had a

Lionel train set Which was a really cool place

to have battles take place Whether it's Transformers

or GI Joe, so he had a whole big giant super

-sized table. You could have the Lionel trains

going around and the table was like It was cool

that if you didn't have the trains turned on,

you can have battles take place with He -Man

or Optimus Prime or there. It was a really cool

play area, so to speak. Yeah, absolutely. Was

there a particular adult who was supportive of

you playing with toys as a kid? Was there anyone

who was unsupportive? Both my parents knew that

you know, they were they were already fan I could

almost say that they were fan ways My dad was

more the fanboy than my mom So, you know, I could

say that he was obviously more supportive my

mom Enjoyed it from the couch Like whereas my

dad wanted like was like saw me playing and then

wanted to play too And so like my dad would go

to like he would go to Star Trek conventions

and like the Javits Center back like like in

the 80s and stuff. You know, he worked in the

city. So we would go to like Radio City Music

Hall or those places. And, you know, and my you

know, my mom, my mom has pictures with she has

a picture with Scotty and, you know, I think

she has a picture of Adam West that she took

with her camera while he was in costume so So

my parents were like already like fanboys like

the first movie they took me to was like it was

Return of the Jedi You know and that was because

Star Wars was date night for them Yeah, you know

my mom loved Harrison Ford. So really it was

like wasn't like somebody that Like anybody's

saying like I would don't play with the toys

like my grandmother I guess you could say my

my my grandparents like knew that I liked the

toys and bought the toy it would buy the toys

for me but kind of looked at me like Are you

gonna grow out of this or you know, my parents

were you know, this is what they enjoyed too.

So Yep What types of toys were your favorites

to play with? He man Transformers A little bit

of G .I. Joe, Thundercats, and Ninja Turtles

when they came out. And through the 90s, you

could say the X -Men figures and Spider -Man

figures that came out at the time. But then you

collect, I think there was a few other lines

that I maybe had one or two of the figures for.

You could say action figures. I think that would

probably be all encompassing. Are there any that

stand out more than the others? Transformers

and He -Man. Ninja Turtles and Thundercats. Yeah,

those were easily... I only had random... Not

necessarily, I don't want to say knockoffs or

off -brand things, but like those smaller lines,

those other lines. But if you think about the

80s, like you've already said, He -Man, Transformers,

G .I. Joe, Turtles, Mask, Thundercats, you know.

I think the only line I had that mixed in with

everything was like if I had like a Dick Tracy

figure because the movie came out or right if

I had like like James Bond jr Or something because

a weird animated series was on tv Because like

there was the hunger for more like the transformer

stuff like if I was in a like an odd job uh in

the city, you know with my you know Like we would

we would stop at an odd job or whatever and there

would be like a random knockoff robot transforming

Toy or whatever you'd buy it because you want

like some cannon fodder for your transport. Absolutely

You know, so you'd buy like the space blaster

so that like and you'd set it up So it would

be a weapon that Megatron was using or you know

You would do stuff like that. Like you would

find the knockoff stuff to use and incorporate

in your adventures. So And then of course you

buy the go -bots or you like the other figures.

I think I remember having I had a couple of Ghostbusters

and Centurions, oh man, I loved Centurions, Dino

Riders, I had the T -Rex. There's just so many

action figure lines that you can buy one of that

line and you remember everything about the show,

but you certainly remember that toy. Yeah, absolutely,

because again, the toys stuck out to us. Yes,

we were watching the cartoons. But because of

that, we wanted to play with the toys, and we

wanted to be those characters that we were playing

with kind of thing. Do you prefer the label of

action figures, dolls, toys, or some other label

for what toys are? Depends upon what it is. I

mean, Barbies are dolls. My Little Ponies are

dolls. by what they are. You can kind of say

the same thing for action figure. It's an action

figure because it's designed for a type of play.

It's designed for action so it's a proper label

for it. That's where I think it was smart on

them to call GI Joe the action figure because

it's doing just that with the doll. There's a

purpose to it. kind of like living life. You

know, I guess it's it's the type of play that

you're doing. Yeah, absolutely. Good guys are

bad guys. Which toys were your favorites to play

with the most? I loved having both. It's like

you need both. I like if they don't have enough

bad guys to fight the good guys, your adventures

get stale, you know. So having more bad guys

is great. But you need the good guys to like

if you have Superman Mm -hmm. You need his rogues

gallery What rogues gallery? Parasite, I know

I know I'm sorry or with yeah with some battle

armor or if you have Batman you need his rogues

gallery. Yeah Transformers you need Autobots

and Decepticons because you need to be able to

battle each other Especially I mean granted you

could have one Decepticon and he could overpower

four or five Autobots until like Optimus Prime

comes battle charging in to save the day. Or

you can have, you know, a good even match of

Autobots and Decepticons. It all depends upon

like what you need. But like that's where it's

kind of like, for me, it's both. You know, unless

it's like the Thundercats, you can have Mammra.

and have Lion -O, Chitara, Tigra, and Panthera

when they're all fighting Mamra and he's whipping

their tail until Lion -O is able to finally get

him to use the mirror reflection. So you figure

creative ways when you're playing with the toys

to do those kind of adventures. Yeah, absolutely.

What is or was your favorite toy vehicle or playset?

Play set, as far as toys is concerned, I would

say Castle Grayskull and the party wagon. You

mean the turtle van. That's its real name. I

don't care what the modern packaging says. Yeah,

yeah, I know. The turtle van. The turtle van.

Yeah, I love that thing. The turtle blimp was

not that fun. And that was because it took up

space and you couldn't Didn't have the I also

I didn't have the blimp my friend had a blimp

and when he brought it over I was like if I bought

this where would I put this thing and the same

thing with the technodrome? The technodrome like

what the eyeball that like, you know, yeah would

roll down and stuff I also really liked the battle

ram because the fact the sky sled came it, you

know detached from it Which I thought was so

cool The Transformers were play sets into themselves,

but Metroplex was always a lot of fun, because

it's cool to have Autobot base, you know, the

Decepticons are attacking, you know, Metroplex,

Metroplex, Transform, you know, and like that

I thought was also really cool. Metroplex is

a play set, that's what it is. All's I can think

of is Decepticon intruder in my brain Decepticon

removes my eyes Trypticon vanquished. Yeah, it'll

take trypticon weeks to better dig himself out

I think I like trypticon more as a as a character.

Yeah, so absolutely smash Metroplex Forget which

episode it was but Metroplex threw him like once

over a cliff and then it showed him like my darkness

Yeah, was it five faces the darkness? Yeah, it

was like over over that over the river and through

the woods. Mm -hmm. Yep absolutely It should

have been like the Mario 64 toss. Yeah. Yeah

too long. Okay Bowser Absolutely We talked about

this a minute ago. Did you and your friends ever

pretend with your toys that you had by this?

I mean, did you say I'm gonna be this toy and

you can be that toy like You can be the Coke

bottle top and I'll be the piece of glass kind

of thing We played I think if I remember correctly

like the way that we played as kids Think that

there was like a lot of the friends that I had

would not play with their toys with other friends

Yeah They were so concerned about you breaking

them. Mm -hmm. Like a friend of mine had Voltron

complete set of Voltron and let me tell you he

was one of the Like you don't touch this you

can't you can't touch Voltron. Mm -hmm, and it's

like come on Yeah, you know like we got to like

form feet and legs and stuff and he no he wouldn't

let us play with it It was die cast and everything.

So die cast construction. It's a lost art and

You know, I was kind of like that with my transformers

And a friend of mine was like that with his ninja

turtles but the rest of the stuff we would like

have like adventures with other stuff, but it

was more so if we knew we had a character a character

that we were playing as You just you played as

the character. Yeah, you know, so you try to

think of how that character would act You know

like Starscream wouldn't do that, you know So

you know I'm saying like we wouldn't we wouldn't

deviate from who the characters were Yeah, and

it was like very much like that like if you were

if a character if your friend was Megatron and

you were like, let's say blue streak You have

to talk like a chatterbox Yeah, and he has to

say, you know, you're gonna die Autobot or whatever,

you know, like he would have to stay in character

That was one of the things that when we were

playing as kids that I remember pretty vividly

whatever we were playing We're playing he man.

We're playing Ninja Turtles. It was you had to

stay in character and That was always a very

very important how that character sounded so

Absolutely, yeah What features define a good

toy to you? How true does the item feel in comparison

to the source material likeness? Well If we're

talking the 80s or we're talking today Certainly

Ironhide and Ratchet without heads is There there's

not a bad toy. It's just a poor representation

of the character. Yeah But then again the toy

came first So that's neither here nor there.

Nowadays, I think people are a little bit spoiled

because we see all the articulation that's added

to a lot of these Transformers toys or different

action figures that are coming out. And because

of the articulation, it might be a little bit

fragile. Yeah, whereas back then they had what

like the the transformation on a transformer

Got them from vehicle to robot and the only articulation

you had was what the articulation was Sometimes

from the transformation So like like especially

in the lady the later 80s some of the robots

that they would they wouldn't even move their

arms Or the in the battle chargers case. They

didn't even have arms. Yeah, you know Uh, so

that is where it's like the play gimmick is taking

over of the toy. Um, I think the unicorn trilogy

suffers from that, especially armada, you know,

whereas like the, the, the play gimmick takes

over from the toy because the fiction of, especially

with transformers, um, is becomes, is becomes

what's so more important to the transformer itself.

And that you're only getting that one toy of

that one character. Now, other toy lines like,

let's say, Batman, you're getting the same exact

Batman figure in 65 different colors with 65

different accessories for each one. And one will

shoot a missile backpack. One will have some

sort of weird spinning gimmick. Those are the

times where it's like, well, do you really want

that? Or do you just want one representation

of the character and you can come up with extra

gear to add later? It's a hard question because

to me, I think a bad figure is one that you aren't

able to have any fun with. Yeah, absolutely.

And if you aren't able to have fun with it, then

that's really the bottom line. I was thinking

about this earlier. with G1 Optimus Prime, that's

a fantastic toy in 1984. By today's standards,

people would say, oh, it's not that good. And

you go, what? Do you know how much fun I had

with G1 Optimus Prime? Like, yeah, but I mean,

you can't move his legs. Do you know how we played

as kids? Yeah, really? You grab the legs, and

you go around. Okay, it's great in articulation

because you can move the arms. Yes, the fists

are removable and you can lose the fists, but

guess what? Because the fists are removable,

he has full wrist articulation. He can hold his

blaster, which is all he needs to do. He can

aim at Decepticons, which is all he needs to

do. And he can turn into the truck that you need

him to. So in order to do the punch, you know

how you know how we used to play as kids you

grab the figure by the leg You make the rotation

with your hand and you rotate to make that punch.

Yeah That was the thing back then was like you

in the 80s. You didn't need a play gimmick. You

didn't need Optimus Prime shoots a laser out

of his blah blah blah, whatever, you know Optimus

Prime shoots something out of his wrist like

spider -man you didn't need that because the

imagination was left up to us where, like you're

saying, we take the leg and we pull it forward

and kick -star scream in the robo gonads or whatever,

you know, whatever you want to call it. Exactly.

We had the imagination to do that with our toys

back then. Nowadays, kids have robots that can

literally turn... Ankle articulation and they

get angry if it doesn't have our ankle articulation

and now they're adding, you know hand Articulation

like with Rodimus Prime, you know, I mean she

won Rodimus Prime He could only move his arms

on a very limited basis. Yeah, you know, so we

had to make do with what we had and We made up

our own stories out of the you know that factor

like I my g1 jetfire toy was lost one of his

arms. I made up a backstory for it. That was

the reason why Skyfire was rebuilt so that he

had a battle mask over his face and he was missing

his arm. That was one of the reasons why he was

what he was. Like that was what I did with my

G1 Jetfire because the arm got broken off. And

which is probably one of the reasons why many

of us were very protective of our toys because

we didn't want friends breaking our Transformers

or breaking our whatever toy line we had. So

you think about that and how we used to play

back then versus now. How are kids playing with

these same toys now? That's really we have to

take that into consideration too. Yeah, and we'll

get into this a little bit later with another

question, but that's the thing with today's standards

is what toys, let's just say Transformers specifically,

because that's what we're kind of talking about,

what Transformers toys specifically are marketed

towards kids and not us who were kids 40 years

ago? I go into Walmart, and if I even see Transformers

on the shelf, like, okay, Cyberverse, maybe,

or something like that, but, like, Kingdom Rodimus

is not, it's not... Yes, Hasbro says, oh, parents,

swipe up now on Instagram, and you can order

this for your kids. But really, that toy is for

us, for those of us who had the original, who

were kind of let down with the fact that the

legs, at least in... In alt mode, they're a little

weird having the legs in the... That was the

one thing I never liked about G1 Rodimus was

his legs, and the New Kingdom figure that's out,

you know, doesn't fix all of that. Yeah, fixes

all of that kind of thing. Nowadays, the war

for Cybertron is clearly geared towards the older

demographic. They know that they are making figures

that eight -year -olds can play with, but they

know that the adult collector is getting them

too. So that's why the war for Cybertron seems

to be geared that way. Clearly wrote, you know

rescue bots was and I think oh, yeah have them.

We know that that's that's geared towards the

preschool crowd Yeah, and then you know, you

have the cyber verse I think is is geared towards

the definitely from the five -year -old Yeah,

the problem with cyber verse though is that I

think that they've gone too far into the kitty

gimmick I know a lot of people like the one -step

changes, but they are good for two -year -olds

I will say that because I have you know, I have

two small kids so like I can get transformer

for them and it could be a representation of

the character and they could have a bumblebee

and they can have an optimus and they can have

this and if it breaks it's not that big of a

deal but then again they are making these toys

that are there the plastic on them is it breaks

still breaks is just as easy as as the adult

collector stuff so you kind of question like

are you making this for kids that it can be rough

and tumble with this or What do you, you know,

that's really the question. But I think that's

definitely cyber versus geared towards a younger

demographic. And that's not a bad thing. It's

not a bad thing. No, no, no, it's not a bad thing

at all. That's what I'm saying. But Transformers

was always, I think Transformers was always geared

towards like, I mean, five and up, right? But

five and up to today's standards is different

than five and up in 1984. Yeah, you know, you

know Optimus Prime was five and up. Yeah, right

But I mean a g1 Transformers was five and up

but yeah, it's not fun It's not considered five

and up today, you know, and that's because the

toy standard the toy standards on the industry

changed You know as they look at the Transformers

now and go. Oh, no a kid could choke on that

fist Yeah, well, of course, but this is why you

why you need responsible parents No, parents

can't be responsible. Then why have children

if you're not going to be responsible for them?

I say this as a parent. Parents need to be a

little bit more responsible with their kids.

They do. They need to know what their kids are

playing with and they do need to take some time

to know what their kids are watching and have

an idea to be a little bit responsible. There

needs to be responsibility on the part of the

parents. I don't have kids, we don't have any

plans on having kids, but it's one of those things

where just because I don't have kids doesn't

mean that I don't have the values that my parents

instilled in me if I ever was to have children.

There's a certain way you do things and there's

a certain way you don't do things. That's the

way it was. And that's the way like, but you

know, it's funny though, is that like a lot of,

you know, a lot of folks nowadays, they don't,

they don't agree with that. They want to go,

well, why do we have to follow follow these certain

rules and stuff like that? And it's like, do

you want, you really should learn some, some

advice from people who have been around the block.

It's not even a certain rule, it's more of a

rule of common sense. Not anymore apparently

and that's a whole other discussion for a completely

different podcast but it's just one of those

things like you said. Optimus Prime and I could

be wrong about this, Optimus Prime or any of

the ones that had the removable hands. There

was a warning label on there choking hazard parents,

please whatever Yep, whatever it is, you know,

you look at the Happy Meal toys Even the Happy

Meal toys come with warning labels saying potential

choking hazard do not leave in in front of three

-year -olds and if they choose to leave their

three -year -old with the the Hamburglar who's

gonna shoot a hamburger in there by plastic hamburger

in America is to assume the responsibility exactly

So we've gotten off on a tangent here folks getting

back into the questions What does toy packaging

have to have to draw you in? So what is it about

the packaging that draws you to that toy? well,

I Guess you could say the colors, but a lot of

people nowadays are now Toys it seems to be geared

towards a media product nowadays almost to a

like exclusive aspect. So if you're like kids

want Paw Patrol or kids want Transformers or

a person wants He -Man, they're gonna be drawn

towards that. So that right in and of itself

is what's gonna draw you to the toy. So they're

looking for the property. So if you're looking

at You know, for me, for Transformers, I see

a picture of Rodimus Prime. I'm like, oh, yeah,

yeah, definitely. I see the packaging art on

him looks awesome, right? I mean, granted, I

would love to see the classic style box art and

the Transformer in vehicle mode with a window

so I can see the entire vehicle, like in days

of yesteryear, but we're not getting that much

anymore. But that, to me, I think was... What's

it called? The the thing that I think that draws

you is like when you see the packaging art really

to me I think is the most important thing like

the the colors the the art itself the figure

itself If it's a Figure like like something like

he man seeing the toy itself is what was is the

big draw? For Transformers, it's at least seeing

the character art because they're going towards

more cardboard packaging. It's really a matter

of selling the product. That's really what it

is, what it is that you see. I know I'm kind

of talking from a toy avenue aspect of it, but

really what it boils down to is the visual. Yeah,

it's got to come down to the visual because that's

what's drawing you in. And the sad thing is,

as of next year, they're going to, at least Hasbro

with Transformers, they're going to a closed

box. Oh boy, that's going to be a nightmare.

I really feel for the store. That's probably

going to go into the retail. You're probably

going to talk about retail. Yeah. I mean, that's

wow. Okay, so we're talking about packaging.

Do you open your toys or do you leave them packaged?

If you keep toys packaged, do you have any specific

criteria for doing so? I don't have much as far

as MIB or MISB figures, but the ones that I do,

it's because the toy itself to me is more of

a collector's item than it is something that

I want to play with. I enjoy I want to be able

to enjoy that the figure and So I take it out

of the box. I play with it. I mess around with

it I do take care of it. I'm not as I'm not as

rough as a five -year -old kid would be you know,

obviously I'm an adult but Like I'll give an

example like gigawatt Mm -hmm. I open that toy

up was really really cool. It's basically side

swipe, but it's a DeLorean Awesome figure But

it's not something that I want to take out of

the package very often, right? Yeah, I played

with it for a little bit. I Packaged him back

up and put him back on the shelf So for display

because it's just cool to have the novelty of

a DeLorean transformer same thing. Yeah, absolutely

I have not taken him out of the box at all. But

ecto tron. Mm -hmm Just really cool to have the

ecto one in vehicle mode On display but in a

transformer style packaging and then just keeping

it that way if I do open them up I'll probably

mess around from a little bit and put him back

in the box on the other hand All the war for

Cybertron stuff. I'm opening right up, right?

Um, yeah, cuz it's just it, you know, they're

figures that are made They're geared towards,

you know, the the older older fan and the adult.

Yeah I think the only way I would have left Rodimus

Package is if the box came in alt mode and you

had a window where you could see the figure.

Of course, you'd have to put a... I think that's

going to be a big... I think that's going to

turn... It's going to be... You're going to see

a lot more MIB collectors instead of MISB collectors

because you're going to want to make sure that

your box is sealed. you know to make sure that

you've got still have the toy in there yeah pretty

much because you know that's gonna end up happening

oh yeah somebody's gonna buy something take that

toy and then put something else in the box and

return it and they employ and some like look

retail like we don't have a toy giant anymore

here in the u .s. we just don't Yep. It's all

big box retail. And while most of them are really,

really good employees and they do a hard job

and I respect, you know, I used to do some of

those jobs. So I'm not saying anything about

any of the employees, but in a general sense,

most employees aren't going to look in the box.

Right. They don't. So, you know, sometimes that

happens, which sucks. And whoever does that needs

to be taken out back and put a fusion anyway

if as a pretty bad recently yeah yeah it has

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 um i'm gonna say

uh just transformers like if it just one if it

only had one uh One transformer that I could

buy and that would be it Like like I was like

one toy line you said right? Yeah one toy line.

Yeah Yeah, I think transformers would be it Honestly,

it has the most playability Yeah, yeah it does

No matter what you're getting. You're always

getting at least two different play things whether

it's a vehicle or a robot and then you get into

the bigger stuff not necessarily bigger stuff

but get into the other stuff like the triple

changers or the six changers or then you get

into the big stuff like we've already talked

about metroplex and trypticon all that it just

has everything exactly exactly um and that's

It's kind of an easy easy easy one. You know,

it's probably because you and I are your big

Transformers guys So of course, you know the

he -man collector is gonna say he -man, you know

Yeah, and I mean if I never came into contact

with Transformers, I probably say he -man, too

I'm not saying that it's just that question is

was specifically put in for one guest who we've

already had on the show my buddy my buddy Pecan

court Michael because you know he had other toys

as a kid and whatever else and then once he met

his wife and everything else and she was like

okay you can have one collection what do you

want i'm like okay well that's going to be a

question on the podcast as an adult do you prefer

vintage toys or modern toys it depends upon what

you're how you want to answer that um because

As much as I love to collect the G1 figures,

I feel satisfied with most of my G1 collection.

If I did want to collect anything more out of

my G1 collection, it would probably be to replace

the ones that are in poor condition, like my

Insecticons, or maybe get another blaster because

that... Doesn't look like the reissue because

the reissue you can tell is a different plastic

quality because the spring on my The door on

my g1 blaster is broken, you know, just it's

it's stuck closed But and I have a ram horn ram

horn is stuck in there. Oh jeez. Yeah Yeah, so

it's kind of I have another ram horn. So it's

not a big deal But I like collecting the newer

updates to those toys So like I for me like the

war for Cybertron was like, oh, yeah, like I'm

getting all over this because you know, yeah,

just again Kingdom Rodimus Prime like or even

because probably because I just recently reviewed

them but any of them really like you take a look

at the B and the Beast Wars toys to like The

Beast Wars toys were great But the the the war

for Cybertron stuff, it's like these great updates

of those characters Now and that's really what

it comes boils down to it's like it's a matter

of trying to get this definitive version of your

of the classic character that you're you're buying

so Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah if I was if I was still

actively collecting actual toys other than Funko

pops The top two on my list are leader Galvatron

and Kingdom Rodimus, but I'm not doing that anymore.

So it's okay Get those two. I cannot be disappointed.

I know that I know I know Like don't let it be

your cherry -popping moment where all of a sudden

next thing you know, you're gonna start buying

like three or four or five hundred stuff. If

you just intend to buy, you really want those.

Because I know you're a Rodimus guy like I am,

so that Kingdom Rodimus is worth every penny.

And at Galvatron, I need to get my hands on that

one, because I have the Titan's Return one and

it's not a great toy. Like, comparatively speaking,

it's not that great. Yeah, yeah. Kingdom is much...

Kingdom does have a couple of issues, but they

can be easily fixed. Yeah. Right. Exactly. What

is one toy you can always play with? One toy

I can always play with? Yep. Whoever's on my

desk. If I'm able to get my hands on to it, I

mean I can mess around with it and you know See

what it does like I'll I'll play with it I'll

see like even if it's like something that my

kids are playing with I'll play with it with

them, you know So I want to see how it works.

I want to see how it operates I want to see if

you can have fun doing it, you know, or like

my kids have like aid that this those magnetic

fishing pole things where it's like basically

like a little piece of wood with a magnet on

it and has a fishing pole and I'm seeing them

play with it and they'll hand like my son will

hand it to me so I'll take that and I'll use

I'll play with that with him I'm able to play

with it. It's a toy like good I'm able to have

fun with mice like with those stuff that I collect

and I'm able to have fun with the stuff that

they like to play with so to me anything Yeah

Even though there are always toy lines that people

never purchase. Are there any that you specifically

and purposefully? Avoid this can be lines characters

that kind of thing. I don't collect favors I

If they G want to find the character and made

it so it's compatible with like did you like

the You know war for Cybertron stuff Like they

did with barricade. Yes. Yeah, I mean if I like

the character like blackout or I didn't collect

animated Not because of the toys being bad in

any way and same thing with the moviebots like

if I don't like the designs of the moviebots

It's just I don't like the aesthetic I don't

like having their insides on the outside. Yeah,

they're inside -out transformers. That's basically

what the Bayverse robots look like to me. I will

say that you do need to get two of the animated

figures. Technically three, but it is two. I

have Soundwave. Okay, that's not where I was

going, but RC, and then there's regular Rodimus,

and I believe there is a crystal clear Rodimus.

Okay. Yes, oh that Rodimus toy is one of the

single most greatest transformations design Really?

Yeah, I didn't like the square Face just didn't

look great And I understand like it's it's an

aesthetic yeah The toy looks awesome. Yeah, you

know is awesome I'm sure it is. It is I'm saying

like I can You people could enjoy a toy you don't

necessarily have to like like I know people are

gonna be like he doesn't If I don't collect it,

it's not a like not the end. It's no it's not

the end of the world But it is if you don't have

every robbers at Rodimus figure Yeah, I was waiting

for that. I was waiting for that comparison.

I was like, wait a minute. He's missing a bot

Yes, I don't have the animated Rodimus. And I

won't collect the Baver stuff, so you won't see

a... Well, I don't even... They did do a Baver's

Hot Rod. Hot Rod. Hot Rod. Yeah, Hot Rod. I think

I made it like... I'm trying to make you remember.

I think I made it like 10 minutes ago. We've

got to get a new travel agent. Last night? How

about last stand? Not even in a good way either.

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? You know, I I gotta be honest like well,

yeah, yeah my vintage he -man Ninja Turtles and

Most of my other collections outside of Transformers

that I had gotten I had gotten I no longer have

Those I regret getting rid of I absolutely regret

buying Armada side swipe and scavenger Absolutely

regret those two I wish that some of the stuff

in Beast Wars and Generation 2 did not suffer

from Gold Plastic Syndrome, because it would

have been cool to have a G1 and G2 Superion next

to each other. And my Transmetal Megatron fell

apart. So I think pretty much almost everybody's

has, hasn't there? Yeah. Which sucks, because

the Transmetal Megatron... Freaking awesome toy.

Yes, he was told it until the gold plastic took

it over. I still have my g2 electro though and

he's I Won't transform him just cuz I know That's

the the that's the interesting thing nowadays

because again, we'll get to this a little bit

later But that's the interesting thing Hasbro

at least four transformers Everything now is

packaged in robot mode. When we were kids, we

had to learn how to get, like it was a shining

accomplishment, like, oh my god, you graduated

high school, yay for you, oh my god, you got

married, yay for, it was like this accomplishment

for us to get from Optimus Prime's truck mode

to Optimus Prime's robot mode. Whereas now it's

like, here, here you go, robot mode, you don't

even need to transform if you don't want to.

Yeah, that's true. It's just crazy. Yeah, that

is true because if you really think about it

that I Think that might be from a toy perspective.

That's hurting the Transformers brand Maybe yeah,

because it's one of those things where I Think

don't get me wrong. I love the fact that optimus

turns into a truck. I love the fact that Hot

Rod or Rodimus or whatever turns into whatever

the car, whatever futuristic sports car and a

futuristic space truck. Let's just go with that.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's great and all, but

the surprise for us in the 80s was figuring out

how to get it. From the first part, you know,

it's kind of like in a couple of the early episodes

the concern I believe it was I'm pretty sure

it was scrapper He would say construct a cons

transform phase one You know, and then he would

say phase two and whatever and that's kind of

the thing with the toys it's like If it already

comes in phase two, why would I want to go back

to phase one? Yeah, that's kind of depressing

when you think about it 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? I Currently have

most of my collection in bins In like like these

big Tupperware bins giant size ones and it's

just because what happened was is that I moved

when I got married and I moved into a small apartment

so most of them never escaped those bins once

I moved. And then of course I moved again twice

over so since then now I have access to the bins

now so I can easily get to them but it's all

in my office. You know all of my all of my collection

is in my office. So I do have access to get to

it It's just that there that I don't have the

room in this office for display though so At

least not not to the extent that it would be

when you have these super -sized giant collections.

Oh, yeah. Yeah How do you keep track of your

collection? I mean, I know what I have Most of

it Like I it's just a matter of like knowing.

Okay, this bins got this in it. This bins got

that in it All the current stuff I have readily

available to grab whenever I want to The g generation

one stuff. I know it's okay. The autobots are

in this bin The decepticons are in that bin.

The 86 stuff is in this bin you know, I can get

to that and then there is the You know the the

stuff that I never touch which is the unicorn

trilogy stuff and the The classics and the like

like if it's not if they they didn't do a modern

update to it It's not in those bins. So I know

where I can find it. So I have an idea where

they are. Yeah, absolutely When you get to a

point where you can display your stuff, how would

you want to display it? Um I mean if I had if

currently I have two shelves, so at least I have

like a small display Mm -hmm, and basically I

just do one shelf of Autobots one shelf of Decepticons

but if if I had like the spacing for Really?

Honestly, I would probably get rid of a lot of

my collection like I would I would sell probably

like the unicorn trilogy stuff for the classic

stuff or the You know, maybe even like put some

of that stuff like out there just so that I can

make more room Yeah that it's just really a matter

of like Having a good representation of the characters

that I want to have on display and that's about

it And then maybe even having a rotation, you

know have like one week will be the the week

where all the 86 Transformers are fighting and

the next week will be the the week where all

the Beast Wars characters are fighting and You

know, you're gonna do rotate do rotations like

that Like that that would to me would be a cool

like display where it's like a different display

this week You know, and that would also be cool

if it's something where I'm on camera since since

my YouTube channel is on camera I wouldn't mind

having like a different people go like what transformer

do they have on is he having display this week?

You know, that would be a cool thing to actually

have Mm -hmm. Absolutely. So you could make a

whole new segment out of it Of course, it would

take you a lot of work to do this But daily displays

with Rodimus Primal and you could change the

display every day Well, I would probably do it

weekly Yeah, yeah, just because like I'll play

with a bunch of them like at one point and then

I'll put them right back Which is something that

probably from having friends who were protective

of their toys made me made me protective of my

toys Where put it back where you got it put it

back in the position that you had Make sure you

had the gun pointing up put the gun pointing

back up. Mm -hmm. You know what they can sit

back in the deck. Yes Yeah. Leave things how

you found it. Absolutely. Or better than you

found it. No. You know, that's like the rule

of thumb. Yeah. You haven't dusted these in a

while. Let me dust these for you. What if they

all fall over? Yeah. Yeah. So you're letting

me play with your toy. I'm going to dust it for

you. If you could only keep one toy from your

entire collection, what would it be and why?

At this point? I know what this answer is going

to be. Kingdom Rodimus. Yup. Yeah, Kingdom Rodimus.

He really is the best one that we've gotten outside

of... Even standing up next to Masterpiece, he's

easily the best. Yeah, I agree. 100%. Definitely.

Here's the toy box challenge. You get one 18

by 18 by 18 box. Only the only toys you can keep

have to fit in the box. What can you pack into

it? Hmm. 18 by 18 by 18 box. Yep. That's a toughie.

You're able to squeeze Kingdom of Rotomus in

there. Mm -hmm. Right. That. along with I Needed

to set the kind of go with them on us With that

cyclonus. Yes, like that cyclonus figure is the

best in the kingdom line. Yep Have to be in robot

mode because the wingspan. Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely

Trying to think about it spacing wise The Netflix

sound wave Mm -hmm. I'm gonna do Takara Legends

RC. There you go. And let's see. It's already

got two Decepticons there. Gonna do... That's

a toughie because it's starting to think about

spacing wise That's that's it's tough because

like because of Kingdom Rodimus is already take

up a lot of space with that trailer. Yep astrotrain

Yeah, he's always easy to fit in. He's so small

Well, I'm the earth right or the yeah the oh

sure fries one, right? Right. It's just it's

to scale Yeah, you know, I mean I have g1 astro

train so it's like I mean buddy and he is tiny

but you can't imagine that there's like all the

Decepticons are in that that that inside astro

train that's true and then Yeah, it's tough because

it's like I'm just sitting there looking and

going okay, who am I gonna not fit who am I gonna

fit? If I had Kingdom Galvatron, I would say

him, but if not, then Earthrise Prime and Siege

Megatron my customized Siege Megatron There you

go. So this way that you have like the definitive

leaders and if I had it if I could squeeze them

in there I would get I would I would I would

do a siege jetfire Man cutting it tight. Yeah

cutting it real tight now, right and then you'd

then you end up with Do I do ironhide do I do?

So this is tough because it's kind of like you're

you're you're you're trying to really like whittle

down like my teams and stuff That flex bumblebee

There you go. Yeah. Yeah. And that would probably

be, you know, all I could fit in there. Yup.

Are you a Funco fan? No. Not in the sense that

I don't care if people collect them, but they

do take up a lot of space. Yes. Yes, they do.

Not as much as that Metroplex, though. What was

the most money you spent on a toy most money

I think I saw is a $300 I spent on a brave Maximus

Yeah, and he's loose so I Don't have a g1 fortress

Maximus, but I do have the brave Maximus figure

What was the cheapest toy or best deal you got?

A dollar for a pristine G1 wheelie And I only

say that because he's only he's not even worth

that No, but if I was to say a really good deal

that I got for a figure I mean, I don't know

if it's like the modern stuff but like Forgot

what figure like that somebody like was able

to find for me and I was at a convention and

somebody just had it for Inexpensive or was by

already buying a couple of other Transformers

and he had another one. He's like, hey you want

it your take it. I can't remember which one like

specific g1 transformers Swoop. Yeah swoop. I

got for $75 in really good shape. That was a

really good deal considering considering the

beak breaks easy. Yeah, so Yeah. So I think that

was a really good deal. $75, I think, for a G1

Swoop. Cool. Awesome. What modern and or vintage

toy lines are you currently collecting? Currently

collecting the War for Cybertron stuff. Like,

pretty much that line exclusively for Transformers.

I just started getting into collecting, again,

the He -Man stuff. Mm -hmm. You know getting

got it. I think I Ordered the he man skeletal

origins because I want the ones that have the

standard head Mm -hmm, but I'm not gonna go overboard

With with that because it's more so I want the

characters that I I don't have some sort of good

representation for Yeah, I have the 2002 he man

figures and that Tila is amazing But The like

I don't have Roboto and I would love to get a

claw full Because they didn't make claw full

in 2002 toy line. Mm -hmm canceled before that

point. Thank you Mattel I blame Cartoon Network,

but now Cartoon Network and and Mattel are equally

responsible for that show getting candy. Yeah

but the The thing that I'm mostly like going

shooting for now is the DVDs of these shows If

I didn't get the DVD sets, I want to get the

DVD sets now. I have him in I need to get Shira

I have Ninja Turtles and I need to get Thundercats

Have all of Transformers that they have been

released on DVD But they need to release full

sets. I want I want 2001 and 20 Okay, I see what

you're saying. I need I want I Want those on

DVD I have prime on Blu -ray I Have you know,

I want like all the discs for that Because it's

it's much better than trying to get a digit like

yes. Okay. Yeah, and they just put g1 on on on

YouTube But Season 1 is not the Shout Factory

release. It's the Rhino release, but without

the sound effects. Of course it is. So when the

Decepticons are carrying Skyfire into the mountain

on fire on the mountain, it's colored like Skywarp,

where it was corrected for broadcast before it

aired. So when another instance, especially Heavy

Metal War, there were so many corrections made

to Heavy Metal War for broadcasts that are screwed

up. Reverse transformations in season one. And

that's what's on YouTube right now. They did

get corrected before broadcast and Shout Factory

actually gave us the corrected version and that's

not the version that's on YouTube. Yeah, that's

I don't understand why it's not the version on

YouTube, but it is what it is Which is why I'm

glad I have the physical release for it. Yeah,

exactly So I want the physical release for a

lot of these shows You know all the classic cartoons

that I watched and then then some So that's kind

of probably be my next like endeavor to start

collecting is to get the they get the The ability

to watch any of these shows at any time and not

have to worry about the rights, okay, well, this

streaming service is now taking it off. Yeah.

This streaming service only has one season. No,

I have it all on desk. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Netflix

has season one of Prime and 2B has seasons two

and three. And I'm like, why? Yeah. Like, why?

Like, and I understand it's, you know, Hasbro

and their whatever, E1 or whatever it is now.

But Would think that shout factory has some sort

of rights to it because they did do The DVD releases

of some of these things and it's like why isn't

it just on shout factory TV? Like just put it

all on there in the right order in the right,

you know format and whatever I Don't know. It's

weird Do you visit toy shows? or conventions

and when you do obviously outside of you know

2020 2021 the new world we're living in when

we could actually still go to conventions do

you have a specific methodology do you bring

a certain amount of money or what are you searching

for when you go to these things when i go to

conventions i mean before i would be on the hunt

for stuff now i'm a little bit more passive i

like to see what's there If I see something I

want, if I've got the money for it, I'll buy

it. If not, I could have gotten that. It's because

I think that people are going to be excited to

go to these toy shows again, that there are going

to be a lot of people out there trying to collect

stuff. There's more chances of good stuff to

find. I need to find this. If this convention

has what I'm looking, better have what I'm looking

for now. I more so go to see what's out there

and just enjoy the show. 20 years ago I would

have been like, yeah, I save up like $300 to

be prepared to go, to spend all the money on

the show floor. Now I wanna enjoy, I just wanna

have a good time. I wanna see what everybody's

selling, say what's up to the vendors. If I see

something cool, I'll buy it. Yeah, also because

I mean now I'm like kind of a YouTube personality.

So it's you know, I'm sure sure people are going

to be more more so excited to see me. It's like

and I hate to sound like that conceited. You

know what I mean? I don't I don't sound conceited,

but you know, I know that that's going to be

a thing. And so I'm prepared for that. I'd rather

be. Just have fun while I'm at the convention

than anything else So absolutely. Yeah, and the

whole YouTube personality thing is yeah, you're

right. I mean if some if some some kid in Wherever

watches one of your videos and enjoys it and

I don't want to say gets attached to you But

likes watching your stuff the old and that's

you know If you go to a convention and his parents

bring him to that convention, of course, he's

gonna be excited to see his Favorite YouTube

reviewer kind of thing. So I mean, yeah, it's

you know It's it's a weird and surreal cool experience

like I you know my my I forget cuz like my dad

has started to come to the to the conventions

now more recently and and People were recognizing

me and he goes I never thought people would recognize

was like well, I'm on YouTube You know, it is

what it is. It is weird. It's very weird You

know, because I don't consider myself that important.

So yeah. Have you ever purchased a toy for one

of your kids with the ulterior motive of playing

with it yourself? Yeah. Wait a minute, which

toy was this? Well, I bought the the the Bumblebee

movie. which was the Titans Return retool of

Soundwave. And it came, and I bought the cassette

pack too, and it came with that one changer for

Bumblebee. Gotcha, yeah. The one changer Bumblebee

went into the hands of my kids. And the rest

of it came upstairs. Now I want to get rid of

it because I have the Netflix Soundwave and that's

a better Soundwave figure. Exactly. And I'm like

I spent that money for it. But hey, you know

what? My kids got it got still have that bumblebee

and they still play with it My kid the who is

it's I got me it's really fun playing with the

the plushies from symbiote studios They make

those plushies for Transformers. They make them

for other other toy lines and stuff like characters

But specifically we got the Transformers ones

and my kids love them But it's fun because the

Grimlock one's got a big gaping mouth. So I can

chase my kids around the house with that Grimlock.

And it's a lot of fun. That's awesome. Have you

ever purchased a vintage toy from one of the

kids because you thought it would be fun based

on your own preferences? So for example, like

G1 Astro Train or G1 Soundwave or Blaster or

that kind of thing. No, I haven't done any of

that because I knowing how I was with the toys

and how my kids are at their age currently Getting

them a vintage figure like that. I know what

would happen to it. Uh -huh. So I know they're

not ready for it yet So it's also knowing my

kids age bracket. So yeah Do you do any toy modifications

or customs painting building dioramas that kind

of thing? Yes Now what what do you normally do?

Um, I will fill in the details where Where a

transformer was supposed to have painted hubcaps?

Yeah, or they didn't paint the backside of a

transformer or What's that? How do you not paint

the backside that just I don't know. I don't

know like I'm telling you that the guys who must

have designed the War for Cybertron molds for

the females decided not to and they must not

Think of anything of the the you know RC or Alita

one except for what they see in the front not

in the back Which tells up tells me a lot about

them But the You know, I've also paint, you know,

I made a made good out of a bad situation because

my Earthrise blue streak broke so I ended up

getting a second smoke screen and modifying the

parts so I painted him up as the diaclone colors

and called him silver streak I painted up and

modified with parts and toy hacks labels for

multiple different figures out of the war for

Cybertron stuff. It didn't go crazy on the older

Transformers toys, though. It seems that they

were pretty good at getting the details on those

Transformers years. I think within the last 10

years, we saw hubcaps not get painted. We saw

figures missing painted details that used to

have painted details. More and more and more

over the last 10 years. And pretty much that's

the customization work that I'll end up doing

on my Transformers figures. Very cool. Very cool.

All right. Here's the big one. Do you think toy

companies should specifically have adult collector

toys, child toys, or find a way to mix both?

That's a complicated question and deserves a

complicated answer. Exactly. This is what kind

of what we've been talking about this whole time

at this point because I knew this question was

coming and it's just crazy There is a market

directly for collectors And the collector market

wants highly detailed accurate figures But the

thing is is that are those highly detailed actor

accurate figures? Deserving of the price points

that they're getting Yeah, you got the kids stuff

that is so kitty That it it's like well, the

adult collector is not gonna buy that Only the

kids are and so you basically create this rift

out of out of the fandom And it's kind of that

same way Transformers has gone through these

reboots over and over and over again where you've

created multiple rifts and ripples in the fandom

Yeah, you know unit maybe this is why has rose

kind of gone into the unification But they haven't

really because you have cyber verse on the shelf

and then you have war for Cybertron on the shelf

What's selling out more than anything else? War

for Cybertron why because it's appealing to the

adult collector, but it's also appealing to the

kid collector Why because it's g1 characters

and Beast Wars characters now, too You know and

even if you did so with the armada stuff Highly

detailed highly posable figures, but at a price

point that everybody can afford or at least you

try to and Gives you all of the you know, all

of that. Whereas with cyber verse you're looking

at figures that are costing about the same But

they have less playability less pose ability

less paint applications But a gimmick, you know,

they're putting all they're loading all of the

gimmicks in there but then again when you have

wave of war for Cybertron you're looking at a

wave of four characters and then you have like

four characters in cyber verse and then you have

the All of the other licensed third -party licensed

toys like the super seven stuff and that's all

on the shelf next to the rest of the transformers

That's even if you can find on the retail shelf,

but then again, you're you're probably buying

it at online now at this point anyway so It's

kind of not really like Keeping Transformers

focused and there's too many too many directions

that Transformers is going in if that makes any

sense. Yeah Like I'm sorry. I mean it's almost

yeah, go ahead Transformers. I think feel and

needs to like We're like it needs to like focus

You know, and that's why the war for Cybertron

was so successful Because it focused on something

and it didn't did it really well now cyber verse

as a cartoon people really liked the cartoon

But we need a cartoon that that has that level

of care I don't even know if you can say that

like you kind of need like You know the get a

higher quality voice cast get a higher quality

like get more episodes get more You know get

more showtime out there Get the stories into

the hands of people then they'll buy the toys

the toys are selling because they are their classic

representation inside the characters Which is

kind of keeping it alive and I wonder if the

collector community is also keeping it alive

too because of people like me So it's a complicated

answer it's a really complicated answer like

how do you balance that? Do you balance it with

having six or seven different? Avenues to of

Transformers out on the toy shelf or do you focus

on let's make one really good optimus Let's not

make 17 different versions of optimus, you know,

let's make one really good one Well, everybody

has to have dead optimus prime. I mean come on

Everybody has to you know what I mean. I'm talking

about all right one change your gimmick optimus

and then the the battle Iser armor optimus and

the Yeah, you know battle eyes or bumblebee like

you you look at the toy shelf and there's like

six or seven different versions of cyber verse

bumblebee on the shelf Yep, and you can't find

Netflix bumblebee. You couldn't get him on the

toy shelf when he was out Why is that? it's I

think they need to have and I don't I don't work

for has bro I have no knowledge of their internals

or any of that kind of thing but From what I've

seen from the Hasbro Pulse fan first, whatever,

Friday or Tuesday or whatever the hell they do

with the live streaming, they need to have two

teams. One team that is on the adult collector

side of things and producing stuff that way.

And then one team that is on the cyberverse side

and going in that direction. Do whatever you

want in those two directions, but don't go. Seventeen

other directions universe doesn't even have marketing.

I won't not anymore because they're they moved

on to war for Cybertron I mean, well, I mean

they they're still putting toys out for cyberverse

though and they're putting out stuff because

that apparently they're doing those two TV movies

Yeah, but there's no marketing for it. No whatsoever

Like you want to sell the toys you need a you

need a market it Yeah, what's going on here like,

you know, if you're if you want to sell these

toys you got to market them now It's also because

you don't we don't have a we don't have a Toys

R Us anymore. Yeah, we don't have Toys R Us to

push the product Yeah, that's the biggest thing.

Whereas, you know, and I think this question

is down further, maybe not whatever, but like

the whole toy hunting thing, whether you're a

parent looking for your kid, like say your kid

for some odd reason, or because of more so of

the tea, like of the advertising, which you just

said there pretty much, isn't it? Say one of

your kids sees a cyberverse, ooh, dad, I want

that shockwave. You go out and you go to like

17 different Walmart's trying to find the shockwave

from cyber verse Sometimes stores will have it

sometimes they won't yeah You know, but then

it's just as easy to Go on big bad toy store

use the pile of loot Pre -order the damn thing

when it comes in it comes in. So at least you

know You'll be getting it like that's that's

my biggest issue with with toy hunting now is

that? There is no toy hunting. We don't have

toys for us. Yeah, exactly. We don't have toys

for us. But then again, the toy manufacturers

aren't making enough toys to go onto the retail

shelves. And a lot of them are just reselling

them online. And then this whole exclusivity.

I call it exclusivity exclusions because, oh,

this is a Hasbro pulse exclusive. You can only

get it here. You can sit in a, in a webpage queue

for two hours and then whoops. Sorry. You just

missed it by that much. Why are you making me

wait two hours to order? I should be able to,

if you have a pre -order anywhere, I should be

able to click on that thing, go through the checkout

and get a confirmation. Without somebody else

coming behind me doing the exact same and I'm

not talking about scalpers. That's a whole other

Just I'm just talking about the customer base

of online retail. It just it's just freaking

crazy Alright, do you have a my parents got rid

of my toys story? No, no My parent, well, my

he -man and Ninja Turtles. I was downsizing my

collection because we were gonna move and those

ones ended up going. And it wasn't that they

were getting it rid of me. They weren't making

me get rid of them. They just ended up getting

lost in the move. Yeah, that sucks. Yeah. And

the reason why I asked that question is because,

and I've said, and sorry listeners, my listeners

have heard this every episode. At six years old,

my dad told me I was too old for toys and sold

all my He -Man stuff that I had at his house.

Anyway, oh, that is what it is. Do you feel you

are coming to an end of your active collecting?

If so, what has signified this phase for you?

Was there ever a moment? when you were done with

toys, and have you ever considered stopping as

a collector or even selling your whole collection?

I'm on a... If a newer version comes around,

it's a much better figure. I'll get that one.

But I'm definitely looking at downsizing, currently

downsizing the ones that I no longer want or

need. Don't care for again. I told you already

I don't care for the war for side the the unicorn

trilogy crown trilogy figures and I don't care

for the the early universe classic stuff that

You know, I have three different versions of

that mold of hot of Rodimus or hot Yeah, because

he came in a different pack You know, you know

just to get that one figure But yet then the

There might be a few of them that I might keep,

but then the rest of them I can do without. That's

where I would downsize the collection. I would

try to get it down to a point where it's not

so many bins to move around and worry about getting

destroyed in a move. The other thing that I would

probably want to get rid of and I've thought

about getting rid of is my X -Men Marvel Legends

and and those toy lines there. I have a bin full

of G .I. Joe's and He -Man and Ninja Turtles

stuff from the early 2000s that I was collecting

heavily at that point. And it's just one bin.

But I don't necessarily want to get rid of those

ones just because I know that that's that one

bin. of all the other lines of toys. Whereas

the X -Men Marvel Legends stuff, I don't have

an attachment to them anymore. It's weird. You

read the comic books, you see the movies, and

now you're like... It's nice having a cap in

America, but I don't really need a cap in America.

Do I need a Spider -Man? You know, I already

have like how many versions of X -Men like, you

know, remember the early Toy Biz Wolverine? Oh,

yeah. And they've been played with. So broken

and beaten up. So, you know, those Toy Biz toys

that the paint starts to wear on them. Yeah.

Yeah, it does. What is something that does not

have a toy of it? You'd love to have it in toy

form Nowadays gosh like that's When I was a kid,

I really wanted Mario Now you got Mario Mm -hmm,

you know When I was a kid There was like a lot

of video game stuff. I wanted Mega Man figures

and granted It's gonna cost you money to get

Mega Man figures. Yeah, it is as it is what it

is Like those those particular characters I really

wanted like a lot of the video game characters

that were coming out like when like towards the

late 80s Then NECA did all of those Godzilla

figures Awesome, and it was like an affordable

price for for a Godzilla figure Wish that neck

and still had the license and was able to make

the rest of the monsters I would love a King

Ghidorah and an Angus and a Mothra and a space

Godzilla and and and 19 fully pose There's here's

one 1970s Mechagodzilla show a Mechagodzilla

Specifically that the terror of Mechagodzilla

one but posable every single Mechagodzilla figure

that they put out you got the bandai ones and

They're not poseable. You can't move them around.

The arms only go up, and you can't really point

his missiles the right way. And he doesn't have

the removable head. Like, I wanted a poseable

Mechagodzilla figure. So specifically Showa,

because the 90s one doesn't have to be that poseable.

The 70s one is, because the 70s one did get down

and dirty with fighting. because if you remember,

he beat the crap out of Anguirus. Yep. And actually,

no, that was he was as Godzilla at that point.

But no, he beat the crap out of King Caesar.

And that's what it was. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, mind

you that the night that when he when he fought

with alongside Titanosaurus. Yeah. Godzilla like

punched him out. You know, that was a great fight.

I love that fight. So like that particular Mecca

Godzilla even though the the Mecca Godzilla Mecca

Godzilla figure that I have is a Showa one because

it's from the Godzilla versus Bialante, but yeah,

so I just want to look completely big giant Godzilla

tangent so Yeah for me when it comes to Godzilla

all I can think of and again I am sorry listeners

because I say this every time everybody brings

it up all I can think of is Austin Powers and

gold member Run! It's Godzilla! It looks like

Godzilla, but due to international copyright

laws, it's not. Still, we should run like it

is Godzilla! Though it isn't. What is a toy you'd

love to have scaled up and functional for the

real world? So like if any toy could come, basically

Toy Story, if any toy could come to life, what

toy would you want to come to life? Hmm. Good

question. It's gonna go away. Kingdom Rodimus

at this point now. Imagine driving that thing.

Yeah. Imagine driving up to TFCon in Baltimore

or LA and driving up in a full -size scale Kingdom

Rodimus or Rodimus Prime. Yep. With a frumpy

Optimus on his hood that you had to save because

Optimus couldn't do the job right. On the top

of the trailer. Yeah, I would have an optimist

body on top of the trailer. Yep. Absolutely Reminds

me when I get off this I'm gonna have to you're

gonna okay. I Already know it's it's from Part

one. Yeah hate plague episode. Yeah. Yep. Yep.

Yep. Yep How has your spouse? dealt with your

collection? She supports my habit. So she's your

dealer, essentially. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well,

because, I mean, of course she's going to want

my, you know, collecting habit to be good because

she knows it's going to keep my passion running

for this, for what I do for work. Absolutely.

So but that was one of the things that like when

I was dating different girls and stuff like that,

like, you know, you'd have a girl who would be

like, well, are you going to stop this stuff

and grow up? I don't know. You know, you like

and like you're OK, you're into sports and you

get you get these guys are in a sports collecting

memorabilia. And, you know, girls don't think

think twice about it. Right. But they look at

us with the toy collecting and you know stuff

and they they you know, like are you gonna grow

up and it's like um This is the same thing Yes,

it's the same thing. So Um, yeah, like my my

my you know all the different girls, of course

that I dated uh, you know years ago Were you

know weren't so into this kind of stuff? But

my wife one at the time, you know ended up being

my girlfriend Was already into collecting my

little pony There you go. So it it worked out

now. She's not now in so much She's more so into

making sure the kids are taken care of but obviously

yeah, but well what like we want like my wife

and I together watched He man, you know that

the he mentioned we watched Or for Cybertron

or for Cybertron and all that stuff together

and in fact I have On my computer. No, no, no,

I deleted. Yeah, I deleted it because the audio

I couldn't get the microphone close enough to

my wife because she's very soft spoken. So I

was trying to get the microphone close to her

to give let her give her opinions about Eman.

And it would have been glorious. To say the least,

because yeah, because she was she was. Went on

a tirade about Tila. Oh, no. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. But it just was her. Her voice is not loud

enough to for the microphone to pick it up. Yeah.

So. Toy collecting can have its struggles. What

is one aspect you tend to struggle with the most

currently finding everything in stock? Mm hmm.

Yeah, that's that's that's that's the biggest

struggle right now. Finding stuff that's not

like the QC. It doesn't have QC issues. Since

there is scarcity, it's like you find it, and

then it's broken, and then what do you do? Those

are pretty much the issues, really, most of the

time. What is one positive and one negative memory

you have with buying toys? Positive memory? Now

like I said nowadays finding what you're looking

for on the shelf And negative would be finding

nothing for going store to store to store and

finding nothing Positive Memories like I we would

my wife and I would do date They would be like

a date day or whatever and we would go different

places. We would go to the boardwalk or stuff

like that and then we would take a couple of

hours and we would go to the comic book shop

and we would go to these different places and

and go toy hunting together. So to me that was

always a positive memory when my wife and I were

still dating and even even when we first got

married to used to do it all the time we would

go we would go together or go to toy go to go

to toy shows together. And and just enjoy it

together as a couple. Kids came along obviously

can't really do that much anymore, but now they

obviously the industry changed So like that those

to me are the positive memories was was doing

it with with my wife So I know it sounds sounds

corny, but it is what it is If you could create

any toy, what would you want to create? Basically

Hasbro gives you the keys to the kingdom sort

of speak. You can do anything you want Hmm I

would find a really well first for Transformers.

I would find a really cool concept to bring back

pretenders and a lot of late 80s stuff Make it

like the super battle armor That like, you know

battle armor Thunderwing battle armor bludgeon

and it's specific so that it like you know that

there is a purpose behind bringing the pretenders

back but then on top of it it would like That's

how I would do so, but then we would need fiction

for it too. So we would need an animated series

that takes place after the G1 cartoon. That to

me, I would love to continue the G1 cartoon after

the rebirth and do it right and not just do it

as a 10 part mini series that is made by somebody

that doesn't care about the property. No, you

need somebody who knows these characters inside

and out. can get the characters to look, feel,

and sound like the characters and introduce new

ones. Let's bring Windblade into the Sunbow cartoon

universe. Let's bring, heck, Barricade, any of

them. Add new characters, but let's also have

an animated series that takes place after the

rebirth and have it with the 87 through 90 toy

line. incorporated into it. Absolutely. That

would just be so cool to have all of that involved.

Yeah, it would be. What is the one piece of advice

you would give the toy collecting fandom? Get

a job. Because it's expensive. This is getting

expensive. Yeah. Don't overexert yourself as

far as monetary is concerned. If you can't afford

it, yes, get a job. Try to take care of yourself

and your family first. Don't try to take out

a third loan to try and buy the transformer you're

trying to buy. Truly think about taking care

of yourself first and making sure that your wellbeing

is taken care of. Because a lot of people will

get into the toy collecting, and they'll take

out a third loan on their house. It's very much

like the wife that gets mad at the husband who

buys a boat. It's very much the same thing. It's

an expensive habit or hobby. It's an expensive

thing to do, so you're going to want to make

sure you can financially afford to be a collector.

And if not, You know, you buy the ones that you

want, and don't worry about the rest. And the

rest will come in time. And if you don't get

them, you don't get them. You know they're going

to make the same character again in five years.

So go ahead. You know, it's not a big, big, big

deal. And take care of yourself. Absolutely.

Yeah. I just had a genius idea. What's that?

You make a masterpiece broadside Everything can

fit into Broadside. That's the biggest boat in

Transformers history. As big as the USS Flag?

I don't know about that, but that's crossing

genres. Not necessarily. Especially if you're

a G1 cartoon guy. G .I. Joe does exist in the

G1 cartoon universe. Yes, we know. Old Snake.

Mr. Traff, not quite smart enough, were you?

They simply don't make terrorists like they used

to. Power! And Flint was in the killing jar?

I gotta re -watch the killing jar. There's some

of those... Season three episodes that just did

not click with me. So I'll have to rewatch that

one. Yeah, the killing jar. And then there was

Hector Ramirez. Yeah. Yeah, he's always running

through those Sunbow cartoons. What is advice

you'd give to kids who enjoy toys? Have fun.

Have fun. Yeah, absolutely. Really, honestly,

like. Enjoy what you enjoy and have fun. Don't

let someone tell you that you can't have fun

with the toy. I absolutely would allow optimists

to save Barbie from the clutches of the Decepticons.

You have a boy and a girl playing together, they

can have those adventures. Have fun. Absolutely.

And on that note, we're going to take a quick

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Hey gamers, TV's Mr. Neil here. The Gaming Hipster

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a journey through my history of gaming both new

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I bring you my console memories, give reviews

of my favorite video games, and talk with cool

guests. People have made cartridges. I've actually

played Netflix on Nintendo. I was making sure

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boobs. Find the podcast at geekcastradio .com.

the show. What was that Universal greeting again?

Never mind, I remember. Ba -weep -grana -weep

-nitty -bong. Hey guys, it's Rodimus Primal and

be sure to check out my YouTube channel. Join

me as I have Transformers discussions, retrospectives,

toy reviews, and more. You can also follow me

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and Instagram at Rodimus Primal Show. Transform

and roll out and be sure to check out my content.

Till all are one. of the summer folks let's go

out with a One of the primary themes of Toycast

is that we focus on times past. We are who we

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Times Past Collectibles in Chicago, Illinois

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Just search Times Past Collectibles because folks,

it's past time that you get your collectibles.

On the Simplistic Reviews Podcast, we talk movies.

We talk TV We talk trying to make our spot sound

more exciting by adding explosions Yeah, I'm

pretty sure you could have got the point across

with sound effects. Not the real thing Download

the show on iTunes or if simplistic reviews dot

blog spot dot com I'm sure your insurance company

will cover that no they won't no they probably

won't The Powers of Grayskull series has covered

every episode of all of the Masters of the Universe

cartoons except for two. Join Optimus Solo and

TFJU and Mike as they tell tales of Eternia,

discover the myths of Etheria, become Masters

in space, evolve into the Masters of Grayskull,

and finally reveal the revelation of Masters

of the Universe. We'll also be finding out the

origins of how guests got into or out of watching

the Masters of the Universe cartoons. and so

much more. You can find the podcast at geekcastradio

.com and any podcatching client you choose to

use. By the power and for the honor of Grayskull,

we all have the power. Hey, it's Wes from Popping

Off Toys. Wanted to let you know about PoppingOffToys

.com. We can be your number one source for Funko

collectible figures to add to your ever -growing

collection. If you're in Nashville, Tennessee,

we actually have a retail store that you can

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of us, PoppingOffToys .com is always open, and

you can check us out on Facebook. Twitter, Instagram,

and even TikTok. And the name is just simply

Poppin' Off Toys. Thank you so much and always

keep it poppin'. All right, we are back here

on Toycast. All right, sir, where can the people

find you online? You can find me, mostly you

can find my YouTube channel at Rodimus Primal.

I am on Twitter, of course. at Rodimus Primal.

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as Instagram, same Rodimus Primal Show. Awesome.

Thank you for joining us here on Toycast. If

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You can also search out TF Toycast over there

as well. Next time we will be getting my origins

in toy collection story as I hand the hosting

duties over to my buddy Josh the floor burger

and then after that we've got a display case

episode and then at the end of the month we've

got Some sort of fall fall See, I don't know.

It's Josh's idea. No clue for now. I am TFG and

Mike with Rodimus Primal. Join us next time when

we will be talking more toys here on Toycast.

It's a pity you Autobots die so easily or I might

have a sense of satisfaction now.