Back in 2022: Catching Up on Life, Collecting, and Toy Community Drama

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

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Jazz here, and

I am so digging the Geekcast Radio Network. Cliffjumper,

commence countdown. 5, 4, 3, 2... ToyCast. Oh,

yes. Listen in to the only toy podcast you will

ever need. Hello and welcome to ToyCast. This

is episode 143. I am, of course, TF John Mike.

Joining me, almost as always, is Josh the Floor

Burger. Hello, sir. Welcome to 2022. Yes, it

is 2020, too. So what are we talking about today?

This is a new year. I haven't been here since,

like, the fall. Yeah, I don't know. All of our

fall plans got pushed off a year because every

time that we got to the point of, oh, hey, let's

talk about trapper keepers and falling leaves

and whatever. Oh, wait, it's past school time.

Or, oh, wait, it's past the, oh, Christmas, Christmas,

screw Christmas, Christmas. Coal for everybody.

Well, one of the... Reasons why a lot of podcasts

die is that you can have the best schedule, you

can have the best plan, and then real life hits.

You had some major life changes. I'm not saying

that I had it harder. No, no, no. I know. For

those that don't know, for those that haven't

heard the last two episodes I recorded, My wife

unexpectedly passed away. I'm real sorry about

that, bud. Yeah, so, hey. And for some reason

you think talking to me is going to somehow make

you feel better. I don't know what I was thinking.

So what have you been up to, sir? I think right

around the time we last recorded, like maybe

September, I started working two extra jobs outside

of my teaching job. And the first job, as mentioned,

I think was published at one point, was the toy

shop. And the other one was running my own pub

trivia. out of a bar nearby. And I didn't think

that two days a week would be very difficult

on my already busy schedule, but two days a week

is a lot on my schedule. So I pretty much devoted

myself to both of those two different jobs in

addition to my other job and then trying to actually

be a husband and a son and all those other things.

Yeah, it's been a little crazy. I got behind

in a lot of things. Yep. Hey, I mean, I think,

you know, for everything that's happened in 2021

and, you know, we're just now starting 2022,

ToyCast has had... Well, so I said this is episode

143, folks, and it actually is episode 143. it

kind of jumped from 114 to 141 because I looked

at our catalog of content on our service that

hosts the files and posts where everybody that's

listening to this on their podcatchers gets it.

And they're like, yeah, by the way, you have

140 episodes on the server. And I'm like, oh,

really? Okay, well then, it's not episode 115,

it's episode 141. So we jumped. We jumped a few

episodes, but that's okay. But, yeah, I mean,

episode 100 to 114 and then 141 to 143 now. 2021

going into 2022, the show kind of kept up until

things kind of faded away there at the end. But

ToyCast is not going to spend another seven years

off the shelf. We are still here. We are still

talking toys. What was your most wanted Christmas

thing that you got? The one that I wanted more

than anything else, but I actually got it? Yeah.

I did get the pudgy pig. Have you seen that?

Yes. The Power Rangers lightning collection?

Okay, that was... That was exciting for me. That

was one of the first major monsters that I remember

from Power Rangers growing up. I was really excited

to get that. I got that from my sister -in -law

and her boyfriend, which was pretty exciting.

I also got the G2 rendition of the Transformers

Generation Selects Megatron, the green and purple.

tank. Amazingly 90s tank that is totally set

up to look ridiculous. There's nothing quite

as realistic as a lime green purple pop. Basically

the color of purple soda with neon orange highlights

that just sort of made the whole day to sit there

Christmas morning with this. neon green transforming

tank it's so funny you say that because I didn't

get that because I've never actually wanted that

Megatron but one of my Christmas gifts from my

late wife was I was able to go on to eBay and

find did I buy them separately or together I

forget anyway So Funko has the art series where

it's, you know, various characters just repainted

in various colors and whatever. And you're going

to like this because it's cool and it relates

to something that we both enjoy. I was able to

finally, after looking at them and looking at

them and looking at them and not having them,

get the pop art series Masters of the Universe

number 16 and 17. The Green Gray Skull He -Man

and the Purple Snake Mountain Skeletor. So we

both got green and purple stuff for Christmas

because this is by far the best Skeletor Funko

Pop I've ever seen. I think we can agree, though.

Those are some good color combinations. I'm looking

at some other ones right now. There's a few other

G2 renditions I would hope to get one day. I'll

have to send them to you at some point. Just

these unrealistic recolorings of real -life vehicles

that just don't work in any way are so amazing.

Generation 2, because it was the 90s, was all

about the magic of the cybernetic space cube

and the horrific neon colors. And almost 30 years

later, we can look back on them and just say,

that was amazing, wasn't it? And we can just

all lie to ourselves. Well, at Kane County, I

don't know if you're familiar with G2 Space Case.

I'll see if I can send you a link real quick.

No, I know. I've seen them, yeah. It looks like

if it doesn't give you a headache, you might

start suffering some sort of neurological malfunction

just because of just how garish the colors and

the pattern is on it. But I had to pick it up.

complete for five bucks at a table i couldn't

pass it up and then the color changers are the

next ones i'm looking for drench and go bots

oh wow and i think jet storm might be on that

as well they're they just have those great not

pastel but like turquoise and purple and and

i don't know how to describe those colors but

they're just outstanding 1995, Generation 2 Space

Case. Yeah, that is very pastel. That was 95?

Yes. It was 95. Yeah, I'm looking at it here

on the Transformers TFWiki .net. And yeah, that

was very, very pastel. Oh, check out Drench,

1993. Okay, yeah. And I love, you may or may

not know, But the TFWiki .net is literally the

one place most of all Transformers should go.

And they do various, quote, you know, they do

little captions under some of the images. The

first Generation 2 space case. Luckily, I wore

my Joe Namath netted slingshot deco. I'm like,

oh, God. Do you know who David Willis is? Yes.

David Willis, the guy who did Shark Pact and

all that. Yep. He created – I don't know if he

runs it. I don't want to speak out of turn, but

basically, yes, David Willis was the one that

kind of started TF Wiki. And there's so many

of these captions that you're speaking of that

I think are – if they're not written by him,

they are definitely in his stylings. Oh, yeah.

But that's – One of the reasons I love TF Wiki,

but the Generation 2 figures in general are just

a ton of fun. Some really innovative with their

articulation. If you look at some of them, Laser

Rod, Optimus Prime, which they're remaking. Yes.

Even the aforementioned Space Case and his brethren

like Hooligan, all very much in that same style

where they're using ball joints. I would think

almost the first time. It's almost like a, what

would you call it? Not precedent, but something

that came right before Beast Wars, because Beast

Wars was 96 or 97? 96, yep. Yeah. Which, all

right, go ahead. I love the, so I'm looking at

the shattered glass version of Drench. And the

toy that they show. The caption under it. Not

Shattered Glass Drench. This Universe Drench.

This is Universe Drench, who doesn't really exist

at all. There is no picture here, and we never

had this conversation. Where is that one? I will

send it to you. I'm looking at a version of Drench,

but it's just... The stuff they were coming up

with. How do I do this? Hey, welcome back, Floor

Burger, to using Skype and chat and trying not

to have dead air during a podcast. That's why

I'm laughing. Because I'm sitting here struggling.

Thanks. Exactly. Yeah. Okay, we're going to go

to the disambiguate. Wow. Disambiguation. Did

I say it right that time? The second time, yes.

Go me. Go you. All right, I'm just going to have

to type it in at this point. SG, there we go.

There you go. It should have taken you right

to the link that I – oh, anyway, never mind.

Oh, I got it. I got it. I found it. Yeah. It's

just crazy. So, yeah, so everything changed.

The more things change, folks, the more they

stay the same. I'm still an imbecile. It works.

It works. Oh, Lord. Basically, it's like several

of the Bayformers. You have no idea how they

go together, but at some point it just works.

That's kind of how I function on a daily basis.

Yep. I don't need to see Transformers insides

on the outside. Thank you very much. You know,

I'll say that those designs were great in the

first movie. I remember being really wowed by

the Bayformer designs. But without a doubt, by

Transformers 8, I liked the blue, whatever it

was. The last night. With Mark Wahlberg. Okay,

so yeah, that was 4 and 5, so that was Age of

Extinction and The Last Knight. Whatever a joke.

It just was getting to be a bad joke at that

point. Yeah. I hate to say it. It was just a

bad joke, but the designs just got old. They

didn't work. Yeah. There were some pretty creative

Transformers early on. There was the tow truck,

I think. from the first movie that is still one

of my favorites, although it disappeared with

time, but that's about it. That's my tangent

for Transformers. Here we go. Next topic. What

are we doing? I don't know. Should we have any

commentary on the ridiculousness that was the

toy community in 2021, or should we just skip

over it? Oh, my God. See, I try not to pay attention

to that. I don't want to be oblivious to it,

but I don't want to be that person that has to

pay attention to every single thing that every

single person said because we are all supposed

to love toys. What would you like to bring up?

Because honestly, I know there was a bunch of

things, but... I don't want to get too deep into

the weeds. There's definitely some topics that

have come up recently of a new toy line that

just finally hit that the designer and the president

for the company for it just really was saying

some stuff that I think is unbecoming of someone

of his talent. I'll leave it at that. Okay. He

just made a lot of comments that for someone

who's as talented as he is and can have as much

potential in the toy industry as he has to...

This doesn't have to do with Transformers, does

it? No. Okay, good. Because that's a whole other

can of worms with a certain convention. But anyway,

go ahead. Oh, I can type it to you if I can remember

how to type. Yeah, no, it's fine. It's okay.

Well, apparently there's been some issues with

this person or that company or his related confidants

that they don't take kindly to people speaking

out against them. So letters are sent out or

screenshots of things are sent out with orders.

There's a lot of allegations and a lot of pictures

and stuff that are out there. You're right. It

really should be more about having fun. It's

so weird to see stuff that you only see in modern

21st century politics and nonsense soak itself

into toys. It wasn't even about politics. It

just was similar methodology of trying to get

attention and get people to... We're talking

about him now, so it works. Yeah. Transformers

had something similar, as I mentioned, with a

convention that was supposed to return last year.

Now it's I don't know if it's happening this

year or next year or whenever. But there's a

very famous Transformers convention person that

shall not be named. But I was I actually went

to the final convention. I didn't actually go

to the convention itself. I went to the Stan

Bush concert that was held outside the convention,

but BotCon in 2016, that was their final convention

at the time. I don't know. If you're working

for a convention, if you're working for a toy

company, if you have certain ideas that are your

ideas that may or may not be good to share with

the world on Twitter, If you have your own personal

account, fine. But don't use the convention,

whatever. Anyway, it's a whole thing. And it's

just crazy and stupid and whatever. That's what

my buddy Ender always used to say. We give you

money, you give us stuff. Like, that's when it

comes to certain toy companies. That's the whole

point. They sit here and make this stuff for

us to buy. When we buy it, well, there you go.

That's the thing. I don't know. I can't disagree

with that mentality. It's really interesting

to me because in one of these streams that I

was watching of these really angry toy collector

peoples on YouTube, they were talking about How

they felt that toy shelves were starting to look

like Soviet Russia. Now, what toy shelves looked

like in Soviet Russia, I don't even know because

I don't think they had toy shelves. However,

I digress. Yeah. He was saying that he felt that

every collector should have equal access to buying

toys at the same price with the same level of

ease and availability. And I'm thinking to myself,

you're complaining about things looking like

Soviet Russia, but you're saying that everybody

should have the same opportunity to get what

they want for the same price, almost like the

community should be supported all at the same

level. I was starting to see him contradicting

himself a little bit there. I don't know if you're

catching along with that. Yeah, no, I got it,

I got it. The thing of it is, is that... I can

only put this in exclusive terms. Specifically

to the stuff that I collect, I would love, love

to be able to go to Target at lunchtime and see

an entire shelf of exclusive TMNT2 Funko Pop

Super Shredders with the Target sticker on them.

But I know, because the Funko balloon hasn't

popped yet, here's hoping it doesn't, but it

hasn't popped yet, I know if I'm not there at

7 .55 or earlier in the morning, you know what

I mean? Trust me, the exclusive thing has been

a nightmare, but unless... I am mistaken, and

I can be corrected in this, and I'm at the point

in my life where if somebody can provide me with

information that proves my understanding of something

wrong so I can enhance my understanding and I

can improve what I think and what I know. As

far as I understand, a lot of those exclusives,

that comes down to the retailers. That's not

Hasbro. That's not Mattel. That's not – I guess.

They're agreeing to those deals, but Walmart

will basically say – If you want us to carry

your Transformers, you better give us something

special because then we're going to buy them

at the volume that you need them to be bought

at, that you can actually turn a profit, that

we can turn a profit, but you've got to give

us some incentive. I don't know. I'm not saying

I like it. I'm not saying that is subjectively

good or bad. That's just how it works. Everybody

who's yelling at Hasbro and picking on toy companies

– It's not them. It's Target and Walmart, but

nobody seems to be mad at them. It is also Hasbro.

Oh, no, plenty of people get mad at Target and

Walmart. We get mad at everybody, though. That's

the thing. But the thing is, if Hasbro has a

deal with Walmart or Target or whatever, part

of that deal, as far as I assume it should go,

and I'm probably making an ass out of myself

when I say this. No, I do that for both of us.

Don't worry. If Target wants this exclusive deal,

Hasbro should, in theory, be supplying Target

and their multiple chains over the entire continental

48 states or even hell. I don't know what the

Target market, again, just whatever it is for

Alaska and Hawaii, but let's just say the lower

48. Hasbro needs to give them enough product

for that exclusive deal so that Target can then

have enough. But the third thing that pops into

this is the bots and the scalpers and the this

and the that and the whatever. Look, I just want

one fucking figure. I get that. I don't want,

like... You're not going to get me justifying

or defending that corporate practice. I'm calling

a spade a spade in that what we're seeing is,

no, they're not fulfilling all those orders.

I don't know if there's really a way to know

exactly how many specific collectors like you

or me. Funko is definitely a little bit more

collector -oriented than, let's say, Transformers.

I think we can both agree with that. Oh, yeah.

I said this before. I had to pass the Walmart

electronics department several times a couple

of years ago just waiting for this parent and

their child to get away from my Funkos because

no kid needs Funkos. Like, right on these boxes.

All right, I'm going to pick up FYE exclusive

Clark Griswold. pop movies christmas vacation

it's clark in his winter suit gear right after

he has destroyed the which i find this absolutely

hilarious this is a fye exclusive funko pop and

where he destroyed the sled was on the freeway

On the way into the Walmart parking lot in the

movie. How this is not a Walmart exclusive is

beyond me, but whatever. But the point is, is

that kids today may go and look at Funko Pops

and see maybe G .I. Joe or Transformers or He

-Man and fine. No child is going to go. I mean,

unless their parents have shown them the movie.

No child is going to go into FYE and say, oh,

mommy, I want Clark Griswold with the sled. It's

more so the father of the family. Oh, look, I

watched it. We watched this movie every – you

know what I mean? I don't know. It just seems

like – and it even says on the box, does it say

collector? I mean, I know it's not going to say

collector item, but – No way. I'm just trying

to see because, you know – Certain things are

marketed to specifically be a collector thing,

whereas it's not for kids kind of thing. Well,

NECA or NECA, whatever you want to call it, does

say on its packages it's for adults. It is an

adult toy, which sounds really weird to say,

but it's an adult toy. Yes, and I remember when

Maddie Collector was a thing, it did say adult

collectible or adult whatever. Yeah. And there

is that, but one of the things that I've been

hearing multiple times, even from Jesse Falcon

back in the Toy Biz Marvel Legends days, I'm

talking 2004, 2005, he was pretty active in the

foosh message boards. He interacted with a lot

of people and I got to interact with him a lot.

One thing he did say is that things like exclusives

and chase figures, I think exclusives basically

are chase figures if people buy them. Not like

the red Megatron that's out there right now.

That's everywhere. Regardless, the whole idea

is to get you and me to go into the store to

look for it. Whether we find it or not, it does

not matter. It's just we are statistically more

likely to go and purchase even if it's just a

bottle of pop or, hey, look, I need that thing

sitting there on that shelf on that impulse buy

because the odds are high we will drop that money

in some shape or form. So it's – I don't think

– We're ever going to be happy as adult collectors

with the way the retail realm works. It's just

never going to be what it was. And that's not

doom and gloom. Again, I'm just trying to call

a spade and spade. I wish I could go into a toy

store right now, a actual functional retail toy

store, not just essentially a secondhand store

like Times Pass. Times Pass is a great toy store,

but they're not. really focusing on stuff that's

on the shelves right now, I'd love to see a Toys

R Us comeback, a KB Toys comeback, and not just

have... I can think of in my head right now,

okay, if I walk down the toy aisle at Target

right now, I can see it's like DC Transformers,

then a hair of G .I. Joe, and then I think...

Masters. Ghostbusters. I'm going just down the

line of what's on the pegs by me. And then there's

all the Eternals figures, which, oh my god, that's

terrible. But they're all licensed, big -time

companies. But I'm looking at the stuff on my

shelves, like, I have Mighty Max here. I have

VR Troopers, which was its own funny thing. Swamp

Thing. I mean, they're all licensed, obviously,

but there was just such a variety, a greater

variety of different... periods of time. We're

never going to see that again. No, never. We're

never going to see experimental lines, even from

a big company like Mattel. We're never going

to see another food fighters. Yeah. I think the

thing of it is, is that, you know, whether it's

a store exclusive for whatever brand, again,

I can only go by what I see and what I pay attention

to. Cause honestly, I saw the, what is it, the

Rise of Evil Target 2 -pack, it's Keldor and

whatever. I forget what the Rise of Evil Masters

of the Universe Target 2 -pack was. Oh, did that

raise up? So anyway, yeah, well, I mean, but

the thing of it is, is... You know, I saw that

several times before I even knew kind of thing,

and then I had watched a couple of things and

whatever. But, like, with Funko, like, I'm on

my buddy's website, my buddy Wes Howard, who

runs PoppingOffToys .com, and I'm looking at

the TMNT PX exclusive. It's the comic version.

So Funko is doing the old every bandana is red.

And, you know, they've got Casey, they've got

Shredder, and they've got the four turtles. But

all six of these figures have a chance at chase

where they are all black and white. So the main

figures that you will get are, you know, the

green and what, you know, they are colored. But

the exclusive part of it for chases. You know,

is that the same figures, except they're all

black and white. So that I can kind of see like

not really being a big deal, because if you say

it's a chance at a chase, then if I get one,

great. If I don't. OK, I had my chance kind of

thing. I don't know. Toys and toy collecting

and everything. It just feels like. You can enjoy

what you want to enjoy. And you can have your

collection or whatever else, but unless you –

but if you share that with anyone, it's like,

oh, my God, why would you want to do that? Why

would you want to engage with people? Because

then everyone's either going to be jealous or

they're going to be mad or, oh, you got this,

but I didn't get that. It's like we're all still

fucking children around here sometimes, and it's

just crazy. Well, I mean, why would anybody give

anybody a hard time about liking something like

Waterworld toys? I just I don't understand it.

It's only one person I know that likes Waterworld

toys around here, folks. Well, I think there

is something very different in people who collect

toys versus people who don't. And I think one

of those things is that you're still very much

in touch with. your childhood probably more than

most people and just i i think with some people

to a healthy extent and to some people an unhealthy

extent and i'm not saying they're in touch with

their childhood where they are just a big kid

and they're in touch with their inner child and

they know how to have fun and let loose i think

there are some people who are still very much

more stuck emotionally in some ways as though

they were still a child yeah and what i mean

by that is just Where people are probably more

likely to allow their emotions to guide them

than their own logic and common sense and experience.

So I've told this story before. From 2005 to

2011, I had an actual toy collection still. I

mean, I had just started it in 2005, but that

was the first time I had actually had an actual

toy collection since I was a kid kind of thing.

and i would drop you know the 2006 was the for

me it was the explosion of ebay and i can sit

here and tell you even though i was working and

even though i was making the extra money and

whatever else i could afford to do this i between

g1 all of this was g1 figures optimus prime blaster

sound wave And there was maybe one or two others.

I guarantee you I paid, and this is 2005, 2006.

I guarantee you I paid $100 or $120 or somewhere

between $100 and $150 per figure. And I was buying

these like one or two a month kind of thing.

And at that time in 2005, when I was 25 years

old. I was getting my childhood back. I was,

you know, looking for every single thing that

I could find, you know, turtle stuff, transformer

stuff, He -Man stuff, whatever I could. That's

the only reason why I ever ended up in 2009 or

10, a club attorney or Maddie collector subscription

person, because that was the only place you could

get. you know, the current at the time, new classics

figures that they were doing. And I'm like, okay,

yes, this isn't the original vintage toy, but

this is a modern version of that, that I want

to have kind of thing. And, you know, things

happen and I had to sell the collection and,

you know, that was in 2011 and, you know, 12

years later or 11 years, I should say 11 years

later, I have no interest. One, there's one specific

toy that I would ever go back on eBay to find

a mint in box toy. And that would be transformers

generation one Astro train. Cause that was my

favorite out of all the transformers toys that

Hasbro ever put out in the eighties. That was

always my favorite, but I moved past that. I

didn't, I'm not from 2011 to now. I was never

in the whole, thing of needing to have the collection.

I switched, actually. I switched from toys to

comics, because I started the pull bag in 2013

here on the Geekcast Radio Network, which is

our comic review show and discussion show. So,

like, it kind of switched, and the comics I was

buying were, you know, whatever was currently

going on at the time. At the time, it was DC

New 52 and Marvel Now and whatever. So I had

no, like, I was done with toys in 2011, and then

somehow, someway, the end of 2016, beginning

of 2017, I found out about Funko, and I have

not looked back. However, I also say, and I do

do this, I do abide by this. If I can't get it,

fine. If it's too much, fine or whatever. At

the same time, I'm not sitting here. I will never

have 3 ,000 Funko Pops. I don't want 3 ,000 Funko

Pops. I want characters that aren't going to

have a toy anywhere else. Again, like I mentioned,

the Clark Griswold or even the Target exclusive.

Home Alone Kevin McAllister, the difference between

the Target exclusive and the common that they

put out a couple years ago. The Target exclusive

has him in his winter hat. Basically, it's the

winter scene when he's walking home from the

store when Harry and Marv chase him. So his winter

gear. So that's why it's a Target exclusive is

because he has a completely different outfit

on. But I know I'm never going to find an actual

action figure toy of this version of Kevin McAllister

anywhere else other than Funko. And that's why

I like them. At the same time, if it's something

I don't like, like Waterworld toys, I would never

buy a Waterworld Funko Pop. So I think what's

interesting about your collecting compared to

my collecting, like where you're at now. So you

start off trying to rebuild or expand on your

childhood collection. Right. Which? For me, that's

part of what it was. There's a lot of displays

that I have where I can say, yep, I had that

as a kid. Yep, I had that as a kid. Yep, I had

that as a kid. But there's other figures in the

same line that I didn't have that expanded because

it's the counter aliens line isn't huge. And

you can get most of the first releases from that

series. Pretty easily. There's only, I think,

five or six human characters in that first one.

You can get them all easily. I didn't have all

of them as a kid. I think I only had the Drake,

but they were three bucks a piece when I got

them. But for me, it was, oh, so I can actually

reclaim those positive parts of my childhood

and expand upon it and revisit it. Because what's

interesting, I think, with collecting, especially

collecting toys, is that it's sort of a connection

right back to your past. And I think that's why

a lot of us like it. is that I can actually tangibly

hold something that I know I had or maybe didn't

have but had seen, and I now have it in my hands

again 30 years later. I mean, so I was born in

84, so 93. There's toys that I have 30 years,

either I've had them for 30 years or I have them

again after 30 years. Yeah. And for you, with

Funko, it's more you're now getting stuff that

you could never have. Yeah, I mean, okay, so...

Again, there are plenty of Funko Pops I don't

have yet that I would love to have. And you want

to talk about an exclusive nightmare, just try

getting the exclusive McDonald's five -pack.

Anyway, but, like, again, going to something

like that, like your Precious Food Fighters thing,

you know, I love the Food Fighters line. It was

awesomely stupid, but I loved it as a kid. I

personally don't need to have it now, but again,

when I was a kid, every single character that

any – even the stupid – you remember the stupid

Burger King Kids Club commercials? There was

an animated kid character. Yeah, I have. Okay,

so – You mean like the actual club, like the

politically correct gang of kids? Yeah, so there

was an actual – it's in one of the old Burger

King Kids Club commercials. There was an actual

mascot of a kid character. With the goggles,

right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've got that. Okay,

so here's the thing. When it comes to Funko other

than Transformers and He -Man and certain movies

and TV shows, I am looking for things that I

wanted to pull off my television screen. as a

child slash teenager do you still need one of

those because i think i might have a spare no

but my point is when funko says they're gonna

make mcdonald's pops i'm like i'm there already

i don't care you know hamburglar ronald grimace

whomever you know it's like that's what gets

me excited about the funko stuff but and again

as much as i i gave you a hard time about funko

The thing with Funko that I admire and I appreciate,

I think it's why a lot of people switch to it

or get into it, is because on my shelf I have

Marvel Legends, but there's cinematic and comic,

and they don't always mesh very well together.

They're cool, they're the same scale, but they

don't mesh. So even in the same line, I have

figures that can't go together, right? Yeah.

I had the DC Universe Classics, which kind of

went okay with Marvel Legends. Sometimes they

went pretty well. Sometimes they didn't. Again,

the cinematic figures actually look photo -real,

so they don't really mesh with that stuff very

well. So I can't really combine those on the

same display. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't.

But now with McFarlane doing 7 -inch scale DC

figures, those don't fit with anything I have.

Funko pops. No, I totally agree where you could

have a character from aliens. Like I'm looking

at my Kenner aliens right now. You could have

a Kevin Costner water world. You could have the

kid from Burger King. You could have the Backstreet

Boys. You could have the Backstreet Boys. But

yes, I never saw him in person. But yes, I'm

aware of them. Yeah. Yeah. They weren't in outfits

I really cared for, which is weird to say that,

but anyways. But no, I mean, I appreciate that

about Funko quite a bit. I just as someone who

really has an affinity for vintage toys, I have

a hard time with Funko taking up as much space

as it does, but I understand it. Yeah. So. I'd

have to look on the actual Funko app. My phone's

actually in the other room charging. But again,

I'm on my buddy's website here and I'm looking

at it and whatever. And as far as I can tell,

the only ones that they have put out for Backstreet

were their basic generic white Millennium uniforms

from the Millennium album. So that's probably

why you didn't like them. And speaking of the...

Backstreet Boys and Burger King in the same sentence.

They have their Burger King toys. My wife had

them. My wife owned all five. I think at one

point I had one of them just from a lot of toys

I bought at a garage sale or something. I had

one of them at one point. But I have all five.

They're standing with my... I've been... Let's

update what I've been up to since October with

the toy show. I really started getting interested

in 4 -inch, 5 -inch scale figures that kind of

have that Kenner -ish body of just the shoulders

and the hips and the head. If you're lucky to

have the elbows, I really started appreciating

those. For whatever reason, I'm just really enjoying

them. So I've been kind of picking up some here

and there. Kenner RoboCop, for instance. And

if you can find a lot of these, they're not very

expensive, but they fit really well in the Pee

Wee Herman playset. Wow. Hey, we'll be hopefully

seeing some more pictures of that as I get time

and a better camera to get more creative with

it, because I think my iPhone camera has taken

a little bit of a dip, and I don't know if that's

on purpose, because it... I don't know. What

model of iPhone do you have? Eight, but I'm not

finding the photo quality to be as good as it

was a couple years ago. Yeah, I'm sure, because

they're all putting it into the 13 mini and the

14 and everything else and all that. Yeah, I've

been going after those figures, and the Burger

King Backstreet Boys toys, despite some of their

weird features, they actually fit pretty well

with all that. James Bond Jr. is in that category.

That's a wacky line. That is a line that... That's

neon. Yeah, that's very neon. That is a very

neon line. I think I only ever had James Bond

Jr. himself. I don't think I had any of the others.

I recently got Oddjob, and I think it's Dr. No,

I'm not sure, but I recently got Oddjob, and

I don't think there's too many others I have

to get from the line. It might be one of those

lines that if I see it for really, really cheap

somewhere, then maybe I'll consider it. Unless

there's a toy shop up in Sheboygan, of all places,

that I'm thinking about visiting. Not because

they have James Bond Jr., but if I'm ever up

that way, it's only... It's only about two hours

from me. It's not too far away from a place I've

gone to take some day trips to. Yeah. But, yeah,

I mean, if they're neon, they're awesome. There's

a bright neon orange James Bond Jr. figure, and

it's awesome. How much are you into the Marvel

movies, or are you not into the Marvel movies?

What do you mean? The Marvel Cinematic Universe,

yay or nay? Oh, I mean, I love it. I haven't

seen Spider -Man yet. Okay, no, no, it has nothing

to do with Spider -Man. The reason why I'm asking

you is because you and your neon colors, these

are not neon, but they have on Amazon, they have

a Funko Pop five pack of... Thor, Captain America,

Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk, and Iron Man with

the Infinity Stone colors. So Thor is purple,

Cap is blue, Black Widow is red, Hawkeye is orange,

Hulk is green, and Iron Man is yellow. And at

the bottom of each of this five – because they

come in a five -pack, so they're all on this

one stand. They have the stones at their feet.

They look like they should be fruit -flavored.

I'm waiting for Barney to just pop out. Come

here, Fred. Give me your fruity pebbles. Do you

remember those Otter Pops? Oh, God, yes. These

look like they could be the mascots for Otter

Pops instead. Oh, boy. You know what's funny?

Is that there are Funko Pop Otter Pops. Oh, yeah,

yeah. I've seen it. I actually... Wasn't there

another one that they did that was similar in

that art style, but it was people who looked

like vegetables or something like that? I can't

remember. I don't remember. I just know it was

part of the Ad Icons line. They did the five.

I think it was in that line. Yeah. What was it

called? Ad Icons. Hey, listeners, doesn't this

sound exciting? Alexander the Grape. Strawberry

Short Cook. Oh, God, I've never actually paid

attention to the Otter Pops actual names. They

did the McNuggets, which are pretty cool. Yeah,

they've done everything. I mean, they they they've

done everything and they do everything. There's

just several. So I've said this before on the

show. I don't know if it would get me to stop.

collecting or you know i don't buy funko pops

all the time like the last couple of purchases

i've made have been the first ones i've purchased

almost two years or so overall but uh alf they

make an elf pop i i could stop they ever make

an elf pop i i could life form see i'm still

trying to look for these other Because they did

Otter Pops. That's not the one I was thinking

of, though. The thing is, I think they could

do a lot. And I'm sure if they could, they would.

But these ad icons are great. But I'm seeing

some of these look like old packages and stuff.

There's so much they could do with some good

retro designs that would get me to consider crossing

the line over into Funko. Didn't you tell me

you did buy one? I have. My buddy Mark picked

up the Enchanted Tiki Room set from Disney for

me. That's right. And I have a stone goliath,

a regular goliath from Gargoyles, and I have

an angry beaver. And the reason I have the angry

beaver is that growing up I had this tiny little

gumball -sized angry beaver toy that I loved.

See? This is why Funco is everything. You know,

it's no bigger than like the tip of my thumb.

But the thing is, like the Funko Pop one looks

almost exactly the same, but it's a bigger version.

And I think I got it when I was on a school trip.

I was like, I have to get something to make myself

feel better. So. So that's why I got it. It's

just again, you've seen my collection. I don't

have room for Funko Pops. And I'm going to be

expanding the shelving situation in here in the

next month or two. Oh, Lord. Oh, boy. Hey, man.

I just found an article about the psychology

of collecting. I mean, it's a process that might

not ever be done, but according to my... At some

point, it has to be done. Well, I think that

is the fun thing about collecting, though, and

I think that's why we do it, is that you can

completely change up your collection. Sell off

a half of it and then repopulate it. Yep. If

I wanted to, I would sell all my Marvel Legends

and then maybe pursue something else. I don't

know. Yep. Or probably just use the money for

something else. That would probably be smart.

Yeah. Save it, maybe. I don't know. I'll buy

GameStop stock. Oh. Is that still a joke, really?

I mean, we're in 2022. Come on, now. in quarantine

buying up GameStock stock. Oh, God. That's crazy.

That's pretty recent in my memory. Yeah, that's

crazy. It feels like it was years ago now, but

then again. Hey, why wasn't Jimmy paying attention

in class? I was trading stocks in class and probably

made more money doing those trades than I probably

did that entire week as a teacher, so I was like,

I can't blame him. He's learning something. That's

crazy. All right, folks, I think that's going

to do it for us. I think we've talked all the

toys we can talk tonight in this episode, and

I have no idea when this episode will be out,

but it'll be out soon. Where can the people find

you online, sir? I still have my Twitter. I think

it's just Forburger. It's at Floorburger553.

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

it is. I don't know why it's 553, but yeah, at

Floorburger, that's how you can see me try to

cleverly respond to other people's tweets and

think I'm special and unique and deserve full

compliments. Oh, Lord. I am at TF2, and Mike,

you can also follow at TFToyCast for the show.

Like I said, I'm flying by the seat of my pants,

folks, so whenever we have the next episode,

I'm not sure what it's going to be about, if

it's going to be in Origins or if it's going

to be something else. No clue. Is it too late

to do fall -themed shows? No, it's too early.

That's true. Yeah, we had all those. It's too

early now. January and February are just not

good months. What do we talk about? January and

February are for anything, not just toys, but

for movies, for this, for that, for whatever.

I thought February was where they stuck all the

movies that studios thought were going to be.

Well, I mean, you know, not this year, but next

year will be 20 years since Daredevil was released

on Valentine's Day. Anyway. I have a story about

that. So do I. Okay. But no, I just feel like

even though this year, last year, I keep saying

this year, last year, whatever, even though 2021

was crazy and whatever else, Christmas has always,

you know, Christmas is what Christmas is. And

then by the time January and February roll around,

everybody just wants to just kind of relax. Nobody

wants to have to pay attention to anything or

do anything or go anywhere or, you know, I don't

know. It's always been recovery months from holiday

time, I guess. So, eh, we'll figure out something.

Oh, yeah. See, my brain's still not even working.

I'm still recovering from the holidays myself.

Yep. I just was on Twitter or Instagram or one

of them things. Oh, no, I think I put it on the

ToyCast Facebook page. I said, these are old

pictures. They're actually before the holidays,

but I posted my Nightwing toy, because somehow

or another it fell off my desk at the time, and

I posted it there, and I'm like... What did it

say? It says Nightwing New 52 Red. This is the

DC multiverse. This is the one that came in the

two -pack with Red Hood. Nightwing is still recovering

from Christmas, and it's basically him face down

on the floor next to a Transformers poster in

a garbage bag. Well, did you like my video of

the famous Star Wars deaths? yes yes famous star

wars deaths lord are we still recording or are

we all dead yes no no no of course we're still

recording what are you talking about uh we will

catch you next time folks here as we are talking

toys on toy cast bye everybody be good people

don't be stupid toy collectors be smart ones