Interview with Justin Bevente on Toy Collecting and Funko Pop Culture

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

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Jazz here, and

I am so digging the GeekCast Radio Network. Cliffjumper,

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

ToyCast. Oh, yes. Listen in to the only toy podcast

you will ever need. Hello and welcome to an all

-new generation of ToyCast as we get the origins

of any and all toy fans that we can. I am, of

course, Tiocho and Mike. And today's featured

guest is somebody I recently started following

on Instagram. Instagram is kind of... I've been

on there a while, but I don't... I have, what,

maybe 100 posts out of Twitter, Instagram, and

Facebook. Instagram is the youngest social media

for me. But this person is a Funko fan and artist.

It is, and I'm probably going to trip all the

hell over his name, but it is Justin Beneviti.

Or did I miss? Did I do that wrong? I should

have asked before we started. No, all good, all

good. It's pronounced Bevente. There we go. Thank

you for having me, man. Happy to be here. This

is fun. So behind the scenes, folks, we were

talking and then suddenly Darth Vader decided

to hit my fuse box with his lightsaber. But one

of the reasons I think because I follow and I

watch and whatever, a lot of these Funko people

that do unboxings and things like that. And I

want to get this person on here at some point.

I've been watching Tristan, a .k .a. Top Pops

on YouTube, and I follow him on Instagram, and

somehow your account can't let you know how social

media things are. Like, oh, you follow this person.

You should follow these next 10 people. For sure.

Okay. And then I saw you had done, because you're

a digital artist or you're an artist in general,

you did a Funko Pop concept. of Darth Vader with

two lightsabers based on the Obi -Wan Kenobi

episode. And I was like, ooh, Funko, yay. And

then I looked at it again and I'm like, damn

it, you got me. It's so good. I was like, wait,

did they really? Nope. Artist. Yeah. Okay, good.

Well, I mean, I appreciate that it can trick

you. Some people get upset about that, but, you

know, that's really the goal as us, like, digital

artists. We really want to make it look. as real

as possible because we want it to look like a

Funko Pop as if Funko made it. Yeah. Yeah, no,

absolutely. So we're here to talk about toys

and toy collecting, and it will be heavily pointed

at Funko because that's what we both collect.

I don't know. We'll find out what else Justin

collects. But question one, what is or was the

first toy you remember having as a kid? Oh, boy.

First toy I remember as a kid. Probably got to

be, I think it came out in like 94 or 95, around

the time that the animated series of Spider -Man

came out. But it was a 12 -inch Spider -Man toy

from the animated series. And man, was it awesome.

It was, of course, now by all means, you know,

articulation is... Incredible. But in 94, you

could just move his forearms up a little bit

and his knees just slightly. But man, that thing

was so rad. And I would take that wherever I

could. There's a lot of pictures from the early

90s with me and that guy. And that's definitely

probably the first toy I can remember, if not

that, at least the one that's definitely the

most impactful for me. Right, right. Yeah, very

cool. Very cool. 12 inches for a toy. Doesn't

that mean he's a doll? I think technically you

could, you know, they, they were, they were marketing

like Barbies around that time. They had the Ken's,

the GI Joe's of course, but I think they were

trying to pass action figures definitely along

that size. You're like definitely early nineties

for sure. Yeah. It's like a comeback because

the original Joe's were the OG original Joe's

were 12 inch. So yeah. Right. Was there a particular

adult who was supportive of your playing with

toys as a kid? Was there anyone who was unsupportive?

I don't know if anybody unsupportive. I mean,

both of my folks were always big into the idea

of my brother and I. My brother's two years older

than me playing with toys. So I probably started

a bit younger than he had because as the younger

brother, I see him having, you know, these cool

ass figures. I don't want to just play with the

Fisher, the Fisher price stuff. You know, I want

to, yeah, I want those action figures. So my

parents early on were getting me things like

that too, to just kind of, you know, keep up

with him. And yeah, they, they both, you know,

never were really big into like, Oh, you gotta

be outside or anything like that. They were just,

you know, whatever makes us happy at the time

they were into. So we, we always had toys growing

up. Yeah. That's the, yeah, I would, Yeah, my

mom was like that. My dad was more, oh, you should,

he was more of the go outside. Of course, I come

from divorced parents, but it's one of those

things where, yeah, my mom didn't care. And half

the time, because as kids, because I'm slightly

older than you, but as kids in the 80s and 90s,

you know. we would take our toy. Like we didn't

care about, Oh my God, it must stay in the package.

It must be right. Nobody cared about mint and

sealed box or mint in box in 1989 or 1997. Nobody

cared. Everybody like, Oh, you're going to get

your captain planet toy wet because Duke, like,

yeah, it was, it was all about play and, and,

and, and all of that. So definitely, definitely.

I mean, of course, now that I'm older, Are you

kidding? You know how many Star Wars toys I wish

I still had that are, like, sealed on the card?

But, like, oh, man. But, no, I got them all loose.

Seriously. Yeah, it's one of those things where

I've been wanting to do it. This is more of a

social media thing than anything else, but I've

been wanting to create this story, and I've said

this on some of these podcasts that I do, to

see what would, like, Everything in the world

happens the way it has happened, except we had

the Internet in 1982. So to see how. much of

a dystopian future 2022 would be right i don't

know i i haven't figured that out i haven't figured

that story out yet or anything like that but

yeah i it yeah if we only knew when we were kids

like oh you need to do this you need to do the

right exactly for us toys the value of the toy

was being able to play with it being able to

have an imagination and and you know, create

scenes and create this and create. Oh, definitely.

I mean, the value came from literally how much

you can get out of that thing before basically

it broke. I mean, I had another vintage Spider

-Man toy from like 95, um, just classic, you

know, like six incher. And I mean, I played with

that thing until one day it just literally shattered.

Like, I mean, it broke into pieces. And but that

was great value from it. You know, that's all

it was back then. It was play with this thing

until it busts. Yeah, absolutely. Play with it

until it breaks and you make your parents buy

you the same one all over again. Totally. They'll

be like, you better not break this one. But it

lasted me two years, mom. Right. Oh, boy. What

types of toys were your favorites to play with?

You know. Obviously there are action figures,

but there are also vehicles and play sets and

things like that. Right. Yeah, I was never really

big into like vehicles with figures themselves.

It was really like the action figures and then

play sets kind of around there. Well, I guess

some vehicles, if you count like Star Wars, like

spaceships and stuff. Like, yeah, yeah. Had to

get, you know, the Millennium Falcon to put the

guys in. That was a must. The Darth Vader, TIE

Fighters, all of those. I have the big AT -ATs.

But like a lot of Star Wars toys and their companion

pieces. We play with a lot of Ninja Turtles.

I'm a huge Ninja Turtle fan. And then, you know,

one of the play sets just kind of talking about

that that sticks out to my mind is. It was maybe

like 98. I think it was whenever Batman and Robin

came out. That was 97. Yeah. Okay. 97. The Batman

play set. And it had, you know, it was, it was

Bruce Wayne's house and it had Mr. Freeze's like,

it had like freeze parts on Batman's manner and

stuff. And it was just, I don't think a scene

like that ever happened in the movie, but they

definitely. cash grabbed in on it for the play

set and oh man i needed that sucker so bad and

i got it for one christmas and played with that

thing until it broke yeah i don't know how i

broke a play set but i did yeah no they never

showed wayne manor being frozen it was just most

of the downtown areas of gotham and yeah yeah

What were your favorite childhood toys that really

stand out more than others? Oh, got to be probably

Star Wars ones. I mean, that was Star Wars as

a whole, like really shaped kind of like my geek

culture self. I mean, that original trilogy,

my parents showed me that specifically my mom.

God, I had to be like two when she first had

me watch those things. So like right away, I

needed those figures and as many of those figures

as I could get. And I collected that was really

like my first collecting habit form without really

knowing I was collecting because, you know, you're

really too young to understand what you're doing

at the time. But I would have really as many

like Star Wars toys as you can. And then, you

know, when Phantom Menace and all those ones

came out, I needed those. During the Phantom

Menace release, I can't remember the name of

the magazine, but there was a late 90s Star Wars

fan mail magazine. Right. You could send pictures

of your Star Wars toy collection to like possibly

get featured. And I remember I like begged my

parents. I was like, please, let's put all of

them out on the kitchen table and just take a

photo of me with them. And they were supportive

with it. They were like, all right, you know

what, we'll do it. So they take out the old.

those big old cameras back then. And they take

a picture and we had to send it in by mail and

we never heard anything back. So I'm assuming

I never got featured in the magazine. Yeah, probably

not. But who knows? Maybe there's a late nineties

magazine with all my toys in there, but probably

not. But that was, those figures are ones that

really stand out to me just because it really

shaped a lot of like the stuff I'm into now.

Very cool. Very cool. Do you prefer the label

of action figures, dolls, toys or other labels

when it comes to your collection? Oh, man, I

really don't care. You can call them whatever

you want. I call them all sorts of things. You

could call them dolls. I mean, I had I don't

know if you remember Max Steel. Yeah, that guy

was so rad. And those were considered dolls,

too, because they're kind of from like the G

.I. Joe format. I had a lot of those. So, yeah,

action figures, figures, toys, collectibles.

I'm not picky. I like what I like. And if people

want to call them whatever, I'm good with that.

Good guys or bad guys, which toys were your favorites

to play with the most? Oh, got to be the bad

guys. I mean, everybody, even if you're a good

human, it's good to pretend bad for a little

bit. They definitely, I mean, they knew what

they were doing. Everybody gave the bad guys

the best looking, like, uniforms and costumes

and everything. And even, like, the accessories

that those figures had. All the toys, you know,

from whether it's Transformers villains to Ninja

Turtles villains to Star Wars. Every villain

looked always just so much more cool to play

with. I... I had the toy before I saw the movie,

but after I saw the movie, I'm like, when I was

playing with my Turtles figures as a kid in 1990,

I'm like, holy crap, I got to make sure I do

not touch Playmates 87 Shredders Blades or else

I'm going to get pricked, like basically a Snow

White. Because you see that movie, and that movie

brought literally that opening scene where he's

coming in and you see all the... The stuff and

the helmet and the whatever. And I'm like, oh,

crap. I don't want to be touching that can opener.

Really? Really? That's what it seemed like. Yeah,

absolutely. What is or was your favorite toy

vehicle or play set? I'm going to go with the

AT -AT. I got that. One year for one of my birthdays.

And that was so cool to play with. It had like

a rope that attached from the bottom where like

in the scene where Luke attaches like his little

string shot thing to kind of like grip up there

to slice it with his lightsaber from the movie.

It had that action where you kind of like would

crank the rope up and slide the Luke character

up to the base of the AT -AT. And that I just

thought was so cool. And you can open up the

the roof of it as well and have like stormtroopers

put inside of it to like act like they're controlling

it, actually. And it was just a really rad figure.

Yeah, that that was one of those figures that's

like, OK, we can do a lot with this. You know,

you stretch your imagination to the point of,

oh, holy crap, look what we did. Yeah, no, definitely.

For the time that it was out, it was really,

really exciting. And that's the interesting thing

about, you know, obviously we're all older now.

We're all quote unquote adults. You know, I mean,

it was a tough, like, I don't know what, like,

cause I'm not, well, I don't have kids. I'll

put it to you that way. And, you know, I have

no plans. So, you know, I'm an old fogey at this

point. But, like, I don't know what kids today.

Because I look at something like, let's say,

Transformers Kingdom Commander Class Rodimus

Prime. I look at that and I'll be like, okay,

that is the original toy with modern aesthetics

and modern, like. That's for me. That's not for

the five -year -old in the next aisle or the

10 -year -old. So I'm like today, I don't know

how, but back then when we were kids, man, again,

it was all about imagination and just having

fun and whether you're inside or outside and

you could just create all these things and all

these displays and things like that, which kind

of comes to the next question, which is, Did

you and your friends ever pretend with your toys

that you had? By this, I mean, did you say, I'm

going to be this toy and you can be that toy.

Like, you know, you can be the Coke bottle top

and I'll be the piece of glass. Like, you know,

you take Skeletor, you take Darth Vader out and

you say, I'm Darth Vader and you're Luke Skywalker

and I'm going to cut your arm off or whatever.

Oh, totally. Totally. So my brother and I, growing

up, we had the same mutual friend. He was our

next door neighbor for many, many years. He was

the same age that I am. So, you know, we were

into like everything at the same time. So we

would always either go to his house or him come

to our house and we would just bust open the

toys and we would grab and we'd be like, all

right, I'm going to be this guy today. You're

going to be these guys. And it didn't even matter

if they were from the same universe or not. Like

to your point, you know, we would be grabbing

like Darth Vader and we had like Beetleborg toys

and like Power Rangers and things like that.

And we would just grab a bunch of them and be

either good guys or bad guys. And we would create

a whole freaking story from scratch right there.

Yeah. And there's a picture of me online somewhere.

It's probably on Facebook. When I was a kid,

I was probably 12 at that point. Yeah. I had

Classic Castle, not Classics, but the old Castle

of Greyskull, and standing outside of it was

like Dick Tracy, Captain Planet, the masked vehicles

were all around it kind of thing. So, yeah, I

mean, everything played with everything, except,

you know, as boys, I don't think any of us did

the Barbie doll thing. No, probably not, but

at least I didn't. I didn't either, so. But yeah,

no, mixing and matching was definitely part of

the fun. You can really just create your own

cinematic universe. Exactly. We were doing it

in the 80s, way before Marvel. Yes. What features

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

feel in comparison to the source material likeness?

Oh, man. I mean, I feel like... Since the era

that I grew up in, likeness maybe doesn't matter

as much to me as it might to some people. Just

because, I mean, you look at some of the toys

back then, and sure, you can say it's supposed

to be from this character, but it looks nothing

like them. Obviously, now with modern -day technology,

like the Hot Toys, those things are photorealistic

to the point where it's almost creepy. Those

features I take as bonuses nowadays. Obviously,

I do like to collect those. I have some realistic

Mandalorian and Spider -Man from Hot Toys and

things like that, but I don't think that's really

a main defining feature of a toy. What I'm looking

for is just... I'm a sucker. I am a kid from

the 90s, so I'm a sucker for those flashy colors.

I love the vibrant colors. packaging that toys

used to come in like those features are things

that like really like define a great toy to me

is like the paint quality of it even you know

it doesn't even have to articulate all that well

as long as it like looks really just painted

just so beautifully and vibrant and fun that's

that's really what i'm into yeah absolutely it's

one of those things where you want the character

you don't necessarily have to have 70 or 80 different

points of art like yeah you know you don't have

to have triple jointed knees or quadruple jointed

feet or you know oh you know nightwing's butt

comes out like three inches more than it should

cut like you don't have all of that you just

need enough to where it's you know worth playing

with versus like yes obviously we all know 80s

and 90s articulation some was good some was great

and then there were others that were just yeah

okay with today's standards and everything else

there is something as too much articulate yeah

i'd agree i'd totally agree with that yeah like

sometimes i feel like they go a little bit overboard

like i don't know if i need my Spider -Man figures

to be bending that far back to where it doesn't

even look like he's doing a pose anymore. It

looks like he just straight up broke his spine.

Yeah, exactly. And honestly, the only actual

pose I want a Spider -Man action figure to actually

be able to do is the crouch. As long as you can

get the crouch down and you can get his hand

down where it's supposed to be in front of him,

as long as you can do that, fine. Yeah, yeah,

no, I totally agree. Even with all that articulation

these days, there are some figures that the crouch

on Spider -Man is just still not there. It's

cringeworthy. It's like, how do you not do this

right? Right. Just give them a nice little abdomen

crunch and good articulation in the knees, and

we're set. That's it. That's all you need. Yeah,

absolutely. So you're in a toy store, and I'm

going to say toy store because – and this could

be today. This could be as a kid, whatever. But

you're in an actual toy store. Let's say Toys

R Us or – kb toy like you know it's not wall

like look i get it walmart and target and whatever

else that's what we have today because those

are not toy stores toy stores they are department

stores they are big box stores but let's say

you're in a toy store what does it what does

the toy packaging have to have to draw you in

so you're walking down the toy aisle and you

see all these star wars toys you see all these

masters of the universe toys you see all the

like what does the packaging have to have to

make you go and say, I want this? Yeah. I mean,

I, I touched on it just briefly a little bit

ago. It's really like those colors, like the,

the ones that really come to mind. Like I'm going

to use the KB toys and the toys are us as the

example, just because those were what I used

and I missed those stores. But what drew me to

those ones, like some 90s X -Men animated series

toys, like that packaging, the bright yellows,

the harsh blues, the contrast of those reds,

and then big pictures of... the characters themselves,

but it's not like, you know, today they'll use

like 3d rendered ones, but like they had 2d animators,

like draw what the figures looked like, or they

even would use like screenshots from the cartoons.

And that type of stuff is still, even today,

I I'm recently like gotten back into like retro

collecting and I've been getting more into like,

early 80s late 90s early 2000s figures like in

box and those are the pieces that i'm like after

is the ones that have those colors and like the

art on there that doesn't necessarily even look

like what the figure would look like but it was

just enough to like draw and pull you in and

that's that's just something that they just don't

do anymore yeah and that's the thing one thing

that A couple of things that toy packaging needs

to have today is it needs to have a good artist

render on the side. Again, I'll reference Transformers

Kingdom Commander Class Rodimus. You look at

that, and it's got a nice picture of him on the

side in the front. Cause it's a closed box or

whatever. And then you've got like a, like on

the back of the packaging, you need to have two

things. You need to have a cross sell at the

bottom and you need to have an actual image of

what the act, like you can put it on whatever

background you want to put it on. It doesn't

matter, but you need to have what the toy actually

looks like, especially with transformers in both

modes. But if it's something like X -Men or Spider

-Man or Batman or whatever, as long as you see

the figure, On the outside, because that's the

thing. Nowadays, they're all going to close.

And I understand why they're going to close box

packaging. And it's great. They want to do away

with using plastics and be better for the environment

and all that. Right, right. But at the same time,

with closed box packaging, you need to be able

to see what the toy looks like. Yes, definitely.

So that way, you look at the front and it's like,

oh, cool, yay, awesome. You flip it over the

back. Oh, OK. So that's the toy that's inside

of here. Yeah. I can't wait to get it home and

open it up and or or leave it closed or whatever.

Right. And even kind of with that, too, is I

loved I feel like you don't really see it too

much on toy packaging anymore either. But like

flipping it over and that cheesy picture of some

child actor literally playing with it and they

just look so stoked. And you then embody that

and you're like, oh, my God, I can't wait to

take this home and be that kid. They don't really

have that either on the packaging anymore. And

I want that back, too. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

And I don't watch TV the way I used to because

now we live in the whole streaming wars and everything

else. But, you know, you look at the classic

Transformers. I don't remember what the kid's

name was, but you had the kid where he's like.

Transformers are more than meets the eye. And

the kid is like, there are robots in disguise.

And they put the robot face over. And then you

have the one classic Masters of the Universe

commercial with Castle Greyskull. And you have

this kid who's so excited. And then you have

this actor who comes in playing. And the dad's

like, what is this? And I'm like, oh, my. who

are these people? Like, I know, I know it's eighties,

but Oh my God. I mean, toy commercials were just

something so special. And I don't even, I mean,

like you said, I barely watch TV too, but I can't

even imagine there being too many toy commercials

really anymore. Cause kids these days, I feel

like don't even play with toys. I feel like it's

all just, you know, give me an iPad or an iPhone.

And so like, I don't. What are those toy commercials

out nowadays? I couldn't even tell you. I don't

even know. Like I said, I still watch, but I

watch a lot of stuff because I'm a podcaster

and I end up reviewing a lot of stuff, things

like that. But when I say I don't watch TV the

way I used to, it's more of, yes, I cut the cord.

So I have internet and I have whatever. For me,

if I'm paying for content, I want ad -free content.

Oh, totally. You used to be able to go out and

buy a complete series DVD set of whatever cartoon

or TV show. There are no commercials on that.

They're just the episodes. So with streaming,

it's like, if I'm paying for this, I don't want

any ads. So yeah, I have zero clue. Anyone listening

wants to let us know what... current toy commercials

will like, and maybe we'll do an episode on that

in the future because I have zero, zero knowledge

of that. Do you open your toys or do you leave

them packaged? If you keep toys packaged, do

you have a specific criteria? As a kid, it was

always open. You know, I didn't really care about

that. Wanted to play with them as much as possible.

Now as an adult and having this as more of a

hobby, most of them stay in the box. We talked

earlier, I'm big into Funkos right now as well.

I stopped counting them in the Funko app when

I hit 380, and that was sometime last year. Oh,

no. It's well over 400 now, for sure. I'm sure

I'll count them all one day, but as of right

now, I just don't. care to but and i would say

maybe three are out of the box and then the rest

are all in box and same with then like the retro

toys i'm collecting now you know i'm getting

into more ninja turtles toys again and more star

wars toys and those ones i'm making sure are

like certified in box when i can find them like

flea markets and things like that and for new

things like funko's I want those boxes, you know,

if I'm going to keep them in the box to be like

pristine. I, you know, if it has a little crease

in a corner here and there, obviously that's

fine. Especially if it's on the back, you know,

cause I display them on floating shelves. So,

you know, the, the back's going to be against

the wall anyway. So I'm not really going to notice

that, but you know, if the, if the window is

foggy or scuffed or anything like that, then

I'll either just pass on the figure all entirely.

or take that one out of the box and try and find

a better boxed figure. So that's really, you

know, when it's coming to keeping things in the

box, I really just want a clean box. Obviously

with retro things nowadays, like that's obviously

much harder to find. So if it's anything from

like 20 years and past, as long as like the box

is not completely destroyed to all hell, I'm

good with that. Yeah. Yeah. As long as it's not,

postal worker steps you know steps on it oh yeah

someone i've seen so and i don't understand the

facet we'll get into all the funko stuff here

in a bit but i don't understand the fascination

of people loving to see these damaged funko pop

i'm like oh that hurts me it hurts myself like

yeah yeah like there's dedicated yeah to that

and that's just it's i don't know it's very strange

Yeah, I mean, so I have, and again, we'll talk

about this later with Funko, but my buddy, Wes,

who was on the show a while ago, he has his own

Funko Pop store and whatever else in Nashville,

Tennessee, called Poppin' Off Toys, and he posted

a while ago about, oh, brand new Marvel number

1057 J. Jonah Jameson holding up a Daily Bugle.

And the thing says, Spider -Man, threat or menace.

And it's a non -Babel Marvel fun – I'm like –

and I've tried to scan this thing into the app.

It doesn't come up. And I'm like – Really? What

weird thing is this? Like I didn't even see –

like when Wes, you know, made the post on social

media, it was like, really? Because the only

J. Jonah that they have currently listed is the

one from... The one from Far From Home, right?

Either that Far From Home or Justice League or

whatever. Oh, no, that's Gordon, I'm thinking.

Yeah, the one from Far From Home. And I'm like,

what is this strange thing I now have? Like,

literally, it's right here. Like, it's right

on my desk. And I kind of like... Marvel pops

with no bobble. I understand why they have to

do the bobble and that's fine, but like, right.

That's actually really, I, cause that's a figure

I didn't get yet. I love that figure. It's an

awesome one. And I think the newspaper that he's

holding is such a great touch and he's got his

cigar and everything, but I did not know that

that's not a bobble. That's very strange. Cause

they have to do that for copyright reasons. Yeah.

So. So I got around that for this one. Yeah,

I don't know. And the box, you know, again, talking

about damaged boxes or, you know, boxes that

are in, you know, there's somebody that that

designed this box. There's somebody that did

this digital art of his face of, you know, the

product shot on the front of the side and the

back and on the top. So one of the artists at

Funko made this, and then they just did the –

because on the back of it, it doesn't even have

a cross cell. It just has him with his fist,

and it says Beyond Amazing. So I'm wondering

if maybe they got the rights through Sony or

something. I don't know. The whole Marvel -Disney

-Sony, it's a whole rigmarole that just is nuts.

But, yeah, I mean, you know. Sometimes I – like

I will open my pops if I want to take a picture

of them or if I want to – I'm not here to play

with them. I'm here to make a – like I did –

it's in my – one of my Facebook albums. I had

– they released Red Robin. They released Tim

Drake Red Robin a while ago. And they released

– oh, what is it? Death of the family Joker.

So the Scott Snyder Joker with the ripped off

face. So I reenacted the Jason Todd scene. So

basically I had the Tim Drake Red Robin lying

on his back and I had Joker standing over Todd.

So I'll take a picture of that and post it and

say, hey. Here's the Joker and here's Robin.

But I'm not going to sit here and play with these.

I like having them in the box and every once

in a while I'll take them out to take pictures

and stuff. But I'm not sitting here as a 42 -year

-old, 6 '1", almost 500 -pound fat guy. Oh, my

God, I have to play with it. Oh, my God, J. Jonah

Jameson has to go up against – no, no, I'm not

doing it. Right, yeah. That's a good point. play

with the Funkos like that. I never viewed them

like that. Unless it's somebody that buys them

for their kids, I don't know. Right, yeah. Kids

definitely would probably do that for sure. If

as a kid or an adult, you only were allowed to

choose one toy franchise to collect from, which

one would you choose and why? Oh, man. That's

really tough because there's just so many great

ones. I know I talked about Star Wars a lot,

but I'm actually going to go with Ninja Turtles

on this just because the way, obviously, that

they look is just so great. But they have so

many different varieties with them, even if they

weren't ever in the show or in the comics. Like,

I just love they even have, you know, like Ninja

Turtles, like LARPing series. Like there's Ninja

Turtles toys where they're like dressed in like

Camelot stuff and things like that. And all the

different shredders that you can have and all

the different splinters and just everything about

Ninja Turtles I'm all for. all the wacky ideas

that you can bring in toy form, I think just

works so well with that franchise that I'm just,

just gimme, gimme everything Ninja Turtles and

I'll be set. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that is

so fun. Let's see. As an adult, do you prefer

vintage toys or modern toys? Um, I'm, I'm going

to go with vintage now. There was maybe a time

where I would have said modern for the look of

them and things like that. But just as I'm getting

older, that nostalgia hits me harder and harder

each passing year. And I just want to go back

to those days and, again, those vibrant colors

and the simple times where they could barely

move. There's just a charm to those figures that

I feel like companies don't really have these

days. Like my wife, she is into collecting figures,

too. She's a big Barbie doll fanatic. So she's

collecting currently like almost any like vintage

Barbie she can find. And sure, she has like some

retro or some modern day ones as well. And like

even looking at like the quality from like retro

Barbies to Barbies today, like companies just

they don't seem to like really care anymore.

And that's just I feel like toys in general,

you can kind of just lump that into the big toy

category is that we don't care anymore. You'll

buy it regardless. And I don't know, that's just

something that I don't really like. Obviously,

you can, you know, with more expensive ones like

those hot toys. Yeah. But you don't always want

to be hashing out hundreds of dollars for a figure.

No. So I'll take those retro ones, man. If I'm

going to shell out money for anything, because

again, for me, it's more about display and how

it looks and things like that. It's not about

the play factor anymore. I would buy a statue

before I would buy a Hot Toy action figure. Really?

Oh, yeah. If it's a nice, good... you know, representation

of insert character name, he like Batman, Batgirl,

whatever. I would buy a statue before I would

buy a hot toy figure. I would invest that money

in an actual statue of a public, again, talking

about Spider -Man in the classic crouch pose.

Yeah. Instead of buying the action figure and

trying to get it into that pose, here's this

J. Scott Campbell statue or whatever. Yeah, no,

I totally get that. I think that makes sense,

actually. What is one toy you can always play

with? So you go and you look at your collection,

wherever it's displayed, and you just kind of

want to grab something and just kind of fiddle

with it a little bit. What is that toy for you?

It's probably what I got on my desk, which would

be... I have on my desk right now, it's a modern

replica of a 90s toy. Again, we kind of talked

about that earlier. It's like, who is that toy

for? It's got to be for people our age. Yeah,

exactly. Nobody else will care. But it's a classic

90s symbiote Spider -Man, like black suit Spider

-Man. It was like from Hasbro or one of them.

And he's on my desk. see him i'll i'll rearrange

his pose and everything like that and then next

to him i got the box set from end game where

it was the thanos doing the snap and then the

iron man doing the snap yeah and they had like

alternate heads and different uh like hands that

you can do the snaps or do fighting poses and

i'll i'll rearrange those guys like you know

once every while just to be like okay you know

what today i want them to be snapping or today

i want thanos to like look like he like got defeated

so i'll those are the ones that are like most

recently on my desk that i'll you know every

once in a while like kind of be like all right

it's time to repose these guys right right yeah

very cool Even though there are always toy lines

that people never purchase, are there any that

you specifically and purposefully avoid? This

can be toy lines, characters, etc. Hmm. I don't

know. I've never really... I mean, I guess I

avoid almost anything that I don't have an interest

in, if that counts. Like, you know, I collect

Funko and like Star Wars and Ninja Turtles and

things like that. So really anything that's kind

of not those brands, I'm just kind of like, all

right, you know, that's cool, I guess. Unless

it's like really something that's just like so

out of the ordinary that I'm like, oh, I really

need to. have that for the most part i just kind

of stick to what i like and then the rest can

just kind of go take a hike yeah or other people

can buy it and whatever yeah and the same thing

kind of goes for funko's because i i and we'll

we'll get into this a little bit later too but

i i came to funko pop because they reminded me

of the mighty mugs i used to collect oh nice

doing mighty mugs So in late 2016, beginning

of 2017, you know, that's when I found Funko.

And I'm like, oh, these are cool. These are great.

I have only ever watched the first like 20 minutes

of the first episode of Game of Thrones. And

I'm like, they're just walking. They're not even.

talking. All they do is walk. I'm not watching

this, so there's no way in hell I'm going to

buy a Game of Thrones. You know what I mean?

I hear you. I hear what you're saying. I don't

understand, though, because Game of Thrones is

my favorite show. We'll have another topic another

day for that. All they did was walk for the first

20 minutes. Somebody say something. I get it.

I get it. Oh, it is what it is. Are there – go

ahead. What were you going to say? Oh, no. I

was just going to say I totally get that. Like

even with Funko itself too, like – because I

collect obviously a shitload of Funko Pops. But

even that being said, it's mainly the ones that

like I have an interest in. I'm a huge Marvel

fan. I'm a moderate DC fan. And then, you know,

everything kind of like in between so -so with

stuff. So it really comes down to like what the

Funko is. I've never really been like, oh my

God, it's super rare. I have to have it. Like

if it's rare, it's rare. Like, you know, that's

just a, but everything else then is just, you

know, what I like with it. And I don't know if

I've, cause I haven't gone back and listened

to my own episode of this show that I did where

I had my buddy Josh ask me all these questions,

but. I am not a fan of Freddie. I don't understand.

I get it. I get it. It's their mascot. They created

it, whatever. Fine. Oh, I am not a fan of Freddie

because I think he just looks too, I don't know,

but yet I could get that. I could get that. I'm

a, I'm a Freddie fan sporadically. Like I like

when they do, um, like I, I got the, um, Freddie

Frankenstein, the OG one, not the one from like

a couple of years ago where he's got the cell

phone. I got like the one where it's modeled

from the actual Frankenstein's monster. That's

like limited to 300. Yeah. And it wasn't because

it was limited to 300. It was because that mold

of like the OG Frankenstein is just really cool.

You know, Frankenstein's monster is fantastic.

So Freddie, as that looked really cool to me.

And then, you know, I like a couple like, oh,

the Freddy's like skater Freddy and they have

baseball Freddy. That's pretty cool looking.

But for the most part, Freddy is just so -so

to me. But I like when they do certain things

with him. Yeah, there are. I have two of them

so far, but there is only one other Freddy that

as of right now in 2022. There's only one other

Freddy I would want, and then I would be done

with Freddy. I have Officer Freddy from NYCC

a couple years ago because that was cool to me.

I thought that was great. And I have – it's the

only one I'll probably have, but I have the HQ

Pop Town, which comes with a Freddy inside of

it, I believe. Yes. The only other one I want

is Social Media Freddy with him holding the phone.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the only other one because

I think it's cool. I don't like Freddie dressed

up as anybody. Like, you dress Freddie up as

Batman? It's like, what? They literally just

did that. They announced that today for the box

of fun. That's one of them. God, the box of fun.

Yeah, that's a hit or miss thing for me, man.

Yeah, I don't know. This may be a hot take to

Funko listeners out there, but. I am not a fan

of blacklight Funkos. I don't think that that

translates well in a pop. So this year's Day

of Funkos was just a hard pass for me. There

is only one out of all of the blacklights that

they're doing. There is only one that I would

add to my collection. And that is? The Target

exclusive Kate Bishop with Lucky because it's

all purple. And my two favorite colors are black

and purple. So I love the way that they did the

little lucky and the pop. So yeah, that's the

thing. Like I would want out of all these specialty

things that Funko does, like the black lights,

like the, the pop towns, like the, like, I don't

need Scooby -Doo's mansion. I really don't. You

know, if I had enough, like, I live in a one

bedroom apartment and there's enough space for

some stuff. But like, if I was going to turn

my apartment into like Funkoville, cause that's

part of this, I think that's part of SDCC this

year is that they're calling it Funkoville. If

I was going to turn my apartment into Funkoville

and have like a giant table in my living room,

displaying all the pop towns and making a city

out of. I know Top Pops, a .k .a. Tristan, he

did this on his channel with his pop towns. Yeah,

he did. I would do that, but that's if I was

going to do that. But in general, I don't need

even the rides. The only ride I have, because

the only way they ever did this, which is fine,

the only ride I have, well, technically I have

two. I have Elastigirl on motorcycle because

I found that somewhere extremely cheap. It was

after release and all that and everything else.

But for me, I am a huge Knight Rider fan. And

when they made that, I'm like, okay, yep, need

that. But that's the only, like, I don't need

the A -Team van. I don't need Mardigan Back to

the Future. Do I want some of the back? I don't

have, I have one Back to the Future pop. I have

Doc with, it was the old Loot Crate exclusive,

I believe. But anyway, it's just one of those

things where just because I collect Funko doesn't

mean I'm collecting everything that Funko makes.

Right. Oh, exactly. Like, I'm... I'm not going

to be featured on Hoarders. Thank you very much.

Right. No, I mean, you said it perfectly. I think

that, I mean, I feel like that could be summed

up with not just Funko, but just fans of things

in general these days. Just because you're a

fan of something doesn't mean you have to, like,

really love or even just like everything that

they produce. That goes with Funko, with Marvel,

with everything. Some of it's just going to tank.

And I think, honestly, a lot of the Funkos as

of late just haven't been all that great. I feel

like, and obviously with the pandemic, cost of

everything kind of had to come into effect and

they cut corners with some stuff. you know, I'm,

I'm just not going to collect some of those ones

just cause like, it's, you know, the same molds

used over and things like that. And, or just

like, here's another black light or here's another

pop town. And I don't even think I have a single

pop town. I just don't need it. Yeah. I mean,

I, you know, my, not, I should have told you

this before, but I think I did. I lost my wife

late last year in November. And at the time,

And I know I've said this on other podcast listeners,

so I'm sorry. I repeat myself a lot. Anyone that's

listened to me in the last 14 years knows I repeat

these stories. But her dream was to live on the

Oregon coast. Well, because of our health issues

and everything else, I'm like, let's find something

where at least the ambulance is going to get

to us in case anything does happen. Because on

the Oregon coast, I mean, there are some hospitals.

20 miles between, you know, so we lived in Vancouver,

Washington from 2019 until I just moved here

to Indiana last month. So we never got a chance

because, you know, the pandemic is what the pandemic

is. And we are still sadly in it, even though

people think we're not, we are. But it's one

of those things where when that hit, it was like,

okay, well, we're not going to go there. I went

from living with her in Chicago, Illinois, so

basically a three -hour flight from Chicago to

Portland, Oregon. I went from that to only being

a three -hour drive away from Funko, and I don't

drive. She was the driver. So it's like, I'm

so close. I just want to walk through the thing

once. And that's why I had to grab. the pop town

for HQ because I'm living in Indiana by myself.

I have zero interest in traveling anywhere ever

again. Like as far as like getting on a plane,

getting on a train, like sure. I'll go with friends.

Like if they want to, you know, if we want to

go to a concert or somebody wants to, what if,

you know, fine in a car, fine. But like, I am

not doing this long distance travel thing anymore.

So, yeah, it's just one of those things where

that's the beauty of Funko is you can have this

thing that nobody else is making. Like, you look

at the ad icons. How many other companies, and

I'm sure in the history of toys, there have been,

and I know there have been, Count Chocula, Lucky

the Leprechaun. I know there have been dolls

and other, but seriously. Even though most of

those are now kind of out of reach with the value

of them as far as the box go. You look at those

and be like, okay, this is a character that I

grew up watching the commercials. I now have

this character. I can take him out. I can look

at him. I can put him back in the box. I can

put him on display with everybody else. What

other toy company has made a Colonel Sanders?

No, I mean, you're absolutely right. Like outside

of like, you know, like back in the day, you

can like get, you know, little toys of them in

the actual cereal or like if you sent off like

the box tops and things like that, the cereal

company would send you them. But you're right.

Nobody else is really doing that. And that's

something that's so unique to them. And that

is a line that I actually do really like. I love

the ad icon lines just because of the fact that,

you know, to your point, it's. Who else is doing

that? I have a freaking Colonel Sanders upstairs

just holding a bucket of chicken. It's super

cool. I have a picture in my Funko album on Facebook

that I took. I had specifically ordered at the

Times a couple years ago. Whenever he originally

came out, I specifically that day, so I could

take pictures, I specifically ordered KFC crispy

strips. So I could just have the strip on the

plate with the pop in the back. That's great.

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? Sold and let go. I mean, I'm sure we used

to have a couple garage sales back in the day,

so I'm sure I've probably. given away some that

now i wish i hadn't i can't you know nothing

particularly comes to mind because most i feel

like of our toys from our childhood is still

at my folks house but you know i'm sure there

are some and then are there any toys in the past

or currently that you wish you hadn't bought

them toys i wish i hadn't bought um i mean There's

honestly some, like as of now, there are some

Funkos that I'm like, okay, maybe that was an

impulse buy. I kind of don't really need those

anymore. Of course, I still haven't even sold

them or anything because I'm just a collecting

hoarding goblin at this point in my life. So

they're just part of the collection. But there

is some regret with them. There's some regret

with... I can't remember the line who made it.

I think it was McFarlane. A couple years back,

I was a huge Walking Dead fan, and they did some

Walking Dead quote -unquote figures. They were

basically just little statues because you couldn't

really move them outside of just their heads.

Got a Negan, got a Rick, got a Daryl, and I think

that's it. could i even tell you where they are

to this day nope not not a clue where they are

they were like 20 bucks each it was just because

like i'm like oh i love this show and you know

it's it's one of my favorite comic series like

i i love the comic the show turned into just

you know it is what it is yeah um but those are

kind of figures that i i regret you know a couple

funkos and then maybe those walking dead ones

kind of kind of could have could have saved in

the In the wallet department there. 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? For

the most part, they are all in the basement.

I'm very fortunate that, like I said earlier,

my wife's very understanding of this hobby, and

she is kind of into her own collecting as well.

So our basement is just kind of... Our gaming

collecting room. We have a whole wall. It's filled

with floating shelves of Funkos. There's probably

over 300 on the wall. Then we have shelving in

there that have Funko Pops. Our gaming cabinet

has toys on there from Ninja Turtles to Hot Toys

to little... Funko minis, like the mystery minis

that they used to have. The only other ones of

those that I collected were Cuphead, the game,

because that's one of my favorite video games

of all time. So I have like those. And then it

really doesn't spread too much further than that

outside of like my office is upstairs. And I

have shelving with some more Funkos that are

just more, you know, personal favorites of mine

that I want to see when I'm working every day.

And then a couple things on my desk, like I said,

that Spider -Man or that Endgame moment and things

like that. But that's not due to probably space.

It's more of just my own conscious decision of

I want to see these when I'm working for a glimpse

of fun during these eight hours of the workday.

Yeah, no, absolutely. And it's one of those things

where the reason why I phrased that question

the way I do is because a buddy of mine who lives

up in Canada, he is a huge... Huge Transformers

collection. He has his entire house. There are

Transformers in every aspect of his house, other

than the kitchen and the bathroom, that kind

of thing. It's not just the toys. It's posters

and other things in the brand and things like

that. How do you keep track of your collection?

I really don't, honestly, is the full honest

answer. Like I said earlier, like last year,

and I mean prior to that too, but I was trying

to keep up with everything in the Funko app and

like, you know, when I get a new Funko, scan

it in. But then I was just like, I mean, there's

really no point. I don't really need to know.

How many I guess I have or the other cool thing

about the app is that it obviously like tracks

their value and things like that. But I mean,

I'm probably not really going to sell these because

I don't get these guys to as like an investment.

Obviously, like they are because, you know, things

like this go up in value usually. But that's

that's not what I'm in it for. I'm in it for

it because it brings me joy because I love looking

at these things. So I was like, ah, it's just

more of a hassle to remember to do this. So I

lost track of what I collect at that point. And

then everything else from there, just like other

action figures wise, or I'm getting into like

collecting a lot of like Nintendo power magazines

again. Like I don't keep track of anything. I'm

like, if I got it, I got it. And that's good

with me. Well, there you go. That's awesome.

So you mentioned earlier that you have them on

floating shelves and other shelves, but do you

display, like, so displaying your toys, is there

a, like we mentioned earlier about how some people

keep, oh, these are the Disney figures, these

are this, this, the, how do you display, how

is your display laid out? Like, are you making

Spider -Man go up against Batman? Are you making

Optimus Prime face down Cobra Commander? That

kind of stuff. Sure, sure. I have them displayed

right now in just kind of favorites, basically.

So like the ones that I really like the molds

of, I have more towards the bottom. So that way,

you know, they're more at eye level. So I can

see them when I, you know, walk into the basement

or anything like that. And then towards the top

and then, you know, up towards like the ceiling

are ones that, you know, I still like. you know,

are they my favorite of the collection? No. And

then everything else I kind of like lump, like

I have all my Ninja Turtles like on the gaming

like center next to the TV. And some of them

are also on, we have the arcade one -up Turtles

in Time Machine. So some of them are on there

too. So like Turtles are categorized together.

gaming stuff. Like I have all the cuphead figures

together. I have some old, um, I can't remember

the brand from it. It's a Japanese name from

like 2001. The original animal crossing had miniature

towns. I have some OG like Animal Crossing stuff

there too. So like gaming figures and then my

end game figures and other like miscellaneous

Marvel stuff. So those are together. So pops

kind of order from favorite to least favorite.

And then everything else is just lumped in that

series itself. Right. Yeah. All right, so if

you could only keep one toy from your entire

collection, what would it be and why? And basically

how I phrase this to people is, everybody is

safe, humans, pets, kids, whatever. You're all

out of the house, but the house is on fire. Which

is the one thing you'd run in to save? Ooh, that's,

oh man, that's tough. I'm trying. I thought about

moments like this. This is how much of a dork

I am. I've thought of like scenarios of like

if our house is on fire and I'm like one thing's

just got it like value aside, you know, like

for nostalgia purposes. Well, yeah. Yeah. I think

I'd scoop up just as many things from like my.

Ninja Turtles section as I can, because they're

all pretty small, so I think I can grab more

than just one in one quick little scoop. I think

I could get at least probably maybe like ten

in my mitts. And I think we're good to go with

that. Rebuild the collection. As the fire is

nipping at your heels as you run out the house.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm making sure whichever turtle's

coming with is the right one. Here's the toy

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

The only toys you can keep have to fit in the

box. What can you pack into it? Packing in like

specifics or just like, yeah, just like what,

what toys can you fit in that box? Okay. I'm

fitting in. Oh man. Unfortunately, Funkos in

box are like four inches, so that's already so

limiting. But I'm going to throw in some Funkos

that are my absolute favorites. Throwing in favorite

Turtles. Throwing in favorite Spider -Mans. Definitely

got to throw in some Star Wars ones. And then...

I'm assuming there'll probably be a little bit

of room left to throw in a couple... Of the animal

crossing miniatures, just because those things

are way too cool to ever not have in storage.

Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. All right, folks,

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to check out my content, till all are one. All

right, we are back here on ToyCast, and we've

talked about it a little bit already, so we kind

of already know the answer to this question,

but are you a Funko fan, and when did you first

become a Funko fan? Yes, I am a big Funko fan.

Could you imagine if we came back from the ad

and I was like, no, I hate it. That would have

been the craziest twist, and I'm so glad I dropped

that ball. Yes, big Funko fan, which I am allowed

to not like what they do sometimes. That's part

of being a fan. And I started really getting

into it like late 2017. I got my first Funko

when I was like starting college in 2012. It

was heading in the city. There's a Disney store

out there. And my brother and his now wife, huge

Disney fans. So they were like, oh, we got to

go into the Disney store. I'm just a casual Disney

fan. So I was like, all right, nothing really

here is catching my eye, except I saw the OG

Pinocchio that they had. So 2012 Funkos are just

very limiting. They're just the basic arms straight

out pose. really no details but i like pinocchio

so i was like all right you know what i'll grab

this and at the time i thought really nothing

of it so i took it out of the box and that's

one of the only funko's that are out of the box

now and that's unfortunate because that is a

very expensive pop in the box so that it's been

cool to have um but again i'm not gonna sell

it so it doesn't really matter too much but so

that was the first funko i got and i was just

like you know this is pretty neat But then when

I was just I don't I can't remember what really

got me into it more, but just kind of like throughout

college, then I would just see, you know, more

videos or things online like with them. And I

was like, you know, that is kind of a cool way

to like express pop culture. And it's you know,

it reminded me of obviously, you know, they're

inspired by like those. vintage bobble heads

and everything like that from their start and

everything and i loved the aesthetic of that

so i was like i kind of do want to get into that

and when i really got into it my first one was

um the very first myth line bigfoot there was

the bigfoot like just the classic flocked one

or the flocked uh blue and green one for like

2000 pieces And I was like, whoa, they have rarities

with this? That's pretty cool that you can do

different varieties into these characters. All

right, you know what? I think I'm all in on this

Funko thing. And it was just an immediate, I

got that one. And just from there on, just all

in, I was like, all right, every Funko that I

really like, I just got to get. Yeah, I specifically

stick with Pop, but I know they have, like, Dorbs

and they have mystery minis and things like that.

And I, like, I'm just, like, I don't like how

the Dorbs look. Yeah, so I take it then you're

not a Sodas fan then? I don't understand. It's

not that, like, I have no ill will towards the

Sodas. But it's not what I'm interested in, but

I just don't understand. No, I get it. I was

just curious with that one. I don't have any

sodas myself. That's another one that myself,

I also don't really get that one. Yeah. If people

like it to each their own, I'm never going to

think it's weird to like something. I like something.

So if you love to collect it, that's great and

awesome. For me, it just seemed like the Dorb

style a little bit too much, and I didn't like

any of the Dorbs. The only Mystery Minis, like

I said, were the Cuphead ones that I had just

because I adore that game, and there's not really

many Cuphead figures out there, so I got those.

But other than that, I'll stick with the Pops,

man. That's your niche, I think, and that's what

you do best. So I'm looking at, I'm on my buddy's

website, and I'm looking at the Hawkman, DC Heroes

Hawkman soda. And the reason I know now why I

don't like the sodas is because it's essentially

closed box. They come in a can. And I think the

can is cool because they want you to think, oh,

it's soda. But then the figure is so, like. Funko

Pops are sort of super deformed. They're not

really super deformed, but like big head, tiny

body kind of thing. But the sodas are like, here,

let's make the entire thing tiny so it can fit

in this can that you can't ever look at it unless

you take it out of the can. Yeah, yeah. That

would be why you don't like it. You mentioned

earlier that that's, like, your biggest packaging

pet peeve. Yeah. It all comes full circle now.

There you go. Yeah, there you go. That's what

it is, I guess. Same with mystery minis because,

like, it's just here's a cool packaging, but

what's the figure you're going to get? Yep. Now,

the keychains, I kind of see not necessarily

value in those, but I kind of see why you're

going to, like, oh, you're going to put a. insert

character, Nightwing or Batman or whatever. You're

going to put it on your keys and you're going

to, you know, if you take your keys out and some,

oh, what's that? You know, it may be a conversation

starter. Totally. Because the pop key chains,

you're not going to, you're not buying those

as the same reason as why you're buying the Funko

Pops themselves because you're not going to sit

there and display. I mean, some people do display

them and that's fine, but. I mean, to me, it's

like, oh, I want this cool character on my keys

more so than I want. Like, if I wanted Batman

Beyond to display, I would get the pop. Yeah.

Yeah, no, I totally get it. I have one pop keychain,

and it's a Captain Marvel just because I'm a

big Captain Marvel fan of the comics. And I actually

do really enjoy the movie Hot Take. So I have

her on my keys, and that's, like you said, it's

really just because I like Pops and I like the

character. So I'm like, I'll look at this when

I drive. I don't mind. But outside of that, most

of the time, if I want other figures of her,

I'll just get then the full figure. Yeah, the

full figure. And you know what? Captain Marvel

wasn't a bad movie. It's not, dude. I'll defend

that movie for my life. That movie rips. I mean,

the only gripe I have about it is, like, yes,

do I want to know how Fury lost his eye? Absolutely.

Do I think the alien, like, that was a little,

like, really? That's, like, okay, fine, whatever,

but, like, really? Yeah, yeah. I'm glad that

we now have the answer of why kind of thing.

Sure, sure. But it was a little tongue -in -cheek.

Yeah, very, very. Yeah, no, that movie's great.

People listening, definitely give it another

chance. I think you're just mad because you don't

like Brie Larson because she's said some things

in the past that got people mad. There are plenty

of things that everybody has said. Like, I don't

know. All right. What was the most money you

spent on a toy or a toy item? Oh, geez. So this

one, you know, hurts a bit to say, but it's all

for the love of the cause. For that Freddy Funko

Frankenstein that I got that's limited to 300

pieces. And again, it's probably more painful

because I don't look at these as investments,

even though they are. I just wanted this figure

so bad because I just think it's the coolest

Freddy Funko. And it's just a shame that it's

so limited. I paid like, I think, $450 for that

thing. Oh, wow. And I mean, now, according to

like the Funko app, I think as of like right

now. It's worth like 700 or something like that.

So it's gone up. That's good, yeah. But again,

I don't care if that thing went down in value.

To me, it was just so rad that I have it. And

I do like the fact that it's limited because

it's just really cool to say like, hey, I have

one of only like 300 things made in the world.

So, yeah, so and kind of going back to a conversation

we had earlier with retro toys and that's just

how I feel like now, like I'll hash out a little

bit more money for some retro toys because of

the fact that they're not really, you know. mainstream

anymore. They're really hard to find. There's

a couple Ninja Turtles figures that I'm looking

into getting that are 25 years old that there's

only a handful out there right now. I think that

that's just part of the great collecting. What

I love about collecting is the fact that, yes,

you've got to spend a little bit more money,

but you then have something so cool and so rare,

and it just makes you happy, man. Yeah, it's

the same thing with me. For me, for that question,

it's like right now, currently, what's the most

I've spent is probably whatever Officer Freddy

was and whatever the Funko HQ. I know it wasn't

MSRP. It was probably... $20 or $30 higher than

MSRP of those. Sure. I mean, even though, and

we might as well get into this now, but stickers,

oh, God, just, oh, like, it hurts my head. But,

like, I don't care if it has, like, if it has

a sticker, like, again, I'll use Officer Frank.

It has the New York Comic -Con Summer Convention.

Okay, fine. If it has the summer exclusive sticker,

fine. That's fine. That's the sticker that's

on there. I don't care that it's not the New

York Comic Con limited to blah. Same, same. Some

of these people and these stickers, like, it's

a damn sticker. Yeah, no, I totally hear you.

And I think, you know, I mean, I don't want to

speak for everybody, but I do think that, like,

a lot of people who care about the sticker are,

Probably people who do view these more as investments

versus just great to have. Because down the line,

if you ever are in a bind or for whatever reason

you want to sell them, obviously the full -on

con sticker or whatever it may be will sell a

bit more. But that being said, I agree with you.

I even think that some of the official stickers

kind of suck. Like, I think that some of them

don't look good or they're just too big and they're

taking too much room on the window display. Yeah.

And it's like, I just want to see the figure.

Yeah. So I am currently on the Funko app and

I am looking at the newest Scarlet Witch glow

from Entertainment Earth. Yes. It has her, it

has her with the book, with the red eyes, and

it has the glow sticker above her first name

and the EE sticker, you know, above her, you

know, the second part of her name. That's okay.

That's fine. I can deal with that because it's

doing two things. It's a glow -in -the -dark

figure and it's exclusive to a certain store.

But, you know, you look at something like...

All right, let's take the Pops with Purpose Spider

-Man. Any of the Pops with Purpose, that's not

bad because it's just a heart in the bottom right

-hand corner above the back of the wish. That's

not bad. But some of these, like, do you have

to, like... Okay, I'm looking at Mini Puffed

with Headphones, which is a Walmart exclusive.

That Walmart sticker could be, like, twice the

size, smaller than what it is because... it has

Walmart's tag at the, so it says only at Walmart

save money, live better. Like do we really need,

you know, at least with like, and, and like,

like I said, they've gotten better, but at the

same time, they're not really like, no, I get

it. I help themselves. Like, right. Like if you

pull up, The Winter Soldier Year of the Shield

one that came out not too long ago. Those Amazon

exclusive stickers are so big. I hate the Amazon

exclusive stickers. And then on top of that,

you stack the Year of the Shield sticker, which

I think that one's a fantastic looking sticker.

It's thin. It's got a cool design because it's

like the shield being thrown. Just put that on

there. We'll all know it's coming from Amazon

because we've got to buy it from Amazon. Yeah,

exactly. Don't have both of those because the

Amazon sticker's already taken up like a quarter

of that window space. Now we're just stacking

it on top of there. It just looks so weird. Yeah.

It's still got the pop, but it looks weird. Yeah,

but yeah, it's like, you know, I'm looking at,

oh, and that's the other thing. They've changed.

Like the GameStop sticker has changed over the

years. Yes. And the one that they had recently

before they changed it to this giant red circle

where it was just black and it was like only

at GameStop. It was fine. It was a small sticker.

It was okay. That's all you need. Yeah, that's

all you need. Same thing, like I'm looking right

now at Art Series Catwoman. Now say what you

will about the Art Series sticker because it

kind of, you know, is there and then drips down.

But the only at Target stickers? That's a small

sticker. It doesn't have like it. Right. You

know, it's only at Bullseye. Right. Yeah. Those

stickers are perfect. I think the Best Buy stickers

are perfect. The old GameStop ones were great.

Yeah. And that's all you need. You just need,

I mean, hell, I think you can even just get away

with just the company's logo. Like you could

just probably have just the Target Bullseye or

just like. you know like anything like that yeah

you can limit it so i don't know but i mean it

is what it is yeah it's just it's just one of

those things where it's like and so and some

people out there and that's that's how they are

and that's fine but some people are out there

is like oh my god if i don't have this specific

what about the act what about the toy like right

right there's no difference between uh freddie

officer freddie summer convention exclusive versus

officer freddie at the con sticker like right

there's as long as the figure's the same that's

all you should care about yeah exactly like i

i don't get it's a whole thing it's a whole top

oh god the whole topic it's just yeah it's just

crazy to me Like, I understand, obviously, that

some of them represent differences, like you'll

have just a common pop and then like a chase,

for example, or an exclusive and like things

are different about the actual figure. Yeah.

But for like the comic cons themselves, just,

you know, whatever sticker you get, you get.

Yeah, exactly. And then you're good. Go about

your day. Yep. So on the flip side of the most

expensive, what was the cheapest toy you bought

and what was the best deal you ever got for a

figure? Cheapest toy. I don't know if it's the

cheapest, but the one that's just coming to mind

because it was not too long ago, went flea market

hunting and I got a hell of a deal on some retro

1999, still in box, Captain Tarples, the Gungan

from Phantom Menace. um with his whatever the

creatures that they ride in the phantom menace

um it's just it's a huge 12 inch figure and the

creature that he rides is like 13 inches the

box is massive and it's just so rad i love the

star wars prequels say what you want about them

but so i was like this guy's coming home with

me and uh the this guy's booth he also then had

um still like in the packaging Phantom Menace,

again from 99, Taco Bell KFC toys. Oh, those

are great, yeah. It's just so cool. So he had

all of those set at like $10 and the Captain

Tarples for like $65. And I got the Captain Tarples

and five of those Taco Bell toys for $50. Wow.

I haggled my ass off with that guy. And in all

honesty, I probably could have got him even cheaper.

He almost seemed just good to get rid of him

because he was like, yeah, definitely throw in

the Taco Bell ones too. I'm good with that. And

he probably had them from 99 and has been trying

to get rid of them ever since because most people

hate the Phantom Menace. this guy. I'll take

anything Phantom Menace you got. Yeah, Phantom

Menace and Revenge of the Sith. I like both of

those films. You ready for an extreme hot take?

Attack of the Clones is my favorite Star Wars

film. Why? It's the worst love story. Oh, God,

it makes me puke. I just think that like George

Lucas's vision that he had for it, like in setting

up the pieces there, like obviously like, yeah,

you know, say what you want about the acting

and things like that. But that's unfortunately

just George Lucas has just never been a people's

director. He's just not good at directing emotion

and things like that. But but the vision that

he had, you know, the plan of, you know. uh,

Sifo -Dyas, you know, going in to like get the

order, the clones beforehand and then them killing

him off. So that way then they knew that like

Palpatine knew that then Obi -Wan would come

10 years later to get there. And they're like,

Oh, your clones are ready. Like everything is

just so well thought out. And I just love the

fact too, that like the Jedi, they, they're so

up their own ass, like in their hubris, like

they. everything like dooku literally tells obi

-wan the harsh truth like so brutally he's just

like well what have i told you that you guys

are infiltrated by a Sith Lord right now and

obi -wan's just like yeah i don't believe you

that's just so awesome to me that like i don't

know like obviously the emotion yeah because

george isn't just the best at directing that

but I love the way that he wrote all that. I

think that it was really great. I like that part

of the story. I love all of the action. The only

thing that is wrong with that movie, take the

damn love story out of it. You can show a hint

here or there. When they were walking in that

damn field on Naboo, I'm like, hurry up. Hurry

up. Somebody come up behind them. Pull a lightsaber

and kill them all. That love story is just the

worst love story in history. It's definitely

not handled that great, I will admit. But I love

it for the fact of what it is and that it's just

a pivotal thing for him as a character. And the

fact that you can see he straight up slaughters

a whole colony of people. And she's just like,

you get angry sometimes. And people are like,

what? That's basically it. And then yet she's

like flipping out in the next movie when he does

that. But that's what I think is brilliant about

George Lucas's vision there is because there

she like he did it out of, you know, he lost

his mom and he was like just in so. much pain.

And she can see that and loves him. And it's

like, I'll get through that with you. But then

the transition in a revenge of the Sith, where

it's just total power, it's not about anything

else other than, Hey, I feel great now doing

this. And then she realizes, and then she like

falls out of love with that. So I think, well,

like, yes, written, could it be written better?

Definitely. But you know, I think the points

are still there and I'll still love that movie.

I mean, it is still, I think Empire is also the

best one too. Like they're both number one for

me, but even that people will think I'm crazy

and I love that. Well, most people say Empire

is the best because all Jedi had was a bunch

of Muppets. Yeah. Do you, sorry, go ahead. I

was going to say, sorry to derail the conversation.

This is fun. This is interesting. This is cool.

Do you visit toy shows or conventions? When you

visit these places, do you have a typical methodology?

Do you bring a certain amount of money for what

you're searching for? That kind of thing. I'm

actually going to my first one next week. Oh,

cool. I'm very excited about that. I have an

outside, you know, like a flea market, but flea

markets have like so many different things. It's

not just specific, but this is an actual vintage

toy con is what it is. So I'm very excited. I'm

hoping to have some self -control, you know,

I'd love to just bring like maybe 200 bucks max.

And if I can get some stuff from that, then that's

great. Yeah, that's going to be – and here's

the proof for it. Future Justin, if you're listening

to this, if you spent more than $200, we're going

to have to have a conversation. So hopefully

I held down to that $200 firmly. Hopefully. What

do you think it is about our generation that

causes our childhood toys to mean so much to

us than, for instance, our parents' generation?

I mean, probably just – Like the stuff that came

with them at the time to like, you know, you

had so many great animated series around figures

mainly, you know, like with your your He -Man,

your Transformers, your G .I. Joe, like X -Men,

Spider -Man, all of those like a lot of those

great figures that shaped our childhood came

from those shows and or comics first. So I think

that that really. is what set it apart differently.

And I don't know. I mean, also too, I mean, just

obviously the times were different as well. So

like, you know, in like the sixties or fifties,

you just didn't have the capability to get figures

the way that even in the nineties were and things

like that. I think like eighties and nineties

were just pivotal. Like, Hey, we're kind of really

starting to master these figures and we can,

mass produce them better too. Yeah, exactly.

I mean, it's come a very, very long way. It's

not just... Totally. You know, it's not just

the, oh my god, here's this toy that has six

points of articulation. I can't wait to play

with this. Now it's like, oh my god, here's this

toy that has... 26 points of articulation, and

I can play with it so much more than... Yeah,

yeah. Yeah, so absolutely. It's just, yeah. Okay,

so what is your motivation for purchasing toys?

To display, to play, to fiddle? Describe your

collecting style. Are you a completionist, a

storyteller, a cherry picker, or otherwise? It

really depends on the series. If I'm going to

complete something like Funko example, it needs

to be a pretty small series. Like I can't do

like Marvel as a whole, but like Endgame, sure.

Like I have, I think I'm, I think I have all

the Endgame pops and almost all the Infinity

War ones. I have like all, like the film Coraline.

I love that movie. So I have all the Coraline

pops. you know, little categories within everything.

Like then, you know, I'll try and complete those.

Other figures, for example, like, you know, like

Spider -Mans or Turtles and things like that,

that's not necessarily for completing purposes.

My go -to is then just, hey, do I like it? I'll

get it. And the style, you know, if I don't really

get them to play, Obviously, when I was younger,

oh, hell yeah. A toy I would get just solely

to want to play with, and then as I'd get older,

it was moving to just fiddle with it here and

there, and now it's mainly in the box with an

occasional, if they're out of there, I'll fiddle

with it here and there. Absolutely. Have you

ever purchased a toy for a child with the ulterior

motive of playing with it yourself? No, but that

could be a genius idea for when I do have kids.

There you go. Yeah. Tell your wife, oh, we're

just going to, you know, you take a trip and

you go, let's say, to a certain town in Washington

State. Oh, we're just going to go over here and

look at this booth. And, oh, yeah, I got this

for. our son or our daughter or what you know

it's yeah totally it's not for yeah so yeah i

mean i can guarantee you i'm probably gonna get

like two of each probably like one for our kid

and then one for me so that way they don't want

to take mine out of the box and play with mine

i already have you know i can already see the

future and all of these pops will eventually

be out of the box with our children's playing

with them and if it brings them joy then i'll

be happy with it but Until then, I'll pristine

them as long as I can. Yeah, exactly. All right.

So the next question is about toy customization.

Yeah. Do you do any of that at all? If not, I'm

going to modify it, and we're going to talk about

your art. I don't do actual, like, toy customization.

Okay. I do just, like, the digital stuff. Okay.

I am on your Instagram page and like literally

that Darth Vader. And that was the thing. Like

literally when you posted that, they were revealing

stuff from Funkoville. So that's why I thought,

that's why I thought it was real because I was

like, wait a minute. Oh crap. Yeah. Yeah. No,

that, that, that's why I did it like that. I,

I, uh, I have like my, you know, schedule of

when I release things and it just happened to

be, When I was making that figure, Funko was

announcing their Funkoville line. So I was like,

you know what? Instead of just because you'll

see if you're on my Instagram, most of the times

when I post stuff, I do a background that just

kind of matches with the pop. But for that, since

it was the time, I was like, you know what? I'm

just going to grab a screenshot of their Funkoville

line and crop out what they have and replace

it with this and try and make it look like an

actual release. The fact that you were like,

whoa, look at this, and then it wasn't real.

I was like, that's so cool. I love when that

happens. I've had a lot of negative comments.

There's been a lot of hate stuff. People will

message and be like, fuck you. Sorry for swearing,

but people will be like, fuck you. I fell for

this. Why would you do that? And it's like, well,

sorry. I'm a concept. page and like yeah like

i say like i don't like if it fooled you it fooled

you for like what 10 seconds like you don't have

to be like mad or embarrassed or anything you

don't even have to like tell me like i wouldn't

know yeah but in all honesty that is like what

like i strive for and like what we like there's

a community of like there's other funko pop artists

as well And, like, we take it as a compliment.

Like, if you think that it's a real thing, because,

you know, then it means that, like, we're doing

Funko -style quality. So, you know, if it fools

you, cool. Also, I'm sorry. Also, just don't

get mad, maybe. I mean, I wasn't mad. I was just

kind of like. No, not you. Not you. Your reaction

was awesome, and I loved it. But, like, if people

are listening and if they've gotten mad at me

in the past, like, I'm sorry. Or, like, I'm a

human and I got feelings, so don't get angry.

Yeah. Well, like, they're doing, you know, like

we've talked about already. They have pop rides.

They have pop moments. They have pop this, pop

that. And they're starting to do some other things

with the pops. Like, literally, I just saw the

Kitty Pryde one that they're coming out with.

That one's so sick. Where she's stuck in the

wall. That one's so sick. And I'm like, I'm looking

over here at your page and I'm like, Hey, wait

a minute. That's WandaVision stuck in the gun.

What's Wanda doing stuck in the gun? Yeah. Yeah.

I did that one. Cause like, I think that movie

is fantastic. And I love like horror film aspect

of it. And the homage to like, you know, that

was the, the evil dad reference when she's like

sticking her hand through the mirror. That was.

you know, Sam Raimi calling back to his first

evil dad. And then when she's crawling through

it, homage to, you know, like the ring and things

like that. And when I saw that, I literally looked

at my wife and I went, do you think if I made

that a Funko pop, people would think that's weird.

And she goes, I think that's what would make

it cool. Cause like they can, they're starting

to do kind of weird pops. And I was like, you're

right. You're right. So I, I did it. And I think,

I think it worked. It, it, it got my, that's

my most liked pop. Yeah. And I don't know if

that's just because of how incredibly bizarre

it is or if it's because it's Wanda and everybody

loves Wanda. But I'm happy with that one. I like

the fact that Funko is starting to finally kind

of get out of their comfort zone a bit. So not

only can we purchase things like that, but also

for us like designers, we can kind of push the

boundaries a bit more and it could seem more

real then. Yeah, absolutely. The same thing with,

oh, which one is it? I can't, I guess I can see

Thing as a bell -ringing Santa, but I think he's

too angry to be a bell -ringing Santa. Yeah,

that one was one of our collabs. We had, I can't

remember, I think like eight of us. We wanted

to do like an advent calendar for the holidays.

And I had four pops. for Christmas themed. So

I was just like, what are four pops? I was like,

all right, well, fantastic four. There's four

of them. I can do it like that. And I knew I

wanted one of them as like Santa himself. And

since Santa's a bigger guy, I was just like,

you know what the thing, you know, the thing

will work. Yeah. He's a, he's a little bit of

a grump. He's more of a Scrooge than a Santa

for sure. But, uh, I, I went with it anyway.

Yeah, I mean, some of the, like, and obviously

you've been doing, but some of these I'm like,

oh, oh, come on, Funko. Like, pay attention.

Like, they have almost every single license you

can ever think of. Oh, yeah. Except for one.

They have PlayStation. They have Xbox. They have

Sega. Mm -hmm. And I know that the Nintendonts

are very stingy with who they give their... But

come on! I mean, it'd be a win -win. You know

how much money Nintendo would get? The profits

would be absolutely through the roof if they

did that. Yeah, absolutely. That's one of the

reasons why I make a lot of like Nintendo ones,

just because I know that at least for the foreseeable

future, we won't ever get them. Right. So that's

kind of a little backstory time. That's kind

of why I got into this in the first place was,

I mean, it originally started, I wanted to work

for Funko. Right. So back in like 2019, I got

on a mission and I was like, I'm going to, design

pops until i get noticed by funko but like well

they they don't give a shit about that um they'll

they'll maybe steal some ideas there's definitely

been questionable times like that for sure i

saw that recently in your story i was like hmm

i wonder yeah yeah if you if you scroll back

far enough like in 2019 i did like the zuko from

avatar redirecting lightning that's i mean it

is the pop that came out yeah and um But so that

was my goal in mind was to like get attention

by Funko, maybe get a job. It'd be cool. Obviously,

that wasn't happening. So then I was like, OK,

well, you know what? I'm just enjoying this and

liking the fact that I can then see Funkos that

aren't real. So I want to make Funkos that don't

have a chance at being made. Yeah. So that's

been really where it transitioned into. So then

I just started making pops that like I would

love to see. a property or a character be made

in that form. And then if Funko does it eventually

like, Oh hell yeah, that's cool. I'd buy it for

sure. Yeah. But it's mainly just, you know, for

fun. And then I've been obviously like very blessed

enough to have as many people like these as much

as they have and be a part of this like community

then. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so like those, but

those Nintendo ones for sure are like some of

my favorites that I do. Cause it's like, we'll

never most likely get those. So as many as I

can make the better, just so I can at least see

what they would look like as fun goes. Yeah.

And that's the thing. Some of the things that

they're doing now, like with the pop albums and

things like that, and the pop game covers and

the pop posters, like to me, that's a full on

display item. I don't need to take that. Like

I have the Kramer. It was a Target exclusive.

Yeah, I got that one too. I have that. I'm going

to display that as a quote -unquote piece of

art versus trying to take the pop out to take

a picture of it. I can just take a picture of

it with the painting behind him. The same thing

with the pop albums and the whatever else. I

like that Funko is doing more display things

at the same time as still giving us all the regular

pop things. With you doing some of the Nintendo

designs that you've done, the one thing, and

I know your commissions are currently open, but

I don't have right now, but it's just one of

those things, an idea for you I thought of. You

could do Captain N, the Game Master. Oh. Nice,

nice. You could do, because I'm looking at some

of these Links and Zeldas, and I'm like, hmm,

that would fit in. Yeah, yeah, totally. Oh, man,

that would be hilarious. That would be awesome.

That would be a great one for sure. Yes, yes,

yes. All right. Do you think toy companies should

specifically have adult collector toys, child

toys, or find a way to mix both? I don't know.

I mean, I think it depends because, like, there's

obviously something. Probably a mix, if anything,

because I feel like there's something for everybody

because there are adults who like to collect

certain things that they wouldn't want to play

with and get broken and things like that. But

then there are also adults that want to collect

things that you actually can play with. And then

even same with kids. I'm sure that there are

certain kids out there that, you know, just because

I don't know any doesn't mean they don't exist,

that also like collecting more. the adult stuff

that they can't really play with, but then also

have the ones that they can. So I think if a

company, you know, a toy company really wants

to like strive, I feel like that you should have

a good mix where it's like, you know, some nice

collectibles, but some also then just basic,

you know, figures that you can play with. I think

that that's what something a lot of toy companies

should definitely do. Yeah, absolutely. Do you

have a my parents got rid of my toys story? I

don't think I do. I mean, my parents' house,

when we were born, they converted. I think it

was first an exercise room. And then they were

just like, just have it be a kid's playroom.

And then they just kind of let us have our toys

in there. And now that we're all married and

out of the house. that's been converted back

and now there's just a big closet in there that

everything's been crammed into. So unless, unless

they've sold things that, you know, we can't

really see cause there's so much crammed in there,

you know, that'd be pretty despicable if they

did that without telling us. But I think for

the most part, I think they're all in there.

I was just, I just went to my folks not too long

ago and took out a bunch of like old things that

like I wanted to bring home. Like I brought back,

um, like some vintage games. Like I brought back

like the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and some other

games and stuff that I used to play as a kid.

And they were still in there and a lot of other

figures too. So I think they kept them all. So

shout out to mom and dad for that. There you

go. My dad has definitely threatened for sure

that like, you know, he does want all his space

back. If we don't get everything, he'll sell

it, but I don't think he really will. Yeah, I

think you can get it all before that happens.

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

your active collecting? If so, what signified

this phase for you? Was there ever a moment when

you were done with toys? Oh, well, short answer

is hell no. I think if anything, I think the

hoarding goblin in me is getting even... more

awoken and i think i need more things um it's

it's straying a bit from funko and getting more

just into toys itself and again that's just because

as i'm getting older i'm getting back into more

nostalgic things so so now it's it's more of

just unfortunately things that take up more room

because action figures and things like that are

much bigger than funko pops so you know i'm now

Trying to balance, you know, where we can store

these and what I want to feed this goblin. Yeah,

absolutely. I don't know if it'll slow down.

Probably at some point it will, for sure. You

know, when we have kids, it'll probably transition

to just, you know, well, no, I mean, it probably

won't slow down. It'll just transition to getting

them to it. Yeah. But yeah, but one day it'll

probably slow down for sure. What is something

that does not have a toy of it you'd want in

toy form? I mean, off the top of the head, what

we were just talking about, a lot of Nintendo

Funko Pops. And I think those characters just

would translate so well in that form. I mean,

it's a crime that they have not gotten that license

from Nintendo. I'm praying. I'm hoping that one

day they'll do it, and then we can all go broke.

But until then, that's my big wish list, is Nintendo

give Funko the rights to some stuff, because

I think those figures would just... Obviously,

you have your own Nintendo figure lines, and

I have a lot of things from there, too. But I

think they would just... There's a huge difference

between an Amiibo and a Funko Pop. Huge difference.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that for sure. I

don't collect Amiibos. I just get like, you know,

like sometimes like action, like I got some like

Donkey Kong, like action figures and like a Sam's

action figure and things like that. But I think

that they would just translate so cool as a Funko

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

up and functional for the real world? So basically.

Have you seen the RoboSyn Optimus Prime, the

self -transforming, like you say, Optimus Prime,

transform, and it transforms by itself. So basically

this question is kind of like that, but like

on a whole, like a sharper image type scale.

Oh man, I think it'd be super cool to have like

the Millennium Falcon that I had as like a kid.

revamped to just look so realistic make it make

it massive and just put some actual like technology

or something in there where it can like hover

from like a base or something where it like looks

like it could fly or anything just but like a

realistic working but still toy where you can

maybe put figures in it of the millennium falcon

would just be so cool yeah that would be awesome

How has your wife dealt with your collecting

and your collection? Um, she's dealt, I mean,

she's fantastic, man. The, the amount of pops

that I have gone, that I've gotten over the years,

um, like she, the fact that she's sticked by

my side through it all is just great. Like I,

I started collecting, you know, like right around

like when we started dating and i'm sure she

probably just thought like maybe this is just

a fun little hobby thing here and there but then

to have it grow to like you know 400 maybe 500

and uh she's still supporting it she i mean she

calls it our collection now which i think is

you Um, and there, there, there'll be even pops

that she wants. Like I got her, um, I think it

was last year's convention when they did, uh,

like the McNuggets, like the ad icon, like nugget

lot. Um, she loved those, uh, characters. So

she was like, Oh, let's get the nuggets. And

I was like, all right. Um, and then, like I said,

so she gets, uh, Barbies as well. So she, you

know, she's definitely got a collecting dorky

side as well. You know, she loves like everything

Barbie, everything Lego. Um, so, uh, really,

really glad that, you know, she's been so supportive

and actually gets into collecting herself. I

think that's just something really cool that

we can bond over. Yeah, that is so cool. That

is so awesome. Same thing when my wife was still

here. Yeah. At first she was like, Oh, okay,

cool. And then she was super, super supportive.

And then I'm. I'm like, look, you like this.

Look, you like, like, you know, you like, you

know, she, um, because of the way her uncle used

to be, uh, it reminded her of drunk uncle from

SNL. Well, there's a, okay, I'll get that for

you or I'll do this or I'll do that. Or, you

know, that, you know, that kind of thing. So

it's always so nice when, when, in both ways,

you know, there are plenty, I'm hoping one of

these days, I can get a couple of female Funko

collectors on here because let's face it. Most

of the toy collecting stuff is, is guys doing

it. I mean, I know there are plenty of females

out there that do collect, but it's so like the,

the, the percentage is so off, like it's 90,

10 or something like that. Yeah, definitely.

Toy collecting can have its struggles. What is

one aspect that you tend to struggle with the

most? Self -control. I would definitely say it's

self -control when it's coming to not necessarily

just like price of things, but I mean, it does

add up. So even if you're like, oh, just an $8

pop, but then if you're like, oh, but then here's

this pop, and then here's this one, and this

one, or then there's this figure, then... you

know, $8 all of a sudden is like 80 bucks at

just going out when you were just meaning to

get some groceries. Like that's, that's, we talked

about it earlier of like toy stores versus like

departments and everything. That's the unfortunate

thing of them being merged in one. Now I'm going

to get groceries at target and I come back with

like a shitload of pops and I'm like, that's

not what I wanted to do today, but here we are.

So definitely self -control for sure. What is

one positive and one negative memory you have

with buying toys? Positive, definitely just going

like every week to get, these actually weren't

toys, but it was a form of collecting. Every

week growing up as kids, my brother and I, we

would go to our local Walmart and we'd get Yu

-Gi -Oh cards. We were big into Yu -Gi -Oh growing

up. we would always get a quote unquote allowance

from our grandpa, even though it was just, here's

just five bucks for the hell of it type of thing.

And we would, we would immediately have to go

like the next day, get a pack of cards, which

to think that like you could get a pack of cards

for like five bucks back then is just mind blowing.

But so that, that's a great positive memory of

going out there and just getting some stuff.

And then negative memory. Man, it was probably

maybe, I mean, it had to be late 90s for sure

because that's, I think, when the movie came

out. But whenever The Lost World came out, there

was, do you remember the trailer that they had,

that green trailer? There was a play set of that.

It was the full trailer. It would open up. It

had the vet room in the back where you can put

the dinosaur, the baby T -Rex that they had.

And I thought that that thing was so cool. And

this was, I think it was Toys R Us because I

don't think KB Toys ever had it. But Toys R Us

had it on like their shelf up at the top. And

I remember walking past it with my mom and I

was like, mom, look at that. I want that. And

it was like 50 bucks at the time. And in like

98, you know, 50 bucks is still a decent amount

of money. So she was like, no, maybe for your

birthday or anything like that. And I was so

bummed. That thing has never seen the light of

day since. My mom went back for my birthday,

never found it, and has never found it since.

And that is a huge negative toy memory. Because,

man, if I was just older at the time where I

could have my own money, I would have grabbed

it. And just the fact of, like, that's the toy

that got away from me, for sure. And that's a

huge negative memory. Yeah, I can imagine so.

Oh, boy. All right, so you can pick whatever

company. It doesn't matter. But they give you

the keys to the kingdom. If you could create

any toy, what would you want to create? Any toy?

Oh, wow. Hmm. I'm definitely thinking something

from Nintendo for sure. I would, I would love

to see, I mean, I don't know where I would like

ever put it myself, but like, I love life -sized

things. So something like life -size, like a

life -size Samus suit, I think would be so sick.

and who knows, maybe that exists. I don't think

it does, but like some type of awesome Samus

suit that you can like wear and like, maybe like

it makes noise and like the blaster works or

something would just be absolutely incredible.

So I would, I would definitely be like Nintendo,

give me the rights to make a full fledged Samus.

And if I'm the only one that buys it, so be it.

Awesome. What is one piece of advice you would

give the toy collecting fandom? Um, be patient.

I would definitely say be patient. Like everything

kind of comes in waves. So, you know, if you're

thinking like, you know, I really want this now.

I'll never get it. I'll never get it. Most likely

it's going to come down in price. You'll be able

to get it again. So be patient. I know I just

talked about the Lost World thing. I was never

able to find that again, but that was a retro

thing. Toys nowadays, you know, with mass production

and things like that, most times will always

come back. So especially, you know, I'm sure

a lot of Funko people will be listening to this.

So don't necessarily feel like you got to pull

the trigger on a Funko. You know, they'll they'll

always come back and things will cycle. You'll

get it on a low eventually. And then you'll definitely

just feel way better about yourself because it's

happened to me from experience. I've pulled the

trigger way too fast. And then like a couple

of weeks, months later, I'll see it on a low

or I'll want to pull the trigger and I wait.

And then a couple of weeks later, I catch it

way below the value. So then. You're saving money.

So that's really, for any new collectors out

there, I would say just try and be patient. Yeah,

patience is a virtue. Definitely. And it's one

of those things where what makes me so mad is...

And this is specifically for exclusives. It's

not really... Nobody's really waiting at Target

at $7 .45. For a common pop, they're waiting

for that, you know, bullseye or target lady or

whatever. But like, what makes me so mad is that

targets only get a certain amount of stock and

they don't have it out or, oh, it isn't the right

date yet. Or people, everybody gets in there

before you do. And say they only have 10 of flocked

bullseye. Well, then you're the 11th person.

You're SOL. But then you also have, which it's

the biggest scummy thing in the world, scalper.

Like, don't be a scalper. Yeah, just don't do

it. It's just not worth it. It's yeah. Target.

I mean, the way I get, I don't know if it's all

retailers like this. I mainly do the target ones,

but I've definitely had experiences like that

where like I've, I've gone the morning of like

when Danny Phantom released that count, I think

in like 2020, that was a target exclusive. And

that was, I loved that show. So I was like, okay,

you know what? I don't want to miss out on that

one. And I went there right when they opened

and it's like, thank God I did. They only had

two Danny Phantom pops at my target. And it was,

there was just me and one other guy and we were

both able to get them. But it's like, well, what

if that third person's there? Like, are you not

able to get any more inventory than that? I don't

know. It's just crazy. Or are you holding out

on some? Cause like they have access to it beforehand.

So it's just crazy. Cause they weren't on the

floor. They were, they were like, yeah, we had

to ask for it. And they said, Oh, let's go check.

And then they were gone for like five minutes

and came back with just two. And they said that

these were all they had. So it's like, well,

maybe you're lying. I don't know. Yeah, that's,

that is very true. It's very, very crazy. Yeah.

All right, folks, we're going to take one final

break and then come back to close the show after

this. Hello, all sentient beings. Want the latest

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.com. 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 come by, 5916

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And the name is just simply Popping Off Toys.

Thank you so much and always. Keep it popping.

Discover a world of vintage and modern toys that's

more than meets the eye with the Triple Takeover

ToyCast. Hosted by toy writers and photographers

Toybox Soapbox, Sixo, and TF Square One, this

informal and chilled out series of discussions

cover everything from vintage Transformers to

Mask, Diaclone, Microman, and more, be it nostalgic

or current. Whether you're a seasoned collector

or a casual robot enthusiast, all are welcome.

Triple Takeover ToyCast. All right, we are back

here on ToyCast. This is episode 148. I am here

with Justin, Mr. Pop Art himself. Where can people

find you on social media, sir? You can find me

on my Instagram page. I don't have Twitter or

anything like that. Don't like it. It's just

not for me. So Instagram is at JBivArt. All one

word. It's J -B -I. V V A R T. And, uh, that's

where you can find, I do multiple posts a week.

And, um, you know, that's where I also have a

link to like my Etsy shop. I have a couple things

for sale on Etsy, like stickers, magnets, pins,

key chains. Um, so you'll see the link there

and, uh, you can contact me via email and, uh,

in my bio or through DM. I do commissions. As

well of really anything you want from 2D illustrations

of pops toward just 2D illustrations in general.

I'm just an artist at heart. I don't always just

do Funko Pops to 3D stuff. So anything you guys

have in mind, you can commission for. Very cool.

Very cool. And I'm still looking at this Darth

Vader and I know exactly where I went wrong.

The eyes. They finally don't look soulless. Yes.

For people that aren't Funko fans, just the general

population that look, oh, those are those things

with the black soulless eyes. Not always. Not

always. I mean, it's a certain style, yes. But,

you know, you have an eyebrow or a different

color eye. Oh, yeah. You know, that Wanda that

glows in the dark. You know, it's not just. I

mean, I see sometimes where those people are

coming from. right yeah it's not always the reason

why i don't know yeah the eyes are things that

i when i'm like designing ones that i could get

away with it i definitely try to like you know

batman's you can do your white eyes because of

like his cowl yeah you can have um like you said

like the wandas i'll always try and do a wanda

where she's like using her power so that way

it's red eyes um the darth vader for example

like they usually just do The tint's just black,

but he's usually got a bit of a red tint in there.

So I made that figure that you're talking about,

I made it a glow -in -the -dark figure. So I

really pushed the red on his lenses because I

didn't want it just to be the saber. I was like,

let's also have the eyes glow. That'd be so sick.

Yeah, that would be amazing. I did a Dumbledore

from the book itself description of him. And

he's described to have like piercing blue eyes

in the books. So I gave him blue eyes in the

Funko pop. So like, you know, so anywhere that

I can kind of push the eyes, I try to just cause

for the most part, it's always just the, you

know, just the straight black eyes. Yeah. Yeah,

absolutely. All right, folks, this has been the

latest episode of toy cast. We thank you for

joining us. We will be back with more new episodes

here in the future. You can interact with us

by visiting the website geekcastradio .com where

you can listen to and comment on all of our content.

Send an email to feedback at geekcastradio .com.

You can catch us on all the places podcasts are,

Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple, all that stuff.

You can follow us on Twitter at geekcastradio

for the network, at tftoycast for the show. I

am at tfg1mike. You can also follow us over on

Facebook, facebook .com slash geekcastradionetwork.

I think, is it tftoycast or just toycast? I don't

remember. But, you know, you can find ToyCast

over on Facebook as well. As far as what's going

on next time, I'm not sure. It might be another

Origins. It might be a display case. I know people

listening know what display cases are, but basically

for you, Justin, usually when I do a display

case, it's like, okay, we each, like if there's

two hosts or three, if it's myself and two other

people or myself and one other person, we each

pick one toy and then we just talk about, it's

kind of like YouTube reviewing, but it's an audio

form, this kind of thing. Awesome, very cool.

Yeah, I have the sweet, sweet thing with way

back when, in 2002 when WWF did the forcible

entry album disturbed, did the stone cold, uh,

theme. And at the very beginning of that is obviously

when the glass shatters, cause that's the name

of the tune. So I have the, I have the. I have

a 2002 Skeletor. Oh, what's his name? It's Michael.

The guy who voiced Skeletor on the 2002 He -Man,

he says in that show at one point or another

to somebody, he says, don't touch. So I have

the glass breaking, and then I have him saying

don't touch for display case. Oh, nice. Once

it's in the case, folks, you're not supposed

to touch it. Yeah, very cool. Don't touch! For

now, I am TFG1 Mike with... Justin. Join us next

time when we'll be talking more toys here on

ToyCast.