A Das Baron Weekend: Renaissance Faire, Antique Malls, and Chicago Adventures

So Das, I was kind of looking at my pictures.

I think that would be a kind of a good outline

for us to follow. In the order that they were

taken? Yeah, that's what I can do. Yeah, that

works. I don't know how I feel about this. I

have July 14th, so it's pretty close. Oh, I know

what I'm using in the editing. Put the bunny

back in the box. My daddy is coming home on July

14th. My birthday is July 14th. I'm gonna see

my daddy for the first time ever on July 14th.

Make a move and the bunny gets it. For some reason

I thought you were referencing Seven no, no,

no, no That's that's way beyond just like come

on now like that. No honestly, I would love like

a cross -cut between seven and Conair What's

in the box? What's in the box put your bunny

back in your box? So I assume everyone is here

is old enough to have seen weekend at Bernie's

yes Yes, but I I've maybe seen like ten minutes

of it, but you know the general like you could

go. Yeah. Okay, so alright Episode title the

Baron has a weekend at the burgers Burgies we

can burn burgers We well, it'd be weekend at

Floody's is what yeah, but that doesn't does

that mean I'm the shambling corpse No, that means

he's the shambling corpse. I don't know about

how you felt by the time you got home, but I

was pretty tired. This part has been edited.

Ha ha ha. You'll never know what was actually

here. Oh, that's going public. Are you kidding

me? No, please. My mom listens to this. No, my

mom is probably one of our two dozen listeners.

Well, you can let her know that I play for the

funny and if it's funny, I play it. Jazz here.

And I am so diggin' the GeekCast Radio Network.

Greetings, humans. This is Starscream. And you're

listening to ToyCast. And if any of you call

me a parts former, one more time! Toy cast oh

yes Listen to the only toy podcast you will ever

need This is episode 151 I am of course teaching

on Mike and ladies and gentlemen about a month

ago On July 14th or so don't do it a dance baron

Hey, how you doing? He took that bunny out of

the box. He went to see Josh the floor burger.

You know, they told me don't take that bunny

out of that box. Don't take that bunny out of

that box. What did I do? I took that bunny out

of that box. Mm -hmm. And realized it had a severed

head in it. Mm -hmm. But eating good tonight.

Roadkill rabbit. Okay, that would explain a couple

things I found in the guest room after you left.

I meant to give you a heads up about that before.

I see what you did there. I just want to remind

everybody that this is an explicit podcast. I

am not removing any of this innuendo or don't

out of this show. So whatever they say is on

them. If you have a problem with the podcast

episode here, take it up with your son or your

son's friend. Yeah. Sorry, mom. So yeah, yeah

the a das Baron Came finally after kovat and

years of chatting. Yes I think my nieces are

I Think when we first start talking about it,

I think they were just born. So, you know, they're

like eight now I don't even know why I brought

up that as a metric, but it just seemed sensible

at the moment So yeah, it was a lot of conversation

a lot of planning But, uh, he finally came out

and, uh, he's still talking to me. So he must've

had at least an okay time. Reluctantly. No, no,

I didn't mean that. Um, I mean, it couldn't be

any worse than his journey to Jersey in episode

107 of this podcast. So Josh's journey to Jersey.

But one one of these days I do want to I heard

there's a lot of good toy places out between

Pennsylvania Jersey and New York. So Yeah, there

are But yeah, so what was it Thursday? So we

were trying to figure out the timing of the days

and everything and so Thursday the 14th which

I Wish I could do a really good impersonation

of a lady from Titanic where I can say that it's

been 83 years or whatever she says um because

that's what it feels like now because that's

just the way the summer rolls but i made the

the fateful trip drove down i -94 to 294 all

the way out to o 'hare to go pick up the das

you make it sound like it was such a far it's

it's not that damn far no literally i used to

live right around the corner From Josh, it took

Karen and I maybe, depending on Chicago traffic,

maybe 45 minutes to an hour. He makes it sound

like Gurney is like at the tip tippity top of

the state or something. So, well, I will add,

small note, this is where they didn't impact

the weekend much. As I was driving south, apparently

I had just Passed like a really terrible accident

that was backing stuff up for hours So I drove

up out to the airport now you make it sound like

driving to O 'Hare Airport in Chicago is just

like a Sunday drive through the neighborhood,

okay? Generally, it's not a piece of cake, but

it's not it like you made it sound like you were

driving from The northern parts of Michigan Okay,

you drive to the airport, you come back as a

different person. It can be kind of rough, but

it all worked out. It was okay, it was for DOS,

so I took one for the team. So I purposely put

on my obnoxious, neon, weird 90s, 80s stuff,

because my nondescript gray car We're probably

blend in pretty well. So we're we're in touch

the whole time and Trying to figure out not to

ask this was the first time or second time you

flew out of Chicago second second time yes So

you kind of did you remember it at all or is

it still like pretty new to you? The our visit

or the the visit before that your visit like

the most recent no, I I do remember, well, when

I came back, everyone in my family was like,

oh, you went out to Chicago? And they spoke in

hushed murmurs as if it was the most dangerous

place on Earth. And it was the one of, I mean,

obviously, you know, some cities have issues.

But I feel like our, at least our drive was the

furthest thing from that. Oh, no. I mean, what

people talk about when it comes to Chicago and

all the danger. It's all South Side stuff. South

side stuff. I mean, there's some parts of Chicago

that you kind of want to avoid. The thing is,

and I hope that some of our friends who live

in Southern Illinois might hear this, if there's

any listeners from Southern Illinois. O 'Hare

really isn't Chicago. It's one of two airports

that feed into Chicago. It's maybe a good 30

minute drive 25 minute drive outside of the proper

part of the city the loop area and A lot of people

think I'm from Chicago. I'm a Chicago boy. I

live Closer to Wisconsin than I do Chicago. I

can ride my bike to Wisconsin DOS found that

out But I can it's much closer for me to get

to Wisconsin than it is to Chicago you know it's

just anybody from southern illinois thinks anything

north of i -80 is chicago so so here and and

here's my thing is kind of like the whole moderator

here i lived in chicago with my late wife for

well about two and a half years out of the four

and a half years we were together before she

passed and literally you're right absolutely

gurney like you can get to lake geneva in 45

minutes. Oh, well then. Depending on the time,

because right now, if DOS had a flight out of

O 'Hare to go back to Pennsylvania at 9 .28 p

.m. Eastern time, according to Google Maps, it

says from Gurney to O 'Hare, 29 -minute drive.

Yeah, I mean, it's 30 minutes with no traffic.

But anyways, we're talking a lot about the drives.

So I pull up. I'm trying to communicate with

them. So I'm looking all over for DOS. I'm pulling

in. And the pickup at the airport is basically

like Black Friday, but with two -ton vehicles.

Everyone and all the cars and luggage are blocking

everyone. Yeah, it's picking up and dropping

off. It's ugly. So how did you spot me? I mean,

you kind of told me what the type of car you

were driving, and I know what you look like,

so I was looking in the driver's side, sides

of all the cars that came by, and I saw you from

a distance, and even with, I believe you had

sunglasses on. Even from that far off, I could

tell it was you. And I'm like, hey, okay, come

on, come on down, pick my ass up. So yes, I got

out of the car, I threw him over my shoulder,

threw him in the car, and so one of the - Was

it your wedding night? Maybe it was yours. Shouldn't

you have taken him to dinner before you did that?

Wine and dine me, Josh. Wine and dine me. We

were nowhere unless you wanted to go back in

and get a $28 cracker. Yes. So knowing that there

was that terrible accident back in 94, we had

to take the long way back to My house which basically

meant we had to travel a little bit west and

then north and the back east so whatever So we

got back and the biggest activity that we had

planned for that day after I picked him up I

don't even like I think we got his luggage in

and we showed him the collection room We didn't

spend a lot of time in the collection room though

does I Mean we spent some time in it We didn't

spend a ton of time, but it was certainly enough

for me to take in everything that was going on

there And yeah, of course you didn't bust out

everything that was in the closet. I'm sure there

was tons more in there, but I got a pretty good

view of everything you had set up. The closet

is, yeah, there is some more stuff in there.

I had a lot of stuff set up. A lot of stuff has

been falling down. I don't know if I mentioned

on a previous episode, but we were supposed to

get flooring done at the start of the year. So

I started pulling a lot of stuff off the bottom

shelves because I'd have to disassemble all of

those to get flooring put in. But with our one

cat having to get surgery, and it was super expensive,

way more than we even budget for flooring, we

had to cancel the flooring. So, you know, in

the time and the busyness of everything that

happened after that, a lot of the room wasn't

done. But I think, Das, you already kind of knew

what it looked like, but what did you overall

think of it? So the one thing that I didn't get

I think I had mentioned this to you from the

pictures that you showed me it made it seem like

your collection Room was on a lower level of

the house. Mm -hmm when in fact it was on the

top level But there was something very maybe

it was the The carpet at the bottom and the blue

of the walls that just felt really comforting

about it So I'm not gonna lie I When we first

moved in we talked about painting the blue Because

I think it was the previous owners who kind of

did a really quick paint job and you can tell

Because have you ever painted either of you painted

like a bedroom wall or anything? Do I look like

a working man? He's too fancy for that, but yes,

I have so you know, you got to wash the walls

beforehand, right? Mm -hmm. Yeah, so the thing

I noticed as I was installing all the shells

is that I don't think they wash the walls I don't

think they really did a whole lot to prep them

so they painted you can tell they painted over

dust they painted over like hair on the wall

and stuff like that so it was a pretty like quick

and dirty job and there's still some um what

do they call like stickers that say like you

know explore the world like motivational stuff

or when like there was like a baby living in

this room under the previous owners so I have

like the the dudes from small soldiers standing

in front of like a stencil of a pine tree or

something you know Marvel Legends in front of

mountain ranges and stuff so it's pretty cool

but yeah I I liked that it still kind of has

that sort of bedroom feel but you know who knows

I'm never gonna fit I was supposed to have this

room like perfectly done by the time Das got

here because my brother Was out recently as well

and I wanted him to film it because he's a cinematographer

and I was like nah We're not gonna do that if

everything fell over again. It's a mess again

So But yeah, so I you know, we got Das in And

I'm not saying this to like kind of poke fun

at Das Das is a fancy dude like so I have summer

I'm not fancy to me. I'm not fancy during the

summer. Okay, but to me because The big thing

was that we were gonna go to the the trivia night

that I host Oh this yeah, yeah, and So, you know,

we're trying to figure out like, you know We

were talking about like having DOS help out because

like he could have part of the pay and if you

know If you worked it, he'd have some walking

around cash while I was here You know, so seemed

like a really good idea But like, you know, I

I don't remember what I wore that night But like

it was just kind of like I think I just wore

like a t -shirt like khaki shorts and so i got

ready real quick and i'm you know waiting and

dos comes down wearing quite the fancy out like

looking like you know dapper af well he is a

baron after all don't you know and i have to

stop you here for a second because all of this

stuff that you're describing to me i'm thinking

holy crap He's dressed like Kevin Costner in

Waterworld. He lives in the Waterworld room and

he, like, you, not him, you, Josh. Blue walls,

blue carpet, whatever. There's a big picture

of Costner painted on the side of his collection

room. Yeah. Peering down at me at all times.

You know, they make fat heads for that, right?

Like, you don't have to paint a picture of the

guy. You can just purchase one and stick it on

the wall. I know. I if I had the wall space,

I'd actually get it, but I actually have a huge

movie theater or like blockbuster. I don't know

exactly what it was from, but I have a huge water

world like banner poster that I'm trying to figure

out how to display it. It does. It did make a

guest appearance in a video. I did with toy world

order a couple years ago I don't know if that

I'll ever see light of day, but I do have that

but anyways No, I I I'm a married childless husband

On summer break, so it's t -shirts and khaki

shorts for me pretty much around the clock I

Don't have the New Balance shoes and the knee

-high socks though that I haven't gotten to there

yet soon So yeah, it's it's a progressive thing,

you know So, you know we show up to trivia and

I kind of mentioned to a few people like I had

to kind of have this idea like oh, yeah He's

gonna train and he's gonna hang out. So no one

knows who who in the world I am No, and that

was kind of the goal of just like, you know How

do I you know get this guy in and nobody's like

why is he there? So I just told everybody he

was training and I mean I put him through like

the same training process that I would do with

most people. So, I mean, Das, you did really

good with your trivia hosting debut. I think

I could have done much better. I might have had

this conversation with you before. When I am

in a situation like here, we can all go back

and forth. I know who I'm speaking to. Whereas

with a full crowd of bar folk, I don't know what

I'm playing against Plus this is something brand

new for me and I'm not fully scripted so to speak

Yeah, now I've noticed you're very good at improvising

and firing things off pretty quick That's something

that takes a lot of energy out of me or it takes

a lot of energy to do for me So I be much just

stuck to the script and could not improvise but

I think as a whole just reading off reading off

the questions and answers I did okay. Oh you

did just great and a lot of people said that

we even had similar styles so I'm sure I probably

at some point have copied a little bit of your

cadence that I've heard you know like I hear

your voice at the start of every Toy World Order

podcast so I'm sure I've copied a little bit

I tend to do that but I've also done 200 shows

300 shows somewhere around that number so of

course yeah experience You know and and teaching

does help to kind of like ad lib like that But

you know you do really good people are asking

me just Like two weeks after people are asking

me. Oh So what happened that guy is he coming

back, and I'm like oh, yeah, he trained you know

We'll see you know I you know we'll see off into

the ether Well, I always need subs for that So,

you know, maybe you can fly back when and this

and I aren't able to like and this is My wife's

name is in itself throw that out there for anybody

who doesn't know She's my sub for when I have

to work or something at one of my other four

jobs So if she can't sub then you know, you can

always fly back and You can always you know financially

ruin yourself for one night of trivia. Yeah Hey

I mean, then again, this is a toy podcast and

we financially ruin ourselves on plastic that

isn't going to matter after we're dead. So there's

that too. You know, we made some pretty good

walking around cash from just that one night.

So I'm not shaking a stick at it. So I care.

I will say to us, though, like when you said

like, oh, yeah, you know, improvising doing that

stuff kind of takes a lot out of you. I get home

from doing trivia nights and this will tell you

I have to kind of go lock myself up by myself

for about two hours afterwards. That makes a

lot of sense. It's a high energy situation. Yeah.

I literally will go down to our basement bar,

which we'll talk about that later, and I'll sit

on the stool. I'll watch like You know something

on on one of the streaming services, you know,

I might pour myself a drink. I might hang out

for a little bit and I just have to like come

down from it like it's it takes a while to reset

and When it's the school year, so like this,

you know The school year Yeah, when the school

year starts though, you know, it's like oh shoot

I can't really give myself two hours after that

cuz I'll be like midnight. Yeah Yeah, and I got

work in the morning. But anyway, so I don't remember

what we did after Do you remember what we did

after we got back from trivia? I believe we spent

the rest of the night in the basement. Did we

go to Target? Do we do we make a late night Target

run? No, that was Friday night. Okay Before we

before we get to float wait what oh what okay

before we get to all that I have to interject

here because What Josh is talking about and what

you're talking about Das about, you know, that

takes a lot of energy out of you. Trivia night.

Yes, absolutely. And honestly, not just trivia

night, but any public speaking. If you're Josh,

you said you did. You've done two or 300 of these

things. I've been podcasting for 14 years. I

still like I like after we finished this recording.

I'm going to make sure I have the file saved.

I'm going to make sure it's in the right file

format and everything else. I'm going to turn

my monitor off. I'm going to go lay down, and

I'm going to waste about two and a half hours

playing Candy Crush to come down off the hive.

And this is not just this recording. I've been

doing this for 14 years. Any recording, any time,

you always need some sort of like, oh my god,

I have to decompress from that. And I cannot

do. This is why I love the audio podcasting the

most is because like we've already said, the

three of us can sit here and I can hit record

and we don't have to have a plan. We can just

sit here and talk for hours on hours on hours.

If we had the time to do that, you know what

I mean? And then I could edit it down to a, you

know, fairly cohesive episode kind of thing,

but The public like literally getting up there

and doing trivia and public speaking and enter

enter people I don't mind dealing with people

online like this in this format of whatever But

in general people in real. No, nope. Stay away.

So you guys have got one up on me when it comes

to that Oh, no, I I completely get it to quote

unquote be on it takes The life out of you and

if we want to get real for a minute working at

my emergency vet job I kind of have to be on

the entire day to get through the seriousness

of everything that comes through that door So

when I drive home, I like all of my adrenaline

from the day is shot and I start crashing on

the way home. Oh Dude when it comes to teaching

If I have a really busy day like The hardest

part about it is, okay, I'm on at work. I think

it's emergency room jobs, kind of like what you

do, and teaching. You have to make hundreds,

if not thousands of decisions on the spot throughout

an eight hour shift or longer. There's so much

stuff you have to come up with. You were telling

me you have people racing up with sick pets,

or you have people racing up with Uber Eats orders.

But both both as equal equally quickly, but you

have to like adapt to that so quick whatever

it is it could be a sick 200 pound dog or You

know a squirrel you said you people bring in

like rabbits and stuff like that even if you

can't treat them, but then You know you you've

got all those I mean no day is gonna be the same

for you So yeah, I mean public speaking and and

working with the general public is Very draining.

So anybody who's ever dealt with that, you know

high five to you But Yeah, I think we went back

and I think we just kind of hung out in the basement

I think we had a couple drinks and just called

it kind of a night at that point like you were

pretty tired from traveling and it was a long

day for both of us and So the next day though

This is Friday. Yeah, so the next day Friday

So we got up and we had a loose plan. And I had

been talking to Das about like, hey, we should

go to, there's an antique mall out here that's

one of the best antique malls out there. I don't

know if I'd call it the best, but it's one of

the biggest. It was pretty big, yeah. We didn't

even see all the buildings. And not only do they

have the antique mall, but they have a... showbiz

pizza place kind of recreation where they have

reclaimed robots from old -school showbiz pizza

and They have an auto museum of like famous cars.

I think Knight Riders in there and They have

the was it called the Jurassic Garden Something

I believe it was something like that. Yeah, so

we popped in the car. It was kind of a rainy

day and On our way out that way we found a rummage

sale and it was a it was a church rummage sale

that I had been to a couple years ago and The

only reason I really remembered it is that I

went to it a good number of years ago and they

were selling Name a popular toy from the 90s

a boys action figure from the 90s and they were

selling it from x -men Iron Man Batman everything

man, man I am and that's where I got a couple

of the figures that I have now that I I'm glad

I got it So it's like we got to go stop over

there What was your impression of this amazing

church rubbish sale that we just I I felt we

had to stop that you hyped up so much We were

we were nicely greeted upon entering by a nice

old lady How let's see There were there was a

lot to go through. So I think we were there for

all of Seven minutes? Oh, see. So wait. So wait

a second. He hyped this up so much like it was

the motherfucking Mall of America or something.

And then you only spit like literally he he Hampton

Jay pigged you essentially. I will say all that

way to to happy world land and you only ride

the monorail. Hey, don't just the monorail. Not

dizzing the monorail, I recently - Mono meaning

one, and rail meaning rail. Yes, I recently recorded

an episode of Tooncast talking about how I spent

my summer vacation and I had forgotten the -

Great episode. Great. F -ing episode. You listened

or are you talking about the movie itself? Oh,

I haven't listened to it yet, but - Oh, of course

not. Nobody listens to my stuff. Anyway, continue.

Go ahead. Sorry. So yeah, we were there all of

seven minutes and left and you know, I There

were a couple of VHS and don't forget the Ron

Ronco Showtime rotisserie grill. I can't believe

we found that the Which literally the whole model

tell me you got that How am I supposed to take

that home? So I spoke to me more I don't know

did you get the picture of it or did I where

we found that there's a label on it that says

No, you literally can't just forget about it.

Like you can't just set set it and forget it

even though that one if it was me or not Alright,

I should I actually should be checking my photo

album as we're doing this because it's kind of

helping jog my memory I don't have it. I have

a picture of the Brent hat Which it's a hat box

that you know, I have a friend named Brett So

anyways, so we got back in the car and we drove

out to Volo which is I don't know what like 30

minutes west of me And I had been telling Das,

I think since we first started talking about

going there, I've either found amazing things

or it's been absolute junk, right? And so one

of the buildings, which is right above an antique

car showroom or something, reeks of gasoline

or motor oil, I don't know. What aroma did you

get out of that? Was being hit with so many things,

but I did find the picture Okay, okay Don't take

set it and forget it literally. It's important

to check your showtime rotisserie from time to

time It is unlikely but if you should see or

smell smoke, it's because food is rubbing against

the hot heating elements And there's more but

yeah, that's the basic gist oh Those those warnings

that you think should be obvious, but people

Take for granted. But yeah, so we get in and

there's one building that is above this auto

museum that typically has more toys and collectibles

than the other buildings. The other buildings

have more of your typical antiques and junk and

stuff like that. But this building is always

known to have more toys and stuff. And I've been

in there a couple of times and I found some pretty

good things. Nothing really jumps out at me as

far as remembering. You know there there's You

find a lot of the McDonald's and Burger King

glasses, which we'll talk about those in a little

bit but you know, we got up in there and The

construction in that second floor building You

can't walk if you are anywhere over. I don't

know dust you might stand how much you way Enough

so I just weighed in, I'm 233 pounds. I don't

have any shame in saying that, I'm 233 pounds.

Hey, I'm 460 pushing on 7000, so Das is at least

a buck 50. Maybe. Wet. Das? Okay. Oh, you're

very sweet. I will say, before we went to the

Volo Antique Mall, we did go to the gym. And

Das... I'm gonna say, I was... You got biceps

at like that, you know, I didn't expect like,

you know, it looked like you could crush some

apples with those things. I'm sure he has an

apple. Wow, that was a wonderful, like awkward

silence before you guys responded at the exact

same time. I'm absolutely sure he has and I'm

sure it's multiple apples between Granny Smith

and Gherkin and whatever else. Three apples high.

But yes, I could see him put. You know an apple

into his bicep and just flex and just crush that

puppy juice everywhere, which is that's messy

right get applesauce so Now I've been there multiple

times that's what was your initial impression

of? Of the famed volo antique mall collectibles

building there was a lot to see Now with me.

I have very specific interests And then there

is an overarching theme of ridiculousness of

Regardless of what I'm looking for or if I find

something ridiculous. I'm gonna get it Nothing

was ridiculous enough. There were many things

which I looked at and pondered getting but eventually

I also realized that I whatever I get I have

to take home as well Yeah, so my my choices were

limited nothing Truly fully stood out to me,

but I liked you know what we saw Should mention

the reason I mentioned the weight thing was because

the floor there is so unstable and there's so

much stuff in glass display cases and so much

glass on very wobbly shelves walking around I

felt like an elephant in a china shop everything

was shaking and moving and and and the glass

was like What's the sound for like glass like?

hitting against other glass. I'll put it in right

about here. Yeah, that sound. But. Every time

I've been there, I feel like I'm going to break

an entire booth just by walking into it. I totally

get that. It's also very claustrophobic if that's

not your thing. Yes, it was very tightly packed,

so I have a tendency so. The route we took when

you walk in, I go to the far aisle and then kind

of make a wrap around and come back to closer

to where the entrance is and the register is.

So we went in and we started looking at a couple

of the booths. So I have a few pictures that

I took going around. There were a couple booths

that had toys that were generally pretty well

priced, pretty standard to what you see at a

toy show or eBay. Nothing awful. The one thing

that was really weird was those McDonald's Disney

glasses that I have like two full sets of But

one booth had them for $20 apiece another one

had them for $7 apiece another one had them for

like 35 for the set it was really weird like

the Nobody seems to be doing comparative pricing

But do you have the pictures from the booth with

the really interesting artwork? Yes, I do. I'm

going to send some of those to our little group

chat here because I think Blanchard really needs

to see it. If I can do that real quick. Or I

might just send them. Send them over to the Facebook

group. I just updated the messaging and I'll

edit all of this out. So pictures, yay! I'm just

gonna send it straight to you Mike so Some really

interesting artwork very interesting descriptions

on it as well. Oh my god Holy crap Some peewee

Herman's big adventure themed art some sort of

weird psychedelic art and then creepy dude Salmon

on his organ which that picture just has to be

seen to be understood Do remember seeing some

of the masters of the WWE Universe figure that

were? What do you remember those? You were they

yeah, they're the masters of the WWE but they

were like 120 a piece or something like that

which got me kind of excited because I have those

I'm like alright cool if they're worth that much

I'm gonna go sell them because I thought they

were still worth only around retail of course

we look it up on eBay yes, they have these Masters

of the WWE Universe figures for $120 a piece.

They're still only worth 20 bucks Like they're

not even selling for 20 bucks. So I'm not sure

what was going on with that dealer and that is

something we are most definitely gonna have to

talk about on another episode of this show because

Price versus value versus. Oh my god. It just

released. How could it have such a value like

and i'm not even talking about scalpers or anything

like that i'm just talking about you know you

go into a target you get a even just a regular

normal figure or if you get a target exclusive

figure if you don't get it before the other seven

people in front of you got theirs you go on ebay

and oh my god it's it but it's seven nine let's

just say funko because that's my thing it's Ten

dollars in store whereas on eBay. It's like you

want this you're gonna pay 90 bucks. No, I'm

not I don't want that bad What do you think I

could sell those cantinas for? Those cantinas.

I mean, there's still almost full price on Amazon.

I was in I was in GameStop and I saw it at the

full 52 .99 I Will admit I'm hoping to find those

for clearance at some point But let's jump back

to the Volo antique mall because we had a couple

interesting finds over there So Well, we're walking

around I always keep an eye out for metal Stein's

Like drinking Stein's whenever I'm at these places

because since I frequent the Renaissance fair

so much Those are really easy cups to bring in

to reuse. So I found one there because You know,

I I want to make sure I have a good one when

I go there. That's impressive. That's fun That's

how big would you say the sign was that I found?

It had girth to it It wasn't just good It was

it was heavy it. I don't know was it around nine

ten inches tall oh It's it's at least ten inches

if not a full foot probably about eight inches

wide it is a big metal sign It's actually a ice

bucket, but it looks like a big metal drinking

sign with a lid and everything and I was hemming

and hauling over it and You know, God bless my

wife who the next day went out there to go pick

it up for me after and we'll get to the rent

fair. We'll talk about why I told her to go do

that. But I ended up passing on that. But I found

there's a there's a company that was out in the

80s that sold cheaper plastic vehicles that were

at scale to GI Joe. Now, Mike, have you ever

heard of this company? Would that be LJN Nope,

that's remember the name of the company. Oh,

yeah, three three letters. So you get close you're

close Mike Yeah, so This is the name of the company

everybody kind of giggles and snickers when they

hear it when you realize what it's called the

company's called gay toys GAY toys and They made

a lot of really cool Three and three -quarter

inch scale vehicles out of just injection mold

plastic Mostly a sci -fi based and they had a

boat there that I had as a kid. It looks like

a big rocket boat I'll see if I can I think I

have a picture of it somewhere that I can send

but it's a very very cool little vehicle it's

very detailed the cockpit is very very detailed

and They work really well. I actually just used

one in the tub the other day. It's a nice nice

hot bath Brought it in there with me and David

Hasselhoff is driving it. Are they an American

company or are they an overseas company? Because

I'm not on my personal computer. I don't want

to try googling it So Because you never know

with you gentlemen in a moment. Oh Okay, so he's

gonna he's gonna go Google that okay so found

that boat And I think I was also carrying around

maybe like a Flintstones glass or something.

I don't remember Guess you were multiple Flintstone

glasses. Yeah, and the big Stein because I was

very indecisive over it So we worked our way

around found some overpriced Kenner Star Wars

figures and I mean, there's a couple of cool

boosts with some cool things So I'm gonna need

your help to kind of go through this moment dust

because I blacked out a little bit when it happens

Okay, so I was the one that saw it first. Okay.

There was a wicker basket. Before we get to the

wicker, I need to remove that from my searches.

Holy shit. Wow. Clear your search history. I

tried to tell you, dude. I tried to tell you.

Yikes. Like the only thing I can pull up is vintage

plastics police car on eBay. Like everything

else is This is not the thing you're looking

for If I didn't have a cat sitting on my lap

the boat is sitting outside my Office door and

I would go grab it, but I'm not getting up because

he's quite cute. But yes, so the only thing worse

though Mike then a Really dirty search history

is a very blank search history. So be careful

with what you do Anyways So yeah, so we approached

one of the last booths, which is a booth that

I know that usually has some cheaper toys, some

random dig bins and baskets. So Das, take it

away. So I looked down at this bin, which is

a wicker bin of sorts, and the one thing that

pops out immediately is it's another David Hasselhoff.

Yep. So, but there's more to this. Not only is

it Hasselhoff, but it's also the car. And I look

down for a second, and kind of passively try

to get your attention. And here I am, assuming

you already own this. So, granted, I know you

like to collect multiple Hasselhoffs, so why

not multiple kits? And I just go, Josh? And I

just kind of point down to the bin. Then your

jaw basically hits the floor. Oh Yeah, I mean

so Das and I were discussing I think on the way

out there that I have a rule that if I See a

Michael Knight figure as long as it's affordable.

It's now in my Commandments, I have to pick it

up We weren't sure you know, we didn't know how

much this was we we've seen how much though wrestling

figures go for and Did I pick it up or did you

pick it up? I think you picked it up. I Blacked

out for a lot of it, but I will say before we

go into the actual discovery when I've looked

into getting the the night 2000 the car itself

a few times It is not affordable and even the

ones that oh no even beat up ones that are missing

the doors which are very often missing and Missing

the spoiler and it doesn't work. Whatever $75

is considered a bargain for a doorless night

2000. Yeah, and I am looking at one on eBay right

now For a buy it now, no auction, so there isn't

people bidding this thing up. Buy it now, it

has everything, it has him, it has the doors,

it has the sport. $110. But it's out, like no

box, like it's just the car and the Michael Knight

figure. $110. Lose. Yeah. So, you know, those

things range from $110, $100. To 200 so I wrote

off ever owning that car. I was okay with it

I have David Hasselhoff number three He's in

the gold Cadillac from last action hero, which

is actually a really good vehicle I've had him

in the ecto one. I've had him in the turtle van

He just I just decided that you know kit said

hey, I'm breaking up with you. I'm not with you

anymore You're on your own, so he just took over

other cars So I wrote it off. So when Das mentioned

this, I looked down. It did not compute with

me that it was in there. I was like, you've got

to be kidding me because it is a 1983 Kenner

Knight 2000 with him sitting in there just kind

of like chilling like, hey guys, what's up? Both

doors. Both doors. No spoiler, which is fine.

Yeah. But other than that, it was in really good

shape. Yeah. So let me ask you this. Now, this

thing, like all 1980s toys that come battery

powered, was notorious for eating up batteries

for the longest time, no matter how many times

you hit that license plate. Once you got, let's

say, new batteries in it, did the voice box actually

work? Let's come back to that later. OK. Back

to that later. Because there were several hours

of me cradling this thing like a baby. I can

vouch for that. Yes. So, I like jumped down and

look at it. I had that feeling. So, and Daz and

I talked about it so many times. That feeling

you see when you see that toy that you've been

looking for at the store or whatever. I just

jumped and grabbed it. I actually kind of felt

like I was trying to remember like did I accidentally

elbow him in the head like trying to get at it?

Like I'm sorry. I was good. I was good. I was

actually really worried if I just smashed into

you trying to get to it. So we're looking at

it. It's in great shape. I'm expecting this thing

to be I Mean it's in a bin of other broken down

like just other vehicles. I'm expecting it to

be Not a whole lot of anything your nose. Let

me rephrase that Maybe 50 60 70 bucks at most

right mm -hmm now Mike you I know you know the

price because I already know because you already

told me because you're like hey guess what and

I'm like so before Josh continues on with this

story you have to understand Josh is a Hasselhoff

fan and that's great I like the guy he's cool

I met him when I was six years old I got my picture

taken with him it's on my Facebook I'll probably

put it in the post along with a picture of this

toy that we're talking about But in kindergarten,

in 1985, my supposed friend at the time, and

I will never forget this guy's name, Brian with

an I, Reed, had this. My mom would never buy

it for me. And I have been jonesing for this

day, not anymore, I don't care now, it is what

it is, but especially looking at the, like right

now I'm looking at a picture of it. on an eBay

listing complete with the box. The box doesn't

look like it's in the greatest of shape, but

complete with the box, with the instructions,

with the paperwork, $350 for this thing. So I

have been like, and mainly for me, it isn't about

the Michael Knight figure. It isn't about the

box. It's mainly because If I'm remembering right,

it's William Daniels' voice, like they had him

record lines. The principal from Boy Meets World.

Okay, so for anyone who grew up in the 80s, everybody

knows him as the voices of Kit. And yes, for

the rest of everybody else, it's obviously Mr.

Feeny from Boy Meets World. Yeah, or it's also

the teacher, I think it was the teacher from

Phenom, if you remember that show. No, I don't.

I think that was a precursor to Boy Meets World.

I'd have to look it up and here's hoping that's

not a bad search But yeah, no, so I literally

like nowadays. I don't care anymore But from

the time I was in kindergarten 1985 up until

I probably graduated high school in 1999 I have

always wanted this damn thing and Josh Thanks

to Das Finds it in the bin, even though there

wasn't a box but finds in a bin Just told me

So we flip it over Again, I this is I was hyperventilating

flipped it over Gosh you finished. I'm actually

like my heart starting to beat a little bit.

Okay, so we flip it over Trying to find a price.

We eventually see that there is a small white

sticker on the undercarriage That price for the

car the Michael night together four dollars four

dollars and I still have a stick on there I said

I just sent you the picture Mike to prove it

I have David Hasselhoff pointing at it in the

picture it says Volo malls number 726 so that's

the booth number inventory night 2000 toy car

four dollars slash TV Not sure what the TV part

means maybe that's just a reference it so I I

don't even know how many times I looked at that

price tag just to be sure this was I mean I Couldn't

believe what I was looking at. I was shaking.

I was hyperventilating I I'm surprised I didn't

faint because I had to bust out the smelling

salts And so I could feel the blood running under

my skin. It was such a moment. Like I've been

saying with the whole eBay listings and everything

else, you don't find this toy at just any old

flea market, church, whatever. For the price

that they found it for and honestly looking at

it now the one that you have I'm like, oh boy

It looks like it went through about ten rounds

with car and about four rounds with Goliath and

then it went through the ramrod from season four

episode one and two like Literally, I'm like

somebody need to give that a wash in a rinse.

Oh, so I have Paula I actually bought plastic

polish for it, so I'm gonna clean it up apparently

if I take a hairdryer to it it should bring some

of the plastic back to shape, but I I honestly

can't remember the next couple of minutes after

that I think I think didn't we go up to the register

I think there was one other Flintstones glass

that I got Did you at one point and then dialed

it back? Yeah, because I thought it was five

dollars for the set or something I don't I don't

remember. I honestly don't remember. I was just

like still shaking I think I found another truck

that I don't even remember what it was I think

it was from like steel monsters, which is a tonka

wave or tonka line rather and I go up to the

cash register and Late the the cashiers are always

very very nice. You can even actually ask to

call the booth holder to see if you can get a

lower price on something. I wasn't going to do

it on this. I wasn't going to be like, will they

take three? I think the only thing I remember

is that we were trying to be so nonchalant about

it like it was no big deal. Right. She said,

yes, the woman at the counter is just having

this long conversation with us. And, you know,

we're trying not to let her know that we stumbled

upon gold. I mean. Basically, yeah, like and

she even said to us. Oh, this is night writer.

Oh, this is probably worth a whole lot more than

four dollars What was he thinking? We're like

nothing just take my card. Let's go That's exactly

how it went. Oh My god, like it was I was scared

that we were gonna lose this opportunity because

four dollars is less than I think The cost of

any of the figures I've got except for the first

one the first figure I got in a big box of other

toys So, you know, it was maybe a couple pennies

when you look at the overall cost, but Yeah,

four dollars is crazy so The next thing we had

to do is when we exited we found there was a

big down ramp that Led to the next building.

So we had to give it a test drive So we got a

video of us rolling it about halfway down the

ramp very carefully and das was very good about

making sure that thing didn't hit the side of

the I Am very I'm very particular about my toys

and I do not want them damaged Therefore, I'm

not gonna let someone else's stuff and get damaged.

I'm like watch this not ruin this deal It's not

gonna scrape the side of the wooden wall. Yeah.

Yeah, so he caught it, but we have this nice

little video it rolls pretty well So we went

we checked out a few of the other buildings.

I don't think we really saw anything notable

except A lot of like pornography. So there was

one thing that I found, which I. Yes, yes. OK,

go ahead. So there was one thing I found which

I ultimately passed on. So we're in one of the

booths in the second or third building. And there

is this one off nondescript. Incomplete black

truck. It's kind of small and the label says

Transformers. And this is one of those moments

where I'm ashamed of how much of a freaking nerd

I am. I look at it, I ponder for a second, and

I'm thinking to myself, this isn't a transformer.

No, it's not. I had to go to, just to verify,

I went to the website to look at it, and it was

an incomplete component to a 1989 Sentai Robo.

Missing the spoiler missing wheels and there

were no other parts of the combiner robot therefore

i had no need for it and the piece by itself

was twenty twenty bucks at least. Way too much

on what it was yes so i put that down but it

was a nice moment and. Another kind of nerd flex

moment wonderful moment i think but. You know

and then. We saw a lot of weird pornography.

They sell a lot of old Playboys there. There

was one booth that half of it was Disney merchandise,

like park merchandise, antique merchandise, and

then the other half was just stacks of Playboy

magazines. Don't ask me why. Hey, what's your

niche in terms of what you like to sell at the

flea market? Oh, I'm really into older Disney

materials, but I also am really good at selling

pornography. Well, you know, I mean Disney and

pornography it goes hand -in -hand or hand in

whatever you want to say because I don't want

to talk about hands in this situation Well, they

did spell sex out of the dust as Simba laid down

Mourning over his father. So I will say that

was SFX for the special effects team that you

know, that was a little little signature but

anyways, so after that, I think we went to go

pop into the Ticket booth because there was the

the dinosaur Jurassic walkthrough which from

the outdoors And you know Mike, I don't know

if you want to throw any of these pictures in

With with the show notes Looking I have to go

back a little bit I don't know if I have the

front but let's just say that under the advice

of their attorneys They never heard of a franchise

called Jurassic Park. I Don't think Das did you

get a picture of the entrance because I don't

think I have it No, but the one thing I did notice

was the giant t -rex that was outside Which was

covered in some sort of sort of like foam latex

Yeah, something that you would make that out

of it was tearing around some of the limbs. Yeah

Now I mean it was the ticket to get in was like

16 bucks Was kind of having howling off over

it like I thought it would be fun now, you know

Yeah, I didn't know what to expect I think if

we had a couple of drinks before we went in it

might have been more fun Well, I say we did have

fun in the sense that Like we stumbled upon a

really lousy Roadside attraction and we have

stories about that. Yeah. Yeah, so felt like

that So we got in and it looks like a mini golf

course Mini golf course. It used to be another

building for the antique mall, and I guess they

just took them all out. But it looks like a miniature

golf course. And it takes you through some moderately

animated life size dinosaurs, not life like some

are not life size, but you know, they're pretty

big. And you just kind of it's just like a guided

walkthrough with some information. It was fine.

Like we do have some really good pictures of

us getting eaten by dinosaurs and being like

You know regurgitated which I'll send those and

I forget about the first ones that we saw when

we walked in where it was a small family of dinosaurs

Feasting upon what like a giant stegosaurus,

and it was it was pretty torn up. Oh Yeah, it

was kind of graphic for for little kids Yeah,

I mean just like and the dinosaur was still alive.

It wasn't even dead. It was like looking people

walking by like please help me like Don't just

stare there and gawk. It kind of reminds me of

the The the opening to end us will not probably

know this more than Josh will I know things you

you you may or may not remember this but I know

dos will because he's you know Sentai and Power

Rangers and all that stuff You in the dinosaurs

mouth reminds me of the animatronic dinosaur

at the beginning of Dino Thunder when Tommy was

like That dinosaur just move Remember I haven't

seen done a hundred a while, but I go back and

watch it. It's one of the best ones How did you

fit in there Josh? Cuz you were I think I sent

you all these pictures so you're kind of So after

that we went to I think we kind of briefly saw

the show this piece of place and then and then

we popped over to Woodman's I think we were in

a little bit of a hike to get back a little bit

of a hurry to get back because I have like 57

cats that need to be taken care of and So we

couldn't leave them locked up the whole time.

Wait, I thought Das was the emergency vet tech

not you I work the front Okay, so highly of me.

Well, you know between Das and I have the skills

I've picked up with all these cats and his knowledge

of running the office I think I Think there's

a good chance. We could probably start our own

our own practice. Yeah, or yeah, I think a cat

cafe would be good so So we popped over to a

store called Woodman's which Mike I don't know

while you're out here if you ever went to one

of those I don't think so, but I've heard the

name I want to describe it because I you know,

he was there. I think we went there twice Yes,

we did go twice. So it's a very very large supermarket

The the two that we went to I believe some of

them had a slightly different setup than the

other But I mean do we want to go into the main

reason we were there? Well, it is an explicit

podcast according to our our brave moderator

and host, uh -huh. Yeah, so so Our main thing

was because the next day we were hitting up the

Renaissance Fair We were buying libations to

enjoy not only that night, you know that Friday

night, but also libations to enjoy in the process

of going to the fair and we'll leave some of

the more unscrupulous details of that out but

We picked up a couple of choice a pretty good

cup. I think The winning choice I think out of

the whole weekend was actually your banana moonshine.

Oh, that was so good Oh my god, that was in a

large mason jar. I finished that in like two

days I was surprised I like when you said you

were done with it. I was like, wait a second

I figured you were halfway through it, but you

plowed through that like that was I was impressed

but see this is the thing Josh now I Out of the

as is the fattest person out of all of us here.

I can safely say Only skinny people can down

mason jars of alcohol Well survive Well whoever

can he did it well Like I just got some flavored

rum and flavored vodka and stuff like that because

you know doesn't need a mixer, but Yeah, so that's

why we popped over there And then when we got

back to my house like we popped onto the bar,

and I think it was just sort of like a like Like

a like a we call it not a de -escalation Wow,

this is great podcasting decompressing decompressing

of just like We found the night to doubt but

I was still you had to decompress and I don't

I think by the time I left you still had not

oh I still haven't it's I still have carried

it around my house like a baby like we have a

new kitten No No Right now it's still like 70

30 who gets carried the most I have to ask this

only for context and Anissa I'm sorry. I'm apologizing

now. Are y 'all ever planning on having children?

No good thing because you'd probably throw your

kid over for this night 2000 hell I'd throw your

kid over for this night 2000 this car man it

does weird things to people because it is 1983

at that point I don't think there were many toys

that did voice boxes okay you have your I know

Polly Pocket came later, but you have your Teddy

Ruxpins and your my buddy or kids sisters or

whatever kind of thing. But for a literal action

figure of the what is arguably at the time most

one of the one of the three most popular 80s

action television shows to have a voice box of

the character of the car for like, it's just

gold. Yeah. And so when we did get back, we were

testing out all the different drinks and stuff

we got and we did check it out the voice box

does not work and The battery pack looks clean,

but it didn't do anything when I put batteries

in it so I did find a video online from a youtuber

that I do not care for but he does go over how

to how to fix it and restore it so maybe one

day I'll try to put aside my Raging hatred for

this individual. Well, how long did it take us

to figure out how to get that open or how About

you know 20 30 minutes. I mean it was it's it's

a little tricky to figure out It was like a Rubik's

Cube for a while. Yeah, it's it's basically Sealed

in a vault behind a Teddy Ruxpin. It's not a

Teddy Ruxpin tape recorder, but I'm saying that

to say this Forget the youtuber that you hate

just talk to the teddy ruxpin repair guy that

we all know i know i'm just just talk to deval

yeah i'll see i'll see if he knows um and that's

not the youtuber i'm talking about by the way

no no no no no i know i'm saying forget about

whatever this youtuber is that you just like

and just you know talk to the toy repair guy

that we all know and love um so The next thing

we did that night that I kind of remember was

that we tried on our outfits for the Ren Fair

Yes, I you you displayed everything we had and

it was kind of up to me to organize it and I

have to give DOS credit the way he coordinated

the hats and these are weird patterns and I'll

put these in the group these are weird patterns

and He coordinated the outfits very very well

It was one of those things where in the moment

I'm thinking oh well that goes with that and

that breaks up that and you can't have too much

white and I'm hearing myself think this in my

head and like good God I didn't realize I could

do this. So we put those all together and I really

feel bad because as amazing as Das's shorts were

they were bathing suits and bathing suits are

not meant to take a 10 -hour I don't even know

how many steps we did, I don't even know how

many miles we walked, but it was a very long

day of walking the next day. It was a chafed

Sunday, we can say that. Yeah, bathing suits

are not meant to be walked around in for long

periods of time. They are not meant for anything.

That net mesh is meant to... you know keep the

things in it needs to keep in and whatever else

and just for you long enough to run around slip

on the deck and fall in the pool yeah so it can

be a bathing suit holy crap the two of you in

this photo i swear to god josh is like a modern

day magnum pi and dos i don't even know what

80 like So from Miami Vice, maybe so I know what

the next I don't know Das if you're keeping those

shorts But I will say I know what shirt is going

to be like a Christmas present for you eventually

Oh God, I know I still have the shorts. Absolutely.

So I actually I'll admit I ended up returning

the shirts afterwards because they fit really

weird like the sleeves were gigantic but the

overall like I would not Yes, so I ended up returning

them. Sorry Amazon, but you know So not sorry

Amazon so the thing with the red fair that I

Have learned because I go there a lot. I've been

where I've worked a couple days there You have

to get there really really early So the parking

lot opens at nine The gates to the park open

at 10, so I think we got there on 815. And we

were kind of dressed up in. I started catching

like some people's eyes as we were just like

sitting in the car in these outfits. Does did

you notice that? Actually, I didn't. I was paying

attention to some of the costume people or the

employees there that were waiting to open the

gate and some of the people that have gotten

out of their cars. Just to kind of traipse around

for a half hour. So we got to the parking lot.

We got in. I don't remember. Was that the day

where there was some confusion over employee

parking or not? Yes, there. You were trying to

let them know that you were in employee parking

and you said to one person and they said to go

to the next person. and we were expecting maybe

some pushback, or at least I was expecting some

pushback, and we drive up to the guy, you barely

even say anything, he just flags you down to

just go to regular parking. So it was like, whatever,

okay, cool. So I need to clarify for the audience,

is this Friday or Saturday now? Oh, this is Saturday

morning now. Okay, just want to make sure. Yeah,

so with the rent fair, You know the way I generally

try to do it and kind of you know show new people

there is You get up right up to the gate, and

it's about an hour. You know 45 minutes you got

to wait But you start seeing people congregating,

and it's a very interesting group of people who

always congregate up there You know dass you

want to mention anything that you saw or experienced

while we were waiting up there There was a lot

the one thing I will Make a comparison to this

isn't in any way trying to be an insult or what

not but i've noted so what i think what we found

out was that it was sort of a. Con weekend or

they called it or something they call rencon

so it's okay encouraged. Any costume in any way.

The atmosphere or the people there were very

much. Like the con goers of an anime convention.

Yes, I can agree with that. Yes a complete range

in ages from young to older But I was getting

anime vibes from a lot of people there and most

of them were dressed up from video games or anime

or That was what I saw the most and then there

were things like oh, here's Ariel as a Renaissance

Faire character or here's Superman dressed up

as the Renaissance Faire. Yeah, there's my buddy

Scott Yeah, so we There's a large variety and

there is like a nice sort of communal like, hey,

we're all excited to go in while you're waiting

to go in for the fair. Everybody that I've ever

been there with while we're sitting there, we're

always talking to people, we're hanging out,

we're doing stuff. And then they finally let

us in. Now Das, this was your first run fair

as an adult, I believe? Yes, I had gone once

when I was 10. I let's say I was a different

type of person slash kid back then I went for

a friend's birthday party and I wasn't I had

no interest in being there but I remember. I

don't really remember anything about the day

other than the fact that I took home a wooden

shield with me and they still sold them I'm surprised

you didn't wanna buy another one. I have enough

things even though I keep buying things saying

I have enough things and continue to buy things.

I mean, I'll be honest. I think I might have

a wooden sword from either the Renaissance fair

or Medieval times and it's buried somewhere in

the basement But I think I think everybody that

I talked to about the rent fair if they haven't

been there recently though They always tell me

yeah, I think I went as a kid. It was okay You

know, I do want to go again because they hear

about how fun it can be So we probably heard

about it and seen it in movies and TV shows and

the most recent of that would be Hawkeye Yeah,

well that was that was like a LARPing event in

Central Park. Same vibe. It's the same vibe.

Don't get me wrong. I know the Ren Fair is a

more specific thing, but I mean it was You know

people fighting each other with wooden swords

and stuff. Which there is a little bit of that

It's actually a little hard to find right now.

They've cut back a little bit on opportunities

for people to assault one another I would hope

so. I mean come on. Yeah Unless they can make

money off of it, you know, they they've cut back

on that but so We got in and there's a lot of

fanfare and there's music and all that all the

stuff and we walk Through the first part because

the first thing does had to do was hit the bathrooms

Like a true Renaissance man like it like we hit

the fleshy bathrooms because What do you pass

those bathrooms is a little bit of a walk until

you find the next set of bathrooms and there

are a bunch of royal guards who are very quick

to comment on our outfits and tell us how much

they enjoy how colorful we were. We can we can

pretty much say that just about everyone felt

the same i knew we were going to get some attention

i was not prepared for how much attention we

got. We yeah people were saying oh you look like

saved by the bell which I Heard that a couple

times and yes, it looks like saved by the bell,

but say by the bell uses a specific art style

It's called Memphis art style. They it's not

a it's not the saved by the bell art style It's

a you know, there's a group of artists who came

up with it. It's an actually an architectural

style, but that's what we were we were doing

and He got a lot of people to Say they loved

our outfits. We look really great and colorful

even you know, we had a third friend later come

and meet with us for a little bit and He we modified

our outfit so he had an outfit and we just looked

like a gang of you know, if you took a bunch

of highlighted neon markers and chewed him up

and threw him up on the floor, that's what we

kind of looked like and I was gonna say, we did

come up with a name for ourselves, but I also

think I just came up with a secondary name. Oh,

what did we call ourselves? The Latter -day Saints

of Zach Morris. That's right. The Latter -day

Saints of Zach Morris. We were the prophets.

What was the one you just came up with? And the

secondary name is? We could call ourselves Highlights

for Children. Let's stick with the Mormonism

of Zach Morris, please. We do not need... Toycast

and the GeekCast Radio Network do not... Promote

highlights for children in this day and age.

Okay, although that was a good magazine 40 years

ago so one of the things that I've learned about

the renaissance fair is that If there's anything

specifically you want to do that's not a show

Like if you want to go to a shop if you want

to get food if you want to do anything It is

best to do that the moment you walk in So I think

the first thing we did Das when we got there

was didn't we hit my favorite bartender? Yes,

we did one of multiple times She got to know

us a little bit that day so Yeah, so we hit our

my favorite bartender, and I think we both got

the same thing didn't we? I you ordered something

I forget what it was and then I you know me being

me who does who has really no preference when

it comes to alcohol I'll just have what he's

having yeah, so I get a Hard apples a hard apple

cider with a mule of some sort You got a mule

for the first one. Yeah, but I get a hard apple

cider with ground rail and I haven't really come

up with a good name for it, but It's one of my

favorite drinks there. And you know, it's a good

start and you know, this isn't gonna be like,

oh man We're both like, you know in our late

30s and we're going out like bros still still

drinking it up but it was a good start and we

took a good solid lap around and Actually, you

know I can I can go through the whole thing,

but I think that's I really kind of want to hear

your overall Impressions like were some things

you saw you liked and stuff like that there was

this one I guess you could call it knit hat which

kind of Spoke to me just a little bit, but in

the end I realized I would have no purpose for

it Unless they came up with a character for it.

You come up with characters all the time, so

I'm sure you could... Yes, I do. Yes, I do. There

wasn't anything specific I was looking for in

the shops. If anything spoke to me, it did. If

it didn't, it didn't. Most of it didn't. But

there were some neat things going on. As the

day progressed and we drank more and more, I...

I kept my composure. Don't get me wrong. I kept

my composure fine But I was getting lost as to

where exactly what alley we were down Because

they all kind of look the same. Oh Yeah, the

Chicago alleyways. Oh boy. Well, no, it's not

Chicago It's Renaissance. So the Renaissance

fair has this overall like giant loop But there's

a couple different alleys and depending on what

direction you take them from like I know it really

well But there's some some pretty cool little

avenues you can take there and you can get turned

around very very easily if you if you don't have

a frame of reference and especially after We

had a couple more mugs full of happy juice I

can kind of imagine that might be a little bit

wide ass was getting a little lost But we saw

a couple good shows I don't remember did we see

yeah, we saw Mooney. Do you remember like there's

Mooney and barely bounce? We saw all those shows.

Yeah, we Mooney the balance show the mud show

What else do we know brune we saw brune which

Is he's so we didn't see Mooney was brune that

we saw. Okay, I mix the two up Right Mooney was

the one with the balls in his mouth without context.

Yes, okay Yes, I only saw him from a distance

a couple of times. Yeah, I think maybe we watched

him for all ten minutes or so Yeah, we saw like

the best part of a show for about ten minutes

So I really wanted to try to record stuff where

there's so this was the crazy thing about the

whole whole weekend is I wanted to record stuff

to do something like a vlog like what I see a

couple other channels doing on YouTube and I

had this really grand picture in my head, but

The more we were hanging out the more I was just

like I kind of want to live in the moment I want

to be here and I felt like by trying to record

and You know does it be interesting your thoughts

on this because you were there for all of it

Like the more I was trying to record the more

I thought I was the more I felt like I was trying

to create an inauthentic experience What I saw

from you you mostly were shooting b -roll footage

Yeah, and I guess you were trying to come up,

basically trying to come up with a story out

of nothing? Kind of. I just felt like if I had

a camera in your face the whole time when we

were interacting, it just wouldn't have felt

as genuine. Right, because then I would notice

the camera's on me. It's, oh, I have to be on

right now. Yeah. So I have a question, since

you're talking about this. Ren faire about nothing.

Not that the Ren faire is about nothing, but

I'm making a specific reference here. Oh, boy.

Well, I'm actually going to make him the Elaine

of the group. So Jason's the Elaine, Dave's the

Newman. Who are the rest of the characters between

the three of us if I was there? This is one big

Seinfeld adventure at the rain My my friend Chris

when he showed up And I think Baskin kind of

agree with this. I think he kind of was the Kramer

Yeah, I could see that I don't have a huge experience

with Seinfeld, but what little I know Yeah, yeah,

I can see that he would have been the Kramer

I I think I would have a hard time kind of pegging

Who like I've always connected the most with

George, so I'll just say Das is Jerry I Don't

know which one that is no Jerry's the main Oh

Jerry yeah the puppy shirt Yeah, I should have,

uh, Steinfeld, who the bloody show was named

after. No, and now I really want to see Doss

and Dave have it out as Jerry and Newman. Oh,

I'll wear that puffy shirt. Don't get me wrong.

Don't get me starchy. I mean, you should have

seen him looking at some of the Renaissance Faire

shirts. He was thinking about it, but, you know.

My shirt from Thursday night was halfway there.

Yes, it was. But, you know, Mean I'll admit like

I had this grand vision of like hey, we're gonna

film this stuff You know we're gonna have like

this vlog sort of walk through like I see these

guys do online and and to be honest like I Just

maybe I'm not I gotta learn more about it I'm

not sure but like I had more fun, and I think

recording it like this and talking about it like

this is You know going to be a bit more I might

have to practice that a little bit more. I might

have to actually try that vlogging thing a little

bit differently. To be honest, I was actually

kind of hoping the schedules would have worked

out where my brother, the cinematographer, would

have maybe been in town because I'm sure he would

have jumped at the chance to just be a fly in

the wall the whole time. So let's... I mean,

we can always talk about... Like we can I can

we can always have him on another episode next

time he's in town You just have to let me know

so but anyway like my brother would Video record

Everything we did like he would have just been

our personal yeah Geographer the whole weekend

and would have would have captured everything

but Yeah, I mean I tried I have some b -roll

I can make a video out of a lot of the stuff

I have but You know the the volo antique mall

would have been an amazing place for us to record

Especially a lot of the comments and the stuff

we were saying would have been interesting I

don't hear us on top of all the squeaking of

the floor panels Oh, I think people would have

thought we were in the movie like 2012 with the

world coming to an end but But yeah, I mean Walking

around the Ren fair is a is a blast and it's

a lot of fun and somebody actually mentioned

to me that we would possibly had have been careful

because like the Ren fair Could claim rights

over the video footage so we might not have been

able to even use it in the first place That video

you sent me was that done by them or was that

someone else that was just somebody on tik -tok

I think Yeah, so You never know you just have

to be tricked really careful with these things

sometimes unfortunately But You know we ended

up saying I think just about Just shy of closing.

I don't think we stayed till the very end. We

were practically there until seven. Yeah, because

Chris wanted to climb the rock wall. Oh, we're

not going to talk about that. We're going to

we're going to avoid the rock wall. So what a

Johnson, folks. We we ended up getting to really

do like we did a lot like we had a very, very

full day. There was a lot of walking. We got

to take some good breaks out to the car to make

sure, you know, we didn't drop all of our money

on food and drinks inside. What would you say,

like, how would you rate it on Yelp? What's the

Yelp score? How does that work? I've never Yelped.

Forget about the Yelp score. Forget about the

damn Yelp score. Use the GCR Universal Rating

System, zero to five. Okay, I... I will give

it a solid 3 .5. I really enjoyed, so the guys

at the Mud Show were definitely a little crude.

Crude is not typically my sense of humors mostly,

but the way they carried themselves with it I

thought was really good. Okay. Okay, and just

for clarification, 3 .5 on the GCR and Universal

Rating System scale. Good. Issues are certainly

prevalent, but so are the successes. Typically,

there is one specific area of extraordinary achievement

or multitude of quality moments that make the

negative aspects relatively easy to accept. The

failures are not necessarily glaring and are

often a byproduct of design, though the difficulties

one encounters holds your enjoyment back from

reaching its fullest potential. Yes exactly Brune

I really liked He He was just tearing into everyone

left and right I'm sure had I been in my normal

attire. I would have been I mean we were front

and center I would have been a main target, but

I Think he he left most of those comments up

to the full full -blown goths that day so Just

to fill in a little bit about this guy broom

So Brune is about 6 '8", 6 '9". I've stood next

to him. I actually have a picture that I can

share of Das and I stand next to him. He's a

big boy. He is, Harry. He made you look tiny.

And that's not an easy feat to do, folks. No,

because I'm about 6 '1". So he has a show where

he's got just a couple of... I mean, they're

good tricks. He's a skilled dude. He uses a bowl

whip. He juggles. He has this really funny puppet

that... It was just you have to see it to understand

it and So he just has these kind of basic this

flow this outline of these tricks that he does

But he's an observational improvisation improvisation.

I shall wait help me out improvisational. Thank

you comic and so he goes through these different

tricks, but he's sort of riffing on the audience

and current events and Just right off the cuff

now. I he he does have a couple of jokes that

He might go back to a couple times But I mean

overall he's just got this great dry witty Thoughtful

sense of humor that I really appreciate and have

borrowed a lot actually in teaching because it

works really well not because I like making fun

of my students but to be quick on your feet to

be thoughtful and what you're saying is is something

that I think every teacher needs to have in their

back pocket. So Brun is really, really good.

Plus, I loved how he would accentuate a lot of

the punch lines with the whip. Oh, yeah. Oh,

I should see if I have any videos of him using

the whip. But he, you know, I really wish I just

had one of his full shows on, and he's in this

weird little stage where there's like a kid's

playground. right next to it, so he's telling

these very dirty, dark jokes and there's kids

just right next to him screaming and yelling

and just being a bunch of ridiculous individuals.

Paying no mind to the show, mind you. Yeah, not

even, the parents aren't even paying attention.

So afterwards, I think, didn't we have to, would

Minza again afterwards? Yes, we did. Yeah, and

I think we're just hydrated. Yes to get to get

some refills and some hydrate and to try to get

some of the daily intake to pass through a little

bit and After we left Woodman's, I think we hit

up Taco Bell and that was its own experience

and I really wanted to get you out to a tiki

bar because you said you really had never been

to one or not Right. Never I'd never been to

one And so there's a tiki bar that I've been

going to since I first met my wife that has amazing

drinks, but There were two issues when we were

there. It was very crowded It was very hard to

get drinks and there was nowhere to sit or even

stand Yeah, I remember you telling me how oh

you said you hadn't been there in like ten years

I think since almost when my wife and I got engaged.

So yeah, just shy of ten years But you weren't

prepared for how busy was either No, I was shocked

by how busy it was because every time I ever

been there always got a table always got a spot

at the bar or whatever it was I think there was

a party going on, but it was very busy, but Should

we talk about this guy's party? So it was this

guy's birthday party Technical difficulties,

let's move on shall we so DOS and Josh went to

a birthday party at a Ren fair was No, Tiki Bar.

Oh, the Tiki Bar. Oh boy. I'm having really,

really weird flashbacks to Legends of the Hidden

Temple for some odd reason. Yeah, I can understand

why. There was no Olmec, unfortunately. There

was a bartender with a toupee, but no Olmec.

Damn. So we get there, and much to our surprise,

the place is packed. And in the center of the

bar the tiki bar stuff is pretty small. There

is in the center there is clearly someone celebrating

their birthday. And it's one person with I can't

tell how many friends they have with them. And

eventually they bring out a cake and they start

singing happy birthday. And it became kind of

clear that this person did not have many people

with them. Everyone else at the bar was there

for other reasons so the two friends that this

person has with them starts singing happy birthday

and No one else chimes in I felt so bad. Oh was

I in the bathroom for that? I think it was you

might have been yeah Or were you too enamored

with the the virtual DJ? Lazy as DJ I have ever

witnessed and karaoke DJ of some sort I'm not

even sure It was bad. Yeah, I I don't even remember

how bad it was. But yeah, so I guess nobody was

singing for this guy and The drinks were good.

I think I don't remember you had a Mai Tai I

think yes, the drinks were very large Yeah, so

this so this was a the type of bar you go to

Not to finish your night, but to start your night.

So that's one of those things I learned about

it as I started going there more and more with

my wife than my girlfriend, that it's the first

bar you hit get your drinks going because they're

tiki drinks. They are three or four different

types of rum. They are poured well. They taste

good. You don't even know how much is in there

because they're so well poured. And then you

go off because Kenosha is known as the city that

has more bars per capita than any other city

in the United States. Don't get it. I don't think

I told you that fact us they didn't so It has

more bars than lower Manhattan has anything.

Yeah If it wasn't for a couple of the other factors

that we had in front of us that night I would

have actually suggested another location, but

I think we were done for the day. It was a long

day it was So that was the Saturday. What time

did y 'all wake up with hangovers on Sunday?

so That's you something pretty well if I remember

correctly Normally I get up early for work anyway,

but I definitely slept in a little more we were

debating if we wanted to do two days or just

one at the rent fair and I left it up to Das

because I Actually, I think the next weekend.

I was supposed to be working back -to -back days

anyway, so I was gonna be there again no matter

what but I think a combination of just a very,

very long day and you got some more sun than

I think you intended. Oh, God. And I. Das ain't

white. He's clear. Basically. Not not Sunday.

He was red. Yeah. OK. Well, at the end of Saturday

I was red. He was Crimson Guard red. Yes. I was

it was it was an incredibly cloudy day out. So

start with yes Now there have been times in the

past where I've been out in cloudy weather and

have gotten burnt. So I did ask if you had any

Sunscreen with you. So I sprayed my arms my legs.

I did not spray my face because I had sunglasses

and a hat on And also say that the sunblock I

had the spray stuff it it has like the same like

additives that like mosquito spray has so kind

of like It burns, it doesn't feel good, it doesn't

smell good. Not additives, like propellant, like

it uses the same thing. So it's not exactly the

most ideal thing to put on your face. Yeah, so

I wasn't about to spray my face with that stuff.

But I thought I was safe. And by the time we

left, either you or someone else that was talking

with us made a comment on how red I looked, and

then I went into the bathroom and got a glimpse,

and boy, howdy was I red. It was, yeah. And I'm

looking at pictures right now, and I'm pulling

up the videos, because we took a bunch of videos

when we tried to get into the costume contest.

No, we did. We definitely did. Oh, I'm saying

we tried, because that's just kind of... We did

it. Why the hell not? So yeah, there was a costume

contest there at the Run Fair, not the Tiki Bar,

just so we can rewind a little bit. We went entered

we each got a number I think it was like 50 51

52 or something like that And so we're walking

around like not really thinking much of it and

we're supposed to congregate in this sort of

courtyard area So everybody who has entered was

supposed to go there And then if you're a finalist

they were gonna tell you to come back to the

stage at the end of the day So we went down there

and you know, we're just basically dressed up

and I kind of wish we had a sign that said the

the church of or the latter -day Saints of Zach

Morris or whatever we decided to be. The thing

is they wouldn't let us go submit as a group.

Yeah, which is a little weird because they've

done groups in the past but because like how

would they judge any one of us or three of us?

Right, we're a package deal. So we kind of like

we're in there Talking to people and seeing what

other people are offering and there was a wide

variety of very high quality costumes I'm like

I kind of feel like we might have a tiny chance,

but we're not gonna go anywhere So, you know

we partook in that and then I think at that point

we're just like let's just go get Bloody Marys

and call it a day and So we got really good Bloody

Marys and I'm a little sad. Did you ever get

a pickle? Did you ever get the famous red fair

pickles? No, but I had a pickle in the Bloody

Mary. Okay, which is probably one of those, yeah.

But, you know, I wanted to go get a pickle. I

know you don't eat meat, but, you know, the beef

jerky there is really good to throw in the Bloody

Marys. But towards the end of the day, we went

down to one of the stations that I've worked

at called Vegetable Justice, and you pay basically,

so Mike, this is like the greatest carny gimmick

in the history of like carny gimmicks. So people

pay money, five dollars for five throws, ten

dollars for ten throws. You get a half of a tomato

and you throw it at a trained comedian. These

guys are touring comedians. They go to comedy

clubs and bars all in this area and all they

do is rip on the audience. They rip on the person

throwing. They rip on other people standing around.

They just lay into them. with some of the harshest

R -rated jokes all over here. And I've been,

I'm a huge fan of observational, improvisational,

I said it right there, humor. I'm not gonna try

it again. And these guys are just geniuses when

it comes to it. The one guy that I work for,

his name is Jeremy. He is so good at reading

people, both as not only a manager, but also

as a comedian. He's so good at just reading and

knowing what makes people tick and how to bring

out the best in them, but also to like, get them

angry and riled up so they drop more money. But

man, working this job and seeing what people

do, there are people who come in and they drop

30, 40, 50, 60 bucks just to throw tomatoes at

these guys. They get nothing out of it, there's

no prize. If you hit them square in the forehead

with a tomato, you don't get a shirt, you don't

get a fake tomato, you don't get anything. That

doesn't seem like it's very much fun for the

comedians or the people wanting to even throw

the things that the comedians or the things that

the comedians are saying. Well, as long as you

have a sense of humor. Okay, yeah, I'm not saying,

yeah, no, absolutely, but, you know, the whole

point behind, and this is just my experience

of behind the, here, you pay this money, you

get three tries to knock this off of this, or

you get... Now there's other games there where

you don't get right Yeah, yeah, and you know,

you can throw knives or you can throw a baseball

at a plate and stuff like that They have all

of those there. Yeah but it's it's sort of like

an experiential thing and They are so good The

other two guys are John and Marcos John is actually

I've been talking to him by getting him on the

show so we'll talk about that another time but

They're just so good at riling people up and

getting them to want to throw more. It's such

a skill. It's so crazy. But we went down and

did that. And I don't it was towards the end

of the day. So I don't know if I don't even remember

what he said. I don't we might have it. We might

have a recording. I need to check. Oh, I remember

what he said about me. I didn't think it was

accurate at all. And I mean, it was still funny.

He made some comment that he said, I look like

I punch holes in walls. Do I give off aggressive

dude vibes? No, that's more me than you, because

I have punched and kicked holes in walls before.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I've had anger issues

in the past, but I've long since exercised that.

Look, you know, it's one of those things where,

you know, I feel like I'm the Hulk at, you know,

at the point of 2012 where it's like the secret

is kept. I'm always angry. So yeah, it was a

very long, very, very epic day, I would say.

And the thing with the Ren Fair is you can do

a lot in one day, but you don't do everything.

You could go back the next day and have a completely

different experience. So that's one of the reasons

why we were discussing whether or not we wanted

to go back again, but Das, I think I remember

you saying the chafing. Oh yes, the chafing.

was pretty ultra deluxe and I think you said

your back was pretty shot. So to kind of shift

plans, luckily Gurney is not without its options.

So Sunday morning. Just head over to Six Flags.

No, I don't want to get beat up by people. No,

wait a second. I have to stop this whole train

because I have to ask you, Josh, because if you

didn't do this, you owe him a plane ticket for

him to come back. Did you take him to Gurney

Donuts? Okay. You asshole. Okay, so I do know

gurney donuts my wife and I had those donuts

delivered to our wedding so I'm very familiar

with it So we actually did not I think with the

exception of Driving him back to the airport.

We didn't go south of 137 where gurney donuts

is we didn't go south of 120 so Or no, we did

when we went to like bluff, but we they are they're

closed when we had trivia. So Sunday morning

I think I made made made Dawson omelet. I can't

remember her eggs or something. Mm -hmm and we

went to Gurney Mills, I think right Which one

was that? Gurney Mills, but you can't take are

you kidding me? Okay. Okay. Okay. So we went

to Gurney Mills and So Gurney Mills has a new

collectible toy shop called Happy Eight and we

checked that out for a bit. I think we were both

of the same consensus with that shop, Das. Yeah,

it had stuff but nothing really screamed out

to me. Some of it was kind of weirdly overpriced.

It was okay. They had a lot of statues, I remember.

Was that the other place, the collector's outpost?

There are a bunch of places we went to. The only

one that I remember by name is second and Charles.

Okay, that was cool. I've never been there. Tell

the people what it's like. I don't want to say

it's like a thrift store. They have new and used

things, but it's... tons of books, tons of movies,

tons of toys, tons of video games, tons of music.

They had a lot of vintage newer toys, musical

instruments. Now I've been to one in Delaware.

So I always assumed that that was the only one

there. And then we get to the small and I say,

oh my God, there's a second and Charles here.

Okay, let's go in. And we do now recently. My

target clearance spree. I've found a lot of the

66 Batman toys. Yeah now I did not have a Batman

and I need a Batman for my Batcave and Lo and

behold I came across one now. I did not pay a

clearance price for him, but I found him and

I bought him even some of those Slightly older

toys whether it was that Batman one, but they

also had some older figures that we found they

were all Reasonably place price close to retail

like they were all pretty decent It but they

also had some like vintage Ninja Turtles that

were priced at like eBay prices and stuff Yeah,

nothing nothing that I was like I've got to go

buy that but it was just really cool to see a

store that had that variety and in in Age and

everything so that was really cool, and I'm glad

you you pushed us to go stop in there. Yeah Boy,

then they also had the gash of the cash bomb

machines. Oh, yes, that was fun. That was a lot

of fun. So I What it wasn't taking cards so we

only had to put we could only put cash into it

and then I believe Most of the time that I tried

to stick dollar bills in there. It was spinning

them out So I was dead they had one one machine

that was dispensing something that I was interested

in They they they're little So the the capsule

piece itself looks like a takoyaki ball if you

don't know what that is. It's It's like a chunk

of it's a Japanese street food where it's like

a chunk of Octopus surrounded by like a battered

ball and then there's some dressing on the top.

I Love it It's an octopus donut. Basically. Yeah,

kind of or like an octopus Zeppeli. Yeah So the

the the presentation is pretty cool and then

inside it comes with a octopus themed ring now

I kind of got the silver one which wasn't all

that great, but Just you know it came with a

neat little ring. I much would have preferred

the the tentacle rings But I really love the

presentation that it came out it to however I

realized initially putting the money into it.

I put it in the wrong machine No, so I mean I

got a one -piece toy I like one piece but it's

not a character I recognize because I'm so behind

on that show So I I fed that thing more dollars

so I could get my my damn takoyaki ball It I

was kind of relishing in that for the rest of

the evening Yeah, I think I actually have a somewhere.

I think I have a picture of you in the background

like checking it out It was actually kind of

funny Or maybe I don't I don't know but so while

he's looking for pictures. I have to just say

something here say something Gurney doughnuts

and gurney mills are a six -minute drive From

each other okay wrong with you, so Das are you

a big doughnut fan I? Tried to avoid them when

I can okay, and he also mentioned he's not really

crazy about overly sweet stuff, so I never Understand

that ever goes to me. It's one of those like

look Das, these donuts are not just Dunkin' or

Krispy Kreme. No, they actually have a really

good, it's like a purple sweet potato. I can't

remember the name of it. Yeah, it's the Ube donut.

That's what it is. Yeah, Ube. And it's not even

about that. It's more so I like the Boston cream.

I just like how it's basically the best of just...

Look, I grew up in Massachusetts. We were, you

know, time to make the donuts all the time. I

have never had donuts this good since Duncan

until I, and I understand you're not a sweet

person. I'm not saying you have to buy a half

a dozen. That's very sweet. It's just, no, I'm

saying. So, so it's just, okay. So obviously

the donuts are a big miss. I'm sorry. I will

mail you one. Gurney Mills offered us some pretty

cool insight into what people do on a Sunday

morning at a mall. They walk. After that, I showed

him my local Gurney Target and Walmart adventures,

which I think was pretty standard, I guess. I

don't know. We didn't find anything. Did you

at least take him to Portillo's for lunch? Okay,

I'm going to take that silence by a no because...

Das is a pescatarian, so there's not a whole

lot there that would impress him. This part has

been edited. Ha ha ha, you'll never know what

was actually here. So we went back to my house

and we had been talking about trying to film,

just experiment with filming something. And the

big topic of what we wanted to film, I think...

Should we mention what we both drank? Um, aged

beverage. He's referring to the pink elephant

in the room. No, it's not pink at all. It's more

green. Oh, yes. You're, uh... You're, I guess

we could call it, a tempted ectocooler. So...

Oh, God. I was just gonna say that. Please don't

tell me it's an adult version of ectocooler.

Well, no. Uh, I don't think I made that for him,

but, um... So I actually do know how to make

a pretty good ectocooler cocktail. I'm not just

like a like in a mix with like vodka or something

like that like actually I have a couple recipes

that I know to make a decent Ecto cooler adult

cocktail but apparently the current recipe for

Ecto cooler at home that is about as close as

you can get is four parts Tempico citrus punch

to one part Minute made lemonade. That's the

that's the current View and I tried it and unfortunately

I Don't have any reference point to know how

close it was Das. What did you think? I It kind

of got there. I didn't think it was spot -on.

Yeah, there was less of a corn syrupy nature

to it Which you know in the long haul is it's

a good thing, but it didn't necessarily taste

Yeah, yeah, and so we tried that for a point

of comparison I think I just have to throw it

out there. We did open up a six -year -old can

of ecto cooler and We both tried it I'm surprised

they are both here on the podcast folks The the

evidence we've lived to tell the tale. Yes, so

we did I will say that it did not taste like

funky or gross. It just tasted like it lost a

lot of flavor. That's kind of what it came down

to. Took a few sips, played it safe, and then

disposed of it. So it actually came back. It

came back up through the drain. Kind of like

that scene out of Ghostbusters 2. I just want

to throw that out there. I had to play some very

positive music. and we made friends, and it went

back down the drain, and we're all good now.

Okay. So, we did try that. We filmed some stuff.

I just, I have to get the footage up somewhere,

so... Okay, stop. If you're not gonna release

this anytime soon, stop talking about it. You're

creating more work for me to edit all of that

out. Oh, you don't have to edit. That's fine.

So... Nope, now he's gotta go back and do it.

So, we kinda did that the rest of the day. We

just... We hung out in the basement, and then,

what did we do Sunday night? I don't remember

what was after that. The Ecto Cooler got to his

head, folks. Oh! Monday's the last day, so we

woke up Monday. Das's flight was right around

a little after lunchtime. So we decided to go

out to the Mitsuha Japanese supermarket that

is not far from the airport in Arlington Heights.

And this was something that I was kind of hoping

that we would actually make time to be able to

do because it is Probably the closest to a lot

of stuff that Das is interested in and I was

really glad we made it out there Das you want

to give your thoughts on the Mitsuwa supermarket?

Yeah, I've been to There are multi multitudes

of Asian grocery stores around here. However,

despite my best efforts I've never found eel

sauce before and I am a fan of eel sauce Lo and

behold we go into here And there is eel sauce.

So I snatched that up almost immediately. So

my day is already made. The whole trip was worth

it for him at that point. Absolutely. So we're

going around some things out. I know you're looking

for ramen. And we event. Well, I will say before

we started going to the grocery store, there

was a Cuno Cuneo mini bookstore attached to the

side, which we went into first. They had a lot

of Japanese manga and magazines and they had

some toys stationary chops keys things like that

They did have a I don't know six foot tall Gundam

rx -78 Model on display that was neat They had

some Kamen Rider belts for sale hi, they're the

expensive ones and They were charging basic basic

retail value for that so that was definitely

out of my price range plus i would be able to

fit that taking it home lo behold i came home

and bought one not the same one but i bought

another one. Luckily game stop has them for much

cheaper. I did wind up getting a a common writer.

Magazine book it was only like thirteen dollars

i don't want to spend a whole lot of money on.

Something that didn't have a ton of pictures

and it's neat. You know, it's inexpensive, but

we were making our way around the the grocery

store and We're getting closer and closer to

the checkout station and Then there's this guy

I forgot about this. How could you forget about

this guy? So it looked like he had just spoken

to someone and then confronts the two of us Saying

oh man, you know, I just saw like there there

are rats or something crawled around on the floor

You know, that's not safe though. Those things

carry disease. I just want to let you know and

You seem to engage him much better than I I would

I I wanted to be super dismissive of this guy

So I just kind of stared at him and nodded and

didn't say much you you were able to converse

with him a little better and then He seemingly

went on to the next person for him to complain

about. I was expecting the staff there to go

up to him and just escort him out of the building

at some point. Yeah, I don't know what that was

all about. I remember that now. I kind of completely

forgot about that moment. Being someone who's

had to deal with some pretty tense moments, both

the trivia and at school and stuff like that,

when somebody when I see that, I try to talk

to them in a very normal everyday tone of just.

Okay, let's just converse. Let's keep this at

this level because I don't want them to get more

triggered or for me to get triggered But that

was a little unusual. I I was actually Not shocked

that he saw mouse, but the place does look pretty

clean. It's not I've seen I've been in some very

very very very Very very I mentioned very dirty

supermarkets in the past You have to Like yeah,

I like I've seen fish tanks with rotting dead

fish floating on top. Okay Yes, so we went we

were going for lunch and Das grabbed I Think

you grabbed some sushi. I grabbed some udon soup

Which looked really good. Yeah, dude It was like

they have a whole food court there with about

eight different options that egg that you had

looked Oh my god. I I was ready to steal that

from you the Are you the the fried egg or like

yeah, oh, yeah, I mean I'm kind of I would have

been fine if you did I would just turn around

and grab another one there like a dollar piece

and So we got lunch there popped out and then

I think was right around that time We're trying

to figure out what to do because we're killing

time to his flight. He found his flight was delayed

and So we're just out in Schomburg like what

do we do like we were kind of timing things out

perfectly so We're trying to just find stuff

to do until his flight like so we were just driving

around We try to find a toy shop that doesn't

exist anymore. So that was an awkward drive out

to Addison, Illinois We were debating do we want

to go to Dave and Buster's which you know, who

knows if that would have been interesting or

not, but We went to a target we're just trying

to figure out like what to do and I think we

were gonna Go from target to target as we got

closer to the airport that might have worked

out But I think your aunt, at the end of the

day, she told you something about waivers or

something? Yeah, she was going on. She even admits

that she's a helicopter aunt. And she helped

facilitate a lot of this. And she was saying

something along the lines of, if you get there,

go to the airport now, even though you have about

two and a half hours before the flight leaves.

They're giving out waivers. In case you know

your flight gets canceled or what not and. She's

blowing up my phone with all this information

so I just. Decide to tell you hey you know let's

just head over to the airport all do what I can.

And you know I go there and. What I think what

you didn't see was that after you drop me off

I don't know if my luggage hit a bump but the

wheel of the I think the luggage is brand new

cracked. So I think the wheel has has an outer

coating and an inner coating So it was like a

big thick layer came off one of the wheels. So

it's gimping around as I'm rolling it along And

I'm trying to explain this whole Waiver thing

that my aunt was telling me to the woman that

was checking me in and You know, sometimes my

aunt just spouts bullshit and she overreacts

so I was expecting them to just kind of Shit

sorry. I love you. Sorry not nod their head at

me and kind of laugh like yeah Well, no, we don't

really do that, you know She she did everything

as she could and she explained what that was

for and I clearly did not need that waiver So

I I made my way to the wing I Waited two and

a half hours, which wasn't as bad as it seems.

I've had to wait longer for things Two and a

half hours in an airport if you've already got

a drink or if you've already gone to the bathroom

Or if you need to get a lunch or whatever as

soon as you do all that you sit there You fall

asleep until they call your flight, right? The

I eventually got on the plane everything took

off accordingly The only thing is that over the

past couple of years. I've clearly developed

an anxiety disorder now I've never really had

an issue being on a plane Until this time oh

no, I mean it wasn't debilitating But I was I

was kind of on edge a lot of the flight now luckily

the flight was just under two hours But every

little sound every little dip You had me quite.

Oh my god. What's that? What's that? What's happening?

What's happening? I need to know what's happening

at all points So I debated whether or not to

get a drink while they're handing them out I

eventually decided not to because Would just

have to have used my credit card and I didn't

want to use that so I just you know sucked it

up and dealt with it and made my way home So

I'm there with you I On the plane I Know he was

strapped to the side of it like Tom Cruise the

the anxiety of flying I remember I I didn't fly

a whole lot until I was pretty much out of college

I think one of the first flights I had was 2005

since I was a kid. So it was almost 10 years

between flights for me. So my anxiety for flying

was extremely high, but it's gotten better as

time has gone on. So Das, out of five stars on

the HGTV ranking scale, what would you give the

very unique, very diverse weekend? But there

was a lot of lot to take in a lot to do a lot

to experience you think I wouldn't rate it anything

lower than a five Yeah, all right cool cuz we

saw your Yelp review for the stay for our Airbnb

And I was kind of hoping it would be consistent

with that no mince on my pillows though I was

a little disappointed in that no, but there was

cat but yes, there was So as you can tell folks

this has been a very different toy cast than

normal Uh, this has been a weekend at burgers.

A weekend at burgers. Don't you see? Don't you

see? We just uncovered a two million dollar error.

We're gonna be heroes. We're going up the corporate

ladder. It appears as if somebody's trying to

defy the company. Somebody tried to smoke it

past the wrong guy. Very, very good work. How

would you two like to come to my house at the

beach? Love to! for Larry and Richard. How are

you? Hey! This is a place to die for. You have

to kill them, Vito. I'm a little rusty, but I'll

come back to me. What? Should we just walk in?

But what they don't realize No, we'll stand out

here all weekend. Come on, we're having fun.

is while they're checking in. Forget the accident

with the two guys. Take care of Lomax. Bernie

Lomax will be checking out. Oh my god! What kind

of a host invites you to his house for the weekend

and dies on you? I don't know. Lomax told whoever

he's talking to not to kill us if he's around,

right? Yeah, yeah, but Lomax is dead. He's not

around anybody anymore. I know that. You know

that. Nobody else knows that. It looks good enough,

let's go! Larry, what? Really? Hi, Bernie! Hey,

Bernie, just like last week, huh? Oh, Bernie,

you animal, you are insatiable. Doesn't anyone

realize he's dead? On the boat! Got it? On the

boat, boy! Vito, I'm telling you, Lomax is alive.

Maybe Paulie is rustier than we thought. Ooh,

Bernie, you're starting to peel. Gonna get you

out of the sun, huh? Richard, should I stop and

ask you? No! Just drive! Serpentine! You hear

something? Who is that? It's just Bernie! Are

we doing it again today? Oh, absolutely! You

know we are! Great. We'll see you later, guys.

Bye -bye! Bye -bye, ladies! We'll see you later!

So, is there anything else that y 'all wanna

say before I cut this off? I definitely went

home with a lot of little toys. Luckily they

were little so I could fit them into my luggage.

I mean, Das and I hadn't seen each other in person

for years at that point. Probably seven years.

Well, yeah, no, absolutely. I think it was pretty

awesome that... He was able to come out here

and we got to hang out and like we did more in

those five days and sometimes I do in three or

four weeks sometimes and We kind of developed

a nice little nice little pattern nice little

cadence together that You know, I usually only

get with friends who I hang out with on a regular

basis So does you know really appreciated you

coming out and hanging out so that like that

was pretty awesome that we we found a sink pretty

quickly Oh, yeah, I felt pretty comfortable around

you And there's always gonna be a jar of banana

moonshine waiting for you. Damn right, because

I can't find it near me. But I do need to come

out by you at some point, so we'll try to work

that out. Because I think you've got some stuff

to show me out by you. I think there's a lot

in Jersey I could show you. Yeah, there's a lot

of toys places out there. Yeah Just just out

of curiosity because this could make for another

good podcast. How far are you from the Jersey

Shore? Oh Yeah, he's about two hours from the

Jersey Shore. I only know this because and I'm

not stalking you I promise I remember when he

and I did episode 107 where he was talking about

going into New Jersey to see various toy shops

and whatever else at the time and Where else

did you go that weekend? I don't anyway, but

yeah, so yeah So it's been a long podcast. We've

been recording for quite some time. You guys

are an hour ahead of me. So I'm okay with bringing

this to a close, but hopefully we can do another

weekend and review at some point. I do have a

toy show coming up. That's going to be pretty

crazy. Cool. What toy show is that? Oh, another

King County. Oh, another King County. Okay. All

right. Cool. Cool. Cool. We are going to take

a quick ad break because I've got to pay for

this podcast somehow. I don't know how, but we're

going to take a quick ad break. I'll come back

to close the show after this. Like science fiction?

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America's favorite stiff is back. It's Bernie

Lomax. I recognize that smirk anywhere. But this

corpse has a job to do. I found this in Bernie's

wallet. It's a key to a safety deposit box in

St. Thomas. That's the two million bucks that

Lomax stole. It's noted as a personal entry.

What does it mean? The only one who could get

in is Bernie Lomax personally and, well, he's

kind of dead right now. We go back to the morgue.

We get the body. We go to St. Thomas. We take

Bernie to the bank. So they're packing him up.

I think I'm gonna sit down. Thanks. And heading

for the islands But they're about to discover

raise this man from the dead He will lead you

to where he has hidden the money that Bernie

Lomax is more popular than ever What are you

doing, Bernie? He's in the fridge, where we put

him. You are in the power to move. You were supposed

to be here guarding Bernie! Why would I have

to guard a dead man stuck in a two -foot revision

room? He's got style. What is he now? He's so

cute! He's got charm. How did you happen to meet

old Bert? In the conga line. He's just got no

soul. I just saw a dead man walking on the bottom

of the ocean. Uh -oh! But that never stopped

Bernie. Go! Bernie? Parasailor? Who is that?

He's our boss. He's dead. Don't worry about it.

From being the life of the party. He's not afraid

of you. You're the bravest guy I've ever met.

Weekend at Bernie's, too. No one does dead like

Bernie. Since 2009, we have been the premiere

cartoon podcast here at the Geekcast Radio Network.

We are Tooncast. From taking you beyond the cartoons

we grew up with to seasonal saucy toon talk,

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the GCRN crew as we give you all the Toon Talk

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Hello all sentient beings! Want the latest on

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Alright folks, we are back here on... Drunk?

Cast? Toy? Cast? I don't know what to call this

weekend at Burger's. Floor cast? Well, yeah,

floor cast. There you go. Uh, DOS, where can

the people find you online? Wherever greater

doses are found Facebook Instagram, but those

are my main two but it's not anymore Oh, I'm

sorry about that Okay, ooh Okay, never mind yeah

Facebook Instagram a period DOS Baron awesome

awesome What about you, Floorburger? You can

find me and all my dumb comments out to the world

at Floorburger553 on the Twitters. I do have

an Instagram, but it is quite private. He doesn't

do anything interesting related to toys on there,

folks. Trust me, it's very boring. So thank you

for joining us here on Toycast. If you'd like

to get in contact with us, really feedback for

the show. There are several ways to do so. Visit

the website, geekcastradio .com, where you can

listen to and comment on all of our content.

Send any email to feedback at geekcastradio .com.

Please don't send us hate mail for this episode.

It was their trip and that's what they did. No,

they can send it to me. That's fine. I'll take

it. You can listen to us on any podcasting client

you choose to use, Spotify, Apple, Google, whatever

you prefer. Follow us on Twitter at geek cast

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show I am at TF 2 and Mike become a fan on Facebook

go to facebook .com slash geek cast for your

network also search out TF toy cast over there

as well as joining the toy world order fans group

over there as well next time on toy cast Josh

and I are gonna have a much more Streamlined

display case as we celebrate 40 years of night,

right? Oh god, I am so old Oh yes, 40 years of

Knight Rider, so we will be doing a display case

on that next time here on Toycast. For now, I

am TF2 and Mike with... And I'm Sparrow. Josh

the Floorburger. Join us next time when we'll

be talking more toys, especially next time, here

on Toycast. Click. Now your cat's acting up great.

Well, he's on my lap and the microphone just

landed over onto him. Which cat is this? This

is Figgs. Figaro. Ever since we got the new kitten,

he's been a little lumpy with me. Is he the one

that I did not see? No, no. You saw him. He was

the one that was like a snarly little fluffy

beast. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's see. That's

a whole nother episode is just talking about

the craziness that's my cat's. Well, all I can

say is...