ToyCast
Toy Collecting Origins and Funko Pop Philosophy with BeardofPOP
About this Episode
This is barbecue and you are listening to Cobra
cast jazz here And I am so digging the geek cast
radio network greetings humans This is Starscream
and you're listening to toy cast Toycast oh yes
Listen to the only toy podcast you will ever
need Hello and welcome to an all -new generation
of Toycast as we get the origins of a and all
toy fans that we can I am of course TF2 and Mike
today's featured guest is someone I've found
from Funko Pop YouTube channels, I guess. I think
I actually found him through watching Tristan,
AKA Top Pops, not that I want to drop any names
or anything, but it is none other than the beard
of Pop himself. Hi, Adam. How are you? I'm doing
well. How are you doing, sir? I'm doing OK -ish,
I guess, but it is good to talk to you. And yeah.
Uh, it's going to be fun talking about this.
We have 42 questions all about toy collecting.
However, I will warn people that this is also
going to be another Funko -filled episode because
Adam is all about the Funko. Yeah, I'm all about
the Funko. And at some point, somewhere in here,
I know you'll appreciate this, but, uh, and I'm
going to have to put it right here because I
can't do the impression so well. What is or was
the first toy you remember having as a kid? First
toy I remember having as a kid was a, I actually
still have him, his name's Ziggy and he's a rubber
elephant wearing overalls. Oh, wow. Yes, I think
I was, it was, it was like. three that I have
from my youth that I kept, but the main one was
called Ziggy and was a little rubber elephant.
Very cool, very cool. Was there a particular
adult who was supportive of you playing with
toys as a kid? Was there anyone who was unsupportive?
There was never anybody who was unsupportive.
There was always, you know... Do my chores and
do good in school for the week. And then on Saturday
mornings, we'd go to a Toys R Us. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. Being originally from Massachusetts, we
had a specific toy chain up there called Child
World. Yeah. And they were all obviously Toys
R Us blew them out of the water because they
went out of business. But it was always like,
which one do you want to go to? Like, I don't
know. Because yes, we all wanted to be Toys R
Us kids, but sometimes Toys R Us's back then
were just, I don't know, they were, they were
a little overkill, I think. Sometimes, you know,
kid brains can only take so much. That's really
all we had when I was growing up was Toys R Us.
I think maybe KB and the toy store. I don't really
remember the local stores, you know? Yeah. KB
and Toys R Us. Yeah. See, that's the thing. Toys
R Us became a thing. KB became a thing. And then
all other, any independent type, you know, whatever
local, whatever went out the window because you
had the two toy giants fighting over, you know,
all the kids going into whichever store they
were going into. And selling the same toys. Pretty
much. Yeah. I mean, you know. Both had the same,
it always kills me someday. It kills me even
now. It doesn't matter what, like there's a Toys
R Us on this corner on the very opposite corner
of the exact same street. There's a KB Toys or
when two gas, two of the same gas stations are
on opposite sides of the street of each other.
I'm like, it's why are you different if like,
you know, shell and whatever, you know, To be
peer. Oh, no, no, no, no. I'll do you one better
than that here in Louisville on Bardstown Road
we have well in Kentucky we have a relevant chain
of Gap patients called Thorntons, right? So on
Bardstown Road, we have two Thorntons across
the street from each other To to just I mean
right legitimately exactly across the street
from each other to Thornton They do that a lot
in Louisville. 33 -01 Bardstown Road, if I remember
right. Something like that. It's right there
at Bardstown and Goldsmith. It used to be my
old stomping ground. The funny thing is, and
this is completely separate from toys, folks,
I know this is boring for people wanting, why
aren't they talking about toys? It's because
he lives in Louisville and I lived in Louisville
for 25 years. Funny thing is, I worked at the
one by the Dairy Queen. Back in 98? Yeah. At
three in the morning, we had to shut down because
Toy Tiger closed and everybody came over to the
Thorntons and I'm like, oh my God. Like 60 people
were outside just wanting to come in for slurpees
or whatever the hell. After they'd, you know,
been at the nightclub all night. How long has
it been since you've been here? I left in 2017.
So they had just stuff they had just I think
the one by the Dairy Queen is now like their
storage unit or something the one by the Dairy
Queen is now a a Western Union money -gram place
And a and a and a check cashing place right next
door to that Next door on the same side of the
street. They built a new Thornton's And then
you know where the toy tiger was is now Thornton's.
Is now Thornton's too, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's
crazy. It's insane. All right. It is absolutely
insane. Okay, back to the toys. Yeah, back to
toys everybody. Sorry, sorry. You know, digressions.
I've been podcasting for 14 years. If you people
don't know, we go on tirades around here. All
right. What types of toys were your favorites
to play with? My favorite types. of toys, honestly,
where I was big G .I. Joe and Hot Wheels. I mean
that I collected everything, you know, I did
Ninja Turtles and stuff like that. But mainly
me and my friends would be younger years were
playing Hot Wheels. But then as we started getting
a little older into elementary school, we'd be
down in our basements, you know, hanging up G
.I. Joe planes and. making guys parachute and
playing with GI Joe. I mean, that was pretty
much my youth was GI Joe. Absolutely. So including
GI Joe, what were the other ones that really
stood out more than most? I would say Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles. Okay. Cool. Cool. Do you
have a favorite turtle? Michelangelo. Everybody
gotta love that party, dude. Do you prefer the
label of action figures, dolls, toys, or other
labels? Because let's face it, any time any of
our family members get around us when we were
playing with toys in the 80s and 90s, why are
you going to play with those dolls? I remember
my grandmother always, I'm like, they're not
dolls. Yeah, I don't I don't like the term dolls
but none of the other terms offend me You know
some people get offended when you call them toys
and they're like no they're collectibles and
I'm like You know It's a fine line between that
I understand that they make some toys as collectibles
But at the bottom line of it when I go over my
buddy I friend Mike and I've been friends with
him since high school almost like 25 years now
and he has some little girls and I'll go over
there and I'll bring over a box of some common
Funko sodas that I know fit kind of their genre
of what they like and you know they take them
out of the can they could care less about the
can and they play with the toys yeah and they
do the same with the pop so I'm not usually offended
by anything but I would I would You know when
I first started YouTube which didn't jump too
far ahead That's what some of my family or some
people that didn't know what the collectibles
or toys were would be like Oh, so you do a channel
about little toy little plastic toys And that
kind of aggravated me a little bit because I
was like, you know, you're kind of degrading
them a little bit I think yeah, I mean, it's
just I mean nobody really likes labels anyway,
but There are all these terms that we use and
that others use to describe what it is and I
think you know toys overall is the You know generally
accepted term because they come in a package,
you open the package, you look at the figure,
you take pictures of the figure, if they come
in an actual package where you can put it back
in the box and leave it in the box, that's fine,
but if they come in those creepy cans and you
can't see the figure, then what the hell's the
point of the - sorry, I - I - we'll get into
that down the line, folks. Not - not trying to
spread hate on here or anything like that, but,
yeah, I don't get it. Anyway. Good guys or bad
guys, which toys were your favorites to play
with the most? Bad guys. You like that Baroness
and Cobra commander, huh? Yeah, yeah, Destro.
Yeah. All the I just I always hovered towards
the bad guys storyline. Who's your who's more
of your favorite shredder or crying? I would
say shredder. Yeah. Because crying unless he's
controlling a big giant You know robot body heat.
He's just a squishy brain He's more massive.
He's more high no pun intended, but like the
mastermind. Yeah What is or was your favorite
toy vehicle or playset? toy vehicle or playset
Oh Man trying to remember the name was it What
was the name of the giant GI Joe it was like
the black hawk I think it was the black hawk
or the flag Flag was the ship right? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, I'm talking about the giant plane The one
that when I was a kid the black bird maybe I'm
gonna look I'm gonna I'm actually looking at
a lot I'm looking it up because I don't remember
the name of it the Cobra Night Raven that's yep
That one is the one that I like because when
I was a kid right and you'd go you'd go to Toys
R Us and you go to the GI Joe aisle, right? I'd
either have where you know, I'd tell my dad I
wanted to save my money for the whole month Yep,
and then I'd go get like one big toy or there'd
be a couple GI Joe's that came out that I really
wanted right? Yeah, and I just remember that
with with the night Raven that it was like Four
weeks of saving up because I think at that time
it was like a forty five dollar fifty dollar
toy yep and you know when you're when you're
like eight or nine years old fifty dollars is
all the money in the world. Yes. All the money
in the world and, you know, 50 times of taking
the trash out at a dollar a piece. Exactly. Exactly.
And then, and then, and then resisting the temptation
to use any of that money during the week. Exactly.
Yeah. Yeah. You basically have to take, Oh God,
it's God. It, that, that hurts me. If we go by
the math, I just add a dollar. per time taking
the trash out. The trash only goes out once a
week. That's a whole year. Oh God, my head hurts
now. I know you'd think about it back then. You'd
be like, oh my God. Yeah. I'm looking at this
thing and wow. Dang. This was one of those vehicles
that you almost thought it could split into two.
Yeah, so I'm looking at a top -down image of
this thing and it has you know The front side
with the canopy in the front wheel and then in
my childhood brain I'm like, oh it splits in
half and becomes two things the front wheel goes
with the front side and the rest of the back
No, it doesn't work that way kid. Oh No, no,
and it had the extra little the extra vehicle
with it and something that toy That toys used
to do back in the day was remember it shot rocket.
Yep And that was just the funnest part of it.
Oh, absolutely. Anything that shot missiles or
rockets or whatever, just, you know, I can hear
the old man and ma right now. You'll shoot your
eye out, kid. Well, isn't that the point? The
only thing I don't like about this toy, just
looking at the pictures of it, is there's only
one... On the left side of it, there's only one
rudder. There's no matching rudder on the opposite
side. And maybe this toy is incomplete. I don't
know the pictures that I'm looking at, but but
yeah, that's the only thing I don't like about
it. Let me see if maybe the one you're looking
at is incomplete because maybe the normal one
they have the two rudders on the back. OK, let
me look. Oh, yeah, it's incomplete. OK, I'm looking
at the box right now. I was like, oh, God, don't.
Heaven forbid I say anything incorrect on a podcast.
I've been doing this for 14 years. You'd think
I'd know better. But yeah, no, that thing is
awesome. That thing looks super cool. Trust me,
man. I get, I get people in the comments explaining
to me how I should be opening things rather than
the way I open things. Like I'm just opening
it. I don't under like, so I had back in episode
154 of the show, cause this will be episode 160.
I had Sully, former Funco guy, former Funco marketing
guy on and you know, he's talking about opening
this and opening that and everything else. And
it's great. I love talking to the guy. He's an
awesome dude. I love watching the streams and
all that. But man, some of these hardcore Funco,
but like you got to open it from the bottom.
You got to do this. You got to use this size
knife. That's I'm like, give me a break. If there's
a flap at the top and there's no tape, isn't
that how you're supposed to open it? Like I Got
I got this I got this car the reason I brought
it up was because it was just so relevant because
you know on my Monday video I did some unboxings
of B23 like Funko sodas and the Baymax three
liter and I legitimately I went to pull it up
so I could quote this I got the comment Hey bud
cool tip for when you open the three liter sodas
Put the bottle to the camera and pull it out
slowly from the feet up. It makes it much more
exciting. Thank you. That's legit. I'm like,
I told Carrie, I said, I don't, I don't really
know how to comment to that. I said, uh, thanks
for the info. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, first, let
me check this person's profile and then let me
either block or what it's like, Oh God, some
of the, yeah, it's. YouTube commenters are crazy.
It's funny because you get people who never make
comments and then they do make comments. Yeah.
Yeah. And, you know, and it's like, you never
remember making comments, but they're like, you
know, I never make comments, but this was so
I was so passionate about this fact of how you're
opening these three leaders that I just had to
take time out of my day. Yeah and yeah i mean
normally if i comment on like i'll give every
video that i watch a like as long as nothing
in the vid and normally the stuff that i have
curated my youtube content watching to the point
of. I'm probably gonna give every video i watch
a like because i'm not watching things that i
don't like why would i do that that's just a
waste of time. Exactly, you know, so but normally
I don't comment and when I do comment I might
write something snarky or something but I might
you know, usually at the end of it I'm like Excellent
job. Keep up the good work or you know, whatever
that kind of thing or I really enjoyed, you know,
it's like We're all here to have fun. We're all
here to you know Just yeah, the only thing with
the three liters for me it's like oh My god,
it's like opening a medicine bottle like push
down and turn like really I know it's a pull
it's a grab and pull kind of thing but like it
just feels like once you rip that paper it's
like wow I don't know what the three liters man
I just I don't I got a couple you know it you
know it's just I'm getting sucked in by a few
of them but they're just so big and they so much
storage and it's just more things to spend money
on I just it's Yeah, this crazy Did you and your
friends ever pretend with your toys that you
had by this? I mean, did you say I'm gonna be
this toy and you can be that toy like Adam You
can be the the Coke bottle top and I'll be the
piece of glass or whatever kind of thing I mean,
we'd do G .I. Joe and then we'd have some good
guys versus bad guys, you know? Yeah. Or things
like that. But, you know, I guess with Hot Wheels,
when we were playing Hot Wheels outside, we'd
always be like, you know, I'd be that 57 Chevy
with the flames on it that the hood opened up.
And my buddy would be the Camaro. So, you know,
we'd pick out those and we'd play with the Hot
Wheels. Like, this is my Hot Wheel. This is who
I am today, you know? Yep. Absolutely. What features
define a good toy to you? How true does the item
feel in comparison to the source material likeness?
Okay, so I could love something like WWE like
I do and WWE figures and sometimes you go look
at some of the figures the wrestling figures
of the WWE figures or even some of the newer
G .I. Joe figures and they just don't have that
nostalgia kick because they don't look the same.
And even though I'm so into the fandom and especially
like the toys that are takes on other toys So
like, you know, the weird -looking the weird
-looking GI Joe ones are the weird -looking Simpsons
ones that are made by kid robot or the odd Rick
and Morty ones that don't You know like a Funko
pop Funko pop back in the day didn't look exactly
like the character It was just a silly little
four inch figure with big black eyes and that
was the allure of it now you would say that a
Funko pop would more be like a Giant head action
figure because of all the detail they put into
them the different weapons and the outsets and
the layers of colors and things like that So
I liked Funko pops because of that take but at
the same time you look at some of the kid robot
or Pop Mart toys and things like that. And they're
such weird takes on the figures that I just don't
enjoy them. Interesting. What does toy packaging
have to have to draw you in? So you're going
into this, I'm just going to say the store because
there really aren't toy stores anymore, folks.
I mean, yes, there are local, you know, mom and
pop type, you know, small business people that
do stuff, but You know, Funco and Hasbro and
Mattel and everybody's all in the big box stores.
So when you go into the toy section at whichever
store you go into, what's the one part of toy
packaging that just is like, oh, I need this?
Hmm. That's a really good question. I don't know,
because, you know, I go, because, you know, if
I go to the, if I go to say, you know, nowadays
you just consider Walmart a toy store or Target.
When I go to Target, it's not necessarily that
I'm walking around every aisle looking at the
toys. It's more that I'm going to the section
where the WWE figures are, going to the section
where the legends figures are. And it's more
who it is. What about that packaging do you like
the most is it the way the bubble is is it the
way the art is on the packaging is it the way
it's actually packaged because like i've already
said there are certain things and you know this
everybody else listen to the sound of my voice
knows this there are certain things you can and
cannot put back in the package once you vote
like You open an old mask toy, you're never getting
that back in the package unless you have some
sort of super glue fuming technique that you
use kind of thing. Then you know, like, I mean,
I like, I'd rather buy a WWE elite figure than
the regular WWE figure because of all the different
accessories and stuff that comes with and how
they're displayed in the box. It makes a nicer
display. If I buy the Hulk Hogan elite figure
that comes with the boas and the three different
hands and the two different heads and the different
belt versus just the Hulk Hogan figure. If I
would just buy the Hulk Hogan figure that had
nothing with it, I wouldn't care about the packaging
because I'd rip it open and throw it away and
then display the toy. If I buy an elite figure,
I'm less likely to open it, but when I have opened
them, they're not very difficult to pack back
up and put in the box. That's good. Awesome.
Awesome. So you've kind of already answered it
question 11 But do you open your toys or do you
leave them packaged if you keep toys packaged?
Do you have any specific criteria for that? Like
you're saying about the WWE figures normally
you open those but when you do Leave stuff packaged
what what qualifies to leave something packaged
for you? I guess I guess More honestly the reason
I leave things packaged more than not is because
it's easier to store and display when they're
packaged versus unpackaged So sometimes, you
know, you'll buy a wrestling figure or a Funko
pop and you'll leave them in the package or sometimes
I'll go out and I'll buy one because you know
I'm setting up a new display behind me and I'm
like, you know what? I really need some out -of
-box GI Joe figures. Yeah to make to make some
Funko pop. So I'm going to go over and buy some
of those or sometimes the decisions made for
me because I'll open the package somebody sent
me and they'll send me say a rowdy rowdy Piper
figure. And I already have that figure. And I'm
like, but that would look really sick on my display.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So if as a kid or an
adult you were only allowed to choose one toy
franchise to collect from which would it be and
why? Now is that? Toy franchise transformers
gi Joe W no no no no I know that I just mean
like as a as a kid and an adult at the same time
Yeah, either one either or yeah, I would I would
say GI Joe and WWE is an adult yeah Very cool,
very cool. As an adult, do you prefer vintage
toys or modern toys? Vintage. Interesting. Yeah,
there's just something about some of the vintage
stuff. I mean, the modern stuff is great, but
it just depends on the brand and the line and
all that stuff. What is one toy you can always
play with? One toy I can always play with. I'm
trying to think of like like what what would
You get me all on this? One toy I could always
play with I mean, you know, what's the definition
of playing with like organizing I mean like I
mean as an adult what's the one thing that Brings
you back to your childhood that you would always
want to play with that toy I'm not I'm not sitting
here saying that you know we're gonna all be
you know hunkered down in our You know like Darth
Darth helmet style But like what's the one toy
out of all the toys in the world that you've
had over the years? that you feel Has the most
play value for you Would honestly say the Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles The original action figures
yeah, the original four yeah, those are so great
mm -hmm those toys man And all the little weapons
and yep all the stuff. They don't give you nowadays
Yeah, that's something that's changed Those four
turtles splinter shredder even crying even the
little robot version of crying bebop and rocksteady
Even the foot soldiers they all came with these
weapon packs and now it's like oh you want a
weapons pack You got to spend an extra 60 bucks
That's the toy company's version of DLC content.
Like, oh, you want the extras? You get to pay
for the extras. Yeah, there you go. Even though
there are always toy lines that people never
purchase, are there any that you specifically
avoid? This can be toy lines, characters, that
kind of thing. What aren't you into? I'm not
into horror. OK. At all, like any kind of horror.
There is some horror movies. I do enjoy but I'm
just not into that genre. Yeah Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, you know if we all I say this in every
episode if we all like the same things the world
is boring right Exactly Are there any toys in
the past or currently that you wish you had not
bought them? Are there any toys that you may
have had sold that you regret letting go? Well,
I definitely regret buying some hot toys that
I've bought over the past few years Because honestly
They're not as cool as you think they're going
to be They're difficult to display and they're
super overpriced and when you actually try to
resell them Just like with a lot of things. You're
not getting anything close to what you made.
Yeah. Yeah I probably regret those because they're
not as fun as everything else. Yeah, I I'm per
like toys that I don't collect like I'm perfectly
fine watching a YouTube video with somebody that
has it or seeing a Photo set of somebody like
that hot toys batmobile as awesome as it is.
Oh God That thing is so sick, you know the dude
the hobby shop I'm you mute me says over here
by my house. Just got one. Oh, wow. It's so sick
Yeah, it is just awesome. But it's like, I don't
know what I do with it and cost like a thousand
dollars. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Cause now that
it's not, I don't think they're producing. It's
been out of production for years now. I remember
when they announced that thing, it was like,
everybody went quite literally bat shit crazy
for that. Rightfully so I did too, but I'm like,
I, That thing is like buying. It's not like buying
a real 89 Batmobile, but it's the closest thing
we could ever come to. Yeah, they have, I mean,
they over at this shop, they have like, there's
three or four different Batmobiles. They have
like the 89 and then one of the newer ones. And
you know, they're huge. They're probably like
eighth scale, maybe a little bit bigger than
that. Wow. They're so cool, but they're just,
you know, it's like. My god, that's so much money
and what would I ever do with that? Yeah, exactly.
Yeah That's like the the has lab unicorn like
where am I gonna put that? Talk about hanging
things from the ceiling like anything. Yeah Just
leave them in planet mode. It's okay. You you
know People cool. That's my problem. That's my
problem with Legos man. I buy all these Lego
sets and my intent is to build them I don't really
care about getting worse something but I'm like,
where do I put this thing? Yeah Lego I I Never
got into building Lego sets because like did
I have Lego sets? Yes, absolutely But for me,
it's one of those I'm one of those people that
if you put a choice in front of me and I pick
one thing I'm going to slake for me, like with
you. G .I. Joe is your thing. That's great. I
like the original 80s cartoon. I like all the
voice acting. I like all that stuff. And I like
the figures. I like the characters. I don't dislike
the characters at all. But like, I was placed
with a choice, Transformers or G .I. Joe. And
I was like, okay, I'm gonna go down with the
robots. I'm gonna go out with the robot evolution
kind of thing. And yeah, I mean, for me with
Legos, it was like, you could do all this stuff
with Legos and then over on the others, like,
look what you can do with Lincoln Logs. You can
build your own log cabin. And I'm like, okay,
I'd like to have a log cabin one of these days.
Oh boy. Let's see, where are we here? How large
or small is your toy collection? Do your toys
take up the whole house or are they relegated
to one room shelf or something like that? I would
say that to be 100 % honest with the exception
of the bathrooms and the laundry room, my toy
collection is somewhat Taken is in every room
of the entire house And how does Carrie feel?
She She's indifferent to some of it. I mean she
you know, like in the living room I have all
the 18 inch Funko pops and she really likes those
Funko pops and I have a bookshelf with like a
bunch of back -to -the -future stuff and a bunch
of the I collect something I don't share too
often because I can't share everything and people
watch me for Funko Pops, right? Because I collect
Monopoly games. So I have a big collection of
different Monopoly games. And so I have those
in there and she's she's fine with it. She's
just, you know, she has hers and I had my stuff
that she likes and she likes her purses. So she
has a room for that. But. Right, you know, she.
She really complains about it. You know, she
actually likes it and even jokes about it, because
like on top of my stove, I have all those little
Funko food products, as I'll call them, you know?
Yep. Yep. The food, food mascots and things like
that. Yeah. It's like a game. Yeah, exactly.
Like, you know, you can put all the... whatever
it is, whether it's pop or whatever, like, you
know, as long as it's an ad icon, that's a like,
you know, the cereal mascots or the this man,
you know, you can put toasty the McToaster for
pop charts in your kitchen. Like, you know, it's
a display thing and it's, it's, it's fun and
it's interesting. Yeah. And I took it like, I
have liked it when we had our kitchen remodeled
a few years back, I took a little, uh, the child
pop, um, out of the box. And I put them on top
of the cabinet next to a BB -8. And I just left
them there. And about three weeks later, Carrie's
like, when the child appear up there? I just
think things like that. Or she's like, when did
we get the spam can? I noticed it on the stove
when I was making breakfast. I just pop them
in there and don't tell her. So it's kind of
a game. It's pretty funny. Yeah, absolutely.
Surprises me a couple of times because I've watched,
uh, you know, these, these home selling shows
on HGTV for years, but nowadays it's like, I'll
see a, you know, a house hunters or whatever.
And there'll be like, you know, three or four
pops up on a shelf in a kitchen. I'm like, Oh,
great. That's awesome. You have no, I know you
always catch that, you know, the Funko pop back
there. Everybody's got one. Exactly. Not just
us geeks, but they're for everybody. How do you
keep track of your collection or do you? I'm
not as good as it good at it as I should be but
the mainly mainly the things that I intend to
keep As far as because like none of my collection
is exceeded like Being able to be in my head
other than Funko pops, right? This Funko pops
are so all -consuming that There's so many and
considering the almost four years now, I've been
doing them on YouTube. It's hard to keep track
of them. So I have like different levels, right?
If it's a Rick and Morty pop, I'm going to keep
it. I'm going to put it into the Funko app and
keep track of my Rick and Morty, my WWE, my GI
Joe, my Freddy Funkos, and then my Pops Rocks,
my sports and my basketball. Anything else other
than that is kind of fair game. And I don't really
keep track of it because it's nothing I collect
and then that stuff goes in bins and eventually
I sell it or trade it. And I have a pretty good,
my memory for things is pretty good. I can read
fairly quickly and retain the majority of the
information. So I can remember like, you know,
I might not be 100 % sure, but when somebody's
like, hey, you have blah, blah, blah, like, oh,
somebody asked me if I had, what was it? Geralt
from The Witcher, which isn't something that
I would keep, but I was like, I think I have
some of them. And I pretty much knew where they
were. So, you know, most of the time I throw
things in the Funko app. I just value of things.
Yeah. Isn't necessarily something that I collect
behind. So it's, you know, I just, I don't, you
know, I don't, I don't want to get ahead of like
conversations and questions. No, no, no. Yeah,
no. I mean, we're going to get into the whole
Funko thing here in a bit, but it just, yeah.
I mean, I, I, so this will air much later, but
this will air sometime in November, actually.
But we, as of this recording, we're just coming
off of New York Comic -Con and you have all these
people that are like, one of the other people
I've followed, Dr. Applesauce, he was doing,
he's doing all this thing of, you know, in his
ultimate positivity messages, do not get sucked
in by FOMO, the fear of missing out. showing
all these listings on eBay for these Fright Night
boxes at like $400 and this 100 and then he's
showing the next day, look, it went down to 250
and I'm like, oh my God, who the hell would pay
any, any convention. Look, I understand a lot
of the older stuff, a lot of the older convention
stuff for collectibles, deservedly so because
Funko and any other company is probably not producing
those anymore. I understand those have value,
but some of these people that just pay. Like
I don't understand it, but we'll we'll get to
all that So everybody is safe. You carry any
pets any whatever every Human is safe, but the
house is on fire. You can only keep one toy from
your entire collection. What would it be and
why One choice my entire collection and why I
would probably I have the OG Iron Man 01, the
one that's actually worth a few bucks before
they made 100 ,000 reprints of it. Right, right.
And it was the first pop I ever got so if I could
save one toy it would probably be that. Very
cool, very cool. Alright folks, that's the first
20 questions down. Now we got a few more, but
right now we're gonna go to a quick ad break
and we will come back with the rest after this.
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yourselves. All right, we are back and Okay,
so we asked you all about the one toy you'd keep
but here's the toy box challenge you get one
18 by 18 by 18 box the only toys you can keep
have to fit in the box. What can you pack into
it? Quite a bit of GI Joe's and out -of -box
Funko pops Yeah, they would have to be out of
box like no that yeah the boxes screw the boxes.
I just want the figures now You know if that
was if that was my choice like that I'd be like
yeah screw all the boxes. I just want the pops.
Yep All right. Well, we've alluded to it folks.
And this is the reason why question 22 is this
Are you a Funko fan? Yes, I am a Funko fan What
got you started on the Funko train? You mentioned
the Iron Man earlier, but how did you find Funko?
Honestly, it was just You know that at work you
you get your lunch break and there's a mall by
the work By my work and I'd always go over there
and grab some all Chinese or something and wander
around the mall for half an hour pop into the
different stores and I remember one day specifically
it was I went to Jefferson mall and I was wandering
around and FYE and you know FYE has every bit
of nostalgia yeah and I they had the little table
set up with Iron Man stuff I saw that little
Iron Man dude with the Little buggy eyes and
I was like, that's cool. That's cool And I remember
like it was yesterday that I was walking out
of the mall and I had my Chinese food I had my
drink and I had that bag from FYE and I said,
you know before I leave the mall Let me go ahead
and open this this punk this toy up and throw
the box in the bag and stuff away and Throw them
in the bag with my lunch so I can put them on
my desk kind of inconspicuously when I get back
to work Very cool, very cool. So is pop your
main thing, or have you migrated to the soda
stupidity? Yeah, I fell into the soda stupidity,
but Funko is still... Well, the soda thing got
out of control, and at first it was cool, and
honestly, out of the... You know, there's so
many different Funko pop channels and toy channels,
but I was one of the early adopters of the Funko
sodas to show them off because everybody was
like, you know, oh, no, no, no, we're not doing
this. It's a money grab. And I bought some of
them and I was kind of addicted to them for a
while, my completionist. And now they're coming
out with cases for every one of them. And it's
just very aggravating because it makes the commons
worth nothing. Yeah. And usually the cool one
is the chase and it doesn't make sense why you
didn't make that one the regular one other than
for money, obviously. Yeah. So, um, I'm kind
of, I'm trying, I'm trying not to fall into the
three liter and I've been really limiting my
Funko soda purchases. So the interesting thing
for me with Funko sodas is I am not a fan of
the regular. What size are the regular ones?
So what, four? Four inches, yeah. Okay, so they
are four inches. All right. So they, to me personally,
and the reason why I don't like them, number
one, they come in a can. You can't see the figure
at all unless you take it out of the can. And
I like the design that, oh, it's a can, it's
a soda. Like I'm looking at the Winter Soldier
that Funko has, and that's fine. But the thing
about the chases is, and in the comments, I...
The biggest example I can give you for Funko
is like Colonel Sanders. The common is him holding
a bucket of chicken. The chase is him holding
his cane. Why in the same hell would you want
the chase when the whole point of the ad icon
is to have Colonel Sanders holding a bucket of
chicken? Exactly. No, I'm a hundred percent with
you, brother. A hundred percent. A hundred percent.
And I don't know what it is about, you know,
and everyone says this and I just kind of brush
it off. And I also point out to people that they're
doing more now. But you mentioned earlier about
the black eyes with the Funko Pops and how most
people describe those soulless black eyes. And
I'm like, have you seen some of the Pops what
they're doing with their eyes? Like, you know,
you have a biggest example I can give off top
of my head is like the Killer Frost glow. What
like she's got white eyes like so, you know,
it's not just and yeah All right, so if Iron
Man was your first that you've got what is the
most recent pop that you have purchased? The
most recent one that I purchased was the the
Black Panther from the Oakland A's baseball game
that was only given at the field when you went
to the game. Right. And I don't really collect
Black Panther, but it had cool stickers. It was
limited to a baseball game and I'm a big sports
guy. So it was just a cool pop I had to buy because
really, and I hate to say this, but the stickers.
Let's let's talk about stickers. Might as well.
Cause like, all right. What is it about the stickers
for you that matters the most? What matters the
most that they're unique. Okay. And they're different.
Like I don't, I don't fall for like a target
or a Walmart or a special edition sticker as
much as I do for the ones that are like, this
was a release to AT &T or this is a, the new
one, the Geico one or, um, Just the fact that
they're super limited and it's not a sticker
you see every single day. Yeah Yeah, no, absolutely
like for me I Appreciate that fun code changes
like so most fruit for those of you listening
who have listened to this stuff in the past I've
talked about this but everyone should know this
by now when fun cow does something like NYCC
They also Obviously, with the rest of their partners,
like you mentioned, Target, Walmart, GameStop,
et cetera, Hot Topic, et cetera, they'll have
a actual con sticker for those of you who purchased
the pop at the con. And then they'll have, you
know, like right now in front of me, I have Shockwave.
It's the 2021 Summer Convention Limited Edition.
For me, I just want the pop half the time. I
don't really care too much about the stickers,
but I understand why people care about the stickers
but what it makes it so silly for me is like
like the wonder con ones from this year like
all those wonder con stickers like oh there's
so much better than the shared versions of them
i'm like i get it i i completely get it but like
come on see those con stickers for me are like
you know because it's just like I like if I want
to get a pop from NYCC, right? And I want the
Rubik's Cube or the Polaroid camera, like I wanted
those. I'd probably prefer to have them with
the actual con sticker than the shared sticker,
but... Like, I could care less to tell you the
truth. If they came out with a Rubik's Cube that
was normal and then the Rubik's Cube from NYCC
was metallic, I wouldn't buy the metallic one.
I'd already had the other one. And it's not the
point of having the whole line of Rubik's Cubes.
I just want a Rubik's Cube one because he's cool.
Yeah, that's the thing. Like, the Rubik's Cube,
like you're talking about, is one of the newer...
Is that in Retro Toys or is that in Atta? Yeah,
yeah, I think it fell in Retro Toys. Okay, so
the Rubik's Cube and the Polaroid camera... They're
very, very cool things that you would, like,
that's the thing about Funko, and like we were
talking about, when they impress us or surprise
us was like, I was shocked when I saw that Rubik's
Cube. I'm like, wait, is that what I think it,
holy crap, they did it again. Like, holy crap,
I can't believe there is a Rubik's Cube Funko
Pop. Exactly. Okay, sure. Yes, he has he or it
or however you want to say whatever it is, you
know, like, sure, the Rubik's Cube has a face
now and he has eyes and he has hands and he has
feet, but you can't exactly make a traditional
Funko Pop, you know, out of just the cube it's
like you have to like i'm looking at the polaroid
camera you have to you know give them something
and on the point of the polaroid camera is you
take a picture it comes out so with polaroid
having the way he is he has feet so he can stand
and he has two arms his right arm has got the
thumbs up and his left arm is holding a polaroid
because he's holding what he just took so that
to me is awesome and it makes so much sense for
the figure. It's just so fun. No, I, those, those
are such, I think some of the greatest ideas
that Funko had to come out with stuff like that
because I mean, you capture so many people with
it. Cause you know, it's like people, we don't
even collect Funko pops, but our photographers
or somebody who just sees that at the store.
when they go to their local comic store to pick
up a comic book the nostalgia hits and they're
gonna sell it yeah oh absolutely absolutely and
it's just it's just so fun it is quite literally
fun so cool so cool all right let's see here
anything okay so the sodas what is it so you
mentioned you got into the sodas you we've talked
about how the sodas exploded Compared to Pops,
what is it specifically about the soda form factor
that you like? I mean, I do like the cans and
I like the way that you can display them and
I do like the look of most of the figures. I
think that they've gotten more and more detail
and they have some cool options for how to display
them and they have some pretty cool chases. some
things that they don't necessarily do in the
Funko pop way. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So since
we're still talking about Funko and I know I've
seen you, I've watched a couple of your videos
that you've done this, the NFT stuff. Just to
get this out of the way for me personally, I
just want the damn pop. I don't care about the
rest of it. I just want to redeem the damn pop.
I joked with somebody on one of their YouTube
channels. I left a comment. I'm like, all right,
well in the year 2087, when I'm God knows how
old and I can actually go to eBay and find this,
this Funko pop from an NFT drop. But what is
it about the NFTs that you like or don't like?
Well, I'll tell you that, you know, that, that
I'm, I think differently. from some people, right?
NFTs and cryptocurrency and that whole world
was something that I was into before there was
Funko NFTs, right? So I played Street Fighter
and played blockchain brawlers and several different
games that required NFTs for power -ups. Right,
right. So I was already used to buying like Ryu
Ryu's power to use with Chun Li or Purchasing,
you know more moon rocks or space packs, right?
So for me for me the seller on the Funko NFTs
was number one. It's You know Funko and you you
get a redeemable, right? I was always one that
was on my high horse and back in my other lives
or other times I've discussed it with people.
I always feel that if you do an NFT, you have
to have something tangible. To me, I see purchasing
the NFTs as a way to get a tangible pop, not
as something that I'm going to invest in these
NFTs, the digital cards, and that one day they're
going to be worth a ton of money. No. you're
buying those and now the market has balanced
out. Okay. So, you know, if you're looking at
some of the newer sets, we're not looking at
every pop is $800 like it used to be. We're looking
at, you know, 25, 30, $40 for some of these.
And for some people, they, they, they're willing
to spend that on an NFT because they know they
can redeem it on a pop. They Funko tested the
waters with doing the spastic plastic release.
of NFTs without any redeemables. Right. And they
completely flopped. You could still buy them
in from the drop website weeks after the drop
because nobody wanted them because there was
nothing tangible you were going to get or redeemable.
Yeah. I don't know. For me personally, it's like
I know sometimes you all do mystery box battles
or you just do mystery boxes in general. For
me with Funko, I just want what I want. I don't
Don't have that desire to be surprised like like
with the NFT drop specifically the trans and
this is the other thing before we move off of
funko I are people just not transformers fans
when it comes to funko boss because like Nobody
is talking about the transformer like they'll
mention it in passing. Oh, yeah I got Unicron
just to add to my collection and I'm like Really
just to add to your collection really That's
the only reason why you bought that? I mean,
for me, it's like, I'll tell people, oh, I bought
it because it was cheaper than spending $600
on the giant planet that I have. Like, yes, Unicron
is a jumbo size pop. He's, I think, God, and
this is what makes me so upset about it is I
have Soundwave. I have the jumbo Soundwave with
the cassettes and I have Unicron. They're probably
the only two jumbo pops I will ever buy. Unicron
is 10 and a half inches. Tall. Soundwave is 10
inches tall. Why couldn't you just... Why does
he have to be 10 and a half, and I actually have
a photo somewhere on social media of them back
to back, and I looked and I'm like, oh, the half
inch is like his horns. That's the only reason
why he's... They do that with the 18 inches to
man Pikachu is not an 18 inch pop Pikachu is
not his tail Maybe if you like just like the
child if you measure him wide 18 inches with
those ears, but he's not an 18 inch I did a video
on this where I measured all the 18 inch pops
I'll have to search that out and check that out.
But man, it's like I don't like Like, we were
talking earlier about, you know, the 4 -inch
sodas versus the 3 -liter sodas kind of thing.
For me, if I was going to get into sodas, I would
probably only buy the 3 -liters because I think
the 3 -liters look amazing! I don't necessarily
want a Wampa without his arm on, but you know,
I mean, like, you know, but he's like, I don't
want that chase. Yeah. Like that, that, that
chase is a little, a little too much. I mean,
you know, what's Funko going to do next? You
know, have a, have a movie moment version of
a, of a Funko soda chase where Han is, you know,
pull or Luke is pulling Han out of the Wampa's
stomach or whatever. Like, Oh God, sometimes
they go a little too far. I love what are they
going to do? What are they going to do? A headless
Ned start? Oh, wait, they did that. They did
that. Yeah. But folks look, it's headless. It
doesn't have the, it's just so crazy, but I love,
you know, in general, like, I may not be the
biggest soda fan, but I'm never going to, I'm
never going to be that person to say, I might
ask you why you like them or what is it about
them that you may not like, but I'm not going
to sit here and say, Oh my God, you, you're a
fun coast. You, you are, you are, you're a soda
collector. You stay in your corn. Don't get your
cooties. And I'm like, Oh God, give me a break.
People like it's like fun. It says everybody's
a fan of something, you know, let's all just
have fun. The only thing I get mad about with
the sodas, to tell you the truth, and I've voiced
it in many videos and I've had some backlash
from it so I've had to re -explain myself, is
the way that Funko does the US sodas and then
the international sodas. I don't have a problem
with there being international sodas that have
a different count than the US sodas, but the
fact that 80 % of those international sodas make
it into the hands of US people. Kind of defeats
the purpose of it. It's like you have all these
channels that will go out and they're like paying
all of this money to have international sodas
shipped in so they have the soda before the America.
Or my hobby shop is getting 50 and 60 cases of
international Funko soda. Was how's that for
the people who can't get US Funko sodas? Yeah,
I Mean that's what makes me mad and I told him
I said I'm not against International Funko sodas.
I just myself won't buy him and own them Because
they're not for America and I don't like the
fact that they're just slightly different than
the American versions Yeah, the same reason I
don't like the special edition sticker. I have
target I can go to Target. I don't need that
pop so early that I need to order it off of a
website with an international sticker on it.
Yeah, and I think in my end I like and I'll have
to see if I can find this but they'd recently
Changed in the last month or so they changed
again this episodes going up later than when
we're actually recording it But recently didn't
they change the special edition sticker a little
bit I think they made it smaller in some cases,
but I honestly try to avoid buying mystery boxes
that I know are going to have the special edition
sticker. And I don't really buy any special editions.
So I haven't paid too much, but I have seen that
it has gotten smaller, like it's littler. Yeah.
And the funny thing is about the speck, like
I don't have too many of them with it because
like you said, we live in the U S we can go to
Walmart, we can go to target, but sometimes I,
a lot of things have happened to me in the last
year and a half. Or more in the last two years.
And I've had to move around. I actually moved
across the country from Washington State to Indiana
earlier this year and stuff like that. So I missed
out on when Funco dropped the 90s animated Spider
-Man stuff onto Target. And Target never had
Spidey in stock on their website, so... Bought
him off of eBay or I bought him at a decent probably
wasn't like outrageous It was a close to MSRP,
but he has a special edition sticker. I'm like,
okay whole point is I wanted it because it was
the 1994 animated series John Semper jr You know,
it was that spider -man because I grew up with
that show and I have the black cat with the target
sticker It's fine. It's whatever like stickers
It's a whole thing Sticker shock. Oh boy. So
speaking of sticker shock, what is the most money
you spent on a toy? Well, I guess it would honestly
have to be hot toys. the Iron Man silver centurion
Suit yeah hot toys that was probably the most
expensive toy I've ever bought Like force 400
or something. Yeah But I mean, it's the silver
centurion like yeah, can you not I mean, I know
it's one of the coolest armors it is the coolest
armor and it was the best figure and I already
had the warhammer and Oh sweet. War machine,
excuse me, war machine. And um, sorry, and uh,
I just had to have them. Yeah. Had to have them.
So on the flip side of that, what is the cheapest
toy you bought or what was the best deal you
ever got for a figure that? Well, you know, that,
that happened recently because I'm always like,
um, I'm always like watching all these videos
of these people that every single, it seems like
two or three times a week, you know, Flea market
finds, I found these $800 worth of retired pops
for a dollar. Well, I will tell you as somebody
who, even before YouTube, even before YouTube,
my side hustle had always been buying and selling
on eBay. So I've been to thrift stores, I still
do thrift storing on Saturday mornings, thrift
stores, garage sales, flea markets, everything.
in my 20 years age myself it 20 years over 20
years of doing that one time one time at the
beginning of this year when I went to the Kentucky
on a flea market at Freedom Hall right I found
a Scrooge McDuck Funko pop out of the box for
a dollar and that's like a $30 $40 pop That was
the best deal I've ever found on a pop that is
almost a grail that's retired, that's out of
box. I was just doing that because I'm like,
how do these people, because I watch some videos,
how do these people every single week, they have
a new video and they're like, I found these retired
Simpsons pops and it's like, I don't want to
say that it's bullshit. Yeah, but at the same
time I'm like where are all these hiding like
I've been to You know, I go to I know the good
wills around here when they stock their stuff
I know I go to the I'm on the Louisville Funko
Alliance. I'm on all these Funko groups I know
when people are going up and selling these things
and it's like I Just don't know I think like
maybe back in 2000 and 15 2016 even a little
earlier than that After Funko pops first came
out and the popularity wasn't where it was now
Yeah, that that could happen very commonly, right?
Yeah But nowadays everybody it was like when
you go to a garage sale and they're showing Funko
pops It's either Commons that they know that
if they sell on eBay, they're not getting anything
for you or they know what they have, right? Yeah
So I think like the long story short got on a
whole tangent about that like I like to do sometimes
is that Like legitimately six months ago. I found
Scrooge McDuck at the flea market at a box and
purchased him for a dollar Wow, and that was
probably the best lowest priced Funko pop I've
ever bought and the best toy I've ever bought.
Yeah, it's uh, it's yeah It's so strange, just
I'm actually cycling through my, because I use
the Funko app just like almost everyone else
should. But like, you know, you're talking about
how Scrooge is $36 and I'm like, wait a minute.
I know I have Scrooge or I had him. I have pictures
of him and Magica and everybody else, but he's
not, I'm like, wait, why? Why isn't he in my
focus? Oh yeah. I just made 36 bucks sort of.
I mean, I know I have the thing. Like I said,
it's in storage. Why is like, it's like this
whole thing. This is another side tangent. This
whole thing with YouTube. If YouTube is as big
as they are and as you know, innovative as they
are why are they unsubscribing what I'm like
you know I watch all these videos like oh please
make sure you're subscribed to the channel and
I check and I'm like yep I'm still subscribed
because like YouTube isn't like why would they
do that like did they get hacked I don't understand
that's crazy all right What modern and or vintage
toy lines are you collecting right now outside
of Funko? Outside of Funko? Or is Funko just
it? No, no, no. Honestly, I collect a lot of
modern wrestling figures. Very cool. The AW,
the WWE, even the New Japan ones. I collect a
lot of those wrestling figures. There's some
good places around here and they sell the ones
that you can't buy in America. Like all the New
Japan ones and stuff. That's pretty much what
I collect. Do you visit toy shows or conventions
when you visit toy shows or conventions? Do you
have a typical methodology? Do you bring a certain
amount of money for what you're searching for?
I do go to some toy shows and some conventions.
I'm not that guy I'm not even before the whole
black death came in I was never a convention
guy, right? I go to some if I want an autograph
but if I go like a few months ago I went to a
good pop hunt that was down at the local church
or as we like to call it joke in a six flags
over Jesus. Southwest Christian church. Yeah
that's all the neighborhoods dedicated it's huge
right. They did a pop hunt over there. And so,
you know, usually I have a strategy. I like,
OK, this is some good stuff to trade, right?
Because it's supposed to be a pop swap. Yeah.
And when you go to a pop swap, it's very weird
how little swapping people actually want to do.
Yeah. But I'll always grab, you know, like when
I went to this last one, I grabbed a Willy Wonka
Chase Funko soda. a few Funko pops that I had
doubles of that were pretty good, like in the
30 to $50 range. And then I always go wander
around the booths and see what I'm looking for,
you know, if I'm looking for some Freddy Funkos
or, it was weird because at this pop swap, I
was particularly looking for some out of box,
not GI Joe, EP. Okay. Like, I was looking for
some AttaBox ET stuff or some AttaBox Bob's Burgers
stuff. So I brought some different stuff to trade
and swap with and that's usually how I try to
like to do it because it's a pop swap. So I'm
like, is there anything you're looking for you
would like to trade? Yeah. And usually if they
say no, then I start looking up the pop on PPG,
kind of seeing what it went for on eBay and then
trying to wheel and deal with the person. Yeah,
absolutely That's night like like everyone says
always do your research beforehand like Okay,
this is what I know it's sold for but what are
you willing to sell it for? What are you willing
to like if I have this funko pop? That's Worth
$50. Do you have something that's worth the same
that we could just straight trade that you know,
it's even amount whatever kind of thing, you
know What do you think it is about our generation
that causes our childhood toys to mean so much
more to us than say, for instance, our parents
generation? I would think that our generation
is more, you know, my when I talk to my dad,
right, he doesn't he didn't like grow up with
a mass amount of like key content. Yeah, there's
so much more content now. And there was because,
you know, even when I was younger, you know,
I'm 44. So, you know, I am still before, you
know, born after Star Wars, but born before it
was before the internet. Right. So when I was
in starting middle school, ending sixth grade,
the AOL, you know, so I can just think of the
availability I had to information. TV shows,
and then you even jump higher to now, you know,
all the online content you have and stuff that
you would, like when I was a kid, anime was like
ghost in the shell, right? Dragon Ball Z, right?
Things like that were just about the only anime
unless you were really into it and going to the
comic shops and buying the imported DVDs, right?
Now you can go watch any anime you want. within
a moment's notice. There's Marvel apps and cartoons.
You know, when I was a kid, it was the Superman
movies with Christopher Reed. It was Batman,
1989 with Michael Keaton. There wasn't seven
Batmans. There wasn't 42 animated Batman series.
But at the same time, what happens is like you,
you like that Superman, that Spider -Man, excuse
me, right? Yep. But then the kids like the Miles
Morales. The kids like spot. What is it spider
ghost instead of spider Gwen now? You know, they
like different and there's so many different
things to collect I think you know back then
it was more like okay. Well, there's Ninja Turtles
and there's 12 different figures There's Batman
and there's the figures that were the main figures
in the show You know nowadays if they come out
with the Batman figure for the movie, there's
60 figures of just Batman. Yep So I think that's
where it stems from. There's just so much more
content and availability to get all this stuff.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it's also
the fact that, you know, these companies have
started and they've any, you know, when I say
companies, I'm talking about them all. Hasbro,
Mattel, you know, Takara, Tony. Funko everybody
even even the ones that aren't here anymore like
LJN toys and that kind of stuff like our Parents
didn't have that they had you know a wiffle ball
set or a by a bicycle was a toy for you know
You know that kind of thing so so yeah, it is
you know the thing about our generation is it
started a movement Into where we are now and
you're so right about the Batman's I mean, you
were like, because how old are you? I'm two years
younger than you are. I'm 42. So we're about
the same age. So when I went to Toys R Us when
I was a kid, seven, eight, nine years old, right,
there was a lot of toys. But as far as things
based on TV shows, cartoons or movies, the selection
wasn't like it is now. You could fill Toys R
Up, Toys R Us, words are hard apparently. You
could fill Toys R Us up with just the toys from
The Walking Dead and different versions of Zombies.
But back then, there was more independent toys
that weren't anything themed on something or
licensed. You'd go to G .I. Joe and there's different
kinds of action figures, but now it's just like...
Absolutely. I mean, you know, it's like they're
making an action figure of the dude who sweeps
up after WWE Raw goes off the air. You know,
they're making everything. Yeah. Yeah. Well,
I mean, they, you know, because everybody needs,
I don't want to say everyone needs recognition,
but I mean, hell, look at it this way with Funko.
We can all have recognition because we can all
pop ourselves, and for 25 bucks a pop, that's
not bad. That's better than what Hasbro's doing
with their Select series. Oh god. God. Oh god.
Look, I know everyone listening to the sound
of my voice, not everyone is a Funko fan, and
that's fine. Like I said already, not everyone
has to like the same stuff, but for me to have,
and I always think of the Big Bang Theory episode
where Sheldon and I were like, we're gonna pay
$500 to have actual Migo figures of ourselves,
and I'm like, okay, fine, whatever, you guys
and your fictional universe, but I'd rather spend
$25 on a Funko pop. Think of myself because I
know it's all gonna be made out of that vinyl
stuff that they're using It's not gonna be a
pre -produced Ghostbusters Star Wars or whatever
body with a 3d printed head if I wanted my head
printed in 3d I'd stick it in a 3d printer You
know if you talk about Hasbro it was like one
of my toys that you know and People go, Oh, well,
you could find it here. You could, yeah, for
a lot of money, but, um, you remember that in
your transformers? Um, remember, I think it was
last year, the Hasbro pulse, the optimist prime,
the J and silent Bob did a video with the one
that's like $1 ,200. Yeah, the cell. It's like
700 and something dollars. Yeah. That is the
coolest toy ever, I think, and it's just too
expensive. I just can't justify that in any way,
shape, or form spending that kind of money on
it. Don't get me wrong. All this stuff is awesome.
It really, really is, but not everyone has gobs
and gobs of disposable income kind of thing.
And even if you do, even if you don't and you
use what income you have to like set aside for
it, you're going to be setting aside a long time,
especially for something like that. You know,
I mean, that thing is awesome. It really, really
is, but that's not something I need in my life.
I love it. I think it's great, but it's not like
there are just certain things. I don't, I just
don't need it. I don't have the compunction like,
oh my God, I like. Well, the thing that keeps
me from buying something like that, honestly,
is like the fact that I have collected toys for,
you know, 38 years, 35 years. Right. Yeah. So
so like a toy that you bought when you were eight
years old, I have one upstairs, a remote control
Camaro that I still have in the box I put back
in the box. Right. Toys like that don't age well.
So if I'm going to spend like $800 on an Optimus
Prime that's all electronic and all mechanical,
where's that going to be in 20 years? Exactly.
Or even so, sometimes quality control isn't,
and I'm not just saying this because of the Optimus
Prime, but just in general, sometimes quality
control isn't the greatest thing in the world.
Yes, they try their best and they do a good job
most of the time. But I remember when my late
wife Karen and I, we were out pop hunting at
Target or whatever else a couple of years ago,
it was right when they dropped all the, the American
history pops. And they're like, yup. Oh, good
old honest Dave is going to be a target exclusive.
She and I went through lit and she's, she didn't
dislike Funko pops or anything like that. And
I kind of got, I kind of got her into it, but
it was never like, she was never fully into it.
Like I am. And she had one, she liked it or whatever
else. I'm like, Ooh, April, like. Honestly, out
of all of the American history ones, Abe was
the one that I wanted the most. There were like
10 boxes. She looked through, we both looked
through all 10 of those boxes. And I think I
even still ended up with one where his beard
isn't exactly painted the best way possible that
it's supposed to be like, you know. And what
let, you know, to bring it back to your point
about quality, you know, about the robust and
optimist prime, you're going to spend this amount
of money on this thing that's all electronic
and all whatever. Forget about 20 years from
now. What if in two years from now, something
happens to that thing and it breaks or it doesn't
work or it does whatever. You just essentially
wasted what is equivalent to either a couple
of rent payments or in this day and age, probably
one rent payment kind of thing. Like. Yeah, no,
I just, even if somebody gifted it to me, I'd
be like, you wasted your money. Quality control
is a big, is a big issue for me with those. And
the fact that, you know, it could be something
that even though I want to open it up and play
with, I never do, but then you don't. And then
it doesn't work. And then they're so limited.
Like, what do you actually do in that? You know,
I had the same thing, you know, there's a bunch
of people at Funko. the deal with shipping your
nft pops and these people apparently now this
is just alleged it's not it's not any kind of
fact but um apparently these people heavily like
to drink jack daniels before they go into work
and pack stuff so they're like okay all these
people they got these redeemable grail funko
pops that there's only 999 in the world right
so i'm going to open this box that's seven times
the size And with no protection, I'm going to
throw all of their valuable NFT pops into this
box and then I'm going to ship them to you. Yeah.
And then that's the things like that is what
scares people away from collecting toys like
that. Yeah, absolutely. And it's not just mainly
it's because you and I both are Funko people.
It's mainly we see it with them, but it's also
with any toy. I don't understand why they cannot
get packaging right. When they go to mail it
out just like some of them Well Perfect example
I can tell you right now when It was either USPS
or UPS and I don't blame them But when my unicorn
came from GameStop He had He was not bubble wrapped
at all He was just in the box with like Beige
piece of paper wrapped around them, but like
there was like and the bot like yes I know the
unicorn is ten and a half inches. It's a bigger
It's I even have a picture on my Instagram somewhere
showing the slight difference between the fun
the the sound wave box and the unicorn box it's
like God, it's minuscule the difference, but
it's like oh god, but it's like yeah, no they
don't do It's not like I would like if you and
I had some sort of deal where I had a pop and
you had a pop that I wanted and blah, blah, blah.
We just trade and we just, you know, ship it
to each other, whatever. We're obviously going
to do the best we can to make sure whatever pop
it is or whatever is packed in a way where even
if it's the clumsiest of, of mail delivery drivers,
even if they drop it, nothing's going to happen
because we've. double bubble wrapped or triple,
but you know, we, we've ensured we put it in
a pop protector. Hell, we put it in a hard stack,
whatever it is. Like we're going to make, yeah,
but it's just, it's a nightmare sometimes ordering.
Well, we, we talked to, we, we talked about all
the time, like how Funko likes to make money,
right? Yeah. So why can't like, if I'm ordering
an NFT redemption of a pop that's worth, I mean,
I have some of those NFTs from like the Freddy
Funko lines and stuff are worth quite a bit of
money. So it's like, if I'm redeeming these,
why don't you have an option where I can pay
for a hard stack? Like I would be more than willing
to redeem for free and say, I will pay $8, $10
for a hard stack for each of these pops. And
I'll pay for it just so I ensure that these pops
make it okay, because they're limited. Because
I will tell you that I have had tax audits. that
are easier than trying to get. I got my set,
the Star Trek NFTs. I like Star Trek. I like
Freddie Funko. I'm a sucker for Black Light Pops.
So I wanted this whole set. I wanted the whole
set. So I got the whole set and I got it and
that box looked like an accordion. And my Captain
Kirk was destroyed. I mean, it was like somebody
jumped on him, right? Oh, jeez. It took me four
weeks to get it for them to even accept a replacement.
OK, then like legitimately so many pictures.
Then once that happened, they sent me a label.
I had to pack it and take pictures of how I packed
it. Then I had to take it to the UPS. Headquarters
not the store. Oh There was a chain of custody
letter That had to be signed by a UPS employee
in person That says that it was received and
packed properly Then three weeks after they got
it They emailed me and told me that within 14
days I would have a replacement and that if this
replacement was damaged there was nothing else
that they could ever do about it. Wow. Because
the way it works is that when people redeem the
NFTs, there's a certain amount that aren't redeemed.
Yeah. So we know that for the grail, for the
last DC set, that there was 113 of those that
was never redeemed. So Funko holds those. Wow,
they still have they still exist Nobody owns
them and they'll keep them and they use those
for some replacements and stuff I don't really
know what they do with the rest of them if they
legitimately are gonna burn them sometime But
if people don't redeem them, they're just sitting
at Funko and see that's the thing with the NFTs
that kind of upsets me is that Anyone that doesn't
redeem them For the actual redeemable physical
thing Why doesn't for I understand the whole
point of it being an NFT redeemable but if After
it's like let's say six months the Transformers
ones. They still have stock of that Why not put
them on fire sale on the website? So us people
that don't want to deal with the NFTs that just
want the actual pops could just buy them For
whatever price that they were originally supposed
to be Like why would that why would a company
hold on to stock like that? You know because
it would keep the price up because you know you
have the circulation numbers, right? Yeah, it's
all there on the blockchain, and then there's
um that poppin stock website has a very Tied
into the database has a very good tracker site,
right? So you can see how many packs were minted,
how many packs were burned, how many of those
packs are remaining, and the same thing with
the Funko Pops. So if I have a pop that's limited
to 999, but then the data all shows that there's
actually only 600 of those pops, then it makes
that pop more rare and more expensive. Interesting.
But you'd like everything else dude, I'm gonna
tell you with a lot of these NFT pops man It's
FOMO Yeah, so you just need to wait a month after
everybody gets theirs and then go on eBay and
you'll be able to get one at a reasonable cost
Yeah, no, and I understand that but like for
me, it's like I think there's Off the top of
my head if I remember right, there's probably
three I would want I normally with Funko Pop
Transformers I have not gone at okay I have one
but when I first started Funko Pop Transformers
I wanted a really cool Optimus Prime and don't
get me wrong The standard one that they have
with the gun and whatever that looks like the
old toy is fine I actually have the because I
like this coloring better I have the metallic
Amazon version of that but originally I was only
gonna get the GameStop one with the with the
Axe like and all that so But like I would want
the gold optimus prime the hot rod and the Devastator
that would be the only three I would want and
I actually went on eBay a while ago and just
searched and I'm like, all of these listings
are for the NFT portion of it. They're not for
the action. I'm like, oh my God, they want how
much for an NF? Yikes. Mm hmm. It's crazy. So
crazy. Well, I mean, I mean, they do they do
sneaky things like that with the NFTs and I'll
say that they know what they're doing, you know,
like they came out with the retro toys line and
they inferior infuriated. many, many people because
one of the NFTs for that retro toy line was Bluto,
right? Oh, yeah. So everybody who's waiting for
another Popeye Pop to have Bluto with it, the
only release of Bluto as a Funko Pop is now the
NFT. Wow. See, and they do that. And like then
they do things that don't make sense. Like they
did the Hanna -Barbera line. And I understand
that's Hanna -Barbera, but What does it make
sense that you have? The redeemables are George
Jetson, Elroy, Astro from the Jetsons, right?
The Grail is Huckleberry Hound and the redeemable
Freddy for royalty is Space Ghost Freddy. Why
didn't you just do the Jetsons? And then it kicks
people off who don't do the NFTs because they're
like, well, thanks Funko. I'll never have a bluedo
pop now. Yeah. You know, so, you know, I, you
know, I, I get it, but, you know, it's just like
everything else. I've went and bought an FT Funko
pops off eBay and got them for a lot cheaper
than you normally would. I think I paid 60 bucks
for a Scotty from the Star Trek. Oh, wow. Very
cool. Very cool. Yeah out of the six that they
have like I said the gold the basically the top
three the gold optimist the devastated hot rod
and the only like I don't need a Red and black
rumble because he's toy accurate not show accurate.
But anyway, oh Boy, all right. Let's see. Where
are we have you? What is your motivation for
purchasing toys to display play fiddle describe
your collecting style? Usually my collecting
style is I go and I buy the ones that I collect
and look for. A lot of the times it's for display
or for specific reasons. I'll go to the hobby
store and I say, I need some Halloween ones or
I need some new ones for my desk at work. The
last trip I went to was to find some pops for
my desk for you know kind of the Halloween because
I'm that guy right people at work know what I
do on YouTube I don't have no shame in my game
and a lot of them like it and a lot of the people
at Funko Pop stuff anyway but you know so I went
to the comic shop with the intent of finding
some pops that were more being towards the month
of October for Halloween because you know Christmas
time so I'm so upset that They haven't came out
with a Sabra pop yet because when it comes Hanukkah
time, I don't have a John Lovitz pop. I keep
saying people ask me, what's your number one
pop? I'm like, I'm going to age everybody here.
But when I was a kid growing up, my special treat
was getting to stay up late and watch Saturday
Night Live with my parents. Hanukkah Harry and
John Lovitz was one of my favorite characters.
and they don't have any eight night of Christmas
Adam Sandler Pops. They don't have any John Lovitz's
Hanukkah Harry Pops, but they came out with Drunk
Uncle. Yeah, they did. It's like, you came out
with Drunk Uncle, which I appreciate, or the
Target lady, but you don't have a Hanukkah Harry
Pop. So, you know, that's just my thing. Yeah,
I've mentioned, I say this every time. Realistically,
I probably wouldn't stop, but I always phrase
it like I could stop collecting Funko pops right
now. If they dropped an Alf pop, they have a
wacky wobbler of Alf. If they drop an Alf pop,
I'm good. As long as I can get it, as long as
I can get it at MSRP kind of thing, as long as
it isn't a stupid exclusive for whatever. Insert
whatever store X here kind of thing, as long
as it isn't one of these limited edition, one
of 4 ,000, 5 ,000, 10 ,000, as long as it's just.
Like I said before, sometimes there is nothing
wrong with commons most of the time. I mean,
you know, most of the time you're going to be
finding common pops. Not every pop has to have
a sticker, but it's like for me, if I could stop
right now. If I had Alf and they have not made
Alf yet On the other hand if they made Hans and
Franz, I don't know if I could ever stop That's
right God that would be great Well, that's what
I'm thinking like I mean, you know Eddie Murphy
is Gumby and all these different great characters
They had throughout the years on SNL and then
they make drunk uncle and the target lady. Yeah,
it's like come on, you know, I mean They have
some great pops from other TV shows. You know,
when I bought the ones for Halloween, I bought
a Mike in a straight, you know, Mike in the straight
jacket. I bought Pumpkin Head Dwight. And then
I just went off track and I bought the Go Boat.
But that's for another day. Have you ever purchased
a toy for a child with the ulterior motive of
playing with it yourself? Yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah,
my nephew Liam, uh -huh. He's uh He's 10 now
and yeah, I've bought him quite a bit of toys
remote control cars And the little remote control
cars to transform into robots as well as like
the little creepy crawler lab. Yep and things
like that with the 100 % intent that we were
going to do it together, that he'd want my help
with setting it up. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. I will admit
to that every day. Have you ever purchased a
vintage toy for a child because you thought it
would be fun based on your own preferences? So
basically, like you're talking about with your
nephew, classic Sergeant Slaughter just because
you grew up with him from G .I. Joe kind of thing
or something like that. I could honestly say,
I honestly would say it would more have to relate
to like for that would be a video games. Okay.
As far as the toy situation, you know, even my
daughter who's now 25, but my nephew is only
10. It's everything now is more like video games,
you know, so like I bought him pops, but they're
pops from video games that he plays like, you
know, sack boy. Yep. Or things like that right
and I bought him pops and games who played but
more would be the fact that you know like He
loved playing the video games, so I built him
a little retro pie A little retro pie Android
device and loaded up like old Nintendo and Super
Nintendo games yep so he could learn and see
some of the real games and My daughter was the
same way. I was very nostalgic about video games
with her too, because that was a big part of
my youth. Once Nintendo came out, what was the
Hot Wheel? We were all playing Kung Fu and Dr.
Chaos up in my bedroom all day after school.
But I would think with that it would have to
be video games. Very cool, very cool. All right,
do you do any toy modifications or customs painting
building building dioramas that kind of stuff?
One of my other hobbies is I do remote control
cars and I do remote control crawlers and That's
where that would come in. I do a lot of building
model cars in general, but with scale crawlers
you build the body so you'd want to reproduce
everything to make it look like it was a full
size. truck that had all the accessories that
it would because the goal would be to go out
to since you used to live here like Otter Creek,
right? Yeah, and you take out your crawler and
you go up the trails and whatever you did would
have to be Legitimate to what a full -size truck
of that size would be. Oh, yeah So, you know
if you fell off a cliff to try to get up before
you just go pick it up You'd have a little electric
wind sure you'd paint the truck or you'd put
little ladders on it or little jacks or extra
tires. And so I think like with customization,
it's mainly building those scale crawlers and
the bodies for the scale crawlers. Yeah, no,
absolutely. Anything you can do out at Otter
Creek or, you know, Nightmare Forest or any of
that kind of stuff is like here, here kids, let
me go scare you a bit. I've tried to customize
some Funko Pops before, like make them glow in
the dark and stuff. I'm not that kind of artistic.
Give me my 3D printer and I'll come up with printing
some grates for the windows of my scale crawler
or some hooks for the bumpers. I can do things
like that. um but doing things like actually
painting stuff by hand is not uh not not like
4k yeah no i i don't do any kind of customization
i i just try to find those stuff that like and
the glow man how dude i don't mind the dark i
love glow in the dark stuff but like i want to
know how those funko people get those certain
areas to do that and i'm just like Some glow
is great then other glows. It's like oh, it's
kind of disappointing because they only put it
on certain parts I Have bought I have a whole
set I have a set of like 24 of the different
glow -in -the -dark paints that should work and
You know I have tried to take common Funko pops
that would look cool with like their eyes or
their hair globe and that is such a difficult
thing to get to work right because You have to
go so many little layers over such a period of
time. I don't know if you've ever tried to do
that, but it's like you paint it and you think
it's perfect. You let it dry, you get in the
dark, you get your black light flashlight out.
And it's like, why does only that little piece
glow? Yeah. And then another coat, another coat,
another coat. And it's just, I don't know how
they get them to go up. And then the way they
do the flocking. They're flocking used to be
horrible and They're flocking now is so amazing
and like, you know And then they have the diamond
collection pops that have all the glitter on
it Yep, and they haven't gotten that down yet
because most of them just look like spackle I
don't know if you've seen that books a million
glow -in -the -dark of vision pop but it legitimately
looks like one of those popcorn ceilings from
the I Have it's somewhere around here. Where'd
he go? I have the Walmart Vision was the Walmart
vision glow or was he just white? I Don't remember
anymore. I think the Walmart the Walmart vision
was below and he was white the books a million
was the same one as the Walmart except they spackled
him Okay You don't ever want to spackle it, folks.
Please don't spackle things. Please say no to
spackle. That's right. Just say no to spackle,
folks. This is, you know, I was waiting for a
Gruff the Crime Dog to show up around here. Do
you think toy companies should specifically have
an adult collector toys, child toys, or find
a way to mix both? Don't you think they don't
you think they already do? Really, I think they
already do but I think certain companies are
known more for Like the adult collect and adult
like Yeah, no, I know what you mean. Like you
know, it's like like yeah, I mean like and honestly
hot toys No, a seven -year -old nowadays should
have a Hot Toys Batmobile. If I didn't have the
89 one right away when it first came out at nine
years old, ain't no way in hell a seven -year
-old needs to have a Hot Toys Batmobile. But
I mean, like with Hasbro specifically, they have
their kid lines, they have their Transformers
lines, they have the G .I. Joe line. G .I. Joe
is a whole other bag of worms nowadays because
of what they're doing with that stuff, but that's
a whole other day of discussion. But I mean,
like, you know, you, you, you have your, I don't
know, you have your various things that it just,
you know, but what's the, what's the best thing
for you in your mind? Well, I mean, I think that
I'm super jealous that when I was a kid and I
was collecting wrestling figures that, um, you
know, you'd get the Hulk Hogan and the Iron Sheik
and the Ratty Ratty Pipers that were made out
of rubber. that you'd put your finger in the
back of and fight or you'd get the figure that
barely moved, right? And then all you'd wish
for was more and now you have like figures that
have like come with belts and boas and hands
and different heads and you have rings and you
have Ron Stroman crushing the Camaro or the ambulance
and you know I think that To answer your question,
I think that you know, like those toys the WWE
toys especially are a perfect mix of a kid can
rip this open and have weak months of fun or
an adult can collect it and never open it but
then I also think that if sideshow hot toys put
the Ingenuity that they use to make the toys
for adults into making toys that were more age
-appropriate Those would be amazing Like, how
cool would it be to have, like, the Iron Man
Silver Centurion that lights up and changes,
but in a manner that would be safe and play,
something a kid could play with? That would be
so cool. I'd play with it. You know what I meant
by, don't they already do it? You know, you've
got the Batman Legends figures, but then at the
same time, you have the kiddie versions of them,
and you have the Teen Titans stuff, and you have
the Star Wars Play School stuff. Where it's still
Star Wars, but it's more appropriate to a child
who's like 10 or under. Yeah. But I mean, like,
again, it's my own predilection, but going to
Hasbro and Transformers, like when I cycle through
Instagram stories and I see Hasbro Pulse or whatever,
any Hasbro account that I follow, the Transformers
official Instagram account, it'll say, it'll
show like a new picture of the shattered glass
sound wave. And the shadow glass sound wave i
believe is either of what i think it's a voyager
class might be a little bit i don't think it's
the lowest layer the point is it'll say oh parents
swipe up to free order now on a toy that i think
is more for us than it is for. Kids but yet they
market to as long as they're marketing to everybody
i guess i guess it doesn't really matter but.
It just like I said before and like you said
it's like, you know, they're you you List off
certain companies or certain parts of companies
that are like, oh, yeah They these are there,
you know for for the adults who still Feel like
Jeffrey inside or something or other. I don't
know Do you have a my parents got rid of my toys
story? No, I don't Well, that's still having
more Well, that's good Do you feel you are coming
to an end of your active collecting? If so, what
has signified this phase for you? Was there ever
a moment when you were done with toys? It was
a never. Other than when. You know, you get into
like whole like big, long drawn out things, but,
you know, we had our daughter young, right? So
for many years it was not. things were a struggle
right so the ending of the toy collecting didn't
come by choice it came out of necessity right
yeah but once i was able to do it and have enough
disposable income to buy some stuff and build
a collectible room again i did yeah i don't see
the end of my collecting but i was thinking about
this stuff and um you know i i do my collecting
has changed And I see my collecting changing
and evolving in different ways, going from completionism
to wanting everything. Like if I got one Doctor
Strange pop from the new line, I wanted every
one of them. There was no way I wasn't having
every Marvel ending pop, right? Two, I'm OK with
just buying one Doctor Strange and one Iron Man
because those are my two favorite characters.
Right. and not feeling the need to rush to the
store to wait in line for pops because I know
that two months later I'm going to be able to
get them at the gas station. Yeah, exactly. Yeah,
I mean usually that's how it ends. It's more
of like, well like you said, out of necessity
or the thing like that and it is what it is.
So what is something that does not have a toy
of it you'd love to have in toy form? It doesn't
have a toy. Um, I said, I mean, honestly, um,
I'd really like to see, um, uh, like you remember
the, the cartoon show, the critic would John
love it. Yep. I think that those characters and
that kind of animation would lend to a Funko
pop well. Yeah, I mean, they have all the Simpson
stuff. Like you mentioned earlier, Bob burgers,
they have family guy pops. So it's like, why
not do the critic? Well, cause you know, it's,
it's, and I think part of it is, you know, I,
I am Jewish. Everybody already knows this and
that's how I grew up. Right. So you always, when
you're a certain religion or a race or whatever,
you, you gravitate towards things that are, uh,
you know, from, from that. From your race or
religion, right? So it's just you know, I always
liked watching the John Lovett stuff and though
because there's not like so many You know Jewish
guys doing that Yeah, it's not like everybody
is or being the stereotypical, you know, and
when I'm a kid watching that it's like that's
half my family, you know And I'm laughing my
ass off and you know them going under and and
all these kids who don't celebrate Hanukkah Just
don't get the fact that like legitimately here's
your present and you're opening underwear Yeah,
or you're opening socks or like you're getting
a flannel shirt, right? yeah and nobody understands
that so for me it was always like you know i'd
love to see like you know the like i said you
know honika harry or the critic yeah some of
those pops you know i think that would be cool
yeah absolutely all right so what is a toy that
you'd love to have scaled up and functional for
the real world oh man uh rick spaceship from
rick and morty That would be my favorite one,
man. That would be kind of cool. You can go anywhere.
Yep, you can go anywhere. As long as you got
the portal gun. Exactly. So we've talked about
it a little bit already, but question 37, because,
you know, I'm 37. How has your wife or how has
Carrie dealt with your collection? What's the
what's the whole Adam and Carrie collecting story?
Well, I mean she always she she let me when we
first when we bought our first house, right and
We moved in you know She let me have my room
for collecting and buying stuff and she always
just accepted because early on you know when
we were first out of high school and we had a
baby and I was going to college and working at
Dairy Mart I started going to garage sales and
Goodwills and I'd buy coffee mugs and neckties
and always look at the toys for myself. And I
didn't sell toys because I'd want to keep them
all. So I always just collected things, knickknacks
and toys. And Carrie was kind of the same way
with things that brought nostalgia. She always
said she didn't collect, but then she'd be with
me and she'd see something from Rainbow Bride
or Care Bears. Yep, and that are snoopy and she'd
have to have it right Yeah, so she just always
kind of accepted it and then when I did the YouTube
thing she was for it because in her career she
does a lot with graphic design and video editing
and things like that and She enjoys doing it
and she you know she went to school for it. So
it was kind of like I'm a tech guy and You know,
so she just kind of it fell into it You know,
and she just, we've been together since she was
15 and I was 17. Very cool, very cool. So we
grew up together. So it's like everything that
I like, there's things I like that she hates.
Like she cannot stand Rick and Morty. She can't
stand cartoons like that. But at the same time,
she's down for some House of Dragons or the She
-Hulk show. She's all good for that stuff. you
know, try to throw her in to watch and, you know,
I made her watch Thor, the new Thor. Oh, why?
Why would you torture her like that? Why would
you torture him? The only good Thor movie was
Ragnarok. The other three suck. Ragnarok was
good too. The new one was good. No, that's what
I'm saying. Ragnarok is the only good one. Oh
no, it's good. I don't say it's the only good
one, but yes, I know people's opinions of it.
I'm like, gotta watch it. Oh man, I love it.
I can't decide what's worse, Incredible Hulk
or Dark World? Oh, yeah, Incredible Hulk. Every
time I think of Incredible Hulk, he's always,
every action figure, he looks like he's constipated.
Every action figure. The crazy thing about the
Incredible Hulk movie is, folks, and this is
besides the fact that it's the wrong actor in
the role, but the reason why I hate that movie
is they killed Stan Lee's cameo and he has the
cameo, but he drinks the, and I'm like, don't
drink that 90 year old guy, however old he was,
just spat the, just swat the bottle out of his
head. Don't drink that, you dumb old man. You're
going to die if you drink that. So like, Oh my
God. Yeah, I can't stand that movie. Yeah, there's
some bad ones, but I did like Denny Thor one.
I'm one of those. I did like that. I like the
fact that they incorporated Jane as, I like that
whole aspect of it, but like, I don't know, man.
I know there's people with different opinions
on it. I just, as far as like coming from the
generation of, you know, watching, you know,
Superman and watching Superman 2 with John Cryer
and those original flash movies they did and
those movies that were in the 80s and early 90s
of superheroes like the original Spawn and things
like that I can appreciate a movie the Thor movies
because you know, it's just that tongue -in -cheek
goofy Funny why are they doing that kind of?
You know, like when you read that the reason
the goats screamed was that they kept getting
the director and Helmsworth kept getting text
messages when they were doing the goat scene
with that meme of Taylor Swift. Yes. Yes. I can
appreciate that. So, you know, I just thought
I just I just I don't like. I don't mind Thor
in certain things, but I don't mind him when
he's with the Avengers, because he's interacting
with Tony and everybody else. But Thor in his
own universe, I just don't. Other than Ragnarok,
Ragnarok I liked. I thought that was good. And
obviously, you know, don't worry, he's my friend
from work. Like, I mean, that was good. The rest,
I don't know. All right. Hey, come on. I went
I went to the movie theater and I saw Morbius.
Oh, why? Why would you go to yourself? Like,
oh, yeah, there's that dude on YouTube who went
every day for 30 days to see it. What? Yeah,
just to torture himself. I don't like the it
was all going uphill from after that. So thank
you. Well, I mean, technically we are in a and
I just hide. this will be in the past by now
but I don't know if you ever have what if you
ever have anybody there's a guy on YouTube called
Eddie Burback okay you've got to go watch his
videos okay all right yeah I'll have to send
you I'll have you send me a link afterwards but
like I recently what like I don't know what it
was about the Holland films, and I'm not talking
about No Way Home. I'm talking about Homecoming
and Far From Home. The first two Holland films,
I must have skipped them originally because when
No Way Home was coming out on digital, Voodoo
had this thing where you could spend, I don't
know, 50, 60, whatever it was. You could get
all eight films. You could get the Raimi films.
You could get the the Garfield films and you
could get the three new films from from the Holland
stuff from the Marvel so I Just walk. I mean
the I'm after we record this. I'm probably gonna
watch far from home I don't remember other than
some of the vulture stuff in the beginning I
don't remember a damn thing from homecoming whatsoever
like half of that movie. I'm like, this is all
new to me And yeah, I know it's just it's it's
crazy sometimes but those movies man Toy collecting
can have its struggles. What is one aspect that
you tend to struggle with the most? Not giving
in to Thelma Because you know like The Macho
Man pop comes out for fun days, right? Like,
I really know I want that Macho Man Freddy pop,
but I know that there's no reason I need to spend
$400 on it because it's going to be a lot less
money. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Now, before we get
too far, we're almost at the end of this, folks,
but just a quick follow -up question. What is
it about Freddy Funko, Freddy himself? What is
it about him that you like the most? That he's
an original character. and that he's a Funko
character and that they cross him over into other
types of pop culture and dress him up. He's a
cool pop. He's not the easily obtainable one
that you can go to the hobby shop and see 15
of. Yeah. All right. Cool. Cool. What is one
positive and or one negative memory you have
with buying toys? positive memory would be you
know when I used to go and look for pops and
wait in line for pops and Get the pop that I
want like when I wanted that Which one was it
the What Batman was that there was a Batman chase
that they had at a Hot Topic a couple years ago
that I really wanted to get and I got to wait
in line and Got that pop Cool very cool If you
could create any toy, what would you want to
create? So basically fun co or any company gives
you the keys to the kingdom. What would you want
to do? She's telling me with that one. There's
so many, so many different choices of pops that
you could possibly do. Yeah. Honestly, I'd probably
want to make a. hot wheel that would be exactly
like a hot wheel like the made out of the same
materials and everything but they could be like
a remote control vehicle oh wow that would be
cool like but it had to be like diecast and all
of those all that that's a whole other part of
funko that we they've started getting into the
diecast stuff yeah being super creative with
those chases Thankful well thankfully with the
diecast ones there's only specific characters
that like like the black light for me personally
the only black light pop I want is One of the
target exclusives the the Kate with lucky that's
the only black light pop I want and I have yet
to be able to find her but Yeah, well, I see
all these videos like not necessarily yours,
but like everybody that does these like Again,
not to name drop but top pops. Hopefully I can
get him on the show eventually but You know every
time he goes to Target and every time he pans
through the section. I'm like damn it. There's
like six God, I got to import to Canada cuz there's
like six Kate Bishop blacklights. I'm like we're
reaching the video just pull it out All right,
what is one piece of advice you would give the
toy collecting fandom Honestly, I would say to
only collect what you like. Absolutely. What
is advice you'd give kids who enjoy toys? I would
tell them to take care of their toys, not to
lose any of the accessories or weapons, and if
it can be unpacked to where you can save the
box, stick the box away in a closet. Absolutely.
All right, folks, we're going to take one more
quick break. We're going to come back. We're
going to get Adams, all of Adams promotional
stuff done in the outro right after this. Yes.
Shut up. Beyond the Night is the GCRN's latest
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Obviously we wouldn't be doing this podcast if
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Illinois is your primary go -to collectible store
to reclaim the toys that drove those memories
and experiences. Specializing in action figures
from all of your favorite toy line like Star
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Call the shop at 847 -830 -1031 or email timespasscollectibles1982
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Just search times past collectibles because folks,
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Discover a world of vintage and modern toys that
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On the Simplistic Reviews podcast, we talk movies.
We talk TV. We talk hello Julie. What the heck
are you doing trying to make our spot sound more
exciting by adding explosions? Yeah, I'm pretty
sure you could have got the point across with
sound effects not the real thing Download this
show on iTunes or if simplistic reviews dot blog
spot dot com I'm sure your insurance company
will cover that no they won't no they probably
won't We are back here on Toycast, our 160th
episode, and Mr. Beard of Pop, sir, promote yourself.
Where can the people find you online? Well, I
am Adam the Beard of Pop on YouTube, where I
do several Funko Pop Mystery Boxes, and battles
with my wife, and other types of unboxings of
Funko products mostly, but... I also slide in
some video games and some pop hunts and toy store
visits. Also, you can find me on Instagram, where
once again, I'm Beardapop. I also do whatnot,
and on whatnot, you can find me, surprise, surprise,
as Beardapop. Yeah, it's really about the magnitude
of my social media. Very cool, very cool. All
right, so where did the name come from is that
just what you decided to call yourself one day?
Or is there a specific story behind beard of
pop? Well, I was I was just Adam At the very
beginning and then honestly one of my friends
Brad who? Helps me with a lot of stuff still
He was the one who came up with that whole deal.
I give him credit. He was a I was, we were thinking
of names and he's an artist and for my birthday,
because I started in June of 2019. So 2019 for
my birthday, he drew me this elaborate picture
that was like me with the Looney Tunes emblem
with the beard of pop juggling pops. And I was
like, and that's where it came from. That's awesome.
That is so, so cool. Yeah. Check them out folks.
You can also join the Facebook group if you want
to as well. All those links will be in the show
this show, so thank you for joining us here on
Toycast. If you'd like to get contact with us
or leave feedback for the show, there are several
ways to do so. Visit the website, geekcastradio
.com, where you can listen to and comment on
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was Transformers ToyCast, and now it's just ToyCast.
I am at TFG1Mike on Twitter. Become a fan on
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Radio Network. You can also check out TF ToyCast
over there as well. For now, I am TFG1Mike with...
Beardapop. Join us next time when we'll be talking
more toys here on ToyCast.
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