Star Wars Toys: Collecting Across Generations

You might want to check your mic. I can hear

scratching in the background, and it's not the

cats. It could be that my manly beard is scratching

against the microphone. I can't help that. Well,

yeah, you can. Don't put your face too close

to the mic. Well, my levels have always been

inconsistent, so I don't think we're going to

shock anybody. This is Scott Toy Guru Nightlake

and you're listening to the GeekCast Radio Network.

Hey, this is Scott Toy Guru Nightlake and you're

listening to ToyCast. And now ToyCast, oh yes,

listen in to the only toy podcast you will ever

need. So welcome to Toycast. This is order 166,

folks. That's right, it is order 166. We added

100 more orders onto order 66. I'm, of course,

TFJ and Mike. Joining me is Josh the Floor Burger.

Hello, I'm a burger. How can you be on the floor

when space has no floor or ceiling? Hello, I'm

a burger. Uh -huh. Hello, you're a burger. Can

you hear me now? No, I can hear you just fine.

Can you hear me? Jesus Christ, don't scare me

like that. And yes, it is 2023 for all that 2023

is going to be, I guess. And we're here to talk

about the galaxy of toys. A full galaxy from

far, far away from a long time ago. Mm hmm. Yes,

that's exactly. And we've got nine bullet points

here that we're going to be bringing up. And

what did I do with that document? God damn it.

Yay, more editing for me. Motherfucker, where

is that? I would not have put that here. I don't

think what I have. Why is it anyway? All right,

so you've got nine things you want to talk about

when it comes to these Star Wars action figures.

And we are starting with, we're starting with

what? What are we starting with, Josh? Well,

I think for me, I can talk about my history with

Star Wars being born in 1984, which is after

all of the original trilogy was released. Being

born in 84 means it would take me still yet a

couple of years until I was old enough to play

with any sort of toys. By that point, Star Wars

was done. There was not really a whole lot of

Star Wars content out there for anybody really

to digest, with the exception of a couple of

stray random movies like the Ewok Adventures

or anything like that. Yeah. Yeah. Which we still

appreciate those like we appreciated all of those

little bits as a kid. If you were to actually

tell me that the Ewok Adventure with the guy

from the oatmeal commercials was a Star Wars

piece. Would tell you I had no idea I have you

ever seen that one. I have no idea what you're

talking about. Nope I'll send you a link later,

but The guy from the oatmeal commercials who

had diabetes he He was in it and there was all

these little critters. It was actually I would

say it was closer to willow in structure or design

in my opinion then you would actually X Expect

out of a Star Wars film. So it's very not Star

Wars. It's more willow. Hmm, however Growing

up. I didn't really have a whole lot of knowledge

of Star Wars I think it wouldn't be till 87 or

88 that I actually watched an aspect of I want

to say probably Empire Strikes Back as my family

was one of the first to have a Now I bear with

me here. Some of our audience may never have

heard of this thing called a Oh no, they know

what VCRs are, but what they don't probably know

is originally it was on Betamax. Well, whenever

I saw it, it was because we had a Zenith VCR.

And so whenever that came out, my family had

it and we had people over and we had like this

whole experience of watching the Empire Strikes

Back on VHS. It was really exciting. But the

only Star Wars toys that I had were pretty much

hand -me -downs. I don't know where they came

from I think some maybe came from a cousin I

think my brother had some so I know I grew up

with one of the original Darth Vader's I remember

having a Darth Vader and I might still have him

somewhere He got chewed up by a dog quite a bit.

So he was pretty beat up. I Know that we had

at least an IG 88. I think we also had IG 88

really? Yeah and we had a Leia as Boush, Boush,

Boush, whatever. Yes, yes, Boush, Boush, Boush.

I feel like we're casting a spell by saying that,

but... Bippity Boppity Boush. Which, as a child,

I didn't know that Leia was, or Boush, I didn't

know that the figure was depicting Leia. To me,

it was just another male character that I had,

so that just shows how much I know. And we had

a Boba Fett that was always one of my favorites.

Boba Fett was not Boba Fett to me because I didn't

know the character growing up. I was far too

young. So Boba Fett was just the cool badass

character. Oh boy, are we going to have different

opinions tonight because of our age gap? Well,

I think there's always something really special

about when kids get toys that they know nothing

about and they go and put their own story out

to you based on their appearance. However, one

of the last things I had now, this is pretty

much right up until Turtles, like there really

wasn't a lot of Star Wars stuff. So one of the

last things I had other than a couple of random

little figures here and there was it was like

a scratch and sniff children's book for Star

Wars. And I'm going to try to look it up while

we're talking. I should look it up a little bit

earlier. But the only thing I remember from it

was a section of the book. where there was a

mushroom scented patch for Dagobah. And it was

this very common bad smell that you could find

in scratch and sniff or aromatic books and toys

and stickers that were out there. And that was

the only last periphery thing that I had almost

until the mid -90s for Star Wars. Outside of

that, Star Wars was very much outside of my realm

of interest. Yeah, same for me. I was born four

years before you in 80 and I was born the year

the second film came out. And I think I want

to say it was probably 87 when I finally saw

the original 1970. It was 10 years after the

original films released. So I was seven years

old in 87 and I saw Star Wars. And I liked it.

I thought it was cool. I thought it was fun.

I have never had any of the Star Wars toys. Other

than what I currently have in Funko Pops, which

we'll talk about at the very end of this show.

But I never had any Star Wars toys. I never had

any interest in the Star Wars toys because they

were essentially... Mask characters in space

to me because I had all the mask guys from mask

I had the mat trackers and the Bruce sato's and

the hondos and the whatever else I had all those

Technically, I guess you could call them mini

action figures because they were short as hell

But they had to be to fit in the vehicles because

let's face it with masks It's all about the vehicles,

but I never had any Star Wars stuff as a kid

and by the end of that movie at seven years old

I was like wait, that's it They save the day,

they get a medal, and that's it? Now, not knowing

at seven years old and 87, a second and third

film had come out in 80 and 83, Empire is such

a down movie. It's just so depressing. I mean,

at least Jedi had the Ewoks. as he takes a drink

of whatever he's drinking. That would be my blue

milk that I'm having. Yes, yes. So I mean, as

a kid being born in 84, like I didn't have that

same impression that you had, because obviously

when you're three years old, four years old,

five years old, you get some fleeting impressions

of things, but it's pretty minimal. Yeah. For

me, though. I wouldn't really, so I'm kind of

going down our list of points, I wouldn't really

get into Star Wars until the re -releases in

the mid -90s. And didn't they start with the

VHS or did they go to the theater first? The

toys or the movies? Oh, good question. I don't

think the toys ever went to the theaters. I remember

having... the three VHS copies because the three

VHS copies were the classic kind of film posters

except on VHS cardboard. And I don't think they

they had some of the graphical changes that.

No, no, they're no. George Lucas said he had

yet to screw with his own trilogy yet. No, they

didn't start. I want to say the the the Lucas

thing around happened in 97. I think that's about

right. So yeah, 97. And Kenner, like I said for

me, this is a you episode. You had these toys.

I didn't. Outside of Mask, I wanted, I think

Mask and Thundercats, I wanted nothing to do

with Kenner, because I couldn't stand those little

Laction figures. They were too damn tiny. Well,

and that maybe is from your experience with that.

However, I do want to point out I'm looking at

I might have found the book I was mentioning

like the the scratch and sniff book Mm -hmm not

a hundred percent sure anymore Richard Hive It's

called shiny as a droid. Oh God, that sounds

like if c3po came out with a solo album after

Star Wars was over Yeah, that's what that sounds

like I know but from best of my recollection

because there's a page out of Dagobah Dagobah

or whatever my Americanized accent will tell

me but it does Have a scene where I think you

can smell it and it's a little weird Yeah areas

to touch and smell and I just remember it being

this really funky artificial smell. So maybe

one day Yeah, no, no, it was just patchouli.

Yeah But this was a weird funky Like you've been

to the gym five days in a row and you haven't

showered sort of cheesy smell. But. When I started

getting into Star Wars, I don't remember what

came first, whether we got the VHS tapes or I

started talking to friends who knew about Star

Wars, and it seemed like in 95, 96 Star Wars

was kind of taboo growing up in my age group.

Now, I know you're a couple of years older than

me, but in my age group, it was taboo. That was

for the nerds. You don't You don't like Star

Wars. That was bad. That was awful. That was

for people that don't want any sort of social

status in sixth grade or whatever. But sixth

grade, I got exposed to it because kids were

playing the Star Wars trading card game. It was

like Magic the Gathering, but Star Wars. Yeah.

And I had no idea what they're doing. I'm watching

them play. I never learned, but I loved it. I

thought, hey, this is really cool. This is sort

of bringing this sort of abstract Movie sorry

I got a scared cat from doing something get out

of your kitty so It was it brought this movie

that I was afraid to watch to life a little bit

because I saw the characters and I saw The the

vehicles and I saw the worlds and I started feeling

that this was a really cool universe This was

something that was very established. It felt

very lived in. And that game brought it to life.

And it was really, really cool because I loved

Magic the Gathering at the time, too. And that

was another universe that was coming to life

for me through that game. So I think it was right

around that time. So this is 95, 96, that I got

the VHS releases and started watching them over

and over and over again. Because, again, I had

this thing called the VCR. Yes, we know video

cassette recorder. We get it. Yes. And so I watched

it and I started loving it. And I kept it secret,

though, believe it or not. I kept it secret.

I didn't really tell anybody. I think my mom

knew and some of my friends started to know.

But when I made a couple friends in 96, 97, who

also like Star Wars, the world expanded. And

I think Star Wars is always going to be symbolic

for me as a person as. When I got into Star Wars

I was growing now old enough where it wasn't

I was this little kid and I just knew my Couple

of friends and I was home. My universe was expanding.

I was meeting new people seeing people from other

neighborhoods I started riding my bike further

and further Outside of my normal spaces and Star

Wars represented this expansion in my life So

at the same time that I started liking Star Wars

more I met a group of friends who actually did

Essentially what was live -action roleplay? Star

Wars in their neighborhood and they had designated

different parts of their neighborhood as different

planets from the movies Oh interesting. Yeah,

so it was so there was a forested area that they

called Endor and then there was a more I wouldn't

say commercial but just a fancier that they called

Coruscant and so they had different names for

everything and Started learning about this and

it was fascinating to me now talking to my friend

who lived there and lived through it She'll tell

you it wasn't really that big of a deal and I

thought it was a bigger deal than it really was

which knowing me is not exactly out of this realm

of possibility, but I Started exploring that

with them and getting to know them and really

just being fascinated with that world as they

learn more about Star Wars So I actually ended

up getting This Star Wars encyclopedia is one

of the first ones that was really released. It's

about as thick as a Bible. It was a compendium

of everything that was known about Star Wars

in like ninety six. Everything that was that

you could put into a book is in that book in

ninety six. And it was amazing. I read that thing

cover to cover more times than I can count. Right.

And it was essentially it was what I viewed as

a Bible amongst my friends then at the time.

And so I still kept this very much a secret from

my family and a couple of my other friends and

when I'd be playing baseball Nobody knew I like

Star Wars. This is my like secret little world

that I had it was great Yeah, and then one day

my mom surprises me With my first and this is

like maybe 95 96. I'd have to see when the figure

was released My first for no reason at all my

first Star Wars tenor figure and that modern

real it release of Luke Skywalker in his Hoth

gear And I wasn't sure what to think of it because

you know by 95 96 I'm right at that point like

around 10 or 11 so Not sure what my feelings

are about toys But what really attracted me to

that figure was the lightsaber Mm -hmm. Now you've

had GI Joe's you've had all of those things and

they've had swords but they've never had a lightsaber.

They've never had a flashlight as a sword. Yes,

exactly. And so I cracked it open and I I don't

know if I was very familiar or very attached

to Luke Skywalker at that time, but the lightsaber

that became became. Wow, I'm pronouncing all

my words really well. That became the most coveted

weapon amongst all of my toys that I had at the

time. If they could hold it. that was like the

weapon to have and I'll never forget getting

that figure because I actually remember hiding

it in my dresser because I didn't want my brothers

to see it I didn't want them to know why like

Star Wars so I hit it and Kept it in the package

and I have no idea whatever happened to that

figure or the weapon or anything like that it

it may be a million different places, but I actually

re -bought that figure recently. I don't know

if it's the same card that I got But see, I'm

throwing those arms in there. I'm trying to be

so good about it. However, I did buy it recently,

so I'll never forget that Luke Skywalker in Hawthorne

because that was my first Star Wars figure. But

that would be my only Star Wars figure pretty

much until college at that point. Yeah. Yeah,

so just to make sure the Star Wars fandom doesn't

come after us. Yes 1997 is when the special editions

of the original trilogy were released theatrically

from January through March for the 20th anniversary

of Star Wars and that featured all the Whatever

that Lucas wanted to add into it. So So yeah

Yeah, I mean like I've seen like the Star Wars

stuff now like I've I see the old stuff now I'm

like, oh that's cool. That's cool, but I never

Like was never into it never had I Don't know.

It just wasn't wasn't as much as I love the movies

You know, I just never get into the toys so you're

in college and you have fascination with Kenner

Star Wars How much did you start collecting in

college or did you start getting them more and

more? So I don't know if I've talked about this

story in college, but when I was in college I

I unfortunately was one of those kids who had

the privilege to go to college But I didn't know

what I wanted to do when I got there, right?

So I was that oh poor me I'm a upper middle class

white dude who has this amazing opportunity I'm

literally letting it fall through my hands. And

so I struggled a lot in college I didn't I kept

my grades up. I was always a pretty decent student,

but I was all over the place. I didn't know Should

I go to the parties? Should I go to class? Should

I get a job? Should I? My life was all over the

place and I made a lot of very very I Wouldn't

say bad choices. Just very Confusing choices

looking back at it like why would I do such a

thing? One of the things that helped me Recover

from that really difficult dark moment that I

had especially in my first semester of college

and kind of part of my second college was second

semester of college I Found a comic shop a nice

walking distance away from my dorm You had to

go almost across the entire campus and walk a

little further to get there. So it was always

such a nice adventure that you had to commit

to, and it was something that got me out of my

dorm, which is really important, you know? And

they had, not only was it just an amazing sort

of independent comic shop that this guy just

put together, it was an extension of his personality

and his style, but they had an amazing dig bin,

and they had amazing low -priced resold figures.

And I started buying up tenor figures. So Chewbacca,

Han Solo, Stormtroopers, Vader, all of those.

Right. And I was a big fan of what is now Dinosaur

Dracula. Back then was called X Entertainment.

OK. And he did a lot of action figure adventure

comic sort of articles and a combination of this

comic shop and that website. gave me sort of

that inspiration and the motivation to sort of

get through this really awkward point in my life.

And so I actually somewhere on a storage drive

have pictures of me doing a tour of my dorm room

because I was that bored or random that I made

a tour of my dorm room using Star Wars figures

and other random figures I got out of this dig

bin for a dollar or two dollars or whatever it

was. Kenner figures have not really gone up in

value, so you can still get them for two bucks,

three bucks, four bucks, five bucks loose. And

it's amazing. So I started building up quite

a large group of those figures for quite some

time in my first two years of college. And I

eventually sold them to a friend of mine who

had a son who was really into Star Wars. So I

was like, OK, that seems to just work. Like,

let's go ahead and do that. And that was maybe

2010, 2011 I did that. I have a soft spot that

I eventually went back and bought several of

my favorites on card. So right now on my wall,

I have a lot of the main cast from Chewbacca

to Lando to some expanded universe guys to some

of the main characters that I just have carded

now. And I really, really love having that little

piece of history on my wall right now. Yeah,

very cool, very cool Yeah, I mean like I said

I see a lot of them and for me where I Really

really dig them is like, you know We'll talk

about this later is the funko pops because they

do some pretty cool stuff with those funko pops,

but So alright, so we get we're getting through

college and we're expanding your collection Like

you said from around 2006 to 2012 ish You've

talked about selling them off What is it about

the black series that everyone loves so much?

I don't dislike it. I'm just wondering like is

the black series the ultimate? Version of whatever

character you can get now now. We kind of jumped

a couple points Do you want to jump to the black

series? It's up to you. Oh I still have a few

more stories, but I mean I can Black series is

very different for me now than when it came out.

We'll come back to that So actually, it wasn't

until later in college, when I had a little bit

more disposable income, that I got into Revenge

of the Sith figures. I hated all of the Attack

of the Clones and the Clone War figures that

came from that period, but when we got to Revenge

of the Sith, you got a whole lot more figures

that were very poseable, with no action features,

and they're not pre -posed, which was very rare

for Star Wars figures at the time, if you remember.

I don't know if you have any memory of that.

But I remember seeing them and yeah, they were

a little sketchy Yeah, and so in college I started

feeling that Star Wars figures and this is where

I really was uneducated and uninformed about

Star Wars figures I just felt that they were

more plentiful and easier to collect Than other

figures that were out at the time Like there

were a couple of the figures that were pretty

out like different lines that were easy to collect

But I felt that, and this was probably due to

the fact that the movie was just released and

there was a huge demand for the figures, that

it was easier. So I started building up a massive

clone trooper army from Revenge of the Sith.

I don't know what my numbers ended at because

I ended up selling everything, but I would say

I had a clone army that was in probably the 150

to 175 troop range. of just basic grunt troopers

to captains to generals and Beyond and it was

a massive massive Collection and I loved it and

it was so much fun But when I graduated college,

I had to take down my display from my apartment.

I had a couple of wall -mounted shelves that

were just lined with clone troopers and it was

For me, it was probably one of the coolest things

about my apartment. I didn't really care for

my apartment, but I had this huge collection

of clone troopers all throughout and I thought

it was amazing. So when I moved and I came home,

it became a little bit different. I didn't really

have the space to display them. I didn't really

have that same kind of shelving system that I

had in my apartment. And it really came down

to because I ended up living in a five bedroom

house by myself for part of 2006 to 2008. Okay.

It sort of came down to what do I do with myself

as a 22 year old, 23 year old. So I was buying

stuff and buying more stuff for my collection.

And I'm watching my cat knock over Thor. Thank

you very much. And I started expanding into vehicles

and play sets and I built up this massive really

great Star Wars collection from about 2006 to

about 2010 or 11 or so and I had clone ships

and fighter ships and I had so much stuff that

eventually Had to decide with Star Wars. What

do I want to do? And so that brings us back to

black series because black series is where I

said Do I want to do the normal Star Wars scale

or do I want to switch to black series, right?

So if you're asking what's the appeal of black

series? We're gonna have to pause for a second

because I have a cat that's precariously balancing

on a glass. Hang on one second. Yep 27 30 Seven

edit point. Yeah, this is what happens when you

try to podcast with a bunch of cats. So black

series comes out and at that point I was sort

of at a crossroads of I know I'm eventually going

to have limited space. Do I want to stick with

the six inch stuff, which is where I'm leaning

towards more and I can have better crossovers

with. Hasbro's Marvel Legends at the time and

DC and Lord of the Rings and other six inch lines

or do I want to stick at the GI Joe scale? Yeah,

and really what it came down to was I saw the

values that my Star Wars collection was pulling

in and I decided that I needed money because

my wife and I had just moved in together and

I would never really have the space for the Star

Wars stuff. So I started selling it off. That's

why Black Series 1 was more compatible with other

stuff I had. And I was making hundreds of dollars

at every toy show just on my Star Wars stuff.

Well, yeah, I mean, you know, 2010 to 2012 ish,

you have almost 40 years. 50 years, I don't know,

however many, you know, since the figures and

all that, you know, if you've had all these things

all this time, and like you said, you were troop

building. So yeah, I. Well, I had a lot of the

Expanded Universe figures. I had a lot of the

special exclusive figures. I had video game.

I had every avenue and I was buying up everything

I could find. So I had some really cool, really

unique items that. lot of people didn't because

I just was very lucky and very good at toy hunting

at the time and It pained me to sell some of

them but it was also a little bit cathartic of

trying to move on to a new phase of my life because

Star Wars collecting was a Pretty big piece of

my life prior to getting engaged and moving in

with my wife It was just it did feel like a good

way to move on. I do have a couple of regrets

about it because There are some characters I

don't think will ever get remade by Black Series.

I don't think we'll ever see a Kyle Katarn. We

might never see a Dash Rendar. We might not ever

see some of the other random one -offs from the

comic books that came out in the early part of

the 2000s, from 2005 to 2010. We might not ever

see some of those characters that had the four

-inch figures out, for instance. There was Star

Wars. I think it's called Legacy. So there was

like the great, great, great, great grandson

of Luke Skywalker that I had to figure for who's

not out any, you know, I don't think he'll ever

come out black series. Yeah. And there was so

many cool characters from that book. I don't

know if you're familiar with Star Wars Legacy,

but so many cool characters are in that and I

don't think they'll ever come out again. You

know, I don't know. I mean, it's Hasbro now and

Hasbro does things. in a way that, like I said

before, kind of comparing the original Kenner

line to what the Black Series is, like, is the

Black Series, like, okay, your original Hoth

Luke that was Kenner versus, let's say, a Black

Series Hoth Luke, is the Black Series one improved

over what the original one was as far as, does

that, like, you look at Transformers and The

Transformers Kingdom Commander Class Rodimus

Prime is essentially the original Rodimus Prime

toy, but modernized and better because he has

everything he came with when he was, you know,

the original toy way back when in the 80s, but

this is a more... modern, like his legs can move

better, his this can move better, his that, you

know, you can do all kinds of things. So that's

my point in saying all of this is now that Hasbro

has had the Star Wars license for God knows how

long, they are always making the next biggest,

betterest, most accurate thing. So I don't hold

my breath. when it comes to whether some of these

figures are gonna get remade or not. Well, I

think the beauty part about Star Wars is that

you have a huge library, not Star Wars, excuse

me. The beauty part about Transformers is that

you have this huge legacy catalog of so many

different figures that I'm not gonna say they're

easy to redesign, but giving them that modern

technology that we have now. I'm looking at my

own shelf and I have I think it's power the primes

cup Mm -hmm, and I had the original cup when

I was a kid. Yeah, and I was better Oh Even with

the power the primes Gimmick of the swappable

head or whatever. Yeah, it's still a much better

figure But it's got enough nostalgia to it. And

I think that's the cool part about Transformers

is that when they're re releasing some of these

figures Most of us just knew those characters

straight from Transformers toys Not all of them

had a huge presence on the show so there's a

few figures I have that literally are just because

I knew of them as figures and not as Yeah, right

exactly, but again it goes to my point though

This is a toy company that wants to make money.

The best way they're gonna make money with Star

Wars is if they re -release figures in whatever

the modern toy making is now. That's my point

in saying that is why I don't think I'm gonna

hold my breath because at some point they're

going to come out with something that is going

to outdo whatever Kenner did back in the 90s.

Yeah, and they have done a couple of special

edition Star Wars figures that are on a cutter.

Excuse me a Kenner card back, right? But I don't

think I'm looking at one of the first releases

of Luke Skywalker and the dude is jacked. He's

got a massive chest and shoulders and biceps

and Chewy as well and Lando looks like he just

got back from the gym from for about six months

straight Even Darth Vader has biceps that are

crazy. I don't think we're ever going to see

homage to the muscular Kenner figures oh yeah

that's not what I'm saying I'm just saying I'm

not saying I I still think that would be awesome

and I'd probably buy them just because I think

this hilarious can you can you imagine a Darth

Vader as stretch Armstrong that would be hilarious

yeah but I I don't think we're going to see that

level of homage I from from Hasbro right now,

but I think We will Hopefully get those kind

of one -offs, but it really depends on what their

strategy is right now Hasbro is in this weird

Point in their their toy manufacturing where

they're giving a lot of rereleases and reuses

with Minimized paint and accessories and they're

increasing the price. So I think spending the

tooling on a Kyle Katarn We're spending the tooling

on a muscular Luke or a Kade Skywalker. Is that

his name? I could not tell you. Or Darth Katus

or whatever it is. There's there's a lot of characters

out of that that they unless it's like an exclusive

or a special one off, I don't I don't see them

right now making some of those figures. Now,

they've surprised me in the past, but. There's

some stuff I don't think that they will put out

unless it has a deep amount of content like and

or has Yeah And I don't know man Between the

other one you mentioned and Kyle They are like

Kyle I'm looking at his eyes Wikipedia thing

like the Jedi Knight series Star Wars literature

like like he's only been in You know books he's

been in the role -playing game but from Wizards

of the Coast but and Star Wars signatures, but

like He was in three pretty three or four pretty

well -known Star Wars games that a lot of people

took as Major cannon at the time Yeah, he's been

in the video games. But again, that's what I'm

saying. He's been in the games and the books

and the video games. See, there is no live action

or even animated appearance of him anywhere according

to this page. And that's what I'm saying. Maybe

he's a character that is such of a sort of a...

I could be wrong in saying this. I don't know.

I'm just saying what I'm seeing here is he could

be one of those special, Hey, guess what? Order

this ship from the video game off of Hasbro pulse.

And you can get a Kyle Katarn figure if we hit

our third stretch goal or whatever the hell.

The only problem with, with Kyle Katarn, for

instance, is that he in the video game, it was

set as Canon prior to Disney's buyout. Cannon

he was the person who helped steal the the Death

Star plans Delivered those to the rebels and

then after that he took out the the Dark Troopers

like the the massive robot Yep characters that

were in I think Mandalorian season 2 at the end.

Yes, you are correct and then So he fought those

off and destroyed their factory or whatever and

then he met with Luke Skywalker and did this

whole thing with the Valley of the Jedi and he

found out he was a Jedi and Did all like he had

all these adventures in the game that were continued

considered cannon back then but just the fact

that they had rogue one come out and now and

or His whole existence has been wiped out. So

that's why I don't think we're gonna see a huge

chance with them because he is contradicted out

of Existence. Well, that sucks and his games

I you know, I know you you play a couple games

here and there They're rudimentary by today's

standards, but I think you'd enjoy the the what's

the word I'm looking for? Just the the how you

are dropped into the Star Wars universe. Yeah

in that the last Yeah, the last Star Wars game

that I played video game that I played was Okay,

it was twofold. It was the original big arcade

trilogy game that they used to have in like movie

theaters and stuff where you sit in the thing

and it's surround sound and all that you can

pick between the three films the original trilogy

and then the last game after that that I played

was probably episode one for ps2 Yeah, I think

I played a lot of those dark forces series and

I remember the the first dark forces game I'll

never forget the moment and this is this is one

of those important pieces in my life So I got

the game. I can't remember how I got it again.

It was something I think my mom helped me get

I install it on the computer and I remember it

being a process to try to install it. It was

difficult and I get in the game and I remember

getting my first Stormtrooper rifle and firing

it and had the same sound effect from the movie

in that moment right there It's made me a Star

Wars fan Yeah, that's that's always great when

the sound effects match what you saw versus what

you can play as that's always so good Yeah, that

was the huge moment that made me a lifelong Star

Wars fan of I'm literally running around shooting

these characters With the sound effects and the

effects that I've seen before so that's why Kyle

Katarn is is an important character for me And

I really regret selling his his later star. I

have his first Released figure. I I unfortunately

regret selling his later one But I think looking

at Black series now Don't know how much you collect

or how much you're familiar with it I've seen

it. I know that there's finally a really good

Jar Jar figure The Jar Jar figure I'm not gonna

lie is literally in the mouth of the Jurassic

Park T -rex that swallows figures. It's it's

literally sitting in his mouth getting eaten

Poor Jar Jar. He gets no respect. Nope, nor should

he Stop it. No the character. No the actor who

played him needs all the respect in the world.

Mm -hmm. Absolutely All right, where are we going

next Well, I I was gonna touch a little bit just

on Star Wars black series and my thoughts about

it because I do have pretty good amount and I

think as a Star Wars collector at any point there's

The early couple of waves had some major misses.

The paint apps were very weak. They were very

simplistic. Some are so sad that I just waited

until I saw the figures at five below. I think

I have about four or five figures on my shelf

right now from Rogue One that I found at five

below for I think five bucks. Yeah. Would not

give them for full price They were terrible and

then I think one of them actually is notorious

for having sat at Target for about three years

after the movie came out Oh my god, it was awful

There's some real big hits and there's some really

amazing figures throughout that line Yeah, but

I don't feel that it's economically viable anymore.

It's really expensive. You don't get a ton for

what you pay and It's It's gotten to be Very

difficult to find anything that you're interested

in You just you can't find a lot of figures There's

a lot of figures that I've never seen actually

hit this hit retail There's so many like Cobb

van from Mandalorian never saw him retail period

end of story I never saw I'm trying to think

who else I've had to like hunt down and get in

a special way There's a recent Darth Vader that

I've never seen. There's a... Not Qui -Gon. Who

is Sam Al Jackson's character? Mace Windu. Never

saw him hit retail. Now that might just be my

area. That might be just like me hunting at that

time. But it's either you never see them or you

see 500 Lando's for two years. Yeah. That's the

one thing I don't understand. I kind of know

how the Transformers aspect works, but with Star

Wars, it's like, why would you, if you're a store,

whatever, insert store name here, and let's say

Hasbro has, oh, if you want this figure, you

have to order so much of this other figure. Like,

why would they pick, and look, Lando's a cool

character, he's a cool dude, he might have some

cool action figures, I haven't seen any recently.

You know but It always baffles me the one character

or the one action figure that just gets Abandoned

by everyone at the store and sits on shelves

shelf warming So Scott Knight like has done a

couple of videos that shed a little bit of light

on that again He he's got some pretty strong

knowledge about Toy lines and toy series and

how they come out and for the most part I agree

with a lot of his opinions and a lot of his Observations

and a lot of his commentary really fits with

the way things work whether or not people want

to agree with it But he kind of pointed out that

they're just some figures that because of just

the way action figures have always worked nobody

wants to buy them for one reason or another and

Sometimes it's just a really bad gamble by retailers

and The toy companies to think oh, this is gonna

be huge. Yeah I mean, I don't know like Yeah,

it's it's so weird how it's handled it's so weird

how It's all handled and it's just crazy. Well

You know take Lord of the Rings for example Please,

no, I don't. You can keep your ring. Thank you.

No, no, no, no, it's actually I don't know if

you remember from Scott Knightlick's interview

about what he said about Toy Biz and how they're

managing that line and stuff like that and why

it was so cheap despite the very unique tooling.

If you know anything about any lines right now,

tooling is very expensive, but how they're selling

it at for ten dollars and under. And so plentifully

with I'm looking at. My figures right now and

the only figures that really share tooling are

pretty much the hobbits and it was only a box

set where they all kind of share the same tooling

yeah, but If you think about it at the time There

were some figures that sold really well some

figures that did not but one of the figures that

sat on the shelf for the longest time was a Bilbo

figure who had a barrel and he was kind of known

as keg stand Bilbo because it was from the brief

scene of Bilbo standing on a barrel delivering

a speech to the Shire and Well, you know that's

because it was his eleventy first birthday and

he was drunk Well, yeah, and he was trying to

escape and he was doing all that stuff but the

reason that really didn't sell as far as I have

been figuring out is that you don't really you

have to with a lot of figures people buy a lot

of the times you have to see it as either a a

narrative you can put on your shelf there's a

story you can tell or you see yourself in that

figure in some way or you feel a connection to

it He literally was just a short dude standing

on a barrel and there's not a whole lot of need

for that. Now I wish I could have it. I'd put

them down on my bar as keg stand Bilbo. I think

that would be hilarious if I had that now, but

I don't. But there are a lot of figures out there

that because people don't see themselves in the

shoes of that figure, see it as an extension

of themselves or they don't have a connection

to it. They don't buy it and unfortunately with

black series. There's been a handful that people

are like Nah, and that's why right now you can

go get massive amounts of different Imperial

officers that had five seconds of screen time

that have a black series figure but yet you want

to go find a Vance Cobb or Cobb Vance or whatever

his name was I have never seen that because We

needed to make room for the Imperial, the fourth

Imperial officer from the left in that brief

scene with the Mandalorian. This part has been

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

actually here. So I think when it comes to Black

Series and Star Wars at the end of the day, it's

a very cool, very neat, very unique, very memorable

line to come out. And I think it's going to be

an evergreen line. I think there's always going

to be people who are going to want to buy Star

Wars toys for probably the next 30 years. And

they have a lot of molds that they can use for

probably the next 30 years. You go to Galaxy's

Edge at either the Disney parks. I don't care

who you are. You don't need a perfect paint job.

But when you get off any of the rides, when you

go through the Bantu or whatever land it is,

you're going to see Wow, that's that's the guy

I saw on the ride it was just on I want to go

buy that and Whether it's the four inch size

or it's a six inch size there's going to be someone

who's going to want to buy that from now on and

Whether you know people like black series or

not I think it's going to be a toy line that

it's going to take over a decade to go away If

it and again Black series seems to be there kind

of We can put anything in here and call it black

series we can you know, it's their catch -all

of Why it will stay relevant is they're finding

ways to put like whoever thought we would get

a really great Jar Jar Binks figure No one really

ever thought that before and then boom. Here's

the black series version and The funny thing

is about the the six -inch Jar Jar Binks is that

I think some people are gonna buy it are ironically

like me and it'll wind up in wrestling rings

and in the mouth of a t -rex and getting eaten

and run over by other toys and beaten up by Batman

and I think some people are gonna buy it because

they're gonna be a completionist or I think some

people are gonna avoid it, but I bought mine

on clearance I think for four bucks Still You

know it is what it is. I'm just saying That's

the one character I keep going back to because

that's the one character that I think no one

thought would ever really get a better figure

than what the original one was and Here we are

with the black series version All right, what's

next oh I'm at the end of my list. Oh you are

you don't want to relive the Kenner figures again

Oh, I I kind of touched on that before where

I just started rebuying some of the Kenner figures

in the package and Started grabbing some of the

the key ones I really liked and some of the ones

I had and I think one of the best parts about

the Kenner figures that I'm reliving is that

They're very cheap. You can get them for three

five six seven eight bucks Like they're still

one of the more affordable lines you can get

and they're filled with nostalgia. They're they're

a time capsule Of an era before disney bought

out star wars when star wars was relaunching

and hitting the nostalgia feels and. There is

some really good quality to them and there's

some really weird issues and then there's some

comedy to them like the muscular figures. Yes

the fact that i from across the room i can see

that lando has abs. Really weird but that's just

what they did and they were selling extremely

well at the time. And it did bring me back to

remembering when, what is it, Phantom Menace

came out and everybody was buying up those figures

because they were gonna put their kids through

college again. And all the figures that came

out after that that people were hoping would

put their kids through college again. And now

they're five bucks and they're six bucks and

it's always hard for me when I... Talk to people

and they're like, oh I've got all these Kenner

Star Wars figures and I get excited because They're

like I just want to sell them. I want to get

them to somebody and then they send me a picture

and it's unfortunately just the Kenner figures

and the 90s ones and and Yeah Everybody who was

really into it Unfortunately hoped that they

would be hitting the same value as the original

figures, but Yeah, and the original figures only

have value to them if the paint is great and

they have all their accessories and I've seen

people who've had bowls of Kenner Original trilogy

from 77 and 80 and 82 and 83 84 they just have

buckets of them that they have like Ziploc bags

of Chewbacca's and they're five bucks apiece

From the original and that's that's why I have

the the vintage Chewbacca I have is that he was

in a Ziploc bag of four five bucks Wow All right,

so since you're done with your list, I guess

I'll talk about a few of the things so for me

I'm trying to remember. What was my first Star

Wars Funko pop? Was it Don't remember I can remember

my first ever Funko pop or my second ever Funko

pop But I don't remember which one was the first

ever Star Wars one for me in Star Wars and Funko

it has to be something that I Know I'm probably

never gonna want an actual action figure of I

just want the character So they did a Funko shop

exclusive Darth Vader force joke. So it's basically

the Darth Vader mold except in the His left hand

is making the fist like he's force choking whichever

general screwed him over or whatever and Then

the Obi -Wan series comes out and I'm like, okay.

I need an Obi -Wan I don't have an Obi -Wan and

all the original Obi -Wans are way too expensive

So I got that and of course, I actually have

these sitting on my desk right now. I've got

Force choke Darth Vader. I've got Obi -Wan Darth

Vader and I've got Riva the third sister from

the Obi -Wan series and on top of those I have

Young Luke old Luke and Chewbacca. I Don't know

where my Obi -Wan he's a lost Jedi dude. I don't

know where he is He's he's over there in the

wall of Funko somewhere and what I like about

the Star Wars Funko stuff that I do have is that

It reminds me of a moment in the movies or it

reminds me of this or it's just a cool pose that

you're not gonna see Though that character in

Anywhere else kind of thing. I will say my old

Luke. He kind of hobbles a bit I don't know what's

wrong with him. I got a look at him. His head

is kind of like Bubbling off its spring for some

odd reason But what they're doing with the Funko

Star Wars stuff is is so great. I have I think

it's still in storage It's wedge Yeah, it's wedge

Porkins and Biggs. I believe they did a pilot's

three -pack. Oh, I love it It's so cool because

you know for me. It's like I just want those

characters I think that is super cool that they

put those three characters together because they

are the pilots from from the X -Wing scene and

all that and everything else. So yeah, where

would you like, what else would you like to say

before I take it to a break? I mean, I think

as I've made my stance sometimes on Pops both

exaggerated and well known, I think one of the

cool things about Pops is that, like you said,

they kind of capture a moment in time, which

During the 90s and early 2000s there was a movement

of having pre -posed figures and permanently

post figures in certain moments from media that

we knew and As much as sometimes I've been overly

critical of pops I think one of the neat parts

about it is that you can have this iconic imagery

of a figurine that is the pop style the big black

button eyes and stuff like that. And you can

have it in a moment that you can always say,

hey, I remember that, which was one of the cool

parts about some of the nineties toys. That's

what they did. So. When I look at my black series

figures, even though they are highly detailed

and arguably more detailed and articulated than

pops. Even though I can put them in certain poses

They're not always specific to that moment in

time that perhaps you have with your pops, which

is sort of one of those Aspects of pops that

I really respect of hey, I have a Darth Vader

standing there. He's just sort of a vanilla standing

Darth Vader Yeah, absolutely and They do some

really great things. I'm looking at the website

now and I think the one place, and I don't know

if I'll ever get this figure, but one place Funco

kind of went a little overboard was they did

an art series version of Darth Vader where he

was All white and all I can hear is Hooper X

in my head. And Jedi is the most insulting installment

because Vader's beautiful black visage is sullied

when he pulls off his mask to reveal a feeble

crusty old white man. They trying to tell us

that deep inside we all want to be white. Well

isn't that true? It was a Walmart exclusive so

I bet Walmart had something to do with it Well,

you know what Walmart is about trust the old

men as much as possible Alrighty then on that

some ads and some other stuff We'll come back

to close the show after this Hello Geeks and

Geekettes! Looking for a podcast that covers

a vast array of topics? Then check out Altered

Geek Unleashed, where we discuss our thoughts

on this week's geeky news, tech, gaming, television

shows, movies, cartoons, comics, and more. So,

Get Altered Get Geeky with the Altered Geeks,

every Friday on the Geekcast Radio Network. Alright

folks, we are back here on Toycast. It is 2023.

Holy crap. It's the 40th anniversary of Return

of the Jedi. Holy schnikes. Yikes. I'm old. Hello?

I'm here. I'm listening. I'm just looking up

some stuff about... How many years since Return

of the Jedi? 40? 40, I think. Yeah. Yeah 20 23

to 1983 say that's 40 years What's crazy to think

is that I do have some figures on my shelf that

are close to if not at 20 years old Uh -huh,

and then to think that return of the Jedi is

20 years before that Yes, those timelines really

screw us up don't they? Well, I think that's

always a cool perspective you can have as a collector

and someone who has a lot of older stuff. So

I don't know what year some of the Batman Returns

toys came out, but I would say 91, 92. I don't

remember the exact year. The movie came out in

92, so the toys were probably Christmas of 91

into summer of 92. Yeah. So, when we start thinking

about these 20 -year, 30 -year, 10 -year, 40

-year points, I think one of the interesting

things to think about is, oh, okay, so what was

20 years old 20 years ago? And how far have we

come in that point in time? You know? Yeah, absolutely.

We are... We are two years removed from the 20th

anniversary of Revenge of the Sith. 2005 yeah

And that was such a pivotal moment for me as

a collector that's where a lot of my collecting

change was because of Revenge of the Sith toys

that whole era that period of time was huge for

me and I'm starting to get to that phase in collecting

where I can say wow, I've had this figure for

20 years as a collector and then I have had some

other toys that I'm that I can say the Boba Fett

is probably that's probably been in my family

for 40 ish years. Very cool. Very cool. Yeah,

it's this whole time thing is it's amazing and

and and weird and crazy and scary all at the

same time. Comes back to time folks and we are

about out of time next up on the show Steve Megatron

is gonna stop by and once in episode 167 He's

gonna talk about his customizing that he does

So that's what's coming up next after that. I

don't know not sure Beyond the Night is the GCRN's

latest review podcast. We are covering everything

in the Knight Rider television universe. From

the classic 80s TV series to the 1991 reunion

film, Team Knight Rider, and the 2008 relaunched

series as well. So join TF2 and Mike and Dion

the Music Man as they go in depth in Beyond the

Night only on GeekCast Radio Network. You can

find Beyond the Night in iTunes and on www .geekcastradio

.com. Good. Yes, Michael. Just keep driving.

Hey, welcome to the last Comic Shop Podcast!

A comic book podcast that actually talks about

comics. Yep, each week we open the shop up and

read and discuss a comic. Sometimes we pair that

up with comic book movies or TV shows. We're

not, lots of times it's just comic books and

sound effects. Oh yes, definitely lots of sound

effects. So check out all the major podcasting

platforms, The Last Comic Shop Podcast, or check

out our library of evergreen shows at www .lastcomicshoppodcast

.com. that's been around for over 10 years. We

cover everything from Doctor Who to the MCU to

pop culture and everything in between. A new

show drops on Tuesday mornings on the GCRN website

and all of the major podcast platforms. So listen

to the Mark Who 42's universe podcast from the

universe and beyond. One of the primary themes

of Toycast is that we focus on Time's Past. We

are who we are today because of the nostalgic

memories and experiences from our childhood.

Obviously we wouldn't be doing this podcast if

it weren't for the toys that make us so addicted

to nostalgia. Time's Past Collectibles in Chicago,

Illinois is your primary go -to collectible store

to reclaim the toys that drove those memories

and experiences. Specializing in action figures

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dose of nostalgia with a shop run by collectors

for collectors. Whether you are looking for Loose

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AFA graded Boba Fett, Times Pass Collectibles

is bringing you back to your childhood. Visit

the shop at 1450 North Ash I do know, and I'm

going to say this right now, on air... As much

as I've loved having the podcast back and doing

the podcast with you and Das and everybody else

that I've been doing it with, as much as I've

loved doing the Toycast Origins episodes and

all that stuff, whole point of bringing back

the show is to introduce the Toycast Police Department.

So by December 31st, 2023, we will have TCPD

at some point on this show. We'll talk about

that off -air because I have a couple thoughts

about that. Yeah, absolutely and Just to give

a little context folks in the toy world ordered

fan group over on Facebook Josh and I got conversing

a couple was it has it been a year since or two

years since we had the show I don't I don't know

whenever episode 100 released of the podcast

episode one -on -one to now is when Josh kind

of came on and snapped your finger why are you

snapping your fingers stop snapping your fingers

uh you know why is it that my microphone some

days can barely pick me up without sounding like

i'm in a tin can and then there's days where

my cat can fart in the wind on the other side

of the house and you can pick that up i don't

get it that was a cat fart it sounded like you

were snapping your fingers at me No, I'm cracking

my knuckles, but that's just kind of an example

of I've listened to this show where it sounds

like I'm on the other side of the house and yelling

at the microphone and then there's some days

where, like I said, my cat can fart into the

wind and you'll have to edit that out. Not at

this point. So yes, basically the genesis of

the idea was you said something in the group

about how there should be certain rules for toy

buying or certain whatever and you kind of equated

it to toy crimes. Am I remembering that right

or is that wrong? Yeah, we can discuss that.

I'm trying to give people context so they don't

just seem to think, which I would never do, like

we're making fun of police officers or police

department. It's not that at all, folks. It's

a very cool idea. Of course, Dave Draper is going

to be the crusty old chief of police if he'll

take the job. All right, we're gonna get the

heck out of here. Thank you for joining us here

on Toycast. If you'd like to get in contact with

us, we'll leave feedback for the show. There's

several ways to do so. Visit the website geekcastvideo

.com where you can listen to and comment on all

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at geek cast radio for that work at TF toy cast

for the show I am at TFG and Mike he is at floor

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go to Facebook comm slash geek cast radio network

and also check out toy cast over there as well

For now, I am TFG one Mike with Josh the floor

burger May the force be with you. Always. May

the floors be with you. No, we don't want your

floors and your nasty burgers. May the force

be with you. Always. And the floors. No floors.