Interview with Mike Seibert on Origins in Toy Collections

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

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Jazz here, and

I am so digging the Geekcast Radio Network. Cliffjumper,

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

Listen in to the only toy podcast you will ever

need. Hello, and welcome to an all -new generation

of ToyCasts as we get the origins of any and

all toy fans that we can. I'm, of course, TF2

and Mike, and today's featured guest is one Mike

of two Mikes Too Furious. He also has his own

radio show. And I, just by listening to him,

I know he's not. as egotistical as the radio

show name might sound, but he just called it

after himself. It is Mike Cybert from Mike Cybert

Radio. Hello, sir. Sorry about that. Hey, buddy.

It's all good. It's all good, brother. Thank

you so much for having me. This is a long time

coming. I think we've been talking about this

for, I don't know, maybe at least a couple years

or so. And finally, the stars are aligned. And

we are two mics ourselves. We'll see how furious

we get as the show rolls along. Yep, yep. Well,

you know, it is all about toy collecting. And

there's a lot of politics in toy collecting,

apparently. more than you would think. It is,

you know, as divided as we are as a nation about

issues big and small, I would add toy collecting

to be one of those. Just dip into any given Facebook

group for it. It doesn't even matter whether

it's Transformers or GI Joe or whatever. Anything

that you get into, there is polarizing discourse

to be had. It's insane. Yeah, and we are explicit

around here. That's mainly for the in you and

do's and don'ts It's not necessarily saying because

we curse every other word but The new curse word

in the in the in the toy collecting community

at least with most of the people I hang out with

Sadly is is is that famous F word from good old

Everett Washington sadly? Oh, boy. We'll get

into that later. And it's funny. You say we've

been talking about doing this for a couple of

years. A couple of years ago, we could have almost

done this in person, because at the time, I was

living in Vancouver. Completely forgot that you

were three hours north of me. That's crazy. I

know, right? And now that you are not in Vancouver.

Halfway across, yeah. I'm like, all the way back,

quote unquote. East in the Midwest in Indiana

now, so. But yeah, no, no, no, absolutely. All

right, what is or was the first toy you remember

having as a kid? Well, you know, it's funny to

prepare for this. I actually like went through

some old photo albums to see what memories I

can knock loose. And you know, I mean. as as

like a baby person you know I had had you know

the the whole variety of like you know fisher

price stuff you know in particular you know I

had like like the the stick with the rings that

you put the rings in or maybe even like the like

the like the pop sweeper thing but the but the

the first toy that I specifically remember that

I have memories of without having to look at

photos was I had a stuffed plush Spider -Man

that I carted with me everywhere I went. I don't

remember if this, how adjacent this was to Spider

-Man and his amazing friends, or if it was the

live action Spider -Man TV shows or, or exactly

what was kind of going on in the, in the zeitgeist

at that point. But like, um, the, the thing I

remember about this, uh, the, the Spider -Man

plush more than anything is he had little bits

of Velcro on his hands and feet. Now I don't

know if there was something that he was supposed

to Velcro to. But mostly, I just had him Velcro

to himself. You know, like, hands to hands, feet

to feet, hands to feet, or whatever. But yeah,

I carted that dude around with me everywhere.

Once again, folks, want to remind you that little

red tag is for the innuendos and don'ts. And

there is many innuendons that you do not want

to do with a Velcroed Spider -Man to himself.

Oh, boy. that's that's crazy and you know i think

you're right i think he did come with like uh

because everyone in the world at least as long

as you were born before 1980 you know you remember

velcro and the sticky side and the non -sticky

side and all this and all that and everything

else so you'd think that I don't understand why

they wouldn't have included something for him.

Especially back then, because two biggest things

I remember in the 80s for that kind of stuff

is Velcro and suction cups. You'd think that

they would have included some sort of Velcro

board that he could attach to, and then you suction

cup that to your window or your whatever. Obviously,

the people outside your window are not going

to be able to see. What he's you know, they're

just gonna see a giant piece of black whatever

with suction cups on it on you know, whatever

but like it's not the point the point is You're

looking at it from the end from the Yeah from

the inside not so yeah, I don't understand that

at all Well and during that time like like Garfield

plushes were huge too like you know with like

the giant suction cups that you know would eventually

get sun faded and like the the vibrant orange

Garfield would just kind of turn as gray as Optimus

Prime did in that in that one movie that one

time. Yeah nobody hid in their closet over Garfield.

No. But yeah, you're right. I mean, it's like,

it was a lot of like weird gimmicks like that,

like, like, like Velcros and suction cups. And

yeah, you know, and I was talking to my mom not

too long ago and she had said something like,

Oh man, I, I remember you taking that Spider

-Man with you wherever, wherever he went. And

I, I don't know whatever happened to him, but

I, I do remember for, for a stretch that that

was like my go -to when I was like, I don't know,

like three, four maybe as latest five but I it's

it's hard to say sands of time yeah wherever

the seabird went the spider -man went along with

him yeah for me with Fisher price and people

who've already known this already heard this

on past episodes it was all about that color

changing flashlight and it was just so stupid

yeah I never I never had that Really? Yeah, so

it's like listening to you talk about it on on

your episode. I was like it was really trying

to knock loose I'm like, I don't know if I know

what he's talking about like I'm gonna have to

try to find it on eBay or Somewhere online because

I'm not making this up. I had like literally

there. There are a few Childhood memories I have

that still stick in my 43 year old brain now

as damaged as it is but You know, it just, yeah,

that has never not been a thing because I remember

associating that with, of all characters at the

time in 1984, 85, I was four and five years old

at the time, Superman, because I would listen

to the old Superman cassette tapes and things,

I forget. I think if it was, I don't remember,

Michael Bailey and Dave McElvaney and all my

Superman friends are all gonna be, you know,

screaming at their. whatever devices they listen

to this thing on. I want to say, was there a

Fleischer cartoon? I know the Fleischer cartoons

were a thing, but I'm trying to remember what

would they do for audio books for Superman in

the eight? I don't remember, but I remember hearing.

audio versions of superman and i remember oh

well okay superman's gonna be fine so it's just

the regular flashlight the regular whatever yellow

or clear whatever regular color flashlights are

and then oh crap he's got hit by red kryptonite

so you turn it red or you got hit by green you

turn it green and it's just a switch on the side

of the thing and all is it really was was it

was flipping up a a color filament It wasn't

even filament. It was just like a shade. It was

like nightshade or it was like, you know, whatever.

It is what it is. So you mentioned your mom.

Speaking of that, was there a particular adult

who was supportive of you playing with toys as

a kid? Was there anyone who may have been unsupportive?

Well, since I, well, no, I'll answer it backwards

or forward. I was going to answer it backwards,

now I've decided to answer it forwards instead.

This is going very, very well. Foundationally,

for my toy collecting, there are two folks in

my family that were the most instrumental, and

that would be my aunt, my Aunt Penny, my mom's

sister, and my grandmother. Those were the two

folks that I think were most instrumental in

kind of nurturing my early toy buying and toy

collecting. And so both of them had pretty good

jobs. and were pretty successful and more successful

than my folks were. So, you know, grandparents

love to spoil kids and aunts and uncles love

to spoil kids as well. I should mention at this

point, because it's gonna be important for context,

I'm an only child. Me too. And at that time,

I was literally the only child. Like my aunt

would later go on to have a family of her own

and have her own kids that are obviously younger

than me. But there was a period of time and it

was kind of like in these early 80s when a lot

of these iconic toy lines were coming up that

basically I was surrounded by family. that was

successful, that had money and wanted to spoil

kids. And I was the only kid around. So I had

quite the good childhood in terms of toys and

collectibles. And it kind of went up and down

the gamut too, because they were successful and

I got a lot of like new stuff, but they were

also bargain hunters and garage sailors. my favorite

childhood memories is like getting like the newspaper

and they taught me how to look for like the key

words that would have like you know like look

for like the good neighborhoods and where like

the good garage sales would be and we would spend

like the weekend doing it like you know we would

make sure and get up early on Saturday morning

and go to like the ritzy neighborhoods and I

would just clean up I mean I would get like you

know shoe boxes just full of stuff on the cheap.

So for me, the dichotomy was very interesting

because I had a lot of stuff. And sometimes when

I talk to my friends about it and talk about

the things that I had, I sometimes come across

as one of those rich kids, you know, because

we all had friends like that or like knew somebody

who knew somebody was like the rich kid that

got everything. I wasn't the rich kid that got

everything. In fact, so the flip side of your

question is, ironically enough, for as much attention

and gifts and cool stuff that I would get from

my grandmother and my aunt, my folks, my parents,

I ironically enough didn't really buy me a whole

lot of toys like like my mom's deal was like

you know anytime we would pop into a gas station

she'd get me a pack of garbage pail kids you

know that that kind of stuff you know stuff that's

like you know 35 cents a whack or something like

that so we at at home uh couldn't really afford

uh that much you know we we were we were relatively

uh well to do my my mom uh worked uh several

jobs and then later uh my stepdad when he came

along you know he he was he was also uh working

all the time it felt like they were always always

working and and not around as much you know uh

hashtag uh latchkey kids you know those of us

of a of a certain age kind of know that thing

but like the Conversely though, our family life

didn't really resolve around like things and

stuff. It was more like being together when we

could and watching TV and that kind of stuff.

So it was always a weird dichotomy for me growing

up. And I think this is kind of beyond the scope

of the question, but I... you know so like I

would spend weekends at like my grandmother's

place so and it would felt like you know you

would go to like the nice place with all of the

stuff and then you'd go back home you know where

things weren't as um weren't always as great

um but but it was it was always interesting because

like you know I would um again they would spoil

me on like you know my birthday and Christmas

uh in particular and even even like Easter to

an extent too like like we were like an Easter

family for a couple years which is so uh odd

uh sometimes it's so weird and honestly that's

the only time anyone should ever have ham ham

is not a thankgiving meal Sorry. Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, so yeah, that dichotomy is always weird.

And so sometimes when when I tell my stories

to my friends in this space, you know, again,

sometimes that I'm not as quick. on explaining

the dichotomy of like well this is how things

were at home this is how things were with other

uh factions of of my family so so yeah it was

it was definitely my aunt and my grandmother

that that um enabled me like i was i was my aunt's

buddy like we would i mean like she took me to

go see Return of the Jedi at least three different

times and then we then we would like go to the

store like like best or whatever and i just remember

just grabbing like just grabbing stuff like off

the pegs and you know just just just getting

like those those kenner star wars figures by

like the half dozen at a clip it was it was it

was crazy um but yeah conversely though like

i said you know my my parents um uh not so much

in fact i was kind of racking my brain for this

exercise and i i really don't have much memories

of my actual folks buying toys for me. I think

there was like, there was a couple Christmases

where like they'd get me like some GoBots or

something or like some like, you know, equivalent

like dollar store type of stuff. And I was at

an age where I really didn't care because like,

as we're gonna kind of talk about as we go, I

mean, for eighties kids, everything just kind

of goes in the toy box together, and everything

has a place. So I wasn't necessarily any less

grateful for the GoBots and stuff. I was just

like, oh, cool, I got some little guys to interact

with my bigger guys. And I just remember having

that baked -in mentality. I was never a guy that

was like, GoBots, get... get out of here with

this nonsense. Transformers for me only. No,

I wasn't like that. Yeah, well, I guess I'm more

of a jaded only child than you are because, yeah,

get that GoBot crap out of here. I remember playing

with the GoBots. I remember enjoying the GoBots.

But once the superior toy line came out, it was

like, leader who? Psy what? Yeah. Forget them.

Kmart knockoffs. Anyway, you mentioned your aunt

Penny and my first thought in my head is, I wonder

if her dad was Uncle Gadget. Not so much, unfortunately.

Did she have a dog named Brain? No. Well, then

I guess she didn't have an evil, well, technically

it wasn't her. Right. But I guess she didn't

have an evil clone of Soundwave. So, all right.

What types of toys were your favorites to play

with as a kid? Lots of stuff. I'm going to be

45 in September. So I was born in 1978. So that's

really kind of like prime Reagan era. E -regulation,

everything is a toy commercial. just about everything.

I mean, I don't think I had all of anything,

but I had a lot of everything. So it's He -Man,

it's Transformers, it's G .I. Joe, it's Go -Bots.

Even up to later on, like Thundercats and Ninja

Turtles and Silverhawks and all kinds of stuff.

So it's like, I feel like I had like a little

bit of a cornucopia of like a little bit of everything.

So it's like had all kinds of like different

scales and different types of things. But really,

I mean, for a lot of folks that you chat with

on the show, it really kind of comes down to

two main toy lines. For me, really, it's G .I.

Joe and Transformers. Those were kind of like

the two that were the most linked. I liked He

-Man OK. Like, you know, like the rubber band

waist punching gimmick was always kind of fun.

And I liked that the figures were kind of chunky.

and durable and you could, you could snap the

arms off and swap them around. Um, and, and they

were a little more difficult to break. Um, but

I, you know, I, I, I think, I think if I had

to narrow it, which, which I will later for,

for one of the later questions, but yeah, no,

it's, it's, it's Joe for me. I, I'm, I, in fact,

this may be controversial to say early on in

the episode. Um, but I think Toy wise, I would

consider myself more of a Joe guy than a Transformers

guy. I think I had way more G .I. Joes than I

did Transformers. But the thing that stuck with

me about Transformers was the fiction, the cartoons,

the comics, all of the lore surrounding it. But

for some reason, like the, like the play value

for, for GI Joe was what really sang my song.

But, um, but yeah, I, I celebrated the catalog.

I had a, you know, you name it. I probably had

at least a figure of, from, from the line. I,

you know, I had some Jason, the wheeled warriors

and some star com and, and, um, and yeah, I mean,

like I said, uh, the sectors, I, I remember that

in particular, cause like, it was like, it was

like a bug thing that you, you put on like a

glove and it. was like this like black fuzzy

glove with like a beetle. B thing that like the

action figure would sit inside and had a couple

of those Centurions were rad as hell too. Um,

but yeah, I, I, and, and especially being so

into garage sales as we were, like, you know,

oftentimes I would get these, these random characters

from random lines with like no context. Like,

uh, like I would get like a Centurions guy with

like no gear. It's like just the base figure.

So it's like, what, what goes in all these holes?

Uh, That's what she said. Yeah. Yeah, so all

right. Well, you kind of already answered question

four. What was your favorite childhood toy or

toys that really stood out more than the others?

Yeah, it's most definitely GI Joe, Real American

Hero. It was the combination of that scale of

the figures at three and three quarter inch,

you can get a fair amount of detail, a fair amount

of articulation and a whole lot of play value.

I was huge into Star Wars also, but what I found

is that GI Joes were like Star Wars figures except

better. I always I always wished that my Star

Wars figures were as cool as as my GI Joe's because

you know that that whole like o -ring design

led to a level of posability and play value that

no other toys in my set gave me. And so that's

just the base figures. Then you have the vehicles.

And at that three and three quarter inch scale,

you could have terrific play sets of. you know

certain scales uh you'd have big vehicles small

vehicles and weird vehicles crazy vehicles and

and like everything in between so it's the versatility

of of GI Joe that that really really uh resonated

with me like I like I liked mask just fine I

I thought the the the uh gimmicks were really

cool but I remember being disappointed because

the figures were so small. It's like they got

like these teeny tiny little dudes. And yeah,

it's cool that you can press a button on top

of the Camaro and the wings pop out, you know,

like those gold wing doors flip up. And it was

cool. But like, I don't know, I just I just found

the the scale of being able to put a three and

three quarter inch GI Joe in a Jeep or a his

tank or something like that. And then they would

have like the pegs on the sides and the rails

where you could just strap more guys on there.

It was really kind of lightning in the bottle

in terms of play value. And plus, to say nothing

about like the colorful personalities. And I

think maybe that's... kind of where I settled

on Joe toy wise more so than Transformers. First

of all, Transformers were incredibly expensive

or at least relatively in that time. That's why

a lot of folks ended up with Go Box. And for

me the thing with GI Joe is like there was something

for every price point. Like the base figures

were dirt cheap. So it's like, you know, it's

like, and I remember early on being a kid. And

it's like, okay, well, this is your budget. This

is what you can buy. And I remember thinking,

it's like, holy smokes, I can get three GI Joes

for the same price as an Autobot car. It's like,

I really want that side swipe, but man, I could

get Shipwreck, Quick Kick, and Alpine at the

same time. Sweet. Sorry, side swipe. Maybe there'll

be a different time. um but yeah there there

was just something about like the um economics

of it it was it was a very economical toy line

because like you know you you would have stuff

all up and down the economical scale like i mean

i mean look at the USS flag i mean that was that

was like a hundred dollar item yeah that you

know like the Again, we talked about rich kids

earlier, you know, it's like I growing up I didn't

know anybody who knew anybody who had the flag

I knew a couple kids who said they did Yeah,

right. They're just yeah Yeah, it's like it's

it's like you go to the house. It's like, oh,

no, it's it's it's in the basement and my mom

says I can't go down there. It's like, oh Yeah,

right. Yeah, right Picks or we don't believe

you uh huh obviously a modern day thing but like

seriously yeah that that was like yeah the the

joe line was was awesome i didn't have many of

the joes and because i was more like you are

absolutely correct those mask figures are way

too damn small like i get it they need to be

small enough to fit in the vehicles but man i

lost more matte trackers than i can keep track

of at this point And honestly, out of that entire

line, my two favorite vehicles are Switchblade

and Rhino. I could give a crap less if the Camaro

has gull -wing doors. The only car in the 80s

that should have had gull -wing doors has a time

machine in it. But that's just me. All right.

Do you prefer the label of action figures, dolls,

toys, or other labels? You know, I went through

a phase when perhaps I was a teenager or a preteen.

I'm not sure exactly when, where kind of the

derogatory term of dolls would come out. It's

like, they're not dolls. They're action figures.

in kind of contemporary times, I think I just

call them figures. or toys. I think I actually

use toys more than I do anything else. I think

sometimes I will use action figures sarcastically

or ironically, but more often than not in casual

conversation, it's figures. Yeah, no, absolutely.

It's figures, it's toys, it's... if you want

to go hoity -toity it's collectibles it's a collectible

item now you know kind of thing the dolls line

in that question is basically because as an only

child all as i remember is anytime my aunt or

my grandmother or whomever it may have been it's

like oh look at little Mikey he's playing with

his dolls i'm like not dolls grandmother toys

you know it's that kind of thing because again

folks We're living we grew up in in the 80s and

and back then adults didn't understand toys adults

most not all but good I People probably gonna

lambaste me for this I'll say a good 70 -30 Split

between the ones that 30 % that did understand

it and then the 70 % that didn't understand it.

Yeah Well, and I would say also that the creators

behind the fiction for these toys didn't understand

the value of these characters also. I mean, see

also the hubris of Transformers the movie. It's

like they genuinely... did not understand the

impact the loss of these characters would traumatize

an entire generation. They thought it was from

a very cynical standpoint, well, if we cross

off all of these characters, well, they'll have

no choice but to buy the new toys because all

their old characters are dead. All of your toys

are dead. Go buy new toys. If that isn't the

most 1986 thing, I don't know what is in terms

of like crass consumerism. But yeah, I mean,

I mean those those writers and creators have

have been saying for like the last 30 years We

didn't know we didn't understand. Yeah, exactly.

They didn't know and I don't blame them No, I

don't blame the creatives behind it. I blame

the corporation of the idea of oh well These

are toys. We sold we sold enough to either break

even or make profit on them let's now go and

do blah blah blah the next great thing great

in air quotes thing that we you know what i mean

so and for me it was like oh okay sure brash

young leader okay got it good good good i can

follow that guy and let me ask you this because

Of course, this actually should be on the All

Things Transformers origin episode. But we're

a little busy in the winter of Bayhem over on

All Things Transformers, making it Steve and

I are making our way through all six, five, however

many movies there are now for the live action.

Oh, god. It's a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. And there's

more coming. The beasts are going to rise. So

were you more scarred by Megatron shooting Optimus?

without any help from any unnamed new character

auto no he had him in a headlock how could he

you idiots hot rod did not kill optimus prime

it was all megatron were you more scarred by

megatron shooting optimus or were you more scarred

in season three when they brought him back as

a motherfucking zombie Ironically enough, and

it's interesting that you ask it that way, because

I found myself more traumatized by the shuttle

attack than Optimus Prime's death. Because first,

that grisly imagery, when Prowl's eyes glow orange

and smoke. billows out of his mouth. I mean,

that, that I think seared on me more so than

Optimus Prime's death. Like, like for me, and

especially because it takes so long between,

you know, the, the, the fight and succumbing

to the injuries and passing on the matrix and

all that. Like I, even, even being seven years

old, I, you know, it's like, I had seen Wrath

of Khan already. So I, I kind of I understood

the concept of heroic sacrifice and giving your

life to save your friends. It's like, even at

seven years old, I kind of understood that concept.

So like, I mean, it sounds so dumb to say out

loud, but like when Optimus tells Daniel, don't.

Do not grieve soon. I'll be one with the matrix.

I kind of listened to him Like yeah, it's it's

sad. It's upsetting and you know, I mean obviously

it is upsetting when like, you know, like a father

figure Takes the pass. I mean, he's he's our

space robot truck dad so so I mean it is very

upsetting but But yeah, I was a weirdo kid because

I actually kind of liked Dark Awakening when

it came out. I was like, oh cool, he's all messed

up and stuff. Because the other thing, this is

kind of beyond the scope of this show, but I

had talked about my grandmother and I have a

terrific relationship with her. She was my buddy

too, but she kind of raised me. on VHSB horror

movies. Like I would go over there on the weekends

and Friday night after she got off work we would

go over to the video store and rent just like

a stack of like the the schlockiest most terrible

stuff that you could think of. So there was a

certain level of um I don't know if it's desensitized

or whatever you want to call it but like I was

a little bit of a horror hound when I when I

was a kid watching stuff that was you know above

what I should have been so my point being is

like when when dark awakening came around and

it's and it's zombie optimist rather than being

repulsed by it I thought it was actually kind

of cool yeah I I don't see like Season three

is weird because and I mean season three is weird

in general, but for me season three Season three

is weird because I remember five faces of darkness.

I remember a few other episodes here and there

I Do not remember watching dark awakening as

a kid. I remember finding I think it was Was

it on? I'm pretty sure it was on VH. I remember

finding, and I'm probably remembering this part

wrong, but they marketed Rebirth as the next,

not necessarily the sequel. It wasn't like Transformers

The Movie 2 or anything like that, but it was

like they marketed the Rebirth three -parter.

in VHS form as like one long movie type thing,

I think. I'm probably screwing that up. I think

you might be thinking of The Return of Optimus

Prime. I have vivid memories of renting that

when I was a kid and it was solicited as a quote

-unquote sequel to Transformers the movie. Maybe.

I don't know. There's a lot of things that I

misremember because I could have sworn that there

was an alternate version, and I'm sure there

is, and I'm sure Flint Dilley will tell everybody.

But one of my best friends as a kid, I'll never

forget this kid, Nicholas Minichel. Not that

this matters, but he was an African -American

kid, and we both loved Transformers and all this

and all that and everything else. He told me

that there was a version of the movie where He

doesn't pass it to ultra Magnus hot rod keeps

it right there in the scene and I'm like, no,

you're wrong No, I don't know. It's weird. Anyway,

that's wild Yeah, well, even though I remember

that memory of Nick telling me that as a kid,

so I know I'm not confusing it with what IDW

did in Deviations. Because essentially, they

did that in Deviations, where it goes to Hot

Rod First instead of Ultra Magnus. And we have

this whole, have you ever read that issue of

IDW? Oh, god. Yeah, it's kind of not great. it's

frustrating too because they're conceptually

there is something there like you know talking

about like you know what what if the the story

went a little differently um yeah it's just um

just not good no it went a little a little stray

a little bit but let's get back to the toys good

guys or bad guys which toys were your favorites

to play with the most Oh, bad guys. I mean, I

always like bad guys. I think bad guys have more

fun. They're always more flamboyant. They always

dress better. They're always, you know, they're

just cooler characters. You know, there's something

liberating about being unencumbered from heroic

nonsense. And exactly. And I think... And I think

that reflected in the toys as well. I've talked

so much about GI Joe, but Destro had a chromed

out head. Cobra Commander didn't have a face.

Storm Shadow was the white ninja. Baroness was

the femme fatale. These were just quality action

figures, whereas more of the good guys were just

kind of like in drab earth tones, a lot of greens

and browns. well and to defend that just a little

bit I mean those were the colors of the military

I mean oh sure you know so I mean it's not like

it's you're right the bad guys had more of a

flamboyant color thing but like that's because

they're bad guys and they're not attached to

some sort of military Yeah. Well, and likewise

with Transformers, it's like the leader turns

into a gun. They say it in Five Faces of Darkness.

It's like the Decepticons are military hardware

and the Autobots were consumer goods. So it's

like jets, tanks, guns. And as opposed to the

Autobots that were, you know, cars and trucks.

So, you know, that that kind of sleeker, meaner

stuff was was was always more appealing to me.

And and the bad guys always seem to have like

these wild color schemes, too. You know, we were

talking about mask earlier. You know, it's like,

you know, you had like a lot of like, you know,

purples and neon pinks and black. And so yeah,

I think those color schemes always resonated

with me more so than quote unquote good guy colors.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, like that old carmaker

used to say, you can have it in any color as

long as it's black. And like a... My favorite

ventriloquist, he usually has one of his puppets

say, once you go purple, you never go back. And

it's true. So I've been purple my whole life,

folks. Yeah. Yeah. Boy. All right. What is, you

mentioned this earlier a little bit, but what

is or was your favorite toy vehicle and play

set? Oh my gosh. That could be. That could be

so many things. Transformers technically can't

count. Oh, man. Well, because I was going to

say that Fortress Maximus is first and foremost,

a playset that also happens to be a action figure.

I've told my Fort Mac story in a number of different

places, so I'll tell it here as well. So that

Christmas, I believe it was 1987, if I remember

correctly, but we're getting through Christmas

Eve. We're more of a Christmas Eve family than

a Christmas Day family. we're getting kind of

towards the end. I've opened up all kinds of

little stuff, and there's a large box in the

back. And I see this, and my chops are just watering.

Because looking at the size and dimensions of

the box, I'm swearing up and down that it's a

Nintendo. Like my family got me. the NES action

set, you know, maybe like the one with like the

blaster and the robot and all that other dumb

stuff that nobody actually wanted, that only

the rich kids seem to have, but like nobody ever

played it because because Gyromite's a dumb game.

Anyway. Oh boy. Oh boy. There you go. So I so

I see this box and I am just, you know, my my

mouth is watering. It's like, oh, man, I'm getting

Nintendo because I didn't have one at that point.

I think I think that was too prohibitive of a

price point at that point, at that point in time,

because at that point, you know, I mentioned

I was not only just an only child, but also like

an only child in my family. That wasn't so much

the case at that point. I had I had two young

cousins by then. So that kind of like attention

that had gotten early on, it kind of waned a

little bit, but I was still, in my opinion, very

well taken care of. So anyway, I see this box,

I swear it's a Nintendo, and I open it up, and

it's goddamn Fortress Maximus. The thing that

blew me away about it to this day, and I think

this is why I still talk about it so much, because

it was such a large item and such a hefty price

point that I didn't even think. to think about

asking for it. It never ended up like on a Christmas

list or anything like that because I just, even

in my 1987 brain, I felt that that was like just

so far out of reach that, you know, I didn't

even dare to dream to want it. And then I opened

it up and I was just, I mean, it blew me away.

And it is just such a chunky, delightful toy.

I still have it to this day. And it just really

stuck with me and really meant the world to me.

I got a Nintendo later, but I'm still... thankful

and grateful that on that Christmas Eve that

it wasn't a Nintendo like I thought I wanted

so badly and instead it was uh it was Fortress

Maximus so so like I I think I think I would

use that for for uh for my answer like I you

know I had a bunch of other stuff like I had

like the the the pterodrome and you know um all

kinds of other uh little stuff that that um that

I got a kick out of. I remember having a blast

with the He -Man slime pit. And I ran everything

through that. And I went through so much slime.

And it got on the carpets. And it started getting

really gross. and um but yeah I remember having

having great times uh with with that uh with

that slime pit and you know various GI Joe vehicles

like I had I I want to say because of like garage

sales and stuff I ended up having like a half

dozen um of the uh devil fish which was like

a just a small boat it was it was like this small

orange boat had had room for one figure in it

and anyway I had like a half dozen of them so

it's like basically like bath time was like this

nautical war all the time where I just had like

all of these. I mean, I had more toys in the

bathtub than there was me. You know, it's like

I had to take some of the toys out so I can actually

like take a bath and stuff because I had so many

goddamn boats in there. Yep, that's crazy. Yeah,

and you're talking about Fort Max and Nintendo

and my thought was Yeah, exactly. Who the hell

wants a Red Ryder BB gun? Right. Yep. You'll

shoot your eye out. I mean, if I'm trying to

remember if Fort Max came with missiles, maybe,

I guess, but still not the same. Did you and

your friends ever pretend with your toys that

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

to be this toy and you can be that toy? Mike

Cybert can be the Coke bottle top and Michael

Andrews can be the piece of glass or whatever.

specifically like that, like I remember we would

run around and like play guns a lot, you know,

with like, you know, ender tech and stuff like

that, which is terrifying to think of today.

But yeah, like, you know, so, so like it would,

it would be a lot of stuff like that. I had a

I had a few interesting play patterns. Since

I was an only child, I spent probably a lot of

time by myself. And when I would play with my

figures, it wouldn't necessarily be so much like...

Oh, I'm going to get you he man or, you know,

it wasn't necessarily stuff like that. But there

would be like some kind of imaginary storyline

in my head about like, oh, man, well, we need

to get this thing to go over here. You know,

it was a lot of like, you know, like item finding

type of type of stuff. And it would be just like

other random junk and somehow trying to like

weave some kind of co cohesive fiction of like

all of these disjointed toys from disjointed

toy lines. I had a lot of toys from garage sales

and as such I had a lot of broken toys. So it's

like, I would incorporate that into my play patterns.

It's like, I had a side swipe that was missing

an arm. And so it'd be like, oh man, side swipe

got his arm blown off. And I think at a certain

age, I kind of... uh delighted in the violence

a little too much like you know it's just you

know i would just i would just have my my toys

massacre each other it was it was uh it was very

odd but like when i would play with my friends

like it was um it was interesting like i had

uh i had one friend in particular um starting

when i was like oh i don't know maybe nine or

ten uh maybe a little later if uh if i remember

correctly the the the sands of time but basically

like he would have as many joes and transformers

and other stuff as I did so it's like you know

we would bring our tubs of toys to each other's

houses you know depending upon where we were

hanging out but but interestingly enough we didn't

necessarily like verse each other or whatever

we would both kind of be doing our own stories

next to each other. So we would be kind of not

so much playing together as it was playing next

to each other, that kind of thing. And, you know,

we would like, you know, swap figures or whatever,

you know, it'd be like, oh, hey, let me borrow

your Destro for a few, you know, that kind of

thing. So we would kind of, because, you know,

we had stuff. that the other didn't have, but

we also had a lot of stuff that was the same.

So, but yeah, it was always odd. And I remember

when I was, oh, I don't know, maybe I was 12

-ish. I was kind of on the back end of what's,

you know, kind of socially acceptable to still

be playing with toys. And I still had like a

lot of my old Joes and things like that. And

I remember moving to a new apartment complex

and trying to like hit it off with the neighbor

kids and not really being very successful at

it. Because like I was kind of trying to emulate

like that same play pattern that I had with well,

my childhood buddies. And instead, it's like,

you know, these kids are just like, you know,

knocking toys together. And, you know, whereas

I was, I was a little more careful up until I

wasn't like, you know, I remember getting to

a certain age that I got more play value out

of my GI Joes by strapping M80s to them and seeing

how much punishment they could take. It's like,

oh, I don't like this character anyway. I'm just

going to blow them up. You kind of reach that

age as well. But I remember being very disillusioned,

disappointed. And the thinking was like, you're

doing it wrong. I think I even said that out

loud. I'm like, you're doing it wrong. Oh, boy.

Boy, you don't ever want to tell a kid, especially

in the 80s, you're doing it wrong when it comes

to playing with toys. Oh, lord. Exactly. And

now you're talking about strapping around. Who

are you, Sid? Like, come on. Yeah. Boy. Yeah.

And that's kind of the problem with kind of.

aging out of, of toys and not really kind of

knowing what the next thing is. And yeah, so,

so my buddy was, was a, was a little shit and

like, you know, we, we, we did all, I mean, like

we're, we're making like, you know, uh, uh, hairspray

flamethrowers and you'll like melting faces off

of toys and All kinds of stuff. We had BB guns

at that point, so we're shooting stuff. It got

really bad at a certain point. I think I still

have this clip somewhere. All I have in my head

is, Tom Hanks, now play nice. Oh, Lord. So play

nice. Exactly. features define a good toy to

you? How true does the item feel in comparison

to the source material likeness? Well, it's kind

of an interesting question, especially given

in the era that we're in, especially with Transformers,

where it's like the expectation is 110 % animation

accuracy, and anything less than that is considered

less than. I don't necessarily need things to

be 100 % accurate, but I need something to invoke

the spirit of what the figure is. Like, for example,

you know, I've talked so much about GI Joe, I'm

currently way down the rabbit hole in classified

series. And the thing that I really like about

classified series is because it really feels

like a update a contemporary update of those

old designs you know so it's like you know they

blew them up to six inch scale and give them

detailing and weapons and things that you know

while while they don't always look like a hundred

percent like the original the original characters,

either from the animation or or the action figure,

sometimes they kind of split the difference.

You know, it's like you see that with Transformers,

like, you know, you have like an animation model

that's different than what the toy is. And then

sometimes toys, contemporary toys come along

that kind of try to split the difference or hue

to one one direction or the other. But. That's

one of the things I dig about that classified

series is because like I think it's especially

now the more contemporary waves. It was really

bumpy when Classified Series started in 2020.

It was kind of like GI Joe meets Power Rangers

meets Fortnite type of thing, where it's just

like, I got the snake eyes figure I'm looking

for. I don't need anything else. But then later

along the way, when they started doing more faithful

updates of classic characters and not just classic

characters but like obscure ass characters like

like how how are we getting ninja force storm

shadow in like wave two as an amp yeah i mean

it's like how how how does that happen so there

was like weird stuff like that that kind of got

um collector's attention but but for me i i just

I'm not so much a stickler for accuracy, but

I do appreciate it. Like one of the characters

that I'm a huge fan of is Boba Fett. I have as

many Boba Fett figures as I do Snake Eyes figures

as I do Soundwave figures. So that's kind of

like most of my Mount Rushmore in terms of like,

you know, characters I collect. And I like when

there are details um that I can that I could

point to and say well I'm glad they did that

for me you know that kind of thing um but conversely

I don't think I get bent out of shape if there's

a feature or a detail um that isn't there like

like it doesn't necessarily wreck my day, even

if I do happen to notice it. Like, you know,

in Star Wars Black Series, there's a variety

of Boba Fett figures that are all repaints of

each other. And because they're repaints instead

of complete retools, there are some details that

don't quite match and that don't quite fit. But

I kind of don't care because First of all, like

some 40 years later, we finally get Boba Fett

in a new costume. So it's like, I'll gladly buy

a half dozen figures of that. I don't care if

they're all light retools of each other. I just

like that I've lived long enough. for there to

be an update to that iconic costume that is new

and different and kind of fun and something to

wear I can buy more figures of. Yeah, and it's

funny you bring this up because a while ago,

because by the time this episode airs, it'll

be a while ago that this happened, but you tweeted

out a picture of your three bobas. about them

walking into a bar. And Richard, a .k .a. vicegripx,

or gripex, says they should have ducked. And

I replied to both of you. I said, they don't

have enough character development to duck. Because

look, I'm sorry. Sorry, but. Oh, it's fine. It's

fine. I've been dealing with that for the last

40 years. It's fine. It's fine. Well, you know,

man. Oh, god. So. Geez, so your Boba Fett dealings

are kinda like how I deal with her. Oh God, but

like, years ago I covered the, what was it, the

Blood Ties comics and that was the first time

in my entire, I think that was somewhere around

2015, 2017, eight, nine years ago, I don't know

how long ago it was, 15, I don't know. Am I right?

Yeah, yeah. And I covered those and after I read

those I was like, okay. get it I understand it

I'm okay with Boba Fett but still in general

it's like when you can somebody just mentions

Boba Fett to me and half of what they mention

is he shows up he kicks ass and then he gets

eaten I'm like yeah that's that's about standard

that's it's about all he's worth because nobody

wants to watch a series where he's just you know

sleeping in a in a in a tank Yeah, having flashbacks

via hot tub time machine. Yeah, pretty much.

And it's so funny because for the last two years,

it's been an interesting roller coaster being

a Boba Fett fan. Because when he shows up in

season two of Mando at the end of Mandalorian,

that scene where he shows up in the beat up armor

and it's kind of like this new version where

it's like it's the beat up armor on top of the

Tuscan robes and and like for some reason that

look just really stuck with me in terms of like

oh my god he's back you know it's like i i never

would have thought i would have seen this again

you know after like the sequel era and whatever

else disney was doing i had figured that I had

seen the last of Boba Fett, that Disney didn't

want to do anything with him, especially with

as successful as Mandalorian has been. Basically,

Mando is the outcome of a thought experiment

of like, What if Boba Fett was actually a character?

What if he was interesting and had something

to do and wasn't just a cool looking costume?

What if it wasn't just a guy in a suit? What

if there was actual some some meat to this character?

And then they realized after after, you know,

Mando is fully realized. I mean, he's he's for

me one of like the iconic characters in Star

Wars. Now he's a terrific character. Yeah, I

love Mando. He's awesome. But the thing is, when

you start thinking about bringing Boba Fett back,

it's like, well, we gave all this great character

to Mando. What do we do with Boba Fett? And the

answer, unfortunately, is not really a whole

lot. And that's why that series is kind of...

Kind of sucks. But the thing with the roller

coaster though, is that like, you know, I've

been eating shit for years where a fan like,

oh, Bubba Fett sucks and you know, he gets hit

by a blind guy and falls into like a sand badge

in the middle of the desert and all that. And

that's all fine and that's all valid. And I've

never been the guy that said, well, actually,

if you read the comic books, no, I just kind

of take it in stride. I'm like, yeah, but I just

think he's cool looking. you know it's it's it's

kind of like that that philosophy of just like

enjoy things or you know let let people enjoy

things that kind of thing yeah but like but like

when when Boba Fett shows up in season two of

Mando wearing the armor and I remember this specifically

because like it it I mean it sounds so silly

to say but it like it kind of took my breath

away and almost got me to like roll a tear I

remember like I I squeezed my wife's hand and

I'm just like I'm like it's happening And for

that fleeting moment, I felt like I was King

Shit of Fuck Mountain because it's like, see?

See? This is what I've been telling you assholes

the whole time. Because in that one scene, that

blissful 90 seconds, you get the Boba Fett that

I always had in my imagination, that all of his

fans had in our imagination. He's finally doing

the thing. He's using the flamethrower and the

wrist rockets and the jetpack. And then 90 seconds

later, he goes back to being a piece of shit.

Exactly. Exactly. And that's what I mean. So

I kind of come down off of that high to be like,

even me, I'm just like, this show kind of sucks.

So yeah, it's been a roller coaster being a fan

of the FET the last couple of years. But again,

I'm glad to buy more toys. Yeah, no, absolutely.

And you know what I mean? Look, just because.

someone like me has a certain opinion or someone

like you has a certain on it doesn't matter what

look we can agree to disagree and still move

on and find something that we both enjoy that

we can you know celebrate to you know what I

mean like but these end -of -the -world things

of oh my god you don't like that or oh my god

you're in the camp that Galvatron isn't really

Meg which he has Galvatron is Megatron come on

now let's be honest come on at least in the cartoon

anyway All right. What does toy packaging have

to have to draw you in? So this is more of an

adult thing, but I guess it could be a kid thing

too. But you go into a toy store and you see

Transformers, G .I. Joe, Mask, He -Man, Thundercat.

What does that packaging have to have to be like,

oh, I want it now? Well, I have a number of things

to say on this topic. I consider myself a box

collector. I went through a phase where I was

more of a box collector than a toy collector.

Like I hit... Star Wars Power of the Force very

hard. And I didn't take a goddamn one of those

out of the packages. And it wasn't until I moved

a few years ago that I finally just sold them

as a lot for like a hundred bucks. I mean, I

got like pennies on the dollar form just to get

rid of them. Because, you know, I had just moved

on and I had thought about maybe like having

like this mask opening or whatever, but I'm just

like, nah, you know what, somebody else can do

that. but I like well -designed toy packaging.

And usually for me, like the gold standard is

the old Kenner figures, the old Star Wars figures

where it's got... um some kind of representation

of the character whether it's in animation or

live action or some kind of like artist interpretation

where it's it's got some kind of artistic representation

of the character but then you also get to see

the actual toy so like like the packaging for

transformers was awesome because like you would

have like a a piece of art depicting the the

robot mode but then like the uh but the package

would be in alternate mode um with with star

wars and gi joe like it would be that classic

card back um some incredible artwork on uh on

gi joe a lot of like fully painted character

art that like you know i you know I was too young

to appreciate it, but I was savvy enough to know

that it was cool. Like, you know, like that,

that whole like, you know, explosion burst from

behind or whatever, you know, just catchy colors.

And so, yeah, so it's like, so for me, like,

I like the aesthetics of good toy packaging.

And up until only a few years ago, you know,

I was, I was a mitten box. guy like I almost

never open stuff like if I wanted something to

quote -unquote play with I'd buy an extra and

then somewhere around uh maybe maybe it was like

2018 maybe a little earlier I started getting

more into contemporary transformers, or at least

being exposed to it. And so that was kind of

like the beginning of the beginning of kind of

where I'm at in my collector's journey now. Basically

now what I do is I will buy stuff in a box and

then open it up, futz around with it, and then

put it back in the box to display it. So like

one of the topics that's really polarizing for

toy collectors and I have opinions as well is

Hasbro's efforts to minimize plastic in their

toy packaging by going with windowless boxes.

I don't mind because I really thought about this

on the drive up before getting ready for the

show trying to kind of... quantify and articulate

my thoughts on windowless boxes because like

I had a lot of like GI Joe vehicles and Star

Wars vehicles and in all kinds of stuff that

came in windowless boxes what what am I so fixated

on and my thing is is like it was never the figures

themselves that were in windowless boxes I mean

maybe you'd have like one -off mail ways or whatever

but even like like like the the GI Joe vehicles,

like the smaller to mid -sized ones that came

with a driver, you would see the actual figure

of the driver in a little plastic window bubble.

Sure, you wouldn't have a window to see the vehicle

itself. That's fine. I couldn't care less. But

I was toy hunting at Target the other day, and

there's a lot of the... lightning collection

power rangers figures and those new dungeons

and dragons figures and they're all just kind

of like in these like unremarkable boxes some

of them show the figure some of they some of

them don't like i i remember uh last year or

year before i don't remember when but like i

bought uh kingdom erotimus prime And as you know,

that comes in a pretty large box. And I bought

it, got it off Amazon, got a Screamin' Deal on

Amazon, and I showed it to my wife and she's

like, what is this? Um, and, and she's like,

you know, looking at it and she's like, is this

a puzzle? Is this a game? I'm like, it's an action

figure. And, and she's like, um, I, I guess,

because there is nothing on the front of that

packaging that says this is an action figure.

Um, you, once you turn it over, obviously, like,

uh, there, there's this, uh, there's this Walmart,

uh, Starscream, this Transformers, the movie,

anime color, uh, scream and it's so funny because

like that version of the illustration of star

scream on top of the on the front of the windowless

box isn't even the figure in the package it's

a it's a terrific artist rendition but it's of

the earth rise version it's like that's not even

the toy that's in the box so so And for me, it's

part of like that aesthetic presentation to where

it's like, I like packaging that is designed

well enough to where it in itself is a display

piece, whether it's the way that the bubble is

designed or the way the card art is. The thing

that really got me sucked into Transformers mainline

is the Studio Series 86 line commemorating Transformers

the movie. I wasn't really super into mainline

Transformers. I picked up a couple things here

and there. But once they announced that they

were doing a line of figures specifically dedicated

to the Transformers the movie from 1986, I was

like, oh, no, I have to buy these. that transformers

the movie call out like the magenta to orange

specific coloring. That's, that's my kryptonite.

That's my catnip. You could throw that on anything

and I'll buy it. And over the last couple of

years, I have like, I'm all in on those super

seven figures. This is getting expensive. I'm

all in on studio series 86 and basically any

kind of knickknack that you can put that specific,

the transformers, the movie logo on, I'm going

to buy it. So, so for me, it's, it's just like,

it's, it's a design aesthetics that incorporates

what the actually is, but is also still something

cool to look at in the box. Like those Studio

Series 86 figures. taking a very, very long way

to answer a relatively simple question. That's

kind of the pinnacle of package design for me,

because it puts the toy right up front, but you

also get some really cool artwork and an aesthetically

pleasing design package with some really cool

graphic design as well. Absolutely. All right,

two things. And I forget who said, but somebody

said it's more of a reference of something. Don't

like that jazz is number 14. That's not his number.

So that's the only but I forget if there was

a specific something or whatever and then Super

seven, I'm sorry the reaction figures for the

price that they want. It's not worth it to me

Even if it is transformers the movie Yeah, I

don't specifically disagree like I I haven't

bought that that second series yet like it was

it was easier for me when it was only four figures

in one wave and I remember them I was like I

was like please don't make any more please don't

make any more because it was during the 35th

anniversary so I was like okay cool maybe these

are the only ones they're gonna do and and sure

as shit they made more of them and I still I

still haven't bought them yet uh but I I probably

will because I do For me, I mean, I have a weird

take on Super 7 because I completely agree with

you, Mike. I think that they're aggressively

overpriced, especially for a five POA figure

that is not specifically good. I remember when

the reaction line started and it was all kind

of like a Kenner... homage, basically. It was

a homage to those Kenner -style figures that

we had talked about earlier. And kind of the

gimmick with those is like... Yeah, the figures

are kind of ass, but it's the card art that,

that is really where it's at. And now it's kind

of like the figures are a little better. And

in my opinion, the card art has kind of gotten

a little worse for some specific lines. Like

I don't mess around with those GI Joe reaction

figures. Like I, I, I, I, I received, I received

a version two snake eyes as a gift. And that's

as far as I've gone. I don't want to, I don't

want to fuck around with any of that. stuff,

but but yet like the the Transformers the movie

ones kind of hit that aesthetic sweet spot that

I want because it feels like if there were hypothetical

Kenner action figures of Transformers the movie,

this is kind of what they would look like. So

so for me, it fits a very weird specific corner

of my collection. I would never take them out

of the packages. I mean, like I think they're.

I mean, they're kind of awful figures, but I

just like the entire aesthetic presentation.

But yeah, I mean, it's fine for my collection,

but I would never stand here and defend them

or encourage anybody else to get them. I just

like the figures. It's not the figures that I

don't like. It's the price that I don't like

for what you get. That's the problem to me is

that high. What do they want, like 15 bucks a

piece for those things or something? I wish they

were 15 bucks. They're closer to 20. Oh, screw

off. Sorry, but not sorry. But no. Again, we're

going to get into this later. But just like there's

a certain thing that Hasbro did for a certain

amount of money that we may or may not have room

in our places of of residence to display such

a large thing and like I forget if it was a few

months or whatever however long after that was

announced and it got funded and whatever else

here comes funko with a 18 inch or four however

tall the the funko pop unit because the funko

bob unicron is basically has lab unicron without

the transformation i'm just like okay fine It's

Unicron in robot mode. That's fine. That's all

I need. And it didn't cost me $500. It cost me

$40. And that's perfect for your collection,

too. Yeah, yeah. That ticks a number of very

obvious boxes for you. So it's like, yeah. So

yeah, so for you, that's win, win, win. Yeah,

but that's what I'm talking about, though. These

price points for various things is just, oh,

god. It's so crazy. All right, so you've mentioned

that you are an inbox collector. Have you ever,

other than when you were a kid, have you ever

opened toys as an adult? Yes, yeah in fact and

and as I alluded to earlier that that's a relatively

new thing for me because I I would say up until

a Couple few years ago. I I was mint in box or

bust now granted a lot of the stuff that I bought

was was kind of Stuff on card like I like I said,

I was all in on power of the force for a while

and I dabbled with Star Wars Black Series when

it first started and then got out very quickly

once I realized how cost prohibitive it was going

to be. So now I just grab select characters and

mostly Boba Fett. But I remember I bought Siege

Soundwave from that first wave of War for Cybertron

and I didn't take him out. And I made myself

a deal. I was like, and this was before Studio

Series 86. So this was just War for Cybertron

Siege. In fact, I don't think Earthrise had even

started. I think that was right around the time

Studio Series 86 started. But anyway, I made

myself a deal. And I said this on a podcast somewhere.

I was like, well, if I see that sound wave in

the wild, because I'm a huge Soundwave fan. I

was like, if I find that in the wild, I'm not

going to pursue it. I'm not going to preorder

him. I'm not going to like look for him. But

if I happen to cross him, I'll buy him. Sure

enough, I happened to be in a Walmart and there

he was and I bought him. And with that. that

mentality that I had at that point, I just set

him on my shelf. I like the box art well enough.

You can see the figure and there it sat. In fact,

ironically enough, I just now realize this as

we're talking, I still haven't opened him. He's

still mint in box. Not for any particular reason,

only because I guess I've just... opened other

stuff beyond that. Like, you know, I ended up

getting a Sound Blaster later, opened him up.

And, and it was really, I think, I think it was

specifically the Studio Series 86 line that kind

of turned my head. in terms of like you know

mint in box versus like playing with stuff and

and it sounds very silly to to say here out loud

but like you know i i had seen a youtube video

a review of hot rod and I watch the transformation

on it and there's this part where you have to

swing his arms around and it's like that one

time he transforms that one time in the movie

and I was just like, I need to experience that.

So I opened him and transformed him and stuff

and I think I had a few other figures at the

time. So I know I had Cup. So I transformed Pam,

I had Blur, I don't think I had Jazz at that

point, but anyway, it's like, so I opened these

figures, transformed them back and forth, and

then yeah, just stuck them back in their box

and put them back in the 86 shrine that I had

kind of built for myself. But yeah, so I think

where my contemporary collection is, it's like

a little bit of both. I buy a lot of loose stuff.

Not to derail us any further, but I'm still confused

by the character choices in Studio Series 86.

I don't understand why Cyclonus was in Kingdom

and not in Studio Series 86. It makes no damn

sense to me. I was at a spot where I was like,

well, unless the characters are in Studio Series

86, I'm not going to buy them. So Cyclonus came

and went for me. I let him go until I started

seeing stuff for cheap. uh that was like loose

like loose complete but with no box i was like

oh well now that he doesn't have a box i'm suddenly

unburdened from having to make that decision

so so so i i have uh uh you know a cyclonus and

the um uh the uh aliecon and um um rc earthrise

rc yeah um so so there were there were a few

um 86 movie characters that I ended up getting

from other lines that I bought loose so I didn't

have to stress about like oh man this kingdom

box doesn't match my display I get really weird

about really weird stuff but like I did not want

to buy any kingdom boxes because like I didn't

want to display them and you know getting back

to my my earlier point about like windowless

boxes and and that kind of stuff I I I really

don't like The the new approach that they're

taking with legacy where it's like the the open

window, but with no plastic Yeah, I think they're

cutting back on that aren't they I think so III

think they've learned their lesson with however

many times little Tommy has gone into Target

or wherever it is and cut the head off of whatever

figure it is or something or other Yep, and and

and the thing that really kind of burned my ass

on that is I bought a legacy blaster. I just

happened to see him in the wild and it was the

same thing. It's like okay I'll buy him and I

thought that I was going to be able to get away

with the same thing as I did with my Studio Series

86 figures because those are molded blister bubbles

that you could pop them out and pop them back

in. You know same thing with like Star Wars Black

Series and Joe Classified Series and you know

so it's like there's that molded bubble. and

so I get blaster out of the box I mess around

with him great figure um I I'm glad I bought

him and I and I I'm glad I made the decision

to open him up and play with him because because

he's a great toy but then I thought okay well

now I'm going to display him in the box so I

put him back in the box and I don't know if you've

tried to put a figure back in the box from this

particular line with with the the weird So basically,

because of the way that he's with the rope ties,

he's rope tied in a spot. So he sits at a certain

point with the window. But once you've taken

all the rope ties off and you try to put him

back in the box, there's a gap. So basically,

he is looking like a cat or something just above.

the lip of the bottom of the window. So it doesn't

even fit in the box. I would have been just fine

with it because this was when the non -plastic

windows were a little larger. You could see more

of the figure. I'd have been fine displaying

him that way. If the box is too big for the figure,

then what's the point? Like if they had like,

I don't know, split the difference, made the

box a little smaller. So anyway, I ended up throwing

away the box, and now he just sits loose. Crazy.

Well, I mean, if you transform him into tape

deck mode, you can just have him as a display

piece. And you're never going to be able to play

music with him, but you can fake people out to

think that you can. Yeah, so now it's funny because

like now I don't I have him separate, like with

Cyclonus and Earthrise RC and AliCon. But occasionally,

I pop a Studio Series Perceptor out of the box

and pose him with Blaster and take pictures and

stuff. But then they always end up getting separated

because it's like, nope, you're not from the

same line. You guys are even better. So Perceptor

goes back in his box and Blaster goes back on

the shelf loose. It's insane. collectors are

insane I'm insane well you know yes we're all

insane so on that insanity if as a kid or an

adult you only were allowed to choose one toy

franchise to collect from which one would you

choose and why Oh, you know, I've said it several

times already, but it's it is it is definitely

GI Joe real American hero because of all the

reasons that I said earlier, you know, the versatility,

the again, the pose, the posability, the play

value, all of it. It's it just it for me, it

gives me. everything I wanted in a toy line,

colorful characters, a variety of different scaled

vehicles, and at a variety of price points to

where it's like, you know, I could afford individual

Joes on my own budget and small vehicles, but

I could also get larger stuff for birthday or

Christmas or whatever, and have kind of like,

you know, a big presence in a sense, and it's

all within the same toy line. So yeah, I really

like G .I. Joe, a real American hero. And it's

interesting now that I've been on this journey

with a classified series. it's really just kind

of rekindled my affection for why I like those

toys and why I like those characters. Ironically

enough, I forget if I said this earlier, I gravitated

more towards the fiction for Transformers than

I did when I did Joe. But Joe, it was always

crazy because the comic books, the Larry Hammer

comic books were almost too... over my head,

because there was people getting kilts all over

the place. They were astonishingly violent. I'm

a little more adult for my taste, but likewise

though, the Sunbeau cartoon was too goofy for

my taste. There was nothing in the middle, and

I think that's why Transformers kind of stuck

with me, because it felt like the tone was just

right for what my taste was at that particular

age. Yeah, absolutely. As an adult, do you prefer

vintage toys or modern toys? You know, I don't

necessarily have an axe to grind against folks

that collect only vintage. I'm not interested

in vintage collecting for myself. I feel like

I... I either had those toys or I didn't. I don't

even now feel the compulsion to go back and fill

gaps in my collection or like, oh man, I always

wanted to have this, but I never got it. For

some reason, I'm not really wired that way. Maybe

it was because of the stuff that I had when I

had it. currently like where I'm at in my life

and my collecting journey is I'm enjoying the

contemporary versions and modern stuff because

I like seeing how something that is nostalgic

is recontextualized through a modern kaleidoscope

to where you have transformers now that are convincing

in both modes and are incredible action figures,

which is not something we had when we were kids.

I think, again, I've said it so many times already,

but I think that's why I like Joe more than Transformers

as far as toys, because they're not very poseable.

They're incredibly fragile at times. I broke

a bunch of Transformers, too. It's like anybody

trying to get a Datsun mold to get the canopy

to snap in. how many folks snapped the, uh, the

windscreen off right at the base of the neck

there. It's like, so, so my blue streak ran around

with, with no, no windshield and no tee tops.

It was just flush straight across because like

that, that one piece, uh, snapped, you know,

who hasn't snapped a mirage in half, uh, just

trying to transform it. Whereas, you know, the

other toy lines that I, that I interacted with

didn't, didn't necessarily have that. So, I mean,

or at least they were a little more. Uh, durable,

but like, you know, modern transformers are like,

I mean, I mean, they're practically a miracle.

You know, it's like where it's like, I mean,

you get like the, the spot on animation likeness

and it functions as both a action figure as well

as a convincing transformer. I mean, it's, I

mean, I I've said a lot about why I like Joe

classified series and why I like star Wars black

series where it's, you know, it gives you that,

that level of detail, but there is something

magic about, about modern transformers. Yep.

Absolutely. What is one toy you can always play

with? Oh Man, so like what one of my my favorite

toys to just mess around with like where like

I'm sitting at a desk or or waiting for for podcast

audios to load or you know for like compressors

to take effect is I I am all in on the War for

Cybertron Siege Sideswipe mold, the Cybertronian

mold. They've done 12 different repaints and

retools of that. And I like fiddling with them

because he reminds me... of a g1 style figured

there there's only like a half dozen steps to

transform him so i could be sitting at my desk

and i just fiddle with them and you know you

know uh tuck the arms in spin the waist around

fold the legs back in you know that kind of thing

where um it harkens back to those more basic

uh transformations like you know i was talking

about blue streak earlier and and the uh the

the dots and molds where you know is very basic

like you know the legs just kind of snap into

the the shins and you know you kind of cross

the arms and roll them under the the uh hood

of the car and that siege side swipe behaves

very similar so for me it kind of gives me like

that that nostalgia hit of where it has like

a very similar tactile feel. It's not incredibly

complicated. And it's just kind of fun. Like

there's this gimmick where it's got like this

like, I don't even know how to describe it, but

basically like. It's got like this weird double

knee joint that like when you fold it back, the

knees fold out with it to kind of like kick the

feet out also. And it's just like this tiny little

engineering thing, but it's like, oh, well, when

I push on that a little bit, it pushes the feet

out. And it's neat to have like a little magic

trick like that, that a very basic toy can do,

that I don't have to, you'll really do a whole

lot with. And in fact, I think I like. fiddling

with that more so than even some of my six inch

scale action figures. Like you know for as much

as I like uh Star Wars Black Series and and Joe

Classified, it's like you know some of those

joints are pretty stiff. Uh, sometimes they're

kind of fragile. You gotta, you know, kind of

be careful. I mean, I mean, they're not like

valor verse figures where you gotta like, you

know, soak them in hot water. Otherwise you're

gonna snap it at the hip, but, but still there,

there, there is, you know, they're, they're fun

to pose, but it doesn't quite. have that same

evocative feel as a three and three -quarter

inch Joe with a rubber o -ring and like this

gusseted crotch thing that just kind of makes

them very flexible and posable. I love the posibility

in those figures, but it's not the same as just

futzing around with a basic transformer like

SeedSideSwipe. Absolutely. Even though there

are always toy lines that people never purchase,

are there any that you specifically and purposefully

avoid? This could be a toy line, character, etc.

I don't care for McFarland figures. I had a thing

like in the... I don't know, I guess it would

be like mid to late 90s where like, you know,

Todd toys started and then which gave way to

McFarland toys. And I was never really a spawn

guy, but like the earlier offerings that they

had were kind of neat. But as they I remember

the precipice for me was that McFarland Toys

did a line of movie maniacs figures and they

had a variety of characters that I liked. as

far as I could remember the, my first opportunity

to get like what I thought would be like a really

decent Jason Voorhees figure from Friday the

13th. Um, or like, um, I don't remember if they

did a Michael Myers or not, but like, I remember

getting that Jason figure and just being like

so disappointed because it's like the aesthetic

with McFarland figures is that they're more like

statues than actual action figures. So there's

already kind of like a predetermined pose. So

it's like, in fact, if I remember correctly on

this Jason figure, it's like one leg was static.

And then the other one had like a swivel joint

on it where you could like move one leg and one

arm. And, and that's about it. And I remember,

I remember being really disappointed in that.

And that always kind of put a, put a sour taste

in my mouth. And now I have a buddy of mine who

is all in on the DC multiverse figures. He loves

them. And he's got some really cool looking figures

and some breathtaking pieces. But there's been

some characters that I've picked up and seen

in the wild and had in my hand. I had an Asriel

Nightfall Batman in my hand. And I almost bought

it because I, you know, cause the flip side of

being an eighties kid is you're a teenager in

the nineties. And, and I, I do have a bit of

nostalgia for all of that bullshit. Like, you

know, black costume superman and as real batman

and you know parallax green lantern and you know

it's like so i i i have a certain amount of nostalgia

uh for that stuff and i always thought that design

was was cool also but anyway i had the figure

in my hand and i put it down because like they're

they're closer to like seven inch scale than

six inch scale so it's a little bigger than some

of the figure than some of the other figures

i have and um And I'm looking at this thing.

I'm looking at it in the package and I can kind

of see some of the same challenges with posability

that I remember from those old McFarland figures

way back in the day and I put it down. And I

think I even came across like a Kyle Rayner figure

and Kyle Rayner is basically. That, that Ron

Mars, uh, Daryl Banks, Green Lantern run in the

nineties. Basically Kyle was my Peter Parker

because like, you know, he, he was an artist

and you know, he had a nine inch nails t -shirt

and, and he had a hairstyle that was very similar

to mine. I love Kyle Rayner. He's, he's, he's

one of, uh, one of my favorite characters or

at least he was, uh, back then. But anyway, like

I, I found like. uh uh uh a Kyle Rayner figure

and I just like the face sculpt was ass and I

just I just didn't like it and and something

that should be for me I'm just like nah no thanks

so longer story shorter it's like yeah I I just

don't I just don't have the appetite for for

uh McFarland figures yeah I I get their appeal

I wish they were fully posable not just half

posable because And I absolutely appreciate this

it was a gift but I am huge on because I didn't

get into comics until we started the comic show

about a decade ago or so the pull bag so I mean

I was always a cartoon kid more than the comics

kid as a kid and it was thanks to x -men 92 and

spider -man 94 that I wanted to read comics as

a teenager, but So anyway, for me, Nightwing,

even though I love Lauren Lester in the cartoons,

doing the voice of Dick Grayson and all that

stuff, but Nightwing, for me, is red. I understand

why everyone loves the blue, and that's fine,

and I love the blue in the animated series, but

for me, Nightwing will always be red. The only

way you can get the only... Yeah, exactly. That's

what a lot of people say. But that's certainly

a take. I mean, well, and I love it too. I mean,

cause you know, like every character is somebody's

favorite character, and every variation of a

character is somebody's favorite. So like, I

mean, you're probably the first person I've encountered

that sticks up for the red, but it's not a bad

look. I mean, I remember talking to Kyle Higgins

years ago, like at an Emerald City Comic -Con,

and we were kind of going back and forth about

the design, and he's like, well, that wouldn't

have been my preference. I like the blue. but

I've, you know, the red has grown on me. And

I was like, you know what, that's a good way

of putting it because for that version at that

time, yeah, I don't necessarily have a problem.

I mean, I personally would prefer the blue, but

like, it is a cool variant, you know, like Wolverine's

brown costume or like the Black Symbian Spider

-Man costume, you know, it's cool to like a cool

variant. I got no judgment. Yeah no absolutely

and yeah Kyle said the same thing to me when

I interviewed him 10 years ago on the pull bag

about you know the color and whatever else and

well yes he would have preferred blue but the

red is what you know like you just said but for

me so friends of mine Like I've always wanted

a Nightwing red figure of whatever it is Well

friends of mine that are actually they live right

down the road now that I'm living in the same

town as they are and Kendra they They got me

the it was the McFarland two -pack of Nightwing

and red hood because it was the only figure at

that time outside of Funko that had it did a

Nightwing red so I have him Over there on the

table kind of thing and he comes with the stand

like he does but like I'm like trying to pose

his leg And I'm trying to get him into a pose

where it looks like he's actually just standing

It doesn't look like he's either you know Pogo

sticking or lifting his leg up like he's trying

to pee on the Joker's head or something like

it's just that just the pose of that McFarlane

toy is Just so weird to me, but it's Nightwing

red. So Always I always ever since ever since

they sent him to me. I'm like, oh well He fell

off the stand again. He I usually end up taking

pictures of him on the floor I'm like, oh, I

guess my wing had a one few too many tied on

one few too many with Batgirl the other night

or something It always looks like when he falls

on the floor. It always looks like he's falling

down drunk, which don't drink ladies and gentlemen

Don't drink. No, it's not it's not good It's

interesting. So, you know, we're kind of like

on this accidental nightmare. But like, I remember

back in, oh, gosh, what was it? 1997, I think,

whatever year Batman and Robin came out. Yeah.

And there was, you know, they did a toy line

for it. And I bought the Robin figure the Chris

O'Donnell Robin figure because I liked the color

scheme at that time because like it's it was

a a dark blue like almost like like a navy blue

body with with the red with the red on it but

it was also kind of like you know sort of night

wing but also kind of not I I don't I think the

Statute of Limitations has been long enough where

I could say not only did I buy that figure, but

I actually kind of liked it. Like, I think that

was a pretty cool looking figure at that time.

I mean, it's an abysmal movie, but in terms of

being like a representation, because like that

was, I'm trying to remember where in proximity

to the... the, the Chuck Dixon run on Nightwing

started. I don't remember if that was the same

time, but like, uh, yeah, it was around, it was

around. I think Chuck started around 96. Yeah.

So, and then, yeah. Yeah, because I remember

being super into that run in a big bad way. I

really love the Scott McDaniel dynamic art and

all those weird fish eye angles and all that

stuff. It was a wild book. So I was on this huge

nightwing kick. So I grabbed that figure knowing

that it wasn't specifically nightwing, but at

that time... you know i mean kids you gotta remember

it was it was slim pickings in the late 90s i

mean we we had total justice and we were happy

you know you know fractal tech gear or whatever

the fuck they call that snap -on armor um and

and so anyway so yeah it's like that that was

kind of like my standard nightwing figure and

i was i was kind of happy about it yeah nightwing

volume two uh one to seventy one oh one yeah

so 96 to 2005 Ah, gotcha. Is the one that ran.

Yep. Yeah, no. I still need to go back and reread

that run, because where I started was the red,

was the Kyle Higgins New 52 run. So yeah, there's

a lot of nightwing I need to catch up on. It's

a terrific run. I mean, I don't know how well

it ages, but I remember at that age, at that

time, I was super into it. It really struck a

chord with me at that time, but like, because

like, you know, he goes off to Bloodhaven to

kind of, you know, start his own thing. And I

remember that being very appealing to me as well.

It's like, you know, he's a motorcycle ride away

from Gotham, but he's kind of out from Batman

Shadow, which I thought was a really cool dynamic.

Yeah, I forget which cartoon it is but there's

one of the Batman cartoons does that joke about

oh, I'm sorry and You you apparently seem to

be in my shadow Robin. Yeah, I just can't get

out of it Batman. Oh Boy, all right There let's

see. Okay. So here we go Are there any toys in

the past or currently you wish you hadn't bought

them? Are there any toys that you may have sold

that you regret letting them go? You know, I

I don't necessarily have a lot of toy collecting

regrets. I buy what I like and I like what I

buy. I do occasionally get caught up in trends

and I could fall prey to a sale. So it's like,

and I think maybe it's that garage sailors mindset

that I had when I was a little kid. So there's

a bunch of stuff that I will buy either on clearance

or at a discounted price that maybe I didn't

necessarily need. But I also tell myself, it's

like, well, I was probably going to buy it anyway,

and I was just waiting for a better deal on it.

But I don't necessarily run into any specific

figure regret, like, oh, man, I really didn't

want to buy that toy, but I did anyway. I do

run into some occasional financial regret. Don't

we all? And it's odd too, because the culture

of toy collecting and toy hunting has changed

so much in the wake of COVID. For a couple of

years, we were kind of conditioned to buy everything

online, whether it be through Amazon or through

Hasbro Pulse or Entertainment Earth or whatever.

and you know and just having stuff show up to

the house. So I remember one time in particular,

I think it was either last year or the year before,

but like I rolled into Target And I saw a bunch

of stuff that I had passed on doing pre -orders

on, like there was like a movie sound wave, that's

where I bought that legacy blaster I was talking

about earlier, and a couple other things as well.

But I bought like 150 bucks worth of toys in

one shot, only because I was so caught up in

the novelty of finding these things in the wild.

Like, there's something about seeing something

in hand that captures your imagination more so

than just scrolling through it online. I've bought

more than a couple toys like that. Even recently,

just because I saw it in the wild, I was like,

oh, holy smokes, this is actually here. And I

kind of get caught up in the manufactured scarcity

as well. It's like, oh man, this like, like if,

if I ever. found a cosmos in the wild at a Walmart,

I would stumble over myself to grab it. I could

care less about cosmos. But because knowing that

he was rare and like one per case and all that,

suddenly I find myself looking for cosmos. Like,

you know, so it's like kind of that thing of

like getting caught up in the fever pitch of

that. that manufactured scarcity. So sometimes

I buy more stuff than I should. And yeah, I just

kind of get caught up in the novelty of it. Likewise

though, I don't, since up until recently, my

collection was relatively small. and I didn't

necessarily buy a whole lot of stuff. I didn't

necessarily sell a whole lot of stuff either.

I haven't necessarily sold anything that I regret

selling, but what I do kind of regret is not

being savvy enough in the scene to get the right

price. I feel like I kind of liquidated a bunch

of stuff at the wrong price just to get rid of

it because I was getting ready to move. Like

I had mentioned, I liquidated a whole collection

of Star Wars Power of the Force stuff on card

just to get rid of it. One of the things that

does still kind of... make me itchy is back in,

I don't know, maybe like 2002, whenever RID 2001

was starting to go clearance, I bought a Optimus

Prime, the firetruck one, bought it from a KB

Toys for 20 bucks on clearance. And I didn't

open it, I didn't. It was one of those things,

even at that point in like 2002, I was more charmed

by the clearance price and the price point. Oh,

it's like, oh man, this is like a $40 action

figure for 20 bucks. I'll just buy it. And it

sat on my shelf for years with a layer of dust

on it, mint inbox. And I'm getting ready to move.

And I'm like, okay, well, let me see what the

market is. and I put it up for a price I don't

remember how much I put it up for maybe it was

like I don't know like a hundred bucks or something

like that and it just sat and sat and sat and

I'm getting itchy and I ended up I think I ended

up selling it on Facebook marketplace for like

50 bucks shipped and I held on to that thing

for almost 20 years. And again, it wasn't something

that I was necessarily nostalgic about. But I

wish that I had hung onto it longer and maybe

found the right buyer. So it's not necessarily

an answer to this question. But I don't necessarily

feel bad that I didn't make more money on it.

But one of the things that's kind of important

to me is that things find a good home. Like I

don't necessarily care if I make money, but I

would rather that a toy or an item or whatever

ends up in the hands of somebody that actually

wants it. And I don't know if I necessarily got

that experience and that feeling from selling

a 2001 fire truck Optimus Prime for 50 bucks

on on Facebook Marketplace a few years ago. Yes,

well, that's yeah, that's not hmm. Yeah, I don't

know. It kind of reminds me of back in 2012.

I've my mom finally was fed up. Okay, I've been

carrying around this stupid castle of yours for

30 years. Come take it. Okay, fine. All right,

mom, I'll come get Castle Grayskull. And my castle,

by the time 2012 rolled around, it was a shell,

literally, of its former form. Literally. There

was no throne room. The dungeon was peeling off.

I was lucky I had one turret insert still left

on the, as you're looking at it, the right -hand

side above the window, the larger turret. And

I'm like, OK, fine. And about three years later

or however long it was, at one point or another

in the apartment complex I lived in ended up

getting infested. And I remember seeing, this

is so creepy because I'm not a bug guy at all.

I saw a bug come out of Queen Marlana's dress

in the in Castle Grayskull and I looked in the

castle like, okay Well, there's there's 30 or

40 years down the drain just threw it right out.

No reset Just nope if it's infested it's going

in the trash. See you later. Bye Not dealing

with that so so yeah, that's that's yeah. All

right 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? Well, my collection is kind of ballooned

in the last, I would say, two years. It does

occupy two different spaces in my house. We have

a basement room. kind of like, you know, kind

of like a Daylight Rambler, kind of like downstairs

basement type of space. So I've got, I've got

a couple of Detolfs in there that has a variety

of things. That's also home to my Transformers

86 shrine. I have like all of the boxed Studio

Series 86 figures kind of, you know, kind of

stacked in place. There's a poster for the movie

there. You know, this is the level of insanity.

I bought to put my boxes on to display them.

It's a cool looking display, but when you start

saying things out loud, it becomes clear how

silly that is because like, yeah, I bought these

acrylic risers to put boxes of action figures

on. So we've got a couple of bookcases in there

as well. And I've got I've got some figures in

there as well. That's that's where the majority

of my where my Boba Fett's live. But then I also

have a separate room that that we kind of call

my studio, whereas like I, you know, I have a

desk, I have my microphone set up and that so

like where's in this basement room. It's a little

bit of both of our stuff. It's mostly mine, but

it's, you know, my wife has some stuff in there

as well. That's where we have like our, you know,

physical media stuff. We've got like CDs and

DVD, Blu -rays, you know, vinyl records. It's

kind of like a media room that also has room

for, you know, some cases and book cases. But

in my studio, It's all my stuff all the time.

And so that's where all my comics are. That's

like where my books are, my trade paperbacks.

And within that, I have several shelves that

I have basically. my loose Transformers in, you

know, the leftover, not Studio Series figures,

but are part of the 86 cast. That's where I also

have the GI Joes, where like the remainder of

my Star Wars stuff is. So it's... It's interesting,

because I'm surprised we've gotten almost two

hours into this. And I haven't really kind of

talked about my collection from a top -down type

perspective. Some people have. Well, that's because

that question isn't until question 19, as far

as display. But yeah. Oh, very good. Very good.

Well, I'll put a pin in it for that. So I have

two primary spots for my collection. My collection

is, as I said, it's gotten pretty big over the

last couple of years, but it's still manageable

at this point. I'll put it that way for now.

So how do you keep track of it all? I don't.

Yeah, I've got friends that have extensive spreadsheets.

And I just don't like I the, the only time I

used any kind of a spreadsheet was back when

I was tracking down alternators and that, and

that was one of the transformers lines that I

got into when I, when I kind of got into the

larger, uh, transformers fandom back in, in 2018,

I, um, uh, That's a question that's coming up,

but basically like, you know, I had at a time

when I realized how easy a lot of individual

alternators figures are to find. I only ended

up with one set of doubles. I had two Corvette

battle ravages. But outside of that, everything

else is single. But I had to consult a spreadsheet

to be like, oh, man, do I have this already?

But that's really about the only time, but most

everything else is just kind of up in my head.

My collection isn't so vast that I can't keep

track of it. Like if I see like a kingdom cyclonus,

I know I have one. You know, that kind of thing.

So it's not so unwieldy that I can't keep track.

The other exception to that is I... You might

remember these from like the early 2000s, right

around the Dreamwave era. There were these Japanese

figures, Takara figures, the SCF collection.

There were like these little like... inch and

a half tall PVC figures that at the time were

kind of like the most accurate representation

of G1 animated characters. In fact, it's the

first toy line to be specifically called Transformers

Generation One. But I was way into those. And

there was a time a few years ago where I had

a buddy of mine that was looking to move his

collection. And I bought a whole bunch of lots

from him and ended up with a painful amount of

doubles because I thought I had it figured out

and I didn't. So now I have like a bunch of doubles

of SCF figures. So if anybody is looking for

gaps in their Transformers SCF collections, hit

me up on socials and see if maybe we could do

some trades or I can hook you up or something.

I've got a lot of doubles that I don't know what

to do with. Oh, boy. All right. So how do you

display your toys? Time for that top -down conversation.

Gotcha. So my collection is eclectic. And really,

the only line, per se, that I'm all in on is

Studio Series 86. I will buy whatever they put

out, unfortunately. And now, because I mean,

you'll see our conversation about packaging earlier.

I have now a bunch of mismatched boxes, and it

really gives me the shits. I have two Dinobots

in larger boxes with plastic windows, and one

Dinobot in a closed windowless package. And putting

all three of them together just looks dumb. It's

really frustrating. Didn't they recently say,

though, they were trying to keep the packaging

with the DinoBot similar because that would like

what you're talking about? I swear, in one of

these recent Hasbro things for 2023 so far, they

mentioned that about keeping the DinoBot legacy

package. They weren't going to evolution for

the latest. I don't know. Yeah. I think they

did that for a breakdown. Oh, that's right. Yeah,

whoever the last Stunticon was. They were like,

he's going to come out in legacy packaging, not

legacy evolution. That way he matches the other.

Which is dumb. It's whatever. Because I mean,

again, who's going to display those in the packages

anyway? They have little teeny tiny windows,

and Motor Master comes in a windowless box. Like

Commander Rodimus Prime, or Commander Jetfire,

or whatever. I'm fine with like commander class

figures being in windowless boxes. I mean, again,

it's like, you know, some of those larger G .I.

Joe vehicles. I'm OK with toys of a certain size.

I mean, like, you know, my my beloved G1 Fortress

Maximus didn't have any windows on it. It was

just a big cardboard box. So, I mean, I appreciate

and understand the perspective of, you know,

not everything needs to be in like a carted bubble

or or whatever. But anyway, back to the collection.

So Studio Series 86 is the one line that I'm

all in on. Everything else is a mishmash. I collect

characters more than I do lines. I have a wide

variety of Boba Fett figures from any number

of different lines, and they don't necessarily

match aesthetically because they're from various

different lines over the years. Same with Snake

Eyes. as much as I am a GI Joe guy, I am more

a Snake Eyes guy. Not so much Storm Shadow, ironically

enough, but like Snake Eyes in particular is,

you know, if I had like a Mount Rushmore of characters

that I collect, it would be Snake Eyes, Boba

Fett, Soundwave, and maybe somebody else that

I can never really think of off the top of my

head, but like. So I have friends of mine whose

collection is hyper focused. Like I have a buddy

who his collection is to have the best version

of every. character from the G1 cast so basically

this is a guy that like when a new third party

figure comes out and it's better than the previous

one he'll swap them out like he'll buy the new

figure to replace the old figure and then sell

off the other one just to you know he's always

on the quest to have like that ultimate version

of of each character and to have all the characters

I envy that level of focus because I don't share

it. I'm just like, oh, hey, it's a Boba Fett

wind -up candy dispenser. Cool, I will buy that.

Or it's like, oh, hey, it's a loose blue, blue

streak masterpiece figure. Sure, I'll grab that.

I don't have a lot of blue streak figures in

my collection, but I like the colors, so I'm

going to buy that, that kind of thing. unfocused,

is the way I would call my collection. So, and

even now, as I've talked so much about kind of

like my change in mentality, some of it is in

packages, some of it is loose, some of it is

mint on card, on, you know, cardboard card backs

with the plastic blister, and everything in between.

So it's even design aesthetic. It's not... necessarily

cohesive. But like I like I've got my alternators

in those detolf cases I was telling you about.

And like when folks roll up to them, they just

look like I've got them in vehicle mode. So it

looks like they're just like model cars just

sitting there. I've got a couple of the mold

mates in robot mode. So it's like I've got like,

you know, tracks in vehicle mode next to battle

ravage who's in robot mode. So it's like, you

know, you can say, oh, that guy is that guy just

in a different color with a different head, that

kind of thing. So yeah, it's all over the place.

It's all over the place. Help. Help. Because

I don't know what to do. And I've got some stuff

that's in boxes that I have opened and played

with and other stuff that I haven't. Like I said,

I still haven't opened that Siege Soundwave that

I bought like three years ago. But yet the Sound

Blaster that sits next to him, I've opened that

and messed around with that. So sometimes there's

not even a rhyme or reason to it. No, there just

isn't. Yep. All right. So. you're safe your wife

is safe any pets or any anything that's in the

house is safe the house is on fire you can only

keep one toy from your entire collection what

would it be and why oh it's it's that g1 fort

max i would i i would grab him and cradle him

like a small child um because i i i i think i

have a lot of of my old vintage toys. But that's

like the one thing that has followed me that

I would still consider to be a impressive display

piece. Now granted, it's vintage and it was well

loved and well played with. So it's like, you

know, stickers are peeling, he's incomplete.

There's some pretty significant yellowing. um

it's it is nowhere near mint and in a sense that's

why I kind of like it because it's it's so thick

and durable and hefty that it's been able to

survive in a way like a lot of my vintage Joes,

that rubber O -ring deteriorates. So it's like,

I have a bin of some of my old toys and it's

got a mixture of like, you know, a lot of Ninja

Turtles, ironically enough, but like a lot of

stuff. kind of from that era and then some other

stuff that that kind of survived as well but

not really a whole lot. So I don't have as much

tether to that old stuff. But really as I mentioned

earlier, I'm not really into vintage toys But

I would consider that g1 fort max to be kind

of like the the centerpiece of my collection

He's he's like the first thing you see when you

walk into my studio room It's like I've got him

set up to where it's like if the door was closed

and you swing it open That's the first thing

you see is just right there and at that two feet

tall he's an opposing figure and it's like And,

and even now to this day, like when like new

people come over, it's like, wow, what is that?

So that's, that's the one thing that I, I mean,

I'm sure I could replace it. Like, you know,

I, I could probably find a reissue or something

like that, but it would never be that specific

one. Yeah. It's the one toy that they like, I

don't know, cause I don't work for Hasbro, but

I assume I don't remember all of his history,

but. That's the toy. Like, again, you mentioned,

two feet tall. It's Fortress Maximus. It's this.

It's that. It's everything. I don't think they're

going to, like, they may have done a $500 unicorn.

I don't think they're going to do a $500 Fort

Max anytime soon. Could be wrong. But, like,

if, like, because if they did a $500 Fort Max,

he'd have to be four feet. He'd have to, you

know, be four foot two. or something, or four

foot four with the ears. Oh, wait, that's the

wrong franchise. That's Space Jam. I remember

being really salty when Generations Metroplex

came out, a contemporary figure a handful of

years ago, and it said, like, the biggest transformer

ever. And I'm like, the fuck you say. Yep. And

he's like an eyelash taller than Fort Max. But

I don't know if you've handled that Metroplex,

but he is hollow as fuck. I mean, whereas the

reason why Fort Max wasn't really reissued for

a long time is because it didn't pass contemporary

child toy drop tests. Like you could smash a

baby with that thing. I mean, it is. Hefty, you

could kill a man with a vintage Fort Max. It

is thick, it's dense, and it's dangerous, which

makes it very appealing, whereas that version

of Metroplex was very wavy and svelte and hollow.

I mean, it's an impressive figure, and I wouldn't

yuck someone's yum and say, because every figure

is somebody's favorite figure, so I don't want

to be a dick about it, but it's like, I'm like,

nothing is going to, aside from like a HasLab

Unicron, nothing is going to touch the size and

scope and scale of a G1 Fort Max. And now that

you're talking about it, and I don't know how

much of this you are, but I am a, for years,

I've been a true crime junkie, and all I can

think of is solved. It was a short -lived series.

I forget which network I have but it was like

solved forensic this or forensic that and a famous

the year is 2005 voice is narrating that series

and my thought now that you're talking about

fort max being able you could essentially murder

somebody with that I'm like oh my god can you

just imagine if victor caroli talks about a case

where somebody tried to kill somebody with a

g1 fort max oh god In a cramped New Jersey motel

room, eight shots ring out, and two construction

workers lay dead. There are no witnesses and

no apparent motive, but police do uncover one

key piece of evidence. A bullet in search of

a murder weapon. But the gun has gone underground

with a notorious gang. Then, an unexpected twist.

Will another murder 300 miles away help ballistics

experts nail a heartless killer? In every detective's

career, one case stands out as unforgettable.

Crime scenes so bizarre they defy logic, and

criminal minds so conniving they defy understanding.

To get to the truth, it takes extreme forensics.

I love it. All right, folks. We are going to

take a quick break. You're going to hear some

ads and some other stuff, and we're going to

come back with more from Mike's Cybert Radio

right after this. Hello, geeks and geekettes

looking for a podcast that covers a vast array

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So check out all the major podcasts and platforms,

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be sure to check out my YouTube channel. Join

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Triple Takeover Toycast. All right, we are back

here on toy cast with Mike Cybert from Mike Cybert

radio and To Mike's too furious. I almost said

too fast too furious. Yeah, like really I've

seen that movie many times I do not remember

seeing Mike in that movie. Oh boy So on the flip

side to the previous question, here's the toy

box challenge. Now I assume this is inches, not

centimeters. I don't know. But you get one 18

by 18 by 18 bucks. The only toys you can keep

have to fit in the box. What can you pack into

it? Oh my gosh. Well, I may have to release my

studio series. figures from their boxes for the

sake of space. But actually, I would think that

in a box of that size, I could probably fit a

fair amount of my collection in there. And it

would be an interesting exercise in that moment

to see what I really need. um you know it's it's

kind of like uh in space balls where it's like

you know take only what you need to survive and

i i would i would be interested to see what choices

i would make but like i i think like i have enough

stuff that that's loose and just sitting on a

shelf where i could just i could just basically

like just like you know dime store it and just

like you know stick my arm out like shopping

spree style and just be like and just like put

put just about just about everything in there.

So it's like, I forget, in this situation, am

I limited by time? Is the house still on fire?

No, no, no. It's just no. The only limitation

is the only toys you can keep have to fit in

the box. Gotcha. I might take some stuff in boxes

just so that it fits more uniform. I don't know.

But yeah, no. I would take all of my Boba Fett

figures, but I would leave the knickknacks. You

know, it's like, so I've got like, you know,

coin banks and other tchotchkes, but I would

find room for all the figures. And it's kind

of interesting with this exercise, I've kind

of already done this in a weird kind of way.

When we moved a few years ago, I kind of went

through the collection, and that's how I ended

up selling that RID -01 Optimus, because I just

didn't want to move it. I didn't want to carry

it around anymore. So in a lot of ways, I've

kind of done that level of purge. So now this

exercise would be kind of like figuring out the

stuff I've acquired since we've moved into our

new place, which would be the majority of the

Joe classified series and the side swipes and

a lot of like the loose 86 characters. So yeah,

I mean, I think though, final answer, I could

fit. pretty much everything in there. And the

stuff that wouldn't fit would probably be like

some of the larger box stuff. And I would cheat

by finally letting go of the packaging. In fact,

actually, that's probably the better answer that

I should have been more concise about is that,

yeah, I would just take, once and for all, I

would make that choice and just take my damn

toys out of the damn boxes and be done with it.

And then you'd ruin the environment for the rest

of your life by just trying the box. Yes. One

man can ruin the environment. Trust us, folks.

Oh, boy. Here we go, folks. I alluded to this

earlier. Here's the good old F word. Are you

a Funko fan? You know, I... I obviously don't

have the same relationship with Funko as you

do, but likewise though, I don't hate Funko.

I do have a handful of pops, not many, but they've...

The first version of the new costume Boba Fett

was actually, it wasn't a Star Wars Black Series

figure. It wasn't a vintage collection figure.

It was a damn pop. So that was actually like,

so that will also kind of have like a weird special

place for me in that like this was the first

one of this new look. Funko beat Hasbro to market

with that. so like you know I've mentioned kind

of like my you know Mount Rushmore characters

and I have I have multiple Boba Fett pops I have

um I have uh I have two different sound waves.

I don't have the battle damage one that you have,

but I have the jumbo pop. I grabbed him on clearance

from GameStop. Again, that was a figure I had

no interest in. And it's like, but oh, man, you

give it to me for 60 % off. Sure. I'll pay $16

.99 for a giant sound wave pop. Sure. Why not?

But yeah, I, I think I have like, Oh my God,

I, I, maybe a dozen, maybe it doesn't. So I'm

not, I'm not opposed to them. I don't collect

them of voraciously. Um, I would also say though,

if this is a larger conversation about Funko,

I think they, I think, um, and incidentally,

I, I, I love I have a number of friends that

either have worked for Funko or do currently

work for Funko. So it's like, I like what they

do conceptually. I like. that, you know, they

have so many variety of licenses. And I kind

of like the house style of that, you know, kind

of like, you know, cute aesthetic, you know,

it's like cute and fun and, and stylized and

things like that. So I don't have a problem with

that, but where I think where I kind of groan

and roll my eyes at, at Funko is the, uh, gimmicks

that they've gone into, like, you know, like,

like the aggressively rare convention exclusives.

And don't even get me started on the NFT thing,

because, okay, well, that's almost a different

show entirely. But I just know I found myself

especially irritated when they put out a new

line of Transformers pops that I can't buy. Like,

I can't buy a hot rod pop. He doesn't exist.

Well, I mean, I think somebody went through all

of the NFT lines that they have. Somebody went

through and either cataloged how many were redeemed

versus how many were actually made kind of thing.

And I think only out of whatever the piece can,

I think it's like 1550 or whatever, only like

1400 of them were actually redeemed kind of thing

and I'm just waiting to see like on Mercari or

whatnot or whatever I'm just waiting to see a

good enough listing where I can pull the trigger

and just get those pops because what if somebody

wanted those at the time like you're saying like

we've been talking about you wanted at the time

but like two years down the road you're like

yeah I don't want this anymore. Let me put it

up on eBay and charge whatever the hell they're

gonna charge. I don't know. Yeah, Funco has been

doing a lot of really weird stuff lately and

I try my best not to get into that but it's kind

of hard not to because they are the company that

they are and the company is doing things and

making decisions and sometimes the decisions

aren't so... like why would you fire your entire

art department you mmm anyway that's a whole

other yeah and then some of the some of the things

that they've got coming out now I'm just like

look I know you're not a completely wholesome

child toy company because you're coming after

do adult collectors but who the hell as an adult

collector whether you're you know kids don't

do drugs but whether you're you know into that

or whatever like what a hell wants a cocaine

bear I don't understand. I do. I do. I'm buying

that. I'm buying that. Oh, god. I will buy that.

Well, there are two versions of it, just so you

know. There's one with the bloody foot, and then

there's going to be another one where it's a

Funko online exclusive, where it's just him with

the cocaine in his mouth, apparently. Oh, damn

it. Well, I'm going to have to buy those. That

sucks. God damn it. Fucking Funko, god damn it.

For half a second, folks, I thought we were going

to have shades of episode 164, where I had to

basically bully Dr. Pants from transmissions

into buying, at the discount, that Jumbo Soundwave.

I thought I was going to have to convince you

to use since you already have it. It's like,

oh no. And now I'm just like, oh crap. And now

I've turned them onto Cocaine Bear Funko. Yep.

Yeah, so I mean, I guess to the original question

is asked. I'm not opposed to Funko, and I dabble.

Yeah. I have some in my collection, but I don't

necessarily pursue it unless it's a character

that I'm really into. Yeah, absolutely. What

was the most money you spent on a toy? You know,

it's funny because I haven't really spent a lot.

on individual figures. Like I told you about

my excursion to Target where I bought a bunch

in one lot and spent a lot of money at one particular

time. But I am fortunate and I'm grateful that

I don't necessarily have a taste for third -party

transformers because that's a world I don't want

to mess with. Same with Masterpiece. I don't

really mess around with triple -digit price point

figures. the most I've spent on a toy recently

that I can think of, and it may be all -timer,

I don't remember, but like at TFCon LA last year,

so in 2022, it was a third -party figure, and

it's basically a figure that's made up as not

Batman. Like it turns into like this bat wing

jet thing. He's got like a wire piped cape that

you can pose. And it's basically a repaint of

a different figure. But the deco, it's the classic

blue and gray Batman. the different paint apps

that there's like, there's like a depth to it.

Like there's some like shiny, shiny paint and

some matte paint. And I, I feel like in contemporary

times that, that gray and blue Batman has been

kind of underrepresented. Cause you know, post

1989, it's like, you know, all black or nothing.

And it's like, I mean, I mean, I hate those movies,

but like, But like when Ben Affleck shows up

in a gray Batman costume, I actually got a kick

out of that. I was like, holy crap, it's finally

a Batman costume that isn't all black. Terrific.

But anyway, so I grabbed that not Batman Transformers

figure. I paid like $120 for it. It's a great

figure. I like it quite a bit. Yeah, and so it

was a convention exclusive. And, you know, I

talked about earlier about getting caught up

in the novelty. I don't know if I would buy that

figure again. I certainly wouldn't buy it online.

I think it's one of those things because like

I saw it on the table at the convention and it

was a convention exclusive. It was like all of

the things conspiring there to where it's like,

OK, I. I like the figure enough, and really,

it was picking it up and playing with it in hand.

They had a demo for folks to mess around with.

And it was the stupid wire piping in the cape

that let you pose. I was like, and it was like

a nice felt texture to it, too. I was like, OK,

god damn it. Fine, fine. Take my money, even

though he's got like a dumb Lego man mouth. But

it's fine. It's whatever. It's a really fun figure,

though. But anyway, that's I think probably the

figure I've paid the most money for. Awesome,

awesome. Did you say you hate the Batman movies?

No. Well, I mean, yes, I think that's how it

came across. I don't like the Snyderverse. Oh,

OK. So I was trying to say a lot too fast. Like,

I don't like those movies, comma, but when Ben

Affleck shows up and like that Batman V Superman,

I like that costume, that kind of thing. That's

all I was trying to say. But no, I, you know,

Batman 89 was a foundational formative movie

for me. And I think The Dark Knight is not just

one of the, if not the best superhero movie ever.

It's probably one of my favorite movies total.

I mean, it's certainly in my top five, probably

top three if I think about it for too long. I

love that movie. But yeah, so, but like, you

know, once from Man of Steel onward, I've had

a very tepid relationship with the DC movies.

I'm still surprised that that Flash movie is

coming out. I still can't believe it. The only

two aspects I care about in that movie is, as

you've already said, Ben in the blue and gray

suit and the fact that Keaton is returning. I

do not even want to support that movie because

of the criminal that's starring it. I'm sorry,

he's a criminal. Yeah. He got arrested. Look,

I'm sure Michael Keaton got arrested in his youth

and whatever else. But compare 1989 to now and

what we have now with online. And it's just whatever.

It is a whole thing. Oh, boy. I don't disagree

with you. But yeah, it's seeing Ben in that blue

and gray. It's like, OK, fine. I might have to

check this out after all. I'll have to check

it out as long as I'm still paying for HBO Max,

and I don't have to pay for it. You know, hey,

if I'm paying for the subscription service that

it's on, sure, fine. But yeah, I'm not seeking

it out. Now, I probably would have, I probably

would have sought out the background movie, but

sadly they, whatever. Anyway, it's a whole other

topic from a whole other show. On the flip side,

what is the cheapest toy you bought or what was

the best deal you ever got for a figure? Yeah,

you know, this one, this one's kind of puzzled

me. Cause like, you know, I, I was listening

to some of your other episodes and, and trying

to, uh, you know, listen to what other folks

have been saying. And, you know, I, you know,

I I've paid like dirt cheap for, you know, for

cheap figures, you know, uh, you know, so like,

you know, uh, up including like, you know, freebies

and gifts and, and, and all kinds of other stuff.

But, um, I want to say the best deal I've gotten

and it's always a deal that's the gateway. I

remember when I was starting to want to mess

around with alternators and I found a lot that

had like, I think it was like a lot of six figures

and it was like 50 bucks so it was it was like

um i forget who all was in it but i think it

was like like tracks hound um uh smoke screen

um i don't remember who all else but anyway it

was it was like you know some some of the i mean

nothing that was specifically rare but it's like

you know to get a jump on a collection at a pretty

good price. It's it. So now I'm like, well, shoot,

now that I have six of them, that's that's a

third of the whole run. Well, now let's see how

attainable this collection is. And it gave me

something to do for a couple of years, kind of

casually looking on and off like I didn't necessarily

like, you know, break the bank. And I'm just

like, you know, I'm just going to wait, you know.

And that's kind of the fun thing about toy collecting,

too, is like, you know, Toy hunting is both the

long game and the short game, and it just depends

upon how you want to play it. It's like, you

know, this is too expensive for me now. I'll

wait. I missed out on a lot of the target exclusive

GI Joe classified series figures, and now I'm

grabbing bats and Vipers on clearance. You know,

so it's like, so it kind of worked out OK. Facebook

marketplace has been really good to me. Like

I, initially I was buying studio series 86 figures

and the, the line in the sand for myself is like,

well, I'm not going to buy stuff from other lines.

But then as I had talked about earlier, I found

like some of these like lots, like I got that,

I got that cyclonus and an RC and like somebody

else in like a lot at a, at a really good price,

a price that I, I couldn't resist. I don't remember

how much it was, but it was something. where

it's like the individual figures were. relatively

cheap when you break down the per figure price.

And really, had they put Cyclonus in a Studio

Series 86 box, I would have pre -ordered him

and paid full retail. Instead, I paid a third

of retail and got him loose complete. It's weird

how the universe works sometimes. But yeah, I've

gotten some pretty screaming deals off of Facebook

Marketplace specifically. Yeah, I I don't like

in the in the cheapest toy or best deal thing

the one thing I don't count in that question

is gifts or things that have been sent to you

for review like you know what I mean could because

that's just like oh Okay, somebody gave that's

not technically a deal. That's not technically

Obviously free is the cheapest you can get but

sure, you know, but yeah, so for me I and I've

told the story I tell it every time but yeah

Paid five bucks for three diet dr. Peppers that

I was never gonna drink for a mail away little

sweet Justin Guarini So five bucks for three

sodas I was never gonna drink because I'm not

a diet or otherwise dr. Pepper fan so But yeah,

just to have him because I love that character

I didn't know who it was at first, and then I

kept watching the ads. And I'm like, oh my god,

that's the guy that lost the first season of

American Idol. Well, runner -up. You technically

lose, but you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah. So

cool. Well, that's OK. I'll do you one better.

I didn't know that was him until I heard you

say it on a podcast. And I was like, holy shit.

Yeah. Thank you for listening. Yeah, no. I've

studied those ads, and obviously I've actually

asked him before. I need to get him on for an

interview at some point or other. Yeah, yeah.

That'd be awesome. But the one that I love the

most, and I think I have a picture of this around

here somewhere. I took a picture of the pop.

like sitting on the top of the washer kind of

thing because in one of the ads it's all about

the laundry and the husband comes up and oh he

you know the wife comes up behind him he's like

oh he just folds I'll take care you know because

little sweet hands hands over his delicates and

she's like oh he just folds I'll take care of

these and husband's like how long have you all

known each other it's just it's just so it's

Those ads are just, it was one of the best ad

campaigns, sort of, that I was never gonna drink

could have ever done. Nice folding. You deserve

a raise. Thank you. Little sweet spinnin' at

the spin cycle. You do deserve a raise, in the

form of a sweet diet Dr. Pepper. Ooh, sip it.

Mmm, that is sweet. These are my delicates. Tumble

dry. Extra heat. I'll take these. He just folds.

Isn't she great? How do you guys know? What modern

toy lines are you collecting right now? Um, you

know, I I think I'm doing a broken record at

this point, but it's I mean, it's so it's Primarily,

Transformers Studio Series 86. I also dabble

in other mainline Transformers, but I'm not collecting

anything. from a completionist standpoint, like

I, you know, I, I, I bought like, uh, a legacy

blitz wing loose for, for 30 bucks off a some

dude on Twitter, you know, but, but like, I don't

think I've gotten any legacy evolution. Um, I,

my, my particular, uh, interest And I don't think

I said this earlier, but my specific interest

is the movie cast, the 1986 movie cast. So once

it drifts from that, I kind of start to lose

interest. Like Needlenose is a terrific figure.

I don't own him. I don't care to own him because

I couldn't give a shit about Needlenose. But

I'm glad that folks are happy to get. the deeper

cuts figures like, you know, folks are jumping

out of their skins for the upcoming Commander

Class Armada Optimus Prime. I couldn't care less.

I'm not going to buy that figure, but I'm excited

that a lot of people are excited about it. Um,

so, but yeah, I'm not, I'm not necessarily a

completionist, but the, um, the other line I'm

into is GI Joe classified series. And I'm not

a completionist on that because of like weird

exclusives and bizarre scarcity. So with, with,

uh, with those figures, it's really kind of,

uh, determined by the deals I get. So it's like,

it's like, Oh, okay. Well, I wasn't going to,

uh, buy barbecue, but since he's on sale, I'm

going to buy him. Like I, I just, I just bought

crock master off of Amazon. Cause like it was

on a flash sale for like 27 bucks. It's like,

it's like, it is like 30 % off a retail. I think

like retail is like 40, like, like 39 99 or something

like that, uh, depending upon the retailer. And

I was like, so, you know, I, I, I liked the figure.

I want to have like. a giant articulated crocodile,

but like I'm not gonna pay 40 bucks for a crocmaster

figure. Oh, $27, hey Amazon, take my money. So

I am again, I am more into sales and availability.

Like if I see like a loose classified series

figure on a table, especially like if it's like

a troop builder or something, I'll probably buy

it. Just because that's kind of what I'm into.

But I don't pre -order any G .I. Joe figures,

and I'm not a completionist. But I really like

them. They're fun figures. Did you know that

Barbecue and Nightwing are the same character?

What? What do you mean? So, in my research a

decade ago, when we had Lauren Lester on the

show, he's Robin slash Nightwing, obviously,

from the DCAU, but he also is the voice of Barbecue

in the old cartoon. Holy smokes! I did not know

that! Uh -huh. And the only reason why I know

it is because... Barbecue has a New England accent.

He can pack the car. And me, being originally

from Massachusetts, I'm just like, wait, what?

This is Barbecue, and you are listening to Cobra

Cat. How do I not know about this? Funko, if

there was ever a G .I. Joe character you need

to do now, other than another Serpenator repaint,

Please, do a barbecue. That would be pretty cool.

I always liked barbecue, because I mean, well,

and it's for the dumbest reasons. Being a Transformers

fan, I kind of like characters that look like

robots. And because of barbecue's face mask and

all the gear, he kind of looks like a cyborg

robot type of guy, unfortunately. what else oh

so like you know like the um uh the silver centurion

iron man armor from the 80s the the the silver

and red one i i i was i was in a comic shop years

ago and i was talking about like all these cool

alternate costumes very similar to what we were

talking about earlier and and this uh guy in

the the comic shop was like well of course you

like it you like Transformers and that version

of Iron Man looks basically like a Transformer.

I was like, holy shit, I never thought of it

that way. But yeah, it's like, you know, he's

got like these big angular shoulder pads and,

and very, very square in spots. He even has kind

of like a, a, almost like a, like a, like a Mandarin

collar kind of sort of like, like Hot Rod does.

And anyway, it's, it's, yeah, it's, uh, so I,

I I do have a fondness for characters that accidentally

kind of look like robots. Yeah, that is very,

very awesome. Do you visit toy shows or conventions

when you visit these places? Do you have a typical

methodology? Do you bring a certain amount of

money for what you're searching for, et cetera?

Ooh. Okay, I'm hoping my wife does not listen.

No, actually, it's so. Yes, I do participate

in toy shows and conventions. In fact, I'm actually

on the organization team for a Transformers convention

here in the Pacific Northwest called Side Fest

Northwest. Your cheap plug for that sidefestnorthwest

.com. That's going to be July 8th at the Kent

Commons Community Center in Kent, Washington,

which is like three miles north of Vancouver,

Washington. It's not three miles north of Vancouver.

It can't be. Did I say three miles? I meant to

say three hours. It's getting late. It's getting

late. Sorry. But no, I like toy shows. I like

conventions. Starting in, it was a fall of 2018.

I actually flew to Chicago to go to TF con and

that and that was the first. specific fan convention

I had ever been to. Prior to that, living here

in the Seattle area, Emerald City Comic Con is

huge. I had been going to that since basically

the beginning. I've since retired. The show has

just gotten too big and too corporate and it's...

it's just not my scene anymore, but I used to

really be into it. So anyway, so it was like

big pop culture conventions, but it wasn't until

I started going to TF cons that I learned about

like smaller specific focused conventions. And

I went through a phase where it's like, I've

like gone through the entire convention cycle

in like the last five years where it's basically

like, okay, so I went through this phase where

I'm an autograph hound. Okay, well, I've got

all the autographs on my poster that I care to.

Okay, well, now I'm gonna like look for some

toys, you know, look for some toys and all that,

but now that I've come all the way back around.

I go to these conventions for friendship more

than toy hunting. Now, that being said, I do,

after some conversations at home, I do limit

myself to a budget and I do put cash in my pocket.

And basically once I am out of cash, that's it.

It's like, Oh man, well, I saw a deal on Sunday.

Well, you know, sorry, I'm out of money. So,

and that's a recent thing. Like, you know, like

the first couple of conventions I went to, it

was just like, you know, just like, like, like

going to Disneyland or something like that. I

was, I was just like buying everything I saw

and it was, it was too much. And it's not until

you get the credit card receipts back that you

realize how much you've spent in such a short

amount of time. It's like, oh yeah, because I

bought a bunch of zines from a bunch of fan artists

at like five bucks a whack. But when you buy

like a few of them, you know, it adds up. Yeah,

absolutely. 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? Yes, we know they didn't

have toys. Well, I think it's a couple things.

I think it's very specific. to our generation

and kind of almost like this like micro generation,

you know, sometimes, you know, we're called like

cuspers or zennials or whatever, you know, kind

of like basically we're like at the ass end of

the ass end of generation X, some of us are like

at the very beginning of millennials, but basically

like I kind of identify kind of sort of our age

group as the Nintendo generation, you know, basically

like where, you know, We were the first generation

to adapt to new technology. We were the first

ones to have home computers and computers in

schools and connection to the internet and things

like that. But I think because of the boom of

that reagan era deregulation there was such a

flood and inundation of toys that's so unique

to our um uh span like i mean i don't know if

it's even a 10 -year span um i i i would have

to listen to uh watch more uh toy galaxy videos

to see if i can clock when the actual uh points

are uh but basically like you know there's a

specific era that there was this glut of toys

and the media that went with it. And I think

the other thing that is unique to our generation

is the specific nostalgia and accessibility.

And I think a component of nostalgia is separation.

Like there was a time where we couldn't watch

Transformers on TV. I remember there was a time

where I couldn't find a copy of Transformers

the movie at the video store. like we moved and

I went to the local video store and first I didn't

have it because like it was at a time where you

couldn't just like buy it on home video or stream

it or whatever. And there was in fact it wasn't

until I was in high school that I actually owned

a copy of Transformers the movie on VHS and that

was just because my girlfriend at the time took

her VCR and connected it to my VCR and we dubbed

off a tape that I had rented from the video store.

So not to be all old man yells at cloud, but

I think what makes our generation connected to

nostalgia is because we experienced a time where

we didn't have those things. Like we found ourselves

separated. of from our toys and now being at

a certain age where we have resources and opportunity

and there's availability to get these things

back. I think the reason why our parents didn't

necessarily have nostalgia for like specific

toys is because they're not connected to like

licensed properties. They didn't represent anything.

It was like you know like cap guns and stuff

and and yeah so I think there's also a certain

availability that comes with kind of that Reagan

era stuff. It's like, you know, you can still

find vintage G1 transformers. You could still

find vintage GI Joes and things like that because

so much of this stuff was made. There's still

so much of it out in the world that we can find

and acquire, you know, sometimes obviously for

a price, but It's stuff that exists and it's

stuff that's out there. But as I was saying,

not to be all old man yells at cloud, but like

the thing with younger people now is that they

haven't had the experience. of being separated

from something. You know, it's so like in the

age of like, you know, video on demand and streaming

and you know, everything is just a button click

away. So, you know, there's never been an opportunity

to be like, Oh man, I just can't not watch that

show now. And, and, and I think that separation

kind of makes us more nostalgic for those tangible

items, you know, it toys and knickknacks and

things like that, because it represents what

we thought. I mean, shoot, there was there was

a time we couldn't watch Star Wars. You know,

you know, it's and something that is just so

unfathomable unfathomable now to, you know, current

current generation. I think it's something that's

very unique to us. Well, and the other thing

is, as we grew up through our generation, the

generation that was next, everything changed.

We got the internet first, but the internet was

now a thing. Like you're saying, all this instant

gratification, all this and all that and everything

else. Look, I don't have kids, I'm too... I'm

too goddamn old to have kids at this point. No,

just stay away, German fist. Anyway, kind of

thing. But kids today, I don't know. I guess

they play with... ipads and iphones and whatever

or what like seriously like i as much as i watch

all the hasbro stuff i see in every every instagram

story i'll like after usually it's usually after

like a hasbro pulse con or hasbro fan stream

or whatever the hell they call them you know

they'll put a bunch of reels on or a bunch of

slides on their story saying parents swipe up

now to order leader class tarn for your children.

And just using that as an example, but like any

of the any of the product, half of it is parents

swipe up now to get this for your kids. And I'm

sitting here thinking, are today's parents and

today's children by like, it's mostly us, right?

Like, I don't know, because I don't have kids

like. Yeah. I'm hoping somebody listening to

the sound of my voice can write in and say, hey,

TF2 and Mike, you're an idiot. This is what's

going on. But half the time, when I hear my friends

and my family talk about their kids, it's all

about technology. It's not about toys anymore.

Yeah. I don't know. All right. What is your motivation

for purchasing toys to display, play, fiddle,

describe your collecting style? You mentioned

this earlier. But are you a completionist, a

storyteller, a cherry picker, or otherwise? I

would certainly identify as a cherry picker.

And I think it's mostly for display. I have learned

the value of play in recent years. And I, you

know, inspired by a lot of, you know, great toy

photographers out in the space. You know, it's

like you got folks like Sixo and Toy Box So Box

and TF Square One. And, you know, I feel I wouldn't

consider myself a photographer, but as I like

futzing around with my figures, I also like taking

pictures of them. I just use my cell phone and

most of the pictures are really not great because

the lighting is not particularly good in my studio,

but I don't care because it gives me a new...

a play pattern, for lack of better term, with

these toys. Like you had pointed out, I have

three different Boba Fetts. Well, I could put

them together. Three of the same guy walk into

a bar. Or like with my side swipes. It's kind

of cool to put 12 versions of the same. figure

together for like one giant group shot. It's

like stuff like that is kind of cool. And I know

you're talking about G1 side swipe as far as

like the overall characterization goes. But my

thinking is, oh my god, you put robots in disguise

2015 side swipe. You put 12 of those characters.

Oh god, the nightmares. The other nightmares.

Go ahead. Sorry. Oh, no, no, no, that's fine.

But yeah, I mean, like I said, to answer the

question, I'd say like, yeah, I'm a cherry picker.

I like to look at stuff in box in display. But

yeah, I also like messing around with stuff and

taking the occasional photo. Yes, and you mentioned

the tripleness of triple takeover Toycast. Oh

boy, yeah, I asked them each individually. Hey,

would you like to come on the show? And they're

like, oh, we're not sure if we have time. They

weren't even two years into the podcast yet.

But I'm like, because I want each of their individual

stories kind of thing. So I don't want to have

them all. God, if I had all three of them on

at the same time answering these questions, we'd

be here for nine hours. Oh my gosh. But I would

love to be able to have a conversation with.

with each of them, because I love listening to

their show. I love listening to them. I love

seeing six of those photos. I'm the same way

you are. I have a Google Pixel 6 Pro. I will

just point and shoot. I think the closest thing

to camera trickery I do is zoom in and out like

I don't sure you know any major I don't change

the focal length or I don't do this or I don't

do that or I don't you know I I have all the

like I love photography in general because my

mom used to be a you know she was into all that

and everything else but like I just want a picture

of the damn thing I don't yeah Well, and it's

so fascinating, too, because with contemporary

toy photography, like the folks that we were

just talking about, it's amazing to me that the

life that can be infused in an action figure,

in a toy, just from like a little bit of lighting,

a little bit of posing, and you know, just like

all of these little things to where it's like,

I've even seen like terrific photos of awful

figures. And like, you know, good photography

can save a terrible figure and it's, there's

a certain amount of magic to it. I think there's

only, no matter how good, and again, when I say

this, I'm not speaking of them specifically,

of Sixo, Maz, and Liam. I'm speaking as all toy

photographers. There's no amount of toy photography

that can save Supreme Beast Machines Cheetor.

That toy, oh God. All right. Have you ever purchased

a toy for a child with the ulterior motive of

playing with it yourself? Yes, actually. My nephew

one time, I think it was either 2007 or 2008.

I don't remember when. But Costco had a super

deluxe movie bumblebee and was gold chrome. looked

gorgeous. I mean, this was a terrific looking

figure. I kind of couldn't care less about the

live action movie Michael Bay aesthetic, but

this was a big hefty figure. I mean, it was probably

at least a foot tall. Maybe a scratch higher.

I don't remember. Uh, but anyway, yeah, I bought

it for him. I'm like, Hey man, you gotta open

that up. You gotta open that up. You gotta open

that up. And he never did that. This was, uh,

this was on a Christmas Eve and, and I, I always

kind of regretted not having the opportunity

to at least like handle it out of, uh, out of

the package. But yeah, that was like one time

in particular that I was just like, you know,

I'm trying to kind of like pass on to, you know,

like my younger nieces and nephews and stuff.

Here's something that I'm into. Now granted,

during that time, about the only thing that I

could get is like, you know, Baver stuff. But

even so, like that. And I haven't seen that figure

since. Like I'm half convinced I imagined it.

But it was it was it was I swear to God it was

it was a gold -chromed movie bumblebee And it

was big Yeah, but anyhow but yeah that was that

was one in particular that that I I bought hoping

that that he was gonna Open up and and you know

in in I've I've bought I I had I had a big nerf

phase for for a long time. I had like an entire

arsenal and so yeah I I would I would I would

buy stuff for for my nieces and nephews specifically

to do uh near force with them as well. That would

be awesome. That would be absolutely awesome.

Yeah I think for me the only current gold bumblebee

and he's more G1 I think he's more G1. It's the

3 .0 MDLX version. It's not necessarily a model

kit, but it's the gold version. It's basically

the gold bug version of that. Yeah, yeah. And

it's like, oh, that looks so freaking cool. Oh,

so cool. Oh, man. Good old toys. So you kind

of just already mean, I don't know. Like, I don't

show people these questions, even though I point

them to certain episodes. So on the other side,

have you ever purchased a vintage toy for a child

because you thought it would be fun for them

based on your own preferences for that toy? No.

No, I have not. OK. Yeah, nobody's getting a

G1 Galvatron, kids. Yeah. Nobody wants one. Yeah,

exactly. Holy crap. Do you do any toy modifications,

or customs, painting, building, building dioramas,

that kind of stuff? Not currently. Now, when

I was a kid... The cool thing with GI Joes is

that they had screws in them, specifically like

in their back and in the thighs, like little

Phillips head screwdriver. So what I would do

sometimes is I would take my Joes apart and reassemble

them and mix up the parts. I there there are

I'm in a number of Facebook groups for for classified

series for folks doing that now like doing a

lot of head swaps and parts and and and especially

with like a six inch scale Hasbro figures like

they all kind of scale together so it's like

if you get like yourself some some Marvel Legends

and some Star Wars Black Series and some you

know anyway they all kind of scale together so

you can you can um you can swap out a fair amount

of parts. That's too much for my taste. I don't

really have that kind of talent. I don't necessarily

have the dexterity or patience to do painting

or anything like that. It's funny. Because like

I sometimes feel like I would want to do dioramas

But I I just I don't have the again the the talent

or the or the patience to really do it up I I'm

no Bobby skullface my My shelf sucks Oh my god,

so the bumblebee I was mentioning the gold edition

And it's obviously not real gold. The only listing

on eBay wants, like, $130 for it. And I'm like,

but it was $70. And they want $22. Or they want

whatever the ship. Oh, free two to four day shipping.

Well, that's not. It's so weird on some eBay

listings. I'll look at a price. I'll be like,

that's OK. They want how much for a ship? Like,

oh, great. Local pickup only. No wonder. Oh,

nice. What? Well, anyway, and while we were chatting

here, I did a little bit of research. The figure

I was thinking of is Battle Ops Bumble Bee, the

gold version, which was a Costco exclusive. And

it's not chromed, but it is a metallic looking.

It's metallic. So I got those mixed up. But yeah,

anyway, that's a nice figure that I never had

the opportunity to mess around with. That metallic

gold does look Pretty swish, though. Well, that's

what they make eBay for, Mike. You can always

sit. Do you think toy companies should specifically

have adult collector toy lines, child toy lines,

or find a way to mix both? I really think it

should be a combination of both. I'm not a huge

third party guy for Transformers. I'm not as.

um philosophically opposed as a lot of folks

that I know like like some folks are like you

know third party is copyright infringement and

should not exist I I'm not I'm not that far I

do kind of think that but it's like you know

as long as it's goodwill towards the brand I

guess shrug whatever I kind of I kind of turned

the same blind eye that that John Hasbro does

but um so I think there is a um a special a specific

niche market for adult collectors. Like, you

know, look at what NECA is doing. You know, it's

like those are, I mean, a stiff breeze will cause

those to crack in half because they're not meant

to be played with. They're classified just like

disposable goods. So, but anyways, so, but I

think like mainline toys should be a combination

of like safe and durable. Like, I like that there

are premium options for adult collectors that

want to spend several hundred dollars on an action

figure. I don't. I don't mind spending like between

like twenty and fifty dollars for a toy. It feels

like that feels I mean, I mean, now it feels

a little more spendy, but like in terms of like

the overall scheme of things. There is a part

of me that that thinks like these should be toys

for kids and I think we as adult collectors kind

of lose track of that sometimes I think we specifically

in Transformers we lose track of that a lot like

not not just like the the toys but also like

the fiction and the comics and all that stuff.

It's like, you know, I think we forget how Transformers

connected with us when we were kids. And it's

like, you know, on one hand, like I've softened

on the Michael Bay movies in like, it's not my

favorite, but I also appreciate, and it was really

talking to somebody who experienced Transformers

2007 at the same age that I experienced Transformers,

the movie in 1986, that it... clicked with me

where I'm like, Oh, you had the same experience

I did with, uh, with, you know, and, and so since

then I've kind of softened on it, but I, I, there's

a part of me that's like, I'm kind of sad that

that's their, that's their G one, but, but that's

just maybe that's me just being shitty, but I,

I, I do, I do think that, um, they, uh, I don't

know that the it's hard when you kind of try

to parse out between like, you know, kids and

adults. I think a term I would use would be kind

of like all ages, you know, kind of like, you

know, like how like the original run of Pixar

movies were. It's like, you know, they were they

were kind of kids movies, but also appealed to

adults. And so I think that's kind of that sweet

spot where where I think contemporary toys should

should fit. Yeah, and let's face it, folks, I

mean, we've never grown up. Yeah, we were told,

you know, in certain toy commercials, you know,

with a giant giraffe and, and all that, like,

you know, just like, and that's the thing, like,

yes, we all grew up. Yes. We all ended up either

getting jobs or doing whatever we ended up doing

or whatever, but we then found ourselves wanting

to go back to childhood. And I remember when

I was working from 2005 to 2010 at the job I

was at at the time, I was getting paid pretty

decent money and whatever else. First thing I

did after paying bills for like three months

was I hunted down 84 Prime, I hunted down 84

Soundwave, and I hunted down 85 Blaster. And

I got them in as best conditions as I possibly

could get them in. And I think I paid like 120

to 150 per figure. So I probably put... Just

under $500 into those three generation one figures

which back in 2005 2006 is like Okay. All right.

Well, who knows what they go for now, but you

know Hmm, but like yeah again, it's just reclaiming

our childhood and you know the fact that we've

like I think Have I evolved and changed as I've

gotten older? Yeah, I have my attitudes about

certain things changed and evolved sometimes

yes sometimes no but generally i still think

of myself as a seven -year -old in the 80s you

know what i mean like there's just no i don't

know yeah absolutely you're absolutely right

so do you have a my parents got rid of my toys

story um yes and no And it's kind of like a weird

downer of a story to kind of juxtapose the tone

a little bit. I remember there was a time once

where we were in between moves. We moved around

a lot when I was a kid. One thing my mom specifically

wanted to make sure of is that I finished out

every school year So we never moved around during

school, which I was grateful for. But as soon

as school would get out, boom, moving, that kind

of thing. So it's like, I went to like six different

schools growing up. And there was one time, I

don't remember or know anything about the circumstances,

but. There was a time when we had a bunch of

stuff in a storage unit. I think maybe it was

one of those things where it's like we moved

quickly and then like shoved everything into

storage and then moved and we're going to get

stuff out of storage. Like I said, it's one of

those weird conversations that I don't really

want to have with my mom. So I'm just not. But

basically what happened was I think my parents

were behind on the payments of the storage unit.

And basically what was going to happen was that

we were going to lose everything in the storage.

So I remember we went to the storage unit and

my mom told me, okay, well, now's your chance.

Actually kind of similar to one of your questions

earlier about the house being on fire. She's

like, grab grab anything that you want. Yeah.

And what was that? That was heaven. The purest,

most vibrant, most perfect harmony I've ever

heard. But no, it was one of those things where

it's like it was either in the way that she explained

it or the way that I comprehended it. I mean,

I was maybe eight or maybe nine or ten or something

like that under twelve. certainly under 12. And

I don't think I quite comprehended and understood

that this would be kind of the last time because

I think I if I remember correctly there were

times earlier where we had visited the storage

unit and like moved like a couple things so this

this was a regular enough occurrence for me to

where it's like oh well this was just some other

time um that that wasn't the case at all and

basically she was like you know grab whatever

you want and I grabbed I don't know just just

some little bullshit stuff, you know, just maybe

like a fistful of GI Joe's that I can that I

can fit in my pockets and basically anything

I can hold, you know, it's like so nothing big.

So like, you know, you know, my my Millennium

Falcon, my ATAT Walker, my Ewok Village, Pterodrome,

all of that big stuff gone. And and I remember

asking my mom about it, I'm like, well, hey,

can we go to the storage unit and grab, I'd like

to grab the Ewok village. And she's like, sweetie,

that stuff is gone. And I'm like. what are you

talking about? I mean, we were just there and

she's like, well, no, I tried to explain to you

before. And she even asked me at the time, she

was like, are you sure this is it? And I'm like,

yeah, yeah, I got what I need for now. It was

just whatever I wanted at that particular time.

And again, giving no perspective to like, oh,

this stuff is about to disappear from my life

forever. uh but anyway so yeah so it's like I

I left a whole bunch of stuff in there not realizing

that it's like yeah I should have gone into the

depths and grabbed this goddamn pterodrome that

was bigger than I was and said okay well I want

to take this um because I'm sure we would have

had room for it in the truck but it's like I

I didn't I wasn't thinking from that perspective.

Yeah, did not compute that. This is your last

time. This is what I want for now. There is no

for now at the end of that sentence. Exactly.

Exactly. So it's not technically my parents threw

away my stuff, but because of actions from my

parents, I ended up losing a bunch of toys when

I was a kid. Yeah, I You know there were times

that that my mom would threaten to throw away

my stuff like you know I was bad about cleaning

my room and she's like and she would even get

like the black garbage bag and say I'm gonna

come in you got until like the end of the week

and then I'm coming in with this this garbage

bag and I'm gonna throw everything away and I'm

like, oh my god, and then I would find a way

to like You know clean up and organize stuff.

But but yeah, it's never made good on on a that

Yeah, my mom was the same way, but she never

actually made good. I think there was one time

Where I had to pull an Andy and run downstairs

to a to a yard sale She had because somehow something

got in there that wasn't supposed to be in there

kind of thing and of course Nobody knew what

pulling an Andy was back then because we were

all Andy back then Yeah, but for me and anyone

that hasn't already gone back and listened episode

113 of this podcast I'm gonna tell the story

again because I tell it in every episode I kept

the good I kept most of the good guys at my mom's

house I did have a couple of bad guys just because

principal kind of thing but and then I can't

cuz I divorced parents, I kept all the bad guys

and not just a few of the good guys at my dad's

house. Well, even though my mom might have threatened

because I didn't clean my room, my dad actually

got rid of the toys when I was six years old

saying, Hey, you're six, you're too old for toys.

I'm like, okay, dad, sure. Love you. But thanks.

No, thanks. Like six is too old for toys. that

that is so unreal like every time you tell that

story i was like i i can't believe that that

is that is that's the way i remember it now hopefully

one of these days i can get my dad on a podcast

and and actually have him tell the story but

that's just the way i it's recently and i don't

know why have you ever seen 1998's uh version

of great expectations with ethan hawk and guinness

paltrow I can't say I have, no. OK, well, have

you ever read the actual, anyway? Oh, yeah. Oh,

yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Great Expectations,

that's the version that I know of it. And in

the movie, Ethan Hawke, as Finn says, I'm not

going to tell the story of, you know, how it

actually happened I'm going to tell the story

of how I remember it happening that's kind of

where I am with that story from my dad because

that's how I remember that's how it was said

to me at least it you know it is yeah And that's

hence where my parents got rid of my toy story

came from. All right. Do you feel you are coming

to an end of your active toy collecting? If so,

what has signified this phase for you? Was there

ever a moment where you were just completely

done with toys altogether? And have you ever

considered stopping being a collector or even

selling off your whole collection? No. I feel

like I'm just... I don't wanna say I'm in my

prime, but kind of like in that sweet spot where

I'm collecting stuff that I like and there's

stuff that's being, I feel tailor -made for me.

And really, I mean, I guess for me this year

is a year where I need to be smarter. about budgeting

and maybe not being so impulsive because basically

like it's like I spent the better portion of

my 20s not collecting and then like in my 30s

like you know kind of getting into cherry picking

a little bit but now that I now that I'm in my

40s I'm like forget about it I'm just like you

know what fuck it, I like this, I'm gonna buy

it, and I'm not gonna be shy about it. And right

about the time where it's like there is an abundance

of stuff for me, like all of those revival lines

that I've already mentioned a number of times,

I feel like it is stuff being made for me at

a specific time where I have the appetite and

resources for it. Yeah, somebody who listens

to the show actually it was it was a prime day

or it was one of those days recently Alex he

he gifted me a commander class Rodimus and I'm

like Thank you. Anytime anybody gives me I'm

like, thank you so much. You know, this is amazing.

This is awesome and and It came and I looked

at it and I'm like, holy crap. This is essentially

the original Rodimus Prime toy except it's modernized

and it's more color accurate and it's well like

literally like I remember having the the original

Rodimus Prime toy back in the day because I remember

having it in Key Biscayne Florida of all places

and and yeah this thing is just yeah I mean some

of the stuff they're doing today is just absolutely

amazing and yeah who knows I've severely cut

back though you know budgetary or whatever else

but just like you know do i really need it no

i don't really need it it's not you know it's

a it's yeah so i don't know i haven't actively

stopped but you know how can i run a toy podcast

if i'm not you know whatever that's what it is

well and i gotta tell you that that was kind

of some of the the trouble I was running into,

I had a brief phase where I was just buying stuff

just to, like, unbox it and talk about it. Yeah.

And it's like, you know, as a content creator,

you just cannot do that. No, no. No, that's not

sustainable. No, it's not at all. Not at all.

Yeah. Buy what you like and like what you buy.

Yep. What is something that does not have a toy

of it you'd love to have in toy form? Oh my gosh.

Well, up until recently, I would have said Transformers

the movie branded figures, but I've since been

served on that. So I'm not sure. what the next

best thing would be. I've got just about every

version and variation of Boba Fett I could ever

want. Same with Snake Eyes. I'm very satisfied

with the amount of stuff that I have. I'm getting

a Cocaine Bear Funko Pop. I wish I never told

you about that. I swear, the buzz around that

movie is single -handedly the most overrated

thing that is going to happen to me this year.

Probably, very probably. But yeah, no, I can't

think of anything off the top of my head because

I have been so super served with stuff that I

never thought that I would ever actually see.

I mean, I've lived long enough to see a pink

hot rod. You know what I mean? I never thought

that that would ever happen. So now I don't even

know what to dream of to what the next thing

could be. I got to give some thought to that.

Oh man I swear every time they talk about it

on a certain other podcast we've already mentioned

it's like oh yeah they mentioned it take a drink

they say anything about is they any say anything

about hot rod being pink take a drink oh lord

I I wonder if they single -handedly I think they

did I really have to yeah yeah you talk about

you know The influence creators have sometimes,

if at all, with companies, it's like, yeah, it's

all thanks to Sixo, Liam, and Maz. That's the

only reason why the incorrect color hot rod exists.

Yeah. Oh, boy. What is a toy you'd love to have

scaled up and functional for the real world?

Oh, gosh. Huh. Now we're getting into some interesting

stuff. You know, it reminds me when I was a kid

of the original, like, Diaclone -inspired Transformers.

I remember every Datsun Z car I passed by. I

swore was was like blue streak or prowl and and

it's kind of interesting like you know uh post

1986 um where where it got more science fiction

and space cars and less real cars um it's it's

a real cop out but like you know I I I would

love to see um like a a 1984 85 um style like

transformer robot thing i would love to see like

i don't know like like like a again like a dots

and z car transform into a robot like like in

in like one to one scale that that would be pretty

sick that would be awesome how has your wife

dealt with your collection and you're collecting

um Well, for the most part. It's much like any

other dynamics in a relationship. It's got peaks

and valleys and compromises and discussions.

uh I don't know I guess like phase one of of

our discussions about uh my collecting is where

are you gonna put it? You know it was more concern

about space rather than than spending there's

you know the the house is only so big um and

but then as as time passed and I would put effort

into the organization, then it becomes the issue

of finances and money. And unfortunately, that

is probably the biggest struggle for collectors

to have with a non -collecting spouse. I'm jealous

of couples that collect together. like you know

they they may have like different stuff but they

at least have like the same mentality um in in

in my situation my there's a certain lack of

understanding on my wife's part she's like i

get that you like this but do you really need

you know, do you need to buy every Boba Fett?

You know, kind of like, you know, a lot of conversations

that resemble how much is enough, you know, don't

you have enough already? Those are very real

conversations. And, you know, sometimes those

answers in those conversations are incredibly

difficult because like my... I'll come to the

table and I will tell her very similar things

to what I'm telling you now. It's like, well,

but they're making Transformers the movie figures

for me. I'm like, look at this logo on the box.

This is something I never thought I would ever

see and now it's here. And it's like, okay, well,

so, but you have them all, right? I'm like, yeah,

but no, they just announced another two or three

figures that are coming out in a new wave. And

it's just like, you know, it was... It was easier

when I was collecting alternators because I could

show her. That's a finite line. It's a finite

line. The conversation has shifted now that I'm

collecting an ongoing line to where I don't even

know how far it's going to go. um you know are

how how much further into uh into 86 are they

gonna go um you know they they've they've announced

snarl and um and and a handful of other characters

but like you know I don't know, at what point

does it end? There's only so many characters

that are in that movie, but the problem is, is

just about every character from the 84, 85 line.

Are in that movie. Is in that movie. So you could,

you know, I mean, at a time where you're getting

jazz in studio series, I wouldn't necessarily

call him a quote unquote movie character, but

he's in the movie and he has lines. So it's really

hard. So the way that that I've tried to come

to the table is talking about budgeting and limitations

and being more communicative and vocal. So now

I've got a spreadsheet of everything I buy. And

at any given time, I could give a running total

of how much I've spent. And so we've talked about

goals and budgets and things like that. it's

not really hard and fast, but I think having

that extra bit of accountability helps because

over the last couple few years, I just bought

whatever I wanted. I'm just like, well, I'll

buy this, I'll buy this, I'll buy this because

I have a sense of what I can afford. but then

it then it then it becomes it's like well that

may not be the reality because you didn't think

of this and it's like oh no I didn't um that

kind of thing or like you know um if if I need

to do repairs on my car and it's like oh shit

well I wasn't I wasn't planning to dump uh uh

two grand worth of brakes into into my car um

oh no what does that do to my toy budget you

know that that kind of thing you know and it's

And it's very real conversations that folks in

long -term relationships need to have. And I

think I've done myself a disservice by not having

those conversations soon enough because I didn't

realize... how far down the rabbit hole I was

going to go. It was like, well, you know, I'm

just going to get this Studio Series 86 line.

It's like, well, now I'm buying Cyclonus on the

cheap, you know, that kind of thing. It's like,

sure, it's on the cheap, but I'm still buying

it. A figure that I had previously said I wasn't

going to. So, you know, I think like consistency

and communication are helpful in those situations.

Absolutely, absolutely. And you do keep track

of your collection. You just don't know it. You

know what? That's true. You're right. You're

right. That's funny. Yeah. Oh, boy. All right.

I love it. I love it. I think we've already covered

question 38, because toy collecting can have

its struggles. What is one aspect you tend to

struggle with the most? I think we just had that

conversation. Yeah. I think it's literally that.

And it's interesting, because you could parse

it a few different ways. It's like trying to

figure out space, trying to figure out budgeting.

But really what it is is also just having those

adult conversations in a relationship. And it's

so funny because I see all of these dumb memes

and it's all like presenting wives and girlfriends

and significant others as kind of like a parent

-child type of situation. It's easy to portray

the the spouse as like a nag or something like

that but it's like that that's it's it's short

-sighted and it's there's an immaturity to it

like you know i i i've shared a couple memes

myself there there was you know like there's

like the meatloaf one where it's like you know

i would do anything for love it's like please

stop buying transformers but i won't do that

and it's like you know and and it's funny you

know for like There's a difference between a

funny meme that we can all look at and laugh

at and a meme that is just so goddamn judgmental

that you know what I mean like there's a huge

difference in that and it's like it's so unnecessary

as long as you like you've already said as long

as you're having the conversation as long as

you're having the open communication as long

as you each know where you're each coming from

kind of thing then it should be fine like Oh,

boy. Yeah. Yeah. Get off my lawn. In a good way,

get off my lawn. Oh, boy. What is one positive

and one negative memory you have with buying

toys? You know, I think a lot of those I've litigated

previously. Like, I think on the negative side,

I I would speak to any number of times where

I've bought more than I should at any given time.

I told a Target story earlier. There's been times

at Walmart where I raided the clearance section

and bought. It's kind of like. It's the, the

eyes are bigger than your stomach type of thing.

Or in this case, your eyes are bigger than your

wallet or your eyes or your eyes are bigger than

your shelf space. Um, I, I get where, where I

feel the pangs of regret is when I bought too

much and I know that I bought too much and it

just kind of like sits in the bottom of of my

gut and I'm just like oh you know what I really

didn't need to buy all of those all in the same

day. I probably could have waited because inevitably

like you know if I get stuff like at good prices

inevitably I'm buying stuff at like full retail

also. Yeah, so it's like so for for every like,

you know Python viper I get for clearance I I

also bought recondo for full price, you know,

so So so so it's it's that kind of thing. And

so but that that's that's where Where where the

regret kind of kicks in now on the positive side

I I like Finding something like like generally

at like a convention or something like that like

finding something that I was Looking for that.

I didn't think I would be able to find like the

the last member of my siege side swipe army was

the was the G2 deco the covert clone side side

swipe is half of a Amazon exclusive two -pack

and I had seen it for like outrageous prices.

And I'm just like, I'm not going to pay $40 for

a $20 figure. I don't care how much I want it

and how much to complete my set. But then at

this last TFCon that I went to, I didn't even

see it on the floor that this this is so weird

that this whole whole subculture of conventions

like there there's like um you know there's separate

Facebook groups there's also like a a um a room

party board and all that and so anyway I just

I I just like put it out into the world I'm like

I'm in search of um Alpha Strike Counterforce

um and somebody pinged me back and he's like

I wasn't planning on selling it, but I got it

here, and we settled on a price, and it was very

reasonable. I mean, it was higher than retail,

but it was about... It was higher than retail,

but it was less than a mortgage payment. Exactly,

and I was very satisfied with it. And it was

a weird experience because I had grown accustomed

to... what you see on the floor is what you get.

It didn't occur to me to put it out into the

world and ask if somebody had the thing I was

looking for. I just assumed previously, if I

don't see it, it's not there. So that was kind

of a cool shopping buying experience. Very cool,

very cool. If you could create any toy that you

would want to create, what would you do? Hasbro

insert whatever toy company here gives you the

keys to the kingdom says you can do whatever

you want no restraints. What would you do? Oh

Boy, oh boy, boy. Gosh. I I'm not even sure I

know. Oh, oh, oh, well, duh. Okay. I I know what

I would do I I would uh, I I would revive mask

in three and three quarter inch. I don't think

it needs to be six inch scale. That's just too

big and those vehicles would take up too much

space. But if you have the little Kenner figures

and upscale them to GI Joe size, and I think

like that way you would still get decent size

vehicles that were big, but not oppressively

big. I think that would be a lot of fun because

mask really kind of is that the, the missing

link between Transformers and GI Joe. It's kind

of, it's kind of like, like a hybrid of that.

But like, I mean, again, like, like we talked

about all those hours ago, those figures were

so teeny tiny, but I think if, if you have like

a, like, um, you know, it was like a confession

exclusive, but they did Matt Tracker as a GI

Joe character and they did him in three and three

quarter inch. And so it would be cool to have

a Yeah, you have the rest of them and have the

vehicles in that scale. I think that would be

pretty damn cool. So that's what I would do if

I had unlimited resources. For a second there,

folks, I thought he was going to say I would

create a six foot. Fort Max, that way no one

could ever beat it ever. That would be my legacy.

Podcasting, forget about podcasting. I got the

six foot Fort Max belt. Oh boy. Crazy. Yeah,

it's very crazy. I know I have the weirdest ideas

sometimes. What is one piece of advice you would

give to the toy collecting fandom? Enjoy things.

You know, I've said it in a few other. different

ways, but buy what you like and like what you

buy. Don't get swayed by trends. Don't get swayed

by peer pressure. and and for for good mistakes

just have fun at the end of the day it's just

toys it's you know you're not saving lives you're

not doing rocket surgery you know it's you know

it's just toys and it's supposed to be fun and

i think we get so up our own ass in the toy collecting

community that we i think we forget to have fun

because we take things so seriously so that's

my advice have fun Absolutely. And I'm sure that's

going to be his answer for the final question.

What is advice you'd give to kids who enjoy toys?

Oh, man. Well, yeah. So I mean, I would say a

variation of the have fun thing. But for kids,

I would add share. You know not not just have

fun with your toys, but like find somebody else

that also enjoys toys You know share your toys

with with with folks It's I don't know if I did

that enough when I was a kid and again like we

talked about so much already I do have that only

child thing and so still even now as As I'm coming

up on 45. I still find that sharing isn't necessarily

the first thing that occurs to me. It does eventually.

When I think about it and I try to be a decent

human, but some of that hard wiring doesn't really

go away. And sometimes I have to be reminded

by folks like, you know what? Yeah, you could

share that. And I was like, oh yeah, I guess

I could. How about that? And then there's dicks

like me in the 80s when I was a kid. Yeah, I

could share it, but I don't want to. It's mine.

Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. And

then, you know, obviously I always give myself

a little bit of a refresher course by watching

the old Sesame Street Bert and Ernie grape juice

skit. where they're sharing the pizza and sharing,

oh, if you have this much grape, you know, they're

all trying, the two of them are trying to figure

out what is even for the two of them and, oh,

good Lord. The eighties, folks. Good old eighties.

All right, we're gonna go to one more ad break

and now we're gonna come back to close the show

after this. We'll let you play Kick the Can with

what's left of Megatron and his merry machine.

What's up, folks? My name is Mike and I am the

host of the Mike Cybert Radio podcast, your favorite

Transformers adjacent podcast. And I've got 60

seconds to tell you all about my show. Good thing

I've got a catchy theme song to do most of the

work for me. I also talk about the Transformers

the movie about as much as I talk about Boba

Fett. My guests are independent artists who tell

their stories and give terrific advice about

pursuing your creative interests. And I encourage

you to do the same thing, even if I can't take

my own advice. Revity is not my first best strength,

but you could subscribe to Mike Cybert radio

on most podcast apps so you never miss an episode.

Make a choice. This is not Generation 2. This

is Generation 1 done right. The year will be

2014 and from secret staging grounds on two of

Cybertron's moons, the valiant podcasters prepare

to reclaim their reputations. September 17th,

2014, the TFG2 Podcast premieres 45 podcast episodes

dedicated to all 98 episodes of the Generation

1 cartoon, plus so much more than meets the ear.

Join TFG1 Mike, Pecan Court Michael, Optimus

Solo, and sometimes Steve Megatron as they redo

TFG1 and get it done right. You can find the

TFG2 Podcast on www .geekcastradio .com and iTunes.

Hello all sentient beings! Want the latest on

everything going on in the Transformers Multiverse?

Check out the Transmissions Podcast Network.

We've got weekly podcasts covering everything

from Alpha Trion to Omega Supreme, from Old School

G1 all the way up to Cyberverse and beyond. And

you don't want to miss Empire of Rust, the world's

first and only Transformers Live Play Role -Playing

Game Podcast. If you love Transformers, there's

something for everyone at transmissionspodcast

.com. We are Two Mikes, Two Furious, a podcast

where we watch every episode of Transformers

Animated and discuss from two different points

of view. I'm Mike Seibert, and I've never watched

Transformers Animated before, and guiding me

on this journey is author Michael Andrews. Hello,

yes, longtime Transformers Animated fan, serial

rewatcher. I've seen it plenty of times. So if

you've never watched Transformers Animated, but

always wanted a reason to, now's your chance.

Likewise, If you've binged the series several

times, it's a great reason to watch through again

with us. Because regardless, if you're a seasoned

vet or a newbie, there's something for every

fan. Because I ask questions. Why is Prowl such

a dick? So that he can be not a dick later, I

think you're saying. Subscribe to Two Mikes Two

Furious on your favorite podcast app so you never

miss an episode. Are we coming off furious enough?

I feel like we're not living up to that. Are

we supposed to be like more angry, more fired

up? We're really in a good mood. We really enjoy

talking to each other. Cybertronian technology

can withstand more than this pathetic planet

can dish out. All right, we are back here on

Toycast. And depending on when I've gone through

the editing of this episode. I can't believe

this is the longest episode of The Origins so

far. I thought my episode was going to stay the

longest, but this one so far is the longest.

Mike Seibert, promote yourself, sir. What do

you got going on? Oh, I always got stuff going

on. But I have two different podcasts that you

can check me out on. First is the flagship Mike

Seibert radio podcast. It's a Transformers adjacent

podcast where I talk about various pop culture

stuff, movie reviews, TV reviews. I occasionally

talk about comics and other pop culture stuff.

It's primarily a casual conversation interview

style show where I talk to my friends, I talk

to celebrity type of folks. I've had on some

of the same folks that you've heard. on the GeekCast

radio network across time. But anyway, it's a

really fun show. It's a... You know, again, a

casual pop culture show, and I think you'll like

it. That's Mike Cybert radio. I've also launched

a brand new podcast with my buddy, Michael Andrews.

We are two mics, two furious animated transformers

where we are doing a episode by episode breakdown

of. Transformers animated and you've listened

to a bunch of other uh tfa recap shows i'm sure

uh one of which is still probably on this network

somewhere but uh but but but but the um the The

gimmick with our show is that he is a serial

rewatcher. He is a TFA super fan. He's watched

through the entire series multiple times, whereas

- And you're a protoform. I absolutely am. I

passed on TFA when it came around the first time.

I thought it was a little too cartoony and childish

looking. I didn't care for the design aesthetic,

but - I thought that that would be a fun gimmick

to go through the episodes as a first timer.

And between the two of us, we have some pretty

good conversations with his insight from being

a longtime viewer and me being a first timer.

And hopefully, I mean, our goal of the show is

to get folks to revisit TFA and interact with

it. And so far, The response that we've gotten

has been very positive. Mike, you've been interactive

with us on our socials as well. And it's been

really fun. For me, for as unfocused as Mike

Cyber Radio is, Two Mikes, Two Furious is hyper

-focused and goes the other direction. So for

me, it gives me another set of creative muscles

to exercise. So you can listen to both Mike Cyber

Radio and Two Mikes, Two Furious on all of your

favorite podcast apps, and you can listen to

it everywhere you're listening to Toycast here.

Follow me on social media. I am on Twitter, Facebook,

and Instagram. I am at Mike Seibert Radio, and

the spelling on my last name is S -E -I -B -E

-R -T. And you can follow Two Mikes Two Furious

on all of those same platforms. The social handle

on that is Two Mikes Two Furious with the number

two. in there. And yeah, we'd love to hear from

you and what you think of the shows. And Mike,

this was an absolute blast. I mean, it was a

long time coming, but I'm glad we got here. And

I can't wait to have you on my show and to flip

the table the other direction and kind of get

into some of your origin story stuff and chat

it through. But this was an absolute blast. Thank

you so much for having me. Absolutely, absolutely.

Yeah, forever is a long time coming, isn't it?

I see what you did there. Thank god. At least

somebody notices the puns around here. Oh, boy.

Yes. Two mics, two furious. That's M -I -K -E

-S, folks, not M -I -C -S. So yeah, the only

released is, yes, it is one through three. Yes,

it is four through whatever the rest. It makes

no damn sense. understand putting one through

three together as a movie and calling it a movie

is fine it's still episode one through three

because you can't then call the fourth episode

the first oh god my head hurts yeah so other

than that that's that's the only and obviously

at some point or another either this show or

like I said seabird here is gonna be on all things

transformers eventually once we're done with

the Winter of Baham and I've given us a hard

release date on being done with those by The

first day of spring whenever the hell the first

day of spring is I think it's like March 20 something

So yeah, we've got a knock Darker the moon age

of extinction in the last night out pretty fairly

quickly folks Oh god, yikes. And the sad thing

is those conversations are like because it's

Steve and I doing it's like They're not seven

hours long each other We're really lucky if we

break an hour, because we just get to the points

of what we like and what we don't like. We assume

after 16, 17, however the hell many long years

it's been. Holy crap. Now I love s'mores as much

as the next guy, but I'm fresh out of marshmallows.

What do you say we call it a night?