John and Joanna Darling on Origins in Toy Collecting

Hey, it's Mistress Carrie, and you are listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Greetings, humans.

This is Starscream, and you're listening to ToyCast.

And if any of you call me a parts former, one

more time! Hello and welcome to an all new generation

of Toycast as we get the origins of any and all

toy fans that we can. I'm of course TF2 and Mike

and today's featured guests are... They are a

husband and wife team of Funko, Lego, and toy

collectors in general. Also, no one should be

sleeping on these awesome creators. It's John

and Joanna Darling from Slapshot Pops. Let's

freaking go. Hi, guys. How are you? Hey, Mike.

We're doing great. That's good. That's good.

Awesome. Awesome. We are going to start talking

toys here on Toycast. All right, question one.

What is or was the first toy you remember having

as a kid? Lego. Yeah, it was a very small Lego

set. I think it had like 30, 40 pieces and it

was like a build your own imagination set. Yes.

Yeah. Back in the day when Lego didn't have a

million licenses, when they actually made you

use your imagination, not just build an AT -AT.

True. Or a helmet or whatever. Yeah. Awesome.

What about you, John? First toy I remember I

had a tickle me Elmo that I think I carried around

and so a Really high age that one probably shouldn't

carry it around oh Boy well, I will remind everyone

that even though these guys don't curse for the

most part They are family -friendly this show

is not this show is explicit just in case because

I am all about the innuendos and don'ts so I'm

going to let my brain just slide right over that

one. Was there a particular adult who was supportive

of you playing with toys as a kid? Was there

anyone who was unsupportive? Everybody in my

life was supportive. The more toys the merrier.

I was spoiled. Yeah, we were we were all about

toys. I mean, I grew up in a big family, so we

didn't have like a lot of toys. But yeah, no

toys were always great. I don't everybody was

Always happy whenever there was a new toy in

the house. What types of toys were your favorites

to play with? Probably Lego and dolls like Barbie

dolls. Yeah, I definitely I remember having a

lot of you know Lego sets as well or mega block

style sets that were similar to Lego and then

I was really into like like hockey action figures

for a little while So that was exciting. We'll

get to this way, way later, but I'm going to

say it now. So it can be said later also. So

it reminds them with all the transitioning you're

doing, Funko, give us a hockey Freddy already.

I know. What are they doing? Oh, you haven't

seen. Well, as of, as of this recording, Marriott

and all that. Jeez. Yeah, we, uh, we, I just

saw as soon as I got home a couple of minutes

ago, it's definitely a. Definitely a bummer,

but maybe it's the right move for him. Yeah,

absolutely. All right. So what were your favorite

childhood toys that stood out more than the others?

So, yes, we all had stuff growing up. We all

had every not everything, but we had a multitude

of things. What's like the one part of it that

stands out? Like you can have this, but you don't

care about anything else kind of thing. Seems

to be a repetitive question. Yeah, I feel like

Barbie dolls have are far in between and Lego

has stayed ever since I was a kid. Every year

I've bought myself a set or have been gifted

a set. Very cool, very cool, John. Yeah, pretty

pretty similar. I mean, I was definitely all

about the building toys. Yeah, so anything Lego

or building blocks related. I was, I was all

about that. I didn't, I didn't care. I don't

remember having too much anything else. I, that

was about it. Do you prefer the label of action

figures, dolls, toys, or other labels? I think

it depends on the context. True. Can't really

label something. Yeah. Yeah. I always explain,

I explain this every episode because like when

I, when I was a kid back in the eighties, yes,

I am old. It's usually grandparents or aunts

and uncles that don't get it. Oh, Mikey's playing

with his dolls. They're not dolls, grandma. You

know, it's that old thing of all the adults not

understanding. But I mean, I think action figures

are toys. I mean, toys in general pretty much

is a nice label for everything. Groups it all

together. Yeah, pretty much. Good guys or bad

guys, which toys were your favorite to play with

the most? Bad guys. Bad guys all the way. Any

Joker toy I can get my hands on. I'll take any

day. I knew you were going to say bad. Bad guys.

I'm all about the good guys. I loved the Justice

League. I loved watching that animated series

growing up. I was all about the heroes. Absolutely,

absolutely. Give me a triple. Now. My brain's

not a nice place to be. What is or was your favorite

toy vehicle or playset? No, Transformers do not

count as a toy vehicle because they're technically

a robot too. I actually had a collection of John

Deere tractors and trucks and that was probably

my favorite thing to play with for a little while.

I would go outside with my brother and he was

the only one who would play with me and we would

just fill it up with dirt and pretend to do things

outside. So, they were my favorite vehicles.

Very cool. John? Does a remote control vehicle

count? Yeah that counts. For my 12th birthday

my godmother went all out and we had just moved

to a new state. I was not really happy about

the move because it was like my fourth or fifth

time changing schools and leaving all my friends

and then all of a sudden out of the blue in the

mail I got a like $250 giant This thing was massive,

like a Hummer RC car. And man, I love that thing.

I played with that thing until it died. Very

cool, very cool. Did you and your friends ever,

and I feel this is more of an 80s kids thing

than a 90s kids thing, but it is what it is.

Did you and your friends ever pretend with your

toys that you had? By this I mean, did you say,

I'm going to be this toy and you can be that

toy. Like John can be the piece of glass and

Joanna can be the Coke bottle top kind of thing.

I'm gonna have to probably say no on that. I

didn't think so. Very much an 80s thing. I don't

really have friends. I'm just kidding. I can't

say that we did anything like that growing up.

That's very much an 80s, Imagineering type of

thing. What features define a good toy to you?

How true does the item feel in comparison to

the source material likeness? Based on structure

durability, I would say it needs to withstand

a couple of falls very cool I think it it matters

now as we're like matters more now that we're

older I feel like as a kid if you were given

something and it Like, say you were given, like,

a X -wing, for example, from Star Wars, but it

had, like, six wings instead of four. You probably

were just excited that it could, like, swoosh

around and you could play with it, where now,

as you know, they release an X -wing with six

wings from any company, you know, the whole community

would be up in arms and be like, that's not accurate,

that's not canon, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. Well,

as kids, we could just break two of them off.

There you go. We made it accurate. Yeah, true,

yeah. We didn't care about condition or anything.

Yeah, it was just... durability and how quickly

can we get it out of the box and play with it?

Absolutely. Now, I know these things are sort

of a thing of the past, but what does toy packaging

have to have? And the reason why I say it's a

thing of the past is because the example I'm

going to use here. You go into a toy store, which

I know there are some mom and pop toy stores

and some other, but there's no Toys R Us. There's

no nothing other like specific toy department

stores anymore. So you go into a store, what

does, let's say you've got a Funko Pop, a Funko

Soda, a Funko Gold, a Funko Rewind and a Biddy

Pop. Like what is that gonna, which is gonna

draw to you the most? And I already know, I think

both of these answers, I think, but Joanna, go

ahead. Biddy all the way. I will pick up any

of the smallest toy. possible each time. I think

if we're going into a store and we're looking

at a bunch of Funko products, I'd, I think I'd

probably have to go with a soda just because

of the blind packaging. You don't know if it's

the common or the chase. So add more excitement

to the purchase. Cool. Cool. All right. I think

I know the answer to this, but we'll figure it

out. Do you open your toys or do you leave them

packaged? If you keep toys packaged, do you have

any specific criteria for that? I think I'm a

both collector. I keep some out of box and some

in box. Price. Matters I think that's the the

variable if it's under $100. I'll definitely

unbox it if it's over $100. It'll stay prepackaged

Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both for myself

as well Yeah, definitely the more expensive items.

We're definitely gonna keep in nice protectors

or make sure it stays in the packaging like we

have several Lego sets that are valued at over

well over a thousand dollars and those aren't

sets that we plan on building We're just keeping

them in as best condition as possible and same

thing with the pops anything over a thousand

We're definitely trying to preserve its condition

But I'm also not afraid to take anything out

of the box and display it and enjoy it, you know

Okay, follow up to that because what you just

said confuses me. I understand not taking a 400

piece limited Freddy Funko out of his Ken doll

box, but how can you? Not take the Lego out of

the box because it's not bit like how does that

retain? What's that? Value retention if it's

you're not even building the set. What's the

purchase of what's the point in buying it? Because

it's limited edition. It's rare and you want

to you want to have it. I will say though the

two sets that I I mean, everything is our collection,

but the two sets I purchased years ago, I bought

them with the intention of building them. It's

just when you put it aside and then you take

it out of the closet three, four, 10 years later

and you're like, oh my God, this is worth X amount.

It kind of makes you think because if you do

take it and you crack that seal. You know the

value is going to instantly diminish. And when

it comes to a product like LEGO, as soon as you

crack that seal, it's like the difference between

a new car and a used car. And the value is just,

it plummets. I guess my confusion is, isn't the

point of buying LEGO sets to build them, not

just collect pieces of whatever in a cardboard

box? So some are. We've been lucky enough to

stay on budget and buy a lot of sets recently

because we don't have the space to build them

with a backlog of 600 plus Lego sets. I don't

think we're really worried about the limited

sets right now. I guess when it comes down to

it and we don't have any more sets to build,

then yeah, we'll crack the set open because it's

not a selling set. We just want to keep it for

memories. But with such a big backlog, we'd rather

keep it closed and sealed and in mint condition.

All right. Ladies and gentlemen, 600 sets, 600

videos, Slapshot Bricks coming in 2024. We'll

see. Oh, I'm putting too much pressure on them.

I'm so sorry. Let's start with one video first

and see how it goes. If as a kid or an adult

you were only allowed to choose one toy franchise

to collect from, which one would you choose and

why? So toy franchise, Transformers, He -Man,

Star Wars, DC. Oh, like a license? Yeah, yeah,

yeah. It's probably Star Wars for me. I mean,

I love Marvel. I love DC. But at the end of the

day, if I have to pick one, I think it's because

I can't pick Marvel over DC or DC over Marvel.

Star Wars is my go -to. I'd probably do Disney.

Cool, cool. As an adult, do you prefer vintage

toys or modern toys? Vintage. I like sometimes

when they do modern stuff, but with a vintage

throwback, where they almost redo something.

but with better detail, better quality, better

packaging, a better play experience, kind of

like what Funko just did with the Wacky Wilder

they just released. They did a really good job

with it, but it's also a throwback to something

that could be considered vintage in their company

nowadays. Yeah, absolutely. The best thing I

can give for an example for that is the original

Rodimus Prime toy from the Transformers line,

whereas a couple of years ago when they were

doing Kingdom, they updated Rodimus and it's

pretty much the classic toy, but it's all modern

manufacturing, all modern sculpting, all modern

everything. All that. What is one toy you always

gravitate to more than the rest? So basically,

what's the one toy, John, you're going to have

at your desk at work or Joanna, the same thing

kind of thing versus everything else that's in

the house? I don't have anything at my desk.

I can't work, I should. But if I would, I definitely

would have brought a little Lego minifig to just

hang out while I'm working, because it would

be small enough to where nobody would notice,

but also a nice little motivation piece to finish

my work and go home. I have a Lego mug as a pencil

holder, always on my desk, so I would have to

say Lego just by default. That's awesome. They're

always even though there are always toy lines

that people never purchase Are there any that

you specifically and purposefully avoid this

can be a toy line specific character? Etc like

you again you go into that store, and you're

looking around you're like oh Horror toys no,

thanks um I would like a specific line Anything

just is there stuff that you just don't buy I

know for me. It's hot toys Really expensive high

-end very detailed six scale figures I love them,

but I started to get into it for like six months

and then they're too expensive They take too

long, but I know there's stores that carry them

and if they do carry them I'll look a little

bit, but I won't I won't look too much because

I know that I'll go down that rabbit hole again,

and we just can't there's no space Boy How large

or small is your toy collection? Do your toys

take up the whole house or they really get into

one room shelf or something like that? They are

taking up the entire bottom level of the house

right now and the rest about 90 % of our Lego

sets are housed at my sister's house We try not

to bring anything upstairs or our house upstairs

looks normal. It's just downstairs is where the

hoarding begins Well, how do you keep track of

your collection oh We use pop price guide for

our Funko collection and we use brick economy

for our Lego collection both great websites and

very easy to track Lego sets and Funko pops and

Funko sodas, of course Very cool, very cool.

Now folks, you can always go over to Slapshot

Pops on YouTube and check out everything on how

this next question is gonna go, but how do you

display your toys? Right now they're on bookcases,

Billy bookcases from IKEA. We put them in a pop

protector. Anything under $100 goes in a pop

protector. Anything over $100 goes in a hard

stack protector, and we face them face out. is

how we currently display them. Our Lego is on

top of display tables and acrylic risers. Very

cool, very cool. All right, I know this is going

to hurt John more than it probably hurts Joanna,

but the house is on fire. If you could only keep

one toy from your entire collection, what is

the one toy you would run back into the fire

to save? You can only keep one Freddy, John.

You can't keep them all. What is oh my god, that's

this is a hard question. Yes, it is You go first

I would have to say Freddy Boba Fett I guess

would be a lot of tears Yeah Probably my Marina

Bay Sands Lego set. Yeah something else that's

Virtually irreplaceable. Very cool. Very cool.

All right, folks, that's 20 questions down. We're

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the other questions right after this. Yo, Joe,

and welcome to the Cracktastic Plastic Podcast,

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Hey, that was fun! Alright, we are back here

on Toycast with John and Joanna Darling from

Slapshot Pop, Slapshot Bricks, and every other

hockey thing they're going to do in their lives.

Especially set up a new hockey rink wherever

they end up living next as long as it's cold

enough, right John? Oh, I would love that One

day one day Here's the toy box challenge you

get one 18 by 18 by 18 box The only toys you

can keep have to fit in the box. What can you

pack into it? It's a long list of toys and 18

by 18 by 18 is big box All right. I would probably

pack two or three of my architecture Lego sets.

They're pretty small. I can probably fit three

or four in them and I could probably fit another

five pops. So my Sonic pops and two of my Sailor

Moon pops. I'd probably grab a bunch of Freddy's,

a couple of Captain America pops. Probably a

couple of Lego brick heads. And I don't think

that box is big enough, but I don't know. No,

John, you have to leave Freddy's behind. Yeah,

that'd be tough. I still have space. Minis, can

I fit mine in your box? No, you're doing great.

Yeah, probably another Lego set here and there.

It's too hard to pick one right now. All right,

so as you can tell, folks, obviously, because

it's one of their two main toy lines, Are you

a Funko fan? Just a little bit, yeah. What is

something you want in pop form that has never

been made? It cannot be a Freddy, Star Wars,

or Marvel. Think outside the box. Anything Studios

Ghibli. That would be fantastic if they acquire

that license. Either Kiki or Tombo or Totoro

or any of the lines. Anything from Spirited Away

would be fantastic. So Studios Ghibli, which

is probably not going to happen because it's

hard for them to release their license. I think

it'd be really cool and I also think it would

open up a huge market for Funko that could be

untapped and that could be sports moments. They've

done movie moments and they've done sports pops.

I would love to see sports moments pops highlighting,

you know, huge moments and victories and, um,

you know, shots and goals, points and everything

over the last 40, 50 years and, and all different

sports, basketball, hockey, tennis, football,

you name it, you know, famous players doing awesome

things. Absolutely. That would, that would be

amazing. First thing I think of is that save

Bobby Orr did way back in the day. Oh man, if

we could have a pop of that, that would be amazing.

Yeah, that would be really cool. So what is it

about Funco that drew you guys in? I think for

me, at least, it was the simplicity, but it was

also the fact that you could collect something

across so many different IPs and that they would

all look uniform on the shelf with all the boxes

fitting on top of one another next to each other.

It looks very clean. Whereas some other toy lines,

the packaging is a little bit awkward. Sometimes

things might be cool, but they don't display

well. I think Funko Pops just hit a lot of things

on the head for me in that regard. I like the

fact that it reminds me of childhood. So like

John says, it's all in one similar packaging

so I can collect over various different things

that remind me of my childhood. And I can display

them all together in one neatly placed shelf.

Very cool. Very cool. What was the most money

you spent on a toy? Oh, man. You're looking at

me? I'm going to go first. The most I've ever

spent on a toy was probably $600. And it was

a Lego set. That's a lot. $600? And it was a

Lego set. Yep. Bro. That was the most I've ever

spent. You need a budget. No, you're going to

need the budget. Go ahead. You can tell everybody

yours. It's no secret. I've told a lot of people

this. I'm proud of it. I saved up for a long

time. When the opportunity arose, the seller

was very patient, let me do a payment plan. And

I bought Freddie Boba Fett for $2 ,500. Wow.

That's a lot of money. I think that might be

the record so far on this podcast. I'm not trying

to set the record. No, no, no No, no, but I'm

saying like every time I ask that question It

varies most people are like, oh I spent 150 here.

I spent 200 here. I spent like Joanna said 600

here. I don't I don't think in two years of doing

this format out of the What is it? 14 years of

the show's podcast has been online or offline,

whatever. I don't think we've ever had anyone

say they've spent over a thousand bucks. Well,

you made the most mistakes. That's because I'm

telling the truth. Somebody's not fessing up

to their purchases. Yeah, I know some of the

people that you've done interviews with. I don't

know if they're telling the truth. Yeah, I don't

think 2 ,500 is that crazy. we're not pointing

anyone out anybody out here but yeah for me like

I don't really room I'm trying to remember what

is the most for a single that I've like just

a single toy not not counting like like back

in the day in 2008 when I was when I had a nice

job and whatever else whenever else I ended up

spending 800 bucks for a full BotCon set but

that was BotCon it was five figures plus it was

like eight figures for eight hundred dollars

so that wasn't that bad of course now one of

those figures goes up for over fifteen hundred

god i wish i had kept that thing oh boy yeah

i'm trying to remember what's the most single

i don't end up buying most like funko pops i

don't buy a lot of the more expensive ones i

just i just don't i i will buy stuff in sets

and things like i'm I've got a deal worked out

with somebody where I'm going to be able to complete

what I want out of the Yu -Gi -Oh line. So that's,

you know. Like a collection? Like a bulk? Yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's... So John continues

to be the one with the most mistakes. Great.

Oh, you know. It is what it is. So on the flips.

On the flip side of that, what is the cheapest

toy you bought? What was the best deal you ever

got for a toy that may have been worth quite

a bit more than what you paid? I don't know.

Probably a pop that you bought that has now tripled

in value. Yeah, I mean, I've purchased, I mean,

we bought a lot of Funko Pops. Well, at least

I bought a lot in like 2014, 2015, 2016 that

have all risen. Significantly in value for retail

so $15 probably Yeah somewhere on there I think

the best deal was I own and I didn't drink it

because I don't drink this type of soda But I

spent six dollars on three bottles of diet dr.

Pepper to get that little sweet pop There you

go, and now they're nice folding you deserve

a raise. Thank you You do deserve a raise in

the form of a sweet diet, Dr. Pepper. Ooh, sip

it. Mm, 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?

You're sweet going back and it's been psycho.

Diet, Dr. Pepper. It's the sweet one. And now

they're like, hey, we have extra stocks in case

so it doesn't go to the landfill. You can have

it for like whatever price there. I don't know.

I've heard rumors. They're going to be releasing

whatever and how they have remaining stock of

that pop that came out for X number of years

ago is beyond me, but it is what it is. In a

warehouse somewhere. Yeah, we can't control it.

You know, whatever they pull out of the warehouses.

Yeah. So. I think question 25 kind of it's null

and void for John and Joanna folks because they

collect Funko and Lego and The question is what

modern and or vintage toy lines are you currently

collecting? That's what they collect That's a

pretty yeah, we're pretty streamlined and what

we collect we're we go hard for the two things

that we do collect though How many Freddy Fluxes

do you have? Or are they three different ones

that sit behind you when you film? I actually

have the whole set. I was lucky enough. I found

three from one seller. And then a couple of years

later, I found the fourth one. OK, because I

always see them because they always stand out

more than the other Freddy's because they're

black boxes and whatever else. I'm like, are

those three of the same figure, which I can't

I can't really say anything. They all they all

very subtle differences. I know again, no answer

to this one, but do you visit toy shows or conventions?

When you visit toy shows or conventions, do you

have a typical methodology? Do you bring a certain

amount of money for what you're searching for,

et cetera, et cetera? So we take cash and whatever

budget we have that month, we have a toy budget.

And whatever toy budget we have, that's what

we use for the cons as well. So we won't buy

anything else that month. If we have a con or

like a toy show, we use the same budget that

because that works for us and we take that in

cash. It's usually anywhere between three to

five hundred dollars. And whatever we don't use,

we roll over to the next month. And that's our

that's the way to. to enjoy the con without coming

home and feeling super guilty that we are now

poor. Yes, exactly. No biscuits for you, Alex.

Sorry. Hey, you got to bring up the CDO at one

point or another chief dog officer. Yeah, of

course. He was chomping away back here. I was

worried you were going to hear it on the on the

podcast. Hey, if you know animals or other things

in the house come to life. Sure. Fine. We just

roll right into it. 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? That's a very good question.

I think because we have so much pop culture surrounding

a lot of the characters that we grew up with,

they've really expanded on... A lot of universes

with movies and TV shows and exploring the backstories

of like a lot of comic book characters now and

different animes and stuff so I think because

everything that we grew up with is now so present

in our daily lives and it's so Expanded and now

all these companies realize that you know this

generation the past few generations grew up on

these characters and They have disposable income

and they'll buy some of this stuff. You know,

they're just gonna keep Making it and then we

just keep buying it and then it's just kind of

like this endless cycle. Yeah, absolutely What

is your motivation for purchasing toys to display

play fiddle describe your collecting style? Are

you a completionist a storyteller a cherry picker

or otherwise? If we're talking about Funko, I

used to be a completionist and now the way that

Funko is pumping out items, I'm a cherry picker.

I'll pick out the items that mean the most to

me. As far as Lego, it depends on the line. If

it's architecture line, I am a completionist.

I have every single architect set and it's going

to continue unless I can't keep up with it. Any

other line, I am a cherry picker. Yeah, I would

say very similar like when yeah when I first

started collecting Funko I was trying to complete

lines or you know make my way towards you know

trying to go after certain sets, but Yeah, now

it's just they just put out so much you just

have to pick and choose what really means the

most to you with Lego I I'm not really a completionist

with any line my kind of cherry pick from the

lines that I like the most to build, but I will

say I do collect the majority of the Star Wars

sets they put out. There's only a handful here

and there. But yeah, I'm like Joanna with the

architectural line. I don't think. Oh, actually,

I take it back. I speed champions. Yes, I'm a

completionist with the LEGO Speed Champions.

I was about to blow up. No, you're right. You're

right. You're right. You're right. Yeah. Every

time they come out with speed champions, I have

every set except for the 2023 sets. But yeah,

every set. going back to, I don't know, 2011

when they started the line or whatever it was,

I have all of them. Very cool, very cool. Have

you ever purchased a toy for a child with the

ulterior motive of playing with it yourself?

Yes, my niece's toys. We've been purchasing bigger

Lego sets and although she is amazing at it for

her young age, John and I know that we have to

help her build it, so we end up building it as

well. There you go. That's so cool. Do you do

any toy modifications or customs? Painting, building,

building dioramas, etc.? Yes, I've recently,

I guess in the last year, got really into custom

Lego sets. Not to the point where they're my

own designs going off of what other amazing people

have done in Lego community. So just parting

out sets and buying the instructions from them

and the stickers if necessary. And I just see

it as a way to make our collection a little bit

more unique. I like building stuff that I don't

think Lego is ever going to produce. And it's

fun. It just kind of takes the hobby to the next

level. Cool very cool. Do you think toy companies

should specifically have adult collector toys

child toys or find a way to mix both? I think

they should have both. I don't know if they should

like I don't know what you mean by mix Hopefully

like or like just have both categories. Yeah,

basically like mixing both is like they have

them both and they that like say for the summer

Transformers is going to release a bunch of stuff

for kids of today, whereas Say for the winter

they release a bunch of stuff for us collectors

that is you know more High -grade that you know

every time I see transformers posting on Instagram

or wherever else I'm like some of these toys

that they're advertising It's so weird because

they just did oh What is it from the IDW comics

they did the Tarn tank? in their story, they're

like parents swipe out now to pre -order and

I'm looking at this thing only no Same parent

is gonna pre -order tar from the comics for their

kid even though he's just a robot in a tank But

with where that character comes from and what

that character is all about. You don't want your

kids having that character Makes sense. I think

a good company to use as an example is Lego.

They do a really good job of You know, they have

Duplo, like the larger style bricks that are

easier for younger kids to handle. And then they

have sets that are specifically targeted for

like seven plus. And then they get a little bit

more advanced for the 13 plus. And then, of course,

they have the sets that are very advanced, very

large and meant for the adult collectors. So

I don't think Funko does a really good job of

that at the moment. I think they kind of just

put out whatever they put out and they just hope

for the best. I don't really think they've. learned

their demographics too well. I think they could

really, if they had a team, sit down and figure

out what products should we market to kids, what

products are we marketing to teenagers, and what

products should we market to adults. Do you have

a, and I'll have to tell you the genesis of the

question before you answer, but do you have a

my parents got rid of my toys story? When I was

growing up in the 80s, I come from divorced parents.

My parents divorced in 82. I lived with my mom

and every once in a while I would stay with my

dad. At my mom's I had some good guys, I had

some bad guys, but I pretty much had every single

Masters of the Universe toy, including Castle

Grayskull at my mom's. I had the Snake Mountain

playset with the microphone at my dad's. One

weekend I went down to Rhode Island to visit

my dad. My toys were gone. like just gone so

yeah my parents got rid of my toys store you

got any of those i know john does so i'm gonna

go first um i actually don't have a parents got

rid of my toys um my parents stay together until

uh until i was an adult so i always had an eye

on my toys john Yeah, I guess a little bit of

a story I I was really big into collecting hockey

carts when I was in high school and I was actually

doing pretty well I was buying packs and selling

some and using the money to buy some rare stuff

for my collection and my Collection within like

two three years. It got in pretty large. I had

several thousand dollars worth of sales every

single month on eBay and My mom especially was

getting concerned that I was spending way too

much time sorting cards, organizing cards, looking

up prices. She was getting very frustrated because

there'd be 50 to 60 envelopes going out every

single week and another several dozen coming

in for my personal collection. So she didn't

get rid of my collection, but she pretty much

threatened to. So to get back at her and to prove

that I wasn't wasting my time, I actually sold

off most of my own collection. I made quite a

bit of money, but I kind of regret doing that.

And I wish I would have just took a step back

and said, I can do what I want. You can't threaten

me or persuade me to go one way or another. This

is what I want to do. But a lot of those cards

I sold, unfortunately, are now similar to the

the instance that you mentioned, they're worth

a lot more than what I sold them for. But it's

okay, you know, because we're here now and we're

still collecting and we're still having fun.

Yep. So he says they're still collecting it.

It's ironic compared to question 34. This is

a long question because it has multiple questions

inside of it. Blame my friend Josh because he

wrote this when I didn't. Do you feel you are

coming to an end of your active collecting? If

so, what has signified this phase for you? Was

there ever a moment when you were done with toys?

Have you ever considered stopping as a collector

or even selling your whole collection? So I can

speak for the both of us? Absolutely not. We

absolutely are kids at heart every single day.

Sometimes collecting does get a little bit overwhelming,

but the fact that we love both Funko and Lego,

when they're dropping too much on Funko that

we're not fans of, we'll buy more Lego and vice

versa. We absolutely have tons of plans for the

future for both of us, and it all includes toys.

Yeah, it's kind of all centered around toys.

I mean, we're looking at buying our first home

next year and we're trying to find a space that's

adequate enough for allowing us to finally display

both hobbies that we love and have a passion

for and then also in that space encompassing

room for us to make content, you know, more content

on both those hobbies. So, yeah, I think we're

pretty much taking it to the next level or where

now we're revolving our lives completely 100

% around both hobbies. Wow. So I'm going to say

this, folks, and this isn't revealing too much,

but five acres of land, you could have a Lego

building and a Funko building. Yeah, that'd be

awesome. And then you'd have to have like camera

frames go between two studios. It's a movie set.

Yeah, that's right. What is something that does

not have a toy of it that you would love to have

in toy form? Oh, I got a good one Um, so one

of my favorite movies growing up was top gun

loved tom cruise. I love the f -14 tomcat and

I know that Tom Cruise does not like his movies,

him being in any sort of action figure form.

And I think it's kind of a bummer because he

puts he put the Navy in such a positive light,

you know, especially with the Top Gun sequel

and everything. And, you know, he just he makes

everything he does look so cool, you know, being

like a Special agent and mission impossible and

everything else that he does in his movies. But

yeah, I always wanted like a You know an f -14

official like Top Gun toy and I know there's

some Companies out there that make like versions

of it, but there's like no official like yes

Yeah, it's not officially licensed. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah exactly I already said mine, the Studio's

Ghibli. I'll go back to it all day, every day.

If they make something of that, I will. I know

John's excited to go to SDCC one year. If they

drop anything Studio's Ghibli, I'll be the first

one on the plane. All right, folks. We're at

question 37 in a row. And I specifically put

this question here because of that old joke.

Now granted they are sitting in the same room

So this normally I have one or the other here

as far as like husband wife boyfriend girlfriend,

etc, etc Whatever. How have your spouses significant

others mates partners, etc dealt with your collection

pretty well No, I got I got very lucky I was

after you know living with parents and family

members who weren't very encouraging of my hobbies

and not very supportive. I kind of had like a

couple years, I believe people refer to them

as the dark ages, where you're not collecting

as much. In my instance, I definitely wasn't

building as much Lego as I am now. I still collected

Funko, of course, but I did everything sort of

quietly and didn't really allow anybody to know

about my hobbies or anything. And then when I

went on dates, Also didn't bring it up didn't

talk about it and then lo and behold after countless

terrible dates I finally made my way into Joanna's

life and then it turned it out or it turned out

that she was just as big of a kid and had Way

more toys than I had at the time. So That was

a one of the best aspects of our early relationship

and and now it's blossomed into a business that

we have together So anything you would like to

say, Joanna? As John just said, I had more toys

than he did. So fitting his Funko pops into my

shelves was not a big deal because I was already

making mistakes of my own. So he just added on.

And I think I showed him a different like life.

of Lego. He was already collecting Lego at the

time, but I just showed him a different like

different lines and modulars and bigger things.

Yeah, I was I was strictly only Star Wars and

you kind of like I would legit only go to the

Lego store and only go to that one section and

like seeing. And talking to you, of course, you

were like, you know, there's other parts of the

store and maybe that was bad for our wallet financially.

But now he buys a lot as well. So there's a lot

of amazing lines. And now I buy more pops. So

I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad

thing. I don't know if we should be together.

Don't they say opposites attract? But we're like

the same. So that's why we need a lot of land.

Yeah. Lot of land and a lot of a business expense

for sheet the sheets there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh,

yeah Less money to uncle Sam the better. Absolutely

Toy collecting can have its struggles. What is

one aspect you tend to struggle with the most?

I don't know. I think we do a very good job after

the years that we've been doing this. I feel

like we do a good job of pacing ourselves. We

do a good job of budgeting. Most stuff, when

it comes out, we don't buy it right away. We're

always savvy. We look for deals. We try to...

You know, with Lego, we save up our VIP points.

I know Funko is now doing this rewards program

as well. You know, obviously with the channel,

I'm always tracking prices for Funko pops and

waiting for the market to dip to try to pick

up something that I need. A struggle for us right

now is currently space. When we see items that

we really like, we just can't afford to pick

up everything, although we set a good budget

for ourselves. At the end of the day, sometimes

it comes down to space rather than money right

now. Uh, we're very tight where we are. We've

outgrown the space. So, um, we try to keep our

wants to like one or two per month because we

don't want to get rid of anything to find a new

home for something else. Yeah. Heaven forbid

you screw up John and she sells all the Freddy's.

I think she'll be pretty pretty well off for

at least All I say is if you do man get top dollar

oh I am I already know who I'm selling my stuff

perfect. I'm going to Hawaii Please don't sell

them You know she wouldn't no, I know What is

one positive and one negative memory you have

with buying toys? I've purchased a few pops when

I was first collecting that I found out years

later were fake. So that was definitely a bummer.

I think a lot of collectors go through that and

you just have to learn and be more savvy and

understand that if something's a really good

deal when it comes to Funko Pops especially,

it's probably too good to be true. Yeah. So negative.

So I'll give a positive. I really like when new

things come out that I'm excited for because

of it goes again back to space. There's not a

lot of things that I allow myself to get excited

for. So when something comes out that is an amazing

three pack, for instance, that I'm super excited

for this year, it makes me love the product even

more. It just. solidifies why we started collecting

in the first place. And it just gives me something

to look forward to in the coming weeks. Absolutely.

Would that be the diamond three pack? Yeah, it

is. That's really, I already wanted it before

we found it out that it was limited, but now

we know that it's limited. It's just like multiplied

the hype, you know. If I had to pick two things

off the SDCC list for 2023, it would be. The

Fairly Odd Parents because I didn't think they

would ever do it and then obviously Rodimus and

Galvatron 2 pack So there's that Yeah, two things

for us are the two three packs. It's the Powerpuff

Girl three packs and a fairly odd. I don't think

that'll be nearly as expensive. We've been the

second she showed up on screen with it me and

John we looked at each other and we were like,

that's a pop right there. I think I missed the

boat. I should have dropped it last year, but

it's okay. It'll be easier for us to get. We

already have a hard time with the three packs.

So if you end up going out to Everett, Washington

and getting to talk to Funco and all that good

stuff, if you could create any toy, what would

you want to create? So Funco gives you the keys

to the kingdom or Lego. I like something different

than they already drop. Yeah. Like what is one

thing? Like what's the one thing you would want

to create if you were in charge? It's a good

question. Like a line wise or? No, it's like

if you. Like not necessarily if you can just

go pop yourself kind of thing, but basically

like You can create anything you want to create.

What would you like they give you the keys to

the kingdom? What would you want to create? I

would create It's funny because Lego sort of

has a program like this But I think it would

be very useful for Funko if we could somehow

curate it If Funko could put out in the beginning

of the year, if they did it on like a, I don't

know, a quarterly or bi -annual or maybe even

an annual basis and they say, hey, we're taking

submissions for Funko Pops that you guys wanna

see or any sort of character, Funko Soda, like

anything that you guys would like to see us make

and then. You know, they have a team sit down

and they say, all right, we've narrowed it down

to like five to 10 submissions. And then they

open it up for like three months and have the

community vote like, all right, out of these

10 pops, we're going to pick three to produce.

And, you know, the top three with the most votes

from this date to this date on whatever website

they open it up for. This is what we're going

to make. And maybe they'll be like. con exclusives

or special website drops. But LEGO has a similar

program with LEGO Ideas. And the Ideas program,

even though it's not perfect, I think Funko did

something like that. I feel like it would really

just, they're already a company that's very involved

with the community, but man, that would just

take it to the next level and people would be

so happy. They did have the suggestion stuff

on the website, didn't they? They had a website.

They did. But I don't know of any suggestions

that ever made it to physical form. I don't think

they acknowledge the suggestor like Lego does.

The person, they're up, people are voting, and

then you have a certain amount to vote, and then

you move up to the top bracket. And then that

person gets a few sets of their own, so it'll

be great. Yeah, and they celebrate the designer.

And that would be cool too if they could celebrate

the artists from the community who came up with

the custom or came up with the glam shot or the

creation of whatever product they went with.

Yeah, absolutely. I remember when they released

that page on the website, I was like, oh, finally,

after me hounding them on social media every

chance I get. Make an elf pop, not elf, alf,

ALF, alien life form, dang it. And I'm not talking

about wacky wobbler either. What is one piece

of advice you would give the toy collecting fandom

in general? Budget. We see a lot of people go

over budget. A lot of people will come into whatever

hobby. whether it be Funko. Obviously we're a

lot more connected to the Funko community right

now, but we do have a little bit of a toe in

the Lego community and I kind of see the same

instance happen over there occasionally, but

definitely with Funko you see people come in,

they're hard charging about the product and they

just start buying everything. They start going

around to retail stores, they're buying from

websites, they're pre -ordering, they're buying

con stuff left and right and they become very

overwhelmed. They might run out of space very

quickly. and they might exhaust their personal

funds very quickly as well. And I think that

kind of puts a detriment on the hobby when you

find yourself in a tough financial spot, and

then it kind of creates this angst towards the

product. It's not the product's fault that you

just happen to like it so much that you burn

through X amount of money in a short time. But

if you pace yourself and you budget, I think

that's where the longevity of the love for a

product can come from. So I would add on top

of that, I would say when you start to like an

item, go search through what has been created

because a lot of times you just buy, buy, buy,

and then you're a completionist. And then all

of a sudden you're kind of overwhelmed that you

have like the same thing, seven different versions

of it. So if you're not a completionist and you

just got into it and you just, like John said,

you just. pre -ordered and bought from here and

bought from there, I would take a minute to see

what you really, really like. So then that way

you're not overwhelmed in having to sell certain

pieces. You're looking at your collection and

you're loving every bit of it rather than saying,

oh, I can get rid of this to get something else.

Absolutely. Last question. What is advice you'd

give kids who enjoy toys? Collect what you want.

Collect what you love. Don't let anybody stop

you. If you have the money for it, of course.

If you don't have the money for it, ask your

parents if you can do some extra chores around

the house and get that allowance money. But don't

let anybody tell you not to collect something

because it's lame. Because who's to say in two,

three, seven years from then? now popular, and

they're collecting it too, and you could have

had an advantage and loved it the entire time.

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I echo all that stuff.

And don't be embarrassed if anyone judges you.

It's your life. If you like something, live it

up. If the chances are there's something else

out there that other people like that doesn't

really fit your passions. So who cares what other

people think? Don't let it bog you down. And

also, if you want something, work for it like

joining us. So like, you know, ask your parents

if you can do extra chores, maybe when you're

old enough, pick up a part time job. Like if

you want something, go get it. And no matter

how expensive it is, no matter how rare it is,

like don't stop until you get it. Cause when

you work for it and then you get it, it feels

so good. So basically what he just said, folks

is their slogan. Don't stop shooting until you

score. Pretty much, yeah. Always got to loop

it in. Hey, everything comes back to Slapshot.

All right, folks, we're going to go to one more

quick ad break, and I can safely say, regardless

of whatever's in the outro, this is easily the

shortest origins we have ever done on this podcast,

which is crazy, because these guys have 24 -hour

livestreams sometimes. It's nuts. Nuts. But we're

gonna go to a quick break, we're gonna come back

to close the show, give these guys a chance to

promote all their stuff right after this. every

Friday on the GeekCast Radio Network. A new show

drops on Tuesday mornings on the GCRN website

and all of the major podcast platforms. So listen

to the Marku42's universe podcast from the universe

and beyond. Discover a world of vintage and modern

toys that's more than meets the eye with the

Triple Takeover Toycast. Hosted by toy writers

and photographers Toy Box Soapbox, Sixo and TF

Square One, this informal and chilled out series

of discussions cover everything from vintage

Transformers to Mask, Diaclone, Microman and

more, be it nostalgic or current. Whether you're

a seasoned collector or a casual robot enthusiast,

all are welcome. Triple Takeover Toycast. We

are back here on Toycast with John and Joanna

Darling from Slapshot Pops. First of all, something

I should have said at the very beginning of this

show, John, thank you for your service. I can't

believe I did not say that at the beginning of

the show. It's completely okay. By the time I

get to question 20, I'm like, ah crap. It's completely

okay. So yes, Slapshot Pops, Slapshot Bricks,

what is going on in the Slapshot family? Uh,

we are currently on YouTube. Like you said, we

do post, um, anywhere from two to three, sometimes

four videos a week, uh, moving towards trying

to create more short form content. And of course

we do live streams on YouTube as well. We're

also on whatnot. We do sell once a week over

there and all the sales we have, uh, goes directly

back into our business and our YouTube channel.

And a big thing coming up for us is we're hoping

to. save up enough money to purchase our first

home next year, which will allow us more space

to create more content and, of course, launch

our plans for our LEGO channel. So we have a

lot of big things, hopefully on the horizon in

the next 12 months or so. So we're very grateful

for all the support we've gotten. I don't think

we ever thought we would get to this point, at

least this quickly. I think this is a point we

wanted to get to, but... Think we've done a lot

in a relatively short time and we have a lot

of people to thank for that including yourself

Well, like I said to you guys off air and I'll

say it on air I was kind of lost in 21 after

I lost Karen So and then I had to move across

the country and all that other BS that I had

to deal with so it's like oh I need to Consume

a bunch of content and I honestly don't even

know how I found you guys Because I know you

got out of the original which three of the four

members are still there out of the original pfo

I believe it was you guys I found first and then

I went over to vince and brie with pop and duo

and then professor josh and then jim with with

rock and roe so but I still have no clue I don't

even remember what the first video was that I

watched it just happens it just uh same thing

with some other channels we follow I couldn't

tell you when we found them I could just tell

you that one day they just pop up in your feed

click on it or you don't click on it, it just

starts playing and then that's how it happens.

Yep, absolutely. All right, thank you for joining

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

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

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use. Follow us on twitter at geek cast radio

for network at tf toy cast for the show. I am

at tf you and mike They are over there, but they

don't really use it that much. It is at slap

shot pops. They're basically slap shot pops everywhere

Facebook like like they said youtube whatnot

all that stuff For us on Facebook, Geekcast Rio

Network and TF Toycast as well. Next time on

Toycast, we're going to be starting, I don't

know when this is going to happen, so currently

the show is probably going to go on another hiatus.

There was a hiatus between 179 and now, there's

going to be another hiatus between now and whenever

we start the top 100 toys countdown. For now,

I am TFU and Mike with... Joanna and John saying

join us next time when we'll be talking more

toys here on Toycast as I said top 100 toys countdown

coming up Here on the geek cast radio network.

Yeah, we're killing it. This is great