The Art of Collecting Toys and Digital Media

You're tuned in to Steve Megatron on Altered

Geek. Welcome to Altered Geek. I'm your host,

Steve Megatron Phillips, and joining me in this

episode is returning from the Great White North.

That's right. It is I, Mike the Birdman Dodd

of This Week in Geek and more or less geekcastradio

.com. I am so happy to be back on microphone,

a proper microphone and not my iPad for a change.

Holy crap, the world is about to break. I know.

What can I say? It's good to be set up. I'm set

up in my living room, not my studio, because

I still don't have a proper chair yet. But, hey,

I don't got to worry about that for a while yet.

But, hey, I'm happy to be here, happy to be back.

And we have a surprise for you, Mike. Do you

now? Yeah. This is your overall 100th podcast

with the Geekcast Radio Network. Holy, wow, that's

a lot of podcasts I've done with you guys. Hundreds

of hours, at least. At least. Easily. Well, it

has been an honor and a pleasure, and I look

forward to 100 more, and more beyond that. Yep.

And what brought that on is Optimus Solo is actually

doing a history project of who's hit certain

milestones on the network. Oh, wow. He hit his

– Optimus all hit his 500th episode when we did

our first Milestone episode. So if you guys have

not heard his Milestone episode, we basically

reminisce on how we all kind of became friends

and how he joined the network and what he was

doing and the evolution of what we've done and

things like that. So, yeah, we'll have a Milestone

episode for Dot at some point. Don't know exactly

when, but soon. Soon. I'm excited for that. That's

cool. Yeah, and I guess – Blanchard and I are

getting close to one, too. I just don't know

what number. Yeah, I think you're around one...

I think you're somewhere around 1 ,500 and I'm

somewhere around 2 ,000, I think. Man, and I

thought I had no life. Hey, I fully admit I have

no life. Eight years later. So... Almost ten,

really. Yeah. Almost 10, yeah. I mean, from when

I first started podcasting. So what's drawn us

together for this awesome geekery guild, you

could say, of collecting in the geek world? Yes.

Now, I want to send a huge shout out to the companies

that have helped make this possible. These guys

have sent me items for support, review, and just

analyzation. I have to thank Fisher Price. I

have to thank Playmobil. I have to thank Bandai

and Shout Factory. Now, this is something I was

originally going to pitch to one of my radio

networks, but... Instead of having two minutes,

I decided having like over 40 minutes would be

a lot better because this is such a huge topic.

And considering Star Wars just turned 40, I think

it was last week or the week before last. What

better time to talk about collecting because

now a lot of us are getting to the age and you

yourself, Steve, you've got kids. It's about

that time where we can start introducing our

kids and some of our younger family members into

the wonderful world of collecting. over the last

couple years we've seen a lot of big franchises

come back we've seen gi joe we've seen power

rangers we've seen transformers um star wars

has never ever went away and it's such a unique

time to be a collector because some of these

big franchises are becoming super super kid friendly

And I'm so surprised because you look at a franchise

like this is kind of where I got the idea for

the show, actually. Last year, when the Ghostbusters

reboot came out. answer the call, they started

doing a younger line of toys for both boys and

girls. There was a lot of role play toys. There

was a lot of toys put out by Mattel with a younger

kind of play in mind. And the only adult and

the only, sorry, collectibles I'd seen for Ghostbusters

at that time was stuff from Mattel, NECA, Diamond

Select, et cetera, et cetera, and other licensees

that were meant for the adult collector like

myself. But seeing these younger cutie -eye,

kind of cutesy versions, kind of got me thinking.

You know, I remember seeing cutie Ghostbusters,

cutie Transformers, cutie G .I. Joe toys previously.

I mean, I think of Transformers Rescue Bots,

for example. And then I think about higher -end

collectibles like the stuff from Japan, the Masterpiece

line, the Takara stuff. Stuff that's never...

ever gone out of style with us older collectors.

And now our kids are getting to that age where

they can start to appreciate the toys that are

coming out. And what really kicked it into high

gear for me this year is I finally got a chance

to go out and see the new Power Rangers movie.

And seeing how things are evolving now, because

now we have that franchise turns 25 years old,

I think this year, if I'm not mistaken. Next

year. Next year, sorry. So you look at the design

of the new Megazord versus the old Megazord.

If you look in the artwork for this episode.

or in the episode post rather, my friend Alex

took some pictures of a Megazord I found at a

garage sale. 100 % complete, I might add. And

I got it for a bloody steal compared to the new

interactive movie Megazord. I kind of like the

way things are going for kids collecting because

now they're at a point where they can collect

the old stuff where it's not hard to find if

you look at garage sales, if you're willing to

look and dig for it. Or if you don't want to

do that, you can go to your local Toys R Us,

your Walgreens, Walmart, wherever, Target, and

you can find these products relatively simply.

And there's even the stuff that's coming out

now that's meant for us older collectors. For

example, Power Rangers by Saban and Bandai has

this wonderful line called Legacy right now.

I've seen that. They are absolutely astounding,

Steve. Like, my wife got me the Ninja Megazord.

I used to have the original. And it's so cool.

She got me that, the Legacy line. It's die -cast.

It's not... as big as the original it's slightly

smaller but it's more detailed and more articulated

and she also got me the ninja falcon zord and

you combine these into the ninja mega falcon

zord and it just clips onto the back and it's

just as good as the stuff that comes over from

japan Now, you are paying a collector's premium

price for it, but if that's not your thing, you

can collect the new line of toys, which is out

now for Ninja Steel, which is the new series

airing on Nickelodeon, which is in hiatus right

now. But you can pick up a Megazord for like

$40, which is not unreasonable. And it's pretty

much the exact same stuff as Japan. Yeah, when

you think about the Megazord, it's essentially

five toys in one. So $40 for five toys, that's

not bad at all. exactly i mean now i will say

the older stuff or at least my deluxe megazord

from the 90s it's a little nicer than the ninja

megazord that i have from ninja steel but that's

comparing apples to oranges considering each

series is adapted from a different sentai you

really don't know what you're going to get year

to year i know i'm watching the japanese stuff

right now i'm watching a series called q rangers

And it's based upon, I guess, the Zodiac. And

some of their toys look so weird. I can't wait

to see how they're going to adapt this. Or if

that series will even get adapted for over here.

Because I think we're two years behind them,

typically, in terms of adapting Sentai. Because

they got Ninja Steel two years ago. We're just

getting it now. In fact, in the Japanese version,

the Gold Ranger's Morpher is a hamburger. I'm

not even making this up. It's so weird. So if

he's hungry. Yeah, it's so strange. And yet,

in the American, he gets this ninja's blaster

star thing. So what you're telling me is the

Sentai version of the Gold Ranger, he's essentially

the Hamburglar in disguise. He looks more like

a really weird cowboy because he has an electric

guitar chainsaw. It is the weirdest thing I've

ever seen. Say that again, slowly. He has an

electric guitar that's also a chainsaw gun. Oh,

my God. It's so cool. He's essentially bluegrass

from Silverhawks. Actually, that's not a bad

comparison, actually. It's so weird, but it's

so cool just to see how these companies are adapting

all these things. And Power Rangers, like I said,

is not the only company to be doing it. As I

mentioned, Ghostbusters previously. Playmobil,

they just released, this actually just came out

in the last month or so, their Ghostbusters line.

And the Ghostbusters movie we all know is a movie

that came out in 1984. And that's a movie that

kids today, they might watch, they might not

watch. They're more likely to watch the newer

one just because it's the new one, right? So

Ghostbusters not necessarily isn't at the top

of a lot of kids' kind of playlists. Yet the

attention to detail that the Ecto -1 that they

sent me gave, Seems like this thing is built

for kids and collectors in mind. I'm pretty sure

this is based off the extreme Ghostbusters mold.

I can't say that with 100 % certainty. In fact,

don't quote me on that. But it's got lights.

It's got sound. You get Winston. You get Janine

in a Ghostbusters uniform with a proton pack,

which was super badass. You also got, I think

you got a ghost with it too. they also sent me

egon and this gentleman like ghost and they even

have like working traps and everything it's just

so unbelievable and the thing this thing is meant

for kids so like ages three to eight years old

this thing is way cooler than the kenner ecto

one i have right now because it does all these

cool things it lights up in fact its lights are

accurate its sounds are accurate to the movie

it's loud like you can hear this thing in the

hallway if i press the button in my bedroom you

can hear it in the hallway nice and clear it's

ridiculous just how much kids today are not are

spoiled for choice in terms of the cool things

these kids get to have well like going back to

the stuff we had as kids by comparison with the

level of quality that i mean yes you do get your

occasional cheap toy um which they make them

intentionally for different price brackets. But

there's the aspect that you pretty much can get

anything you want, screen accurate, whether it's

animation or film, as compared to what we had

as kids, which was, yeah, it had the likeness

of it, but it didn't actually portray what it

was supposed to be. And so therefore, like...

looking at the nostalgia glasses of it yeah it

was great when you had it as a kid but looking

at what they're developing now it's insane what

they can do with it absolutely and the level

of detail yeah i mean once again even going back

to say power rangers toys i went to another garage

sale and i picked up some of the eight inch rangers

which are the ones that everybody had when they

were a kid they're basically the size of like

a barbie doll and you look at the Legacy figures,

which would be about a comparable price point

now of about $20, the level of detail on these

toys is phenomenal and outstanding. Like, I got

the White Ranger and the Pink Ranger. Even the

morphers on their belts are accurate. In the

original 8 -inch toy, it was just this red orb.

So like you said, Steve, the likeness is there,

but not screen accurate. You look at toy companies,

once again, like Bandai is a really good example

of this. They made Gundam toys in the 90s, and

Gundam's this long -running mecha anime. And

they made pretty good toys for the Americas.

A couple years ago, I started buying these toys

called Robot Spirits, and they run about 50 bucks

a figure. These things are screen accurate to

what's on the TV show. Like right down to the

individual rivets on the side of the armor. If

they're really noticeable on screen on the toy,

they're noticeable. And I've never seen toys

this good before. Yet as kids, we are able to

get away with, well, that kind of looks like

Arnold Schwarzenegger. I suppose he'll do. You

know what I mean? Or we used to get away with...

Just toys of, I'm not going to say lesser quality,

but they didn't exactly nail the wow factor,

I guess, if you had to say. I mean, one line

that stayed consistent over the years is Star

Wars. But that's Hasbro. Yeah, but that's Hasbro

and that's been Kenner. I mean, if Star Wars

has done anything right, they've done vehicles

right almost consistently throughout the years.

The later series, not so much, especially with

scaling issues. But that's because they've changed

how the vehicles fit with the three and three

quarter inch. If you want more on this, there's

a channel on YouTube you should check out called

Retro Blasting. They actually do a really good

analysis of the Rogue One toys. And how they

fit with the older stuff. And I can see a lot

of Michael's points. But I digress. That's a

topic. I can talk about Star Wars collecting

endlessly. But I don't know. There's just something

so special. About having something from your

childhood be in your hands. That's exactly as

you remember it from the property that's being

adapted from, be it Power Rangers, Ghostbusters,

Ninja Turtles even. There are Ninja Turtle figures

that go for over $100 now. And I remember picking

those up from Playmates for like $5, $10 a piece.

And Playmates has always sat at a really good

price point for their figures. I can't remember

many that retailed for over $10. I'm trying to

think. Let's see. I know all four Turtles, Splinter

and April, were about $5 or $6 each, depending

on which store you went to. Shredder, Krang,

all of those might have been around the same

price point. I think when the bigger figures,

like maybe Bebop and Rocksteady, might have been

like, instead of $5 or $6, maybe it was $7 or

$8. I think where the price point for Playmates

and Turtles happened that was larger than that

was like... The turtle van, the turtle blimp,

the sewer playset, that kind of stuff. But the

actual figures, because they were only, you know,

between, what, three and six inches, I think.

Yeah, exactly. You know, somewhere in between

there. So they weren't like, you know, today's

standardized, fully articulated type of figures.

They were, you know, the 80s prices and things

like that. And I remember going to various stores

and picking up a lot of the turtles action figures

as a kid between 88 and 89. And 90 and getting

my, I mean, my mom would go in there, she'd spend

30 bucks and I'd have over 10 toys. Oh yeah.

I mean, it's insane. And I got to always thank

playmates for keeping their prices very consistent.

I mean, you can get, like you said, a full turtle

set for around. or under $30, and you probably

get at least one bad guy. Turtles has never slacked

in terms of their kind of play sets. I mean,

the Technodrome is, I still think, one of the

best play sets ever built. The sewer play set,

very nice on detail. A little bit annoying with

some of the loose parts you could lose from it.

And speaking of play sets, one of the things

that got sent to me today was the Power Rangers

two foot tall Megazord. This thing's a play set.

You don't see too many of those anymore. No.

And it's kind of cool. Just the fact that it's

two feet tall. It's it's it's a giant friggin

Megazord. It shoots lasers. It shoots. It's like

power coins. The only other place that I can

think of right now. is built for kids it's the

playmobil ghostbusters firehouse and it has over

200 pieces retails for 80 bucks that thing that

thing should cost around 120 if not more yet

you get 200 pieces it's shorter than the than

the um kenner firehouse but it comes with five

figures and a metric crap ton of accessories

like you get the containment unit can actually

take the ghostbusters traps and empty them i

have you you couldn't even mean you could dump

certain ghosts in the kenner one but you couldn't

take there was no traps that were scaled for

the figures right yeah that's detail man oh yeah

absolutely I think for me, the difference between

collect, see, I don't even count as a kid being

a collector because I was, yes, I had a lot of

toys, but I was playing with my toys. I was not

leaving them on the shelf. I think the collecting

part of the whole thing comes into the fact of,

as we get older, we get nostalgic for what we

had as a kid or what we would like to display

now. See, that's something I've actually been

kind of trying to figure out. How do kids get

the good common sense to start collecting? Because...

Parents teach them young. Honestly, I kind of

wonder if that's it, because as a kid, I was

very stupid. I never kept anything except remarkably

few things. As an adult, I'm kicking myself in

the ass that I didn't keep half this stuff. So

I guess, Steve, you're the parent here. I am

an uncle to young kids, so to speak, I guess.

I don't know, whatever. Are you going to teach

your kids to collect? Or are you just going to

let them play with it? I think I'm just going

to kind of let them play with it. Because the

fact that, for one, most of the stuff made today

is like... It's... The level of quality is insanely

great. But unfortunately for the attention spans

of... I don't know how most children are, but

mine have low attention spans. So they'll play

with something for a while and then it's old

news. And they'll move on to something else.

So for me to spend top dollar on it isn't necessarily

in the cards. uh so typically like what we do

is we we yard sale purchase toys and luckily

there's a lot of the older nostalgic stuff that

can be picked up for relatively cheap prices

because it's old and it's been played with and

um and especially with their ages like when i

was a kid i had The entirety of like the Batman

and, you know, 89 and through Batman animated

series, Ninja Turtles, like I had everything

in the toy lines, literally everything at one

point. And I was spoiled. You think? The big

play sets we had to share collectively between

my brothers and I, but I owned all the figures.

And they would get some of them, too, like some

of the alternates. So, I mean, I had the Technodrone.

I had the Neutrino cars. I had the Turtle Blimp.

I had the Turtle Van. I had various Batmobiles.

Just all that kind of stuff. And I kept... The

ones that had the deepest impact for me for nostalgia

reasons, like for instance, the 92 Batman animated

series, Batman figure, which one came with like

a yellow grappling gun. I don't have the grappling

gun anymore, but I have the figure. The other

one came with the actual Batmobile. They were

identical toy. But if you go to buy it now, it's,

like, an insanely high price to even get that

figure, the original one. And mine's got, like,

a little bit of paint. You know, it's just, it's

well over, you know, 25 years old. But it's still

holding up for what it was. And I got it when

I was five. And I still have that figure. Like,

there's not many figures I have from when I was

a kid that were. in pristine condition. One of

them I wish that was was my Ninja Turtle Krang

with the robot body, like the tall version. That

thing was totally, like, I broke it many, many,

many times. And it was to the point that it was

just, I was holding onto it for the nostalgia

of having it as a five -year -old. And it looked

like total garbage. And so my wife was finally

like, you need to just toss it. It's broke. There's

really no saving it. There were so many pieces

missing and snapped off that it wasn't even worth

it. The body was there, but a lot of the stuff

had been destroyed. I can just imagine the three

Phillips boys arguing over who doesn't want Arctic

Blast Batman. See, my kids didn't care about

that. They just were happy because I had the

collector case. I had a curio cabinet up in the

corner of my office for a while, and I had various

figures on display. I even managed to, at a Comic

-Con a couple years ago, track down from Star

Trek Generations the spacesuit Captain Kirk and

his 23rd century red military jacket thing that

he wore. Uh, in those movies, I managed to track

down them brand new in the box and I paid, I

only paid five bucks and it was great. And I

mean, I loved Playmates Star Trek figures, which

unfortunately nobody really makes Star Trek figures

anymore. Um, so many, you know, and the movies

was kind of a bomb in a sense. I feel like they

should have kept the momentum going, uh, in the

vein of, of Star Wars. with that that whole process

um because i did own a lot of those figures for

a while and i think the the best figures that

playmates ever came out with for star trek were

the first contact figures absolutely yes and

then after that it kind of tapered off because

like they stopped making it and they went through

like a multitude of companies after that but

anyways getting back to the the whole kid aspect

like they i don't know if i'm gonna get them

any to actually collect Because I've seen what

a financial impact that's had on me. Considering

some collector toys can go for well over $100

or $200 depending. They're not meant to be played

with. It's hard to resist. I've got Masterpiece

Optimus Prime which goes for insane money now

because it was $60 at Target when it came out

and it was the very first Masterpiece. They just

don't make them like that anymore. So, I mean,

like, I've got figures like that that are just

kind of irreplaceable in a sense, just because

of what they are. And as I started getting older,

like, around the 10, you know, 8 to 10 range,

I stopped letting my brothers beat the crap out

of my toys with their toys, like, for the action

of them. I would do more of the implied, like,

going up and, you know, swinging at them, but

not actually, like, making contact so that I

didn't have chipped paint. Whereas they like

to physically grab the toy and bash it on the

next toy. So in that sense, I can see where it's

a little bit too early at this point, but at

the same time, I don't know if I want to cause

them to burden themselves to the point that...

They lose the fun aspect of it, right? Yeah,

they lose the fun aspect of it, which is what

I did. And then I started latching onto them

to the point that I wouldn't let anything touch

them. I wouldn't let my brothers even remotely

play with me with those figures. And then it

caused me to go broke a lot when I got older.

So you mentioned the Batmobile earlier. Earlier

today, Kevin Conroy. Yep, I saw that. GD Batman

himself posted two images. He went to the Peterson

Car Museum in L .A. The first image is of him

next to the Batmobile prototype car, and the

second one is him next to the 89 Batmobile. Oh,

my God. Get in that car, Batman. Come on. Oh,

it's so good. Mm -hmm. I mean, I'm at that age

now where depending on how old the kids are,

I might get them a collectible if I know they'll

treat it with respect. And that's so hard to

judge when someone is 10 or 10. I think 10 is

about the age you could explain to them, this

is expensive, treat it how you want, but consider

this something really cool, as in take care of

it. Anybody below that age, I don't think you

could really explain it to them and have it kind

of sink in. No, you could not reason with a child

younger than that. Yeah, like, I don't think

I'd give a 10 -year -old a Masterpiece Transformer.

That's asking for trouble. Especially with the

price point, yeah. Well, exactly, yeah. But if

I gave them, say, a Legacy Edition Power Ranger

or some of the Diamond Select or Mattel Ghostbuster

stuff, which are about $20, $25 price point,

I think I could see them respecting that. I think

I could. I'm just trying to think what properties

are rather friendly towards that price point.

Okay, so here's a question really quick before

we get into that price point. When you say collecting

for kids, are we talking everyday action figures

that we had or are we talking about other merchandise?

Because I honestly think you can teach kids how

to collect if you're buying not them specifically.

Say, OK, I'm going to get you this, but you can't

have it until this because it's a it's a display

item only thing like a statue or something. Or,

you know, like the DC collectible, the DC direct

statues and stuff that you don't actually that

aren't actual toys that are. I think I get where

you're going with this. And I think you just

I think you may have this answer to your own

question. If you want to start a kid collecting

those vinyl pop figures are a great place to

start. Yep. I'll talk about that in a little

bit. Yeah, because they're like $5, $10 a piece.

They can play with them if they want, but they

can also display them too. And there's a crap

ton. There's so many variants too. I guess if

you wanted to get your kids a collecting bug,

those vinyl pop figures are perfect. Absolutely.

Who makes those? Funko, right? Funko, yep. Yeah.

I've got maybe 10 or 20 of them. And it's kind

of hard to believe I have that many because I

don't consider myself a collector of these things.

They just keep coming to my house. I've got Power

Rangers. A fan sent me Daredevil Matt Murdock,

which is really cool. As a move -in gift, one

of my neighbors got me a rider from Mass Effect

Andromeda. I've got... uh, one of them, what's

really expensive. I didn't realize that it's

the Hollywood Hulk Hogan from, uh, WWE two K

16 on the PlayStation four. Evidently he's worth

like 50, 60 bucks. Um, and some of the other

con exclusives ones can go for big money too.

which as long as your kids aren't collecting,

I want the San Diego Comic -Con one. Oh, Junior,

please don't start that. Yeah, no, yeah, no.

Only pain will you find. I have only gotten into

the Funko stuff, and I haven't really collected

anything. I think the last time I had a toy collection

was 2011, 2012, so it's been about five, six,

seven years since I've had any kind of toys in

here. I still have, like, a big toy collection.

I still have, like, my Looney Tunes Happy Meals

superhero things. I still have... like a mini

Optimus Prime and Ravage kind of thing. But I

don't have shelves and shelves and shelves of

toys anymore. But the Funko stuff, I blame my

buddy Doug, who does Talking About My Generation,

the podcast over there. When I went out to California

and stayed with him and his wife, they have these

things displayed all over their apartment. It's

awesome. It's great. It's fun. The first one

I got, I got it on Free Comic Book Day this year.

It was the 2016, it was the 2K16 Stone Cold.

So, you know, so that's kind of where it's starting

for me. And I might get one or two a month. I'm

not going to go crazy with this because I don't.

I'm at the point in my life where collecting

anything that is not digital media, it just isn't.

Collecting physical stuff anymore for me just

doesn't really do it for me anymore. Well, that

actually kind of brings up a new question, actually.

Think about this. What about collecting media?

like stuff that maybe not necessarily will be

around for a long time or stuff that's really

kind of limited run because with services like

Hulu and Netflix, it may be there today. It may

not be there a year from now, for example. Like,

for example, Shout Factory sent me a bunch of

the Power Rangers stuff on DVD, but they also

sent me some of the Super Sentai stuff. The Sentai

stuff is not available outside of DVD. Or unless

you want to track it down Pirate, which Piracy

Bad. Bad Pirate. Yeah, Bad Pirate. What about

collecting that? Because one of the things I

love to do is collect cartoons. And sometimes

I will pay stupid amounts for stuff that's going

out of print. Or stuff that is out of print.

In fact, this is, I find, incredible. And it

sucks to live in Canada for many reasons when

it comes to importing media. If I want a copy

of Superhuman Samurai Cyber Squad Volume 2. That's

so old. In the US, it costs $12 because it was

put out last year. If I want to import a copy

into Canada, $50 plus shipping. That's highway

robbery at this point. because i know the company

that makes them and i know they're packing it

in paper sleeves i am not happy with that you

want to charge me 50 bucks for that geez man

i hope you buy me dinner first um but it's just

I like to think if you can't buy your kids toys,

maybe giving them a cartoon might be something

else you could do, too, because you look at all

the DVD sets that come out. Some of them are

really cheap, too. Yeah, that's the one vote

I do agree with, and that's only because digital,

for one, doesn't take up a lot of space. Two,

I get to choose it. And so like, I've got a lot

of like, I mean, I have a lot of physical copies

of shows that I grew up on and films and whatnot,

but I've actually gotten rid of a lot of them

so that I can get down to the digital aspect.

Because I even do this with games now. I refuse

to buy anything at the store anymore. I will

get everything digitally because then there is

no physical copy taking up space in my desk or

somewhere else that I have to physically move.

It's just so much of a nicer process. But what

happens when that service goes away? Because,

for example, I know there are some digital services

where they say, unless you download your movies

by X date, they're gone forever. That's why I

download them by X date and then I put them on

my external hard drive. Okay, but what if that

hard drive fails? I actually have multiple with

backups. I'm the crazy paranoid person. Or you

can save it and pay for Google Drive or something

and put it in the cloud and save it. But, yeah,

I mean, it's the same concept, though, is people

need to, you know, if they're going to go that

route, back up their stuff. Like, for me, I find

I'm buying more physical media of stuff I know

could go away for a long time because I know

it took forever to get Power Rangers onto Netflix.

And I don't want to ever lose that capacity.

Just now it sucks that I have to wait for certain

seasons to come out. Because I know Mystic Force

just came out. I'm really waiting for RPM, which

is my favorite Power Rangers series ever, to

come out. And that'll probably either be late

this year or not next, just considering there's

a new series about once every three months or

something like that. but there's older cartoons

i look at companies like say um mill creek puts

out a bunch shout factory puts out a bunch warner

brothers on demand will print you some i think

you can buy the police academy series there for

something like 30 bucks which has never been

made been made at wide retail i've only ever

found one place online showing it and it was

a pirate site once again piracy bad um but if

you don't make it available for me to buy where

else am i gonna go see that's the only time that

i i justify it is if they physically like it's

been out for years and there's no reason why

it's not out yeah like there are so many shows

if you told me steve and mike i could buy a copy

of the battle tech cartoon in blu -ray but it'll

cost me 50 bucks it's only 12 episodes you know

what i'm gonna say where do i give you my credit

card I want that series. There are so many cartoon

series that have just been lost to the ether

or they get substandard releases. And I'm thankful

for companies like shout factory, like mill Creek

or cookie jar, these other smaller print companies

that put out these releases. Yeah. Great stuff.

Yeah. You just, you don't see them anymore and

I'm happy for streaming services, but that's

yet another. five ten bucks a month i'd have

to pay out which i gladly would if you told me

there was for example and i and i know we've

talked about this on the show hundreds of times

if you told me i could pay five dollars a month

for a disney only netflix and it was everything

they've ever done yeah here's my credit card

no problem yeah and i don't know why they don't

do that okay so for me i have not had Yeah, it's

been about, yeah, since my mom died. I have not

had an actual television in two years. Just don't

have the money to get one. The one I had just

stopped working, just never replaced it. I pay

for Netflix and Hulu. If a show or a movie is

not available on iTunes just to rent really quickly,

if it's a new, new movie, I can wait until it

hits Netflix. It doesn't mean anything to me.

I am so beyond, oh, my God, I need it now when

it comes to movies like Wolverine. I can wait

for that. I have no problem waiting for the media

release for that. Or not – well, not – God. Logan.

Logan. You'll be impressed. You'll like it. I

know. And I'm sure I will. I'm not saying anything

against – I'm saying that Netflix and Hulu are

my go -to for the shows that I'm watching currently.

whether that's shows that are Netflix originals

or shows that are currently on Hulu that I don't

have a TV to watch. I will buy certain episodes

from certain shows on iTunes every now and then.

It's very rare that I do that these days. Sometimes

I would rather rent a movie on iTunes than...

actually buy it because if i just need to see

the movie itself i don't need the high definitions

all the special feet if i just need to see the

movie itself and it's you know 2 .99 3 .99 to

buy that's fine if i still had a red box that

was within walking distance of me i would be

using red box more for renting dvds but there

is no red box within is red box still a thing

yes yep okay it's just not in can anymore then

okay yeah um So, I mean, for me, also, you know,

again, physical versus digital comics, I am so

glad I am all digital on comics now. I'm starting

to move towards digital because I have so many

long boxes I don't know what to do with. And

see, that's the reason why I'm going digital

with everything is because I just, I had a tote

of movies and TV shows of just my stuff. That

was not even the stuff that was collective between.

the entire household. And so I just wanted to

purge. And so I was selling everything left and

right. I managed to buy a water camera, a 27

-inch monitor for my computer, and just stuff

in that regard by getting rid of a lot of it.

But some of it I managed to pick up again on

digital. Honestly, that's like my favorite route.

I find it hard to give up movies and media. I

don't know, just because I get paranoid that

I'm going to lose it. Well, see, it depends on

the show. Like, for instance, if it's Star Trek,

Star Trek movies. It's always going to be available

somewhere. Well, it's always available somewhere.

Not the movies, though. The TV series. The TV

series costs too much for me to warrant paying

for it. Whereas the movies are dirt cheap. And

so I will buy every one of the movies of that.

And the same thing with Star Wars. I will buy

the movies of Star Wars. But the majority of

everything else I will get digitally. Just on

the sheer fact that... One, it's not Star Trek

or Star Wars. And then two, it's... The amount

of... How infrequent I go back to watch things

because I have this photographic memory of movies

and TV shows that I watch. I could have watched

it 10 years ago and I can sit there and walk

in a room and tell you what movie you're watching

within the first five seconds if I've seen it.

And it's ridiculous. Because I did that at my

in -laws the other day. We went over there. and

they were watching they just started um flintstones

viva rock vegas because it was just on and it

was more so for the benefit of the kids and so

um it went to the universal screen i'm like well

it's flintstones and then i was like it's the

rock vegas one and they were like how do you

know and i says well i don't know ice is uh it's

just something about it and then like Sure enough,

it goes to the next scene and it was that. How

infrequent I watch things, it's better for me

to get it digitally. Not bad, not bad. I know

when I moved to my new place here, we had 25

boxes of just movies. We just purged some the

other day. We paid off some bills, got some groceries.

I can't find myself letting go of certain things.

Like, for example, I was thinking about getting

rid of my Robotech DVDs, but I'm, let's say,

I don't know, it disappeared from Netflix for

like three years, man. I don't know. Or my He

-Man box that I got. I like, I don't know. Even

the real Ghostbusters just came to Netflix a

little while ago, and here I am. I don't know.

I find that absolutely hilarious. Okay, so for

the last five years, Optimus Solo and I have

been doing the He -Man and She -Ra podcast, Powers

of Grayskull. We reviewed all 130 episodes of

He -Man individually and all 93 episodes of She

-Ra individually. She -Ra, I had the DVDs at

one point, but stuff came up that I had to get

rid of them. And as soon as we recorded and released

episode 82 of that podcast, which was the She

-Ra recap, Three days after that episode went

online, guess what showed back up on Netflix?

He -Man season one and She -Ra season one from

Filmation. I'm like, you've got to be kidding

me. Oh, yeah, the streaming stuff is crazy. I

don't know. I agree with Steve. I personally

think if a show or a movie is more than five

years old and it's not anywhere other than certain

sites, then what's it hurting? You know what

I mean? I mean, really, what is it hurting if

it's already there? I'm not sharing a link to

it. That's the other thing. I will not download

anything unless I pay for it. When it comes to

movies and TV shows, I will find a website that

will show it to me on their website. I'll find

a way to get it legally or through my press credentials

or some way. I don't like piracy. I really don't.

And I don't either in general. But again, if

it's something that is not easily accessible

or is not even – that's what I'm saying. I'm

not saying, oh my god, I'm going to go over to

this website and watch all of Riverdale. when

it just showed up on netflix and i already pay

for netflix so why the hell am i going to go

to the the pirate site when i can go to something

i already paid for yeah you know or if something's

available freely over the air i don't know i

see that's such a fuzzy area but that's a topic

for a different day um i guess in conclusion

for a whole collecting adults versus kids I guess

it kind of depends on what age you really want

to get them into or if you want them to treat

digital. Because I think Steve and you bring

up a really good point. If you want to collect

it, digital is not a bad way to go for certain

media. I've discovered that even recently comics,

if I'm going to read comics, I'd rather do digital

only for the sheer fact. Now granted, it's not

the same as movies or TV shows because when that

service goes away, you're kind of SOL. it's better

in a sense because you don't have to physically

take up the storage space, and comics can actually

take up a lot more space than traditional media.

And the other thing with comics is, and I wish

we had some sort of deal with them, but... The

only service I use currently is Comixology. I

know all the comic companies have their own apps

and everything else and all that, but Comixology

for me, once I found their guided view, I cannot

read a comic page by page anymore unless it's

in that guided view on Comixology. It's just

not going to happen because I love that guided

view so much. Yeah, like I'm actually using Comixology

now. I got it while I was in the hospital. I'm

paying for Marvel now. I don't use it. Probably

should because my in -laws are paying for it.

But I don't know. I mean, I think when I have

my own kids, it's going to be really hard to

not give them the collecting bug because I would

love for my kids to be into something like Power

Rangers. if anything, so I can live vicariously

through them. And maybe that's why I want my

kids to be collectors. So I have an excuse to

buy these new toys each and every day. But then

the sad thing is, is they're technically not

yours then. Yeah, exactly. Shut up. You're buying

them for your kid, and then it's no longer you

living vicariously. Reality bites. Then they're

eating from your... your money and then so so

therefore see it would break my heart if i saw

my little boy or girl taking the dragon dagger

and chewing on it or like no honey please don't

eat the red ranger shield no please stop stop

digging with the dragon dagger stop digging in

the dirt although i will admit tonight i did

find an alternate use for my for the dragon zord

This one's motorized. I chased Ayla around the

house with it and shot her with the missiles.

Wiley decides to cuddle with it. Now, Ayla has

this other thing. On top of my freezer, on top

of my huge stand -up freezer, I have a Star Wars

AT -AT. Ayla sleeps between the legs of the AT

-AT. Ayla has her AT -AT. Wily has the Dragonzord.

I'm waiting for Logan to make friends with the

giant Megazord next. My favorite thing to do

is to chase my dog by activating all of the cars

and trucks that you can press a button and it's

motorized and it starts going and driving on

its own. And then I have them all going. It's

like you're watching Mad Max with cars. chasing

this, you know, mega beast in the living room.

And then I have all these cars just driving towards

the dog. Get her done! Aayla was so freaked out

when the Dragonzord started playing that She's

like, oh my god, what are you? And then it shot

her and she ran. Whereas Wily goes up to it,

starts purring. He's like, hello, special friend.

wow so i guess um i don't know is there anything

else we want to kind of add to this guys to put

a bow on it the um the thing with the comics

it is a space thing again but it's also for me

it's it's a space thing it's a convenience but

also again i don't like okay uh what what came

out this week i'm trying to think um take any

new comic book that came out last wednesday I

have lost the need to absolutely have that right

now. It took me about six months to buy all six

of the issues of the IDW DC Comics Batman TMNT

Adventure Series, which is a six -issue miniseries

combining BTS and the TMNT 2012 cartoon in a

comic book. And we just recorded that episode

of the pullback today. It'll actually be out

previously to this episode. But it's one of those

things where... I didn't buy that final issue

until this month, and it was only because I needed

to record it. All the other issues I paid $2

for on Comixology. So it's one thing for me when

I'm buying stuff, when I'm looking at stuff to

buy. Like I said, if it's movies, if I can't

get it immediately rented through iTunes or if

it's not on Netflix or Hulu, I can wait until

I can find it at a discount somewhere else. And

I think that's the difference for me. I, you

know, I'm not planning on having kids. So it's

one of those things where I don't have to worry

about passing on any of my traits. I would say

for you, Dodd, that when you guys eventually

have kids, start them out on the cartoons first

and see what cartoons they like and see if they

say, Daddy, I want a toy of that or I want a

toy of this. And then you can actually go find

something that's already out there. Well, because

then you can be like... you can be like, hey,

look what I have. If you think that's cool. Yeah,

if you think that's cool, let me show you this.

So they're like, I want that. Or have your display,

your collector case, and then have all your figures

in it, and then they're like, I want that. I

have to have that, and then they flock right

towards your collection, because I actually used

to have a library system with my figures, and

there were certain figures on a certain shelf

that the kid was allowed to play with, and he

had to check them out from me and return the

previous set in order to gain access to new ones.

Someday, hopefully, I'll have my own little Power

Ranger, my own little Ghostbuster, and they'll

be able to check out all my cool toys. I'm really

hoping to just show the next generation how much

fun collecting really can be. It's kind of to

show them how we grew up. And like I said, I'm

jealous of some of the cool toys they have now.

Yeah, I'm definitely jealous of some of the figures

that come out now. I was going to say that, did

we ever actually grow up though? No, we're all

still Toys R Us kids. Yeah, without a doubt.

So once again, I got to send a huge shout out

and thank you to Fisher Price, to Mattel, to

Bandai, to Shout Factory, Playmobil for their

tremendous support during this show. Without

their support, I don't think I would have realized

just how much still I am in love with some of

these properties. Like, it was something to build

my Ecto -1 again. That was really cool. Then

today, chasing the cat around with the Dragonzord.

It makes you want to go back and rewatch Power

Rangers. I got to say, once again, thank you

to everybody who helped make this possible. And

hopefully you guys will check out some of their

guys' stuff in your local retailers or wherever

fine vehicles, toys, and media are sold. So,

that rounds out this episode of Altered Geek.

And so, until next time, we have been... Mike,

Dave, Joe, and Blanchard. Mike, the Birdman Dodd.

And Steve Megatron Phillips. So, until next time,

get altered, get geeky with the Altered Geeks.