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The Cursed Dead with Phil Ramirez and Adam Van Wickler
226 Plays8 days ago
DEAD! CURSED! We're loving it! Join us as we chat with longtime toy industry veterans Phil Ramirez and Adam Van Wickler about their new 1:12 scale Kickstarter, The Cursed Dead! Hear all about how they've made their way through the world of toys and what brings them to where they are today with this latest horror-inspired crowdfund.
Back the Project here on Kickstarter and follow Phil @ramirezstudiosinc3D, Adam @playing_with_myself, and The Cursed Dead @the.cursed.dead on Instagram!
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
Proudly part of the Non-Productive Network
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Theme
00:00:03
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and halls, along with our journeys as collectors.
00:00:28
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. Hello. Dave, you got a haircut. Yeah, I got them all cut. Look at that. Yeah, I wanted to do the reset. I felt like I'd been wearing hats and like not doing my hair, so... Well, yeah I almost want to play you in with the little glass shatters. o like you got You're great at hitting somebody with a stunner.
00:00:56
Speaker
ah Yeah, ah stone like one stone, or 16 stones, Steve Austin. For those in the the American audience, ah that's that's how they calculate weight in England.
00:01:13
Speaker
um So a little housekeeping before we get to today's guests.
Monthly Giveaway and Instagram Participation
00:01:19
Speaker
We are rapidly ah approaching the the end of the month, which means that this month's giveaway is ah is almost done. So you still have some time to enter to win yourself a trio of of figures. So we have the the limited to 500, black and white, biker mice from Mars, sports bros are currently up for giveaway. i You can visit at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram. Our pinned post will give you all of the information you need ah to enter. A really cool set. It's actually not even out yet, so you might be one of the first to get your hands on it. Celebrate Eric's birthday with a prize. There it is. Yes, today is my birthday. ah this Today, the air date of this show is my birthday. So it's weird recording this slightly in the in the past, saying that today is my birthday because
00:02:12
Speaker
Present me is lying, but future me will be correct Mm-hmm so as as you famously say that's a question for future Eric that is I say that a lot that is a yeah There's a problem for future Eric to deal with but uh, but yeah another another trip around the Sun ah Complete mm-hmm. We did it. Hey Eric speaking ah of trips around the Sun What's happening in March?
Live Recording Announcement for ZapCon
00:02:37
Speaker
Oh, yes, for ah for Dave's birthday. So we're celebrating my birthday with a with an episode featuring two brand new guests of the show who will we intro very shortly. But we're also celebrating Dave's birthday with our second ever live ah recording. So we're we're having a live show i at za ZapCon. at ZapCon.
00:02:57
Speaker
Yeah, here in here in New Jersey, the the finest comic shop in in all of New Jersey, Zap Comics and in Wayne, New Jersey, have invited us back to their annual convention at the Wayne PAL Center on March 29. Tickets are, I believe, $10 if you get them in advance. um And it's going to be fun. we're gonna we're Last time we did a live show, live recording, we had ah Emily Bader from the the Hasbro GI Joe team.
00:03:24
Speaker
This time around we have, uh, you know him best as Blaine or things, but, uh, Blaine and Chris Raimo, uh, who are artists and designers at NECA. Uh, we're going to have a conversation with them of course, about what's going on, uh, at NECA, which will be fun. Cause it'll be right after, yeah, right after, and after choice was there so they'll have some cool stuff to talk about.
00:03:47
Speaker
I'm sure Blaine will bring some fun things for us all to look at. We'll have a table set up. You can come and and see everything and also be there to ask Blaine and ah and Chris ah questions about NECA, about art, about design, ah whatever you want to ask. You can even ask Blaine questions about hairstyling because he was, as you know, a former hairstylist. I mean, pro wrestling, everything's everything's available. everything yeah yeah yeah Hopefully, two days later, I don't break my leg, and yeah,
Dave's Haircut Story and Superstition
00:04:17
Speaker
we're good. Yeah, I mean, well, don't put that out in the world. Self-actualization, Dave. Well, it's one of those things like if I know it's there and then I don't do it again, then we know we're good. That's cute. I already went to, the two days later, I had gone to, or the next day, I had gone to Pearl Jam. The day after last time I went to Pearl Jam, I didn't break my leg, so this is the last like hurdle. my My fingers are crossed for you and your bones. yeah
00:04:45
Speaker
My bones weren't crossed for me. Yeah, that's a fair point. Let's keep bones uncrossed. Let's actually uncross the bones. Speaking of bones and dead things. And we're on video so you can see this and I like it. Speaking of bones, we've got a bone to pick with tonight's two guests.
Introduction of Guests: Adam Van Wickler and Phil Ramirez
00:05:12
Speaker
So tonight,
00:05:13
Speaker
We are excited to welcome two true icons of the toy industry, Adam Van Wickler and Phil Ramirez, who are making their first appearance here on the show, and it's about damn time. With decades of experience shaping the collectibles landscape, these industry veterans have worked on some of the most beloved figures in toy history. Now they're back with an exciting new project, The Cursed Dead, a 112 scale action figure line that is making waves on Kickstarter.
00:05:41
Speaker
Join us as we dive into their journey into the toy world, their creative process behind this thrilling new line, and what it takes to bring a new concept to life in today's crowded toy market. Adam, Phil, welcome to Adventures in Collecting. Welcome. What's up? Thanks for having us. Happy birthday, Eric, and i break and break a leg, Dave.
00:06:06
Speaker
Thank you guys for coming. i this is a This is something that's been a long time coming. you know Phil, Adam, we've we've talked over Instagram messages. Adam, you and but in person at some events. yeah So ah you know it's it's great to finally guys have you guys on and and to celebrate something really cool that you're working on um you know in in the process. So i as we are a show about collecting, though, before we hop into everything, ah tell us, what what are you guys currently collecting? What's got you excited out there in the ah the toy? or anything else world you know if you're collecting ah butll I'll go first um I'm probably it's probably easier to to to figure out what I'm not collecting um anyone that is familiar with the curse dad campaign has probably seen the 24 comparison pictures that I posted um so those are all
00:06:56
Speaker
various action figures from my collection, and it's ah and it's our our drinker prototype standing in between two action figures from you know various lines. So there's at least 48 figures from different lines ah that are out of my own personal collection. um Basically, anything that is super articulated, my primary focus is like one twelfth scale, but I do i you know grew up with one eighteenth and I still collect Acid Rain and Joytoy Warhammer. I really love that scale as well. I have a handful of 1.6 scale figures, but can't really afford to have a giant collection of those. So um basically, you know pretty much anything that is super articulated articulation is very near and dear to me. I like playing with my toys. I like posing them. um So that that to me is like my primary reason behind buying, you know,
00:07:56
Speaker
Marvel Legends, GI i Joe Classified, SHF, Mafex, Mezco, NECA, you know, like a little bit of everything. um And then obviously all IPs that are near and dear to me, i you know, ah stuff that's either from my childhood or, you know, current anime that I'm watching now. Phil, what about you?
00:08:18
Speaker
I really don't collect anything anymore. You collect a cold. Yeah, I have too much stuff. um I collect art. If I find some artists that I really like, I'll buy art from them. ah I buy toys occasionally, but it's like something that if it's if it's it speaks to me, I'll buy it. I think the last thing I bought was the hunchback Ninja Turtle from NECA, which was gorgeous. And it didn't break in my hands, which is amazing.
00:08:48
Speaker
Yeah, they've come a long way with that with that that breakage. I was afraid to touch anything because I broke it all and no one has broken. Yeah, I think for me with NECA, the tipping point was.
00:09:01
Speaker
Like where I noticed a big change was when they put out that first phantom figure, like the the purple ah phantom. That was like the last figure that I had to boil the entire figure before I moved it. A little jacuzzi time. full Full on. Well, I mean, that that I made a huge mistake with the first one. I took it out of the package and was just like, oh, like literally like art came off at the shoulder. So put that carefully back in the box, returned it, bought a new one. And, you know, he went he went in the bath.
00:09:31
Speaker
but i yeah no they've they've turned a ah corner with that their their stuff comes out like and yeah i do they I got the NBX stuff and it's like, you know, it's Jack Skellington and he has some of the skinniest limbs ever and the tiniest little like ball joints. And I had zero issues with them. um In fact, it's my favorite and NBX Jack now. I have both versions, Santa and the regular version. And I might be all in with that line as they're revisiting all the characters.
00:10:03
Speaker
And my most recent was Vincent Price. I mean, this thing is just, it's just incredible. I mean, it looks, it looks like a little hot. Interchangeable Ascot too, right? Yep. Interchangeable Ascot. You could do young, middle aged or old, um, interchangeable Ascot. He's got cigarettes as well as like cigarette holding hands, which like, I just love that. You know, he comes with multiple cigarettes because now some, I can give some of my other figures that were not allowed to have um accurate cigarettes, I can give give them some cigarettes, which I'm really excited about.
00:10:37
Speaker
but ah But yeah, no, that's that's cool. Phil, I wish I had the the level of um ah restraint. yeah yeah that's it i mean it is It has become, it took a lot of years to where I was just, I had to look at dollar amounts at the end and like i have two I just have a studio full of stuff that I don't even visit very often and it's full of everything.
00:11:05
Speaker
Fair enough. Fair enough. Well, speaking of collectors, toy collectors are definitely familiar with ah your contributions to the industry.
Phil's Journey in Toy Design
00:11:15
Speaker
um But maybe not how you both got there. So, ah Phil, Adam, how did you get into making toys? Phil, why don't you go first? Okay. um ah My brother, when I was 17 years old, his best friend lived next door to Ed Mosqueda, who was half of Varner Studios.
00:11:34
Speaker
Varner did a lot of the turtles. They did all the Happy Meal toys. They did just a lot of stuff for playmates and anybody else that would hire them. And my brother's friend introduced me to Ed, and Ed knew that I was a good toy collector at 17 still, which was pretty yeah pretty advanced for my age.
00:12:02
Speaker
and He gave me a tour of the studio. He knew that I did I did some drawing and I painted lead miniatures and kind of gave me the walkthrough blew my mind. I had no idea that that that's how toys were made. And ah they gave me a job basically ah cleaning up, making molds. And anytime there was stuff to try to do, they would put me in like design weapons for Ninja Turtles ah paint stuff.
00:12:31
Speaker
um And one day they had nothing for me to do. And they asked me if I wanted to sculpt, uh, it was a wearable mask that, uh, the toxic Avenger, like when they would do a promo stuff that a guy dressed who I met, the guy is, it was really funny. He's a wrestler. Uh, he wrote this big giant mask and they asked me to make the giant mask that big. And I did it and it was approved and I was then a sculptor.
00:13:04
Speaker
and Do you remember what wrestler it was that wore the mask? No, no, no, no. he this was a couple that ah There's been a few that have done it. But yeah, I remember. I'm terrible with names. Yeah, I love that line. that ah that toxic ah The toxic crusaders. Toxic crusaders. Oh yeah. That was a cool line, man. There was a couple that never got made that I jumped on. It was a noise one that was such a cool design. And I started sculpting it and knowing that they were probably not going to do it. and So that clay is at Varner. I think they've unearthed it a couple of times.
00:13:41
Speaker
But I left everything there. I don't have, I have very little of my time, my five or six years at Varner. I have no, a very little tangible reference for what I did.
00:13:54
Speaker
that's That's unfortunate, but I mean and at least ah it's it's saved somewhere. Yeah Yeah, yeah he so I started there and then went from there to McFarland for about eight nine months and from there i went to toy biz and toy biz I was at for 15 years did a lot of their stuff and from there just All over the place. Yeah That's so cool Yeah. I mean, I was, I was thumbing through your, uh, you know, your, uh, the Instagram feed, looking at some of the, like the protos and stuff that you had. And I was like, Oh man, those WCW figures, like the the gross out ones and, uh, the resident evil, uh, toy, this figures are so were some of my favorite ever, like that, uh, that tyrant and the hunter and yeah yeah yeah, I got to, I got to do most of that line, both those lines, the gross out and the, uh, the resident evil. I did the lion share of both of those.
00:14:50
Speaker
It's like you can almost see where he got his interest and stuff to make The Ghost Dead. Yeah. Exactly. They were the ah the preschool version of what we're doing now. Well, even like Toxic Avengers, it was it was always funny to me. I'm a little bit older than Eric, but like to know like, oh, I know what this movie is. yeah I was just a cartoon. When I saw the cartoon, I was like, did have you seen the movie?
00:15:17
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it's it's remarkable that Lloyd Kaufman got that ah got somebody to approve that for children's television programming. Yeah, they definitely had not watched the movie when they greenlit the cartoon, for sure. just I just watched the thing that the new one the that it was just made Isn't there like they're trying to figure out a way to get it to people to see it. They finally announced today. They got announced today. Yeah. I'm serious. Yeah. Yeah. Who's doing it? Who's going to, is it going to go out in the theaters? Yeah. Well, it's in now in the past. Remember when this airs. Yeah. Yes. So a week ago, this, or a few days ago, a few days ago,
00:15:58
Speaker
Uh, yeah, I was, I actually just read that today. Uh, let's see. It's literally fresh news as of January 21st. Because the director is, the director is awesome. And he was in, uh, all of the, uh, see I'm terrible with names. The guy that did green room, blue ruin. Um, Macon Blair. Macon Blair is the actor who's directed it, but he was in all of the movies that, um, the Southern director and writer who's amazing.
00:16:26
Speaker
I can't believe I'm forgetting his name, but he's. Yeah, me too. and Murder party. yeah And he was making, was in every one of them. Murder party, blue ruin, ah green room. Yeah. he's um He was awesome in all of them. I'm trying to see who's actually doing this. Is Jodi something?
00:16:45
Speaker
Um, if only I had something where I could type in, no one has the internet. I'm sitting here scrolling. Uh, let's say Cineverse. So Cineverse acquired all us in Canadian theatrical home entertainment. Jeremy. Yeah. Yeah. That's the guy. Yeah.
00:17:04
Speaker
Um, that's awesome. Yeah, we did it guys. Peter Duke, which is toxic events, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. so Yeah. And I think Kevin Bacon's like the heel of the movie. Yeah. And Elijah, we're an angry elf. Yeah. Elijah, one more time. Yeah. Now, now he can say, uh, I, I, I drink, I know things and I carry them up. Yeah, exactly. so Yeah. So, uh,
00:17:34
Speaker
Adam, what about you? How did how did you get ah yeah yeah get into this crazy world of
Adam's Entry into the Toy Industry
00:17:38
Speaker
toys? I'm a New York transplant. I live in LA now. But um I went to art school in New York City. And a friend of mine from art school, ah basically right right out of school, they ah they moved they had moved into a studio apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey. I was living in the Bronx in Morris Park.
00:18:02
Speaker
out of school, but they are they were like, hey, my neighbor is ah but one of the owners of a toy prototyping studio. And they knew that I I've never outgrown toys. I always played with toys, bought toys, comic books every week. And, you know, like living in in the dorms as an art student, like I had toys everywhere. And it was it was something I was well known for. So they were like, hey, do you want me to see if I can get you a tour? And I was like,
00:18:29
Speaker
Hells yeah, like of course. So I went over to Hoboken, New Jersey. You take the PATH train, you know, just just across the water, very close by. And I went into this toy prototyping studio and they had this awesome showroom and they were doing a ton of stuff for both Toy Biz and McFarlane. And I was just like floored by how cool this was, um despite the fact that, you know,
00:18:55
Speaker
I went to art school. i was my My major was advertising graphic design. um So I was heading to to the ad world as a career. um And I hadn't really given toys a thought. It was more just like a hobby, like something that I was super interested in and loved. But I i basically just begged them for a job and they had an opening. they So, I started out in the mold shop, so making silicone molds, pouring resin castings, cleaning resin castings, sweeping the floor, and that was in 2001. In 2005, I moved to LA and I started at Soda Toys, and then about a little over a year later,
00:19:39
Speaker
There was an opening at General Giant Studios. I interviewed there and I've been working at General Giant ever since. So I'm going on 19 years now at General Giant Studios.
00:19:50
Speaker
yeah Right on, man. um yeah and You both have had you know careers at this point that have offered you the opportunity to work on like literally some of the most iconic, if not the most iconic properties ah you know across the board. what What's it like being in situations where you get to work on all of these kinds of different properties that are so beloved?
00:20:11
Speaker
It's cool. I mean, especially if I'm mean if i'm into the the product or the IP, it's such a it's so so cool. Doing like the Lord of the Rings figures was amazing. ah Yeah, i've I've had an opportunity to be in on a lot of cool stuff.
00:20:27
Speaker
Uh, it, and you want to like, you know, that there's a huge fan base for it. So you really want to give it your all so that you're, you know, you want to bring what you can to it and give people the best version of whatever it is they're going to buy as possible. But it's, it's a rush think to be involved with cool stuff. And I've been, we, both of us have been involved with a lot of stuff. Yeah.
00:20:50
Speaker
ah For me, i'm I mean, like i I told you guys i love I love articulation, so getting to be involved in the Marvel Legends line, we do we do a lot of prototyping work for the Hasbro Marvel Legends team.
Iconic Projects: Marvel Legends and Star Wars Black Series
00:21:04
Speaker
i mean like it as As someone who who never stopped reading comic books either, I'm a Marvel zombie. like I love DC as well, but you know Marvel definitely got a little bit more of my money in the comic book store.
00:21:20
Speaker
um over the over the many years. So I think like, you know, we we introduced the Buckycat body and and kind of reinvented a little bit of like the style and the look of Marvel Legends with the return of Marvel Legends at Hasbro. And then, you know, fast forward and then like that that first round costume Wolverine that we did was like one that was like super near and dear to me. and You know, you come to now and like just recently revealed the the maximum um Marvel Legends that Spider-Man is one that we digitally prototype to General Giants Studios that I can't wait to buy multiples of ah that. It's you know.
00:22:02
Speaker
i say i I buy like imports and every, I have tons of Spider-Man. I have a whole Spider-Man dedicated display over here. um I am known for army building Spider-Man inappropriately. So I plan to do that with that one as well. And i you know, I grew up, my mom tells everyone that I grew up with the promise of a Kenner Star Wars action figure when I went.
00:22:26
Speaker
ah bathroom like a big boy. So I got potty trained with Kenner Star Wars action figures. And General Giant was lucky enough to help Hasbro launch the Black Series. So when they decided to do six inch scale Star Wars action figures, they came to General Giant. And the first one that we sculpted was the X-Wing pilot Luke Skywalker, which they were like, hey, we want this to look like the General Giant mini bust, but be a fully articulated six inch figure. And I was like,
00:22:56
Speaker
Challenge accepted. And and yeah, we we got to work on a bunch of that. So just properties that I've known and loved forever. It's it's great. it's um It's one of the reasons why like I have been at General Giant for 19 years. We get awesome opportunities to work on tons of cool projects.
00:23:14
Speaker
So one, I cannot wait for the deepest of deep twerks that you put that Spider-Man figure in. That's exactly like it's like, you know, you know, I'm getting an updated avatar once I get that one in. Oh, yeah. It's going to be it's going to be deep. That's going to go. Yeah, that that Spider-Man is going to be able to do.
00:23:33
Speaker
Yeah, he's going to touch the ground. He's going to get in there. um and that And secondly, you mentioned Kenner. Gentle Giant literally does one of my favorite spins on Kenner action figures. All right, here we go. I got to tell you this because this is really cool. It's something I'm really proud of. And I always tell whenever whenever we give tours of of the studio, ah we're located in Burbank. So if anyone's in town,
00:23:57
Speaker
They can reach out to me and I will do my damnedest to give you a tour. But ah we, General Giant LTD was releasing the the retro nostalgia 3D scanned enlarged versions of the Kenner action figures. And um being that I grew up, you know, I my mom and was buying me all of these Kenner action figures and I was playing with them since I was like a wee wee child. So my collection.
00:24:27
Speaker
they My parents kept them, but they were not in the greatest shape. like every All the paint was like mostly worn off, and they were loose, and or some of them even had their body parts glued back on. And Gentle Giant does a lot of digital scanning, um and that's actually how how we did the Jumbo Star Wars line, was by digitally scanning the vintage action figures and then creating like the prototypes that were then mass produced overseas.
00:24:58
Speaker
so We had to scan vintage Star Wars action figures, and I donated a good chunk of my collection to be scanned. And the scanning is all ah like laser, light-based. So you had to like disassemble the figures and prime them. So you basically are are ruining vintage toys to make the jumbo versions of them. And I was like, my toys are in bad shape. But what's really cool to me is that all the people that have the Star Wars Jumbo line, some of those are actually based off of the ones that I grew up with. Amazing. That's awesome. yeah ju jumbo I'm looking at Jumbo Thrawn right over there. He's hanging on my Star Wars ball. Nice. I have the prototype Boba Fett hanging on the wall right over here.
00:25:47
Speaker
Yeah, there's just something about those that are so silly and just amazing. I love when you walk into a store and see them. It was pretty early on for that, because you know like obviously everyone's kind of doing like the retro card nostalgia stuff like these days. but um like that And then I did not come up with the idea. like general giant l I'm General Giant Studios. General Giant LTD is is kind of its own thing. Used to be in the same building.
00:26:16
Speaker
now different buildings. but ah yeah i But I was involved in, in like you know I got to lend my toys to it and like you know see it all happen and and you know throw my two cents in every once in a while. But i it was really cool because they were on the cusp of doing that stuff. like It was, I think, like Super 7 and the Aliens toys were another one that was like really early on, like, hey, we're going to do reproductions of these vintage toys. And um yeah, that gentle giant and I think was early on in that. And now tons of people are doing it.
00:26:55
Speaker
So Phil, um I'm gonna go from to into one of the things that I just, I've always loved for, even since I was i was a little kid, I wish I still had all mine. um But what's it like going from working with highly articulated pieces, highly articulated figures, to working on something that's maybe not as much, but also just as magical, like a Happy Meal toy? I loved all that stuff. I was... um
00:27:23
Speaker
For whatever reason, Disney stuff especially always made sense to me. So I was always able to get like first round approval from Disney. So I loved making all that animated stuff. I still do. Like I get to do, every once and again, I get to do like cool animated figures. ah So I've, you know, I was a Hello Kitty approved sculptor for a while. I did like Pokemon, a lot of Pokemon.
00:27:48
Speaker
um I just did the the new movie Ninja Turtles. I did the turtles and the rock stadium bebop. So it's it's a lot of, I actually kind of really enjoy the animated stuff, the cute stuff. it makes It makes sense to me and I enjoy doing it. And then I'll do that and I'll do like,
00:28:05
Speaker
some insane monster that's a million as as a toy fan. One of the things I love about Phil like that he said he said like early on um when when I was like, you know, he was a legend to me when I first met him and now he's my friend.
00:28:20
Speaker
He's still a legend. I started in 1990. I didn't say when I started. those yeah nineteen thirty he's He's been doing this for 30 plus years. yeah um but i i i love One of the things you said, Phil, that um resonated with me and I think it resonates with a lot of toy fans is you would look at toys and whether they're based on like comics or cartoons and you're like,
00:28:46
Speaker
why don't we just make it look like the source material? yeah Like that, like you said, and I'm like, well, duh, that's what we all want. But like so many, so much before that, it was like, you know, I guess people were trying to like reinvent the wheel or put their own spin on things. But Phil is a master of taking something and making it look like what it's supposed to look like. That's what I wanted as a kid. You know what I mean? like yeah And I mean, you i got in there, I was like,
00:29:16
Speaker
Why don't we just make that? And they're like, yeah, you will make it look like that. I'm like, no, no, no, like that. Let's make that that exact drawing. I will make that drawing 3D. And that's what I did. Yeah. I mean, you brought it up before, like one of the most beloved toy biz lines, like I feel like the people that loved it, it doesn't get talked about enough, but like the people that loved it, like loved it because of its level of accuracy were both those Lord of the Rings and Resident Evil lines. I mean,
00:29:43
Speaker
they're still like but that will re Those Resident Evil figures, there still have not been, like to this day, Resident Evil figures that were that good. like jesse Jesse just went on a on a i dont he went on a nostalgia kick and bought all of them again. and i have them I still have all of them and I have the prototypes. He just didn't ask you first. I have like i have a two boxes of like product unopened.
00:30:12
Speaker
And, uh, Falcon went and bought them all and he was just like, he called me a couple of times. It was like, can you believe we got away with this? This is insane. Yeah. That the squishy eyeball on the shoulder with a thing in the bed, a notch that like made it move around and the car. Yes.
00:30:29
Speaker
The cop, I have the cop in front of me. It's nuts. Yeah. I did. I put in a black OJ glove in his back pocket. I gave him a donut and a bullet hole through the head. That thing was nuts. Like I just, and they let me do whatever I wanted. Yeah. Great line. so what you mean yeah Sorry to interrupt you, but like yeah even the,
00:30:52
Speaker
When I started with ToyBiz, I would ask him, like you know do you want it this to look like a specific artist? Just send me that art. And I would i started doing that. So what we started doing them. like You could tell they were specific artists. And that was the whole, I wanted to do that.
00:31:08
Speaker
Yeah, I mean that's that that's what comic book collectors like, you know, yeah, they want that. Yeah. and And you know, ah Adam, you mentioned the, you know, that that new um maximum Spider-Man is coming out. It's like, oh, look, that's the Todd McFarlane and ah andric Larson, Larson, Spider-Man.
00:31:27
Speaker
like that's what that is even like down to like the Peter Parker with the two the like dueling spit curls in the front you know like that like that is you see those little details and you're like okay that's that moment and for people you know that are especially people like my age, you know, that's my Spider-Man. Like when I started reading Spider-Man comics, that's what he looked like. Like that's when I close my eyes, I think of those giant, you know, eyes I think of that's very specifically textured costume that those very dark red and blue hues that are like not as bright and shiny as the stuff before it. Like that's my Spider-Man. And I've bought a ton of Spider-Man figures like But I've yet to own one that really like encapsulates that era of Spider-Man appropriately. So like the moment that they announced that I was just like, oh, my God, there it is. Yeah, like. So so you can do the same thing I do and preorder it from like a couple different places. That way you get multiple copies, but you can whoever gets it in first, you yeah yeah you know. So I'm going to I'm going to preorder at least two because I'll want one.
00:32:41
Speaker
permanently with like the spider sense and like the huh face. like i'll That's gonna be one and then i'll I'll have another one that'll be like kind of the the one that i I take down and use for photography and and stuff. They haven't even announced the price yet and I'm i'm in for three. one One for home, one for work, and one to keep in the package just in case. There you go. There you go.
00:33:03
Speaker
Um, so we've talked about a lot of, a lot of licenses. Um, you know, is there for, for each of you, is there, is there any particular license that you worked with that like, you know, given time and everything that you'd love to revisit and take another crack at?
Phil's Character Design Aspirations
00:33:18
Speaker
Oh yeah. Marvel.
00:33:22
Speaker
Yeah. That's, you can tell Phil's mad. He's like, general giant does too much of the prototyping for Marvel legends. I mean, I haven't, I haven't worked on a Marvel character and. God, 12 years or something like that. Is there a particular character? Like if you could pick one, like oh who would be the character? The thing. Okay. He's my favorite. But there's a lot of them like that I never got to do that I would have, that I would have liked to have done. Uh, I would have liked to have done the, the Morlocks. You really get in there with those guys. Um,
00:33:57
Speaker
arcade, but the arcade figure that they did was pretty cool. I can't really knock it. Um, I wish he was a little bit more slight. He's based on like the, the standard kind of suited body. And it's like, it would have been nice to have him a little bit shorter and scrawnier. All of the Hulk bad guys. Yeah.
00:34:17
Speaker
yeah Yeah, there's some good ones that they haven't touched yet by bees. No one's done the by beast yet. like I can't believe that that's not that's such a cool design. So hold hold gru that's my guy.
00:34:29
Speaker
older That's a good one too. Yeah. That's such an insane looking character. I pushed for that all the time when we were doing figures and they're just like, nobody wants a monster woman. No one's going to buy that. I was like, I will. I'm like 10. People will buy that. So the my my thing with the Hulk. At least there's a Hilda figure even, right? I love the modern Hulk figures that have come out.
00:34:57
Speaker
but there is yet to be a Hulk figure that can actually clap that has forward and as forward butterflies. and could actually do a gamma clap. That's like the one thing that's missing. I think the first, uh, Marvel legend Hulk could do that because it but it was a mess. It was like, toy one yeah yeah, I did that. His hands were permanently stuck like that too. yeah I think originally at least I did that. And that's when we were just like, we had no idea what we're doing. I mean, the original Marvel legends stuff, we were just like,
00:35:30
Speaker
It was basically me and Dave Cortez and they were just like here, you know, make it move here, here and here. And we were just like, all right, look, we, okay, we'll figure it out. And we just did. And it was two guys in their fricking late twenties or early thirties just going at it. And we were both like competing with each other. So we were like really pushing it further and further and further as quickly as we could. And we weren't using computers. It was all.
00:35:59
Speaker
plastic joints and clay, you know? Yeah, I mean, that those Spider-Man classics that bled into that first like first few Marvel Legends, those were ah still, to this day, iconic figures. I mean, they they completely reshaped what the scale was, what the expectation was. Like, I remember the first time getting my hands on one of those thinking, like, an action figure can do this. Like, oh my god. you know um And and yeah looking at it, like there's still like a lot of things that were that you guys pioneered Uh, in those figures, that's still like a commonplace thing today. I mean, like shoulder joints for one, you know, uh, it's, it's just, it's crazy. I still love, I love those late ghost riders, like the late run of the comic series ghost. Yeah. I was going to say, he's going to pull one on camera right now. Cause it's going on camera right now. Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:54
Speaker
And that phasing one they're with the red bike, that one's a little further away. but No, that one's great. I think for me, for me because like i you know we we do a ton of Marvel Legends.
00:37:08
Speaker
um We worked on a bunch of DC stuff like I worked for, you know, doing prototyping work for for DC collectibles, but um i I would love to do like classic DC comic stuff that's highly articulated like that's something where it's like I you know to this day and I I am also a ah giant dc fan i have a bunch of mezco figures i have you know all the may fix hush stuff and then the newer nightfall pieces and everything and i still.
00:37:43
Speaker
I still want a perfect kind of six-inch superposable Batman. I don't think anyone has nailed it yet. um I'm not saying that we necessarily would, but I think i could if I was involved, I could get it closer to being what I want.
00:38:01
Speaker
um and it's like that kind of perfect like you know ah ah Neil Adams looking, you know, Batman would just sing. and i and But beyond just Batman, like it's like I would love to just you work on DC stuff. um Because most of the DC items that we worked on were like, you know, the Arkham video game series or, you know, like we did crime syndicate figures, which was such a tease because the crime syndicate figures for DC collectibles, I think came out really cool. And they were but like, we we actually talked them into doing some double joints and stuff, which DC collectibles at that time hadn't really been doing. But it was like, you know, it's there the the bad guy versions of the Justice League. And I was just like, well, I want to do the real Justice League.
00:38:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I ah think you're right. I mean, I think the, in terms of 112 scale, I personally, I love the Dark Knight Rises, like that's my like, like that, or I'm sorry, not the Dark Knight Rises, Dark Knight Returns, um you know, that that graphic novel, the Mafex, Dark Knight Returns Batman is like this cool, it's like Yeah, no, I think the mofix stuff the mofix easy stuff as a whole like it's like I'd literally have them in one of my Detoffs up here. um i I Absolutely. I love them. I'm buying them. They're just like they're a little bit
00:39:31
Speaker
like I want to say like they they're a little bit lean for my taste like they you know they're not they're not quite thick enough and that's what I like it like I say I'm like I want to meet Neil Adams Batman and he's definitely a lean physique but I think when if you stand like a one of the mofex figures next to like a Marvel legend or something it's like they just skew a little bit skinnier and and lankier in general. And it's like it's a cool it's a really cool style that I absolutely do love and support. But it's not exactly what I want. Yeah, yeah, I hear you. And now a word from our sponsors.
00:40:17
Speaker
This segment is brought to you by our friends at Chubsy Wubsy Toys. A traditional mom and pop toy store in Little Falls, New Jersey, Chubsy Wubsy Toys brings you the best new toys from the brands you love without the hassle of pounding the pavement searching for them at larger retail stores.
00:40:33
Speaker
Visit them in person at their brand new home at 101 Newark Pompton Turnpike Suite 1 in Little Falls, New Jersey, or online at ChubsyWubsy.com. That's C-H-U-B-Z-Z-Y-W-U-B-Z-Z-Y dot.com. And tell them that Adventures in Collecting sent you.
00:40:58
Speaker
And now, back to the show. Yeah, so with now we've talked about you know licenses that you've already done, but um is there one that you've never worked on that you'd like to work on? Oof. Man. I mean, there's a couple of licenses I've never touched. I've never touched GI Joe, Alien, or Predator.
00:41:23
Speaker
I've never worked on those. Oh, man. um Yeah. But it's all been done really well. I mean, gee, Joe right now, those things are insanely good. Like, I don't even think I could touch that. I mean, I'm not going to, I'm not bringing anything to the table. Those things are perfect. Um, like I could see you crushing some Cobra law stuff. Yeah. Like a grocer, like a, go like a globula globulus or yeah like a Python. Like I'd like to get into like, oh man, like D and D would be rad.
00:41:52
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Like just get into some of the weird lore of D and&D. That'd be really cool. But yeah, I mean the, yeah, alien has been done a million times and all really good. Predator has been done constantly and looks fantastic. And yeah, the G.I. Joe, same thing. It's, it's flawless. Those new ones especially are nuts.
00:42:14
Speaker
But yeah, D and&D, I think, would be the way that i I'd want to get into trying to get into that. That's funny that you say that because like my answer is is like fan fantasy as well. um i i think it like I'm really happy with with what we've been getting, but ah Conan. I'm a big Conan fan. um I love me some fantasy. I'm a big Lord of the Rings nerd, and my wife and I are like,
00:42:39
Speaker
super super nerds for Lord of the Rings. We have gotten to work on some Lord of the Rings stuff for for the Diamond Select line. um you know if i if If I was overseeing that line, there would be soft goods involved and you know the articulation would would take a ah top seat. But i I think that some of the stuff we put out for Lord of the Rings was cool. But yeah, Conan in general would be one. And it's like both you know book, comic, and Arnold movie stuff. like I just love everything Conan the Barbarian. like It's really cool to me. um i The Mezco figures are great. I bought multiples of every release so far. ah They were a little bit small for the scale, but overall I really liked it and then I ended up buying
00:43:28
Speaker
three of the more recent King Conan release from them because he had double jointed elbows and I was like well I need to now upgrade all of my Mezco Conan so i I'm sitting there like you know playing with Malibu Stacy needs a new hat and swapping all of the parts over onto the new King Conan body that was slightly taller with better articulation so um I have I have random bits and pieces of all these expensive Mezco Conan action figures around just to make my my versions that are in my own mind. So yeah, I would love i would love to just take a crack i at it just from the get. Hey, you never know. Maybe ah maybe yeah we'll get a Marvel Conan at some point.
00:44:15
Speaker
I trust me, I I've been asking for a while. If we if we got Chris star Savage Avengers, I mean, like it's like, come on. ro right Yeah, nothing nothing at this point is. um Yeah, as soon as soon as he as soon as he showed up in Savage Avengers, like, trust me, I was annoying Dwight and Jesse and Ryan and Dan. I was just like, come on, guys, like, let's make this happen. It's a, you know, obviously it's it's a complicated one based on the license, though.
00:44:46
Speaker
Maybe one day. Well, yeah this takes us into what you guys are up to now, Adam.
Introduction to The Cursed Dead Toy Line
00:44:52
Speaker
ah For anyone who hasn't checked out the the campaign, ah let's get everyone caught up. why Tell us about the Cursed Dead. Yeah. So the the Cursed Dead is ah basically, it's Phil's take on classic horror characters, monsters, creatures, demons, spirits.
00:45:11
Speaker
So his kind of spin on those as well as creating new characters that fit into that world. So um basically, or the i there' it's a one twelfth scale line and it's meant to fit with just about every other toy line that you can imagine because we are monsters, creatures, demons, spirits. So they're ah they they they're going to be about between six and three-quarters and seven inches tall as far as final product goes, our base body that we're we've developed is this skinny, crazy articulated body. um But it's i it it if you look through the comparison pictures that I was talking about earlier,
00:45:59
Speaker
we really are intending this to be able to go with anything, whether that's, you know, your Marvel Legends, Goblin Queen and and Ghost Rider and Blade, or you want your G.I. Joe classified fighting, ah you know, different demons, or I collect tons of anime lines. So like you get Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man, Kaiju number eight, you know, like all of these lines where SHF are making amazing figures and I absolutely love them, but there's not that many villains. So we really wanted to create this line that you know can stand on its own. so So when Phil was designing these characters, I insisted that he he give me backstories for all of his creations because I i grew up with GI i Joe as well and the GI Joe file cards
00:46:52
Speaker
were such an important thing for me as a kid. like Building that imagination and play and like you know giving you just enough info that you could then take these characters and like make them into like you know your own from there. you know It's just a so a gateway, a starting point.
00:47:10
Speaker
So Phil wrote these little bios for all nine of our characters in Wave 1, and they're fantastic. And the idea is that it's kind of like an anthology where each of the characters is a standalone, whether that would be like a comic book or a TV show or even a standalone movie.
00:47:28
Speaker
But we do also do have a larger storyline where they kind of all ah come together to to fight common enemies. So um it's it's a really cool toy line, and Phil has just crushed it with design. And you know I basically, for the most part, was just writing him about designing these with crazy amounts of articulation in mind.
00:47:55
Speaker
So now I gotta ask, are those are like backstories and, cause I, some of my favorite things to read over and over again as a kid were like the GI Joe file cards or the superpowers little comic books or things like that. um Are those backstories going to be part of packaging, whether it's like a file card or something? Bill, why don't you tell them a little bit about ah our packaging plans? The packaging idea, excuse me, is a old school VHS tapes, which has been done.
00:48:23
Speaker
ah flip open so you could see the character in there. so It's not just a blind box. They'll feed out from the bottom so you can take them out, mess around with them and put them back if you want to. And ah I believe that we're we were still figuring this out, but it could be the Cursed Dead is like a video anthology series. And on the back is going to be each character as their own episode.
00:48:48
Speaker
And the the the writing will be in with each figure, like each character will have its little bio. um And then the demons, which are the old dead, those ones are going to be same packaging layout, but they're going to be old books.
00:49:05
Speaker
So it'll be like Necronolicon looking books and old videotapes that all are kind of sitting next to each other. And the demons are are are kind of like bad, bad guys. You know, like they're the ones that that the that lack of better way to describe the newer monsters have to face off against.
00:49:24
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. And I mean, there have been a a lot of monster toys and in you know in recent years. From like a design perspective, what what makes the curse dead you know different? what what What cuts through the noise with them? Well, the first one being the skinny body, there's not a lot of that. The proportions are different. The layout of the figure and in terms of texture and aesthetic are different.
00:49:55
Speaker
um So that we could fit in all the articulation um and just kind of the take I wanted it to Look like a hot like a Gumbo of just all sorts of references because that's what's going on in my head is just I built so much stuff in my life that and I've referenced so much stuff that I can kind of I put lots of things together. And I think that they have a familiarity to them because of their monster, everyone knows what monsters are.
00:50:29
Speaker
But there is a just enough of a new take where they are different. And the ones that I created from scratch are absolutely creepy. And that was, I have not seen a lot of that, which is, you see a monster and it's cool monster or it's a monster and it's big and scary, but creepy is not really tapped into it. The whole team is terrified our children with the Crankle Christmas song that Phil came up with. It's absolutely, I encourage anyone to go check out, it's linked on the Kickstarter campaign page but it's also on the Cursed Dead YouTube page and Phil wrote the lyrics and performed the song as well and it has like
00:51:15
Speaker
Oogie Boogie slash, you know, classic Grinch song vibes to it that it's just unbelievably creepy. I love that. Oh, yeah. and worked through Yeah, just the whole vibe is just fantastic. I also I love what Phil just came up with. I hadn't heard before, but it's like horror action figure gumbo. Yeah, that's great. I love gumbo. So do I.
00:51:42
Speaker
love a good gumbo. and and i love too the the i You touched on something that we've we've talked about with several other creators on this on this pod you know who who are doing independent work, right like not working directly with like a known IP, and like comes to mind like um yeah that the the people at Savage Crucible, the folks at Plunderlings, the folks at um at Spiro doing Animal Warriors of the Kingdom. All of which make appearances in my ah my comparison photos because I am a supporter of all of those lines. But the same this one of the things that I love about those is is one of the things I love about what you guys are doing which Phil you just touched on right like there's something new and fresh and it's like oh I've never seen this specific thing before but at the same time it feels
00:52:30
Speaker
familiar like it feels like like revisiting an old friend you know I'm looking just looking at at um I believe it's the brood right is like the main the main like like iconic figure right um the drinker uh you know it there's just something about it the shape of the ears the you know the texture of the body the way that like all the lines are caught and everything like it looks like something i've known my entire life but like yeah same time i don't which is really cool like i mean it's a it's a cool and it's all it's a cool and very difficult like line to tow and i think you guys are doing that with this line and i think a huge thing too is like a lot of times like you look at a spider-man and yeah that's spider-man right where you look at something in but like
00:53:15
Speaker
the the texture on like the skin of these figures, like you can almost like feel it visually as weird as that sounds. yeah like it just you like That's just like craggly and creepy. like it's just like That's not something you want to run into. And I think that's a cool part. Since we were doing a figure that was going to be used for lots of figures, the the base body,
00:53:40
Speaker
I wanted to texture it in a way that every color would give you a different take on what that texture was. you know like it As a dead skin, it looks like it's brittle and twisted. If it's green, it looks like scales or ah plant life. And that's kind of why it it is so textured.
00:54:04
Speaker
Yeah, and and the other thing too is they're all instantly recognizable. Like even if you don't memorize the name right away, you look at one you're like, that's definitely a vampire. yeah That's definitely like a Lovecraftian, like, ah you know, i crab monster man. that's That's like a straight up like devil.
00:54:21
Speaker
Wendigo is Wendigo. They are very visually... This thing is going to murder me in my sleep. like Yes. this Which is what you want. This thing is going to threaten to murder me in my sleep and just visit me in my dreams. that's I'm telling you, they make excellent villains for all of your toy lines. I can't wait to cut some up with Tanjiro, man. Exactly, right? like and That's kind of like the point I was trying to make before, where it's like,
00:54:49
Speaker
you know, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju Number 8, and all of these lines that, like, SHF is making. We're not getting villains, but we have, like, amazing versions of the the heroes, so these this is a cool toy line to have fighting. Like, ah you know, like, they'll fit right in with a lot of these toy lines. But also, just give me that creep show or that EC vibe, like, all day. like Yeah. yeah Oh, don't get me wrong, I am more than happy for anyone to also just create their own cursed, dead shelf, you know? Like, that's ah that's ideal as well. Well, thinking of like the videotape idea, it's just like even, you know, like one of my...
00:55:33
Speaker
favorite ways to terrify myself as a kid was go look at the big box videotapes at the video store and imagine what that movie was and just be like, I will never watch this. And you always imagine that it's going to be like a way more terrifying movie than it actually was. But like, like Robert Englund's Phantom of the Opera. Yeah, like that's the part that was always the best part about horror was like almost like disarming it and figuring out like, Oh, I actually love this.
00:56:02
Speaker
I still know I like it. It's creepy as hell. Fortunately for me, I had a ah video guy who would rent us when way too young, all the videos we wanted. So we got to see all the the things that were like, you'd see the picture and be like, this is going to be terrifying. Then you get it home and you're like, this is absolutely terrible. But it's pretty cool. Man, what a hero. That man was a hero. Yeah, he was he was cool. He was very Mr. Lee.
00:56:35
Speaker
He didn't give any kinds of craps. So we're always a um ah when, not if podcast, especially when it comes to crowdfunding, kickstarters. So when the campaign is funded, what's next for the curse dead?
Expansion Plans for The Cursed Dead
00:56:52
Speaker
I'll go Phil. Dude, I mean, you go. i've I've built so many figures already, man. Like just on the skinny body. Yeah, just beyond what you guys have seen. We have like four or five, maybe six on hold that are built, done. They just need like, some of them need soft goods, but they're all built. And then there's the medium body, which is the werewolf.
00:57:16
Speaker
Then there's a bigger body, which is like the Titan, hulky, Frankenstein-y kind of thing, which can be, I already have, we were just talking about one the other day, a new take that would be a cool figure. um But yeah, I've just, I've got books and so many drawings, so many designs, so many, there's there's a lot to do.
00:57:43
Speaker
Yeah, we basically, for just for this wave one that we have on Kickstarter right now, we had to pull back. Like like Phil was telling you, like we had to pull back some of the characters because we wanted to just focus on on this this initial wave. And then you know we we do have those in our back pocket where you know Fingers crossed, we hit some stretch goals, we can add some in, and then also they're available for us to do like ah a wave 1.5 or something. But yeah, that we we have the second body type, which would be our wave two, and then a third body type that all of those, Phil has already gone down the design path on on those. So yeah, have we have a lot of plans, um we just have to have to get to it.
00:58:30
Speaker
Oh man, look at that thing. so that's That's just an early prototype of the Wave 2 body with the Phil. Phil created the werewolf and then pig pig that he's about to show you. So those are grayscale 2-ups that we had developed to show off initially for our future plans when we debuted the line at DesignerCon back in the day. goes That's amazing. A side fork, I love it.
00:58:59
Speaker
Yeah yeah again like even the weapons like that's the thing is the tooling is too insane but i made weapons for a lot of the guys that are just way oversized because i thought that we wanted we want to release them we we'll do them like there could be accessory packs with head packs hand packs weapons like all sorts of stuff um you know and i really respect Todd McFarland with his Kickstarter campaigns, instead of doing like additional like te like tiered items with stretch goals, he ends up including accessories back with the the base offering. and um you you know If we were given that kind of opportunity, I would like to do that ah very similar thing where it's like,
00:59:42
Speaker
Hey, we have enough money to make these. So now if we hit another goal, let's include something else as like a bonus item for these for our backers that that have supported us. Now see that pig pig was like who I thought the actual villain of Motel hell was. But like, yeah, me too. That's what. Yeah. I mean, basically, that's kind of what he is to me as well.
01:00:08
Speaker
because, yeah, I thought Motel Hell was gonna be way gnarlier than it was. Then you saw, yeah. Well, this guy, the pig pig is like, ah he wears a ah human's skin mask. Yeah, it's a really good disguise. You totally can't tell. Yeah, it's a big deal. So gross, I love it. Yeah, it's awesome. And he wears his face because he thinks he looks like a normal person now.
01:00:35
Speaker
And yeah, he's... Who has two different feet, too? Oh, his feet are... I mean, you can't really see that. I put... Oh, yes. Because the whole concept is that he's ah he's the product of...
01:00:48
Speaker
A love affair between a drunk farmhand and a very sad pig. Oh boy. All right. Like 10 toes on one hip foot. Yeah. yes Yeah. And like, and a hoof foot. It's all very lerp stuff. And he has a little stuffed animal that he carries around with him.
01:01:08
Speaker
It's amazing. The Cursed Dead is is Phil's version of therapy. Yeah, pretty much. that's ah That's a look inside. That's definitely a peak behind the curtain. yeah um All right, so up next we have our our featured follower Q and&A. so um When we have guests on, we like to make sure that our our followers, our listeners, our watchers here on YouTube um get a chance to include some questions. um Before we get to those questions, Dave, please remind our listeners and our followers, how can they participate in future episodes of Adventures in Collecting?
01:01:46
Speaker
Yeah, so when we announce a guest, usually it's it's the weekend before recording, um you're going to see a story on on Instagram and um I guess, it I don't know if you'd see it on threads or or X or Blue Sky or any of the other social medias Instagram. media um other instagram And ah when you see that story, it's going to tell you, hey,
01:02:08
Speaker
Phil and Adam are coming on, or whoever else we're going to have on. And it says, you know enter your question here. So you tap on that question box, that little kind of dialogue box. And then you can type in your question, as as Adam is doing right now. And so we'll see it. And you may become the featured follower Q and&A. And we also have a voicemail that you can use, which I kept the number of but I do not remember offhand. I have it ready this time. yeah um You can call us anytime and you can you can also leave a message for ah for our guests, for us, whoever you want to ask a question to. Yeah, ah you can call at any time. you Don't worry. You are never going to disturb anybody. It's going to go right to a voicemail. But if you disturb anyone, pig pigs common.
01:02:59
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it's coming for you. My new friend, Pig Pig. It's 1973-750-8256. You can call that or text that number and and put your question in that way. ah With that, let's ah let's hop in here. um Dave, do you mind if I take the first one? Please. All right, so a friend of the pod, ah Jesse Distasio at Toy Pizza asks,
01:03:28
Speaker
um All right, so I'm gonna try to get this right. In quotes, Jack the Mad reunion, when? ah Never. But I think I've sent him some of the newer stuff that Josh and I, Josh is the third person on, and out of and of us that are making the toys, the Kerstead. Yeah, Josh and I have made new music.
01:03:57
Speaker
And that was half the... So it's a band that... joe Josh is Phil's best friend. Josh is also Jesse Falcon's younger brother. And yeah. All right. A little bit of backstory. Yeah. And Dostazio is hilarious. I love that guy. Actually, we hope to get to New York to see him again because I love chopping it up with that guy.
01:04:21
Speaker
Yeah, he's ah he's been on the show a bunch of times. um yeah with Much love for him. and and And also, check out his band, too. Zedstar7. Yeah. yours if you're If you're into Nine Inch Nails or like an Industrial New Wave, Vapor Wave, I don't know how you actually would classify the type of music. But if you're into that Nine Inch Nails industrial So experimental and it's trash. Synth trash. That's a good way to put it, actually. But I personally, I love it. I listen to it when I work a lot, like when I went to my daily job. um Yeah, i'm I'm a big zed star. Seven Mark. So ah yeah, definitely check them out. But ah but yeah. All right. So now I got to look up Jack the Mad. and I got to try to find never find it. No. And rightfully so. All right. Fine. Fine. Fine. David was terrible.
01:05:15
Speaker
So we had to get rid of them. We had to get rid of the band. Were were you the singer? I feel like garbage. garbage right so So what kind of music though? Yeah, that was going to be my question. It was like whenever we played, they didn't know where to put us and everyone called us, uh, art band, but we were like, it was like depressing punk rock. Like, okay.
01:05:40
Speaker
Yeah. You guys, you and Josh also had a hip hop band too. right That was just for dicking around. Yeah. mess around That was for fun. Absolutely. That's never been put out ever. And it won't ever. i'm like It was just something for us to do, especially during the pandemic, get together every once in a while. And like, there was a bunch of rules for it.
01:06:03
Speaker
And then the the the actual world of hip-hop got so insane that what we were doing was like pedestrian. like Everything was just so nuts that we were like, this is boring. So if you want to hear the musical stylings of Phil Ramirez, the only way to do it is through the Kickstarter. Phil Ramirez. Yeah. Got it. Got it. Although I love the idea of sad punk rock though. like there like oh it's like oh it's like nothing like yeah and nothing yeah I don't know why but when you said you were the band that nobody knew where to put on the on like the card I always think of this story ah about the time the band cake toured with CKY open for CKY every night and like they would just get like shit thrown at them from the audience like
01:06:54
Speaker
Cause it's like one of those bands like, oh, you're an alternative band. You can play with CKY and they're like, can we though? Dude, they would put us on with like Oasis sounding bands and like these beautiful men would come out and play this like Brit pop. It was cool. Don't get me wrong, but it was like, and then we'd come out. We're just like drunk dicks and like, it was, it was not, it didn't work. We, I walked everybody constantly walked everybody.
01:07:22
Speaker
I could walk a room. I could comfortably get in front of an audience. very intoxicated and walk an entire room. And I'm completely comfortable with it. Amazing. Amazing. This sounds like next year's Toy Pizza Fest. that out and It's not a good trait to learn. but It puts you that way. No, but yeah i i feel I feel like Jesse's right. I feel like it's time. You yeah you got to bring this back. You got to circle back, bring this back. The guitarist hates me, so we'll see.
01:07:55
Speaker
we're We're getting on better terms, but we'll see. All right. All right. um Dave, we sort of answered, Adam already sort of answered this, but let's let's just put it out to the world and- Yeah. Yeah. Lord Unimportant, you are very important today, sir. um Will the cursed dead wave one come with any additional heads or hands, maybe some articulated jaws or weapon holding hands?
01:08:21
Speaker
So yeah for sure, um all of our figures come with multiple heads. The drinker comes with three heads, actually. The kind of closed mouth smirk, the open mouth ready to feed, and then um eight of the nine figures in the wave come with a ah skull head that has an articulated jaw and the paint deco is it matches the bodies. So if you scroll through the campaign page, you can see additional pictures.
01:08:49
Speaker
with the figures with their skull heads on and these alternate parts. so um And then the deluxe figures come with even more character specific items um as well. So definitely something that is in the line already and something we do want to expand upon with like accessory packs down the road for sure.
01:09:10
Speaker
And our last featured question comes from ah another friend of the pod here at Toy Farce. And this is a ah this is our our usual shout out to Toy Farce. If you are not following Toy Farce, what are you doing?
01:09:24
Speaker
just just Do you like to laugh? Do you like to enjoy life? you're listening We communicate on Instagram a pretty good amount of time. He's he's the best. like if if you If you are watching and or listening to this, I have to assume that you are into action figures or you've stumbled backward into something that I hope you're enjoying. um but Thank you for stumbling. Thanks for being here. The algorithm did it, finally. But yeah, Toyfars, he's just the best. Just follow, them laugh, enjoy. but All right, so he's got a question, Phil, for you ah first. what and We might have answered this one already, too, but what was your all-time favorite franchise to work on?
01:10:09
Speaker
Turtles. Turtles, OK. I mean, Marvel and turtles, those are the two. But turtles still hold a soft spot for me because I was a kid working on them. And Adam, will it fit?
01:10:22
Speaker
This is so toy, toy first and I have been friends, uh, online for awhile. And we, we've made jokes that we, we wanted to do like a podcast or something together where where it's will, will it fit? And, uh, it's, it's scale related guys. It has nothing to do with my username or, or anything comedic as, uh, as far as that goes, but, uh, will it fit? The answer is yes. Check out the comparison picture, the 24 comparison pictures.
01:10:53
Speaker
It will absolutely fit. There you go. ah That has been our our featured follower Q and&A. So thank you to everyone who submitted questions. um and And especially thanks to our featured featured question askers. um And that unfortunately means we are we are at our final question here. i We do have a tradition on the show where we ask all of our guests a final question before um we give them the space to plug the amazing things that they're working
Favorite and Strangest Collection Items
01:11:24
Speaker
on. And ah and since you guys are our first time guests, you get the you get the OG question. I had to remember the OG question. Get the original question. um And ah Dave, would you like to fulfill your role as this podcast's James Lipton and ask our final question. It's so weird doing this part on video now.
01:11:48
Speaker
Adam and Phil, our final question that we ask to all of our guests. What is your favorite and or strangest piece in your collection? It can be one of each, or it can be both.
01:12:01
Speaker
You want me to go first? Okay. One of my favorites, I've been i i've answered this before, but ah definitely near and dear to me is weve we've prototyped a lot of Muppets figures for Diamond Select. I was a big fan of the Palisades line and I own most of them.
01:12:20
Speaker
and we we've done We've done the prototyping for all of the Diamond Select releases, and basically I will bring the figures the Palisades figures into work, and it's like, what can we do to to basically improve upon this? And obviously the line the Diamond Select line is about keeping them in scale with one another and some other you know one one-tenth, one-twelfth scale figures out there.
01:12:44
Speaker
and upping the articulation. So ah that that line I absolutely adore, but particularly um when they pulled the trigger for us to do Statler and Waldorf. ah They're very near and dear to me and I remember I got On the phone, I called Chuck Tercera, who adds up Diamond Select, and I begged him because I own the Palisades figures, and I was like, hey, the one Palisades made tons of playsets, but they were they missed out on something very important, and that's the balcony for Statler and Waldorf. um like It's basically part of the characters. you know they They heckle from the balcony.
01:13:26
Speaker
So i I managed to talk Chuck into letting us prototype the balcony along with the Statler and Waldorf action figures. And yeah, I own it. There's there's one of them up here wall mounted. I have another set at work and then another set carded because that's what I do with some of my favorites. And then for weird, I'm going to give I'm going to give a little alley oop to Phil here ah with something from his past.
01:13:54
Speaker
a That's probably my my booty bumpers toy that I have. So, ah Phil, why don't you tell them what a booty bumpers is? um I designed a bobblehead.
01:14:10
Speaker
ah with a girl twerking. So the bauble is her posterior. Amazing. Yeah, tried to get that thing patented. It was an absolute nightmare ah because the woman at the patent office found it offensive.
01:14:29
Speaker
and I went rounds and rounds and rounds with like with a guy who had been as a patent attorney for 50 years who died before the thing was over because he was like blown away that this that they would ever like deny a patent because they were offended by it. So yeah, I made that. Amazing. It's in the it's in my Instagram. like I think it's in there somewhere way down.
01:14:56
Speaker
way down there. I've been trying to talk Phil into seeing if he he can, because he ended up, he produced them himself. And I was like, we need to find, see if you have a couple cases and we can put those as an add-on to the Kickstarter for backers. I have a few. ah You could back it up. Back it up. Yeah, they they worked well. it's it's like They look cool, they worked well. And a bunch of people have tried to do it since then. Like I've seen versions, but none of them were,
01:15:24
Speaker
as well engineered and sculpted as mine. Amazing. um Yeah, for me, I don't know, man. it's One of my favorite things ever is ah the original Hammerhead figure from a Star Wars. He's just such an insane looking figure. like The sculpt is pretty amazing. That and Slive are the two like generationally that are like so far ahead of their time. As far as weird, I got to go. It's not in my possession yet. And unless it gets ah funded, I'd say Crane. I want that Crane figure. Bad. Dr. Crane? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The fly, if you just know it by the look of it, it's like the fly character from ah The Cursed Dead. That's the toy that I want. Yeah.
01:16:23
Speaker
Yeah, that that figure is, again, gro gross and I love it. ah Yeah, I don't know what ah other way to put it. ah Yeah, it's it's gross. It's a toss up for me between um I'm just looking at the names, Dr. Crane. And there's just something about Gord. Yeah. And when to go are my two favorites. I think it's because I returned to Oz was such like an important movie to me as a kid. i The the the the jack-o'-lantern character that you know kind of comes to life, the the scarecrow standing in that movie. um No, to me, he's a more even like a more messed up man he faces. yeah Good. Again, see, you're it's all like member berries, right? You're getting all the member berries.
01:17:11
Speaker
you know you know Yeah, I absolutely love this line. I love you know the possibilities with it. Like like you said, the ah you know will it fit? it It will absolutely fit and I can't wait for it to fit. um and And to what Dave said, you know ah it's it's not an if, it's a when. So we're we're yeah we're a when show here. Yeah. So um with that, guys, i remind our followers, remind our our our listeners here, um where can they back the project?
01:17:41
Speaker
ah Where can they find you guys online and and when do they have until to to get this done? Yeah, so We're it's if you just go on Kickstarter and look up the curse dead um It is active right now the campaign ends on Saturday February 1st at around 6 p.m. Pacific time so I encourage everyone to get their pledges in now so that way we can get closer to Hitting that funding goal and then going towards some stretch goals because I would really like to show you guys Some of that other stuff that we have planned that we were talking about um you can find us the curse dad comm which has links to all of our social media it has links to the
01:18:24
Speaker
Kickstarter campaign has links to our Facebook, our Facebook group, our Instagram, our YouTube. So we're kind of all over the place and we're trying to cross posts. That way, if you only use one type of social media, you can get most of the info right there. So, um yeah, check out the website. And then otherwise, I'm playing with myself all over the Internet. Yeah, what he said. And you can only find me on Instagram.
01:18:53
Speaker
Premiere Studios 3D, 3D, Inc. 3D. Yeah, thank you for having us, guys. Oh, awesome. Thanks for being on, yeah. This is our pleasure. ah Both of you, thank you for you know for everything that you guys have done ah yeah throughout your careers in the toy industry. it's you know I said it at the top and I you know i mean it, you know some of the most iconic toys that have ever existed. Absolutely. you know Ripple effects that are still being felt today in toy design. You know you you guys are are responsible for that. And the fact that you're you know you're here doing something new and fresh and you know and you know exciting after all of that is speaks volumes to the the amount of talent that you guys have and and clearly how much you love this stuff. so yeah ah We don't have anything else.
01:19:41
Speaker
ah But yeah, with with that, ah Dave, i think I think it's time, man. Send send us home. Yeah, let's let's back some toys, everybody. Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes. Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:20:23
Speaker
don't try this at home voido prohibited in some assembly required each sold separately not a flying toy consult a physician if your toy run exceeds more than four hours
01:20:31
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer Frank Kablaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.