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Time Travel and Toy Collecting: A Conversation with Zombie Sailor
399 Plays5 years ago
On this episode, Dave and Erik sit down with Zombie Sailor of Zombie Sailor Toys to talk vintage case fresh finds, hunting new toys, the greatness of Kevin Costner, pin collecting, and so much more!
Visit Zombie Sailor on the web at https://zombiesailor.com or follow him @zombiesailorstoys on Instagram
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:22
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.
00:00:33
Speaker
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. All right. And we are back. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting. Dave, we're back. Hi.
00:00:54
Speaker
There it is. Always. You always have to do it. And it has been an absolutely wild two weeks since our last episode. There has been a lot. Yeah, a lot of stuff happened.
Guest Introduction: Zombie Sailor
00:01:11
Speaker
Well, actually, we'll get into kind of one of the things that happened, I guess, once we introduce our guest. Yeah, as always, when we have a guest, there's no need to bury the lead. Traveling through time to be with us today is the zombie sailor himself. Zombie sailor, welcome to Adventures in Collecting. Good evening, gentlemen. Thank you for having me.
00:01:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's been a couple weeks since we spoke. Um, both, you know, aren't we having a podcast and you and I having spoken. Oh my goodness, man. What, what a running that was. That was incredible. Like I wouldn't have thought, um, you know, I wouldn't have thought I would have seen anyone I would recognize just kind of out, but, uh, let alone looking for a W figures, but there we were. Dude, that was,
00:02:05
Speaker
insane. And like, you know, we spoke over there and now all like the listeners could find out like what's going on like, like I mentioned.
Toy Collecting Stories and Comparisons
00:02:13
Speaker
I've never been to a toy shop or a toy store or Target, whatever, in maybe 10, 15 years that I've seen people like rush to a shelf and look for the same figures that I'm looking for. I probably haven't experienced that since like Toys R Us, like Star War days when like episode one came out. Like I'm not even exaggerating. So it's cool that people are out and like hunting for these figures again. I mean, it's great. It sucks that they're hard to find, but hey, I mean, supply and demand, but yeah, it is what it is.
00:02:42
Speaker
Yeah. Have you found them yet? Yeah. You know what? I'm in the major wrestling figure podcast Facebook group. Like there's a lot of cool people there. Um, I put like a little post I'm like, I've been searching out for ever since we had that little, um, exchange. And I was like, this, please could someone help me out? Does anybody have them? So I was luckily able to get a set there for retail. Um, it's awesome. You know, it's funny. I just opened up the Chris Jericho figure, uh, maybe like two hours ago. It is awesome. And then I opened up the Cody one the other day.
00:03:12
Speaker
They are like high quality figures, man. And I'm not a paid show. I mean, I'm just a fan and I love toys and wrestling. And to me, I don't know if you guys, you know, agree or disagree, but they kind of almost feel like a Japanese import. And that's like in the best possible way. Like it feels like a good quality figure. And you could tell the detail and the love that went into these and I, and I'm not throwing anybody under the bus, but I don't feel that same way with Mattel figures.
00:03:36
Speaker
Yeah, I've finally found them too. I would say, what was it, last weekend? Yeah, this past weekend I finally picked mine up after driving around a little bit. And I haven't opened mine yet because I'm waiting to film it. I just need a day where I can do it. But I can tell just kind of from what I've seen and what I've heard and from a little bit of the bubbly one where these are incredible. Oh my goodness, man. They're awesome.
00:04:05
Speaker
It's very, you know, kind of, I don't want to say like brand specific, but jazzwares in general, the stuff that they produce, because I, you know, I have the, some of the six inch legendary series Fortnite figures, and it's the same thing. Like they sometimes, like some of the figures have that kind of SH figure arts kind of feel to them, the way that they articulate the,
00:04:33
Speaker
the color palette that they use, the paint quality, they do feel like import figures. That's spot on. Yeah, the way the torso is built, I don't know if it has that rubbery feel below it, but it looks like that Storm Collectibles liger. Yeah, man, 100%. I love how the joints are. I'm sure you guys have seen them or seen reviews and whatnot.
00:04:56
Speaker
Like, you know, when you bend like the elbow, for example, it's like, you know, multiple clicks. So it's the perfect proposing, man. It's, it's exactly like you said, man. It's like a straight up like figure arts, like type of figure. And which is amazing because those are like, what, 60, $70. And these are 1999. So I think you're getting a heck of a bargain here.
00:05:15
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And that was obvious, too, when we had the opportunity to see even just the models, like the hand-painted models at Toy Fair. Seeing them up close, outside of the box, we knew that we were in for something special here.
00:05:33
Speaker
We're glad that we've had Jeremy put our on the show in the past and to say that he's enthusiastic about these figures and about what he does would be like the understatement of the year. But it's obvious that these are our labors of love.
00:05:52
Speaker
You know, none of us are getting paid to say this, you know, we're just fans of toys and it's just, it's nice to see a new product that's being competitive and that's trying to own the space that it's in. And that's clearly what they're doing. Yeah, man. I mean, they deserve all the amount of.
00:06:09
Speaker
people that are like now focus on their product. And I just hope they continue to be successful. And I just want to see where this line goes, man. And the best part is I'm not even like that much of a modern wrestling fan anymore, believe it or not. I don't watch NXT or raw or Smackdown. I can't even tell you how long. And you know, every now and then if AEW is on, I'll give it a shot. I mean, you know, I do like that product. I do respect those guys, but I'm not even like a diehard AEW fan, but these are just fans that I need to get. I mean, figures I need to get just based on how cool they are and just the likeness. So yeah.
00:06:41
Speaker
Yeah. And we're getting people that we've not had figures for yet too. Yeah. It's amazing, man. The young bucks, man, that the outfits on them, the detail, I mean, God, man, you know, for, again, for 20 bucks, man, I mean, they, they outdid themselves.
00:06:56
Speaker
So, so speaking of, of AW and, and, uh, and, and wrestling, um, I think where a lot of people know you from is your, the relationship that you have with the major wrestling figure podcast and, and Matt Cardona and Brian Meyers. So how, how did that relationship kind of start up? How did, how did that happen? Dude, I, I, it's all because of social media, um, Instagram to be, uh,
Vintage Toy Finds and Social Media Antics
00:07:21
Speaker
specific. So, you know, Ryder or Matt, he's, you know, big time.
00:07:25
Speaker
action figure collector like we are. And a couple of years back, 2015, 2014 maybe, I found a lot of case fresh old vintage Ghostbusters figures. So it was an old warehouse find, it was a mom and pop shop. They had them by the case in perfect mint condition. And I posted them on my Instagram and Matt bought a few and then we just hit it off and we just
00:07:51
Speaker
Ever since then we pretty much like text every single day and now we're buddies and now we're working together and it's, it's pretty damn awesome. Yeah. It's, it's incredible. Like, you know, he, he's a co-host of a wrestling figure podcast, but what people don't realize, and you know, we've had the opportunity to talk to him, you know, briefly about it, but that he collects like everything that we, we wanted to hear more about like his Arnold Schwarzenegger shelf.
00:08:17
Speaker
So it's just, it's crazy that like, you know, toys that are what, at this point, those real Ghostbusters figures are like, what, like 30 years old? Are still connecting people 30 years later, you know? Like in a new way, on a new platform. It's absolutely fucking wild. Like I love. To the point where they've been, you know, re-released, like they've been, you know, there have been official reproductions of them.
00:08:44
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's unreal, man. Like, yeah, after so many years and you know what old what's old is new. And it's really wild, man. Like, just the journey of pop culture and all this vintage stuff. It's I don't know, man. It's wild. So I sent you a link earlier today. Did you did you get a chance to look at that that mask case fresh find? I think that was in Chile.
00:09:08
Speaker
Yeah, it's in Chile. Yeah, you know, I woke up and I had like a million DMs. I'm like, oh, hell yeah, I'm gonna make some money today, right? Because people DM me when they want to buy some stuff. And it's like the majority, overwhelming majority, we're just like, is this you or did you see this and all that stuff? I'm like, oh my God. And the thing is, so I didn't know about this, but a good buddy of mine, Pete, like he's like super vintage. Like he gets a lot of stuff. He makes a good living selling vintage toys on the side. And it's amazing what this guy finds.
00:09:38
Speaker
And, uh, he actually knows the guy who is like, you know, that bought that old warehouse and he's been in contact with this dude for like the past few months and he's like trying to get it, but the guy doesn't want to ship to the United States. So, but bottom line is just, this was like now it's getting public, but other people have known about it now for a few months, apparently. So it's wild. He has a lot of stuff. Um, but from what I hear, he's like,
00:10:02
Speaker
I mean, obviously, I don't blame you starting like a premium. So I mean, but he has so much of it. I don't know how he's eventually going to get rid of everything. I don't know, man. Yeah, that is like a lot of mask figures to have. Yeah. For anybody, dude, like even me with like the warehouse finds like, I mean, don't get me wrong. Sometimes, you know, I'll find like a like a lot like, you know,
00:10:21
Speaker
2015 I found eighteen hundred thirty Beetlejuice figures like I'm not exaggerating that number one thousand eight hundred and twenty eight was the actual number between you know the figures in the vehicles and I'm like oh god I'm gonna die with these Beetlejuice now fast-forward however many years and yeah have you know a handful left so they go and it took me five years but I mean but those are like you know ten fifteen dollar toys I was selling them for a one-point these are like
00:10:44
Speaker
figures that are hundreds of dollars each and there's thousands of them. So how is, I mean, I hope the guy makes money and I hope he gets rid of it, but logically speaking, how is he going to be able to sell that many for like retail pricing? Like, do you follow? Yeah, that's, that's a, that's a lot of product to move for, for anything, let alone something as niche as mask toys. As niche as mask is though, it does have a following.
00:11:11
Speaker
Oh, of course. Yeah, it's a huge following. But also the thing working against this dude, he's in Chile. I mean, nothing wrong with Chile. I mean, I love it on my hot dogs. It's delicious. But I mean, the fact that he's not in the United States is like really like going to play it play a factor into someone ordering a lot or any because shipping is like ridiculous, as we all know. So I know the guy is on eBay now. I don't have his username and I wouldn't give him a plug. But hey, I mean, he's
00:11:38
Speaker
He's getting plenty of it right now. Um, but yeah, for like one or two vehicles, he was charging like a hundred dollars flat shipping or something like that. I mean, it's crazy, man. It's gonna, it's gonna eat into his cost and it's gonna let a lot of people kind of like steer away from it. But hey, that, you know, whatever it's either here nor there.
00:11:56
Speaker
So in terms of the of those vintage, you know, case, fresh finds that that you that, you know, you end up coming into, I think one of the more interesting ones that that you've found recently was the Congo stuff.
00:12:13
Speaker
Oh my goodness, Congo, the second greatest movie of all time behind Waterworld, starring my best friend Kevin Costner. Yeah, just Waterworld. You know, I don't know. I don't know what's more in demand. Is it Congo or Mask figures? Let's pretend it's Congo. Pretend very deeply. And yeah, I came into.
00:12:31
Speaker
quite a bit of those, a couple hundred pieces. Listen, I'm familiar with the market. I know what stuff sells for on eBay, not what people list it for, what people sell stuff for. So I'm like, I don't want to say garbage because all joking aside, I do love the Congo movie and I respect the figures. I think they're cool. But I'm like, shit, I got however many hundred figures of these, however many dozen vehicles
00:12:53
Speaker
I mean, yeah, they're like, you know, really mint and super clean. But what can I do to make people want Congo figures and actually spend their hard earned money? So I made a stupid six month long feud with a gorilla to freaking promote this on my Instagram page. A gorilla stole that and my car and assaulted me and whatever. Yeah, it's terrible. And how's your neck? Have you made a full recovery? I can't turn it to the left, but other than that, it's OK.
00:13:20
Speaker
I mean, especially after, you know, just all the neck trauma from like, you know, Ziegler super kick at Live 2 to. Dude, fucking Ziegler. Live 2, he kicked me in the net. Live, what was it, Live 5? No, what the hell was it? The one, Live 4 in Chicago. My God, it's like I drove like 18 hours to be there to like drop off pins and make a little appearance. And then I get assaulted there. So it's either Dolph Ziegler assaulting me or Henry Godwin or a giant gorilla. I mean, yeah, life is good. What can I say?
00:13:50
Speaker
You just can't catch a fucking break. I'm just a guy that wants to sell toys and not be bothered. And look what happens. Let's learn. Sell toys, get kicked in the neck. Let's sell toys, get kicked in the neck. Repeat. That'll be my new T-shirt.
00:14:05
Speaker
Yeah. No one will buy it. I think one of the other like more fun things was the the whole Kevin Costner thing. How did that come about? I know it was when you got those water world figures, but how did just kind of reaching out to Kevin Costner happen?
Celebrity Connections and Toy Collecting
00:14:24
Speaker
Yeah. So, you know, well, with the figures, it's like the same boat as Congo, like they don't really sell for much. And I do love Kevin Costner level as movies. I'm like, you know, a big
00:14:34
Speaker
90s movie guy and you know I was born in 1985 so I'm like I'm like living in the past hence why I'm selling vintage toys I'm like I'm telling you guys I'm this is not a gimmick like I don't know anything what's going on in terms of like pop culture and all that stuff like sure everything is like shut down now whatever but even before that like I don't know what the hell is going on pop culture I have no interest in it I can even tell you the top five actors or actresses now or singers whatever I just
00:15:00
Speaker
Don't care for it, man. Let me live in my bubble and so be it. So yeah, I'm a big fan of Kevin Costner to me. He's like a perfect representation of like the actor from like the early to mid nineties. And, you know, he has so many great movies and I'm like, oh, let me just start talking about how much I love Kevin Costner. And sure enough, it started getting the video started getting more and more like crazy, if you will.
00:15:23
Speaker
And it was on Thanksgiving day. I remember like I posted some stupid thing and like I tagged him or something. And it's like his official account, you know, blue check mark and all that stuff. And then like a few minutes later, like he liked the photo or something. I forgot. Oh, no. OK, I tagged him in a story on Instagram. So when you tag somebody, it goes to like their DMS or whatever. Yeah. So I tagged him in the story and then.
00:15:46
Speaker
he wrote like lol classic or something to it and he liked it and then he immediately started following me and this is thanksgiving day and i almost had a heart attack i'm like is this real like what the heck is going on and sure enough again blue check mark and it was you know evidently him or run by his handlers or whatever the case maybe i don't give a shit and uh when you started like communicating through dm whether if it was him or his handler again i don't care and then it'll uh
00:16:12
Speaker
came to a climax, if you will, on New Year's, New Year's Eve at like, it was like around, I'm in, you know, New York. So again, Eastern time and like around like two 50 a.m., which would be like, I guess like, you know, California or central time, whatever the hell that is, you know, three hours behind us over here. So it must have been like, you know, minutes before the balls dropping by wherever the hell he is. He sends me a freaking like a four part New Year's Eve message. And I'm like, what the F is going on right now? This is Kevin Costner.
00:16:42
Speaker
visibly drunk, giving me a shout out, putting me over. And I'm like, how is this real life? And I was flipping out almost at a cartwheel. It was like the best like present ever, let alone for New Year's Eve. I don't know, you know, you don't get presents for New Year's Eve, but that was a present for me. And I posted about it. People went nuts and like, yeah, like 10,000 views and a lot of comments. And it was cool. I feel like it was like a great payoff to like me obsessing over a great actor and 25 year old water world figures. And that's where it went. And I'm still
00:17:11
Speaker
on the prowl and now I'm trying to get a little walk on roll cameo or extra, you know, some BS for his hit television show, Yellowstone. Yeah. Let's let's we need to, we need to get you on Yellowstone. That's the, that does need to happen. Yeah, man. That'd be cool. Yeah. It's going to, it would be cool. I mean, if it happens, we'll see, but like, you know, right now with like,
00:17:33
Speaker
just being like the summertime and you know how the world is right now. I'm like not really posting much on Instagram. I'm kind of like giving like a little breather waiting for things to God willing cool down but like once like the fall starts coming along and I'm like you know like indoors more whatnot that I'm already indoors. I'm like start posting a lot more videos in my next big campaign. You're hearing it here first. Late breaking news ladies and gentlemen. It's going to basically be like
00:17:57
Speaker
three month long campaign of me vying for why I should be on Yellowstone. It's going to be so pathetic and nothing will probably come out of it. But hey, you miss a hundred percent of the shots that you don't take. We also really love Kevin Costner. Like between, you know, I get made fun of regularly because for me, like Dave and I are both really big baseball fans. But for me, the the kickoff to the baseball season is my annual viewing of For Love of the Game.
00:18:25
Speaker
Oh, 100 percent. I mean, like that's when baseball season starts. That movie goes right on. And I sit back and I get wispy or I get a teary eyed when when he cuts his hand on the saw on the farm. Like it's I'm right there with him when he's throwing the perfect game. It's it's it's an it's an amazing film. And it's directed by Sam Raimi. Yeah. Bull Durham Robin Hood.
00:18:49
Speaker
Dude, I love the bodyguard. Grant, that was like 90 or 91, so many decades ago. But it was such a good, great movie. I remember there was a ton of hype for that when it came out. And yeah, man, the guy's a good actor. And he has that wholesome look and the everyday man character. And that's what I'm all for, man. I'm all for the everyday commoner. Dusty Rose, daddy.
00:19:15
Speaker
Yeah. And and he's he is part of some very interesting niche toy lines, right? Because he was obviously we talked about Waterworld, but also the Robin Hood figures. Yeah, the Robin Hood figures.
00:19:26
Speaker
Robin Hood's great, man. I mean, look how cool those, like the packaging for them is awesome. It's like, you know, it's like that Star Wars feel, you know, the, um, what's the name, the Gamorian guard, Gamorian guard, however you pronounce it. They use that for fair talk at the body. But yeah, it's a cool looking piece. Like the packaging is awesome. The figures are great. And also if you're like a collector and you like stuff from way back when you can get like a set of those on eBay for like $8 each, you know, it's, it's a bargain.
00:19:51
Speaker
Yep. And they had, they had really cool, like soft goods, which was, you know, something that you don't find anymore. Really. A hundred percent, man. Yeah, they, yeah, like exactly. Like back in the day, like, man, they really, they put a lot into making this stuff and yeah, so much soft good, soft goods. And man, they were so damn cool. It was like just reminiscing in my head, like how awesome they are. And it was cool that Sherwood forest was the Ewok village. Like. Amazing. How awesome is that? Kenner, Kenner, Kenner made those molds work.
00:20:20
Speaker
Oh man. Yeah. You know what they're doing, man. And, and you know, it's, that's not unusual. Cause like, even today, like, you know, I, I Marvel legends, like how many, how many, you know, freaking characters have been on that Bucky cap, uh, body, you know, like they, when you find something that works and you can use it for multiple characters, it makes sense. Just do it. No, like
00:20:41
Speaker
It's just crazy to think that that a Gamorian guard became Friar Tuck and that an Ewok village became Sherwood Forest. I mean, that's that's some real creative thinking. But like it worked. Yeah. Yeah, man. But those molds, I mean, those steel molds from from China, those cost a lot of money. So I mean, hey, I mean, it's a business at the end of the day. And if they can cut costs and get as much use of it as possible. Hey, man, more power to them. Right. So before we jump off the the old stuff and get into some more of the the modern things that we're collecting,
00:21:12
Speaker
Tell us a little bit about prototypes because you've recently posted some very interesting Beetlejuice prototypes among others.
Fascination with Toy Prototypes
00:21:20
Speaker
But to us, that's also incredibly fascinating in a world that we don't even know how it exists, frankly.
00:21:28
Speaker
Yeah, man, I just, you know, I just love prototypes. I just, you know, being a big toy fan, I just love like, the inner workings of it. I'm, I'm so fascinated by all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes and how truly how long it takes to get something from like paper, or in this case, like, you know, nowadays, everything's on the computer.
00:21:46
Speaker
But to get something from like an idea down to like the final finished product in your hand in packaging, like the whole process is just, you know, it's like beautiful. It's like fascinating to me. So, you know, it's art. That's how I look at it. So like, I try to get, you know, as many like 80s, 90s, vintage toy prototypes as possible that, but only collect things that I like, you know, I'm not going to just get something, oh, just brutal, let me get it. And of course, the price has to be within reason.
00:22:11
Speaker
But yeah, I just like collecting that sort of thing and more importantly, like unproduced figures because that tells another story that just says, you know, at one point this figure was going to get made. And for whatever reason, whether it was poor sales or just it didn't look right in the line or whoever, whatever.
00:22:27
Speaker
they just got scrapped. So I'm also on a quest to find as many unproduced figures as possible from the lines I collect, because it's just cool. It's like, you know, it's like, shoot, you know, it's something that not many people know about something that not many people have. And for something like that to survive so many decades is just like, like mind boggling. So yeah, just that's what I'm into. Like Beetlejuice, buckyo hair. I mean, killer tomatoes, toxic crusaders, like all that type of stuff I like.
00:22:51
Speaker
I just can't believe out of all of the batshit crazy versions of Beetlejuice that they made for that toy line, that like Dr. Beetlejuice was the one that was like, ah, you know what? Let's not make that one. Yeah, it's crazy, man. Dr. Beetlejuice, the archaeologist, which was formerly called Dig and Spin. And then what was the bowler? Bull and Roll Beetlejuice. But yeah, that sale, I mean, those
00:23:15
Speaker
That series didn't really do too well, hence why I found 1800 plus of them. Yeah, I guess at the end of the day, it's, you know, Beetlejuice. It's like, you know, like an adult dark comedy or I don't know what the hell you would consider that. And of course, like everything else, I tried to appeal that to kids and.
00:23:32
Speaker
I guess it came out around the same time as a cartoon. Honestly, I don't know. I don't remember. But yeah, it just didn't do too well. And they're like, why the heck are we going to put these into production? We're going to take a big loss here. So at that point, I guess it was more viable for them to scrap it instead of, you know, pulling the green light out. I know at least one person that had them, Eric. That was. Yeah, I. I think Beetlejuice twice. And I still have a couple of Lucy's. I have
00:23:58
Speaker
I have the guy with the shrunken head complete. I even have his accessories for that one. I found the head piece for Alec Baldwin, but not the actual figure. I don't know where. I was terrible at organizing stuff. Plus I used to bring stuff to school with me all the time and trade them for other toys. So like when wrestling figures became really popular, I would like
00:24:24
Speaker
bundle up figures and be like, Hey, could I, I'll trade you Alec Baldwin, Batman, and this, you know, Daredevil figure for diesel. And, you know, I'd get, I'd get, I'd get a new bone cruncher. And now like, I look back and I'm like, Oh, cool. So like, I totally gave away a wave one toy biz Spider-Man complete for, you know, a figure that I could, well, diesel's a bad example because he's tough to find, but like I traded for way more common figures that were just kind of like.
00:24:54
Speaker
the thing at the time. Oh my God. Crazy man. Like I'll give you this carded plastic cape jawa for this Savio Vega. Pretty much. Pretty much. When you're a kid and you're that little, nothing really has any kind of lasting value if it's not hot. And you want what you want. I look back on it now.
00:25:19
Speaker
So I, we recently went through a bunch of bins in our mom's basement with like all of our toys from when we were kids. And, you know, um, we found a lot of, uh, the hall of justice from those, uh, those Kenner superpowers figures. We found a lot of the Kenner superpowers figures, but, um, also mixed in, we're just kind of like.
00:25:37
Speaker
Like James Bond Jr. figures and, um, uh, or some other weird ones that I found. Um, the shadow, speaking of Alec Baldwin, um, found one of the figures from that wave. And it's just like these random lines that you totally forget about. But then as soon as you're holding it in your hand again, you're like, Oh my God, no, wait, I remember this. And then like this figure came with this accessory and you start to kind of put the pieces together, which is why I love.
00:26:05
Speaker
When, you know, when people that you post this incredible, like pristine mint on card photos of these figures that literally transport you back in time, there's no other way to put it. Like you see it and you're like, wow, it's 1993 again. And I'm standing in KB toys and holding this on card for the first time.
00:26:25
Speaker
Well, that was like the, the AWA figures were the mind blowing one for me because, and I remember telling you about this, Eric. Like I was like, I hadn't seen those since I had, you know, bought a mat mania when I was like seven years old in the supermarket. Wow.
00:26:42
Speaker
Yeah, man, those AWA figures were crazy. Like once I found out the dude that had him and how many he had and the characters and whatnot, I was like, wow, you know, I have to have this. And, you know, fast forward, it took me quite a bit to get enough, you know, cashola to save up to purchase a lot, but it was worth it, man. It's, you know, when are you going to see something like that or how often are you going to see something like that? And, you know, nearly 40 years later after it came out. And that was a popular line.
00:27:07
Speaker
to boot, so the fact that that dude was sitting on as many as he was is wild. You're probably never gonna see something like that again.
00:27:16
Speaker
Probably not, man. A lot of these people that I get from, it's just a network of people. This one guy, he was a distributor in whatever part of the United States and he sold this stuff to this guy 30, 40 years ago. It's just a network. It's all about networking. It's creating a good name for yourself and then it spreads like wildfire. Like, oh, if you ever find anything, contact this guy. He'll pay for it and he's good and honest and whatnot.
00:27:45
Speaker
You know, your name gets out there and then a lot of people start coming to you because, you know, that's what you're known for. And, you know, just snowballs and yeah, that's how you get that sort of thing. Yeah. So, so what's your, what's your like white whale at this point? Like what's the thing that you hope to stumble upon?
Marvel Legends and Toy Hunting Insights
00:27:59
Speaker
I mean, honestly, as far as figures that were actually released, I pretty much have everything that I want. My collection is not even huge. It's modest. It's not like I'm a completist by any stretch of the imagination. I just try to get things that I had when I was a kid that I really enjoyed or things that I never got to get that I wanted that I could now get as an adult. So pretty much everything is checked off on my list. The only thing I really, really want to get, like my white whale would be,
00:28:28
Speaker
probably more unproduced figures. I'm a big fan of Buckyo Hair. My brother and I, Wesley, we freaking played with those figures and so long, had so many crazy battles with those figures. And I remember reading, I don't think it was like TomArts or Lee's Toy Review magazine way back in the late 90s. And there was a section of all unproduced or canceled figures or whatever. And they had all these Buckyo Hair guys
00:28:56
Speaker
and we're like oh my god you know we wish they made these blah blah blah and now you know 20 years later from that article um i see these guys like randomly pop up on ebay or i missed a couple and now i'm in all these facebook groups of people that have these that eventually sell them or trade them whatever so i'm trying to get those guys that i saw in that ad but it's so hard because the people that have them
00:29:20
Speaker
They know that once you put it for sale, you might not ever see another one. So why the heck are they going to sell them? So it's going to be like really tough, really rare, and more importantly, very expensive. So I just hope all those stars line up and I can get some of those when they only have one guy from that series now. And listen, I'm thankful to have that one. If I don't get any more.
00:29:39
Speaker
So be it. I'm content with that. But I would love to add more of those that those would be like my white whale right now. So people at home are listening and you have those damn buck your hair series two figures hit up zombie sailor on Instagram. Yeah, I remember those those buck your hair figures. They were good. They went on a lot of adventures with with the Ninja Turtles. Yeah, they were in the same scale as the Ninja Turtles. Yeah.
00:30:01
Speaker
Oh, absolutely, man. I mean, I was like perfect and they were so like colorful and creative and, you know, again, with packaging. So I'm a big fan of packaging is also it's like, you know, that's what brings you, you know, want to buy the figure besides the character and how cool the sculpt is. It's just like, you know, the packaging is so much of it. So they had really cool, like original art on each card. And I just love that line, man. It's just so damn cool. I mean, and like you said, it fits perfectly with those turtles.
00:30:26
Speaker
And like you mentioned before, what's old is new again. Boss Fight Studios. Boss Fight does the Bucky O'Hare ones now, yeah.
00:30:33
Speaker
Yeah, those are really cool, man. My only complaint is like, you know, I'm just like so anal or slash psychotic, however you want to look at it. Like their dead eye duck figure, like the color is like way off. If you can compare the two figures from like 1990 to the one they have, like the orange is like so off that I didn't get that figure for that reason. I know it sounds petty and stupid. I should be thankful they're making bucket here after so many years, but just like, it's like, damn, you had one job. Why can't you have just,
00:31:00
Speaker
did it just like the original toy, but whatever. I'm crazy. I you know what? It's you collect what you collect and you're passionate about it. So I don't I don't think that's that's crazy at all. You know, if it were a more, you know, well known, more mainstream character, you know, more people would be upset at something like that. I mean, people get mad when they put out a Marvel Legends figure and there's, you know, Hasbro misses like
00:31:25
Speaker
the smallest detail, so you are not crazy, at least not to us. Just a little bit. With the mention of all the old stuff that we collect and the things that harken back to the past, what are you collecting now? What's new for you?
00:31:51
Speaker
Oh man, well, Marvel Legends, of course, you know, I'm a big Marvel fan. Uh, some of those figures are awesome just a little while ago today. Like, you know, I, I have very little free time, you know, just tell a lot of stuff going on. And I just opened up the, uh, Punisher with the motorcycle figure that deluxe set or whatever it's called. And I'm actually staring at it right now. I have it on my desk in front of my computer and such a, have you guys, do you guys have that one?
00:32:12
Speaker
So I do the MCU and film like I'm now doing the fox verse figures I I put up those guardrails very early on
00:32:24
Speaker
And with very few exceptions, I've I've stuck to that. And, you know, I'm I'm actually a completionist at that. I have every single character that they've made for the MCU represented. So, like, I don't have every iteration of Captain America, but I'll I have like the three or four costumes that I think look best. Amazing. But yeah, so I have all of the MCU guys and I actually just got the
00:32:52
Speaker
the fox cable and domino figures and oh my god. Yeah, those are pretty incredible. They're so good. That's crazy, man. Where'd you find cable? You found them locally? Yeah, so I am actually the same place I found the AW figures out of here. Rock good old Rockaway, New Jersey.
00:33:10
Speaker
Unreal man, you must've been on cloud nine finding AW and cable on one shot and on the same day? No. Oh, he's gonna say like Mike, that would have been a crazy high. Doing a couple days apart. No, 24 hours later. Okay. So so interesting story with with cable. So the same thing that we were trying to do with the AW figures when we saw they popped up available in stock somewhere, we were doing we were putting in orders for in store pickups, hoping that you know,
00:33:37
Speaker
they would be fulfilled. I learned something really interesting about how Walmart does their in-store pickups from this last adventure. So the cable figures are six to a case. And from my understanding, every store is getting one case and that is it. The employee at Walmart actually showed me that there is no
00:33:59
Speaker
They're not being, uh, they, they, they're actually marked as discontinued. So there, there will not be a re-fulfillment of them at, at store. So if you haven't, if you don't have it preordered from Walmart or you don't find it kind of like now, at least according to Walmart system, they are not getting more in. So there were six in that case and six people.
00:34:25
Speaker
or whatever amount of orders that equated to six figures were put in for in-store pickup. If it takes anywhere between 90 minutes and two hours for Walmart to process your actual in-store pickup request. If when they process that request, they cannot locate the product, they auto cancel your order.
00:34:51
Speaker
In this case, they could not locate all six of the, of the Deadpool figures or the cable figures, excuse me, because they were on the cart on their way to the aisle to be stocked. Oh, wow. So when I got there, BrickSeek showed that there were zero in stock.
00:35:10
Speaker
But all six of them were there because it had, the system hadn't refreshed and shown that those six orders were canceled. So I walked to the toy aisle. I didn't see them. I was ready to leave. And I happened to see the, uh, the kid stock in the aisle and I had him scan the barcode and he was like, it's showing that I have six of them, but I don't know where they are. He was like, you're more than welcome to look at the cart. You know, that's a bunch of toy stuff. And sure enough.
00:35:33
Speaker
fresh case sitting on the cart. And I explained to him, he was like, you seem really nervous slash excited that you found these. And I explained to him the significance of them, that they were an exclusive, that the pre-order was tough to get, yada, yada, yada. And he was like, oh, so should I put these out on the shelf? I was like, yeah, you should. So he actually ended up, funny story,
00:35:59
Speaker
He ended up taking the box and putting it back in the back because he was worried that I don't know what the case was because I had told one of our friends through Instagram that Rockaway had them and he took for what was him a 45 minute drive down to Rockaway and asked the kid and the kid was like, oh, I put the box in the back. I'll go grab you one.
00:36:22
Speaker
So, you know, it's just, it's, it's absolutely fucking bonkers the way that these.
00:36:29
Speaker
current toy trends are going and like what we have to do to find these things. Well, that was like what happened with the AW figures. So I went there the day before. And I was like, hey, I see on the app that you have them in stock. Are they available? And the guy who is stocking the shelves is like, well, I don't have anything here. I was like, is it possible that you can take a look once you're done? I have them totally okay waiting. I don't want to rush you.
00:36:55
Speaker
So he did stock everything they need to goes, I'll take a look. And I found another guy who was like, yeah, I didn't see them back there. So I was about to leave. And as I'm back by the toy aisle, I see them both like, wait, stop. Hold up. We found them. We're going to put them out right now. I was like, OK. And it was the big shipper that Jeremy was talking about, the big cardboard with thing with the belts and the UFC figures. Jesus Christ. So they just like took that out on like a giant pallet and just put them out.
00:37:24
Speaker
Yep. Oh my I would have been going crazy. Yeah, I wish I was. I wish we had done. I mean, we haven't been doing a whole lot together for obvious reasons. You know, even though we are we are brothers, we're still practicing our social distancing and whatnot. But I would I wish I was there for that one. That would have been that would have been fun. That was crazy because I was like it was kind of like watching. It was like the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
00:37:55
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Did everyone melt and turn when they brought it out? No, but it was crazy seeing it. That's insane, man. When they're taking it off or from the back, what is it? Is it like wrapped in a giant thing of cardboard? Or how does that work to have all the figures already standing in there? I think it's shipped that way. Yeah. Oh, my Lord. So the way that those shippers work is they're like that, exactly what you see on the palette. And usually, they're
00:38:26
Speaker
One of two ways, and I'm thinking it's probably the first way rather than the second way, but one of the ways is they just take the entire shipper, they put it on a pallet, and they wrap the shit out of it with basically like plastic wrap.
00:38:43
Speaker
just so that it stays tight. The reason why I'm thinking they did it that way is because some of the boxes are kind of dinged up on the top, which would make sense. A lot of times what they'll do is too, they'll ship it like that on the palette, but they'll put those really, really hard corner pieces of cardboard.
Discussion on Collectible Figures
00:39:02
Speaker
They're almost like, they almost feel like wood, but they are just like pressed tight cardboard. And they'll put those on the corner and then put a big box on top of it and then wrap it.
00:39:12
Speaker
Um, it seems like it's, it's probably just wrapped in plastic, but yeah, that they ship just like that. Amazing, man. It's such a cool display and it's wild to see this new Federation like all over Walmart. It's like, that's pretty awesome. Yeah. It was really cool to see it because it's, you know, it, it kind of showcases the brand as well. Like there's, um, I think it's like Cody Kenny Omega and Moxley are all on it. Um,
00:39:40
Speaker
And you have the UFC figures too. The things that are actually a limited edition single run thing from them is the thing that's like, quote unquote, pegwarming on that shipper. Because those UFC figures are one and done.
00:39:56
Speaker
Oh, is that they're not making anymore? It's just like a one series. They are making, they're going to make more UFC figures, but they're, they're making them in the same scale as the AEW unrivaled figures. So that the UFC figures that are out now are a slightly smaller scale that are more of an, like an homage to, uh, imports, um, and, and like some of the Japanese fighting figures. Um, so after this.
00:40:20
Speaker
production is done, that's it. They're, they're not producing any more of that style. They're going to, um, share parts and molds with, uh, with the AWW figures. Ah, that's pretty damn crazy. Yep. So, and like, you know, they're, they're sitting there on the, on the shippers, you know, like I, again, like I w I went to the same Walmart and 24 hours later, every single AWW figure was gone. There was no, no trace of them, but.
00:40:46
Speaker
I could have gotten the entire wave of UFC figures, including the chase. They had the, was it Donald Cerrone? Oh, they had the Cerrone chase? Yeah. Yeah. I had no hand room at that point. My arm had young bucks in it. Unreal, man. That's crazy. And then that's the other thing that's impressive with those AEW figures, right? Is the two chases that are out there, which are like, literally, it feels like Willy Wonka.
00:41:17
Speaker
That's wild. I'm just wondering how many like figures like, let's say, you know, all the Cody figures, like how many do you think are out there? Like 3000, 5000? Like how many do you think they made in order to kind of get a grasp of how many like percentage wise?
00:41:32
Speaker
Like the regular production ones versus the one in 500. You know what I mean? Cause I can't picture them being like, I can't picture there being like 10,000 Cody's out there or for any figure for that matter. So it's like, you know, I'm kind of doing like some math calculation, like what the odds of like running into one in the wild. You know what I mean? Well, it was none there. So yeah. And as far as I've seen, as far as I've seen, you know, and I think granted, you know, there could be people out there that have them that didn't, you know, that are just buying them because their figures didn't know they were a chase, whatever. But, um, the.
00:42:02
Speaker
Brian and Matt have them of course Jeremy had one and he gave it away And ringside basically shipped two to people yeah ringside shipped a Cody and shipped a Jericho Wow But you know the thing the other thing you have to remember too is this is this is Jeremy we're talking about you know and with jacks I mean he has a
00:42:27
Speaker
that they would make figures that were like one of two. So it almost doesn't even matter how many figures they make because they're going to produce a chase because that's his game that he loves doing that kind of stuff.
00:42:43
Speaker
Jesus Christ, man. Yeah. Jeremy Padour is a good guy, man. He knows what he's doing, obviously, clearly. And, uh, Hey, just like, I'm just, I got a list of words, man. I'm just thinking how I can get these damn chases without paying an arm and a leg. I, you know, and the other thing, Dave and I were talking about this the other day, typically with the chase figures, like you can go on ringside and buy a Mattel chase. You, you pay a little bit of an upcharge for it, you know, whatever. Sure.
00:43:11
Speaker
With these AW figures, you, there's no way to even buy a chase from them. Like you, you can't, like they don't have them listed. You just, if you get it, you get it. That's what it seems like they're doing. Yeah. That's wild. But like ringside, I'm sure, you know, they've gotten so many, I can't even imagine the number of figures they ordered. So it's going to be like, damn, they're possible for them not to get a couple of those chase figures. I'd imagine.
00:43:39
Speaker
Yeah, I mean they were like the first place that anybody could even pre-order them. And the pre-orders were open for a considerable amount of time. Yeah, and they're the only place you can get brandy right now. Yep. What is she going for? Still like retail or is it like more or something? I think it's like 22. Yeah. So it's not too bad of a markup. I don't know.
00:44:02
Speaker
Uh, why they, they opted not to, I think it was just because of the design of the shipper. Um, the way that it's, it's designed, it's really meant for, um, you know, for, for five figures. So I think that's why she was kind of left out of the initial shipment. But, um, but she's effectively like the April O'Neill. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that, you know, like never being able to find April on the shelves. Turns her into the short pack.
00:44:31
Speaker
At the end of the day. Yeah, man, it's a good idea. But I even was like, you know what? I'm just going to series two. I'm preordering from ringside, which I did. Who's in series two now? They got Moxley, right? Moxley, MJF, Paige. Penta and Ray Phoenix and Dustin. Damn. One of those coming out.
00:44:58
Speaker
Didn't they say fall, right? Yeah, I think ringside has it as late October. Damn, I think the best thing to do would be to preorder those instead of doing that whole Walmart shit again. I hate one a million stores, you know. Yeah, I honestly, I was getting burnt out because the two of us were hunting for the same thing because it was like whoever finds it first finds it, you know, like, yeah. And that's kind of the bonus of being two people hunting for the same thing because we're always we have like a
00:45:28
Speaker
an iPhone notes list that we share with each other. And, you know, when one of us is out, we look for whatever the other has on there and, you know, and back and forth. And it was getting to the point where I was waking up. Um, you know, we're, we're, we're working from home. You know, my, my, my daughter hasn't started school yet. So like, I was getting up before I had to like clock in for the day, running to the Walmart. That's 10 minutes away from my house and being back in time to like clock in.
00:45:54
Speaker
Um, and after doing that for like 10 days, I was like, I'm fucking done. I can't, I can't do this anymore. Yeah, man. It's a lot of work, man. And when you factor in the gas and just potential tolls and just waiting and parking your car, getting out, walking in there, it's a big process, man, for some toys. So yeah, I mean, if you can make it easier, might as well just do it right in pre-order. Plus we're doing it during a pandemic. So it's like every time you go out outside, it's like mask cleaning your hands and, you know, making sure that you're being safe.
00:46:24
Speaker
It's just, it's a wild time to do anything, let alone hunt for wrestling figures. What a time to be alive. So outside of the Marvel legends, is there anything else that you're, that you've been collecting?
00:46:39
Speaker
Oh, of course, man. Yeah, I'm a huge fan of NECA. I mean, their stuff is incredible. Just the sculpts, the paint, the packaging, like everything. So I love the turtle figures, like, like the leather head metal head two pack. That's incredible. Do you guys have that one? So I have my only and again, I made this joke.
00:47:04
Speaker
years ago when NECA first started producing the turtle stuff. I made a joke. I said, I'm not going to do this to myself. I'm not opening up Pandora's box that is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. These figures look too good. It's going to add up quickly. I'm not doing it.
00:47:19
Speaker
And then I made a joke and I said, the only way I will ever buy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures is if they make coming out of their shells and they make super shredder. Those will literally be the only Ninja Turtles figures I will buy because there was never, they never existed. You know, they, there was a super shredder when we were kids, uh, playmates made it, but it was shitty. It wasn't great. And there were never coming out of our shells figures. And boy, oh boy, did I have a year. Yeah.
00:47:47
Speaker
I can't believe that, man. Can you imagine that they actually made coming out of their shell turtle figures? Like, did you I mean, that that's wild. Like, who the hell would have saw that coming? And the fact that they made them this good. It's it's it's amazing, man. It's like they have their finger on the pulse of what the fans want. And I respect that, man. They are unbelievable. I dude, I'm looking at them. I have a little like side shelf.
00:48:11
Speaker
That is like my music toys and it's, it's a McFarland, uh, 57 or excuse me, 56 Elvis moonwalker, Michael Jackson, my blink one 82 pops and my mutagen turtles. And it is the perfect shelf. I look at it every day. It makes you smile. It makes me so happy when they announced those figures. First of all, I nearly pissed my pants laughing because I couldn't believe it was real.
00:48:38
Speaker
And then second of all, I started to sweat cause I was like, I, I, I need these. Like whatever, whatever it takes, I need these. This, this has to happen. I have to get these toys. They're so beautiful, man. Um, how'd you guys get them? You found them in target. You found them online. What was your, how'd you get them? So that day that it went, the pre-order went up on, on target.
00:49:02
Speaker
Oh my God. I, I was refreshing my keyboard for 36 and a half minutes. Yep. Cause it was supposed to go live at four o'clock. I remember yep. 36 and a half minutes. I sat there refreshing. It came in stock. I got it. I got it with the t-shirt. That's the right size for me. Everything sold out in seconds.
00:49:24
Speaker
Right. So I got it. So happy. It comes in the mail. I open it. I'm in the process of doing my my unboxing for it. You can see the like the shit eating grin on my face in the video, how happy I am to have these things. I open the goddamn box and Donatello is missing the back of his bandana. Stop it. And it is nowhere in the box. And you can literally it is like I was like a human balloon that was popped and started deflating like in the middle of the video.
00:49:54
Speaker
So I reach out to NECA and their initial response was, well, we can give you the bandana from like the nineties, the nineties, Don, but it's the wrong color. And I, I, I literally was like, uh, no. Um, and I, I got a little heated with them cause I'm very passionate about these four bizarre turtles.
00:50:19
Speaker
But as it turns out, they told me to reach back out on August 24th, which I did, and they took my information for shipping, and they are mailing me a new bandana piece. So all is right, all is well. I will be getting my bandana for the back of Donnie's head. Oh, nice, man. There you go. That's customer service, thank God. Yes. I think the kind of coolest thing about them, I didn't get one. It was gone by the time I had a chance.
00:50:49
Speaker
I like how the feet like how the performers were on stage are totally like not in scale for the rest of the costume. Yep. Yeah, it's like human feet for the the Ninja Turtle, like bodies and heads and such. You know, what's what's even crazier about them? So like the design is great. They nailed it. You know, the articulation, the details.
00:51:11
Speaker
We recently, so again, I mentioned I have a daughter, she'll be five soon. And we've been watching the Ninja Turtles cartoons and the old ones and we watched the first two movies. When she saw the figures, she was like, why do they have instruments? Why do they look like they're singing? And I was like, well, there was this Pizza Hut thing and they did this concert.
00:51:34
Speaker
Long story short, it's all on YouTube. The actual full like hour and 20 minute long special from that, you know, I had on a VHS is, is on YouTube. So we watched it. And what's crazier than the fact that they have the look that they have, they actually don't even have the instruments that they've used in the show. They have the instruments with them from the promo art.
00:51:59
Speaker
Which is like even crazier because they went into like the archives to find them holding these bizarre unplayable instruments. Like they come with a saxophone. There isn't even a damn song on the album that has a saxophone in it, but in one of the promo pictures, Raf is holding a saxophone, so.
00:52:20
Speaker
Here we go, we have a raft with a saxophone. Like, it is the absolute swan song of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles absurdity, and I'm so happy it exists. Do you guys think they'll ever make that shredder from the tour? Holy shit, I hope so.
00:52:37
Speaker
with that huge ass helmet. I'm going based on memory now. I mean, I saw the YouTube video. I want to say God knows how many years ago. But I think his whole entire face was exposed. Right. You don't see like he doesn't wear the mask. And he has some like really ridiculous oversized helmet on. Right. I just remember he looks stupid and really silly. It's polished to a mirror shine. And he has like he has a perfect 1990s like
00:53:01
Speaker
shitty rap song about how he hates music. How he hates music, right? Yeah, it's it's if they made the right. I'm saying it now. So I have super shredder on preorder, which by the time this podcast airs, that preorder on the next store will will have been closed. But if they make that shredder, I will also get that shredder.
00:53:25
Speaker
Man, I mean, listen, NECA does some crazy stuff. I mean, look, they did the the turtle movie figures. What was it? Three San Diego Comic Cons to go. Right. I think it was like 2017. And then the next year they did Splinter, you know, capture with Shredder and the Foot Clan.
00:53:41
Speaker
So maybe, you know, next year, maybe it'll shape up. Now you'll get shorter as a bad guy. I mean, it only makes sense. It's based on their past track records. I think that would be pretty damn awesome. And, you know, everyone that got the turtle Eugene tour or coming out of the shelter figures are now going to have to have to not want to get it, have to get it. So I think that'd be brilliant marketing. I mean, it only makes sense.
00:54:00
Speaker
Well, they've got me on, like, yeah. They've done the video game ones. They've done fantastic with the Turtles line. They did that one splinter, too, that was part of one of the Loot Crate boxes where he's like the vision of splinter, like the clear blue shiny one. Was that a Loot Crate or was that like a crowdfunding?
00:54:28
Speaker
It was one of those like special box or like you couldn't get it at retail. It was part of some kind of special thing. I want to say it was a loot crate, but you might be right. It might have been something else. Yeah, I don't know what the hell that was. All I know is that, you know, of course, everyone saw that. I'm like, I'm going to skip on this. And now it goes for like 100 plus dollars on eBay or something. I'm like, oh, God. Yeah. But I mean, yeah, I that's why I after I had this and they made super shredder, Kevin Nash, a super shredder.
00:54:57
Speaker
I had to get it. I, I'll, you know, I have forked over the, the $14 shipping had to get it. Yeah. One of those expected to come in like within like the next couple of months. Yeah. Yeah. Before the end of the year.
00:55:11
Speaker
I was like, I posted on Instagram the other day in my story. I'm like, Hey man, if anyone has a shredder, a super shredder in hand, DM me. And of course everyone sent me the links. Hey, it's up for pre-order. I'm like, yeah, but I have no self control. I need it yesterday. So, um, I know I'm, I'm really close to actually going on eBay. I know it sounds so foolish. Don't feed the scalpers and I hate, you know, that I hate scalpers. I mean, whatever. It's like, I sell
00:55:31
Speaker
I resell toys, but to a different degree, I'm not going to a store to quickly flip it. You know, I'm finding old shit. Two different, two different animals. But yeah, it's like, you know, I just like want to have that figure in hand right now so badly just to go with the foot, the clan, the foot soldiers and I saw somebody on.
00:55:48
Speaker
Instagram, this is what made me want to get it even that much more. He had like, you know, I think it was like four foot soldiers, like two on each end and like super sure in the middle. It just looks so freaking awesome. And yeah, it's kind of like what I want to do. So it's like, I need it now, but I could wait, but I don't want to. I know I sound spoiled. I'm not. I'm just like, again, I'm psychotic. So yeah.
00:56:09
Speaker
Listen, I hear you. I went to five Walmarts in one day for a cable figure that I had pre-ordered through walmart.com that told me it would be there in October. But I was like, why wait till October when I can drive around and get it today? Maybe.
00:56:23
Speaker
In the New Jersey area, wherever you guys live around there, do you ever find Walmart's having any NECA products at all? Because where I am, they don't have a single NECA product in any Walmart. And every time I go, I go to that department where it's like kind of by the electronics and where the pops would or should be.
00:56:43
Speaker
And when I mentioned like NECA, they look at me like I have 15 heads. I explained to them. I show them pictures. And every time I get the same response, I figured, you know, the last person wasn't like, you know, he just didn't know what he was saying or whatnot. And like, yeah, we don't carry NECA products in the store. I'm like, why the hell would you not? So how does one Walmart have like stacks of whoever and then the other Walmart, for whatever reason, doesn't decide to carry NECA? Like who makes up these decisions? How is that? How or why is that? And yeah.
00:57:13
Speaker
I wish we had an answer for you in New Jersey. I've only ever seen some horror movie figures. Yeah, so my Walmart, the one that's closest to me, will sometimes have some of the NECA ultimates for horror movies. I've seen Michael Myers, I've seen a couple of Predators, I've seen an Alien. Ash from Evil Dead 2, I've seen a bunch. Yeah.
00:57:36
Speaker
I have I have never seen I've seen turtle neck of turtles once at Rockaway, and it was that Casey and Raph to pack oh wow um and That is the only time I've ever seen neck of turtles in a Walmart around here
00:57:52
Speaker
Only time. Unbelievable, man. I mean, I would just and then you see pictures of like people on Instagram, Facebook. They'll like show you their shelves and they'll be in like the middle of nowhere. And it's like fully stocked like those new predators and like two super shutters and like 800 Casey Joan Raft two packs. I'm like, where the hell do you live and why is it not coming here?
00:58:12
Speaker
Manassas, Virginia, apparently. That was that was where that one end cap was that had like 20 Raph and Casey two packs. Was you guys seeing that? Yeah, that was in Manassas, Virginia. Oh, my God. And then I'm like, is this is this like a Photoshop picture? But at the same time, like, who the hell would spend time to do this? And what do they get out of it? And so, yeah, it looks so good.
00:58:33
Speaker
Yeah, but can you believe that? And here I am, like a schmuck because again, I am. There's like two Walmarts, like the one that, you know, you saw me at and there's another one upstate New York over here. And, you know, I go there maybe like
00:58:48
Speaker
I would say on average, like once a week, God forbid twice a week, you know, I get, not just for toys and yeah, basically go there for groceries and just whatever, you know, life essentials. And of course I'm always checking the toy area and they never have any of the things I'm looking for. So it's like, damn, what do I got to do? If I want these, I don't have to pay a premium. So about a week ago, I got the KC raft two pack. I think it was like about $84 shipped.
00:59:14
Speaker
And, you know, what do you think about it's not too bad because, you know, it's like I think the retail is like 50 or 52 plus and shipping. So it's like, you know, the guy maybe made 10, 15 bucks, whatever. But and then there you are. And, you know, you see people with that picture on social media and they have their local shops having literally like two or three dozen of them. It's it's it's wild, man, like one man's trash. You know, it's another man's treasure. The distribution system is completely. It's like it's it's so.
00:59:42
Speaker
Yeah, it's you couldn't make sense of it if you tried The only thing I can come up with is like, you know here we are in like the Northeast shit gets delivered to you know, like the West Coast first naturally I want to say like
01:00:00
Speaker
California, right? So that's probably where the big hub is. We're all like the ships and all that other stuff. So everything is probably getting there first and that's to make its way all the ways to us on the opposite side of the country. So it's probably more cost effective for them not to ship it out as far as New York. If they could just ship it out to the surrounding States, they're going to make more money. Doesn't that make more sense?
01:00:25
Speaker
You know, it's not a bad theory. I think, too, the other thing that you have to consider is us being in such close proximity to New York City, you know, arguably the country's biggest international hub is that we are just kind of a hotspot for collectors. That too, sure. Because I know they have similar problems down in like the Orlando area, because again, like it's just a big, like that part of Florida is just a huge collecting culture.
01:00:54
Speaker
You know, like the part of Florida, when I, when I visit Florida, um, you know, oftentimes I'm, I'm in like the Gulf area, uh, in like the Sarasota Bradenton area. Um, and when I go to Walmart there, I see shit there that I have never seen on shelves. Like I, I oftentimes have to bring an additional suitcase with me for the amount of shit that I find at those Walmarts. And it just sitting there for the taking. Yep. Sometimes in clearance bins, like, like, I don't know if, if you're a big,
01:01:24
Speaker
Star Wars collector, but, um, for a while, Walmart had exclusive three and three quarters Star Wars figures. So they came in the black series box, but it was a smaller box because it was, they were the smaller figures and you could only get them at Walmart. And there were figures that I never saw up here. I mean, never that I saw in a $5 clearance bin at that Walmart. Like I, like the, the, the red Imperial guards.
01:01:51
Speaker
I wanted like four of them for an eventual display to display with the Emperor. I couldn't find one up here. Down there, I got four for $15. I was like, what is this? Unreal. So those guys that you couldn't find up here were down there for God knows how long collection dust until they finally said, let's get rid of these. Absolutely. Oh my goodness. Yup.
01:02:14
Speaker
So I don't know whether it's the fact that we can't find them because they're not, you know, a lot of people say they never make it out to the floor here, you know, because because of collecting culture and the people who are stocking the shelves or yada yada yada, you know, or is it just that everyone's looking for them and they fly? Yep.
01:02:32
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. That makes sense. And plus also, I'd imagine like, a lot of the people that are buying this stuff to resell the scalpers, whatever, they're probably like, you know, they probably relationships with the guys that are working in the toy, the toy area, whatever, like, Hey, man, I'm looking for this, this, this when these come in.
01:02:48
Speaker
Call me, don't put it out and I'll give you 20 bucks for that case or whatever. I mean, I'm saying they're still gonna pay for it. It's not like they're stealing it for them. I'm saying like, hey, man, just warn me when these come in. I'll give you 20 bucks and then they go on their way. They do the self-checkout, whatever. So that's also very possible. Listen, it's a combination of everything it has to be. But yeah, damn, freaking so many damn people. It's so competitive, man. Yep, it's tough around here. It really is. It is tough and shelves are empty and we are sad.
01:03:17
Speaker
It's crazy man pretty much like um you guys seen those new McFarland toys, right? The ones that he's making of like animals like with cygor and the shark looking dude. Yeah. Oh, man. Those are cool, too I'm just randomly just yeah, they're really cool. Yeah, the cygo one is awesome and uh Hey, they're really cool and they're and they're relatively inexpensive for what they are I couldn't believe that cygo was only 20 bucks. I almost bought it. They're so big. They're so big
01:03:41
Speaker
crazy man yes I he's like 20 bucks the shark I got I actually found that an upstate Walmart I couldn't believe it one that I usually don't go to I was like just traveling somewhere and it was like nine dollars and like 67 cents or some weird number like that I'm like damn this is not bad I would gladly pay 20 bucks for this but hey you want to charge me under 10 bucks no problem yeah I I had cygor in my hand the day that I found cable at that same Walmart and I
01:04:07
Speaker
I ended up putting him back only because I don't have a lot of space in terms of my display and he's so big that it literally, he would have taken up and I would have had to clear a shelf for him, an entire shelf just for him. And consider, especially once that spawn comes out, that spawn with the cape and everything is going to be big. Yeah, I still haven't tackled how I'm gonna do that Kickstarter spawn where I'm gonna put him.
01:04:36
Speaker
A lot of a lot of controversy about that one, isn't there?
Design and Pricing of Collectibles
01:04:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's you know, we've talked to enough people from from McFarland now where we've gotten an idea of how they have they kind of wrapped their brains around articulation and design. And at the end of the day, they are design first, like they understand that what they're making is a product that's not a toy, it's a collectible and it's meant to be on a shelf and look cool.
01:05:06
Speaker
So they sacrifice articulation in spots in order to keep like the best example you could use is Spawn's design, right? He's got those parallel white lines that run from his collarbone down to his hips. And one of Todd's pet peeves apparently is when you have waist articulation that breaks up those lines. So that way,
01:05:33
Speaker
you know, like somebody could pose it and those lines won't go straight down. And when you're making a toy out of hard plastic and that's, you know, the only thing you could do to give him waist articulation, he'd rather pre-pose the figure with some sort of sculpt so that way the figure looks like it has motion and by posing other parts of the body, you can kind of synthesize a pose that you might be trying to get, but it takes away from that final articulation
01:06:03
Speaker
you know, count. I'm still super excited for the figure. I was going to say that said, I'm I'm very much excited for it. I can't wait to get it. I know people are also being hounding about the Cape.
01:06:15
Speaker
You know, they wanted a cloth cape, but you know, it's at the end of the day too, this is supposed to be an homage to that original 94 spawn with, you know, the, the hinged plastic cape and the clamshell case and the comic book. And like, that's first and foremost, what he's trying to do here. And. I mean, that's what it is. It's, it is a deluxe edition of that spawn in the new scale with new deco and new detail. So.
01:06:42
Speaker
I can't be mad at it. I don't think it was unfairly priced for what we're getting at the end of the day. I'm excited for it. Oh yeah, I think it's great.
01:06:53
Speaker
Oh, definitely, man. It looks awesome. Yeah. I'm, I'm all for it. And you know, that's the whole thing. Like I know how McFarland is or was back in the day with the poses and whatnot. So I don't mind it one bit because chances are I'm not going to really, you know, have it in hand and play with it and make it do any dynamic poses. I guess the one that came out for the Mortal Kombat series, that's, that's what you have that for. But yeah, like when I saw people in Facebook groups like complaining about that, I'm like, damn, man, there's.
01:07:17
Speaker
I mean at the end of the day you can't make anyone happy and everyone's always gonna have like something to say But yeah, I'm a huge supporter of Tom McFarlane. I love him. He's like the guy's a genius you know, I love that guy even though we have no relation and It's it's crazy, man. I'm looking forward to that and I'm just wondering like when It's gonna be in the clamshell packaging if it could be like resealed or if it's like I said like cut it open Oh good. Okay. Thank God it is. It is a resealable plastic clamshell beautiful beautiful
01:07:47
Speaker
Oh, cause I can't picture like taking like a box cutter, opening that up and be like, Oh, what do I do with this now? And Oh God. Okay. That's good. Yeah. No, that was, that was actually, they, they had designed what the packaging was going to be like before they actually designed the figure. Amazing.
01:08:02
Speaker
Oh boy. I saw there was a couple on eBay, people already selling like the, uh, what is it? Like the ultimate edition or a deluxe edition, the one that came with three figures, wherever that was or the trilogy, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And they were like asking, and there's like a lot of watches that granted. I'm sure a lot of watches and people looking at it per minute or per hour because of that crazy price, but it was like 12 or $1,300 and the retail on that was like three. Yeah. So when, when this hits, I mean, don't get me wrong, a lot of people are going to try to do a quick flip, but I think these, these are going to go for like a crazy premium.
01:08:32
Speaker
Yeah, so I Dave and I both got the we both got the classic. Yeah, I got the classic one because I wanted it to be like the one I remember. Mm hmm. And you got the you you did the little bit of the extra bump for the autograph and extra. Yeah, I went for the autograph and the extra weapon. Yeah. My brother in law got got the three. He got the trio. Yeah. So you had to be the same here, man. I just had to pull the trigger. And even though I'm only going to display the
01:09:02
Speaker
The main one, like, would it come with the prototype one and then like a new Al Simmons head or something like that? I don't know. I forgot what the third one was. Yeah, that was, that was the modern. You get an Al Simmons head, you get a screaming head. Yeah. So many different tiers, so many, uh, so many different plus ups. That's, it's, that's one to look forward to. I'm, I'm very excited for that.
01:09:23
Speaker
The shipping was killer, man. It was like $78 for that trilogy pack or something. It was, it was wild. I was like, Oh my God. But again, I understand, you know, shipping is a lot and you have to pay people to do and to store it and whatnot. But when I saw that shipping price, I was like, Oh goodness. I think you're also getting a custom box for all three of them. Like a, like a way to display all three of them. If I, if I remember correctly. Hey man, bring it on. I'm all for anything that makes it look cool together. Sure.
Engagement with Listeners and Future Projects
01:09:50
Speaker
Well, Zombie, where can we find you online? Yeah, so you could search for me. I'm on Instagram. It's at ZombieSailorsS at the end for savings. No, ZombieSailorsToys. My website is www.zombiesailor.com, which I never update because I am lazy and or busy.
01:10:11
Speaker
But if you guys are looking for a certain vintage figure or even a new figure, do me a favor, sign into my DMs. I'm not pressuring. I'm not going to say, okay, you have to buy this. Tell me what it is you're looking for. There's a very good chance I have it, or if I don't, I would know someone that has it. And I will show you what it is that you're looking for, God willing, and with the price. And if you like it, send me some cashola through PayPal and I send it to you.
01:10:34
Speaker
That's pretty much it. But yeah, I have a lot of stuff going on with the major wrestling figure podcast. I do the pins and then we have a super secret project in the works. And, uh, yeah, hopefully this isn't the last you've heard from zombie sailor. And next time I'm on, God willing, um, we could talk about all the other new projects coming up or new warehouse finds that are hopefully going to be discovered sooner than later.
01:10:55
Speaker
Yeah, man, you're welcome back on any time. It was a pleasure having and talking shop with you. By the time this episode airs, unfortunately, your Friday pins will have sold out, your major pins that are going on sale tomorrow, but we know that they will sell out quickly like they always do.
01:11:15
Speaker
I hope so, man. Yeah, I mean, it's awesome. I'm blessed that, you know, people like them. There's a big following for them. You know, people, you know, tag me all the time, like, oh, look at this, you know, like my pin board or on their vest or whatnot. It's really cool. And it's really humbling to see that, you know, people like it.
01:11:30
Speaker
People just appreciate all the work that goes into it cause I'm not the artist, you know, people, the talented artists send me their work. I send it to the factories. I communicate back and forth. And at the end of the day, it has my name on it, even though I physically didn't draw it, but I like to put out something that I would want something that looks like there's a lot of effort into it. And yeah, I'm just bottom line. I'm just happy that people like them.
01:11:50
Speaker
Well, we love what you do. Yeah, absolutely. One of our favorite follows, and it's so nice to have had you on the show. So thank
Closing and Listener Interaction
01:11:59
Speaker
you so much for taking time away from your family to be with us. Yeah, it was nice to have met you in person and now to have you on here.
01:12:09
Speaker
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.
01:12:26
Speaker
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.
01:12:49
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Franca Blaui. 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.