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Open Mic 27: Kyle Peterson 2
5 Plays10 months ago
On this special episode of Open Mic, The MVP talks to Kyle Peterson about his new book, 'The Complete Guide to Jakks Classic Superstars' . They talk about the inception of the book, input from Jeremy Padawer among others, and what the future holds for the Classic Superstars line. Never say never...
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Transcript
Introduction and Pod Foundation Highlights
00:00:02
Speaker
Regularly scheduled programming will not be seen at this time so that we may bring you the open mic after school special.
00:00:26
Speaker
Welcome back, everyone, to not another episode. I'm going to say it's a special episode of Open Mic with the MVP Marco. I am, of course, your host, the MVP Marco. Obviously, before I start the show, I always give a shout out to the Pod Foundation. If you don't know them by now, I don't know what you're doing. But I'll reiterate. I'll let you know who they are. It's a turnbuckle tavern.
00:00:50
Speaker
If you don't know them, I mean they're the war curses of the pot foundation. They have a million shows out I'm on one of them. It's called the raw down every Tuesday 9 o'clock PM EST on patreon.com slash termical tavern It's on Wednesdays the audio drops that day. So if you don't see a live show Listen to me
00:01:12
Speaker
Um in audio form, but I have a co-host. It's not just me and that's j-bone Who's also a part of the pod foundation? He has a show called coming down the aisle. Definitely check that out We also have the extra cooler show with nick. Obviously he's extra cooler I mean if you don't know who he is, I don't you're not a wrestling fan. I would say But other than that, uh, we also have you know, last but not least the anchor The reason why i'm here and actually doing this show was a chick foley show. Uh, that's myself
00:01:40
Speaker
Sheena Phelps, Seth Phelps, and our good friend, Jordan Wells, the Fig God, as we call him. But let's get right to it. I mean, like I said, this is a special episode. This person's back again for a
Interview with Kyle Peterson
00:01:53
Speaker
second time. This is a special time because I believe the last time we spoke
00:01:58
Speaker
He did bring up some things where you know He had some he was working on some things really couldn't say what they were kind of keeping him shrouded in secrecy I'm assuming this was one of them that I'm able to present to you right now It's a book he actually worked on It's it's his book. He he authored it. It's the complete guide to Jack's classic superstars by Kyle Peterson It is pretty much a Bible for
00:02:25
Speaker
any figure collector out there and you should definitely have it in your possession if you don't have it now. Let me bring them on so we can talk more about it. Kyle Peterson, how are you doing, sir? I feel great being on a very special episode. I feel like I'm on an 80s sitcom here. It's a very, it's gonna get serious in this discussion here, but I'm doing very well. Thank you.
00:02:46
Speaker
You know, I might have to do, I might have to find the special episode intro music from the 80s before I actually do this. That's actually, thank you for bringing that up. I have to make the show a little bit different from the other open mic shows. So that's, thank you for that inspiration there. Now you're going to hear a little different jingle at the beginning before the show starts. But I did allude to the fact that, Leo, the last time you were on here, you did speak of a bunch of things, not a lot of things. Some things were in secrecy.
00:03:15
Speaker
I'm assuming this was one of them, was it? Was this book one of the things you cannot speak about right now? That was one thing I was in the midst of working on. Yes, there was a couple of things and there's still a few things. I'm always playing a game of chess I try to and try to kind of work ahead. Like there's stuff that's going on now and then there's stuff I'm working on for hopefully early 2025, things like that.
00:03:38
Speaker
Awesome, that's awesome. So let's, I mean, I kind of spoke to you a little bit before this. You said you had a lot of interviews about this book. So I'm assuming you're very excited to talk about it right now as well.
00:03:53
Speaker
I love hearing my own voice, let me tell you. I do four videos a day on the YouTube. I obviously love to hear my own voice. And I've seen that earlier. You're just like, just drop after drop after drop. And just before this, I did see that you dropped a video about the book, like the actual, like, you know, meat and potatoes, as they say, are going into the weeds a little bit and maybe try to do a little bit on this show anyway.
00:04:16
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Let's talk about it. The inception, where did you, obviously, you're a figure collector, so that's where the idea came from, but where did this conception come from? Where you're just like, you know what? I'm going to make a over 600 page book of figures, and that's going to be the plan.
00:04:35
Speaker
Yeah, I you know, I'm a lifelong jazz classic superstars fan from day one I was collecting jazz classic superstars and you know That's one of the most common questions I have when they see my collection is like how did you afford all this? Well when you're buying and when they come out they were like $8.99 $9.99 it wasn't that big a deal. They obviously have grown in value over the years However, I'm such a big fan of it and I have been doing on my youtube channel a Tuesday Jack's classic superstars video every single Tuesday It'll be five years worth of videos when things are all said and done. So it's kind of like
00:05:05
Speaker
the audio visual version of the book in some ways is what i do there but going through all that i was really enjoying the line i said man i'd really like to have a loose set of these i was like that's what i'm gonna do that's my next collector's goal i'm gonna get a loose set to go with my min on card set well we both know this being figure collectors it's gonna cost you a lot of money if you buy onesies twosies and pay ten dollar shipping for each one i said
00:05:26
Speaker
I got to find some huge lots. I got to find some of that stuff. Well, about two weeks into my search, all of a sudden a guy in Chicago, about five hours from me, was selling pretty much a 99% complete collection. And I said, oh my gosh, this is what I got to do right here. Because like I said, there's 600, 700 figures in this line. There's a lot of figures. You add all that shipping cost, it becomes expensive. So I said, this would be the way to do it. So negotiated for about two weeks. Anyways, came to a deal, rented a van,
00:05:55
Speaker
and drove to Chicago, picked them all up. I documented it on the channel, maybe gosh, a year and a half ago. I don't even know when that was, but that's what I did. So I basically, okay, now I have a loose and one, and basically my plan was to unbox all those on my channel. Hey, there's content. I get my stuff. Might as well get the most out of it. I can, I'll do videos on it. I'll have a loose collection. Well, at the beginning, after like the first week of doing the video, I was like, you know what? It'd be really cool if somebody did a book. And I was like, there's never been a book on this line.
00:06:22
Speaker
And I don't know anybody else that, A, would ever want to attempt it out there. I mean, maybe there is. But B, somebody that had a loose set in them and own card set that can show pictures of the packaging front and back and all angles of the actual action figure. So I said, I think this is something I have to do. And Snowball from there started working ahead and started getting after it. And voila, here we are. Now the book is officially released.
00:06:44
Speaker
Yeah, man, that's like I said, it's it's definitely like if you're not I was actually thinking myself like if you're not a like if you're a figure collector, you definitely should have this in your collection of books. Obviously, there's there's been other books out there. There's the LJN book that came out was a few years back in the there was like those two Hasbro books that came out. But this one right here is way more not because you're on the show and not because I actually have them in my possession. I own those other books as well. This is probably the most comprehensive like book.
00:07:13
Speaker
for a line, essentially. It really looks like a college textbook. When you look at this, it looks like a textbook from college. I mean, that's what it looks like. It is very thick. I mean, with that comes expense, and we could talk about it. I'm open to anything. The video I just posted you referred to, I mean, I'm telling how the sausage is made, how it's made, how much money I get per book. I mean, I'm up for all that stuff, so. I mean, you don't have to give everything away, because we definitely want everyone to go to your YouTube channel to watch the video.
00:07:41
Speaker
You know, how did you how did you get out? Let's let's let's jump to the you know, the godfather. Obviously we spoke about this the last time you're on the show. You know, you guys are kind of like, you know, good friends. How did how'd you get him involved in the book? And did he did you know?
00:07:56
Speaker
Did you ask him beforehand to do the Ford? Or did you say, hey, I need you to do a Ford for something? Or did you say, hey, I'm doing a book about Jack's Classic Superstars. I need you to be involved. How did that conversation start? So when I first started it, I knew to myself I wanted to have Jeremy involved. And I never knew Jeremy, never talked to Jeremy, anything like that. But I know enough of Jeremy following him since the Jack's Classic Superstars days up till now. I know he's passionate about this stuff. And I knew this would be something he would probably be interested in.
00:08:24
Speaker
at worst think is, hey, it's really cool. Go ahead. So I said, yeah, I wanted to have Jeremy involved some way. So I shot Jeremy a Twitter DM. Well, he doesn't follow me. And we know how that goes gets lost. Yeah.
00:08:35
Speaker
And then I sent him another one maybe a month later, never heard back. And I'm just like, you know, how do I get attention to this guy? And I said, I'll just wait a little while. I knew San Diego Comic Con was coming up. I had started the process of the book. I pretty much laid out my outline and had put some notes together, but I hadn't gotten into the meat and potatoes, but I pretty much knew what I wanted to do. And I had a sample page done. Long story short, went to San Diego Comic Con, knew he was going to be at the jazzwares booth and tracked him down at the jazzwares booth. He was up in the crow's nest there and I got his attention to come down.
00:09:03
Speaker
And, you know, we had a half hour conversation. You know, San Diego Comic Con is very busy for everybody. But we sat there for a half hour and talked. He gave me plenty of time. He was 100% on board. And somebody else had just recently talked to me or talked to him about me. So he like knew what I came up with. Like, wait a minute, this is really weird. Talking about passionate collectors and about the classic superstars line and all things. So it was kind of a great segue into the discussion.
00:09:28
Speaker
And I told him what I wanted to do. I showed him the preview picture and he said, I'm on board. Whatever you need, whatever I can help you with, let me know. And I said, I'll circle back to you when I get a little closer to completed. I'd love it if you could write the forward. I'd love it if we could do an interview for the book. And he said, no problem with both those things. Long story short, I got to work. I started hammering everything out and about seven months later said, okay, Jeremy,
00:09:49
Speaker
I'm hoping to have this wrapped up here in the next two months or so. Can we do this front, forward, and the interview? He said, all right. And we had, I think it was two Zoom calls. So we had two Zoom calls together, working on things. He answered some questions that I had, some things that have never before had been known about the line in here. And then he did the interview with me. And then he sent me some cool materials that are also in this book as well, which is pretty fun.
Impact of the Classic Superstars Line
00:10:10
Speaker
Yeah, that's actually going to be my next question. How involved was he in the process of this? Because obviously he's the creator. He's the guy behind it. And even in the foreword, he says he had direct access to Vince McMahon for this stuff. It's one of those things where even nowadays with Mattel, with the Mattel leads and stuff like that, when I'm looking through this book, there's so many figures that
00:10:39
Speaker
Need to I mean, that's I mean that I hope will be made that are in this line that are not in Mattel's line right now It's yeah, it's pretty insane What is I always pick on I always pick on Johnny rods in there because Johnny rods is like it's about a deepest deep cut ever I don't think Mattel would even dive into that So there is some super deep cut and that was kind of the beauty of the line really at the end of the day
00:11:00
Speaker
Yeah, I was like, what are those things where like, I mean, I'm not sure if this is true, but it seems like they're just like, let's just create figures of everybody. Just like anyone that we have access to, anyone we can get a hold of, let's just make a figure and get it done. Like I said, definitely going through this book, you definitely get to see all that stuff. Like I said, it's pretty remarkable the amount of, even back then, the amount of detail that went into those figures and the thought.
00:11:27
Speaker
And one of the wild things about this is it is actually the 20th anniversary of this line. So it's 20 years to right now when this line came out. And you know, you've heard it being a collector. A lot of people listening to this have heard of being collectors. Oh, that's so Jax. That's so Jax. It's always been kind of a joke out there.
00:11:43
Speaker
And you can easily say, that's so Mattel. And I do think 20 years from now, you'll hear people say, that's so Mattel. I mean, it's just a thing. It's easy on this. People have a lot of revisionist history. But you go back 20 years to when this line came out, this was game changing. This was revolutionary stuff. And people look at a lot of things and a lot of older figures with 2024 eyes. You give a kid an LJN. They're like, this is an action figure. Well, you grew up in the 80s. I mean, there wasn't anything cooler than an LJN. So it's all perspective.
00:12:11
Speaker
But that's one interesting thing. I can't believe it. It's 20 years since this line came out So perfect time to celebrate it with this book here Yeah, the pretty cool thing about the like that one when you actually go through like all the different like iterations of it like you get All different aspects of a of a figure like you get kind of like a I mean nowadays you would call like a basic figure where you know It didn't have like that, you know the torso articulation But then later on you get the deluxe and now you're getting the torso articulation. You're also getting LJ ends
00:12:40
Speaker
at some point within the line too as well so like you kind of like when they when they say like you know we just you know they're like we're just gonna make figure we're just gonna whoever we can get we're just gonna do it like literally just go through that book do that history of of Jackson you definitely see like they're just like yo let's let's get it all done because
00:12:56
Speaker
We don't know what is going to end. So like let's let's let's take advantage of it as much as we can and just let's do it. So is that something that is that something that you got from that as well as like, you know, the not the desperation, but the the amount of like, hey, this is like you said, it's unprecedented when the line came out. This is like this is the groundbreaking. Like we need to do something spectacular. Did you did you get that like feeling going through not only collecting, but doing this book as well?
00:13:24
Speaker
Yeah, for the get go. I mean, it was really revolutionary. Some people, like you said, they made LJN style classic superstars. And we do know that Jay and LJN was also the Jay and Jax. So it's a natural progression there. He came over to do this. So it was kind of a tribute to the past as well. Classic superstars, classic wrestlers. It makes a lot more sense when you think of it that way. I think the average Joe maybe doesn't think that way. But it is definitely an amazing collection. And one thing that's fun about this collection, where Mattels are really fun. I love Mattels as much as I can.
00:13:54
Speaker
I got every single Mattel Elite in my collection. And I love Mattels. And I think when Dust settles, it'll probably be the greatest wrestling figure toy line of all time, just because of how long it has went. But the classics, there's something special about a line that has a beginning and an end. There's just some special that everything is in this book. And it's a thick book, like we talked about. I did think about making this into volumes, but it just felt not right to me. I think if you do a Mattel book, you got to have volumes. But there's something special about having the complete collection in a book. I don't know.
00:14:23
Speaker
Well, let me tell you with that comes a big price point as we do know. Yes. The way books are made. Yeah. Yeah. That was that was another thing. Like I was going to ask you as far as like, you know, you know, obviously like, you know, printing the book and do it all. Like, how does how does that process look when you're, you know, you know, like you said, there's costs involved with it. Obviously, you know, this book is I mean, it's for me like this.
00:14:46
Speaker
It is, I don't say it's, I don't think it's pricey at all. I think like for the, for what it is, like you said, it's almost like a college textbook. So like, yeah, if you think of a college textbook, it's about the same price as one of the, one of those books would be so. And yeah, those are even more expensive
Self-Publishing Journey and Success
00:15:00
Speaker
usually. That's one of those things. I mean, even if it was $40, there'd be somebody out there say, oh, it's too expensive. It's too expensive. Well,
00:15:06
Speaker
You know, and that's like anything. You'd be a musician or an actor. I mean, you could always get slogged off and said, you know, this isn't worth it. And that's just, you know, you vote with your wallet at the end of the day. But making a book isn't an easy process. I mean, there is it's it's a lot like movies and music. You know, there's not a lot of money in those either anymore. I mean, you hear artists. I got friends that are artists. You know, you make a penny per play on Spotify and you split it with five people plus the record company, that penny. Yeah.
00:15:31
Speaker
It's like, there's not a lot of money out there. And I got to be honest, I'm always one that puts a business hat on. I'm a businessman in my day job every single day. I understand this is about a niche of a niche of a niche. This isn't like war and peace. This isn't a Martha Stewart book that's going to Target and Costco and stuff. You know, people are like, is it going to be a Walmart and Target? No, I don't think Walmart and Target have anything to do with the book.
00:15:52
Speaker
We'd love it if they would, but that's not really their speed. So I know it's a niche, and I talked to some publishers out there. I talked to a few people, and for what I was looking to do, I mean, self-publishing is really the way to go, like a lot of things. You do it yourself. The DIY method, I guess, is what it is. But with that comes a lot of costs. I mean, Amazon right now, it's like $68 and change for the softcover book.
00:16:14
Speaker
Yeah. Amazon, the printing cost for that book, just to print the book is $68.52. So Amazon is using it as a lost leader currently on their site. So I don't know when it'll go to $99. And when it goes to $99, people are probably thinking, Kyle's going to make $30 a book or something like that. I'm making $5 per book sold at $100 if that is. And then to get the hardcover edition, I mean,
00:16:40
Speaker
Amazon wouldn't even print the hardcover edition. It's too thick. It's too big. It's not even possible to do. Barnes and Noble was up for the task. However, it's $85 just to print this book and hardcover. $85. So then, of course, on top of that, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, I mean, they're both kind of the same thing. They take a percentage of, okay, they get, you know,
00:17:00
Speaker
There's the print cost. Then they take a percentage of the sales for them. Then they charge you to, you know, ship the book, order the book, all the stuff, you know, the publicity of the book on their site. And then you get your royalties at the very end. So there's very peanuts here. And that's why I said from day one, this isn't about the money. It's a labor of love. It's to get this out here for people.
00:17:18
Speaker
that's what it is i mean it's not i'm not steven king i'm not gonna be able to live off this book it's a labor of love it's something cool and it's a legacy type thing and one thing i've always said it's really cool that i think when the dust settles they'll think of jack's classic superstars you know if they say name 10 things about it i might be part of that because i wrote this
00:17:36
Speaker
book. I've done five years of videos on these. It's something I'm really passionate about. So I think just being involved with the line and kind of being in the same breath as the line, I mean, that's payment enough for me at the end of the day. It's like, I'm not depending on this to feed my family or anything. Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, you definitely like you said, you kind of you brought it up already, you definitely have to like, you have to have passion.
00:17:58
Speaker
for this type of thing. Obviously, if the profit comes, yes, that's a plus to you. But other than that, it's like you said, it's more or less like having your legacy out there. It was really cool week one. I did pass Becky Lynch on the bestsellers. I was bestseller on three different things. Yeah, I see that.
00:18:21
Speaker
So Becky Lynch, I passed up and then there was like a new Lego book and it was pretty cool because when you think of the price point, I mean, those books are way cheaper than this one. So that was a pretty cool feeling. Just for a little bit, you're a bestselling author and I knew it would eventually, you know, it's just not going to be sustainable. There's not a machine, a WW machine pushing behind this or anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It would help. There was a machine behind it.
00:18:45
Speaker
And I'm open to publisher. If there's a publisher out there and they want to publish this and want to work together, I'm always open for a conversation. But the other way I could have done this was I could have went to a publishing company or whatever, a printer basically, turned it in, and then they're going to say, OK, we'll do it for you. But you've got to print 200 books, and it's going to be $10,000 or whatever it is. You've got to front the money. And then I get those. I have a room in my house full of books. Then I've got to invoice them. I've got to ship them. I've got to mail them. And then if one gets lost, I've got to replace it.
00:19:14
Speaker
Like, as much as I would love to do that, I just don't have the time for that. I just don't, unfortunately. You had a thing with a publisher too. What did you think they would kind of, you think they would try to like kind of cut corners with the book as well? Not, it wouldn't have as like, it wouldn't have its authenticity.
Future Projects and Inspirations
00:19:31
Speaker
If that, if that was the, if that was the case, I would think if you had turned it over to somebody, they would probably look at it and go, like you said at the beginning, maybe we shouldn't just break it into volumes. We'll do the whole book.
00:19:41
Speaker
We'll just do like volume one, two and three. And then we'll go back. There's our idea. Yeah. So like, I like, I like the fact that you kind of stuck to your guns in the sense where, you know, you want to get the book out, um, on your own terms. And, you know, if, if it does what it does, that's fine. But like I said, I think it's, uh, I think it's one of those things as a, as a figure collector.
00:20:02
Speaker
I think it's definitely something that I admire, just seeing you and even speaking to you before and stuff like that. But that's definitely a huge accomplishment. Actually, like you said, it's probably a lot more work than you're actually saying now to get this book done. But just thinking of that and having that idea to put it forward is pretty insane. What was your wife involved?
00:20:28
Speaker
it with us at all? Was it all you by yourself? It's so funny. I kind of joke about that a little bit with my wife because she never even saw any of the book until it was officially in my hand. Oh, wow. OK. She never she had no clue. I said I was working on a book. She knew that, but she had no idea what I was doing. So she sees it as like, wow, that's that's more than I thought it was going to be. So I was really working pretty much in silence. There was just a few people knowing that I was doing that. But yeah, I was working pretty hard. You know, I always say, if you want to do something bad enough, you'll find the time for it, really.
00:20:58
Speaker
And I work 50, 60 hours a week for my day job. And then I film videos all weekend and I edit all the nights and stuff. So I'm a very busy guy and I stayed up really late at nights taking pictures and writing the copy and all that kind of stuff. I mean, it was definitely a passion project for sure.
00:21:15
Speaker
Wow. I remember the last time you were on the show, you spoke about your father and stuff like that and how involved he was in the collecting and things like that. Was he one of the few ones I knew about the book or was he in the same light as your wife? He got the final copy of it.
00:21:33
Speaker
No, yeah, he's a pretty big supporter on that kind of stuff. He knew about that one and I was showing him and I was bouncing some ideas off him and things like that along the way. So he was one of the guys in the know for sure from day one. Nice. Yeah, because I remember you said you obviously he was a huge part of the collecting and I figured like, you know, he has to be a part of the book. I mean, yeah, he's a part of he's a part of that whole the whole story, essentially. And I remember, I remember the story you told me we were like,
00:21:58
Speaker
Was it at Toys R Us? And, you know, you're going to collect and some like bigger dude was there trying to collect too as well. And then your father was kind of like, hey, hey, man, my son's trying to get this. Let me get that. So like, just thinking about those stories and stuff like that. Like, how did, like, did that come to your mind? Like, as you're doing this book, like all these, like, did all like, did you want to like throw a lot more in as far as like your own personal, like, you know, stories? Like, what was the idea behind the book before?
00:22:27
Speaker
This came out was it was it gonna be kind of was it gonna be like this from the beginning just you know Pictures showing the collection and you know footnotes or did you have a different idea? It was kind of gonna be like a like a book with like paragraphs and stuff and maybe throw in some pictures Well, how did that I had that book in the beginning stages look?
00:22:45
Speaker
It was pretty much how it how it came out here. That's pretty much my thought process along the way. But I was thinking about put some anecdotes in there, maybe like a almost like a pop up video or something like that with a little bubble of of something because I was thinking about that, like, because there is some interesting stories and some funny things throughout the line just collecting as collectors come across things. Yes.
00:23:04
Speaker
But then I said, you know, I don't know. The average Joe doesn't know who I am. I mean, my YouTube audience might enjoy little quirks like that and things like that. But I think the average Joe, I wanted to keep it more like a textbook, I guess, more basic, I guess, is how I decided to go.
00:23:19
Speaker
Yeah. Do you think you're going to do like any type of like, um, with the book, are you going to do like, uh, maybe kind of like revisit, like do like a series, maybe like revisiting some of the, uh, like notable maybe figures of the book or have you like, like, basically, are you going to like, how are you going to like prolong this book and keep it like, you know, instead of, you know, it's out, that's it, we're all done with it. Or is it going to be something where you're going to like kind of revisit it and bring it back into the forefront somehow into YouTube videos?
00:23:46
Speaker
A lot of people, a lot of people have said, are you going to do a Kindle edition or a digital edition? I mean, I think I'll probably do that down the row. But I mean, with a book like this, you put that out there, somebody screenshots the whole thing first night, sends it out to everybody. And it's just, you know, out on the web. And I didn't want that. I really wanted, I really wanted people to have the experience of holding it, seeing it. I mean, there's something special about having. Definitely. Yeah. Like I said, it's.
00:24:09
Speaker
I will probably eventually, I don't know. I mean, once the book sales slow down and once again, it's not Stephen King. It's not a brilliant selling book. It's not going to be. But when it slows down a year or two years, I'll probably put the digital copy out there eventually. So that'll prolong it. And I went back and forth and had a little bit of internal discussion on this as I almost thought about putting canceled and prototype figures and stuff in this book.
00:24:33
Speaker
And I said, you know, I thought about doing it, but they were never officially released. So it would kind of go off, but it would be a cool section. And I thought maybe in a couple of years, maybe I do a, you know, an five year anniversary edition and I put that stuff in there possibly. However, the thing I don't like about prototypes and stuff like that is new ones are being found all the time. And the minute a new one is found, this book's totally out of date. So that's one reason I didn't want to put that stuff in. And then you don't really necessarily know if they were officially supposed to be in anything. It's a lot of kind of,
00:25:03
Speaker
I don't know if gossip's the right word, but that's why I left that stuff out. But I thought maybe down in the future, I might put like in a bridged edition or a bonus edition or something, or special edition maybe. That'd be pretty cool actually, if you do something like that. And with the, you know, maybe like the, when you, if you do like a digital version of the book, maybe like, and like you kind of like said with the pop-ups and things like that, maybe you like, you know, there's not every single figure a pop-up comes up and you talk about it. Maybe like your, maybe your favorite figures in the line.
00:25:30
Speaker
Um, you get that like certain sections, like, you know, Kyle's favorite or something like that. And you're like, you click on it and then you kind of like go into your, you know, your story about, you know, the figure and stuff like that. I think that'd be pretty cool. Uh, just to have something like that. So, um, other than that, like as far as the, you know,
00:25:47
Speaker
The amount of, do you, I think it said this, but do you, you own every single figure in this book, right? Is that? Uh, almost. There's a few, there's a few that I do not. So there's like the one of 20 Rick flair. And I think Jeremy has like nine of those 20 in his collection. I mean, he tells a funny story about that in the book. Okay. Yep. So there's that one.
00:26:10
Speaker
And there's one of the really rare ultimate warriors that I still need, the marble one. So I don't have that one yet. Yeah, that's right. And then there's one of three ultimate warrior, which one of them, I guess, was destroyed in a hurricane. And then I think Jeremy has the other two. So there's some really rare ones that I don't think is really possible. But as far as all the modern releases, all the tag team street packs, all the ringside exclusive, story exclusives, I mean, all the
00:26:39
Speaker
All the accessible ones I have in my collection and the one of 100s and things like that as well. I think everyone needs to just hit up Jeremy. Everyone just needs to send him a DM and say, hey, let's work out a deal. Let's let's get Kyle. He put all the work into this book. Let him get a Rick Flair. Let him get at least a warrior. I mean, one or the other. We'll see what happens. But I told Jeremy, I said, Jeremy, just leave him to me in your will. That's the least you could do. And he laughed.
00:27:09
Speaker
I'm going to take that as a yes. He laughed. I think he thought it was funny. I'm just going to pretend he's leaving him to me. That's perfect. And he did. So it hit something interesting. He did say not I don't want to start any rumors or anything like that. But you know, you read his forward and everything like that. You know, he was thanking everybody. And at the end, last last line, he says, never say never.
00:27:29
Speaker
What does that mean? Is that mean? Is he is I mean, I guess I don't want to allude to anything. But what is it? Do you do you have an idea of what he means by that? Or is it just something, you know, a tagline of his or just say, hey, never say never. Well, he also put that in the interview, too. And one of the questions I had in there where he answers it. But yeah, I think you never know. Never say never about the return of classic superstars. Huh?
00:27:55
Speaker
because it's not technically WWE, AEW owned. Anybody can do it. So I don't know. I wish you were pretty smart about that. And you never know. We might see the return here. You might see the return.
00:28:11
Speaker
Okay we did talk I think we did talk about that you know what the last show you we talked about you know the return you know major bendy's and you know big rubber guys and pretty much all the different lines of you know retro style figures that are out there and stuff like that so I mean.
00:28:26
Speaker
classic superstars may have to make a resurgence after. I mean, this book might be the reason why it comes back. That's the other thing. And if it does, I'm giving it credit because, you know, this is kind of like I said, this is kind of the resurgence area. Like I'm I have I would have like a lot of Jax classic superstars. I have a few. I have only really collected the Warriors and not because I'm a huge Ultimate Warrior fan.
00:28:48
Speaker
And the junkyard dogs that they had, the red tights, as well as the white with the blue and red stars and stuff like that. Because my father was a huge junkyard dog fan. So I have a mini junkyard dog collection, elite junkyard dog, retro junkyard dog, LJN as well.
00:29:07
Speaker
Yeah. Like I said, this book is kind of getting me like wanting me to get back into collecting them. But like we, like you said at the beginning, it's, it's very expensive. It's time consuming. And you know, like I said, I'm thanking you for, you know, putting this book out. Cause now I don't have to do it. I could just like, when I get that urge, I could just skim through and go, Oh, okay. All right. This is nice. I could just look at the figures and you know, that's, that's what it really is. Just looking at the figures. Obviously I'm not able to touch them and pose them and all that stuff, but looking is fine. You know, look, but don't touch.
00:29:37
Speaker
That's my motto for that anyway. So after this, so I know you don't, I'm not sure if you can give any other secrets, but like, is there, you know, would, would you do like a follow-up book or another book? Maybe not with, not Jack's classic, but like maybe something else. Have you caught like the, you know, the writer's bug or the author's bug while doing this book? Like I said, I'm always working way ahead. So I mean, who knows? I could have another book already done. You never know.
00:30:05
Speaker
All right, there you go. I'm like Jeremy, never say never. Never say never. I also do admire, and I love hearing your work ethic when it comes to this type of stuff, not just collecting, just in general, just the videos that you do, like the book and everything like that. I think as a content creator, I'm not much of it, but I dabble in it.
00:30:31
Speaker
I like to say I'm not a professional at it but like just like you know seeing what you're doing and uh you know see what others are doing it kind of gives you that motivation to like you know there are going to be late nights that happens you know uh there are going to be you know late nights and early mornings um especially if you do have a job
00:30:47
Speaker
And you have a family, and that can make it a little bit rough. But if you do have a passion for it and you love doing it, and you're not really looking for anything in return by it, you just really just want to get yourself out there and kind of see what happens. I think you're kind of like a person to look to as far as that motivation goes personally. That's for me anyway, not just because you're on the show and not because I follow you and I've spoken to you before.
00:31:12
Speaker
I say that as like, you know, as you know, coming from the heart, essentially, like, you're kind of like that, like, you know, I see him and I go, man, I got to, you know, I got to, I got to get it moving. I got to keep on doing what I'm doing. And, you know, keep grinding. I appreciate it.
00:31:27
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And like, you know, obviously there's other, you know, the major bros are out there. They're, you know, they're, I mean, they're far ahead of me when it comes to that stuff. But like, as far as like, you know, I look at them as like the business side of things, you know, they do a magnificent job at that. Like, do you, is that where, where do you get your, your inspiration from as far as like your, you know, your work ethic and your, as it, when it comes to this, not like your shoot job or anything, but when, when it comes to the, you know, the, the collecting, the, you know, the videos.
00:31:56
Speaker
The content creation, where do you draw all that inspiration from?
00:32:01
Speaker
It's internal. It's all internal. I've always had that internal drive just to do it. And to get to the next goal and check it off. And just like the book, it's like a process. You just got to see it through. And that's kind of me every day. I've always had that. I've always been very driven and trying to get what I want. A lot of that action figures as a little kid. I mean, I would do anything. I remember as a kid, I would ride my bike to car washes and the old paper machines and pop machines. And I would go and hit the coin returns on them all the time, every single day.
00:32:31
Speaker
trying to get quarters to buy baseball cards or action figures as a kid. I was always hustling. I was always doing odd jobs, things like that. And I've always been that way. And kind of now is it's a big stress relief too, is this all this stuff is just the stress release from your day job that's nearly grinds. And it's just a passion. It's something I just keep on myself. And, you know, I try not to look for influences elsewhere. I don't really. Yeah.
00:32:54
Speaker
Uh, you know, I, I've just, it's very internally driven and I guess you're just kind of that way. I'm anybody could be that way. You might have to practice that a little while and do stuff, but I've always kind of been that way. My dad was a lot like that. My grandma and grandpa were very much like that. And I must be kind of a family inherited type thing, I guess. Like I said, yeah, I tried not to, I'm kind of like you in the sense where, you know, hopefully no one like kills me for this, but I tried not to listen to a lot of like different
00:33:23
Speaker
podcasts and things like that are people that I know, essentially, because I don't want to draw from them or take from them. Obviously, I work with a lot of different people when it comes to collaborations and stuff like that. But I don't want to feel like their ways are seeping into my ways, essentially.
00:33:40
Speaker
It's a funny thing is, I heard this from about 10 years ago, there's a guitarist, he's really famous. His name is Michael Shanker. I don't know if you ever heard of him, but the sports. Yeah, I mean, he's, he's a, you know, for guitarists, like guitarists are in an industry, he's like a god to them. I mean, he's not as well known as Eddie Van Halen, but he is truly a guitar god. Yeah. And he said he has never listened to music since 1979. He stopped listening to all music and just does his own thing. And I'm like, that's kind of like how I do things. I like Yeah.
00:34:09
Speaker
I don't want to hear or see anything. I'll check it out after I do my stuff and then, you know, a figure of you. I'm not going to look at somebody's before mine, but it's just a weird thing. I was like, other people do that as well. So we're not alone in that.
00:34:21
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Like I said, it's one of those things where, you know, you don't want to read like I try not to read stuff because obviously, you know, I do a show where we're talking about, you know, WWE stuff. So like I don't want to read like dirt sheets. I don't want to read like, you know, people's comments on things because I don't want to like to subconsciously go into my mind. I want to have like a objective view of things when I speak of things, especially something like this. The only time I really do like, you know, research on stuff is obviously when I do this this show, I like the person that I'm interviewing. Obviously, I have to do some research on and stuff like that.
00:34:51
Speaker
not watch any other interviews that they're on. That's why I said, that's why I asked you. I was like, did you, the only interview I knew of was the Nick storm interview. Cause we're friends with Nick storm. I love that. I love that guy. He's great. And, uh, like, like I said, I didn't watch the, I mean, I'd seen it. I was like, ah, I don't want to watch it cause I don't want to take anything away from it. Not that I don't love Nick storm or you. I was just like, I don't want it to be the same. I kind of want to be different. Obviously, you know, Nick storm is a different type of, uh, different type of individual. So there's no one can copy that guy at all. Even if I want to be Australian, he's Australian.
00:35:20
Speaker
there you go that is true yes yes he's very australian that guy but um other than that uh not sure how much you can give away as far as like your future plans uh for things but what is there anything else coming down the pipeline is you know like i said nothing it doesn't if it's super secret obviously you don't say but like
00:35:40
Speaker
Yeah, there's always a couple of projects in the works. That's for sure. I obviously keep grinding. I keep doing my YouTube videos. Got two channels going on every single day. I got four videos a day. As of right now, it's been that way for about the last year. Coming up close on the four-year anniversary of the channel at the end of March. So that's pretty cool, Miles. So not quite five years, but four years is pretty cool.
00:36:02
Speaker
And yeah, I'm working on a massive project, uh, probably the biggest project of my life. We'll see how it goes. Um, have had some meetings out in California and places like that. And, uh, we'll see how it goes more to come in the future. Maybe who knows you might see my face a little bit more often. We'll see. You just never know how these things will go. So I've been working on that for a while. Uh, hopefully maybe by San Diego, comic con, maybe I can announce some things. I don't know. We'll see what ends up happening. But.
00:36:30
Speaker
Don't want to give too much away, but it's a big thing in the future and a few other little things along the way as well So you never know you never know that is true. That is true There's a lot of obviously, you know, like you said, there's a lot of comic-con coming up. There's a lot of conventions Coming up there too as well. So yeah, this is I mean I said definitely looking forward to seeing you war and I want to do I do want to ask you one question about the book so Favorite what's your favorite series?
00:36:55
Speaker
in this in this in the line in the jacks classic line obviously there's a bunch of series but what is your favorite series the the figures that are within that series okay i'm curious to know that's a tough one i mean there's some good ones you know that first tag team set i mean that's the one that i mean it probably changes but that's what just popped in my head when you said that that first tag team set with the lod in there for the first time ever and then the rockers in there as well i mean that
00:37:21
Speaker
That LOD was a big, big deal. Just like when I was a kid getting the Hasbro, the LOD was a big, big deal. But, you know, the figures don't hold up as much as some of the other ones, but it would be series one. I mean, that changed the game. I mean, seeing, and you're an ultra warrior guy just like me, seeing a
00:37:37
Speaker
modern ultimate warrior figure where we never really got legend figures in the past. That was the first time ever. And, you know, I paid attention to the internet at the time when the line came out, but I wasn't in the weeds like I am now. Yeah. And just seeing that on the store shelves, I about dropped to my knee. I talk about it in the book a little bit about drops. My knees just could not believe what I was seeing here. Oh my gosh. That's the ultimate warrior. So I guess just because of the specialness of that, that's probably going to be the answer. The first series there.
00:38:05
Speaker
I am hoping, because we didn't get this gentleman in the Jack's wine, that I know of, Macho Man. Mach. So I asked Jeremy a couple of questions there on a few performers, and he didn't want to give away too much of the business part of all that, but I knew I needed to ask the question. Stars did not align, apparently. It wasn't his doing. He wanted to be in there, trust me.
00:38:35
Speaker
Man, space wasn't the place, I guess, for the Macho Man. But, man, can you imagine a Macho Man figure with, obviously, with the Ultimate Warrior figures, they had the actual cloth tassels and everything like that. Imagine a, I don't even know, they did a WrestleMania...
00:38:54
Speaker
What's crazy is, if they would have got Ricky Steamboat and Macho Man, those are pretty much the two at the top of people. And in the Von Erics, a lot of people mentioned them. If they would have got them, I wonder who would have got bumped out? What would we not have got? Because they would have been bumped for other people. So that's one of those interesting things too, is there could have been some amazing figures we would have never got. Maybe like the Edie Kaufman or Johnny Rods, who knows? But it's always weird to kind of think about a little bit.
00:39:23
Speaker
That's true. I didn't think of that. Do you think we'll see a Eddie Kaufman figure from Mattel?
00:39:30
Speaker
I don't know. I really hope so. I really hope so, because I'm a huge Andy Kaufman fan. I loved Andy Kaufman's comedy as a little kid. And then I loved him before I knew he was even involved in wrestling. And then I found out that it made him even cooler in my book. So I love Andy Kaufman. And I thought for sure when they made that Johnny Knoxville elite, I said, oh, they're setting up. They're going to use that body, repaint it, but nothing. So I'm hoping maybe Mania will get some kind of an announcement. I mean, he would be an awesome one.
00:39:59
Speaker
That's what that's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking, uh, you know, obviously it seems like, you know, every, you know, is it pretty much every WrestleMania where they announce it? Uh, like something on Mattel creations. Uh, we got, we obviously Muhammad Ali. We, we got, but do you go back to back years with a celebrity?
00:40:16
Speaker
Guys, I don't know. I don't know if that would work. I mean, I could see him just being stuck in the legends line. I could see that probably happening. The interesting thing is he went into the Hall of Fame last year, I believe. So it usually takes about a year to get a figure made. We're about the year thing. I wouldn't be shocked if they are making him. We could see it at the WrestleMania reveal of the figures there. I mean, that would make sense. Hey, they signed him right after that. You're about a year later.
00:40:40
Speaker
could happen. I'd be here for it. They've made other celebrities. We've seen Logan Paul. We've seen Gronkowski. I mean, we've seen a few, so I could see it. I'm fingers crossed for me at least. Supposedly bad buddy was supposed to be in one of the lines, but then that what happened with that, I don't even know. It's like they kind of fell on the wayside. But one more question before you go. Do we see Macho Man back in the Mattel line?
00:41:05
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know when. I don't know when. I have heard that that agency that he's with, I think the LOD and Andre are with it. They're a little hard to work with, I have heard. And there may be, I think the big issue with all that is I think, you know, COVID hit and collectibles and toys went through the roof and they were making royalty monies like crazy. And then we've seen it all dial back. Everything's dialed back. It's not the height it was, the frenzy it was. And I think that agency still says, well,
00:41:32
Speaker
we were making this much for you before and we need that payment and Mattel WWE is like, well, it's a different time trying to come back to reality, but you know, it's great that we're getting macho man from, you know, the grapplers and gimmicks. We're getting information, things like that. But at the end of the day, I'm pretty sure Mattel is going to make them a lot more money because they just have access to more doors than anybody else. And I do think, you know, it might take a year, might take a two, but I think they will get back. I think
00:41:59
Speaker
at the end of the day follow the money and that's where the money is and i think it'll happen and i bet you that cancelled ultimate edition from matcha man it's probably all sitting in a warehouse and the minute they get the okay it'll be out real quick i have yeah my only fear is it doesn't they don't get it back and you know obviously the coliseum collection which is probably my favorite line right now from from atel um
00:42:22
Speaker
that it doesn't they don't make it and you know Macho Man is in that he's I mean he's part of that old LJM line so I'm looking I'm looking to see that I'm looking to see him you know junkyard dog hopefully an ultimate edition of junkyard dog there and probably my uh my most wanted one out of that is if they recreate the ultimate warrior um
00:42:45
Speaker
Don't change it up. The same exact Ultimate Warrior that you look like as an LJN, but make it an Ultimate Edition form. That's the only one I'm really looking forward to. Who would you think they would put him with? Who would they put him with though?
00:42:58
Speaker
So that's the tough, that's the- I think it's gotta be hockey talk, man. I think that makes the most sense. You think so? Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, I like that idea. I mean, I don't hate it, but yeah, that's, I mean, obviously that's, you know, we still have some time, WrestleMania's right around the corner, so there'll probably be an ounce of stuff then, and obviously of STCC as well coming up too, so. But I'm hoping, like I said, I pray.
00:43:23
Speaker
that that ultimate warrior pops up. I think I'll probably quit collecting after that, because that's all. What other figure do you need? A fully articulated version of that ultimate warrior that I was delving in? Yeah, it's a dumbed down warrior, but it's a special warrior. It's my favorite figure of all time, so I would love to have a tribute to it.
00:43:40
Speaker
I love that. But anyway, we'll end it there. I encourage everyone. Definitely pick up the book. If you're watching the video version, I have it up right now. Kyle Peterson, great job on the book. Like I said, I've been thumbing through it since I got it. I think I bought it on the day it was released. And I think I messaged you that day and I was like, hey, I just bought it. I need you back on the show to talk a little bit about it.
00:44:04
Speaker
Um, but man, like I said, it's great work of a book. Hopefully it inspires others out there to, you know, if they, you know, they have an idea of, you know, they want to put out a book or something like that, or, you know, or even that collection is something specific. Like you said, maybe GI Joe, or if it's all that, you know, has all the humans or whatever, uh, transformers make a transformer book.
00:44:26
Speaker
Let this book be your guiding light to showcasing your collection and putting the love out there. Let's keep it going. I mean, obviously, we kind of talked about collecting as kind of figure collecting as subsided a little bit, but I think things like you're doing, kind of pivoting away from that and creating books, creating education around,
00:44:49
Speaker
collecting and these figures. I think that'll definitely inspire more to go out and collect, but also inspire those to create more books and get more educated about these collections and these things of the past. Hopefully those are my kind words to you and everybody that are out there. Very nice. Inspirational. Inspirational here.
00:45:09
Speaker
Definitely. But I'm going to let you go and thank you for coming on. I hope to have you on again soon. After the next announcement, I'm pretty sure there's going to be plenty more where that came from. So we'll end it there and thank you and tell everyone where they can find you.
00:45:29
Speaker
Yeah, well, you can find the book. Like I said, hardcover is the exclusive Barnes and Noble edition. It's the store exclusive as a hardcover. Then Amazon for the softcover as well. You can find me on social media, SirPaul64 on the old X out there, the underscore Kyle underscore Peterson on threads and on Instagram. And of course, Kyle Peterson on YouTube, Kyle Peterson 2.0, my new channel as well. I just recently started. So that's where you can find me.
00:45:53
Speaker
Nice. All right, everyone. Thank you for listening, and I'll talk to you all soon. Later.