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There Be Dragons: A Conversation with Four Horsemen Studios Jeremy Girard
257 Plays30 days ago
Beyithirr is HERE! This week we're joined by Jeremy Girard from Four Horsemen Studios to talk all things Mythic Legions, dragons, and more from the uber popular, NJ-based indie toy giant as they celebrate 10 years of Mythic Legions lore.
Come see us LIVE at Zapp Con on 3/29 - Get your tickets
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
Proudly part of the Non-Productive Network
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Hosts
00:00:03
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents permission, check your mailbox and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric.
00:00:15
Speaker
And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture and hauls along with our journeys as collectors.
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. Hi. ah Dave, we're we are back.
Exciting Guest Announcement
00:00:36
Speaker
ah we We have an exciting ah guest joining us ah for the show this week. and Yeah. A new friend of the pod.
00:00:45
Speaker
Yes. We're yeah adding collecting new friends. I'm happy. I am way more or less hoarse than I was yesterday. Yeah. Awesome. You had a nice trip. Got to see some yeah some ah some New England punk rock.
00:01:02
Speaker
I got to see some punk rock from all over. New Jersey, New England, Pennsylvania, Delaware. Very, very cool. Yeah. Wrapping the final Addiction Records shirt, too.
00:01:16
Speaker
Yeah. Shouts to Dave, Doug, and Pete.
ZapCon Event Details
00:01:21
Speaker
um Yeah, but before we we hop into i introducing our guest here, um couple couple little housekeeping things to take care of.
00:01:31
Speaker
So um first and foremost, ZapCon is yeah is rapidly approaching. So um March 29th at the Wayne PAL is beginning at 10
00:01:48
Speaker
ZapCon opens to the public. i It is an awesome ah local con. So lots of really cool artists. ah There's going to be tons of stuff to buy. Comic books, of course, hosted by the our our favorite comic book shop, Zap Comics in Wayne, New Jersey. So they're the hosts.
00:02:08
Speaker
um This is ZapCon 6.com. and And we will be recording our second ever live and in-person show. So you've if you've been listening to the the show for a while, you've you've heard us plug this ah extensively. i I promise the run is almost over. well I got my hair cut for ZapCon, even though it's like a week and a half away.
00:02:30
Speaker
But ah we will be hosting a live show with ah Friends of the Pod, Chris Ramo and Blaine Roddenbaugh, of course, of NECA. Chris will be set up there with his own booth, ah his own table, selling his his incredible art.
00:02:45
Speaker
If you love Tiki-inspired art and horror design and Disney, Chris has a little bit of everything for you. So um we'll be interviewing Chris and Blaine ah from NECA. And it'll be really interesting because it's the first time uh that we've ever had somebody from the product end and from the packaging end ah at the same company on the pod at the same time so yeah it's going to give us a really cool opportunity to take everybody through kind of the uh creation process from from initial sketches all the way through to uh to to product on shelf so yeah blaine will be hanging out with us at our table if you want to say hi yep
00:03:23
Speaker
Yep, and ah there
March 2025 Giveaway
00:03:24
Speaker
may even be some new NECA stuff on display. ah Some stuff that maybe we saw got a chance to see at Toy Fair, and maybe it'll be on display. so We also have a couple of giveaways, so if you are in the if you are in the audience at the time of recording, which is at 4 p.m. Eastern Time, i we will be giving out some prizes, ah maybe to folks who ask questions during the Q&A section. I think that's a pretty...
00:03:48
Speaker
That's a pretty ah con standard ah thing, right? So yes, that's that's March 29th. ZapConNJ.com to get your tickets or visit ah either Zap Comics in Manalapan or Wayne to pick up your pass.
00:04:07
Speaker
um And then the other piece of of ah housekeeping news is of course, our March 2025 giveaway. ah There is still time to enter. You have until 1159 p.m. Eastern Time on ah March 31st to get your entry in.
00:04:23
Speaker
But ah you can enter to win this ah this gorgeous ah PVC diorama ah from our friends at Diamond Select Toys of ah of Brian Danielson. AEW icon.
00:04:35
Speaker
ah Pro wrestling. Great. The American trans legend. Legend. Yeah. Legend of the ring. um Yeah. So you can get this awesome PVC diorama statue.
00:04:46
Speaker
think it's like one sixth scale. somewhere around there. He's big. It's a big boy. Yeah. But you will, you will enjoy this as a wrestling collector. You will enjoy having this on your shelf. So um you can head over to our Instagram.
00:05:02
Speaker
um That's at AIC underscore podcast. And you will find this post ah pinned ah where you can enter to win this. So you have until March to get your entry in. ah Go, go and do it.
00:05:15
Speaker
Oh, make sure to follow the rules too. Cause you won't win if you don't. Yeah, there the rules are there. So read the rules, follow all of them. it hate to say people cannot um you know partake but you do you do need to Follow the rules like there's much like life. There are. Yeah, there are rules.
00:05:36
Speaker
So ah with that, that takes care of our housekeeping and and brings us to our our first of of a few traditions on the on the pod, which is ah Dave. What I think I'm i'm done burying the lead.
00:05:50
Speaker
Yes, you are. Yeah. Yeah. You've you've stopped. I've stopped.
Spotlight on Four Horsemen Studios
00:05:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So we're gonna we're gonna we're going to ah intro our guest here. Really excited. um When you think of independent toy makers who have not only shaped the collector space, but also redefined what's possible in action figures, Four Horsemen Studios is a name that stands at the top. From their early days working on some of the most iconic toy lines in history to building their own powerhouse properties like Mythic Legions and Cosmic Legions, they've consistently delivered some of the most exciting and innovative figures out there.
00:06:24
Speaker
And right now, they're in the midst of something legitimately massive.
Guest Interview: Jeremy Gerard
00:06:28
Speaker
Like 35-ish pounds of massive. They're crowdfund for Baethyr, a towering, fire-breathing dragon that's already setting the collecting world ablaze. See what I did there? little I like that. little fire pun.
00:06:43
Speaker
um And today, for the first time ever on Adventures in Collecting, we are welcoming a member of New Jersey's own Four Horsemen Studios ah team to talk all about this this ah this project.
00:06:56
Speaker
Joining us is Four Horsemen Studios Director of Sales and Marketing, Jeremy. Gerard, Jeremy, welcome to the show, man. Thanks for having me one of One of two members of the studio that's actually not in New Jersey.
00:07:10
Speaker
Yes, you're repping New Jersey by way of Rhode Island. That is it. that is There we go. Well, thank you again so much for for joining us. It's been long time coming. we've you know We've crossed paths. We've talked.
00:07:24
Speaker
We've yeah finally you know gotten things together to to get you on here. so we've We've done the opposite. Usually we meet people on here first and then in person, but we've you're you're the rare exception of we've met you in person first.
00:07:36
Speaker
It's not going to be there. Uh, so before, before we dive into all things for horsemen, uh, as, as this is a show about collecting the first question that we ask all of our guests, uh, what are you currently collecting and, uh, what are some of your recent pickups?
00:07:53
Speaker
So the bulk of my collecting is actually our products. Uh, you know I, I'm a huge Legions fan. I started, that's how I started this whole journey.
00:08:04
Speaker
So I'm still as excited as any for the actual Legions product. But outside of Full Horseman Studios, I've recently gotten absolutely hooked on the Ben Cooper kids line from NECA. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those are cool.
00:08:20
Speaker
ah do But man, dude, they got slow down. Oh my goodness. Like every day i feel i feel like I get up and there's another pre-order for five more figures. I have it at my house. I have them all like, cause I didn't open them because i really love them in package. yeah And I have them all like thumbtacked up around the the corner of part of the room and I'm quickly running out of space. So that's been...
00:08:46
Speaker
that's been The primary thing I've been picking up lately. I did just today. i got in a package with a band. I did a reproduction of, you know, the big jumbo Shogun Warriors from the 70s.
00:09:03
Speaker
Yeah. I love those things. I had I had a couple when I was a kid. And that's been one of the things that I've been hunting down at toy shows recently. ah Both Eric Treadway from the studio myself, every time we go to toy shows, so we're hunting down Shoguns.
00:09:18
Speaker
And Bandai doing like reissues of them. And not only are they, you know reissuing them, but they're doing like the Japanese versions that had all these extra parts that weren't available in the American releases. Oh, wow. I just got...
00:09:34
Speaker
I just got the ah their reissue of Mazinger, and i opened it today. that's It's crazy to open up a toy. i mean, it's like a 1970s toy because it's the same parts and everything, but it's absolutely factory fresh.
00:09:49
Speaker
Everything is super clean. All the missiles are there. So that was a pretty cool kind of kicking me back to my childhood moment, cracking that thing open. That's awesome.
00:09:59
Speaker
Yeah. Very cool. I think – So I don't know which two are there, but Chubbs actually has two in the shop that he picked up at somewhere, and they're up on the top shelf. They're up on the top shelf.
00:10:14
Speaker
um And he got them in the one day, and I happened to be in there like right after he got them, and I was like, where hell did you dig these up? um But yeah, it's it's so cool to see those in person. I mean, they just...
00:10:26
Speaker
they don't make toys. Well, yeah not everybody makes toys that big. Yeah. yeah They're fun to hunt down. You know, I go to, obviously I go to a lot of toy shows, right. And the worst thing is going to a toy show and not buying any toys, but I'm at the point where I am like a lot of the stuff that I collect, cause do have a lot of different collections. I have, you know Transformers Masterpiece. I've got G.I. Joe Classified. I've got,
00:10:55
Speaker
a large Marvel, like, you know, Legends collection. And for most of those sets, I'm pretty much happy with where I am. I don't, I'm not adding to them these days. So when I go to toy shows and especially when it's a lot of modern stuff, I'm not buying a lot of that. So it's been fun to go and hunt down some of this weird, wacky stuff. And Shoguns are great because they have them most toy shows, but they're in such crazy different states of,
00:11:24
Speaker
like disrepair. yeah like I've seen some that are like so absolutely trashed that I absolutely don't want. So it's kind of like finding that happy medium where, okay, I don't want it mint because it's going to be way more than I want to pay, but I don't want it trashed. So finding that that kind of like needle in a haystack and it's the the right condition for the right price, it's given me something to hunt for when I do the shows.
00:11:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's great. Yeah, it's and it's almost like when the when you find the ones that are like completely thrashed, they almost become sort of like art pieces you know in a way. ah You know, like the like the patina of loved toy. Even when they're trashed, they're usually like $200.
00:12:11
Speaker
Like and no one's like like yeah I found one that was legit trash and it was like $50, that's probably something I would buy just for the sake of what you're talking about. But for $200, I'm like, yes yeah I can't bring home something that's genuinely that broken at that price.
00:12:27
Speaker
Or even like, you know, how can I clean this up and make it look somewhat presentable? yeah For $200, that's a tough pill to swallow. you And I've had that conversation and i'm now know thyself.
00:12:42
Speaker
I'm the type of person, I know this about myself, that will buy something saying, I'm going to clean this up and get some repro stickers. No, I'm not doing any of that. I'm going to get it. It's going to go wherever I put it.
00:12:53
Speaker
And i'm I'm going to intend to do all those things. And I'm never going to actually do it. And then at some point, I'm going to find a better condition one and just say, like, you know what?
00:13:04
Speaker
Let me just buy that one. Yeah. i have I have lived that myself, I'll not'll tell you that much of with a handful of things. um So getting into to you, Jeremy, um what do you do at Four Horsemen Studios um and how did you make your way there?
Jeremy's Role and Journey at Four Horsemen Studios
00:13:22
Speaker
So my my title is Director of Sales and Marketing. That's my primary responsibility. So I'm in charge of all aspects of the sales and marketing. So all of the outward facing communications that you see, whether that's the website, whether that's the social media, ah you know, posts and platforms, all of that is myself putting that together, writing all that content and publishing all that.
00:13:51
Speaker
um I also deal with all of our retailers. So, you know, we we have a worldwide retailer network. You were talking about ZapCon at the start of the show. Zap is one of our our retailers in New Jersey.
00:14:06
Speaker
I'm the one that interfaces with all of them to help them with their orders, to help them, you know, understand the product. So really driving the communications and the the sales and everything for Full Horseman Studios is my primary responsibility.
00:14:23
Speaker
um One of the great things is because we are such a small company, a lot you know we all kind of do multiple things. It's not it's not so rigid. It's not this rigid corporate structure where you only do that one job that you have.
00:14:38
Speaker
So I've been fortunate that I get to actually do a lot on the creative side as well. ah I work very closely with Eric Treadway, many people who know four Horsemen and know Mythic Legions or Legions in general.
00:14:53
Speaker
Everything that we put out is sculpted by one person. which is insane when you really think about it. If you look at the body of work over the last decade for legions to understand that all of that was sculpted by Eric Treadway an incredibly impressive feat.
00:15:09
Speaker
um I get to work very closely with Eric, both from ah the standpoint of the lore. So I write all of the content these days, whether that's the bios, whether that's the book that's coming out, all of that is content that I write in collaboration with Eric. Eric created this world. He,
00:15:27
Speaker
He's the one that set the parameters for the story. And now I get to go in and kind of fill in the blanks on all of that. um And then I do get to do some design work on the figures as well.
00:15:37
Speaker
ah You know, again, Eric sculpts everything. But because we do so many figures that are reusing our library of parts, um I really got started with this line as a customizer. That's how I came to the attention of the studio, was doing custom figures with the Legion's line. So I'm used to looking at the parts and kind of thinking about what's possible with them.
00:16:01
Speaker
And that served me really well with the line itself, where there have been a number of figures, both the Legion's Con exclusive, certainly, but even a number of figures in the main line that I've been able to contribute to in a meaningful way to those designs.
00:16:17
Speaker
In terms of how I got here. So I mentioned that I was a super fan of the line right from the start. I knew Four Horsemen Studios. I knew the Four Horsemen back from their time at McFarland Toys.
00:16:29
Speaker
And then when they opened up Four Horsemen Studios, I was you know one of the people on their message boards voting for the fantastic exclusive, you know, back in the day. And then I backed their Kickstarter for the Gothetropolis birds and certainly for Mythic Legions as well. So I was an original Mythic Legions Kickstarter backer.
00:16:47
Speaker
As I mentioned, I started not only collecting, but customizing them as well. And then when they did their second Kickstarter for Advent of Decay, One of the reward thresholds or rewards, things you could select was an event called Intern for a Day, where basically you get to go to Full Horseman Studios, spend the day with the studio learning how they do what they do. So I did that.
00:17:13
Speaker
It was my first time ever at Full Horseman Studios. Incredible experience. But even more so because when I introduced myself, they knew who I was. Like they had seen my customs online and everything.
00:17:25
Speaker
And I kind of struck up ah a conversation and a bit of a friendship. ah So much so that about a month later, I got an email from Corn Boy, one of the founders and owners, inviting me back to the studio. But this time, instead of a paid intern, i was an invited guest to be part of something they called G-Con, which was...
00:17:47
Speaker
an event This was back before COVID, before doing virtual broadcasts were something everyone did. It was something that they wanted to do in order to show off a new wave. Instead of going out to San Diego, which is a very expensive endeavor for the studio, they were like, you know what, let's bring our friends to us.
00:18:07
Speaker
Let's broadcast this on our social channels and we'll reveal a new wave. And I got to go and be one of the guests that they interviewed and I got to show off my customs. That just solidified our relationship ah to the point where eventually I was talking with one of the other founders and owners, Jim Preziosi, and he asked me what I did for a living. And when I told him I did you know digital marketing and website design, he was surprised and he said, well, why aren't you helping us out with our digital presence on our website.
00:18:39
Speaker
And like, I never wanted to be that guy, right? Like at the time, their digital footprint was horrendous. Like the website was just so sparse. The best way to actually get information was to become a friend with Cornboy on Facebook.
00:18:55
Speaker
Like that was literally the way this company conveyed most of their information. was Cornboy posting it, not even to the company page, but posting it to his own personal page on Facebook. So but I never wanted to be that guy that was like, oh, you should hire me. You need my help.
00:19:14
Speaker
But they absolutely did need my help. And i started working part time for them. I took over the website. I redesigned the website and I started managing it, writing new content, just kind of keeping that going.
00:19:27
Speaker
And then over the course of a couple of years, my role got bigger and bigger. I started doing more and more with the studio, leading a lot of presentations and so forth.
00:19:38
Speaker
And then actually just over three years ago, that would have been you know March 2022. I ended up joining the studio full time in that role as director of sales and marketing.
00:19:50
Speaker
So I've worked with the company for about six years now, but the last three of them have been as a full time member of the team. it's It's always so interesting. you know we've We've interviewed... you know been Been doing this show now for five years and you know have interviewed people from all walks of life and different companies.
00:20:08
Speaker
And it's always so funny that... like and Not funny, but you know cool, I guess. but like The people who are passionate about this any given thing, right well Mythic Legions, wrestling figures, G.I. Joe, whatever it is, right like they always end up carving their way in somehow. Yeah. You know, it's just funny how how it works. It's a very, like, shoot-your-shot kind of industry in a way.
00:20:34
Speaker
Yeah. And like I said, I never... I never wanted to shoot my shot. Like, I never... i Because at the time, had a really good job. I was the director of marketing for an IT company here in Rhode Island.
00:20:47
Speaker
Loved the company I worked for. I'm not into technology. like I worked with a bunch of like genuine technology guys, and I didn't care. like Microsoft would drop like a new like package or update, and they'd get all super geeked out. And I was just like...
00:21:03
Speaker
I don't care at all. But I loved the company and I loved you know the way we helped people. And I was like i was excited about that. like I was passionate about communicating the you know the impact that we had for our clients.
00:21:18
Speaker
But I never I mean, toys, collecting toys and everything has been something I've done for decades. I never imagined i would be in the toy industry. So when it happened, it really did catch me by surprise.
00:21:30
Speaker
But it's actually something that Four Horsemen Studios has done a number of times. Like if you if you look at our full time roster these days, so many people started as fans or friends of the studio.
00:21:44
Speaker
You know, ah Chris Gorich, who's our production manager, he used to work at NECA. He's worked at Jazz Wears and everything. He started just doing like helping out the studio because he was already going over to China. So he was like, yeah, you know I'll look in on your production. i'll I'll help you out. I'll do a little bit for you on the side.
00:22:01
Speaker
You know, a couple years later, he becomes the full time production manager. Yeah. you know Nate Bartsch, the guy that does all of our artwork, if you've ever heard his story, he actually did a piece of fan art on a Motu message board.
00:22:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that the studio saw and was like, hey, this is awesome. Do you want to do a packaging painting for us? Dude's now a full-time member of the team, does all of our packaging. So it's incredible how this studio has found technology. talent out there within the fan base and made our our company and our team that much stronger because of the way they've recruited and hired those people in.
00:22:43
Speaker
Yeah, the other thing you talk about too is the worldide worldwide reach and getting things like out there. I thought one of the coolest things about a year ago, i was in Europe, I was in England and then ended up in Paris and walked into a comic shop and I was like, oh, and then there was like Mythic Legions and I'm like, oh, that's that's from where I'm from. like Yeah. And it was really cool to see, like just yeah blew my mind that it was like, yep, France knows what's up like. it's
00:23:15
Speaker
Dude, I get so geeked out. I went to, so i went to Salem last Halloween, Salem, Massachusetts, not too far from where I am. And I walked in, a great comic shop over there.
00:23:25
Speaker
And i walked in and they're not one of our retailers. So it's not like walking into like zap and, you know, seeing them on the shelf and knowing they're going to be there because they're a retailer, but they had a handful of legions at this comic shop in Salem. And, you know, I get so geeked out and I was like, I was taking pictures of them. and sending them to our company chat. And i was like, look, guys, look.
00:23:47
Speaker
I mean, that's that's the kind of company we still are, right? Like, we're not this giant company that's in, you know, major box stores all across the the country where that doesn't excite us. Like, me walking into a comic shop in Salem generates me sending pictures to our entire company and being like, hey, guys, look how cool this is.
00:24:09
Speaker
And all of the people, the owners and everyone, commenting how neat that that is that I found some of our figures out in the wild. Well, speaking of of cool things, 2025 is a big year for for the Horsemen as it marks 10 years of of Mythic Legions.
00:24:26
Speaker
ah What's it been like in in your time 4 Horsemen Studios to see the line go from the crowdfund that you were a backer on to really where it is today?
Mythic Legions Growth and Community Support
00:24:37
Speaker
mean, it's been incredible. Like I said, I've been working for the company for six years now. So when I first came on board, it was you know much different time. Like ah there were certain waves that have come out in the line that are really game changing waves.
00:24:57
Speaker
Aerithere was one of them. So Aerithere was one that was actually solicited in 2019 but didn't actually come out until like i think it was like late 2020-21 the bottom line was it was solicited before covid and it came out after covid so by the time it came out you if you remember after covid that was like a crazy time for collecting where you know, everyone had tons of extra money that they had nothing to spend it on because they couldn't go anywhere.
00:25:29
Speaker
So a lot of people were pouring money into their collections. So Erythyr hit and it was such a game changing wave. And that was a point where I was now working for the company. So I really feel like I came on board at a time where it was just poised to explode. And I got to see it really elevate to that next level.
00:25:51
Speaker
um And then what we've done in the last few years since then is we've really tried to become so much more purposeful in what we're doing, where in those early days where the team was only, you know, a couple members, there wasn't as much purpose. planning and strategy. But, you know, now that we're not only offering Mythic Legions, but we've got Cosmic Legions, we've got Figure Obscura, you know, 2025, we last year in Legions Con, actually, we announced Infinite Legions, which is a new line that we're going to be debuting this year.
00:26:25
Speaker
um Legacies of Mythos, which is a subline of Mythic Legions. To be able to support that amount of product with a team as small as we had, everything needs to be carefully planned out. So it's been really cool to be a part of that and just to see the community grow.
00:26:42
Speaker
A huge part of what makes us a success is the way that we've embraced the fan community and they've embraced us in return. It's everyone always says we've got the best fans. That's that That's not a surprise, a company saying that.
00:27:00
Speaker
um But I would stack our fans up against anybody. They are such a inclusive, welcoming, warm group of people. If you come to Legion's Con and you hang out and you see a group like that, it's evidence of how this group is different. So to be a part of this and, you know, the toys are awesome. Like I'm so proud of the toys that we are able to release.
00:27:23
Speaker
But when I think about the community we have and the stories that get shared with us about the impact that this line has had on people, it's absolutely incredible.
00:27:35
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we've we've seen that firsthand at, you know, yeah you know the the different, like, the NJ Toy Con and, you know, ah that you know the the events locally that we've been to where when you guys have a table set up there, it's like people just happily wait in line and the line ends up... And this is actually how I really first found out.
00:27:56
Speaker
I was at one of the toy shows and I was there with buddy. And I think, yeah, Dave, you were there with me at this one, at the one in Parsippany, where... um we had a friend that like hopped on this line and was, and we're like, what are you waiting?
00:28:09
Speaker
So much going What waiting in this line for? it And he's like, Oh, legions. And like, we just started talking and then like the line, you know, we started absorbing more people into the line and then we got to the front and all of a sudden it was like, Oh, I guess I'm going to get a couple of these, see what's going on. You know, i've been waiting in this line for a half hour. So, um but yeah, it was great. Cause it was just like having a great conversation and then get figures at the end of it. It was yeah great.
00:28:34
Speaker
We've had that, So I did a show in California earlier this year, and it was our first time in Southern California in quite some time.
00:28:45
Speaker
And our fan base came out and there was like goes a line of people. And as soon as they opened the doors, they were rushing over. And it was funny because the showrunner told me after the show, they had never seen anything like that right Like at a toy show where suddenly there's a line of people that all rush in and are walking out with boxes of figures.
00:29:06
Speaker
And one of the other vendors said to the showrunner, are they giving away toys? happened and He said, no they're selling toys. And he and the they they were stunned.
00:29:17
Speaker
Like they had never seen anything like that, that kind of fan interaction. um And we have that happen to us at shows all the time where people, people see a line and they see the energy and they're like, I don't know what this is, but I need some.
00:29:32
Speaker
Like this is clearly hot. I mean, as toy collectors, right. When, when something's hot, we want to know what are we missing? Exactly. I'm missing out on something. Do I need to jump on this?
00:29:44
Speaker
And, I always say that as the director of sales and marketing, one of the things that makes my job easier is I don't need to create super fans.
00:29:55
Speaker
I just need to get people to buy a couple of our figures, one, maybe two figures, because I've seen it time and time again. So many people because This is an original IP. We don't have a comic book or a movie or a cartoon or you know something that people have seen.
00:30:12
Speaker
There's no nostalgia play here where they're like, oh, I want that because I love Star Wars and I grew up with that. Or I just saw the new Marvel movie and I want that character. um Our figures are there's a story there. But first and foremost, they are toys.
00:30:28
Speaker
So when you see people pick it up and they're like, oh, I've heard of these before, but I never picked one up because i didn't know what they were about. Once they get it and they start playing with them and they're like, these things are awesome. Is this what I've been missing all this time?
00:30:44
Speaker
I cannot tell you the amount of testimonials I've seen that people will say, i picked up my first legions, you know, six months ago. I'm now 200 deep, which is insane, but it happens time and time again.
00:30:57
Speaker
And now, a word from our sponsors.
00:31:05
Speaker
This segment is brought to you by our friends at Chubsy Wubsy Toys. A traditional mom and pop toy store in Little Falls, New Jersey, Chubsy Wubsy Toys brings you the best new toys from the brands you love without the hassle of pounding the pavement searching for them at larger retail stores.
00:31:22
Speaker
Visit them in person at their brand new home at 101 Newark Pompton Turnpike Suite 1 in Little Falls, New Jersey, or online at chubzywubzy.com.
00:31:34
Speaker
That's
00:31:40
Speaker
And tell them that Adventures in Collecting sent you.
00:31:47
Speaker
And now, back to the show. So I'm going to use this as a perfect segue because those two, I bought two. and I bought, it was Magnus.
00:31:59
Speaker
Ooh, it's a good one. gold Right, gold armor. yeah And it was just like a um ah Black Knight. It actually looked like the Black Knight from Monty Python. That's why bought it. That's probably the Black Knight Legion building. Yeah.
00:32:11
Speaker
So I bought bought those two and I was like, oh, these are these are really cool. like I'm not the biggest like sword and sorcery guy personally, but I was like, I get it. I understand it. Shortly thereafter though, you guys went and announced what is, i actually, I would pull it out right now, but it's, it's like nestled in a good spot and I'm worried it will cascade if I try to pull it out. But I very soon after that bought what I would consider in my collection to be literally my favorite singular piece in my entire collection of everything that I have. and could Can confirm. Which is my favorite fictional character from anything Yeah.
00:32:47
Speaker
ah the Headless Horseman. So some of my favorite pieces, and I think I could speak for Dave too, is has been from that figure obscure Obscure Line because while I'm not a big sword and sorcery guy, I'm a huge Christmas Carol guy. I'm a huge Headless Horseman guy. Mask of the Red Dead. All of that stuff is like, that speaks to
Character Selection for Figure Obscura
00:33:09
Speaker
me. And and having had my hands on two mythic legions figures prior to that it's like oh when you announce these i then knew like what to expect in terms of like you know delivery but how do you guys like it's such a it's such a night hard right from what you're doing with mythic legions to figure obscura how do you select what you're going to do with with that line
00:33:33
Speaker
I love Figure Obscura. Figure Obscura has become such an important part of our company. It is very much a gateway for us because You got a couple legions first and then you picked up figure obscura. But what we see is a lot of people go the opposite way where, yeah, legions look cool, but i don't know what they are, but the headless horseman, i know what that is. That's a great piece. I can display that at a Halloween.
00:34:00
Speaker
They buy that. And then now they understand legions. So figure obscura started because, you know, our owner, Jim wanted to do a holiday figure and they were like, Hey, we could probably do something pretty cool with our existing parts and just a few extra pieces. So Krampus and the Headless Horseman were the first two that were designed.
00:34:23
Speaker
And if you look at the Headless Horseman and you know our library of parts, there's very little new on that figure. You know, the pumpkin head is brand new. The severed neck is brand new.
00:34:35
Speaker
The hand that has got the peg that holds the pumpkin. Those are the only, oh, and the collar. Those are the only new I'm looking at it and smiling, by the way. So early on, the idea with figure obscura was couple new parts. The rest of it is existing library and we get to do a holiday figure.
00:34:53
Speaker
But the reality was figure obscura took off and became such a popular line for us that it gave us the ability to invest more heavily into it. And then if you see a figure like Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, yeahp that is almost a head to toe new figure.
00:35:10
Speaker
You know, we have Frankenstein that came out the past year, Frankenstein's Creature. It was a head to toe new figure. Like there was no parts reuse in it. It was completely brand new. So the way that we select what gets done, it is genuinely so, so pure.
00:35:29
Speaker
It's what Eric is inspired to do. He once said to me that if I ever have to like force myself to do a figure of Skira, we're doing it wrong and I'm not doing it.
00:35:40
Speaker
So he we have deadlines, we have things that we have to do. you know We've gotta keep the mythic line running, and we've gotta keep the cosmic line running. Figure Obscura is his breath of fresh air, it's his palate cleanser.
00:35:52
Speaker
and yeah have We have a list of potential figures we want to do for Figure Obscura. Everything on that list would be awesome, but not everything is right at specific times. So we're very we're very careful about which ones we select at which times based on other stuff we're doing, based on the parts that we may have coming that we can reuse.
00:36:17
Speaker
But at the end of the day, the criteria, the number one criteria is work. What is Eric inspired to do? You know, he did again, Sun Kung, the monkey king, because it's a figure he had always wanted to do.
00:36:31
Speaker
yeah Eric has sculpted for so many different companies. He's done so many. I mean, he's sculpted from Star Wars and obviously Masters in the Universe and Turtles and Nightmare Before Christmas.
00:36:43
Speaker
His resume is incredible. So the fact that there are still characters he's never had a chance to sculpt that he really wants to approach, that is what one of the things that we get to do with figure are obscure.
00:36:56
Speaker
And you mentioned you're a big Christmas Carol guy. As am i Christmas Carol is possibly my all time favorite story. And Those figures. the Jacob Marley was an absolute labor of love for me specifically.
00:37:13
Speaker
Oh my God. what a what an larry figure What an execution. And I love... So i love as much as it's like a love-hate relationship with the Cadence, because like I would love to have them all display. Because i i i see I see the direction, like you know which which way we're going with them.
00:37:29
Speaker
But like I would love... I can't wait three like three years from now to have them all together. and you know like I'm super, super, super excited. He can't wait, and he can't wait. yeah like yeah if the The other thing is, if if if you could inspire Eric, sprinkle a little x yeah inspiration on him.
00:37:49
Speaker
Ichabod Crane, man, to go with our horseman. So we talked about it. So one of the challenges with a character like Ichabod Crane is it's a great character.
00:38:00
Speaker
It would be awesome for the display, but it's not the most exciting toy. And that's one of the challenges that we have is like, even when we do a character like Ghost of Christmas Past,
00:38:14
Speaker
we do get some blowback from certain people that are like, it's not fighty enough. You know, a character that doesn't have weapons or, i mean, the ghost of Christmas past, like we made her straight up creepy. Like, Oh yeah, you did.
00:38:27
Speaker
The bonus head is very, very ghoulish. in at least Yeah. But that's one of the that's one of the things that we always look at as well is because there's a ton of characters. And this is also, you know, going back to Mythic Legions, we've had people request like villagers in Mythic Legions.
00:38:45
Speaker
Yeah. And i'm I'm probably the most vocal person that says, i don't want villagers. Yeah. And whenever I have this conversation, i'm like, okay, name me the villages you want.
00:38:56
Speaker
Everyone always starts with the blacksmith. And I'm like, stop the blacksmith. ah Yes, the blacksmith is cool. After that, where are you going? Do you want a baker? Like, do you want a miller? Like, are you really excited for a miller action figure? Well, you do the baker, you do the candlestick maker. it just its So my point is that...
00:39:15
Speaker
I get why people want those types of figures, but their appeal is very limited. Eric has told this story before that when he was doing a lot of work for Mattel and the horsemen were, all these people would ask for like, when are you going to do Alfred?
00:39:30
Speaker
Like, you know they wanted all of those figures to build out the full display. Dude, Alfred doesn't sell the way that Batman and Joker and yeah all of those more dynamic, visually exciting characters do. So at the end of the day, Figure Obscure is a passion project for us.
00:39:51
Speaker
But there's also a business reality that we have to kind of say, like, OK, will we be able to actually move enough units of that to justify doing it? See, the good thing about Ichabod is it gives you it gives you a ah ah way to get the horse, like another horse back out there. And that could be a selling point, too, for a lot of people just to be able to get another horse.
00:40:11
Speaker
And, you know, you give him like a like a crazy scared face or something like that. And and just think of all like the the rad regional, like mythical monsters. Oh, yeah. Jersey Devils. Jersey Devils. and We're in New Jersey. Yeah.
00:40:26
Speaker
Cryptozoology is something we haven't touched on in the line, but right from the beginning where we talked about what Figura was, you know, we said folklore, literature, mythology, cryptozoology. So it was in the mix of the types of characters because at the end of the day, what we're pulling from is stuff that's in the public domain, like, you know, Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Christmas Carol or stuff that,
00:40:54
Speaker
kind of falls outside of having copyright. You know, a lot of the cryptozoology stuff, nobody has a copyright on that. So a lot of that stuff, mythology, you know, we did the gods of ancient Egypt and stuff. Nobody has a copyright on Anubis. So yeah all of that stuff is totally fair game. And that's one of the fun things to do with the line as well. Like, so a couple of years ago we did Monkey King,
00:41:23
Speaker
Mask of the Red Death and Jacob Marley all in one year. It didn't intentionally do literature. Like there was no point that we said, let's really focus on literature this year. It just those were the characters that happened to get done.
00:41:37
Speaker
But when we followed up, we realized, oh, we did a lot of literature last year. Let's make sure that we don't do that this year. Let's make sure we mix in some other stuff. And that's one of the reasons why the gods of ancient Egypt were done.
00:41:50
Speaker
because it was something that was unexpected and different and not just another piece, another character from popular literature.
Baethyr Dragon Development
00:41:59
Speaker
Yeah, makes plenty of sense.
00:42:01
Speaker
um So let's let's talk about the ah crowdfund, Bayethere. So 10 years ten years in um we're tackling the Forestman Studios are tackling the dragon that is a dream project for many fans.
00:42:17
Speaker
um Why was now the right time? Well, i mean, we're at the point now where we've got enough fan support. We've got enough of a customer based built up and the studios, you know, able to be able to realistically do something like this. I mean, if you look at our early Mythic Legions figures and compare them to what we're doing these days,
00:42:44
Speaker
You can obviously see that we've learned along the way. um i mean, digital sculpting is one of the biggest changes that have been introduced in the Mythic Regions line through that 10 year life cycle. So everything just kind of converged at this point with it being the 10 year anniversary to say like, hey, we think we've got the the fan support to work.
00:43:09
Speaker
be able to realistically produce something like this and get the market support. um But also it's the kind of thing that Eric was ready to sit down and sculpt.
00:43:21
Speaker
One of the amazing things about this figure. So I said that digital sculpting is something that's been introduced into the line. Eric started life back at McFarland Toys as a traditional sculptor.
00:43:34
Speaker
So everything was being sculpted in clay. um And he did that with Mythic Legions as well. The first wave of Mythic Legions, all of those figures were sculpted traditionally. It wasn't until like Avent of Decay that some of those figures started being done digitally.
00:43:49
Speaker
ah What's interesting with Eric is even though he sculpts totally digitally these days, he still has the habits in like the learned ways. They'll learn skill set from being a traditional sculptor. So a lot of purely digital sculptors who learn digital, they probably would have used something like a pattern stamp or something on the dragon to do all those scales.
00:44:13
Speaker
Eric sculpted every single scale on Bayethere individually. which is absolutely insane. The fact that, I mean, when there there is so much surface area on this thing.
00:44:25
Speaker
And every single piece of this, Eric went in and sculpted them. There's a great documentary that ah Bradley Treadway, who's another full-time member of the studio, we released a great documentary called Birth of the Dragon. There's a number of scenes of Eric at his workstation sculpting and just seeing him like flesh out one of those scales and imagining that he did that for every single scale on this dragon gives you a a sense of the scope of this project and what really went into its creation.
00:45:01
Speaker
So you know this is obviously ah quite the undertaking, um and the project itself is is structured a little differently than some of the other kind of big items we've seen from other toy companies.
00:45:14
Speaker
ah How did you determine how Baethere would be offered? Well, originally, we were just going to put them up as a regular pre-order. I mean, Kickstarter has an ah important role in the the Mythic Legions line. The first wave was crowdfunded through Kickstarter.
00:45:32
Speaker
the The biggest at the time, mean the biggest Legions wave that ever has happened is Avent of Decay at 43 figures. But at the time, that was... a big investment as well because it was all the like the but what we call the 2.0 figures the females and the elves the goblins the thinner ones um but we have not had to use crowdfunding for any of the waves since then the the fan support has been there but we had intended to just put baethere out as a regular pre-order but when we got the pricing back from the factory we realized we had dramatically underestimated the costs on this
00:46:10
Speaker
Corn Boy has said this recently, and I've been repeating it on a lot of interviews I've done that. He basically said we we made a thing without realizing how expensive it was going to be to make that thing.
00:46:22
Speaker
And that's the truth of it. is When we got when we got the prices back from the factory, we were so surprised that we we knew that it would be irresponsible for our company to just say, plunge forward, let's just make this thing and hope for the best.
00:46:39
Speaker
um We wanna still be making toys many years to come. We don't want Bayether as awesome as he is to burn down our company. So we said, you know what?
00:46:52
Speaker
It's probably fitting that 10 years in, we're going back to a square one and we're going to do a crowdfund. let's Let's put Bay of Thier up. We're going to set a minimum funding goal. We're going to set some thresholds to make sure that before we take this leap,
00:47:09
Speaker
That the demand is out there, that the sales are out there to support doing this. We did consider using Kickstarter. ah Kickstarter offered a number of benefits, including you know exposure.
00:47:24
Speaker
But the downside to Kickstarter is that it costs a lot more money. we you know We had to get a certain amount of money to sell Baethere. This is a math problem. right At the end of the day, we have a certain unit cost.
00:47:38
Speaker
We've got to charge a certain amount to make this viable. If we went with a platform like Kickstarter, we'd have to charge more. and This already being such an expensive figure, we were very much focused on We want to keep it as, ah you know, as affordable as possible. I know calling a $550 Dragon affordable may be a bit of a stretch, but it's better than a $600 Dragon or a $650. So that was kind of our approach and why we said, let's just sell it.
00:48:08
Speaker
on our website. We also sell gift cards on our website and we knew a lot of people have been stockpiling them and asking them for gifts specifically so they could apply it to the Dragon. So that was another benefit of keeping it in-house and ultimately just having it on a platform that that we can control and that gives us the flexibility we need to make sure that we're properly meeting our fans' needs for this particular figure.
00:48:36
Speaker
So, you know, in ah in kind of like a quick rundown of of the ah of the actual offering here and just kind of going through the the um the different tiers, i as as we're going to do here and in just a moment, I think one of the things that stood out too to a lot of people was, you know, the difference between kind of like tiers and add-ons, right? so Was it wasn't really just kind of determined, again, by the the size and the the production cost? just Yeah. and In terms of you know the head and the the the the alt head and the the alt wings and stuff like that. Yeah. yeah I mean, the wings and – if you look at like the add-on pieces, the wing and the the neck and everything, it's like –
00:49:20
Speaker
half of the dragon, like half of the dragon size is in that the, the, the net part and everything that comes off in those gigantic wings. So when we got the prices for that, I've seen a lot of people say like, Oh, you should have added them as stretch goals.
00:49:36
Speaker
We couldn't like they're too expensive. You we can't add a stretch goal that costs that amount of money. It's, do mean We could, but it would unlock it 10,000 units sold or something like that. It would be a really, really high number.
00:49:50
Speaker
um So for us, we said, hey, we'd shown all that stuff at Legion's Con. We had shown two dragons. The standard build in the add on, you know, for a minute we toyed about not selling the add ons. We were like, hey, because it's going to be because we knew we were going to get some blowback from people saying like, oh, the dragon is eight hundred and fifty dollars. No, the dragon is five fifty. He comes with a neck. He comes with a head. He comes with wings.
00:50:18
Speaker
But if you want additional pieces, ah you know, extra pieces, that is the add on. I heard someone compare it to like buying a car, right? You can buy a car and it's a fully functional vehicle.
00:50:30
Speaker
But if you want to upgrade with the spoiler and the sound system and the tinted windows and the the special wheels or whatever, I'm not a car guy. So I and then that neither am my sam i think that's what people spend money on. But But the point being is the car works fine without those things. But if those things are important to you, you can get them.
00:50:51
Speaker
You just have to pay more. And that's the way that we approach the add-on sets is we knew that if we didn't offer them, people that had seen them at Legion's Con that really wanted them would be upset. But if we threw them all in the package, it would have been $850. And we didn't want to say, OK, the price of admission is $850.
00:51:10
Speaker
we wanted to say okay the price of admission is 550 and we're going to give you some options if you want these other pieces you can certainly buy them but that's why we also added figures to those sets because we knew that we could add some really cool figures to those pieces that didn't add a ton of cost for us but added a ton of value to the package so you know, it's all about like perception is wanting to make sure that people feel like they're getting their money's worth.
00:51:42
Speaker
If they're just buying the wings or they're just buying that, you know, fire breathing head, that's super cool. But if we also throw in a figure that's not going to be sold elsewhere, that's not sold individually, there's that extra value that's added. And, you know, ultimately we looked at all these different options and,
00:52:01
Speaker
Landed on this one as being the best way to at least get this out there and give fans the ability to buy what's important to them. Well, the good news is that ah that fiery breath add-on is fully funded.
00:52:13
Speaker
So at the very least, you're getting the Burning Knight and a really cool wall-mountable that can bring you to the top. That could breathe breathe fire on it. so But you guys are you guys are also really close on the the number of the actual dragon. I think the last time i looked or last time you guys posted, you were up past 1,700, right? so Yeah, we were over today. Over think we're funded as of this morning. And obviously, we've had orders that game today
00:52:44
Speaker
so i I hesitate to say this is absolutely going to fund, but it's at the point now where it's going to fund. we're We're less than halfway through the campaign.
00:52:58
Speaker
It's over 90%. And let's be honest, most crowdfunding campaigns, you don't pay until the end of the campaign. Because we're using our regular store, we don't have the ability to do that.
00:53:11
Speaker
So this is a campaign that You pay up front. Like when you order, you pay. There's no incentive to do it early other than bragging rights. Other than saying, i with there are people that are like, I was a day one bath airbacker. Like that is, that's important to them.
00:53:31
Speaker
And It makes me so happy because it's proof that we've built this relationship. Like it's, it's so crazy. and It's, it sounds so disingenuous in this day and age to say that like, you know, we as a company that people have a personal relationship with us, but they do like, they know me, like they know George, they know Chris and Eric and corn boy and Diego and Joe All of us, when they go see us at shows, we we interact with them all the time and conversations we've had continue in person. How many companies do you buy from regularly that you can say that, that, you know, the people that work there and when you see them, a conversation that you've been having online immediately translates into in person.
00:54:20
Speaker
So these people want to support this project, not only because it's badass, but because they're like, hey, these are people I consider friends and they're doing something amazing. I want to support it. But that all being said, at the end of the day, it's a lot of money to drop before you have to. So We know that like every campaign, we're going to get a flurry of orders that final weekend. People who are waiting right to the end.
00:54:49
Speaker
All of our pre-orders do this as well. People wait right to that very end. We have people that they think it's fun. They're almost playing chicken with the pre-order. And they try to wait until the last, like the pre-order ends at 11. They put their order in at 10.59 every single time.
00:55:06
Speaker
They get some kind of thrill. So thinking about all of that, Being over 90% funded with everything I've just said is nothing short of amazing.
00:55:17
Speaker
This Dragon is absolutely going to fund. And the other thing, too, is you you announced that, um you know, in terms of the additional goals, the ah the Green Knight, Sir Benigar, has been added to the, you know, base level.
00:55:34
Speaker
So, um you know, when when and then I – this is always Dave's thing. We are not – Yeah, we are – We are a when podcast. We are not an if podcast. We are a when podcast. yeah When it funds. love it um Every backer will will get a Sir Benegar.
00:55:52
Speaker
Yeah, and we you know we made that decision. So I've said before that the way we approach stretch goals for this was we have a certain unit cost, right?
00:56:03
Speaker
When we hit higher numbers, like when we are going to produce more, our unit cost comes down a little bit because the more you make, it gets a little bit cheaper. So our approach was like, hey,
00:56:15
Speaker
If we don't add anything to this, the higher we sell, the more profit we make per dragon. That wasn't our goal. So we said, OK, if we get a price break and our unit cost comes down, let's add something back into the package that's equivalent to the savings we just got. So It brings our unit cost right back to where we were.
00:56:38
Speaker
We're now making the same amount of money on that dragon sale as we were before, but we've just added more value for the buyer. So now instead of paying $550 for the dragon, they're paying $550 for the dragon and the night or the dragon and the knight and the skeleton. That's the way we approach stretch goals on this campaign.
00:56:59
Speaker
The reason we added Sir Benegar early is not because we suddenly found some savings. It's because we said, you know what? We're in that period where all campaigns slump.
00:57:12
Speaker
We don't want this to be something that just trails on towards that final weekend. We want to get to those stretch goals earlier. We saw a lot of people saying, ah really want to back this, but I'm going to wait until Sir Benegar is unlocked.
00:57:27
Speaker
So we took a risk. We took a chance and we bet on our fans. And we said, you know what, we're going to open this up early because at the end of the day, if we get to where we need to get to in the end, whether we opened it up early or locked it where we originally said is not going to matter.
00:57:44
Speaker
You're coming to the same destination. You're just getting there a little bit differently. So that's that's what we did. We said, you know what? OK, we'll take a little bit of a hit here temporarily because we're going to bet on our fans that they're not going to stop at 2000.
00:58:00
Speaker
This figure would have been unlocked at twenty five hundred units. Now he's going to be part of the package at 2000. And we took all the other stretch goals and just move them down a little bit. So that's what we're doing here is we're rethinking how we're doing it, betting on the fans that this is going to help them have even more excitement for the package.
00:58:23
Speaker
Right on. Now, for those of us who didn't see it at any of the cons, um and for everybody who did, they kind of got to take a grasp of how big Baethere is.
00:58:35
Speaker
um How did... everybody land on the size as far as like production and how big it could be. And I think this picture is perfect that and the the one with the boxes yeah um just to see it in scale with other stuff is just kind of shows you're getting like a $550 dragon for sure.
00:58:54
Speaker
But ah how did how did um the size become the size? that's a funny story. So we We actually printed a really little one first. So this thing is so gigantic that the print times on it and the amount of resin are unprecedented. So we printed really small versions of them just so we could make sure that the fit in the articulation and everything made sense. But when we finally nailed that, you lock that in.
00:59:23
Speaker
Then we printed up the dragon and it was huge. Like we had that dragon head. I remember I was in the studio. We had the dragon head and it was gigantic until we put it up against some of our other figures, namely a horse.
00:59:39
Speaker
We put the dragon head as big as it was against a horse and it didn't feel big enough. Like as huge as it was, we were like this This is not going to be the overall scale that we want. like We didn't want, when you put the dragon next to a horse, it just be a little bit bigger.
01:00:00
Speaker
We've absolutely seen some people that wish Baethere was a little smaller. But at the end of the day, this is like a god level character in our mythology. Dragons are and absolute presence.
01:00:14
Speaker
It needed to have that sense of oomph in it. It needed to have that size. So we all looked at it and we said, let's do a couple more prints. Let's print it 10 percent bigger. Let's print it 20 percent bigger.
01:00:29
Speaker
That's the great thing about digital, right, is you can print it at any size that you want. Once you have that digital file, you can just print it So we did all of that. a few days later, those prints were ready and everyone in the studio looked at the sizes and unanimously, every one of us said 20%.
01:00:45
Speaker
twenty percent got one right there Because it had it had the size we wanted. Like again, relative to some of our other bigger characters, like the horses and the trolls, the smaller sizes, it just didn't have the kind of power that we needed for this dragon.
01:01:04
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, looking at this you know this picture, for those of us that are that are watching on on YouTube, but um you know i'm a as much as i before I just said I'm not a huge sword and sorcery fan, I loved the film Dragonheart.
01:01:15
Speaker
was like I loved loved when that came out. And looking at the the size of these 110 and 112 scale figures standing next to, my it's it looks like the right size for a dragon. Yeah.
01:01:30
Speaker
And this this particular photo got a ton of reaction because we had shared, actually back when we first debuted it at Legion's Con around that time, we shared a photo of the dragon with some of our figures. But if you know Legion's, that was impressive.
01:01:48
Speaker
But if you don't know the size of Legion's figures intimately, it would There was no context there. correct by displaying this with you know a variety of other lines, which, by the way, these were all just things that were lying around the office. Like literally the the call went out and we were like, hey, we need figures. Everyone, what do you have on your desk right now that we could put into this photo? And that's where all this stuff came from. It's all stuff that is in...
01:02:19
Speaker
our actual collections at the studio in one form or another. But if you look at this, you got Black Series, you got Classified, you got Marvel Legends. um I mean, we even threw some fun stuff in there, the California Raisin and the Glios and everything.
01:02:33
Speaker
You know, it gives you context. And this was the photo that I think a lot of people that had seen like the real sexy shots that we had done and we were like, wow, that looks really cool.
01:02:44
Speaker
And seeing this photo and having that context made them realize, oh, wow, that thing is absolutely massive. Yeah, trevor Trevor's shouts to to at at one six shooter on Instagram. trevor Trevor's photos made it look beautiful. These photos made it look massive.
01:03:03
Speaker
Yeah, that was when we were I remember we were first talking about I was like, I'm having trouble figuring out like how big this is. Yeah, because we you know, we haven't seen it. this We have not had the the opportunity to see in person ourselves. And we've know, we have friends that have, you know, conveyed its size and, you know, to us. But seeing this picture really kind of drove it home.
01:03:22
Speaker
To me, because this definitely shows the size and the size is what everyone's talking about. I will go on record saying right now that when people get this in hand, it's going to be the detail that everyone is talking about because there have been so many large scale flop like pieces that have come out recently, right? Like, you know, the cat's lair or the his tank or you know, the Sentinel and everything. And, you know, I have a bunch of those. I i don't have the Tats there. I have the Histank. I have the Sentinel. I have Galactus.
01:03:57
Speaker
I love those figures. I think they're great figures. But it's a hard comparison to compare those to Bay of Thayer. The Hiss Tank is a lot of black plastic, which is exactly what it needed to be. like There's nothing I'm saying they should have done differently there.
01:04:16
Speaker
But you look at a figure like Bay of Thayer, and while sculpturally it's incredibly impressive, this thing is covered in paint. Every inch of this gigantic, there's no unpainted plastic.
01:04:29
Speaker
You know, we didn't just do like some green plastic and do a little bit of dry brushing or highlights on it. Every single piece of this is highly, highly painted and detailed. I really do believe that when this arrives in fans hands, that's what's going to be like the blow in their mind type element is going to be just the amount of detail that the factory was able to pour into this thing.
01:04:54
Speaker
So before we ah we we say goodnight to the dragon and and answer a couple of of fan ah fan questions here that were submitted, um remind our listeners, and we'll do this again at the end as well, but remind our our listeners, our watchers, um where can they back Beathir and ah until when do they have to do so?
01:05:15
Speaker
So this figure is going to be offered exclusively at storehorseman.com. Even though we do have a robust retailer community, as I mentioned earlier, we priced this as low as we possibly could go to get it made.
01:05:33
Speaker
If we're pricing it as low as we could go, that means I don't have lower to go for wholesale prices for retailers. So this is only going to be available from us directly at Store Horseman. And the pre-order automatically.
01:05:46
Speaker
on April 6th, which is a Sunday, April 6th at 11 p.m. Eastern. All right. So as I mentioned, we do have a couple of questions here from ah that were submitted.
01:05:58
Speaker
um As is always the case, we know that ah your time is valuable. you know You can't be everywhere all at once, ah even though, you know as as we've mentioned multiple times on this ah on this episode, that how connected you are with the community.
01:06:13
Speaker
um We still want to make sure that we give our followers, our listeners, a chance to to ask questions when we have guests on. ah Dave, before we hop into those questions, please remind everyone how can they ah how can they participate in future ah episodes of the show?
01:06:28
Speaker
Yeah, so if you follow us at AIC underscore podcast dot com, and I'm for those of you watching, I'm looking into the camera. So that way we're we're having a moment.
01:06:40
Speaker
um So you follow us at AIC underscore podcast dot com. Usually the weekend before um we record, there'll be an announcement like this past weekend. Jeremy is going to be on.
01:06:53
Speaker
our show this week. um If you have any questions, you can tap on the field, send it, and you could be one of the featured questions um that we ask on the episode.
01:07:05
Speaker
And then, of course, you can watch, you can listen on all your favorite podcast locales. um Your favorite of choice our favorite for you to listen on.
01:07:15
Speaker
And, you know, go to our YouTube and watch it because, like, you know, I got a cool haircut, so take a look. And we then we do pictures and stuff now. Yeah, we do pictures now.
01:07:26
Speaker
um So that's at AIC underscore podcast as well. Yep. So ah from from our Instagram, ah from those those those ah submitted questions, we have selected ah two featured questions. So Dave, would you like to handle the first one here?
01:07:44
Speaker
Yes, and thank you for having an easy handle. At Mr. Underscore Zen asks, if Baethyr funds, are there plans for more dragons in the future?
01:07:56
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the nature of toy making is once you invest in those steel molds, which are wildly expensive, um especially for a figure like Baethyr, you want to get more squeeze out of that.
01:08:12
Speaker
ah That's what the Legion's line has been built on all these years, right, is a smart reuse of parts. Now, we can't get as many uses out of the Dragon parts as we do, say, a new torso or a new set of legs or something like that.
01:08:28
Speaker
But if we get this funded, or I should say when we get this funded, because this is a when podcast. ah When we get this funded and these pieces are all made, we absolutely will reuse them.
01:08:41
Speaker
What we won't do is reissue Bay of Thayer use these parts in this exact configuration again. When we do other dragons in the future, there will be not only new colors, but new additions as well. We're not just going to take Bay of Thayer, paint it a different color, give it a different name and call of the day.
01:09:02
Speaker
we will use the parts that we can reuse and add new parts where appropriate. right Awesome. So there you go. so if 135 plus dragon...
01:09:14
Speaker
plus dragon is You're ready for a second one. that's you If you want a dragon fight. that's I literally i cannot wait.
01:09:25
Speaker
because i'm ah Real estate is a problem for me in terms of display. I cannot wait to see where people put this. yeah I am very much going to be living vicariously through others, but I am stoked for everyone.
01:09:37
Speaker
I cannot wait. I cannot wait. As I was saying to to ah a friend of mine, like it's like it's like getting a ah plastic version of a toddler. So like just make sure that your shelves are like, they're party.
01:09:51
Speaker
You got to make sure they're really in there. um So our second and final question from ah the fan submissions here comes from at Jersey Maniac ah with some waves. ah we're going. So this is a question not directly related to the dragon um with some waves taking two plus two years to arrive.
01:10:09
Speaker
Is anything being done to prevent delays moving forward? For example, tooling being completed before waves are initially shown to us.
01:10:20
Speaker
Yeah, we're constantly trying to shorten that window from pre-order to delivery. And in the last few years, you know because there was a point that everything we did was pre-order.
01:10:33
Speaker
In the last few years, if you look at the amount of in-stock items we've been able to do, obviously, we talked about Figure Obscura. All of those are a surprise in stock drops.
01:10:45
Speaker
You know, we've done things like at Legion's Con, where we had the Valiant Knight figure a few years ago and the the Ninian infantry, the Snake Man. Right now, we we had this ah this touring figure we debuted at ZoloCon a few weeks ago called the Legendary Barbarian. These are all things that were.
01:11:05
Speaker
Fully tooled, ready to go. we ordered a number and did it as an in stock. So we are doing a lot more of that. But the preorder model is still an important part of what we're doing.
01:11:16
Speaker
The problem with the idea of, oh you guys should just like catch up. I can do that if I don't offer preorders for two years. Like if I just pump the brakes and say, okay you know what?
01:11:29
Speaker
Instead of offering any pre-orders, we are going to only offer things that are already tooled or whatever, which, you know, if we do that, people are like, oh, these are all reuse. We want new parts.
01:11:41
Speaker
It's not an easy solution. We're trying to find that balance. We have been sending stuff to the factories a lot earlier than we used to. At the end of the day, toy making is an incredibly complex process.
01:11:55
Speaker
And we admittedly do not make it easy on ourselves. You look at what a lot of other toy lines do, especially a lot of independent toy lines. Right.
01:12:06
Speaker
And when they do a new wave, it's typically like one buck. It's like one body that they reuse in a bunch of different and cool, creative ways. I wish that we could do that sometimes.
01:12:21
Speaker
I look at a wave like you know Rising Suns. So Rising Suns, we we sold that ah for pre-order a couple of years ago. It's not this past November, the one before.
01:12:35
Speaker
That's something that's in pre-production now. That wave had a new barbarian build in it. It had new parts for our like female figures. It had a whole suite of new parts for dwarves.
01:12:50
Speaker
It had new female parts in it. It had new ogre parts. And it had a bear, a full-size bear. That's a lot of different things that have to get tooled and have to get debugged.
01:13:05
Speaker
If any one of them causes a delay, the entire wave is delayed. So that's part of the challenge is we can do things faster.
01:13:18
Speaker
They're not going to be as cool. And that that's kind of the the approach we've always had. And we have a lot of our fans that say, you know what? I'd love the stuff to come out quicker.
01:13:29
Speaker
The waiting definitely is not ideal, but I would rather wait a little longer and get the quality that we get and get the variety that we get than get stuff more frequently.
01:13:42
Speaker
But it's just not as cool. So, yes, to to go back to answer the question a little more succinctly. Yes, we are constantly trying to find ways to shorten that window.
01:13:54
Speaker
But at the same time, we want to stay true to who we are and what we're producing. And we produce some very complex products. All right. And that ah that is our two ah our two community questions. um Jeremy, you survived the two-question gauntlet.
01:14:10
Speaker
No. No problem. So before we let you go and and plug Bay of Thier one more time, we do have a tradition here on the show. We have a final question that we ask all of our guests.
01:14:23
Speaker
And and it's it's been a while since we've gotten to use the original question. We've had a lot of returning guests. So to Dave's going to have to dust off the ah the vocal cords for this one. But um Dave, would you like to... I do the impression either either way.
01:14:37
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Would you like to fulfill your role as this podcast's James Lipton and ask our final question? Why, yes, I would.
01:14:47
Speaker
Our final question that we ask all of our guests, what is your strangest and or favorite piece in your collection? It can be one of each or it can be both.
01:14:59
Speaker
So I've been thinking about this question. I realize i don't really have anything truly strange in my collection. Which is funny because my friend George, who works at the studio, he's our project manager.
01:15:15
Speaker
I was thinking about his collection and everything in his collection is bizarre. Like, dude just has a lot of weird stuff in his office. And I was looking at my collection and I'm like, man, I don't have anything that's truly weird. So unfortunately, I don't have like a really cool item that I'm like, oh, this is super bizarre and unexpected.
01:15:39
Speaker
ah But I do have something that I can talk about being something I love. And that's really important to me. I mentioned earlier that I got started customizing Mythic Legions very early. And back during that period, being one of the original Legions customizers, really the only thing that we could do was use like other toy lights, right? Like I used a lot of Masters Classics heads and parts like that and a lot of lower Toy Biz Lord of the Rings figures and combine those parts.
01:16:11
Speaker
But after a few years, the rise of three d printed parts started to enter the Legion's world. And we started seeing people that if a part didn't exist, they found a way to get it out there to 3D print it. And there was a point where I really wanted to create a fox character. I love the anthropomorphic characters.
01:16:33
Speaker
I really wanted to create character. And i looked for, you know, different fox heads. I even looked at like, you know, at like a lot of gift stores and stuff, the like the Schleich little animal.
01:16:45
Speaker
I was trying to find a fox like that that I could like cut the head off and use. Couldn't find anything. And then I got a 3D artist named Walter DeMarco goes by Mass Customs that reached out to me and said, ah hey, i I love your customizing. I'm a 3D printer, a 3D sculptor.
01:17:04
Speaker
I'd love to work with you someday. And I was like, oh, Just so happens I'm trying to do a like a fox head right now. And he said, absolutely, i would love to do that for you. So he did that for me.
01:17:16
Speaker
But then I had to find someone to print it. And I ended up meeting a gentleman named Len LaGuardia. He runs a company called Wolf King Customs. And at the time, Wolf King Customs didn't exist. He was just a dude that was doing some 3D printing for fun.
01:17:30
Speaker
And I got connected to Len and said, hey, do you want to print this for me? and He said, absolutely. i'd be happy to. And after he did, he said, you know, I'd really like to like start selling three d printed parts.
01:17:43
Speaker
Do you mind if I sell this piece? And that started not only a friendship that Len is one of my dearest friends these days, um but it started his company. Like this is his full-time job. He has a full-time job just doing three d printed parts and custom pieces and stuff.
01:18:01
Speaker
for Legions. And that fox head, which I still have my original kitsune fox samurai custom. It's one of my treasured pieces because it was the first custom piece I helped develop.
01:18:15
Speaker
um I've helped develop hundreds of them since then. It started a friendship. So many people in the Legions community now have their versions of that fox head in their collection.
01:18:26
Speaker
um the The character even is going to appear in the Mythic Legions video game. Like they actually broke the kitsune character. So I look at that and there's so many different layers of what started as me just being like, yeah, man, I want a fox character. I just think that'd be cool to have a kitsune fox samurai.
01:18:46
Speaker
And I look at the company it helped start. I look at the friendships it's helped forge. And I just look at, you know, everyone that now has one of those on their collection and their legions collection.
01:18:59
Speaker
And for that reason, that would be probably the most special piece in my display. Dude, what a great book great story. Great story. Yeah, I love that. I love that. That's a that is a great answer. And that and and what and what a perfect way to bookend this conversation. you know, as somebody like who started customizing and is now helping bring this dragon to life and has helped, brought you know, bring a lot of happiness to a lot of collectors. So um worldwide.
01:19:26
Speaker
Yeah. Jeremy, it was an absolute pleasure ah chatting with you tonight before we let you go one more time. Where can everybody back Bay of Fear and when do they have until they can do it?
01:19:39
Speaker
Well, thank you very much for having me tonight. And to back the Bay of Fear Dragon, you can get that exclusively at storehorseman.com. You have until Sunday, April 6th at 11 p.m. Eastern.
01:19:52
Speaker
to back Bayothere and the add-on sets. The sooner you get it into that, the quicker we get to those stretch goal tiers so we can add other cool stuff into those packages. All of that stuff is added at no additional cost.
01:20:06
Speaker
So the more that we sell, the cooler we make the overall package that you're getting. Once again, that's at storehorseman.com until Sunday, April 6th.
01:20:17
Speaker
Awesome. Jeremy, thank you so much. Dave, send us home. All right, let's let's get another toy made, everybody.
01:20:27
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.
01:20:41
Speaker
Find more about them both in our show notes. Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter.
Listener Engagement and Closing Notes
01:20:50
Speaker
Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:20:59
Speaker
Don't try this at home. Voidware prohibited in some assembly required. Each sold separately. Not a flying toy. Consult a physician if your toy run exceeds more than four hours.
01:21:08
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Frank Hablaui. 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.
01:21:30
Speaker
i