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Talking Five Points Fest & Toy Pizza Con w/ Jesse DeStasio, Miranda O'Brien & Josh Kimberg
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It's officially festival/convention/expo season, gang! The tariffs might be trying to suck the life out of our precious community, but dangit are we gonna still try to have some fun! Friend of the pod and returning guest Jesse DeStasio of Toy Pizza fame joins us with new friends Miranda O'Brien and Josh Kimberg, owners of #FivePointsFest to talk about this year's big event, their new venue, and merger with #ToyPizzaExpo!
Get your tickets for Five Points Fest happening 6/7-6/8 at the Yard in Beacon, New York! https://www.fivepointsfest.com/
Follow Jesse @toypizza and Five Points Fest @fivepointsfest on Instagram!
Support Jesse and Knights of the Slice https://patreon.com/jessedestasio
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube
Start creating a podcast today with Zencastr! Learn more.
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 Adventures in Collecting
00:00:01
Speaker
on
00:00:07
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 words or so
00:00:23
Speaker
are you ready kids get your parents' permission check your mailbox and grab your shopping cart it's time for the adventures and collecting
00:00:35
Speaker
I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and hauls, along with our journeys as collectors.
00:00:48
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. Hi. Dave, ah we are we are back. Yeah. We are both suffering through New Jersey allergies. Yeah.
00:01:03
Speaker
And Philly wasn't much of a respite for me. So this is this is going to be a fun
Monthly Giveaway Announcement
00:01:11
Speaker
episode. We've got some super cool ah guests with us today. We've got ah a returning guest. We've got some new guests.
00:01:18
Speaker
But a little bit of housekeeping first to to just get out of the way. um Of course, our ah monthly giveaway is is live. ah This month it is a Jazzwares Micro Galaxy Squadron ah one of 5,000 Kenner colorway Luke Skywalker's X-Wing.
00:01:39
Speaker
So it is a rare bird out there. So if you are Star Wars fan, which... um which I'm guessing a lot of you are like us ah since since May is kind of like Star Wars month now. um Yeah, figured it was a good giveaway for this month. So think seasons a month. So, yeah, it's true. It's true. i So head on over to our Instagram. That's at AIC underscore podcast.
00:02:10
Speaker
ah We have a pinned post there. All the rules that you need to follow in order to enter to win yourself said X-Wing. ah Head on over there and do it. You have the whole month to do it. And so we're still early. Got about a half a month left by the time this is airing.
00:02:24
Speaker
um But other Yogi Berra said once it's getting late early.
00:02:33
Speaker
That time will catch up to you. That's a good one. I don't think I've ever heard that one before. um Other piece of housekeeping real quick before we bring our guests in. um This will be air by the time this airs, I will be in a very different time zone yeah than I'm usually in.
00:02:52
Speaker
um So I will be in Vietnam and and also Japan for a day, which will be a lot of fun. But um I will be in Vietnam for a week on a on a business trip.
00:03:04
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So my. um If you notice that all of a sudden the adventures in collecting Instagram posts and social media posts are like flip flopped by 12 hours.
00:03:16
Speaker
That's why. um so just keep an eye
Eric's Upcoming Asia Trip
00:03:20
Speaker
out for that. That will be that will last about a week and then we'll be we'll be back. We'll be back on track to where we usually are.
00:03:28
Speaker
um I don't know if well. I guess we'll find out in the time machine if we were live if dave was live on friday yeah we yeah we'll still figure that out i think it's too early to figure that out right now i've i've never traveled this far before it's the furthest i'll have ever been from home i've only left i've only i've i've not left the americas sleep on the way and stay awake on the way back So, yeah, I'm going to be a whole 12 hours different.
00:03:58
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um I I do have a lengthy layover in Tokyo, which I'm really excited about. So if you are listening to this coming back, so. OK, which is great.
00:04:12
Speaker
If you have any suggestions in in Tokyo, I have some things in mind. my I'm traveling with some people from work. ah Pokemon centers are are high on the list of of priorities as well as Nakano Broadway.
00:04:25
Speaker
um i would like to pick up some Sofubi while I'm out there. that's That is a big, like very, very high thing on the list. So um if you have any suggestions of places to go while I'm out there, I have five and a half hours roughly. so um So it's not like you can go everywhere. Yeah. I already said, go to Totokon. And he's like, I don't know.
00:04:46
Speaker
So, yeah, it. So, yeah, just but i'm I'm open to suggestions. If something completely blows my doors off and maybe Nakano Broadway is not where I need to go and i need to go somewhere else.
00:04:58
Speaker
um Please let me know. ah But with that, I think that's I think that's it for housekeeping. To unbury the lead, Eric, I believe we're heading into to June, which which means.
00:05:11
Speaker
an event that we like very much is, uh, is coming up. It is. And I think this is what we refer to in the game as a, as con season, right? Like we, we've, we've entered, we, we've we've entered the realm, right? You know the lead up, the the lead up to San Diego and then everything that, you know, festival season for music. Yeah. Con season as well.
00:05:34
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So, um, work so festival well, it is festival season. Yeah. An expo season. Expo season. Expo season because we're we're bet we're we're bigger. We're better than a con.
00:05:45
Speaker
That's that's what we're talking about today.
Toy Pizza Expo and Five Points Festival Merger
00:05:47
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So um from from the streets of New York City to the the creative corners of the indie toy world, we've got two forces here ah from the designer toy scene that are joining up for really an unforgettable event of the the year. One and one that I'm I'm really looking forward to. I know you're looking forward to.
00:06:04
Speaker
We're talking about the merger of Toy Pizza Expo and Five Points Festival. ah coming together under one ah metaphorical roof at ah at the yard in Beacon, New York. There is a roof at the yard.
00:06:18
Speaker
um That will be this June ah on the 7th and 8th. And again, that's in Beacon, New York at the yard. ah Today, we are thrilled to welcome back a familiar face, a longtime friend of the pod, Jesse D'Estasio of Toy Pizza and Night of the Slice, as well as first time guests, Josh Kimberg and Miranda O'Brien, the dynamic duo behind Five Points Fest.
00:06:43
Speaker
Friends, new and friends. welcome to Welcome to the show. It is an absolute joy to have you all on here. so Hi. i am Tokyo suggestion, if I may.
00:06:57
Speaker
Yep, please. so Nakano Broadway, very appealing place. However, for just a few hours, I don't think it's goingnna quite it's going to be too overwhelming and you're not going to be able to see enough of it. It's almost too much of a tease.
00:07:14
Speaker
What I would suggest instead, the The bullet train from I think either airport goes direct to Wano, which is a wonderful neighborhood.
00:07:25
Speaker
okay There's a beautiful park there. There's a beautiful zoo. um there It's a very quiet pocket of one of the most insane areas in Tokyo.
00:07:36
Speaker
And it is next door to Akihabara. So you can walk right to the Utaku district. And for my money, if you have a couple hours to kill, I would rather spend it sort of walking around Akihabara compared Nakano Broadway, which is Sort of indoors, it's it's a big shopping mall.
00:07:56
Speaker
And again, you won't you will not be able to see everything there at it within, ah yeah it will take you like two or three days to to cover Nakano Broadway. Interesting. Okay, I didn't realize it was that big.
00:08:09
Speaker
it yeah it's It's big, but it's also it's tons of small, tiny retailers and and tiny stores. Not all of them are open at the same time. So it you know it can be a bit overwhelming.
00:08:23
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um Comparatively, I think... like Your access to the the very quick sort of bullet train is key to maximizing your your couple hours in Tokyo. And being able to get out at Waino and just walk to Akihabara, I would say that's going to be, you're going to get way more bang for your buck ah
Guests' Collecting Interests
00:08:43
Speaker
in that regard.
00:08:43
Speaker
That would be my advice anyway. Noted, duly noted. Yeah, I'll have to look and see. ah so my my boss that I'm traveling with, i I he is. I'm very lucky. I'm very fortunate. I have an amazing boss um for my my nine to five.
00:08:59
Speaker
And he was like, listen, I'll let you plan the whole Tokyo thing. but my son will murder me if we don't go to a Pokemon center while I'm in Japan. So like, he was like, that's the one thing he was like, we can go whatever, whatever crazy toy shit you want to go to, but just make sure that we go to a Pokemon center. And I was like, got it.
00:09:18
Speaker
Gotcha. So I, would venture to guess there there's going to be one Akihabara for sure. yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll take a look, but, uh, But do you have five hours, including the time it gets to get on the plane and off the plane? He's got a 10-hour total, right? Yeah, I've got 10 and a half hours. So the way that I've figured it is I have, like, five to play with, given, like, the customs and coming and going.
00:09:44
Speaker
yeah yeah Also, not for nothing, but there is... there is a really good gotcha alley at one of the airports. I forget which I forget if it's Narita or the other one, but there is a huge gotcha alley in the basement of one of the airports and you can, you can easily spend five hours going through that if you want to.
00:10:06
Speaker
So the other thing too, is I get both airports. So going down, I'm going, I have like a short, shorter, much shorter, like can't leave the airport layover in Narita. Mm-hmm.
00:10:18
Speaker
Enough to like explore the airport, but not like leave it. And then the one coming home is at Haneda, which is like closer to Tokyo proper, which even it gives me like even more time. So I it's right i got very lucky.
00:10:31
Speaker
I got very, very lucky with the way that the flights worked out. So, yeah, I'm I'm looking forward to it. ah They're not going to let you back in the country, but it sounds like a great trip. You know what? That might be good for me at this point.
00:10:45
Speaker
Other than like as long as I can get my kids to me and my wife, that's like that's cool. So figure that out. long as we afford Yeah. do you yeah do i get and do Do I get tariffed coming back in? Is that the way that is that the way that it works? like I'm sure. you They're going to hang you upside down by your ankles and just shake you out for loose yen.
00:11:05
Speaker
Yeah. and ah Well, before we dive into into the show and the kind of the history of of five points and and what what we're looking at looking forward to this June, um as this is a show about collecting, the first thing that we like to ask all of our guests.
00:11:22
Speaker
ah So Jesse, Josh, Miranda, what what have you all been collecting lately? I'm trying to collect Italian citizenship. So I'm collecting paperwork of ah my relatives. that is ah I mean, I qualify, you know, ah Italy, they're really, they're taking anybody, you know, if you can at least. I hate to looking for a Pope.
00:11:52
Speaker
If your last name ends in oh you know, and if you have a capital letter somewhere in there where it doesn't belong, and like you're good, you're in. don't know O'Brien, though. That's a capital O. No, I mean at the end, at the end. Oh. and O'Brien.
00:12:11
Speaker
yeah Yeah, O'Brien-O. Yeah. You know, one of those classic Italian. Sorrento, I believe. The O'Brien O's come from.
00:12:21
Speaker
That's what I'm collecting. That and, you know, rations, canned foods. Yeah, exactly. All that stuff. All the fun stuff that collectors love to you know post haul photos of.
00:12:34
Speaker
what it What a time to be alive. like yeah I was going to say parking tickets. Parking tickets. Okay. like That's not funny. and i think it's pretty funny. Thank you. Thank you.
00:12:46
Speaker
Thank you. We've reverted back to five years ago. We were collecting toilet paper and like boxed food again. Yeah. water Yeah. Yeah. yeah I'm trying not to collect existential dread.
00:13:00
Speaker
That's i'm I'm trying to. Sorry to push that. Yeah. yeah
00:13:08
Speaker
yeah i even the doctor was like yeah you still collect that regardless so you can't get away from it no that's there's only so much medicine
00:13:21
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, my God. That's true. No, I honestly... um No, I am not collecting shit, okay? i I think, like a lot of smaller makers, we all have some level of liability in orders that are placed.
00:13:40
Speaker
ah None of us know what the tariff situation is going to be when said orders ship. So myself, like I'm sure with Miranda and Josh and the majority of people we know, everybody's holding their breath.
00:13:53
Speaker
Nobody wants to spend a cent. And you know, that this is, this is the moment we're in. who ah Yeah. I did want to make an argument for I agree with everything you just said and we haven't really bought anything meaningful in,
00:14:14
Speaker
Sorry, I just had a ghost walk through. don't ah we don't think we bought anything. the but i mean, we collect a lot of bones. I think the most recent thing we purchased. At work, have plastic, and at home, we have bones.
00:14:27
Speaker
So I feel like the most recent thing we purchased was... um What animal is that? Which one? Well, guys, I saw a raccoon dead on 9D. I could scoop up for you. I mean, what's the going rate for bones? I'm i'm looking to have a little side hustle here. It depends on the bones. Over the last few years, we've got some good ones. We've got some human skulls.
00:14:51
Speaker
We have a giraffe skull. It's a bull giraffe. Whoa. It's really heavy. My favorite is the crocodile skull. and Then I think ah recently we got a ram. There's an armadillo. That's pretty cool. Armadillo is cool.
00:15:04
Speaker
um Yes, we've I think we've spent more time on that. but But we have a huge collection. Which you can see in our background. of set it up so quickly. so I kind of wanted to argue for like at what point when you say, like what do you collect?
00:15:19
Speaker
yeah like Does that count everything we've ever collected that we still own and love? I mean, i think we usually learn you like it's like, what are what are you into? Like, I mean, the last time the last time we had Jesse on, you were diving back into the 90s Star Wars.
00:15:37
Speaker
ah Yes, I was going through an episode one. yeah here's Here's the correct answer to the question. ah nobody is collecting anything because everybody's saving their money for five points festival. seventh and eight there you go answer That's an answer for you. That's generally where I get new stuff nowadays. yeah Five points. I get, yeah we walk around and, and grab some stuff. Yeah. I, you know, now I do realize I did actually buy an action figure today. was I bought a, um, uh, joy toy gladiator figure,
00:16:14
Speaker
Because it had a 10% off coupon. And I was like, dad that's a bargain. 10% off. In this economy? Yeah. So, um i you know what? I am still collecting.
00:16:27
Speaker
And I love it. And I'll be collecting it. until everything is as you know cinder and ash around me. Can you see right so so my collection of Carlos and Ricky Gonzalez toys?
00:16:40
Speaker
Yes. I don't think we can, we should not cut to a photo of that. No, I'm phase shifting. ah We have his brother.
00:16:51
Speaker
Also, um i yeah been you know when i when I was purchasing toys, I was actively buying Tahara toys also and would love to discuss Tahara toys.
00:17:02
Speaker
We buy toys when we have this setup that's behind us, but we're currently moving our gallery space. And so because this setup is not currently set up, we don't buy to put into it. But when it's sitting there, we're like, oh, we just get this and put it there. So...
00:17:16
Speaker
That's fair. That's fair. That is what happens. But there's toys from all kinds of makers and all kinds of genres in the background here. And we just buy what we love. and You know, you guys should really open a museum.
00:17:30
Speaker
Oh, that's great to hear, Jesse. a toy museum. Yes. Maybe the designer toy museum. Okay, We're going to call it that, but but so that is the plan.
00:17:43
Speaker
That is the plan. When we reopen, we are we are in the middle of actually filing paperwork to be ah to get a charter to be for a museum. Very cool.
00:17:54
Speaker
Yes. Very cool. Yes. And where would that be geographically? Beacon, New York. The epic city.
Five Points Festival Vision
00:18:01
Speaker
ah Arguably a short walk ah short walk from the yard. so Yes, absolutely.
00:18:07
Speaker
It won't be ready in time for the festival. yeah It won't. We tried, it's impossible. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're working on it, but it's not going to ready. Future home the Five Points Museum.
00:18:20
Speaker
Yeah. Next year it will be. Oh, absolutely. Before, yes, before the festival. Mm-hmm. Well, speaking of question at all about what we call. Yes. Yes. mayor We're moving on. yes i And on top of that, and you gave me a great segue, which is you mentioned five points fest. i Take us back to the beginning. Where where where did this festival start? You know, and and what made you guys start it?
00:18:44
Speaker
ah How deep do you want to go? ah Listen, however, yeah five minutes how deep you are however deep you want to go. How about that? phase shifting. Phase shifting. Episode of Star Trek.
00:18:55
Speaker
Yeah. Hold on. face you I'm back. yeah ah Well, it really started with the designer toy awards. Yes. New York Comic Con. New York Comic Con. So how many years ago?
00:19:08
Speaker
Forever ago. In the before times, the before COVID times, well when time was different and measured in different equations. So nobody knows anymore. It doesn't matter. Before the pandemic. Yeah.
00:19:20
Speaker
We were working really closely with New York Comic Con. ah And the designer toy awards had become the Saturday night party of New York Comic Con.
00:19:31
Speaker
When it had the yard, which was the other designer. Not the yard, the courtyard. it wasn't the courtyard anymore. It was after the courtyard. It was called... The block. Oh, yeah. was it The block. The b block. yeah I remember that as well. Yeah.
00:19:43
Speaker
The block. The cell block. Yeah. And so we were ah kind of like had gotten pretty well in bed with York Comic Con. We were doing the Saturday night parties every year.
00:19:54
Speaker
were kind of like moving along nicely on that on that path. At one point, they even let us use the Hammerstein Ballroom. to do the Zantowa Wars, which is really, really cool.
00:20:05
Speaker
ah That ended in a lawsuit. ah ah Not for us. There was nothing to do with us. Between your Comic-Con the Hammerstein Ballroom, was all Kevin Smith's fault. He wouldn't get off stage. He wouldn't get off stage. He drank way too much water.
00:20:19
Speaker
Like, you wouldn't believe how much water costs at the Hammerstein Ballroom. And he kept um he kept ordering more and more jumbo sized children's clothing for him.
00:20:30
Speaker
He wanted bigger outfits. He wanted to look more like a toddler. Our event just ran on and on. Our event ran on and on. Like we went over yeah and so there was like an extra hundred thousand dollars. and Oh geez.
00:20:43
Speaker
yeah Yeah. So anyway, so they were like, well, we're never going to that with the designer toy awards again. ah I'm trying to remember. And then we really felt like we needed to take control of our destiny and have a home for the Designer Toy Awards.
00:20:59
Speaker
ah So we went to, there was a guy that was created in New Jersey Comic Con. It was called, ah i think he it was East Coast Comic Con. Yeah, that's it, East Coast Comic Con. started with the Coast Comic Con guy, and he was really, really nice. And he got a few like key people in the designer toy world to come to. Tell us if we're going too deep.
00:21:15
Speaker
No, this is great. It was called, yeah he put together ah corner of the East Coast Comic Con. It was called Designer Toy All Stars. Oh, yeah. And it was Sucklord, Ron English, Suburban Vinyl, Tara McPherson, us.
00:21:29
Speaker
Yes. And was it somebody else, too? think there was a couple of other people. There was a couple of other people. If we haven't mentioned you and you're listening, I'm so sorry. Yeah, there was a couple other people. And so it was really slow. Yeah. It was really slow. Oh, but at the same time that this was happening, there was another company yeah that had started to produce um DIY figures. Well, they were there was another company that was doing that was trying to break into Toy Fair yeah by doing designer toy show at Toy Fair. Okay.
00:21:58
Speaker
And they had come to us and asked us to help curate this show um custom of custom figures. laugh But they'd already they'd already designed a toy that wasn't a designer toy. Sorry, I'm phase shifting during this.
00:22:10
Speaker
They had already designed something that we were like, whoa. that That's a bunch of artists that weren't customized. Right. Right? We're not going to do a good show. so we kind of walked in. We're like, you guys are whoa. But you're all really nice guys, but like, well whoa.
00:22:22
Speaker
Yeah. and so we're at East Coast Comic Con, and it's just dead. And so there was a liquor store just down the block, like a discount Jersey liquor store. And so I went over and I sulo was getting into trouble because he had like an underage girl there. she was naked. ah we We may have to get some of this out of here for legal. use She's of age now. it was age it was a lot of fun. It's all good. But it was just like you can and you can all go figure out who she is. She's awesome. yeah um And so I went and i got like ah vodka and wine and beer like I just brought so much stuff back.
00:22:58
Speaker
And yeah If you know me, Miranda, like if I get really, really drunk, Miranda's English and she's usually like, shut the fuck up, you New York Jew. Like you are being like way too over the top.
00:23:10
Speaker
And I'm always like, come on, man, i'm just trying to have a good time. And she's like, no, you have to like be like, i don't care how drunk you are. And so I'm usually getting scolded when I get really trashed. But to this day, Miranda just like had my back and this guy walked up to us and was like,
00:23:24
Speaker
Hey, you he was the guy from the other show who had helped coordinate this custom show that was really trash. And he was like, we should do a design. Our companies think about doing a designer toy convention on the East Coast.
00:23:39
Speaker
And i'm true I am wasted. And I'm like, you don't know what you're doing. You're full of shit. You could never do anything like that without us. this is It's bullshit. And Miranda just like puts her head over my head and goes like, yeah.
00:23:55
Speaker
What he said. Yeah. What he said. You guys are bullshit. I don't know what you're talking about. And he was like he was like, okay, I understand. And we were being like belligerent. And he starts to like walk down the aisle. And like I chase him down the aisle. And I'm like, no, man, it's bullshit. Like you don't even fucking think you're going to do that.
00:24:12
Speaker
And he goes, well you should talk to my boss. And i was like, okay. And he literally gave me his boss's phone number. And that was on Sunday. By Wednesday, we were signing contracts to start our own festival.
00:24:24
Speaker
Oh, wow. these With those guys. And so those guys were actually the guys that created New York Comic Con. They created Anime NYC. They were awesome. They were all the the original guys that left Reed and started their own event company. Yeah. So they were, we did not know this when we started this. We're still friends with them. This drunken conversation. Right. Like, yeah but they took mercy on us and just forgot about, like, how belligerently stupid we were. Well, they weren't there, so it was fine. Well, yeah. that that And I don't know how long that that guy lasted that we were yelling at.
00:24:54
Speaker
but um But everyone who was like in at the you know executive level that company we're still friends with and and actually are helping with this year's show. They yeah they continue to help every year. um Thank you, Peter. Thank you, Greg. yeah And Kelly.
00:25:07
Speaker
yeah um And so we did the first Five Points Festival with Leftfield. There were companies called Leftfield. um And that was the one that we did at Basketball City in Manhattan in 2016, 2017. I get confused. with Yeah, and that was fantastic.
00:25:29
Speaker
And so that that was really like the genesis was this like kind of progression And but while we were creating the first one that company got bought out by a very big event organization because of the people that owned it.
00:25:43
Speaker
And so they were bought by a big publicly traded event company. And they went from these cute little offices where they drove around like little scooters and had video games and like were like this awesome boutique store to like.
00:25:56
Speaker
Totally corporate offices with giant headsets and like clipboards. It got heavy really fast. yeah Yep. so that That switch over to so from startup mentality to publicly traded. It's a pain.
00:26:09
Speaker
yeah that was literally happening while we were all like standing there on the floor. of the and that's coming next year, 2026 to five points in the P-Texpo. That's going to be our trajectory. is Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:20
Speaker
So much of of our story ah is all about kind of the rejection of corporate values. You know, we had to walk away from Comic-Con,
00:26:34
Speaker
when it just got too intense and it just wasn't about the community and it wasn't about the the idea of like bringing in new people and ah bringing up great ideas.
00:26:47
Speaker
and so We had to kind of walk away from that. and Then and they kind of just degraded more and more of what we did there. They kept putting it further but in the back and more further in the back and then it's behind all the brands and now the Star Wars booth is wide in front of all the artists. yeah you so You just don't get exposure there anymore. yeah It wasn't home and it isn't home for anybody that does what we do. Yeah. um And so, yeah. so for So five points, basically, you know, we did that first one with Basketball City.
00:27:13
Speaker
It was a success, but then ah we got really kind of ah raked over by ah the unions and in Manhattan. So then we moved to Brooklyn.
00:27:25
Speaker
And that was kind of, you know, we were very happy at the Brooklyn Expo Center, though, for a long time. Mm-hmm. So they they taught us everything about how to set up and run a trade show convention. then they sold it back to us for a dollar.
00:27:37
Speaker
And it was amazing. So then we took it over 100% when we moved to Brooklyn. yeah And the Brooklyn Expo Center was the best venue we'd ever been to. And it was perfect home for us. And then the pandemic happened.
00:27:50
Speaker
And then that that venue is now some kid ninja training gym. Yeah. Yeah. With my claws. So we moved to zero space and the owners of zero space are fantastic, but we just never felt like we could have a cohesive vibe at zero space because of the layout of of that space.
00:28:10
Speaker
So currently, or I think it was last October, Jesse took over my brain. Like one of those, like ah like a wasp riding an ant.
00:28:23
Speaker
Yeah. Right. He was like, yeah when you look at me, you think wasp. Yes. With a wasp bow. Jesse, Jesse, Jesse's like one of those funguses. He just kind of grabs on and, and he burrows into your brain. And then every time you close your eyes, you think of lios or, or, so or something similar. And that's just the way that it works.
00:28:44
Speaker
true yeah Yeah, I mean, the last few years in Brooklyn, it just really felt disconnected. it felt It didn't feel like a festival. felt like we were trying to force it to be a festival.
00:28:56
Speaker
Yeah, and we never wanted to run just a convention. That's not our vibe. like We don't want people to come in and transact and leave or just like come in to buy the ladies' hottest thing. It's about coming and spending the day and learning and community.
00:29:09
Speaker
and actually getting time to spend with the artists. I'll never, exactly. I'll never forget that first five points when we were in Manhattan and we were standing outside and we had that outdoor space at Basketball City and we were standing there and drinking. You could see everyone kind of inside doing their thing and we were outside drinking sangria and i remember people being like, this feels...
00:29:27
Speaker
Right. This feels like I could spend my whole weekend here, hanging out with my friends. And it wasn't so much about like, am I going to get this toy drop or get that toy drop? It was like, no no, we're all coming together and we're all here.
00:29:38
Speaker
And it felt like a family and it felt like a festival and it was cool. over the years that like just kind of wavered. And so we started going to these amazing events at the yard where we really felt like, wow, this has a fantastic vibe. Like if you've been to a party at the yard, it's just great. And i we were there last year and I remember thinking to myself, again,
00:30:03
Speaker
If we could transpose Five Points onto this vibration, it would be the best of all worlds. And we could do things that we've never done before. So some of the amazing things we're doing at Five Points this year is we're gonna have live bands playing.
00:30:19
Speaker
all weekend in a band shell that's not going to yeah ah kind of contradict what's going on or interfere with people who are transacting. There's enough space that we can spread out. and so If you want to be in, the there would be a real full beer garden again, the way we had back in the day.
00:30:35
Speaker
there'll be live painting and with real spray paint. We won't be indoors with weird water-based and artists sneaking in aerosol, like real paints. People will be like, oh my God, like you're I'm getting high. Like, why are there chemicals? It's like, going to be outside. And, you know, you if you want to light a fire, you want to project a movie.
00:30:55
Speaker
you want to like get tattooed, you want to get drunk or smoke some weed, like whatever. like We can actually just hang out and be together. And like that's the whole reason for being for Five Points is to put together a community event where everyone has a genuinely great time and is excited to be there the whole time and eat and drink and be merry.
00:31:17
Speaker
Right. I think for me too, you know, I started this whole thing as a magazine 21 years ago now, you know, just to cover the whole, you know, emerging thing that was designer toys back in the day and now is pretty solid.
00:31:29
Speaker
ah Thank you. um And so this is just an extension of that. It's an extension of shine a spotlight on the artists and creating community and a place where people to educate each other and just hang out and have fun.
00:31:40
Speaker
So you started to get into it a little bit, but what what actually was the catalyst there for that merger between um you know Toy Pizza Expo and and Five Points? Things too.
00:31:52
Speaker
point d it was ah We just went out for burgers and i inadvertently like caused an ego death in in Josh that like sent him soul searching. It was so, I could not agree more. He's a hundred percent right. Literally. i like everything that i believed in kind of came crashing down all at once. And I was like, why am I fighting so hard for something that's not working? yeah If I may add to this, I think prior to meeting Josh, I had just done a 20-year anniversary video about ah the first sort of thing I did in the industry, which was the Subcultures Art of the Action Figure exhibit, which was much like Miranda was doing in print form.
00:32:41
Speaker
I was interested in this emerging project. trend in in art and toys and the intersection of that. And as I poured through all these photos and went through these, you know, this whole back catalog of things, the most striking realization I came to 20 years later was that the art form had not changed one bit from its inception around 1999, 2000, you know, early 2000s.
00:33:07
Speaker
And that created a crisis within me because I was like, well, what? Nothing's changed. Everybody's still sort of mimicking the same sort of things. We're still getting you know urban takes on stormtroopers still to this day. you know it It sort of like created this ripple effect where I was like, well, what is this a dead art form? Is this an art form that should continue to exist? What's next? Like, you know, it posed all these questions for me.
00:33:38
Speaker
And then I, you know, I had my head full of that stuff and I went and met Josh and I just kind of like, you know, it was like a mind virus. it It just like, I was like, uh, you know, pass it off to him. And then he was like, ah ah it's like, yeah. Yeah. And it was like this kind of death of cool where it was like, ah what are we, what are we fighting for?
00:33:57
Speaker
Like, Are we trying to pretend? Are we trying to look cool? are we trying to actually be cool? you know And it was like, oh, fighting to stay in Brooklyn when like the rent's just going up and up and up and up, and the foot traffic's going away, away, away, and the market's just getting thinner and thinner and thinner. And honestly, the last year, i really wasn't having ah great time because it felt so disconnected. i mean My experience at the last five points was kind of like running. We tried to really activate a beer garden at the last five points to really get into the weeds with you guys. Like we tried to have this beer garden and I just found myself running back and forth all day. half didn't know it was there either.
00:34:41
Speaker
and And yeah, I spoke to someone who's become a really good friend of mine. who was a He was a vendor for the first time at the last... Five Points. He's become a very good friend of mine. And we were on the phone maybe two months ago. and i was saying, well, you know, at the beer garden at the last Five Points, he was like, what beer garden?
00:34:57
Speaker
i was like, oh my God, we're totally doing the right thing. i also think that the nature of collecting has changed considerably, too, since when we started it, when the magazine started, you started doing exhibitions.
00:35:09
Speaker
You know, online shopping is completely different. If you want to buy an exclusive, you can get it in a second. That, like... that gratifying push a button, buy something and get delivered to you is a whole other experience now.
00:35:22
Speaker
And what I don't like about current conventions is that like, oh, I have to go and buy this exclusive mentality to get what I want and to leave. And that's not the point of it. The point of it is to come and discover something new and collect something that you love and something that you wouldn't find online because, you know, it's just pushing the same thing
Community Vibe and Artist Details
00:35:40
Speaker
to you.
00:35:40
Speaker
And now a word from our sponsors.
00:35:48
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.
00:36:05
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.
00:36:17
Speaker
That's
00:36:23
Speaker
And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you.
00:36:30
Speaker
And now, back to the show. You know, I'm so glad you said that because unfortunately I didn't get to go to toy pizza expo last year. Dave, you did. And you can speak to that. But yeah, the prior year, the, you know, at the, at the the last toy pizza con at the the old venue in the yard, toy a happy conference happy Valley. Thank you.
00:36:49
Speaker
um Yeah, that was that sign. every My favorite. The best sign. um No, but it that the vibe there was totally different and like not what I expected. I mean, we yeah we've been collectors our entire lives, that Dave and I, but like in terms of of doing this you know toy journalism, toy blogging thing, you know we're only five years in, right? So it's a completely different like tweaked perspective where...
00:37:17
Speaker
we have a very set, you know, expectation. When we go to a toy event, it's like, it's either and a VFW hall filled with tables and people that are either scalping the stuff that's hitting shelves now or selling all of their old stuff in various forms of, you know,
00:37:33
Speaker
where and you know and and and uh and mintness right so like that's that's like the one column and then you know miranda to your point the other column is like the you know gotta have it mode where it's like i gotta see what exclusives are dropping at this booth and you know we gotta talk to these people because they're kind you know this is we have to cover this when we rolled up to to toy pizza con it was like Oh my God, this is like, just like all your friends at a swap meet and your friend is playing in his band like 10 feet away and I can get a beer and I can play video games. I think I'm going to spend the whole day here. Exactly, that's fine. It's not...
00:38:12
Speaker
and Yeah, you know I think the overall premise is like, what if commerce is the least important part of the day, right? Like, what if the transaction is ah secondary or tertiary thing that you do after you've you know, drank a beer, had a corn dog, talked with friends, met an artist you've always liked, you know, like...
00:38:38
Speaker
look, we all need to make money and and we want our vendors to do well. and you know But that is almost beside the point of the thrust of this show.
00:38:50
Speaker
you know And i'm I'm glad you sort of relayed your experience attending there because I think that's it. like it is It's a hang. It's a kickback. it's And the purchase. Here's the other thing. All your friends at a bar.
00:39:01
Speaker
And it was like cool. And by the way, our friends are also playing. and But reverse engineering that, though, and I think this is kind of the the most brilliant part about this. And it's like the the only other thing that I've been to that I can say that I can I can really equate it to experiential for for anyone that's listening that hasn't gone to a show like this is like the Renaissance Fair.
00:39:23
Speaker
So like when you go to the Renaissance, game you absorb this entire experience that and like you talk to these people that are making like and like, yeah, like you have to be into the Renaissance. You have to be a little into like the sword and sorcery thing. You have to be able to kind of like, you know let your guard down a little bit and, you know,
00:39:42
Speaker
be in the moment. But still, at the end of the day, you're talking to people that are hand crafting things out of out of raw materials. They're hand crafting things out of leather, out of wood, out of metal, out wax.
00:39:54
Speaker
And you have these conversations with them. that you normally don't have with somebody modern in modern day before you make a transaction. And it makes that transaction so much more meaningful, I think, to to both people, both the consumer and the person making it. Because, I mean, i i bring my kids to the Renaissance Fair every year. it's something that we look forward to.
00:40:15
Speaker
And like they know the vendors that like they want to go back to and they're like, oh, the guy that made the dragons out of like the felt and the puppet stuff. And like, yeah, we'll go back and talk to him. And, you know, like what we do that kind of stuff. And that's the same kind of vibe at a show like this, where it's like, you know, I would much rather a conversation leading to something more meaningful compared to a Renaissance festival, then like New York Comic-Con or San Diego Comic-Con. Yeah, that is absolutely, that's the vibe I would like to achieve.
00:40:45
Speaker
The biggest change to, to the, to the, um, to the yard was like, OK, now I'm at like the coolest like barbecue slash flea market I've ever been to with my friends where it's like somebody's like playing games, playing horseshoes over here and there's some food and, you know, here's here's some stuff. And there's Dan Larson like it's like.
00:41:10
Speaker
Can't miss him. So tall, tallest man in the tallest man in the room. and Yeah, ah Dan is banned this year, though. He is not allowed in. He's not attending. And, ah you know, if anyone wants to know why, go to go to Toy Galaxy.
00:41:23
Speaker
Ask him. No comment. Oh, man. There will be no Dan Larson this year. Damn. um Damn, Larson. Wow. Wow. Just threw something down there.
00:41:35
Speaker
what What I was going to say is that every piece in our collection, you know, there's a very small amount of them that were bought online transactions, but most of them were either gifts or they were bought from a convention and a person. And every single one has a story that's like, oh, look at this toy. Why is this one special? Well, let me tell you where I got it and who I got it from and the story of that toy.
00:41:54
Speaker
And that way makes it even more special than the actual figure. And, you know. That's the word that I wanted to bring up was like things being special. When we started collecting, when we started listening to music, when we grew up, it was hard to find things.
00:42:12
Speaker
And when you got something that you'd never seen before, it was actually special. So you might go to a record store and find a CD. And my favorite example is one time I got a Soundgarden CD that was an English import, and it had a hidden track that was ah them covering Into the Void.
00:42:32
Speaker
Black Sabbath. And I was like the only kid it at in a university that had access to that track. yeah And people would come over my dorm room and I'd be like, and listen to this.
00:42:44
Speaker
yeah And like, there was no, this is before, you know, Napster. arm air and like before all that shit hit and things were actually special and things were actually rare and things were hard to find and you would discover things with people and all of that's kind of broken now and there's nothing any of us are going to do about that it's broke but what we can give each other are experiences and you know So when people kind of kind of are giving us shit about moving or why are we going to the yard and why are we doing this and why are we doing that, i'm like, if you can't hang, then you're not going to understand why are our brains are why the way our brains are and why we're so adamant about that this is what we're trying to accomplish and grow and expand into because there's so much more that's going to be going on this year. It's going to be so fucking cool.
00:43:38
Speaker
And, you know, if it's like just about, well, but am I going to be able to get this ah thing? It's like, well, you're missing the point. Yeah, you can get that online. What you can't get is connection and experience.
00:43:52
Speaker
Yeah, just not we're going to Jesse so drunk. yeah it doesn't take It takes a thimble full, really. man That that zedsar Zed Star 7 set is going to be something else if he's a if you're hammered.
00:44:06
Speaker
You know, I'm i'm usually a sober as a Mormon on Sunday when I'm playing, so who knows? and You want to let him in? The dog. We have a dog and he's trying to get into this. That's totally fine. yes He's a cat. fine Here he is. Oh, my God. ah All right. What's his name?
00:44:25
Speaker
His name's Ziggy. He thinks he's a child. has no idea he's a dog. Oh, my God. Hi, Ziggy. Very cute. Very cute. Hi. All right. Can you go now? If you want to stay. Go on. You can go. why Yeah. Yeah.
00:44:40
Speaker
He's not leaving us. That's right. So yeah, back to human connection and community and the things that have been you know whittled away by the internet and social media and ah all the tools that are amazing in some respects, but also terrible for humanity and others.
00:44:55
Speaker
So we we talked a little bit about some of that kind of uniqueness of Toy Pizza Expo. um well Will any of the kind of identity of that show, Jesse, will will those pieces still be very like ah visible and present in this this kind of new amalgam?
00:45:10
Speaker
Or are you just getting absorbed into the ether here? No, i I think so, right? Like, look, this is a leap of faith for me. It's a leap of faith for Josh and Miranda.
00:45:23
Speaker
But I think we have all the right ingredients to kind of pull something off. So... um There's no question this gonna be a bigger show than my previous Toy Pizza Expos. ah What is gonna happen is my kind of,
00:45:36
Speaker
ah Artist Alley, for lack of a better word, is going to be located at the Community Kitchen, which is also on site at the Yard. And that will be sort of free table space for up and coming creators.
00:45:49
Speaker
large ah We've got a cat in the background. um Largely my patrons, you know, they get free tables for being part of patreon.com slash Jesse Dostasio, as a matter of fact. um So there will be this. You're pronouncing your name wrong.
00:46:05
Speaker
right I pronounce it depending on if I'm talking to Italian immigration. yeah That's how much, how much sauce I put on it. Okay.
00:46:16
Speaker
so And, ah you know, my area will also be free to the public in keeping with ah my policies from previous years. So, um I think we can kind of maintain this. I think we can have, you know, a very active area in the main five points section.
00:46:37
Speaker
And then I think there can also be this very meaningful experience in the community kitchen with smaller makers and up and coming people and sort of. you know ah handcrafted artisans and and things like that.
00:46:49
Speaker
And I think there's also going to be a lot of ah fundraising opportunities for the community kitchen itself with the TPE, toy pizza experience, sort of being housed there and and people can kind of see ah What it is we do in the kitchen, they can donate directly. We'll probably have some like giveaways and spin the wheel and things like that.
00:47:11
Speaker
So ah to honestly answer your question, I don't know. i don't think ah the three of us know what we're going to get this year, but I'm... very, very optimistic and very hopeful that we can kind of carve out these little sections that kind of provide, you know, if you want excitement, you're going to go here. If you want a tattoo, you're going to go there. You want a drink, you go here. You want to just chill out, find a quiet spot indoors.
00:47:36
Speaker
You know, I think we can kind of cover all of it. And that is, you know, in part because of what a gift the yard is and their venue and everybody that works there and, you know, the different buildings they own. Like it's, you know, it's really, um you know, it takes an army to kind of pull this stuff off. And I feel like we have everything we need.
00:47:59
Speaker
So hopefully, I hope so. I think so. Yeah. That was the one thing I hoped. was going that's the one thing I picked up on last year was like, it's a, this is a really cool like venue for this.
00:48:12
Speaker
Yeah, it is. Everybody that works there and ah owns the place is just amazing. yeah Wonderful people. Yeah. Yeah. And we were at the, lab we were at at several toy pizza TPEs.
00:48:26
Speaker
were at the church. we're Yeah, the first one. We were at Happy Valley. And then this last year, I loved that there was a barbecue, an actual barbecue.
00:48:37
Speaker
And the festival, and I was like, the vibe was so perfect. that we really you know just got inspired because it was it was a ah slightly different take on it, but ah we couldn't be more ah ah feeling it in our and our hearts.
00:48:56
Speaker
So I think that it's gonna really work. I think there's gonna be access points for people to do different things. you know Jesse's gonna like run his commune of the kitchen.
00:49:09
Speaker
And we'll be there to serve of beer and kind of get a little bit more wild. you know Yeah. So um tell us about some of the artists that will be in attendance in in kind of both areas.
00:49:24
Speaker
Okay. Who would like to go first?
00:49:29
Speaker
you know I can. I know we can do it. I mean, you know. There's people we haven't even announced yet. Ooh. Ooh. oh Who, I mean, like the big dogs? Yeah. haven't announced any of the big dogs. I'll make a big announcement. We have a band called Lost Prophets playing with their original singer. Oh, God. We're very excited to have booked these guys.
00:49:53
Speaker
I don't know anything about them personally. I have stories about Lost Prophets. So, Jesse, I can see you're sitting down. Hold on, let me Google them. I'll just Google their name real quick. Oh, my God.
00:50:06
Speaker
Oh, my God. ah Yeah, so they'll be on at 7 on that Saturday. ah And ah and oh ah Gary Glitter is going to be Skyping in also. Wow. Yeah. Great. This took a turn. Sorry. What was the question? So to the other side, what are some of the artists that are going to...
00:50:32
Speaker
um Okay, so if I could just list a couple real quick. ah Natalie Korimoto, I think, is one of my favorite contemporary artists. ah She's going to be over in the big, busy area. She's a phenomenal multidisciplinary artist. She's she's been at, I think, every toy pizza experience ah so far.
00:50:51
Speaker
Super excited for her. On the music side, I cannot hype up... ears with eyes enough. Josh and Miranda got to see them and play a few months back. they They are my favorite local band and they're one of my favorite bands of all time.
00:51:08
Speaker
Their show is incredible. The less you know about it, the better. But it is a... It's it's like in the best way. I don't want say anything else. yeah i Take over your brain experience.
00:51:23
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know if this like dates me or how this sounds outside of my own brain, but you know, the East village in the nineties had experimental art going on all the time.
00:51:34
Speaker
And it was a merger of performance and bands and just insanity and people that just believed in, in wild shit and were willing to put it out there and ah ah say the name of the band.
00:51:48
Speaker
Ears with eyes? Ears with eyes. You don't want me to size with these i say- say eyes with ears? say, every time I say it differently. When we played for the first time together, i ah we opened for them and I kept saying their name wrong between every song. I'm like, who's ready?
00:52:04
Speaker
It's ears with eyes, right? I was like, here's i who's ready for eyes with ears? And everyone's like, what? Yeah, I can't say it right. yeah But no, but like when it started, i was like, oh my God, I'm- transported back to a time when people actually gave a shit.
00:52:20
Speaker
Interesting. you know And I think it's actually really timely because of everything. And I'm not trying to get political right now, but given everything that's going on in the world, I think that the moment is right for people to find an outlet to show how they're actually feeling.
00:52:37
Speaker
And that might involve you know getting naked, doing whippets, and ah you know hanging from hanging hanging from the ceiling. Because that's how you actually feel.
00:52:49
Speaker
And sometimes you know we'll go through a decade That was an accidental whippet, though. Let's just be clear. It was not somebody. There was whipped cream involved. But look, i'm I've said too much. yeah uh you know frozen foods being thrown at people like there's just there's a there's a time and a place for everyone kind of going about their business and being like well things are fine and peaceful and normal and then there's a time when it's like holy shit are we being crushed by a tyrannical regime and like need to actually tell people how i feel and there's no normal there's no normal uh town center to express my my real emotions we'll come to five points we're gonna get fucking real
00:53:28
Speaker
With some eyes without ears. There's there your tagline for the next poster. Let's get fucking real. Have we just been to a punk festival this past weekend? I...
00:53:41
Speaker
hear you and I feel you. So what' what about, what about you guys? What's what, what are some, some artists we should look forward to? So we have, ah we always have an amazing curated artist alley of just like really amazing independent artists, whether they make resin or whether they make like weird little plush characters or you name it, we have them. So, you know, some of our usual people will be there. We'll have, you know, um,
00:54:07
Speaker
ah ah studio kabuto who makes my favorite little crab creatures in safubi i love them um we have the big guys we have hip-hop toys we have uh concrete jungle if you like hip-hop mutant hardcore vinyl right that's a that's we have mbh he said it wrong but that's funny What is it? Hardcore, mutant? You said mutant hardcore vinyl, which is like eyes without ears or ears without eyes. It's mutant vinyl hardcore.
00:54:37
Speaker
I'm dyslexic. It's not my fault. Nobody can be mad at me. remember I can't remember either. We have Sunguts flying in from Japan. Oh, yeah. it Amazing. Fucking for Five Points. Amazing artists. We have Night and Sushi coming in from Canada.
00:54:51
Speaker
We have some British people coming in. We have CZ13 coming in. We have Deadbeat City coming in We have Fifth Turtle will be there. <unk> the naughty The Naughty Rabbit will be there. Space Rabbit Studios will be there. Vincent Scala.
00:55:06
Speaker
The usual part of people that come to Five Points will be there and awesome. very And Russell Brand is doing a DJ set too. That that part of this, that's the canceled stage, right? Hold on, let me Google Russell.
00:55:25
Speaker
Oh my god. I don't think we have anyone that's canceled. I hope not. there's no This is a cancel-free zone. We're done with this. that It doesn't exist anymore. ah good Everybody can come and and get re-canceled. How do we get onto the people getting canceled?
00:55:41
Speaker
and there's your ah There's your other poster. Come to Five Points Festival. Get canceled. Get canceled all over again. Glitch Bitch. go Bug Squad.
00:55:52
Speaker
Gooby Toys. Toys Van Damme. Yeah. Man, you guys got... ah It's like a who's who. Yeah. We're brains. Yeah. Under Our Knives. Disgusting Justin. We're looking at the list. Bloopy Goblin.
00:56:05
Speaker
Plastic Chio, which is their new... I have a brand new figure coming out Crawler Club. We didn't... haven't announced them all yet. All the stars are here. we we didn't have we didn't ask We didn't ask John to see if John's coming again.
00:56:18
Speaker
I know he was there, I think, last year. ah Dollar Slice Bootlegs. Oh, I haven't heard from John, but I will hit him up because I love John. He's one of my favorite people. Sucklord is also coming. So Dollar Slice, you can come and get naked with Sucklord.
00:56:32
Speaker
Yeah. Please. that's That sounds about right. That was a wrap. Sucklord will probably be casting toys, maybe, but he'll definitely be casting. He hasn't decided if he's thinking about it. He's either going to come and do just live content all weekend and get weird.
00:56:50
Speaker
or he's going to come and do the resin pit again. He hasn't decided. Okay. I mean, or maybe he'll maybe he'll sell some of those ah those repackaged home items that he's been brilliant.
00:57:03
Speaker
Fucking brilliant. And of course, Ron English will be here. Very cool. And ah Harvey Weinstein is doing a kissing booth from 3 to 5 on Sunday.
00:57:14
Speaker
which is Who is Harvey Weinstein? Hold on. Let me look this guy up Oh, my God. Someone take his phone away. oh my god someone someone Take away.
00:57:25
Speaker
take my Mumbo will be here She'll be bringing her crew of amazing, talented artists, too. You have to just follow our social media because we're announcing things slowly.
00:57:38
Speaker
because i Well, we got it we got a month. By the time this airs, a little less than a month to go. So, reminder for everybody, yeah June 7th and 8th, The Yard, Beacon, New York. Beacon, New York.
00:57:53
Speaker
Jesse will be live Googling
Festival as a Holistic Community Experience
00:57:55
Speaker
people's names. Yeah, Jesse. I should have done some research here, guys. I think i I'm going to have to shift things around a little bit. This is kind of... Okay, do you know the actor that played Kang, ah Jonathan Majors?
00:58:13
Speaker
right He's okay, right? He's okay. He's doing a signing. There's nothing... Diddy's having a special booth. I was going to say that the only thing you're missing is the Diddy baby oil booth. It's happening. You've heard of like, remember we used to do Kaiju Big Battle? It's going to be Diddy oil. Diddy's casting couch.
00:58:37
Speaker
Diddy's oil pit. Forget it with the resin pit. I'm so sorry. Diddy's oil pit. If you've made it this far into the part podcast, I totally apologize. So we're going to pivot momentarily a away from away from the the the festival for just a moment here because we'd be remiss if we had Jesse on and we didn't ask, ah what the hell's going on with Knights of the Slice, man? What's what's up next for Knights the Slice? um Well, i I got a lot product ordered. Yeah.
00:59:10
Speaker
i got a lot of product ordered um i do I don't know. i mean, I think the reality is I'm going to continue to make things.
00:59:20
Speaker
I hope that plastic is one of the things I can continue to make. um I'm pretty sure I'll have some new stuff to debut at Toy Pete's Expo. okay there's you know There's a very big looming question of how much does it cost to when these goods land and how bad does that put me in the red? And ah this is the same question anybody who, you know, manufacturers good is, is asking themselves right now.
00:59:47
Speaker
ah So I would say ah the likelihood of me having a lot of public store sales and things like that in the future is not very likely.
00:59:58
Speaker
So if you want to, collect what I do and you want to be part of the experience and the story, the Patreon is really going to be probably the only place where that's possible.
01:00:09
Speaker
You know, everything's going to be really very scarce and quantities are going to be incredibly limited for the immediate future. And so I have to give preference to my patrons who kind of, you know, support my my livelihood, quite frankly.
01:00:26
Speaker
yeah And um I hope to get back to making goods that are available in a wider basis and for the general public. But right now it's like my patrons have stuck by me and and they're helping me get through this rocky point.
01:00:39
Speaker
And that's all I'm concerned with. It's like, those are my my OGs and I'm gonna, if every single figure I make only goes to them, then you know that's how it's gotta be for the for the immediate future.
01:00:52
Speaker
Well, plug that. Please plug that Patreon again right now for anyone that's listening. I know we've had you on a ton of times. with you know you know we We absolutely love you. We we love what you do.
01:01:03
Speaker
If you go freebillcosby.com slash – well, hold on. I'll give you – that's a redirect. I'll give you just the main one. no Patreon.com slash Jesse D'Estasio or D'Estasio.
01:01:18
Speaker
If immigration is. Oh, he doesn't know. doesn't know. Don't you know reveal it to him now? What? So, okay. Let me just look up what Bill Cosby has been up to. Oh, God. If you are, ah by the way, if you are if you are just listening to this podcast, because I know a lot of you just listen. Yeah.
01:01:37
Speaker
there are going to be several moments in this show where if you're watch, if you go to YouTube and watch it, you can watch both my soul and Dave's soul leave their bodies. Like it it it has happened several, several times. all Please go watch this on YouTube. I'm going to, I'm going to contact my lawyer, Michael Avenatti. Let me just look at him and see what he's. Oh. However, the, um, one of the first, uh,
01:02:05
Speaker
adventures in collecting gifts that will be is um the jesse googling gif yeah yeah yeah that's good I really got research before I'm on these programs.
01:02:18
Speaker
have rough Rough stuff for you. Rough stuff. yeah No, but seriously, what's the world has changed so much. Plug that. Please plug that Patreon for real. Yes.
01:02:28
Speaker
Patreon.com slash Jesse Astazio, where we cover celebrity gossip and breaking news. I had to pay the bills somehow.
01:02:39
Speaker
And Marvel movies. And Marvel movie reviews. There's no tariffs on celebrity gossip reviews yet. Have you heard about the new Avengers? Yes. Yes, that's true. But apparently there are on movies now.
01:02:52
Speaker
Who knew? Maybe. Yeah, ones that aren't made in the U.S., maybe. Fine. Everything's going fine. I don't know why anyone's complaining about anything. It's great. Speaking of movies... Oh, speaking of movies.
01:03:06
Speaker
I'm saying going back to five points, guys. We are overtaking Deacon movie theater. Exactly. oh We're going to have And thank you, Beacon Movie Theater. We're going to have the original Godzilla playing, 1954.
01:03:22
Speaker
And we're going to have, i just want to make sure that i get it correctly, Ghidorah from 1964, the three-headed monster. Nice. And then mine and Jesse's ah personal favorite, ah Dune from 1982. The Lynch, baby.
01:03:36
Speaker
We'll be playing all week at the Beacon Movie Theater. is all thanks to a Five Points Festival. And the Japanese Society. Yes, and the Japan Society, which is also a callback to the Japan Society. Yeah. Which goes back to our Five Points roots.
01:03:52
Speaker
And the Joe Rogan Foundation. We also want to give a shout out to... No, no, no, no. You know, I want to see what this is up to. I think you meant Andrew Tate. Yeah. ah So it's funny, I now put two and two together. I'm realizing which Pete you're talking about from Pete from the Japan Society. Yeah.
01:04:13
Speaker
Yeah. Amazing. rajaro we love We started Five Points Festival with Peter Tatara. Yeah. Amazing guy. Absolutely. amazing And very um one of one of my core memories forever as an adult, like one of the things that I will never forget. And I'm sure it's it ranks pretty high on on Dave's list as well. Pretty great. Yeah. New York Comic Con last year.
01:04:35
Speaker
Yeah, last year or no, was it two years ago already? No, last year, because it was for this the kickoff of the 70th anniversary of Godzilla. Not this past one, but the one. Yeah. So we got an invite from from Pete and the folks at the the Japan Society.
01:04:50
Speaker
Toho had brought with them from their vault an original print of Godzilla, and they screened it at the Japan Society. So we got to see an original 1954 print of that film.
01:05:04
Speaker
Which was pretty great. I like I just saying it again, like I'm getting like the the chills because like, i mean, Godzilla is one of my favorite things on the planet. um So getting to see that in that theater with that group of people. Enough to see minus one there as well. Yeah, they invited us back to see minus one before it came out. It was just at like,
01:05:25
Speaker
but I would love Pete. much Much love to Pete and the Japan Society. What they're doing over there is super cool, too. yeah Oh, we're showing Jeepers Creepers. I wonder what that director is up to. let me yeah is it One of the really all no of the amazing things about bringing Five Points to Beacon is the town is filled with artists and musicians and amazing shops. Mm-hmm. We are going to be publishing a map of all the businesses that are participating in Five Points. so when you come to Beacon and you have a Five Points Pass, you'll have discounts and special things you can do throughout the town. Very cool. Amazing. As you actually come through. Yeah. ah you know we'll We'll publish that soon. But there's a number of like there's a lot of participating restaurants and bars.
01:06:08
Speaker
and the movie theater and you know all sorts of other cool stuff and we expect there's always markets going on on the weekends too like it's become like a real tourist town so there's just like lots of cool shit so if you wander away from the yard and what we're doing you're still going to be entertained and it's you know going to be an awesome good time and that's the end and uh happy valley from you know the previous years they're going to be one of our main hubs as well so as you're sort of walking up main street you can pop in there and say hi to everybody Everything comes full circle. yeah
01:06:40
Speaker
before we Before we let you guys go, we do have a tradition here on the show. It's you know it's amazing. First of all, you know. oh Sorry, just real quick. um Matt Lawler has confirmed he is going to be the mayor of ah the Five Points Festival. You probably know him, the famous broadcaster from. Yeah, Matt Lawler.
01:06:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, and he was great. Hold on. Let me just. I just want to check. about How about Andrew? Oh, but such no Sorry.
01:07:11
Speaker
God, I got to rethink this whole thing. Jesse, tear it all up. Just start over there. Do you know the dad from Seventh Heaven? Well, guess what, guys? I'm just watching that documentary now.
01:07:22
Speaker
Okay. Jesus. Sorry. um um I'm giving you a no celebrity pedo guarantee for my portion of the festival. Take own. Take your own. That's a great guarantee to have. It's a great, great yeah great very underrated guarantee.
01:07:39
Speaker
um No, but super excited for the show. Not spoken of enough. June 7th and 8th at the Garden Beacon. The other thing that I want to say about is that we'll have all of our usual awesome things like exclusive beer cans, our artist beer cans. This year we'll be doing them with industrial arts. They have a brewery right here in Beacon.
01:07:55
Speaker
We love taste at BC too, um but we wanted to keep it local this year. Yes. We'll have our amazing VIP toys, which we're going to be announcing this week. We're also going to have good luck NYC coming up from Brooklyn to Tattoo.
01:08:08
Speaker
Yeah, we love those guys. Henbow and those guys. Yeah, and this year we added oddities with Moon Serpent and Bowen, so we're super excited to add some extra elements being up here. Satan. Satan.
01:08:20
Speaker
Baphomet. Hold on, let me Google that guy. Satan. Oh. And you know, um I went to Piktoplasma back in Berlin when it was this amazing character festival.
01:08:31
Speaker
And they used to have this hub where you'd go and get a map and then that you would go around Berlin and go to all these different galleries and pop-ups and different stores. And it was such an amazing experience with that central hub where could go and see everybody, but also go and experience something new. Yeah.
01:08:46
Speaker
really what we want to do here in beacon and this year will be like a smaller version of it and we hope every year we can just expand on that and have different gallery pop-ups and have just complete takeovers so industrial arts is good too um yeah it's great it's good yeah yeah that's what was gonna say wrench um Look, I know you're trying to wrap up here. Just one more quick thing for the audience.
01:09:11
Speaker
We can keep talking. Dave, you guys have been to Beacon. Is it not one of the most beautiful places on Earth? Oh, it's... Absolutely amazing town. it's it's it's a It's a small town out of a movie.
01:09:22
Speaker
I mean, there's really no other... Very cool. like literally Literally out of four seasons, now on Netflix, starring Tina Fey.
Unique Toy Highlights and Promotions
01:09:29
Speaker
Yeah. and i The first time that I was there, i i thought, i like, literally, I was was not expecting that. Like, I was expecting to, like, again, like, those yeah expectations of shows, like, drive up, park in a parking lot somewhere, and yeah in and out.
01:09:43
Speaker
We ended up... leaving and you know we we met up with ah another friend of ours there uh shouts to to jesse hensley and their awesome toy designer um we met up with him and ended up walking like up and down a little bit and there's so much to see and so much to do and so we got some really great donuts down the street yeah like is people provision amazing donut spots in beacon peaceful provision are the best donuts i may have ever had in my whole life yeah yeah yeah we got some we got some banging donuts and yeah yeah and then they usually sell out by 11 o'clock in the morning on weekends and we want a good donut get in there early oh there you go to the point where like the next year the next two years actually i brought my fiancee i'm like the next year i was like this place rules like we've gotta yeah yeah for yeah there's something for everybody and that's the vibe right come and hang out and have a good time
01:10:31
Speaker
And I think that's that's the message. it This is this this experience is more than an expo. It's more than a festival. It is. It is an experience. It's a community vibe.
01:10:43
Speaker
we love what you guys are building. you know, ah you know, all all all jokes aside, you're building something really, really cool here for the toy community. And I think it's something that we need now.
01:10:53
Speaker
really more than ever. um So if you're if you're in this this area, if you're in like the the tri-state area, you if you're... If you're listening to us, you know you're here yeah into the T'Wai experience. Come hang out. like Come hang out, because the vibes alone. like it's Immaculate. Immaculate vibes. my yeah um And come and discover something new.
01:11:16
Speaker
thats yeahp you know Come and discover something you didn't expect. Yeah. It says you're in for such a fun couple of days. So we do have a tradition here on the show before before we let you guys go.
01:11:28
Speaker
um Jesse, you're off the hook because you've actually done this twice. So Miranda and and Josh, this is this is this is on you this time. So you've gotten like two versions this. Yes, he has. I aced him both times. That's right. Absolutely.
01:11:42
Speaker
So, ah Dave, would you like to fulfill your role as this podcast's James Lipton and ask our final question? Well, yes, I would.
01:11:53
Speaker
um So, Jesse, since you've already answered our our final question in a previous appearance, we open the floor to Josh and Miranda and to answer our final question that we ask all of our guests.
01:12:07
Speaker
What is your strangest and or favorite piece in your collections? The answer can be one of each or it can be both. wo I mean, I know I know my answer. Have we got the same answer? Have you already pointed them out?
01:12:21
Speaker
No. um Okay, can give us a second. Wait, have to remember the, brain. Well, you know, he spoke earlier a little bit about the ones behind his head, the Carlos Enrique Gonzalez vaginas, which are amazing figures and are pointed about the universe and not necessarily the female form, but everybody walks into the gallery it's the first thing they see, little big old, you know, they it's like the vaginas and that's like the thing that draws everybody in.
01:12:49
Speaker
Yes. um the ah The other piece that I always point out to people is an Oni demon. Oh, I thought of another one too. yeah I thought of another. The Oni demon made by Restore Toys, which is, it's a demon covered in death scrolls and dildos.
01:13:10
Speaker
And so there it stores are availabl it's about this big. It's like a five inch tall figure. And they literally ah made the whole figure and then cast in Sifubi little dildo dicks.
01:13:24
Speaker
and covered it in the bells and death scrolls and dicks and it's amazing. We had a gallery show with them years ago at this point. Yeah. And even no longer ago it was. And that was the piece where we could not let this go. Yeah, it was like, this one yeah, yeah.
01:13:37
Speaker
But also. Death Scrolls and Dicks sounds like a band that would open for GWAR. Yeah, there go. That's the new They're getting like Teeth the Musical vibes from. yeah Yeah. Kikake toys. That's a great one. Also an awesome Japanese toy maker and they make a Fubi that looks like inflatable but um like balloons, I guess.
01:13:57
Speaker
And so when we. But like ah but not, but what do you call it? Balloons, like the cellophane balloons. Yeah. don't know. Mylar. Mylar. They look like mylar balloons. Yeah.
01:14:08
Speaker
They're amazing. And so we hadn't worked with him very much, but he sent exclusives to us. And so he sent a blow up doll in Sofubi that is me. It says Miranda. It has glasses. It's got blue hair. Like he didn't know me that well, but says it anyway. i would love it I love it. It's a naked sex doll of like and like a mylar balloon sex doll of Miranda.
01:14:31
Speaker
And he must have like researched because he found my best friend to and did like matching ones of us. So yeah, they're amazing. They're in the collection. And then the next year he did a mutant version where he gave you three eyes and then her glasses are like laser cut and three eyed glasses like that.
01:14:48
Speaker
That's amazing. Yeah, that's cool. Very cool. We're done awesome. Yeah. So one last time so before we let you guys go. plug plug everything. Where can we find you on on social media?
01:15:01
Speaker
ah Where can we follow all the updates on what's going on? And and most importantly, when when and where can we go to a Five Points Fest? Five Points Festival, June 7th 8th at the Yard in Beacon. Find us on Instagram at Five Points Fest.
01:15:15
Speaker
ah it's not no Go to fivepointsfirst.com to buy tickets, to learn all the latest news. they Just follow us on social media. It's the best way. And then you can also find us at Clutter Magazine on all of the platforms at Clutter Magazine or Clutter.co.
01:15:30
Speaker
And we'll have a ah new gallery and museum space opening later in the year. Watch out for that. June 7th and eighth come to Beacon. And Jesse, what about you?
01:15:43
Speaker
You can only find me exclusively at patreon.com slash Jesse Astazio. I do not participate in anything else that's worldly. That includes social media. you could I can avoid it anyway.
01:15:57
Speaker
ah And my band is Edstar7. you You can listen to us. We've made no less than two children cry and leave our performances. We're hoping for a third this year.
01:16:09
Speaker
so fingers crossed about that. And... Yeah, I think that's it. I will also be at Five Points Fest on ah June 7th and 8th. And got to tell you, if you guys miss this, you're going to feel like an absolute imbecile that Monday. When you start you're going to want to get lobotomized like that Kennedy daughter that they they don't really talk about too much. that's it's I just learned about that. like Yeah, Rosemary. Literally today.
01:16:40
Speaker
I don't know if you guys watch that that ah Morbid Facts guy. we We do also. yeah He was on one of his videos. It's good to also, that's a good segue because we do have RFK Jr. doing a two-hour spoken word poetry slam.
01:16:58
Speaker
And we're going to crank his mic up all the way. You're going to hear. everything. a poetry like yes That's that's going to start. He has this whole thing about fluoride. It's funny. It's great. You should have an ah RFK sound alike poetry slam.
01:17:13
Speaker
Get that guy on Instagram. That dude on Instagram does a great job. I don't know if he does. He does the he does the voice and everything. It's wild. i don't participate in worldly things. Thank you. Yeah.
01:17:25
Speaker
All right, Dave. We have our big live painting. We always have amazing artists come through and do live painting battles. And Saturday we do battles until the end of the day. And the winner is the reigning champion who gets to design the beer cans next year. And then Sunday we have a free paint usually where people collaborate.
01:17:41
Speaker
know You never know who's going to show up and come through. so Awesome. Yeah. And last year's winner of the paint was Vincent Scala. So you have to come to Five Points to buy the the Vincent Scala official beer can. Mm-hmm.
01:17:54
Speaker
There you go. There you go. Dave, get us out of here. Send us home. um I guess Google is your friend, isn't it? Google.
01:18:05
Speaker
Google is your friend.
Closing and Listener Engagement
01:18:10
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.
01:18:23
Speaker
Find more about them both in our show notes. Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:18:41
Speaker
Don't try this at home. Voidware prohibited and some assembly required. Each sold separately, not a flying toy. Consult a physician if your toy run exceeds more than four hours.
01:18:50
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.