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Gotta Snap Em All! Toy Photography, Card Breaks, Pokemon, and Dinosaurs with Nostalgic Adam
522 Plays3 years ago
Gotta catch (and photograph) em all! Joining Dave and Erik on the pod this is week is Adam Cavazos AKA @nostalgicadam to discuss his relationship with Toy Photography, Jazwares, the joy of opening Pokemon Cards and so much more.
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
Follow Adam on Instagram and YouTube @nostalgicadam
Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Promotions and Introductions
00:00:00
Speaker
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00:01:02
Speaker
Are you ready kids?
Instagram Recovery Story
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Get your parents permission, check your mailbox and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the adventures and collecting podcast.
00:01:13
Speaker
I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture and halls, along with our journeys as collectors. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. Hello, everyone. And yeah, whoa, I wanted to do. The added intro.
00:01:43
Speaker
Well, thanks, Dave. I felt like I had an echo chamber here. I was practicing in case. In case what? Are you expecting me to drop dead or something? No, just in case we wanted to fool everyone one time. We got you. Well, now everyone's going to be waiting. They're going to be waiting for the moment. We did it this time.
00:02:10
Speaker
Well, Dave, we're back. A new episode, right? Yes. We're here. We are. Hi. And the Instagram exists again. Yeah. So yeah, if you listen to the last episode, which you absolutely should listen to the last episode because Michael was an amazing guest. I mean, listen to this one first, but then listen to the previous.
00:02:39
Speaker
But we had a, we had a really long winded intro about how Instagram took our account away, but, um, guess what?
Guest Introduction: Adam Cavazos
00:02:45
Speaker
It's back. So, uh, once again, we are, we are at AIC underscore podcast. Um, you know, we're not going to get into the details of, of, of how it came back or why it came back because honestly, we could, we don't know. Um, we have thoughts, but, uh,
00:03:05
Speaker
We're going to, we're going to keep those to ourselves, but the account is, uh, the account is back. So, uh, thank you to everybody. Uh, and again, it's like, I feel like we're repeating ourselves, but, uh, our guest today is one of the people who was, who was a very helpful in spreading the word of our, uh, of our account mishap, uh, our, our, our befall in, uh, Instagram account. So, uh, I guess I'm not bearing the lead, Dave. No, uh, tonight.
00:03:34
Speaker
So if you follow us on Instagram, which again, we're at AIC underscore podcast again You know how important toy photography is to us and and to the toy community writ large Joining us today is a photographer that inspires us with his creativity and talent ultrasound technician by day crack toy photographer and the closest thing to a real-life Pokemon trainer that we know by night welcome to the podcast and
00:04:02
Speaker
Adam Cavazos, aka Nostalgic Adam. Adam, welcome to Adventures in Collecting,
Toy Collecting Interests
00:04:08
Speaker
man. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. This is very exciting. And I got to say, I'm happy to have you guys back. Not sure what's going on on the Instagram world side of things, but it's always good to see you guys be back and be able to share the good news and the toy news going on throughout the community.
00:04:28
Speaker
Well, thank you. We're happy to be back in front of the family we spent the last three years building. Absolutely. It's good to be back. That's what I was hearing on the last one, on your last cast. It was three years now that you guys have been going on that. I love that. That's awesome. Yeah, it's crazy. I can't imagine
00:04:52
Speaker
that when we started this, that when we committed to it, that we'd still be doing it three years later. But here we are. Yeah, I love it. Or any of it, to be honest. This is true. This is true. I mean, we don't have a really great track record of committing to hobbies, Dave. Yeah, I guess. I mean, it's also just the fact that I think that people found it interesting and kind of care that that's
00:05:23
Speaker
That's really what's been able to kind of spur it forward. It definitely helps. You know, screaming into the wind isn't the most fun of things. So it's nice. It's difficult too. It's very difficult. So before we jump in and learn a whole lot more about you, Adam, since this is a show about collecting, first thing we ask all of our guests, what are you currently collecting?
Journey into Toy Photography
00:05:52
Speaker
Oh, man. When I saw the show notes, I was like, man, an easier question would be what am I not collecting? So anybody who follows me knows that I'm heavy into Jurassic, I'm heavy into Pokemon, Star Wars, Sonic, Nintendo, Yoshi, like,
00:06:11
Speaker
I collect a very broad spectrum of things, which really hurts my wallet a lot of times, especially with how much cool stuff's going on. But I'd say right now I'm really, really heavy into Pokemon, Halo, Jurassic, Star Wars. I can keep going. But all those things I'm super into right now. And a very obscure thing that is kind of new for me is prototype toys.
00:06:41
Speaker
I found it's crazy because I work overnight over at the hospital. I'm graveyard, so I have more downtime than I would say like a morning tech. I'm on rabbit holes on YouTube videos and posts and Reddit and I'm looking at all these things and I find about prototype toys and I'm down this crazy prototype toy hole. That's what I've been collecting on a more obscure end right now and I have a few in transit right now, so I'm pretty excited about it.
00:07:11
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah. I mean, we've, we've bumped into the world of prototype toys here and there with, with some of our guests, uh, uh, going way back when we had Brian folk Weiss on, uh, he is a huge prototype, uh, collector. And so, yeah. And, and, and Matt Cardona, um,
00:07:30
Speaker
Yeah, it is a fascinating world. They were both talking about private Facebook groups that are specifically for people who collect prototypes.
00:07:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's uh, but I mean in some cases it's it's some of the only ways to get uh You know certain figures especially for like lines that got abandoned so like just just today right neka announced that they're they're um
00:08:01
Speaker
Their summer con exclusive is that lost wave of LJN Dungeons and Dragons figures. So like the ones that were previously only available as prototypes, you know, they, they have the license to make them. So they're making a, uh, you know, four inch scale, like they're making those figures. So like, if you, you know, like the, the, I forget what year it is. It's gotta be mid eighties. Um, those LJN Dungeons and Dragons figures, they're
Collaborations and Current Inspirations
00:08:26
Speaker
making the lost wave.
00:08:28
Speaker
So people have been waiting decades for those figures to come out, and they finally are. That's insane, because I look back at some of these older toys from the company called Toy Site. They did a lot of Nintendo characters back in the 90s. And they had unreleased Banjo-Kazooie, like a Toy Site toy, like it was ready to go. They had it on the show floor, ready to rock. And for whatever reason, they never produced it.
00:08:57
Speaker
This person I follow on YouTube and use on forums and stuff like that. Night Ram 56, I believe, is handles.
00:09:06
Speaker
He's a crazy cool Nintendo collector. He's awesome. He was the only one who had that prototype show toy and he recently let it go because he wasn't really into collecting Banjo-Kazoo anymore. He sold it on his eBay listing. I think it was like $3,000 for that. It's nuts because you think like looking back then, you're like, man,
00:09:28
Speaker
If only they would have just made that toy, like how successful that that would have been, you know. So that's a toy that will never get made now because toy site doesn't obviously have that. I don't even think they're around, but they don't even have a license anymore. But that's cool that Dungeons and Dragons is bringing figures, you know, to life now that were supposedly, you know, canceled over prototypes and not coming. So that's cool. It's like that's definitely a bittersweet thing to see. Now, one of the things that you are most known for, of course, is the toy photography aspect of collecting.
00:09:57
Speaker
How did you get into the toy photography? Art and kind of Really what kind of gets you going as far as that goes? Man, you know, honestly it was I had like a bunch of toys as it is Just yeah, I was just already a casual collector at the time. This was like 2000
00:10:18
Speaker
17, 16, I've been a collector my entire life, but I was more up to date on things around that timeframe. But I was just casually going through Instagram and I saw some people posting photos with their toys and they looked really cool. They made them look really authentic. One of them was Wolf's Eye, Jordan. I met him a few times. He's awesome. He inspired me to take up this hobby. Switpix, Spencer, he was another one that I saw just on my Instagram feed.
00:10:46
Speaker
these photos, and I was like, wow, that's so awesome. I have all these toys. I should try to do something like that. And I had an old DSLR camera, and I just started taking pictures. And here we are almost four or five years later now. Yeah, I mean, it's so talking to a bunch of photographers now over the last three years and kind of going from dabbling in it as part of doing unboxings to
00:11:14
Speaker
just taking toy photography, you know, almost almost daily at this point. Um, it's, it's so interesting to see how everybody fell ass backwards into it. Like, like there are very few people who one day decided like, I'm
Card Collecting and Market Trends
00:11:31
Speaker
going to be a toy photographer. And like the only, the only people I could really think of or person, I should say is, is Mitchell Mitchell Lou, who was like a wedding photographer and hated doing it and like hated like photography gig.
00:11:45
Speaker
And to like decompress would take pictures of toys and finally was just like, no, this is what I'm going to do. Um, and obviously Mitchell being one of the rare examples of somebody who, who turned it into like a full fledged career. Right. Um, but it's, it's so interesting to see how like, you know, people start like just taking them with their phone and then all of a sudden, you know, they have.
00:12:08
Speaker
real cameras and lights. It's wild. Right. When you mention about having a phone, I feel like a lot of people get discouraged because they see some of us. Honestly, I bought my new camera, which I paid a pretty penny for, but I had an old DSL camera from
00:12:34
Speaker
What are we at, 2022 right now? So 2010, I had it for like 12 years. And honestly, it barely took better photos than like a standard iPhone that you can have in your pocket right now. And I had that forever and I took all my photos on that until I just recently upgraded.
00:12:52
Speaker
I feel like a lot of people get discouraged because they don't have all the fancy cameras and all the lenses and stuff like that. You don't need a lot of that stuff. As long as you have your phone and obviously lighting is a big thing, you can create some awesome things. I know a lot of people that do do that. People have done comparisons and that's something I would like to do in the future is take the same shot on my DSLR camera and then the same shot on my iPhone.
00:13:17
Speaker
and then edit it the same way and just show a difference between the two. So I think that's important for people to know that you don't need all the fancy stuff. You just start shooting, just start taking photos. So speaking of gear, you mentioned that you just got a new camera. Since this really is kind of one of the first profiles that we've done on a toy photographer, let's do a little gear talk here. What are you shooting on and editing with?
00:13:45
Speaker
Yeah, well, I just now picked it up. It's a Canon EOS R and it's a fantastic camera. It was a toss-up between the Sony of this style and this Canon and I've just kind of been a Canon guy. I do think Sony does a better job as far as video recording.
00:14:07
Speaker
I think they have that in the bag. But I love the way the Canon felt, the way it looks, and I'm just more familiar with that. So I'm using this Canon DSLR camera. And as far as lighting goes, I just picked up a bunch of lights and stuff off Amazon. I have these Amaran aperture lights, and they come with these little filters. And so there's a bunch of different colors, and you can slide them out and combine them and create different hues and stuff like that for whatever scene you're trying to create. And those work really well.
00:14:38
Speaker
They're cheap. They're like 50 bucks. I have like four of them and they help me in a lot of ways. But other than that, then I have just like a geek, a geek-odo tripod and just my lights. And then as far as editing goes, Photoshop is insane. Some of the stuff that people do out there is crazy. I've barely scratched the surface and I'm still learning. I pick up everything that I learn off YouTube.
00:15:06
Speaker
I encourage everybody to do that. If you don't know how to do something, look it up on YouTube. That's exactly what I do. How do I create flames for Charizard? I looked it up on YouTube and I started doing it and doing it and doing it and that looks better now than what it first did. I use Adobe Lightroom and then Adobe Photoshop and just combine those things with my toys and then have my photos.
00:15:35
Speaker
It's amazing the amount of free instruction you can get on YouTube and how smart search is. A lot of times, at least I've noticed, if I'm searching for something that's editing related,
00:15:51
Speaker
before I can even finish typing it in in YouTube, it's already completed. It already knows where my brain is going, and it's just like, oh, there's probably hundreds of other people searching this exact same thing, right? But yeah, same thing. We did a video for our first annual Archie Awards, and I had no idea how to do keying with a green screen
00:16:19
Speaker
to make something happen in the background, and I just remember going, well, I guess I'll go to YouTube and figure it out. That's the beauty of YouTube. I love YouTube so much, and it's crazy. Anything and everything you could think of is pretty much on there. You've gotten a chance to get a first crack at Pokemon from our mutual friends at Jazzwares. How did that opportunity come your way?
00:16:46
Speaker
Man, I love the Pokemon team over at Jazzwares. They are so connected with the fans, the fan base and the community and what people are looking for. They just know how to interact. It doesn't matter if you have 100,000 followers or 1,000 followers or less than that. They respond, they interact, they like your stuff. They see it.
00:17:10
Speaker
And honestly, I met them just by doing my toy photography stuff. I can't even think of a specific moment. I think maybe Aaron had shared one of my, he had followed me.
00:17:27
Speaker
And then maybe she shared something that I had done. And this was when he had his hands in Halo and Pokemon at the time. It might have been he saw my Pokemon and Halo shots. I think it was my Aerodactyl shot that I did.
00:17:43
Speaker
we just started connecting that way and he started seeing a little bit more of my stuff and we would communicate and chit chat back and forth and then I met Aliyah and Andy and then I met the rest of the crew and it just started, they just kind of welcomed me in like family, just like talking to me and just, it's awesome. I can't say enough good things about them.
00:18:04
Speaker
Yeah, they they are so like we've found that same experience. They're not only are they like approachable and communicative, but like they're so engaged like from from Jeremy. Yes down like they are just all so engaged. Absolutely. And I think as a toy company or any
00:18:29
Speaker
Any business in general, when you communicate with your buyers, your fans, or anything, and you, like you said, you're more approachable, you're gonna have that fan or that seller the rest of their life, for the most part. And they do a good job of that. And it's something I like to see with other toy companies.
00:18:56
Speaker
But they just, yeah, I feel like they have a lot of loyal fans now for life just because of the way they interact with the community. Plus, they're just fun. They have such a fun team over there, just personality-wise.
00:19:11
Speaker
Yes, and I will say this too. They know their stuff. It's not their job, quote unquote, but they're fans of the products themselves. Like Aaron can school, I think, anybody that I...
00:19:29
Speaker
that I know or anybody that I would say even works for the higher-ups from Pokemon, he could probably lay down some serious knowledge on some folks out there that they probably don't even know yet. He is just a wealth of knowledge and that exudes through him in the toys that he makes and the passion is because he loves the product, he loves Pokemon, he grew up with it and when you have your heart and soul and passion into it, it shows through your work and it's just, yeah, he's fantastic.
00:19:57
Speaker
Yeah, talk about bringing bringing us to school. I mean school was in session when he was On the pod. Yes. Yeah, that was that was a really good pod. Yeah So so you mentioned at the top, you know the things you're you're collecting right now and and right now especially for things like Pokemon and and Jurassic with the with the new movie like coming out imminently and
00:20:22
Speaker
Um, you have, you have a lot to choose from lots of, lots of new lines, lots of new plastic. Um, what are, what are your favorite toys to shoot right now? Uh, man, I'm sitting in my, my collection room or my game room. Um, and I'm just looking at everything and it's just, ah, there's so much, my favorite things. It's got to be Pokemon. Um,
00:20:50
Speaker
Pokemon and then Jurassic has their new Hammond collection, which is a 375 highly articulated scale figures. It's like their Amber collection, which is a six inch line, but it's now in the 375. And so it seems like they might be straying away from the Amber collection and going into the Hammond collection.
00:21:10
Speaker
But I love those figures so far. Right now, this line just was announced, as you all know. But they have the two raptors that we have, Ian. We have Rexie, the transverse Rex, on the way with its... Oh my God, the detail on that dinosaur is insane. It's got a glass eye. Crazy articulation. I can't wait for that.
00:21:33
Speaker
Pokemon Hammer Collection from Jurassic and then Halo was obviously my third. Can't get enough of the world of Halo. I've been a six-inch guy for a while now. I mean, I've always been a 375-inch guy, but you look at Black Series and things like that. Black Series, I think, really helped
00:21:54
Speaker
create a more six inch life for other toy companies. But I used to be really heavy into the Halo six inch figures, but I've kind of gone back to the 375. They're a lot, I don't know, they're more playable and there's just, there's so much to them. There's a bigger world building aspect for them that I love.
00:22:15
Speaker
Well, I mean, they're, they're one of those lines much like Star Wars and, and, and frankly, like, like the Jurassic figures, um, where they, they require big pieces, like they're, they're normal sized people with, with big set pieces. So whether it's the, whether it's the warthogs and, uh, and like some of the, the more like alien monster type characters in, in, in Halo or obviously dinosaurs in, in Jurassic, the, the, you know, the Jurassic world line.
00:22:45
Speaker
Or you know starships in Star Wars, you know, that that's why that that 375 scale is always going to be kind of uh, you know the the butter zone if you will for For for world building. Absolutely.
Creative Process in Photography
00:22:59
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, I could agree with you more. Uh-huh And and by the way, the the amber collection is officially dead So so six inch six inch Jurassic figures that don't they're they're not coming They're done
00:23:15
Speaker
When I saw that latest Target sale where they were just letting them go 50% off, I was like, oh, I think this is the end for it. When they had one of those, I want to say it was, geez, might've been February, March, when they had that first little Target mini reveal and they did the little interview for their winter collector con.
00:23:45
Speaker
Um, they they had somebody from the Mattel team and there was gave the kind of like You know, we're you know, we're moving, you know Back towards kind of like the idea of the legacy collection But we want to treat it the way that we treated the amber collection. So this is the Hammond collection It was all of like the PR speak for rest in peace amber collection Yes Yeah, no
00:24:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's sad because I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I get it, you know, because like.
00:24:19
Speaker
I get it. You try to make a 112 scale Rexy, how much is that going to cost? Especially if it's like inflation and things going up right now, it's like people are already a little tight as it is on money and it's getting harder to buy toys. So I mean, I can only imagine how much a 112 scale Rexy would have cost. But it's interesting to think about now, where do you think collecting wise and value wise the Amber collection
00:24:46
Speaker
Canon will be now, you know, especially you look at the Dilophosaurus it's it was it seemed like it was like, you know rarely made you know, there was there was a limited number of them and then they just like kind of stopped and they go for like $230 now for a once was you know $20, you know item So yeah, it's gonna be I'm very curious how value wise that that emperor collection will be
00:25:13
Speaker
I think certain things like the dinos I'm sure the raptors they made a ton of those so I think it's gonna be quite some time before you know you start seeing you know mint on card ones that are gonna go for a decent amount but
00:25:28
Speaker
Dinosaurs are forever popular, you know, they're they're they're gonna retain some sort of value I will say in terms of amber collection figures that did surprise me because there there I had a joke going on with a Not a joke but like we had a little bit of a laugh with one of our followers that he said that every every now every now and then every every blue moon I think he said It's the the summer of of Pratt and this is this is this is another summer of Pratt. We've we've reached a
00:25:58
Speaker
we've reached another one where we're we're hashtag chris pratt summer is happening and and when he said that i thought it would be really funny to do a picture of star lord and own grady together with like a wrapped like just doing like some sort of like mashup picture and i was like yeah nobody's buying the amber collection anymore i should be able to get an own own pretty cheap yeah no no and and like i went to go see the prices for even like a loose one
00:26:24
Speaker
was like $35, $40 and forget it, like a new one, they're going for like 60, 70, $80. Really? Wow. I didn't know that. Wow. That's, that's wild. Now I don't know if that's just because of the timing, right? Cause like the new movies coming and people may, you know, again, for the same, not the same goofy reason that I was looking to pick one up, but like, you know, it just, again, you know,
00:26:45
Speaker
The 112 scale is so popular. Frankly, I feel like for a lot of people, it is kind of the main scale, like you said, with things like Star Wars Black Series, Marvel Legends, and GI Joe. So I guess with the movie coming out, the aftermarket, we'll kind of see a little bit of a surge. But my Chris Pratt summer picture is just going to have to be Star-Lord now.
00:27:12
Speaker
He has a Mario movie too, which is insane. Yeah, that got pushed back to next year, 2023, right? Yeah, I believe you're right. Real quick, for you and anybody who's maybe listening, I would highly recommend before it sells out and before it's going to be a $230 figure is to buy the Jurassic World Amber Collection male Velociraptor from Target. I believe it's a Target exclusive.
00:27:39
Speaker
It's still in stock and I think it's like 30 bucks. I would highly recommend y'all to get that because it is just a beautiful piece. I am no way, shape, or form endorsed by Mattel, Jurassic, or Target, but as a fan and as a friend, I definitely recommend y'all pick that up because if you want to look at it as investment-wise, I think it's going to hold an amazing value. Or if you want as a collector, pick that up now for sure.
00:28:07
Speaker
And it's, I actually, I, I picked one up when it was, one of them was like on clearance, one of the target Raptors, the Amber Raptors, and they are beautiful. The like, I wasn't expecting the tail to be like a wired, like bendy rubber tail, like have like a bendy wire in the tail was not expecting that on top of it being, you know, an articulated ball joint. There's way, way more joints in that thing than I had ever could have ever hoped for. Like it's like.
00:28:34
Speaker
Honestly, it's pretty perfect. So I'm with you on that one. And now a word from our sponsors.
Community Q&A
00:28:47
Speaker
At JCPenney's Memorial Day Sale, sizzling deals are on with store-wide door busters all weekend. Or bring home savings up to 50% during our Memorial Day home sale. Save even more with your coupon. And for all former and active military personnel, enjoy an extra 10% off in-store. Just show a valid military or VA ID at checkout. Shopping is back. JCPenney. Coupon valid on select styles through 530, some exclusions apply. Door busters valid 526 through 530 and excluded from coupons. See store or jcp.com for details.
00:29:17
Speaker
And now, back to the show. So, Pokemon cards are a big part of what you showcase. Are there any other cards that you collect? Okay, as far as cards go, yes, Digimon. So, I used to collect Digimon cards back in the day.
00:29:37
Speaker
I still have a handful of them. I dabbled with Yu-Gi-Oh recently, but I had a crap ton of Yu-Gi-Oh cards back in the day as well. I still have them. And so as far as current cards, just Digimon here and there. If I see a cool art that's in the set, yeah, I'll pick up some packs and see if I can pull it. But Pokemon is and has always been my trading card love, and it will pretty much always be that way.
00:30:08
Speaker
And they've come a long way, Pokemon cards. When I was collecting them, it was 1996, right? Probably 1996, 1995, somewhere around there. When they first really, the first wave of PokeMania really hit in the United States.
00:30:30
Speaker
You know, I remember I made this, not this joke, but I made this kind of observation, you know, when we did our last Pokemon episode was, you know, when the last time I paid attention to Pokemon, short of, you know, two years ago, there were only 151 of them. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And it's, it's, there's a lot more now. Very close to 1000. Yes.
00:30:58
Speaker
wild. That's absolutely wild. And Digimon almost 10 times, right? Yes. In just about as many years. No, a little bit more. It's been a little more than 10 years. But the the other thing too, you mentioned Digimon. I like that was something where
00:31:18
Speaker
I couldn't believe that that was still a thing. And I mean like the actual Digimon devices, like the little like Tamagotchi style devices are back too. Bandai's making new ones. Uh-huh, yeah. I think it's the third gen that had, I think it's Tai. I think it's Tai and Tai is like older now, but it's, oh god, what's his name? Davis, Davis Tai and Ken.
00:31:42
Speaker
I forget Ty, he's older, but it's Davis and Ken. They have like the third gen Digivice. Back in the day when those came out, they were like the Gigapets, Tamagotchis and stuff like that, like you were saying. Those hold extreme value right now. If you have one of those from back in the day, let's go for like almost $200. It's getting out of here. Oh my God. I had the Wormmon one. It was a green one and I can't find it for the life of me because I was like, oh God, I got to put this on my shelf somewhere.
00:32:11
Speaker
I can't find it and then I like googled it like, okay, I see how you know how much the cost is like $160 $200 is like what? Oh, like this is insane. Oh my god It's it's that collect. It's that uh, that collector boom that we're going through every everybody Everybody spent we we were just talking about this the other day. Everybody spent the entire pandemic Going through their drawers. Yes, that's exactly they're stuck in their house and they're like what what do I have that I haven't looked at or held in my hand for
00:32:42
Speaker
It was definitely that, and a lot of people, when I was talking with people, they wanted – it was almost like a feeling of –
00:32:58
Speaker
of how they felt from back in the day, you know, like, oh man, like, we used to play Mario Party on Nintendo 64 back in the day. Let's go, let's, we can't go anywhere, let's go pick one up from eBay or whatever, and like, all these people are doing this, and that's like rising the prices from everything, you know, you got your Wii, you got Nintendo, you have PlayStation, Xbox, all, you know, so all the things that you can only do from back in the day, or do at home, that you wanted to relive from back in the day, like everything just skyrocketed, it was,
00:33:27
Speaker
No pun intended, but people wanted that feeling of like nostalgic again, you know.
00:33:33
Speaker
Oh, I mean, it's a good thing you picked the name that you picked on Instagram. Yeah. Actually, fun fact, that was a really hard name for you to pick from back in the day because I went through all different names and I was just like, you know, I'm just going to be a nostalgic Adam. I'm just feeling nostalgic. I'm just going to exude my nostalgic life on Instagram. I'm just going to be a nostalgic Adam. It's just Adam being nostalgic. That's how the name came to be in case anybody wanted to know.
00:34:00
Speaker
Hey, I mean, it's worked out for you. And you got that sweet new logo, too. Love the new logo. Thank you, man. Yeah. I'm not one to really show my face too much or put myself out there. But I've had a lot of people say, hey, we like seeing your interactions. We like seeing your responses in your face and stuff like that.
00:34:24
Speaker
Spoiler, I have some awesome card opening videos. I have two cameras now. So I have some awesome pack opening videos that I might be doing where you could actually see my face and see all the goofy expressions I make when I pull rare cards and stuff like that. But yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. But yeah, it's always been kind of harder for me to like show myself because I wanted to kind of be like under the radar and stuff like that. But I was like, you know, screw it.
Balancing Fatherhood and Hobbies
00:34:49
Speaker
It's my
00:34:51
Speaker
Myself isn't within my name on Nostalgia Gams, so I got to just show myself a little bit more. Speaking of your new dual camera fancy setup, what's your favorite part about doing a card break? Man, just pulling that card.
00:35:13
Speaker
Like when you are hunting for a specific card, like for example, the last big one that I had was celebrations, uh, the OG base set charger that they had, that they reprinted for that. I hunted.
00:35:25
Speaker
and hunted and hunted. And yes, yes, I spent more money on buying packs and stuff like that when I could have bought it outright. Yes, I know that. But just that feeling when you're hunting and you're doing these things live on your Instagram Live or whatever and you're trying to get it and you pull that card, oh, there's nothing like it. I posted the reel. If you all are interested, scroll down, you'll find it somewhere.
00:35:50
Speaker
of me pulling that card, but that is my favorite thing is when you get that card and you just are holding it, there's nothing like that. It brings you back and brought me back anyways, back when I was like nine years old and I was deep into Pokemon. That's the feeling that I had. You can't buy that feeling.
00:36:08
Speaker
So I recently, Dave and I recently did a card break together where I kind of filmed it and I don't know anything about a background card collecting. I know slightly more. I know enough about what a rare Pokemon card looks like.
00:36:28
Speaker
They've, you know, honestly, they've since changed quite a bit where like the entire card is now hollow or foil or however, like it's like almost like edge to edge, you know, hollow. Whereas I remember just being a little window, but I'm watching Dave pull, you know, you know, pull cards from what was it? It was like a blaster box, right? An AEW one? Yeah, it was an AEW blaster.
00:36:51
Speaker
And I'm sitting there behind the camera, initially not saying anything, just kind of watching. But then I found myself just asking questions because Dave's talking through the break as one would as you're filming it. And all of a sudden, I'm like, well, what does that mean? And there were times where I was like, well, great question. Anyone want to leave
00:37:20
Speaker
Yeah, there is so much to cards now. I'm not familiar with the EW card line. I think they're cool and that's awesome. There's awesome pieces that you can get from autographs and things like that. I think that's awesome. But there's so much. There's like, in certain cards, parallel rares and there's these types of rares and stuff like that. It's nuts.
00:37:46
Speaker
Yeah, like there's two different kinds of like where based off of the different color foil is what you know, and then some are numbered. There's so many things where I'm like, the first one I ever did, I had found like a regular box of AW cards and I'm like, in the comments people are like, oh, that's this card. And I'm like, oh, I just thought it was another foil card because they were almost exactly the same.
00:38:14
Speaker
Right, yeah. Yeah, it's crazy. Even some cards are just like small differences, you know, like and then but it's like, you know, big value, I guess, you know, between those two differences. So do Pokemon cards still do first editions? They don't know. I'm trying to think. I'm trying to think if they have anything that's comparable to a first edition.
00:38:39
Speaker
No, no, they stopped that, I think, after Neo-Revelations or Neo-Destiny, I believe they stopped that. Which, good and bad. I like the appeal of first editions, I like the appeal of chase, but I hate trying to find a chase of something, because I feel like I spend forever trying to find it. So, yeah. Yeah, because I remember that back in the day,
00:39:08
Speaker
Like I know now like first edition shadowless Charizard like you know is like the card but I remember when I was when I was younger and I was collecting them like my first edition Dragonite was like my favorite. I love that that gray card with like the like rainbow foil behind Dragonite. Yes. Yeah, the one where sitting down, right? Yep. Yep. Yeah, that's a great card.
00:39:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's it's so it's so much fun like watching them because you know even even standing there watching Dave open the cards because like one of the cards was um had
Practical Photography Tips
00:39:44
Speaker
like a Clipping of like a ring gear like at like a like ring-worn Ring gear was like in embedded in the card which completely blew my mind but watching
00:39:56
Speaker
You know, you... Oh, like, oh, I thought we're... I didn't get you were saying a ring. You're like, it was like piece of like the clothing that was like... Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's like a, yeah, like a relic of like a t-shirt or like somebody's... Yeah. Pants. Pants. Yeah. Yes. You have a tiny two by two square of Penta's shorts. Here's part of his sock.
00:40:24
Speaker
Hey, it's ring worn, man. You might get some ringed worm, too. If you're not careful. Put that thing in the top loader and wash your hands. But the thing is, watching these breaks, and you referenced the one where you got that Charizard. I remember watching that. And I'm just grinning and thinking about it again, because the joy is infectious when one of those cards hits.
00:40:55
Speaker
So they're definitely, if you're sitting there thinking, I hope whoever's watching this is having as much fun as I am, everyone lives vicariously through these videos. Everyone does. Oh, good, good. Yeah, that was one of the things, too, where I was like, you know what? I got to set up two cameras. Some of the huge awesome YouTube car breakers out there, they do that. And I was like, you know what? I got to do it.
00:41:23
Speaker
And then thinking about it, I was like, man, I wonder what my face actually looked like when I actually pulled that card. And then I want to know for my own self, like, oh my God, how goofy did I really look like this? I can only imagine. So I got to do it. So yeah, I'm excited about it. Now, you mentioned the Charizard, the reproduction one.
00:41:47
Speaker
being a really cool pull and obviously, you know, I can attest to having watched the video.
Challenges in Toy Collecting
00:41:53
Speaker
But outside of that pull, was there anything recently that comes to mind that you got where you were like, through the moon? Ooh. Not to that level, no. Not to that level. I did pull some very quality Charizard cards from Brilliant Stars.
00:42:15
Speaker
One of them, I did film, and I believe I put that one on my Instagram. And this was before I had two cameras, and I was just kind of like, I was opening a lot of packs on Instagram for a while, and I was like, you know what, I want to just relish in some packs, like just mono-e-mono, just myself. So I had some cool cards off-camera, but nothing that was that extent of that Charizard at that time. But I think when
00:42:46
Speaker
I think it's Astral Radiance that's coming out. There is another Charizard. It's Leon and Charizard. It's like an alternate. It's not an alternate, but it's a character card. It's super cool. And I'll be pretty hyped if I pull that one. And it's crazy, actually. Like I said earlier, there's so much going on with Pokemon.
00:43:09
Speaker
they're called radiant cards which is basically like the shiny pokemon coming out in astral radiance which is dropping i think next friday and there's like three shiny or what they call radiant cards in there that they're doing and they're the art styles are like
00:43:25
Speaker
what they did back in the day with Neo Destiny with your Shining Noctile, your Shining Charizard, your Shining Steelix, Tyranitar, all that stuff where if you look at the light, if you look at the card and the holo just right, you can see the artwork so well. But if you turn it a certain way and it's kind of discreet, it's so cool. So they're almost bringing that back into a full art
00:43:47
Speaker
form and then they have Pokemon Go cards coming out and it's insane. It's crazy. I hate it because my wallet, you know? Yeah. You recently did a very special edition of a card break in the hospital.
00:44:11
Speaker
So for those that are unaware, why don't you tell us a little bit about that very special dual card break that you did? Yeah, that was really cool. I was really nervous about that, by the way. Because I was like, oh man, maybe she's going to be a professional, but I ain't doing that. My first child was born. I had a baby girl.
00:44:38
Speaker
Congratulations, welcome to the Girl Dad Club. Yes, congratulations. Thank you, very excited. My wife saw a girl on baby duty right now while I'm on the cast, but it was awesome. I knew I wanted to implement Pokemon cards at some point, whether it was... I even had the most obscure idea where I was like, while the baby's coming up, I'm gonna open up cards and I'm gonna have the nurse fill me while I'm opening up cards.
00:45:10
Speaker
I should probably maybe not do that. My wife's in pain, and here I am just like, here we go, we have ghastly, we have Pikachu, we have, you know? So I was like, okay, I ain't gonna do that. No. And I was like, okay, well, what if I had the doctor will do a pack battle? That was my idea. I was like, okay, let me try that. And so, you know, baby comes out healthy, everything's good to go and stuff like that. Doctor's cleaning up, take us off all her PPE gear and all that stuff.
00:45:38
Speaker
And so I was like, hey, you know, would you be okay if we did like a pack battle, Pokemon pack battle? And she like looked at me like, like, like, okay. And she's like, I've done a lot of things, but I haven't opened up Pokemon cards
Community Engagement and Future Goals
00:45:52
Speaker
before. So she's like, let's do it. And I was like, okay, do you mind if we film it? Is this okay? And she's like, sure. She's like, she's like, totally cool. Make sure you tag me. And I was like, okay, cool. And so we did, we, her and I did brilliant stars, back to back pack battle. And, uh,
00:46:06
Speaker
And it ended up being an awesome pack battle. It was a draw, and she ended up pulling a really good card, and I pulled a character card, and it was awesome. It was really cool. And it was really cool of her to do that with me, you know? Because it was really special. It was really cool. It was adorable. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Oh, man. That was fun. I still think about me trying to
00:46:36
Speaker
Pull open up a pack while the baby's coming out. I was like that would have been such a bad idea Yeah, that that wouldn't that would not have been that would not have been good. I Could only imagine the hate, you know, that would apply God if it went viral, you know the she's suffering your opening up cards, you know, like Especially if you had like a mega pole during it. Yeah, you know like that would have been
00:47:00
Speaker
I mean, it would have been, in the end, it would have been hilarious, but like, you know, it's just, you did, you made the better choice there, Adam. Yeah, I agree with you 100%. And, you know, I'm with you. I brought toys to the hospital with me for when my second daughter was born, when Callie was born, I bought pocket figs with me into the hospital and I took a picture of them
00:47:29
Speaker
you know, with her in the, you know, in the little bassinet, little hospital bassinet. So, you know, it's, it's a, it's.
00:47:38
Speaker
It's to the point where these hobbies are, you know, a significant part of our lives, right? You know, it's, it's, it's something that these, you know, whether, whether they like it or not, these kids are going to grow up with. So, you know, might, might as well introduce them from day one, right? Absolutely. Yeah. That was something that I wanted to do was to bring, bring something. I brought the two little plush. I bought a Bulbasaur plush and a Lucario plush. And, um, yeah, I wanted to bring a little something, you know, cause
00:48:06
Speaker
You know, this stuff that we have and that I have is eventually going to be hers, you know, at one point. So got to introduce her earlier than probably I wanted to, but it's okay. So speaking of the new baby in the house, once again, congratulations. How are you finding the dad work play balance so far?
00:48:29
Speaker
Not terrible. I thought it was going to be a lot worse. But what's really in my favor is I work overnights at the hospital, like I kind of mentioned earlier. And so I work weekend nights. I work three 12-hour shifts. So I have basically full-time hours at 36 hours. And so that gives me four days off. So it took me a while to get to that point, but it's
00:48:55
Speaker
Having four days off is so awesome and that allows me time to relieve my wife during the week so she can get her full sleep. That gives me time to create content and be a dad and also do all my hobbies and all my nerdy things. It's so far so good. The first week or two was a little rough just trying to get sleep going.
00:49:22
Speaker
get like a routine going, but I think we've kind of got it down now. That's awesome. Yeah. I mean, it's, I, I am more tired now than I have ever been in my, in my entire life with, with two, two in the house. And I've, you know, I'm not, I used to be a night owl, not so much anymore. Like I'm totally cool with going to bed at like nine 30 every night, if I'm being honest. But, uh, you know, it's, it's one of those things where like,
00:49:50
Speaker
you know, it just, you got to find the balance. Absolutely. Yeah. And it's just like anything, it takes some time, you know, it takes a few weeks to get a rhythm going. Well, I'm glad to hear that you're already hitting your stride with that because
00:50:09
Speaker
As babies go, get ready for none of that to make sense at the next mile marker when they start growing and regressing and changing their minds and having opinions. I can see right now, I'm sitting in this room and I can hear, I'm in the other room, but my daughter is in this room and I just hear a crash and it's like, oh, the shelf, all the toys fell over.
00:50:38
Speaker
Well, there's so, you know, you never know. I, you know, like I said, I have, I have two. My, my first never, never dreamed of touching anything that was in like dad's toy space. Like she was, she is extremely, even to this day, like extremely respectful. Like when she wants to play, she asks and there are certain things that she, she knows she can and, you know, certain things she knows she can. The, the little one.
00:51:06
Speaker
Once she is tall enough to reach things, they need to move higher. Like it's just everything, everything is in a constant effort to make it as close to the ceiling as possible because she is one of those kids that like, when they say kids get into everything, you know, like she gets into everything. Oh man. So yeah, it's a, you never know which one you're going to get until they start moving.
00:51:33
Speaker
So with that, I think it's time for us to head into some Q&A. Cool. 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.
00:51:57
Speaker
Visit them in person at 106 Main Street in Little Falls, New Jersey, or online at ChubsyWubsy.com. That's C-H-U-B-Z-Z-Y-W-U-B-Z-Z-Y.com. And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you. So we posted a... I always trip over this. We posted a post. I gotta figure out a better way to say this on the episodes. But we sent a post out on Instagram
00:52:25
Speaker
Asking for questions. So if you are interested in asking questions to future guests on adventures in collecting, once again, make sure you're following us at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram. Because every time we have a new guest, we ask for questions. And this week we have three questions coming at us from three of our followers, your mutual followers, I believe.
00:52:51
Speaker
on Instagram and Dave is going to kick us off with the first one. Yes. So at work more or less asks, what do you struggle with most when it comes to collecting and photography? Good question. Good question, Jason.
00:53:14
Speaker
With collecting, my biggest struggle is to stop collecting. Hey, wait, no, no, no, you can't say that. I know, that's blasphemy, you can't say that here. No, but... Okay, so y'all asked me this earlier.
00:53:39
Speaker
Like what am I currently collecting? And I get this asked a lot, like what am I collecting? What am I looking for? I'm always casually looking for something. And I mean that with, there's things on the back burner that if I was at savers or a thrift store or somewhere and I saw a specific item that was maybe vintage or whatever, I'm like, gotta have it. So I think my biggest struggle is
00:54:06
Speaker
I guess being satisfied with collecting because there's always something that like I'm trying to I'm always trying to hunt down that one specific thing and and Real quick long story very short. I was hunting a 1997 Nintendo Beanie, it's it's a like a beanbag kind of like a beanie baby. It's from Yoshi story It's like 1997. It was a
00:54:34
Speaker
a pre-order item. So for Nintendo 64, if you pre-ordered Yoshi's Story through Toys R Us, they would give you a little voucher. And in the voucher, I would say, hey, this is a mail-in. Select whether you want a white Yoshi or a black Yoshi. And so people would mail them off and choose whatever one they want. And I never did that or had that back in the day. I was seven years old, so I didn't know what was going on.
00:54:59
Speaker
So Yoshi is my all-time favorite Nintendo character. I was hunting that specific white Yoshi. It took me 15 years to find that Yoshi. So there's always something that I'm like looking for. But yeah, so that's my biggest struggle is just trying to find that, I guess, satisfaction or, you know, satisfied.
00:55:21
Speaker
And then with photography, it's got to be like lighting. Lighting is hard for me sometimes. It's just like trying to pose something in a certain way. And I'm like, man, the lighting just looks so bad right here. What am I doing? Do I got to go this way or this way? So lighting is definitely my biggest struggle. Yeah, for sure.
00:55:50
Speaker
I'm with you there on the lighting. And to Jason, who asked this question, who is like one of the kings of toy photography lighting out there, his photos and at Eye of Oatu, those are the two, if I need to like, if I need lighting inspiration, I usually go to their photos and try to figure out, like scroll through and figure out like what direction their lights are coming from.
00:56:17
Speaker
Yeah, that's like they are like kings among men when it comes to lighting. A lot to learn from them, 100%. Dave, you wanna do the next one? Yeah, we can do the next one. All right, at mccalrine asks, what motivates you to share your passion? Ooh.
00:56:48
Speaker
Just support. I get so much feedback and interaction and engagement.
00:57:00
Speaker
from people that are just like me, or that are just like us, I should say, that love Star Wars, or they love Jurassic, or, hey, I used to have that when I was a kid, and you're showing this now, I gotta find that, or because you showed me this thing I used to have when I was a kid, I just bought one on eBay. So I think just the engagement and that, hey,
00:57:29
Speaker
Like there's so many of us out there that are just, that love these things and to be able to express them and share them with other people and they respond and they love it and that maybe motivates them to buy toys or to even, like I've had people, like this is the coolest thing. I've had people like say like, hey, like I wanna do toy photography because of some of the stuff that you've done. Like that is like, like what man?
00:57:55
Speaker
Dude, that is so cool. That's what motivates me, is to be a positive influence in the community. That's what keeps me going. That's what motivates me the most. And our last question comes to us from, at Astonishing Picks, do you have any rituals or processes when you shoot? Oh, man. David, good question, David.
00:58:25
Speaker
Yes and no. I will brainstorm something for a while. Well, I was going to say, if you don't mind me to hit you with an example of one of the shots that I, like, featured something that I absolutely love and I love the effect that you landed with it. You recently did Gastly coming, like, out of the Pokémon card with the smoke behind it and stuff. Like, where does an idea like that come from?
00:58:55
Speaker
Oh man, funny is actually Yu-Gi-Oh helped me think of that idea. So the Yu-Gi-Oh anime, so are any of y'all familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh at all?
00:59:14
Speaker
I mean, I know what it is. I've probably seen an episode or two of it. With the kid with the big yellow hair and like the magic cards, right? Yeah. So basically, they're called dual monsters and Yu-Gi-Oh! is kind of like a form of, it's like a trading card game as well. But in the anime, you would summon a card. So you would summon a monster and you're on this digital playing field.
00:59:39
Speaker
So Yuki would summon the Dark Magician and this digital card would show on this digital ground and the monster would come out of the card onto this digital battlefield and they would duel and fight.
00:59:56
Speaker
So I got the inspiration of a Pokémon at that point coming out of the Pokémon card, based on Yu-Gi-Oh seeing that. The Gassy Shot was hard to shoot because I was like, man, the lighting is so hard to get this just right.
01:00:20
Speaker
So it just took some time to figure it out. And I was like, OK, I'm just going to use atmosphere aerosol, which I did. And it looked great. And then I was like, OK, but I'm still missing something. My wife has a fog machine. So I grabbed her fog machine. And I used that as well. I was like, OK, it's still not hitting what I need to hit. And so I'm thinking of all these things. Then I use teddy bear cotton. You can buy this at Michaels and stuff like that. It's filler cotton you can put into stuffed animals to make them fluffy again.
01:00:49
Speaker
And so I got some of that and I spread it all out and I put it between the card and coming out of the card and it covered up Gassy's stand and it covered up my light better than I had it before. And it just came together so well after that. And yeah, it was a crazy process because a lot of times in my photography,
01:01:11
Speaker
I think I have a really good shot and idea and position and posing and then I tweak a little bit and I'm like, oh no, this is even better. And then I tweak it a little bit more. I'm like, oh my God, this is even better. And then I, you know, and then the chain kind of happens and I look back at the very first idea and I was like, that was dumb. That looks so dumb. Like, like, you know, where it started with, but yeah. Well, it's, it's great too, you know, with stuff like that, like, like I'm looking at that post right now as, as you're kind of talking about it.
01:01:38
Speaker
And and for those listening I'll make sure that I share this in stories when the episode goes live so that way you can see the post you have a visual to go along with it, but It's what to me It's crazy with shots like this because you look at the final one right and like you know you can see the you kind of nailed the like smokey glow coming out from behind the card and the way the card is sitting like it really it really does look like the Pokemon card is coming to life and then
01:02:02
Speaker
You look at the background and you see that there's trees and there's grass and everything. You don't really know what part of it is practical and what part of it is kind of massaged and edited in Photoshop. Then as you swipe through, you're like, this is an upside down.
01:02:24
Speaker
baby wading pool and there's there's fake trees and there's this huge mountainous background behind it oh and there's like other little you know pokemon battle figs that are just kind of chilling underneath the trees and then you know that last view of like your your dog walking underneath the setup as as you're sitting there spraying with the aerosol and it's just like oh this is
01:02:48
Speaker
Like this is the furthest thing from like a, like a studio with like this finesse. And like you realize that like, Oh, like I could totally do this too. Like, you know, look at how he got this final shot from like a very practical setup, you know, in a, in, in a very normal environment that everyone has pretty much everyone has access to. Right. Like it's just a room.
01:03:16
Speaker
Absolutely. Thank you for the kind words on that. That's awesome. And the way you broke it down was I love that. That was one of the things that I love with photography or toy photography is you can go super practical where you do nothing but practical. You can go super Photoshop, do nothing but Photoshop. Both are great. Both are awesome. Both have their qualities for sure.
01:03:44
Speaker
I like to do like a combination of both. But that was another thing too is like with my photography, like I love the practical effects and I love being able to like show everyday items that you could use and utilize into your photos yourself. So you don't need to be like this awesome wizard at Photoshop to be able to get like a really cool shot.
01:04:10
Speaker
add some stuffing here, some little fake trees, which I picked up from Target for like three bucks. You can add all these elements. You don't need to sit down and do hundreds of hours of Photoshop to figure out how to get a good photo. Just throw some cool, real stuff in there and just mess with your lighting and then take some photos.
01:04:33
Speaker
Well, you know, I have to say, you know, keep sharing those, those pullbacks, those behind the scenes shots because they, they really are like not even just to me as another toy photographer. Like I've spoken to people where they're seeing where they comment saying, you know, seeing how it's done almost makes the final product like more impressive. Yeah. The process is definitely, I think.
01:05:00
Speaker
the coolest part of some of this and getting to like see a lot of these shots in action and kind of how they came together is is so cool. And it's, you know, I think a vital part to what makes, you know, the process makes the product is, you know, kind of a thrown around phrase, but it's or thrown thrown around
01:05:27
Speaker
kind of statement but it's it's true you know seeing seeing the behind the scenes is is really cool to just see kind of what really goes into it no yeah absolutely and they're fun to take too because people like like oh my god like that that's how you did it and you know like
01:05:43
Speaker
And you get to bounce ideas off of people too, which is so great. We're all learning together. So I get to learn things from Jason from Work More or Less. I get to learn things from Astonishing Pigs David. I learn things from you guys. It's just everybody. So I think posting those behind the scenes is, like you said, it's important.
01:06:06
Speaker
So with that, that brings us to the end of our Q&A. And unfortunately, it brings us to the last question of the interview here. So Dave, would you like to fulfill your role as this podcast's James Lipton and ask our final question? Yes, absolutely. The last question 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.
01:06:37
Speaker
Okay, uh, strangers, let me look around real quick. Okay, I could already tell my favorite pieces. My favorite pieces, I touched on it a little bit ago, is that, um,
01:06:46
Speaker
1997 Yoshi story. So again, there's two colors, there's a black Yoshi and a white Yoshi. I'm very fortunate to have two black Yoshis. And then I also have the white one that I was hunting for 15 years. But that is by far my favorite piece in my collection, hands down 100%. If the house was on fire, I'd grab those first and then I'd grab my baby. Just kidding, I'll grab the baby first.
01:07:16
Speaker
Strangest piece, oh man, I don't have a crazy, okay, well, okay, I guess this is probably my strangest piece maybe, but I think in my heart also equally as cool is, and I recently just picked this up. I know y'all saw this, but if you've been following me, I like to go and offer up a lot, and so I go and offer up
01:07:43
Speaker
and try to find cool stuff, but I found this listing for a life-size promo Yoda from Star Wars Episode I. It was a blockbuster display promo. This guy had it. He had it on there. He also had some other cool Star Wars things. Anyways, I ended up picking it up from him, but it's like it is
01:08:04
Speaker
the ugly rendition of Yoda from when he was the puppet from Phantom Menace. But it is so beautiful. And it's a life size like in basically mint condition statue. And that's probably my strangest piece. But I love it because it's a super obscure blockbuster, which was one of my favorite things growing up. Me and my dad used to go rent blockbuster movies every time I was over at his house. So that was a special part to me. But you
01:08:30
Speaker
They're no longer around. Star Wars Phantom Menace is getting older by the year, and you just can't find pieces like that anymore. So it's definitely my strangest piece, but an awesome piece. I still can't wait for a picture of Yoda and the baby. I know. I know. People are like, oh, do baby Groot and the baby. Do baby Yoda and the baby. I know. I got to figure out how to do them good, though. Yeah, that's one maybe when she gets a little bit older.
01:08:58
Speaker
But we'll be hanging on waiting for the moment. Either that, I hope it doesn't frighten her, because that version of Yoda is not very friendly. No, no. On the eyes. That is a creepy van Yoda. What is going on? That was an epic haul, though. So much 90s power of the Force stuff. Yeah, yeah. That was wild. Couldn't believe it. Yeah, he's still on more steel.
01:09:27
Speaker
Original posters from you know a new hope and probably like all that stuff But he wanted he knew what those were worth for those he wanted like premium dollar I'm like like oh like I love the posters I respect them But I'm not a huge poster guy like I don't want to spend like hundreds of dollars on these posters You know I'm not a huge poster guy, but I will take that creepy Yoda. Yes Absolutely, but take that creepy Yoda. I will yeah
01:09:51
Speaker
Yeah, so Adam, thank you so much for taking the time to be on Adventures in Collecting. This was an absolute blast. Before we let you go, tell our audience, where can they find you on the internet? Yeah, well, you can find me on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. I'm posting more to TikTok. It'll be a little bit
01:10:15
Speaker
more obscure different things than there are on Instagram and YouTube. But you can find me at all those places at NostalgicAdam, all one word. Awesome. And we'll be sure to include links. That way you don't have to go and memorize and go type things. If you just go to the show notes, you'll find the link to all of Adam's socials right in the show notes there. Adam, thank you again so much for taking the time to be on Adventures in Collecting. Good luck.
01:10:46
Speaker
with being a new dad, get sleep when you can, man. And let's do this again sometime. Awesome, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, thank you all for having me. I really appreciate it. Dave, you want to send us home? Yeah, sure. Thanks, Adam. Bye, everyone.
01:11:04
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
01:11:21
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:11:44
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer Frank Kablaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.
01:12:16
Speaker
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01:12:45
Speaker
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