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Making Toys Like a Boss... Fight Studio: A Chat with Lenny, Cory, Tony, and Chris
11 Plays12 minutes ago
Do you feel that? Change is in the wind as three creatives known for their work on lines like G.I. Joe Classified and Marvel Legends at Hasbro have made the move over to Boss Fight Studio. Join us for a deep dive chat with friends of the pod Lenny Panzica, Tony Collela, Cory Cantelupe, and Chris McLeod from Boss Fight Studio as we discuss the big move, what's in store, what they'll be working on, and what they're leaving behind in this nearly 2-hour mega episode.
Stay up-to-date on all things Boss Fight Studio https://bossfightstudio.com
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:03
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents permission, check your mailbox and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric.
00:00:15
Speaker
And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture and hauls, along with our journeys as collectors.
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome
Toy News and Giveaway Announcement
00:00:29
Speaker
back to Adventures in Collecting. ay Dave, we're we're back. Yes.
00:00:38
Speaker
We've got a lot to get through today, so um'm I'm going to rip through our housekeeping very quickly. and and I'm anxious for absolutely no reason. Yeah, we are, um in case you're wondering, we are recording during the next game, so when you hear this next week...
00:01:01
Speaker
Just know that that da that Dave is currently trying to not be distracted by the next game. The only way it'll be worse is if basketball is still happening next week. Then it will be more anxious.
00:01:12
Speaker
that's that's That's very fair. um so let's very quickly just touch on some housekeeping. So it is June. We have our June giveaway is live. So we have partnered with our friends over at SWTVC. to give away not one, Dave, but two deluxe Mandalorian and Grogu vintage collection products, releases products. um So, yeah, so month... Let's honest, this figure rolls.
00:01:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, we'll be we'll be giving away two of them. Mine is not handy. I can't grab it right now, but... i Really, really cool release. Something that we got to see back at Toy Fair shortly after it was announced. um Something that I have in hand and I have been enjoying immensely. And the movie was great. The movie was great.
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah. So you can visit at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram. Look for the pinned post. Follow all the rules. You have the entire month to enter. So if you are listening to this when the episode airs on the 15th, I think that's Monday, um you still have half a month.
00:02:22
Speaker
to get your entry in. So, and make sure you're following us on Instagram because every month we have a ah new giveaway runs the whole month. um We've been doing it for couple of years now, so hopefully we can, we can keep that going and there'll be another one in July.
00:02:38
Speaker
So yeah. i Other than that, in terms of the housekeeping, um I'm trying to think if there was wasn some collectibles on screen.
Upcoming Events and Guest Introduction
00:02:51
Speaker
Yeah. Whether it's One Wish Willows or Yeah. Yep. Oh, one other thing. So i this... trying to think next event that we'll be at oh we'll be at uh we'll be covering sweet sweet in just a yeah in just a few weeks so toy insider sweet sweet from new york city um one of our favorite events of the year always a ton of fun so that is coming in early july i think it's july 8th if i remember correctly so it is guess technically first week
00:03:24
Speaker
Yeah. um So we'll have a lot. That'll be our next live event. ah Live coverage coming to you from the toy insider. Sweet, sweet. So with that, um we've got a packed roster for for this episode this week, Dave. There is there. it There's been some news across the ah the old toy industry. um Some some people shifting around some friends of the pod, some some people that are adjacent to friends of the pod, right? So we are really, really excited to welcome the folks from Boss Fight Studio. So I'm going to bring them in. We've got Chris. We've got returning friend of the pod, Tony.
00:04:11
Speaker
We've got returning friend of the pod, Lenny, and somebody that we have been chasing to be on the show for quite some time. Give it up for Corey.
00:04:23
Speaker
you remember me Yeah, there we go. So we got everybody here. um this is ah This
Collecting Challenges and Industry Excitement
00:04:30
Speaker
is really cool. i we We have known all of you guys for for a while, obviously, long time listeners. Too long.
00:04:37
Speaker
Too long. I know Tony and Lenny very well from this show. um You guys have been on here quite a bit. This is your first time being on here under a new under a new umbrella. So a new banner.
00:04:51
Speaker
Yeah. Well, welcome. Welcome ah welcome to the the the the show as as the newest boss fight studio boss fighters. Yeah.
00:05:02
Speaker
Yeah. Do you guys have like an internal name? Are you boss fighters? Don't tell them. Don't tell them what the internal name is. That's right. that's That's trade secret. We can't share that. Got it. I'm only here i'm only here to referee. so no i've Got it. you Well, and and those who are fans of of G.I. i Joe may recognize the the voice of Chris, who is ah is also the host of the Full Force podcast. Correct. Yes.
00:05:32
Speaker
A friendly, a friendly. We've definitely been a square on the screen withli with Chris before. Like, we've definitely been multiple, you know, cubes rectangles on one screen.
00:05:45
Speaker
You know, that is a really good point. We totally have been on panels together. And yeah there is something very interesting happening with Tony's camera. He's going upside down. thought it was just my computer.
00:05:58
Speaker
Five hours later. All right. So it's it's really great to have everybody here. um And it's super exciting to talk to you guys ah about all of these new things that you're working on and all of these new bosses that you're fighting. this video
00:06:19
Speaker
but before we hop into that uh as this is a show about collecting and you guys know that uh each of you what are what are you guys currently collecting and uh what are some of your recent pickups let's go first you but sp You should go first. oh go ah I'm still collecting for I've got to find some more of them.
00:06:43
Speaker
ah Acid Rain. I've stumbled upon some awesome... can't stand the rain. a rain cups on' coming up there it is Acid Rain. i acquired some sweet Mondo vinyls.
00:06:55
Speaker
so that might that might start another addiction but uh you know nothing crazy i pulled back a little bit uh but i'm gonna get back into it now i like your new lighting setup back there thank you thank you this is in the bit i'm in the basement now this is where i really live okay now it's out there everybody knows it now the mondo mine on the big black hole is an easy one to fall into Yeah. yeah ah Yeah. I've got a couple of turtles behind me from from them. they're yeah they're Those vinyls are awesome.
00:07:30
Speaker
yeah Yeah. I just got the super shredder. so yeah That's nice. Corey, what about you? what what are what What are you collecting on all of those shelves behind you? Everything. Collect a lot. Too much. But right now, this is Mythic Legions and this is G.I. Joe Classified. They're definitely my two main squeezes right now, but I also am still collecting Marvel Legends, Star
Creative Freedom at Boss Fight Studio
00:07:59
Speaker
Wars Black Series, looking over at my other shelves. I've been picking up a lot of the Animal Warriors of the Kingdom figures. Those are really nice.
00:08:08
Speaker
Moff X, particularly the Jim Lee X-Men are sort of the quintessential X-Men for me. um Savage Crucible stuff. ah And a lot of other just independent stuff, too. It's really fun and exciting. Also, WizKids just had a huge sale, so I just bought a ton of D&D minis.
00:08:35
Speaker
so Nice. Nice. Very cool. Yeah, the Savage Crucible stuff's awesome. I haven't gotten a chance to get my hands on one of those Elric's yet, but I'm seeing everyone's pictures, and it looks...
00:08:47
Speaker
It looks really cool. Yeah. Really, really cool. Tony, how about you? Oh, ah much like Corey, I basically buy everything that he just said. Corey stole my answer.
00:09:01
Speaker
uh... He hits you with the $1. Yeah, anything, anything, uh, exactly. Price is right in me. Uh, no, anything, anything He-Man, um, the Mondo stuff, the Mattel stuff, uh, obviously still some GI Joe stuff, uh, Mattel, all my, uh, uh, wrestling figures over at Mattel, our boys over there doing some great work.
00:09:23
Speaker
Um, NECA horror stuff, Jada street fighter, ah everything that you put on your, uh, incredible March madness bracket.
00:09:34
Speaker
Got it. All those. Yeah. Got it. All of them. Okay. All the lines. Maybe minus one. No, Little People. i didn't buy I didn't collect Little People. Was that on there? No, that was not on there this year. Little did not Little People did not make the Archies this year, but maybe 2026. Maybe that'll do it. How could I forget the name, the Archies?
00:09:54
Speaker
Well, the Marge... I love the way... I don't know, but I need to say it every time from now on. Yeah. The Aji's. Arrgh, she's not from New Jersey. You sound weird, Tony. You sound weird. You've got a weird accent. Not in Rhode Island. it all sound weird When Chris is the one that's telling you you've got the weird accent.
00:10:16
Speaker
Chris, what about what about you? I'm from New England. No one cares what i'm collecting. This is all about Lenny, Corey, and Tony,
Design and Engineering Insights
00:10:22
Speaker
but I'll tell you. Classified, obviously, because, you know, but that's just me. um Obviously, all the free products I get from work, so... obviously all of the boss fight stuff because it's amazing and um I would have to say other than that that's pretty much me at the moment because I tell you I'm getting a little bit older now so I'm collecting weird injuries whenever I get out of bed ah that's what i'm collecting now just piling them up
00:10:51
Speaker
That's weird, I'm doing the same thing. Weird knee twinge this morning. I was like, have i how have I slept on my knee wrong? Like, how did that happen? I am also collecting arthritis. Dave's in that vicious like physical therapy cycle. he's he's in Where I think I'm at. the world Yeah, I get Corleone the back end. like All the time. Yeah, I'm there there with you.
00:11:18
Speaker
Not your back end, but you know i get it. but So I have to say, my most recent pickup, we got this literally is like right before we recorded. That's nice.
00:11:29
Speaker
So ah Elite 126 is hitting stores. So I actually grabbed, i I got this, I got, I'm a sucker for a Roman Reigns in a different colorway. They'll get me every time with him. So yeah, I found, I found him. I found the Roman with the black and white, which is awesome. And um ah El Grande Americano.
00:11:51
Speaker
Oh, wonderful. I was able to get the three of them. They didn't they didn't have ah any Roxy's or Javon's left. But um oh, and I got you and I got Jimmy. So I got Big Jim with the like basketball. You love Big Jim. So would have gotten the entire wave if if if it was out there. But yeah, but we will talk more about wrestling figures ra on this show.
00:12:15
Speaker
We'll we' yeah baby let'll talk more about wrestling figures. What's Dave collecting? I'll agree with you. Right now, personally? Yeah, you.
00:12:27
Speaker
I mean, just, you know, still pretty much all wrestling stuff. um I knew that. Yeah. Hanging on for, like, dear life with the McFarlane DC. Because there's it's actually, like, in this kind of last gasp of stuff it's been all like bangers so yes it's been wonderful stuff has been interesting yeah like it like the no death rattle it's it's not it's not going out with a death rattle it's going out with like some of the best stuff they've done i know crazy crazy um definitely my luchadors from a certain
00:13:07
Speaker
Hmm. Certain company, but very nice. So I guess what what's the um what are the things that are most exciting you right now about the the toy and collectible scene?
00:13:19
Speaker
Sure, I could. If you guys don't mind, I'll jump in. um Yeah. yeah I actually am very... I love, obviously, all the established toy companies. You know, the Mattels, the Jadas, the Spinmasters, the Jax. But what really excites me is how many Kickstarters and successful Kickstarters there are that come out where it's somebody with a dream and throwing it out there and seeing if anybody else wants to pick up on that. That's so...
00:13:48
Speaker
wild to me that that is an avenue for people for creators. um Stuff like the Beast of the Cyber Zoic, you know Dave Silva's um Creative Beast Studios stuff. The World War Hell stuff yeah is awesome. Anything. Yeah, I'm a sucker for anything. O-ring. So Skeletron was fantastic. Just all those like and the newest one, the mom Tide of the Corsairs. yeah
00:14:19
Speaker
Yes. yeah Amazing. We just had we just had ah Quaid on the the last episode of the podcast.
Toy Design Challenges and Storytelling
00:14:25
Speaker
He was he was an ah awesome conversation with with that guy. The paint jobs Quaid is getting on those figures are incredible.
00:14:34
Speaker
Like the barnacles, everything's wiped. It is like, and I'm just going to jump in because I agree with Tony. I feel like it's a lot of the independent stuff. It's getting me pumped. Like, the Elric figure is incredible.
00:14:45
Speaker
The Savage Crucible, of course. Like, it just to see how everybody's pushing it and getting the getting articulation and aesthetic right together, it's not easy to do.
00:14:57
Speaker
takes a long time. So seeing all these independent companies doing it and really, like, putting their blood, sweat, and tears in it, that's the that's the part that's exciting. You know what I mean? Like, there's always going to be, you know, the... the Marvel Legends and classified and and and black series, but like I like seeing like the independence of it or like IPs I've never seen before.
00:15:16
Speaker
I want to see that. I want to see what people can do with the with the art form.
00:15:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I would say the same thing. you know, the independent companies are you know, where a lot of the great action is happening. You know, yes, as everyone says, ah you know, the stuff that Hasbro is putting out, Mattel, McFarlane, it's all, I mean, the best that, you know, we've seen in, well, ever, you know, from them, you know, and right now is such an amazing time to be a collector, like,
00:15:48
Speaker
My wallet regrets it, but I love it. ah you know But one of the things that I'm finding most inspiring is the small, ah essentially knockoff Chinese and Hong Kong companies that are putting out these, you know usually non-licensed figures that are the top quality that like you can find you know i happen to actually have you know this oh yeah non-world of warcraft or make your heart flutter those work yeah and then they're just gorgeous and the innovations and such that they're coming up with is
00:16:25
Speaker
really you know incredible and you know it really starts setting the example that you know then we can take to our factories to say, hey, they were able to do this, how can we push you know and what can we do?
00:16:37
Speaker
you know And so yeah, it's really exciting time right now for sure. yeah yeah think I'm glad you brought that up. Especially with the the wallet situation. I feel like as well as as well as collecting well as's collecting so weird injuries, I think not collecting enough money to pay for all of this amazing stuff which is out there is also a problem. because Collecting credit card debt. I tell you, yeah, yeah there's there's so much good stuff out there, as the guys have have mentioned. there's There's so much good stuff. And to be honest, I think it's just going to keep coming, especially with this team that we've assembled at Boss Fight as well. I think we're going to be, you know,
00:17:16
Speaker
adding to that swathe of product as well, which is is all good for as a collector. I mean, best possible time to be a collector really. And like in in in one aspect is in terms of the choice you have, in but in terms of the the cost, that might be something, a different conversation. But yeah, certainly um an amazing time to be a collector. Amazing.
00:17:41
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And, and, you know, that, that indie stuff, you know, it, it really is incredible. And I, and I think, you know, we, we've said it before on the show, but, um, you know, I think competition is, is really, really healthy and it's not only, it's not only competition, but it's also access, right? Like these creators have access to tools that, um,
00:18:04
Speaker
you know, previously we're were not as accessible and it's giving people that are motivated enough the ability to get out there and and kind of push things forward and make everyone else react. yeah You know, and it it really is a great time to be a collector because of that that kind of attitude. across the board and i' i'd add one one word in there friendly competition too uh yes yes these creators know and love everything that we make we love everything they were not everything but maybe most uh everything that we make uh but uh yeah the in the feelings mutual we love i mean obviously you see all of our well it's inspiring areas we're surrounded by ah competition right and
00:18:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's inspiring for sure. Yeah. And you kind of sometimes I mean, as a designer, I go, I wonder if I can implement that. Like Corey was saying, well, how can I push the factory like that thing's got source chains on it?
00:18:55
Speaker
I'm going to source some chains on this. you know what Like there's it friendly competition that inspires other people. Hopefully stuff we make inspires people. And then it keeps the hobby alive.
00:19:06
Speaker
I think it just keeps on upping the ante. It always feels hyperbolic to say like, this is the best time to be a collector. Cause like Chris said, aside from financial, but like it does everything, especially if you think back over like the time of the podcast, like it just,
00:19:23
Speaker
Every year it feels like it's the best time to be a collector. like and it's Every year it feels like there's a new version of Turtles to collect. Every year it feels like there's a new version. Thanks, Joy Toy. Those are so good. they really go do they amazing The and out of control, dude. Yeah.
00:19:41
Speaker
But again, like I'm it's Corey, I'm glad you mentioned this stuff coming out of Hong Kong because it really does like you you take it and you're like, I can't believe they made this move like this at this scale. And like, look at the detail, look at the washes and like, how are they doing this? um And how are they doing this with for not a million dollars? It's it's crazy.
00:20:02
Speaker
It's cool to see the collective risk taking to write. So like coming from a larger company, like there's sometimes you don't take risks. So you get to see these smaller companies like taking leaps and bounds and articulation or like with just like construction or paint. um So again, like if you said, like it's the best time to be collector, but next year will be even better and it'll be even better and even better. So, you know, you mentioned swings are landing like it's it's pretty great. Yeah.
00:20:30
Speaker
Yeah. So you mentioned being with a ah larger company, um you know, Lenny, Corey, Tony, you guys recently left Hasbro after being there for for quite some time. um Was it difficult to for you guys to make that decision to to leave and and start a new venture? I'll answer this question. this yeah I would say difficult might be an understatement. um In 20 years, you know, I met my wife at Hasbro, right? So it's like a lot of family connection there, too.
00:21:05
Speaker
So it's not just work. It becomes kind of like a lifestyle. And plus, like G.I. Joe Classified really became like part. It's a part of me and always will be. So leaving it was a very big deal, especially in the middle of the run.
00:21:18
Speaker
for GI Joe, right? Like, it's like, it's it's it's full steam ahead. So it's quite the, wow, I'm going to do this. But, you know, as a creator and as an artist and designer, I don't really view myself as a business person, more of like, how can I grow as a creative person?
00:21:35
Speaker
I think Boss Fight offers more in the long run. So I think it's it it was like how do I go kind of almost like, extend my wings and go see what else I can make out there. Right. And um who's who's next on the G.I. Joe classified design roster? Who's going to take it to the next level? And I can't wait to see what they do with it. But at the same time, for me, it's like, what can I go do at another company?
00:21:59
Speaker
What what lines can we create from scratch? Like what what's the next big thing for? I'm speaking about myself. But as they say, don't tell them literally don't literally tell them, Lenny, what the next thing Yeah, tell them the line that we're working Yeah. well I think I think it's what can you do as a designer and and and and how can how can you do it and what do other companies do to process wise. So I think I'm saying it overly, but like it was a big decision.
00:22:23
Speaker
But I think creatively in a very exciting one.
00:22:29
Speaker
Corey, how about you? Well, the decision to leave was extremely easy for me because i had no choice in the matter. um but Oh, wait, i thought you had got I thought you had gone back, though. Or were you working like freelance?
00:22:45
Speaker
Yes, I was doing freelance work. yeah so I was able to do freelance work, some for G.I. Joe, some other for some other new initiatives. you know And so...
00:22:56
Speaker
But that also did give me the opportunity to do a lot of freelance work for a lot of other companies. You know, obviously, I worked for a year and a half on a contract with Skeletron, you know, which was amazing and, you know, really educational because they were able to send me to China for two and a half weeks.
00:23:14
Speaker
Awesome. And yeah I did some work for Delta 17. My last freelance project was for Savage Crucible, which was really fun. um think there's some others in there that I'm forgetting. But yeah, being able to go and play with some of the other you know companies was really fun and exciting, but still being able to have you know some Hasbro work in there was... you know, really great too. Being able to have a lot of contacts there obviously was hugely beneficial. You know, i won't say that leaving Hasbro was easy by any means, you know, but there was some ah good side of things that, you know, I was able to explore, you know, over the last couple of years since I was there in 23 was when I was let go. So, yeah.
00:24:11
Speaker
ah Yeah, and for me, it it was all the connections I've made over the past 20 years. All of my incredible business partners from marketing to engineering to design to every every aspect that – my job touched, made incredible bonds over there. I know it's kind of cheesy, but it really is. There's some truly amazing people that I was ah you know leaving, but not fully, just not the day to day. And then, of course, we talked about it, the but the communities, the stuff that we built, ah you know, I've been on Legends with that whole team for maybe 15 years prior to coming to Classified.
00:24:53
Speaker
So building that up from kind of the has, what were they calling them, L-bros and all that fun stuff that they used to hammer us on and then seeing that prosper and then, you know, building teams to take on a lot of all the model stuff for all the other brands. Moving on to Classified was incredible experience, especially working with my bros. So,
00:25:18
Speaker
Yeah, that was the hardest part, but at the same time, making the jump to boss fight, I'm not one to take many risks, and this was, to me, the people there, the people I had... Terrible. Terrible people there, yeah. Horrible. All people that I had known from Hasbro, all those, you know...
00:25:39
Speaker
um you know relationships I just spoke upon over the past 15 years. I knew all them. ah Good friends over there, people I hadn't worked with in 12 years. Seeing them again is incredible every day. Rehashing old jokes from 15 years ago is amazing.
00:25:57
Speaker
ah So it was leaving one comfort zone for another for me. And that's that's what made it. And of course, the the product is incredible too. But for me, I'm kind of very yeah ah connected to people. So having that connection to move to was great.
00:26:15
Speaker
It's and i kind of beautiful. You don't have to deal with Chris grilling you about GI Joe Classified now. Oh, they do. They do, Eric. That is sarcasm. but you i guess That is like constant.
00:26:29
Speaker
But happy and happy to talk about it. We can just talk about it a little bit. Not not a lot at all. No, there's like five or six minutes during the day that we do some work as well. I was going to add what Tony was saying. The industry is is small.
00:26:44
Speaker
So ah you work with a lot of people or meet people at conventions. So it's kind of a nice thing about the industry being so small. Like we worked with Andrew 15, 16 years ago.
00:26:56
Speaker
And now now we're here working with him again every day. And Eric Ridlon, who Tony worked with so closely in the shop, and I would come down and chit chat and joke with everybody. It's like, it's kind of amazing to be reunited with everybody. And now we're getting like with getting reunited with Corey. And it's just kind of like...
00:27:12
Speaker
it's It's amazing. The industry is an awesome industry. And even though it's small, I think that's what makes it it's small but mighty. right A lot of very passionate people in it. To get to work with them again is awesome.
00:27:25
Speaker
so Me and Eric need to bring back the Munchkin delivery system that we had rigged up at a back in the old paint. Did you use the old tube thing? Yeah, we just taped a bunch of ah paper towel roll tubes together and then we would drop ah Munchkins at each other.
00:27:42
Speaker
That's amazing. Perfect. Yeah, that was awesome. we don't have that much to do, really, do we, either? One tube at a time. Love a good donut delivery system. Yeah.
00:27:54
Speaker
Absolutely. You put your mouth in other side of the tube. Or was it just more of like propulsion? It was, yeah, gravity. You just put it at a nice angle, and then you... It's not like a blow dart. You don't have to go on the other side. Yeah. spitting it into each other's mouths that do you listen for it to come down yeah pop so that sounds like a chocolate one it's coming it's like when you throw the baseball off the roof and you're playing trying to like learn pop flies it's that yeah yes but with my skins so you talked a little bit about the brands that you worked on gi joe amongst others of course uh while at hasbro But what do you think the lasting legacy of what you contributed to Classified will be?
00:28:44
Speaker
you want me to take this, Lenny, or are you good for this one? good That's an intense question, man. ah Yeah. I don't know how to answer it. Want me to start?
00:28:58
Speaker
Yeah, get it get it. Get you warmed up? Yeah. ity ah ah just ah you know we We've said it before. But we truly do have the respect for the brand and what the creators before us had and what they were able to develop, you know, from the comic to the cartoon to the toy. ah And then, you know, Lenny had an amazing experience.
00:29:24
Speaker
sensibility to be able to combine all those kind of aspects and pull it into, ah you know, that the new technology enabled six inch highly articulated, highly decode face printing the works, especially for a company like that, to be able to put out something, you know, sub $30 is pretty wild to get that much involvement yeah into a toy line like that.
00:29:53
Speaker
So I think just adding to the legacy, I hope people are remember it as fondly as we remember the O-rings. that's ah That's a dream of mine. um And I hope ah it kind of brought in kids like it did.
00:30:08
Speaker
us. um Yeah, there's a lot that was kind of the goal. I mean, I probably mentioned it before. This kind of the goal is that we know collectors are going to collect G.I. Joe, but we wanted little kids to walk down the aisle to go.
00:30:21
Speaker
What is that character? So a lot of times when we're designing, It was like, how can I build this thing to 150% and then pare it down based on the structures that Hasbro has?
00:30:33
Speaker
Right? So it's like, we're not going to like, we're not going to design this thing so they can get it done and then and then move on. It was like, how can I make the best figure possible on every single GI Joe?
00:30:46
Speaker
And if I need to pare down from there, I will. But I want to make sure that it's coming with everything it's supposed to or that I can afford, essentially, because um at the end of the day, it's product development. Yes. Hell yeah. That's a great story, by the way. And that that was... It involves all three of us.
00:31:04
Speaker
It involves all three of us, actually. That was all three of us coming together to design that head. was amazing. But I think i think it was um fighting. ah Fight for it, right? Like, fight for the thing you love.
00:31:16
Speaker
Fight for the brand you love. It went through quite a bit of transitions and delays and changes. But I think if... I would say, hopefully... that gets remembered by the teammates there that like you got to fight for it. If you want something good, nothing good ever comes easy.
00:31:30
Speaker
So it's like you got to you got to like really dig in and design this stuff and then ah like fight for the cost, fight for getting extra deco on there, fight for making it the best figure possible and try to make every figure you make the best figure you ever made because it's somebody's favorite, favorite character.
00:31:48
Speaker
You just pulled that right from my brain, sir. That's exactly what it is. Are you on that of the screen? I don't know. yeah You're reaching reaching through Corey. adding money But yeah, it's it's something we was always want. Oh, there there he goes. I went out for a second. I came back. Hopefully that wasn't so sanctimonious, but it's like, just give it all you got every time. And hopefully that lasts with the team.
00:32:09
Speaker
No, it's so true. It's it's someone else's favorite character. um It might not be yours, but designed to that person's wants and needs. That's funny. I didn't see Lightfoot pop up at any point, so... but we couldn't We couldn't give it the love that it needed. We got you airtight. We got you airtight.
00:32:28
Speaker
it's i You know what's funny? oop Okay. Go ahead. Go ahead. You know, I never know when to talk on these things because it's like I don't want to talk about it. I was always freaking because I'm like, we've got to get airtight in the line. We've got to get airtight in line because I know much Chris loved airtight. I'm like, we've got to do them right, though.
00:32:48
Speaker
got to make them right. So, airtight. Got you airtight, buddy. You're over here, I think, on the screen. Right over in that direction. There you go. The thing that I always like to say, and anda I'll hold this guy up again as an example, because you know that i'm I was always a fan of, you know, ah ah on the classified lines, like the new characters. Like, i I was always excited to see the weird new characters. And I mean, that that's pretty...
00:33:14
Speaker
Dope. But the the thing that we say all the time, you know, whether it's Duke or whether it's a new weirdo or whether it's Roman Reigns or whether it's whoever, right?
Fan Engagement and Community Impact
00:33:26
Speaker
That action figure is is always always has the opportunity to be somebody's first action figure. Like, not even favor character, but, like, this might be the first touchpoint that somebody has with G.I. Joe Classified. So the fact that you guys... I mean, I think that that is really the legacy, is that you guys made each and every single one of these figures something interesting, something that was, you know, detailed, something that had character to it. And you you guys... I mean, like, we're in a really...
00:34:02
Speaker
unique position, right? Because when we started the podcast, it was right. It literally like we were at there when when G.I. Joe Classified launched, like we were getting our feet wet, trying to figure out how, you know, how to navigate the industry and everything and got invited to one of those early roundtables when like nobody could find classified and like the pandemic and like all the weirdness that happened with that and distribution, all those things. And it was evident from Jump Street.
00:34:31
Speaker
that you guys were ready to like get down and fight for not just the quality of the figures and like obviously their availability, but like that the overall happiness of the community and and serving a community that was like starved for for for for product. um So, I mean, yeah, like, you know your passion for for these, I think, is ultimately from the outside looking in.
00:34:59
Speaker
that's a legacy that's undeniable. um You know, what you guys did for this line and for the GI Joe community and, and people like me who kind of really like was only ever adjacent to GI i Joe. Like I played with Dave's O-ring figures, you know, being seven years younger than him to me. And and I'll say this right now on this recording, like could commit this to to record. These are my O-ring Joes.
00:35:25
Speaker
hello All right. Mission God. Progress was like the yeah it took what I grew up on and was like, all right, this is what this looks like now. And even to the point of like almost like knocking out all those Easter eggs for all like all the diehards from when we were kids, like we went to a concert.
00:35:49
Speaker
and saw Cold Slither play. That was wild, man. I never thought that would materialize the way that did. There was a Fatal Fluffy on the stage. Ross made a Fatal Fluffy costume, and it was on another level.
00:36:04
Speaker
ah You know... ah To the point you were saying earlier, like those are your O-rings, like we just wanted to make really fun, awesome action figures that were connected to the greatest action figure IP that's ever existed. If you ask me, like without GI Joe, you wouldn't have action figures the way they are today. GI Joe, real American hero was the old school Marvel legend back in the day, um the to the collectors back then. You can't tell me that collectors weren't older collectors weren't buying those or so were kids, but it, I mean, I think an eight year old and a 40 year old have very similar sensibilities when it comes to stuff like right. Like, yeah, I want the guy with the big ass machine gun.
00:36:44
Speaker
Oh, yeah. The guy with the two katanos who changes in the samurai gear. Hell yeah. Let's go. i would imagine an eight year old would agree with you. um but we thought that was the eight-year-old. Sorry. I thought that was the eight-year-old. Sorry. yeah flashback But i think I think we wanted to cater to that action enthusiast sensibility. And you we wanted to make figures that when you got them, they would transport you. All the parts came off.
00:37:08
Speaker
Right. Like, thank God I got to work with Corey on the first on zero zero snake eyes. like Like his sensibility is on another level. Corey, just so you know, I know we tell you every once in while, but you need to know how amazing you are. But like just understanding how it needs to move, how parts need to be layered. That was a big deal classified. We wanted everybody feel layered.
00:37:28
Speaker
We wanted to feel geared up and then you could ungear them and then customize them. Because when I was a kid, i used to customize the crap out of my GI Joes. yeah So we wanted that to continue. And Warden did that with 25th Anniversary.
00:37:40
Speaker
And it's just it's part of the essence of what GI Joe is. So we wanted to maintain it. And ah it seems like it came across in Classified. you only have to You only have to look at the reaction from the fandom, honestly, to you guys know leaving Hasbro and everything. And then obviously when we put a post out about you joining us, um just the the reaction, the the it was, you know, i mean...
00:38:03
Speaker
it It obviously ranges, but you're looking at either devastated, depressed sort of like responses or just that sort of excited response that it's like, you know, we want to we want to see these guys, you know, go on and do even cooler stuff. So it's like you just have to look at the what if you want to know what your legacy is in regards to what you've done, ah ah ah just classified alone, just look at the response you've've you've had from the from the fandom. It's been unreal.
00:38:32
Speaker
It's true. I appreciate that. Yeah. So that being said, is is there ah like a project, character, figure, maybe even a vehicle that, and it doesn't just have to be Joe classified. i mean you You guys have worked on so much at Hasbro over the years, but is there anything that like you ever started and had to like abandon and couldn't finish it, like never made it to the finish line? Is there anything that, you know, in particular sticks with you that you're allowed to talk about? come a look um set i can't think that was I think that would telegraph is coming out next. i can probably I can probably jump into my character I created when I was a kid that I would really wanted to get into classified. Motorboat?
00:39:16
Speaker
motorboat. Oh, really? I thought you go i were going to say that one. Yeah, no, when i was ah and I was a kid, ah way back when I was a child, um I always wanted to, you know, like Lenny was saying, we're kid bashing and making all these like crazy concoctions and taking that ah so the screw out and popping new arms and new heads
Toy Design Evolution and Future Projects
00:39:38
Speaker
on. But I had drew this character. and You know, I was innocent at the time. ah So created a character called Motorboat. ah And I would have I would have loved to have gotten that one in the classified.
00:39:50
Speaker
but I don't know if it was going to surprise so get through the corporate structure. he Long gone are the days of beachhead and snow job and I was just going to say, yeah he he yeah He did a design that was incredible.
00:40:05
Speaker
And I'm going to try to not steal your thunder, but also describe how nuts you are. Where Motorboat had sunglasses on that had Cobra logos on each sunglass. And he's supposed to do the foil to ah shipwreck. And can imagine what a man named Motorboat, who's a sailor, acts like.
00:40:24
Speaker
And it exuded from the design of how you did another one, Tony, that was incredible. Breach was awesome. Oh, yeah. I wish we got to that one. He had a beard coming out of his balaclava.
00:40:36
Speaker
And he was just this big, like shorter, just wide, like, like garage refrigerator of a man. Yeah. And we really wanted to get him into the line. He's like a combination between. Yeah, he's like a combination between David Harbour's Red Guardian and Brody King.
00:40:54
Speaker
He's like, if you combine those Sounds like Brody King. Yeah, so it's exactly Brody King. Yeah. Perfect. Yeah, I think. Perfect. i i'll I'll jump off. Please count as name only reveals.
00:41:07
Speaker
ah yeah No, no, we never, we never, now those were never, both those were never going to go anywhere. Those are just, uh, me being an idiot back in the day. we we want So I'll give you a serious one. I'll give you two serious. well The first one that I wanted to really make the mauler, like really bad. I feel like it was a crime or the mobat was a crime that we didn't get to the mobat. I mean, like we needed to make GI Joe issue number one, right?
00:41:33
Speaker
Like you need to recreate that. ah But the Mauler, if you ask me, is a cooler tank because of what you can do with like minesweepers and all that and in it for like the first like tier or whatever. Maybe it's included in it. i don't know. But like I could have seen that as a Hasla. But then the character I want to make was like a he was a Canadian woodsman named Kodiak and he would wear a giant bear pelt. And basically he was this badass woodsman. We were playing with the idea that maybe he would have been a reformed cobra that like saw the light but like didn't speak much. He just broke things kind of like it was almost like a foil to road pig.
00:42:10
Speaker
I was just going to say, was he is he was he road pigs foil? It was. Yeah. with The idea was maybe would play off the road pigs body or something like that. But like, again, but he's a Canadian. He needs a he needs a flannel.
00:42:21
Speaker
Right. So. Yeah. These are these are all like they're all characters that never like fleshed out. They never materialized, but just like kind of just rattling around and just, you know, joking around the back. I just love that you guys were going to make Brody King an earthquake. Like, right. Wouldn't that be great? Dude, dude, so good. Brody King would make an awesome, an awesome G.I. Joe.
00:42:45
Speaker
That would be a great crossover. Oh, yeah. For sure. A lot of wrestlers. Yeah. it did Yeah. In a long history. crossover long and long it's like It's the way. That's the way. Yeah. This is the way.
00:42:58
Speaker
This is the way. So. yeah So speaking of the way we ah we often talk about the products, but not the process. So what's a part of the development process that you think collectors consistently underestimate?
00:43:17
Speaker
I'll jump in on one oh ah because it's very specific to my role. is I find that when I'm talking to you know fans and we talk about timelines, you know ah it oftentimes is surprising that a sculpt for a full figure can take four to six weeks of you know just one person's full attention you know and full time on it.
00:43:43
Speaker
you know And sometimes it can go even longer depending on how complex it is or if there's changes throughout whatnot. But you know yeah, working on one figure, you know just noodling little details and everything for over a month ah can be, you know it's it's a lot of work. And it's something that I think a lot of people don't realize how much time is dedicated to you know really fleshing out the 3D of every single figure that you know gets made.
00:44:13
Speaker
so That's one of the things for me. For sure. yeah and i I'd actually like to call out oh a boss fight example. yeah um so i mean this is i I absolutely love this figure. and When we're talking about it, there's the counterparts of Court of the Dead. right Beautiful line.
00:44:31
Speaker
these these are incredible. The amount of detail and deco and things on them, the way that they move, you know, hearing you talk about that process, like it's under, I think when you when you hear a sculptor say like, oh, it can take, you that length of time to work on taking ah a design that, you know, is flat, right? you know, like somebody draws a picture of this and then you have to turn it into a 3D sculpt. um and And things like,
00:44:59
Speaker
you know the details in hair and the way that the mask fits. like all All of those individual things. That's magic, by the way, isn't it? The way that mask that mask fits is just absolutely magic. oh god yeah Massive shout-out to the team on that. The engineering on that is phenomenal. Those are some of the most beautiful figures I think our company makes. Dude, this one. i I think just brand awareness on that.
00:45:24
Speaker
I think we need to expand because they are just even if you don't know what that character is, it's so awesome. Dude, down the little hand. Oh, my God. A little bit. Here's my good hand. Take my strong hand. I love the paint, the deco on these. Like, like, ombre. Yeah. Yeah.
00:45:45
Speaker
So is that blood? Magenta? it would Yeah, basically. More or less. Yeah. ah The death figure i actually got to work on as a freelancer. So before I was really part of the team, you know, but this figure, I think took me 10 weeks to do. ah Sorry.
00:46:06
Speaker
and then Yeah, there it is. um You know, and so, I mean, this one took me a ton of time, you know, and just all the little skulls in the armor. I mean, this figure has skulls just all over it. Skulls are cool, man.
00:46:21
Speaker
Of course. You know, i I was a huge fan of the sideshow statues. And so I really wanted to, capture as much of that detail as possible and translate it as directly as I could to the figure. you know So there are little you know skulls and such in here that match exactly where they are on the statue. and so yes, very time consuming, but ah you know when the rest of the team and ah Chris Oliveri was the designer on these, you know when he ran with the deco on and everything, i was blown away. so I'm incredibly proud of this figure.
00:46:58
Speaker
as you should be yeah its I think the part that Chris had mentioned earlier was the engineering. People don't understand how much the sculptors are an engineer as well. And Corey, again, I'm going to say it again, Corey is one of the best action figure engineers I have ever had the privilege to work with. And I get to work with again instead of cross from every day. It's wonderful. um singma two yeah but The thing is, like, the amount of engineering that goes into an action figure,
00:47:25
Speaker
is mind-boggling, especially a G.I. Joe classified figure or or a Court of the Dead. Like this part, like sheathing of of swords, holstering of guns, silencers, how deep is the is the porthole for a blast effect? Did you scallop the other side of the disc joint so that the disc joint can curve in all the way almost 90 degrees? Like a lot of little details that people forget and kind of overlook and they think he's just doing an aesthetic sculpt.
00:47:55
Speaker
It is far beyond an aesthetic sculpt. It's like you sculpted Michelangelo. Now make a move and make a move well so that somebody doesn't get mad that he only has 20 degrees of range of 20 degrees of motion on his arm.
00:48:08
Speaker
Right. So it's like it's not just making a pretty sculpt. It is making a feat of engineering. And it's different every time because anatomy changes on every different character or say the clothing is more draped.
00:48:19
Speaker
Right. Like a lot of that stuff. So I think that people don't realize that's why it takes so long. ah It's like it's tweaking, pushing, pulling. And luckily, we have one of the best the business.
00:48:30
Speaker
So, um again, engineering is hard as shit. so yeah
00:48:40
Speaker
Tony, what about ah what about on your end? Oh,
00:48:46
Speaker
coming from. a big corporation. The hardest part was time management for the amount of products that I eventually had to kind of manage and carry in. um You know, Marvel Legends is putting out, you know, just under 200 figures a year. And I have an employee getting through one employee getting through that. And then we've got Star Wars Black Series and she's a rock star as well. And she's doing Black Series and vintage and she's amazing. uh transformers is a whole nother animal and like juggling that juggling managing juggling being an artist juggling uh prototyping and uh going to events and talking about product all everything all combined all everything everywhere all at once uh 100 uh uh one of the hardest parts but i mean that's with anything time management is the hardest part of anything um
00:49:43
Speaker
So yeah, I think that's probably besides whatever everyone else just covered. that And Corey's awesome as well. want to reinforce that I'm glad we all get to reinforce that. this yeah yeah he have up So good. It's good. It's good.
00:49:59
Speaker
And now a word from our sponsors.
00:50:07
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.
00:50:24
Speaker
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00:50:36
Speaker
That's
00:50:42
Speaker
And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you.
00:50:49
Speaker
And now, back to the show. So what's been the biggest surprise for you guys since joining Boss Fight Studio?
00:51:00
Speaker
I mean, much smaller team, right? Yeah. ah So besides having to figure out a munchkin delivery so system, which we've already established, we're going to get down in that on that. But ah even though I just talked about wearing multiple hats, it's that ah to the nth degree, I think. and And you know, the pressure of, you know, ah continuing to grow the company because it's already done incredible things. And then coming in and helping that, helping our friends, helping collectors get something they haven't gotten before, ah which is wild.
00:51:39
Speaker
um So, yeah, ah I think it's all of that. It's um exciting and new for me. How about you guys? Uh, how similar yet different the processes what the giant company does, right? The giant company had a particular process of getting samples and the way we do workflow and stuff like that. And there are definitely differences, but there are a lot of very strong similarities to like the, the, the sample process essentially in like the stage of development process. So, um,
00:52:15
Speaker
It's it was like, oh, we do it like that, but we called it this acronym instead. Yeah, I'm actually surprised. I'm forever giving you I'm forever giving you new acronyms. No, every single day. And it's amazing. All Hasbro is is acronyms. So it's nice that we just call things what they are. So that's surprising too, but it is interesting how how similar a small company is to a big company, but it there are at the same time, it's like, oh, that's complete it has really been done completely differently yeah for obvious reasons and all that.
00:52:48
Speaker
Yeah, I'm actually going to have one more ah something really cool, ah slightly divisive for some people. Getting spicy here. But there's actually no AI involved in the process at all. um So whether you land on either side of that argument and if you like drinking water or whatever,
00:53:14
Speaker
supercharging your environment. um But yeah, it's it's all hand done, all hand ah concepted. Absolutely no AI in that. So that's pretty interesting you know when you see where a lot of the industry is going, almost everything that way. And it's it's a stance and it's it's for a creative. it's it's It's important to stretch those muscles. So I do like that.
00:53:44
Speaker
That's awesome. Yeah. Corey, what about you? um Well, I guess to sort of piggyback on Lenny's, ah you know, i have been able to work with some of the other smaller companies, ah you know, and then being able to come and, you know, work very closely with Boss White now. um It is nice that they're, you know,
00:54:14
Speaker
processes ah you know do match you know in a lot of ways what Hasbro was doing, you know ultimately because the majority of the company is people who have gone through Hasbro you know at some point. you know And so we all sort of had this expectation of how you know things are done and you know how the process is handled. you know Whilst when I've jumped around with some of these other companies,
00:54:42
Speaker
you know, they might be coming from it, you know, from a completely different industry, you know, and so they're going to have different processes, you know, or, you know, very fly by the seat of pants type of processes, you know, which all of it can work, you know, and they have been able to make some amazing, ah you know, product, but for my sensibilities of, you know, what I'm used to and, you know, my, ah you know, sort of understanding of the,
00:55:11
Speaker
toy making process in the industry, Boss Fight was, you know, right, this sort of perfect fit, you know, because they knew exactly how I was going to work. I knew exactly how they were going to work, ah you know, and so it was very easy for me to just come in and hit the ground running, um you know, and so that has been really a nice, easy transition. been with Right on.
00:55:37
Speaker
So, um, What opportunities exist for you guys at Boss Fight that didn't exist in your previous roles?
00:55:46
Speaker
big I think um maybe being able to create something new that maybe isn't tied to entertainment. um You know, a lot of the times, I'm not just saying Hasbro, but a lot of large toy companies, in order to get placement at big retail, you will need some sort of theatrical release. You see smaller companies like Amoose Toys and things like that come out and do some crazy stuff for Mr. Beast, although that's entertainment as well. But, um you know, kind of creating something new with the epics hack line is extremely cool ah and the hacks as well. um So maybe just kind of creating collective product out of nothing and besides our brains um is awesome. Which is dangerous as well. Very dangerous. Very dangerous.
00:56:38
Speaker
The most dangerous game. I think Tony's right. Just being able to kind of explore more, right? Like it's ah more open. You I mean? Just because this is I feel like it's just trying to like say it not nasty that one like you could be a little more creative, I think already i' been there for a month and a half and I can already feel it in some cases.
00:57:04
Speaker
Yeah, I saw you drawing some wild stuff on that airplane the other day. Oh, you show it. Oh, oh yeah. and yeah this this is what i hear This is what I want see.
00:57:15
Speaker
um see this i mean why do i get to reuse that body though You just get to make them in every color way. vegetable let' just read that rollla a nickelodeon different heads Different heads. Exactly. different different reds i done Yeah.
00:57:31
Speaker
i would love and what what did you named him you hat kk krug crew cro or crug however a of the bog yeah yeah Yeah, and we're looking for... We are looking for new licenses and stuff too, which is super fun, ah you know.
00:57:52
Speaker
looking and pitching for a new IP and like getting some stuff in there. Uh, you know, I had never worked on any Conan, uh, the barbarian stuff before. um so that is an absolute treat. Uh, the Conan, the thing with Conan line is, it's the curse. Hot damn. Yeah. Yeah. That two pack looks wild.
00:58:12
Speaker
yeah yeah that twopa looks wild It's no joke. Up for pre-order. problem Right now. ye ah yeah right now Link in the description. i don't know. um it's I say that a It'll be there. forward slash slash links. it yeah It'll be there.
00:58:33
Speaker
<unk> be there not only yeah but i sorry that was f a it i'm not done my point Sir? and Can he finish? Can I finish? Not only Conan, but... Okay, I'm finished.
00:58:47
Speaker
I just saw some of the new pre-production for... I think we all did. And got blown away by the new Hellboy stuff that Andrew's doing. Oh, yeah. And Fred and and the whole team. Henry. Everybody that we're not talking about. It's it's a small team, so we should probably name all of them. um And Tony. another to There's another Tony, which is awesome. ah But the new Hellboys.
00:59:14
Speaker
Mm hmm. Yeah, they look outrageous. to when that wasn't Out of control. Yeah. Like they think they understand Mignola's style and iterated it into sculpture perfectly.
00:59:27
Speaker
Like I can't get over him every time I've seen him you made the perfect Hellboy figure. And then some of the other figures that are me coming out are incredible as well. So, yeah. And I'm excited for that line to hopefully go deep into the the the lore. Like I feel like every time somebody tries to tackle Hellboy figures, you get the same, you know, three to four characters. And then you get everyone who was in a movie.
00:59:49
Speaker
kind of butter did' some like There's some amazing plans in the work. andrew's Andrew's love for the brand irradiates off of what we've been seeing from him and the figures that the public has seen. This is a guy who gets the brand and loves the brand and wants yeah to like lean into it. it's It's really cool to see.
01:00:06
Speaker
Not to do too much inside baseball, but i was having a conversation with Andrew the other day regarding future characters in the Hellboy line. And I'm telling you now, in terms of going deep, that is what we're going to be doing. So there's going some really cool ah reveals in the future for Hellboy. I've even got, um we've we've got a a little kind of,
01:00:28
Speaker
a little bit extra ah coming soon for Hellboy fans. So I'll be ah posting that out to our kind of little email signup crew with Hellboy fans, and then it'll shortly go out on on social. So that'll probably, it will probably follow this going out as well. So just to keep a head a heads up for some fun Hellboy stuff coming around the corner.
01:00:47
Speaker
That's awesome. Yeah. And I mean, we we we have... we and here are here are the characters Andrew talked about. um But like, you know, that actually, perfect segue. I mean, there's there's so much to be excited about, you know, in terms of what um you know what's coming from Boss Fight. But like, you know, you guys do work in some really cool properties. I mean, yeah I'm a big fan of the Popeye stuff.
01:01:13
Speaker
the hundred yeah okay obviously the the red Sonya absolutely fantastic um you guys saw my video having breakfast with Garfield yeah but oh there oh yeah love me some some Garfield look you look at you with a look at you with an early sample how good is that a wonder how i got the size of that one-to-one dude the so it's i have to tell you the one-to-one garfield that i was eating breakfast with is now a permanent staple in my living room yeah i my daughter was playing guess who with it over the weekend that's adorable that's amazing she was literally like she had the board set up and she was going around she was like no garfield i said with a beard no one with a beard that's so sweet oh
01:01:59
Speaker
Did she win? um I hope so. Yeah, me The thing is, if I if i if i sat there and like filmed the whole thing and took pictures, she would she would get like weird about it and just stop. So I was just like walked away at one point and let her go. That's adorable, man.
01:02:13
Speaker
But then, you know, lastly, the the the other thing that Dave and i absolutely love are the wrestling figures you guys do. So, you know, there's there is a lot. and And this, like I said, this even this doesn't even scratch the surface. But what are you guys most excited to, um you know, contribute to now that you're you're there?
01:02:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, then yeah, please. i I've been yapping first, so I'm like, I'm holding back. I mean, for me, it's Court of the Dead, you know, is the line I'm the most excited about. ah You know, I've told this story before, so I'll make it short. But when I was still at Hasbro, I was having a conversation with Fred about Court of the Dead, and it was before the six inch.
01:03:03
Speaker
transition, you know, and i was telling like, dude, you have to do six inch for the dead figures. Like that's, that's where it's at. People are going to love it. And he was just like, yeah, yeah, I know. And then it was like two weeks later was when I was let go and he reached out to me. he was like, hey, so remember that conversation that we had? He's like, we are doing six inch figures. Do you want to sculpt death? I was just like, oh my God. Manifest. Yeah, it was one of the a very difficult time for me when I was going through that. and But this was just like this gift that he gave me. you know and yeah So it's a line I've been in love with for a very long time. And so I'm really excited to be able to dig in
01:03:43
Speaker
We should call it Court of the Fred, shouldn't we? oh Probably. Maybe not. Sideshow will love that. yeah i was going to say you do an old kind I will say, Sideshow are an absolute dream of a partnership. like They are so awesome.
01:03:58
Speaker
And they've been they've been so like excited for the stuff that we've been doing. And yeah, they're they're great. So my Court the Fred joke, sorry guys, is... ah yeah I was just messing around. But yeah, that'd be fantastic. Absolutely great partnership right there.
01:04:15
Speaker
Yeah. ah As much as I am excited to contribute, i think that that was the question about contributions. Yeah. Mostly I'm very excited about learning. um There's a... um digital artist there, Henry.
01:04:28
Speaker
ah Shout out to Henry. um And i I love his work. So I can't wait to, you know, how we we worked at the previous at Hasbro.
01:04:39
Speaker
It was similar but different, and I always love his renders. from all He does all the promo art. That's amazing. Henry does a lot of work, man. Insane. But he he's been doing a lot of that work, doing backgrounds, doing social posts, doing all the imagery for pre-sale. ah So learning from him, hopefully – you know, helping him out with some other the things ah and just combining our knowledge is something that's very exciting for me. ah
01:05:10
Speaker
So, yeah, that's ah just sitting on the learning tree on design and and rendering and everything else that we're going to get into is going to be amazing.
01:05:21
Speaker
For me, I'm excited to get into Epic Hacks. Yes. Because i when I saw this figure, I was early samples. yeah I love this guy. He looks like he smells.
01:05:35
Speaker
and That's my favorite. Things you shouldn't be eating. But like just the exploration of design that's going on on Epic Hacks and being able to dive into that it once we get into the later waves of like what how can we push them and how can we expand that universe, which we're we're fleshing out currently. It's it's really fun to... like jump onto a IP so early, own and operate it as well, and kind of come up with what what what the future can be for something like this and how can we push action figures to have our opportunity to kind of like um come up with cool mechanisms, come up with cool treatments of textures and materials and all that, and just all out just badass characters or characters you've never seen before. So um it's an exciting prospect to come up with what the future of that line could be.
01:06:27
Speaker
And I can i can vouch for that because I've seen his his design work as it's going on and it's unbelievable, guys. Everyone's work at the moment so far I've been really blown away with. So it's great being surrounded by all these amazing, talented people. It's it's disgusting. I hate it.
01:06:44
Speaker
the thing The thing about Epic Hacks I always really liked, and and Hacks in general, is like i I always look at it as, and i I hope you guys get this reference, but it's like the Mugen of oh yeah action figure lines, where it's like and it's like just this battle royale where anybody can play in it, and it doesn't matter whether you're like an alien, a ninja, a samurai, a zombie, a skeleton. like there's It's just...
01:07:11
Speaker
anyone and everyone can come and play. And yeah that was my initial thing. Like when when the announcement happened and Lenny before we, you know, we chatted offline about it it was like, I hope he's headed directly to the 112 scale epic acts line because I got there. They said that's what I'm doing. It wasn't like, what you what do you like? It's like, no, you work on Hacks. Yeah, you've pigeonholed yourself already, mate. Sorry. yeah yeah Congratulations, you get to do weird stuff and monsters. Yeah. In gradually every genre possible. Well, I'll say this. on in the weirdos As military-based as G.I. i Joe is, if everybody knows the story of G.I. Joe, how it expanded over time.
01:07:53
Speaker
It's like, what's nice about Hacks is it gets to that expansion quickly. ah And it's like, how can you make, it's like little kid brain. Like I want to, like, I'm trying to think like top of my head. I want a Alaskan king crab warrior that is wielding Kopeches. How can we make that work? done But like, you just did and and how do you, how do you bake the story in there? So, so it's got a little bit more equity to it, which I'm pretty excited about. So yeah we're, we're working on that.
01:08:23
Speaker
And that exists in the same line as a lucho. The skeletons are incredible. The whole skeleton. They're really good. Like, like, dude, like if, if you know, inside baseball stuff about action figures, the wall thicknesses, the jointing, the the rib cage, it's actually a real rib cage and not just like a sculpted, like a solid piece. Like it's very hard to do.
01:08:45
Speaker
inaction figure so the fact that these guys are doing that is is crazy they're pushing the boundaries so again it's one of the things that attracted us to the company so they're pushing boundaries of action figures and then what the IPs can be so the guys are crushing it's just exciting to be joining them It's like when I was a little kid, when I went like, what happens when Cyclops fights shark?
01:09:06
Speaker
Like, yeah, like yes. Yes. Yes. yes And I mean, like, that's kind of the part of the art of action figures, right? It's like, what is this? How can I materialize my imagination into this plastic thing that's gorgeous looking, right? Like it's art collecting for crazy people like us. Well, it's, you know, you went from from a line where you could, you know, you're effectively making movies. whether it's like Eric, like, you know photographs of me when I was a kid, when I was doing the storylines that the cartoons didn't do or anything like that to the, this same open playing field, but just with everything. And it's amazing.
01:09:44
Speaker
It's like literally opening up the toy box. Yeah. You give me some great, uh, one liners for what we're going to have on our, on our badge in Latin underneath, just like all of it. Yeah.
01:09:55
Speaker
No boundaries. And yeah, Well, I mean, something that you guys, I remember saying from from day one with G.I. Joe Classified, going you know going back to that, was like storytelling and world building was like the the number one goal. you know It wasn't just to make action figures in a vacuum. It was to make you know ah a story. It was to tell a story. And you know i with especially with that epic acts line. I mean, there is just so much opportunity to be crazy and and yeah, I think fun stories.
01:10:31
Speaker
It's like tell a story, but don't but don't lock it. Don't want to make a story expansive enough that allows for creative freedom and allows for creative expansion, which is really exciting about hacks to like. ah i' ah I'm thinking about a time on Joe, all the dire tech stuff, which was really fun to dive into.
01:10:50
Speaker
I want to change the color on a later Dyer Tech figure. And Tony brought up a good point. it a consistency. And it's like Dyer Tech is that teal green. That is that that elemental color that makes you think Dyer Tech. And that's visual storytelling. It may not be narrative.
01:11:06
Speaker
But it tells the consumer, oh, this is dire tech because it's ghostly flame in that color. So it's like that's kind of the fun part about visual storytelling that you can bring across and the keep that consistency, which then engages people.
01:11:23
Speaker
um Well, I feel it engages people, that consistency. And then that consistency, how can you branch off of that to expand the universe of it? So I'm just kind of excited to bring some of that thinking forward.
01:11:34
Speaker
Into hacks because it's already it's it's or it's already there. it's just like now it's like how far can we go with it? Like we've got space pirates in Amazons and and and skeletons. It's just it's awesome.
01:11:47
Speaker
But also you have some of those those, ah you know, ah owned i or um licensed IPs right like in Epic Hacks ah as well. I mean, so it's it's really, really cool, you know, between Conan, you know, Red Sonja and Zorro and yeah, the Phantom, like all those characters, like seeing them all kind of that. That's again, that's why I made that Mugen reference. It's like.
01:12:12
Speaker
you know it's the one place where you do get to kind of see all of those characters in scale with each other in the same place, you know, knocking about, which is just is awesome. So um um go ahead, Dave. I was gonna say, so um I guess this kind of leads to how much influence do you guys have on shaping the future direction of these brands and these different you know lines none it's all Chris Chris is the only one that gets to decide I'm the one that makes the decisions here guys come on Chris is like nope you're doing dinosaurs
01:12:51
Speaker
actually that line was put on my lap as well I'm very excited about that Lenny's going to be doing some amazing stories like Warriors for us yeah like you're making hacks and stories like we hear you like dinosaurs yes you read me like a book I think we have guys. I think from what I gathered, the team's very collaborative and we're all chatting constantly on our team, our, our you know, messaging app that we do. So it's all like ah brainstorming on each other's ideas, which is really exciting to see and amazing to see the brainpower that against small but mighty team has.
01:13:30
Speaker
and know And it's like a lot of times it's like I don't I haven't seen an idea where like, that's weird. Everything's like, oh, no, I think that could work. It's a great idea. and it's not just like being nice at work. It's like everybody is genuinely very creative and thoughtful. So you're getting a lot of good creative, I guess I'll call it brand building and idea generating from the guys.
01:13:51
Speaker
Yeah, there's ah there's a definite trust in the creatives because it's all creatives, basically. haven't got a choice. No choice. Yeah. ah So there's a you know, like Lenny said, there's a chat and if someone's like,
01:14:07
Speaker
I don't know if this works, but and this is why, and you know, kind of comes with, you know, maybe maybe if you do it this way instead, or maybe it's maybe it's not sold like this, but have you thought about these? extra and And there's so many different brand experts, as you can see, you know, Lenny, Corey, myself, ah and and Chris are surrounded by...
01:14:28
Speaker
tons of IP because our interests are, it's basically like Epic hacks. It's just like, it's Mugen, uh, in our brain at all times. Uh, so just having a checks and balances within each other and having, uh, you know, maybe try it this way. There's so many great ideas that go through that. So I'm looking forward to exploring that with everybody. Yeah.
01:14:51
Speaker
Yeah. And one of the things that I found really inspiring really was ah my first conversation with Bob, our COO, who I had not met until this conversation. you know, he immediately was like, you know, we have these licenses. He's like, but we want more licenses. You know, he's like, whatever you feel is going to pop and be good for our company. and Like, let's talk about it you know And so they were very quick to just be like, hey, if you have an idea about something, throw it out there, you know which is, yes, very different than you know some of our previous situations. you know And so that is very inspiring and exciting to be to feel like you can actually impact you know the company as a whole. So yeah, it's cool.
01:15:42
Speaker
That's awesome. That's awesome. You know, we you guys know us well enough at this point that that we typically don't don't exist in the realm of um of speculation rumor, but speculation and rumor says that there might be a certain wrestling company that might...
01:16:02
Speaker
be looking for a new home for action figures and just throwing that out there. Just throwing that out there. do with Do with that what you will. Shut up, guys. Shut up. Carry on. ah That takes us into our Q&A section. oh so um Do I get to do the thing?
01:16:20
Speaker
ah You could do the thing, Dave. Why don't you tell... what It's been a minute. I don't even remember, so it's going to be like an old one. Okay.
01:16:30
Speaker
So, uh, Dave remind our listeners and, and, or watchers, uh, how can they submit questions like the ones you are about to hear, uh, for future guests?
01:16:42
Speaker
So listeners hear me now, viewers, I'm talking to you. Um, if you, I always love pulling out the Albert Brooks. Um, if you,
01:16:53
Speaker
if you um you'll see Eric post a story that says, hey, we're going to have this get these guests on. And in this case, it was Lenny, Corey, Tony, and Chris. And do you have a question for everybody?
01:17:08
Speaker
And there'll be a little box that you can tap on and you can type in your question. And then Eric gets to see it and goes... Okay. um And then i get to fail miserably at reading your handle.
01:17:21
Speaker
um And then we ask the question. So please ask those questions. I think I think you'll you'll be all right with some of these should be pretty familiar with you. there are There's a few that i'm um I'm familiar with here. Yeah, there's going to literally any q and a Yeah. um So there were a ton of questions. ah There were a lot of repeats, a lot of things that were very similar. Some we have a lot of people asking for stuff.
01:17:47
Speaker
Yep. We have some friends of the pod that submitted some questions. So we had to give some preference here and you guys will recognize, I think, some of the names that submitted questions. Dave, would you like to do the first one? Yeah, um I believe this is from Morphenomaly, Morphenomaly, Emily. I've never been able to say it. Who's that? I wonder that is. you got it. I got there.
Proud Toy Creations and Design Challenges
01:18:09
Speaker
Emily's going to make fun of me next time I see her. No, she'll be she' be proud that I got as got it as close as I did. we love Emily.
01:18:16
Speaker
Friend of the pod, Emily says, or asks, with a combined 50 years of experience between the three of you, What toy are you most proud of are proud to have worked on?
01:18:27
Speaker
And what toy was one of your biggest challenges?
01:18:34
Speaker
If all three of you say hooded Cobra commander, I i was trying not to. die yeah i want to leave a I'm say I'm going to say was Transformer.
01:18:46
Speaker
It was was. it was Not it was during the dragon hunters line or the beast hunters line for Transformers Prime.
01:18:56
Speaker
We did an Optimus Prime. His name is failing me, but it was an Optimus Prime where I designed a mechanism where it was a six shooter kind of thing where it ratchet and he had six dragon heads because he had gained the power of six dragons and each one had different projectile launcher that would come out of it. And as you would turn it.
01:19:13
Speaker
It would then shoot a projectile out and it had six projectiles in each one. It was quite the feat of engineering and then directing Takara on that because it wasn't an easy mechanism.
01:19:25
Speaker
And it had to transform. And it had to look Optimus Prime from the show. And it also came with a giant sword that was the size of him, which was super fun to do. And it was at a Voyager scale. No, it was a leader scale.
01:19:39
Speaker
And that was when the leader scales were still pretty big. So that was a very fun achievement of mechanism and aesthetic that came together really nicely while working with partners.
01:19:51
Speaker
um And I think from ah the hardest one, I think was the robot, the classified robot, the the snake armor. It was not easy. We we came. that There were times where some of the development people were like we got to take the leg articulation out. and I was pulling my hair out. Like, what are you talking about?
01:20:07
Speaker
Like it was getting wild on that item. It was not easy to do. And then to Russian dollar figure into that is not easy. it It was difficult. Getting the wall thicknesses right was difficult.
01:20:20
Speaker
um I love it, but it was not an easy project. So those are my good. That was my most fun and hardest projects. That was a fun toy for affair situation, wasn't it, guys? When we were all there. When we were all in all. first time getting to see it open. That was crazy. crazy yeah That was overwhelming, actually. There's too much stuff there.
01:20:44
Speaker
That was a crazy one that year.
01:20:47
Speaker
Uh, geez, for me, um, I mean, I guess I have to say that my most proud is the double zero snake eyes, you know, being able to work so closely with Lenny on that and, you know, getting into that line from the very beginning, nothing was dictated to us of what it needed to be.
01:21:07
Speaker
you know, and so we just were able to make it what we wanted it to be. you know, and so I was able to you know, really ah engineer the articulation, you know, and the secondaries and how everything would work, um you know, and ultimately it set the standard for the rest of the line. And so that is something I'm incredibly proud of.
01:21:32
Speaker
ah ah in the same way but different was timber. ah You know, one of the very first times that, you know, we were like, no, this is not an accessory. You know, this is not just bag. Mm-hmm.
01:21:49
Speaker
He is a character, you know, and he's a figure that is worth getting on his own. ah You know, and so being able to, you know, take a animal and a beast and just really make the best figure that it could be, ah you know, is something that was awesome to do.
01:22:06
Speaker
um Most challenging ah but was probably the Power Rangers Lightning Collection Eye Guy. Yeah. Yeah.
01:22:17
Speaker
Yeah. it was it was ah It was a monster to do. Yeah. You know, some of the strangest anatomy, you know, that you can have and then trying to figure out the articulation and how it was going to work.
01:22:31
Speaker
And then that project specifically, um it was like 90% done. And then I got told what the box dimensions were.
01:22:41
Speaker
And the figure was probably like an inch too deep. that wouldn't fit in the box. And so then we had to go back and rework everything to make it be able to fit.
01:22:52
Speaker
And then also that figure was supposed to have um not projectiles, but removable eyes that can be bombs like it was in the show. But they were eyes that were positioned like on the upper chest and then you can't see it, but down here but like by the ribs.
01:23:09
Speaker
um And at some point someone called it out as a moral issue because it was too suggestive to have to grab at the figure's chest uh and so then we had to go back and you know fuse those parts and make it look like you know it was natural and then also just trying to figure out how do you make an eyeball articulate in like a full thing and so yeah that one was a a beast uh really happy with how it turned out in the end
01:23:46
Speaker
Yeah, that figure that that figure is as gross as the character was on TV when I remember it as a child. It made me uncomfortable then, makes me uncomfortable now thinking about it. And some would say, I was going to say, go ahead, you first, Corey.
01:24:03
Speaker
ah When I was working on the sculpt, you know, ah everything that I do is just then in grayscale, you know, to do the actual sculpting. And so when I would show the team, you know, progress on it and everything, it was activating a couple of team members' tryptophobia, yeah you know, because it's...
01:24:21
Speaker
When it's all in, you know, just that monotone, all of those eyeballs just look like holes and it's really unsettling. So, yes, I was going to say at a certain point, too, with the with timber, it became where like the classified quote unquote pets had a really cool like Joe accessory that came with them.
01:24:38
Speaker
Yeah. Yes. yeah Like Fiona comes with a really great crock master figure. Yes. Great hi accessory. Tony, what about you?
01:24:50
Speaker
Oh, um for me, it's my dude here. I got up and got him. But my dude, M.O.D.O.K., which was... Yeah, I was ah i had taken a necar quick quick stint over in design for Marvel. I was...
01:25:08
Speaker
dream come true. um But, you know, the licensor had kind of tasked us because they had done a great Modoc in the toy biz line. Jesse, shout out Jesse, because he's amazing human being. But he said, you know, how do we make this different? How do you make this, you know?
01:25:25
Speaker
ah interesting to the collector um so you know the first thing we were kind of playing with was i kind of wanted to go boglin style with it and have uh eyeballs that moved around and just because he's so silly and ridiculous uh yeah and then like you know you look you flip through enough modoc you're like oh he doesn't really have people's uh So yeah he's like get here in some versions, he does have eyes and iris, but most like I'm a big classic guy. I needed to have that kind of energy effect and stuff. And if you look super, super close, you won't be see it on the camera, i don't think. But he does actually have shadows of what a pupil would be.
01:26:05
Speaker
um So, you know, the next best thing I could think of was swappable faceplates, which is sweet. Extra hands, extra faceplate to get that. And that more than did it for Jesse, which was great. But then as a bonus, we I was like, i don't know if they're ever going be able to do this, but they definitely did. it's.
01:26:28
Speaker
it's you know, Mr. Potato Head style where you can actually keep all of the extra pieces in the back of his head, which was just how many how many draws do you have where it's just random floating pieces? So it's nice to have it all stuck in one spot.
01:26:44
Speaker
Performance function, baby. Yeah, other function, baby. Shout out to PDE, e our partners in China that helped me along with ah the engineering on that. And, of course, Dan who sculpted it, which was awesome.
01:26:58
Speaker
So that's my double whammy. I think that answers both, I think. i'm I'm a big fan of the Elvis Modoc. the the cop Oh, it's so good. great that's That's my favorite. and cheeseburgers. and cheeseburgers.
01:27:11
Speaker
It's the best. good. So good. All right. That takes us to our next question, which comes from at B. Porosco.
01:27:21
Speaker
ah Are you going to expand on any of the fantasy themes boss fight built a following on either in 118 or 112 scale? Yes.
01:27:35
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And here's the list. Which ones? Here's the line plan. yeah Scene missing. this is awesome yeah If you can if you can get jump into me, and Lenny's heads, there's barbarians and wizards and all kinds of stuff floating around in there. so and it's it's not It's not a dig at Joe, but I'll say we have been working on military figures for a long time. It's kind of nice to jump into new genres a for a little bit. And Tony never wants to paint your camo designs ever again. i'll do it.
01:28:14
Speaker
I'll do it ring it. Fine. Fine. I'll do it. don Dave, hit us with our next one. From at Shadow Explosion, thank you for having an easy handle. Will any of you be involved with the Legends of Lucha Libre line?
01:28:33
Speaker
Question near and dear to my heart. Do you guys know any ah big wrestling fans on the call? Can i go through? Yeah, yes! Here we go. all right. So there's your answer. Tony.
01:28:46
Speaker
Yeah, i'm I'm lucky enough to help out with design. I can't do it. Sorry. Somewhere. Yeah. ah The wrestling figures. I'm a big fan of wrestling, as you guys know. So I'm helping out ah Chris Oliveri.
01:29:03
Speaker
olivever He's... ah amazing friend. Uh, and he's going to show me some ropes. I'm going to, uh, show him a lot of good wrestling stuff. And, we're going to hopefully take that to the next level. So really excited about ropes.
01:29:17
Speaker
Yeah, awesome exactly. You got, you nailed it. Yeah. Just make sure you teach him how to take a good back bump. That's, that's very foundational. very very funny Every once in a while, a power bomb. Okay. Yeah.
01:29:32
Speaker
Yeah, mean we actually ran in speeds literally and into Yeah, we ran into Chris at to New York Comic Con last year and, um you know, introduced ourselves. And then he literally was like, you want to see the new Legend of the Lutre Libre figures? And like just pulled them out of like a bag that he had. And it was the ones that had been announced. But like they were production samples of the do of the. Of the brothers. It was the brothers wave. So it was Rush. Yeah. Dragon Lee and. and realistic i trip Yeah. duistic and I mean, two of my two of my favorite wrestlers from the WCW were Vampiro and Ultimo Dragon. And they've already got them locked in, which is
01:30:16
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I've been wanting that for a long time. This figure is no joke. I've got a I've got a lot of da between Dave and I. We've got a lot of wrestling action figures. This npr figure is top 10 modern wrestling figures ah like ever. Like ever. got It is. He's got more looks.
01:30:37
Speaker
He's got more looks. For sure. And the coffin box. Yeah, the coffin box is great. The the like modern one with the short hair. Young young bloody vamp is great. like Oh, yes, of course. But I haven't been to recreate the dragon holding Ultimo holding 12 belts yet. Oh,
01:31:01
Speaker
Yes, all the belts. My God. yeah That would be a licensing nightmare. Yes. i Don't say. But made-up belts will totally work. Yeah, just give me 12 belts. It's all that matters. It's all expressions of Tony on an edge belt.
01:31:16
Speaker
Yeah. Perfect. Perfect. um Next one, another familiar name. This one comes from at B-Mackatron. Who's that? G.I. Joe and Garfield crossover when?
01:31:31
Speaker
question mark Tomorrow. okay B-Mac, make it happen. but he's great He's a great great pirate. He could be a great ninja. I remember comic strips with him with the military with like a helmet on.
01:31:46
Speaker
Maybe there was fireworks and he was imagining he was in a war. okay so there's yeah There's connectivity there. this connectivity Let's make it happen, B-Mac. You got my number.
01:32:00
Speaker
B-Mac, wear a baby. Nermal could totally be Cobra. Nermal is a Cobra Trooper, for sure. World's cutest Cobra Trooper. That's my brother's cat's name. He named it Nermal.
01:32:16
Speaker
Oh, really? garfield Garfield is in the zeitgeist culture, dude. It has changed its own. My kid has never seen Garfield. She knows who Garfield is. Yeah.
01:32:27
Speaker
Garfield, dude. yeah Christina and soa and mondays had a Garfield themed birthday party when when she was there you go when she was a kid. yeah Somebody's got a cool noise. Where that go from? Newark Airport? Yeah. I think that was me. The car just drove by.
01:32:46
Speaker
yeah i think that was me the card is drove by Got it. I was going to say, it's either a plane or a massive truck. So, yeah. All right. All right, David.
01:32:58
Speaker
I don't know if you're familiar with this name either. From at Ryan underscore Ting. Oh! Power to the Ting compels you. Ryan the Ting man tailored.
01:33:10
Speaker
ah so um great question That was the best one. Thank you. What was your favorite boss fight, either in real life or in a video game?
01:33:25
Speaker
Oh, I'll give you two. one is One is playing with buddies. So I would always play as Sagat, my buddy would play as Bison. So I would love doing that boss fight. But my boss fight, favorite boss fight in a game was Rykard from Elden Ring, if you guys know. He's the craziest fight. um He's a giant snake the size of a house, and he pulls a sword out of his dead snake head because his real face is on his stomach.
Memorable Gaming Moments
01:33:54
Speaker
And then when he turns into Giant Snake Man who has face on stomach, he says, join my family.
01:34:01
Speaker
And it's the craziest shit I think I've ever seen in my life in a video game. or even in like a weird shitty movie. So yes, the Reichardt fight. Those who know will know. And if you don't know, look it up. It's insane.
01:34:15
Speaker
Watch the entire video. It's awesome. The fight itself is not the most creative thing, but it's the cut scene that leads up to it that like changes you. It changes you. I'm different now.
01:34:26
Speaker
yeah Anyways, that's it.
01:34:31
Speaker
ah So for me, ah it would probably be a Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater. ah Not for the actual boss battle, but at the very end, you have to climb a ladder where they then make you listen to the entire snake eater theme song.
01:34:52
Speaker
And so you just climb this ladder for like three minutes. Yeah, I remember that. This like, I remember that as you know, your song and it's, it's a phenomenal song. And so I mean, like props like, yeah, I'll listen to that all the time. Kojima was on one for that. He was on one for that. Batman is a treasure. Batman needs to be protected at all costs. Did you see he's getting an Android? They're making an Android Kojima.
01:35:21
Speaker
That's amazing. great Yeah. Tony, what about you? All right. I got two. One, ah Marvelous Capcom 2 Abyss, just because that's my favorite game of all time. And I like that you got I didn't like love the character, but I love kicking his ass, which is super cool.
01:35:39
Speaker
um And you get three different versions as you go, which is the greatest game of all time. And then two would be PETA. He was a line cook when I worked at the restaurant that used to just drink heavily and pop Percocets and yell at me all day. so shout out to you, Keita. Amazing.
01:36:01
Speaker
So like Dane Cook in Waiting? was horrible.
01:36:08
Speaker
Perfect. Perfect. Okay. Our last Q&A question before we head into our final, final question. I don't know. I don't know if anyone can follow up that answer with anything. um petera Peter. Peter.
01:36:23
Speaker
Peter. Peter. Yeah. I just heard Lois Griffin in my head for for the. death um All right. So this one comes from Jed
Balancing Design in Toy Creation
01:36:35
Speaker
Seth. As toy designers, how do you balance accuracy, articulation and visual storytelling when creating a figure that feels alive in photos or on someone's display?
01:36:48
Speaker
That's a thoughtful one. Yeah. on ah On a very thin line, you balance it. No, it's ah I would say it's ah it is a delicate balance, but sometimes you have to sacrifice other things.
01:37:03
Speaker
ah for like let's say there's a particular detail that will destroy the articulation, you have to weigh that out. right like you need Is that detail more important than the articulation or is your articulation more important than detail? So it's ah recipe by recipe.
01:37:18
Speaker
So it changes depending on the thing that you're making. And in some cases, unclassified, you notice that they are darker in color. That was so they would photograph better. a lot of times, like a bright green will look like crap photographed with a high flash or something like that. so um There are things like that you have to consider. Now, classified was not a a licensed line.
01:37:42
Speaker
um But sometimes when you're working on a licensed line, they'll say, hey, you need to use 227 green. and You'll be like, green, And then you have to have a conversation to see if you can deviate from the style guide.
01:37:57
Speaker
And in some cases, you can't. um So again, it's a different it's different for every recipe of figure that you're working on. Like we mentioned earlier, it's everything's a feat of engineering. Every action figure is different.
01:38:09
Speaker
There's some similar principles, but a lot of changes and fine cuts and little details that are going to be a different journey every time. So, boys, i don't know if you want to add to that, but I think... ah you know But I think I nailed it.
01:38:24
Speaker
I was going to say. was kind of landing there. If you want to add to it. But I don't know if you want to. can't top that. What I was going to say is at you as a designer, like are you thinking about your sculptor while you're designing? Or are there some things where you're just like, I can't figure this out in this moment as I'm designing this, but I know...
01:38:50
Speaker
I'm working with Corey and he's, you know, a wizard, like some of those problems kind of become, I don't want to say like inherited, but like, At times, yeah, but a designer's job is to communicate the thing they want to make to their partners, whether it's sculptor, painter, engineer. I got to make this thing.
01:39:11
Speaker
Here's what I think will work. What do you think, expert? Expert, tell me. And then you work with the expert to get it get it there ultimately. um But most of the time I nail it, right, Tony? Yeah, for sure. No, you definitely you rely on the talent around You're relying teammates.
01:39:28
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And we're surrounded by incredible teammates. So yeah, I'm and And one of the best side note, one of the best parts of the boss fight right now is that me, Lenny, Corey and Chris are all in the same room right now. Oh, boy. It's incredible. The future hasn't separated you guys yet? you know yeah They can't hear us.
01:39:54
Speaker
We sing a lot. We sing along a lot. man yeah i think I think Corey's tolerating us really well. No, he's not. He likes it.
01:40:05
Speaker
He likes it. Corey corey just gave the I'm dead inside thumbs up. I'm dead inside way longer. um All right, folks. Well, that takes us to our final question. And we have a we usually have a typical final question that we have on on most of our episodes, but we have a slightly altered one given the, the guests that we have with us today. Um, and everything that we talked about, on this episode. So before we head into our plugs, Dave, would you like to fulfill your role as this podcast, James Lipton, and ask our final question?
01:40:50
Speaker
Why? Yes, I would. Our final question for today is what is the one thing you think collectors focus too much on And what is the one thing that you think they don't focus enough on?
01:41:05
Speaker
I'm not saying anything. I would say a lot of collectors, and I'm including myself ah here, is ah sometimes we get caught up on that wasn't my favorite version. Therefore, i don't think it should exist of a character, maybe. um Because, again, as we kind of discussed earlier to bring it full circle was,
01:41:30
Speaker
that is someone else's favorite version of that character. And, um you know, maybe for me, i just stay patient and saying, oh, well, it's an A-list character. I'm probably going to get that version in a year or two years or three years. So, um yeah, I think kind of version control might be one that I think kind of people overlook. And, you know, obviously, again, you want your favorite version of the character and you want it now.
01:41:55
Speaker
same Same with me. But ah hopefully everything goes well and we get there.
01:42:02
Speaker
ah Mine's actually pretty kind of in the same vein, which is appreciating toys that aren't for you. um Particularly, we have all worked on product that is not for us, you know, and we all come on. Yeah. Yeah.
01:42:22
Speaker
ah lot yeah ah you know And so we have all had to learn and focus on how do we make the best product for this consumer you know and getting into that headspace you know and being able to create the best product possible, even if it's something that we aren't really interested in or passionate about or something that we're not going to put on our shelves.
01:42:47
Speaker
But I think that that same type of mentality can go to the collector as well. you know That you can see you know a toy doll you know or not even you know a toy at all, other product that it's like, you can appreciate still all the ah talent, artistry, ah you know and um you know creative process that went into creating it, even if it's not for you.
01:43:15
Speaker
Lenny what about you oh um I kind of agree what they were saying man I feel like uh enjoy what you enjoy and there's no need to like yuck a yum that's what we learned from preschool don't yuck somebody's yum I mean of course i have an opinion and don't be afraid to share it like of course but I think sometimes like understand that you know That's not the thing you want. and Patience.
01:43:44
Speaker
Just be patient. like I know I'm patient with a lot of my pre-orders. And or I figure, somebody will probably get to it at some point in time. so I'd like to add as well, like I think we've talked about the process and how long that takes. And it's something that I think, you know, people get very excited for this stuff. They want it. Obviously, that kind of like gets really, you know, intense sometimes. And, you know, patience is like obviously something, you know, we we tend to ask for, but it's easy to ask for. It's another thing to, you know, be patient and wait for these things.
01:44:18
Speaker
Especially when you know you've paid for them and you're waiting for them. So I think um one thing I would say is obviously just ah you know just understand that we are doing our absolute best to try and get this product out in a really as fast as we can, but at the same time maintaining that quality and that level at high level that we want to kind of maintain at Boss
Boss Fight Studio Growth and Social Media
01:44:39
Speaker
Fight Studio. um And so that's that's something I would i would kind of like you know ask the fans to just kind of just be a bit more understanding. Again, we are a... You know, we're a growing company. um We certainly don't have the kind of resources that, you know, your Hasbro's kind of have, but we are definitely, you know, we're we're building. As you can see, we're we're collecting Infinity Stones, and we which I thought was a hilarious comment on one of the posts. Yeah. but um that's something i would say and and before we go i just want to shout out a couple more people on our team because i think we've named everyone but i wanted to make sure that we get eric riddle on in there yeah a creative manager who is you know does amazing work for us and has done since you know since i've been there um of course dave reeves as well packaging uh creative director but you know you know you see all the packaging for boss fight studio
01:45:31
Speaker
you know, Dave's behind all of that as well. So want a big shout out to Dave. um And also like a massive shout out to my wonderful wife, Kate, who is, you know, an absolute saint and does all sorts of incredible work. And, you know, she's the office manager and HR associate. She's having a hell of a time with HR with us a lot. No, but she's amazing. And want to make sure there's an open ticket for HR violations. And also want to shout out to just Just leave that tally running.
01:46:01
Speaker
I also want, i also want and in a related situation as well, to shout out Annie. the She is an hr She's a PR, actually, for the for the office, our little mini schnauzer. And Ryan as well, our project manager. um And ah yeah, but Bob was mentioned, wasn't he? And Tony Tallarigo, shout out Tony Tallarigo, who, again, we did shout out Tony earlier, but want to make sure we we get the full name in there. And i think...
01:46:30
Speaker
<unk>s more Martin, our sales, of course. Yes, Martin. Andrea. Okay, the warehouse team, of course. The amazing warehouse team. Andrea, Alyssa, Nate, Matt.
01:46:42
Speaker
ah Yeah, fantastic team. And yeah, we we we appreciate you very much, trust me. um I personally ah obviously came from the warehouse and distribution side of Boss Fight, so I know exactly what they're going through. And I just have nothing but respect for that that team, honestly. um So yeah, we're doing, like I said, we're doing our best and we want to obviously get you that product at the the highest quality possible. And the whole team is working towards doing that. And welcome to our wonderful new guys here, Lenny, Corey, and Tony for just, yeah, adding to that incredible team.
01:47:18
Speaker
Yeah. And, ah you know, i I know where we've said it, you know, ah ah earlier in this in the show, and, you know, we we we echoed that in the the comments and the announcement where we are super excited to see what you guys do at Boss Fight Studio. Please tell tell our viewers, our listeners, where can they stay up to date on ah not only you guys, but also all of the great stuff that Boss Fight Studio is producing.
01:47:42
Speaker
Well, yeah, we you can first of all, you can follow us on all our socials, ah Facebook, Instagram, and Blue Sky currently. um And also if you want um if you ever buy anything from us, you'll probably hear from from us every month following with an email newsletter as well, which we ah throw out every month as well, just to kind of keep everyone updated.
01:48:03
Speaker
ah You can also check out web store, of course, bossfightestudio.com and obviously check out all amazing stuff or for for ah in stock and pre-orders at the moment. Get get get involved. um And one other the thing I will say as well, if you guys have ordered stuff from us and you need delivery updates stat,
01:48:24
Speaker
ah We update that on the web store as well under the news kind of like section. So where you can see when your toys are going to roughly get there. And also bear with us because, again, production delays can happen. but We try and keep you guys up to date as much as possible. We try to be as transparent as possible. And, yeah, you can if you want to hear from us, you can. Trust me.
01:48:46
Speaker
Can I throw two more in there? No. Yeah. All right. yes Of course you can. He said no. Sorry. that yeah that is the marketing that's it um is i just want to yuck your yum. tell yeah like yeah Also, don't forget to come visit us at Joe Fest. Lenny, Corey, ah Henry and anyone else going down there Nope, that's three of us currently. So yeah, JoeFest coming up very quickly as the team yeah was talking about today. And then LegionCon.
01:49:21
Speaker
um Yeah. ah We're going to be down there. LegionCon, yeah, absolutely. Which is going to be awesome. in November. yeah ah So come down to us. Just like we did at every other convention. Love talking to like-minded collectors, fans, just discussing product, why we did things, why we didn't do things.
01:49:42
Speaker
What I eat for dinner, whatever it is. And then also we do have a game out right now. The Sarazoc board game as well, which is an awesome game. And there's a lot of it's it's on social right. Chris, Chris of all the events that go on. Yes. you Demo the game. Yeah, Soros and Ori's Arena. We're doing in-store demos. we did um We did a whole kind of batch of them recently. There's going to be more dates and more events to come, so you can follow that on our socials. We'll be posting that information. And also for backers of the Soros and Ori's Arena, because it was originally a Kickstarter, but a successful one. So congratulations to everyone involved on that one. um And yeah, absolutely. you can... you can
01:50:25
Speaker
come to the events because they're free if you're near and obviously in the in the local area for when we for those particular events. so yeah Yeah, and we'll make sure we put links to all of the socials website as well and in the show notes description all that, all those
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
01:50:40
Speaker
places. so you can go and um and you can hit that those likes and follow buttons and everything and stay up to date on all of the things boss fight studio. And of course, on the adventures in collecting social media as well. We'll we'll make sure that we we stay on top of you guys and make sure that we get all the news out there. um
01:50:59
Speaker
This was. This was awesome. Thank you guys so much for taking the time to chat with us. And and again, you know, we are, we are super excited to see what you guys are, are working on. So I think with that, ah Dave, it's time to, time to get us out of here. Send us home.
01:51:16
Speaker
um um I'm going to send us home like a boss. yeah How dare you?
01:51:24
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.
01:51:38
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.
01:51:56
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.
01:52:04
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Frank Hablaoui. 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.