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The Post Wrestlemania 39 Episode with Mattel's Steve Ozer
749 Plays2 years ago
The show of shows. The grandest stage of them all. WRESTLEMANIA! As is our tradition, we're here post-Wrestlemania to dicsuss the Mattel reveals from the weekend, pick the most toyetic talent from the weekend, and better yet, we're joined by Mattel's Steve Ozer to go over it all! We talk to the new WCW Nitro crowd fund, elites, basics, ultimates, superstars, and retros from Wrestlemania weekend and so much more!
Follow Steve on Instagram @actionfigureattack and on Twitter @actionfigattack and back the WCW Nitro Arena now at mattelcreations.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Zencastr Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
Dave, you know why I love using Zencaster? Is it because the recording quality is better than other methods of recording a podcast virtually? Nope. Is it because they offer a free version for hobbyists just getting started? No, not that. Is it because it's super easy to use for everyone and none of our guests have ever had an issue using it? That's not it. Is it because they offer automatic post-production and transcription services? Negative.
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00:01:03
Speaker
That's Z-E-N-C-A-S-T-R dot com slash pricing and use promo code AICPOD. 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.
Podcast Focus: Adventures in Collecting
00:01:30
Speaker
I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and hauls, along with our journeys as collectors. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. Hi.
WrestleMania Highlights and Toyetic Events
00:01:50
Speaker
Dave, we're back post-Wrestlemania.
00:01:54
Speaker
We did it. We made it. It was quite the weekend. There's a lot to talk about. Yeah, a lot happened. It was fun. One could argue that the swerve of the decade at WrestleMania 2, I think that took some people off guard there.
00:02:18
Speaker
which one exactly that's that's the right answer that's that's the right okay so um you know it's it's always if first of all you know welcome back uh to our our lovely listeners um those of you who are annual post-wrestlemania i feel like i was we talk about it every year exactly i was just about to say if you've if you've been with us for a while you know that we
00:02:40
Speaker
We typically do a post-Wrestlemania. Usually there's a lot to talk about in terms of things that happened at WrestleMania that were particularly toyetic. I think Seth Rollins kind of runs away with that category this year as being one of the most toyetic at the show. Asuka probably closed second.
Interview with Mattel's Steve Ozer
00:03:01
Speaker
we actually have a guest though today because along with the things that happened at wrestlemania prior to wrestlemania our friends at metel had i had quite a bit to show off
00:03:14
Speaker
leading up to the event. So no one really understands the phrase so real it's like being in the ring, like this week's returning guest. Coming in hot after a long weekend of reveals and wrestling events in Los Angeles, welcome back to the pod Mattels, Steve Ozer. Steve, are you well rested and ready to talk about more wrestling figures? No and yes.
00:03:45
Speaker
Fair answer. At least you didn't have to go far for WrestleMania this year. It was practically in your backyard. Traveling is easier, believe me, than what we pulled off this year. It was cool to sleep in my own bed, but we did even more with WrestleMania being here. We did stuff at Mattel headquarters and not even things that were all
00:04:10
Speaker
collector facing right you know meetings and and you know additional activities through everyone who's traveling here for WrestleMania weekend whether it was travel package partners or or whoever so it was a wild week for sure two panels two panels an influencer day reveals
00:04:33
Speaker
interviews at the booth and then trying to attend the shows as well and do normal work at the same time. I mean, the nice thing about leaving for WrestleMania is like you can kind of ignore the real work, right? But here it's like everybody's trying to still get your attention because they know you're around. So anyway, I'm looking forward to Philly next year. I was going to say, and you still had LA traffic, so.
00:04:57
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And the events were all spread out too, right? So, Fystadium, Crypto.com Arena, LA Convention Center, Mattel Headquarters. So, yeah, it was not the most relaxing WrestleMania.
00:05:11
Speaker
So you mentioned though that you had an influencer event and there were a bunch of our peers, our fellow toy bloggers that were in attendance. What was it like having the opportunity to kind of take them through the factory, show them around Mattel and show them kind of inside the process a little bit more?
00:05:30
Speaker
I mean, well, first of all, we missed you guys there. We were hoping you would attend. But, you know, we'll work out something fun for Philly next year, for sure. But it was pretty cool to give a lot of our influencer partners a tour of Mattel because I kind of walk backwards as I
00:05:48
Speaker
Was walking them around the building at certain points just to be able to you know Look at their eyes and see their reactions and you know, they weren't looking at me They were just like in awe like eyes popped wide open Looking around, you know mouths dropped open You know, I think it was a dream for a lot of people to I mean not only just visit Mattel you know where it was kind of the source of their their hobby and their love with collecting and
00:06:13
Speaker
But like to get to go to WrestleMania, there was a lot of first time WrestleMania goers that came out for this trip as well. So it was really nice to have played a small role in what would be a lot of these people's first WrestleMania experience.
00:06:29
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
Creating Wrestling Figures and Fan Interaction
00:06:30
Speaker
It was, it was great seeing all the videos coming out of the, uh, the event and, you know, seeing kind of the, the Easter eggs that you guys had sprinkled in like the, the render photos hanging up of, of, uh, you know, figures that were like technically were not announced yet.
00:06:46
Speaker
Exactly and the the the I really like the pictures of the the actual talent ring gear next to the the figures that they were kind of inspired like it you guys really kind of set that up really cool cool thing to have kind of seen from afar.
00:07:04
Speaker
We may or may not have tried on some of that gear. But, you know, no, we didn't. We didn't actually. Well, I did try one thing on. But Ben Brown with WW was fantastic. And, you know, some of the gear, we didn't have exact matches, right? I mean, things happen. Gear is sold or not available. But we had close matches for most. Like, we had warriors.
00:07:27
Speaker
Duster and Boots, which is the inspiration for the crowdfunded warrior that's, you know, you know, the campaign's going on now. And we had the original Ultimate Edition warrior on display there. Bret Hart's jacket, we had a different jacket, but I mean, once again, it's Bret Hart's leather jacket, come on.
00:07:44
Speaker
What else did we have there? Seth Rollins gear for the upcoming fan boat. It was the Elton John inspired gear. So cool stuff and you know some stuff that wasn't even consumer facing that is for I mentioned there's a lot going on.
00:08:00
Speaker
And still work going on we're having our annual customer previews and in toy fair gallery In one of our buildings on campus and there's even more props and memorabilia over there as well. So There may have been somebody's mask that I tried on fair fair and and what a night to have spent with everybody in at a WrestleMania 2 and
00:08:26
Speaker
Oh, it was so good. Not only did the influencers get to partake, but Bill and I and Rob, to a little bit of a lesser extent, we reap a lot of rewards for working on the brand and get to go to a lot of shows and meet fans and meet superstars. But WrestleMania is the one time of year where a bulk of our team get to
00:08:50
Speaker
go to WrestleMania and get the full experience. They get to go to the booth, work the booth, meet the fans. That panel on Saturday featured the majority of the team. So it was a great time to all get together, mingle, and be one community of action figure fans, really.
Secret Figures and Fan Demand
00:09:16
Speaker
So, you know, outside of the excitement around the Nitro arena, which we'll get to shortly, out of all of the things that you got to reveal, you know, from the retros to the superstars, the elites to the ultimates, what was the thing you were most excited to kind of show off at Access this year? I unfortunately didn't get to reveal it. The gobbledygooker. That thing, we kept such...
00:09:46
Speaker
We kept that thing a secret and we fought to keep it a secret and then it just popped up online the night before We had the diorama we had the costume at what point at what point we're gonna build the egg for like a photo op But I mean, hey, it's sold out in less than 24 hours that initial pre-order allocation So, you know, I guess that's all that matters that people were excited and people bought it and you know, there's demand for more which we're trying to
00:10:15
Speaker
you take care of shortly here if it hasn't been done already. And then everything else became icing on the cake. So we finally did it. We finally got the gobbledygooker figure. And my whole team argued over who got to wear the costume. And it was fun.
00:10:31
Speaker
Yeah, I just, it blows my mind. That was something where I woke up and I saw the link and I sent it to, I sent it to Dave immediately before I even had a chance to post it on our feed. I was just like, ah, this exists. Not only did you get the gobbledygooker out into the world, but as an alternate edition.
00:10:56
Speaker
Oh, man. With Egg and Undertaker, that figure is amazing. He's got new boots, if you remember previously. He had kind of like an overlay over his feet to achieve that Spatz look. So they're just like new boots with the Spatz integrated now.
00:11:14
Speaker
He's got a new hat that fits on his head better. He's amazing looking at both sets of gloves, the gray and the black. And in the packaging, like George, our packaging designer just like killed it. We just sat one afternoon and just like collaborated and he was like, I think this needs to be VHS. And then we were just like off to the races and I was like,
00:11:34
Speaker
You got to add the brick background for the team lineups and everything. And he just killed it. And you just look at that. And technically, it's terrible looking, right? It's just like yellow. It's a little ugly, right? But it's so great. It's like one of the greatest things we've ever did because you feel something when you look at that packaging, right? If you grew up in that time, you know exactly what it's supposed to be. And it takes you right back in time.
00:12:00
Speaker
So it's it's like I love that it's simultaneously. And I guess the Gooker as well, like, you know, some of the most weird and like what the heck things, but the best all at the same time. 1991. What are you doing? And you get that Mean Jean build a figure and you get them dance with the goblin. Oh, yeah. And if you look at the back and I think some of those either there's either a sneak peek or a sliver of it or maybe not, I don't know. But the action figure photography on the back
00:12:27
Speaker
We typically only have one talent on the back, the featured talent of the Ultimate Edition figure. But for both figures, we've got Mean Gene doing the Do-See-Do with Gobbledygooker. And on Undertaker's package, we've got Brother Love walking him down the aisle. Perfect.
00:12:43
Speaker
And you can recreate both of those moments now. That's another one that, you know, obviously we unveiled that earlier, but to have brother love in that dia was super cool and super special. Bruce stopped by and I got to show him everything and he seemed happy. He kept it close to the vest. It wasn't like marking out or anything, but he seemed pleased. At least, you know, he acted pleased.
00:13:06
Speaker
I got to imagine he looked, he's, he saw a hit that and the gobbledygooker, you know, himself with the, you know, the brother love get up on and the gobbledygooker when I just, I can't believe that it's 2023. Here, here they are. I think it's been, it's been so long since they've even been like back to Jack's days. So it's, it's awesome that they're now going to be,
00:13:32
Speaker
in this elite or an ultimate scale or ultimate like articulation, respectively. I think that's amazing. Yeah. And I did kind of always want to get that brother love figure out while he was still like doing the rounds for podcast shows and signings and stuff. But I mean, he seems he seems to be very happy and content with what he's doing now. And he's got to figure now it would always be, you know, available for people to go to signing. Should he choose to do that again?
00:14:00
Speaker
For sure. So when you watch something like WrestleMania or any other premium live event or Raw or SmackDown or NXT, do you immediately think that somebody should be a figure or how, oh, this gear definitely needs to be on a figure?
Decision-Making for WrestleMania Gear Figures
00:14:15
Speaker
Oh, all the time. And I love when I'm with Bill, because you could just give the look, right? And it's like, that's a yes. And there were a couple of like, that's a yes. And there's others, your mark is a maybe if you can, or maybe if they re-sign with the company, right? Because if you privy to that knowledge, that factors into things as well.
00:14:41
Speaker
some like no way in hell we could ever afford it right so you know all those things cross our minds of course as we're watching the show and trying to enjoy it we're just you know we're action figure fans too so we do the same things the fans do like we want that as a toy you know like some things that were like too expensive last year were um like uh ray and ray and dom um in their you know um
00:15:05
Speaker
their inspired gear and we're just like, how do we do this? We can't possibly afford this. And things like that just don't pan out. But other things I think we're going to achieve. So on this topic, we kind of mentioned it at the top. One of the things that we like to do post-Wrestlemania is typically Dave and I each pick a person, a talent that we like, the thought
00:15:27
Speaker
You know, this is the one that we want to see in action figure form. So, well, you know, let's, let's, let's go through that, that exercise like we usually do. Uh, but since you're, since you're a guest, do you want to go first? Who I want to see are a gear I want to see. So from specifically from WrestleMania, like who do you think had like the most Toyota gear? Like if you could, if you want to make into a, into a toy from, from, uh, from WrestleMania, who would it be?
00:15:55
Speaker
As like just a ridiculously cool action figure, like Edge in that entrance gear, like holy smokes, there was so much going on there. You could do something truly, truly epic. So I would love to see that as an action figure. Is it on maybe the side of things that may be unaccomplishable with kind of the lines we have now? Maybe. But that one was just like, you know, unbelievable.
00:16:23
Speaker
So, you know, that'd be my pick for sure. There's some easy, like, layups, like, you know, demon, demon fan. I mean, come on. With the purple hits. Yeah, you don't even need to think about it. Dave, do you want to go or do you want to stay for last? Mine, I know what mine is. It's not Seth Rollins.
00:16:42
Speaker
I was going to say, I'd like to hear yours. Yeah. Oh, okay. Mine is 100%. Like from the moment she switched back to this look at the rumble, I've been dying for an ultimate Oscar figure with the coat, with the, the like, you know, the, the new mask, the clown makeup, you know,
00:16:59
Speaker
couple like maybe like two heads you know one with like the tongue out like that I just love the the the kabuki clown evil aska um and you know like you you guys did the uh the goldberg head with the uh the the like the smoke coming out of it so maybe like a blue mist effect or something coming out of her mouth like I just think that that I think Aska is always one of the most toyetic wrestlers like she's just her her
00:17:30
Speaker
ring gear, her entrance, everything about her. She's just, she's awesome. And I would, I would love to see, uh, I would love to see her get a, uh, get an ultimate figure with that. Fortunately, there's a big fan of Oscar who designs these figures. So yes. Yes. Play playing to build strengths.
00:17:50
Speaker
But it does show his restraint that it hasn't happened yet, right? It's wild. Every time you guys have an event with an announcement, I'm like, come on, this is the time, Bill. This is the time. It's going to happen. So hopefully now that she's had an awesome WrestleMania match, a very memorable one, another very memorable one, hopefully it's time for Asuka. Hopefully we are ready for Asuka.
00:18:20
Speaker
Um, so I think, like, I think Finn's a layup, but with the purple hits and just it being such a drastically different version of the demon from what we're used to. Like for me, that was, that was an easy one. Um, I'm trying to think if there was anything that was like a, even like a close second from the weekend. Um.
00:18:44
Speaker
You know, it was very simple, but like, as a toy person, mind-blowingly amazing, John Cena's shirt. Yep. Yes. GI John Cena. Yeah. Or we could say... We can't do it, obviously, but... Or we could say Larry Hama inspired John Cena. Yes. Oh, that helps us. Larry Hama inspired John Cena.
00:19:05
Speaker
Cause it's just his art style. It's just the Larry Hama art style. I mean, all of his art looks like that. The Ray Mysterio, like kind of mood theme mask was cool too. Oh, so good. Yeah, absolutely. Both Dom too. Dom's entrance was fantastic. Cody's robe was unbelievable. Yeah, with the wig. Seth. Seth has red shoes now.
00:19:30
Speaker
Now with red shoes red shoes on roman now with red shoes Well, I like that he's finally getting uh speaking of roman. I like that. He's finally getting the uh, the the one finger I saw on the uh, it was a leap 104 Was it three or four? Yeah, no three 104 I think you guys released so many so many figures but yeah one one the upcoming one of the upcoming romans has the logan paul's gear was even
00:19:59
Speaker
Yeah, that was fun. The bottle was now a superstar. KSI. I think that finger for Roman, we wanted to, if memory serves you correctly, he was doing that back last from WrestleMania, right? Yeah, yeah. I think we were trying to make it happen, but it was just like, just passed our cutoff, right, of making it work. So yeah, a couple months later or a year later, we're making it happen. So that's exciting.
00:20:27
Speaker
You know, sometimes just little things like, you know, I joked about the shoes, but I mean, Roman's so popular, it just makes such a relevant figure to have pointing fingers and potentially red shoes. So, you know, we're grateful for little things like that.
00:20:41
Speaker
Yep, when he changed from the gold gauntlet to the red gauntlet. That ultimate rolls too. That screaming head is still one of my favorite expressions. And I like the way that the neck peg is mounted in it too, so that way he's...
00:20:59
Speaker
It's very well engineered.
WCW Nitro Stage Crowdfund Project
00:21:02
Speaker
So getting back to the announcements, you guys revealed the next crowdfund on Mattel Creations. How did the team land on the WCW Nitro stage as the next project?
00:21:16
Speaker
Well, we were exploring a few options. One of the obvious ones that's been spoken about and that you've seen was the raw stage and some other ones that we won't talk about to get people's hopes up yet and then hopefully keep things a surprise if the time ever comes to do them. But really, it just became about
00:21:40
Speaker
You know, it was kind of an even split, like what people wanted to see, Nitro versus raw. That combined with just feasibility at the time and the fact that doing Nitro first allows you to, you know, not only get people acclimated to a slightly higher price point, but you can start developing some of the tools needed for the raw stage potentially, right?
00:22:03
Speaker
which then would allow for that item to be not quite as expensive as if it were to come first. So, you know, it just made sense to go with Nitro first, you know, given that popularity split, giving that it helps us attain a slightly more affordable raw stage. It's a nice building block piece that is equally as popular, theoretically, of course.
00:22:30
Speaker
So, you know, we're here, we're doing it, we're doing the Nitro stage and it looks phenomenal. We're so happy how it turned out. We just got, you know, a first model from Japan and I'm sorry, from China. And, you know, we were blown away by how, you know, well done that model came out. Yeah. And, you know, you guys had the live stream.
00:22:54
Speaker
This is airing last week with, uh, that featured a DDP make making an appearance, you know, and, and you could see it, you know, kind of in his expression that like, you know, you guys asked him, I think Sam was the one that actually asked him the question that like, as somebody who has walked through that curtain, you know, down that, that ramp, like, what is it like seeing like a seven inch version of you standing on that ramp? And you could see it in his face that he was like, this is, I've never seen anything like this. This is crazy.
00:23:23
Speaker
Yeah, it was awesome. I mean, he used that stage frequently. So, you know, we got his blessing buy-off that it was accurate. And he was so great to work with. And Dallas and I go back a little bit to my DDP yoga days.
00:23:41
Speaker
my honesty and coca-cola days so it was awesome to reconnect with him and you know i you know he was always so good and gracious to me and now i can make action figures of him which is awesome and i know he's gonna sign them right and if it wrestle con and you know all these other events.
00:23:58
Speaker
So that's a nice feeling to have, but Dallas is amazing. You know, that figure as well, it's pretty historically significant because it's representative of his feud with Randy Savage, right? And that's where you put Dallas on the map. So I think Dallas actually just posted something.
00:24:16
Speaker
Or can I spoil that we're not live, right? We're not live. We're recording this. But Dallas posted something today about the feud with some video footage and commemorating a historic milestone of it. So it's pretty meaningful to do this particular version of Dallas and to do somebody that has helped me and so many other people have a little bit better quality of life through DDP Yoga. Yeah. And it's another thing you can recreate, too, with the target
00:24:47
Speaker
Ultimate Macho Man. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. You're ready to go. So, I mean, you know, I don't know if you'll get there at any point, but, you know, not only have we slowly been building towards Monday Night War themed playsets, but I mean, we're all in pretty shortly here in early 2024 with a full fledged Monday Night Raw line of elites and ultimates. So one of the things that, you know, kind of
00:25:16
Speaker
is one of those things that's really interesting about watching this process is seeing the talent react to the process, react to seeing their figures. Is that something that you've gotten used to at this point over the years or is it still amaze you when these guys see themselves and they're like, I gotta have that, I need to have that?
00:25:42
Speaker
I think maybe the shock of, oh, they actually like this might have worn off, but not the feeling of pride and giving back that I have for both modern and legendary talent.
00:26:01
Speaker
It's just like the appreciation of legendary talent that this stuff is coming out and keeping their spirit alive, keeping their name out there, giving them more stuff to sign. You saw Cowboy Bob Orton do the rounds of signings when his legend figure and retro figure came out at roughly the same time. He was all over the place. I would attribute some of that to smart businesses saying, hey, there's action figures here we can sell and he can sign them.
00:26:30
Speaker
It's really special, you know, or if it's, you know, families of wrestlers who are no longer with us, who just like, you know, they're so appreciative. And then the younger talent, they grew up, now we're in the generation of talent that grew up playing with action figures, playing video games, and getting those things being included in a game or getting an action figure for the first time. It's like the sign that they made it. And not only that they made it that
00:26:57
Speaker
they actually like the product that they're getting of themselves on top of it. So it's super rewarding. Everyone knows at this point I would hope that I'm a lifelong super fan. I never gave up on this business through unpopular times and bullying or whatever. This was my business and I'm so proud to be involved in it and be giving back in this way to the talent.
00:27:26
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. And it's awesome to kind of see that kind of paying forward come kind of full circle on something like the live stream. So you see this huge entrance stage and space is a luxury for a lot of collectors. How is something that is as seemingly large as the Nitro entrance stage friendly to those that may not have room to permanently display the entire thing?
00:27:55
Speaker
So during our Mattel panel on Saturday, Mike Caudilly, the designer of the actual stage itself, let the audience know that you can actually, it's kind of modular, so you can actually reconfigure it slightly and make it fit on a standard depth shelf.
00:28:16
Speaker
So by the time this podcast goes live, you can head over to my Instagram at Action Figure Attack and check out a Reels video of that reconfigured shallower depth version of the stage. It is so long. So it might be like if you have Billy bookcases like I have behind me, you can probably put it across the top or something. I don't believe it will fit the left to right, but I can always measure that this coming week. But it will fit depth wise, absolutely.
00:28:47
Speaker
Yeah, so you can do that, and it looks great. You just don't have the ramp basically, and it's like a thin version of the stage, but all the scaffolding and WCW letters and banners all fit nicely on it still. Awesome. That's good to know. That's very good to know.
00:29:02
Speaker
We talked at length so far about DDP and that ultimate's inclusion in the campaign. Tell us a little bit about the other figures. What went into the decision to include the ultimate figures that you included and where you slotted them in the campaign process?
00:29:22
Speaker
Yeah, so for the early bird, we wanted a talent at the level of Macho Man that people seem to continuously get excited for when a new figure comes out. I will say, you know, and I've started to say this a little bit, that we were going to include another really meaningful accessory that unfortunately wasn't approved. And I think if we would have included it, everyone would have
00:29:45
Speaker
I've been reacting much differently to this figure than maybe they are now. But those are the brakes. You know what I mean? And sometimes you've got to keep things in motion and just pivot a little bit. So this is where we are. It's Hulk Hogan. We added some other things, like the non-irrippable shirt and whatnot to plus it up a little more in lieu of not having that accessory.
00:30:12
Speaker
But, you know, Hulkster is somebody that everybody loves. He does move the needle. I know we've had a lot of Hulk Hogan figures and Hulk Hogan ultimates. But when you look at you compare Hulk Hogan versus, you know, other other talent like he's a top seller forever. You know, so so we felt safe, you know, moving forward still with with him as the early bird. Ray cruiserweights synonymous with Monday Nitro. Right. And he he was the
00:30:40
Speaker
flagship luchador and you know when you think about lucha libre, cruiserweights, mass wrestlers or whatever in most people minds like that Rey Mysterio mask is synonymous so it's only appropriate you have a cruiserweight and Rey Mysterio be part of this set and you know the soft goods robe is really really nice with that I think there's a dragon pattern on the back of it
00:31:05
Speaker
He's anchoring the set. Then you have Big Papa Pump, Scott Steiner. And that was like once WWE gave us a green light that we could do Scott Steiner figures. I mean, we knew he had to be in this set, like absolutely. So we got him in there and lots of new parts, new torso, heads, biceps, to really nail his unique, super heroic physique.
00:31:31
Speaker
And then Warrior, you know, one of the comments of the last crowdfund was, you should have had more tiers, more tiers to entice people to keep buying into the item. So we added another tier here, basically at 11,000. And that's that that Warrior and the look previously only done in action figure form by Jax is a 105 exclusive. So, you know, now there's a chance for
00:31:55
Speaker
maybe roughly 11,000 people or more, to own that version of Ultimate Warrior from his Monday Nitro debut. And even though his stint in WCW was a little on the short side of things, I think that initial debut is something everyone remembers. Holy Smoke's Warrior actually showed up in WCW. And then the bell rang.
00:32:21
Speaker
And if you missed that first ultimate, this is kind of a chance to still get that warrior. Yeah, to get that era, yeah. Yeah, and there's a lot of new parts there too. The pelvis has the belt buckle, the unique belt buckle he had for that debut. New legs, or at least brand, I think maybe all new legs, to accommodate the new boots that he has. And then the heads as well are new.
WCW Nitro Campaign Features
00:32:49
Speaker
As I said, there's other like slept on features too with it, like the always on lights or that possibility to like kind of plug in the big gold belt for the first time. You know, you do have an NWO member in here, like there's, it kind of runs the gamut of everything that is that era of nitro.
00:33:13
Speaker
Yeah, everything is touched upon, right? You've got a mainstay, really, in Hulk, who's the headliner of the company towards the tail end. You've got the cruiserweights representing Rey, NWO in Scott, and then the what the heck?
00:33:29
Speaker
right? That WCW was full of with Warrior. So it's like every little nugget that made WCW special is present there. And I mean, thank you for bringing up the big gold. I mean, that's exciting. And so many people have wanted this version for a long time. And it's the version without the WWE logo. So, you know, this is this was the first time, you know, of course, we'll do it again right after this. So I don't want to
00:33:54
Speaker
dissuade people from buying the set. I don't want to lie either and say the only way to get the big gold ever is going to be here. But you know, this is going to be the first time in a long time coming to get this actual title.
00:34:18
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.
00:34:34
Speaker
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00:34:59
Speaker
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00:35:29
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00:36:58
Speaker
and use the code AICPOD12 to get 12% off your order and free two-day shipping. Shop today to get the best deal ever. And now back to the show. Yeah, and one of the other things kind of pivoting from the campaign itself is kind of the supporting assets of it, right?
Monday Night Wars Figures
00:37:23
Speaker
So aside from the things that are actually
00:37:25
Speaker
available specifically through the campaign you guys have kind of this road map laid out of additional pieces that that go very well with this with the the the monday monday night wars figures that are that are coming to walmart both in in elite and ultimate form and and um and the the ring with uh with ultimate eric bischoff so um you know can you tell us a little bit about more you know what went into those uh those elites and and ultimates
00:37:54
Speaker
Well, I mean, you brought the ring and I've seen a lot of people commenting why the raw ring first, right? If they're going to do nitro here, maybe at a point when we had to pull the trigger on that ring, maybe we were leaning towards the raw stage first.
00:38:10
Speaker
But I mean, by the time, you know, this funds, you'll have this ring still before, before the stage ships. So you'll be completely set up with a ring and that Eric Bischoff figure and he'll be awaiting the arrival of the Nitro stage and the Hulkster and everyone else. Well, hopefully the Hulkster. I know this airs slightly after the Hulkster backer period ends. So we'll just assume that the Hulkster is backed.
00:38:38
Speaker
And then the line, I mean, everyone that everyone is fantasy booking into the crowdfund that didn't make it, theoretically, if we have them available, that they're going to wind up in the Monday Night Wars line in some, you know, shape or form, whether it's Ultimate or Elite. So, you know, Gene's DDP, I mean, a layup, right? And, you know, probably more appropriate as an Elite.
00:39:03
Speaker
than an Ultimate Edition, right? It's a simplistic deco on him. You know, and everyone else, you know, we hear it, you know, if we can do Harlem Heat again, maybe they're a good fit here. Singles run Booker T. Six.
00:39:20
Speaker
you name it, we'll try to fit them into the Monday Night War line. And something to note, with ruthless aggression, we went into that line with an end date in mind, knowing that we were going to pivot to Monday Night War here. But Monday Night War, we have no end date in mind. So this is something that as long as it remains popular,
00:39:44
Speaker
and the figures have decent saw through and walmart is happy with it we want to continue this as long as possible and i already you know laid out a rough. Road map of course talent subject to change for like four years worth of of figures of elites and ultimates and build the figures so you know there's no shortage of excitement to come.
00:40:06
Speaker
And of course, you know, if things change with WWE and we get additional signings and new talent, of course, we'll squeeze them in and make them happen in this line. Now, question kind of follow up to that. I know that the live stream you had announced, it's the first two ultimates are Piper and Bret Hart. Is it always going to be one of each? Like one WCW, one WWE?
00:40:33
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. For Ultimates, it's going to be one and one. And for the Elite Line, it's going to be two and two. And then the Build a Figure will alternate between waves between companies. Something else interesting that I want to do pending licensure approval
00:40:49
Speaker
is when you look at the spine of your action figures and package, it will have the logo of the time, which I know some new gen people will be excited about because they wanted more new gen ultimates. So you'll see like a timeline of logo progression for both companies, and you'll also try to include the date there. So if you want to,
00:41:12
Speaker
you know, after a couple years, you can rearrange everything chronologically by dates and logo and have your history of Monday Night Wars bookshelf if you want to. That rules. That's awesome. That's a nice little touch. Yeah. Because I'm automatically seeing like, you know, Nitro debut Scott Hall, thinking like, all right, you need Kevin Nash in the like striped t-shirt so he could powerbomb the Eric Bischoff like. Yeah.
00:41:39
Speaker
I guess, you know, a lot of these requested looks led themselves to street clothes. So, you know, for those, you know, collectors who've wanted more street clothes figures, I think it's inevitable, right, to have that here. Because so many significant moments were in street gear. Xbox re-debut on RAW, street gear, Hall of Nash, as you said.
00:42:00
Speaker
Hogan's heel turn is essentially, so Hogan wore those clothes in real life, tights, tights in tight shirts. So, you know, a lot of street gear represented here as well as, you know, wrestling gear, of course. So cool. So also another line that's just continuing to thrive is the retros. We saw some new gen recently in the most recently released set in the Orange Cards, as well as in the upcoming set
00:42:31
Speaker
that's coming out. Does this open up the door for more errors to be represented? Yes. Did you guys notice anything about the packaging for the newest retros? No. You didn't notice anything about the color? It's for the the undertaker Paul Bearer with the like darker kind of bluish.
00:42:57
Speaker
Oh, okay. I'd see that. So I'm holding up a Jack's Bone Crunching Action Superstars Undertaker here, and it's got the bluish purple into the reddish pinkish. So the inspiration for that packaging was to celebrate this bone crunching era of WWE, and you have Vader and Paul Bearer. So it's like, it's very synonymous with this. And I think Vader came away or two later, right after this Undertaker wave.
00:43:26
Speaker
So it's very purposeful. And of course, it's close to the blue. Let me put these down. It's close to the blue previously, but I think, you know, just a little wink to those longtime collectors and people who love that era, giving them something that hopefully will once again, tug at the heartstrings once they realize it. And they will after this podcast.
00:43:50
Speaker
Yeah, and you guys too with the retro line have introduced the first female retro figure in Wendy Richter, right? I was like, we did? Yes, Wendy Richter. That's exciting. We were trying to get somebody out for the longest time and a lot of contenders. But Wendy gives us a great base body to use that you can change up with new arms or new legs or whatever. But it's really exciting to get Wendy out first.
00:44:20
Speaker
maybe, you know, perfect because, you know, she was she was the one at the very beginning. She was the first, you know, kind of superhero female wrestling character in the 80s. And, you know, there were times when people said she was biggest, biggest Hulk in that era. And of course, you know, the the war to settle the score and all that stuff with with super high ratings. So she's historically significant. We're happy to have our first female figure in retros finally long overdue. And we will
00:44:50
Speaker
absolutely do more, more females after Wendy, and she's got double action. She's got a twist the waist, and she's got an uppercut. Awesome. Oh, very cool. So alongside with the, you know, with the retros, one of the things that we've seen come up in the, you know, in the photography when they're announced and they go up for sale, is the is that ring, the blue ring? Is there are there any opportunities coming for
00:45:19
Speaker
for a ring for these retros or championship titles or anything like that? I really hope so. The ring is something that I've been looking for an opportunity to bring back. And I say this sometimes, it's not about ideas as much as opportunity, right? Because as a fan, I have a million ideas and I talk to all you guys and you have a million ideas.
00:45:48
Speaker
Waiting for the moment to do it the opportunity to do it and you slip it in there and you make it happen, right? Or else you're just like shouting at the one we should do this. We should do this and it's like, okay We yeah, okay sure we should but like if if the opportunities come up and there always are because you always have to plan for the following year and the following year or something gets cancelled or something happens and then
00:46:10
Speaker
Those are the moments you actually make the things happen. Like the Goblet Cooker Undertaker is a great example. We won this special different type of item and that absolutely perfectly fit into the slot, so to speak, right? So that's what I'm looking for for the retro ring. It's not unaccomplishable. It's really just right.
00:46:30
Speaker
right moment in time to make it happen. And maybe it'll be a reissue. Maybe it'll be redecoed. I don't know. If you wanted to redeco everybody, let me know the colors you want. And we'll see what we can do. There you go. We'll have to put a post up after this episode goes live. And we'll do a little poll for Ring Look. How about that?
00:46:58
Speaker
Yeah, so there you go. That's another one that comes up all the time is that ring for the retros. So we've seen so many amazing exclusives, whether it's the Legends at Target, Monday Night Wars, upcoming and ruthless aggression at Walmart, or the various ringside collectibles exclusive like the upcoming Ultimate Usos.
Retailer-Exclusive Legends and Figures
00:47:18
Speaker
What is part of the decision making process to figure out what exclusives go where?
00:47:24
Speaker
you want a retailer to have something ownable, like an ownable statement. So, Legends is owned by Target in the US, right? We're talking about in the US. These things are available to international retailers if they're able to take enough numbers for their market, right? So, every market will have an MOQ and maybe this is too technical for people and they don't care, they just want their toys. But, you know, just explaining a little bit
00:47:50
Speaker
No, seriously go into it. This is this is the kind of stuff that you know, we get asked all the time We just don't have the answers for so like absolutely there's there's no such thing as too much information on this So, you know, we don't develop things to be exclusive to a country necessarily Actually, I think UK actually does have truly UK exclusives, but whatever that's okay so we want everyone to take it but you know, there's there's limitations in various markets and sometimes things don't work out but as
00:48:20
Speaker
You build a consumer base, like in the UK, for instance, now their collector is starting to boom a little bit. And they've brought in Ultimates and Legends starting this summer. So we're making some progress there. And if that continues, maybe Monday Night War makes its way over there as well next year, fingers crossed. I sure as hell will try.
00:48:40
Speaker
But anyway, back to the original question, you want to develop something ownable for a retailer, right? An ownable program that the buyer will understand and latch on to and get excited about. And you know, that's why you kind of see something like, you know, Ruth's regression or Monday Night War or Legends because it's very understandable and someone could look at that and see the possibilities, right?
00:49:06
Speaker
A buyer could be like, I remember Monday Night Wars and I was pure WCW and I remember flipping the channels and you want that engagement from a buyer and then they buy in and support. And then it's also like having those ideas and waiting for moments to execute them, right? Like ruthless aggression. That was one we were just waiting kind of for the anniversary of ruthless aggression to happen. And that line launched tied to the anniversary and it was a great moment.
00:49:36
Speaker
Timing is a huge factor as well. We've got all the ideas in the world. We know all the ideas that you guys share with us and we want the same things. It's like waiting for those moments and retailer exclusives is a great way to make those things happen. Once again, Goblet Gooker being a perfect example of that. Yeah, and it is one of those things where it's interesting to think about that
00:50:00
Speaker
ownership factor right like where you know that like that's where you go for that particular type of thing but it's just always interesting like to see. You know how you guys make the selection the character selections like for those specific things like you know what version of what character ends up in legends for versus which one.
00:50:20
Speaker
Yeah, like like we've had a couple of different versions of those at this point, you know, uh, kind of spread out, but then going to that ultimate two pack for, for ringside as a tag team. Like, does that mean, does that kind of, you know, back to that idea of ownership, like, does that mean that there'll be more ultimate tag team packs at ringside? Is that going to be in like an ongoing thing?
00:50:41
Speaker
That's the hope, right? There was a lot of experimentation this year. They got a multi-pack with mega powers. They got retro tag teams. They got defining moments and they're getting ultimate tag teams with the USOs. The reception
00:50:57
Speaker
initially has seemed to be pretty great with all of these. So I would love to continue these executions and have these ownable statements, right? They own tag team retros. They own Ultimate Edition tag team packs. Doesn't mean we won't do two packs of Ultimates elsewhere, like, you know, Coliseum Collection. But as far as, like, a tag team, maybe it's just ringside. And they certainly do own, you know, defining moments as well.
00:51:28
Speaker
Now, speaking of those USOs for a moment, how will they be carded? Are they going to be carded on the normal Ultimate Edition packaging, or is it going to be something a little bit different for them?
00:51:40
Speaker
They will be in their individual Ultimate Edition boxes to two single boxes inside of a shipper like Coliseum Collection. So, you know, you've got a lot of flexibility there as not only a consumer, right? But if you just want six extra JUSOs for some reason, you can probably, Ringside will most likely offer a couple of, you know, in small quantities separately as well, much like they did with the retro tag teams and with defining moments. Cool.
00:52:10
Speaker
Yeah, they've also had some of my favorite like a ball ones or like things you wouldn't think like, oh yeah, this definitely wouldn't make it on the shelf. But like cactus Jack ECW or and go be like fun house match and W John Cena, which is one of my favorite. That's the one I always think of. What a what a wacky figure. It's it's that figure where it's like, I didn't know I needed this, but I need this. The face on that figure is what gets me because he's got that like like
00:52:38
Speaker
Yeah, from... Yeah, it's the best.
00:52:41
Speaker
Yeah, a lot of conversations to get that one to happen. But, you know, for a while there previous to this year, they had that very ownable like, you know, OK, this is a cool figure. Maybe I didn't know that I needed it. Specific packaging with the tri-fold backdrops, right? So that was kind of their ownable exclusive type previously. But I do think, you know, personally, for my taste, we've leveled it up in 2023 for sure. Absolutely.
00:53:11
Speaker
So this next section takes us into our Q&A. So as we usually say, welcome to those who are listening to us for the first time. Hope you're enjoying this episode. But make sure you're following us at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram, because whenever we do have a guest, we'll send up a post collecting some questions for this Q&A section.
Listener Engagement and Social Media Interaction
00:53:35
Speaker
And smash those subscribe and like buttons.
00:53:38
Speaker
I can't not laugh every time you say that. It's the most forced podcaster, social media guy thing. I love it. I love when you do it every time.
00:53:50
Speaker
It puts a dumb little smile on my face. But yeah, so we know that not everybody gets access to our guests all the time. We understand it's a privilege. So we want to make sure we spend some of this time asking the questions that you want to get answers to. So Steve, are you ready for some Q&A? Yeah, go ahead. Shoot. All right. So this first one comes from a friend of the pod.
00:54:20
Speaker
Ryan Ting at Ryan Ting on Instagram. Uh, Ryan Ting, of course, of the Marvel legends team over at, uh, at another brand. Um, who is your favorite late nineties WCW wrestler that might be heavily inspired from video games, more specifically the mortal combat franchise, you know, particularly one of the Ninja characters.
00:54:47
Speaker
I have no idea what you're talking about, Ryan, and it will never be made.
00:54:55
Speaker
Oh man. You know, talk about ringside goofball exclusives, right? Like, you know, if they would have been available, that would have been a badass ringside multi-pack, right? Maybe two-pack with Mortis and Glacier. I love Mortis more than Glacier. Glacier's awesome, right? But Mortis was my guy out of those two. And Wrath and the Minister, too.
00:55:19
Speaker
Of course, of course, the sinister minister fun fact is to be a manager at Virgin Megastore in Orlando and sinister minister used to always shop at our store like at the least on a weekly basis and just by tons of, you know, DVDs and CDs and everything else. So I would not hesitate to make any of those, you know, should the stars align and we get deals with with the talent or estates.
00:55:46
Speaker
Hey, keep the Monday Night Wars popular, and maybe the stars will align for that one. Maybe we need a snow effect add-on for the stage. Yes. There we go. I'm sure Mike can engineer that, right? If he can engineer that scaffolding and all those lights, I'm sure he could figure out a little snow maker. Mike can make anything. Can we afford to make everything Mike makes? No, but Mike can make anything and everything.
00:56:16
Speaker
Alright Dave, let's do the next one. At Solaire2522 asks, are there any plans to bring back belt and or accessory packs?
00:56:30
Speaker
So this is something that is always asked. And sometimes it comes down to choice, right? If they're like, Steve, you have five SKUs now to ration out across wherever, you got to maximize them, right? You got to make sure that we get decent dollar volume back for these investments and choose what you have to do, right? So if I look at a belt pack,
00:56:58
Speaker
you think like, okay, what are you going to make on a belt pack realistically, right? You have a kind of like your, your baseline knowledge of how successful they're going to be. Or do you do tons of units of something like the gobbledygooker undertaker set?
00:57:13
Speaker
Right? So to me in my mind and in my heart and to do what's right for our consumers as well on top of that and our business, you choose an execution like an ultimate edition or an ultimate two-pack or a four-pack for a target or a raw letter three set of target and you don't choose the belt pack.
00:57:37
Speaker
So it doesn't mean an opportunity won't come our way where you need something that is more appropriate of the belt pack, right? And that's when I would pull the trigger on something like that. Once again, it's the right opportunity for it. But, you know, ultimately, like I think people would agree when they get something like Colosseum Collection, Jake and Rude, or Gobbly Gooker, or, you know,
00:58:06
Speaker
whatever, I'm trying not to spoil things. I almost blurted out like two multi packs that are coming. But you know, something really cool, like you have to think like, you know, this would be sacrificed for that, right? You only can work on X amount per year. You physically can only handle so much, the system can only handle so much, and you need to decide what those items are going to be. So,
00:58:27
Speaker
I know people want belt packs. I know people want accessory packs. There is a mini accessory pack line, by the way. It's a basic figure and accessories. It's available at emerging channels. I don't know the specific store, but stores like Big Lots and things like that. And Dollar General, they have some WWE figures. They have those accessory packs. So like I said, it's not out of the question under the right circumstances. So I'll keep looking for the right home for them.
00:58:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you got to make sure that if you make a George the Animal Steel figure that it comes with a rippable turnbuckle. I mean, it's just like, it's got it. That actually fits on your new gen ring. Very excited about that. Does it fit easily? I don't know yet. That first sample was a little trouble, but we're working on finessing it. People are crafty. They'll make it work. Plus, it's ripped. It doesn't need to sit like that. All right, so this next one comes from
00:59:27
Speaker
at you ain't shit bro 360 asks a great handle great handle on my burner account right he's gonna be like I care they're gonna be like I can't believe they asked the question are you considering any add-ons for the existing ultimate rings like cages or rope and skirt packs
00:59:50
Speaker
Yes, I ideally would have wanted them to happen already. But at the end of the day, you need a significant baseline of consumers who own, I'm like motioning with my hands here, but we're not on, you know, this isn't going to be video.
01:00:05
Speaker
But you need a significant baseline of consumers to warrant things like that, right? Because we've got 8,000, right? We'll say 8,000 new gen, not counting the attitude error ring. 8,000 people have new gen rings, we'll say. Let's say people didn't buy multiples. Legitimately, 8,000 people have those rings. How many of those 8,000 are actually going to buy these accessory packs?
01:00:32
Speaker
half if you're lucky, right? So now you're down to 4,000, right? And now you're talking about like sub minimum order quantities, right? Out of the gate. So what I need to do, you know, as your guy on the inside is
01:00:48
Speaker
keep pushing more rings out to expand that user base, right? So then 120, 40, 50, 100,000 people own this style and compatible scale ring, then you have the opportunity for a significant accessory business, right? Then you can sell
01:01:08
Speaker
ten or twenty thousand steel cage accessories. You can sell five to ten thousand ring skirt packs, but we're not quite there yet. But we're getting there. We will have three rings out, you know, by the end of this year. So we're approaching it. So please just be patient and hang in there. And I know everybody wants
01:01:26
Speaker
ring skirts, right? So yes, of course, you have the Raw's War skirt that came out already, but there's more attitude in our skirts we can do, right? There's more WCW skirts we could do, maybe Matt's. I don't know how we're going to do it yet, but like we need that base to grow a little bit to warrant that accessory pack ring business.
01:01:46
Speaker
I think that's one of those things that, you know, and this kind of comes up with, uh, you know, in multiple interviews is that quantity amount, like there, there are way fewer of us than we think there are one. And then two, it's like, you know, you have to consider the costs of running these products, you know, in, in general, before you can even, you know, talk about how many of them sell and sell at what price and the fewer that there are, the more they're going to cost and
01:02:15
Speaker
It's a big numbers game. It's a lot of math.
01:02:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's tough. Like I said, the ideas are all there, right? We don't not know what you guys are telling us and what you want. And we also want it. But I think I've made a career out of building towards things, right? And eventually getting it done and laying the groundwork to get it done at a later date. And every cool thing we do, there was a lot of building
01:02:47
Speaker
to get there, right? And we do get there. So I think we will. Raw Ring doing great, you know, sold out. Ringside, you know, they keep trying to get more, which is great and adding more. And hopefully the Nitro Ring does just as well. And, you know, we got to make it's a wrestling
01:03:09
Speaker
business so there's gonna be rings you know I see we don't need any more rings but I you do not you personally but people need rings for a wrestling line so having one available at all times doesn't really hurt anything you don't have to buy more yourself right like you don't have to buy anything if you don't want it if it's not for you don't buy it but if more people who don't have rings yet buy it then you're gonna get what you want you're gonna get the big blue steel cage right or or whatever it is that
01:03:38
Speaker
that we can concoct for that work with these rings. So, you know, be patient, hang in there, think long game. It's a long game hobby for all of us. The longer we wait, you know, look at what the past five years alone, like holy smokes, like what we've got, right? It's unbelievable. And then you do the whole 13 years and it's like, wow, this is
01:03:59
Speaker
significant and impressive. And maybe it's not, you know, the excitement of classic superstars where it was first time in the line guys in every single wave. But you know, if you're in this for the long game, like you're kind of getting everybody you would ever want over time. And I think as long as we can deliver that I'm satisfied. All right, Dave, you want to do you want to do the last question in the Q&A here?
01:04:26
Speaker
Yeah, sure. So at fig underscore foundation asks within that endeavor acquiring WWE, do you think there's a possibility Mattel may explore UFC figures considering all the work that's gone into WWE figures?
01:04:42
Speaker
Um, well, I can't speak on behalf of, you know, the company. I mean, I'm talking to you guys, giving you my knowledge as Steve, the collector who happens to work inside the industry. Right. Um, but I would like UFC figures. They fit great with, with the WWE style figures. I loved when Jax
01:05:02
Speaker
back in the day did their line and they had the scale octagon. And those figures of course fit in very well, same body type of the WWE figures. So I think stylistically they would fit fantastically well. There's obviously a little bit of crossover. There's some legacy play there with some of the legends of UFC. So I would personally love to see some sort of UFC statement.
01:05:27
Speaker
But with that said, there's so much to consider, right? Do they even want a toy partner? Is Mattel as a company interested? Do they think Mattel's a good fit for them being, I mean, even less kid, right, than WWE when you're talking about UFC? So there's so much to consider. So really, you know, my statement, me, Steve, the collector, Steve, the fan of combat sports, I'd love to see it.
01:05:56
Speaker
But TBD where things go and how things pan out and the dust has definitely not even settled on that deal yet. So I'm sure there's a lot to discuss and talk about over the coming months. Yeah. I mean, I think that's one that there have been a few stabs at
01:06:17
Speaker
You know at UFC figures, you know, and the other, the past versions have all had their merits, but yeah, I mean, I would hope that. That UFC and, and, uh, and Metallica work something out just because, you know, there's just so much potential there, you know, in terms of, uh, you know, even, even just thinking like, you know, having the license for people like
01:06:42
Speaker
you know, Brock and Ronda and being able to see like UFC versions. Shamrock. Yeah. I want to Dan Severn. Damn right you do. But yeah, like, you know, you could, you could, you know, it's just the potential is incredible there. So let's all keep our fingers crossed that the stars align for that one too.
01:07:03
Speaker
So that's it. That's our Q&A section. Steve, you survived another Q&A round. And now, you're one of the few people that has been on the show three times. So we had to adjust our final question in order to accommodate your three-peat appearance. Yeah, I think Bill just answered last time. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
01:07:29
Speaker
So Dave, would you like to fulfill your role as this podcasts James Lipton and ask our new final question? Why? Yes, I would. So Steve, since you're now appearing for a third time on the show and have answered the final question, we ask all of our guests a new final question for this appearance. If you can make a series for any single premium live event in WWE history, which event would be represented
01:07:58
Speaker
and which figures would be included. Oh my God, what a loaded question for someone who wants everything. Jeez, let me thank Kara for a second. How about
01:08:15
Speaker
St. Valentine's Day Massacre with a build-a-black cage accessory for the, you know, the Attitude Era ring, with Vince, with a bloody head, with Steve Austin, with Big Show in a shirt, throwing Jim Ross in there, right? How many figures is that, four? You need one more, you need one more.
01:08:42
Speaker
Let's do the King. Let's do the King with articulated jacket. Okay. That's, that would be an all build up that main event, right? Yeah. That's a good one. You answered that so fast. When I saw this question, I, so this was one of, this was a, a, a Dave. This was 100% of this question. I had two that I was in between and I went with this. And when I saw this question, I was like, his answer is going to be like, it's going to take him like three years to get there. Don't,
01:09:10
Speaker
Nope, just absolutely. I basically just spun the wheel of memories and whatever it landed on I went with. It could have been anything. It could have been, you know, I don't know, one of the UK pay per views, one night only or something, who knows. But anyway, it landed on St. Valentine's Day Massacre and I went with it.
01:09:29
Speaker
There you go. Well, Steve, before we let you go, please remind our followers, where can they find you on social media? Where can they back the nitro ring and where can they stay up to date on the WWE Mattel releases?
01:09:46
Speaker
Well, I am on Instagram action figure attack and also check that out to see the the the streamlined version of the nitro set On my reels, which I hope to put together and have before this podcast goes live Twitter
01:10:02
Speaker
Um, action fig attack. Uh, I just had to look up my tick tock that I barely use that's action figure attack also. Um, and then of course the, the Monday nitro entrance stage crowdfund is going on right now at Mattel creations.com. That runs through the first Friday of May. Um, by the time this podcast airs the Hulk Hogan, early bird backer.
01:10:24
Speaker
Will be unlocked. I'm gonna be positive thinking or else this will sound embarrassing, you know when this comes out when I'm hopeful And let's let's unlock those tears. Let's get to DDP Big Papa pump and and and Ultimate Warrior as well We've got another month to make this happen. And I think and as we speak right now, we're currently at like 34% It's been on an uptick all day, which is exciting So I'm really hopeful we get this this epic
01:10:54
Speaker
entrance stage. And we'll make sure to put all the links to all of those things in the show notes so that way you guys can just tap that button and then you know go ahead and start tapping those links that way you can follow Steve back the nitro arena all that good stuff. Steve thank you so much again for for coming on the show and for for chatting with us and hopefully you get some well-deserved rest.
01:11:18
Speaker
Thank you guys for having me and I'm honored to be, you know, the most attended guest of your podcast of all time. Hey, and you know what? As long as, as long as you guys keep putting out figures and keep wanting to come back, I mean, you'll just like racking up these appearances and it'll just, it'll, we'll have to get you a jacket to go with all the other cool like chalk line jackets that you have. Yeah, Ryan, you don't have a jacket. Dave, you want to send us home?
01:11:47
Speaker
Yeah, give yourself a self high five and take a look at that Nitro Arena. Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
01:12:12
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:12:35
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation, executive producer Frank Kablaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial no derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information visit non-productive.com.